User:TheSatanicSanta/Mystcraft Wiki import/Playing Mystcraft

The basic idea of Mystcraft is that you can create magical books which let you travel to entirely new worlds, called Ages. You can explore or exploit them as you choose, and while some may be much like the Overworld, others can be very different, with new resources not found in the Overworld. Creating completely random worlds is easy, but you can learn to control the contents of your Ages by collecting the magical symbols used to define them, and learning the grammar used to describe the new worlds.

The first catch, of course, is that these Ages offer all the usual dangers of the Minecraft world, plus a few extra. Worlds might be sunk in eternal night or perpetual storm, or be islands floating above the Void. They can also have dangerous conditions such as poisonous air, excessive gravity, or worse. A few are sufficiently unstable to decay around you while you try to explore them! Fortunately, the worst of these dangers are reserved for those who abuse the Art of designing worlds; a completely random world may be strange, but is unlikely to be unduly lethal. And then there's the second catch:  When you "link" through a book, the book stays behind. Before travelling to a new world, you'll need to prepare a way home!

In the spirit of exploration, this guide will begin by walking you through the basics of creating a (random) Age, travelling to it, and returning home. Afterwards there will be more details of what's going on, discussion of safety measures, and of the designing Ages to your own specifications.

Equipment
For this "quick peek" mission, you will need to start by building some tools: To start from scratch, you will need at least the following:
 * 3 iron ingots
 * 5 smooth stone
 * 7 wooden planks


 * 4 Ink sacs, as dropped by squid
 * 3 Glass Bottles
 * a water source block
 * 2 pieces of paper
 * 2 pieces of leather

With this you will create two of Mystcraft's three main tool blocks, the ink mixer and the book binder. (The third is the Writing Desk, which you don't need just yet.) The tool blocks will let you create two magical books of different kinds:  A descriptive book (aka D-book) which lets you create and enter a new Age, and a linking book (L-book) that lets you return home. Finally, you'll go "there and back again".

1. Start with the ink mixer. The name is a little misleading; its purpose is to turn paper and ink into link panels, a key component for both kinds of books. It is so named because in advanced work, it can mix various things into the ink, to give the panels special features. Make it and place it somewhere convenient.

2. While you're at it, make your ink vials. There is an alternate recipe with an empty bottle and a bucket of water, but either way, the non-stackable ingredient makes it a bit tricky to craft large amounts of ink (Also, ink bottles only stack to 16). Both recipes are shapeless and can be done in your inventory. You'll need two vials of ink.

3. Next, make the book binder. Open its GUI and put one piece of leather into the slot provided (the other piece of leather will be used differently). The book binder creates D-books. The large "trough" down the middle of the GUI can hold one link panel and any number of symbol pages to define the world that a book will reach. With zero symbol pages, you get a random world.

4. Now you will make your two link panels, one for each book. Go back to the ink mixer and open its GUI. Put your paper and ink into their respective slots. Note the ink pool filling, and a link panel appearing in the output slot. Take the link panel, then take the next. Each panel costs one piece of paper and a full vial of ink.

5. Time to make your books! Start with the L-book, your return ticket. In your inventory, craft one of the link panels together with your remaining piece of leather. You get a Unlinked Link book. At this point, look around, and decide just where you want to return to the Overworld. It should be a safe place indoors (not exposed to potential rain or night monsters), and not too cramped. Go there, then wield and use (right-click) the book. It will become a Linking book. Ths L-book will return you to this point, from any other dimension, but it will not work in the Overworld.

6. And finally, the D-book. Go back to the book binder and open its GUI. It should already have a piece of leather, now put your other link panel in the central trough. (V11) Finally, go to the text box at the upper left, and choose a name for your new world. "First World!" will do fine. Now you can take your D-book from the output slot.

Into the Unknown

 * Gather your usual adventuring supplies -- armor, weapons and tools, food, etc. Go back to where you activated the L-book.
 * Place both the D-book and the return L-book in your hot bar.
 * Wield the D-book, and then "use" it (right-click). You will see the GUI of the book, with a large panel to the right. Click on that panel, and welcome to your new world.  This is called 'linking".
 * On entry into the new world, note that your hand is now empty. Immediately switch to wielding the L-book (already in your hot bar, right?).  You will be standing on a 5x5 platform of smooth stone, which is the "spawn platform"  This is your default spawn point for the new world.  Be careful, the platform may be atop a tree or otherwise high above the ground.
 * Take a look around your world. If you are in any obvious danger, then immediately link with your L-book, just like you did with the D-book. This includes but not limited to; Stuff falling on you from above; Darkness, and/or monsters approaching you; Explosions, meteors, lightning, catching on fire, or otherwise taking damage.
 * If you're not in immediate danger, you can look around a bit, but don't go far or push your luck just yet. (Remember, you can always come back later.)  Go back to the spawn platform before you use your L-book to return. This will return you to where you activated that L-book.

Having returned to the Overworld
Note that both of the books you used are "gone" from your hotbar. Look around the ground where you are. There should be a large book lying on the ground right near you. This is the D-book that you used to travel. Note that while most items "float", and are picked up by touching, Mystcraft books rest on the ground (think "boat" or "minecart"), and trying to touch it will only push it.

To retrieve the book off the ground, "use" it (usually right-click). You will see the same open book with the link panel. (If you have a current version of Mystcraft and also the LookingGlass mod, you may get a view of the Age). There will also be a single inventory slot containing a book. Pick that up (left click, like moving something in an inventory), and you will see your inventory; you can place it in your inventory and it is now off the ground. You can also pick up book entities by sneak-using (default shift-right-click), if you have a free inventory slot.

Books are left in this "book entity" form whenever you use them "out of hand", and even when they're simply dropped. (Your linking book is in the same state, back on the spawn platform in your first age. You can pick it up on your next visit.)  In this form, books can take damage from the environment and eventually be destroyed. Even in a sheltered area, it will slowly take damage from exposure, but water or rain will damage it quickly, and other attacks can also harm it. As you might expect, the book is safe while its chunk is unloaded.

Future Trip Tips
This was the quick-and-dirty way, for an age which was assumed reasonably safe. For future visits to new ages, it's better to make heavy use of bookstands/lecterns, and spare linking books. For best safety:
 * For each new world, you should bring 3 return L-books, two of them on your hotbar. Also on the hotbar, should be 2 lecterns or bookstands, and you should also have a chest in your inventory.
 * Put a bookstand or lectern in your base, and put the D-book into it. You can use it from there, and leave it safe.  The only difference between a bookstand and a lectern is height:  Bookstands mostly go on the floor, while lecterns go on a block for proper "reading level".  Both protect books from the milder abuses of the environment.
 * As soon as you enter your new age, place a bookstand or lectern down on the spawn platform, and put one of the L-books there. The second linking-book should stay in your hotbar no matter what, as an emergency escape hatch.
 * After looking around, getting oriented, and deciding not to panic-link back home, place the chest some distance from the spawn platform; far enough that, (e.g.) a charged creeper couldn't take out both your bookstand and the chest. In the chest, put the other bookstand, and the third L-book (from your main inventory).
 * And now you can go ahead exploring, building, or whatever. To go home normally, go back to your spawn platform and use the book there, or place another return book at any base you set up.
 * If you die, you will end up at the spawn platform. In most ages, you can change this as usual with a bed.  To sleep, there must be no suns above the horizon, or else it must be storming.
 * If you do get killed, you've got your L-book back at the spawn platform, or if that gets destroyed, you have the spare in the chest. And in case things go south in a hurry, you have the book in your hotbar.
 * Note that if you do use the book from your hotbar, you're likely to lose it, but that's OK -- emergency links usually imply "burning" a link book. (Sometimes you can go back and collect it later.)
 * Once you decide to keep using an age, make a link book to travel to some chosen point in the age (like your base there). Put the D-book someplace safe, and use the link book for ordinary travel.  (Note that in future versions, books will wear out from use.)
 * Please note that there is a game "achievement" for traveling into an age without a return book. This is not necessarily a fatal mistake: You may well be able to play "slidecraft", making books in each age, to eventually reach a world with a star fissure that can return you to the Overworld.  However, this is no sure thing -- it is possible to be trapped in an age which does not have the resources to make new books..  (Lack of sugar cane is a particular hazard, but leather or ink may also be a problem.)  There is also a much safer way to gain this achievement, but figuring that out is left as a challenge for the reader.