Today, I'd like to clarify a few things about the new trade system.

You are allowed to produce as many units as you wish. However, you must have whatever is needed to produce these units already posted to your accounts or they will not be counted.

For example, if you wish to produce a unit of bosk milk, you must already have milk bosk credited to your account. If you wish to produce a unit of weapons, you must have the steel or whatever you need already in your account before you can start making the weapons. In this case, the amount of steel, etc., you used would be deducted from your account.

By the same token, if you want to claim the capture of animals, you must go out into the wilds, find someone playing the animal, and then capture or kill it. It still will take you 20 posts to claim a unit, although some of those posts may be done in your home, dressing the animal, caging it, whatever.

If you capture a unit of sleens, you could take that unit of sleens and turn it into a unit of sleen furs with another 20 posts.

Also, if you wish to use your goods to replace the goods your room must sell during the month, you may do so, but you must use the goods that were ordered by the room leader to make your new unit of goods.

To make things easier for posting purposes, only full units will be credited or deducted. In addition, people will often create things in their rooms -- like sewing a dress, gathering wood for the fires, cutting hay for the animals, etc. These posts do not need to be sent in. The only posts that should be sent in are for goods that you expect to profit from.

The other thing to remember is that all those units you produce won't add any gold to your account unless you can find a buyer for them. So, you might want to keep that in mind.

While we have received several transcripts of people making things, we have received virtually none of people selling things. Remember, each room must sell 10 units of goods over the course of the month or they must use the units that they were assigned at the beginning of the month. Using up units of things you weren't assigned at the beginning of the month do not count toward your quota of selling 10 units during the month.

Finally, when sending in transcripts to be credited, please include this information at the top of the email (and please, do not include transcripts as an attachment, rather include them directly in the email):

• Name of room
  
• Name of person whose account is to be credited
  
• Number and type of units produced
  
• Number and type of units used during production

Emails that do not contain this information will be returned and not credited. Sorry folks, but we just don't have time to wade through all those 20 posts for each unit to figure out what you made and what you used to do it.

We hope you are enjoying the new system. However, there doesn't appear to be much trading going on between rooms or much stealing going on in the wilds. The main purpose of the new system was developed was to increase traffic through the wilds, while adding role playing opportunities and a sense of adventure.

If most decide to use up their goods instead of trading them, we will simply discontinue the system. It's far too much work not to create the interaction between the rooms that was its goal. We'll check the accounts at the end of the month and make a decision then on whether to continue the system.