Black BoxGet the HUD
FeaturesGuidesFor sim ownersSimsAboutSearchGet the HUD
Guides

How to use Black Box

Start with the first few if you're new. Every sim switches different parts on, so if a guide mentions something your HUD doesn't have, your sim doesn't use it.

For players

Getting started

Wear your sim's HUD, sign in, make a character and find your way round the Home screen.

  1. 01Wearing the HUDFor players: picking up the HUD from the sim you play on, wearing it, and how it stays up to date.
  2. 02Your first sign-inWhat happens the first time you wear the HUD, from your new account to accepting the Terms of Service.
  3. 03Create a characterHow to make a character with the HUD's step-by-step creator, and how to switch between your characters.
  4. 04The Home screenWhat the HUD's Home screen shows, the three Home layouts, and how to make the HUD smaller.
  5. 05Play in characterSwitching between in character, out of character and away, setting up your titler, and earning experience for roleplay.
  6. 06Your sim's websiteHow to sign in to your sim's Black Box website and what you'll find there.
  7. 07SettingsEvery page under the HUD's Settings, what each one changes, and the chat commands that do the same.
For players

Your character

Levelling up, perks and respecs, your character sheet, and rolling dice.

  1. 01Earning XPEvery way your character can earn experience - roleplay, time on the sim, fights, quests, crafting, awards and events - with the limits on each, and where to see what you've earned.
  2. 02Levels, perks and respecsHow experience turns into levels, how to spend stat and perk points, and how respecs, skill pools and professions work.
  3. 03JobsSwitching jobs, levelling each one, unlocking new jobs, and ascending a job to carry its abilities into the others.
  4. 04Your character sheetWhat the HUD's character sheet shows, how to switch characters, and how to set your alt name, title, species, picture and titler presets.
  5. 05Dice and skill checksHow to roll on the HUD's Dice page and with @roll, what each roll shows in chat, and how checks work in fights and quest talks.
  6. 06Your titlerWhat the text over your head shows, how to change your title, alt name and info, presets, and what changes when you're OOC, AFK or in a fight.
For players

Fights

Starting a fight, taking your turn, tactics, wounds, magic, and what happens after.

  1. 01Start a fightHow to open the fight page, invite people, start the fight and find your way around the page.
  2. 02Your turnWhat you can do on your turn, from abilities and targets to items and ending the turn.
  3. 03TacticsThe Tactics panel on the fight page, from stance and cover to grapples, gear and escaping.
  4. 04Weapons, armor and ammunitionWeapon traits like Recoil, Scoped and Cleave, aiming, bracing and charging, range, ammunition and reloading, thrown weapons, oils and poisons, and how armor soaks a hit.
  5. 05Drones and emplacementsBring a drone or a hound into a fight and command it on your turn, leash and recall it, set up barricades and turrets, and take cover behind them.
  6. 06Rows, cover and rangeHow front and back rows, cover ratings, range bands and movement work, for sims that use them.
  7. 07After a fightHow a fight ends, looting, being downed, treating wounds, and rolling dice outside a fight.
  8. 08Wounds and getting patched upWhat happens when you go down, how wounds work after a fight, and how to treat, stabilize and heal them.
  9. 09Healing and recoveryHow your HP, Mana and Energy come back after a fight - on their own, with items, at a healing crystal - and where wounds fit in.
  10. 10MagicHow spells work in a fight, from channelling and holding to counterspells, dispels, rune weapons, songs and lawful zones.
  11. 11Area attacksAbilities that hit more than one person, from attacks that pick their own targets and whole-row attacks to areas you aim with the in-world placer.
  12. 12Saves, advantage and bonus actionsThe 5e-style fight rules some sims switch on - saving throws, advantage and disadvantage, bonus actions, Extra Attack, Sneak Attack, reactions and concentration.
  13. 13Statuses and conditionsWhat Bleeding, Burning, Marked, Slowed, Rooted, Frightened and every other status does in a fight, how they stack and wear off, what cures them, and the conditions that give advantage.
For players

Items and money

Your inventory, paying and trading, the bank, buying and selling, and crafting.

  1. 01Your inventoryHow to find, equip, use, give away and delete the items your character carries.
  2. 02Money and tradeHow money works on your sim, how to pay people, what's on the Trade page and how the bank works.
  3. 03Crafting and gatheringHow to craft at a station, gather materials from nodes, and keep items in banks and shared storage.
  4. 04Professions and Work HoursHow your professions and gathering skills grow, what Work Hours are and how they come back, how the crafting and gathering rolls decide what you make, and the XP crafting gives.
  5. 05Quality, wear and enchantingHow the crafting roll decides an item's quality, what quality points buy, how gear wears and gets repaired, enchanting with runes, Signature and Heirloom pieces, salvage, spoilage and Work Hours.
  6. 06The bankHow bank accounts, cards and PINs, ATMs, transfers, credit, interest and coin exchange work, on the HUD and on your sim's website.
  7. 07Buying and sellingHow to buy from and sell to shops, shop on the website, use the auction house, crafting orders and stalls, pick pockets and give to community projects.
For players

Story and community

Quests and NPCs, events and rewards, groups and ranks.

  1. 01Quests and NPCsHow to talk to NPCs and quest props, answer them, follow your quests in the journal and collect rewards.
  2. 02Scenes and post orderStart a scene, roll a post order, and let the HUD and titlers track whose turn it is to post.
  3. 03Events and rewardsHow to join events, earn experience for roleplay, file XP and IC reports, and use the bounty board.
  4. 04Groups and ranksHow groups, ranks and influence work, how promotions and stipends are given, and how your group changes your HUD.
For players

Around the sim

Doors, lights, power, alarms and the other things in the sim that answer to your character.

  1. 01Around the simThe objects in the world that answer to your character, what touching each one does, and what your HUD does when staff change the sky or play a sound.
  2. 02Crime and the lawPickpocketing, lawful zones and being Wanted, the bounty board, and what you see when staff pause the economy or the server.
For staff

For staff

Setting up and running your sim on the website: a checklist for a new sim, the staff menus, rules, characters, items, the economy, quests, events, fights, the world and moderation.

  1. 01New sim checklistThe order to set up a new Black Box sim in, from the first admin signing in to players making characters, with the website page for each step.
  2. 02Setting up your simA map of the staff side of your sim's website, what each menu area is for, and who gets to see it.
  3. 03Server settings and scheduled tasksEvery tab of Server › Settings - globals, HUD settings, themes, reports and awards, translations, containers, debug, the scheduled tasks and patches - plus Discord, auth keys and the panic buttons.
  4. 04Adding a regionWhat to do when your sim spreads to another Second Life region - count its roleplay, ask for the Experience there, and put it on the RP map and in the event planner's Region list.
  5. 05In-world setupHow to set up the in-world side of Black Box, from auth keys and the Delivery Server to doors, containers, nodes, the radar and the ban server, and what to check when an object doesn't respond.
  6. 06Rule sets and optionsWhat a game system holds, the rule sets a new sim starts with, and the optional rules you switch on or off.
  7. 07The HUD lookHow to set your sim's HUD themes and colours, its Home layout and sizes, the buttons, bars and counters it shows, and its languages.
  8. 08Laying out the titlerBuild your sim's titler line by line on World Building › Titler - fields, colours, when each line shows, the preview, Second Life's limits, switching it on safely, and the PvP, Rating, Depth and Intimacy options players pick.
  9. 09CharactersHow to set up the stats, classes, races, professions, skills, levels, perks and starting kit players build characters from, and how creation and respecs work.
  10. 10Levels and XPSet up your level chart, choose where XP comes from and how much each source gives, schedule the tasks that pay it, run awards, and check what players are earning.
  11. 11JobsSet up a job tree where characters switch between jobs, each with its own level, unlock advanced and hidden jobs, and ascend a job to carry its abilities into others.
  12. 12Abilities and effectsHow to build abilities on your sim's website, give them to characters, attach effects and statuses, write the formulas they roll, and test them.
  13. 13Items and craftingHow to make items, switch on item extras, and set up recipes, crafting stations, gathering nodes, containers and vendors, then give items out and check the logs.
  14. 14The economyHow to set up your sim's money, where coin enters and leaves the game, and how to run the bank, the player markets, the stabiliser and the panic switches.
  15. 15Quests and NPCsHow to build quests with stages and rewards, write NPC conversations, place quest props and triggers in-world, test a quest and fix a player's progress.
  16. 16Running eventsHow to plan and run events, brief your team, sign events off with the after-action report, and handle roleplay experience, awards, IC reports and bounties.
  17. 17Storyteller toolsThe Storytellers menu for running scenes - lights and power, the sky, sounds through players' HUDs, the radio, alarms, fights and community projects.
  18. 18Groups, ranks and accessHow to set up groups, ranks, promotions and stipends, what faction leaders can do, and how to decide what each member of your staff can do on the website.
  19. 19World buildingHow to set up your sim's doors, lights, power, zones, macros and alarms on the website, and run lighting, environments, sound and radio during a scene.
  20. 20Power, doors and alarmsSet up doors with access lists, wire a power grid with switches, panels and generators, decide what happens when the power drops, add interactions such as lockpicking, and run alarms, lockdowns and macros.
  21. 21Running a fightHow staff watch and run fights from Party control, play NPCs from the HUD, run staff-only fights, fix a character's numbers and get a stuck fight moving.
  22. 22ModerationHow to look after players and the sim from the website, from accounts and character sheets to the radar, bans, stats, logs, reports and the panic switches.
  23. 23Finding alt accountsHow to spot a banned player coming back on another avatar, how much each match tells you, how to confirm it with the logs, and what to do.
  24. 24Reading the logsWhat each log on the website records, how to filter it, the player timeline, and step-by-step ways to look into a theft, an XP complaint, a duplicated item or missing money.
For everyone

Help

Chat commands, and what to do when something isn't working.

  1. 01Chat commandsA reference of the @ commands you can type in chat to work the HUD, grouped by what they're for.
  2. 02TroubleshootingCommon problems with the HUD and the website, how to fix them, and where to ask for help.