Artisan skills are a broad, loosely defined class of skills that relate to making things. They will usually be defined by the RP Staff, in terms suitable to the theme of the world. On a medieval MUCK, artisan skills would include things like `Jeweler', `Armorer', `Swordsmith', etc. On a high-tech world, the meaningful artisan skills would be vastly different.

In game terms, an artisan skill can be used like any other — for example, a jeweler could +prove his jeweler skill to convince customers of the quality of his wares — but they have an important additional use as well: artisan skills are the normal prerequisites for using the +make command to create objects. The RP Staff may use the +define command to create new items, materials, weapons, armor, and so forth. Objects may be defined such that they may be created by characters, provided that the characters have the necessary tools, materials, and skills. Type +info objects/<object> to display the tools, materials, and skills required.

To make an item, simply type +make <item>. If you do not have the necessary materials or skills, the program will tell you. Otherwise, you will begin making the object at that time. Any materials consumed by the process of making the object will be removed from your inventory at that time. A roll to see if your attempt to make the object (based on the ability or abilities specified when the object was defined) will be made later, when the required time for making the object has passed. (Argo does not keep a program running to track object creation; instead, all Argo programs check to see if you have a creation roll or other timed event to run each time you use an Argo command.) Materials and funds used to make an object are consumed regardless of whether the attempt to make succeeds or fails.

Note that the RP Staff is encouraged to +define objects in such a way that artisan characters can make better and cheaper objects than the `book' versions.