newbie help document

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cherzra
Sojourner
Posts: 1868
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2001 6:01 am
Location: Holland

newbie help document

Postby cherzra » Wed Oct 10, 2001 1:58 pm

OK since it is generally agreed upon that the mud is hard if you are a newbie, I started on a document which I may ask the staff to put on the website or on the mud as a helpfile, if people think it's ok. Here it is so far. Let me know what you think of it, any comments, suggestions on what to add etcetera are more than welcome. Any sections missing? More information on something?

I'll add more to it as I work on it in the future, but this is it so far.

CONTENTS

1 - Mud Client
2 - Character Creation
2.1 - general
2.2 - choosing a race
2.3 - choosing a class
2.4 - rolling stats
2.5 - choosing a hometown
2.6 - grouping restrictions
3 - The Game Dynamics
3.1 - general stuff
3.2 - I rolled a character, what now?
3.3 - basics
3.4 - eating & drinking
3.5 - training
3.6 - scribing spells
3.7 - fighting
3.8 - shops
3.9 - towns
3.10 - quests
4 - Terminology

1 MUD CLIENT

To get the most enjoyment out of the game, use a special MUD client. Perhaps you are currently using a standard telnet client- in this case a whole new world will open for you. Telnet has no backscroll or color, while MUD clients do. Also, MUD clients allow you to make aliases, macros, triggers etcetera, and sometimes contain automappers too. In short, they make your MUD life a whole lot faster, easier and more fun.

My personal recommendation for Windows is Zmud, since it is very user friendly yet very powerful. You can find it at www.zuggsoft.com. It costs 20$ with free upgrades for life, but you can run it for free 30 times to evaluate it. Alternatively, you can download version 3.62, which is freeware. Find it at http://www.zuggsoft.com/zmud16f.zip . This is great for starting out with as it contains many functions and is free, you can always start using the newest version later if you decide you like it and want more power.

Under Unix, I recommend using TinyFugue: http://tf.tcp.com/~hawkeye/tf/

2 CHARACTER CREATION

2.1 GENERAL

When creating a character, you choose a race, a class, a sex, attributes, a starting hometown (if there is more than 1 option for that race) and a name/password. You can either come up with an own, original, name, or choose a randomly generated one. When choosing a name, be sure to look for the message if there are any gods (a.k.a. staff/immortals) on. If you choose an own name, it has to be approved - and a god has to be on to do that. Approval may take a few minutes, the gods are usually busy with something or the other. If the message appears that no gods are on, it is best to choose a generated name - you can ask ('petition') a god later to change it to something of your own. If you enter an own name and no god is on, you'll likely end up waiting an hour before finally giving up - losing the character you rolled.

Choose a name that fits your race! Names like Exterminator or Gandalf will not be accepted.

General guidelines:

Orc - simple and sturdy, e.g. Rivi, Rokub
Troll - harsh and guttural, e.g. Grux, Cherzra, Turg
Illithid - complex, e.g. Ezzallixxell, Lazzraxxuum, Ixxixxiss
Gnome - silly, e.g. Blipple, Frazzle
Dwarven - sturdy, e.g. Folur, Touk, Brytha
Barbarian - sturdy, e.g. Dranak, Golm, Dartan
Human - any fantasy name will do, e.g. Nitania, Saerian, Kalthanan
Grey Elf - lyrical and melodic, e.g. Loritheil, Lilithelle
Half Elf - something between a human and elven name Image e.g. Siboh, Sylvos
Drow - fantasy, e.g. Jegzed, Zazyg
Yuan-ti - hissing, e.g. Ossisna, Fesseth, Tasser
Ogre - simple, rolling not guttural or harsh like trolls, e.g. Blung, Soonga, Krolb
Halfling - silly, e.g. Gnerblie
Duergar - many consonants, evil sounding, e.g. Gromsharulaz, Frobakhal

Keep in mind that several races have one or more letters which their names cannot contain, due to their inability to pronounce these. See the online helpfiles for more information.

2.2 CHOOSING A RACE

The races fall in 2 categories: good and evil. Good races can group with each other and evil races can group with each other. The different sides cannot group with each other, keep this in mind, thus the mud is effectively divided into two sides.

Every race has some advantages and disadvantages. For example: Gnomes are very smart - they memorize and cast spells fast. However, they are also small and weak, thus they cannot carry many items, and they don't get very many hitpoints which makes them relatively poor warriors. Read the helpfiles on the races, available when choosing a race, for more information. Keep in mind that there are fewer evil players and that they have a rougher time starting out, with the exception of drow who have a really easy hometown. Evil races generally have some stronger innates (natural strengths), but also drawbacks. Note: Elves are a good aligned race, yet they have a harder time starting out as they are confined to the island of Evermeet for the first 20 (!) levels!

If you are new, it is probably best to choose a human and start in Waterdeep (WD). Even if other races attract you much more, this is very beneficial: WD is a populated place and you will learn and see many things much faster. Play a character there for a few levels to learn the ropes, before rolling anything else. Don't worry about choosing the wrong race or class for now - once you've been around for a few weeks you'll probably see another race and class you prefer to play instead, and with the knowledge/equipment you gained with your first character it will be easier to level!

General race indications:

Humans - the standard race by which all others are measured. No particular strengths or weaknesses. Good casters and rogues. Average warriors, but poor when compared to barbarians and dwarves. Good antis and paladins.

Dwarves - shorter and much stronger than humans, but not as intelligent. Live long and thus wiser than humans. Good warriors and clerics. Have innate infravision (see red shapes in the dark).

Barbarians - taller and swarthier than humans, but slower and duller. Good warriors and shamans. Have bodyslam innate.

Halflings - small and very fast, but weak even though they have decent hitpoints. Make excellent rogues.

Grey Elves - frail and thin. Very intelligent, quite fast. Good casters and rangers, bad warriors. Innate infravision.

Half Elves - frailer than humans but stronger than elves. Excellent rangers. Innate infravision.

Gnomes - a short, smart race, but also weak. Gnomes tend to fidget around and invent things. Consequently, they make good mages.

Trolls - tall, thin but strong and very fast. Good strength and even better constitution and agility, but fire based spells all but destroy them and they are stupid as a rock. Good warriors. Have infravision, bodyslam and regenerate innates.

Orcs - shorter but perhaps a tad stronger than humans. Good shamans. Have innate summon horde and infravision.

Ogres - huge and enormously strong, but slow and stupid as a rock. Excellent warriors. Innate bodyslam, infravision and doorbash. Highest hitpoints and strength of any race.

Drow - Evil elves, aka dark elves. frail but smart and fast. Good casters and rogues. Innate levitation, faerie fire and ultravision (don't need a light to see in dark, but blind during day).

Duergar - evil dwarves. Short and inordinately strong. Not too intelligent, but wise like dwarves. Second in strength only to Ogres. Good clerics, warriors and rogues. Innate invisibility, enlarge, strength and ultravision.

Yuan-ti - snake/human hybrids that have the lower body and head of a snake yet the torso of humans. A bit faster and smarter than humans, but they lose 4 eq slots because of their build. Good clerics and casters. Innate tailsweep, befriend reptile, scaleskin and vipermind.

Illithids - the weakest of all races, however they are highly intelligent and have immensly powerful minds. Limited to psionicists as class. Innate levitation and ultravision.

Easy races to start with are humans, dwarves, half elves, ogres and drow.

2.3 CHOOSING A CLASS

The classes can roughly be divided into 2 categories: spellcasters and melee (=combat) classes.

Spellcasters are either priest types or mage types. Priests consist of the Shaman, Cleric and Druid classes. Mage types would be Invokers, Enchanters, Illusionists, Elementalists and Necromancers. There are also Psionicists, which can only be of the Illithid race, these are classed as Mage type too.

Melee classes are Warriors, Antipaladins, Paladins, Rogues, Rangers and Dire Raiders.

Bards, and their evil raced counterparts the Battlechanters, exist as well - they are hard to place in the list above. See below for a more detailed description.

A general guideline is that melee classes are easier to level, especially at the lower levels, but their power diminishes as their level rises. Spellcasters are weak and frail at first, have a hard time leveling, but grow very powerful as they rise in levels. Be forewarned that some classes are less 'required' than others. This may mean that you are turned down for groups sometimes because they are full and need the remaining spot for a 'required' class, but usually less required classes have some niche that they fit into and can come along just fine so I wouldn't worry about it and play what you want. A group usually consists of several classes that can:
-take damage (warriors/(anti)paladins)
-heal (clerics/shamans)
-provide protection and utility (enchanters/shamans/illusionists/elementalists/bards)
-deal damage (invokers/shamans/illusionists/rogues/rangers/dire raiders/psionicists)

Not all classes are mentioned in the list above, several such as druids can be used for healing, utility and damage for example.

A short description of each class, their strenghts/weaknesses and place in groups:

Clerics - clerics heal. They pray for their spells, which are granted to them by their gods. They have good hitpoints, much more than mage types and can wear more equipment, for example platemail. Clerics are always a requirement in groups.

Shamans - these are a 'hybrid' priest and mage. They are more tribal, drawing their power from spirits. Shamans can heal to a lesser extent than Clerics, but they get some powerful offensive spells, a spirit pet, defensive and utility spells and a group healing spell which is very nice. Shamans are not a definitive requirement in groups (that is, without a shaman a group can still be formed), but they are always very welcome to join because of their strengths. For fighting dragons and other casting mobs, group heal is a requirement - this is when you cannot go without a shaman.

Druids - priests of nature. They draw their spells from the gods of nature and the woodlands. They have healing and offensive spells, in addition to nice utility spells such as moonwell. Not a requirement in groups but nice to have.

Invokers - these are mages who specialize in offensive magic. They have few hitpoints and no defensive spells, but their offense is really strong. Someone is always needed for damage in groups, so invokers are usually more than welcome.

Enchanters - these are mages who specialize in defensive magic. Similar to invokers in that they have few hitpoints, they protect and defend the group. They also get very nice utility spells and are very powerful at higher levels. Always needed in groups.

Illusionists - mages who specialize in illusions and shadows. They get some nice offense, some nice defense and some nice utility stuff. For smaller zones they are not a required class, but like shamans are always welcome because of their added value. For big zones however they are a required class.

Elementalists - mages who specialize in conjuring. This class has recently been added, replacing the old conjurers. They get some nifty spells and four powerful elemental embodiments, each giving the recipient special powers. Using these, they can actually do a lot solo too. Not a core requirement but very nice.

Necromancers - these are mages who dabble with the dead. They can raise corpses and command these undead. They get nice offensive spells, and the option to quest for the lich class at high levels, which makes them even more powerful. Not a required class, but always welcome.

Psionicists - only the Illithids can be this class. They use their strong mental powers to influence the world around them. Psionicists ('psis') have very strong offense and self-only defence (they cannot will it onto someone else), but are physically the weakest class in the game. Not a requirement, but very welcome because of their strengths.

Warriors - warriors take the beating from the enemy while the rest of the group fights it ('tanking'). They have the highest hitpoints in the game and skills which keep them alive and allow them to save other group members. Warriors don't do much damage, so know that before you roll one, choose a rogue or ranger instead if you want this. Always needed in groups.

Paladins - crusaders of the just cause. They are hybrid Warriors/Priests, that is, they are warriors with priestly spells. They have fewer hitpoints than warriors, but some nice spells to make up for it. Also, they have the best defensive skills in the game. They ride on mounts and fight in mounted combat. They can wield two-handed weapons without penalty and have the best tanking skills in the game. Get extra experience for slaying evil aligned creatures, but lose experience for slaying neutral or good creatures. They have to remain of good alignment, or lose their powers. Can easily replace a warrior as tank in a group. Somewhat overpowered in my opinion since they can do almost everything warriors can do, but better, in addition to many unique skills/spells. A drawback is that they cannot be rejuvenated (made younger), so they grow weaker as they age(note that you can never die from age, just lose some abilities).

Antipaladins - crusaders of a foul cause. They are also hybrid Warriors/Priests, although their spells are more offensive in nature. Also ride and fight mounted and wield 2hnded weapons. No bonus for killing any specific alignment, but don't have to worry about it either. Not required in groups, but a good addition.

Rogues - the thief/assassin class. Frailer than Warriors and (Anti)Paladins, they don't tank very well. But they can dual wield, backstab, use various poisons and do a great deal of damage. Can detect traps and disarm them and pick locks. Very strong offense. Not required in groups unless the zone has traps or locks, but always welcome.

Rangers / Dire Raiders - rangers are warriors attuned more to nature. They cannot tank as good as Warriors or (Anti)Paladins, but easily better than rogues. They get most skills warriors do, but are not as good at them. They can wield two weapons with great skill and do good damage. They can also use ranged combat, that is, fight with bows, and they do incredible damage this way. They are also granted some spells by their gods. Not a requirement in groups but nice to have. Dire Raiders are the evil equivalent to rangers, although it can be argued that they are more fun to play. Only orcs can be dire raiders, and they ride around on large wolves which sets them apart from rangers. Dire Raiders are granted different spells, due to their time spent with orc shamans.

Bards/Battlechanters - Battlechanters are evil raced Bards. Bards are musicians, their skill with song and instrument gives them the ability to magically influence players, fights and monsters. They can heal, do some damage and provide nice utilities with their songs, especially at higher levels. They can do some damage with weapons as well. Bards are basically a cross between rogues and illusionists, and battlechanters a cross between rogues and shamans. At higher levels, they gain access to several of these caster classes' spells. An interesting class.


Evils and goods don't have access to the same classes, goods have more options.

Evils can be warriors, clerics, enchanters, invokers, illusionists, shamans, psionicists, necromancers, battlechanters, rogues and dire raiders.
Goods have access to all these except psionicists and die raiders, in addition to druids, paladins, antipaladins and rangers.

Easy classes to start out with are warriors, (anti)paladins, rangers/dire raiders, clerics and rogues.

Here are my recommendations of what race to choose for a class in case there is more than one option.

Good Warrior: barbarian or dwarf.
Evil Warrior: duergar, troll or ogre.
Good Enchanter/Invoker: human, grey elf or gnome.
Evil Enchanter/Invoker: drow or yuan-ti, depending on whether you can cope with ultravision or not.
Evil Shaman: orc or ogre.
Good Rogue: halfling, dwarf or human.
Evil Rogue: drow or duergar.
Good Cleric: dwarf (good wisdom and lots of hitpoints).
Evil Cleric: duergar (good innates/wisdom and lots of hitpoints).
Ranger: half-elf (best of both elves and humans).
Good Bard: half-elf (more mana than dwarves, better dexterity, easier hometown).

2.4 ROLLING STATS

At the end of character generation, you will have the option to customize your character's stats. The MUD will generate a set of attributes and you can choose to either keep that set, or roll another set. There is a fixed amount of points which will randomly be distributed over the attributes, so every roll will be different. Once you have selected a roll you want to keep, you will get 3 bonuses. This means you can choose 3 specific attributes you want to add more points to, the bonus rolls.

The attributes are:

Strength - Influences how much you can carry and how high your damageroll will be, in addition to being the primary attribute for skills such as weapons skills, bashing etcetera.
Dexterity - Influences how high your hitroll will be, in addition to being the primary attribute for skills such as hitall.
Agility - Influences your armor class, in addition to certain skills such as rescue.
Constitution - Indicates your physical fortitude. Higher constitution gives you more hitpoints and allows you to survive more resurrections.
Wisdom - Influences priestly spells.
Intelligence - Influences mage spells, how fast you learn skills and how good you can search things out.
Power - Unknown unless you are a psi, then it influences your mana. Also rumored to have something to do with conjurers, but never proven.
Charisma - One of the primary stats for a bard, as it influences their mana, which in turn is what they depend on for their songs. Also influences how much money you have to pay to buy something or practise.

The attributes' range is bad - mediocre - mundane - fair - good - mighty - heroic - perfect.

Here is an indication of the attributes that different classes need:

Warriors: strength, constitution, dexterity and agility.
(Anti)Paladins: same as warriors, but also wisdom.
Rogues: agility, dexterity, strength, constitution.
Bards/Battlechanters: same as rogues, but also very much charisma.
Mage classes: intelligence, wisdom, strength/agility/constitution.
Priest classes: wisdom, intelligence, strength/agility/constitution.
Psionicists: power, intelligence, wisdom, strength/agility/constitution.

You don't necessarily need a mighty or heroic for everything! Sometimes a good is good enough, there are different 'notches' which represent the different intervals for skills. For example, for troll warriors anything over 91 constitution (mighty) will give you the last constitution notch, so there is not much use in rolling for a perfect constitution. Likewise, ogre shamans reach their last constitution notch at 60-something, so it's not much use spending a bonus on that. Although it is always nice, because higher con still means less failed resurrections.

Before or even after rolling a char, if you don't know if your stats are good enough, just ask on NHC (see 3.3 - basics). Players will gladly help you out and tell you if you should re-roll or not.

2.5 CHOOSING A HOMETOWN

If your race has more than one town available to start in, you can choose a hometown. This is currently only the case for humans, who can start in Waterdeep, Calimport and Baldur's Gate. It is recommended to choose Waterdeep as this is the middle of the wheel where most everyone of good alignment is. Calimport and Baldur's Gate are much less populated and quite a distance off, you will be lost without help if you are new.

2.6 GROUPING RESTRICTIONS

Goods and evils cannot group. They can however trade and sell items.

All evils can group with all other evil races.

On the good side, there are a few limitations. Paladins and rangers cannot group with liches. This also means that they cannot be rejuvenated (made younger) like other classes, so as time goes by they will grow older, lose some hitpoints and regenerate moves/hitpoints at a slower rate.

3 THE GAME DYNAMICS

3.1 GENERAL STUFF

The world is based upon AD&D, The Forgotten Realms. This means it is a fantasy world, with swords, sorcery and monsters. There are many towns throughout it, which are usually safe to stay at and explore for those races on the same side. This means that humans can enter gnome towns and barbarians can enter halfling towns - but not the troll and other evil race hometowns. Towns are technically zones, but are usually referred to as, well, towns Image Most of the characters you see walking around town are npcs: non-player-characters (also referred to as 'mobiles' or 'mobs') This means that they are created and controlled by the mud and not by a player.

There are many towns in the game, one for each race players can choose to be, and some others as well. You can walk from one town to the next via are roads, which are often populated with other npcs.

Connected to these roads are non-town zones. These can be dangerous to enter, so be careful where you go. When in doubt, ask someone! The world will be daunting at first. Even after years of playing there will still be parts unknown to you! Your hometown will be very large and you won't know how to walk around in it, where the stores are, where you can rent, where aggressive mobs and zones are, etcetera. The best thing to do is to try to map it and learn its layout. In due time you will grow accustomed to the ways of the mud and it will all seem very simple Image

As mentioned above, the mud world is divided into zones. Type credits to see the different zones on the mud, and their general level range (don't enter a level 50's only zone if you are level 20, and not even if your are a lone level 50). Each zone can be considered stand alone in that the mobs in it do not leave their zone. So if you have to flee from a tracking mob, leave the zone - but more on that later.

3.2. I ROLLED A CHARACTER, WHAT NOW?

New characters start out in the newbie zone. In my opinion this is a confusing zone, and I wouldn't stay here very long. From the first room, go east (type 'east'' or 'e') and pick up a ball of fungus (type 'get all' or 'get ball'). This is a light. You will need one to see in the dark! It won't extinguish like a torch would, it's a permanent lightsource. You can also eat it, so you might want to take as many as you can! Type 'wear all' to put on the newbie armor and weapons. Now you can take more fungus balls since you made some room in your inventory. You can 'drop torch' (or lantern, in case your race starts out with lanterns instead of torches) twice since you won't need these anyway with a permanent lightsource. You can 'open bag' and 'put ball bag' to put some fungus balls into your bag, after which will be able to pick up a few more. You can also type 'put all.ball bag' to put all of them in with a single command. Get as many as you can, and remember to not eat all of them, save one and keep it in your inventory (type 'inv') so you have a permanent lightsource! Once you have the fungus balls, type 'recall'. You are now back in the newbie zone starting room. You can recall until you are level four, so if you get lost, feel free to use it. If you happen to enter the real mud world (your hometown), you cannot recall from inside buildings - go outside or find a road. Also, you cannot recall from certain zones, leave the zone if you can't and try again. From the newbie starting room after recalling, go west. There will be a bard standing there. Look at him (type 'look bard') and talk to him ('ask bard hello') - he will talk back! This is the start of a small tutorial. You can follow the cavern westward, and each mob will explain a bit about the world and how to make your fame in it. Once you have reached the end of it, type 'recall' again and 'enter sojourn'. You will now be in the guildmaster's room for your class in the hometown for your race. You will have to find your way out and into the world, meeting other people, learning the game basics and then go off and have fun.

Once you got the fungus balls and did the newbie tutorial in the newbie zone, enter the real mud. Practise your skills at your guildmaster (see 3.5), then explore your town a bit.

3.3 BASICS

Type 'help rules', don't do anything to break these. The staff try to make it as fun as possible and having to enforce them and punish people is no fun for anyone. Don't multiplay! The only time you can have 2 characters in the game, is in the same inn -to transfer equipment for example.

Firstly, if you are stuck, type something like 'nhc hello, I'm having a problem with XXX, what should I do?'. NHC ('newbie help channel) is a communications channel for newbies and newbie helpers, hopefully someone will help you. You can recognize a helper on NHC by the yellow (H) behind their name. To see who is a helper, type 'who helper'. There is another communications channel, OOC, which means Out Of Character. You cannot use this until you are level 3, and it is not meant to discuss MUD stuff on, it is for real life/tv/jokes/anything else. To use it once you are level 3, type 'OOC (blablabla)'. Also, you can 'toggle ACH' to turn on the arena channel.

Secondly: don't just lose link! This is important, as there is a chance that you may die and lose all your equipment! If you lose link, your character will remain in the game for 15 minutes until it 'voids' and you are vulerable to any attacks from mobs during this time. Find an inn! At the bottom of this document (section 3.9) is a brief description of the location of every town's inn. You can safely rent at no cost at the inn by typing 'rent'.

Type toggle roomsize and then 'look room' to see the room you are in. There is a room name, a room description, the room exits (a # behind a direction means it's a closed door) and possibly one or more mobs or other players there.

You will also see a line displaying something like this: < 31h/37H 105v/105V >
This is called the prompt. You can change it (we will in section 3.7), but for now this will be good enough. It shows your current hitpoints (h), maximum hitpoints (H), current (v) and maximum (V) moves. If you fight a mob and it hits you, your current hitpoints will go down. When you gain a level, your maximum hitpoints will rise. There are 50 levels.

To move, type east, west, north, south, up or down, depending on the room exits. Room exits with a # behind them are closed doors. If you walk into one, it will say 'the (doorname) is closed'. Type 'open (doorname) (direction)' to open it. (Doorname) can be door, doors, iron, wooden, huge, etcetera, and there is no way to tell until you try to go that direction. The (direction) is optional, but is needed if there are 2 doors with the same keyword in the room.

Some rooms you can only enter if you have a canoe or similar item in your inventory. Likewise, for some other rooms you need a fly spell or item which grants that.

To get something on the floor, type 'get (itemname)'. To try to wear it, type 'wear (itemname)', 'hold (itemname)' or 'wield (itemname)', depending on what kind of item it is. Type 'remove (itemname)' to remove something. 'Drop (itemname)' will drop something. Don't drop your newbie equipment, it will disappear!. To get an item from a container, type 'get (item) (container)'. Put it back in with 'put (item) (container)'.

Type 'equipment' to see what you are wearing. You can also just type 'eq', most commands can be abbreviated. What you are wearing will be basic now, but take a look at other players to see what the possible slots (places you can wear eq at) are. As you gain levels, you might find more eq, buy it, or be given some by other players.

Type 'who' to see who is in the game. The list shows their level, their name, their class and their race. Some people may choose to not be seen, they are 'anonymous'. However, if you know their name, you can type 'who (name)' and you will see them anyway. Invisible players are not seen either without the detect invisibility spell, and if you are an ultravision race (drow, duergar, illithid) you will not see players who are out in the daylight.


Walk around town, try to get a feel for the place. Don't leave it yet - just look around.

To communicate, type 'say (blabla)', everyone in the room will see this. To talk to someone in particular, use 'tell (name) (blabla)'. This will send your text (blabla) to player (name). To talk to mobs (see 3.10 on quests), use 'ask (name) (blabla)'. To let everyone see what you want to say, type 'shout (blabla)'. Everyone in the zone will see it. Note: shouting repeatedly is generally frowned upon, and the admins may remove your shouting priveledges for a while if you abuse it. People generally shout when they are trying to sell some equipment, or looking for a group.

To ask a god something, use 'petition (blabla)'. They might not respond if they are busy or for whatever other reasons they may have.

To get help on something, type 'help (topic/command)' or just 'help'. Be aware that some helpfiles may be outdated, incomplete or just missing.

To group with someone, type 'follow (playername)'. You will then be following them. He/she has to type 'group (yourname)' and you two will be grouped! Type 'group' to see the group information. To communicate with the group, use 'gsay (blabla)'. Another way for someone to group you, is if you type 'consent (name)'. They can now group you as well, but you will not follow them. Useful if they are not in the same room as you are. To stop following someone, type follow me. You will also stop following them, if they toggle their follow off, which means they no longer want anyone to be able to follow them.

A group can be maximum 15 players.

Group with others! You will find that you have a lot more fun and that you can do things you couldn't do alone. Getting experience will go faster, and you can't kill many mobs with eq alone. Send tells to anyone around your level on the same race side (type 'who [good/evil] 10-20 sort' for example, showing all goodies or evils between level 10 and 20) and ask them to group with you. Casters need warriors, and warriors need casters. Even if you have a good group going already and don't 'need' anyone else, consider letting someone who asks join. It's for the better of the mud eventually! Also, imagine you are the person asking, being refused and having nothing to do alone sucks! Image

Type 'practice' to see your skills.
Type 'attributes' to show your character's attributes.
Type 'score' for other character information.

To get onto a ship or ferry, type 'enter (shipname)'. To get off, type 'disembark'. Note that for some ships you need to buy a ticket first!

If you get the message "Naah.. You are too relaxed for that", type 'alert'. This means you have been resting for a bit and you need to tense up before you can move on.

Sometimes you may find or buy a scroll. Scrolls contain spells and can be used by all classes. To use a scroll, have it in your inventory and type 'recite (scrollname)'. If the spell requires a target, you will need to use 'recite (scrollname) (target)', for example an identify scroll works on an item, while combat spell scrolls require a mob as target.

Sometimes you will see message boards in rooms. These are a means to write and read notes on the game, sell equipment, etc. Type 'l board' to see the posts on it, and 'read board (postnumber)' to read a certain post. Type 'write (subject)' to post something, end the message with @@ on a new line.

Before you enter an unfamiliar zone, ask around what zone it is and if it is safe you go in there. Type 'credits' and look up the zone's level range. There is no definitive way to know the name of a new zone, but you can usually make a good guess. Another good thing to do is to add 10 levels to the high end limit, just to be safe. A lvl 10-30 zone just may contain level 40 mobs!

Important! Do not map with your equipped character, roll a newbie to explore. Chances are you die to a level 55 aggro monster and cannot get your hard-earned eq back.

Scan before walking in zones! Scan shows you what is in the rooms around you. Beware, if it is dark and you do not have infra/ultravision, you won't see if something is actually there! Also, some mobs may be invisible or hidden, and just plain not show up at all.

Don't walk around with too much money, it weighs you down a lot, worsens your armor class, may be stolen by mobs or you may die and be unable to retrieve it. Deposit it in the bank instead (see 3.7).

Sometimes while walking you will bump into a mob in a room with only two exits. This is called a single file room - to get past the mob you have to type 'recline' and then go in the direction you were heading. Once you've done that, type 'stand'. Note that when you typed your move, you didn't actually leave the room - instead you have moved past the mob. If there are 2 mobs in the room, you will have to move twice while reclined to get past them, etc. Take care when fighting in single file rooms as everyone behind you cannot help you assisting, and you cannot flee with people blocking the way behind you! Single file rooms usually contain '5ft' in the width or length and have only two exits (although not always), so it is possible to spot them in advance by typing 'look (direction)'. There are also teleport rooms, but these are pretty rare and only occur in higher level zones.

In addition to the standard communication means say, gsay, shout, whisper, ask and tell there is also mud mail. To list your messages, type mlist. To send a message, type mwrite (recipient) (subject) and +w on a new line to send it. To read a message, type mread (number). Delete it with mdel (number).

3.4 EATING & DRINKING

If you took the fungus balls from the newbie zone, type 'eat ball' to eat one. You should also have a waterskin or something similar with you. Type 'inventory' and look for a skin, waterskin, canteen or something like that. Type 'drink (containername)'. You can also drink from fountains. Towns always have one or more fountains and these are safe to drink from.

Don't drink from fountains in zones unless you know what's in, they may contain poison. Although usually not fatal unless you are low level, it's good to ask someone first!

Type 'look in (containername)' to see how full your drink container is. If it is almost empty, refill it! Go to a fountain and type 'pour out (containername)' to empty it, and then 'fill (containername) (fountainname)' to refill it. Alternatively, you can buy a full one in a store or ask a spellcaster to create a new one for you or fill an old one.

Always have some food and water with you. If you are hungry and thirsty, eat and drink. You cannot memorize spells when hungry or thirsty! Also, you will regain hitpoints and moves much slower.

3.5 TRAINING

After you leave the newbie zone by typing 'recall' and 'enter sojourn', you will be in your guildmaster's room in your hometown. Type 'practise' to see all the skills you can learn and at what price. Until level 8 you can practise for free. Before you head off into town, brush up your skills with your mentor.

Type 'prac (skillname)' to practise a skill. E.g. 'prac 1h slash' to practise 1h slashing.

You can do this a few times until you reach the maximum skill proficiency for your level.

After level 8 you have to pay for practising, the price depends on your level, your current skill proficiency and your charisma. For levels 1-20, practise whenever you gain a level! It will still be cheap and you NEED skills to be good at casting/fighting.

Don't worry about skills like mount and swimming. They are not pivotal, and they will notch by themselves when you use them.

After level 20 the prices start becoming more hefty - only pay for skills which are hard to notch, unless you can spare the money. All skills will rise automatically with regular use.

3.6 SCRIBING SPELLS

If you are a mage spellcaster, you will have to scribe your spells at your guildmaster. Type 'inventory' and look for the quill and spellbook in your inventory, or get them from a container if you put them in there. Free your hands by remove anything you are wielding or holding (e.g. 'remove dagger' and 'remove torch'), type 'hold quill' and 'hold spellbook'. Now type 'rest' at your guildmaster.

You are now ready to start scribing. Type 'practise' to see the available spells and choose one, for example magic missile. Type 'prac magic missile'. You will now start scribing. A first circle spell takes up one page, a second circle spell takes up two pages, etcetera, so you will need multiple books as you rise in power. When finished scribing, don't forget to remove the quill and spellbook and wield your dagger!

At level 1-5 you can scribe only first circle spells. As you gain in levels and power, you also rise in spell circles. At level 6 you are second circle and at level 46 you will be a tenth circle mage. So remember to scribe every time you gain access to a new circle! Scribing costs quite some money at higher circles.

Once you get higher level, you will want to have a spare set of spellbooks for in case you die and have to memorize spells to fight your way back to your corpse. Buy empty books, hold them and have the full book in your inventory. Scribe the spells into the new book from the old one and put the backup books safely on a storage character.

Priest spellcasters do not have to scribe - their deities grant them their spells as they level.

3.7 FIGHTING

IMPORTANT: do not fight people mobs in town! Fighting human (or other mobs of any race on your good/evil side) mobs in towns is not allowed by the guards and they will either attack and kill you, or drag you off to jail to see the judge! Instead, attack dogs, cats and stuff like that. Or, even better, go outside of the town and look for stuff to kill there, ask people what a good place is for your level.

Before you begin, type 'toggle'. This shows a list of options you can toggle. Type 'toggle vicious', turning your vicious flag on - this means you will kill monsters which are mortally wounded. Paladins cannot toggle vicious on but all other classes can. Type 'display all' to show as much info as possible in the prompt. If you want this on 1 line instead of two (which I personally find nicer), type 'display twoline'.

Wimpy is the amount of hp at which you wil automatically attempt to flee, if your hps fall below this amount. Toggle your wimpy to decent amount. Dying does no good, it is better to flee! Experience is hard to get and you will lose a quarter of a level every time you die. You don't lose experience from fleeing! If you have 30hp, put it at 10hp or something. If you have 500hp, put it at 100hp, or whatever else makes you feel safe.

Take care not to lose a level until you are level 26!. You will lose the maximum possible gain of hitpoints, which usually means you lose 1-5 permanent hitpoints. Since dying costs you around 26% of xp, don't do risky stuff until you are at least 30% into your current level. After level 26 you won't have this problem anymore.

Remember that if you die, you will reappear in your hometown, not the last place you rented. Thus, after you get your corpse, you will probably want to rent a town nearby you are so you don't repop in your hometown in case the mud crashes. E.g. Let's say you're a dwarf killing stuff around WD and you die. You will now be back in Mithril Hall, and if it crashes after you recover your corpse and you haven't rented, you will be back in MH again. So rent in WD after you CR!

To attack something, type 'kill (mobname)'.

Important! Before you attack something, look at how it compares to you by typing 'consider (mobname)'. This will give you an estimate of how tough it is. At level 1 look for something which considers 'a perfect match!', once you are level 2 or 3 'fairly easy' or 'easy'. These mobs will not hit you too hard, hopefully. Things which consider 'you would need some luck', 'you would need a lot of luck and great equipment!' might be possible, but it will be much harder and it's better to do these with a group. Things which consider 'are you mad?', 'you ARE mad!', 'Why don't you lie down and pretend you're dead?' or 'LAUGH! this thing will kill you so fast, it's not even funny!' will kill you very fast, so it is better to not even try.

If you find yourself in over your head, the mob is hitting you hard and you will probably lose, then flee! Most lower level mobs will not track you. However some may! This means that they will give chase if you flee after you fight them. If this happens, flee again and run out of the zone. 99% of the mobs do not track out of their zone, and you will be safe to heal up there.

Also before attacking a mob, 'glance (mobname)' to see what spells it has active. This is also a good way to see if a mob is a spellcaster - every spellcasting mob except clerics/shamans will have spells on them which they periodically recast once the old ones fade. If a mob has spells on it, you will want a basher to fight it! What the spell messages mean:

his form is blurred and difficult to make out! - blur, harder to hit.
his body seems to be made of stone! - stoneskin, will take no damage except critical hits until spell wears off.
his body is covered with golden scales! - dragonscales, improved version of stoneskin.
he is surrounded by a cluster of mirror images! - mirror image, mob will take no damage till all images are dead.
he is encased in a shimmering globe! - globe of invulnerability, mob will not be affected by lower level spells.
he's encased in killing ice! - ice shield, hitting the mob will cause you to take damage.
he is surrounded by burning flames! - fire shield, hitting the mob will cause you to take damage.
he is surrounded by an opaque shield - missile shield, does not affect regular combat or spells, just ranged combat (bow & arrow) from rangers and dire raiders.

Low level mobs won't have these spells (like lower level players, they are weaker) but after around level 20 be sure to glance unknown mobs first - this shows you some of their active spells.

When picking a mob to fight, take care that certain mobs will hit harder than others. Besides the mob's class affecting this, anothre important factor is its race. Just like player races, if a mob is stronger, it will hit harder. So ogres, dwarves, duergar, giants and the likes will hit you much harder than elves, halflings, humans etc. Good to know!

Also, note that some mobs assist other mobs. So if you hit one of them, another one may assist. If they are grouped (mobs can be grouped too) they may just all attack you!

After you attack something, combat will start. Combat is divided into rounds, both you (and your friends you may be grouped with) and the mob will have attacks every round. The prompt changes in combat, displaying the monster's name, the name of the person being hit, and both their status. Status can be 'perfect', 'few scratches', 'small wounds', 'few wounds', 'nasty wounds', 'pretty hurt', 'awful', and possiblye 'incapacitated'.

If someone in your group is mortally wounded (between -10 and 0 hitpoints), bandage them until they recover by typing 'bandage (playername)'. If you yourself are mortally wounded, it may take a while to die. To speed it up, type 'quit'. This will return you to your guildmaster. WARNING: Don't ever use quit unless you are mortally wounded with no hope of being bandaged or healed, your equipment will fall to the ground in any other case!

Keep an eye on if you fumble (lose) your weapon. Pick it up and wield it again, or you will do almost no damage. You may fumble a lot in the beginning, but a you rise in levels and skill, this will become less and less.

Always carry at least one backup weapon. It may happen that you fumble and your foe or another mob picks it up, you will need a second weapon to wield then since barehanded damage is negligable.

When fighting over water, be aware that weapons that do not float will be lost forever if you fumble them! To find out if a weapon floats, buy an identify scroll and 'recite scroll (item)' or ask around. If your weapon has the ITEM-FLAG "float", it will float.

If you are a warrior type, you can try to 'bash' or 'kick'. Keep in mind that these skills will almost always fail at lower levels. Also, a better (heavier) shield helps a lot when bashing. For now, don't worry about bash, unless someone else in the group is tanking. If you fail and fall, the mob will hit you harder, so stand up if you fall or are bashed by the mob! If you succeed, the mob is unable to use any skills or spells during 3 rounds and will take more damage as well. For now however, this is not worth the risk.

If you are a spellcaster, you will want to memorize the spells you scribed at your guildmaster. A priest type is granted the spells by his god and does not need to scribe. Mages type 'memorize (spellname)', for example 'memorize magic' to memorize magic missile. First you have to be resting, it helps to try to use your meditate skill too (cuts mem time in half if succesful). To memorize, you need the spellbooks in your inventory, they cannot be in a bag.
To recap: type 'sit', type 'memorize (spellname)', type 'meditate'. When your studies are complete, 'stand' up. Priests use 'pray' intead of 'mem'!

The spell(s) will now be in your memory and you can cast them by typing 'cast (spellname) (target)' - like 'cast 'magic' dog' to cast magic missile at a dog. The spell will now be out of your memory, you have to memorize it again. However, the MUD keeps track of the previously memorized spells - just type 'sit', 'med' and 'mem' or 'pray' this time and you will automatically rememorize the spells you have cast. To change a spell, for example if you want to cast minor creation to make a ration, type 'forget magic', and 'memorize minor'. Then mem as above. The magic missile 'slot' will now be used to memorize minor creation.

Spells are very weak at lower levels. Casters will have a hard time killing things. Try to find a warrior, (anti)paladin or rogue to group with! If you are a wizard type, you will want to memorize chill touch over magic missile because it does more damage. Once you reach level 6, you will fire more missiles, and at this point you will want to forget your chill touches in favor or memming missiles.

After you have killed a mob, type 'l in corpse'. Type 'get all corpse' to loot anything the mob may have had.

To loot something from the second or third corpse in the room, type 'get all 2.corpse', etc.

If you have some loot, you will want to wear it or try to sell it in a store. If you have money, put it in the bank! If you carry money, it will weigh you down, worsen your armor class and cause you to fight worse. Also you will need more movement points to walk!. Go to the bank and type 'deposit (amount) (cointype)', for example 'dep 10 copper'. You can 'withdraw (amount) (cointype)' later. It is safe in the bank, safer than when you carry it with you - some mobs steal and if you die and cannot get your corpse, you lose it.

If you die and have to loot] your player corpse, type 'get all pcorpse' or 'get all (yourname)'. If you cannot get to your corpse and a friend is there, type 'consent (friendname). He can now 'drag' your corpse back, or loot your items and give them back to you. If you have nice eq, be careful with consenting low level people you don't know - most people will gladly help you, but you never know for sure.

You will fight better as you rise in levels, get better equipment and weapons, and as your skills go up. When you level, go to your guildmaster and practise your skills - usually you can raise them another notch or two.

To get the best possible experience gain, kill mobs that are classed. This means they are flagged as a warrior, mage, rogue, etc. and have the accompanying skills. Because they have these skills they are slightly harder to kill, but you will get much more xp than killing classless mobs such as animals or generic mobs. You can usually tell if a mob is classed - e.g. warrior mobs bash, get multiple attacks, etc. Rabbits, squirrels and the likes are unclassed and give very poor xp rewards.

Although this will not be a problem during lower and mid levels, the spell and combat spam from bigger fights may cause your client to slow down, causing you to miss certain important combat messages (such as an opponent starting to cast an offensive spell). To avoid this, type toggle condensed. This allows you to configure exactly what kind of messages you want to see and what not, so you can customize the texts you receive.

As you kill things, your alignment will change. Alignment is a range from -1000 (evil) to 1000. -1000 to -350 is evil, -350 to 350 is neutral and 350 to 1000 is good. If you are a ranger or paladin, you have to remain of good alignment. You can do this by killing a lot of evil aligned mobs. If you want to remain evil, you should balance killing good mobs with evil mobs. Mind you, if you ever reach -1000, it will be pretty hard to come back to neutral or good, although it is possible. Evil races have -1000 alignment, no matter what, and they do not have to worry about this.

3.8 SHOPS

You can generally tell when a room is a store by the room name. For example "Dren's Fine Weaponry" is most likely a weapon store. To find out if it really is, type 'list' in the room to see what is available. Any item with a (*) behind it, is something your class cannot use - don't buy it. Buy something by typing 'buy (itemname)' or 'buy (the item number in list)'. If the store is closed, type 'time' to see how long till it opens.

See what you can get for something you want to sell by typing 'value (itemname)', then sell it via 'sell (itemname)'. More powerful items generally sell for much more to other players than in stores, so if you want to sell something nice try finding an interested player first. There is a special player board in all hometowns for selling and buying of equipment.

Some shopkeepers wander around, they have no fixed store. For example the peddlers in Bloodstone or the salesmen in Waterdeep.

In case there is more than one shopkeeper in a room, type 'list (mobname)'. For example if Dren and Brog are both shopkeepers in the same room, 'list' will only show the list of the first sopkeeper in the room. Type 'list brog' and 'list dren' to see their respective inventory. The only time this does not work, is when the wandering craftsman is in the room of another shopkeeper. This shopkeeper is special as he takes arguments, and you cannot use 'list (other's name)' to see what the other one sells - wait until he walks out again.


3.9 TOWNS

Waterdeep ('WD') - The human hometown, located centrally in the Sojourn world. An older hometown with not as much detail and ANSI as newer ones, it is nonetheless nice. Safe to wander around in. Populated heavily with other players. You can leave it through the north gate, towards dwarven and barbarian hometowns, east to a great many other parts of the world or south towards Baldur's Gate and Calimport. The west gate leads to the coast, where a ship towards Havenport may be from time to time. If one heads a little south from the market square, and then to the west, one enters the Waterdhavian docks. For a price, you can catch ships to the Moonshaes, Baldur's Gate and Calimport. Good things to kill if you are new: east outside of the town there are some easy mobs to slay (lvl 1-5). Go all east and you will run across them. Try to kill the clerics/bandits/warriors over the animals since they give you 2 or more times the experience! Also, the Faerie Forest (lvl 1-5) is situated a bit more east, just like Sedawi Village (lvl 7-15) and the Ant Farm (lvl 5-15). These are all safe for newbies to kill in. Beware! When going east, after you pass the magic gates (read the sign for a hint on how to open them), do not go south! There are some higher level aggressive mobs here. Another place for good experience is right inside WD, all south from Market Square, then one east, 3 or so south and all east. There is an old cemetery here, where newbies (lvl 1-5) can do very good xp. The gate opens by saying 'Torm'. The WD inn is located north in the center of town, 1n 1e 1u from the market square, which is at the intersection of Delzaren and Silks. You can buy food at 3north 2west 1south from the fountain.

Mithril Hall ('MH') - Dwarven hometown. Located up north, though not as far as the barbarian hometown. Not much to do here for newbies, so I recommend you make your way to Waterdeep. The town gates are all west on Bruenor's Way. Go one up from here, and then all south and follow the road south/east going south whenever you can. Get on the Luskan Ferry, and get off on the other side. Go through Neverwinter Wood and keep going south. You may die here a few times, there are some low level aggros (shambling mounds), just try to flee and keep going south if they hit you. When you reach the Northern Road, go east to the Road Crossing and all south from there - you will reach WD's north gates. The MH inn is nw in town, 2 south from Bruenor's way. Good things to kill if you are new: nothing.

Griffon's Nest ('GN') - Barbarian hometown. Furthest north of all towns. Nice hometown with lots of quests. Some aggressive monsters. Not much to do here either until you are higher level, make your way to WD too. You can leave town in the northeast corner towards the Spine of the World, or the southeast corner towards Lurkwood (you will need a canoe or fly spell if you go this way). There may be some big aggros on the Spine of the World and it is a tricky walk that takes a lot of movement points. Be prepared for some frustration... once you reach a room where you can go down, keep going down (it's like 3 down in total), if you see dwarven gateguards you will be in MH. Follow the directions to WD from MH above. The GN inn is on the upper level of town, northeast off Uthgard's Way. Things to kill if you are new: the small animals in town, rats, etcetera. Not too much though - head to WD.

Beluir - Halfling hometown. Located near WD. A tricky town, which is hard to navigate. Not much to do here, try to make your way to waterdeep. The gates are in the southern part of the town. From the gates, keep going westward, you will be in the Lava Tubes / Alterian Mountain Range. The way to WD is southwest past the buffaloes, ask for help on NHC if you need it - you will probably get lost a few times. The inn is in the middle of town on Main street, look for the door to the west, then it is 2w. Not much to kill if you are a newbie.

Baldur's Gate ('BG') - another human hometown. Port city in the south of the realms, you can reach it by boat, ferry or on foot by going south from WD. Has 2 gates - north to WD, and east towards the southern regions around Calimport. The inn is 1s 2e from the Watchful Shield Square, which is the intersection of Helms and Windspell. Good things to kill: stuff on the docks, but these are level 15-30. Nothing much for newbies.

Calimport ('CP') - another human hometown. Located all the way south, relatively near to BG and DK. Some big aggros to evil players, and aggros in the sewers under the city. Small hidden aggros around town too. The inn is west in town, 1e of the Square of the Djinn, which is on Trade Way. The town exit is northwest, which leads to the Calimshan Desert. Things to kill for newbies: rats, urchins, dogs and monkeys in the park west in town.

Ashrumite - Gnome hometown. This town is located halfway between WD and BG. Not much to kill for newbies, but outside of town are quite some low level animals (remember however that unclassed animals give very poor xp). The town exit is to the west. To make your way to WD, head all west out of town and follow the road to the Ako sign, which is a 3-way intersection. From here, go all north (watch out for the big aggressive giant on the hill, it will kill you if you don't run by fast) to some ruins. Head straight north through them, follow that road and you will enter WD through the southern gates.

[b]Bloodstone[/b
Guest

Postby Guest » Wed Oct 10, 2001 2:45 pm

Good Job Cherzra. Image

I will tell you that as of last Wednesday, the newbie book was written and the object created. It is up for review right now, and as soon as everyone is in agreement, it will become part of the game.

As per your request for input on this doc, I think this, combined with the newbie book we have now, would be a good start for a web based newbie book, which will follow the in-game book.

Cheers! *ruffle*

Lad
cherzra
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Postby cherzra » Wed Oct 10, 2001 2:52 pm

*snap*

snicker Image
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Postby Xyd » Wed Oct 10, 2001 3:30 pm

I never thought I'd say this... Cherzra, that was nice.

.xyd
rylan
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Postby rylan » Wed Oct 10, 2001 3:55 pm

damn nice job! Image
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Postby Ykor » Wed Oct 10, 2001 4:17 pm

Cherzra - this rocks ---- but, the main problem that I can forsee is the player who does not take the time to read the excellent resources that may be generated for them.

I know on other muds a little book is made and each new player gets one - I think something along the lines of a book with the above information as well as on-line help file help would be cool....

...but it all stems back to the fact that people want to get on and play 1st - learn as they go...


again - good stugg Cherzra


p.s. last minute idea - I know we have NHC helpers....what about ppl that could be designated and flagged as helpers - ppl who would take the time to show newbies around their hometown to lowbie zones etc...this idea prob already given...

Y
Gindipple
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Postby Gindipple » Wed Oct 10, 2001 4:22 pm

Type who helper, it was implemented a while back.

Good stuff cherzra, though I think newbies have it ok here myself.
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Postby kiryan » Thu Oct 11, 2001 11:54 am

we cant save people from themselves, the newbie book is a great idea, chezras contribution is awesome.

I think there needs to be a version that is aimed at people who want an opinion or a subjective evaluation of the options. Problem with most evaluations and newbie guides is that they use words that are not qualified so the new person has to make a judgement call.

Things like in the help yuanti about being lightning fast and genius intelligence may sway a person to play a yuan over a drow. If someone rolling an invoker read similar agility, intelligence, and hps to drow, lose 4 eq slots, have a hard home town, but arent blind during the day, then people could make an informed decision.

I also think you should rework the character rolling process. You should make your decisions in the below order and given advice/statistics each step...

a. play good races or evil races
b. which class you want to play
c. which race you want to play

Also, note that the options 1, and 2 are out of date in the current roller. Monks are still listed as a playable class under 1, and 2 makes references to outcast. I also think that drow should be added to the list of "*" races which designates the easy to play and good options for first time players list. Additionally, I think that Invokers, Clerics, and Warriors should get little "*" to indicate they are best classes for new players.
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Postby moritheil » Thu Oct 11, 2001 3:34 pm

Heh cherz...

I was writing a book on that. No joke. I was writing a book on how to mud, for complete beginners.

Wanna team up or something? :P
(I have a looooooong list of abbrev. compiled)
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Postby Abbayarra » Thu Oct 11, 2001 4:55 pm

Thank you Chezra,
I downloaded this document and my wife printed it out. I only returned to Sojourn after many years absent a few weeks ago and my wife is a complete newbie to mudding. We have read it from cover to cover several times. No more going to jail for her.
Thank you all for the help you keep giving us. No one can say this place is not newbie friendly. I can't play for several hours without someone wanting to help or give me something.
I want a special thank you to Gavry and the other Paladins who have fought each other to help my wife's very first character ever.
Thank you from all my heart!
TB
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Postby Zoldren » Thu Oct 11, 2001 5:01 pm

how bored were you Cherz? Image
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Postby Leaza » Fri Oct 12, 2001 7:55 pm

For Being a newbie still very much and finding it hard to ask *The questions I should already know and get responses without being made feel awkward*, I Thank you!!
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Postby gnerble » Fri Oct 12, 2001 8:25 pm

Nice job! Very thorough!

But you said I have a funny name! =P

Image
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Postby Vylare » Fri Oct 12, 2001 9:46 pm

I actually printed most of the old Sojourn webpage before it went down (yes, I am lame).
There is a list of abbreviations from there yall might be interested in incorporating into this document.
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Postby Turxx » Fri Oct 12, 2001 10:41 pm

i didnt read all of whut you put up as it doesnt pertain to me and i never read the long posts anyhow.
BUT...if i were to give one piece of advise to a newbie it would be choose a char whos hometown is either wd or dk, figure the games commands and basic workings out then make the char you really want to be.
rangers are good starter chars, lest you got you dark heart set on bein evil than make a drow warrior
i was a newbie once, it was almost too much for me. figure out how to play than roll your primary
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Postby Turxx » Fri Oct 12, 2001 10:47 pm

one more thing, even if you have an idea for a name you like, choose a generated one and then after your char exists petition for a name change to the one youve choosen, can be a long wait otherwise and if your name is cool its cool if its not its not, but a generated name needs no approval, tho sometimes they will ask you to change it, but heck with waiting on approval b4 you can even see the game, ask for it after you in the game. no infeariating wait, just cuz a god is on doesnt always mean they payin attention or arent preoccupied
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Postby Turxx » Fri Oct 12, 2001 10:51 pm

yes upon a quick read/scan i have to say that was about as helpfull and informative as it gets......
one thing though, you didnt mention the two best troll names in the game TURXX and GRXX! Image
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Postby Grxx » Fri Oct 12, 2001 11:42 pm

i know of a Grp too, trolls prolly the only race whut can pull a name without vowels off.

Trolls so ROCK!
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Postby cherzra » Sat Oct 13, 2001 4:52 pm

Could you send it to me pls Vylare?

cherzra@linkplaza.zzn.com
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Postby Kalidyn » Mon Oct 15, 2001 9:55 pm

I just wanted to say that I stared playing this 2 days after this post came up, and this is my first time playing any Muds and i just wanted to say that his was a great help. Thank and good work.
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Postby Nalet » Tue Oct 23, 2001 5:10 am

Very good post.....one addition I would throw in though is a guide to rolling a character. I pointed this to someone who was going to try out sojourn but didnt understand the different stats (ie what does con do, what should it be for this class, how is it effected by this race...etc...). If its in there we both missed it Image

Nalet Griffelmire
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cherzra
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Postby cherzra » Tue Oct 23, 2001 3:31 pm

Done!
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Postby Mishre » Wed Oct 24, 2001 8:18 am

You know.. after looking at that i realized.. That is what mud school SHOULD say.. (the majority of it) ppl who have played other muds ofcourse wont read it though so you should just give ppl a book or something and say, "read this if you haven't played Sojourn yet!" or, have it available when creating a char.. so they'll know what they'll need inorder to be succesful (Ofcourse, how difficult obtaining the first 5 levels is what matters to many people when looking for a new mud) if they can't kill some things within the first 30 mins (when you have to flee from mobs in mudschool it turns ppl away, really.. please tone that down, even if you have to kill more stuff it feels like you are getting somewhere if you are killing something)
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Postby Shaylot » Wed Oct 24, 2001 10:22 pm

Nice, post. i especially like the 2 letter thinggy.

bgr + tp could be added. <-most likely a lot more.

also, i have newer really figured out what zoning means. that could also be explained.
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Postby Mplor » Thu Oct 25, 2001 3:47 pm

Cherzra, that's great work. This is also a fantastic example of the many ways that we players can contribute to improving our game, aside from making myriad suggestions to the staff and then sitting back and waiting.

Yes I said myriad.
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Postby Sarvis » Thu Oct 25, 2001 4:14 pm

Isn't it a myriad of? *grin Ragorn*




[This message has been edited by Sarvis (edited 10-25-2001).]
Nida
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Postby Nida » Fri Oct 26, 2001 6:07 am

The word "myriad" contains the concept "of" already. Using "myriad of" is not only highly redundant, but will set every English major (including myself) that ever comes across you posting it again on a jihaad. We will track you down and eat your family.

^_^
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Postby moritheil » Sun Oct 28, 2001 5:21 am

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Shaylot:
<B>Nice, post. i especially like the 2 letter thinggy.

bgr + tp could be added. <-most likely a lot more.

also, i have newer really figured out what zoning means. that could also be explained.</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just wait for my book to be published Image

zoning is very different and best experienced rather than explained. Have you ever done eq mobs? Picture 3 hours+ of that.
User avatar
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Postby Shevarash » Tue Dec 11, 2001 9:04 pm

Hey, apologies for resurrecting an older thread, but I want to keep this on top so I can find it easily! Image

Cherzra - Do we still have your permission to post this on the website, credited to you of course?



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<B>Shevarash -- Code Forger of Sojourn3
</B>
cherzra
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Postby cherzra » Tue Dec 11, 2001 9:12 pm

You most certainly do! Maybe I'll go and update it at work tomorrow, let me see what I can add to it still Image
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Postby cherzra » Tue Dec 25, 2001 5:40 pm

updated with various stuff...
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Postby Frobakhal » Wed Dec 26, 2001 1:28 am

AWESOME WORK! I always knew Cherzra had a brain vastly different from most other trolls, but nobody believe me until now!

Xser.
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Postby cherzra » Fri Jan 04, 2002 3:59 pm

Updated again.
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Postby Shaylot » Tue Jan 08, 2002 10:19 pm

Mabye the correct place for this text would be in a seperat link from www.sojourn3.org. Some muds make small books they give players. But honestly, who reads them.

Many online-games have just a small entry on all races classes on their homepage as well as online. I know it is hell to keep up-to-date, but so is the in-game version.

I have also seen CGI that go directly into a mud and takes info on the fly for homepages, but I think it requires good understanding of the helpfiles.

/Shaylot
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Postby Treladian » Tue Jan 08, 2002 11:59 pm

3 things.

1) You forgot gnomes in the section on races, which seem to make better mages then elves.

2) Saying that grey elves make good rangers is very misleading, especially since only 3 races can be rangers. Dexterity is only slightly greater then a human's with the con penalty being much higher. Their tendency to die quickly compared to human and halfelf rangers is something that will frustrate newbies.

3) Rescue is agility based, not dex based.

Just 3 things that popped into my mind immediately while looking over the first few sections.

------------------
"Maybe I should stop and ask for directions . . ."
cherzra
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Postby cherzra » Wed Jan 09, 2002 8:06 am

1) I'll change it

2) Under recommended races for each class, I did list half-elf as the preferred race for rangers. However, I think greys are better rangers than humans, which is why I also labeled them as good rangers in their short race description, while I did not for humans. Maybe just my opinion Image

3) I'll change this too.

Thanks for the comments! If you find more things wrong with it, please let me know!
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Postby Gort » Wed Jan 09, 2002 2:34 pm

Great work Cherzra, serious contribution, Kudos to you!

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Postby Treladian » Wed Jan 09, 2002 10:25 pm

Speaking from experience from having played both grey and halfelf rangers, I'd still recommend changing it. There's only 1 worthwhile piece of high level ranger eq that's really worth using, windy, but the 100 hitpoints difference is going to be a big equalizer for human rangers especially since ranged weaponry is the primary tool for rangers now. The moonblade and elf store bow are fairly easy to either upgrade or just get better versions of as either elf/halfelf or human. Also, humans can do more with max_stat eq, which may be worth mentioning.

------------------
"Maybe I should stop and ask for directions . . ."
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Postby combatmedic » Thu Jan 10, 2002 1:07 am

Great Post Chez!

Don't know what i would have done without the "Newbie Help Document"! Thx to the "Newbie Help Document", I now have a level 27 paladin after just 3 short weeks! I can't wait till i get my next issue of the "Newbie Help Document", so i can learn many more great tips and methods to survive in the cold cruel world that we know as Sojourn. You too can have a spanky good character too if you read Chez's "Newbie Help Document", order one today! (In the spirit of ALL wieght loss commercials =P )

But really, this is a great thread!



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Aram the novice paly
cherzra
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Postby cherzra » Fri Jan 25, 2002 2:24 pm

Bump.

Updated.

If you think this is worthwile for new players, how about making a nice big 'NEWBIE HELP!' button on the main web page that links to the document? Day in day out people ask questions on NHC that are answered in here, and having to keep pointing them to this page grows tiresome.
Colje
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Postby Colje » Tue Feb 26, 2002 1:43 pm

Bump!

I think this newbie help deserv more credit then what it got so far!
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Postby ssar » Sun Mar 03, 2002 12:59 am

Indeed, this is an outstanding document Cherzra!

It is an excellent reference for newer and not-so-new players alike, and I often ask new players to read it if they havent, when able.

Great work updating it etc. Image


Mogr -=BloodSeeker=- Northern Star
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Postby Guest » Sun Mar 03, 2002 2:26 pm

This is outstanding, two thumbs up Cherzra!

Abba is right, it could be said that the People of Sojourn are among the most supportive of any on the Internet. The mud itself is still not 'intuitive' as on-line games go - it takes quite alot of learning to understand the complexities of our world. That turns alot of people off who are only interested in picking up a weapon and attacking. But for those willing to read through your document, I'm willing to bet that we will/would keep quite a few players from this document alone.

Cherzra has left his mark on Sojourn today.. with my thanks!

Miax
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Postby Disoputlip » Sun Mar 03, 2002 7:50 pm

TK - troll king (no idea where it is though)

Wanker - word maily used about afk trolls


/Disoputlip

[This message has been edited by Disoputlip (edited 03-03-2002).]
ssar
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Postby ssar » Sat May 04, 2002 12:10 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by cherzra:
<B>Bump.

Updated.

If you think this is worthwile for new players, how about making a nice big 'NEWBIE HELP!' button on the main web page that links to the document? Day in day out people ask questions on NHC that are answered in here, and having to keep pointing them to this page grows tiresome.

</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

.bump.

Some sort of inclusion of this document in it's own page on the soj3 site, or something, might be a good idea..
To save folks having to search for it etc.

------------------
Mogr -=BloodSeeker=-
Beer. More Beer.
Zoldren
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Postby Zoldren » Thu May 09, 2002 3:18 pm

I pulled a rogue!

Bump

Make it a web page link. and up date gods and news :P
Azenilsee
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Postby Azenilsee » Wed May 29, 2002 4:54 pm

Bump.

People new to the mud may need a lot of handholding, and sometimes helpers don't have the time at that moment to help. This document helps out a lot.


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Azenilsee - Faern Dalharil - Orbdrin D'Oloth
Zoldren
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Postby Zoldren » Mon Jun 03, 2002 2:30 pm

pink bump
Karikhan
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Postby Karikhan » Mon Jun 03, 2002 8:08 pm

Ambar bump with a different kick ..

lets make an area for thgis document ... and lock it ... so that its alwasy avaliable .. or add a newbie help area on the BBS ????



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Ambar -= Big Pimpin' =-
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Postby Disoputlip » Sun Jun 09, 2002 9:53 am

RC - Road Crossing where Tern road meets North Road

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