Abusing my status as a noobie to ask dumb questions

[gfair]

Arm challenges us in a lot of ways early on, it has a learning curve that is steep, but also long.  And yet we all get to do it, we all get to make mistakes, so perhaps rule zero ought to be: don't stress, just play, you'll get the hang of it.

As a Newbie, here's what I did:

1. Just create a basic character, and get time in game.

2. Read every page on the Armageddon site. Every single one. Re-read all the Intro stuff. There is plenty to learn and understand that you won't pick up on so early on, but re-reads will reveal additional insight.  As a newbie I had Arm open in one window, and the Arm website in the other. During slow times, I'd read about the game.  I'm still re-reading pages these days.

3. Eliminate use of OOC absolutely as much as possible.  This is a big one for new players, they either try to play a character that makes no mistakes, so all mistakes are corrected with OOC, or they rely on OOC as a crutch to communicate what they don't know how to say in-character.  Don't do either of these things, play out your mistakes in character. The world won't end if you make a mistake or two.

- Attacked the wrong person in sparring practice?  Tell them they got in the way.

- Spoke or emoted to the wrong person?  You got distracted.

Forcing yourself to find IC ways of explaining how you could have made a mistake will help you think more quickly on the spot and help you uncover a broader skill set of roleplay.

4. In addition to reading RP guides, read up on some of the techniques actors use to play characters.  For example, when I was struggling to play better characters, I began reading about "method" acting and tried to use techniques like that to help embed myself in the mind and world of the character more. I found that by eliminating OOC distractions and trying to understand the world as if I lived in it, it made me interact with the world of Arm more realistically and truthfully. No matter what commands you use, as long as you can see the world of Zalanthas as if it were real (which is why I like the Visualizing Zalanthas thread so much), you will play better.

Visualizing Zalanthas: http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,10535.0.html

[Morrolan]

wise things

+1

Excellent post

[RogueGunslinger]

3. Eliminate use of OOC absolutely as much as possible.  This is a big one for new players, they either try to play a character that makes no mistakes, so all mistakes are corrected with OOC, or they rely on OOC as a crutch to communicate what they don't know how to say in-character.  Don't do either of these things, play out your mistakes in character. The world won't end if you make a mistake or two.

- Attacked the wrong person in sparring practice?  Tell them they got in the way.

- Spoke or emoted to the wrong person?  You got distracted.

Forcing yourself to find IC ways of explaining how you could have made a mistake will help you think more quickly on the spot and help you uncover a broader skill set of roleplay.

I'm 50/50 with you on this one. If you can find an easy, simple IC reasoning for your OOC mistake then sure, use that. But there are plenty of instances where things simply would not happen with your character, and in those instances it's perfectly okay to OOC: 'Hey I didn't mean to kiss that templar, I meant to look at him.'

It can be incredibly frustrating making a mistake like that as a newbie and then getting tons of shit(even death) for it in the game.

[gfair]

I'm 50/50 with you on this one. If you can find an easy, simple IC reasoning for your OOC mistake then sure, use that. But there are plenty of instances where things simply would not happen with your character, and in those instances it's perfectly okay to OOC: 'Hey I didn't mean to kiss that templar, I meant to look at him.'

It can be incredibly frustrating making a mistake like that as a newbie and then getting tons of shit(even death) for it in the game.

If you're 50/50 with me on this then your approach might need some improvement as well.  If you make a grave mistake with substantial potential consequences, try these steps:

1. Play it out. Look how obvious your previous mistakes have been: did you suffer severe consequences from them? Nope. Chances are your mistake can be played out. Your fellow players are smart, they recognize mistakes, they know mistakes happen. Play it out and take a chance. The destinies of our characters shouldn't always be in our hands, they sometimes deserve a life of their own, so play it out.  If your character gets carted off it's very likely you might be forgiven round the corner for whatever you did.

2. If you aren't forgiven for the mistake in your first two responses / apologies to it, then that is the time to use OOC.

The point is: give a chance for your mistakes to live. OOC kills them before they have any chance to be played out. Mistakes are a heck of a lot of fun. Let them live, and only resort to OOC when you absolutely have to.  This has worked for me with mixed success - but the satisfaction of giving the mistakes the freedom to live in the world is its own satisfaction.

[Riya OniSenshi]

Most important thing for a newb to do in game:

>alias k keyword

[catchall]

The k/kiss issue has been fixed for a while now.  k already invokes keyword by default.

[Bogre]

I aliased k kill once.

Twas lovely.

[Wastrel]

I aliased k kill once.

Twas lovely.

We got ourselves a badass here folks.

Anyway, thanks for the tips everyone, despite being dead again I made a new character in an environment I really like and an archtype I really think I'll enjoy playing. I'll do my best to not suck.

[Norcal]

This is my current prompt:
Prompt %h hp/%H ;%v mv/%V ; %t st/%T ; %m ma/%M ; \n ; |%s | ;%A | ; |%e| ; |%o|; |%w| >

I usually use the same one for all my chars and I ignore the information I don't need.

If you use CMUD you have to turn off Parse and triggers before you can input all of the above (under the options tab).

[Valincio]

How do you find out the tools you'll need for a crafting skill?

[ShaLeah]

How do you find out the tools you'll need for a crafting skill?

There are tool shops everywhere that's populated. I (seriously) went there, typed 'list' and then googled everything.

[bcw81]

How do you find out the tools you'll need for a crafting skill?

The tool is generally not used in the recipe, just FYI.

[ShaLeah]

How do you find out the tools you'll need for a crafting skill?

The tool is generally not used in the recipe, just FYI.

Right, it's a roleplaying tool, because let's face it, how can you cook without a frying pan? How can you make an dress without a needle and thread?

[RogueGunslinger]

'assess -v tool' will tell you what that tool is generally used in aiding.