How to get into Armageddon?

[Qew]

 I've asked a couple of questions, and assuming that the people who responded knew what they were talking about -Which I'm sure they do- then that will prove helpful, that is, when I actually get into this.

I studied a bit of the lore, played a few minutes of it, but I'm having trouble getting into it, It's not that I dislike any of the aspects of the MUD, I'm sure I'll find something to complain about sooner or later, but yeah, I guess I should get to the point of this topic. How did you first get into all this? How? What interested you? Maybe even tell of interesting events that happend to you as to help us new players get a "feel" per say.

[mansa]

There's some logs on the website here:
http://armageddon.org/original/type/Logs



I had a character in a log there.  Marin.  He's in the log titled Zan.


I also suggest to read the logs done by Ghost/Eru called The Criminal.

[Maso]

Omg. There are Marin and Ghost logs on there!?

*dives*

[Maso]

And more on topic...stick with it. Also, read stuff...read the room descriptions properly from time to time. Wait for the world to click into place...and for your first omgwtfbbq encounter. Then say goodbye to your free time. :/

[slvrmoontiger]

Room descriptions change from time time and depending on what time of day it is also.

I first started playing Arm when I was in college. I liked the idea that when I was stressed and having a bad day at school I could put myself into a role and free myself from all of that. I enjoy Role Playing so I think that's what really got me into it. I've been on and off playing for the better part of probably twenty years or so.

[Harmless]

For me it was a mentorship or two I made across PCs with more experienced/talented players, who knew how to artfully play out the world around them. They both died a few weeks into getting to know my character, so I had a LOT of starts and stops. My own deaths also created a lot of issues in getting "into it." But eventually, over a sum of characters, I think I started to get it, and be comfortable enough that I could contribute... something, back.

The perfect balance in a mentor, by the way, is someone who is experienced, but still enthusiastic about their abilities and knowledge, and willing to share it. Not too old and grizzled, because they won't have the same time to help you.

Players like those helped me explore what my character might be like in the virtual world.

My final advice? Be humble. Your most useful mentor doesn't like you, they actually hate your guts. But that's the mentor you need. Keep that mentality in mind, and you'll be more likely to make a bond in game. Be very humble, learning this game well is a years long process. Don't overassert yourself. You may think you know a lot, but you never know enough. Also, welcome to Armageddon.

edited to add: my final advice is just my opinion. I say this because, though it's nice to have a mentor that likes your PC, it happens just as often that they won't, and doing well and learning often requires getting past that issue. This is particularly helpful in organizations that have military themes, classically, the Byn, which I have seen discourage new players from the harsh and gritty behaviors there. So... that's why I give that advice.

[slvrmoontiger]

I definitely have to agree with the fact that you never learn it or know it all. I am always learning new things. Each new PC is a learning experience. Also part of the fun of the game.

[hatchets]

Getting into Arm can be really hard. there are alot of IC rules that relate to OOC aspects of different clans that often just break the game, atleast for me as a new player (Really so I am a 70 year old dwarf whom has a background as a caravan guard and now I can't go outside the gates cause I don't have my skills trained high enough?)

And even once you get past that, it can become hard. If you can't find a player or two whom match up on your playtimes that you can interact with regularly it will always be tough to enjoy playing.

[najdorf]

Getting involved in a little bit of everything can be confusing at start, also demotivating. Therefore, I recommend shrinking your RP universe. Byn is a very good option, for both combat & non-combat roles. You can focus on the life of a mercenary with limited interaction with the outer world and city politics. That helped me keep my interest at peak when I first started. Could have been confused and annoyed otherwise.

[catchall]

Really so I am a 70 year old dwarf whom has a background as a caravan guard and now I can't go outside the gates cause I don't have my skills trained high enough?

On the flipside, maybe don't roll a 70 year old dwarf with a background as an expert caravan guard if you can't back up that knowledge. (I'm not trying to be snarky or pick on you here, there's nothing wrong with rolling such a character, but I would advise against especially it for new players.)  Some players write PCs with backgrounds of being a total badass and feel it's unfair or OOC that their PC doesn't have the skills to match their background when they get in game.  You can't expect special treatment and exemptions from clan rules as an experienced badass if all your experience is virtual and no actually existing PC can vouch for that experience.  In my opinion backgrounds fall under the "talk is cheap" principal.  Everything in a PC background conveniently happens however the player decides it happens.  What really counts is what is actually achieved in game against the dynamic obstacles and unexpected situations that the gameworld provides.  Want to play an expert 70 year old caravan guard?  Roll a 30-year old wannabe caravan guard and get there by experience.

One thing I think can be a good idea for many new players is rolling young (i.e. teenager) PCs.  This goes directly against advice you'll even see in chargen to pick a character at the middle of the age range for better stats and "survivability."  Honestly, if you're planning to put that new PC in combat situations where they will be relying on their stats to survive, they're probably going to die anyway, especially if you're a new player.  If you roll a teenager, yeah, most of your stats will probably suck until the PC ages into adulthood, but maybe that will help postpone the temptation to get into deadly situations right away.  As a teen PC, you have IC reason to be a bit clueless, impulsive, fickle, reckless, etc, all of which fit nicely with a player who's also trying to get a feel for the world and try out different things.  You and your PC can discover the world together.

You're bound to get a lot of contradictory advice on this thread, because players have very different ways of approaching the game, and what works for one player won't necessarily work for another (My experience as a newbie is almost exactly the opposite of najdorf's: getting involved in a little bit of everything was what hooked me, and being trapped with the same few people in a scheduled clan bored me senseless, made me feel like I was stuck with the same few clanmates who saw me do embarrassing newbie mistakes, and drove me away from the game for a good while).  But if you take all these different viewpoints, some of them will hopefully resonate for you more than others and give you an idea of the different approaches you can follow

[slvrmoontiger]

This is exactly why I keep my background bio's short and simple. I put in enough for the staff to get an idea of how the character was raised and what its hopes and goals are. I never note virtual experience that I know isn't going to be put into affect as soon as the PC starts out. Kind of hard to do this as a new player because you don't know what skill or levels you will start with. So focus on simple easy things and then move on IG from there.

[ShaLeah]

I think Arm is much easier to get into than my chosen character. Sometimes we just don't mesh and it makes living in the gameworld pretty unbearable.

My first character was hired off the bat to be the muscle for someone, said someone took me shopping and ooc'd me to show me how to look at the items individually. I saw lots of weapons until I laid eyes on a dagger and that was it. -I- could see it in my head and it fit perfectly with my character's very vague background whose details I had worked out but kept to myself. That kept my interest.

Then my employer disappeared and I would spend day after day (week after week) waiting for him in the Gaj. One of Tlaloc's characters took pity on my newb self and sent me to the Byn. Instant camaraderie, instant enemies, friends, routine, learning of the game world. I can't tell you how hard my heart was pounding the first time we went outside the gates. Back then your mount wouldn't move at all when you sucked at riding. I was terrified. We may have encountered two scrabs with a group of like 10 pcs (no lie). 

If it's not the mechanics and the environment, it just might be the asshole/idiot/wuss/princess you're playing.

[AreteX]

Every one of my characters goes through a process where I need to get into Armageddon again.  This isn't just a newbie thing for me, it happens with every new character.

It takes a certain moment of interaction where for whatever reason the passion for that character spikes up and then from that point on you're hooked.  The first few hours can be really trying sometimes, but if you just talk to people and interact you will get sucked into some type of meaningful action and then decide you enjoy this character and this Mud.

[Delirium]

It helps to have an overarching theme or broad goal for your character, to provide hooks for yourself to get into their mind.

Didn't Zoltan write up a fantastic RP guide along those lines?

[IntuitiveApathy]

edited to add: my final advice is just my opinion. I say this because, though it's nice to have a mentor that likes your PC, it happens just as often that they won't, and doing well and learning often requires getting past that issue. This is particularly helpful in organizations that have military themes, classically, the Byn, which I have seen discourage new players from the harsh and gritty behaviors there. So... that's why I give that advice.

I think you've got a strange opinion of the Byn - mine is quite opposite, in that it's a great place for newbies to get a feel for the world, since out of all the player clans, it's one of the more harsh and gritty available.

[Riev]

edited to add: my final advice is just my opinion. I say this because, though it's nice to have a mentor that likes your PC, it happens just as often that they won't, and doing well and learning often requires getting past that issue. This is particularly helpful in organizations that have military themes, classically, the Byn, which I have seen discourage new players from the harsh and gritty behaviors there. So... that's why I give that advice.

I think you've got a strange opinion of the Byn - mine is quite opposite, in that it's a great place for newbies to get a feel for the world, since out of all the player clans, it's one of the more harsh and gritty available.

Typically, it also enforces strict adherence to rules, and gives a real sense of the virtual world. You go into the 'rinth? Thats a paddling. Smell like spice? Thats a paddling. Beat that breed too hard? Not so much a paddling. Skip chores because they're not codedly affecting your character? Thats a paddling.

[Harmless]

Yeah, and my opinion of the Byn is that it IS great for noobs as well, intuitiveapathy. But i can list times I've seen people (including myself when I was newer) show a lot of grief, OOC grief, that is, when their PC was kicked out or punished for doing xyz. My advice was targeted at them.

[Zoltan]

It helps to have an overarching theme or broad goal for your character, to provide hooks for yourself to get into their mind.

Didn't Zoltan write up a fantastic RP guide along those lines?

Someone read that? 

http://www.armageddon.org/original/type/Documentation "Creating and Playing a Complex Character"

[Rhyden]

Yeah, and my opinion of the Byn is that it IS great for noobs as well, intuitiveapathy. But i can list times I've seen people (including myself when I was newer) show a lot of grief, OOC grief, that is, when their PC was kicked out or punished for doing xyz. My advice was targeted at them.

If your PC was kicked out or punished, there was probably a reason. That's the gritty + harsh behaviours for you. I never understood the grittiness of Arm -until- I finally joined the Byn.

[Harmless]

Yeah, and my opinion of the Byn is that it IS great for noobs as well, intuitiveapathy. But i can list times I've seen people (including myself when I was newer) show a lot of grief, OOC grief, that is, when their PC was kicked out or punished for doing xyz. My advice was targeted at them.

If your PC was kicked out or punished, there was probably a reason. That's the gritty + harsh behaviours for you. I never understood the grittiness of Arm -until- I finally joined the Byn.

Indeed. I learned a lot with my bynners.