A Detailed List of Races/Skills/Guild/Sub-Guilds...

[Jherlen]

"Gimping" sort of implies that certain guild/subguild combos are unquestionably better than others, which may or may not be true, but certainly wouldn't be realized either way except on a very very long lived PC (we're talking at least 50 days played if not more.) It's kind of the wrong mindset to approach character creation with. Skills you gain from your subguild will not, typically, be able to rise as high as skills you gain from your main guild. They mostly add some flavor to your character and give you something to be okay at when you're brand new and most of your skills are novice level.

We really should call out permadeath in the getting started guide or make it more prominent in the website somewhere! It is definitely one of the defining features of the game. If you take risks, you will die often. If you take fewer risks, you may live a while. Some players have lived for a year or more on their first character without dying, though they tend to be city-based social/merchant types. As a ranger, well, I hope you will be so lucky, but the odds are not as much in your favor.

One last bit of advice: half-elves are socially shunned, restricted from employment in many clans, and tend to be picked on more by just about everyone. You will probably find it harder to make friends and get people to help you in game. Play one at your own risk.

[Fujikoma]

Half-elves are just picked on because roundears are jealous of their good looks and endowments. They also start with some ability in the most beautiful language in the known. You can't blame them for being jealous. They also ride better than most others, just ask the ladies, or guys if you're into that, who've been there.

Yes, half elves can be difficult to play because of the half-elven mindset. I'd strongly recommend reading the docs and seriously consider the mood issues and the social stigma you'll face as a result of being one before apping one. That said, you can choose to make your breed look more like a human, or more like an elf, although the latter illusion will likely be destroyed the second you hop on a mount, and the former only after many strange, authentically half-elven actions.

There's a lot of disagreement as to how the docs are interpreted... I tend to interpret them rather liberally, but I'm literally terrible at this game so don't take any of my advice.

[a french mans shirt]

Maybe roll a pair of real dice to determine a random guild/subguild combo? Occasionally, if I'm not particularly focused on being something that would need a skillset, I just pick whatever. Its fun to learn that something you were never interested in trying is now your second favorite thing, which has happened to me like four times, with regards to guilds and subguilds.

[Quirk]

I actually agree that knowing the starting skills for main guilds would be a really good idea. Leave the discovery to 'what will I branch to' and not 'what skills appear on my sheet after my character is approved'.

I absolutely think players should know what skills will be on their begining skills lists, because they might have actually written references to these skills in their background or they might have a plan for a character and find out after character generation that they don't even have the basic skillset to do what they intended.

That said, I'm not advocating for the list format over the paragraph format, and the subguild descriptions I think are fine. What I think would be best for new players is for the main guilds to follow the subguild's example.

Exactly!  However, even some sub-guilds only have two sentence long descriptions.  I would assume there is a lot more to these guilds than that.

Save for branching skills, the main guilds are the same way. If you find a skill where this is not true then staff can fix it if you send in a request or typo/bug/idea it.

Mmm, this is not quite true.

The helpfile springing to my mind at present is "help merchant", which mentions a handful of merchant skills, and is exceedingly vague about the crafting ones. This would be useful, for as it happens the initial crafting skills are not well supported in all starting locations, and I can think of at least one starting location where every initial crafting skill is to all intents and purposes wholly unsupported. To add insult to injury, the helpfile goes on to suggest "Merchant is one of the three guilds that are _highly recommended_ for new players to choose," which rather contradicts help FAQ 3, which states "Merchants are quite possibly the hardest guild to play, even more so than defilers. The life of a merchant is extremely hard unless he/she knows the land very well, and he/she must have a good working knowledge of the trading possibilities in the world early on or he/she will starve." The truth probably lies somewhere inbetween, and is very dependent on location and clanned/unclanned status.

This is a not uncommon problem, I think - there are a number of very basic helpfiles relevant to the new player which haven't been given any serious attention in many years and can be quite misleading. To make a brief run through some easily spotted offenders:

Master warriors are sometimes unwillingly and automatically nominated as leaders of small armies, or as captains of tribes and outposts.

Leadership in the game is largely orthogonal to combat ability, a correlation existing only in as much as that old characters tend to have accumulated both political connections and combat skills.
It should also be noted, looking at the same helpfile, that while suggesting a warrior can be employed as a spy is fine, it's true in the sense that anyone can be a spy; they're not particularly suited to it, code-wise.

The luckiest will find a permanent contract with a powerful organization as a bard, spy, thief, assassin, or all four.

Bard is the entry that seems somewhat out of context here, particularly given how bardic culture has been fleshed out with regard to the North.

Warriors are the easiest persons to employ.

Assassins are often the simplest people to employ...

Fight!

I've dug into the issues with the city elf roleplay helpfile sufficiently in the Catching Up: City Elves thread, so no need to revisit it here.

With the guilds in particular though the big issue is how the descriptions disconnect from how the game is mostly played. There are the in-game jobs - like aide, artisan, bard, beggar, grebber, guard, hunter, soldier, etc - and the guilds, and the mapping varies in obviousness. I have a strong suspicion that a very large proportion of players entering the game with shady guilds end up in not particularly shady roles. That's fine. The experienced player looking to make an aide might consider the advantages of a burglar - some combat skill, some information-gathering ability - against a merchant or even an assassin. The new player sees "burglar" and "assassin" and "pickpocket" and gets a strong push in the direction of criminal RP, which the helpfiles for these guilds do nothing to discourage. I strongly feel it should be discouraged - having a newbie pickpocket pop, fail to steal something, and get jammed into jail feels like a great way to dissuade a new player from further experimentation with the MUD. We do attempt to push them into warrior/ranger/merchant through the page on the character generation process, but even sticking to those three, merchant is arguably worse described than the criminal guilds and comes with some serious challenges that can make it a very bad choice for an off-peak newbie in particular.

I do think we could do better. I don't think exhaustive skill lists are necessarily the answer, but there is a fair quantity of "veteran" knowledge which is essentially workarounds for the way the code is and the way the game world is implemented, knowledge that cannot be defended by "preserving the joy of discovery" or "keeping IC secrets secret". Having to get to the point that you have that knowledge and are relatively insulated from making painfully bad choices is a hurdle for new players, and I'm willing to bet a decent number get winnowed out by it. The more we can do to align the expectations with the new player with what they encounter when they enter the game, the better.

[Jherlen]

+1 to Quirk's post. Very good insights.

[slvrmoontiger]

A few RL months just to get the hang of the mechanics is a bit of a long time for me.  However, I had from the start narrowed it down to a Half-Elf Ranger.  It was just I was worried about my sub-guild over lapping.  Scavenger, Rebel, Guard, Physician among a couple others all have what Rangers have to begin with, but with a little added extra incentive or better multiplying for said needed skills.  I do not do crafting generally, but I can see me role playing a black smith if I want to settle down some where in the future... Regardless, I just was not sure if only Scavengers can really climb a rope or go into a cave, how well a Rebels could fix their armour or even if spears and especially knives were useful in the game to be made in the first place. (Same with Mercenary...)  Rangers already have basic healing, so I was not sure how convenient or purposefully stacking a Physician would be and as far as Bards were concerned, I did not know if they worked the same as they do in other games, help supporting their group with magic songs, but I was told that music is all RPing based so that is a no no unless their language skill is even better than a Linguist, but I should doubt that.
[/quote]

I would have to very strongly advise against playing a half-elf as a new player. Half-elves are not only a challenge because NO one likes them, but also because RP in and of itself is VERY challenging as a half-elf. If you still do decide to pick one please make absolutely certain of the following:

1) You read and re-read and even read five or more times the half-elf RP file.
2) You completely understand the fact that not a lot of people are going to help you and in fact most will be mean and rude to you. This is a simple fact of life on Zalanthas.
3) You will not find anyone that will hire you again a simple fact of life on Zalanthas.
4) The Known believes that you are some crazy fuck up regardless of how you came into the world. It is your fault.

Good Luck and I look forward to some new boots!

[Mad Max]

Half-elves are just picked on because roundears are jealous of their good looks and endowments. They also start with some ability in the most beautiful language in the known. You can't blame them for being jealous. They also ride better than most others, just ask the ladies, or guys if you're into that, who've been there.

Yes, half elves can be difficult to play because of the half-elven mindset. I'd strongly recommend reading the docs and seriously consider the mood issues and the social stigma you'll face as a result of being one before apping one. That said, you can choose to make your breed look more like a human, or more like an elf, although the latter illusion will likely be destroyed the second you hop on a mount, and the former only after many strange, authentically half-elven actions.

There's a lot of disagreement as to how the docs are interpreted... I tend to interpret them rather liberally, but I'm literally terrible at this game so don't take any of my advice.

You see I was thinking the same thing, so for my short description I submitted "The well endowed, third legged half-breed..." I just hope it gets approved... 

I already have my character, seeming at first glance, indistinguishable from a rather tall male human or a medium Half-Elf... or at least that was what was in my mind, I am not used to inches and especially not to stones... I also made it not aware of being able to see pointed ears, etc. in the long description, however I am not sure if the game will auto tag me as a HE from the start, thus all my efforts to secrecy for RP purposes is wasted.  Good idea about the mount riding though... I remember reading Pure Bloods do not, I did not really think about haphazardly riding a mount and making it obvious...  I should probably hide the beast of burden somewhere when visiting a town... Hmmm...

[Narf]

I actually agree that knowing the starting skills for main guilds would be a really good idea. Leave the discovery to 'what will I branch to' and not 'what skills appear on my sheet after my character is approved'.

I absolutely think players should know what skills will be on their begining skills lists, because they might have actually written references to these skills in their background or they might have a plan for a character and find out after character generation that they don't even have the basic skillset to do what they intended.

That said, I'm not advocating for the list format over the paragraph format, and the subguild descriptions I think are fine. What I think would be best for new players is for the main guilds to follow the subguild's example.

Exactly!  However, even some sub-guilds only have two sentence long descriptions.  I would assume there is a lot more to these guilds than that.

Save for branching skills, the main guilds are the same way. If you find a skill where this is not true then staff can fix it if you send in a request or typo/bug/idea it.

About a year ago I wanted to play someone that hit people with sticks. It had been a long time since I had played some of the guilds and I couldn't remember who got the 'hit people with sticks' skill so I went through the helpfiles to try to figure it out. I was not able to discern this from reading the helpfiles.

... Actually, I'll be honest. Almost all of my characters like to hit people with sticks. It's a thing for me.

But my main point is that no, the skills mentioned in the helpfiles for main guilds are nowhere near as complete as they are for subguilds. Honestly if you were worried about giving out too much information I'd remove the info on what each guild branches to, but make the starting skills mentioned complete.

[Narf]

Half-elves are just picked on because roundears are jealous of their good looks and endowments. They also start with some ability in the most beautiful language in the known. You can't blame them for being jealous. They also ride better than most others, just ask the ladies, or guys if you're into that, who've been there.

Yes, half elves can be difficult to play because of the half-elven mindset. I'd strongly recommend reading the docs and seriously consider the mood issues and the social stigma you'll face as a result of being one before apping one. That said, you can choose to make your breed look more like a human, or more like an elf, although the latter illusion will likely be destroyed the second you hop on a mount, and the former only after many strange, authentically half-elven actions.

There's a lot of disagreement as to how the docs are interpreted... I tend to interpret them rather liberally, but I'm literally terrible at this game so don't take any of my advice.

You see I was thinking the same thing, so for my short description I submitted "The well endowed, third legged half-breed..." I just hope it gets approved... 

I already have my character, seeming at first glance, indistinguishable from a rather tall male human or a medium Half-Elf... or at least that was what was in my mind, I am not used to inches and especially not to stones... I also made it not aware of being able to see pointed ears, etc. in the long description, however I am not sure if the game will auto tag me as a HE from the start, thus all my efforts to secrecy for RP purposes is wasted.  Good idea about the mount riding though... I remember reading Pure Bloods do not, I did not really think about haphazardly riding a mount and making it obvious...  I should probably hide the beast of burden somewhere when visiting a town... Hmmm...

You get the option on how the game tags you if you're a half elf. You should have had it come up during character creation, do you recall that?

[Mad Max]

"Gimping" sort of implies that certain guild/subguild combos are unquestionably better than others, which may or may not be true, but certainly wouldn't be realized either way except on a very very long lived PC (we're talking at least 50 days played if not more.) It's kind of the wrong mindset to approach character creation with. Skills you gain from your subguild will not, typically, be able to rise as high as skills you gain from your main guild. They mostly add some flavor to your character and give you something to be okay at when you're brand new and most of your skills are novice level.

We really should call out permadeath in the getting started guide or make it more prominent in the website somewhere! It is definitely one of the defining features of the game. If you take risks, you will die often. If you take fewer risks, you may live a while. Some players have lived for a year or more on their first character without dying, though they tend to be city-based social/merchant types. As a ranger, well, I hope you will be so lucky, but the odds are not as much in your favor.

One last bit of advice: half-elves are socially shunned, restricted from employment in many clans, and tend to be picked on more by just about everyone. You will probably find it harder to make friends and get people to help you in game. Play one at your own risk.

Sadly I get attached to things, like characters in games, so I am not sure how well I will like this game when it is all said and done.  Dieing and losing Exp I am not too worried about, even if I was stripped completely naked and half my EXP pool siphoned away... But to lose the character with the name, background and all the ideas that come with it...  I mean if I could have multiple characters I would keep my one favorite as safe as possible and enjoy the RPing aspect, while the others are in it just for the fun of the game and or discovery.  But I can not see my self rerolling my character again and again after each death and pretending I am new to the game and don't know any one or any thing.  It seems like the chances of death are instantaneous the moment you come into the world for the most part.  I can't see my self coming up with fresh and entertaining back grounds every single time I start again.   

[Mad Max]

You get the option on how the game tags you if you're a half elf. You should have had it come up during character creation, do you recall that?

Well I chose Half-Elf, because that is what he is.  If you saw his ears with out his hair covering it, you could tell or perhaps if you saw his eyes, etc.  But the descriptions I proposed only hint at it...

Also speaking of descriptions it tells me, as I recall, that you should use at least four lines worth (2000 max letters/spaces) of a description...  Well it keeps cutting off at six lines or so, in stead of the eight or so I am assuming it would be.  It said it was auto trimming or something... Then when I had the option of changing something before submitting, every time I tried to fix the background part, not only would it continually cut it short, but also stack the exact same thing on top of the other.  I tried four different times and all it did was have four stacks of the same description.  I finally quit and retried.  I figured they would have refused my submition on the grounds of stacking the same background, unless they were kind enough to fix it for me.

[Narf]

You get the option on how the game tags you if you're a half elf. You should have had it come up during character creation, do you recall that?

Well I chose Half-Elf, because that is what he is.  If you saw his ears with out his hair covering it, you could tell or perhaps if you saw his eyes, etc.  But the descriptions I proposed only hint at it...

Also speaking of descriptions it tells me, as I recall, that you should use at least four lines worth (2000 max letters/spaces) of a description...  Well it keeps cutting off at six lines or so, in stead of the eight or so I am assuming it would be.  It said it was auto trimming or something... Then when I had the option of changing something before submitting, every time I tried to fix the background part, not only would it continually cut it short, but also stack the exact same thing on top of the other.  I tried four different times and all it did was have four stacks of the same description.  I finally quit and retried.  I figured they would have refused my submition on the grounds of stacking the same background, unless they were kind enough to fix it for me.

If you chose half-elf for your appearance, humans and half-elves will be able to tell what you really are if they look closely at you. Other races won't be able to discern this though, I think.

[Harmless]

I have made over thirty PCs I think, lost count, but only a third or so had carefully thought out backgrounds. The backgrounds I find most interesting are those I built up in character, assuming the PC survived that long.

The question of skill sets can be gleaned from experience and help files. I think this is largely a "find out IG" question. IG refers to mechanics of the game that one gains by playing; "find out IC" for future reference refers to setting info you learn by RPing with others or interaction with NPCs.

A list of skills was formerly found by searching help files for skill_(blank). With the new website I think one can't do that. There are also skills that are intentionally hidden. All in all this is an RPI so skills and the like are a secondary feature.

Welcome to Arma. Enjoy the spice.

[Jherlen]

Chance of death isn't instantaneous, as long as you play smart. You'll definitely live longer if you can join a clan and try and learn the ropes from somene more experienced, so to speak.

As for making a new background, it really does get easier after a while. A basic background is simple to create,  and you can customize it from there. LauraMars had a great post with more on tha recently. Maybe someone else can link it? I'm on my phone.

[solera]

I know how you feel...I felt that way with my first lovely little half-elf.  But many of us are not being facetious when we say Permadeath is our favourite part of Armageddon. It can be devastating to lose a young character whose story you've dreamed about for years.  (For me that was a unmanifested magicker). But the story is what we are about, and tragedies make good stories.
It's very true that the story of our PC is the story of how they die, though some do take years to find their end.

There are a lot of different societies in the Known.  My new characters are normally as far away as I can get from my old ones, and most never interact with the previous site.   Some of my characters are roles I have in my head, some are just a reaction to the death of the old one and an "I don't care what happens to you", some are to explore a guild or race I've avoided in the past.

I suggest you dip your toes in with a character, and have a look around the world to see if other aspects suit you.
Good luck anyway.

[Lizzie]

"Gimping" sort of implies that certain guild/subguild combos are unquestionably better than others, which may or may not be true, but certainly wouldn't be realized either way except on a very very long lived PC (we're talking at least 50 days played if not more.) It's kind of the wrong mindset to approach character creation with. Skills you gain from your subguild will not, typically, be able to rise as high as skills you gain from your main guild. They mostly add some flavor to your character and give you something to be okay at when you're brand new and most of your skills are novice level.

We really should call out permadeath in the getting started guide or make it more prominent in the website somewhere! It is definitely one of the defining features of the game. If you take risks, you will die often. If you take fewer risks, you may live a while. Some players have lived for a year or more on their first character without dying, though they tend to be city-based social/merchant types. As a ranger, well, I hope you will be so lucky, but the odds are not as much in your favor.

One last bit of advice: half-elves are socially shunned, restricted from employment in many clans, and tend to be picked on more by just about everyone. You will probably find it harder to make friends and get people to help you in game. Play one at your own risk.

Sadly I get attached to things, like characters in games, so I am not sure how well I will like this game when it is all said and done.  Dieing and losing Exp I am not too worried about, even if I was stripped completely naked and half my EXP pool siphoned away... But to lose the character with the name, background and all the ideas that come with it...  I mean if I could have multiple characters I would keep my one favorite as safe as possible and enjoy the RPing aspect, while the others are in it just for the fun of the game and or discovery.  But I can not see my self rerolling my character again and again after each death and pretending I am new to the game and don't know any one or any thing.  It seems like the chances of death are instantaneous the moment you come into the world for the most part.  I can't see my self coming up with fresh and entertaining back grounds every single time I start again.   

You didn't type six lines. You typed in one line that was six lines long. The line breaks aren't automatic. You have to manually insert them by hitting the enter key. What I'd recommend, is type out what you want in notepad, and size your notepad to accommodate the appropriate length -per line-. Then, copy and paste each line, one at a time, to the chargen buffer, separating each one with the enter key.

Alternately, you could paste one sentence at a time, adding <enter> *after the space after the period* at the end of each sentence. Always do period, space, and THEN enter. When you're all finished, type .f (that's period f, no space). That'll format the whole thing so it all falls into a single paragraph with no weird spacing.

[Quirk]

I'll echo a strong recommendation not to start with a half-elf. There is a steep learning curve with this game. The code is a complex beast, figuring out how to interact with the game world in a way that promotes your continued survival is a challenge, and getting to grips with the customs of the various places takes work. People attempt to remain in character at all times; at its best, this game is like being stuck in an enthralling book, the story unfolding page by page as you write your character into it. This is mostly a good thing, even a great thing, but one consequence that arises from it is that starting from a position where other characters have reason to despise you and ignore you is extremely hard. The players might wish to aid you, particularly if it's obvious that your problems stem from lack of knowledge as a player, but they can only bend their characters so far. As a half-elf, you will likely learn a lot less than you would as a human, because you will have fewer allies with opportunity to teach you.

Permadeath however is less scary than you might think. I know where you're coming from. A long time ago, coming to my first permadeath Role Play Intensive MUD, I joined out of curiosity as much as anything else: the whispered word among those who told me of it was that it was crazy, that your character could just die and then... that was it. Once you learn to appreciate what permadeath does for a game though, you won't want to go back. Where politics in other games can descend into banal schoolyard drama, no-one able to do more than inconvenience their foes, long-term rivals locked in interminable conflict until someone gets bored and gives up, in Armageddon changes in power can be swift and sudden and brutal. Someone who was feared as a tyrant and seemed invincible can perish in a moment, cut down with a dagger in their back. Plots - secrets - take on serious meaning. There is a thrill in talking to someone who, if they knew what you really were, would have you killed. You will not find this kind of immersion in many other places. And, when you die, you will have ideas for new characters crowding in, from things you've seen, things you've learned about, other characters you've met who've inspired you to think along new lines.

Few characters live to a ripe old age. If yours does, in some ways it matters little what guild you chose - if you chose to practice your guild's skills, you will be awesome at something. However, everyone starts out as comparatively inept. Subguilds give you a boosted start with a few skills, but the long-term maximum that can be achieved with a subguild skill is limited, unless it is also one of your main skills.

Speak with the helpers. It's what they're there for. And good luck.

[LauraMars]

As for making a new background, it really does get easier after a while. A basic background is simple to create,  and you can customize it from there. LauraMars had a great post with more on tha recently. Maybe someone else can link it? I'm on my phone.

Here you go.

What Malken said.

To this day, most of my characters have fairly brief, basic backgrounds that are fleshed out once I actually begin playing and developing my character's story.  In the case of a new player, I almost always recommend reading the introductory documentation for awhile, especially paying attention to the tutorials that deal with commands, emoting, and syntax.  Learning the mechanics of how to play can be some of the most confusing stuff about Armageddon at first.  I then recommend the player play Armageddon MADLIBS and say something like:

"<Character Name> comes from a small village outside of <major city>.  He doesn't know much about the world but he has grown <emotion> with <commoner occupation> and wants to find adventure in the great wide somewhere, even though the great wide somewhere is filled with <regional danger>.  His mother is <occupation> and his father is  <occupation>.  He has decided to strike out for <major city> to find his destiny.  His parents are very <emotion> for him!"

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a more fleshed out character from the beginning - but it may be a LOT easier on you if you simply dive right in with your first few characters, because the amount of information thrown your way is a lot to assimilate, even when you're not trying to remember that your character has multiple personality disorder, is kind to animals and beggars, hates cheese, likes to wear blue linen clothing, and enjoys the taste of human flesh.

All that said, I think your background is pretty good and basic - it's open ended and it will allow for plenty of growing space!  Just don't be too upset when your character dies because that happens a lot in this game.  And no, you can't remake your character, but if you enjoy playing certain types of characters (the stoic soldier, the free-spirited hunter, the mischief maker) you can revisit those themes, as long as you're aware that each character you make is a completely different person.

Also, please do check out the helper chat.  It is a great resource for new players, and most of us are extremely glad to walk a new player through the more complicated situations you might find yourself in as you begin playing!

[Fujikoma]

There are a few employers who will hire half-elves... You'll still face significant discrimination. If you look like a human, but act like a breed, people will begin to suspect something, but this is easily explainable. I think there are ways to tell (edited).. Or so I've experienced. Most players I've run across IG are creative, thoughtful roleplayers, even if they do take your boots.

Also, sometimes losing a character can be liberating, even if you have strong feelings for that character, in that you are now free to explore a new concept, backed with the code experience from the previous one. It still feels like someone kicked your dog to death, but soon the new character you create will be interacting with the world in new and undreamt of ways. It can be daunting, but each one gets a little easier to make. Just, don't throw away your old character for a new concept to play with, you may find yourself kicking yourself.

Just one thing, though, it can be awkward when your new character stumbles in on your old character's friends who are mourning the loss, I mean, it's hard to know what to say, and "Well, better luck next time" might get your new character's teeth kicked in, you have to start from the position that this is someone your new character never interacted with, hasn't heard about, etc...

Back to half elves... What the other players are advising you is likely the best course... But challenges are fun to work around. My first character was human and lasted three rl hours, fell down a well, was helped by something that didn't speak sirihish to get back out, wandered around a little while and finally got stabbed to death. Hint: don't start in the rinth.

My second character was a breed and I really haven't looked back at human since. I find it a lot of fun. Others might not be such a glutton for punishment. Elves can be fun, but very difficult to get into the proper mindset, and the whole no riding anything ever kind of puts a damper on your opportunities, unless you're a d-elf, which takes trust from staff that you will play it properly.

I've not tried dwarf. I don't think I could pull that off, that, to me, looks the most challenging to play properly (I could play it, but it would not fit well, need more experience before I try). Dwarves get good stats, and an excuse to do pretty much anything, but at the same time you have to pick ONE THING and do that thing until it's done, then find ONE MORE THING, repeat until you die. It's something I can't bend my mind around yet.

[slvrmoontiger]

There are a few employers who will hire half-elves... You'll still face significant discrimination. If you look like a human, but act like a breed, people will begin to suspect something, but this is easily explainable. I think there are ways to tell with searching for tracks, but this is code and thankfully a lot of people will ignore it for the sake of allowing you to develop your story... Or so I've experienced. Most players I've run across IG are creative, thoughtful roleplayers, even if they do take your boots.

Also, sometimes losing a character can be liberating, even if you have strong feelings for that character, in that you are now free to explore a new concept, backed with the code experience from the previous one. It still feels like someone kicked your dog to death, but soon the new character you create will be interacting with the world in new and undreamt of ways. It can be daunting, but each one gets a little easier to make. Just, don't throw away your old character for a new concept to play with, you may find yourself kicking yourself.

Just one thing, though, it can be awkward when your new character stumbles in on your old character's friends who are mourning the loss, I mean, it's hard to know what to say, and "Well, better luck next time" might get your new character's teeth kicked in, you have to start from the position that this is someone your new character never interacted with, hasn't heard about, etc...

Back to half elves... What the other players are advising you is likely the best course... But challenges are fun to work around. My first character was human and lasted three rl hours, fell down a well, was helped by something that didn't speak sirihish to get back out, wandered around a little while and finally got stabbed to death. Hint: don't start in the rinth.

My second character was a breed and I really haven't looked back at human since. I find it a lot of fun. Others might not be such a glutton for punishment. Elves can be fun, but very difficult to get into the proper mindset, and the whole no riding anything ever kind of puts a damper on your opportunities, unless you're a d-elf, which takes trust from staff that you will play it properly.

I've not tried dwarf. I don't think I could pull that off, that, to me, looks the most challenging to play properly (I could play it, but it would not fit well, need more experience before I try). Dwarves get good stats, and an excuse to do pretty much anything, but at the same time you have to pick ONE THING and do that thing until it's done, then find ONE MORE THING, repeat until you die. It's something I can't bend my mind around yet.

FYI the tracking has never been confirmed nor denied by staff. Please remember to keep IG information off GDB. Tracking is just a rumor no verifiable docs that I've found. If anyone says anything IG you can always do what others have in the past. "Everyone's tracks are different. No two tracks look alike. My feeling on this is that the hunt skill needs a huge overhaul.

[Fujikoma]

My mistake. Didn't realize that was a big, unconfirmed secret. I have edited my post.

That said, I've found mantis tracks in some fairly odd places.

EDIT: Must have been the mantis head, waiting for the right moment to strike.

[Mad Max]

Welcome to Arma. Enjoy the spice.

  Thanks and that last bit reminded me of Dune...  Actually the whole setting of the game reminds me of Dune, or at least on that one desert spice planet, minus no space ships... or are there... *Looks about curiously...*

[Mad Max]

Chiming in to say that I am glad you enjoy the game enough (or at least it's concept) to offer up suggestions on ways that might make it better or smoother.  It may sound like you get some rough critiques from the GDB base upon occasion, but it is because we all love this game deeply.

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement.  I had not forgotten, I just did not want to spam the forum worse than I have so far with back to back posts replying to each or most of the posts.  I am pretty excited to join the game, my first character concept got rejected, so I tried to change a few words here and there and tried again.  I will see how it fairs for me.   

[Mad Max]

Chance of death isn't instantaneous, as long as you play smart. You'll definitely live longer if you can join a clan and try and learn the ropes from somene more experienced, so to speak.

As for making a new background, it really does get easier after a while. A basic background is simple to create,  and you can customize it from there. LauraMars had a great post with more on tha recently. Maybe someone else can link it? I'm on my phone.

I would assume there are some pretty nasty ICs running around whacking people over the head with sticks and the like... *Looks for Narf over his shoulder and puts on a helmet...* 

But I have seen games ruined or become unplayable, because of the none discretion of killing anyone not yourself or your clan.  Not so much as from a role playing perspective, "He is a half breed, lets go kill him...", but more, "Hey, lets troll and ruin this person's day, I have nothing better to do and I think it will be fun!" and they some times will continually search for and kill the same person over and over again or even wait for them out side of safe zones.  (I am sure there will be other people who will step up and help that person being maliciously attacked, presuming he or she did not do anything to deserve such treatment, but that is besides the point.)  Now I am not saying that is how it is here, I have not even stepped foot into the game world yet, but I know of other PvP games that were that way, although that last bit might have been just some really bad cases.

I have heard of 'easy marks' in and around town mentioned in the forums, assuming that means they were dressing rather nicely and throwing their money around being boisterous, but does that also mean death to the character as well?

[Mad Max]

I know how you feel...I felt that way with my first lovely little half-elf.  But many of us are not being facetious when we say Permadeath is our favourite part of Armageddon. It can be devastating to lose a young character whose story you've dreamed about for years.  (For me that was a unmanifested magicker). But the story is what we are about, and tragedies make good stories.
It's very true that the story of our PC is the story of how they die, though some do take years to find their end.

There are a lot of different societies in the Known.  My new characters are normally as far away as I can get from my old ones, and most never interact with the previous site.   Some of my characters are roles I have in my head, some are just a reaction to the death of the old one and an "I don't care what happens to you", some are to explore a guild or race I've avoided in the past.

I suggest you dip your toes in with a character, and have a look around the world to see if other aspects suit you.
Good luck anyway.

Thank you.