A Million Questions

[amyandthepup]

This may be long. If you can, when responding, try to be as specific as is allowed, without giving away current IC examples? If you can. If that isn't allowed, then disregard, and forgive me for asking a million questions.

I've only ever played games that had structured guild systems. The one or two that allowed for less of that structure had subguilds for various things, and you were more on your own.

Thinking outside the box is extremely difficult for me, because all I know is having someone take me under their wing and teach me the ropes.

How do you explore in a world where nothing is safe? How do you learn where things are if following someone as a blind player means you can't tell quickly enough which directions someone is taking you? (I'm used to being able to explore cities and the land outside them with relative ease to combat this inability to see directions when in large groups.)

Do people create characters, get killed, and have to start over again, in more rapid succession, because they got themselves in a bad situation? Is there a limit to how much of this is allowed without it being considered inappropriate or abuse of...well...anything?

Is death very common here, generally?

How do you learn to think outside the box without looking like a total newbie? How do you interact with mostly idle people in taverns, when you don't even know the world you are in, and you have no idea what to say or do?

[Desertman]

In general the only way to really learn the landscape is to explore it.

Joining a group is useful as well, but if you don't want to join a group, then just going out and exploring is really your only other avenue.

Yes you will PROBABLY die several times. Nobody frowns at you, including staff, for going the way of the dodo. Everyone dies a lot in this game in the beginning. That's just the reality of it. Eventually you will learn the ropes and die less and less and less. At some point you turn a corner and suddenly you are living for months/years at a time.

Some tips for exploring:

Don't walk in on creatures you see in the distance if you don't know what they are.
Look in all directions as you move around and read room descriptions to avoid falling into pits/holes/off cliffs.
Keep water and food on you.
Don't go on foot, make sure you have a mount.
Be safe and have a goal. Don't just ride out blindly in a direction. Have a goal. Maybe your goal is to learn how to get from Redstorm to Allanak. Maybe it is to learn how to get from Allanak to Luir's. In fact, I recommend finding out both of these first. Make these your first two goals. You might even hire someone in-game to teach you. Not just take you, but actually slow down enough to TEACH you how to get to these places on your own later.

Hope this helps.

[nauta]

Desertman gives some good advice; I'm sure others will.  Here are some other bits.

How do you explore in a world where nothing is safe?

o Joining a clan such as Salarr, Kadius (both of whom have hunters) or the Byn (who are mercenaries) will teach you the basics of survival, and, hopefully, the code too.

o Ask about things at the bar!  If you want to go to RSV, ask about how to get there, what dangers might be on the way.  If you see a weird creature, don't rush up on it (RIP Stone, who died to an erdlu who she thought was just a cute bird without feathers) -- go back to the bar and talk about this strange thing you saw -- ask what it was, if it is dangerous.

o Use the help files on animals!

o Flee often.  Assume that everything out there will kill you.  Hard.  Twice.

o Find a friend to travel with.

How do you learn where things are if following someone as a blind player means you can't tell quickly enough which directions someone is taking you? (I'm used to being able to explore cities and the land outside them with relative ease to combat this inability to see directions when in large groups.)

o I think it'd be totally fine to ooc the person you are with to slow down.  I've done this before, and with big RPTs, I've seen people ask the leader to slow down too.  (Big fan of slow-core Arm myself.)  Note: You can't ask the mobs to slow down.

o 'brief room' might help.  (And remember there's 'look room' to actually get the room descriptions.)

Do people create characters, get killed, and have to start over again, in more rapid succession, because they got themselves in a bad situation? Is there a limit to how much of this is allowed without it being considered inappropriate or abuse of...well...anything?

Is death very common here, generally?

People die.  A lot.  You'll eventually get your feet.  Make mistakes, and enjoy the learning curve.

How do you learn to think outside the box without looking like a total newbie? How do you interact with mostly idle people in taverns, when you don't even know the world you are in, and you have no idea what to say or do?

o Read the documentation over and over and over and over and over and over.

o Focus inwardly on your character, the room descriptions, other people's descriptions, and try to start conversations about that.  Bar conversations are hard, but I've found that once people smell a little newbie on you, they'll switch away from the stoic towards the friendly.

o Different tips have been put forward to counter-act the newbie ignorance problem: first character amnesiac, a little insane, really really really stupid. 

[Miradus]

Combat here is much slower than in some other muds, but it has heavier consequences and it's harder to disengage.

Only you will be able to tell if it's slow enough for your reader to handle.

However there is a lot of non-combat activity you could participate in if you like the setting, so all is not lost if you can't enjoy combat. It depends largely on what you're looking for and what your playstyle is.

[nauta]

Also: HELPER CHAT!  I used that to death when I first started.  It's on the main website.  Kudos to all of you who suffered through my myriad of questions on poop, food spices, whips, combat, hitching, etc. etc.

[Jihelu]

Helper chat is the big one. I've been there more than 100 times

[Norcal]

Death will come for you sooner than you like for your first few PCs. Yet you can minimize it by taking the advice given above.
I would strongly suggest that you get a job, in some clan where you can learn.  If being a Desert ranger s your thing, then join the Byn or one of the Merchant Houses. 

If you don't want to join a big clan, then at least hook up with some other independent players. Ask about the dangers in the areas you want to explore. Some are more deadly than others.

It seems odd that in a game where you die so often at first, that people would hang around. Yet I tell you that if you have just a bit of patience, you will soon be able to keep your PCs alive for solid chunks of time, meaning real life months and perhaps longer!

[Jihelu]

I am of firm belief if you are a serious roleplayer you can easily live upwards 1 year on your first character.



With a lot of help.
Because you'll probably get carru'd or some shit

[Majikal]

Helper chat is the big one. I've been there more than 100 times

You're our #1 customer. <3

[Culinary Critic]

This may be long, but...

Thinking outside the box is extremely difficult for me, because all I know is having someone take me under their wing and teach me the ropes.

One of the important things I've learned over the years is that a guild is an Out of Character concept (at least to me).  "Assassin" doesn't mean that your character will take a bag of sid, sneak into the apartments of people that other people don't like and plunge a knife into their hearts with one thrust, killing them instantly with the horrible poison coating the blade.  It means that the character has certain skills and attributes that we (the players, not the characters) recognize as belonging to someone who has the ability to sneak around and use a blade a certain way, fade into the tiniest of shadows and trail someone through a crowd.  "Assassins" don't have to assassinate anyone.  Rangers don't have to range.  Acrobats don't have to do acrobatics. 

How do you explore in a world where nothing is safe? How do you learn where things are if following someone as a blind player means you can't tell quickly enough which directions someone is taking you? (I'm used to being able to explore cities and the land outside them with relative ease to combat this inability to see directions when in large groups.)

Nothing being safe is one of my favourite things about this.  Traveling from one town to another should be dangerous in a world like Zalanthas where something like a beetle can rip your leg off and shove it down your throat, where a pack of mutant dogs will rip you to shreds, where a guy with a bone sword (yes, I'm looking at you) can chop you up. 

Be ready for all kinds of strange things to perpetrate horribleness upon your characters.  You will learn to live with it. And listen to the advice above, pay people to help you, sleep with people to help you, bribe people to help you, do anything needed to get people to help you.  Not only does it help you, but it's also a LOT of fun doing all these things.  And don't feel like every character has to be an outdoorsy kind.  Life in a city can be just as exciting and interesting, if in different ways.

Do people create characters, get killed, and have to start over again, in more rapid succession, because they got themselves in a bad situation? Is there a limit to how much of this is allowed without it being considered inappropriate or abuse of...well...anything?
Is death very common here, generally?

Death, believe it or not, is very common everywhere, IG and IRL.  We're just more insulated to it here, maybe because there's WAY more people on Earth.  And you don't have to put yourself in bad situations to die.  One little, teeny, tiny, seemingly insignificant mistake can spell death for your character.  Fingers not on the home row and you type "S" instead of "W" and you're over your head in silt and suffocate (true story).  Type "feel" instead of "flee"?  Death.  It goes on and on and on.

The important thing is to learn from every mistake, whether or not it costs a character their life, and become not only more world knowledgeable, but a better role player (which is, honestly, what we should all be working towards IMHO).

How do you learn to think outside the box without looking like a total newbie? How do you interact with mostly idle people in taverns, when you don't even know the world you are in, and you have no idea what to say or do?

Well...you don't.  You look like a newbie.  And we see you looking like a newbie.  And almost every single one of us who's put in some time will be more than willing to help you, teach you a few things, point you to resources, show you around perhaps.  It's one of the way that most of us have become not-quite-newbies. 

What we definitely won't be doing is thinking "AHHHH!!!! F'ing newbie!  I hate you so much!!!".  Instead we'll be thinking something like "Oh shit!  I remember when I did something EXACTLY like that when I was a newbie!  That is so f'ing cute!"

I'm a mere eight years in, have seen more of the Known than I ever thought existed, have loved and lost, killed and died, stolen and been robbed, led and been lead...and I still feel like a newbie most days.  I still get a little thrill just about every time I step outside the gates.  And I sorely miss being a hard-core newbie sometimes.  Enjoy it and don't rush or expect yourself to be a non-newbie.  LOVE the learning and the exploring and every single new experience. 

[amyandthepup]

Too many of you to thank, so... Thank you all. OVer and over again. Because all of this is super helpful. Without going into the IC specifics of my situation, I will say that some of what has been suggested, I have done. Other things I have not done yet, but I'm looking forward to trying new things!

I will be using the live chat much more often than I have been. Helpers, look out!

What do you do if you like your char, and the people said char interacts with, and don't want to lose that? If my char were to die, all those interactions would be gone, never the same next time, if there is a next time.

I guess I better not hold oto my char/s too tightly here, hmm?

Thank you all again so very much. I think sometimes I like to jump in with both feet and just learn, learn, learn. I'm having to learn to slow down, take things as they come, and not pace around in whatever place my char is in.

It's a challenge!

[Jihelu]

Easy.
Don't die.



Sometimes thats easier than others.
I remember losing a character once and I almost punched my pc.


In another game I lost a character to perma death and I cried, none so far in this game though. But yeah thats the threat of pk. It's just like real  life. You die, and thats it.

[Hauwke]

The whole dont die advice, is although probably worded a little harshly, pretty sound advice. Difficult to follow sometimes but not dying means that whatever you are doing keeps happening and thus you just keep learning without pause.

[Beethoven]

Just remember, above all, that we absolutely love newbies. Don't be ashamed of your newbieness because in fact once people figure out that you're new, they'll be crawling over each other for the chance to interact with you. It can be a double-edged sword because people are so eager to help you out and roleplay with you that I'm told it can be a little overwhelming. Don't be afraid to give off signs that you need a moment to process what people are telling you!

[Miradus]

I don't mind dying. Particularly when the alternative means being bored.

I play a game, not a character. When this character dies I have another concept lined up that I'm eager to play too. It's always been that way.

So I take risks, I explore, I have fun. And I die.

Protip: Be a gentleman about dying. Don't use the bank. Keep your sid in your pack so some other bold explorer finds a bonus.

[path]

What do you do if you like your char, and the people said char interacts with, and don't want to lose that? If my char were to die, all those interactions would be gone, never the same next time, if there is a next time.

I guess I better not hold oto my char/s too tightly here, hmm?

Thank you all again so very much. I think sometimes I like to jump in with both feet and just learn, learn, learn. I'm having to learn to slow down, take things as they come, and not pace around in whatever place my char is in.

It's a challenge!

When I was new to the game I was always ashamed about how much my character didn't know. Now that I've played the game longer I struggle to keep my characters ignorant, because I better understand how little your regular Joe would know in an environment when they've worked since they were children to survive and the upper class prefers to keep the common folk uninformed.

So don't worry about not knowing. It's rad as anything to allow folks to explain their hard won knowledge to you. It's good you're attached to your character. That's a wonderful tool in that you're more likely to consider how dangerous a situation realistically is and act accordingly. Ask other characters about everything and even better, try to get them to show you.

I know what you mean about getting attached to the other characters around yours. Just know that you've stumbled into a world rife with passionate players and whatever character you have, you're more than a little likely to run into wonderfully fun people.

Take this in the way it's meant, with so much love, but I hope you get swindled, betrayed, seek revenge, and end up murdered. May those you leave behind raise a mug in your memory.

[amyandthepup]

I appreciate you guys so much. I'm not sure what acting like a newbie entails... Asking questions? Not bowing appropriately? Other things? Other things?

Seems like people are either busy with specific things, or no where to be found. Where do thirty-plus players hang out? Are they all on the sands doing the hunting thing? Feeling a little lost at the moment.

[Hitsuchi]

I'm not in any way a veteran, but here goes...

The way I spot a newbie: A lot of newbies haven't quite got the grasp of everything you can do with talking and emoting (they might use "say" instead of "tell", or "tell" instead of "talk", for example). It's not doing anything wrong, it's just something you very rarely see from experienced players. Then, ignorance about "well-known" things can be a sign, too, though that's pretty easy to RP around from both sides (keep asking questions!).

Four years in, and I still feel that way when I'm not in a clan or another place where I get automatic interaction. A lot of people are clanned, hanging out in their compounds or working on schedule. You're more likely to see Bynners on Ocandra or Waleuk, for example, and the taverns get populated mostly at night. Others are across the Known, in Storm or Morin's or what-have-you. Contact is your friend for finding interaction, once you have a few names and acquaintances.

[valeria]

I appreciate you guys so much. I'm not sure what acting like a newbie entails... Asking questions? Not bowing appropriately? Other things? Other things?

Seems like people are either busy with specific things, or no where to be found. Where do thirty-plus players hang out? Are they all on the sands doing the hunting thing? Feeling a little lost at the moment.

Some manner of "yes" to all of your questions, but also not quite grasping syntax.  Syntax errors are usually what clue me in that a person is new and that I should as a player give them a little more benefit of the doubt (not that this means my character won't fuck you over if you put yourself in their way).

Most of the players hang out in the bars or in clan compounds with their clannies at night.  Bars can be more empty during the day, when people are out and about doing things.

In Allanak, the bar you start at is the Gaj.  That's probably the best place for your PC to hang out regularly, since it's on a main thoroughfare and I know I often look in there to see if people are around when I'm playing in the city.  Don't be afraid to sit by yourself in a bar.  In my experience, it usually only takes a little idling before people drop in.

[Majikal]

Seems like people are either busy with specific things, or no where to be found. Where do thirty-plus players hang out? Are they all on the sands doing the hunting thing? Feeling a little lost at the moment.

Various clan activities can really swell the playerbase at any given time. Late at night there may be a clan rpt and everyone in said clan is on doing project X, accounting for 10 of the 40 players etc. The who command really is a poor indication of how busy the MUD is in various areas.  

General hotspots being taverns, if you're looking for city-based interaction. Starting out with a pc it's not uncommon to feel lost in the first days when your pc hasn't laid the foundation of relationships with the other characters in the game.

[Lizzie]

When playing a new character - even if you're a veteran player - you should expect some disconnect. Your character doesn't have an organic personality yet, doesn't have a rapport with anyone at all. As a new player, having already read a few of the official docs and gotten your character approved, I'd suggest your very first task would be to explore the immediate vicinity.

If you roll up in Allanak, then explore the inside of the city. The command DIRECTIONS will help you once you're outside the Gaj (which is where your Allanak-based character would have spawned).

Take an hour, two hours - to do that. Keep track of the TIME - if it's night and there's no moons out (can check with WEATHER - waxing means it's rising, waning means it's lowering), you won't be able to see and will need to HOLD the torch in your INVENTORY. Remember if you're inside a structure, you won't know what the weather is. You might find WEATHER NORTH or WEATHER OUT will be of use to you then.

During this time you might run into other PCs, and be able to start some interaction right away.  This might be intimidating, so soon. Or it might be a relief knowing you're not the only player with a PC wandering around. Regardless - if you don't find anyone to interact with yet, don't sweat it - you're still learning where things are. If a templar stops to ask where you're going, you'll be in a better position to answer him if you know what's at the end of whichever direction you were headed

[seidhr]

It's about the journey, not the destination.

Don't be afraid to ask questions and don't be afraid to make some mistakes.

If you play the fighter/adventurer type, especially alone - you will die, and that is okay.  Lesson learned for next time.

[OSOK]

So so happy I found this.

After playing for a couple of months back in 2014, I've recently (like an hour ago) decided to come back.  Just waiting for some account stuff to be sorted out...

Anyway, after reading all this, I'm even more excited to come back!  Thanks, all!

[650Booger]

without going into details, because my first character was less than a year ago, I'll say that I remember finding a sustainable source of water and food was my first major trial.  once I had that figured out, any risk to my character became my choice to take or not.