General new player guide

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This is a page for the non-guild specific page for the Newbie Help Guide. For details, rules, and the other pages involved, see Category:Newbie Guide Contest.

Introduction

Hello! Thank you for stopping by the Dragonrealms General Newbie Help Guide! This guide will try and help you get started with the game and teach you the ABSOLUTE basics.

What is Dragonrealms?

Dragonrealms is a MUD, which means it's a text-based multiplayer RPG. You connect to the game and the game's world is described to you in text, as if you were reading a book. You complete actions by entering text commands that you wish your character to accomplish. As long as the command is one recognized by the game, and you used it correctly, it will result in the main window of the game (typically called the Story window) listing the results of what happened. The interface and game world are almost entirely text-based, though there are some limited graphical features, such as certain things like health being able to be depicted in bar form.

Dragonrealms takes place in Elanthia, which is a fantasy setting. There is magic, swords, bows and arrows and the like. There are minor elements indicative of slightly more technology than a strictly medieval setting would have (such as some steampunk style things like mechanical constructs and airships) but you won't find cars, guns, lasers or spaceships to be in-genre in any way.

How to Use This Guide

This guide will attempt to explain the basics of the game to you and get you on your way to adventuring! However, as in any tutorial, you will be required to input things yourself from time to time. When this guide references a command that you should type in, it will list it in the following fashion:

>COMMAND

In this example, you would be expected to type the word COMMAND in your text-entry field in the game and then press your ENTER key. For the purposes of this guide, commands will be listed in all caps, but they can be entered however you wish.

Some commands require targets or modifiers. Usually these will be dependent on the context in which the command is used. As an example:

>COMMAND <PERSON>

In this example, you would be expected to type the word COMMAND in your text-entry field in the game, followed by the name of the person you wanted to interact with before pressing ENTER. So if you were in a room with a guy named Bob, and you wanted to wave at him, you would type the following:

>WAVE BOB

Each section will have different information on the basics of the game and how to play, but understanding how to enter commands will be an essential part of following instructions in this (and other) guides.

Note that commands may be abbreviated. For example, WAV BOB will also wave at Bob. However, take care that when abbreviating commands, you do not abbreviate too much. For example, simply entering W BOB will attempt to move the character one room to the west and the "BOB" portion will be ignored.

Game Concepts

Races

There are 11 playable races, more for NPC. A character's race affects stats (TDP training cost) and mostly RP-elements (e.g. tail verbs for races with tails). There are no "racial traits" (e.g. infravision) or "racial abilities" (e.g. faerie fire) as may be found in other games.

Guilds

Characters start as commoners. Then, there are 11 guilds that a player may choose to join. How to join two of the guilds, Thieves and Necromancers, are considered puzzles. It is not recommended that a new player join the Necromancer guild.

Skills

In Dragonrealms, the success of actions (e.g. attacking) is determined by a character's experience with the respective skill. Want to climb that mountain? That requires Athletics. Want to swing that broadsword? Heavy Edged. Every challenge will require a certain number of ranks in the appropriate skill, and in order to train a given skill, you must attempt an appropriate challenge to your current skill ranks. If you're a champion of skinning the rarest beasts in the land, skinning a ships rat won't provide a challenge, and as such, won't teach you further skinning ranks.

All skills in the game are broken into five categories, Armor, Lore, Magic, Survival, and Weapons.

Experience

The way skills gain in ranks in Dragonrealms may also be somewhat confusing at first. As you gain experience, you'll see that skills mindstate increase progressively from Clear (0/34) to Mind Lock (34/34). This is your 'Field Experience', and represents you learning things that you haven't yet converted to actual skill. Think of it as studying for a test, but needing to sleep on it to fully process and integrate all you've learned. Over time, Field Experience will drain, and in doing so, will convert into actual ranks in the skill. The rate at which skills drain is determined by your guild. Each guild has one primary skill group, two secondary skill groups, and two tertiary skill groups. Skills in a character's primary skill group are easiest to train, secondary skill groups the next, and tertiary take the longest to train.

To see your total experience in all ranks, type EXPERIENCE ALL. To check your experience in a given skillset, type EXPERIENCE WEAPON, LORE, MAGIC, ARMOR, or SURVIVAL. You may also check an individual skills progress by typing EXPERIENCE LOCKSMITHING, for example to check Locksmithing. Typing EXPERIENCE will only display skills with field experience.

Advancement

In Dragonrealms, a characters level is called their 'circle'. If someone says they are 20th circle, they have reached the minimum requirements to advance with the guild leader 20 times. 'Circling' is also used as a verb to describe the act of leveling up. Each guild requires a certain number of ranks in various skills to circle. The skills required are often flexible. For example, the requirements are often the highest X skills in a skill group. The exact skill (for example, small edge or large edge) can be freely chosen by the player. There are also sometimes requirements for specific skills. To circle, a player must fulfill all the requirements, which as mentioned before, generally take the form of "X ranks in top Y skill(s) in Z skill group(s)". It is possible for a character to be significantly over skilled for their circle.

Stats & TDPs

Stats and TDP description here.

Health

Dragonrealms doesn't employ the "hit point" system, per se, though vitality is similar. Instead, each body part (head, each eye, neck, chest, abdomen, back, each arm, each hand, each leg, and the nervous system) takes damage, which can be either external or internal, and fresh or scars. As you are injured more in an area, the damage becomes more severe. For example, they may start as minor abrasions and end up as a stump if you are not careful. When a critical body part (head, neck, chest, abdomen, or back) is destroyed, the character will die. Players may also die if their vitality reaches zero, or if their spirit health reaches zero. Spirit health is not commonly used when compared to vitality. When the severity of fresh injuries reach a certain threshold, they begin to bleed. External wounds may be tended to stop the bleeding, but there is no similar option for internal wounds.

In addition, there is also poison and disease that can affect the character's health.

Money

Money comes in the form of coins, with denominations of copper, bronze, silver, gold, and platinum, each worth 10 of the previous denomination. In addition, there are three currencies: Kronars, Lirums, and Dokoras. They may be exchanged for each other at a bank for a small fee. Dokoras are worth the most, followed by Lirums, and Kronars the least. Shops in different areas will demand payment in their "home" currency. When discussing price for items between players, it is usually discussed using Kronars.

Other concept ideas

Encumbrance.

Hindrance.

Creation systems.

Day/night effects (shop closures, etc.)

Justice

Death/favors

Helpful Terminology

In any game, you'll come across terms that are used by long-time players that can sometimes be confusing to new players. Some of the more common terms will be listed here to help you better understand what other players are talking about.

Verb - Typically when players refer to verbs, they are referring to an item that you can use a command on, though for some people verb holds the same meaning as command does. As an example, if someone says they have a 'verbed cloak', this might mean they have a cloak, but when you >SHAKE MY CLOAK while the cloak is worn on your character, you might see your character shaking dust out of the hem. Verbs, whether on items or not, give you additional ways to express things that your character is doing.

Gweth - Short for gwethdesuan. Gwethdesuans are items that can be used for communication at a distance via a thought network. If you are wearing one, you can >THINK <MESSAGE> to broadcast a message to anyone else with the same type of gwethdesuan within range. So for example, to send out "Hello world!" on the thought network, you would input >THINK Hello world! into your text-entry field and press your ENTER key.

Spells - Magic using guilds (which we'll explain later) have the ability to harness mana into spells. This is done by first PREPAREing the spell, via the PREPARE command, and when the spell is ready, CASTing it. For example, PREPARE ETHEREAL SHIELD, and when the spell is ready, CAST. Unlike many games where a spell costs a certain number of mana points, in Dragonrealms, the spellcaster defines how much power they want to funnel into the spell, for example, PREPARE ETHEREAL SHIELD 10. The amount of mana a spellcaster can funnel into a spell is determined by their skill in their primary magic skill (e.g., Lunar Magic for Moon Mages, Elemental Magic for Warrior Mages), their Attunement skill, and their skill in the type of spell being cast, though more on that later. The more mana funneled into a spell, the more difficult it is to cast. Casting a spell before the spell is fully prepared also increases the difficulty of the spell.

Targeted Spells - Additionally, one type of offensive spell can be targeted to enhance it's accuracy. This can either be done by PREPARE FIRE SHARDS 5, and then immediately TARGET GOBLIN, or, more simply, TARGET FIRE SHARDS 5 GOBLIN. Once the targeting matrix is complete, the spell is then CAST as normal. The advantage of preparing first, then targeting, the spellcaster may 'fine target' the spell, for example, PREPARE FIRE SHARDS 5, TARGET GOBLIN LEFT LEG. This can be useful for damaging an already damaged body part of an opponent. If you don't care where you hit, TARGET FIRE SHARDS 5 GOBLIN is fine. Once you TARGET a spell, it is considered fully prepared, but CASTing before the targeting matrix fully forms will reduce it's accuracy.

Making Money - The primary means most players earn money in Dragonrealms is by hunting the various NPC critters that inhabit the lands. Critters will drop coins, small gems, junk gear, and lockboxes. You may also SKIN some creatures for valuable pelts, skins, hides, horns, paws, teeth, etc. Generally speaking, gems can be sold in gemshops, while skins/pelts/etc may be sold at tanneries. Lockboxes must be opened by a locksmith with sufficient LOCKSMITHING, and will often contain gems and coins. Not surprisingly, more difficult creatures tend to have more valuable loot.

Equipment - Starting towns with have places to purchase weapons and armor, and this store bought gear will be sufficient to get you started adventuring. APPRAISE the gear you have to determine what skills it will train, for example, a Scimitar trains the Small Edge skill, while a Broadsword trains the Heavy Edge skill. There are no irreversibly wrong decisions to be made when starting to train your character, though it's a good idea to speak with some people for advice on what skills to focus on, and therefor what gear you should seek out. Sooner or later, you'll want to upgrade to player crafted gear, which is superior to store bought, and can range in price dramatically depending on the materials. Many players will donate player crafted gear to new players, so ask around.

As a very general rule of thumb that is by no means a hard and fast rule, Weapon or Armor Tertiary guilds will be better served using lighter and faster weapons, and less hindering and less protecting armors, though there are frequent exceptions to this rule. For example, for a Moon Mage, a good starting set of weapons would be a Scimitar (Small Edge), a Mace (Small Blunt), a Throwing Club (Light Thrown) and a Shortbow (Bows), while a good set of armor may be all cloth or leather (Light Armor), and rotating Chain Greaves (chain). Comparitively, a Paladin will probably want to train a larger number of armors, focusing on heavier pieces, and use heavier weapons. That said, there are advantages and disadvantages to each weapon and armor type, so do some research and figure out how you want to craft your character.

  • [Another important term that may confuse people is "circle." -CARAAMON (talk) 18:52, 28 October 2014 (CDT)]

I recommend putting any information that doesn't apply to just one guild here. For example, how to cast spells, how to make money, how to find equipment, etc. --ISHARON (talk) 23:03, 27 October 2014 (CDT)

Death and Favors

At some point, death comes to everyone in Elanthia. Death isn't permanent, but in DragonRealms it does works differently than in many other MMOORPGs and MUDs. Your character can die from a loss of vitality, a loss of spirit health, or having a critical body part sufficiently damaged or removed. Any field experience not yet converted to ranks is lost, and your character will drop anything you were holding in your hands. Once you die, your options for communicating with other players are limited. You will be able to speak to other players that come by, but you are unable to move on your own, but other players can DRAG you.

Your character can come back to life a few different ways. The two most common are for a cleric to resurrect you, or for your character to DEPART. In order for a cleric to resurrect you, an empath will first need to heal any major wounds that your character might posses. Being resurrected by a cleric is the best way to come back from the dead, but isn't always available. The other way for your character to come back to life is to use the DEPART command. New characters have a free depart option that last until second circle (level), or it has been used 5 times. These initial 5 departs allow you to return to life at the nearest resurrection location with all your items and coins still in your possession. For characters without this newbie protection, recovering from death requires favors.

In-character, a favor represents your character making some sort of sacrifice to the Immortals, the gods of Elanthia. In exchange for that sacrifice, the gods will let your character return from the dead. What this means to us, the players, is that your character will have to complete a puzzle to get a favor orb, fill the orb with field experience, and place the orb on an altar devoted to one of the gods. Orbs are filled using the RUB or HUG command, with rub transferring a little field experience, and hug filling the orb completely.

It is important to keep in mind that each favor orb takes a little more experience to fill than the last. As a rule of thumb, you should try to have 10 or more favors at any time. You can see the number of favors when you use the INFO or EXP command.

One important thing to remember when using the DEPART command, is that by default, all of the coins your character was carrying will be lost, and all of your items will go into a grave in the room where you died. Any items you were carrying may also have been dropped at your characters feet, and not in the grave. Items in a grave have some small measure of protection, but it is possible for another player to take items from the grave and not return them. Some protections are in place to keep the would-be thief from logging out with your hard-won items or running to a 'safe' room, but these protections don't last forever.

How to Search Elanthipedia

Basic and Advanced Search

Elanthipedia has a lot of useful content, but finding what you want is not always intuitive. Here are some tricks.

Basic Search: to perform a basic search, click the link, or scroll to the upper-right corner of the screen, and type your search term in the box. Click "Search."

Advanced Search: Sometimes, the basic search gives you too many results, and you want to narrow your search. You can reach the advanced search option by clicking the link by performing a basic search and then clicking the "Advanced" link.

Under Search in namespaces, you can choose which types of pages to include in your search. The most useful options are:
  • (Main) any wiki page that is not in a special category (most articles and shops)
  • Category: any wiki page whose title begins with Category:. This includes the main guild, race, and spell pages, for example, which link to more detailed information.
  • Armor: armor item pages (with looks, stats, shop locations, etc.)
  • Shield: shield item pages (with looks, stats, shop locations, etc.)
  • Weapon: weapon item pages (with looks, stats, shop locations, etc.)
  • Item: all other item pages (with looks, stats, shop locations, etc.)
  • Post: archived posts from the official Play.net forum
  • Title: titles (the kind your character wears around his name)
  • Checking the "List redirects" option will include pages that just redirect you to another page.

Special Queries

In addition to the normal search options, Elanthipedia has some special query pages that let you search for particular content. To use them, simply select the options you want and click "run query" at the bottom.

When using the four item query pages, "rare" means items that aren't normally available, such as quest prizes, festival merchandise, etc.

BestiaryQuery: Here you can search for huntable creatures by location, difficulty, types of loot dropped, etc.

PostQuery: Search for archived posts from the official Play.net forum (separate topics with a comma)

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