 Posted:
Mon Jun 23, 2008 8:56 am |
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DREAMSCAPES ADVICE FOR NEW PLAYERS (NEWBIES)
DS Intro, by Azzirr the Wanderer
Welcome friend, and welcome to the wonderful world of dreamscapes. Things can be a little frustrating for new players, so have made a little guide to help guide new people into this massive realm. This doesn't cover everything, but will hopefully get you started. DS has all text based, and has no real graphics. You must download and install MUD Client.
When you get it started, you will be asked to create a character. Have an idea of what kind of character you want before you start. Do you dream of being an elf ranger? Or a dashing halfling thief? Maybe your prefer a Dwarven Fighter? Or even a gnome spell caster. Pick your ablilities according to what you want your character to be. Type HELP <word> if unsure, such as HELP CHARISMA (enter). You may reroll your ablility scores untill you have some decent scores. Make sure you have 15 or higher in at least 2 scores that are releveant to your character. Examples, a rogue needs a high dexterity, while a fighter relys on a high strength. Check out the all the stuff under the Public Info tab on the DS site.
)Commands
Here is a list of the basic commands (in capitals) to use in the game. This language can be confusing at first, but you will quickly become fluent in it. All commands must be followed by the ENTER key. Some commands can be abbreviated, such as REMOVE BACKPACK can be shortened to REMOVE BACK. Type COMMANDS (enter) for a full list of all the commands. Type HELP for a general list of commands. Use the HELP command to learn about stuff. For example type HELP ELF to learn about elfs.
N move one space north
E move one space east
S move one space south
W move one space west
Remember the old boy scout saying Never Eat Shredded Wheat. North is the top of the screen, East is to the right, South is the bottom of the screen, and West is to the left. You can also move: DOWN and UP in some places. Moving causes your character to eventually become tired. To solve this, find a safe spot indoors and type REST. Your character will begin resting. Type STAND to stop resting. You can recover quicker in temples. You can also SLEEP, but don't forget to WAKE.
Type LOOK and you will see your surroundings, possible exits, people in area, items in the area and so forth. Type MAP to get a broad view of your surroundings. Type VIEW MAP to toggle the mini map on and off (always keep it on). Type SCAN to look for nearby people, creatures, and foes. When you see something you might want to fight, type CONSIDER <creature>. This will tell you your chances of winning the fight. If it says "you are mad!", don't fight the creature, it will kill you for sure. You can LOOK at and EXAMINE items, people, and other things. For example LOOK DWARF to view a dwarf standing next to you.
There is a world map on the DS website under public info.
)Socials
Make friends! If you meet another player, you need to introduce yourself to properly interact with that person. If a dwarf greets you, type INTRO DWARF to introduce yourself to the dwarf. If you meet Melleth, type INTRO MELLETH. Everyone on here is friendly and williing to help you get started. INTRO as many people as possible. To speak to everyone in the room, type SAY <whatever>. For example, to say hello type SAY HELLO. Type SOCIAL to see other ways you can interact with people. You can WAVE and NOD for example. Use TELL <character> <what> to say something to only one person in the game. OOC stands for out of character, it can be used to say something to everyone online that doesn't have anything to do with the game.GEMOTE to do an remote social action example: if you wanted to greet Krystum, and he is far away, type GEMOTE GREET KRYSTUM. This way he will recieve your greeting even if he is far away from you. Many social interactions can only be done to people that have INTO-ed themselves to you, so that is why it is important for you to INTRO yourself to other people, they can help you.
)Getting Stuff
If you come across something, you can TAKE it. For example if you come across a dagger laying on the ground, type TAKE DAGGER. You can TAKE and PUT items in containers, such as pouches, chests, and closets. First you must OPEN it. Second you must EXAMINE it. For example: OPEN CHEST (enter) EXAMINE CHEST (enter) TAKE DAGGER FROM CHEST (enter) PUT SHIELD IN CHEST (enter) and finally CLOSE CHEST (enter). To loot everything in a pile, type TAKE ALL. You can also DROP ALL if you need to quickly lighten your load. To quickly don all your items, type WEAR ALL, and to quickly get naked, type REMOVE ALL. For all intents and purposes, you can use the word GET in place of TAKE, whichever is easier for you.
Look for keywords. For example if you see "a silver plate boots" and have trouble TAKE-ing it, try different word combos: TAKE SILVER, TAKE PLATE, TAKE BOOTS. If those fail, try TAKE ALL. To choose a specific item from of a list of similar items, use take 2.<item> or take 3.<item>. The numbers represent the order of items from top to bottom.
Example, if you want to take the silver sword from this list:
<inventory>
a shortsword
silver sword
a glowing longsword
Type take 2.sword, because the silver one is the second on the list.
The same priciple can be used for choosing targets, like kill 2.elf or something like that.
If you come across a closed door, type OPEN DOOR. If there are multiple doors, type OPEN DOOR EAST, or OPEN DOOR WEST to specify which one. The same goes for gates.
Your character can WEAR all sorts of items such as armor, rings, hats, belts, backpacks, boots. For example, if you find a pair of boots, type WEAR BOOTS (enter). Try to get your character decked out in the best equipment they can use. Every item has an ego, which prohibits powerful items from being used by newbie characters such as yourself. Your ego is your intellengence+charsma+rank. The higher ego you have, the more powerful items you may use
Type SCORE to see where your character is at. When you first do this, it will ask you how you want to view your SCORE. Simply pick one. After you WEAR an item, check your SCORE, and see how has affected your armor class, hit roll and such. Low armor class is good and a high armor class is bad. Try to get the lowest armor class possible. Low saves are good. Everything else, such as ability scores, hit rolls, and dam rolls should be high.
Your character will eventually become hungry and thirsty. Every town has a fountain in the centre. Find the fountain in Keltrath, it is in the park, you may have to open a gate or door to get in. This fountain is east on Central blv, west of the Wandering Traveller Inn and Harbor lane, and north on Farmers street. Once you have found it, type DRINK FROM FOUNTAIN. Keep on doing this untill it says "you don't feel thirsty anymore" or "your stomach can't contain anymore". From there go directly east, though the Wandering Traveller Inn, onwards to the Marketplace. Find a vendor that is selling food. Type LIST to see the goods they are selling. Each item will have a number. Type BUY 1 (or whichever number you choose). If you have enough gold, the vendor will give you the item. Type EAT <item>. Keep on eating untill it says you are full. Cheaper items offer less food value (such as an apple) where as more expenive items, such as venison or fish pie, offer more.
Use the arrow key (up) to go to the last command you typed. This will speed things up when you are doing repetitive tasks such as drinking.
Like Suibitai, thief and archer once said "give me food for when the wolves come. let me die not in hunger, but in combat".
From there go directly west of the Fountain, past the gate. Go a bit farther and you come upon Trader's Lane. This street runs north to south. Go south on Trader's lane untill you find Warrior's Weapons. Go inside. Type LIST to see what he has for sale. All characters start off with ranks in some form of attack. Type SKILLS KNOWN to find out what form of attack your character knows. Type WIELD DAGGER (or whatever other wepon you pick up), this means the weapon is in your hands. You can now fight with it. Now SHEATH DAGGER to wear the item on your person. When you need to use it, type DRAW DAGGER, then SHEATH DAGGER when you are not using it. Your drawn wepon can be confiscated by guards in the towns, or it can cause people to have a negative reaction to you. If you want to get rid of it, type REMOVE DAGGER.
GOLD tells you how much gold you have
SELL <item> sell off unused goods. this is the easiest way to get gold in this game. mechants only buy stuff they would sell.
BUY <number> buy the best equipment your character is allowed to use
DONATE <item>use this command to clear up your INVENTORY of unwanted items.
DROP <item> leave an item on the ground
I or INVENTORY get a list of all the items you are carrying in your arms
VALUE <item> appraises the item for sale
EXHIBIT <item> shows information about items
HOLD <item> equip certain items, such as a light source or potion
COMPARE <item> <item> you must have these 2 items in your inventory, and not equiped
Paging. Sometimes when you hit LIST or other things, you will be given the first page of a multi-page thing. At the bottom it will say "Return to continue". Press (enter) a few times to scroll through the whole list, or hit Q (enter). You will not be able to do any other actions until you exit the paging screen.
To sell multiple items of the same kind type SELL <amount> <item>. Example SELL 10 SPEAR to sell ten spears.
Next you will want to visit the leatherworks shop, get some armor for each part of your body, if you can afford it. Go to the general supply store to get a backpack, lantern, and such. When you first start, you won't be able to afford much, but get what you can, and keep comming back to sell items and buy new ones. Go to Vengrim's Armor and pick up a wooden shield.
To give gold to a fellow player, or to Annika at the Inn, type GIVE <amount> COINS <person>. Example: GIVE 38 COINS ANNIKA.
)Free Stuff
Make sure you take full advantage of the Keltrath donation room along Blackleaf Lane, at the bottom of West road. It is loaded with all the stuff other adventures have tossed aside.
)First Blood
Now you have that new dagger and you are wanting to test it out, right? Do you think you have what it takes? Go back to the fountain. Drink your fill. Type DOWN. Make sure you DRAW a weapon, and you WEAR all the rest of your equipment. Anything you have in your INVENTORY will hinder you, so make sure everything is put away. The first floor is guarded by a dwarf, no mind him. This is your last chance to get ready. Go DOWN to the first level of the arena. There you will fight vicious rabbits and evil toads. When you see one of them type KILL RABBIT and it has begun. Your character will fight automatically untill death, or the foe is dead. The only way to leave combat is to FLEE. Watch your hit points, if you are nearing death, keep typing FLEE untill you get away. Keep checking your SCORE. Do not go lower than this level until you have completely schooled it.
Type SACRIFICE CORPSE after you have slain a creature, this will keep the gods happy, and keep the realm clean. You can type AUTOSAC to automatically sacrifice all fallen foes (saves typing).
When you have 0 experience remaing, you must go to your guild trainer to be promoted. Find the Adventures Guild Hall, in the north-east part of the city. Go to the guild trainer and type PROMOTE. This will bring you to the next rank. Your powers will increase. Upon reaching rank, you will be given a number of practice sessions. Go to one of the trainers and type PRACTICE to get a list of the skills they can teach you. To learn the skill, type PRACTICE <skill>, like PRACTICE ATTACK:PIERCING or PRACTICE PARRY. Try to focus on one skill at a time, because having 4% in one skill won't do you much good. Parry is a good skill to have, as it works automatically in combat. Work on the skills you want you character to use over the long term. Once you have reached 95% in a skill you have "mastered" it. If you want to learn more about a skill, type HELP <skill>.
)Temple
Find the temple of your diety. The Temple district is south of the Market Place. If you die, this is where you will be resurrected. Also, if you QUAFF a potion of recall, you will end up here as well. Type HEAL and the priestess will give you a list of spell services. For example, if you get your arm cut off, go to her and type HEAL REGENERATE. If you think a battle will be tough, get her to HEAL BLESS you and HEAL ARMOR you. Resting here will help you recover faster too. If you don't have a diety, type WORSHIP for a list of diety, then choose one.
)Bank
After a while, you will rank up, you will get more gold, and the dangers will become greater. To keep all that looted gold safe you need to keep it in the bank. Find the bank at the north end of Trader's lane. Go to the teller. You can DEPOSIT <amount> gold to keep it safe. If you get killed or robbed, your bank account will still be here. Always keep some gold on reserve. To take out gold, type WITHDRAW <amount>.
)Upkeep on Equipment
During your adventures and battles, your equipment will start to wear down. When a piece of equipment is damaged it will gradually become less effective. Those with the REPAIR skill may attempt to repair their own equipment. If you have a friend that has REPAIR, you can ask them to do it for you.
The way I like to do it is, I cycle out my old equipment. If you BUY some equipment from somewhere, you can usually SELL it as well. If something you BUY gets damaged, SELL it back to the store and BUY it back. The resale value usually isn't so bad. This is the extended warranty of DS.
)Potions
You will discover various potions in the game. Go the the Magical Mystries store on Trader's Lane and there is a selection. The Purple one is the Potion of Recall, which will teleport you back to your temple. It's a great time saver, and can bail you out of a dangerous area. To use a potion, type HOLD POTION (you must have a hand free), then type QUAFF POTION when you are ready.
)Quest Tolkens
This is a special kind of currency. You get them by simply walking around and exploring. You need to use them when you PROMOTE. You can also spend them buying custom equipment, houses, and practice sessions.
)Ethos and Alignment (stolen from previous forum)
"Well, ethos are the path you walk. You can be Good, Neutral, or Evil. Most guilds require you be a certain ethos, and race. Now, two cities, will dislike you based on your ethos. Sehaelas hates evil, and it's mobs will attack you on site. Diablous hates good, same deal there. .... An evil player can still attack an evil mob, what happens is they will end up becoming slightly good.
An evil player at their most evil is -1000 (vile fiend) and then can still kill evil and recieve experince up until -350 (malevolent).
Same deal for good. They can go from 1000 to 350.
Neutral can go from -350 to 350. After they "stray" from their ethos, they will no longer receive experince points, or recover HP, MP, or MV. And can get stuck with no food or water and starve to death. Unless somebody brings them food and water, and elven boots they won't be able to make it back. So it's VERY important you keep an eye on your ethos. Most areas have a mix of good and evil mobs, or have opposite ethos mobs somewhere close by.
Diablous has the ghosts north of it in the scorched planes, and Sehaelas has the Kobold tribe south of it. How can you tell what mob is good or evil? The Dark Paladins and Light Paladins have a skill where they can see the aura of their opposite ethos. There are potions that can see auras too. But MOSTLY it's just experince and watching to see what mob gives you in your ethos score. Red auras are evil, green are neutral, and blue are good." ...Ciroth
examples good: faeries, elfs, rangers, white robed acolyte
examples evil: ghouls, wererats, black knights
)Further down the arena.
After your character has toughened up a bit, you may proceed to the lower levels of the arena, take it slow, and always go in well prepared. After you have mastered all 4 levels of the arena, you are free to wander the world, but be careful, it's dangerous out there. You may join a guild. Go straight south from the fountain, and all the guild halls are there off of Farmer's street. Choose wisely, because you can't easily switch guilds. Go to the master of the guild you want to join and SAY you SEEK to join the guild. You will then have to do a few tasks to prove you are worthy. Do that, and viola, you have a respectable character!
)Getting around the realm
Go straight west from the fountain. W W W W... until you reach the stone marker. There are 3 vehicles that will give you a free ride to 3 different towns. If one comes, type SIT CART or SIT WAGON to go to the place you want to travel. You can get off at any time, but traveling alone on the highway can be very tiring and dangerous. Wait until you are at your destination, then type STAND. There are other things like moonwells and potions of recall, to get you around faster. To use a moonwell, type ENTER MOON, and if you are worthy, you will be teleported somewhere. If you invest in RIDE skill, you may get a mount.
)Quests
You can take quests from the Prince and other people. You should wait until you are familiar with the realm before taking on Quests. Find the Prince in one of the inns. To take on a quest type AUTOQUEST REQUEST. If you forget what your quest is, type AUTOQUEST INFO. If you succeed, go back to the Prince and type AUTOQUEST COMPLETE. You can also buy pratice sessions here, just type AUTOQUEST QT2PRAC <amount>.
)What to fight next?
At some point in the game, you will reach a certain rank and wonder what you should fight next. Let me tell you, there will always be something to fight.
The arena should keep you busy for a while. After that the dungeon below. When you have mastered that, you can go to Diablous (provided you are neutral or evil) and take out the dogs and cats there. Always use CONSIDER on a foe before hand. Another easy hunting place is in the woods west of Tyr. The bluebirds and robins give good experience while posing little threat. Travel to to village of Chiros, south of Keltrath, and start off with the boys and girls there. When you get fairly tough, around rank 25, you can start a beef with the centaurs. The waystation along the highway is fairly easy at that rank. Use CONSIDER on everyone! Be careful of who you kill because you can lose or gain standing with various factions. Usually gaining favor with one faction will lose you favor in another.
When you want to end your session, use the QUIT command to save your game.
What it breaks down to in this game is, anyone can be killed, and everyone will give you experience. Just don't mess with the wrong people.
Happy Hunting!!!
Yours sencearly, Azzirr of the Eastern Sands |
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