I didn't find a newbie-forum, and since I'm having problems surviving, I suppose this is the place to go.

Firstly, you should know that I'm completely new to MUDs. I created a character and read a ton of help files. I think I have the syntax in my fingers now, but I don't really know where to start. I don't have a weapon, and I can't afford one (btw, bent rivets makes for lousy weapons). Besides, I'm not really cut out for fighting anyways, since I'm a faeling...

I suppose I should start with skills, right? I'm a freshman novice in the aquamancers. I've read about the guilds, but freshman novice doesn't tell me anything. Any help, please?

Right. Rats you should be able to handle (try not to go for the black ones right now, they might be too hard if you don't know when to run.)

As you're new to MUDs, and I don't think this is explained particularly anywhere, I'll just explain how to make a quick easy-rat-killing thing.

SETALIAS C CAST BLAST &T
ST T RAT

Do those two commands, one at a time. Then if you see a rat, C will blast them. You should kill all of them apart from black ones in one hit. That's if you have blast. If you haven't got blast, you weren't taught properly, so you should do

GNT Is anyone free to give me a novice preparation?

However, you've come at a horrible time, while the world's in the middle of being destroyed, so you might be pressed for help there. :/ Hope that helps.

Yes, my timing has always been impeccable... And you're right. I weren't taught properly. In fact, I weren't taught.

Well, thank you. I'll see what I can do.

Actually, as an aqua with 14 intelligience, you should be able to kill the black rats in one hit with Blast too. It's just people like Shiri who can't Don't bother with weapons. Might want to cast anything that looks like a defence for practice even if it won't do you much good as a newbie. (E.g. Stoneskin, Elementshield)

We say commands in capital letters to differentiate them, but you should type them in small letters. <- This is important

If you haven't already done so:
SKILLCHOICE LIST
SKILLCHOICE SELECT HIGHMAGIC
SKILLCHOICE SELECT ELEMENTALISM
SKILLCHOICE SELECT ILLUSIONS
SKILLCHOICE SELECT DREAMWEAVING -or- SKILLCHOICE SELECT RUNES (you can wait to make your choice if you don't know which you want)

Then PORTALS, S, READ SIGN, and take the exit that says Pool of Stars / Celest. You'll see Meleris there. Do:
LEARN FROM MELERIS
Eg: LEARN 15 ELEMENTALISM FROM MELERIS
It should say somewhere in the ghelp files what you should learn.

Find out how to do the quests in Newton Caverns too. There are 3 other areas you can reach from there if you do the quests right. I don't know if you realised yet, but giving corpses and other things to the right npc will get you gold and / or experience. GREET multiple times to see what they want. You can also use commands like TURN , PUSH , PULL etc to interact with items in the room / descriptions sometimes.

To regain mana / ego, MED, to regain health, SLEEP. Oh, and Bob (at the Trading Post) rips you off. Don't buy potions from him if you can help it. A perfection (regen mana) / mercy (regen health) enchantment will help more even if they do cost quite a bit more initially.

If you have questions, just ask on your guildnovicetalk or newbie channel. (Eg: GNT , or NEWBIE ) If no one answers, just wait a few minutes and ask again. GWHO will give you a rough idea of which guildmates are around. Or on the other hand, just ask here. ShiriBot (and others) is very helpful and will be around for a while yet.

Also, if you're using the java client (if you clicked the "play lusternia" button, you might want to consider getting another client. Mushclient, JMC, MudMaster, TinyFugue are a few that come to mind if you can't afford to pay, or zMud if you can.

That last bit of advice is very important. You might not want to fight now, but if at some point in the future you end up being a combatant, don't end up like I did and be too attached to JAVA to give it up, as for various reasons if you do stick with JAVA you'll be screwed completely when it comes to combat. Take it from me.

(Go on MUSHClient first. Get used to that ASAP. It's as good as ZMUD/better than ZMUD, and is free.)

Thank you, Summer. All I need to know now is what a Novice Preparation is. I'd like to know what I'm getting into before I do it. And what happens after 24 hours of gameplay?

I edited the post above to include more info. Novice preparation is _probably_ just things you can do to graduate from novicehood faster. Not too sure since it's been a while since I had an Aquamancer. After 24 hours though, you'll graduate automatically from novice. Since you're new, I recommend that you stay a novice for the full 24 hours even if you complete all the requirements for early graduation.

The difference between novice and guildrank 1 member (that's what you become after novice), is that novices can't learn past 99% Adept in their guild skills. (HELP SKILLRANKS)

Alright. A novice preparation is what is SUPPOSED to happen (and does when the world isn't being attacked by insane Soulless gods - we'll tell you about it later) when you finish that tour with those Lachesis and Clotho people.
Basically an older guildmember (one who's spent 24 hours in the guild) has instructions to teach you your lessons (which is where you get stuff like blast) and what to do and give you some basically set-you-on-your-feet advice.

After 24 hours, you can take your guild skills (elementalism, illusions, and runes/dreamweaving (you get an option) in your case) above Adept skill rank, but that's not really important right now either.

EDIT: Or, Summer could ninja me.

If you can't figure out what skills to learn from the ghelp files, these are my recommendations as essentials for now:

- Keep learning Elementalism until you get the Waterbreathe skill. (probably 20 - 30 lessons, deleted the exact number of lessons needed accidentally )
- 7 lessons into Discipline
- 22 lessons into Planar (gets you rift so you can store herbs / commodities etc instead of dropping them when you die / log out)

Save the rest of your lessons till you are sure about what skills you want. Unless you're rich, you'll regret spending them on unnecessary skills.

For "fun" stuff, assuming you have the same idea of fun as I do:
- 16 lessons into Discernment (lets you see the name of the person shouting. Also to Diagnose afflictions and Wounds, though these aren't too useful till you're a higher level)
- 18 _more_ lessons into Discernment after this will let you see who dies. It won't tell you where though, like the deathsense enchantment will.
- 68 _more_ lessons into Planar after Rift gets you Teleport. Comes in useful after you lose the PORTALS ability.

Edit: Ninja means to post before he does if you're wondering.

Ok, got it. I'll just take the 24 hours. I need it. I got blast now, and quite a few others. Now I'm off to get myself a real client. Putty doesn't really do it for me...

Thanks again, all of you. Maybe I'll see you around.

Decard, don't be afraid to ask the guides for help (SPINDLE and SKEIN) or any of us gods if neither of them are available (we're the guys colored green)
Sometimes it is hard getting guild members to answer newbie questions, often they are too engaged with other aspects of the game, which is why sometimes you should try us instead.

Oh wow, a god is helping.

But yeah, Fain's a really nice god even if he's Magnagora's patron.

Isune's the best, of course.

But she's not around much anymore.

*considers hijacking it into an argument of which god is best*

Noooo I'm just kidding, kidding!



Edit: Oh and I just realised something. Fain forgot Bobbins! Poor him.

Oops! yeah there is BOBBINS too!

You did NOT just realise that, you had to ask me on MSN for it. And isn't Bobbins a girl?

Bobbins is a him. And I only asked you if he has an "s" behind the name, but already checked through honours by the time you replied anyway

RATS is probabbly the worst way to go about gaining experience and gold. Atleast in Lusternia. The main reason I say this is that while it will help you learn the layout of your city, it deprives you of the wonderfullness that is Newton.

Have you read GHELP NOVICES? A very useful Aquamancer help file for newbies. Check it out if no one's pointed you there yet. If I'm around, feel free to ask me for help if gnt isn't working out and you happen to notice me wandering around.

Really? I've found them to be pretty good, especially if I'm in a chatty mood. I was actually gaining noticable xp in the mid 70's levels. Then again, we're talking about 30000 gold worth of rats (yay for debt), but still noticable.