Newbie Gear
The term newbie is used generally to describe anyone who just came out of the character manager. Each newbie starts out with some light leather, a leather belt, a plain wooden shield, and a knapsack. Depending on your profession, your knapsack could contain different things. Everyone's knapsack comes with a surplus scimitar and a silver token. To see in your knapsack you would type LOOK IN MY KNAPSACK. To get things from it you would GET TOKEN IN MY KNAPSACK. To put things in it you would PUT TOKEN IN MY KNAPSACK.

The armor is self-explanatory. The light leather is serviceable but hardly the best protection money can buy, the same goes for the wooden shield.  To equip your wooden shield you REMOVE it, to put it back WEAR it.  This goes for any article of clothing in your inventory you want to remove or wear.

The surplus scimitar is a weapon you may use for a couple of levels.  Again, the quality isn't as nice as a store bought weapon but it will suffice. In the mentor garden (the garden you start the game in) you will see a weapon rack. You can PUT that surplus scimitar ON the rack and trade it in for any of the other weapons on it. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the different things and help decide if you want to specialize in two-handed, one-handed, ranged, or brawling techniques to fight.

The token is just that, a small token to welcome you to Greece. You can toss it if you come to a fork in the road and see if it helps.

Now onto the profession specific items in the knapsacks. Priests and alchemists will both find scrolls in their knapsacks. These scrolls will explain a bit about what their profession is all about and how to get started. Be sure to read this! Storytellers will find that they have a quill, some ink, and paper in their knapsacks. These are supplied so they can get started writing songs right away.

The Mentor Garden
This is the garden that you begin your journey in, and will be a place of great help for you as you get acquainted with the game. There is a bell here that you may ring to call on the services of a mentor (seeing Getting Help for more) as well as the weapon rack that we explained in the newbie gear topic above.

You will also see a wooden stand with some pamphlets on it. Be sure to get one of these! This will give you some basic information to help you get started, and it's free to boot!

Steeds
Every player in the game has a steed. These beasts of burden act sort of as a portable locker for you to keep things in. There is only so much room in your containers to put stuff, and only so many places on your body to wear them, so knowing how to use your steed is very important. To call your steed you need to be outside. Then you simple type WHISTLE FOR STEED. They can be a bit skittish though, so if you are someplace dangerous or you have been mean to them they may refuse to come.

When you whistle for them, they will trot in and you will have access to the items they are carrying. Look at the steed to see what it keeps your items in. When you first start in Athens, you will have a mule who wears saddlebags, but as you travel you may get other steeds. Just OPEN MY SADDLEBAG and LOOK in it to see what you have put on your mule. You may also then PUT things in the saddlebag, just like you would any other container, and SLAP MY MULE to send him back to the stables. Your items will be safe, even if you log out of the game, and you need only call your steed back to retrieve them.

Be nice to your steed and keep him safe. Treating him badly may end up causing him not to respond when you call for him.

Training
When you have earned enough experience to reach the next level, you need to go to a temple and pray to your god for guidance to reach it. But you also need to make an offering and a donation to them in order for them to hear your prayer. Most gods like laurel leaves as offerings (see the gods section for more) which you can FORAGE for in the right area (try a garden). When you have the laurels, go to the temple and offer them. Then donate dinars by typing DONATE <amount> and then you're ready to pray. If you've done it right, you will know.

After you level you will receive training points to use to train up you skills (see the skills section). You do this by training with NPC trainers who are located in a training hall in Athens and others who are scattered around the rest of the world. Just ASK <trainer> ABOUT TRAINING and they will tell you what they train and what it will cost you. If you find this acceptable then you type TRAIN WITH <trainer> and your skill will go up 1 point.

Befriending People and Merchants
You have the option to BEFRIEND up to five people when you enter the lands. As you grow you may find you have more of what we call slots to add friends to, but you will start out with five. To befriend someone you simply type BEFRIEND <name>, but to receive the benefits of befriending them, they must befriend you too. Once you befriend someone you can type BEFRIEND LIST to see where they are unless they are in a private area. Also, some verbs that are restricted by demeanor may not be restricted when used with people that are on your list.

You may remove friends by typing BEFRIEND CLEAR <name>, but this only works when they are logged on. If they are not logged on you can BEFRIEND CLEAR <number of the slot> to clear that slot. We recommend you keep a list on paper or in a text file outside of the game to remember which friend is in which slot for future reference. You can only see who is in your befriend list when they are logged into the game.

When you type BEFRIEND LIST you may notice an "INTIMATE" slot. This is for a loved one whom you become engaged to with a friendship or engagement ring or some otherwise blessed piece of jewelry. We don't recommend running out and getting engaged the day you enter the game, but the option is there if you feel the need. To get an intimate friend you must by the proper rings or have them blessed by a priest who is aged enough to do so. Then you simply kiss the rings, exchange them, kiss them again, and wear them. Removing and wearing the rings again will let your bonded friend know you are thinking about them if they are in the game.

You will want to befriend merchants whose backrooms you are working toward gaining access to (see Shopping for more information). To do this you simply enter the merchant manage by typing ORDER and type BEFRIEND. That merchant will then be on your list of merchants to impress and it will insure that your purchases count toward gaining access to their backroom. Warning: Not all merchants have items in their backroom, even if they may say they do.

Game Settings
You will be able to set many of the game's features on and off by using the SET verb. Type SET alone to see your options and whether or not you have them set. If there is an exclamation point by the name of a setting, then that setting is off. For example:

!Profession means your profession is not being displayed.
Profession means it is being displayed.

To set these on and off you type SET (!)<flag to set>. By typing the exclamation point, you are saying to turn it off. Not typing the exclamation point means you are turning it on. So to set your profession flag off you'd type SET !PROFESSION. To set your monsterbold on you'd type SET MONSTERBOLD.

Let's go over what each flag does

Logon
This will tell you when someone has logged into the game with a message like * Perseus has just joined the adventure! Or if you have an Arrivals window open, it will show up there so as not to interrupt your gaming experience in the Game window. See the documentation on Front Ends for more information on the windows.

Logoff
Just like Logon above, but messages you when players have logged off.

Disconnect
Just like the two above but will tell you when a player has disconnected. This means they were logged out of the game by some other means than quitting on their own. Things like power outages or loss of internet connectivity may cause this.

Death
You will receive messages when someone dies. If you have a Deaths window open it will appear there. See the documentation on Front Ends for more information on the windows.

RoomNames
This displays the name of the room you are in.

Descriptions
This will display the description of the room you are in.

BriefDesc
This determines whether you will see the full room description or a briefer one. Having it on means you will see the briefer rooms.  Warning, this option may cause you to miss out on things in the room if you cannot see the full description.

BattleBrief
This will shorten the messages you receive during battle to help lessen the scroll.

CombatBrief
This will shorten only other people's combat messages while keeping your own the normal length.

MonsterBold
Highlights the names of creatures and NPCs in the room descriptions. We highly recommend you set this immediately upon arrival since its default is off.

StatusPrompt
This determines if you receive information on things like your position (standing, sitting, etc.), whether you are engaged in combat, hiding, invisible, etc.

DesignerNotes
This includes you on the game's mailing list. We highly recommend you set this as it will put you on our monthly newsletter full of exciting news that you might not hear otherwise. (For more information on how we use your mailing address, please see our privacy policy.)

Profession
This determines whether or not people can see what profession you are by looking at you. Having it on means your profession is displayed.

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