Welcome to Althanas.com, one of the most exciting fantasy play-by-post role-playing games on the internet today. As a new member of the forum, we highly recommend reading through this guide as you register your character and explore the features of Althanas. If you have any questions about a topic covered in this guide, by all means post a reply to this thread and we'll be happy to answer.

If you haven't already registered an account on the forum - that is, a username to post with, please click on this link to open a window and get started. You will want to complete that process before continuing with this guide.

Your Character Sheet and the Realm of Greeting

After registering for the forum, your first stop should be to the forum near the top of Althanas, the Realm of Greeting. There you will be asked to make a thread (here referred to as a character sheet) detailing your character and the various skills he will be starting with. You will also be asked to provide your character's history and any basic equipment he is starting with. Once you have posted the thread, you need to wait for a moderator to approve your character.

Here is the suggested format of the character sheet along with some tips on how to fill it out:

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Name:
Age:
Race:
Hair Color:
Eye Color:
Height:
Weight:
*Occupation:

*Personality: Give us an idea of your character’s traits. How does he interact with other people? What does he or she think about themselves?

Appearance: Describe your character as he or she would first appear to someone else.

History: You should make your character's history as detailed and as creative as possible. The more history your character has, the more interesting stories you will be able to write about him when you begin role-playing. However, be careful not to use clichés, or other commonly used plotlines. It seems that every other character's parents were killed in some accident or murder, and that their death was what led the character to become a hero. Here at Althanas, we hear that history so many times that it can get awfully boring - try to create a history as fresh and unique as possible.

Skills: Please clearly define and list every skill your character has, such as swordplay or marksmanship. If he or she uses magic, list it here and tell us how it works. Describe your spells, but feel free to leave them 'open' so they can be used in several different ways (for example, having a spell that creates light, rather than a spell that can create an orb of light specifically used to brighten a dark area - this would leave room for the 'light making' to be used in any way you could think of). Skills like these often will not need to have restrictions on how often they can be used, but keep in mind that doing the same thing often in a battle will often hurt your writing.

Equipment: If you do not list it here, do not expect to pull it out of your pack. We must know everything you have on your character of importance. It is not necessary to list all traveling necessities, but if you have a broadsword that does nifty things, it would fall under this category.

*Familiars: A familiar is a minor adventuring companion, usually a small animal, demon, or humanoid of some sort. This section may be skipped if you do not have one.

*Note that these fields are optional, and you may be approved without them.

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Once you’ve filled out this character sheet, copy/paste what you wrote into a new thread in the Character/PG Registration Forum. That's all there is to it. Once you've posted the thread, one of our Approval Moderators will then read your character sheet, and if they feel it needs anything added to it or taken away, they'll ask you to change it. When a moderator determines that your character sheet is acceptable, they will then approve you and you may begin role-playing at Althanas. Remember that when your thread is approved, it will be placed in the Registration Archive - so if you're wondering where your profile is, it's in there.

Keep in mind that if you only have a half-completed registration, please don't post it. Save it to your computer and post it later when it is finished. It's a lot easier that way and doesn't create clutter in the forum. Also, please remember to run your profile through a spell-checker in any one of a number of common word processors, like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Works. This makes your profile easier for our moderators to understand.

Approvals are vital at Althanas because it prevents players from creating overpowered, unrealistic characters. Getting your character approved is usually a very short process, and you can expect a waiting time of usually only a few hours, or at most two to three days. Please remember that YOU SHOULDN'T START A BATTLE OR QUEST BEFORE YOUR CHARACTER IS APPROVED. If that rule is violated, then a moderator will close the thread until you’ve been approved, at which point the thread will be opened.

The Peaceful Promenade/Scara Brae/Introduction Forum

If you're looking to jump directly into Althanas role-playing, there is no better place than The Peaceful Promenade. The Peaceful Promenade is an in-character chat where you can introduce your character to other players, and have your role-playing there judged (and EXP and GP awarded of course!). Scara Brae is our training forum, where the Moderators will help new players learn about how Althanas works, and run them through the different parts of a battle. That battle will then be scored by a member of the Althanas staff, and players will be given tips about how to improve their role-playing. Finally, the Introduction Forum is an Out-of-Character chat where you can introduce yourself to the members of Althanas. Tell us everything that's even remotely interesting about you, because we all are dying to welcome you to our forum.

This completes the first half of the guide. For a brief introduction to some of the Althanas rules and forum features, plesae continue on to the next post.