Uh... What?

[Guuraulk]

Yeah, I'm not quite sure what to make of Althanas yet but like most things I'll just jump headfirst before I make my ultimate decision on things.

I'm not new to the idea of RPing, and as such I'd rather not be treated as such. I've been playing another online text-based MUD for the past six and a half years now, however the posting method used there is real-time as opposed to play-by-post here. If you'd like to know what it is and who I am on it, send me a PM on here and I'll let you know unless that's taboo here.

I'm nineteen, which means that I've been playing that MUD described above for more than a third of my life and that's fine by me as well. I'm living in southern Texas currently but intend on moving to central Colorado in the upcoming year. I'm in a junior college right now taking a computer programming class.

Anywho, now a few questions by myself. I don't really have the time to scan through each of the various threads, topics, and replies on here to find the answers for what I'm at a loss about so please don't just say 'Go to the topic in such-and-such area and the thread there' but instead if you would just give me an address in reply to this thread that'd be nice to see.

The experience level factor, what does it have to do with your character and how do you increase it?

How do I obtain more gold if and when I manage to get Guuraulk approved and how/where exactly would I use it to further the development of an ogre how would normally just take what he wants if he can?

Lastly, what quests, if any, are there set up to further the development of characters and if they are merely random where would be the best place to look to find them?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to help someone unfamiliar with this set-up try to get himself to stick around in this place.

[AdventWings]

Aye, welcome to Althanas Guuraulk! It's not often we get MUD players here, so consider yourself a pioneer! I'll get to answering your questions as best as I can, Nya~!

*Experience: You gain experience points (EXP) from completing quests, battles and even when you visit the Bazaar. In other words, any IC engagements which have been judged by the Judging Staff will net you some EXP in return as well as GP where applicable.

All characters on Althanas start at level 0, which would probably be the equivalent to level 1 in other places. To get to level 1, you will need to reach 2,000 EXP which is no hard feat - 2-3 good quests should do the job.

Upon level-up, you will need to write up an updated character profile where you can add more details, skills and abilities to your existing ones. All changes must be approved by the Realm of Greeting Moderator, as with your level 0 profile.

*Gold: The standardized method of currency on Althanas is known as gold pieces, written in short as GP. GP are earned in quests and battles as well as basically any IC events that you engage in. Purchasing items in the Bazaar would use up your GP, however, so don't expect to get your gold there. :p

*Obtaining items: Items gained via IC events (Spoils) can be requested at the end of every IC events that has been completed. The spoils should be appropriate to the story and will be screened by the Judge. The Judge will subsequently either approve the spoil, modify it or (possibly) not reward it at all should the requested spoil is inappropriate. Spoils can be items, weapons, story-related skills or even abilities.

*Quests: All quests, battles and other IC engagements are open for the players to construct at their will! This is a free-form RPG with emphasis on creative writing and improving English literary skills. So, basically, the involving parties control the quest. There usually is one Game Master in charge of the story layout, but many people just wing it while grasping onto the bare bones of what the story is. Not to say that's a bad thing - just be creative! :D

If you think you're still a bit lost, don't be afraid to PM us Moderators for questions. You can even set up a quest yourself and ask for participants - most of us here are very friendly and won't bite too hard. :p

- Raven Adventwings, the Other Bazaar Kitty

[Ataraxis]

First off, welcome to Althanas! To me, your name is now, Grrr, and it shall never change. Huzzah!

The EXP you see in the sidebar is like in RPG games. When you reach a certain amount, you 'level up', and your character becomes stronger. When you level up, you 'update' the profile you submitted with the skills, the items and whatever you had gained during quests and battles (if any).

Whatever changes in appearance, personality and/or history should be included in the update as well, and a summary of what's happened to him between your new level and the last one is usually included.

You can also update skills he already had, upon leveling: for example, if he were below average in the wielding of a staff, you could increase it to average, then above, average, then advanced, mastered, legendary... You know the drill! This applies to non-weaponry related abilities as well.

Now, as aforementioned, you gain EXP through questing. However, these quests differ from the usual 'find this guy, give him this item, take a token from him and bring it back to me'. Quests here take time, effort and imagination, and should be considered as full-fledged stories. You COULD make a generic quest like in the example I've just given, though, but you'd need to add twists and other interesting things to it for your quest to become an interesting read. Yes, your quests are scored at the end by a judge, and depending on your score and level, you get a specific amount of XP and GP, on top of whatever spoils you request at the end of the last post of said quest.

However, these spoils need to be adequate to your level of power, so no world-rending sword at level 0! However the spoils you request can be just about anything. Useless baubles to enchanted items, like boots that boost your speed one and a half time over for one minute or gloves that procure you twice your strength for thirty seconds, usable twice every day. If your character fought a monster and developped a new spell, you can request it as a spoil. If you learned how to use a new weapon, same thing. Usually, the skills you ask for have to have been learned/used In Character, during the quest, for it to make sense.

How Guur would use his gold, considering how he is, could be difficult. Here, we have a market called the Bazaar, where you can purchase pretty much anything, given you have the requisite amount of gold. Stealing from the Bazaar will, most likely, get you killed by the guards, though that's never happened before. In the past, however, a Power Group (think of it as a guild of players) has taken over the Bazaar before, so there is a lot of creative leeway available to you here on Althanas. The Bazaar is conveninet because it takes little time and effort to get what item you want, considering you just need to pay with the gold you already have.

You could just find whatever you're looking for in a quest, for free, but quests take a long time to do, and need judging, which takes even longer. Also, making a quest just to GET a certain item can get very tedious at times, and is rarely ever interesting. Thus, you should find a way for your character to buy things at the market without stealing/killing anyone, if you ever need to use it!

In the forum, you'll see a section called Regions. Names such as Scara Brae Corone, Raiaera, Alerar, Salvar, Fallien and Dheathain will show up, as well as Other Regions. Scara Brae is a region specifically for beginners who want to get a feel of Althanas, but it is not a required step. You can just jump into any of the regions (though you need to read up on the guides that are stickied inside those regional subforums to know what the places actually look like) and either MAKE or JOIN a quest. You can find people recruiting for their own quests in the Roleplayer's Corner, which is a bit farther down, below the Regions.

They usually give specifics about their quests, and you can choose whether or not you want to enter, though the Recruiter does have a say in whether or not he wants to take you on board, or someone else. If you want to make a quest, it can be either Solo, where you write alone (but your character will most likely interact with many, many Non-Player Characters of your own creation) or with a Group (where players will meet your character, interact with him and with your NPCs and NPCs of their own making, if any).

Sometimes, a region has a Mission Board with already planned out quests you can take on. They have short descriptions to explain what needs to be done, but you are free to add whatever you want, and do whatever you want in it. For example, 'A village has been attacked by rogues for the past week, and the lumberjacks can no longer continue their endeavors of forestry, which is putting a dent in the market of 'X Region' with 'Y Region'. THe government of 'X Region' needs adventurers to take care of these bandits, and should the brigands be disposed of, the adventurers will be given a bountiful reward'. That's the premise of your quest, but as long as, by the end, it's dealt with, you can do whatever you want in it, like enslaving a band of goblins who seem to live near the village, exploring caves in the hills nearby to find secrets, or you could just be an antagonist who'll help the bandits raid the village, if you so choose (might not get that reward, though :P).

In summary: You get XP and GP and skills and spells and items by Questing in the Regions, or Battling in either the Citadel or the Pagoda (The Citadel has its own link in the forum, and the Pagoda is in Scara Brae: there are more specifics in those, since explaining them here would take just as long as what I already have written Oo). When you get 2000 XP, you get to level 1. 5000, to level 2. 9000, to level 3, and so forth. Each level warrants a character update, in which his power usually increases. Quests can be about anything, and you can either make them or join them. To make them, you need only choose where to have it take place and what it's about, then post it. If you want others to join it, make a Recruiting Thread in the Roleplayer's Corner. If you merely want to join a quest, look around in the Roleplayer's Corner for other recruiting threads!

I hope that was helpful! And again welcome to Athanas!

Edit: What Kitty here said. ^^ I'd say I've been ninja'ed, but I submitted this 27 minutes after him. >.> *cough*

[Witchblade]

Well, since all of your questions have already been answered, I'm just going to skip ahead to my welcome speech. ^^

Welcome to Althanas! Please keep your arms and legs inside the forum at all times or they may be removed by rabid, zombified characters. Do no feed the following people; AdventWings, Serilliant, Letho, Karuka Tida, Ataraxis, Amaril Torrun, Slayer of the rot and Christoph for they may become attached to you afterwards and are hard to get rid of. Any screams you may now be experiencing are the sound of dying characters. Do not be alarmed for they shall be revived in new and inventive ways the following thread. Have a nice day. ^^

*offers you a plate of cookies, which is good! But some of the cookies are poisonous, which is bad...*

[Agent of Black]

DON'T EAT THE COOKIES! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T EAT THOSE COOKIES, MAN!!

((You'll quickly find that some of us Althanians have gone medically insane... No worries, though.))

[Artifex Felicis]

I can eat now!

Anyways, I'm seconding the fact you should IM with any specific questions. Mods have the italicized usernames, and we're always ready to help.

*gnaws*

Also, I've read your profile and it seems interesting so far. I haven't seen many over ten feet tall people yet.

[Witchblade]

That's because he's not a human character. He's playing an ogre. Grrr! Grrr... >.> Yu know, like Shrek! :p

[Agent of Black]

Oh for the love of god...

I am an ogre... In bed. >_>

This has been my extended welcome to you, congrats.

[Witchblade]

*looks around cautiously before grabbing Nathan and dragging him off to a back room*

[Guuraulk]

Hmm, it does spark some interest for me. Guu has been a side project for me over the past few months and even my main character on the aforementioned MUD has been on hold due to various OOC reasons. More than likely between classes I would work on my skill list, overall attitude, and the little bit of history I've already created for the big guy.

While I was looking through the registration archive I noticed that a few of the applications had dexterity, speed, strength, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, magic power, and defensive multipliers amongst them while a few others did not. Just off the top of my head though I had already made a small list of enhancements and debilities due to the nature of being an ogre.

Strength at 800% that of a normal human who could lift 150 pounds at the maximum. This would roughly mean that at his current level Guu could lift somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200 pounds at the most when level 0. Per level gained another 100% is added as both his muscles and the dracolich within grow. This may seem a bit much but when you look at the deductions you'll begin to understand why I went that far.

Intelligence at 0.25% that of a normal human however due to the dracolich within him he does gain a bonus of 0.50% of a normal human's intelligence per level gained.

Speed and dexterity both at 0.30% that of a normal human due to his size and weight. Either way, he'd more than likely just make the distance between someone opposing him a bit faster than a normal human due to the distance he can make per step. No bonuses added over time.

Wisdom and Charisma lie at a level of 0.75% to begin with however they increase as he gains more slaves due to their minds helping his own understanding of actions around him increase. This bonus would be at a level of 0.05% per thrull at his side, and the number of thrulls would increase to a certain number per level and per acquisition of slaves per IC raid, deal, theft, etc.

Magic Power would begin at a level of 0.80% that of a normal human and grow throughout each level due to the percentage of experience points acquired reaching 50% of the total experience needed to level overall. This gain is at 0.05%, thus giving a total of 0.10% per level total.

Defensively, ogres are very resilient to physical attacks as well as poison due to their unique physiology. The anatomy of an ogre's stomach is adapted to protect the vital organs that lie in that area as well as their stomach itself. An ogre is also an eating machine, virtually digesting anything they can fit in their mouths and grind into small enough chunks to swallow. What they cannot chew, swallow, or even fit into their maws they then fashion into what they can, usually more to wrap around their club if they used one. As such, physical attacks would be reduced at a level of 0.30% while poison-based attacks are reduced at a level of 0.50%.

One thing mentioned about Guu's shield is that it is the spiritual body of the dracolich re-forming within him and if need be that additional shielding would further reduce physical attacks by 0.50%, thus granting Guu a total physical defense of 0.80% for a short period of time. Due to a moderator saying in the character registration area for Guu he could also have minor injuries healed during this period, but only for the first half of the shield being put into place.

Before I put this into my character application for Guu I'd like some feedback here if that's possible seeing as these may be too unbalanced for a level 0 character due to inexperience on my end.

I'm not a fan of cookies from strangers though, especially if cats eat them as well. But hey, what the heck?

*munches on one, then proceeds to be taken to the poison control center*

[Seth_Rahl]

*looks for nathan, looks in back room* "WTF?! KNOCK FIRST!" witchblade shrieks. *cocks eyebrow* sorry, i was looking for the guy who was an ogre in bed. *winks*

Oh, my apology. My name is Sethy. Wanna another cookie? *hold out a plate, but on second thought holds out two*

[Witchblade]

Whenever there are not listings for a characters strength, speed and intelligence, one automatically assumes they are the average strength and speed of a normal human. However, you have to include those stats in your registration, and I can tell you as an approvals mod, you're not going to be able to start off with enough strength to lift 1200 pounds. I don't care what race you are. My character's level five and she can only lift 500 pounds, albeit she's a vampire and not an ogre, but still. That's way too much strength for a level zero character.

[AdventWings]

O_o

You ate one of Witchy's cookies.

*Glances warily at the sounds coming from the backroom*

...Oh, well. All in due time.

Oh, yeah. As for the official approvals, I believe Letho (one of our Admins as well as being an Approvals Moderator) has taken a look over your profile and has requested clarifications already.

Also... You will need to post everything relevant to the characters in your official profile. Anything not on there (asides from stuff gained mid-level in quests and other IC threads) will be considered Non-Canon and you can be punished in your scoring during the Judging.

I would recommend you add all those things about being an ogre into the Character Profile.

But I must say... that is one very strong ogre... O.o

EDIT: What she said. She's also an Approvals Moderator. :D

[Seth_Rahl]

yeah. my character is while albeit he be only a half demon, I gave him the strength of about 1.5 times his own body mass. That was fine with the mods.

[Elijah_Morendale]

A belated welcoming from the resident nutjob with a character that has a split personality that is a total nutjob!

[Melancor]

Ahhh yes, those welcomings of Althanas... You don't have to think much on why they always offer you cookies in your introduction... Just... stay away from the oddly green-colored mushroom-growing-in-them kind of looking cookie. O_o

Usually all of our characters had to start at the same spot, moods allow a few advantages over... ~average~... like 1.5 faster than a normal human or something like that. I had to go through a lot of editing before Melancor was Aproved. But That's just cuz' I am a noob.

Anywho...

[Ataraxis]

My character has officious attribute modifiers of 0.3 strength , 0.6 speed and 0.5 endurance. You can see how that would make Grr to her what an UF Champion gone apeshit is to a handicapped mouse with strep pneumo.

Granted, Graham's number isn't big enough for her intellect modifier, but knowing how to stabilize a wormhole isn't really going to help when Krunk go smash. Oo

So yeah, even though Althanas does not explicitly rely on numbers and stats, there still has to be a limit to allow for some sort of balance. For example, the strongest guy around can lift, what, 2 tons? Most of his skills are not magic related, too. However, don't let that bring you down! In due time and with abit of effort, Grr can get just as strong, of not stronger!

[Artifex Felicis]

Mostly because I'm that egocentric, I'm probably one of the better examples of a fast character. By better I mean "Faster then the norm."

Still, Toning down the strength quite a bit would be a bit useful, considering his fists are basically the size of small buicks, and even if they are slow only need one strike to take someone down and make them stay there.

[Seth_Rahl]

Yeah. Your character would crush my character mostly likely, if Ifrit only used martial arts. Thats why I apply most of the strength benefits to when he wields his sword, hopefully allowing me to do some stuff a normal human wouldn't be able to do with it. (like wielding the giant blade 1handed.)

I found its help ful if you don't really use numbers, but instead relate your speed or strength to something else, like for your character with those stats (which I know won't be allowed), you could say that at the max he can lift 500 lbs above his own body weight, or in relation to weapons or such. Etc, etc. "Numbers come back to bite you in the butt." So true...