Words of Wisdom

You enter the world naked, confused and scared as you did once long ago. The surrounding walls are of stone and several items lie on the ground. Taking what you will and leaving that which is unusable, you proceed down the corridor. You find a door and open it. Golems and obstacles block your way, but you pass and defeat each new challenge. After each battle you claim your prizes, wearing all that you find useful and leaving the rest.

Each challenge gets harder, each successive golem becomes more aggressive. Finally you stand before the final golem, tired and slightly injured. You realize you must sleep to heal your wounds and to recover your stamina again. After a short time, you rise and prepare for the final battle.

You leap into action, but the challenge is tough and at times it feels hopeless. Then suddenly it is over and the final golem lies defeated at your feet. Although you're tired and in need of healing, you reach down and claim your prize from the crumbled remains.

So ends your introduction to the vast world known as Alter Aeon.

As a new player in this huge world you will find you must learn many things. It can be overwhelming at times, but stay calm and never forget about the 'help' command. Simply typing help and the name of the thing you wish to do will normally give you hints on accomplishing it. For example, if trying to figure out how to use a weapon, typing 'help weapons' would give you a variety of ideas.

There are help files on a huge number of subjects. I personally suggest when you need to regenerate or heal, take time to look through the help files. Some suggestions might be rules, commands, socials, quest, train, skills, spells and stats. If you're feeling lucky try 'help random' to get a random help page.

If all else fails, you can always ask for help on the newbie channel by using the 'newbie' command. Just remember this channel is supposed to be for new player question and answer, not normal chat.

As a new player you will need to find ways of gaining experience points, so you can level and increase your stats, skills and spells. At first you may gather wood, try your hand at fishing, or hunt local game, and sell the meat or skins.

Later, you may accept quests to defeat nearby monsters or perform tasks; be sure to talk to all the characters that you meet, for this is how you will find quests and new things to do.

As you begin to rise in levels, you will need to find other ways of gaining experience. There are many different ways of doing this - brewing potions and poisons, stealing gold and shoplifting, disarming your enemies, rescuing others in battle, backstabbing or turning away the undead are only a few examples. No matter what class you pick, there are myriad different ways of gaining experience. It is the only way you will grow stronger, gain more skills and spells or to be able to use better equipment.

You will find that grouping with others can have many advantages. Groups can defeat more or larger monsters. Normally it can be done faster and with less regenerating. You will have more skills and spells available as a group then most will by themselves at lower levels. Clerics can heal fighters as they protect the group. Mages can be casting offensive spells at the monsters or casting defensive ones on members of the group. Thieves can backstab your opponent, sneak into unusual places or maybe get the group into locations that would otherwise be very difficult. You will learn to depend on each other, in turn accomplishing far more and gaining even more experience.

I suggest though you occasionally go out on your own and explore the lands. Walking and exploring is the only true way you will learn the many areas of Alter Aeon. From the False Temple on the island of Sloe to the city of Dragon Tooth on the island of Archais, from the Mount of Olympus to the Norse Village, from the Dwarven marketplace to the Oriental city, from the ruins under the Northern continent to the Island of Seriphus - these are just a small sample of the lands of Alter Aeon.

There are several alternate planes as well, such as the Ethereal Plane of Fire, the Outer Planar Ice World, and the planes of shadows, air and earth. In most of these areas you will find a variety of equipment, monsters, scenery and quests to complete.

In closing remember we all come here for different reasons. Many come to have fun and some to escape their mundane life. Others come to get away from the aggravation of the day. No matter the reason we have come to get away whether it's for an hour or for five hours, we are here to have fun. So when someone upsets you, you can't figure out the maze or just get bored, take a break. When feeling better come on back and give it another shot.

Remember to treat others as you wish to be treated and that even the gods are people too. Life is too short and the real world has enough problems, to let the game become one of these as well.

I hope that some will find the above informative and of value. The most important thing to remember is to have fun and that it's only a game.

I hope that one and all enjoy their time in Alter Aeon as much as I have in the last five years.

Morpheus, the God of Dreams