Tips and Hints for New Players

[CaliCali]

Some dos and don'ts of CM role-play.

This thread contains advice from other threads and some established players, directed towards the new player.

Thanks to everyone for putting up with my pages and handing over your thoughts.

The advice here is evidence of an attempt to help those new players who have found themselves in this forum. And I encourage players to hand out this advise to new players, or direct them to this thread. Make use of this stuff! Heh.

• Read the Player's Guide, the HELP files, the tutorials and the Public Boards. The Player's Guide, although long, is extremely helpful. Many of the new players who have read it beforehand have moved along just fine In Game (IG). As intended, the help files and tutorials provide useful information on a variety of topics (type HELP to access). The Public Boards (specifically Marrach In Character and Castle Marrach) are, as Lisbeth put it, "the backbone of the Marrach Skeleton." The Castle Marrach forum gives information, updates, answers questions and brings forth all those little intriguing topics. Marrach In Character is the most useful for IG -- on it you'll find notices of events, and requests for applications, as well as a variety of other In Character (IC) information.
  
• Learn and understand In Character (IC) and Out Of Character (OOC). You are not your character. Your character lives in a freezing castle in the middle of nowhere in a year that is undetermined but certainly not present day. You live somewhere on Earth in 2004 and have access to the Internet. "If someone is mean to your character, they are not necessarily being mean to you as a player." Likewise, if you're upset with another player, this is not a basis for changing the relationship between their character and your character. React to OOC things OOCly, and IC things ICly.
  
• Be patient. Take your time and learn as much as you can. Don't feel afraid to make those inevitable mistakes, but be ready to take any consequences those mistakes come with. Learn from them! If there's a large event occurring and your character isn't noticed right away, don't be too offended -- we may be busy trying to read that quickly scrolling text. Don't be insulted if someone doesn't have time to help you. Sorry, but most of us have Real Lives that we also need to attend to. Keep trying! Don't jump in until you feel ready.
  
• Observe and learn. By watching other players, you may learn the way of the game, what's acceptable and what's not, the customs et cetera, much faster. There must be something that's made people play this game for four years! Talk to lots of people. Get to know them. Ask questions. Listen to what the characters and players say in response; and be polite! Accept their answer - or politely ask another to get different opinions. Learn the commands and learn the area. The commands may be best tampered with in your character's room. (It's odd to see someone screaming one moment and pouncing the next.) [See bottom.]
  
• Use common sense. Don't act foolish. By "don't act foolish," I mean: please don't kick me, kiss me, or scream without preparing to face the consequences. It's best not to attack random people or act like a psychopath. The Winter Watch will arrest your character if she or he is violent or unnecessarily lewd, and the dungeon isn't exactly the most fun place to be. If this does happen, handle it in an honorable manner: don't scream insults at the players of the Watchmen and -women; role-play sensibly. (In a real life situation, could you honestly punch that guy in the corner if a muscle man is holding your arms behind your back?) Respect the community and its players. Don't beg for attention, because it generally doesn't have the desired effect here.
  
• Find a friend. Find a mentor. Find an older or more established player to be with, to show you the ropes of Castle Marrach. Look at the person you're speaking with before discerning their gender. Make sure you've been introduced before using their name. You may be able to see the names of the characters, but your character cannot see the names floating above everyone's head. The FOLLOW command (FOLLOW X) can be useful, but be sure to 'follow noone' afterwards, as follows tend to stick around forever unless you follow someone or something else. Showing interest in people is a good way to get them to show interest in you. On that note, don't believe all the rumors you hear IC and OOC. It's much more interesting to find these things out yourself.
  
• Role-play and have fun! This game is not revolved around skills or 'stuff', but role-playing. Take risks - play your character as you choose (within the TOS, of course.) "Pick a concept and be it." Look for opportunities to role-play and advance. Encourage others to notice you by entertaining them. Find something IG that interests you and do it - there are a lot of trades and guilds to choose from in the Castle! At the same time, take criticism with dignity. Listen, but never let someone get you down or tell you you're role-playing "wrong". Be encouraged by encouragement! Be unique!

Quick Tips:

• Doors: Don't open closed doors. Knock and wait for a response before entering. --Make sure a door is closed before you knock on it.
  
• Look at what people are wearing to get an impression of what link they are. The fancier the clothes, the higher the link. You'll notice that a lot of eleventh-linkers aren't wearing 'frosted' clothes or fancy gowns.
  
• Don't forget to pay Skotos after your first month, if you want to keep playing!
  
• Your character can only be human, and only a grown human - no children. Sorry.
  
• Newly Dawned characters cannot get weapons, armor, very fancy clothes or very fancy jewelry, because these things must be earned or gained at a certain rank.
  
  If you want to know more about this, ask In Character, because I'm probably all ready on the plank for revealing as much here as I have.

- Me.


Parser help: If you want to do something, simply type in that verb. If you wanted to laugh, type 'laugh'. We have a wide variety of adverbs available. Adverbs add character and explain why or how you do something. Most verbs can be done towards a specific person or thing. This identifies whom your speaking with. Speech can be added to nearly every verb:

LAUGH
LAUGH ENTERTAINEDLY
LAUGH ENTERTAINEDLY at bob
LAUGH ENTERTAINEDLY at bob "Really? You did that? I can't believe it!

[hollydragon]

Helpful Links to Have to Hand:

@toggle linebreaks - to add linebreaks between text lines in your display

@Calendar and @Addmemo

@Calendar Updates and Groups

Glossary of Terms Thread

@Themeedit Command

Receiving Pending Pages

Skyreader and Skywriter Use

SkyReader and Writer HTML Tags

A General List of Commands

Some Zealous Information (inc. macro facts)

More Macro Info

[hollydragon]

There is now a command ...

@toggle linebreaks

... which will restore linebreaks between text blocks.


This will alter your text display between:

> You say "Hello!"

> You add "How are you?"

and:

> You say "Hello!
> You add "How are you?"

[hollydragon]

@command listing

Advice for Rp of anonymity on the IC Boards

RP advice for brawls and fights.

Sage character advice

Problem Solving

Social Hierarchy

Creating Your Character's Past Lives

Alternatives for Alice - Alternative Clients

How to Build a Guild (and be a leader)

Upon consent

On playing alts

This post amended or edited for clarity or helpfulness 22Dec05 by SP Geist

[Gareth]

Some new players get confused by 'chatmode'; it's listed in the Getting Started:

You can change how you input commands in Castle Marrach with the "chatmode" command. Type CHATMODE in order to be able to type in words that other people see without having to use an evocation verb like "say", "tell", or "shout". You will then have to precede all verbs with a "/".

Once chatmode is on, then -everything- becomes a 'say' unless you put a "/" before it. I've seen confused new players who turned it on and didn't really understand it get frustrated:

Bill says, "accept pouch"

Bill says, "go north"

Bill says "lol! I can't figure this out!"

So, have them type 'chatmode' again, so it says "ChatMode is now OFF."

Generally avoid chatmode if you are trying to do other actions.

This has confused a couple of new players, who have gotten very frustrated and could not understand why thy could not accept things, or move around, etc. Many of them have left the game when Awakeners could not figure it out, or when people were telling them it was a bug.

It's just a little known, and little understood, feature called chatmode.

[Taniyel]

this thread is SO useful!! seriously: it's given me an awesome start in this game.... kudos to all of you for coming up with it!

[Taniyel]

OOC Parser Tricks for New Players

Full Updated Verbs and Adverbs Lists

Players, Characters, and Emotional Cross-Over

Consequences for OOC Actions

Folder help? Type @help folders

The @plot submission command.

This post amended or edited for clarity or helpfulness 27Jan06 by SP Geist

[Tristana]

How to use a folder?

Adding a Scroll to the Folder :

Blindly :
Place/Put my scroll in my folder

Creating personal tabs :
Put my scroll in my folder '<topic name here>

Try keeping it short, having a tab with 12 words might get it hard to deal with.. and I wouldnt want to be in your shoes, then. I also recommend not putting scrolls in blindly, because then the topic will be the first line in the scroll.. and if that's long... oh boy.

Reading :

To get a list of topics : Read my folder
To read a certain topic : Read my folder '<topic name here>
To get topics with a certain keyword : Read my folder 'Keyword..

For example :

In you have a few scrolls regarding the library, typing read my folder 'library will show :

- library-emerick
- library - charter
- my library

or whatever name you put there. It basically serves to see a shorter list if you know what you are looking for.


Retrieving :

In order to take a scroll from your folder, and recieve it in the exact state you had it before you added it (scrolls' colors stay too) type :
Pull from my folder '<topic name here>

Dont try to "retrieve" scrolls from your folder - You have to use the word PULL.

Erasing :

In order to delete a scroll entirely - and I mean -entirely-, you type :

Erase my folder '<topic name here>


IMPORTANT NOTES

While the folder doesnt care much about capitalization, its very important to notice punctuation, spaces, hyphens and so on, or it will show you an error.

For Example :

If you want to withdraw the following topic :

- i love daisy.

pull from my folder 'i love daisy wont work

It has to be pull from my folder 'i love daisy.

This goes for every action you do with a topic : reading, erasing and so on.

Folders are addressable.

Folders contain approx. 100 scrolls. Try not to put more in there.

TIP : If you are having problems typing the exact same topic tab, just copy and paste it from the list of topics you get when typing "Read my folder".

Activation buttons - those little clickable options you get when you read topics - they dont work on Alice Clients.

Dashes - The dashes you get while reading the topics are bullet points, you dont have to add them to the topic name when you type it. I mean these :

-Josh
-Jake
-snowhite.

You cannot put two scrolls under the same topic


Hope this helps.

~Tali

[Geist]

Castle Marrach staff do not have the ability to learn or change passwords on the Wraith/TWiki site. If you have lost your password, or need it changed, you need to do the following -

• Log in using the TWiki Guest account, which is Username: TWikiGuest, Password: guest.
• Go to TWikiUsers and find your TWiki name. Note that the second name is your log-in.
• Go to Change/Reset Password and follow the directions. Note that you must send the information you receive from the form to the email indicated. It is a two-step process.

[hollydragon]

How to Host a Social or Wedding

[Gareth]

As a new player, you are going to run into a fair few older players that may be suffering from inactivity or burnout.

As a result, you might find yourself asked to 'send a scroll' to someone who might not have logged in for a long while, or, if they did get it, sat on it.

That's not fair to anyone, but especially not to the newer players who often aren't sure what to do when they try to get somewhere and find their progress in the game blocked by issues beyond their control.

Because of that, there is a new Twiki article about how to deal with guild leader inactivity written by our very own wonderful SP Skelly.

Enjoy!

-Pete.