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It's not easy learning the specifics of low level game-play, this guide was put together by our resident newbie helping expert, Thurston.

• Tips
• Help, where am I??
• Essential Skills
• Consider This: Will I Survive?
• Lensmoor: Where should I explore?
• Antrippa: Where should I explore?

Tips for beginning

1. Turn off auto level. Syntax: AUTO LEVEL.
2. Train Intelligence, Wisdom, or Constitution first (any order between the three, but read the "why" in point #1 first).
3. Then Strength or Dexterity. After that, train hitpoints until you hit max hitpoints for your level. After that, keep training hitpoints to maximum while tossing the extra trains into charisma or mana.
4. Explore the newbie school. It's very good. You'll be right there when you create, but if you wander off type "recall chancy" (on Lensmoor) or "recall semdea" (on Antrippa) and go "down" to visit the school again.
5. Don't get to level 5 before asking someone about setting advantages. It's free to change before level 5, but expensive (Quest Points) afterwards.
6. You can wear equipment 10 levels higher than your character level until you hit level 20 (eg, at level 1 you can wear level 11 gear). Then you can wear level 30 gear until you hit level 30, and from then on you can only wear gear the same level (or lower) than you are.

Help, where am I??

If you get lost, the simplest way to find where you are is to simply type "where" or "scout". This will tell you what area you're in. Typing "recall" will send you back to your hometown. On Lensmoor, you can type "recall Chancy" or "recall Lensmoor" to get to the newbie town or the main town. On Antrippa, you can type "recall Semdea" or "recall Antrippa". If you still can't find yourself, ask for help on the newbie channel.
It's highly recommended for true newcomers to go to the newbie school located below Chancy or Semdea.

Essential Skills

Remember, you'll learn faster from players. Ask in character over gossip for lessons. (eg, type: "gossip Can someone please teach me how to use swords?") Be polite. Be patient. It's worth it. Don't spend practices on anything until you've learned these essential skills.

• Level 1: 1 weapon (recommend polearm or sword), scout, brawling, and only 1 practice in aerobatics (it'll raise on it's own)
• Level 2: Cure light, Wands, Magic Missile
• Level 3: Parry and dodge (these eat up your pracs, so save those pracs)
  - Getting these skills will enable you to hold your own. Get these first, then get a few more weapon skills, then worry about anything else. (But kick is utterly useless.)
• Level 5: Shrink, Track
• Level 6: Meditation
• Level 8: Grow
• Level 10: Mind over body. This is a psionic (permanent until death or deactivation) and will enable you to ignore hunger, thirst, tiredness (mostly), and weather affects. Highly highly recommended.

[Resources] Skills (Recommended Skills 1-25): This page goes into more explanations and details about what skills are useful, why, and how to maintain your skills.

Consider This: Will I Survive?

Consider is how you get an idea of what you can fight. Consider only looks at mob level, so this is a very general idea. Some mobs are much stronger than others, so still use your head and use wimpy at all times. However, consider gives you a vague notion and is definitely invaluable. "auto consider" will put a letter before the name of each mob, and it's strongly strongly recommended.

In order of toughness, the consider messages are:
 
(X) (safe    )  Is safe (unable to attack or be attacked).
(E) (trivial )  Not worth your time.
(e) (easy    )  Shouldn't take long.
(c) (normal  )  Will try to put up a fight.
(C) (mean    )  Will be a challenge.
(h) (tough   )  Will probably hurt you.
(H) (hard    )  Will send you running.
(m) (unlikely)  Will thrash you.
(M) (no way  )  Gods will mourn your passing.

Lensmoor: Where should I explore?

Note: Type "where" or "scout" to see what area you are in. (Same command) Directions to Lensmoor areas or through the wilderness.

1. Grey Plains: First place to explore is definitely the Grey Plains. There is some excellent eq in there that I always get on all my characters. Even more importantly, though, there are lots of very good explanations of things there. To top it off, there is a healing mob and a mob that will ID your eq (for free at lower levels)! Explore Grey Plains fully! Recommendation: Find two wristguards, and two pendants from this area. Very good equipment, but you might have to kill those adventurers enough to find the items.
   Grey Plains Directions: Recall Lensmoor, and travel north six rooms, then head east. (Check "where" or "scout" to see area.)
2. Lorthien: The next place on the list is definitely Lorthien. This also has equipment that I put on all my characters. There are also some good explanations in this area as well, although it takes a bit more to find them. Finally, there is a Questmaster in this area: The Old Man.

I highly recommend changing your Hometown to Lorthien. (Syntax: hometown Lorthien) You can only change your hometown when you are in that town. This will mean that "recall" takes you to Lorthien, plus your corpse will appear in the Lorthien Morgue. This is very convenient if you are questing, which I'm sure you will be doing a lot of. You can always choose to recall to Lensmoor (recall Lensmoor) or Chancy (recall Chancy) if you want to.

3. After this: Do solo quests to motivate you to seek out new areas and learn your way around them. Do group quests whenever you can. Don't worry, death is very inexpensive at this level. Experience is very easy to gain back and you won't have to go back for your corpse. Go ahead and explore freely! This is the time to do it.

Type "AREA LENS 1 5" to show Lensmoor areas where the mobs have an average level of 1 to 5. "AREA ANT 5 7" would show Antrippan areas with average levels of 5 to 7. This will help you figure out where you might want to explore next.
Antrippa: Where should I explore?

Antrippa is a harsher and more unforgiving continent than Lensmoor, and not designed for 100% newbies. It's still doable, some still greatly prefer it, and there is a very helpful population, but it's noticeably more challenging and there are some rooms that will kill you instantly for stepping into them.

Note: Type "where" or "scout" to see what area you are in. Type "area" or "area antrippa" or "area antrippa 5 10" or "help area" to see suitable areas. Directions to Antrippan areas or wilderness directions.

Antrippa: Where should I explore?

1. Semdea: Semdea itself is probably the first place that you'll poke around. There are some shops where you can get some early equipment and some mobs that you can take down relatively easily. Semdea is also the main hangout spot on Antrippa. There are training mobs at "recall semdea;e;n;n". It's a fairly confusing area with lots of hidden passages and one or two rooms that will do damage to you or kill you instantly. The questmaster is the "sage" and "Tim the Enchanter" is the one who restrings equipment.
2. Semdea Palace: Semdea Palace is pretty much the second area that you'll want to explore. There is some "best in game for level 1" eq in here and this is really the best place to explore fully and figure out how to explore and find your way around. Nothing is going to jump out and kill you, and there are some excellent examples to help you learn the mechanics.
3. Eshen Desert: After the Palace, I'd definitely recommend exploring the Eshen Desert. It's a fairly sprawling area and somewhat mazelike at times, but it has some good items and really warms you up for what's to come. A few mild aggressive beasts, as well. I recommend finding some "pea pods", which are the best way to shrink yourself when trying to fit into tight spots.