This page contains a general guideline for new players wanting to form teams and veteran player reminders. It is a complex game that will, likely, have a lot of people involved in it eventually. As an online interactive game using two websites and an internet game making program, it is recommended that ALL PLAYERS and BMs understand exactly what is going on both in and out of games. It can get confusing trying to navigate. If you need any help, contact a member of The Brotherhood. These contacts will be listed once the game is up and running. -Dagolar (October 18, 2003)
Battlefield Team Positioning
- No team can have more than 16 active members (on the battlefield) at any one time. Having a larger team means more support during fights. It also means more enemies in NPC battles which make battles longer and a lot more tactics related.
- A team may have a maximum of 9 reserve players, for a total of a max of 25 players on any one team.
- Each team must have a Captain, up to 4 Lieutenants but at least 1, and 2 Scouts, and up to 3 Storytellers.
- The Captain is responsible for keeping the team up to date on events, any meeting times, and communication with the group's BM, organizing events, allowing members in, and so on. They are the team leader.
- Lieutenants are responsible for keeping in touch with the captain and passing information to the rest of the team. Should the captain be unable to attend an event, one of the lieutenants should take charge for that duration.
- The Scouts keep track of team info and status. The scouts will relay all information to the lieutenants and the captain. The player who plays the scout should be well-versed in the rules of the game and statistics of the team characters. The scout does not make decisions relating to the team nor do they speak to the BM; they simply ensure that the team is functioning according to the guidelines that were set during formation.
- The Storytellers do exactly what their title suggests. During (or preferably after) each game played, the story teller should write down what happened. They can do it in whatever style they want - first person story, a report, etc. There should be at least 1 Storyteller at every game to ensure everything has been recorded. If there is more than one, then all storytellers present can write down what happened if they wish. This makes it easy for groups to look back on what they did. Maybe they forgot something. It also makes interesting story telling...
- To organize a team, speak to a BM by e-mailing them. The list for BMs and their respective teams is here. Once you have reached your BM and they have accepted your team, you will have to follow their instructions beyond this point for making characters and so on.
- Teams should have themes that correspond to their mission, their ideals, or their values. Some examples are listed as follow:
- A team of The Followers of Nexus - Guidelines: must be good, cannot choose thieves, slaughterers, or stalkers
- A team composed of Neutral Beasts - Guidelines: must be neutral, must choose from the beast category or humanoid beasts.
- A force that reunites The Kingdom of Anara - Guidelines: must be humanoid, cannot choose humanoid beasts
- A squad of Minion Worshippers - Guidelines: cannot be good, preference for void minions and undead
- A team of Ambushers - Guidelines: must be either humanoid or green or brown dragon, humanoids cannot be magic-users
- So, when forming your team, make sure you have a clear theme to it. Keep in mind that while original themes outside of the game are fun, BMs do prefer sticking more to the storyline. For example, making a team of a clan that never actually existed in the world of Darlow prior to its death will not weigh nearly as favourably as one that did. For this reason, we advise you to check the storyline for inspiration. Some BMs will also require that teams have certain guidelines. This will come up more often during e-mail and such.
- If you have any questions relating to team formation, contact me: Dagolar - [email protected]
- Or if you have any concerns you want to ask players about, go to Thorg's website and post on the forum.
2. Choose your alignment [good, neutral, evil] (make sure your class can be of the alignment).
3. If your class uses magic, choose components.
4. Divide 5 starting bonus points to battle stats: attack, defense, speed, or HP [NOT Essence!]. You are not allowed to put more than 2 points on a single battle stat.
5. Give your character a name. And please, spend some time on it, especially if they are a human. The human cultures and names can be found at the RPCampaign section.
6. If you have a BM already and you want to have your own portrait for your character, talk to your BM. Character portraits are typically face portraits (not the whole body) that are 30x30 in BMP format. Your BM will convert it to byond.
7. Find a team to join if you are alone. You will not be able to play until you are part of a team.
8. Your BM will outfit your character with the necessary starting equipment if they need it (most humanoid classes fall here).
9. Create a background for your character. There are a number of things you will want to include. First, you should be aware of facts in Skure, which can be found at the RPCampaign section. Generally, you should say when and how your character found their shard. That is important. You should also state their motivation for their current behaviour. Give them some personality. Write up a history. It is primarily for your role-playing benefit, so spend as much time as you feel necessary to make them playable. RECORD YOUR BACKGROUND - it is primarily for you anyway. Here is also a list of essentials you should know for your character:
- Where were they born and where did they grow up? (This goes for all characters, including non-humans)
- How old are they now in Darlow (equivalent to Earth) years? (All characters begin young, by the way)
10. (For those without BMs) If you do not have a Brotherhood Master assigned to you (in other words you just popped into the site and want to play) then e-mail me, Dagolar ( [email protected]) and I will fix you up with a campaign, which might even be my own. Feel free to ask any questions or inquires in this e-mail if you send it to me.
11. Please send your Byond account key so we can program your character to your name.
Finished - Your character will be recorded into an excel database and eventually registered in Byond when the game begins.
Different BMs will have different policies. It should be noted, however, that all will have guidelines to follow that they learned upon becoming Brotherhood Masters. Generally speaking, swearing should be kept at a minimum and common sense should be utilized for everything else.
Keep it modest, though, and "realistic". Role-playing can also be judged by other players depending on the situation. For example, during battle, as fun as it might be for a fighter to perform some spectacular move on a hit, save it for big hits like criticals. If you exaggerate every single thing you do, your character starts sounding silly during encounters. Your role-playing will reflect your character. Good role-players do not make their characters out to be hollywood action flick super heroes. Know the class, know their abilities, know your character, and keep it basic for basics and spectacular for the big moves.