Getting Started

"OK, so I'm in the Disc," you say. "What on earth is going on??"

Brilliant question. If you've done things right, and are not playing as a guest of Discworld, you should be in a room (see the Essential Basics page for a more detailed look at commands) - type "look" to...well, look. If you're using a colour terminal, which you should be, take note of the words in green - these are the exits to the room you're in. There should be nine in total, but the more important ones are "align", "combat", "commerce", "foyer" and, of course, "out". The others are important too, but you'll find most of the information you can get there on this page, in more readable terms, too :P

You're completely free to wander around the Newbie Area, as it's called (if you don't know how to move from one place to another, go to that essential basics page I mentioned earlier). It's like an active introduction to the MUD, getting you used to the commands, getting the feel of wandering around in a huge matrix of words, within which whole worlds can exist. I wouldn't spend longer than is necessary in there, though :) But to get out, you'll have to do (cue drumroll....*drumrollllllll*)....The Womble Quest! (cue symbols. *pause* SYMBOLS?? *CLASH* there we go) ANYWAY. This quest is unbelievably simple when compared to the quests outside the Newbie Area, however, I have known a few people to give up on the MUD because they coudn't get past it.

One thing: type "options input ambiguous = off" right now. It will make your life very very much easier, and save you the frustration and the long hours of trying not to hurl your keyboard across the room. Don't ask why, I really don't want to get into the concept of parsers with you :)

FOYER

The starting point - this is where you return to in order to get to the other rooms. So for example, I enter the hints room by typing "hints", then to get back to where I came from, I type "foyer". You can't get into the other rooms by any other way except through the foyer, and you also leave the Newbie Area and enter the 'real' Disc through the foyer. After, of course, you've done the (cue drumro....no, I won't put you through that again).

THE COMBAT ROOMS

This is one of the more useful places in the Newbie Area, if not the most useful. Here, you can advance your fighting skills without having to pay for it, like you have to in the 'real' part of the Disc, and believe me, it can get expensive at higher levels. I would strongly advise you to utilize this place as much as possible. You will, however, need a weapon, which can be bought at Commerce. And yes, you do have money - 10 dollars, which is a pitiful sum to give a newbie, and a bit cruel as well. But never mind.

Anyway, once you've entered Combat, there will be a guy there asking you something about whether you want to have a go at combat training. Make sure you're holding your weapon, and just say yes. You'll be led to a room with an instructor, something to practice your fighting on, and a dummy in it. *waits for everyone to get the stupid joke, and sulks when no one gets it* ANYWAY. To fight the dummy, type "attack dummy". The instructor will then comment on every hit, and believe me, to put it frankly, you will SUCK at the beginning. But don't worry, you'll get better. You can keep doing this until they kick you out of the combat room, but no worries, you can just go in for another session again. When you're bored of it, go and do something else.

COMMERCE

This is where you can buy things. To put it simply, I mean. You can type "list" to get a list (duh) of what's on sale, and "browse [thing]" to browse something. For example:

What I type: browse brown shirt
What I see: This brown tartan shirt is made of a rough material which, when worn regularly, could either give you a rash the size of New York City or make your skin tougher than crocodile hide. It is in excellent condition.
What other people will see: JaZ Soulfire browses the brown tartan shirt.

The words you see on your own screen are not necessarily the ones everyone else sees. Like in real life, you only see things as they are for you. For other people, they will look different. Anyway, you can get some decent clothes here - right now you are stark naked, and some people don't take too well to nudity :) And some people take too well to it, if you know what I mean. You can also get the weapon/s you'll need to use the combat training area. I've always started out with something easy, because...well, words cannot describe how utterly useless we all start out in terms of fighting. Choosing your weapon also depends on whether you want to be proficient in blunt weapons (maces, tachibos, staffs etc) or sharp/pierce weapons (daggers, knives, wakizashis, katanas etc). But you don't have to decide right now. Just choose an easy, cheap one, and don't waste all your money here, or I guarantee you will regret it.

ALIGN

This is where you set your alignment.

"Alignment?" I hear you saying.

Don't deny it :P Simply speaking, your alignment is basically how good/neutral/evil you want to be. It's not particularly important unless you want to be a priest (more about that later), and sometimes it matters for certain quests. Alignment is set in the newbie area, but in the 'real' Disc, it can be gradually changed, usually by killing things. If you kill a lot of good people (priests, children etc) your alignment will slowly turn evil (unless it's already evil, then you get even more evil). If you kill a lot of bad people (evil priests, mercenaries, greedy merchants) your alignment slowly tilts towards good. Neutrality is what I normally go for, but this is entirely your character, and I'll let you make the choice :) Anyway, when in the Alignment room, you set your alignment by pulling the respective levers, so if I wanted to be good (which is a rare occurrence), I would type "pull white lever". White is good, Black is black, Neutral is grey. Stereotype alert, but oh well.

OUT

See Womble.

THE WOMBLE

The most important NPC (Non Player Character) you'll meet, without a doubt. The womble is your door to the outside Disc, but you'll need to do something to get past her. I'd help you, but then it wouldn't be fair to all the others who solved it without help, me included...besides, if I helped you, it would defeat the purpose of that little quest being there in the first place. If you do it yourself, you'll be more in tune to what's required of you, in terms of quests, when you get to the real Disc. Though be warned, the quests outside the Newbie Area are sometimes incredibly BIZARRE.

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