To be completely honest, I've put off writing this page for a long time because quite simply, I don't know where to start. Advancing is a vast concept in the Disc, and because it's usually acquired through experience, putting it in words is a task I shyed away from for almost three months. But it's hugely important, so I suppose I'll really have to give it a shot. So here goes.

NOTE: If you are new to Discworld, I would strongly advise you to read through this whole section very very carefully and thoroughly. And even if you're not new to Discworld, you might discover a few things you didn't know, or you might find something I've missed and would like to gloat at me. I know I'm not particularly good at phrasing my thoughts, but once you sift through the unnecessary words and incorrect grammar, it should help you quite a bit :) OK well my grammar isn't TOO bad, I suppose. But my sentences do tend to go on a bit, so just keep re-reading them until you get it...and I'll call you up in time for next Christmas...

I do hope you know what "lingo" is...no, not the gameshow, it means "terminology". Jargon. Etc. ANYWAY. Yes I know I'm stalling, but I can't think of a way to start properly. Oh what the hell, we'll just start with the norm. Ahem. There are a few terms when explaining Basic Advancing that you should know about, and they are:

This is a huge huge thing when talking about Guild-advancing. Here is an example of a skill tree:

Now take a short little quiz on skill tree annotation...How would you advance the following?
1. tactics?
2. unarmed melee?
3. thrown range?
4. dodging range?
5. points?

The answers are:
1. fi.co.sp.ta or fighting.combat.special.tactics
2. fi.co.me.un or fighting.combat.melee.unarmed
3. fi.co.ra.th or fighting.combat.range.thrown
4. fi.co.do.ra or fighting.combat.dodging.range
5. fi.po or fighting.points

Get it? :)

ADVANCING

Well, this is the easy one :) When I talk about "advancing your skills", I am of course referring to "advance fi.co.sp.ta", for example. You can advance your skills as far as your guild will allow you to - all guilds have certain limits on how much of a certain skill tree they will train you for. For example, in the Thieves Guild, while the Guild will train your covert skill tree to the maximum levels, it will only offer 15 levels of fighting. It really depends on which skill tree your respective guild specializes in.

This is part of the covert skills tree which you will get when you type "info" anywhere in the Thieves Guild. I'm just using this as an example, but it's pretty much the same for every other Guild, except, of course, that the words are different.

You should be regularly accessing your skills list to check on your bonus and levels. Skills lists show you all your skills, whereas skill trees only show you what levels you have advanced in that tree alone.

BONUSES AND TASKMASTERS

Another central concept on the Disc, so I'll probably spend a tiny bit more time explaining it, and I'll try to keep it crude and simple (Excuse me while I go and phone Serdio for a few tips on that). Anyway, I'll start with bonuses, which are closely linked in with TMs, or Task Masters.

Bonuses are, to quote my crude and simple friend (nahh he's not crude and simple at all, he's just a lot better at stringing sentences), "how good you are at something". It's a number, basically, and obviously the higher this number is, the better you are at the skill you're advancing. Let me just get it out right now that if you have a very high level skill, it does not mean you are good at it! I could be at level 500 for fighting (which is never going to happen, trust me), but I may not be able to even kill a rat. That is possibly a pretty extreme case, but you get what I mean...skill levels are important, but bonuses are far more important. Let's take a look at a Harry and Joe situation:

Harry and Joe are both players on the MUD. Harry is a hardworking, serious individual, while Joe is probably a little more relaxed, more sociable, less caring about advancing anything. Harry and Joe are both in the Warrior's Guild, and at the moment, their fighting levels are exactly the same, i.e. they have both advanced 30 levels of fighting. One day, they decide to go out into the Disc and kill NPCs. Harry manages to slaughter half the NPC population, while Joe hacks industriously away at a rat in the same amount of time.

Upon checking Harry and Joe's bonuses, we come to the conclusion that Harry is a better fighter because his fighting bonus is much much higher than Joe's. Now, the million dollar question: how do you increase your bonuses? Which brings me on to the next topic...

Task Masters! Colloquially known as TMs, these have direct influence on your bonuses, and are acquired by practising your guild skills very often. You'll know that you have "TMed" when you see something along the lines of You feel more able to concentrate on this task or You feel your skill at a wakizashi has increased or You feel like the Djelian language is less confusing, etc...basically, TMs are little messages informing you that you feel better at doing something. In lower levels, TMs are plentiful and frequent, but as you progress up the Guild, you'll find that TMs are rarer, although they do bring larger jumps in bonuses. Priests, I've found, tend to TM more frequently than other Guilds, probably because all there is to do is stand around casting rituals.

Do you only TM when you are using a skill?
Yes. For example, let's say I was walking down Filigree Street and, upon seeing a possible NPC victim, I typed attack nasty-looking warrior. Besides getting killed almost instantly, I may also get a TM saying You feel you understand more about the stupidity of attacking people much much tougher than you. I would not get that TM if I went past the nasty-looking warrior without attacking him, obviously because I was smart enough to not attack people much much tougher than I am.
Do you get experience points when you TM?
Generally. Although you get xp for doing anything, and sometimes the amount of xp you get for TMing isn't very distinguishable from what you're getting from moving around etc. But it does give a bit of an xp boost, and if you TM frequently it's always a good thing anyway.
Do TMs affect your Guild Level?
I'm pretty sure that if TMs have any effect on Guild Levels, it's minimal. Guild Levels are more dependent upon skill advancement rather than bonuses and TMs. I think that bonuses do affect your rating, though. Any information/confirmation of this would be appreciated greatly :)

I think I've covered most of TMing and Bonuses as a basic concept. What further information you acquire after this will be gleaned from your own experience, please feel free to mail me with any info you think would be beneficial to newbies. I hope this has helped you a bit, as this was one of the concepts I sort of struggled with in my long-past newbie days :)