Things to do before 30

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draeger
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Things to do before 30

Post by draeger »

I enjoyed the 'Things to do before 30' tutorial but I'm still struggling.

I have two characters, a level 15 Initiate and level 12 Urchin. I'm struggling to figure out what to do with them.

Am I supposed to be killing townspeople? Or stealing from them?

I've been to Ulthar, Nir, Hatheg, and Dyleth, and I've started exploring a wood. I can't make enough money to buy shoes. Someone gave the Initiate all kinds of crazy mad armor and now he levels easily killing zoogs -- but still can't make enough money for shoes. The Urchin was able to afford a thermal zapper by looting copper from a corpse on the Southern Trade Route (making reformatory fighting easy) but he also can't make money.

My Initiate was able to complete a short quest in Ulthar involving a letter, but my Urchin is too satanic to enter Ulthar.

I've been to Innsmouth and can't get anything accomplished there either.

Neither character can cast spells or afford potions.

Where should these characters be playing?
Blargh
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Post by Blargh »

First thing's first. You'll want to decide which character you intend to keep, since you're only allowed one character over level 15. I'd suggest making that call based on which you enjoy more, rather than stats or anything like that. There's really not a "right" way to make a character, since if you stick with it long enough, you'll be able to master just about every aspect you want. Not too many mobs drop huge amounts of money at your level, but you can find a few who will tide you over quite easily. If you're after fast money, I'd recommend the tavern in Ulthar, there's a couple of mobs in there who'll give up anywhere between 100 and 300 gold generally. You can also set up a bank account (there are banks in pretty much every major area), these will gain 1% interest per game month, up to a total of 36 months at a time. It's not a bad way to build up your money. The command "alist" might be of some help if you're after something to effectively level off. But it generally pays to find a reasonable area and stick with it until you outgrow it, that is if you're just grinding for levels, not exploring/questing or hunting for money. The bingo ladies in Red Hook are often a popular choice to hunt for experience. And in regards to magic, it's not really necessary until a little later. Brute force is generally more effective at lower levels, but magic comes into it's own once you've progressed a bit.
I hope I've helped a bit with this long-winded response :)
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draeger
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Post by draeger »

(I probably should have started this in the 'Help Corner'.)

I seem to be misunderstanding the game. A human urchin is supposed to hunt bingo ladies for experience? I joined the game hoping to fight alien-human hybrids. I'm willing to settle for killing wild animals. Killing bingo ladies doesn't seem like much fun. I don't mind killing aggressive humans (much). I'd rather leave the passive ones alone.

If this game is mostly about killing normal humans perhaps I should restart as a Brain Hunter or Clam Hunter?

ALIST provides hints of places that are level appropriate to visit. That's a great hint. I went looking for Arkham's sewers and 'The Tomb' but haven't found them. I'll keep looking. I also learned that NOTIFY ALL tells who is getting killed by what, letting me know what others are fighting.

I was able to get to Red Hook thanks to a player who gave me $100 so I could afford a ticket. I was stuck in Innsmouth with a marine who wouldn't let me leave the train station. Many high-level aggressive folks in Innsmouth!

I thought it would be fun to play an urchin. It was hard to figure out who taught the skills. I can't figure out how to use the STEAL command. This is probably because I don't have the PEEK skill. PEEK seems not to be a newbie skill, making me wonder what STEAL is for.

BACKSTAB seems useless. It does 0-4 damage, and only works 1/5 of the time, and has a delay. My thermal zapper does 10-20 damage, so it is a waste to backstab.
Blargh
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Post by Blargh »

Well, in truth, the MUD is pretty much hack'n'slash, although roleplaying is welcome, and encouraged. And the bingo ladies aren't "normal", they're actually drooling, undead zombie-bingo-ladies. Many skills are based on level, so they can seem pretty useless early on. The best targets for a low-level character tend to be animals and "normal" people. It just pans out that way. But later on there's plenty of cultists, undead, nasty beasts, etc, etc.
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Raymond
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Post by Raymond »

Hello, and welcome!

Ok, first let me direct you to a previous thread on how to gain money at low levels, you can find it here:
http://www.templeofdagon.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1209
I put some advice there so I won't repeat it; I restarted my character from zero not much time ago and I followed what I'm preaching :)

A zapper is 12 copper in that player shop in ulthar, right? Also, if I can spam a bit, I think that my shop near MU in church street is still selling them (not sure if at the same price, but even if it's 120 copper, it's affordable right?)

About your Urchin, I'm curious about one thing - if you don't want to kill good people, how come you're Satanic? You satanist in disguise, heheh!
Anyways, the MUD is full of evil people/things. As Blargh pointed out, bingo ladies are evil undead zombies and thus deserve (complete) death. You can walk to Red Hook, just exit Arkham from the southern route, walking south and then south-westish. Actually walking will make a good exploring time; then later in the game you'll have plenty of time for teleporting and such :)

In theory you've got a good point about the Peek skill. Anyways, even if I don't have access to the game now, I'm pretty sure that peek can be both debated with MOBs and learnt from other players. Also, if you're in immediate and desperate need of a peek, the command should work (if I remember well) even at 0% if you try long enough (not a good thing to do if you're looking at a sanity-challenging zombie).

Backstab will work better later in time; it's not *the* offensive skill but it can be fun. I agree though that it wouldn't be my favourite skill to invest in at low levels.

I need to go and can't write more, but well, if you don't get a satisfactory answer here, try in OOC channel and you could get plenty of help :)
We will all diiiiiiiiiiiiiee! *goes catatonic*
draeger
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Post by draeger »

A little about me. I used to play MUDs a lot, about ten years ago. Recently I read _Twisty Little Passages_ which inspired me to try again.

The businessman on the Arkham train is killed with the MURDER command. Are there any zones that use that flag on all human NPCs? (It would be an interesting idea if not....)

I like to visit all the level-appropriate areas. It might be worthwhile to provide a guide for newbies on reaching newbie areas. I didn't make to the [5-15] Arkham sewers until level 15. It was hard to find them, because I expected the easy areas to be near my home city, and didn't know about the ALIST command.

(SPOILERS) It took me a while to figure out that the DREAM WALK city depends upon the sleep city. Sleeping in Dyleth-Leen takes one to Innsmouth. It's hard for a level 5-15 to make the $29 for a train ticket, and risky to even get to the Innsmouth station. (I don't mind the difficulty, but others will miss the zones.)

I was disappointed to learn it's against the rules to play characters of different races (above level 15). Playing multiple characters does offer the tempation for item-sharing. Is that really a problem though? People I've never met, whose characters 100 levels higher than me, are showering me with gifts.

I still haven't figured out alignment. My Urchin started out as neutral and quickly went to satanic then demonic, killing reformatory test monsters. My Initiate started out as good then went angelic, killing reformatory test monsters. Some high-level player told me not to worry about alignment at my level.

Raymond, thanks for pointing out that thread. I was wondering how to convert currencies. The different currencies idea is interesting; I haven't seen it elsewhere. I did find the few stores that don't accept the local currency irritating.
Raymond
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Post by Raymond »

Hey Draeger,

alignment works more or less like this. Whenever you kill something who's more evil than you, you shift towards good. Whenever you kill something that's more good than you, you shift towards evil.
So if you're just a bit evil, and you kill neutral things, you'll start moving towards evil and keep drifting in this direction (you'll always keep being more evil than neutral things).
The other way around, if you're just a bit good, and kill neutral things, you'll keep getting better alignment.
At the point when you're satanic or demonic, probably it'll be hard to raise your alignment simply by killing, but there are other ways to do it.

Plus of course, your faith can help you. Whenever you make an offer to the divinity you WORSHIP, you'll get more attuned to His/Her alignment. Offers are not only made at temples but specifically include sacrificed corpses, so that you can shift towards good by killing a not-so-much-evil guy and sacrificing its corpse to a good-aligned divinity.

Another way of changing your alignment is receiving a sermon from someone. That's kind of lenghty (well, aren't sermons boring?) but works pretty well, you just need to find some player with some time to do it, and by listening to his/her sermons you'll attune your alignment to his/hers.

Finally about the $29, really, as I wrote in that post, they're not so difficult to get. Try this as an example: go outside Miskatonic University, walk west, a hidden mugger could try to attack you. Kill him, you'll get a truncheon and a leather jacket. Walk east, east, north: you're at Miss Ann's Fashion Shop, open 9am to 9pm. Try selling the jacket: if nobody sold her one yet, you should get something around 50 dollars from it. A little bit less if somebody reached her before you. Nothing if she has no money :) But well, there are many shops there!
We will all diiiiiiiiiiiiiee! *goes catatonic*
Raymond
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Post by Raymond »

draeger wrote:I was disappointed to learn it's against the rules to play characters of different races (above level 15). Playing multiple characters does offer the tempation for item-sharing. Is that really a problem though? People I've never met, whose characters 100 levels higher than me, are showering me with gifts.
Since I got some more spare time, I'll comment on this one (and it's somehow an, erm, experienced advice :? ). By a quick look it would seem that item-sharing is less of an issue if people shower you with gifts. But think about it and you'll find that there's a strong rationale behind this rule, in that if you're showering *yourself* with gifts, you're at a hugely unfair advantage to other players who have no high-level char to do it. On the contrary, having some other player shower you with gifts is simply not granted. This means that the nicer, or smarter, or funnier, or whatever interesting you look, the more people will help you - and not just item-wise, of course. This strongly encourages, if not roleplaying (as it actually should), at least inter-personal interaction in the MUD.
We will all diiiiiiiiiiiiiee! *goes catatonic*
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Post by jeniferdesauza »

1. Get a tattoo
2. Publish at least one of my poems
3. Hold a spider (I’m terrified of them but I figure I need to face my fear eventually)
4. Milk a cow
5. Own a car
6. Own a house
7. Have a job I actually love
8. Fall in love with someone who loves me back
9. Travel to a foreign country
haidivolume
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Post by haidivolume »

GOOD IDEA
monclersale
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Post by monclersale »

Think over times before to do something,.
this is my standard.
i hope i can achieve a lot before my 30th.
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andrea38
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Post by andrea38 »

Hello guys!

I have many things to finish before 30,
I am happy that it would be finish,
thanks for some advices.........
Nicole53
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Post by Nicole53 »

I hope I can finish all my works before 30,
To free myself...
I can't wait for that...
Good day...

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Jiellen29
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Post by Jiellen29 »

Ohh!Thanks for that info,i will do it on my own,i will marry if i reach the age of 30....so great...
how to treat depression
Have a great day!!
jimkerinmark
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Post by jimkerinmark »

Her 30 things you want to do when you have thirty can be anything. This may include areas such as relationships and participate in anything else you can imagine.
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