Tips for New (and existing) Players *Brain Dump!

[Rumple C]

Welcome to ALFA!

So you've just been approved, and wondering what to make, and where to play?

Here are a few useful links.

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See where the current campaigns are in this link - http://www.alandfaraway.info/phpBB3/vie ... =3&t=48959
Feel free to message the DM about what is going on with his/her sessions. There could be room for you!
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See our current player groups (and their DM parent) in this link - http://www.alandfaraway.info/phpBB3/vie ... 33#p583233
For more information on Joining a player group (or what those crazy names actually mean...) message the dm involved, or message the Player Admin.
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Meeting and playing with other Players.

So you're in game. Things are far more fun with other players. Someone to watch your back, help you carry treasure chests full of gold, and admire your valor as you beat innocent monsters to death (or laugh as you run away). You can get in touch with other players using the in game messaging system, or arrange play times with others via Discord or the forums (http://www.alandfaraway.info/phpBB3/index.php). Other players are also a great way to learn about ALFA's "culture". We like to keep it real, which means closing doors behind you, acting in character.

If you have any questions... well, just post here, and we'll answer as best we can. It'll also help any other players in the future who might have the same questions as you.

See you in game!

[Rumple C]

More tips...

Did you know, writing out a bio for your pc can be worth xp to you? Write out your pc's biography with things like their history, likes and dislikes, skills, ambitions, fears, skeletons in their closets and so on. The DM can then post it to the DM forums for reference. It could be that one day your arch enemy or long lost brother tap you on the shoulder...

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Tailors and barbers are a great way to change the look of your PC. Rip the sleeves off that tunic and add some spiky shoulder pads to that scale armor (you do wear scale, don't you?). Shave off that nancy boys haircut and get ready to look Badass! (Not sure where to find the barbers and tailors? Just ask in IRC or below...)

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ALFA currently has 4 servers. The Silver Marches (TSM), Baldurs Gate (BG), Moonshaes (MS), Western Heartlands (WHL). To move between them you simply need to find the right transition. Moving between servers can be done right away, but there is a 24 (real) hour wait before you can change servers again. The exception to this is BG to WHL which are right next door to each other, so to speak. You could go from TSM to BG (and incur a 24 hour wait if you wanted to go to TSM or MS), and then go to WHL with no wait. Don't forget to roleplay distances! If you walked those distances in real life, it would take many weeks!

[Rumple C]

The DMA (Dungeon Master Admin) posts new initiatives here... http://www.alandfaraway.info/phpBB3/vie ... 93#p599693
Check 'em out! Some useful info there...

[HEEGZ]

Thank you for this Rumple. Some of the nuts & bolts about ALFA:

http://www.alandfaraway.info/node/1117

Also, feel free to PM me if you have any questions or need help.

[Rumple C]

Did you know?

You can cast light on an item. For example a sword. Hold the sword, and you get the light radius effect (without very obvious "shoot me" ball of light above head). Sheathe sword, light effect goes (until drawn again).

Alfa has "return bins" next to merchants. You can buy something, if you change your mind, simply drop it in the "returns bin" and close. You should get a full refund. This will only work if you don't walk to far away from the merchant. He doesn't want that club back after you've brained a kobold with it but "don't like the color".

[Rumple C]

ALFA has adapted many of its spells and systems to closely align with the dungeons and dragons rules (pnp). This can be used as a guide http://www.d20srd.org/index.htm

Please note that, its only a guide. In game mechanics means that some spells, feats, and class features are missing or vary.

[Rumple C]

Where to find static content?

Well now...

TSM - Rivermoot, the "marshal" in the town square often has work. There are more statics scattered over the larger citadels, and in the city of Silverymoon itself.

MS - There is a postal system in Caer Callidyrr

WHL - They are all over the place, and some will unlock with different race/class/level combinations (PM Teric if you find one of the "secret" ones with the reference listed)

BG - The city watch (in the SW corner of the city) often has work, as does the small mining town of Nashkel down the other end of the server.

[Rumple C]

Where to play?

TSM - The Silver Marches, a largely "good" aligned region in the far north. It holds the city of Silverymoon which houses some of the realms finest libraries and magical colleges. Also home to the mighty Felbar, a dwarf stronghold.

MS - The Moonshaes, a collection of islands that are dotted with small towns. Also populations of fearsome northmen barbarians, and pirates. An often troubled area.

WHL - The Western Heartlands, Miles and miles of miles and miles. Great open plains with a few minor settlements. A great place to lay low. the great trading roads of the WHL are often fought over openly or covertly by agents of nations.

BG - Baldurs Gate, The Sword coast, running from the trading city of Baldurs gate, down to the the mining town of Nashkel. A place where the the law is strictly enforced to keep commerce flowing.

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ALFA can be a dangerous place once you step off those well patrolled roads (and sometimes even on the roads). It is safer to travel (and adventure!) with others.

[Rumple C]

The alfa hour = real life 13 minutes. A whole day will pass in game over 6 hours, and 12 minutes.
The alfa year = real life year.

(Try not to think to hard about it) - To check the time and date, hold shift and right click your pc, select "PC Tool", select the "Check time" option.

The current alfa year is 1380 DR (The Year of the Blazing Hand) - This matches to 2013

2014 real life will be... 1381 DR (The Year of the Starving)
2015 = 1382 DR (The Year of the Black Blazon)
2016 = 1393 DR (Year of the Vindicated Warrior)

[Zelknolf]

Seems that we've missed a vital "how to get into the places I'd like to play" piece.

So, the Client Extension:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=nw ... ail&id=231

Because the default server lists are permanently down, and the Server Monitor:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NW ... ail&id=295

Which can help you find IP addresses to direct connect to if you can't get the Client Extension to run, or can let you launch the CE + NWN2 directly to a server if you have both.

[Ithildur]

Where to find static content?

Well now...

TSM - Rivermoot, the "marshal" in the town square often has work. There are more statics scattered over the larger citadels, and in the city of Silverymoon itself.

MS - There is a postal system in Caer Callidyrr

WHL - They are all over the place, and some will unlock with different race/class/level combinations (PM Teric if you find one of the "secret" ones with the reference listed)

BG - The city watch (in the SW corner of the city) often has work, as does the small mining town of Nashkel down the other end of the server.

Both TSM and BG feature dozens of static (meaning they do not require DM presence) quests that are non repeatable based mainly in the main large settlements (Silverymoon on TSM, Baldur's Gate on BG), including some that are specific to various race/factions, and as well as repeatable patrol or armed mail courier duties.

TSM also features an extensively scripted series of 'classes' for the Mage College, a superbly IC way for low level wizards to gain both useful items (scrolls) as well as xp without endangering their fragile low lvl butts in solo combat. Paying for these classes is, of course, a perfect hook for other adventures as well.

BG has various 'hidden'/surprise quests that are extremely lucrative for mid lvls if they do enough exploring and sometimes end up in places that are ... out of the way.

Again, common sense in the world of ALFA applies: if you venture out of the safety of towns in the course of taking on these quests, make sure you are either with someone else, or sufficiently badass or sneaky enough to deal with trouble.

[Brokenbone]

Server to Server movement - general
If you travel between servers, there used to be a 24 RL hours "cooldown" before you could use a portal to return to the previous server. Around December 2014 this was reduced to 1 RL hour. Keep this stuff IC though, if your PC actually traveled hundreds of miles, you can be vague about such and such amount of overland, river and ocean voyages as opposed to saying you were 1000 miles away an hour ago, you just walk really fast.

Server to Server movement - 2 PCs
Don't have two PCs in active play on the same server during the same "reset cycle." If you're playing PC One on a Monday and would prefer to use PC Two on a Tuesday, on the same turf, that is permissible only assuming there's been a reset between Monday and Tuesday, or of course that the HDM or his/her designee has say, waived that requirement. If you wanted to go back to PC One on Wednesday, again, you'd be asking yourself if there'd been a reset between PC Two's last logoff and whenever you intended to play PC One again. A way to "self check" this is to type the #uptime command into the chatbar, it will let you know the days, hours, minutes, since the server last was reset. No one is going to call you out if you log in briefly for a self check of #uptime and discover you're not good to play a different PC quite yet. It is not worth bugging anyone in IRC to check on your behalf either, but if you want to, fill your boots. The same old rules of "no metagaming" i.e., using PC One's knowledge or relationships or gear, to somehow benefit PC Two, applies.

Server logins for ex-DMs of said server
If you quit DMing a server and would care to play there, just await the next reset, no 30 day rule applies any longer. You can self check with the #uptime command in the chat bar. Of course you'd be asked not to metagame, which is an existing rule and all... but since you may know a server and its plots intimately after a DMing stint, be sensitive to appearances / perception of other players / DMs. Let's keep extreme doomsday scenarios of someone building a dungeon of loot and then using every trick in the book to clean it out safely in the realm of worst case imagination only.