Newbie guide

Getting Started with Astaria

Welcome to Astaria, a text-based multiplayer game (called a MUD) that's been running since 1994. Think of it as collaborative storytelling where you control a character exploring an original high-fantasy realm. No graphics: just text, imagination, and other players.

This guide covers your first 20 minutes and points you toward what's next.

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Before You Start: What You'll Need, Getting Into the Game

Option 1: Web Browser (Fastest)

• Visit astariamud.com:5001 and log in. No software to install.

Option 2: Dedicated Client For a richer, more immersive experience, download a MUD client:

• Mudlet (free, Windows/Mac/Linux)
• Astaria Client (free, Windows)
• Use a Client of your choice (Zmud, Gmud, MUSH Client) telnet astaria.net:5000

• We recommend Mudlet which has a custom package for Astaria with maps, backgrounds, and more, but they all work well. If you're just trying it out, connecting through the web is fastest.

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Character Creation (5 Minutes)

Pick a Name

• 12 characters or fewer
• Fantasy-themed (avoid real names and offensiveness)
• No special characters: no spaces, apostrophes, accents (e.g., no "Drizz't" or "Fëanor")

• Stuck? Try this: fantasy name generator

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Pick a Race (15 Choices)

Each race has different stats (strength, intelligence, etc.), which determines what your character's good at but doesn't lock you into a single playstyle. All races can join any guild, though some guilds require minimum stats.

Don't overthink this. Pick based on fantasy. What sounds fun? You can always try another race later.

Common beginner picks:

• Human | balanced stats, good for any guild
• Dwarf | strong melee fighters
• Elf | natural spell-casters
• Gnome | clever, perceptive, natural treasure hunters

--> Full guide to playable races <--

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Pick a Heritage (10 Choices)

Heritage is your character's background story. Most have minor mechanical differences now (scholars get slightly more spell points, nomads get slightly more endurance). Choose based on which sounds the most interesting or fun: urchin, scholar, hunter, acolyte, etc.

This is flavor, not fate.

--> Full heritage guide <--

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Set Your Appearance

Hair color, eye color, and other cosmetic details. Purely cosmetic; skip it if you're impatient. These can be set and changed any time.

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Welcome to Starspire Academy (The next 10 minutes)

Starspire Academy walks new players through a basic tutorial of the game functions:

• how to move
• how interact with npcs
• how to get objects and purchase goods
• how to look at your score sheet and search a room or fight a monster

Players up to level 4 and under can always type 'start' to return to the Starspire Academy.

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Understanding the Combat Loop

You'll spend most of your time killing monsters, looting their treasure, and selling what you find. Here's the cycle:

1. Find a monster in a newbie area
2. consider <monster> to check if it's manageable
3. kill <monster> to start combat or <assault> <monster> to use your starting ability
4. Combat resolves through 2-second rounds
5. When the monster dies, <bury corpse> | alternatively <bury corpse evil> or <bury corpse good>
6. Carry the loot back to a shop and sell <item>

You'll almost always have more experience points than you need but not enough money. That's normal. Search the rooms where you fight.

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Managing Health (hp), Spell (sp), & Endurance (ep)

• Health drops? Drink a potion, eat food from your inventory, or rest (rest) for a few minutes.
• Spell points or endurance ponts low? Same solution
• Not all areas are safe to rest in. If you feel unsafe, return to Starkeep Grand Hall or an inn
• if your character is level 4 or under, remember the 'start' command transports you to Starspire Academy

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You Will Die. That's Okay.

Death isn't permanent. When you die:

• Don't panic and log out. (Logging out doesn't help; you respawn as a ghost anyway.)
• Type pray to ask the gods for resurrection or wait for a player logged on as a cleric to ressurect you
• You'll respawn at the Temple of Astaria (neutral temple, south of Starkeep Grand Hall if you pray)

The cost: all unspent experience points. At level 3+, you also lose one player level and one guild level. It stings but isn't catastrophic. Most players die regularly; it's normal.

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When you leave the decoration room, you are sent to the "map room", and shown how to use the helpline. As the text states, type 'who helper' to make sure someone's listening, and type 'helpline <message>' to talk on that line.

East of this starting room there is an NPC (non-playing character) named "Wormy." Go east and 'ask wormy about equipment,' and he will give you a full set of gear to use. Type 'ready' to equip all your armor and wield your weapons. Go west, then north, then go east twice (shorthand: w, n, 2e - when you ask for directions somewhere in game, the response will usually be in this format). You should be in a room called "Starkeep Grand Hall." This is the center of Starkeep, the center of the city of Astaria, and the natural place to center yourself on. Grand Hall is commonly referred to as "GH."

A good starting point for the newbie's adventures to read 'help newuser' and then 'help newbieareas' - try your hand at killing things in the areas listed there. In general, you will always have more experience points than needed to level, and be short on money. This is going to be the case for a long, long time, but you can alleviate this process by remembering to 'search' the rooms where you killed things to hopefully find something to sell. Mobs will often drop coins, equipment, or other items that you can collect and sell. If you're running low on health or spell points, in-game food can heal you and restore lost spell points, as can some potions. If you don't have any of these, just go get a cup of coffee, water, or surf the web for a minute or two to allow your character to regenerate. Not all areas are safe to simply allow you to leave your keyboard, though. Be on the lookout for things that hurt you seemingly at random. Do remember, however, that death is not final, and at low levels the effects of death are fairly mild (you know, relatively speaking).