Illarion.org

Seeing as I am feeling rather thrilled after receiving my letter of acceptance for my account application, I thought I would say hello to all of you here in the community.

At the present time, I am waiting for account activation, and it's taking all of my patience. I discovered this game a few months ago, but only found the time to try it out recently so to ease my waiting time I would like to ask a few questions about the game. I hope that is agreeable for everyone.

I have read the information given on the homepage and from what I have read, I gathered that this is a game that revolves around roleplaying. Is this really true? Though a long-time roleplayer myself, I have never had the good fortune of finding an online game that is all about roleplaying.

My first question then is to what extent do the gamemasters aid the roleplay if at all? Are characters free to pursue any adventure they choose or are there set quests? How large is the game world?

Well, that's all for now. I eagerly await the time when I can roleplay with all of you!

Welcome.

First off, I recommend also reading into http://www.moonsilver.de if you haven't done so yet. It's the source of background information to illarion, including the pantheon of Gods, the history, the descriptions of races, and some other interesting tidbits.

1) The Role-playing:
Yes, the central focus of this game is indeed role-playing.
The client is somewhat sub-par, from a technological viewpoint, so many things can't be done within the actual game, or are somewhat inhibited. However, this is not meant to be a limitation, it's more due to the fact that the game is still in its Alpha phase. For example, things like sneaking, cloaking, ranger abilities, priest powers, animals to hunt, are not implemented in the game yet; character graphics won't even change if you equip different items. On the other hand though, you have possibilities to get around these limitations, for example the #me-command in-game, or by using the RPG section in this forum.

2) Gamemasters and their influence:
They answer questions, and offer help for technical support, mostly. The GMs have different responsibilities, but in general respect to role-playing, there are also currently four players with GM-Status who focus on role-playing itself (click here).
The impact GMs have on the actual role-playing is still a critically acclaimed point, and is regularly debated (or sometimes, flamed, hehe) over in the General section of this forum.

3) The game world's size:
As it is now, the game plays only on a single island. It houses about four to eight major settlements, depending on how you look at it, but the largest of them would be the town in the center surface of the island named "Troll's Bane". Although the graphics don't support it (they are 2D and terrain is displayed as overall "flat), there is mostly forest and plains terrain, but there is also a swamp, a small desert, and some sprawling mountains in the north. The island is outlined by cliffs and beaches for the biggest part, and there is only one single dock for the whole island (ideas being that if someone comes to or leaves from the island, they take a boat from the docks to a trade ship on high sea). Other than that, you'll have it figured out soon that "the island" (without a name) is relatively large, especially as soon as you've seen its size in relation to the mainlands displayed on a map on Moonsilver.
However, this also means that the element of exploration and "dungeon crawls" is currently not present in the game. Elements of collective storytelling like travel are mostly dealt with in words within the RPG section of the forum. Classical "adventuring" is not really part of the game yet, instead, the setting tends to focus on the interactions and intrigues that take place on the island.

A perfect description of Illarion. Nothing to add, except one point:

Anyone can start a quest and one can even ask the GMs for support. We also create quests of our own, but we don´t have NPCs standing around, searching for her diary over and over again until the end of time (the store in Troll´s Bane is not called Aldi, either).

Estralis Seborian wrote:A perfect description of Illarion. Nothing to add, except one point:

Anyone can start a quest and one can even ask the GMs for support. We also create quests of our own, but we don´t have NPCs standing around, searching for her diary over and over again until the end of time (the store in Troll´s Bane is not called Aldi, either).

German/Dutch joke

I know that one. Aldi is a large chain of shops, isn't it?

It is.

Have a look at Tibia. This is what I ment.

Played Tibia....(maybe I shouldnt admit to that here)....its crap.

And we have Aldi in the UK.

I LOVE TIBIA AND UO.....BEST GAMES EVER...lol just playing havent played either...im in love with ILLARION

Talaena Landessi wrote:I LOVE TIBIA AND UO...

A Kingdom for an instant Ban function

Thank you for the friendly reception. I as a newcomer feel pleasantly warmed by it. I am also grateful for the extensive explanation; it has cleared up much of my initial speculation.

It's exciting to know that there are so many possibilites for roleplaying here in this game what with the amazing background history, and accessible GM support!

I don't think I will mind the technical limitations because I have played some RPGs in the past that had all sorts of technical capabilities, but they were not too satisfying in the end because of the lack of roleplay subsistence, which I feel is the most important part of an RPG.

Anyways, now I am more enthusiastic about playing the game than ever on account of all the postings here.

Welcome to Illarion, Cirindil!

Another neat little item for reading is the RP Guide which can be found on a sticky at the General Board. It's still unfinished, and we're still looking for volunteers to write in it. Perhaps after playing Illarion for a while, you can be the next to write an article.

--Mitch

Thank you Mitch. I just finished reading through the RP guide, and I have to say that what is written there thus far is excellent! I think it would be helpful for new and old roleplayers alike. As for writing an article in the future, I would be glad to do so.

Quinasa wrote:Could someone mention me please?

We have some Quinasa around.