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RPG GuideIntroductionThe main point of Illarion is the roleplaying aspect. We want to describe this principle here to those, who don't know it yet. Also we hope to provide some useful hints to experienced roleplayers.
What is roleplaying?A roleplaying game is like a stage play, only that everyone can take part, and the plot is open. What happens next depends mainly on your own behaviour. It is all about improvisation. Our task as "creators" of Illarion is, to provide a set (the game world) and to enable all players to enter this world (by setting up a server and providing the software). Your task as player is to play a person in this stage play and to act - from the person's point of view - logical. A computer software like this can only enable you to do things, that the programmers thought of before, but you will surely have more ideas. So you must overcome this lack of flexibility in the software by creativity, but more on this topic later.
The game worldThe world of Illarion should be like a medieval country. To make this more interesting, we added things like magic, strange peoples (elves, dwarves,...) and a lot of gods to the setting. We thought about a time, before complex machines were created. Besides these changes, the normal rules of nature apply like on the earth. The world is currently restricted to one island. If the population grows and time passes, we will add other islands, which are, of course, already known of and the population of Illarion maintains contact to them.
Your nameChoose a name, as it might be used in a land like Illarion. SuperHero666 will not be a good choice. In fact a character with this name will be deleted without further notice. Names like Gandalf and Aragorn sound more fitting - but only on the first view. Generally the names are good, if they had been created on your own. If you have taken these names from a book or film, you should be aware of one fact: Other players will know these names too, and have a certain expectation for people having this name. If someone is called Gandalf, all other players will think he is a human, old, mighty and a wise man. You will define your character too precisely and prevent your own development of this character. If you leave the path of your model, other players will be irritated and disturbed in their roleplay. So try to avoid known names.
Know your character!There is no script, so there are no fixed roles. Therefore choose a role that you always wanted to play. The only important thing is, that it fits to the setting of Illarion. An engineer of the arms industry would not fit in, while a mediaeval blacksmith would.
Character creationAfter you know everything about your character, you can create a character (game avatar) in the game. To do that you must set some mental and physical attributes. Choose them in a way that fits the character, that you made up, best. Don't distribute the points in a manner that brings the most advantages from the rules system (it is changing often anyway)!
Atmosphere breaksImagine watching a film: A child is walking through the dark forest towards its home. Fog is lying on the small path. Trees are creaking, shadows of branches moving in the wind form various shapes on the ground. The child is singing a timid song to fight his fear. Suddenly - a microphone comes into the picture from above and a cable runs with the camera man behind the child through the setting. The director is shouting "Camera 3 off! micro in picture!".
Out of character (OOC) vs. In Character (IC)IC refers to everything that is said from one character to another. OOC is used for everything said by a character on the screen, but that is directed from the player of this character to another characters player. The question if someone wants to trade 20 apples against some sheep cheese would be something IC while the sentence "I must leave, I have to watch Star-Trek now." is clearly OOC.
OOC knowledge / Character separationWho is taking an active role in the game will use the boards on our website for sure. You will find a lot of information there. You should only use this information in game, if you character was able to gather the information. If a player is describing on the boards, how his character manages to sneak into a guild meeting and listen to it, this would be some information that your character hasn't got for sure. If someone is writing a price list for his little shop on the boards and adds a note to it, that the list is pinned to the flag pole on the market place, your character can use this information.
#meYou can only see very limited what a character is doing by looking at the screen, so you have to describe its actions. In Illarion you use "#me" to do so. If the player of Udolpho types for instance "#me bows down to the river und washes his hands in the water" the text on the screen says: "Udolpho bows down to the river and washes his hands in the water.".
Player/character levelLearn to separate between these two levels. When a dwarf calls an orc a stinky beast, it would be a conflict between the dwarf and the orc, not between the player of the dwarf and the player of the orc. If the orc player changes to another of his characters, that is a dwarf too, both dwarves could be close friends. This separation also counts for the boards on the website. A misunderstanding of both levels often leads to a disgusting battle between players on the boards.
Take part in others roleplayIn a game like this all your companions are controlled by real players and not by a computer. Therefore they have the same wishes and rights like you. If you want them to react on your characters actions, do the same for them. If everyone is only playing his own game, you can also play a single player computer game. So if a group of three people catches you from behind and describes with #me commands, how they overpower and tie you, take part in their game (even if it would be technical possible to simply walk away!). If you are extremely strong, you can describe an escape attempt also using #me commands, but don't ignore them completely even it has bad consequences for you.
RacesBehave according to your race. There will always be persons that don't represent their race, but they will be more seldom the more they differ from the "standard behaviour". So don't try to play a dwarf that is seven feet high and that earns his money as a bard. Also don't play an elf that earns his money by digging for worms in the mud to sell them to fishermen. You can find descriptions of the races on the homepage.
Technical limitationsTry to overcome software limitations with fantasy. When there are no technical possibilities to tie someone up it doesn't mean that you can't do it using #me commands, if all players involved take part. Only because there is no beer, doesn't mean that you can't drink in the tavern till the lights go out. If someone is drunk, he can of course stagger around, even if the server doesn't force him to.
Always friendly?The players of Illarion are manually selected, so the most of them are so friendly, that they overdo it a bit. Act as your characters nature is. Therefore the most person may have the one or other outburst of rage - without conflicts it would be boring. A wide spread bad habit is, to give a lot of gifts to new players. This has a few drawbacks, because it takes the fun out of the game for the new player, even if he is happy at the beginning. For many players it is a motivation to achieve wealth in the game that attracts them. If they get a complete high-end equipment set on their first day - what can they achieve more tomorrow? Another drawback is the negative impact on the economy. If expensive equipment is given away for free from some persons, where should the craftsmen earn their money from? The prices will drop to the bottom. If you want to do something good to a new player, than give him something to do. Include him in your roleplay and give him impulses what to do. The good stuff you are doing to him can also be something evil...
The wrong pathKeep in mind that the goal of Illarion is to have fun roleplaying. If you have other goals or your playing style even violates the rules, you should think about choosing another game that fits your needs better. Especially it is not the goal of Illarion to collect as many points of any kind as you can get. If it is your goal to rise your smithing skill to the maximum in the shortest possible time (even if you are a barkeeper), or if you are a magician, but you intend to perfect your use of great axes, better leave the game. There are enough other games out there that tolerate or even support this kind of behaviour. We use the term "powergaming" for every action of this kind, that doesn't fit the characters nature and is only carried out to achieve technical advantages. An example would be the old and honored wizard that can barely move, because of his illnesses, but is training great axe battle 24 hours a day. It is contrary to his nature (moving does hurt him, he would be rather searching for books in the library and he has to sleep a few hours a day and take breaks). On the other hand, the only goal in this is to achieve technical advantages (he will be able to kill the strongest beasts without using magic after a few days with this training). The described behaviour might fit for a young warrior a few days before his final exams on the warriors school (if he takes a few food breaks and sleeps a few hours). Therefore you can't definitely say if an action is powergaming or not, without looking at the person that carries out this action.
No fun to play anymore?If you want to quit Illarion, please don't trade your character to someone else. You have made many friends and enemies in your Illarion life. They have gotten used to a specific behaviour of your character and they have some memories together with you. When you trade your character, the new owner will neither have the same behaviour or language nor know about the common memories with the characters old friends. Therefore he can't go on with his life correctly and is irritating other players. The same applies for giving away a character for a short time.
Revenge without endYou will love your character after some time. If he dies, a world will break for some players. Therefore we have made the death in Illarion less serious but still hurting. You will be able to keep on playing with some losses. The only permanent death is sentenced by gamemasters, if they find you with a massive rule violation. Therefore players shouldn't make themselves the law and enforce it on their own. So if you are taking revenge on someone and have to kill him because of the seriousness of his guilt, kill him only once. It is not possible to explain logically why someone has to die more than once for the same guilt, so only kill him a second time when he has earned the death again. Also be warned that this "multi killing" is forbidden by the rules and you have to face the consequences if a gamemaster catches you.
Stay in exerciseTo avoid loosing the feeling for roleplaying now and then, keep on roleplaying even if no other character is present. You can moan and wipe the sweat from your head when you are chucking wood, even if no-one is there, that can see this good show. If you don't do it, you will only be working mechanically and will get bored. You will not be able to start roleplaying fast enough if other players come closer.
Evil guysThe characters that are played with a bad style the most are "evil" characters. To play a bad guy is really hard! Many dull persons just want to kill other people like in other games. They have no reason why they kill and are just killing randomly.
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