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So you've just downloaded the game, or maybe you're still thinking about downloading, and you want to know a little more about the Realms called Kaos. This page is dedicated to those new to the Realms, who want to learn a little more about the history and culture of our community, and how best to get around within it.
This guide includes:
Overview
One thing that is important to note first thing is that Realms of Kaos is a game that is constantly under development. It's still in the Beta stage, meaning it has a long way to go before being officially released. By downloading the game and creating a character, you have become a tester. This means that you agree to contribute to the development and advancement of the game by reporting bugs, offering suggestions, and helping to make the Realms a better place. Welcome to our Community!
You will inhabit a continent on the world called Syndar, though rumors of far off eastern continents abound, these rumors have yet to be proven. In fact, there is much of our own continent that remains to be discovered. That which is known in our Realms is vast and varied, from coastal towns to barren wastelands, and includes gleaming examples of beauty and strength like the city of Terra to rough and tumble backwater towns like Freelance.
There are ten sentient races that inhabit this land ranging from massive lumbering Half-Orcs to nimble-footed little Halflings. Twelve Guilds offer teachings from which members of those races may learn to become wise and powerful Enchanters, stealthy and deadly Slayers, or Priests devoted to their god and the healing arts, to name a few. For more information on all of the races and classes, there's an applicable guide included on this site.
As with any place of variety, the Realms are no stranger to strife. Adventurers battle strange and terrible monsters all throughout the land, opposing clans war for dominance, the five gods vie for power in their place in the Circle of Divinity, and behind it all, lurking like a spider on a web, the unknown force of Kaos sits and pulls the strings of destiny.
Will you chose to grasp your destiny, carving a place and a name for yourself in these harsh and beautiful lands? Power, glory and honor await those strong enough and quick enough to find it, in the Realms of Kaos.
Creating a Character
Since this is a role playing game, the whole point is to create a persona, a character, whose story you play out as you travel throughout the Realms. Pick your character's name carefully. It is very difficult or expensive to change this once it's created. You want to be sure it's one you like and can live with for the length of the character's life. Choose a name for your character that's appropriate to the theme of RoK which is a medieval sort of D&D/Tolkien-like world of wizards, warriors, dragons and the like. Try to avoid names with numbers, multiple underscores, modern connotations, or internet slang. Sir_Percival is fine...___L33T___n00b___ will cause you grief in game.
If you need help finding an appropriate name, here are some links to name generators:
http://spitfire.ausys.se/johan/ names/default.htm
http://rinkworks.com/namegen
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pound
If you find the name you wanted is taken, try changing it up a bit. When I first started, the name Lily was taken so I made a character named Liliaceae (the Latin term for Lily) instead. It's not advisable to just use the same name and put an underscore before or after, or just changing a letter from s to z, etc. since that can cause confusion and sometimes you can be accused of trying to impersonate another player. Try being creative and find something that suits the role you want to play.
After that, you'll pick your Race, and begin rolling the statistics for your character. It's recommended that you roll as close as you can to perfect stats for your chosen race. (See the Stat Guide for more info on what each stat does and max racial stats). Spending a little extra time rolling now will pay big dividends later as your character advances in the game.
Once you have a set of stats that you like, choose from the available Classes, then pick a Divinity, Gender and Picture. Now you're ready to join the game!
NOTE: The very first thing you should do after logging on is register your character! Unregistered characters will be deleted after 14 days, cannot buy training or give items and gold to other players, and it's the only way you can really prove that your character belongs to you. Simply click on the menu item labeled "Register" and provide a valid email address. The server will automatically generate a registration code and email it to you within 5-30 minutes.
It's very much advisable to use a web-based email service like hotmail or mail.com for registration since you may lose your email address if you change isp's. You don't want a character registered to a "dead" email address since this is the only way you can retrieve a forgotten password or get the claim number to unregister your character if you want to trade it. (Side Note: Hotmail can sometimes filter messages from the server as Junk Mail, so if you don't get your registration number right away, change your Inbox settings and submit another registration request.) Once you've got your character registered, then you'll really be ready to go!
Getting Started
Once you create your character, and log in to the game, you'll find yourself in the busy Terra Tavern. This is the very first town you'll begin your adventure in, and the real hub of Syndar. The very first thing you need to know is how to move. Typing the first letter of the direction you wish to go (N,S,E,W,U,D) is the most efficient method. (Other commands can be found on the Command List) In this case, your first move should be to type D and hit the enter key. This will take you "D"own to the in game tutorial below the tavern. Make sure you visit every room and follow all the instructions. It's an excellent beginner's guide that will introduce you to moving around, features of the client, buying items from stores, arenas and monsters, guilds and buying training and spells, as well as how autoquests work.
Once you are fairly comfortable with moving around, talking, etc., you'll want to head to the local shops and buy yourself the best Weapon and Armor you can afford, and head to the Terra Arena. These places are easily found by exploring the town. In the Arena you can fight low level monsters that will yield gold and experience points that will allow you to level your character by going to your specific guild, making you stronger and less likely to die. And you WILL die. Don't get discouraged when this happens. Death is part of daily life in Syndar, and the penalties for dying are relatively minor.
What's Next?
Once you have reached level 8, you will need to leave Terra to level your character any further. You will no longer be able to enter the arenas in Terra at level 8, and on Vetra at level 9, so you'll need to move on to bigger and better things. Don't worry, there's a lot of Syndar out there just waiting for you! The first thing you'll need to do is move to another town with guilds where you can buy training for your new class title, but moving out of Terra's safety has it's dangers.
Outside of town, you are at risk of being attacked by higher level monsters and more importantly, PK's (Player Killers). There is usually a large gathering of these players immediately outside the Terran Gates, and they WILL slaughter you the second you step foot out there. So when you're ready to go out, try a few trial runs. Leave all your gold safely in the bank and your items on another character and get familiar with the roads. Then you can return when you feel confident and gather up your possessions for the real trip. RUN...do not walk or hesitate...RUN the first few steps out of town. Most PK's will not chase you and you'll be able to explore after that. Thankfully, the God of your chosen Divinity will protect you from attacks from other players until you reach level 9, however you are still open to the attacks of monsters.
While it is fine to ask questions and advice from other players, HOW you do that is very important. If you ask politely, and wait patiently for someone to answer you, you'll be fine. (Keep in mind some players are naturally evil, or at least roleplaying evil, and will NOT help you). Begging other players for gold, weapons, armor, etc., is definitely frowned upon in the community, especially if you do it repeatedly and/or in capital letters. If you absolutely need a few gold to reach that next level, or buy that better weapon, there are people who will help you if you ask nicely and explain why you need it, although earning your own gold is really your best bet.
Finally, while training in arenas is safer, keep in mind that the gold and experience you get is almost one half what you'll get from the identical monsters outside of town. Try exploring the island of Vetra found off the Terra Docks for a great source of experience and gold at lower levels. To encourage you to move on and explore new places, the guards of each city watch those who enter the arenas closely, not allowing those of higher power to continue leveling in an arena that's beneath their skill. The levels at which you can no longer enter certain arenas are: Terra - 8, Vetra - 9, Trollheim - 15, Duskan - 15, Forestia - 17, Mordu - 19, New Alencia - 21, Freelance - 23, Aghorin - 23, and Donas - 24. It is more than worth risking the dangers of the wilderness for the faster gains in experience, gold and most importantly, the enjoyment you'll ultimately get by playing the game the way it was designed to be played.
What's a Quest/Event?
Occasionally those of the Outer Realms, the staff of Realms of Kaos, will hold special events and moshes to recognize the strongest, smartest, and fastest
citizens of the land. Various prizes that have been awarded in the past from these events can be found on the Rare Items page. See the Event Calendar for a list of events that occur on a regular basis.
Quests are events that are run at random times and places. They usually require you to interact and role play with player characters that are designated as part of the quest, or non-player characters that either must be helped or slain. Sometimes quests will end with awards granted to those to contributed most, role-played the best, or completed a certain task. These rewards are sometimes in the form of "quest items." These are unwipeable (meaning permanent) weapons or armor that are usually better than any armor available for purchase or drop within the game. These items are listed on the Quest Items page.
Who and What is Staff?
The two most prominent beings from the Outer Realms that new players should be aware of are Wardens and Administrators. Wardens are the guides and the guardians of the Realms, stepping in to assist players with questions, oversee trades and police the Realms for players that cross the lines laid down in the Terms of Service. If you need to report an incident or have questions about banning and user issues, you should email abuse@realmsofkaos.com. Administrators oversee any character problems and handle all character resets, name changes, etc. They can be reached by emailing support@ realmsofkaos.com.
Other members of staff are Builders, Writers, Artists, and QuestMasters who work hard to create the world that we see around us. New areas are constantly in development, and tales and histories are frequently added to the Academia. New art is added to the game with major updates, so it's always exciting at that time to see what new and wonderful images the art team has crafted. QuestMasters contrive intricate plots or simple events to catch the fancy of the citizens of RoK and keep us active and wary. For a listing of all active and former staff members, please see the Staff page.
Be sure to take the time to thank those who volunteer their time and talents to developing the Realms whenever you get the chance. If you are interested in joining staff,
the best way to become a likely candidate is to be innovative and creative,
make yourself known for being a positive force in the game. When a
department is hiring the Department Head will broadcast information about the open positions throughout the Realms, and post on the online forum. There was an email address at jobs@realmsofkaos.com, but it is no longer active.
Useful Resources
Two of the most useful resources you will find that are
provided by the Staff of the game are the online message board, located at:
http://www.realmsofkaos.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi and the Academia, which
provides histories and information on many topics pertinent to the Realms.
Academias exist in every city in the Realms, but you can also access it here:
http://www.realmsofkaos.com/ thetest/ls.html There is also an IRC chat room for Realms of Kaos. You can access it through a Java applet here: http://www.RealmsofKaos.com/javairc/index.htm or through any IRC client on IRC.Gamesurge.net #realmsofkaos.
Many players have created resources for others to use in the
forms of maps, guides and lists. We've designed this website to be as complete a guide to every aspect of the game as we possibly can, but it's always good to see what others have to say. Under the Links section of this site, there are references to several helpful sites, or you can browse through the Realms of Kaos WebRing.
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