Getting Started
From NecroWiki
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Logging in
Necromium, like MUDs in general, is played through a mud client or telnet. Telnet is already available on most windows machines, but a mud client will usually offer a much better gaming experience.
Whatever the method, connect to Port: 4000 Host Name: Necromium.com
Choosing a Class
First Class
The first class you pick will eventually have a large impact on your gaming experience, and it is important to pick the right class for your playing style. Eventually you will take part in multiclassing, and the first class (or base class) will come into play.
A warrior may sound like a good first pick because it starts off being so simple. You don't have to worry about mana or spells, and you generally have more hit points and naturally do plenty of melee damage so you can probably level by yourself without too much trouble. The down side, of course, is that a first class warrior cannot Heal itself without potions. Even if you don't want to be a warrior forever, spending a few levels as a warrior should teach you enough about the game to re-create as another class and regain those few levels much more quickly with that new character.
A thief, like a warrior, does quite well in solo leveling. The backstab skill is a thief's primary weapon, which is an often lethal surprise attack that makes up for the thief's lack of hit points and brute force melee. Also like a warrior, a first class thief must rely on potions or other players for healing. Until somewhat recently a thief was considered purely a PVP class. However, Tactical Strikes turned that around and now thieves are much more welcome in equipment runs.
Clerics are a well-rounded class, and can do well in all or very well in a couple of the main stat areas: hit points, mana, defense, melee damage, and resistance to magic. A cleric's heal spell is also more powerful than that of any other class, which is very helpful in PVP or when grouped with other players. Also, cleric is the only first class to have the very important heal and sanctuary spells. Their reliance on mana is probably the cleric's main weakness, and leveling solo will result in many trips to regen rooms.
Mages are probably the most difficult class to level solo. They possess the natural ability to recover mana from each NPC they kill, which allows them to dish out plenty of their attack spells like mindshock or detonate, but their lack of hit points causes serious problem when trying to solo most NPCs. First class mages also lack the cleric's heal and sanctuary spells, meaning even in the group their tank may have to frequent regen rooms for hit points.
Training Advice
For more information this, see How to Train Your Character.
Joining the Necromium Academy
To join the Academy you must in a town, such as Necromium City. From there you can type CLANEDIT, which brings you to the main clan menu. Then type the number 4, which selects option: 4) Join the Academy
The Necromium Academy is an immortal-run Noble House that is designed to help any player below level 21. Like a real Noble House, the Necromium Academy has a house channel and its own house (like a clanhall) with a healer mob. The house also has an NPC that gives members a very helpful aura to wear.
Getting your first few levels
The first few levels may seem a bit confusing, but once you get the hang of the game they are really no problem at all. Many experienced players can zoom through the first 10 levels solo in no time at all, simply because they know the tricks of the trade. Such players could write a player's guide and insert a link below this paragraph if they so desired...
In general, most new players should gain their first two levels from the Newbie Tour. Some players who are new to Necromium but experienced in MUDs in general may wish to skip the Newbie Tour, however there are some game-specific basics in the tour.
Tour or no tour, all new players will find themselves on The Eastern Highway just east of Necromium City. The highway and the city are where most new players gain their first several levels. NPCs in both of those locations also load some equipment that is ideal for character as they level well into the teens and even early 20s.
There are other zones available to low-level players, and the way to find them on your own is to make use of the command ZONELIST, or more specifically ZONELIST NECROMIUM. The command ZONELIST NECROMIUM will list all zones on the continent of Necromium along with recommended levels. Each zone listed there has a help file, and help files for low level zones contain directions to that zone.
Finding groups and leveling through the teens and twenties
Finding groups as a member of a clan, noble house, or Necromium Academy is generally straightforward: Just ask on the house or clan channel. However, if you are above level 20 then you cannot enter the Academy and you may not have joined a clan or house yet. If this is the case, then the WHO command is your best bet.
The WHO listing displays who is online, ordered by level and people of the same level are ordered by total character points. Each player's level is listed as two numbers separated by '/' to indicate the current level and total level. Current level is on the left (a number from 1-33), and total level is on the right (a number 1-165). You want to group with someone whose current level is +/- 10 of your current level. So if you are current level 20 you can group with anyone current level 10-30. The total level does not matter here. If you try to group with someone more than 10 current levels away then the experience you gain per NPC kill will drop drastically.
When you find someone you think might be a good group member, send them a tell and see if they are interested. If nobody sticks out on WHO try asking on gossip, "Would anyone like to group with a level (insert level) (insert class)?" Save them the time of having to look up what level and class you are, because those things certainly matter.
NOTE: There is a sharp increase in the experienced needed to level right around level 22-23 (relative to the amount needed each level up to that point). This is discouraging to some people, but in reality it just means your 'newbie time' is over. You know the basics now and it is time to play for real. Also, at level 23 you are now within range of grouping with someone who is level 33 (such as a max level avatar).
Making some friends
Grouping is a good way to make friends. When you run around the world killing NPC with someone for long enough, you tend to get used to each other and things go from there.
Joining a clan or house is another excellent source of social interaction. Some houses are actually newbie-oriented, and not just the Necromium Academy. You can ask about houses on gossip, or maybe someone will send you a tell asking if you would like to join their house.
Finding a clan/house
There are currently 7 player-run Noble Houses, plus 7 non-player-run houses. The non-player-run houses are never something you 'have to find' so we'll completely ignore those for now.
The Noble Houses are run according to the players who run them. This means that one house might be geared towards running equipment, while another house might completely ignore equipment runs and focus on PVP. There is nothing to say that a house can't do both, but generally like-minded individuals group together and focus on their preferred tasks.
You can find out a house's priorities either by asking the players or checking their wiki page entries. To ask in the game, you can either look on WHO to see the house and clan affiliations of a player and send a tell, or use SHOWHOUSE or SHOWCLAN to find and contact the leaders directly.
There is almost always someone willing to take in new players. One warning: When joining a PVP house, be sure to ask about their diplomacy settings.
Getting equipment
While new players should not be overly concerned with equipment, there are some easy ways to improve on the few items that come with every newly created character.
The NPCs in Necromium City and on The Eastern Highway are the most common source of equipment for low-level characters. Some zones that connect to The Eastern Highway, such as The Village and Castle of Varanno, are also a good source of items.
Within Necromium City, the donation room and Andarx's Equipment Shop may prove useful for new players. Other players sometimes donate items, which appear in the donation room for anyone to take. They may also sell armor at Andarx's Equipment Shop, adding to the low-level items normally for sale there.
Getting gold
New players are notoriously poor, and low-level NPCs provide little (if any) income. One exception to this is on the docks of Necromium city, which are infested with rats. The NPC who runs the docks will pay anyone who brings him the rat carcasses as proof that they are helping to deal with the infestation.
Player Killing
Please see the page on Player Killing for detailed information. In short, player killing (PK) is when two or more players fight with the purpose of killing each other. NPCs in PK areas will generally have higher experience values than mobs of the same difficulty in non-PK areas. Entering a PK area is your choice, which will increase both the risk you face and the rewards you can receive, but is definitely not necessary to play the game.
How to configure your character
Usage: configure
This command allows the user to enter a menu for various toggles and settings to customize the Necromium interface.
The menu items are listed below with their corresponding letters, which the user would use to select that option (grouped by category):
Toggles (on/off):
A) Autoloot
B) Autogold
C) Autosplit
D) Autosacrifice
E) Nofollow
F) Nosummon
M) Tells Send Beep
N) Prompt Enabled
The following menu options allow you to update your character details:
H) E-Mail
I) Confirm E-Mail
J) Change Password
K) Change Description
L) Change Title
O) Edit Prompt
The following menu options bring you to a sub-menu for detailed customization:
P) Edit Channels
R) Edit Display Settings
S) Edit Color Settings
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