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Getting Started on Underworld Dreams

Getting started on Underworld Dreams is not an easy task; particularly if you are unfamiliar to MUDs. This guide is here to help accomodate you and make your stay more enjoyable. It is advised that all new players read this guide - not simply the ones who are unfamiliar to online text-based gaming.

Logging on: click the 'connect' button below, or point your favorite telnet client to "dreams.daestroke.com" port 3000. You will be asked for a name and a password to distinguish you from the other players. You will then be asked to choose your race. You can type a name to view the helpfile for each race. You will then be asked your sex, and then your class. Your race and class will determine your skills, spells, and abilities within the game. It is recommended that you choose 'Warrior' as your class if you are new to the game, since they are the easiest to understand and play.

In the game: The following commands are vital for all players to know and understand.

• Type 'help <subject>' to view a helpfile, and always try to read the helpfiles before asking questions on public channels.
• 'Who' shows you the other players that are online.
• 'Chat' sends a message to all online players, and 'say' sends a message to those in the same room as you are.
• 'Look' gives you information about the room you are in, such as what it looks like, and what objects, people, and monsters also occupy that room.
• 'Score' tells you lots of information about your character.
• 'Consider' helps you determine if a monster will be hard for you to fight.
• 'Slist' shows you a list of the skills and spells your character can learn, and at what level you can learn them.
• 'Config' shows you various configurations you can use. Read 'help config'.
• 'Practice' tells you what skills you have learned, and lets you learn new skills (when you are at a guildmaster).
• 'Train' lets you improve attributes when at a guildmaster.
• 'Get' allows you to take items. You can also 'get <obj> <container>' to get an object from something else.
• 'Cast' lets you cast spells, if you are a magic-user.

Naming your character: Names from popular movies and books are not acceptable at Underworld Dreams. (Really obscure stuff we might miss). If you're having trouble thinking of a suitable name, here are some name resources:

Foxfire and Afira's Handbook to Roleplaying
By Any Other Name (based on a Dragon Magazine article)
Fantasy Name Generator
Middle-Earth Name Generator


Playing the game: We recommend that you follow the instructions in the newbie area thoroughly, unless you've been through it before. The area is a school designed to teach you about the game and its history. It also contains a very good set of newbie gear, some of it hidden. There is a mini-quest and when you've completed it you can enter the portal leading you into the main town, Karandras. Any time you get lost in the school you can type RECALL to get taken back to the first floor of the temple. While you can escape the temple before 4th level, RECALL will continue to take you back there until you reach 4th level.

The rest of the world is schematically shown in the 'MAP' helpfile. range. You can see what area you are in by typing 'WHERE'. A big part of the game is exploring and finding new items and slaying exotic monsters, so...EXPLORE! Recommended leveling areas are the Chocobo Forest, the Graveyard, the Temple Vaults, and the Elemental Canyon. The AREAS command will show you all of the places you can explore, sorted by the recommended level ranges and will be an invaluable aid to determined where to go next.

When you find treasure and magical items, you can compare it with your current equipment by typing 'COMPARE <new object> <object you are wearing>'. This will give you an idea of which equipment to use. The wizard in town also sells scrolls of identify. Also in town, you can find food at the baker, and can drink from the fountain or buy a waterskin from the grocer. Basic weapons and armour are also sold in the town, and you can deposit your money into the bank to keep it safe from thieves. There is a mortician who can retrieve your body for a price if you've left it somewhere too dangerous to venture back to, and the Shrine to Thoth reveals the magical properties of all items in your inventory while you stand within it.

Player killing and dying: A big part of Underworld Dreams is the player killing system, and chances are, you will be killed by someone. You will be safe until level five, but will then be prey to anyone your level. At level 6 you can begin raising your PK Tolerance. This value is added your level to decide who you can try to kill -- but it also decides who can kill you! If this happens, or if a monster kills you, don't be discouraged. To slow down how often you can be PKed, you can use the CONFIG command to set the PKTIMER. When the PKTIMER is on, you have a 5 minute safe time from other players. Pick yourself up, go get the objects from your corpse, and start plotting revenge.

Last thoughts: After reading this file, you should be ready to take the world by storm -- or at least give it a shot. Other players and immortals are usually online and willing to answer intelligent, well-phrased questions. Good luck.