Getting Started
Welcome to Arx! Now that you have your character, whether off the roster or an original one you created, below are a checklist of common tasks you may want to address shortly after getting started with us.
GENERAL CHECKLIST
1. Passwords: After you are approved for a character, whether an OC or a Roster Character, you log off as the guest and log back in with the username and password that was emailed out to you. Once you log in, you can use the '@password' command to change it from the default by '@password <oldpassword>=<new password>'. In other words, if the old password was 'foo' and you wished to change it to 'myownpass' then it would look like:
@password foo=myownpass
2. Channels: There are many chat channels to aid ooc communication between players, and most are tied to the organizations your character belongs to. To see a list of all channels you can join or have currently joined, type '@channels'. To mute or unmute all the channels, you can 'allcom off' or 'allcom on'. To join any channel you have access to, the 'addcom' command can join them. You can receive a chat channel history by adding 'last' on to the channel name. Such as typing 'public last' to see the most recent messages in the public channel.
3. Homes: Some characters will already have a home assigned. Some will not and will start in the City Center. The 'home' command ('help home') can immediately take you to your home, an ideal place to bunker down in while you check out help files or have quiet RP scenes with individuals you invite. Try typing 'home'. Does anything happen or are you still in City Center? If nothing happens, you need to get a home assigned.
If you are in a noble house or other organization, send a @mail ('help mail') to your org leader asking for a room. You can look up your org leader by typing 'org [org name]'. Example 'org Valardin' will bring up many pieces of information, including the Rank 1 and Rank 2 players who can get you set up in a room. If that's not an option for your character, submit a +request ('help request') and staff will get you set up.
4 Settings: The '@settings' command has a ton of different optional settings for your review. Popular ones include '@settings/posebreak' to automatically put a line between one character's poses or emits and the next, to add readability. '@settings/name_color' To color appearances of your name showing up. '@settings/ic_only' is for someone that wishes to disable all OOC communication entirely for a very immersive experience, '@settings/brief' will disable room descriptions as you run around, and '@settings/lrp' will toss up a Looking for Roleplay tag.
5. Startgear: Characters default to having no coded items, though a 'naked' character wearing nothing is always assumed to just be wearing unremarkable clothing for their station and never nude unless explicitly roleplayed as being so. Arms and armor, however, are not assumed, and coded (automated) combat will explicitly check for it. New characters and roster characters that have never been played before can use the 'startgear' command to create clothing or other items. Note: If your roster character has been played before, startgear may have already been used.
The startgear command will let someone make up to 6000 silver worth of items, counting the materials. ICly, this is a representation of a character's prior possessions. Recipes are under http://play.arxmush.org/topics/recipes for a long list of potential items. So if Bob, playing an OC knight, wishes to make starting weapons and armor, it might look like this:
startgear standard steel medium wpn
startgear/name Battleworn Long Sword
startgear/desc This wickedly sharp edged long sword of old battle-tested steel has obviously seen numerous battles, with nicks and cuts all along the razor edge.
startgear/finish
And then Bob would have a medium weapon called 'Battleworn Long Sword' in his inventory with the sword's description he set, and he could 'wield sword' to ready it for combat or 'sheathe sword' to wear it. All startgear defaults to average quality, where quality level effects the combat effectiveness of weapons or armor.
Alternately, a character could refund the 6000 silver (or any remaining silver) with 'startgear/refundremainder', and use a shop of a crafter (using the +shop commands while in a shop) or speak to a crafter to have items made.
6. Locking Rooms. Items generally are not trackable to owners and theft is ICly possible in game with restrictions so generally items aren't left lying around in public rooms. While in your home, the '+home' commands will let characters manipulate their home, and '+home/lock' or '+home/unlock' will lock/unlock their rooms. Using 'pass' and an exit name will pass through a locked door you have the key to without unlocking the door as a convenient time saver.
7. +finger. The 'finger' command ('help finger') will give basic information about a character, as a useful cheat sheet to see if someone is online, who they are, and if they are available. You can update information on your +finger with 'finger/preferences' or 'finger/playtimes' to give other players an OOC heads up of what you might be looking for or when you are available.
8. Adding/Changing a Character Picture. Your character picture or "played by" (PB) can be updated via the website. Log in to the website and click on your character page, then click on the gallery link at the bottom of the character page. You can upload and select images from that. Having the same Played By picture of other characters is fine, we don't restrict or enforce that. Thematically by the game world, almost all races are represented in Arvum commonly except east asian/pacific islander and there's metaplot reasons why they aren't around just yet.
9. Changing Character Sheet. Some parts of your character sheet such as description, personality, and background can only be updated by staff. Submit a +request with the change and they will update it for you.
HAS MY ROSTER CHARACTER BEEN PLAYED BEFORE?
If you picked a roster character, the character may have had a previous player. A new player picking one up is much akin to a new actor slipping into an existing role in a series. Many players will be ecstatic to see a favorite character making a return under the control of a new player, but not to worry, it's understood that a new player doesn't really know what's gone on before, and they will need time to acclimate themselves.
Places you can look to learn more about the character's history:
1. Character page. Look at your character page when logged into the website. You may see relationships at the bottom for other characters the character knows. You may also see if the character has a secret (note: not all do!).
2. Journal. Also when logged into the website, look at your character's past journals: https://play.arxgame.org/comms/journals/list/. Journals are in character (IC). Players are rewarded for writing white journals (public) and black journals (private).
3. Messengers. A roster character might have a number of old messengers from previous letters sent to and from them. The 'messenger/old' will show old ones they have saved, and 'messenger/oldsent' shows ones the character previously sent. Typically, the last 30 are saved, unless otherwise marked.
4. Plots & goals. When logged into Arx, type +plots and +goals to see if the character has any existing plots or goals that they may have participated in.
5. First impressions. The +firstimpression command ('help firstimpression') is a record of first impressions written about your character from other characters' perspective, or about your character's first impressions of others. New players to a roster character are able to update these, and they can be written once per player per character.
5. Ask for help. If you need help figuring out if a character might be a good fit, don't be afraid to speak to staff.