Players Manual
From ALOE Wiki
Contents |
[edit] Introduction to Edon
The Ancient Lands of Edon (ALOE) is the evolution of Nordock public release 1.70 and, with the addition of Hordes of the Underdark, has become a masterpiece in the eyes of all who play on the Internode Servers.
Edon differs greatly from Richterm's original Nordock module. Most subraces except for Drow, Duergar and Undead have been removed to speed up the servers, many areas have been changed or removed with numerous new locations taking their place, and new quests and crafting recipes have been added. The undead race has been added to the module, and while they used to be a separate faction, they are now part of the drow faction.
Also note that the Underdark Faction are one of the two major factions contesting the land of Edon, with an extensive sprawl of cities and territories in the Underdark below the surface. If you wish to play as one of these evil, dark-skinned elves, see the "Drow PC Creation and Info" section below.
The ALOE team considers role-play to an important & enjoyable aspects of the game and we activey encourage everyone to role-play as much as possible - note that the DMs can (and do) award XP and Edon Cookies for good RP.
[edit] Forum Etiquette
Due to the importance of the forums as pertains to NWN Devs and DMs giving and receiving feedback from the players, we would appreciate the following guidelines being adhered to in the Neverwinter Nights forums.
- Please try to keep threads "on topic" - if you need to discuss something off topic, we would suggest starting a new thread (link to it from the original thread if necessary).
- The Neverwinter Nights forum is for discussion of the game and/or Node NWN servers only, other topics/posts will be moved to the relevant Internode forums.
Separate forums have been set up for:
[edit] IRC Channel
A registered IRC channel has been set up for players to chat among themselves and with the ALOE DMs. You may not always find a DM immediately available but we will be watching the channel. It is probably the best way to get a quick response from us.
- Network: GameSurge
- Channel: #ignnwn
You will need an IRC client like mIRC or HydraIRCto connect to it.
For direct access, click this link: irc://irc.gamesurge.net/ignnwn
[edit] Guide to Playing in a Party
ALOE is designed to be enjoyed by playing in a cooperative party with other players. There are areas that can be navigated with a single character, and other places where it is best to take a group.
[edit] Finding a Party
Sometimes you may already have a party to play with, but if you don't, there are ways to find others to join a party.
Each major city has a Town Crier, who will send a message to others within 5 levels of your character.
You can also read town message boards to see who else is playing in your faction.
[edit] Party Composition
First of all, look at your party make up:
- Are all members within 10 levels of the highest player?
- Yes - Good, you should be able to handle all foes and also get XP for your effort.
- No - The is not a major problem, but may mean that everyone not getting as much XP as they could. Also some members may be hopelessly outclassed & likely to die regularly. All party members are expected to participate in combat encounters.
- What are the majority of the characters?
- Mainly fighters - In theses groups where melee fighters out number spellcasters, spellcasters should concentrate on direct spells & buffs for the fighters.
- Mainly Spellcasters - In these groups the fighters should hang back and let the spellcasters cast area effect spells.
[edit] Looting
After combat, treasure, or 'loot' can be found on most corpses. Looting should be arranged so that everyone gets a fair share. Some ways to do this are:
- one person collects all the loot and then shares it around
- take turns or divide corpses between the party. This can work well for smaller groups.
- 'rolling' a dice using the Emote wand to see who gets valuable items found, such as gems, rare items and runes.
This way everyone gets a share, instead of 1 or 2 who loot while others are fighting. If the individual looting comes across something that can be used by members, such as enchanted swords, armor or spells, they should try to find out who can use it & wants that item, instead of selling it.
[edit] Party leaders
- Keep your party together - if some one is lagging behind wait for them.
- After a hard battle, find out if anyone needs to sleep & organise sleeping orders if required.
- Have an agreed to system for handling deaths and resurections.
- Don't go into a new area if the majority of the party wants to head back.
Have some sort of strategy planned - a haphazard attack plan usually leaves someone high and dry, or dead...
If you don't want one person collecting all the loot to share, take turns looting or try a strategy from the above suggestions.
To avoid your party being split up between maps :
- Wait for all party members at the transition points before proceeding through
- Once through the transition point, wait for all members to appear on the map before moving on. (This is because some computers load the maps faster than others.)
[edit] Character Saving
We have a different system for saving your character as when you just log out it sometimes does not save, or even corrupts your character.
To safely safe your character, use the Emote wand that comes with your character's starting inventory and choose Other, Save Character. You can also save in temples, at the party portals.
The server also saves your character for you :
- Every 10 minutes
- On Death
- On Resurrection
- On Rest
- When you Level Up
- On choosing "Record" from the emote wand.
- On choosing "Retire" from the emote wand.
- On DM reloading the module
- On DM Choosing "Save all Characters"
[edit] DM Interaction and DM Quests
The DMs have a variety of ways they may interact with players and the environment. They have many powers in the game; and common interactions can include:
- NPC Conversation
- Object placements (treasure, natural objects, etc)
- Other activities such as PvP & Guild events
- Alignment shifts (due to your characters actions)
- Triggers (traps, creatures, etc)
- Sounds, weather & effects
- DM Quests
[edit] DM Quests
This type of quest is a mission organised by a DM. Reasons that a DM will run a quest include:
- Response to YOUR Roleplay
- Pre-concieved DM ideas
- Player requests & input
DM Quests can vary in their length and type. Sometimes a DM Quest may only take a few minutes; others are run on set nights over a number of weeks, or even months. DMs may use a SHOUT to alert players that a quest is beginning, or may simply begin a quest with an existing group of players.
[edit] Roleplay rewards
After a DM Quest, XP and gold (or items) are often rewarded, but NOT always. We try to reward according to effort, length of quest & character level, but please do NOT 'ooc' complain if the outcome is not as expected (eg. a smaller reward than anticipated), as this reward is at the DMs discretion. Roleplay XP and gold may also be rewarded at any time by a DM in response to YOUR roleplay as well as the awarding of Edon Cookies
[edit] Roleplay Themes
ALOE has an ongoing setting of war between the Surface and the Underdark (Drow and Undead). This is the focus of many roleplay and character stories, with drow looking for ways to remove the rivvil (Surfacers) and good surfacers seeking to destroy the Underdark. However in recent times a truce has been called between the factions as they fight a common enemy, namely the Demon Scourge. Some other recent themes include:
- Drow reforming new alliances
- Banite resurgency on the Surface
- Protecting the lands from monster uprisings
- Scourge Demon invasion
