We realized (from bugs and players reactions) that playing Arindal for the first time can be very confusing. Oops!
Here are a few tips for getting started. A good beginning in your new life is essential!
At the end of this page you'll find a PDF with pictures how to create a character and other first steps.
Except for the falling bit, experienced Clan Lord or Alchera players should not need to read the following.

1. Character creation
Listen carefully to all NPCs you meet when you first arrive. NPCs (for Non-Player Characters) are the speaking automates with a blue name. Learn to move around, and activate special features (doors, signposts, NPCs) by bumping into them.
First you will get to choose your gender. Later in the game you can visit the Out Of Character (OOC) area situated in the Meditation Tower to choose the race you prefer, and to select your basic skin and hair colour. Different races have slightly different advantages to start with. You might want to read the descriptions of the various races elsewhere on our site.

2. Game basics
There's a whole tutorial area explaining the basics of the game. It's in the OOC area located in the Meditation Tower. (Out Of Character means everything that isn't considered role-playing).
Take some time translating if you don't master any of the languages offered -- it could save you a lot of confusion and frustration in our complex world.
By default the game language is German, you can change it by typing "/options language dutch" or "/options language french". Some of our fan sites offer translations into various languages. Check out the links provided in the community section of our website.

3. Arilon
In town (the area with the fountain), visit buildings. They are usually safe and some are home to useful trainers. Speak with players, say hi! Introduce yourself.
It is not a bad idea to ask for a tour of the town, and share your experiences with people there (type "/sh <name>", see below why this is good). If something in the tutorial was not clear, ask them about that too!

4. Around town
Very soon you will want to explore beyond town square. It is strongly advised to explore and hunt with a group, or at least tell someone what direction you're going. Equip your club by clicking on it in your inventory-window, (check if it is equipped in your hands in the upper left corner of the main window) and cross one of the grey edges.
Be careful, as monsters will start attacking you! It will start with a few mice and vermines, but remember you are very weak. A couple of mice can bring you down easily. You will need to learn when to fight, and when to run!
If you get wounded or even fall, you will need a special kind of people : healers. Only they can restore your health and let you adventure again.
And this is where sharing comes into play!

5. Sharing
It is a special spirit link, from you to a maximum of 5 other people. This link has 3 major benefits:
- it helps healers heal you MUCH faster, and for less of their own health. You can tell a healer is trying to heal you when he/she comes in contact (we call it "bumping") and you both glow blue. Stay put and watch your health go up! (The top green bar near your hands)
- it helps people know when you are fallen (=you have been killed by monsters) which is very useful to get rescued. When you share someone, they will get a message if you fall, so they can go look for you.
- it shares some of the experience you earn while killing foes, and gives you back a small bonus -- which is good for both your friends and yourself!
In short, sharing costs NOTHING and brings you benefits, so why hesitate?

6. Falling
Eventually you will fall to one or several beasts. You will no longer be able to move or use your items, but don't panic, it's something that happens often, to everybody! If you are sharing with nobody and nobody shares you, nobody will know that you are dead, unless they happen to pass by and see your corpse. You could remain for a long time like this. Of course you can yell a couple of times to alert people in the same area as you. Just type something like "/yell Help!".

If you have established some spirit links with people, they will soon become aware of your situation and should start looking for you. It may still take time for them to find you. When fallen, certain actions like yelling or sharing/unsharing can be very straining for your corpse, and damage it further.
More damage means that it may take more than one healer to raise you, and that you can become a ghost.

7. Ghosts
After some time, or after too much yelling or nibbling from rats, your corpse can no longer retain your soul. You become a floating ghost next to your body. You can now move again, but not far, and well, you are still fallen! If you try to talk, your bubble will have a blue border, meaning you speak a different language, those of spirits. Only trained healers can understand and speak that language (also only healers can SEE your ghost).
If there's still no hope of a rescue, you now have the option to /depart. It will bring you back to the Arindal near town, very weak but alive.

8. Departs
They have a negative effect, so in time you will want to avoid them:
- even if healers can restore your health in town, any skill you have trained will be slightly diminished. Doing multiple depart may have temporary bad consequences. You won't be able to run as fast as before, et cetera.

- you also forget a bit of the experience you have stored from killing monsters, meaning that it will take you more time to earn your next rank with a trainer.

9. Trainers
Three basic trainers live close to town. Ask other players where they are and what they do. Many more trainers will become available when you have chosen a profession.
To start with a trainer, simply bump him/her for a speech. You 'sign up' by saying 'yes' (in your language) when requested. From now on, all experience you gain will count towards that training, until you switch to something else.
When you have gained enough exp (short for experience-points), you will receive a "rank" in the form of a message in your text window, meaning you are now more skilled in the trainer's speciality.

10. Experience
The more experience you collect, the stronger and better you can become.
Experience is gained mostly from killing monsters. Cooperating with others to do so can be very beneficial! If three people help killing the same vermine (by hitting it), it will be like EACH had killed a vermine!
By choice and/or by lack of trainers, professions like Healers and Mages don't fight much at all. They gain experience from people sharing them, in return of healing, helpfulness or other services.
Learn more about professions in the tutorial, and from other players!

11. Money
Money is also gained mostly from fighting. Many monsters have valuable furs, scales, teeth etc. that may be recovered by a group. When this happens, coins are split among people present.
If you feel lucky, there is a blackjack table close to town… be warned that you could win big, but you could also lose everything!

12. Items
Money helps you buy every kind of items (and other things), from good-looking clothes to useful weapons, crunchy apples or torches to cast light.
One of the useful items you will WANT to have fast is a Mindcrystal. It allows you to send messages to distant players, and hear public messages from everybody. (Not available for demo-characters).

13. Help
There are many commands available to express yourself, use items and do stuff.
Type /HELP for a list of them, then /HELP <command> to learn more about a particular one. Then, experiment!

14. Leaving the game
In the town area stands the meditation tower. By ending you adventure in there, your character is immediately saved and disconnected. You will also gain experience there while off-line, making you progress faster when you come back.

If you log off from anywhere else in the world, although you will not gain experience while away. It will also take up to 5 minutes for your character to be saved and removed, meaning that you could get killed by monsters if the place was unsafe.

If you get killed, you wake up dead too!


More hints will be added as we figure out how important they are to players. All suggestions are welcome!

We created the pdf below as a little guide which will hopefully help you during your first steps with the Arindal Client and later on in the game. It contains lots of pictures and explanations.

It is intended to quickly help you understand what you see on your screen, and how to react on certain events. Note that the screen-shots can be different than what you see on your screen; we have Arindal versions for Macintosh, and Windows. We also support a Java-version. Although the clients all look slightly different, the main principle is the same. In this document, screen-shots of the Macintosh version are used.

It covers the following major topics:

• Creating a character
• The Newbie Walk
• First steps in the town of Arilon
• Sharing
• Fighting
• Being fallen
• Ghosts
• Departing

Please be warned that this walkthrough has been made for the beta version of Arindal, and that the locations or surroundings seen in the pictures might have been changed. The basic principles remain the same though! 

More informations can be found under "The Start"! If you still got problems or questions, feel free to contact the GM team, use our public board or just ask other players! They'll surely help you reaching your goals.

  Arindal Walkthrough Version 1.0 (English)

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