Tutorial

The tutorial is the first thing all starting Aislings engage in when they create their character. The tutorial is a quest designed to give new players a basic working knowledge of the mechanics of Dark Ages. The quest is framed as a dream; a prelude to discovering your spark and elevating yourself from the life of a Mundane to the exciting and inspired adventures associated with being an Aisling. If you are already an experienced player, you can skip the quest by following the path to the Northeast and exiting the area without having to read any text or interacting with any mundanes. By completing the tutorial, even without participating in the mundane's lectures, you will recieve a Small Spinel Ring, a Small Emerald Ring, a Dirk, 2,000 coins and 5,000 exp. You will also recieve a Tutorial Book. By this time your character will be Insight 4.

Procedure

For new players it is recommended that you interact with the mundanes in the field, and in the house. Raghnall will teach you the basics of combat, Bartley has a wealth of general knowledge on a variety of topics. Myles, the wizard in the Southern half of the building, will teach you about magic, and allow you access to the training spell, Srad Tut. Gerard, the garderner in the other door, sends you on your first quest, in which you are tasked with killing one male and one female floppy in the garden to the North. For this he will reward you with 600 coins. When you have learned all the Mundanes have to teach you, follow the path East to awaken in the Mileth Inn.

Quest Text

Welcome to Dark Ages: Online Roleplaying. This tutorial will give you the facts and skills you need to begin.

You will gain 5,000 experience points, a dirk and 1,000 coins.

The first thing you should do in this tutorial is talk to all the Merchants, there are five of them. When you are ready to leave, you can leave the tutorial by continuing to the end of this path.

To move, right click the mouse to the position of where you want to move. In tight spots, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to walk around. Talk to the knight next to the tree by double-clicking him. If you get lost, press <Tab>.

You should have a piece of clothing in your inventory. Press the <a> key to access your inventory. Double click on the piece of clothing to wear it.

You may skip this tutorial by going up this path and then turn right at the next path.

Raghnall:

Hello. I'm going to teach you about combat.

First be aware that combat is dangerous. Make friends about your same level and adventure in a group.

If you die, most of your magic items will be destroyed, you will lose a percentage of your experience points, and you will gain a legendary scar of Sgrios, a legend mark from the god of destruction.

The current skill that you have is called the Assail Skill. It is a basic attack skill. Throughout the game you will learn more variety of skills that perform different actions. To use skills just double-click their icon.

To attack a creature, face the creature and press the <space bar>. It is recommended that you use the keyboard arrow keys to mvoe during combat. Be careful what you attack. Never attack mundanes, like me. You cannot harm other Aislings and they cannot harm you.

To help you see creatures, press <Tab>. The creatures will appear as red on the overhead map.

Initially, several creatures will be too great for you. Ask a friend which areas are safe to venture into at first.

Here's a stick if you don't already have one. It's not much but its better than nothing. Make sure to equip it.

There are some small creatures here you can practice on. When you are ready walk up the path and you should see an Old Man. Double-click him to learn more.

Bartley:

Hello. What can I do for you?

Tutorial: Interface

You should now see your inventory. To view your inventory at any time, click on the 1st button underneath the color changing jewel. You can also press the <a> key.

You should now have an apple in your inventory. You can pick up items off the ground by double-clicking on them. If you are standing on them then press shift and double-click the item.

To drop an item, drag the item from your inventory and release it on the ground near your character.

You can eat the apple by double-clicking the Apple. Here's two loaves of bread in case you get hungry later.

I just gave you a Stick as well.

To equip the stick, double-click the stick in your inventory. To unequip an item, click on your character and double-click the item.

Now I'm going to teach you about skills, spells, conversation, and more.

To view your skills, click on the button beneath the inventory button. You can also press the S key.

To use a skill, double-click on the skill icon. For now, you only have one skill, Assail (attack skill).

You can also use your skills by pressing 1 through 9,0, -, and = keys. If the skill is in the first slot of your skill book then press 1 to use it.

To learn about combat, talk to the Knight next to the tree if you haven't done so already.

Here is a view of your Spells. The button to view your spells is beneath the Skills button. You can also press the D key.

Using your spells is the same as using your skills. The only difference is if you want to cast a spell on someone, just click on the spell and then click on the person or creature.

Here is a spell 'nis' meaning 'now' in the Old Tongue. When you double-click on it, you will see the current time in Temuair, the world in Dark Ages. Spells do not work in some areas, such as shops and in the town of Mileth.

To learn more about spells, talk to the Wizard in the house to my right.

Here is your conversation view. You can see spoken messages, whispers, group whispers, and guild whispers here.

To speak out loud, press Enter, type your message and press enter again. To send a private message (whisper), press Shift and the quote button, type in the recipient's name and press Enter.

You can test this feature by saying "Hello Bartley" in front of me, I will surely respond.

To learn about these commands in detail, click the (?) at the bottom right, or press the <F1> key. You can also view the manual from www.darkages.com.

Here is a view of your status.

Attributes

• STR = Strength
• INT = Intelligence
• WIS - Wisdom
• CON = Constitution
• DEX = Dexterity

Temporal Attributes

• HP = Health Points
• MP = Mana Points
• EXP = Experience
• GOLD = Coins to buy things
• LEV = Level

Now, about the orange information bar.

You can drag down the info message bar (orange text) to see my previous messages.

You can now see on the far right, several boxes. The top box shows a spell I just casted on you. The spell is called "Armachd" meaning armor.

The tiny white bar in the top-right box shows the duration of the spell.

To learn about skills, spells, conversations and anything else I taught you in more detail, press F1 or click the (?) on your interface.

Tutorial: Interaction

Hello. Several times you'll run into a mundane, like me. Mundanes buy and sell goods. We can also teach skills and spells, offer knowledge and quests. When you see a mundane click on him/her to see what the mundane has to offer.

You can also click on an Aisling (player) to learn more about the Aisling.

When you do, you will see a view of their equipped items and some buttons, very much like what you see when you click on yourself. Here I am showing you your own view.

You can drag this text box down to get a clear view.

To group with another Aisling (player), click on the player you want to group with and click on the man icon in the upper right corner.

Grouping is very important to your survival. When you are in a group, you will not die so easily, you will share experience points with your group, and you can whisper messages to your group.

The book icon, when you click on it, shows the legends of the Aisling. Legends record important events to your character. You will find many ways to gain Legends.

Tutorial: Bulletins

Getting around town is easier when you read the signs outside of a shop. There are two brown signs here that you can read.

There are bulletins in the game where you can post messages for others to read. Certain bulletins are for certain topics.

You will find bulletins in villages, and special bulletins, such as the laws poster at the village gate. Be sure to read the laws of a town at their gates.

If you see a flashing envelope at the bottom-left, then someone has sent you mail.

Tutorial: Classes

Which craft (character class) do you want to know about?

Monk

Mystical martial artists

• Advantages:
• Martial Arts
• Semi-Magical Skills
• Herbalism and other crafts

Disadvantages:

• Cannot wear much armor or use weapons

Priest

Pious worshipper and healer

Advantages:

• Healing, blessing, curing
• Some curses that afflict enemies
• Create revival potion
• Religious consecration, social powers

Disadvantages:

• Armor and weapons interfere with miracles

Rogue

Clever trickster and craftsman

Advantages:

• Traps, pick treasure chests
• Tailoring, Smithing, hairstyling, and more
• Throwing daggers, whips

Disadvantages:

• Weak direct combat ability

Warrior

Mighty combatant

Advantages:

• Several suits of armor
• Several weapons
• Combat skills

Disadvantages:

• Not good at anything else

Wizard

Master of arcane elements

Advantages:

• Ranged elemental attack
• Research, enchant items

Disadvantages:

• Must specialize attributes carefully
• Weakest armor. Most vulnerable to damage.

Tutorial: General Info

Here are some things you need to know once you enter the Dark Ages world. Besides the basic commands you learned, there is an etiquette in Dark Ages.

1. Name. Choose an appropriate character name. Do not choose a modern name, or a name that obviously clashes with the Dark Ages world. For examples, xKillax, IceDawg. Such player names may be EXILED from a village by other Aislings (players). There are thousands of wonderful names, from real and imaginary cultures. For brief example: Elan, Tyr, Danube, Tindolos.

2.Stay In-Character. Do not speak in modern slang. Use your imagination. Pretend to be in this fantasy world. You will make several valuable friends.

When you must speak OOC (out of character), enclose that information in double-parantheses. For example: ((Sorry. I have to logoff. I'll be back tomorrow, same time)), or 'Come to Deoch Mass Worship this double-moon ((Fridays, 7pm PST))'

3. Do not harass another Aisling (player). If you need something from someone, yet the person is unwilling, do not continue to ask them. Be respectful and you will gain respect.

The Dark Ages society is run by Aislings (players). They are voted into office and have real political power to banish or exile citizens. You hold the power by supporting fellow Aislings, and by being active in Temuair and in the Dark Ages community by adding your imagination to the community. Good leaders may be chosen. Bad leaders may be removed. Good laws may be written. Bad laws may be repealed.

4. Do not share your character's password with anyone. Make sure your password is not guessable. Kru will never ask for your character's password.

5. Do not character share or account share. One account is for one person. Sharing characters and/or your account is a violation of the Service Agreement.

Do you understand these guidelines?

Yes

Now, let's learn how you can get started. When you first appear in Temuair, there are a couple things you can do.

First, you can walk around and explore the town. Visit each merchant and hear what they have to say. Sometimes they will give you experience points just for listening. If you get lost press "t" on your keyboard for the town map. Or, you can start hunting creatures. There are plenty of places to hunt, you can start by going to the crypt. The entrance is in a large boulder in the bottom-right part of town.

You don't want to stay a peasant forever. You will eventually have to pick a path (class). To do so, just ask another Aisling (player) to be your guide and mentor. Be sure your guide is in the path you want to be in.

The key to getting around Dark Ages is to interact with the other players. If at anytime you are lost or don't know what to do, just politely ask for help.

Myles:

Well hello new one. I take it you're here to learn about spells.

There are some basic things you have to learn about casting spells.

Some spells will automatically cast on yourself, some you must taget another player, some you must target an enemy creature, and some will automatically cast on everyone in your sight.

To practice casting spells I just gave you a simple attack spell called 'srad tut'. It's not very powerful, just good for practice. Press the <d> key to access your spell page. This spell is only for this tutorial.

To use it, double click on the spell icon, then move your mouse cursor over the target creature. Once the creature is highlighted in blue. Click the left mouse button once and the spell should cast.

Just to let you know some spells take longer to cast than others, right click the spell icon to see how many lines the spell has. Each line represents one second.

Go ahead and practice, there's a small forest just north of here, you can practice on the Floppies, the bunny-like creatures.

Gerard:

Greetings new comer, my name is Gerard. I am a gardener and I am very passionate about my garden. But lately my garden has not been doing so well.

Since the beginning of spring swarms of Floppies have snuck into my garden devouring everything. What are Floppies you ask?

They are bunny like creatures with the appetite of a horse. They frequently roam around the northern forest. I am not much of a fighter so I can't kill them.

But if only there was... Hey, how about you? You look pretty strong, would like to help me kill some floppies? I will pay you.

Sure

Great! Go kill 1 female floppy (brown) and 1 male floppy (white), and come back here so I can pay you.

I see you have killed one of each gender of Floppies.

As promised here is 600 gold coins.

You are about to leave the tutorial. Heres a hint when starting, speak with all the mundanes(merchants) in Mileth (the starting town). Remember, this is an online world, you set your own goals and missions for your character.

If at any time you forget what we taught you, click on the (?) or press <F1> for help. You can also download the Dark Ages Manual at www.darkages.com in the download section.

Here are some things to help you: Dirk and 1,000 coins.

Well done, I will take you back to your home now.

Ok.

This will help you gain Insights (levels). You gained 5,000 Experience!

You rub your eyes...

That was some dream. Ah, it feels good to wake up in the fresh straw bed of Mileth. You remember the dull yesterday that is everyday, working till your were sore, tired, and heartless. But you feel refreshed, and suddenly you realize something's very different now.

A light sworls around you.

You look around and think for a second. "But I was working just yesterday, slaving away at a poor field, without so much as a thought." And now, there's a light. "Could it be, I'm an Aisling?"

You should go downstairs and ask Riona about the Training Quest, right after you put on your clothes. ((<Double-click> your blouse))