Darker Realms is an LPMud. If you have only played Diku or other kinds of MUDs, some of the commands, etc., may be different for you. See 'help' for a list of the commands and more information about how to use them. Darker Realms is a quest-based MUD. You must do quests to advance your character beyond level 4. The adventurer's guild contains a list of the available quests and their quest point value. The Orc Slayer quest, Chaosmonger's playground quest, Unk's solitaire quest, Unk's dwarf quest and Emrys' smurf quest are all recommended for newbies. DR has various rules you need to be aware of. See 'help rules'. These rules are all strictly enforced. If you have MUDded other places, be sure to pay special attention to the information in 'help killing' (re: player killing), 'help quests' (re: questing with others), and 'help characters' (re: creating multiple characters). Make sure you read ALL of DR's rules, however. You are expected to know and follow them. You heal on DR the classic way: find a pub and get drunk. See the newbie bins in the church on each continent to get basic equipment to start out. For information on DR's guilds, see 'help guilds'. Along with the traditional fantasy/etc quests, DR has many text-based card, board, and other games. See 'help games' for a list and locations. Some other basic locations: On the main continent ('church') -- all from main church: - pub: s, 2 e, n, e - shop: s, 3 e, n - adventurer's guild: s, 3 e, s On the newland continent -- all from newland church: - pub: e, s, 3 w, s - adventurer's guild: 2 e - newbie area: e, s, 7 w, s - another newbie area: e, 3 n, 2 ne, e, ne Darker Realms is on a 24-hour reboot cycle. At 5:30AM CST, the game will shutdown and restart with all the rooms and objects set back to their default state. See the clock in either of the churches or type 'uptime' anywhere in the game to check on the time of the next shutdown. The shutdown cycle may be altered by Elder wizards. When you quit or the game shuts down, your stats will be saved. This includes your experience, level, money, and any guild stats you may have. Your equipment is NOT saved, however. Before you quit or the game shuts down, you should go to a shop and 'sell all'. For a summary of the most useful commands, type 'help summary'.