Shattered Kingdoms

The advice to steer clear of the forums is also good advice, and it's true that the best the game has to offer rarely makes it to the forums. The forums are usually the midden heap where all the extraneous garbage that overflows from the players themselves hangs out.

For myself, I played my first SK character for a good four months before I even looked at the forums or made a forumID. It DID detract quite a bit from the experience of the game to include the forums into my experience of it. I absolutely fell in love with the world and function of SK, and the brilliance exhibited there. The forums acted as a dirty pane of glass through which to view it.

In short, don't look at the forums as a full and complete representation of the game itself, but instead as a pulpit upon which angered, embarassed or upset players come to voice their unkempt opinions.

I can whole heartedly agree with what people are saying here. I am not in sk to win it or really participate in pvp (pve a bit but I suck at that). because for me the story is the true devil of the details. There are people who choose to toe a line of neutrality and it can be enjoyable.

Avoid the forums or at least recognize quickly that the forums tends to be a place to [REDACTED] about what is going on in game either justly or not. You are only getting one side of the facts to be frank and for every complaint about a 'negative' character you will find others who are positive and helpful. Most of us will go out of our ways to assist newbies and the eternal newbs, because without fresh blood we get the same tired stories. Half the fun is seeing how my story may weave with yours so roll up, and see what is what icly. Don't let the hodgepodge of the forums be your deciding factor. I have played this game, quit twice, and always come back. Either I am legally insane or there is something here that is worth it. And the voices say I am not insane

Word filter changes the b word to friendly. Just fyi.

As anyone here can tell you I am almost exclusively an RPer. ObjectivistActivist and Baldric's suggestions/arguments are pretty solid so I am going to try really hard not to repeat with the exception of one thing, the forums can and do give a vastly different view of the game than it actually is. Despite a few attempts at threads dedicated to good things for the most part this is a place to come to whine and complain about everything and anything. Staff, Players, areas, items, etc. It is not in anyway indicative of the vastness that is the realm of SK.

So you want good things right? Here goes:

1) Quests- There are well over a hundred quests in the game, from simple fetching quests to elaborate quests with various requirements. I enjoy doing quests because the more often than not help you to learn an area. In fact there is a series of of quests in most of the starting cities that help you discover the city and surrounding areas.

2) Lore- This game is rich with history. It has been going for over a decade built on both the history that the creator Dulrik orginally made as well as history created by the players over those years.

3) Areas- The map is massive. Even looking at the google map of Pyrathia doesn't even begin to cover it because there are three cities beneath the ground, tons of additional areas that cannot be seen on the map as well as a number of areas recently created by the staff.

4) RP- Despite what you may see on the forums RP is everywhere in SK. And I know for a fact there are a number of players that are basically "fountain" RPers meaning they just wander around the realms stopping at Inns and other gathering places with the intent to just RP. I personally have done this often and both found and created RP around myself.

5) Cabals- Ok so I know you were warned not to join a faction due to the greater possibility of engaging in PK. This is generally true, however, I was in the same cabal even leading it for a time for over two real life years and I only participated in PK maybe 10 times and dying due to participation in those maybe 3 times. So I would say that joining a faction can bring a huge amount of RP. With that said I would strongly encourage you to not join a Tribunal as they are almost always going to be tossed into PK often. I would not recommend the Hammer of Light as a starting Cabal either or the Crucible of Shadows as there is a lot more PK involved in them. However, there is a lot of room for mostly RPers who can provide a support class (classes that can brew, scribe, enchant, fletch) in cabals like the Druids, the Harlequin and the Fist.

6) Race/Class/Alignment Combos and RP- You've been warned about playing certain races i.e. deep-elf, elf, griffon and the extremes of the alignments as your first character and I do agree with this. As a player of a deep-elf I have been killed and full looted simply for being a deep-elf. It sucks but we are evil no hiding it. I recommend any other race and one of the neutral alignments to begin. This still allows for a huge amount of creativity in your character though and will allow you to learn a lot about the game as you can more easily interact with both good and evil characters. Although be aware should you been seen by a lightie (good) taking aid from a darkie (evil) then you might get pegged as being someone to watch or not aid in the future. There are also many gods and religions and these can help you get into the game and offer a spring board for RP.

7) Mentor system - Ok, I am going to put this in here with a grain of salt. That salt being that while it is hugely useful it is also limited. Only people who can be mentors and were created in the same kingdom as you will get a notification about your requesting help. But those that do are more than likely to meet you and give aid. So it is always worth a shot.

Paragons- Those people who have the [PAR] before their names are what are called paragons. They've been rewarded for being high quality RPers. This month's current crop I would argue are some pretty great characters and most are quite friendly to lowbies and newbies like yourself. On that note, the "who" list is considered IC knowledge meaning that any titles are roughly equivalent to rumors or titles spread about the character. These titles can be of great help when you are looking for a mentor or are seeking a religion or cabal/tribunal.

9) Imm Staff - As of late the staff has been highly active both in RP and creating new areas. While there will always be complaints about the staff because of people feeling slighted, I and a number of other players find them to be fair and responsive. All members of the staff have emails that can be found using the Wizlist in game and also on the Immortal contacts thread. They can also be found on the forums and can accept PMs through here.

Anyway, I hope this wasn't too much and also helped some. There are those of us who really love this game and play not just for ourselves but for everyone else to have a good experience. There will always be the "I win" players, but they are really few in comparison. Welcome to SK. I hope you roll something and stick around!

~Thyki

Although I've been playing this game on and off for ten years, I still consider myself something of a newbie as I don't think I've ever played a single character for more than about six months. For what it's worth I concur with the original piece of advice to avoid these forums.

If, like me, you feel you're missing out by avoiding these forums then here's the single biggest reason I love this game, as demonstrated by a real example:




I've never played any game before where the staff keep such a close eye (and interact with) the players. Perhaps it's a poor example, but my character was just a day old and he'd lost a precious item (his religious symbol). He didn't know anyone logged in to ask for help so he prayed to his god. They listened and responded immediately. For all the rubbish that happens in the game that spills out into the forums there is almost always staff involvement. (and this, for me, is a positive)


Something else I've never seen in any other game I've ever played:



This from the implementor of this game in response to my first post to this forum. I don't think I've ever seen such close contact between the players and the developers of a game anywhere.

Looking at the number of people who've posted here and their lengthy and comprehensive responses in at attempt to persuade you to play is reason enough to at least give this incredible game a try.

This game is totally awesome. The only reason I had to worry about people trying to kill me in sneaky ways was because my character was way too awesome to die. It's most certainly the best RP mud out there by a long shot.

Although I must say, Convince is spelled with an I.

King of double posts.

I have been playing for over ten years and still enjoy it. I would give it a try if I was you.

Viewing the forums a complete characterization of the game, would be like a foreigner considering the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street as a complete characterization of the American population. Are there some negative elements in SK....sure, but where do negative elements not exists? Furthermore, the positive elements in the game, far outweigh and offset the negative.