The Website:

1. As you probably already know, Desolation offers Role Playing, where you can play a role, for more information on this, check out the roleplaying section of the Desolation website. This is all you should need to get started roleplaying.

2. The commands section of the website is extremely useful, it lists pretty much all the commands you'll ever need to play.

3. Read all of the Game portion of the site as well. It has some useful information about a couple of areas in the MUD, and hopefully, more information on the other areas and guilds, one day.

4. Read the IFAQ on the site too (partly for information, partly for a good laugh). It's got quite a few useful facts, and some damn funny ones.

5. Another thing to read, the Guild section on the website has useful information about the guilds.

MUD clients:

1. Frankly, Telnet (The black and white program newbies tend to use) is abysmal. I suggest obtaining a MUD client. There are a list of them on the Desolation website in the Files section.

The World Map:

1. I have put together a map of New Nevada, you can check it out here.

The Basics:

1. This isn't all about killing stuff and getting better equipment, at least begin to develop a character, write a description and RP a litte.

2. If you want to start leveling straight away, the best places to start are Highpool, the Rat Warren and Junktown. (Suggested by Jessia, added to by Specks)

3. Should you wish to try and level up you need to either talk to your guilds reporter and report (Neal for Civilians) or get one of your guild's radioes, take it outside and type 'report'.

4. Here's one suggested by Specks: Quartz is a zone specifically for more experienced characters. Until you are level 10 or so, stay away from the area.

5. Despair is a zone specifically for much more experienced characters. Until you are a high level, stay out of there, it's too dangerous.

6. You are not allowed to see how much experience (EXP) you have or how much EXP you need to go up a level, these values are hidden.

7. If you die, you can get your corpse back straight away, if you can't get to your corpse for some reason (You were killed by an aggresive mob or don't know where you where when you died) you either have to wait for midnight game time when your corpse goes to your guild's morgue, or ask another player for aid. Do not ask the Wizards, it's against Wizard policy to retrieve corpses. If you cannot be bothered to wait or don't want to ask for help, well, that's your problem.

8. Do not ask the Wizards for items/experience/RP points or anything else which shouldn't be given out. You'll be lucky if you don't get fried.

9. Normally, PK (player killing) is disallowed. The only time PK is allowed is when a player is carrying the skull to return it to the Cranium Keeper. When carrying this, people will come after you. Do try and help your fellow Desert Rangers by picking up the skull if some Badlander, or other guild member kills one of our skull-carriers.

10. Frequently used abbreviations:

    1. RC = Ranger Center
    2. GZ = Ground Zero
    3. RP = Role-Play(ing) [The playing out of a role, check out the Roleplaying section]
    4. HnS or H&S = Hack and Slash [Killing mobs/NPCs for exp, equipment and money]
    5. PK = Player Killing [The killing of and/or fighting with other players]
    6. IC = In Character [When you are playing your role]
    7. OOC = Out Of Character [When you aren't playing your role. i.e. Over the <gossip> channel]

Questions:

1. Try and keep questions to the <newbie> channel, instead of filling the <gossip> channel with questions. The <gossip> channel is for OOC banter and discussion, while the <newbie> channel is for questions.

2. Ranger-related questions can be asked over the ranger> channel, since Rangers will probably be listening to this :)

3. Don't ask "How good is <item>?" or "Which is better, <item1> or <item2>?" It just irritates people, experiment with equipment.

4. Don't ask "How many hit points does <mob> have?". The hit points of mobs are supposed to remain hidden.

Starter Advice:

1. Once you've joined the Rangers, you get some starter equipment. If you need to, ask someone for help (type newbie I'm new, can someone help me please?)

2. Here's the basic commands you'll need to start after joining a guild (any sentances coloured like this are a command you can input into the MUD):

1. open kit (This will open your starter kit)

2. take all (This will make you take everything out of the starter kit)

3. wear all (This will make you put on all your clothes and armour)

4. wield gun (This will make you wield your gun so you can fire it)

5. reload (This will load the clip in the gun)

6. i (this lists everything that you're carrying)

3. Now I recommend that you make sure you have a Poseidon Oil Roadmap and a radio for you guild. Can can then:

1. read map (this will give you a map of the surrounding area)

2. report (outside only. This will send in a report to see if you've gained a level)

4. Now I suggest going to one of the areas recommended, or maybe asking someone for a short tour. Good luck!

Miscellaneous:

1. You can use the quests command to look at the quests that are available.

2. Should you ever suffer a bit of a bust up and end up as a ghost, you can now type fixghost to fix your problems!

3. Sometimes, things happen when you need to log off and back on again. Instead of the doing it the long way you can just Self-Update by typing su.

4. Another useful command is the prompt command. This will allow you to put data in your prompt. I recommend putting you HP in it. You can do this by typing prompt %HP/%MHP> and then Self-Updating (type su). Also you can type help prompt for more information.

5. If you suffer a disconnection while creating your character, log back on and type charmenu to finish setting your character up.

6. If you spot any message boards, I'm sure you'll want to know how they work. look board will give a list of all the messages on the board, and if you type read <message number> on board (i.e. read 1 on board), you will read that message. Finally, you can post a message buy typing note <subject> on board (i.e. note Hello! on board).

7. Your radio can not only be a useful tool for RP, it can sometimes be essential. To use it, you need to tune your radio into the right frequency. To do this, type tune my radio to (number), where (number) is the frequency. Ask over the ranger> channel to find out what the current Ranger frequency is. You can then send messages over the radio by typing transmit (message).

8. Just new in. Your radio is also an essential tool for you in cases where you are lost. The world map can be very big and disorienting at times. What you can do is to call for a pickup from the Ranger Center. Firstly, you type use my radio, and a menu option bar will pop up. Select menu option 2, and you will contact Officer Zak for a pickup. Depending on your level and the amount of people requesting for pickups, Officer Zak will send a jeep to pick you up. Just get into the jeep and it will drive you all the way back to the tarmac in the Ranger Center.

Roleplaying:

1. To write a description, type describe you'll get a little text editor to input your description. I recommend writing out your description beforehand, using something like notepad, as it is easier to proofread and edit. Also, if you know how to use colours, use them sparingly. There is also a pretty useful guide to descriptions that Devil wrote, and posted on the Desolation webboards.

2. RP items are NOT about getting Super-Ultra-Mega-Death guns, they're about getting equipment that fits in with your character (i.e. As a General, I got myself a uniform, and dress cap).

3. If people are RPing, don't walk into a room and start using silly emotes or saying stupid things, it'll ruin their RP for them, use [OOC] (type ooc ) for OOC speech, even then, use it only for sensible things.

4. The Roleplaying section has an excellent RP guide. Even if you've read it from the earlier pointer, read it again!

5. Do not expect everyone to know/respect you ICly. You won't have built any kind of reputation in New Nevada yet.

6. RP a character that is on-theme, no Wookies, no Saiyans looking for Dragonballs, no ninjas, no samurai, no medieval knights, no X-Men style mutants, no super-human types. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't take influences from other things (but if there's many more Chow Yun-Fat wannabes running around, people will start chopping heads off). Don't forget, your character is a Ranger, so that will make an affect of some kind.

7. RP a character that is realistic. I have seen stupidly tall characters, including one that stood at a ridiculous height of 9 feet. Also, don't make your character a master of everything.

Ranks:

1. The In Character rank system impletemented can be viewed right here on this site. It has been implemented to allow skilled RPers, with officer-like characters, to be gain the status of an officer, but to also allow them to have the real authority of one (That authority is something that will be taken away if abused).

2. Don't forget to send it any logs of events of note that would be reported to the highest ranks, as continued acts of good work are just as much justifacation for a promotion, as one major act of valour/bravery/etc.

3. Remember, if you're an officer, or the highest rank in an RP, with others with you, you're responsible. Should a firefight break out, it is your duty, as the highest ranking member of the Rangers present, to take control of the Rangers in this situation, and to make sure you work together. This also means you are responsible for anything that happens to, or is caused by, the Rangers in that situation. Don't forget - If someone is being insubordinate, you are freely able to log and report the event. This also works the other way round, in the case of officers abusing their authority.

4. Don't expect to get a promotion just because you sent a log in, as it may not be worthy of promotion. And definitely demand promotions, as you certainly won't ever get promoted, then!