To everybody who is nice to new players:

Praise and Honey Cookies from Players for Players, and Chocolate Cookies for the Devs

Moderators: Forum Moderators, Active DMs

Post Reply
User avatar
Raposa
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:45 am

To everybody who is nice to new players:

Post by Raposa » Tue Mar 15, 2022 9:15 am

We all come across that player we just know is a beginner. The kind that awkwardly shuffles about, maybe clicking on every NPC just to see what they have to say, maybe the type that asks you an obvious question or the one who strikes you with the good ole' "I am new to the isle". To all of you who include these folks into your RP and/or aid them however you can, offer Discord chats to teach them stuff, answer their every question (or at least try to!), are patient with them, or generally just help them out...

I owe you all my deepest and most sincere THANKS. You made my experience continuously pleasant and, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here still.





That's all I had to say, but if you are in the mood for some context and stortytelling, read below:


I only played (serious) PnP D&D maybe three to four times in my life. I never read ANY D&D books before, be it Player Handbooks or original stories. I hardly ever played videogames directly tied to D&D (Such as NWN or Baldur's Gate to name a few). I was a complete noob when it came to Forgotten Realms lore until last month (2022/January) which is when I bought Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition for the very first time with the ONLY purpose of playing on Arelith - after watching and reading a lot of stories about it. That's it, brand new to both NWN and Arelith, trying to make my way into the server as is somehow, without any prior knowledge besides being a seasoned roleplayer from previous RP iterations/platforms.

I spent the first week or so just trying to understand the setting, the limitations, what's what, etc. I was focusing hard on the RP interaction instead of actually fighting enemies because every time I tried I just died (because I didn't know Healing Kits existed or how to use them for almost 2 irl weeks). It was a lotta fun, I even RPed in the Fugue from dying so many times!

Then I hesitantly left Skal before reaching 14~16 because yeah, why not? I was devastated when I found out I could not return there at will unless I found a ship with a player crew to take me there. I was even more devastated when I was RPing in Guldorand's tavern and learned I was too low to even complete writs there and had NO idea how to take a ship to Cordor. I spent 2 irl days RPing in Guldorand trying to learn just that, and then I did, Cordor was my next destination and there I learned so much. The exploration was just insane. I didn't know portals were a thing so I walked or took boats everywhere and just explored for irl hours every night. It felt like a spinoff epic movie where I met super interesting and deep individuals and learned more and more about the setting and the universe. I had no idea what Duergars or Yuan-Ti were and why people hated them. I had no idea where this Sibayad Desert was located. I didn't even know you could actually sail a ship to places or fathomed the idea of many planes of existence simultaneously playing their part in the server.
I met very friendly players everywhere who would teach me some small stuff through -tells and whatnot. One special female halfling who organically met me in the Cordor crypts and, even though they have played here for many years and knew everything inside out, still RPed being as clueless as me while trying to find a way to open the main door do the floors below and made me feel super welcome and warm by gently teaching me one thing or two but focusing on the RP itself, taking into account my character's demeanor, style, etc. I was a lawful good paladin so there's no way I'd ever picklock a door, and she felt those vibes from my RP, so she did it for me so we both could "end evil" together. Then she explained a lot of things about Cordor the city, the NPCs, who buys what, all in a totally RP manner, then she crafted me my very first steel greatwords, put an electric essence into it and called it "Tyr's Thunder" with a super detailed description on it. I paid her some symbolic fee (almost all I had in my inventory because I didn't know banks were a thing either) and we parted ways. After that a lot of story happened and I ended up joining a Paladin order faction which to this day still has Tyr's Thunder in their storage, waiting to bless a new Paladin in their green years perhaps. To that halfling player, you are the reason I kept playing. Thank you!

It's been a BLAST. I have been playing for about 2 months now, maybe close to 3 months, and I've done a lot of things already. Playing a wide selection of both melee and caster classes to a certain extent, reaching beyond epic levels, being both a goody surfacer, an evil underdark monster, a greedy pirate, a deep rogue, a plane traveling tyrran cleric, a shirtless barbarian, etc. I learned a lot about how to make a decent character build and have been exploring the PGCC extensively lately trying to come up with my horrible sub-optimal builds that aim to fit Loremaster into it somehow.

I cannot express how crazy it is to play on Arelith while not knowing ANYTHING about NWN and its maaaany game mechanics, let alone Arelith-only mechanics on top of it. It contributed a lot to my steep learning curve, but also contributed heavily to the overall magical, epic feeling of discovering things. It was an experience unlike any other. I felt like I watched a 500hrs long movie session of LotR or finished a 5000 page of a Witcher tale, with many more to come now!


Major Kudos to Gauntlet (the order) as well, which was my very first faction and taught me so many things and answered my every silly/obvious question and still does to this day!

Major Kudos to "N" (not sure if they are okay with being publicly named) for enduring my personal Discord DMs for WEEKS asking about every little thing with regards to NWN game mechanics and builds.

Major Kudos to "Addy" for introducing me to both a life of piracy in the seas and the hot deserts of Sibayad.

Major Kudos to all the people in Skal (honor mentions to Cashang and Willow) for providing the best experience they can, despite their limitations by being isolated from the rest of the server. To this day I still thoroughly love RPing and playing in this module everyday.

Major Kudos to the people of the Andunor which, even though I had some unpleasant encounters there, overall I would not allow that to outweigh the positivity and desire to help newbies!

User avatar
triaddraykin
Arelith Silver Supporter
Arelith Silver Supporter
Posts: 735
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:32 am

Re: To everybody who is nice to new players:

Post by triaddraykin » Tue Mar 15, 2022 9:03 pm

That was an incredible read, and I'm proud the community has been so helpful to you. I remember when I started out I had a half-orc that hated elves and kept after my weak little half-elf for their heritage. Through multiple hunting and killing chases in a single session, we BOTH found out about the 24-hour rule after being yoinked in the DM room for a chat.

Later on I found out a certain location could trigger the excessive theft rule when my hin thief pocketed everything despite the 'don't get greedy here' from the one leading the run. That day I learned to always keep the combat chat up so you can see those little messages.

Much later, my now-main Angela ended up in the Abyssal Plane when she took a wrong turn taking directions to get some silver.

Arelith is wild.

If you ever need help, I've always got the -ama tag on, and there are others like me that do the same. We love to help. TriadDraykin#5921on Discord, too.
Alia: The uncanny knack of Angela Amana to make the otherwise perpetually well-mannered girl lose her temper and be HORRIBLY ASHAMED afterwards.

Who on the Team to PM and When
Public Tower Discord
Tower Library
Scroll, Wand, & Potion Costs

User avatar
DM Dropbear
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2022 2:59 pm

Re: To everybody who is nice to new players:

Post by DM Dropbear » Wed Mar 16, 2022 11:58 pm

This warms my heart to see the community is being so helpful, graceful and nice. I know when I was a new player (We are players too!) I was so taken aback with all there was to learn, and I was very shy! But the people around me must have figured out I was knew because they were so welcoming and helpful.
It makes me glad to know this is still happening! Keep up the good work!

Wolfgangvondi
Posts: 39
Joined: Sun May 24, 2015 9:18 pm

Re: To everybody who is nice to new players:

Post by Wolfgangvondi » Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:06 pm

Heys! Thanks for sharing your story.
I also remember my first time in Arelith, like you I was blessed to have players that helped pick up my char and RP. It is impressive how much players/ this community are able to help out ppl that are complete new RP wise and ooc.
I'm very glad that after all his time this still happens.

The only down side for me... its very difficult to play anything else rp related after so many great experiences in Arelith. : )

Like the Raposa said... Kudos for all that have the will and ability to help "new blood" (and some times even not so new hehe).

Zaravella
Arelith Silver Supporter
Arelith Silver Supporter
Posts: 281
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:58 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: To everybody who is nice to new players:

Post by Zaravella » Fri May 27, 2022 12:50 am

Although I miss Brother Rapozos, our Priest of Tyr in the Gauntlet; I am glad that we were able to help you out, and that you are having fun out there in Skal with your other toons!

I look forward to running into you more in the frozen isles with my many new alts!!


-Sister Elinee's Player
"Power is not revealed by striking hard or striking often; But by striking true."
-Honore de Balzac-

Post Reply