Beginners Guide : Learning

As in real life, one of the most difficult tasks is to learn. Dartmud will challenge you in all sorts of ways from combat skills, crafting to magic. It seems daunting at first, there are so many things to learn and most people aren't exactly forthcoming with the information. I'll try to spell out some tips to explain this and help you below.

The control of information, in this case learning, is a method of insurance. If you have a great deal of skill you can translate this into prestige, or profit. Just yesterday I heard a group of nobles speaking of cooking abilities and bragging of how good they are at it. This meant countless hours spent cooking, gathering the materials to cook, and figuring out what to cook next to learn best. If I would have butted in and asked for the full cooking progression they would have laughed at me, I wouldn't have earned it and would have been wrong for expecting them to hand over hard earned knowledge for no good reason.

If I were a good friend, paid for it, or was a member of one of there Castles then they may have helped me along. On the flip side no one will leave you without any knowledge, just not all of it. With about any skill people will give freely the information to get you going. There are certain basic progressions that will get you started. Beyond that is the challenge and the core of the fun. You get to discover the crafts, learn the exciting new goods you can make, and ultimately reward yourself when it is finished.

The most very basic explanation for learning anything in Dartmud is to challenge yourself. As you learn a skill you need to work on a task that is more difficult to learn more. This applies to crafting, magic, travel and fighting. How it is applied is different but you must challenge yourself.

We'll use cooking as an example again. Scattered around, and for sale in some stores, is a cookbook of about every single food recipe there is. What isn't in the book is where to start or how to proceed! Use some common sense, if you couldn't cook a thing in the world where would you start? Something simple, and not challenging. In this case you start with Hardtack. Gather some flour, head to the kitchen and start making it. If you are lucky, charismatic and polite someone might even teach you for a bit.

But once you've learned some cooking and can make hardtack without fail you will stop learning. Why? You aren't being challenged any more! Now you need to move onto some other food product. At this point economics may dictate your path, what is available? Have potatoes? Try cooking baked potato. Peruse the cookbook and look for simple items with plentiful ingredients. If all else you can sell the wares you cook. Stumped? Find another cook and strike up a conversation.

All skills follow this same method. Challenge yourself a little, but not too much, and you will learn. Finding out exactly how to do that is what makes it fun and rewarding. Be creative, some tasks are challenged in interesting ways. After you've mastered cooking you'll see why you won't share the progression with just anyone!