A different story
Hearding
>
> My first days on Drachenfels as a newbie were quite different from
> what you usally read here :-/ Apologies that I am not such a good
> writer :-(
>
> Contrary to everybody else, I didn't get to Grandmaster Mage within 5
> minutes. I rather stumbled from mistake into mistake.
[snipped a familiar story]
I have yet to reach GM in anything with any character. I just don't
have that much ambition. Maybe something's wrong with me.
The rest is all too familiar. The details were different but I also went
through a tough time as a newbie. Life is tough for the UO newbie and
very, very frustrating. Hearding started as a warrior, and even thought
the guide book said very plainly DON'T GO OUT OF TOWN I got extremely
bored and frustrated and traveled from Trinsic to Yew on foot. I made
it safely and decided to be a hunter. I killed (weak) animals and sold
the meat and hides.
The hardest part of being a newbie is getting the first 1000 gold.
After that life gets much easier. Then you have enough to a)easily
reequip from getting killed b)buy some craft skills like tailoring or
bowcraft/fletching c)buy the absolutely indespensible skills of anatomy
and healing and d)easily buy starting craft items like thread. Always,
always, always put most of your gold in the bank until you get enough to
do the above. On other servers sometimes you get lucky and someone
loans or gives you gold or equipment. I do this all the time (if
they're not jerks --always ask HOW to do things. Never ask FOR
anything)
>actually it
> reminded me how awful it could get when I'll finish my degree in a few
> months and won't have a job nor money - shudder :-(
Believe me, I know this feeling. My contract with the Army is up in
just over a year and I'm getting a queasy feeling about getting a real
job (almost eight years of learning "valuable job skills" is more than
enough).
> Apologies again for my inadequate writing skills, and again, any
Your writing skills are excellent :)
Bjoern Guenzel
what you usally read here :-/ Apologies that I am not such a good
writer :-(
Contrary to everybody else, I didn't get to Grandmaster Mage within 5
minutes. I rather stumbled from mistake into mistake.
Being a clueless newbie, I started out as an alchemist (alchemy,
poisoning and archery as skills). Of course I didn't know that I would
be unable to earn any money (I could buy an empty bottle for 9gp, and
my potions would sell for at most 9 gp - if I was lucky. I never could
afford to buy any reagents, so I was stuck with my starting equipent).
Then I made the big mistake of buying a bow for 62gp (since I hear the
weapons you get in the beginning are no good), and apart from that
some dice (I didn't know that you can't use them, or can you play
games in UO?), and a pair of scissoirs (hoping I could produce
bandages out of clothes - I didn't understand the difference between
cloth and clothes...). The point being that I didn't have enough money
left to buy an axe later on, which I think I would have needed
urgently.
What happened is that I went into the wilderness with my 24 arrows and
even managed to kill some birds, which gained me some raw meat and
some feathers. Only eventually my arrows were gone, and I couldn't
sell any of these things in Moonglow.
Desperate I tried to sell my 2 poison potions to players and begging
to NPCs - but none of them gave me anything, I think I was not
honorable enough becaue I had accidentally snooped into some NPCs
backpack before (mistaken it for mine - know it's stupid). My begging
is now at 20.
I started running around in the wilderness (I forgot why - I guess
just desperately hoping to find something of value - but since my bow
was useless, fighting animals was not possible), and amazingly enough
had an encounter with another player which was nice enough. He was
being chased by a wolf and I used my last four arrows trying to save
him (I knew that this was unlikely to work, but somehow I felt it was
my duty to at least try...). The end result being that the wolf locked
on and quickly killed me (admittedly, perhaps I wasn't trying to get
away hard enough as I was too busy talking with the other player).
Thus I got my first resurrection experience, and the other player was
kind enough to keep my belongings to me, and even to provide me with
some additional food and some hints. That was it for the day.
Today I decided to try to continue playing with the character rather
than creating a new one with tailoring skill. I had 23gp left, so I
invested in a sewing kit and started learning to tailor. I had some
wool from killing a sheep the other day, and with my first roll of
cloth I managed to produce 1 banderage (I forgot the proper name - the
things you wrap around your head). Since still nobody would buy
anything from me, I spent the rest of the time trying to find some
sheep to get new wool and thread (they didn't sell thread???).
From the resulting roll of cloth I manged to extract 5 skullcaps and
some more bagulagas (???). At last one of the weavers bought the
skullcaps for 5gp each, so now I have 25gp, tailoring skill 18.8 and
still no arrows left.
I guess this 'story' was rather boring - actually I just wanted to ask
for some hints (I dont exactly look forward to spending another few
hours trying to find sheep, unable to fight or buy food). And also
remind you that some people really are newbies - In another thread on
Drachenfels somebody responded 'we are all new' to a newbie asking for
money. But being new is not the same as being newbie (although I
wouldn't be surprised if I am the only one who acted so clueless the
first time around).
Perhaps stories about power are generally more interesting than loser
stories...
I am not sure if I liked the game yet or not - in a way trying to
survive without money had some roleplaying effect. Actually it
reminded me how awful it could get when I'll finish my degree in a few
months and won't have a job nor money - shudder :-(
Also, perhaps I was too shy in talking to other players. But then,
somebody else could have tried talking to me, too. I guess it's the
same as in the real world, 'clothes make people' and my newbie robe
just wasn't attractive enough (Actually that was the most annoying
thing, that I was stuck with that ugly robe all the time:). And I am
not sure - would you like talking to people who are just involved in a
deer-slaughtering bloodfeast?-)
Apologies again for my inadequate writing skills, and again, any
suggestions as to how I could avoid spending another day looking for
sheep would be most welcome! (Ie how can I know when the servers
'reset' = the merchants start buying again etc.?)
Tichy/Drachenfels
Bjoern Guenzel
--
At times I felt I had to make up for a
sad lack of experiences by wild imagination.
(Urs Widmer, insufficiently translated by me)
Erinn
Guenzel) wrote:
<snip good read>
>I guess this 'story' was rather boring - actually I just wanted to ask
>for some hints (I dont exactly look forward to spending another few
>hours trying to find sheep, unable to fight or buy food). And also
>remind you that some people really are newbies - In another thread on
>Drachenfels somebody responded 'we are all new' to a newbie asking for
>money. But being new is not the same as being newbie (although I
>wouldn't be surprised if I am the only one who acted so clueless the
>first time around).
I've never found an NPC that would buy a head band (the thing you wear
on your head). Haven't found a PC that would buy one yet either <G>.
You could give (drop one on his head) the ones you've already made to
the Tailor. S/he'll thank you for it.
Another thing you can do with cloth is use a pair of scissors on it.
The resulting bandage can be sold to a Healer NPC for ~ 3 gold (and it
doesn't require any skill so you won't fail).
You're in Moonglow... and the butcher won't buy your meat? Hmmm...
well if s/he won't buy then you might try cooking it and selling it to
the Innkeepers. Raw ribs sell for 3 to 4 gold while cooked ribs sell
for 6 to 8 gold.
Also, you might want to check the cotton field on the southern tip of
the island. A Cotton sells for upwards of 45 gold to a Tailor or
Weaver (double-click a cotton plant to turn into a cotton). Doesn't
require skill to pick cotton, just luck to get there before anyone
else when it spawns <G>.
You do know you don't have to kill sheep to harvest their wool? Just
use you're dagger (or any bladed weapon) on the wooly sheep and you'll
get one wool which Weavers will buy for about 22 gold (or use it on a
spinning wheel to get 3 balls of yarn). NPCs won't buy wool acquired
from a dead sheep. 'Dead sheep wool' comes in a stack of three, of
which, each wool spins into 1 ball of yarn. Weavers *will* buy the
yarn though (for 6 to 7 gold each). But it's best not to kill sheep
as they will regrow their wool.
Down at that cotton field I mentioned? Rabbits spawn in the nearby
farmhouse. They aren't difficult to kill and now yield 4 hides + 1
meat each. Sewing hides into armor is pretty profitable (provisioners
and armorers buy leather & studded armor).
--
Erinnyes Dragon -==(UDIC)==-
http://home.HiWAAY.net/~ssweargn/
Sting Fletch
Guenzel) wrote:
>My first days on Drachenfels as a newbie were quite different from
>what you usally read here :-/ Apologies that I am not such a good
>writer :-(
>
>Contrary to everybody else, I didn't get to Grandmaster Mage within 5
>minutes. I rather stumbled from mistake into mistake.
>snip........
No need to apologize for your writing skills, they are better than
those of many Americans. I found your story interesting and nostalgic.
Reminded of of few characters I created when I first began to play.
The main goal of UO should be to have fun, and there are many
definitions of fun. For many, the fun is in the relationships you can
establish with other players. However, just like in real life, money,
can be a key to success in UO.
There are an infinite amount of opinions as to the best way to start a
character. One point most agree upon is that tailoring is one of the
best ways for a new character to earn gold. Over the past three months
I have started three newbie characters on two different shards. I had
houses on both shards within two weeks with money made from tailoring.
Since you do not have much time invested in your character, you may
want to consider creating a new one. Here's the approach I use, I'm
sure others can add to it:
Start your character with 45 magery, 5 swords,or mace; and 50
tailoring. Opinions vary highly on how to divide stat points, I
usually set mine to STR=60, and divide the remaining stat points
evenly between DEX and INT. Start your character in Brittain. Some
folks will argue about this, but you can always go elsewhere later.
With 45 magery, you call recall with moderate success. Recalling will
be important, and magery is very expensive to learn. 5 in swords or
mace will get you a newbie weapon that cannot be stolen. 50 in
Tailoring will enable you to make good money right from the start.
Immediately after creating your character go to the bank and deposit
50 of your 100 gold. Take the other 50 gold to the tailor shop and buy
some spools of thread. If the tailors are out, wait until they get
more. It may take a little while but they will restock. Don't pay too
much for the spools. I think they sell for 2gp normally, but can run
up to 5gp. Make bolts of cloth by using the spools on the loom, tailor
the cloth into long pants, sell the pants. (Fancy shirts sell for more
than the pants, but are much harder to sell.) Take your earnings to
the bank, keep enough to buy more spools and a sewing kit.
Repeat the above until you have 2000-3000 gold. Should only take a few
hours or less. Now find an NPC to buy some weapon skill from. They
will usually get you to about 30 or so. Then find a theif NPC and buy
hiding skill. Also buy tracking skill if you can find an NPC that
teaches it. These three skills sould cost you about 1000gp. You should
also buy a few heal potions, and a couple of cure potions. You could
buy som cheap armor, but it is better to make your own. That way, if
you get killed, you have little to lose.
You are now ready to brave the wilderness!! Go to the northeastern
most part of Brittain and find the bank. Hunt for small game in the
woods just east of the bank. Stay close to the guard zone, only
venture out a few screens past to the east. Avoid monsters, and avoid
most players at this stage, especially ones with k3wL dOOd names.
Practice your weapon skill on a few rabbits, eventually working your
way up to goats. If you decide to be an archer, kill birds and get the
feathers. Skin the goats for hides (rabbits may also give hides now).
Tailor the hides into leather armor for yourself. After you have
enough leather armor to cover you, return to the bank, and put the
armor in your bank box. Go back out and make another set of armor for
yourself, put it on as you make it.
After you are armored, you are ready to start making some more money.
Kill goats, cows, lamas and skin them. Immediately after you make a
kill, HIDE! You can remain hidden while you tailor. You will be safe
from monsters or most PKs while you work. Practice hiding and tracking
often. Do not track while hiding, you will be revealed. Make female
armor, bustiers, from the hides. The bustiers will sell for 50 or 60
gp each. Make only 5-10 at a time then return to town and sell them.
Armorers and provisioners will buy them. There are at least two
provisioners, and four weapons/armor shops in Brittain, you may need
to go to several to sell all you make, especially later when you get
the nerve to make 40-50 bustiers before leaving the woods. Do not
carry too many valuables, you will die sooner or later, and you want
to keep your losses at a minimum.
You should now be on your way to financial independence. After you
have 5000-10000 in the bank, you can afford to relax a little, make
some friends, and decide on what skills you want to master. You should
buy a recall scroll, cure scroll, and greater heal scroll and put them
in your spell book as soon as you have the money. You can then heal
yourself, and recall out of danger. You can usually find recall runes
on the player-run vendors. You can buy from the player-run vendors
without having any gold on you, they will take it out of your bank
account. Always keep your bank account at 1000gp. If you get killed
out in the wilderness, you can resupply with items from these vendors.
I usually scout an area and look for heal potions that I can buy when
needed rather than carry too many with me.
This is only one approach, it is based on making money first, then
friends. If you are lucky, you may make some good friends early, and
not need to concentrate as much an making gold.
Hope this helps, happy adventuring!
juli...@my-dejanews.com
If you're playing over the weekend and are still around Moonglow or Yew,
look for Lala dressed in yellow. I'm pretty much dirt poor :)) But I've
had successful characters in almost every money making profession and can
offer quite a bit of advice, and of course I'll gladly adventure with you!
Imho alchemy and poisoning can be fun skills. A smart and good alchemist can
be more dangerous than a bow wielding kewlio :)
I have helped "real" newbies before and it's usually easy to see when a
person is really lacking in game knowledge or is just begging for the sake of
begging. I've never had a real newbie ask for gold or items outright, but ask
how to get to a city, how to do something, how to work something in the game.
Good luck, and see you in the game!
In article <36365fd2...@news.lrz-muenchen.de>,
guenz...@blinker.net wrote:
> My first days on Drachenfels as a newbie were quite different from
> what you usally read here :-/ Apologies that I am not such a good
> writer :-(
>
> Contrary to everybody else, I didn't get to Grandmaster Mage within 5
> minutes. I rather stumbled from mistake into mistake.
>
> I guess this 'story' was rather boring - actually I just wanted to ask
> for some hints (I dont exactly look forward to spending another few
> hours trying to find sheep, unable to fight or buy food). And also
> remind you that some people really are newbies - In another thread on
> Drachenfels somebody responded 'we are all new' to a newbie asking for
> money. But being new is not the same as being newbie (although I
> wouldn't be surprised if I am the only one who acted so clueless the
> first time around).
>
> Perhaps stories about power are generally more interesting than loser
> stories...
>
> I am not sure if I liked the game yet or not - in a way trying to
> survive without money had some roleplaying effect. Actually it
> reminded me how awful it could get when I'll finish my degree in a few
> months and won't have a job nor money - shudder :-(
>
> Also, perhaps I was too shy in talking to other players. But then,
> somebody else could have tried talking to me, too. I guess it's the
> same as in the real world, 'clothes make people' and my newbie robe
> just wasn't attractive enough (Actually that was the most annoying
> thing, that I was stuck with that ugly robe all the time:). And I am
> not sure - would you like talking to people who are just involved in a
> deer-slaughtering bloodfeast?-)
>
> Apologies again for my inadequate writing skills, and again, any
> suggestions as to how I could avoid spending another day looking for
> sheep would be most welcome! (Ie how can I know when the servers
> 'reset' = the merchants start buying again etc.?)
>
> Tichy/Drachenfels
>
> Bjoern Guenzel
>
> --
>
> At times I felt I had to make up for a
> sad lack of experiences by wild imagination.
> (Urs Widmer, insufficiently translated by me)
>
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Jack Benny
I would be more than happy to meet you and teach you the ways of the
woods. I have more than enough money to give to you to get the skills
you will need (for training), and I can make you a full set of studded
armor out of the hides of animals.
ICQ me at 7727131 and I will meet you. We may have to do a little
moongate hopping but it can be done.
Jacques Bennoi - my e-mail is killbilly AT swbell DOT net
Dundee
>My first days on Drachenfels as a newbie were quite different from
>what you usally read here :-/ Apologies that I am not such a good
>writer :-(
[snip heartbreaking story]
Jeez. Someone help this guy, already.
If you're on in the evenings (Central time) then I'll help you earn
some gold for a money-making skill such as tailoring or bowyering.
I'll even give you a newbie hatchet that you will never lose. This
would be easier if you were on Lake Superior, but I can create a
newbie and work a bit for you on Drachenfels. 'Shouldn't take more
than a few minutes to get you some tailoring and sewing kits, then you
can kill stuff and sew the hides into studded bustiers (or whatever),
earn all kinds of cash and become Famous and Powerful.
That'll be a hoot.
--
Dundee of Lake Superior - Skep...@SPAMISantisocial.com
Townstone proposal, Housing proposal and Other Stuff:
http://dundee.uong.com
Jack Benny
I dont know if I am coming back to LS or not.
Jacques
Dundee
wrote:
>Be very careful here Dundee.. I've already been sucked into Drachefels.
>I dont know if I am coming back to LS or not.
I'd just go mule for the guy for a couple of hours. I have too many
roots in LS to move.
ja...@my-dejanews.com
Hearding <jeh...@flash.net> wrote:
>
> I have yet to reach GM in anything with any character. I just don't
> have that much ambition. Maybe something's wrong with me.
That means you are not a cheater nor a power Macroer.
And you have a life!!
> The rest is all too familiar. The details were different but I also went
> through a tough time as a newbie. Life is tough for the UO newbie and
> very, very frustrating. Hearding started as a warrior, and even thought
> the guide book said very plainly DON'T GO OUT OF TOWN I got extremely
> bored and frustrated and traveled from Trinsic to Yew on foot. I made
> it safely and decided to be a hunter. I killed (weak) animals and sold
> the meat and hides.
I spent the whole Beta broke until some guy died
in town and I looted $500 off his body, that turned
everything around. I got training and supplies to
make more gold.
JadeM †
(always make a $money$ earning character first)
> The hardest part of being a newbie is getting the first 1000 gold.
> After that life gets much easier. Then you have enough to a)easily
> reequip from getting killed b)buy some craft skills like tailoring or
> bowcraft/fletching c)buy the absolutely indespensible skills of anatomy
> and healing and d)easily buy starting craft items like thread. Always,
> always, always put most of your gold in the bank until you get enough to
> do the above. On other servers sometimes you get lucky and someone
> loans or gives you gold or equipment. I do this all the time (if
> they're not jerks --always ask HOW to do things. Never ask FOR
> anything)
>
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
Bjoern Guenzel
wrote:
>On Wed, 28 Oct 1998 00:48:20 GMT, guenz...@blinker.net (Bjoern
>Guenzel) wrote:
>
>>My first days on Drachenfels as a newbie were quite different from
>>what you usally read here :-/ Apologies that I am not such a good
>>writer :-(
>
>[snip heartbreaking story]
>
>Jeez. Someone help this guy, already.
<Sob> :-)
>
>If you're on in the evenings (Central time) then I'll help you earn
>some gold for a money-making skill such as tailoring or bowyering.
>I'll even give you a newbie hatchet that you will never lose. This
Oh wait, so that means you can't lose a newbie hatchet because it's a
newbie hatchet, not because you have picked lumberjack as your initial
skill? That's good to hear, although I guess vendors don't offer
newbie items?
>would be easier if you were on Lake Superior, but I can create a
>newbie and work a bit for you on Drachenfels. 'Shouldn't take more
>than a few minutes to get you some tailoring and sewing kits, then you
>can kill stuff and sew the hides into studded bustiers (or whatever),
>earn all kinds of cash and become Famous and Powerful.
>
>That'll be a hoot.
Many thanks for the offer, I would be really honored. However, I think
I am well enough so that you don't need to create a whole new
character just for me (I think I would be a bit overwhelmed:-). At
least I already have a sewing kit, and also I took some heart since I
read that it is possible to sell cooked meat or even kindling (all I
need is a hatchet...). Or I'll try to get a herd of sheep together.
Of course I hope that you'll visit Drachenfels occasionally anyway, so
that there is a decent chance of bumping into you eventually :-)
>
>--
>Dundee of Lake Superior - Skep...@SPAMISantisocial.com
>Townstone proposal, Housing proposal and Other Stuff:
>http://dundee.uong.com
Dennis Francis Heffernan
wrote:
|Of course I hope that you'll visit Drachenfels occasionally anyway, so
|that there is a decent chance of bumping into you eventually :-)
Look for Aria in Britain or Spawn Point 19 (that square peninsula just
north of Skara Brae, almost due west of Britain)
Dennis F. Heffernan UO: Venture (Catskills) dfra...@email.com
Montclair State U #include <disclaim.h> ICQ:9154048 CompSci/Philosophy
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days
when Victoria reigned." -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Claypole
Guenzel) wrote:
>My first days on Drachenfels as a newbie were quite different from
>what you usally read here :-/ Apologies that I am not such a good
>writer :-(
>
>Contrary to everybody else, I didn't get to Grandmaster Mage within 5
>minutes. I rather stumbled from mistake into mistake.
>
>
>Tichy/Drachenfels
>Bjoern Guenzel
>
I am sure just about everyone who reads this will have some feeling
for your situation. I don't care how good at UO people think they are
they all started as newbies at one time.
You mentioned that someone answered a request with "we are all new
here", this is true but they said it because it can be hard to tell
who is just pretending to be new and who is genuine.
I don't have much at the minute but if you ever see me about stop me
and I will help you out. I hang around Yew and the Yew valley mostly.
Claypole on Dras. riding a damn expensive horse just out of spite.