Before you start reading through this list, have you read the FAQ?
It's where a lot of the common newbie questions are answered. If you haven't,
go to my links page and read it now (from the
main Discworld page) as I try not to repeat topics discussed there. Use
your back button to return to this page.
"His number lyeth between seven and nine; it is twice four".Saying it aloud invokes the Soul Render, and "You'll be eight alive" as they say. Well, actually it just exits the game, just like quit. Sometimes you'll hear people do this by shouting eig... err, 7a.
Rincewind's room number in his hall of residence had been 7a. He hadn't been surprised.
(The Colour of Magic).
Important: Buying lives temporarily drains Constitution. You should not buy another life if your constitution is too low. The general consensus seems to be that a constitution score of 6 is the minimum you need. I'd suggest 7a to be on the safe side!
See also hit points, currency.
There is a player run shop 2S 1W from outside the drum where the owner will enchant any item to become a talker for $1. You too can have a talking metal protective. Apart from interesting the ladies, this can give you something to do if you get chucked in jail ('cos they take your talker stick off you).
There is a player run shop in the Warrior's Guild W, S, SW from outside the Drum. Type 'list' to see what's in stock - you can often find some very nice equipment in here if you have the money. You can also sell equipment to the shop if it's a bit special. What I mean is that run of the mill daggers, foils etc. will probably not be accepted (though this seems to be changing now that Ded has taken over and it's gone down-market <g>). Browse the list to see the sort of thing the shop sells. Read the board ('read board') for the full rundown on how the shop operates. Check my links page (Bows & Ammo section) for the buying prices at the shop (remember that Ded adds a percentage before reselling).
There's also a little shop which you should be aware of called the "Get 'Em While You Can" shop on the East side of the Plaza of Broken Moons. If you browse the stock in there, you probably won't be able to imagine why I bothered making a special point of mentioning it.
See also shopping.
'say <something>' sends your message to everyone in the
room (everyone at your current location);
'lsay <something>' (loud say) sends your message to everyone
in the room, and rooms in your immediate area;
'shout <something>' sends your message to everyone in a
wide area.
These three are broadcast commands, if you like. Everyone can hear them, although even shouts are limited in range, and to be honest, lots of people constantly shouting is a pain. A similar broadcast can be achieved by using the talker. For the more personal touch, use:
'tell <player> <something>' person-to-person communication with unlimited range.
There are also soul commands, like smile; wave; grin and even moon. Use 'look at soul' for the list of soul commands available to you.
Death alone speaks in caps. Unless you enjoy lots of people immediately jumping on the bandwagon and telling you "help capslock" "help caps" "help capslock you moron" you might want to give it a miss yourself. Unless you want to wind them up that is.
1. A priest can raise you.
2. A Pishite priest can resurrect you - this way you get to keep some
of your XPs.
3. You can float along to the temple of Small Gods in Ankh-Morpork.
Go upstairs and find Harry, who will raise you (just like option 1, but
you know exactly where to get it). That is, unless some antisocial lout
has killed him. (See killing shopkeepers).
The only other place I know of for this outside of AM is in KLK. Look for
Ptamney in the temple of Sessifet.
The Resurrections and Recovery Unit are a group who are dedicated to helping you out of the messes that you get yourself in. They may be able to help you get your gear back in the event of being killed in some of the more lethal areas you might foolishly wander into (e.g.. The Shades). I can attest to their help in this regard, recently having rashly decided that a level 70 priest should have nothing to fear in The Shades, wandering in without casting any protection and feeling that bony digit tap me on the shoulder approximately 60 seconds later, spending most of the intervening time running away from a large group of trolls, thugs and other assorted lowlifes while desperately trying to find the way out. Brother Fresno kindly got me all my stuff back, told me that newbies really shouldn't go in there and laughed at my weapon. *Blush*. Some of them don't charge you anything, but if someone takes time to help you, they really do deserve something. Don't be tight fisted. Type 'refer rru' for more details, or check my links page for their web site.
Enchantments come in two flavours, stable and unstable. A stable enchantment is, as I recall, up to enchantment level 3 or 4. Beyond this, the enchantment is unstable, which means that the level of enchantment gradually decays until it reaches the highest stable level. Personally I don't bother with unstable enchantments, but it could be useful to enchant an item to the max for one off "specials".
You might be lucky and find someone who will perform a stable enchantment for free - usually outside the Drum, which tends to act as an unofficial "newbie area". More often though, you'll have to pay a few dollars for the service. It's worth it. I am certain you will have to pay for high level (unstable) enchantments.
The subsections below are out of alphabetical sequence, but are in order
of importance IMHO.
Now don't get disheartened. Everyone started in this position, but you'll soon manage to scrape up a few dollars by finding things to sell. Please don't stoop to begging from other players, as a smack in the chops with a katana often decapitates.
Once you've got a few dollars, the next item on your list (after the backpack or whatever) is a weapon. See choosing a weapon below. Armour can wait for a little while, until you move on from killing cockroaches and rats. Wear whatever you can find. However, once you've bought your first weapon, it might be time to consider some armour. See selecting your armour below.
'Here.' Boy Willie handed the teacher a spare sword. He hefted it.If you want to drool over all sorts of swords; glaives; spears; hammers and balls with spiky bits, go to my links page and look under Bows 'n' Ammo, where you will find a site which lists pretty much every weapon and reviews their effectiveness. However, before you do a Nobby Nobbs and stock up with everything (see Men At Arms) let me introduce a note of sanity here. It doesn't matter how wonderful your weapon is if you don't have the skills to match, so don't whip out your big chopper unless you know how to use it. No comments, please.
'Er. I expect there's a manual, or something?'
'Manual? No. You hold the blunt end and poke the other end at people.'
(Interesting Times)
My suggestion? Stick to some nice, ordinary weapons for a while. Remember,
the more fancy weapons cost a good deal more. At this stage, the
important thing is that you've got something in Excellent
condition, in whichever skill area you want to develop (Blunt; Sharp; Piercing).
A reasonable weapon to start with for your average fighter or cleric is
a Long Sword if you want to use a shield, or a Bastard Sword if you want
to trade the extra protection of a shield for the extra power of a two-handed
weapon. Using the Long Sword, you will TM advance in
two combat skills (sharp and pierce) while the Bastard Sword only uses
sharp. These are by no means the best weapons, but they are reasonably
priced and will get the job done - as long as you do not get too ambitious!
'Here, you'll need this too,' said Caleb, poking something round at him as they stepped into the grey light. 'It's a shield.'The advice is very similar to choosing a weapon, and there is an excellent site which rates all the different types of armour - see Bows 'n' Ammo on my links page. The best armour is out of your initial price range. Whatever you buy, it should be in Excellent condition (i.e. it is new or good as new). If it's in a shop, use 'browse <item>' to check the price and its state of repair. If someone offers you a suspiciously good deal on some armour ("Pssst! Wanna buy a Grflx Scale for $5?") then it's probably either stolen off another player or it's totally knackered. Beware. There are some astoundingly generous people out there who will go out of their way to help others and will give you the deal of a lifetime, but generally you get what you pay for. (Just a a little aside, when I last died and lost my body, one amazingly kind lady who I will not name gave me her Iron Gauntlets because I'd lost mine, and said "If you come across another pair, let me have them back"! Needless to say I bought another pair and gave her gauntlets back ASAP).
'Ah, it's to protect myself, yes?'
'If you really need to, bite the edge.'
'Oh, I know about that,' said Mr Saveloy. 'That's when you go berserk, yes?'
'Could be, could be,' said Caleb. 'That's why a lot of fighters do it. But personally I do it 'cos it's made of chocolate.'
'Chocolate?'
'You can never get a proper meal in these battles.'
(Interesting Times)
In the case of armour, I would start out with whatever I can find in the street - it's good enough for killing cockroaches and rats - but get something in reasonable condition before you go much further than that. Below are some starters. I'm not claiming that these are always the best armour, but I've listed items that are usually readily available and reasonably priced.
1. You can sometimes find Hard Leather Boots in very good condition
at General stores (looted off Hells Grannies) and these are nice armour
for your feet, though they probably don't suit thieves or assassins.
2. You can often pick up a Short Scaly Robe at a reasonable price,
and I would go for this - it is very good armour and protects a good portion
of your body, and it will serve as your main piece of armour for a good
while.
3. A pair of leather breeches will do for a start for your legs (you'll
be able to find these lying around, though usually not in good condition).
To be honest, they aren't much good, but other leg armour is harder to
get.
4. A helm is required. You can buy a metal helm which is OK,
but you'll often see Horned Dwarven Helmets in the general stores, these
are very good - buy one and keep it in good condition and as with
the Scaly Robe it will serve you for a long time.
5. Some gauntlets are needed for your hands. Metal are good, steel
are better (and lighter).
The better stuff (for later):
Gigantic Dog Collar - excellent neck protection
Heavy Face Mask - good armour for the face
Grflx Scale - good armour, but doesn't protect as many locations as
the Scaly Robe. However, unlike with the Robe, you can wear the:
Fluffy Cloak - good armour and excellent in winter for its warming
properties
Priests - better foot armour.
You can fix up equipment that is in less than excellent condition. The most common requirement is to repair armour and weapons. To do this, you need to know the 'fix' command, but you need to be level 10 in crafts.smithing.black before you can learn it. When you are, just ask on the talker and I'm sure someone will teach it to you, though be aware that you need to have quite a high bonus to make it practical to fix stuff in bad condition.. You fix armour and weaponry at the blacksmiths, along with certain items of jewellery. There is one on Filigree Street, 2W 1N from outside the Drum.
Now, because getting to level 10 in blacksmithing is probably not at the top of a newbie's priority list, there is a tendency for newbies to hang around in the blacksmiths, holding a bloody big sword which they like the look of (like a katana) which they found in the street and is in an absolutely diabolical state of repair, asking characters if they can fix it. If you don't have smithing skills, you're probably unaware that fixing costs gold for raw materials. The more expensive the item, and the more dilapidated its condition, the more it costs to repair. Also, unless you have a high level of skill, it can take multiple attempts (all of which cost money) to fix up an item. A katana, which costs $120 at WHL's Martial Arts shop, will cost a fair proportion of its total value to fix if it is in "found it in the street" condition. This helps explain the sort of things that newbies get told when they ask people "Can you fix my Katana?", though actually I would suggest you ignore their kind advice and use a regular scabbard.
BTW, please don't ask me to fix your stuff. I sell weapons and armour! I might consider a part-exchange if my stocks are low though.
<rant>
The most important thing to remember is this - it is not just a game. The Discworld MUD is a society, which in many aspects mirrors RL. This concept should be the key to your conduct on the Disc. Rude, antisocial louts are an unfortunate part of life in our other existences, and it a great pity that some of them decide to live on the Disc as well. I would imagine there are few people who take pleasure in encountering such yobs in either existence.
Therefore, how you deal with other players is very important. I am amazed at the way some people treat another player who they require assistance from! Personally, I would say that if someone asks me to do something; doesn't get an immediate response because there is appalling lag and so starts trying out the miserable end of the soul commands on me, they should not be surprised if I leave them hanging. Am I missing the point here? If someone is rude to me, does that really mean that I should immediately labour to assist them in every way possible? Sheesh, have I got the wrong end of the stick or what? I know from reading the refer information of some very helpful players that even they are getting a little hacked off at this sort of thing. What also burns my arse is the fact that when you're genuinely busy doing something else, you get sulked at if you can't offer immediate help. "Please" and "Thank you" tend to help matters along as well.
So, be nice to people. It doesn't matter what your character alignment is. I'm tired of the "I'm only roleplaying" excuse. You can be a totally evil character and yet be a nice player. Take your treatment of NPCs, for example. There are some that are basically put there for you to kill, and they are fair game. It won't affect another player if you do so (other than the fact that they can't kill the NPC themselves). There are some where killing them will have a knock-on effect on other players. Shopkeepers spring to mind. Leaving these NPCs alone so they can provide a service to other players is a socially responsible act. Good for you.
For those who insist on "roleplaying" their evil character, then try this for size: societies defend themselves from people like you in two or three ways:
1. They can exclude you. News of people like you tends to spread. You might be a nasty little shit in real life as well, in which case you'll be used to having no friends, but don't forget that occasionally you're going to need something from someone else.
I'm toying with the idea of a Hall of Shame for people who seem to make it their mission to make everyone else's Discworld experience as unpleasant as possible. Feel free to email or tell me what you think about this, or to name any possible entrants.
2. They can incarcerate you. The Discworld already does this in its mild little way if you're caught by the watch. What I only recently discovered, never having played this character type, is that shopkeeper-killers are often thieves who get caught stealing and kill rather than spending 15 minutes in jail. You antisocial gits. What I'd like to see is for the watch to be automatically called when people attack shopkeepers, and perhaps even a special escape-proof jail with a longer prison term. Don't think something won't happen - I know a number of people are getting steamed up about this particular issue and I'm sure this all gets back to the Creators.
3. The ultimate punishment. Why shouldn't there be a death penalty (apart from the usual, that is!) for certain actions on the Disc?
Preachy? Hey, I'm a priest. I'm only roleplaying.
</rant>
While we're on about killing priests, if you should venture abroad and go to Djelibaybi (KLK) don't attack the priests (or the cats) unless you want to be fed to the crocodiles.
Cure rituals regenerate lost hit points
Restore regenerates lost CONstitution as well
If you can't cast these and no-one will cast them on you, you might have to hang out in Brother David's for a while. Go to the crossroad where Short Street meets the Street of Small Gods / Attic Bee Street, go S then E. Resting in here helps you heal at a faster rate. It is also a sanctuary where you can rest without fear of attack.
Once you're in jail, hopefully still with a talker, if you want to get out more quickly you can try picking the lock if you're a thief, or portal out if you're a priest or wizard. If you fall into the category of "none of the above", or don't have the skills, you could ask on channel one if anyone could come and get you out, or try shouting for help. Characters are quite often willing to come and try to get people out of jail!
You'll also need to know about the various attitudes you can take in combat You can be offensive, neutral or defensive. When you are on the offensive, you go all out to win at the expense of blocking/parrying etc. On the defensive, you concentrate on protecting yourself and get few blows in on your opponent. With a neutral attitude, you take a balanced approach.
When you start your adventuring career, your attitude will be set to neutral. However, if you have spent ages trying to kill a cockroach without success (possibly with a bunch of more experienced players watching you and sniggering) you might want to ask yourself this question: "Do I really need to worry about parrying blows from this bug?" You'll probably find that going offensive produces gratifying results.
The commands are:
'options combat tactics attitude=offensive'
'options combat tactics attitude=neutral'
'options combat tactics attitude=defensive'
and you can change tactics at any time.
Actually, I've noticed recently that some children are now carrying a little pocket money. Awww, bless... Kill 'em.
Attacking trolls with sharp weapons is a great way to knacker up your beautiful long-short combination (katana-wakizashi). After all, they are made of stone. Use blunt weapons. Actually, attacking trolls as a newbie is a great way to get yourself killed as well, unless you attack the pebbles (kids).
You need to be aware of who is nearby when you enter combat. Certain NPCs will react adversely to your aggression.
Kess of Sek: A psychopathic bitch this one. If she sees you fighting, she goes into berserker mode. She'll attack your opponent and you. I got on the wrong side of her as a newbie and got killed; got raised and went back to my body to get my stuff; she was waiting for me and killed me again! I've hated her ever since.
Some guy whose name I can't remember: That should worry you. Same as Kess.
Hermits: Fortunately only found in the Oasis, these guys react extremely negatively to your attacking anyone in the room. Don't even think of messing them around.
My Kess of Sek example should act as a warning to you: dashing back
to your corpse can get you killed again. Cowardice should prevail here
- ask another player nicely if they will go and look to see if that nasty
NPC is lurking around your bod. They might even offer to give the NPC a
good kicking for you!
By the way, those rooms in the temples with the little boxes? They're shops too. I just thought I'd point that out to the twat who keeps killing the priest in the Temple of Sek shop. One day I'll find out who it is, and 'glare' him back to the stone age.
Worst of all, there are actually people who kill Harry in the Temple of Small Gods. If you find anyone doing this you should name and shame them on channel one of the talker. ANYONE so appallingly antisocial as to kill an NPC that a character might desperately need in order to get back to his/her body before their kit disappears deserves your utmost contempt.
You might have gathered that I don't like shopkeeper killers.
Unfortunately, however many times he is killed, The LAG always returns
to taunt the player.
Oh, how I hate you LAG…
A 'venturing went a cleric bold,
For that that glitters but is not gold,
Where brigands and fell creatures prowl,
In the gloomy forest where the wild wolves howl.
The riddles they were duly read,
Some things were done that can't be said,
A gaping cavern our hero saw,
And bravely went into its maw.
A hideous monster there arose,
And then for Zadok, time just froze,
Attempts to move did not prevail,
Commands to heal did not avail.
And then he came out of his daze,
Beheld the object
of his horrified gaze,
His body lay in a silicon maze.
My Iron Gauntlets,
my Grflx Scale,
my Fluffy Cloak,
my Silver Flail;
my Katana and Waki',
my magic rings,
my 'Strange Device',
my passaging things;
my black medallion,
my talking jockstrap too -
I lost them all because of you…
YOU BASTARD! I KEEEL YOU LAG!
Players will quite often be more than willing to teach you skills. This will cost you XP just like at the guild, but players will not (usually) charge you. They get something out of it, as they gain some experience by teaching you the skills. You should look for someone with at least double your bonus in the skill you want to advance. Note that learning from a player is more expensive than learning from your guild, so max your chosen skill at the guild before going elsewhere for instruction.
If you want me to teach you, go back to my main page and view my skills. If I don't have over double your bonus, look elsewhere (I could teach you, but it will cost more than someone with the higher bonus). Incidentally, you don't have to insist that someone has a massively high bonus to teach you - if they are +2x your bonus the training is as good as you will get.
Just a quick note here - it can be very hard to find someone with double your bonus in certain skills, usually because these skills have limited uses, and therefore people only advance them to the minimum amount required. Someday you'll understand what I mean...
You might hear Lanfear announce that she is training in Brother David's. She is a good trainer with high stats. Lanfear has an automated system in operation. Type 'tell lanfear teach me <skill>' when you are in the same room as her. I've also found Gungho to be a decent bloke who seems willing to train whenever I've needed it - he seems to spend a lot of time in KLK or the Oasis. There are plenty of others who are willing to train you - put a message on talker channel one, but please don't constantly spam the channel if you don't get a response.
If you're really desperate to learn skills, you can teach yourself. This costs the most XP however. At least you don't have to pay yourself for your trouble.
See also TM (Wooo!).
...Makes the Disc go round (or something). You need money to advance
your skills at your guild; buy better equipment and buy
lives. For the newbie, scraping together a few dollars just to buy
a semi-decent weapon can be quite a challenge.
In the street, use the 'search' command. You'll come up with one of the following:
1. Nothing
2. Some decaying rubbish. You'll smell awful for a while afterwards,
but this doesn't have any real effect. (I think the Creators should make
it so that people who smell of garbage are irresistible to gnolls). "I
l'v 'u. I w'nt to h'v y'r ch'ld'r'n. R'w".
3. A rat or a cockroach. Oooh goody, something to kill! See killing
stuff.
4. Money. Usually a penny, very occasionally a dollar. A royal if you're
really really lucky (but don't hold your breath).
5. Equipment. Almost always in very poor/atrocious condition. Be aware
that equipment in such condition is almost useless. OK, it's better than
nothing, but only just. The best thing to do is sell it. Check out your
map and head for the nearest general store, then 'sell <item>'.
You can use 'sell all', but be careful - you will attempt
to sell everything you are holding unless you have previously used the
command 'keep <item>' and that item has not left your person
since (eg. you haven't dropped it, put in a vault
etc.).Some things you won't be able to sell - usually because they're worthless
or because they're in such poor condition. Occasionally you might find
a suspiciously new item just dumped on the ground which you are unable
to sell. If you're using 'sell all', try selling that item on
its own - you might be told that it is stolen. See fencing.
Tip. If you find a backpack or satchel, keep it, wear it and use it to keep stuff in, until you have the spare cash to buy a nice shiny new one - you'll be able to carry more things so you can spend more time scavenging and less time running to the shop. The relevant commands (assuming it's a backpack) are 'open backpack'; 'close backpack'; 'put <item> in backpack'; 'get <item> from backpack'.
Should you, by incredible good fortune, come across some really decent
equipment in excellent condition - well it probably belongs to someone
else. If you find it on their body, that's usually a pretty good indication.
You will not endear yourself to others if you cash in on people's misfortune.
Option 1. Visit the money changer. There's one near the top end of the Street of Small Gods, just south of the Plaza of Broken Moons. For a percentage, he'll convert your pennies into dollars.
Option 2. Open a bank account. You'll need one eventually to store all your loot. Unfortunately the bank charges a fee to open the account - $5 as I recall. They also charge a percentage on all deposits, although they kindly allow you to take your money out again for free. There are two banks in Ankh-Morpork:
Bings: Located on Upper Broadway (just off the Street of Small Gods). They charge 5% on deposits.
Lancrastrian Co-Op Bank: Located on God Street near the Ephebian
Embassy (from the Street of Small Gods, follow Temple Cut north to get
to God Street or go up Leaden Lane). They charge 10%. The advantage is
that if you go to Lancre or Ohulan Cutash (OC) you can draw on your account
at the bank there, and withdraw it in the local currency. Likewise you
can deposit your Lancre lucre in the local branch and withdraw it in good
old dollars when you're back in Ankh-Morpork.
Ankh-Morpork:
100 pennies = 1 dollar
100 dollars = 1 royal
Not many people bother with the local carriage service. However, there's the Lancre coach service which leaves from outside the Acme Carriage Company at the Street of Small Gods / Upper Broadway junction if you want to travel to foreign parts. It makes a round trip to Lancre and back and makes stops along the way. As this page is aimed mainly at newbies, I should warn you to think carefully before leaving the safety (!) of Ankh-Morpork.
Both services are free. You can go into the Acme Carriage Co. offices
for details of all three routes, though unfortunately you can't get arrival
times of the Lancre coach.
newbie /n[y]oo'bee/ n. [very common; orig. from British public-school and military slang variant of `new boy'] A Discworld neophyte. Criteria for being considered a newbie vary wildly; a person can be called a newbie in one context while remaining a respected regular in another. The label `newbie' is sometimes applied as a (semi) serious insult to a person who has been around for a long time but who carefully hides all evidence of having a clue.
The standard DW MUD definition is that a newbie is someone who needs to ask what "newbie" means.
I cannot give you quest solutions, and asking for them on the talker will only generate lots of flames. It is supposedly OK to ask for a hint or two, but some people think even this is going too far. Be warned.
So how do you find a quest? Well, one good tip is to stay alert to what other players are doing. You might see a player doing something strange (or stranger than usual) which might give you a clue that this may be quest related. Another suggestion is to visit the Apex Club (on Checker Walk just off The Maul) and look around the Hall of Heroes. Some of the statues have plinths which give a cryptic description of the quests which the character has completed, some of which might give you ideas.
What's the point? Well, the main thing is that you get the satisfaction
of solving a puzzle, and you gain quest points which count towards your
overall rating. Some quests reward you with useful items of equipment.
A few quests also give XPs, but most do not.
You can use the 'uptime' command to find out how long you have
before the next reboot.
To remedy this, here are a few hints for where to buy equipment. I might eventually do a complete listing on a separate page, but for the moment...
Armour, weapons, faith items, magic and lots of other goodies: Player shop in the Warrior's Guild off Filigree (1W 1S 1SE from outside drum). See buying special items.
Backpacks, satchels etc.: Clothes shops. There's a few scattered about - for example at the southern end of Baker St (off Small Gods) and on Smuckle Lane (that's just to the North of the Short St / Small Gods cross-roads).
Scabbards: There's a scabbard shop on Heroes St, but as I recall you can't get Oriental scabbards there - you have to go to the scabbard shop in the SW corner of KLK market for those (Katana, Wakizashi etc. Waaahh! Sob!). For those very special weapons, there is a Deluxe Scabbard shop in the NE corner of the same market. It can be interesting just to browse this stock, as it will clue you in on the various "specials" available. Of course, you have to get to KLK...
See also the Player Shop entry on my links page
(Bows & Ammo section) for the buying prices at the shop. I've included
this so you can gauge what is a reasonable price if a player offers to
sell you some kit.
What you need is a vault to store your excess baggage in until you find a use for it. There are two vaults in Ankh-Morpork. The first is on Five Ways (at the eastern end of Quarry Lane). The other is on Turnwise Broadway - 1NE 1SE 1D from outside the Town Cryers' Office. There is a one off charge for opening an 'account' at each vault, and you are charged a few pennies every time you use the facility.
Your vault is not of limitless size though, so you'll eventually fill it. There are additional vaults in Ohlan Cutash (OC) and KLK. Check your maps. For those of us who can passage/portal, these are very useful for storing extra goodies.
Tip: One thing that a priest should definitely store is a duplicate set of portal objects. I didn't, and regretted it. I'm now having to revisit all my old portal locations the hard way because I lost all my equipment. I'll be toting a bagful of consecrated items around with me for a while and casting remember place twice, putting the duplicate in storage. I just wish I'd done this the first time. Oh, and if you store the duplicates away from Ankh-Morpork, make sure to make a duplicate copy of the item which keys to the remote location and store this in Ankh-Morpork!
Oh yes, one other thing. As far as I can recall, you shouldn't store
something in something else (nested items) in a vault, so don't bung all
your gear in a backpack and put that in the vault. If you're storing
a weapon and scabbard, unsheathe the weapon before placing them both in
the vault. I'll confirm that and update this section ASAP.
Should you lose your talker, or have it taken off you when you get thrown
in jail, you can buy a replacement at the Novelty Shop
for 50p. Alternatively, you can have an item enchanted
as a talker for $1 which should not get taken off you.
The Task Master is the mechanism through which you gain skill levels by actually performing the skill, rather than learning it at the guild or from other players. It works on a sliding scale, with early low level increases being reasonably easy to attain, but requiring more and more use of the skill to gain each subsequent TM increase. Note that this means that if you buy your skills at low level, it will take longer for subsequent TMs as you are advancing from a higher level.
See also Learning Skills.
For the newbie, the shop is really not very important - the stuff it sells is often way beyond the capacity of your purse and you probably wouldn't know what to use it for anyway. You can sometimes pick up some useful info by hanging around and asking purchasers innocent questions about what their new possession does. If they clam up or say "I'm not allowed to tell you", well...
Priests of Sek can buy black medallions there. These medallions act as holy symbols that you can wear around your neck, so you don't have to hold them (you need a holy symbol to cast certain rituals). Just to make absolutely sure it's the right one - the design is that of the seven hands of Sek.
If you are looking for the t-shop in Anhk-Morpork, the locations that I know of are:
Street of Small Gods, 1 E of the Short Street cross-roads ( both N &
S of the street)
Leaden Lane, 1 N of the Street of Small Gods (W side)
The Cham, 2N from the Plaza of Broken Moons (W side)
Tinlid Alley, 1SW 1S from God Street (W side)
God Street, 1E from Tinlid Alley junction (N side)
Fog Alley, 1NE 1E from Prog Alley junction (S side)
Prog Alley, 1S from Filigree Street (E side)
Filigree Street, at Prog Alley junction (N side)
In the Oasis, there are a similar group who react to aggression, but
with lethal force - it is not really a place for newbies.
If you die and are raised, you will lose any accumulated XP. Hey, you're alive again, aren't you? A large balance of unspent XP always seems to act as a Death magnet, so be careful.
If you are resurrected, you get to keep some of the XP. Only clerics
of Pishe can perform this, unless you know someone else with an item
imbued with resurrection who's prepared to use it on you.