The World of Avlis

Hey... a question for maybe someone that has been in the same situation or helped another person through it?

What would you do with someone that was interested in NWN and Avlis specifically, who had never ever played D&D, NWN or anything remotely similar in their life? How would you teach or train them? Would you just toss them into the water and let them learn to swim? Would you start them out on the single-player campaign? Or have them apply to Avlis and (hopefully they were accepted,) learn it all there? Would you help them with you standing right there over their shoulder or just let them mess around and ask questions as they came? Would you.. *sigh* the list goes on and on...

Any advice and perspectives are much appreciated!

At the very least, have them go through the prelude in the single player campagn, maybe chapter 1 as well, just to get a feel for how the game mechanics work

Seconds the first point....

Then go in avlis with them and make them your squire or something or use an alt for both so that he understands the avlis mechanics, before he clears elysia or mikona of NPC's.... best on a hot seat though... i have done it once.... it can also be done with tells but this takes more efforts...

I'd recommend a bit of single player to get the feeling for the game like mentioned by Sathsarrion.

The tricky part will be the unfamiliarity with RPG's and roleplaying. Have him read the guide to roleplaying. Also, if you know him/her personally spending some time talking face to face about a character concept, background, and future goals versus game mechaniscs such as levels would be helpful. Be around during character creation, better yet, be a part of the whole creation of the first charcter.

Also might be useful to play a dummy alt for a week to learn about how Avlis plays, I never tried that though so I couldn't comment.

Good luck .

apply for avlis and as they wait to be accepted (which they will be if theyre over 16 im sure), play through the singleplayer. since it can take a couple days, if they enjoy the singleplayer enough, they might get quite far and certainly far enough to get a good feel for the game. you'll also want to probably play with them on avlis for a couple times although its not necessary but will probably make the transition easier for them and avoid a lot of things that turn off new people initially from the game.

It depends on the personality of the person you'd like to introduce. Some people like to read all the instructions before installing the game... that kind should be pointed to the Avlis website, and some introductions to NWN and run through the Single Player campaign for a few hours.

For those that like to try the game to see if they're interested before they invest the time to learn about it, I'd actually suggest throwing them in the deep end, but jump in with them. Explain the very basics, what a race is, what a class is, get them to tell you what character they'd like to play and make their first character for them, while they watch (unless they want to do it, of course). Be patient, it will take much longer than you'd think. Then log in to Avlis with them, and start playing. Their first few sessions at the least, be with them for every second of the way. After that, if they like it, they'll start learning about it by themselves.

Isn't that the most pure way to play Avlis..with no outside knowledge no preconceptions..truely learn ingame....A pure Avlissian..not bastardised by others influences..what a great test case..guiney pig..

be taught with Avlissian love

just explain what a D20 is

my 2 cents

I personally think learning the mechanics in the single-player game might be worthwhile - though it might skew their expectations of magic items and XP.

Maybe the best thing is just to sit him with you for a couple of sessions whilst you play so he can see roughly how it works. Talking through a character concept beforehand is a good idea too.

Also be careful not to overwhelm them too early on with too many new things. It can be intimidating. The things you think are ultra cool and really worth getting into are no more diverse than your stock standard human, elf, dwarf, halfling, gnome PC to someone new to the genre. It's only later, once they've got a feel for it, that the extensions to the game become of more interest. Save some surprises for later

well I sometimes try to tell my sister something about NWN, and she knows diablo 2, so I work from there, fiding the differences and things that are remotely the same.

Maybe this person also has a point you can work from. Maybe tolkien is a good start? When I try to explain people things about D&D, LARP or nwn, I just refer to Tolkien. It is something almost everybody knows about.

Definately single player for a while just to know game mechanics .....and then why not try head set connection with them (roger wilko etc) as it will work the same as tells but not be too confusing with all the messgaes they get ......

I remeber when I started NWN the messages flashing on in different colours and trying to whisper and then sending shouts across the severs and then ..... being drunk didnt help so tell em no booze til they know what their doing and definately no mellow smoke

The test character for a dummy run is a good idea. It will allow your friend to get a feel for the place. However, make sure that they are happy ooc with their test character as it might end up becoming their main (that happened to me on EQ)

Playing single player is also a good idea as others have suggested.

Having someone who knows the place and the conventions is going to be a lot of help as well.

As far as the game mechanics, the first part of the single player game is a must. This site has a ton of information about the world and the art of RPing. *points to New Player Tips* Then hold their hand for a bit in game. Next thing you know, they will be RPing with the best of em.

this is quite a nice guide to NWN & AD&D generally

http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic ... 5&forum=42

PS don't blame me if there's things wrong in there (like the description of Charisma) - I didn't write it !!