If you are new to role playing, you may wish to sit and observe, read over the rules and setting descriptions before beginning play. If role playing seems like something you might be interested in the first thing you will need to do is create your character.

Creating characters uniquely and from scratch might seem like a task but for those that have a good imagination, all it takes is a little brainstorming.

First things first: What does the character look like physically? How tall are they, what is the shape of their face? What is their hair length, color, and style? What is their eye shape and color? What is the characters body shape, their weight, skin tone, race (in role playing that is human, vampire, demon, etc.)? What type of clothing to they wear, what color, what style are their clothes? Do they have any weapons and what are they? Are they male or female, both, or neither?

Second is to describe all the non-concrete attributes of the character. Perhaps know the answer to questions like what does the character think about life? Do they belong to a class or profession and if so, what is that profession or class. What is their basic personality (i.e are they normally happy, stoic, sad, angry, hyper, etc.) What is the characters background history to support these feelings and attitudes? These questions determine the vast majority of the way your character to a given situation or event.

Any small details can be added, changed, and grow with the character if need be. This is what makes the characters unique, and dynamic because they resemble real people when small things and attitudes change depending on their surroundings and experiences they go through. They grow and revolve just like real people if played right.

Once you have all of these things figured out, it is suggested to create a nick that would most suit the character. Most people generally use a nick with that characters name, (ie. JohnSmith or John_Smith, or some other variation like that.)

As Arcane is a completely free form game, there is no sign up or registry to join. After you have your character created you my choose to post some sort of introduction on the message board or simply begin playing in the chat room. There is no rule about where or how to start. If you would like to just hang out and watch for a bit, to get the feel of how it is done, you are welcome to do so, and as always if you have any questions feel free to ask the ops or players for assistance.

You will likely notice that most of the play done in Arcane is done in paragraph, or para form. Since Star Chat only allows 400 character posts at a time, it is advised to have a character counter ready, and perhaps use note pad as well.

When first beginning to play, remember that even though you can see people's nicks in the room, that won't automatically mean your character will be able to see the other people's characters. Sometimes it helps to ask in the main room what everyone's location is. When speaking in the chat room out of character, or ooc please use these ~~~~> )) to differentiate between ooc talking and ic actions. IC or in character actions are done by using either the /me command before your statements in the room.

You may wish to check out the glossary page to understand some of the lingo you may hear in the chat or even see on the message board.

Above all, be kind, be courteous, have fun, and don't take anything personally that happens to your character. It's just a game and they are all fictional (and hopefully original) characters. When a session is over we are all still friends. We all hope you enjoy your times at Arcane RPG.