Player Guide

The goal of this page is to help players join and acclimate to Kingdoms of Kahara. At the beginning this will cover basic things and eventually cover more advanced topics.

Beginner

What is roleplaying?

Roleplaying is the act of portraying a character. At the basic level for a game like Kingdoms of Kahara this means creating a character (a Player Character or "PC") and portraying what they're like to other players. There's a wide range of possibilities for the kinds of characters you can make so long as they fit within Kahara's setting. While ideally players can agree on what should happen next should there be a conflict or should there be a need for randomness results will be based upon your character's relevant skills and abilities.

What is the setting of Kahara?

Kahara is (to use real world terms) a late medieval/early Renaissance era setting where many can't help but feel like the past was more grand. The empires of old have crumbled, there's magic that has been lost, and the there's now places scarred in ways they weren't before. But it's also an age of discovery to rediscover that grander past, where brave characters can delve into ruins to recover tomes and artifacts, where scholars can translate what's recovered, where while magic of the past has been lost magic is accessible to everyone. Kahara is the story of the various PCs as they navigate the hazards and rewards of these adventures or support those who do.

Connecting to the game

<Insert client instructions>

What kind of character should I make?

Make a character that will be interesting to you!

To give a longer answer, characters who succeed on a game like this are those who are willing to have strong opinions, take action, and are able to work with other characters. That lone wolf character you have in mind may sound cool but if other players have a choice between trying to interact with that character and interacting with a character who is more approachable they will almost always choose the latter. Roleplaying is a cooperative exercise so characters that work well with others work best in the overwhelming majority of cases.

You can even take inspiration from characters you like from more established fiction, change them a little, and you have a character to play. Keep in mind in some cases due to how skills work your character may not have all the capabilities of your inspiration, but the concept can be similar.

Character Profession Ideas

Some players may struggle with coming up with an idea. An easy place to start is an occupation for the character. With that in mind a few will be listed along with how they can get a new player involved in the game. These aren't the only options, but keep in mind the goal is to help a new player have easy ways to interact with other PCs.

It should be noted none of these are dependent on being able to cast spells. All characters on Kahara can interact with magic in some form or another. Some characters do this by casting spells, others may do so by focusing themselves on a critical task or channel it into their bodies to perform feats which would not be possible otherwise. That means while magic is helpful in any of these roles, it can manifest in a variety of ways. This is a great way to give your character some flavor and stand out from others with the same occupation!

Adventurer

In a world with ruins to venture into and people who need small scale problems solved, it's hard to go wrong with an Adventurer. A well made Adventurer character can work well with other characters to achieve objectives in dangerous places.

Trader

Traveling with large amounts of goods across Kahara can be dangerous, and there's a need for characters to do the job. Trade is an important part of life in Kahara. If you're new to roleplaying in general this gives your character a way to justify being in a variety of places, if you're more experienced with roleplay but new to this game it's a good entry point into giving other PCs fun things to do.

Barkeep

This role is an interesting place to start to get to meet a wide range of PCs that may come through the doors to the establishment your character is at. Talk to staff ahead of time and we can recommend a place for your character to work when you want to play your character doing their job.

Mercenary

This role generally works best if you talk to other players playing a mercenary group first, but martial conflict in Kahara is often low intensity but constant so there's always something for an armed band of mercenaries.

Scholar

This role is a good idea for characters who like to portray characters interested in book learning or just interested in trying to understand more about Kahara in general. Adventurers can go to them to understand the value of what they recovered, and players of scholars with more experience may even be sending Adventurer PCs into ruins in the hopes of obtaining things of value.

Priest/Sage/Seer

There's a wide range of religious practice in Kahara, and that means there's a wide range of those who are experienced in the rituals needed to appease and communicate with the gods. Keep in mind on Kahara communication with the gods doesn't involve hearing their voices but is often the result of performing and interpreting divination rituals which range widely in practice across the continent.

Healer

When various characters are injured, a healer can get them recover faster. This is a valuable service and a good way to get to know other PCs.

How do I make a character?

At the login screen type "create <character name> <password>"

From there enter the character creation room. Then you need to provide a character pitch to staff. This isn't a full character bio that requires in depth knowledge of Kahara, this is only about 25 words or so. Tell us the most important parts of your character idea. You're not trying to prove to us you're a setting expert right away, you're trying to show us why your character will be a great addition to the game. For characters that don't start out with any special authority these are considered on a "shall approve" basis, which means unless we have a reason to think your character wouldn't be a good fit we will approve it. That means approval for new characters is the default. If we think a character won't work we'll tell you why or we may ask for a couple changes. This approval process can sometimes be very quick but often are resolved within 12-24 hours.

You also need a character description. This means type out what another PC will see if they look at your character. Stick to objective observable facts (which is to say don't write "he is so handsome" in your desc since that imposes an opinion on the reader) and be mindful of proper spelling and grammar and this isn't too hard. For a practical description writing technique you can write the physical attributes of your character (like height, size, race and so on) in the first paragraph and use the second to describe what your character is wearing.

After that you can set up your character skills, which define the rough capabilities of your character when conflict between players happen or randomness in result is required. Characters start with 650 Build Points ("BP") to make a character. For many new characters this means they will start off being able to be pretty good (Rank 4 or 5) in their main skill with some supporting traits to let those skills do more (like gather information, use that skill in combat, or maybe use a skill to do something it might not normally be able to do).

Basic Commands

1. :<text> - This puts your character's name at the front and adds what you wrote after that for everyone in the room to see. So if Cai types, ":writes a guide for new players." All other players would see, "Cai writes a guide for new players." The most basic command to roleplay in character.
2. ;<text> - This puts your character's name at the front, however it eliminates the automatic spacing afterwards, allowing you to do contractions. So if Cai types, ";'s hand is tired after writing so much." All other players would see, "Cai's hand is tired after writing so much."
3. @emit <text> - This sends the <text> to everyone in the room. So if Cai types "@emit After writing the guide, Cai stands up from his chair." everyone in the room will see, "After writing the guide, Cai stands up from his chair."
4. OOC <text> - This says the <text> in Out of Character, or OOC mode to the entire room. This is useful if you want to talk to other players rather than other characters.
5. page <player>=<text> - This sends a private message to that player with the text after the =.
6. +sheet - This views your character sheet.
7. +roll <skill> at <modifier> - This rolls a skill on your character's sheet. This is used when there's conflict between players where an outcome can't be agreed upon or there's a need for randomness in the scene. The die type is a single 10 sided die and you add how many ranks in a skill you have to it. So if I have 3 ranks in Agrarian "+roll agrarian at 0" will roll 1d10+3.
8. +spendfocus <number> - Spends the <number> amount of focus. This is used to activate a range of special abilities.

Roleplaying Basics

While many of these topics have spawned large conversations on the internet in general, this will focus on what works when playing Kingdoms of Kahara.

IC vs OOC

IC is "in character" and OOC is "out of character." What your character does with other characters is IC, what you as a player do with other players is OOC. A major consideration is a player should separate IC and OOC knowledge. I as a player may know Edward is a thief, but my character Noelani doesn't necessarily know that. So when playing that character interacting with Edward, Noelani shouldn't take actions that rely on her knowing what Edward is without other in character information to work off of.

Third Person

When writing your poses write in the third person, which means avoiding "You" or "I" in text that isn't speech.

Powerposing

Don't do this. Powerposing is where when you write a pose (or @emit) it dictates what another character does. It's rude since it takes agency away from other players.