Starting Guide

☰ Starting Guide
New to Antarok? Start here Playable Races Arcana List	Main Page Rules Experience Skills NPCs Calendar Duty Seasonal Points Dungeoneering Arcana Glossary

Antarok is a forum roleplaying game - a Forum RPG - where stories are facilitated over forum threads using a character sheet (CS) to represent your character, who they are, and what they can do. This is analogous to tabletop roleplaying games, but without dice. The game is freeform; you come up with goals based on what your character would want, and write about them with respect to the fantasy setting of Antarok and its lore.

Starting a Character

Registration

The very first step to playing on Antarok is registering a forum account here. Once that is done, it's recommended to join our community [ Discord]. We will be able to assist you with any questions you might have from that point on.

You can find Character Sheet Templates here]. Post them in this] forum, in order: Main, History Skills, Inventory, Relationships, Thread List. We recommend using a Word Processor such as Obsidian or Scrivener to organize your writing.

BBCode

Every character sheet has BBCodes such as [b]Name:[/b]; make sure you write your words after the [/b] so that 'Name' is highlighted but not your own words. Be careful not to mess up your codes, and remember that you can always 'quote' another post to look at its code without submitting that reply.

Race & Age

When creating a character, you must first figure out which race you would like to play. Each race on Antarok has its own biology, racial abilities, appearance, and some are even born with Arcana!

• Race List

Languages

• Characters may speak any languages they have a good reason to be fluent with.

Appearance

Find an image online to represent your character, then write at least a paragraph describing what your character looks like. Refer to the race you chose for additional reference material.

Personality

Write a paragraph or more talking about how your character acts, what they like or don't like, and how they might respond to certain situations. Opinions, philosophies, religion, Arcana, and even race can play a huge role in shaping someone's personality.

Location

Where is your character now? Peruse the available on the forums; areas with lots of player activity will make it easier to find a partner.

Name

Each race should have a naming convention associated with it, but these are not required. Avoid having names that are offensive, overt puns, or names that contain numbers. Your forum account name should match one of that character's names; If a character has a title as their account name, they should also have a given name in their character sheet. You can change an account name here.

Arcana

Antarok is a setting steeped in magic. Consider beginning with a form of Arcana and tying your character concept to it, but know that some regions outlaw certain kinds of magic. For a full list of Arcana, see the Arcana List.

History

Now that you know where your character lives and who they are, write 2 or more paragraphs about who they were and where they have been. What kind of job do they have? Have they been through any conflict in their life worth mentioning? Were they initiated into Arcana; did they attend some manner of university? Did they have any friends? What were their family like to them? These are some of the questions you might ask about your own character.

Experience

Experience is primarily earned through writing stories. You will earn 1 XP per 150 words written solo and 1 XP per 100 words written collaboratively, until reaching 3,000 words in that story, as well as double that amount of XP in Account Experience (AXP) until reaching 1,000 AXP.

Once your story is submitted for review in the submissions forum, you will be able to use that experience immediately without having to wait for the review. See Thread Types for further information.

Skills & Merits

Skills determine what your character is capable of beyond their inherent physiology. See Skill List for a list of Skills. Arcana is the term for magical skills, which have their own list here. Most forms of Personal Arcana require purchasing a Minor Merit with XP to obtain, while Theorems and Practices do not. See Skills for further information.

• Each Race begins with a Free Racial Merit in a Duty or Arcana. This does not count towards the cost of your Merits when used.
• Player characters begin with 250 experience that may be allocated freely towards Skills, Arcana, and Minor Merits.
• 'Starting Package' XP is spent by subtracting an amount from the 'Skill Ledger' located on your Character Sheet.
• Add any Account XP from Rebirth if it applies.
• Purchased Minor Merits cost 0 XP, plus 25 XP for each Minor Merit purchased before it.
• Merited skills may begin play at 0 XP - Novice.

Skill Values

00/250 XP: Novice Skill

25/250 XP: Apprentice Skill

50/250 XP: Journeyman Skill

100/250 XP: Expert

250/250 XP: Master Skill

Compounding Merit Costs

00 XP: Racial Minor Merit

00 XP: First Minor Merit

25 XP: Second Minor Merit

50 XP: Third Minor Merit

75 XP: Fourth Minor Merit

100 XP: Fifth Minor Merit

Examples: Purchasing an Apprentice skill would be represented as having a 25 out of 250 XP in that skill, and you would be left with 225 XP. Your first Minor Merit is free, your second costs 25 XP, and your third costs 50 XP. If you wish to begin with an Arcana, then you will need to expend a Minor Merit worth of XP to buy it. This means any character can usually - if not Reborn - only afford up to 5 forms of Arcana aside from Theorems and, if a Ghost, Syphon.

Possessions

Non-mundane items, hired NPCs, and land are purchased with Seasonal Points. Landed titles and businesses are handled through the Duty system. Characters may buy reasonable amounts of anything that makes sense for their Living Standard.

Please log your SP expenditures and acquisitions once you begin to utilize them on your CS.

Inventory

• All characters begin with any number of mundane outfits and travel supplies that make sense for them.
• All characters begin with free toolkits for any skill or arcana they have experience in.
• All characters eat for free if the meal makes sense for their standard of living.

Housing

• All characters begin with a home based on their Living Standard. This does not need to be written up until referenced in play.
• If you wish to run a business or possess a landed title, have a look at the Duty system.

Seasonal Points are earned through wages or play and spent on the Price List.

NPCs

There are rules surrounding NPCs; by default, all characters get both a companion (CNPC) and an antagonist (ANPC) without having to spend any XP or Seasonal Points to do so. These do not need to be written right away, and can always be written up later - or never! See NPCs.

Rebirth: You may apply to use some of your earned XP from other similar Forum RPGs. See Rebirth.

Playing

Pick a roleplay forum matching where your character should be. Read any supplied codex or relevant material in the Out-Of-Character portion of that forum. A calendar may also be provided with plot prompts for the area. Once you have decided to play there, fill out a post in the character registry for that area, and consider messaging other characters from that topic via the forums with your ideas.

Any in-character post to any thread requires a minimum of 150 words to be a valid post. It's encouraged that authors write in third person. First and second person are discouraged but allowed.

Thread Types

Prefixed to a thread may be one or more tags. These prefix tags indicate what type of thread it is, and the author should do their best to properly tag their threads. See Thread Types.

Terms of Use

Terms of Use: Several philosophies govern how Antarok is moderated, and how its players should interact. Please give them a read, for the good and joy in all of us. Note: You may be quizzed on these. See Terms of Use.

Antarok Handbook

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