Character Creation

Every question the game asks while you build a character, in the order it asks them.

Creation is a conversation. The game asks one question at a time and waits for an answer, so nothing is hidden behind a menu you have to hunt for. Most of it is quick. Two decisions genuinely matter and are worth slowing down for: your race, which sets your starting statistics, and your background.

You can build a character in the browser at rogue-mud.com or in the game itself. The questions are nearly the same either way; the one difference worth knowing is that the browser creator offers one extra race.

Your name#

The first prompt asks for a name. Names may be between two and fifteen characters long and may contain only letters. There are no digits, and any apostrophe, hyphen or space you type is stripped out before the name is saved, so "Sha'ra" is stored as Shara. The name must also be free, and it is permanent once confirmed.

Before the game accepts it you are shown the naming policy and asked to type agree or quit. The policy is short and it is enforced: your name should be original and belong in a world of gods, oaths and consequence. Names taken from books, films, games, memes or real-world history are rejected, as are titles, jokes and plain dictionary words. Staff can require a change later if a name slips through.

You then confirm the name, and confirm that you are sixteen or older. If you answer no to the age question the connection ends.

Password and gender#

Next you set a password and type it a second time to confirm. It is not echoed back to the screen while you type.

Then the game asks whether your character is male or female. This affects pronouns and the wording of some descriptions. It also gates one race: dryads can only be female, and choosing dryad after answering male sends you back to the race prompt.

Email#

You are offered the chance to register an account by giving an email address. This is optional, and pressing Enter skips it. An account links your characters together and is required past level 10, so you can skip it now and set it up in game later with the account command.

Race#

The race menu lists the playable peoples with a one-line description each. You can type help <race> for a full write-up of any of them before committing, list to see the menu again, or just type the race name to choose it.

The twelve offered in game are human, elf, dwarf, gnome, goblin, halfling, fey, dryad, shade, pisca, jackile and scorpien. Catfolk exists and can be picked in the browser character creator, but does not appear on the in-game race menu. Race is permanent. It sets the statistics you start with, how well you see in the dark, your height and weight range, the racial abilities you can use, and the appearance options offered to you a few questions later.

Races has the full table of what each one brings.

Your statistics#

Once you have picked a race the game shows you the seven statistics you will start with: strength, agility, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charisma and luck, as labelled bars. There is no roll and no reroll. Every character of a race starts with the same numbers, chosen to fit that race: a dwarf is always the toughest and an elf always quick and learned.

The six statistics other than luck add up to 80 for every race, so no race is simply better than another; a race that leans hard into agility pays for it somewhere else. Luck is the one place races differ in total, which is why the whole row runs from 89 points for a shade or a scorpien to 98 for a halfling. Races has every race's numbers.

Type accept to keep them, or back to see the race menu again and choose another race.

Height and build#

You are then asked to choose a height and a build, each from five options running from very tall to very short and very heavy to very light. The exact figures are drawn from your race's range, so "tall" for a gnome and "tall" for a jackile are very different numbers. You confirm each choice before moving on.

Appearance#

Four short prompts describe what your character looks like: eye colour, hair, a distinguishing feature and an optional tattoo. Each offers a list of suggestions drawn from your race, and each accepts your own wording instead.

A dwarf's hair options include braided beards; a pisca's include a fin-like crest of translucent membrane; a shade's include hair like threads of smoke. The tattoo step lets you pick a colour from the full palette, and you can skip it if you would rather not have one.

Three more follow: a word for your shape, how old you look, and your skin, fur or scales. Shape and age come from a list; skin offers what is usual for your people and accepts your own wording.

You are then shown the description exactly as the game will print it when anyone looks at you, as one sentence: "A tall, lean ageless elf with blue eyes, black hair and moon-pale skin." Your height becomes a word, so nobody reads a figure off you. The distinguishing feature really is optional: skip it and none is added for you later. Saying no takes you back through the appearance questions.

Write what can be seen, as a short phrase. A color alone is enough for your eyes or hair. You can change all of it later with describe, and write the line a stranger reads first there too.

Background#

The last real choice is your background: the life your character led before the game begins. There are fourteen, and help <background> describes any of them in full.

Each background also grants a permanent +1 to one statistic, shown beside it on the menu.

Beyond that stat point, background is part of your character's story and shows on your score. It does not lock you out of anything.

Confirming#

Finally you are offered two options: proceed into the game, or start over. The second restarts at the height and build questions and runs through appearance and background again, rather than throwing away the whole character. Your name, race and statistics are kept.

What about a class#

You do not pick one during creation. Every new character enters the world as an Explorer, a starting path that runs from level 1 to level 10 and exists to teach you the game. Once you reach Explorer level 10 you choose the class you actually want and join its guild, and your trainer changes with you.

That is deliberate. Ten levels is long enough to learn how combat, gear and movement work before you commit to something permanent, and short enough that it does not become a chore. First Steps covers the route through it, and Classes covers what waits at the end.

What you start with#

You arrive aboard ship at the Aurin drydock, and are escorted up to the Explorer's Guild. You carry:

• A Tideglass Compass, which will point you toward any of a list of named destinations. It is soulbound and cannot be lost, dropped or stolen.
• A Grim Satchel, a trophy bag that quietly tallies every kill worth recording. Also soulbound and permanently worn.
• Between 57 and 156 silver.

Everything else you collect in the guild above the Training Grounds, and it is free. See First Steps.