Soooo, you want to play Scourge of Time? You don't have the slightest clue what to do? Well
you are quite in luck this day, indeed. For the Immortal formerly known as Cecil is about
to lay down the knowledge on all that read this atom bomb of information and advice. So lie
back, make some popcorn, pour a cold beverage, and prepare to be learn-ed by a semi-professional.

The first thing you're going to have to do to get yourself ready to play SOT is get yourself a MUD client.
I personally recommend Gmud or Zmud. Gmud is completely free and has pretty much everything you will need
to mud well: triggers, macros, aliases, they are all there and easy to use. Just Google 'gmud' and you will
easily find the download, it's small and nice. Gmud is nice but it just doesn't stand up to Zmud which has
everything Gmud does but better. However, Zmud does cost money to get so that's a real downer unless you're
really planning on getting your money's worth from it. Download the latest version of Zmud from zuggsoft.com,
or explore the net a bit and find an earlier version of Zmud that is freeware now. If you're old school or too
lazy to download a good MUD client then just open up telnet, your computer comes with that one.

Good, now that we all have some kind of client lets get ready to connect. In whatever client you have put
SOT's address in where it says to, Jhoira.kyndig.com for those that can't remember. After you've got the address
insert the port in the appropriate spot, port 7474 if you don't have it handy. After you have them both in, make
a connection and see the open screen if everything was input correctly. Once your are at the welcome screen you
are free to either login one of your existing characters if you have one or start a new one from scratch if you don't
currently have a character on SOT. Regardless if you have one or not the first set is the same for all, insert your
character's name. If you're making a new character then the mud will ask you if the name you put in was the correct
name you wish to go by. Simply reply with a Y or N and move on to the next step. If you hit N then you can
try another name and repeat the process again, and if you try to either pick a name of a current player that exists
or just a plain ole' illegal name you will be asked to give another name. After you give the mud the Y it is looking
for, you will be asked to give a password for your character. Passwords must be at least five characters long and it
is highly recommended to use both letters and numbers in your password as it makes it harder to hack, although we have
never had a problem with that sort of thing here but it never hurts to be cautious. Type your password choice once, then
once more when prompted to do so. After retyping your password you are asked to give the MUD an email address, this
address is used in case you somehow lose your password. If you do lose the password then simply ask an imm for a new
password and they will reset it and email the new one to you.

Now that we got all that out of the way we start to get into the good stuff. After you insert your email address
you find yourself at the race selection screen. Make your selection from the list or type 'Help [Race name]' to get
some information about the race in question. The help file tells you about the race and what classes best fits the
race in question. Be warned that after you select your race you are stuck with that race unless you recreate, so
choose the race you truly want now. After picking your race insert the sex of your character, Male or Female are the
only choices so no sexless fairies fluttering around. Next you select your class from the list: Mage, Cleric, Thief,
and Warrior are your choices. Like your race selection you don't have another chance to change your choice once you
progress from this screen so make your pick count. After selecting your race and class you come to the time to pick
your alignment. Worry not about making the wrong selection here, your alignment changes ingame as you kill evil and
good aligned mobs. Once you make your alignment selection you can now select your hometown. Currently we have only
two hometowns available but many more are in the works. It is probably wise to choose Midgaard as your hometown to
start rather then Gimpville as Midgaard is a more familiar hometown to players new to SOT. You can change your hometown
at a later time in the mud so you can change your choice if you feel you want a different one.

After choosing a hometown we get to where the real work beings, the Customization screen. Choose Yes or No to customize
the skills and spells your character will receive. You don't have to customize your character but it is recommended
if you want to choose exactly what your character will receive. If you are going to choose to skip the customization
process then make sure at least that your creation points are 40 or lower because anything higher then 40 will increase
your Experience per Level which is bad. If you choose No then skip the next paragraph, if you are customizing then
read on.

After typing Yes you find yourself at the character customization screen, don't let all the things that scroll up
on the screen confuse you, It really isn't all that hard to understand it all. The top list that pops up are
all the spell groups you can gain, if you choose mage or cleric you will have a lot of things in this list and if you
choose thief or warrior you will have only a few. The list directly below the group list is the skill list.
These are all the individual skills you can gain, warriors and thieves have a lot in this list while mages and clerics
have much less. Below the two big lists is some information you need to know when you start adding groups and skills.
Your current Creation Points are listed directly below the skills list, you want to make sure that when you are done
adding skills and spells that this number is 40 or below. If it is over 40 then you should probably use the drop
command and drop something so you can get the number 40 or below. 40 is the optimum number.  Less than 40 will not
help you.  Just try not to go over 40.  Below your creation points you find what your experience per level 
would be if you were done adding right now. Your Experience per level will not change during customization unless 
you go over 40 creation points which I have already told you was unwise anyway. Below your ETL you find a list of 
choices you can make, hitting enter will show you a bigger list of choices. Now you can start adding the groups 
and skills you feel you need, if you're not sure what a particular skill or spell does simply type 'Help [skill/spell 
name]' to get the ingame help file for the skill/spell. Use the ADD command to add skills/spells and the DROP 
command if you want to eliminate something you have already added. When you are finished adding and ready to 
move on simply type DONE and you will be finished with the customization menu.

Now we come to the weapon selection screen. Here you choose from a list of weapons you currently have available to
use. Your choice will be one of the following; axe, dagger, flail, mace, polearm, spear, sword, whip. There are other
weapon types but those are the only ones you can choose from at this menu. The weapon you choose here will automatically
be practiced for you to 40% while the weapons you didn't select will stay at the default 1%. But all can be practiced
to 75% when you finally get into the game. After selecting your weapon and hitting enter you come to the Message of
the Day (MOTD), here you will usually be informed of any major changes or areas that have been added in recently. You see
this message every time you log on, hit enter to pass the message.

Now that you have passed by the MOTD you find yourself in the land of Jhoira and are now ready to
begin your adventure and your quest to become one of the greats. Like me, Cecil, your wonderful tour guide through
the creation process here at SOT. May you enjoy your time spent here as much as I have over the years, and good
luck on your journey!