Andron's Crypt
Like flies I tell you...
RiP oOPHYy
Damn, now I have lost count... its HoH way ahead...
::: Quick & Dirty :::
Available at: Allurist's Guilds (All)
Cost: 7,500 coins + quest.
*No levels for this power. Once only cost.*
Perception lets a vampire see what vamps have money and gives warning of hunters.
::: Detailed Description :::
Perception is obtained at the Allurist's Guilds (any of them), and is a
one time quest.
Perception performs two separate functions:
1) It gives early warning of all Vampire Hunters (humans with attitude). If you have Perception, when you would normally see a "white" Human in a nearby square, you will see them as green with a black background. This does *NOT* mean that they are "run down and available for destruction." It just means that they are a hunter. If you choose to enter the square with them, prepare to deal with them just like anyone else (i.e. chase them down and lose potentially hundreds of BP).
::: Quick & Dirty :::
Available at: Allurists Guilds
Cost:
Charisma 1: 1000 coins + have 3 vampires say " sent me".
Charisma 2: 3000 coins + have 6 vampires say " sent me".
Charisma 3: 5000 coins + have 9 vampires say " sent me".
::: Detailed Description :::
Charisma (3 Levels Available): A vampire with Charisma can get directions from humans more quickly, and discounts on purchases
(in pubs, 10%, 20% and 30%; in shops, 3%, 7% and 10% as level increases).
*QUESTING POWER*
This game can be a really enjoyable hobby or a sorry addiction. It can be boring or it can be a pleasant distraction. What it becomes to you is for you to decide. How you play, who you commune with when you play it, what you do with the whole thing is all in your hands and it can be a pretty great thing or a total fucking pain in the ass. The game is very flexible about what style of play you choose to apply to it, so find the way which brings you the most pleasure. I hope these texts have made it less of a mystery and more fun for you.
And with that, I shall bid you all happy hunting, a sweet adieu, and a fond good night. May the road rise to you...
I already touched on the whole groups and clans thing several times, most elaborately in the FTA FAQ, so I won't bother going into that much of the topic here. Suffice it to say that I don't think clans are worth it, most of the time, but that the relationships you build with fellow players is a great way to increase your enjoyment of the game. I wouldn't have this page up if it weren't for the Yahoo groups related to this game, so I certainly appreciate all the friends I've made as a result of those hideous group message boards. I even appreciate some of the enemies I've made.
Since I've kind of brushed on the topic of pire etiquette, I also want to mention a few habits that many players and myself happen to play by which are sort of a way of being a 'good little biter' in the game.
One such habit is to encourage others to play by not biting other vampires. This may seem odd, but personally I think it's a waste of AP. If I see another vampire, I don't want to waste an AP on biting them when I could be robbing them. Heh heh. In an RP way, it's also a bit rude to bite anyone besides your close friends. Of course, RP-wise, it's also a bit rude to pick people's pockets, so whatever.
With regard to certain places of the city, there are a couple special locations I haven't really mentioned in this series. The most notable is the Graveyard. You probably got a good idea of what it is by reading the FTA FAQ that is part of the Powers Texts. At least, you better have. If not, go read it now by clicking here.
Like I say in that document, be a decent pire and don't mess with other vamps while you're in the visibility of the Graveyard square. It's just disrespectful.
Another building type I never mentioned is what's called a 'Lair'. Raven Black made a special square for one of the games most well known and respected players recently and named it after her. Her square reads 'Devil Miyu`s Lair' (hey honey ^.^). He did this not just because he and she are friends, but because Ms. Miyu has donated over $100 beyond the costs of her own powers towards RB's server costs.
One thing I haven't figured out where to put is the Necromancers information. I thought it sort of belonged in the Shops page, as that's where you find them, but that page was pretty long as is, and 'Necros' are sort of a special feature of the Shops, not really an everyday part of them. Anyhow, the FTA files section had a good text on them and I essentially ripped it off to place it here, so here's that text:
- 1. What are necromancers?
- Necromancers let you buy one pint of blood for 25 coins.
- 2. Where can I find a necromancer?
- Shops in the city which sell potions (IE: Holy Water) will have a Necromancer. [note: some players have said that only potion/apothecary shops (i.e. those that sell HW only, not all-in-one shops) have resident necromancers. See #8.]
- 3. I found one, now what?
- You can buy up to 100 BP less than your highest BP level. (e.g. if you had 2500 BP and were the target of several dozen HW attacks, you could go to a shop that sells HW and buy back up to 2400).
- 3a. I went there but I didn't see one... why not?
- If you don't "qualify" for using a Necromancer, the option doesn't show up in the shop screen. [note: some players have said that only potion/apothecary shops (i.e. those that sell HW only, not all-in-one shops) have resident necromancers. See #8.]
- 4. What kind of damage can he repair?
- This works on all BP lost, not just what the HW took off, too. If you had only lost 800 to HW, but another 150 in scrolls of turning and say 8 more from bites. You could still buy back up to 2400.
Luckily, this works if you have paid BP for Stamina as well. If you just got Stamina 1, 2, and 3 (which includes a cost of 500+1000+1500 BP). You could go to a necromancer and buy 2900 of that back from him.
- 5. I had more BP than that... what's the deal?
- Once more, he will not ever heal you past 100 LESS than your maximum level.
- 6. Are there any other ways to get back my BP?
- You can still get 2 BP for each pub Blood (100 coins) you buy at a pub, so that is twice the cost of Necros, but is not restricted in any way.
There is also the more traditional way... drinking from more targets!
- 7. What about Discount shops? Are they cheaper?
- Alas, the Discount magic stores may be cheaper on the items, but are still the same cost for Necros. Too bad. Discount BP would kick ass.
- 8. How accurate is this information?
- There is still a bit of information that we do NOT know for certain about the operation of these individuals known as necromancers. If you have been damaged beyond 100 pints and can let us know (via the group) where our information is mistaken, we'll be happy to correct it!
Holy shit, it's the final page of this series! Congratulations! I know it's been a long, sometimes overly simple, sometimes too complicated but certainly informative journey, and you've been a real trooper. Now comes the last bit of 'odds and ends' information covering some things I haven't yet put in other sections. Sometimes I've left things out on purpose, some of it just doesn't fit in anywhere else. Whatever the reason, lets get to some of this stuff now.
Well here's the coolest shit. Getting the powers. And here's the best way to get all the powers as fast as possible: Donate $200 to RavenBlack and you will have them the next day. In fact, you'll be eligible to get a building of your own in the city. Your own lair.
Oh, you expected a little more detail than that, right? And maybe a little bit about how they work, what they do, etc. Yeah, ok, I can do that I suppose. I presume you've read this in the HTP, but here's the official listing of the powers and their effects from that:
- Celerity (3 Levels Available): the Vampire's action points normally recharge once every 30 minutes. Each level of Celerity reduces this by 5 minutes.
The guilds are where you get powers or are given instructions for a quest to attain them. The powers are discussed next in better detail, but for now, here is a list of which guilds carry what powers and for how much. We'll address the quirks of guild use after this. Note that little is known about Telepathy yet, but here we go.
| Empaths Guild: |
Thieves Guild: |
Surprise costs 20,000 coins
Tip Text
"If the owner of this item should find themselves
in proximity to a vampire, it might well be a lifesaver - a vampire splashed
with Holy Water will bleed profusely, which should give the lucky owner time to
escape."
This is the one and only true 'weapon' in the game so far. It is also the one item which requires you to have a minimum of 200 BP to use. This is to prevent a pire who hovers at some tiny BP from hounding a stronger player by repeatedly finding and attacking them with no regard for their own BP. It's a long story.
To use HW you must be in the same square as the vampire you wish to 'spray' with it, click the (you guessed it) More Commands link, select the target pire's name from the appropriate drop-down list and click the Spray button. Some players, myself included, call it giving a pire a bath or bathing them.
Tip Text
"While reading this scroll, the reader should concentrate
on a location. They will be safely transported to that location."
This one's pretty straightforward. You click More Commands (you better remember where the link is) and an option appears which says 'Use Scroll of Teleportation to go to...' with two little drop down lists for all the streets in order and a button to activate it. Next thing you know, you're in the middle of the intersection for the streets you selected. Again, you must have at least 50 BP to use this item. The end.
Tip Text
"This scroll should be read in a specific direction. Any undead
within a short distance in that direction will become confused and distracted,
briefly wandering aimlessly. Affected vampires may also find themselves somewhat
drained of power."
Ok, what that means is, you use the item by clicking More Commands and you will see an option to read a Scroll of Turning to the [DROP-DOWN-LIST], where the list is a list of each direction of an eight point compass: North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West and Northwest. I would click More Commands, select a direction from the SoTurn drop-down menu and then click the button next to it which says Turn. When I did so, all vampires in the given square would be processed by the game script as being hit with the scroll's effect, and if they didn't resist the effect by having the Stamina power (which is never going to resist 100% of the time), they would be bounced out of the square to a random one next to it and lose 10 BP.
WARNING: I'm going to be extremely careful in explaining the items as new players seem to have many many seemingly obvious and simple questions about them and how they work. If this page seems painfully simplified it is only because I have been painfully pestered with little, time-consuming questions about what seemed to be the most obvious of facts regarding items. The only thing which seems to garner more confusion and questions than the items are the guilds. That's understandable, but still: I get an alarming number of questions about items, so I'm going to elaborate on them in extremely simple terms and examples.
Since it's precisely relevant to this page I am reprinting the info from the Shops page which shows the item prices. There are just three items at the moment. The commonly used abbreviations are:
SoTurn = Scroll of Turning;
SoTele = Scroll of Teleportation;
HW = Holy Water.
Madeye Note There are more items available now.
And, here again are the cost and resell value of the items from and to the appropriate shops:
Standard prices:
Shops come in two types now: Magic shops, which sell the items you will learn about shortly, and Pawn shops, which will buy back items at a loss. First, I'll explain about something peculiar to both kinds. They move.
See, in the game concept, we run around a city which is something like the cities we all live in now in that no one believes vampires exist and no one thinks magic exists. For that reason, the shops and guilds must keep on the move to avoid the prying eyes and interference of the human population. It's like the whole Harry Potter witches idea, if that helps. There, but pretty secret to most the 'muggles', to borrow from the series terminology.
Here's an excerpt from a text in the FTA files section which tells you a little about the types of shops and what items they sell. I'll describe the items in more detail in the next section, but for now you just need to know there are just three items at the moment and their costs. The abbreviations meanings are:
SoTurn = Scroll Of Turning;
SoTele = Scroll of Teleportation;
HW = Holy Water.
Here is the info.
Ah, the key to the guilds, the barmen. Pubs are where you can buy drinks and gather information about the moving buildings like Magic and Pawn shops, and more importantly, the Guilds, where you buy your powers. A fellow player, Sasquatch, penned a useful bit about the barmen/pubs which I will use to help describe what you find at the bars.
Bartenders are a chatty lot. But instead of offering to light your cigarette or standing around cleaning filthy beer mugs, the bartenders of RavenBlack city collect all sorts of information. Unfortunately, it costs to get this information.
Drinks available (and their costs) at the RavenBlack City bars are:
- Beer: 1
- House Ale: 2
- House Wine: 5
- Brandy: 10
- Scotch: 15
- Vintage Wine: 40
- Blood Wine: 50
- Blood: 100
The more you spend on an individual drink, the higher the chance of getting useful (i.e. non "null" information) out of the barkeep. However, there is nothing at all to stop him from giving you "null" info 15 times in a row even if you buy Blood for each drink. Such are the chances we take with our (necrotic) livers.
If you can afford it (e.g. if you have already achieved one or more levels of Thievery), always buy the Blood. It costs more than anything else but it has the added bonus of adding two BP to your score. So even if you get no new information, at least it wasn't money completely wasted.
Both Blood and Blood Wine are valid drinks for the Celerity quest (see the Powers_Texts section for more details on that).
This following is a collection of "What the bartender says" and what it really means to you, the drunkard vampire. Remember that most of what you'll ever get from the bars is gibberish no matter how much your bar tab ends up being.
- Pssst. (Some Cool) Guild (#) is right next to (Alphabet Street) and (Number Street) today. I don't know how much longer it will be there, though.
- This is the only way to find the guilds, short of stumbling (drunk?) across them in your random travels. The guilds move frequently but sporadically. Please note that the barkeeps will usually only tell you about guilds that are personally useful to you, so this data will change from vampire to vampire. It also means that if you have all of your powers, you'll rarely see this one again.
- The closest shop to here is (Shop Name), right by (Alphabet Street) and (Number Street). I do wish those damn magic shops would stay still for a while.
- Congrats! Just keep in mind that this information changes rapidly as the Discount shops move every 24 hours and the non-Discount shops move every 12.
- I read this great book the other day. (complete with hyperlink)
- Did anyone ever tell you that RavenBlack wasn't trying to make a buck off of this game? Well, he is. And he's also trying to make a buck off of the book that he wrote. Follow the (safe) link to find out more about the book and even buy a copy. But be aware that the shopping cart doesn't accept RB City coins.
These three "null" responses generate the most questions from newbie drunks (I mean vampires!). They have absolutely no (proven) in-game uses, but here they are.
- Don't tell anyone you found a secret door - otherwise it isn't secret any more.
- Rumor has it that there is a "secret" way into overcrowded squares that appears from time to time. It's purported to be a few squares away and only appears randomly (i.e. it's never been proven). If you actually find one, get a screen shot and show us. If not, accept this one as urban myth.
- Hey, do you know what PBIANPF stands for? Someone spray-painted it on my door.
- PBIANPF is worthless as far as in-game knowledge goes. It's there because one of our beloved players had a politically incorrect thought (out loud) in range of our demented creator, RavenBlack. It means "Pat Buchannan Is A Nazi Pig F***er" (yeah, it really does).
- I've heard some guy named (Vampire Name) is one of the richest guys in town.
- At that precise moment, this vampire has more money than anyone else. Be aware that this doesn't mean he'll still have his bucks when you try to rob from him. Oh yeah, and since it counts what's in his bank account, it might not be worth trying it anyhow.
<SNIP>
--
Sas the drunkard
with lots of help from the lushes of FTA
and especially to SV Countess "My liver's deader than your liver"
Boo
As a note on the side, the PBIANPF really does mean Pat Buchannan Is A Nazi Pig-Fucker. I'm absolutely certain because I'm the one who got RavenBlack to put it in the game for me. That's really a great description of what the Pubs do and are for and all that. Good places to rob, too. Let's get on with it then.
There are nine transit stations spaced equally throughout the city. On Mongoose where it crosses 25th, 50th and 75th, where Zelkova crosses 25th, 50th and 75th, and where Malachite crosses 25th, 50th and 75th. As a quick reference I have an ASCII (plain-text) map on the main A~C pages which makes the locations of the stations easier to recognize and correlate. Here's that text.
===============================================
ASCII Stations Map. Version 2.3 = JMOC 714
===============================================
Banks are addressed briefly in the FAQ, which is recommended reading later, so you will see this info repeated, but it's here none the less.
The banks are your best friends. They hold your money safely away from the prying hands of thieves, they work all over the place in cooperation, and they don't lose your money like RL banks. You save your money here to buy powers. There are 200 banks sprinkled generously throughout the city.
Yes, if you deposit money in one location, your money will be accessible from another location. It's just like a real bank in that aspect. The good thing is, it is in no other way like a real bank. It won't lose your deposits, charge you fees, or any number of bad things.
Well, hopefully you've read the How To Play that is on the game server and you already have some idea of how the city is laid out. I'll reprint the text here for you so we have a base to start with and then elaborate on that to give you a more thorough understanding of the details.
The city has 100 streets crossed by 100 streets; the streets in one direction are numbered, those in the other are named in near-alphabetical order; the first fifty are alphabetical trees and animals, the second half are alphabetical minerals and malaise. Navigation is, therefore, mostly quite easy. NOTE! They are not in alphabetical order, they are in two sets from A-Z, one in the west half, one in the east. As a vampire, you stalk the humans on the streets. If there are many vampires gathered within a single square, no more can move there until it's cleared out. Streets are indicated by grey squares, with signs at the intersections. Black squares between streets indicate blocks of buildings, which you can pass through in the alleyways. Blue squares indicate impassable regions - either they are overcrowded, on the edge of the city, or some other reason.
Many people seem to be a bit confused early on about how the Action Points function based on various criteria. Because of that, I think it needs enough clarification to warrant a page of its own.
Action Points, which I and other players/groups simply call AP, are pretty basic things. You move, it uses an AP. You bite, it uses an AP. As this is addressed pretty well in the How To Play that RavenBlack wrote for the game, I'll reprint that here:
You have a maximum of 50 Action Points (fewer if you have less than 100 blood, plus one at 200 blood and at every doubling thereafter). They recharge at the rate of one every half hour. Actions can currently be used to move to adjacent city squares (with the 'Move Here' links), to drink the blood of victims in the same square as you, to speak, use powers, use location-based features, or use objects. If you are out of action points, you cannot act until you have rested (wait half an hour).
So you have this vampire. Let's log in and go check it out. Get to the game page and log in, then click the link in the upper right of your screen that says My Vampire and take a look.
In the little white-bordered box you'll see a fairly empty looking screen, most likely. Your number of BP, your list of Powers, your Money, your listing of Possessions: all of which probably have a small or null amount in them. That's ok, we'll be doing our best to change that soon enough.
Then there's your lineage info: your childer, your sire, your bloodline. While this stuff isn't really important, per se, and doesn't effect what you are able to do within the game, it's something of a pride point for some players to have a long and strong blood lineage.
Many players get to their first city view, click around a bit and say to themselves 'what the hell is the point of this?' Usually, they proceed then to check the How To Play, then the FAQ, maybe the News. Still, at first the game seems kind of pointless. So I click around, getting blood and... what? So I'm a vampire? So what does that do?
Really, the intended 'point' isn't much more than that. Drink blood, be a pseudo-vampire and there you go. Of course, more than your BP becomes the point, if you want, when you decide to get powers or contact other players or whatever. In fact, massive numbers of people belong to dozens of groups out there dedicated solely to this game and it's details. You'd be shocked if you knew the amount of time some of us devote to clans or message boards that do no more than focus on this game.
My intent with these texts is to offer the brand-spanking-new player a bit of assistance in understanding the game and, hopefully, encourage their playing and interest in the game and its related communities.
If you find this page as a new player, a 'fledgling pire', I hope it serves its purpose as an easy and useful introduction to the game. Also, I hope you'll understand that the views and tips I express here are strictly based on my opinion and experience. The information itself I do my best to ensure as accurate and up to date, but take no offense to being corrected for issues of technical detail or being offered suggestions regarding game playing perspectives.
Like I said in the introduction, this is by no means an ideal way for every player. Some may decide only to get a few powers they think useful. Some may decide that, for whatever reason, they don't need certain powers, but still want the majority. The idea is that you see the logic to the ordering, the sequence being a relative one to the value you place upon a given power.
If you think getting Stamina 3 isn't as important as Celerity 3, fine. If you happen to pick up all three levels of Shadow while you get the three levels of Thievery out of convenience, great idea. Think through the path you want to take and don't be wary of changing your mind. I've had many pires in my time and not all of them progressed as I show above. Some were bred to gather specific Guild info, then passed along. Some were just made to be 'sold' and
Stamina 2 represents a huge chunk of BP to lose, so I hope you can see the importance of both Suction and donations. At this point I actually would say donate to get Stamina 2 and 3 at the same time (just to simplify). Since you've already gotten all the other level-based powers to level 2 (or better), you can now get not only level 2 Stamina, but also level 3 via donation. This is a nice avoidance of the loss of not just BP, but also all those little +1 Max-AP bonuses you've enjoyed by doubling your BP count thus far.
Celerity 3 becomes the last important power to get, if you went ahead and donated for Stamina 3 as mentioned above, and is definitely a long and usually difficult quest. With any luck, by the time you can get to this power, you can afford a few SoTel to help you if you really need them. And once complete, even if you didn't donate for Stamina 3, the speed increase to AP gain is really useful.
Stamina 1 is probably the power I cringed at the hardest when I got it and is probably the power type with the largest overall sting. That massive drop in your hard-won BP count is a blow to the ego and really takes time to rebuild. This is where I mention donating again.
Because of the cost in BP for this power, and its progressive levels, I suggest you just make another donation and ask RB to make your next power this one. And if possible, go ahead and get Stamina 2 now as well. It only makes things easier. This lets you save those BP for some other power and gives you all those proud, warm fuzzies for being a decent vampire. Eh, decent human, that is.
Celerity 2 is another questing power, so you shouldn't be getting too bored with the non-quest powers being mixed in with the quest ones, and will once again satiate the '-play- -MORE-!' monster when it kicks in. And while you're at it, you can hopefully have pubs within reasonable distances of one another so you can be part-time-thieving your way from one quest point to the next and making a little bank. Not a terribly costly power, either, to be honest.
Shadows 2 and 3 are thrown in here only because you might as well take a little breather from high-ticket shopping and the somewhat long quest prior to this. I suppose the drop into shadows in 24 hours thing is kind of neat in coupling with level 2 Celerity, as by the time you get the last two levels of Shadows, you can log out, take a day or three to actually not use your computer for a change, maybe even read, and then come back to a fully charged max-AP level and a hardly nibbled pire. Besides, after the next power, you'll want all your other leveled powers already at level 2.
Suction, while a seemingly hefty cost to the new pire, is a rather important power to get early in the game, as it can also be considered a power which pays you back in the long run. Adding an extra pint each time you bite only lessens the time it takes for you to gain the needed cost of other powers in the only other currency of the game: Blood Points (BP). Besides, after running about to TG2 and then 3 only to click and get a power with no fanfare, the Suction quest is really rather entertaining.
Second-sight comes first because you only get the power by donating and I wholly advocate people support a game they play so much that they read any text of this nature. Besides, you kill the pop-up advertisements and shit, are not going to be setting off some script issues by accident and can get what is arguably the most difficult power to attain, and next on the list, as your one other power for donating.
Thievery. The power which pays for all other things. Thievery one is, by the design and nature of the game, the most difficult power to get. As a fledgling pire you have but two ways to receive the funds needed to buy this power: biting humans and in-game coin gifts. If you are not in a clan or in contact with a decent sire or a friend who also plays and has a bit in the bank, the second option is out. And it takes forever to get the coin needed to pay for Thievery 1 just by human corpse-molesting.
Alright, now I'm sure many people will have objections to my ordering, but like I said: This is my personal view. I'm open to hear arguments for the reordering of this listing, just contact me using email me.
I'm sure some of you have taken note of the lack of a given power as well. Neutrality. This is because I find the attainment of the other powers more interesting and entertaining, and because Neutrality, in my view, does one thing more often than all the other things it does: Reduces my thieving by half! I love thieving, so fuck Neutrality. And yes, I've been 'zeroed', so I can see why others might want it. I just can't stand to see what could have been a 6,000+ coin score get halved for the off chance that I might one day get splashed with holy water. Now for the why and such.
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