Money and how to have it

Although the world of Frandum welcomes many different races in 15 kingdoms, coins tend to have a universal value, which is called the "goin". Thus, any coin you find in the world will have an equivalent in goins, and you will only have to handle goins, should they bear the face of a dwarven king or of an orcish chieftain.

Goins are displayed in your inventory, in a specific yellow mention at the end o the items you have in your pockets. Thus, you cannot handle your goins like other items, but you may use them to buy things, or to pay people around. You may also pile any goins you have to leave them on the ground. On the other hand, should you find any goins, you will have to pocket them to add them to your hoard.

By exploring the world, you will find out that goins are sometimes very useful, since most people will make you pay their services, whereas a small bribe may not prove an ungainly expense. There is also a bank in Tumulus (and in other major cities) where you will be able to deposit your goins on an account and access a personal vault in which to store your excedentary equipment. If you get rich enough you will also be able to purchase your own houses (plural intended) and fill them with pets and companions.

Armor, weapons, magic items

You will soon run into weapons that increase your damage and clothes or pieces of armour that increase your protection from physical damages. wield and wear them to see their effects on your score. Later on, you will encounter magic items that will provide new effects or additional, non-physical protections if you use them appropriately (wear them, wield them, hold them...).

Sample screenshot - Armours and inventory in a simple telnet and in the client

Enchanters exist in the world who will add magical properties to your armour and weapons if you provide them with a dead body. The enchantment will depend upon the kind of soul (orcs, elves, wolves or even bugs all have different effects: there are dozens of thems!), and the enchanter will ask you for a fee.

Food, torches and other useful things

Quickly enough, you will face the dangers of the wild, or you will encounter a not too peaceful being, and you will suffer some injuries. Your regen (type score) tells you how many health points you regain per minute, but the quickest way back to top shape is to find some food and eat (or drink) it. Don't hesitate to pick up all that looks edible (the default colour is pink), gather food on trees or bushes or buy food in shops: you will never know when you may need some restauration.

Night is rare in Frandum, given the presence of the world's seven suns, yet dark places are common in the world, and for this you will look for torches which you will be able to light and extinguish. Torches have a certain duration, and you should always be careful regarding how much time they will remain burning. If you are in the wild, the branches you gather from trees will provide a fair enough light source.

Whether you find a plant or a dead body, you will be able to gather things from it: simply try to gather a type of item (fruit, leaf, hair...) to add it to your inventory, or use plain gather to see the list of things you can get. Some of the things you gather will have direct usage: they can be food (fruits, grains), light sources (branches), or you can use them to build (any wooden thing) objects or tan (skins) powerful leather. Yet all of them will also be interesting potion ingredients: put three of them into a vial and brew it to make potions... provided you know any of the 70 recipes of the game!

Spells and spell points

You will very quickly encounter books, scrolls or people that will teach you some spells. Once you learn spells, they go into your grimoire. Yet to cast spells you need to have enough spell points, and enough experience. Among spells, a very important one you will quickly encounter is invoke. Combine it with runes you also find in spellbooks to create a whole set of things out of raw magic and thin air: invoke all kinds of metals, woods, stones, gemstones, fruits, torches or even armour and weapons as you encounter the runes.

When you fail to cast a spell, it fizzles, and you lose the spell points for its cost. Usually, spells require a certain amount of experience for you not to fizzle too much when you try to cast them. For the casting of spells, your focus is important, as well as your opponent's mental shield. The effect of your spells, though, depends on your spell power, be it their duration or their strength.

Spell points are awarded by the gods when you sacrifice something or a dead body to them. As such, they will be more generous to those who follow their religion than to unaligned players. Alignment is performed by finding the main temple of the deity you want to follow, praying to them and performing a small quest-like ceremonhy to prove your worth. You may also wait for your spell regen to automatically restore your spell points.

Sample screenshot - Start of a fight and a spell

Guilds and skills

You may learn skills by roaming the world: they are organized in a skills tree and will grow as you practice them, unless they are limited by a more generic skill. For instance, you will increase your haggle skill buy buying / selling items with shopkeepers, but it is limited by your knowledge, which increases when people give you information or when you read books. The skills' realm include adventuring (spotting things, swimming, survival skills), knowledge (haggling, brewing potions, medicine and lore), magic (how to use wands and scrolls, magic resistance and regeneration ...), crafting and combat (weapon skills, offensive skills like disarming, defensive skills like handling heavy armours, reducing pain and damage...).

You may also learn some skills in specific circumstances in the world, yet the best way to increase them quickly is to join a guild and rise through its levels. But remember that guilds often have enemies, and you will have to choose between competitive guilds.