New to Sindome
How Prepared Can (Should) I Be?

I recently discovered Sindome while traveling down a strange rabbit-research hole of MUDs/MUSHs/MOOs and I am astounded by this place. It rather looks too good to be true. But I made an account anyway, thinking to get my feet wet.

Quick disclaimer: I've never played a MUD/MUSH/MOO before, but I do have a great love for Neuromancer and experience with tabletop roleplaying.

I suppose the purpose of this post, besides introducing myself to the community, is to ask for any sort of advice for complete beginners that may be beyond the scope of the Newbie Guide or that may have cropped up after the creation of said guide. I haven't formally started the character creation process yet--man, I've got a glut of ideas--I'm sure I'll have more questions after I do. I would, generally, like to avoid investing a lot of time in creating a character who is destined to die quickly. Should I bank on my first character serving predominantly as a learning experience and less as a proper character? Or are there certain steps I can take to get a modicum of longevity in my first character? I'm open to all advice.

And thanks. I realize you needn't necessarily chime in here. I appreciate it.

To answer your question about your first character...

Should I bank on my first character serving predominantly as a learning experience and less as a proper character? Or are there certain steps I can take to get a modicum of longevity in my first character?

Just a note first: Your character doesn't need to be perfect the first time and you can always change your character's path whenever you want. There's plenty of time to develop your character.

e.g I started my first character out with no ideas/plans both personality-wise and stat/skill-wise. However, as I learned about the game, I discovered the things I wanted to do with my character and made plans naturally.

Don't worry too much about the mechanics such as, stats and skills in the beginning. The more you learn about the game, the more you'll understand what you want.

Although, looking at the archetypes do help slightly. (http://www.sindome.org/about/archetypes/)

Anyways, to get to the question you asked:

In my opinion, you should make your first character　worth playing (but no need to invest too much time) and learn along with it. Maybe you won't like your character after getting a 'feel' of the environment in game. Then, you can easily let go of your character. However, if you make your first character too carelessly and get attached to him (and decide to keep him), you might regret a few things or so...

However, ultimately, it's up to you.

This is just my opinion.

Tip: Don't give up your character too easily when things don't turn out the way you want it!

You will also fail to experience the 98% of the game that lies light years off the well beaten and throughly explored path.

The more risk you have the stomach for, the more the game will provide you with those opportunities. And the more it will punish you severely when you take even the slightest misstep. The theme is Cyberpunk. Death is always an option. And if you're lucky, your death will merely be pointless, and stupid, and you'll be spared the heart-wrenching irony and bitterness that will jade you forever. That is if your lucky.

The slow crawl to the top is a grind. Be prepared to spend years developing your character if you really want to see everything that can be seen. Literal years. And remember the only place to go from the top is down.

Finally, remember to enjoy yourself. If you're not having fun doing what your doing, try something else that's more fun. There's so many ways to go. Hope to see you in the game!

Right now I'm working my way through some of the wiki information that's marked as acceptable to read OOC, general knowledge and whatnot, and the global timeline. I have some of my own questions about the setting, primarily for the purpose of character generation, and I'd appreciate any feedback. Of course, I understand that some of these might elicit the "Find out IC" response and that's alright too. There's just a lot of material. And that's a good thing, really. But, for example, I made it from 2000 to the 2040's in the official timeline--great work, by the way--before I realized that, despite enjoying what I was reading, I wasn't absorbing all of it. But, again, density of lore is a positive thing.

Can anyone give me a highlight reel of the 21st century?

What are the current super powers? Where does Withmore stand in relations to those powers? Is it like a cyberpunk Switzerland in the Super Mojave Desert?

What is the general state of the former USA? I'm considering having my character be from Neo York--is there any information about the place?

What is the current status of investment banks and the Wall Street players? I saw a great deal about mega corporations, but none of the ones I looked at were of that ilk.

Does Artificial Intelligence (openly) exist in the setting?

What is the extent of bio-engineering in the setting beyond clones? I want to know where the line is drawn for what's considered thematically appropriate and/or realistic in the context of Sindome.

And to that end, are there any "fantasy scifi" elements to the setting, like psychics or alien technology?

Do present-day drugs like cocaine exist in addition to the fictional drugs of Sindome?

What is food production like for the setting? Vertical farms? Vast underground mushroom farms? Vat-grown substances? Repurposed arthropods?

From what I've read, Withmore City doesn't use Matrix technology--what do Deck Jockeys do, then?

My apologies for all this trouble and my thanks to you guys.

As a brand-new player, ALL of that is in-character information you can have 'for free' - Your character can know it without actually finding the sources in-game.

That is, IF your character is one who WOULD know all this stuff.

Basically, anything which isn't on Lore or on Timeline is stuff you yourself can't know, without your character learning it via actual in-character means. This is how everyone experiences the game and develops their character. We get a lot of "My character would/should know <something>, will you tell it to me?", but that isn't the way the game goes.

We have a mantra: If you don't know something, then your character doesn't know it either.

(Note well: That is NOT to say that if you, the player, should happen to learn some in-character information which your character didn't experience theirself, that you can magically give the character the knowledge. That's metagaming. The only legit way for you, the player, to have IC knowledge which your character doesn't have is if you learn it on a character and that character dies and you roll a new character. If you learn it some other way, then someone leaked some shit to you, which is also metagaming.)

So, welcome, learn what you can, put your character into the world, and use your roleplaying skills to put him or her in the position to learn new stuff about the in-game world.