Welcome to Project:Gorgon!

This "guide" attempts to answer some of the more commonly asked questions of new players and impart some perspective on concepts somewhat unique to P:G

[Non-Spoilery Part]

Whether you are new to the game or haven't purchased yet, please bear in mind that the game is designed to be explored and discovered, so though everything you need to know is in the game somewhere, some of it may not be forced upon you (and that is part of the appeal to this style of game)

There will be certain things you will NEED to know (warnings before boss encounters come to mind,) and that information will be clearly presented to you before you can get into real trouble, but experience in a lot of the games you may have played may lead you into some... let's say: "bad habits" in terms of P:G

Because the information you will need to know will be available to you (generally) in game, remember that discovering it is part of the fun, so try to develop the habit of talking (and listening) to NPCs you encounter, which will help a lot in terms of figuring out what you are supposed to be doing

Explore the area and click on all the stuff... It seems fairly common for new players to ask questions from Anagoge Island (the starter area) where the answer could generally be summed up as: Talk to the NPCs and look around! Everything you need is right there, even though P:G isn't the kind of game that holds your hand and guides you through each problem you face, the answers you need are all around you somewhere if you look

Another benefit of exploration is that many of the skills (combat and otherwise) you can learn and improve upon have to be "unlocked" by speaking with and often making friends with various NPCs, either by solving a problem they have, performing favor quests for them or giving them gifts they appreciate (there are some specific examples of this related to Anagoge Island down in the [Spoilery] section)

So, look around! Take it all in! Talk to people and kill stuff to see what you can loot from different types of mobs...

Some folks may consider a certain game feature to be "spoilery," but when you right click on an item you can choose "More Info" and learn a ton about what makes it useful and/or valuable

Another common question from new players is "What combat skills should I train?" and the best answer for that is "What type of combat interests you the most?" There is no right or wrong answers unless you train up a skill that you don't enjoy playing

Please keep in mind that we are still in a long beta process, in which skills are actively being added and adjusted regularly, so, for example, if you really want to play with pet-based combat like Animal-handling or Necromancy, ignore those that might say those "suck" because pet AI isn't where it should be yet... If its in the game now it WILL be adjusted until its just as fun and rewarding as any other skill, and as a play-tester you can help with that process by submitting bugs and suggestions

Additionally, in case you haven't already figured it out, P:G doesn't lock you into playing a preset class, and you will likely pick up several different types of combat skills (or all of them if you want) that you can use according to your mood and what you are trying to do... and there are some really cool skills that you simply cannot "unlock" until you've gotten pretty far into the game using other skills

Some skills may require you to talk to an NPC in a high level area or even kill a boss in a dungeon... That doesn't necessarily mean you should get a group of high-level players to carry you there... Maybe you should wait until you are more appropriately leveled up

There are many more questions you may have in the game, and if you just can't find an answer, please feel free to ask in chat, but remember that there are specific channels in chat (/Nearby /Help /Trade... etc... plus the chat is tabbed and configurable) so your questions don't get lost in Global (World) Chat

The only other Non-Spoilery thing everyone should know going in is that as soon as you can find them, buy a skinning knife (for skinning animals,) a butcher knife (for butchering kills,) an autopsy kit (to learn more about specific anatomies,) and most importantly: a SHOVEL

When you kill a mob with these tools in your inventory, you will be given options in the loot window to use them which will give you appropriate XP in their related skills... Start this early for maximum effect!

That being said, please remember that this is an open world game, so when killing landscape mobs (not in a dungeon environment) you should BURY DEAD THINGS so they respawn faster so other players can stay busy as well... in a dungeon, however, its common for players to leave mobs unburied so they stay dead longer, so if you are in a busy dungeon feel free to ask in /Nearby if you're not sure what the polite thing to do is or use /Tell to ask a player that looks like they are there to farm a specific area

Ok, for many of you, hopefully the above will be enough to get you started down the fun-filled path of exploring the world of P:G... so lets move on to the [Spoilery Part] and answer some more specific questions:

There are many important things you probably should do before leaving Anagoge Island, and while most of them are covered in the "Things to do" tab of your quest guide, I'll try to cover most of the stuff that might trip up a brand new player that doesn't want to miss anything

Note: This is mostly all discoverable by exploring and reading everything on the island, but there's a couple of things that come up fairly frequently in Global Chat that might be good to cover in more detail in no certain order

First off, you have a "Things to do" tab in your quest guide... hehe... You also have a Notepad there which will be helpful if you need to write something down in game, like maybe numbers found on certain pillars to finish a certain quest or something

Please Note: This guide is no substitute for the information on the Wiki (Accessible in game by typing /wiki whatever in chat) (Which I put down here in case somebody considers that a Spoiler)
This is also not a step-by-step walkthrough... more like a rambling list of things you might have missed if you weren't paying attention

While exploring, discovering, talking to and killing everything you can, you might find that you have contracted Lice (a minor debuff you can get from messing around with "sickly" animals) or the "Big-Head" curse (you know how you got that lol) and want to get rid of it... Never Fear!

There is an NPC named Lawara on the island that is meant to introduce you to a few game concepts (Favor, Storage and Hangouts among them) and you can do a one-hour offline Hangout with her to gain a Lice Comb that will cure your infestation (and you can get Lice again later, so save it until you find another way to cure that sort of problem) Other players will also cure that for you if you ask nicely, but best to get the comb and ignore it until then

You can set up the Hangout and then leave the island and you will still get the comb after you've been offline for an hour, no matter where in the world you log out... Also, anything you store in Lawara's storage chest will not be accessible remotely (unlike some other storage options you will discover later on) so try not to leave anything important in there

The "Big-Head" curse is actually not a completely bad thing, as it can actually be helpful for those that want to fight with Psychology or Mentalism, but you also can't wear a normal-sized helmet anymore and you look like a weirdo, so you can remove the curse by getting a few people together (try using /Nearby Chat) and defeating the boss that gave you the curse... All Bosses in this game will give you some sort of curse if you die while fighting them, so this is just your introduction to that concept (most are much worse)

Skills you should start progressing on Anagoge Island: Sword, Unarmed, Archery, Psychology, Alchemy, Mycology (possibly Myconic,) Gourmand, Foraging, Pathology, Teleportation, Cartography, Fishing, Lore and probably even Dying if you do it right... You can check your progress by clicking the little wand icon on the right bar before you leave, and then choose how to do so**

Before you leave, however, there are some things you may wish to take with you... and while you may have your inventory stuffed with what other games have made you think are important (armor and weapons) at this point, the things you really want are more of the mundane variety, specifically: Strange Dirt, Empty Bottles and various Animal Parts (including Femurs,) Mushrooms and Spiderwebs

While you *can* sell all that gear as soon as you find a vendor (there are none on the island) you will soon find that giving gifts to earn favor is much more important early on, which is why a lot of that non-gear loot is more important: You can gift it to vendors to improve their opinion of you and thus increase how much they will offer you in trade per piece as well as the total limit they will be able to trade with you per week

Increased favor also affects the storage available on NPCs that offer it and whether or not they will offer certain training or other options (you'll see what I mean... too much to get into for this guide)

Hint: You'll definitely want to bring back as many swords as you can carry, in addition to the above listed items

Gear is very important, and you may notice that you have two basic types of armor among your loot: Moldy and Comfortable... Moldy (leather) armor is generally green in color while Comfortable armor is red and made of metal... You will soon find out how the armor type you wear affects your Combat Refresh, but you can get the basics here: http://wiki.projectgorgon.com/wiki/Combat_Refresh

Gear has rarity levels that increase its value, but that rarity comes with more and better Treasure Effects (the bonuses to skills and types of damage) so you want to look at the skills you are actually using and wear gear that improves those, so its possible that a lower level "blue" item could be better for you than a "yellow" item with no bonuses to skills you are using

**Now, once you are ready, its time to choose your exit strategy: You can leave via teleportation or by finding the exit in the Spider Dungeon below the Anagoge Records Facility (which is a possible way back later on)

If neither of these options rings any bells for you, there's probably more you should do before leaving the island

The Teleportation option will leave you on the Serbule Map near an NPC that gives you a couple of main story quests and some background, while the Spider Dungeon exit leaves you in Serbule Hills, the zone south of Serbule, so you'll have to find your way back to Serbule Zone and that NPC to get those quests (Hint: The Spider Dungeon is north-center of that map and the portal to Serbule Zone is in the north-west corner, above the Inn)

You can always get back to Anagoge Island via the boat located north of Serbule Keep or by locating the hidden switch near the boulder blocking the path back into the Spider Dungeon (Hint: Hold down ALT and look around)

That should be enough info to get you started fairly comfortably without giving you a step-by-step walkthrough of the game... What? I can't play your game and push all the buttons for you!

Go explore and discover and have fun! Take your time and enjoy the journey in Project:Gorgon, adventurer!