Getting Started

When you select the "Play Now" button at the Skotos website you'll see the Grendel's Revenge client pop up for just a moment, but then you'll be redirected to the character creation monster. This is where you define the monster that will be your alter ego in the world of Uthgol.

Creating a Character

Character creation will take you through a number of steps which allow you to customize the character that you'll be playing within Grendel's Revenge. There are no right or wrong answers in this process. Simply choose those options which interest and excite you the most.

Throughout the process, be sure to click on informational hyperlinks when trying to make decisions, as they'll provide additional help in the decision-making process.

You can also back up at any time by clicking the appropriate hyperlink to the left.

1. Choose Your Caste

Caste simply refers to the large grouping of monsters which you will choose to belong to. There are three castes, each of which contain four types of social monsters and one wandering monster. They are:

• Chimera – Beasts of the wilds.
  • Social Races include: Gryphons, Phoenixes, Sphinxes, Wyverns
  • Wandering Monster Types begin as: Scarabs
• Humanoids – Underground-dwelling monsters.
  • Social Races include: Minotaurs, Ogres, Orcs, Trolls
  • Wandering Monster Types begin as: Kobolds
• Undead – Creatures from beyond the grave.
  • Social Race include: Ghouls, Liches, Mummies, Vampires
  • Wandering Monster Types begin as: Spirits

2. Choose Your Monster Type

Monster Type is either "Social Monster" or "Wandering Monster". This refers, most generally, to your position within the world of Uthgol.

Select "Social Monster" if you want to interact with other monsters in a friendly way, build lairs, form clans, and lead or by led by others. You'll play a monster from a single race and slowly rise in position as your character matures.

Select "Wandering Monster" if you want to slay, loot, burn, and destroy without worrying about social or roleplaying niceties. You'll begin as a fairly weak monster race, but will be able to continuously incarnate as more powerful monsters as you gain in skill and experience.

3. Choose Your Monster Race

For social monsters, each castes has four different races to choose from. Each of these races receives its own special ability. Some have role restrictions, while others receive specific bonuses or penalties. Each race starts with different base attributes as well. Click on the "More Info" links to see pictures of the various races and read descriptions about them.

Wandering monsters automatically start off as a beginning wandering monster race. They'll have the option to incarnate into new races, if they desire, as the game progresses.

4. Choose Your Role

There are five broad categories of roles in Grendel's Revenge, which define your monster's general occupation within the game. They are: builder, leader, magician, shaman, and warrior. Social monsters may choose between any of these five roles (though some castes and some races have restrictions). Wandering monsters must be either magicians or warriors.

• Builders construct a clan's lair. Some are also experienced with mining and building traps.
• Leaders form and lead clans. They can command grunts to guard and patrol and also increase the morale of minions and grunts in battle.
• Magicians have magical powers. They vary greatly dependent upon the special abilities selected.
• Shamans heal the wounded. They also are able to assist monsters in other ways, making their lives more pleasant.
• Warriors fight and command grunts in battle. They can be tacticians or killing machines, but they defend the clan and assault its enemies.

"Social Monsters" will see that each role except Magician also has a subrole associated with it. They should decide upon a role, then click the "More Info" links to help choose a subrole. When they have selected a subrole they can click the radio button next to that subrole and move on.

"Wandering Monsters" simply decide between Warrior and Magician, click the appropriate radio button, and move on.

Roles define what special abilities a monster has available to them. Subroles will sometimes provide additional abilities for a monster to use.

5. Choose Your Secondary Role

Social Monsters Only. If they wish social monsters may select a secondary role. This gives them access to special abilities from the second role, but they will lose access to the best abilities from both roles.

It's a trade off.

6. Itemize Your Attributes

You may now personalize your character by adding points to their attributes. Attributes are general descriptions of your monster's physical and mental prowess. You'll probably want to increase either your highest attributes or increase the two attributes which are listed as most important for your primary role.

Divide up 30 points and continue on.

7. Add a Special Abilities

Special Abilities are those skills (like wielding a sword) or unique features (like a spiked tail) which a monster possesses. There are a few default abilities, but a monster will also have access to a number of abilities related to his role.

You'll start off with "tooth & nail", which all monsters have, and will also have received a second ability thanks to your race. Choosing a third special ability here will again help you to make your monster unique.

The "More Info" will once again be of great use in deciding what you want.

8. Finish Your Character

The rest of the choices tend to be aesthetic ones.

Next you'll get to choose your appearance, which is purely about how you want your monster to appear to other players. Gender likewise has no game effect. Your speech verb simply defines what your monster sounds like when he normally speaks. Finally, choosing your monster's name will finish up the creation process; make sure you pick something good and monsterly.

Remember that at any time you can go back and change any or all of your selections, but when you click "Finish", you're done.

Entering the Game

When you enter Grendel's Revenge you'll find yourself at Grendel's Shrine. This is an important location where monsters return to socialize and where game-wide events tend to begin. Talk with some of the other monsters in this area, as they might be able to give you some hints about getting started. Eventually, though, you'll want to leave. This is done via the portal to the east.

> go east

Setting Your Own Goals

Once you're travelling out in the world, you'll want to set your own goals to strive for as you play Grendel's Revenge.

Here's some potential goals for a wandering monster:

• Fight some uglies
• Get some armor or weapons unless you're chimera
• Use favors to increase your weapon attacks
• Make deals with social clans
• Incarnate into a new body
• Become one of Grendel's favorites
• Incarnate as the monster at the top of your caste

Here's some potential goals for a social monster:

• Join a clan
• Help your clan build a lair
• Help your clan defend its lair
• Raid other lairs
• Collect minions of your own
• Found your own clan
• Convince other clan leaders to join you
• Become one of Grendel's favorites
• Arrange deals with wandering monsters

Using the Client

Once you entered Grendel's Shrine you began using the Grendel's Revenge client. Although this client centers a text window, it also uses several graphical representations to complement the prose of the game. The left-hand side of the client contains: a logo, stats, and resources. The right-hand side of the client contains: abilities and a map.

Many of these concepts will be described in more depth in The Mechanics of Grendel's Revenge.

"Stats" lists some of the most important statistics affecting your monster in the game. Health shows how damaged your monster is. Favor lists how well he has been noticed by Grendel. When enough Favor Points have been earned to fill the Favor Point thermometer, a new Favor is generated to the right of it, which may be used to increase your character's abilities or for other purposes. Time reflects how long your monster must wait before taking another action. Only certain actions, mostly related to combat, take time.

"Resources" lists those standard items needed for building lairs, maintaining grunts, and much more in Grendel's Revenge. The first two, Gold and Stone, are usable by all monsters. The next three, Shadow, Mana, and Iron are caste specific (to the Undead, Chimera, and Humanoids, respectively).

Moving to the right-hand side, "Abilities" lists those special abilities that your character starts off with. Everyone has Tooth & Claw. You'll also have received a special ability related to your race and another one that you selected in character creation and is probably related to your role. Click on any special ability for more information.

The "Map" shows your current room and the eight rooms adjoining it. It's very useful to help you get around.

You'll note that the middle of the screen is taken up largely with an output window. Under it is an input window which can be used to type in commands. Get in there and start type to begin play in the world of Uthgol!