Money and how to have it

Although the world of Frandum welcomes many different races in a dozen 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 of all the items you have. 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 where you will be able to deposit your goins on an account.

Armor, weapons, magic items: to get and to keep

As you will soon find out, items you have in your inventory tend to disappear if the world is reseted, or any time you quit the game, as the gods claim back what belongs to them. This can soon be rather painful to see this mighty sword you had trouble finding disappear, thus you will need to use personalization to keep some specific items.

Sample screenshot - Armours and inventory

There are in fact three types of items you may personalize, and for each one, you will have to find a particular expert who will know how to engrave your personality into the item. Please note that experts of each type can have different expertize levels, and that if experts you know cannot help you, you should look for mightier ones. Also keep in mind that some items are either too worthless or too intricate for anyone to personalize them.
The types of items you can personalize are:

• Weapons, which will be personalized by a weapon smith, one of them being rumored to be within the village of Hope.
• Pieces or armor, which you will most probably personalize in an armoury. Among armourers, Thorward Brightblade of Tumulus is not of a puny reputation.
• Magical items, which will be handled by magicians like, for example, Rigula of the Rainbow tower, in Dostenia.
• In some rare and specific cases, you may encounter people who will sell you other personal items.

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 it. Don't hesitate to pick up all that looks edible (the default color is green) or to 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 to how much time they will remain burning.

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... if any is to be found on your target.

Spells and spell points

It should not be before you have a little knowledge of the world that you will encounter books, scrolls or people who will teach you some spells. Once you learn spells, they go into your grimoire, where they remain until you die (when you die, you have chances of forgetting some of your spells). Yet to cast spells you need to have enough spell points, and enough experience.

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 talking with a specific class of Wizards, the Priests.

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 ...) 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 often have to choose between competitive guilds.