SWLOR, A beginners guide
Hi there, welcome to SWLOR, thigs are a little diff-
Okay, yes, I know, okay, stop…
Yes, stop screaming. Yes, I know, alright?
I KNOW.
I’m here to help, so put down the knife and let’s talk this out.
Deep breath, okay? In and out… Good, good. Let’s get started.
STEP 1: DON’T PANIC
SWLOR is seriously different to vanilla NWN, it’s intimidating, and I get that. There are a lot of systems, and not a huge amount of context to figure stuff out from, but don’t worry, I’m here to get you rolling. Remember not to panic, nothing is unfixable, and there really are no wrong builds or bad paths. That’s something different that is great about the SWLOR system. I’m going to explain what’s important, what’s not, and how to get started smoothly. There are other guides as well, so keep an eye out and we’ll get started.
STEP 2: SETTING
Alright, we’re rolling into the star wars universe, you’ve got bounty hunters, space wizards, Samuel L Jackson somewhere in the background and violent carpets with energy shotguns. Cool and Normal, right? Let’s get a bit more specific, though. We’re way back in time from the films, if that’s all you’ve encountered in pop culture, at the beginning of the Jedi civil war. Basically there have been two big wars, one after the other, the first was the Sith war, which saw the dark force users “Wiped out”, then a few decades later and right before the present, there was the Mandalorian war. You know Mandalorians, right? Think Boba Fett, but like armies of them attacking the Republic and the Jedi. Now, this groovy dude, Revan, he wasn’t having with watching the republic get its butt kicked left right and center, so he took some Jedi and turned the tide, winning the war, Hooray, what an absolute unit, amirite? On the downside, the galaxy isn’t doing great after that. The republic is beat up, the Mandalorians are scattered, but annoyed as hell, and the Jedi who stayed out of the fight have got a pretty toxic rep. So, Boo Mandalorians, Boo Jedi, Whatever The Republic and yay Revan, you beast. So you, you precious blossom, have turned up on the Space station above the wet and generally ew mid rim planet called Viscara. Waiting for you on the surface are unfriendly doggos, Mandalorian remnants, cannibals, the rumour of a Sith revival, and worst of all the only music allowed is Whams greatest hits.
EXTRA:
Cloning is not available as a technology at this time in republic space.
Cyborgs may struggle with certain force abilities or not be able to use them at all depending on their implants.
Some races are more force sensitive than others. Be sure to check the wookipedia entry for the race you intend to play.
STEP 3: CHARACTER
Making a character is actually easier here than pretty much anywhere. There are no classes. None. Zip, zilch, Nada. Don’t even think about it.
There are no skill restrictions. You can do anything you set your glittery little heart on. Dream big.
There are no levels. No random jumps in power for you!
Your starting stats are not as important as they otherwise might be, and the rule of thumb is pretty simple. Physical characters should be a bit more Physical stat heavy, and force characters should be a little more social stat heavy. That’s really as complex as it is.
So, how does this work? It’s simple, but complex at the same time, the simple way to put it is that your character will get better at what they do. Do a thing, and you gain experience towards that thing, so long as you are doing it hard enough.
To delve a little deeper, there are a pile of skills, separated broadly into four categories (Subject to change)
Combat:
Shooting, Stabbing, burning, throwing, shields zapping and offensive space wizard stuff.
Armor:
You’ve got Light, Heavy and Force to mess around with
Support:
These are your space wizard healing and extras, like harvesting, scavenging and piloting your spaceship around the place.
Crafting
This is a meaty and important one, these are the skills that let you make cool stuff for yourself and others, it’s a big part of the game right now, so have a think about what you want from it. This has Weaponsmithing, Armorsmithing, Engineering (blasters and lightsabre parts), Lightsabers (The shwooong blades themselves), Medicine, Fabrication (Making buildings and furniture) and a few more to be added in as the server develops.
Now, listen close to this bit, as your skills go up, they take your characters stats with them as they go! Every skill has its own set of attributes it improves on (Strength/Dexterity/Constitution/Intelligence/Wisdom/Charisma), and that’s how you get better as well as more skilled. Generally you have a primary, secondary and tertiary stat increase that goes along with any given skill, and they work like so:
PRIMARY: +1 stat point per 5 levels of a skill
SECONDARY: +1 Stat point per 10 levels of a skill
TERTIARY: +1 stat point per 20 levels of a skill
STEP 4: PROGRESSION
Okay, so, HOW do you actually progress? If you stab things you get better at stabbing, and so on, but how do we do it QUICKLY and relatively painlessly?
In the beginning, It’s best to play around with what you can do, test out everything to see what suits you. DO NOT WORRY skills you level can be de-levelled, so nothing is permanent or wasted. We’ll discuss that bit later. So, mess around on the station, level up whatever strikes your fancy and take your time with it.
Okay, now you know what you want you really want to dig into the meat of it, right? Right, So, we have instanced housing on SWLOR, and you can own as many instanced apartments in the major cities as you like, and even own land and build your own facilities with the fabrication skill.
That’s super awesome, super great, but it also serves a purpose!
IF YOU OWN A BUILDING AND FURNISH IT, YOU GET BONUS XP, UP TO 150%
That’s a biiig bonus, I don’t mind telling you, and furniture is usually pretty easy to make. Apartments can be found in the south west portion of the first city you land in, cost a few thousand credits to buy into and then a few hundred every day to maintain. You can pay ahead for up to a month, so don’t worry if you’re not a daily grinder.
STEP 5: MONEY
Okay, now I bet you’re keen to get on the property ladder, right? Good! Let’s kick it up another notch. You’re going to want to make credits, and that’s not so hard as it first appears, and there are solid ways to do it.
- Do the quests, and ask others to help you find the sneakier quests, they pay pretty well and can get you set up nicely.
- Make stuff. Delve into crafting and sell your random fumblings to the NPC shops, experiment and find out what sells well! (Hint, whatever they try to charge you the most for, they’ll buy for the most, too)
- Seek employment from other player characters. We love you and we want you to be our sla- I mean, succeed. People will pay you to do all sorts of things from busy work to roleplay. I hear the player run bar could use a bouncer.
- Delve into professional harvesting. The NPC stores will buy ore you mine using harvesters you can make easily with the engineering skill, and if you get good and lucky and find some high level ores (+3 is the best) A player will probably pay a hefty chunk for it!
- There are other ways too, but now it’s more about what you like and what people will pay for, get out there and take your best shot!
STEP 6: GEAR
SWLOR is crafting heavy, but a lot of people have gone there before you. If you’ve got a chunk of change lying around from step 5, might want to shout out and see if you can buy yourself a better weapon, armour or crafting tools to speed you on your merry way.
STEP 7: OTHER PLAYERS
We’ve got a friendly community, and if you have a question, don’t be afraid to ask, either in a tell, or via discord. We all want you to have fun OOC, even if we’re monsters IC. There are no stupid questions, and if one person doesn’t know the answer, they’ll point you at someone who does.
Have fun, and remember, never wrestle a Hutt, you both get slimy and the Hutt enjoys itself.
Here’s a walk through from Missy! She’s a darling! Thank you, Missy!