The main rules of AoA are very important to the sucess of the game.  After signing up, which is completely free, you send your actions to me via e-mail.  The game will generally start out slow when you have very few resources to control.  I will e-mail you back with consequences obtained from A) other users, or B) a program that randomly generates numbers which I use to generate actions.  As of right now, I dont have that posted, but I will eventually.  If you have icq this process is greatly sped up.

        Your choices in actions are virtually limitless.  You can try to do whatever you want, but your attributes will ultimatly decide whether or not you succeed.  You can try to build a vast army to conquer nations or crush other members, or you can keep things small and do, well, anything.  There are only a few basic limits.  You cannot EVER succeed in destroying the gaming world, as that would ruin things for everyone else, nor can you become invinsible.  You can achieve near invunerability through complicated spells or great skill, but there will always be a way for you to die.

        When you first start, you will have 150 points to distribute among your 9 basic charcter attributes, Strength, Dexterity, Health, Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, Appearance, Personality, and Endurance.  These will determine your Advanced character Attributes, Life (Strenght + Health), Magic Talent (Health + Wisdom + Intelligence all divided by 2), Speed ( Dexterity + Perception / 2), Dodge (Dexterity + Perception + Wisdom / 2), Charisma (Appearance + Personality / 2), and Stamina (Dexterity + Endurance).  You will also have 200 points to distribute among your skills, as listed below.  Your Basic Attributes max out at 250 points, your skills at 100.  To start you cannot have more than 40 points in each skill.
 

Physical

Blacksmithing- the crafting of weapons, armor, supplies
Fletching- the crafting of Arrows
Bow Crafter- the Crafting of bows
Carpentry- the crafting of buildings w/ wood
Climbing- the art of climbing many different surfaces
Forgery- the art of replicating others handwriting
Gem Cutting- the art of cutting gems to fit different sockets
Leatherworking- the ability to turn hides into usable leather
Mining- the ability to obtain valuable gems/metals from mountains
Stealth- the ability to move unnoticed
Musical- the ability to play intruments, sing, and compose ( this is also listed in menat skills)
Lock Picking- the ability to open locks without the key
Pocket Picking- the ability to remove items from someone's person unnoticed
Remove Trap- the ability to detect and disarm physical traps
Riding- the ability to ride a horse
Tailor- the ability to make clothes/supplies out of leather and cloth
Teaching- the ability to transfer your knowledge to others
Thieving- the ability to burglarize anothers property unnoticed
Slight of Hand- the art of "Magic"
Stonemasonry- the art of building w/ stone

Mental

Ancient History- the knowledge of what has come before
Animal Lore- knowledge of the wild
Brewing- knowledge of how to make alcoholic beverages
Cooking- the knowledge of how to cook refreshing/ superb meals
Direction Sense- the knowledge of which way is which
Engineering- the ability to design most anything
First Aid- the skills of basic medical care
Fishing- hey, they always say fishing is in the mind
Language- the ability to easily master different languages
Medicine- the skills of advanced medical treatment
Navigation- the ability to plot courses for many different vehicles
Observation- the ability to see what others might not
Reading Lips- the ability to "hear" by sight
Snaring- the ability to set physical traps
Survival- the ability to scrounge for food and shelter when none there
Tracking- the ability to track people/animals/vehicles through different terrains

Social

Animal Taming- the ability to calm and train many different animals
Bargaining- the ability to get more for less
Bribery- the art of bribing officials
Disguise- the ability to physically change ones appearance WELL
Diplomacy- the ability to pursuade/dissuade others of opinions
Fast-Talk- the ability to scam
Interrogation- the ability to forcibly withdraw information from others as well as resist it.
Ventriloquism- the ability to talk through others' mouths

Combat

Weapon (each weapon is different skill)- the mastery of different weapons
Weapon Dodge (particular weapon)- the mastery of defence from different weapons
Shield- the mastery of a shield
Death Blow- the ability to wield a weapon in more lethal ways
Brawling- the ability to use brute strength in combat
Wrestling- the ability to use your size and strength to your advantage in combat
Martial Arts- the ability to use mental concentration to improve your skills in combat
Open Hand- the ability to fight unarmed

Magical

Alteration- the ability to change things
Creation- the ability to summon
High Magic- the ability to create complicated patterns of magic for greater damage
Life- the ability to alter anothers aura
Low Magic- the ability to use basic elements in magical combat
Meditation- the ability to quickly regain mana
Resist (separate for each magic type)- the ability to resist different magics
 

    There are several more final character attributes left to cover.  the first is Armor Class, or AC.  Your AC is the total of all your equipment's AC, such as helms, armor, bracers, etc.  The higher your AC, the less damage you recieve each time you are hit. This formula is Base Damage - Armor Class + Special Damage* = Total Damage.  The next is special damage.  This can be obtained by using magical items, or by using special manuevers, such as the Renshai Triple Twist, which pentrates all armor.  For this, the Total Damage would be Base Damage - Armor Class + Armor class, or simple the Base Damage.  Another attribute is damage.  Your damage is determined by item damage + skill damage + strength/dex/perception damage*.   Str/dex/perc damage is added damage from your strength (if melee "Brute weapon"), dex (If melee "Skill" weapon) or perc (if ranged weapon).  There for and War hammer (Brute weapon) would do more damage when a person with 200 strength wielded it than if a person with 50 strength wielded it.  Finally, there is the matter of reputation.  Your reputation greatly effects NPC and even PC interaction.  If you have a great reputation, people will be more willing to trust you and comply with you wishes, whereas if you have a bad repution they might run you out of town.  Your reputation is affected by three things, your fame, karma, and charisma.  Your fame determines how extreme your reputation is, your karma whether it is good or bad, and your charisma how much each will change.  A high charisma will allow for swift change in the positive direction, and slows negative progress, whereas a low would slow how fast it can go up, and one mistake could get a price on your head.