"So you want to be a hero kid? Well, whoop-tee-doo..."-
-Phil, Disney's Hercules
Things looking interesting? Wanna give the game a test run? Well, You've come to the right place. I have often found that the best way to get to know a game is to make a character for it, and Runerealm is no exception. And so, on that note, you can find a character sheet here. You can print out a copy, or download a zipped Word '97 version here. Once you have a printed sheet, you can start. While it's printing, browse through the race list, the guild list, and the trait list, and get a general idea of what kind of character you want to play.
Due to the fact that you can choose almost any set of character traits to use, combined with the ability to eventually join any combination of guilds (within reason, of course. No villan/paladins, please), your choices are almost endless.
We'll start by looking at the race list. Now, you'll notice that each stat has two numbers after it, seperated by a slash. The first number is the starting stat number, or Racial Base. The second, larger number is the Racial Max. You'll also notice that at the bottom of the page is a note that you get 125 character points to spend however you wish between Base Stats and Character Traits. My personal suggestion is that if you don't have a guild chosen by now, than decide on one, because your best bet is to choose your initial stat points and character traits to fit the requirements of that guild. Once you've made your character qualify for that guild, then you can go ahead and spend the rest of your points wherever you choose. NOTE: This is just advice. You are welcome to ignore it if you have a method you'd rather use. This is just how I prefer to make a character. If you've got a concept already in mind, and are willing to just take any guild, than by all means, do so. It's your character. That aside, let's continue.
Now that you've chosen a Race, Guild, and Character Traits, it's time to note a few things on your character sheet. First, fill in your stats. You know, that stuff on the first page, in the top left, like Strength, Dexterity, etc. Now, going down the list in that section, you can put any stat points you didn't spend in the Stat Points spot. However, I'd suggest that you spend all of them, because most of the traits on the list can't be taken after you've already started, and you don't get to spend the points on anything until you gain a level. Unspent exp is going to be 0 at this point, presuming you're making a first level character. If not, the rules for making a higher level character can be found here. Your Equipment Level is the total Levels of all of your armor, so leave it blank for now. Same goes for your Arena Level, until you have completely finished your character, because it's based on a mathematical equation (that's right, you have to do some math) that takes into account a lot of stuff that you haven't determined yet. Now, going back up, you've got HP. That's your health, for those of you who are unaccustomed to RPGs. Your starting HP is your Constitution score, plus 200. Put this number in the parenthesis, because that's where your maximum will go. The blank is for when you take damage, and need to record your current number. The same goes for SP and the Base Skills, which I'm about to explain. Next is your SP. That's your spell points. Kind of a mental version of your HP. You use SP up by casting spells, and using some special abilities. Many magical devices also require SP to activate and use. Your SP is the sum of your Intelligence and your Wisdom. AC is your armor class, or how much damage is soaked up by what you're wearing. Leave your AC blank for now, until after you buy your armor. Your starting Speed is 10. Speed essentially helps determine how much sooner you can attack than your opponent. Next is the list of Base Skill Points. How Base Skills work is explained here. Again, once you've determined the value, write it in the parenthesis. Finally, ignore the list of skills on the right for now, we'll get to them later.
As per the statement in whichever guild you chose, your starting Funds are 150 gold, plus or minus whatever you got from the traits you took. That's all on that section for now, until you start spending your money. In case you aren't sure what your total is, you can look at the currency conversion chart.
Guild List: Here, you enter Adventurer, because EVERYBODY gets to be an adventurer! Level is 1, and Exp in is 0, or blank. Next, enter whatever guild you chose as your primary one. Again, level is 1, and Exp in is 0 or blank. You don't add experience to a guild until you get a chance to train it in. Until then, any exp. you get goes in the Unspent exp. space, above.
Unless you took Heirloom, or your GM allowed you to have anything special in the way of jewelry, etc., you will leave this section blank.
On the second page, the first thing you'll see is a spot to put your weapons. If your primary guild that you chose offered you a weapon, you'd put it here. Also, if you took Heirloom as a Character Trait, and chose to inherit a weapon, it would go here. Otherwise, you can spend some of your starting money to buy any weapon off of the weapon list. You would put it's name, the damage multiplier, and any enchantments it has (at this point, that would only apply to inherited weapons) in this section.
Here, is found a breakdown of armor by where it's worn. It's pointless to wear more than one piece of armor in a certian location, because the AC value does not stack. You may select any piece of armor from the armor list, so long as you are able to wear it. To be able to wear a piece of armor without any penalties, your Equipment Level (that thing on the first page that equaled 10) must meet or exceed the total equipment levels of the pieces of armor. If your level is lower than the armors', you receive a penalty to your speed. You also receive bonuses to your speed if the armor you're wearing is of a lower Equipment level than you are. Be sure to place the armor in the right location, because sometimes a called shot may be made to a certian location on the body, and all that stands in the way is the armor you're wearing there. Name, the AC value, and any enchantments it may have (again, at this point, only an inherited piece of armor would apply) are entered here.
A space is also provided to put any non weapon, non armor, and non accessory items. This includes clothing, food, any land or animals you have purchaced, transportation, etc. A fairly conclusive list can be found here. NOTE: This list has been taken directly from one of the Second Edition AD&D books, due to my lack of stubbornness in creating a FULL list of items. So, for now, that's what I've got. If you've got anything else that you can't find on there, please, send me an e-mail, and I'll add it.
And now, the third page. Here is where you'll write down all of the traits you took earlier. Name, point cost, and a description, as well as any specifics, will go here. Farily straightforward.
Again, fairly straightforward. Here's where you talk about your character's history, their physical description, and where you justify all of those traits you took that had a star after them, or that you managed to slip by your GM that had two stars by them. Make it good, because your GM is fully within their rights to say no if your justification isn't good enough.
Wow, page four already! Well, here's your page of magic stuff. First, a spot to put all of the runes you possess. The given latin name, it's translation, the type of rune it is (element, power, or concept), and the format (is it in a stone, in a bracelet, or maybe a tattoo?). The list and description of the runes is here. When guilds issue runes, they generally give them out as stones, unless you're willing to pay to have them in a different format. Ultimately, it's the GM's call as to how much that costs, but a good rule of thumb is to treat it as if they're having a magical item made, and the rune counts as a spell, only in Platinum, rather than AP. For clarification, take a look at the magic item creation rules, and the currency conversion chart.
Ah, your spell list. When you begin, you get the spells your guild gives you, as well as any that you got from an Heirloom. Remember, the guild only teaches you spells that you can cast, although you can inherit just about anything (the really powerful spells, even though you can't cast them, require a really good explaination in your character description). The spell's name, the runes that are used to cast it (either by drawing the symbols, or using the first two letters of it's latin name), the maximum levels you can cast it at, and a Description of what it does, are here. Since the casting cost varies depending upon the level you cast the spell at, you should note the ranges in the description. A more detailed spell page can be found here. This is for those more hardcore spellcasters, who wind up learning spells that take more than two runes to cast, or for those of you who manage to inherit a high powered spell.
Another innovation of Runerealm is the personality trait listing. This is a chart of 25 different aspects of a person's personality. The GM gets to use this as sort of a grading chart for bonus exp. given due to playing your character well. Here's how it works: Take a look at the first one. On one side, you've got Flirtatious. On the other, you've got Antisocial. And, across the top, you've got a range of 5 to 0 to 5 again. Basically, you decide if your character is more flirtatious or antisocial, and by how much. 0 means that your character is neutral. Assuming that your character is a hetrosexual male (straight, and a guy), he'll keep to himself, but he's more than happy to interact with women, if prompted. A five means that they are extreme to that effect. A five on flirtatious would mean that he'd probably be leacherous, dedicating a fair amount of his free time to hanging around "the ladies", to the exclusion of talking to guys. A five on antisocial may mean that he always keeps to himself, and is probably even afraid of women. Or, perhaps, he even completely freezes up when a girl tries to talk to him. Many would probably mistake him as being an introvert, although that's not the case. For a full description of each personality trait listing, click here. Once you've completed this list, hand it to your GM, so that they can reference it at any time. Remember that this isn't completely permanent, because as any character adventures, they tend to change and grow. Thus, when you and your GM agree that your character no longer fits one of the ratings you gave, you are more than welcome to change it to suit how your character currently acts. However, don't expect to be able to change it every few minutes to suit your current whims. Unless your character has some sort of mental illness that justifies sudden changes on a regular basis, changing what you put should be a fairly rare occurance.
And, finally, you get to choose yoru skills. Skills can be found on the first, second, and fourth pages. They are divided as follows: General skills on page 1, Combat skills on page 2, and Magic skills on page 4. You start with 40 skill points, and a guide on how to spend them can be found here. Also, be sure to check the skill list for a description of what each skill does. Be sure to put the skill level you've purchased with your skill points in the blank. The parenthesis are reserved for any modifiers you might have (traits, magical effects, etc.). When buying skills, these extra modifiers do NOT count towards your current level.
And now, after that long and arduous process, you should have a finished character! Furthermore, you should have a fairly strong grasp on the basics of Runerealm. A few things that you might want to find out about can be found below:
A description of the Base Stats, and how they affect you in the game
How to figure out your arena level, how The Arena works, and just what AP are
How combat works
How experience works, how to train exp. in, and what happens when you gain a level
