A somewhat scared new player

[CalenEdhellen]

I really didn’t want to make this topic, not only because I’ll be coming to Empire as part of a group that I don’t want to give a bad impression (as well as you lovely folks), but because I really don’t know how okay it is to just outright make a new topic on this forum similar to others so… eh, deep end. I apologise for what will be a long post and especially if it sounds whiney.

I’m coming to the event in April and have been slowly but surely learning things I need to know about, well, everything. I’m building a character, have a number of things picked like being from Dawn, yeoman in a new house, character’s race etc, but despite starting out so sure about some things I became really nervous the more I learned.

First of all, I’m autistic and have some issues with (mostly performance based) anxiety, and must admit the sheer amount of detail and stuff to learn is a bit overwhelming. There’s so much to forget or get wrong. I don’t want to have to be that person who’s constantly breaking character if there’s an issue. I’ve got years of online RP experience and have done maybe a few hours at a time of casual “verbal RP” which was like LARP without the fighting or even costumes, but this will be my first actual LARP event.
My group/house needed an archer and with being an actually trained REAL archer who already had a LARP appropriate bow I was so excited, but I soon became super unnerved by the idea of battles despite the fact that I really want to take part and be useful (plus, admittedly, maybe a little bit badass…). The battles and skirmishes sound HUGE and fast paced which scares me, I don’t know if I’d be fast or observant enough to keep track of what’s going on. Real archery is slow, and I’m the clumsy idiot who couldn’t play dodgeball at school to save her life. There’s a real fear of some stupid things like losing or breaking my arrows because they’re so expensive (even compared to some real arrows, guys!), breaking my LARP bow, ruining my costume somehow - seriously, how do you lot wear such expensive beautiful armour into battle and not worry if it’ll get scratched to hell? or being so slow/daft that I get my first character killed really quickly after no doubt getting very attached. That last one is something I’ve probably driven the others mad asking about, but it’s not easy to be reassured when you’ve got varied spacial awareness and no fighting experience.

Don’t even get me started about having to be a monster on the other day, I’d do it if I had to but not sure I’ve ever been comfortable with orcs, let alone would know how to play one.

Actually about the costume, I don’t even know if the fake leather/embroidered corset I’ve got counts as a type of armour or not. I feel a little more reassured with armour, but really can’t afford to be buying any of the “official” stuff right now in terms of body armour. This is such an expensive hobby. Did I seriously earlier see photos that looked like people had been covered in some sort of paint like when paintballing?

I know that people will probably say to just be a character that doesn’t fight, and I’ve considered that. To be honest part of the problem is probably that I’m struggling to pick skills other than marksman and haven’t a clue what to choose for a resource, not much I’ve heard about seems to fit. I really do want to use my archery skills where possible seeing as the others wanted an archer in the first place and it’s something I know how to do, but don’t know if there’s any way of doing that without being in the fights (plus why be an archer and then abandon my group in battle?). I’ve considered ritual magic as someone else in the group needs a coven, but really don’t know how this all works.

At the end of the day if being blunt I’m a slow, unobservant, light-armoured/armourless burden who can’t decide where she wants to be. If I go into battle and become distressed or prematurely lose this character, I’ll feel crap. But if I miss the fighting out of cowardice and regret it later, the worry cycle starts anew for whether to join in next time. I’m so sorry for how rambly this all sounds.

Does anyone happen to have words of advice, or reassurance?

[Lavender]

Hi CalenEdhellen,

WELCOME!!! It’s lovely to see another newbie at Empire. I find the people here are very friendly and tolerant, and I am sure you will have the same experience.

You have been very brave in writing about your fears, and I commend you for it. I am sure that every single new person has similar fears. I know I do. The wiki is huge and can be overwhelming.

First bit of advice: You don’t need to know everything.

Seriously, you don’t. If I can remember my IC name, the names of my group (IC or OC), what Nation I am, and where my tent is (I was built without a GPS), I think I will be doing pretty well. Everything else I can ask about. If nothing else, it will make good roleplay. (Those shiny discs you hand over for goods? I’m from Dawn and I’ve never handled money in my life. Your house? Oh, what a lovely name. Does it have a meaning? That huge meeting over there? Oh, is that the senate? What do they do?) Playing the overawed person at Anvil for the first time will hopefully be a great way to find out how everything works.

Second bit of advice: Remember the phrase “This is my first time at Anvil…”

This is code for ‘I’ve never been to Empire before’. People will recognise it and help you. As a newbie, they will help you over any mistakes. You will make mistakes. I will make mistakes. No one is perfect. That wonderfully kitted person over there, who looks like an experienced Empire player? They make mistakes. Everyone will break character at some point. No one is perfect. I expect most people to be polite enough to overlook mistakes, especially from a first time player.

Battles

I can’t offer any advice about the battles, as I’ve never been in one either, except to say this: I deliberately chose to go non-combat because I wasn’t sure about the fighting. I want to watch from the sidelines and see what happens before I hurl myself into it. I can always be a water carrier or some other low-combat role. From https://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Monstering_a_battle :

" Not every orc we put on the battlefield needs to be a fighter. We aim to offer around 25 low-combat roles for players. These are intended for those who are capable of fighting, but do not want to be caught up in a swirling melee. These roles might include:
Orc healers, mages and other support characters
Orc slaves, subjects and thralls
Imperial refugees or captives in need of rescue"

I don’t think much roleplay is required to carry water to people fighting in a battle, and it seems a good way to see what is going on without being in much danger myself. You can also help in the Monster tent if you don’t want to play an Orc. From the same link:

" you should not enter the battlefield if you consider yourself a non-combatant. There are plenty of tasks that you can help with in Monster before a battle. If you can arrive before 09:30 a member of crew will help you find something to do."

Third bit of advice: You don’t have to do everything.

You couldn’t possibly experience everything about Empire in your first event. I wouldn’t want to, as what would I have left for the second event? I’m making some nice, simple goals for myself, along the lines of ‘remember my IC name’ rather than ‘take over the world’, and if I achieve those at my first event I will be happy. If not, there’s always the second event, the third event, the fourth event etc. This first time for me is a try out to see what this is all about and whether I like it or not. Which brings me to this:

Fourth bit of advice: Have something to do when you are not fighting

Battles sound wonderfully exciting, but at most they will take up (I think) around 3 hours of your day? That’s an awful lot of time left over when you aren’t fighting. I plan to just wander around Anvil and poke my nose into anything that looks interesting, but I also want to have a skill to fall back on, just in case it is a very slow day. Ritual magic sounds great if you have someone who wants to form a coven with you. If they are experienced, they can show you how rituals work. You can roleplay being the new person who has just joined the coven, and they can explain everything to you, show you the magic places at Anvil, walk you through your first ritual etc. If you and the other person are comfortable with that, it sounds like it could be a lot of fun and a great excuse to meet people.

Fifth bit of advice: You don’t have to spend all your points

You don’t. You can turn up to Empire with no skills at all and just have a look around and see what people are doing and what looks interesting. You can spend some of your points and save the rest for later. There is no rule that says all your points have to be spent on your character. If you do spend points and don’t like the result, as a newbie, PD will change things for you.

Reassurance 1: You can change your character skills for free after your first event.

If you get to the event and decide that archery isn’t for you and you hate ritual magic, you can change. Explore the other options - ask traders, apothecaries etc if you can help them and see if what they do interests you - and then after the event, email PD and explain that you are a new player, this was your first event, you hate the stuff you have chosen and you would like to change it. PD will change it for you at no cost. They are lovely like that.

Reassurance 2: Costume is aspirational.

Those people with wonderful costumes have been playing this game for years, and have probably built up their costume over time. They are photographed and put on the wiki because they look glamourous and exciting. You are a newbie. No-one expects you to have costume like that. If you look vaguely appropriate for your nation then I think you are doing well. I plan on wearing a t-tunic over a pair of trousers over warm under-layers; warm, waterproof socks; and the most supportive pair of hiking boots I can find; with a cloak and a hood for extra warmth. The clothes will be in colours appropriate to my nation (except for the boots, which will be whatever colour I can get). That is it. That is all I am wearing. I will add accessories and fancier clothes over time. For my first event I want to be warm, I want to be waterproof, and I want to be comfortable. Fancy can wait.

Reassurance 3: PD have a New Player Support Team

There is a New Player meeting on Friday night, where you can meet other newbies, meet your nations egregore, ask questions etc. There is a Player Support and New Player Help Group on Faceboook https://www.facebook.com/groups/528878433989783/?ref=direct. You can always reach out to them for help as well as posting on here.

You posted a ramble, I’ve posted a thesis in reply. I’m sure I’ve forgotten stuff, or there are things I haven’t addressed, but I hope this helps a bit. Please come back and ask more questions, or ask again on the same points if you need more advice/reassurance/information. Doing something new is hard. We all get nervous about it. You are not alone.

P.S. If you have a character that you are attached to, and by some accident they die, can you make another character that is exactly the same, vary the spelling of the name (if possible) or make a new, very similar name, and come back as that person? If someone queries the closeness, the old and new characters were twins, or triplets, or quadruplets, or quintuplets, depending on how often you get killed. I’ve never read a rule that says a new character has to be different to an old character in costume/skills/manners/attitudes etc, they just have to be distinguished somehow for admin purposes (as far as I know). Would that work for you? (If this isn’t possible, then could someone tell me please).

[IbisCappelli]

Hi Calen

Great too see you’re interested and don’t worry about posting this exactly the kind of thing these forums are here for. Having travelled to Empire with my girlfriend, who has anxiety, (primarily performance, and dark based) I can assure you it’s fine and everyone understands. I know that their are also several other autistic players on the field, and despite not talking to them I know they have managed to participate in battles just fine. A lot of what I’m going to say is reiterating what lavender said but it’s all very good advice.

• You don’t have to know everything -seriously you don’t if there’s stuff you don’t know it’s okay. For instance you could of Dawn all your life and never met any other nation and only know their name that’s it.

• Battles can be a mix -the battles can be huge and busy if you’re in the middle of it but a lot of the time it can be just two lines looking at each other. Plus archers tend to group together so I’m sure there will be people you can stick with and they’ll help you out

• Losing Arrows - There’s a big lost property in G.O.D which has bins full of arrows, so even if you don’t find it someone may pick your arrow up and return it there. Plus any damaged equipment shows wear and I like to make a story about the battle I got it in, or there are people can help clean it and fix it up.

• Monstering - As said before there’s several non-combat roles available as well as pages on the wiki on how to play an Orc, when you find out what kind of Orc or monster you are playing.

• Costume - You don’t have to get everything at once, I went to my first event no armour, and just a basic shirt and robe and trousers. People get its expensive, and at many peoples first events it’s just a basic kit they have. Also any paint you may see will of been the costume owners own choice, the only thing PD do is fake blood but that wipes off and is optional anyway.

• Skills - You can’t level these up at any time. Many players leave skills until they’re on the field, and offer to ‘apprentice’ for someone else so they can learn that skill or at least see what it’s like. For instance if you’re insterested in rituals try and find a coven and see what it involves. You’re character might of never seen a ritual before so you don’t need to know anything about it, but has innate skill or talent for it. People will happily explain IC on the field.

• It’s my first time at Anvil - This 100% this, this is very much an IC saying as it’s the first time your character has visited Anvil. Everyone I met, was super welcoming and friendly, and even after saying this they did what they could to make us feel relaxed and welcome. (Well all except creepy Varushkan, but that’s another tale and was a bit more situational) So if you’re ever unsure or uncertain on anything just mention this phrase and people will do what they can to help. Honestly everyone I met was super friendly and just trying to get people involved in the story and world as much as they could.

[thresher]

My advice would be don’t play a combat character at your first event if you’re nervous.

Battles are not an essential, you don’t have to do them, and if you don’t battle, you don’t then have to monster.

In regards to costume getting damaged in battle; unfortunately it does happen. My advice is not to wear anything to battle you aren’t prepared to be potential ripped, grass stained or get muddy.

As an archer you will also need to acknowledge the fact you probably will loose a few arrows. There are lost property bins in God, as others have said.

Sorry I can’t be more reassuring, I’m not trying to put you off, but at the same time battles are a high-stress part of LARP that are not necessarily something you need to take part of.

[Laura]

Battle deaths happen. And while you are a novice that will happen more often than someone with years of experience on the field: that’s entirely to be expected! Find a more experienced player to stick with - ask around when you arrive and see if anyone will look after you on the field. Archers can be super effective with a few tips and you are usually not in the high-stress line at the front which might be helpful.

Something I like to do is have a backup character in the works in case mine dies. It enables me to take risks, to do what my character would do. I am still sad when characters die but knowing I have another cool concept waiting in the wings makes the death a lot easier to handle. I usually have two sat in my head at any given time!

At your first event, set your bar low. Observe. See what others do, don’t push yourself to interact more than you feel comfortable with. Have a safe space out of character where you can go and take a break (my husband still does this and he’s been LRPing for over twenty years). Maybe even create a character that you expect to drop after that event and start again once you have a better idea of where you want to be in the world.

I remember my first LRP event, it was bewildering. At each event I gained a little more confidence until I’m where I am today - occasional bouts of lack of confidence but mostly knowing that everyone is pretty much in the same boat, regardless of how they come across on the field. You are not alone.

[Geoffrey_Willoughby]

Calen,

First of all, welcome along. The “Help I’m new” forum thread is fine to repeat, everyone has different questions

There will be quite a few new players in Dawn this event, so you won’t be alone at all on that note.

If you are not fast and observant enough to keep track of everything happening in the battles… neither are 90% of the other LARPers, it does get a little chaotic. From observation,. LARP archery is not that fast, and you’ll shooting at targets of opportunity from time to time instead of speed-firing volleys… and when you get a levoely chest shot on some big hairy guy in an orc mask, and he falls over screaming (“Aaargh…Shot!”), you’ll feel badass all right.

“The weapons are fake, the armour is real”, as I tell new LARPers and spectators. No big metal spikes, no barbed wire, no actual blades… okay, there can be a good few brambles and branches. If you wish to test your costume, wear it and then roll down a grassy slope. Most of the stress and damage done to costumes comes from not the fights themselves, but in falling over onto things (I bent my scale mail that way. Only real damage to it in years of fighting).

And as others have mentioned, the photos on the wiki etc (especially of Dawn looking glorious in shining plate mail and bright house tabards) are taken before we get covered in mud and grass stains Carefully cleaning your armour after the battle is, after all, highly appropriate. But short of some of the more delicate bits (mage armour, for instance), most costumes taken on a skirmish or battle are pretty hard-wearing. And if they end up scratched, that can be fixed, or polished, or even just tolerated as characterful battle damage.

It is an expensive hobby… depending on what you put into it. Note that some of the people in those photos have been playing for years, and put most of their disposable income into it. For comparism, look at the costs of fishing or golfing equipment. You buy it, and then you may use it for years, and sell it on to someone else.

You CAN put in an initial large investment, but if you have your bow and some arrows, that’s the minimum for you. There are several vendors on site who will do costume bits in a wide variety of prices, down to Das Shop (which accepts trade-ins and swaps), and you can also find cheap costume bits in charity shops.

If you aren’t sure what to grab for a resource, I’d advise going for Farm (entirely suitable for a Yeoman Dawnish) or even Business (possibly your family is fletchers and bowmakers for the army?), either of which give you cash. With a large pouch of in-game money, you can happily wander around asking “I’m new to Anvil, tell me about X!” For days…

As for death in battle… it’s a possibility, although unless you head off scouting in the woods by yourself, the archers tend to survive pretty well If you just stand there with a knocked arrow looking menacing, few opponents want to charge you…

It looks like you’re getting plenty of replies already, so I’ll just add…

I’m also in Dawn. My house symbol is a silver serpent and gold chalice. Drop by for a chat, in or out of character, and you’ll be most welcome.

[Penny]

The arrows thing probably is going to be an issue to be fair - they do get lost and broken. You need to accept that you are very unlikely to get them all back after a battle. At the time, what normally seems to happen is after you shoot your initial arrows, you won’t see them for the rest of the battle, but pick up others shot towards you (check they aren’t broken first) and shoot them back. Retrieving YOUR arrows is for lost property later.

I also have trouble remembering stuff and find camping IC almost essential or I spend half my time going to the ooc field to pick up things I’ve forgotten. Print out the parts of the wiki you need, have some handy in a pouch, if there are too many have them in your tent to refer to.

[Geoffrey_Willoughby]

Good point Penny. The in-game notebook is an excellent accessory.

Get a plain A6 notebook, maybe decorate the cover, and scribble in some details for use. Your characters name and backstory perhaps. The currency conversions. What your skills do. A simple pencil or a disguised pen goes well with it.

And then as you go on, add to it. People you want to track down and talk to. Times of things you want to attend (there are in-game archery contests, I believe). Questions you want answered, interesting gossip you have heard.

Especially if you look at ritual magics, where there’ll be a LOT to remember, but checking your notes for details of strange spells and abilities is very apt

No-one will think twice if you have to bring out your notes to check something while on the field. It’s a massive national political meeting and tradefaire and social center with extra magical stuff and politics and romance. You can’t hold it all in your head

[Canashir]

@CalenEdhellen

First of all, I’m autistic and have some issues with (mostly performance based) anxiety, and must admit the sheer amount of detail and stuff to learn is a bit overwhelming. There’s so much to forget or get wrong.

As others have said, the amount you have to know is not all that big.

• The OOC rules (at least the ones relevant to you, e.g. if your character has no magic skills then you don’t need to know about the rules for casting spells).
• In-character knowledge that everyone in the Empire will know, but this isn’t much: you can play a character who is relatively ignorant and ill-informed. Maybe just the IC laws, the basic concept of the religion (the Way), a bit about your own nation’s customs and its Hearth Magic, the knowledge that there are also other nations in the Empire (but maybe no details about them), a basic knowledge that there are Artisans who make magical equipment that lasts a year, the knowledge that we’ve always been at war with various enemies… maybe a rough idea of what the Synod, Senate, Bourse, Conclave, Military Council and Empress do. The knowledge that there are Apothecaries who can turn special herbs into fancy preparations with various effects, and there are Physics who can treat various wounds and illnesses. You definitely don’t need to know details of specific rituals, magic items, potions etc. unless you’re playing a character who can cast or make them.

I’ve got years of online RP experience and have done maybe a few hours at a time of casual “verbal RP” which was like LARP without the fighting or even costumes, but this will be my first actual LARP event.

I think that should stand you in pretty good stead, especially the “verbal roleplay” part. In a way it’s easier with the costume and other set-dressing and so on, with the conviviality of sitting round a real fire or walking across the field with someone else from your House to find someone who can sell something the House wants…

My group/house needed an archer and with being an actually trained REAL archer who already had a LARP appropriate bow I was so excited, but I soon became super unnerved by the idea of battles despite the fact that I really want to take part and be useful (plus, admittedly, maybe a little bit badass…).
The battles and skirmishes sound HUGE and fast paced which scares me, I don’t know if I’d be fast or observant enough to keep track of what’s going on. Real archery is slow, and I’m the clumsy idiot who couldn’t play dodgeball at school to save her life.

Over the years I’ve had a lot of fun doing LARP archery, (though not at Empire) and I don’t think I’m particularly good at it compared to others.

As for worry about not being good and effective in the battles, that doesn’t necessarily matter too much. The point of LARP is that OOC you, the player, are happy and having fun (or if not fun, at least finding it satisfying and rewarding in some fashion). That’s not the same thing as your character being successful and happy. This is an important distinction. There can be a lot of good enjoyable roleplay (for you and others) coming from your character being on a battle and getting wounded, rescued, healed up etc. even if you don’t contribute significantly to the success of the battle.

There’s a real fear of some stupid things like losing or breaking my arrows because they’re so expensive (even compared to some real arrows, guys!), breaking my LARP bow,

I think on average people tend to lose maybe an arrow per event? Not sure, but it’s not too bad. And even if you start with only a scant few arrows, you’re likely to be able to scavenge arrows during the battle. Personally I’ve been an archer at Empire in just one battle (monstering as a barbarian orc) and I started with maybe three or four arrows, but shot perhaps twenty or thirty.

As for the bow… I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone breaking one.

ruining my costume somehow - seriously, how do you lot wear such expensive beautiful armour into battle and not worry if it’ll get scratched to hell?

Armour is pretty tough OOC, and anyway if it’s scratched and battered, that’s entirely appropriate in-character.

or being so slow/daft that I get my first character killed really quickly after no doubt getting very attached.

Um. I’m sure I’ve seen one or two good posts about coping with the emotions after character death. Can someone else give some useful pointers?

Don’t even get me started about having to be a monster on the other day, I’d do it if I had to but not sure I’ve ever been comfortable with orcs, let alone would know how to play one.

Remember that the orcs in Empire are nothing like the orcs from other fiction. Personally I think the choice to call them orcs was unhelpfully misleading. Anyway, during the battle, species is largely irrelevant to how the character will be behaving.

Actually about the costume, I don’t even know if the fake leather/embroidered corset I’ve got counts as a type of armour or not.

Probably not to start with, but you might be able to make it into armour: see
https://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Corset which says, “While a leather corset does not meet the rules requirement for armour in Empire - but they can make a good basis for female fitted leather armour.”
Also see Weapons & armour - Empire which says “The phys-rep must be a piece of armour, leather clothing or similar does not count.”

I feel a little more reassured with armour, but really can’t afford to be buying any of the “official” stuff right now in terms of body armour.

Sometimes it’s possible to get cheap used armour… look at the LARP section on ebay and be prepared to be outbid on a few auctions before you win one; if you’re patient you might well get something you like. Another possibility might be borrowing some armour, IC or OOC.

To be honest part of the problem is probably that I’m struggling to pick skills other than marksman and haven’t a clue what to choose for a resource, not much I’ve heard about seems to fit. I really do want to use my archery skills where possible seeing as the others wanted an archer in the first place and it’s something I know how to do, but don’t know if there’s any way of doing that without being in the fights (plus why be an archer and then abandon my group in battle?). I’ve considered ritual magic as someone else in the group needs a coven, but really don’t know how this all works.

As others have said, it’s a good idea not to spend all your points at the beginning. Your character can get another character to spend a few minutes teaching a skill, and then you go to GOD and use a computer to spend the point(s) on the skill.
Ritual magic: could be a good option, and gets you involved in things outside of battles (including Conclave if you’re interested)… probably best to get your group-mate to talk to you about all that.

Other skills that might be good:
Mage and repel or entangle, to help you get away from trouble in battles. (Mage-skill also lets you go to the Hall of Worlds, and participate in Conclave.)
Hero-points and skills to help you survive battles (and/or to help others).
Chirurgeon and/or other healing (makes you valuable to others in battles).
Artisan: gives you reason to go and do stuff when not at battles, and gives equipment that helps in battles.

As for resource, maybe mana-site since your House will have a coven (especially if you take the Mage skill) or a mine or forest if you take Artisan… but you can change it later, so it’s not something to worry about too much.

[FeFe]

Hi if you want some reassurance i don’t think you can mess things up much more than me and my friends did.
We:

missed the new players meet

i had no armour the entire event and was a healer who couldn’t afford any herbs

spent out first night trying to find the bloody Dawnish camp (took us three hours)

accidentally wandered into the Orc camp and got scared shitless

clung to one dawnish guy who knew way more than we did and just kept repeating the same conversation with different topics
(us: what’s that thing thats going on
him: well have you heard of this thing
us: no
him: well basically…)

accidentally ended up monstering both battles

my costume was completely wrong for dawn and i kept getting mistaken for a marcher

we did one skirmish as our characters (all 3 of us combined got 0 kills) and collectively decided that we were doing no more until the next event when we had some proper kit

numerous times had to go out of character because we didn’t know something

and guess what?
it was the most fun we’d ever had in our entire lives

so don’t worry if you mess up
just try your best and throw enthusiasm at every problem you encounter

[random_corsair]

Monstering

In a lot of ways, monstering the battles is far less stressful than playing in them.

• You don’t have to stress about dying - Barbarians aren’t suicidal, they don’t throw their lives away, they fight to win, and they want to stay alive. However, in reality, as a monster, you’re going to die. A lot. And that’s okay! Just put your hand in the air, get out of the way of the action, and go back to the respawn point you were told about at the start of the battle. Or if you’re lost, just follow someone else who’s got their hand in the air. Which leads to..

• It’s okay to be a bit lost - Battles are chaotic and loud and everyone on your side is wearing the same mask and mostly the same armour. You get grouped up with people from your character’s nation, but it’s pretty easy to get separated from them. This is okay too. If you’re lost and don’t know what to do, join the nearest group of orcs you can see. They’ll be happy to have the help! You can then reconnect with your actual group at the respawn point if you need to.

• The spotlight is not on you - The ideal is for every orc nation, and unit type within that nation to have different motivations, goals and drives that are reflected in how they go to war and how they act while on the battlefield. However, in practice, you can get away with “Death to the Empire!” because most of the time you’ll be in a large group of monsters all yelling various things/charging/holding a line, and the players are too busy trying not to die to worry about the motivation of the third orc from the left.

• You get to experiment - The different orc nations and units have reccommended weapon loadouts, but there’s a lot of opportunity for you to try different weapon loadouts and fighting styles that you might not get a chance to usually. Plus you get to be a heroic orc battling fearlessly against the evil expansionist Empire, and who wouldn’t want that chance?

[Andy_J]

People have covered most of the things I’d say, but just to add a couple:

Battles have a lot of people in them, but the important thing to remember is that half of them are on your side; and of that half, somewhere between half a dozen and a dozen will be Your Group, who will be specifically watching out for you and helping you. It doesn’t matter whether you know what’s going on, so long as someone in your group does You won’t even need to pick your targets - archers are always being told to “shoot that one!”

If in doubt: I happen to know that the people with a big red banner with a golden Winged Lion would always be happy to have another archer, or other light fighters. We’d be more than happy to chat, even if we don’t end up fighting together on the battle.

Armour is nice to have, but to be honest it’s a trade-off with mobility. Especially if you’re an archer, you shouldn’t need it - if an orc gets close enough to hit you, then the people who should be defending you have cocked up. And in Dawn, you will have a lot of people defending you, and they won’t all cock it up So don’t worry there.

Battles aren’t really very fast paced. Some of the immediate running around is fast, but it’s only for a few seconds or a minute, and then it solidifies again. You get time to catch your breath in between.

Slow shooting is fine. You rarely have enough arrows to shoot quickly: a few considered and well-placed shots are far more valuable than rapid shooting. Also, some of the best photos I’ve seen are of archers lining up a shot and you want to give the photographer time to see what you’re doing

To turn up with 4 points spent on marksman, and nothing else, is a perfectly valid choice. You can then spend the rest when you find out what you want to do

Finally: no one person knows everything about Empire. Absolutely everyone has big gaps in their knowledge. There is almost nothing you absolutely need to know: how to react to calls on the battlefield is about it (backup plan if in doubt: fall over, and ask the person who comes to heal you what the call meant).

[Ceri]

It is fine for your character to be super confused.
Imagine that you have grown up in a little village in the middle of nowhere. You are going on holiday to Brussels, where there are lots of people from countries you barely know exist. Then when you think you are on holiday, someone grabs you and says ‘You take care of the European Union Fisheries negotiations with Kazakhstan, I’m too busy dealing with the extradimensional alien invasion’.
This is how confused your character is on their first time in Anvil. It is absolutely completely 100% fine to spend most of the time asking ‘What’s going on?’ ‘What should I do?’ ‘How can I help?’.
On my first ever event, a few minutes after Time In, then my nation had a big thing where the new people are introduced, and I could not even remember my character’s name. It was okay, one of my group reminded me, the world did not end.

[Theblackhelm]

You won’t be the only one. I’m autistic too and it’ll be my first event