Welcome to Phantasia! Congratulations on choosing one of the most challenging, and most addicting role-playing games on the internet today.

To begin your adventuring days, you'll need to create an account. The account name will be viewable in your personal info box within the game, and all your created characters will be stored within this account. Once you have thought of an account name, and a memorable password, click on a client for your use in the game. For older Netscape and Mac users, you will probably need to use the 1.02 client. For all other uses *not* stuck in the Stone Age, (just kidding!) you will use the 1.18 client.

To create an account, simply click on the 'sign up' button on the loaded Phantasia client window, and follow the easy to understand instructions. Once your account is created, log in, and create your first Phantasia character. There are seven classes of character in the Phantasia Realm, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Without boring you all with specifics, just understand the strengths of each class:

CHARACTER CLASSES

Magic-Users: Rely heavily on their moderate brains and high magic level, but are the weaklings (in terms of brute strength) within the realm.

Fighters: Bash through the realm with decent speed and high strength, but have only a decent magic level, and poor brains.

Elves: Somewhere between a Fighter and a Magic-User, Elves have the highest starting speed of any of the characters, more strength than a Mage, and more brains and magic than fighters. Elves, however, have the lowest starting energy of any class.

Dwarves: The "tank" of the classes, the Dwarf has a large amount of energy and moderate strength, but is hampered by the lowest starting speed of any class.

Halflings: The most cunning and intuitive of any of the classes, Halflings have an above average amount of energy and decent strength, which compliments a staggeringly high amount of brains. The Halfling, however, is limited in the area of magic, where it is the weakest of all classes.

Gnomes: Moderately high in most aspects of the game, the Gnome is an essentially well-rounded class, but the Gnome can hold less mana per level than any other character.

Experimentos: The entertaining class, the experimento can start anywhere within 2,000 units from the origin (0, 0) at level 0. The starting stats for each experimento are the same.

Once you have decided upon your class, create your character, and enter the realm.

GENERAL INTERACTIONS

When the character has entered the realm, you see in front of you an interface. The eight grey boxes directly above the chat box, which are your action buttons, can either be clicked with the mouse, or pressed using the corresponding number on the keyboard (the numbers 1-8, NOT on the numerical keypad). When you are not in combat, the commands you see in front of you are

COMBAT COMMANDS

To move around the realm, you can either use your mouse to click on the directional compass buttons in the lower-right hand corner of the applet, or you can use the numerical keypad on the keyboard, where the number 9 would correspond to NE, 1 would correspond to SW, etc.

And finally, to bore you no further, a basic explanation of equipment in the realm. Anything your character finds as treasure from a monster (amulets, holy water, etc.) is automatically equipped by the game. Shields and swords can add to your energy and strength respectively, and can either be found as treasure from monsters or bought at posts. Trading posts are found at the positive and negative coordinates of any number squared times 100. For example, the first post in the realm is at +/- 100, +/-100. This is because 1 squared is 1, and then 1 multiplied by 100 is 100. The same works for the 2nd post; 2*2=4. 4*100= 400. Therefore, the 2nd post in the realm is found at +/-400, +/-400.

For any specific questions on the rules or in-depth clarification of this guide, first consult the "Rules" section from the main page. This gives an excellent overview of the game and its more advanced features. If all else fails, look for either a Game Wizard or Apprentice, which are designated by a W or an A next to their name in the in-game character box. Good luck, and have fun!