Ryzom is a free massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMORPG – an online role-playing game in which a large number of players interact simultaneously over the Internet in a virtual world) with a complex story and many episodes. In the game, your adventure starts centuries in the future on the planet Atys.

The planet is home to various peoples. The Kami are nature-loving shape shifters and skilled mages. The Karavan, on the other hand, are a highly technical people with powerful weapons.

Both the Kami and Karavan help the homins, whose role the player assumes. The homins are divided into four nations. The Fyros are a warlike nation with their homes in the desert, and the craft-oriented Matis live in the forest. The Tryker, explorers and discoverers, live by the sea. Finally, the ZoraÔ are mages who inhabit the jungle.

Finally, the underground primordial root system of Atys is home to the insect-like Kitin, who advanced to the surface in 2481 and began a war against the homins, who suffered a crushing defeat. The few homin survivors have built new cities in remote areas of the planet.

Off to Atys

Your journey to Atys starts when you install the Ryzom [1] MMORPG. You will find a download link directly on the home page of Ryzom's website. Download the installation file, unzip it, and run Install Ryztart. A wizard will guide you through the installation. If successful, you will find an icon that you can then use to start the game. See Ryzom's user manual for further help [2].

When you play Ryzom for the first time, you must create a new user account. Ryzom is fully playable with a free account. With a paid premium account, you'll support the game's development and get various rewards, such as higher levels you can reach or more experience points. The source code for the underlying framework – and thus the basis of the game – is provided by the developers in the form of Ryzom Core under open source licenses [3].

Creating a New Character

Before you get started, you must first create a new character (Figure 1). To do this, first decide on one of the four nations. While each of them is known for specific skills, you do not have to stick with this in Ryzom. Each member of each nation can fully learn magic, combat, resource hunting and mining, and crafting. Once you have chosen a nation, you design the gender, physique, and face of your character.

Figure 1: Start by creating your character and choosing one of the four nations.

Next you specify which keys you want to use to control the character. It is just a matter of which hand you want to use to control the character's movements. If you are right-handed, the best way to move your hero is with the W (forward), A (left), S (back), and D (right) keys. This leaves your right hand free for the mouse, which you use to initiate other actions with the character. If you are left-handed, you can use the arrow keys to control the movements.

Last but not least, choose a name for your character. You either get creative yourself or let the computer generate a random name.

Welcome to Silan!

Your journey on the planet Atys will start on the island of Silan, where you'll receive your training before heading to the main land for the actual missions. You will meet many characters on Silan. The game displays the names of other people above their heads. If the name is in white, this is a computer-controlled non-player character. A name in blue, on the other hand, stands for another human player. You can right-click on the character to chat with them or form a team.

Your character is a refugee and a descendant of the survivors of the war against the Kitin. The Ranger faction wants all homins to unite in the fight against the Kitin. The Ranger camp is located in the south of the island, where you will first meet Chiang the Strong, the leader of the Ranger camp on Silan. Right-click on Chiang to talk to him and inform him of your arrival (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Chiang the Strong welcomes you to the Ranger camp on Silan Island. He will explain what you need to do next.

After greeting you, Chiang the Strong points you to Unnoirin Cepao, the head of the camp. At top right, you will see a compass. Its needle either points north, or – if you are on a mission – to the destination of your mission. Press M to display a map of the island with a white arrow marking your position. Your mission target is marked by a flag. Right-click on the map to add markers yourself to find specific locations later.

To find Unnoirin Cepao, simply follow the compass. It is not far, but the camp leader is quite sleepy. You will probably have to wake her up. Once awake, she tells you more about the races and nations on Atys and refers you to the instructors, who will teach you skills in magic, combat, resource hunting and mining, and crafting.

Each of the four nations has its own space in the Ranger camp. To the east, you will find the ZoraÔ. With the ZoraÔ, you will learn the art of magic from Nomis Merclao. In the north, you will encounter the Fyros, who provide combat training from Guilan Guiter. To the west, you will find the Trykers, where Milles Dodoine will introduce you to the art of finding and mining raw materials. Finally, the Matis are encamped in the south. This nation trains you as a craftsman. Which skills you acquire and how far you develop them are up to you. The more you learn, the better – but you won't get far without combat training.

The basic principle on which your training works in all areas is that you first go to the respective instructor, who sends you on a mission. Once you have completed the mission, you will receive experience points for it. You exchange these points with the teacher, who you will always find right next to the respective instructor, for new skills, which in turn form the basis for further missions.