Shardworld - the Game (Guide thread)

[Amaterasu]

Moves, Loot, Skills and Leveling

When you play the Shardworld you have three sources of moves and powers: purchased items, loot and permanent rewards.

Purchased items are anything you spent OM on: Powers, Proficiencies, Moves, Power-Ups etc. These are brought along to the Shardworld and cannot be lost. Your Shardworld character can use regularly.

Permanent rewards are awarded to you typically on quests, and are moves or powers that can only be used in the Shardworld unless you buy that move or power with OM as well.

Loot is a special system presented in the Shardworld. If you find an item dropped from an enemy or in a loot stash, that is loot. It's a move that you can use without having purchased it, in the Shardworld only. If your character dies however, they drop all their loot which can then be picked up by other players. Loot can however be turned into Purchased items by buying that move with OM.
You can have a maximum of three Loot pieces on you at any given time. You will have to discard or purchase a Loot piece to free up space for more.

Skills!

There's a huge number of skills which each have a different advantage to being trained. Most aren't directly useful for combat but as a golden rule, you can never have too many skills trained.
Skills are trained, a level is permanent once it is gained, going from 1 to 50. You train skills by using them or training them. Generally speaking, starting out will be easy, but the higher you get the harder it will be to become skillful. Players can decide if their skill levels up from doing a certain activity, but you're expected to keep it somewhat realistic - pitching half a dozen tents won't give you legendary camping skills.

As RP Fodder, your character may start to "inherit" skills from their character, as the Shardworld is rather realistic. It will only make a "mental" difference, not condition your body to become stronger or faster, but you may find that after playing for a long time you're able to make a campfire more easily, or your fingers seem swifter at pulling a coin from someone's pocket.

More skills may be added eventually.

Athletics[spoiler]These are most useful for rogues but you can never go wrong with it. It allows characters to navigate difficult terrain, surpass obstacles and trains their muscles to achieve greater non-combat feats. For instance, a trained athlete could climb onto a large mob's back and strike at their neck without being flung off.[/spoiler]
Blacksmithing[spoiler]The forge is your home. A trained blacksmith can forge masterwork out of metal and jewels, creating amazing crafts which can rival even that which you find on high-level bosses. Blacksmithing allows you to craft everything a forge and anvil are required for, including weapons, armor, jewelry, decorations... Note that weapons created this way are considered Loot unless you buy it as a move.[/spoiler]
Camping[spoiler]Particularly useful for those not too fond of cities or who have to spend a lot of time outside. A good camper can build up complicated tents, lays out an encampment in the most beneficial way, uses the surrounding resources to their advantage... camping also includes making a fire, surveying the area for fitting spots etc.[/spoiler]
Cooking & Brewing[spoiler]Delicious, delicious foods! A skilled chef will burn less food when cooking it, use advanced recipes, conserve their prepared meals longer before they rot, their meals will be more delicious and restore health or boost stats. This skill also includes brewing which is both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
A good cook also knows the other side of the medal and is able to craft lethal non-magic poisons, however.[/spoiler]
Craftsmanship[spoiler]Non-smithing crafting goes here. This can also be used in tandem with smithing-related skills, such as inscribing and decorating your weapons, making bonetooth jewelry, taxidermising animals, sewing...[/spoiler]
Fishing[spoiler]Along with Hunting and Wayfarer, this skill is useful for not starving in the wilds. A good fisherman can fish anytime, everywhere, using elaborate and complicated fishing devices such as depth charges instead of hooks, and gains a damage bonus against aquatic mobs.[/spoiler]
Hunting[spoiler]Very useful to slay the beasts of the wild, and/or avoid going hungry. Setting traps, retracing tracks, catching elusive animals... a good hunter knows their tricks inside out. They also get a damage bonus against land-dwelling mobs.[/spoiler]
Leadership[spoiler]Being a leader ain't easy! Leading your adventurer group through a successful raid, strategizing, instructing and explaining are all parts of this skill. Being a good leader will make NPC workers work more efficiently, your inspiration will be passed to them, they will fight for you because they know you will lead them to victory.
Perks include enemies giving up or betraying their allies to fight for you, buffs becoming more effective, being able to lead NPC groups etc.[/spoiler]
Mining[spoiler]Finding and properly mining out precious metals and gems becomes easier with this skill. Finding weak spots on tough surfaces becomes easier. You'll learn to use explosives without exploding yourself. Generally useful in tandem with Blacksmithing skills.[/spoiler]
Thievery[spoiler]Sneaking, picking pockets, opening locks... it's not the most honest work, but who cares about that when it fills your pockets? And of course it helps when that grand loot chest appears to be locked and you don't want to smash it open. Training this skill will let you open doors and chests silently, sneak right behind unaware foes, empty someone's pockets or even steal their weapon in the middle of combat.[/spoiler]
Wayfarer[spoiler]It's a very useful skill to have in conjunction with camping, Fishing and Hunting. A skilled wayfarer finds herbs and roots, they can tell whether a mushroom is poisonous or edible, how one can avoid angering the local wildlife and so on. In addition, they are better at analyzing their opponents to fill out their bestiary or find weak spots on the fly. In short, everyone who lives away from the cities likes a good wayfarer with them.[/spoiler]
Woodworking[spoiler]Cutting trees down and fashioning them into useful objects is a woodworker's job. It doesn't go as far as to replace craftsmanship, but for instance they'll be able to operate a sawmill reliably, create planks, dry out wood for firemaking and so on. It's also useful for making arrow shafts which a fletcher can then fashion into a full arrow.[/spoiler]

Levels

Because all MMORPGs need levels. These are a measurement of your character's power, which is mostly useful when determining what content you could be accessing or should hold off on. Note that your Shardworld level is not the same as your Omniverse level.

Levels are determined by your character's purchases, by the following calculation:

-Each character starts at level 0.

-Each stat-up purchase adds 2 levels.

-Having at least one T1 Super Move of any sort adds 1 level. Having T2 Super Moves adds 2 levels, and having T3 Super Moves adds 4 levels. Multiple Super Moves of the same tier do not add multiple levels.

-Having at least one T1 Power-Up or Power-Up Form adds 2 levels. T2 Power-Ups/-Forms add 4 levels. T3 Power-Ups/-Forms add 8 levels. As for Super Moves, multiple Power-Ups of the same tier do not add multiple levels.

The highest level any character can have (without counting beyond 10 stat-ups) is thus 31 (10 + 1 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4 + 8).