Newbie Guide Leveling 1 to 12

Newbie Guide Leveling 1 to 12

This guide written and published by p(Baca/Endo)

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say” 

JRRT, The Fellowship of the Ring

This guide is about starting a newbie in MUME. I will not be going through this like a walk through, but a general path to going from level 1 to 12.

Many parts of this guild reference to the MUME help pages which can be found at: https://mume.org/help/help_index

Bold words can be looked up in the games help files. Like help quest.

Newcomers

If you have just made a character, and are new to the game, that character is categorized or flagged as a newcomer. Most players just refer to lower level characters as newbies (sometimes lowbies). As a newcomer you have access to some options to help in learning the game.

You show up as a newbie to any Rangers logged in. Rangers also see when you log in.

Rangers are players who volunteer to help out newer players to the game. Type who ranger to see them, if any are logged in.

You can gain more then one newbie kit if you happen to die, until level 5.

A newbie kit is a collection of some gear, equipment, weapon, food, and drink to help you.

You receive some starting hints about the game that pop up as you accomplish tasks, or are questing in certain areas.

Once you make it to level 13, you are no longer a newcomer. This guide is written to help you make it to level 12 or 13. With less deaths and more leveling!

Leveling Up

In order to level up, you need to gain experience points and travel points. To see how many experience points (xp) or travel points (tp) you need to level up, type info or stat.

You can also choose to add the number of xp or tp you need to your prompt: help prompt

As you gain enough xp or tp to level up, you will notice you gain more hit points, offensive bonus (OB), and practice to spend on skills and spells. Your mana and moves will not jump up as you level up.

The best way to gain travel points is to find secret doors and open them, explore rooms you have not visited before, and to travel to new areas or zones you've never been too. There are even a few quests that grant travel points if you accomplish the mission.

There are several ways to gain experience points. The most common way is to kill animals, monsters, creatures, and threats (mobs). You don't even have to kill a enemy, dealing damage to any mobs in combat grants small amounts of "hit xp" or "damage xp". Almost all quests in the game grant xp. And some rare evil items can grant xp when turned into certain mobs.

If you do a majority of the quests recommended in this guide, you should reach level 12 pretty easily.

Newbie Commands and Helpfiles

This is simply a list of many game commands and certain help files that many newer players would find useful. It is alot of reading, since this game is very in depth!

Help files have much needed descriptions and information about playing MUME.

Commands are what you type or input to perform actions or get information in the game.

Commands: hints, info, stat, score, inventory, equipment, level

Help files: newcomer, basics, FAQ1, features, rules, hints, change spam, who, rent, help

help help, help basics, help hints, help rent, help features

Areas for Newcomers

The first area of the game you will find is the Gandalf Introduction quest. It gives you some tips of what game commands to type, in order to help Gandalf lead you to a village. Just type the commands that are hinted, and try to do what Gandalf asks you to do. It is very low risk or no risk introduction to learning the game.

Gandalf will eventually help lead you to Black Hill Village in the Tower Hills, where you now need to figure out what to try first.

After the Gandalf quest, you can try out the rest of the game at your own pace.

There is a NPC mob there called Maelton who can give you some tips on quests in the area.

Tower Hills and Black Hill Village

• Good for levels 1 to 8

The Tower Hills area of the game is the most quest dense part of MUME. Almost all of the quests here are designed to help you learn many of the games commands. Hints will pop up as you attempt the to do the quests. There are also some helpful NPCs that might give you some tips.

This village offers many services:

• several shops to use: list, buy, sell, mend, resize, value
• shops you may find are: grocer shop, herbalist shop, weapon/armour (blacksmith) shop, bartender
• Tower Hills has an Inn to rent at
• and stable to use if you have a mount
• it has one of every guild master in the village or very close by, near the village: warrior, ranger, cleric, mage, thief
• the warrior and mage guilds are IN the village, ranger and cleric just north of the village, thief is a hunter just SE of the village
• some farms just directly north of the village that have mounts, food, and water
• most of the mobs in the area are not very dangerous
• several NPCs in or near the village offer quests with rewards (such as the thief and ranger guilds, or herbalist shop)

The rest of the Tower Hills area does have an aggressive mob here and there, but over all should be fights you can get away from, or even win. There is alot to explore in the Tower Hills and that area along can keep you busy for several levels (up to level 8 recommended) or entire play sessions.

Halls of Mandos

If your character happens to die for any reason, you will show up in the Halls of Mandos basically naked. All of your gear and items will remain on your corpse in whatever room you died in. To retrieve your gear, you need to return to your corpse to loot it and get your items back.

To leave the Halls of Mandos, you must wait for your hit points to regen or heal back up to (bad). Then you can pray to a town or city to start your adventures anew. Some towns or cities you might not be able to pray to yet.

If you just type pray, you will get a list of any of the towns or cities you can be magically transported too.

Also while in the Halls of Mandos, you can magically eat and drink. Just type eat or drink in the room, and you will magically be full.

pray shire, pray tower hills, pray grey havens, pray bree

Villages Near Tower Hills

• Good for levels 1 to 8

There are several villages near Tower Hills that are pretty safe to explore. These villages might have a shop here and there, and some of them have Inns to rent at. They are all located south of Tower Hills area, and are fairly easy to reach once you make it to the Road to Grey Havens.

Inside any of these villages is safe. But there are some dangerous areas around some of the villages.

Over all traveling along the main Road is pretty safe for anyone that is not naked and not level 1.

• Elven Wine Village

North of the Road to Grey Havens, south of Black Hill Village. Has food, drink, mounts, some gear. No city gates, you can just walk in and explore.

• Aldereon's Village

North of the Road to Grey Havens. Has an inn, food, drink, bar, some gear, mounts. Outside of the gates you can just type call, and the guards will open them for you.

• Elven Valley Village

South of the Road to Grey Havens and hidden, so it's harder to find. Has some water and is a safe place to explore and rest. Outside of the gates you can just type call, and the guards will open them up for you.

• Greenholm

This is the furthest west Hobbit village, and is outside the Shire. It has an inn, stable, a shop, and a bar. No city gates, you can just walk in and explore.

• Safety warning!!!

Beware the patches of forest in between Aldereon's Village and Greenholm, north and south of the road, many aggressive mobs there.

• Those forests areas are more for level 7 to 13

Shire

• Good for levels 1 to 8

This is a very large area with multiple villages and a town spread out across several zones of the game. Over all the entire Shire is safe to explore. Most of the guilds there are for hobbits only. But you can still use any of the shops, stables, inns, or other services. Food and drink are common and easy to find in the Shire. Fair warning, however, if you are not a hobbit:

You can wield weapons in the Shire and not get arrested. But do not attack any of the hobbits there or cast any spells there. You will be wanted and get thrown in jail.

Grey Havens (GH)

Grey Havens is actually two cities split by a large bay of the ocean. Both Harlond and Forlond are save to explore at any level.

The Haven of Harlond is closest to Tower Hills and fairly easy to get to following paths or roads. The city has magical gates that will just open up for you to enter. There are shops, an inn, stable, and one of every guild in Harlond to practice at. A great town to explore and look around.

To get to Forlond, you'll need to catch a ride on the ferry that crosses the bay. For low level characters (below lvl 5) the ferry is free.

However, you need to not cast any spells in town or wield any weapons, or they will arrest you and put you in jail. Once you become a citizen, you can wield and cast at any time.

So remove weapon before you enter the town.

Villages and farms near Grey Havens

• Some spots are lvl 1 to 5, other areas are more lvl 6 to 10

South of Grey Havens there are 2 elf villages that offer a few services and also some farms. There are a few tough mobs that wander that area (boars, snakes, etc) so explore with some caution. If you are getting comfortable with some of the games commands, this can be a good area to explore some.

No city gates, you can just walk in and explore any of the farms or villages.

Bree and it's Villages

• Good for levels 5 to 12

Bree is a great town to explore. It has inn, stables, many shops, food, drink, and some gear. There are also 3 small villages just NE of Bree as well, Staddle, Archet, and Combe. The town and the villages are safe to explore, but the area surrounding them can be more dangerous. Beware traveling too far east of Bree at lower levels.

However, you need to not cast any spells in town or wield any weapons, or they will arrest you and put you in jail. Once you become a citizen, you can wield and cast at any time. They will also not open up the city gates at night if you are not a citizen.

Farms

• Good for levels 1 to 8

There are many farms in the game, and they are great for new players to look around. There are farms near Tower Hills, Grey Havens, Shire, and several around Bree. If you find a farm try and remember where it was at, so you can return if you need to. Most farms in the game have food, water, and maybe some gear and mounts. They also often have weaker mobs you can try your combat skills on. Don't worry about being arrested on farms, it's safe to kill the cows and other animals you find there. You can also take any mounts from farms.

Areas for Newbies to Avoid

There are some locations that are quite dangerous for newbies to enter. Often because of more difficult mobs but sometimes because the zone itself is a maze, maybe with random exit rooms. Here is a list of spots you might want to avoid to live longer... and maybe return later to over come their challenges. Some of these areas are suitable for level 17-20, many are level 21+.

Old Forest

• SE of Shire
• Visit after level 16

There are groups of strong trees and roots that ensnare you. A classic place where new players often die. It also has many random exit room exits, so it is very difficult to get back out and is very easy to get lost. It does have a feature to help out players trapped inside. Just tell Tom help and Tom Bombadil will come to rescue you. Just follow him and he will lead you out.

Barrow Downs

• SW of Bree
• visit after level 16

An old stronghold of the Witch King, it has some undead that can't wait for you to join them and a very powerful supermob with undead allies. The map is also extremely confusion, and easy to get lost for a long time inside. It does have a feature to help out players trapped inside. Just tell Tom help and Tom Bombadil will come to rescue you. Just follow him and he will lead you out.

Old Fornost

• directly west out of Fornost NW gate
• visit after level 16

This is part of the ruins of Fornost after the Witch King's army siege, surrounded, and a attacked it ages ago. Left behind are several challenging undead.

Blue Mountains Mines

• access on the south side of the upper level of Blue Mountains
• visit after level 18

This is a confusing mine maze that changes it's map every repop. It has some very sneaky spiders that can trap you in a cocoon of webs. They do eventually eat you later... Very risky solo if you don't have someone to help cut you out of the web cocoons.

Brush

• 2 zone area on Old East Road a few zones E of Bree
• you can pass by this area on the Old East Road at lower levels, but avoid going inside until after level 12

This area is out side of the protection of the Hardened Rangers that patrol and defend Bree. It has some strong weeds, spiny bushes, lions, a pack of patrolling orcs, raiders that run to assist each other, and other challenges. Also players of Sauron's Minions travel here frequently.

Tharbad

• South on the Greenway and the Road to Tharbad, can also access with the Grey Ship from Grey Havens, and the Coach from Bree/Fornost
• Best to wait until after level 6 at least

This is one of the major cities of the game, but that often lets newbies think it is safe like the other major cities. It is not. Tharbad is a pretty lawless city of thieves, muggers, bandits, and assassins. Even the gateguards will attack you. The sewers full of smugglers and other criminal elements. Also Black Numemoreans can enter the city at any time and Orcs often track up to the gates.

The city gates close at night, so it is very easy to get locked inside this town. The Grey Ship from Grey Havens or the Coach from Bree/Fornost can still take you back out. Might be safe to carry a spare coach ticket or 2, buy them in shops in Bree, Fornost, Mewlip Inn, Jasper's Tavern.

You can wield weapons in this town and cast spells, and will need to do that in order to survive.

Dunland

• far south of Rivendell and far east of Tharbad
• you can probably travel through the area after level 12, with a mount and good gear

This LARGE region over all isn't all that dangerous after newbie levels, BUT it does have areas in it that are difficult. There are multiple villages of Dunlendings with warriors, captains, and even supermobs. If you avoid those villages and stick to the plains, you might be safer, but beware the sneaking hunters, trappers, and huntsmen.

Mirkwood

• 3 sections, North Mirkwood, that is North of Ingrove
• Old Forest Road and Emyn Fuin further east, South of Ingrove
• a portion of Mirkwood that is outside of Dol Guldur, Sauron's stronghold in this age

All 3 sections of Mirkwood are very challenging, even after level 20. Very strong trees, vines and fungi that can poison, werewolves, encampments of orcs, and spider webs to entrap you.

Trollshaws

• W of Rivendell, E of Brush, N of the Great East Road
• you can pass by this area on the Old East Road at lower levels, but avoid going inside until after level 16

This is where the Troll Warrens is located, and several dark patches of dense forest where trolls live. Players of Sauron's Minions visit and track in this area often. If you need to visit, travel as quickly as you can along the road, and try to do it in daylight.

Ancient Broken Road

• S of Rivendell
• you can probably travel through the area after level 12, with a mount and good gear, best to avoid the fights

This area is commonly tracked and patrolled by Sauron's Minions. There are cave networks of trolls and goblins.

Moria

• middle of Misty Mountains, west gate is closed, east gate is open
• challenging, avoid until after level 21

The fabled Mines of Moria have great risks and great rewards. It is one of the most high level and difficult areas of the entire game.

Quests By Area

This section is not a quest walk through, but more of a general guide for what quests you should be attempting if you find them. This will be a list of the areas where you can get these quests, and which mob or NPC offers them.

Quests very often grant some xp as a reward. A few quests can grant tps. Many quests can also come with other possible rewards, citizenships, silver coins, gear you can use or sell, knowledge in languages, and even more!

To accept a quest from a mob trying to give you a quest, you often need to:

nod

say yes

That means you've accepted the quest. Also check your quest log to make sure the quest is actually there.

Some quests have a scaling difficulty and will be easier or faster at lower levels. They progress to become more challenging as you level. Other quests are the same, no matter what level you try them on.

Tower Hills and Black Hill Village

By the time you take out a few mobs and finish this lists of quests, you'll easily be level 5. And you'll be more prepared to take on challenges in other areas of the game.

• Black Hill Village in the northern part of Tower Hills, NE of Grey Havens, NW of the Shire

• 12 quests available

• Maelton's work - Maelton in Black Hill Village, he directs you to other quests in the area
• Ellie's lost doll - Ellie in Black Hill Village, 2 rooms east of Maelton
• mining for ore - blacksmith apprentice, 1 room west of weaponsmith Black Hill Village
• smith's delivery - blacksmith apprentice, 1 room west of weaponsmith Black Hill Village, you need a mount for this quest
• moneybag recovery - crippled ranger, ranger guildmaster, farms N of Black Hill Village
• lost ring recovery - crippled ranger, ranger guildmaster, farms N of Black Hill Village
• equipping Leonard - a young man N of weaponshop in Black Hill Village, easier at lower levels, scales up difficulty as you level up
• snake hunt - accomplished hunter, thief guildmaster, just a few rooms SE of Black Hill Village right off the trail
• rat infestation - accomplished hunter, thief guildmaster, just a few rooms SE of Black Hill Village right off the trail
• bandit's note - accomplished hunter, thief guildmaster, just a few rooms SE of Black Hill Village right off the trail
• ponybreeder's plight - pony breeder S of Black Hill Village, NE of the Elven Wine Village
• three flowers - herbalist shop in Black Hill Village

Elven Wine Village

• South of Black Hill Village, north of Road to Grey Havens

• 1 quest available

This quest can be more challenging and might be best try it after lvl 8.

• Elven chief's wine - Elven Chief in the Elven Wine Village

Aldereon's Village

• 1 quest available

This quest scales up and gets more difficult as you level up. At lower levels it is less letters and you do not need to travel as far to deliver them. If you wait until say level 22, you'll need to delivery MORE letters and travel to many far off places.

• North of the Road to Grey Havens, east of Grey Havens, West of Shire

• Aldereon's letters - Aldereon in Aldereon's Village (named after him), easier at lower levels, requires trips to many towns and areas

Grey Havens, Harlond

• West along the Road to Grey Havens

• 3 quests available

• the Elven weaver - an exceptionally old elf, ancient weaver south of GH east gate, requires a trip north toward Blue Mountains
• a handful of moss - dwarf north of GH east gate in a mine, part of weaver quest
• Filatior's troubles - Filatior the cleric guild master in GH

Shire

• West of Bree on the Road to Grey havens, East of Grey Havens

• 4 quests available

• the lonely Giant - lonely giant, loads in 5 different rooms in Shire, easier at lower levels, scales up and get's harder as you level up
• lost daughter - tailor in Hobbiton
• Woody End tanner - Tanner lives in forest on south side of Shire, in the confusing Woody End forest
• the plump hobbit - plump hobbit in Hobbiton, requires a trip to Bree

Blue Mountains

• NW of Grey Havens

• 1 quest available to everyone

• 1 quest only for dwarves or citizens

Bree

• East of Shire, south of Fornost, along the Old East Road

• 11 quests available

• Bree Citizenship Quest - Bree secretary, doing this quest can get a reward to afford citizenships in Bree or Fornost
• the lost dagger - Bree weaponsmith shop
• Barman's errand - barman inside the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree, requires a trip north to Fornost
• pork and venison - baker in Bree, S of Prancing Pony Inn, this quest links to a quest in the Shire
• scarred boar hunt - hunter at Bree Archery Range, S of ranger guildmaster
• wolf pack attack - hunter at Bree Archery Range, S of ranger guildmaster
• mangy bear cull - hunter at Bree Archery Range, S of ranger guildmaster
• arrowhead hunt - fletcher N of the weapon shop, requires a trip north to Fornost
• Araduin's request - ranger SW of Prancing Pony Inn
• beer and axe - Clint the Dwarf, wanders around inside of Bree, do his quest and he will join your adventures!
• furs and skins - Tanner in Bree, has multiple stages that you can complete at higher levels

Mobs By Level

This section is here to help you find fights you can over come, and maybe avoid fights that could end up leaving you awful or dead. It is simply a list of mobs of different types (birds, snakes, spiders, animals, plants, etc...) that you have a good chance of being victorious.

These lists are just a place to get started, there are MANY more mobs that would also fit into these level categories. And some types of mobs vary by the region you are at in the game.

You can, of course, fight any mobs you want too. But you might lose a citizenship in town or be thrown in jail if you attack any citizens. I would recommend not attacking 'citizen' like mobs, such as dwarves, elves, hobbits, most men, farmers. If you kill good aligned mobs, it will drop your alignment which could restrict what cities or towns you can enter. And some mobs in the game might start hunting you, such as elven hunters.

If you have been trying to upgrade your gear, you will notice it can help make these fights easier or faster.

If you have been spending your practice wisely at guilds, you will notice it can help make these fights easier or faster.

Some of these mobs might be easier for certain classes. A warrior with good weapons and armour might find some of these earlier battles a little easier or faster then a mage or a cleric.

Some of these mobs might have a 'special attack' like bash, a poisoned bite, backstab, or kick. The more you battle with them, the more you will learn some of their tricks.

Beware trying to take on groups of mobs, they will split up your parry PB bonus between them, meaning they will all be able to hit you more often. But once you are a couple levels higher, taking on a group of 3 large bats should not be much of a problem. One of the easiest ways to make lower level weaker mobs more challenging is to just add MORE of them.

If you are worried about a fight, please use these 3 commands to help:

• consider - this compares the fight to your level, and gives you an estimate if you might win or not.

If it sounds too hard of a battle, that means the fight probably is, and you'll end up fleeing or dead.

• scout - this allows you to peer into the room ahead, so scout n, scout d, scout w, etc... some exits are not scoutable.

• flee - if you are getting hurt, wounded, bad, or awful quickly, you should probably flee from the fight

Please be aware, that trying to scout a oneway exit, will make you automatically move in that direction. This can be dangerous and has killed a few characters.

flee, scout e, scout d, scout n, con fish, con bird, con insect, con wolf, con spider

Level 1-4

One issue you will find with some of these lower level mobs is that they really like to flee! Most of them are non-aggressive. Some ways to over come this issue is to use a missile weapon, cast a spell at them, or be a warrior with as high of an OB as you can get. Another warrior trick is to bash those fleeing mobs, and when they flee from you they are very often still bashed in the next room they fled too.

garden snake, tiny spider, all rabbits, most birds (sparrow, finch, lark, duck, chicken, etc)
fox, pig, sheep, boar cub, wolf cub, cows, deer, small bat, mouse, most fish (bass, carp, trout, etc..)
swarms of mosquitoes, sand viper, slithering snake, bees, grasshopper, butterfly, worm,
squirrel, opossum, otter, marten, raccoon, rooster, young ruffian, small leech, goat, goat kid
toad, frog, bullfrog, swarms of midges, small brown snake, beaver, catfish, vicious rat, bloodthirsty bat

Level 5-7

stag, elk, bull, ancient fungus, grey wolf, ruffian, bandit, large bat, animated skeleton, mother wolf,
earth beetle, giant rat, great rat, brown snake, black snake, black wolf, half wolf, black raven,
swarm of hornets, small tangle of roots, tusky boar, water snake, forest spider, water spider,
tree-snake, billy goat, porcupine, large pike, large mother hawk, ram, wolverine

Level 8-10

boar, roots, tangle of vines, white wolf, huge black wolf, black fungus, huge bat, giant termite,
queen bee, brigand, thief, footpad, dreadful snake, green snake, wild bull, water moccasin, huge spider,
young mountain lion, mastiff, wild dog, rabid grey wolf, starved grey wolf, old bull, starving bear, sturgeon, bandit bodyguard

Level 11-13

You may need to rest, recover, and regen for hit points after these fights, don't try them starting out at wounded either... Maybe build a campfire to rest next too.

robber, thick vines, mottled snake, pack leader wolf, brown bear, haunt, spirit, smuggler,
young mountain lion, black widow spider, giant lizard, black bear, mugger, thug, giant slug,
ferocious warg, shifting shadow, spirit slave, lioness

Mobs to Avoid... for now

Some mobs are going to be a serious threat to your characters life. I really recommend avoiding such mobs if you are below level 13. There is good chance you may end up dead, or fleeing at bad or awful hits as you painfully learn your lesson. These are difficult for many reasons such as: high OB (hits more often), high damage (just hits hard), bashes, has strong poison, can track down if you flee, or are simply higher level then you are. Try to use the scout command to avoid doing battle with some of these mobs.

huge tarantula, rattlesnake (high OB, very strong poison)
assassin (high OB, backstab)
mountain lion, crazed dwarf (high OB, bashes)
dark wraith (good DB, casts lightning bolt)
grizzly bear, vulture, great werewolf, shade (higher level, higher damage)
chief smuggler (higher level, parry splitting allies)

---

There is much more information available in the hints command (just type hints in game), help files, and the many other guides on this Wiki. And you can always ask in the narrate channel in game for help with any questions as well.

Link back to the wiki guides:

• Guide