Welcome to the handbook, and thank you for your interest in your game. This guide should provide you the essentials of the Kingdom of KOL exclusive interactive fiction, Adventures in Loathing. If you still have questions after reading this and the application, feel free to ask us in our general out of character board, located at the following link. Make sure you read the entire guide first, however, as it answers the most basic questions about the game.

Without further ado, let's begin.

Adventures in Loathing is set to be an interactive fan fiction. It's a roleplaying game, but without dice or random number generators. If you've ever e-wrestled or done anything similar (including the games from which this was derived, Mercenaries and Equinox), then you'll take to this like a Hermit to a worthless trinket. If not, no biggie. Just make sure you read through this section. And ask questions- that's what we're here for.

This's an "alternate universe" take on the Kingdom of Loathing game. Since this is a KOKOL exclusive, meaning I'm developing it for KOKOL (see below), it'll be heavily themed on us, as well as the official game. The big difference is, it's basically our own take on the game. What you do there won't affect what goes on here, in the same respect that what happens here probably won't affect your KOL adventures significantly.

You start by making an adventurer. It can be your in game character, but it doesn't have to be. Remember, this's a fresh start, and a new take on things. The whole "Alternate universe" thing. The world is a little more free form than the KOL game due to it's nature, and it plays out a little differently, but we're still playing adventurers of the traditional classes, clans and stores are still around, we still use familiars, and the Kingdom is still under the Naughty Sorceress's heavy, dark shadows and undefined threats- what does she actually DO besides beating you up for tress-passing, anyway?

After we get enough applications, each story gets rolling the same way: with Rollover. In game terms, this's the downtime for server maintenance where you get extra adventures. In AiL, however, it's basically a story, that will set the tone for your mission. Could be the Queen was kidnaped, or mysterious rumors of a thief in the night that KOKOL wants us to go after, or it might be based on the KOL Quests.

Bad Example: ROLLOVER: The Story tells a rollover about a Royal Disco Thief who's been sent to destroy the village of Turtle Tamers in the North, along with his best friend, the Sugar Cane Jumper. The army's general is conflicted over his most recent missions, but determined to finish his job. King MTiger has heard of this threat, and decided some money can be made in preventing it from happening.

Then, there is a mission briefing posted, possibly in a separate section. This'll include a summery of the highlights of Rollover, and clearly spell out, both in character and out of character, our mission objectives, and will often be used as an ooc warning of some highlights, or to give you an idea how the mission should go early on.

BAD EXAMPLE: The first part would be an in character letter from MTiger explaining his reasons behind sending us, what we're earning, and what our goals are. Then an ooc section might reinforce this, maybe hint that the village will end up being destroyed, anyway, and we'll be out to either arrest the Disco Thief or find out why he did what he did, at each member's discretion. It might even mention there'll be a huge earthquake caused around day 12 by whatever means we choose.

ROLEPLAYING!

This's when you and the other players can choose to start. You write a story, basically. You can focus on the adventure, or you can have your own stories going on. Even though, storywise, we're all on the same team, you're trying to win the thing for yourself, for there can be only one, and the one there can be is a winner. If you win, a winner is you.

Blah, you get the point.

Three pretty basic rules to put in play here. First is, you're *NOT allowed* to win the mission in your roleplay. If the first person that posts runs in and swaps the victory from the go, what's the point of playing? The winner is decided - unlike a Superbowl- at the end, not five minutes into the game.

In other words, if the mission is to Kill Dr. Skul, no one is allowed to actually do it in their roleplays. You can plot for it, build up on it, infiltrate his security, and hell, create a few bodyguards of his to take out, if you need to. Just don't try to write yourself winning the mission. Okay?

Two- the current rating on this thing is about NC-17. If you're younger than that, maybe you should stick to a more friendly game. And if you're older than that, please respect the rating!

Finally, you're not allowed to use other characters, or their personal stables in your roleplays without getting their permission. Their personal stables are characters they have for their own exclusive personal use. This might be as simple as me using a bestest friend in the whole wide Kingdom for Shelly Girl, or an arch rival that's out to get revenge on Sebastian Dash.

So by this point roleplaying has begun. Obey those rules, and you should be fine. Now that you've created your character- let's call him Lucky- you'll want to do a roleplay (Rp) for him. Basically, a short mini story. You might go around interrogating mages trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious attacks, while another character with a more magic oriented gimmick might use his astrology fortune telling birds to consult the great One Eyed Willy in the sky.

And again, maybe we get sub stories going. Your mother in law visits from the Really-not-Close Plains, or you discover a new romantic prospect while in the Haiku dungeons.

After each player writes their roleplay, they do a short mission notification post in the appropriate thread. (Whoa, all those big words make me sound like a professor or something! - S Girl) There'll be a different thread for each mission, and it's to contain the relevant notes of what happens in your roleplay, *Especially* what's relevant to the mission. Keep it short. This isn't a place to advertise your roleplay- it's the important notes people need. In case they don't pick it up in your roleplay, or have time to read all the roleplays.

Keep in mind throughout all of this all the players in the set are trying to win for themselves. You'll have to outthink and outwrite the competition at your character attempts to block their attempts to win as you advance your own agenda(s). May the best writer win, eh? And once roleplaying is over, it's time for the Grand Finale. There'll be a few days to a week or so's wait while this finale gets written.

So common sense says three things. Don't win the mission in your roleplay, and try to read- and work off of- what other people have written.

The thing thing, as I mentioned earlier, is you're not allowed to use other people's characters without permission. This's where the rule is a bit gray- writing yourself preparing for an attack on another player may be okay within the rules, but unless you have something going with the other player, he might ignore you- since he's not allowed to use your character without permission.

Of course, you could work with him, and co write the next segment, if you're both interested. It's a way to expose your character to something they might not otherwise be exposed to, and to co write a story that hopefully helps you both.

That's the basic premise to it. IF you're confused, it should get to be clear as we go along in the game. Just dive in and don't be afraid to ask questions! Make sure to check out the other threads in the introduction forums, too.

That's all I got. Read the application now- and then send in questions so I can expand both sections- and maybe add a Frequently Added Questions page!

(S Girl/ S Dash)