Part 1: Explanations
Part 2: Shilla Legends

Before Starting
It's a good thing you're here. There's alot for you to learn about this fantastic role-playing game, and all this information might seem like alot to you..but just read it once, alright? And if you forget something you can always re-read it later. Let's start right away to get you on your way. And don't forget, shilla is like a large snowball; when you have to push it in the beginning, it's very heavy, but once you start pushing and rolling, it gets easier after a while. So here's 4 points you should know about before you pick your character:

  • Note: You should know that if you had a character, that was deleted because of inactivity, you can get it restored.. email the admins at adminmail@shilla.org, with your character name. The character must be from 2003 or later though..

  • 1. First of all, the Wise Sage! Yes, the Wise Sage, you know, that guy that sits in shilla at the fountain you start at? Well, he's got some help for you, FOR SURE. He offers you a great guide, and not only that, but if you follow his guide, you get a free knife too! You can only do this if you haven't been validated yet, so if you forgot about it, I strongly advise you to re-create a character (sorry, but not the same name) and take the guide from the Wise Sage. You can also change your password, which will send a new validation code to your email, which means you can do the guide again. Also, when you get to the part where you must kill the Half Slimes, please kill alot (like about 100-200) until you're absolutely sick of them. They give 8 gold on average, and trust me, that's alot for that stage. When you're done with the Wise Sage's guide, go and validate yourself. After that, I think it's a really, really smart idea to bring your money to the bank. You're probably going to die sooner or later, because it's pretty tough in the beginning, so please, bring your money to the bank. Use the Town Map to help you on the way.

  • 2. Secondly, your race. It matters quite a bit. Depending on how you want to play shilla, you should pick your race well, because you can never change this. You can choose to play a warrior, or a mage (and of course there are always mixtures, but that's irrelevant right now). If you're going to play as a warrior, then Dexterity is the most important stat in Shilla, and you must be able to boost it easily. Of course, when being a warrior, Strength and Constitution are very important too. Races such as Kobolds, Ogres and Dwarfs have great fighting stats, and they lack in mana stats, and will have a harder time finding areas, but gain experience faster due to good fighting. Orcs and Wolves are also decent fighters.
    Really good Mages are Pixies, along with Elfs. They have not only a bonus in spell power, but have cheaper costs for the mana stats, too. And the Pixies even have the Invisibility ability .. which gives them easy access to all villages. Always a decent thing.
    I must say that, even though shilla has now it's advantages for both playing styles, if you're a first-timer, I advise you to play as a warrior. Consider warriors as normal, and mages as very hard.

  • 3. Third, the starting bonus points you can give matter, but only a little. Some people advice to put it ALL on dex, which seems like the best thing to do. I've found, after some research, that it is better to spend it a bit on dex (10 points), a bit on Int(10 points) and some at Chr(10 points). Each selection is 5 points. One stat you should never spend any bonus points on, is Wisdom, even if you're a mage. Later on you'll train Wisdom, but for the very beginning, you don't need it yet. Str and Con are useful for boosting, but with your early training sessions you'll get the chance to boost them.

  • 4. Lastly, gender makes some difference, Males have cheaper Str, and females have cheaper Dex. Depends on what you like more. Dexterity is probably better to choose, but if you want to be a male, then so be it.

    Starting Out
    .Now that you've read the most important things, before starting the game, it's time to actually start playing now. When you get at the fountain, don't forget about the Wise Sage, remember? Do his guide, and kill alot of Half Slimes. Validate yourself, the directions from the fountain are: West, South, South, West, West, West, West, North. Bank your money after this. Say, did I introduce you to shilla yet? Shilla is a text based RPG, where you click text hyperlinks to move around. On occasion you'll be killing creatures for experience, to build your character stronger. Anyway, let's get started. The first thing you should do is to realize you CANNOT kill Town Guards. You might've already found this out the hard way..but oh well, now you know anyway. Leave them alone. Now if you are really completely new, you really should check out the following Explanation Page and also the Menu Explanation Page for more information about the Menu on your left side, and about the attack options, etc. Very recommended if you haven't played Shilla before. If you are finished with reading it, then the next step can be taken.

    Memorizing the Town
    That's right. You should memorize this town as soon as possible. Which means right now. It's important that you can find your way around town, as you'll need a lot of services from shops. This is the Town Map. Take a good look at it, and just visit the shops in town, take a look at the walls, and get to know the whole town better.

    Should do's and shouldn't do's
    You've already learned the most important things of what you shouldn't do, and that is: Don't bother with Town Guards at all. There are some other things you should be aware of though. Let's make a little list, shall we?

    Don't do:

  • 1. Don't attack Town Guards.
  • 2. Do not buy any weapon unless it is recommended in this guide.

    Please do:
  • 1. Bank your gold when you gained a small amount.
  • 2. Do the Wise Sage's guide before you validate. Remember that he gives a free Knife, and the gold the Half Slimes give is also very good.
  • 3. Ask for something when you want to buy something. This makes it cheaper for you, and trust me, the people in chat can easily afford these things. Don't beg though, just ask nicely.
  • 4. Follow the steps in this guide and I'll guarantee a good startoff.
  • 5. Sleep at the fountain (in the beginning). You will need to save your food in the beginning, and by sleeping, you heal yourself for free.

    The Beach
    Now that you know the Town (a little) better, and know what to do and what NOT to do, it's time to fight some creatures, and get stronger. Visit the Mayor(use the map). He's near the fountain. He tells you that you should clean up the beach for him. Now it's a known fact that this mayor can be very vague at times, because you'd expect to slaughter some crabs and move on, but he actually means that you need to boost your stat Intelligence up to either 36, 40 or 44 points (depending on your race) in order to be able to move to a next area, which is the Outskirts. Just a note, the restrictions for areas will depend on your race. You should check the Area Restrictions page to see which race needs how much Int. Now check your map again and see the Training Hall. You don't have any Experience, or at least not very much since you start with only 1000 and the Half Slimes probably didn't give you much either, so you should get that first. For a map of the beach, click Here. Head to the beach, and you'll see crabs. A whole bunch of them, with 3 different kinds. They don't give much gold and experience(exp for short) but it's a start. The Stone Crabs are the "strongest" ones, although you should be able to kill them in one shot. If you can't kill the Stone one's on 1-shot, you should leave them alone for now. Only Crabs and Hermit Crabs drop Crab Legs, a food that heals for 9. The Knife you got from the Wise Sage should be some help for fighting Crabs. And.. if you haven't done the whole Wise Sage thing, or died a few times already by now, it is definatly better to start over, fresh, with all this info, and of course, your gold and items you'll get. Well well, it's time for some training, and I can't help you with that. Train your stats to the following: 40 str, 50 dex, 40 Con, 40 Wis, (around)40 Int, 30-40 Chr. Don't forget to talk to the Mayor, to get your next quest: Save the King! This is also nessecary in order to leave the Town, which is basically a prison for many starting players.
    Note: Mana players following this guide will need to read two guides; The normal one, AND this one, with the special blue color. In the beginning, it is very hard to start out as a Mage, so I strongly recommend to go on like a fighter, but switch at a certain moment to a mage, so that it'll be alot easier. If you're persistant however, there are also hints on how to be a mage from nearly the start. If you want to be a mage right now, which I can't recommend, train your stats to 40 Str, 30 Dex, 30 Con, 40 Wis, 50 Int, 50 Chr, and be SURE to buy an Obsidian Wand, which is a mana weapon you MUST have. Ask for one in chat, to be sent to you. This should take some time but after you're done, you can move on...and do some other things too. You can see if you have enough money to buy a glowing ring from the Amulet Shop yet, which shouldn't cost THAT much. If you can, good. If you can't, don't worry, you'll buy it later. Glowing rings add 5 points of Strength. Now read on about Alignments..

    Choosing an Alignment
    Note: Guilds will come later, after you've saved the King.
    New to shilla are the Alignments, so I bet that is confusing for new and old players alike. You must choose an Alignment sooner or later to move on. You can pick from Air, Water, Earth and Fire. Here are directions to the Temples in Town: The Water Temple is W, N, N, W, W, N, E from fountain. The Air Temple is W, S, S, W, W, N from fountain. The Fire Temple is E, S, S, E, E, S, W from fountain, and lastly the Earth Temple is E, N, N, E, E, S from fountain. Alignment will give you an advantage over certain creatures, and a weakness against others. The remaining two are neutral for you. Later on you will get to elemental areas. For example, you can expect to find Fire creatures in the Volcano, and Water creatures in the Ocean. Then if you are a Water Alignment, you're very strong in the Volcano, but if you are Air, then you are weak. And so every Align has it's pros and cons. Here is a table with weaknesses and advantages against the elements:
    -FireAirEarthWater
    FireNeutralStrongNeutralWeak
    AirWeakNeutralStrongNeutral
    EarthNeutralWeakNeutralStrong
    WaterStrongNeutralWeakNeutral
    SpiritStrongStrongStrongStrong
    Ok, now how to make sense out of this table.. You read from left to right, and YOU, the player, are the colored Align. The creature you are fighting is the other row. If you are a Fire Align, for example, and you are going to fight an Ocean Creature (Water Align), then look in the table and see... that you are weak against the creature, and that you can expect it to hit alot more, and it will also have much tougher armor. Still being Fire Align yourself, you're facing a Clouds creature, or a bird now, (Air Align Creature) then you are strong against them, like it says in the table, Strong. Then you'll get hit for alot less, and your grope goes up against that creatures.. Basically, it doesn't matter much which align you choose now, so pick your favorite. How about choosing Fire? I've got several advantages for that later on in the guide.. It is possible to change it later on. If you need more information about Aligns, go to the Align Page. Now read on and go to the Outskirts. You've done the first portion of the game, and maybe the hardest in the beginning: You left the Town!

    Move on to the Newbie Guide.