Compiled by Onion Eater
The World of Greyhawk operates under the hardcore rules. In addition, it is a full PvP environment. Your actions can (and probably will, at some point) harm your comrades.
New players may wish to speak to the Mayor of Borderkeep, found near the sundial, who can offer some helpful advice for starting out.
Any PC has the option of selecting a deity to worship, although you must comply with the deities racial and alignment restrictions (as detailed in the starting room, as well as on the forums). Many temples have special merchants who will only deal with members of their faith.
There is a stop swap script in place which prevents players from swapping out equipment while in combat. In addition, changing weapons incurs an attack of opportunity.
After entering stealth mode one must wait six seconds (one round) before stealthing again. This is to prevent the abuse of the Hide in Plain Sight feat.
By default, should you die (and you will), you will respawn in the temple in Borderkeep, unless you've entered the world through Hommlet, in which case you will respawn at the temple of St. Cuthbert in Hommlet.
There are several other respawn points available at various temples. Just talk to the relevant NPC in one of these temples and your respawn point will be changed. As of now, respawn points are NOT consistent through a reset. You will have to manually set it again.
If you should find yourself the unwelcome victim of a petrification, you will be given a one time only chance to respawn. Should you decline the offer, you will be stuck as a statue until such time that you are made flesh via spell, die, or the server resets.
A player with a bedroll and a ration may rest every eight hours (16 minutes real time), recovering full HP, and removing fatigue. If your rest gets interrupted, you will not recover any spells, uses per day abilities, or HP, and you will be unable to rest for another eight hours. Resting consumes one ration.
In order to rest, you will need to have food and a bedroll available in your inventory. You will start with a bedroll, but should, for any reason, it be lost, new ones are available from several merchants. You may still rest without a bedroll, but you will have to wait 16 hours between rests.
You can not rest in heavy armor.
Resting is not allowed in many areas. Do not assume that you will find a safe spot to rest once you have entered an area. Scrolls of Leomund's Secure Shelter are available at several merchants. They will create a portal that your entire party may use to enter a safe room where resting is possible. They are limited in supply, and very expensive.
Food can be bought, or it can be made from the corpses of animals that you find along your journeys. Remember, don't attack ANYTHING that's not hostile to you. If a bear attacks you, then, by all means, kill it, and turn it into lunch, but never initiate combat with anything that is not already hostile.
In order to turn a corpse into food, you will need to do two things. First, equip the skinning knife, and then right click on it, selecting "use." Target the corpse and you will move towards the dead beast, and in one smooth motion, turn it into raw meat, which will appear in your inventory. Next you need to cook the meat. Right click on your tinderbox, and select a nearby open space on the ground. This will create a campfire. Now, right click on the raw meat, select "use", and click on the campfire. You should be happily roasting away. The meat will disappear, and you will have gained a piece of cooked meat. This meat is identical in use to bought food.
A canteen can be filled from a source of fresh, clean water. In certain hot and dry locales, the heat can have a negative effect on your well-being. Drinking from the canteen, or another source of fresh, clean water, will remove these effects.
There is a loot notification toggle available in your inventory. It enables you to switch on and off loot notification. By default, it is turned on. Simply right click, and select "use" to turn it off.
Every PC begins play with an auto-follow widget. Using this, then selecting another PC, will make your character follow that PC, even across area transitions. You can not, however, transit a portal via auto-follow. In addition, it is possible to get 'stuck' while auto-following. Please bear this in mind if you are the one being followed. Auto-follow is a great tool of convenience, but it is not flawless.
Bandages have two uses. They can be used to simulate a healing check, modified by your healing skill, in an effort to cure a target of poison or disease, or they can be used to make a healing check to stabilize a fallen comrade. Any cure spell, or the custom cures available, will also stabilize a fallen comrade.
There are two types of healing potions available in WoG. The Bioware standard healing potions are available in limited supply, and act normally. There are also custom healing potions which are far more plentiful, but more expensive. The major difference is that they will not stack and that they can also be used on fallen comrades. Healing kits are also available, but are far from common. They work normally.
The World of Greyhawk is a vast land. Travel can be slow. The Adventurer's Guild in Greyhawk and several temples across Oerth sell portal scrolls, allowing the user to create a portal back to the temple that issued the scroll. These are somewhat expensive.
The shorter races, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings, all receive a modest movement penalty. In addition, heavy armor incurs a movement penalty of its own.
There is an extra special item available, called Boots of Travelling which will boost your speed a la haste. They only work outdoors and they only give a speed boost & not all the other goodies available with haste.
Horses and ponies are available from several merchants, including the stables in Borderkeep. While riding a horse, your movement speed will be increased. When you dismount, your horse will wander randomly, unless it is hitched to a post. Mounts can only be ridden outdoors, or in a few other select areas.
Horses or ponies can be mounted by clicking on them. Once mounted, a hitching post can be used to dismount and stable your beast. Alternatively, if no post is available, the horsemanship token (which you will receive when you buy a mount) can be right clicked on in order to dismount. Once dismounted in this fashion, your horse or pony will roam around in random directions. Right clicking on the horsemanship token again will allow you to determine the direction and distance of your mount, if it is in the same area as your PC. Otherwise, the token will tell you what area your mount may be found in.
Any horse or pony found wandering is mountable by another PC. However, please have consideration for your fellow players, and refrain from stealing, or 'borrowing', the mounts you encounter.
Summons in the World of Greyhawk have been drastically beefed up. You also have the option of selecting your summons. The trade off is that the duration for any summon monster spell is no longer 24 hours, but instead 10 rounds + 2/caster level.
To select a summons, right click on the Book of Summons (found in your inventory if you began play as a caster, or bought from various merchants if you did not). This will bring up a conversation which allows you to select which summons will be used for the various spells.
Clerics and PMs have their own book, the Libram of Necromancy, which is used in the same way as the Book of Summons, except it allows you to select your undead summons. While the Book of Summons is easily attainable, the Libram of Necromancy must be found via adventuring.
Blackguards also have a book of their own for summoning their steeds. This must also be found though certain dark temples are rumored to sell this.
Druids, or Clerics with the animal domain should keep in mind that any summon spell they cast will act as one level higher. For example, if you are casting a Summon Monster III spell, you should select a summons from the Summon Monster IV list.
Divine casters must select a deity, and comply with the racial and alignment requirements. Information about specific deities is available in the starting room, as well as on the forums and the website.
Arcane casters will find that they lose 100 gold and 50 XP/level if their familiar is killed. A fortitude save may be made to cut the XP loss in half.
Thanks to an improved AI, familiars and companions have a range of modes, accessible via a dialogue. The default behavior is to run away at the first sign of trouble.
There is a Bard College in Critwall, accessible by boat (for a fee), where, among other things, bards can write their own Bard Songs and Curse Songs. It's pretty darned cool.
Have fun storming the castle. Don't forget to pack a lunch.