Getting Started

==What You Need==
To play on Dalelands Beyond you need the original Neverwinter Nights 2, The Mask of the Betrayer and Storm of Zehir.
Good outlets can be found through Google or through Steam ( http://store.steampowered.com ).
==Staff and their Functions==
This is a list of staff contacts and functions for player reference.  This list is a work in progress, and it will be continually updated as the staff grows and changes.  This list has been compiled by the staff to make contacting us an easier and more efficient process.
Applications for feat changes, name changes, deity changes, or application classes contact: 
DM Iribaar
DM Nocturne
Forum Administration needs:
DM Atropos
DM Nocturne
ADM Asynja
DM Sunflower
To apply for a position as a DM or Player Helper contact:
DM Nocturne
To apply for a position as a Builder contact:
ADM Ni'kish
The following DMs can be contacted in regards to factions:
The Academy - DM Atropos
The Circle - DM Kraneia
Elves - DM Light, DM Carbuncle
Harpers - DM Atropos, ADM Asynja 
Ironhouses - DM Nocturne
Rebels - DM Random, ADM Ni'kish
Shadow Thieves - DM Funnie
Zhents/Church of Bane/Shadowdale - DM Iribaar
War DMs
DM Shaco
DM Iribaar
For information on the Underdark, contact:
ADM FOE
ADM Har'Oloth 
Personal Events/Plots:
DM Nocturne
DM Light
DM Coffeee
Custom Armors:
DM Arcanum
Epic Token and Custom Token Item Requests:
DM Nocturne
Staff Complaints/Concerns:
DM Atropos
DM Nocturne
For advice or tips on lore or help with writing bios:
DM Atropos
DM Shaco
DM Light
DM Coffee
Rebuilds
DM Iribaar
Public Relations
AsuraKing
Head DM:
DM Nocturne
Assistant Head DM:
DM Funnie
DM Shaco
On Trial:
ADM FOE
ADM Ni'kish
ADM Asynja
ADM Coffee
ADM Har'Oloth
ADM Yuber
==Connecting==
Go to Multiplayer, then make a Bioware Community Forum name and password. They are case-sensitive. You don't need to Activate the account to play.
Go to Join Internet game then to the Roleplay section on the left. Scroll down until you see ForgottenRealms Dalelands. It's usually pretty high on the Player tab at the top, if you click on that. Press Connect.
The server has a lot of custom content which will automatically begin to download. When it's done, you'll see the screen with the Create Character option
==Making a Character==
Dalelands is an RP server. There are some useful hints on making an RP character here.
Just a couple to get you started: It's very helpful to get an idea of a character and his story around him, then actually create him, rather than making him first then trying to fit a story around him.You don't need to come up with the strongest, fastest and most-damage-dealing character possible to have a good time on Dalelands.
At first it is not a bad idea to start with one of the more common races such as Human, half elf, (tolerant) Elf, Dwarf or Halfling, rather than eg Drow or Half-Orc or Tieflings. These more unusual races tend to have a lot of associated lore with them.
Similarly, pick a fairly easy starter class or combination of classes such as Fighter for your first character.
Dalelands has quite a few extra classes from the standard NWN2 classes. Some of them you can only take after taking a few levels such as Fighter or Mage or Cleric. You may want to look at them and plan out your character. ( if you wish, you can play with the character's build on a character build module. One is NWN2DB and another is Vordan's Hero Creator, found at Vordan's . Download it into your NWN2 folder under the Modules folder and unpack it. None of these sites are perfectly accurate now).
There are a few rules about character creation, put together in the light of experience as to what works in practice and what doesn't. The full ruleset, which deals with extra questions such as re-builds if you make a mistake and twinking, can be found here.
1 Please choose an appropriate name for the setting, not something like Beyonce or Obama! Also, please avoid calling yourself Lord or any other title without discussing it with the DMs first.
2 Please do not pick the the skullhead appearance in the Human options in character creation. It is against our rules and lore
3 The maximum level is 30 and you can have up to 4 classes, three of them prestige.
4 You need to have at least 3 levels of ALL your classes by 20th level. This means you may not take a new class after the 18th level or you will be in violation of this rule.
5 Dalelands is a Roleplay server. Please make sure that your build makes sense in RP terms. Please don't mix opposing classes such as Paladin / Dark Lanterns and rp your character's classes as a whole person, not four different classes. 
You need to roleplay your character, including the stats your character has and the God he or she follows. If you're a mage whose strength is in their brains not their muscles, you shouldn't be able to pick up heavy two handed axes and be able swing them around your head.
6 There are a couple of extra guidelines to do with Gods for Clerics and Stormlords. Please check out Characters, Classes and Custom Classes
When you've made your character, the last step will automatically take you into the world. Have fun !
==Useful Tips==
You can Rest at the campfires which are outdoors.
At the bottom left hand of the screen is an Eye icon. Through this there are several options. One of the most useful is the Player Chat at the bottom. Use this to send /tells to other players by clicking on their names.
Pressing P brings up a list of other players and their log in names.
The Auction can be a great source of bargains or a way to earn gold.
Sometimes loot drops that is worthless. Please don't leave it lying as it lags the server. Drop it in the trash barrel in the General Merchant's. If you prefer, you can build a fire through PC tools ( see below ), drop the useless things in and then Remove it.
PC tools - right click on your character. Among other things, at the bottom is PC tools. You can Save your character through this, find a lot of emotes and build ( and remove ) campfires for rp or for loot-disposal.
===Skywing Client Extension===
This is an excellent tool that really sharpens up the interface. Find it here.
The following intro is by Slartibartfaß
==The Game Itself ==
====How to speak ingame?====
Easily: hit the "Enter" button, type your message and hit "Enter" again. Done. All what you typed in will be shown over your head and everyone around you can read it.Important: Everything you say that way will be treated as if your character actually said that in direct speach ingame so make sure it is ingame (in character - "IC") indeed. If there is the need for any messages that are out of character ("ooc") you should make that clear by typing // or (( at first.If you want to express feelings ("looks totally surprised") or actions ("stands up and walks away") players usually use * at the start and the end of the message, like:*stands up and walk away*
(2) There are other situations though where you don't want to hear anyone around to hear what you say. So how to whisper or to ask a DM about something?
When you log in after the character creation you will notice your two text boxes on the left side. As usual the upper is the combat log the lower the chat log. Left side of the chat log you find 5 button, which - when checked - have the following influence on how you say something (from top to bottom):
[L] you just talk normally and all around you (in a certain raduis) can read/"hear" it. The text appears white above your head and in the chatlog.[W] you whisper. Only those close to you will hear that and it will not show up above your head but in the chatlog.[P] you speak to all those who are in your group. The text will appear in white above your head (but is visible only to group members) and in the chatlog. Your group members will even be able to read that when you are on another map.[D] You write to the DM's that are on. You get no message in chatlog or above your head once you fired the message and onlyDM'swill be able to read that.[S] You shout and everyone on the whole server - regardless where they may be - can read that. The text appears in yellow in your chatlog as well as the chatlog of anyother person that is logged in. Please do not use this as this is reserved for DM announcements.
(3) And what if you want to say something to one certain person in particular? (This is the best possibility for ooc talk since you won't disturb anyone else on the server.)
Open your Options menu and click on "Party chat" (near bottom). A window will appear that shows you every character (character, not player) that is logged in at the moment. Leftclick on the char whose player you want to write, you will be able to type in your "tell" now in the chat window. Hit enter, ready.The other possibility is to open the Options menu again, click on Player list and have a look at a list of all players and their characters that are online at the moment. That is useful when you know the player but not the character. Use the method above as soon as you know the actual character name.
If you received a tell by someone and just wanted to answer, you can even rightclick on the name in the chatwindow and choose "write private tell" (or similar, this text doesn't appear in english in my game) to write a private message: Be careful there though, sometimes the game sets a space between the last letter of the name and the "" that are always around it. In this case you have to remove that space since the game won't find the player otherwise.
Example.The char you want to write is named Rufus. If you see "Rufus" all is fine, do you see "Rufus ", you have to remove the space after the s.
This tell function works with DM's too.
There are for sure much much more things you possibly want/need to know but with the ability to actually write ingame you should be able to deal with that ingame too.
====III The game itself - how to get started character-wise?====
If you have finished the character creation and start the game you will first come to the starting/OOC room.All you say here will be treated as ooc so no need for // or ((.
Look around a bit, read the signs, a lot of useful information can be found here.The key that highlights objects in your original NWN2 works online too. It can be very helpful.You'll find a (very basic) merchant here, don't worry if there are not the weapons you want to have or if that armour you wanted to buy is missing. In Shadowdale you'll find a much better stocked merchant.
You also find a description changer (in case you want to change your "biography" from the char creation), a character deleter and a deity changer here (although the latter may not be implemented yet, it is planned at least).
If you think you have done everything needed before entering the actual game and therefore the city of Shadowdale, walk over to the huge yellow/orange .... errr .... lady.Leftclick her.Choose "recommended starting place" and ....
welcome to the "Old Skull Inn"!
What now? Well, you could ask the female barkeeper about news and rumours and such. Barkeepers tend to be informed rather good, sometimes they even have little jobs to do they themselves lack the time (or the motivation ) to do. Perhaps you want to visit the cook of the tavern too? When you leave the tavern and head to the left you'll see a merchant soon, to the right soon an auction house will show up and to the left there is (behind the Inn) a fireplace with a couple of crates and benches around. Most of the time you'll find some lazy criminals adventurers there which will for sure help you out with informations. The fireplace is the (inofficial) center of the town, the place where the most adventurers sooner or later have a good time at.Except they are living in the Underdark, are sought after by the Zhents or dislike said adventurers at the fire....
The most important rule of all: If you have any questions, shoot some friendly player or DM) a tell. In almost all cases I promise you to get a friendly (and sometimes even helpful) answer.
And now:Welcome again, have fun!
With great thanks to Slartibartfaß for his Starter Guide in this post on the forums