Discovering Cantr

[Archbaron]

Greetings.

I'm a longtime role-player who, for the longest time, skipped over Cantr claiming "it's not my thing." I've played mostly on role-playing MUDs, and have really built my style around that. With that in mind, I'm very used to using my imagination with only text and emotions to give me direction.

Recently, a friend of mine was talking about a new game called FTO that I've read on these forums that many of you are also playing, or waiting to play. It was there that I really grew anxious for a browser-based game, and attained a new appreciation for the game form.

With that, I slowly migrated towards Cantr. First to check out the website. Maybe once again to look at the forums and lurk. Then maybe to look at the magazine.

But today was different. I signed up for an account and quickly sunk into two characters. This game is a blast! The interface comes rather natural to me, and the lack of NPCs is a fresh of breath air in a game. I can already feel some different possibilities for my new characters rising, and I'm excited to see where their lives take them. I look forward to building characters and stories with all of you!

Now, to start some discussion, how did you come across Cantr, and how many characters did it take for you to find your niche, and what kind of niche was it?

I'm merely curious to see how others came about it like I did.

[snm2001]

Welcome and Fresh of breath air?

[Jos Elkink]

Would you mind if we use your post in advertisements? (Kind of just kidding, but who knows ...)

[joo]

fresh of breath air

(Yes, you might as well get used to it. This is what we are like.)

[chase02]

Ah, I was wondering which forum you found Rev on.

[Genie]

Ah a MUD player how nice:)I played MUD about two years but bored from duties, killing monsters and so on..Now i feel very happy and free in Cantr.

[SekoETC]

I think I really got into Cantr with my fifth character.

I guess everyone creates two when they start, my first one I used for testing out the interface, picking things up, trying to bury a corpse but quitting because it didn't progress in real time, going on a road, then there was nothing interactive to do.

My second character remained in a location a bit longer, introduced his background story (not knowing Cantrians are supposed to start blank slate), learned how food is consumed and soon ran off to explore, with two people running after him to give him a shield so that he wouldn't get hurt. Also learned that people can't pass things over on the road.

Third one picked up a shovel, the only awake person in the location asked "is that yours, stranger", I replied something like "I guess not" and put it back. I assumed that when projects say "tools", it means that tools have been added into them and you'd get them back when you complete the project. Also later I was complaining on the forums concerning that you can't add a bone needle on a project to make bone earrings. (Back then you required a needle to pierce ears.)

Fourth one again had a background story and helped some people on projects, got some bread in exchange for her work effort even though she didn't ask the people if she was allowed to help, then decided that the place is too boring and went traveling.

Now the fifth one ran into some well-played characters and my character quickly got very close to one of them. Somehow I found out who the player was and ended up getting YIM to chat with him outside the game. It's funny how he sent a message to me by my character's name, since he didn't know my real name, and my mom was like "there's some person messaging you, I think they're trying to reach someone else". This person ended up quitting Cantr in a couple of months, and never came back. He had met some girl IRL and didn't find it appropriate to play someone's boyfriend in the game, but later I asked if he was still with that girl and he said no. Wicked RL relationships... But even though our in-game thing only lasted a few game years, it was still good time.

[Doug R.]

Would you mind if we use your post in advertisements? (Kind of just kidding, but who knows ...)

Same question, but I'm not kidding! That's one of the 2 best testimonials I've ever heard (the other is in my sig).

I came across the banner ad for Cantr on the Plit games website. The other open-ended text-based game I had been playing, To Boldy Go, had become stale many years prior, but I was hanging on to it because there was nothing better to play. The banner, I remember, was green. It caught my eye, but I was surfing so fast I went to the next page automatically. I went back and kept refreshing until it came back up.

I came in and researched the game thoroughly before I started my first characters. Because of that, I made no mistakes, which is good, because if I had been killed straight off, that might have turned me away.

My first character, Tyson Braddock, was spawned in Kirinn, a place that I found horribly boring and run by an inept aristocracy of the elderly. I spent my time there agitating for change that never came to fruition (until the Blackrocks slaughtered them all - Go Blackrocks!)

My second character, Pete Forester, spawned in Seatown forest when Mary was running things. He was a mute, and my first "gimmick" character. It was fun not being able to speak and trying to survive my first few days there (Seatown forest then being a fairly harsh government to live under). Ironicly, it was his lack of speech that probably kept him alive there for so long, although the gimmick got old pretty quickly.

My third character was the one that sold me on Cantr. Duncan Hillspire spawned in East Kol. The place was a wonderful role-play town. He was also my first character to fall in love (twice) and get married. Also the character that got me into trouble and forced me to quit the first time to make things right with my wife

[Genevieve]

Welcome to Cantr! It's a great place to be

I honestly don't know how many charries it took me to get comfortable. I don't think it was many. On my first account, pretty much every single character ended up playing what he/she thought was an important role for their town (even if it was just making roads to make travel easier). I'm on my third round with Cantr, 2nd account number, and feeling more and more like I probably won't leave this time around until my charries are all gone

I will say that I still have characters whom I have high hopes for but nothing ever comes of it- maybe they spawned in a place without very many people, much in the way to do for food, and far from everyone else (haha, I have two of those right now!) and they are just eeking by -and hoping that they can kill an animal with their bare fist soon enough to cook and eat before they starve!

As for where I first found Cantr...I haven't the faintest idea!! Hehe. I imagine my original application showed it and I might have posted about it somewhere way back when. Ah well!

Anyway, welcome welcome! Let us all know if you have questions.

[Wveth]

Yes, Cantr rocks hardcore. TO THE MAX, even. Wee!

I found it one day, oh so many years ago, when I googled "online RPG," I think it was.

Since then, no other online RPG has ever scratched my itch. Bravo!

[Archbaron]

Ah, I was wondering which forum you found Rev on.

:)

Would you mind if we use your post in advertisements? (Kind of just kidding, but who knows ...)

Same question, but I'm not kidding! That's one of the 2 best testimonials I've ever heard (the other is in my sig).

Please, go ahead and use it how you wish.

And thank you for all of the responses so far. It's neat to read them and mentally say "Oh, awesome, I'm kind of on that same track."

[Dudel]

Yes, yes.. WELCOME WELCOME!

I found Cantr sorta by random chance like while I was looking for a fun PbbG I could play off and on. I had to 'share' a PC with my sibling (She is younger and at the time it was really her PC I was just "allowed" to use it) and I had limited time to do much of anything.

Google was my friend and I read up on Cantr like I do ALL my games before I play. Always check any wiki's or information that is given and at the time it took me THREE DAYS before i said, "Oky, lets give Cantr a shot."

I only played for a month before I "lost" my "privliges" to the PC. (Sibling was doing things she shouldn't have been doing and got pissy I was "always" using the PC.)

Anyway.. by the time I "got back" to Cantr my account timed out and not much happened to my characters that I cared BUT I felt like I didn't get all I could outa the game.

Later, MUCH MUCH LATER, I got "rights" to a PC in our new house after some stuff had happened where everyone realized I was the lesser of two evils. ANYWAY I signed up for Cantr not long after I was, once again, looking for a fun PbbG to play.

Problem was.. I COULDN'T FIND IT!!! I didn't remember the games name OR ANYTHING!!!! Well it took me some time but then in October I found Cantr II and signed up INSTANTLY. After which I joined the forums and... yeah.

My first character took me and so did my second! I'm not going over 7 or 8 and like to stick with 6 because most of my characters take "some work". I guess my "niche" is the "quirky" or "oddball" types.

ANYWAY... Welcome welcome welcome.

[Archbaron]

I actually do have a question right now.

How long is a turn, and what are these turn reports I keep hearing about? Also, what determines how minutes you have to play in a turn? Yesterday when I registered, I had about 200. But today when I logged in I had 2000!

[Wveth]

A turn is one Cantr day. See at the top where it says "Day ####"? When that rolls over, it's a new "turn." The conversions of real time to Cantr time is right below that.

And yeah, right now we're running on infinite playing time, whereas before we had 200 minutes per day. It seems like they're keeping it now, but I'm not sure.

[Caesar]

I hope for both them and myself they will be keeping it. It has improved life quality for me. And I think so for a lot of other Cantr Players as well.