When I first encountered an ARPG, I wasn't really sure what it was or what to do. I had learned about the ARPG through a small art share/original character Discord server. I needed a lot of help to get started, and made a lot of mistakes - and that's totally fine! Luckily, the group was really welcoming and helpful. I just made this short guide to hopefully help anyone new to ARPG understand what is going on and what you can do in an ARPG!
What does "ARPG" stand for?
So, what does ARPG stand for? It is an art or artist role playing game. This means it's a game where you design your own character (or acquire an already desiged character) thenyou use that character to play the game - which usually involves completing prompts and other activities that you submit artowkr or literature for. You can also role play with other's in the group to make your stories even more fun and intersting, through traditional text roleplaying on discord, collaborating through artowkrs, or however you can imagine. Basically, an ARPG is where the game itself is driven forward by the completion or artwork.
What can I do here?
- Design Characters: There are multiple ways to get "MYO" slots, which stands for make your own, and I'll go over that below. These are undesigned characters of a certain species that have different traits attached. Some species require you to use a certain template, and others you may draw yourself (or use one of the free provided templates). Each species has a species design guide that you can consult for specifics - but in Ember, we really want the design process to be fun and imaginative, so how you interpret the different traits (especially enchantments) is up to you!
- Complete Prompts: Prompts can be found under World > Prompts. Prompts are short descriptions, explainations or scenarios meant to guide your art or writing, and they give different rewards and experience to the character completing them. The prompt details will tell you the minimum requirements, such as a word count or artwork requiring coloring, etc, but the content itself is usually very open ended. Some prompts unlock things like breeding or crafting, some are limited time offerings based around a holiday or event, and others give targetted awards such as crafting materials, extra breeding items, design items, or MYOs.
- Breeding: In this ARPG, many species are breedable and interbreedable with eachother. In this process, you take 2 characters, pair them together, and a new MYO is created based on the traits, colors, markings and enchantments of the parents. Once per quarter, you may choose a special breeding item through the Yllaeon's Wish prompt which allows you to create a hybrid between any 2 creatures in the ARPG, even those not normally breedable!
- Crafting: Available under Activities > Crafting. Once you get enough materials and have the required tools, there are many recipes available that will allow you to craft items. Materials can be obtained through prompts like adventuring and foraging.
- Participate in Events: Events happen year round in Ember! They usually happen around holidays and when new species and/or worlds are released. Events are usually a great way to get extra rewards, experience, and rare seasonal enchantments and palettes.