DNO: Another Note - Advanced Guide to Roles.

So many people find it hard to play their role correctly, mostly the newer people or the less experienced. Here's a guide with tips on how you could play each role, and in what ways. Please do reply to this thread and help me improve the guide, it should solve a few problems with the newbies :D.

Before you even get a role, you'll be warped to a room that looks like this:



Main Roles


Kira:

When appointed as Kira during role selection, you'll get the message: If you look into your inventory, there's a blank notebook ready for use. It looks easy enough, but later on you may be stuck for names. Once role selection ends, you'll start where every civilian starts.

There are two types of Death Note kills - NPC criminals and Players. NPC criminal names should be enough to get you started, and the most common way to obtain them is to go to the local music store, and look in the magazines. (Though you could also try some houses, with TVs in them, if you look those display NPC names too). Try and space out the kills so that you don't have a kill every minute, that could be called spam and gets annoying - Put as much detail as possible into your first kill, you'll probably want to put in the criminal's background and what they did before death.

Player names are much trickier, and killing the player once you've got their name requires a good solid RP reason. Killing them without a reason results in RK, even though you used a Death Note. Take this for example: 'L dies of a Heart Attack. He'd walked silently back to his police station, his task force around him, but halfway there he felt a tight knot in his chest, spurting out blood and dropping violently to the ground. He was assumed to be a corrupt detective, risking lives for his own accomplishment, and putting himself before others'. Albeit short, this could be a good RP kill, but on the other hand, it could be an RK. If you met 'L' before, and you found out this information, as well as his name and face, it would be a legit kill. (Though, this is just an example, it's nice to make it long and descriptive). However, had you not directly found out this information, or got it from 'Metagaming' or 'IC in OOC' it would not be legit. (Keep in mind, even if you got his name and the information from someone else, you'd still have to see his face to kill him).

Tips:

Form a plan. If you form a good solid plan, you have something to rely on from the beginning. Things it could include are the other tips in this section.

Try to make allies that aren't co-operating with the police. Finding M and making him your ally is a good decision, since he can back you up with his own task force, having the cash and contacts you need. You've also got to be wary with this one, he could back-stab you at any time and take the death note for himself. (Don't metagame to find him however, try and find him when he's 'Recruiting').

Find a Second Kira. If you have someone else you can trust, you can use them accordingly. For example - If you need to go to the police station, and you have a feeling that you may be searched or arrested, let the Second Kira hold onto your Death Note and do some killings for you. This may take away suspicion that you are Kira.

The Shinigami is your friend. If you come across the round's Shinigami, he/she will most likely follow you around like Ryuk with Light. This is good, and could help you later on. (The Shinigami eyes especially, which could also be given to the Second Kira if you think it out a little).





L:

When appointed as L during role selection, you'll get the message: If you look in your inventory, there will be a key. This unlocks every door in the police station, so keep it close and keep it safe. Once role selection ends, you'll be in your office, in the room to the top-left is your 'armoury', where the masks and uniforms are kept. But look around a little.

First and foremost. People have stressed this because it has ruined RP at the best of times. You CANNOT wear the Swat Mask whenever you feel like it. No, you can't wear it because you're out on a mission or any other thought up excuses. Simply put, you must find evidence that Kira needs a face to kill before wearing that mask, else you'll damage Kira's RP and slim his chances of winning in a dishonest manner.

Now, you may be wondering how to get the RP going. First of all, probably the most useful thing you have apart from your key is the computer. It's located in your office, and you'll get the password at the start of the round. (Even though you can access the computer without a password, keep the password in something like 'Notepad' so that you may let other people use it as you wish later on). Log on to your computer, you'll notice there are three selections. 'Announce', 'Input Password', 'Account Balance' and 'View Cameras'.

Announce lets you tap into the Japan Television Network, broadcasting your message to everyone. (All players online). Your alias will not be shown, only the letter 'L' and your message. The best way to first use announce is probably recruitment. You could tell the people of Japan that the police station is recruiting, this will give you much needed allies and a task force.

Input Password is the feature that lets other people use your computer. All they need to do is put in L's password and they have full access.

Account Balance is the money you've got stored in the bank. L starts with $250,000 in money and this can be used to buy firearms and pay wages. (Keep some money in your bank, don't withdraw it all and start spending everything on weapons).

View Cameras let's you view every camera you've got, so you can watch what's going on in the area. Very useful feature indeed.

Recruitment should be done in a professional manner. As soon as you hit the recruitment broadcast, I can assure you that at-least 3 - 10 people will appear in the lobby of the police station. You can't recruit everyone, and that is a fact, so take them all into the empty room of your police station and start with an interview. Interview questions could be anything, but here's a few examples. "You and a comrade are out on patrol, several armed criminals are firing at you and your comrade is down and bleeding severely, what do you do?". The answer you want to hear is up to you, but you need to ask them several questions, and check how they interact with you. Try to keep your task force at a reasonable amount of people and choose the best Rpers of the bunch. If someone wasn't RPing correctly, you could help them by linking them to a guide in the forums, or such.

Tips:

Just like Kira, you'll need Allies. This should be simple enough, since you'll have a task force of your own anyway. But aside from your task force, you could get Sakura TV on your side, for example. Should Kira try and side with Sakura TV then, he/she would be out of luck, and you'd get more information about them.

Set traps. You can't suspect someone without first gaining evidence. A good way to gain evidence is by letting one of your task force go undercover, finding and interacting with anyone he/she meets, and forwarding what happened to you.

Patience and Control. L can be a really annoying role in some situations, perhaps the only three people who arrived for recruitment are new, and possibly bad RPers. Put them on the right track, and sort out all the problems before continuing, but don't put up with people unwilling to learn how to RP or such, just tell an admin or GM about them.

Don't metagame. You MUST have a reason to suspect someone, and I don't mean they looked at you funny. Find things out before taking action and be precise.

Appoint a Near. This is a good one, since later on it's possible that you could die, should you screw up. If you have a Near, he/she could inherit your key upon death and have your password, allowing them to take your place and resume the investigation. (However, if you die as L out in the city, and you lose your key, it can ruin the RP, so ALWAYS leave your key with a task force member inside the station should you go out on a dangerous mission).is

Use your Surveillance well. Though it can only be used in your own base at the moment, it's worth checking up every so often.




Sakura TV:

When appointed as STV during role selection, you'll get the message: If you look into your inventory, you'll find a key, this key opens every door in the station so keep it close and keep it safe. Once role selection ends, you'll be inside Sakura TV station.

Inside the station, you'll find three different locked rooms. You'll want to visit the North-East room first, inside you'll find a catalogue which is on top of a meeting table with numerous seats. First of all, go through the door to the north of this room and take all the cash, before anyone else does. You don't have as much as the main roles, but it's enough for a business. You can order anything you like, but note that keeping firearms is against Japanese Law, so the police can arrest you for it or confiscate them. If the police do this, don't start shooting at them or anything metagamish because that ruins the RP.

Now, you're free to do anything you like with the TV station. You can ally with either Kira or L, maybe even M, it's your decision entirely. But do try and influence the RP a bit, broadcast regularly but don't spam. You could even help Kira without knowing by revealing criminal NPC names over the broadcast, with a description of a recent event that the criminal was involved in. Be careful with the broadcasts though, because it's a TV broadcast, and people can see your face. (and Alias, but they can't know your Alias unless you tell them it).

Tips:

Influence the RP. Don't be a boring person, try and spice things up a little by helping Kira or L, or just broadcasting interesting events that have actually happened. Nobody likes a Nobody.

Recruit. Just like nearly every other role, you'll want staff to help you with the station, and work as a desk jockey. It's certainly a good idea anyway, and you've got a good meeting room for interviews!





Mafia Leader:

When appointed as M during role selection, you'll get the message: You don't get any special items. Once role selection ends, you'll be in your base entrance. In here you'll find a wall and a catalogue. Don't destroy the wall yet!

Okay, the first thing you need to do is go further into your base, many people abuse bugs e.t.c to get inside and take all your cash, so go ahead and pick it all up once you find it. When you've done this, you're free to do whatever you want. Only destroy that wall when you are ready to set foot in the outside world, and make sure you've got the cash in hand!. A good idea is to place the boxes where the wall once was before setting out, that delays metagamers from accessing your base. Nobody is allowed inside, they can't stumble upon your base 'by accident' or anything like that, you or someone else has to invite them, and they themselves must know of the location. Failure to comply to that is metagaming and the GMs/Admins will most likely take action.

Probably the most important thing you have in your base is the TV equipment in the room next to the entrance. This broadcasts as if you're using Sakura TV, they're identical. Type what you want into here and it'll broadcast to Japan, but be warned, it's recording equipment and to hide your face you'll have to set your alias to '?' for the broadcast. You'll also want to explain that you've hacked into the broadcasting network, so you can type that into your broadcast.

Tips:

Be suspicious, watch out for traitors. This is VERY common, for example someone in your Mafia could be a 'vigilante' and ruin your chances of winning the round by turning your own Mafia against you. (Hint-Hint, Hakuno).

Be careful recruiting. Most likely you'll recruit whilst out and about, since leading many people to your base can be disastrous. Pick carefully, and wisely, then take a select few to your base.




Shinigami:

When appointed as the Shinigami during role selection, you'll get the message: . If you look into your inventory, you'll find a Blank Death Note! But don't get too excited, you can't use it like a human can. Once role selection ends, you'll start in the Shinigami realm. Go north-east to find a portal, this is a one way ticket to Earth. (You could take a look around before you go, but it's pretty much a wasteland).

Shinigami is not always a straightforward role, but you are allowed to do what you want. The most common thing for a Shinigami to do is find and help the holder of a Death Note, you'll know who that is if they respond to your presence with something like this - "What the hell are you?". If you want to help Kira, tell him/her as much as possible about the rules of the Death Note, things like "Only you can see and hear me" are much appreciated. You could also influence the downfall of Kira, you don't have to side with him/her.

Around halfway through the round, you are allowed to tell Kira about the Shinigami Eyes deal. This is a good idea if Kira is stuck or in trouble, but he/she can refuse this deal. Now, this is complicated, but Kira CAN let someone else get the eyes on one condition: Kira must pass ownership to the person he wants to get the eyes, and then that person must 'lend' Kira the Death Note. This can be counter-productive and Kira could end up losing his note however.

Tips:

Use your note efficiently. Some rules state if a shinigami kills one person with a Death Note, he must suicide. But recent rules suggest the Shinigami can't kill at all. Either way, don't do it. If you really must, make a Second Kira later on, or use that Notebook as a last resort for if Kira disconnects and loses his own e.t.c. Don't be greedy, be helpful.

Shinigami's are once again able to walk through anything. If you decide to be useful to your Kira, and he/she ends up in L's jail, try and think of a way to bust him out. It has happened quite recently, and with the shinigami watching the movements of the jail guards, he helped to time Kira and Second Kira's escape quite well. Use your natural traits to your advantage!



Sub-Roles


Mayor:

The mayor starts at the Hachiko statue. If you look into your inventory, you'll find a key. At the moment the key is dis-functional, but you still have your duties to fulfil.

Obviously the Mayor is not the type of role that lets you win the round, it's mainly chosen if there are alot of players online. Either way, do RP, and influence the RP as much as possible as your role. I'd recommend helping civilians and the police with their problems, and attending special events/openings in the round.

You are in charge of the city, though the Mayor IS a sub-role, it can get important later in the round. Remember how both L and his rivals both bribed the Mayor for different things in the Anime/Manga? You could be threatened, tempted, blackmailed, what you do is up to you. Good things to try here could be possibly quarantines, curfews e.t.c to give the Police something to work with.

Watari:

Watari starts next to L in his office. You don't get any special items, and L chooses what you do. It is recommended that you help L, though should you find another motive to betray him outside of the police station, that's another option. It's all up to you. But if you're feeling like being a good guy, try and be someone he can really rely on, just like in the Anime/Manga.

As well as this, you could have also known L for as long as you wish, childhood friends or whatever, since you must have known each other anyway to work together in such a manner, do what you see fit.

Hospital Owner:

The hospital owner starts in his hospital. If you look into your inventory, you'll find a key, this unlocks every door in the hospital.

Despite being a sub-role, you've got an important job and your RP options are wide. The main idea is to help injured patients and run the hospital accordingly, you have access to speakers in one of the northern rooms, which lets you broadcast a message to everyone inside the hospital. Aswell as this, you have a basement downstairs.

Sasuke:

'nuff said


I hope this guide helped every confused soul in DNO, please do help me by posting what I've missed so I can add to it!

It's good. I'm not sure about the Watari part, how is it distasteful to the RP? Everyone's different, most people, even in anime/manga, and a lot of times in RP are two-faced, and in Death Note, it's not really safe to trust people, no matter who.

Severike wrote:But you absolutely must help L, no going against him, because that's distasteful to the RP.

So I don't think you should say that it would be distasteful, but it would be going against watari's character, but in RP, people have their own character, and do things on their own accord. There have been Watari betrayal moments in DNO before, anyway. I'm not trying to say that you're wrong, Watari -should- help L, since he's the assistant, but saying that is like saying Kira should only kill and never socialize at all, L should only catch and not do anything else in the meantime, M should be obsessed with catching kira too, and that STV be fanatical about one side, let the rp go its own way, it allows people to be more creative.

I haven't completely read this guide yet, but I plan on it when I get a chance.
Thanks a lot for contributing to the guides section!

That is a good point Gabe, I've thought about it a little and I guess should Watari have the chance to venture out of L's base, he could find a motive to betray L. Guide updated accordingly, and I plan on adding more to it once the game goes up again, mostly accurate role-selection texts and such ^^.

I like how you updated it, and even added pictures to help understand, good job.

Very good ~. Very good indeed. I like the way you use your words to explain to the players how the game rolls and how the roles are played.

Thanks for the feedback, guide has been fully updated with all the images I intended to use. I'll continue to update the guide as the game changes, and new features are added, but for now I deem it complete.

Btw, the strange figure you see staring at STV's cash is, in fact, ZombieChib.

Best guide out of most of the ones here IMHO. Cheers~