Welcome to the part of the site that hopefully helps newbies getting started (now they have to find this addy of course :-))
Before I start, I'd like to give a message to the higher players... Sometimes it's tempting to make fun of newbies, but by doing that we chase them away... So try to be helpful every time (unless they are 1) really stupid 2) other characters of players that you hate or 3) a bunch of lousy spammers.)

Ok, let's start from the beginning. You're an utter novice who hasn't done a thing except asking "What am I supposed to do here?"
The main thing you have to do here is (besides being an ass on chat) killing. And of course, typing 'help' is also smart.
I have divided this section in a few main chapters.

 How to get started?
How to gain levels?
How to join a guild?
How to solve common problems during killing?
How to save equipment when logging off?
 How to get money?
How to kill somewhere else?
Some useful hints !!!

Getting started
Dune is a MUD like any other. It's a game based on killing. You navigate through area's by going east, west, etc.
By killing mobs (npc's - no player characters) you earn exp(erience) and levels. Of course, it's also possible that those mobs kill you instead, so you always have to be careful.
The first thing you have to do when you have entered the game on Caladan Astroport, is going 'portal'. Normally you must have figured that out already by reading the long description. Now you have arrived on Newbie island. Go southwest (sw is also ok) where you can find a newbie dispenser, and a newbie box. Look at dispenser to find out what you can do with it. Also look at box. Hey, you still have to find out some things yourself to make it fun :-) When you got a weapon and maybe some armour, type 'wield <weapon>' and/or 'wear <armour>' Or you can just type 'powerup' which makes you wear and wield all your equipment at once. Now, you can see you're in a lake. Walk around a little until you have found a goldfish or a crab, or something else. Mind this, it's beneath the line of 'obvious exits' where you have to look. Ok, it's maybe a stupid remark, but it has happened that a newbie 'couldn't kill the goldfish' because he looked at the ones in the room description (it do says 'There are many fish swimming around you and some other animals too. You could try to catch some of them.') When you found something to kill, just type 'kill <blah>' where blah is the mob you have found. Easy, huh? Wait until you played the game for a while. Also notice that it takes a little time before you have your first kill, but be patient :-).
When the damn thing is finally dead, type 'torch corpse' and get solaris (money).
There are some maps around of the lake, so you don't get lost, and there also a newbie healing shop somewhere.
 Back to top
 

Levels
During your progress you'll gain exp. When you type 'score' you can see how much exp you have, and 'help levels' gives a view on how much you need to advance a lvl. When you've got enough, you can go back to Caladan AP, and south, east from there is the place to advance when you haven't joined a guild. You can advance a level, but you can always spend experience on stats to make you fight a little better. It's entirely your choice being a newbie. At a higher level stats are more or less obligatory. So it is recommended to do advance some already at this point.
 Back to top
 

Guilds
It's highly recommended to join a guild. There are only two guilds where a level 1 can join, but sometimes it's worth to wait. Each guild has its own advantages. Visit the sectionGuildsfor more info about them. You can also type 'help guilds'. You can ask another player, but mostly he'll just promote his own guild. To join a guild you just go to the main guild room and 'join'...
 Back to top
 

Some common problems
You may ancounter a few problems during killing.
1) You realize you suck. Don't worry, we all think we do.
2) You just saw a few lines containing 'You die' and 'You can see your body 6 feet under you'. This is the sign that you may have attacked a thing you should have left alone. To become alive again, go to caladan AP, 3 north, and east. There you pray to become solid form again. There are such churches on each planet.
3) You have some limbs missing. This is always a big problem, because you are bleeding and losing HP... It stops when you're at 1 HP, but you can't kill with that, can you? Besides, I think you do die when you stay at 1 HP too long. Ok, to get those limbs back, you go all the way south from Caladan AP (I think it's 4 s) and then west. That's the limb shop where you can buy your missing limbs back. Get a heal as soon as possible and start killing again. Limbs cost money though, and it's possible you can't pay for them, but then you should ask another player to give you money for limbs.
4) It's possible that you have run from combat but the damn thing is still fighting you. And it can't die. This is the heartbeat bug. (When the game driver told you you hev no heartbeat.) The only thing you can do, when there isn't a wiz around, is quit and log back in. Luckily, this bug isn't common anymore.
 Back to top
 

Equipment
On this MUD equipment isn't saved. You have to get new one when you quit. But it is possible to save some, though.
On Ix, there are lockers. It costs 20,000 solaris for one of them, but it's worth the money. Besides, when you're higher level, 20k is nothing :-). In that locker you can store some things.
A second option is the Genesis Inn. It's south, west from Caladan AP. You may rent a room and quit in there. No one can enter your room but yourself, so you can get your equipment back from there, the next time you log on. Beware, it only lasts for 24 hours, unlike an ixian locker, which even survives reboots. But you can drop anything there, while in a locker you can't store everything. Hmm, anything isn't quite right, when you have some uniques it's possible that they just disappear. But hey, this is a help section for newbies, so what am I talking about? :-) Newbies don't get many equipment they can use for themself, and the things from the newbie dispenser selfdestruct when you drop them.
 Back to top
 

Money
The money on Dune is called solaris. Now how do you get it?
Dune is a newbie friendly MUD. You can always ask for some cash. It's possible that you don't get any, but hey.
On each planet there are shops (directions in the section "Planets") where you can sell equipment that you don't use.
Also corpses give some solaris.
On every AP there is an automatic bank teller machine. There you can 'deposit' a certain amount, which is highly recommendable, cause if you die, you drop the money you have with you.
 Back to top
 

Space
The MUD Dune consists of a few planets. You can check them out in the Planets-section. But how do we get to a certain planet??
First you have to be on an astroport, or AP. The first AP you will encounter is Caladan AP... since that's the place where you start your adventure. You also need at least 50 solaris to go to another planet (preferably more, because you have to get back also).
On the AP, type 'callship trader,50' Now you've called a trader shuttle for you. There are more types of ships and they're prolly a lot faster, but traders are the cheapest. Type 'listship all' on an AP to see a list of available ships and their cost.
When the ship lands, 'enter ship'. If you type 'listdest all' you see a list of available destinations. Just type 'engage to <destination>' to go to the planet of your choice. Newbie area's are everywhere :-)
 Back to top
 

Some useful hints
Now we have come to the most important part of this section actually.
1) You can always 'consider' a mob if you're not sure that you can attack it without dying in the first round.
2) There's a certain command called wimpy. It's an important thing that stops you from dying, especially when there is lag. If you set wimpy to 40% ('wimpy 40') you'll run away automatically after you fall below 40% of your HP. Unlike some other MUDs, this fleeing doesn't cost you exp, but it isn't recommended to go in and out to kill a mob you actually can't handle. Most wizzes don't like that.
3) When you type 'briefme', you don't see your misses anymore, and you get to see your hits in a certain color. At level 1 that is gonna be green, but there are also (from light to heavy) blue, yellow, purple (or pink, whatever) and red. This command causes less spam and gives a better overview on whether you hit the thing or not. 'Briefmon all' is a command to "brief" the mobs in that room.
4) Don't forget to wield your weapons or wear your armour. It won't do you any good when you walk around just carrying them.
5) Use aliases. Sometimes you have to type a command real quickly :-)
6) When you get a couple of thousand solaris, put them in the bank as soon as possible.
7) Join a guild.
8) It's a good thing to advance stats right away, but it wouldn't be stupid to advance levels until 5 and then worry about stats, because at level 5 you can party. You can join a party and share exp, so when you do it with a higher player you may get tons of exp. Normally there are always (or mostly) players on who don't mind partying with level 5 players, because they don't lose much to them :-)
9) Don't harass people (players or wizzes) by asking them either money, equipment, parties and/or stupid questions using 'tell'. Use chat for that, and if no one reacts, don't go nagging and wait for a next time. Be as nice as possible, and we'll be nice to you :-)
10) Whatever you do, whereever you are, whatever your problem is.... NEVER TYPE 'PING GENESIS' OR 'PING SAURON' !!!