When creating characters you can cheat a little and use the Modify command to alter statistics. They put this command in so that you could make your characters in the game just like a character you might play pencil-and-paper D&D with. But you can use it to raise your starting hit points to maximum and to raise your stats as high as they can go. Another cheat you can use is when raising levels. Save the game just before going into the training hall. If you get crappy hit points upon gaining the new level, save the game to a different slot and reboot the game. Keep re-raising a level until you get a hit point roll you are happy with and then save the game to your usual slot.
One other thing that will make the game easier - learn the grid system used for the maps. Each map is laid out on a 16x16 grid and there are N-S and E-W coordinates that go from 0 to 15, starting at the northwest corner. So the southwest corner would be 0,15 and the northeast corner would be 15,0. Your current location and facing is always noted next to the clock underneath the party roster.
A game mechanic that I really had a hard time with until I figured out is that for some reason, your scrolls of mage spells have to be identified before you can use them or scribe them into your spellbooks.
If you want to mess around in the game a little bit, you can load the default party, saved in saved-game slot J. They are reasonably well-balanced, though you probably won’t want to play them throughout the game, but you can get an idea for what kinds of tactics you like to use and how the game is played.
The first thing you will run into is Rolf, appointed by the city council to give newcomers to the city a tour of the important places they might want to go.
After Rolf gets done, the first thing you will want to do is to look at the posted commissions - at the beginning of the game proclamations LXIV, LXXVIII, CIX, and LIX will be posted. Most of these have to do with Valhingen Graveyard, a large cemetery on the city’s north side. Do not go there until later in the game! There are several blocks of the old city between New Phlan and there that need to be cleared out first, and you will need that experience and treasure in order to tackle the cemetery!
Next you will want to get outfitted with weapons and armor so that you don’t get whacked by a pair of kobolds waiting for foolish, unarmed adventurers. Go to any armor shop, there is one at 8,11 that will suffice. I suggest chainmail or scale mail for your warrior-types, a shield, and the weapon of choice, but it all depends on the money you have. If you can afford it, I would also buy bows for your fighters and thieves, slings for your clerics, and darts for your mages. Statistically speaking, longswords are about the best weapon in the game, but any +2 weapon is better than a +1 longsword, so keep that in mind later on when you find lots of magic weapons. Don’t forget that mages cannot cast spells while wearing armor, so don’t waste money on a suit of armor for a mage. Thieves are also limited in what they can wear - get them studded leather armor to start off with.
One tactic that will help you out at the beginning of the game is taking the bows of defeated enemies. Their weapons and armor won’t be worth much, but you can sell the longbows for up to 25 gold pieces apiece! This will go a long way towards making sure you have enough money for identifying your magic items, training, and room and board.
Another tactic you can use is going to the training hall and having your characters duel. It can be a fast way to earn experience points, and if you are just a few hundred short of the next level, it is a great way to get that extra little bit. You can also hire adventuring companions here to round out your party. But be cautious - anyone you add will get a share of the experience and the treasure. And you can’t control them in battle, so sometimes they will do things you really wish they hadn’t done (like move to the wrong location, or use the wrong spell, or so on).
The bars in town can be good places to hear rumors, but the truth of the rumors is pretty hit-and-miss. And there is a tendency for bar fights to break out. For beginning characters, a bar fight might be too much for them to handle. You can also get your pocket picked while in a bar.
Once you are all outfitted you can start hunting for treasure and ridding the city of evil. The place to start is the slums of New Phlan. To get there you exit the city via the heavily-guarded gate next to the city park. In the Slums, there are two types of encounters: fixed ones and random ones. The random ones can get you valuable silver and equipment when first starting out, but after that they are little more than annoyances, worth little treasure or experience. So go for the fixed encounters (the valuable ones!) first, and you will undoubtedly run into random ones along the way.
After you clear the slums of all but the last group of monsters, you should head out to Sokol Keep to try to clear the place of evil. Once everything there has been resolved, return to the city clerk for a huge reward of platinum and jewelry. You might try returning to the slums to finish clearing them at this point, but if you aren’t ready yet you can always go to the area around Kuto’s Well. Clearing the slums will result in a nice little reward of cash and cause proclamation CI to be posted. Clearing the area around Kuto’s Well will cause proclamations CXXVI and CX to be posted.
Around this time you might have a 3rd level mage. If you do, you should have him learn the Knock spell first rather than a combat spell. You will need this to get into Mendor’s Library.
Probably the next thing to do is to take the council’s commission to go check out the auction that will be taking place in Podol Plaza. This will be much easier to do now that Norris the Gray’s bandits have been cleared from the area. You can also take a boat to the north side of the bay, then go around to the west side of the city and take the north entrance. Once you have returned from the plaza you will notice proclamation CXXXIV.
Now you may have heard that Junior Councilman Cadorna has a special mission for you. Go talk to him and he will ask you to bring back a family treasure from the textile house. You can get to the textile house by passing by Mendor’s Library - this is pretty safe since there are no monsters near that area. A better way is to take a boat the same way you get to Podol Plaza, but you take the south entrance instead of the north entrance on the west side of the city. When you are done, proclamation CLIV will be posted.
The city clerk will continue to press you to go to Valhingen graveyard. Accept the commission and she will give you a two-handed sword +1/+3 vs. undead and some scrolls of restoration. But don’t go to the graveyard just yet. Mendor’s Library should be your next stop - there are some nice treasures there, and you will want every bit of experience you can get before you tackle the graveyard.
After you return from Mendor’s Library and get trained up, you should go try the graveyard. As the city clerk said, it is now the number one priority. The easiest way to get there is by taking a boat to the north side of the bay and then trekking overland.
Clearing the graveyard will cause the council to be especially generous and you may get a HUGE monetary reward. The next mission is probably to assault the temple of Bane across the river. Go talk to Bishop Braccio about this one - he is in the temple of Tyr by the docks. You will pick up Dirten to accomplish this mission, but he won’t help out a whole lot. To get there, take a boat to the north side of the bay and then enter the south entrance to the city. This will put you in the old wealthy area of the city that you may have to clear out before you can reach the temple of Bane. Clearing the temple will cause proclamation CXIV to be posted.
The next mission is to clear the Kovel mansion of the gang of thieves that live there. Getting there is about the same as getting to the temple of Bane, but you take the northern city entrance instead of the southern.
The reward for the defeat of the thieves is hardly worth your effort. But now you have eliminated almost every threat in the immediate vicinity of the city. Your next missions will involve overland travel, a wholly different experience. The first mission outside the city you should accept is to track down the nomads and convince them not to join forces with The Boss. Once that has been accomplished, proclamation CCIV (the kobolds) will be posted. That is your next mission.
The kobolds are near where you found the nomads. When you get back into town after dealing with the kobolds, you will find proclamation CXXIX posted outside the city hall.
You now have several choices of what to do next. You could go after the pirates and try to rescue the heir to house Bivant, you could go investigate the lizardmen, or you could go clean the river. I strongly suggest you travel to the source of the river’s pollution before you go investigate the lizardmenm, but other than this restriction, it doesn’t make much of a difference what you do next.
Let’s say we’ll go rescue the Bivant heir from the pirates next. Leave the city by taking a boat to the west. Travel along the coast until you find a fortified encampment. After you return from rescuing the boy, you will find proclamation CCI posted. The council clerk will also tell you about a special diplomatic mission from Lord Cadorna, but don’t accept that mission yet.
But before we go to the lizardmen’s castle in the swamp, let’s travel upstream to the pyramid first. Once the source of the pollution has been destroyed, the Barren Lands will become green and verdant almost overnight. No new proclamations will be posted at the city hall. Now we can travel to the northeast into the large swampy lands to find the lizardmen and deal with them using the information we found in the Sorcerer’s Pyramid.