Note: This is from memory, so a few details could possibly be off.
#1) Make good characters according to the manual. I always did: Knight, Paladin, Cleric, Archer, Sorceror, Robber -- but I've heard of other good builds.
#2) Leave Middlegate Inn and take turn right. Step once to the east. Turn right. Step to the south. Tada! Insta-map! It lasts until you rest.
#3) Go die a few times to learn about the city. There's an area in the northeast that you can't go to. There's a few buildings you shouldn't enter. But you should learn where the colloseum is, the training center, the temple, the tavern, the inn and the weapon-smith and a quest-giver. Don't buy the mage's guild access yet.
#4) Get decent weapons and armor and at least one green ticket from the weapon maker. Then go back to the inn to save your game.
#5) Go to the colloseum and fight. You'll get money and XP.
#6) If you're badly damaged and your clerics are out of spell points, go to the fountain of clairvoyance (step 2) and rest, then drink the fountain.
#7) Use your colloseum winnings to get more green tickets and better weapons and use the money to train your guys. Once your wizard hits a few levels, it might be a good time to buy a mage's guild access.
#8) Once you have 3 or 4 levels under your belts, you should be able to get the quest and perform it fairly well. That quest leads to another quest to get 2 decent hirelings. You might want to use some more green ticket-gold-xp times before going down to do that one.
#9) If you have a fair amount of gold, check with the weapon smith every day to see if he has any daily specials that are quite spectacular.
#11) Go on the roads and look at your surrounding. You'll see 2 castles and another town on this side of the road. If you go off road, prepare to fight.
#10) Options: Make some serious XP or go to Tundara. If you want a lot of XP, you can find a guy named Mark looking for keys just off the road to Tundara.
SPOILER (read backwards) eltsaC ydobaeP ot esolc ardnut eht ni erehewemos detacol era syek siH
You can get the keys over and over and over to get your guys up a couple levels quickly.
#11) You can then hit Tundara and the other towns. Perform quests you see, write down any clues or signs you find. Hopefully, that will be enough to get you along your way.
#12) If you haven't yet, read the manual. The background story about how the world was made and how everything became the way it is today is important. A brief summary:
- A bunch of elementals combined to make the world.
- Dragons were bad.
- The MegaDragon was killed by King Kalohn and now the world is as it is. But the weapon used to kill the dragon is gone.