I downloaded Arena, made a character and started playing. However, it turned out that I could barely figure out how the controls worked. I finally figured out how to open that cell-door in the very begining, but by then I had already lost some health for some reason. I went west and then south as I was told, but all I found was a flow of water. I figured that I was supposed to go down there and follow the stream. It turned out that as I followed the stream, my health was drained and I died and became prey to beasts....


Can somebody give me some tips on how to get started? What am I supposed to do about my health being drained?

If your health is going down, it means something is attacking you. (Or you're poisoned, but you can't get poisoned in the starting level.) It's VERY easy for enemies to sneak up on you in this game, so:

1. LISTEN. You will usually be able to hear when there is an enemy nearby, and you will always be able to tell when you get hit.

2. LOOK. More specifically, look behind you. A lot.

Did you do all the steps in the 'how to run Arena' thread? If you didn't fix your framerate, the game is pretty much unplayable.

I figured that the framerate wasn't right! I kept playing because I thought "this is probably just Old School, so I can live with it", lol...

I will check that thread out, and thanks for the advice!