Introduction: First of all, lets get something straight right off the bat. Playing a Beyond Naked Mage has absolutely nothing to do with sitting in front of the computer in your bare ass. If that's what your looking for here, go get some help, your a sick bastard.

What playing a BNM is all about is bringing the challenge back to Diablo. I mean, come on. This game has been out since the first week of January 1997 and you can only play a game, any game, for just so long before you lose intrest in it. Again, that's what being a BNM is all about. Making the game interesting again. Another hope is that while some people turn to cheating in order to freshen up the game, they will turn to BNM's instead. Hell, if one person chooses to play a BNM instead of cheating it's well worth the effort.

Ok, enough rambling. What is being a BNM all about you ask? It's about the hardest damn thing you can imagine. If your a pantywaist, read no further. Well, the ultimate goal is of course to kill Diablo, but there's more to it than that.

The basics of BNM's are that you create a brand new Sorcerer and totally UN-equip him. Yeah, that's right, sell that staff of Charged Bolt, you don't have any use for it anymore. From here on, the only thing you can wear has got to be cursed, as a matter of fact, you are REQUIRED to wear cursed stuff. Plain stuff isn't acceptable either, if it ain't cursed you can't use it. Still reading huh? Ok, I'll continue. There is a bit of good news, you can pick up anything you find and haul it back to town and sell it. A BNM's gotta make a living after all and believe me, your gonna burn through the mana like there's no tomorrow, so sell everything you can. If your still interested in being a BNM, read the Rules section and get started. Diablo will never be the same for you again...

Rules:

Beyond Naked Mage
1. Naming your BNM: First, start a brand new character. Then, to identify yourself as a proud Beyond Naked Mage, use the following format: 'Name(BNM)'

2. Equiping your BNM: The only items that a BNM are allowed to wear or use are cursed ones. That's it, no exceptions. An item that can be worn include armor (body, shield and head) and jewelry (rings and necklaces) while used items include weapons of any sort. As a matter of fact, you are REQUIRED to wear/use any and all cursed items that you find. If you are so (un)lucky to have more than one item of a particular nature (ie 2 cursed swords), then you must use the one that penalizes you the MOST. Excess cursed item must be stored and passed along to other BNM's when encountered. With that in mind, receiving cursed items from other players is acceptable as long as they are legit (see cheating below).

2a. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Some items combine the Good and the Bad...ie. a Masters sword of the Pit. BNM's may NOT use such an item because even though it is cursed (the Pit), it is also blessed (Masters). Therefore, a BNM may only use items that can be called the Ugly, meaning it has a cursed prefix, suffix or both.

2b. Spell Staves: Staves that are cursed, yet have the ability to cast a spell are usable by BNM's, but you have to "bleed" them dry. What that means is casting spells from a staff is NOT allowed, but you can permanently remove a staves ability to hold charges. Here's how: First, clear a room. Then, facing a wall, keep casting spells from the staff until it runs out of charges. Then use the Sorcerer's recharge skill to recharge the staff. Keep repeating this process (drain and charge) and eventually the staff will have zero of zero charges. Actually, the number of charges will disappear from the description altogether. Then, what your left with is something like a "Hyena's staff of Charged Bolt" that zaps you for -22 mana, but can't cast spells.

2c. 'Of Corruption' items: Items that have the 'of Corruption' suffix are the most prized of all cursed items a BNM can hope for and have special rules that pertain to them. First, an 'of Corruption' item MUST be found. A BNM cannot except one as a gift. Second, a BNM is not requred to wear their 'of Corruption' items, but they MUST keep them in inventory. A BNM cannot give one away. Last, after every fifth level of experience, a BNM that has one or more 'of Corruption, items must undergo a "Streak". When "streaking", a BNM goes to the center of town and drops ALL of his equipment (pots and scrolls included) and only equips himself with his 'of Corruption' items. He then proceeds to the church and "streaks" through the dungeon, looking for the stairs to the next level. He continues to go deeper and deeper until he is killed in the dungeon. He must then re-start in town, pick up his belongings and retrieve his 'of Corruption' item from the dungeon. If he is successful in retrieving it, he becomes a "Streaker". A Streaker is the most honored of positions in the Nude Nation and killing diablo is the only accomplishment that is held in higher esteem. There is no penalty if the 'of Corruption' item is not retrieved.

2d. Storage Characters: BNM's may use storage characters to carry excess cursed items without penalty. This is to ensure that our oh so coveted exta cursed gear is available to newbie BNM's. I don't think that this is cheating in any way, so feel free to make as many as you need. One thing that should be avoided though is 'hoarding' cursed items. The whole purpose of allowing storage characters isn't to help people start 'collections,' it's to store overflow items until we find some BNM that can use them.

3. Inventory usage: The inventory of a BNM can only be filled with the following: Potions: the life blood of a BNM, you may have as many as you can carry, but cannot drop extra cursed items to make room for more potions.
Scrolls: Vital for survival, scrolls are critical to a successfull BNM. Anytime you can cast a spell without using mana, your in good shape. Like potions, you cannot drop extra cursed items to make room for more scrolls.
Gold: Same rules as above. BNM's have little use for gold except for buying potions and scrolls. Excess cursed items: As stated above, extra cursed items cannot be abandoned and must be kept in inventory until they can be passed along to other BNM's. Also, it is likely that you'll die horribly in the dungeon and not be able to get your stuff back. It happens. Having extra cursed stuff in your inventory is just the thing is case of such a disaster.

4. Griz, Peppin and Adria: A BNM may purchase potions, books and scrolls from Peppin and/or Adria and you can sell items you find in the dungeon to Griz. Griz won't repair cursed gear however, so try to take care of your stuff.

5. Cheating: Yeah, you guessed it, NO CHEATING! Now, I suppose that an argument could be made that duping cursed stuff is detrimental to your character and isn't really cheating. No way, I don't buy it. Here's the thing. Imagine what pride you would have in that KSOH if there was no duping in the game and only a handfull of people on Battle.Net had one. It'd make you feel pretty good if you were one of 'em wouldn't it? Well, for the same reason, what fun would it be if every BNM you bumped into had a Clumsy staff of the Fool and Rusted mail of the Pit? Man would that suck! So there you go, NO CHEATING!

6. Pkilling (optional): Pkilling cheaters, and only cheaters, is encouraged. The reasons for this position are twofold. First, cheaters are SCUM and should be hunted and pkilled at every opportunity. However, we BNM's are an honorable sort and you should never pkill anyone below your current level. Also, you should try to talk some sense into the cheater and try to get him to abandon his lame ways before you lop off his ear. Second, for a BNM to pkill a cheater is the greatest insult possible. Just thinking of the possible taunts makes me giddy. If you do pkill a cheater, make sure you let him/her know just what sort of character took his lame ear. Oh man that'll burn 'em up. Hehehehe. Additionally, for a mage sporting cursed items to take the ear of a cheater is PURE SKILL. Something that lame-ass cheaters often lack. So it's really a fair fight. They got the hacks, you have your brain. Go get 'em!

Note: Items that either reduce or increase a characters light radius are usable by BN's because increasing a BN's light radius attracts more monsters and decreasing it hinders the BN's visibility. That's our interpretation anyways.

Beyond Naked Rogues
are just BNM's in drag. All of the rules that apply to Beyond Naked Mages apply to BNR's. The only exception is that Beyond Naked Rogues are allowed to use whatever Bow they choose. This reason behind this is that while a BNM is saddled with cursed gear, he still has his most potent weapon...his magic. With that in mind, a Rogues main attack is the bow and therefore a magic bow is acceptable. I'd say that Windforce (or any bow with knockback) is possibly the most coveted of all bows, considering the low AC...

Beyond Naked Warriors
are just BNM's on steroids. All of the rules that apply to Beyond Naked Mages apply to BNW's. The only exception is that Beyond Naked Warriors are allowed to use whatever weapon they choose. This reason behind this is that while a BNM is saddled with cursed gear, he still has his most potent weapon...his magic. With that in mind, a Warriors main attack is the mano-a-mano and therefore a magic weapon is acceptable. I'd say that 'of Blood' weapons or weapons with knockback are possibly the most desired of all weapons, considering the low AC...

FAQ:

How did BNM's get started?
Beyond Naked Mages in general, are the result of many posts that went back and forth with Saint Michael (Hairy(BNM)). While talking about how much we hated cheaters, it was mentioned that we ought to un-equip our high level mages and PKill cheaters 'naked.' Well, this went one step further and it was suggested that we should be not only 'naked,' but equiped with cursed items. Hence the birth of the Beyond Naked Mage. These web pages are meant to inspire players into new styles of play. Really, I think that everyone should play this way to develop their playing skills.

Help! I can't find any cursed stuff!
All I can say is keep on trying. By my estimation, which is to say a total guess, cursed items only make up around 5-10% of all magic items. They aren't as rare as uniques, but they're not that far off. Don't give up, your bound to find some.

How can I find other BNM's to play with?
Well, like stated in the "Nude Nation" section, we are in no way an organized guild. That's mostly because I don't even have near the time needed to make it a success. So, if you want to play with other BNM's, jsut send them an email and set it up.

What's the best way to build my character?
I'd say that playing 'solo' multiplayer is best. That way, you can proceed at your own pace and identify every magic item you find. I only play on Battle.Net when I've set up a game with other BNM's or if I'm looking to Pkill a cheater :) Muahahaha

I keep getting slaughtered on Battle.Net. What can I do?
Only play with people you trust. I know this is obvious, but BNM's usually have around 35-50 hit points until we get our mana shields. That's just too easy a target for most Pkillers. C'mon, it's really a two hit fight (them hitting us and us hitting the floor). So if you insist on wandering the public games, be EXTRA cautious. My suggestion is to try to get a game going with other BNM's. BTW: Being slaughtered by cheaters is EXACTLY why we promote pkilling cheaters.

I'm still getting slaughtered! HELP!
The best thing to do when some lame ass cheater drops you in one hit is to taunt him. Most of them have fragile little egos as it is. So when you let them know your stats and the rules you play by, it totally ruins the kill for them. Hahahaha

I just got MKILLED!
ROFLOL! That'll fix 'em! Wormwood got mkilled in a game and the dork took his Hyena's staff (I think that's what it was...). I would have loved to seen the pkillers reaction when he found out just what he got for his efforts :) So my advice is to let them kill ya. Your fellow BNM's will always re-equip you so don't sweat it. Again, it also ruins the kill for 'em, so that's a bonus.

How come we never see Hairy?
Is he your imaginary friend? Lol, no. Hairy(BNM) is back at college and hasn't really played much, got his mind on girls and beer :) Even though Hairy is very prominent in the Homepage, he really just helped me develop the "core" rules for Beyond Nakedness. He never really intended to be all that involved in it. I think he thought I got carried away with the Homepage and that might have turned him off a bit.

Whenever I do a "/whereis Woody(BNM)" I get "that user is not logged on." Do you ever play?
You bet I do! The thing is, my time to play is sorta spontaneous. I usually log on to Battle.Net between 10pm and 12am EST weekdays. Weekends I take what I can get. RL stuff takes up most of my free time.