MadyNora: There is a trick that allows you to get good equipment at the beginning of the game, wich will surely help with all the baddies. It involves the NWC dungeon.
(the equipment you will get is "low level", but it will help a LOT at the beginning.)

First, you need to give the letter to the man in the tavern, and to the man in Castle Ironfist to get cash.
Then click on the left wall of the bank in New Sorpigal: you get a hidden fly scroll.
Hire a gate master. (costs 2000, if you save-reload the game the job of NPCs will change, keep on trying until you find a gate master)
Fly onto the northern roof of Buccaneer's Lair in New Sorpigal, then turn south (be careful: the dragon tower will shoot fireballs at you, so be very careful when fying).
Switch to turn based (this is EXTERMELY important. If you dont do that, you will die in 1 second.)
Press space, and you find yourself teleported to Dragonsand.
Cancel turn based, and RUN into the left side of the altar in front of you.
Switch to turn based again, touch the altar with every character, then turn around, and click on the wall: you arrive in the NWC dungeon.
Loot it, than use the gate master to get back to town. Don't use the door, it takes you to the dragons. (The squares on the top of the desks are chests too)

I always start MM6 doing this, it gives a nice starting equipment+stats from the altar. With this, the beginning area of the game is easily manageable :)

fablefox: Yeah - but NWC room is considered cheating :-)

Just use my technique above - it still 'legit'. :-)

Seriously, I'm playing it right now. I'm already touch the dragonsand altar and drink the potion only in the second month. and the mission that require fighting I did mostly in new scorpigal (goblin, sherry, etc) - and that at the level 13 (since I did the 2 promotion quest first (talk to guy in bar + stable).

MadyNora: Even if you don't enter the NWC area, touching the altar still helps a lot :)
I have to admit, I never considered it cheating. If it was filled with relics, I'd say, yes, but it's just some low level suff.
(well, the area is not part of the lore, so I guess it is still cheating, but not a very serious cheat... I mean, back then before I had the patched version, I got infinite money from the obelisk treasure and infinite exp from the Hall of the Fire Lord... compared to those the NWC room is nothing^^')
(I also use the NWC dugeon in MM7 to escape from the ship in the last mission...^_^''')

Also: Learn air magic, learn the fly spell, and fly around to get the obelisks ASAP. Legit, and helps a lot^^ (just don't forget to use a telekinesis scroll to open the treasure^^)

(edit for spelling)

fablefox: Yeah. Hiring a cartographer reduce 3 day from map travel. good for non town portal locations. faster than horse too. That is a quick obelisk travelling :-)

MadyNora: I don't know the name of the NPC that shortens travels, but it's not the cartographer, s/he just gives Wizard Eye :)
Having a cartographer is a must for me, because of the constant Wizard Eye, that can not be dispelled.

fablefox: Strange... but anyway, if you hire two merchant, does it double your merchant point, or it only affect (accumulative) if it different type of people (trader / merchant / duper). I does hire merchant + duper early on before I jack one of my character into expert and then master merchant.

fablefox: But back then it was my personal victory (number of days). I mean, why keep playing the same game again and again, right?

And here is the funny stuff, I don't know if it was intentional or bug, but multiple training at the same time cost you as much as a single training (AFAIK). Training from level 1 to 2 is as much as training from level 1 to 13. This allow me to think and try to cram as much mission between training as possible.

Anyway, thanks for the multiple merchant test.

Sargon: KILL 'EM ALL. And let GOG sort them out.

macAilpin: LOL. I tend to try every dungeon on a map before moving onto the next map. Doesn't mean I don't run early on (and often), but some of the most fun dungeons are the tough early ones.

Sargon: Yeah, Goblinwatch and the Abandoned Temple of Baal was some of the best when I replayed the game after many years. Great level design and atmosphere. And I think you are right about it having a lot to do with that you are very vulnerable then. But the dungeon design is awesome all the way through to the end. One of these days I'm going to do another replay and do the areas and dungeons in a different order with a different party. An all sorcerer party sounds interesting although it would be a little hard in the beginning and quite easy later in the game. My favorite dungeon is probably Castle Darkmoor. And then there is M&M 7 as well...

Sargon: KILL 'EM ALL. And let GOG sort them out.