Zugg Software :: View topic

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:40 pm

I still can't find a MUD that I can really enjoy and call home.

What do you guys play??? And why?

Newbie Joined: 22 Sep 2008 Posts: 4

I play Dragonrealms and a little Torilmud.

Reason I like Dragonrealms is the world is huge and unique. Average of 300 people playing at a time. Everyone roleplays, there are no true 'classes'. You join guilds to get specific abilities, such as spells and attacks, but all your skills are worked up through repetition. So you could have a mage that is decked out in full plate swinging a sword, yes your magic will be hindered, but you're still able to be that warrior in plate. The player economy is great and there's always someone to help. There''s also GM progressed story line's happening and its up to Players to figure out how to resolve the plots. Only downside is its $14/mo, but first 30 days are free.

play.net/dr

Torilmud is a Forgotten-Relams based mud that Everquest was based off of. If you're in the mood for gear hunting, questing, and txt-raiding thats the game for you. Its got all you're standard DnD classes & spells and is currently being reworked for DnD 3.0 rule set. This game is free and has avg of 40 players on with a peak of 100 or so, very loyal community.

torilmud.org

GURU Joined: 23 Dec 2000 Posts: 4834 Location: USA

I play Dragonrealms.

Magician Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 430

I pondered long and hard in my search for something new myself and finally sticked with Achaea. By no means have I played long enough to even have a hard-boiled decision about it yet but what I've seen and done thus far I've liked, quite a bit.

Community is great, if you're asking something over a public channel, you'll get both fast responses through it and usually few private
tells from kind people who'd like to help you further. In-Character and Out-of-Character rules on public channels one must obey, but
nothing one couldn't handle (basically can't mention IRL or PCs or such, triggers etc are pointed towards at as Reflexes, its OK and people
understand what you mean without issues). Heavy RP basically.

Houses are good to join when you're starting up but pretty much all of them are more or less heavy RP. So if you're not into RP *yet* in
a new game, or never really haven't been, I'd suggest to hold and obtain more knowledge about the game first. Then at one point,
you'll start to go into RP more because one eventually should join a House.

I'm sure long-time Achaea players will give more deeper information, though. Hence I won't go into very complex PvP etc, because, well,
I don't know a thing about it yet other than what I've heard/read. No experience of my own yet.

Wizard Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 1547

Dark and Shattered Lands. It's a small MUD by comparison to Dragonrealms, but large in comparison to many others. Completely free, the owner of the game adds new things all the time (though there are some quiet lulls). Large, expanding world to explore. Worldwide story lines, and RP is enforced so everyone is doing their own RP too. A PK system if you want to kill people, stock combat engine which has been tweaked with, plenty of things added but it plays much the same as many other circle-based muds. The owner hopes that eventually all the tweaking will get rid of the stock code, and I'm sure it already has in many respects.

www.dsl-mud.org

Apprentice Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 121

Aardwolf
Been here 10 years, and still play 5+ hours a day.
Amazing people.. Completely free.. like 30k rooms to explore and over 14000 levels.
I'd go further but i cant do it justice.

Beginner Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 14

Xyllomer, on and off over ten years, I think.

It's an ok mud, instead of "levels" your experience goes right into your stats (which you can decide yourself how much goes where when you meditate in a shrine or pub). You can still get a fair estimate of your experience as a "level title" in your stats command. There's heaps of skills you can learn and you can even own your own ships and houses.
Not many muds out there can boast having a combat system where you can actually chop off the limbs of your enemy, pick them up and throw them in their face. :)

Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 3:22 pm

I'm with harley on this one. For a long time (10 years, in fact!) I played Merentha. One day, it crashed. It crashed hard; in fact, it took nearly three months to bring it back up. During that time, I went out searching for a new MUD to bide my time. I came across Aardwolf. Though I wasn't expecting to be there long, I haven't gone back to Merentha except to check up on people twice or so.

Some key things about Aardwolf:

More and more becoming completely original. Started out as a diku MUD, now is based on lua, which has more coding capabilities than diku
Many stock areas are gone in favor for more player-designed areas. Most areas are designed by players, not just the Imms. It allows players to put what they would like to see. Of course, it does go through Imm scrutiny before officially becoming an area, but because of this, so many areas are unique.
With over 200 areas, it's hard NOT to find a place you can level in. Very big area to explore with a total of almost 29k rooms!
No less than about 300 players online at any given time. The players are generally helpful when you need help. We also have Helpers and Advisors, people who assist newbies when they begin their adventures. We even help those who need it, regardless of level.
Clans. Many clans to consider joining, some pk clans, others nopk. Different clans have their own perks, too, such as specialized equipment that can only be worn by clan members. Clans also have the ability to have open shops, in which they may sell some other clan equipment to the public.
A very active Imm community. The Imms interact with players more than I've seen in any MUD. The Imms listen to the players and make changes as needed. Not to mention they are busy upgrading the MUD itself!
Many more aspects of this MUD, such as poker, NASCAARD, blackjack, trivias, and player-run games, as well as quests, global quests, campaigns, lasertag, and dueling. Too many to list here.

As you can see, there are several things in Aardwolf that can be enjoyed. All those reasons above and more are why I'm still playing Aardwolf two years after Merentha came back up. You can check it out at www.aardwolf.com.

Charneus

Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 5:03 pm

I've debated as to whether I should post to this or not. I have relationships with several different MUDs and I think different people will like different MUDs, just like with any other games. But when I'm relaxing and not working (which isn't very often), I actually play Aardwolf. I hate to fuel a "popularity contest", so be sure to try different MUDs to find one that you like, rather than just going with what is most popular.

(reminds me that I haven't logged into Aardwolf in a while, so I hope I haven't gotten dumped from my clan ;)

Wizard Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 1547

Click on all the links and try them out. Very Happy

Magician Joined: 25 Oct 2000 Posts: 461 Location: USA

I play on 3-kingdoms (3k.org). It was one of the first muds I came across back in 1993, and luckily happens to be one of the top remaining LPMuds. It plays very differently from most muds, and I encourage anyone to give a try. It has a different 'feel' that most other muds I've played, even other LPMuds.

I've tried and tried to get into Aardwolf. The size is great (both rooms and playerbase), the features are top-notch - I've never seen so many commands in a mud!, Lasher is a great admin, and the push to keep muds relevant is excellent (very client friendly, for example, with the roomtags/maptags/etc.). I have a hard time actually figuring out why I can't make myself stay. I assume it is my LPMud preference, and the fact that Aard still has diku roots (though that's unfair... there isn't much "diku" left). I'd guess my biggest beef is seeing an object on the ground: "You see a rusty sword on the ground.". Then you pick it up: "You see a rusty sword on the ground". Then you wield it: "You see a rusty sword on the ground". Aiiieeee! I'm guessing this could change if weapons/armour start getting the LUA treatment, as the goal system is pretty slick.

If the cost wasn't so steep, I'd be at DragonRealms. I played a free trial there at one point years and years ago and it was excellent.

Other notable muds I'd encourage people to try (no particular order): Discworld, BatMUD, RetroMUD, Icesus, and Materia Magica. A nod to the Iron Realms games too if their pay-for-items model doesn't phase you.

Beginner Joined: 14 Jan 2004 Posts: 18

For pretty much the last 7 years or so, I've been playing Realms of the Dragon. I tried Aardwolf for awhile and, while I liked the way the game is set up, I found I just didn't feel at home in a player base that large.

Wizard Joined: 25 Mar 2003 Posts: 1113 Location: USA

Aardwolf almost made me go blind in the two minutes I tried to play it. Razz

I play Lusternia, and I love it for so many reasons.

Wizard Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 1547

By the way... a goddess just died in Dark and Shattered Lands

Shocked

Edit: Click on the history note archive and read the latest stories.
Story notes are by the players and relate to the whole story of the MUD or their own personal ones. Caemlin and Yasan are both characters of mine with plenty of storyns.

Adept Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 246

I only play MUSHes, since I refuse to play a "leveling grind" and/or do automated quests. I'm a fan of the Amber genre, so I usually stick to those.

Wizard Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 1547

An aside, just because a game has automated quests doesn't mean it can't have a ton of Imm-run and player-run quests too. Though, admittedly, DSL has a level-grind in it and you really can do a whole lot more at max level. Different strokes for different folks.

Magician Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 430

I contemplated quite a while as to post this or not, but.

"Level-grind" in itself isn't supposed to be a bad thing. Quite honestly, a lot of games around, be it text-based or graphical, tend to use
this formula. You gain experience, one way or another, either by killing stuff for experience or completing various quests.
Of course, the latter is more interesting and allegedly better way for obtaining that aim.

While you gain experience, you rise in "levels" or however one particular game likes to call it. Depending of the game (I'm betting
some games out there doesn't even have complex PvP stuff as some sort of "treat" for the "high end" players - level-wise), however,
the ones that do... Some let you do some sort of restricted PvP already at the start (Wars, Duels etc), but seriously, most of that
stuff is the most fun when *you* actually *are* one of those at the "high end". Depending of level amounts, of course, one can
enjoy power I suppose already earlier (MUDs with 14K+ levels I guess), but there's a long way to go even half-way.

What I'm saying I suppose is that there's at least some sort, be it as minimal, aim to obtain a higher goal in a game, level-wise. Hence,
honestly, no such game is completely free from "level-grind".

I just thought I'd give my two cents in. Imo it isn't as black'n'white as people tend to paint it.

Adept Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 246

Wizard Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 1547

I prefer the combat system in Dark and Shattered Lands because it has a mechanical aspect to it which is reminiscent of any game you play, including many table top ones. You just don't physically roll the dice, etc... at the same time, you can roleplay fights if you want, but it simply doesn't happen that often for the fact that people try to superman rp, people closed emote, and other people get frustrated at a person for using something legitimately works in their roleplay but prevents the other person from executing something they thought would be cool. Dark and Shattered Lands enforces RP, and while some people just clan and try to avoid RP, the game is awash in it. New things are being added, huge areas to explore and it boasts a combat engine as well as many other systems which all you something to do when RP is low and you're idle. Even after you reach the highest level (or before it) there's a rich, wide range of opportunities.

Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 9:46 am

I was going to talk about some of the stuff touched on in this thread, but my thoughts ended up running to over 900 words, so I've put them here instead. If you're going to browse round there, some of the other posts are a bit sweary - beware.

What I'll say here is that I play or played Achaea, Imperian and Lusternia on a regular basis. I tried to play Aardwolf, but I couldn't really get into it. I gave lipservice to a bunch of other MUDs, including RetroMUD and WoTMUD. Take that as you will.

Wizard Joined: 26 Mar 2008 Posts: 1547

I'm good at writing... I should do that... ...when I'm not too busy to even forget to tie my own shoes!

Newbie Joined: 31 Jul 2008 Posts: 9

I play 3kingdoms (3k.org) and have to say it is an amazing MUD. I have not seen the same originality and variety in any other mud (in my opinion) and there is absolutely no stock. Some people roleplay but the vast majority do not. The world is huge and there are always lots of active people. While the largest part of the mud is fantasy based there is also a science realm and a 'chaos' realm (you have to see it to believe it).

Each guild replaces the normal 'class' system I see on so many muds and each has a completely independent system of combat. Our necromancer guild is the best guild/class, theme and detail-wise, that I have ever seen in any game

The community is equally strong. I am even going to the wedding of a fellow 3ker this weekend!

Good luck!

Magician Joined: 23 Nov 2004 Posts: 364

I play 3kingdoms as well. It's a huge place, lots of quests, lots of guilds, ect. The above people pretty much summed it up pretty well. Once you really get going into 3k, you really could care less about any other place.

Wanderer Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 88

Aardwolf and Dragonrealms :)

Both are fun. But different as night and day.

Dragonrealms has done an amazing job of NOT being a mud. Its more like a completely immersive world... of course with badass exp/combat/etc etc systems. It's a mud, but completely original. Not the standard diku or diku rewrites etc etc.

Aardwolf.... Well, that game is just a lot of fun. If ya want to kick ass and destroy things and rule the world while having nearly limitless end game and stuff to do.

Just a very very terrible look into why I like both games.

I've been playing dragonrealms a lot more... Why?? Sometimes I think I like creating scripts more then mudding. LOL. Damn, its so much fun creating fully automated scripting units that are effective and flexible...

-Haldrik

P.S. I dont do afk scripting. Not worth it.

Magician Joined: 25 Oct 2000 Posts: 461 Location: USA

I've wanted to get into one of the Iron Realm games (Achaea, etc) just for the scripting as well... the fact that 'systems' are allowed (encouraged/required/whatever) is very very interesting. Just can't get into it though. I think I'm thrown by a mud that allows such heavy scripting to be so RP oriented :)