[Omera]

title sais enough i think...

[rendekar]

don't know if a mud that is true to d&d rules exists now but they say torilmud is the closest.

it's roleplay-encouraged and based on forgotten realms.

[Throttle]

TorilMUD is really good. It's the only one where I've been able to find the true D&D experience; there are probably other muds out there which can accomplish that, but this one has a reasonable playerbase to boot.

I won't lie, Toril is beyond its glory days. Some five years ago you'd find over 200 players online during peak hours, and now it's closer to 50, which is still playable but leaves something to be desired from a mud where certain raid zones can require 10-20 or more max-level players in a group.

It's not 100% D&D, of course. There's a level system that goes from 1-50, with such things as spell circles spread out to mimic the progression you'd get in a typical lvl1-20 (A)D&D ruleset. Many of the spells are similar or identical to what you'll remember from the pen & paper game, classes function in much the same way, and there are a lot of other similarities. The game world is even set in the Forgotten Realms setting, something that almost all D&Ders can relate to.

TorilMUD is currently going through the preparations for a major code overhaul that will take the game from a system similar to AD&D to something more like D&D3rd. I don't know much about the progress because I've never been a steady full-time player there, but I know there's staff working actively on the project.

Roleplaying is encouraged. There's a roleplaying flag that you can activate to show that you're willing to RP, there's staff dedicated to settup up RP quests and such, and the environment is written in a way that it does facilitate roleplay much, much better than your average hack'n'slash mud. The game environment is not a roleplaying environment, though. Few players actively roleplay, those who do choose to do so only some of the time, and there are a lot of things lacking in order to turn the mud into an actual roleplaying mud. As I've always said, if you're looking for the true online roleplaying experience, your only honest option is one of the RPIMUDs (Armageddon, Shadows of Isildur, Harshlands etc - try RPIMUD Network @ RPIMUD.com). Unfortunately I don't think there are any RPIs with a code that resembles D&D in any way, so you're probably out of luck if you want to combine D&D and serious roleplaying.

[Milawe]

You will be, honestly, extremely hard pressed to find any games that are not TSR/WoTC that resembles DnD rules simply because it's a copyrighted game. Under TSR, they were always extremely aggressive in shutting down anything that infringed on their copyright. With DDO out and trying to compete, I think they'd only be more aggressive about it.

I think your best bet is to figure out what it is about the D&D system that you like and generalize the terms. Then we can help you find a mud that you would enjoy.

[shadowfyr]

Actually, I would go one step past that and say that you are not going to find TSR/WoTC based games even from **them** that are 100% identical. Their own Neverwinter and Neverwinter 2 games both alter certain feats and spells to work in the environment they have to work with. In general, lots of stuff in the game just can't translate to *any* type of pre-built, scripted, game, text or otherwise. Mina is correct in that you need to figure out what features of the system you really want, then look for those, not try to find one that fits well.

[Omera]

guess i'll have to resort to IRC games and the like... does anybody know any sites that have active IRC games and such?

[Newworlds]

Originally Posted by Mina You will be, honestly, extremely hard pressed to find any games that are not TSR/WoTC that resembles DnD rules simply because it's a copyrighted game. Under TSR, they were always extremely aggressive in shutting down anything that infringed on their copyright. With DDO out and trying to compete, I think they'd only be more aggressive about it. I think your best bet is to figure out what it is about the D&D system that you like and generalize the terms. Then we can help you find a mud that you would enjoy.

I agree with this. I played D&D tabletop for 10 years from when I was a kid, prior to playing things like Ultima, Wizardry (ouch that dates ya) and then things like Diablo and many different Text Muds. I must say, I'd not go back to D&D anymore because of the odd functionality of it nor would I go back to Graphic games (I know many play them and more power to you) simply because there is never the immersion in them like a roleplayed text game.

Omega, I can't encourage you enough to check out some of the text games that fit your interest. I know several I would play. For starters: Any of the IRE games are good, Threshold, Armeggedon (if you want a harsh start and land), 4 Dimensions, and many others you'll find in the top 100 on TMS.

[shadowfyr]

You actually got Wizardry to work? Mind you, I played it a lot later, but I seem to remember a bug in at least one version that caused the character data to become permanently corrupted in some cases, losing some of your custom characters. I stopped even trying after than happened 2-3 times in a row...

The problem with graphical systems really though is that they just haven't "yet" caught up to where they need to be. Someone needs to marry SL style create your own world type design, with some good AI, maybe some decent speech systems and language AI, etc. Its a case of cost. I don't doubt all the pieces exist today, to produce at least a decent one, but the server costs, plus all the costs for the licenses to all the code needed to make it work (since reinventing it all would be a major pain), with the addition of bandwidth and client end requirements... Sigh...

But geeze, you would think they could at least do it for something simpler, like Battletech. I mean what is it with these bozos. I know, it would have annoyed "some" FPS types to do it, but why couldn't they have made weapons in them work like a shotgun system. I.e., you "aim" at a certain part of the mech, but the odds of "hitting" that part are dependent on a) gunnery skill and b) if you have a targetting computer and are using it to aim. If you aim at the legs, the odds are you are going to hit more brush than you are legs, just like in the RPG "period". Bugged the hell out of me when I used to play it, especially since it meant we would never see a sim, even if they ever wrote one, that would a) let you "build" the basic specs for the mech, as in armor points, weapons, engine class, etc., then *test* that in the sim. Didn't matter if you had a fracking fast mech with a punny laser, or a 100 ton giant with fracking Clan super weapons, a few shots to the legs and you enemy was down... bloody stupid.

But that is the problem really. They need to make the game where the widest audience can "get into them". Immersion might be possible in 3D, but not so long as some clown is sitting in a room going, "Ok, but what about people who like first person shooters? Will they want to play this too?" Umm, no, its not the @@#$#@ target audience, but it will be by the time the game hits market (or at least a lot closer to what they want).

Anyway, sorry about the rant. Can't really give much more advice than already given, which is to just take a look at some games on the top 100.

[Newworlds]

Originally Posted by shadowfyr You actually got Wizardry to work? Mind you, I played it a lot later, but I seem to remember a bug in at least one version that caused the character data to become permanently corrupted in some cases, losing some of your custom characters. I stopped even trying after than happened 2-3 times in a row...

Hahaha, old games like wizardry don't work on XP or new windows/mac systems. I played this on a damn 5 1/4" floppy dude. Find one of those today.

[nienne]

Ours MUD might be close? It uses the Faerun/FR setting, though it's not based in Toril; it's a unique world/history. Runs off DnD races/classes, and a subset of their main deities; RP-enforced; currently being moved to a 3e/4e hybrid from its original 2e (which it's been for about 17 years). Not sure if it's what you're after but might be... If you want to try it out anyway, you can find the new website for it at Welcome to Shadowgate or you can just connect through to firedragon.com:6969

[Realedazed]

Have you every thought about MUSHes? There's a few that I've run into that use D&D settings and rules. I haven't played them, so I can't really explain how they work. But, if there are like any other MUSH that uses a +dice system, its usually RP until you need to +roll or enter play with a GM or Judge that runs a huge scene.

Also, there's some online tabletops that are almost just like a tabletop game, complete figures, maps, etc. I'm busy moving right now (actually I should be dong that now lol) but next time I'll get a free moment, I'll see if I can find a few links for those games that I mentioned.

Good luck!

[Bakha]

You might also look into google wave. There's a lot of PBW (play by wave) going on at the moment.

Here's a good summation of it:
Google Wave: we came, we saw, we played D&D - Ars Technica