Are there any MUDs out there with some kind of random equipment generation system (vis a vis Diablo) ?

Absolutely!

If you join TempusMUD, our equipment is rarely the same thing twice!

Today, you might kill Graz'zt, the Demon Prince, and get his Acidic Blade and it's +5 / +5 7d7...tomorrow, you might gain this item and it's +1/+4 8d8, and yet another day it could be a -1/+6 7d8.

Many of our items function in such a manner!

Come check us out, I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Come to

It has random equipment generation.
when you kill a rat for instance, it can drop boots, maybe a bow. Who knows

The rats in your mud wear boots and wield bows?

No, its a randomly generated item.
Like diablo.

I know what it is - I'm just curious about where it's supposed to come from. It's one of the things I really disliked about Diablo, that you would "chop up" a huge swarm of insects with a couple of blows from your sword (which is bad enough as it is) and then a huge pile of platemail armour would "drop out". Diablo can get away with it (more or less) on account of being just another gauntlet-style computer game - but you advertise as an enforced roleplaying mud. Don't you think it seems a bit strange for someone to kill a rat, and discover that it had a pair of boots and a bow? I could understand if it were found upon destroying the rat's nest, but on the rat itself it seems very strange. Then of course there's the whole "rat" thing - doesn't it seem a bit odd that a warrior (even one in training) should have to actually fight it out with a rat? I mean even a regular peasant should just be able to stamp on the rat and kill it...

Not intended to rant at you, but those are both a couple of serious consistency issues which I see a lot of muds ignore, and I find them really off-putting.

1 Phrase

RolePlay Enforced FANTASY MUD

Its fantasy, not fricking medieval or reality.
Jeeze

I believe you're confusing "fantasy" with "lack of internal consistancy". By your line of reasoning I could roleplay anything I wished - a smurf, a marshmellow man, a teletubbie, or whatever - on the basis of it being "fantasy".

It is believable to see things like magic and dragons within most fantasy muds, because they are consistant with the reality described by that setting. In the other hand it is not believable to see things like rats carrying boots and bows within most fantasy muds, because they are not consistant with the reality described by that setting.

The more internally consistant a mud is, the more immersive it is - and the more immersive it is, the better suited it is to a roleplaying environment. That is why you won't see serious roleplaying muds with a smurf village in them (unless the mud is based on the smurfs theme).

Rats dropping random items is, at best, unbelievable.

Roleplay-enforced fantasy needs to be believable, otherwise the roleplay falls flat on its face. This doesn't mean it has to be realistic. Plenty of fantasy is UNrealistic and still manages to suck you into the believability of the story. Good fantasy will always be un-realistic, and still completely believable. That's what RP-enforced fantasy text games are all about.

For a rat, which is a 4-footed rodent lacking opposable thumbs, to be -carrying- let along -dropping- a pair of human-sized boots, I would have to say that crosses WAY over the line of both fantasy -and- believability.

I can't fathom how to possibly RP acknowledging that a creature the size of my foot is carrying two items (two boots makes a pair) the size of my foot, ankle, and probably calf as well.

It isn't an ant, or it -might- be believable, since ants can drag around things dozens of times heavier than they are. It's a freakin rat. Rats don't clutch boots in their hands and walk around on their hind legs biting people til they die, and then drop the boots. They just don't. Not in reality, not in fantasy, not in believability. In cartoons, sure. But you claim to have a RP-enforced fantasy game, not a cartoon. If you want your game to be played by people interested in believing your game's world and genre, you gotta get rid of the toons.

Previously, I wrote:

The idea struck me as amusing, so I decided to implement it, like so:

A large rat scuttles out of a nearby hole.
You stamp on the large rat's head with your left boot.
The large rat starts scuttling towards you.
You coil your legs beneath you, ready to spring.
The large rat sinks its teeth into your left boot.
You ignore the bite.
You leap up into the air.
The large rat bites uselessly at the air beneath your boots.
You land on the large rat, squashing it flat beneath your boots.
The large rat's body goes limp.

A large rat scuttles out of a nearby hole.
You pull your pair of brown leather boots off your feet.
You stamp on the large rat with your bare right foot, squashing it flat!
The large rat's body goes limp.

A large rat scuttles out of a nearby hole.
You get a large rat from the ground.
You clutch a large rat in your right hand.
You hurl your large rat at the dojo.
Your large rat bounces off harmlessly.
A large rat falls onto the ground.
A large rat rolls back onto its feet.
You get a large rat from the ground.
You clutch a large rat in your right hand.
You hurl your large rat at the dojo.
Your large rat bounces off harmlessly.
A large rat goes limp.
A large dead rat falls onto the ground.

A large rat scuttles out of a nearby hole.
You get a large rat from the ground.
You clutch a large rat in your right hand.
You swing your large rat at KaVir by its tail.
He knocks your large rat aside with his hand.
You smash your large rat into KaVir face.
A large rat goes limp.

A large rat scuttles out of a nearby hole.
You get a large rat from the ground.
You clutch a large rat in your right hand.
KaVir clutches his blood-stained steel bastard sword in his right hand.
KaVir grips the hilt of his bastard sword in both hands.
KaVir raises his bastard sword into a defensive guard.
You swing your large rat at KaVir by its tail.
He parries your large rat with his bastard sword.
A large rat goes limp.