Help me find a mud that suits me
 

I'm looking for a mud. I tried the obvious route of searching through a bunch of mud descriptions here, but I found that they can be very misleading or vague.

Requirments:
- A decent playerbase. It doesn't have to be like Aardwolf, but if the playerbase is so low that it causes problems in the game, it's not for me.
- A good playerkiller system. Free-for-all is fine with me as long as it's backed up by cool code.
- Something to do for new players. I once found a mud that seemed perfect apart from the fact that everybody was max level with the best possible equipment, leaving the (very rare) new players to basically solo themselves all the way up to a point where they weren't ignored by the rest of the playerbase.
- As little as possible of: staff favoritism, elitist attitude, immature playerbase, griefers.
- Must be completely free to play, with no in-game benefits for "donations".
- NOT roleplay enforced. I play on an RPI when I want that, I'm just looking for a hack'n'slash mud on the side.

Preferences (not required):
- A reasonable selection of class and race choices. By reasonable I mean more than one or two, but less than thirty. Few things deter me more than a screen full of race options where they only differ by name and two stat points.
- Moderate progression difficulty. I don't want to reach max level in 3 days, but I don't want to spend 2 years doing it either. Same goes for equipment.
- Medieval fantasy setting prefered, although I'm open to trying other themes if the game is good.

Thanks in advance!

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

I haven't played in a while because they were doing a serious re-code of the MUD, but I'm pretty sure that Darkwind () fits your requirements. The only thing I'm not sure about is how big the playerbase is anymore. I slacked off in playing just because there was a pwipe, but those are very infrequent.

I looked around some more. I highly recommend the Garou guild. I love the design of that guild!

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

You could try 4 Dimensions.

Admittedly the pbase is a bit small, since we mainly target the smarter players, but on the other hands it means that it's reasonably Twink-free. ;)

We should fit the rest of your requirements. In particular great care has been taken to make the game interesting also for lower level players, with plenty of zones of different hardship to choose from. Our Website offers both Maps and Zone descriptions to facilitate life for new players.

4D is mainly about exploring, questing and hack'n'slash, and equipment plays a great role in how powerful your character can become. You cannot buy any good equipment in stores, it has to be acquired from the zones, so the built-in Quests are essential for the game. And you can get some good stuff already in Mud School and the Quest Academy.

You could also try , which lists a number of Muds with reputed high quality, and absolutely no in-game-benefits.

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

Ancient Anguish fits your requirements.
telnet: anguish.org 2222
web:

Decent playerbase, enormous amounts to do, limited races but a good range of classes built around the general principle that each must offer something unique.

It's 15 years old so it's incredibly well developed, well maintained and organised. I think you'll get a lot of enjoyment out if it if you give it a go.

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

- A decent playerbase. It doesn't have to be like Aardwolf, but if the playerbase is so low that it causes problems in the game, it's not for me.

LegendMUD has an average online of around 30 players. We fluctuate during the night-time hours.

- A good playerkiller system. Free-for-all is fine with me as long as it's backed up by cool code.

Not only is our PK system optional, but we have 3 different options for you to choose from. And we've just revamped our main PKE system this week!

- Something to do for new players. I once found a mud that seemed perfect apart from the fact that everybody was max level with the best possible equipment, leaving the (very rare) new players to basically solo themselves all the way up to a point where they weren't ignored by the rest of the playerbase.

Legend works to keep all of our players interested in our game. We have a great bunch of New Player Helpers that are always willing to help with information, And we're always striving to make the new player experience better.

- As little as possible of: staff favoritism, elitist attitude, immature playerbase, griefers.

Griefers are generally shot down by the playerbase, so we don't see them too much. Our staff members are held to their own code of conduct which disallows such things as favoratism and poor attitudes to the playerbase.


- Must be completely free to play, with no in-game benefits for "donations".

Legend is and always will be free to play.

- NOT roleplay enforced. I play on an RPI when I want that, I'm just looking for a hack'n'slash mud on the side.

We don't enforce RP, we encourage it. Not overly so. Not everyone enjoys RP, and we recognize that. Legend works to cater to all types of players.

Preferences (not required):
- A reasonable selection of class and race choices. By reasonable I mean more than one or two, but less than thirty. Few things deter me more than a screen full of race options where they only differ by name and two stat points.

Legend doesn't have classes. Your professions are based upon where your hometown is. Some hometowns allow for magic, some allow for gunfighting, etc. We have 6 hometowns to choose from.

- Moderate progression difficulty. I don't want to reach max level in 3 days, but I don't want to spend 2 years doing it either. Same goes for equipment.

Legend's leveling system allows for a moderate amount of time to reach L50. Not only that, but once at L50, we've got a whole new set of "levels" called era levels for players to work towards. These era levels allow for new, higher level skills.

- Medieval fantasy setting prefered, although I'm open to trying other themes if the game is good.

LegendMUD's theme is the myths of history. We have 3 eras -- ancient, medieval and industrial. Want to meet Robin Hood, Dance with the sidhe of the ancient irish underhill, or get into a gun fight in the old west? There's that and more!

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

God Wars II covers all of your requirements and preferences.

godwars2.com 3000

There's quite a steep learning curve though - in particular, the coordinate-based (roomless) movement and the manual combat system are very different to what most players are used to, and if you'd rather stick with something familiar you won't enjoy this mud.

If you do fancy giving it a go, I'd suggest having a look over the newbie guide first:

To address the requirements and preferences:

A decent playerbase. It doesn't have to be like Aardwolf, but if the playerbase is so low that it causes problems in the game, it's not for me.

As of writing this, the average playerbase is 28.06, calculated over the current 256 hours and 18 minutes uptime. The peak during that time was 45 players. The game focuses on solo play, so it doesn't need a huge playerbase to be fun.

A good playerkiller system. Free-for-all is fine with me as long as it's backed up by cool code.

Combat is the main focus of the mud, using a unique system I've spent several years designing and developing (I even created a separate codebase specifically to test the prototype of the combat system). PK is unrestricted after classing.

Something to do for new players. I once found a mud that seemed perfect apart from the fact that everybody was max level with the best possible equipment, leaving the (very rare) new players to basically solo themselves all the way up to a point where they weren't ignored by the rest of the playerbase.

There's plenty of stuff for new players to do. You've got the practice grounds and the prison where you can learn the combat system, the dojo where you fight your way through nine martial artists of increasing difficulty, the black knight's tower, six dungeon quests, plus the classing dungeons. Once you class, you get additional quests as well as exploration rewards.

Right now there's a lack of mid-game quests, and not much for players to do once they've maxed out (other than PK). That's what I'm currently working on addressing - but new players at least have plenty to do.

I really dislike muds where you have to wait ages before accessing features, so a lot of things can be done right from the start. For example, each player begins with their own home plane which they can terraform as they see fit, as well as 10 stores (each of which can hold up to 25 items). There's also the 'Great War', a minigame that starts every 6 hours, in which all players are on equal footing - meaning you can log on as a brand new character, join the war, and beat people who have been playing for thousands of hours.

As little as possible of: staff favoritism, elitist attitude, immature playerbase, griefers.

There are no real rules, and some of the players have quite large egos, but they're mostly a fairly nice and helpful bunch as long as you're not rude to them, and as long as you're willing to make an effort (they don't suffer fools gladly).

In the past there were problems with a few of the players discussing some very tasteless topics on the chat channel. In response, I created another channel (off by default) and asked the individuals to take their less-tasteful discussions there. This has worked reasonably well, but you'll still encounter topics on chat that some might find offensive.

I've also had trouble with griefer PKers, but have implemented measures to greatly reduce it - plus if they're much stronger than you, the only thing you'll lose is a little pride.

Must be completely free to play, with no in-game benefits for "donations".

It is completely free. We don't accept donations. Not even beer.

NOT roleplay enforced. I play on an RPI when I want that, I'm just looking for a hack'n'slash mud on the side.

The mud is specifically non-RP, although it includes the same sort of thematic detail that I'd include were I creating an RP mud.

A reasonable selection of class and race choices. By reasonable I mean more than one or two, but less than thirty. Few things deter me more than a screen full of race options where they only differ by name and two stat points.

No races, 5 classes (vampire, werewolf, mage, demon and dragon) - but each class can be played in many different ways. For example, dragons can choose between human form, draconian form and dragon form. A dragon who selected dragon form could then choose from various colours, pedigrees and breeds. They could then pick to be either land, sea or sky-based, choose to either wear barding or collect a treasure hoard, select between rage-oriented bonuses or having a calm and focused mind, focus on physical combat using their jaws, claws, breath, wings and tail, or play as a spellcaster using draconic spell sigils, etc, etc.

There's lots of class options, but you can't pick more than a handful of them, and many are mutually exclusive. Fortunately you can freely redesign your character, completely changing everything except your name and class, so you don't have to worry about making a bad choice and then suffering for it forever after.

Moderate progression difficulty. I don't want to reach max level in 3 days, but I don't want to spend 2 years doing it either. Same goes for equipment.

Most players need around 10-20 hours to class their first character (it tends to take around 4-5 hours the second time around, once you know how to play, as player skills play quite an important role).

After classing, advancement will depend on how often you play - the game strongly rewards casual play (i.e., a couple of hours per day). I think you could do it in 6 months, but most players don't go flat-out so it's hard to tell (the best example I can think of is one player who's advanced 75% of the way in a little under 2 months - but it gets slower to advance as you get more powerful, so it's difficult to extrapolate).

Medieval fantasy setting prefered, although I'm open to trying other themes if the game is good.

Dark fantasy - much like medieval fantasy, but the players are supernatural beings and monsters of horror.

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

(Moved to Advertising For Players)

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

I was also going to mention God Wars II as a close example of what you seek. The Muds I would recommend you try are these, in no particular order:

God Wars II (Close to what you seek).
Lost Souls
LegendMUD
Ancient Anguish (Though I don't know too much about this one)
4Dimensions (If you want a different premise. It's actually a cool concept you might like)


Happy searching and mudding!

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

I bet your playerbase is considerably larger than 30 players! You're talking about simultaneous online players, not playerbase it sounds like.


--matt

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

Oops! You're right. I shouldn't post before coffee. :)

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

Why only "close", out of interest?

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

Close is pretty damn good. I can't say you are 99.99% or 100.00% of what they seek as they seek a medieval fantasy. So it is close. Nevertheless, your mud is very close, hence I recommended it.:)

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

There's a lot of overlap between the two subgenres, with settings and stories such as Elric, Warhammer, Diablo, Dark Sun, etc, often being classified as 'dark fantasy'. Dark Sun was also a major source of inspiration for Armageddon, a mud which the original poster spoke very highly of in another thread. So what I consider 'dark fantasy', he might well consider 'medieval fantasy'.

I wasn't being funny about it though; I was really just curious as to why is was you'd singled out GW2. I'd assumed it wasn't the setting, as two of the other muds you recommended have time travel themes - thus I wanted to make sure I hadn't misread one of the OP's requirements.

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

I singled you out in my original post as the game that I would have recommended. Based on what he asked for, GW2 was the closest out of the group.

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

hi-

i play on a game called Medieval Times MUD and have been there for many years now. looking at your post i feel that you might enjoy checking it out if you havent already found a home.

Requirments:
- A decent playerbase. It doesn't have to be like Aardwolf, but if the playerbase is so low that it causes problems in the game, it's not for me.

* we dont have a large player base but it does not hinder game play and everyone is always willing to help out.

- A good playerkiller system. Free-for-all is fine with me as long as it's backed up by cool code.

* playerkilling is totally optional, but once you decide to participate there is no turning back.

- Something to do for new players. I once found a mud that seemed perfect apart from the fact that everybody was max level with the best possible equipment, leaving the (very rare) new players to basically solo themselves all the way up to a point where they weren't ignored by the rest of the playerbase.

* there are often a variety of levels logged on and even the older players make new characters all the time, i dont think you will be ignored. an auto quest system has been started that has options for new players and the equipment has level restrictions so it is always a challenge to find the best set for your level.

- As little as possible of: staff favoritism, elitist attitude, immature playerbase, griefers.

* no staff favoritism, we are all equals, a little immature (it is a game after all), not too many griefers.

- Must be completely free to play, with no in-game benefits for "donations".

* MT is always free, no donations.

- NOT roleplay enforced. I play on an RPI when I want that, I'm just looking for a hack'n'slash mud on the side.

* we really dont do roleplay.

Preferences (not required):
- A reasonable selection of class and race choices. By reasonable I mean more than one or two, but less than thirty. Few things deter me more than a screen full of race options where they only differ by name and two stat points.

* we have a great race and class selection, something for everyone. if you want to hack and slash or cast spells, maybe a little of both, its totally up to you.

- Moderate progression difficulty. I don't want to reach max level in 3 days, but I don't want to spend 2 years doing it either. Same goes for equipment.

* it takes some work to get where you want to be, but i dont think its unreasonable.

- Medieval fantasy setting prefered, although I'm open to trying other themes if the game is good.

* i think the name says it all. :D

good luck with your search, if you want to come check us out at or just log on to timesmud.com:8500.

-Nihil

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll check them out each when I have time.

Just to clarify:

- By "medieval" I just mean the general swords and horses kind of theme, as opposed to Star Wars or neanderthals or whatever a mud might be based around.

- By immature, I don't mean that I dislike young players. I just don't want to end up on a mud where the channels are constantly flooded with childish arguments or poop jokes.

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

MEEHEE!! Neanderthal MUD! That sounds interesting. I want to ride a woolly mammoth.

Re: Help me find a mud that suits me
 

Requirments:

- A decent playerbase.
There's always someone on to kill you.

- A good playerkiller system.
That's what has kept MTrek alive in some form, since 1987

- Something to do for new players.
Die. A lot.

- As little as possible of: staff favoritism, elitist attitude, immature playerbase, griefers.
Don't worry. There's virtually no staff to show favoritism and only the very best players such as myself, would ever display an elitist attitude.

- Must be completely free to play, with no in-game benefits for "donations".
It's free, and no donations are accepted.

- NOT roleplay enforced.
It's not.

Preferences (not required):

- A reasonable selection of class and race choices.
7 races, 1-4 classes available per race

- Moderate progression difficulty.
There's no level system- You just get better at playing over time. There's no eq to worry about either, just replenishing ammo and you start every new ship with a full load.

- Medieval fantasy setting prefered, although I'm open to trying other themes if the game is good.
It's loosely based on the Star Trek universe, but none of the players I know have ever been "Trekkies" or even watch the show as far as I can tell. Roleplaying is such a non-factor, that it could just as easily be a Star Wars game or a Babylon 5 game.. or whatever.


Game:
telnet we-dont.gotdns.org port 1701

Docs:


Client:


Dunno if it's even close to what you're really looking for, but I like it.