I need a mud too
 

Greetings!

My tabletop party has fallen apart and I need a fix. So I thought maybe a mud could help.
I have two main criteria:
-There must be RP and enough people to play with (this can be a problem because I'm playing from Europe)
-There must be some single player parts of the game, because most of the time I only got half an hour or so to play and that doesn't seem to be enough for proper RP.

I have tried a few but wasn't really satisfied.
New World: I really liked the RPI style but it takes too much time to stay involved (which I don't have) and most of the people online was afk/sleeping which made things harder. So after an almost 3 weeks absence I haven't gone back.
Aetolia: I really like the the theme of the world and the classes (the best IRE background as far as I can tell), but I have never seen more than 3 other guild members online at any given time and the whole "join a guild, take an exam, get full membership" process was totally ooc.
Discworld: I love Pratchett books. It seemd a bit system heavy and I haven't found anyone who I could RP with.
Atonement: I played when it just started and really liked the style but haven't meet anyone online in almost two weeks.

I haven't played more then a few weeks on any of these muds so maybe I'm wrong about them. Could you convince me to give one of them another shot or suggest any other good RP mud? I really need to find a way to roleplay :D

Re: I need a mud too
 

Lack of players is something many MUDs suffer from to a greater or lesser extent and if you keep exploring you'll find lots of great games with hardly anyone playing them.

If you're into RP have you tried some of the MUSH/MUX type games? There are a few with relatively large player bases, check mudstats.com for an idea of the bigger ones.

The IRE games are always popular and if you like their style and don't mind the charging model you could always try the others. Achaea has the largest population I believe but probably the least RP. I hear Lusternia has some good RP and the setting is one of the more interesting ones I've come across.

There are other RPI style games like Shadows of Isildur or Armageddon which will probably have more players on than Atonement.

Re: I need a mud too
 

When I started reading your post, before I got all the way to your critique of some of the muds you've tried, I was going to recommend New Worlds. It has a reasonable number of European players, and US players who play at various times, so your time zone shouldn't be an issue. It's really struck a good blend of intense RP, casual RP, and single-player or group hack and slash. Your critique of the game, however, is spot on. Most of its playerbase plays daily, and it's hard to stay involved with serious RP if you don't. But if you like everything else about the game, see if you can enjoy sporadic bursts of casual RP and hack and slash as your time allows. If you're really forward and social and use every channel you have to try to meet and run into people, you can usually find someone to RP with. That might be too much work for too little reward for a casual player though.

All of the IRE games have systems that allow for pretty casual players who don't have a lot of time to still enjoy the game, but there's usually less RP than a traditional RP mud. If you tried out one IRE game and found yourself lonely in a small guild, try another guild, or another of their games. There's a social RP scene if you look for it.

I'd actually steer you away from the hardcore RPI arena. By default, most of those games tend to require heavy involvement and frequent playing time.

Re: I need a mud too
 

You might try Echoes of Albion. It is still a rather new RPI mud, but it has an in depth crafting system, active coders and players. The emoting system is very fluid and even if one does not have time to rp long, one can craft, harvest/gather for your self or to fulfill the automated jobs. Or one can hunt animals or the occasional wandering Roman. A number of the players are from the UK and so there are players on at all sorts of times.

Re: I need a mud too
 

Grendel's Revenge comes to mind. It's a minor game at Skotos, where you, as a monster, can go at the human invaders alone or with other monsters.

Its straighforwardly simple in play.

Darren Brimhall

Re: I need a mud too
 

Try geas.

Should have plenty of Europeans as the admin is from Germany (Bavaria mostly).

Playerbase fluctuates though and as you have only ~1 hour per day or something it may be that you should try for several days before you think it has too few players. (Many MUDs suffer from this ... 10 years ago MUDs really had more players.)

The amount of active players fluctuates between 5 and 20 depending on the time.

Re: I need a mud too
 

Perhaps you'd be interested in trying . Even late at night at our lowest, there are between 25-40 players online, and many of our people are Europeon or night owls. A lot of our Europeans end up staying up or getting up early to hit the special events. We've been running for over 15 years now with players from all across the globe.

It may be hard to play in 30 minute segments, but you could just do the non-RP parts of the game during that time if you wanted. Anyway, give it a try, and it may be to your liking!

Re: I need a mud too
 

Thanks for the answers! You have helped me a lot.

I decided I would go with Armageddon for now. Mostly because of the strict RP rules and the tons of info on the page. The world seems interesting too. If it turns out to be too demanding I can still pick another from this list.

Thanks again.

Re: I need a mud too
 

well, if you don't mind simplisity, and low end 3-D, there's

Its a simple building and gathering game, but be careful because form some of those boxes Monsetrs will come out--and you better have a shelter ready.

Darren Brimhall

Re: I need a mud too
 

Hey there Teppik,

I know you are trying out Armeggedon. Have fun there. If you ever do consider NWA again, I hope you get into a guild and into a religion. Both of those choices will guarantee you more roleplay especially if you make sure you start in the north.

If you started in the south that can be very tough if you are new to the game. We have a lot of players from around the world that play all night, but you do need to get involved in groups like religion or heavy roleplay guilds to interact at night.

If you ever come back, perhaps try that. Good luck!

Re: I need a mud too
 

It is worth noting that the creator of the game and one of the admins (me!) is generally on super late. I very often run all sorts of events on between midnight and 4am EDT.

Our prime time players have been growling at me for doing so much late night/early morning stuff lately!