"From the fruitful Vale of Anduin and the forest of Mirkwood to the lands west
of Lórien...from strolling through the glorious elven fortress of Ost-in-Edhil
to walking through its ruinous remnants...from seeing the children play in the
golden fields of Rohan to witnessing the military might of Helm's Deep and the
dark danger of Khazad-Dum...visions I've undertaken, and wonders I share."

Multi Users in Middle Earth (MUME from here on out) is a Tolkein based MUD. Since this is an advertising post, let me give you links and things:

MUME main page: mume.pvv.org OR fire.pvv.org
To play via telnet: mume.pvv.org:4242

Here are some features of MUME, to give you an idea of what its like:
1. Roleplaying Optional         2. Been around since '91
3. PKing restricted*              4. Good spell system**
5. Classless system              6. A normal amount of color(i.e. when you look at it, you dont have a seizure.)
7. HUGE world                     8. Free
9. 100 people at peak hours 10. Active immortals
11. Stiff rule enforcement (no one cheats and gets away with it.)

*You can play all the races Tolkein wrote about! This includes: Men, Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Half-elves, Orcs, Trolls and Black Numenoreans! The last 3 are the evil side, and PK is limited between the good and evil sides. People who same-side PK on the good side are heavily punished. Samesideing is allowed on the dark side though.

**With no confusing elemental configurations to worry about with your char, I feel that this is where MUME shines. The spell delay is before you cast, so it is possible to cancel the spells before they are cast. This makes for interesting fights between casters and warriors!

The Classless system in MUME is very well done, you can create virtually any class combination you wish. I personally have a warrior/mage mix that works very nicely in PK. Every level until 26 you get 10 practices to use at the various guilds scattered throughout the cities of Arda. After level 26, growth is reduced so that chars above that level can PK without any huge stat advantages. Basically, a level 26 can beat a level 80 in PK depending on how well each of them play.

Interested? Come check us out! We will be sure to impress you with our beautiful room descriptions and well thought out zones. I have been addicted to MUME for 5 years, and haven't regretted a second of it.