I've been playing MUDs, MUSHs, and whatever you want to call them for a while now. I played Gemstone 3 back when it was free if that helps you. Lately though I've been looking for a MUD and I can't find one that I really get into. This is what I'm looking for:
*Realistic- The game needs to be realistic. The game should be RP enforced or manditory. Otherwise, it just takes away lots of the fun. Most of my other preferences come back to this one. This doesn't mean the environment has to be a real place but it should be interesting. It should also have good room descriptions.
*Level-less/class-less- I hate levels and classes. The point of gaining a level that improves all of your stats like inteligents for killing a kobold just seems stupid to me. Also, the point of joining a class and being restricted to those skills annoys me.
*GUILD-LESS- This is for the same reason as the level-less/class-less reason. I hate having to join a guild and then only being able to use those guild skills. I want to customize my character to make them as useful as possible.
*Crafting skills- I don't want to play a MUD where all you can do is kill things. I want there to be skills that allow you to make things. Also, it would be good if players could become healers. Owning a shop would be really good too.
*Player Housing- It doesn't matter if you have to build it or you can just buy it, the point is that you have somewhere to live.
*Equipment saved- Personally, I don't think I need to include this but apparently there are MUDs out there where your equipment doesn't get saved.
*Dedicated playerbase- It doesn't matter to me how large the playerbase is just as long as I won't be the only one on sometimes. I like having people around to RP with.
*FREE- I don't have money to spend on a MUD right now so I'm looking for a free one to play.

These are important but I might be able to overlook them if the game is really good:
*Races- I don't want there to be 20 races in the game. The most fun games I've played have been games with only one race and one race only.
*Restricted PK- This one doesn't really matter that much to me but I prefer restricted PK over none or all PK.
*Large World- I want a large world to walk around in but if the world is fairly small I'll be able to ignore that if the game is amazing.
*Their Own Client- I just don't like MUD clients like GMUD or Fire Client. I prefer playing MUDs with their own client. It doesn't have to be amazing. For example, the client that Achaea uses is fine.

I recently posted an advertisement for my mud Accursed Lands that I've played for nearly 6 years and it fits nearly every last one of your criteria.

We are RP mandatory and I have yet to find a more realistic MUD. To even get light you must chop down a tree or gather sticks, whittle a torch or make a bonfire, and then use flint and steel to light it, and even then it'll take some practise to get used to. Weapons and clothing will also slowly wear out, and even our moons have phases that casts a certain ammount of light. We have no hit pools but area of the body that sustain individual damage. You can be maimed in the head and still have your body, legs, arms, and, possibly, tail, in perfect shape.

We are skilless and craftless.

We have no guilds, though there are occassionally purely player-made organizations.

We also have a massive ammount of crafts makable with their own skills. Here is but a small list of crafting skills you can learn:

Basket Weaving
Butchery
Carpentry
Cobblery
Coopering
Embroidery
Fishing
Gem Cutting
Glass Blowing
Glass Making
Glass Working
Herbery
Knitting
Metal Working
Smelting
Smithing
Leather Working
Logging
Mining
Pottery Working
Sewing
Spinning
Stone Carving
Tanning

and quite a few more.


Player housing is not yet been introduced, though it is being worked on. However, we do have rentable cabins and tents with tables to keep your items on, and also inns where you can rent rooms for as long as you like, with chests to keep your stuff in.

Equipment is always saved.

We are a 'very' dedicated player base generally around 18-30 on at any given time, though it has been as low as 5 at 4am on weekdays near holidays or as high as 50 on rare occassions. We have 200+ total.

We are free and will always be free.

We currently have 5 races and all are original except for the humans.

We are not restricted PK because that would actually take away from the realism. You can kill someone, but you better be able to explain yourself or the law may soon be after you, perhaps even bounty hunters.

Terrinor is gigantic, with literally millions of rooms, though most is, naturally, untamed wilderness.  We have surface levels, oceans, rivers, sky for our soon-to-be-coming flying races and an extensive underground area that dwarfs all the others combined (and no, we don't have dwarfs).

We have a java telnet reachable from the website, but not sure if you'd count that as our own client.

We've recently had a couple dozen or so new players come and become addicted to AL after seeing its detailed realism. We've love to welcome you as another.

That will cut the available muds down quite a bit.

Currenly, there is only a very _few_ that have their own client (except for the *cough* java telnet applet). And none of them are free except for ours as far as i know, which however does not meet some of your other requirements.

Hey there. You may want to give a try, as from the sound of it we fit nearly all of your needs. I'll mention up front that it is set in Tolkien's world of Middle-Earth.

Realistic - We are an established RPI (roleplay-intensive) MUD, one of the handful that exist on the internet (games like Armageddon, Harshlands, and FEM are other examples).

Levelless/classless - There are no levels and no classes. SoI is entirely skill-based, and you pick which skills you want during chargen.

Guildless - There are no guilds. Skills are chosen and developed independently of a 'guild' system.

Crafting skills - Our crafting system is so big that we have a webpage dedicated to it. Check it out .

Player Housing - Building or buying a house in the game are both viable means of getting someplace to live, provided it is fully roleplayed out and contact is made with the staff through E-mail.

Equipment saved - Yep.

Dedicated playerbase - We reach nightly peaks of around 30 players, and have reached more than 80 players online for large roleplay events. Our are frequented every day, housing an active community.

FREE- Absolutely.

Races - We offer all the races documented by Tolkien, however the majority of them are restricted. You will probably only run into humans or goblins/orcs during the lifetime of your character, depending on which side (Gondor or Mordor) you play on.

Restricted PK - PK is allowed provided it is fully roleplayed out with good in-character justification. Going on a random murder spree on a whim is not.

Large World - We have about 3000 rooms built between the cities of Minas Tirith, Osgiliath, and Minas Morgul, and the lands between them. With an active staff team, the gameworld is being expanded every day.

Their Own Client - We do offer a simple to play through here, though the majority of our playerbase uses clients.

A couple additional things:

Characters are by application only, meaning you'll submit your PC to us after completing chargen, at which point it will be reviewed by a staff member or guide and either accepted or declined. This generally will not take more than 24 hours, and is in place to ensure that those who may be out to ruin the game for others don't get through.

We do have permadeath, meaning you'll have to apply for a new character when your existing one dies. This may be a turn-off to some people, but I guarantee you the adrenaline rush when your beloved character is fighting for his or her life is unlike any other MUD experience.

Hope you'll come check us out!

Just curious, what does FEM stand for?

There are quite a few. Most of their "mud clients" suck beyond belief, though.

I was impressed by the description of your mud, Tribble, but I only got as far as the following prompt:

Why would you ever need this information, let alone before a person has _tried_ your game!?

Dub

Well, for one, its just a little added thing to try to keep players from using more than one account if possible. However, I know for a fact that half our players don't actually put their real name and its not really a mandatory thing. I'm not exactly sure why we have it... but I put mine 6 years ago and never had a problem because of it. The Creators just use it to gain familiarity with the player base I suppose.

Quite a few? Care to give me some links, would be fun to check them out...

For realism I too would like to recommend the Accursed Lands.

Part of what makes our mud more realistic is the time frame in which it takes to accomplish something.

Walking in the city you move from one "room" to another in about 1 second. It's not an instant motion. You are walking, not instantly teleporting.

Jogging through the woods takes longer. Mountain terrain even longer and if you don't know your way around swamps, I wouldn't even venture there.

We have several modes of traveling, Walking, jogging, running, sprinting, sneaking, swimming, underwater movement, (flying is coming soon) and these movements are also modified by your physical position. Are you standing, crawling through the bushes, lying down slowly making a belly crawl through the high grass of the plains. You could be stooping, staggering and maybe a few others I'm unaware of.

The slowest movement I can think of is walking through the swamps. Moving from one area to another can takes several minutes. But if you have a wild boar sprinting at you, ready to ram a tusk through your skull, I would suggest a faster mode of travel. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE !!!!!!!!

This simple aspect of movement really shows how much planning and foethought our creators put into making a realistic environment.

I could go on and on about every aspect of the Accursed Lands, but I won't. Some things should be left for you or others to discover on your own.

Personal discovery is also something that AL prides itself on.
Someone new can enter tha game and make a discovery that no one else has before. The world is so huge and new things are placed in the game all the time. We aren't told when or where new things are added, so that gives everyone an equal chance to discover something completely new out in the world.

I recently discovered how to craft something that I believe no one else has ever crafted before. It was quite a thrill for me to have this knowledge and then in turn be able to be the one others come to in order to learn how to craft it as well.

Oh well, I could ramble on some more, but alas I must go.

Hope you give the Accursed Lands a try


Cya in the game.


Grendal

Hey, I really don't want to write up some really long description saying why you should play what I'm going to pick. I've tried all of the RPI muds mentioned above and I can say without a shadow of a doubt (pun intended) that Shadows of Isildur is the one for you.

I've only been playing it for 3 weeks now but it has me hooked. Good game, great roleplaying. You should really try it out!

cheers,
BOBBY BOB BIL BOB

Google.

In particular, try "custom mud client" and "our own mud client", to get a few right off the bat. If you can't work from there, I'm scared for your continued sanity.