Wow.. time for some mild bragging. I've got 80 posts since 2002, woo! Heh. On a serious note.. here's why you should give AR a try.

Basic stats..
* theme is a blend of medieval fantasy (e.g. we have things from Norse mythology, among others)
* approx 100 areas - including WINTER which has been mentioned as one of the best areas of all time on TMC
* 16 races (usuals, with illithids, werebeast, minotaurs, sliths)
* 16 classes (includes monks, necromancers, paladins, dark-knights)
* 4 major cabals
* strength/int/wis/dex/con
* 50 levels
* lots of quests, which help skill advancement to a degree
* a newbie chat (for up til level 10) to ask questions about the game
* dedicated imm staff and playerbase - there is not a question posted on our forums that does not get answered by an Immortal if a player doesnt do it for you. We even have newbie q/a and Imm q/a forum sections set aside for this.

Newbie-helping stuff
* minimap command (you can use mm)
* newbie area provided, with quest to help you learn the controls
* map command gives overhead view of Thera with highlights of current area
* 'questor' lets you follow quest progress
* outfit command lets you get some lame equipment from guild for cheap, replace it though!

Roleplay stuff (it is ENFORCED, and that's not just a "goal")
* descs
* backgrounds (optional)
* extended socials, emotes, poses for flavour
* taverns for roleplaying (and bards to roleplay in them with)
* rp skills like "carve" for rangers to learn, ninjas make shurikens
* Heralds, story-writer organisation - publishes a "Theran Mystique" approx. monthly periodical detailing all the events that happened over the time period

Playerkilling stuff (pk is ENCOURAGED)
* magic is split into 3 types - aff, mental, maledictive
* combat style (i.e. dual wield, two-handed, shields) actually affects warrior skills and dodge
* weapon types (i.e. blades, shafts, segments) affects rogue skills and parry
* "Racial Legacies" - extra abilities specific to certain race-class combos which are rich in fantasy but turn out a little weaker in practice for statistical reasons, e.g. elf rangers get forestmeld and trueshot (bow skill) in addition to the rest of ranger skills.
* all of our classes have a different approach, and the race chosen impacts that as well

Rules stuff (I know, booo, but its important)
* no equipment multi - severe penalties
* one character logged in at a time
* pks require a good "rp reason" (eased up on after level 30, where we expect players to learn to fend for themselves.. so eventually, you will have to learn to look out for ganks, especially involving evil vs evil levelling groups who want to exp the same area)

I'm going to elaborate on my last point on the playerkilling a little further in this paragraph. Lets say for example, you chose a warrior. Every race (almost) is available to join the warrior guilds, from high dex races like elves to high strength giants. If you chose a giant, you'd be a very strong parrier with worse performance at dodging, thus you would focus on combat styles, because you can limit your opponents dodging with that. However, if you chose an elf, you'd focus a little more on weapon types, because that affects parry, and parry is what elves have problem with. Now, if that makes sense, good. If not, probably should re-read it before you continue with this paragraph. So.. if you are using combat styles, which giants are, you're best off using the strength-based (giants? hello?) combat skills (i.e. barrage - dual wield, sideswipe - shield block, overhead crush - two-handed). But if you were focusing on weapon types, you'd be better off using weapon-type affected skills, like good ol' disarm. Disarm also has follow-up attacks, based on dex. As you can see, even in just the warrior guild, races truly have different ways of fighting. This is the sort of diversity we seek to cultivate at Abandoned Realms.

This is not to say that AR is totally combat based.. we have players that all they wish to do, is to just play the game, level up and quest a bit, and RP with the crowd of people that like the tavern stuff, poetry and that sort of thing. We straddle the PK/RP together, a hybrid of both, pure in neither. If this niche interests you, give us a try. Well I could yack about everything else, but I guess you probably get the idea. Lots of stuff to talk about here. I could go on .....alll night.

Currently holding rank 27/28 at TMS and TMC

abandonedrealms.com 9000

It's definately worth giving AR a shot if you're looking for a new MUD. Played there myself in my MUD'ding days and it was some of the best gaming I've ever had, and from what I've been reading it's only gotten better since.