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Old 10-15-2011, 04:15 PM   #1
Phelan
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Join Date: Oct 2011
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LF MUD with 'broadened' powercurve

One thing I've always found a little irritating at best about most MUDs (and MMO'RPG's of course and, to be fair, even most PnP RPGs) is that you start out as an 18-25-year-old more or less naked whimp who can barely kill the usual rat/cat/whatever, and sometimes just half a year later single-handedly defeats a dragon.
Of course there has to be a development, but that doesn't mean it has to be about increasing the same stats and fighting/magic/... skills by a few points over and over, that simply encourages grinding. I've had my best PnP-experiences in groups where the characters were pretty good from the beginning already, and just got a little better, and in most cases mainly more versatile over time. Shadowrun is one example, but starting on a fantasy world not at level 1, but 10/20/... (depending on the chosen system). Or if you know it, look at EVE Online, the development there is IHMO a step in the right direction as well, versatility instead of a single 'strand' along which to improve.
The possibility to start being good in a few areas, or exceptional in one or two (and I mean 'good' as in most characters who don't specilize in this will at best get 10-20% better in time, if at all), quite often means you can focus on actually playing instead of grinding to get to that point where you want your character's abilities to be.

So, to get to the point, does anyone know a MUD (ideally with roleplaying allowed or encouraged, but not enforced) that allows you to start with a relatively 'powerful' character already who can develop 'sideways' instead of just getting better at fighting, casting spells or whatever?
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