[Gatz]

Howdy! I, like you, got -incredibly- burnt out by elves, ogres, and basic LOTR/D&D type worlds. So, you might give my MUD a try, NarutoMUD. It is based on an anime, which turns off some, but you'll find our game has a lot of deep mechanics which our players love. First off, our website is and if you go to resources you'll see a breakdown of our skills, and villages (which I'll explain).

We don't allow PK in the game, not to say we don't have PvP, but it is done through the arena. Our game play is focused on co-op and we have a -ton- of options to do really cool stuff with friends. However, I'll start with our basic world stuff first.

Naruto is a retelling of classical Japanese folklore (no elves or even a 'Japanese' style elf in the game, I promise) with a twist. The Naruto world has some modern things, like movie theaters, cameras and modern-esque builders, but it doesn't have guns or cell phones. The story is set where each country has their own hidden ninja village which is its military might. Every village starts training their children at a young age to become the next crop of soldiers. That is where your story begins.

You enter the world of NarutoMUD as a bright-eyed 8 year old ready to take on the world. As you play the game, you'll grow older and grow up. You'll be able to pick your starting village, which will help dictate your skills, but as you grow in the game you can learn skills from other villages.

Our skill system is where I'm most proud of the game. As you level up, you gain points to raise your ability in 4 fields:

Taijutsu - Vicious hand-to-hand combat.
Ninjutsu - Our magical system, performed with hand seals to do amazing attacks.
Genjutsu - Illusionary arts. Confuse your opponents and make them destroy themselves.
Ningu - Ninja tools, use the tools the trade efficiently and in a deadly manner.

Every branch behaves differently and you can make insanely cool builds with all the skills. Some players prefer to specialize in one area while other others try to go across multiple. Every skill is setup to have hidden ways to power it up, some obvious and some non-obvious.

What else is cool about the skills? Well, I mentioned the co-op aspect. In Taijutsu, you can perform attacking combos with people in your group. With Ninjutsu you can combine your magical attacks with other players in your group to make even more powerful attacks. Want to be a loner? No problem. Some villages have various 'Bunshin' (Doppelganger) skills that let the user create clones that are weaker replicas of themselves.

I could go on, but the last thing I want to mention is that our story is original. While we use the anime has a sort of guide to shape our lore, we don't adhere to it like a dogma. If you come to the game with no knowledge or a giant library of knowledge, you won't have any advantages and you will be able to enjoy the story put in front of you.

So, if any of this even sounds remotely interesting, I'd just pop on and talk to players, or just try the game out. We're a friendly bunch and love new faces to adventure with.