[SnowTroll]

I have this half-baked theory that there are only maybe 50-200 serious mud roleplayers, and we all just move around a lot between muds.

New Worlds, which you've tried already, is really where it's at right now, with regard to a good sized, in character roleplaying crowd that doesn't get too artificial and gamey about things. If you've played there, you've probably seen the best current example of a RP-enforced (definitely not RPI, just enforced), nondescript fantasy genere mud. The mud engine is terribly simple. There's practically nothing unique to speak of, gameplay wise. Any feature you've seen there, you can find in another mud, done better. And the grind is very, very long and repetitive. But it's a remarkable collection of like minded players, all of them dedicated to sharing a good RP game together. It's like the whole RP crowd across muds just stood up and walked over to New Worlds one day, and that's where they're playing currently.

Threshold's a very similarly-styled LP mud. It actually predates New Worlds by quite a few years, though I never quite figured out the relationship between the two. I always sort of assumed a former disgruntled Threshold player decided to start his own mud "done better" and steal a bunch of the Threshold players away. Threshold is a great RP hangout, too, though it’s actually gotten a little bit feature heavy over the years, to the point where some of the playerbase can’t help being a little artificial and gamey. If I had to put the best rp experience I’ve ever had from New Worlds and the best from Threshold side by side and judge, I’d give New Worlds the roleplaying edge, just slightly, but Threshold is a far better developed game if you care the slightest bit about gameplay, coding, and building.

If you don’t mind a smaller rp crowd, I’ve had some good times on Cities of Mdhoria, but it can get old interacting with the same 5-10 people all the time if you play the same time each day during off-peak hours. I’m also not a huge fan of the Rom codebase. I used to love it but got too used to other ones. It also boats a very random-ish leveling system based on skill improvement rather than traditional experience points, so you might max your level in a day, or spend six months stuck at level 2, depending on the random skill advancements you get through use. It’s not that extreme, and some people love the system (it does tend to make more sense to become a better mage/cleric/thief by improving your skills, rather than killing 1000 bunnies or goblins or whatever).

Anyway, that’s just three I’m tossing out there. I’m a big fan of the RP-enforced, but not RPI type of game, that has a good mesh of gameplay features, too. I want to have stats, skills, spells, and have those things be important and useful, and be able to advance those things and build a strong character on my own when I’m not able or not in the mood to rp. I want to explore and make maps and find mobs and gear and develop strategies with unique character skills and items, too. So the hardcore RPIs people will eventually advise you to try when they respond to this thread aren’t my thing, but they’re still very respectable muds if that’s your thing. I also have a big problem stomaching “rp-lite” muds, by which I mean muds that are supposedly RP enforced, but come across more as loosely in character, gamey, not very immersive experiences, which is why I mostly stick with the established RPE muds. My time’s too limited to waste on bad games.