[Denisius]

Erandia is based on the now defunct 'Rogue Winds' MUD.

Here are the key features:

* Advance in a skill-based, levelless, classless environment.
* Fair and helpful admins and newbie helpers to answer your questions.
* Newbies are protected, for the first ten hours losing nothing for dying.
* Get involved in a rich roleplaying environment, in a fully realized world, with a deep storyline.
* Learn magical talents, gain skill and power.
* Virtually unlimited character advancement.
* Utilize a versitile entirely new magic system.
* No annoying spell lag. Channeling magic is handled more intelligently.
* Beautiful Ansi color used liberally, but not every word a different color.
* Explore a vast world, and gain experience and knowledge from your explorations.
* Discover strange, new worlds, each with their own moons, climate, and atmosphere.
* Travel many different terrains, from ice fields, lava lakes, swamps, to deep oceans.
* Follow the tracks left in the dirt or snow by other creatures.
* Choose from a wide selection of over two hundred races.
* Any type of character you wish to play is open to you.
* Some races can be ridden by other players. Play a dragonrider, or their dragon!
* Found clans, start a family, interact with other players.
* Fight battles, learn combat and weapon skills.
* Realistic equipment system involving size and bodyparts, protecting only the part it is worn on.
* Different races have different bodyparts, which can bleed, be broken, or severed.
* Communicate with player created and controlled channels.
* Fashion your own equipment from raw ores, and enchant it with whatever effects you wish.
* Find rare magical gems to affix to your equipment to increase your power.
* Hire NPC's to mine ore, harvest ingredients, or funnel mana into equipment for you.
* Mix alchemical ingredients into potions, salves, or just bake cakes.
* Brew and ferment your own alcohol.
* Browse shops that randomly stock themselves with various items appropriate to the shop.
* Buy and manage your own shop, with or without a shopkeeper hired to create items for you.
* Write your own books.
* Construct or buy a vehicle to drive, fly, or sail in, even spaceships and submarines.
* Watch your back on Mezulbryst, the deadly playerkilling world where anything goes.
* Never wait for a repop again, mobs only exist right where you want them!
* Randomly generated mobs and equipment. You never know which mob will havea powerful artifact.
* Named mobs get random names. Every time it's a different character.
* Mobs that will react to your socials in a logical way, and use equipment and fight intelligently.
* Venture on quests to gain experience, gold, and talent points to raise power in talents.
* No random quests. Most quests are run by NPC's with different problems, and not all involve killing something.
* The only rule is: So long as it harms no one, you may do as you will.

Erandia Wiki:

Erandia MUD: erandia.net:2500

[Galesh]

To start off, I'd like to say I logged onto Erandia out of boredom with MUDs in general
-- which, while each has some unique feature or another, are more or less of cookie-cutter
origin -- not expecting to find a game that, while still in beta, was not only fully
fleshed out, but had a very intriguing storyline and concept.

First, the very nature of 'death' in this MUD is something I have never seen before.
See, you aren't just a human, or an elf, or a dwarf, or any other race you can think
of (and subrace, in this MUD), you are also an Elkandu. Which is to say, you are a
practically immortal being with the potential to attain power much beyond that of
ordinary men and women.

When an Elkandu dies, he is immediately reborn into a new body with or without memory
of his former life (/lives), but the transition isn't perfect (minor skill decreases)
-- all in all, it's mostly a RP event. While an Elkandu of beginning strength can't
control his reincarnation, the race being chosen at random, after a short while, he
gains power of the process; to prevent beginners from having to play a race they don't
want, or lose skills due to death, players with less than 10 hours of play don't really
die, but are whisked away moments before fatality strikes.

Second, the magic system. Hat off, it is the best one I have seen. For example, not
only is magic categorized in simple, practical schools, but the research system
that many MUDs' lore claims is integral to spellcasting is actually integrated into
way you gain your spells.

Now, I'm not talking about some automated process that you find oh-so-often, but is
even-more-so boring. No. In Erandia, spells are defined by a few 'words' which are
basically commands; there is a word that decides the spell's school, another that defines
the effect, another one for power, etc.

A few words are given to you in the beginning, but the rest you must find for yourself.
While fiddling with spellcasting for a while yields you some initial discoveries, to
make the most of it, you must seek in the in-game libraries, look for ancient books in
caves frequented by demons and fell elementals, stumble upon whisks of information
in forgotten planes, or trade information with another player -- and the effect of a
few extra words are -- not quite dramatic, but -- very significant.

Oh, and about the game world. It is split in multiple planets, with different levels of
technology, though most are medieval in culture and outlook. As an Elkandu, you can,
should you wish to, travel from one of these planets to the other, from mishap to
adventure, in your ultimate quest for knowledge, power, or even ascension to a
sublime form of being.

The staff is great: the implementor, Denisius, greeted me the very moment I logged on,
and patiently helped me learn the basics of the game.

But, if I have made you curious, you had best try it for yourself.