[Angie]

Inspired by Brody's Underdog MUD thread here in the Tavern, I tought I'd start a similar one - with a twist. It is something between a game, a review thread and a space for altruistic advertising.

We all have our home muds. But sometimes, we also stumble across other muds that we find special. Here you can let others know which "other" mud has a special place in your heart and why. The rules are simple:

1. Don't use this space to advertise your main or home mud. For immortals, that would be any mud you staff on, for players the mud where you spend most of your time. Shortly put, it should not be a mud for which you'd normally advertise.

2. Let us know what makes this mud special in relation to other muds (if anything) and what makes it special for you.

3. Keep the thread in good fun. Don't start flame wars, don't abuse this space for advertising that would belong in the Advertising section. Remember you are part of a larger community which shouldn't always be a dog eat dog world.

Let me get the ball rolling...

Angalon
Codebase: LP
Website: http://angalon.tamu.edu
Telnet: angalon.tamu.edu 3011

This mud has one of the most beautifully crafted worlds I have ever seen, with lots of detail and inner consistence. It has a good backstory which is reflected in the shape of the landscape, the numerous quests, the large and small stories you stumble across as you explore. The focus on exploring is so high that it often plays more like an adventure game or an interactive book than an RPG - which in itself is something rare and special. As a builder, I have learnt a lot here about making descriptions that take into account all senses and create evocative scenes.

For me personally, there's one more thing that makes Angalon special. I love the sea, and I have the misfortune of living in a country that has none. But Angalon has a lot of sea, and the sea here is not just a backdrop or an afterthought or a landscape with a different set of properties. It becomes an inherent part of your character and its experience in the world - whether you're part of the pirate or mer guild, or whether you just enjoy walking along the coast or sailing to another continent with a fresh breeze blowing in your hair. Also because of that I will never forget this mud and will keep returning, even if I don't play there anymore.

Now - I'm curious to hear about your secret mudding loves.

[Ilkidarios]

If you like SoI, you may like The Two Towers.  It's less roleplay intensive than SoI, but it's still set in Tolkien's universe. The password screen doesn't display the letters you type in your password for security reasons, so just type in your password and press enter then type it in again.

Definitely amnon's Assault mud. Senseless, nonstop PK... cut to the chase, no nonsense, just build a base and weep as someone grinds it down into sawdust, then rebuild a bit wiser and go grind their base into sawdust in return. Only complaint would be the fruity coloring scheme.

Another promising mud in future years may be godwars2... dunno though. The development is exceedingly long, so it's a wildcard, maybe it'll be the coolest thing since Pong, or maybe it'll be a complete letdown. Anyway at this rate by the time it's actually finished, everyone will be too busy getting blowjobs in their virtual reality holodecks.

Realms of despair was great half a decade ago. Returned and played there briefly recently, it's just not the same.

Vampire Wars was even better pk than Assault, back when it existed. The day Joker took VW down, you could say the 60's ended all over again. Except instead of the end of hippy rallies, it was the end of high paced frantic PK frenzy. Various VW "sequels" have arisen; all are pure garbage. People take Joker's delicate formula and jam a thick diseased dildo in it. Guys, there was a REASON Joker had things set up the way they were!

I'll cheat and say Dragonspun Faerietales even though I built there for a long time-- it should be legal just because it's been closed forever. DSFT was a great laid-back "no pressure" smaug mud, small close-knit community...

[mudnutx]

Legends of karinth is a great MUD with an intricate skill and spell system but I wish its small playerbase would grow a bit.

I have really struggled to find any MUD that I reaaly like. To me, a MUD is a Multi User Dungeon, I.E interaction with other players with a common aim should always be possible; to me even if the playerbase is 1 million, if they are all doing their own separate thing it is not a MUD; it is a solo game with other players as an afterthought and I hate that.

I even tried commercial MUDs at one stage. I treid Runescape but the tutorial sucks; I was directed to find brown rocks and there were none??

I agree that assault is a great MUD if you can work out what is going on. I couldn't find anyone else's bases to attack??

Perhaps I just suck at playing and I should stick to building.

To me a MUD should have an overall purpose for the player. avalon has its jewel hunts thta gain Godhood and shattered world has a purpose of becming king or queen. While there was a lot I did not like about those 2 MUDs at least they imposed a broad aim onto the playing rather than mindless ad hoc mob killing or acquiring loot ad infinitum.