Anyone play any MUDS?

[ilovefire]

I want to know if anyone else in the Playground plays a MUD, MUCK, or any other MU* game. I've played two--RetroMUD, and Lusternia: Age of Ascension. I didn't like RetroMUD very much... it just felt... I don't know. I just didn't like. Lusternia's very fun, though, and has plenty of nice people playing it, and a very immersive world.

Also, let's provide links to our favoraite MUDS!

Lusternia (http://www.lusternia.com)
RetroMUD (http://www.retromud.org)

[Fualkner Asiniti]

Ah! Another Lusternia player. What's your name on there? I'm gonna make a new file, I forgot the name of the other one. :smallannoyed:

[blue_fenix]

Runescape (www.runescape.com), it's like a MUD with graphics!

Seriously, though, not as much roleplaying as you might be looking for, but runescape is an awesome time-waster, and the quests are downright hilarious. I found myself caring so much more about the plots in that than I ever did in WoW.

[ilovefire]

Fualkner: My current and first character on Lusternia is a Merian Aquamancer Spout, name of Phililia.

blue_fenix: I tried Runescape way back when. I didn't like it--the culture was... bleh.

[blue_fenix]

blue_fenix: I tried Runescape way back when. I didn't like it--the culture was... bleh.

This is true, the culture is a bit immature, and the game is seriously lacking in a few obvious features (auction house plzkthnx?). I guess I probably would not have stuck with it for as long as I did if it were not for having a roommate who played as well as a couple of other friends. Also, I was very poor at the time.

[Cubey]

Ahah! Another Lusternia player. The better, that MUD really deserves more people.

The game recently added "novice academies" for newbies. While the normal newbie tour teaches mostly about commands and MUD basics, these academies explain about concepts more or less original for the game, such as influencing or affliction-based curing.
Two outta four orgs have these academies set up, and they rock. I hope it will make more newbies stay and make themselves at home in the MUD.


Yes, I do realise that I've been elaborating only on one, recently added facet to the game.

[leperkhaun]

Try gemstone IV. its running for a good decade and a half or so. Very well thought developed world, some players have been playing for 12+ years. Not only that but alot of things are player infulenced. For example one of the dark elf cultures that you can select in game was originally developed by players and was later made offical.

[Setra]

I occasionally play Lusternia, but I'm having a little trouble getting into it.

Especially because I hate asking in-game for advice, I don't want to interrupt other people's suspension of disbelief.

On that note, could someone tell me how I'm supposed to get into Tailoring?

Edit: :( I think my character was deleted for inactivity (Or I forgot the name).

Need to make a new one.. I should probably read up a bit more before I do though.

Edit Edit: Here's a question, before I make my character. I want to make a Furrikin (Like I had before), and the general personality is one who likes to rely only upon herself, with some respect for nature, but nowhere near the point of worship. Kind of like a sort of Ranger.

Would that kind of character work in the Serenguard?

[Cubey]

There is NOTHING bad with asking in-game for help. GNT, Newbie, and the new channel for collegiums (CGT I believe?) are all about newbies asking for help and receiving it. No one should have ANY problems with you asking for advice, and it won't break anyone's suspension of disbelief.

Tailoring:

If you want to check for example shoes designs, you check TAILORING SHOES (it's in the AB files - AB is good for you!). That brings you a list of designs, each design has a number on the far left - TAILORING SHOES NUMBER to see how does it look like and what does it take to make. When you get commodities, go to a tailoring shop and CRAFT NUMBER. Easy.

Character concept:

It will work. Serenwilde as a whole is dedicated to protection of nature, but you do not have to worship it. Of course, because Moon and Stag (their main two Fae spirits) are MANIFESTED on their ethereal plane, it's kinda hard to openly ignore or insult nature or the spirits and get away with it.
Specifics of Serenwilde guilds' beliefs, in a nutshell:
Hartstone (druids): protection and growth of Nature, and following the path of Stag
Moondancers (wiccans): protection of the Fae, and following the path of Moon
Serenguard (warriors): protection of Serenwilde itself (that is, the people) against dangers, outside or inside ones. Skill-wise, 'guards may follow Moon OR Stag but can choose neither.
Spiritsingers (bards): well... bardic stuff. But more focused on the bard as a lorekeeper than an entertainer
Shofangi (monks): A new guild, so ideals aren't fully formed, but it seems it's about self-enlightenment and growth. The Guild Admin being a total anime freak probably had something to do with this.

Anyway, your character concept is fully viable ICly, but OOCly... furrikins SUCK as warriors. You won't have many problems in PvE (mostly because PvE is, let's face it, easy), but in PvP you'll have an uphill battle. The most important stat for a warrior is strength, and furrikin don't have that.

[Setra]

I was hoping the high Dextrity would somehow make up for that.

What is it for?

Also, as for the nature thing.. I meant, living off the land and whatnot. Like, if I were to kill a deer for food, I'd thank the deer before eating it. However I wouldn't fly into a rage if someone cut down a tree, though I might be mildly upset.

[Cubey]

Nature stuff first:
Cutting down trees and hunting animals (not even for food - for SPORT even; that's what deer were created for by Charune, Lord of the Hunt) is a-ok for Serenwilde. In fact, they often cut Glomdoring's trees out of spite - and the other way around. The commune protects nature in the way that it defends it against thoughtless destruction (Magnagora springs to mind, as it's surrounded by wasteland, basically - and turns everything around it into wasteland as well).

Warriors:
Dexterity gives you a VERY minor boost to wounding - so minor it's not noticeable. Dexterity matters a lot for Monks, who are the warriors reversed - benefit a lot from DEX but very little from STR.

[Setra]

Well then I'll just use personal Charisma to stop PVP from happening :smalltongue: Or deal with it if it does. Or maybe become an Aslaran.

I was considering Aslaran anyways, because I don't like being short.

[Cubey]

Aslarans are an overall decent race. They don't have much STR, but they have faster balance recovery, which means they can attack more often - and that's always a good thing.

The warrior is the most newbie-unfriendly archetype, as it requires the biggest investment in in-game money (weapons and armor) and has the lowest tolerance for "odd" races - you can be a succesful Loboshigaru Druid, for example, but it's hard to be a Lucidian Warrior.

[Setra]

Well I just want to be a Warrior.

I'd probably spend more time roleplaying than fighting anyway.

[Cubey]

Well I just want to be a Warrior.

I'd probably spend more time roleplaying than fighting anyway.

Fair enough! I'm just giving you powergaming advice.

[Setra]

As soon as I make a character everyone greets me.

Turns out I'm shy.

And do not know what to say.

Edit: Also, naked, apparently not doing the newbie guide doesn't give me the clothes I get during that time.

[Maryring]

I play Achaea. I'm also shy. I never get anything out of that game.

I play it still though. It's... odd. Dunno why, but it is good... and bad at the same time. I think that comes mostly from people stealing from me all the time, even though I'm poorer than them.

That game's got a serious problem with thieves.

[XBobbis]

I would highly recommend Avendar, it's a relatively small MUD with a good staff and a entirely unique world.

[Tengu]

From my limited experience with IRE muds:


As soon as I make a character everyone greets me.

Turns out I'm shy.

And do not know what to say.

Edit: Also, naked, apparently not doing the newbie guide doesn't give me the clothes I get during that time.

I really recommend doing the newbie tour. It really helps you out with stuff, and is also interesting and climatic, all of it IC apart from the parts when it tells you what commands to type.

As for shyness - well, the community is open and friendly to newbies. Feel free to ask questions about anything you want, they will answer it. Only complete wankers are mean to newbies (unless the newbie in question is a rude idiot), and if you want a lot of wankers, try Achaea or Aetolia, not Lusternia.


I play Achaea. I'm also shy. I never get anything out of that game.

I play it still though. It's... odd. Dunno why, but it is good... and bad at the same time. I think that comes mostly from people stealing from me all the time, even though I'm poorer than them.

That game's got a serious problem with thieves.

It's very easy not to be stolen from - by setting up anti-thieving triggers, or simply running away. Also, Lusternia has a much better and more mature community than other IRE muds - thieving is on a much less scale, almost nonexistant, for example.

[Maryring]

Yeah. Running away. Like the Serpent stealing from you don't follow you around. That advice isn't very solid.

The problem with thieves isn't exactly that I am stolen from. I've got decent reflexes, so it's been a long time since I was last stolen from (not counting the time I was trapped in a house with no chance of running). The problem is that I'm still deathly worried. Whenever I log into Achaea, I am afraid that I'll get stolen from. I'm scared of blinking, because I'll be broke when I open my eyes again. Sure, I've got defences. But they aren't enough to make me feel comfortably safe in the game. It's the fear of the act, not the act itself. Well... okay, it's the act itself too. Because even though I have reasonably good defences, I am still scared of it. My heartbeat still races whenever someone snaps their fingers in front of me.

Of course, it's rather silly, because I never manage to have much on me at any one time. Barely enough cash for food and clothes usually.

[Cubey]

Achaea is notorious for its thieves. I sincerely suggest playing other IRE muds. Not only do they have less thieving classes, but also a more mature community - which won't only help with thieves, but jerks in general.

[Tengu]

Question - last time I played Achaea was long ago, but can't you report someone who's stealing from you notoriously? Also, does it happen in cities, including the one where you live? If it does... gosh, it got downhill even more than I suspected.

Follow Cubey's advice. Play Lusternia.

[Maryring]

Only if it is harassment, and that's only if he/she successfully steals from you several times.

I am a bit reluctant to leave Achaea, seeing as I've finally gotten the ressurection ability. But... I'm listening. What does Lusty have to offer that is different from Achaea, and what's the same?

[Fishies]

Achaea's confusing; people tell me to set up a bunch of reflexes to prevent being stolen from and stuff, and that isn't fun.

[Ghal Marak]

Hmm, Lusternia sounds really intresting. Thing is, I've only ever played Runescape. How different is it?

[Setra]

Hmm, Lusternia sounds really intresting. Thing is, I've only ever played Runescape. How different is it?
Er.. There's not much to compare.

It's like comparing Counter-Strike to D&D.

[Ghal Marak]

:smalleek: Ah, okay then. So I know absolutely nothing about it. Super.

Well is it easy to pick up?

[Cubey]

What does Lusty have to offer that is different from Achaea, and what's the same?

-All new, and more interesting, classes. Even Monks and Warriors (who are in other IRE games) are done completely different.
-More quests, most are puzzle-based. Gold is easier to obtain than in Achaea, which means it's much easier to be an effective PvPer without buying credits OOCly.
-Influencing allows you to get XP without killing stuff.
-Much more mature community. RP is easy to find, jerks and people who go OOC in public are very rare.
-Great, epic cosmology. Just read the histories! And the plot advances in-game.
-No areas added to be "bashing zones" (bashing being an awful, awful term for PvE). Every new area has its history, more often than not a quest related to it, and makes sense. Of course, you'll find plenty of creatures to kill if you want too.
-Forget about unbalanced PvP, snakes spamming venoms and mages killing just by spamming stormhammer. Arties aren't as overpowered either.
-Everyone can practice a trade skill. Forget about having to spend creds for a tailoring/jewellery permission!
-No shallow and cut-and-dry organisations. Forget about churchy Shallam and so evil it hurts (because you laugh too much) Mhaldor. "Good" orgs, New Celest and Serenwilde, still have plenty of room for ambigious behaviour. Magnagora and Glomdoring CAN have decent people in them.


:smalleek: Ah, okay then. So I know absolutely nothing about it. Super.

Well is it easy to pick up?

It can be overwhelming at the start. I strongly suggest doing the newbie interview thing, and later when people tell you to read something, DO read it.
Hint: if people say something in CAPITALS, it's a command you can do.

[Maryring]

Sounds interesting, though how are classes done? Are there even classes? A healer class then? And do you have to join a guild? I've got some pretty bad experiences with the houses of Achaea.

As for the difficulty of the game... yes MUDs can be quite overwhelming. But a quick tour through the introduction should get you a long way. Other than that, try to listen to others, and use the HELP command a lot. There should be helpfiles on everything in the game.

[Cubey]

Sounds interesting, though how are classes done? Are there even classes? A healer class then? And do you have to join a guild? I've got some pretty bad experiences with the houses of Achaea.

Classes are called "archetypes". You get an archetype by joining a guild - Achaea's house equivalent, but only one archetype is available/guild. Fortunately, guilds have much less stupidly difficult requirements to advance in. Achaea is infamous for its amount of hoops you have to jump through in order NOT to be kicked out from the guild, it's not the case here.

There isn't a healer class, but Shadowdancers, Moondancers and Celestines can choose Healing as a skill.
I forgot to mention! Even though there are 5 guilds/organisation, it doesn't mean everyone in the guild has the same skills! You have options to choose from. For example, let's look at a Paladin.
Primary guild skill: Knighthood. After reaching rank of Master (Skilled from other IRE games), you specialise. That is, you choose one of the skills from the following:
-Bonecrusher (dual wielding bludgeons)
-Blademaster (dual wielding swords)
-Axelord (two handed axes)
-Pureblade (two handed swords)
Secondary guild skill: Athletics
Tertiary guild skill: EITHER Rituals, which specialise into Sacraments (other specialisation isn't available for Paladins), OR Hunting, which specialise into Tracking.

Other guilds have similiar choices.

[Maryring]

So... say that I wanted to choose a character that closely emulates the Priestess class from Achaea, what do I have to do then?

Thanks for the rest of the information though. Seems like I'll give Lusty a shot once I get my laptop and it is connected to the net.

[Tengu]

New Celest has Celestians (or Celestines), priests based on the celestial sphere - they can even summon angels and sprout wings. Probably your best bet, though I've heard various things about the people from this city.

Serenwilde has Moondancers, wiccans who can summon various fae and are attuned to the nature.

Remember to choose the city/commune with the ideals that you'll like most - in Lusternia loyalty to your city is much more important than in Achaea.

[Maryring]

Sounds interesting. Then I have one final question.

Is there room for everyone in Lusternia? Or is it like Achaea where you are either good at fighting, very popular or... you just fall off.

[Fualkner Asiniti]

The community is very friendly, everyone in Magnagora (My city) has always answered by questions, no matter how dumb. The roleplay is great, the worst roleplayer I've encountered is myself. :smallbiggrin: Great game, be sure to post your character here.

In case anyone cares, I'm Fualkner, the furrikin Cacaphony. Fun group, hope you join it.

[Shalist]

www.dsl-mud.org
http://dsl-mud.wikispaces.com/newbieguide

I've played 'Dark and Shattered Lands' tons over the years. It's a DIKU, originally based loosely on dragonlance and D 'n D, that's been around since the mid-late 90's, and is still very vibrant/active. It's always growing, with much of that growth being the direct result of player input. It's free (not 'free, but with $20/month you get a special blahblah,' but actually free).

This isn't one of those games where you need to spend 10+ years getting to the highest level (cough gemstone cough)--people who've played it can probably max a character (levelwise) in under 50 hours easy, though there's a new time-based improvement system (for getting better at skills/spells), and all sortsa ways of enchanting/spellcrafting armor to improve it, that make actually 'maxing' a character much more difficult.

It's a great game with an ungodly amount of variety in what you can do (PK, getting the perfect set of gear, crafting equipment, enchanting/spellcrafting, sitting around RPing and playing in admin-run quests, writing stories and fighting in wars that change the game, etc etc etc. Plenty of opportunities for grinding, if you really must, but it's hardly necessary if you just want to enjoy most of what the game has to offer), generally a great community (well, you know how PK can be), and I played for 1000's of hours back in HS, and have started to play again now that I'm on shore duty.

I'm horrible at pitching these kindsa things, so just check out the links and give 'er a whirl--there are far worse ways of spending a significant chunk of time than on this mud.

[Ghal Marak]

Well, I've gone and joined Lusternia. I'm Ghallak, Human Paladin of New Celest. :smallbiggrin: It's pretty confusing, but I'm getting the hang of it.

[Setra]

Well, I've gone and joined Lusternia. I'm Ghallak, Human Paladin of New Celest. :smallbiggrin: It's pretty confusing, but I'm getting the hang of it.
Good to hear, I'm not getting the hang of it very well :p

[Caelestion]

I used to play Lusternia (and all the other IRE game) two years ago, and then I just abruptly stopped.

Although I spent years on Achaea (as an infamous Dwarven archmage) and a couple of years on Aetolia (as one of the first vampire high nobles, before that went completely downhill), the one I enjoyed tremendously before I stopped was Lusternia. Influencing, lots of trade skills, extra-planar magic and suchlike - all good fun.

[Maryring]

I've finally started trying Lusternia. I'm Juno, a guardian in New Celest... or so I hope. So far, it seems entertaining. Let's just hope that I can be good at the game.

[tahu88810]

Hello all,
I've recently made a character in Lusternia. I'm still in the tutorial, but once I'm out my characters name is Ethren.

[Maryring]

Hey, I saw you online just now. Pleased to meet you.

[Maryring]

Oh, and I had to change my name. My name is now Kiradawea.

[Noctesis]

I've played Achaea off and on for about three years now. I'm a Sylvan!

Most of the MUDS I've played are pretty good quality, especially Achaea and Lusternia. However, I've always felt that in order to truly succeed in Iron Realms' games, you'd either need to spend real money to buy credits in-game or work for a long while. I would play more and get more into the roleplaying community if other things didn't get in the way so much. :smallannoyed:

I've often felt that not enough people appreciate MUDs. None of my personal friends enjoy them, even though they enjoy playing other roleplaying games like DnD and Risus.

Has anyone else had this problem?

[ufo]

Oh, and I had to change my name. My name is now Kiradawea.

You serious?

You helped me with [something] yesterday :smallbiggrin: .

I think it was something with planar travel. I'm Meian, Aquamancer Spout. I'm sure the GMs think I'm annoying, I've wasted their time so much with things I could've easily read myself.

[Maryring]

Oh wait, so you're Meian? I remember you. :smallbiggrin:

Lusternia is a lot of fun, at least so far. I far prefer Lusternia to Achaea. The only problem is that I still can't earn money, and I need to earn a LOT to pass Ecclesiar rank in the Celestine Guild. :smallamused:

And I have the same problem as you Noctesis. I too have no friends who are playing MUDs. That might probably be to my lack of friends though. :smalltongue:

There is also the credit problem with the Iron Realms MUDs, but they are so very well made that I still play them, despite not being able to afford a single credit. You seem to be less credit dependant in Lusternia, though I'm still going to need some, considering there are so many fun and interesting skills to use there.

[Bayar]

I occasionly play NannyMUD. Enter this in the run button:

telnet://130.236.254.159:2000/

it does not recognise the Enter button after you type the name, and it does not show what you type, but with a Mudding program , that is fixed.

(BTW, i know the IP by heart :smallbiggrin: )

[Archaicwonder]

I used to play a very cool MUD called Darkmists www.darkmists.org

It has a wonderful background and lots of options for how you want to game. I played back when Clans were just coming about, which is an organization somewhat like a guild in WOW, player made and maintained.
I haven't played in a while but most of the people were excellent and it had a fairly good learning curve, not too challenging, not too easy.

If you see anyone running around with a Drakontas Sporos tag, tell them Daruth sent you.

[streakster]

The best MUD ever made is Godwars2 (http://www.godwars2.com/).

It's got a heck of a learning curve, but it's so good I can't even play other muds. Combat is incredible - for instance, I can charge an enemy, flip over their head, perform the martial arts move known as "Perching Crane" to land on their shoulders, leap off, behead them in midair, and land on the body, crushing it. You can do that when you start the game.


Of course, I could also be a shadowcaster, flinging bolts of cold, or a blood knight, riding a nightmare into jousts. Wolf form? Check. Swarm of bat form? Check? Ability to fly into a berserker rage? Ability to learn psionics? Ability to turn to mist, turn invisible, summon a blade of shadow that can fire magic rays, ability to backstab for huge damage? All check.

And those are just a few of the build options in my class.

Seriously, give it a try.

[The Prince of Cats]

The best MU* I ever played was called VR1 Crossroads. Sadly I am 99% sure it no longer exists, but it was a game of two worlds; half of your existence was in a cyberpunk world and the other half was in the shifting dreamlands. It had to have its own client, since the music and sounds were half of the game. I was blown away...

These days, I play Castle Marrach (http://www.skotos.net/games/marrach/). It is a subscription based MUSH, though I still enjoy it more than WoW or EQ. Very much a social game rather than combat, which is more or less how I used to play Vampire the Masquerade.

[Cubey]

Godwars2 have a really unique and interesting combat system from what I see, but it's purely PK driven with absolutely no RP, so it's not my kind of a game.

[TheOOB]

I used to play MultiMud ages and ages ago, I think it's still up. It's a fairly decent CircleMud varient, though I played more for the people then the gameplay, I doubt anyone there remembers me anyways.

[Artemician]

I've just tested out GodWars, and WOW.. what a great combat system. Fully manual, yet not overclunky like IRE MuDs, nice skills/martial training system, lovely grid coordinate system.

This is one MUD that I think I'll be playing for some time.

[Kyace]

Just throwing Discworld mud (http://discworld.atuin.net/lpc/) out there. Good soul system, some PvP but its PvE until you sign up for PKing. I think has been ran 15 odd years. Played it off and on since 2001 but not playing now.

[Cocky]

I've played Discworld Mud on and off since about 1999. Got more outta that game than any other, but I dislike it's gameplay nature in recenty years.