MUDs

[IHateMakingNames]

For some reason I feel like joining a MUD, but I know nothing about them...

So, first off, what is a good MUD to join? What do you do exactly in a MUD? How hard is it to learn? Is it extremely time comsuming? Random tid-bits and other things you'd like to mention?

[Krylo]

For you... as a beginner... I would suggest going to www.mudconnector.com and finding a lords of war godwars mud. That's how I started... godwars are easy to learn. There's usually no RP in them... and it's basically just you getting a super over powered character, exping it to be even more powerful, and then killing others.

Not that interesting a concept, but still fun if you like killing players... it will also teach you how to deal with game mechanics/basic commands/etc.

If you'd like to hop right into one with roleplay, I'd suggest atp.mud.hu 3000 (that's the address)... known as After the Plague. It's a bit hard to learn... and there is some stupid shit going on with some of the more powerful characters at this time, but it also has a very fluid skill system (you do something and you get better at it). Although you'll want to make a registered character right quick (which isn't that hard, you just have to spend 2 hours learning the ropes of the game) so you can customize your stats and what have you.

As for time consuming... that really depends on how much you like it. Learning it can be time consuming, particularily for AtP.

What do you do: That depends on the mud. In AtP it depends further on what you WANT to do. Want to be a smith (which is a pain due to mining) go digging. Want to be a thief? Find the thief guild, learn some skills, and start picking locks and robbing people (there are a few mobs that won't attack if you fuck up a pick pocketing job), want to be a mage? Join a mage guild or four... want to be a fighter? Find a weapon and start stabbing stuff (might want to join some fighter guilds too). You'll also want to pick out a pre-made background for your first registered character that has to do with what you want to have him do... it gives skill aptitude bonuses.

Um... Random Tidbits: In Godwars LoW... demons tend to be powerful, vampires tend to be fun (have the most commands), and Highlanders/Kensai are the easiest and hardest (longest to train, but easiest to do so... and fighting with them is easy, but fighting with them effectively is hard).

As for AtP, I'd start with a fighter and get the hang of things first, then make whatever other kind of character you like (or stick to the fighter). Also... agility strength and con are all important for a fighter. Handiness is the prime for a thief... handiness willpower wisdom and int for a mage. (handiness for spell gesturing time being faster).

Oh, and some basic commands... "Help" "OOC" "Newbie" and "Say" Help will bring up a list of topics you can type help <topic> about and read on them... ooc, in AtP is a local channel (only heard in the same room as you're in) which is out of character, say is one that's in character, and newbie is a global channel (everyone on the mud who chooses to listen to it hears) that is out of character. Other than that... n, s, w, e, ne, nw, etc. are commands to move in a direction... and kill attacks something... wear, wears something. In a godwars mud you'll have to wear weapons, while in atp anything you're holding in your hands is a weapon... and you don't have a magical hovering inventory that's not on your body (like in most other muds). um... I think that covers it.

[Forever Zero]

Wow, I think krylo just pretty much covered most of what you could need...

I will throw out another game however. I looked into joining RetroMUD at one point, but never followed up. It has a huge complex system though that I never fully figured out (Part of why I dropped it), so you might want to join some other MUDs first and get the hang of it, or spend a long time reading manuals first, but it also has an incredible amount of customization, so is a good one to look into.

[Bob The Mercenary]

I would heavily recommend Forsaken Lands (*cough* *MY SIGNATURE* *cough*) and I like GMUD the most when connecting.

[Krylo]

I will throw out another game however. I looked into joining RetroMUD at one point, but never followed up. It has a huge complex system though that I never fully figured out (Part of why I dropped it), so you might want to join some other MUDs first and get the hang of it, or spend a long time reading manuals first, but it also has an incredible amount of customization, so is a good one to look into.

I would have suggested RetroMud and DartMud except that equipment doesn't save in those two games, which makes being a beginner really difficult, and I can't really think of a good reason to not have eq save.

Oh yah, and www.zuggsoft.com Zmud, the freeware version (although you can get hacks for the pay versions), is what I use. It's not that great, but it's what I'm used to...

HOWEVER, I would instead suggest looking for portal. It's ludicriously powerful as far as all the things you can program it to make your character do (without you being there), plus you can play MP3s through it, and set it up to make sounds go off when certain actions occur. It's kinda hard to figure out, but well worth it. I'd use it all the time except it uses up much more processing power than an old version of Zmud, and I'm used to Zmud, so getting used to something new is a pain.