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Info on Muds

If you have reached this page, you either stumbled blindly upon it, or were tricked into looking at it. Either way, I enoucrage you to read through it and find out about an exciting addictave game. It might not sound like it at first, but once you get the hang of it, i promise you won't be dissapointed.

I'll start with the basics, and work my way up.

What is a MUD?

MUD stands for "Multi-User Domain" or "Multi-User Dimension" or "Multi-User Dungeon." In short, it is an online multiplayer RPG where you can play with, or against friends in a large exciting virtual environment. Heres the kicker that leaves most people in the dust (unfortunately, because they never actually try it, being preconditioned to thinking that looks are everything); there are no grafics, and the game is comprised of all text. Just as i said, it is somewhat of a daunting concept for those who are not open to new ideas, or have heard/played on them before. However, for some initial rebuilding of confidence, it is prudent to note that these games are (mostly) all free, friendly, expansive, require no downloads (if you don't want to) and are probably the most dynamic, and descriptive games you can find. To bear the full bearth of the game, you really need to play it, dispite any mistrusts you may have as to how fun it COULD be.

How can i play then?

As i mentioned, most of them are completely free. The one that you will be set up with through this (small) walkthrough IS free. You connect to the server via Telnet, or a Telnet/MUD client.
If you are operating windows, then go to the start menu, to run, and type in "telnet"(without the quotes). This will open telnet for you.
-For those using an NT system (windows NT, windows 2000 or better) the screen will probably look like a command-prompt screen (a black box with white letters). All you need to do to connect, is type SET LOCAL_ECHO (this will make it so you can see what your typing) and then OPEN ADDRESS-OF-THE-MUD-YOU-WANT-TO-PLAY MUD-PORT-NUMBER (this will connect you to the server).
-For those using windows 95, 98, or an another version of windows not using an NT platform, the screen will probably look like notepad (a white screen with black letters, and a menu bar at the top). To connect, first go to the "Terminal" menu option, and check the box labeled "Local Echo." Press OK. Now go to the "Connect" menu option and under "Host Name" type in ADDRESS-OF-THE-MUD-YOU-WANT-TO-PLAY and under the "Port" option type in MUD-PORT-NUMBER. Leave the TermType field at vt100. This will connect you to the server.
-Another option is one that includes downloading a Telnet/MUD client. For those of you using another platform other then windows, this is probably your best option (as well as the windows users, although telnet works for beginners). Unix users CAN open up telnet, simply by typing "Telnet ADDRESS-OF-THE-MUD-YOU-WANT-TO-PLAY MUD-PORT-NUMBER." (without the quotes) but I would still recommend using a MUD client. A list of many available clients can be found (with links) at http://www.onlineroleplay.com/Text-Based_MUDs/MUD_Clients/. For beginners using a Windows operating system, I would recomend GMUD, a version of which can be found on http://www.kyndig.com/codes/clients/windows/. It is a very simple program, with some great easy to use features.

Logging In

Once you have gotten this far, You should see some text, at the bottom of which says something to the effect of:
If you are new, type new.
Enter your name:
At this point, type in "new" (without the quotes) to begin your character creation. Go through and answer the questions that are asked of you, filling in the information in a way that will make a character that will best suit you. When you choose a name, make sure it is fitting for whatever theme the MUD is running. If/When it asks you if you want "RIP ANSI or None" for grafics, choose ANSI. You can always change later if you find that it wasnt what you wanted. After this, you need only press return a few times and your in the game!

Now what?

Now is the fun part. Your character usually is standing in a the enterence to the world. As a new player, it is critical to read EVERYTHING thats on your screen. It might seem tedius and awkward now, but later you will learn what you need to read, and what you don't, and reading now (and thus learning the game and its commands) will make the game that much more fun when you get to where you can kill monsters, and (possibly)even your friends!
Once you have read everything and done what it says, you might still be a bit confused. Chances are, the administrators of the MUD will have a "newbie guide" on their home page that you can access and get better game-specific directions for. But if not, you can refer to these tips.
--You start in a "room." The world is comprised of thousands of these rooms. You navagate through them by typing NORTH SOUTH EAST WEST UP DOWN NORTHEAST and so fourth, indicating the direction you wish to go. To leave the first room, type LOOK (this will redisplay the room),look under the section marked "Exits:" and go in the direction indicated.
--You can get a list of all available commands that you can use in the game by typing COMMANDS. Many you wont find particuarly usefull now, but you probably will later. For each command, there is a helpfile available for it. To see the help file, you can type HELP . For example, to see the help file on LOOK you would type HELP LOOK.
--If you get stuck, you can use the "newbiechannel" to ask for assitance. Anyone that has agreed to help newbies will be able to hear you (this includes all immortals and some players). Unfortunatly, this will only work if someone is on that can help you(and if the MUD has this command put in; most do), but there usualy is someone. To use it, type NEWBIECHAT . For example, typing NEWBIECHAT HELP! would make cause you to say HELP! over the channel.
--Worse comes to worse, you can start looking through the help files. Not really the most exciting thing to do, and in fact its probably something that you arnt going to want to do, but you can still do it. And on the bright side, after just reading them all, you'll know how to play better then most of the other players(who haven't read them)!

A few last tips

Immortals(Sometimes called Wizs, or Wizards) = Game Administrators.
Sometimes (on a particular group of MUDs), before you enter the REAL world (ya, you start out in whats called "The spectral gates." It is an area that helps show you some real basic commands, and screens out any characters that players dont want to keep) you will need to get your name approved by an administrator, or part of the staff. Unfortunatly, you may have to sit around while and wait for someone to become available to let you in, but you can easily just go idle and come back later to see if you got in. The only problem with this is that it will log you out after a while but... you can just log back in.
You MAY come to a point early on that will ask if you want to be a PKILL player (DEADLY) or a Non-PKILL player (NONDEADLY). What this means, is that if you are a PKILL player, you can kill, and be killed by, other PLAYERS. Please note that ANYONE can kill the AI monsters. If you are unsure if you want to be pkill or not, then it is best to go with non-pkill. You can usually choose to "go deadly" at a later date, where as if you went deadly now, you usually can never go back to nondeadly (once a deadly, always a deadly).

Where can I find these games?

If you've read this far, you probably want to go play one of these games! Well, luckly there are literally thousands of them out there. And even better, there are a few sites dedicated to listing as many as they can. This allows you to do searches on all the registered MUDs, and find one that fits exactly what your looking for (if it exists). There are MUDs based on fantasty themes, Sci-fy themes, history themes and more. There are even MUDs that are based on specific books or movies, such as J.R.R Tolkin's novels, "The Wheel of Time" novels, and "Star Wars". Heck, there are even some out there based on "Dragon Ball Z"! So whatever your taste, using these sites will help you find one that fits.
www.MudConnector.com
www.TopMudSites.com
www.kyndig.com
www.mudRanger.com

What do you play?

With all this information, you probably assumed that I personally love MUDs, and that I currently play one or more of them. Well, not quite true. Currently, I don't play regularly on any MUDs. I used to admin and play on a MUD called Dark Forest, but have since resigned my position and mothballed my characters. Dispite the fact that I currently am not playing any, I still am involved in one. In short, I along with a few people are making our own.
We are designing and coding a custom, from scratch, codebase called D.I.R.T. The actual MUD name is still undecided, and the project is still more then a year away from the point where it will be playable. We are doing our best to jampack it with content and features, and to make it as realistic as possible. It will be a Roll-Playing required and enforced MUD that maintains a "chat room" setting on first log on. Once you log on, you will be in this chatroom, and can talk about anything you want with other people there. Then at any time, you can choose to login to one of your characters, and begin playing the RP intensive game.
If you really want to, you can connect to it at any time during it's creation via a telnet client using the host name dirt.kicks-ass.org and port 4000. Manythings that may be in and working could be disabled for your use until things are perfected, but currently, the chatrooms work just fine.
Although for security reasons, I cannot, and will not, list all the features, you can look forward to: 
-Easy to use DIKU/Merc/SMAUG-similar commands and command structure.
-24 Classic races, to match your specific character and to provide world diversity. Along with the general ones,
 many of the races will have sub-races and sub-cultures for even further diversity. An incomplete list
 includes the following:
  -Human
   -Varius cultures
  -Elf
   -High Elf
   -Wood Elf
   -Drow
   -Sea-Elf
  -Half-Elf
  -Dwarf 
  -Gnome
  -Halfling
  -Giant
   -Possible varients
  -Goblin
  -Orc
  -Half-Orc
  -Ogre
  -Half-Ogre
  -Troll
   -Possible varients
  -Half-Troll
  -Lizardmen
   -Mountain Lizard
   -Swamp Lizard
  -Gith
  -Pixie
  -Brownie
  -Gargoyle
  -Minotaur
  -Demon
  -Half-Demon
  -Angel
  *Note: All "Half" races are considered a mix of human, and that other race. Other racial mixtures probably will
   not exist, due to too many genetic differences; humans are the only "high compatability" race.
-9 different class/specialty catagories, including the classical classes, and racial specific classes. Each class
 includes up to 41 subclasses to choose from during creation allowing for maximum character specification, while    not sacrificing the structure that a class system provides. Major classes are:
  -Warriors
  -Rouges
  -Wizards
  -Priests
  -Undead
  -Demons
  -Angels
  -Pixies
  -Minotaurs
  -Gargoyles
-4 planes of existance
  -The main world - (consisting of billions of rooms)
  -The Astral plane - (a infinate, chaotic plane)
  -Heaven - (Size enough to rival all 9 sub-planes of hell)
  -Hell - (includes all 9 sub planes each of which ranges from 250000+ to 2500+ rooms.
-Over 600 casting spells
-Hundreds of Prayers for the priests
-Hundreds of powers
-Hundreds of skills
-Highly specified, classified and realistically balanced weaponry.
-Highly specified and classified NPCs and mobs, so you never fight an "orc baby" that harder to defeat then a  
 "high orc warrior" would be.
-A perma-death system designed with safeguards to make the world dangerous and highly threatening, but still fun  enough to take acceptable risks while adventuring.
-Player owned/ran/built buildings, castles, towns, cities, empires.
-Player owned/ran/built boats.
-Large scale warfare- Battles, sieges, and sea battles, with terrain, situational, and weather advantages.
-Dynamic room descriptions.
-Aging with physical and metal changes.
-Vehicles such as chariots, work carts, carrages, even the rare juggernauts and flying ship.
-Skill based professional abilities, allowing creation and running of player stores.(crafting)
-***0*** administrator interferance. You'll never see an administrator step down and tell you to do something
 while your playing.
-Premade and character made dialects to specialize your character's accents and personality.
-A large and complex theology department, including over 30 deities to choose from, and few concequences if you
 choose not to worship anyone.
-The ability to achieve a deity status and have others worship you.
-Player fighting/killing, of course, but in a tempored way to require a roll playing reason, and as many chances
 for both parties to survive as with any mob fight.
-Much more.

If you have any more pressing questions about Muds or this page, feel free to email me at deathknight@hush.com.

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