Review Submitted By: Sunny Lovett
Author Status: Player
Started on Discworld: 2000
Submission Date: May 21, 2005
TMC Listing: Discworld
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Sunny Lovett]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
I have been mudding steadily on Discworld for several years now and
have to admit it has largely usurped my life. Full of the rich humour
of Terry Pratchett's books and with a hefty portion of original
humour from the hundred's of creators; exploring can vary from dull
to interesting to uproarious laughter.
I have tried several other MUDs and by and large don't find them
worth the time of day. Discworld is about far more than kill, kill,
kill and it is incredibly user easy. While most muds have barely
written commands and huge complicated help files; Discworld has
obvious commands, the syntax command option and if all else fails:
useful help files. The parser system also enables the easy separation
of multiple items of similar or the same type.
One of the things I like most about discworld is the detail. The
descriptions are always complex, relavent and interesting. Room
descriptions can go on for several lines and you can look at a table,
the legs of a table, the glint of light and the play of shadow. Some
descriptions could even be a key to one of the quests that are hidden
all over the place. Quests that grant items are few, but they can be
very rewarding to solve even of themselves.
Almost all items have both a short description which you see in a
casual look at the area which contains it and a more detailed
description which is revealed on closer analysis. You can even check
the dimensions and weight of an item. Spell and command descriptions
are also invested with great detail and humour.
The choice of how your character develops is wonderfuly vast. You can
become a great musician, a clothing maniac or an author. You could be
a wizard who does nothing but conjure food and turn people into frogs
or an old hag who makes peoples noses drop off.
There are thieves, four different assassins guilds, 9 warriors
guilds, 6 priest guilds, the witches and the many orders of wizardry
from elemental to seer to playerkilling hedge. There are newspapers to
write for, shops and houses to own, hundreds of pieces of furniture
and thousands of clothes. You can design your own weapons, clothing
and armour or chose from the hundreds of options available.
The numerous skill trees and teaching options enable the advancing of
skills that have nothing to do with your chosen profession as well as
the easy advancement of your primary skills within your guild.
The Mud itself is huge, far too large for the playerbase really, but
through the 'talker' and various clubs you are always connected to
the other couple of hundred online members who are great sources of
humour, friendship, useful advice and blatant unhelpfulness (though
for every joke answer you get you will get several real pieces of
advice). There are dozens of villages, huge cities that are much
larger than the total area of some other muds and the endless, endless
terrain. NPC's, players and talking trees can be found in the most
unlikely places and there is never a shortage of things to kill if
your tastes run that way.
There is exploration experience, command experience and idle
experience for those who prefer a more sedate life, as well as the
large experience rewards killing can give.
Playerkilling is allowed to those who apply to it, and is compulsory
beyond a certain level for assassins and the Last Order of Wizardry.
It is not forced upon those who prefer the life of an NPK.
Roleplaying is welcomed and for the truly dedicated there are
features in game such as 'Roleplaying mode' which mean you are not
distracted by out of character conversations. For those less
interested in roleplay the mud offers an abundance of chat channels,
killing methods and group options.
The Admin is also always on the look for new creators and playtesters.
So if you are tired of the poorly written little muds out there, or
just want to try something a little different. Be sure to give
discworld a try, I promise it is worth the effort.
__ Scholarly Elanor the Wise of the Ancient and Truly Original Sages
of the Unbroken Circle, the Fifth Level Wizard.
