The world is not only massive and diverse, but is also incredibly well written. From the room descriptions to the item names, the writing for the game is beautifully done, meticulously written, and gives the feeling of a seasoned Dungeon Master guiding you through your play. The playerbase is helpful and friendly and the endgame is always a great time. I have been playing here off and on for many years, a friend of mine introduced me to this MUD in 1996 and though I have not played as much as some throughout the years, I always come back to Toril as my home. If you are looking for a challenging home with some really great people, Toril would be a great place to try. If you do come by, NHC channel is there for questions or feel free to throw Rurrar a tell and I will get you an answer!

TorilMUD is one of the biggest, deepest MUDs I've played. It doesn't take long to pick up the basics such as leveling. It's the exploring, questing, and end-game zoning which takes up the vast majority of time and effort. The zones are fantastically detailed, and with so many to choose from, there's always a new place to explore and new mobs to check for quests.

The world itself fits into the Forgotten Realms after the Time of Troubles but before events like 4th Edition. With 300+ zones, I'm surprised there's hardly any deviation from valid theme in the game. It prevents a very serious, professional in-character view of the entire world.

There are some excellent player resources like a world map and equipment database. Information itself is a precious commodity, since there are so many difficult to obtain yet very powerful items and spells hidden behind vague quest info. Even a remort from Necromancer to Lich. The people in the game are generally happy to help even so.

There isn't much roleplaying, as it's primarily a hack-n-slash game with gathering more equipment as the primary objective, aside from beating the actual challenge of it. Rogues are especially valued as the class which provides the most flexibility to deal with encounters and problem situations, like taking out a healing, tracking dracolich or recovering a corpse from deep within a fogged grid of giants.

I've honed my MUD skills here far more than any other game, and it's made me a better player in other situations. TorilMUD is near the top of the challenge / reward hierarchy, and with 11 years of their no-pwipe policy still going strong, I can be assured that my rewards will remain as long as I want.

In general, it's a great place to smite baddies and quest for adventure.

Character Generation was relatively painless, decently explained, the helpfiles seem mostly complete.

While there is a newbie guide book object to pick up, the game never tells you this. You need to figure it out on your own, and it essentially has no details other than command breakdowns. Now a list of commands for certain aspects of a game is useful, but some descriptions inside would be handy.

However, after nearly 2 decades of gaming. This game has one of the worst newbie area designs I have ever seen in a completed game. Apparently the designers forgot the point of the area is to show someone new to their game how it works in general.

Unless you choose a specific race and class, the newbie area punishes you by being unusable to your race. Apparently, according to a player who at least tried to help, if you pick anything but a good alignment, the game is designed to be unplayable.

I never witnessed a peep about RP. As for population, decently populated, however, no real activity from anyone.

Never witnessed any staff. The only player assistance I received was people stating delete my char and go to a new game as Toril was dying, or someone else stating that I shouldn't be allowed to use a newbie starter area zone because I wanted to play an evil character.

All in all rather disappointing considering the other reviews posted does not match what I found.

After playing a variety of different muds over the years, this one has kept me coming back over and over again. This mud has been under heavy development since the get go. The staff is friendly, funny, and players are really quite nice. There are constant updates such as new zones, equipment, quests, RP based events, and zone groups.

Players have a variety of races / classes to choose from and a plethora of spells, skills, etc. to hone and utilize. The way that this mud is setup allows players to think up strategic ways to solve problems / kill monsters.

The environment is completely dynamic as well. There are rare load items and creatures. No single boot is the same. At this time we have a strong playerbase and this is due to the fact that people offer so much help and support.

If you feel like giving it a try just dial up torilmud.org 9999 on your favorite mud client! Look me up as Drogo, Valendhal, Mugo and I will help you get up to speed! Don't miss out!

Some 2005 views of TorilMUD. I have played TorilMUD (formerly SojournMUD) fairly regularly for over a decade now. I have also played a few other MUDS occasionally, as well as the usual array of graphical PC games when able. Based on the Forgotten Realms, TorilMUD remains one of the favorite fantasy games of all, offering so much by way of gameplay, mechanics, attention to detail, “feel”, variety, development, fun, and more; whilst remaining free (once connected to the internet).

Several years ago the average weekly playerbase was at it’s peak, back when mudding was in relative infancy, when less GOOD muds were around, and prior to a host of regular original-era players outgrowing regular online gaming and moving on.

These days in 2004-2005 TorilMUD is again growing toward the glory of those olden days, certainly offering the features, support, code, size, zones and improvements to facilitate this and beyond! And with recent merging of HomelandMUD (previously ExileMUD) into TorilMUD, the improvements and additions continue..

Come check it out if you haven’t, and delve into the world that spawned several popular off-shoot games including Evercrack, but offers it’s own unique OUTSTANDING text-based game in itself..

Here’s links to some webpages with lost of current info about it: http://www.torilmud.org/ http://home.comcast.net/~lich3/ http://craigbb.home.insightbb.com/ http://members.tripod.com/~mjsbbs/ms/index.html

Torilmud is the latest incarnation of a text-based MUD that has roots going back to the early 1990s. The MUD tends to have a smaller, yet growing, player base that has generally been very loyal over the years.

The features of the MUD that originally drew me to it include a richly detailed and authentic Forgotton Realms environment, dozens of classes and races to choose from, and a combat engine that makes for very exciting battles. The features that have kept me involved over the years were hidden under the surface. Only after playing for a while and meeting some of the more experienced players did I realize that each time Torilmud boots, some features of the zones - including the monsters one encounters - can load differently each time. This subtle feature keeps me logging in again and again. Did that spy load in Griffon's Nest this boot? Did Jotunheim get invaded by fire giants wearing powerful magic gear? You don't know, unless you go check.

Quests are both hardcoded into the MUD itself as well as run by the Admins and many are quite elaborate and detailed, resulting in an epic quality to them. There are quests for special items as well as for special spells and skills. Player killers beware, however. Because many quests require so-called 'rare' items, and because acquiring such rarities becomes the players' pride, player killing is not allowed on Torilmud.

Also, there are dozens of zones and literally thousands of rooms to explore including many high level zones where only the most prepared and experienced players would dare to tread. Some zones take a few minutes to walk through, while other more complex and strategic zones can be the focus of a whole days' campaign. In fact, after 7 years of playing there are many places I have not even seen.

What's more is that the always active Areas Staff is continually adding and expanding the MUD, resulting in new challenges to look forward to both for experts and novices.

The quality of the zones is generally exceptional and many of the better descriptions read like a fine novel. To me, it's like being part of a constantly evolving story. Getting started isn't hard, but becoming proficient at leading groups through the harder battles of the MUD takes long preparation. Whatever your level of commitment, there is a place for you on this MUD. Highly recommended.

TorilMud is friendly, fun and addictive! There are seldom less than 30 players on and usually up to 70 and more.

Even the most experienced players are happy to help out newcomers and there are always others just starting out that you can group with. Solo play has a lot to offer too, with a vast world to explore and quests at all levels to keep you interested.

I've only been MUDding about 6 months, but I've tried a few others and none comes close. Check it out!

It has been a long and wonderful journey, my sojourn. Beginning so long ago, Sojourn was my first MUD and will probably be the last. I have played over 100 different MUD's in my time and none compare to my online home. The hours of work put into the game by it's designers is apparent in every facet of play. From detailed quests and areas, to extremely diverse skills and spells, to help files for everything you could want to ask a question about, this place has it all. In addition to all this, the forums allow a player/staff interaction that would far exceed most normal games. Discussions about gameplay, ideas and numerous stories and logfiles add another element to an already immersive experience. The memories and interaction from this place have served me well and will continue to do so. I look forward to seeing you there.