TMC Reviews: Urath

This is medieval fantasy mud in the style of so many others. What I found refreshing was the all-original approach that has been taken here. As they say in their website, no wheel of time, King Arthur or soda machines to be found here. They encourage role-play, which is something I was pleased by. There is heavy talk of clans and some very nice code for fighting and magic. All in all, they do their very best to portray something original, and seem to pull it off nicely.

The owners and imms here were very quick to answer my questions, even the really simple ones that would frustrate most people. Now, there is the issue of finding help. It is not a real crowded mud, but the players I interacted with were very quick to ask me if I needed anything or had any questions. This mud also labels themselves as role-play encouraged, and while I did not see much in character interaction by the immortals, the players were quick to get right into form most times. There is restricted player kill and I have heard some talk though received no clarification on ability to have limited multi-charing for role-play, both of which were nice touches and added to the friendliness of the atmosphere. I liked the website as well. Several of the links had nothing on them, and I will admit that I was looking forward to a story under that section, but the city map and information found in there was very handy and easy to read.

By the TMC listing, this is a medium world of over 3,000 rooms. All in all, the areas looked nice and there was some nice interactivity in some parts as well. This was something of a must considering the low number of players. There were several things to keep a player busy, though it really would have been nice to see more people playing (this is something of a hint to those of you reading the review). I am still not a big fan of the room rent code to save a player's equipment. It sort of lacks in character sense and I have kids that yank me away on the spur of the moment, but that is a personal preference but one that I weight somewhat heavily myself. A huge point in their favor in my mind, however, is the all-original standpoint. That takes a great deal of work to rid a mud of all stock and make something from scratch, so that is always worth a look in my opinion.

It took some playing to get the hang of things on Urath for me. Some of the commands and style were completely original, and that made it tough at first to get the hang of things. Thankfully there were some very friendly people on who did not want to see me flounder, and put a few of their hours each into making sure I got off on the right foot. There is another drawback to the seldom-seen imms that I encountered a few times, and that is when crashes occur. They happen on all muds, but I had a tough time getting on the last couple of days now due to them and found that to be a slight disappointment.

In their website Urath claims to be a fairly new mud though I believe they have been underway for quite some time now (700+ days on TMC listing). If you are looking for something new and original, this mud will probably hold some appeal for you, especially if what you are searching for are people who will role-play. If massive numbers of players on-line at once or rampant playerkill is your goal, you would probably be best advised to look elsewhere. As it stands, this mud is fairly enjoyable, but has plenty of room for growth as well.