Arctic MUD

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Arctic MUD is a multiplayer role-playing game set in the world of the popular Dragonlance fantasy series. In this text-based MUD or Multi User Dungeon, the player creates and develops an in-game persona, advancing their character through adventuring, defeating monsters and completing quests. Since its opening in March 1992, this non-commercial game has seen heavy modification and expansion, now consisting of over 50,000 rooms and covering a very large portion of the Dragonlance world of Krynn.

The game was originally based on the DikuMUD codebase, but the code has been heavily modified over the years to add more depth and complexity to the game mechanics and player classes.

The game now consists of nine playable classes: Mage, Cleric, Druid, Warrior, Paladin, Thief, Dark Knight, Barbarian and Scout. Mages, Clerics and Druids are known as spellcasters, their primary focus being the casting of magical spells. The other six classes are the fighter classes, who use weapons and skills (and instincts in the case of scouts) to further their ends and combat their opponents. Spellcasters develop their repertoire of magical spells through adventuring for spellbooks (for mages), tablets (for druids) and prayerbooks (for clerics). Some fighter classes also have limited magical abilities, which they are granted as they progress. Fighter classes develop their skills through combat and training.

The game mechanics are loosely based on a system akin to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Each character has five natural ability scores or stats: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity and Constitution. These are rolled when the character is created and rise with character age. The spell system is one of memorization as opposed to the mana system used by many MUDs.

Player characters begin at level 1 and advance their character towards the highest player level, which is 30. With each level gain, the character increases in power. Upon reaching level 30, players may then begin to collect rank points. These points may be saved up and spent on bonuses, chosen from a list of over 100 available bonuses, including the ability to boost the stats mentioned above. This allows for a certain degree of character customization at level 30 and brings an added dimension to the high level game.

As with many MUDs, Arctic MUD is free to play.