Forgotten Kingdoms
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| Forgotten Kingdoms MUD | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Various |
| Engine | Smaug |
| Release date(s) | 1999 |
| Genre(s) | MMORPG, MUD |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | OS Independent |
| System requirements | Telnet connection |
Forgotten Kingdoms (called FK affectionately by those who play) is a Role Playing Game based on Dungeons & Dragons third edition and set in TSR's Forgotten Realms campaign setting. It has been online since around 1999 and is made up of an enormous world (over 30,000) rooms. It has many features which make it unique such as meta-magic feats, a vast number of spells (almost 350), and a spell memorisation based on slots which closely matches the system used in Dungeons and Dragons. This is a feature that marks it as different to many other MUDs, especially owing to the way in which spells from the roleplaying game are coded along with components and echoes, to make the player feel they are really part of the world.
It is an RPI MUD, and so there is a strong emphasis on Role-playing over power-gaming. Players are allowed only one character online at a time, and are expected to roleplay this character to the best of their ability. There is otherwise no limit to the amount of characters you can create. It is considered cheating to exchange information learned while playing a character in the game by any out-of-game means.
The game's website is located at http://www.forgottenkingdoms.com, and can be played either by using telnet (telnet://game.forgottenkingdoms.com:4000) or any of the other clients available for connecting to MUDs on the internet (ZMud or MUSHClient for example)
Unique to Forgotten Kingdoms is a special client developed in Java for FK which is available from http://www.skynet.ie/~martin/fang.
Contents |
[edit] The New Player
The new player to Forgotten Kingdoms can expect to find many features to enable him or her to enjoy their time online. Although the MUD is roleplay enforced, the people on the MUD are friendly and encouraging to new people who have never roleplayed before. They can expect to find the immortals (staff) often playing the role of random passers-by to add depth to the world as a whole. As well, they can benefit from the unique spell system discussed already, and the Councils discussed below, which help to allow the MUD to function. There is also an atmosphere of creativity fostered on the MUD. If a player wants to see a new area in the game that they loved reading about in the Forgotten Realms supplements or novels, they can apply to build that area. Another proud feature of the game is the extensive set of help files available, covering most of the issues of the MUD. Whilst some are out of date, a group has been set up already to renew these helpfiles.
[edit] Classes
There are many guilds available to players of Forgotten Kingdoms. Upon creation, each character chooses a base class from: Warrior, Wizard, Priest or Rogue. As their character develops, they can choose to join one of the many guilds that scatter the Forgotten Kingdoms.
The guilds available to each class are:
- Warriors
- Warriors primarily focus on physical combat.
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- Fighters
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- Paladins
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- Rangers
- Wizards
- Wizard spells range in level from 1 to 9, and once a wizard has chosen a specialisation from the list below (apart from mage which is a kind of jack of all trades!), they get an additional spell slot which they must use for spells from their specialist school.
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- Abjurers
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- Conjurers
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- Enchanters
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- Illusionists
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- Invokers
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- Mages
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- Necromancers
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- Transmuters
- Rogues
- Rogues on Forgotten Kingdoms can specialise as bards, or thieves. The rogue class requires a certain amount of kismet (credit for total hours logged by a player; this can also be earned through good roleplay) before it can be selected at character generation.
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- Bards - Bards on Forgotten Kingdoms are a special class, widely renowned for their skill at the performing arts. To join this guild, prospective members must first perform in public, be it singing, acting, reciting poetry or other displays of talent. Forgotten Kingdoms has a very skilled base of bards, and most bards actually publish books within the game world, adding to the realism of the MUD!
- Thieves
- Priests
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- Priests must join a faith, rather than a guild, and can choose from almost any of the Forgotten Realms Gods to gain skills and spells particular to their deity. Priest spells range in level from 1 to 9, and once they are faithed, they will get additional bonus spells specific to their faith. For example, priests of Lathander might get 'fireshield' and 'phoenix claw' as two of their 18 unique domain spells.
[edit] Races
There are many races available during character creation. Unique and exotic races require varying amounts of kismet before they can be selected.
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- Aasimar
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- Tiefling
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- Moon Elf
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- Wild Elf
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- Avariel Elf
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- Aquatic Elf
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- Sun Elf
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- Wood Elf
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- Dark Elf
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- Half Elf
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- Half Drow
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- Half Orc
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- Orc
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- Goblin
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- Human
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- Forest Gnome
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- Rock Gnome
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- Deep Gnome
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- Ghostwise Halfling
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- Lightfoot Halfling
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- Strongheart Halfling
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- Air Genasi
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- Fire Genasi
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- Water Genasi
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- Earth Genasi
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- Gold Dwarf
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- Shield Dwarf
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- Arctic Dwarf
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- Gray Dwarf
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- Wild Dwarf
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- Urdunnir
[edit] Alignments
Players may choose any alignment from the good, evil, neutral, lawful, and chaotic combinations. Players must accumulate a certain amount of kismet through good play to select evil or chaotic neutral alignments.
[edit] Councils
Players of Forgotten Kingdoms are encouraged to get involved and help keep it running smoothly. For this reason, the tasks of running have the game have been split up into 4 councils. These are:
[edit] Player Council
Currently the largest council, this council is made up of people who help the general populace with any problems that they might face while playing. At the lowest level, this means answering questions such as 'how do I open a door?' to, at the higher levels, dealing with complaints or helping to enforce rules such as the 'No multiplay' rule etc.
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- Ask/Answer - one enterprising feature in this MUD, is the use of the ask/answer system that allows the members of the Player Council to deal with questions from both inexperienced and experienced people, quickly. The person wanting a question answered can use "ask", and the member of the Player Council can use "answer". The question is also automatically repeated so that the player asking the question is not forgotten about as a result of spam.
[edit] Builder Council
The second largest council, this council is made up everyone who wishes to expand the world of Forgotten Kingdoms, or to further enhance the existing world. Forgotten Kingdoms has both online and offline area creation, and a large team of experienced builders to help anyone who is interested to find their feet.
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- Builder Lessons - even for the newest players, the chance is there for them to build areas they want on the MUD, owing to builder's lessons being available on the website. This is a step-by-step, simple guide that covers all the details of how to code an area, and has been invaluable in taking many new players' ideas and having them become a part of the game.
[edit] Roleplay Council
The Roleplay Council is in charge of running roleplay events in Forgotten Kingdoms. Be it something as small as taking over some NPCs to have a chat about the weather, or something large involving a multi-faction plot which twists and changes and threatens the imminent destruction of the world!
[edit] Code Council
This is the smallest council, and is made up of the people who develop the Forgotten Kingdoms game engine, which is written in C++. Other members of the team act as testers, help maintain the bug database and collaborate on discussions on how to implement new features.
Players are encouraged to join the council which most interests them.
[edit] Interface
Forgotten Kingdoms features a unique interface which provides all relevant information to the character in an easy to use manner. For example, in the top left of the screen there is a stick figure representing your character. Generally, this stick figure is all green, but if your arm or leg get's injured it will turn to yellow, more horrific injuries will turn it red, and if you are unlucky enough to actually lose a limb it will disappear altogether!
Other information available through the interface is a large map of the surrounding area if you are in the wilderness, or a small compass which highlights the exits available in your current location. Lists of characters and objects of the room are also displayed, together with your current health and other details.
[edit] History of Forgotten Kingdoms
The 'FKMud' project began on the 13th of August, 1999 when Greg & Sharon Vaughan approached Martin Gallwey with the idea of creating a new MUD based on the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Greg, Sharon and Martin had previously met on a different game called Mortal Realms (http://www.mortalrealms.com), but were now searching for a new home where they would enjoy more freedom to be creative.
Greg & Sharon had since played a MUD called 'Shattered Kingdoms' (http://www.shatteredkingdoms.org/), which had a policy of 'enforced roleplay'. They realised that this policy would have prevented many of the problems they had previously seen on Mortal Realms, and resolved to incorporate this policy into their new game.
Martin, in the mean time, had created his own game, which was called 'Shadow's Wreath'. It was based on the SMAUG code base, and borrowed heavily from the MrMud code base Martin had worked on previously. Shadow's Wreath was essentially the home of various people who had previously played on Mortal Realms, and while the administrators (Martin Gallwey, Tyson Nunemacher, Kenneth McKeever and Kelly Saveika) had big ideas, the game struggled for a strong and independent vision.
The final component needed for the mix was provided when Greg & Sharon started to play Dungeons & Dragons in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. They thoroughly enjoyed the depth created by the writers of TSR and further developed by the Wizards of the Coast.
At this point, Forgotten Kingdoms was conceived, based on the source code developed by Martin for Shadow's Wreath and Mortal Realms, together with the Forgotten Realms universe and the enforced roleplay rules from Shattered Kingdoms. Sharon undertook the daunting task of re-creating the Forgotten Realms universe in area files, but was helped enormously by her vast experience of building areas for Mortal Realms. Martin and Greg collaborated to work on the source, with one of their first tasks being re-creating many of the features they particularly enjoyed from Shattered Kingdoms.
From there, Forgotten Kingdoms grew rapidly. Along the way, Christophe Leclere joined the team, and soon became Sharon's right hand man, assisting her in administrating the area building team.
A unique gaming and role playing environment has evolved, aided along the way by the contributions of many builders since the game opened in 1999.
