Worthwhile Alternatives to Gemstone

[Tyrael]

Does anyone know of any new development on alternatives to Gemstone? I've played Gemstone for around 12 years on and off now and just think it is about time to try something new. Something that hasn't become so stale.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Xaerve]

Porn has always worked.

[Tyrael]

I am thinkng more in the realm of a text-based fantasy rpg. I've never tried text-based porn ...

[waywardgs]

Does anyone know of any new development on alternatives to Gemstone? I've played Gemstone for around 12 years on and off now and just think it is about time to try something new. Something that hasn't become so stale.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

There's that newfangled Dragonrealms...

[Tyrael]

I was kind of hoping for a game that I could get into without a massive already max level community.

[thefarmer]

Go to one of the MUD websites that lists them. There's a few out there.

[NocturnalRob]

my balls

[Tyrael]

Fail.

[NocturnalRob]

my epeen is bigger than yours. you do what i say!

[Nieninque]

I found it cheaper to repeatedly slam my head in the door.
Same result too.

[grenthor]

throes of creation was alright

[Shari]

Check out Ironrealms.com. They have several available and they're all free.

I played one, I don't remember what it was called...started with an A. I liked it but missed my already-uberness that I had in GS.

That and I couldn't make clothing alters *just* the way I wanted them. I'm a freak, I know.

[Skeeter]

read a book

[Stanley Burrell]

Smoke weed, take pills, drop out of school, kill people and drink.

[Cephalopod]

Sex is an often-overlooked alternative. With yourself, an animal, or other people. Plenty of available options.

[Fallen]

There are other text-based RPGs out there, finding one without a well established population is going to be difficult. Either a MUD has one, or it usually tends to fold.

[Tyrael]

Constructive responses from most of you as always.

[CrystalTears]

Check out Ironrealms.com. They have several available and they're all free.

I played one, I don't remember what it was called...started with an A. I liked it but missed my already-uberness that I had in GS.

That and I couldn't make clothing alters *just* the way I wanted them. I'm a freak, I know.
Agreed. They're a nice alternative.

[Ashliana]

Back in the day, I played another MUD on AOL in addition to Gemstone, called "Legends of Terris."

They too made the move to pay-for-play and their entire playerbase essentially vanished. Gemstone had maybe 2,500-3,000 people on at primetime during their height. Terris had maybe 600. But now? You'd be lucky to find 30 people on when you play.

Pity. It was a good game. I was a member of a hardcore roleplaying, very-hard-to-get-into guild, the Druid guild.

[ZeP]

Terris fuckin rocked. There is a Zir in Gemstone and I am always tempted to yell Zir! Zir! Zir! at him.

[Back]

The Mud Connector (http://www.mudconnect.com/) is a great resource for all things muddy. This link is their top ten list but they have many many listings all with advanced search criteria.

I’ve played a few off and on over the years for mild amusement. Nothing really plays as well as GSIV but there are a few that can keep you occupied for a few weeks.

[Martaigne]

I've never tried text-based porn ...

Go to Silvergate and you can!

[Mabus]

throes of creation was alright
Thanks!
Throes of Creation Website. (http://throes.slayn.net/)

Still in alpha. Low player-base (0-20 online). Free. Staff listen to, and implement, good player ideas quickly. All original world. Looking for writers and builders.

If you could say what you are looking for (heavy role-play, CvC, complex combat, etc.) I could direct you to a few MUDs.

Some picks off the top of my head
Role-play:
Shadows of Isildur (http://www.middle-earth.us/index.php?display=referral)
CvC (PK):
Legends of Karinth (http://www.karinth.com/)
Complex Combat PK:
GodWars II (http://www.godwars2.org/)

Over a thousand free games out there, most unoriginal and with stock code shared with hundreds of others. Some stand out, with active coding and staff that listen to players.

MUDs run the gamut from free-2-play, pay-4-perks, donation-based to pay-2-play. Everything from Role-play Intensive (RPI) down to non-Role-play, from full-PK to no-PK. Most are run by hobbyists, but some do so with a high degree of professionalism.

MUD Search Sites:
MudConnect (http://mudconnect.com/)
Good "Advanced Search" (Click the search link, then the advanced search), old-style site. Lots of arguing between developers in the forums.
Top MUD Sites (http://www.topmudsites.com/)
Mainly a few games, (IRE, Aardwolf, other advertisers) rule the roost, but lots of listed games, and a forum to ask about your preferences.
MUD Gamers (http://mudgamers.com/)
Brand new site. Shows promise, as the site developer wants to integrate his Flash Client into the games.

Best of luck in your search.

[Warriorbird]

Sex. Alcohol. Console games.

[Moist Happenings]

Here I come with the super late response.

First, I played Legends of Terris also. It was an amazing game at its height, and it's conditionally free to play these days to a point, but there just isn't a playerbase anymore. Additionally, it doesn't seem that anything in the game has changed at all since it was on AOL.

Second, the mudconnector definitely is the best resource to find muds. Back when Gemstone first became pay to play I was a kid without a credit card, so I went searching for alternatives. Found Dark and Shattered lands. http://www.dsl-mud.org. It's still around and still going strong. Usually around 100-150 people online. It's a Rom based mud with a huge amount of modifications, and it's constantly being updated. Very good pvp system, and a great roleplaying society there. And no, there's no such thing there as a capped society where everybody is max level with the best gear and everything possible. Doesn't really work like that.

I don't play it myself anymore, but it's definitely worth trying out if you're still looking for alternatives.

Oh, also there was another game that used to be pay to play around the same time as Gemstone/Terris called Federation: Space Fantasy game. They came out with Federation II not too terribly long ago and that also is going pretty strong. It's neat if you're into the future kind of setting. Buy a spaceship, trade, run missions, buy a planet, et cetera. Kind of neat. http://www.ibgames.net

[Garnet Doyle]

I was kind of hoping for a game that I could get into without a massive already max level community.

Dragonrealms isn't that bad. It's also not like gemstone in that there's 12389742 level 100 people running around. Different professions train in different ways. Also it's not like there's 'capped hunting' in every city, like the grimswarm camps. Three of the most tough places to hunt are 1: a prison island on the far end of a string of islands. 2: Far, far northern deserts. 3: A beachhead which a boat stops at maybe every 5 hours for 20 minutes.


You really can't fathom how cool it is until you try it, and if you still have the 30 day free trial on your account, I can't believe you asked this without trying that first. GS plays like HaloMUD to me. You see the dice rolls, you see the numbers spilling around, and so on and so forth. You prepare spell, you cast spell, mana is reduced, spell happens, etc. It's very straightforward. Also the 'you need #### experience to level' is pretty mundane.


I could make this post 30 pages on why dragonrealms is so awesome, but i'll try to be brief. It's so much MORE REALISTIC over there. You don't have 200 hit points and 10 spirit points. Your body feels at full health, and your spirit feels full of life. As you take damage, these 'how you feel' messages slide down from bruised to battered to beat up to bad shape and such (and there's more than those few mentioned).


You don't get points to train skills. You get points to train stats. You get these by both working skills up, and circling in your guild--what you now call leveling up. You also don't start off a level 1 whatever. You start off a commoner. Some stupid kid who decided to walk away from home one day, or whatever your backstory is. You can then pick a guild(profession), train your stats with the chunk of TDPs you get to their standards, and join.


You train skills by DOING them there. Sure, thieves are the master locksmiths. Does this mean an empath or spell caster has to cripple themselves to learn how to pick boxes like here in gemstone? Nope. You may learn them slower than a thief, and rank-for-rank a thief may be a better locksmith than you, but you can still learn ANYTHING by DOING. That's way cool.


This is already getting too long, so let me try to shorten it up right here with these last couple gems.

Magic can be as simple as 'prep spell ##(mana number)', wait for spell to be fully prepared, cast spell.

Or it can be as complicated as 'prep spell' which begins preparing it at minimum mana. Then you can harness ## and pull raw energy out of the air and hold it in your nerves. Then when you cast, this raw energy augments the cast, and it is at once both more powerful, and less taxing, as you aren't casting it all at once. (Example, spell at 50 mana, vs spell prepped at 5, with 10 mana harnessed 4 times prior to casting) Holding onto mana can also cause nerve damage, so there's a measure of skill and strategy involved. You can also pick up cambrinth items, which are like mana batteries. The extra oomph of held mana, with none of the blown nerves risk of raw harnessing.

Thieves can break into and steal items from a museum. At night. When it's closed. With guards and security systems and shit. The first time I saw a log of this, I almost peed. Then I cursed myself for being a mage and not a thief.

Moon mages can predict the future, teleport, create moongates, and at a high level, learn to start enchanting things. The first time I sat down with a moon mage as they made me a gwethdesuan (think 'crystal amulet'.... and even THAT is fucking awesome. (tangent inc) Humans in DR can speak 'gamgweth'. It's a type of language and can even be learned RL like klingon or whatnot. 'gwethdesuan' is from gamgweth, and the words literally translate to 'far speak'. Everything about DR is so detailed you could almost joyfully puke) I was stunned at the depth of it. Then I cursed myself for being a warrior mage and not a moon mage.

2 quick things to end on.

1: Some really ballsy people never even select a guild, and stay commoners permanently. They get no TDPs per level to train their stats. They only get them from working skills, so they have to focus so much harder. But still, when you see a level 30 ranger lose a fight to a level 0 nobody, just because the nobody was more devoted to their training instead of chasing levels, that's just fucking win.

2: If you really must get away from $imu products, try arcticMUD. I played this back in the day and it was really neat, custom coded (almost to the degree of GS/DR), and based loosely on the krynn of Dragonlance fame, which I was a fan of. It's more of a mud though, with zones that repop, clans that fight, and shit like that. It can get pretty frustrating at times though. If people murder the shit out of you, you'll lose gear and experience, and all that happens to them is they go on a wanted list, which means cityguards attack them, and if a player manages to down them first, they get a huge experience award.


P.S. Dragonrealms used to have a really steep learning curve, but things have kind of been reversed balanced so it's way easy at the low levels, and way tough at the high levels.

[Poppatrunk]

I've been playing http://www.unwritten.net/ for about a week. It's still under beta testing. Haven't seen a ton of people online at any one time probably less then 20.

But, lots of lore, classes, races etc. Rp heavy, I really get the sense that GS4 influenced the developers, or maybe it's just me but if you play it for a any amount of time I think you'll get that same feeling.

My two cents.
________
Screplays.Org (http://screplays.com/replays)

[Martaigne]

I've been playing http://www.unwritten.net/ for about a week. It's still under beta testing. Haven't seen a ton of people online at any one time probably less then 20.

But, lots of lore, classes, races etc. Rp heavy, I really get the sense that GS4 influenced the developers, or maybe it's just me but if you play it for a any amount of time I think you'll get that same feeling.

My two cents.

It's been in beta testing for the past 10 years. It started out just like GS, then moved to a rep system. Terrible combat mechanics. Good RP, though.

[Poppatrunk]

ten years? are you sure? I knew it was in beta for at least a year or two but ten :wtf:
________
Medical marijuana (http://www.youtube.com/dispensaries)

[Martaigne]

ten years? are you sure? I knew it was in beta for at least a year or two but ten :wtf:

Positive. I started playing when the game was in pre-alpha, left for a bit and came back in beta phase 1. It's now in like... gamma 4 or something like that. It used to be called Realms of Exile before changing names to Unwritten Legends. Use the internet archive to look up www.realmsofexile.com and you'll see what I mean.

[Poppatrunk]

huh go figure, you'd think they'd have more of a player base by now, and you'd think it'd be out of beta.
________
WENDIE 99 (http://www.lovelywendie99.com/)

[waywardgs]

Positive. I started playing when the game was in pre-alpha, left for a bit and came back in beta phase 1. It's now in like... gamma 4 or something like that. It used to be called Realms of Exile before changing names to Unwritten Legends. Use the internet archive to look up www.realmsofexile.com and you'll see what I mean.

I was one of the testers for the original instance of that game... it was started by the player of Thalior, actually. Around 10 years, that'd be accurate.

[Martaigne]

I was one of the testers for the original instance of that game... it was started by the player of Thalior, actually. Around 10 years, that'd be accurate.

Actually, it wasn't. Noah took Thalior's name as a joke and wound up shortening it to just Thal later. See below:

http://web.archive.org/web/19991004054159/www.realmsofexile.com/faq.html