Shadow Siege (SS) Well, I've been MUDing off and on since I was about fifteen years old. When I started it was with the usual, hack and slash mob killing all code based spam combat, type of MUDs. It didn't take me too long to get into the RP aspects of the various games, but some of them just aren't into that, that's fine. I hadn't been on a MUD in a couple of years when I thought hey, that's what I'll do, find somewhere to RP again. So I found SS, don't recall how exactly I found it, but I did.

I did a tiny bit of reading, just enough to know that it's a completely RP based MUD. If you want to go out and kill stuff, that's fine go ahead, but don't expect much out of it, except maybe some nasty wounds - or at least a good workout :)

Character creation was fun. There's a fair bit of reading to do before you really get into the game (the website is the best place to look) but that's to be expected with almost any MUD, many of which have way more reading to do. I was greeted almost instantly upon entering the game, not triggers, but people actually noticing me and saying 'hi' to the newbie (i'm sure staff and Player Aid's have something that tells them when new people logon, but I don't know for sure).

Once you have finished character creation - which covers pretty much everything you will need for your character - you are put out into the world. It's not as scary as it could be, especially if you have played in a MUD before. It's fairly easy to make your way around town as there is a help command to bring up a map of the city. Also, the 'where' command gives you a good idea of where RP is going on at the time.

At this time the playerbase isn't huge, quite often during the day there are only a few people on, but that picks up later on. Even when there is hardly anyone on, there is almost always a Staff member or at least a PA. So any questions you have should be answered if you give them time to finish their emotes (the staff and PAs all RP - or almost all...?). The fact that the staff are fairly active as players certainly adds to the game. They want to fix bugs not just for you but themselves too. They also get a good view of what is going on, moreso than just by watching what everyone is doing, they are part of it.

Even when staff aren't playing they may still be there with you. They like to monitor what is going on, not to beat you down for saying the wrong thing (don't go breaking the simple, simple rules), but to reward you for exceptional things you may do. They also try to work with the players to advance self-made plots which is wonderful.

I could keep going I'm sure, but I'm starting to forget what I've already typed and it's just going to get messy. Anyway. If you like storytelling, detailed RP, your own plots, levelless and classless systems, and other... stuff... come to SS!