Legends of the Jedi is one of the best Star Wars based MUDs around. It is constantly evolving and changing, as the code base gets updated, new areas get built, new skills get coded in... all sorts of good changes and updates.

There are currently around 62 different species that you can play. Note though, that some of these are restricted based on the current time line, require an application to be able to select, or require you to spend some of your 'account' points to buy. This helps keep everyone from playing a Mandalorian for instance, which wouldn't make the galaxy very realistic.

About the points, you earn points based on the amount of time you have played a character, how well you have roleplayed, for participating in special events, and for cinematic death scenes. Its really a reward for good playing, and allows you to buy various races or even some levels to start out with. A very nice feature for the players.

The mud also has a great space flight system. Planets and objects are positioned based on an x y z coordinate system, and planets have an extra X, Y component. With the various ships you can get, space exploration and space combat can be really entertaining. Or maybe you just like to run cargo to earn lots of Credits. Its really up to you how you go about it.

And what about the ever popular force? I love how force is a random (although kind of low) chance for any character to have. You can't really be 'sensed' until you hit level 100, which prevents people from just suiciding until they get a forcer. You can also send in applications to play a forcer, or use a lot of points to start off with the force. Again, this prevents everyone from being a Jedi, and makes it a bit realistic with the random percentage.

LotJ also has a Roleplaying Council, a group of pseudo-immortals / staff people that are selected from the players (the run for office and are voted on). The RPC handles most of the roleplaying issues that might arise. Say some random Rodian murdered you for no apparent reason. You can take it up with the RPC, and if they didn't have a good RP reason for killing you, you would get a restore. I think this is another really good feature of the MUD, allowing those that invest time and effort in their characters to not just loose them to some PK happy power-gamer. Now, if there was good reason to kill you (maybe you stole his ship a few too many times, or he just happens to be a bounty hunter that a rival clan hired to take you out)... well then you stay dead.

The immortal 'staff' of the mud are pretty cool too, helping when bugs pop up or other weird glitches effect the mud. They even reward people who find the bugs and report them, or report any gross spelling errors or other issues that can hinder the players in the RP.

All in all, I have to say I love this MUD! ~ Viskin