Duris is a highly entertaining game. It offers a multitude of activities to participate in, all complex and thrilling. You can literally spend years learning this game and still only experience a fraction of what it has to offer. There is a diversity of class selections, quests, equipment, roll playing...the works. One of the most appealing aspects of this game is the full loot 2-sded racewar PvP style gameplay. If you can manage to kill your opponent, you get to loot and keep all of his hard earned equipment, no matter how difficult and time consuming it was to come by. For many, this can be a little intimidating, especially considering the amount of time it takes to build the perfect set, but I assure you that once you get to the point where you can play competitively in PvP, it is completely worth it. There is no better rush than hearing the death shriek of your opponent and stripping the spoiled from their cold corpse.

The world is absolutely huge and consistently offers obstacles to overcome. It definitely keeps you on your toes. The zones are also spanning and rewarding. Most of which require several of your fellow player's assistance to complete. This isn't a big issue because most people are eager to zone and build their character up.

There is a complex (not too complex) ship system that allows you to patrol the seas and includes things like ship fights (against players or pirates), doing cargo runs for treasures, upgrading your ship to become the most powerful vessels to be feared, or just plain traveling from continent to continent. One of my favorite aspects is the ability to board whatever ship you have sunk, which may be a player or pirates with treasure booties to collect once you have killed the scurvy dogs.

The game is very intense and very large, almost to the point where it can be overwhelming, but again, totally worth it if you can stick it out.

It is everything you would want from a mud. I have personally been playing it off and on for 18 years, it is the game I learned to mud on. I would classify myself as a middle-pack player. I have quite a bit of knowledge, can lead a variety of zones and quests and if left to my own devices could build a powerful character over enough time. Everyone surely knows me, which can be a good or bad thing.

Now, would I recommend someone new try out Duris? Sure, but only if you have the ability to play from work for 8 hours a day or are unemployed. While the mechanics are spectacular, the administrators have always taken a hard-nosed approach when it comes to tweaking difficulty levels. They honestly don't want players who aren't tough enough to hack through literally months and months of boring and difficult exp before you get to the point where the game is actually entertaining. Leveling from level 1-46 is truly mind numbingly boring, and is near impossible for someone new to accomplish solo. If you are lucky, you may be able to tag along once in a while with the experienced players and get a few levels here and there. Duris history has shown us that most new players get bored or frustrated very quickly when they attempt to learn or explore solo, mostly because it is nearly impossible to do so without having a huge amount of experience with the game already. If you have never played Duris before and log on for the first time, you will find that you will get stuck at level 20. If you decide to start exploring the game at that point, your experience will basically be you accidentally running into an area that instantly kills you. If you manage to find your way back, you will most likely die several more times trying to retrieve your corpse and lose your equipment and entire days worth of experience in the process.

Someone like me who has been playing this game for more than half of my life knows the game mechanics well enough to overcome most obstacles (but even then it becomes more frustrating than it is worth).

Again, the experience is awful. After level 25, you can kill mobs for literally hours and not gain an experience notch (10 exp notches per level) and then find yourself randomly dying to an unexpected mob and ending up with less exp than you started with hours before. Most players will encourage you to quest, but the locations that quests send you to are often difficult to find for new players and can easily result in your death if you don't know what you are approaching. Unless you are on a personal mission to conquer Duris and want to devote your every waking hour to it (which why would you do that for a game you've never played before), I would suggest going elsewhere until the administrators make things a little easier. We have picked up a handful of new players over the year, most of whom will be subject to scrutiny and scorn once they 'come of age' and can't perform at same the level as those who have been playing for a decade.

My final overview - if you enjoy a considerable challenge that requires a huge time investment, Duris is definitely the place for you. It is COMPLETELY worth it once you get to the top levels (level 51-56). However, if you are a casual player and only have a few hours a day to invest in a game, I suggest you continue on your search for something else.

My fellow players will not like this review, but it is completely honest and a shared sentiment by many of the players who have attempted to start playing in the current era.

This mud is great. Vast overland map with continents to sail to, ship combat, and a ton of low/mid/high level eq and exp zones. My favorite thing about Duris is the ability to specialize your starting class, which grants you extra skills, spells, and innates specific to that specialization.

Zones are designed such that a small group of 2-5 people can do a lot of things and gather equipment and experience. Large groups also have challenges in the end game zones where one of a kind artifact equipment can be found.

Pkill is full-on in Duris, and the racewar is supported fully by the administration staff. If someone kills you, they can loot your corpse, and of course if you kill someone else, you get to take all of their gear! Very intense pvp action

Duris is a extremely large diverse mud that is well worth playing. Zoning, Player Vs Mob, Player vs Player and Ship Fighting against Mobs and Players.

Don't listen to the negative reviews below - of which some are chronic complainers and self entitled egos who inevitably come back and pick up where the left off prior to their spazz outs.

This game has a learning curve and it's because of the sheer volume of options and possibilities that makes it hard to pick up and even harder to put down. There are not any other txt based muds that will give you a huge adrenaline rush evern after 10+ years of playing.

I have been a long time fan of muds, and have been a fairly long time player of this mud, around 8 years or so. I have seen many changes in that time, Immortal staff come and go. Recently there has been staffing changes and I have to say not for the better, the current policy was supposed to have been 'hands off' by immortals, yet time and again one specific member of staff has been not so hands off, playing favorites, making changes, while some good, not all are for the better of the game. This same staff member has been harrassing me on the forums, changing my forum signature, bio information, and put a ridiculous tag under my name plate. This is very unbecoming behavior for an staff member of an already dying mud to do, if you were thinking of giving Duris: Land of Bloodlust a try, i strongly advise against it, albeit im a disgruntled player who was treated poorly for voicing an opinion on forums, the fact remains this game is dying and not worth the time sink.

-Morrigu

This is a warning to anyone who might consider playing Duris in its current state, with certain immortals in charge of dealing with the race wars and the players.

I am what you can consider an old elite player of Duris, been playing it since 96 or 97 or so. Duris was once full pk/loot and all about race wars and no matter what you were encouraged to hunt and kill/loot the enemy race war side.

This has changed, the current imm staff have two members named Venthix and Octavaz, whom are abusing their imm powers to stop players they personally dislike from dominating in the actual game.

Basically Octavaz wanted to run a quest for goodies, and one for evils. She then did the mistake of putting in her title that there was a quest for both sides. My side did ours fair and square, then wanted to go hunt the enemy (the way Duris is supposed to be played mind you). Octavaz tried to influence us to leave the enemy alone, I refused. We went and killed some evil that was trying to do their quest (no mercy like it's supposed to be on Duris).

Octavaz then later summoned me, while I was in the middle of leading a zone to feed my 3 artifacts, froze my char and started harassing me sending me threatening tells that I shouldn't ruin her quest. She basically interfered in the race wars, stopping a major player on one side from feeding his artifacts, based upon her own emotions about having her spoon feeding quest for the weakened enemy side ruined (an attitude and will to race war that was once utterly encouraged by Cython and other original Duris imms).

I then proceeded to post a factual explainatory post on the Duris forums explaining how Octavaz had handled this situation and why she was wrong. This other imm Venthix, whom has been waiting for an excuse to stop me from dominating in the game, then terminates my char using the false accusation of flaming Octavaz on forums as an excuse (there was no flame in the forum post what so ever, only facts and copy/pastes of what occurred in the situation in game).

Basically, I've spent a few months after the fresh player wipe being a major player, spent many hours collecting cash and doing zones to max my char in levels, epic skills, artifacts, equipment and so on. Many hours spent dominating the enemy side and stopping them from making progress and pretty much winning the race war the way it's supposed to be played.

All this is terminated in one second by two imms that seems to have forgotten or does not know what Duris is about. Duris the land of bloodlust is not the game it is supposed to be if they handle things this way, and I would not recommend it to anyone who like full pk/loot. A great game in theory, but not worth your time and effort based on the actions and attitudes of these two imms.

They will claim the reason was me trying to influence them code wise which partly is true, I did tell them I would not show any mercy to their precious evils as long as the evils had more powerful races and group caps remained equal, but the only times I said these things was when Octavaz herself sent me threatening tells when I was about to go race war the questing evils, technically I did nothing illegal according to the Duris spirit and way of the game, this is all their wrong doing, and now I'll leave it at that.

- Kenon, former Duris player who won't come back unless a higher imm handles this and makes these two admit their wrong handling of this situation.

Duris has been a great game over the years. It has always been a part of my life. It has gone through many changes and many owners over the years, each with their own vision or direction for the continued development of the game. Most of this has been positive, until now.

I strongly recommend you do NOT play this mud. The current coders and leadership are ruining the game and go out of their way to alienate its oldest and most loyal players. They cheat, enforce rules for some and not for others, and then go out of their way to taunt players who disagree simply for the purpose of punishing them when they speak their mind. These people should be coding the game, not interacting with it's players to further their own agendas.

A simple perusal of the mud's forums will confirm my comments. Do play.

I remember the first thing that blew me away about Duris - It's dynamic world map system. After playing the text-only style games, I was actually confused when I first wandered out into the wilderness of Duris.

I wandered outside a main town and had to get my bearings as a live map updates my location and the location of other things relative to me.

As I sat outside of this large town, I came to the second thing that blew me away about Duris: It's dynamic PVP setup. While sitting outside exploring my surroundings, I suddenly saw the following:

A Grey Elf snaps into visibility! A Grey Elf's bash sends you sprawling! A Grey Elf's slash nearly cuts you in half. A Grey Elf neatly beheads you with a masterful slash. You have died.

Duris maintains a constant state of war between two massive factions.

The 'good' players, which consist of dwarves, elves, humans (and many more)

These 'goods' are pitched against the 'evil' players which consist of trolls, ogres and orcs (and many more!)

I had decided (against the specific direction of the login menu) to roll an 'evil' character. It said that this was for 'experienced players only'

I had played plenty of MUDs before! Surely, I was experienced... It wasn't until a fellow evil befriended me and then stabbed me in the back to steal my equipment, that I realized that maybe the evil side wasn't for me...

The racewar system of Duris is quite unique. In fact, the thrill of the hunt on this game has been so powerful that it has drawn me away from other large MMOs. I played Everquest, WoW and many others; however, none of them compared to the thrill of a Duris hunt. The unpredictability of an attack looms over you constantly. The anticipation of attacking someone in your own ambush raises your blood pressure until you finally are on top of them.

Over the years, Duris has implemented tons of awesome improvements. I will list a few: Dynamic sailing system - Includes cargo running, contraband running and an AMAZING Ship to Ship combat code.

Two 'Neutral' races - They have the option of playing on either side of the war.

Dozens of 'Epic' zones - Inside you can get unique items, artifacts and epic points to purchase additional skills.

Duris has been around for nearly 20 years and is showing no sign of going anywhere.

The PBase is stronger now than ever - if you're looking for a unique adrenaline-pumping experience, give Duris a shot!

I first started duris (and then basternae) years ago after growing tired of the same old mud done with 1000 different names. I keep coming back to one of its reincarnations year after year.

The Great parts of duris are unmatched anywhere. The most interesting classes and races in mudding period. No standard mage fighter cleric thief orc human here... Your race and class make a radical difference here.

The areas. Duris is simply huuuge. And not cookie cutter rooms stolen from other muds (we've all seen that). Different areas are >different<. Not simply another area with renamed mobs to breeze through And the overhead map is a godsend. Why every mud doesnt have this is hard to fathom.

It's scary. Seriously scary. You dont just jump into an area.. kill some stuff.. see your nemesis show up and log out. Or decide to grab coffee and log for ten. Someone.. or something.. will find you.

Full loot.. this is horrific in other muds. Mostly because equipment is a nightmare to come by. That just isnt so in duris. You can recover your corpse... if you can kill the thing that killed you fully equipped. More often you jsut re-equip. It still shocks me i LIKE this on duris (and hate it on other muds).

Full pk. Youre in a race/alignment war. A real one. You wont be chatting with your enemy.. one of you will die. ON the other hand there isnt really any lame newbie camping... if theyre there long enough to camp newbies an army is eventually going to show up and slaughter them.

This mud is HARD.. especially if youre evil. And thats a good thing.

There is such depth to this mud its astounding. Yet its charm is that you do not have to know it all to step in and start playing right away. Other muds you have to know where to buy or train skills and learn so much to play. Duris has teacher mobs too... along with Epic Skills and places you can pay gold for attribute enhancement, and mystical pools to improve stats and etc etc... But you don't need any of that to play and compete at a high level. But its there to make your life easier and to enhance your character.

The mud is equipment heavy. Your character is majorly affected by how good your equipment is. Gained either by playing against the environment or killing others and looting. Anyone can kill anyone, but its generally frowned upon to same side kill, yet it does happen. See, Duris is a good vs evil mud and you choose which side you play at character creation. Nearly all pvp is versus the opposite race war players, but there are no rules against killing anyone if you can. But you will find your life miserable if you do as you will be hunted and more than likely exterminated by that players friends.

Back in the mid 90's the place was a harsh mud to play and it was a point of pride to play there. As times have changed, the mud has evolved. Its not quite so harsh now, and its a good thing that it isn't.

The current immortal staff have been going through code and making some large changes and are about to wipe the mud clean. Everyone will start at level 1 when they do. A new beginning. You'll not find a mud better written, better coded, with more exciting fights than on Duris. The Zones are out of this world. The opportunity to do things other than just zone or search for evils to pkill are great -- you can explore, mine for ore to sell for much needed and useful cash, try out the shipping lanes and sell cargo (or contraband), go on quests gained from bartenders. Actually... me mentioning those things is just a plain disservice to the mud. If i put one sentence for each thing that makes this mud unique, dynamic, and full, i would be writing tomorrow at this time.

Cheers

Greetings, I would like to tell you about my favorite mud, Duris: Land Of Bloodlust.I started playing back in the mid 90~Rs, took a few breaks here and there but ultimately couldn~Rt stay away.Duris revolves around player killing between two sides of a racewar. The good side who are all surface dwellers, and the evil side mostly races spawning in the under dark.

The biggest thrills I have still to this day are the epic 10 v 10 raids that break out. Feel your blood pumping while you set your mind to the task of slaying all of your enemies. Then rejoicing with your friends over a battle won, or working together to come back from a battle lost. The world is full PvP meaning death could be lurking for you just around the corner, waiting to stab you in the back or slay you with powerful magic.

The zones are very well done and range from 20 minutes to many hours, depending on what level of difficulty you seek. The room descriptions are top notch and lure you into the area you are exploring. The ANSI is also very well done, and always fits the theme of the zone or Duris in general. There is also a graphical map that you travel between zones. Some zones house powerful artifacts that you may claim for yourself but be warned there is only one of each in the world and everyone will want it just as much as you!

The players and Gods of Duris are the real reason to play. Never in my life have I met a more helpful group of people. When the Gods are not busy they will help you with anything to the extent of their ability that is fair to both sides of the race war. Any player you see with a guide tag is a tried and true veteran of the mud and will pour blood, sweat, and tears into helping you advance in level and understand Duris.

When you come to try Duris you may want to start with the Good side as it is more new player friendly. Though if you know your true calling is to play as an Evil race you will find a much harsher environment due to the amount of aggressive mobs, but there is nothing from stopping you from playing on the Evil side! I know I will see you out on the battlefields soon, and I wish you the best of luck! If you see me on do not hesitate to send me a tell, my character name is Abri.

Hey, so i'm here to try to talk up a game I play and love. Duris: land of bloodlust. The game has been around since like 1996 and has an average playerbase of around 50-75 people.

Duris is a racewar based pk mud, but that's not all it is. The thing that sets duris apart is all the things there are to do besides just pvp. There's mining, ships, ship fights, and zones that rival a graphical mud for intensity and fun.

There's 2 racewar sides, Good/Evil. The good races: Human, Grey Elf, Halfling, Gnome and Barbarian. These have an easier time of leveling and get a better, and safer hometown to start in, but lack some of the more potent Innate skills.

The Evils: Orc, Swamp Troll, Ogre, Goblin and Drow elf respectfully. The evil life is hard and isn't made for the new player. If you do decide to check us out, please make a good first as this will eliminate some of the frustration you might find trying to enter the game as an evil.

The game is complex but it's not too tough once you get a hang of the controls, which are fairly similar to most other Diku-type muds out there. There's really alot of fun to be had on duris.

The Game world is set up with a graphical map, so it's not too tough to find your way around. I highly encourage anyone looking for a new mud to check 'Duris: land of bloodlust' out, as I, and a ton of people, love and have played the game for ages. We would love to see some new blood in the world, as this game is great.

To check us out telnet.. or use zmud or portal or what have you to mud.durismud.com port 443. I hope to see you there :) thanks. xod/bizjub others!!

This mud used to be very desirable, Lately the playerbase dwindles due to immstaff being, for lack of a better word, useless. Recently there was an Immortal handing out gear to newly rolled characters, which is kind of lame. i would rate this mud from 8/10 when i started to now a 2/10 for worthlessness of immstaff.

Long time ago i started to play a game, i'd never seen before , a text based mud. Ggot my first 20 levels as a dwarf cleric with a gang of fellow adventurers. Feeling all welcome and happy, a Troll, a Drow Elf, and and Orc, entered from the east, and wow , what an adrenaline rush when i realized, i was gonna lose all the gear i slayed mobs for. Of course i died, and yes, i was kind of sad that i had to start over. In reality my gang of friends gave me some stuff so that i could get started again. Nice creatures those Halflings, and the elves from evermeet. Now many years later, it is i who finds and extinguishes evils, while i feel a great sense of satisfaction when i loot the Artifacts from their corpses.

Over the years, out of curiosity i tried several other muds, but none could get even close to the thrill, only Duris: Land of Bloodlust could give me.

If you hesitate whether you should or should not play this game, roll a character, log on the good side, and type 'nchat hey im new here' or 'nchat where do i get my first frag'

There's nothing compared to Full Loot Racewar PVP And don't forget, in duris.... death lies around ever corner (ask for snuf on the good side, i'll help you out.

Hello everyone. There is a new duris forum at http://durisforum.com

Duris is a great game with lots of classes/races and the PKill is unrivaled anywhere. There is also full looting so if you don't like someone, just kill them and take their equipment.

Duris's website also has automated logs that show a fair bit of backscroll in pvp raids. It's definitely helpful for new players as they can get accustomed to what things do what.

All the other reviews are accurate in regards to the upsides of the mud, yet not a single one mentions any of the downsides. There are 3 main problems with the mud: -- the administration is awful -- the game source has been leaked numerous times -- balance

The administration has been littered with people who are of less than scrupulous character. Many have been caught using their admins to scout to gain knowledge their player character could not have achieved (Rethan). Others have modified zones while their player character was in them to make certain parts substantially easier (Fotenak/San). Even worse, others have directly modified the game source to give ridiculously ungodly benefits to their player character. Kvark did this with ogre slam (his character could walk in perform 1 command and instantly kill almost any player), ship 'automatons', and mercenary's grappler combat. Astansus's lich proc'd at least once a round, and Dakta's psi had unlimited mana (when Dakta switched to druid, psis lost the unlimited mana, but druids had a 'bug' that allowed them to cast unlimited spells).

As stated above, the code to the mud has been leaked multiple times, and many of these have been verified in the code, despite numerous admins swearing against this. Admins have also refused to enforce rules against their friends when their friends get caught cheating (the weblogs often reveal various cheating). Then there are the regular power trips associated with any position of power.

The administration this wipe had a significant change in heads and so everything was hyped up at the beginning of the year, but once again, the people in power always abuse it. Fotenak is back to modding zone bosses whenever he's in them and Venthix refused to enforce raid rules against a group of people where at least 5 were caught cheating on the weblogs (the worst part is that Venthix had repeatedly reiterated the rule they broke just an hour before they broke it).

Although the leaked source has been good to catch cheating admins, it also makes it so learning zones is rather awkward. Anyone with a few hours of linux experience can set up the mud on their own box and walk around as an admin to learn all the zones (they can also invite friends because it's the full blow server source). In contrast, exploring a zone from scratch for the first time takes anywhere from a few hours to a whole real life day (yes, there are big, very detailed zones). And since the mud is full pkill, sitting in the same zone all day is just asking to get fragged. The result is that anyone with access to the source knows tons of zones, but everyone else pretty much can't learn any zones at all because they get fragged every single time without fail.

As for balance, the admins refuse to use DPS to balance the game, and instead 'balance' by using lists of pros and cons, and sticking two players in a room and saying fight.

As for player cheating, the most controversial rules are raiding naked and botting. Both of these could easily be addressed with simple code (making spell damage, duration, and slots more dependent upon equipment), yet the admins adamantly refuse to address this 'in the spirit of he game'.

Also, the 24-49 'minimum players online' is inaccurate. There's generally between 5-10 on during offtimes (although the who_list might show more 10-20, most are AFK'ing in safe areas). At peak times, there's generally between 30-40 players on. Since the game is racewar sided, you generally only have half of those people on your side.

Overall, it's a great mud, but the admins have no credibility and really ruin the game. The adrenaline rush of the pvp raids is amazing, but every single time you're on the receiving end of someone cheating, you get a sour taste in your mouth. Save your time and pass Duris over.

Duris has been recreated from the ashes once again, with a brand new face. Now more player friendly than ever: 1.Goodie races (which are promoted for those of you new to the mud) have: A. Easier exp than normal, no exp loss on death for the first 30 levels B. Almost completely safe leveling spots for the first 25 levels due to: zone guardians and high level aggro evil mobs barring entrance C. Racial bonuses w/o the drawbacks of the harder-to-play evil racial penalties D. More innately powerful race/class combinations. 2. Guild system constantly being added to(guild halls coming soon). 3. Excellent high end content with many interesting, colorful zones.

Duris!!! Never has a mud been so harsh, so enticing, and so very dangerous [for your opponents, and your relationships!]. Duris has a strong playerbase, divided into two opposing sides. The realm of good, and the realm of evil.

Duris is a wondrous example of a WELL-MADE mud. It has a FEEL to it. Everything has a feel. I have had many characters over the years and I've loved them all, but in the end Druids and Necromancers may be my two favorites. When I first started a druid nearly 10 years back, I felt slow and weak. My half-elf druid, Cieval, wasn't strong enough to quickly beat down enemies like my mercenary had been, his apparent weakness forced me to begin developing relationships with other players...something I never usually did.

It wasn't long before I felt my powers begin to blossom, with the assistance of several new friends, we explored many scary and dangerous areas together, oftentimes paying a very steep price for our fledgeling knowledge. For Cieval, it was all worth it as I discovered how to shapechange. A druid can assume many animal forms, and with them came many different abilities.

Duris is a player-killing game, but not just player-killing, you also get to strip your victims of their possessions. This lends a very real edge to death, while at the same time, providing endless reward and motivations for learning about your character. Don't fear this rather harse environment, when you create a character, you must choose a side, and your realm will stand at your side, helping you to explore the world and learn to stand your ground.

The world is very much tangible and and vibrant. This is a huge ancient mud that has been lovingly crafted over the years, and has the playerbase to support it. There hasn't been a single spit of stock in this game as long as I can remember, they have over 267 completely unique zones, all in beautiful ANSI color with many many many places to raid or gather equipment and materials.

There is a very well implemented Guild system, a very stable world-wide economy where have the chance to turn profits through hunting down other players, or through trading and merchandizing, or crafting. There is a huge overland map as well as an equally large and intricate/dangerous underground system of caverns and tunnels. Spread out across over SIX continents with trading ports connecting each. There are seven or eight different kinds of ships, that can be outfitted for battle and conquest, or using to trade cargo between ports and cities.

I could go on for ages...when I could be playing...so instead, I'll leave you with the best part for last. RIGHT NOW...the first week of january 2008, Duris is player-wiping, that means that EVERYONE starts over from ground-zero, and oh what a time it is, as people scrap for power as fast as they can, to, in turn, wield armies against their enemies. Come join us, and hurry scurry, you're missing out on all the fun!

I've been playing on Duris since late 97 or early 98. I've seen a lot of up's and down's, but I have to say there is no comparison with the other muds out there. On January 4th they will be doing a player wipe and adding all new maps, zones, and a theme. The mud has shifted to a new type of character development. You can choose a character, specialize it, then eventually through skill points (gained by zoning or pkilling) you can gain new skills, or even increase your stats to max. No matter how long you play you can still increase your characters capabilities. In addition to this there are also ships of war, you can choose to run cargo for cash, or even be a pirate and sink others, board their ships and engage in pvp combat.

Please check this game out, if you're new to Duris there will be folks waiting to help you along your journey. Good luck and hope to see you on the battlefield...

It is great time to start your journey on duris. They will be player wiping on january. You can now come out check races and classes a bit, then on january start your way toward best player kill actions in mud's world.

Have fun if you come. We will be waiting for you, to either kill or be killed in game ;)

I really just want to let everyone know that this is definitely the best pk mud of all time. I began playing it in the 90's, probably shortly after the first pwipe. I fell in love with it. I only play one other and it is non pk and similar. I stopped for a few years after it moved a bit and was down, but I never stopped thinking about it.

It is one of those games that sticks with you. I used to think back to things that happened and that I did in it, and alot of friends. Once you learn the game it really is much more rewarding, in my opinion, than graphical based muds. A little imagination and the text and anything is possible. Anyway I guarantee you will love it if you give it a chance!

Like the last reviewer, I left the mud for years. Now, on haitus from graphical mmorpgs, I have returned, quietly, just monkeying around solo mostly, killing time until W.A.R. or something posseses my soul. The playerbase seems to be picking back up.

I've played a lot of 'em -- Duris is an excellent mud. It has the best use of ANSI I have ever seen -- just the right amount. Well-written descriptions along with interesting mobs, classes and races. Cool random drops. Huge world. Alchemist - crafting class (I'm still working on that char). Potent, creative skills and spells.

Good vs. Evil or a variation thereof is the only way to go, IMO. And, evil is indeed tough as hell; best to have some buddies there before levelling in underworld and the like.

Good place to solo, exploring around too. You won't get jumped by opposing faction very often at low levels. Anyway, without impending death, life is just, well, blah.

Duris is an amazing game. It takes a certain type of player to get into it, but once you do you're hooked. I left the game for about two years when it was moving around alot. Now it has a stable home again.

The admin staff is quite good at what they do. There are alot of different options here depending on the player. It is a full playerkill mud, but you can zone to your hearts content. Playerkill is where it is at imho, you get a rush when your char's eq and life are on the line. Fights range from 1v1 to 13v13 mega battles.

Life isn't easy though. Suggest you start as a goodie, you will die alot to evils in your process of xp'n, but I hope during this process you get the need for revenge vs those evils and stick around. Anyway good luck if you do come to play and may I see you on the battlefield.

The name 'Duris, Land of Bloodlust' says it all. This mud is probably one of the most successful muds to date since its creation in the mid 1990's. Why? To put it simply, it has the nasty tendency to make you jump out of your seat when you least expect it.

The theme of Duris is a three-way war of the races with each unique racewar side uniquely tailored to fit your 'role-playing' tastes. 'Good' aligned races make up the bulk of the newer players which provide this racewar side with a numbers advantage and simpler, somewhat player friendly environment. By comparison the 'Evil' and 'Undead' racewar sides experience more hardships and consequently are played by more experienced players. All sides have a wide variety of unique race and class options. A quick list of these will give you an idea of the diversity of this game:

Good Races: Evil Races: Undead Races: Storm Giant Ogre Wight Barbarian Troll Revenant Centaur Githyanki Phantom Human Orc Vampire Dwarf Duergar Shadow Beast Grey Elf Drow Elf Lich Gnome Goblin Shade Thri-kreen Thri-kreen Minotaur Minotaur Halfling Half-Elf

and:

Hitter: Warrior, Mercenary, Paladin, Anti-Paladin, Reaver, Ranger, Monk, Berserker, Dreadlord

Rogue: Thief, Assassin, Bard

Magical: Sorcerer, Conjurer, Necromancer, Illusionist, Alchemist

Clerical: Cleric, Druid, Shaman, Warlock

Mindflayer: Psionicist

As you can see, the goodies races have the most options for new players. The evil and undead races and their class options require a bit more knowledge to select. Each race has an excellent variety of usable innate abilities. For example Lich’s, Grey Elves and Drow Elves have magic resistance which enables them to shrug magic, Phantoms have the ability to walk through doors, Goblins have the ability to self haste for short periods of time, etc.

As a new player I would strongly recommend learning the mud as one of the “Good” races. There are a number of players on the “Good” side that will assist you with information and if you are lucky some equipment as well. In addition as a good race you can access a newbie chat channel by typing “nchat”. Experience on Duris is best done in groups, so you probably want to type “toggle group” to enable a (Group Needed) flag next to your name on the who list.

When designing your character you initially pick your race then your class. There are a wide variety of available classes that fit into the standard groupings of classes commonly found in fantasy games. Your class options are based upon the race and racewar side that you choose and include the following:

Different combinations of race and class will provide an extremely different experience. For example a Centaur Ranger is size large and due to its unique body structure it cannot utilize the ranger “springleap” ability to takedown victims (although it can still bash if a shield is worn). However Centaurs cannot be taken down by any opponent smaller then itself, feature enhanced damage when using the “kick” skill and they have most hitpoints of any ranger class in the game. By contrast a Grey Elf Ranger has almost half the hitpoints of a centaur and can be taken down by anyone within the standard takedown size ranges. Yet Grey Elf Rangers can utilize the “springleap” ability, they have innate magic resistance and they do more damage in the same amount of time as a Centaur Ranger due to a faster “pulse”. Obviously, race-class combinations can make big differences in your characters abilities.

Duris features up to 56 levels. The first 50 are attained by gaining experience via zoning, “fragging” (player killing) and/or quests. 51-56 are attained one at a time by completing 'potion zones' which require a strong organized group and good leadership. Attaining levels from 1 to 50 is not that difficult once you have played the game for a bit. The idea is to get you into the action of the game as soon as possible so that you can compete with the other opposing racewar sides for 'frags'. 51-56 potion zones are long; however they can provide immense gratification from either receiving a potion and the accompanying top notch equipment or slaying opposing racewar sides within the potion zone as your enemy attempts to potion their own.

Ability to succeed in the game is dependent on two things, levels and equipment. The Duris map is quite large with 5 major continents and a number of lesser continents/islands. There are more zones in the game then you will probably ever get to do, and the room count is a ridiculous number way over the million mark. Yet, the way the game is designed there are a number of excellent methods of getting around so that you do not feel lost.

The size of Duris makes it quite interesting in terms of racewar battles, because they can occur anywhere, anytime, with any number of players involved. This is where the 'I think I soiled myself' aspect enters into the game. As a player you are free to attack anyone regardless of racewar side just about anywhere. True safe rooms do not exist, although your guildhall can be a temporary haven from the opposing racewar side. Hometowns provide limited safety from opposing racewar sides to low level players but they are not totally secure. The beauty of player killing on this mud is that the players enforce who dominates and who dies, not the code.

The equipment found this mud, is exciting to say the least. Duris has maintained a firm grip on thematic content, so you will not see silly names on equipment or zones, and the ANSI is stellar. Equipment can provide a wide variety of character enhancements, including effects that would normally only be attainable if you were playing a different class, or racewar side. Balancing your character’s equipment properly is key to having a strong character. In addition to standard zone equipment there are a number of unique 'Artifacts' which can provide your character with enhancements. All Artifact items must be 'fed' on the blood of an opposing “fraggable” enemy race character within a four day period, otherwise the Artifact will magically “poof” out of your hands. Once poofed the Artifact will load at its default spawn point in a difficult zone where anyone has access to obtaining it (provided they have a group to do the zone). In addition you will get your name listed on the Artifact list (if that sort of thing matters to you) for all to see. Here is the current artifact list for you to get a glimpse:

Daqill the orb of the sea Duac the unholy avenger named 'Bloodlust' Lac SunBlade the two-handed sword of Justice Ippo the mystical warhammer of the barbarian kings Lur staff of blue flames Daqill a cloak of Elvenkind Iat the sphere of wind Kymazz Lyrical Instrument of Time Duac the platemail of the DragonLord Straker the sword of fire and flame Zulor the sword of light and darkness Noob A God Stone Ayaki Avernus the life stealer Lom Doombringer the sword of chaos Hitokiri Tiamat's poison tail stinger Daqill the Living Necroplasm Grubner the holy mace of the effreeti Azcre Tsunami, the trident of storms Iruzl a blood red sword named 'Death Rider' Keslor the Rod of Dispator Hitokiri a pair of pale, misty gloves Sais the mace of the earth Gitji Tendrils of Shadowy Mist Aik the globe of shadows Torsak Chaos, The Unholy Avenger

”Frags” are obtained by slaying enemy races. The only time you will not frag an enemy race, is if the victim you killed was more then 10 levels lower then your characters level. This discourages newbie killing as a method of obtaining frags and feeding Artifacts. Like the Artifact list there is a frag list where you will be listed if you are within the top 10 fraggers.

The best feature of this mud is a consistently active group of coders. This has been the situation since the day Duris was born, and will probably remain so until the end. Updates are put into the game daily, which can be accessed by the “news” command. There is a constant sense of growth.

Aside from the player killing element of this game there are a variety of other features to the game including:

1) a brand new quest system 2) personal ships, sailing and pirating/sinking other vessels 3) guilds complete with guildhalls and outposts 4) random zones, equipment, and continent connector zones that change per boot 5) active website with a forum for battle logs, newbie help and player input

I almost forgot to mention, that the fighting in this game is VERY dynamic. Solo fights or small skirmishes occur frequently, however the large group fights truly exhibit a well thought out fighting engine in zones as well as in player killing. Without a good level of group coordination you will be very lucky to experience success on the battlefield. As a plus every class in the game has a unique purpose or advantage they bring to a fight, so you don’t feel left out because you picked the wrong class/race.

There is so much that can be said about this game, but one of the best points that can be made is that a large number of Duris players continually return to the game after taking time off to deal with real life. Duris qualifies as a serious addiction. For more information check out WWW.DURISMUD.COM, and if you jump on, I will be happy to introduce you to the game by having my Undead Wight Warrior feed off your carcass.

Niz