Forgotten Kingdoms

     

Forgotten Kingdoms is an RPI (Role-Play Intensive) game which is set in the Forgotten Realms multiverse. The game has over 250 unique areas and is still growing rapidly, thanks to a large team of builders who continuously update existing areas as well as adding new areas and challenges.

New characters can choose from a huge range of races and subraces, including shield dwarves, moon elves, mountain orcs and even planetouched characters such as genasi, aasimar or tieflings. Once you have selected your characters race, you must choose a base class of Warrior, Wizard, Rogue or Priest, each of which offers a different roleplay experience, and can be further customised by joining one of almost 50 guilds. The last major decision to be made by any new character is to decide where they grew up - possibilities include several famous Forgotten Realms locations, including Waterdeep, Zhentil Keep, Menzoberranzan and Mithril Hall.

Additional key or unique features of Forgotten Kingdoms include:

1. A large range of feat trees and meta-magic feats, ranging from 'celestial bloodline' to 'crippling strike' through to 'spell-casting prodigy'.

2. A unique 'spell memorisation' system based on system used in Dungeons and Dragons. This means no mana!

3. Well over 300 spells to choose from.

4. Many avenues for character development, including joining up with factions such as the Black Network or the Grey Hands, joining the inner circle or even becoming the high priest of one of 30 faiths...the possibilities are myriad!

5. Close, but not slavish reproduction of Forgotten Realms lore - as a result of various wide-ranging plots and the actions of our players, our world has taken a different path to a different present...

Forgotten Kingdom's greatest strength is its large population of superb role-players, who ensure that there are always several ongoing plots to be a part of.

Come join our online community, we promise you an excellent role-playing experience!


Mud Theme: Forgotten Realms

Forgotten Kingdoms Mud Reviews

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Review posted by Itikar
Posted on Fri Dec 9 06:15:13 2016 / 0 comments
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Forgotten Kingdoms is a MUD set in the Dungeons and Dragons fictional universe of Forgotten Realms. It is a roleplay enforced mud with a very well done game engine that yields a harmonious mix of roleplay and hack 'n slash.

The roleplay on Forgotten Kingdoms is pretty fine with many good players capable of developing their characters with consistency regarding the lore, yet without being banal. New players are actively involved in plots and events, and cliques or groups of 'cool kids' monopolizing events are luckily non-existent in this game. So one can feel part of the world right from the first steps they move in it. Player groups, the most important of which are the various faiths and churches, are quite open and heartily welcome new members and the community is friendly and devoid of any toxicity.

The class system is centered around four basic classes: warrior, cleric, wizard and rogue. All new characters will belong to one of these four classes. Then, after creation, they will be able to choose a further specialization and they will join one of the advanced guilds through quests which are in part automated and in part related to roleplay. Warriors can choose to become either fighters, rangers of paladins respectively. Clerics can become priests or druids, by joining one of the many churches of the game, which can be managed by other player characters of the same religion. To join a church a character will be given a personal quest to complete, after which they will become initiate of that faith, and if they are clerics, they will unlock additional skills and spells. Also characters of other classes can join these churches if they want. Then there are wizards who can decide to become generalist mages, able to cast spells of all magical schools, or specialist, who have an advantage with the spells of a specific sphere, but are barred from those of opposed schools. And at last we have rogues who can become thieves or, after submitting logs with a performance of an original work, they can become bards.

The best classes to try the game are the warrior or the cleric. The warrior, in particular if one decides then to become a fighter, allows to travel the world without much worry about the enemies one can encounter. Clerics on the other hand allow to experience the game more fully, both from the roleplay aspect, being required to choose a patron deity to develop their potential, and from the mechanical one, since they have access to the fine spellcasting system of the game. Wizards, on the other hand, are a difficult class, especially for beginners, and they will struggle at first levels. Again rogues, at last, are the most difficult classes to play and they are heavily reliant on groups to make full use of their abilities. Because of the high difficulty rogues are blocked for new players, and will become accessible to them later.

The spellcasting system is a virtuous reproduction of the D&d one. Spells need to be memorized, so that planning one's memorization list has a very big tactical impact on the battlefield. Not only that, but even deciding when or not to use a spell can truly make the difference between victory and defeat, or better, life and death. In addition to that spells may require components that one needs to gather either by buying them in shops or by collecting them in the wild, from monsters or by finding them. So one may find themselves crawling into smelly sewers tunnels in search for beetle chitine or going after birds to pluck feathers from them. Spells, and more in general skills and feats for all classes are distributed widely in all the world, so that to unlock all of them one will need to explore extensively or interact with other characters to discover their location.

This is also a great opportunity for exploring and savoring the depth and great care put in creating the many areas and quests in the game world. This will be particularly interesting for the old Forgotten Realms fans but everybody can easily appreciate the quality of the fine building in the game, feeling like walking through a novel of R.A. Salvatore or Ed Greenwood. It is amazing to find oneself walking down the many streets of Waterdeep, stopping in one of its countless inns to drink a mug of ale before going to adventure in a nearby dungeon, or go in Tantras and find the legendary wyvern stew.

Even finer is the Underdark setting that lies below the surface world. The legendary city of Menzoberranzan, home of the dark elves, and Blingdenstone, the capital of the reclusive deep gnomes, are some of the finest areas in the game, which will seem a dream come true for every Underdark fan.

New areas are also steadily and continually added to the game, making the world always bigger and bigger, and ever more detailed, to the point that even old players, who have played from more than ten years, will easily find something new to discover.

The staff is present in the game and quite active, polite and very ready to help, with player applications being addressed sometimes in the matter of hours, depending on how complex they are.

There is an IC tell system, that, thanks to some amulets, allows characters to meet and talk easily without needing to use OOC means such as instant messaging. This shifts many discussions and matters into the IC sphere, yielding endless possibilities for roleplay.

The PK system is based on consent, so that PK becomes an avenue for roleplay and not the source of endless peeving. However, while PK requires consent, this does not mean that PvP is absent from the game. On the contrary it is an important element, especially considering the various faiths and races hostile to each others, but it involves a much wider series of aspects, quite much more many-sided than simply jumping at each other's throat.

Another very intelligent system is the kismet. Kismet is a kind of currency accumulated on one's account. One point is obtained for each hour of play, but it can also be obtained from rewards from the staff or other players for good roleplay. These points can be spent to create characters of special or uncommon races, as well as, to some extent, classes or alignments.

Also the death system is pretty interesting, giving depth and the right weight to the event of death, without finishing the story of a character by dying permanently. Before level 10 if a character dies they respawn, without items, where they had started, so not differently from many other games. After level 10, however, if a character dies they stay dead and they are sent to an afterlife room. From there however they can still call for help from their friends or even from their gods, to be resurrected or for their remains to be recovered and then raised by a mob or PC priest.

For what concerns newbie assistance, new users can also access a very effective system of helpers through the 'ask' channel, who will help gladly new players with anything they need. The userbase at the moment in which this review is written ranged from 6-7 users in low hours to around 30 online users at peak times, with helpers almost always online.

The layout is pretty well done, with a very clever use of colours, and with the possibility to turn on the enhanced vt100 interface which shows a map, mobs in the rooms, and status affects at all times.

Every rose has its thorn, however, and while this game gets right really an amazing number of features there are a few poor design choices which must necessarily be mentioned.

The first of the is a mechanic taken from tabletop D&d that makes so that more powerful races, such as the drow or the tiefling, are balanced with the standard races, such as humans, dwarves, etc, by being at a lower level with a similar amount of experience. This however was widely known to be a broken system in tabletop already. This basically relegates these level-adjusted races to roleplay choices, except that the higher amount of experience needed to level up, makes them very difficult to enjoy also for players who are precisely interested in their roleplay! Needless to say the damage this mechanic does to the game is immense.

Then there is the lack of true alternatives to Waterdeep Market Square where to meet other characters. This is particularly bad because several races, such as orcs, goblins, drow, etc. are obviously not allowed into Waterdeep, and anyway that city is still unwelcoming toward evil characters. To be fair there are some social hubs where evil characters and dark races can meet with other characters, but these are not visited as often, and, more importantly, not easily accessible or advertised to newbies who could enjoy them.

Eventually there is the crafting system, which is actually very well-developed in this game. Unofortunately the crafting is somewhat incomplete due to the lack of enchantment mechanics. The problem however is that whatever a character can obtain with these skills will be inferior to the first magical item a newbie obtains from one of the many random quest rewards.

To conclude it can be safely stated that Forgotten Kingdoms is a pearl in the current mud panorama which can offer fun to players with different playstyles and expectations. It is definitely a game that anyone interested in roleplay muds should try at least once.

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Review posted by Fkingdoms
Posted on Sat May 14 20:47:40 2016 / 0 comments
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Hey there, Forgotten Kingdoms like previously mentioned in other reviews is based on the Forgotten Realms universe, and by and large stays accurate to the known lore with the exception of a few revolving plot lines that the players themselves actually have some ability to influence via role play. If you have a special Idea for Role Play, something having to do with something that wouldn't exactly be common place, or something entirely new, with the ability to submit requests via Applications found on their well kept forum/web site, is possible with enough background and thought put into it!

I've been playing here since 2003. That was seventh grade for me, and I am still here as a 28 year old father of two and husband. For over a decade and a half I have found fun here, the world is MASSIVE. There are still things that I have not done, not to mention all the things that are STILL being added, even further flushing out more and more of the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting. The mechanics and code are beautiful. The Forgotten Kingdoms community has made me feel at home and has inspired OOC RL relationships with people. These folks have time and again, welcomed new and old players alike back into their fold. Most importantly though, is that this place has inspired personal growth within myself, and has helped to encourage academic growth from a young age, with a safe, intellectual and creative outlet.

This mud is a fantastic place to loose yourself in your own adventure. Let your fan-fictions and fantasies have a chance to really come to life.

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Review posted by Woofer
Posted on Wed Oct 7 11:50:28 2015 / 0 comments
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I have recently returned to FK mud after a decade long break. I am thrilled to say that my account was still available, and I am able to play the characters that I spent so long creating.

FK is a serious mud, with intensive role playing required. The IMMs and builders are constantly adding new bits and updating code. I was amazed when I returned, and I can't get enough.

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Review posted by aMI
Posted on Wed Oct 7 11:49:54 2015 / 0 comments
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Forgotten Kingdoms is a mud set in the Forgotten Realms universe, and is staffed by an extremely dedicated group of people who constantly work to make certain that the place friendly and welcoming.

New areas and imm run quests are frequently available, and the playerbase is patient and kind to new players, helping them learn the ropes and getting them into their chosen RP.

I've been playing this mud for over 10 years, and I don't think I'll ever stop.

If you're thinking about trying the place out, stop thinking and do it. You'll find so much to love, that like me, you'll probably never want to leave.

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Review posted by Bronson
Posted on Fri Dec 12 12:40:40 2014 / 0 comments
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So I've played this MUD, heavily on and off for about 5 years now. When I say this, I just want to clarify that I have taken long breaks in those 5 years, and have created a large number of characters, to include special races and the like. A little background on my MUD experience, I have played 3-4 MUDs very long-term, with the longest run being a MUD based on the Wheel of Time (and largely PK oriented) for 15+ years. I literally started when I was twelve yearsold, and now I'm twenty-eight (kind of sad, isn't it?) I'm just writing this review to share some thoughts and feedback I've had in this game as I've played it. It should come as no surprise, but coming from a largely PK oriented MUD to Forgotten Kingdoms is night and day. I'm not opposed to RP, but holy wow is it enforced with an iron fist on this MUD. You better have the patience of atibetan monk if you plan to play this game. It is in no way built for the casual gamer. If you want to advance in this game, you better be ready to put some serious play time into your characters. It's not just a long amount of time investing into the game over weeks, months, etc., but more accurately, most of your RP interactions are going to turn a five minute ask and tell situation into a two hour full meal deal. Is this bad? I guess it depends on the situation.

As I said, I don't mind a bit of RP, but I am also here to play a game, and I decided to interact with you most likely for a reason. I guess this is where I'm just going to say that if you're wanting to play this MUD as a solo build, or because you just want to casually play (casually being the keyword) a great Forgotten Realms-based MUD, then you may want to look elsewhere. To reiterate, this MUD is TRULY amazing as far as the in-game content, and replication of D&D 3.5 goes. It is honestly the only reason I keep coming back. I'm a huge D&D/Forgotten Realms fan, and with all the class/race combinations, it's just absolutely thrilling to play a character in the world these guys have created. I even enjoy their kismet system, where it rewards players for their loyalty to the game by increments of 1 kismet per hour played. Apparently you can get kismet by other means, but it must be through special roleplay or something else, because I have acrued 1500+ kismet on my account, all of which is from hours played. This kismet can be used for 'special' races, not always meaning better bonuses or stat points, but most do have such perks. The absolute biggest drawback of this game is trying to gain information on anything within it. They have cornered all users into a situation where the only two ways to gain information is via in character interactions, or by finding hints via their forum search (which doesn't help all that often anyways). In my experience playing the game, and trying to acquire information on certain quests, or locations is like pulling teeth. You'll be forced into roleplaying for a while, and even though they have a 'tell' system, it is highly frowned upon to use it for acquiring information, even for in character use. RPishly, it is considered 'mentally draining.' This leads to most long-distance communication being forced into an in-person meeting. As I said before, this does not sit well for those who frankly don't have an hour or two of time to spare, but instead just want to play the game.

The in-game help system is extremely robust, and is a shining example on what all muds should strive to look like. You will VERY rarely find a missing help file in game, so this helps quite a lot. Additionally, Forgotten Kingdoms (FK) does provide a forum to peruse at your convenience. This forum is primarily used to report bugs, view future world events, research specific class/race/worldly backgrounds found within the game, and finally, for applications.

Applications are used in this mud as the means to contact immortals in the game. Whether it be to report mishaps, or to inquire and/or request certain things, this is the main place. Be prepared to wait, as it is an all-volunteer staff. You may hear back within the day, or not at all (as has been the case for me in the past). A big part of the game is their 'Faith' system. And once you become a part of it, it's really not all that bad, the only gripe I had about it is that for most faiths, it requires player 'faith managers' to join you up. This particular gripe was so bad in my case, that I had over 350 hours on one character before I was faithed. Coincidentally, that character was a Cleric, and in this game, clerics need to be faithed to access a majority of their spells, and every spell over the 5th level. As you can imagine, this was a huge hamstring, but I was still ultimately able to obtain the highest level in the game (50) without being faithed. Let me tell you though, especially as a Cleric, once you become faithed, you basically become a brand new character. This was very exciting as a player.

This review wouldn't be complete without talking about some of the choices I decided to make while playing this game.

They do appear to have a sort of strike system for players that decide to cheat, or act 'afool.' To my knowledge, I have two strikes, the first was acrued because I decided to use a zMUD Tick Timer to prevent me from idling out of the game. By doing this while I was using a skill called 'meditate' I was gaining higher levels in this skill, even at times when I was away from the computer. The second strike was when I setup a series of triggers to make one of my new mages level without much intervention on my part. For this, I was given a strike, and the character in question was deleted. It's also worth mentioning that all punishments are handled by 'someone,' which can be quite infuriating, even if the player is in the wrong.

In addition to the reprecussions for my above strikes, there were a couple of situations that were handled poorly in my personal opinion. For example, there was a situation where my character 'attempted' to walk into a closed door (I accidently typed 'south' in a room with a locked door to the south) By doing so, the guard thought I was trying to break in, which to my knowledge doesn't appear to happen anywhere else in the game. I submitted an application to get this fixed (because it made me fail a questline) and was told that the actions were justified, and that what happened should have happened. Take that as you will. Additionally, after running into a blue dragon and fleeing from it, I realized I was being chased by it. Doing what any rational person would do, I went to a city where I thought i'd be safe. A couple of guards died, and I don't know why, but the dragon stopped following me, so I rested. Suddenly, the dragon walked into my room again, and was -clearly- being controlled by another player, and consequently died from it (dying is rough in this game). I submitted a complaint report, and they told me the player (immortal) was reprimanded, but they thought I was trying to kill guards for the money they possessed. Also take that as you will.

The only other annoyance that comes to mind is that about half the quests in the game (and there are a lot of them) are well made, and give proper clues to keep you interested. However, the other half are poorly made in that you are given very vague 'hints' on how to continue with them, and I daresay most quests are VERY easy to break by doing minor things like turning in items while invisible, or not speaking in the right language to hear them. Also, if you have a quest where you have to fight something, but then you die doing that quest, chances are it will be considered 'failed' and you will be unable to ever finish it. I've been wanting to write a feedback review to this mud for a long time, but as has been said in other reviews, what you say, can be used to hurt you in this game. The final reason I chose to submit this review now is because during a quest involving riddles (which I personally can't stand), I posted one of them on a third party website to see if others could figure it out, in doing so, someone found it, reported it and when I did not deny posting it, I was penalized by 'failing' the quest, a loss of glory points, and loss of a part of the items I gained from completing the quest initially.

This mud has its ups and downs, but ultimately is for a few very niche group of players (and those that follow their ways), which is a real shame because the world and game by itself, is wonderfuly amazing.

TL;DR -- This MUD is as true as you're going to get as far as D&D and Forgotten Realms is concerned, the world, and

gameplay is absolutey incredible. If you have a lot of spare time, and love to roleplay, this game is right for you,

if you are a casual gamer, a PKer, or just someone who enjoys playing games in a 'single-player' fashion, this game

will not suite you. Most of the games problems are generated from lack of information, or unhelpful quest hints.

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Review posted by Bellayana
Posted on Fri Sep 26 21:14:34 2014 / 0 comments
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Forgotten Kingdoms is the truest platform to a tabletop setting of Forgotten Realms, Dungeon and Dragon nerds unite and look no further this mud is for you. With constant additions and plots happening that are both staff and player initiated you will never be bored on Forgotten Kingdoms. I started playing about five years ago, and was immediately amazed at how well the game is built. HUGE! With an Underdark (For you Drow fans.) and areas built on different planes. I have to say, I've played a few different muds but always end up coming back to Forgotten Kingdom for the great playerbase and welcoming community.

Spells and Quests galore, this mud has so many options it is almost impossible to get them all! Once you get into the game, and get familiarized with the setup it takes off. The Roleplay is intense, and can vary but you will not be disappointed. Stop on by Forgotten Kingdoms and check us out! I look forward to roleplaying with you!

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Review posted by Yboesh
Posted on Thu May 15 11:30:04 2014 / 0 comments
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I have played this MUD for several years, now, off and on. It's got the best character generator process that I've found, it's totally newbie friendly, the world is HUGE! and so many differing classes, races, sub-races, guilds, both player and game driven. A player council in place to help answer any question that may not be addressed in the vast Help File library. Immortal driven rp's as well as player driven rp. In short, if you want to actually role-play, this is the place for you. It is rp enforced, and limited pk, several hometown starting points, there's just too much to list, truthfully. I have tried several other muds over the years, and I always, always, always come back to Forgotten Kingdoms MUD. I even ignore my consoles to rp in Faerun with all my virtual friends and family.

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Review posted by Aldren
Posted on Fri Apr 24 08:12:46 2015 / 4 comments
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I started my MUDding career at Forgotten Realms in roughly 2002. My cousin got me hooked on what he exclaimed was the 'best game without graphics you'll ever play'. Through the past 11 years, I've come to call FK home thanks (mostly) to its great base of fantastic RPers (players and staff both). The inept, better-than-thou staff of yesteryear (thank God for new staff who actually cares about its player base rather than doing everything in their power to hurt the people around them) is long gone, replaced by loving and caring people who do their best to contribute to the game, whether it's coding, building, or running RPs and managing faiths.

FK boasts some of the best true-to-edition classes and races, and does a fantastic job of separating the hard-to-play races and alignments by requiring kismet (earned by great RP or through hours logged). Its player base, while small (10 people online at its slowest during the day to 30-40 at its peak on weekends), is built around a great community that is truly there to help players whether it's Out-of- Character or In-Character. A wide swath of faiths are available for any player's character to follow. Each character can rise through the ranks of their faith, eventually being able to progress one another through the ranks and, finally, lead their faith as a Champion (faith manager).

Whatever kind of character you envision, you can create here in FK. Whether you're new to MUDs or just looking for a new home, I suggest everyone give FK a try. Its VT-based interface and MASSIVE world are some of the best I have seen in a MUD in my decade+ of playing and RPing.

Though I am no longer an active player of FK (due to RL issues and needing some time away), I recommend FK to anybody who loves true D&D and the world that the administrators have created (and continue to add-on to). If you love Forgotten Realms, you'll love what they've done with the world in Forgotten Kingdoms MUD. Its constantly-evolving world is impeccably built by amazing builders and supported by a great (albeit time-restrained) coder who work as volunteers to support the game that they, as players and staff, have come to love and admire.

I admire the staff for their professionalism and objectivity when approaching conflicting players. They do their best to keep the game feeling as true as possible to the Forgotten Realms.

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Comment posted on Tue Jan 7 16:54:47 2014 by Troofs:
     

Nope. If the staff did change... they have gone from better-than-thou to I-only-improve-what-I-like-to-play. If you would like to be continuously screwed over by buggy code and then told that you're just going to have to deal with it (because they most likely aren't going to fix your character -ever- and they'll just find some way to make it your fault), then you should play this game.

The races and classes are a complete joke. High prices for little return here, people. Not one single race or class is coded properly. The races have hardly any of their racial abilities (if they do, it's usually at the cost of a feat point so it's not really racial), so you're just getting a different stat average and a new face, at the cost of character generation points (kismet) and the penalties that ensue for that race. They didn't add the racial abilities you're supposed to have or get to choose from, but they sure did add ECL, so... non-human race just equals disadvantage with little to no gain. As for class:

Priest - Forced domains, deities don't have all of their domains, domain spells are often redundant on top of that. Ranger - Laughable at best, no combat specializations, barely any racial enemies, no evil rangers. Wizard - Forced barred schools on specialists, basically 2E, no familiars, no item creation. Druid - See priest. Thief - Just about everything a thief does is restricted down to not being able to utilize it. Bard - Generally OK, but you're forced through hoops just to play this class.

So... that leaves Fighters and their Paladin subclass. You can play a fighter with no problem, but Paladins have no Blackguards, even the evil deities that would have Blackguards are missing and bring out the hoops to jump through... might as well set them on fire and put a pit of vipers beneath it while you're at it. So about the only class that is really 3.5E is fighter, and even then you have to bow and scrape for the most trivial of skills and equipment. Updates are not retroactive, so you are forced to roll a new character every time a new feature is added to stay relevant.

No time is ever spent to fix these problems, the hardcoder is hardly ever around, so about the only updates you ever see are more areas for the Builder Staff PCs to enjoy or small adjustments to woo newbies. Which is why in the 12-13 years of the game's span, major cities like Baldur's Gate and Calimshan are still missing, but they have all the time in the world to add cosmetics to Waterdeep or PC-specific areas for their characters. Example, if the builder plays a Cormyrean knight, then almost everything they contribute is more areas for Cormyr, or more knighthoods. This is the same for all current builders, if they play a Drow, everything is Underdark. Play a pirate, everything is more pirate stuff.

World RPTs are very few and far between. When they are attempted, the RPT runs for about an hour or two tops, then there is several months to years of nothing until players cease to care and only a handful of players even remember it happening to start with, and that is only if the RPT is not outright abandoned a few weeks afterwards. This is for timeline RP, as for player-run stuff, they exist frequently, but most of them boil down to you standing in a room chatting with a bunch of preening look-at-mes.

By this point in, you probably have noticed a trend, but if you haven't, I'll summarize. Evil characters are an afterthought here (which is why some classes don't even include their evil counterparts). They'll disagree, because they allow you to play evil alignments, but you do so at a severe disadvantage, because 90-95% of the playerbase play good alignments and the environment is strongly geared towards good-aligned characters. Most of the characters played by Staff are good-aligned characters as well, so this should come as no surprise if you read my previous points above.

So, if you do try this game (I don't recommend it), don't bother with any special races or subclasses. Just roll a human fighter of good-alignment and start them in Waterdeep, because if you play a caster of any kind all you will get is tedium (this goes double for evils, of course) and if you play any race other than a human, all you get is racial penalties. Don't bother with the forums either, because the playerbase is heavily prone to using OOC-knowledge and if you create any OOC links to your PC they will use this knowledge across multiple characters so fast and so accurate to the point that you'll think they are psionicists.

Do not bring any complaints to life in any way if you are currently playing this game, because everything will be glossed over with, 'this is a role-playing game, you shouldn't worry about how tilted the tables are', and you will eventually be shunned by all if you don't accept it. Not openly blatant, but trust me, you will soon notice that your applications and requests for assistance go unanswered for months, sometimes years (if they are ever answered at all) and anyone in disagreement with you OOCly all of sudden start distancing themselves from the PCs they know that you play and will start to treat you differently in-character than they did previously.

I honestly hope no one else wastes a years worth of their free time on this. So I warn you ahead of time so you don't make the same mistake.

Comment posted on Sat Feb 1 22:24:27 2014 by Harroghty:
     

I would really like to speak with the author of the first reply (dtd 7.1.2014). I am the Area Administrator for the game, and I do build many areas in Cormyr (and elsewhere). The reviewer was accurate in that aspect, but clearly has a bone to pick in general with the game; to say that quest areas in Cormyr and the Dales exist solely for the benefit of my character would be an exaggeration. Fortunately, it is not required that everyone love our game and I would love to have some more direct feedback though so that we can address areas in the game which you believe to be lacking. So, Troof, if you read this: please contact me and let me know your specific concerns so that I can hopefully improve the game, or bring your concerns to the involved parties. Thanks for taking the time to write a review.

Comment posted on Sun Apr 20 08:48:17 2014 by Pauldron3.5:
     

FK did a fantastic job at melding the D&D Forgotten Realms 3.5 campaign setting and rule set with the smaug codebase. It clearly states that it isn’t a slavish reproduction of either rule set or campaign and it can’t be. Not every feature will work or translate well from table-top rules to MUD, but it comes really close to doing go. Anyone familiar with D&D 3.5 will have little problem understanding how things work.

Second, it feels really close to the immersion you get in a pen & paper session. Vision type matters and light sources either magical or mundane become invaluable to an adventurer. Coming back to town to resupply food and water matters, you can actually die from malnutrition. Archery and shooting targets multiple rooms away depending on the size of bow is possible. Atmospheric effects such as weather, environmental queues such as wildlife noise, npcs that react to keywords also enhance this feel. Because stamina is tracked and spent more rapidly during overland travel, having a mount has value above and beyond prestige. Encumbrance matters, as it will greatly affect your AC and ability to defend.

Third, there are various systems in place to really encourage grouping, cooperation and community building. more seasoned characters can adventure with green recruits and show them the ropes, to a degree, without diminishing their exp. There is also a formation system where the group can set up front, middle and back rank, with the further members being targeted by hostiles. You also gain bonus experience while grouped. There is also plenty of content that can be soloed, which is almost a necessity in any MUD. There will be times when no is on or within your area so you have to. However, certain classes are better equipped to do this at lower levels, which is as it should be. Regardless, adventuring is almost always safer and more efficient with a group, even better with a well-balanced group. Regardless if you play a lethal character who has little problem with content at your level, you’ll want a caster around who can ID your possible magic items, buff you and keep you healed, so you don’t have to stop nearly as often to rest. Last but not least, some hard to find skills can be taught to you by pc mentors that are skilled enough to do so.

Fourth, the combat system is quite nice and moderately verbose in feedback. There is also a series of kill modes that do everything from stun only, no damage for instruction, sparring and lethal. Two of the modes have pauses so that you can emote your intent, allow the system to roll and emote the result, which is how pvp is handled. However, there is no pause during fights with mobs. Each body part has individual hit locations that each have their own armor class, depending on what armor is worn in the spot, as opposed to a single ac. You can also lose limbs if damage is taken in excess of what the part can handle. Although evil characters and pvp are allowed, this is not the main theme of FK and the goal of the staff was not to tweak each class so that they could all stand toe to toe with each other. The focus was clearly fostering group roles with viable solo platy. I’ve read the complaints some players had in both the official forums and mud reviews and honestly it smacks of class jealousy at times. The original D&D game was formulated with role dependency in mind and that continues quite well in FK. Who cares if the fighter is a beast, it is supposed to be to stand in the front rank and tank. As long as it’s mitigating damage and helping keep the party alive then it’s working as intended. The bulk of the complaints about class in FK seem to stem around people who were involved in PVP. Don’t get me wrong, in the right setting I love pvp, just not in muds where level and gear almost always result in completely lopsided and pointless fights. I group every chance I can get and the holy trinity of tank, healer and damage are just as effective here as they are in other games. Some classes are meant for support roles and they do that quite well. Furthermore, if D&D 3.5 logic holds true, there are things you cannot fight without wards and magic, which make the other classes invaluable to the tank and damage dealers. Try engaging level draining undead without a cleric of adequate level and see how well that goes. The problem is that some people measure the value of a class and its skill only by its ability to solo and or beat other classes is a duels. Although pvp is not the main focus here, I do see the value of having that option. Because you can kill pcs and rp is enforced you will not see the level of complete belligerent idiocy prevalent in the average MMO. The population will police itself. Then again, lack of a global chat system is also part of the reason for civil behavior.

Now for the cons: First, unlike other games where you can go to a class trainer and learn every ability available to that class and level, FK works differently. Some abilities are gained only thru questing, while others are located at seemingly random distant and or remote locations, impossible to reach without substantial assistance from higher level players. In short, you will either go exploring to find them or ask other traveled pcs for information. Then there are also stat trainers, where not only do you have to locate them but they may not be able to teach to your level of ability if your stat is too high. This is very frustrating when you finally get that level and want to train something vital to your build, only to discover that you have no idea where to find it. In a way this is also good, due to the fact that it furthers in character dialogue and or provides powerful incentive to get out and explore, as opposed to grind. However, it is quite annoying to lug around multiple stat points for several levels. I literally spent 8 hours on multiple days just looking for a stat trainer. Half the fun of roleplaying games is character management and it is hindered here somewhat because you must search out the trainers initially. It has recently been explained to me by the staff that this, “Easter Egg” system is in place to promote dialogue; to prevent power gamers from grinding and making optimal builds without any interaction with others; to deter the rise of the casual cyber bully, and to preserve a comfortable atmosphere that the bulk of the player base can enjoy.

The second thing that’s simultaneously awesome and a nuisance is the religion system. Here you can actually commune and pray to a deity, eventually become a champion of the faith and influence the recruitment and training of the other hopeful pcs looking to join your religion! The downside to this is that parts of it are dependent on staff/player interaction. I think we all know what conflicting schedules, lack of interest, leaving the game, death and or prison can mean here. A fantastic idea when there is a large player base but it suffers when there isn’t. Some religions are woefully underrepresented, with elders that are rarely ever seen, if at all. This is very problematic when you are a priest that needs to be a full member of your religion in order to take the prestige class of cleric. In essence, entry into a religion is a reward for successful role play specific to that faith. It ensures that certain player types are culled by the process and or discouraged by having to wait and eventually give up. I get it. Still the process is a hindrance to both good and bad players alike. It has been recently explained to me that there is a staff member that monitors those attempting to join religions without a faith manager. However, if you are leveling too quickly as opposed to roleplaying and socializing your consideration will be lessened. This is understandable to a degree, as it’s yet another tool to maintain an orderly atmosphere and to attract and retain certain types of players. However, this was not readily apparent until I can across the information out of Character. I have no problem following the rules when I know they exist, and I Initially thought that leveling was fine, as long as I remained in character while engaging with others, displayed adequate knowledge of the setting and was not disruptive.

In short, FK is an immersive RP enforced world that caters to certain maturity levels and attitudes. If you lack patience, detest exploration, or all you want to do is run about and pvp, it’s not going to be the optimal environment for you. I suspect there are a few things that chase away a lot of people away. For example, It in no way shape or form caters to instant gratification players that only want to grind, get max level and then run out to victimize as many lower level players as they can find. New players cannot visit a single trainer and instantly train every skill or ability available to them as they level. It also isn’t a direct conversion of the 3.5 d20 system to a MUD, which annoys people familiar with the original system that want it to be. Furthermore, it requires you to stay in character, and outlaws self twinking and multi gaming. Lastly, there is a very palpable feeling of being managed as a player here that takes some getting used to. You will not come here, grind for countless hours to attain power without being social and become a nuisance. It is nearly impossible. I’m having an absolute blast. Even though certain aspects are frustrating to me I’m willing to deal with it. Many of the players here are also remarkable roleplayers and are just as Important as the staff for maintaining such an amazing environment.

Comment posted on Wed Apr 8 09:30:13 2015 by Coralese:
     

I was looking for a mud to play on MudConnect, as the one I used to play shut down due to the owners being very busy and such. I came upon this mud months ago and then I entered it and began going through the newbie area. Once I reached a spot where my character would be saved, Someone greeted me on the in-room ooc channel, they were sarcastic and rude, saying 'Hello Deimadras' or whatever the name was that they were calling me. I replied with huh and that they have the wrong person. They kept harassing me while I tried to ignore it and continue with the game. Unfortunately, this bothered them and I was forced to disconnect. After reconnecting and asking what was up, they asked me why I kept coming back.. at this point I was flabbergasted and I replied that I just wanted to play the game and I had no knowledge of who that person was or what they were going on about. Instead they decided to go the route of 'if i'm treating you so bad, why do you want to keep trying to go through the tutorial? just leave'. I found that really immature and unprofessional.. and finally I found out that the person doing that was an Immortal known as Beshaba, one of the evil goddesses of the game or something. It was a really disappointing experience, but despite this, I took into consideration that we are humans and sometimes the mudding community can be a little GRR.. on edge, about troublemakers.. so I just logged off and decided to the forums, where there is an area where you can report stuff privately. I wrote a report and nothing. Then I PM'd a player that was marked as active on the forum and they seemed pretty popular enough and known, I asked him about reports and told him my recent story about how I logged on to play and I was called someone else.. and how this imm was more or less very rude, how could I get some help. This player.. SADLY, after hearing my story, decided to taunt me, and say things like 'Why don't you just go away Deimadras' (or whatever the name was) while I kept telling him, that's not me.. and he just kept calling me a liar. Overall it was a very upsetting experience and I felt embarrassed for the player I PM'd, when he too decided to behave in a patronizing manner for no reason. I'm not sure why he too decided to troll instead of help. BTW, the player I PM'd was Aldren.

Review posted by Rhangalas
Posted on Wed Jun 26 20:17:46 2013 / 0 comments
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Too busy to play tabletop these days? Well, look no further than Forgotten Kingdoms. It is the best Forgotten Realms based MUD I have ever played that runs a d20 3.5 Edition ruleset. There are very few house rules; the ones that do exist, only exist because they have to due to game balance and code restriction.

New content is constantly being added and revamped. World-wide campaigns and plots are ran often. You can pretty much play any kind of character you want and said character is completely customizable.

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Review posted by Vincent
Posted on Mon Oct 8 11:18:05 2012 / 0 comments
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I'm a transplant who's played in a fair number of MUDs and fell in love with a MUD a long time ago. When that MUD disappeared I was left jaded and without a loving home but after six years of MUDlessness I began the hunt anew and found Forgotten Kingdoms. This MUD is a welcoming place with very intensive roleplay. It's become my new home and is rather everything I could ever hope for in a MUD. The quests available are more numerous than I would have thought possible and the roleplay is more expansive and lasting than anywhere I've seen. If you're a MUDder who loves roleplay and D&D, Forgotten Kingdoms would be a good home for you too.

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Review posted by Raona
Posted on Mon Jun 18 20:26:38 2012 / 0 comments
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I learned of the existence of MUDs as a result of frustration in trying to find a pencil-and-paper game that I could fit into my busy life. I was hoping to rediscover the joy of roleplaying from my youth, but as an adult the constrained time and location options involved in a face-to-face game proved overwhelmingly problematic. After a few long drives 80 miles for a great game in another state, a few afternoons dithered away at a local games shop hoping someone intelligent would show up, and a frustrated effort at trying to host a game myself for a few months, I half-hoped a MUD might sate my appetite for roleplay at whatever time of day and in whatever place I happened to have a few hours to dedicate to having fun.

Based on ratings in the MUD Connector, I tried several MUDs in genres of interest to me, albeit with little optimism. They lived down to my low expectations (far too little roleplay, far too much metagaming), until, when I was almost ready to give up, I happened upon Forgotten Kingdoms and gave it a try: not as a result of its (middling, at the time) ranking, but rather its strong and heartfelt reviews. I want to thank those reviewers, now, as well as join their ranks, because Forgotten Kingdoms has become a source of great joy in my life, even as I've had to reduce the time I can invest in it. A parent and professional now, I rarely have the blocks of time needed for a dedicated roleplay session, and remain connected to Forgotten Kingdoms primarily as a code detective, a member of the all- volunteer staff. On those precious occasions I can carve out an afternoon or night without interruption, though - this venue still delivers that roleplaying magic I so love and yearn for. The game is completely free, a gift of the passion and dedication of its head coder, with no advantage given to anyone as a result of anything, including monetary support, and fueled and kept alive by an incredible volunteer spirit borne of people who really love the game, and the lost art of roleplay. If you are a twink, bent on generating the strongest possible character and quickly mastering everything there is to master...this is not the place for you. If you enjoy reading and writing walk-throughs...you'll hate FK. But if you miss the excitement borne of a truly immersive atmosphere, surrounded by and interacting with fellow enthusiasts, and the tang of uncertainty and the risk of peril a PC experiences when truly exploring and interacting with the unknown...you have found a (new) home.

I can't tell you this is the best MUD there is out there. I've only played a small handful, and none save this one for more than a few days. But I can tell you that this one is amazing, and that if my story sounds anything like yours...you should try Forgotten Kingdoms before giving up!

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Review posted by Uleha
Posted on Mon Jun 18 20:27:06 2012 / 2 comments
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Writing this review as a long-time player and contributor of Forgotten Kingdoms, it is with a heavy heart that I must complete in all gravity this entirely negative review of the game. After joining the game in 2009 at the advice of an old friend who shortly quit after I began due the same reasons that I have quit multiple times, I had fun- This was, of course, because the game was largely unpopulated by staff and people just worked together for the betterment of the game.

No longer.

Now all that Forgotten Kingdoms is, is a playground for the immortals to try out their every outlet for corruption. The game is fairly carebear between players because we actually care about each other and want each other to have fun, but the immortals seize every opportunity to ruin the fun for the players. They will spawn an insurmountable number of mobs atop people for no reason at all, or delete a player's items, or even put them into jail-type rooms simply for being logged off for what the immortals deem as too long. With a completely unoriginal theme, poorly written quests and story events, unrealistic characters everywhere you look, poor storytelling, and a fast-dwindling playerbase, Forgotten Kingdoms is now unfortunately a piece of garbage swirling around a drain on a very strong current. The wrong people were hired and so they have torn the game apart. The players most liked by these imms are rained nice things and opportunities upon, and those of us who aren't in a constant state of ooc worship simply suffer. I pity this MUD and its players. Farewell.

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Comment posted on Sun Jun 3 11:46:00 2012 by Harroghty:
     

Uleha: I do not really feel the need to contest your opinion, but I do feel that you are leaving out two key elements.

First, full disclosure would help your reader understand your perspective; you are one of two players banned from the game in the last two years because you broke the published game rules repeatedly. Furthermore, the game is so terrible that you have attempted to elude the ban on a couple of occasions by making a new account.

Secondly, a staff member perspective will point out that the game's player base has actually grown lately. Yes, you'll have to take my word for the roster of players, but the fact that this game has gone from placing in the thirties (or worse) to placing consistently in the top ten here on TMC should be a good indicator of which direction the game is going.

Lastly though, I invite any prospective player reading to come and find out for yourself how you feel about our unoriginal theme, etc. I believe that you will find, as many others have, that the Realms are alive and a lot of fun. Thanks.

Comment posted on Mon Jun 18 08:30:37 2012 by Solaghar:
     

The review by Uleha is completely ridiculous, I know of no way to comment on it as a reasonable review. As a player of FK for nearly a decade, staff come and go as do players, but I've never heard of any of the actions taken as Uleha has commented. As someone who has actually contributed a great deal to the game as a builder of areas and a member of the coding team, I'm unaware of any of Uleha's contributions to the betterment of the game. I also find it laughable that someone would complain that the game lacks 'originality' when we're attempting to be as faithful as possible to the setting and theme of the Forgotten Realms setting.

I'm also the kind of person who finds this kind of MUD-based drama pretty tedious. If you don't like a place, don't play there, but I'm sure every MUD has had problem players who feel like the world should revolve around them and their every suggestion or comment should be treated as law. But the accusations here are completely off-base.

Immortals spawning innumerable mobs on players for no reason? Deleting players items for no reason? Jailing players for not logging into the game? I can see exactly the hidden reasoning behind what I imagine Uleha thinks of as valid complaints. Killing mobs in what should be an RP area where any realistic person would imagine there would be guards? Deleting items that you shouldn't have gotten or got illegitimately. Putting someone in jail for stealing an item or killing someone then logging off the game to avoid the consequences. There's reasoning for everything, and this is just my guess for the non-specific instances of immortal malfeasance and corruption taking place on Forgotten Kingdoms, which isn't run by a dedicated team of immortals but rather a cabal of sado-masochists who built this game solely to torture players if we buy Uleha's story...

Review posted by Anthalas
Posted on Tue Feb 21 20:55:31 2012 / 0 comments
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I was, and still continue to be blown away by the magnitude of this game and the people that play it. I came in as a veteran mudder and immediately found my way around via the online help information available both by typing help and by visiting their site. I took the time to read and found my legs immediately.

The playerbase is very friendly and very helpful. They are patient with new characters and very very generous. I can imagine getting into this mud would be easy for both new and old and will still be challenging enough for the veterans out there.

The dungeons and dragons Forgotten Realms feel to the game is not lost and many of the players are very knowledgeable in the lore. It's very easy to get immersed in this game for hours.

The coding is top notch and very solid. I don't think I've experienced any crashes or bugs so bad that my experience was ruined because of it. There are also constant and regular updates to the code and system.

Building is IMMMENSE. There is a whole world to explore, from Silverymoon to Calimport, all beautifully built (and still under construction) for you to explore and discover.

This is the best mud I've found to date so come give it a try!

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Review posted by Zhen
Posted on Sun Jun 27 18:18:14 2010 / 0 comments
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I found Forgotten Kingdoms some years ago, completely by accident. I had absolutely no experience with role playing, and had never even heard of Forgotten Realms or even Dungeons and Dragons. Still to this day even the simplest computer tasks baffle me. However, from the very beginning, whether it was role playing, learning the setting, or figuring out the commands I've always been able to find the help I need.

Roleplay - This mud is RP enforced, and the caliber of people we get here really adds to the experience. Role play can either be really in depth IMM run plots, raiding bandit hideouts with a group, or just sitting and chatting with your friends. Recently, there has been a significant increase in the number and types of plots driven by the staff and they've been a lot of fun.

Just because the role play is enforced doesn't mean that you cannot take OOC things from the game. Through my years of playing here, I've made some strong friendships because of this game.

The setting - We do have our slight variations from the Forgotten Realms setting, but overall I think we are very close to it. Forgotten Kingdoms has something for everyone in this respect. You do not have to be a die hard Forgotten Realms guru to get into this game, be successful at it, or to have fun. Over the years I've learned a lot about the setting, and I still am learning quite a bit. Though I know a number of players that play Forgotten Kingdoms that live and breathe the setting and they find a comfortable home here as well.

Command help - Oh my goodness, when I first started playing, I could not even figure out the say command. I thought I was hopeless. But the staff was so patient with me and eager to help me learn. I never felt like I was bothering someone when I had to ask for help for the tenth time that day.

This game is very new player friendly in all aspects. There is a council of players ready to answer questions big or small. Very rarely does a question go by without someone to answer it. And if for some reason you don't get an answer to your question, you can either post it on the forums where you are sure to get an answer or you can look for the answer in the help files of the game. Help files are constantly worked on and there is a help file for just about everything, and they really explain things well, unlike some other places where you go and get the command only.

Also, the game is always changing. There is a very active forum where players can submit ideas for changes and areas and very often they are implemented in some manner. There is an active building team who are always working on ideas for new areas (And there are already a lot).

There are also numerous ways for players to contribute to the game. Just playing is one of the easiest, but after a certain point they can also apply to be a part of the Player Council who answers questions. They can submit applications to help build, or ideas for plots that they can help run. They can work on the extensive system of help files.

From time to time I've tried to find another MUD that would suit me, and either the commands were just too frustrating and confusing for me to learn, it was all OOC chatter rather than role play, or I just could not get into the game. Forgotten Kingdoms and after being a -very- active player for over 6 years there are still parts of the game I have not seen and quests I have not done, and new ones are still being added all the time.

I've had this review sitting for a while because I've been trying to think of something negative to add about the game, and the only thing I personally can come up with is that I wish there were more players. There are always enough on for me to find someone to play with, but more friends is always better!

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Review posted by Skeas
Posted on Sat Sep 19 20:48:57 2009 / 0 comments
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Forgotten Kingdoms is a very, very large and roleplay-enforced MUD set into the AD&D/Forgotten Realms timeline in between Waukeen, the Goddess of Trade's rescue, and Bane, the God of Hatred's resurrection.

With a completely non-stock (I can't say original, now, can I?) world, an average of roughly 25-30 players online at peak time, newbie-friendly beginning areas, immersive roleplay, dedicated and helpful staff, and an endless number of personalities to meet and interact with, Forgotten Kingdoms is by far one of the best MUDs I personally have ever played. Fun, fashion, adventure, religion, kinship, power, and anything else your character could ever hope for can be his or hers, if he or she is willing to go the distance for it, (And sometimes, a character doesn't even have to do -that-.)

The only drawbacks to the game are that we could use about a dozen (or more!) dedicated and friendly players to help fill out the (very) massive world that the MUD supports, and a couple of slightly frivolous rules (Who ever heard of limiting a description to 4 or less colors?) but the first can easily be remedied by you, dear reader, by joining the MUD, and the second is well worth the experience you'll have after entering the enveloping and extremely entertaining world of Forgotten Kingdoms's Faerun.

Come by, stay a while, and most of all, -have fun-

You won't be disappointed.

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Review posted by Laura
Posted on Sun Mar 15 19:27:36 2009 / 0 comments
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Let me start out that this game has brought me more stress, more joy, more laughter, and more tears than any other game I have ever played. I started playing this game when an old boyfriend of mine introduced me, and I've been hooked ever since I started a character and just marveled at how descriptive and wonderfully put together this game was. I created my first character, thinking that 'Okay, I like RPGs and I can type. How hard can it be?'

I was so lost, but the other players here are so helpful, it seemed like I was able to get into the groove of the game in little to no time. I shudder to think of how terrible I was at first, but thankfully, people forgive and forget when you are putting forth effort.

I personally have had to step away from the game time and time again due to real life issues and sometimes just plain burning myself out, but I always come back. I've bought some games for console and the PC with intentions of playing, but never do because this game takes all of my attention, though it is given willingly. I've tried to play MMO's but they just lose their charm and appeal and I come running back to good ol' Forgotten Kingdoms.

Thank you to the staff who have created areas, quests, roleplay opportunities, and even just plain messing around with us. Thank you to my fellow players who constantly keep me on my toes and make me smile. I miss the ones that left us and eagerly await those that come to join us. The longer I play, the closer I feel I have become to everyone. I think of the community as a computer family, though quite dysfunctional at times. ;)

If you are reading this, and you haven't tried the game, give it a shot. We, the players and staff, love new people and we do our best to help and make others feel welcome. The Newbie Counsel is always there to answer questions that you may have, and they do a fine job of it, let me assure you. There's always an adventure to be had, be it slaying goblins, dungeon crawling, deliveries, or just riddles and filling out your character's personality and friendships. I promise that this game is worth it. Thank you for your time.

<3 ~Laura~ Lysha, Faria, Nirra, Helixa, and many more

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Review posted by Rhiel
Posted on Tue Jan 13 16:47:43 2009 / 0 comments
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Please note: I didn't want to write a review. I have been playing this game, as well as others, for several years now, off and on. I keep coming back to this lovable text-filled game. After playing FK, those other games just...weren't up to snuff. Playing FK has spoiled me to the point where other RPGs just seem like senseless repetition. Start. Get stuff. Kill critters. Take critters' gear. Kill BIGGER stuff, get BETTER gear. There's no reason for it, and I grow bored.

For some of us, that gets old. Enter FK. If you want the WHY to your story, if you want a REASON, then you need RP to fill the gaps. But even RP can be ruined. Sometimes, you'll find a good RP and it's ruined by twelve-year-old Ninja_H@xor12 who runs up screaming 'Gimme ur phat lewts or I will pwn u.'

Not in FK. You become immersed. It's addictive. Very. If you don't want to be swallowed into a world that seems as real and tangible as this one, but with high fantasy sword & sorcery, and deities who rule on high, don't play.

If you're an old school D&D'er, you'll feel at home here. It's 3.5 D&D translated into a stream of 0's and 1's.

Granted, I got off to a rough start, and the imms are strict. But, due to their (and the RP council's) efforts, the game maintains integrity. It is not only strict, but necessary. They run a tight ship. Without such, however, FK would not be what it is. And this coming from a person who has been hit with the Divine Hammer on MANY occasions. I can honestly say, they always do it in the interest of the game, and its RP. They are fair, and willing to listen.

The community has produced some of the finest folks I know, and whom I am proud to call friends. It is above and beyond anything I've ever seen. I come and go, because life is like that, but...the fact is I always come back.

Try it...I dare you.

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Review posted by Peff
Posted on Fri Nov 21 20:40:37 2008 / 0 comments
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I've been playing FK for nearly a year now, and I don't see myself stopping any time soon. To start with, the game is newbie friendly. The playerbase is supportive of new characters and there are plenty of volunteers to answer your questions and help you out if you need it. Player-killing is very strictly controlled under RP guidelines so you don't have to worry about being sniped as soon as you leave the training area.

The game world is based on Forgotten Realms, and if you're already a fan you have plenty of chances to show off your knowledge. But it's equally forgiving for people like me, who had nothing more than a vague idea of the setting and no MUDding experience when they first logged on! Players are concerned with good roleplay more than questing and bashing for XP - there are loads of player driven events to get involved in which add immensely to the richness of the game world. In my time here I have seen performances by bards, jousting contests, traveling merchants, religious celebrations, weddings...

The game is constantly changing, with new areas being built and new quests and items added. The forums are extremely active and any player is welcome to make suggestions for improvements or new features. The players and staff really care about the world they inhabit and want to improve it.

FK is addictive and I have been known to stay logged in for over 10 hours at a stretch, wasting my weekends in front of the keyboard and clocking over 100 hours per month. Yes - This game is just that good! If you are serious about roleplay and are tired of little snots running around claiming 'chaotic evil' is an excuse to slaughter other players at will, or are sick of people chatting about what they're watching on TV while you're exploring a dungeon, then give FK a try. If you prefer hack'n'slash and want to become an uber-powerful killing machine, then this game is not for you.

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Review posted by Drew
Posted on Mon Jun 30 21:17:02 2008 / 0 comments
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It is hard in online games to strike a balance between gameplay and roleplaying. Most times, you find yourself immersed in either an aggressive PvP environment or in an entirely specific roleplaying environment. Neither is really satisfying for very long.

Forgotten Kingdoms strikes a good balance of roleplay and gameplay. It is roleplay with teeth, you might say. The players are friendly towards new players and help to facilitate an enjoyable experience. Having an established storyline (Forgotten Realms) as a backdrop helps develop continuity. Overall, it's a well-balanced game.

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Review posted by Dovan
Posted on Mon Apr 23 16:19:25 2012 / 1 comment
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When they say they're in it for the roleplay, they mean it. And do they deliever and deliever well. It is refreshing to break away from the new-age rpg's (read : woot, dewdz, leet lewtzor) and go back to the roots of how rpg is done.

My experience with MUD's started back on AOL with a very popular MUD that still exists in the form of Pay to Play. From there I moved on to UO and then to EQ. Each jump I made... roleplay suffered more and more again. Finally it became find the next mob with loot.

Forgotten Kingdoms gives the thrill of online play and interaction that remains traditional to the aspects of DnD and to Forgotten Realms. The stories and the players that create them are engrossing and quite compelling.

One of the greatest elements I find is the lore of the realms and gods they have incorporated into Forgotten Kingdoms. You feel as if you are a deep part of the evolving plots in reference to the gods. But in turn, I have found the gods and faith system to be the only problem I've had to this MUD.

To follow a certain faith and receive it's benefits (and restrictions) you must become familiar with it, interact with other members of the faith, and eventually meet with the Faith Manager of the faith. Unfortunately, between 2 different characters... I have yet to have either make their way into a faith. Perhaps this is isolated to these two characters, but it would seem that each Faith Manager of the the ones I wish to follow show up maybe once a month at best. Again, this may just be me, but this system restricts... especially clerics / priests as they are unable to learn further spells until they find a faith.

Would I recommend this MUD? Without question. The roleplaying, the effort that everyone puts into it, and the interaction you can find anytime during the day is astounding. Is this MUD perfect? No... but I'd definitely give it 9 out of 10.

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Comment posted on Tue Feb 28 01:01:08 2012 by Dovan:
     

I would like to revisit my original post as to update where my review was and how things have changed.

The game evolves still more and more, in lieu of both the content added and the player base. Each day great players come adding wonderful elements of their own experiences and history, making Forgotten Kingdoms a game I will be loyal to until they shut it down.

As to update upon my own gripe of the time, faithing has become such a more efficient process than what I saw in my first review. Is it easy? No, and it shouldn't be. It is fair and much more able than I ever saw it as before. It truly is an important part of an roleplay and it is quite enjoyable.

In the end... I still would say come and try yourself. I could try and sway you day in and out with words, but you yourself have to feel the true enjoyment of Forgotten Kingdoms. Stop in, you won't regret.

Review posted by Vibius
Posted on Wed Jan 16 20:22:21 2008 / 0 comments
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It's really difficult to tell something that hasn't been told already, I have been playing in this mud for close to two years and yet I always discover something new, there is a full dedicated team that is always working to bring new options and areas for the players, certainly Forgotten Kingdoms is always in a constant evolution for better, which is fairly difficult since they have very high standards already.

Aside from all what has to offer to the player regarding the gameplay itself which is fairly good, I would recommend this mud for two others reasons as well. First of them is the sense of community, we can have very good and very evil both deities and characters, but behind of all of them there are really nice and dedicated people which will make feel welcome here and will guide you in your first steps, and I think that I don't stress it enough, people (those who only portray deities and those who only play characters) are really nice and make you feel welcome since the first moment.

If this was not enough, this mud is the most accurate representation of Greenwood's Forgotten Realms that I have seen online, certainly forgotten kingdoms captures the spirit of this campaign setting and can be found everywhere be it with an accurate portray of the landscape of Faerun or with his great roleplay involving the many faiths of this setting.

Certainly if you start playing this game you will not regret it.

-Vibius.

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Review posted by Barlo/all my alts.
Posted on Sun Dec 30 21:16:45 2007 / 0 comments
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I started playing this MUD in 2003. Since then I have had my share of both good experiences as well as bad, both with the game itself, and with other players that I have RP'd with.

Overall, I would give this MUD a fairly high rating, and I think its only going to get better. It seems that with all the improvements going on, things can. Even the help channels available seem to be more prominent, such as the ask, question, forum board, and other sources that are coming open to use.

It has an extremly indepth story and many, many, alright, many hours of play available, without ever doing the same thing twice. And lets face it, that's what kills a game, the repetition.

The thing I admire most about this game over other online games, is the RP factor. It gets you into character, whether its a good guy or a supreme, blackleather & sunglasses kind of villain. So, if you are interested in a Rp enforced mud, instead of a buch of ppl talking about real-world stuff while they kill a dragon or whatever, then this MUD is the one for you

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Review posted by Homer-Hrosskell
Posted on Thu Dec 27 20:16:34 2007 / 0 comments
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How to begin? I will be nineteen in one month. Forgotten Kingdoms has been an integral part of my life since I was twelve years old. I'd like to say that I never let it interfere with my schoolwork, social life, or anything other than my spare time, but I can recall being thirteen and sleeping through first period because I stayed up to play those extra hours at night.

I will admit, when I first began I was what the staff called a 'problem player'. What unruly, adolescent boy wouldn't be? But as I developed in life, as a role player or more importantly, as a writer, I began to see what beauty this MUD offered. I could do more than abuse code for temporary, meaningless gain. I could do more than gang up with other dysfunctional kids like me, and ruin a good time for many people. I realized that I could escape from a town, a job, a school, that I hated, into a place where I could find solace. I didn't need drugs, or alcohol, but I would say that the fun offered by this video game is just as calming, if not addictive, as both. I learned after my ban from Forgotten Kingdoms, that I truly valued it - I snuck back in, almost four years ago. I don't know if the imms knew it or not, and by this point I'm sure they do, but I definitely needed this game. I believe that since then, I have become a truly helpful player. I have developed not only my characters, but my writing skill, and in some way, my social abilities, through interaction (forced or not, though sometimes it surely was) with other players of this game.

Up until the day I left for college, almost five months ago, I clocked over one hundred hours a month, and if it weren't for real life finally taking precedence, I still would. I love Forgotten Kingdoms, and the people who make it what it is, with all my heart. I've been trying to say this for a long time, but I really do regret all the terror I put this game through, because it is more than just a game. It's a community, and if you're looking for that, you've found it in Forgotten Kingdoms. To all the imms, not-so-imms, average Joes, and plain ole bad people that I've glorified, slandered, loved, hated, given to, taken from, and most of all, loved again, this review is for you. You people are wonderful, and I'll be here until the end of this MUD's days, or mine.

Thank you, very much, Homer. P.S. - Hrosskell, Graham, Florian, Angarato - all of the stories I've written around these, and fifteen other characters, mean very much to me. I thank you again, for sparking something creative inside me.

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Review posted by Skye
Posted on Tue Nov 20 18:06:37 2007 / 0 comments
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Looking for a MUD with the soul of a MUSH? This it the place.

They said it couldn't be done--the holy grail of serious, character infatuated, epic story-inspired gamers who cut their teeth with table-top AD&D. We who love the dungeon crawl, the dragon slaying, the heroic glory, the loot and the XP... but always wanted something more: To breathe real life into characters beyond the cool statistics and yummy enchanted weaponry.

Dudes. Look no further. It's here.

Forgotten Kingdoms is a remarkable, addicting, creatively invigorating experience. I can't say enough about it: the staff, the players, the quests, the use of ANSI colour... everything from the macro to the micro detail really enriches this game and the end-user experience. I haven't been this enthralled with Faerun since Shadows of Amn.

Are you a MUSH RPer yearning to get back to swords and sorcery by can't deal with MUDs? Give this one a try. You won't be sorry.

See you in Waterdeep!

Skye

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Review posted by Nedylene
Posted on Tue Nov 6 23:41:49 2007 / 0 comments
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I started playing this mud while in college and found it on my own through my endless searches to find a mud that felt like 'home'. Much like many of the other reviewers here I had a rough start and had some flops in my initial RP with my first ever character (Ezrai if ANYONE remembers her). Through time and a TON of patience from the other players everyone I met helped me learn how to play the mud, helped finetune my rp, helped me understand the concept of 'getting into your character' and above all, gave me a kinship which I have been unable to find in any other mud.

Through the last seven years I have come and gone from this mud due to IRL issues and each time I return I feel welcomed as if I am coming home. I am utterly ADDICTED to this mud... Much more than is really humanly healthy. What continues to draw me back is the RP. This mud defines the meaning of 'roleplayed enforced'. The staff will come down and interact with your character, not even as immortals, but they will bring to life the NPCs around you. A guard will suddenly start talking and comment on the going arounds. It makes you acutely aware of everyone and everything around you and really makes the world three dimensional. They have an incredible staff that helps players run their own events from religious gatherings, special quests and even masquerade balls. They are friendly, helpful and are always aware of the wants and needs of their players. It makes the time spent on the mud feel thoroughly enriching. As a player you are not a rating to them, but an actual voice.

One of the biggest advantages of this mud is that the mud itself is not solely built by the staff. There are numerous average players who join in on building areas, checking for bugs, testing code, bringing in new quests and even bringing in their ideas to be implimented on the mud. For those of you that have been 'around the block' with many muds you must be aware how rare this is.

Lastly I must give a big kudos to the playerbase on a whole. Everyone there is helpful, friendly and willing to spend time with each other. Everyone jumps at the chance to go somewhere as a group and they thoroughly enjoy every minute of it. They laugh with each other, grow with each other and really become friends. I have earned some lifelong IRL friends through this game which to me, is a huge testament to the quality of the playerbase. We are just waiting for more people to meet!

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Review posted by Ohmsford
Posted on Fri Oct 5 00:00:35 2007 / 0 comments
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I started playing MUDs back in 1992. I can't remember the name of the first MUD, but shortly after in 1993 I started playing Mortal Realms which got me hooked on MUDs. A few years later I also played Shattered Kingdoms and several other different MUDs after that. Around 2000/2001 I started playing Forgotten Kingdoms. Although I do not play as much as I did in my earlier days, this is the mud I call home.

I have gone off to play my XBOX and other PC games, but I always find time to either frequently play or play regularly Forgotten Kingdoms.

This MUD has so many great things going for it. There are numerous quests, I have been playing now for about 6 to 7 years and there are still many quests from the time the game was created, that I have still to try. But this game is not static like many other MUDs I've played. There is an ongoing evolution of the game. New quests are added, minor and major additions to the code to comply with the D&D editions. Also, the VT interface is excellent. There are new areas added as well along with new races to an already extensive race and class selection. Not only can you be a fighter or priest, but you can also learn trades like mining or weaponsmithing. PC can have their open shops.

But all the bells and whistles of the game is not the MAIN reason Forgotten Kingdoms still has a thriving playerbase. One of the game's strengths is a great admin team that include area admins, area developers, hard code developers as well as many other admins that help anywhere from a QUESTION channel to provide help to PCs to an online FORUM that provides opportunities for admin and players to post suggestions, ideas, complaints and help. The playerbase is also a great group of people that try to make the game fun and help out where they can.

There seems to be a strong community within the playerbase and as I have been finding out slowly, the playerbase ranges from teens to people that are 50 years young.

I strongly recommend for people to give Forgotten Kingdoms a try, you will not be disappointed.

Ohmsford (old time MUDder)

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Review posted by Elerian
Posted on Wed Sep 26 21:10:17 2007 / 0 comments
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Forgotten Kingdoms was the first mud I ever experienced and fell in love with it. I have played on other muds since then, but overall I have returned and remained faithful to FK. The other reviews really do spell out the first time impressions and benefits of the game so I dont want to duplicate that here; in fact I will like to take a different angle.

FK has a long history with its highs and lows, as any other organization does. Yet through it all the high times really do outnumber the lows. Some of the previous older posts named a few of the problems that we have had, most of them growing pains and many of them due to viewpoints and differences of opinion, but in an environment such as this you are bound to have them.

My praises do go to the current administration of the game. They really did do an awesome job of turning it all around. I can guarantee that any of the cons, or problems, listed in the previous posts have been addressed and fixed.

Some of the things I love about this game: The Imms: They have been outstanding in carrying this mud from a time when a lot of the playerbase was disenchanted with the previous administration. They regrouped and came together to save what everyone agreed to be a game that was on its deathbed at one point. Through their hard work and dedication they have nursed it back to health and we are definitely seeing the fruits of their labor.

The Playerbase: The playerbase as a whole, when compared to other muds of this genre or any other that I have seen, are top notch. With that said, there are a few problems that every mud experiences but overall the quality and depth of not only the Roleplay, but the camaraderie shared by everyone is felt across the board. This mud is not a mud for the Imms alone so they can play out their fantasies with their friends. This mud truly belongs to the playerbase, and that is something that is rarely seen on muds today.

The Setting: The environment is realistic and relatively true to the setting I have come to love. This is my personal opinion, but I believe if Ed Greenwood logged in one day he would nod his head in approval of what not only the Imms alone do, but the entire playerbase as a whole do to suspend reality and suck you into this extremely immersive and well defined game.

The Roleplay: The roleplay alone is enough to recommend this game to anyone on its own merits. Rarely do you find a game that is so roleplay immersive (yes, I used immersive instead of intensive as I believe it does it more justice) no matter what level of RPer you are. Unlike other 'RPI' muds where you are shunned for not being a good RPer, people will most certainly be sensitive and go the extra mile to help you out. The snobbish elitism stigma that many RPI muds carry is nonexistent here. Everyone starts off at some point and no matter what level of RPer you are there are checks and balances in place that ensure even the most inexperienced RPer have the tools (both online and offline via the forums and website) and support at their disposal.

The Gameplay: The gameplay is easy and intuitive, yet beware! This game is not for the spoon-fed coddled weak of heart. In this game you have to actually think and use not only problem solving skills, but also your social interaction skills. This isnt the mindless, numbing, hack and slash mud where you just repeatedly kill mobs over and over and hunt other PC's to PK for no reason. You have to use your wits, intelligence, and social skills to advance through the game. So if you like a challenge thats not designed towards player failure or mindless spoon-feeding this is definitely the game for you.

So if you are interested please come by and check it out. Honestly I say stay one week from weekend to weekend, and I guarantee you will fall in love with it. If not then move on, but at least give it a try. I believe once you play this game, all others will pail in comparison and FK will be the metric that you will come to rate other muds with.

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Review posted by Pascus
Posted on Tue Sep 25 19:56:07 2007 / 0 comments
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As a staff member of another mud, I needed a retreat. I came to Forgotten Kingdoms after seeing it in the notorious top of the muds. Forgotten Kingdoms deserves it's place there as well. It has a very intense roleplay environment, as well as a staff that supports this.

The population of the mud is very helpful indeed, the first day I was on I had a player offer to help me out and tell me all the ins and outs of the game. Also, if you are big into the Forgotten Realms campaign you will fit right into place.

The piece I love most about this game is it's faithing system. I was amazed when I found out that the gods are actually played out in this game. (The coded ones at least) Choosing your god can have its penalties and benefits, it really sets you into a group of players and may in fact make you some enemies as any other Political/Religious based situation as this would induce.

Also, if you are that player that is about having things to do, quests abound in this game to give you something to do when online.

One of the major things I love about this mud is its support for group adventures. There are times when we should remember that we all need to work together to get things accomplished and this mud really knits together people (which brings out the rp ;).) And although it does start out slow, it picks up because like everything you get used to it.

The last and final thing that I would like to add about this mud is the glory and kismet system. One word: GENIUS! This system allows players to gain points that open options to play more advanced characters. And a glory system that represents how 'popular' your character is, by what success you have made by your accomplishments. So if you are wanting to try out a great mud with great roleplay, then check out Forgotten Kingdoms.

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Review posted by Emrys
Posted on Mon Sep 24 21:00:28 2007 / 0 comments
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Well met, traveler! Since I have been sucked into the Forgotten Kingdoms, almost against my will, I feel compelled to lure other innocents into the same insidious trap. The addictive-as-drugs game is based on the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, though no prior knowledge is required. Most importantly, it is a roleplay-enforced game (the shiny lure that pulled me in). There is no way I can describe everything that hooked me like a hapless fish, but I want to highlight a couple key elements that made a difference.

Character creation is particularly elegant. As I built my first character, step-by-step, famous characters from the Forgotten Realms setting explained the basics of how the game works. I especially want to thank Elminster for explaining feats, I know how busy he is. What is otherwise a relatively dry process was made exciting. Thanks!

There are a few interesting details about new characters worth noting. Unlike the standard Dungeons and Dragons setting, where a character starts with his chosen class and an allotment of skills, characters in Forgotten Kingdoms begin as one of four basic classes warrior, rogue, priest, or wizard. They must then find in-game guilds to become a full class a fighter, a cleric of a specific faith, a mage or specialist caster, a thief or bard, and so on. Joining these full classes usually require some roleplay, some are harder to join than others. Likewise, rather than starting off with a full selection of spells, skills, and languages, characters must find in-game trainers to teach them these abilities. This adds an extra level of interest in NPC mobiles in the game, a nice touch. (Admit it, we ignore most mobs unless they sell something we need or can be killed for gold and XP).

As a roleplay intensive game, Forgotten Kingdoms also employs an interesting Kismet system to try to weed out troublemakers right off the bat. Before playing something potentially disruptive like a thief, a chaotic evil character, or a rare race like a tiefling, the player must acquire a certain amount of kismet. Kismet represents game knowledge, and is gained simply by playing for a time, or it can be awarded for excellent RP. Not that anyone would ever want to play a chaotic evil tiefling thief (shudder).

Forgotten Kingdoms boasts a healthy number of areas to adventure in, an alarming number of automated quests (some of which grant secret skills, hee hee) with a variety of rewards, and blah blah blah cool features. So what. The REAL reason to visit this game is the RP. Unlike other MUDs I have played in, there is no OOC channel to just schmooze and inform you all about my new job, my problems with my girlfriend, and how I took the day off because I have the sniffles. Sure, its nice to express an interest in your fellow players, but did we not come here to Roleplay? I think we did. In FK, all interaction is generally expected to be IC. And aside from general roleplay and adventuring with other characters, theres a pretty steady stream of special events set up and supported by the immortal staff.

A final comment on how newbie-friendly the game is (I am still relatively new). Player friendliness, immortal support, detailed help files, and the character creation system all get top marks from me. But make no mistake, FK is not an easy game. Much like the pencil-and-paper RPGs, adventuring is something done as a group. Wandering around on your own at low levels will usually result in severed limbs and death (as I can unfortunately attest to). Also, some classes require patience and rather extensive RP and interaction with other player characters before they are available. As an example, I played a priest for a couple of months, seeking to enter a specific religion and become a cleric. Since the Faiths are player-run organizations, I had to seek out specific players to join that religion. While I applaud the roleplay required, the time involved got a bit tedious. My understanding is that paladins are one of the hardest classes to enter, requiring (currently) a wait of six months or more.

We play these games for their entertainment value, yes? Forgotten Kingdoms provides what I want in my entertainment a rich, rewarding, and emotionally intensive roleplay experience. I failed my saving throw FK has trapped me more thoroughly than any web spell. All I can do now is try to lure in new victims er, I mean, players. Like you... yes, come a little bit closer...

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Review posted by Tavik
Posted on Fri May 4 20:12:14 2007 / 1 comment
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This MUD is by far the best MUD I've experienced. Roleplay is strictly enforced which creates an environment you can truly immerse yourself in. Beyond the roleplay aspect, Forgotten Kingdoms holds to the Forgotten Realms world flawlessly. The only differences you can find are the ones you as a player create.

On top of all this, the extensive list of coded systems allows for you to immerse yourself even more. Do you want to start a business selling weapons you've made? You can do that. Do you want to become a merchant and sell things between cities or other players? Go for it. How about becoming a famous bard with your very own personal publisher and gallery? You can do that too! I've been a player for over 5 years and since I've started playing, the game has been continuously changing and improved upon.

The player atmosphere is friendly and helpful toward new players. The staff that runs the show is dedicated to improving things and helping all players enjoy themselves here as much as they possibly can.

If you want a truly indepth and dynamic roleplay experience, then Forgotten Kingdoms is the top of the line. Dedicated roleplayers will NOT be disappointed here.

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Comment posted on Thu May 3 22:38:55 2007 by kyle:
     

10,000 chars max

Forgotten Kingdoms Stats
Raw Data Average Data
# Days Listed5708
Last Connection StatusConnect Refused
# Days With Status1
Total Telnet Attempts26260.460
Total Website Attempts150132.630
Telnet Attempts This Month59719.258
Website Attempts This Month238476.903
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