TMC Reviews: Dragon Swords

Dragon Swords is a mud which is refreshingly true to it's medieval theme. Too many muds these days will have the laser gun 2000 weapon, but on Dragon Swords it is even made sure you have a medieval name. There is a rather enjoyable story to go around with Dragon Swords which, while it does not have an abundance of Roleplay, certainly does not discourage it. There are a large number of races, about 10, to choose from. Each have unique traits and abilities as well as attribute modifiers which means it is actually very important which race you choose. There are a total of 13 classes, many more than the average mud. Some of the ones that aren't that common are Psionist, Bard, Priest, and Sage. Each of these classes has a large spell system which makes it very fun.

Dragon Swords is a very good mud when it comes to the helping of newbies. I know I did not have alot of knowledge about this code base but all my questions were answered very promptly and well by knowledgeable players and imms. In fact there is a specific channel to use for newbies that seems to always have a NHG (newbie help guild) person on it. There is even a 911 channel for people to call for help on if they have a problem getting a corpse. That is the guild you are in until about level 10. The help files are remarkably helpful and complete. The combat system is a bit more intricate and has more abilities than the typical hack/slash mud, but like most muds Dragon Swords is based around Exp.

Though I did not get to the upper levels it seems that alot of the exp killing is centered around solo killing, I was part of a group once and did not see many groups around. (However this could also be due to the fact that I was not a really good class to group with at my level. No one like Zathras...)

For newbies there is an added bonus that many experienced spell caster players offer their services to you when they are not busy by allowing you to use a series of triggers to get them to cast spells on you. I for one found this quite helpful especially since I was a druid, who has weak hp in the first levels. It was very helpful to get sanctuary and some other spells to help me out.

Dragon Swords has quite a few areas though the place isn't overflowing with them. The ratio of stock to original areas seems to be about equal so it is indeed an interesting mud to explore. There is a newbie area called newbie lake which is quite helpful to start out in, it definatly got me going. Some of the stock cities have been modified and are quite a bit better than their default incarnation. For most major cities there are maps which you can access. These make navigating the sometimes complicated streets quite a bit easier.

With the variety of classes on Dragon Swords the grouping that goes on seems to be very interesting because different classes are needed for different tasks. This makes playing in the mud alot more fun.

Dragon Swords is a very good mud for players new to mudding. One of the few things I did not like about it was that sometimes leveling could be very tedious and take quite awhile (though I must admit the MUD I started on had rather fast paced leveling). When you do level, however, it is hailed with a slew of spammy (yet fun!) congrats from several people. The mud web page is rather well done in my opinion. It gives you information about the people who run the mud. It is nice to have immortals who you can actually feel you know. On the page there is also a complete class/race list which is in essence the helpfile that doesn't scroll off your screen in about 10 seconds. Dragon Swords also supports the Mud Sound Protocol and offers sounds which can be downloaded from their website.

Sometimes some of the staff can be a bit short tempered. I was snapped at for inquiring ("advertising") about players from a mud which has been closed down for about three years. It's been my experience that the mud becomes alot more enjoyable when the admin realize when certain statements are benign and others are not in regard to a public channel policy, since it can be quite a task to make sure profanities and the like are kept off channel. This may have been an isolated incident or perhaps someone having a bad day however. We all know what that's like.

Dragon Swords is a MUD which is nice for the newbie and experienced player. The mud makes a nice attempt to stay true to a medieval theme. The Imms and players are generally friendly and the race/class system is one of the best I've seen around. Unfortunately I was not able to experience the clan aspect however from talking to others and observing it seems to be enjoyable. I would recommend this mud to anyone who is having a problem finding a nice combat-leveling mud to play on.