Terry Pratchett’s popular books of comedic fantasies set in Discworld provide the backdrop for this free MUD (a Multi-User Dungeon which is an early text version of an MMO). It uses its own open source LPMud codebase (the LPC programming language which was designed specifically for MUDs enabling all of Discworld’s creators to write different code for every room and every object). Initially you could connect to it through the internet to its server by using one of several MUD clients but now can also use a browser to connect directly by using a Java client.
The world is made up of areas simulating several big cities (Ankh-Morpork, Djelibeybi, Bes Pelargic, and Genua) on two continents, plus more smaller towns, and more than a million rooms representing the countryside. The first two cities are run by councils of elected player magistrates.
When you first make a new character, you begin with a limited inventory and some play money in a separate newbie area where you can learn the fundamentals on quests, guilds, etiquette, interacting with NPCs, fighting and shop interaction. Before leaving the newbie area to enter the game, you will have to choose a nationality to determine your start location and native tongue. There are a number of chat channels for individuals and clubs. Player versus Player interaction is on an opt-in basis.
Each character can join one of the guilds where you will have some unique abilities not available to others. Some common attributes like hit points, perceptiveness, and swimming skill are the same for everyone but divine magic for priests or the ‘backstab’ command for covert-based guilds are limited to guilds. There’s six main classes - wizard, priest, witch, warrior, thief, and assassin with the last 3 being split into several sub-guilds.
The game mechanics are based on a semi-permanent stats dealing with your essential nature and skills relating to your aptitude in performing certain tasks which can be increased by spending experience points to learn yourself or from other players/NPCs. Levels are uncapped, but rise in cost of experience points per level. To gain these experience points, you can defeat NPCs in combat, use guild points (categorised action points), explore areas, solve puzzle-like quests, accomplish in-game achievements, or just being online will very slowly give you some.
Characters start with seven lives, which can be replaced in-game, but if all are lost you cannot be revived. Most of the game world is not persistent - areas and objects are reset, except players’ inventories, contents of rentable houses, and safe deposit box-like vaults which are saved.