Shattered Kingdoms

Dear players of Shattered Kingdoms (HI!~♫),



---Its 10:13pm in the evening, and I decide to search the Mudconnecter for a decent RP Enforced Mud. You know, something I can chew on, seeing as my options are pretty limited. I'm more for quality over quantity. But reading all over the main page, I honestly started to get excited. So much so I already imagined what kind of character I would be roleplaying.

However, upon reading further, I notice some of the "recent" topics in this fora stopped me from really sinking my teeth into this MUD. In fact, it drew more concerns and I have to voice/ask some questions/fears about Shattered Kingdoms. Because I want to join something that I'll have fun playing and not later regret (I'm a pretty sensitive person, in my own right).

For the record, I am not a fan of mindless PvP. In fact, I will do just about anything to avoid it at all costs. I believed that PK was restricted to RP reasons, that RP was to take place before committing the act. But I'm reading a few topics that don't suggest that that is even followed. I traditionally come from a MUD where, once the act is done, you "have" to call up to an IMM to justify/approve reasons for putting a player-character six-feet-under.

---So far, I'm reading stuff about (1) a "rampaging rogue" who's causing even newbies grief, (2) a skill called Voodoo that completely disregards RP considering what I've read, (3) a players ignoring another's RP (ignoring/deafing someone trying to RP with you is just wrong), (4) player's multi-playing to get OOC vengeance on another player, (5) truly non-RP related PKs like killing for ITEMS, (6) OOCly tricking players, oh and I dunno, but I think I got a hint of someone having been charmed and then completely assaulted ingame...

---In all honestly, I respect that some do things different then others. I can respect that. And I understand a MUD having "adult" themes. Potato, Tomato. But is this really worth playing? I haven't read anything positive in this forum. I am a total wuss when it comes to pure PvP. PvE I can always handle. Thus I'm more-so interested in RP then really anything, and to be honest, I choose RP Enforced MUDs to avoid all the...senseless killing?

Could someone possibly either confirm what I'm reading, or tell me otherwise?
Maybe better yet, tell someone tell me (despite the negatives) some positive things to look to on SK, without being a jerk about it?

It's worth playing, just don't live the game and you will do fine.

On an added note, avoid the forums and you will enjoy the game 10 times more. I have not found another mud so complex and unique and while I have my issues with certain players I have realized most of my frustration is wrapped up in my own short commings. Play for fun, walk away when frustrated, come back for fun. If you sit and live it with any kind of issue then you will never get enjoyment out of it.

That doesn't address my concerns...but I appreciate the effort?~♫

The forums are a complete mischaracterization of the game. Half of the people posting here have not played a character in months, and a good half of those are jaded due to some incidents far in the past.

If you log on to the game, you should find a much friendlier environment, and plenty of people to "fountain RP" with. As long as you keep your path clear of the heavy PvPers, and don't try to accumulate too many of the unique trinkets, you won't find yourself on the wrong end of someone's sword or spells. In fact, you'll find a pretty decent lot of folks that are interested in developing stories with other people, and quite a few interesting places that you can tour within a very intricate world.


If you don't have tough skin, stay away from the forums altogether... in general, I find that when I do, the MUD itself is a much more pleasant place.

And welcome.

Ignore the trolls. The game is bloody awesome. I have played for 8 years and the rp value far outweighs the pk. Most of the mindless pk is due to mostly ooc grudges at times or people pulling a Syn. The RPers here are a great group of people. Roll a char and see what happens. You will be suprised at how fun it really is.

Avoid the forums,
Play the game,
Enjoy it,
Don't live it,
You will do fine, I had more fun when I didn't bother with the forums, we trolls are nasty and bitter.

Not me I am all about the comedy....more like the idiot that sits in the corner and tends the fire.

THE GAME IS AWESOME DUDE....the forums will keel you

If you don't want to get involved in PvP, it is usually pretty easy to avoid being involved in PvP, unless you join a tribunal or a faction like the hammer of light.

RP is strictly enforced, but what is meant by this might not be what you have in mind. I'm not sure what you have in mind, so I will describe what the standards here are. Breaking your character's alignment is prohibited and will result in punishment. Killing people for purely OOC reasons is against the rules. However, if your character has a legitimate IC reason to kill someone, they are free to do so. No extended RP is required, and it is not against the rules to kill someone without saying anything to them before or after, as long as you can show that your character had motivation. For example, if they were payed money to carry out an assassination, or even if they heard that someone had insulted their friend, those can be legitimate IC reasons depending on your alignment, and you are not required to talk to the victim. It is considered poor form to not interact with someone you are killing, however, and I should stress that it is not the norm here.

Shattered Kingdoms has a lot to offer and is a great game. People don't usually come on the forums to talk about the good things, though, and the forums are usually dominated by complaints and OOC anger between players. There's a ton of awesome areas to explore, characters to interact with, and adventures to be had. Shattered Kingdoms isn't really for the faint of heart, though. There is no hard-coded restriction on player killing, and the enforcement of RP is limited to making sure that everyone is sticking to their alignment and behaving in an IC fashion. I might advise that you do not make your first character a deep-elf, elf, or griffon.

There are a couple of players that are "in it to win it," and those are the only ones you will really have to worry about.

The majority of players in this MUD are good, considerate people who are in it to enjoy the experience just as much as you seem to be.

PK in this MUD is not as strictly prohibited as in the MUD you refer to in your post, but if it is done without justification, RP, or valid in-character reasoning, a log submitted to the staff will usually result in some manner of punishment to the player violating the restrictions against RP-less PK and/or restitution to the killed player character.

Given the relative ease of returning to life in SK as opposed to many of the games where an imm MUST be involved in events of PK, there's a bit more leeway to settle a grudge via violence than you may be used to. On the other hand, it generally spawns enmities, which themselves tend to lead to new allies, alliances, and opportunities for RP.

It is generally entirely possible to play SK and avoid most if not all PvP, just enjoy the PvE and RP aspects, and take what you want from the game. A game like Shattered Kingdoms offers a very broad range of possible experiences to a very broad demographic of player types.

A few tips for playing SK for the RP and PvE include, but are not limited to:

- Avoid joining a faction. Personal alliance with a faction creates a "guilt by association" link to justify enmical factions PKing you.

- Do not collect great hoards of limited in-game items, and refuse to use/trade/gift them to other characters who may be looking for them as an edge in the PvP arena. Hint: most such items DO provide such an edge, and therefore you may be called upon to make the choice of run from conflict with such characters (which WILL result in you being hunted as an enemy at least as long as you continue to keep the item from them), trade/sell/give the item to the character in question, or die and have it and potentially other items taken from your corpse before you can return to life.

- Avoid alignment-restricted races, including Griffon, Elf, Deep-elf. Characters in SK are free to roleplay racism (regardless of alignment in most cases) and so racial choice may not always be conflict-free even when avoiding the aforementioned Big Three, but instances where that will result in RP-less PK are next to non-existent. Usually it's RP of racism that will even open the door to that sort of PK, and it's usually going to be RP that you personally are involved in and may have a way out of before it occurs.

- Avoid alignment extremes during character creation. Read the helpfiles on alignments carefully and completely before choosing an alignment. Some alignments almost require participation in conflict with PCs based on their dictates as moral codes. Unscrupulous usually provides a safe option for a character that wishes to avoid coming into alignment conflicts with other characters for purely moral reasons, but don't take my word for it. Read the helpfiles on alignments and select the one you think will best guide you to a more pacifistic character.

As a player on this game who can enjoy PK, but plays more for the RP and PvE opportunities myself, I can tell you that SK is able to provide what you're looking for in spades, with a whole bevy of additional options if you ever decide to try your hand at the PK scene or even to just test out the factions and aditional abilities and RP opportunities they provide. There are not many other games I have played, especially MUDs, where the quality of building and attention to detail and immersion are present in nearly every area of the world. It is truly a rich, colorful, and detailed trip into a fantasy world that is well worth taking.

Adding to character types to avoid, I'd like to add paladins, hellions, and necromancers as classes to avoid. Paladins and Hellions both have RP requirements that will almost definitely make you PvP at some point in your character's life. Necromancers get killed by the Hammer of Light a lot, as well as other characters with light hearts.