A mud... Let me check my notes...

A MUD (Multiple User Dimension, Multiple User Dungeon, Multiple User Distiller or what you please) is to 3D-anything video games what a good book is to a movie: it looks smaller, more austere and does not talk, yet it is infinitely richer and more subtle, and allows us to venture wherever our imagination may carry us. Unlike a book though, a MUD can't be carried in your pocket, but it has got colours.

So it comes to be that playing (or living) a MUD is about creating your own character and trying to live up to them as they discover the world, talk with its inhabitants, face grave dangers and solve intricate riddles, all these passionating activities which can be summed up with the word "questing".

All this is performed through a simple telnet connection to a server, where you will be able to enter commands interpreted by the system, such as "say hello to this greedy dwarven merchant", "put my two-handed blade into the throat of that grinning orc", as well as "push the third lever above the chest to disarm the trap".

Obviously, the commands you will enter may be more efficient and abbreviated, e.g. for the three sentences we have seen "tel merc hello", "kill orc", "push 3 lev".

If the sentence you have just read sounds barbaric to you, do not give up yet, there are plenty of helps to explain how to do what you want in the world, since the syntax is merely the substract you will use to gather the pure pleasure of roleplaying in a unique fantasy world (and that was quite a sentence).

Sample Frandum screenshot - Score

Frandum

There are several commonly admitted definitions of what Frandum is, such as:

• An original fantasy world with its races, its history, its kingdoms, ... (People who can't believe the real world is so unreal)
• A cool place to play barby-doll with my character and buy them some weapons and armour (Girls or not so viril boys)
• A succession of tricks and riddles, and the subtlety of telling the right word to the right person (Math addicts)
• A place to chat and try to find a date (Hopeless single people, who have not succeeded yet)
• A place to try and role-play a character of your own creation (People who get tired of looking into their mirror)
• A pool of big monsters to kill, so I get strong enough to kill bigger monsters (Your average hack'n slash buddy, who might be disappointed)
• A rapid way of contacting friends who are addicted too (Those who have not discovered social networks)

In short, Frandum is a multi-user role-playing game based on an original medieval world, in which you play a character and will perform a lot of quests to try and lead them towards immortality, while leading yourself towards loads of fun.

Questing is the centerpoint of the game, and only through it will you gain experience, yet it is a nebulous notion: a quest can be helping a girl who has lost her cat, finding an ancient artefact, exploring an old temple, slaying that big dragon, trying to solve a puzzling crime, or bringing and end to a civilization. The thousand unique quests in the game will probably propose you challenges which will meet your expectations.

A large part of the game is also taken by the communication aspect, in which you will talk with other players or with computer-driven inhabitants, trying to get clues, exchanging ideas, stuff, or simply going deeper into the skin of your own character.

The dream

A jewel in the dark, a spark among countless stars... Zoom in to a world, green, blue, white and brown... A landmass among others, a mainland clasped between icy fingers north and scorching sands south, bordered by three seas... Zoom in: green fields and dense forests, a wild land dotted with smoking villages, disturbing clusters in this primal scenery.

Zoom in: a battlefield, two armies mixing, bronze sword against rough leather shield, shamans clad in beast skins rythming the fray with their blunt drums. A time of heroes. Suddenly, a lonely figure upon a hill, a feral vision: a girl covered by the sunlight... A single sun. The fight seems to stop, heads turn and breath is caught. A raised hand... Lightning pouring down from the heavens, destroying, consuming the warriors. Screams and shouts, death and destruction... Havoc.

What does this dream represent? How does it fit with the commonplace world history? Uncovering this mystery will be your background goal as you strive to reach Wizardrice, and needless to say it will lead you very far from what you thought was the truth...

Getting started

The best way to start playing is to connect to the game and create your character, then follow the online tutorial. If you feel lost at any time, try and contact someone around.

• To gain experience you will need to pay a close attention to where you are, what you can see and discover, and what people tell you.
• The best place to get familiar with the world is the area around the Crossroads of Wildstone, and the villages of Tumulus and Hope (see the maps of the world) which contain vital commodities and shops.
• Once you successfully perform a quest, you will note it down into your diary, which will prove to be a valuable companion when trying to remember what you have done, and what you may do next.
• If you die, do not panic and read help death, which will explain you what you have to do to redeem yourself before the gods.
• If the world gets dim, it can be made anew thanks to the reset command. If you feel lost, the recall command will bring you back to the Crossroads of Wildstone, with a small cost.

Those are the basic concepts behind it all, yet only the help files, your own experiences and the advice of older players will help you comprehend the whole game, and you will never end learning about Frandum, however long you play.