One of the things that I've really enjoyed lately has been the times when Shallam (Bryony's home city) gets raided. So I wanted to share a little about city-versus-city conflict in Achaea.

A drawing of the Jaru Gatehouse, a common focal point for fights during raids on Shallam, by player Ashena.

I've never played an MMORPG whose organizations are as seriously player-run as Achaea's. One great example of this is the cities. Each city has an elected player-run government, which writes and enforces its own laws and negotiates with the other cities and so on. But they also have the physical city which can be attacked by enemies, and the citizens can arrange for its protection in various concrete ways.

The nice thing about MUDs is that they are small enough to make it practical for individual players to run organizations and to have a significant effect on the game world. But Achaea has that while also being still big enough to have a crazy 20 vs. 20 person brawl during a city raid. (Okay, when they get that big it's maybe a bit too chaotic, but it's definitely exciting!)

Several months ago, Achaea implemented a new "city destruction" mechanic to give more of a goal to raids. Enemies who invade a city can, if they control an area long enough, turn a particular area of the city to rubble. It will remain that way until the citizens repair it. However, during a raid, defenders have several important advantages from being on their home turf: city guards, and other city defenses. So raiders can't just waltz into an enemy city...they have to be very careful, and have an escape plan.

The large number of different variables in raids makes them exciting and interesting. The city I belong to doesn't require people to defend the city if they don't want to or aren't good at fighting, but I never miss a raid defense.

Bryony has had lots of luck, too! She's still pretty small, so she would die easily if she was targeted. So what I do instead is to try to always stay one room away, and then I shoot arrows at the enemies from an adjacent room. In big group fights, when several of us are all targeting one enemy, I have gotten 9 lucky final hits on enemies that way so far. The experience from those lucky kills was enough to level me up 5 levels!

Nothing's more thrilling to me than, in the midst of a crazy battle, seeing this:

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aim earionduil n
You pull an arrow from your quiver and nock it to your bow.
You draw in a deep breath and begin to focus your aim on Earionduil.
3488h, 2511m, 14713e, 12123w cexkdb- (02:05:09.737)

shoot earionduil n
You feel confident that your aim is accurate.
3488h, 2511m, 14713e, 12123w cexkdb- (02:05:09.762)

(Party): Achilles says, "ARROW SHOT AT Earionduil."
3488h, 2511m, 14713e, 12123w cexkdb- (02:05:09.820)

You draw your longbow back and let fly an arrow in the direction of Earionduil.
Your aim augments the flight of your arrow.
Your arrow strikes true!
You have slain Earionduil.
Your soul cries out in ecstasy as it reaches new heights of power. You have
advanced to level 64.
You have reached the illustrious level of Supreme.
3488h, 2511m, 14658e, 12113w cexkdb- (02:05:10.098)

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Woo!

Okay, I've also died a few times...but all in good fun. If you're used to PvP combat in graphic MMORPGs, trying out the PK system in one of the more advanced mud games would probably blow you out of the water. Why not visit Achaea and try something new?