Are you the fearless warrior, strong and well schooled in the arts of war? Or perhaps you are more knight of principle, skilled with blades and granted spells by the gods? Perhaps even one of the wandering preachers of those same gods, using your powers to further their aims through you? Maybe the path of the wizard calls you with soft whispers of the control of the primal energies of the universe? Or are you the silent and deadly fingersmith, who takes what they need and are gone before the victim ever suspects?
There is a place where all these archetypes exist, a massive world full of creatures both real and imagined, populated by eleven player-character races and countless others from the Mighty Thor and his nemesis the World Snake to young children running and playing in the many towns and villages. A world with quests and puzzles as numerous as the stars in the night sky, and of many different types, skill levels and length of time to complete, from simple fetch quests to multi-part quests to riddle and ValhallaMUD trivia quests. A world with it's own unique society of hardcore players who do not remain aloof and ignore new players, but welcome them and help them to get themselves going in hopes of having another join their ranks.
Valhalla also encourages role playing your character, though it is by no means mandatory, and also allows any level of commitment to role playing. Currently in Valhalla we have a paladin fallen from grace, an insane sea elf who is the last of her kind, an archmage who battles for control of himself with a demon, a half-angel/half demon bard, and even the classic dark knight that everyone loves to hate.
I have many stories of experiences with other players in Valhalla, from hilarious tales of efforts to save a woman from the vile predations of an evil man that went horribly wrong, ending with someone else's wedding being interrupted, to the warrior mercenary who almost seems to have a knack for choosing the same character to attack everytime, to the duel with a high powered player-slayer where when just as it seemed I will beat him, into the room comes Nikolai the Ancient, a vampire of immense strength, and kills us both. My personal favorite is my one story of my first meeting with the Midgaard Serpent. I had just crossed my personal best in levels and I decided I wanted to see the single hardest and strongst monster. I asked my Clan Master and Lord to show me just how tough "one little snake" was, so they did. To make a long story short, the Serpent was not so little! We were almost drowned when it caused a tidal wave from the movement of its gargantuan head turning to look at us. The Serpent then decided it was snack time, and picked us off one by one.
Valhalla's admins are also dedicated and hard working people who, though they stick to the policies of non-interference, are not invisible entities, but interract with the players. I personally have done almost everything from teasing them on occasion, to participating in meetings to improve the MUD, to attacking them to see how hard an Immortal is in combat. The admins are knowledgeable, friendly, and react quickly to game-related problems players have. Valhalla does have rules of conduct which they enforce fairly on a case by case basis, and regardless of your level or status within the MUD.
All this and so much more wait for you at valhalla.com, port 4242. Come on in and see for yourselves, and in no time you will find yourself hacking, slashing, spell casting, questing, and getting "into character" like an old pro, but will never run out of things to do. I promise you won't regret it.
