For those who don't know the basic story behind Naruto, it is basically a re-imagining of Japanese mythology, so you won't see ogres or elves running around. There, also, aren't different races, only humans and real animals like dogs, frogs, snakes, etc. In this world, there do exist special creatures called bijuu, meaning “tailed beasts”, which are animals which are unique variants of every day animals like foxes, dogs, cats, tanuki, etc. 9 bijuu exist and the various hidden ninja villages have fought to harness their power by trapping them inside human beings. By doing this, it lets that human gain their power, but it often times makes them unstable or shunned by normal society. The main character of Naruto, who happens to be who the show is named after, is one of those people.
However, Naruto, the anime, is a more complex story than that. Each hidden village represents the military strength of a nation. Those nations leverage that power to start wars, stop wars and earn money. Each hidden village also trains young children in their ninja arts in order to create the next crop of soldiers. In NarutoMUD, you play the role of one of those children. You start out at age 8, and will grow up as you play.
We try to stay faithful to the core material, while not being directly tied down to any particular story arc. With this setup, we put players in our made up Hidden Time Village. We use the core material and storyline as inspiration in crafting new areas and even some locales familiar to fans. However, everyone who comes to NarutoMUD will discover exciting adventures and a story which feels like it belongs, but is new and not predictable.
We've had a variety of non-Naruto players come to the game and get a great deal of enjoyment out of it and become fans. Like I said, we don't force ourselves into just presenting story arcs and the same themes from the anime. If you know nothing about Naruto and are just interested in a Japanese Medieval Fantasy game, you'll also have a great time here.
Some of the features NarutoMUD has:
- A lots of ways to customize your character.
- Blood types, which offer rewards based on Japanese blood type/personality guides.
Configurable 'trash talk' system to let your character automatically throw out saucy zingers in combat, even while you're busy planning out your next attack!
Customizable equipment, which can level up with you.
A friend's list which tracks how your relationships grow with other players!
A favorite skill list, which lets you mark skills you really enjoy using to power them up!
Claim your equipment so even death won't separate you!
As well as the MUD standards of an editable biography and settable description.
There are no set 'classes' in the game, you pick your hidden village, but later in the game are free to start learning skills from foreign villages. Giving a sort of hybrid classless system feel.
NarutoMUD also has a very in-depth skill system!
- 4 skill trees you can level up!
A variety of unique skills which are simple to use but take time to master.
Our magical skills, called Ninjutsu, can be combined with other player's Ninjutsu to form combination attacks. Some Ninjutsu is also elemental, and you can mix-and-match different elemental combinations with friends to create even more powerful attacks!
Power struggle your Ninjutsu attacks against other players and try to over power them! This can also be paired with the
combination Ninjutsu mentioned above for massive power struggles which involve almost an infinite number of players!
Use the Ninjutsu skill called “Kage Bunshin” and make a clone of yourself, capable of doing all the moves you can, but also has all the weaknesses you do!
Use the hand-to-hand combat of Taijutsu and perform Taijutsu combos. These combos let you and your friends rush enemies and try to deliver rapid fire attacks!
Think your old Taijutsu moves are worthless? The skill “Dai” will power them up! Using “Dai” with your skill with cause the damage to sky rocket!
Create your own custom fighting style.
Use Genjutsu, or illusion arts, to trick your opponent's mind into destroying itself!
Skills can also passively raise and lower your stats.
Altogether, NarutoMUD's skill system was setup so you didn't just have to go “Oh, I got a new skill, time to throw away the old ones” like most hack & slash games. Even lower level skills have their place in high level fights. Some of our best players mix and match to suit their play styles and create incredible fights to watch!
NarutoMUD has an Arena, so you can safely battle your friends and enemies!
Bored with just being a grunt in combat? Use the tactic ability and become the leader of your group, helping to drive them past even the hardest challenges.
Like finding secrets? We also have some abilities which are only unlocked in special ways. These are challenging to get and very few players have ever been able to unlock them.
You can also earn and unlock Achievements.
Create or join player run clans.
Out of points to train your stats? Our Living Stat Code system lets you train your stats beyond your normal limits.
We also heavily encourage and reward role playing. While we don't force it, we do require names to be of a Japanese theme. You won't walk around and see “Bob the Dragon Slayer” or “Tim the Wizard”. However, if you think you will have a hard time creating a character, we have a name generator which can help you pick one!
If you like role playing, you'll notice our help files will go into depth about each village and about our storyline, so you can help craft your character to be truly in-tune with the world.
Plus much, much more! Every skill and ability presents a fun new challenge and an exciting way to create an even more cool ninja!
I truly believe NarutoMUD stands as a unique, fun place, even amongst the sea of SMAUG, anime and hack & slash MUDs out there. The website for the MUD is http://narutofor.us or just log in directly at narutofor.us port 4545, however our website is loaded with cool info and a forum to help interact with other players and admins who live across time zones! You can also follow us on Twitter @NarutoMUD or check out our Facebook App, just search for “NarutoMUD”.
We look forward to adventuring with you soon!