A Dark Portal's New World is officially known as ADP 2.0 - a completely revamped and improved version of its predecessor, which opened in March of 1998, and shut down in early 2001. It is based on the ROM codebase, redesigned for the sake of roleplay, which is its chief reason for existence. Our hope is that you will be able to log on and melt into the world - it will never be as starkly realistic a MUD as some, but our aim instead is to captivate, challenge, and amuse. Whether you wish to be a simple farmer, raising livestock on the outskirts of Sthirra, or a warrior, serving as a guard on a caravan making its rounds across the face of the Southern Continent, we leave your options open, so that they are truly yours.

As of fall 2004, the New World is open, but still in testing. More is to be added and fixed as time goes on, but plotlines are running, and everything currently implemented is ready to go. Our trades are varied and complex, while still being user-friendly - you can be a farmer, an armour-smith, a forger, a miner, a woodworker, or an enchanter in addition to the usual magic- and fighting-oriented professions, and a variety of other skillsets are currently in the process of entering the world. For a full list of code-related features, please visit this online helpfile.

As with all Diku-derived MUDs, A Dark Portal is completely free, and always will be. If you're curious about the game, just log in! You don't need to submit an application before your character can be created, as is the case on many roleplaying-intensive MUDs, though the staff does keep an eye out for inappropriate names and people who don't develop their personas. The game is considered RP-enforced, though for the duration of testing, non-RP features such as a worldwide OOC channel and a who command will remain in place for ease of communication - while you're in the MUD's world, you should consider yourself in-character. However, don't be afraid! If you're not accustomed to roleplay, or just want to ease into it gradually, we're friendly people and won't freak out at you. Help is always available to those who ask, and of course, our large collection of helpfiles and online guides should be of assistance as well.

A Dark Portal's staff is fairly small, but tightly-knit. The current list of imms is as follows (this does not encompass all current imms, but rather, those who have been around a while):

Abetka - Co-Implementor, Head Builder, sexy artificial intelligence.
Noximist - Co-Implementor, Moneybags, Coder, Writer, general female authority.
Guire - Co-Implementor, UberCoder, changer of minds.
Thibius - Builder, Smurf, giver/receiver of many bearhugs.
Koryon - Coder, flute-player, terrible speller.
Sapphar - Amazing builder, culture-developer, and master of finding bugs.
Sidmouth - Builder who occasionally attacks pineapples.
Geoff - Builder and writer of about a million WORs.

All of these people are working to complete ADP, but we're always seeking more hard-working builders - if you're interested, please log in and say hi, or drop us a line. (Shameless plug, yes.)