There are several ways to MUD. One is to use a Windows Telnet client or hyperterminal. Telnet is usually going to be black and white, and hyperterminal is in colour. However, I personally prefer to use a MUD client like zMUD. There are also several nice Macintosh clients.

RP is Role Play. In short, on a RP mud, you choose a character/name and then decide on their role, and act it out. Preferrably at all times. There are a number of MUDs which require roleplaying, and also many which are RP preferred, but not required. However, if RP is your thing, or even if it isn't.. always try to remember that people ARE acting, being someone else. They're not always as arrogant/rude/nice/evil/good/etc. as they may seem.

PK is Player Killer. This is relatively self-explanatory. On PK MUDs you either A: are PK once you hit a certain level, or B: have a choice to become PK at a certain level. While you kill mobs (creatures coded into the MUD to enable players to level) for experience, you also have the option to kill (and be killed by) other players. MUDs like this can become rather brutal, but it can also be extremely fun and competitive.

Are All MUD's the same?? Oh heavens no! There's hundreds of types of MUDs. Wacky MUDs which not only allow, but encourage people to have fun and goof off. Serious MUDs which challenge their players and give them somewhere to practice VERY strong roleplaying. There are theme-MUDs which center around a single theme. Most people can pretty well find something to their liking, no matter what their liking is.

I certainly would never profess to tell someone where to play. I, obviously, have my own preferences, but everyone has their own personal taste. An excellent resource for MUDs of different types is The Mud Connector. They have a list of (I can only assume very nearly) all known public MUDs - you can list by category, theme, PK, nopk, New, stats, etc. and there is a review or overview of all the MUDs in their listing.

Fighting on the mud is as easy as one simple command: Kill and off you go. Usually, however, it's wise to use a consider command to find out whether or not you could even kill the mob. Each MUD code is different as to how the consider command works, but most codes DO have a training school available to new players. If you're new to MUDding, be SURE to go through the school/training at your first MUD so you can avoid having to pester other players later to find out commands you should have learned your first day.
In the fights, you also have a number of other options. Magic users can cast whatever spells they may have already learned - Warrior types can use any attack skills they know. Usually there is a helpfile on the MUD regarding skills/spells and how to use them. (Simply type: HELP on most MUDs to get more information)

Levelling is based on experienced earned for the most part. There are some MUDs which do it differently, but we'll just cover the norm here. As I stated before, killing mobs is how one earns experience on most MUDs. After you recieve a certain amount of experience, you gain a level. On each level you gain hitpoints/movement/mana points, as well as (generally) one train and anywhere between 1-5 practices. Again, every MUD is different, but 1 train seems to be the norm; practices will vary depending on your attributes (wisdom/strength/con/dexterity/intelligence).

The experience you need per level depends on a couple things. First: your race. Some races are more "advanced" if you will, than others. Thus making them more expensive.

Second: your skills/spells. If you customize your character (on codes which allow customization) you have the ability to choose a large number of skills/spells. The more you know when you start, the higher your experience needed per level is going to be.

Armor is kind of a give and take lesson to learn. You start off wearing whatever you're given. Most MUD's will supply other armor as you go through their training/school. However beyond that, it's something of a mystery. The best way to learn what kind of armor to wear is to look at the people around you. Look at their level, and see what they're wearing. Obviously, armor that comes off of the mobs you fight can be pretty decent. However, don't be decieved, it isn't always good. If you have the "lore" or "identify" skill/spell, you can identify any piece of equipment you come across.

When you successfully identify something, you're going to see a few things about it. First thing to look at, is its level. If it's at or under your level, you can wear it. The next thing to look at is the armor class. This will be one of the first things you see, and will be marked AC. If the numbers have a "-" before them, you probably don't want to use it. Now, down below the generic information on an item, will be some other ratings. You MAY see another listing that says AC or Armor Class or Armor. These numbers MAY have a "-" in front of them. THAT IS GOOD. If you can type "score" after putting on something, and your armor class rating has raised, the equipment is probably OK for now. If your armor class LOWERS, pick something else. That's always a good rule of thumb to go by. However, there are some items that increase your stats (INT/WIS/DEX/STR/CON) and at lower levels, you need all the help you can get. These items are usually good to put on JUST before you achieve a new level. They'll help you gain more hitpoints and mana points as you progress through the game.

Once you get higher up in the levels, from about level 40+ (depending on how many levels your MUD is), your armor class rating is going to be MUCH less important than your Hitroll and Damroll. You'll want to start finding objects which increase those, as well as maybe increasing your hitpoints and mana points.

Weapons work much the same as armor. You start off with what you're giving, and continue on up, looking at other people to see what they're wearing. The major difference is this: In order to use a weapon, you must have the weapon skill. The only exception to this are exotic weapons. Exotic weapons can be used by anyone, so long as you're the right level for it.

When you first sign onto a MUD, you'll see a lot of talking/chatting going on, depending on how populated that particular MUD is. Several places keep new characters from using any of the public channels until they've reached a certain level. However, most places will still have a question/answer channel should you need help. If someone is in the room with you, you can use the "say" command. Simply type "say" followed by what you have to say to them. If they're not in the room with you, you can use the "tell" command. Type 'tell' then their name, and then what you want to say to them. Channels work the same way as "say" .. you would type the channel name, then what you want to say. Generally the most commonly used channels will be gossip and ooc (ooc - out of character).

IMM stands for Immortal. These are the people who run the show. There are usually about 8 levels of IMM's. They range from peon to the king boss. Generally, the higher the level, the more powerful. One STRONG suggestion: Don't treat the IMM's a whole lot differently than you'd want to be treated. Yes, technically they're gods, but that doesn't mean they can't be a good friend to you. It DOES, however, mean that they can't and won't cheat for you, nor should you expect them to. Just use some common sense and you'll be fine!