Gamertell

RPGs weren’t always glorious, lavish epics with cutting edge graphics, intense character development, voice acting and entire world to explore. No, they started out more simply. With pen, paper and people’s imaginations.

Some people have sought to reclaim that nostalgic means of playing, by creating browser-based, free, online RPGs which rely primarily on text. Any graphics are extremely rudimentary, and the main focus is on the game’s writing and the player’s ability to use his or her imagination to bring the game to life.

Interested? Gamertell’s put together a list of three games, Kingdom of Loathing, Muffins! and Legend of the Red Dragon. If you’re looking to give a free text-based RPG a try, any of these three games is a fantastic place to start. Plus, there’s no need to worry about system requirements or OS compatibility!

Kingdom of Loathing

Kingdom of Loathing is an amazing, and quite massive, text-based RPG that not only encorporates all kinds of hilarious and sarcastic quips, but also allows for PvP combat and clans. The overall goal is to beat a nasty sorceress, but there are plenty of smaller quests to tackle along the way. While it’s primarily a single player adventure, you can equip familiars (my favorites are the cocoabo and ghuol whelp) to make adventuring a little easier. It also has what’s considerably rare in a free, browser-based, text RPG, a cash shop. You can purchase Mr. Accessory items with real money and trade them at Mr. Store for new items.

Muffins!

Muffins! is very similar to Kingdom of Loathing. In fact, you may not even be able to see the differences until you’ve been playing for a few days. It’s also quite silly and satirical, but it’s a little less structured than KoL. Aside from the common use of humor, Muffins! also uses food as a currency (muffins, as opposed to KoL’s meat) and allows players to have an NPC assistant (companion, as opposed to the aforementioned familiars).

Legend of the Green Dragon

Legend of the Red Dragon was one of the first, text-based computer RPGs. Legend of the Green Dragon is a fan-created homage to it. It’s far more serious than either Kingdom of Loathing or Muffins!, but is also more historically accurate and nostagic. Unlike the other two recommended games, LoGD has no images, so beginners may want to start with one of the previous games. The overall goal in LoGD is to, you guessed it, kill the Green Dragon. You can also flirt, have kids and battle other creatures as well. Also, given the recent ressurgence in Harry Potter’s popularity due to Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince, you may want to check out Harry Potter Online, a Legend of the Red Dragon style, free, online RPG built based on Legend of the Green Dragon.

Site [Kingdom of Loathing] Site [Muffins!] Site [Legend of the Green Dragon] Site [Legend of the Red Dragon] Site [Harry Potter Online]