MMORPG News - DicingDangers Open Beta Begins

This is hardly within the normal range of our coverage, but Nicolai wrote to tell us that his browser MMORPG DicingDangers has commenced open beta. Here's what he wrote us:

I thought you might be interested in DicingDangers.com. It is picking up a geed few players and with its quirky graphics and friendly community it is a fun game.

The blurb that followed:

DicingDangers is a new browser based MMORPG. It is a high fantasy graphical/text based realm where you take on the role of one or two characters. The tone is light and fun yet an attempt is made to give it a certain depth. As a characters you start in the City of Nerlan where you are asked to go on a simple introductory quest. This quest involves fishing and rat catching. It gets you right into the key areas of the game; resource collection, exploration and combat. The game is level based, so your character gains levels as he improves. There are many areas to explore and each area is designed for certain levels. Levels are gained by earning experience points when exploring, fishing, making potions etc. Item collection is proving a popular pastime for current players. There are hundreds of items in game, and players enjoy showing off their latest finds. Encounters sometimes drop special items and these can then be seen by other players. A recent introduction to the game is potion making. There is a small quest that leads to the ability to produce healing potions. Combat is obviously a large part of the game. This is split into two varieties. Player versus Player and Player versus Monster. They both work the same and the result is calculated immediately by the game engine. The player however is given tactical options with the ability to set rules for combat. These rules are when to flee, when to use a potion etc and can be based of the amount of life the character has left, or the battle round or even how much gold the character is carrying. Both close combat weapons and ranged weapons are used. Ranged weapons are used for the first 3 rounds of combat. If the enemy does not have a ranged weapon then the attacker gets 3 free attacks. The game is played using action points (ap) to perform key actions. You are given a generous amount, but the idea is to limit game play to a couple of hours twice a day. The reason for this is partly ethical but mostly in order to give those who can only spend a couple of hours a day the chance to keep up with others. This may appeal to older players who have less time to spend gaming. At present there are a few skills such as close combat, ranged combat, alchemy, exploring and fishing. More are on the way, and an important note is that the game is live and thriving, but still in beta mode and being updated daily. For example new lands are opening up all the time. Alchemy is but a precursor to a full magic system. Guilds are to come. There is a lot to do already and hundreds are doing right now, but there is so much to come.