If you're interested in playing online, and/or if you can't find a group in your area to play with then this may be a solution for you.

New Seattle MUSH is now open in an Alpha testing phase. This means that you can log in and play shadowrun from anywhere in the world. The New Seattle web site is at http://www.newseattle.org.

I'll try to update this post to answer any questions.

FAQ
1. What is a MUSH?
A. It's a type of online game played through telnet. Wikipedia calls it a "text-based online social medium to which multiple users are connected at the same time." It's a lot like playing on the old, old text games (like zork), except you get to play with other players.

2. What do you mean by Alpha testing? What does that mean, and how will it effect game play?
A. Currently, the game isn't in a 'finished' state. This means that there are a lot of play areas that aren't finished yet, and some features like the web character generator aren't working at 100%. However, the game is ready to actually play shadowrun on.

3. How do I connect to the game?
A. The game can be connected to via ordinary telnet. However, you'll want to get a MUD client because they have a lot better features when playing on a MUSH. My personal favorite is PuebloUE. Which, you can download here. Another popular client is called MUSHclient and can be found here. However, there are other clients to be found for every operating system imaginable. Just do a google search for 'MUD client <operating system>'. (IE, 'MUD client linux'. You'll need to add the game's telenet address and port (game.newseattle.org 2012) into the client in order to connect. Feel free to check things out by typing 'connect guest guest' into the command line.

4. Will this cost me money?
A. No. New Seattle costs nothing to access. You could stay connected to the game 24/7/365, and it wouldn't cost you a dime. (Except for the cost of electricity, and to pay for your internet service, of course.) Most MUD clients are freeware, although there are also a few that are shareware. But even the shareware ones don't ask for much.

5. What is the address of the game?
A. It's game.newseattle.org port:2012

6. What if I have problems logging into the game?
A. You can ask here, but you'll probably get quicker answers if you ask on the New Seattle forums at http://forum.newseattle.org.

7. How do I create a character?
A. First, you'll want to swing into the forum and create a forum login. The chargen system uses that login to create your character(s), and build them on the game. Next, head to the main page and click on the 'chargen' link. Right now, chargen is not fully functional. Namely, it doesn't calculate the correct prices for some items. So, you should build your character in another character generator (or the old fashioned way, if you'd like), and then create it in the chargen system.

You'll want to visit here: http://www.newseattle.org/home/getting-started/

That should tell you everything you need to know to get started playing. If not, you can always ask in the New Seattle forums.

8. What type of character can I play?
A. Right now, the game is in a 'wild wild west' state. So, you can make any character using the

9. What kind of character generation system do you use?
A. The game uses the basic build point system from the man book.

10. What ruleset do you use?
A. Currently, it's 4th edition. The staff needs time to make any switching to the aniversery edition. The game will not be adopting any houserules until beta at the latest.

11. How do you communicate in the game?
A. If you want to use one of the 'channels' in the game, you can type it's alias then any text. So, to speak on the Newbie channel, you type 'N <text>'. Most of the roleplaying is done through the 'say' and 'pose' commands.

Example:
' Hello.
say Hello.
: smiles.
pose smiles.

12. How do you move around in the game?
A. The game is divided into several 'rooms'. You can simply enter in the text in the <> brackets to go to the next room. The exception to this is the +IC/+OOC commands, which are used to travel between the IC and OOC areas.

13. Where can I get help?
A. There's a special topic at the New Seattle forums for questions. You can also ask people online via the guest or newbie channels.

I've just recently found this game and, despite that it having a small playerbase (credited to the fact that it's still in Alpha), it is a fun place to play.

I was just in a scene last night running through the sewers of Seattle... Like ya do... And had a huge blast! The small staff and the players I've run in to are all top notch types. If you're interested in expanding your roleplaying to online games without having to pay extra for it, go ahead and check out this place!

Looks very cool. Can I connect over ssh?

This gave me dreams of Max Headroom the series:

http://www.newseattle.org/2008/07/23/what-are-blipverts/

You should be able to. Here is a little blurb on SSH clients to help with compatibility issues.

edit: My personal favorite client is zMUD has loads of features.

One thing to keep in mind, is that previously on Seattle, Detroit and Denver Muxes and Mushes, you could submit RP logs for karma awards. So a client that can support that (and most do) may not be a bad idea.

The other thing that I would say is that in my experience on the three previously mentioned sites is that karma, cash, and gear is awarded in very small increments. So don't get discouraged if it looks like you aren't getting the type of rewards that you do when playing table top. Everyone wants to be a magic practitioner so now would be the time to get your bg (background) in for that, while they are starved for players.

Want to get on the admin's good side?
Learn how to build or code. There were never enough of either on those three sites. And the admins always appreciated the extra help.

Currently, the game is player run. So, submitting logs for karma is out. However, it's still a good idea to be able to create logs for when staff takes over, and also to post your RP logs to the MUSH forum.

But Bob is right. You won't usually get the rewards you see from a tabletop game. Where you make it up is that your tabletop game will take place twice, maybe three times a month. At best, I've seen groups have a steady day once a week. With an online game like this, it's possible to do more game sessions than you would online. You also are able to keep the same character for longer than most tabletop games.

So I need some form of mud client. This is what is currently available in my ports tree:

http://openports.se/net/gmudix

Will this work? Or do I need to port something else over? I'd like to use my ssh client in my source tree since I know it's been security audited.

And what language is the MUD written it? I'm not opposed to submitting code if the API is easy to work with.

And what do I need to get started? I haven't played in a mud since the late 90's.

So I am interested, and I appreciate the little introduction you provided. But I am curious...is this like a sort of interactive pen-and-paper game? I declare my actions and the game calculates my successes? So no rolls or much record keeping for me?

Hey all, just a little update on the game and a reply to a few questions in no particular order:

To Machine Forum God: Yes, it's basically just like an online version of the Pen and Paper game. It's a persistent game based off of, well, the 4th edition Seattle scene. It's got a pretty good yet small playerbase at the moment and we are ALWAYS looking for more people who are looking to become players or GMs, or both!

To Tunnel Rat's statement concerning no karma rewards: Players can reward each other. The GM can reward the players and the players the GM (As usually the GM is also a player).

tweak: I don't know what Operating system you're using but you should do a google search for MUSHclient. I don't have the link readily available or I'd toss it to ya.

Anyway, the game is always looking for new players and people willing to roleplay as well as going on these things the savvy call 'runs'!

Hope to see you all there.

I played a SR3 mud for a little while called:

Name: Deckeon
Host Address: deckeon.mine.nu
Port: 2065

I found a really good free mud client was called SimpleMU

Hope some of that helps and I hope to look into your MUD in the future.