The Kingdom of Loathing

The Kingdom of Loathing is a humorous, satirical, and, most importantly, free MMORPG created by Asymmetric Publications (Zack "Jick" Johnson and Josh "Mr Skullhead" Nite). Born on January 31st, 2003, almost as a joke, it is notable for its usage of simple stick figure graphics, surreal gameplay, and slogan "An Adventurer is You!".

KoL is currently in open beta -- it's open to the public to play, but it's not quite finished. More features and things to do are being added on a nearly daily basis. Despite its unfinished state, it has already attracted a thriving community of interesting, intelligent, and helpful players.

KoL is, and always will be, free to play, but donations are appreciated and will be rewarded.

KoL is played from the comfort of your browser, and it is adorned with a staggering array of stunning hand-drawn images. It is turn-based, which means you get a certain number of turns (Adventures) each day. The Kingdom of Loathing was once a pleasant place, where all the citizens loathed one another equally, and nobody caused too much trouble. Under the gentle rule of King Ralph XI, peace had prevailed for as long as anybody could remember.

One fateful Porktober morning, a Sorceress came to the Kingdom. A Naughty Sorceress. A Naughty Sorceress who was clearly up to no good, and, even more clearly, up to plenty of bad. King Ralph sought to expel the Naughty Sorceress from his Kingdom, but she imprismed him in a black crystalline shard of curdled magic. It was very dramatic.

Monsters emerged from their hidey-holes to terrorize the citizens of Loathing, and larger monsters emerged from their larger hidey-holes to terrorize those monsters, all under the control of the Naughty Sorceress.

In the King's absence, The Council of Loathing convened to attempt to impose order on the Kingdom. Their success was limited, however, to imposing their will on adventurers who came to the Kingdom seeking fame, fortune, or quality products at reasonable prices. And, as you've probably guessed by now, one of those adventurers is you!

It is completely free, though donations are accepted, appreciated, and encouraged by the offering of a powerful accessory for a ten-dollar donation, which in turn can be traded for a powerful "item of the month", which is only available for a limited time, but it can also be bought from other players for in-game currency.

The game's graphics consist almost entirely of stick figures and other crude black-and-white drawings.

The game possesses a sense of humor that is at times snarky, scathingly satirical, and loaded with pop culture references, including parodies of other RPGs. For example, the Dungeons of Doom are homages to the game NetHack, while another zone is the "Penultimate Fantasy Airship", with monsters that take the piss out of Square Enix games (mainly Final Fantasy VII and Dragon Quest). In fact, it has been described as "World of Warcraft as written by Monty Python and illustrated by xkcd".

The last one is the biggest draw of the game for many. For example, the tutorial quest involves doing tasks for a talking bird known as the (wait for it) Toot Oriole. "Meat" is the currency of the realm, simultaneously parodying and justifying the RPG tradition of monsters dropping money when defeated. Monsters include not only such traditional fantasy fare as goblins, gnolls, and vampires, but also hippies, Orcish frat boys, Ninja Snowmen, ASCII smileys, and zmobies (which are like zombies, except they were misspelled by a magical accident) and a late-game quest involves a long and complex search for a device literally called the Holy MacGuffin. Then there's the six character classes:

Seal Clubbers (Offensive Muscle), barbarians who "hail from the frigid Northlands, because one character class always hails from the frigid Northlands". They fight viciously in combat, building up Fury to power up some of their attacks, and can summon demonic seals so they can club them. They can also learn to craft advanced weapons and Dual Wield.

Turtle Tamers (Defensive Muscle), heavily-armored warriors who can cast buffs to improve their (and others') defense and affinity with their familiars, use their armor as weapons, and channel the Great Turtle Spirits to give them an edge in combat. They can also learn to craft advanced armor, and with the right equipment can tame turtles (which can be used as combat items, to make armor, or even become familiars, depending on the turtle in question).

Pastamancers (Offensive Mysticality), spellcaster/chefs who attack with powerful spells like "Ravioli Shurikens" and "Cannelloni Cannon" and summon food-themed spirit entities known as "Pasta Thralls". They can also learn to prepare delicious noodle dishes.

Saucerors (Defensive Mysticality), spellcasters who fight by conjuring blasts of hot and cold sauces and casting sauce curses upon their enemies. They're also able to conjure "saucespheres", gather Soul Sauce from enemies to power special skills, and brew sauces for Pastamancers to cook with or potions to buff themselves (or others).

Disco Bandits (Offensive Moxie), rogues who fight with knives or ranged weapons, along with a variety of debilitating dance moves. They are the only class specializing in booze, capable of learning the Advanced, Superhuman, and Salacious Cocktailcrafting skills.

Accordion Thieves (Defensive Moxie), bards who use their ill-gotten instruments in combat as well as to cast an astounding variety of buffs on themselves and others by playing songs (like "the Moxious Madrigal" and "the Power Ballad of the Arrowsmith").