R.O.H.A.N. Online

R.O.H.A.N. Online, whose title stands for "Renaissance Of Human And Nature," is a free Korean/Japanese MMORPG that has been made available to international users, and which, contrary to what you would expect from the name, has nothing to do with Lord of the Rings. Its storyline involves a battle against the gods of the Celestial Castle of Rakhon who are out to destroy the world, but many players prefer the Player Versus Player aspect of the game, including the "vengeance" system which allows players who were PKed to teleport to their killer's location for a shot at payback.

There are seven races/classes so far in the game:


 * Humans: Humans are the primary melee warriors of the game. They are good at tanking and DPS, and are one of the few classes who can dual-wield, though with weapon and dagger rather than true dual-wielding. They usually wield swords, though humans going for a more tanking role will use maces or axes with a good shield.
 * Elves: One of the two primary magic-using races of the game, Elves mainly focus on either healing and buffing, or more offensive magic if they're going for the Templar class. They wield wands or staffs, and have the option of using a shield with the former.
 * Half-Elves: Half-Elves are excellent ranged attackers, using bows and crossbows to rain death on enemies from long distance.
 * Dark Elves: Dark Elves are more offensively oriented than their Elven counterparts, and are good at AOE damage. They use the same weapons as Elves, but unlike their Elven counterparts, they cannot use a shield.
 * Dhans: Dhans are the ninjas of Rohan. They're good at big spikes of damage from stealth and serious critical damage. Their unique weapon is a brace of Katars, though daggers and swords are also common.
 * Dekans: The resident Proud Warrior Race, these dragonlike humanoids are jack-of-all-trades types. They can DPS, they can tank, they can heal single targets, and at more advanced levels, they can turn into a dragon. Their primary weapon is the Zhen, a Double Weapon that can be split into two halves for Dual Wielding.
 * Giants: The newcomers of the game as of this writing, Giants are another big warrior race that focuses on tanking and DPS. They primarily wield dual swords or polearms.

Dhans and Dekans differ from the other races through the ability to enter "assassination mode," which allows them to PK other players while hiding their identity from them for vengeance purposes (you show up as "Dekan" or "Dhan" in red instead of your regular name). The downsides are that you can't join parties unless they're members of your race in assassination mode, and you are kill-on-sight for the guards of the other towns as well as being able to be attacked by other players as if you were a regular mob without having to hold down Control when choosing a target to attack, just like you would if you were a "murderer" (a player who PKs enough times to have his name show up in red).

Rohan, in addition to that system and the standard MMO-style questing in Player Versus Environment gameplay, also has several unique features:
 * Forging, which consists of taking two weapons or pieces of armor of different levels and combining them into a better weapon or armor. Forging two standard items together gets you a rare item, and forging two rare items together gets you a unique item. The really crazy among players will try to go for an ancient item, which involves taking a unique item and combining it with an item that gives attribute and weapon bonuses. Success is not assured on a forge attempt, and chance of failure goes up depending on what you're trying to forge and the level of the items in question, and if you fail, you will lose both items. The only way to keep your items on a failed forge attempt is to get a preservation stone, but the only way to get your hands on one is to go on the Exchange Market or Item Mall or try your luck on the Consignment Auctions.
 * Refining involves taking an item that has a level or attribute higher than what you generally possess and shelling out crones (Rohan's currency) to try to level it down so that you can equip it. Like forging, a successful refine is not assured, and apart from forging, refining is one of the biggest Money Sinks that you will come across short of pets, pet food and mounts.
 * The Fishing minigame allows you to try to use items that are taking up space in your inventory to try to score better items by catching fish. Your objective is to hit space when the little marker hits the green bar, which is not as easy as it sounds. The quality of the fish you catch and the items you get are dependent upon the quality of the item you're using as bait, the quality of the pole you're using and your timing, not to mention luck.

Rohan can be found at its own site or on Ijji.