Ryzom

The Saga of Ryzom is an MMORPG which takes place on the tree-world of Atys.

Some 40 years ago, a nest of giant insects (collectively known as Kitins) was discovered, triggering a massive invasion of the Atysian surface, and forcing the four races to seek shelter in the Prime Roots, under the protection of the Karavan and the Kamis. Not much is known about either of these latter groups, except that the Karavan worship Jena and have some really cool technology (including teleportation and resurrection), the Kamis worship Ma-Duk, have yetis as bodyguards, and are resistant to almost all forms of Karavan technology. Neither group likes the other much.

After two years of fighting, the Karavan and the Kamis cleared out the surface world, allowing the Homins to retake it; so now the proud warrior Fyros live in the desert, the regal and expansionist Matis live in the forest, the happy-go-lucky Trykers live on the Lakes, and the mysterious, blue, masked Zorai live in the jungle. The races maintain an uneasy peace and trade relations, which is not helped by the fact that every race figures every other race are all idiots, but the Kitins are back and everyone is basically screwed if we don't all work together.

You are a refugee; you've made the difficult journey from the Prime Roots to the camp outside the Ruins of Silan, where you can learn how to fight, use magic, craft goods, and harvest raw materials from a representative of each race before you go to the mainland.

The selling point for the game is the amount of customization involved in getting yourself ready for combat. All of your moves are customizable in some way; you can cast spells and use fighting moves from hit points instead of Sap or Stamina, if you want. And the crafting system involves harvesting any of 5 different grades of material, with a quality rating of anywhere from 1 to 250, of any type from seeds to jewels to bark (and there are several different kinds of each) but no metal, and crafting them into jewelry, weapons, armor, and guns. Yes, you can make automatic rocket launchers from the bones of your enemies and sap you dig out of the ground. Mix in some surprisingly detailed herd AI for realism, an entirely-player-run economy, and an almost universally friendly community, and you've got a really good game.

The game's homepage is here.

Tropes used in Ryzom include:

Amplifier Artifact: The Magic Amplifiers.
Anachronism Stew: Technically averted, but guns in a world without metal invoke the feel of this trope.
Beware the Cute Ones: The Kamis, yeti bodyguards notwithstanding, look kinda cuddly, but you will reverse this opinion of them very fast if you get on their bad side.
Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: We have Yubos which function as hairy pigs, Ybers are basically toucans, Bodocs are basically stegosauruses without the spikes, Kitins are all modelled after some kind of insect or shellfish, and the list goes on.
Cast from Hit Points: Easily possible, and technically more cost effective than casting using Sap or Stamina. Typically makes you into a Glass Cannon, since you can attack hard and fast at range, but you die faster if anything manages to hit you.
Elemental Crafting: Very, very yes. What kind of material you use to make an item out of, along with its grade and quality, will determine its stats. Different kinds of wood have different stats, for instance. The skill of the crafter is still important, of course.
Elemental Nation: Four main races have strong hints of these.
Fantastic Racism: Oh, wow.
- The Matis figure that the other races are lacking in ambition, that the Fyros are hot-headed idiots, the Trykers are too jolly and carefree for their own good, and the Zorai are nature freaks.
- The Fyros think the Matis are too expansionist, the Trykers are too unfocused, and the Zorai are too pansy.
- The Trykers think the Matis are too pretentious (the Matis had enslaved the Trykers at some point in the backstory) and are idiots for doing their experiments on Silan, that the Fyros are too hot-blooded and inquisitive (having unleashed the Kitin horde while looking for the Dragon), and that the Zorai are too reserved.
- The Zorai basically think everyone else should respect nature a bit more.
- Also happens between the Karavan (who believe the Kamis are obstructive nature-freaks) and the Kamis (who believe the Karavan are blasphemous intruders).
Fridge Brilliance: The races' favourite damage types.
- Fyros are obvious.
- Matis' Poison includes a number of organic and inorganic compounds, found or grown in earth.
- Trykers' Shockwave is a form of weaponized disturbance in the air.
- Zorai Electricity makes use of water as a conductor.
Eldritch Abomination: The Dragon... according to legend.
Fantasy Gun Control: Notably averted. Since Kitins wander the world and the local wildlife are badass enough on their own, guns of several kinds are sold in stores in all major cities.
Five Races: Well, four. The Fyros, the Matis, the Trykers, and the Zorai.
Global Currency Exception: The Civilization and Faction vendors, whom you pay with points from delivery quests and pvp, respectively.
Hammerspace: You can carry 10 autolaunchers in your inventory. These babies are roughly 8 feet long. It's even more noticable for Trykers, who are half as tall as anyone else.
Healing Factor: Did you just get mauled by a giant crab? Sit down for a couple minutes, you'll be fine.
Healing Potion: There is an Occupation dedicated to making these.
Higher-Tech Species: The Karavan.
Hyperspace Arsenal: You can easily carry one of each kind of gun, lots of ammunition, a second set of armor, and dozens of animals worth of raw materials in your backpack.
In-Universe Game Clock: Atys has day and night cycles (which are caused by the sun dimming and brightening, as opposed to rotation; nobody really knows how that works), plus the four Earth seasons. Sometimes the time of day, the season, or even the weather at that particular moment will influence what is available to harvest.
Magic Versus Science: The Karavan and the Kami don't particularly like each other.
Mass Teleportation: Used in the backstory. Apparently it utilized rainbows.
More Dakka: Autolaunchers.
Mysterious Protector: The Karavan and the Kamis. The rumours are that the Karavan are Space Marines from another planet, and the Kamis are the embodiment of the planet's spirit, but who knows? And who cares? They help fight the Kitins and they do the teleportation and the resurrection stuff for us.
Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Unless you are extremely high level, try any creature whose name is prefixed with something like Lacerating or Vicious.
Nature Hero: Primarily the Zorai, although every Player Character invokes this feel, since all of your gear is made from materials quartered from your enemies or dug out of the ground.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Fyros.
Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: Every small area has a local Kami Tolerance rating; if you harvest too much from that spot, the Kamis will give everyone nearby a stern warning, and then you have maybe two minutes more harvesting at the outside before they smite you for all they are worth.
Scenery Porn: Oh, just go look around anywhere. Even the desert is serene in its own sandy way. The are giant flowers scattered around the world, the lakes have luscious plants beneath the surface, small birds occasionally dig their way out of the ground before taking off in a blue streak, and the night sky is always cool to look at.
Schizo-Tech: You can buy bows, pistols, rifles, bowrifles, rocket launchers, and automatic rocket launchers from the same store.
Science Hero: The Karavan.
Sealed Evil in a Can: The Dragon, according to the Karavan. Their policy is "DO NOT TOUCH".
Space Marine: The Karavan again.
Taking You with Me: Yelks, when killed, release poisonous vapours for a few seconds, so you are advised to kill them from a distance and wait a few seconds before quartering them.
The Corruption: The aptly-named Goo, which is a purple substance that spouts out of the ground. Apparently functions as an addictive psychedelic drug, and also makes the wildlife tougher. If you go near a goo-infested area, you'll take damage.
The Greys: The Kamis.
Wide Open Sandbox: The mainland is so incredibly large that some players get overwhelmed, make a new character, and stay on the tutorial island of Silan for a while.
Wiki Rule: https://web.archive.org/web/20180313175543/http://ryzomnomnom.com/. *chuckle*