Shattered Kingdoms is a sword and sorcery fantasy roleplaying game, played online by many people at the same time who each roleplay a different character. Shattered Kingdoms is free to join and free to play any time you wish - you can login to the Shattered Kingdoms realm from anywhere on the Internet. Shattered Kingdoms (SK) draws inspiration from table-top games such as Dungeons and Dragons but brings it into a dynamic world that you can share with many other players around the clock. Like a good book, SK frees your imagination to picture its world and denizens however you see fit. Unlike commercial MMPORGs such as EverQuest, Shattered Kingdoms has players, not `customers`. It has the freedom to maintain its unique atmosphere by catering to only certain types of players.

Our goal is to build a game where you can have fun role-playing a character and pitting his strength against both creatures and players. While Shattered Kingdoms offers plenty of opportunity to use swords and sorcerery, the emphasis here is on combat through role-play. In addition, our realms provide a less restrictive and more realistic playing environment than similar games. There are no hard-coded restrictions on equipment or on killing, and while we may try to steer you away from an action with subtle warnings, we try hard to let you perform any action which makes sense.

The main continent of SK is home to six different kingdoms - all of which are available for citizenship as a new character. Five of the six kingdoms in the realms are controlled by a tribunal whose player members enforce their individual laws. While the player leader of a tribunal may not be the actual ruler of the kingdom, they do speak for them and wield power in their name. One kingdom is completely lawless. Organizations known as cabals, which provide unique powers to their members, are also available to join. Cabal members are generally stronger than non-members, but frequent violent confrontations with other cabals can mean that cabal membership is not something desired by everyone. See our kingdoms page for more information. Training and equipment both are skill- and level-based, and equipment is saved. We have extended race and class selections, though no multi-classing is allowed. Player-killing and -stealing is allowed and can be a strong factor in the realms. Character approval is unnecessary, though all immortals are available to help with questions. The code base for Shattered Kingdoms also allows for such things as smart NPCs, detailed quests, a true-to-life criminal justice system, cabal wars and experience rewards for role-playing.

Roleplaying is where you take on the persona of someone and effectively live out the life of a character as though you were him or her. For example, if you are roleplaying an evil priest, the language you might use and the things you might do would be the same kind of language and actions that you might expect an evil priest to use. Your imagination and your diversity are what defines how your character acts and subsequently, what happens to your character throughout their life. If you`ve played a table-top roleplaying game such as Dungeons and Dragons, you will already be familiar with the concept. The difference in Shattered Kingdoms however, is that you type what you want to say and do into your computer, rather than speaking out loud.