City By The Bay is a good starter MuX for people interested in getting into online textbased gaming. The staff is friendly, the playerbase is helpful and there are many excellent roleplayers. The modern setting (based on the Anita Blake novels by Laurell K Hamilton) provides a handy, easy to imagine world separated from our own only by the existence and social impact of preternatural beings and magic. That having been said, the MuX is something of a mixed bag if you are expecting a more rules-heavy environment (like most LARPs or tabletop gaming). Setting and Story: Story and setting are both excellent and well-implemented. The locations designed are true to the city, well-described and varied, from beaches to nightclubs to deep woods to filthy back alleys. In other words, the staff has done an excellent job of providing a functional cityscape and surroundings for play. In addition, a nifty travel system allows characters to get from place to place with relative ease. The thematic elements of the books are observed fairly well, with the preternatural creatures' amazing physical and metaphysical abilities being balanced out by laws and law enforcement that doesn't believe in taking chances with people who are, functionally, beings of mass destruction. In addition, within those preternatural cultural groups, there are strong internal checks and balances that keep them in line. Playing a werewolf is fun, but unless you are the Ulric (the wolf king), be prepared to suffer for breaking the rules of that group. Knowledge of LKH's Anita Blake works will make the MuX more fun for you, but the excellent helpfiles and coaching from other players will help you understand the setting's quirks in short order. The roleplaying history and backstory for the MuX are rich and detailed. This world has been active for awhile now and there is a rich internal mythology and history added to the base put down by Ms. Hamilton in her books. Several massive RP events have affected everybody in the city at various points and just like the source material, subtle and not so subtle tensions between the various groups ensure that one group or faction never runs wild without facing some form of reprisal. One note is that human characters (as opposed to werewolves, vampires, etc.) might have a harder time finding consistent and fun RP without hooking themselves into one of those factions as a friend, lover or associate of the preternatural beings. The System: For player versus environment challenges, the decision on who wins is largely by fiat. Whatever serves the purpose of the current plot, story or scene works. This is decided by the players or by calling in a member of the staff to GM the scene or plot. The system used for player to player combat by the MuX is basically a simple mathematical formula that adds up to two numbers that are compared by either the players or a member of staff. For instance, a Master vampire (strong vampire) has a value of 3 at the base. If he has some ability that modifies that, such as super speed, that number adds directly. Master 3 + Super speed 2 gives you a combat value of 5. Which would mean that your opponent would have to score that to come to a draw with you or better to beat you. Roleplaying history and backgrounds are not figured into the equation. Extreme martial skills are not something that must be approved by staff, so they are largely ignored. The Staff: Excellent. The Wiz staff is comprised of people who seem to genuinely care about the MuX, the player base and the long-term health of the RP environment. They tend to make sound decisions, are very approachable and have no problems reversing themselves if a prior decision turns out to be sub-optimal for the MuX as a whole. Summary: For some players, getting used to a very 'rules-light' resolution system might take a little effort, but City By The Bay is worth it. A good and fun online environment for a person who likes modern Fantasy. City By The Bay is a great MuX that is getting better all the time, thanks to the staff and players and will provide many, many hours of fun RP for a person who enjoys a rich, detailed setting and involved roleplaying.