Mount & Blade

[jumpy]

Sandbox style RPG.

Not really in to RPG's/MMORPG's, ie. LOTR, WOW etc.

However I tried the demo of Mount & Blade (http://www.taleworlds.com/index.html from the downloads section) and was pleasantly surprised at how engaging it was.
Doesn't look as graphically polished as LOTR or Age of Conan, but it has a certain charm all of its own.
There's a lively modding community (http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php) and with the addition of the ever useful JSGME I was able to add some new map textures almost immediately.

Ended up buying this one from play.com for 9 quid! bargain-tastic!

I guess it's a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean, but without the ships, and no undead super npc's to kill off your career.

Combat is real time with a simple interface revolving around the mouse. Weapons range from rocks to swords, bows, crossbows, spears, lances etc etc.
It's basically medieval stuff, with no magic or demons and the like. Plenty of trade, looting, slaving, besieging, fighting off bandits, quests for various people. You get to recruit other characters to fight in your band, either for you alone or for a faction you are allied to - these include footmen, archers, cavalry. All characters have a detailed level up/skills and points system, which is fairly intuitive.

Battles can have up to 100 participants per side (though there is a mod to remove this limit) depending on how many troops you are capable of leading.

On the whole it's pretty good fun.