I don't think it's too hard to set up a minilogin (local, single-player) server. When I first found this place, I used Cavedude's Serverpack (it can be found by searching this site, or the wiki). Took me maybe a few hours of trolling around here and the wiki to get all the answers I needed.
I was pretty amazed when I first logged in to _my own world_. and immediately... killed everything that had ever killed me before.
