Happy Birthday, LegendMUD!
LegendMUD celebrated its 13th birthday yesterday.
It actually opened slightly earlier than that — it was in beta testing beginning sometime in the summer or fall of 1993. But Valentine’s Day, 1994, was the day we picked for it to open to the public and be announced on what was then the hub of all mud activity: the rec.games.mud.* newsgroups.
At the time, it had a surprising feature list for a Diku-derived mud, thanks to the embedded scripting language. Herbal magic, vehicles, stuff like that. As part of the 13th anniversary some new features include the return of a global automated auction system, an accounts system (rather unusual for a mud), and in a blast from the past, the elimination of the old form of “deathtraps,” something you whippersnapper young MMORPG kids have never had the misfortune to experience. (These were rooms you walked into that killed you, and then to add insult to injury, ate your gear. Permanently.) Also, just last week the medieval Japan area was opened, after having been in various forms of development (and restarted many times) for probably ten years. It’s nice to not have deadlines. 😉
Check out the original announcement from 1994:
LegendMUD is a history-based mud–instead of wandering in fantasy-land you get to explore the history of the Earth–not as it was, but as it was believed to be at the time. See where the legends came from as you visit Roman Britain, the Arabian Nights, and the Middle Ages. Be a Tai-Pan on the China Tea Trade in 1841, or help fight Rommel the Desert Fox in World War II North Africa.
Our classless system and dozens of skills allow you to build your character exactly the way you want based on a percentile stat system. Our stat system more accurately reflects the things you most need to know about your character. Our special practice system eliminates the cumbersome juggling of percentages you’ve become used to.
We have three eras of time with 1500 rooms open to the public, and more entering the game constantly. Our code is stable — no constant crashes or lags. And we’re DIFFERENT: we promise to be a mud unlike any other you’ve played. Come learn our herb-based magic system, with over 100 possible affects and associated spells!
We research the historical periods for our areas in both fact-based and fanciful books. Our mobs are INTELLIGENT, with a wide range of reactions to what you say and do. Play blackjack with notorious criminal Big Jim Southland on the seamy side of London in the mid 19th century. Try to solve the riddle of the lamp and win Aladdin his princess!
10 Responses to “Happy Birthday, LegendMUD!”
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I miss deathtraps. Nothing made a player pay attention to his surroundings like knowing that there might be a deathtrap up ahead.
Of course, I still remember the ultimate deathtrap – the Horde of Rats Collectively.
Tell me more about the Horde of Rats Collectively?
I never played MUDs but it sounds cool and I can’t find any references with a quick web search.
If you remember her, Aermid says hi. She still think it’s spiffy she played your mud way back when and misses it sometimes.
Well, we miss her!
We finally decided that deathtraps and long-term, customizable character development were at odds with one another. Being able to customize your equipment on Legend is a very popular feature and the ability to do so is somewhat difficult. Also, as the game progressed, equipment went from being something you got in a day or so to having to hunt around for weeks to get back to your ‘old self’.
We pride ourselves on never, in 13 years, doing a player wipe. We still have some characters kicking around from the early days.
But with the character persistence, the high customization available to characters and the difficulty thereof, we felt as though we were actively discouraging people from exploring and the archetype had all but vanished. The risk was way too high. One wrong move and … well, you’re set back a few weeks gathering equipment, and maybe months gathering your customizations.
It also served a dual purpose as with the new scheme, it gets money out of the game which is something we desperately needed.
It was a tough decision, but I think for the long term goals of the game, it was one that had to be made.
Anyway, there are still any number of ways that mobs and areas can make one’s life unpleasant without directly destroying all of the equipment. Taking away the DT crutch forces the builders to think more critically in terms of ‘danger’, and with a wider variety of danger, you can have a wide variety of rewards.
Huh… what’s the connection between Aermid and WWMD?
Of course, I am perpetually surprised where I see ex-Legend folks pop up. I’ve bumped into one a couple of times because she wakrs as a consultant at Accenture, for example.
Oh, and Satsu is in biz dev in the games industry and has worked at several MMO companies.
Wasn’t Aermid’s husband named Matt?
(Just guessing, there might be another connection.)
Happy birthday, LegendMUD!
I’ve not actually played her (seems appropriate to use a feminine form, for some reason), but LegendMUD has been one of only two MUDs in this day and age of graphical MMOs to actively tempt me to play. And it’s been years since I’ve read any discworld, so Legend was bound to win 😛
I see Legends has redesigned it’s website, it looks great! Adding a “getting started” walkthrough and introduction to the in-game experience type thing would probably be a good idea, as well as some indication that the game is still active and populated. In fact, it was my inability to find any mention that the MUD still had a playerbase that resulted in me not trying it out about five months back now. I’ll look into dropping by somepoint, I think 😉
Happy birthday, LedgendMUD!
Though shy of its heyday, we still get up to 40 to 50 online sometimes with averages in peak times of around 30-35. And with the code additions of last year’s birthday, they actually play, not just sit around idle in inns!
[…] Raph has a little write up about it as well. […]
Heh… happy to see the DT’s finally went away…
Hard to believe what a huge part of my life LegendMUD was for so very long.
Happy B-day Legend!