 | Happy Birthday, LegendMUD!February 15th, 2007 |
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!
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[...] Raph has a little write up about it as well. [...]