TMC Player Reviews: Unwritten Legends

Review Submitted By: Dave Haugh
Author Status: Player
Started on Unwritten Legends: september 1998
Submission Date: Feb 1, 2004
TMC Listing: Unwritten Legends

The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Dave Haugh] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.

I have been mudding for many, many years and this is by far the best 
one I have come across. The content is incredibly deep. 
Each room in the MUD has objects that can be interacted with.
When you see something in the room description you can look at
it to see a more detailed description along with performing several 
verb actions with it. Same goes with your equipment. Look at the 
item, see more detail and manipulate it with other verbs. 

The staff interacts on almost a daily basis. Anything from special 
merchants where you can buy custom gear to elaborate plotlines that 
involve an outstanding adventure.

The game mechanics itself are great. Your skills are raised by using 
them, but they can only be raised to the max for that level. So you 
must try to gain experience. There are several ways this can be done.
One is of course hunting the various monsters. However, hunting is 
not the only way. You can gain experience through working a job
at the local shipping companies. Fishing will gain you experience, 
even foraging. You can even get levels by playing a simple game of 
maedin with your friends or raise levels on roleplaying bonuses.

The builders, or as they call them, painters. Are excellent writers 
who can �paint� an amazing world with their words. The staff are 
friendly and very helpful.

It is in testing right and is not without it's problems. 
However the staff members are eager to help resolve any problems
one might have and other players are just as helpful.

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Comment Submitted By: Christopher Hartsock
Author Status: Player
Started on Unwritten Legends: 1998
Submission Date: Apr 6, 2004

(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author [Christopher Hartsock] and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff).

I've been involved with Unwritten Legends since its early 
incarnation as Realms of Exile, and David is right, but I'd 
go a step further in my praise of this ground-breaking MUD.
Staff Interaction: extraordinary. System complexity: extreme, 
but very user-friendly Gaming Community: helpful, dedicated and 
steadfastly loyal. Roleplaying Environment: outstanding promotion 
of RP over power-leveling mentality.

That's rather sparse praise, in fact. This game has been in testing 
for no less than 6 or 7 years, and that has nothing to do with 
laziness. The refusal to release the product to the general 
public until it is absolutely the best MUD out there in the Fantasy 
genre has kept this one under wraps, and improving every day.

It surpasses the games it intends to replace on an order of magnitude.

With 12,000+ rooms, and still growing, this is a serious attempt at 
world-building on a scale so grand it truly does leave the first time 
player stunned, even if they have years of MUD experience. The sky, 
sun, moon and stars are THERE. The sun sets, and the triple moons 
rise and set as well, and the rooms actually change (all 12,ooo+ of 
them) to reflect that realism.

In its final incarnation, there will be a very user-friendly in-
between-world, to acclimate the novice player, and help give
direction to the advanced ones, and all of this is done in 
character. The end result is to provide a staggering series of tools
to augment any, and I mean -any- type of character you'd like to 
play.

It doesn't stop there. This world, Thrael, will never be completely 
built, and the emphasis on player-motivated player-driven player-run 
player-designed elements is absolutely unique. Even after it's built, 
any character, with some hard work and creativity, can leave a 
lasting and actual mark on the planet. The Realmforgers program 
allows players to submit designs for regions they'd like to see, 
subject to approval, and the Maedin Society Publishers permit 
characters to write their own documents, IC, and have them sold as 
merchant items. Anyone can write articles for the newspaper found in 
the game, and law enforcement is code-supported for players to be the 
Imperial Guard...in fact, everything above in final incarnation, if 
not code-supported now, will be.

If one thing -must- be said about this game, it is highest praise for
an outstanding and ingenious staff. Mature individuals with a 
serious mind for roleplay, professional-level coding, unprecedented 
accessibility, a tireless IA department, and an ethical 
conscientiousness have set them very high on the pay-for-play food 
chain.

Testing is still underway, and testers are needed for every element. 
I highly recommend filling out an application to test, or join staff, 
and if nothing else, some terrific reading and a good prev2iew may be 
had at www.unwritten.net

A glimpse of the custom FE is available, as is the painstakingly 
researched and created history, calendar, deity system, ecology, 
geography, and even astronomy of this limitless universe.


Nuff said. Check it out.