Review Submitted By: Bane the veteran Assassin
Author Status: Player
Started on The Lands of Evermore: 07.1997, restarted 2001
Submission Date: Feb 9, 2004
TMC Listing: The Lands of Evermore
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Bane the veteran Assassin]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
I gained my first few levels in Evermore several years ago (back then
as a mage), I don't remember much from this time (only that I was
having trouble killing some rats in a cave and that the players were
already very friendly and helpful to my little newbie-self).
Then I stopped playing for three years. Later I came back to have a
look. My character was still there, so I played a bit and got hooked
;)
The MUD 'The Lands of Evermore' is an original world set in a
medieval environment. Evermore itself is an island-continent of wide
plains, deep forests, mighty mountains, a network of caves and tunnels
(underdark), cities, villages... (take a look at:
http://www.evermore.de/maps/map_of_the_world.html
for a world map of Evermore). The continent is surrounded by vast
oceans and even the wizards (coders) of Evermore don't know what lies
beyond them (though recently another big island has been discovered
south of Evermore and also already explored by a few adventurous
players) ;)
When you create a character in Evermore, you got one of six player
races to choose from. You can be a drow, dwarf, elf, gnome, human or
kender. You can set the attributes of your character yourself or let
it be done randomly. After choosing your favourite weapon your
character will then be 'born' in the home town of his race with some
basic equipment and basic skills.
Any of the races' home cities have their own newbie area (but of
course you are free to visit the newbie areas of other cities too),
so that is probably where your character wants to go first for some
monster points, experience, items and maybe a few prize points. Your
character gains levels by getting points in the following categories:
monster points (you get this for killing a monster you have never
killed before), quest points (obviously for solving quests), prize
points (you get those for solving small quests, doing various tasks,
recovering hidden rooms/areas and so on), experience points (you gain
experience mainly by solving quests and killing monsters, but there
are some other ways too). Gaining levels is relatively easy at the
beginning, but it gets harder later in the game and it seems nearly
impossible to reach level 100 (the highest level), although
there are a few players who have made it.
If you want, you can join one of the six guilds representing their
professions (druid, fighter, mage, priest, ranger, thief) and gain
additional skills and abilities (cast spells, brew potions, build
traps etc.). There are also some more, profession-independent, skills
to gain: fishing, smithy (to make your own weapons) and playing
musical instruments to name a few.
The Lands of Evermore is a non PK MUD, but there are still several
ways to compete with other players. For example there is a high tower
with many monsters in it, which get nastier and bigger with every
tower-level, and even the number one player on the high-score list
hasn't made it to the top yet. There is also an arena where you can
fight against NPC-gladiators to earn fame (and wealth), an arena
where you can bet on gladiator fights, you can gamble, there are game
events and much more. Game events can happen at any time (but they
don't happen often) and range from amusing (mushroom season,
cow-catching, rat plague) to extremely dangerous (hell hound or hydra
attacks). At a game event players from all over Evermore flock to
the attacked town to defend it together and fight back the monster
tide (and if they are lucky they may even manage to kill the
monster-king). The killed monsters are counted and the best
killers/collectors/whatevers can admire themselves on a high-score
list which is hung out in the players guild.
Evermore is well designed (it also has its own history) and still
growing. Attention is paid that new areas, monsters or items always
fit into the mood and topography of Evermore, so the world has a feel
of continuity and depth to it.
The descriptions of rooms, monsters and items are generally well
written and very detailed. They are supported by several sense-skills
(hear, smell, taste, sense of danger, ...).
There are countless monsters of different strengths ranging from
harmless to deadly, some employ the same skills and magic spells a
player can have, some have entirely different (magical) powers. There
are weapons and armours which can be enchanted, blessed or poisoned
by PCs (if they have the skill to do so) or NPCs. And there are other
items some of which are very powerful (and sometimes cursed)
artifacts which exists only once in the game and may vanish
completely for a certain time.
The MUDs atmosphere is very good, players and wizards are
newbie-friendly and helpful so you shouldn't have many problems to
get started. Also, as a newbie you will never run into a deadly trap,
a monster able to kill you with one blow or another unfair thing
(but if you ask for it you certainly will die ;)).
There are also two small let-downs: Evermore's MUD-lib is currently
undergoing a big change, while this will of course make the MUD
better, you will inevitably meet the big, bad bug-monster some time
on your journeys. Fortunately this is not such a big problem because
it doesn't happen very often and the wizards are helpful here: if you
should lose money, items or experience through a bug you
will be compensated.
The second point is more a matter of personal opinion: There could be
more roleplaying (roleplaying is encouraged, but not required so some
players do roleplay some don't). Nevertheless, I enjoy playing in
Evermore very much...
There are of course many more things to 'The Lands of Evermore' which
I haven't mentioned, but hey, I want to play it and not die writing
about it ;) If you want to know more go and have a look yourself...
