Comment Submitted By: Prienna (Judy Henry)
Author Status: Player
Started on Lensmoor: 1999
Submission Date: Jul 14, 2006
(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author
[Prienna (Judy Henry)] and in no way represents the opinions of this website
or its staff).
I've recently returned to Lensmoor after a long absence. Some things
have changed, which is par for the course. One of the things I like
about Lensmoor is that it DOES constantly change. When things start
falling into a rut, with cookie-cutter 'best' character building
design and choices, the staff shakes it up so that we have, once
again, dozens of different ways to build a good, successful character.
Of course, when one of these shake-ups happens, the players who have
used the advantage to build one of those powerful cookie-cutter
characters get upset, but still, somehow, Lensmoor survives, and I
admire the staff's willingness to take the flak in order to keep Lens
what it is--a mud of infinite paths to success.
Because, that's the one thing Lensmoor has going over all other
muds--variety. Almost anything is available, and can succeed. Wanna be
a master crafter who can't fight his way out of a paper bag, but is
still respected and influential, not to mention rich? Big into rp,
want to build a family of 10 kids and 20 cousins and buy yourselves a
giant house of your own? Fine! Inclined to be a merchant, and own your
own store? No problemo! Want to be a super-evil, etiquette conscious
bad guy politely negotiating for the bodies of dead children? You can
do that, too. (We've got one of those going right now.)
The only caution I would give to new players is that Lens is SOOO
multi-layered and complex, you can't give it a fair judgement in a
single 20-minute visit. There's just too much to know, too much to
learn about, it's too non-stock. So, best advice for new visitors is
to make a toss-away char, and spend 10 hours or so chatting up the
friendly residents, getting ideas about the ten thousand possibilities
for char, ask questions on the newbie channel (which are ALWAYS
replied to by the local denizens), and then and only then decide if
the variety and complexity and no-easy-answers world of Lensmoor is
one you want to settle down into and make a home away from home.
Because, in all honesty, if you're looking for a place where you can
become king of the hill in 100 hours by following a set 'best way',
Lensmoor isn't the place for you. OTOH, if you're looking for a mud
where you can nurture and grow a char for rl years, through marriages
and deaths and remorts and career changes, friends, enemies, shops,
homes, changes of religion, warring clans, and did I mention the rare
but fun 'global catastrophe', like when magic quit working and was
not restored until the players, collectively, had identified the cause
and restored things to normal?
So, no, Lens is not an ordinary mud. If you want an ordinary mud,
there's hundreds to choose from. But if you want a DIFFERENT mud, one
that you can really sink yourself into and follow for years, Lensmoor
is the place for you!
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