Avendar: The Crucible of Legends

     

Avendar: The Crucible of Legends is an entirely original fantasy world, with its own unique history, classes, areas, races, and code. Our world history has evolved and developed organically over our 15-plus years of life, and this resounds in every facet of our elaborate and detailed gameworld.

Currently, we have over 24 classes, 10 races, and over 800 skills and spells. Summon demons in unique hermetic rituals, raise drakes from hatchlings, weave unique blends of magic and martial power as any of our templar classes, and much more. Players can adventure and explore in this world, compete invididually or alongside others in the great Houses which fight ideological wars over the control over ten stones of power.

Roleplaying is required at Avendar, and we encourage roleplayers with a detailed pantheon of deities, all culturally linked to the races they represent and offering sample roles in their various sects. (http://www.avendar.net/deities.php) Playerkilling is also highly encouraged; this is a world where ideological conflicts often cannot be stopped with just discussion.

Experience a world where simple descriptions can immerse you instantly. Travail a world filled with intricate puzzles, complex, murky storylines, robust NPC banditry, and riddling imps. Participate in epic quests and story arcs. Back after a six-month downtime, enjoy what Avendar has to offer!


Mud Theme: Fantasy Roleplaying

Avendar: The Crucible of Legends Mud Reviews

15 reviews found, Post a review

Review posted by Ghostey
Posted on Thu Aug 4 20:07:34 2011 / 0 comments
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Avendar has been going through a rather extensive overhaul during the last few years. The classes, skills, spells, and races have all seen extensive reworking and have improved ten fold since the start of this. New areas are being released, new items and changes to existing items and areas have all become a regular function once again.

The current staff that supports Avendar.com has truly sunk thousands of their personal time and effort into ensuring that Avendar.com is as up to date and competitive as it can be. Where we once started, this new staff has come in and picked up the slack and really taken off running with the direction and theme of this world. I fully recommend that you come and see it for yourself.

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Review posted by TKD
Posted on Tue Jul 5 20:29:28 2011 / 0 comments
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I began playing Avendar in 1999. When I type that I realize how much time has gone by, and then I look at the game and I see how much has changed. When I started playing we had a pretty decent sized playerbase at all hours of the day and night. It was never quiet, but that's a good thing. We had an Immortal staff that was busy cranking out stuff, making the game better and all in all the people seemed happy. Back then I was new, though. This hard game was just that: Hard. I didn't realize at the time that while some people made an effort to help me most of these people were content just living in their own worlds, making their characters as strong as possible.

I got better. I learned the ropes. Things looked up for me for a long time, but I never was part of any of the cliques that at the time seemed to always run the game. Newbies came and went. Sometimes they stayed but overall the numbers in the game gradually declined. There were obvious highs during the summer and the expected lows during the winter but each year it got worse and worse.

Some of these highs I would miss and sometimes I'd miss the lows too due to my job in the Navy, but then sometimes I would come back and see the sad shape of the MUD. It crashed often, sometimes two and three times each day. Again the numbers began to decline. New staff members took over and it seemed as if things would change, yet again the MUD stagnated. Lofty promises would be made, but most of the work was being put on just a few people who couldn't maintain game. Often there was talk of 'Avendar 2.0' and yet this was just another promise that ended up never seeing the light.

Eventually the game became stable and updates began happening, but it was like getting a school bus running for the upcoming school year when there were no kids within a hundred miles. Some of the vets stayed around, but mostly the game became a ghost town. Avendar was, for all intents and purposes, dead.

There were three Immortals that changed the tide though. Neongrey, Ninjadyne and Brazen. Brazen and Neongrey had been part of the staff for some time and both were making huge strides in trying to make the MUD a better place, while Ninjadyne spent his off time helping Neongrey with helpfiles and Brazen with coding. Ninjadyne eventually became an Immortal and Neongrey became the Implementor of Avendar.

I'm reminded of a word from Norse mythology; Ragnarok: The end of the reign of the Old Gods and the beginning of the New Gods. This is Avendar 2.0, not because the code has been completely redone, but because Neongrey, Brazen and Ninjadyne have breathed new life into a once prospering world. For the first time in years this is a game that I can honestly say that I look forward to logging on to. I recommend going to their website at www.Avendar.com and checking it out. While I'm not part of the staff I know that myself and most any other player would be willing to help you learn the ropes, though members of staff monitor the 'Newbie' channel so they'll be able to get to you before most of us.

I look forward to seeing some new faces. Besides, who knows, we might run into each other and get a chance to roleplay some.

-TKD

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Review posted by Jessica
Posted on Fri Jul 3 21:58:34 2009 / 0 comments
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Avendar's setting is so incredibly rich it's a little intimidating, at first.

The mud's completely original and there's a huge array of original races to play; though one can still play a human if they wish to. The classes are mostly original, with a unique take on some classes experienced mudders have come to know and love.

The magic system is fairly standard, though selecting what type of 'mage' you want to be isn't just typing 'necromancer', or 'enchanter'. Choosing spheres of study is the way of Avendar, and all of the elements are present and accounted for. For 'good' and 'evil', one chooses either Spirit or Void (and void is recommended for experienced Avendarans only), and you can either choose to be a Greater in your chosen sphere (choosing the sphere twice at creation) or you can be a combination of them: earth/air scholar, water/void scholar, etc. (some combinations are better than others, though all are still quite playable)

The staff is attentive and there are occasional staff-run quests and events, though most of the mud is player-driven. The organizations are fairly standard, even if their players don't happen to be. Good has their Champions of Armril, Evils have their choice of Raiders of Twilight or the Covenant of the Shunned (an experienced player-exclusive house), neutrals have Knights of Enirra, and any alignment can join the Guardians of Law (just need to be lawful). Houses fight over Stones of Power, and their are only 10 stones to be had. Makes for interesting diplomacy and house-raiding most certainly.

The gods are pretty important, but they have less of an active hand in the world. Though, if you wish to be devoted to a god, you simply need to pray to that god, and if they are listening, a-questing you go to get a 'sigil' (a god's specific brand that's not easy to get, but usually worth it.)

The mud environment is a rich place full of role-playing of every caliber, and playerkilling of every caliber. If player-killing isn't your thing, don't play a shuddeni (always evil race) or a ch'taren (always good race) in a house. If rp is your thing, there's literally no limit to roles one can play in the crucible that is Avendar.

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Review posted by Jes
Posted on Wed Mar 25 21:23:38 2009 / 0 comments
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I believe this may be the briefest review I've ever done. There is very, very little in Avendar I don't happen to love. Avendar has a thoroughly unique world, absolutely no stock areas. (at least none that I've seen, and I've touched at least 3.5k rooms at the writing of this review.)

Avendar also sports unique races; Ch'taren, Chaja, ethron to name a few.

Avendar's class selection is half-standard, to a point. The scholar and templar classes are unique, at least to this player. Alchemists are available, and your bread-and-butter fighters and rogues will always await your creation.

The staff is friendly, the playerbase is incredibly helpful. The roleplay is believable, and the PK isn't too extreme.

All of that said, I have one solitary gripe: The newbie school is lamentably brief. Despite my incredibly, entirely small gripe, Avendar is a great place for both veteran mudders and newblets alike.

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Review posted by Ghostey
Posted on Tue Feb 10 20:44:00 2009 / 0 comments
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I've been playing on Avendar for ten years now. In that time the MUD has under gone several changes. The staff has expanded some incredible new immortals, and lost some that were outstanding. The MUD itself has only continued to evolve from the brain child of a few friends into a community that strives to see things continue to work and grow more then they already have.

The world is completely original, there have been several new areas added within the last few years, along with classes, races, spells and even the pre-existing ones have been tweaked and refined. While our base isn't the largest out there, I think we have one that really understands one another, and works well together. Most every story you come across from other players are well thought out and are done with a good touch of class and experience. It isn't hard to get lost in RP here at all, and spend hours talking and interacting with one another.

As far as game play is concerned, the areas are large enough, and the different story lines that go with each area/race/etc are detailed enough that when you visit these places as a character you can feel them as if you were there. NPC's interact with you, they yell commands at one another in combat training and the amount of scripts and progs really let the player feel the time and thought that the immortal staff both past and present has put into this place.

Unlike some other places that I've seen, here there is a place for almost and every sort of role. Loners, zealot goodies, even dark and evil characters can find people and places of like mind and origin to interact with and make a story line thrive and grow. With the vast amount of races available and the skills and classes that each can acquire it is easy to come up with something to fit almost everyone.

You will find if you come here to play that the base as a whole has a rather wide and vast knowledge of the mechanics and game play of the classes and nearly every spell and skill available. We have a global channel for new players to ask questions, and a special section of our message forum designed for just that. If something comes up and someone is lost or needs help, it isn't hard to find. We aren't the largest of MUD's out there, so this is a place where someone can really stand out for the effort that they put into their play and character alike.

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Review posted by Telelion
Posted on Tue Nov 6 23:46:03 2007 / 0 comments
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Avendar was the first MUD I ever played, on the recommendation of a friend. I have been playing for slightly over a year, and the experience has only improved with time.

The staff is composed of superb and diabolically creative writers. The sheer amount of in-game lore and history to uncover is mind-boggling.

The world and races are entirely original, each race with its own strengths and weaknesses. Examples are natural flight for the stately aelin and fire resistance for the reptillian srryn.

The classes are for the most part very well-balanced and varied, with options ranging through most of the traditional classes (barbarian, bard) through many more esoteric and original ones like alchemists and void scholars.

The magic system works with an interesting mechanic allowing a scholar to “major” and “minor” in two of the six magic elements for great versatility or devote his study entirely to one element, unlocking the powerful “greater” spells.

The PK system is a compromise between open and non-PK, with ranges established permitting characters to kill each other as long as they are within certain levels of each other. It is an integral part of the experience of Avendar, with clashes sometimes involving groups of four or more players on a side.

Avendar is not without its issues, however. The code is very unstable, leading to frequent and aggravating crashes. Many of the players have been active for most, or all, of the MUD's years online, and there is much bad blood over OOC channels. This also leads to a punishing learning curve, especially where PK is concerned.

Despite its flaws, Avendar is by far and away the best MUD I have ever played. The world is enormous, with myriads of riddles to solve and books to discover. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys quality roleplaying.

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Review posted by Anghwyr
Posted on Sun Oct 21 21:50:11 2007 / 1 comment
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Introduction: I've played this mud on and off over the last 10 years (the last hiatus was caused by WOW). As a European, I find that I mostly play during the quiet hours, when there are little or no other players online, with player killing and interaction with the mostly American population happening only in the early or late European hours. Still, the world itself is built with such care that just exploring the new areas (that are regularly added), the fleshing out of older areas (also regularly), or to explore one of the classes I haven't played yet, is enough to keep me coming back for all these years.

Current news: Avendar's codebase is currently being rewritten from scratch (read up on the plans on the forum), and where the initial stance of the imm-staff was to focus all resources on that process, protest from the players (who left like they were left behind in a world that wasn't taken care of anymore) changed the imms point of view. The number of patches and tweaks and fixes to the current world (that are being communicated to the players through 'help recent') is larger than in years. This response has been greatly appreciated by the players, as no one likes playing in a dead world.

Examples: the latest areas added to the mud are heavily progged and more importantly, have visible stories woven into the game's lore and content. This makes the areas not separate, but things that add an enormous amount of life to the game. The valley of nordath, for example, has quests running over the whole mud to lift (or replace!) its curse, during which its history becomes clear. The bard class has a song (called the Walls of Nordath), which is inspired by the events in that area (All bard songs in general have names that are tied to game areas or history). Jindaska is the village of the caladaran race, and breathes the spirit of that race with all the quests and mobs. Quests in Jindaska will send you through the world again, as you follow the footsteps of a young druid. I still love the Ryarl plains, where you learn what kind of world the kankoran wolves live in, and can become a 'Kahn' of their people. I love the forst of Morn, which is just a harsh place, and sets the bar for every forestry area in Avendar. And I love the hundreds of little riddles and tricks and clues left all over avendar. If a beautiful lady is loitering near a pile of bones, get your priorities straight!

Anyway, to sum up: if you're seeking a world to explore, Avendar is a very, very nice place to waste your time in.

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Comment posted on Fri Oct 19 02:39:41 2007 by Anghwyr:
     

The review apparently is drawing some new players in, so I wanted to note people that aside from the muds website (http://www.avendar.com/), another helpful resource is the player-run wiki (http://avendar.wikidot.com/)

Review posted by Jon Bellis
Posted on Thu Sep 15 20:40:40 2005 / 0 comments
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I started playing this mud on a recommendation from a friend. He said it was the best mud he'd ever played. I didnt' know what to think, so I tried it for myself. I've been playing here for a little over four years, playing happily.

The mud has an amazing array of spells you can mix and match by switching up the scholar spheres(fire/water/air/earth/void/spirit). There are rogues(thief, bandit, assassin, watcher), and there are warriors(barbarian, swordmaster, gladiator), and then there are naturalists(druid/ranger). There are even bards! Then my favorite, templars (same spheres as listed above) they are more like fighter-mages.

The mud is a roleplay-enforced mud. The better you are at roleplaying, the more you're noticed. If you can prove you can roleplay well enough, immortals interact with you more. Which makes the game all that much more fun.

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Review posted by fluxcat
Posted on Sun Sep 4 21:50:20 2005 / 0 comments
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Avendar is well-written, fleshed out world. It has a creation story which leads to religions of all angles. It's war torn history infuses the atmosphere with conflict and struggle between the different causes. Some causes have been taken up by Houses, which are led by mortals, and are sponsored by a patron god.

The Houses all have a purpose and unique style of operation. There are the Guardians of Law, the band of notorious criminal Raiders, the dark and secretive Coven of the Shunned, the purehearted Champions, the honorable Legionnaires, and the Knights of Enaerai whom constantly attempt to keep the Houses in balance. The Houses struggle for the Stones of Power, which grant them abilities. I have a soft spot for the brash and tempermental Raiders, whom often bicker and fight amongst themselves due to varying beliefs and ultimately greed. True to their theme, their abilities consist of dastardly escapes with kicks to the groin and quick lift off reptilian-avian mounts, leaving a wake of bandits pillaging and setting fire to a city.

There are many races of original design (except for the obvious human): the wolfish Kankoran who by tradition are affiliated with tribe-packs, the reptilian (saurian) Srryns who originate from the swamps and have a reputation for savage nastiness, the hulking Alatharya whose capacity for magic was taken away from them during the Sundering for their hubris, the sophisticated Aelins who fly with avian grace, the Shuddeni whose hatred runs ancient and deep as their subterranean cities, the list goes on (11 races total). The Chaja, a race long enslaved by the Shuddeni, and once only seen as a mob, just recently became available to players with good accounts.

Avendar's greatest draw to me is it's clean game mechanics. There are so many classes, each with their unique style of play. They can be split up into Warrior, Rogue, Scholar (mage), Templar (mage-warrior), Naturalist (Ranger and Druid), and then the uncategorized Bard whose array of sweeping songs can be surprisingly effective and mindwarping Psionicist. Each category contains 4-6 classes. The showy gladitor is a warrior with many options, from gouging out eyes, to entangling a foe within a net, to the crowd pleasing decapitation. The barbarian is different, a berserker whom relies upon brutal offense, hewing through his enemies with abandon. I dig the Scholars, initially weak, but gradually they will grow into powerful archmages. You select a major and minor within an element: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit, Void. You can mix them up for more combinations, or go pure (Greater), which I recommend.

Some of the areas are immersive as they get, complete with quests, and mobs that react in interesting ways. To this day, I fear the kankoran hunter that prowls a certain set of woods. I will never forget the last glimpse of movement in the brush, being knocked out, dragged into a cage, then waking up to the sight of the predator sharpening his knife, preparing to skin me into a new piece of clothing. The Clockmaker's Mansion is a prime example of area that can really absorb you for a good few hours, a place where you can carry out multiple missions, and solve them in different ways. Whether it be through wile or brute force, the reward is gaining experience without the doldrums of repetitive hacking and slashing.

Mechanically, the game is solid; its nuances are continually being fine-tuned through updates. The player-killing takes quick wits and skill, plenty of strategy and tactics. The battles for me are definitely the most fun aspect of the game, but a lot of players are here for the roleplaying. As with PK, the skill of RP varies from player to player, but the entire playerbase sticks to the scheme of things, since RP is enforced. The phenomenal RP that I've seen really shines through, and I am finding that this has been occurring more and more frequently.

So, if you're looking for a MUD with a sound PK system and consistent RP, making up for a world predisposed to action and a strong atmosphere, then check out Avendar. I recommend starting up an account. Play well under an account and you will gradually unlock extra features. This MUD has kept me entertained since 1998. I have watched it slowly evolve into a rich game of increasing depth and complexity.

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Review posted by Alriana
Posted on Thu Oct 18 19:42:50 2007 / 2 comments
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I would like very badly to give this mud a better review. Unfortunately, while reviews of this mud have thus far been overwhelmingly positive, they only cover part of the story.

On the whole, the previous reviewers' discussions of the mud's positive points are fairly accurate, and so I do recommend that you read them as well, before deciding whether you wish to play here.

A major problem is that the mud is a little schizophrenic in nature. Avendar has recently been introducing some systems to cause players to treat mobs more like players. Unfortunately, it has been done very haphazardly, with several areas absented from this system that should not be, and with very little thought applied to it.

That aside, it is a system (where repeatedly killing mobs of a certain 'faction' will cause them to dislike you, and eventually become aggressive to you) that would be much more suited to a MUD that is less combat-oriented. It is close to impossible to reach the game's highest level without having at least one entire area attack you on sight. This in fact causes a mechanical bias towards the good alignments, as many of the areas in which they fight are already aggressive. Paired with a system called 'request', which allows those of good alignment to simply ask a mobile for their equipment, and recieve it, the bias becomes severe.

While the avowed intent of this system is to cause players to think of mobiles as closer to PCs, the problem with attaching such importance to the death of a mob is that to a PC, a death by itself means fairly little. There is an experience penalty, and a chance players may take from your corpse, but most player characters attach little meaning to their deaths, and will kill each other at the drop of a hat.

Roleplay is enforced, but is not of particularly high-quality. Character backgrounds are required, but not noticably screened for quality or continuity with the setting, as long as they don't mention ninjas. Many characters who would highly benefit from immortal assistance or advice in this regard are left simply to flounder and continue as they are, without being informed or realizing that they would benefit from this kind of aid.

Unconventional interpretations of alignment are tolerated, but not particularly encouraged. Players who work with the same alignment several times within a certain number of characters, where one character can last up to a year, to better learn the nuances of it have been known to be encouraged to delete by immortals.

Descriptions are monitored but not closely. They are mainly screened more to fit style guidelines than for content. It's not rare, but not uncommon to see characters who, in their descriptions, take actions or impose emotions upon your own PC.

There is little emphasis on internal continuity in roleplay. A player character who has dealt with the same immortal at different occasions may reference prior events and receive little more than a blank stare. What history there is is intriguing, but underdeveloped, and there is no sense of passage of time in the game beyond what month it is. There is a great deal of information that the player should know in order to properly roleplay a character with more knowledge of history than a rock that simply is not present in the game, or is near-impossible to discover.

Despite a desire to place a greater role upon the player for roleplay than on the immortal staff, there are entirely too many occasions where an immortal is required for progress with a storyline, who simply cannot or will not put forth the time.

A great deal of importance for this is placed on, not only who you know, but who likes you. While I do not believe favoritism is as rampant as some players have stated, it is absolutely a factor.

Immortals have given game-breakingly powerful items to their OOC friends, run mud-wide quests for them in order to give them a greater compliment of deaths (to the point of attempting to railroad the opposition to this quest by sending in multiple NPCs which kill large groups of people even when they are not immortal-controlled. The attempt to give the character more deaths ultimately failed, and it seems the entire storyline which had been established for this skidded to a halt and ended right there, for lack of alternative planning), and, for those less popular, forced players to wait six weeks with objects that cause high-level mobs to attack them, near-constantly, all the while saying that there will be an event to deal with this item 'soon', and severely punishing the character when an immortal did arrive to take the object.

Characters run by players who are unpopular can change the balance of power of the game for months, bring out high-quality roleplay from new players, and only recieve the joy of being the brunt of numerous immortal-run quests to kill them, while those run by more well-liked players can attain game-breaking additional powers and eventually a permanant place in a permanant, easily accessible room for doing little more than logging on, killing a few people, and logging off when there is no one in their PK range.

I do firmly believe in the value of player killing to roleplay, but in Avendar, not only is 'a person who wants to kill all persons of type x' considered a perfectly good role, is is actually considered good roleplay. When this is mentioned, many people will say, hey, character x didn't kill many people and they 'were successful', but those doing so will consistantly ignore the much greater number of 'successful' characters who did.

Possibly most telling in that regard is when players reminisce about old characters, the most common thing about them brought up is not personalities, or actions, but who or how many people they killed.

Despite these issues, I still play this mud. I still, on the whole, enjoy this mud. I can't give it a whole-hearted recommendation, but because of myself, I can't really tell you to stay away. I do, however, thoroughly recommend you stay away from the IRC channel devoted to the mud. While often perfectly innocent, there can be the greatest hotbed of politicking about the game.

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Comment posted on Fri Sep 2 09:19:25 2005 by Chadim:
     

As both a player and immortal on Avendar, I was somewhat dismayed to read this review. In many ways, it contrasts significantly with my own experiences on the MUD, and so set me to pondering. Though I am not aware of some of the events Alriana alludes to, I'd like to address those of her concerns I can.

The first of these is the relatively new system of factions. Like most major new features, there are indeed some small bugs with factions. It is simply a matter of fact that such things take time to settle into their proper niches and become reasonably balanced. I find it to be really a rather minor thing when playing -- just treat NPCs like real people (ie, don't expect to be able to slaughter every other person in Krilin without feeling some animosity in return), and you're fine. I believe that with some tweaking, factions will be a powerful aid to roleplay.

Nor do I feel that those of good alignment are overpowered by this addition, nor from 'request'. I've played many good characters, but I always feel I have a strong mechanical advantage when playing evil or neutral. Consider: evils and neutrals may kill any alignment for their gear, and so in theory all gear is available to them. Goodies may kill evils, and a small subset of neutrals. Without request, they would have less than half of the total gear available to them -- with it, they still have less, as many many neutral NPCs are off-limits to them, and not all good NPCs can be requested from. (Note that request only works on good-aligned NPCs). Furthermore, good-aligned PCs have to use a least a few extra training session on charisma to help their requesting.

Descriptions and backgrounds are both monitored. We do the best we can -- many of us have work and/or school and cannot be on all the time.

Unconventional interpretations of alignment are indeed not encouraged, in the sense that a person aligned as neutral but performing only evil antics and unable to defend these actions when questioned will be aligned as evil. I cannot apologize for this.

If you are receiving a blank stare when mentioning things that an immortal saw some time ago, 9 times out of 10 you are dealing with a different immortal.

If there were a good way to implement the passage of time so as to continually replace existing mobs with new ones, we'd love to have it. Unfortunately, we don't know of such a way without rewriting more or less everything.

'Favoritism' is actually very very minor, if it exists at all, and is usually the name applied when someone is roleplaying well and so receives rewards for it, or when someone is roleplaying poorly and so receives due compensation for it. Also, there are a lot of people who roleplay well, but then go and do something not conducive to rewards, such as cheat or abuse game mechanics or OOC info (which, I suppose, are just subsets of cheating).

I do not know of events where game-breakingly powerful items were given to OOC friends -- I do know of one sigil that was too powerful, but once this was realized, it was toned down. I very much do not know what Alriana is referring to with that quest to restore lives, or what imm-bestowed item made NPCs attack.

When I think on 'successful' characters, I recall several whose main focus was on PK (within their role) as well as several who had little to do with PK, or performed it only when necessary. I disagree that the numbers are nearly so unbalanced as Alriana feels. Rather, I believe that the presence of successful PK and low-PK roles indicates that this MUD is looking for RP, and that PK can be a critical part of RP.

Overall, I think I must disagree with most of the views expressed in Alriana's post. There are indeed faults in Avendar -- by no means do I claim it to be perfect -- but in the end I believe it to be a very solid MUD.

Comment posted on Thu Oct 18 03:18:12 2007 by Anghwyr:
     

Aww. come'on. If factions bother you, then you just don't want to deviate from your habit-grown ranking patterns. It's trivial to rank to lvl 51 without touching a factioned, or even a humanoid mob, and even if you hit some factioned mobs, you're still not in trouble.

lvl 1-5, mud school. lvl 6-10 lizard caves lvl 9-15 quests lvl 15-22 chaja caves (centipedes, lizards) lvl 22-30 young deer in morn, lvl 30-35 lions on the savannah lvl 35-40 stags in morn lvl 40-51 hero mobs that are aggro anyway.

People yammer and moan the moment something is made more difficult for them mechanics-wise, but the truth is that a faction system is a very interesting rp-promoting tool. Makes you think about chosing sides. (and hopefully it'll replace the whole good vs evil mobs setting that is still the basis of the world)

Review posted by Dovolente
Posted on Wed Jun 22 20:54:39 2005 / 0 comments
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My perspective is as both player and MUD staff member. Prior to getting hooked on Avendar in 1998, I played a variety of MUDS for more than four years.

On the PK continuum, the PvP action in Avendar is only slightly restricted, and it is *intense*! The huge variety of abilities and classes (750+ abilities in 24 classes) make for very interesting match-ups and battles. For the most part, the balance with class powers is quite good (though at this time, a few classes--Watcher, or thief-taker, and Spirit Scholar, or positive-energy mage, could use a boost). Conflict at higher levels often centers around the Stones of Power, ten artifacts which are sought after by the great ruling houses many adventurers join: Raiders of Twilight, Guardians of the Law, and Champions of the Light. There are no completely 'safe' areas (though there are 'safer' areas around city guards and taverns with bouncers). PK is restricted by level ranges and character role only.

On the continuum of RP requirement, RP is mandatory. Original names, descriptions, and character backgrounds are required. Avendar uses an account system, and players whose characters are consistently and adeptly adding to the RP environment are rewarded account points which will give players special at-creation options for future characters from their account (including things such as having a manservant, for a char with a gentry background, or designing a unique heirloom!)

On the continuum of RP style, Avendar leans towards epic-style roleplay. Your character is an adventurer, and your role will likely involve epic deeds as well as the mundane. The above-mentioned houses often have many ongoing RP storyline threads (such as a recent Guardian of Law thread wherein two evil law-enforcer characters became void golems, and now stand forever as npc guards in the Hall of Law). One *could* spend hours basket-weaving, fishing, hoeing in a field, or peddling goods (and some do)--such non-epic abilities aren't handled directly in the code but rather through the various RP tools (including 'think', which invites the MUD staff to observe or be involved in the current goings-on for your character).

In terms of MUD development, I could go on and on, but I'll mention only a few things: the coders have developed an impressive suite of building and progging tools. There are NPC factions which players may find themselves allied to or opposed against based on their choices. Beyond hack-and-slash advancement, characters must garner 'exploration points' to advance in level by journeying throughout the world. And that world is large and immersive--the depth of storylines, excellent detail, and the mysteries waiting to be uncovered behind many of Avendar's areas are more than are to be found in the entirity of many MUDS.

As other reviews have mentioned, the learning curve in Avendar can be steep. Steps have been taken to make the game more newbie-friendly, such as adding a mentoring system and newbie help channel, and revamping helpfiles. Getting the hang of Avendar is most definitely worth the challenge--Avendar is the first (and only) MUD for several players in the Avendar community.

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Review posted by Qwarr
Posted on Wed Jun 22 05:26:10 2005 / 0 comments
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Well, this has been a long time coming. I've been playing Avendar: The Crucible of Legends now for roughly 7 years. I was 19 years old when I began. I discovered Avendar right here on TMC, and was intrigued by a description depicting a struggle between houses (clans) for stones of power that would render special abilities to members of that house, when acquired along with mandatory roleplaying in an entirely original world. I would like to touch on some key points.

Roleplaying - An absolutely phenomenal playerbase, with some of the best roleplayers and imaginations I've had the pleasure to interact with. The Admins have built a world rich in history and originality, so detailed that after seven years I still have only scratched the surface in many areas of gameplay.

Skills/classes/races - An incredible balance of gameplay, unique on level that I have not been able to find on any other mud. We're not talking about elves and dwarves and orcs here. Original races from the Ch'taren, masters of good and light to the eyeless Shuddeni, brilliant but frail dwellers of the deep earth. Incredibly thought out classes, including Swordmasters, Psionicists, Templars(Masters of combat and magic), the wizard class, known as scholars, capable of manipulating their chosen element, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Spirit and the Void and casting such powerful spells as Demon Summoning(Void), Disintegration(Fire), and Avatar(Spirit). This is just a tiny taste of what Avendar has to offer.

Gameplay - In Avendar, you will have quests to perform, religions and Houses to join, and everything to sate your desires, from a balanced pk system to adventuring for wealth and power. Join the Guardians and protect the cities from the unlawful ilk who would lay them to waste or become a member of the Shunned, and plot your evil plans to spread your vile darkness throughout the lands. There are Champions of Light and Raiders of Twilight and followers of Dolgrael, soldiers of honor in all things. Or perhaps you would simply seek to distance yourself from society and amass your wealth to build your very own house, or tavern or even a keep. All these things and more are possible on Avendar...

Come and check it out, I can't possibly detail everything that Avendar has to offer, hopefully though, this will whet your appetite for more. See you there.

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Review posted by Jeff
Posted on Tue Jun 15 21:37:17 2004 / 0 comments
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My experience with Avendar has been a good one from the beginning. Everything that goes on in the MUD is fun and exciting, even dying is fun(at times :P). If you enjoy good Roleplaying and intense PK battles you will enjoy Avendar.

The skills and abilities for each class are very well tuned and are very fun to use. If you want a good mudding environment I would suggest trying Avendar: The Crucible of Legends.

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Review posted by Cirrem
Posted on Tue Jun 15 21:37:10 2004 / 0 comments
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Like some players, I have come to enjoy and appreciate the world of the text medium. There are some things that can only be expressed in this world, that simply can't be done in a graphical fashion. One of these things is roleplaying, and even then I still feel a desire to become embroiled in complex game mechanics. I have come to find a beautiful mixture of these two components in the world of Avendar.

With a number of unique races with specific traits and stats, and an entire selection of classes that range from the form-assuming Swordmasters to the mastery of fire and steel of the Fire Templars, there are always classes and races that can suit a specific role that you wish to create.

All of the areas are fully original, and every mob is abundantly described, and typicaly very interactive through use of mob programs. Quests range from the quaint collection and errand type, to those where one unlocks the proper ritual in summoning demonic powers through translation of riddles and studying the history of various areas. Whenever I need a break from roleplaying, I can always grab the explorer part of me and take heart in exploring an area and realizing its beauty and uniqueness.

The mud itself is fully customized and heavily modified. The level of complexity that exists within the class system has brought night long discussions to the Avendar IRC channel, ranging from full blown debates on playerkilling tactics to how certain spells and skills can be used to maximize roleplaying potential. Some veteran players have even gone on a limb to say that Avendar is possibly one of the most complex games in terms of game mechanics and balance.

The learning curve in the Avendar world is steep, but extremely rewarding. Playerkilling is limited, but is recognized as a necessary tool in the world of roleplaying. Whether it is the violent highwayman, or the evil purging of the zealots, there is always something happening at the peak hours.

Needless to say, I have come to find a home in Avendar. The learning curve is undoubtedly the largest drawback to Avendar. Many lose their resolve in playing after becoming the victim of a playerkill, and losing a number of their things. But for those who can persevere and move past this, will find a very rich and rewarding atmosphere for roleplayers, gamers, explorers, and playerkillers.

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Review posted by Kestrel
Posted on Wed Jun 23 21:46:40 2004 / 1 comment
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Avendar? Impossibly superior.

Been around the block in the DIKU-type genre, and I haven't seen the faintest glimmer or competition to the well-rounded combination of player-killing action and wholesome roleplaying experience.... ANYWHERE.

A plethora of classes catering to all interests -- from the standard gamut of mages taken to an unstandard level of detail, to well-adapted fighter-types, to the skulking, frightening rogues, to the truly unique bards (now with new skills!) and the psionicists, this MUD's developers have done an excellent job.

A new stat system has also been implemented, and, for the true-at-heart roleplayers, after some interactions with the active immortal staff, you'll unlock an in-depth new trait system which helps one flesh out one's characters even more.

Newb-friendly. Straightforward. Dynamic. Enthralling.

Avendar. ender.com 9999

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Comment posted on Fri Jun 18 22:35:13 2004 by A Player:
     

Well, the review is all accurate, if terribly like an advertisement, and glossing over the fact that our newbie friendliness is more of a work-in-progress than anything else.

The mud itself is definitely crack in its purest state. However, some of the out-of-character social interactions leave something to be desired. There's almost a schoolyard mentality, particularly in the mud's IRC channel.

Is it significant? If you take part in these out-of-character activities, yes. Is it significant enough to be a reason not to play?

If you're very sensitive, I'd say either stay out of the IRC channel, or that yes, it is enough of a reason not to play.

The forums on the website suffer from a similar disease, at times, though not quite as bad.

The thicker-skinned should have no real problems with these sorts of things.

Avendar: The Crucible of Legends Stats
Raw Data Average Data
# Days Listed7038
Last Connection StatusConnected
# Days With Status82
Total Telnet Attempts11540.164
Total Website Attempts18950.269
Telnet Attempts This Month43213.935
Website Attempts This Month00.000
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