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| The second Dragonlance logo, used on most of the books and Dungeons & Dragons supplements set in the world. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I started by reading some of the reviews of this MUD that had been posted on The MUD Connector. The reviews were almost all positive, with only one negitive review. After reading the reviews, I was already a bit biassed in favour of this MUD, for several reasons. Over the years of playing MUDs I have descovered that the RoM codebase, and it's derivitaves, are one of my favourite codebases to play on. The commands and leveling system just make sense to me, and they have a familiar look and feel that I have grown quite comfortable with. I can log onto almost any RoM based MUD, and quickly feel at home.
The setting also carried some appeal for me. I am first and formost a Dungeons & Dragons fan, and one of the top reasons I play MUDs is to get that D&D like experience. It has proven too difficult to get a group together around the tabletop to play D&D with, so to me, MUDs offer the next best thing. The Legends of Krynn is set in a classic D&D setting that most long time D&D players will be familiar with. Although I have personally read far more Forgotten Realms books than Dragonlance, I have been exposed to enough Dragonlance materials not to feel lost in the setting.
First Impressions
After logging in, I selected a character name for a new character called Aegaard. I was also asked to choose a last name, which is a bit unusual on MUDs, and a feature that I like. So Aegaard Valkair, human knight was created. I was asked to select a home town, and I chose Solace, because it was the only location listed that I remembered well from the Dragonlance novels.
After creating my character, I was deposited in a MUD School area. This area had a familiar layout, common to many RoM MUDs, but all the stock room descriptions and sign texts had been replaced. While I was in MUD School, I checked the who list to see if anyone else was online. A few other players and immortals were on the list, so, not finding myself on yet another empty MUD, I decided to continue. It only took me a few minutes to pass through the school area, already being deeply familiar with all of the concepts that the various signs explained here. I was pleased with being able to pass through quickly. At the end of the School, I found myself in a very familiar arena. It seems this is the only part of the school that is not changed in any significant way. The arena featured the snails, lizards, foxes, and boars I have come to expect, and had that grate in the middle, leading down to wolves and bears below. After what seemed like just a short time in the arena, I achieved level five, and was greeted by another player for the first time.
An immortal player came to the MUD school, and greeted me, first in character, then out of character, offering giving me some money, offering me assistance in leveling, and offering to answer any questions I might have. I was actually most impressed with the in character greeting I received. In just a few short lines of text and socials, I was able to tell that this was a player who really knows how to get into character, and I was able to paint a picture in my mind of this person who was speaking to me.
It was actually a bit intimidating at first, and I found myself stumbling for words, not knowing what to say, because I have not played a lot of roleplaying enforced MUDs, and don't have much practice in this sort of thing. This is not a knock on this MUD though, because I actually want to become a better roleplayer, and I find this sort of roleplaying more interesting than mindless level grinding I do on many MUDs. I am a bit intimidated by what I perceive as an elitist attitude on many roleplaying MUDs though. I did not at all feel that way here. I don't feel like I should have to write a novel in text and emotes to be considered a roleplayer. Often, less is more. You can convey a lot of feeling and emotion in just a few short lines, and the player I met on Legends of Krynn last night succeeded in doing just that.
Unfortunately, by this point it was growing quite late, so, after speaking with the player I had just met for a short time, I informed him that I had to log off for the night, promising to return another day.
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