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Old 01-09-2013, 03:56 PM   #1
Lukaeon
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3
Lukaeon is on a distinguished road
Haven Mud: Demons, Buddhist Monks and Everything Between

I've done a lot of searching to find my home mud. I've made sad little pleas here and on TMC. I've run dozens of searches and posted queries on mailing lists of which I'm a member. And what I've finally found is a mud with a small player base --which deserves a larger one-- is Haven, a massively modified LP mud.

First of all, it has variety. There are around 20 character races to choose from, including a few only found on Haven. There are nosferatu (semi-vampiric creatures with a taste for blood), skaven (quick, strong rat peoplewho make good fighters) and muezzin (short fuzzy wuzzies who remind me of Ewoks, and who have a taste for magic). ( Besides these Haven-only races there are many player races you'll be familiar with, though some have been subtly changed. Goblins, for example, who are usually evil on other muds are peaceful ancestor worshippers on Haven, while elves, who remain graceful and keen with a flair for magic also happen to be fanatically obsessed with maintaining order, although they still make good mages and druids.

Now here's the thing. Many of the games most interesting races and classes remain out of reach until one of your characters (and you can have many) reaches 50th level.
Then character classes such as the horror (a chaotic nightmare being playable by those running a demon character) or a contemplator (a peaceful Buddha-like character who prefers meditation to massacre) You can have as many characters as you like, so why not try them all?

Magic on Haven is alive and well, and doesn't look much like magic on other muds. Magic comes in different spheres, from conjuring to enchantment, and some spells require proficiency in two or three spheres to cast. This sounds unusually difficult to play, I suppose, but it works out to be easy enough. Enchanters, for example, have both enchantment and conjuring as primary skills, with evokation running as a good secondary. And another thing about Haven spells is that they're not copied from the D and D Player's Handbook. There are attack, defense and buff spells, of course, but you can rest easy in the fac that you will never see "Ventriloquate" when you survey the spells you've just been taught by your trainer.

This probably tips you off to the fact that Haven is a largely skill-based mud, although leveling is still necessary, you spend experience by raising your primary, secondary and other skills and so eventually attain mastery of your skills. It's one of the great pleasures of the game, deciding how best to spend XP when you've spent the last hour or so hunting.

Finally (for this review anyway; there are still lots of good things to say about Haven) players get experience for many things besides killing a mob in combat, although that occurs too. You can get XP for fishing, farming, mining, striking especially good blows against your enemy, and completing quests (of which there are many).

In other words, you can't say enough good things about Haven. But don't take it from me, even though I've been playing these things since the mid 90's. Fire up your favorite mud client and hop on over to Haven at:

Hostname: haven.havenmud.com
Port: 4000

You can always look me up on the OOC channel. My username is Lukaeon, and I'm always glad to lend a hand to inquisitive (or just plain stuck) newbies. Welcome!
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