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Old 08-05-2011, 07:47 PM   #1
Lyanic
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Join Date: Dec 2009
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The 7th Plane Awaits You...

The 7th Plane has been in active development for nearly a decade, and is unlike any other MUD you have ever played. It is a dark fantasy, hack-and-slash style game with a major emphasis on crafting, and is set in an entirely original world. We recently launched a major new version of the code, Planar 2.5, and have seen a small uptick in player activity. There is always room for more, though. So, if you enjoy a challenging game, played with friendly people, then we would love to have you join us. If that is not enough to convince you, then here are some of the game's more prominent features:

- 4 unique classes, each with drastically different styles of progression and game play
- Highly walkable world, with spatially realistic layout and ASCII maps available
- Complex NPCs with interesting behavioral routines
- Skills and spells that improve through usage, where nearly every action improves your character in some way
- In-depth crafting system with 90 different raw materials
- Ability to fully dissect victims, dead or alive
- Options to gain experience points for activities other than killing NPCs
- Physics based game mechanics and dynamic weather
- Steep learning curve that weeds out griefers (I assure you this is a feature)
- Advanced protocol support, including MSDP, MXP and Xterm-256
- 99.999% up-time and no characters ever deleted


Still not enough convincing? Below are a few examples of some of the gameplay.

Macabre:

Symbolic:

Deadly:


Now it is time for a few disclaimers:
1) The game is originally derived from God Wars, but it is not God Wars. The code is largely custom, written in C++. It is still bound to the original Diku, Merc and God Wars licenses, and follows them, though. If you login expecting God Wars, you will be disappointed. If you normally avoid God Wars and the type of players it attracts, have no fear.

2) The numbers are small and you will die - a lot. Do not be surprised if you initially receive 1-3xp at a time. This is normal, and everything is adjusted accordingly. If you die, there is no need to worry over it. Death is almost meaningless. Many of the players have a meta-game of trying to find the most unique ways of dying. There are quite a few.

3) The world is colorized (ANSI, or Xterm-256 if your client supports it). It is colored in a consistent and logical fashion. Water is blue, grass is green and blood is red. Every attempt is made to keep clashing colors away from each other. Still, some people vehemently dislike color in their text based games. To those people, you have the option of turning it off. In the future, we would like to support a finer resolution of color settings, but it is all or nothing for now.

4) The world has a unique aesthetic when it comes to describing things. Descriptions are typically limited to 1-3 lines, and only important things are described. If you do not read them, you will probably be lost or dead. This is a conscious design choice, because the average person will not read one wall of text after another - skimming at best. We understand that some people do like to read more, so we try to incorporate keyword based, hidden extra descriptions. However, if you are in the small, vocal minority that expects a wall of text attached to every room, object and character in a MUD, you will not find that here.


If you are worried about the game being too difficult, you need not be. The help entries are decent and someone is usually around to answer any questions. If the rest of the post sounds good to you, consider this an invitation to try out a unique game, and maybe become a part of our community. Hopefully, there will be some new names populating the 'who' list soon!


Host : 7thplane.net
Port : 8888
Website:
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Old 08-11-2011, 06:39 PM   #2
camlorn
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Re: The 7th Plane Awaits You...

So, this is my first post on tms; in fact I registered to post on this topic specifically. I've been reading the forums for a while and find that many muds who claim to be "original" or to have "unique features", etc. are in fact not as unique as they'd have you believe.

Essentially, I wanted to post to say that for once the claim is true; 7th plane is a really quite unique godwars derivative. I'm going to list both things I like and dislike about it; I think that it's better to try to be neutral so prospective players can decide if it's worth their time or not. Essentially, I'm doing what I like to see: providing a hopefully unbiased review-of-sorts to help people decide. As I am more likely to bother logging into a mud which has posts like this, giving both the good and the bad, such that I can decide if the good outweighs the bad, I here endeavor to do the same.

So now that the disclaimer is out of the way:

the good:
Of the two classes I've played (mage and werewolf), both have been original. Class progression isn't level-based, and is semi-realistic. Mages have to practice spells to 100% through use (every 4 gives another point of int), thus allowing more spells; after this, mages can craft sigils, runes, and glyphs, which when combined cast new spells while consuming some of each. Finally, one can become an archmage who can speak the runes (via say) to cast seven more unique spells, including world-ranged spells that can target anything.
Werewolves, possibly less complex, possibly not, are kind of a more straitforward warrior class. I've not played enough yet to say what kind of upper-end abilities they can do, but unlike mages, they're not listed in help files for all to see. Essentially, werewolf is a quest-based class; one uses one's abilities enough and then fulfills a certain condition (kill mobs in a field area, kill mobs while the moon is out) until one's guardian spirit appears in the umbra (more on this below).

Some other good things besides classes:
-There is a crafting system. It's not the most original, but it is unique enough to be worth a mention (especially considering how few places make it an integral part of gameplay). Mages can craft runes, glyphs, and sigils, needed for spells. Pretty much all high-end eq is crafted, and materials are readily available.
-all weapons have specials: swords cut off limbs, staves discharge mana. These are random, but it does add an extra level of fun.
-descriptions of skill use are really well-done. The first time I used skin, i actually flinched, tree chopping, trimming, and sawing are less original. Essentially, every round, a description is selected, such that you're not seeing "You continue smelting..." or the like.
-The imms are active, if sometimes slow to respond. As the imms work and appear to be on sometimes during work, This is actually impressive. The mud is under active development, the mage rewrite being released a bit over a week ago (just before I started).

So finally, the bad points. Every mud has these, and I think it's better to list them rather than hide them:

-No death penalty. This can be either a good thing or a bad thing acording to your outlook and isn't an overly big deal, but death does not have consequences, most times. It's possible to have consequences, but only in pk or special circumstances (I've never encountered either of these things). Essentially, this eases exploring, but makes being careful pointless, in a way. You don't even lose items on death, unless they're unclaimed, but as most eq is crafted and crafted eq is always claimed by the crafter, this isn't really much of a death deterrent.
-There's no auction system. Essentially, you currently have to pay to give some eq to someone else, and given the way the mud works (no level restrictions or levels for that matter), this is kind of needed for balance. Still, if nothing else, a material exchange or somesuch would be nice. This is in the works, I've heard, so will probably be changed in the near future.

And finally (as this post is getting long), a few things which can be either good or bad, depending on my mood:

-Rooms don't usually have descs. Essentially, there's a room title and exits, with only important rooms having descs of any sort (usually to warn of a deathtrap or similar). I actually like this, but many don't, so.
-As mentioned above, the death penalty.
-A small number of players. Usually, there's 5 on, sometimes up to 10. In my opinion, the mud needs more players, as all muds do, but smaller playerbase is sometimes a good thing.

In short, 7th plane is original, and probably worth checking out. And thanks to anyone who read this far as this is actually quite lengthy.
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