Harshlands

Reviewed By: joolz
Reviewed Date: 03/20/23
My status in this game is: Player
I have been a member of this game since: 01/01/70
I think this game is: 4 / 5

Great MUD

SETTING: Low fantasy medieval, sort of like "Game of Thrones", roughly equivalent to the 13th/14th century in the real world; play areas are a feudal kingdom, a mercantile republic, and a viking colony

THE GOOD

- Active player base of about 140 players, around 35-40 on at peak

- Combat is exciting and fairly fast-paced, with lots of different weapon types that each have their own niche

- Crafting is very intuitive; you can pull up a full list of all the recipes you know and what you'll need to make them

- World is massive and feels very "lived in" - the game has been running in its current iteration since (from what I can gauge) 1998 and there's a lot of IC history to uncover and read about. The setting itself is very detailed and well-written

- Game and players do an adequate job of "simulating" a realistic feudal world; the game-world is, in fact, fairly harsh

- General quality of roleplay is good and I'd say a decent number of players are excellent

THE MIXED

- Armor types are limited; there's three types of leather, then ringmail, chainmail, and plate

- Game can be slow paced; each PC receives an automatic "commendation" every week, which is used for advancement in guilds, churches, etc. (I prefer this, because it's conducive to taking breaks and it doesn't demand 100% of your time like some games, but some people might not.)

- There are RPAs, but only two or three as far as I know

- Staff is mostly hands-off and prefer to spend time improving the game and how it plays, as opposed to other MUDs like Armageddon

- PKing is rare (happens monthly, not daily), but happens; death by environment/mob is more common

- Some in-game religions are less active than others (i.e Knor, Sarajin, Siem all have no active IG clerics)

THE BAD

- Aforementioned slow pace could be considered a negative by some

- The way getting your character into a crafting guild works can be confusing without help

- Can't use ranged weapons against other PCs, which kneecaps some character concepts

- Magic system is somewhat complex and takes effort to learn; could be considered mixed/good if you're into that

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