Review by Elwing:
The game is set in the second age, around the year 3179, long before the events in the Lord of the Rings. This online role playing game explores the events after the fall of Morgoth at the end of the first age.
At first login a new character is sent trough the usual character creation rooms quickly and smoothly. No surprises here, pretty standard stuff, and that is probably for the better. When the character is set up, the recruiting room awaits, offering choice from four different cultures to join. You can join the bad guys in Mordor or be an elf under the kingship of Gil-Galad. You can stay in the human race as well, and be a man (or woman) of Numenor. Also, interestingly, you can be a Hillman…Basically a caveman. From the recruitment room, you can enter Middle Earth and explore thousands of faithfully and creatively described rooms. It’s almost like you are really there.
This is definitely not a MUD and combat is a rare event, controlled by a complicated and little-used combat system. The best time for finding people online here is in evenings, if you are in the United states. The rest of the time attendance can be a little thin. If you’re a Euro, forget it. As for the role play, I wouldn’t know, since I didn’t manage to catch any. Fortunately they have a friendly chatroom. But, from what I’ve heard there is a lot of emphasis on in-theme role playing. This makes the game a little harder to get into for newbies, but it pays off by rewarding you with a very believable illusion of living in the world of JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion. Reading the proper books first is certainly recommendable! But then again, it always is of course :-)
All and all a carefully made MUSH, that deserves a bigger crowd. If you’re looking for a small and intimate MUSH and have a little bit of patience, you can have a good time here.
telnet: Akallabeth.pennmush.org
port: 3175
Homepage: http://members.xoom.com/akallabeth/
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