Status of the MUD: An End to Beta

We opened the MUD for Beta with the following goals in mind:

1) To see if people wanted to play a First Age RPI. The answer seems to be yes.

2) To see if people wanted to play a MUD run by us. Again, the answer seems to be yes.

3) To work out what styles of play, coding, and plot-running would be well received. We've got a lot of input about that.

With those three goals achieved, it's time to close down the Beta, and the MUD, for a while, and work on adding a whole lot more content, finishing things such as documentation, the webpage, newbie guides, and many other things, so that when the MUD re-opens there's a lot more to do, the world is more fleshed out, and there is more potential for conflict without requiring constant admin attention.

To restate that: on Sunday the 16th of November, the Final RPT will be held, and after that point the MUD will close for a period of time whilst we, the staff, add in more content and bring the came to a state where we're happy to advertise it and actually try to gain a playerbase. We anticipate this closure to be between two and three months, but, it'll be open when it is done, and not before.

What will happen to those in game after the MUD re-opens?

1) The timeline will be moved ahead, to 455, or the time of the Dagor Bragollach, where the battle between Morgoth and the rest of the world really begins to heat up (heh). The focus of play will move from Hule's Outpost to Tol Sirion (about fifty miles to the west), but the Outpost will remain a visitable location in the game.

2) People with PCs alive at the end of beta, or retired, will have the option of playing them again in the open game. Those who want their character to have died, be horribly maimed, found religion, or whatever, will be able to discuss things with the staff and work out an appropriate option.

3) There'll be more things to do, more things to fight, more things to advance to be, and so on.

We'll be continuing to post code and building updates to the forums, but the player port will be taken down to conserve on memory and prevent me from needing to shell out for more hosting just yet.

If you want to help out, send an email to staff@lost-tales.org. We'll still be accepting applications for builders in this time, as we'll have plenty of building that needs to be done.

Thank you all for giving us the encouragement to continue on to the next stage on this product. Without all of you enjoying the game, we wouldn't have the enthusiasm to try and take the MUD to the next level.