TomeNET
| TomeNET | |
|---|---|
| Angband Variant | |
| Developer | C. Blue, Mikael, Adam, Relsiet (Runecraft), Moltor (Arcade), Kurzel (Runecraft+general) |
| Based on | MAngband |
| Theme | Tolkien |
| Released | 2001 |
| Updated | Oct 28 2023 (4.9.1) |
| Download | http://www.tomenet.eu/downloads.php |
TomeNET is a multiplayer rogue-like, based on and somewhat similar to MAngband and ToME, and also featuring some Zangband and Cthulu Angband monsters. It was created around 2001 (originally under the name of "PernMAngband" which had to be renamed due to a letter of Anne McCaffrey's attorney who prohibited the use of the name 'Pern') as a fork of MAngband which got some ToME design added to it, which was done by DarkGod, Evileye and Jir. Zz, Tanix and C. Blue also contributed code, and after the original development team dropped out one by one over the course of the following two years, C. Blue became the only active maintainer of the project. Two more years later, he formed a new development team which was joined by Mikael and Adam, and later on by infamous Moltor who created a fast-paced arcade shooter variant which has nothing in common with normal rogue-likes anymore, but features Tron light cycle race and Smash'em action. In 2009, Relsiet joined the developers when he (assisted by Kurzel) suggested a detailed plan for a rework of the existing Runemaster class (which was originally proposed by Mark and implemented by Adam). In 2011 Kurzel took over the Runemaster class development and did another rework.
The TomeNET servers were hosted kindly by the grace of Fizz, an employee of a French company which provides line capacity, a secure environment and a dedicated server just for the TomeNET project. Then moved over to a server hosted by OVH in France.
The game has meanwhile progressed to become one of the most advanced rogue-likes technically, featuring day/night changes, four seasons, weather, sound effects and dynamic background music, and apart from the source code currently offers binaries for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
TomeNET is feared for being hard to master, but at the same time the more rewarding to the skillful player who has learned to make use of all the nifty possibilities open to him. So-called "cheezing" (describes the transfer of money and items from high-level characters to low-level characters without anything in return) however will quickly lead to demise because it will but serve to dull one's skills.
The game has a full-fledged documentation called "The TomeNET Guide", which is a text file available in the ZIP file downloads or as direct download, and also as an online HTML version here http://www.tomenet.eu/guide.php (also offers download as PDF).
Features
- Real-time multiplayer online rogue-like gameplay; time passes slower on deeper levels to make up for speed gain of players and monsters, keeping the real-time experience at an optimum
- Day/night changes, four seasons, weather
- Sound effects and dynamic background music
- Normal server and ironman rules server (dubbed 'RPG server')
- Various character modes, including: Traditional rogue-like (one life), MAngband-style (infinite resurrections), PvP-mode for killing each other off in the game world or in a special PvP arena
- Allow non-PvP mode chars to still fight each other in friendly duels that won't kill the player who loses
- Automatically scheduled special events
- Players may create artifacts if they have the required resources
- Post-king gameplay: Characters that have beaten the main boss, Morgoth, may venture into other insanely dangerous dungeons, high up in the skies and deep down to the nether realms, to try and find the last remaining path to Valinor, to possibly retire on its shores
- Over 250 static artifacts, infinite random artifacts, over 200 special item powers, over 1000 items, over 1100 monsters and many 'ego monster' types ie variations of base monsters
- Over 200 types of floor features/terrain
- Multiple towns and a rich world map with lots of completely different types of dungeons spread out over it
- Parties and guilds, which feature shared houses and internal chat
- 18 distinct races and 13+ classes to choose from
- Skill system allowing for specialization, for example put your rogue's emphasis on being a hideous backstabber, a user of shadowy magic, or an infamous shoplifter who even steals items from the black market without being caught ..most of the time.
- Class and race specific special abilities such as "cloaking mode" for rogues or "firestones" for draconians
- A variety of shape-shifting classes and features
- Create hybrid classes that allow for unusual combinations of abilities and skills
- Many special stores in towns (Casino for gambling; possibility to play a game of Go) and dungeons; dungeon towns (in a special ironman competition dungeon)
- Players may turn their houses into stores that sell items in their absence
- Powerful macro system, featuring a wizard that makes macro creation easily done in three steps even by beginners.
- Dual-wielding of 1-handed weapons for certain extra combat boni if you choose to forego heavy armour
- Parrying and blocking with weapons and shields respectively
- Different combat stances, special melee and ranged techniques that cost "stamina" to use
- Advanced commands for handling certain tasks without annoyances, such as 'x' which combines wear/wield and take-off in a special manner
- Different types of monster AI regarding movement and combat that will result in challenging behaviour
- Players may create a golem that heeds their command (albeit more of a fun feature than of serious use)
- Spell system and certain other game aspects are handled by LUA script which allows for seamless updates without requiring players to manually download anything in case something gets adjusted, changed or fixed
- Players may create own spellbooks from combining single spells of their choice into blank books