Legends of Future Past

Legends of Future Past was one of the earliest commercial text-based massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), originally offered through Sprintnet, the CompuServe dial-up network, and later the Internet.

The game introduced one of the first (if not the first) crafting systems in an MMORPG. Players could harvest resources including ores, herbs, and skins, then use them to make weapons, armor, and enchanted items. The game system was skill-based; players were not constrained to pre-made class archetypes. There were no level caps and some very dedicated players attained levels in the hundreds.

Set in the Shattered Realms, a world featuring a blend of fantasy and ancient technology, most of the action in the game revolved around the city of Fayd, which served as the hub of activity for adventures, intrigue, and role-playing events. Some of the races included: aelfen (an elf-like species), drakin (a race of dragon-men that ultimately resulted in player-created languages and cultural institutions), ephemerals (a wraith-like species that could not be harmed unless the player chose to manifest themselves), highlander (think dwarves), humans (the only people who could utilize ancient technology), murg (a proud warrior race), mechanoids (artificial beings), and wolflings (a race of shapechangers).