It's been quite a while since I played Pernband, but I remember some of it. Surprisingly, it's apparently still available from various places on the Internet; I think it was turned into ToME due to copyright concerns. (At the time, Anne McCaffrey was hostile toward any fan works such as Pernband.)
Anyway, here's what I recall, with some help from downloading an old archived copy and poking around. If any other old fans notice any mistakes, please let me know.
Pernband started as a variant of
Zangband, with Zelazny (Amber) themed elements partially or mostly replaced with Pern and Tolkien elements. So playing Zangband would probably give you a pretty good feel for what the game was like.
ToME 4 (the current game) has changed quite a bit from ToME 2, which in turn has changed a fair bit from ToME 1 / Pernband. There was, if I remember correctly, no skill system; abilities were determined by your class, race, and similar starting choices. There were quite a few schools of magic, some pretty unique and flavorful (tribal, crusade, sigils, etc.), that some of the character classes could choose among. Options for races included fantasy staples (human, dwarf, elf, etc.), some more exotic ones (mindflayers, vampires), some downright weird (spectres were horribly frail but could pass through walls; deathmolds couldn't walk but were terrifyingly strong), and, of course, dragonriders. Classes also ran the gamut of standard (warriors, mages, rogues) to weird/unique/awesome (symbiants, mimics, and possessors).
The setting was mostly Tolkien, with some backstory about how dragonriders traveled from Pern and got involved in the struggles against Morgoth. As one of the old Angband derivatives, Pernband had well-stocked town stores and large, randomly generated dungeons, with each dungeon level re-created each time you entered, so it could encourage somewhat grindy play, as you gained experience and gold, stockpiled consumables like potions and scrolls, and hunted for randomly generated equipment to provide the resistances you needed to survive deeper dungeon levels. (By contrast, ToME 4 eliminates consumables and actively discourages grinding.)
After the Pern elements were dropped and Pernband became ToME, most of the game elements remained recognizable. Harpers became bards; dragonriders became thunderlords (riders of Manwe's eagles); references to Between were replaced with the
Straight Road. ToME 2 added a skill system, for more flexible character development, although skills were mostly various numeric bonuses, and it reworked Pernband's dozen or so magic schools into something a little more consistent (elemental schools, conveyance, divination, etc.). ToME 3 was aborted and never saw an official release. ToME 4 was a more radical redesign: the skill system became the core of character development (with numerous unique talents), a no-consumable no-grinding philosophy was adopted, a unique setting was developed, and so on. Still, parts of the game have definitely carried forward: the schools of magic match ToME 2, unique classes like ToME 2's daemonologist have been brought forward and redesigned for 4's talent system (we're still eagerly awaiting a possessor class), and Derth has (IIRC) a striking resemblance to old Bree.
