LMCTF added many new features to the original Quake 2 game. The off-hand grappling hook, power-up runes (Haste, Strength, Resist and Regeneration), plasma rifle, team radio and voice sounds, custom models, custom skins, custom maps, tournament mode and observer cam options are just a few of the additions.[1]
The mod was originally released by Jormungard of Clan LM. After its release, other programmers, modelers and mappers joined the team. At release 3.0 on April 1, 1998,[2] the team included Jormungrad and Surt as lead programmers, and John "Mr. White" Keffer, John "Der Kommissar" Staats and Keith "Vampire" Mercer as lead mappers. Hati joined the team as a programmer for release 4.0 (July 15, 1998),[3] with Dan "Batstone" Markham taking over the role for the 5.0 release when the previous programmers left for work at Blizzard. Der Kommissar later joined them.[4] The mod included many maps from the wider Quake II community in its releases, totaling 30 after the 5.0 release.[5]
There were many tournaments for LMCTF clans, including Ragnarok, Ascension, Narf!, Wargrounds, Online Gaming League (OGL) and the Free Agent Fest, but the biggest was the Ragnarok and Ragnarok 2[6] tournaments. The Ragnarok was the first community-wide tournament which featured a round-robin regular season followed by a single-elimination playoffs. This tourney started in 1998 with a second season following in 1999. The first-season winner was Harbingers of Despair [HD].[7] The second season Ragnarok winner was Pathetic Totally Harmless.[8]
In August 2011, a revival started in the U.S. and European LMCTF communities with organized matches and play.[9]
This revival resulted in 6 mini tournaments with as many as 6 teams competing for the 'Beatdown' championship.[10]
In May 2020, another revival started resulting in the continuation of the 'Beatdown' tournament to season 7.