MajorMUD
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| MajorMUD | |
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| Developer(s) | Metropolis |
| Publisher(s) | Metropolis |
| Distributor(s) | Gameport |
| Latest version | 1.11p (January 13th, 2006) |
| Release date(s) | November 4th, 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Text |
| Platform(s) | PC (MS-DOS, Windows) |
| System requirements | Major BBS or Worldgroup |
MajorMUD is a MUD for the Major BBS and Worldgroup BBS software. It can be played over a dial-up modem connected to a BBS, or more commonly over telnet.
Contents |
[edit] History
MajorMUD was created by Lance & Cathy (Dog) Neumann, Michael Skupa (Cat), Craig Young (Morukai), and Geoffrey Rosen (Orfeo) in the early 1990's. Collectively they were known as West Coast Creations, or WCC. Based in Canada, WCC ran a BBS called Dreamscape Online Entertainment Services (DSOE) that players and potential customers could use to try out their software. It was also one of the few places that players could go to ask questions directly of the designers. Prior to being called DreamScape it was called Nightline BBS, and from playing TA and Lance not able to get reliable updates, Lance, Dog, Cat, and Orfeo decided to make their own game, along with all the users on Nightline for beta testers.
The game itself was written in C and compiled with Borland C++ (as were all modules for Major BBS and Worldgroup.) MajorMUD was extremely popular for its intuitive, simple to understand user interface. Compared to other MUDs of the time, MajorMUD provided more help for the beginner and a simpler combat system that was easier to understand. WCC was quick to release fixes and updates, and talk of extensions (called "Mods") were ever present.
[edit] Expansion Modules
On November 11th, 1996, WCC released their first mod for MajorMUD - Dragon's Teeth Hills. Over the years, a total of 9 content modules were released (WCC released the first 6, while Metropolis released the last 3). These expansion modules added many new monsters, weapons, items, and places to explore to the base MajorMUD install. Module 1 also introduced the Reputation based "Quest Lines" - with quests for "Good", "Neutral", and "Evil" players.
Module List:
- Module 1: Dragon's Teeth
- Module 2: The Cursed Ruins
- Module 3: Strangers in the Night
- Module 4: Terror from Below
- Module 5: The Rising Dawn
- Module 6: The Sands of Time
- Module 7: Savage Lands
- Module 8: A Call to Arms!
- Module 9: Prophecy of Plague
- MajorMUD Plus - Entertainment Edition
The MajorMUD website still lists Module 10 as a future update, however seeing as how there has been no news about this module since 2003, and since Module 9 was released in 2001, many now believe that Module 10 will never be released. On March 19, 2007, Metropolis announced that their current programmer had resigned to move on to another company. No replacement was announced, although it was stated that they would be interviewing for the position over the next one week to two weeks.
There is currently an alternative project in development that plans to continue using the intuitive system that MajorMUD made popular. GreaterMUD, which was originally started as a sort of MajorMUD clone, has been slowly evolving into a more advanced offspring.
[edit] Races
There are 13 unique races available to choose from when you create or "roll" a character in MajorMud. Each race has six base stats; Strength, agility, intelligence, wisdom, health and charm, each with minimum and maximum values ranging from 30 to 150. You increase your stats manually as you gain levels through CP, or skill points which you accrue as you level up your character. Each race has its own attributes and special “racial abilities.” Based on these abilities, some races have higher exp charts, notated below. The races, their base stats and abilities are as follows.
- #: 1, Name: Human, Exp: 0%, HP: 0, Str: 40-100, Int: 40-100, Wis: 40-100, Agi: 40-100, Hea: 40-100, Cha: 40-100, Abilities: None
- #: 2, Name: Dwarf, Exp: 30%, HP: 0, Str: 50-110, Int: 30-90, Wis: 50-120, Agi: 30-90, Hea: 50-120, Cha: 30-85, Abilities: M.R. +10, Illu +75, Encum +20
- #: 3, Name: Gnome, Exp: 20%, HP: 0, Str: 35-90, Int: 45-110, Wis: 40-100, Agi: 45-110, Hea: 40-100, Cha: 35-90, Abilities: M.R. +5, Illu +65, Picklocks
- #: 4, Name: Halfling, Exp: 25%, HP: -1, Str: 20-60, Int: 30-90, Wis: 40-100, Agi: 60-150, Hea: 40-100, Cha: 40-100, Abilities: RaceStealth, Dodge +10
- #: 5, Name: Elf, Exp: 45%, HP: 0, Str: 35-90, Int: 50-120, Wis: 40-100, Agi: 50-120, Hea: 30-80, Cha: 50-120, Abilities: Illu +50, RaceStealth, MaxMana +10
- #: 6, Name: Half-Elf, Exp: 15%, HP: 0, Str: 40-90, Int: 45-110, Wis: 40-100, Agi: 45-110, Hea: 30-100, Cha: 50-110, Abilities: MaxMana +10, Illu +25
- #: 7, Name: Dark-Elf, Exp: 45%, HP: 0, Str: 40-90, Int: 50-120, Wis: 30-100, Agi: 50-120, Hea: 30-90, Cha: 40-110, Abilities: Illu +80, RaceStealth, Crits +1, Accuracy +3
- #: 8, Name: Half-Orc, Exp: 0%, HP: 0, Str: 45-110, Int: 30-90, Wis: 30-95, Agi: 40-100, Hea: 50-120, Cha: 30-80, Abilities:
- #: 9, Name: Goblin, Exp: 35%, HP: 0, Str: 30-70, Int: 45-115, Wis: 40-100, Agi: 55-125, Hea: 40-100, Cha: 40-100, Abilities: Illu +65, RaceStealth
- #: 10, Name: Half-Ogre, Exp: 30%, HP: 1, Str: 70-150, Int: 20-60, Wis: 25-70, Agi: 20-60, Hea: 60-150, Cha: 25-60, Abilities: M.R. +15, DR +2
- #: 11, Name: Kang, Exp: 35%, HP: 0, Str: 55-120, Int: 30-90, Wis: 45-110, Agi: 30-90, Hea: 50-110, Cha: 30-85, Abilities: ImmuPoison +100, DR +1, AC +5
- #: 12, Name: Nekojin, Exp: 50%, HP: 0, Str: 40-100, Int: 40-100, Wis: 30-90, Agi: 60-130, Hea: 30-80, Cha: 50-110, Abilities: RaceStealth, Illu +50, Tracking, Rfir +10, Rcol –10
- #: 13, Name: Gaunt One, Exp: 50%, HP: 0, Str: 40-100, Int: 60-140, Wis: 50-100, Agi: 50-110, Hea: 30-70, Cha: 30-80, Abilities: Illu +200, Percep +10
[edit] Scripting
Due to the long time it takes to reach higher levels in the game, MajorMUD was one of the first popular online games to give birth to game "scripting". Scripting involves automating all aspects of your characters movement and combat to automatically play the game and gain experience. Scripts can range from extremely simple to extremely complex full-fledged scripting clients such as MegaMUD.
[edit] Game Editors
Despite warnings against editing the game from WCC, MajorMUD edits have long circulated under the radar of WCC. Sysops and players commonly edited MajorMUD in its early infancy to introduce items such as the laen longsword that were present in the database but usually unobtainable within the game. The current defacto editor of choice for MajorMUD is Nightmare Redux written by "Donut" and currently maintained by "Syntax53." Nightmare Redux allows nearly full editing of the game including items, monsters, rooms, and maps.
[edit] Sale to Metropolis
On May 25th, 1999, WCC sold MajorMUD to Metropolis, a company based in Kansas, USA. Metropolis promised to continue the work done by WCC in an e-mail that was sent to owners and others on the mailing list maintained by WCC:
===================================================================== This message has been sent to you via the MajorMUD distribution list. Please see the text at the end of the message if you wish to stop receiving these messages. ===================================================================== Attention All MajorMUD owners: On May 25, 1999, MajorMUD and Dreamscape BBS were sold to Metropolis Inc., a Kansas, US, based corporation. A NOTE FROM WEST COAST CREATIONS: We at West Coast have enjoyed working with all the sysops and users these past five years. It is truly a nice feeling to have so many people around the world enjoying a product that we have built. The support we have received from so many of you over the years has been amazing. Without the encouragement and ideas from around the world, MajorMUD would not be what it is today. For a variety of reasons, we feel that we cannot offer the time and energy to the game that we once provided, and Metropolis has a group of dedicated people who will inject fresh life to the game. A NOTE FROM METROPOLIS: Greetings from the Metropolis staff. We're thrilled to be a part of MajorMUD. This game is known as the best on the net, and we are dedicated to continuing its tradition of excellence in entertainment. We are working hard with the West Coast team, learning about its history and goals for the game. We pledge to continue the vision for MajorMUD and to make this changeover as seamless as possible. We are currently working on the release of version 1.1x and Module 7. Be assured that our team will continue to develop games with the same thought and consideration as the original West Coast team. CONTACTS Email support will continue to be 'support@majormud.com' or 'ml:support@wcc.' Sales contacts will continue to be 'sales@majormud.com' or 'ml:sales@wcc.' Phone support has changed to 913-661-0601; and fax support is at 913-663-3200. ===================================================================== To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to majordomo@dsoe.com with a message body of ""unsubscribe majormud"" (without the quotes). To subscribe a different address to this list, send a message from that address to majordomo@dsoe.com with a message body of ""subscribe majormud"" (without the quotes). =====================================================================
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Official Sites:
Unofficial Forum Sites:
Game Information Sites:
Scripting:
Game Editors:
