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[Retropunch]

-snip-

I'd take out the weapon skills and just let them choose a passive (what is now buffing skill) and an active ('Doom strike' or whatever).

My advice would be to keep the basic RPG systems and just layer followers/god stuff over the top.

[Sergius]

I haven't played in a really long time, but I think Discworld is still my favorite MUD. I love how some of the systems encourage player business and interaction (for example, fast travel via spells has created a Taxi service where you can call for any available caster to pick you up and bring you anywhere real cheap. Same for rescue and resurrect service).

Someday I'm going to try playing and joining some sort of active playing group.

[Yoink]

The whole "Find out IC" stonewall everyone throws up probably doesn't help matters.

Yeah, I found that put me off a lot of MUDs. I remember one specific example where I asked about a certain spell everyone kept casting - got asked to Find Out IC, went into character, asked what was going on and then got a PM saying that my character wouldn't know to ask about it because the spell wouldn't make sense to me. Like. What. How do I even progress?! They were really friendly about it, it just ended up becoming such a drag to do anything.

That's why I feel a really simple MUD is best. Let the RPing take on the complexity, but the rest be simple.

Well, in some cases it can make sense for the sake of preserving some sense of mystery when it comes to secret plotlines or lesser-known areas of the gameworld. Most RPIs manage to get by with a few simple restrictions, like waiting an IRL year (or was it a month?) after a character's death before revealing that you played them, not to mention sharing other information publicly.   

Most of the RPIs I used to play were rather simple/user-friendly mechanically, without being barebones.
And if there were things that were hard to figure out, one could generally get help from admins or on the game's forum.

[Tiruin]

The whole "Find out IC" stonewall everyone throws up probably doesn't help matters.

Yeah, I found that put me off a lot of MUDs. I remember one specific example where I asked about a certain spell everyone kept casting - got asked to Find Out IC, went into character, asked what was going on and then got a PM saying that my character wouldn't know to ask about it because the spell wouldn't make sense to me. Like. What. How do I even progress?! They were really friendly about it, it just ended up becoming such a drag to do anything.

That's why I feel a really simple MUD is best. Let the RPing take on the complexity, but the rest be simple.

Well, in some cases it can make sense for the sake of preserving some sense of mystery when it comes to secret plotlines or lesser-known areas of the gameworld. Most RPIs manage to get by with a few simple restrictions, like waiting an IRL year (or was it a month?) after a character's death before revealing that you played them, not to mention sharing other information publicly.   

Most of the RPIs I used to play were rather simple/user-friendly mechanically, without being barebones.
And if there were things that were hard to figure out, one could generally get help from admins or on the game's forum.

Yoink's point is a nice one Really hit me in the nostalgia back in a same-situation scenario at when I reached the same point, I went IC and pondered and asked like a very interested student. Same IC procedure had someone talk me over about it and give me a grasp on how to get on with the idea.

It was pretty much like RL conversations, actually. In the end I did get where I wanted to (and also learned what auto-writhing does :V), and all the non-straight-not-OOC helped that way.

[Retropunch]

So in response to this thread, I've started my very own MU* engine/MUD based off the back of the mudpi project! It uses pure python, plus YAML for human readable storage of objects/rooms.

I know there are tons around already, but I was searching for a really simple python MUD barebones and kinda came up short. Many had their own quirks or specific ways of doing things built in (like Tales) and the others were just outdated or complicated. They all also seemed to be slightly too far along development and had fixed in a lot of stuff that I'd like to have had more flexibility in. There's a comparison of them all here (http://posted-stuff.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/quick-survey-of-python-mud-codebases.html)

It's admittedly mainly just a project for me to mess around with and develop my client/server coding, but I've also tried to build something that's really simple for people to get into/build upon. Some of the coding is slightly verbose/clunky, but I'm hoping that it helps explain things better to new coders rather than hiding everything away in super efficient queries - every action has it's own function, and all entities are simple dictionaries.

As the base MUD for this, I've decided to create a sort of Revelation Space style MUD - you're trapped on a massive spaceship, with corruption seeing in everywhere - this has various effects and you need to work together to sort it out. It'll be more a co-op text RPG than a full on MUD, but I'm hoping to add enough atmosphere that people will want to hang around. If it goes well, I can imagine some interesting PvP stuff going on. I'm designing it specifically with a low player base in mind, as I believe a lot of MUDs overshoot on this - they expect a world populated with 100s, which feels bare with only 20 or so.

If anyone would be interested in helping out as a builder or coder on this and help develop the MUD/mudbase with me I'd love to hear from you.

In-game:


YAML (look how easy it is to write!!):

[Shub-Nullgurath]

I remember a year or two ago there was a MUD almost exactly like that. You woke up on a space ship out of cryogenic freeze. The only influx of reliable food was from what new players spawn with so it was always a scrabble to catch them and kill them.

Although they turned it from that into a moon-based game and I can't remember what happened to it.

[Retropunch]

I remember a year or two ago there was a MUD almost exactly like that. You woke up on a space ship out of cryogenic freeze. The only influx of reliable food was from what new players spawn with so it was always a scrabble to catch them and kill them.

That sounds pretty awesome! Yeah, it's not a particularly new premise (a billion books, Alien, Dead Space, etc.) but I thought it'd be an interesting, self-contained MUD. It was also something I felt I could grow a bit more organically - it can start off as a text based multiplayer game for people to have a bash at with friends, and then if it gets some interest I can implement PvP (corrupted vs non-corrupted, scavenging, parts of the ship belonging to certain groups). I also wanted to have a taller, rather than wider MUD - lots of tightly packed interest rather than random wandering to eventually find something fun.

[lordcooper]

I remember a year or two ago there was a MUD almost exactly like that. You woke up on a space ship out of cryogenic freeze. The only influx of reliable food was from what new players spawn with so it was always a scrabble to catch them and kill them.

Although they turned it from that into a moon-based game and I can't remember what happened to it.

Possibly Atonement?

[Muz]

ptw.

I'm in the mood to try a MUD lately. Can't really find a good multiplayer game that was ever as satisfying as those good old MUDs.