MajorMUD
Encyclopedia
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
.
MajorMUD itself was initially offered as a separate game module for the MajorBBS. Despite its significant price tag (nearly $1000 USD for a 256 user version), MajorMUD was noted by Logicom to be one of the most wildly popular packages to MajorBBS sysops. A total of 9 expansion modules, or "mods", were released over a period of several years, each in kind for an additional fee to the system owner.
MajorMUD went into Alpha testing on Nightline BBS on April 16, 1994. Then on June 4 MajorMUD was released to twenty other MajorBBS Systems for Beta testing. MajorMUD was officially released on November 4, 1994.
The game itself was written in C
and compiled with Borland C++
as with all modules for Major BBS and Worldgroup.
, a company based in Kansas
. 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.
On April 10, 2008 Metropolis Gameport shut down and sold all 7 of their Worldgroup BBS Game Servers. As of March, 2011, the future of MajorMUD is still uncertain. Metroplis continues to charge full price for MajorMUD despite the demise of the BBS; many speculate they continue to keep the price high because they are hoping to sell the MajorMUD intellectual property to a MMO company.
Module List:
For some time the MajorMUD website still listed Module 10 as a future update, but as of 2011 this is not more the case. On March 19, 2007, Metropolis announced that their current programmer had resigned to move on to another company.
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
for the Major BBS
Major BBS
The Major BBS was bulletin board software developed between 1986 and 1999 by Galacticomm. In 1995 it was renamed Worldgroup Server and bundled with a user client interface program named Worldgroup Manager for Microsoft Windows...
and Worldgroup BBS
Bulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
software. It can be played over a dial-up modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
connected to a BBS, or more commonly over telnet
TELNET
Telnet is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communications facility using a virtual terminal connection...
.
History
MajorMUD was created by Lance & Cathy "Dog" Neumann, Michael "Cat" Skupa, Craig "Morukai" Young, and Geoffrey "Orfeo" Rosen in the early 1990s. 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 TeleArena 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.MajorMUD itself was initially offered as a separate game module for the MajorBBS. Despite its significant price tag (nearly $1000 USD for a 256 user version), MajorMUD was noted by Logicom to be one of the most wildly popular packages to MajorBBS sysops. A total of 9 expansion modules, or "mods", were released over a period of several years, each in kind for an additional fee to the system owner.
MajorMUD went into Alpha testing on Nightline BBS on April 16, 1994. Then on June 4 MajorMUD was released to twenty other MajorBBS Systems for Beta testing. MajorMUD was officially released on November 4, 1994.
The game itself was written in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
and compiled with Borland C++
Borland C++
Borland C++ is a C and C++ programming environment for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was the successor to Turbo C++, and included a better debugger, the Turbo Debugger, which was written in protected mode DOS....
as with all modules for Major BBS and Worldgroup.
Sale to Metropolis
On May 25, 1999, WCC sold MajorMUD to Metropolis GameportMetropolis Gameport
Metropolis Gameport is the Kansas, USA based company that currently owns the rights to several games, including Legend of the Red Dragon, MajorMUD and Planets: The Exploration of Space, selling the licenses to the games on their website.-External links:**...
, a company based in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. 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.
On April 10, 2008 Metropolis Gameport shut down and sold all 7 of their Worldgroup BBS Game Servers. As of March, 2011, the future of MajorMUD is still uncertain. Metroplis continues to charge full price for MajorMUD despite the demise of the BBS; many speculate they continue to keep the price high because they are hoping to sell the MajorMUD intellectual property to a MMO company.
Expansion modules
On November 11, 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 — Released June 21, 1997
- Module 3: Strangers in the Night — Released October 4, 1997
- Module 4: Terror from Below — Released January 2, 1998
- Module 5: The Rising Dawn — Released May 6, 1998
- Module 6: The Sands of Time — Released September 13, 1998
- Module 7: Savage Lands; Released December 28, 1999
- Module 8: A Call to Arms!; Released May 12, 2000
- Module 9: Prophecy of Plague; Released September 13, 2001
- MajorMUD Plus — Entertainment Edition
For some time the MajorMUD website still listed Module 10 as a future update, but as of 2011 this is not more the case. On March 19, 2007, Metropolis announced that their current programmer had resigned to move on to another company.
Races
The original release included eleven races, with two more added in later modules. Each race has six base stats: strength, agility, intelligence, wisdom, health, and charm. These stats are increased manually as levels are gained through skill points which are accrued as the character levels up. Each race has its own attributes and special racial abilities, such as nightvision, stealth, and increased resistances. Some races are better than others, which comes with an increase in the experience modifier.External links
- Official MajorMUD home page (Unsupported)
- MajorMUD page on the Mudpedia Wiki
- MajorMUD entries in the Open Directory ProjectOpen Directory ProjectThe Open Directory Project , also known as Dmoz , is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links. It is owned by Netscape but it is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors.ODP uses a hierarchical ontology scheme for organizing site listings...
(DMOZ) - MMUD Explorer - A viewer for the game MajorMUD (2007 sources on google.code)
- MMB.FORUMSHQ.COM Top MajorMUD Forum and support Updated Daily with News and Support