MajorMUD
From Mudpedia
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MajorMUD is a MUD for the Major BBS Bulletin board system software. It can be played over a dial-up modem connected to a BBS, or more commonly over telnet.
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[edit] History
MajorMUD was created by Lance Neumann (Coding), Michael Skupa (design), Craig Young (design), and Geoffrey Rosen in 1994. 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 development was originally started because Lance was unable get updates for TeleArena.
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 Logicomm 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 were all modules for Major BBS and Worldgroup.)
On October 9, 2009 the domain registration for the primary fan website (www.mudcentral.com) expired but has since been renewed.
[edit] 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 November 30, 2001
- 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.[1][2]
[edit] Races
There are a total of 13 races available to choose from when a player creates a character in MajorMUD. The original release included 11 races, with the Nekojin and Gaunt One 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, having higher starting stats and more special abilities. This can come with a cost however, with a sharp increase in the experience modifier. At higher levels a racial modifier on experience can mean hundred of millions of experience points.
[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.
[edit] Sale to Metropolis
On May 25, 1999, WCC sold MajorMUD to Metropolis Gameport, 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.
On April 10, 2008 Metropolis Gameport shut down and sold all 7 of their Worldgroup BBS Game Servers.
[edit] External links
- ODS BBS - place to play MajorMUD currently
- Official MajorMUD home page
- MajorMUD Message Board
- Mudop and Sysop Utilitiy Software
[edit] References
- ↑ "Major Mud Add-ons". Tarl's Place.
- ↑ "Major Mud Version History". Tarl's Place.
