[MUD-Dev] Mud Settings

[Travis Casey]

Greg Munt <greg at uni-corn.demon.co.uk> wrote:


>The 'traditional' mud is set in a fantasy/medieval "Swords 'N' Sorcery"
>environment. The only alternative seems to be some sort of futuristic
>setting. (Please reply to this, if I'm wrong.)


The World of Darkness MUSHes are, for the most part, set in modern-day
settings, but with vampires, werewolves, mages, and other supernatural
beings existing.  I recall there being a mud of some variety that was
based on David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" TV series.  I visited it once, but
didn't stick around.  I've heard of muds based on the Cthulhu Mythos
(set in the 1920's) and on superhero comics, but never actually visited
one.  There are also a few muds based on time travel and/or dimension
travel backgrounds; I've visited one, but pretty much immediately left,
sending a note explaining why, when I discovered that the game system
had been lifted directly from the Torg paper RPG, without credit being
given anywhere that I could find.  (Also, much of the help text explaining
the world background was copied *directly* from Torg.)

>Has anyone ever considered taking this medieval setting, with its
>interfering gods, its magic, and its powerful heroes, and moving forward
>in history, to a contemporary (or perhaps futuristic) setting? Has this
>been done before, only I never knew about it?

The closest thing I can think of off-hand is muds based on Shadowrun.  In
case you're not familiar with it, Shadowrun is a pencil-and-paper RPG set
in ~2040.  The premise is that magic has reemerged into the world after a
long "dry spell", and with the reemergence of magic, there are now once
again
magicians, elementals, magical creatures, orcs (spelled "orks" in the game),
trolls, elves, dwarfs, nature spirits, and all sorts of other fun stuff.
Technology has continued to advance as well; the game has cyberpunk-style
tech.  There aren't any "gods" in the setting, as far as I know, but there
are powerful spirits and a few ancient magicians with godlike levels of
power.

I've heard of at least one Shadowrun-based mud, but I've never played it.
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