897: Valhalla MUD \\ "Boldin's Cousin" Quest: Gremlins, Grumpkins, and a carrot patch!
5*I was wrong! Probably about a lot but also Richard Bartle's MUD2 *is* still running, at mud2.com and maybe at mudii.co.uk; both require an email address to play for real, although at mud2.com, without providing an email you can at least enter the game and walk around as a non-interacting guest (I used Telnet) and try the tutorial--it's a LOT of text and I found it rather hard to parse.
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I'm a horrible noob who hasn't tried to play a MUD in 30 years but I got inspired to look into 'em this past week, and came across Valhalla MUD aka DikuMUD III (or diku3, etc)--and found Michael Seifert, one of the comp sci university students who released it as the original DikuMud back in '91, still working on improving the game! And I got to talk to him on his Discord! He was super cool and answered all my silly noob questions. : )
Anyway I couldn't find any videos of this game, so I played a second session, recording this time, working on the third quest from Boldin, the weird dude at the beginning area who starts talking to you...
I recorded for 10x longer than I'd meant to so I guess I was having fun! 'D' I got a bunch of magical gear! And carrots! I almost died at one point! : D
0:00 - valhalla.com
2:35 - screen reader version
3:45 - the web interface
5:15 - DikuMUD & MUD history*
13:24 - the web site, command list & FAQ
31:10 - why am I looking at MUDs?
40:23 - MUDs I looked at - GemStone IV, Genesis, etc
46:42 - entering Valhalla; character creation memory
54:02 - Boldin the Wise; recalling his first two quests
1:01:27 - recalling finding the source & chatting with the author
1:08:30 - Boldin's Cousin quest: to the farm
1:11:30 - The Dusty Trail
1:13:29 - Barnham's Farm
1:20:25 - the chest in the attic
1:32:33 - grumpkins and gremlins
1:37:24 - the chest's syntax secret and magic gear
1:51:38 - the cave
1:59:38 - the Hidden Room
2:14:14 - The Carrot Fields
2:23:22 - Midgaard & the obelisk
2:29:19 - The Fighter's Guild
2:55:25 - Boldin's 4th Quest: "Boldin Seeking Rogue"
3:00:00 - old maps
Valhalla MUD aka DikuMUD III login links: http://valhalla.com
DikuMUD3 code repository: https://github.com/Seifert69/DikuMUD3
Valhalla MUD Discord: https://discord.gg/vmha2rGRA2
http://mudstats.com - stats, info, and links for 740+ active MUDs = o
Daphaknee's mind-blowing GemStone IV screenshots that got me wondering about MUDs after 30 years: https://selectbutton.net/t/shin-densetsu-no-screenshots-gaiden-2-022-everybodys-free-to-use-print-screen/12362/192
Wikipedia on DikuMUD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DikuMUD
Roguelike Radio interview with Richard Bartle and other MUD developers: http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2017/11/episode-141-muds.html
Maniax Channel's video on DikuMUD's contribution to the gaming landscape: https://youtu.be/JqC66POqhY4
Notes to self:
consider - size up the opponent
remove - un-wield a weapon or take something off
status skills
status weapons - show skill progress
open [direction] door
get [item] from [container]
pour obelisk in barrel - : PPP
4/16/22
#valhallamud #dikumud #dikumud3 #mud #rpg #freegame #opensourcegame #opensource