6 ms·

MUDs may be history to most people, but at Iron Realms we still have five commercial MUDs running live with dedicated paid staff on each constantly working to i

MUDs may be history to most people, but at Iron Realms we still have five commercial MUDs running live with dedicated paid staff on each constantly working to improve the gameplay and enlarge the already massive worlds. Honestly, it's pretty surprising to me, as when I launched our first one - Achaea - in 1997 right around when Ultima Online launched, I gave us five years. https://ironrealms.com https://ironrealms.com

dleslie 6y ago
Are any particularly tuned to playing together in small groups or pairs? My love of MUD/MUSE/MOOws largely around such experiences.
stonesweep 6y ago
This is fun, thanks! Minor bug report, this asset is missing (404 - found it broken while creating a character): https://www.achaea.com/local/client_data/classes/psion.jpg?ver=2 https://www.achaea.com/local/client_data/classes/psion.jpg?v...
runevault 6y ago
As someone who was a volunteer Admin/coder for a while on a MUD during college (Fires of Heaven, yes based on the Wheel of Time) keeping a MUD going with paid staff in this age is incredible. Well done!
lrem 6y ago
Wait, so people not only still play, but also actually pay for MUDs? OTOH, I managed to find the price list and seems to be quite heavily pay to win...
- Twisol 6y ago
  (context: I played Achaea without access to a source of cash) Back when I played, you could buy "artefacts" with real money, but they were less "pay to win" and more "pay for convenience". They were definitely far more than mere cosmetic items, but it was more than possible to play without ever buying one. Though I was always, always jealous when I saw somebody using wings. Those things took you to a kind of cloud teleportation hub where you could immediately jump to a number of places. What was the code word... "Duanathar"?
  - iron_ball 6y ago
    Depends on the item. Some of them were quite powerful, but even then, generally you'd get a 10% edge or an ability from another class. And people would often have macros to unequip all their artifacts for a fair duel. The Lasallian Lyre is named after my character, but strangely enough, I never mastered the timing to make the best use of it. (A playable class was later based on some fiction I wrote for the official history, which arguably the most impact I've ever had on a product vision...) Never thought I'd see Achaea discussed on HN. It was a deep influence on me, though my active time was a lifetime ago. Hi, Sarapis! Figured you'd like to know that Achaea, and of course Avalon before it (you were... Orthwein?) really did have a long-lasting impact. These games have always been deeply participatory: player-run guilds, player-run cities. At least at the time I played, you literally couldn't even get class abilities without joining a group and inheriting its political positions, friends, enemies. And although there were PvE quests, the majority of the game was about conflict between players, at the level of people, guilds, cities. That's a far cry from the theme-park nature of modern multiplayer RPGs like WoW.
    - aurelius12 6y ago
      Thanks! No, I was Shaitan as a player in Avalon, then Lazarus as a god. Glad you have such fond memories!
  - atsushin 6y ago
    Yup, Duanathar. It was especially fun when the Clouds were strategically used during raids and skirmishes, people found a lot of creative uses for it.
  - CodeMage 6y ago
    I tried Achaea after I got too frustrated with MUME. What turned me off wasn't the way people could pay to avoid grind, but rather how you absolutely needed a client script for combat. If you didn't have some kind of script that provided automated reactions, PVE was really hard and you couldn't even consider PVP. And, of course, people who made the best scripts were charging for them.
- lithos 6y ago
  Iron Realms games are pay to win enough to make every publisher jealous. Though they are some of the most involved/integrated communities of players/developers/tool-makers in likely any game at the moment.
Twisol 6y ago
Former player of Achaea here (if anyone recognizes the name Soludra) -- can attest, the Iron Realms MUDs are top-tier. I tried to get into volunteering, but my work ethic wasn't really up to snuff at the time. Sorry ^_^;
- aurelius12 6y ago
  Nothing to worry about, it happens! Glad you enjoyed Achaea. :)
kwk1 6y ago
The combat system in Achaea was always so fascinating to me in terms of balance, but back when I was still playing it I was on bad dialup or satellite internet, which gave me a pretty big disadvantage against other people.
- aurelius12 6y ago
  Oof, yeah, relatively low ping is important. Not like FPS important, but still important.
- AfterShave 6y ago
  Same. It really amazes me how cool combat was in a game that was purely text. Even if it was almost a decade since I played a lot of it. I remember it fondly and still recommend it if for nothing else but novelty. The hundred or so debuffs and the concept of truelock still fascinates me. If a new, (more graphical perhaps) game dared to come even close to that I'd be so happy to give it a spin.
atsushin 6y ago
Woah, Sarapis! I've seen MUDs discussed here on HN before but never Achaea. I wouldn't be who I am today without having played that game. Thank you for so many years of fun.
- aurelius12 6y ago
  You're welcome, and that's really cool to hear.
reaperducer 6y ago
Since you run the place, I'll state here that it would be nice if I could look at your web site and decide if I'm interested before being hit with a pop-up window asking me to sign up for a newsletter. How do I know if I want your newsletter, if I haven't figured out what your product is? Window closed. Sale lost.
- EamonnMR 6y ago
  This site is by no means unique in this practice.
  - nvrspyx 6y ago
    And? Just because the practice is prevalent doesn't mean it's absolved of criticism.
- beders 6y ago
  What sale? If a newsletter popup prevents you from actually looking at the site, you really need that time machine back to 1995.
  - wtetzner 6y ago
    Newsletter popups are obnoxious and unnecessary. Why can’t they just be a link on the page instead of a popup?
- Mauricebranagh 6y ago
  Yeh I have had made this point and had it changed on some of the sites I work on - immediately popping up a call to action is counter productive. It might also hurt your SEO as well
- aurelius12 6y ago
  Fair point, and you're right.

dleslie 6y ago

Are any particularly tuned to playing together in small groups or pairs? My love of MUD/MUSE/MOOws largely around such experiences.

stonesweep 6y ago

This is fun, thanks! Minor bug report, this asset is missing (404 - found it broken while creating a character): https://www.achaea.com/local/client_data/classes/psion.jpg?ver=2 https://www.achaea.com/local/client_data/classes/psion.jpg?v...

runevault 6y ago

As someone who was a volunteer Admin/coder for a while on a MUD during college (Fires of Heaven, yes based on the Wheel of Time) keeping a MUD going with paid staff in this age is incredible. Well done!

lrem 6y ago

Wait, so people not only still play, but also actually pay for MUDs? OTOH, I managed to find the price list and seems to be quite heavily pay to win...

Twisol 6y ago
(context: I played Achaea without access to a source of cash) Back when I played, you could buy "artefacts" with real money, but they were less "pay to win" and more "pay for convenience". They were definitely far more than mere cosmetic items, but it was more than possible to play without ever buying one. Though I was always, always jealous when I saw somebody using wings. Those things took you to a kind of cloud teleportation hub where you could immediately jump to a number of places. What was the code word... "Duanathar"?
- iron_ball 6y ago
  Depends on the item. Some of them were quite powerful, but even then, generally you'd get a 10% edge or an ability from another class. And people would often have macros to unequip all their artifacts for a fair duel. The Lasallian Lyre is named after my character, but strangely enough, I never mastered the timing to make the best use of it. (A playable class was later based on some fiction I wrote for the official history, which arguably the most impact I've ever had on a product vision...) Never thought I'd see Achaea discussed on HN. It was a deep influence on me, though my active time was a lifetime ago. Hi, Sarapis! Figured you'd like to know that Achaea, and of course Avalon before it (you were... Orthwein?) really did have a long-lasting impact. These games have always been deeply participatory: player-run guilds, player-run cities. At least at the time I played, you literally couldn't even get class abilities without joining a group and inheriting its political positions, friends, enemies. And although there were PvE quests, the majority of the game was about conflict between players, at the level of people, guilds, cities. That's a far cry from the theme-park nature of modern multiplayer RPGs like WoW.
  - aurelius12 6y ago
    Thanks! No, I was Shaitan as a player in Avalon, then Lazarus as a god. Glad you have such fond memories!
- atsushin 6y ago
  Yup, Duanathar. It was especially fun when the Clouds were strategically used during raids and skirmishes, people found a lot of creative uses for it.
- CodeMage 6y ago
  I tried Achaea after I got too frustrated with MUME. What turned me off wasn't the way people could pay to avoid grind, but rather how you absolutely needed a client script for combat. If you didn't have some kind of script that provided automated reactions, PVE was really hard and you couldn't even consider PVP. And, of course, people who made the best scripts were charging for them.
lithos 6y ago
Iron Realms games are pay to win enough to make every publisher jealous. Though they are some of the most involved/integrated communities of players/developers/tool-makers in likely any game at the moment.

Twisol 6y ago

Former player of Achaea here (if anyone recognizes the name Soludra) -- can attest, the Iron Realms MUDs are top-tier. I tried to get into volunteering, but my work ethic wasn't really up to snuff at the time. Sorry ^_^;

aurelius12 6y ago
Nothing to worry about, it happens! Glad you enjoyed Achaea. :)

kwk1 6y ago

The combat system in Achaea was always so fascinating to me in terms of balance, but back when I was still playing it I was on bad dialup or satellite internet, which gave me a pretty big disadvantage against other people.

aurelius12 6y ago
Oof, yeah, relatively low ping is important. Not like FPS important, but still important.
AfterShave 6y ago
Same. It really amazes me how cool combat was in a game that was purely text. Even if it was almost a decade since I played a lot of it. I remember it fondly and still recommend it if for nothing else but novelty. The hundred or so debuffs and the concept of truelock still fascinates me. If a new, (more graphical perhaps) game dared to come even close to that I'd be so happy to give it a spin.

atsushin 6y ago

Woah, Sarapis! I've seen MUDs discussed here on HN before but never Achaea. I wouldn't be who I am today without having played that game. Thank you for so many years of fun.

aurelius12 6y ago
You're welcome, and that's really cool to hear.

reaperducer 6y ago

Since you run the place, I'll state here that it would be nice if I could look at your web site and decide if I'm interested before being hit with a pop-up window asking me to sign up for a newsletter. How do I know if I want your newsletter, if I haven't figured out what your product is? Window closed. Sale lost.

EamonnMR 6y ago
This site is by no means unique in this practice.
- nvrspyx 6y ago
  And? Just because the practice is prevalent doesn't mean it's absolved of criticism.
beders 6y ago
What sale? If a newsletter popup prevents you from actually looking at the site, you really need that time machine back to 1995.
- wtetzner 6y ago
  Newsletter popups are obnoxious and unnecessary. Why can’t they just be a link on the page instead of a popup?
Mauricebranagh 6y ago
Yeh I have had made this point and had it changed on some of the sites I work on - immediately popping up a call to action is counter productive. It might also hurt your SEO as well
aurelius12 6y ago
Fair point, and you're right.