Mastodawn

@ajroach42

(Half hoping for sundog to blow my mind with something here.)

There used to be *many* games like this for Plato systems and very early unix systems, but it looks like most of them are not working on modern systems, or are just not great to play.

@ajroach42 a related question, are there any MUDs that ship ready to play?

An octopus that has moved Aug 17, 2017

@ajroach42 Legend of the Red Dragon is my favourite, there's also LORD 2 and TradeWars 2000 that I'm aware of

@troubleMoney gimmie ten minutes to find out what all of those things are.

@troubleMoney doesn't look like LORD will run on Linux.

An octopus that has moved Aug 17, 2017

@ajroach42 Ah yeah, I know all of those can run on DOS but as for on Linux I'm not sure

@ajroach42 Yeah, if you aren't already well-versed in DOS BBS DOOR.sys games... https://www.pcmag.com/feature/340587/the-forgotten-world-of-bbs-door-games

@lmorchard and m not well versed, no. So that's super awesome.

I was a generation too late for actual dial up BBSs. Ended up lurking a telnet BBS in ~2000, but I missed a lot of history.

@ajroach42 Oh wow, then yay, happy to share the info :) I grew up with a whole slew of cruddy DOS BBS games that we spent a ton of time on regardless

@ajroach42 I used to have a Synchronet BBS running on a Linux server with an open ssh port and DOSEMU running what DOOR games would cooperate... I should try setting that up again someday

@lmorchard that's essentially what I'm trying to do. You wanna help?

@ajroach42 Hmm, maybe! I'm super rusty on how to get all the fiddly bits running. If it helps, this is the BBS software I used http://www.synchro.net/

@ajroach42 Lots of fussy instructions for DOSEMU + synchronet here. Always thought it would be a big deal if someone managed to wrap it all up in a Docker container http://wiki.synchro.net/howto:dosemu

@lmorchard Yeah, I remember reading through some of that. I may give it another shot this week, while I procrastinate a different project.

@lmorchard I had a hard time figuring out how synchronet worked. I tried that and MysticBBS, but I couldn't wrap my head around either one.

It wasn't supposed to be *my* project. I was running the server, my buddy was supposed to run the BBS, but he bailed on the project and left me to implement.

I'd love to get an actual BBS installed.

@ajroach42 Ah yeah, I'm probably a bad helper then, because I tend to set up a BBS and forget about it when I get busy at work and then it just bitrots :/

@ajroach42 This is why I also have only a single-user mastodon instance. And also I'm a bad community maintainer :)

@lmorchard :-) I'm good at communities, usually. I'm just not as good at arcane software as I'd like.

@lmorchard

I probably would have been fine with that, but he never even got stuff set up.

Eventually, me and @iAmNoah managed to get the BBS installed, but it never worked right.

Verified Goat ✅Aug 17, 2017

@ajroach42. hey, do games with leaderboarders and daily dungeons count, but not direct mp? I think dungeon crawl:stone soup is one, i know u can have a server setup w/ it, and i think ssh into it and play for the leaderboard

@goatmoat Leaderboard games totally count, especially if there's a way to run it so that it'll just show the leaderboard and exit (so that I can script something to display the leaderboard as part of the motd)

Verified Goat ✅Aug 17, 2017

@ajroach42. idk if there is, but DCSS is along the lines of a modern nethack. You might even be able to play the tiled/graphical version over ssh, i'm not sure. It's been awhile since i looked into it

@goatmoat Looks like remote access to the tiled version is done through the web.

Still neat. I'll check it out.

no-no Aug 17, 2017

@ajroach42 i played on MUCKs for years (essentially social/freeform MUDs that lack the npc monsters running around for players to kill - most were combinations of chat and freeform roleplay). and i remember a game called tsar wars that involved flying around in space and buying/selling resources - might have been a tradewars clone?

@wolfteeth That's a great name.

surinna, i'm mostly gone now Aug 17, 2017

@ajroach42 would you count single player games commonly played via connecting to a shared server over ssh/telnet for shared scoreboards/watching each other's games/etc.? if so, nethack and other rogue-like servers (forex nethack.alt.org)

@srn Yeah!

I'm less interested in global high scores than I am in actual multiplayer, but I'll certainly add the games with global high scores to the arcade.

The Doctor Aug 17, 2017

@ajroach42 ADVENT and Zork. Nethack.

I think there's a Linux version (or clone) of LORD out there.

Of course, the various MOO engines out there.

@drwho adventure and zork are more remotely multiplayer.

LORD will run in dosemu, but i need a BBS.

MOO engines are well and good; but I don't want to have to code up a map and npcs. If you've got one that comes prepopulated, I'd be onboard for that!

The Doctor Aug 17, 2017

@ajroach42 If you need A BBS (as in BBS software) for Linux, I can hook you up...

Let me see what I have stashed away. I may or may not have something in a link dump someplace.

@drwho synchronet is the software I've looked at; but I haven't been able to get it configured.

The Doctor Aug 17, 2017

@ajroach42 This is the software I used to run until I took my 'board offline in 1998: https://github.com/virtadpt/ebbs

Note that I didn't write the software. I put it on Github because I didn't want the source code getting lost.

@ajroach42 @drwho I have wanted an excuse to run up a lambdamoo server for ages. hmmmm.

@djsundog

If I could find a Moo engine that came with a map and some NPCs I'd be thrilled.

I don't mind building new stuff/coding my own, as I have time, but I want there to be stuff for people to do before then.

@ajroach42 I don't know of any super-fleshed-out moo cores, but I can ping a few folk. how big a population you looking to support and keep entertained?

@djsundog

Right now? 6 - 10, with room for growth.

@ajroach42 OK, any thematic strictures in terms of environment and such?

@djsundog

I mean, in an ideal world It'd be a cybrepunk/Gibsonian setting, focused around hacking, etc.

But I'll take the traditional high fantasy, or a less traditional Discworld fantasy, or whatever I can actually install and run!

@ajroach42 kk, lemme ferret around a bit and I'll let you know what I dig up

@djsundog !!

@ajroach42 while not ssh/telnet, I guess the web browser strategy games of the late 90s/early 00s are probably modern things fairly close in concept?

similarly, I guess, things like Urban Dead

@theoutrider Probably, yeah, but they won't work for the situation in which I find myself currently.

@ajroach42 ah, fair, I was assuming you were looking out of interest rather than for practical reasons :D

various roguelikes? DCSS is very good and modern

@ajroach42 though I guess they're not multi-player things outside of maybe shared highscore tables...

@theoutrider Yeah, DCSS has been mentioned here. Not actually mulitplayer, but has a shared leader board.

I run a shared server, that lots of people SSH into, with a message board and email and stuff (kind of a tilde.club thing?)

and I want to be able to play games with them.

@theoutrider DCSS looks really neat, though. I'll be putting it on for sure.

@ajroach42 DCSS goes a little bit beyond the shared leaderboards as well, in that dead characters can spawn as enemies in newer games

@theoutrider Yeah, that too! Still, not exactly multiplayer, but super neat.

I'm glad that such a thing exists.

@ajroach42 be great if you could make a writeup of what you find, I'd certainly be interested to see what exists in the space these days

@theoutrider :-D I plan on it.

So far, I've had more misses than hits, though.

I don't have the time right now,but eventually I may write my own.

Glenn Steen Aug 18, 2017

@ajroach42 if one have enough network speed, perhaps you'd enjoy the pleasure of a fast-paced "quasi-RT terminal shooter" like the ol' hunt game? Used to be in the bsdgames package... Loads o fun!

Glenn Steen Aug 18, 2017

@ajroach42 look at http://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?topic=hunt ... I see you're more looking for turnbased mud/moo stuff, but hunt is serious fun... And should run lightning fast on modern HW.

Andrew (Television Executive)Aug 18, 2017

@Glenn Yeah, Hunt is on the list.

I had some trouble getting used to the vi style controls, but I got it going.

I wanna see if there's a patched version to use cursor keys.

Andrew (Television Executive)Aug 18, 2017

@Glenn Turnbased isn't really a requirement, it's just the most common thing I see. I'd love more real time stuff!