''TorilMUD'' is a

MUD Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

, a text-based online

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

, and is one of the oldest and largest of its kind.

Game characteristics

''TorilMUD'' is set in the

Forgotten Realms ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setti ...

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' campaign setting. Toril is the name of the planet where the continent Faerûn, which "Forgotten Realms" refers to, is located. Its technical infrastructure is based on the

Sequent In mathematical logic, a sequent is a very general kind of conditional assertion. : A_1,\,\dots,A_m \,\vdash\, B_1,\,\dots,B_n. A sequent may have any number ''m'' of condition formulas ''Ai'' (called " antecedents") and any number ''n'' of ass ...

derivative of the

DikuMUD DikuMUD is a multiplayer text-based role-playing game, which is a type of multi-user domain (MUD). It was written in 1990 and 1991 by Sebastian Hammer, Tom Madsen, Katja Nyboe, Michael Seifert, and Hans Henrik Stærfeldt at DIKU (''Datalogisk I ...

codebase.

History

Kris Kortright, a developer from the

''Black Knights Realm'', founded ''Sojourn'', set in the

campaign setting for the ''

'' role-playing game, in 1993, along with Tim Devlin and John Bashaw. ''Sojourn'' was based on the Sequent codebase, the ''Epic'' spell system, and areas from ''Black Knights Realm''. The City of Waterdeep was the first zone built entirely for ''Sojourn''.

Brad McQuaid Brad McQuaid (April 25, 1969 – November 18, 2019) was an American video game designer who was the key designer of ''EverQuest'', a highly successful massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 1999. He later co-founded S ...

was an avid player of ''Sojourn''. Seeing the commercial potential of

virtual worlds A virtual world (also called a virtual space or spaces) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many simultaneous users who can create a personal avatar and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its acti ...

in the course of his MUD career, he went on to create ''

EverQuest ''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North America, ...

''. With Kris' permission, he used it as the model for the city of Freeport in ''EverQuest''. In 1996, due to creative differences between developers, ''Sojourn'' was forked into two projects, ''TorilMUD'' and ''Duris: Land of Bloodlust''. The developers had also previously worked on ''Copper II'', ''Copper III'' and ''Black Knights Realm''. The oldest zone on ''TorilMUD'', the Lava Tubes, comes from ''Copper II'', and the Underworld and Alterian Wilderness zones are from ''Black Knights Realm''. ''Sojourn'' was based on the Sequent codebase, the ''Epic'' spell system, and areas from ''Black Knights Realm''. The City of Waterdeep was the first zone built entirely for ''Sojourn'', and remains ''TorilMUD''s most heavily populated hometown. ''Sojourn'' continued until 1996, when a difference in creative vision among the staff led to the project being forked into ''TorilMUD'' and ''Duris: Land of Bloodlust''. Of the two, ''TorilMUD'' is regarded as the more direct inheritor of ''Sojourn''s legacy. ''Toril'' continued until 1998, when it became ''Sojourn 2'', and underwent another rebirth in 2001 as ''Sojourn 3''. Kris retired in 2003, and ''Sojourn 3'' was reborn as ''TorilMUD'', or as the old-time players refer to it, ''Toril 2''. Throughout these rebirths, the areas and code continued to grow: there are currently 300 zones (with several more nearing completion), 16277 types of monsters/mobs, and 13753 different items. Many ''TorilMUD'' staff members were staff on ''Sojourn 3'', ''Sojourn 2'', and some are even from ''Toril 1'', providing a degree of continuity. All ''Toril'' staff started as players on the MUD, giving them a great deal of personal experience with the game.

was an avid player of ''Sojourn'' and, after its demise, ''TorilMUD''. Seeing the commercial potential of

in the course of his MUD career, he went on to create ''

''.

Reception and impact

Engadget Engadget ( ) is a technology news, reviews and analysis website offering daily coverage of gadgets, consumer electronics, video games, gaming hardware, apps, social media, streaming, AI, space, robotics, electric vehicles and other potentially ...

article from 2011 noted TorilMUD for its direct influence on the MMO industry.The Game Archaeologist plays with MUDs: The games
by Justin Olivetti on engadget.com ''"TorilMUD is one of those games that pop up again and again whenever MUDs are mentioned ..for its direct influence on the MMO industry"''. (2011-04-19)

References

External links

* {{Dungeons & Dragons video games 1996 video games Fan fiction Fantasy video games Forgotten Realms video games MUD games