''Lost Souls'' 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 ...
set in a
medieval fantasy
Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic (fantasy), magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those c ...
world. It has an extensive history of technical innovation in its field and has received critical praise.
History
''Lost Souls'' was founded in 1990
by Michael "Almior" Rice and several associates. It distinguished itself early on with software features, then innovative among MUDs (and still less than ubiquitous),
such as an overland-map-style environment,
realistic combat,
a language barrier,
and a limb model for characters supporting anatomies significantly different from that of humans,
that earned it positive critical response.
Subsequent developments have included the ''
atman
Atman or Ätman may refer to:
Religion
* ''Ätman'' (Hinduism), meaning "Self", a philosophical concept common to all schools of Hindu philosophy
* ''Ätman'' (Buddhism), ''attÄ'' or ''attan'', a reference to the essential self
** ''AnattÄ'' ...
'' (an account system through which players can manage multiple characters, improving on the typical MUD arrangement where the character ''is'' the account),
a detailed model of the physical makeup of objects and the organs of living beings, a 3D evolution of the "overland map" allowing free flight across the world, use of
A* search for pathfinding (and publishing the code for doing so),
a detailed skill model,
an innovative system for psychic wild talents, accessibility support for vision-impaired players using screen reader software, and character development through exploration rather than combat.
''Lost Souls'' was an early mover into the Web among MUDs, registering its domain lostsouls.org in April 1995,
after previously maintaining a Web presence at lostsouls.desertmoon.com.
As a result, it is one of the four sites cited in the LPMud FAQ
(now a frozen document), only two of which are still online and MUD-related (the other being
BatMUD
''BatMUD'' is a medieval fantasy Multi-user dungeon, MUD, established in 1990. ''BatMUD'' is Finland-based and operated and owned by a non-profit organization, Balanced Alternative Techniques ry ("B.A.T. ry"), officially registered 1994 in Helsin ...
's site). The game's Web presence has become an important part of its service offering, including an extensive, mostly player-edited wiki and spawning several players' character blogs.
In December 2019, Matthew "Chaos" Sheahan retired from his position as owner and lead developer of ''Lost Souls'', passing the responsibilities to Wesley "Starhound" Reid.
Game characteristics
Overview
''Lost Souls'', as typical for MUDs, is accessed through a
telnet
Telnet (sometimes stylized TELNET) is a client-server application protocol that provides access to virtual terminals of remote systems on local area networks or the Internet. It is a protocol for bidirectional 8-bit communications. Its main ...
client or specialized
MUD client
A multi-user dungeon (MUD, ), also known as a multi-user dimension or multi-user domain, is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based or storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus ...
. The interface is text-based, in what is often thought of as the ''
Zork
''Zork'' is a text adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson (programmer), Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company ...
'' style. The basic game structure follows common RPG conventions, with characters fighting, exploring, and questing to gain experience, gold and items. ''Lost Soulss command structure and character model are unusually extensive for a game and are noted as presenting a considerable amount of information to be learned.
This is a significant barrier to new players, though experienced players often see the learning curve as a rite of passage and appreciate the greater depth that the extensive system brings to their later gameplay.
Races
''Lost Souls'' has a broad variety of races, some deviating wildly from the human baseline. Thirty-two can be chosen from by a new player, ten more are unlocked by normal play, and another nineteen can be played under exotic circumstances. Among the more unusual races are the nyloc (magickally created shadow-beings), zuth (giant centaur-shaped reptiles), rachnei (anthropomorphic spiders), and phaethon (bronze-skinned elves with wings of fire).
Affiliations
''Lost Souls'' does not have the "
character class
In tabletop games and video games, a character class is an occupation, profession, or role assigned to a game character to highlight and differentiate their capabilities and specializations.
In role-playing games (RPGs), character classes ag ...
" mechanic common to fantasy role-playing games; its nearest equivalent is guilds and associations, which are organizations that a character joins after creation. Most often, affiliations can be left as well, allowing the character to explore new avenues of development. These organizations are numerous and often highly idiosyncratic, offering abilities and challenges specific to the individual group. Examples of affiliations range from the Aligned, a group of artists and poets attuned to cosmic order, to Ordo Zephyrius Mutatoris, magicians who control air and weather, to the Erisian Liberation Front,
Discordians
Discordianism is a belief system based around Eris (mythology), Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord, and variously defined as a religion, new religious movement, virtual religion, or act of social commentary; though prior to 2005, some ...
described as "guerrilla theologians" who invoke an array of gods in the name of chaos.
Skills
The ''Lost Souls'' skill system is based on a value assigned to each of the character's attributes, such as strength, agility, and ego. The higher their attribute in a given area, more specialization points are available to allocate for a certain skill. For example, higher dexterity allows the user to allocate more specialty points to the use of swords. The more specialty points that are allocated for a certain skill, the faster the skill can be learned and improved. It also increases the maximum skill level the player can have for that particular skill. The intention of this is to allow for 'heroic' levels of capability to be achievable without the risk of a situation arising where everyone becomes equally, superhumanly capable at everything, since the system limits and promotes development of different skills at different times.
Psionic talents
The psionic wild talent system is particularly distinctive. Psi talents develop after character creation, during the normal course of play, through a number of mind-altering events that can potentially awaken them. They are initially latent, and come to full expression through being triggered by related events; for instance, the talent of making oneself psychically invisible may make itself manifest while one is trying to run away and hide from an opponent. Psi talents vary greatly in their strength and utility, and can add considerable complexity to a character.
Influences
Fantasy literature
Like many MUDs, ''Lost Souls'' is heavily influenced by popular fantasy literature, with much content being visibly an adaptation of material from these sources. In the 1990s, this intermingling of fictional worlds into an arguably coherent whole was aggressively pursued by the game's developers. More recently, the creative direction has been toward the development of purely original content and the repurposing of adaptational content away from its third-party roots. Despite these efforts, ''Lost Souls'' retains the stamp of many literary and gaming influences, the most marked being
Roger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 â June 14, 1995) was an American fantasy and science fiction writer known for his short stories and novels, best known for '' The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nominatio ...
's ''
Chronicles of Amber
''The Chronicles of Amber'' is a series of fantasy novels by American writer Roger Zelazny. The novel series, main series consists of two story arcs, each five novels in length. Additionally, there are a number of Amber short story, short stor ...
'',
J.R.R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 â 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
's ''
Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually developed into ...
'', and
H.P. Lovecraft's
Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American Horror fiction, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, t ...
.
Discordianism
Where the forces of chaos tend to be grim and demonic in many fantasy settings, in ''Lost Souls'' they often wear the face of
Discordianism
Discordianism is a belief system based around Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord, and variously defined as a religion, new religious movement, virtual religion, or act of social commentary; though prior to 2005, some sources categoriz ...
.
Eris is regarded as the high goddess of chaos, and several affiliations - the Paratheo-Anametamystikhood of Eris Esoteric, the Erisian Liberation Front, and the Legion of Dynamic Discord - are drawn from
Discordian works. These affiliations all share the ability to spout forth random quotations at will; these quotations are drawn from a central file that has grown considerably over time, and its occasional public postings
have led to it becoming a widespread and recurring part of Discordianism.
It appears that Discordianism's influence on ''Lost Souls'' has led, through no particular intention, to ''Lost Souls'' being an influence on Discordianism.
Technical structure and publications
Driver
''Lost Souls'' runs on the
LDMud game driver, a branch of the
LPMud
LPMud, abbreviated LP, is a family of multi-user dungeon (MUD) server software. Its first instance, the original LPMud game driver, was developed in 1989 by Lars Pensjö (the LP in LPMud). LPMud was innovative in its separation of the MUD infrastr ...
family of MUD server software.
Mudlib
''Lost Soulss core technical resource is its
mudlib
A multi-user dungeon (MUD, ), also known as a multi-user dimension or multi-user domain, is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text-based or storyboarded. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus ...
, the collection of
LPC-language support functionality that forms the framework on which its content is built. The ''Lost Souls'' mudlib was originally referred to as LSLib, later being rechristened as Ain Soph, referring to the
Kabbalistic concept. Its early technical innovations, until c. 1994, were primarily the work of Rebecca "Bectile" Willey,
with work after her retirement being driven mainly by Matthew "Chaos" Sheahan.
The Ain Soph mudlib has not, to date, been publicly released, but other MUDs have been started using it, either through private agreement or through theft. Ain Soph MUDs started by private agreement include ''Costello'', an English-language teaching environment, and the now-defunct MUD ''Lost Dawning'', which was originally a tutorial-oriented "sister MUD" to ''Lost Souls''
but later separated completely in a politically driven
project fork.
Publications
Though the Ain Soph mudlib is not public, ''Lost Souls'' developers do make efforts to contribute to the MUD and general programming communities. Th
"Lost Souls Grimoire"contains several such publications:
An LPC-language A* search algorithm modulePerl-language mass search and replace supportJavaScript cross-browser Web form autofocusA diminishing returns formula in eight languages
Some ''Lost Souls'' LPC code is also occasionally released into the public domain vi
lpmuds.net Such releases include:
''Lost Soulss "Services" mechanism a method of accelerating LPC inter-object communication
scan_for_destructed_objects() a support function for LPC memory management
LPC implementationsof
Levenshtein and
DamerauâLevenshtein distance
In information theory and computer science, the DamerauâLevenshtein distance (named after Frederick J. Damerau and Vladimir I. Levenshtein.) is a string metric for measuring the edit distance between two sequences. Informally, the DamerauâLev ...
''Lost Soulss "graph" command for text visualization of mathematical formulae
See also
*
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 ...
*
LPMud
LPMud, abbreviated LP, is a family of multi-user dungeon (MUD) server software. Its first instance, the original LPMud game driver, was developed in 1989 by Lars Pensjö (the LP in LPMud). LPMud was innovative in its separation of the MUD infrastr ...
*
LPC (programming language)
LPMud, abbreviated LP, is a family of multi-user dungeon (MUD) server software. Its first instance, the original LPMud game driver, was developed in 1989 by Lars Pensjö (the LP in LPMud). LPMud was innovative in its separation of the MUD infrastr ...
References
External links
''Lost Souls'' official site''Lost Souls'' community wiki
{{MUDs
MUD games
Fantasy video games
1990 video games
Video games developed in the United States