ActsMUD is an online text-based game ('MUD') based on the first-century Mediterranean world. It is free-to play and not for profit.

Background and History

ActsMUD is one of the few active MUDs based on historical events, rather than medieval fantasy or science fiction. Parallels could perhaps be drawn with more recognized expressions of historical fiction such as the films Ben-Hur and Gladiator.

The developers of ActsMUD believed that all the prior implementations of MUD used for any type of academic or educational purpose had watered down the MUD concept so much that it became a bland 'IRC with rooms'. The argument goes that in pursuit of 'academic credibility', these MUDs had removed combat, magic, levelling, quests and so on; this could be considered as type of 'Oedipus complex'.

The developers wanted to go to the other extreme and create a MUD that would be educational but would still be true to the 28 year MUD tradition. ActsMUD aims to be faithful to the 'hack 'n' slash' genre at the core of the MUD tradition and all the typical elements found in MUDs are there; albeit re-interpreted for the first century world, rather than the medieval fantasy world found in most MUDs.

ActsMUD is based on the CircleMUD codebase, the server and website exclusively use open source software and the texts of the website and MUD texts are released under a Creative Commons licence.

Plot

ActsMUD is based in a rough nominal date of 60AD, under the reign of Nero who is turning the Field of Mars into a promising suburb of Rome, a practice run for his secret plan to rebuild the whole of the city in the subsequent fire of Rome. Meanwhile some strange magical practices have been reported in Alexandria, the center of learning and the grain trade.

Players can choose from four classes.

Apostle - Many of the apostles have been scattered and even martyred, can you help this struggling sect to regroup and go to the ends of the earth?

Soldier - as a young member of a wealthy family, through your military service, can you make the most of your political ambition and achieve glory in the senate?

Sicarius - Israel is overrun by the colonial oppressors, can you create a violent uprising and make the Romans flee back into the sea?

Sorcerer - you are an apprentice in the secret knowledge. Can you harness the great power to achieve a rank among the gods?

The four classes mentioned above are roughly equivalent to the four traditional classes of Cleric, Warrior, Rogue and Mage.

Game Statistics

According to the in-game statistics, on June 13, 2006. ActsMUD had 203 registered players, 963 mobiles, 1926 objects and 2199 rooms.

Connnecting to the game

To connect to the game, you need to telnet to the host acts.zeth.net using port 4000. This is best achieved using a specialised MUD client. According to the ActsMUD homepage, the recommended client for Windows is Wintin.net, not least because the ActsMUD connection details are included as an example MUD, but any will do.

Criticisms

According to the ActsMUD website ( Why is there sorcery in the ActsMUD?), the most frequent criticism is the presence of sorcery. There is an ongoing debate about how first-century beliefs in magic should be represented in the game. See the discussion thread, Any historical muds out there? at 'The MUDconnector', for more on this.

See also

CircleMUD

MUD

External links

ActsMUD Website

The Mud Connector listing for ActsMUD

Top MUD Sites listing for ActsMUD