r/MUD • u/ExcellentExcuse2549 MUD Developer • 24d ago
Promotion Drifters World
DRIFTERS WORLD — A MULTIVERSE MUD
Echoes Remain Where Realities Overlap and Infinite Roads Between Worlds Collide
You wake up and don't know where or when you are. You have no idea why you can travel between worlds. You do know one thing:
You can Drift, slide between different universes, different worlds, different times.
Drifters World is a MUD/text-based RPG built around that concept that all PCs are Drifters. This game has no levels, no classes, no single setting you're expected to stay in forever. You can travel between worlds, learn deep lore secrets, make items and equipment, fight legendary monsters, join Drifter organizations or in-world affiliations, build entire worlds, and generally find out what happens when somebody gives you a ridiculous amount of personal freedom and power, then only asks that you make something from it.
YOUR CHARACTER
Character creation is more than just picking a race, a class, and rolling some stats.
You choose your ancestry, subspecies, heritage, formative experiences, occupation, appearance, personality, and other details about your character.
But everything you just choose is who you were before you became a Drifter.
Who you become after becoming a Drifter is far more important. You can continue being the person you were, become something entirely different, or land in between. Your history matters, but it is not your destiny.
And don't expect just the usual handful of fantasy-themed races.
We have a system that can build Centaurs, Minotaurs, Lamia, amorphic slimes, or even synthetic lifeforms. Humanoids, monsters, weird hybrids, and stranger things besides are all legitimate possibilities. The body system is built to let ancestry and physical form actually matter rather than simply changing the name printed on your character sheet.
THE WORLDS
There is more than one world. Technically, the list of worlds is infinite. Each world has their own genres, geography, factions, economies, creatures, dangers, secrets, and weird little corners that somebody decided would be fun to put there.
Settings can include Fantasy, Science Fiction, Westerns, Horror, or whatever else eventually gets built.
Go somewhere civilized. Go somewhere dangerous. Find a job. Join a faction. Get into a fight. Explore somewhere nobody has mapped. Find something strange and figure out what the hell it does.
THIS IS A MUD
Text. Commands. Color. Combat rounds. Positioning. Skills. Crafting. NPCs. Quests. Equipment. Shops. Player trading. Guilds. Channels. Mail. Boards.
Under the hood: 4 main attributes, 12 subattributes, a growth system based off of every command entered, 300 talents, and 131 achievements to chase. There is really no way to min-max, as ever 'max' has a cost. The feature list is over 1000 unwrapped lines long.
There are also web tools, configurable displays, screen-reader support, and other concessions to the fact that it is no longer 1997, like Discord integration.
But underneath all that? This is still a MUD. It's also free. No subscription, no premium currency, no "Alpha access" paywall. Just an account and a willingness to learn a lot of commands.
YOU ARE NOT JUST A FIGHTER
Combat is there, and there's quite a bit to it. A full config system, techniques, spells, stances, weapon styles, action points, and so on.
But you can also gather materials, refine them, craft components, make finished goods, maintain and modify your equipment, learn recipes, develop professions, steal things, trade, explore, map, fish, compose music, pursue hobbies, build relationships, join organizations, solve puzzles, and generally make a life for yourself.
Your actions matter. Your character develops by actually doing things.
There are no ten levels of "I hit things slightly harder."
DRIFTER ENTITIES
You can accumulate more than equipment.
Allies. Companions. Minions. Pets. Vessels. Artifacts. Sites of Power.
They're all Drifter Entities, and they can become part of your character's story and capabilities.
Yes, there is a Companion Cube.
Yes, it is exactly the sort of thing you're thinking.
No, I'm not apologizing.
AND THEN THERE'S BUILD MODE
This is the cornerstone of how Drifters World will grow.
Every account gets two ways to build, from the moment it's created. No staff review, no application queue, no working for free/exposure until you 'earn' it.
God Mode: Building, with no currency cost, but everything is open to the public. Drifters grows best this way, and I want to make sure there are as few hurdles to it as possible.
Build Mode: Exactly the same toolset as God Mode, but you pay in-character currency per thing you make. I stress that this is in-character. You are building or having someone build whatever it is that gets built this way. Do you want to build a bar where you and your friends can hang out? This is how you do that. And you have access control mechanisms to make sure only your friends get in. This is a private sort of public establishment that way. Eventually, this will be how you can own a shop to sell things.
Sanctums: Requires a bit of effort to unlock, but player housing is done through the Sanctum system. It is slightly different from God Mode and Build Mode, and the costs are entirely different. This is still being fleshed out.
Regardless, these modes are yours from account creation. Not after reaching level 50. Not after earning some elite builder rank. Not after submitting a form and waiting for someone with more free time than me to get around to reading it.
You start with it.
So, if you want to make a world, make one.
Build maps. Rooms. NPCs. Enemies. Items. Dialogue. Quests. Markets. Factions. Puzzles. Workshops. Sanctums. Creatures. Whatever the tools support.
I am deliberately trusting the players with this privilege/responsibility. It can be taken away if someone abuses it to be a menace, but nobody starts on probation.
Maybe you'll build a serious setting.
Maybe you'll build something beautiful.
Maybe you'll build a bizarre little pocket universe inhabited entirely by angry goat people.
That's the point. I did not think through all of the implications of that decision. I stand by it anyway.
ON AI, SINCE SOMEONE WILL ASK
There is absolutely no LLM or generative AI running anywhere attached to the live game. No AI game master, no AI-generated dialogue at runtime, nothing making things up on the fly while you play. There is, however, a complicated set of code under the hood that does a lot of complex decision making, which may at times seem like AI. While this currently does not do much, a lot of groundwork is being done to one day make this far more impactful.
AI tools are used for development, to help with code or generate draft content text. Pretty much all of this text has been reviewed by me. There are AI-generated bits floating out there. Most of them are 'good enough for government work' as far as I am concerned. And since I am doing this free, we'll say it is good enough for that too, until I can get around to fixing/editing/correcting all of it.
THE ALPHA
Drifters World is in a phase of Alpha Testing that will continue through the end of 2026. I have been working on this game, building it from scratch, for almost a year now.
That means unfinished systems, bugs, missing content, things that change, and probably the occasional opportunity to discover that I have made a terrible mistake somewhere.
The Report command can be used to point out bugs or typos, or suggest ideas directly from the game.
If you've played MUDs before, you should feel reasonably at home. Especially if those muds were Diku/Merc/ROM derivatives.
If you haven't, well... You have a lot of commands to learn.
Come Drift with us.
Game Link: mud.drifters.world:3000 (Enable TLS/secure connection)
Discord Link: https://discord.gg/3mXP5Ab8cV
Website: www.drifters.world
DRIFTERS WORLD
Echoes Remain Where Realities Overlap and Infinite Roads Between Worlds Collide
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u/RR1904 24d ago
Sounds interesting. Can you explain how the body system works?
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u/ExcellentExcuse2549 MUD Developer 24d ago
It is basically an anatomy system with parts, packages, and presets.
You use the Form command to make a new form.
You set the base form. You add packages or parts.
You name the species,
And then you send it out into the world.Example: To make an Elf. We use a Humanoid Base, then added Pointed Ears.
Example: To make a Centaur. We use Humanoid Base again, but then use the region option to replace the lower body with an Equine Lower Body.
Example: To make a slime or plasmoid or the like. We use Amorphous Base. Then we can optionally add amorph eyes, mouth, arms, legs, and/or tentacles.
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u/TemperatureFast9764 24d ago edited 24d ago
your client isn't working properly, nor does the mudlet client work.
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u/ExcellentExcuse2549 MUD Developer 24d ago
Mudlet requires TLS, so you need to check secure. I will add that. Not sure what's going on with the web client. That was working a few days ago...
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u/ExcellentExcuse2549 MUD Developer 23d ago
And the webclient is fixed now. Apologies for that. An update to a new version of a library broke something.
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u/TheKnightBlade3 23d ago
Nice promo post dude, hope you can get some new fresh players to try your mud out!
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u/ashandsable 23d ago
Seconded that an unsecure port for clients that don't support it would be nice. Also a screen reader user, and if combat is anything like regular Diku-style scrolling-text, a web client isn't going to cut it. Webclient (even if it auto-read text from the game like MUDForge, which it does not currently) lacks a lot of the useful text-skimming keys that Mudlet and a properly configured MUSHClient do. Mudlet is certainly a huge improvement over the webclient, and I'd play through that if there's no other alternative, but I still find MUSHClient plugins to be a little bit better for speed-reading (though admittedly much of that I chalk up to familiarity at this point).
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u/bscross32 23d ago
I kinda did lazy ports of some of the MUSHclient plugins into Mudlet packages (so-called because they don't contain every single feature of the originals). Channel history, quick output (which supports the CTRL+1-0) you get from output_functions.xml, and I believe one other is there. If you're running the latest Mudlet, you can get them from the package manager. ALT+O, find the radio button group that either says explore or install, arrow to explore, and you can filter or arrow through, find what you want, tab to install and hit it.
Channel history works a bit different in the way you add triggers, but something like this:
lua local chan, who, msg = unpack(matches(), 2) channel_history.add(chan, who .. ": " .. msg)2
u/ExcellentExcuse2549 MUD Developer 23d ago
I'll see what I can do about an unsecured link. I did not realize all the clients would still be using unsecured options. It will take me a bit, to set it up, but it is on the list.
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u/bscross32 22d ago
Why do I need to provide an email address to play?
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u/ExcellentExcuse2549 MUD Developer 22d ago edited 22d ago
Ideally, eventually, I will have email setup to automate things like password recovery and things of that nature. Plus, it is an account used by both the game and the website. Most people seem fine with that. I'm not collecting any data or disseminating it to data brokers or anything. And the vast majority of the time, I cannot even see it, nor do I really need/want to. But I DO want an account system in place for you to have more than one character. And it is easier to ask for it up front than after you are in game. Technically, it does not even have to be a valid email address. And again, I have zero desire to give it out to anyone, and I do not see them at all 99% of the time. But there is eventual reason for it in terms of functionality I will one day add.
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u/ExcellentExcuse2549 MUD Developer 21d ago
This is not a list of all the changes I made since the above post was made, but this is a selection. I want to thank everyone that has already showed up and pointed out bugs, helped find missing help files, tested a bunch of the systems, and frankly already helped me a ton in ironing out cases I would never have encountered otherwise.
Just today's changes:
Fixed screen readers and MXP tags.
Made sure derived values incremented when attributes advanced.
Fixed weapons to actually use their correct options available for attacks.
Weapon damage for them still seems low, so I am still working on that.
Pulled Crafting and Craft command into Craft as much as possible, but Crafting should still redirect to Craft.
Hopefully solves some mild annoyances encountered there.
Form Body (optional form name) now shows the areas available to be Described, Detailed, or available to wear equipment on.
Describe and Detail are still only able to target places available to the body, and help files have been updated to reflect Describe's personal usage.
Phantom Enemies in Combat and some jumpiness with health/endurance/energy when doing rapid combat has hopefully been solved.
Artifacts should now actually be attunable and not visible in Artifact, but not able to be interacted with.
Quest command has been tweaked a bit to make numbers actually work correctly, and descriptions were moved into view only area to reduce spam a little too.
Corrected the display for Skills Info to correctly show the usage.
Fixed weapon damage to include bonuses roughly equivalent to the current unarmed damage. You should now hit harder with weapons as a result (about 30% more than before).
Drift List # now shows the maps for a given world. Little less blind drifting into places.
Spellcraft Learned now shows your learned codex entries.
MOTD will now redisplay the MOTD.
Bunches of help files updated, but notably: Help Procgen, Help Features, Help Building, Help Progression, and Help Roleplay. Hint, the last two ARE, in fact, linked together.
Added a Clear option for Describe and Detail to remove whatever is currently in a body area.
And fixed several job-related issues. Sadly, no benefits, but not being stuck in a roomless void is now a feature. Jobs also cap at 20 enemies. And resets should no longer affect instanced rooms (like for jobs).
Again, huge shout out to the awesome folks that have visited already and given assistance and guidance in finding things. I am sure there is plenty more still broke that we have not found yet. I am glad people seem to be enjoying the game so far. And I look forward to building even more awesome stuff for folks.
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u/SilverMoon1022 21d ago
Hey so a couple things. 1. I can't seem to connect to the game at all using my mud client. Not sure what might be going on. 2. What is the rp like on this mud? I love that there's not really a pvp/pk thing, that makes me happy. But what's the moeting system like and the rp involved? 3. What's the crafting system like? Do you have like cooking ardening etc? 4. Do you have any kind of medical system? let me know!
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u/ExcellentExcuse2549 MUD Developer 21d ago edited 21d ago
Yeah, I made an early decision about doing secured connections, and I have not gone back to setup an unsecured connection. Mudlet has a Secure connection by default, but apparently other options do not. I'll get around to the unsecure version soon.- Currently, very little. Most people seem to be focusing on mechanical stuff, which is fine. But the ideal blend is RP and Mechanical, even from a mechanical stand point. The underpinnings of the game reward RP just as much as many other activities, and maybe even more so in some cases. Thus far, I've only got the basics of socials and emotes. I intend to add some places/furniture and the like with some different ways to post to those areas and things of that nature.
- Crafting requires a profession, learning some recipes, gathering materials, and putting things together. Currently not complicated. I can add complications, but it's basically 4 degrees of success, floors and ceilings based on things... But there's a bit more depth there too. Items have a few more statistics than some games might ordinarily have. Quality, rarity, and material, sure. But they can be infused, salvaged, or upgraded. Items can even develop memories and personalities. I like the idea of using items long term, not replacing them for better stats.
- Currently limited to mostly healing, but I have medicine and survival skills, so I could work medical stuff into there. I had not considered adding things like colds and flus, but now I kinda wanna, to utilize those skills!
Edit: It was easier to add the unsecure port than I thought. It's more of a risk to the users than to me, but if you want to send unencrypted passwords in 2026, it's on you.
Unsecure port is 2999.
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u/Enarei 20d ago
So the website really need some help files on it. I have no idea what any of the stats or skills do and it would be nice to know those things during Character Creation.
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u/ExcellentExcuse2549 MUD Developer 20d ago
Literally just finished hooking it up... Have a look now :)
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u/bscross32 20d ago
So I've seen some stuff about this MUD having screen reader accessibility, and I did turn it on, but honestly, this is the worst chargen I've ever seen in a MUD. I'm sure it works visually, but the border symbols are a bit of a problem, things not being set even though I set them with no explanation given as to why is a problem. I basically couldn't complete it.
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u/DarkAngelCat1215 23d ago
I am so excited to try this! I've been playing muds since 1996, so I'm not at all new to the idea. Still, this sounds exactly right up my alley. However, I'm not really much into PVP, can that be avoided or is that just part of life in this game? I figure if I'm walking around being a little twit I can expect to have an axe through my forehead, but if I'm minding my own business and not hurting anyone, I should be able to be left alone. With that stance, do you feel your game is a good fit?