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Lost Souls (online game)
Encyclopedia
Lost Souls is a MUD
, a text-based online role-playing game
set in a medieval fantasy
world. It has an extensive history of technical innovation in its field and has received critical praise.
the game is played through the [telnet://lostsouls.org/ telnet] client
Subsequent developments have included the atman
(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
'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.
client or specialized MUD client
. The interface is text-based, in what is often thought of as the Zork
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, however, 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 the extensive systemry brings to their later gameplay.
" 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
described as "guerrilla theologians" who invoke an array of gods in the name of chaos.
rules for "Wild Talents" have been designed that adapt many of the talent names and concepts from Lost Souls' s wild talents.
's Chronicles of Amber
, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
, and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos
.
. 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.
family of MUD server software.
, 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 circa 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
.
Some Lost Souls LPC code is also occasionally released into the public domain via lpmuds.net. Such releases include:
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
, a text-based online role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
set in a medieval fantasy
Medieval fantasy
Medieval fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that encompasses medieval era high fantasy and sometimes simply represents fictitious versions of historic events. This subgenre is common among role-playing games, text-based roleplaying, and high-fantasy literature....
world. It has an extensive history of technical innovation in its field and has received critical praise.
the game is played through the [telnet://lostsouls.org/ telnet] client
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
Ātman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
(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
BatMUD is a medieval fantasy MUD, established in 1990. BatMUD is Finland-based and operated and owned by a non-profit organization, ry , officially registered 1994 in Helsinki, Finland....
'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.
Game characteristics
Overview
Lost Souls, as typical for MUDs, is accessed through a telnetTELNET
Telnet is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communications facility using a virtual terminal connection...
client or specialized MUD client
MUD client
A MUD client is a computer application used to connect to a MUD, a type of multiplayer online game. Generally, a MUD client is a very basic telnet client that lacks VT100 terminal emulation and the capability to perform telnet negotiations...
. The interface is text-based, in what is often thought of as the Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
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, however, 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 the extensive systemry 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 classCharacter class
In role-playing games, a common method of arbitrating the capabilities of different game characters is to assign each one to a character class. A character class aggregates several abilities and aptitudes, and may also sometimes detail aspects of background and social standing or impose behaviour...
" 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
Discordianism is a religion based on the worship of Eris , the Greco-Roman goddess of strife. It was founded circa 1958–1959 after the publication of its holy book the Principia Discordia, written by Malaclypse the Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst after a series of shared hallucinations at a...
described as "guerrilla theologians" who invoke an array of gods in the name of chaos.
Skills
The Lost Souls skill system uses a specialization mechanic that ties skill development to a character's attributes (strength, intelligence, and so on). For example, if a character has a rating of 100 in dexterity, they can allocate 10 degrees of specialization in dexterity-related skills. The more heavily one specializes in a given skill, the more quickly it develops and the higher its maximum rating. 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.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. d20 SystemD20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
rules for "Wild Talents" have been designed that adapt many of the talent names and concepts from Lost Souls
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 ZelaznyRoger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny was an American writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for his The Chronicles of Amber series...
's Chronicles of Amber
The Chronicles of Amber
The Chronicles of Amber is group of novels that comprise a fantasy series written by Roger Zelazny. The main series consists of two story arcs, each five novels in length. Additionally, there are a number of Amber short stories and other works....
, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
.
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 DiscordianismDiscordianism
Discordianism is a religion based on the worship of Eris , the Greco-Roman goddess of strife. It was founded circa 1958–1959 after the publication of its holy book the Principia Discordia, written by Malaclypse the Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst after a series of shared hallucinations at a...
. Eris
Eris (mythology)
Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord, her name being translated into Latin as Discordia. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona...
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.
Driver
Lost Souls runs on the LDMud game driver, a branch of the LPMudLPMud
LPMud, abbreviated LP, is a family of MUD server software. Its first instance, the original LPMud game driver, was developed in 1989 by Lars Pensjö...
family of MUD server software.
Mudlib
Lost Soulss core technical resource is its mudlibMudlib
A mudlib, short for mud library, is a library of code forming part of the technical infrastructure of a MUD. Though different varieties of MUD may be considered to have mudlibs, the term is most often used with LPMuds. In an LPMud, the mudlib consists of interpreted code written in the LPC...
, 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
Ein Sof
Ein Sof , in Kabbalah, is understood as God prior to His self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual Realm, probably derived from Ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One"...
. Its early technical innovations, until circa 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
Costello (online game)
Costello is an educational MUD — a text-based online role-playing game — designed for teaching English as a foreign or second language. It is offered online as a free service...
, 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
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
.
Publications
Though the Ain Soph mudlib is not public, Lost Souls developers do make efforts to contribute to the MUD and general programming communities. The "Lost Souls Grimoire" contains several such publications:- An LPC-language A* search algorithm module
- Perl-language mass search and replace support
- JavaScript cross-browser Web form autofocus
- A diminishing returns formula in eight languages
Some Lost Souls LPC code is also occasionally released into the public domain via 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 implementations of LevenshteinLevenshtein distanceIn information theory and computer science, the Levenshtein distance is a string metric for measuring the amount of difference between two sequences...
and Damerau-Levenshtein distanceDamerau-Levenshtein distanceIn information theory and computer science, the Damerau–Levenshtein distance is a "distance" between two strings, i.e., finite sequence of symbols, given by counting the minimum number of operations needed to transform one string into the other, where an operation is defined as an insertion,... - Lost Soulss "graph" command, for text visualization of mathematical formulae