About WebMUD

In the early/mid 90's as a young teenager playing games on local BBSs on my trusty 14.4k dialup modem I ran across a game that would change the course of my life and, eventually, my career. It was a text-based role playing game called MajorMUD. I gained many friends and acquaintances learning the ins and outs of the game, learning all of its secrets -- the best race/class combinations, the best gear, the best scripting setups, etc. The game had a client called MegaMUD that was purpose-built by an enthusiast to make scripting in and navigating the realms a breeze.

By the late 90's the BBS scene was on the decline as the web took its rightful place as the go-to medium for online experiences. The owners / developers of MajorMUD had moved on, leaving the small but loyal community wanting more. As a prior CS major with experience as a DBA (database administrator) I decided to see if I could re-create the MUD experience I had enjoyed with more modern tools and platforms and without the need for the noise that comes with the BBS software. Around 2005 or so I went live with my project. As an homage to the original game, I affectionately named the project GreaterMUD.

After growing and managing that project for many years my priorities changed; my wife, our first kid, and a house of our own. We had accomplished what we set out to do. In my mind, there wasn't much more room to grow -- not in the world of the antiquated telnet protocol, anyway. I had incorporated a web server into the project which I thought was really cool. I imagined one day blending players from the web in with players playing via telnet. That was going to be an ambitious project; not something I could accomplish on nights and weekends in my spare time. We saved up some money leading up to 2014 and my wife and decided together to follow my dream to bring MUD to the web properly. I affectionately called the new project WebMUD.

The launch was messy. On our shoe-string budget I was clearly rushing to try to get things working, but many of our users stuck by us anyway, and I am truly grateful for them. Our friend Bane who was our Builder for the content had some medical issues and was unable to continue working on the content. We had spent all the money we had saved up and I was forced to go back to a normal 8 to 5 to pay the bills. The project kind of died on the vine sadly, but I still believed it could be accomplished.

Fast forward to 2022. We found ourselves blessed to once again be in a place where we could take another stab at bringing MUD to the web properly. Having learned some lessons from our last attempt, and embracing some newer technology we're trying to get it right this time.

We hope you will join us and give us a chance to provide a family-friendly setting to enjoy the same kinds of fun experiences in MUD that I and so many of us old-timers got to enjoy in decades past. Our committment is to bring this experience to you on a modern platform that is mobile-friendly and that allows people with busy lives and schedules to thrive along-side those who may have more free time on their hands.

Hope to see you all in the Realm! :)