Dune MUD

Dune MUD is a text-based multi-user dungeon (MUD) based on Frank Herbert's novel of the same name. The highly-overrated novel eventually went to spawned a series of rather lacklustre sequels which did not end at the time of Herbert's death. Two decades later, Herbert's son and a collaborator (talentless hack) went to write a series of forgettable cashcows. As it is Dune MUD is a disparate assembly of pieces from all the novels and it does not adhere to the canon. Dune MUD grew greatly due to the efforts of numerous wizards (especially Arfang and Slash in the early days) and is now a huge sprawling affair.

Colin (Game names: Blue, September, Patience) discovered Dune in 1994 and started playing. Colin was also an early customer of Servint's newgroup services apparently and he had communicated with Reed Caldwell (Game name: Genesis) or someone at SerVint Corporation then. Wilson (Game name: Blackice) and Alex (Game name: Silver) joined him in the game then. I joined shortly after.

I played intensively in 1995-1996 and hit level 49, the maximum possible level, then I died twice foolishly. The death penalty for dying in this text-based multi-user dungeon (MUD) was harsh then. You lose 50% of your exp. That essentially reduced me to around level 22. Colin told me that the maximum possible level before that was level 20!

In the those early days, I used to team up with Kain/Storm, Knight/Sith (Dekkeret, he's now based on Oman, as of February 2006) and Bornhelm. And I recall 'beeping' Nightbreeze on the nose every time I see him come online. It had become a ritual.

Meanwhile, Llama would be the regular Caladan Astroport fixture. He would be there 24/7. I recall Boss, Perseus, Tapper, Jobob/Stryder (he was the great Fremen) and Skyspy's early days. We were all competing for the same monsters.

In the middle of 1996, I visited Dublin. At the airport, Hawkeye turned up in his mountain bike. We then went into the city. I managed to meet Snail outside Trinity College and Llama at his lab. Llama and I went to a local sandwich place later.

In late 1996, I joined the working world. Stryder/Jobob revamped the Fremen guild. Suddenly, there was guild skills for Fremen. I had felt that I wasn't sufficiently compensated and that had rather discouraged me. And besides, I had just joined the workforce and I was playing many other games, so, I logged onto Dune on and off for the next decade, playing little. I recall visiting and seeing the likes of Snowman and Ravni in 2001. I returned in 2004. I played seriously for a few months before halting in favour of playing World of Warcraft in December 2004 and Guild Wars after. I made another return in 2006.

Dune holds many memories for me. It has indeed been a long time.

To play Dune MUD, type telnet://dune.servint.com port 6789 in the command prompt.

The website is at: http://dune.servint.com