The Two Towers MUD

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Current MUD Landscape & Recommendations

  • Many commenters still play or occasionally revisit MUDs; a surprising number of 1990s-era games remain active.
  • Frequently mentioned MUDs: Discworld, Valhalla, Aardwolf, DragonRealms, GemStone, MUD2, MUME, Ancient Anguish, Duris (hardcore PvP), Balzhur, Medina, Reinos de Leyenda, Simauria, Cyberlife, various Battletech MUDs, Cybersphere, Medievia, Worlds of Carnage, Elendor, Solace, heroes of the lance.
  • Some note that older MUDs are quieter or “not as fun as they used to be,” but still online.

Two Towers (T2T) Specifics

  • Praised as a “piece of childhood” and an impressive example of software both historical and actively maintained.
  • Admins confirm an active dev team, recent large content updates (e.g., Moria expansion), and 31+ years of continuous operation.
  • Codebase: originally LPMud / TMI‑2 mudlib on MudOS in C/LPC, now heavily modified; in‑game LPC and driver C code. Source is not public, though parts have leaked.
  • They’re experimenting with procedurally generated dungeons and LLM-assisted content, but find LLM-generated text stylistically obvious and best used as a starting point.
  • World time is fixed to a lore date (“every day is March 15, 3019”), prompting discussion of static vs evolving timelines.

MUDs as Shared History & Preservation

  • Strong concern that many MUD servers and their thousands of hours of writing will be lost; some players actively archive code and worlds where possible.
  • Spanish and roleplay-focused MUDs are used for language practice; mention of blind players leads to speculation that visually impaired users may be a core remaining audience (unconfirmed).

MUDs as Programming Incubator

  • Numerous accounts of learning to code via MUD building or bot/client scripting (LPC, C/C++, Perl, Python, Scheme-like languages, in-world Python).
  • Features that made MUDs great learning environments: instant feedback, hot-reload, live editing on production servers, social review via in-game chat, and highly motivating “I’m improving a game I love.”
  • Several commenters credit MUD development with launching professional software careers and strong debugging skills.

Gameplay, Design, and Time Sink Concerns

  • Many reminisce about extreme time investment (sometimes harming school performance or feeling like an unpaid full-time job).
  • Some now impose a rule that games must have an end or be strictly social, to avoid MMO-style infinite time sinks.
  • Discussion compares MUDs to early MMORPGs (especially Diku-derived games and EverQuest), highlighting similar combat logs and mechanics.
  • Persistent-world storytelling is debated: static timelines like T2T’s, instanced “you are the chosen one” MMO narratives, and player-driven histories (e.g., EVE-style) all have trade-offs.

Clients, Accessibility & Play Styles

  • Recommended generic MUD clients: Mudlet, KildClient, KBtin, tintin, Blowtorch (Android), or plain telnet/SSH. KBtin is repeatedly endorsed, partly for TLS support.
  • MUDs are seen as ideal for discreet terminal play at work or class, and as a bridge from text roguelikes to social, persistent worlds.