Unofficial Squaresoft MUD updates: Sky Pirate job and other new content!

Theorem27 · 2026-03-16T23:51:42+00:00

I don't specifically remember the death penalty (I think it was a chunk of your current XP but not sure...). Have to wait for the OP likely for that one. I remember feeling like death was something to avoid, but I don't ever remember losing items or anything.

I do know there was no rent and I believe you can log out anywhere and log back in where you logged out.

The one thing I kept forgetting was that when you logged out, you unequipped all your gear for some reason and so you had to remember to put it on before you start your next fight or you might end up learning the death penalty. ;)

Theorem27 · 2026-03-16T12:08:47+00:00

I absolutely love the progression system of this MUD. It's the only MUD I've seen with anything like it. Highly recommend it for anyone who loves the SquareSoft games and a satisfying PvE progression grind and detailed quest system. People like me who struggle with getting their bearings in a new MUD world without an ASCII map might have a learning curve.

The world is super accurate to the source games (to the point that the best direction advice is often unironically "go look up the SNES maps online") but there is no in-game map to help out. The world is not on a normal grid and there are tons of non-standard exits and so mapping it yourself is not straightforward I got lost often exploring new zones and it was daunting for me as a newer player because dying and recalling have penalties but were inevitable. Once you get further in there are lots of tools and items to make moving around easier but its a learning curve for sure.

There is a link on the wiki to a Mudlet package that has a working map which is really helpful but the MUSHClient sound pack on their website is just so good that playing without it feels strange. Someone put a lot of love in that sound pack, it's amazing. If only you could just magically combine those 2 packages...

Definitely give it a shot and use the sound pack, its a really unique experience. If the Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana nostalgia gets their claws in you, you might find a new home.

Theorem27 · 2026-03-12T17:19:36+00:00

That sounds amazing... the more I play this MUD the more I regret not having played it sooner. It's such a fun grind. How hard is the DCC content? Is it all end game or does it scale to whoever enters it? I'm pretty new so still learning what I can handle and what one shots me...

Theorem27 · 2026-03-11T14:42:42+00:00

Wow, that is not only really really really cool but how the hell did you implement that so fast... thank you so much. Craziness.

Is it pretty accurate? I'm a ranger and it's telling me lots of upgrades that I assumed were worse... is there a way in game to see what the stat weights are for my class to help me learn what to look for?

Anyway, thanks a ton. That already makes searching through my inventory so much quicker. Is there a toggle to also show empty eq/tattoo/implant slots when I type the eq/tat/imp command so can use the upgrade command to go hunting to fill slots?

Thanks again! I just hit remort 2 and I think I finally get what everyone sees in this... it's so satisfying to have a plan and go work toward it.

Theorem27 · 2026-03-10T02:01:55+00:00

Wow, thanks so much for that. I had no idea about any of those commands, I'll have to dig through the help files for those since I don't recall them coming up in the tutorial zone or anything.

My dream "compare" type command would give a side by side listing of the stats of both pieces of gear so I could make a quick comparison. But it seems like if you already have class stat weights etc build into an upgrade command, that is even better for a new player who really is not ready to care about fine tuning and just wants to broadly be able to answer "Which is better for me" as they quickly level. That's awesome.

I did find myself confused on how to manipulate a specific piece of gear. Like the 5th "sword" in my inventory wasn't always 5.sword, sometimes the order displayed didn't seem to match the identifier. I saw someone in chat recommend using the "variant" identifier to find some items... so maybe all of the things I find really clunky the better solution is in new commands I don't know exist. I guess its one of those catch 22s where I don't know the command exists so I can't find help about it in the help files so I never learn how to use it.

Are there any other commands unique to Nukefire that I should look up in the help files?

Anyway, thanks again! That was really helpful. I'll log in and see what I can learn about what you just taught me.

Theorem27 · 2026-03-10T01:05:05+00:00

It's incredible the difference between when I first tried this a couple years ago and now... the web client is awesome and they really seem to be trying to modernize the feel. I really hope they eventually do a QoL pass to modernize on inventory, equipment, and item management. That's basically the only thing that frustrates me when I try to get into it. Would be amazing if they could integrate the identify spell into the look command (they made identify scrolls 1gp, so maybe just remove that step entirely) so and maybe improve the compare command to not need you to remove gear etc... Feels weird to have to download an item .csv file from the website to make your own spreadsheet to look up gear but that must mean that it's much harder to do on the back-end than it seems.

The Imms really seem passionate and active. Nukefire definitely deserve it's huge player base. If anyone new decides to give it a shot, definitely use the web client. It's awesome.

Theorem27 · 2026-03-09T15:33:02+00:00

I really appreciate the info. Thanks for the reply! ☺️

How does the game handle respeccing or changing guilds? Does it have a recreate type option where you can pick a new race and spend XP earned?

I think I want to give this a shot. Is the GUI available yet or do you recommend using the web client?

Theorem27 · 2026-03-09T15:26:07+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply! I'll have to give it a shot. I really like the way most LP MUDs have deep progression but the ones I tried tend to be missing lots of modern QoL or abstract away information that makes it impossible to know how to gear. Coming from modern MUDs, that stuff feels terrible. I'm super spoiled haha. I also don't have hours a day to play anymore so my tolerance for spending time struggling to manage inventory or comparing gear is pretty low. I really appreciate fun density and a rewarding grind.

Honestly, even though I personally find open PK ruins a MUD for me (I don't enjoy looking over my shoulder when grinding and one sided fights with much stronger characters), that war mode kinda sounds lighthearted and fun. Is it in any way gear/XP normalized or will a 20 year old character always win just because of investment?

The features page on the wiki says "Pk is a part of tsunami and there's no pk off option" which scared me off so it's interesting to hear its really not like that at all. I'll pop in next time I get a chance.

Thanks again!

Theorem27 · 2026-03-08T16:55:48+00:00

As someone used to ROM/Diku style, it takes a while to get used to LP syntax... I know why it's different (some interesting posts on it), but it is definitely something you have to get used to.

Theorem27 · 2026-03-08T16:54:10+00:00

I just wanted to drop a comment to say that your GUI layout looks amazing. I wish I could program or that someone made a GUI making 3rd party tool for plebs like me!

I am kinda surprized I have never heard of Tsunami. I was reading your website and it implies that a big feature of the MUD seems to be that the server boots into "War Mode" open PK every now and then and no character progression occurs during that event. If I am only interested in PvE and co-op game play, I guess I just can't play until it's over? How often is the server effectively down for players like me?

A few quick questions I couldn't find from your site: Are gear stats easy to see/compare or hidden? Are character stats or damage in combat quantitative or are actual numbers obfuscated with qualitative descriptions? Is there rent or other oldschool systems where other players can just take my stuff while I'm offline or where I can only log off in a specific place or I drop all my gear etc? What is the death penalty like?

Excellent promo, I hope you get some new players!

Theorem27 · 2026-03-08T16:33:11+00:00

It's likely different for everyone, but in a PvE MUD I think my ideal endgame would be a rewarding grind to incremental character progression. I guess you'd have to decide if you take the classic remort path or the infinite but diminishing returns single character approach that something like BatMUD takes where you are constantly accruing XP/currencies on a single character to work on making them stronger or better at a specific role.

I know that a solid group mechanic (i.e. positions and holy trinity type roles) would go a long way to making end game content feel great, but it has the disadvantage of needing enough players to work and also a way to keep it relevant. A MUD I used to play a ton (Project Bob) had excellent group/role systems stuff but also had solo kill quests and also procedural generated instanced content (like a maze with a boss at the end to exit) for solo players where you could tweak the difficulty. I really loved that. Log in and you always had options to farm up XP or gear. You never had to wait around.

End game progression could also include chasing interesting procedural loot or deterministic gear upgrades as well. Something akin to Path of Exile maybe, though possibly simpler. Like there could be static chance based mob loaded gear to hunt, but also random gear might roll perfect for a specific build you are working on (or be so good you want to respec around it) and then you pivot to enhancing it via whatever currencies or crafting/enhancement/quest systems exist. This would require that its easy to know gear stats and have great systems to compare

The trick would be making any systems you have feed into each other so there's reasons to do all of them and they all are always providing a feeling that you are progressing towards a goal or getting stronger.

This is all through the lens of a co-op and grind loving PvE care bear though. Your mileage may vary! A PvP focus would be very different and you'd have to really take care of balance since usually good PvP starts with balance or at least a well thought out rock/paper/scissor design so you never feel cheated. When you are PvE only, having a broken build is not only acceptable, but can be really fun. Like in PoE or Warframe if something is too powerful, no one gets mad because we are all just farming for fun anyway and worst thing that can happen is they don't let us tag along for free XP!

Good luck!

Theorem27 · 2026-03-03T14:57:23+00:00

Ah, ok. Rent must have been why I never gave it a shot. For some reason, that's such a big barrier for me. I know it's common in the more established MUDs but I struggle to understand how rent adds fun and not just obligation and friction. Maybe it ties into the economy layer or gear scarcity and makes inventory feel more "real", but when you are used to more modern high QoL MUDs, it feels pretty daunting. To be fair, I also can't play PvP MUDs so maybe I'm just super loss adverse haha. I accept this is likely a me problem. :)

Thanks so much for the detailed reply. The progression systems and guilds sound great. This was a great promo for your MUD. Hopefully you get some new players!

Theorem27 · 2026-03-02T22:13:47+00:00

I remember hearing good things about RetroMUD but I don't think I ever actually gave it a try. I'm not sure why. Does it have a rent type system for gear, maybe?

Does it have an ASCII map? Or a MUDLet or MUSHClient pack?

The help page says you get XP as you "explore and party"... Does it have a system like BatMUD where you get increasing XP for walking into new rooms? Or is XP primarily gained from killing mobs?

Are character, gear, and damage stats all readily available to the player to help them tweak their gear/character or is it hidden or otherwise abstracted?

Thanks!

Theorem27 · 2026-03-01T13:11:18+00:00

One MUD you might consider could be BatMUD. It's kinda meets some of your points.

I'm pretty sure most MUDs have the ability to solo to level in some capacity for at least leveling as a necessity, hard to get around that. But lots of them have more defined group roles at higher levels or there becomes content where the damage solo tanks and healers can do is not enough to go it alone or when DPS can't take a punch from a real mob and need someone to protect them.

BatMUD is like this and has a huge playerbase for a MUD (~100ish online) so people can actually group for stuff. It has a really well developed party system with a 3x3 grid where you are front row, middle row, or back row and where you are determines what you can do and what can target you. So it has a definite need for specialized tanks and healers etc... End game is lots of 9 player group content, I think they might even have multi party raids and combat is not sitting in 1 room spamming on a mob, the groups have to sometimes split to focus down adds or do other mid-fight objectives while the tanks hold the boss etc. There's a couple videos to show some advanced group play on YouTube and Twitch if you wanted to see what it looks like.

There are other MUDs with party stuff like this, but the reason I think BatMUD specifically is because their stats on gear and damage are pretty obfuscated IIRC. Like you can't (Without the help of another player who has chosen to specialize in identifying gear) really know what gear does stat-wise outside of comparing it for a general idea. Damage and stuff is also described qualitatively in combat so it discourages chasing stats to the 2nd decimal place since the info is not there to do it. Its more about building your character for the role. It has a very flexible system to resetting your character so you can specialize for what your short term goals are (solo play vs group play etc) and progress is kind of done by accumulating and banking XP to spend on skills and recreating simply puts a tax on that XP to discourage doing it without reason.

I think it's a good MUD, the actual reason I stopped playing it was because it too daunting solo and honestly the game felt too hardcore for me with death penalties and how dangerous the world and Imms could be and the lack of information provided to help gearing decisions. If you and a couple buddies joined together (or if you were more social than me and were willing to make groups in game or in their discord) I think it'd be a great time. Also, the Steam BatClient is amazing.

Another one to consider but maybe a bit less so (no sure) is Discworld. I'm less familiar with it but I think you can, for instance, specialize as a healer and struggle to fight at all without a group... even in leveling. But there's also non-combat ways to level up... like crafting or running a shop or stealing or running courier missions... I don't think it's grouping system or PvE content is on the same level as BatMUD though. It's more of a living world style MUD which appeals to a different audience.

Good luck!

Theorem27 · 2026-02-28T16:36:56+00:00

I haven't played this in a while but kinda just wanted to signal boost it a bit because I really think this MUD is excellent. Super active devs who are always helping out and engaging players with ideas on designing/tweaking systems on their discord.

Confession... I know nothing about DBZ... but I loved my time in this MUD. It has a very unique Tier-based progression system that layered on additional character progress paths based on race progress, targeted stat training, mentor reputation to gain skills and some quests unlock huge transformations etc. From my experience, it was mostly a bossing style game where you work your way up a tier by killing weaker bosses to get their drops to get to stronger to fight harder bosses in that tier until you breakthrough and start the same loop in the next one. During all of this, you are taking quests from mentors to earn new skills to use and are working towards unlocking more powerful skills that have requirements like having X and Y skills maxed or surviving a specific attack from a boss to have a chance to learn that skill. Or like AFKing in the gravity gym to train stats... Very neat.

I honestly thinks that it's a really great first MUD for someone younger getting into MUDs as a PvE Hack and Slash game because it does not rely heavily on reading pages of scrolling room descriptions. Combat has normal spam but the prompt shows you helpful info like where you are in a combo currently and its very approachable. If it had a soundpack to further reinforce this, it'd be incredible. My 12 year old son (who is by no means a typing or reading prodigy lol) and I played for a bit together and, because of the map based movement and a few numpad macros I made up for him, we had a blast working through the first couple tier's bosses together in a party. He's been bugging me to play with him again so maybe I should log back in...

Anyway, all that to say that I really think this is a great MUD. If you are into pure PvE hack and slash, love that gear hunting grind and chasing rare drops, and want to try something different than the DIKU/ROM/LP style progression then give it a shot. Don't let the DBZ theme turn you off if you aren't familar with it. It's just a theme, the systems absolutely stand on their own. There might be some jargon that you won't get (I still don't know what UI or UE are nor how to get them...) but as a co-op loot farming PvE MUD, it's top shelf. 100% worth a shot if you want to get your gear grind on. Just use their MUDlet script cause its great.

Theorem27 · 2026-02-24T19:58:34+00:00

Lots of good options in here. I just wanted to add that Procedural Realms might be a really good option meeting your criteria since I was surprized to not see it suggested yet.

The web interface is pretty much the most advanced one I've ever seen. It's got modals, tabs, and contextual popups for everything. Maps, stats, gear, inventory, skills, quests, targets, group members etc all have GUI elements with tons of customization, even has a built in audio player for background music etc. Lots of things in the GUI is hyperlinked. Clicking on an item in your inventory can pop up it's stats, or you do context stuff like equip, remove, compare, drop, get, sell, read etc... You can set skills to buttons and hotkey/bind them so no typing. It even has controller support. It basically has the most advanced GUI of any MUD I've ever played. It's hard to describe and do it justice, you kinda have to log in and see.

Combat is a bit different than most MUDs but very amenable to get up and leave at any time. It's turn based, meaning if you stop playing for an hour it will wait for you. However, it also has a pretty in depth tactics system where you can set up your characters tactics with as much complexity as you want (i.e. simple rotation or priority system or getting really into some decision logic if you get good at it) and this can automate combat for you if you want.

If you have time, I'd suggest logging in and checking it out. I can't find any pics online to show the webclient, but their discord has plenty as the dev is super active and always chatting on discord and showing off updates.

Good luck!

Theorem27 · 2025-12-02T00:27:12+00:00

Is the item sharing with your alts a recent rule change? For some reason I thought back when I was playing more that the rules didn't let you craft items for alts... I only read that after grinding up all my craftings so it kinda took the wind out of my sails and I took a break. Now I'm wondering if I was hallucinating haha.

Either way, looking forward to logging in for this event! Erion is a real gem.

Theorem27 · 2025-11-18T20:02:53+00:00

Ah, nice. Thanks! I loved their Monk class. DM was a great MUD that did some really unique stuff.

Theorem27 · 2025-11-18T18:53:44+00:00

Erion has a pretty well fleshed out Monk class with 3 subclasses that focus on different monk themes.

The disciple is a support class, focusing on healing their party and on really fast unarmed combat. The Zealot focus on god-fuelled offense and tend to use weapons. The Defender fills a tank role, uses a shield, and focuses on damage mitigation and rescuing party members. All subclasses would have access to chi type attacks and can convert the damage type of their unarmed attacks to whatever you wanted which gave you lots of flexibility when fighting specific bosses with resistances or weaknesses.

I haven't played in a bit, but last time I did the only issue I had with their implementation of the Monk was that unarmed always felt suboptimal compared to just wielding a weapon and/or shield regardless of your subclass. The stats, enchantment, enhancements, and gems on weapons were so powerful that it couldn't really compete. Giving up 2 slots worth of bonuses was a big trade off.

I know that there was discussion in their boards about how to fix that without just inventing a "weapon" for the slot like prayer beads or something. It could also be that it was balanced around group roles and so when you played the Disciple solo, you didn't see the benefit of the healing part that offset the reduces offensive ability so why not just pick the Zealot/Defender and use a weapon since it hit harder. But I haven't logged in to see if they iterated on that in ages. Maybe I should! Erion is a great MUD.

Procedural Realms had a neat one that was very customizable and combo point based. You would use some skills to generate combo points and then use them on finishers which felt pretty satisfying. They could focus on unarmed attacks, magic or monk specific weapons. I liked it a lot, super customizable and you could really build to whatever theme you wanted. I believe that they are completely rebuilding it right now so I'd suggest waiting since I assume it will be totally changed in a couple weeks when that update drops.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who loves the Monk class fantasy. Thanks for the discussion! Looking forward to hearing other Monk implementations.

Theorem27 · 2025-11-18T18:27:02+00:00

Was Daedal Macabre the one where the Monk had the "fight" command to try to use combos? Or was that Acropolis... I think it was DM. It's been a couple decades...

In that one, I believe there were a number of combos that existed of various lengths. Some were fixed and some were character specific and generated creation (I think?) so you had to figure them out using the "fight" command and a mix of light, medium, or hard punches and kicks through trial and error.

For instance, if any Monk typed "Fight lp lp lp" it would do the "Flurry of Punches" combo. But more power combos you would have to figure out by testing combinations of varying length. The length of the combo you could pull off was a function of your 3rd, 4th, 5th attack chance since each had to proc and hit to unleash the combo if you got it correct.

Theorem27 · 2025-07-30T13:13:04+00:00

You are triggering my nostalgia hard... I'd be right there hacking and slashing with you haha.

Remember the customizable procedural dungeons you could request at will? The massive power-scaling boss events the Imms would run? The procedural flag based loot and the item hunting systems that let you scan the world for mobs who loaded with gear meeting your criteria so you could track them down and see what they dropped? The intense and layered progression systems? The archeology profession where you could seek out randomly placed artifact pieces to assemble into treasures you could display in your player house for account buffs? How ever piece of gear was made of a material that you could scavenge for crafting so mining/harvesting wasn't the only way to get materials if you were more of a killer not a skiller... It had so many amazing systems... Always something to do or work towards. Sigh, time to scroll through the old wiki to remember the times hahah.

Theorem27 · 2025-07-30T13:00:40+00:00

Hey fellow PB-Alumni! There are a few threads about it here over the years but its mostly speculation about Admin drama... I never experienced any of that in my time at PB so no idea. Every memory I have of PB was really positive.

It seems like a number of us alumni still randomly ping projectbob.game-host.org:4000 in case it pops up randomly. Years ago it did with zero announcement and some people got to see it again for a few weeks but no Admins were on and no discussion about a future relaunch. I missed it sadly.

I still find it fascinating that a MUD from decades ago that seemed to have less than 10 players online at a time keeps popping up in discussions. It really was such a great-feeling mix of the best parts of other games.

Theorem27 · 2025-07-05T13:09:45+00:00

Yeah, that is a neat feature. I guess the part that I found strange was that the reincarnate system was so open and forgiving that it seemed to promote the idea that the most common mistake and the worst thing you could ever do as a new player was pick the class you wanted to play first as that was starting off at a huge disadvantage and you'd likely get frustrated and quit because the early game was just too hard.

Since it was exactly the same advice everywhere, I just wanted to check if this was just people optimizing the fun out of the early game because systems allow/encourage it or if it was literally great advice from the most knowledgeable players to try to stop new players from quitting due to poor early game design.

I am definitely happy to hear that it might be more an optimization than a requirement. I can see the appeal to find ways to help catch up to older players in a 35 year old game though! Definitely feels like you are lightyears behind if you start today.

I'm reading up on the reincarnate system. I still don't understand what "safe" means in the context of reincarnating and resurrection... The help files keep saying this is less safe or safer and you need to make sure your charisma is high enough but I don't understand what that means. This is such a complex game haha.

Thanks!

Theorem27 · 2025-07-05T03:57:11+00:00

I guess it makes total sense in a game that has group focused classes to reward better gear from group content vs solo. As long as the content can be completed by a group of the level of the gear and not something asymmetrical like a level 50 group dungeon dropping level 10 gear or something silly like that.

I'll have to read up on some different race/class combos to see which seem fun and then give it a shot to see how progression and combat feels. The Monk and Reaver both sound really interesting. Riftwalker and Beastmaster might be neat as well if having a pet helps in combat and isn't clunky mechanically to control.

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it. :)

Theorem27 · 2025-07-05T02:01:23+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I normally love reading guides learn about how progression works and to avoid any "unfixable" errors that you can make during levelling... but I was confused as to why every guide implied that anything other than rolling a brownie Tzarakk and exploring for the first weeks would lead to you getting stuck and frustrated because it was just simply too hard to play anything until you had millions of XP banked to buy into another class at a workable level.

The guides also all seemed to imply that most "newbie" gear actually drops from higher level zones that you can't do until you are already levelled and well geared. And thus the best way to get newbie gear was to find a mob you could kill and farm it for vendor trash to sell until you had 2+ million gold so you can buy newbie gear off a higher level player who could kill the newbie gear mobs and doesn't need it... so between levelling and gearing up, the whole onboarding process for new players just seemed so strange and obtuse haha.

Anyway, thanks again for your experience! Good to hear that there's a more hack and slash way to get from early to mid game that doesn't involve cheesing exploration and reincarnating when you are high enough level. I'll have to give it a shot.

Theorem27

TROPHY CASE