MUDs & Text Games
147 sites
http://dcastle.org/
Dark Castle MUD is a free fantasy text-based multiplayer game featuring over 100 original areas, player-run clans, an automated quest system, PvP combat, and an in-game casino and auction house. Players build characters across a variety of races and classes, competing on leaderboards and exploring an ever-evolving world accessible via telnet.
https://ifcomp.org/
IFComp is the longest-running annual competition for interactive fiction, celebrating text-driven digital games and stories from independent creators since 1995. Now in its 31st year, the site hosts entry registration, prize pools through the Colossal Fund, past competition results, and extensive resources for both authors and judges.
https://ymusk.sourceforge.net/
Ymusk is a MUSH client written in Perl by a developer named Yenzie, offering features like ANSI color support, text filters, multi-input boxes, spell-checking, and an ICQ-like GUI for managing pages. The site hosts multiple versioned releases with screenshots, a user guide, and CVS access, making it a practical hub for MUSH players looking for a customizable Telnet-based client.
https://majik3d-legacy.org/
A legacy archive preserving the history of Majik 3D MMORPG, a volunteer-driven open-source online roleplaying game active from 1995 to 2002 that evolved from a text-based MUD through a 2D roguelike into a full 3D world. Maintained by the original developer namhas, the site hosts over 3,300 files including source code on GitHub, archived mailing lists, forums, screenshots, and design documents chronicling one of the early indie MMORPGs with player-controlled economies and ecosystems.
![start [Dune MUD]](/screenshots/33117.webp)
https://dunemud.net/
Dune MUD is a classic LP MUD that has been running since 1992, set in Frank Herbert's iconic Dune universe with 30,000+ rooms, ten guilds, opt-in PvP, and an active playerbase. The wiki-based site serves as a comprehensive hub for players, offering connection guides, client recommendations, quest information, maps, and lore about the Dune universe that inspired the game.
http://mudconnect.com/
The MUD Connector has been the premier hub for discovering free text-based multiplayer games since 1995, maintaining a searchable list of over 700 active MUDs across dozens of categories. Visitors can browse by genre, read community reviews, explore beginner guides, and submit or update their own MUD listings.
http://lysator.liu.se/mud/bsxmud.html
A page documenting Regenesis, a graphical LP-MUD hosted by Lysator (Linköping University) that supported X11, Amiga, Mac, and MS-DOS graphical clients to render in-game imagery alongside text. The MUD used the BSX protocol developed by Bram Stolk to deliver visual context to players, making it a notable early experiment in graphical multi-user dungeon gameplay from the early 1990s.
https://iconoclast.org/
Iconoclast is a Gothic/Cyberpunk MUD set in a 22nd century science fiction world, online since 1996 and built by æthereal FORGE. The portal connects visitors to the main site, telnet access, a wiki, a mini-RPG, and a community forum all centered around this long-running text-based game world.
http://shattered.org/
Shattered World is one of the internet's longest-running MUDs, established in August 1990 and boasting over a decade of custom development that sets it apart from code-sharing competitors. Visitors can explore detailed game features including races, guilds, quests, a player-driven legal system, and an in-game economy, then jump straight in via a browser-based client.
http://df.lth.se/~mol/if.html
Magnus has built a personal hub dedicated to interactive fiction, covering its literary merits, his own four published text adventure games, and resources for aspiring IF authors including Inform and TADS. The site also features criticism and analysis of notable IF works like Andrew Plotkin's 'So Far' and 'Dreamhold,' making it a thoughtful companion for both players and creators.