Lost Souls is easily one of the most innovative, customized MUDs out there. You will not find a generic, out-of-the-box MUD experience here. Unfortunately, this is also a MUD with some pretty deep flaws.

First the good. Characters are highly customizable; dozens of playable races can be combined with a large number of guilds (classes) and associations, and an extensive system of skill specialization provides for a huge variety of play styles.

The game world is huge, and while there is some variation in the quality of the areas, most of the areas tend to hold up pretty well. At times, it does feel like the size of the world is there largely to hinder character movement between areas of interest, and while there are several ways to move around the world more easily, the starting player will most likely find the sheer breadth of the game world to be one of its more intimidating and frustrating features.

Thematically, this MUD mainly conforms to the high fantasy genre, although the fact that the MUD has been around for over 20 years and the development staff has changed quite a lot in that time means that the overall experience can feel somewhat disjointed. At times, the stitched-together feeling of the place can tend to break one's immersion. While some attempt has been made to create an overall mythology for the place, it often feels quite artificial. In other words, as long as you don't care how the sausage is made, it's enjoyable enough as an overall experience.

Play is highly combat-driven. While there are opportunities for character development outside of combat, the bulk of development comes committing genocide on as large a scale as possible as quickly as possible. What quests there are range from the epic puzzle to the epically disappointing go-and-kill some NPC in a far-flung location with no motivation other than a little blurb telling you to.

Unfortunately, there is no real community here. On the typical day, there may be a few players actively playing the game, while the rest are AFK, sitting around spouting inanities in the global chat channel, or botting. Grouping with other characters is nearly unheard-of, as most of the game is set up for a purely solo play style. Botting is unfortunately rampant, and while botting isn't necessarily actively encouraged, some of the advancement mechanisms of the game highly incentivize it. Role-playing is more or less nonexistent.

This is not a very family-friendly game. Coprophilia, tentacle-rape, and other 'mature' themes are a part of the in-game world as well as being openly and frequently discussed by the community on the global chat channel.

In a way, large chunks of the game are victimized by the game's innovation. Large changes are made to the mudlib without updates to guilds and areas to ensure balance or compatability, so several of the older, unmaintained guilds end up losing their viability.

The game has a system of perks for donations to the game, but the perks offered are often game-breaking; here you will find some of the most egregious examples of play2pwn.

The overall complexity of the game can be very off-putting to newbies, and the community just isn't big enough or engaged enough to counteract that.

Still, this is a unique MUD experience, and for all its faults, the MUD is highly addictive for those who are self-starters and those who enjoy a great deal of variety, even if the variety doesn't always make a whole lot of sense.

Lost Souls is a LPC coded mud with various mechanical systems that put virtually every other mud to shame. I will go into detail about a few of these systems and why they're important later in the review. To start off however, the player base can vary. Some players are extremely helpful to the new player just starting out, others choose to ignore newbies (which is fine, there is no obligation to aid new players on our MUD). Lost Souls does not intend to hold your hand while you become familiar with the game and its atmosphere, but there's a wiki with plenty of resources and information for the new player to effectively explore most of the content available alone.

While I can not divest specific information on how these systems are generated code sense, I can give basic information about why they make Lost Souls a special place.

Now on to the topic of a few of the systems. When I mention systems I do not mean like how LS (lost souls), handles it's classes or races; which there are a abundance of. LS has 29 different and unique guilds or 'classes along with 45 associations which are like sub-guilds in a sense, following up with over 40 different playable races, some of which have affiliations tied to the race. But I digress, so onto the topic of a notable system I've yet to see in other text-based games; the way esoteric damage types are handled. Most muds do have a sense of special damage types, like fire or water damage. But LS handles it's damage differently in a sense that all combinations are generated as needed with special messaging and colors. Paring this with 26 different base damage elements, the combination possibilities can span into the thousands, if not hundred of thousands, unique different damage combos.

Another notable system is the way in which LS handles it's map and sub-areas. The overland map is a 3D grid system, meaning that you can move into the air, or down into the solid earth and everywhere in between. This allows us to link sub-areas onto the overland, often which you move 'in' to. Now while a massive overland map with up/down directions isn't really special, it's how this map is created that is beautiful. The regions are mapped out completely in ASCII and then files are created for this map, then other systems reads the map and links the files which contain the room descriptions. Meaning very very few rooms are actually hard coded. This allows us to easily expand or add new areas or content to the overland.

Lost Souls pushes the envelope in many other ways that other muds could only dream of achieving, this paired along with 20+ years of created content to explore makes LS one of the prime examples of what it means to be different and better. I've been a developer there for just under a year and have been playing for almost 6 and I wouldn't have it any other way. If you can handle sharp learning curves with minimal assistance, this mud might just be for you.

Lost Souls is one of The Great muds. It has a depth more deep than perhaps any mud. It is a mud primarily for advanced mudders, and pros that know their way around a client's full aliases and triggers, because it it just to rich in depth and unique creativity in everything it has, guilds (you can have only one), associations (you can have any number, however not all are compatible.) All of such are completely unique in mudding realms and deep in breadth and complexity. There are so many interesting ones that most players can't help playing 6+ characters just over the course of years, just to experience them.

Life caused me to leave Lost Souls years ago, but I always remembered it (and I've played them all.) When I started mudding again I read the last review and avoided the mud a few weeks. But there's just no comparison out there, and I decided to give it a go again and just see. I've been completely addicted once more, for weeks, since then.

I can't relate to the last review in any way, yet. Perhaps it was a wake-up call because all I have found thus far are friendly imm's and players, friendly and willing to answer questions. Maybe there is a different feeling at top levels, but haven't seen any hint of it yet. It has been an eminently enjoyable experience.

Briefly, the world is massive with a huge 3D ascii outdoors where after a while you will be flying the skies an zipping across the realms in deep quests and chasing driving purpose. All areas are unique and varied, with no silly stuff. It's a rich fantasy world with tremendous detail put into specifics of all species you encounter and interact with. At higher levels you being to explore different planes and places though dangerous gates.

Lost Souls has an alias system, but each class is so complex that while you can get by with just their alias system, it would serve you even more to have your own client system (I endorse mudlet) to gag, highlight text and for deeper scripting. It's not a must, but there's so much information being conveyed to the player that, really, you will desire all the aid you can in sorting and dealing with it. Like I said, this mud is largely aimed at people with ability.

That's not to say a newbie can't do it. We all feel like noobs starting Lost Souls, there is just so much to learn. But you take it a step at a time, focus just on the starting town (I suggest Losthaver, the recommended one and central city.) And just beging to slowly explore, taking it as an adventure with no time limit. You will slowly begin to understand things and get a handle on it, branching and reaching out further as you're ready. Other players are always there to answer questions, there's a newbie channel that, even I still use.

Don't bring assumptions with you to this mud, everything is done in a Lost Souls way, from identifying items and creatures and other players. Even months from now you still still be figuring out the depth and complexity of it such simple things. It truely is an wonderful mud experience.

Lastly there is a wiki with guides and tips. Taking the time to read one or two will smooth the way for you, but again, if you can wing-it and enjoy the discovery completely. But I bet you, months later you will go back and read them and so, Oh! that's a great idea, or Oh! I didn't know that. One more thing...watch your limbs and it's not a diku where you have to 'flee command'. You can just attempt to leave the 'room', (hope they are trackers and follow) and use some first aid before getting back into it. Also, stay fed and hydrated so you're in top form, it matters and you need every edge (check this after a death experience.) Lastly, most mobs are interacted with by speaking to them. Sometimes you can't figure out the syntax and that's where the wiki is even more helpful: wiki.lostsouls.org

Enjoy your experience. It's going to be quite a ride.

My brain had enough. There is limits to even what I will do to a game that refuses to acknowledge players in their base that are disrupting play environment and nothing is being done about them. I rejoined the game 6 times and left for the same reason. The player base is elitist and if your a newbie your screwed. If they know you, your screwed. If you enjoy this game for 5 years, Your SCREWED. All because of one rotten apple spoils the bunch. That apple could've been removed. But when bad habits on imms combined with a playerbase that was borderline destructive towards new players. Yeah, don't bother with this once gem of a game, it got cracked and marked through human error, time after time after time. Until I finally snapped, 6 different times. This is the final time. Please don't play. Don't experience the joys only to have someone take it away from you with cyberbullying.

Lost Souls ... Well, there is much to say about this MUD. It is, by far, the most advanced MUD one could play. But where it advances in functionality, it lacks in player base. Although there are a gross amount of guilds (classes) to play, it is still a hack n slash focused game.

Lost Souls doesn't offer anything to those who RP, or punish those who don't. Of course, this does not mean you can't RP. But you would be the only one - so ... have fun with that.

Let's set aside the 10 people who actively play Lost Souls, and look at a few of its advancements:

Lost Soul's main overland map is completely 3D, and there are more guilds (classes) then active players. It is pretty much impossible to play a 'pacifist' character, due to there being virtually no experience rewards besides killing. This is not the MUD for those who wish to play a generic character: such as a simple Rogue or whatever.

Lost Souls offers a wide range of races - spanning from Dana (another word for elf), to Nyloc (strange creatures made of pure shadow energy). Each race offering unique traits, or powers.

Among many other things, there is a 'Atman' system, allowing players to manage all their characters from one screen. Different character names and passwords are unneeded, you can pick what character you wish to play upon logging in.

Despite all off the amazing features Lost Souls has, it will never amount to one of the top 10 ranked MUDs due to its small player base. Although it is not a matter of how the players act, it is the lack of them that is sad. The overly complex MUD offers no basic tutorial to new players, so ... new players who refuse help don't stick around long.

Learning how to play Lost Souls is like ... learning how to do a specific type of math. But once you learn how to play, you won't really want to leave, that I assure you.

Some would classify it as a 'dead' MUD, seeing as how at times, there are more developers logged in then players. I don't see it making a come back due to the general lack of care by the developers and players. Virtually no advertisement is done by the staff or players.

All-in-all it's a amazing MUD, that just lacks care. I don't play nearly as much as I used to, but still pop in every now and then.

To begin, a short description should suffice. Lost Souls is the most amazing, break taking, complex MUD in existence. If you seek a game that is as much a work of art as it is critically involving, Lost Souls is for you.

I have had the blessing of seeing it change throughout its various incarnations as heavy modification of the already heavily modified code was - and still is - constantly underway; the end result is, of course, nothing less than pure genius.

Spearheaded by Chaos, a head implementer of omnipresent intellectual potency, the team of developers is constantly changing the world in both small and large ways, which almost gives Lost Souls a sense of being a living entity in and of itself.

Layers upon myriad of layers encompass the MUD's structure, which inches itself closer and closer to a nearly level-less system, based mainly on skills. Once an adequate understanding of game mechanics is obtained, a seemingly infinite number of character styles, possibilities and types are immediately at the player's fingertips. Numerous guilds and associations allow for greater customization still. Play as a powerful wind sorcerer, a shape shifting centaur, a drug-addicted psychic, a veteran soldier, and everything in between.

If you are the type of individual that enjoys a challenge, give Lost Souls a try. Nary a person it can't accommodate!

Lost Souls is a world rich with options. You can choose from over 42 races (with 14 more available as in-game options), and more than 24 guilds/professions along with over 26 Associations (loosely affiliated groups, like mini guilds) to create a unique character. Want to play a werewolf? We have that covered. A knight in shining armor leading a small army of faithful vassals into a large-scale combat? We have that too. A berserk, axe-wielding dwarven battlerager? Sneaky cultist of Kali who uses poisons and subterfuge to bring down political targets? A martial artist who is able to focus their inner strength and visualize changes in the world around them to manifest many esoteric effects? An invoker of the elder gods capable of invoke Great Cthulhu, Eris, and Hecate? A princely Amberite questing to eradicate the forces of chaos in the name of Order? A swaggering brute that lives to sing bawdy songs, and engage in the time-honoured pastime of drinking lots and lots of beer? A mage that manipulates the weather both for attack purposes, defensive purposes, and for political gain (He who controls the wind, controls the vessels which bring trade to the port cities)? We have all of that, and more.

What we don't have are the typical character classes that choke down so many other muds. No simple-minded warriors, no back-stabbing thieves, and no generic magicians. We've taken those basic concepts and given them much more depth and playability.

The atman system allows up to 10 incarnations all under the same game soul, so there is no need to make a completely new account or delete a character if you come across something new that you'd like to attempt, or if you think up an interesting race/guild combo.

There is also a system of skill specialization, which allows you to fully customize the skill development of your character.

Also unique to Lost Souls is the limb based combat. You can lose limbs, rip your opponent's arm off and beat him with the bloody stump, or target you opponent's leg to hinder his ability to flee effectively.

Despite the intense amount of violence possible in combat, there are many other options for your adventuring enjoyment. Experience can be gained by exploring any of the cities (or even the overland map) of the immense world, most quests offer experience, and clerics are even rewarded with experience for healing others or curing diseases. Advancement is definitely possible outside of combat, even to the point of the game having a leaders board for pacifists, who have never registered a kill in their entire existence.

Another option for development is within your associations. Some associations have internal ranks or alternatives to xp levels, usually geared towards activities geared specific to the goals of the organization. Basically, it is advancement by promoting the goals of your organization.

With the exception of Clerics and Rangers, you will not find the generic professions here (and even in these two cases, they are steadily evolving away from the stereotypical models found elsewhere). In fact, the entire mud is in a constant state of evolution, as more content is made available to the public.

From a strictly player perspective, there seems to be a solid cast of 5 developers/builders, with miscellaneous others showing up from time to time. Of the five core, two split their time between developing the mud, and actually playing it, so that they know firsthand if something is too difficult or too exploitable from a player perspective and oddly enough, they are among the most approachable players on the mud. One developer spends most of his time as a player and works towards enhancing the player interface, such as by adding in new functionality to the status bar and fine-tuning the interaction between developed projects and the playerbase. The last two, I am not sure they ever incarnate as players, one creates the code that drives the entire world and pushes forth the cutting edge projects, and the other is simply a builder who crunches out huge amounts of areas, crafting the physical world into a coherent, logically coordinated plane of existence. The developers themselves usually have a fair amount of transparency when it comes to upcoming projects.

It may not be apparent at first, but player input is actually taken into consideration, and there are many different means in which you can get your ideas in front of the development team. Several players have blogs dedicated to their adventures on the mud, and the wiki has several places open for players to offer their input.

Upcoming project releases are usually announced over the public channels with increasing frequency as the release date gets near, and there is a fair amount of open discussion about where the mud is heading and what projects/areas are slated for future development As newer areas come out, the amount of detail contained in them is extraordinary. You can actually stop and smell the roses.

Smiths brand their signature weapons/armor with their trademark. If you kick the stray dog, he will treat you differently than if you give him a few scraps to eat. Pack animals actually travel in packs. Different regions have their own distinct flora and fauna, weapons and armor, and even cultures. Sometimes you can tell what region you are in just by looking at how the peasants dress and act.

The overall feel of the mud is one of tremendous possibilities. As the mud progresses, it gets more and more incredible in every aspect. If there are any features that you find attractive on another mud, just give the development team some time, and seed the ideas of how useful that feature would be, and eventually, you'll see an even better version of what you liked show up in Lost Souls.

Lost Souls. I've been playing the MUD on and off since my university days and have finally gotten around to writing a review.

The world of Gaia has recently undergone a MAJOR rewrite. In 2004, the Chief Developer rolled out the specialization system which granted players the ability to specialize their skills based on attribute points, paving the way to truly unique characters.

The world has recently been reorganized. The once 40x40 main map has been extended to /9/ maps each 40x40 for the main continent. Several new islands have been coded in recent months, from Avalon, home of the Knights of Camelot to Esartur, home of the Dark Lord Ahrikol. Many skills, such as flying, are now actually useful.

It's a fantasy world, originally a mishmash of various themes, the developers have worked to introduce originality. The great world of Almeria is finally having a breadth of it's own and the history of the world is starting to live. Forty-two races, lots of guilds and also associations give everyone a chance to find their own balance.

Lost Souls is hack'n'slash, but it's becoming hack'n'slash with depth. And there's plans to expand upon it's various systems. The new map layout will allow for player-run towns, tactical formations for large groups. (Oh yeah, my character runs a War Band of NPCs which has number up to nearly 30). And lots more ideas waiting for release. More new areas are planned and the current development teams is one of the best I've seen.

Red Magi? Guard of Losthaven? Ringwielder? Worship Chaos? Lead your war band on raids or defend your town as a Wandslinger. Lost Souls has a depth rarely seen in a MUD. Visit our homepage, see our wiki, the community is small, but we'd like to see it grow. Join us in the new Almeria.

So one day looking for something different I was searching around on ZMUD's mud database and found one called lost souls. It was an LP mud, which was a codebase I had little prior playtime on (little did I know at the time that LP muds are usually super customized, at least the best ones) and gave it a shot. Turned out to be my favorite mud ever. Really great detail put into all of the guilds. But be warned the mud plays a little different from most. Seems like the developers are making it more friendly to new players though, as they recently took out the super annoying quests system.

Mud has a very nice player base too, with most players being quite experienced with the mud. I think maybe the way the mud USED to be scared off people, but it's a load more newbie friendly now.

The guilds are pretty balanced and so are the areas. The only thing I dislike about the mud is that there is little RP, but if some of you reading this review would be interested to start RPing (i'd settle for something as simple as a guild war) just get in touch with me (I play a character by the same name that entered this submission ATM).

It's a bit heavy on the hack and slash (ok, so it's reliant on it :P) but so are a lot of other muds I've played that had some decent RP. I can also think of some more basic classes that are missing (I'd like to see an assassin or something similar), but all of the muds classes are extremely unlike most MUDs, with their own depth filled play styles and lots of advantages and drawbacks. IE. the reapers are weak against holy items and areas, and also rely on sacrifices to their master to be able to use their powers. The Kazarak are reliant on gaining energy from their crystal pillar as they don't heal at all when not next to it, unless they consume magical items. But in exchange they get all sorts of really awesome charge up abilities and some symptoms of the undead. It's fun to run around without a head.

Ah yes, that reminds me of the MUD's best feature IMO. The mud has an awesome limb system. Meaning you can cut off arms, hands, legs, and even heads. And some races have additional limbs. But swing on by and check it out. I'm sure the players would not mind helping you get started if you ask. I know I will.

Lostsouls is a rare gem among the MUDs still active in the world, which are rapidly being replaced by 3D MMORPGs. It has retained it's popularity despite newer, graphically advanced games appearing on the market, which leads me to conclude that there’s something else that brings people back again and again to the text-based world of Lostsouls. It’s so vast, complex, and inspired that people can’t help returning to it after each flash-in-the-pan visual MMORPG comes and goes.

First of all, Lostsouls is absolutely huge. If you played it for an hour or two every single day, it would take you about a year to see every single room in the MUD, and that’s if you played the same character all the time. The landscape is littered with dozens of towns, ranging from hamlets of a few rooms to sprawling metropolises that contain several individual sections. Caverns packed with monsters are tucked away into every crevice, while entire cities of intelligent monsters loom in distant lands; In fact, there are even other planes of existence to explore than just the earthly prime material, opening up an incredible amount of territory.

You never have to worry about getting bored, because a complex and detailed atman system allows you to create up to ten different characters from one of forty diverse races. The game system uses a statistic/skill base, which allows for literally millions of possible combinations. Once incarnated in the world, each character may then join one or more of twenty-two different guilds, with new ones being added all the time. In addition, the world is filled with over a dozen associations, which are like pseudo-guilds: non-exclusive memberships that offer a few slight benefits; join up to six of them at once!

Perhaps the best part about Lostsouls is how detailed the game mechanics are without making the interface complicated. Players are free to allocate every single point of their character, from determining each of nine attributes that commonly range from 10 to 100, selecting starting skills from a list of many of the game’s 141 existing skills, to determining primary handedness, gender and even homeland from a list determined by the race selected!

And it doesn’t stop there. Players may band together and form companies, each having access to a shared vault of saved wealth. They may join up into coherent groups to adventure together, pooling their resources while splitting up experience gains. The world even has several offices, which are titles passed on to whoever deserves it most, each granting their own specific powers and responsibilities.

If you’re into text-based MUDs or just getting sick of visual MMORPGs that have flashy graphics but no real content, stop by lostsouls.org, port 3000 sometime and see why this realm has stood the test of time to endure as one of the world’s finest gaming environments.

Lost Souls, as described prev2iously, is an LPC mud offering players a wide variety of character types.

There are a number of ways to approach playing. Independent play is very common. It is neither encouraged nor discouraged. The mud provides an environment such that independent play is easily accomplished. The majority of 'monsters' and quests do not require a group effort.

Though independent play is common, group play is also easily accomplished. Through groups and companies, players can team together to play, sharing experience. Grouping is a temporary arrangement requiring a leader. In order to share the experience, members of the group must be in the same location. Companies, on the other hand, are maintained as long as there are two or more members. Experience sharing does not require members to be in the same location, or even logged in.

Roleplaying is neither encouraged nor discouraged. Though many choose not to roleplay, there are people that do. Common roleplaying guilds are Ringwraiths, Justicars and Knights.

As with anything in life, there are loud, obnoxious jerks around. My best advice is to remember this is a game. Roleplay it or ignore it. If it becomes excessive or offensive, report it. Keep in mind you can block (turn off) channels and even block tells (communication) from players.

There are a few ways to approach this mud: 1) Explore. This is a large mud. At level 1 (or low levels) it never hurts to run around with a compass to get your bearings and learn the lay of the land. 2) Ask. OOC (out of character) or neophyte channels are a good place to start asking questions. 3) Read through the help files.

I generally do not respond to people who are not polite. Others take impoliteness more seriously and yet others don't care. A general rule of thumb is treat others how you would like to be treated.

The developer group seems fairly active. A number of additions in the way of monsters, areas, colors and modifications are frequently evident.

I have played for more than 2 years and, like Tamarack, will gladly lend a hand where I can.

~Alix

Lost Souls is an option-oriented MUD with a large variety of development available for your characters, as well as some good company during play. The downside of Lost Souls (yes, there always seems to be one) is that one of the high ranking immortals really has no concern whatsoever for the quality of the MUD experience (which he readily admits, and reinforces through action), and favortism is a frequent problem. Rule enforcement is loose, so if you need a strictly regulated game, Lost Souls isn't likely your cup of tea. All in all, as long as you don't talk to most of the players or developers, the game is wonderfully enjoyable. Unfortunately, though, it's impossible to completely avoid the playerbase. Playerkilling is occasionally a large problem for low-level players, but stick to races like minotaur and you can normally handle yourself.

If you choose to give this game a go, good luck, and I hope you enjoy it, and that my advice helps you to avoid the pitfalls which so many of my old friends fell into head first.

Lost Souls.

Lost Souls is an LPC based mud that offers lots of options to a mudder. You can have up to ten different characters built off of a single atman, or soul. You can retire your characters when they reach level thirty so you will always have a chance to build more characters.

This mud is based in the 'medieval time frame' and has numerous races drawn from literature as well as fantasy. Characters range from Amberites to your lowly goblins. There are thirty-two starting races that you can choose from. Upon reaching level thirty you gain access to four new races. Similar things happen when you reach level seventy-five as more races are opened for you.

There are a number of different guilds and associations available for you to join to help you role play your character. You can play anything from Ringwraith's and Elflords from Tolkein to a knight from Arthur's round table. The ability to join and leave certain guilds provides you with the ability to guild walk your character to help gain new powers and just mix up the boredom of playing one thing all the time. Numerous associations are also available for you to join and they provide additional powers to help you out.

The game itself is huge. Numerous rooms, towns, keeps, plains of existence, and so forth provide for an enormous amount of elbow room. Although some areas are popular with players, like the local tavern, you can go for long stretches of time without running into another player.

Roleplaying is encouraged but not demanded. You can form groups and share experience and enjoyment together online (help grouping) or even when you are offline (help adventuring companies). Playerkilling is around, however if you tend to be a hard core pk'er and you make a problem of yourself you will eventually be dealt with.

The player base is usually friendly. Read the rules and ask questions on your 'neophyte' channel. Someone will help you out eventually.

The development staff of 'developers/wizards' seems to be committed to continued expansion of the mud overall. They are real sticklers on quality and tend to only release good solid items. Over the past few months a number of new areas and items have been released. These areas only increase the general feel of the mud.

I've been playing on this mud now for upwards of six years. I'm willing to help out any new player that comes along. Just look for me.

Tamarack.