User:Deputylt/sandbox

Swords of Chaos

Swords of Chaos (SoC) is a multi-player adventure game. The goal (aside from socializing and having fun) is to hack and slash your way to power. You do this by exploring the realm. amassing treasure and killing monsters.

SoC is MUD software for the MajorBBS and Worldgroup BBS platforms. Originally it was played over dial-up modem connections. It can now still be played by connecting directly to BBS hosts via telnet.

HISTORY

SoC was originally created by Mark Peterson. Peterson at first titled the game "The Realm of Angmar" but was pressured by the legal representation of J.R.R. Tolkien to rename the game on copyright grounds. Peterson then changed the name to "The Realm of Angbar", but after a period of tike Tolkien's legal team again made contact with Peterson regarding the name. Finally, Peterson changed the name to Swords of Chaos.

An entire documented record Prior to the onset of the world wide web in the mid 1990s, bulletin board systems were the primary means of online connection for the majority of the internet. This was the peak time for MUDs, including Swords of Chaos.

The primary means of playing the game was an individual would use a dial-up modem to dial into a local BBS. Monthly or use-based fees were paid for the right to connect to these BBSes. Many BBSes had active userbases in the hundreds of people, and it was not uncommon to see an active SoC game with over 100 players.

Eventually, BBSes began to connect their SoC games to each other through Vircom's DMA Server software. This allowed players from multiple BBSes to play together on a single server which made the game that much more fun to play.

Once the world wide web began to grow virally, the BBS scene quickly dissipated however at an exponential pace, and soon, very few dial-up BBSes were still available. With the demise of the BBS scene, SoC too saw its twilight.

From then on, an active SoC game would appear from time to time on a telnet BBS dedicated to preserving the retro soul of the era, but none of them ever lasted very long. The hardware, maintenance, and time required to administer a MajorBBS system became cost prohibitive.

Some endured however, and one of these BBSes that successfully preserved and even advanced the history of SoC was the Seabreeze Gaming Network. Seabreeze was run by a long time sysop Jamie who still occasionally puts up his bbs at seabreeze.servegame.com.

Seabreeze had the most active SoC game from about 2010 to 2015. For the most part, it was the only place on the entire internet to play an active SoC game while it lasted. One of the major advances other than keeping an active game came from Seabreeze's SoC gameop Naomi. She created new areas to play within the game, called the "Seabreeze Expansion" which greatly increased the quality and enjoyability of the game. Seabreeze however went down for in 2015 and lost the entirety of its SoC userbase.of the development of Swords of Chaos written by Peterson, called "The Strange Saga of The Realm of Angmar, Elfhelm's Bane, Swords of Chaos, Lords of Cyberspace, Galactic Conquest & The Muinet Entertainment BBS", is available online.