As part of this column covering superhero MMORPGs, we have looked at the usual suspects: MMOs of the past (Champions Online, City of Heroes, DCUO, Marvel Heroes) and those of the future (Ship of Heroes, City of Titans, Valiance Online). But the other day I was answering the commissioner’s phone call when I found myself half into my spandex suit before freezing with a thought.
It was a weird thought. It was an odd thought. It was a thought worth pursuing, even if it meant letting Destruxxor turn his muto-ray on the local Mom-to-Mom sale.
Were there ever superhero MUDs in the past? You know, multi-user dungeons? Those text MMOs from way back when that we occasionally cover here on Massively OP? That was such an intriguing thought that I walked over to the Crime Computer and started up a whole bunch of Google searches. It turns out that, yes, not only are there many superhero MUDs, but you can still play several of them today.
Here’s what I found.
Olympus Island MUSH
“Olympus Island MUSH uses Herogames 5th Edition Rules and takes place on an artificial island created by a supervillain during World War 2. It’s now almost 60 years later, and the island is a hotbed of metahuman and criminal activity. Be a superhero and fight for justice on Olympus Island.”
X-Men rEvolution
“X-Men rEvolution is an X-Men movieverse game set in contemporary New York City, shortly after the events of the first X-Men movie. With a movieverse backdrop, we both come unencumbered with years of convoluted comics canon, and also a slightly more real-world feel to the setting. Only slightly, though: we’re still running around New York playing mutants with superpowers; just without the aliens and magic.”
Marvel Reborn
“Marvel Reborn’s story takes place in Marvel Universe 616MU. The MU part is because the moment you begin role playing is the moment it diverges from the comic book series Secret Wars 3 (2015 comic event). Join us in a brand new game. The sky, in this world, is no longer a limit. This is a Marvel-only game, though original characters are welcome.”
Flame of Darkness MOO
“Flame of Darkness is a comic book text-based roleplaying game where people can create original characters, or play an established character such as Captain America or the Batman! Our theme is a mixed universe where multiple comic book IPs have merged into one location. This allows for fun crossovers of superheroes or supervillains.”
Champions MUSH
Yes, it’s the same setting and source as the one used for Champions Online: “Champions MUSH is an online version of the role-playing game Champions, created by Hero Games. We are now using the 5th Edition Rules for conflict resolution (combat, contests of skill, etc.). We are set in the city of Colonial Bay, Virginia, USA. The time is the future, the year 2058. Superheroes fly the skies and patrol the city in search of crime to stop and villains to put behind bars.”
Maelstrom Earth Mu*
“All realities, universes and timelines stem from a single point and will eventually return to the point. We are that point. The origin of it all, and it all weaves back and forth here but we also are our own world. To know the setting of Maelstrom Earth, you need simply pick up a history book, turn on the news, read a newspaper or flip through a magazine.”
Common Descent MUSH
“Common Descent MUSH is a online, text-based collaborative roleplaying game that seeks to combine our favorite comic book worlds into a singular universe, and also to allow new original characters to interact with them. Characters are invited to join in the regular struggles that will either preserve or destroy the people of Earth — or maybe just their local communities — and chart the course of the future for generations still to come.”
Between Darkness and Light
“Between Darkness and Light MUX is a superheroic roleplaying environment, based on a near-real world, and including within its fabric characters from DC, Marvel, and other comics as well as selected other sources.”
United Heroes MUSH
“United Heroes MUSH is an online text based social medium set in the near future of 2026. It is a world much like our own, but with some key differences, both subtle and significant. It is a world of heroes, a world of villains, a world of the mundane, and the fantastic. After seeing what the Marvel Cinematic Universe did for one comic book publisher, we asked, what could a similar project do for many? And thus, Earth-1999 was born. We have no set canon. No single storyline played out exactly as depicted in any comic, cartoon, film, television show, or video game, but instead, our world is inspired by them.”
Alternate Identities MUX
“Welcome to Alternate Identities MUX, a role-playing game set in a fictional Earth with an entirely original roster of heroes and villains, some established by the administration and some created by the rest of the player base, but all holding unique places of status and celebrity in a way that is rarely available elsewhere. Introduced to this world through mysterious fractures in the very fabric of reality are the established heroes and villains from companies such as Marvel and DC.”
Multiverse Crisis MUSH
“Multiverse Crisis MUSH is an application-only role playing site with broad inclusion of characters and settings from anime, video games, movies, books, sci-fi, and more. We are receptive to alternate universe takes on existing series, and original characters.”
Inheritance Gambit
“The Age of Heroes may yet come again, if the world does not destroy itself first. Whichever happens, though, this much seems true: These are the last days of humankind. Welcome to Inheritance Gambit, a Marvel Comics-inspired game.”
Comic Adventures MUX
“Comic Adventures MUX is a game that is all about comic books and comic characters from the DC and Marvel universes.”
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Eliot Lefebvre and Justin Olivetti covering superhero MMORPGs, past, present, and future! Come along on patrol as Into the Super-verse avenges the night and saves the world… one column at a time.
