The House of Lunduke BBS is a 20 node, Telnet BBS (bbs.lunduke.com) focused on the golden age of DOS BBS gaming -- including TradeWars 2002 and Legend of the Red Dragon.
The BBS is free to use, & creating an account takes only a moment. All new users are granted 2 hours of access to all games on the system (more than enough to get in your daily turns of every one of these classic games).
Current games on the BBS:
- TradeWars 2002 (aka TW2002)
- Legend of the Red Dragon (aka LORD)
- Legend of the Red Dragon 2
- The Pit
- Exitilus
- DoorMUD
- Barren Realms Elite
How to Connect
Accessing The House of Lunduke BBS is incredibly easy. Simply point any Telnet client at "bbs.lunduke.com" on port 23 (the default Telnet port).
This means, on many systems, a simple:
telnet bbs.lunduke.com
Will, technically, work.
However, if you want to have the absolute best experience -- and see what BBSing was truly like back in the 1980s and 1990s -- you'll want to use a Telnet client capable of displaying ANSI color... specifically one tuned for BBSes.
The following Telnet clients are all recommended and work well with The House of Lunduke:
- Linux: NetRunner, SyncTERM,
- macOS: MuffinTerm
- iOS: MuffinTerm
- Windows: NetRunner, SyncTERM
Once you have chosen your Telnet client, simply add "bbs.lunduke.com" to your address book and connect. Or, from within some Telnet clients, you can also type "atdtbbs.lunduke.com" (no spaces).
Fun fact: "ATDT" is a command which tells an old-school modem to "tone dial this number". The "AT" stands for "Attention", "D" stands for "Dial", and ending T stands for "Tone". In the old days ATDT would be followed by a phone number... but, since we're connecting via Telnet, we now use a domain.
Or, if you want to get really old-school, it is possible to utilize DOSBox and an era appropriate terminal client (such as Telemate).
F.A.Q.
Q: What software does The House of Lunduke BBS run?
A: The core BBS software is known as Virtual Advanced (a successor to VBBS), a DOS-based BBS package that acheived some popularity during the early 1990s. All of the games on the system (known as "Door games" in BBS terminology) also run on DOS -- and each is the most popular version (or the last version) of each. A Telnet server handles incoming telnet connections -- which then interfaces with the DOS-based BBS software, using what is known as a FOSSIL driver.
Fun Fact: A FOSSIL driver is a serial interface driver -- which makes it easier to use a standard interface to multiple different communication devices (such as a type of dial-up modem or a Telnet connection). FOSSIL stands for "Fido Opus SEAdog Standard Interface Layer". Which is a fun name.
Q: What does "20 node" mean?
A: In "ye olden times", BBSes used modems and phone lines. One person, at a time, could call a BBS on each phone line. Each of these is a "node". We are now living in the future -- and using Telnet instead of phone lines -- which means that, in theory, we could have a small mountain of people connecting at the same time. However. Since we are using 1980s and 1990s DOS software, jury-rigged to work with the modern Internet, some of those old limitations still apply. 20 nodes were chosen as that makes for an incredibly large BBS system... but not too difficult to manage.
Q: Why not use a more modern BBS server?
A: There are several "modern" BBS servers -- with many fancy benefits. MysticBBS, Synchronet, and others. The House of Lunduke BBS is not about being modern. Or fancy. It is about preserving a snapshot of a high-point in BBS gaming history.
