Long-form play
A dedicated client gives you persistent scrollback, aliases, triggers, and mapping tools.
darkpawns.org7778Clients without TLS can use port 7777, but everything you send there crosses the network in the clear, your password included. The browser client always uses TLS.
The friendly graphical choice for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Create a profile with the host and port above and tick Secure. On first connect Mudlet installs the Dark Pawns package: health bars, a map that draws itself as you walk, and a chat window.
Set up MudletA terminal-native client with scripting, aliases, triggers, and an automapper. Connect securely with:
#ssl dp darkpawns.org 7778Plain telnet has no TLS, so keep it for a quick look as a guest rather than logging in with your password:
telnet darkpawns.org 7777Mudlet is a free MUD client for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Connect it to Dark Pawns and it dresses itself for the game: a dock with your health, a map of the whole world, and a chat window. The game's text stays exactly what every other player sees.
darkpawns.org, port 7778, and Secure ticked.Port 7778 uses TLS, so your password stays between you and the game. Use the name darkpawns.org rather than an address, because the certificate belongs to the name. Port 7777 still answers in the clear; connect there and Mudlet offers to move you to the secure port, an offer worth taking.
From the top: the Dark Pawns mark, a line with your name, level, race, class, and gold, then your hit points, mana, and movement as numbers over thin bars. Below them sit the map and the chat window.
Everything in the dock comes from data the game sends beside its text, over Mudlet's GMCP channel. The package reads no game text, fires no triggers, and never sends a command you didn't type.
On your first connection the whole world map loads into the dock, and it refreshes itself when the builders change the world. If the profile already holds a map you drew by hand, the package asks before touching it: type dp map to swap in the world map.
Your marker follows you from lit room to lit room. In darkness, or blind, the game names no room, so the map waits for the next one you can see. Double-click a room to walk there.
The package adds one word, dp. Everything else you type goes to the game untouched.
| Type | To |
|---|---|
dp | see the package version and these commands |
dp hide, dp show | put the dock away, and bring it back |
dp clear | clear the main window |
dp clear chat | clear the chat window |
dp map | load the world map, replacing this profile's map |
The game's own clear sends the escape codes that wipe a terminal. Mudlet's window is a scrollback, not a terminal, so they do nothing there. Use dp clear.
No dock, and dp answers Huh?!?. The package isn't installed: disconnect and connect again, and Mudlet installs it fresh. Mudlet 5.0.1 occasionally loses an upgrade this way.
No dock at all, ever. Install the package by hand: download darkpawns.xml, then in Mudlet choose Toolbox → Package Manager → Install and pick the file.
You want Mudlet plain. Uninstall darkpawns in the Package Manager. The dock goes with it, and the game plays the same.
The data behind the dock is yours to use in your own scripts. The messages and their fields are documented in docs/gmcp.md, and the package's source is in mudlet/.
help to browse the in-game help system.look whenever you need to read the room again.commands to see the command surface available to you.Need a reference outside the game? Visit the searchable help files or read the world guide.