Glossary

Short definitions for the terms and abbreviations that show up in the game and these docs. When a term has its own in-game help entry, you can type help <term> inside the world for the full original text.

Term	Meaning
AC	Armor class, your defensive rating (help AC). Lower is better: an ac-apply of 10 equals an armor rating of -10. Check yours with score.
AFK	Away from keyboard. Toggles an automatic notice when someone sends you a tell while you're off getting a beer (help AFK).
Constitution	Your physical toughness and resurrection budget. Every time you die, you have a chance to lose 1 point of Constitution; drop below 1 and you are dead forever (help DEATH).
GRGOD	Greater God, staff level 38. Minimum rank to save welcome messages (tedit) and manage most player flags.
guild	A class-restricted training hall where your guildmaster lets you practice skills and spells (help GUILD).
HIGOD	High God, staff level 36. Minimum rank to edit saved characters, Lua scripts, and outbound notifications.
HP	Hit points. Dropping to 0 through -10 leaves you stunned, incapacitated, or mortally wounded on the floor; at -11 you die, your equipment stays in your corpse, and you wake up at the temple altar.
immortal	Any staff character at level 31 or higher.
implementor	Staff level 40 (IMPL), the highest rank on a server.
linkdead	Still standing in the room after your connection dropped. help LINK promises you'll auto-flee if attacked, but staff commented that out in 1999 because players abused it (src/fight.c). You just stand there taking hits, and you still count toward your 3-character limit (help MULTI).
mob	A mobile non-player monster or citizen roaming the world. At level 24, some high-level mobs cop an attitude and attack on sight (help ATTITUDE).
MOTD	Message of the day, the welcome screen shown when a mortal or immortal enters the game.
MP	Mana points, spent when casting spells.
MUD	Multi-user dungeon, a text-based multiplayer game. Also used as a verb.
MV	Movement points, spent walking between rooms and on certain combat skills. Heavier terrain costs more movement.
newbie	A player who is new to MUDding, or new to Dark Pawns (help NEWBIE).
PK	Player killing. Governed by level ranges and city rules; see help PK before starting a feud.
practice	The command used at your guildmaster to train skills and spells (help PRACTICE). Typing practice outside your guild lists what you already know.
recall	Snaps you back to your hometown temple (help RECALL), unless the room you're standing in is flagged BFR (bad for recall).
remort	Starting over at level 1 in an advanced class (such as Assassin or Avatar) after reaching level 30 (help REMORT).
rent	A fee some MUDs charge at an inn to keep your gear overnight. Dark Pawns has no rent: quit in your hometown temple and your equipment saves for free. Quit outside a safe room with reallyquit and your items drop on the ground (help QUIT).
tank	The character at the front of a group taking the enemy's swings while the rest of the party heals or stabs from behind.
THAC0	To-hit armor class zero, the roll math that decides whether your swing connects.
vnum	Virtual number, the unique ID for a room, mob, or object prototype in the world files.
WHOD	The Who daemon, a separate port that serves the online player list to external status pages.
zone	A numbered region of the world files grouping rooms, mobs, objects, shops, and timed reset rules.

Related

• Your first hour
• Commands