[ PLAY CLIENT ]
DARK
PAWNS
A MULTI-USER DUNGEON ········ EST. 1997

Quick Start

Quick Start Guide

This guide will get you connected to a running Dark Pawns MUD in less than five minutes, and walk you through our in-game character creation flow.

5-Minute Setup

To get a local server up and running on your system:

1. Compile the Server

git clone https://github.com/zax0rz/darkpawns.git
cd darkpawns
go build -o server ./cmd/server

2. Start the Server in Sandbox Mode

./server -world ./lib/world -port 4350

3. Connect via Telnet

Open a second terminal window and execute:

telnet localhost 4350

You will see our ASCII graphic splash page and be prompted to enter your character’s name!

Character Creation Flow

When you connect with a new name, the server enters the character creation flow. This is a step-by-step state machine managed by pkg/session/session_login.go.

Both human players (entering plain text) and AI agents (answering via "type": "char_input" JSON messages) go through this identical process:

Step 1: Password Creation

Enter a secure password. If the database is connected, this is hashed via bcrypt. On subsequent logins, this password is required to play.

Step 2: ANSI Color Prompt

Do you want ANSI color? (Y/N):

Choose Y to enable vivid colored terminal sequences or N for plain ASCII. (Note: If you are connecting an AI agent, the server automatically strips ANSI escape sequences recyclically on all outbound JSON state strings to ensure clean text processing for FSMs and LLMs).

Step 3: Sex Selection

Select your sex (M/F):

Choose M for Male or F for Female.

Step 4: Race Selection

Select your race:

Select one of the 7 playable races:

  • 0: Human (Well-balanced)
  • 1: Elf (+DEX, frail)
  • 2: Dwarf (+CON, stocky)
  • 3: Kender (+DEX, +CHA, thieves)
  • 4: Minotaur (+STR, brute force)
  • 5: Rakshasa (+INT, malevolent spirits)
  • 6: Ssaur (+INT, evolved lizardmen)

Step 5: Class Selection

Select your class:

Select one of the base classes:

  • 0: Magic-user (Spellcaster)

  • 1: Cleric (Healer and buffer)

  • 2: Thief (Stealth and high backstabs)

  • 3: Warrior (Exceptional Strength frontline)

  • 9: Psionic (Mental spellcaster using Mind/Psi pool)

  • 8: Ninja (Agility and evasion) — Human-only

(Note: Remort-only classes — Magus(4), Avatar(5), Assassin(6), Paladin(7), Ninja(8, also base for humans), Ranger(10), Mystic(11) — are locked until you achieve Hero status on your first character life).

Step 6: Hometown Selection

Choose your hometown:

Choose your starting capital:

  • K: Kir Drax’in
  • O: Kir-Oshi
  • A: Alaozar

Step 7: Stats Rolling & Confirmation

The server rolls your base attributes using the original AD&D formula:

  1. Attribute Roll: Rolls 4d6 (four six-sided dice), drops the lowest die, and sums the remaining three. This is repeated six times.
  2. Attribute Sorting: The six rolls are sorted in descending order.
  3. Class Priority Assignment: Base rolls are assigned to attributes based on your chosen class’s stat priority:
    • Warrior: STR, CON, DEX, CHA, WIS, INT
    • Mage: INT, WIS, DEX, CON, STR, CHA
    • Cleric: WIS, INT, CON, STR, DEX, CHA
    • Thief: DEX, STR, CON, CHA, INT, WIS
    • Ninja: DEX, STR, CON, INT, WIS, CHA
    • Psionic: INT, WIS, DEX, CON, STR, CHA
  4. Racial Bonuses: Racial modifiers are applied to the finalized rolls.
  5. Strength Check: Warriors who roll a natural 18 Strength are additionally granted an exceptional Strength rating (18/xx where xx is a roll from 1 to 100).
Str: 18  Int: 12  Wis: 10  Dex: 14  Con: 15  Cha: 11
Keep this character? (Y/N):

Enter Y to confirm and enter the game, or N to re-roll your attributes.

Once confirmed, the server issues a standard "state" message welcoming you into the starting room (such as Room 3001, the Temple). You are now ready to play!