NetHack

From Tel'Laerad Wiki

NetHack is a retro game that was originally released in 1987 and is still in active development to this day, making it the oldest game still in active development. We have set up our own NetHack server where you can play the game and watch others online who're playing, using dgamelaunch.

This page does not contain spoilers, and is primarily focused on helping you connect to the NetHack server. If you don't know what that means, the "After Connecting" section explains, along with providing instructions on registering and starting the game after connecting.

NetHack on the Web

We now offer a web-based terminal allowing you to play on our NetHack server using your browser, on our nethack page. Connecting using this is very simple; just click to open, and you are connected and ready to register/login and play.

Connecting on Windows

Telnet using the Built-In Client

This is the recommended default method for Windows users, as it is very simple and requires no extra software, and also allows fancy graphics options to be used.

Vista does not have the telnet client enabled by default; you must either go through the additional steps to enable it as described here, requiring an Administrator account, or use SSH as described in the next section.

1. Press Windows Key + R to open the 'Run' dialog box. This is also reachable through the Start Menu in Windows XP and previous versions of Windows.
2. Enter 'cmd', then press enter, to open a command prompt.
3. Type 'telnet rpg.tellaerad.net 1337' to connect to the server.

SSH using PuTTY

If there are issues with telnet or you wish to use a secure connection, you can use SSH by installing PuTTY.

1. Download PuTTY from here, and either install it, or extract it to a directory, depending on the version downloaded. You will need one of the ones which includes SSH; as the US has now loosened its export restrictions, there should be no problem in downloading the full/normal set of programs.
2. Start PuTTY.
3. Put "rpg.tellaerad.net" in the hostname box, set the port to 22, and select SSH as the connection method.
4. Click connect.
5. Enter the username "rpg", and the password "rpg". You will not see stars while entering the password; it will be completely hidden while typing, even though it is being received.

Connecting on Mac OS X

SSH using the Built-In Client

1. Open your Applications folder, then open the Utilities folder inside.
2. Run "Terminal", the Mac OS X terminal emulator.
3. In the new window, enter "ssh rpg@rpg.tellaerad.net" to open an SSH session to the server.
4. Enter "rpg" for the password.

Telnet using the Built-In Client

Note that this is not recommended or guaranteed to work; there are known issues connecting for some people using telnet.

1. Open your Applications folder, then open "Utilities".
2. Run "Terminal", the Mac OS X terminal emulator.
3. Enter "telnet rpg.tellaerad.net 1337"

Connecting on Linux/BSD

This assumes a graphical shell using X is in use. If not, you should ignore the instructions relating to opening a terminal emulator and substitute the appropriate steps in your environment to open a BASH/SH/CSH or similar shell.

SSH using the Default Client

1. Open your terminal program, such as konsole or xterm. The default varies depending on desktop environment and distribution.
2. Enter "ssh rpg@rpg.tellaerad.net" in the new window to open an SSH session to the server.
3. Enter "rpg" for the password.

Telnet using the Default Client

Note that this is not recommended or guaranteed to work; there are known issues connecting for some people using telnet.

1. Open your terminal program, such as konsole or xterm. The default varies depending on desktop environment and distribution.
2. Enter "telnet rpg.tellaerad.net 1337"

Connecting with a Mobile Phone

Recently, some people have discovered that using a PuTTY client on certain types of mobile phone, they can connect to our server via SSH to play NetHack. Once the client is installed and started, the instructions for usage are very similar to those used using PuTTY on Windows.

1. Put "rpg.tellaerad.net" in the hostname box, set the port to 22, and select SSH as the connection method.
2. Click connect.
3. Enter the username "rpg", and the password "rpg". You will not see stars while entering the password; it will be completely hidden while typing, even though it is being received.

With a phone with a fully QWERTY keyboard, this can be a quite entertaining way to play NetHack on the move, or in short periods of free time. Thanks go to throntax on the Nokia forums for this information.

After Connecting

After connecting to the server, you will see a menu. From this menu, you can register, login, or watch other users fight their way though the dungeons. Registration/logging in here is separate from any passwords given to connect to the server. You should *not* rely on these passwords being secure; if you are using telnet this is particularly true. Use a different password to any used elsewhere.

Logged in users are given a separate menu to edit their settings, watch someone, or play NetHack. Watching someone while logged in adds an additional command; you can send them "mail", short messages, while observing. Simply selecting the play option from the logged-in menu begins character creation for a new game of NetHack, or resumes your previous game. The name of the character is automatically the same as the account name; the rest is for you to choose... good luck.

The default configured key layout is to use the numpad; you can also set it to use the traditional "vi keys" of hjkl and other letters for diagonal movement if you prefer, or lack a numpad; this takes some getting used to, but is quite usable once you're used to it. Unfortunately, there is no option for using arrow keys, as there is when playing NetHack on your own computer. All that can be said is that there are far more difficult things in the dungeon than learning a new key layout, and it's easily worth it to play on the shared server.

Information on playing the game itself can only be provided "legitimately" by the official NetHack handbook, and ingame sources, according to the standard rules. Information gained through other methods is considered "spoilers". If you wish to abide by this rule, you should logically avoid our NetHack discussion channel, as it's rather contradictory to the idea of discussing the game.

On the other hand, if you, as a large number of players do, eventually if not immediately, choose to be "spoiled", you can feel free to join #NetHack on our IRC Network for advice, or just to talk about your (and everyone else's) latest stupid death.