Getting started

1. Install

Veilrunner is in review with Apple for the Mac App Store. When it is available, install it from the App Store on a Mac running macOS 15.0 or later. Open it from Applications or Launchpad.

2. The Welcome screen

The first time you open Veilrunner, you see Welcome to Veilrunner. It includes:

• A short tour of tabs, aliases and triggers, the map and VoiceOver. Each has a Learn More link to its help page.
• Whether VoiceOver is on (green) or off (red).
• The list of starter MUDs.

Start Playing closes the Welcome screen. It doesn't open by itself again; reopen it any time from Help › Welcome to Veilrunner….

Open Sample Tab opens a practice tab with labelled examples:

• the aliases gac (get all corpse), ee (examine %1) and hh (look;inventory)
• example triggers
• Look and Score buttons
• a variable

The examples live only in that tab. They are never added to your own characters.

3. Try a starter MUD

Choose File › Starter MUDs…. The list shows eleven well-known MUDs, each with its genre, a short description, its address and a Website link:

DarkeMUD, Aardwolf, Discworld, Achaea, BatMUD, Alter Aeon, Materia Magica, Realms of Despair, 3Kingdoms, Genesis, and Dark and Shattered Lands.

Click Connect next to a MUD. A new tab opens with the address filled in. Press Connect in that tab, then create a character or log in when the MUD asks.

• Discworld also offers TLS. Switch on Use TLS in its row first.
• Alter Aeon's listed port is its blind-friendly port.
• Include example aliases and triggers adds the sample examples to the new tab only.

Starter MUDs never change your existing characters. A MUD is added to your saved MUDs only if that address isn't saved yet.

4. Add your own character

1. Click + in the connection bar.
2. Fill in the MUD name, address, port, character name and, if you want, a password. The password is stored only in the macOS Keychain.
3. Pick the character and press Connect (⌘↩).

Veilrunner sends your character name. When the MUD asks for your password, Veilrunner sends the saved one. If no password prompt appears within 10 seconds, one line prints and you type the password yourself. Disconnect is ⌘D.

5. Play

• Type commands in the command line at the bottom. Enter sends the line and jumps to the newest text.
• ↑ / ↓ recall earlier commands.
• ; sends several commands at once, for example n;n;e.
• Commands that start with # are Veilrunner's own commands. They are never sent to the MUD. Type #help to see them all.

6. Automate

#alias {gt} {get %1 %2}        then type: gt sword bag
#trigger {You are hungry.} {eat bread}
#button {Heal} {cast 'heal' me}

Or open the Inspector (Script › Show Inspector, ⌘⇧I) to use the Triggers, Aliases, Buttons and Coach editors.

7. More tabs

⌘T adds a tab for another character. Veilrunner remembers your tabs when you quit. After the next launch, Connect All connects them all.

See also

Connections, tabs & characters · Aliases · Triggers · Keyboard shortcuts