Free · Text-based · Multiplayer · Since the dial-up era

A text world for people who should be asleep.

A free MUD on the classic ROM 2.4 code, set in Vesper, where the lamps burn all night and the temple bell is never silenced. No account and no microtransactions: just a login prompt and a world that doesn't sleep either.

Nightlite is our own client, free for Windows. The browser version is the same client, with nothing to install.

sample:
Market Square
[Exits: north east south west]
The Lamplighter is here, carrying a pole and a
small flame.
> look statue
The statue is of Noctus, seated, cut from a
dark grey stone that the rain has never
managed to stain.  Every other god you have
seen in stone has his eyes closed in
contemplation.  Noctus has his eyes open.
They are open very wide, and they will still
be looking at you at four in the morning.
> _
New since the last update
The story

The night that didn't end

A story in twenty-three scenes, from your first night to level ninety

1998.  Somewhere past three in the morning.
The monitor hums.  Your hands are still on the keys.
Your eyes close.

You fell asleep at the keyboard.The night never ended.

You wake to rain, and lamplight, and wet stone where the keys should be. The city is Vesper. You know these streets. You have never seen them like this. Twenty-eight years have gone by in a single night, and nobody here sleeps any more.

Seven gods keep the watch, and they have been waiting for you. One never closes his eyes. One lights the lamps and tells you it is late. One kept what you could not carry. One has been walking your shadow while you were gone. Not all of them will tell you why.

And somewhere under the sleep of the world, something has been eating the hours nobody is awake for. It has had twenty-eight years of yours. It has noticed you, and it has one word for you.

Stay.

I am Noctus. I keep the watch. I never close my eyes.

Noctus

It is late. It is always late.

Vesperine

Everyone almost does. That is the trouble with dawn.

Aubade

You will not sleep.
You will wander.

Who you are

Eight races, one curve

Every race can be every class, every race and class needs the same 2,000 experience a level, and every character starts with 60 creation points (humans 70). No race has a vulnerability or an immunity. Racial skills work whatever your class.

Human

The most forgiving first character.

Str22/42
Int22/42
Wis22/42
Dex22/42
Con22/42

trains to racial maximum, with gear · out of 50

Humans built Vesper, its lamps and its watch kept in shifts, because nothing about a human was made for the night and no single human can keep it alone. Not the strongest, cleverest or quickest at anything, a human is a little better than average at everything, gets an extra practice every level and 10 more creation points than anyone else.

70 creation points+1 practice every levelEvery maximum a point higher than another race's
Suits
Warrior

No weak stat, and every maximum 1 higher than another race's

Mage

Intelligence gears to 50 as a mage; extra practices pay off on a long spell list

Cleric

Wisdom gears to 50 as a cleric; the most forgiving first character

Shines as
TemplarCleric at 25

Two spell groups and fervor to train: the extra practice every level and the 10 spare creation points (banked, spent through gain) go furthest on a long list

KnightWarrior at 25

A flat stat line with Strength and Constitution both gearing to 23 or better, and banked points to buy common-pool items like toughness

WizardMage at 25

Intelligence 25 geared as a mage, and the spare creation points help buy into Evocation and spell penetration sooner

Elf

Wins its fights before they reach arm's length.

Str18/36
Int26/47
Wis24/44
Dex23/42
Con17/35

trains to racial maximum, with gear · out of 50

Elves do not sleep so much as drift, lying awake in the hours after Vesperine turns the city in, when magic is loudest. Every damaging spell an elf casts hits 13% harder, but the body is light-boned and thin-blooded, so an elf wins its fights before they reach arm's length.

Offensive spells +13%MeditationInfravision
Suits
Mage

Offensive spells +13%, Intelligence 25 and meditation: the strongest offensive caster in the game

Cleric

Wisdom to 25, and offensive prayers get the full 13%

Thief

Possible, but fights the elf's low Strength and Constitution

Shines as
WizardMage at 25

The elf's +13% and the wizard's +15% both apply after the damage curve: the biggest direct damage in the game

TemplarCleric at 25

Smite is holy spell damage, so the elf's 13% rides on it, and Wisdom reaches 25 for the mana to keep zeal and aegis up

SorcererMage at 25

Intelligence 25 and meditation fund long curse rotations from range, where the elf's thin body never has to stand in melee

Dwarf

The sturdiest healer there is.

Str23/44
Int16/35
Wis26/47
Dex19/38
Con24/45

trains to racial maximum, with gear · out of 50

Dwarves work under stone, where there is no day or night, only shifts, and keep a watch the way they keep a ledger: on time, in full, without complaint. Wise first, durable second and strong third, a dwarf resists poison and disease and gets +10 to every save, so curses find little purchase.

Resists poison and disease+10 to every save against spellsFast healing
Suits
Cleric

Wisdom 25, high hit points and the spell resistance: the sturdiest healer there is

Warrior

Strength and Constitution to 25, fast healing and the save bonus

Mage

Playable, but Intelligence trains only to 14 (16 as a mage)

Shines as
PriestCleric at 25

Wisdom 25 and Constitution 25 behind the biggest heals in the game: a healer that stays standing while maledictions slide off its +10 saves

KnightWarrior at 25

Strength 25 as a warrior, Constitution 25 and fast healing under Bulwark, with fortify's better saves added to the dwarf's own

TemplarCleric at 25

Wisdom 25 for zeal and aegis, and a front-line buffer whose saves are already the best of any race

Yeti

Size, strength and speed.

Str26/47
Int16/34
Wis19/37
Dex25/46
Con23/43

trains to racial maximum, with gear · out of 50

Yetis come down from mountains where the winter night lasts for weeks; they sleep badly, wake angry, and settle arguments with their hands. Large, strong and fast, a yeti shrugs off the cold, berserks, and has a roar no other race can learn that blunts an opponent's hitroll and damroll.

Two-hander and shield togetherResists coldRoar, and berserk from 18
Suits
Warrior

Strength and Dexterity to 25, a two-hander with a shield, and roar

Thief

The yeti's speed suits it nearly as well

Cleric

Untraditional but real: roar costs mana a cleric has, and Wisdom gears to 21

Shines as
KnightWarrior at 25

Size large wears a two-hander and a shield together, so shield slam and rampart come with no trade, and slam adds twice the Strength damage bonus

AssassinThief at 25

Strength and Dexterity 25 behind backstab and circle at +30%, and berserk to push the damage further

MonkWarrior at 25

Strength and Dexterity at the top for bare-handed flurries, with roar to blunt what hits back

Kobold

Quick, crafty and never where you left it.

Str17/35
Int19/38
Wis23/42
Dex27/48
Con21/40

trains to racial maximum, with gear · out of 50

Kobolds sleep by day in holes nobody else would fit in and do their business by night under Umbra's cover; the Vesper watch knows them well and catches them rarely. Quick and crafty, with the best Dexterity in the game, sneak, hide and dirt kicking from the first levels, and spells that should have flattened them glance off for 12% less.

Takes 12% less from spellsHide, sneak, dirt kickingHighest Dexterity in the game
Suits
Thief

The best Dexterity in the game plus sneak, hide and dirt kicking from level 1-4

Cleric

Wisdom to 25 geared, and 12% less spell damage keeps a healer standing against casters

Mage

Modest Intelligence, but survives enemy spells better than most

Shines as
RogueThief at 25

Racial dirt kicking with the rogue's half lag and +10 to succeed, and a blinded target takes Dirty fighting's +25% melee damage

AssassinThief at 25

Dexterity to 25, with sneak and hide from levels 1-4 to set up the backstab every fight opens with

MonkWarrior at 25

Stunning blow's roll adds your Dexterity against the target's, and the kobold's is the highest of any race

PriestCleric at 25

Wisdom 25 geared for the biggest heals, and the 12% spell ward keeps the healer up against casters

Orc

Sharper than its neighbours admit.

Str26/46
Int23/44
Wis17/35
Dex22/42
Con20/39

trains to racial maximum, with gear · out of 50

Orcs grow up in war camps where someone is always on sentry and nobody sleeps deeply, handed a weapon at the fire before anything else. Strong, quick and sharper than their neighbours admit, an orc knows axe, flail and polearm in any class, handles exotic weapons fully from level 1, and has a war cry that arms its whole group.

Axe at 85% from creationWatchful: hard to put to sleepAxe, flail and polearm from level 1War cry for the whole group
Suits
Warrior

Strength to 25, extra weapon skills, exotics at level 1 and a group war cry

Thief

Dexterity to 25 and the same weapons

Mage

Unusual but real: Intelligence trains to 22 as a mage, and it can still pick up an axe when the mana runs out

Shines as
KnightWarrior at 25

Strength 25 as a warrior with axe, flail, polearm and exotics at full skill from level 1, and war cry to lift the group the wall protects

AssassinThief at 25

Dexterity 25 as a thief, any exotic blade at full skill, and critical strike doubling the blows

TemplarCleric at 25

War cry and zeal both raise the group's hitroll and damroll: the buff god's job, done twice over

Fairy

Tiny, brilliant and fast.

Str16/34
Int27/47
Wis21/40
Dex27/47
Con16/33

trains to racial maximum, with gear · out of 50

Fairies keep the hours between, out as Vesperine turns the city in and last seen when Aubade is sung, never sure what sleep is for. Tiny, brilliant and always a hand's width off the ground, a fairy flies at all times, crossing rivers, chasms and open air, but nothing about it is built to take a blow.

Always flying: never trippedPeek, and discern to identify for free+2 movement a level
Suits
Mage

Intelligence to 25, flight to keep out of trouble, and discern to sort loot without mana

Cleric

Wisdom to 25 and the same mobility

Thief

The Dexterity for it, but not the Strength or hit points

Shines as
WizardMage at 25

Intelligence 25 behind the biggest spells in the game, with flight keeping the frail caster out of reach

SorcererMage at 25

Intelligence 25 for curses that eat a foe slowly, a fight that never asks the fairy to take a blow

PriestCleric at 25

Wisdom 25 for the biggest heals, and flight carries the healer over water and open air without a spell

Golem

Each class's tankiest version.

Str20/40
Int21/40
Wis21/40
Dex18/36
Con27/48

trains to racial maximum, with gear · out of 50

Golems were made to stand watch; when a heretic of Somna drugged the water of Thalos, four stone golems on the watchtowers were the only things left awake, and they keep that watch still. Those who walk the roads bring one gift to any calling: they endure, training Constitution to 25, resisting pierce and slash, shrugging off half of all bashes and trips, and never drowning.

Resists pierce and slash (60% of all melee)Half of all bashes and trips failNever drowns; Constitution to 25
Suits
Warrior

A two-hander and a shield together, and hard to knock down

Cleric

Outlasts what it is healing through

Mage

A durable caster that will not out-damage an elf

Shines as
KnightWarrior at 25

Pierce and slash resistance stacks with Bulwark's 10% off every blow, and half of all bashes fail: the most durable class on the most durable race

PriestCleric at 25

Constitution 25 trained, so the healer outlasts what it heals through while guardian spirit and resurrection cover everyone else

SorcererMage at 25

Curses win slowly and surely, and a golem has the hit points to stand there while they work

What you become

Four classes, sixteen masters

Your class splits twice. Every choice is permanent and purely additive: you never lose what you were.

1level
Base

Four classes to start: warrior, cleric, thief and mage. Each brings its own default skills, spells and weapons, and keeps them for good.

25level
Advanced

Your guildmaster offers two paths. Permanent and purely additive: a passive, three signature abilities, a wide shared pool, and 30 points to spend the way you spent them at creation.

50level
Master

Your path splits again. A second passive on top of the first, abilities at 50, 55 and 60, items borrowed from other paths, a master pool, and a title ladder in your class's own colour, up to level 90.

75level
Aspects

Past the master classes, something else is waiting. What it is, and how you find it, nobody will tell you.

PaladinWarlordKnightGrandmasterBerserkerMonkWarrior›SaintOraclePriestCrusaderInquisitorTemplarCleric›SwashbucklerTricksterRogueNinjaShadowAssassinThief›ArchmageElementalistWizardWarlockEnchanterSorcererMage›BASE · 1ADVANCED · 25MASTER · 50
Explore a classChoose one here, or click a class in the chart

The fighter: the most hit points, every weapon, and the shield.

Knightadvanced at 25 · the wall that hits back

Paladin

Tank

Borderline unkillable, riding a named warhorse.

Warhorse. The horse takes a fifth of every blow that lands on you, and walking costs nothing.

  • 50Lay on hands Heal 3× your level and cure poison, plague and blindness, no mana.
  • 55Stalwart Below a third of your health, everything deals a fifth less.
  • 60Trample The horse tramples for its stamina ÷ 3, and can knock flat.

Warlord

Control tank

Breaks the enemy's will; survives because foes never get going.

Dread. Aggressive creatures up to your level + 2 never start a fight; foes attack at half chance.

  • 50Intimidate The foe cowers: no blows for a round, then only one for two.
  • 55Encamp Pitch a war camp; your group rests at double rate.
  • 60Pin Four rounds, no fleeing, dodge and parry a quarter less.
Monkadvanced at 25 · the most attacks

Grandmaster

Evasion

The most evasive class in the game.

Perfect form. Bare-handed, dodge ×1.4: about 87% of landing blows avoided. Never hungry or thirsty.

  • 50Counterstrike Each dodge or parry can arm a double-damage counter.
  • 55Empty body The first killing blow misses, then nothing lands for three rounds.
  • 60Cloud step Step to a groupmate anywhere.

Berserker

Melee damage

The most attacks in the game, harder as it bleeds.

Bloodrage. Blows deal 90% at full health, rising to 130% near death.

  • 50Fifth attack A fifth swing every round.
  • 55Rampage For four rounds every extra attack chance doubles: about 4.8 a round.
  • 60Smash Burst any closed door, locked or not.

Healer and holy caster: cures, buffs and the wrath of the gods.

Priestadvanced at 25 · the best healer

Saint

Healer

The biggest heals, the surest way back from death.

Last word. Instant heals on anyone below half health are half again as big.

  • 50Requiem Bring a groupmate's corpse to you from anywhere.
  • 55Holy water A flask that heals 5× your level and cures.
  • 60Absolution Cleanse every malediction and heal all missing health.

Oracle

Prevention

It sees the blow coming: wards and fate.

Foresight. A damaging spell or breath you save against does nothing at all.

  • 50Ward Absorb 3× your level in damage.
  • 55Prophecy Foretell the next Waking Dream.
  • 55Omen List every rare alive, by area.
Templaradvanced at 25 · the buff god

Crusader

Self-buffer

The supreme buffer, from the front.

Zealot. +3% melee per buff on you, up to 30%; self-buffs cast 5 levels higher.

  • 55Sanctum Sanctuary and +2× level maximum health.
  • 55Consecrate Your buffs resist dispel.
  • 55Bestow Hand one of your buffs to another player.

Inquisitor

Anti-caster

Strips the enemy's magic and punishes casters.

Inquisition. Anyone who casts or breathes at you is branded and burns next round.

  • 50Expose Dispel one named spell.
  • 55Scrutinize Read a target's spells and resistances.
  • 60Condemn Block all healing for five rounds.

Stealth and the backstab: locks, traps and dirty tricks.

Rogueadvanced at 25 · the dirty fighter

Swashbuckler

Dual wield

A blade in each hand.

Main gauche. The off hand swings every round at full skill, and can parry.

  • 50Flourish Three off-hand strikes at once.
  • 55Black spot Pay gold to fell a creature at or below your level outright.
  • 60Cannon barrage Fire on every enemy in the room.

Trickster

Disruption

The enemy's worst day.

Misdirection. 25% a round to turn a swing back on its attacker at double damage.

  • 50Impersonate Wear a creature's appearance; its kin won't attack.
  • 50Pocket A hidden pocket that survives death.
  • 60Stifle A foe uses no skills or specials.
Assassinadvanced at 25 · hardest blow for blow

Ninja

Burst from stealth

The whole fight from the dark, with two blades.

Shinobi. Hiding survives every command until you strike; backstab with both hands.

  • 50Mask Your head item counts twice.
  • 55Assassinate A landed backstab can kill outright.
  • 60Silent kill A backstab kill re-hides you.

Shadow

Shadow caster

The hand-seal caster: the opening, again and again.

Hand seals. Onlookers see your seals, never the spell; chained spells cost up to two fifths less.

  • 50Shadowcraft Clone, beacon, shadow walk and banish.
  • 55Nightfall Negative-energy spells from shade to black sun.
  • 55Umbral circle Circle cuts as negative energy.

The caster: the most mana and the hardest-hitting spells.

Wizardadvanced at 25 · the biggest single hit

Archmage

Single-target caster

The hardest-hitting caster in the game.

Arcane mastery. Spell lag ×0.8, and spells cost a tenth less.

  • 50Vestment Your about-body item counts twice.
  • 55Destruction Starfire, arc, unravel, singularity, oblivion.
  • 85Cataclysm A colossal blow, and half to every other enemy.

Elementalist

Durable caster

Rules a room; the most durable mage.

Crystalline. Every blow and spell that lands deals 15% less.

  • 50Affinities Fire, frost, lightning or acid: +15%, resisted, and embodied.
  • 55Prism Four elemental bolts at once.
  • 80Planar attunement Walk on lava unharmed.
Sorcereradvanced at 25 · curses that eat from inside

Warlock

Damage over time

Kills what won't die; every curse feeds it.

Pact. Curses run longer, bite harder and heal you a quarter of what they deal.

  • 50Rot Another curse in the chain.
  • 53Reap Land every remaining curse tick at once.
  • 55Contagion Curses jump to another enemy when their host dies.

Enchanter

Support and crafting

The smith and the battery.

Artifice. Enchanting destroys half as often and jackpots are likelier.

  • 50Infuse Give a groupmate 150 mana.
  • 50Talon A weapon that can't be disarmed.
  • 55Dazzle A burst of light, and the fight stops.
The pantheon

The Sleepless

Noctus keeps the Long Watch and does not sleep. Somna sleeps and does not come. Aubade always arrives, eventually, which is the complaint against her. The other four are what happens in between.

Vesperine

the Turning Hour · keeper of 8 pm
Evening, and the moment the day gives up

The city is named for her, or she for the city, depending on which of her two temples you ask. She governs the hour when work stops whether or not it is finished, so she is the most popular god among labourers and the least among their employers.

Observance: The evening bell; lamps lit before they are needed.

Blessing · from Follower
The Turning Hour

Creatures your group kills carry +10% more coin per tier.

Grace · from Faithful
The Evening Bell

Every wait between contracts halved, and twice as many contracts tied in cord.

Crown · at Exalted
The Last Light

Contracts pay half again in quest points and gold.

Umbra

the Other Half · keeper of 10 pm
Shadow: what is cast, not what casts

Umbra holds that a shadow is not an absence but a second body, and that most of what a person does is done by it. Her clergy are thieves more often than statistics would predict, and in Vesper stepping on someone's shadow is very poor manners.

Observance: Standing so your shadow falls on the altar, not on you.

Blessing · from Follower
The Second Self

2% per tier that your shadow doubles a kill's experience and coins, or turns an enchantment into a jackpot.

Grace · from Faithful
The Other Half

One in four potions, pills and scrolls isn't used up.

Crown · at Exalted
The Shape Behind

You are told whenever a rare appears; your shadow doubles every rare kill, and the Blessing rises to 1 in 5.

Tacet

the Held Breath · keeper of midnight
Silence, and the things it is made of

Tacet's rites are conducted without speech, which makes his doctrine hard to transmit and his schisms unusually numerous. His faithful believe silence is a substance, and that enough of it in one place will hold a thing still.

Observance: An hour kept wordless; a bell carried but never rung.

Blessing · from Follower
The Unstruck Bell

Spells that help you last 10% longer per tier, half again at Exalted.

Grace · from Faithful
The Held Breath

Practise skills and spells to 90%, and keep them if you leave.

Crown · at Exalted
The Word Not Said

You can't be disarmed, tripped, bashed or teleported.

Noctus

First of the Sleepless · keeper of 2 am
Night, and the refusal of sleep

Noctus was the first to notice that the dark did not end, and the first to decide that this was not a reason to stop. He does not rest and does not ask it of anyone, which his priests find harder than a commandment would be.

Observance: A lamp kept lit; a coin in the pit beside the altar.

Blessing · from Follower
The Lamp Left Burning

+2% kill experience per tier, doubled at night.

Grace · from Faithful
First of the Watch

+1% more experience for each kill since you last slept, up to +10%.

Crown · at Exalted
The Open Eye

Nothing can blind you or put you to sleep.

Somna

the Withholder · keeper of 3 am
Sleep, and what it will not give

Somna is carved asleep in every temple that carves her at all, and every other god in those halls is turned slightly toward her, waiting. The orthodox say she withholds nothing, she is simply asleep; the unorthodox say that is exactly what withholding means.

Observance: An unmade bed; a candle snuffed rather than blown out.

Blessing · from Follower
The Closed Eye

+10% hit points, mana and moves per tier recovered while asleep.

Grace · from Faithful
The Long Promise

Bank rested kills while logged out or asleep; each pays double experience.

Crown · at Exalted
She Who Is Not Coming

Asleep, nothing aggressive touches you, and each tick restores a quarter of everything.

Lethe

the Kind Forgetting · keeper of 4 am
Forgetting, and mercy by omission

Lethe takes what you would rather not keep, and occasionally what you would. She is the only god with no quarrel with any other, chiefly because she does not remember having had one.

Observance: A name said once and not repeated.

Blessing · from Follower
Mercy by Omission

Each malediction on you has 20% per tier each tick to wear off faster.

Grace · from Faithful
The Grey Water

Fleeing and recalling from combat cost no experience.

Crown · at Exalted
The Unwritten Page

You lose no experience by any means, death included, and rise fully restored.

Aubade

the Dawn Song · keeper of 6 am
Morning, and the end of the waiting

Aubade always arrives; that is the whole of her doctrine and the whole of the complaint against her. She and Noctus are opposed the way a door is opposed to a wall: not in argument, only in function.

Observance: Facing east in the hour before dawn; a window left uncovered.

Blessing · from Follower
First Light

Every sunrise restores 10% per tier of your hit points, mana and moves.

Grace · from Faithful
The One Who Is Coming

Recall from combat never fails, works while cursed, and you can set your own recall point.

Crown · at Exalted
The Dawn Song

First Light restores you fully, and everyone grouped with you.

Followeron pledgingBlessing
Devotee1,000 favourBlessing grows
Faithful3,500Grace
Chosen7,500Blessing grows
Exalted15,000Crown
Follow a god from level 18 at any of about twenty places of worship: faith <god>.
Favour grows by 1 a minute you're connected, 30 per vigil token offered, 100 per drowned votive.
Favour never falls and is kept with every god for good. Switch as often as you like, never mid-fight.
Vigil tokens drop from worthy kills, 2% for followers. offer them at any altar.
The world

The city that keeps the watch

Insomnia is a world that will not sleep. Its heart is Vesper, the city that never sleeps: lamps burn on every street, the temple bell is never silenced, the diner never closes, and a statue of Noctus watches the market square with his eyes wide open. Across the world, sleep is the danger. Thalos fell because it slept. Hush drowned because it would not. Hell is the Lull's larder, where sleepers who never woke are kept. Even the dreams come while everyone is awake.

Highest levels first · 36 zones

XIIIIIIIIIVV

Tomorrow

87–90

The night below the Sanctum's Closed Wing, kept an hour at a time from Midnight down to Five, with a Keeper at every door and one window lit in every Hour. At the bottom, the door to morning, and what keeps it shut.

The last zone · double rare: the Sandman

Sanctum of the Sleepless

78–90

The palace of the Sleepless, up the stair above Lethe's Hearth, where the Watch keeps every wing and each god's Avatar comes, now and then, to its Seat. Five doors that are not on any map.

Mega rares: the seven Avatars

Caldera

80–88

A smoking island across the Sundown Sea where dinosaurs hunt anything that moves and race you for the kalukalu, a fire plant that changes them for good, or lets you walk on lava.

Double rares: Razortooth and Doomwing

Signet

70–85

The war college on the mountain east of the Dragon Tower, where candidates cross the Parapet and the dragons choose.

Rares: Jack Barlowe, Xaden Riorson · mega rare: Tairn

Kadagru

72–84

The City That Waits for Dawn: a ruined stone city in the heart of Canopy whose golems still keep the peace, each obeying the one word cut into its brow. A top-level hub with shops, guilds, a bank and a Questmaster.

Mega rare: Kazzrik Wyrmspoken, three phases

Hush

60–80

A town of Tacet's order that drowned keeping a vigil against sleep, at the bottom of the Dragon Sea, its people still at their chores with their eyes open. You need breath to go down, and deeper, a light the deep cannot swallow.

The Knell, Undertow, Old Lure, the Drowned Coffer

Canopy

60–80

A jungle that has swallowed a whole country across 277 rooms and sixteen regions, from the pomaka groves to the cenotes. At dusk a bell rings in the ruins that nobody rings.

Rares: Sipsip, Wednesday, Xixitxachitl

Dreamscape

62–76

Lethe's orchard of forgotten dreams: islands of sugar, paper and ink adrift in a sky you can only cross on the wing. Lose your flight and you fall, and wake in Vesper.

Aurelia, Chrysalis Queen, brings on a dream as she dies

Reverie

66–72

What you dreamed of, those twenty-eight years, was the game. Lethe kept the dreams; a painted window is the way into one of them, and a frame the way out. You will not know which dream until you are standing in it.

Sixteen rares across seven sealed dreams

The Iron Eye

55–70

Through the Shredder's machine lies the Technodrome, a city-sized fortress crawling across Dimension X, held by Krang's rock generals.

Mega rare: Krang, in two phases

Gullet

55–70

The island on the horizon east of New Thalos is a light on a stalk, and the stalk is a fish. Pharos eats whatever steers by its light. Inside, the modrons have rebuilt their plane from swallowed ships and a swallowed lighthouse, and keep signalling to get out.

Rares: Secundus, Stray · mega rare: Primus, two phases

The Underdark

33–70

A cavern city at the bottom of the Abyss that has never known a night, where drow, duergar and deep gnomes trade in slaves and secrets, too tired to sleep. Recall works only where the orbs flicker.

by Silence · rares: the Night Seller, the Runaway Shadow, the Withheld

Temple of the White Lotus

20–70

On a mountain above Miden'nir, monks keep a vigil for Aubade that has not missed a dawn in three hundred years, and beneath the temple wait the 36 Chambers. The home of monk weapons.

by Strahd · double rare: Bai Mei

Everwake

55–65

A druid circle in the jungle south of Miden'nir guards the Drybark, a tree too old to die, whose dryad daughters sing day and night to wake it. Nobody here is hostile.

Rare: Hask Pellam, who drugs its roots

Olympus: the Midway of the Gods

50–60

Eighteen new gods, the Visitors' Lounge, and Hypnos and Thanatos as a two-phase mega rare.

original builder: Generic

Footfall

45–60

Beneath the Grand Pipe of the Vesper sewers, four mutant turtles and an old rat keep a hidden home, and tonight the Foot Clan has found it. Fight through Bebop, Rocksteady and the invasion to the Shredder and his machine.

Rare: Casey Jones

Lune

45–60

Above the Astral Plane, where its field thins into moonlight, the moon's near side lies under the hanging world. Hares pound sleep in stone mortars and pour it down to the world each night, silver wolves hunt the Ocean of Storms, and the lorcs keep their watch fires on the rim of the Lake of Death.

Rare: Wane · double rare: Totality

The Descent to Hell: the Lull's Larder

40–60

Layers of absurd dreaming damned down to the Larder and the Unwaking, joined by the River Lethe.

original builder: Strahd

Glimmerfield

40–50

East of the crossing in the northern foothills, under the climb to Olympus, fields of wheat ripen by their own light, and the Glimmers step out of the splitting ears. They are building an effigy of sheaves to burn with cold fire from the grove.

Rares: Murmur, Burnhorn · double rare: Wispwyrm

Ofcol

5–48

New Ofcol keeps a dragon asleep. Its streets send a tithe up the hill to the Golden Citadel, where the Keeper's sons keep watch and the Low Hymn never stops. Marshall Diana calls it rent. Good to the core, and the best hunting in its band for anyone who isn't.

Double rares: Argent, the Marshall's warhorse, and Aurenne

The Dragon Tower

30–40

The great dragons keep watch over their hoards instead of sleeping; its broken key chain finally mended.

original builder: Wench

Astral Plane

30–38

A rainbow climbs from Vesper's temple spire to a white gate, and past it lies a black field threaded with the silver cords of everyone still asleep. The githyanki cut them. Every cut cord ends in the Snarl, where Ithra the Cordcutter has worked since 1998 on the one cord that will not part.

Double rare: Ithra the Cordcutter

Steamvale

25–35

North of the pool in the foothills, hot springs step down a hidden vale in white terraces, and a band of yetis who came down from the winter sleeps in the warm water. Under the springs lies the grave of a watch that never slept, and its dead climb up through the steam.

Rare: Calcine · double rare: Captain Brack

Mahn-Tor: the Long Winter

15–35

Wastes frozen since Thalos fell, yeti caves and the Old Keep.

original builder: Chris

New Thalos: the City That Forgot

10–35

Lethe's city, built by survivors who chose to forget, with smugglers' tunnels below.

original builder: Conner

The High Tower of Sorcery

10–30

A mage school whose students haven't slept in days, and the Calico Goliath, a mega rare cat.

original builder: Skylar

Elemental Canyon

5–30

The cyclops returns after 1998, and the Primordial turns through the five elements.

original builder: Raff

In the Air: the Gargoyles' Watch

26–29

The sky over Vesper's temple quarter, where the stone gargoyles the masons set with a lamp in every jaw have left their seats to hunt. Pass through on the way to the rainbow, if the watch lets you.

Double rare: Lanternjaw

Mothwood

18–28

A birch wood beside Vesper's wall, roofed by moths and dark at noon. Bring a light; the Moth Queen circles a lamp nobody lit.

Rare: the Moth Queen

Drow City: the Kept Shadows

15–27

Umbra's drow city; the Spider Queen's shadow tears free at half health.

original builder: Drkside

Dylan's Area

18–25

A sky estate still holding its party for a dawn that won't come. Chanticleer is waiting to crow.

original builder: Dylan

Thalos: The Last Night

10–25

The city that fell because it slept, walked by its unslept dead.

original builder: Drkside

The Dwarven Kingdom: the Long Shift

10–20

The forge never cools and nobody sleeps on shift. Sootjaw, a sleeping coal-wurm, waits below.

original builder: Anon

The Mob Factory

5–15

Consolidated Mobworks, whose line never stops, and an AI wing where venture-backed unicorns burn through their runway.

original builder: PinkF

Mud School

1–5

The gods' adepts teach in four alcoves, with the Warren below the arena.

original builder: Hatchet

Vesper

the city

The city that never sleeps, rewritten street by street: a bank, Lantern Row's houses, the Chapel of Small Hours and an all-night diner.

the hub of it all · original builder: Diku
Somewhere to keep the lamp lit

A House on Lantern Row

From level 35, buy a house on Lantern Row from Old Corvin, the Housewright, in the old Grunting Boar east of Temple Square. One house per character, and no rent.

The Row Cottage3 rooms
LANTERN ROWFront RoomBack RoomThe GardenN
The Corner Cottage3 rooms
LANTERN ROWFront RoomBedroomThe YardN

Cottage: 3 rooms · 1 garden, holds 50 stored items. Pick either plan; house replan switches for a quarter of the tier's cost, and upgrading keeps your furniture.

The Townhouse5 rooms
LANTERN ROWFront HallUPBack GardenParlourKitchenN
Upstairs
BedroomDOWN
The Courtyard House5 rooms
LANTERN ROWFront HallBedroomThe CourtyardParlourKitchenN

House: 5 rooms · 1 garden, holds 100 stored items. Pick either plan; house replan switches for a quarter of the tier's cost, and upgrading keeps your furniture.

The Long Manor8 rooms
LANTERN ROWFront HallUPKitchen GardenParlourKitchenDining RoomStudyRose GardenN
Upstairs
Master BedroomDOWN
The Tower Manor8 rooms
LANTERN ROWFront HallUPTerrace GardenParlourKitchenDining RoomHerb GardenN
Upstairs
Master BedroomDOWNUP
Top of the tower
StudyDOWN

Manor: 8 rooms · 2 gardens, holds 200 stored items. Pick either plan; house replan switches for a quarter of the tier's cost, and upgrading keeps your furniture.

The Walled Estate12 rooms
LANTERN ROWGreat HallUPGatehouse GardenParlourUPKitchenDOWNDining HallStudyKitchen GardenLibraryOrchardN
Upstairs
Master BedroomDOWNGuest RoomDOWN
Cellar
CellarUP
The River Estate12 rooms
LANTERN ROWEntrance HallUPRiver TerraceParlourUPKitchenDOWNDining HallStudyWalled GardenLibraryWater GardenN
Upstairs
Master BedroomDOWNGuest RoomDOWN
Cellar
CellarUP

Estate: 12 rooms · 3 gardens, holds 400 stored items. Pick either plan; house replan switches for a quarter of the tier's cost, and upgrading keeps your furniture.

Living there
Your door, your ruleshouse open, house closed, a guest list, evict. Nobody fights inside, and nobody gets in by magic.
Make it yoursRename rooms, rewrite descriptions, light or darken them, open them to the sky, title the house, all in colour.
A hearthfireHit points and mana come back a quarter faster, or half faster.
FurnitureFrom Bram Holt. Up to ten per room; beds and seats help you heal.
StorageCupboards, chests, wardrobes and vaults, private to you. Nothing stored rots.
A gardenPlant seed from Pip Larkin or found in the wild, from mint to dawnmoss, water it once a stage, and harvest while you're away: Pip buys every crop.
Waking Dreams

The world dreams. You don't.

Every four hours or so, never on a schedule, a dream spills into the waking world and changes the rules for everyone. It is announced over fourteen minutes, hints first, then its strength, then its kind, so you can change gear, move, or log out. When it ends, every player reads: You wake without having slept. About one dream in eight is a nightmare.

light30 min · 40%
moderate45 min · 30%
heavy60 min · 17%
severe80 min · 9%
incomprehensible105 min · 4%

The Blood Dream

+150%
damage, dealt and taken, at its strongest
  • All damage, dealt and taken, rises 25% to 150%.
  • Healing falls by a quarter from moderate, by half from severe.
  • From heavy, fleeing fails half the time; at incomprehensible, never.
  • From severe, death costs twice the experience.
  • At incomprehensible, peaceful creatures turn on players.
  • Every kill earns dream points, shared with your group.

The Golden Dream

×8
rare spawns at its strongest
  • Coins on corpses and contract pay rise 25% to 150%.
  • Kill experience rises by up to 100%.
  • Rares spawn up to eight times as often.
  • Vigil tokens drop two or three times as often at the top.
  • At incomprehensible, a rare spawns as the dream arrives, and every contract is tied in gold.

The Fever Dream

50%
of colours shown wrong, at its strongest
  • Colours come out wrong, and creatures look like other creatures.
  • False sounds and voices, and from heavy, visions.
  • Every swing wavers, up to 35% either way.
  • Figments appear across the world; each one popped pays dream points.

The Lucent Dream

×8
skill and spell improvement, at its strongest
  • Skills and spells improve two to eight times as fast.
  • Hit points, mana and moves come back up to 150% faster.
  • From heavy, cooldowns run twice as fast and you can learn by watching a groupmate.
  • Contract waits shrink, then vanish; from severe, nothing can hide.

The Wild Dream

50%
of casts go wild, at its strongest
  • A cast can surge, fizzle, echo, backfire, come unmoored, or go off three times.
  • Up to a quarter of creatures mutate; from heavy, some become chimeras.
  • Enchanting turns volatile: more jackpots, and more destructions.
  • Mutated kills pay dream points by their weight.

The Blackout

1
lamp still lit
  • A nightmare: nothing in it helps.
  • The Douter fixes on someone out in the open and reaps a share of their health.
  • Lampreys find players who stay out; kill them for double dream points.
  • The longer you hold your nerve in the open, the more every kill pays.

The Hunger

100%
of creatures sick, at its strongest
  • A nightmare: creatures turn ravenous and spread it to each other.
  • A ravenous creature's blow can make you sick, and players spread it too.
  • Sickness drains your health every tick; from severe, it can kill.
  • Every kill pays dream points, as in the Blood Dream.

Spend dream points with the Somnambulist on the Waking Bridge: a practice for 20, a training session for 75, or 1,000 gold for 15.

Beyond the levels

Other

What you are, who you stand with, what you have done, and how long you can stay awake.

01
Alignment

Your nature settles at 60

Before level 60, good and evil work as they always have. At 60 your nature settles at last: your alignment moves onto a deeper scale, from -5,000 to 5,000, in nine bands. The further you go from the middle, the more power your alignment carries, and every kill of the other side pushes you further.

Neutral is a path of its own, not the absence of one. Balanced holds steady power in the very middle; the bands either side of it are the hardest place to stand.

scorehelp alignmentknow alignment
You raise a level!!
Your nature settles at last.  You are Righteous.  See help ALIGNMENT.

> score
...
Alignment: Hallowed (3420), power 72 (58 + 14 from gear).
...
AbyssalVileWickedUnmovedBalancedSteadfastRighteousHallowedRadiantyou
-5000evil-1000neutral1000good5000
Reckoning

Master classes learn to turn their alignment into damage: rebuke at 70, retribution at 78 against every enemy in the room, and verdict at 85.

Safeguards

Greater protection at 66 and absolute protection at 78: wards against one alignment that cut its blows, and at the top, turn some aside entirely.

Smiting and holy steel

Some weapons smite, casting a dispel as they land. Divine and infernal blades hit harder in the hands of their own side.

Alignment power on gear

A new stat for alignment-restricted pieces from level 60, adding to your band's own power.

02
Clans

Found something that lasts

At level 40, bring 50,000 gold and three sponsors to the Counting House clerk and found a clan: a name, a tag of three to six letters, and a colour scheme from the presets, with more opening as the clan climbs.

A clan has its own channel, a treasury, a description others see when they look at you, and a tithe it can take from the coins on every corpse its members loot. It climbs eight levels on points from levels gained, contracts finished, dream points earned and rares killed together. There is no player killing.

clansclan infoclan foundhelp clans
[VIG]
The Vigil"We keep the lamps lit."
5level · Established
34 / 60roster
10%tithe
[VIG] Fonder: Primus is up in the lighthouse, who's coming?
You get 100 gold coins from the corpse of a moon hare. (The Vigil's tithe: 10 gold)
RecruitMemberVeteranOfficerLeader
1Founded
2See where members are
3More colours
4More colours
5Established: the name in titles
6A bigger roster
7Renowned: names in who
8Storied: a help of its own
03
Achievements

Badges, and nothing else

No points and no rewards: a badge is a thing you did, shown on your whois and never taken away. Thirteen lines, from contracts finished and rooms walked to rares killed, zones explored, dreams lived through and the golden thread itself.

Every line climbs the same seven tiers, so a glance at someone's whois tells you where they have been. Some lines grow as the world does: a new rare or a new zone raises the top step for everyone.

CopperSilverGoldPlatinumDiamondAmethystRadiant
achievementswhois
> achievements
  Contracts           [$][$][$][$]        312 / 500
  Hunting             [x][x][x][x][x]  18204 / 25000
  Rares               [*][*][*]              14 / 20
  Exploration         [+][+][+][+]          38 / 40
  Rooms walked        [.][.][.][.][.][.] 301k / 500k
  Dreams              [z][z][z]              21 / 25
  Dream kinds         [:][:][:][:]            5 / 6
  Levels              [|][|][|][|][|]       62 / 75
  Golden thread                            14 / 23
04
Restless

A subscription you can't buy

Restless is earned in play and never sold. Spend dream points with the Somnambulist on a token, then eat it, give it away or trade it. Eaten, it keeps you Restless for seven, thirty or ninety real days, up to six months at a time.

Nothing in it makes you stronger in a fight. It makes the long nights easier: more room in your vaults, a corpse that waits longer and comes when you call it, slower hunger, a little more experience, and a badge for every night you've ever stayed up.

restlessrestless fetchhelp restless
[Insomnia]Seven Restless Nights150 dream points
[Insomnia]Thirty Restless Nights500 dream points
[Insomnia]Ninety Restless Nights1,300 dream points
  • Bigger vaultsYour house holds half as much again.
  • A corpse that waitsTwice as long, and once a day it comes to you from anywhere in the zone.
  • Slower hungerFood and drink last longer.
  • More experienceA tenth more from every kill.
7 · a light sleeper30 · a night owl90 · a nightwalker180 · a moonwatcher365 · the unsleeping
New to Insomnia

Your first night

Everything you need for the first hour, and nothing that spoils the rest.

1

Connect

Play in your browser, with nothing to install, or download Nightlite, our own client for Windows.

Any MUD client works too, like Mudlet, MUSHclient or TinTin++:

Hostmud.insomniamud.comPort4000
2

Make a character

Pick a name, a password, a race and a class. The default skills are a good start, so you can say no to customising them. Choose the weapon you'll practise.

You wake in the mud school. Go through it first: it's quick, and it's built for your first levels.

3

The first commands

look
the room you're in, or look at anything in it
n e s w u d
walk north, east, south, west, up, down
score
your character: level, health, gold
inventory · equipment
what you carry, and what you wear
skills · spells
what you know, and at what level you learn the rest
practice
at your guild's master, raise a skill
consider <creature>
how a fight with it would go, before you start one
recall
back to the temple, when you're lost
who · chat
who's awake, and say hello to them
help <word>
on nearly anything; help rules first
autolist
your settings, like looting coins from kills
4

After the school

Practise your weapon at your guild: a character who skips it doesn't last. Then go out into Vesper. The Questmaster hands out contracts for quest points (quest). Your badges are under achievements. And from level 5 you're on the , unless you type leaderboard off.

Saving is automatic. The night is long, and nobody here is sleeping.

Who stayed up latest

Leaderboards

Straight from the game, every five minutes. Everyone is listed unless they'd rather not: type leaderboard off in the game to step out of the light, and leaderboard on to step back in.

Who walks Vesper

Lookup

Type a character's name to see who they are, what they wear and what they've done: what anyone sees when they look at them in the game, from their last save.

Our own client

Nightlite

Nightlite is the client built for Insomnia, and it's free. Open it in your browser with nothing to install, or get it for Windows. It knows this world: it draws the dream screens, a picture for every zone, and plays the game's music.

The Nightlite icon, a neon N

The browser version is the same client. Steam: [coming, link when the page is live].

  • Animated login screensLamplight on an ordinary night, and a screen of its own for every dream and nightmare.
  • A picture for every zoneA slow background behind the text that follows you from room to room, with the hour, the weather and the dream.
  • Music and soundA theme for every zone, for the fight, for the dreams and for the rares.
  • Several charactersKeep them on one profile and connect each automatically.
  • Aliases and actionsStack commands with ; and speedwalk with .3n2e.
  • The number padWalk with it, as in the old days.
  • Daily logsEvery session written down for you.
Patch notes

Updates

Every tagged build of Insomnia since the first, newest first: 33 releases. Pick one to read its notes. Follow by RSS

v0.28.0-stable

Halcyon, Leyreach and the faction seats

  • Halcyon (85-93) is the Ethereal's home above Penumbra, where pilgrims are washed, weighed and made into light, and nothing comes down. Ballast, Clemency, Orison and Remorse are its rares.
  • Leyreach (85-93) is the Luminarium's railway with no rails, pegged along the strongest leyline. Errata and Lodestar are its rares, and Apogee comes only at dawn.
  • Diamondine (89-97), the Duskwalkers' seat, is the press at the bottom of Duskhollow and the hardest ground in the Expanse: bring a group. Lapidary's Shadow, Anvil and Carat hold it.
  • Luxspire (92-97), the Luminarium's seat, is a tower whose Stair costs more at every turn. Aspheron and the four masters keep its rooms, and Severin Hale reads the dawn at the top.
  • Perfection (92-97), the Ethereal's seat, is one figure grown in living nacre, where every way of not being hit counts for half. Two twins rule it, and five more come when one falls.
  • The first playtest: the early levels are kinder. No corpse at level 5 and under, more practices to 30, faster sleep to 10, and easier casting to 24. Consider's verdict is coloured, and every channel reads [Tag] Name.
  • Thieves hit harder with backstab and circle, spears are polearms, the staff skill is quarterstaff, and six new quarterstaves fill the gaps.
  • The Wild and Fever Dreams are denser, and the help files are rewritten: one entry a help, for every command, system, class and place.
  • Nightlite gets a map of the rooms you have seen, and a damage meter for your group.
Read the full notes ›
v0.27.0-stable

Penumbra, Duskhollow and the factions

  • Penumbra (85-90) opens the Expanse: a half-lit borderland where the Duskwalkers, the Ethereal and the Luminarium hold three camps in a standoff. Five rings of worked stone, hidden in the world, are the way in. Three deserters are its rares: the Decurion of None, Clarity at the Gate and Adept Mirren Vole.
  • The factions: from level 85, standing with the Duskwalkers, the Ethereal and the Luminarium is earned by the kill, and rank opens each faction's trinkets.
  • Duskhollow (85-90) is the Duskwalkers' home below Penumbra, where everything an ascension sheds falls and nothing lands. The Eldest Brood and the Walker Who Asked are its rares, and Fear of the Dark comes only at night.
  • Announcements: five rare deeds are told to the whole game as they happen (announce turns them off).
  • Doors, locks and keys mended across 25 zones, and Gullet's lighthouse has its key.
  • Every class of weapon has a trait of its own (help traits), and the weapons were audited, class, noun and flag.
  • On the website: Leaderboards and Lookup, straight from the game (leaderboard off keeps you private), the home page dreaming with the game, and Your first night for new players.
Read the full notes ›
v0.26.0-stable

Lune, Gullet and achievements

  • Lune (45-60) is the moon above the Astral Plane, where hares pound sleep in stone mortars and the lorcs keep watch on the Lake of Death. Wane and Totality are its rares, and orcs are Watchful now: hard to put to sleep.
  • Gullet (55-70) is the inside of Pharos, a fish that passes for a lighthouse, where the modrons keep signalling to get out. Primus fights in two phases. The Plane of Nirvana is gone: Pharos ate it.
  • Achievements: badges for what you've done, on one seven-tier ladder from Copper to Radiant, shown on whois.
  • The food pass: 29 new foods and drinks in fourteen zones, and music for Glimmerfield and Steamvale.
  • Enchanting: one pick per enchantment, and your own gear shows its (+N).
  • Every creature in the world now belongs to one of 23 races.
  • Every room's flags and terrain, and every creature's behaviour flags, checked and fixed across the world.
Read the full notes ›
v0.25.0-stable

Ofcol, Steamvale and the nightmares

  • Ofcol (5-48) is reworked: the town keeps a dragon asleep, the Golden Citadel is half again as big, and evil characters have the best hunting in the band. Argent and Aurenne are its rares.
  • Steamvale (25-35): the yetis' hot springs, and the dead of a watch that never slept.
  • The Wild Dream, and two nightmares: the Blackout and the Hunger.
  • Restless: a subscription earned in play with dream points, never bought.
  • Gardening: fifteen plants, from Pip Larkin's seed and from the wild.
  • The story begins: the first scene plays on your first night.
  • Login screens for phones, and animated login screens and a picture for every zone in Nightlite.
  • Thirty zone helps now give the walk from the Temple of Noctus.
Read the full notes ›
v0.24.0-stable

Stats to 50, clans, weather and four zones

  • Stats run to 50: every race has new maximums, every class adds 2 to its prime stat, and the advanced and master classes add 1 more each.
  • The balance pass: every creature above level 50 and every piece of gear restatted, and 42 new pieces.
  • From level 60, alignment runs on a deeper scale, with gifts of its own at the far ends.
  • Clans: up to 64, founded by players, each with a tag, a colour, a channel, a treasury and a ladder of eight ranks. No player killing.
  • Weather: each zone has its own sky, with snow, thunder and a weather command worth typing.
  • Hunger and thirst matter again, and poison and envenom are reworked.
  • The Fever Dream and the Lucent Dream.
  • Mothwood (18-28), In the Air (26-29) and Glimmerfield (40-50) are new, and the Astral Plane (30-38) is reworked: its field is no longer a maze.
  • Pets are retired: charm person and dominate are gone, and saved pets were refunded.
Read the full notes ›
v0.23.0-stable

Tomorrow, the Sanctum, Signet and Reverie, and music

  • Tomorrow (87-90) is the night below the Sanctum's Closed Wing, kept an hour at a time from Midnight down to Five, with a Keeper at every door. At the bottom, the door to morning.
  • The Sanctum of the Sleepless (78-90) is the palace of the seven above Lethe's Hearth: a wing for each god, and an Avatar that comes now and then to its Seat.
  • Signet (70-85) is the war college on the mountain east of the Dragon Tower, where candidates cross the Parapet and the dragons choose.
  • Reverie (66-72) is seven sealed dreams of the game, reached only through a painted window found in Dreamscape.
  • Music and sound: a title theme, a theme for every zone, combat music, and music for the dreams and the rare fights, played by Nightlite.
  • Nightlite's web client replaces the old browser terminal at /play/, with a download page for Windows.
  • Creatures above level 50 now fight by class.
  • The website has a new look.
Read the full notes ›
v0.22.0-stable

Canopy, Kadagru, Caldera, Dreamscape, and a third coin

  • Canopy (60-80) is a vast jungle of sixteen regions joined to Everwake and Hush, with Brann Coyle buying your finds and three rares: Sipsip, Wednesday and Xixitxachitl.
  • Kadagru (72-84), the City That Waits for Dawn, sits inside Canopy with its golem watch, shops, guilds, a second Questmaster, Aubade's Dawn Shrine and the word of dawn, and Kazzrik fought in three phases.
  • Caldera (80-88) is a smoking island west of Canopy where lava burns anyone not attuned to it, dinosaurs race for the kalukalu, and Razortooth and Doomwing grow stronger by feeding.
  • Dreamscape (62-76) is Lethe's orchard of forgotten dreams, islands in a sky that needs flight, where Aurelia's death brings a dream and Nocturnelle waits.
  • Platinum joins silver and gold at 100 gold a coin: exchange it at the bank with deposit and withdraw, and shops pay large sums in it.
  • Every class and tier has its own title ladder, and each master class has a colour of its own.
  • Master classes now buy their spells in groups, and elementalists gain planar attunement.
  • Quifael's, the Troll Den, Mega City One and Machine Dreams have been removed from the world.
Read the full notes ›
v0.21.0-stable

Houses on Lantern Row and ten zones reborn

  • Lantern Row east of Temple Square sells houses in eight floor plans: buy one from Old Corvin, then use home and visit to get there.
  • Bram Holt sells furniture to place and lift in your house, including private storage, and Pip Larkin sells lampbloom seed to plant, water and harvest.
  • Ten zones have been treated: the Dwarven Kingdom, New Thalos, Drow City, the High Tower, Elemental Canyon, Dylan's Area, Mahn-Tor, the Dragon Tower, the Descent to Hell and Olympus, each with new rooms and new rares.
  • Everwake (55-65) is a new connector south of Miden'nir, with a circle of standing stones, a healer who heals in its sleep, and Hask Pellam as its rare.
  • Affects is now one table showing every effect on you, including the flags your worn items grant, and dispel magic can now strip an item's flag until you wear it again.
  • Six batches of fixes tidied master class mechanics, heals, gates, doors, zone text and help pages, and the new help rules lays out the game's rules.
Read the full notes ›
v0.20.0-stable

All sixteen master classes, and the 1.0 login

  • The mage's four master classes are open: archmage, elementalist, warlock and enchanter.
  • The thief's four master classes are open: swashbuckler, trickster, ninja and shadow.
  • Players above level 50 now deal damage that grows with their level, and monster hit points from 51 to 90 have been refit to match.
  • Eight new damage words between ERADICATE and UNSPEAKABLE show the harder hits above 50, and tags and prompt presets have a cleaner look.
  • New characters start with autoexit, autocoin, autoloot, autosplit and autoassist on, colour on and a ready-made prompt.
  • The 1.0 login welcomes returning players straight into the game, with one line for anything unread.
Read the full notes ›
v0.19.0-stable

Master classes arrive, and the level cap opens to 90

  • The player level cap is now 90.
  • At level 50, a character with an advanced path can choose a master class at their guildmaster by typing master.
  • The warrior's four are the paladin with a warhorse, the warlord with a war camp, the grandmaster and the berserker.
  • The cleric's four are the saint, the oracle, the crusader and the inquisitor, and the saint can make holy water.
  • Every master class can also buy from a common pool of skills shared across all sixteen.
Read the full notes ›
v0.18.0-stable

The advanced classes rebuilt, and a quest shop

  • Every advanced path is rebuilt around one identity, with a reworked passive, a third ability of its own and a wider shared pool.
  • Specializing now works like character creation: take your path's default package or choose from creation's menu, then type done.
  • The Questmaster sells gear, practices and gold for quest points: quest list shows it all and help quest shop explains each piece.
  • Recasting a buff at your level or higher renews it, and twenty-odd spells that answered Ok. now say what they did.
  • Footfall and the Iron Eye are calmer, with far fewer creatures that start fights.
  • Shelved advanced skills were refunded as training sessions at your first login.
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v0.17.0-stable

Waking Dreams, five new zones, and the Sleepless give more

  • Every four hours or so the whole world falls into a Blood Dream or a Golden Dream, and the Somnambulist on the Waking Bridge sells for dream points.
  • Five zones for the climb past 45: Footfall, the Iron Eye, the Underdark, the White Lotus and Hush.
  • Hush brings breath and drowning, the deepdark that only deep lights can pierce, and votives to offer at places of worship.
  • Krang is the first mega rare, fought in two phases, and rares now appear whether or not anyone is in the area.
  • The Sleepless give more in a second round of gifts, including Aubade's recall set for her Faithful.
  • Toughness and arcane reservoir now give 5 hit points or mana a level, and the prompt codes %q and %d show contract and dream time.
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v0.16.0-stable

New spells, the enchanting gamble, and a Questmaster with more to say

  • Eight new spells, most for casters past level 40, including bastion, protection all, true sight, detect all and rejuvenate.
  • Aubade is now called reveille, and works the same.
  • Enchanting is one gamble with jackpots, strips and the rare destruction, and enchant accessory works life into rings, amulets and more.
  • Recharge now wears a wand or staff down by one charge each time.
  • Contracts bring pity after a run of failures, coloured cords that pay double, and a flat fifteen-minute wait after quest quit.
  • The healer by the altar sells heal cleanse and heal energize.
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v0.15.0-stable

Contracts reworked, and one line per effect

  • Contract deadlines and waits now run in real time, even while you are logged out.
  • Contracts only send you to targets you can walk to, with deadlines that fit the trip, and quest quit works from anywhere.
  • Abilities now show you what they did in one line instead of announcing themselves first.
  • Levelling up shows a banner with your new level, title and everything you gained.
  • Skill and spell lists are sorted alphabetically, and autocoin picks up coins from kills without the rest of the loot.
  • Keys are no longer lost when you log out.
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v0.14.0-stable

Levels to 99, and the Sleepless

  • Levels now run to 99, with immortals at 91 to 99, while the player cap stays at 51 for now.
  • From level 18 you can follow one of the Sleepless, Insomnia's gods, earning favour by worship.
  • Favour climbs through tiers that unlock 21 gifts across the seven gods: help faith explains.
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v0.13.1-stable

The website goes live

  • The website is live at insomniamud.com, with a Play page that connects straight from your browser.
  • Character creation no longer swallows your answer at a page break, and long help pages break cleanly.
  • A new login message, an updated wizlist, and help for chat, channels, scan and more, with many typos fixed.
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v0.13.0-stable

Advanced classes, eight races, seventeen spells

  • At level 25 every character can choose one of two advanced paths at their guildmaster with specialize.
  • The eight paths are knight, monk, priest, templar, rogue, assassin, wizard and sorcerer, each with an augment and skills of its own.
  • Dual wield lets you hold a second weapon with second <weapon>.
  • Fist weapons are a new weapon class trained by hand to hand, sold in Vesper and wielded by monsters between levels 25 and 50.
  • Empty vials and blank parchment for brewing and scribing are sold in the Vesper magic shop.
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v0.12.0-stable

One experience curve, and seventeen new spells

  • Every race and class now needs 2000 experience per level, and races are balanced on their stats, traits and skills alone.
  • Everyone gets 60 creation points (humans 70), and unspent points can be spent later with gain.
  • The yeti's roar, the orc's war cry and the fairy's discern are new racial skills that work for any class.
  • Seventeen new spells, from banquet and hailstorm to mirror image and phantasm.
  • Every spell and skill was checked against what it really does, with dozens of fixes.
  • The scroll of identify sold in Vesper now identifies, and the magic shop sells a wand of appraisal.
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v0.11.0-stable

Vesper reborn, a bank, and five rares

  • Vesper has been given a full treatment, and its bank takes deposit, withdraw and balance.
  • The Mud School, the Mob Factory with its new AI wing, and Thalos on its last night have all been reworked.
  • The Warren replaces the old arena dungeon.
  • The areas command lists every zone by group, filters by level and shows a card for each.
  • Five new rares roam the world, among them the Wolpertinger, the Golden Fist, Senior Director Randal and the Wimpiest Monster.
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v0.10.1-stable

Documentation for gear tiers and rares

  • Behind-the-scenes documentation only, with no change to the game.
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v0.10.0-stable

Three tiers of gear, rare spawns, and combat colour

  • Issue gear now comes in three tiers: standard, a premium set, and gear carried by captains and masters.
  • Rare monsters now spawn across the world, carrying named drops.
  • Wisdom now strengthens your healing and refresh spells.
  • Hit points, mana and regeneration per level were reworked.
  • Combat lines are plainer with coloured damage numbers, and score, who, exits, equipment and affects have a colour pass.
  • Clear cast now fires only on spells that landed, and silently.
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v0.9.2-stable

A mage pass and three casting skills

  • Mages gain clear cast, quick cast and twin cast.
  • Intelligence now scales mage spell damage, and mages' hit points, accuracy and mana were raised.
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v0.9.1-stable

Gear above your level is kept

  • Gear above your level now stays in your inventory across logins instead of silently vanishing.
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v0.9.0-stable

Drag, daze fixes, and the playing-time gate gone

  • The playing-time gate on experience is gone.
  • You can wear gear up to three levels plus a quarter of your level above your own.
  • The new drag command hauls a creature, or a player who cannot object, into the next room: type drag <character> <direction>.
  • Daze is now announced, and its spell penalty is a third.
  • Seventeen custom items that sat in the wrong wear slots were corrected, and hundreds of monsters no longer trip you by default.
  • Where now names the area you are in, and the game autosaves every tick.
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v0.8.0-stable

The pantheon renamed, and Midgaard becomes Vesper

  • Midgaard is now Vesper, and the old Norse gods have been rethemed into Insomnia's own pantheon.
  • New lore and hidden easter eggs have been woven through the world.
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v0.7.0-stable

Chat replaces gossip

  • Chat replaces gossip as the main channel.
  • The auction, grats and quote channels have been retired, and channels now have their own colours.
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v0.6.0-stable

Potions, scrolls and pills work again

  • All 136 potions, scrolls and pills that cast nothing now cast their spells again.
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v0.5.0-stable

The quest system arrives

  • A Questmaster now hands out contracts to hunt named creatures for quest points and gold.
  • The quest system is Vassago's classic 1990s snippet, kept for nostalgia.
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v0.4.0-stable

Four new races and a hundred new items

  • Kobold, orc, fairy and golem are new playable races, and the giant has become the yeti.
  • Races can now differ in how much movement they gain.
  • A hundred new items are worn and carried by monsters across the world.
  • Object flags such as Cursed, Evil, Holy and Dark are shown in colour.
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v0.3.0-stable

Colour, affect timers, and objects that finally reset

  • Room names, exits, tells, low hit points, deaths and level ups are in colour, and so is the login screen.
  • Affects now show how many ticks each one has left, to every level.
  • Objects now reload into rooms, fixing a 1998 bug that meant they never had.
  • A full set of sub issue armour now gives +2 to each stat.
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v0.2.0-stable

Insomnia's login screen, scan, and damage numbers

  • A new Insomnia login screen greets every player.
  • Combat messages now show the damage each blow deals.
  • The scan command works, showing what is in the rooms around you.
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v0.1.1-stable

A stock immortal account removed

  • The stock implementor character that shipped with ROM, with a crackable password, was removed.
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v0.1.0-stable

The first build on a modern compiler

  • ROM 2.4b6 from 1998 builds and boots on a modern compiler and server.
  • All of stock ROM's areas load, and new characters start in the Mud School.
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Play now ›