TERMMO

An online role-playing game that runs in your terminal.

There's nothing to download and no account to sign up for. If your computer has SSH, you're one command away from playing:

> ssh t91.nl

The first time takes about five minutes to set up. You'll need three things: a terminal, the ssh program, and an SSH key. The steps below walk you through all three.

1Open a terminal

Windows

Use Windows Terminal, or PowerShell if you don't have it. Open the Start menu, type Terminal (or PowerShell), and open it. Windows 11 already has Windows Terminal. On Windows 10 you can get it free from the Microsoft Store, and it shows the game's colors much better than the old PowerShell window.

Check that ssh is installed:

> ssh -V

If you see a version number, like OpenSSH_for_Windows_9.5, go on to step 2. If PowerShell says The term 'ssh' is not recognized, install it:

Open Settings, then System → Optional features (on Windows 10: Apps → Optional features).
Choose View features or Add a feature, search for OpenSSH Client, and install it.
Close the terminal and open a new one, then try ssh -V again.

Or do it in one line from a PowerShell window opened with Run as administrator:

> Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0

macOS

Open Terminal: it's in Applications → Utilities, or press Cmd+Space and type Terminal. ssh is already installed, so there's nothing else to set up here.

The game uses full 24-bit color. Older versions of the built-in Terminal can't show it, and the map comes out in the wrong colors. If that happens, try a free terminal like iTerm2 or Ghostty.

Linux

Any terminal works. Most systems have ssh installed already. Check with:

$ ssh -V

If it's missing, install the OpenSSH client with your package manager. For example, on Debian or Ubuntu:

$ sudo apt install openssh-client

On Fedora it's sudo dnf install openssh-clients, and on Arch it's sudo pacman -S openssh.

2Make an SSH key

An SSH key is a pair of files on your computer that proves who you are, the way a password would, except you never type it. The game uses it instead of a username and password.

Do you already have one?

If you've used SSH before, for example with GitHub, you may already have a key. Look in your .ssh folder:

> ls ~/.ssh

$ ls ~/.ssh

If you see a file ending in .pub, like id_ed25519.pub, you already have a key. Skip to step 3.

Make a new key

> ssh-keygen -t ed25519

$ ssh-keygen -t ed25519

It asks you two things:

Where to save the key. Press Enter to use the default.
A passphrase, then the same passphrase again. Either type one or press Enter twice to leave it empty. A passphrase protects the key if someone ever gets a copy of the file, but you'll have to type it every time you connect.

You now have two files in your .ssh folder: id_ed25519 is your private key, and id_ed25519.pub is the public half. You don't need to send either one anywhere.

Your key is your account

The game knows you by your key, not by a name or a password. Your characters belong to the key you first connected with.

Keep the private key safe and never share it. Anyone who has the file can play your characters.
If you lose the key, you lose the account. Nobody can recover it for you, so it's worth keeping a backup of your .ssh folder.
To play from another computer, copy both id_ed25519 files into the .ssh folder there. A new key on a new computer is a brand new, empty account.

3Connect

> ssh t91.nl

$ ssh t91.nl

The very first time, ssh asks whether you trust the server:

The authenticity of host 't91.nl' can't be established.
ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:bkYuyrksMuMC0CZ/3JtnBqAvVkllikjVAqILlqkX0Ys.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])?

Check that the fingerprint it shows is the game's:

SHA256:bkYuyrksMuMC0CZ/3JtnBqAvVkllikjVAqILlqkX0Ys

If it is, type yes and press Enter. It's only asked once.

That's it. You'll arrive at the character screen, where you can make your first character. Once you're in the world, type /help to see how to play. To leave, press Esc and choose to log out.

Make the terminal window big. The game shows more of the world the more room it has, and a small window may only show a note asking for more space. If a big window still feels cramped, make the font a little smaller.

If something goes wrong

Permission denied (publickey)

ssh couldn't find a key to log in with. Make one (step 2) and try again. Keep the key in your .ssh folder with its default name, or ssh won't find it on its own.

ssh: not recognized / command not found

ssh isn't installed. See step 1 for your system.

Saving key failed: No such file or directory

Some versions of Windows don't create the .ssh folder for you. Run mkdir ~/.ssh, then ssh-keygen -t ed25519 again.

Connection timed out, or Connection refused

Some networks block SSH, especially at work, at school, or on public Wi-Fi. Try another network, such as your phone's hotspot. If it fails everywhere, the server may be down for a moment; try again in a few minutes.

WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!

Don't connect until you've checked the fingerprint ssh shows against the one in step 3. If they match, remove the old entry with ssh-keygen -R t91.nl and connect again. If they don't match, don't connect.

I have several keys and the game shows a different account

ssh tries your keys one at a time, and the game takes the first one it's offered. To always use the same key, add these lines to the file config in your .ssh folder (create it if it doesn't exist):

Host t91.nl
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    IdentitiesOnly yes

The colors look wrong, or the screen is a jumble of characters

Use a modern terminal: Windows Terminal on Windows, or iTerm2 or Ghostty on macOS. Make sure the window is large, and try resizing it once.