Frequently asked questions - FAQ

There is both a manual and a beginner's guide that may be helpful.

This FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) is structured as follows:

Quests and Quest Rewards

Travel log of Quest progress and Production activity

How can I track my quest progress?

There is a Travel Log with a lot of detail on each Open or Completed quest - please open it by using the Menu buttons as shown right:

How do I find X item?

Please listen to the details which an NPC will tell you, or check your Travel log. Otherwise, you may need to use some thought or investigation by yourself or with friends to find the item. our server website may have some information to help you.

I would like to learn more about the quests and don't mind spoilers, are they documented?

The travel Log (above) has a lot of information, and out of game, our Stendhal Quests page may help you.

I tried to enter a portal and it said I can't go down there, why?

Some portals are quest related and until you start the quest by talking with the right person, you can't go in. It can also be that your level restricting you.

Why do you limit access to portals just because you haven't started quest yet?

For safety of low level players, mainly.

When I look at an item the description includes these words

'It is a special quest reward for NAME and cannot be used by others' - what does that mean?

The item cannot be picked up by players other than NAME.

What if I die and I lose my reward item?

Most reward items are bound to the player in the way described above, these items cannot be dropped when you die.

I want to sell my quest reward to another player, can I?

It's bound to be used by you only, so you cannot sell to a player however an NPC may buy it.

My clone got a quest reward, can I use it with my main character?

No. You can only use what you earned with each character.

I completed the angel quest but all I got was a rubbish XXX! How do I get the other really excellent YYY?!

Try killing creatures. Some of the stronger ones have good drops like an excellent YYY.

The daily monster quest creature I was asked to kill is in an area that I cannot get to yet, this seems unfair.

You have a few options:

Wait a week and request another creature

Ask for help from friends and travel in a group

Try a deathmatch (as the name suggests, this is dangerous, it is recommended to go with friends and take plenty of potions)

Creatures

I can't find X creature where is it?: Try asking Starkad (Semos Plains South) for information on the creature. If he doesn't know where you could find it, there are no natural instances of that creature in the game. If you need it for your Mayor Sakhs task, try the Death Match challenge..
Can you tell me how much time until creature Z respawns?: No, because this is random. Each turn there is the same chance a given creature will respawn, no matter when it was last killed.
I killed a creature and am waiting for it to respawn. Why have I waited longer than the respawn time given on the website?: Respawns are random, with low level creature like rats having a high chance to respawn within a short time. Rarer creatures have are not likely to respawn in a short time (but they could!). The respawn time on the website means that if you wait that long, it's more likely that the creature should have respawned, but there's also a (small) chance you might have to wait much longer.

Trading

How do I trade?: There is a GUI for player to player trading - right click on a player and select Trade to start. You can learn more from Dagobert. You can also create offers through Trade Manager Harold. Just name your item and price and he takes the item for you. You can collect the money after another player accepts the offer. More detail is at NPC Harold.
How do I trade safely without using Harold?: Please use the Trade GUI right click option which Dagobert explains.
Help! Another player stole something from me!: If it was mid trade and you followed the above instructions, this should not happen. If you were trading unsafely, perhaps it's a lesson you can learn for next time?
Help! Another player took an item I was trying to give for free to someone else!: If you want a specific person to take an item then you should use the trading guidelines above, even though it is not a 'trade' as such.
How do I trade with an NPC?: Basic information like that is in the Stendhal Manual - but start with keyword offer and then buy/sell item.

Banking

I want to bank in private as I hate people looking in my chests ...: Ask Dagobert about access to a vault.
Why can't I scroll into Semos bank but I can scroll into the others?: Many players drop items on the ground in the bank when organizing their items, and they think no other player is around. You can scroll out, though.
Can you make the chests bigger?: We could, but likely won't. There are so many cities with bank chests that there should be enough storage space provided you sell or give away unwanted items.
I want to access all my chests at once so that I can organise my items, how can I?: The wizard's bank in the magic city allows you to do this. You get to the magic city via some tunnels in the Fado / Kalavan area, or the orb at Jynath's.
Can I leave my pet in the vault?: No, it will be lost. The vault is created each visit and does not persist.
What if I drop items on the floor in the vault by mistake then leave?: They get returned to your bag unless you dropped them in the 'bin'.

Death

What does it mean to die?: Your HP goes to 0.
What happens when I die?: You go to the afterlife, where you look and feel like a ghost.
How do I leave the afterlife?: Just walk out and you will be reborn.
Is there a penalty for dying?: Yes, you lose between 0 and 20% xp, atk and def skills, depending on your karma levels. You may also drop items in your corpse.
I lost items when I died! Can I get them back?: Your corpse will be where you died for the next ten minutes so you can get your items back if no one else looted it first.
What if I'm wearing the ring of life (with a green stone): Then you lose between 0 and 2% skills, depending on your karma. You can still drop things.
I died because of lag! No fair!: Thanks for helping us beta test this game! I (kymara) don't know a single player who hasn't died 'unfairly' - sorry for the stress it will have caused you but thanks again for helping us.

Raids

I just saw a message like this - 'NPC SHOUTS Help!! Creatures are attacking my area! Come help!', what does it mean?: What's about to happen is what players call a 'raid'. It can be started automatically by the server, or run by an admin.
What is a raid?: Lots of creatures will spawn near the area specified. Perhaps some big creatures will spawn too.
What should I do?: Kill the creatures :)
The big creatures in the admin created raids don't seem very strong ...: Yes, for safety they are often altered versions with weaker attack but more HP.
What happens if I die in an admin created raid?: You don't lose any skills (XP, atk, def) but you may still lose items in your corpse.
Who is summoning the creatures?: If it is an admin created raid then it is a GM (admin with adminlevel who can summon). If it is an automatic raid, then the server creates the creatures.
Can the GM affect what the creature drops?: No, the drops are governed by the usual probabilities.
Can I get teleported to the place where the raid starts?: If it's offered in the original message, yes. If not, no.
When is the next raid?: Admin created raids are usually announced in advance on our server webpage. Automatic raids run periodically and you should listen out for the shouts, to join in when they start.
What is the reward?: Admin created raids are a reward in themself :) Automatic raids may have a reward (e.g. money) which you can collect from the NPC who asked for help when it is finished.

Death Match

What is the Death Match?: Death Match or DM is a challenge for players above level 20. You must kill 10 creatures which spawn in the arena.
How do I get into Death Match?: Find the Recruiter Thonatus who walks around the upper part of Ados Swamp
What is the Death Match reward?: A trophy helmet. The DEF increases by +1 with every DM you complete.
What's the formula for the maximum my helmet can be?: Floor (level/5) + 5. Floor means the nearest integer if you round down.
Why don't I get XP in DM?: You get a score instead. It depends on how much damage you do to the creatures, and your level.
What happens if I die in DM?: It's like a normal death. You lose XP, atk XP, def XP and possibly items.
Can I bail?: Yes, and you lose less XP than you would if you die, or a helmet point. You are then teleported away.
Why do I go to Semos Plains North when I ask the recruiter to leave?: Why not :)
Why do I get teleported to some mountains if I log out in DM?: Because logging out to avoid death is cowardly, and you can bail instead.
Why can't I scroll out from DM?: Because you should either bail or die or complete the DM and ask to leave if you want to leave.
But can I scroll into the deathmatch or use my ring to get in?: Yes, you can scroll in, just not out. if you use a ring to get in tell your spouse to move away from the spikes first ;)
Why are there damaging spikes at the edge of the arena?: To encourage you into the centre because at the edges less creatures hit you at once. It's meant to be a match against multiple creatures.
Why don't the corpses ever have items in?: Deathmatch creatures are special and don't drop anything (or give you XP, as mentioned above).
Can my friends help me in DM?: Sure, they can join in the normal way, as long as they are also over level 20. Note: If people help you kill creatures, you get less score than if you did it alone.
If my friends help me in the deathmatch and they kill a creature that is their own mayor quest, will Mayor Sakhs accept it?: Yes he will.
Why do I sometimes get 11 creatures not 10?: An 11th creature spawns if you have not yet killed what you need for your daily quest from Mayor Sakhs.
Can I find out from the Recruiter who is in Deathmatch before I go in?: He will warn you who is there, if anyone, when you say challenge and await your confirmation that you wish to go in.
Why doesn't my victory always get accepted?: We think that the deathmatch bugs should be fixed now. If you find more problems please let us know.
How can I watch my friends in a Death Match?: Use the scrying orbs around the deathmatch arena.

Marriage

I want to be married, how?!: It's a quest, read about it here: Stendhal Quests page
Can I marry more than one person?: No, bigamy or polygamy is not permitted.
I'm no longer happily married, is divorce possible?: Yes it is, go to Wilfred in Ados Town Hall. But remember you can always just leave your ring in your chest and then your partner cannot teleport to you with his ring. Perhaps it's better to have a cooling off period before you take the drastic step of divorce ...
I have too many rings now but only one finger, can you help?: You can store other rings on your keyring if it is already activated.
Why is there such a long delay before I can use the ring again?: The magic of the ring works best between compatible partners, i.e. those similar in level. For partners with equal level the delay is 5 minutes. But if you and your partner are very different levels the delay can be very long.

Karma

What is Karma?: For a summary please ask Sarzina about Karma. One of her jobs is to explain it.
What adds Karma?: As Sarzina would tell you, doing good things (such as quests) adds to your Karma.

NOTE: Karma is supposed to be an internal attribute and not something that players would worry about much, it increases and decreases in normal game play. But, for those who are interested in more detail....

What uses up Karma?: Some tasks require skill alone. Some require skill and a bit of luck. Some require just luck. While skill is something that you keep, luck gets used up as you need it. This is reflected in the game's handling of Karma. If you need luck for something, your Karma is checked. If you have bad Karma (negative), you have a worse chance of success than if you had neutral Karma (0) or good Karma (positive). But, that piece of bad Karma which gave you a bad outcome in your task, has now been used up, and your Karma now isn't so bad as it was. Likewise: if you have good Karma, and you do a task needing luck, you have a better chance of success in the task. A small bit of your good Karma will be used to give you a good outcome. That little piece of Karma that was used for the task, is now deducted from your total.
How much Karma is used up when I need luck for a task?: That depends on the task. There is a maximum and minimum amount of Karma that can be used depending on the size of the task. Each time Karma is used, the amount used up is randomised, between those limits. If the randomised amount selected is quite small (close to the minimum), there is only a small effect on your luck and only a small amount of Karma is used.
So, when I'm fighting creatures, am I getting bad Karma or am I using up my Karma?: You're using Karma when you fight. You're getting a good outcome for it but your stocks of Karma are being depleted. It could never go negative if it was initially positive, just through Karma use.
So, what makes Karma go negative?: That's when you are unkind, e.g. refusing to help others or attacking them.

Player vs Player

Is player killing allowed?: It is not forbidden, though there are some exceptions, the Stendhal Rules will explain the details.
What is the red skull next to some players?: It means they killed or helped kill another player. It's a warning to let others know.
What is a protected area? What do the pale green areas on minimap mean?: In a protected area (marked pale green on the minimap) you can't attack another player. New players need a chance to explore before being jumped on, after all.
What does it mean when I get a message about an aura stopping me attacking someone?: That means they are in a protected area and thus you are unable to attack them.
Why do I get a message saying 'Your conscience would trouble you if you carried out this attack' on some players but not others?: Outside protected areas, where everyone is protected, players may only attack others if their level is not significantly lower than their own. You can defend yourself and your group members from any attack by a player, though. So be aware if you are low level and attacking a high level player, they have the ability to hit you back!
What is the exact rule for which players I can attack outside a protected zone?: You can only attack if their strength is greater than or equal to (your strength) * 0.75, or if they are already attacking you. Player strength is defined as: 0.73 * (ATK + DEF) + level. Equipment is not taken in account.
Help! Player X wants to kill me!: Stay in a protected zone like Semos City, Semos Dungeons, Semos Forest and Semos Plains. The areas you are safe are marked with pale green on the minimap. Or you can home scroll to safety, logout and hope he gets bored, or gather an army of friends to mob him. Always carry plenty of potions and keep your health up in case your internet connection freezes.
Help! Player X wants to kill me and I don't want to stay in the city for the rest of my life!: Firstly check if that player would actually be able to attack you using the formula above. (If he is much higher level than you, it's unlikely). If you're still worried, just play in the protected areas. There are plenty places you can find monsters which are still protected, like Semos Dungeons.
I got marked with a red skull, how do I remove it?: Go and see Io Flotto in Semos Temple. If she already has taught you the rules of telepathy she will automatically notice your marking. If she hasn't taught you telepathy yet, you will need to learn from her then start another conversation.
I got a red skull because I killed someone but we were training, that's not fair it's not the same ...: One of the risks of training is that you accidentally kill your partner. It's right that training has risks as well as benefits. Also, one could argue that if you could not watch carefully the person you were training with, you are still a danger. In the end it's your mistake that you killed someone and you cannot complain to us that it meant you were marked with a skull. If you were 'smart' enough to train you should have been 'smart' enough to know the risks.
Why does Carmen say I have a bad aura?: You must have attacked another player recently. You can't get free healing for a while but you can pay for healing (for example to Ilisa or Jynath)
Can I avoid getting a bad 'aura' or a red skull when I'm just training?: Yes, train by gaining experience in battles with monsters, not by hitting other players.

Player social problems

Another player is annoying me with messages all the time, what can I do?

Use /ignore playername and you will not receive public or private messages from them any longer.

Another player is being abusive, by swearing at me, can you help?

Please use /ignore playername as above.

I was training and another player killed my creatures please jail him.

Please see the related rule from the Stendhal Rules for advice on this matter.

Another player pushed me into a dangerous place

If someone is pushing you against your will, run away - just like in real life! If you can't run then you can use a scroll or logout. If you were away and got pushed, that is your own responsibility. Please keep an eye on your character and if you are going to be away from the computer, put yourself in a safe zone. You can't be pushed into portals or past zone boundaries so you should be ok if you chose a safe place to rest.

Another player is following me around and it is bothering me.

That sounds tricky. Probably there is not very much that can be done to help you, as it's not an offence, as such. Here are some tips:

Try using scrolls to teleport yourself away where you can't be followed
Go to a place where they are too low level to follow/they don't have key or quest access to yet

And hope that they find a more interesting past time soon.

Another player is following me to places where he couldn't survive alone, he's then looting from the corpses of a high level creature attacked me, that I killed, and he couldn't kill alone.

Don't give parasites a second chance. The next high level creature they follow you to will kill them if you

Log out, or
Don't attack it, and move a little away so it selects to attack them, or
Change zone

Of course it would be polite (and best, please) to warn them in advance you will do this if they loot from you, as prevention is better than cure.

My name in game is Nickname and another player has created a character Nickname_ or Nickname2 and is impersonating me, please help.: Let /support know and we will try to investigate to help you.
I have tried everything you suggest and I don't know what to do, it's not getting any better.: We can only suggest you simply avoid the player. This may mean avoiding playing until they get bored. A good tip is to try not to let it show that you're affected, and they'll get bored sooner.
What can I do to improve the community?: Please take a look at the guidelines in Stendhal Helper Role. We also find that contributing to the game itself is a great way to give back to the community and to feel good.

Passwords

How do I change my password?: You can change it by logging in at https://stendhalgame.org - see How to pick a new secure password and get it changed for more details.
Help, I forgot my password!: Please create a new account (with a good and memorable password) and contact /support explaining that you forgot your old password, providing the original account name. An admin will try to contact you on the email address you specified when creating the original account.; If you can prove your identity this way, a server admin will merge your old account into this new account (which you know the password for). Please be patient as this requires a high level admin to deal with the issue.; In future you'll be able to login with the new account you just created, and select your old characters.
My friends know my password and my stuff has gone missing, please get it back.: The log in message warns you of the importance of password security. It's your responsibility to keep your password secret even from friends. Your stuff will not be retrieved.
My friends guessed my password because it was easy to guess, and my stuff has gone missing, get it back.: See above and pick a more secure password next time.
Player AAA wants to know my password, he says he is an admin. Should I tell him?: Never tell your password to anyone (that includes admin!). It's most likely this person is impersonating an admin (though you can check, as explained above.) Report this person to /support please. And remember not to tell your password to anyone!
Hi, My name is Laalaa2 and my password is OpenSesame but I want it changed to CloseSesame ...: Never tell anyone your password! That includes, don't tell it to /support! Please change it using the website as described above.
I shared my password, why did I get jailed / banned?: You will be jailed for your own safety until you change it. Or, you might be banned indefinitely (depending on circumstance). Investigating such cases waste a huge amount of contributor resources. So, remember NEVER tell your password to anyone, not family members, lovers, friends, no one.
I had my password saved as login profile and someone else had access to my computer and I lost items. Please help.: Please, only save passwords on machines which you have unique access to. If other people use the same machine consider making a user account for yourself and logout or lock the screen whenever you will be away. All good OS support this.

Admin

What is /support for?

Technical help, bug reports. Please try to find hints about quests in game or by asking other players.

How do I know who the admins are?

Admins have yellow names. Also try /adminlevel <playername> which will tell you the admin level of any player. Don't be surprised if you don't see many admins online, though - they don't need to idle around in game to answer /support queries and would often use a separate character for their admin character so that they can still role play with their player character.

What do different admin levels mean?

See the Administration page

I want to help other players learn how to play the game, can I be a GM?

Teaching about the game is something you can already do as part of the community. There is a guide at Stendhal Helper Role.

I want to be a GM, how do I join the team?

Please see How to be a GM

Do admin or developers get paid? Is it their job?

No, all contribution is done in spare time. Please be nice to them and have patience. Admin tasks are a very tedious work that requires a lot of time.

Does it help to report other players who are breaking the rules?

We always want to know about problems we are NOT aware of - please report:

bugs

vulnerabilities

exploits

Other instances of rule breaking which become problematic or will disrupt the game (account sharing, automation, etc) can to some extent be detected already.

Why did I get in trouble after I reported someone else breaking the rules?

Your own account was probably investigated at the same time (even if it was unrelated) and some other instance of rule breaking was uncovered. A past example was that a minor case of abuse was reported by a player. It turned out that the reporting player had used automation to collect resources. The reported player was warned and temporarily suspended. But the player who reported them and had himself cheated with automation, was banned.

Admin don't seem to be online much, so how does /support get answered?

The support channel is monitored outside of the game, too, and can be answered by an admin, without the admin being logged in.

Why should I use /support when I am next to a player who I know is an admin? Can't I just talk to them directly?

It's important for all admin to be able to see support queries and the answers. That's why we ask you to use /support.

Jail

Where is the Jail? Can I visit?: It's a building in Semos Plains West, which you can visit and even meet the inmates.
Why isn't the Jail used a lot any more?: Instead of jailing, it's more likely that an account would now be temporarily suspended, if this was necessary for an investigation. Being in jail wasn't a very private experience, and there were some technical issues.
I've been jailed, when will I be released?: When you were jailed the message told you how many minutes you were jailed for. If you are not sure please ask /support politely how long the sentence was for.
What happens if I logout during my jail time?: When you return your time will be restarted to the original time because of your failed 'escape attempt'. I.e. If you were jailed for 10 minutes and you logout after 5 minutes, when you login you will have to spend another 10 minutes in jail without logging out, to be released. If something goes wrong and you believe that you've spent the full time in jail without logging out, but you are not released, please ask /support for help.
Where do I go when I'm released from the cell in -1_semos_jail?: You are magically teleported to -3_semos_jail_walk which is a bit like a maze. When you get to the centre you appear again in Semos.
Why does the long jail exit walk exist?: For technical reasons prisoners must be released to Semos city. We used to release prisoners straight to the city but then players would continually ask to be jailed, as a free trip home! It became a problem. So the long walk was created.
When I logged in I was sent to jail, can you tell me why and how long for?: It sounds like an arrest warrant was placed for you. The message is supposed to be sent to you explaining the reason and time but it can be lost. Please, if you need details do ask /support but please ask nicely. If someone is available they will search back to find out why you were jailed and how long for. If no one answers please just be patient and try again later.
Why can't visitors to jail move items around, or use items, either?: Visitors to jail might bring 'gifts' to inmates, or someone permanently jailed might be able to give away their items to a clone, otherwise.
Why can't I message my friends with a private message from inside jail?: We had trouble with abusive messages being sent from nasty players inside jail, as a revenge. So now you can only use /support. And please be aware that if you abuse /support you will likely be banned.
Why do you jail or ban people whose accounts have been hacked?: Investigating accounts can take some time, in the mean time related accounts are banned or jailed for safe keeping. Items can't be dropped in jail, putting someone there is the only way we can secure their safety, until the password is changed. It doesn't necessarily mean that we think they did anything wrong! Those who are put in jail for their own safety will not need to do the long exit walk, either.

Bans

I can't login because there is a message saying I've been banned, why?: There could be a number of reasons. It is possible you have broken one or more of the rules. Your account may be suspended while an investigation takes place.
Why do you temporary suspend or ban people and only talk to them afterwards?: This depends on the reason for the ban, but often some investigation is needed. For example, if the ban was related to suspected use of automation. Analyzing the database logs is a lot of work and we cannot later remove bot-mined items from uncooperative players in many cases.
Why do investigations take so long?: Our logging is pretty good in the sense that all information needed to automatically detect, and manually analyse bugs and abuse is there. But it is a lot of work to write the correct, very complex database queries to extract the relevant information. Often many queries need to be written to analyse a single incident.
What can I do if I feel I have been treated unfairly?: An independent person or people (other than the admins already involved) can review account ban cases. Please ask support for details.
Why does a GM review response take so long?: A GM review response relies on availability of other admins who were not already involved in the specific case. For the same reasons as above, it's also likely to be very time consuming.
What does the ban reason "Investigating suspicious behaviour/activity" mean?: There has been some very unusual activity by the account in question. This may indicate a danger to the game world or the account (e. g. trouble-making sibling learned the password and repeatedly kills the character). Alternatively, the behaviour may have been completely innocent. But in order to mitigate the risks, it seemed justified to temporarily suspend the account until an investigation can be made by an admin. This ban reason especially means that the behaviour was not obvious enough to justify an immediate ban.

New Releases

When is the next release?: When it is ready. We are not more specific than that because we do not want to give users false ideas, and we do not want to force releases to be made available before they are ready, because we want to maintain quality releases.
Where are the new maps and creatures and quests? / What are the new features?: Please see the news items at http://arianne.sourceforge.net/
Where exactly are the new maps and creatures and quests?: Please, please discover these yourself. Asking to be pointed directly to certain things is showing disrespect for the game designers.
I have read some (old) page about a 'database reset'? Are you going to reset all players to 0?: A database reset was discussed in early 2007 to simplify migration to a new version of the marauroa infrastructure and introduce a new RP system. The database was migrated to Marauroa 2.0 without any dataloss. The new RP system will not be there as a "big bang" but was developed in small steps. For example training ("camping") was something that was required in the past but is optional now. Low level players get a penalty when using items designed for high level players. No database reset was required for these changes. While we are still working on improving the RP system even more, there is no database reset planned.
I don't like this new feature or change/The new release is really buggy for me!: We're sorry about this. Would you consider joining our group of pre-release testers, so that we can get your feedback while the release is still in development? More information is at Stendhal Testing.

Technical troubleshooting

My client crashed, what happened?

We need the error logs to know this. You could have found a bug. If you run from command line then the errors will be in the output of the program. If not then you need to look for your error log file:

Windows systems, at C:\Documents and Settings\{your username}\stendhal\log\stendhal.txt
GNU/Linux systems, at ~/stendhal/log/stendhal.txt

It could be a very long file. What we need to know is where any word 'ERROR' occurs and lines starting with 'at', so use a text editor to search for this. Check the timestamp to ensure you're looking at the correct event. If it's lengthy then paste it to something like http://pastebin.ca so you can tell us the error in a concise way.

If you don't see the 'log' directory at all please create it. Then stendhal will make the log file next time you log in.

We will also need to know:

Your Operating system
If you run from webstart or downloaded client
What java version you have. In Linux, type
```
java -version
```
in a command line. Windows users, check here.

I am moving slow and having problems but the other players I ask are all fine/only a few players who are on the same side of the world as me had lags. What is wrong?

It could be that host stendhalgame.org is slow. Or it could be more generally that the connection of your area of the world to the server] has a slow link somewhere. You can check this at https://stendhalgame.org/stats/net.html The ping-time should be under 300ms.

I found what I think is a map error/bug/possible insecurity in game. What should I do?

You can Submit a bug yourself, or if you want advice or help before you do this, ask /support.

The sound stutters. I am running Stendhal client under Linux. How can I fix it?

The most likely cause is a problem pulseaudio has with several audio drivers. The problem is not specific to Stendhal, but the game client is particularly suspective so it's possible that you haven't noticed it elsewhere. As a workaround, edit /etc/pulse/default.pa:

Find the line that reads:

load-module module-udev-detect

and change it to:

load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0

and restart pulseaudio. Usually it is enough to stop the old instance with

pulseaudio -k

Accounts and Characters

X character has been inactive for an extended period of time. Can it be deleted so that I can claim the name?: In short, no. Every couple of years, we do delete characters and accounts, that meet all of these requirements:

inactive for more than one year

level 0

less than 10 minutes online

have not visited more than 2 zones

do not own any items beside the default ones

have not been friended or ignored by anyone

there are no other remaining characters on the same account or accounts that might be related

not related to any kind of admin investigation

A good rule of thumb is, if the character name is not available, then the account has not met the above criteria and requests for deletion will be denied.

Uncategorised

What do the numbers on the character panel mean? How do I know my stats?: Please see the Stendhal manual entry for levels and stats
Who is the postman?: He's an NPC, but he appears on the /who list like a player, so you know you can message him. Try /msg postman help and he will tell you what he can do for you.
How do I play under Linux?: Stendhal requires Java (OpenJDK or Oracle), which is freely available, If you don't have it already you can install it. If you have any trouble see InstallingInLinux.
Is Stendhal browser based?: Currently, the main client is a desktop application written in Java and must be downloaded to your local machine. It requires a Java Virtual Machine to be installed in order to run. There is, however, an experimental web client for browsers in development, accessible by clicking the 'Play Now' button on the website.
Where does Stendhal get installed then when I click on the 'Play now' button at the web site?: Stendhal is no longer installed via the 'Play Now' button. But rather it connects you to the web client.
How can I start Stendhal from the download without the need to use my browser?: Double click on stendhal-starter.jar or type java -jar stendhal-starter.jar on a command window.
Why isn't Stendhal on Steam?: Steam does not accept web applications or java programs.
Do you expect to make a ton of money from Stendhal?: No, we strongly belief that real world money would have a negative impact on the really great community around Stendhal and Arianne. While we have some real world costs for the server, they are covered for the time being.
Have you considered offering premium content or premium accounts as an alternative method of revenue?: Yes. And it is rejected because it is commonly thought that gameplay should give equal opportunities to all players instead of favoring some of them for the money they paid.
I want to translate Stendhal into my own language, where do I start?: Please see Stendhal Translation.