# Dragon's Gate Panels These panels and bars come with Merlin’s Dragon’s Gate module and appear only while you’re playing Dragon’s Gate. For panels common to every game and how to arrange them, see [Core Panels](MANUAL-CORE-PANELS.md). For variables scripts can read in Dragon’s Gate, see [the variables list in the Settings](settings:variables). Panels about your character and the people around you show **Log in to view** whenever you aren’t in the world: before you log in, and after you quit, depart after dying, or train out of play. Profile, the Game windows, Scripts, Script Output and Notepad stay available. ## Profile The **Profile** panel shows your character’s name, alignment, race, class, and portrait. ### View your character card Click the portrait to open your character card. It shows your description, age, height, weight, attributes, and vitals. Most of this comes from the game’s `info` command, which Merlin sends when you log in. If the card is empty, type `info`. ### Add a picture Click the portrait, then click **Add a picture** or **Change image**. Choose an image from your computer and adjust how it’s cropped. ## Inventory The **Inventory** panel has two tables: - **Equipped:** What you’re wearing. - **Item:** What you’re carrying, with weights. Containers appear at the top. Merlin fills these tables from the game’s replies: `status` for what’s equipped, `inventory` for what you’re carrying, and `look in` for what’s inside a bag. Merlin sends these commands when you log in. If a table says **Type STATUS to view** or **Type INV to view**, type that command. ### Use your inventory - To open or close a bag, click it. When a bag opens, Merlin looks inside and lists what it holds. - To wear an item, drag it onto Equipped. To remove it, drag it off. - To put an item in a bag, drag it onto the bag. To take it out, drag it out. - For more actions, right-click an item. Depending on the item, the menu has **Wear**, **Eat**, or **Drink**, along with **Move to**, **Sell**, **Haggle**, **Drop**, and **Throw**. Haggle bargains with the merchant before selling; you may get more or less than you would with Sell. A closed box or bag also has **Shop unlock**, which pays a locksmith to open its lock; use it in the locksmith's shop. A damaged item also has **Repair**, which leaves it with the smith; use it in the smith's shop, and claim it when it's ready. To repair something in a bag, take it out first. - To update an item’s weight, click the **Refresh** button next to it. The button appears when Merlin hasn’t seen the item’s weight yet, such as for something you just picked up. Merlin then sends `inventory`. These actions send normal game commands, and the game’s reply appears in the Game panel. If the game refuses a command, you can see why there. ### Item names The game knows most items by their last word: a carved oak cane is `cane`. Some items need more of their name, such as `frying pan` or `money belt`. Merlin keeps a list of these names so the commands it sends use the words the game expects. #### How the list learns If the game refuses a name Merlin sent (for example, `You don’t have a ‘pan’ in your inventory!`), Merlin tries again with one more word of the item’s name. If that works, it adds the longer name to the list. Merlin never retries a command you type yourself. #### Edit the list The list is stored in `item-nouns.txt`, one name per line, in the game’s `Config` folder. Changes take effect immediately. A line beginning with `//` is a comment. The Config folder is inside the game folder in your Merlin folder: | Platform | Location | |---|---| | macOS | `~/Library/Merlin` | | Windows | `%APPDATA%\Merlin Files` | | Linux | `~/Documents/Merlin` | ### Loot When your kill drops something, the **Loot** pop-up offers it. It never offers doors or other ways out. When you choose **Take items**, the pop-up stays open while Merlin picks things up. Each item shows a ring until it is in your pack, then a green check. If your delay is still running, the next item's ring fills up as it runs out, then glows softly while Merlin picks the item up. The pop-up closes on its own once everything is taken. If the game refuses an item, such as when your pack is full, that item shows an X and the pop-up stays open. Choose **Close** to dismiss it. Choosing **Cancel** while items are still being picked up stops the rest. To keep an item out of the pop-up, add its name to `loot-pop-up-ignore.txt` in the same `Config` folder as `item-nouns.txt`, one name per line. For example: ``` a short wooden stick ``` To turn off the pop-up, go to Settings > General and, under **Dragon’s Gate Convenience**, turn off **Loot pop-up**. ## Skills The **Skills** panel lists your skills with two numbers: - **Remain:** How many more uses until the skill can be trained. - **Level:** The skill’s current level. The line under each skill fills as you use it, showing how close the skill is to its next level. Merlin reads the game’s `skills` table when you log in and after each training. The numbers change only when that table is read. To get the latest numbers at any other time, type `skills`. ### How skills are ordered Click the **Options** button (three dots) at the top-right corner of the panel to choose how skills are sorted and grouped. **Ready skills always at top** is on at first. It puts every skill that’s ready to train at the top, whatever order you choose. Turn it off in the same menu. ### Train a skill 1. Click a skill that’s ready. Merlin puts `train raise` and the skill number in the command line. For example, skill 35 gives you `train raise 35`. 2. When you’re at the trainer, press Enter to send it. **Note:** Clicking a skill never sends the command. Nothing reaches the game until you press Enter, so you can’t train by accident. If Merlin hasn’t seen the trainer’s list yet, clicking a ready skill puts `train list` in the command line instead. Send it once, and the next click knows the number. Nothing in this panel sends a command by itself. ## Injuries The **Injuries** panel shows a figure of your body. Each part is colored by how badly it’s hurt. Hover over a part to read the wound. When you take a hit, that part flashes. Beside the figure are lamps for **Dead**, **Bleeding**, **Infected**, **Drug needed**, **Thirsty**, and **Hungry**. Each lights when the game says so. Merlin reads your wounds from the game’s `health` reply, which it requests when you log in. After that, the panel updates only when you type `health` or when a treatment line appears. ### Healing tools For healers, the panel does more: - **Diag all:** Sends `diag all` to examine everyone in the room. - **Player list:** Shows everyone you’ve examined this session, with their health and fatigue. Click a name to examine that person again. - **Treat**, **Lay on Hands**, **Healer’s Touch**, and **Vigor Touch:** Send that command at the person shown on the figure. Only actions your character can use appear. Hover over a button to see exactly what it sends. ### Show or hide the player list Click the **Options** button (three dots) at the top-right corner of the panel, then choose **Show player list**. Drag the line beside the list to make it wider or narrower. Both settings are saved in your layout, so a healing layout can show the list while a fighting layout hides it. The list doesn’t depend on your class. A layout that has never set it keeps the list hidden. ### Injuries settings To show only injured players, choose **Options** > **Settings**, turn on **Only list injured players**, then click **Done**. **Injured means** sets what counts as injured: low health and fatigue, low health, or low fatigue. ## Magick The **Magick** panel shows your runes and prepared spells. ### Runes **Runes** lists each rune with the number of weaves it has left. The bar behind a rune starts full and shortens as you use it. The rune you’ve used most appears at the top. A rune that’s a quarter full or less lights up. To renew a rune, click any rune that isn’t full while you’re in a rune shop Merlin knows about. Merlin puts `shop renew` and the rune’s name in the command line. Press Enter to send it. ### Prepared spells **Prepared spells** lists the spells in your corridors, with each spell’s alias and how many times it’s been cast. Click a prepared spell to put `invoke` and its alias in the command line, ready for you to add a target. ### When the numbers update Merlin reads your runes and prepared spells when you log in and whenever you type `info magick` or `info runespells`. A cast doesn’t tell Merlin what’s left, so the numbers stay the same until the next reading. Merlin remembers the last reading for each character. Nothing in this panel sends a command by itself. ## Tactics The **Tactics** panel shows the room’s ranks: who stands where in front of you and behind you. The front of the room is at the top, and the room fits the panel however deep it is. ### Read the panel - **You** are the disc in your theme’s primary color, showing whether you’re standing, sitting, or lying down. - **Other players** stand to your left. - **Creatures and other characters** stand to your right, with icons for their kind, such as an ork, wolf, rat, or guard. A number beside an icon shows how many there are. - **Whatever is fighting you** stands next to you. Everything else stays one empty space away. - **A dim icon** in the center is someone the game says is present before it says which rank they’re in. Type `tac` to place them. Hover over something to see who it is. ### Move and fight - To move to a rank, click it. Merlin sends `advance` or `retreat` with the number of ranks. The game moves you as far as your move rate allows and no farther than the edge of the room, so a long move can stop short. - To close in on a creature, click it. Merlin sends `advance` and the creature’s name. - To take a stance, click one on the left: frenzied, aggressive, normal, careful, or defensive, from most attack to most defense. Your current stance is lit, with a bar beside it at the panel’s left edge. ### Tactics options Click the **Options** button (three dots) at the top-right corner of the panel: - **Show stance:** Shows the stances on the left. Turn it off to give the ranks more room. The stances then appear in the menu, with a checkmark beside your current one. Choose another to take that stance. This setting is saved in your layout and is on until you turn it off. - **Auto-tactical:** When it's on and the panel is open, Merlin sends `tac` when you stop in a room with creatures, once per visit. If you are auto-navigating using the map, tac will only be sent if there are creatures at your destination when your route ends. ### How the panel stays up to date Merlin updates the panel from what the game prints: your moves; creatures wandering in, advancing, attacking, fleeing, and dying; and players coming and going. When something happens that Merlin can’t place, the ranks fade until the next `tac`. Type `tac` at any time to put everyone in their rank. Every room starts 11 ranks deep until the game shows otherwise. The first time you reach an edge, Merlin learns how deep the room really is and redraws it. Apart from Auto-tactical, nothing in this panel sends a command by itself. ## Hands bar and vitals bar Two bars run along the bottom of the window. To change how much of each bar the fill takes up, go to Settings > General and, under **Status bars**, choose an option from **Status bar thickness**. ### Hands bar The **hands bar** shows whether you’re standing, sitting, or lying down, what’s in your right and left hands, and **Delay**, which counts down the seconds until you can act again. When you’re hidden, it shows a sneaking figure. When you’re flying, it shows a winged figure and your **Altitude** in feet. When a long wait sends you out of the game, such as training or dying, the hands bar keeps showing **Delay** on its own and keeps counting, even if you are disconnected. The **Delay timer** sound plays when the wait is really over. To play a sound when a long delay ends, go to Settings > General. Under **Dragon’s Gate Convenience**, choose a time from **Play sound for long delays**. Merlin plays the sound when a delay longer than that time ends. ### Vitals bar The **vitals bar** shows Health, Fatigue, and Encumbrance, along with Web and Psi for characters that have them, and your gold and silver. ## Speak, Whispers, Link, Contact, and Emotes These panels are for talking. Except for Emotes, they only show messages; you talk from the command line as usual. Speak, Whispers, Link, and Contact keep their last 200 messages while you’re logged in. They empty when you log out, disconnect, or switch characters. Your session log still contains every line. ### Speak **Speak** collects what people say in the room, including says, yells, and shouts, along with things people do, such as waves and smiles. Your messages appear on one side and everyone else’s on the other. Speak also shows your whispers, contacts and link messages, so you can follow everything in one panel. Each appears as the game prints it, such as `Belka thinks to you, "hey"`, so you can tell them apart. To show only the room, point at the panel and click the **⋮** button at its top right, then uncheck **Show Whispers**, **Show Contact** or **Show Link**. Those messages still appear in their own panels. Each layout remembers the choice. To play a sound when someone speaks, go to Settings > Sounds. ### Whispers **Whispers** collects the whispers you send and receive. When a whisper arrives, Merlin also opens a small **Whisper** pop-up with a reply box. Type a reply and click **Send**, and Merlin sends `whisper` to that person. If several people whisper to you, their names appear down the side. Once the pop-up is open, you can send, receive, and manage conversations with several people from it. To stop the pop-up from opening automatically, go to Settings > General and turn off **Whisper and Contact pop-ups**. The Whispers panel keeps working. ### Link **Link** shows messages from the game’s link channel. Link reaches only your own race, and only Dragons, Psycians and Secians have it. ### Contact **Contact** shows telepathic messages sent with `contact`. Your messages appear on one side and everyone else’s on the other. Each message names the other person, so several conversations stay readable: `Belka: hey` for one you receive, and `You think to Belka: hi` for one you send. When a contact arrives, or you send one, Merlin also opens a **Contact** pop-up with a reply box, separate from the Whisper pop-up and working the same way: several people appear down the side, and **Send** answers with `contact`. The **Whisper and Contact pop-ups** setting in Settings > General turns both off. ### Emotes **Emotes** is a palette of the game’s socials, organized into groups. - To use a social, click it. Merlin sends it immediately. - To aim a social at someone, click it, then choose a name from the people in the room. The menu appears only for socials that can be aimed. - To find a social, type its word in the search box. The **Most Used** row fills with the socials you use most. ## Other Dragon’s Gate settings These settings are in Settings > General, under **Dragon’s Gate Convenience**: - **Wrap game text to my window:** Keeps game text wrapped to the width of the Game panel. - **Stat Roller:** Offers the stat roller during character creation when you choose Roll in place. You can also open it by typing `/roller`. **Whisper and Contact pop-ups**, **Loot pop-up**, and **Play sound for long delays** are also in this section and are described above with the panels and bars they affect.