dcss-server-install

One-command installer for an unofficial Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup WebTiles + SSH server. Multi-version DCSS, sound, scoring, password-reset emails, optional Discord bot, and HTTPS via Let's Encrypt — provisioned by a single bootstrap script and a guided wizard.

Quick start

On a fresh Linux box (Debian / Ubuntu / Amazon Linux 2023 / RHEL / Fedora) with sudo, ports 80 / 443 / 222 open, and DNS pointing to the server:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tarballqc/dcss-server-install/main/bootstrap.sh | bash

The bootstrap detects your distro, installs git + Docker, clones the latest release into ~/dcss, and launches the wizard. After it finishes, run ./run.sh game (~20-minute build), then browse to https://your-host/.

To inspect the bootstrap before running it: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tarballqc/dcss-server-install/main/bootstrap.sh. Manual install steps are in docs/prereqs.md.

Features

• DCSS 0.34 + trunk with Tutorial, Sprint, Seeded, and Descent modes for each. Older versions (0.30–0.33) opt-in.
• Browser play (WebTiles) at https://your-host/ and SSH play (dgamelaunch) on port 222, sharing accounts and saves.
• DWEM sound module, with three soundpacks loaded directly from nemelex.cards — credit and traffic to upstream maintainers.
• Leaderboard, per-player profile pages, and server stats at /scores/.
• Styled morgue / ttyrec / rcfile browsers at /morgue/, /ttyrec/, /rcfiles/.
• Forgot Password emails with a provider picker (AWS SES, Mailgun, SendGrid, Postmark, or custom SMTP) and an optional setup-time test send.
• Optional Discord bot posting wins, deaths, and milestones to a channel.
• HTTPS via Let's Encrypt (host nginx + certbot) wired up by the wizard.
• Auto-detected upstream releases with twice-daily rebuilds via cron.
• Per-server templating — SERVER_ABBR, hostname, region, admin handle in .env flow through every user-facing surface.

Requirements

OS	Linux with apt, dnf, or yum
RAM	4 GB minimum, 8 GB+ recommended
Disk	20 GB
Docker	Engine 24+ with Compose v2 (auto-installed if missing)
Ports	80, 443, 222 publicly accessible
DNS	A record pointing at the server before TLS provisioning

Optional: SMTP credentials for password reset, a Discord bot token.

Documentation

Prerequisites	OS, RAM, ports, DNS, Docker plugins
Customizing	Banner, theme, MOTD, default RC, game modes
SSH play	dgamelaunch, default password, key auth
Password reset	SMTP setup, STARTTLS, email template
Multi-server	Templating pattern for running multiple servers
Discord bot	Bot token, intents, channel config
Upgrading	Auto-rebuild cron, manual upgrades, frozen versions
Troubleshooting	Common gotchas

Deploy modes

./run.sh <mode> wraps bash scripts/deploy.sh <mode>:

Mode	Use when	Time
game	Full rebuild — code, binaries (default)	~20 min
banner	Anything in config/ changed (banner, theme, RC, dgamelaunch)	~5 sec
scoring	scoring/generate_scores.py changed	~10 sec
web	nginx config changed	~2 sec
config	webtiles.py or games.d/ changed	~5 sec

Scope

This repo helps you run an unofficial DCSS server — community, private, friends-only, or dev/test. It is not a path to becoming an official DCSS server; those are reviewed and approved by the DCSS dev team in ##crawl-dev on Libera IRC. What this can do is give a prospective official-server admin something concrete to learn on.

Support

Bugs, feature requests	GitHub Issues
Usage questions, sharing setups	GitHub Discussions
Real-time chat	Discord — @tarballqc
Security disclosures	tarballqc@roguelikes.gg

Contributing

Pull requests welcome. The bar:

• Open an issue first for non-trivial changes.
• Test on a fresh Linux VM end-to-end (./install.sh + ./run.sh game).
• Keep server-specific identity behind __SERVER_*__ placeholders so multi-server admins keep working.
• Update CHANGELOG.md under [Unreleased]. SemVer applies to releases.
• Credit upstream when adding external dependencies.

Pin to a specific release for stability:

git clone --branch v1.0.7 https://github.com/tarballqc/dcss-server-install ~/dcss

License

MIT. DCSS itself is GPL-3 and is fetched from upstream at build time, not redistributed in this repo.

Credits

• The Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup team for the game.
• refracta for the DWEM extension module.
• Sound packs:
  • DCSS-UST (Universal Sound Track) composed by Cass Preston — official release on Bandcamp; please support the composer there.
  • OSP (Off-Screen Pack) and BindTheEarth — community soundpacks hosted by nemelex.cards.
• dgamelaunch for the SSH game launcher.

Built and maintained by tarballqc — admin of crawl.roguelikes.gg (CRG) and crawl-br.roguelikes.gg (CBRG).