The way of the hammer is pretty old and active
The explorers are kind of active too
Travellers Path - about 1.5 years old, semi dead, semi active

Below I'll list some IRC commands which might be helpful to you. To keep this thread clean I ask you to send whatever is missing via PM and I'll add it to the guide above, or to the command list or to whatever will follow

/join <channelname> - To enter the channel you want to replace <channelname> with the name of the channel. E.G.: /join #planeshift
/part <channelname> [leave message] - Leaves the channel you specify, optionally you can add a leaving message. E.G.: /part #planeshift I gotta run, see you later
/nick <newnick> - You can change your nickname with this command.
/ me <message in third person mode> - E.G.: "/me is hungry" will turn into "* Cebot is hungry". You can use this for actions and emotions. There is no /my command on IRC (in PS there is) NOTE: there is no whitespace between the / and "me", had to put it there because the forum parses it as well)
/msg <nick> <message> - Sends a private message to a person. E.G.: /msg cebot Hi, this is some crap message.
/ignore - Information taken from Xchat's help system:

Usage: IGNORE <mask> <types..> <options..>
     mask - host mask to ignore, eg: *!*@*.aol.com
     types - types of data to ignore, one or all of:
             PRIV, CHAN, NOTI, CTCP, DCC, INVI, ALL
     options - NOSAVE, QUIET

NickServ - There are quite a few commands for nickserv to setup your nickname with different options, I will just explain a few of them.
/msg nickserv <cmd> <option> - this is the general syntax for NickServ commands.
Some <cmd>'s with their <option>'s:
register <password> <email> - Register your nickname, according to NickServ you may have to confirm your email addy by following the steps in the mail you received.
identify <password> - When you login into IRC you will have to identify yourself to NickServ.
ghost <nick> <password> - When you lose your connection it often happens that your old connection remains as ghost connection on the server. You can get rid of it by throwing this command at nickserv.

More NickServ commands are available by /msg nickserv help commands

NOTE: FreeNode now allows everyone to send messages to everyone, regardless if one is identified or not. If you want some privacy or spam protection you can disable this feature by typing /umode +E (command and syntax may differ from client to client, this one is for xchat users)

If you don't want others to see your IP address you can send JosePhoenix a private message, he is responsible for the #planeshift channel and can request a vhost for your nickname, but you have to be registered to NickServ. Once the vhost is set up it will hide your IP address whenever you are identified to NickServ

If you want me to list and explain some important ChanServ commands in this guide as well, then send me a PM here on the forums or on IRC.

If you're missing any command that you think should be added here, send me a PM or /msg me on IRC

Cebot

I know about the changes and are going to write the guide for the new system, not for the old one.

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat and is a standardized RFC protocol for multi user real time chat. To be able to connect to it you need an IRC client. At the end I will list a few of them for different platforms.

All PlaneShift IRC Channels are located on the FreeNode IRC Network. Most IRC Clients will have this network preconfigured, however, for the case it isn't you will have to add the network on your own. For that create a new network entry and add the server irc.freenode.net to it – it is a meta server which will redirect you to the server which is closest to you.

There are different channels for PS, here's a list of them:

• #planeshift – the official fan channel, talk with other players. Developers and GameMaster are also around.
• #planeshift-gmtalk – the public GameMaster channel. No GM ingame and you need help? Go here and poke one of the GM's by saying their name. This is not a channel you are allowed to idle in, when your issue is solved you will have to leave this channel again.
• #planeshift-offtopic – a few players come into the channel to talk about whatever they want, mostly not related to PS.
• #planeshift-build – For public development, for help with building the client or a local server, to contact engine developers, technical support channel.

There are a few other channels, but you are not allowed to join those unless you are part of the team (GM, prospect, developer, tester...), so I won't list those here.

FreeNode also hosts the channel for CrystalSpace3d, the 3d engine behind PS. Their channel is #crystalspace

Some guilds also host their guild channel on FreeNode, even tho FreeNode is not intended for such Consult the guild of your interest to find out their IRC channel and whether they are hosted on FreeNode or on another network.

You need help with general Linux, Windows, Mac issues? No problem, there are dozens of channels for that as well. English is not your native language? Also no problem, most projects have a channel in other languages as well, just add a dash followed by the country code to the end of the channel (e.g. β€œ-de” for Germany, sometimes it's a period instead of a dash)

• #Linux – For general Linux questions.
• #ubuntu – Distribution specific issues for Ubuntu.
• #debian – Same for Debian GNU/Linux.
• #gentoo – Guess what, This channel is for Gentoo Linux.

I could probably list more channels, but this guide is not intended for that, there are channels for most distributions, the above list is just to give  a general idea.

Some IRC Clients:

• Xchat – Opensource, All platforms, Windows binary costs money. – http://www.xchat.org
• KVIRC – Opensource, originally part of the K Desktop Environment. Available for different platforms. - http://www.kvirc.net
• mIRC – Proprietary, Windows only. - http://www.mirc.com
• IRC@Work – Web based client, now called mibbit, free to use – http://www.mibbit.com

There are dozens of other clients available for almost every platform and operating system you could imagine, if the above list doesn't suit you, feel free to look for a client on your own. If you think I am missing an important client here, send me a PM please.

Disclaimer:
This guide was written by me, Cebot. No PS Dev is responsible for it, therefore they cannot be blamed for any wrong information in it. However, if you find anything wrong with this guide send me a PM please and I may fix it.
URLs listed in this guide are out of my responsibility, this means neither me, nor any PS member can be blamed for the content of third party websites.
I tried my best to have proper grammar, punctuation and spelling, if you, however, find any mistake you may keep it, it's free (or send my a PM and I may fix it).
Within all PS channels it is not allowed to discuss spoilers. As spoiler count quest solutions, locations of mobs, NPC's or shops. Please avoid those questions. If you are stuck in a quest please check the bugtracker at http://bugs.hydlaa.com if it is already known, if not report it! If you, however, need urgent help, Rizin has offered several times to help out, You may send her a PM on the forums, a Query on IRC or an e-mail. Be patient as she is a busy person – and be kind to her!
Within all IRC channels (not only PS related channels) common sense and good behavior is expected from you. Bad behavior, insults, bad language, floods and so far... will be punished by the channel operators.
If you have to paste more than 3 lines, please use a pastebin like http://pastebin.ca or http://rafb.net/paste and only paste the URL into the channel.

Cebot

Maybe people are too shy and underestimate their own skills. For those who think they don't have the skills for that I can only suggest to try and apply, you have nothing to lose. In the worst case your application will be rejected. I am pretty sure xillix will give many applicants a chance to show their talents and also teach them what they need to know...you can leave prospecthood after some time if you think it's too much for you, or if a dev (probably also xillix) decides you are not good enough you will be rejected. In the best case you learn a lot, and become a settings dev...so what do you have to lose? Go apply! 

unfortunately i don't know how to switch the opengl profile on suse, but since you are already using the correct driver i assume it is only a configuration issue with opengl, please consult the documentation of suse (or their irc channel) to learn how to switch the profiles.
well, for the case a gentoo user might have the same issue, the profile is changeable by entering "eselect opengl set nvidia" into a console (the ebuild should do that on it's own and also give a note about it)

my guess is, that you use the opensource nvidia drivers. check your xorg.conf for which driver you use. if i am right and you use the open source driver, switch to the proprietary driver

Ok fair enough but as thats the only penalty as we know its open to abuse and death is not much of a threat.

And people already complain about this penalty

However "dying" and having your soul ripped form your body is a traumatic instance and there should be some long lasting effect and i belive there is one, one that does not include stat reduction beyond the curse or damaging items.

As far as I remember the settings, your soul does not get ripped off your body. You get sent to the DR with body and soul in one piece

Quite simply and its been stareing people in the face - you lose your memory IE your progression points and random levels in skill.

If you die, you lose all progression points not spent and at random a varying amount of skill levels depending on how recently you died.

First time 1 or 2 skill levels in one or 2 skills, die again within a set time frame (say two hours) and the loss is more severe say double the effect 1 to 4 levels between 1 to 4 skills.

This allows death a more severe consequence rather than the "Time delay" it currently is whilst still allowing people a chance to recover from it by retraining.

For new players this will be kind of a hard penalty. A new character is usually pretty weak and will die every now and then. They will lose the skills and the PP's they earned and will puke from anger. Advanced players will also puke from anger, because at high levels it takes ages to get the needed pp's back pay high fees for the levels they lost and spent ages on training it again, only to lose it the next time they run into a glitch or die by lag.

I kind of like a varying range of penalties for death, but this is will only anger players. Alternatively one could combine the current system with your ideas, just not make em permanent.
Like lose stats and random skills for some time, bu have the char remember the skills again without the need of re-training them.
Also I could imagine a kind of GateKeeper NPC at the portal(s). Either pay a fee (depending on how much money you have) or leave an item behind, or solve a riddle...or all together?

Anyways, my two tria