Someone

alias start {
  set %hangman.status Running
  set %curr.round 1 
  msg %hangman.chan Round %curr.round is now underway and our first word is:
  set %curr.word $read($scriptdir\words.txt)
  set %curr.word.masked %curr.word
  set %curr.word.masked.tmp $replace(%curr.word.masked,$len(%curr.word.masked))

  if ($len(%curr.word.masked.tmp) == 4) { set %curr.word.masked _ _ _ _ }
  if ($len(%curr.word.masked.tmp) == 5) { set %curr.word.masked _ _ _ _ _ }
  if ($len(%curr.word.masked.tmp) == 6) { set %curr.word.masked _ _ _ _ _ _ }
  if ($len(%curr.word.masked.tmp) == 7) { set %curr.word.masked _ _ _ _ _ _ _ }
}