A Guide to the Mazes of Menace by Eric S. Ra~nla~ld, Tllyrsus E~ltl~rprises Malv~rn, PA 19355 Inlroduclion You have just finished your years as a student at the local adventurer's guild. After much practice and sweat you have finally completed your training and are ready to em- bark upon a perilous adventure. As a test of your skills, the local guildmasters have sent you into the Dungeons of Doom. Your task is to return wi~h the Amulet of Yendor. Your reward for the completion of this task will be a full membership in the local guild. In addi- tion, you are allowed to keep all the loot you bring back from the dungeons. You set out on your way to the dungeons and aher several days of uneventful travel, you see the ancient ruins that mark the entrance to the Mazes of Menace. It is late at night, so you make camp at the entrance and spend the night sleeping under the open skies. In the moming you gather your weapons and devices, eat what is almost your last food, and enter the dungeons. What is going on here? You have just begun a game of nethack. Your goal is to grab as much treasure as you can, find the Amulet of Yendor, and get out of the Mazes of Menace alive. On the screen, a map of where you have been and what you have seen on the current dungeon level is kept. As you explore more of the level, it appears on the screen in front of you. Nethack differs from most computer fantasy games (other than its ancestors hack and rogue and its cousin lam) in that it is screen oriented. Commands are all one or two key- strokes (as opposed to sentences in some losing parser's notion of English) and the re- sults of your commands are displayed graphically on the screen rather than being ex- plained in words (a minimum screen size of 24 lines by 80 columns is required; if the screen is larger, only a 24x80 section will be used for the map). Another major difference between nethack and other computer fantasy games is that once you have solved all the puzzles in a standard fantasy game, it has lost most of its excitement and it ceases to be fun. Nethack, on the other hand, generates a new dun- geon every time you play it and even the authors still find it an entertaining and exciting game. What do all those thin~s on the screen mean? In order to understand what is going on in nethack you have to first get some grasp of what nethack is doing with the screen. The nethack screen is intended to replace the "You can see ..." descriptions of text fantasy games. Figure I is a sample of what a neth- ack screen might look like. - - - - - - - - - - - I ... , ., + l~@~ I ....B..... l .......... _ _ _ + _ _ _ _ _ I.ev 1 Gp O ~Ip 12 (12) Ep 3 (3) Ac 8 Str 16 (16)Exp: 1/0 The boltom line At the bottom line of the screen are a few pieces of cryptic information describing your current status. I lere is an explanation of what these things mean: Level This number indicates how deep you have gone in the dungeon. It stans at one and goes up as you go deeper into the dungeon. Gold The number of gold pieces you have managed to find and keep with you so far. I Ip Your current and maximum health points. Health points indicate how much damage you can take before you die. The more you get hit in a fight, the lower they get. You can regain health points by resting. The number in parentheses is the maximum number your health points can reach. Ep Energy points. This tells you the level of mystic energy you have avail- able for spell casting. When you type 'x' to list your spells, each will have a spell point cost beside it in parentheses. You will not see this if your site's version of the game has been configured to omit spells. Ac Your current armor protection. This number indicates how effective your armor is in stopping blows from unfriendly creatures. The lower this number is, the more effective the armor. Str Your current strength and maximum ever strength. This can be any in- teger less than or equal to 18, or greater than or equal to three (occasionally you may get super-strengths of the form 18/xx). The higher the number, the stronger you are. The number in the parenthe- ses is the maximum strength you have attained so far this game. Exp These two numbers give your current experience level and experience points. As you do things, you gain experience points. At certain expe- rience point totals, you gain an experience level. The more experi- enced you are, the better you are able to fight and to withstand magical attacks. 'I'he ~op line Tlle top line of the screen is reserved for printing messages that describe things that are hllpctssible lo represent visually. If you see a "--More--" on the top line, this me;lns th;lt netllack wants to print another message on the screen, but it wants to make cen;lin that you have read the one that is there first. To read the next message, just type a space. T he rest of the screen The rest of Ihe screen is Ihe m~p of the level as you have explored it so far. Each syl--bol on the screen represents something. Here is a list of whal Ihe various symbols me.ln: - al~d I These form the walls of a room (or maze). This is the floor of a room. # This is a corridor. > This is the staircase lo Ihe nexl level. < The slaircase to the previous level. A large boulder. @ You (usually) or another human. A A trap. A weapon of some sort. Some other useful object (key, rope, dynamile, camera) [ A suil of armor. % A piece of food (not necessarily healthy.. ). A wand. A ring. ? A scroll. A magic potion. + A spellbook containing a spell you can learn; (but usually a doorway). A pool of water. A fountain. An opulant throne. $ A pile or pot of gold. a-zA-Z The letters represent the various inhabitants of the Mazes of Menace. Watch out, they can be nasty and vicious. Sometimes, however, they can be helpful. Comm~nds Commands are given to nethack by typing one or two characters. Most commands can be preceded by a count to repeat them (e.g. typing "lOs" will do ten searches). Com- mands for which counts make no sense have the count ignored. To cŒncel a count or a prefix, type . The list of commands is rather long, but it can be read at any time during the game with the "?" command. Here it is for reference, with a short expla- nation of each command. ? help: print a help list. Q Quit the game. S Save the game. Escape to a shell. Z Suspend the game (UNIX versions with job control only). < up: go up the staircase (if you are standing on it). > down: go down (just like up). kjhlyubn go one slep in the direcfion indicated.k: north (i.e., lo Ihe lop of Ihe screen), j: south, h: wesh 1: east, y: ne, u: nw, b: se, n: sw. KJI ILYUBN Go in Ihal direcdon until you run inlo something. m prefix: move without picking up any objects. ~ Ipretix: move far, no pickup. g prcfix: move until something interesting is found. G as previous, but forking of corridors is not interesting. prhlt your invelltory. print selected parts of your inventory, like in l* mlll gems in inventory; IU - all unpaidlU - all unpaid items; IX - all used up items that are on your shopping bill; I$ - count your money. s search for secret doors and traps around you. A ask for Ihe type of a trap you found earlier. ask for current wielded weapon. ask for current armor. ask for current rings. $ count how many gold pieces you are carrying. rest, do nothing. pick up some things. look at what is here. AT teleport. AR redraw the screen. Ap repeat last message (subsequent AP's repeat earlier messages). (followed by any symbol) tell what this symbol represents.lf you see fancy graphics on your screen it may ask you to specify a location rath- er than taking a symbol argument. tell what has been discovered. e eat food. w wield we tpon. w- means: wield nothing, use bare hands. q drink (quaff) a potion. r read a scroll. T Takeoff armor. R Remove Ring. W Wear armor. items; P Put on a ring. X transcribe (learn) a spell. x print a list of know spells. z zap a wand. Z zap a spell; same as the '# cast' e~ctended command t throw an object or shoot an arrow. p pay your shopping bill. d drop something. d7a: drop seven items of object a. D Drop several things. In answer to the question "What kinds of things do you want to drop? I ! %= au~ " you should give zero or more object symbols possibly followed by 'a' and/or 'u'. 'a' means: drop all such objects, without asking for confiRmation. 'u' means: drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop). a apply - Generic command for using a key to lock or unlock a door, using a camera, using a rope, etc. c call: name a certain object or class of objects. C C~ Name an individual monster. EEngrave: Write a message in the dust on the floor. E- means: use fin- gers for writing. O Set options. You will be asked to enter an option line. If this is empty, the current options are reported. Otherwise it should be a list of op- tions separated by commas. Possible boolean options are: oneline, time, news, tombstone, rest_on_space, fixinvlet, beginner, male, fe- male. They can be negated by prefixing them with '!' or "no". A string option is name; it supplies the answer to the question"Who are you?": it may have a suffix. A compound option is endgame; it is followed by a description of what parts of the list of topscorers should be printed when the game is finished. There is also a graphics option that sets the characters used for screen displays. Usually one will not want to use the 'O' command, but instead put a HACKOPTIONS="...." line in one's environment. v print version number. V display the game history (about one page). You can put a number he- fore most commands to repeat them that many times, as in "20s" or "40.". Rooms Rooms in the dungeons are either lit or dark. If you walk into a lit room, the entire room will be drawn on the screen as soon as you enter. If you walk into a dark room, it will only be displayed as you explore it. Upon leaving a room, all monsters inside the room are erased from the screen. In the darkness you can only see one space in all direc- tions around you. A corridor is always dark. Fighting If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt to run into it. Many times a monster you find will mind its own business unless you attack it. It is often the case that discretion is the better part of valor. Objects you can find When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want to pick the object up. This is accomplished in nethack by walking over the object (unless you use the "m" pre- fix, see above). If you are carrying too many things, the program will tell you and it won't pick up the object, otherwise it will add it to your pack and tell you what you just picked up. Many of the commands that operate on objects must prompt you to find out which ob- ject you want to use. If you change your mind and don't want to do that command after all, just type an and the command will be aborted. Some objects, like armor and weapons, are easily differentiated. Others, like scrolls and potions, are given labels which vary according to type. During a game, any two of the same kind of object with the same label are the same type. However, the labels will vary from game to game. When you use one of these labeled objects, if its effect is obvious, nethack will re- member what it is for you. If its effect isn't extremely obvious you will be asked what you want to scribble on it so you will recognize it later, or you can use the "call" command (see above). Wea pons Some weapons, like arrows, come in bunches, but most come one at a thlle. bl order to use a weapon, you must wield it. To fire an arrow out of a bow, you must first wield the bow, tllen throw the arrow. You can only wield one weapon at a time, but you C;Ul't ch;lllge weapolls if the one you are currently wielding is cursed. The commands to use wcapolls are "w" (wield) and "t" (throw). A rmor There are various sorts of armor Iying around in the dungeon. Some of it is enchanted, some is cursed, and some is just normal. Different armor types have different armor pro- tection. The higher the armor protection, the more protection the armor affords against the blows of monsters. If a piece of armor is enchanted, its armor protection will be higher than normal. If a suit of amlor is cursed, its armor protection will be lower, and you will not be able to re- move it. Ilowever, not all armor with a protection that is lower than normal is cursed and some enchanted armor is also "cursed" preventing removal. The comm:lllds to use weapons are "W" (wear) and "T" (take off). Scrulls Scrolls come with titles in an unknown tongue. After you read a scroll, it disappears from your pack. The command to use a scroll is "r" (read). Potions Potions are labeled by the color of the liquid inside the flask. They disappear after be- ing quaffed. The command to use a scroll is "q" (quaff). StDves and WDnds Staves and wands do the same kinds of things. Staves are identified by a type of wood; wands by a type of metal or.bone. They are generally things you want to do to sometlling over a long distance, so you must point them at what you wish to affect to use them. Some staves are not affected by the direction they are pointed, though. Staves come with multiple magic charges, the number being random, and when they are used up, the staff is just a piece of wood or metal, The command to use a wand or staff is "z" (zap) Rings Rings are very useful items, since they are relatively permanent magic, unlike the usually fleeting effects of potions, scrolls, and staves. Of course, both good and bad rings are more powerful. Most rings also cause you to use up food more rapidly, the rate vary- ing with the type of ring. Rings are differentiated by their stone settings. Some nngs are cursed, preventing removal. This c;m happen to helpful and harmful rings alike. The comm.lnds to use rings are "P" (put on) and "R" (remove). Spcllbooks Spellbooks are tomes of mighty magic. When read with the 'transcribe' command X, thcy plal~t the kno~ledge of a spell hl your head and disappe;lr -- unless tile attempt backfires. Readillg a spellbook can be harmful to your health if it is cursed or the mystic rulles are at too high a level for your thaumaturgic skills! Casting spells can also backfire. If you attempt to cast a spell well above your level, or cast it at a thne when your luck is particularly bad, you can end up wasting both the en- ergy and the time required in casting. The 'x' command lists your current spells, each preceded by the spell points they re- quire. to cast a spell, type 'Z' and answer the questions. Food Food is necessary to keep you going. If you go too long without eating you will faint, and eventually die of starvation. The command to use food is "e" (eat). Options Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of the way nethack should do things, there are a set of options you can set that cause nethack to behave in various dif- ferent ways. Setting the options There are two ways to set the options. The first is with the "O" command of neth- ack; the second is with the "HACKOPTIONS" environment variable. Using the 'O' command When you type "O" in nethack, it queries you for an option string which is parsed as though it were a HACKOPTIONS value. Using the HACKOPTIONS variable The HACKOPTIONS variable is a string containing a comma-separated list of initial values for the various options. Boolean variables can be tumed on by listing their name or turned off by putting a '!' or "no" in front of the name. You can set string variables by fol- lowing the variable name with a colon (this character was chosen over = to avoid conflict with the ring symbol) and the value of the string. The value is terminated by the next comma or the end of string. Thus to set up an environment variable so that 'female' is on, 'pickup' is off, and the name is set to "Blue Meanie", you would enter the command ~ setenv HACKOPTIONS "female,!pickup,name:Blue Meanie" in csh, or $ HACKOPTIONS="female,!pickup,name:Blue Meanie" S export HACKOPTIONS in sh or ksh. Customization options Here is a list of the options and an explanation of what each one is for. The default value for each is enclosed in square brackets. For character string options, input over fif- ty characters will be ignored. Note: some of lhe options lis~ed may be inactive if the g,tme has been subsellcd. standout (default on) use standout where appropriate in display lists. null (default off) don't send padding nulls to the tty. tombstone(default on) display tombstone graphic on death. news (default on) read h;tck news if present. conf (default on) h;tve user confiml attacks on dogs and shopkeepers. silcllt (def;lult on) suppress tenninal beeps pick (dcfault on) pick up things you move onto by default. rawi (def tult off) force raw (not cbreak mode) input. sort (default on) son by type when displaying inventory. packorder(default ' ) [ % ? + / = ! ( * O ' ) specify order to list object types in.The val- ue of this option should be a string Scontaining the symbols for the vari- ous object types. dogname give your (first) dog a name (eg. dogname:Fang). time (default off) show game time in tums on bottom line.restonspace (default off) make spacebar a synonym for '.'. fixinv (default on) an object's inventory letter sticks to it until it's dropped. If this is off, everything after a dropped object shihs letters. male (default on, most hackers are) sets the player-character's sex. fem,tle (default off) sets the player-character's sex (equal-opportunity feature : -))- name (defaults to username) Set the player-character's name. graphics (default ' I -++++ .: <>A I ) \ ~ ~ ) set the graphics symbols for screen displays. The graphics option (if used) should be last, followed by a string of up to 17 chars to be used instead of the default map-drawing chars. Replacing for any of these chars causes it to be replaced in the dungeon level displays, except that the five instances of + are used for top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right and door squares respective- ly. The last four characters are required only if the conesponding op- tions are configured in. endgame Endgame is followed by a description of what parts of the scorelist you want to see. You rnight for example say: 'endgame:own scores/5 top scores/4 around my score'. Scorin~ Nethack usually maintains a list of the top scoring people or scores on your machine. Depending on how it is set up, it can post either the top scores or the top players. In the latter case, eac'n account on the machine can post only one non-winning score on this list. If you score higher than someone else on this list, or better your previous score on the list, you will be inserted in the proper place under your current name. How many scores are kept can also be set up by whoever installs it on your machine. r If you quit the game, you get out with all of your gold intact. If, however, you get killed in the Dungeons of Doom, your body is forwarded to your next-of-kin, along with 90% of your gold; ten percent of your gold is kept by the Dungeons' wizard as a fee. This should make you consider whether you want to take one last hit at that monster and pos- sibly live, or quit and thus stop with whatever you have. If you quit, you do get all your gold, but if you swing and live, you might fmd more. If you just want to see what the current top players/ games list is, you can type % nethack -s Credits The original hack game was modeled on the Berkeley UNIX 'rogue' game. Large por- tions of this paper were shamelessly cribbed from A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael C. Toy and Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold. NetHack is the product of literally dozens of people's work. A list of some of those who made major additions to the game appears below: Jay Fenlason wrote the original release of "Hack", with help from Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne. Andries Brouwer did a major re-write on the program and published (at least) two versions to the Usenet. Don G. Kneller ported the 1.0.3 version of Hack to the PC, creating PC-Hack. The following folks didn't actually re-write the game, or port it to a new machine, but have made significant contributions to the playability of the game: ¥ ins_akaa@jhunix.UUCP (Ken Arromdee) ¥ sn@ucla-cs (Scott R. Turner) ¥ gil@cornell.UUCP (Gil Neiger) ¥ ericb@hplsla.UUCP (Eric Backus) ¥ mike@genat.UUCP (Mike Stephenson) ¥ eric@snark (Eric S. Raymond) You too can enhance this game and join the hallowed ranks of the net.benefactors. 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