From rbotting@wiley.csusb.edu Mon Jun 13 12:25 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from wiley.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA07594; Mon, 13 Jun 94 12:25:21 PDT Received: by wiley.csusb.edu (5.67a/1.34) id AA26201; Mon, 13 Jun 1994 12:25:01 -0700 Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 12:25:01 -0700 From: rbotting@wiley.csusb.edu ("Dr. Richard Botting") Message-Id: <199406131925.AA26201@wiley.csusb.edu> To: dick@silicon.csci.csusb.edu Subject: (fwd) Roguelike Games Info and FTP Sites (FAQ) Newsgroups: rec.games.roguelike.misc Content-Type: text Content-Length: 18723 Status: R Path: csus.edu!csulb.edu!nic-nac.CSU.net!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!yeshua.marcam.com!MathWorks.Com!uhog.mit.edu!grapevine.lcs.mit.edu!bronze.lcs.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: buglady@bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Aliza R. Panitz) Newsgroups: rec.games.roguelike.announce,rec.games.roguelike.misc,rec.games.roguelike.moria,rec.games.roguelike.nethack,rec.games.roguelike.rogue,rec.games.roguelike.angband,rec.answers,news.answers Subject: Roguelike Games Info and FTP Sites (FAQ) Supersedes: Followup-To: rec.games.roguelike.misc Date: 13 Jun 1994 00:14:08 -0400 Organization: Game Addicts Anonymous Lines: 426 Sender: buglady@bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Aliza R. Panitz) Approved: buglady@bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Aliza), news-answers-request@mit.edu Distribution: world Expires: 4 Jul 1994 04:14:06 GMT Message-ID: Reply-To: rgra@bronze.lcs.mit.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: bronze.lcs.mit.edu Summary: General description of roguelike computer adventure games. List of features and FTP sites for all known roguelike games, including Rogue, Hack, NetHack, Moria, Larn, Omega, Angband, etc. Keywords: roguelike rogue hack nethack larn moria angband omega games dungeon Xref: csus.edu rec.games.roguelike.announce:86 rec.games.roguelike.misc:719 rec.games.roguelike.moria:44 rec.games.roguelike.nethack:151 rec.games.roguelike.rogue:10 rec.games.roguelike.angband:6451 rec.answers:5811 news.answers:23813 Archive-name: games/roguelike Last-modified: 94-06-08 Posting-Frequency: weakly (every seven to nine days) Roguelike Adventure Games ------------------------- 0.) News flashes 1.) What are the roguelike games? 2.) List of major roguelike games 3.) List of minor roguelike games 4.) List of "multi-user roguelike games" 5.) What are *not* roguelike games? 6.) How to get files by FTP 7.) About this FAQ... ----------------------------------------------------- 0.) News flashes 06/08/94: ADMIN: The three new newsgroups rec.games.roguelike.moria, rec.games.roguelike.nethack, rec.games.roguelike.rogue, have replaced rec.games.moria, rec.games.hack, rec.games.rogue. 06/01/94: OMEGA: Mac version at sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac/game 05/31/94: CROSSFIRE: Version 0.91.1 05/05/94: ANGBAND: Unix version 2.5.8; compiles on VMS also. 04/13/94: ANGBAND/MORIA: Unofficial variants of Angband and Moria live in and under ftp.cis.ksu.edu:/pub/upload [This has been true for a long time; I just never got around to mentioning it in the FAQ.] ------------------------------------------------ 1.) What are the roguelike games? A long time ago, on a computer system far, far, away, there was rogue. Players wandered a dungeon, hacking and slashing at monsters, gaining treasures, becoming more powerful, and living their D&D nightmares. Rogue was a good game; people still play it. It was even distributed with many copies of Unix. But rogue is a relatively simple and limited game compared to most of the descendants it has spawned... Although the common features of rogue and its many descendants are 'obvious' to many people, they are difficult to describe in simple terms. All of the games mentioned below are single-user, fantasy role-playing computer games, generally set in a dungeon, run with a simple graphic interface. In all of the games, the player controls a single character, who roams around getting more powerful, in order to fulfill a difficult quest. Sword-and-sorcery rule the day. Logistically, they're all free games; executables, and generally sources, are available by FTP. The similarities end there, though. More information can be found in the 6 UseNet newsgroups dedicated to rogue and its descendants - rec.games.roguelike.nethack, rec.games.roguelike.moria, rec.games.roguelike.rogue, rec.games.roguelike.angband, rec.games.roguelike.misc, and rec.games.roguelike.announce (alt.games.omega belongs in this list, but is a poorly propagated group, which many readers cannot access.) Below are listed basic information about all roguelike games known to me, in alphabetical order. I've listed the main ftp site(s) for each game; however, it's polite to use mirror sites, if closer to you, especially if you're not in the same continent. ------------------------------------------------ 2.) List of major roguelike games Listed below are the 'major' roguelike games. Please note that my definitions of 'major' versus 'minor' games are pretty arbitrary. In most cases, games without a well-known ftp site for sources get to be listed as 'minor', whatever else their qualifications may be. (All of my information comes from trolling the various newsgroups; if your favorite game isn't listed, send mail to rgra@bronze.lcs.mit.edu) GAME: Angband Release: 2.5.8 (Unix/VMS), 1.4.0 (PC), 1.0 (Mac), 2.0.2 (Unofficial Mac) Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.angband FTP Site: ftp.cis.ksu.edu:/pub/Games/Angband {129.130.10.80} or mail 'help' to mailserver@cis.ksu.edu FAQ Avail: cteague@cs.umb.edu (Charles F. Teague II) Spoilers: At the ftp site. /pub/Games/Angband/doc Platforms: Unix, PC, Mac, Amiga, Atari, ... Features: infinite random dungeon. unique monsters and artifacts. Misc: Still somewhat close to Moria in feel. Variants: BAngband (obsolete), FAngband, SAngband (0.8) Unofficial variants live in ftp.cis.ksu.edu:/pub/upload GAME: Moria Release: 5.5.0 Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.moria (was rec.games.moria) FTP Site: ftp.cis.ksu.edu:/pub/Games/Moria/* or mail 'help' to mailserver@cis.ksu.edu FAQ Avail: grabiner@math.harvard.edu (David Grabiner) Posted twice monthly. Spoilers: At the ftp site. Platforms: Unix, PC, Mac, VMS, Amiga, Atari, ... Features: Infinite dungeon. Restocking stores. 6 classes/8 races. Misc: What is generally discussed is more properly called Umoria Variants: PMoria, IMoria (U. Wash only, rumored gone), Morgul, Druid Moria, Purple X (Mac); see also Angband, BOSS. GAME: NetHack Release: 3.1.3 Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (was rec.games.hack) FTP Site: linc.cis.upenn.edu:/pub/NH3.1/* {130.91.6.8} FAQ Avail: seth@cie-2.uoregon.edu, posted weekly (FAQ and "Spoiler FAQ") Spoilers: ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.games/volume13/nh-spoilers3/* ftp.krl.caltech.edu:/pub/nethack/* (Reed spoilers, etc) Platforms: Unixes, Mac, PC, NT, OS/2, Amiga, VMS, Atari, X Features: Everything including the kitchen sink Misc: ? Variants: NetHack--, ChrHack ------------------------------------------------ 3.) List of minor roguelike games Listed below are what I know of the 'minor' roguelike games. In most cases, my information is pretty skimpy, and way out-of-date. GAME: BOSS Release: 2.0 Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.moria (was rec.games.moria) FTP Site: ftp.cis.ksu.edu:/pub/Games/Moria/BOSS/* FAQ Avail: At the ftp site Spoilers: At the ftp site Platforms: VMS; Mac (beta); Unix port Real Soon Now Features: Cyberpunk Moria Misc: "A game you can win in a weekend" Mac beta version supported by markv@isy.liu.se GAME: Hack Release: ? (1.0.2, 1.0.3, 5.2 are all floating around) Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.nethack or rec.games.roguelike.misc FTP Site: check comp.sources.games (or net.sources) archive sites FAQ Avail: No Spoilers: ? Platforms: Unix, PCs, Atari ST, probably others Features: And your little dog too! Misc: Distributed with some Unixes GAME: Hack Lite Release: 2.8.1 Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.nethack or rec.games.roguelike.misc or comp.sys.amiga.games FTP Site: wuarchive.wustl.edu (or any AmiNET site) /pub/aminet/game/role/HackLite2_1.lha (binaries only, source not available) FAQ Avail: No Spoilers: No Platforms: Amiga, MS-DOS available when someone provides an FTP site Features: graphics; contact ponds!squink!biljir@dg-rtp.dg.com (Alan Beale) Misc: "NetHack made simple" GAME: Keep Release: ? Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.misc FTP Site: ? FAQ Avail: ? Spoilers: ? Platforms: ? Features: Escape from a keep, starting in the garden Misc: Last sighted at UCSC in 1991 GAME: Larn R Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.misc FTP Site: ftp.uu.net:/usenet/comp.sources.games/volume11/larn (192.48.96.9) wuarchive.wustl.edu:/pub/msdos/games/adventures/larn123e.zoo nic.funet.fi:/pub/msdos/games/adventures/larn123e.zoo atari.archive.umich.edu:/? FAQ Avail: ? Spoilers: ? Platforms: PCs, Unix, Atari ST, Amiga, more? Features: Time-limited quest; no character classes; variable difficulty Misc: Good beginner game. Executables I've seen have exploitable bugs. Ularn is a descendant of Larn, adding character classes. GAME: Omega Release: 0.79 patch level 1 (94/03/09), "0.75-derived" (Mac) Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.misc, alt.games.omega FTP Site: world.std.com:/src/games/omega3.tar.Z (0.75) monu1.cc.monash.edu.au:/pub/omega/omegav0.79.tar.gz /pub/omega/omega79p1.zip sumex-aim.stanford.edu:/info-mac/game/omega-075.hqx FAQ Avail: ? Spoilers: Occasionally posted. (by whom???) Platforms: Unix, PC, Amiga, Atari ST, MS-Windows, OS/2, Mac Features: Multi-dungeons; Fractional speeds; Quests; Personality Misc: Now maintained by Rob Rendell (rendell@cs.monash.edu.au) Rewrite by Tom O Breton (tob@world.std.com) in progress. GAME: PMoria Release: ? Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.moria (was rec.games.moria) FTP Site: ? FAQ Avail: No Spoilers: No Platforms: ? Features: More classes/races/spells/monsters. Quiver slot. Misc: Descended from UMoria 5.5 Maintained by jls11@po.CWRU.Edu (John L. Spetz) GAME: Rogomatic Release: ? Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.rogue FTP Site: ftp.uu.net:/pub/games/rogomatic.tar.Z FAQ Avail: ? Spoilers: This *is* a spoiler! Platforms: ? Features: Plays rogue for you! Well! Misc: *Very* version-dependant, apparently GAME: Rogue Release: 5.3 ? Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.rogue (was rec.games.rogue) FTP Site: Only "officially" released as VAX binaries with BSD Unix ftp.uu.net:usenet/comp.sources.games/volume1/rogue (Stoehr clone) macbeth.cogsci.ed.ac.uk:/pub/rogue.zip } 1984 PC port (Lane) ftp.digex.net:/pub/access/buglady/rogue.zip } v 1.1 Mr.McTesq FAQ Avail: ? Spoilers: ? Platforms: Unix, PC, Atari ST, Amiga (by Epyx), more Features: ? Misc: This is where it all started; urogue and srogue and bugs, oh my! ------------------------------------------------ 4.) List of "multi-user roguelike games" Listed below are "multi-user roguelike games". Yeah, yeah, I know, I said at the top that all roguelike games were single-player. I lied. GAME: Myth Release: 1.06 Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.misc FTP Site: ftp.iesd.auc.dk:/pub/games/myth/myth-1.06.tar.gz (source) ftp.iesd.auc.dk:/pub/games/myth/binary/sparc.tar.Z (SPARC executable) FAQ Avail: No Spoilers: No Platforms: SPARC binary, source should be portable Features: "proof of concept for a multiplayer roguelike game" Misc: Latest revisions by Per Abrahamsen GAME: Phantasia Release: 3.1.3 (June 1986) Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.misc FTP Site: Archie sez: emx.cc.utexas.edu:/pub/mnt/source/games/phantasia.tar.Z ftp.cfi.waseda.ac.jp:/pub3/bsd-sources/NET2/var/games/phantasia/* qiclab.scn.rain.com:/pub/games/phantasia.tar.Z ugle.unit.no:/pub/unix/bsd-sources/games/phantasia/* 10 bytes of fame for locating a site with working code... FAQ Avail: ? Spoilers: ? Platforms: Berkeley Unix Features: Multiuser game. Misc: ? GAME: CrossFire Release: crossfire-0.91.1 (bundled in crossedit map editor at some sites) Newsgroup: rec.games.roguelike.misc FTP Site: ftp.world.net:/pub/crossfire (192.243.32.18) yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au:/pub/crossfire (130.194.9.1) ftp.ifi.uio.no:/pub/crossfire (129.240.64.2) FAQ Avail: No Spoilers: With release (in doc sub directory) and 'around the Web' Platforms: X-windows under Unix Features: Multiplayer graphical arcade/adventure game Misc: Supported by master@rahul.net (Mark Wedel) Servers: madhatter.ws.cc.cmu.edu 13326 sonja.math.virginia.edu 13326 fermat.dartmouth.edu 13326 corpse.ecst.csuchico.edu 13326 scotch.berkeley.edu 13326 WWW: http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk:/Crossfire/ http://www.ifi.uio.no:/~frankj/crossfire/ http://web.cs.city.ac.uk:3000/games/crossfire/crossfire.html ------------------------------------------------ 5.) What are *not* roguelike games? The following games have been reported as being roguelike in previous versions of this list, but further information has shown that they are not: Wanderer: a box-pushing puzzle like sokoban. (In c.s.g archives...) Conquer, xconq: Multiplayer strategic wargame (cs.bu.edu, jyu.fi) There are a lot of things that aren't quite in the category of roguelike games, but that keep creeping into the roguelike newsgroups... For information about commercial games like Ultima, Wizardry, etc.: comp.sys.*.games[.*] For information about playing D&D or other fantasy roleplaying games with other human beings, face-to-face or by e-mail: rec.games.frp.* For information about Multi-User-Dungeon games on the Internet: rec.games.mud.* For information about other games to play when you feel like bashing innocent bits and bytes: rec.games.video.* Finally, there are text-mode puzzle games, like Adventure, Zork, and the whole family of Infocom text adventure games. If you want to *play*: rec.games.int-fiction If you'd rather *write* them: rec.arts.int-fiction If what you're looking for isn't listed above, don't post to the roguelike groups - you'll just annoy the Ancient Dragons - try: rec.games.misc ------------------------------------------------ 6.) How to get files by FTP Pretty much everything mentioned here is available by anonymous FTP. FAQ lists cross-posted to news.answers and rec.answers can be gotten from rtfm.mit.edu (18.181.0.24), under /pub/usenet/news.answers or under /pub/usenet/more.specific.group.name "anonymous FTP" is just a way for files to be stored where anyone on the Internet can retrieve them over the Net. For example, to retrieve the latest version of the Moria FAQ, do the following: > ftp rtfm.mit.edu /* connect to the site; a message follows */ > anonymous /* type this when it asks for your name */ > /* type your address as the password */ > cd /pub/usenet /* go to the directory you want to be in */ > cd rec.games.moria /* one level down (no slash). */ > dir /* look at what's there */ > get r.g.m_F_A_Q /* get the file; case-sensitive */ > quit /* stop this mysterious thing */ If your FTP program complains that it doesn't know where the site you want to use is, type the numerical address instead of the sitename: > ftp 18.181.0.24 /* connect with numerical address */ If you don't have ftp access, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the single word "help" in the body of the message. Getting binary files (executables, or any compressed files) is only slightly more difficult. You need to set binary mode inside FTP before you transfer the file. > binary /* set binary transfer mode */ > ascii /* set back to text transfer mode */ FAQs and spoiler lists are generally ascii files; everything else is generally binary files. Some common extensions on binary files in archive sites are: .Z Compressed; extract with uncompress .tar.Z Compressed 'tape archive'; uncompress then untar or tar -xvf .gz or .z Gnu gzip; use gunzip (prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu/gzip.*.tar) .tgz Gnu gzip of a tar archive; read the gzip man page. .sit (Mac) StufIt archive .zip (PC) Extract with Zip or Unzip .zoo (PC) Yet another archive/compress program .lzh (Unix and PC) Yet another... .arj (PC) and another... .lha (Amiga) Common archive format. .exe (PC) Self-extracting archives - just execute them. [Note: sometimes non-archived executables are stored.] .uue or .UUE Transfer as text file; use uudecode to convert to binary .hqx (Mac) BinHex format; transfer in text mode Generic help can be found in the FAQs of comp.binaries. for how to transfer, extract, and virus-check binary files. (At rtfm.mit.edu) If you can't FTP from your site, use one of the following ftp-by-mail servers: ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com ftpmail@src.doc.ic.ac.uk ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr For complete instructions, send a message reading "help" to the server. Some FTP sites, such as ftp.cis.ksu.edu, have dedicated mailservers that will send you files only from that site; it causes less network load to use local FTP servers where they exist. If you don't know exactly what you're looking for, or exactly where it is, there are programs and servers that can help you. For more info, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the body of the message reading send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources ------------------------------------------------ 7.) About this FAQ... That's all, folks. This FAQ is updated frequently; the most recent version can always be found in rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/games/roguelike Additions and corrections can be sent to rgra@bronze.lcs.mit.edu Many thanks to the people who send me info! This entire FAQ is copyrighted by the author, Aliza R. Panitz. Permission is granted to archive or redistribute it, provided that (1) there is no charge, and (2) the file remains intact, including this copyright notice. Write me for permission to use excerpts. -- rbotting@wiley.csusb.edu. rbotting::=`Dr. Richard J. Botting`, wiley::=`Faculty EMail System`, csusb::=`California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA`. Aka::=`dick@doc.csci.csusb.edu`. Disclaimer::=`CSUSB may or may not agree with this message`. Copyright(1994)::=`Copy and use as you wish as long as you include this copyright and signature`. Send EMail to gradinfo@silicon.csci.csusb.edu for info on a new Masters degree in Computer Science! From rbotting@wiley.csusb.edu Mon Jun 13 12:26 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from wiley.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA07603; Mon, 13 Jun 94 12:26:32 PDT Received: by wiley.csusb.edu (5.67a/1.34) id AA26216; Mon, 13 Jun 1994 12:26:13 -0700 Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 12:26:13 -0700 From: rbotting@wiley.csusb.edu ("Dr. Richard Botting") Message-Id: <199406131926.AA26216@wiley.csusb.edu> To: dick@silicon.csci.csusb.edu Subject: (fwd) rogue_hints Newsgroups: rec.games.roguelike.rogue Content-Type: text Content-Length: 21572 Status: R Path: csus.edu!csulb.edu!nic-nac.CSU.net!usc!math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!not-for-mail From: abw@mango.mef.ki.se (Anders Wennerberg) Newsgroups: rec.games.roguelike.rogue Subject: rogue_hints Date: 13 Jun 1994 06:46:05 -0500 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway Lines: 456 Sender: nobody@cs.utexas.edu Message-ID: <9406131147.AA19380@mango.mef.ki.se> NNTP-Posting-Host: news.cs.utexas.edu Hello all Rogue-lovers, here are some facts I have gathered, thanks to many different persons that should be mentioned but I have been lazy..., sorry about it. However, most of the facts come from Mark Jackson. I guess some of the facts might be considered as spoilers, just as a small warning. All facts might not 100% correct; further, your version may vary. Have a good time playing Rogue. /Anders B ______________________________________________________________ | Anders Wennerberg | The normal disclaimer... /o_ Karolinska Institutet | Tel: +46 (0)8 7286814 | _)Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics | Fax: +46 (0)8 326505 \o S-171 77 STOCKHOLM | E-mail: abw@mef.ki.se | Sweden "Var redo" "Alltid redo" B "Be prepared" "Always prepared" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have a copy of PC Rogue which is quite good... save and restore work, for example. The title screen says: Rogue: The Adventure Game The game of Rogue was originated by: Michael C. Toy and Kenneth C.R.C. Arnold Adapted for the IBM PC by: Jon Lane Significant Design Contributions by: Glenn Wichman and Scores of Others ******************** Public Domain Software -1984 Not to be Sold ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE SCROLLS Scroll name Message/Effect Vorpalize weapon Your weapon gives off a flash of intense white light Extra enchantment & attunes to a random monster. Enchant weapon Your weapon glows blue for a moment Weapon goes up one hit point (also removes curse) Enchant armor Your armor glows faintly for a moment Armor class goes up one notch (also removes curse) Monster confusion Your hands begin to glow red Hitting monster makes him confused Aggravate monster You hear a high pitched humming noise Causes monsters to seek and attack you Remove curse You feel as if somebody is watching over you Removes curses from items you're using Magic mapping This scroll has a map on it Completes the map for entire level Hold monster You hear a faint cry of anguish in the distance Freezes all monsters in room Scare monster You hear maniacal laughter in the distance Drop & stand on it. None will attack Identify This scroll is an identify scroll Allows/Forces you to identify any item you carry Sleep You fall asleep Briefly puts you to sleep so monsters may find you Teleportation As you read the scroll, it vanishes (standard) You teleport to another location & get confused Create monster As you read the scroll, it vanishes (standard) New monster appears in adjacent square Food detection Your nose tingles as you sense food Food on your level will be highlighted Blank paper There is nothing on it to read Does nothing THE POTIONS Potion name Message/Effect Confusion Wait, what's going on? Huh? What? Who? You become confused, can't control your movement Paralysis You can't move You stay frozen momentarily (can use as weapon) See invisible This potion tastes like slime mold juice You see invisible phantoms if nearby Raise level You suddenly feel much more skillful Rank goes up one (save for later/harder ranks) Magic detection You sense the presence of magic Magical items on current level are highlighted Monster detection No message displayed All monsters on a level are briefly highlighted Gain strength You feel stronger. What bulging muscles! Strength goes up 1 point Restore strength Hey! this tastes great! You feel warm all over Restores strength to current maximum Extra healing You begin to feel much better Restores many hit points Healing You feel better Restores a few hit points Poison You feel sick Strength goes down some Haste self You feel yourself moving much faster Increases your ability to damage/avoid monsters Blindness A cloak of darkness falls around you Makes everything dark/invisible (heal potion fixes) Quench thirst This potion has an extremely dull taste Does nothing THE RINGS Ring name Effect Aggravate monster Causes monsters to seek and attack you (cursed) Maintain armor Protects armor from Aquator attacks Sustain strength Protects strength from Rattlesnake attacks See invisible Causes Phantoms to be visible Slow digestion Digests your food more slowly. Requires less eating Teleportation Changes your location randomly (cursed) Increase damage Raises or lowers damage you do depending on +/- Dexterity Raises or lowers dexterity depending on +/- value Add strength Raises or lowers strength depending on +/- value Protection Raises or lowers armor class depending on +/- value Regeneration Recovers lost hit points much faster Searching Hidden objects (traps/doors) easier to locate Stealth Keeps sleeping monsters asleep as you walk by Adornment Does nothing THE STAFFS Staff name Effect Drain life Divides hits between all in room (including you) Light Lights up a dark room Cancellation Cancels out a monsters special power Haste monster Causes a monster to speed up Slow monster Causes a monster to slow down Teleport away Causes a monster to be teleported away from you Teleport to Teleports monster in direct line of sight to a square directly adjacent to you. Lightning Shoots a bolt of lightning Polymorph Changes one monster into another (maybe worse) Magic Missle Fires a magic missle at a monster (medium light blow) Striking Strikes a monster (heavy blow) Fire Shoots a bolt of flame (usually misses) Cold Shoots a sheet of ice (randomly freezes monster) Nothing Does nothing OTHER GALACTIC STUFF Amulet is available for the first time on level 26. Once it is seen, if it is dropped or not picked up, it is lost forever. Every item you pick up in Rogue is worth something. If you are on your way out, your score will increase if you drop all items of lesser value like scrolls, potions and food, and try to replace them with items of greater value like rings and staffs. Remember that not all magical items are greater magic. For instance, the staff of drain life is fine if you are attacking one weak creature like a nymph, but if several monsters are in the room, especially several powerful ones, it becomes useless. Likewise, while the Potions of blindness, confusion, and paralysis can be thrown at monsters, their effects are usually minimal, so if you don't have enough room for them in your pack, dump them at the first opportunity. Once a scare monster scroll is dropped, it will be destroyed when you try to pick it up again, so use it only in life or death situations. You can use it again by grabbing all you can hold and then standing on it again. You will not be able to pick it up, but it will protect you again for as long as you stand on it. Most scrolls can be identified by the message you get when you read them. Some will not display this message in certain circumstances. For instance, if you read the food detection scroll when no food is available on your current level, it will merely vanish. The same applies to the hold monster scroll when no monsters are in the room. For this reason, and because some of the scrolls are much to valuable to waste until they are needed, it is often wise to use an identify scroll when possible. Only use one Vorpalize scroll per weapon. Vorpalizing the same weapon twice will overcharge & destroy it. If you find more than one Vorpalize scroll, use the second on your bow. It vastly increases the damage done by the arrows. A Vorpalized weapon is attuned to a random monster. Using the identify scroll, you can find out which monster, or if you simply wield the weapon, it will give off an intense flash when you're attacked by that particular monster. You can use the Vorpalized weapon to Zap and instantly kill that monster, but this magic only works once. Many monsters have special powers. The Rattlesnake can drain your strength, the Aquator can deplete your armor (but not damage you physically, so it is often most wise to remove your armor while traveling in levels 10 to 15), Medusa's gaze has the same effect as a confusion spell, Ice monsters throw balls of ice and Dragons breathe flame. Some of these special powers can be countered with magical rings, but some, like the Vampire who saps your vitality, can't. There are the obvious ways of dealing with enemies like this, with a telport staff, a polymorph staff, a scare monster scroll, but the optimum method is with a staff of cancellation that will cancel out their special power. This is because the scare monster scroll is too valuable in a massive attack, the polymorph sometimes takes you out of the frying pan and dumps you neatly into the fire, and the teleport staff only gets rid of them till they catch up with you later. To gain the best advantage of magical items, gather as much as you can and save the game. At this point, copy a spare saved game onto another disk. Restore the saved game and identify all items. Potions can usually be identified by using the Quaff command. Scrolls can be identified either by paying close attention to the message that is displayed when reading it and matching it to the scroll table previously listed in this document or by using an identify scroll on them. Rings, weapons and most staffs must be identified with an identify scroll. Armor can be identified by wearing it. Identify as much as you can and write it down on paper. Quit the game and either use a restoring utility like Norton's or copy the copy you made when you originally saved the game back onto the master disk. Restore the saved game and use the Call command to name everything you have identified. Drop items known to be useless like cursed weapons and armor, then save the game and repeat this procedure until everything you have has been identified. You will usually end up with more than you can carry when using this method, so be very careful about what items you keep. Throw away items of marginal use like the poison or confusion potions and get rid of anything completely useless like the create monster scroll or staff of haste monster. Keep items of possible future use like the ring of teleportation (you may find a remove curse scroll) as long as possible, as they become very valuable when you are running from the really powerful creatures like the griffins. CHEATS DEALING WITH THE MONSTERS The monster sectors are 245 & 246 on the disk, they are 13 & 14 relative to the ROGUE.SAV file. After each monster, is the relative hit damage it can do to you. For instance, the 0d0/0d0 after the Aquator indicates that it is a medium level monster that is found starting around level 10 and not seen much higher than level 15. You can tell that it's a medium level monster because there are two sets of numbers. The high level monsters have 3 sets of numbers and the low level ones have 1 set. The 0's mean that the Aquator's hits do you no physical damage. The number after the hobgoblin is 1d8, which means that it can do up to 8 points of damage per hit. The series of numbers following the griffin is 4d3/3d5/4d3. I'm not sure how this is figured, but I assume it means that the griffin (if it hits you) does a minimum of 11 damage points and a maximum of 22 per hit. As you can see, this is a very bad character. However, he can be made somewhat less than bad by changing that first 4d3 to a 0d0 and following it with 8 pairs of hex 0's. This won't make him easier to damage because it seems to take about the same number of hits to destroy all the monsters, but it will certainly make his hits less devastating to you. THE HIGH SCORE SECTOR The high score sector is 231 on the disk, it is of course, relative sector 1 to the ROGUE.SCR file. There are 10 records. Up to 23 bytes are allowed for a name, and everything else is stored relative to the end of the name. For instance, the 27th byte after the end of the name is your final rank. The 30th and 31st bytes relative to the end of the name indicate how much gold you ended up with (in other words, your score). These two bytes are stored in a hexidecimal LSB/MSB format. The 32nd relative byte indicates whether you were killed in the maze and whether you died with honors (found the amulet). PERSONAL INFORMATION Your character name is stored toward the end of sector 231 on the disk, sector 1 relative to the ROGUE.SCR file. It is stored in ASCII and can be overwritten with any utility that allows you to make ASCII changes to the sector. Personal information about your character is stored in sector 292 on the disk, or sector 60 relative to the ROGUE.SAV file. You can raise your hit or strength points briefly by raising the appropriate numbers, but the program retains them elsewhere so they revert to normal whenever the program makes a change in their status. I'm trying to find out where else they are stored, but have had no success so far because they are not in an ASCII format. NOTE: When I refer to a sector being somewhere "on the disk", I am of course, referring to where the file is on my own disk. Use Norton utilities to find where the file resides on your disk and then use the sector number relative to the file to find the sector you need. Hints provided by Stephen King, 10300 Magnolia Ave. Riverside, CA. 92505 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MONSTER LIST A-Aquator J-Jabberwock S-Snake B-Bat K-Kestral T-Troll C-Centaur L-Leprachaun U-Ur-vile D-Dragon M-Medusa V-Vampire E-Emu N-Nymph W-Wraith F-Venus Flytrap O-Orc X-Xeroc G-Griffin P-Phanton Y-Yeti H-Hobgoblin Q-Quagga Z-Zombie I-Ice Monster R-Rattlesnake ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DIFFERENT KINDS OF INFORMATIONS In the version I played, there were two types of magical items, good and bad. The good ones showed up as a dollar sign '$' and the bad ones showed up as a plus sign '+'. So just rename the bad rings as bad and forget them...identify the good ones. Vorpalized a bow? Arrows in PC Version. Most of the arrows got destroyed, and you still only had one zap. For completeness, I'll point out that a dagger is 1d6 if wielded (1d4 is when it's thrown) and a spear is 2d3/1d6. A mace is 2d4, a long sword 3d4 and a two-handed sword 4d4. So an average basic hit from a mace is 5, from a long sword 7.5, and from a two-handed sword 10. In this sense a two-handed sword is equivalent to a +5 mace, but the distribution of damage will be different (the +5 mace scores will tend to be less variable). The chance of hitting doesn't seem to depend on the weapon type. It varies with experience level, strength (slightly) and opponent's armour class. Drink them all as soon as you find them, at full hit points of course, for the permanent hit point increase. Same with gain strength and restore You'd want to save one potion of healing in case of a potion of blindness, though. ????? You can dig new tunnels by applying a pickaxe where there is currently no tunnel when you are locked in. Probadly not in PC-version. The manifestations of the wild magic scroll. Probadly not in PC-version? Sometimes it overwhelms you, and drags you down to the next level. Additionally, sometimes it.... ...strews the contents of your pack all over the level you read it on. ...identifies everything in your pack. ...kills all the monsters on that level. ...enchants everything you are wearing/wielding. Some monsters are slow; you get two actions to their one. So... hit, and then step back. They use their attack to get close to you... hit, and step back... they don't get a chance to land a blow. And then there's hit-hit-hit-run_away... This is what mazes, especially those with multiple closed loops, are good for. You can defeat a troll by retreating into a maze (in case he doesn't follow); or finding a fairly tight closed loop (small so you don't find wandering monsters blocking your way) and then hit/get hurt/run away to recover hp/hit until the troll dies or you do (normally of boredom).... The Art of Rogue lies in knowing _when_ and _how_ to run away.... Use "rogue/r" to restore a game that was saved to rogue.sav You should also be able to say "rogue savefilename" if you saved to a different file. the Wizard's password (?) or bathtub or friends type the Wizard's password? In the PC-Clone PD version, I think it's control-P Make each ration last as long as you can. When you eat a ration, you are fine for a while (2000 turns, I think), then you get hungry (for about 500 turns?), and then you faint. Don't eat anything til you've fainted at least once. Of course, use common sense here. If a big nasty is chasing you and you are about to faint, it is wise to eat a ration on the run. Fainting for even three turns could kill you. You're guaranteed that there will be at least one food every 4 levels. Just an additional comment - in my version of Rogue wearing rings causes you to use up food faster (except for slow digestion) I find that I can't leave rings on for an extended period of time unless I have managed to stockpile some food first! Start the game with -r option ( ROGUE -R ) if you saved it with the default name, rogue.sav. Or, ROGUE savefile ( "savefile" is the name you saved ) will do. If you WANT a monster in a room to wake up, you can "slam the door" by leaving the doorway and entering again. This helps if the room is dark and you don't want to wander into the middle of a bunch of monsters (but you're willing to take them on at the doorway). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Roguelet's ABC from G. L. Sicherman (gls@cnvnja.jazz.att.com) B Flitter flutter in the air, How I wonder why you're there! Chasing bats is not much fun-- The worst is when you're killed by one. --The Roguelet's ABC E Think again before you try To impale a FLOATING EYE. If you miss one with your sword, You may soon be very bored. --The Roguelet's ABC U There's a U - a unicorn! Run right up and rub its horn. Look at all those points you're losing! UMBER HULKS are so confusing. --The Roguelet's ABC T One big monster, he called TROLL. He don't rock and he don't roll, Drink no wine and smoke no stogies; He just Love To Eat Them Roguies. --The Roguelet's ABC -- rbotting@wiley.csusb.edu. rbotting::=`Dr. Richard J. Botting`, wiley::=`Faculty EMail System`, csusb::=`California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA`. Aka::=`dick@doc.csci.csusb.edu`. Disclaimer::=`CSUSB may or may not agree with this message`. Copyright(1994)::=`Copy and use as you wish as long as you include this copyright and signature`. Send EMail to gradinfo@silicon.csci.csusb.edu for info on a new Masters degree in Computer Science!