11 A Guide to the Mazes of Menace
12 (Guidebook for NetHack)
15 Original version - Eric S. Raymond
16 (Edited and expanded for 3.6 by Mike Stephenson and others)
22 This version of the game is special in a particular way.
23 Near the end of the development of 3.6, one of the significant
24 inspirations for many of the humorous and fun features found in
25 the game, author Terry Pratchett, passed away. We have dedicated
26 this version of the game in his memory.
30 Recently, you have begun to find yourself unfulfilled and
31 distant in your daily occupation. Strange dreams of prospecting,
32 stealing, crusading, and combat have haunted you in your sleep
33 for many months, but you aren't sure of the reason. You wonder
34 whether you have in fact been having those dreams all your life,
35 and somehow managed to forget about them until now. Some nights
36 you awaken suddenly and cry out, terrified at the vivid recollec-
37 tion of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be lurk-
38 ing behind every corner of the dungeon in your dream. Could
39 these details haunting your dreams be real? As each night pass-
40 es, you feel the desire to enter the mysterious caverns near the
41 ruins grow stronger. Each morning, however, you quickly put the
42 idea out of your head as you recall the tales of those who en-
43 tered the caverns before you and did not return. Eventually you
44 can resist the yearning to seek out the fantastic place in your
45 dreams no longer. After all, when other adventurers came back
46 this way after spending time in the caverns, they usually seemed
47 better off than when they passed through the first time. And who
48 was to say that all of those who did not return had not just kept
52 Asking around, you hear about a bauble, called the Amulet of
53 Yendor by some, which, if you can find it, will bring you great
54 wealth. One legend you were told even mentioned that the one who
55 finds the amulet will be granted immortality by the gods. The
56 amulet is rumored to be somewhere beyond the Valley of Gehennom,
57 deep within the Mazes of Menace. Upon hearing the legends, you
58 immediately realize that there is some profound and undiscovered
59 reason that you are to descend into the caverns and seek out that
60 amulet of which they spoke. Even if the rumors of the amulet's
73 powers are untrue, you decide that you should at least be able to
74 sell the tales of your adventures to the local minstrels for a
75 tidy sum, especially if you encounter any of the terrifying and
76 magical creatures of your dreams along the way. You spend one
77 last night fortifying yourself at the local inn, becoming more
78 and more depressed as you watch the odds of your success being
79 posted on the inn's walls getting lower and lower.
82 In the morning you awake, collect your belongings, and set
83 off for the dungeon. After several days of uneventful travel,
84 you see the ancient ruins that mark the entrance to the Mazes of
85 Menace. It is late at night, so you make camp at the entrance
86 and spend the night sleeping under the open skies. In the morn-
87 ing, you gather your gear, eat what may be your last meal out-
88 side, and enter the dungeon...
91 2. What is going on here?
93 You have just begun a game of NetHack. Your goal is to grab
94 as much treasure as you can, retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, and
95 escape the Mazes of Menace alive.
97 Your abilities and strengths for dealing with the hazards of
98 adventure will vary with your background and training:
100 Archeologists understand dungeons pretty well; this enables
101 them to move quickly and sneak up on the local nasties. They
102 start equipped with the tools for a proper scientific expedition.
104 Barbarians are warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to
105 battle. They begin their quests with naught but uncommon
106 strength, a trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword.
108 Cavemen and Cavewomen start with exceptional strength but,
109 unfortunately, with neolithic weapons.
111 Healers are wise in medicine and apothecary. They know the
112 herbs and simples that can restore vitality, ease pain, anes-
113 thetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they
114 can divine a being's state of health or sickness. Their medical
115 practice earns them quite reasonable amounts of money, with which
116 they enter the dungeon.
118 Knights are distinguished from the common skirmisher by
119 their devotion to the ideals of chivalry and by the surpassing
120 excellence of their armor.
122 Monks are ascetics, who by rigorous practice of physical and
123 mental disciplines have become capable of fighting as effectively
124 without weapons as with. They wear no armor but make up for it
125 with increased mobility.
129 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
139 Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders ad-
140 vancing the cause of righteousness with arms, armor, and arts
141 thaumaturgic. Their ability to commune with deities via prayer
142 occasionally extricates them from peril, but can also put them in
145 Rangers are most at home in the woods, and some say slightly
146 out of place in a dungeon. They are, however, experts in archery
147 as well as tracking and stealthy movement.
149 Rogues are agile and stealthy thieves, with knowledge of
150 locks, traps, and poisons. Their advantage lies in surprise,
151 which they employ to great advantage.
153 Samurai are the elite warriors of feudal Nippon. They are
154 lightly armored and quick, and wear the dai-sho, two swords of
155 the deadliest keenness.
157 Tourists start out with lots of gold (suitable for shopping
158 with), a credit card, lots of food, some maps, and an expensive
159 camera. Most monsters don't like being photographed.
161 Valkyries are hardy warrior women. Their upbringing in the
162 harsh Northlands makes them strong, inures them to extremes of
163 cold, and instills in them stealth and cunning.
165 Wizards start out with a knowledge of magic, a selection of
166 magical items, and a particular affinity for dweomercraft. Al-
167 though seemingly weak and easy to overcome at first sight, an ex-
168 perienced Wizard is a deadly foe.
170 You may also choose the race of your character:
172 Dwarves are smaller than humans or elves, but are stocky and
173 solid individuals. Dwarves' most notable trait is their great
174 expertise in mining and metalwork. Dwarvish armor is said to be
175 second in quality not even to the mithril armor of the Elves.
177 Elves are agile, quick, and perceptive; very little of what
178 goes on will escape an Elf. The quality of Elven craftsmanship
179 often gives them an advantage in arms and armor.
181 Gnomes are smaller than but generally similar to dwarves.
182 Gnomes are known to be expert miners, and it is known that a se-
183 cret underground mine complex built by this race exists within
184 the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger.
186 Humans are by far the most common race of the surface world,
187 and are thus the norm to which other races are often compared.
188 Although they have no special abilities, they can succeed in any
191 Orcs are a cruel and barbaric race that hate every living
192 thing (including other orcs). Above all others, Orcs hate Elves
195 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
205 with a passion unequalled, and will go out of their way to kill
206 one at any opportunity. The armor and weapons fashioned by the
207 Orcs are typically of inferior quality.
209 3. What do all those things on the screen mean?
211 On the screen is kept a map of where you have been and what
212 you have seen on the current dungeon level; as you explore more
213 of the level, it appears on the screen in front of you.
215 When NetHack's ancestor rogue first appeared, its screen
216 orientation was almost unique among computer fantasy games.
217 Since then, screen orientation has become the norm rather than
218 the exception; NetHack continues this fine tradition. Unlike
219 text adventure games that accept commands in pseudo-English sen-
220 tences and explain the results in words, NetHack commands are all
221 one or two keystrokes and the results are displayed graphically
222 on the screen. A minimum screen size of 24 lines by 80 columns
223 is recommended; if the screen is larger, only a 21x80 section
224 will be used for the map.
226 NetHack can even be played by blind players, with the assis-
227 tance of Braille readers or speech synthesisers. Instructions
228 for configuring NetHack for the blind are included later in this
231 NetHack generates a new dungeon every time you play it; even
232 the authors still find it an entertaining and exciting game de-
233 spite having won several times.
235 NetHack offers a variety of display options. The options
236 available to you will vary from port to port, depending on the
237 capabilities of your hardware and software, and whether various
238 compile-time options were enabled when your executable was creat-
239 ed. The three possible display options are: a monochrome charac-
240 ter interface, a color character interface, and a graphical in-
241 terface using small pictures called tiles. The two character in-
242 terfaces allow fonts with other characters to be substituted, but
243 the default assignments use standard ASCII characters to repre-
244 sent everything. There is no difference between the various dis-
245 play options with respect to game play. Because we cannot repro-
246 duce the tiles or colors in the Guidebook, and because it is com-
247 mon to all ports, we will use the default ASCII characters from
248 the monochrome character display when referring to things you
249 might see on the screen during your game.
251 In order to understand what is going on in NetHack, first
252 you must understand what NetHack is doing with the screen. The
253 NetHack screen replaces the ``You see ...'' descriptions of text
254 adventure games. Figure 1 is a sample of what a NetHack screen
255 might look like. The way the screen looks for you depends on
261 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
271 --------------------------------------------------------------------
283 Player the Rambler St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15 Neutral
284 Dlvl:1 $:0 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:257 Weak
286 --------------------------------------------------------------------
290 3.1. The status lines (bottom)
292 The bottom two lines of the screen contain several cryptic
293 pieces of information describing your current status. If either
294 status line becomes longer than the width of the screen, you
295 might not see all of it. Here are explanations of what the vari-
296 ous status items mean (though your configuration may not have all
297 the status items listed below):
300 Your character's name and professional ranking (based on the
301 experience level, see below).
304 A measure of your character's strength; one of your six ba-
305 sic attributes. A human character's attributes can range
306 from 3 to 18 inclusive; non-humans may exceed these limits
307 (occasionally you may get super-strengths of the form 18/xx,
308 and magic can also cause attributes to exceed the normal
309 limits). The higher your strength, the stronger you are.
310 Strength affects how successfully you perform physical
311 tasks, how much damage you do in combat, and how much loot
315 Dexterity affects your chances to hit in combat, to avoid
316 traps, and do other tasks requiring agility or manipulation
320 Constitution affects your ability to recover from injuries
321 and other strains on your stamina.
324 Intelligence affects your ability to cast spells and read
327 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
340 Wisdom comes from your practical experience (especially when
341 dealing with magic). It affects your magical energy.
344 Charisma affects how certain creatures react toward you. In
345 particular, it can affect the prices shopkeepers offer you.
348 Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic. Often, Lawful is taken as good
349 and Chaotic as evil, but legal and ethical do not always co-
350 incide. Your alignment influences how other monsters react
351 toward you. Monsters of a like alignment are more likely to
352 be non-aggressive, while those of an opposing alignment are
353 more likely to be seriously offended at your presence.
356 How deep you are in the dungeon. You start at level one and
357 the number increases as you go deeper into the dungeon.
358 Some levels are special, and are identified by a name and
359 not a number. The Amulet of Yendor is reputed to be some-
360 where beneath the twentieth level.
363 The number of gold pieces you are openly carrying. Gold
364 which you have concealed in containers is not counted.
367 Your current and maximum hit points. Hit points indicate
368 how much damage you can take before you die. The more you
369 get hit in a fight, the lower they get. You can regain hit
370 points by resting, or by using certain magical items or
371 spells. The number in parentheses is the maximum number
372 your hit points can reach.
375 Spell points. This tells you how much mystic energy (mana)
376 you have available for spell casting. Again, resting will
377 regenerate the amount available.
380 A measure of how effectively your armor stops blows from un-
381 friendly creatures. The lower this number is, the more ef-
382 fective the armor; it is quite possible to have negative ar-
386 Your current experience level and experience points. As you
387 adventure, you gain experience points. At certain experi-
388 ence point totals, you gain an experience level. The more
389 experienced you are, the better you fight and withstand mag-
390 ical attacks. Many dungeons show only your experience level
393 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
406 The number of turns elapsed so far, displayed if you have
410 Your current hunger status, ranging from Satiated down to
411 Fainting. If your hunger status is normal, it is not dis-
414 Additional status flags may appear after the hunger status:
415 Conf when you're confused, FoodPois or Ill when sick, Blind when
416 you can't see, Stun when stunned, and Hallu when hallucinating.
418 3.2. The message line (top)
420 The top line of the screen is reserved for messages that de-
421 scribe things that are impossible to represent visually. If you
422 see a ``--More--'' on the top line, this means that NetHack has
423 another message to display on the screen, but it wants to make
424 certain that you've read the one that is there first. To read
425 the next message, just press the space bar.
427 To change how and what messages are shown on the message
428 line, see ``Configuring Message Types`` and the verbose option.
430 3.3. The map (rest of the screen)
432 The rest of the screen is the map of the level as you have
433 explored it so far. Each symbol on the screen represents some-
434 thing. You can set various graphics options to change some of
435 the symbols the game uses; otherwise, the game will use default
436 symbols. Here is a list of what the default symbols mean:
439 The walls of a room, or an open door. Or a grave (|).
441 . The floor of a room, ice, or a doorless doorway.
443 # A corridor, or iron bars, or a tree, or possibly a kitchen
444 sink (if your dungeon has sinks), or a drawbridge.
446 > Stairs down: a way to the next level.
448 < Stairs up: a way to the previous level.
450 + A closed door, or a spellbook containing a spell you may be
453 @ Your character or a human.
459 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
469 ^ A trap (once you have detected it).
473 [ A suit or piece of armor.
475 % Something edible (not necessarily healthy).
485 ( A useful item (pick-axe, key, lamp...).
487 " An amulet or a spider web.
489 * A gem or rock (possibly valuable, possibly worthless).
491 ` A boulder or statue.
495 _ An altar, or an iron chain.
499 } A pool of water or moat or a pool of lava.
503 a-zA-Z and other symbols
504 Letters and certain other symbols represent the various in-
505 habitants of the Mazes of Menace. Watch out, they can be
506 nasty and vicious. Sometimes, however, they can be helpful.
508 I This marks the last known location of an invisible or other-
509 wise unseen monster. Note that the monster could have
510 moved. The 'F' and 'm' commands may be useful here.
512 You need not memorize all these symbols; you can ask the
513 game what any symbol represents with the `/' command (see the
514 next section for more info).
519 Commands are initiated by typing one or two characters.
520 Some commands, like ``search'', do not require that any more in-
521 formation be collected by NetHack. Other commands might require
522 additional information, for example a direction, or an object to
525 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
535 be used. For those commands that require additional information,
536 NetHack will present you with either a menu of choices or with a
537 command line prompt requesting information. Which you are pre-
538 sented with will depend chiefly on how you have set the menustyle
541 For example, a common question, in the form ``What do you
542 want to use? [a-zA-Z ?*]'', asks you to choose an object you are
543 carrying. Here, ``a-zA-Z'' are the inventory letters of your
544 possible choices. Typing `?' gives you an inventory list of
545 these items, so you can see what each letter refers to. In this
546 example, there is also a `*' indicating that you may choose an
547 object not on the list, if you wanted to use something unexpect-
548 ed. Typing a `*' lists your entire inventory, so you can see the
549 inventory letters of every object you're carrying. Finally, if
550 you change your mind and decide you don't want to do this command
551 after all, you can press the ESC key to abort the command.
553 You can put a number before some commands to repeat them
554 that many times; for example, ``10s'' will search ten times. If
555 you have the number_pad option set, you must type `n' to prefix a
556 count, so the example above would be typed ``n10s'' instead.
557 Commands for which counts make no sense ignore them. In addi-
558 tion, movement commands can be prefixed for greater control (see
559 below). To cancel a count or a prefix, press the ESC key.
561 The list of commands is rather long, but it can be read at
562 any time during the game through the `?' command, which accesses
563 a menu of helpful texts. Here are the commands for your refer-
566 ? Help menu: display one of several help texts available.
568 / Tell what a symbol represents. You may choose to specify a
569 location or type a symbol (or even a whole word) to explain.
570 Specifying a location is done by moving the cursor to a par-
571 ticular spot on the map and then pressing one of `.', `,',
572 `;', or `:'. `.' will explain the symbol at the chosen lo-
573 cation, conditionally check for ``More info?'' depending up-
574 on whether the help option is on, and then you will be asked
575 to pick another location; `,' will explain the symbol but
576 skip any additional information; `;' will skip additional
577 info and also not bother asking you to choose another loca-
578 tion to examine; `:' will show additional info, if any,
579 without asking for confirmation. When picking a location,
580 pressing the ESC key will terminate this command, or press-
581 ing `?' will give a brief reminder about how it works.
583 Specifying a name rather than a location always gives any
584 additional information available about that name.
586 & Tell what a command does.
591 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
601 < Go up to the previous level (if you are on a staircase or
604 > Go down to the next level (if you are on a staircase or lad-
608 Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure 2). If
609 you sense or remember a monster there, you will fight the
610 monster instead. Only these one-step movement commands
611 cause you to fight monsters; the others (below) are
619 (if number_pad is set)
625 Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run into some-
629 Prefix: move without picking up objects or fighting (even
630 if you remember a monster there)
633 Prefix: fight a monster (even if you only guess one is
637 Prefix: move far, no pickup.
640 Prefix: move until something interesting is found.
642 G[yuhjklbn] or <CONTROL->[yuhjklbn]
643 Prefix: same as `g', but forking of corridors is not con-
646 _ Travel to a map location via a shortest-path algorithm.
648 The shortest path is computed over map locations the hero
649 knows about (e.g. seen or previously traversed). If there
650 is no known path, a guess is made instead. Stops on most of
651 the same conditions as the `G' command, but without picking
652 up objects, similar to the `M' command. For ports with
653 mouse support, the command is also invoked when a mouse-
654 click takes place on a location other than the current
657 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
669 . Rest, do nothing for one turn.
671 a Apply (use) a tool (pick-axe, key, lamp...).
673 A Remove one or more worn items, such as armor.
675 Use `T' (take off) to take off only one piece of armor or
676 `R' (remove) to take off only one accessory.
678 ^A Redo the previous command.
682 C Call (name) a monster, an individual object, or a type of
685 Same as extended command ``#name''.
687 ^C Panic button. Quit the game.
691 Ex. ``d7a'' means drop seven items of object a.
693 D Drop several things.
695 In answer to the question
697 ``What kinds of things do you want to drop? [!%= BUCXaium]''
699 you should type zero or more object symbols possibly fol-
700 lowed by `a' and/or `i' and/or `u' and/or `m'. In addition,
701 one or more of the blessed/uncursed/cursed groups may be
704 DB - drop all objects known to be blessed.
705 DU - drop all objects known to be uncursed.
706 DC - drop all objects known to be cursed.
707 DX - drop all objects of unknown B/U/C status.
708 Da - drop all objects, without asking for confirmation.
709 Di - examine your inventory before dropping anything.
710 Du - drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).
711 Dm - use a menu to pick which object(s) to drop.
712 D%u - drop only unpaid food.
714 ^D Kick something (usually a door).
718 E Engrave a message on the floor.
720 E- - write in the dust with your fingers.
723 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
733 Engraving the word ``Elbereth'' will cause most monsters to
734 not attack you hand-to-hand (but if you attack, you will rub
735 it out); this is often useful to give yourself a breather.
736 (This feature may be compiled out of the game, so your ver-
737 sion might not have it.)
739 f Fire one of the objects placed in your quiver (or quiver
740 sack, or that you have at the ready). You may select ammu-
741 nition with a previous `Q' command, or let the computer pick
742 something appropriate if autoquiver is true.
744 i List your inventory (everything you're carrying).
746 I List selected parts of your inventory, usually be specifying
747 the character for a particular set of objects, like `[' for
748 armor or `!' for potions.
750 I* - list all gems in inventory;
751 Iu - list all unpaid items;
752 Ix - list all used up items that are on your shopping bill;
753 IB - list all items known to be blessed;
754 IU - list all items known to be uncursed;
755 IC - list all items known to be cursed;
756 IX - list all items whose bless/curse status is known;
757 I$ - count your money.
763 A menu showing the current option values will be displayed.
764 You can change most values simply by selecting the menu en-
765 try for the given option (ie, by typing its letter or click-
766 ing upon it, depending on your user interface). For the
767 non-boolean choices, a further menu or prompt will appear
768 once you've closed this menu. The available options are
769 listed later in this Guidebook. Options are usually set be-
770 fore the game rather than with the `O' command; see the sec-
771 tion on options below.
773 p Pay your shopping bill.
775 P Put on an accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold).
777 This command may also be used to wear armor. The prompt for
778 which inventory item to use will only list accessories, but
779 choosing an unlisted item of armor will attempt to wear it.
780 (See the `W' command below. It lists armor as the inventory
781 choices but will accept an accessory and attempt to put that
784 ^P Repeat previous message.
789 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
799 Subsequent ^P's repeat earlier messages. The behavior can
800 be varied via the msg_window option.
802 q Quaff (drink) something (potion, water, etc).
804 Q Select an object for your quiver, quiver sack, or just gen-
805 erally at the ready (only one of these is available at a
806 time). You can then throw this (or one of these) using the
809 (In versions prior to 3.3 this was the command to quit the
810 game, which has been moved to ``#quit''.)
812 r Read a scroll or spellbook.
814 R Remove a worn accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold).
816 If you're wearing more than one, you'll be prompted for
817 which one to remove. When you're only wearing one, then by
818 default it will be removed without asking, but you can set
819 the paranoid_confirmation option to require a prompt.
821 This command may also be used to take off armor. The prompt
822 for which inventory item to remove only lists worn acces-
823 sories, but an item of worn armor can be chosen. (See the
824 `T' command below. It lists armor as the inventory choices
825 but will accept an accessory and attempt to remove it.)
827 ^R Redraw the screen.
829 s Search for secret doors and traps around you. It usually
830 takes several tries to find something.
832 S Save (and suspend) the game. The game will be restored au-
833 tomatically the next time you play.
835 t Throw an object or shoot a projectile.
839 If you're wearing more than one piece, you'll be prompted
840 for which one to take off. (Note that this treats a cloak
841 covering a suit and/or a shirt, or a suit covering a shirt,
842 as if the underlying items weren't there.) When you're only
843 wearing one, then by default it will be taken off without
844 asking, but you can set the paranoid_confirmation option to
847 This command may also be used to remove accessories. The
848 prompt for which inventory item to take off only lists worn
849 armor, but a worn accessory can be chosen. (See the `R'
850 command above. It lists accessories as the inventory choic-
851 es but will accept an item of armor and attempt to take it
855 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
865 ^T Teleport, if you have the ability.
867 v Display version number.
869 V Display the game history.
873 w- - wield nothing, use your bare hands.
875 Some characters can wield two weapons at once; use the `X'
876 command (or the ``#twoweapon'' extended command) to do so.
880 This command may also be used to put on an accessory (ring,
881 amulet, or blindfold). The prompt for which inventory item
882 to use will only list armor, but choosing an unlisted acces-
883 sory will attempt to put it on. (See the `P' command above.
884 It lists accessories as the inventory choices but will ac-
885 cept an item of armor and attempt to wear it.)
887 x Exchange your wielded weapon with the item in your alternate
890 The latter is used as your secondary weapon when engaging in
891 two-weapon combat. Note that if one of these slots is emp-
892 ty, the exchange still takes place.
894 X Toggle two-weapon combat, if your character can do it. Also
895 available via the ``#twoweapon'' extended command.
897 (In versions prior to 3.6 this was the command to switch
898 from normal play to "explore mode", also known as "discovery
899 mode", which has now been moved to ``#explore''.)
901 ^X Display basic information about your character.
903 Displays name, role, race, gender (unless role name makes
904 that redundant, such as Caveman or Priestess), and align-
905 ment, along with your patron deity and his or her opposi-
906 tion. It also shows most of the various items of informa-
907 tion from the status line(s) in a less terse form, including
908 several additional things which don't appear in the normal
909 status display due to space considerations.
913 z. - to aim at yourself, use `.' for the direction.
915 Z Zap (cast) a spell.
917 Z. - to cast at yourself, use `.' for the direction.
921 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
931 ^Z Suspend the game (UNIX(R) versions with job control only).
933 : Look at what is here.
935 ; Show what type of thing a visible symbol corresponds to.
937 , Pick up some things from the floor beneath you.
939 May be preceded by `m' to force a selection menu.
941 @ Toggle the autopickup option on and off.
943 ^ Ask for the type of a trap you found earlier.
945 ) Tell what weapon you are wielding.
947 [ Tell what armor you are wearing.
949 = Tell what rings you are wearing.
951 " Tell what amulet you are wearing.
953 ( Tell what tools you are using.
955 * Tell what equipment you are using.
957 Combines the preceding five type-specific commands into one.
959 $ Count your gold pieces.
961 + List the spells you know.
963 Using this command, you can also rearrange the order in
964 which your spells are listed, either by sorting the entire
965 list or by picking one spell from the menu then picking an-
966 other to swap places with it. Swapping pairs of spells
967 changes their casting letters, so the change lasts after the
968 current `+' command finishes. Sorting the whole list is
969 temporary. To make the most recent sort order persist be-
970 yond the current `+' command, choose the sort option again
971 and then pick "reassign casting letters". (Any spells
972 learned after that will be added to the end of the list
973 rather than be inserted into the sorted ordering.)
975 \ Show what types of objects have been discovered.
977 ` Show discovered types for one class of objects.
984 (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.
987 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
997 # Perform an extended command.
999 As you can see, the authors of NetHack used up all the let-
1000 ters, so this is a way to introduce the less frequently used
1001 commands. What extended commands are available depends on
1002 what features the game was compiled with.
1005 Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option
1008 This command allows you to move an item from one particular
1009 inventory slot to another so that it has a letter which is
1010 more meaningful for you or that it will appear in a particu-
1011 lar location when inventory listings are displayed. ``#ad-
1012 just'' can also be used to split a stack of objects; when
1013 choosing the item to adjust, enter a count prior to its let-
1017 Allows you to specify one line of text to associate with the
1018 current dungeon level. All levels with annotations are dis-
1019 played by the ``#overview'' command.
1025 List voluntary challenges you have maintained.
1027 See the section below entitled ``Conduct'' for details.
1030 Dip an object into something.
1033 Advance or check weapon and spell skills.
1039 Invoke an object's special powers.
1042 Jump to another location.
1045 Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle
1046 from a steed standing next to you.
1049 Use a monster's special ability (when polymorphed into mon-
1053 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1059 NetHack Guidebook 17
1064 Name a monster, an individual object, or a type of object.
1068 Offer a sacrifice to the gods.
1070 You'll need to find an altar to have any chance at success.
1071 Corpses of recently killed monsters are the fodder of
1075 Display information you've discovered about the dungeon.
1076 Any visited level (unless forgotten due to amnesia) with an
1077 annotation is included, and many things (altars, thrones,
1078 fountains, and so on; extra stairs leading to another dun-
1079 geon branch) trigger an automatic annotation. If dungeon
1080 overview is chosen during end-of-game disclosure, every vis-
1081 ited level will be included regardless of annotations.
1084 Pray to the gods for help.
1086 Praying too soon after receiving prior help is a bad idea.
1087 (Hint: entering the dungeon alive is treated as having re-
1088 ceived help. You probably shouldn't start off a new game by
1089 praying right away.) Since using this command by accident
1090 can cause trouble, there is an option to make you confirm
1091 your intent before praying. It is enabled by default, and
1092 you can reset the paranoid_confirmation option to disable
1096 Quit the program without saving your game.
1098 Since using this command by accident would throw away the
1099 current game, you are asked to confirm your intent before
1100 quitting. By default a response of 'y' acknowledges that
1101 intent. You can set the paranoid_confirmation option to re-
1102 quire a response of "yes" instead.
1105 Ride (or stop riding) a saddled creature.
1108 Rub a lamp or a stone.
1114 Show bare map without displaying monsters, objects, or
1119 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1125 NetHack Guidebook 18
1130 Tip over a container (bag or box) to pour out its contents.
1136 Toggle two-weapon combat on or off.
1138 Note that you must use suitable weapons for this type of
1139 combat, or it will be automatically turned off.
1142 Untrap something (trap, door, or chest).
1144 In some circumstances it can also be used to rescue trapped
1148 Print compile time options for this version of NetHack.
1154 Help menu: get the list of available extended commands.
1156 If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in com-
1157 bination with another key, modifies it by setting the `meta'
1158 [8th, or `high'] bit), you can invoke many extended commands by
1159 meta-ing the first letter of the command. In NT, OS/2, PC and ST
1160 NetHack, the `Alt' key can be used in this fashion; on the Amiga,
1161 set the altmeta option to get this behavior. On other systems,
1162 if typing `Alt' plus another key transmits a two character se-
1163 quence consisting of an Escape followed by the other key, you may
1164 set the altmeta option to have nethack combine them into
1167 M-? #? (not supported by all platforms)
1169 M-2 #twoweapon (unless the number_pad option is enabled)
1185 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1191 NetHack Guidebook 19
1231 If the number_pad option is on, some additional letter com-
1232 mands are available:
1234 h Help menu: display one of several help texts available,
1237 j Jump to another location. Same as ``#jump'' or ``M-j''.
1239 k Kick something (usually a door). Same as `^D'.
1241 l Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle
1242 from a steed standing next to you. Same as ``#loot'' or
1245 N Name a monster, an individual object, or a type of object.
1246 Same as ``#name'' (or ``M-n'') which is the same as the `C'
1251 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1257 NetHack Guidebook 20
1261 u Untrap a trap, door, or chest. Same as ``#untrap'' or ``M-
1265 5. Rooms and corridors
1267 Rooms and corridors in the dungeon are either lit or dark.
1268 Any lit areas within your line of sight will be displayed; dark
1269 areas are only displayed if they are within one space of you.
1270 Walls and corridors remain on the map as you explore them.
1272 Secret corridors are hidden. You can find them with the `s'
1277 Doorways connect rooms and corridors. Some doorways have no
1278 doors; you can walk right through. Others have doors in them,
1279 which may be open, closed, or locked. To open a closed door, use
1280 the `o' (open) command; to close it again, use the `c' (close)
1283 You can get through a locked door by using a tool to pick
1284 the lock with the `a' (apply) command, or by kicking it open with
1285 the `^D' (kick) command.
1287 Open doors cannot be entered diagonally; you must approach
1288 them straight on, horizontally or vertically. Doorways without
1289 doors are not restricted in this fashion.
1291 Doors can be useful for shutting out monsters. Most mon-
1292 sters cannot open doors, although a few don't need to (ex. ghosts
1293 can walk through doors).
1295 Secret doors are hidden. You can find them with the `s'
1296 (search) command. Once found they are in all ways equivalent to
1301 There are traps throughout the dungeon to snare the unwary
1302 delver. For example, you may suddenly fall into a pit and be
1303 stuck for a few turns trying to climb out. Traps don't appear on
1304 your map until you see one triggered by moving onto it, see some-
1305 thing fall into it, or you discover it with the `s' (search) com-
1306 mand. Monsters can fall prey to traps, too, which can be a very
1307 useful defensive strategy.
1309 There is a special pre-mapped branch of the dungeon based on
1310 the classic computer game ``Sokoban.'' The goal is to push the
1311 boulders into the pits or holes. With careful foresight, it is
1312 possible to complete all of the levels according to the tradi-
1313 tional rules of Sokoban. Some allowances are permitted in case
1314 the player gets stuck; however, they will lower your luck.
1317 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1323 NetHack Guidebook 21
1327 5.3. Stairs (`<', `>')
1329 In general, each level in the dungeon will have a staircase
1330 going up (`<') to the previous level and another going down (`>')
1331 to the next level. There are some exceptions though. For in-
1332 stance, fairly early in the dungeon you will find a level with
1333 two down staircases, one continuing into the dungeon and the oth-
1334 er branching into an area known as the Gnomish Mines. Those
1335 mines eventually hit a dead end, so after exploring them (if you
1336 choose to do so), you'll need to climb back up to the main dun-
1339 When you traverse a set of stairs, or trigger a trap which
1340 sends you to another level, the level you're leaving will be de-
1341 activated and stored in a file on disk. If you're moving to a
1342 previously visited level, it will be loaded from its file on disk
1343 and reactivated. If you're moving to a level which has not yet
1344 been visited, it will be created (from scratch for most random
1345 levels, from a template for some ``special'' levels, or loaded
1346 from the remains of an earlier game for a ``bones'' level as
1347 briefly described below). Monsters are only active on the cur-
1348 rent level; those on other levels are essentially placed into
1351 Ordinarily when you climb a set of stairs, you will arrive
1352 on the corresponding staircase at your destination. However,
1353 pets (see below) and some other monsters will follow along if
1354 they're close enough when you travel up or down stairs, and occa-
1355 sionally one of these creatures will displace you during the
1356 climb. When that occurs, the pet or other monster will arrive on
1357 the staircase and you will end up nearby.
1359 5.4. Ladders (`<', `>')
1361 Ladders serve the same purpose as staircases, and the two
1362 types of inter-level connections are nearly indistinguishable
1365 5.5. Shops and shopping
1367 Occasionally you will run across a room with a shopkeeper
1368 near the door and many items lying on the floor. You can buy
1369 items by picking them up and then using the `p' command. You can
1370 inquire about the price of an item prior to picking it up by us-
1371 ing the ``#chat'' command while standing on it. Using an item
1372 prior to paying for it will incur a charge, and the shopkeeper
1373 won't allow you to leave the shop until you have paid any debt
1376 You can sell items to a shopkeeper by dropping them to the
1377 floor while inside a shop. You will either be offered an amount
1378 of gold and asked whether you're willing to sell, or you'll be
1379 told that the shopkeeper isn't interested (generally, your item
1380 needs to be compatible with the type of merchandise carried by
1383 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1389 NetHack Guidebook 22
1395 If you drop something in a shop by accident, the shopkeeper
1396 will usually claim ownership without offering any compensation.
1397 You'll have to buy it back if you want to reclaim it.
1399 Shopkeepers sometimes run out of money. When that happens,
1400 you'll be offered credit instead of gold when you try to sell
1401 something. Credit can be used to pay for purchases, but it is
1402 only good in the shop where it was obtained; other shopkeepers
1403 won't honor it. (If you happen to find a "credit card" in the
1404 dungeon, don't bother trying to use it in shops; shopkeepers will
1407 The `$' command, which reports the amount of gold you are
1408 carrying (in inventory, not inside bags or boxes), will also show
1409 current shop debt or credit, if any. The `Iu' command lists un-
1410 paid items (those which still belong to the shop) if you are car-
1411 rying any. The `Ix' command shows an inventory-like display of
1412 any unpaid items which have been used up, along with other shop
1415 5.5.1. Shop idiosyncracies
1417 Several aspects of shop behavior might be unexpected.
1419 * The price of a given item can vary due to a variety of factors.
1421 * A shopkeeper treats the spot immediately inside the door as if
1422 it were outside the shop.
1424 * While the shopkeeper watches you like a hawk, he will generally
1425 ignore any other customers.
1427 * If a shop is "closed for inventory", it will not open of its
1430 * Shops do not get restocked with new items, regardless of inven-
1436 Monsters you cannot see are not displayed on the screen.
1437 Beware! You may suddenly come upon one in a dark place. Some
1438 magic items can help you locate them before they locate you
1439 (which some monsters can do very well).
1441 The commands `/' and `;' may be used to obtain information
1442 about those monsters who are displayed on the screen. The com-
1443 mand ``#name'', or its synonym `C', allows you to assign a name
1444 to a monster, which may be useful to help distinguish one from
1445 another when multiple monsters are present. Assigning a name
1446 which is just a space will remove any prior name.
1449 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1455 NetHack Guidebook 23
1459 The extended command ``#chat'' can be used to interact with
1460 an adjacent monster. There is no actual dialog (in other words,
1461 you don't get to choose what you'll say), but chatting with some
1462 monsters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
1467 If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
1468 to walk into it. Many monsters you find will mind their own
1469 business unless you attack them. Some of them are very dangerous
1470 when angered. Remember: discretion is the better part of valor.
1472 In most circumstances, if you attempt to attack a peaceful
1473 monster by moving into its location, you'll be asked to confirm
1474 your intent. By default an answer of 'y' acknowledges that in-
1475 tent, which can be error prone if you're using 'y' to move. You
1476 can set the paranoid_confirmation option to require a response of
1479 If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible, or if you
1480 are blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
1481 presence. If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to fight
1482 it just like a monster that you can see; of course, if the mon-
1483 ster has moved, you will attack empty air. If you guess that the
1484 monster has moved and you don't wish to fight, you can use the
1485 `m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't re-
1486 member a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use the
1491 You start the game with a little dog (`d'), cat (`f'), or
1492 pony (`u'), which follows you about the dungeon and fights mon-
1493 sters with you. Like you, your pet needs food to survive. It
1494 usually feeds itself on fresh carrion and other meats. If you're
1495 worried about it or want to train it, you can feed it, too, by
1496 throwing it food. A properly trained pet can be very useful un-
1497 der certain circumstances.
1499 Your pet also gains experience from killing monsters, and
1500 can grow over time, gaining hit points and doing more damage.
1501 Initially, your pet may even be better at killing things than
1502 you, which makes pets useful for low-level characters.
1504 Your pet will follow you up and down staircases if it is
1505 next to you when you move. Otherwise your pet will be stranded
1506 and may become wild. Similarly, when you trigger certain types
1507 of traps which alter your location (for instance, a trap door
1508 which drops you to a lower dungeon level), any adjacent pet will
1509 accompany you and any non-adjacent pet will be left behind. Your
1510 pet may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
1511 with it even if adjacent at the time.
1515 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1521 NetHack Guidebook 24
1527 Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be rid-
1528 den if you have the right equipment and skill. Convincing a wild
1529 beast to let you saddle it up is difficult to say the least.
1530 Many a dungeoneer has had to resort to magic and wizardry in or-
1531 der to forge the alliance. Once you do have the beast under your
1532 control however, you can easily climb in and out of the saddle
1533 with the `#ride' command. Lead the beast around the dungeon when
1534 riding, in the same manner as you would move yourself. It is the
1535 beast that you will see displayed on the map.
1537 Riding skill is managed by the `#enhance' command. See the
1538 section on Weapon proficiency for more information about that.
1542 You may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-
1543 ers (or even former incarnations of yourself!) and their personal
1544 effects. Ghosts are hard to kill, but easy to avoid, since
1545 they're slow and do little damage. You can plunder the deceased
1546 adventurer's possessions; however, they are likely to be cursed.
1547 Beware of whatever killed the former player; it is probably still
1548 lurking around, gloating over its last victory.
1553 When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want
1554 to pick it up. In NetHack, this is accomplished automatically by
1555 walking over the object (unless you turn off the autopickup op-
1556 tion (see below), or move with the `m' prefix (see above)), or
1557 manually by using the `,' command.
1559 If you're carrying too many items, NetHack will tell you so
1560 and you won't be able to pick up anything more. Otherwise, it
1561 will add the object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
1564 As you add items to your inventory, you also add the weight
1565 of that object to your load. The amount that you can carry de-
1566 pends on your strength and your constitution. The stronger you
1567 are, the less the additional load will affect you. There comes a
1568 point, though, when the weight of all of that stuff you are car-
1569 rying around with you through the dungeon will encumber you.
1570 Your reactions will get slower and you'll burn calories faster,
1571 requiring food more frequently to cope with it. Eventually,
1572 you'll be so overloaded that you'll either have to discard some
1573 of what you're carrying or collapse under its weight.
1575 NetHack will tell you how badly you have loaded yourself.
1576 The symbols `Burdened', `Stressed', `Strained', `Overtaxed' and
1577 `Overloaded' are displayed on the bottom line display to indicate
1581 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1587 NetHack Guidebook 25
1591 When you pick up an object, it is assigned an inventory let-
1592 ter. Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find
1593 out which object you want to use. When NetHack asks you to
1594 choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually pre-
1595 sented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see Com-
1598 Some objects, such as weapons, are easily differentiated.
1599 Others, like scrolls and potions, are given descriptions which
1600 vary according to type. During a game, any two objects with the
1601 same description are the same type. However, the descriptions
1602 will vary from game to game.
1604 When you use one of these objects, if its effect is obvious,
1605 NetHack will remember what it is for you. If its effect isn't
1606 extremely obvious, you will be asked what you want to call this
1607 type of object so you will recognize it later. You can also use
1608 the ``#name'' command, or its synonym `C', for the same purpose
1609 at any time, to name all objects of a particular type or just an
1610 individual object. When you use ``#name'' on an object which has
1611 already been named, specifying a space as the value will remove
1612 the prior name instead of assigning a new one.
1614 7.1. Curses and Blessings
1616 Any object that you find may be cursed, even if the object
1617 is otherwise helpful. The most common effect of a curse is being
1618 stuck with (and to) the item. Cursed weapons weld themselves to
1619 your hand when wielded, so you cannot unwield them. Any cursed
1620 item you wear is not removable by ordinary means. In addition,
1621 cursed arms and armor usually, but not always, bear negative en-
1622 chantments that make them less effective in combat. Other cursed
1623 objects may act poorly or detrimentally in other ways.
1625 Objects can also be blessed. Blessed items usually work
1626 better or more beneficially than normal uncursed items. For ex-
1627 ample, a blessed weapon will do more damage against demons.
1629 Objects which are neither cursed nor blessed are referred to
1630 as uncursed. They could just as easily have been described as
1631 unblessed, but the uncursed designation is what you will see
1632 within the game. A ``glass half full versus glass half empty''
1633 situation; make of that what you will.
1635 There are magical means of bestowing or removing curses upon
1636 objects, so even if you are stuck with one, you can still have
1637 the curse lifted and the item removed. Priests and Priestesses
1638 have an innate sensitivity to this property in any object, so
1639 they can more easily avoid cursed objects than other character
1642 An item with unknown status will be reported in your inven-
1643 tory with no prefix. An item which you know the state of will be
1644 distinguished in your inventory by the presence of the word
1647 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1653 NetHack Guidebook 26
1657 ``cursed'', ``uncursed'' or ``blessed'' in the description of the
1658 item. In some cases ``uncursed'' will be omitted as being redun-
1659 dant when enough other information is displayed. The implic-
1660 it_uncursed option can be used to control this; toggle it off to
1661 have ``uncursed'' be displayed even when that can be deduced from
1666 Given a chance, most monsters in the Mazes of Menace will
1667 gratuitously try to kill you. You need weapons for self-defense
1668 (killing them first). Without a weapon, you do only 1-2 hit
1669 points of damage (plus bonuses, if any). Monk characters are an
1670 exception; they normally do much more damage with bare hands than
1671 they do with weapons.
1673 There are wielded weapons, like maces and swords, and thrown
1674 weapons, like arrows and spears. To hit monsters with a weapon,
1675 you must wield it and attack them, or throw it at them. You can
1676 simply elect to throw a spear. To shoot an arrow, you should
1677 first wield a bow, then throw the arrow. Crossbows shoot cross-
1678 bow bolts. Slings hurl rocks and (other) stones (like gems).
1680 Enchanted weapons have a ``plus'' (or ``to hit enhancement''
1681 which can be either positive or negative) that adds to your
1682 chance to hit and the damage you do to a monster. The only way
1683 to determine a weapon's enchantment is to have it magically iden-
1684 tified somehow. Most weapons are subject to some type of damage
1685 like rust. Such ``erosion'' damage can be repaired.
1687 The chance that an attack will successfully hit a monster,
1688 and the amount of damage such a hit will do, depends upon many
1689 factors. Among them are: type of weapon, quality of weapon (en-
1690 chantment and/or erosion), experience level, strength, dexterity,
1691 encumbrance, and proficiency (see below). The monster's armor
1692 class - a general defense rating, not necessarily due to wearing
1693 of armor - is a factor too; also, some monsters are particularly
1694 vulnerable to certain types of weapons.
1696 Many weapons can be wielded in one hand; some require both
1697 hands. When wielding a two-handed weapon, you can not wear a
1698 shield, and vice versa. When wielding a one-handed weapon, you
1699 can have another weapon ready to use by setting things up with
1700 the `x' command, which exchanges your primary (the one being
1701 wielded) and alternate weapons. And if you have proficiency in
1702 the ``two weapon combat'' skill, you may wield both weapons si-
1703 multaneously as primary and secondary; use the `#twoweapon' ex-
1704 tended command to engage or disengage that. Only some types of
1705 characters (barbarians, for instance) have the necessary skill
1706 available. Even with that skill, using two weapons at once in-
1707 curs a penalty in the chance to hit your target compared to using
1708 just one weapon at a time.
1713 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1719 NetHack Guidebook 27
1723 There might be times when you'd rather not wield any weapon
1724 at all. To accomplish that, wield `-', or else use the `A' com-
1725 mand which allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition
1726 to taking off other worn items.
1728 Those of you in the audience who are AD&D players, be aware
1729 that each weapon which existed in AD&D does roughly the same dam-
1730 age to monsters in NetHack. Some of the more obscure weapons
1731 (such as the aklys, lucern hammer, and bec-de-corbin) are defined
1732 in an appendix to Unearthed Arcana, an AD&D supplement.
1734 The commands to use weapons are `w' (wield), `t' (throw),
1735 `f' (fire, an alternative way of throwing), `Q' (quiver), `x'
1736 (exchange), `#twoweapon', and `#enhance' (see below).
1738 7.2.1. Throwing and shooting
1740 You can throw just about anything via the `t' command. It
1741 will prompt for the item to throw; picking `?' will list things
1742 in your inventory which are considered likely to be thrown, or
1743 picking `*' will list your entire inventory. After you've chosen
1744 what to throw, you will be prompted for a direction rather than
1745 for a specific target. The distance something can be thrown de-
1746 pends mainly on the type of object and your strength. Arrows can
1747 be thrown by hand, but can be thrown much farther and will be
1748 more likely to hit when thrown while you are wielding a bow.
1750 You can simplify the throwing operation by using the `Q'
1751 command to select your preferred ``missile'', then using the `f'
1752 command to throw it. You'll be prompted for a direction as
1753 above, but you don't have to specify which item to throw each
1754 time you use `f'. There is also an option, autoquiver, which has
1755 NetHack choose another item to automatically fill your quiver (or
1756 quiver sack, or have at the ready) when the inventory slot used
1759 Some characters have the ability to fire a volley of multi-
1760 ple items in a single turn. Knowing how to load several rounds
1761 of ammunition at once -- or hold several missiles in your hand --
1762 and still hit a target is not an easy task. Rangers are among
1763 those who are adept at this task, as are those with a high level
1764 of proficiency in the relevant weapon skill (in bow skill if
1765 you're wielding one to shoot arrows, in crossbow skill if you're
1766 wielding one to shoot bolts, or in sling skill if you're wielding
1767 one to shoot stones). The number of items that the character has
1768 a chance to fire varies from turn to turn. You can explicitly
1769 limit the number of shots by using a numeric prefix before the
1770 `t' or `f' command. For example, ``2f'' (or ``n2f'' if using
1771 number_pad mode) would ensure that at most 2 arrows are shot even
1772 if you could have fired 3. If you specify a larger number than
1773 would have been shot (``4f'' in this example), you'll just end up
1774 shooting the same number (3, here) as if no limit had been speci-
1775 fied. Once the volley is in motion, all of the items will travel
1776 in the same direction; if the first ones kill a monster, the
1779 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1785 NetHack Guidebook 28
1789 others can still continue beyond that spot.
1791 7.2.2. Weapon proficiency
1793 You will have varying degrees of skill in the weapons avail-
1794 able. Weapon proficiency, or weapon skills, affect how well you
1795 can use particular types of weapons, and you'll be able to im-
1796 prove your skills as you progress through a game, depending on
1797 your role, your experience level, and use of the weapons.
1799 For the purposes of proficiency, weapons have been divided
1800 up into various groups such as daggers, broadswords, and
1801 polearms. Each role has a limit on what level of proficiency a
1802 character can achieve for each group. For instance, wizards can
1803 become highly skilled in daggers or staves but not in swords or
1806 The `#enhance' extended command is used to review current
1807 weapons proficiency (also spell proficiency) and to choose which
1808 skill(s) to improve when you've used one or more skills enough to
1809 become eligible to do so. The skill rankings are ``none'' (some-
1810 times also referred to as ``restricted'', because you won't be
1811 able to advance), ``unskilled'', ``basic'', ``skilled'', and
1812 ``expert''. Restricted skills simply will not appear in the list
1813 shown by `#enhance'. (Divine intervention might unrestrict a
1814 particular skill, in which case it will start at unskilled and be
1815 limited to basic.) Some characters can enhance their barehanded
1816 combat or martial arts skill beyond expert to ``master'' or
1819 Use of a weapon in which you're restricted or unskilled will
1820 incur a modest penalty in the chance to hit a monster and also in
1821 the amount of damage done when you do hit; at basic level, there
1822 is no penalty or bonus; at skilled level, you receive a modest
1823 bonus in the chance to hit and amount of damage done; at expert
1824 level, the bonus is higher. A successful hit has a chance to
1825 boost your training towards the next skill level (unless you've
1826 already reached the limit for this skill). Once such training
1827 reaches the threshold for that next level, you'll be told that
1828 you feel more confident in your skills. At that point you can
1829 use `#enhance' to increase one or more skills. Such skills are
1830 not increased automatically because there is a limit to your to-
1831 tal overall skills, so you need to actively choose which skills
1832 to enhance and which to ignore.
1834 7.2.3. Two-Weapon combat
1836 Some characters can use two weapons at once. Setting things
1837 up to do so can seem cumbersome but becomes second nature with
1838 use. To wield two weapons, you need to use the ``#twoweapon''
1839 command. But first you need to have a weapon in each hand.
1840 (Note that your two weapons are not fully equal; the one in the
1841 hand you normally wield with is considered primary and the other
1842 one is considered secondary. The most noticeable difference is
1845 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1851 NetHack Guidebook 29
1855 after you stop--or before you begin, for that matter--wielding
1856 two weapons at once. The primary is your wielded weapon and the
1857 secondary is just an item in your inventory that's been designat-
1858 ed as alternate weapon.)
1860 If your primary weapon is wielded but your off hand is empty
1861 or has the wrong weapon, use the sequence 'x', 'w', 'x' to first
1862 swap your primary into your off hand, wield whatever you want as
1863 secondary weapon, then swap them both back into the intended
1864 hands. If your secondary or alternate weapon is correct but your
1865 primary one is not, simply use 'w' to wield the primary. Lastly,
1866 if neither hand holds the correct weapon, use 'w', 'x', 'w' to
1867 first wield the intended secondary, swap it to off hand, and then
1870 The whole process can be simplified via use of the push-
1871 weapon option. When it is enabled, then using 'w' to wield some-
1872 thing causes the currently wielded weapon to become your alter-
1873 nate weapon. So the sequence 'w', 'w' can be used to first wield
1874 the weapon you intend to be secondary, and then wield the one you
1875 want as primary which will push the first into secondary posi-
1878 When in two-weapon combat mode, using the ``#twoweapon''
1879 command toggles back to single-weapon mode. Throwing or dropping
1880 either of the weapons or having one of them be stolen or de-
1881 stroyed will also make you revert to single-weapon combat.
1885 Lots of unfriendly things lurk about; you need armor to pro-
1886 tect yourself from their blows. Some types of armor offer better
1887 protection than others. Your armor class is a measure of this
1888 protection. Armor class (AC) is measured as in AD&D, with 10 be-
1889 ing the equivalent of no armor, and lower numbers meaning better
1890 armor. Each suit of armor which exists in AD&D gives the same
1891 protection in NetHack. Here is an (incomplete) list of the armor
1892 classes provided by various suits of armor:
1896 crystal plate mail 3
1900 dwarvish mithril-coat 4
1901 elven mithril-coat 5
1905 studded leather armor 7
1911 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1917 NetHack Guidebook 30
1925 You can also wear other pieces of armor (ex. helmets, boots,
1926 shields, cloaks) to lower your armor class even further, but you
1927 can only wear one item of each category (one suit of armor, one
1928 cloak, one helmet, one shield, and so on) at a time.
1930 If a piece of armor is enchanted, its armor protection will
1931 be better (or worse) than normal, and its ``plus'' (or minus)
1932 will subtract from your armor class. For example, a +1 chain
1933 mail would give you better protection than normal chain mail,
1934 lowering your armor class one unit further to 4. When you put on
1935 a piece of armor, you immediately find out the armor class and
1936 any ``plusses'' it provides. Cursed pieces of armor usually have
1937 negative enchantments (minuses) in addition to being unremovable.
1939 Many types of armor are subject to some kind of damage like
1940 rust. Such damage can be repaired. Some types of armor may in-
1941 hibit spell casting.
1943 The commands to use armor are `W' (wear) and `T' (take off).
1944 The `A' command can also be used to take off armor as well as
1949 Food is necessary to survive. If you go too long without
1950 eating you will faint, and eventually die of starvation. Some
1951 types of food will spoil, and become unhealthy to eat, if not
1952 protected. Food stored in ice boxes or tins (``cans'') will usu-
1953 ally stay fresh, but ice boxes are heavy, and tins take a while
1956 When you kill monsters, they usually leave corpses which are
1957 also ``food.'' Many, but not all, of these are edible; some also
1958 give you special powers when you eat them. A good rule of thumb
1959 is ``you are what you eat.''
1961 Some character roles and some monsters are vegetarian. Veg-
1962 etarian monsters will typically never eat animal corpses, while
1963 vegetarian players can, but with some rather unpleasant side-ef-
1966 You can name one food item after something you like to eat
1967 with the fruit option.
1969 The command to eat food is `e'.
1973 Scrolls are labeled with various titles, probably chosen by
1974 ancient wizards for their amusement value (ex. ``READ ME,'' or
1977 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
1983 NetHack Guidebook 31
1987 ``THANX MAUD'' backwards). Scrolls disappear after you read them
1988 (except for blank ones, without magic spells on them).
1990 One of the most useful of these is the scroll of identify,
1991 which can be used to determine what another object is, whether it
1992 is cursed or blessed, and how many uses it has left. Some ob-
1993 jects of subtle enchantment are difficult to identify without
1996 A mail daemon may run up and deliver mail to you as a scroll
1997 of mail (on versions compiled with this feature). To use this
1998 feature on versions where NetHack mail delivery is triggered by
1999 electronic mail appearing in your system mailbox, you must let
2000 NetHack know where to look for new mail by setting the ``MAIL''
2001 environment variable to the file name of your mailbox. You may
2002 also want to set the ``MAILREADER'' environment variable to the
2003 file name of your favorite reader, so NetHack can shell to it
2004 when you read the scroll. On versions of NetHack where mail is
2005 randomly generated internal to the game, these environment vari-
2006 ables are ignored. You can disable the mail daemon by turning
2007 off the mail option.
2009 The command to read a scroll is `r'.
2013 Potions are distinguished by the color of the liquid inside
2014 the flask. They disappear after you quaff them.
2016 Clear potions are potions of water. Sometimes these are
2017 blessed or cursed, resulting in holy or unholy water. Holy water
2018 is the bane of the undead, so potions of holy water are good
2019 things to throw (`t') at them. It is also sometimes very useful
2020 to dip (``#dip'') an object into a potion.
2022 The command to drink a potion is `q' (quaff).
2026 Magic wands usually have multiple magical charges. Some
2027 wands are directional--you must give a direction in which to zap
2028 them. You can also zap them at yourself (just give a `.' or `s'
2029 for the direction). Be warned, however, for this is often unwise.
2030 Other wands are nondirectional--they don't require a direction.
2031 The number of charges in a wand is random and decreases by one
2032 whenever you use it.
2034 When the number of charges left in a wand becomes zero, at-
2035 tempts to use the wand will usually result in nothing happening.
2036 Occasionally, however, it may be possible to squeeze the last few
2037 mana points from an otherwise spent wand, destroying it in the
2038 process. A wand may be recharged by using suitable magic, but
2039 doing so runs the risk of causing it to explode. The chance for
2040 such an explosion starts out very small and increases each time
2043 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2049 NetHack Guidebook 32
2053 the wand is recharged.
2055 In a truly desperate situation, when your back is up against
2056 the wall, you might decide to go for broke and break your wand.
2057 This is not for the faint of heart. Doing so will almost cer-
2058 tainly cause a catastrophic release of magical energies.
2060 When you have fully identified a particular wand, inventory
2061 display will include additional information in parentheses: the
2062 number of times it has been recharged followed by a colon and
2063 then by its current number of charges. A current charge count of
2064 -1 is a special case indicating that the wand has been cancelled.
2066 The command to use a wand is `z' (zap). To break one, use
2067 the `a' (apply) command.
2071 Rings are very useful items, since they are relatively per-
2072 manent magic, unlike the usually fleeting effects of potions,
2075 Putting on a ring activates its magic. You can wear only
2076 two rings, one on each ring finger.
2078 Most rings also cause you to grow hungry more rapidly, the
2079 rate varying with the type of ring.
2081 The commands to use rings are `P' (put on) and `R' (remove).
2083 7.9. Spellbooks (`+')
2085 Spellbooks are tomes of mighty magic. When studied with the
2086 `r' (read) command, they transfer to the reader the knowledge of
2087 a spell (and therefore eventually become unreadable) -- unless
2088 the attempt backfires. Reading a cursed spellbook or one with
2089 mystic runes beyond your ken can be harmful to your health!
2091 A spell (even when learned) can also backfire when you cast
2092 it. If you attempt to cast a spell well above your experience
2093 level, or if you have little skill with the appropriate spell
2094 type, or cast it at a time when your luck is particularly bad,
2095 you can end up wasting both the energy and the time required in
2098 Casting a spell calls forth magical energies and focuses
2099 them with your naked mind. Some of the magical energy released
2100 comes from within you, and casting several spells in a row may
2101 tire you. Casting of spells also requires practice. With prac-
2102 tice, your skill in each category of spell casting will improve.
2103 Over time, however, your memory of each spell will dim, and you
2104 will need to relearn it.
2109 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2115 NetHack Guidebook 33
2119 Some spells are directional--you must give a direction in
2120 which to cast them. You can also cast them at yourself (just
2121 give a `.' or `s' for the direction). Be warned, however, for
2122 this is often unwise. Other spells are nondirectional--they
2123 don't require a direction.
2125 Just as weapons are divided into groups in which a character
2126 can become proficient (to varying degrees), spells are similarly
2127 grouped. Successfully casting a spell exercises its skill group;
2128 using the `#enhance' command to advance a sufficiently exercised
2129 skill will affect all spells within the group. Advanced skill
2130 may increase the potency of spells, reduce their risk of failure
2131 during casting attempts, and improve the accuracy of the estimate
2132 for how much longer they will be retained in your memory. Skill
2133 slots are shared with weapons skills. (See also the section on
2134 ``Weapon proficiency''.)
2136 Casting a spell also requires flexible movement, and wearing
2137 various types of armor may interfere with that.
2139 The command to read a spellbook is the same as for scrolls,
2140 `r' (read). The `+' command lists each spell you know along with
2141 its level, skill category, chance of failure when casting, and an
2142 estimate of how strongly it is remembered. The `Z' (cast) com-
2147 Tools are miscellaneous objects with various purposes. Some
2148 tools have a limited number of uses, akin to wand charges. For
2149 example, lamps burn out after a while. Other tools are contain-
2150 ers, which objects can be placed into or taken out of.
2152 The command to use tools is `a' (apply).
2156 You may encounter bags, boxes, and chests in your travels.
2157 A tool of this sort can be opened with the ``#loot'' extended
2158 command when you are standing on top of it (that is, on the same
2159 floor spot), or with the `a' (apply) command when you are carry-
2160 ing it. However, chests are often locked, and are in any case
2161 unwieldy objects. You must set one down before unlocking it by
2162 using a key or lock-picking tool with the `a' (apply) command, by
2163 kicking it with the `^D' command, or by using a weapon to force
2164 the lock with the ``#force'' extended command.
2166 Some chests are trapped, causing nasty things to happen when
2167 you unlock or open them. You can check for and try to deactivate
2168 traps with the ``#untrap'' extended command.
2175 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2181 NetHack Guidebook 34
2187 Amulets are very similar to rings, and often more powerful.
2188 Like rings, amulets have various magical properties, some benefi-
2189 cial, some harmful, which are activated by putting them on.
2191 Only one amulet may be worn at a time, around your neck.
2193 The commands to use amulets are the same as for rings, `P'
2194 (put on) and `R' (remove).
2198 Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot of gold.
2199 They are also a far more efficient way of carrying your riches.
2200 Valuable gems increase your score if you bring them with you when
2203 Other small rocks are also categorized as gems, but they are
2204 much less valuable. All rocks, however, can be used as projec-
2205 tile weapons (if you have a sling). In the most desperate of
2206 cases, you can still throw them by hand.
2208 7.13. Large rocks (``')
2210 Statues and boulders are not particularly useful, and are
2211 generally heavy. It is rumored that some statues are not what
2214 Very large humanoids (giants and their ilk) have been known
2215 to use boulders as weapons.
2219 Gold adds to your score, and you can buy things in shops
2220 with it. There are a number of monsters in the dungeon that may
2221 be influenced by the amount of gold you are carrying (shopkeepers
2227 As if winning NetHack were not difficult enough, certain
2228 players seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on
2229 the way they play the game. The game automatically tracks some
2230 of these challenges, which can be checked at any time with the
2231 #conduct command or at the end of the game. When you perform an
2232 action which breaks a challenge, it will no longer be listed.
2233 This gives players extra ``bragging rights'' for winning the game
2234 with these challenges. Note that it is perfectly acceptable to
2235 win the game without resorting to these restrictions and that it
2236 is unusual for players to adhere to challenges the first time
2241 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2247 NetHack Guidebook 35
2251 Several of the challenges are related to eating behavior.
2252 The most difficult of these is the foodless challenge. Although
2253 creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is
2254 a physiological need for water; thus there is no restriction on
2255 drinking beverages, even if they provide some minor food bene-
2256 fits. Calling upon your god for help with starvation does not
2257 violate any food challenges either.
2259 A strict vegan diet is one which avoids any food derived
2260 from animals. The primary source of nutrition is fruits and veg-
2261 etables. The corpses and tins of blobs (`b'), jellies (`j'), and
2262 fungi (`F') are also considered to be vegetable matter. Certain
2263 human food is prepared without animal products; namely, lembas
2264 wafers, cram rations, food rations (gunyoki), K-rations, and C-
2265 rations. Metal or another normally indigestible material eaten
2266 while polymorphed into a creature that can digest it is also con-
2267 sidered vegan food. Note however that eating such items still
2268 counts against foodless conduct.
2270 Vegetarians do not eat animals; however, they are less se-
2271 lective about eating animal byproducts than vegans. In addition
2272 to the vegan items listed above, they may eat any kind of pudding
2273 (`P') other than the black puddings, eggs and food made from eggs
2274 (fortune cookies and pancakes), food made with milk (cream pies
2275 and candy bars), and lumps of royal jelly. Monks are expected to
2276 observe a vegetarian diet.
2278 Eating any kind of meat violates the vegetarian, vegan, and
2279 foodless conducts. This includes tripe rations, the corpses or
2280 tins of any monsters not mentioned above, and the various other
2281 chunks of meat found in the dungeon. Swallowing and digesting a
2282 monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate the creature's
2283 corpse. Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items while poly-
2284 morphed into a creature that can digest it, or eating monster
2285 brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered eating
2286 an animal, although wax is only an animal byproduct.
2288 Regardless of conduct, there will be some items which are
2289 indigestible, and others which are hazardous to eat. Using a
2290 swallow-and-digest attack against a monster is equivalent to eat-
2291 ing the monster's corpse. Please note that the term ``vegan'' is
2292 used here only in the context of diet. You are still free to
2293 choose not to use or wear items derived from animals (e.g.
2294 leather, dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not
2295 keep track of this for you. Also note that ``milky'' potions may
2296 be a translucent white, but they do not contain milk, so they are
2297 compatible with a vegan diet. Slime molds or player-defined
2298 ``fruits'', although they could be anything from ``cherries'' to
2299 ``pork chops'', are also assumed to be vegan.
2301 An atheist is one who rejects religion. This means that you
2302 cannot #pray, #offer sacrifices to any god, #turn undead, or
2303 #chat with a priest. Particularly selective readers may argue
2304 that playing Monk or Priest characters should violate this
2307 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2313 NetHack Guidebook 36
2317 conduct; that is a choice left to the player. Offering the
2318 Amulet of Yendor to your god is necessary to win the game and is
2319 not counted against this conduct. You are also not penalized for
2320 being spoken to by an angry god, priest(ess), or other religious
2321 figure; a true atheist would hear the words but attach no special
2324 Most players fight with a wielded weapon (or tool intended
2325 to be wielded as a weapon). Another challenge is to win the game
2326 without using such a wielded weapon. You are still permitted to
2327 throw, fire, and kick weapons; use a wand, spell, or other type
2328 of item; or fight with your hands and feet.
2330 In NetHack, a pacifist refuses to cause the death of any
2331 other monster (i.e. if you would get experience for the death).
2332 This is a particularly difficult challenge, although it is still
2333 possible to gain experience by other means.
2335 An illiterate character cannot read or write. This includes
2336 reading a scroll, spellbook, fortune cookie message, or t-shirt;
2337 writing a scroll; or making an engraving of anything other than a
2338 single ``x'' (the traditional signature of an illiterate person).
2339 Reading an engraving, or any item that is absolutely necessary to
2340 win the game, is not counted against this conduct. The identity
2341 of scrolls and spellbooks (and knowledge of spells) in your
2342 starting inventory is assumed to be learned from your teachers
2343 prior to the start of the game and isn't counted.
2345 There are several other challenges tracked by the game. It
2346 is possible to eliminate one or more species of monsters by geno-
2347 cide; playing without this feature is considered a challenge.
2348 When the game offers you an opportunity to genocide monsters, you
2349 may respond with the monster type ``none'' if you want to de-
2350 cline. You can change the form of an item into another item of
2351 the same type (``polypiling'') or the form of your own body into
2352 another creature (``polyself'') by wand, spell, or potion of
2353 polymorph; avoiding these effects are each considered challenges.
2354 Polymorphing monsters, including pets, does not break either of
2355 these challenges. Finally, you may sometimes receive wishes; a
2356 game without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as
2357 is a game without wishing for an artifact (even if the artifact
2358 immediately disappears). When the game offers you an opportunity
2359 to make a wish for an item, you may choose ``nothing'' if you
2365 Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how
2366 NetHack should do things, there are options you can set to change
2367 how NetHack behaves.
2373 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2379 NetHack Guidebook 37
2383 9.1. Setting the options
2385 Options may be set in a number of ways. Within the game,
2386 the `O' command allows you to view all options and change most of
2387 them. You can also set options automatically by placing them in
2388 the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable or in a configuration
2389 file. Some versions of NetHack also have front-end programs that
2390 allow you to set options before starting the game or a global
2391 configuration for system administrators.
2393 9.2. Using the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable
2395 The NETHACKOPTIONS variable is a comma-separated list of
2396 initial values for the various options. Some can only be turned
2397 on or off. You turn one of these on by adding the name of the
2398 option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or ``no'' be-
2399 fore the name. Others take a character string as a value. You
2400 can set string options by typing the option name, a colon or
2401 equals sign, and then the value of the string. The value is ter-
2402 minated by the next comma or the end of string.
2404 For example, to set up an environment variable so that ``au-
2405 toquiver'' is on, ``autopickup'' is off, the name is set to
2406 ``Blue Meanie'', and the fruit is set to ``papaya'', you would
2409 % setenv NETHACKOPTIONS "autoquiver,\!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"
2411 in csh (note the need to escape the ! since it's special to the
2414 $ NETHACKOPTIONS="autoquiver,!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"
2415 $ export NETHACKOPTIONS
2419 9.3. Using a configuration file
2421 Any line in the configuration file starting with `#' is
2422 treated as a comment. Any line in the configuration file start-
2423 ing with ``OPTIONS='' may be filled out with options in the same
2424 syntax as in NETHACKOPTIONS. Any line starting with ``SYMBOLS=''
2425 is taken as defining the corresponding symbol in a different syn-
2426 tax, a sequence of decimal numbers giving the character position
2427 in the current font to be used in displaying each entry. Such a
2428 sequence can be continued to multiple lines by putting a `\' at
2429 the end of each line to be continued.
2431 Any line starting with ``AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION='' is taken as
2432 defining an exception to the pickup_types option. There is a
2433 section of this Guidebook that discusses that.
2435 The default name of the configuration file varies on differ-
2436 ent operating systems, but NETHACKOPTIONS can also be set to the
2439 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2445 NetHack Guidebook 38
2449 full name of a file you want to use (possibly preceded by an
2452 9.4. Customization options
2454 Here are explanations of what the various options do. Char-
2455 acter strings that are too long may be truncated. Some of the
2456 options listed may be inactive in your dungeon.
2458 Some options are persistent, and are saved and reloaded
2459 along with the game. Changing a persistent option in the config-
2460 uration file applies only to new games.
2463 Enable messages about what your character hears (default on).
2464 Note that this has nothing to do with your computer's audio ca-
2465 pabilities. Persistent.
2468 Your starting alignment (align:lawful, align:neutral, or
2469 align:chaotic). You may specify just the first letter. The
2470 default is to randomly pick an appropriate alignment. If you
2471 prefix a `!' or ``no'' to the value, you can exclude that
2472 alignment from being picked randomly. Cannot be set with the
2473 `O' command. Persistent.
2476 Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving
2477 into a place that can be dug (default false). Persistent.
2480 Walking into a door attempts to open it (default true). Persis-
2484 Automatically pick up things onto which you move (default on).
2485 Persistent. See pickup_types to refine the behavior.
2488 This option controls what happens when you attempt the `f'
2489 (fire) command with an empty quiver (or quiver sack or have
2490 nothing at the ready). When true, the computer will fill your
2491 quiver or quiver sack or make ready some suitable weapon. Note
2492 that it will not take into account the blessed/cursed status,
2493 enchantment, damage, or quality of the weapon; you are free to
2494 manually fill your quiver or quiver sack or make ready with the
2495 `Q' command instead. If no weapon is found or the option is
2496 false, the `t' (throw) command is executed instead. Persis-
2497 tent. (default false)
2500 Start the character permanently blind. Persistent. (default
2505 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2511 NetHack Guidebook 39
2516 Allow saving and loading bones files. Persistent. (default
2520 Set the character used to display boulders (default is rock
2524 Name your starting cat (ex. ``catname:Morris''). Cannot be set
2525 with the `O' command.
2528 Pick your type of character (ex. ``character:Monk''); synonym
2529 for ``role''. See ``name'' for an alternate method of specify-
2530 ing your role. Normally only the first letter of the value is
2531 examined; the string ``random'' is an exception.
2534 Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
2535 after program crash (default on). Persistent.
2538 Check free disk space before writing files to disk (default
2539 on). You may have to turn this off if you have more than 2 GB
2540 free space on the partition used for your save and level files.
2541 Only applies when MFLOPPY was defined during compilation.
2544 Allows looking at things on the screen by navigating the mouse
2545 over them and clicking the right mouse button (default off).
2548 Have the game provide some additional command assistance for
2549 new players if it detects some anticipated mistakes (default
2553 Have user confirm attacks on pets, shopkeepers, and other
2554 peaceable creatures (default on). Persistent.
2557 Show out-of-sight areas of lit rooms (default off). Persis-
2561 Controls what information the program reveals when the game
2562 ends. Value is a space separated list of prompting/category
2563 pairs (default is `ni na nv ng nc no', prompt with default re-
2564 sponse of `n' for each candidate). Persistent. The possibili-
2571 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2577 NetHack Guidebook 40
2581 i - disclose your inventory;
2582 a - disclose your attributes;
2583 v - summarize monsters that have been vanquished;
2584 g - list monster species that have been genocided;
2585 c - display your conduct;
2586 o - display dungeon overview.
2588 Each disclosure possibility can optionally be preceded by a
2589 prefix which lets you refine how it behaves. Here are the
2592 y - prompt you and default to yes on the prompt;
2593 n - prompt you and default to no on the prompt;
2594 + - disclose it without prompting;
2595 - - do not disclose it and do not prompt.
2597 Omitted categories are implicitly added with `n' prefix. Spec-
2598 ified categories with omitted prefix implicitly use `+' prefix.
2599 Order of the disclosure categories does not matter, program
2600 display for end-of-game disclosure follows a set sequence.
2602 (ex. ``disclose:yi na +v -g o'') The example sets inventory to
2603 prompt and default to yes, attributes to prompt and default to
2604 no, vanquished to disclose without prompting, genocided to not
2605 disclose and not prompt, conduct to implicitly prompt and de-
2606 fault to no, and overview to disclose without prompting.
2608 Note that the vanquished monsters list includes all monsters
2609 killed by traps and each other as well as by you. And the dun-
2610 geon overview shows all levels you had visited but does not re-
2611 veal things about them that you hadn't discovered.
2614 Name your starting dog (ex. ``dogname:Fang''). Cannot be set
2615 with the `O' command.
2618 Changes the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu of
2619 available commands. It is keystroke compatible with the tradi-
2620 tional interface except that it does not require that you hit
2621 Enter. It is implemented only by the tty port (default off),
2622 when the game has been compiled to support tty graphics.
2625 An obsolete synonym for ``gender:female''. Cannot be set with
2629 An object's inventory letter sticks to it when it's dropped
2630 (default on). If this is off, dropping an object shifts all
2631 the remaining inventory letters. Persistent.
2634 Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (ex.
2637 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2643 NetHack Guidebook 41
2647 ``fruit:mango'') (default ``slime mold''). Basically a nostal-
2648 gic whimsy that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set
2649 this to something you find more appetizing than slime mold.
2650 Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in
2651 NetHack, so don't use those.
2654 Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
2655 specify just the first letter. Although you can still denote
2656 your gender using the ``male'' and ``female'' options, the
2657 ``gender'' option will take precedence. The default is to ran-
2658 domly pick an appropriate gender. If you prefix a `!' or
2659 ``no'' to the value, you can exclude that gender from being
2660 picked randomly. Cannot be set with the `O' command. Persis-
2664 If more information is available for an object looked at with
2665 the `/' command, ask if you want to see it (default on). Turn-
2666 ing help off makes just looking at things faster, since you
2667 aren't interrupted with the ``More info?'' prompt, but it also
2668 means that you might miss some interesting and/or important in-
2669 formation. Persistent.
2672 Visually distinguish pets from similar animals (default off).
2673 The behavior of this option depends on the type of windowing
2674 you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or inverse video
2675 is often used; with tiles, generally displays a heart symbol
2679 Visually distinguish piles of objects from individual objects
2680 (default off). The behavior of this option depends on the type
2681 of windowing you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or
2682 inverse video is often used; with tiles, generally displays a
2683 small plus-symbol beside the object on the top of the pile.
2686 Name your starting horse (ex. ``horsename:Trigger''). Cannot
2687 be set with the `O' command.
2690 Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off). Per-
2694 Omit "uncursed" from inventory lists, if possible (default on).
2697 Display an introductory message when starting the game (default
2703 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2709 NetHack Guidebook 42
2714 Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source
2715 held by your character as lit (default off). Persistent.
2718 Use the old `a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts when looting,
2719 rather than the mnemonics `o', `i', and `b' (default off).
2723 Enable mail delivery during the game (default on). Persistent.
2726 An obsolete synonym for ``gender:male''. Cannot be set with
2730 Give feedback when walking against a wall (default off).
2733 Enable coloring menu lines (default off). See ``Configuring
2734 Menu Colors'' on how to configure the colors.
2737 Controls the interface used when you need to choose various ob-
2738 jects (in response to the Drop command, for instance). The
2739 value specified should be the first letter of one of the fol-
2740 lowing: traditional, combination, full, or partial. Tradi-
2741 tional was the only interface available for early versions; it
2742 consists of a prompt for object class characters, followed by
2743 an object-by-object prompt for all items matching the selected
2744 object class(es). Combination starts with a prompt for object
2745 class(es) of interest, but then displays a menu of matching ob-
2746 jects rather than prompting one-by-one. Full displays a menu
2747 of object classes rather than a character prompt, and then a
2748 menu of matching objects for selection. Partial skips the ob-
2749 ject class filtering and immediately displays a menu of all ob-
2753 Menu character accelerator to deselect all items in a menu.
2754 Implemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default '-'.
2757 Menu character accelerator to deselect all items on this page
2758 of a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. De-
2762 Menu character accelerator to jump to the first page in a menu.
2763 Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default '^'.
2766 Controls how the headings in a menu are highlighted. Values
2769 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2775 NetHack Guidebook 43
2779 are 'none', 'bold', 'dim', 'underline', 'blink', or 'inverse'.
2780 Not all ports can actually display all types.
2783 Menu character accelerator to invert all items in a menu. Im-
2784 plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default '@'.
2787 Menu character accelerator to invert all items on this page of
2788 a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
2792 Menu character accelerator to jump to the last page in a menu.
2793 Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default '|'.
2796 Menu character accelerator to goto the next menu page. Imple-
2797 mented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default '>'.
2800 Show object symbols in menu headings in menus where the object
2801 symbols act as menu accelerators (default off).
2804 Menu character accelerator to goto the previous menu page. Im-
2805 plemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default '<'.
2808 Menu character accelerator to search for a menu item. Imple-
2809 mented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default ':'.
2812 Menu character accelerator to select all items in a menu. Im-
2813 plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default '.'.
2816 Menu character accelerator to select all items on this page of
2817 a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
2821 The number of top line messages to save (and recall with ^P)
2822 (default 20). Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2825 Allows you to change the way recalled messages are displayed.
2826 (It is currently implemented for tty only.) The possible val-
2829 s - single message (default; only choice prior to 3.4.0);
2830 c - combination, two messages as `single', then as `full';
2831 f - full window, oldest message first;
2832 r - full window reversed, newest message first.
2835 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2841 NetHack Guidebook 44
2845 For backward compatibility, no value needs to be specified
2846 (which defaults to `full'), or it can be negated (which
2847 defaults to `single').
2850 Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You
2851 can also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
2852 or more letters of the role (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B
2853 -C -H -K -M -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -V -W). If -@ is used for the
2854 role, then a random one will be automatically chosen. Cannot
2855 be set with the `O' command.
2858 Read the NetHack news file, if present (default on). Since the
2859 news is shown at the beginning of the game, there's no point in
2860 setting this with the `O' command.
2863 Start the character with no armor (default false). Persistent.
2866 Send padding nulls to the terminal (default on). Persistent.
2869 Use digit keys instead of letters to move (default 0 or off).
2872 0 - move by letters; `yuhjklbn'
2873 1 - move by numbers; digit `5' acts as `G' movement prefix
2874 2 - like 1 but `5' works as `g' prefix instead of as `G'
2875 3 - by numbers using phone key layout; 123 above, 789 below
2876 4 - combines 3 with 2; phone layout plus MSDOS compatibility
2877 -1 - by letters but use `z' to go northwest, `y' to zap wands
2879 For backward compatibility, omitting a value is the same as
2880 specifying 1 and negating number_pad is the same as specifying
2881 0. (Settings 2 and 4 are for compatibility with MSDOS or old
2882 PC Hack; in addition to the different behavior for `5', `Alt-5'
2883 acts as `G' and `Alt-0' acts as `I'. Setting -1 is to accommo-
2884 date some German keyboards which have the location of the `y'
2885 and `z' keys swapped.) When moving by numbers, to enter a
2886 count prefix for those commands which accept one (such as
2887 ``12s'' to search twelve times), precede it with the letter `n'
2891 Specify the order to list object types in (default
2892 ``")[%?+!=/(*`0_''). The value of this option should be a
2893 string containing the symbols for the various object types.
2894 Any omitted types are filled in at the end from the previous
2897 paranoid_confirmation
2898 A space separated list of specific situations where alternate
2901 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2907 NetHack Guidebook 45
2911 prompting is desired. The default is paranoid_confirma-
2914 Confirm - for any prompts which are set to require "yes" rather
2915 than 'y', also require "no" to reject instead of ac-
2916 cepting any non-yes response as no
2917 quit - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm quitting the
2918 game or switching into non-scoring explore mode;
2919 die - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm dying (not
2920 useful in normal play; applies to explore mode);
2921 bones - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm saving bones
2922 data when dying in debug mode;
2923 attack - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm attacking a
2925 pray - require 'y' to confirm an attempt to pray rather than
2926 immediately praying; on by default;
2927 wand - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm breaking a
2929 Remove - require selection from inventory for 'R' and 'T' com-
2930 mands even when wearing just one applicable item.
2932 By default, the pray choice is enabled, the others disabled.
2933 To disable it without setting any of the other choices, use
2934 ``paranoid_confirmation:none''. To keep it enabled while set-
2935 ting any of the others, include it in the list, such as ``para-
2936 noid_confirmation:attack pray Remove''.
2939 If true, always display your current inventory in a window.
2940 This only makes sense for windowing system interfaces that im-
2941 plement this feature. Persistent.
2944 Specify the type of your initial pet, if you are playing a
2945 character class that uses multiple types of pets; or choose to
2946 have no initial pet at all. Possible values are ``cat'',
2947 ``dog'', ``horse'', and ``none''. If the choice is not allowed
2948 for the role you are currently playing, it will be silently ig-
2949 nored. For example, ``horse'' will only be honored when play-
2950 ing a knight. Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2953 When you pick up an item that would exceed this encumbrance
2954 level (Unencumbered, Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed,
2955 or overLoaded), you will be asked if you want to continue.
2956 (Default `S'). Persistent.
2959 If this option is on and autopickup is also on, try to pick up
2960 things that you threw, even if they aren't in pickup_types or
2961 match an autopickup exception. Default is on. Persistent.
2964 Specify the object types to be picked up when autopickup is on.
2967 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
2973 NetHack Guidebook 46
2977 Default is all types. You can use autopickup_exception config-
2978 uration file lines to further refine autopickup behavior. Per-
2982 When walking across a pile of objects on the floor, threshold
2983 at which the message "there are few/several/many objects here"
2984 is given instead of showing a popup list of those objects. A
2985 value of 0 means "no limit" (always list the objects); a value
2986 of 1 effectively means "never show the objects" since the pile
2987 size will always be at least that big; default value is 5.
2991 Values are `normal', `explore', or `debug'. Allows selection
2992 of explore mode (also known as discovery mode) or debug mode
2993 (also known as wizard mode) instead of normal play. Debug mode
2994 might only be allowed for someone logged in under a particular
2995 user name (on multi-user systems) or specifying a particular
2996 character name (on single-user systems) or it might be disabled
2997 entirely. Requesting it when not allowed or not possible re-
2998 sults in explore mode instead. Default is normal play.
3001 Using the `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
3002 pushes the old item into your alternate weapon slot (default
3003 off). Likewise for the `a' (apply) command if it causes the
3004 applied item to become wielded. Persistent.
3007 Selects your race (for example, ``race:human''). Default is
3008 random. If you prefix a `!' or ``no'' to the value, you can
3009 exclude that race from being picked randomly. Cannot be set
3010 with the `O' command. Persistent.
3013 Make the space bar a synonym for the `.' (rest) command (de-
3014 fault off). Persistent.
3017 Pick your type of character (ex. ``role:Samurai''); synonym for
3018 ``character''. See ``name'' for an alternate method of speci-
3019 fying your role. Normally only the first letter of the value
3020 is examined; `r' is an exception with ``Rogue'', ``Ranger'',
3021 and ``random'' values. If you prefix a `!' or ``no'' to the
3022 value, you can exclude that role from being picked randomly.
3026 This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
3027 found within ``symbols'' to alter the symbols displayed on the
3028 screen on the rogue level.
3033 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3039 NetHack Guidebook 47
3044 When writing out a save file, perform run length compression of
3045 the map. Not all ports support run length compression. It has
3046 no effect on reading an existing save file.
3049 Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window when
3050 engaged in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
3051 control+direction and so forth, or via the travel command or
3052 mouse click). The possible values are:
3054 teleport - update the map after movement has finished;
3055 run - update the map after every seven or so steps;
3056 walk - update the map after each step;
3057 crawl - like walk, but pause briefly after each step.
3059 This option only affects the game's screen display, not the ac-
3060 tual results of moving. The default is `run'; versions prior
3061 to 3.4.1 used `teleport' only. Whether or not the effect is
3062 noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type
3063 of terminal. Persistent.
3066 Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
3070 Control what parts of the score list you are shown at the end
3071 (ex. ``scores:5 top scores/4 around my score/own scores'').
3072 Only the first letter of each category (`t', `a', or `o') is
3073 necessary. Persistent.
3076 Show your accumulated experience points on bottom line (default
3080 Display yourself as the glyph for your race, rather than the
3081 glyph for your role (default off). Note that this setting af-
3082 fects only the appearance of the display, not the way the game
3083 treats you. Persistent.
3086 Show your approximate accumulated score on bottom line (default
3090 Suppress terminal beeps (default on). Persistent.
3093 Controls the sorting behavior of the pickup lists for inventory
3094 and #loot commands and some others. Persistent. The possible
3099 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3105 NetHack Guidebook 48
3109 full - always sort the lists;
3110 loot - only sort the lists that don't use inventory letters,
3111 like with the #loot and pickup commands;
3112 none - show lists the traditional way without sorting.
3115 Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
3116 fault on). Persistent.
3119 Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
3120 hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on). Per-
3124 Boldface monsters and ``--More--'' (default off). Persistent.
3127 Enable coloring of status fields (default off). See ``Config-
3128 uring Status Hilites'' for futher information.
3131 This option may be set to a NetHack version level to suppress
3132 alert notification messages about feature changes for that and
3133 prior versions (ex. ``suppress_alert:3.3.1'').
3136 This option may be used to select one of the named symbol sets
3137 found within ``symbols'' to alter the symbols displayed on the
3141 Show the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default
3145 When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as with ex-
3146 plosions and moving objects, use a timer rather than sending
3147 extra characters to the screen. (Applies to ``tty'' interface
3148 only; ``X11'' interface always uses a timer based delay. The
3149 default is on if configured into the program.) Persistent.
3152 Draw a tombstone graphic upon your death (default on). Persis-
3156 Put the ending display in a NetHack window instead of on stdout
3157 (default off). Setting this option makes the score list visi-
3158 ble when a windowing version of NetHack is started without a
3159 parent window, but it no longer leaves the score list around
3160 after game end on a terminal or emulating window.
3165 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3171 NetHack Guidebook 49
3176 Allow the travel command (default on). Turning this option off
3177 will prevent the game from attempting unintended moves if you
3178 make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map window. Persistent.
3181 Provide more commentary during the game (default on). Persis-
3185 Select which windowing system to use, such as ``tty'' or
3186 ``X11'' (default depends on version). Cannot be set with the
3190 When writing out a save file, perform zero-comp compression of
3191 the contents. Not all ports support zero-comp compression. It
3192 has no effect on reading an existing save file.
3194 9.5. Window Port Customization options
3196 Here are explanations of the various options that are used
3197 to customize and change the characteristics of the windowtype
3198 that you have chosen. Character strings that are too long may be
3199 truncated. Not all window ports will adjust for all settings
3200 listed here. You can safely add any of these options to your
3201 config file, and if the window port is capable of adjusting to
3202 suit your preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it can't it
3203 will silently ignore it. You can find out if an option is sup-
3204 ported by the window port that you are currently using by check-
3205 ing to see if it shows up in the Options list. Some options are
3206 dynamic and can be specified during the game with the `O' com-
3210 Where to align or place the message window (top, bottom, left,
3214 Where to align or place the status window (top, bottom, left,
3218 NetHack should display an ascii character map if it can.
3221 NetHack should display color if it can for different monsters,
3222 objects, and dungeon features
3225 NetHack should pass eight-bit character values (for example,
3226 specified with the traps option) straight through to your ter-
3227 minal (default off).
3231 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3237 NetHack Guidebook 50
3242 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for the map win-
3246 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for menu windows.
3249 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for the message
3253 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for the status
3257 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for text windows.
3260 NetHack should use this size font for the map window.
3263 NetHack should use this size font for menu windows.
3266 NetHack should use this size font for the message window.
3269 NetHack should use this size font for the status window.
3272 NetHack should use this size font for text windows.
3275 NetHack should try and display on the entire screen rather than
3279 NetHack should use a large font.
3282 NetHack should display the map in the manner specified.
3285 Allow use of the mouse for input and travel.
3288 NetHack should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts for charac-
3292 NetHack should pop up dialog boxes for input.
3297 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3303 NetHack Guidebook 51
3308 NetHack should preload tiles into memory. For example, in the
3309 protected mode MSDOS version, control whether tiles get pre-
3310 loaded into RAM at the start of the game. Doing so enhances
3311 performance of the tile graphics, but uses more memory. (de-
3312 fault on). Cannot be set with the `O' command.
3315 NetHack should scroll the display by this number of cells when
3316 the hero reaches the scroll_margin.
3319 NetHack should scroll the display when the hero or cursor is
3320 this number of cells away from the edge of the window.
3323 NetHack should display a menu of existing saved games for the
3324 player to choose from at game startup, if it can. Not all ports
3325 support this option.
3328 Display an onscreen keyboard. Handhelds are most likely to
3329 support this option.
3332 NetHack should display an opening splash screen when it starts
3336 NetHack should display a tiled map if it can.
3339 Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
3343 Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable
3347 Specify the preferred width of each tile in a tile capable port
3350 Use bold black instead of blue for black glyphs (TTY only).
3353 NetHack should display inverse when the game specifies it.
3356 NetHack should display this number of messages at a time in the
3360 NetHack should display windows with the specified
3363 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3369 NetHack Guidebook 52
3373 foreground/background colors if it can.
3376 NetHack port should wrap long lines of text if they don't fit
3377 in the visible area of the window.
3379 9.6. Platform-specific Customization options
3381 Here are explanations of options that are used by specific
3382 platforms or ports to customize and change the port behavior.
3385 Select an alternate keystroke handler dll to load (Win32 tty
3386 NetHack only). The name of the handler is specified without
3387 the .dll extension and without any path information. Cannot be
3388 set with the `O' command.
3391 On Amiga, this option controls whether typing `Alt' plus anoth-
3392 er key functions as a meta-shift for that key (default on).
3395 On other (non-Amiga) systems where this option is available, it
3396 can be set to tell nethack to convert a two character sequence
3397 beginning with ESC into a meta-shifted version of the second
3398 character (default off).
3400 This conversion is only done for commands, not for other input
3401 prompts. Note that typing one or more digits as a count prefix
3402 prior to a command--preceded by n if the number_pad option is
3403 set--is also subject to this conversion, so attempting to abort
3404 the count by typing ESC will leave nethack waiting for another
3405 character to complete the two character sequence. Type a sec-
3406 ond ESC to finish cancelling such a count. At other prompts a
3407 single ESC suffices.
3410 Use BIOS calls to update the screen display quickly and to read
3411 the keyboard (allowing the use of arrow keys to move) on ma-
3412 chines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off, OS/2,
3413 PC, and ST NetHack only).
3416 (default off, AMIGA NetHack only).
3419 (default on, Mac NetHack only).
3422 (default on, Mac NetHack only).
3425 Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bullet-
3426 proof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P' as a printer toggle
3429 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3435 NetHack Guidebook 53
3439 without it) (default off, OS/2, PC, and ST NetHack only).
3440 Note: DEC Rainbows hang if this is turned on. Cannot be set
3441 with the `O' command.
3444 (default on, PC NetHack only). Cannot be set with the `O' com-
3448 (Win32 tty NetHack only). May be used to alter the value of
3449 keystrokes that the operating system returns to NetHack to help
3450 compensate for international keyboard issues. OPTIONS=subkey-
3451 value:171/92 will return 92 to NetHack, if 171 was originally
3452 going to be returned. You can use multiple subkeyvalue state-
3453 ments in the config file if needed. Cannot be set with the `O'
3457 Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only). Values are `autode-
3458 tect', `default', or `vga'. Setting `vga' (or `autodetect'
3459 with vga hardware present) will cause the game to display
3460 tiles. Cannot be set with the `O' command.
3463 Set the color palette for PC systems using NO_TERMS (default
3464 4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11, (PC NetHack only). The order
3465 of colors is red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan,
3466 bright.white, bright.red, bright.green, yellow, bright.blue,
3467 bright.magenta, and bright.cyan. Cannot be set with the `O'
3471 Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available (de-
3472 fault dark normal light, PC NetHack only). If the game display
3473 is difficult to read, try adjusting these scales; if this does
3474 not correct the problem, try !color. Cannot be set with the
3477 9.7. Regular Expressions
3479 Regular expressions are normally POSIX extended regular ex-
3480 pressions. It is possible to compile NetHack without regular ex-
3481 pression support on a platform where there is no regular expres-
3482 sion library. While this is not true of any modern platform, if
3483 your NetHack was built this way, patterns are instead glob pat-
3486 9.8. Configuring Autopickup Exceptions
3488 You can further refine the behavior of the autopickup option
3489 beyond what is available through the pickup_types option.
3491 By placing autopickup_exception lines in your configuration
3492 file, you can define patterns to be checked when the game is
3495 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3501 NetHack Guidebook 54
3505 about to autopickup something.
3507 autopickup_exception
3508 Sets an exception to the pickup_types option. The autopick-
3509 up_exception option should be followed by a regular expression
3510 to be used as a pattern to match against the singular form of
3511 the description of an object at your location.
3513 In addition, some characters are treated specially if they oc-
3514 cur as the first character in the pattern, specifically:
3516 < - always pickup an object that matches rest of pattern;
3517 > - never pickup an object that matches rest of pattern.
3519 A `never pickup' rule takes precedence over an `always pickup'
3522 Exceptions can be set with the `O' command, but ones set that
3523 way will not be preserved across saves and restores.
3525 Here are some examples:
3527 autopickup_exception="<*arrow"
3528 autopickup_exception=">*corpse"
3529 autopickup_exception=">* cursed*"
3531 The first example above will result in autopickup of any
3532 type of arrow. The second example results in the exclusion of
3533 any corpse from autopickup. The last example results in the ex-
3534 clusion of items known to be cursed from autopickup.
3536 9.9. Configuring Message Types
3538 You can change the way the messages are shown in the message
3539 area, when the message matches a user-defined pattern.
3541 In general, the config file entries to configure the message
3542 types look like this: MSGTYPE=type "pattern"
3544 type - how the message should be shown;
3545 pattern - the pattern to match.
3547 The pattern should be a regular expression.
3551 show - show message normally.
3552 hide - never show the message.
3553 stop - wait for user with more-prompt.
3554 norep - show the message once, but not again if no other message is shown in between.
3556 Here's an example of message types using NetHack's internal
3557 pattern matching facility:
3561 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3567 NetHack Guidebook 55
3571 MSGTYPE=stop "You feel hungry."
3572 MSGTYPE=hide "You displaced *."
3574 specifies that whenever a message "You feel hungry" is shown,
3575 the user is prompted with more-prompt, and a message matching
3576 "You displaced <something>." is not shown at all.
3578 The order of the defined MSGTYPE-lines is important; the last
3579 matching rule is used. Put the general case first, exceptions
3582 9.10. Configuring Menu Colors
3584 Some platforms allow you to define colors used in menu lines
3585 when the line matches a user-defined pattern. At this time the
3586 tty, win32tty and win32gui support this.
3588 In general, the config file entries to configure the menu
3589 color mappings look like this:
3591 MENUCOLOR="pattern"=color&attribute
3593 pattern - the pattern to match;
3594 color - the color to use for lines matching the pat-
3596 attribute - the attribute to use for lines matching the
3597 pattern. The attribute is optional, and if
3598 left out, you must also leave out the preced-
3599 ing ampersand. If no attribute is defined,
3600 no attribute is used.
3602 The pattern should be a regular expression.
3604 Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
3605 cyan, gray, orange, lightgreen, yellow, lightblue, lightmagen-
3606 ta, lightcyan, and white.
3608 Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline, blink, and
3609 inverse. Note that the platform used may interpret the at-
3610 tributes any way it wants.
3612 Here's an example of menu colors using NetHack's internal pat-
3613 tern matching facility:
3615 MENUCOLOR="* blessed *"=green
3616 MENUCOLOR="* cursed *"=red
3617 MENUCOLOR="* cursed *(being worn)"=red&underline
3619 specifies that any menu line with " blessed " contained in it
3620 will be shown in green color, lines with " cursed " will be
3621 shown in red, and lines with " cursed " followed by "(being
3622 worn)" on the same line will be shown in red color and under-
3623 lined. You can have multiple MENUCOLOR entries in your config
3624 file, and the last MENUCOLOR-line in your config file that
3627 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3633 NetHack Guidebook 56
3637 matches a menu line will be used for the line.
3639 Note that if you intend to have one or more color specifica-
3640 tions match " uncursed ", you will probably want to turn the im-
3641 plicit_uncursed option off so that all items known to be uncursed
3642 are actually displayed with the ``uncursed'' description.
3644 9.11. Configuring User Sounds
3646 Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be played
3647 when a message that matches a user-defined pattern is delivered
3648 to the message window. At this time the Qt port and the win32tty
3649 and win32gui ports support the use of user sounds.
3651 The following config file entries are relevant to mapping
3652 user sounds to messages:
3655 The directory that houses the sound files to be played.
3658 An entry that maps a sound file to a user-specified message
3659 pattern. Each SOUND entry is broken down into the following
3662 MESG - message window mapping (the only one supported in
3664 pattern - the pattern to match;
3665 sound file - the sound file to play;
3666 volume - the volume to be set while playing the sound file.
3668 The pattern should be a POSIX extended regular expression.
3670 9.12. Configuring Status Hilites
3672 Your copy of NetHack may have been compiled with support for
3673 ``Status Hilites''. If so, you can customize your game display
3674 by setting thresholds to change the color or appearance of fields
3675 in the status display.
3677 For example, the following line in your config file will
3678 cause the hitpoints field to display in the color red if your
3679 hitpoints drop to or below a threshold of 30%:
3681 OPTION=hilite_status: hitpoints/30%/red/normal
3683 For another example, the following line in your config file
3684 will cause wisdom to be displayed red if it drops and green if it
3687 OPTION=hilite_status: wisdom/updown/red/green
3689 You can adjust the display of the following status fields:
3693 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3699 NetHack Guidebook 57
3703 title strength dexterity
3704 constitution intelligence wisdom
3705 charisma alignment score
3706 carrying-capacity gold power
3707 power-max experience-level armor-class
3709 hitpoints hitpoints-max dungeon-level
3710 experience condition
3712 Allowed colors are black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
3713 cyan, gray, orange, lightgreen, yellow, lightblue, lightmagen-
3714 ta, lightcyan, and white.
3716 Allowed attributes are bold, inverse, normal. Note that the
3717 platform used may interpret the attributes any way it wants.
3719 Behaviours can occur based on percentage thresholds, updown, or
3720 absolute values. The in-game options menu can help you deter-
3721 mine the correct syntax for a config file.
3723 The whole feature can be disabled by setting option sta-
3726 9.13. Modifying NetHack Symbols
3728 NetHack can load entire symbol sets from the symbol file.
3730 The options that are used to select a particular symbol set
3731 from the symbol file are:
3734 Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load.
3737 Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load for dis-
3738 play on the rogue level.
3740 You can also override one or more symbols using the SYMBOLS
3741 config file option. Symbols are specified as name:value pairs.
3742 Note that NetHack escape-processes the value string in conven-
3743 tional C fashion. This means that \ is a prefix to take the fol-
3744 lowing character literally. Thus \ needs to be represented as \\.
3745 The special escape form \m switches on the meta bit in the symbol
3746 value, and the \^ prefix causes the following character to be
3747 treated as a control character.
3750 Default Symbol Name Description
3751 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
3755 A S_angel (angelic being)
3759 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3765 NetHack Guidebook 58
3769 a S_ant (ant or other insect)
3770 ^ S_anti_magic_trap (anti-magic field)
3771 [ S_armor (suit or piece of armor)
3772 [ S_armour (suit or piece of armor)
3773 ^ S_arrow_trap (arrow trap)
3774 0 S_ball (iron ball)
3775 # S_bars (iron bars)
3776 B S_bat (bat or bird)
3777 ^ S_bear_trap (bear trap)
3778 - S_blcorn (bottom left corner)
3780 + S_book (spellbook)
3781 ) S_boomleft (boomerang open left)
3782 ( S_boomright (boomerang open right)
3783 ` S_boulder (boulder)
3784 - S_brcorn (bottom right corner)
3785 C S_centaur (centaur)
3786 _ S_chain (iron chain)
3788 c S_cockatrice (cockatrice)
3789 $ S_coin (pile of coins)
3792 ^ S_dart_trap (dart trap)
3793 & S_demon (major demon)
3794 * S_digbeam (dig beam)
3795 > S_dnladder (ladder down)
3796 > S_dnstair (staircase down)
3797 d S_dog (dog or other canine)
3799 ; S_eel (sea monster)
3800 E S_elemental (elemental)
3801 / S_explode1 (explosion top left)
3802 - S_explode2 (explosion top center)
3803 `\' S_explode3 (explosion top right)
3804 | S_explode4 (explosion middle left)
3805 S_explode5 (explosion middle center)
3806 | S_explode6 (explosion middle right)
3807 `\' S_explode7 (explosion bottom left)
3808 - S_explode8 (explosion bottom center)
3809 / S_explode9 (explosion bottom right)
3810 e S_eye (eye or sphere)
3811 ^ S_falling_rock_trap (falling rock trap)
3812 f S_feline (cat or other feline)
3813 ^ S_fire_trap (fire trap)
3814 ! S_flashbeam (flash beam)
3815 % S_food (piece of food)
3816 { S_fountain (fountain)
3817 F S_fungus (fungus or mold)
3818 * S_gem (gem or rock)
3820 H S_giant (giant humanoid)
3825 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3831 NetHack Guidebook 59
3837 g S_gremlin (gremlin)
3839 # S_hcdbridge (horizontal raised drawbridge)
3840 + S_hcdoor (closed door)
3841 | S_hodoor (open door)
3843 @ S_human (human or elf)
3844 h S_humanoid (humanoid)
3845 - S_hwall (horizontal wall)
3846 i S_imp (imp or minor demon)
3847 J S_jabberwock (jabberwock)
3850 K S_kop (Keystone Kop)
3851 ^ S_land_mine (land mine)
3852 } S_lava (molten lava)
3853 l S_leprechaun (leprechaun)
3854 ^ S_level_teleporter (level teleporter)
3857 # S_litcorr (lit corridor)
3860 ^ S_magic_portal (magic portal)
3861 ^ S_magic_trap (magic trap)
3863 ] S_mimic_def (mimic)
3869 p S_piercer (piercer)
3871 # S_poisoncloud (poison cloud)
3872 ^ S_polymorph_trap (polymorph trap)
3875 P S_pudding (pudding or ooze)
3876 q S_quadruped (quadruped)
3877 Q S_quantmech (quantum mechanic)
3879 ` S_rock (boulder or statue)
3881 ^ S_rolling_boulder_trap (rolling boulder trap)
3883 ^ S_rust_trap (rust trap)
3884 R S_rustmonst (rust monster or disenchanter)
3887 ^ S_sleeping_gas_trap (sleeping gas trap)
3891 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3897 NetHack Guidebook 60
3902 s S_spider (arachnid or centipede)
3903 ^ S_spiked_pit (spiked pit)
3904 ^ S_squeaky_board (squeaky board)
3905 0 S_ss1 (magic shield 1 of 4)
3906 # S_ss2 (magic shield 2 of 4)
3907 @ S_ss3 (magic shield 3 of 4)
3908 * S_ss4 (magic shield 4 of 4)
3909 ^ S_statue_trap (statue trap)
3910 S_stone (dark part of a room)
3911 - S_sw_bc (swallow bottom center)
3912 `\' S_sw_bl (swallow bottom left)
3913 / S_sw_br (swallow bottom right)
3914 | S_sw_ml (swallow middle left)
3915 | S_sw_mr (swallow middle right)
3916 - S_sw_tc (swallow top center)
3917 / S_sw_tl (swallow top left)
3918 `\' S_sw_tr (swallow top right)
3920 ^ S_teleportation_trap (teleportation trap)
3921 S_throne (opulent throne)
3922 - S_tlcorn (top left corner)
3924 ( S_tool (useful item (pick-axe key lamp...))
3925 ^ S_trap_door (trap door)
3926 t S_trapper (trapper or lurker above)
3927 - S_trcorn (top right corner)
3932 U S_umber (umber hulk)
3933 u S_unicorn (unicorn or horse)
3934 < S_upladder (ladder up)
3935 < S_upstair (staircase up)
3936 V S_vampire (vampire)
3938 # S_vcdbridge (vertical raised drawbridge)
3939 + S_vcdoor (closed door)
3940 ^ S_vibrating_square (vibrating square)
3941 - S_vodoor (open door)
3943 | S_vwall (vertical wall)
3949 ~ S_worm_tail (long worm tail)
3951 x S_xan (xan or other mythical/fantastic insect)
3953 Y S_yeti (apelike creature)
3957 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
3963 NetHack Guidebook 61
3970 9.14. Configuring NetHack for Play by the Blind
3972 NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII characters
3973 for making maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
3974 of NetHack completely accessible to the blind who use speech
3975 and/or Braille access technologies. Players will require a good
3976 working knowledge of their screen-reader's review features, and
3977 will have to know how to navigate horizontally and vertically
3978 character by character. They will also find the search capabili-
3979 ties of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
3980 examine this Guidebook before playing so you have an idea what
3981 the screen layout is like. You'll also need to be able to locate
3982 the PC cursor. It is always where your character is located.
3983 Merely searching for an @-sign will not always find your charac-
3984 ter since there are other humanoids represented by the same sign.
3985 Your screen-reader should also have a function which gives you
3986 the row and column of your review cursor and the PC cursor.
3987 These co-ordinates are often useful in giving players a better
3988 sense of the overall location of items on the screen.
3990 While it is not difficult for experienced users to edit the
3991 defaults.nh file to accomplish this, novices may find this task
3992 somewhat daunting. Included within the ``symbols'' file of all
3993 official distributions of NetHack is a symset called NHAccess.
3994 Selecting that symset in your configuration file will cause the
3995 game to run in a manner accessible to the blind. After you have
3996 gained some experience with the game and with editing files, you
3997 may want to alter settings via SYMBOLS= in your configuration
3998 file to better suit your preferences. The most crucial settings
3999 to make the game accessible are:
4002 Load a symbol set appropriate for use by blind players.
4004 roguesymset:NHAccess
4005 Load a symbol set for the rogue level that is appropriate for
4006 use by blind players.
4008 menustyle:traditional
4009 This will assist in the interface to speech synthesizers.
4012 A lot of speech access programs use the number-pad to review
4013 the screen. If this is the case, disable the number_pad option
4014 and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.
4016 9.15. Global Configuration for System Administrators
4018 If NetHack is compiled with the SYSCF option, a system ad-
4019 ministrator should set up a global configuration; this is a file
4020 in the same format as the traditional per-user configuration file
4023 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
4029 NetHack Guidebook 62
4033 (see above). This file should be named sysconf and placed in the
4034 same directory as the other NetHack support files. The options
4035 recognized in this file are listed below. Any option not set us-
4036 es a compiled-in default (which may not be appropriate for your
4039 WIZARDS A space-separated list of user names who are allowed to
4040 play in wizard mode (the debugging mode, not the magic-using
4041 role). A value of a single asterisk (*) allows anyone to start
4042 a game in wizard mode.
4044 SHELLERS A list of users who are allowed to use the shell es-
4045 cape command (!). The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.
4047 EXPLORERS A list of users who are allowed to use the explore
4048 mode. The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.
4050 MAXPLAYERS Limit the maximum number of games that can be run-
4051 ning at the same time.
4053 SUPPORT A string explaining how to get local support (no de-
4056 RECOVER A string explaining how to recover a game on this sys-
4057 tem (no default value).
4059 SEDUCE 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the SEDUCE
4060 option (see the source for details on this function).
4062 CHECK_SAVE_UID 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the
4063 UID checking for savefiles.
4065 The following options affect the score file:
4067 PERSMAX Maximum number of entries for one person.
4069 ENTRYMAX Maximum number of entries in the score file.
4071 POINTSMIN Minimum number of points to get an entry in the score
4074 PERS_IS_UID 0 or 1 to use user names or numeric userids, re-
4075 spectively, to identify unique people for the score file.
4077 MAX_STATUENAME_RANK Maximum number of score file entries to use
4078 for random statue names (default is 10).
4082 NetHack maintains a list of the top scores or scorers on
4083 your machine, depending on how it is set up. In the latter case,
4084 each account on the machine can post only one non-winning score
4085 on this list. If you score higher than someone else on this
4086 list, or better your previous score, you will be inserted in the
4089 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
4095 NetHack Guidebook 63
4099 proper place under your current name. How many scores are kept
4100 can also be set up when NetHack is compiled.
4102 Your score is chiefly based upon how much experience you
4103 gained, how much loot you accumulated, how deep you explored, and
4104 how the game ended. If you quit the game, you escape with all of
4105 your gold intact. If, however, you get killed in the Mazes of
4106 Menace, the guild will only hear about 90% of your gold when your
4107 corpse is discovered (adventurers have been known to collect
4108 finder's fees). So, consider whether you want to take one last
4109 hit at that monster and possibly live, or quit and stop with
4110 whatever you have. If you quit, you keep all your gold, but if
4111 you swing and live, you might find more.
4113 If you just want to see what the current top players/games
4114 list is, you can type nethack -s all on most versions.
4119 NetHack is an intricate and difficult game. Novices might
4120 falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of the means to survive.
4121 Well, fear not. Your dungeon comes equipped with an ``explore''
4122 or ``discovery'' mode that enables you to keep old save files and
4123 cheat death, at the paltry cost of not getting on the high score
4126 There are two ways of enabling explore mode. One is to
4127 start the game with the -X command-line switch or with the play-
4128 mode:explore option. The other is to issue the ``#exploremode''
4129 extended command while already playing the game. Starting a new
4130 game in explore mode provides your character with a wand of wish-
4131 ing in initial inventory; switching during play does not. The
4132 other benefits of explore mode are left for the trepid reader to
4137 Debug mode, also known as wizard mode, is undocumented aside
4138 from this brief description. It is intended for tracking down
4139 problems within the program rather than to provide god-like pow-
4140 ers to your character, and players who attempt debugging are ex-
4141 pected to figure out how to use it themselves. It is initiated
4142 by starting the game with the -D command-line switch or with the
4143 playmode:debug option.
4145 For some systems, the player must be logged in under a par-
4146 ticular user name to be allowed to use debug mode; for others,
4147 the hero must be given a particular character name (but may be
4148 any role; there's no connection between ``wizard mode'' and the
4149 Wizard role). And on any system, the program might have been
4150 configured to omit debug mode entirely. Attempting to start a
4151 game in debug mode when not allowed or not available will result
4152 in falling back to explore mode instead.
4155 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
4161 NetHack Guidebook 64
4167 The original hack game was modeled on the Berkeley UNIX
4168 rogue game. Large portions of this paper were shamelessly
4169 cribbed from A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael C. Toy
4170 and Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold. Small portions were adapted from
4171 Further Exploration of the Dungeons of Doom, by Ken Arromdee.
4173 NetHack is the product of literally dozens of people's work.
4174 Main events in the course of the game development are described
4178 Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack, with help from Kenny
4179 Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne.
4181 Andries Brouwer did a major re-write, transforming Hack into
4182 a very different game, and published (at least) three versions
4183 (1.0.1, 1.0.2, and 1.0.3) for UNIX machines to the Usenet.
4185 Don G. Kneller ported Hack 1.0.3 to Microsoft C and MS-DOS,
4186 producing PC HACK 1.01e, added support for DEC Rainbow graphics
4187 in version 1.03g, and went on to produce at least four more ver-
4188 sions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6).
4190 R. Black ported PC HACK 3.51 to Lattice C and the Atari
4191 520/1040ST, producing ST Hack 1.03.
4193 Mike Stephenson merged these various versions back together,
4194 incorporating many of the added features, and produced NetHack
4195 1.4. He then coordinated a cast of thousands in enhancing and
4196 debugging NetHack 1.4 and released NetHack versions 2.2 and 2.3.
4198 Later, Mike coordinated a major rewrite of the game, heading
4199 a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet, Steve
4200 Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, John Rupley, Mike Threep-
4201 oint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack 3.0c.
4203 NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by Eric R. Smith, to
4204 OS/2 by Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel. The three
4205 of them and Kevin Darcy later joined the main development team to
4206 produce subsequent revisions of 3.0.
4208 Olaf Seibert ported NetHack 2.3 and 3.0 to the Amiga. Norm
4209 Meluch, Stephen Spackman and Pierre Martineau designed overlay
4210 code for PC NetHack 3.0. Johnny Lee ported NetHack 3.0 to the
4211 Macintosh. Along with various other Dungeoneers, they continued
4212 to enhance the PC, Macintosh, and Amiga ports through the later
4215 Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by Izchak Miller
4216 and Janet Walz, the development team which now included Ken Ar-
4217 romdee, David Cohrs, Jean-Christophe Collet, Kevin Darcy, Matt
4218 Day, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric
4221 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
4227 NetHack Guidebook 65
4231 Raymond, and Eric Smith undertook a radical revision of 3.0.
4232 They re-structured the game's design, and re-wrote major parts of
4233 the code. They added multiple dungeons, a new display, special
4234 individual character quests, a new endgame and many other new
4235 features, and produced NetHack 3.1.
4237 Ken Lorber, Gregg Wonderly and Greg Olson, with help from
4238 Richard Addison, Mike Passaretti, and Olaf Seibert, developed
4239 NetHack 3.1 for the Amiga.
4241 Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski, with help from Carl Sche-
4242 lin, Stephen Spackman, Steve VanDevender, and Paul Winner, ported
4243 NetHack 3.1 to the PC.
4245 Jon W{tte and Hao-yang Wang, with help from Ross Brown, Mike
4246 Engber, David Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan Handler, Johnny
4247 Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson, developed NetHack
4248 3.1 for the Macintosh, porting it for MPW. Building on their de-
4249 velopment, Barton House added a Think C port.
4251 Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2. Eric Smith port-
4252 ed NetHack 3.1 to the Atari. Pat Rankin, with help from Joshua
4253 Delahunty, was responsible for the VMS version of NetHack 3.1.
4254 Michael Allison ported NetHack 3.1 to Windows NT.
4256 Dean Luick, with help from David Cohrs, developed NetHack
4257 3.1 for X11. Warwick Allison wrote a tiled version of NetHack
4258 for the Atari; he later contributed the tiles to the DevTeam and
4259 tile support was then added to other platforms.
4261 The 3.2 development team, comprised of Michael Allison, Ken
4262 Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin Darcy,
4263 Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric
4264 Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner, released
4265 version 3.2 in April of 1996.
4267 Version 3.2 marked the tenth anniversary of the formation of
4268 the development team. In a testament to their dedication to the
4269 game, all thirteen members of the original development team re-
4270 mained on the team at the start of work on that release. During
4271 the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and 3.2, one of the
4272 founding members of the development team, Dr. Izchak Miller, was
4273 diagnosed with cancer and passed away. That release of the game
4274 was dedicated to him by the development and porting teams.
4276 During the lifespan of NetHack 3.1 and 3.2, several enthusi-
4277 asts of the game added their own modifications to the game and
4278 made these ``variants'' publicly available:
4280 Tom Proudfoot and Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was
4281 quickly renamed NetHack--. Working independently, Stephen White
4282 wrote NetHack Plus. Tom Proudfoot later merged NetHack Plus and
4283 his own NetHack-- to produce SLASH. Larry Stewart-Zerba and War-
4284 wick Allison improved the spell casting system with the Wizard
4287 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
4293 NetHack Guidebook 66
4297 Patch. Warwick Allison also ported NetHack to use the Qt inter-
4300 Warren Cheung combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to pro-
4301 duce Slash'em, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added more fea-
4302 tures. Kevin later joined the DevTeam and incorporated the best
4303 of these ideas in NetHack 3.3.
4305 The final update to 3.2 was the bug fix release 3.2.3, which
4306 was released simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999 just in
4307 time for the Year 2000.
4309 The 3.3 development team, consisting of Michael Allison, Ken
4310 Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin Darcy,
4311 Timo Hakulinen, Kevin Hugo, Steve Linhart, Ken Lorber, Dean
4312 Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and
4313 Paul Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and 3.3.1 in August
4316 Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to
4317 separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in pref-
4318 erence to an elf race, and the races of dwarves, gnomes, and orcs
4319 made their first appearance in the game alongside the familiar
4320 human race. Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists, Barbar-
4321 ians, Cavemen, Healers, Knights, Priests, Rogues, Samurai,
4322 Tourists, Valkyries and of course, Wizards. It was also the
4323 first version to allow you to ride a steed, and was the first
4324 version to have a publicly available web-site listing all the
4325 bugs that had been discovered. Despite that constantly growing
4326 bug list, 3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than a year
4329 The 3.4 development team initially consisted of Michael Al-
4330 lison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin Hugo, Ken
4331 Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and
4332 Paul Winner, with Warwick Allison joining just before the re-
4333 lease of NetHack 3.4.0 in March 2002.
4335 As with version 3.3, various people contributed to the game
4336 as a whole as well as supporting ports on the different platforms
4337 that NetHack runs on:
4339 Pat Rankin maintained 3.4 for VMS.
4341 Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS plat-
4342 form. Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.
4344 Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
4345 hanced the Macintosh port of 3.4.
4347 Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas,
4348 and Yitzhak Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for the Microsoft
4349 Windows platform. Alex Kompel contributed a new graphical inter-
4350 face for the Windows port. Alex Kompel also contributed a
4353 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
4359 NetHack Guidebook 67
4363 Windows CE port for 3.4.1.
4365 Ron Van Iwaarden was the sole maintainer of NetHack for OS/2
4366 the past several releases. Unfortunately Ron's last OS/2 machine
4367 stopped working in early 2006. A great many thanks to Ron for
4368 keeping NetHack alive on OS/2 all these years.
4370 Janne Salmijarvi and Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced
4371 the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected it for
4374 Christian ``Marvin'' Bressler maintained 3.4 for the Atari
4375 after he resurrected it for 3.3.1.
4377 The release of NetHack 3.4.3 in December 2003 marked the be-
4378 ginning of a long release hiatus. 3.4.3 proved to be a remarkably
4379 stable version that provided continued enjoyment by the community
4380 for more than a decade. The devteam slowly and quietly continued
4381 to work on the game behind the scenes during the tenure of 3.4.3.
4382 It was during that same period that several new variants emerged
4383 within the NetHack community. Notably sporkhack by Derek S. Ray,
4384 unnethack by Patric Mueller, nitrohack and its successors origi-
4385 nally by Daniel Thaler and then by Alex Smith, and Dynahack by
4386 Tung Nguyen. Some of those variants continue to be developed,
4387 maintained, and enjoyed by the community to this day.
4389 At the beginning of development for what would eventually
4390 get released as 3.6.0, the development team consisted of Warwick
4391 Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Col-
4392 let, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet
4393 Walz, and Paul Winner. Leading up to the release of 3.6.0 in
4394 early 2015, new members Sean Hunt, Pasi Kallinen, and Derek S.
4395 Ray joined the NetHack development team.
4397 In September 2014, an interim snapshot of the code under de-
4398 velopment was released publicly by other parties. Since that code
4399 was a work-in-progress and had not gone through the process of
4400 debugging it as a suitable release, it was decided that the ver-
4401 sion numbers present on that code snapshot would be retired and
4402 never used in an official NetHack release. An announcement was
4403 posted on the devteam's official nethack.org website to that ef-
4404 fect, stating that there would never be a 3.4.4, 3.5, or 3.5.0
4405 official release version.
4407 In November 2014, preparation began for the release of
4408 NetHack 3.6. The 3.6 version merges work done by the development
4409 team since the previous release with some of the beloved communi-
4410 ty patches. Many bugs were fixed and a large amount of code was
4413 The development team, as well as Steve VanDevender and Kevin
4414 Smolkowski ensured that NetHack 3.6.0 continued to operate on
4415 various Unix flavors and maintained the X11 interface.
4419 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
4425 NetHack Guidebook 68
4429 Ken Lorber, Haoyang Wang, Pat Rankin, and Dean Luick main-
4430 tained the port of NetHack 3.6.0 for Mac.
4432 Michael Allison, Derek S. Ray, Yitzhak Sapir, Alex Kompel,
4433 and Dion Nicolaas maintained the port of NetHack 3.6.0 for Mi-
4436 The official NetHack web site is maintained by Ken Lorber at
4437 http://www.nethack.org/.
4441 The devteam would like to give a special "shout-out" to
4442 thank the generous people primarily responsible for the public
4443 NetHack servers available for playing the game at nethack.alt.org
4444 and devnull.net. In addition to providing a way for the public to
4445 play a game of NetHack from almost anywhere, they have hosted an-
4446 nual NetHack tournaments for many, many years.
4448 On behalf of the NetHack community, thank you very much to
4449 M. Drew Streib, Pasi Kallinen and Robin Bandy.
4453 From time to time, some depraved individual out there in
4454 netland sends a particularly intriguing modification to help out
4455 with the game. The Gods of the Dungeon sometimes make note of
4456 the names of the worst of these miscreants in this, the list of
4459 Adam Aronow Janet Walz Nathan Eady
4460 Alex Kompel Janne Salmijarvi Norm Meluch
4461 Andreas Dorn Jean-Christophe Collet Olaf Seibert
4462 Andy Church Jeff Bailey Pasi Kallinen
4463 Andy Swanson Jochen Erwied Pat Rankin
4464 Ari Huttunen John Kallen Paul Winner
4465 Barton House John Rupley Pierre Martineau
4466 Benson I. Margulies John S. Bien Ralf Brown
4467 Bill Dyer Johnny Lee Ray Chason
4468 Boudewijn Waijers Jon W{tte Richard Addison
4469 Bruce Cox Jonathan Handler Richard Beigel
4470 Bruce Holloway Joshua Delahunty Richard P. Hughey
4471 Bruce Mewborne Keizo Yamamoto Rob Menke
4472 Carl Schelin Ken Arnold Robin Bandy
4473 Chris Russo Ken Arromdee Robin Johnson
4474 David Cohrs Ken Lorber Roderick Schertler
4475 David Damerell Ken Washikita Roland McGrath
4476 David Gentzel Kevin Darcy Ron Van Iwaarden
4477 David Hairston Kevin Hugo Ronnen Miller
4478 Dean Luick Kevin Sitze Ross Brown
4479 Del Lamb Kevin Smolkowski Sascha Wostmann
4480 Derek S. Ray Kevin Sweet Scott Bigham
4481 Deron Meranda Lars Huttar Scott R. Turner
4485 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
4491 NetHack Guidebook 69
4495 Dion Nicolaas Leon Arnott Sean Hunt
4496 Dylan O'Donnell M. Drew Streib Stephen Spackman
4497 Eric Backus Malcolm Ryan Stefan Thielscher
4498 Eric Hendrickson Mark Gooderum Stephen White
4499 Eric R. Smith Mark Modrall Steve Creps
4500 Eric S. Raymond Marvin Bressler Steve Linhart
4501 Erik Andersen Matthew Day Steve VanDevender
4502 Frederick Roeber Merlyn LeRoy Teemu Suikki
4503 Gil Neiger Michael Allison Tim Lennan
4504 Greg Laskin Michael Feir Timo Hakulinen
4505 Greg Olson Michael Hamel Tom Almy
4506 Gregg Wonderly Michael Sokolov Tom West
4507 Hao-yang Wang Mike Engber Warren Cheung
4508 Helge Hafting Mike Gallop Warwick Allison
4509 Irina Rempt-Drijfhout Mike Passaretti Yitzhak Sapir
4510 Izchak Miller Mike Stephenson
4511 J. Ali Harlow Mikko Juola
4513 Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks
4514 of their respective holders.
4551 NetHack 3.6 December 7, 2015
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