4 Although Hengband contains an extensive town level featuring multiple
5 towns and a large wilderness area, the bulk of your adventuring will
6 take place in the dungeon. Symbols appearing on your screen will
7 represent the dungeon's walls, floor, objects, features, and creatures
8 lurking about. In order to direct your character through his adventure,
9 you will enter single character commands (see command.txt [b]).
13 === Symbols On Your Map ===
15 Symbols on your map can be broken down into three categories: Features
16 of the dungeon such as walls, floor, doors, and traps; Objects which
17 can be picked up such as treasure, weapons, magical devices, etc; and
18 creatures which may or may not move about the dungeon, but are mostly
19 harmful to your character's well being.
21 Some symbols are used to represent more than one type of entity, and
22 some symbols are used to represent entities in more than one category.
23 The "@" symbol (by default) is used to represent the character.
25 It will not be necessary to remember all of the symbols and their
26 meanings. The "slash" command ("/") will identify any character
29 Note that you can use a "user pref file" to change any of these symbols
30 to something you are more comfortable with.
33 --- Features that do not block line of sight ---
35 [[[[[w.] Floor [[[[[v*] A Mirror
36 [[[[[w.] A trap (hidden) [[[[[y;] A glyph of warding
37 [[[[[w^] A trap (known) [[[[[R;] A explosive rune
38 [[[[[u.] Dirt [[[[[B*] Section of the Pattern
39 [[[[[g.] Patch of grass [[[[[b*] Section of the Pattern
40 [[[[[G:] Flower [[[[[U1] General Store
41 [[[[[g:] Brake [[[[[s2] Armoury
42 [[[[[B.] Swamp [[[[[w3] Weapon Smiths
43 [[[[[B~] Shallow Water [[[[[g4] Temple
44 [[[[[b~] Deep Water [[[[[b5] Alchemy Shop
45 [[[[[U~] Shallow Lava [[[[[r6] Magic Shop
46 [[[[[r~] Deep Lava [[[[[D7] Black Market
47 [[[[[D#] Dark pit [[[[[y8] Home
48 [[[[[U'] An open door [[[[[o9] Bookstore
49 [[[[[u'] A broken door [[[[[v0] Museum
50 [[[[[w<] A staircase up [[[[[B+] Other building
51 [[[[[w>] A staircase down [[[[[v+] Other building
54 [[[[[v>] An entrance to dungeon
55 [[[[[y>] quest entrance
57 --- Features that block line of sight ---
59 [[[[[w#] A granite wall [[[[[G#] A Tree
60 [[[[[s%] A magma vein [[[[[o^] Mountain chain
61 [[[[[w%] A quartz vein [[[[[U+] A door
62 [[[[[w#] A secret door [[[[[w:] A pile of rubble
63 [[[[[o*] Treasure in wall
67 === Within The Dungeon ===
69 Once your character is adequately supplied with food, light, armor, and
70 weapons, he is ready to enter the dungeon. Move on top of the '>'
71 symbol and use the "Down" command (">").
73 Your character will enter a maze of interconnecting staircases and
74 finally arrive somewhere on the first level of the dungeon. Each level
75 of the dungeon is fifty feet high (thus dungeon level "Lev 1" is often
76 called "50 ft"), and is divided into (large) rectangular regions
77 (several times larger than the screen) by titanium walls. Once you
78 leave a level by a staircase, you will never again find your way back
79 to that region of that level, but there are an infinite number of other
80 regions at that same "depth" that you can explore later. So be careful
81 that you have found all the treasure before you leave a level, or you
82 may never find it again! The monsters, of course, can use the stairs,
83 and you may eventually encounter them again.
85 In the dungeon, there are many things to find, but your character must
86 survive many horrible and challenging encounters to find the treasure
87 lying about and take it safely back to the town to sell.
89 There are two sources for light once inside the dungeon. Permanent
90 light which has been magically placed within rooms, and a light source
91 carried by the player. If neither is present, the character will be
92 unable to see. This will affect searching, picking locks, disarming
93 traps, reading scrolls, casting spells, browsing books, etc. So be very
94 careful not to run out of light!
96 A character must wield a torch or lamp in order to supply his own
97 light. A torch or lamp burns fuel as it is used, and once it is out of
98 fuel, it stops supplying light. You will be warned as the light
99 approaches this point. You may use the "Fuel" command ("F") to refuel
100 your lantern (with flasks of oil) or your torch (with other torches),
101 so it is a good idea to carry extra torches or flasks of oil, as
102 appropriate. There are rumors of objects of exceptional power which
103 glow with their own never-ending light.
107 === Objects In The Dungeon ===
109 The dungeons are full of objects just waiting to be picked up and used.
110 How did they get there? Well, the main source for useful items are all
111 the foolish adventurers that proceeded into the dungeon before you.
112 They get killed, and the helpful creatures scatter the various treasure
113 throughout the dungeon. Most cursed items are placed there by the
114 joyful evil sorcerers, who enjoy a good joke when it gets you killed.
116 One item in particular will be discussed here. The scroll of "Word of
117 Recall" can be found within the dungeon, or bought at the temple in
118 town. It acts in two manners, depending upon your current location.
119 If read within the dungeon, it will teleport you back to town. If read
120 in town, it will teleport you back down to the deepest level of the
121 dungeon which your character has previously been on. This makes the
122 scroll very useful for getting back to the deeper levels of Hengband.
123 Once the scroll has been read it takes a while for the spell to act, so
124 don't expect it to save you in a crisis. Reading a second scroll before
125 the first has had a chance to take effect will cancel both scrolls.
127 Since an accidental dive to a new depth (via a trapdoor, for example),
128 may result in the Word of Recall dungeon depth being 'broken', so to
129 speak (meaning that the next Word of Recall in town will take you back
130 deeper than you would like to), there is a new feature in Hengband
131 which allows you to read a scroll of Word of Recall on a different
132 level and 'reset' the recall depth to that level (instead of the
135 A more complete description of Hengband objects is found elsewhere in
136 the documentation (see object.txt [c]).
142 Much of the treasure within the dungeon can be found only by mining it
143 out of the walls. Many rich strikes exist within each level, but must
144 be found and mined. Quartz veins are the richest, yielding the most
145 metals and gems, but magma veins will have some hordes hidden within.
147 Mining is rather difficult without a pick or shovel. Picks and shovels
148 have an additional magical ability expressed as '(+#)'. The higher the
149 number, the better the magical digging ability of the tool. A pick or
150 shovel also has plusses to hit and damage, and can be used as a weapon,
151 because, in fact, it is one.
153 When a vein of quartz or magma is located, the character may wield his
154 pick or shovel and begin digging out a section. When that section is
155 removed, he can locate another section of the vein and begin the
156 process again. Since granite rock is much harder to dig through, it is
157 much faster to follow the vein exactly and dig around the granite.
158 There is an option for highlighting magma and quartz. At a certain
159 point, it becomes more cumbersome to dig out treasure than to simply
160 kill monsters and discover items in the dungeon to sell. However, early
161 on mineral veins can be a wonderful source of easy treasure.
163 If the character has a scroll, staff, or spell of treasure location, he
164 can immediately locate all strikes of treasure within a vein shown on
165 the screen. This makes mining much easier and more profitable.
167 Note that a character with high strength and/or a heavy weapon does not
168 need a shovel/pick to dig, but even the strongest character will
169 benefit from a pick if trying to dig through a granite wall.
171 It is sometimes possible to get a character trapped within the dungeon
172 by using various magical spells and items. So it can be a good idea to
173 always carry some kind of digging tool, even when you are not planning
174 on tunneling for treasure.
176 There are rumors of certain incredibly profitable rooms buried deep in
177 the dungeon and completely surrounded by titanium and granite walls,
178 requiring a digging implement or magical means to enter. The same
179 rumors imply that these rooms are guarded by incredibly powerful
183 ***** <StairsDoorsEtc>
184 === Staircases, Secret Doors, Passages, and Rooms ===
186 Staircases are the manner in which you get deeper or climb out of the
187 dungeon. The symbols for the up and down staircases are the same as the
188 commands to use them. A "<" represents an up staircase and a ">"
189 represents a down staircase. You must move your character over the
190 staircase before you can use it.
192 Each level has at least one up staircase and at least two down
193 staircases. There are no exceptions to this rule. You may have trouble
194 finding some well hidden secret doors, or you may have to dig through
195 obstructions to get to them, but you can always find the stairs if you
196 look hard enough. Stairs, like titanium walls, and the doors into
197 shops, cannot be destroyed by any means.
199 Many secret doors are used within the dungeon to confuse and demoralize
200 adventurers foolish enough to enter. But with some luck, and lots of
201 concentration, you can find these secret doors. Secret doors will
202 sometimes hide rooms or corridors, or even entire sections of that
203 level of the dungeon. Sometimes they simply hide small empty closets or
204 even dead ends. Secret doors always look like granite walls, just like
205 traps always look like normal floors.
207 Creatures in the dungeon will generally know and use these secret
208 doors, and can often be counted on to leave them open behind them when
211 Doors can be broken down by bashing them. Once a door is bashed open,
212 it is forever useless and cannot be closed.
214 For historical reasons, secret doors are never locked.
218 === Level Feelings ===
220 Once you have been on a particular dungeon level for a while, you will
221 receive a 'feeling' prompt representing what your intuition tells you
222 about the quality of objects and the difficulty of the monsters found
223 on that level. You may check this prompt again at any time after
224 receiving it by pressing 'Ctrl-F'.
226 The actual 'feeling' prompt is generated based on a number of factors.
227 Things which increase the feeling level include the presence of vaults
228 and certain other special rooms, out of depth objects and monsters and
229 objects of a certain quality (for example, ego items, artifacts and
230 other objects that are considered 'great' (see objects.txt)). A feeling
231 is only indicative of the level at the time you entered it and has no
232 impact on subsequent monsters generated or items dropped.
234 In Hengband, the nastier the feeling prompt, the better the level. From
235 worst to best, the prompts are as follows:
237 'What a boring place...'
238 'This level looks reasonably safe.'
239 'You don't like the look of this place.'
240 'You feel your luck is turning...'
242 'You have a bad feeling...'
243 'You have a very bad feeling...'
244 'This level looks very dangerous.'
245 'You nearly faint as horrible visions of death fill your mind!'
247 If your personality is 'Lucky' or you have the mutation of 'white
248 aura', the prompts will be changed as follows:
250 'What a boring place...'
251 'This level can't be all bad...'
252 'You like the look of this place...'
253 'You feel your luck is turning...'
254 'You feel strangely lucky...'
255 'You have a good feeling...'
256 'You have a very good feeling...'
257 'You have an excellent feeling...'
258 'You have a superb feeling about this level.'
260 Hengband also uses two other feeling prompts to denote special things.
261 If you have not yet been on a level long enough to qualify for a prompt
262 and press 'Ctrl-F', you will be given the prompt:
264 'Looks like any other level.'
266 If you are playing in non-preserve mode, you may also occasionally
267 receive the following prompt:
269 'You feel there is something special about this level.'
271 A special feeling means one of two things, there is either a special
272 room or vault on the level or there is an artifact on the level. As you
273 get deeper on the dungeon, special feelings become increasingly less
274 common for special room and vaults and are only commonly given when an
275 artifact has been generated. Note it is possible that there could be
276 both a vault and an artifact or more than one artifact on a special
277 level so you should never leave a special level without fully exploring
278 it unless your character's continued survival is in question.
282 === Random Quests ===
284 During character generation, you will be asked to input the number of
285 random quests you wish to participate in. You may choose any number
286 from 0 to 10. Random quests are always of the type 'Kill an out-of
287 depth unique monster'. There is a limit to the number of levels a
288 random quest monster may be out-of-depth but these quests can still be
291 Random quests appear on level 6, 12, 24, 38, 44, 50, 56, 62, 76 and
292 88. On entering a random quest level you will be told what the quest
293 monster is (for example, 'Beware, this level is protected by The
296 On random quest levels, no down staircases are generated until the
297 last monster is killed which means that you cannot continue further
298 into the dungeon until you have completed your quests. When you kill
299 the quest monster, the down staircase will be created and the monster
300 will drop an item of 'excellent' quality or above. This is true even
301 of monsters that do not normally drop items.
303 If the quest monster is too strong for you, simply run away using up
304 staircase or recall. In such case, the quest will be treated as
305 'failed' and you cannot challenge that quest never again.
311 Updated : Zangband DevTeam
312 Updated : Hengband 1.0.11
314 ***** Begin Hyperlinks
315 ***** [b] command.txt