11 A Guide to the Mazes of Menace
12 (Guidebook for NetHack)
16 (Extensively edited and expanded for 3.4)
22 Recently, you have begun to find yourself unfulfilled and distant
23 in your daily occupation. Strange dreams of prospecting, steal-
24 ing, crusading, and combat have haunted you in your sleep for
25 many months, but you aren't sure of the reason. You wonder
26 whether you have in fact been having those dreams all your life,
27 and somehow managed to forget about them until now. Some nights
28 you awaken suddenly and cry out, terrified at the vivid recollec-
29 tion of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be lurk-
30 ing behind every corner of the dungeon in your dream. Could
31 these details haunting your dreams be real? As each night pass-
32 es, you feel the desire to enter the mysterious caverns near the
33 ruins grow stronger. Each morning, however, you quickly put the
34 idea out of your head as you recall the tales of those who en-
35 tered the caverns before you and did not return. Eventually you
36 can resist the yearning to seek out the fantastic place in your
37 dreams no longer. After all, when other adventurers came back
38 this way after spending time in the caverns, they usually seemed
39 better off than when they passed through the first time. And who
40 was to say that all of those who did not return had not just kept
44 Asking around, you hear about a bauble, called the Amulet of
45 Yendor by some, which, if you can find it, will bring you great
46 wealth. One legend you were told even mentioned that the one who
47 finds the amulet will be granted immortality by the gods. The
48 amulet is rumored to be somewhere beyond the Valley of Gehennom,
49 deep within the Mazes of Menace. Upon hearing the legends, you
50 immediately realize that there is some profound and undiscovered
51 reason that you are to descend into the caverns and seek out that
52 amulet of which they spoke. Even if the rumors of the amulet's
53 powers are untrue, you decide that you should at least be able to
54 sell the tales of your adventures to the local minstrels for a
55 tidy sum, especially if you encounter any of the terrifying and
56 magical creatures of your dreams along the way. You spend one
57 last night fortifying yourself at the local inn, becoming more
58 and more depressed as you watch the odds of your success being
59 posted on the inn's walls getting lower and lower.
73 In the morning you awake, collect your belongings, and set
74 off for the dungeon. After several days of uneventful travel,
75 you see the ancient ruins that mark the entrance to the Mazes of
76 Menace. It is late at night, so you make camp at the entrance
77 and spend the night sleeping under the open skies. In the morn-
78 ing, you gather your gear, eat what may be your last meal out-
79 side, and enter the dungeon...
82 2. What is going on here?
84 You have just begun a game of NetHack. Your goal is to grab
85 as much treasure as you can, retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, and
86 escape the Mazes of Menace alive.
88 Your abilities and strengths for dealing with the hazards of
89 adventure will vary with your background and training:
91 Archeologists understand dungeons pretty well; this enables
92 them to move quickly and sneak up on the local nasties. They
93 start equipped with the tools for a proper scientific expedition.
95 Barbarians are warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to
96 battle. They begin their quests with naught but uncommon
97 strength, a trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword.
99 Cavemen and Cavewomen start with exceptional strength but,
100 unfortunately, with neolithic weapons.
102 Healers are wise in medicine and apothecary. They know the
103 herbs and simples that can restore vitality, ease pain, anes-
104 thetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they
105 can divine a being's state of health or sickness. Their medical
106 practice earns them quite reasonable amounts of money, with which
107 they enter the dungeon.
109 Knights are distinguished from the common skirmisher by
110 their devotion to the ideals of chivalry and by the surpassing
111 excellence of their armor.
113 Monks are ascetics, who by rigorous practice of physical and
114 mental disciplines have become capable of fighting as effectively
115 without weapons as with. They wear no armor but make up for it
116 with increased mobility.
118 Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders ad-
119 vancing the cause of righteousness with arms, armor, and arts
120 thaumaturgic. Their ability to commune with deities via prayer
121 occasionally extricates them from peril, but can also put them in
124 Rangers are most at home in the woods, and some say slightly
125 out of place in a dungeon. They are, however, experts in archery
126 as well as tracking and stealthy movement.
129 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
139 Rogues are agile and stealthy thieves, with knowledge of
140 locks, traps, and poisons. Their advantage lies in surprise,
141 which they employ to great advantage.
143 Samurai are the elite warriors of feudal Nippon. They are
144 lightly armored and quick, and wear the dai-sho, two swords of
145 the deadliest keenness.
147 Tourists start out with lots of gold (suitable for shopping
148 with), a credit card, lots of food, some maps, and an expensive
149 camera. Most monsters don't like being photographed.
151 Valkyries are hardy warrior women. Their upbringing in the
152 harsh Northlands makes them strong, inures them to extremes of
153 cold, and instills in them stealth and cunning.
155 Wizards start out with a knowledge of magic, a selection of
156 magical items, and a particular affinity for dweomercraft. Al-
157 though seemingly weak and easy to overcome at first sight, an ex-
158 perienced Wizard is a deadly foe.
160 You may also choose the race of your character:
162 Dwarves are smaller than humans or elves, but are stocky and
163 solid individuals. Dwarves' most notable trait is their great
164 expertise in mining and metalwork. Dwarvish armor is said to be
165 second in quality not even to the mithril armor of the Elves.
167 Elves are agile, quick, and perceptive; very little of what
168 goes on will escape an Elf. The quality of Elven craftsmanship
169 often gives them an advantage in arms and armor.
171 Gnomes are smaller than but generally similar to dwarves.
172 Gnomes are known to be expert miners, and it is known that a se-
173 cret underground mine complex built by this race exists within
174 the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger.
176 Humans are by far the most common race of the surface world,
177 and are thus the norm by which other races are often compared.
178 Although they have no special abilities, they can succeed in any
181 Orcs are a cruel and barbaric race that hate every living
182 thing (including other orcs). Above all others, Orcs hate Elves
183 with a passion unequalled, and will go out of their way to kill
184 one at any opportunity. The armor and weapons fashioned by the
185 Orcs are typically of inferior quality.
187 3. What do all those things on the screen mean?
189 On the screen is kept a map of where you have been and what
190 you have seen on the current dungeon level; as you explore more
191 of the level, it appears on the screen in front of you.
195 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
205 When NetHack's ancestor rogue first appeared, its screen
206 orientation was almost unique among computer fantasy games.
207 Since then, screen orientation has become the norm rather than
208 the exception; NetHack continues this fine tradition. Unlike
209 text adventure games that accept commands in pseudo-English sen-
210 tences and explain the results in words, NetHack commands are all
211 one or two keystrokes and the results are displayed graphically
212 on the screen. A minimum screen size of 24 lines by 80 columns
213 is recommended; if the screen is larger, only a 21x80 section
214 will be used for the map.
216 NetHack can even be played by blind players, with the assis-
217 tance of Braille readers or speech synthesisers. Instructions
218 for configuring NetHack for the blind are included later in this
221 NetHack generates a new dungeon every time you play it; even
222 the authors still find it an entertaining and exciting game de-
223 spite having won several times.
225 NetHack offers a variety of display options. The options
226 available to you will vary from port to port, depending on the
227 capabilities of your hardware and software, and whether various
228 compile-time options were enabled when your executable was creat-
229 ed. The three possible display options are: a monochrome charac-
230 ter interface, a color character interface, and a graphical in-
231 terface using small pictures called tiles. The two character in-
232 terfaces allow fonts with other characters to be substituted, but
233 the default assignments use standard ASCII characters to repre-
234 sent everything. There is no difference between the various dis-
235 play options with respect to game play. Because we cannot repro-
236 duce the tiles or colors in the Guidebook, and because it is com-
237 mon to all ports, we will use the default ASCII characters from
238 the monochrome character display when referring to things you
239 might see on the screen during your game.
241 In order to understand what is going on in NetHack, first
242 you must understand what NetHack is doing with the screen. The
243 NetHack screen replaces the ``You see ...'' descriptions of text
244 adventure games. Figure 1 is a sample of what a NetHack screen
245 might look like. The way the screen looks for you depends on
248 --------------------------------------------------------------------
261 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
273 Player the Rambler St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15 Neutral
274 Dlvl:1 $:0 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:257 Weak
276 --------------------------------------------------------------------
280 3.1. The status lines (bottom)
282 The bottom two lines of the screen contain several cryptic
283 pieces of information describing your current status. If either
284 status line becomes longer than the width of the screen, you
285 might not see all of it. Here are explanations of what the vari-
286 ous status items mean (though your configuration may not have all
287 the status items listed below):
290 Your character's name and professional ranking (based on the
291 experience level, see below).
294 A measure of your character's strength; one of your six ba-
295 sic attributes. A human character's attributes can range
296 from 3 to 18 inclusive; non-humans may exceed these limits
297 (occasionally you may get super-strengths of the form 18/xx,
298 and magic can also cause attributes to exceed the normal
299 limits). The higher your strength, the stronger you are.
300 Strength affects how successfully you perform physical
301 tasks, how much damage you do in combat, and how much loot
305 Dexterity affects your chances to hit in combat, to avoid
306 traps, and do other tasks requiring agility or manipulation
310 Constitution affects your ability to recover from injuries
311 and other strains on your stamina.
314 Intelligence affects your ability to cast spells and read
318 Wisdom comes from your practical experience (especially when
319 dealing with magic). It affects your magical energy.
322 Charisma affects how certain creatures react toward you. In
323 particular, it can affect the prices shopkeepers offer you.
327 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
338 Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic. Often, Lawful is taken as good
339 and Chaotic as evil, but legal and ethical do not always co-
340 incide. Your alignment influences how other monsters react
341 toward you. Monsters of a like alignment are more likely to
342 be non-aggressive, while those of an opposing alignment are
343 more likely to be seriously offended at your presence.
346 How deep you are in the dungeon. You start at level one and
347 the number increases as you go deeper into the dungeon.
348 Some levels are special, and are identified by a name and
349 not a number. The Amulet of Yendor is reputed to be some-
350 where beneath the twentieth level.
353 The number of gold pieces you are openly carrying. Gold
354 which you have concealed in containers is not counted.
357 Your current and maximum hit points. Hit points indicate
358 how much damage you can take before you die. The more you
359 get hit in a fight, the lower they get. You can regain hit
360 points by resting, or by using certain magical items or
361 spells. The number in parentheses is the maximum number
362 your hit points can reach.
365 Spell points. This tells you how much mystic energy (mana)
366 you have available for spell casting. Again, resting will
367 regenerate the amount available.
370 A measure of how effectively your armor stops blows from un-
371 friendly creatures. The lower this number is, the more ef-
372 fective the armor; it is quite possible to have negative ar-
376 Your current experience level and experience points. As you
377 adventure, you gain experience points. At certain experi-
378 ence point totals, you gain an experience level. The more
379 experienced you are, the better you fight and withstand mag-
380 ical attacks. Many dungeons show only your experience level
384 The number of turns elapsed so far, displayed if you have
388 Your current hunger status, ranging from Satiated down to
389 Fainting. If your hunger status is normal, it is not dis-
393 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
403 Additional status flags may appear after the hunger status:
404 Conf when you're confused, FoodPois or Ill when sick, Blind when
405 you can't see, Stun when stunned, and Hallu when hallucinating.
407 3.2. The message line (top)
409 The top line of the screen is reserved for messages that de-
410 scribe things that are impossible to represent visually. If you
411 see a ``--More--'' on the top line, this means that NetHack has
412 another message to display on the screen, but it wants to make
413 certain that you've read the one that is there first. To read
414 the next message, just press the space bar.
416 3.3. The map (rest of the screen)
418 The rest of the screen is the map of the level as you have
419 explored it so far. Each symbol on the screen represents some-
420 thing. You can set various graphics options to change some of
421 the symbols the game uses; otherwise, the game will use default
422 symbols. Here is a list of what the default symbols mean:
425 The walls of a room, or an open door. Or a grave (|).
427 . The floor of a room, ice, or a doorless doorway.
429 # A corridor, or iron bars, or a tree, or possibly a kitchen
430 sink (if your dungeon has sinks), or a drawbridge.
432 > Stairs down: a way to the next level.
434 < Stairs up: a way to the previous level.
436 + A closed door, or a spellbook containing a spell you may be
439 @ Your character or a human.
443 ^ A trap (once you have detected it).
447 [ A suit or piece of armor.
449 % Something edible (not necessarily healthy).
459 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
471 ( A useful item (pick-axe, key, lamp...).
473 " An amulet or a spider web.
475 * A gem or rock (possibly valuable, possibly worthless).
477 ` A boulder or statue.
481 _ An altar, or an iron chain.
485 } A pool of water or moat or a pool of lava.
489 a-zA-Z and other symbols
490 Letters and certain other symbols represent the various in-
491 habitants of the Mazes of Menace. Watch out, they can be
492 nasty and vicious. Sometimes, however, they can be helpful.
494 I This marks the last known location of an invisible or other-
495 wise unseen monster. Note that the monster could have
496 moved. The 'F' and 'm' commands may be useful here.
498 You need not memorize all these symbols; you can ask the
499 game what any symbol represents with the `/' command (see the
500 next section for more info).
505 Commands are initiated by typing one or two characters.
506 Some commands, like ``search'', do not require that any more in-
507 formation be collected by NetHack. Other commands might require
508 additional information, for example a direction, or an object to
509 be used. For those commands that require additional information,
510 NetHack will present you with either a menu of choices or with a
511 command line prompt requesting information. Which you are pre-
512 sented with will depend chiefly on how you have set the menustyle
515 For example, a common question, in the form ``What do you
516 want to use? [a-zA-Z ?*]'', asks you to choose an object you are
517 carrying. Here, ``a-zA-Z'' are the inventory letters of your
518 possible choices. Typing `?' gives you an inventory list of
519 these items, so you can see what each letter refers to. In this
520 example, there is also a `*' indicating that you may choose an
521 object not on the list, if you wanted to use something unexpect-
522 ed. Typing a `*' lists your entire inventory, so you can see the
525 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
535 inventory letters of every object you're carrying. Finally, if
536 you change your mind and decide you don't want to do this command
537 after all, you can press the ESC key to abort the command.
539 You can put a number before some commands to repeat them
540 that many times; for example, ``10s'' will search ten times. If
541 you have the number_pad option set, you must type `n' to prefix a
542 count, so the example above would be typed ``n10s'' instead.
543 Commands for which counts make no sense ignore them. In addi-
544 tion, movement commands can be prefixed for greater control (see
545 below). To cancel a count or a prefix, press the ESC key.
547 The list of commands is rather long, but it can be read at
548 any time during the game through the `?' command, which accesses
549 a menu of helpful texts. Here are the commands for your refer-
552 ? Help menu: display one of several help texts available.
554 / Tell what a symbol represents. You may choose to specify a
555 location or type a symbol (or even a whole word) to explain.
556 Specifying a location is done by moving the cursor to a par-
557 ticular spot on the map and then pressing one of `.', `,',
558 `;', or `:'. `.' will explain the symbol at the chosen lo-
559 cation, conditionally check for ``More info?'' depending up-
560 on whether the help option is on, and then you will be asked
561 to pick another location; `,' will explain the symbol but
562 skip any additional information; `;' will skip additional
563 info and also not bother asking you to choose another loca-
564 tion to examine; `:' will show additional info, if any,
565 without asking for confirmation. When picking a location,
566 pressing the ESC key will terminate this command, or press-
567 ing `?' will give a brief reminder about how it works.
569 Specifying a name rather than a location always gives any
570 additional information available about that name.
572 & Tell what a command does.
574 < Go up to the previous level (if you are on a staircase or
577 > Go down to the next level (if you are on a staircase or lad-
581 Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure 2). If
582 you sense or remember a monster there, you will fight the
583 monster instead. Only these one-step movement commands
584 cause you to fight monsters; the others (below) are
591 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
606 (if number_pad is set)
612 Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run into some-
616 Prefix: move without picking up objects or fighting (even
617 if you remember a monster there)
620 Prefix: fight a monster (even if you only guess one is
624 Prefix: move far, no pickup.
627 Prefix: move until something interesting is found.
629 G[yuhjklbn] or <CONTROL->[yuhjklbn]
630 Prefix: same as `g', but forking of corridors is not con-
633 _ Travel to a map location via a shortest-path algorithm. The
634 shortest path is computed over map locations the hero knows
635 about (e.g. seen or previously traversed). If there is no
636 known path, a guess is made instead. Stops on most of the
637 same conditions as the `G' command, but without picking up
638 objects, similar to the `M' command. For ports with mouse
639 support, the command is also invoked when a mouse-click
640 takes place on a location other than the current position.
642 . Rest, do nothing for one turn.
644 a Apply (use) a tool (pick-axe, key, lamp...).
646 A Remove one or more worn items, such as armor. Use `T' (take
647 off) to take off only one piece of armor or `R' (remove) to
648 take off only one accessory.
650 ^A Redo the previous command.
657 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
667 C Call (name) an individual monster.
669 ^C Panic button. Quit the game.
671 d Drop something. Ex. ``d7a'' means drop seven items of ob-
674 D Drop several things. In answer to the question ``What kinds
675 of things do you want to drop? [!%= BUCXaium]'' you should
676 type zero or more object symbols possibly followed by `a'
677 and/or `i' and/or `u' and/or `m'. In addition, one or more
678 of the blessed/uncursed/cursed groups may be typed.
680 DB - drop all objects known to be blessed.
681 DU - drop all objects known to be uncursed.
682 DC - drop all objects known to be cursed.
683 DX - drop all objects of unknown B/U/C status.
684 Da - drop all objects, without asking for confirmation.
685 Di - examine your inventory before dropping anything.
686 Du - drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).
687 Dm - use a menu to pick which object(s) to drop.
688 D%u - drop only unpaid food.
690 ^D Kick something (usually a door).
694 E Engrave a message on the floor. Engraving the word
695 ``Elbereth'' will cause most monsters to not attack you
696 hand-to-hand (but if you attack, you will rub it out); this
697 is often useful to give yourself a breather. (This feature
698 may be compiled out of the game, so your version might not
701 E- - write in the dust with your fingers.
703 f Fire one of the objects placed in your quiver. You may se-
704 lect ammunition with a previous `Q' command, or let the com-
705 puter pick something appropriate if autoquiver is true.
707 i List your inventory (everything you're carrying).
709 I List selected parts of your inventory.
711 I* - list all gems in inventory;
712 Iu - list all unpaid items;
713 Ix - list all used up items that are on your shopping bill;
714 I$ - count your money.
718 O Set options. A menu showing the current option values will
719 be displayed. You can change most values simply by select-
720 ing the menu entry for the given option (ie, by typing its
723 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
733 letter or clicking upon it, depending on your user inter-
734 face). For the non-boolean choices, a further menu or
735 prompt will appear once you've closed this menu. The avail-
736 able options are listed later in this Guidebook. Options
737 are usually set before the game rather than with the `O'
738 command; see the section on options below.
740 p Pay your shopping bill.
742 P Put on a ring or other accessory (amulet, blindfold).
744 ^P Repeat previous message. Subsequent ^P's repeat earlier
745 messages. The behavior can be varied via the msg_window op-
748 q Quaff (drink) something (potion, water, etc).
750 Q Select an object for your quiver. You can then throw this
751 using the `f' command. (In versions prior to 3.3 this was
752 the command to quit the game, which has now been moved to
755 r Read a scroll or spellbook.
757 R Remove an accessory (ring, amulet, etc).
759 ^R Redraw the screen.
761 s Search for secret doors and traps around you. It usually
762 takes several tries to find something.
764 S Save (and suspend) the game. The game will be restored au-
765 tomatically the next time you play.
767 t Throw an object or shoot a projectile.
771 ^T Teleport, if you have the ability.
773 v Display version number.
775 V Display the game history.
779 w- - wield nothing, use your bare hands.
783 x Exchange your wielded weapon with the item in your alternate
784 weapon slot. The latter is used as your secondary weapon
785 when engaging in two-weapon combat. Note that if one of
786 these slots is empty, the exchange still takes place.
789 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
799 X Enter explore (discovery) mode, explained in its own section
802 ^X Display your name, role, race, gender, and alignment as well
803 as the various deities in your game.
805 z Zap a wand. To aim at yourself, use `.' for the direction.
807 Z Zap (cast) a spell. To cast at yourself, use `.' for the
810 ^Z Suspend the game (UNIX(R) versions with job control only).
812 : Look at what is here.
814 ; Show what type of thing a visible symbol corresponds to.
816 , Pick up some things. May be preceded by `m' to force a se-
819 @ Toggle the autopickup option on and off.
821 ^ Ask for the type of a trap you found earlier.
823 ) Tell what weapon you are wielding.
825 [ Tell what armor you are wearing.
827 = Tell what rings you are wearing.
829 " Tell what amulet you are wearing.
831 ( Tell what tools you are using.
833 * Tell what equipment you are using; combines the preceding
834 five type-specific commands into one.
836 $ Count your gold pieces.
838 + List the spells you know. Using this command, you can also
839 rearrange the order in which your spells are listed. They
840 are shown via a menu, and if you select a spell in that
841 menu, you'll be re-prompted for another spell to swap places
842 with it, and then have opportunity to make further ex-
845 \ Show what types of objects have been discovered.
852 (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.
855 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
865 # Perform an extended command. As you can see, the authors of
866 NetHack used up all the letters, so this is a way to intro-
867 duce the less frequently used commands. What extended com-
868 mands are available depends on what features the game was
872 Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option
879 List which challenges you have adhered to. See the section
880 below entitled ``Conduct'' for details.
882 #dip Dip an object into something.
885 Advance or check weapons and spell skills.
891 Invoke an object's special powers.
894 Jump to another location.
897 Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle
898 from a horse standing next to you.
901 Use a monster's special ability (when polymorphed into mon-
905 Name an item or type of object.
908 Offer a sacrifice to the gods.
911 Pray to the gods for help.
914 Quit the program without saving your game.
917 Ride (or stop riding) a monster.
921 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
931 #rub Rub a lamp or a stone.
939 Toggle two-weapon combat on or off. Note that you must use
940 suitable weapons for this type of combat, or it will be au-
941 tomatically turned off.
944 Untrap something (trap, door, or chest).
947 Print compile time options for this version of NetHack.
952 #? Help menu: get the list of available extended commands.
954 If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in com-
955 bination with another key, modifies it by setting the `meta'
956 [8th, or `high'] bit), you can invoke many extended commands by
957 meta-ing the first letter of the command. In NT, OS/2, and PC
958 NetHack, the `Alt' key can be used in this fashion.
960 M-? #? (not supported by all platforms)
962 M-2 #twoweapon (unless the number_pad option is enabled)
987 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1015 If the number_pad option is on, some additional letter com-
1016 mands are available:
1018 h Help menu: display one of several help texts available,
1021 j Jump to another location. Same as ``#jump'' or ``M-j''.
1023 k Kick something (usually a door). Same as `^D'.
1025 l Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle
1026 from a horse standing next to you. Same as ``#loot'' or
1029 N Name an item or type of object. Same as ``#name'' or ``M-
1032 u Untrap a trap, door, or chest. Same as ``#untrap'' or ``M-
1036 5. Rooms and corridors
1038 Rooms and corridors in the dungeon are either lit or dark.
1039 Any lit areas within your line of sight will be displayed; dark
1040 areas are only displayed if they are within one space of you.
1041 Walls and corridors remain on the map as you explore them.
1043 Secret corridors are hidden. You can find them with the `s'
1048 Doorways connect rooms and corridors. Some doorways have no
1049 doors; you can walk right through. Others have doors in them,
1050 which may be open, closed, or locked. To open a closed door, use
1053 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1059 NetHack Guidebook 17
1063 the `o' (open) command; to close it again, use the `c' (close)
1066 You can get through a locked door by using a tool to pick
1067 the lock with the `a' (apply) command, or by kicking it open with
1068 the `^D' (kick) command.
1070 Open doors cannot be entered diagonally; you must approach
1071 them straight on, horizontally or vertically. Doorways without
1072 doors are not restricted in this fashion.
1074 Doors can be useful for shutting out monsters. Most mon-
1075 sters cannot open doors, although a few don't need to (ex. ghosts
1076 can walk through doors).
1078 Secret doors are hidden. You can find them with the `s'
1079 (search) command. Once found they are in all ways equivalent to
1084 There are traps throughout the dungeon to snare the unwary
1085 delver. For example, you may suddenly fall into a pit and be
1086 stuck for a few turns trying to climb out. Traps don't appear on
1087 your map until you see one triggered by moving onto it, see some-
1088 thing fall into it, or you discover it with the `s' (search) com-
1089 mand. Monsters can fall prey to traps, too, which can be a very
1090 useful defensive strategy.
1092 There is a special pre-mapped branch of the dungeon based on
1093 the classic computer game ``Sokoban.'' The goal is to push the
1094 boulders into the pits or holes. With careful foresight, it is
1095 possible to complete all of the levels according to the tradi-
1096 tional rules of Sokoban. Some allowances are permitted in case
1097 the player gets stuck; however, they will lower your luck.
1099 5.3. Stairs (`<', `>')
1101 In general, each level in the dungeon will have a staircase
1102 going up (`<') to the previous level and another going down (`>')
1103 to the next level. There are some exceptions though. For in-
1104 stance, fairly early in the dungeon you will find a level with
1105 two down staircases, one continuing into the dungeon and the oth-
1106 er branching into an area known as the Gnomish Mines. Those
1107 mines eventually hit a dead end, so after exploring them (if you
1108 choose to do so), you'll need to climb back up to the main dun-
1111 When you traverse a set of stairs, or trigger a trap which
1112 sends you to another level, the level you're leaving will be de-
1113 activated and stored in a file on disk. If you're moving to a
1114 previously visited level, it will be loaded from its file on disk
1115 and reactivated. If you're moving to a level which has not yet
1116 been visited, it will be created (from scratch for most random
1119 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1125 NetHack Guidebook 18
1129 levels, from a template for some ``special'' levels, or loaded
1130 from the remains of an earlier game for a ``bones'' level as
1131 briefly described below). Monsters are only active on the cur-
1132 rent level; those on other levels are essentially placed into
1135 Ordinarily when you climb a set of stairs, you will arrive
1136 on the corresponding staircase at your destination. However,
1137 pets (see below) and some other monsters will follow along if
1138 they're close enough when you travel up or down stairs, and occa-
1139 sionally one of these creatures will displace you during the
1140 climb. When that occurs, the pet or other monster will arrive on
1141 the staircase and you will end up nearby.
1143 5.4. Ladders (`<', `>')
1145 Ladders serve the same purpose as staircases, and the two
1146 types of inter-level connections are nearly indistinguishable
1149 5.5. Shops and shopping
1151 Occasionally you will run across a room with a shopkeeper
1152 near the door and many items lying on the floor. You can buy
1153 items by picking them up and then using the `p' command. You can
1154 inquire about the price of an item prior to picking it up by us-
1155 ing the ``#chat'' command while standing on it. Using an item
1156 prior to paying for it will incur a charge, and the shopkeeper
1157 won't allow you to leave the shop until you have paid any debt
1160 You can sell items to a shopkeeper by dropping them to the
1161 floor while inside a shop. You will either be offered an amount
1162 of gold and asked whether you're willing to sell, or you'll be
1163 told that the shopkeeper isn't interested (generally, your item
1164 needs to be compatible with the type of merchandise carried by
1167 If you drop something in a shop by accident, the shopkeeper
1168 will usually claim ownership without offering any compensation.
1169 You'll have to buy it back if you want to reclaim it.
1171 Shopkeepers sometimes run out of money. When that happens,
1172 you'll be offered credit instead of gold when you try to sell
1173 something. Credit can be used to pay for purchases, but it is
1174 only good in the shop where it was obtained; other shopkeepers
1175 won't honor it. (If you happen to find a "credit card" in the
1176 dungeon, don't bother trying to use it in shops; shopkeepers will
1179 The `$' command, which reports the amount of gold you are
1180 carrying (in inventory, not inside bags or boxes), will also show
1181 current shop debt or credit, if any. The `Iu' command lists un-
1182 paid items (those which still belong to the shop) if you are
1185 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1191 NetHack Guidebook 19
1195 carrying any. The `Ix' command shows an inventory-like display
1196 of any unpaid items which have been used up, along with other
1199 5.5.1. Shop idiosyncracies
1201 Several aspects of shop behavior might be unexpected.
1203 * The price of a given item can vary due to a variety of factors.
1205 * A shopkeeper treats the spot immediately inside the door as if
1206 it were outside the shop.
1208 * While the shopkeeper watches you like a hawk, he will generally
1209 ignore any other customers.
1211 * If a shop is "closed for inventory", it will not open of its
1214 * Shops do not get restocked with new items, regardless of inven-
1220 Monsters you cannot see are not displayed on the screen.
1221 Beware! You may suddenly come upon one in a dark place. Some
1222 magic items can help you locate them before they locate you
1223 (which some monsters can do very well).
1225 The commands `/' and `;' may be used to obtain information
1226 about those monsters who are displayed on the screen. The com-
1227 mand `C' allows you to assign a name to a monster, which may be
1228 useful to help distinguish one from another when multiple mon-
1229 sters are present. Assigning a name which is just a space will
1230 remove any prior name.
1232 The extended command ``#chat'' can be used to interact with
1233 an adjacent monster. There is no actual dialog (in other words,
1234 you don't get to choose what you'll say), but chatting with some
1235 monsters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
1240 If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
1241 to walk into it. Many monsters you find will mind their own
1242 business unless you attack them. Some of them are very dangerous
1243 when angered. Remember: discretion is the better part of valor.
1245 If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible, or if you
1246 are blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
1247 presence. If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to fight
1248 it just like a monster that you can see; of course, if the
1251 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1257 NetHack Guidebook 20
1261 monster has moved, you will attack empty air. If you guess that
1262 the monster has moved and you don't wish to fight, you can use
1263 the `m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't
1264 remember a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use
1269 You start the game with a little dog (`d'), cat (`f'), or
1270 pony (`u'), which follows you about the dungeon and fights mon-
1271 sters with you. Like you, your pet needs food to survive. It
1272 usually feeds itself on fresh carrion and other meats. If you're
1273 worried about it or want to train it, you can feed it, too, by
1274 throwing it food. A properly trained pet can be very useful un-
1275 der certain circumstances.
1277 Your pet also gains experience from killing monsters, and
1278 can grow over time, gaining hit points and doing more damage.
1279 Initially, your pet may even be better at killing things than
1280 you, which makes pets useful for low-level characters.
1282 Your pet will follow you up and down staircases if it is
1283 next to you when you move. Otherwise your pet will be stranded
1284 and may become wild. Similarly, when you trigger certain types
1285 of traps which alter your location (for instance, a trap door
1286 which drops you to a lower dungeon level), any adjacent pet will
1287 accompany you and any non-adjacent pet will be left behind. Your
1288 pet may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
1289 with it even if adjacent at the time.
1293 Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be rid-
1294 den if you have the right equipment and skill. Convincing a wild
1295 beast to let you saddle it up is difficult to say the least.
1296 Many a dungeoneer has had to resort to magic and wizardry in or-
1297 der to forge the alliance. Once you do have the beast under your
1298 control however, you can easily climb in and out of the saddle
1299 with the `#ride' command. Lead the beast around the dungeon when
1300 riding, in the same manner as you would move yourself. It is the
1301 beast that you will see displayed on the map.
1303 Riding skill is managed by the `#enhance' command. See the
1304 section on Weapon proficiency for more information about that.
1308 You may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-
1309 ers (or even former incarnations of yourself!) and their personal
1310 effects. Ghosts are hard to kill, but easy to avoid, since
1311 they're slow and do little damage. You can plunder the deceased
1312 adventurer's possessions; however, they are likely to be cursed.
1313 Beware of whatever killed the former player; it is probably still
1314 lurking around, gloating over its last victory.
1317 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1323 NetHack Guidebook 21
1329 When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want
1330 to pick it up. In NetHack, this is accomplished automatically by
1331 walking over the object (unless you turn off the autopickup op-
1332 tion (see below), or move with the `m' prefix (see above)), or
1333 manually by using the `,' command.
1335 If you're carrying too many items, NetHack will tell you so
1336 and you won't be able to pick up anything more. Otherwise, it
1337 will add the object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
1340 As you add items to your inventory, you also add the weight
1341 of that object to your load. The amount that you can carry de-
1342 pends on your strength and your constitution. The stronger you
1343 are, the less the additional load will affect you. There comes a
1344 point, though, when the weight of all of that stuff you are car-
1345 rying around with you through the dungeon will encumber you.
1346 Your reactions will get slower and you'll burn calories faster,
1347 requiring food more frequently to cope with it. Eventually,
1348 you'll be so overloaded that you'll either have to discard some
1349 of what you're carrying or collapse under its weight.
1351 NetHack will tell you how badly you have loaded yourself.
1352 The symbols `Burdened', `Stressed', `Strained', `Overtaxed' and
1353 `Overloaded' are displayed on the bottom line display to indicate
1356 When you pick up an object, it is assigned an inventory let-
1357 ter. Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find
1358 out which object you want to use. When NetHack asks you to
1359 choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually pre-
1360 sented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see Com-
1363 Some objects, such as weapons, are easily differentiated.
1364 Others, like scrolls and potions, are given descriptions which
1365 vary according to type. During a game, any two objects with the
1366 same description are the same type. However, the descriptions
1367 will vary from game to game.
1369 When you use one of these objects, if its effect is obvious,
1370 NetHack will remember what it is for you. If its effect isn't
1371 extremely obvious, you will be asked what you want to call this
1372 type of object so you will recognize it later. You can also use
1373 the ``#name'' command for the same purpose at any time, to name
1374 all objects of a particular type or just an individual object.
1375 When you use ``#name'' on an object which has already been named,
1376 specifying a space as the value will remove the prior name in-
1377 stead of assigning a new one.
1383 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1389 NetHack Guidebook 22
1393 7.1. Curses and Blessings
1395 Any object that you find may be cursed, even if the object
1396 is otherwise helpful. The most common effect of a curse is being
1397 stuck with (and to) the item. Cursed weapons weld themselves to
1398 your hand when wielded, so you cannot unwield them. Any cursed
1399 item you wear is not removable by ordinary means. In addition,
1400 cursed arms and armor usually, but not always, bear negative en-
1401 chantments that make them less effective in combat. Other cursed
1402 objects may act poorly or detrimentally in other ways.
1404 Objects can also be blessed. Blessed items usually work
1405 better or more beneficially than normal uncursed items. For ex-
1406 ample, a blessed weapon will do more damage against demons.
1408 There are magical means of bestowing or removing curses upon
1409 objects, so even if you are stuck with one, you can still have
1410 the curse lifted and the item removed. Priests and Priestesses
1411 have an innate sensitivity to this property in any object, so
1412 they can more easily avoid cursed objects than other character
1415 An item with unknown status will be reported in your inven-
1416 tory with no prefix. An item which you know the state of will be
1417 distinguished in your inventory by the presence of the word
1418 ``cursed'', ``uncursed'' or ``blessed'' in the description of the
1423 Given a chance, most monsters in the Mazes of Menace will
1424 gratuitously try to kill you. You need weapons for self-defense
1425 (killing them first). Without a weapon, you do only 1-2 hit
1426 points of damage (plus bonuses, if any). Monk characters are an
1427 exception; they normally do much more damage with bare hands than
1428 they do with weapons.
1430 There are wielded weapons, like maces and swords, and thrown
1431 weapons, like arrows and spears. To hit monsters with a weapon,
1432 you must wield it and attack them, or throw it at them. You can
1433 simply elect to throw a spear. To shoot an arrow, you should
1434 first wield a bow, then throw the arrow. Crossbows shoot cross-
1435 bow bolts. Slings hurl rocks and (other) stones (like gems).
1437 Enchanted weapons have a ``plus'' (or ``to hit enhancement''
1438 which can be either positive or negative) that adds to your
1439 chance to hit and the damage you do to a monster. The only way
1440 to determine a weapon's enchantment is to have it magically iden-
1441 tified somehow. Most weapons are subject to some type of damage
1442 like rust. Such ``erosion'' damage can be repaired.
1444 The chance that an attack will successfully hit a monster,
1445 and the amount of damage such a hit will do, depends upon many
1446 factors. Among them are: type of weapon, quality of weapon
1449 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1455 NetHack Guidebook 23
1459 (enchantment and/or erosion), experience level, strength, dexter-
1460 ity, encumbrance, and proficiency (see below). The monster's ar-
1461 mor class - a general defense rating, not necessarily due to
1462 wearing of armor - is a factor too; also, some monsters are par-
1463 ticularly vulnerable to certain types of weapons.
1465 Many weapons can be wielded in one hand; some require both
1466 hands. When wielding a two-handed weapon, you can not wear a
1467 shield, and vice versa. When wielding a one-handed weapon, you
1468 can have another weapon ready to use by setting things up with
1469 the `x' command, which exchanges your primary (the one being
1470 wielded) and alternate weapons. And if you have proficiency in
1471 the ``two weapon combat'' skill, you may wield both weapons si-
1472 multaneously as primary and secondary; use the `#twoweapon' ex-
1473 tended command to engage or disengage that. Only some types of
1474 characters (barbarians, for instance) have the necessary skill
1475 available. Even with that skill, using two weapons at once in-
1476 curs a penalty in the chance to hit your target compared to using
1477 just one weapon at a time.
1479 There might be times when you'd rather not wield any weapon
1480 at all. To accomplish that, wield `-', or else use the `A' com-
1481 mand which allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition
1482 to taking off other worn items.
1484 Those of you in the audience who are AD&D players, be aware
1485 that each weapon which existed in AD&D does roughly the same dam-
1486 age to monsters in NetHack. Some of the more obscure weapons
1487 (such as the aklys, lucern hammer, and bec-de-corbin) are defined
1488 in an appendix to Unearthed Arcana, an AD&D supplement.
1490 The commands to use weapons are `w' (wield), `t' (throw),
1491 `f' (fire, an alternative way of throwing), `Q' (quiver), `x'
1492 (exchange), `#twoweapon', and `#enhance' (see below).
1494 7.2.1. Throwing and shooting
1496 You can throw just about anything via the `t' command. It
1497 will prompt for the item to throw; picking `?' will list things
1498 in your inventory which are considered likely to be thrown, or
1499 picking `*' will list your entire inventory. After you've chosen
1500 what to throw, you will be prompted for a direction rather than
1501 for a specific target. The distance something can be thrown de-
1502 pends mainly on the type of object and your strength. Arrows can
1503 be thrown by hand, but can be thrown much farther and will be
1504 more likely to hit when thrown while you are wielding a bow.
1506 You can simplify the throwing operation by using the `Q'
1507 command to select your preferred ``missile'', then using the `f'
1508 command to throw it. You'll be prompted for a direction as
1509 above, but you don't have to specify which item to throw each
1510 time you use `f'. There is also an option, autoquiver, which has
1511 NetHack choose another item to automatically fill your quiver
1512 when the inventory slot used for `Q' runs out.
1515 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1521 NetHack Guidebook 24
1525 Some characters have the ability to fire a volley of multi-
1526 ple items in a single turn. Knowing how to load several rounds
1527 of ammunition at once -- or hold several missiles in your hand --
1528 and still hit a target is not an easy task. Rangers are among
1529 those who are adept at this task, as are those with a high level
1530 of proficiency in the relevant weapon skill (in bow skill if
1531 you're wielding one to shoot arrows, in crossbow skill if you're
1532 wielding one to shoot bolts, or in sling skill if you're wielding
1533 one to shoot stones). The number of items that the character has
1534 a chance to fire varies from turn to turn. You can explicitly
1535 limit the number of shots by using a numeric prefix before the
1536 `t' or `f' command. For example, ``2f'' (or ``n2f'' if using
1537 number_pad mode) would ensure that at most 2 arrows are shot even
1538 if you could have fired 3. If you specify a larger number than
1539 would have been shot (``4f'' in this example), you'll just end up
1540 shooting the same number (3, here) as if no limit had been speci-
1541 fied. Once the volley is in motion, all of the items will travel
1542 in the same direction; if the first ones kill a monster, the oth-
1543 ers can still continue beyond that spot.
1545 7.2.2. Weapon proficiency
1547 You will have varying degrees of skill in the weapons avail-
1548 able. Weapon proficiency, or weapon skills, affect how well you
1549 can use particular types of weapons, and you'll be able to im-
1550 prove your skills as you progress through a game, depending on
1551 your role, your experience level, and use of the weapons.
1553 For the purposes of proficiency, weapons have been divided
1554 up into various groups such as daggers, broadswords, and
1555 polearms. Each role has a limit on what level of proficiency a
1556 character can achieve for each group. For instance, wizards can
1557 become highly skilled in daggers or staves but not in swords or
1560 The `#enhance' extended command is used to review current
1561 weapons proficiency (also spell proficiency) and to choose which
1562 skill(s) to improve when you've used one or more skills enough to
1563 become eligible to do so. The skill rankings are ``none'' (some-
1564 times also referred to as ``restricted'', because you won't be
1565 able to advance), ``unskilled'', ``basic'', ``skilled'', and
1566 ``expert''. Restricted skills simply will not appear in the list
1567 shown by `#enhance'. (Divine intervention might unrestrict a
1568 particular skill, in which case it will start at unskilled and be
1569 limited to basic.) Some characters can enhance their barehanded
1570 combat or martial arts skill beyond expert to ``master'' or
1573 Use of a weapon in which you're restricted or unskilled will
1574 incur a modest penalty in the chance to hit a monster and also in
1575 the amount of damage done when you do hit; at basic level, there
1576 is no penalty or bonus; at skilled level, you receive a modest
1577 bonus in the chance to hit and amount of damage done; at expert
1578 level, the bonus is higher. A successful hit has a chance to
1581 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1587 NetHack Guidebook 25
1591 boost your training towards the next skill level (unless you've
1592 already reached the limit for this skill). Once such training
1593 reaches the threshold for that next level, you'll be told that
1594 you feel more confident in your skills. At that point you can
1595 use `#enhance' to increase one or more skills. Such skills are
1596 not increased automatically because there is a limit to your to-
1597 tal overall skills, so you need to actively choose which skills
1598 to enhance and which to ignore.
1602 Lots of unfriendly things lurk about; you need armor to pro-
1603 tect yourself from their blows. Some types of armor offer better
1604 protection than others. Your armor class is a measure of this
1605 protection. Armor class (AC) is measured as in AD&D, with 10 be-
1606 ing the equivalent of no armor, and lower numbers meaning better
1607 armor. Each suit of armor which exists in AD&D gives the same
1608 protection in NetHack. Here is an (incomplete) list of the armor
1609 classes provided by various suits of armor:
1613 crystal plate mail 3
1617 dwarvish mithril-coat 4
1618 elven mithril-coat 5
1622 studded leather armor 7
1629 You can also wear other pieces of armor (ex. helmets, boots,
1630 shields, cloaks) to lower your armor class even further, but you
1631 can only wear one item of each category (one suit of armor, one
1632 cloak, one helmet, one shield, and so on) at a time.
1634 If a piece of armor is enchanted, its armor protection will
1635 be better (or worse) than normal, and its ``plus'' (or minus)
1636 will subtract from your armor class. For example, a +1 chain
1637 mail would give you better protection than normal chain mail,
1638 lowering your armor class one unit further to 4. When you put on
1639 a piece of armor, you immediately find out the armor class and
1640 any ``plusses'' it provides. Cursed pieces of armor usually have
1641 negative enchantments (minuses) in addition to being unremovable.
1643 Many types of armor are subject to some kind of damage like
1644 rust. Such damage can be repaired. Some types of armor may
1647 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1653 NetHack Guidebook 26
1657 inhibit spell casting.
1659 The commands to use armor are `W' (wear) and `T' (take off).
1660 The `A' command can also be used to take off armor as well as
1665 Food is necessary to survive. If you go too long without
1666 eating you will faint, and eventually die of starvation. Some
1667 types of food will spoil, and become unhealthy to eat, if not
1668 protected. Food stored in ice boxes or tins (``cans'') will usu-
1669 ally stay fresh, but ice boxes are heavy, and tins take a while
1672 When you kill monsters, they usually leave corpses which are
1673 also ``food.'' Many, but not all, of these are edible; some also
1674 give you special powers when you eat them. A good rule of thumb
1675 is ``you are what you eat.''
1677 Some character roles and some monsters are vegetarian. Veg-
1678 etarian monsters will typically never eat animal corpses, while
1679 vegetarian players can, but with some rather unpleasant side-ef-
1682 You can name one food item after something you like to eat
1683 with the fruit option.
1685 The command to eat food is `e'.
1689 Scrolls are labeled with various titles, probably chosen by
1690 ancient wizards for their amusement value (ex. ``READ ME,'' or
1691 ``THANX MAUD'' backwards). Scrolls disappear after you read them
1692 (except for blank ones, without magic spells on them).
1694 One of the most useful of these is the scroll of identify,
1695 which can be used to determine what another object is, whether it
1696 is cursed or blessed, and how many uses it has left. Some ob-
1697 jects of subtle enchantment are difficult to identify without
1700 A mail daemon may run up and deliver mail to you as a scroll
1701 of mail (on versions compiled with this feature). To use this
1702 feature on versions where NetHack mail delivery is triggered by
1703 electronic mail appearing in your system mailbox, you must let
1704 NetHack know where to look for new mail by setting the ``MAIL''
1705 environment variable to the file name of your mailbox. You may
1706 also want to set the ``MAILREADER'' environment variable to the
1707 file name of your favorite reader, so NetHack can shell to it
1708 when you read the scroll. On versions of NetHack where mail is
1709 randomly generated internal to the game, these environment vari-
1710 ables are ignored. You can disable the mail daemon by turning
1713 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1719 NetHack Guidebook 27
1723 off the mail option.
1725 The command to read a scroll is `r'.
1729 Potions are distinguished by the color of the liquid inside
1730 the flask. They disappear after you quaff them.
1732 Clear potions are potions of water. Sometimes these are
1733 blessed or cursed, resulting in holy or unholy water. Holy water
1734 is the bane of the undead, so potions of holy water are good
1735 things to throw (`t') at them. It is also sometimes very useful
1736 to dip (``#dip'') an object into a potion.
1738 The command to drink a potion is `q' (quaff).
1742 Magic wands usually have multiple magical charges. Some
1743 wands are directional--you must give a direction in which to zap
1744 them. You can also zap them at yourself (just give a `.' or `s'
1745 for the direction). Be warned, however, for this is often unwise.
1746 Other wands are nondirectional--they don't require a direction.
1747 The number of charges in a wand is random and decreases by one
1748 whenever you use it.
1750 When the number of charges left in a wand becomes zero, at-
1751 tempts to use the wand will usually result in nothing happening.
1752 Occasionally, however, it may be possible to squeeze the last few
1753 mana points from an otherwise spent wand, destroying it in the
1754 process. A wand may be recharged by using suitable magic, but
1755 doing so runs the risk of causing it to explode. The chance for
1756 such an explosion starts out very small and increases each time
1757 the wand is recharged.
1759 In a truly desperate situation, when your back is up against
1760 the wall, you might decide to go for broke and break your wand.
1761 This is not for the faint of heart. Doing so will almost cer-
1762 tainly cause a catastrophic release of magical energies.
1764 When you have fully identified a particular wand, inventory
1765 display will include additional information in parentheses: the
1766 number of times it has been recharged followed by a colon and
1767 then by its current number of charges. A current charge count of
1768 -1 is a special case indicating that the wand has been cancelled.
1770 The command to use a wand is `z' (zap). To break one, use
1771 the `a' (apply) command.
1775 Rings are very useful items, since they are relatively per-
1776 manent magic, unlike the usually fleeting effects of potions,
1779 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1785 NetHack Guidebook 28
1791 Putting on a ring activates its magic. You can wear only
1792 two rings, one on each ring finger.
1794 Most rings also cause you to grow hungry more rapidly, the
1795 rate varying with the type of ring.
1797 The commands to use rings are `P' (put on) and `R' (remove).
1799 7.9. Spellbooks (`+')
1801 Spellbooks are tomes of mighty magic. When studied with the
1802 `r' (read) command, they transfer to the reader the knowledge of
1803 a spell (and therefore eventually become unreadable) -- unless
1804 the attempt backfires. Reading a cursed spellbook or one with
1805 mystic runes beyond your ken can be harmful to your health!
1807 A spell (even when learned) can also backfire when you cast
1808 it. If you attempt to cast a spell well above your experience
1809 level, or if you have little skill with the appropriate spell
1810 type, or cast it at a time when your luck is particularly bad,
1811 you can end up wasting both the energy and the time required in
1814 Casting a spell calls forth magical energies and focuses
1815 them with your naked mind. Some of the magical energy released
1816 comes from within you, and casting several spells in a row may
1817 tire you. Casting of spells also requires practice. With prac-
1818 tice, your skill in each category of spell casting will improve.
1819 Over time, however, your memory of each spell will dim, and you
1820 will need to relearn it.
1822 Some spells are directional--you must give a direction in
1823 which to cast them. You can also cast them at yourself (just
1824 give a `.' or `s' for the direction). Be warned, however, for
1825 this is often unwise. Other spells are nondirectional--they
1826 don't require a direction.
1828 Just as weapons are divided into groups in which a character
1829 can become proficient (to varying degrees), spells are similarly
1830 grouped. Successfully casting a spell exercises the skill group;
1831 sufficient skill may increase the potency of the spell and reduce
1832 the risk of spell failure. Skill slots are shared with weapons
1833 skills. (See also the section on ``Weapon proficiency''.)
1835 Casting a spell also requires flexible movement, and wearing
1836 various types of armor may interfere with that.
1838 The command to read a spellbook is the same as for scrolls,
1839 `r' (read). The `+' command lists your current spells, their
1840 levels, categories, and chances for failure. The `Z' (cast) com-
1845 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1851 NetHack Guidebook 29
1857 Tools are miscellaneous objects with various purposes. Some
1858 tools have a limited number of uses, akin to wand charges. For
1859 example, lamps burn out after a while. Other tools are contain-
1860 ers, which objects can be placed into or taken out of.
1862 The command to use tools is `a' (apply).
1866 You may encounter bags, boxes, and chests in your travels.
1867 A tool of this sort can be opened with the ``#loot'' extended
1868 command when you are standing on top of it (that is, on the same
1869 floor spot), or with the `a' (apply) command when you are carry-
1870 ing it. However, chests are often locked, and are in any case
1871 unwieldy objects. You must set one down before unlocking it by
1872 using a key or lock-picking tool with the `a' (apply) command, by
1873 kicking it with the `^D' command, or by using a weapon to force
1874 the lock with the ``#force'' extended command.
1876 Some chests are trapped, causing nasty things to happen when
1877 you unlock or open them. You can check for and try to deactivate
1878 traps with the ``#untrap'' extended command.
1882 Amulets are very similar to rings, and often more powerful.
1883 Like rings, amulets have various magical properties, some benefi-
1884 cial, some harmful, which are activated by putting them on.
1886 Only one amulet may be worn at a time, around your neck.
1888 The commands to use amulets are the same as for rings, `P'
1889 (put on) and `R' (remove).
1893 Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot of gold.
1894 They are also a far more efficient way of carrying your riches.
1895 Valuable gems increase your score if you bring them with you when
1898 Other small rocks are also categorized as gems, but they are
1899 much less valuable. All rocks, however, can be used as projec-
1900 tile weapons (if you have a sling). In the most desperate of
1901 cases, you can still throw them by hand.
1903 7.13. Large rocks (``')
1905 Statues and boulders are not particularly useful, and are
1906 generally heavy. It is rumored that some statues are not what
1911 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1917 NetHack Guidebook 30
1921 Very large humanoids (giants and their ilk) have been known
1922 to use boulders as weapons.
1926 Gold adds to your score, and you can buy things in shops
1927 with it. There are a number of monsters in the dungeon that may
1928 be influenced by the amount of gold you are carrying (shopkeepers
1934 As if winning NetHack were not difficult enough, certain
1935 players seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on
1936 the way they play the game. The game automatically tracks some
1937 of these challenges, which can be checked at any time with the
1938 #conduct command or at the end of the game. When you perform an
1939 action which breaks a challenge, it will no longer be listed.
1940 This gives players extra ``bragging rights'' for winning the game
1941 with these challenges. Note that it is perfectly acceptable to
1942 win the game without resorting to these restrictions and that it
1943 is unusual for players to adhere to challenges the first time
1946 Several of the challenges are related to eating behavior.
1947 The most difficult of these is the foodless challenge. Although
1948 creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is
1949 a physiological need for water; thus there is no restriction on
1950 drinking beverages, even if they provide some minor food bene-
1951 fits. Calling upon your god for help with starvation does not
1952 violate any food challenges either.
1954 A strict vegan diet is one which avoids any food derived
1955 from animals. The primary source of nutrition is fruits and veg-
1956 etables. The corpses and tins of blobs (`b'), jellies (`j'), and
1957 fungi (`F') are also considered to be vegetable matter. Certain
1958 human food is prepared without animal products; namely, lembas
1959 wafers, cram rations, food rations (gunyoki), K-rations, and C-
1960 rations. Metal or another normally indigestible material eaten
1961 while polymorphed into a creature that can digest it is also con-
1962 sidered vegan food. Note however that eating such items still
1963 counts against foodless conduct.
1965 Vegetarians do not eat animals; however, they are less se-
1966 lective about eating animal byproducts than vegans. In addition
1967 to the vegan items listed above, they may eat any kind of pudding
1968 (`P') other than the black puddings, eggs and food made from eggs
1969 (fortune cookies and pancakes), food made with milk (cream pies
1970 and candy bars), and lumps of royal jelly. Monks are expected to
1971 observe a vegetarian diet.
1973 Eating any kind of meat violates the vegetarian, vegan, and
1974 foodless conducts. This includes tripe rations, the corpses or
1977 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
1983 NetHack Guidebook 31
1987 tins of any monsters not mentioned above, and the various other
1988 chunks of meat found in the dungeon. Swallowing and digesting a
1989 monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate the creature's
1990 corpse. Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items while poly-
1991 morphed into a creature that can digest it, or eating monster
1992 brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered eating
1993 an animal, although wax is only an animal byproduct.
1995 Regardless of conduct, there will be some items which are
1996 indigestible, and others which are hazardous to eat. Using a
1997 swallow-and-digest attack against a monster is equivalent to eat-
1998 ing the monster's corpse. Please note that the term ``vegan'' is
1999 used here only in the context of diet. You are still free to
2000 choose not to use or wear items derived from animals (e.g.
2001 leather, dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not
2002 keep track of this for you. Also note that ``milky'' potions may
2003 be a translucent white, but they do not contain milk, so they are
2004 compatible with a vegan diet. Slime molds or player-defined
2005 ``fruits'', although they could be anything from ``cherries'' to
2006 ``pork chops'', are also assumed to be vegan.
2008 An atheist is one who rejects religion. This means that you
2009 cannot #pray, #offer sacrifices to any god, #turn undead, or
2010 #chat with a priest. Particularly selective readers may argue
2011 that playing Monk or Priest characters should violate this con-
2012 duct; that is a choice left to the player. Offering the Amulet
2013 of Yendor to your god is necessary to win the game and is not
2014 counted against this conduct. You are also not penalized for be-
2015 ing spoken to by an angry god, priest(ess), or other religious
2016 figure; a true atheist would hear the words but attach no special
2019 Most players fight with a wielded weapon (or tool intended
2020 to be wielded as a weapon). Another challenge is to win the game
2021 without using such a wielded weapon. You are still permitted to
2022 throw, fire, and kick weapons; use a wand, spell, or other type
2023 of item; or fight with your hands and feet.
2025 In NetHack, a pacifist refuses to cause the death of any
2026 other monster (i.e. if you would get experience for the death).
2027 This is a particularly difficult challenge, although it is still
2028 possible to gain experience by other means.
2030 An illiterate character cannot read or write. This includes
2031 reading a scroll, spellbook, fortune cookie message, or t-shirt;
2032 writing a scroll; or making an engraving of anything other than a
2033 single ``x'' (the traditional signature of an illiterate person).
2034 Reading an engraving, or any item that is absolutely necessary to
2035 win the game, is not counted against this conduct. The identity
2036 of scrolls and spellbooks (and knowledge of spells) in your
2037 starting inventory is assumed to be learned from your teachers
2038 prior to the start of the game and isn't counted.
2043 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2049 NetHack Guidebook 32
2053 There are several other challenges tracked by the game. It
2054 is possible to eliminate one or more species of monsters by geno-
2055 cide; playing without this feature is considered a challenge.
2056 When the game offers you an opportunity to genocide monsters, you
2057 may respond with the monster type ``none'' if you want to de-
2058 cline. You can change the form of an item into another item of
2059 the same type (``polypiling'') or the form of your own body into
2060 another creature (``polyself'') by wand, spell, or potion of
2061 polymorph; avoiding these effects are each considered challenges.
2062 Polymorphing monsters, including pets, does not break either of
2063 these challenges. Finally, you may sometimes receive wishes; a
2064 game without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as
2065 is a game without wishing for an artifact (even if the artifact
2066 immediately disappears). When the game offers you an opportunity
2067 to make a wish for an item, you may choose ``nothing'' if you
2073 Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how
2074 NetHack should do things, there are options you can set to change
2075 how NetHack behaves.
2077 9.1. Setting the options
2079 Options may be set in a number of ways. Within the game,
2080 the `O' command allows you to view all options and change most of
2081 them. You can also set options automatically by placing them in
2082 the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable or in a configuration
2083 file. Some versions of NetHack also have front-end programs that
2084 allow you to set options before starting the game.
2086 9.2. Using the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable
2088 The NETHACKOPTIONS variable is a comma-separated list of
2089 initial values for the various options. Some can only be turned
2090 on or off. You turn one of these on by adding the name of the
2091 option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or ``no'' be-
2092 fore the name. Others take a character string as a value. You
2093 can set string options by typing the option name, a colon or
2094 equals sign, and then the value of the string. The value is ter-
2095 minated by the next comma or the end of string.
2097 For example, to set up an environment variable so that ``au-
2098 toquiver'' is on, ``autopickup'' is off, the name is set to
2099 ``Blue Meanie'', and the fruit is set to ``papaya'', you would
2102 % setenv NETHACKOPTIONS "autoquiver,\!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"
2104 in csh (note the need to escape the ! since it's special to the
2109 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2115 NetHack Guidebook 33
2119 $ NETHACKOPTIONS="autoquiver,!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"
2120 $ export NETHACKOPTIONS
2124 9.3. Using a configuration file
2126 Any line in the configuration file starting with `#' is
2127 treated as a comment. Any line in the configuration file start-
2128 ing with ``OPTIONS='' may be filled out with options in the same
2129 syntax as in NETHACKOPTIONS. Any line starting with ``DUN-
2130 GEON='', ``EFFECTS='', ``MONSTERS='', ``OBJECTS='', ``TRAPS='',
2131 or ``BOULDER='' is taken as defining the corresponding dungeon,
2132 effects, monsters, objects traps or boulder option in a different
2133 syntax, a sequence of decimal numbers giving the character posi-
2134 tion in the current font to be used in displaying each entry. A
2135 zero in any entry in such a sequence leaves the display of that
2136 entry unchanged; this feature is not available using the option
2137 syntax. Such a sequence can be continued to multiple lines by
2138 putting a `\' at the end of each line to be continued.
2140 If your copy of the game included the compile time AUTOPICK-
2141 UP_EXCEPTIONS option, then any line starting with ``AUTOPICK-
2142 UP_EXCEPTION='' is taken as defining an exception to the pick-
2143 up_types option. There is a section of this Guidebook that dis-
2146 The default name of the configuration file varies on differ-
2147 ent operating systems, but NETHACKOPTIONS can also be set to the
2148 full name of a file you want to use (possibly preceded by an
2151 9.4. Customization options
2153 Here are explanations of what the various options do. Char-
2154 acter strings that are too long may be truncated. Some of the
2155 options listed may be inactive in your dungeon.
2158 Your starting alignment (align:lawful, align:neutral, or
2159 align:chaotic). You may specify just the first letter. The
2160 default is to randomly pick an appropriate alignment. Cannot
2161 be set with the `O' command.
2164 Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving
2165 into a place that can be dug (default false).
2168 Automatically pick up things onto which you move (default on).
2169 See pickup_types to refine the behavior.
2172 This option controls what happens when you attempt the `f'
2175 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2181 NetHack Guidebook 34
2185 (fire) command with an empty quiver. When true, the computer
2186 will fill your quiver with some suitable weapon. Note that it
2187 will not take into account the blessed/cursed status, enchant-
2188 ment, damage, or quality of the weapon; you are free to manual-
2189 ly fill your quiver with the `Q' command instead. If no weapon
2190 is found or the option is false, the `t' (throw) command is ex-
2191 ecuted instead. (default false)
2194 Set the character used to display boulders (default is rock
2198 Name your starting cat (ex. ``catname:Morris''). Cannot be set
2199 with the `O' command.
2202 Pick your type of character (ex. ``character:Monk''); synonym
2203 for ``role''. See ``name'' for an alternate method of specify-
2204 ing your role. Normally only the first letter of the value is
2205 examined; the string ``random'' is an exception.
2208 Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
2209 after program crash (default on).
2212 Check free disk space before writing files to disk (default
2213 on). You may have to turn this off if you have more than 2 GB
2214 free space on the partition used for your save and level files.
2215 Only applies when MFLOPPY was defined during compilation.
2218 Have the game provide some additional command assistance for
2219 new players if it detects some anticipated mistakes (default
2223 Have user confirm attacks on pets, shopkeepers, and other
2224 peaceable creatures (default on).
2227 Use a predefined selection of characters from the DEC VT-
2228 xxx/DEC Rainbow/ANSI line-drawing character set to display the
2229 dungeon/effects/traps instead of having to define a full graph-
2230 ics set yourself (default off). This option also sets up prop-
2231 er handling of graphics characters for such terminals, so you
2232 should specify it when appropriate even if you override the se-
2233 lections with your own graphics strings.
2236 Controls options for disclosing various information when the
2237 game ends (defaults to all possibilities being disclosed). The
2241 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2247 NetHack Guidebook 35
2251 i - disclose your inventory.
2252 a - disclose your attributes.
2253 v - summarize monsters that have been vanquished.
2254 g - list monster species that have been genocided.
2255 c - display your conduct.
2257 Each disclosure possibility can optionally be preceded by a
2258 prefix which let you refine how it behaves. Here are the valid
2261 y - prompt you and default to yes on the prompt.
2262 n - prompt you and default to no on the prompt.
2263 + - disclose it without prompting.
2264 - - do not disclose it and do not prompt.
2266 (ex. ``disclose:yi na +v -g -c'') The example sets inventory to
2267 prompt and default to yes, attributes to prompt and default to
2268 no, vanquished to disclose without prompting, genocided to not
2269 disclose and not to prompt, conduct to not disclose and not to
2270 prompt. Note that the vanquished monsters list includes all
2271 monsters killed by traps and each other as well as by you.
2274 Name your starting dog (ex. ``dogname:Fang''). Cannot be set
2275 with the `O' command.
2278 Set the graphics symbols for displaying the dungeon (default
2279 `` |--------||.-|++##.##<><>_|\\#{}.}..## #}''). The dungeon
2280 option should be followed by a string of 1-41 characters to be
2281 used instead of the default map-drawing characters. The dun-
2282 geon map will use the characters you specify instead of the de-
2283 fault symbols, and default symbols for any you do not specify.
2284 Remember that you may need to escape some of these characters
2285 on a command line if they are special to your shell.
2287 Note that NetHack escape-processes this option string in con-
2288 ventional C fashion. This means that `\' is a prefix to take
2289 the following character literally. Thus `\' needs to be repre-
2290 sented as `\\'. The special escape form `\m' switches on the
2291 meta bit in the following character, and the `^' prefix causes
2292 the following character to be treated as a control character.
2294 The order of the symbols is: solid rock, vertical wall, hori-
2295 zontal wall, upper left corner, upper right corner, lower left
2296 corner, lower right corner, cross wall, upward T wall, downward
2297 T wall, leftward T wall, rightward T wall, no door, vertical
2298 open door, horizontal open door, vertical closed door, horizon-
2299 tal closed door, iron bars, tree, floor of a room, dark corri-
2300 dor, lit corridor, stairs up, stairs down, ladder up, ladder
2301 down, altar, grave, throne, kitchen sink, fountain, pool or
2302 moat, ice, lava, vertical lowered drawbridge, horizontal low-
2303 ered drawbridge, vertical raised drawbridge, horizontal raised
2304 drawbridge, air, cloud, under water.
2307 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2313 NetHack Guidebook 36
2317 You might want to use `+' for the corners and T walls for a
2318 more aesthetic, boxier display. Note that in the next release,
2319 new symbols may be added, or the present ones rearranged.
2321 Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2324 Set the graphics symbols for displaying special effects (de-
2325 fault ``|-\\/*!)(0#@*/-\\||\\-//-\\| |\\-/''). The effects op-
2326 tion should be followed by a string of 1-29 characters to be
2327 used instead of the default special-effects characters. This
2328 string is subjected to the same processing as the dungeon op-
2331 The order of the symbols is: vertical beam, horizontal beam,
2332 left slant, right slant, digging beam, camera flash beam, left
2333 boomerang, right boomerang, four glyphs giving the sequence for
2334 magic resistance displays, the eight surrounding glyphs for
2335 swallowed display, nine glyphs for explosions. An explosion
2336 consists of three rows (top, middle, and bottom) of three char-
2337 acters. The explosion is centered in the center of this 3 by 3
2340 Note that in the next release, new symbols may be added, or the
2341 present ones rearranged.
2343 Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2346 Changes the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu of
2347 available commands. It is keystroke compatible with the tradi-
2348 tional interface except that it does not require that you hit
2349 Enter. It is implemented only by the tty port (default off),
2350 when the game has been compiled to support tty graphics.
2353 An obsolete synonym for ``gender:female''. Cannot be set with
2357 An object's inventory letter sticks to it when it's dropped
2358 (default on). If this is off, dropping an object shifts all
2359 the remaining inventory letters.
2362 Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (ex. ``fruit:man-
2363 go'') (default ``slime mold''). Basically a nostalgic whimsy
2364 that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set this to
2365 something you find more appetizing than slime mold. Apples,
2366 oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in NetHack,
2370 Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
2373 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2379 NetHack Guidebook 37
2383 specify just the first letter. Although you can still denote
2384 your gender using the ``male'' and ``female'' options, the
2385 ``gender'' option will take precedence. The default is to ran-
2386 domly pick an appropriate gender. Cannot be set with the `O'
2390 If more information is available for an object looked at with
2391 the `/' command, ask if you want to see it (default on). Turn-
2392 ing help off makes just looking at things faster, since you
2393 aren't interrupted with the ``More info?'' prompt, but it also
2394 means that you might miss some interesting and/or important in-
2398 Name your starting horse (ex. ``horsename:Trigger''). Cannot
2399 be set with the `O' command.
2402 Use a predefined selection of IBM extended ASCII characters to
2403 display the dungeon/effects/traps instead of having to define a
2404 full graphics set yourself (default off). This option also
2405 sets up proper handling of graphics characters for such termi-
2406 nals, so you should specify it when appropriate even if you
2407 override the selections with your own graphics strings.
2410 Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off).
2413 Display an introductory message when starting the game (default
2417 Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source
2418 held by your character as lit (default off).
2421 Use the old `a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts when looting,
2422 rather than the mnemonics `o', `i', and `b' (default off).
2425 Enable mail delivery during the game (default on).
2428 An obsolete synonym for ``gender:male''. Cannot be set with
2432 Controls the interface used when you need to choose various ob-
2433 jects (in response to the Drop command, for instance). The
2434 value specified should be the first letter of one of the fol-
2435 lowing: traditional, combination, partial, or full. Tradi-
2436 tional was the only interface available for earlier versions;
2439 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2445 NetHack Guidebook 38
2449 it consists of a prompt for object class characters, followed
2450 by an object-by-object prompt for all items matching the se-
2451 lected object class(es). Combination starts with a prompt for
2452 object class(es) of interest, but then displays a menu of
2453 matching objects rather than prompting one-by-one. Partial
2454 skips the object class filtering and immediately displays a
2455 menu of all objects. Full displays a menu of object classes
2456 rather than a character prompt, and then a menu of matching ob-
2457 jects for selection.
2460 Menu character accelerator to deselect all items in a menu.
2461 Implemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default '-'.
2464 Menu character accelerator to deselect all items on this page
2465 of a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. De-
2469 Menu character accelerator to jump to the first page in a menu.
2470 Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default '^'.
2473 Controls how the headings in a menu are highlighted. Values
2474 are 'bold', 'inverse', or 'underline'. Not all ports can actu-
2475 ally display all three types.
2478 Menu character accelerator to invert all items in a menu. Im-
2479 plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default '@'.
2482 Menu character accelerator to invert all items on this page of
2483 a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
2487 Menu character accelerator to jump to the last page in a menu.
2488 Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default '|'.
2491 Menu character accelerator to goto the next menu page. Imple-
2492 mented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default '>'.
2495 Menu character accelerator to goto the previous menu page. Im-
2496 plemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default '<'.
2499 Menu character accelerator to search for a menu item. Imple-
2500 mented by the Amiga, Gem and X11 ports. Default ':'.
2505 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2511 NetHack Guidebook 39
2516 Menu character accelerator to select all items in a menu. Im-
2517 plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default '.'.
2520 Menu character accelerator to select all items on this page of
2521 a menu. Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default
2525 Set the characters used to display monster classes (default
2526 ``abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU-
2527 VWXYZ@ '&;:~]''). This string is subjected to the same pro-
2528 cessing as the dungeon option. The order of the symbols is ant
2529 or other insect, blob, cockatrice, dog or other canine, eye or
2530 sphere, feline, gremlin, humanoid, imp or minor demon, jelly,
2531 kobold, leprechaun, mimic, nymph, orc, piercer, quadruped, ro-
2532 dent, arachnid or centipede, trapper or lurker above, horse or
2533 unicorn, vortex, worm, xan or other mythical/fantastic insect,
2534 light, zruty, angelic being, bat or bird, centaur, dragon, ele-
2535 mental, fungus or mold, gnome, giant humanoid, invisible mon-
2536 ster, jabberwock, Keystone Kop, lich, mummy, naga, ogre, pud-
2537 ding or ooze, quantum mechanic, rust monster, snake, troll, um-
2538 ber hulk, vampire, wraith, xorn, apelike creature, zombie, hu-
2539 man, ghost, golem, demon, sea monster, lizard, long worm tail,
2540 and mimic. Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2543 The number of top line messages to save (and recall with ^P)
2544 (default 20). Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2547 Allows you to change the way recalled messages are displayed.
2548 (It is currently implemented for tty only.) The possible val-
2551 s - single message (default, this was the behavior before 3.4.0).
2552 c - combination, two messages as `single', then as `full'.
2553 f - full window, oldest message first.
2554 r - full window, newest message first.
2556 For backward compatibility, no value needs to be specified
2557 (which defaults to `full'), or it can be negated (which de-
2558 faults to `single').
2561 Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You
2562 can also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
2563 or more letters of the role (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B
2564 -C -H -K -M -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -V -W). If -@ is used for the
2565 role, then a random one will be automatically chosen. Cannot
2566 be set with the `O' command.
2571 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2577 NetHack Guidebook 40
2582 Read the NetHack news file, if present (default on). Since the
2583 news is shown at the beginning of the game, there's no point in
2584 setting this with the `O' command.
2587 Send padding nulls to the terminal (default off).
2590 Use the number keys to move instead of [yuhjklbn] (default 0 or
2591 off). (number_pad:2 invokes the old DOS behavior where `5'
2592 means `g', meta-`5' means `G', and meta-`0' means `I'.)
2595 Set the characters used to display object classes (default
2596 ``])[="(%!?+/$*`0_.''). This string is subjected to the same
2597 processing as the dungeon option. The order of the symbols is
2598 illegal-object (should never be seen), weapon, armor, ring,
2599 amulet, tool, food, potion, scroll, spellbook, wand, gold, gem
2600 or rock, boulder or statue, iron ball, chain, and venom. Can-
2601 not be set with the `O' command.
2604 Specify the order to list object types in (default
2605 ``")[%?+!=/(*`0_''). The value of this option should be a
2606 string containing the symbols for the various object types.
2607 Any omitted types are filled in at the end from the previous
2611 If true, always display your current inventory in a window.
2612 This only makes sense for windowing system interfaces that im-
2613 plement this feature.
2616 Specify the type of your initial pet, if you are playing a
2617 character class that uses multiple types of pets; or choose to
2618 have no initial pet at all. Possible values are ``cat'',
2619 ``dog'' and ``none''. Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2622 When you pick up an item that would exceed this encumbrance
2623 level (Unburdened, Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed, or
2624 overLoaded), you will be asked if you want to continue. (De-
2628 Specify the object types to be picked up when autopickup is on.
2629 Default is all types. If your copy of the game has the experi-
2630 mental compile time option AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTIONS included, you
2631 may be able to use autopickup_exception configuration file
2632 lines to further refine autopickup behavior.
2637 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2643 NetHack Guidebook 41
2648 Prompt for confirmation before praying (default on).
2651 Using the `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
2652 pushes the old item into your alternate weapon slot (default
2656 Selects your race (for example, ``race:human''). Default is
2657 random. Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2660 Make the space bar a synonym for the `.' (rest) command (de-
2664 Pick your type of character (ex. ``role:Samurai''); synonym for
2665 ``character''. See ``name'' for an alternate method of speci-
2666 fying your role. Normally only the first letter of the value
2667 is examined; `r' is an exception with ``Rogue'', ``Ranger'',
2668 and ``random'' values.
2671 Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window when
2672 engaged in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
2673 control+direction and so forth, or via the travel command or
2674 mouse click). The possible values are:
2676 teleport - update the map after movement has finished;
2677 run - update the map after every seven or so steps;
2678 walk - update the map after each step;
2679 crawl - like walk, but pause briefly after each step.
2681 This option only affects the game's screen display, not the ac-
2682 tual results of moving. The default is `run'; versions prior
2683 to 3.4.1 used `teleport' only. Whether or not the effect is
2684 noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type
2688 Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
2691 Control what parts of the score list you are shown at the end
2692 (ex. ``scores:5 top scores/4 around my score/own scores'').
2693 Only the first letter of each category (`t', `a', or `o') is
2697 Show your accumulated experience points on bottom line (default
2703 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2709 NetHack Guidebook 42
2714 Display yourself as the glyph for your race, rather than the
2715 glyph for your role (default off). Note that this setting af-
2716 fects only the appearance of the display, not the way the game
2720 Show your approximate accumulated score on bottom line (default
2724 Suppress terminal beeps (default on).
2727 Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
2731 Enable messages about what your character hears (default on).
2732 Note that this has nothing to do with your computer's audio ca-
2733 pabilities. This option is only partly under player control.
2734 The game toggles it off and on during and after sleep, for ex-
2738 Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
2739 hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on).
2742 Boldface monsters and ``--More--'' (default off).
2745 This option may be set to a NetHack version level to suppress
2746 alert notification messages about feature changes for that and
2747 prior versions (ex. ``suppress_alert:3.3.1'').
2750 Show the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default
2754 When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as with ex-
2755 plosions and moving objects, use a timer rather than sending
2756 extra characters to the screen. (Applies to ``tty'' interface
2757 only; ``X11'' interface always uses a timer based delay. The
2758 default is on if configured into the program.)
2761 Draw a tombstone graphic upon your death (default on).
2764 Put the ending display in a NetHack window instead of on stdout
2765 (default off). Setting this option makes the score list visi-
2766 ble when a windowing version of NetHack is started without a
2769 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2775 NetHack Guidebook 43
2779 parent window, but it no longer leaves the score list around
2780 after game end on a terminal or emulating window.
2783 Set the graphics symbols for displaying traps (default
2784 ``^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"^^^^''). The traps option should be fol-
2785 lowed by a string of 1-22 characters to be used instead of the
2786 default traps characters. This string is subjected to the same
2787 processing as the dungeon option.
2789 The order of the symbols is: arrow trap, dart trap, falling
2790 rock trap, squeaky board, bear trap, land mine, rolling boulder
2791 trap, sleeping gas trap, rust trap, fire trap, pit, spiked pit,
2792 hole, trap door, teleportation trap, level teleporter, magic
2793 portal, web, statue trap, magic trap, anti-magic field, poly-
2796 Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2799 Allow the travel command (default on). Turning this option off
2800 will prevent the game from attempting unintended moves if you
2801 make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map window.
2804 Provide more commentary during the game (default on).
2807 Select which windowing system to use, such as ``tty'' or
2808 ``X11'' (default depends on version). Cannot be set with the
2811 9.5. Window Port Customization options
2813 Here are explanations of the various options that are used
2814 to customize and change the characteristics of the windowtype
2815 that you have chosen. Character strings that are too long may be
2816 truncated. Not all window ports will adjust for all settings
2817 listed here. You can safely add any of these options to your
2818 config file, and if the window port is capable of adjusting to
2819 suit your preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it can't it
2820 will silently ignore it. You can find out if an option is sup-
2821 ported by the window port that you are currently using by check-
2822 ing to see if it shows up in the Options list. Some options are
2823 dynamic and can be specified during the game with the `O' com-
2827 Where to align or place the message window (top, bottom, left,
2831 Where to align or place the status window (top, bottom, left,
2835 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2841 NetHack Guidebook 44
2846 NetHack should display an ascii character map if it can.
2849 NetHack should display color if it can for different monsters,
2850 objects, and dungeon features
2853 NetHack should pass eight-bit character values (for example,
2854 specified with the traps option) straight through to your ter-
2855 minal (default off).
2858 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for the map win-
2862 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for menu windows.
2865 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for the message
2869 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for the status
2873 NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for text windows.
2876 NetHack should use this size font for the map window.
2879 NetHack should use this size font for menu windows.
2882 NetHack should use this size font for the message window.
2885 NetHack should use this size font for the status window.
2888 NetHack should use this size font for text windows.
2891 NetHack should try and display on the entire screen rather than
2895 Visually distinguish pets from similar animals (default off).
2896 The behavior of this option depends on the type of windowing
2897 you use. In text windowing, text highlighting or inverse video
2898 is often used; with tiles, generally displays a heart symbol
2901 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2907 NetHack Guidebook 45
2914 NetHack should use a large font.
2917 NetHack should display the map in the manner specified.
2920 Allow use of the mouse for input and travel.
2923 NetHack should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts for charac-
2927 NetHack should pop up dialog boxes for input.
2930 NetHack should preload tiles into memory. For example, in the
2931 protected mode MSDOS version, control whether tiles get pre-
2932 loaded into RAM at the start of the game. Doing so enhances
2933 performance of the tile graphics, but uses more memory. (de-
2934 fault on). Cannot be set with the `O' command.
2937 NetHack should scroll the display by this number of cells when
2938 the hero reaches the scroll_margin.
2941 NetHack should scroll the display when the hero or cursor is
2942 this number of cells away from the edge of the window.
2945 Display an onscreen keyboard. Handhelds are most likely to
2946 support this option.
2949 NetHack should display an opening splash screen when it starts
2953 NetHack should display a tiled map if it can.
2956 Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
2960 Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable
2964 Specify the preferred width of each tile in a tile capable port
2967 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
2973 NetHack Guidebook 46
2978 NetHack should display inverse when the game specifies it.
2981 NetHack should display this number of messages at a time in the
2985 NetHack should display windows with the specified fore-
2986 ground/background colors if it can.
2989 NetHack port should wrap long lines of text if they don't fit
2990 in the visible area of the window.
2992 9.6. Platform-specific Customization options
2994 Here are explanations of options that are used by specific
2995 platforms or ports to customize and change the port behavior.
2998 Select an alternate keystroke handler dll to load (Win32 tty
2999 NetHack only). The name of the handler is specified without
3000 the .dll extension and without any path information. Cannot be
3001 set with the `O' command.
3004 (default on, AMIGA NetHack only).
3007 Use BIOS calls to update the screen display quickly and to read
3008 the keyboard (allowing the use of arrow keys to move) on ma-
3009 chines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off, OS/2,
3010 PC, and ST NetHack only).
3013 (default off, AMIGA NetHack only).
3016 (default on, Mac NetHack only).
3019 (default on, Mac NetHack only).
3022 Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bullet-
3023 proof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P' as a printer toggle
3024 without it) (default off, OS/2, PC, and ST NetHack only).
3025 Note: DEC Rainbows hang if this is turned on. Cannot be set
3026 with the `O' command.
3029 (default on, PC NetHack only). Cannot be set with the `O' com-
3033 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
3039 NetHack Guidebook 47
3044 (Win32 tty NetHack only). May be used to alter the value of
3045 keystrokes that the operating system returns to NetHack to help
3046 compensate for international keyboard issues. OPTIONS=subkey-
3047 value:171/92 will return 92 to NetHack, if 171 was originally
3048 going to be returned. You can use multiple subkeyvalue state-
3049 ments in the config file if needed. Cannot be set with the `O'
3053 Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only). Values are `autode-
3054 tect', `default', or `vga'. Setting `vga' (or `autodetect'
3055 with vga hardware present) will cause the game to display
3056 tiles. Cannot be set with the `O' command.
3059 Set the color palette for PC systems using NO_TERMS (default
3060 4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11, (PC NetHack only). The order
3061 of colors is red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan,
3062 bright.white, bright.red, bright.green, yellow, bright.blue,
3063 bright.magenta, and bright.cyan. Cannot be set with the `O'
3067 Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available (de-
3068 fault dark normal light, PC NetHack only). If the game display
3069 is difficult to read, try adjusting these scales; if this does
3070 not correct the problem, try !color. Cannot be set with the
3073 9.7. Configuring autopickup exceptions
3075 There is an experimental compile time option called AU-
3076 TOPICKUP_EXCEPTIONS. If your copy of the game was built with
3077 that option defined, you can further refine the behavior of the
3078 autopickup option beyond what is available through the pick-
3081 By placing autopickup_exception lines in your configuration
3082 file, you can define patterns to be checked when the game is
3083 about to autopickup something.
3085 autopickup_exception
3086 Sets an exception to the pickup_types option. The autopick-
3087 up_exception option should be followed by a string of 1-80
3088 characters to be used as a pattern to match against the singu-
3089 lar form of the description of an object at your location.
3091 You may use the following special characters in a pattern:
3093 *--- matches 0 or more characters.
3094 ?--- matches any single character.
3099 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
3105 NetHack Guidebook 48
3109 In addition, some characters are treated specially if they
3110 occur as the first character in the string pattern, specifically:
3112 < - always pickup an object that matches the pattern that follows.
3113 > - never pickup an object that matches the pattern that follows.
3115 Can be set with the `O' command, but the setting is not pre-
3116 served across saves and restores.
3118 Here's a couple of examples of autopickup_exceptions:
3120 autopickup_exception="<*arrow"
3121 autopickup_exception=">*corpse"
3122 autopickup_exception=">* cursed*"
3124 The first example above will result in autopickup of any type of
3125 arrow. The second example results in the exclusion of any corpse
3126 from autopickup. The last example results in the exclusion of
3127 items known to be cursed from autopickup. A `never pickup' rule
3128 takes precedence over an `always pickup' rule if both match.
3130 9.8. Configuring User Sounds
3132 Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be played
3133 when a message that matches a user-defined pattern is delivered
3134 to the message window. At this time the Qt port and the win32tty
3135 and win32gui ports support the use of user sounds.
3137 The following config file entries are relevant to mapping
3138 user sounds to messages:
3141 The directory that houses the sound files to be played.
3144 An entry that maps a sound file to a user-specified message
3145 pattern. Each SOUND entry is broken down into the following
3148 MESG - message window mapping (the only one supported in 3.4).
3149 pattern - the pattern to match.
3150 sound file - the sound file to play.
3151 volume - the volume to be set while playing the sound file.
3153 The exact format for the pattern depends on whether the
3154 platform is built to use ``regular expressions'' or NetHack's own
3155 internal pattern matching facility. The ``regular expressions''
3156 matching can be much more sophisticated than the internal NetHack
3157 pattern matching, but requires 3rd party libraries on some plat-
3158 forms. There are plenty of references available elsewhere for
3159 explaining ``regular expressions''. You can verify which pattern
3160 matching is used by your port with the #version command.
3165 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
3171 NetHack Guidebook 49
3175 NetHack's internal pattern matching routine uses the follow-
3176 ing special characters in its pattern matching:
3178 *--- matches 0 or more characters.
3179 ?--- matches any single character.
3181 Here's an example of a sound mapping using NetHack's inter-
3182 nal pattern matching facility:
3184 SOUND=MESG "*chime of a cash register*" "gong.wav" 50
3186 specifies that any message with "chime of a cash register" con-
3187 tained in it will trigger the playing of "gong.wav". You can
3188 have multiple SOUND entries in your config file.
3190 9.9. Configuring NetHack for Play by the Blind
3192 NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII characters
3193 for making maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
3194 of NetHack completely accessible to the blind who use speech
3195 and/or Braille access technologies. Players will require a good
3196 working knowledge of their screen-reader's review features, and
3197 will have to know how to navigate horizontally and vertically
3198 character by character. They will also find the search capabili-
3199 ties of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
3200 examine this Guidebook before playing so you have an idea what
3201 the screen layout is like. You'll also need to be able to locate
3202 the PC cursor. It is always where your character is located.
3203 Merely searching for an @-sign will not always find your charac-
3204 ter since there are other humanoids represented by the same sign.
3205 Your screen-reader should also have a function which gives you
3206 the row and column of your review cursor and the PC cursor.
3207 These co-ordinates are often useful in giving players a better
3208 sense of the overall location of items on the screen.
3210 While it is not difficult for experienced users to edit the
3211 defaults.nh file to accomplish this, novices may find this task
3212 somewhat daunting. Included in all official distributions of
3213 NetHack is a file called NHAccess.nh. Replacing defaults.nh with
3214 this file will cause the game to run in a manner accessible to
3215 the blind. After you have gained some experience with the game
3216 and with editing files, you may want to alter settings to better
3217 suit your preferences. Instructions on how to do this are includ-
3218 ed in the NHAccess.nh file itself. The most crucial settings to
3219 make the game accessible are:
3222 Disable IBMgraphics by commenting out this option.
3224 menustyle:traditional
3225 This will assist in the interface to speech synthesizers.
3228 A lot of speech access programs use the number-pad to review
3231 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
3237 NetHack Guidebook 50
3241 the screen. If this is the case, disable the number_pad option
3242 and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.
3245 Comment out all character graphics sets found near the bottom
3246 of the defaults.nh file. Most of these replace NetHack's de-
3247 fault representation of the dungeon using standard ASCII char-
3248 acters with fancier characters from extended character sets,
3249 and these fancier characters can annoy screen-readers.
3253 NetHack maintains a list of the top scores or scorers on
3254 your machine, depending on how it is set up. In the latter case,
3255 each account on the machine can post only one non-winning score
3256 on this list. If you score higher than someone else on this
3257 list, or better your previous score, you will be inserted in the
3258 proper place under your current name. How many scores are kept
3259 can also be set up when NetHack is compiled.
3261 Your score is chiefly based upon how much experience you
3262 gained, how much loot you accumulated, how deep you explored, and
3263 how the game ended. If you quit the game, you escape with all of
3264 your gold intact. If, however, you get killed in the Mazes of
3265 Menace, the guild will only hear about 90% of your gold when your
3266 corpse is discovered (adventurers have been known to collect
3267 finder's fees). So, consider whether you want to take one last
3268 hit at that monster and possibly live, or quit and stop with
3269 whatever you have. If you quit, you keep all your gold, but if
3270 you swing and live, you might find more.
3272 If you just want to see what the current top players/games
3273 list is, you can type nethack -s all on most versions.
3278 NetHack is an intricate and difficult game. Novices might
3279 falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of the means to survive.
3280 Well, fear not. Your dungeon may come equipped with an ``ex-
3281 plore'' or ``discovery'' mode that enables you to keep old save
3282 files and cheat death, at the paltry cost of not getting on the
3285 There are two ways of enabling explore mode. One is to
3286 start the game with the -X switch. The other is to issue the `X'
3287 command while already playing the game. The other benefits of
3288 explore mode are left for the trepid reader to discover.
3293 The original hack game was modeled on the Berkeley UNIX
3294 rogue game. Large portions of this paper were shamelessly
3297 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
3303 NetHack Guidebook 51
3307 cribbed from A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael C. Toy
3308 and Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold. Small portions were adapted from
3309 Further Exploration of the Dungeons of Doom, by Ken Arromdee.
3311 NetHack is the product of literally dozens of people's work.
3312 Main events in the course of the game development are described
3316 Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack, with help from Kenny
3317 Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne.
3319 Andries Brouwer did a major re-write, transforming Hack into
3320 a very different game, and published (at least) three versions
3321 (1.0.1, 1.0.2, and 1.0.3) for UNIX machines to the Usenet.
3323 Don G. Kneller ported Hack 1.0.3 to Microsoft C and MS-DOS,
3324 producing PC HACK 1.01e, added support for DEC Rainbow graphics
3325 in version 1.03g, and went on to produce at least four more ver-
3326 sions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6).
3328 R. Black ported PC HACK 3.51 to Lattice C and the Atari
3329 520/1040ST, producing ST Hack 1.03.
3331 Mike Stephenson merged these various versions back together,
3332 incorporating many of the added features, and produced NetHack
3333 1.4. He then coordinated a cast of thousands in enhancing and
3334 debugging NetHack 1.4 and released NetHack versions 2.2 and 2.3.
3336 Later, Mike coordinated a major rewrite of the game, heading
3337 a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet, Steve
3338 Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, John Rupley, Mike Threep-
3339 oint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack 3.0c.
3341 NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by Eric R. Smith, to
3342 OS/2 by Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel. The three
3343 of them and Kevin Darcy later joined the main development team to
3344 produce subsequent revisions of 3.0.
3346 Olaf Seibert ported NetHack 2.3 and 3.0 to the Amiga. Norm
3347 Meluch, Stephen Spackman and Pierre Martineau designed overlay
3348 code for PC NetHack 3.0. Johnny Lee ported NetHack 3.0 to the
3349 Macintosh. Along with various other Dungeoneers, they continued
3350 to enhance the PC, Macintosh, and Amiga ports through the later
3353 Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by Izchak Miller
3354 and Janet Walz, the development team which now included Ken Ar-
3355 romdee, David Cohrs, Jean-Christophe Collet, Kevin Darcy, Matt
3356 Day, Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric
3357 Raymond, and Eric Smith undertook a radical revision of 3.0.
3358 They re-structured the game's design, and re-wrote major parts of
3359 the code. They added multiple dungeons, a new display, special
3360 individual character quests, a new endgame and many other new
3363 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
3369 NetHack Guidebook 52
3373 features, and produced NetHack 3.1.
3375 Ken Lorber, Gregg Wonderly and Greg Olson, with help from
3376 Richard Addison, Mike Passaretti, and Olaf Seibert, developed
3377 NetHack 3.1 for the Amiga.
3379 Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski, with help from Carl Sche-
3380 lin, Stephen Spackman, Steve VanDevender, and Paul Winner, ported
3381 NetHack 3.1 to the PC.
3383 Jon W{tte and Hao-yang Wang, with help from Ross Brown, Mike
3384 Engber, David Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan Handler, Johnny
3385 Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson, developed NetHack
3386 3.1 for the Macintosh, porting it for MPW. Building on their de-
3387 velopment, Barton House added a Think C port.
3389 Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2. Eric Smith port-
3390 ed NetHack 3.1 to the Atari. Pat Rankin, with help from Joshua
3391 Delahunty, was responsible for the VMS version of NetHack 3.1.
3392 Michael Allison ported NetHack 3.1 to Windows NT.
3394 Dean Luick, with help from David Cohrs, developed NetHack
3395 3.1 for X11. Warwick Allison wrote a tiled version of NetHack
3396 for the Atari; he later contributed the tiles to the DevTeam and
3397 tile support was then added to other platforms.
3399 The 3.2 development team, comprised of Michael Allison, Ken
3400 Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin Darcy,
3401 Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric
3402 Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner, released
3403 version 3.2 in April of 1996.
3405 Version 3.2 marked the tenth anniversary of the formation of
3406 the development team. In a testament to their dedication to the
3407 game, all thirteen members of the original development team re-
3408 mained on the team at the start of work on that release. During
3409 the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and 3.2, one of the
3410 founding members of the development team, Dr. Izchak Miller, was
3411 diagnosed with cancer and passed away. That release of the game
3412 was dedicated to him by the development and porting teams.
3414 During the lifespan of NetHack 3.1 and 3.2, several enthusi-
3415 asts of the game added their own modifications to the game and
3416 made these ``variants'' publicly available:
3418 Tom Proudfoot and Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was
3419 quickly renamed NetHack--. Working independently, Stephen White
3420 wrote NetHack Plus. Tom Proudfoot later merged NetHack Plus and
3421 his own NetHack-- to produce SLASH. Larry Stewart-Zerba and War-
3422 wick Allison improved the spell casting system with the Wizard
3423 Patch. Warwick Allison also ported NetHack to use the Qt inter-
3429 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
3435 NetHack Guidebook 53
3439 Warren Cheung combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to pro-
3440 duce Slash'em, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added more fea-
3441 tures. Kevin later joined the DevTeam and incorporated the best
3442 of these ideas in NetHack 3.3.
3444 The final update to 3.2 was the bug fix release 3.2.3, which
3445 was released simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999 just in
3446 time for the Year 2000.
3448 The 3.3 development team, consisting of Michael Allison, Ken
3449 Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin Darcy,
3450 Timo Hakulinen, Kevin Hugo, Steve Linhart, Ken Lorber, Dean
3451 Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and
3452 Paul Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and 3.3.1 in August
3455 Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to
3456 separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in pref-
3457 erence to an elf race, and the races of dwarves, gnomes, and orcs
3458 made their first appearance in the game alongside the familiar
3459 human race. Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists, Barbar-
3460 ians, Cavemen, Healers, Knights, Priests, Rogues, Samurai,
3461 Tourists, Valkyries and of course, Wizards. It was also the
3462 first version to allow you to ride a steed, and was the first
3463 version to have a publicly available web-site listing all the
3464 bugs that had been discovered. Despite that constantly growing
3465 bug list, 3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than a year
3468 The 3.4 development team initially consisted of Michael Al-
3469 lison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin Hugo, Ken
3470 Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and
3471 Paul Winner, with Warwick Allison joining just before the re-
3472 lease of NetHack 3.4.0 in March 2002.
3474 As with version 3.3, various people contributed to the game
3475 as a whole as well as supporting ports on the different platforms
3476 that NetHack runs on:
3478 Pat Rankin maintained 3.4 for VMS.
3480 Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS plat-
3481 form. Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.
3483 Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
3484 hanced the Macintosh port of 3.4.
3486 Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas,
3487 and Yitzhak Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for the Microsoft
3488 Windows platform. Alex Kompel contributed a new graphical inter-
3489 face for the Windows port. Alex Kompel also contributed a Win-
3490 dows CE port for 3.4.1.
3495 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
3501 NetHack Guidebook 54
3505 Ron Van Iwaarden maintained 3.4 for OS/2.
3507 Janne Salmijarvi and Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced
3508 the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected it for
3511 Christian ``Marvin'' Bressler maintained 3.4 for the Atari
3512 after he resurrected it for 3.3.1.
3514 There is a NetHack web site maintained by Ken Lorber at
3515 http://www.nethack.org/.
3519 From time to time, some depraved individual out there in
3520 netland sends a particularly intriguing modification to help out
3521 with the game. The Gods of the Dungeon sometimes make note of
3522 the names of the worst of these miscreants in this, the list of
3561 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
3567 NetHack Guidebook 55
3571 Adam Aronow Izchak Miller Mike Stephenson
3572 Alex Kompel J. Ali Harlow Norm Meluch
3573 Andreas Dorn Janet Walz Olaf Seibert
3574 Andy Church Janne Salmijarvi Pasi Kallinen
3575 Andy Swanson Jean-Christophe Collet Pat Rankin
3576 Ari Huttunen Jochen Erwied Paul Winner
3577 Barton House John Kallen Pierre Martineau
3578 Benson I. Margulies John Rupley Ralf Brown
3579 Bill Dyer John S. Bien Ray Chason
3580 Boudewijn Waijers Johnny Lee Richard Addison
3581 Bruce Cox Jon W{tte Richard Beigel
3582 Bruce Holloway Jonathan Handler Richard P. Hughey
3583 Bruce Mewborne Joshua Delahunty Rob Menke
3584 Carl Schelin Keizo Yamamoto Robin Johnson
3585 Chris Russo Ken Arnold Roderick Schertler
3586 David Cohrs Ken Arromdee Roland McGrath
3587 David Damerell Ken Lorber Ron Van Iwaarden
3588 David Gentzel Ken Washikita Ronnen Miller
3589 David Hairston Kevin Darcy Ross Brown
3590 Dean Luick Kevin Hugo Sascha Wostmann
3591 Del Lamb Kevin Sitze Scott Bigham
3592 Deron Meranda Kevin Smolkowski Scott R. Turner
3593 Dion Nicolaas Kevin Sweet Stephen Spackman
3594 Dylan O'Donnell Lars Huttar Stephen White
3595 Eric Backus Malcolm Ryan Steve Creps
3596 Eric Hendrickson Mark Gooderum Steve Linhart
3597 Eric R. Smith Mark Modrall Steve VanDevender
3598 Eric S. Raymond Marvin Bressler Teemu Suikki
3599 Erik Andersen Matthew Day Tim Lennan
3600 Frederick Roeber Merlyn LeRoy Timo Hakulinen
3601 Gil Neiger Michael Allison Tom Almy
3602 Greg Laskin Michael Feir Tom West
3603 Greg Olson Michael Hamel Warren Cheung
3604 Gregg Wonderly Michael Sokolov Warwick Allison
3605 Hao-yang Wang Mike Engber Yitzhak Sapir
3606 Helge Hafting Mike Gallop
3607 Irina Rempt-Drijfhout Mike Passaretti
3609 Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks
3610 of their respective holders.
3627 NetHack 3.4 December 2, 2003
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