angband-data 1:3.3.2-2.1 / usr / share / angband / help / dungeon.txt

=== The Dungeon ===


After you have created your character, you will begin your Angband adventure.
Symbols appearing on your screen will represent the dungeon's walls, floor,
objects, features, and creatures lurking about.  In order to direct your
character through his adventure, you will enter single character commands
(see "commands.txt").


=== Symbols On Your Map ===

Symbols on your map can be broken down into three categories: features of
the dungeon such as walls, floor, doors, and traps; objects which can be
picked up such as treasure, weapons, magical devices, etc; and creatures
which may or may not move about the dungeon, but are mostly harmful to your
character's well being.

Some symbols are used to represent more than one type of entity, and some
symbols are used to represent entities in more than one category.  The "@"
symbol (by default) is used to represent the character.

It will not be necessary to remember all of the symbols and their meanings.
The "slash" command ("/") will identify any character appearing on your map
(see "commands.txt").

Note that you can use a "user pref file" to change any of these symbols to
something you are more comfortable with.
   
 
                Features that do not block line of sight
 
  .   A floor space                   1   Entrance to General Store
  .   A trap (hidden)                 2   Entrance to Armoury
  ^   A trap (known)                  3   Entrance to Weapon Smith
  ;   A glyph of warding              4   Entrance to Temple
  '   An open door                    5   Entrance to Alchemy Shop
  '   A broken door                   6   Entrance to Magic Shop
  <   A staircase up                  7   Entrance to the Black Market
  >   A staircase down                8   Entrance to your Home


                   Features that block line of sight

  #   A secret door                   #   A wall
  +   A closed door                   %   A mineral vein
  +   A locked door                   *   A mineral vein with treasure
  +   A jammed door                   :   A pile of rubble


                             Objects
 
  !   A potion (or flask)             /   A pole-arm
  ?   A scroll (or book)              |   An edged weapon
  ,   A mushroom (or food)            \   A hafted weapon
  -   A wand or rod                   }   A sling, bow, or x-bow
  _   A staff                         {   A shot, arrow, or bolt
  =   A ring                          (   Soft armour
  "   An amulet                       [   Hard armour
  $   Gold or gems                    ]   Misc. armour
  ~   Lights, Tools, Chests, etc      )   A shield
  ~   Junk, Sticks, Skeletons, etc    &   A pile of items
 
 
                             Monsters
 
            $   Creeping Coins      ,   Mushroom Patch
            a   Giant Ant           A   Angelic being
            b   Giant Bat           B   Bird
            c   Giant Centipede     C   Canine (Dog)
            d   Dragon              D   Ancient Dragon
            e   Floating Eye        E   Elemental
            f   Feline (Cat)        F   Dragon Fly
            g   Golem               G   Ghost
            h   Humanoids           H   Hybrid
            i   Icky-Thing          I   Insect
            j   Jelly               J   Snake
            k   Kobold              K   Killer Beetle
            l   Giant Louse         L   Lich
            m   Mold                M   Multi-Headed Hydra
            n   Naga                N   (unused)
            o   Orc                 O   Ogre
            p   Human "person"      P   Giant "person"
            q   Quadruped           Q   Quylthulg (Pulsing Flesh Mound)
            r   Rodent              R   Reptile/Amphibian
            s   Skeleton            S   Spider/Scorpion/Tick
            t   Townsperson         T   Troll
            u   Minor Demon         U   Major Demon
            v   Vortex              V   Vampire
            w   Worm or Worm Mass   W   Wight/Wraith
            x   (unused)            X   Xorn/Xaren
            y   Yeek                Y   Yeti
            z   Zombie/Mummy        Z   Zephyr Hound



=== The Town Level ===

The town level is where you will begin your adventure.  The town consists of
eight buildings (each with an entrance), some townspeople, and a wall which
surrounds the town.  The first time you are in town it will be daytime, but
note that the sun rises and falls (rather instantly) as time passes.


=== Townspeople ===

The town contains many different kinds of people.  There are the street
urchins, young children who will mob an adventurer for money, and seem to
come out of the woodwork when excited.  Blubbering idiots are a constant
annoyance, but not harmful.  Public drunks wander about the town singing,
and are of no threat to anyone.  Sneaky rogues hang about watching for a
likely victim to mug.  And finally, no town would be complete without a
swarm of half drunk warriors, who take offense or become annoyed just for
the fun of it. (There are assumed to be other people in the town, but they 
are not represented on the screen as they do not interact with the player
in any way.)

Most of the townspeople should be avoided by the largest possible distance
when you wander from store to store.  Fights will break out, though, so be
prepared.  Since your character grew up in this world of intrigue, no
experience is awarded for killing the town inhabitants, though you may
acquire treasure.


=== Town Buildings ===

Your character will begin his adventure with some basic supplies, and some
extra gold with which to purchase more supplies at the town stores.

You may enter any open store to buy or sell items of the appropriate type. 
The price that the shopkeeper requests is dependent on the price of the 
item and the player's charisma.  Stores also have a maximum value, they will
not pay more than that for any item, regardless of how much it is actually
worth.

Once inside a store, you will see the name and race of the store owner, the
name of the store, the maximum amount of cash that the store owner will pay
for any one item, and the store inventory, listed along with the prices.

You will also see an (incomplete) list of available commands.  Note that
many of the commands which work in the dungeon work in the stores as well,
but some do not, especially those which involve "using" objects.

Stores do not always have everything in stock.  As the game progresses,
they may get new items so check from time to time.  Stores restock after
10000 game turns have passed, but the inventory will never change while
you are in town, even if you save the game and return.  You must be in the
dungeon for the store to restock.  Also, if you sell them an item, it may 
get sold to a customer while you are adventuring, so don't always expect 
to be able to get back everything you have sold.  If you have
a lot of spare gold, you can purchase every item in a store, which will
induce the store owner to bring out new stock, and perhaps even retire.

Store owners will not buy known harmful or useless items.  If an object is
unidentified, they will pay you some base price for it.  Once they have
bought it they will immediately identify the object.  If it is a good object,
they will add it to their inventory.  If it was a bad bargain, they simply
throw the item away.  You can use this feature to learn item flavors.

The General Store ("1")
     The General Store sells foods, some clothing, torches, scrolls
     of phase door, scrolls of word of recall, oil, shovels, picks, 
     and spikes.  All of these items and some others can be sold 
     back to the General store for money. The general store restocks
     like every store, but the inventory types never change.

The Armoury ("2")
     The Armoury is where the town's armour is fashioned.  All sorts of
     protective gear may be bought and sold here.  The deeper into the
     dungeon you progress the more exotic the equipment you will find stocked
     in the armoury.  However, some armour types will never appear here 
     unless you sell them.

The Weaponsmith's Shop ("3")
     The Weaponsmith's Shop is where the town's weapons are fashioned.  Hand
     and missile weapons may be purchased and sold here, along with arrows,
     bolts, and shots. As with the armoury, not all weapon types will be 
     stocked here, unless they are sold to the shop by the player first.

The Temple ("4")
     The Temple deals in healing potions, as well as bless scrolls, remove 
     curse scrolls, and some approved priestly weapons, as well as prayer 
     books.

The Alchemy shop ("5")
     The Alchemy Shop deals in all types of potions and scrolls, including
     stat restoring potions.

The Magic User's Shop ("6")
     The Magic User's Shop deals in all sorts of rings, wands, amulets, and
     staves, as well as magic user books.

The Black Market ("7")
     The Black Market will sell and buy anything at extortionate prices.
     However it occasionally has VERY good items in it.  With the exception
     of artifacts, every item found in the dungeon may appear in the black
     market.

Your Home ("8")
     This is your house where you can store objects that you 
     cannot carry on your travels, or will need at a later date.


=== Within The Dungeon ===

Once your character is adequately supplied with food, light, armor, and
weapons, he is ready to enter the dungeon.  Move on top of the `>' symbol
and use the "Down" command (">").

Your character will enter a maze of interconnecting staircases and finally
arrive somewhere on the first level of the dungeon.  Each level of the
dungeon is fifty feet high (thus dungeon level "Lev 1" is often called
"50 ft"), and is divided into (large) rectangular regions (several times
larger than the screen) by permanent rock.  Once you leave a level by a
staircase, you will never again find your way back to that region of that
level, but there are an infinite number of other regions at that same "depth"
that you can explore later.  Monsters, of course, can use the stairs, 
and you may eventually encounter them again, but they will not chase you up
or down stairs.

In the dungeon, there are many things to find, but your character must
survive many horrible and challenging encounters to find the treasure lying
about and take it safely back to the town to sell.

There are two sources for light once inside the dungeon.  Permanent light
which has been magically placed within rooms, and a light source carried by
the player.  If neither is present, the character will be unable to see.
This will affect searching, picking locks, disarming traps, reading scrolls,
casting spells, browsing books, etc.  So be very careful not to run out of
light!

A character must wield a torch or lamp in order to supply his own light.  A
torch or lamp burns fuel as it is used, and once it is out of fuel, it stops
supplying light.  You will be warned as the light approaches this point.
You may use the "Fuel" command ("F") to refuel your lantern (with flasks of
oil) or your torch (with other torches), so it is a good idea to carry extra
torches or flasks of oil, as appropriate.  There are rumours of objects of
exceptional power which glow with their own never-ending light.


=== Objects Found In The Dungeon ===

The mines are full of objects just waiting to be picked up and used.  How
did they get there?  Well, the main source for useful items are all the
foolish adventurers that proceeded into the dungeon before you.  They get
killed, and the helpful creatures scatter the various treasure throughout
the dungeon.  There are a few cursed items present in the dungeon - 
either left behind as the result of a failed attempt to create a magic items, 
or deliberately placed by evil sorcerers.  Some will inconvenience you but
a very few are deadly.

Only one object may occupy a given floor location, which may or may not also
contain one creature.  Doors, rubble, traps, and staircases are considered
"objects" for this purpose.  As below, any item may actually be a "pile" of
up to 99 identical items.  With the right choice of "options", you may be
able to "stack" several items in the same grid.

You pick up objects by moving on top of them.  You can carry up to 23
different items in your backpack while wearing and wielding up to 12 others.
Although you are limited to 23 different items, each item may actually be a
"pile" of up to 99 similar items.  If you "t"ake off an item, it will go 
into your backpack if there is room: if there is no room in your backpack,
it will drop onto the floor, so be careful when swapping one wielded weapon
or worn piece of armor for another when your pack is full.

You are, however, limited in the total amount of weight that you can carry.
If you exceed this value, you become slower, making it easier for monsters
to chase you.  Note that there is no upper bound on how much you can carry,
if you do not mind being slow.  Your weight "limit" is determined by your
strength.

Many objects found within the dungeon have special commands for their use.
Wands must be Aimed, staves must be Used, scrolls must be Read, and potions
must be Quaffed.  You may, in general, not only use items in your pack, but
also items on the ground, if you are standing on top of them.  At the
beginning of the game all items are assigned a random 'flavor'.  For example
potions of 'cure light wounds' could be 'red potions'.  If you have never
used, sold, or bought one of these potions, you will only see the flavor.
You can learn what type of item it is by selling it to a store, using it and
noticing an effect (for example, quaffing a healing potion when injured), or
casting the spell identify.  Lastly, items in stores that you have not
yet identified the flavor of will be labeled {unknown}.

Chests are complex objects, containing traps, locks, and possibly treasure
or other objects inside them once they are opened.  Many of the commands
that apply to traps or doors also apply to chests and, like traps and doors,
these commands do not work if you are carrying the chest.

One item in particular will be discussed here.  The scroll of "Word of
Recall" can be found within the dungeon, or bought at the temple in town.
All classes start with one of these scrolls in their inventory.
It acts in two manners, depending upon your current location.  If read
within the dungeon, it will teleport you back to town.  If read in town, it
will teleport you back down to the deepest level of the dungeon which your
character has previously been on.  This makes the scroll very useful for
getting back to the deeper levels of Angband.  Once the scroll has been
read it takes a while for the spell to act, so don't expect it to save you
in a crisis.  During this time the word 'recall' will appear on the bottom
of the screen below the dungeon.  Reading a second scroll before the first 
takes effect will cancel the action.

You may "inscribe" any object with a textual inscription of your choice.
These inscriptions are not limited in length, though you may not be able to
see the whole inscription on the item.  The game applies special meaning to
inscriptions containing any text of the form "@#" or "@x#" or "!x" or "!*",
see "command.txt".

The game provides some "fake" inscriptions to help you keep track of your
possessions.  Wands and staves which are known to be empty will be inscribed
with {empty}.  Objects which have been tried at least once but haven't been
identified yet will be inscribed with "tried".  Cursed objects are inscribed
with {cursed}.  In addition while carrying or wielding weapons or armor you
may learn qualities of these items.  {average} means that the item has no
magical bonuses.  {magical} means that it has magical bonuses although these
bonuses may be negative.  An item with negative bonuses is not necessarily
cursed.  An {ego} item has special abilities.  If the abilities are not 
obvious to the wielder the item will get an {excellent} tag.  If the item has
obvious abilities, such as an increase to a statistic it will be labeled
{splendid}.  Lastly, if at any point you pick up an Artifact you will learn 
its name immediately and it will be labeled {special}.  However, you may not
be aware of all its powers.  Note that these inscriptions are fake, and cannot 
be removed.

Only weapons and armor will receive these pseudo-identifications.  
Wands, staves, rods, scrolls, potions and mushrooms can only get the 
{tried} label. However, if using or consuming the item creates an 
obvious effect, you will learn the flavor.  For example, if you are 
injured and drink an unknown potion of Cure Serious Wounds, you will 
learn it.

It is rumored that rings of power and extra rare spell books may be found
deeper in the dungeon...

And lastly, a final warning: not all objects are what they seem.  The line
between tasty food and a poisonous mushroom is a fine one, and sometimes a
chest full of treasure will grow teeth in its lid and bite your hand off...


=== Cursed Objects ===

Some objects, mainly armor and weapons, have had curses laid upon them.
These horrible objects will look like any other normal item, but will
detract from your character's stats or abilities if worn.  They will also
be impossible to remove until a remove curse is performed.  In fact some
are so badly cursed that even this will not work, and more potent methods
are needed.

If you wear or wield a cursed item, you will immediately feel deathly cold,
and the item will be marked with the fake inscription "cursed".

Shopkeepers will refuse to buy any item which is known to be cursed, either 
by having been identified or by being marked with the fake inscription.

Weapons and armor can be uncursed either by spells of remove curse or by
attempting to enchant them with spells or scrolls.


=== Mining ===

Some treasure within the dungeon can be found only by mining it out
of the walls.  Many rich strikes exist within each level, but must be found
and mined.  Quartz veins are the richest, yielding the most metals and gems,
but magma veins will have some hoards hidden within.

Mining is rather difficult without a pick or shovel.  Picks and shovels have
an additional magical ability expressed as `(+#)'.  The higher the number,
the better the magical digging ability of the tool.  A pick or shovel also
has plusses to hit and damage, and can be used as a weapon, because, in fact,
it is one.

When a vein of quartz or magma is located, the character may wield his pick
or shovel and begin digging out a section.  When that section is removed, he
can locate another section of the vein and begin the process again.  Since
granite rock is much harder to dig through, it is much faster to follow the
vein exactly and dig around the granite.  Eventually, it becomes easier to
simply kill monsters and discover items in the dungeon to sell, than to walk
around digging for treasure.  But, early on, mineral veins can be a wonderful
source of easy treasure.

If the character has a scroll, staff, or spell of treasure location, he can
immediately locate all strikes of treasure within a vein shown on the
screen.  This makes mining much easier and more profitable.

Note that a character with high strength and/or a heavy weapon does not need
a shovel/pick to dig, but even the strongest character will benefit from a
pick if trying to dig through a granite wall.

It is sometimes possible to get a character trapped within the dungeon by
using various magical spells and items.  So it can be a good idea to always
carry some kind of digging tool, even when you are not planning on tunneling
for treasure.

There are rumors of certain incredibly profitable rooms buried deep in the
dungeon and completely surrounded by permanent rock and granite walls,
requiring a digging implement or magical means to enter.  The same rumors
imply that these rooms are guarded by incredibly powerful monsters, so
beware!


=== Traps ===

There are many traps located in the dungeon of varying danger.  These traps
are hidden from sight and are triggered only when your character walks over
them.  If you have found a trap you can attempt to "D"isarm it, but failure
may mean activating it.

There are some magical means to detecting all traps within a certain radius.  
If you cast one of these spells, there will be a 'Dtrap' green label on the 
bottom of the screen, below the dungeon map.  At some point in the dungeon 
you may see a line of green squares on the floor.  This line represents the
extent of your detection.  Beyond the green line you are no longer in the 
safe region.

Some monsters have the ability to create new traps on the level that may be
hidden, even if the player is in a detected zone.  The detection only finds
the traps that exist at the time of detection, it does not inform you of new
ones that have since been created.

=== Staircases, Secret Doors, Passages, and Rooms ===

Staircases are the manner in which you get deeper or climb out of the
dungeon.  The symbols for the up and down staircases are the same as the
commands to use them.  A "<" represents an up staircase and a ">" represents
a down staircase.  You must move your character over the staircase before
you can use it.

Each level has at least one up staircase and at least two down staircases.
There are no exceptions to this rule.  You may have trouble finding some well
hidden secret doors, or you may have to dig through obstructions to get to
them, but you can always find the stairs if you look hard enough.  Stairs,
like permanent rock, and shop entrances, cannot be destroyed by any means.

Many secret doors are used within the dungeon to confuse and demoralize
adventurers foolish enough to enter.  But with some luck, and lots of
concentration, you can find these secret doors.  Secret doors will sometimes
hide rooms or corridors, or even entire sections of that level of the
dungeon.  Sometimes they simply hide small empty closets or even dead ends.
Secret doors always look like granite walls, just like traps always look
like normal floors.

Creatures in the dungeon will generally know and use these secret doors, and
can often be counted on to leave them open behind them when they pass
through.

For historical reasons, secret doors are never locked.


=== Winning The Game ===

If your character has killed Sauron (a difficult task), who lives on level 
99 (4950') in the dungeon, a magical staircase will appear that will allow 
you to finally reach level 100.  Morgoth lurks on this level of his dungeon, 
and you will not be able to go below his level until you have killed him.  
Try to avoid wandering around on level 100 unless you are ready for him, 
since he has a habit of coming at you across the dungeon, the Mighty Hammer 
'Grond' in hand, to slay you for your impudence.

If you should actually survive the attempt of killing Morgoth, you will
receive the status of WINNER.  You may continue to explore, and may even
save the game and play more later, but since you have defeated the toughest
creature alive, there is really not much point.  Unless you wish to listen
to the rumors of a powerful ring buried somewhere in the dungeon, or a suit 
of dragon scale mail that resists everything...

When you are ready to retire, simply "commit suicide" (using the "Q" key)
to have your character entered into the high score list as a winner.  Note
that until you retire, you can still be killed, so you may want to retire
before wandering into yet another horde of greater demons.


=== Upon Death and Dying ===
 
If your character falls below 0 hit points, he has died and cannot be
restored.  A tombstone showing information about your character will be
displayed.  You are also permitted to get a record of your character, and
all your equipment (identified) either on the screen or in a file.

Your character will leave behind a reduced save file, which contains only
the monster memory and your option choices.  It may be restored, in which
case a new character is generated exactly as if the file was not there, but
the new player will find his monster memory containing all the experience
of past incarnations.

There are a variety of ways to "cheat" death (including using a special
"cheating option") when it would otherwise occur.  This will fully heal
your character, returning him to the town, and marking him in various
ways as a character which has cheated death.  Cheating death, like using
any of the "cheating options", will prevent your character from appearing
on the high score list.