









                           A Guide to the Mazes of Menace
                               (Guidebook for NetHack)


                                   Eric S. Raymond
                      (Extensively edited and expanded for 3.4)



          1.  Introduction

          Recently, you have begun to find yourself unfulfilled and distant
          in your daily occupation.  Strange dreams of prospecting,  steal-
          ing,  crusading,  and  combat  have haunted you in your sleep for
          many months, but you aren't  sure  of  the  reason.   You  wonder
          whether  you have in fact been having those dreams all your life,
          and somehow managed to forget about them until now.  Some  nights
          you awaken suddenly and cry out, terrified at the vivid recollec-
          tion of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be  lurk-
          ing  behind  every  corner  of  the dungeon in your dream.  Could
          these details haunting your dreams be real?  As each night  pass-
          es,  you feel the desire to enter the mysterious caverns near the
          ruins grow stronger.  Each morning, however, you quickly put  the
          idea  out  of  your head as you recall the tales of those who en-
          tered the caverns before you and did not return.  Eventually  you
          can  resist  the yearning to seek out the fantastic place in your
          dreams no longer.  After all, when other  adventurers  came  back
          this  way after spending time in the caverns, they usually seemed
          better off than when they passed through the first time.  And who
          was to say that all of those who did not return had not just kept
          going?


               Asking around, you hear about a bauble, called the Amulet of
          Yendor  by  some, which, if you can find it, will bring you great
          wealth.  One legend you were told even mentioned that the one who
          finds  the  amulet  will be granted immortality by the gods.  The
          amulet is rumored to be somewhere beyond the Valley of  Gehennom,
          deep  within  the Mazes of Menace.  Upon hearing the legends, you
          immediately realize that there is some profound and  undiscovered
          reason that you are to descend into the caverns and seek out that
          amulet of which they spoke.  Even if the rumors of  the  amulet's
          powers are untrue, you decide that you should at least be able to
          sell the tales of your adventures to the local  minstrels  for  a
          tidy  sum,  especially if you encounter any of the terrifying and
          magical creatures of your dreams along the way.   You  spend  one
          last  night  fortifying  yourself at the local inn, becoming more
          and more depressed as you watch the odds of  your  success  being
          posted on the inn's walls getting lower and lower.



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                 In the morning you awake, collect your belongings, and set
          off for the dungeon.  After several days  of  uneventful  travel,
          you  see the ancient ruins that mark the entrance to the Mazes of
          Menace.  It is late at night, so you make camp  at  the  entrance
          and  spend the night sleeping under the open skies.  In the morn-
          ing, you gather your gear, eat what may be your  last  meal  out-
          side, and enter the dungeon...


          2.  What is going on here?

               You have just begun a game of NetHack.  Your goal is to grab
          as much treasure as you can, retrieve the Amulet of  Yendor,  and
          escape the Mazes of Menace alive.

               Your abilities and strengths for dealing with the hazards of
          adventure will vary with your background and training:

               Archeologists understand dungeons pretty well; this  enables
          them  to  move  quickly  and sneak up on the local nasties.  They
          start equipped with the tools for a proper scientific expedition.

               Barbarians are warriors out of the hinterland,  hardened  to
          battle.   They  begin  their  quests  with  naught  but  uncommon
          strength, a trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword.

               Cavemen and Cavewomen start with exceptional  strength  but,
          unfortunately, with neolithic weapons.

               Healers  are wise in medicine and apothecary.  They know the
          herbs and simples that can restore  vitality,  ease  pain,  anes-
          thetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they
          can divine a being's state of health or sickness.  Their  medical
          practice earns them quite reasonable amounts of money, with which
          they enter the dungeon.

               Knights are distinguished  from  the  common  skirmisher  by
          their  devotion  to  the ideals of chivalry and by the surpassing
          excellence of their armor.

               Monks are ascetics, who by rigorous practice of physical and
          mental disciplines have become capable of fighting as effectively
          without weapons as with.  They wear no armor but make up  for  it
          with increased mobility.

               Priests  and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders ad-
          vancing the cause of righteousness with  arms,  armor,  and  arts
          thaumaturgic.   Their  ability to commune with deities via prayer
          occasionally extricates them from peril, but can also put them in
          it.

               Rangers are most at home in the woods, and some say slightly
          out of place in a dungeon.  They are, however, experts in archery
          as well as tracking and stealthy movement.


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               Rogues  are  agile  and  stealthy thieves, with knowledge of
          locks, traps, and poisons.  Their  advantage  lies  in  surprise,
          which they employ to great advantage.

               Samurai  are  the elite warriors of feudal Nippon.  They are
          lightly armored and quick, and wear the dai-sho,  two  swords  of
          the deadliest keenness.

               Tourists  start out with lots of gold (suitable for shopping
          with), a credit card, lots of food, some maps, and  an  expensive
          camera.  Most monsters don't like being photographed.

               Valkyries  are hardy warrior women.  Their upbringing in the
          harsh Northlands makes them strong, inures them  to  extremes  of
          cold, and instills in them stealth and cunning.

               Wizards  start out with a knowledge of magic, a selection of
          magical items, and a particular affinity for  dweomercraft.   Al-
          though seemingly weak and easy to overcome at first sight, an ex-
          perienced Wizard is a deadly foe.

               You may also choose the race of your character:

               Dwarves are smaller than humans or elves, but are stocky and
          solid  individuals.   Dwarves'  most notable trait is their great
          expertise in mining and metalwork.  Dwarvish armor is said to  be
          second in quality not even to the mithril armor of the Elves.

               Elves  are agile, quick, and perceptive; very little of what
          goes on will escape an Elf.  The quality of  Elven  craftsmanship
          often gives them an advantage in arms and armor.

               Gnomes  are  smaller  than but generally similar to dwarves.
          Gnomes are known to be expert miners, and it is known that a  se-
          cret  underground  mine  complex built by this race exists within
          the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger.

               Humans are by far the most common race of the surface world,
          and  are  thus  the norm by which other races are often compared.
          Although they have no special abilities, they can succeed in  any
          role.

               Orcs  are  a  cruel and barbaric race that hate every living
          thing (including other orcs).  Above all others, Orcs hate  Elves
          with  a  passion unequalled, and will go out of their way to kill
          one at any opportunity.  The armor and weapons fashioned  by  the
          Orcs are typically of inferior quality.

          3.  What do all those things on the screen mean?

               On  the screen is kept a map of where you have been and what
          you have seen on the current dungeon level; as you  explore  more
          of the level, it appears on the screen in front of you.



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               When  NetHack's  ancestor  rogue  first appeared, its screen
          orientation was  almost  unique  among  computer  fantasy  games.
          Since  then,  screen  orientation has become the norm rather than
          the exception; NetHack continues  this  fine  tradition.   Unlike
          text  adventure games that accept commands in pseudo-English sen-
          tences and explain the results in words, NetHack commands are all
          one  or  two keystrokes and the results are displayed graphically
          on the screen.  A minimum screen size of 24 lines by  80  columns
          is  recommended;  if  the  screen is larger, only a 21x80 section
          will be used for the map.

               NetHack can even be played by blind players,  with  the  as-
          sistance of Braille readers or speech synthesisers.  Instructions
          for configuring NetHack for the blind are included later in  this
          document.

               NetHack generates a new dungeon every time you play it; even
          the authors still find it an entertaining and exciting  game  de-
          spite having won several times.

               NetHack  offers  a  variety of display options.  The options
          available to you will vary from port to port,  depending  on  the
          capabilities  of  your hardware and software, and whether various
          compile-time options were enabled when your executable was creat-
          ed.  The three possible display options are: a monochrome charac-
          ter interface, a color character interface, and a  graphical  in-
          terface using small pictures called tiles.  The two character in-
          terfaces allow fonts with other characters to be substituted, but
          the  default  assignments use standard ASCII characters to repre-
          sent everything.  There is no difference between the various dis-
          play options with respect to game play.  Because we cannot repro-
          duce the tiles or colors in the Guidebook, and because it is com-
          mon  to  all ports, we will use the default ASCII characters from
          the monochrome character display when  referring  to  things  you
          might see on the screen during your game.

               In  order  to  understand what is going on in NetHack, first
          you must understand what NetHack is doing with the  screen.   The
          NetHack  screen replaces the ``You see ...'' descriptions of text
          adventure games.  Figure 1 is a sample of what a  NetHack  screen
          might  look  like.   The  way the screen looks for you depends on
          your platform.

          --------------------------------------------------------------------
           The bat bites!

               ------
               |....|    ----------
               |.<..|####...@...$.|
               |....-#   |...B....+
               |....|    |.d......|
               ------    -------|--




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           Player the Rambler     St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15  Neutral
           Dlvl:1 $:0  HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:257 Weak

          --------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      Figure 1


          3.1.  The status lines (bottom)

               The bottom two lines of the screen contain  several  cryptic
          pieces  of information describing your current status.  If either
          status line becomes longer than the  width  of  the  screen,  you
          might not see all of it.  Here are explanations of what the vari-
          ous status items mean (though your configuration may not have all
          the status items listed below):

          Rank
               Your character's name and professional ranking (based on the
               experience level, see below).

          Strength
               A measure of your character's strength; one of your six  ba-
               sic  attributes.   A  human character's attributes can range
               from 3 to 18 inclusive; non-humans may exceed  these  limits
               (occasionally you may get super-strengths of the form 18/xx,
               and magic can also cause attributes  to  exceed  the  normal
               limits).   The  higher  your strength, the stronger you are.
               Strength  affects  how  successfully  you  perform  physical
               tasks,  how  much damage you do in combat, and how much loot
               you can carry.

          Dexterity
               Dexterity affects your chances to hit in  combat,  to  avoid
               traps,  and do other tasks requiring agility or manipulation
               of objects.

          Constitution
               Constitution affects your ability to recover  from  injuries
               and other strains on your stamina.

          Intelligence
               Intelligence  affects  your  ability to cast spells and read
               spellbooks.

          Wisdom
               Wisdom comes from your practical experience (especially when
               dealing with magic).  It affects your magical energy.

          Charisma
               Charisma affects how certain creatures react toward you.  In
               particular, it can affect the prices shopkeepers offer you.



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          Alignment
               Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic.  Often, Lawful is taken as good
               and Chaotic as evil, but legal and ethical do not always co-
               incide.  Your alignment influences how other monsters  react
               toward you.  Monsters of a like alignment are more likely to
               be non-aggressive, while those of an opposing alignment  are
               more likely to be seriously offended at your presence.

          Dungeon Level
               How deep you are in the dungeon.  You start at level one and
               the number increases as you  go  deeper  into  the  dungeon.
               Some  levels  are  special, and are identified by a name and
               not a number.  The Amulet of Yendor is reputed to  be  some-
               where beneath the twentieth level.

          Gold
               The  number  of  gold  pieces you are openly carrying.  Gold
               which you have concealed in containers is not counted.

          Hit Points
               Your current and maximum hit points.   Hit  points  indicate
               how  much  damage you can take before you die.  The more you
               get hit in a fight, the lower they get.  You can regain  hit
               points  by  resting,  or  by  using certain magical items or
               spells.  The number in parentheses  is  the  maximum  number
               your hit points can reach.

          Power
               Spell  points.  This tells you how much mystic energy (mana)
               you have available for spell casting.  Again,  resting  will
               regenerate the amount available.

          Armor Class
               A measure of how effectively your armor stops blows from un-
               friendly creatures.  The lower this number is, the more  ef-
               fective the armor; it is quite possible to have negative ar-
               mor class.

          Experience
               Your current experience level and experience points.  As you
               adventure,  you  gain experience points.  At certain experi-
               ence point totals, you gain an experience level.   The  more
               experienced you are, the better you fight and withstand mag-
               ical attacks.  Many dungeons show only your experience level
               here.

          Weight
               The  total  weight of all items in your inventory, displayed
               if you have the showweight option set. The number after  the
               slash is your carrying capacity.

          Time
               The  number  of  turns elapsed so far, displayed if you have
               the time option set.


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          Hunger status
               Your current hunger status, ranging from  Satiated  down  to
               Fainting.   If  your hunger status is normal, it is not dis-
               played.

               Additional status flags may appear after the hunger  status:
          Conf  when you're confused, FoodPois or Ill when sick, Blind when
          you can't see, Stun when stunned, and Hallu when hallucinating.

          3.2.  The message line (top)

               The top line of the screen is reserved for messages that de-
          scribe  things that are impossible to represent visually.  If you
          see a ``--More--'' on the top line, this means that  NetHack  has
          another  message  to  display on the screen, but it wants to make
          certain that you've read the one that is there  first.   To  read
          the next message, just press the space bar.

          3.3.  The map (rest of the screen)

               The  rest  of the screen is the map of the level as you have
          explored it so far.  Each symbol on the screen  represents  some-
          thing.   You  can  set various graphics options to change some of
          the symbols the game uses; otherwise, the game will  use  default
          symbols.  Here is a list of what the default symbols mean:

          - and |
               The walls of a room, or an open door.  Or a grave (|).

          .    The floor of a room, ice, or a doorless doorway.

          #    A  corridor,  or iron bars, or a tree, or possibly a kitchen
               sink (if your dungeon has sinks), or a drawbridge.

          >    Stairs down: a way to the next level.

          <    Stairs up: a way to the previous level.

          +    A closed door, or a spellbook containing a spell you may  be
               able to learn.

          @    Your character or a human.

          $    A pile of gold.

          ^    A trap (once you have detected it).

          )    A weapon.

          [    A suit or piece of armor.

          %    Something edible (not necessarily healthy).




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          ?    A scroll.

          /    A wand.

          =    A ring.

          !    A potion.

          (    A useful item (pick-axe, key, lamp...).

          "    An amulet or a spider web.

          *    A gem or rock (possibly valuable, possibly worthless).

          `    A boulder or statue.

          0    An iron ball.

          _    An altar, or an iron chain.

          {    A fountain.

          }    A pool of water or moat or a pool of lava.

          \    An opulent throne.

          a-zA-Z and other symbols
               Letters  and certain other symbols represent the various in-
               habitants of the Mazes of Menace.  Watch out,  they  can  be
               nasty and vicious.  Sometimes, however, they can be helpful.

          I    This marks the last known location of an invisible or other-
               wise unseen monster.   Note  that  the  monster  could  have
               moved.  The 'F' and 'm' commands may be useful here.

               You  need  not  memorize  all these symbols; you can ask the
          game what any symbol represents with the  `/'  command  (see  the
          next section for more info).


          4.  Commands

               Commands  are  initiated  by  typing  one or two characters.
          Some commands, like ``search'', do not require that any more  in-
          formation  be collected by NetHack.  Other commands might require
          additional information, for example a direction, or an object  to
          be used.  For those commands that require additional information,
          NetHack will present you with either a menu of choices or with  a
          command  line  prompt requesting information.  Which you are pre-
          sented with will depend chiefly on how you have set the menustyle
          option.

               For  example,  a  common question, in the form ``What do you
          want to use? [a-zA-Z ?*]'', asks you to choose an object you  are


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          carrying.   Here,  ``a-zA-Z''  are  the inventory letters of your
          possible choices.  Typing `?' gives  you  an  inventory  list  of
          these  items, so you can see what each letter refers to.  In this
          example, there is also a `*' indicating that you  may  choose  an
          object  not on the list, if you wanted to use something unexpect-
          ed.  Typing a `*' lists your entire inventory, so you can see the
          inventory  letters  of every object you're carrying.  Finally, if
          you change your mind and decide you don't want to do this command
          after all, you can press the ESC key to abort the command.

               You  can  put  a  number before some commands to repeat them
          that many times; for example, ``10s'' will search ten times.   If
          you have the number_pad option set, you must type `n' to prefix a
          count, so the example above  would  be  typed  ``n10s''  instead.
          Commands  for  which  counts make no sense ignore them.  In addi-
          tion, movement commands can be prefixed for greater control  (see
          below).  To cancel a count or a prefix, press the ESC key.

               The  list  of commands is rather long, but it can be read at
          any time during the game through the `?' command, which  accesses
          a  menu  of helpful texts.  Here are the commands for your refer-
          ence:

          ?    Help menu:  display one of several help texts available.

          /    Tell what a symbol represents.  You may choose to specify  a
               location or type a symbol (or even a whole word) to explain.
               Specifying a location is done by moving the cursor to a par-
               ticular  spot  on the map and then pressing one of `.', `,',
               `;', or `:'.  `.' will explain the symbol at the chosen  lo-
               cation, conditionally check for ``More info?'' depending up-
               on whether the help option is on, and then you will be asked
               to  pick  another  location; `,' will explain the symbol but
               skip any additional information; `;'  will  skip  additional
               info  and also not bother asking you to choose another loca-
               tion to examine; `:' will  show  additional  info,  if  any,
               without  asking  for confirmation.  When picking a location,
               pressing the ESC key will terminate this command, or  press-
               ing `?'  will give a brief reminder about how it works.

               Specifying  a  name  rather than a location always gives any
          additional information available about that name.

          &    Tell what a command does.

          <    Go up to the previous level (if you are on  a  staircase  or
               ladder).

          >    Go down to the next level (if you are on a staircase or lad-
               der).

          [yuhjklbn]
               Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure  2).   If
               you  sense  or  remember a monster there, you will fight the


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               monster instead.   Only  these  one-step  movement  commands
               cause   you  to  fight  monsters;  the  others  (below)  are
               ``safe.''

                                    y  k  u          7  8  9
                                     \ | /            \ | /
                                    h- . -l          4- . -6
                                     / | \            / | \
                                    b  j  n          1  2  3
                                              (if number_pad is set)

                                         Figure 2


          [YUHJKLBN]
               Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run into  some-
               thing.

          m[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:   move  without picking up objects or fighting (even
               if you remember a monster there)

          F[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:  fight a monster (even if  you  only  guess  one  is
               there)

          M[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:  move far, no pickup.

          g[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:  move until something interesting is found.

          G[yuhjklbn] or <CONTROL->[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:   same  as `g', but forking of corridors is not con-
               sidered interesting.

          _    Travel to a map location via a shortest-path algorithm.  The
               shortest  path is computed over map locations the hero knows
               about (e.g. seen or previously traversed).  If there  is  no
               known  path,  a guess is made instead.  Stops on most of the
               same conditions as the `G' command, but without  picking  up
               objects,  similar  to the `M' command.  For ports with mouse
               support, the command is  also  invoked  when  a  mouse-click
               takes place on a location other than the current position.

          .    Rest, do nothing for one turn.

          a    Apply (use) a tool (pick-axe, key, lamp...).

          A    Remove one or more worn items, such as armor.  Use `T' (take
               off) to take off only one piece of armor or `R' (remove)  to
               take off only one accessory.




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          ^A   Redo the previous command.

          c    Close a door.

          C    Call (name) an individual monster.

          ^C   Panic button.  Quit the game.

          d    Drop  something.   Ex. ``d7a'' means drop seven items of ob-
               ject a.

          D    Drop several things.  In answer to the question ``What kinds
               of  things  do you want to drop? [!%= BUCXaium]'' you should
               type zero or more object symbols possibly  followed  by  `a'
               and/or  `i' and/or `u' and/or `m'.  In addition, one or more
               of the blessed/uncursed/cursed groups may be typed.

                    DB  - drop all objects known to be blessed.
                    DU  - drop all objects known to be uncursed.
                    DC  - drop all objects known to be cursed.
                    DX  - drop all objects of unknown B/U/C status.
                    Da  - drop all objects, without asking for confirmation.
                    Di  - examine your inventory before dropping anything.
                    Du  - drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).
                    Dm  - use a menu to pick which object(s) to drop.
                    D%u - drop only unpaid food.

          ^D   Kick something (usually a door).

          e    Eat food.

          E    Engrave  a  message  on  the  floor.   Engraving  the   word
               ``Elbereth''  will  cause  most  monsters  to not attack you
               hand-to-hand (but if you attack, you will rub it out);  this
               is  often useful to give yourself a breather.  (This feature
               may be compiled out of the game, so your version  might  not
               have it.)

                    E- - write in the dust with your fingers.

          ^E   Write  ``Elbereth''  onto  the ground.  Automatically uses a
               wield athame.

          f    Fire one of the objects placed in your quiver.  You may  se-
               lect ammunition with a previous `Q' command, or let the com-
               puter pick something appropriate if autoquiver is true.

          i    List your inventory (everything you're carrying).

          I    List selected parts of your inventory.






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                    I* - list all gems in inventory;
                    Iu - list all unpaid items;
                    Ix - list all used up items that are on your shopping bill;
                    I$ - count your money.

          o    Open a door.

          O    Set options.  A menu showing the current option values  will
               be  displayed.  You can change most values simply by select-
               ing the menu entry for the given option (ie, by  typing  its
               letter  or  clicking  upon it, depending on your user inter-
               face).  For the  non-boolean  choices,  a  further  menu  or
               prompt will appear once you've closed this menu.  The avail-
               able options are listed later in  this  Guidebook.   Options
               are  usually  set  before  the game rather than with the `O'
               command; see the section on options below.

          p    Pay your shopping bill.

          P    Put on a ring or other accessory (amulet, blindfold).

          ^P   Repeat previous message.   Subsequent  ^P's  repeat  earlier
               messages.  The behavior can be varied via the msg_window op-
               tion.

          q    Quaff (drink) something (potion, water, etc).

          Q    Select an object for your quiver.  You can then  throw  this
               using  the  `f' command.  (In versions prior to 3.3 this was
               the command to quit the game, which has now  been  moved  to
               `#quit'.)

          r    Read a scroll or spellbook.

          R    Remove an accessory (ring, amulet, etc).

          ^R   Redraw the screen.

          s    Search  for  secret  doors and traps around you.  It usually
               takes several tries to find something.

          S    Save (and suspend) the game.  The game will be restored  au-
               tomatically the next time you play.

          t    Throw an object or shoot a projectile.

          T    Take off armor.

          ^T   Teleport, if you have the ability.

          v    Display version number.

          V    Display the game history.



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          w    Wield weapon.

                    w- - wield nothing, use your bare hands.

          W    Wear armor.

          x    Exchange your wielded weapon with the item in your alternate
               weapon slot.  The latter is used as  your  secondary  weapon
               when  engaging  in  two-weapon  combat.  Note that if one of
               these slots is empty, the exchange still takes place.

          X    Enter explore (discovery) mode, explained in its own section
               later.

          ^X   Display your name, role, race, gender, and alignment as well
               as the various deities in your game.

          z    Zap a wand.  To aim at yourself, use `.' for the direction.

          Z    Zap (cast) a spell.  To cast at yourself, use  `.'  for  the
               direction.

          ^Z   Suspend the game (UNIX(R) versions with job control only).

          :    Look at what is here.

          ;    Show what type of thing a visible symbol corresponds to.

          ,    Pick  up  some things. May be preceded by `m' to force a se-
               lection menu.

          @    Toggle the autopickup option on and off.

          ^    Ask for the type of a trap you found earlier.

          )    Tell what weapon you are wielding.

          [    Tell what armor you are wearing.

          =    Tell what rings you are wearing.

          "    Tell what amulet you are wearing.

          (    Tell what tools you are using.

          *    Tell what equipment you are using;  combines  the  preceding
               five type-specific commands into one.

          $    Count your gold pieces.



          __________
          (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.


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          +    List  the spells you know.  Using this command, you can also
               rearrange the order in which your spells are  listed.   They
               are  shown  via  a  menu,  and if you select a spell in that
               menu, you'll be re-prompted for another spell to swap places
               with  it,  and  then  have  opportunity  to make further ex-
               changes.

          \    Show what types of objects have been discovered.

          !    Escape to a shell.

          #    Perform an extended command.  As you can see, the authors of
               NetHack  used up all the letters, so this is a way to intro-
               duce the less frequently used commands.  What extended  com-
               mands  are  available  depends on what features the game was
               compiled with.

          #adjust
               Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option
               is ``on'').

          #chat
               Talk to someone.

          #conduct
               List  which challenges you have adhered to.  See the section
               below entitled ``Conduct'' for details.

          #dip Dip an object into something.

          #enhance
               Advance or check weapons and spell skills.

          #force
               Force a lock.

          #invoke
               Invoke an object's special powers.

          #jump
               Jump to another location.

          #loot
               Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you,  or  the  saddle
               from a horse standing next to you.

          #monster
               Use  a monster's special ability (when polymorphed into mon-
               ster form).

          #name
               Name an item or type of object.




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          #offer
               Offer a sacrifice to the gods.

          #pray
               Pray to the gods for help.

          #quit
               Quit the program without saving your game.

          #ride
               Ride (or stop riding) a monster.

          #rub Rub a lamp or a stone.

          #sit Sit down.

          #tip Tip over a container to empty it of its contents.

          #turn
               Turn undead.

          #twoweapon
               Toggle two-weapon combat on or off.  Note that you must  use
               suitable  weapons for this type of combat, or it will be au-
               tomatically turned off.

          #untrap
               Untrap something (trap, door, or chest).

          #version
               Print compile time options for this version of NetHack.

          #wipe
               Wipe off your face.

          #?   Help menu:  get the list of available extended commands.

               If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in com-
          bination  with  another  key,  modifies  it by setting the `meta'
          [8th, or `high'] bit), you can invoke many extended  commands  by
          meta-ing  the  first  letter of the command.  In NT, OS/2, and PC
          NetHack, the `Alt' key can be used in this fashion.

          M-?  #? (not supported by all platforms)

          M-2  #twoweapon (unless the number_pad option is enabled)

          M-a  #adjust

          M-c  #chat

          M-d  #dip




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          M-e  #enhance

          M-f  #force

          M-i  #invoke

          M-j  #jump

          M-l  #loot

          M-m  #monster

          M-n  #name

          M-o  #offer

          M-p  #pray

          M-q  #quit

          M-r  #rub

          M-s  #sit

          M-t  #turn

          M-u  #untrap

          M-v  #version

          M-w  #wipe

               If the number_pad option is on, some additional letter  com-
          mands are available:

          h    Help  menu:   display  one  of several help texts available,
               like ``?''.

          j    Jump to another location.  Same as ``#jump'' or ``M-j''.

          k    Kick something (usually a door).  Same as `^D'.

          l    Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you,  or  the  saddle
               from  a  horse  standing  next to you.  Same as ``#loot'' or
               ``M-l''.

          N    Name an item or type of object.  Same as ``#name''  or  ``M-
               n''.

          u    Untrap  a trap, door, or chest.  Same as ``#untrap'' or ``M-
               u''.





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          5.  Rooms and corridors

               Rooms and corridors in the dungeon are either lit  or  dark.
          Any  lit  areas within your line of sight will be displayed; dark
          areas are only displayed if they are within  one  space  of  you.
          Walls and corridors remain on the map as you explore them.

               Secret corridors are hidden.  You can find them with the `s'
          (search) command.

          5.1.  Doorways

               Doorways connect rooms and corridors.  Some doorways have no
          doors;  you  can  walk right through.  Others have doors in them,
          which may be open, closed, or locked.  To open a closed door, use
          the  `o'  (open)  command; to close it again, use the `c' (close)
          command.

               You can get through a locked door by using a  tool  to  pick
          the lock with the `a' (apply) command, or by kicking it open with
          the `^D' (kick) command.

               Open doors cannot be entered diagonally; you  must  approach
          them  straight  on, horizontally or vertically.  Doorways without
          doors are not restricted in this fashion.

               Doors can be useful for shutting out  monsters.   Most  mon-
          sters cannot open doors, although a few don't need to (ex. ghosts
          can walk through doors).

               Secret doors are hidden.  You can find  them  with  the  `s'
          (search)  command.  Once found they are in all ways equivalent to
          normal doors.

          5.2.  Traps (`^')

               There are traps throughout the dungeon to snare  the  unwary
          delver.   For  example,  you  may suddenly fall into a pit and be
          stuck for a few turns trying to climb out.  Traps don't appear on
          your map until you see one triggered by moving onto it, see some-
          thing fall into it, or you discover it with the `s' (search) com-
          mand.   Monsters can fall prey to traps, too, which can be a very
          useful defensive strategy.

               There is a special pre-mapped branch of the dungeon based on
          the  classic  computer game ``Sokoban.''  The goal is to push the
          boulders into the pits or holes.  With careful foresight,  it  is
          possible  to  complete  all of the levels according to the tradi-
          tional rules of Sokoban.  Some allowances are permitted  in  case
          the player gets stuck; however, they will lower your luck.






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          5.3.  Stairs (`<', `>')

               In  general, each level in the dungeon will have a staircase
          going up (`<') to the previous level and another going down (`>')
          to  the  next  level.  There are some exceptions though.  For in-
          stance, fairly early in the dungeon you will find  a  level  with
          two down staircases, one continuing into the dungeon and the oth-
          er branching into an area known  as  the  Gnomish  Mines.   Those
          mines  eventually hit a dead end, so after exploring them (if you
          choose to do so), you'll need to climb back up to the  main  dun-
          geon.

               When  you  traverse a set of stairs, or trigger a trap which
          sends you to another level, the level you're leaving will be  de-
          activated  and  stored  in a file on disk.  If you're moving to a
          previously visited level, it will be loaded from its file on disk
          and  reactivated.   If you're moving to a level which has not yet
          been visited, it will be created (from scratch  for  most  random
          levels,  from  a  template for some ``special'' levels, or loaded
          from the remains of an earlier game  for  a  ``bones''  level  as
          briefly  described  below).  Monsters are only active on the cur-
          rent level; those on other levels  are  essentially  placed  into
          stasis.

               Ordinarily  when  you climb a set of stairs, you will arrive
          on the corresponding staircase  at  your  destination.   However,
          pets  (see  below)  and  some other monsters will follow along if
          they're close enough when you travel up or down stairs, and occa-
          sionally  one  of  these  creatures  will displace you during the
          climb.  When that occurs, the pet or other monster will arrive on
          the staircase and you will end up nearby.

          5.4.  Ladders (`<', `>')

               Ladders  serve  the  same purpose as staircases, and the two
          types of inter-level  connections  are  nearly  indistinguishable
          during game play.

          5.5.  Shops and shopping

               Occasionally  you  will  run across a room with a shopkeeper
          near the door and many items lying on the  floor.   You  can  buy
          items by picking them up and then using the `p' command.  You can
          inquire about the price of an item prior to picking it up by  us-
          ing  the  ``#chat''  command while standing on it.  Using an item
          prior to paying for it will incur a charge,  and  the  shopkeeper
          won't  allow  you  to leave the shop until you have paid any debt
          you owe.

               You can sell items to a shopkeeper by dropping them  to  the
          floor  while inside a shop.  You will either be offered an amount
          of gold and asked whether you're willing to sell,  or  you'll  be
          told  that  the shopkeeper isn't interested (generally, your item
          needs to be compatible with the type of  merchandise  carried  by


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          the shop).

               If  you drop something in a shop by accident, the shopkeeper
          will usually claim ownership without offering  any  compensation.
          You'll have to buy it back if you want to reclaim it.

               Shopkeepers  sometimes run out of money.  When that happens,
          you'll be offered credit instead of gold when  you  try  to  sell
          something.   Credit  can  be used to pay for purchases, but it is
          only good in the shop where it was  obtained;  other  shopkeepers
          won't  honor  it.   (If you happen to find a "credit card" in the
          dungeon, don't bother trying to use it in shops; shopkeepers will
          not accept it.)

               The  `$'  command,  which reports the amount of gold you are
          carrying (in inventory, not inside bags or boxes), will also show
          current  shop debt or credit, if any.  The `Iu' command lists un-
          paid items (those which still belong to the shop) if you are car-
          rying  any.   The `Ix' command shows an inventory-like display of
          any unpaid items which have been used up, along with  other  shop
          fees, if any.

          5.5.1.  Shop idiosyncracies

               Several aspects of shop behavior might be unexpected.

          * The price of a given item can vary due to a variety of factors.

          * A  shopkeeper treats the spot immediately inside the door as if
            it were outside the shop.

          * While the shopkeeper watches you like a hawk, he will generally
            ignore any other customers.

          * If  a  shop  is "closed for inventory", it will not open of its
            own accord.

          * Shops do not get restocked with new items, regardless of inven-
            tory depletion.


          6.  Monsters

               Monsters  you  cannot  see  are not displayed on the screen.
          Beware!  You may suddenly come upon one in a  dark  place.   Some
          magic  items  can  help  you  locate  them before they locate you
          (which some monsters can do very well).

               The commands `/' and `;' may be used to  obtain  information
          about  those  monsters who are displayed on the screen.  The com-
          mand `C' allows you to assign a name to a monster, which  may  be
          useful  to  help  distinguish one from another when multiple mon-
          sters are present.  Assigning a name which is just a  space  will
          remove any prior name.


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               The  extended command ``#chat'' can be used to interact with
          an adjacent monster.  There is no actual dialog (in other  words,
          you  don't get to choose what you'll say), but chatting with some
          monsters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
          useful results.

          6.1.  Fighting

               If  you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
          to walk into it.  Many monsters you  find  will  mind  their  own
          business unless you attack them.  Some of them are very dangerous
          when angered.  Remember:  discretion is the better part of valor.

               If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible,  or  if  you
          are  blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
          presence.  If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to  fight
          it  just  like a monster that you can see; of course, if the mon-
          ster has moved, you will attack empty air.  If you guess that the
          monster  has  moved  and you don't wish to fight, you can use the
          `m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't  re-
          member a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use the
          `F' command.

          6.2.  Your pet

               You start the game with a little dog (`d'),  cat  (`f'),  or
          pony  (`u'),  which follows you about the dungeon and fights mon-
          sters with you.  Like you, your pet needs food  to  survive.   It
          usually feeds itself on fresh carrion and other meats.  If you're
          worried about it or want to train it, you can feed  it,  too,  by
          throwing  it food.  A properly trained pet can be very useful un-
          der certain circumstances.

               Your pet also gains experience from  killing  monsters,  and
          can  grow  over  time,  gaining hit points and doing more damage.
          Initially, your pet may even be better  at  killing  things  than
          you, which makes pets useful for low-level characters.

               Your  pet  will  follow  you up and down staircases if it is
          next to you when you move.  Otherwise your pet will  be  stranded
          and  may  become wild.  Similarly, when you trigger certain types
          of traps which alter your location (for  instance,  a  trap  door
          which  drops you to a lower dungeon level), any adjacent pet will
          accompany you and any non-adjacent pet will be left behind.  Your
          pet  may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
          with it even if adjacent at the time.

          6.3.  Steeds

               Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be  rid-
          den if you have the right equipment and skill.  Convincing a wild
          beast to let you saddle it up is  difficult  to  say  the  least.
          Many  a dungeoneer has had to resort to magic and wizardry in or-
          der to forge the alliance.  Once you do have the beast under your


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          control  however,  you  can easily climb in and out of the saddle
          with the `#ride' command.  Lead the beast around the dungeon when
          riding, in the same manner as you would move yourself.  It is the
          beast that you will see displayed on the map.

               Riding skill is managed by the `#enhance' command.  See  the
          section on Weapon proficiency for more information about that.

          6.4.  Bones levels

               You  may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-
          ers (or even former incarnations of yourself!) and their personal
          effects.   Ghosts  are  hard  to  kill,  but easy to avoid, since
          they're slow and do little damage.  You can plunder the  deceased
          adventurer's  possessions; however, they are likely to be cursed.
          Beware of whatever killed the former player; it is probably still
          lurking around, gloating over its last victory.


          7.  Objects

               When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want
          to pick it up.  In NetHack, this is accomplished automatically by
          walking  over  the object (unless you turn off the autopickup op-
          tion (see below), or move with the `m' prefix  (see  above)),  or
          manually by using the `,' command.

               If  you're carrying too many items, NetHack will tell you so
          and you won't be able to pick up anything  more.   Otherwise,  it
          will  add  the  object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
          picked up.

               As you add items to your inventory, you also add the  weight
          of  that  object to your load.  The amount that you can carry de-
          pends on your strength and your constitution.  The  stronger  you
          are, the less the additional load will affect you.  There comes a
          point, though, when the weight of all of that stuff you are  car-
          rying  around  with  you  through  the dungeon will encumber you.
          Your reactions will get slower and you'll burn  calories  faster,
          requiring  food  more  frequently  to  cope with it.  Eventually,
          you'll be so overloaded that you'll either have to  discard  some
          of what you're carrying or collapse under its weight.

               NetHack  will  tell  you how badly you have loaded yourself.
          The symbols `Burdened', `Stressed', `Strained',  `Overtaxed'  and
          `Overloaded' are displayed on the bottom line display to indicate
          your condition.

               When you pick up an object, it is assigned an inventory let-
          ter.   Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find
          out which object you want to  use.   When  NetHack  asks  you  to
          choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually pre-
          sented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see  Com-
          mands, above).


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               Some  objects,  such  as weapons, are easily differentiated.
          Others, like scrolls and potions, are  given  descriptions  which
          vary  according to type.  During a game, any two objects with the
          same description are the same type.   However,  the  descriptions
          will vary from game to game.

               When you use one of these objects, if its effect is obvious,
          NetHack will remember what it is for you.  If  its  effect  isn't
          extremely  obvious,  you will be asked what you want to call this
          type of object so you will recognize it later.  You can also  use
          the  ``#name''  command for the same purpose at any time, to name
          all objects of a particular type or just  an  individual  object.
          When you use ``#name'' on an object which has already been named,
          specifying a space as the value will remove the  prior  name  in-
          stead of assigning a new one.

          7.1.  Curses and Blessings

               Any  object  that you find may be cursed, even if the object
          is otherwise helpful.  The most common effect of a curse is being
          stuck  with (and to) the item.  Cursed weapons weld themselves to
          your hand when wielded, so you cannot unwield them.   Any  cursed
          item  you  wear is not removable by ordinary means.  In addition,
          cursed arms and armor usually, but not always, bear negative  en-
          chantments that make them less effective in combat.  Other cursed
          objects may act poorly or detrimentally in other ways.

               Objects can also be blessed.   Blessed  items  usually  work
          better  or more beneficially than normal uncursed items.  For ex-
          ample, a blessed weapon will do more damage against demons.

               There are magical means of bestowing or removing curses upon
          objects,  so  even  if you are stuck with one, you can still have
          the curse lifted and the item removed.  Priests  and  Priestesses
          have  an  innate  sensitivity  to this property in any object, so
          they can more easily avoid cursed objects  than  other  character
          roles.

               An  item with unknown status will be reported in your inven-
          tory with no prefix.  An item which you know the state of will be
          distinguished  in  your  inventory  by  the  presence of the word
          ``cursed'', ``uncursed'' or ``blessed'' in the description of the
          item.

          7.2.  Weapons (`)')

               Given  a  chance,  most monsters in the Mazes of Menace will
          gratuitously try to kill you.  You need weapons for  self-defense
          (killing  them  first).   Without  a  weapon, you do only 1-2 hit
          points of damage (plus bonuses, if any).  Monk characters are  an
          exception; they normally do much more damage with bare hands than
          they do with weapons.




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               There are wielded weapons, like maces and swords, and thrown
          weapons,  like arrows and spears.  To hit monsters with a weapon,
          you must wield it and attack them, or throw it at them.  You  can
          simply  elect  to  throw  a spear.  To shoot an arrow, you should
          first wield a bow, then throw the arrow.  Crossbows shoot  cross-
          bow bolts.  Slings hurl rocks and (other) stones (like gems).

               Enchanted weapons have a ``plus'' (or ``to hit enhancement''
          which can be either positive  or  negative)  that  adds  to  your
          chance  to  hit and the damage you do to a monster.  The only way
          to determine a weapon's enchantment is to have it magically iden-
          tified  somehow.  Most weapons are subject to some type of damage
          like rust.  Such ``erosion'' damage can be repaired.

               The chance that an attack will successfully hit  a  monster,
          and  the  amount  of damage such a hit will do, depends upon many
          factors.  Among them are: type of weapon, quality of weapon  (en-
          chantment and/or erosion), experience level, strength, dexterity,
          encumbrance, and proficiency (see below).   The  monster's  armor
          class  - a general defense rating, not necessarily due to wearing
          of armor - is a factor too; also, some monsters are  particularly
          vulnerable to certain types of weapons.

               Many  weapons  can be wielded in one hand; some require both
          hands.  When wielding a two-handed weapon, you  can  not  wear  a
          shield,  and  vice versa.  When wielding a one-handed weapon, you
          can have another weapon ready to use by setting  things  up  with
          the  `x'  command,  which  exchanges  your primary (the one being
          wielded) and alternate weapons.  And if you have  proficiency  in
          the  ``two  weapon combat'' skill, you may wield both weapons si-
          multaneously as primary and secondary; use the  `#twoweapon'  ex-
          tended  command  to engage or disengage that.  Only some types of
          characters (barbarians, for instance) have  the  necessary  skill
          available.   Even  with that skill, using two weapons at once in-
          curs a penalty in the chance to hit your target compared to using
          just one weapon at a time.

               There  might be times when you'd rather not wield any weapon
          at all.  To accomplish that, wield `-', or else use the `A'  com-
          mand  which  allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition
          to taking off other worn items.

               Those of you in the audience who are AD&D players, be  aware
          that each weapon which existed in AD&D does roughly the same dam-
          age to monsters in NetHack.  Some of  the  more  obscure  weapons
          (such as the aklys, lucern hammer, and bec-de-corbin) are defined
          in an appendix to Unearthed Arcana, an AD&D supplement.

               The commands to use weapons are `w'  (wield),  `t'  (throw),
          `f'  (fire,  an  alternative  way of throwing), `Q' (quiver), `x'
          (exchange), `#twoweapon', and `#enhance' (see below).





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          7.2.1.  Throwing and shooting

               You can throw just about anything via the `t'  command.   It
          will  prompt  for the item to throw; picking `?' will list things
          in your inventory which are considered likely to  be  thrown,  or
          picking `*' will list your entire inventory.  After you've chosen
          what to throw, you will be prompted for a direction  rather  than
          for  a specific target.  The distance something can be thrown de-
          pends mainly on the type of object and your strength.  Arrows can
          be  thrown  by  hand,  but can be thrown much farther and will be
          more likely to hit when thrown while you are wielding a bow.

               You can simplify the throwing operation  by  using  the  `Q'
          command  to select your preferred ``missile'', then using the `f'
          command to throw it.  You'll  be  prompted  for  a  direction  as
          above,  but  you  don't  have to specify which item to throw each
          time you use `f'.  There is also an option, autoquiver, which has
          NetHack  choose  another  item  to automatically fill your quiver
          when the inventory slot used for `Q' runs out.

               Some characters have the ability to fire a volley of  multi-
          ple  items  in a single turn.  Knowing how to load several rounds
          of ammunition at once -- or hold several missiles in your hand --
          and  still  hit  a target is not an easy task.  Rangers are among
          those who are adept at this task, as are those with a high  level
          of  proficiency  in  the  relevant  weapon skill (in bow skill if
          you're wielding one to shoot arrows, in crossbow skill if  you're
          wielding one to shoot bolts, or in sling skill if you're wielding
          one to shoot stones).  The number of items that the character has
          a  chance  to  fire varies from turn to turn.  You can explicitly
          limit the number of shots by using a numeric  prefix  before  the
          `t'  or  `f'  command.   For example, ``2f'' (or ``n2f'' if using
          number_pad mode) would ensure that at most 2 arrows are shot even
          if  you  could have fired 3.  If you specify a larger number than
          would have been shot (``4f'' in this example), you'll just end up
          shooting the same number (3, here) as if no limit had been speci-
          fied.  Once the volley is in motion, all of the items will travel
          in the same direction; if the first ones kill a monster, the oth-
          ers can still continue beyond that spot.

          7.2.2.  Weapon proficiency

               You will have varying degrees of skill in the weapons avail-
          able.   Weapon proficiency, or weapon skills, affect how well you
          can use particular types of weapons, and you'll be  able  to  im-
          prove  your  skills  as you progress through a game, depending on
          your role, your experience level, and use of the weapons.

               For the purposes of proficiency, weapons have  been  divided
          up   into  various  groups  such  as  daggers,  broadswords,  and
          polearms.  Each role has a limit on what level of  proficiency  a
          character  can achieve for each group.  For instance, wizards can
          become highly skilled in daggers or staves but not in  swords  or
          bows.


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               The  `#enhance'  extended  command is used to review current
          weapons proficiency (also spell proficiency) and to choose  which
          skill(s) to improve when you've used one or more skills enough to
          become eligible to do so.  The skill rankings are ``none'' (some-
          times  also  referred  to as ``restricted'', because you won't be
          able to  advance),  ``unskilled'',  ``basic'',  ``skilled'',  and
          ``expert''.  Restricted skills simply will not appear in the list
          shown by `#enhance'.  (Divine  intervention  might  unrestrict  a
          particular skill, in which case it will start at unskilled and be
          limited to basic.)  Some characters can enhance their  barehanded
          combat  or  martial  arts  skill  beyond  expert to ``master'' or
          ``grand master''.

               Use of a weapon in which you're restricted or unskilled will
          incur a modest penalty in the chance to hit a monster and also in
          the amount of damage done when you do hit; at basic level,  there
          is  no  penalty  or bonus; at skilled level, you receive a modest
          bonus in the chance to hit and amount of damage done;  at  expert
          level,  the  bonus  is  higher.  A successful hit has a chance to
          boost your training towards the next skill level  (unless  you've
          already  reached  the  limit for this skill).  Once such training
          reaches the threshold for that next level, you'll  be  told  that
          you  feel  more  confident in your skills.  At that point you can
          use `#enhance' to increase one or more skills.  Such  skills  are
          not  increased automatically because there is a limit to your to-
          tal overall skills, so you need to actively choose  which  skills
          to enhance and which to ignore.

          7.3.  Armor (`[')

               Lots of unfriendly things lurk about; you need armor to pro-
          tect yourself from their blows.  Some types of armor offer better
          protection  than  others.   Your armor class is a measure of this
          protection.  Armor class (AC) is measured as in AD&D, with 10 be-
          ing  the equivalent of no armor, and lower numbers meaning better
          armor.  Each suit of armor which exists in AD&D  gives  the  same
          protection in NetHack.  Here is an (incomplete) list of the armor
          classes provided by various suits of armor:

                             dragon scale mail         1
                             plate mail                3
                             crystal plate mail        3
                             bronze plate mail         4
                             splint mail               4
                             banded mail               4
                             dwarvish mithril-coat     4
                             elven mithril-coat        5
                             chain mail                5
                             orcish chain mail         6
                             scale mail                6
                             studded leather armor     7
                             ring mail                 7
                             orcish ring mail          8



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                             leather armor             8
                             leather jacket            9
                             no armor                 10

               You can also wear other pieces of armor (ex. helmets, boots,
          shields,  cloaks) to lower your armor class even further, but you
          can only wear one item of each category (one suit of  armor,  one
          cloak, one helmet, one shield, and so on) at a time.

               If  a piece of armor is enchanted, its armor protection will
          be better (or worse) than normal, and  its  ``plus''  (or  minus)
          will  subtract  from  your  armor class.  For example, a +1 chain
          mail would give you better protection  than  normal  chain  mail,
          lowering your armor class one unit further to 4.  When you put on
          a piece of armor, you immediately find out the  armor  class  and
          any ``plusses'' it provides.  Cursed pieces of armor usually have
          negative enchantments (minuses) in addition to being unremovable.

               Many types of armor are subject to some kind of damage  like
          rust.   Such damage can be repaired.  Some types of armor may in-
          hibit spell casting.

               The commands to use armor are `W' (wear) and `T' (take off).
          The  `A'  command  can  also be used to take off armor as well as
          other worn items.

          7.4.  Food (`%')

               Food is necessary to survive.  If you go  too  long  without
          eating  you  will  faint, and eventually die of starvation.  Some
          types of food will spoil, and become unhealthy  to  eat,  if  not
          protected.  Food stored in ice boxes or tins (``cans'') will usu-
          ally stay fresh, but ice boxes are heavy, and tins take  a  while
          to open.

               When you kill monsters, they usually leave corpses which are
          also ``food.''  Many, but not all, of these are edible; some also
          give  you special powers when you eat them.  A good rule of thumb
          is ``you are what you eat.''

               Some character roles and some monsters are vegetarian.  Veg-
          etarian  monsters  will typically never eat animal corpses, while
          vegetarian players can, but with some rather unpleasant  side-ef-
          fects.

               You  can  name one food item after something you like to eat
          with the fruit option.

               The command to eat food is `e'.

          7.5.  Scrolls (`?')

               Scrolls are labeled with various titles, probably chosen  by
          ancient  wizards  for  their amusement value (ex. ``READ ME,'' or


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          ``THANX MAUD'' backwards).  Scrolls disappear after you read them
          (except for blank ones, without magic spells on them).

               One  of  the most useful of these is the scroll of identify,
          which can be used to determine what another object is, whether it
          is  cursed  or  blessed, and how many uses it has left.  Some ob-
          jects of subtle enchantment are  difficult  to  identify  without
          these.

               A mail daemon may run up and deliver mail to you as a scroll
          of mail (on versions compiled with this feature).   To  use  this
          feature  on  versions where NetHack mail delivery is triggered by
          electronic mail appearing in your system mailbox,  you  must  let
          NetHack  know  where to look for new mail by setting the ``MAIL''
          environment variable to the file name of your mailbox.   You  may
          also  want  to set the ``MAILREADER'' environment variable to the
          file name of your favorite reader, so NetHack  can  shell  to  it
          when  you  read the scroll.  On versions of NetHack where mail is
          randomly generated internal to the game, these environment  vari-
          ables  are  ignored.   You can disable the mail daemon by turning
          off the mail option.

               The command to read a scroll is `r'.

          7.6.  Potions (`!')

               Potions are distinguished by the color of the liquid  inside
          the flask.  They disappear after you quaff them.

               Clear  potions  are  potions  of water.  Sometimes these are
          blessed or cursed, resulting in holy or unholy water.  Holy water
          is  the  bane  of  the  undead, so potions of holy water are good
          things to throw (`t') at them.  It is also sometimes very  useful
          to dip (``#dip'') an object into a potion.

               The command to drink a potion is `q' (quaff).

          7.7.  Wands (`/')

               Magic  wands  usually  have  multiple magical charges.  Some
          wands are directional--you must give a direction in which to  zap
          them.   You can also zap them at yourself (just give a `.' or `s'
          for the direction). Be warned, however, for this is often unwise.
          Other  wands  are nondirectional--they don't require a direction.
          The number of charges in a wand is random and  decreases  by  one
          whenever you use it.

               When  the number of charges left in a wand becomes zero, at-
          tempts to use the wand will usually result in nothing  happening.
          Occasionally, however, it may be possible to squeeze the last few
          mana points from an otherwise spent wand, destroying  it  in  the
          process.   A  wand  may be recharged by using suitable magic, but
          doing so runs the risk of causing it to explode.  The chance  for
          such  an  explosion starts out very small and increases each time


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          the wand is recharged.

               In a truly desperate situation, when your back is up against
          the  wall,  you might decide to go for broke and break your wand.
          This is not for the faint of heart.  Doing so  will  almost  cer-
          tainly cause a catastrophic release of magical energies.

               When  you have fully identified a particular wand, inventory
          display will include additional information in  parentheses:  the
          number  of  times  it  has been recharged followed by a colon and
          then by its current number of charges.  A current charge count of
          -1 is a special case indicating that the wand has been cancelled.

               The  command  to use a wand is `z' (zap).  To break one, use
          the `a' (apply) command.

          7.8.  Rings (`=')

               Rings are very useful items, since they are relatively  per-
          manent  magic,  unlike  the  usually fleeting effects of potions,
          scrolls, and wands.

               Putting on a ring activates its magic.  You  can  wear  only
          two rings, one on each ring finger.

               Most  rings  also cause you to grow hungry more rapidly, the
          rate varying with the type of ring.

               The commands to use rings are `P' (put on) and `R' (remove).

          7.9.  Spellbooks (`+')

               Spellbooks are tomes of mighty magic.  When studied with the
          `r'  (read) command, they transfer to the reader the knowledge of
          a spell (and therefore eventually become  unreadable)  --  unless
          the  attempt  backfires.   Reading a cursed spellbook or one with
          mystic runes beyond your ken can be harmful to your health!

               A spell (even when learned) can also backfire when you  cast
          it.   If  you  attempt to cast a spell well above your experience
          level, or if you have little skill  with  the  appropriate  spell
          type,  or  cast  it at a time when your luck is particularly bad,
          you can end up wasting both the energy and the time  required  in
          casting.

               Casting  a  spell  calls  forth magical energies and focuses
          them with your naked mind.  Some of the magical  energy  released
          comes  from  within  you, and casting several spells in a row may
          tire you.  Casting of spells also requires practice.  With  prac-
          tice,  your skill in each category of spell casting will improve.
          Over time, however, your memory of each spell will dim,  and  you
          will need to relearn it.




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               Some  spells  are  directional--you must give a direction in
          which to cast them.  You can also cast  them  at  yourself  (just
          give  a  `.'  or  `s' for the direction). Be warned, however, for
          this is often  unwise.   Other  spells  are  nondirectional--they
          don't require a direction.

               Just as weapons are divided into groups in which a character
          can become proficient (to varying degrees), spells are  similarly
          grouped.  Successfully casting a spell exercises the skill group;
          sufficient skill may increase the potency of the spell and reduce
          the  risk  of spell failure.  Skill slots are shared with weapons
          skills.  (See also the section on ``Weapon proficiency''.)

               Casting a spell also requires flexible movement, and wearing
          various types of armor may interfere with that.

               The  command to read a spellbook is the same as for scrolls,
          `r' (read).  The `+' command lists  your  current  spells,  their
          levels, categories, and chances for failure.  The `Z' (cast) com-
          mand casts a spell.

          7.10.  Tools (`(')

               Tools are miscellaneous objects with various purposes.  Some
          tools  have  a limited number of uses, akin to wand charges.  For
          example, lamps burn out after a while.  Other tools are  contain-
          ers, which objects can be placed into or taken out of.

               The command to use tools is `a' (apply).

          7.10.1.  Containers

               You  may  encounter bags, boxes, and chests in your travels.
          A tool of this sort can be opened  with  the  ``#loot''  extended
          command  when you are standing on top of it (that is, on the same
          floor spot), or with the `a' (apply) command when you are  carry-
          ing  it.   However,  chests are often locked, and are in any case
          unwieldy objects.  You must set one down before unlocking  it  by
          using a key or lock-picking tool with the `a' (apply) command, by
          kicking it with the `^D' command, or by using a weapon  to  force
          the lock with the ``#force'' extended command.

               Some chests are trapped, causing nasty things to happen when
          you unlock or open them.  You can check for and try to deactivate
          traps with the ``#untrap'' extended command.

          7.11.  Amulets (`"')

               Amulets  are very similar to rings, and often more powerful.
          Like rings, amulets have various magical properties, some benefi-
          cial, some harmful, which are activated by putting them on.

               Only one amulet may be worn at a time, around your neck.



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               The  commands  to use amulets are the same as for rings, `P'
          (put on) and `R' (remove).

          7.12.  Gems (`*')

               Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot  of  gold.
          They  are  also a far more efficient way of carrying your riches.
          Valuable gems increase your score if you bring them with you when
          you exit.

               Other small rocks are also categorized as gems, but they are
          much less valuable.  All rocks, however, can be used  as  projec-
          tile  weapons  (if  you  have a sling).  In the most desperate of
          cases, you can still throw them by hand.

          7.13.  Large rocks (``')

               Statues and boulders are not particularly  useful,  and  are
          generally  heavy.   It  is rumored that some statues are not what
          they seem.

               Very large humanoids (giants and their ilk) have been  known
          to use boulders as weapons.

          7.14.  Gold (`$')

               Gold  adds  to  your  score, and you can buy things in shops
          with it.  There are a number of monsters in the dungeon that  may
          be influenced by the amount of gold you are carrying (shopkeepers
          aside).


          8.  Conduct

               As if winning NetHack were  not  difficult  enough,  certain
          players  seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on
          the way they play the game.  The game automatically  tracks  some
          of  these  challenges,  which can be checked at any time with the
          #conduct command or at the end of the game.  When you perform  an
          action  which  breaks  a  challenge, it will no longer be listed.
          This gives players extra ``bragging rights'' for winning the game
          with  these  challenges.  Note that it is perfectly acceptable to
          win the game without resorting to these restrictions and that  it
          is  unusual  for  players  to adhere to challenges the first time
          they win the game.

               Several of the challenges are related  to  eating  behavior.
          The  most difficult of these is the foodless challenge.  Although
          creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is
          a  physiological  need for water; thus there is no restriction on
          drinking beverages, even if they provide some  minor  food  bene-
          fits.   Calling  upon  your god for help with starvation does not
          violate any food challenges either.



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               A strict vegan diet is one which  avoids  any  food  derived
          from animals.  The primary source of nutrition is fruits and veg-
          etables.  The corpses and tins of blobs (`b'), jellies (`j'), and
          fungi  (`F') are also considered to be vegetable matter.  Certain
          human food is prepared without animal  products;  namely,  lembas
          wafers,  cram  rations, food rations (gunyoki), K-rations, and C-
          rations.  Metal or another normally indigestible  material  eaten
          while polymorphed into a creature that can digest it is also con-
          sidered vegan food.  Note however that eating  such  items  still
          counts against foodless conduct.

               Vegetarians  do  not eat animals; however, they are less se-
          lective about eating animal byproducts than vegans.  In  addition
          to the vegan items listed above, they may eat any kind of pudding
          (`P') other than the black puddings, eggs and food made from eggs
          (fortune  cookies  and pancakes), food made with milk (cream pies
          and candy bars), and lumps of royal jelly.  Monks are expected to
          observe a vegetarian diet.

               Eating  any kind of meat violates the vegetarian, vegan, and
          foodless conducts.  This includes tripe rations, the  corpses  or
          tins  of  any monsters not mentioned above, and the various other
          chunks of meat found in the dungeon.  Swallowing and digesting  a
          monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate the creature's
          corpse.  Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items  while  poly-
          morphed  into  a  creature  that can digest it, or eating monster
          brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered eating
          an animal, although wax is only an animal byproduct.

               Regardless  of  conduct,  there will be some items which are
          indigestible, and others which are hazardous  to  eat.   Using  a
          swallow-and-digest attack against a monster is equivalent to eat-
          ing the monster's corpse.  Please note that the term ``vegan'' is
          used  here  only  in  the context of diet.  You are still free to
          choose not to use  or  wear  items  derived  from  animals  (e.g.
          leather,  dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not
          keep track of this for you.  Also note that ``milky'' potions may
          be a translucent white, but they do not contain milk, so they are
          compatible with a vegan  diet.   Slime  molds  or  player-defined
          ``fruits'',  although they could be anything from ``cherries'' to
          ``pork chops'', are also assumed to be vegan.

               An atheist is one who rejects religion.  This means that you
          cannot  #pray,  #offer  sacrifices  to  any god, #turn undead, or
          #chat with a priest.  Particularly selective  readers  may  argue
          that  playing  Monk or Priest characters should violate this con-
          duct; that is a choice left to the player.  Offering  the  Amulet
          of  Yendor  to  your  god is necessary to win the game and is not
          counted against this conduct.  You are also not penalized for be-
          ing  spoken  to  by an angry god, priest(ess), or other religious
          figure; a true atheist would hear the words but attach no special
          meaning to them.




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               Most  players  fight with a wielded weapon (or tool intended
          to be wielded as a weapon).  Another challenge is to win the game
          without  using such a wielded weapon.  You are still permitted to
          throw, fire, and kick weapons; use a wand, spell, or  other  type
          of item; or fight with your hands and feet.

               In  NetHack,  a  pacifist  refuses to cause the death of any
          other monster (i.e. if you would get experience for  the  death).
          This  is a particularly difficult challenge, although it is still
          possible to gain experience by other means.

               An illiterate character cannot read or write.  This includes
          reading  a scroll, spellbook, fortune cookie message, or t-shirt;
          writing a scroll; or making an engraving of anything other than a
          single ``x'' (the traditional signature of an illiterate person).
          Reading an engraving, or any item that is absolutely necessary to
          win  the game, is not counted against this conduct.  The identity
          of scrolls and spellbooks  (and  knowledge  of  spells)  in  your
          starting  inventory  is  assumed to be learned from your teachers
          prior to the start of the game and isn't counted.

               There are several other challenges tracked by the game.   It
          is possible to eliminate one or more species of monsters by geno-
          cide; playing without this feature  is  considered  a  challenge.
          When the game offers you an opportunity to genocide monsters, you
          may respond with the monster type ``none'' if  you  want  to  de-
          cline.   You  can change the form of an item into another item of
          the same type (``polypiling'') or the form of your own body  into
          another  creature  (``polyself'')  by  wand,  spell, or potion of
          polymorph; avoiding these effects are each considered challenges.
          Polymorphing  monsters,  including pets, does not break either of
          these challenges.  Finally, you may sometimes receive  wishes;  a
          game  without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as
          is a game without wishing for an artifact (even if  the  artifact
          immediately disappears).  When the game offers you an opportunity
          to make a wish for an item, you may  choose  ``nothing''  if  you
          want to decline.


          9.  Options

               Due  to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how
          NetHack should do things, there are options you can set to change
          how NetHack behaves.

          9.1.  Setting the options

               Options  may  be  set in a number of ways.  Within the game,
          the `O' command allows you to view all options and change most of
          them.   You can also set options automatically by placing them in
          the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable  or  in  a  configuration
          file.  Some versions of NetHack also have front-end programs that
          allow you to set options before starting the game.



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          9.2.  Using the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable

               The NETHACKOPTIONS variable is  a  comma-separated  list  of
          initial  values for the various options.  Some can only be turned
          on or off.  You turn one of these on by adding the  name  of  the
          option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or ``no'' be-
          fore the name.  Others take a character string as a  value.   You
          can  set  string  options  by  typing the option name, a colon or
          equals sign, and then the value of the string.  The value is ter-
          minated by the next comma or the end of string.

               For example, to set up an environment variable so that ``au-
          toquiver'' is on, ``autopickup'' is  off,  the  name  is  set  to
          ``Blue  Meanie'',  and  the fruit is set to ``papaya'', you would
          enter the command

               % setenv NETHACKOPTIONS "autoquiver,\!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"

          in csh (note the need to escape the ! since it's special  to  the
          shell), or

               $ NETHACKOPTIONS="autoquiver,!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"
               $ export NETHACKOPTIONS

          in sh or ksh.

          9.3.  Using a configuration file

               Any  line  in  the  configuration  file starting with `#' is
          treated as a comment.  Any line in the configuration file  start-
          ing  with ``OPTIONS='' may be filled out with options in the same
          syntax as in  NETHACKOPTIONS.   Any  line  starting  with  ``DUN-
          GEON='',  ``EFFECTS='',  ``MONSTERS='', ``OBJECTS='', ``TRAPS='',
          or ``BOULDER='' is taken as defining the  corresponding  dungeon,
          effects, monsters, objects traps or boulder option in a different
          syntax, a sequence of decimal numbers giving the character  posi-
          tion  in the current font to be used in displaying each entry.  A
          zero in any entry in such a sequence leaves the display  of  that
          entry  unchanged;  this feature is not available using the option
          syntax.  Such a sequence can be continued to  multiple  lines  by
          putting a `\' at the end of each line to be continued.

               If your copy of the game included the compile time AUTOPICK-
          UP_EXCEPTIONS option, then any  line  starting  with  ``AUTOPICK-
          UP_EXCEPTION=''  is  taken  as defining an exception to the pick-
          up_types option.  There is a section of this Guidebook that  dis-
          cusses that.

               The default name of the configuration file varies on differ-
          ent operating systems, but NETHACKOPTIONS can also be set to  the
          full  name  of  a  file  you want to use (possibly preceded by an
          `@').




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          9.4.  Customization options

               Here are explanations of what the various options do.  Char-
          acter  strings  that  are too long may be truncated.  Some of the
          options listed may be inactive in your dungeon.

          align
            Your  starting  alignment  (align:lawful,   align:neutral,   or
            align:chaotic).   You  may  specify just the first letter.  The
            default is to randomly pick an appropriate  alignment.   Cannot
            be set with the `O' command.

          autodig
            Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving
            into a place that can be dug (default false).

          autoopen
            Walking into a door attempts to open it (default true).

          autopickup
            Automatically pick up things onto which you move (default  on).
            See pickup_types to refine the behavior.

          autoquiver
            This  option  controls  what  happens  when you attempt the `f'
            (fire) command with an empty quiver.  When true,  the  computer
            will  fill your quiver with some suitable weapon.  Note that it
            will not take into account the blessed/cursed status,  enchant-
            ment, damage, or quality of the weapon; you are free to manual-
            ly fill your quiver with the `Q' command instead.  If no weapon
            is found or the option is false, the `t' (throw) command is ex-
            ecuted instead.  (default false)

          autounlock
            Automatically apply unlocking tool when trying to open a locked
            door (default true).

          boulder
            Set  the  character  used  to display boulders (default is rock
            class symbol).

          catname
            Name your starting cat (ex. ``catname:Morris'').  Cannot be set
            with the `O' command.

          character
            Pick  your  type of character (ex. ``character:Monk''); synonym
            for ``role''.  See ``name'' for an alternate method of specify-
            ing  your role.  Normally only the first letter of the value is
            examined; the string ``random'' is an exception.

          checkpoint
            Save game state after each level change, for possible  recovery
            after program crash (default on).


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          checkspace
            Check  free  disk  space  before writing files to disk (default
            on).  You may have to turn this off if you have more than 2  GB
            free space on the partition used for your save and level files.
            Only applies when MFLOPPY was defined during compilation.

          cmdassist
            Have the game provide some additional  command  assistance  for
            new  players  if  it detects some anticipated mistakes (default
            on).

          confirm
            Have user confirm  attacks  on  pets,  shopkeepers,  and  other
            peaceable creatures (default on).

          DECgraphics
            Use  a  predefined  selection  of  characters  from the DEC VT-
            xxx/DEC Rainbow/ANSI line-drawing character set to display  the
            dungeon/effects/traps instead of having to define a full graph-
            ics set yourself (default off).  This option also sets up prop-
            er  handling  of graphics characters for such terminals, so you
            should specify it when appropriate even if you override the se-
            lections with your own graphics strings.

          disclose
            Controls  options  for  disclosing various information when the
            game ends (defaults to all possibilities being disclosed).  The
            possibilities are:

                 i - disclose your inventory.
                 a - disclose your attributes.
                 v - summarize monsters that have been vanquished.
                 g - list monster species that have been genocided.
                 c - display your conduct.

            Each  disclosure  possibility  can  optionally be preceded by a
            prefix which let you refine how it behaves. Here are the  valid
            prefixes:

                 y - prompt you and default to yes on the prompt.
                 n - prompt you and default to no on the prompt.
                 + - disclose it without prompting.
                 - - do not disclose it and do not prompt.

            (ex. ``disclose:yi na +v -g -c'') The example sets inventory to
            prompt and default to yes, attributes to prompt and default  to
            no,  vanquished to disclose without prompting, genocided to not
            disclose and not to prompt, conduct to not disclose and not  to
            prompt.   Note  that  the vanquished monsters list includes all
            monsters killed by traps and each other as well as by you.

          dogname
            Name your starting dog (ex. ``dogname:Fang'').  Cannot  be  set
            with the `O' command.


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          dumpfile
            The  name of a file where the disclosure information is written
            when the game ends. You may use the macro %n that will  be  re-
            placed  with  the  name of your player character. The game must
            have write permissions to the directory where the file is writ-
            ten. Normally /tmp may be used for unix systems.

          dungeon
            Set  the  graphics  symbols for displaying the dungeon (default
            `` |--------||.-|++##.##<><>_|\\#{}.}..## #}'').   The  dungeon
            option  should be followed by a string of 1-41 characters to be
            used instead of the default map-drawing characters.   The  dun-
            geon map will use the characters you specify instead of the de-
            fault symbols, and default symbols for any you do not  specify.
            Remember  that  you may need to escape some of these characters
            on a command line if they are special to your shell.

            Note that NetHack escape-processes this option string  in  con-
            ventional  C  fashion.  This means that `\' is a prefix to take
            the following character literally.  Thus `\' needs to be repre-
            sented  as  `\\'.  The special escape form `\m' switches on the
            meta bit in the following character, and the `^' prefix  causes
            the following character to be treated as a control character.

            The  order of the symbols is:  solid rock, vertical wall, hori-
            zontal wall, upper left corner, upper right corner, lower  left
            corner, lower right corner, cross wall, upward T wall, downward
            T wall, leftward T wall, rightward T wall,  no  door,  vertical
            open door, horizontal open door, vertical closed door, horizon-
            tal closed door, iron bars, tree, floor of a room, dark  corri-
            dor,  lit  corridor,  stairs up, stairs down, ladder up, ladder
            down, altar, grave, throne, kitchen  sink,  fountain,  pool  or
            moat,  ice,  lava, vertical lowered drawbridge, horizontal low-
            ered drawbridge, vertical raised drawbridge, horizontal  raised
            drawbridge, air, cloud, under water.

            You  might  want  to  use `+' for the corners and T walls for a
            more aesthetic, boxier display.  Note that in the next release,
            new symbols may be added, or the present ones rearranged.

            Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          effects
            Set  the  graphics  symbols for displaying special effects (de-
            fault ``|-\\/*!)(0#@*/-\\||\\-//-\\| |\\-/'').  The effects op-
            tion  should  be  followed by a string of 1-29 characters to be
            used instead of the default special-effects  characters.   This
            string  is  subjected to the same processing as the dungeon op-
            tion.

            The order of the symbols is:  vertical beam,  horizontal  beam,
            left  slant, right slant, digging beam, camera flash beam, left
            boomerang, right boomerang, four glyphs giving the sequence for
            magic  resistance  displays,  the  eight surrounding glyphs for


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            swallowed display, nine glyphs for  explosions.   An  explosion
            consists of three rows (top, middle, and bottom) of three char-
            acters.  The explosion is centered in the center of this 3 by 3
            array.

            Note that in the next release, new symbols may be added, or the
            present ones rearranged.

            Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          extmenu
            Changes the extended commands interface to  pop-up  a  menu  of
            available commands.  It is keystroke compatible with the tradi-
            tional interface except that it does not require that  you  hit
            Enter.  It  is  implemented only by the tty port (default off),
            when the game has been compiled to support tty graphics.

          female
            An obsolete synonym for ``gender:female''.  Cannot be set  with
            the `O' command.

          fixinv
            An  object's  inventory  letter  sticks to it when it's dropped
            (default on).  If this is off, dropping an  object  shifts  all
            the remaining inventory letters.

          fruit
            Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (ex. ``fruit:man-
            go'') (default ``slime mold'').  Basically a  nostalgic  whimsy
            that  NetHack  uses  from time to time.  You should set this to
            something you find more appetizing than  slime  mold.   Apples,
            oranges,  pears,  bananas, and melons already exist in NetHack,
            so don't use those.

          gender
            Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female).   You  may
            specify  just  the first letter.  Although you can still denote
            your gender using the  ``male''  and  ``female''  options,  the
            ``gender'' option will take precedence.  The default is to ran-
            domly pick an appropriate gender.  Cannot be set with  the  `O'
            command.

          help
            If  more  information is available for an object looked at with
            the `/' command, ask if you want to see it (default on).  Turn-
            ing  help  off  makes  just looking at things faster, since you
            aren't interrupted with the ``More info?'' prompt, but it  also
            means that you might miss some interesting and/or important in-
            formation.

          horsename
            Name your starting horse (ex.  ``horsename:Trigger'').   Cannot
            be set with the `O' command.



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          IBMgraphics
            Use  a predefined selection of IBM extended ASCII characters to
            display the dungeon/effects/traps instead of having to define a
            full  graphics  set  yourself  (default off).  This option also
            sets up proper handling of graphics characters for such  termi-
            nals,  so  you  should  specify it when appropriate even if you
            override the selections with your own graphics strings.

          ignintr
            Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off).

          invweight
            Display the weights of items in your inventory  (and  at  other
            times)

          legacy
            Display an introductory message when starting the game (default
            on).

          lit_corridor
            Show corridor squares seen by night vision or  a  light  source
            held by your character as lit (default off).

          lootabc
            Use  the old `a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts when looting,
            rather than the mnemonics `o', `i', and `b' (default off).

          mail
            Enable mail delivery during the game (default on).

          male
            An obsolete synonym for ``gender:male''.  Cannot  be  set  with
            the `O' command.

          menustyle
            Controls the interface used when you need to choose various ob-
            jects (in response to the Drop  command,  for  instance).   The
            value  specified  should be the first letter of one of the fol-
            lowing:  traditional, combination, partial,  or  full.   Tradi-
            tional  was  the only interface available for earlier versions;
            it consists of a prompt for object class  characters,  followed
            by  an  object-by-object  prompt for all items matching the se-
            lected object class(es).  Combination starts with a prompt  for
            object  class(es)  of  interest,  but  then  displays a menu of
            matching objects rather  than  prompting  one-by-one.   Partial
            skips  the  object  class  filtering and immediately displays a
            menu of all objects.  Full displays a menu  of  object  classes
            rather than a character prompt, and then a menu of matching ob-
            jects for selection.

          menu_deselect_all
            Menu character accelerator to deselect all  items  in  a  menu.
            Implemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports.  Default '-'.



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          menu_deselect_page
            Menu  character  accelerator to deselect all items on this page
            of a menu.  Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty  ports.   De-
            fault '\'.

          menu_first_page
            Menu character accelerator to jump to the first page in a menu.
            Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default '^'.

          menu_headings
            Controls how the headings in a menu  are  highlighted.   Values
            are 'bold', 'inverse', or 'underline'.  Not all ports can actu-
            ally display all three types.

          menu_invert_all
            Menu character accelerator to invert all items in a menu.   Im-
            plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports.  Default '@'.

          menu_invert_page
            Menu  character accelerator to invert all items on this page of
            a menu.  Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.   Default
            '~'.

          menu_last_page
            Menu  character accelerator to jump to the last page in a menu.
            Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default '|'.

          menu_next_page
            Menu character accelerator to goto the next menu page.   Imple-
            mented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default '>'.

          menu_previous_page
            Menu character accelerator to goto the previous menu page.  Im-
            plemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default '<'.

          menu_search
            Menu character accelerator to search for a menu  item.   Imple-
            mented by the Amiga, Gem and X11 ports.  Default ':'.

          menu_select_all
            Menu  character accelerator to select all items in a menu.  Im-
            plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports.  Default '.'.

          menu_select_page
            Menu character accelerator to select all items on this page  of
            a  menu.  Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default
            ','.

          monsters
            Set the characters used to  display  monster  classes  (default
            ``abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU-
            VWXYZ@ '&;:~]'').  This string is subjected to  the  same  pro-
            cessing as the dungeon option.  The order of the symbols is ant
            or other insect, blob, cockatrice, dog or other canine, eye  or


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            sphere,  feline,  gremlin, humanoid, imp or minor demon, jelly,
            kobold, leprechaun, mimic, nymph, orc, piercer, quadruped,  ro-
            dent,  arachnid or centipede, trapper or lurker above, horse or
            unicorn, vortex, worm, xan or other mythical/fantastic  insect,
            light, zruty, angelic being, bat or bird, centaur, dragon, ele-
            mental, fungus or mold, gnome, giant humanoid,  invisible  mon-
            ster,  jabberwock,  Keystone Kop, lich, mummy, naga, ogre, pud-
            ding or ooze, quantum mechanic, rust monster, snake, troll, um-
            ber  hulk, vampire, wraith, xorn, apelike creature, zombie, hu-
            man, ghost, golem, demon, sea monster, lizard, long worm  tail,
            and mimic.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          msghistory
            The  number  of  top line messages to save (and recall with ^P)
            (default 20).  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          msg_window
            Allows you to change the way recalled messages  are  displayed.
            (It  is currently implemented for tty only.)  The possible val-
            ues are:

                 s - single message
                 c - combination, two messages as `single', then as `full'.
                 f - full window, oldest message first.
                 r - full window, newest message first.

            For backward compatibility, no  value  needs  to  be  specified
            (which  defaults  to  `full'),  or it can be negated (which de-
            faults to `single').

          name
            Set your character's name (defaults to your  user  name).   You
            can  also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
            or more letters of the role (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B
            -C  -H  -K  -M  -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -V -W).  If -@ is used for the
            role, then a random one will be automatically  chosen.   Cannot
            be set with the `O' command.

          newcolors
            Set  the  color  palette for tty ports to more beautiful values
            than the original NetHack palette. If black  is  not  shown  as
            dark  gray,  disable  this  option (default on).  Cannot be set
            with the `O' command.

          news
            Read the NetHack news file, if present (default on).  Since the
            news is shown at the beginning of the game, there's no point in
            setting this with the `O' command.

          null
            Send padding nulls to the terminal (default off).

          number_pad
            Use the number keys to move instead of [yuhjklbn] (default 0 or


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            off).   (number_pad:2  invokes  the  old DOS behavior where `5'
            means `g', meta-`5' means `G',  and meta-`0' means `I'.)

          objects
            Set the characters used  to  display  object  classes  (default
            ``])[="(%!?+/$*`0_.'').   This  string is subjected to the same
            processing as the dungeon option.  The order of the symbols  is
            illegal-object  (should  never  be  seen), weapon, armor, ring,
            amulet, tool, food, potion, scroll, spellbook, wand, gold,  gem
            or  rock, boulder or statue, iron ball, chain, and venom.  Can-
            not be set with the `O' command.

          packorder
            Specify  the  order  to   list   object   types   in   (default
            ``")[%?+!=/(*`0_'').   The  value  of  this  option should be a
            string containing the symbols for  the  various  object  types.
            Any  omitted  types  are filled in at the end from the previous
            order.

          paranoid_hit
            If true, asks you to type the word  ``yes''  when  hitting  any
            peaceful monster, not just the letter ``y''.

          paranoid_quit
            If true, asks you to type the word ``yes'' when quitting or en-
            tering Explore mode, not just the letter ``y''.

          paranoid_remove
            If true, always show menu with the R and T commands  even  when
            there is only one item to remove or take off.

          perm_invent
            If  true,  always  display  your current inventory in a window.
            This only makes sense for windowing system interfaces that  im-
            plement this feature.

          pettype
            Specify  the  type  of  your  initial pet, if you are playing a
            character class that uses multiple types of pets; or choose  to
            have  no  initial  pet  at  all.   Possible values are ``cat'',
            ``dog'' and ``none''.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          pickup_burden
            When you pick up an item that  would  exceed  this  encumbrance
            level  (Unburdened, Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed, or
            overLoaded), you will be asked if you want to  continue.   (De-
            fault `S').

          pickup_dropped
            If  this  boolean  option  is false and autopickup is on, don't
            pick up things that you have  droppped  deliberately,  even  if
            they are in pickup_types.  Default is on.




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          pickup_thrown
            If  this  boolean  option  is true and autopickup is on, try to
            pick up things that you threw, even if  they  aren't  in  pick-
            up_types.  Default is on.

          pickup_types
            Specify the object types to be picked up when autopickup is on.
            Default is all types.  If your copy of the game has the experi-
            mental  compile time option AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTIONS included, you
            may be able  to  use  autopickup_exception  configuration  file
            lines to further refine autopickup behavior.

          pilesize
            Allows  setting  the  number  of items that trigger the "Things
            that are here".  The minimum value allowed  is  1,  which  will
            tell  you  about one object and will never give you the "Things
            that are here" list.

          prayconfirm
            Prompt for confirmation before praying (default on).

          pushweapon
            Using the `w' (wield) command when already  wielding  something
            pushes  the  old  item into your alternate weapon slot (default
            off).

          qwertz_layout
            If QWERTZ was set in config.h at compile-time this  option  can
            be  used to swap the y and z keys. This is useful for some key-
            board layouts.

          race
            Selects your race (for example,  ``race:human'').   Default  is
            random.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          rest_on_space
            Make  the  space  bar a synonym for the `.' (rest) command (de-
            fault off).

          role
            Pick your type of character (ex. ``role:Samurai''); synonym for
            ``character''.   See ``name'' for an alternate method of speci-
            fying your role.  Normally only the first letter of  the  value
            is  examined;  `r'  is an exception with ``Rogue'', ``Ranger'',
            and ``random'' values.

          runmode
            Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window  when
            engaged  in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
            control+direction and so forth, or via the  travel  command  or
            mouse click).  The possible values are:





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                 teleport - update the map after movement has finished;
                 run - update the map after every seven or so steps;
                 walk - update the map after each step;
                 crawl - like walk, but pause briefly after each step.

            This option only affects the game's screen display, not the ac-
            tual results of moving.  The default is `run';  versions  prior
            to  3.4.1  used  `teleport' only.  Whether or not the effect is
            noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type
            of terminal.

          safe_pet
            Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).

          scores
            Control  what  parts of the score list you are shown at the end
            (ex.  ``scores:5 top scores/4 around  my  score/own  scores'').
            Only  the  first  letter of each category (`t', `a', or `o') is
            necessary.

          showborn
            When the game ends, show the number of each monster created  in
            the  "Vanquished creatures" list, if it differs from the number
            of those monsters killed.

          showexp
            Show your accumulated experience points on bottom line (default
            off).

          showrace
            Display  yourself  as  the glyph for your race, rather than the
            glyph for your role (default off).  Note that this setting  af-
            fects  only the appearance of the display, not the way the game
            treats you.

          showscore
            Show your approximate accumulated score on bottom line (default
            off).

          showweight
            Show total weight in inventory on bottom line (default off).

          silent
            Suppress terminal beeps (default on).

          sortloot
            Controls  the  behavior of the sortloot patch that sorts pickup
            lists for inventory and #loot commands and  some  others.   The
            possible values are:

                 full - always sort the lists;
                 loot - only sort the lists that don't use inventory
                        letters, like with the #loot and pickup commands;
                 none - show lists the traditional way without sorting.


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          sortpack
            Sort  the  pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
            fault on).

          sound
            Enable messages about what your character hears  (default  on).
            Note that this has nothing to do with your computer's audio ca-
            pabilities.  This option is only partly under  player  control.
            The  game toggles it off and on during and after sleep, for ex-
            ample.

          sparkle
            Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
            hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on).

          standout
            Boldface monsters and ``--More--'' (default off).

          time
            Show  the  elapsed  game  time in turns on bottom line (default
            off).

          timed_delay
            When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as  with  ex-
            plosions  and  moving  objects, use a timer rather than sending
            extra characters to the screen.  (Applies to ``tty''  interface
            only;  ``X11''  interface always uses a timer based delay.  The
            default is on if configured into the program.)

          tombstone
            Draw a tombstone graphic upon your death (default on).

          toptenwin
            Put the ending display in a NetHack window instead of on stdout
            (default  off).  Setting this option makes the score list visi-
            ble when a windowing version of NetHack is  started  without  a
            parent  window,  but  it no longer leaves the score list around
            after game end on a terminal or emulating window.

          traps
            Set  the  graphics  symbols  for  displaying   traps   (default
            ``^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"^^^^'').   The  traps option should be fol-
            lowed by a string of 1-22 characters to be used instead of  the
            default traps characters.  This string is subjected to the same
            processing as the dungeon option.

            The order of the symbols is: arrow  trap,  dart  trap,  falling
            rock trap, squeaky board, bear trap, land mine, rolling boulder
            trap, sleeping gas trap, rust trap, fire trap, pit, spiked pit,
            hole,  trap  door,  teleportation trap, level teleporter, magic
            portal, web, statue trap, magic trap, anti-magic  field,  poly-
            morph trap.

            Cannot be set with the `O' command.


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          travel
            Allow the travel command (default on).  Turning this option off
            will prevent the game from attempting unintended moves  if  you
            make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map window.

          verbose
            Provide more commentary during the game (default on).

          windowtype
            Select  which  windowing  system  to  use,  such  as ``tty'' or
            ``X11'' (default depends on version).  Cannot be set  with  the
            `O' command.

          win_edge
            Align menus and text windows in tty left instead of right. (de-
            fault off)

          9.5.  Window Port Customization options

               Here are explanations of the various options that  are  used
          to  customize  and  change  the characteristics of the windowtype
          that you have chosen.  Character strings that are too long may be
          truncated.   Not  all  window  ports will adjust for all settings
          listed here.  You can safely add any of  these  options  to  your
          config  file,  and  if the window port is capable of adjusting to
          suit your preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it  can't  it
          will  silently  ignore it.  You can find out if an option is sup-
          ported by the window port that you are currently using by  check-
          ing  to see if it shows up in the Options list.  Some options are
          dynamic and can be specified during the game with  the  `O'  com-
          mand.

          align_message
            Where  to align or place the message window (top, bottom, left,
            or right)

          align_status
            Where to align or place the status window (top,  bottom,  left,
            or right).

          ascii_map
            NetHack should display an ascii character map if it can.

          color
            NetHack  should display color if it can for different monsters,
            objects, and dungeon features

          eight_bit_tty
            NetHack should pass eight-bit character  values  (for  example,
            specified  with the traps option) straight through to your ter-
            minal (default off).

          font_map
            NetHack should use a font  by  the  chosen  name  for  the  map


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            window.

          font_menu
            NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for menu windows.

          font_message
            NetHack  should  use  a font by the chosen name for the message
            window.

          font_status
            NetHack should use a font by the chosen  name  for  the  status
            window.

          font_text
            NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for text windows.

          font_size_map
            NetHack should use this size font for the map window.

          font_size_menu
            NetHack should use this size font for menu windows.

          font_size_message
            NetHack should use this size font for the message window.

          font_size_status
            NetHack should use this size font for the status window.

          font_size_text
            NetHack should use this size font for text windows.

          fullscreen
            NetHack should try and display on the entire screen rather than
            in a window.

          hilite_pet
            Visually distinguish pets from similar animals  (default  off).
            The  behavior  of  this option depends on the type of windowing
            you use.  In text windowing, text highlighting or inverse video
            is  often  used;  with tiles, generally displays a heart symbol
            near pets.

          large_font
            NetHack should use a large font.

          map_mode
            NetHack should display the map in the manner specified.

          mouse_support
            Allow use of the mouse for input and travel.

          player_selection
            NetHack should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts for  charac-
            ter selection.


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          popup_dialog
            NetHack should pop up dialog boxes for input.

          preload_tiles
            NetHack  should preload tiles into memory.  For example, in the
            protected mode MSDOS version, control whether  tiles  get  pre-
            loaded  into  RAM  at the start of the game.  Doing so enhances
            performance of the tile graphics, but uses  more  memory.  (de-
            fault on).  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          scroll_amount
            NetHack  should scroll the display by this number of cells when
            the hero reaches the scroll_margin.

          scroll_margin
            NetHack should scroll the display when the hero  or  cursor  is
            this number of cells away from the edge of the window.

          softkeyboard
            Display  an  onscreen  keyboard.   Handhelds are most likely to
            support this option.

          splash_screen
            NetHack should display an opening splash screen when it  starts
            up (default yes).

          tiled_map
            NetHack should display a tiled map if it can.

          tile_file
            Specify  the  name  of an alternative tile file to override the
            default.

          tile_height
            Specify the preferred height of each tile  in  a  tile  capable
            port.

          tile_width
            Specify the preferred width of each tile in a tile capable port

          use_inverse
            NetHack should display inverse when the game specifies it.

          vary_msgcount
            NetHack should display this number of messages at a time in the
            message window.

          windowcolors
            NetHack  should  display  windows  with  the  specified   fore-
            ground/background colors if it can.

          wraptext
            NetHack  port  should wrap long lines of text if they don't fit
            in the visible area of the window.


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          9.6.  Platform-specific Customization options

               Here are explanations of options that are used  by  specific
          platforms or ports to customize and change the port behavior.

          altkeyhandler
            Select  an  alternate  keystroke handler dll to load (Win32 tty
            NetHack only).  The name of the handler  is  specified  without
            the .dll extension and without any path information.  Cannot be
            set with the `O' command.

          altmeta
            (default on, AMIGA NetHack only).

          BIOS
            Use BIOS calls to update the screen display quickly and to read
            the  keyboard  (allowing  the use of arrow keys to move) on ma-
            chines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default  off,  OS/2,
            PC, and ST NetHack only).

          flush
            (default off, AMIGA NetHack only).

          MACgraphics
            (default on, Mac NetHack only).

          page_wait
            (default on, Mac NetHack only).

          rawio
            Force  raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bullet-
            proof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P' as a  printer  toggle
            without  it)  (default  off,  OS/2,  PC,  and ST NetHack only).
            Note:  DEC Rainbows hang if this is turned on.  Cannot  be  set
            with the `O' command.

          soundcard
            (default on, PC NetHack only).  Cannot be set with the `O' com-
            mand.

          subkeyvalue
            (Win32 tty NetHack only).  May be used to alter  the  value  of
            keystrokes that the operating system returns to NetHack to help
            compensate for international keyboard issues.   OPTIONS=subkey-
            value:171/92  will  return 92 to NetHack, if 171 was originally
            going to be returned.  You can use multiple subkeyvalue  state-
            ments in the config file if needed.  Cannot be set with the `O'
            command.

          video
            Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only).  Values are `autode-
            tect',  `default',  or  `vga'.   Setting `vga' (or `autodetect'
            with vga hardware present)  will  cause  the  game  to  display
            tiles.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.


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          videocolors
            Set  the  color  palette for PC systems using NO_TERMS (default
            4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11, (PC NetHack only).  The  order
            of   colors   is   red,  green,  brown,  blue,  magenta,  cyan,
            bright.white, bright.red,  bright.green,  yellow,  bright.blue,
            bright.magenta,  and  bright.cyan.  Other systems compiled with
            TTY_GRAPHICS and VIDEOSHADES allow defining three more  colors.
            The  order of colors is red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan,
            gray, black,  bright.red,  bright.green,  yellow,  bright.blue,
            bright.magenta,  bright.cyan and white.  Cannot be set with the
            `O' command.

          videoshades
            Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available (de-
            fault dark normal light, PC NetHack only).  If the game display
            is difficult to read, try adjusting these scales; if this  does
            not  correct  the  problem, try !color.  Cannot be set with the
            `O' command.

          9.7.  Configuring autopickup exceptions

               There is an experimental  compile  time  option  called  AU-
          TOPICKUP_EXCEPTIONS.   If  your  copy  of the game was built with
          that option defined, you can further refine the behavior  of  the
          autopickup  option  beyond  what  is  available through the pick-
          up_types option.

               By placing autopickup_exception lines in your  configuration
          file,  you  can  define  patterns  to be checked when the game is
          about to autopickup something.

          autopickup_exception
            Sets an exception to the pickup_types  option.   The  autopick-
            up_exception  option  should  be  followed  by a string of 1-80
            characters to be used as a pattern to match against the  singu-
            lar form of the description of an object at your location.

               You may use the following special characters in a pattern:

                 *--- matches 0 or more characters.
                 ?--- matches any single character.

               In  addition,  some characters are treated specially if they
          occur as the first character in the string pattern, specifically:

               < - always pickup an object that matches the pattern that follows.
               > - never pickup an object that matches the pattern that follows.

               Can be set with the `O' command, but the setting is not pre-
          served across saves and restores.

               Here's a couple of examples of autopickup_exceptions:




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               autopickup_exception="<*arrow"
               autopickup_exception=">*corpse"
               autopickup_exception=">* cursed*"

          The  first example above will result in autopickup of any type of
          arrow.  The second example results in the exclusion of any corpse
          from  autopickup.   The  last example results in the exclusion of
          items known to be cursed from autopickup.  A `never pickup'  rule
          takes precedence over an `always pickup' rule if both match.

          9.8.  Configuring User Sounds

               Some  platforms allow you to define sound files to be played
          when a message that matches a user-defined pattern  is  delivered
          to the message window.  At this time the Qt port and the win32tty
          and win32gui ports support the use of user sounds.

               The following config file entries are  relevant  to  mapping
          user sounds to messages:

          SOUNDDIR
            The directory that houses the sound files to be played.

          SOUND
            An  entry  that  maps  a sound file to a user-specified message
            pattern.  Each SOUND entry is broken down  into  the  following
            parts:

                 MESG       - message window mapping (the only one supported in 3.4).
                 pattern    - the pattern to match.
                 sound file - the sound file to play.
                 volume     - the volume to be set while playing the sound file.

               The  exact  format  for  the  pattern depends on whether the
          platform is built to use ``regular expressions'' or NetHack's own
          internal  pattern  matching facility. The ``regular expressions''
          matching can be much more sophisticated than the internal NetHack
          pattern  matching, but requires 3rd party libraries on some plat-
          forms.  There are plenty of references  available  elsewhere  for
          explaining  ``regular expressions''. You can verify which pattern
          matching is used by your port with the #version command.

               NetHack's internal pattern matching routine uses the follow-
          ing special characters in its pattern matching:

                 *--- matches 0 or more characters.
                 ?--- matches any single character.

               Here's  an example of a sound mapping using NetHack's inter-
          nal pattern matching facility:

                   SOUND=MESG "*chime of a cash register*" "gong.wav" 50

          specifies that any  message  with  "chime  of  a  cash  register"


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          contained  in it will trigger the playing of "gong.wav".  You can
          have multiple SOUND entries in your config file.

          9.9.  Configuring NetHack for Play by the Blind

               NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII  characters
          for  making  maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
          of NetHack completely accessible to  the  blind  who  use  speech
          and/or  Braille access technologies.  Players will require a good
          working knowledge of their screen-reader's review  features,  and
          will  have  to  know  how to navigate horizontally and vertically
          character by character. They will also find the search  capabili-
          ties  of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
          examine this Guidebook before playing so you have  an  idea  what
          the  screen layout is like. You'll also need to be able to locate
          the PC cursor. It is always  where  your  character  is  located.
          Merely  searching for an @-sign will not always find your charac-
          ter since there are other humanoids represented by the same sign.
          Your  screen-reader  should  also have a function which gives you
          the row and column of your  review  cursor  and  the  PC  cursor.
          These  co-ordinates  are  often useful in giving players a better
          sense of the overall location of items on the screen.

               While it is not difficult for experienced users to edit  the
          defaults.nh  file  to accomplish this, novices may find this task
          somewhat daunting.  Included in  all  official  distributions  of
          NetHack is a file called NHAccess.nh.  Replacing defaults.nh with
          this file will cause the game to run in a  manner  accessible  to
          the  blind.  After  you have gained some experience with the game
          and with editing files, you may want to alter settings to  better
          suit your preferences. Instructions on how to do this are includ-
          ed in the NHAccess.nh file itself. The most crucial  settings  to
          make the game accessible are:

          IBMgraphics
            Disable IBMgraphics by commenting out this option.

          menustyle:traditional
            This will assist in the interface to speech synthesizers.

          number_pad
            A  lot  of  speech access programs use the number-pad to review
            the screen.  If this is the case, disable the number_pad option
            and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.

          Character graphics
            Comment  out  all character graphics sets found near the bottom
            of the defaults.nh file.  Most of these replace  NetHack's  de-
            fault  representation of the dungeon using standard ASCII char-
            acters with fancier characters from  extended  character  sets,
            and these fancier characters can annoy screen-readers.





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          10.  Scoring

               NetHack  maintains  a  list  of the top scores or scorers on
          your machine, depending on how it is set up.  In the latter case,
          each  account  on the machine can post only one non-winning score
          on this list.  If you score higher  than  someone  else  on  this
          list,  or better your previous score, you will be inserted in the
          proper place under your current name.  How many scores  are  kept
          can also be set up when NetHack is compiled.

               Your  score  is  chiefly  based upon how much experience you
          gained, how much loot you accumulated, how deep you explored, and
          how the game ended.  If you quit the game, you escape with all of
          your gold intact.  If, however, you get killed in  the  Mazes  of
          Menace, the guild will only hear about 90% of your gold when your
          corpse is discovered (adventurers  have  been  known  to  collect
          finder's  fees).   So, consider whether you want to take one last
          hit at that monster and possibly live,  or  quit  and  stop  with
          whatever  you  have.  If you quit, you keep all your gold, but if
          you swing and live, you might find more.

               If you just want to see what the current  top  players/games
          list is, you can type nethack -s all on most versions.


          11.  Explore mode

               NetHack  is  an intricate and difficult game.  Novices might
          falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of the means to survive.
          Well,  fear  not.   Your  dungeon may come equipped with an ``ex-
          plore'' or ``discovery'' mode that enables you to keep  old  save
          files  and  cheat death, at the paltry cost of not getting on the
          high score list.

               There are two ways of enabling  explore  mode.   One  is  to
          start the game with the -X switch.  The other is to issue the `X'
          command while already playing the game.  The  other  benefits  of
          explore mode are left for the trepid reader to discover.


          12.  Credits

               The  original  hack  game  was  modeled on the Berkeley UNIX
          rogue game.   Large  portions  of  this  paper  were  shamelessly
          cribbed  from  A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael C. Toy
          and Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold.  Small portions  were  adapted  from
          Further Exploration of the Dungeons of Doom, by Ken Arromdee.

               NetHack is the product of literally dozens of people's work.
          Main events in the course of the game development  are  described
          below:





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               Jay  Fenlason  wrote the original Hack, with help from Kenny
          Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne.

               Andries Brouwer did a major re-write, transforming Hack into
          a  very  different  game, and published (at least) three versions
          (1.0.1, 1.0.2, and 1.0.3) for UNIX machines to the Usenet.

               Don G. Kneller ported Hack 1.0.3 to Microsoft C and  MS-DOS,
          producing  PC  HACK 1.01e, added support for DEC Rainbow graphics
          in version 1.03g, and went on to produce at least four more  ver-
          sions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6).

               R.  Black  ported  PC  HACK  3.51 to Lattice C and the Atari
          520/1040ST, producing ST Hack 1.03.

               Mike Stephenson merged these various versions back together,
          incorporating  many  of  the added features, and produced NetHack
          1.4.  He then coordinated a cast of thousands  in  enhancing  and
          debugging NetHack 1.4 and released NetHack versions 2.2 and 2.3.

               Later, Mike coordinated a major rewrite of the game, heading
          a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet, Steve
          Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, John Rupley, Mike Threep-
          oint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack 3.0c.

               NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by  Eric  R.  Smith,  to
          OS/2  by  Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel.  The three
          of them and Kevin Darcy later joined the main development team to
          produce subsequent revisions of 3.0.

               Olaf  Seibert ported NetHack 2.3 and 3.0 to the Amiga.  Norm
          Meluch, Stephen Spackman and Pierre  Martineau  designed  overlay
          code  for  PC  NetHack 3.0.  Johnny Lee ported NetHack 3.0 to the
          Macintosh.  Along with various other Dungeoneers, they  continued
          to  enhance  the PC, Macintosh, and Amiga ports through the later
          revisions of 3.0.

               Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by  Izchak  Miller
          and  Janet  Walz, the development team which now included Ken Ar-
          romdee, David Cohrs, Jean-Christophe Collet,  Kevin  Darcy,  Matt
          Day,  Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric
          Raymond, and Eric Smith undertook  a  radical  revision  of  3.0.
          They re-structured the game's design, and re-wrote major parts of
          the code.  They added multiple dungeons, a new  display,  special
          individual  character  quests,  a  new endgame and many other new
          features, and produced NetHack 3.1.

               Ken Lorber, Gregg Wonderly and Greg Olson,  with  help  from
          Richard  Addison,  Mike  Passaretti,  and Olaf Seibert, developed
          NetHack 3.1 for the Amiga.

               Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski, with help from Carl  Sche-
          lin, Stephen Spackman, Steve VanDevender, and Paul Winner, ported
          NetHack 3.1 to the PC.


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               Jon W{tte and Hao-yang Wang, with help from Ross Brown, Mike
          Engber,  David  Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan Handler, Johnny
          Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson,  developed  NetHack
          3.1 for the Macintosh, porting it for MPW.  Building on their de-
          velopment, Barton House added a Think C port.

               Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2.  Eric Smith port-
          ed  NetHack  3.1 to the Atari.  Pat Rankin, with help from Joshua
          Delahunty, was responsible for the VMS version  of  NetHack  3.1.
          Michael Allison ported NetHack 3.1 to Windows NT.

               Dean  Luick,  with  help from David Cohrs, developed NetHack
          3.1 for X11.  Warwick Allison wrote a tiled  version  of  NetHack
          for  the Atari; he later contributed the tiles to the DevTeam and
          tile support was then added to other platforms.

               The 3.2 development team, comprised of Michael Allison,  Ken
          Arromdee,  David  Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin Darcy,
          Timo Hakulinen, Steve  Linhart,  Dean  Luick,  Pat  Rankin,  Eric
          Smith,  Mike  Stephenson,  Janet  Walz, and Paul Winner, released
          version 3.2 in April of 1996.

               Version 3.2 marked the tenth anniversary of the formation of
          the  development team.  In a testament to their dedication to the
          game, all thirteen members of the original development  team  re-
          mained  on the team at the start of work on that release.  During
          the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and  3.2,  one  of  the
          founding  members of the development team, Dr. Izchak Miller, was
          diagnosed with cancer and passed away.  That release of the  game
          was dedicated to him by the development and porting teams.

               During the lifespan of NetHack 3.1 and 3.2, several enthusi-
          asts of the game added their own modifications to  the  game  and
          made these ``variants'' publicly available:

               Tom  Proudfoot  and  Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was
          quickly renamed NetHack--.  Working independently, Stephen  White
          wrote  NetHack Plus.  Tom Proudfoot later merged NetHack Plus and
          his own NetHack-- to produce SLASH.  Larry Stewart-Zerba and War-
          wick  Allison  improved  the spell casting system with the Wizard
          Patch.  Warwick Allison also ported NetHack to use the Qt  inter-
          face.

               Warren  Cheung  combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to pro-
          duce Slash'em, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added  more  fea-
          tures.   Kevin later joined the DevTeam and incorporated the best
          of these ideas in NetHack 3.3.

               The final update to 3.2 was the bug fix release 3.2.3, which
          was  released  simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999 just in
          time for the Year 2000.

               The 3.3 development team, consisting of Michael Allison, Ken
          Arromdee,  David  Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin Darcy,


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          Timo Hakulinen, Kevin  Hugo,  Steve  Linhart,  Ken  Lorber,  Dean
          Luick,  Pat  Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and
          Paul Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and 3.3.1 in  August
          of 2000.

               Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to
          separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in  pref-
          erence to an elf race, and the races of dwarves, gnomes, and orcs
          made their first appearance in the game  alongside  the  familiar
          human  race.  Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists, Barbar-
          ians,  Cavemen,  Healers,  Knights,  Priests,  Rogues,   Samurai,
          Tourists,  Valkyries  and  of  course,  Wizards.  It was also the
          first version to allow you to ride a steed,  and  was  the  first
          version  to  have  a  publicly available web-site listing all the
          bugs that had been discovered.  Despite that  constantly  growing
          bug  list,  3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than a year
          and a half.

               The 3.4 development team initially consisted of Michael  Al-
          lison,  Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin Hugo, Ken
          Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz,  and
          Paul  Winner,  with   Warwick Allison joining just before the re-
          lease of NetHack 3.4.0 in March 2002.

               As with version 3.3, various people contributed to the  game
          as a whole as well as supporting ports on the different platforms
          that NetHack runs on:

               Pat Rankin maintained 3.4 for VMS.

               Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS  plat-
          form.  Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.

               Dean  Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
          hanced the Macintosh port of 3.4.

               Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Alex  Kompel,  Dion  Nicolaas,
          and  Yitzhak  Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for the Microsoft
          Windows platform.  Alex Kompel contributed a new graphical inter-
          face  for  the Windows port.  Alex Kompel also contributed a Win-
          dows CE port for 3.4.1.

               Ron Van Iwaarden maintained 3.4 for OS/2.

               Janne Salmijarvi and Teemu Suikki  maintained  and  enhanced
          the  Amiga  port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected it for
          3.3.1.

               Christian ``Marvin'' Bressler maintained 3.4 for  the  Atari
          after he resurrected it for 3.3.1.

               There  is  a  NetHack  web  site maintained by Ken Lorber at
          http://www.nethack.org/.



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                    - - - - - - - - - -

               From time to time, some depraved  individual  out  there  in
          netland  sends a particularly intriguing modification to help out
          with the game.  The Gods of the Dungeon sometimes  make  note  of
          the  names  of the worst of these miscreants in this, the list of
          Dungeoneers:


                    Adam Aronow            Izchak Miller         Mike Stephenson
                    Alex Kompel            J. Ali Harlow           Norm Meluch
                   Andreas Dorn              Janet Walz            Olaf Seibert
                    Andy Church           Janne Salmijarvi        Pasi Kallinen
                   Andy Swanson        Jean-Christophe Collet       Pat Rankin
                   Ari Huttunen            Jochen Erwied           Paul Winner
                   Barton House             John Kallen          Pierre Martineau
                Benson I. Margulies         John Rupley             Ralf Brown
                     Bill Dyer              John S. Bien            Ray Chason
                 Boudewijn Waijers           Johnny Lee          Richard Addison
                     Bruce Cox               Jon W{tte            Richard Beigel
                  Bruce Holloway          Jonathan Handler      Richard P. Hughey
                  Bruce Mewborne          Joshua Delahunty          Rob Menke
                   Carl Schelin            Keizo Yamamoto         Robin Johnson
                    Chris Russo              Ken Arnold         Roderick Schertler
                    David Cohrs             Ken Arromdee          Roland McGrath
                  David Damerell             Ken Lorber          Ron Van Iwaarden
                   David Gentzel           Ken Washikita          Ronnen Miller
                  David Hairston            Kevin Darcy             Ross Brown
                    Dean Luick               Kevin Hugo          Sascha Wostmann
                     Del Lamb               Kevin Sitze            Scott Bigham
                   Deron Meranda          Kevin Smolkowski       Scott R. Turner
                   Dion Nicolaas            Kevin Sweet          Stephen Spackman
                  Dylan O'Donnell           Lars Huttar           Stephen White
                    Eric Backus             Malcolm Ryan           Steve Creps
                 Eric Hendrickson          Mark Gooderum          Steve Linhart
                   Eric R. Smith            Mark Modrall        Steve VanDevender
                  Eric S. Raymond         Marvin Bressler          Teemu Suikki
                   Erik Andersen            Matthew Day             Tim Lennan
                 Frederick Roeber           Merlyn LeRoy          Timo Hakulinen
                    Gil Neiger            Michael Allison            Tom Almy
                    Greg Laskin             Michael Feir             Tom West
                    Greg Olson             Michael Hamel          Warren Cheung
                  Gregg Wonderly          Michael Sokolov        Warwick Allison
                   Hao-yang Wang            Mike Engber           Yitzhak Sapir
                   Helge Hafting            Mike Gallop
               Irina Rempt-Drijfhout      Mike Passaretti

          Brand and product names are trademarks or  registered  trademarks
          of their respective holders.







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