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Import Advanced Rogue 5.8 from the Roguelike Restoration Project (r1490)
author elwin
date Thu, 09 Aug 2012 22:58:48 +0000
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1
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6 The Dungeons of Doom
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8 AT&T Bell Laboratories
9 The Dungeons of Doom
10
11
12 1. INTRODUCTION
13
14 Rogue is a screen-oriented fantasy game set in the
15 ever-changing Dungeons of Doom. The game comes complete
16 with monsters, spells, weapons, armor, potions, and other
17 magical items. The dungeon's geography changes with every
18 game, and although many magical items have certain
19 identifiable properties, such as turning the player
20 invisible, the physical manifestation of the magic changes
21 each game. A red potion, for example, will cause the same
22 reaction throughout a given game, but it may be a completely
23 different potion in a new game.
24
25 Entering the dungeon with only a little food, armor,
26 and a weapon, the player must develop a good strategy of
27 when to fight, when to run, and how to best use any magical
28 items found in the dungeon. To make things interesting, the
29 player has a quest to return one of several unique
30 artifacts, rumored to lie deep in the dungeon's bowels.
31 Returning with this artifact brings great glory and the
32 title of Complete Winner. But even after finding the
33 artifact, the player may wish to continue further to match
34 wits with an arch-devil, demon prince, or even a deity found
35 far down in the dungeon. Defeating such a creature will
36 gain the player many experience points, the basis for
37 scoring in Rogue.
38
39 It is very difficult to return from the Dungeons of
40 Doom. Few people ever make it out alive. Should this
41 unlikely event occur, the player would be proclaimed a
42 complete winner and handsomely rewarded for any booty
43 removed from the dungeon.
44
45
46 2. CHARACTER CLASSES AND ATTRIBUTES
47
48 Before placing the player in the dungeon, the game
49 requests the player to select a character class: a fighter,
50 a magic user, a cleric, or a thief.
51
52 2.1 The_Fighter
53
54 A fighter is very strong and will have a high strength
55 rating. This great strength gives a fighter the best odds
56 of winning a battle with a monster. At high experience
57 levels the fighter also gets to attack multiple times in a
58 single turn. This obviously further increases his chances
59 at winning battles. Intrinsic to the fighter class is a
60 robustness which results in 1 to 10 extra hit points for
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72 - 2 -
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76 every new experience level.
77
78 2.2 The_Magician
79
80 A magician's major attribute is intelligence, which
81 enables the magician to cast spells. The number and variety
82 of spells increases as the magician gains experience and
83 intelligence. Other types of characters can cast spells,
84 but only if they manage to gain extraordinarily high
85 intelligence. Magic users are not as hearty as fighters;
86 they receive 1 to 8 extra hit points for every new
87 experience level.
88
89 2.3 The_Cleric
90
91 A cleric has a high wisdom rating and can thus pray.
92 The number and variety of prayers which the gods are willing
93 to grant to a cleric increase as the cleric gains experience
94 and wisdom. Other character types can pray only if they
95 manage to gain extraordinary wisdom.
96
97 Because of their religious nature, clerics can also
98 affect the "undead" beings, like zombies and ghouls, which
99 became monsters after they died. If an "undead" creature is
100 next to a cleric, the cleric may try to turn it and cause it
101 to flee. If the cleric is sufficiently powerful relative to
102 the monster, the cleric will destroy it. This ability
103 increases as the character gains experience levels.
104
105 Clerics can gain from 1 to 8 extra hit points on
106 reaching a new experience level.
107
108 2.4 The_Thief
109
110 A thief is exceptionally dextrous and has a good chance
111 to set a trap or rob a monster. Any type of character can
112 try to set a trap or steal from a monster standing next to
113 the character, but the chances of success are low compared
114 to a thief's chances.
115
116 By their nature, thieves can automatically detect all
117 the gold on the current level of the dungeon. They are also
118 good at detecting hidden traps. Because thieves slink
119 along, they are not as likely as other characters to wake
120 sleeping monsters. If a thief manages to sneak up on a
121 creature without waking it, he will get a chance to backstab
122 the monster. When this is done, the damage done by the thief
123 greatly increases based on his experience level.
124
125 Thieves gain from 1 to 6 extra hit points from a new
126 experience level.
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138 - 3 -
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140
141
142 2.5 Constitution
143
144 Every character has a constitution rating. A character
145 with an exceptionally good constitution will gain more than
146 the normal amount of hit points associated with the
147 character's class when the character reaches a new
148 experience level. Exceptional constitution also provides
149 better protection versus poison-based attacks and diseases.
150
151 2.6 Experience_Levels
152
153 Characters gain experience for killing monsters,
154 stealing from monsters, and turning monsters. Each
155 character class has a set of thresholds associated with it.
156 When a character reaches a threshold, the character attains
157 the next experience level. This new level brings extra hit
158 points and a greater chance of success in performing the
159 abilities associated with the character's class. Magicians
160 receive new spells, and clerics receive new prayers.
161
162 Thieves have the lowest threshold for gaining
163 experience levels, followed by clerics. Fighters are next,
164 and magicians have the highest threshold.
165
166
167 3. THE SCREEN
168
169 During the normal course of play, the screen consists
170 of three separate sections: the top line of the terminal,
171 the bottom two lines of the terminal, and the remaining
172 middle lines. The top line reports actions which occur
173 during the game, the middle section depicts the dungeon, and
174 the bottom lines describe the player's current condition.
175
176 3.1 The_Top_Line
177
178 Whenever anything happens to the player, such as
179 finding a scroll or hitting or being hit by a monster, a
180 short report of the occurrence appears on the top line of
181 the screen. When such reports occur quickly, one right
182 after another, the game displays the notice followed by the
183 prompt '--More--.' After reading this notice, the player
184 can press a space to display the next message. At such a
185 point, the game ignores all commands until the player
186 presses a space.
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204 - 4 -
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208 3.2 The_Dungeon_Section
209
210 The large middle section of the screen displays the
211 player's surroundings using the following symbols:
212
213 | A wall of a room.
214
215 - A wall of a room.
216
217 * A pile of gold.
218
219 % A way to the next level.
220
221 + A doorway.
222
223 . The floor in a room.
224
225 @ The player.
226
227 _ The player, when invisible.
228
229 # The floor in a passageway.
230
231 ! A flask containing a potion.
232
233 ? A sealed scroll.
234
235 : Some food.
236
237 ) A weapon.
238
239 Solid rock (denoted by a space).
240
241 ] Some armor.
242
243 ; A miscellaneous magic item
244
245 , An artifact
246
247 = A ring.
248
249 / A wand or a staff.
250
251 ^ The entrance to a trading post
252
253 > A trapdoor leading to the next level
254
255 { An arrow trap
256
257 $ A sleeping gas trap
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270 - 5 -
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273
274 } A beartrap
275
276 ~ A trap that teleports you somewhere else
277
278 ` A poison dart trap
279
280 " A shimmering magic pool
281
282 ' An entrance to a maze
283
284 $ Any magical item. (During magic detection)
285
286 > A blessed magical item. (During magic detection)
287
288 < A cursed magical item. (During magic detection)
289
290 A letter A monster. Note that a given letter may signify
291 multiple monsters, depending on the level of the
292 dungeon. The player can always identify a current
293 monster by using the identify command ('/').
294
295 3.3 The_Status_Section
296
297 The bottom two lines of the screen describe the
298 player's current status. The first line gives the player's
299 characteristics:
300
301 o Intelligence (Int)
302
303 o Strength (Str)
304
305 o Wisdom (Wis)
306
307 o Dexterity (Dxt)
308
309 o Constitution (Const)
310
311 o Encumbrance (Carry)
312
313 Intelligence, strength, wisdom, dexterity, and
314 constitution have a normal maximum of 25, but can be higher
315 when augmented by a ring. Encumbrance is a measurement of
316 how much the player can carry versus how much he is
317 currently carrying. The more you carry relative to your
318 maximum causes you to use more food.
319
320 The second status line provides the following
321 information:
322
323 o The current level (Lvl) in the dungeon. This number
324 increases as the player goes further down.
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336 - 6 -
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340 o How much gold (Au) the player is carrying.
341
342 o The player's current number of hit points (Hp),
343 followed in parentheses by the player's current maximum
344 number of hit points. Hit points express the player's
345 health. As a player heals by resting, the player's
346 current hit points gradually increase until reaching
347 the current maximum. This maximum increases each time
348 a player attains a new experience level. If the
349 player's current hit points reach 0, the player dies.
350
351 o The player's armor class (Ac). This number describes
352 the amount of protection provided by the armor and
353 rings currently worn by the player. Wearing no armor
354 is equivalent to an armor class of 10. The protection
355 level increases as the armor class decreases.
356
357 o The player's current experience level (Exp) followed by
358 the player's experience points. The player can gain
359 experience points by killing monsters, successfully
360 stealing from monsters, and turning monsters. When a
361 player gains enough experience points to surpass a
362 threshold that depends on the player's character type,
363 the player reaches a new experience level. A new
364 experience level brings extra hit points and possibly
365 added abilities, such as a new spell for a magician or
366 a new prayer for a cleric.
367
368 o A description of the player's character. This
369 description depends on the player's character type and