A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


                       Michael C. Toy
                  Kenneth C. R. C. Arnold


              Computer Systems Research Group
 Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
                  University of California
                Berkeley, California  94720




                          ABSTRACT

    Rogue  is a visual CRT based fantasy game which runs
    under the UNIX timesharing system.  This  paper  de-
    scribes how to play rogue, and gives a few hints for
    those who might otherwise get lost in  the  Dungeons
    of Doom.




1.  Introduction

     You  have  just finished your years as a student at the
local fighter's guild.  After much practice  and  sweat  you
have finally completed your training and are ready to embark
upon a perilous adventure.  As a test of  your  skills,  the
local  guildmasters have sent you into the Dungeons of Doom.
Your task is to return with  the  Amulet  of  Yendor.   Your
reward  for  the completion of this task will be a full mem-
bership in the local guild.  In addition, you are allowed to
keep all the loot you bring back from the dungeons.

     In  preparation  for  your  journey,  you  are given an
enchanted mace, a bow, and a quiver of arrows taken  from  a
dragon's  hoard in the far off Dark Mountains.  You are also
outfitted with elf-crafted armor and given  enough  food  to
reach  the  dungeons.  You say goodbye to family and friends
for what may be the last time and head up the road.

     You set out on your way to the dungeons and after  sev-
eral  days  of  uneventful travel, you see the ancient ruins
that mark the entrance to the Dungeons of Doom.  It is  late
at  night,  so  you  make camp at the entrance and spend the
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   UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories












USD:33-2                     A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


night sleeping under the open skies.   In  the  morning  you
gather  your  weapons, put on your armor, eat what is almost
your last food, and enter the dungeons.

2.  What is going on here?

     You have just begun a game of rogue.  Your goal  is  to
grab as much treasure as you can, find the Amulet of Yendor,
and get out of the Dungeons of Doom alive.  On the screen, a
map  of  where  you  have been and what you have seen on the
current dungeon level is kept.  As you explore more  of  the
level, it appears on the screen in front of you.

     Rogue  differs from most computer fantasy games in that
it  is  screen  oriented.   Commands  are  all  one  or  two
keystrokes1  and  the results of your commands are displayed
graphically on the screen rather  than  being  explained  in
words.2

     Another  major  difference between rogue and other com-
puter fantasy games is that once you  have  solved  all  the
puzzles  in a standard fantasy game, it has lost most of its
excitement and it ceases to be fun.   Rogue,  on  the  other
hand,  generates  a  new  dungeon every time you play it and
even the author finds it an entertaining and exciting  game.

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

     In  order  to  understand what is going on in rogue you
have to first get some grasp of what rogue is doing with the
screen.   The  rogue  screen is intended to replace the "You
can see ..." descriptions of standard fantasy games.  Figure
1 is a sample of what a rogue screen might look like.

3.1.  The bottom line

     At  the  bottom  line of the screen are a few pieces of
cryptic information describing your current status.  Here is
an explanation of what these things mean:

Level  This  number  indicates how deep you have gone in the
       dungeon.  It starts at one and  goes  up  as  you  go
       deeper into the dungeon.

Gold   The  number  of  gold pieces you have managed to find
       and keep with you so far.
____________________
   1 As opposed to pseudo English sentences.
   2  A minimum screen size of 24 lines by 80 columns is re-
quired.  If the screen is larger,  only  the  24x80  section
will be used for the map.












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                        ------------
                        |..........+
                        |..@....]..|
                        |....B.....|
                        |..........|
                        -----+------



Level: 1  Gold: 0      Hp: 12(12)  Str: 16(16)  Arm: 4  Exp: 1/0

                          Figure 1
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Hp     Your  current  and  maximum  health  points.   Health
       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 health points by resting.
       The number in parentheses is the maximum number  your
       health points can reach.

Str    Your  current  strength  and  maximum  ever strength.
       This can be any integer less than or equal to 31,  or
       greater  than or equal to three.  The higher the num-
       ber, the stronger you are.  The number in the  paren-