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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
____________________
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.
A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom USD:33-3
____________________________________________________________
------------
|..........+
|..@....]..|
|....B.....|
|..........|
-----+------
Level: 1 Gold: 0 Hp: 12(12) Str: 16(16) Arm: 4 Exp: 1/0
Figure 1
____________________________________________________________
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-
theses is the maximum strength you have attained so
far this game.
Arm Your current armor protection. This number indicates
how effective your armor is in stopping blows from
unfriendly creatures. The higher this number is, the
more effective the armor.
Exp These two numbers give your current experience level
and experience points. As you do things, you gain
experience points. At certain experience point
totals, you gain an experience level. The more expe-
rienced you are, the better you are able to fight and
to withstand magical attacks.
3.2. The top line
The top line of the screen is reserved for printing
messages that describe things that are impossible to repre-
sent visually. If you see a "--More--" on the top line,
this means that rogue wants to print another message on the
screen, but it wants to make certain that you have read the
one that is there first. To read the next message, just
USD:33-4 A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom
type a space.
3.3. The 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 repre-
sents something. Here is a list of what the various symbols
mean:
@ This symbol represents you, the adventurer.
-| These symbols represent the walls of rooms.
+ A door to/from a room.
. The floor of a room.
# The floor of a passage between rooms.
* A pile or pot of gold.
) A weapon of some sort.
] A piece of armor.
! A flask containing a magic potion.
? A piece of paper, usually a magic scroll.
= A ring with magic properties
/ A magical staff or wand
^ A trap, watch out for these.
% A staircase to other levels
: A piece of food.
A-Z The uppercase letters represent the various inhabitants
of the Dungeons of Doom. Watch out, they can be nasty
and vicious.
4. Commands
Commands are given to rogue by typing one or two char-
acters. Most commands can be preceded by a count to repeat
them (e.g. typing "10s" will do ten searches). Commands for
which counts make no sense have the count ignored. To can-
cel a count or a prefix, type <ESCAPE>. The list of com-
mands is rather long, but it can be read at any time during
the game with the "?" command. Here it is for reference,
with a short explanation of each command.
A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom USD:33-5
? The help command. Asks for a character to give help
on. If you type a "*", it will list all the commands,
otherwise it will explain what the character you typed
does.
/ This is the "What is that on the screen?" command. A
"/" followed by any character that you see on the
level, will tell you what that character is. For
instance, typing "/@" will tell you that the "@" symbol
represents you, the player.
h, H, ^H
Move left. You move one space to the left. If you use
upper case "h", you will continue to move left until
you run into something. This works for all movement
commands (e.g. "L" means run in direction "l") If you
use the "control" "h", you will continue moving in the
specified direction until you pass something interest-
ing or run into a wall. You should experiment with
this, since it is a very useful command, but very dif-
ficult to describe. This also works for all movement
commands.
j Move down.
k Move up.
l Move right.
y Move diagonally up and left.
u Move diagonally up and right.
b Move diagonally down and left.
n Move diagonally down and right.
t Throw an object. This is a prefix command. When fol-
lowed with a direction it throws an object in the spec-
ified direction. (e.g. type "th" to throw something to
the left.)
f Fight until someone dies. When followed with a direc-
tion this will force you to fight the creature in that
direction until either you or it bites the big one.
m Move onto something without picking it up. This will
move you one space in the direction you specify and, if
there is an object there you can pick up, it won't do
it.
z Zap prefix. Point a staff or wand in a given direction
and fire it. Even non-directional staves must be
USD:33-6 A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom
pointed in some direction to be used.
^ Identify trap command. If a trap is on your map and
you can't remember what type it is, you can get rogue
to remind you by getting next to it and typing "^" fol-
lowed by the direction that would move you on top of
it.
s Search for traps and secret doors. Examine each space
immediately adjacent to you for the existence of a trap
or secret door. There is a large chance that even if
there is something there, you won't find it, so you
might have to search a while before you find something.
> Climb down a staircase to the next level. Not surpris-
ingly, this can only be done if you are standing on
staircase.
< Climb up a staircase to the level above. This can't be
done without the Amulet of Yendor in your possession.
. Rest. This is the "do nothing" command. This is good
for waiting and healing.
, Pick up something. This picks up whatever you are cur-
rently standing on, if you are standing on anything at
all.
i Inventory. List what you are carrying in your pack.
I Selective inventory. Tells you what a single item in
your pack is.
q Quaff one of the potions you are carrying.
r Read one of the scrolls in your pack.
e Eat food from your pack.
w Wield a weapon. Take a weapon out of your pack and
carry it for use in combat, replacing the one you are
currently using (if any).
W Wear armor. You can only wear one suit of armor at a
time. This takes extra time.
T Take armor off. You can't remove armor that is cursed.
This takes extra time.
P Put on a ring. You can wear only two rings at a time
(one on each hand). If you aren't wearing any rings,
this command will ask you which hand you want to wear
it on, otherwise, it will place it on the unused hand.
A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom USD:33-7
The program assumes that you wield your sword in your
right hand.
R Remove a ring. If you are only wearing one ring, this
command takes it off. If you are wearing two, it will
ask you which one you wish to remove,
d Drop an object. Take something out of your pack and
leave it lying on the floor. Only one object can
occupy each space. You cannot drop a cursed object at
all if you are wielding or wearing it.
c Call an object something. If you have a type of object
in your pack which you wish to remember something
about, you can use the call command to give a name to
that type of object. This is usually used when you
figure out what a potion, scroll, ring, or staff is
after you pick it up, or when you want to remember
which of those swords in your pack you were wielding.
D Print out which things you've discovered something
about. This command will ask you what type of thing
you are interested in. If you type the character for a
given type of object (e.g. "!" for potion) it will
tell you which kinds of that type of object you've dis-
covered (i.e., figured out what they are). This com-
mand works for potions, scrolls, rings, and staves and
wands.
o Examine and set options. This command is further
explained in the section on options.
^R Redraws the screen. Useful if spurious messages or
transmission errors have messed up the display.
^P Print last message. Useful when a message disappears
before you can read it. This only repeats the last
message that was not a mistyped command so that you
don't loose anything by accidentally typing the wrong
character instead of ^P.
<ESCAPE>
Cancel a command, prefix, or count.
! Escape to a shell for some commands.
Q Quit. Leave the game.
S Save the current game in a file. It will ask you
whether you wish to use the default save file. Caveat:
Rogue won't let you start up a copy of a saved game,
and it removes the save file as soon as you start up a
restored game. This is to prevent people from saving a
USD:33-8 A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom
game just before a dangerous position and then restart-
ing it if they die. To restore a saved game, give the
file name as an argument to rogue. As in
% rogue save_file
To restart from the default save file (see below), run
% rogue -r
v Prints the program version number.
) Print the weapon you are currently wielding
] Print the armor you are currently wearing
= Print the rings you are currently wearing
@ Reprint the status line on the message line
5. Rooms
Rooms in the dungeons are either lit or dark. If you
walk into a lit room, the entire room will be drawn on the
screen as soon as you enter. If you walk into a dark room,
it will only be displayed as you explore it. Upon leaving a
room, all monsters inside the room are erased from the
screen. In the darkness you can only see one space in all
directions around you. A corridor is always dark.
6. Fighting
If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just
attempt to run into it. Many times a monster you find will
mind its own business unless you attack it. It is often the
case that discretion is the better part of valor.
7. Objects you can find
When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to
want to pick the object up. This is accomplished in rogue
by walking over the object (unless you use the "m" prefix,
see above). If you are carrying too many things, the pro-
gram will tell you and it won't pick up the object, other-
wise it will add it to your pack and tell you what you just
picked up.
Many of the commands that operate on objects must
prompt you to find out which object you want to use. If you
change your mind and don't want to do that command after
all, just type an <ESCAPE> and the command will be aborted.
Some objects, like armor and weapons, are easily dif-
ferentiated. Others, like scrolls and potions, are given
labels which vary according to type. During a game, any two
A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom USD:33-9
of the same kind of object with the same label are the same
type. However, the labels will vary from game to game.
When you use one of these labeled objects, if its
effect is obvious, rogue will remember what it is for you.
If it's effect isn't extremely obvious you will be asked
what you want to scribble on it so you will recognize it
later, or you can use the "call" command (see above).
7.1. Weapons
Some weapons, like arrows, come in bunches, but most
come one at a time. In order to use a weapon, you must
wield it. To fire an arrow out of a bow, you must first
wield the bow, then throw the arrow. You can only wield one
weapon at a time, but you can't change weapons if the one
you are currently wielding is cursed. The commands to use
weapons are "w" (wield) and "t" (throw).
7.2. Armor
There are various sorts of armor lying around in the
dungeon. Some of it is enchanted, some is cursed, and some
is just normal. Different armor types have different armor
protection. The higher the armor protection, the more pro-
tection the armor affords against the blows of monsters.
Here is a list of the various armor types and their normal
armor protection:
+-----------------------------------------+
| Type Protection |
|None 0 |
|Leather armor 2 |
|Studded leather / Ring mail 3 |
|Scale mail 4 |
|Chain mail 5 |
|Banded mail / Splint mail 6 |
|Plate mail 7 |
+-----------------------------------------+
If a piece of armor is enchanted, its armor protection will
be higher than normal. If a suit of armor is cursed, its
armor protection will be lower, and you will not be able to
remove it. However, not all armor with a protection that is
lower than normal is cursed.
The commands to use weapons are "W" (wear) and "T"
(take off).
USD:33-10 A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom
7.3. Scrolls
Scrolls come with titles in an unknown tongue3. After
you read a scroll, it disappears from your pack. The com-
mand to use a scroll is "r" (read).
7.4. Potions
Potions are labeled by the color of the liquid inside
the flask. They disappear after being quaffed. The command
to use a scroll is "q" (quaff).
7.5. Staves and Wands
Staves and wands do the same kinds of things. Staves
are identified by a type of wood; wands by a type of metal
or bone. They are generally things you want to do to some-
thing over a long distance, so you must point them at what
you wish to affect to use them. Some staves are not
affected by the direction they are pointed, though. Staves
come with multiple magic charges, the number being random,
and when they are used up, the staff is just a piece of wood
or metal.
The command to use a wand or staff is "z" (zap)
7.6. Rings
Rings are very useful items, since they are relatively
permanent magic, unlike the usually fleeting effects of
potions, scrolls, and staves. Of course, the bad rings are
also more powerful. Most rings also cause you to use up
food more rapidly, the rate varying with the type of ring.
Rings are differentiated by their stone settings. The com-
mands to use rings are "P" (put on) and "R" (remove).
7.7. Food
Food is necessary to keep you going. If you go too
long without eating you will faint, and eventually die of
starvation. The command to use food is "e" (eat).
8. Options
Due to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of
the way rogue should do things, there are a set of options
you can set that cause rogue to behave in various different
____________________
3 Actually, it's a dialect spoken only by the twenty-sev-
en members of a tribe in Outer Mongolia, but you're not sup-
posed to know that.
A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom USD:33-11
ways.
8.1. Setting the options
There are two ways to set the options. The first is
with the "o" command of rogue; the second is with the
"ROGUEOPTS" environment variable4.
8.1.1. Using the `o' command
When you type "o" in rogue, it clears the screen and
displays the current settings for all the options. It then
places the cursor by the value of the first option and waits
for you to type. You can type a <RETURN> which means to go
to the next option, a "-" which means to go to the previous
option, an <ESCAPE> which means to return to the game, or
you can give the option a value. For boolean options this
merely involves typing "t" for true or "f" for false. For
string options, type the new value followed by a <RETURN>.
8.1.2. Using the ROGUEOPTS variable
The ROGUEOPTS variable is a string containing a comma
separated list of initial values for the various options.
Boolean variables can be turned on by listing their name or
turned off by putting a "no" in front of the name. Thus to
set up an environment variable so that jump is on, terse is
off, and the name is set to "Blue Meanie", use the command
% setenv ROGUEOPTS "jump,noterse,name=Blue Meanie"5
8.2. Option list
Here is a list of the options and an explanation of
what each one is for. The default value for each is
enclosed in square brackets. For character string options,
input over fifty characters will be ignored.
terse [noterse]
Useful for those who are tired of the sometimes lengthy
messages of rogue. This is a useful option for playing
on slow terminals, so this option defaults to terse if
you are on a slow (1200 baud or under) terminal.
____________________
4 On Version 6 systems, there is no equivalent of the
ROGUEOPTS feature.
5 For those of you who use the Bourne shell sh (1), the
commands would be
$ ROGUEOPTS="jump,noterse,name=Blue Meanie"
$ export ROGUEOPTS
USD:33-12 A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom
jump [nojump]
If this option is set, running moves will not be dis-
played until you reach the end of the move. This saves
considerable cpu and display time. This option
defaults to jump if you are using a slow terminal.
flush [noflush]
All typeahead is thrown away after each round of bat-
tle. This is useful for those who type far ahead and
then watch in dismay as a Bat kills them.
seefloor [seefloor]
Display the floor around you on the screen as you move
through dark rooms. Due to the amount of characters
generated, this option defaults to noseefloor if you
are using a slow terminal.
passgo [nopassgo]
Follow turnings in passageways. If you run in a pas-
sage and you run into stone or a wall, rogue will see
if it can turn to the right or left. If it can only
turn one way, it will turn that way. If it can turn
either or neither, it will stop. This algorithm can
sometimes lead to slightly confusing occurrences which
is why it defaults to nopassgo.
tombstone [tombstone]
Print out the tombstone at the end if you get killed.
This is nice but slow, so you can turn it off if you
like.
inven [overwrite]
Inventory type. This can have one of three values:
overwrite, slow, or clear. With overwrite the top
lines of the map are overwritten with the list when
inventory is requested or when "Which item do you wish
to . . .? " questions are answered with a "*". How-
ever, if the list is longer than a screenful, the
screen is cleared. With slow, lists are displayed one
item at a time on the top of the screen, and with
clear, the screen is cleared, the list is displayed,
and then the dungeon level is re-displayed. Due to
speed considerations, clear is the default for termi-
nals without clear-to-end-of-line capabilities.
name [account name]
This is the name of your character. It is used if you
get on the top ten scorer's list.
fruit [slime-mold]
This should hold the name of a fruit that you enjoy
eating. It is basically a whimsey that rogue uses in a
couple of places.
A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom USD:33-13
file [~/rogue.save]
The default file name for saving the game. If your
phone is hung up by accident, rogue will automatically
save the game in this file. The file name may start
with the special character "~" which expands to be your
home directory.
9. Scoring
Rogue usually maintains a list of the top scoring peo-
ple or scores on your machine. Depending on how it is set
up, it can post either the top scores or the top players.
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 previ-
ous score on the list, you will be inserted in the proper
place under your current name. How many scores are kept can
also be set up by whoever installs it on your machine.
If you quit the game, you get out with all of your gold
intact. If, however, you get killed in the Dungeons of
Doom, your body is forwarded to your next-of-kin, along with
90% of your gold; ten percent of your gold is kept by the
Dungeons' wizard as a fee6. This should make you consider
whether you want to take one last hit at that monster and
possibly live, or quit and thus stop with whatever you have.
If you quit, you do get all your gold, but if you swing and
live, you might find more.
If you just want to see what the current top play-
ers/games list is, you can type
% @PROGRAM@ -s
10. Acknowledgements
Rogue was originally conceived of by Glenn Wichman and
Michael Toy. Ken Arnold and Michael Toy then smoothed out
the user interface, and added jillions of new features. We
would like to thank Bob Arnold, Michelle Busch, Andy
Hatcher, Kipp Hickman, Mark Horton, Daniel Jensen, Bill Joy,
Joe Kalash, Steve Maurer, Marty McNary, Jan Miller, and
Scott Nelson for their ideas and assistance; and also the
teeming multitudes who graciously ignored work, school, and
social life to play rogue and send us bugs, complaints, sug-
gestions, and just plain flames. And also Mom.
____________________
6 The Dungeon's wizard is named Wally the Wonder Badger.
Invocations should be accompanied by a sizable donation.
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