from the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, retrieved 2023-07-29
converted to gemtext by lettuce 2023-07-29
---
After the −ms version (1983). Last revised 1999-05-18.
To play rogue, the dungeon game written by M. C. Toy and friends, you need know no more than how to operate a terminal. To survive in a rogue dungeon for long, you need a great deal of specialized knowledge. This document is designed to provide some of that knowledge. You are supposed to have read A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom by M. C. Toy. (The Guide was revised by K. C. R. C. Arnold for version 4.)
A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom (txt)
This document describes version 4.2 of Rogue. Discrepancies in other versions are noted in the text. In general, "V3" means version 3.6, "V4" means version 4.2 (and later versions to 5.2), and "V5" means version 5.3.
Each level of a dungeon normally contains nine rectangular rooms, arranged three by three. Up to three rooms may be replaced by winding or dead-end passages.
A room will always be at least two paces long and from two to five paces wide, not counting the walls. It may be lighted or dark. In a dark room you can see only one pace in each direction; in a lighted room you can see all over.
In V4 and V5, one level in twenty will have a *treasure room*. A treasure room is a room filled with lots of scrolls, flasks, weapons, sandwiches, and a horrible smell. The smell comes from having eight or ten monsters packed into one room. To make matters worse, some of the monsters may be denizens of the next level down. When you appear in the doorway, several of the monsters will attack you, as will any monsters you brush against.
It is entirely up to you whether to stand and fight or head for the stairs. If you want to fight, do it in the doorway.
In V5 you may find a maze in place of a room. A maze wanders throughout a rectangular area. Like rooms, mazes may contain treasure, magic objects, and monsters. Mazes may also be treasure rooms; these are as dangerous as ordinary treasure rooms, except that the monsters cannot easily gang up on you.
Each room will contain one or more doors leading to passages. A door may be secret; you will discover such a door only if you *search* for it. No wall of a room can contain more than one door, and walls that face the edge of the display never contain doors.
Any two adjacent rooms may be joined by a passage between the corresponding walls. Rooms that are not adjacent may be joined by a winding passage. Each level will contain at least eight passages, enough to let you travel from any room to any other. Passages are always dark; you cannot light them with staves or wands.
In V5 passages may have secret connections.
A stairway is a passage to the next lower level. Actually a stairway is nothing more than a hole in the floor, so you cannot go back up without magical assistance. Monsters never use stairways. Each level has just one stairway.
While exploring the dungeon, you must beware of the following booby traps:
Trap Door
: Plunges you into the next lower level.
Bear Trap
: Holds you fast for four turns.
Sleeping-Gas Trap
: Puts you to sleep for six turns.
Arrow Trap
: Wounds you.
Poison Dart Trap
: Weakens you and wounds you by 1d4.
Rust Trap (V5 only)
: Rusts your armor.
Teleport Trap
: Sends you somewhere else in the current level.
Experience and good armor help avert arrows and poison darts.
The probability of a level's being booby trapped is the level number divided by 10. Levels 10 and below are always booby trapped.
Each time you search you have one chance in five of finding a secret door if one lies within your field of vision, and one chance in two of finding a trap. When you wear a ring of searching, your searches become more effective but not certain. If you are looking for an outlet from a room, the most efficient pattern of searching is to search at every third pace:
-----------------
| .@..@..@..@..@. |
| ............... |
When you are blind, searching is a waste of time.
Probability of Missing a Secret Door.
Number of Probability Searches of Missing ------------------------ 1 .800 2 .640 3 .512 4 .410 5 .328 6 .262 7 .210 8 .168 9 .134 10 .107 12 .069 15 .035
The dungeon is populated with 26 kinds of monster, corresponding to the 26 letters of the alphabet.
---------- ------------------- ---- ---- -------- ----------------- Monsters Name HD AC Level Damage A giant ant 2 3 3--12 1d6 B bat 1 3 1--8 1d2 C centaur 4 4 8--17 1d6+1d6 D dragon 10 −1 22-- 1d8+1d8+3d10 E floating eye 1 9 2--11 0d0 F violet fungi 8 3 15--24 variable G gnome 1 5 6--15 1d6 H hobgoblin 1 5 1--10 1d8 I invisible stalker 8 3 16--25 4d4 J jackal 1 7 1--7 1d2 K kobold 1 7 1--6 1d4 L leprechaun 3 8 7--16 1d1 M mimic 7 7 19-- 3d4 N nymph 3 9 11--20 0d0 O orc 1 6 4--13 1d8 P purple worm 15 6 21-- 2d12+2d4 Q quasit 3 2 10--19 1d2+1d2+1d4 R rust monster 5 2 9--18 0d0+0d0 S snake 1 5 1--9 1d3 T troll 6 4 13--22 1d8+1d8+2d6 U umber hulk 8 2 18-- 3d4+3d4+2d5 V vampire 8 1 20-- 1d10 W wraith 5 4 14--23 1d6 X xorn 7 −2 17--26 1d3+1d3+1d3+4d6 Y yeti 4 6 12--21 1d6+1d6 Z zombie 2 8 5--14 1d8 ---------- ------------------- ---- ---- -------- -----------------
The first column tells the monster\'s *hit dice*: its hit points are determined by rolling as many eight-sided dice as this number. For example, a Dragon\'s hit points could be anywhere between 10 and 80. The remaining columns give the armor class (q.v.) of the monster, the dungeon levels it inhabits, and the damage it does to you. Slashes separate multiple attacks; for instance, a Xorn can attack you four times in one turn.
Some monsters have special powers:
In version 5 the catalogue of monsters is slightly different:
----------- ------------------- ----------- ------------------ Version 4 Version 5 A giant ant R rattlesnake E floating eye I ice monster F violet fungi F venus\' fly-trap G gnome I invisible stalker P phantom J jackal E emu K kobold K kestrel M mimic X xeroc P purple worm J jabberwock Q quasit Q quagga R rust monster A aquator U umber hulk M medusa X xorn U black unicorn G griffin ----------- ------------------- ----------- ------------------
The Griffin has 13 hit dice, armor class 2, and 4d3/3d5 damage. It also regenerates. The *Griffin*, like the *Bat* and the *Kestrel*, can fly twice as fast as you can run.
Each dungeon level initially contains one or more monsters (the average number is four). They stay put until you do something to get their attention, and the *Violet Fungi* never stir under any circumstances. Sleeping bats, centaurs, eyes, gnomes, invisible stalkers, leprechauns, mimics, nymphs, orcs, purple worms, wraiths, and yetis go on snoring till you attack them. The other monsters usually wake up when you approach them.
Every 80 turns or so a new monster will crawl out of the woodwork and start prowling around the current level at random. This monster will not be a dragon, floating eye, violet fungi, leprechaun, mimic, or nymph.
When you kill a monster you will occasionally find gold or a magic object on the carcass. Such objects are no more likely to be beneficent than objects found in the ordinary way. The probability of finding something depends on the kind of monster:
-------------------------- ------------- Object-carrying Monsters Monster Probability Centaur .15 Dragon 1.00 Gnome .10 Mimic .30 Nymph 1.00 Orc .15 Purple Worm .70 Quasit .30 Troll .50 Umber Hulk .40 Vampire .20 Yeti .30 -------------------------- -------------
As you explore the dungeon, you will find various objects. Some are inherently magical; others are not magical unless they happen to bear a spell or curse.
Distribution of Items
Symbol Item %(V3) %(V4)
--------------------------------
] Armor 9 8
: Food 18 17
! Potion 27 27
= Ring 5 5
? Scroll 27 30
/ Staff or Wand 5 5
) Weapon 9 8
Scrolls have strange titles. When you read one, it vanishes and something strange happens.
Identify:
: identifies any object you possess. Normally used for magical objects, but can also determine the strength of weapons or armor.
Identify armor; identify potion; identify ring, wand or staff; identify scroll; identify weapon:
: like *identify*, but they work only for particular kinds of objects.
Enchant armor:
: the armor you are wearing will glow blue for a moment, indicating that it has been strengthened. If the armor has a curse, this will lift it.
Enchant weapon:
: the weapon you are wielding will glow blue for a moment, indicating that it has been strengthened. If the weapon has a curse, this will lift it.
Food detection:
: all food on the current level will be displayed.
Light:
: lights up the room you are in. Does not work in passages.
Magic mapping:
: draws a map of the current level, showing all rooms, doorways, passages, and stairways. In V5 it shows all traps too.
Monster confusion:
: causes your hands to glow red. The next monster you hit will be confused.
Remove curse:
: lifts the curse from accursed objects so that you can take them off or put them down.
Sleep:
: puts you into a refreshing sleep for 4-8 turns.
Teleportation:
: teleports you at random to somewhere else in the current level.
Aggravate monsters:
: all monsters on the current level will sense your presence and react accordingly.
Create monster:
: creates a monster right before your eyes. The monster will be appropriate to the dungeon level; e.g., you cannot create a Dragon on Level 1.
Gold detection:
: reports the location of all gold hoards on the current level. If none, you will feel a pull downwards.
Hold monster:
: paralyzes any monster within two paces of you. If you attack it, you break the spell.
Protect armor:
: rustproofs the armor you are wearing. If the armor has a curse, this will lift it.
Genocide:
: lets you wipe out any one species of monster throughout the dungeon. There is only one of these.
Blank paper:
: does nothing.
Scare monster:
: If you set this scroll on the floor, no monster will step on it. If you stupidly read it, it will vanish and you will hear maniacal laughter in the distance.
Distribution of Scrolls
Name %(V3) %(V4) %(V5)
-----------------------------------------------
Aggravate Monsters 1 4 3
Blank Paper 1 1 --
Create Monster 5 5 4
Enchant Armor 8 8 7
Enchant Weapon 10 10 8
Food Detection -- -- 2
Genocide 1 1 --
Gold Detection 4 4 --
Hold Monster 2 3 2
Identify 21 27 --
Identify Armor -- -- 7
Identify Potion -- -- 10
Identify Ring, Wand, or Staff -- -- 10
Identify Scroll -- -- 10
Identify Weapon -- -- 6
Light 10 -- --
Magic Mapping 5 5 4
Monster Confusion 8 8 7
Protect Armor -- -- 2
Remove Curse 8 8 7
Scare Monster 4 4 3
Sleep 5 5 3
Teleportation 7 7 5
Potions are magic drinks. When you drink one, something strange happens to you. They come in various colors for easy identification. Unfortunately, the code changes from one game to the next.
Gain strength:
: you will feel stronger. Add 1 to your strength rating.
Healing:
: you will feel better. Increase your hit points, though not above your maximum, by throwing a number of four-sided dice equal to your experience level. If your hit points are at maximum, raise the maximum +1. Also cures blindness, confusion, and hallucination.
Levitation:
: lifts you into the air. You will be unable to pick objects up or use stairs until the potion wears off.
Magic detection:
: displays all magic objects on the current level, including weapons and armor that are enchanted, accursed, or rusty. If you have grabbed all the magic objects, you will have a strange feeling for a moment, then it will pass.
Monster detection:
: you will sense the presence of monsters. Displays all monsters on the current level. (Of course, more may arrive later.) If you have killed all the monsters, you will have a strange feeling for a moment, then it will pass.
See invisible:
: you will be able to perceive invisible creatures, particularly Invisible Stalkers, for about 850 turns. In V5 this also cures blindness.
Extra healing:
: like a potion of healing, but double strength. Also cures blindness, confusion, and hallucination.
Haste self:
: you will feel yourself moving much faster. Score more hits on monsters, and outrun them if they're chasing you. In V4 and V5, if you drink two at once, you will faint.
Raise level:
: adds 1 to your experience level.
Restore Strength:
: restores your strength to its highest previous value.
Blindness:
: you can't see until the potion wears off 850 turns later. If it's any consolation, you can't be transfixed by Floating Eyes or confused by Umber Hulks.
Confusion:
: your moves will be in a random direction until the potion wears off 25 turns later.
Hallucination:
: the appearance of objects and monsters will change continuously.
Paralysis:
: you can't move until the potion wears off three turns later.
Poison:
: subtracts 1d3 from your strength rating. Cures hallucination. If you wear a ring of *Sustain Strength*, your strength will endure---and the potion will not cure hallucination!
Thirst quenching:
: this potion tastes extremely dull. Not even carbonated!
Distribution of Potions
Name %(V3) %(V4) %(V5)
---------------------------------
Blindness 4 4 5
Confusion 8 8 5
Extra healing 5 5 5
Gain strength 15 15 13
Hallucination -- -- 8
Haste self 4 4 5
Healing 15 15 13
Levitation -- -- 6
Magic detection 6 6 6
Monster detection 6 6 6
Paralysis 10 10 --
Poison 8 8 8
Raise level 2 2 2
Restore strength 14 14 13
See invisible 2 2 3
Thirst quenching 1 1 --
Rings confer magic powers on the wearer. You can wear only one ring on each hand at one time. Rings are set with various stones for easy identification. As with potions, the code changes from game to game.
Add strength:
: increases your fighting strength.
Dexterity:
: increases your fighting dexterity.
Protection:
: protects you against hits from monsters.
Searching:
: helps you find secret doors and traps.
See invisible (not in V5):
: lets you see invisible things, like Invisible Stalkers.
Increase damage:
: monsters will be hurt worse by your blows.
Maintain armor (not in v3):
: prevents rust monsters from corroding the armor you are wearing.
Regeneration:
: makes your wounds heal faster, one HP per turn. If you wear two
rings of regeneration at once, you will gain two HP per turn.
Slow digestion:
: lets you travel twice as far on a ration of food. If you wear two of these, you will never get hungry.
Stealth:
: enables you to sneak up on monsters without being noticed.
Sustain strength:
: prevents you from being weakened by potions, dart traps, and Giant Ants.
Teleportation:
: frequently teleports you without warning to somewhere else in the current level.
Aggravate monster:
: attracts monsters.
Adornment:
: looks impressive! but no magic powers.
The effect of a ring of *Protection*, *Add Strength*, *Dexterity*, or *Increase Damage* is determined by its increment. Increments are listed in inventories as signed integers; e.g., "a +2 ring of dexterity." A ring\'s increment may be −1; such a ring will be accursed, which means you cannot take it off without a scroll of *Remove Curse*. Two apparently identical rings may bear different increments. Rings of *Teleportation* and *Aggravate Monster* are always accursed.
Wearing almost any ring will make you get hungry faster. You can compute your rate of digestion by adding the appropriate increments from the table to 1.0.
Distribution and Metabolic Effect of Rings (V4)
Name | %(V3) %(V4) Effect
-------------------+-------------------
Add strength | 9 9 +1.00
Adornment | 1 1 ----
Aggravate monsters | 11 10 ----
Dexterity | 8 8 +.33
Increase damage | 8 8 +.33
Maintain armor | -- 5 +1.00
Protection | 9 9 +1.00
Regeneration | 4 4 +2.00
Searching | 10 10 +.33
See invisible | 10 10 +.25
Slow digestion | 9 9 -.50
Stealth | 7 7 +1.00
Sustain strength | 5 5 +1.00
Teleportation | 9 5 ----
A ring's increment or decrement does not affect its effect on your
digestion.
Staves and wands may be pointed in any direction. (You can also use them as weapons if necessary.) Staves are made of various materials, most of them woods. Wands are made of inorganic materials. The only difference between staves and wands is that staves do more damage when you use them as weapons.
When you first find a staff or wand, it bears 2+1d5 charges. When you have exhausted the charges, it has no more magic power.
Light:
: lights up the room you are in. Unlike the others, this starts with 1+1d5+1d10 charges.
Striking (not in V5):
: for hitting monsters on the head. It always hits its mark, bears a +3 damage increment, and does 1d8 damage. One charge in twenty bears a +9 increment and does 3d8 damage.
Lightning:
: shoots a bolt of lightning. It bears a (+1,+1) enchantment. Its range is six paces, and its damage is 6d6. Bolts can bounce off walls.
Fire:
: shoots a burst of flame. In other respects it resembles lightning.
Cold:
: shoots a blast of ice. In other respects it resembles lightning.
Magic missile:
: shoots a magic missile at a monster. Its range is unlimited. Bears a (+2,+1) enchantment and does 1d4 of damage unless the monster saves against magic.
Haste Monster:
: makes a monster hit you faster than you hit it, and outrun you when it\'s chasing you.
Invisibility (V5 only):
: confers invisibility on a monster.
Polymorph:
: changes a monster into some other kind of monster.
Slow monster:
: makes a monster hit you slower than you hit it, and run twice as slow as you when it\'s chasing you.
Drain life:
: drains the life from a monster. You lose half your hit points, and the monster loses an equal amount. If you are whole, this is an excellent way of dealing with such horrors as dragons and purple worms.
Teleport Away:
: teleports a monster to somewhere else in the current level. A useful way to buy time.
Cancellation:
: cancels a monster\'s magic powers. For instance, it will prevent an umber hulk from confusing you with its gaze. Works on ants, dragons, eyes, fungi, invisible stalkers, leprechauns, nymphs, rust monsters, umber hulks, and wraiths (but not mimics).
Teleport to:
: teleports a monster to you. Don\'t use this unless you know you can defeat the monster and want the experience.
Nothing:
: a dud. The only reason to carry one of these is in the hope that a nymph will steal it instead of something valuable.
Distribution of Staves and Wands (V3, V4)
Cancellation 5 Magic missile 10
Cold 3 Nothing 1
Drain life 9 Polymorph 15
Fire 3 Slow monster 11
Haste monster 9 Striking 9
Light 12 Teleport away 5
Lightning 3 Teleport to 5
The *Amulet of Yendor* is unique. It confers upon its owner the power of levitation. You cannot escape from a dungeon without it, since the elevators have been out of order for centuries.
You may acquire many kinds of weapons in *rogue*.
Weapons
Weapon held thrown
--------------------------------------
arrow 1d1 2d3*
crossbow (not in V5) 1d1 1d1
crossbow bolt (not in V5) 1d2 1d10
dagger 1d6 1d4
dart 1d1 1d3
long sword 3d4 1d2
mace 2d4 1d3
rock (V3 only) 1d2 1d4
short bow 1d1 1d1
sling (V3 only) 0d0 0d0
shuriken (V5 only) 1d2 2d4
spear 1d8 1d6
two-handed sword 4d4 1d2
staff 2d3 1d1
wand 1d1 1d1
bare hands 1d4 ---
To improve your aim, wield a short bow to shoot arrows, and a crossbow to shoot crossbow bolts. To shoot an item, *wield* the appropriate weapon and *throw* the item.
Every weapon has two increments, one for accuracy and one for damage. Against most monsters, damage increments are worth more than accuracy increments. Either increment may be raised by enchantments or lowered by curses. If a weapon is cursed, you can let go of it only by reading a scroll of *Enchant Weapon* or *Remove Curse*. One weapon in ten is accursed, and one in twenty is enchanted.
Staves and wands (except *Striking*) carry a damage increment of +1, which cannot be raised by magic scrolls.
This table shows the kinds of armor you may find.
Classes and Distribution of Armor
Name Class Class(V5) %
----------------------------------------
Leather armor [8] [2] 20
Studded leather armor [7] [3] 15
Ring mail [7] [3] 15
Scale mail [6] [4] 13
Chain mail [5] [5] 12
Splint mail [4] [6] 10
Banded mail [4] [6] 10
Plate mail [3] [7] 5
Enchantments may raise the strength of armor, curses may lower it, and Rust Monsters and Rust Traps may lower non-leather armor as far as class 9/1. (Street clothes are class 10/0.) Accursed armor cannot be taken off without a scroll of *Enchant Armor*, *Protect Armor*, or *Remove Curse*. Twenty per cent of all armor is accursed, and eight per cent is enchanted.
Class −5/15 armor is proof against bats and hobgoblins. Class −19/29 armor is proof against anything, even purple worms.
In V5 the better the armor, the higher its class. In older versions the better the armor, the lower its class.
You enter the dungeon with one ration of food. In the dungeon you will find two kinds of food: standard rations, and fruits. Unless you set the "fruit" option to something palatable, the fruits will be slime molds. One ration in ten is a fruit.
Standard rations come in two flavors: good, and awful. They are equivalent except that you gain 1 experience point when you eat awful-tasting food. (Slime molds are always yummy in this game.)
An average ration of food will keep you going for 1300 turns. After at most 1700 turns without eating, you will be told that you are hungry. If you persist, you will be told 150 turns later that you are weak from hunger. The remedy is to *eat* some food. If you do not, after another 150 turns you will start fainting at frequent, unpredictable intervals. Eventually you will die of starvation.
When you defeat a monster, you gain experience points according to the following table:
Experience (V4)
A 9 | H* 3 | O* 5 | U 200
B* 1 | I 120 | P 4000 | V 350
C 15 | J* 2 | Q 32 | W 55
D 6800 | K* 1 | R 20 | X 190
E* 5 | L 10 | S* 2 | Y 50
F 80 | M 100 | T 120 | Z 6
G* 7 | N 37
To these values, add a bonus of one-sixth the monster\'s hit points (one-eighth for starred monsters). The bonus is multiplied by 4 for monsters with more than six hit dice, and by 20 for monsters with ten or more. You also get a bonus for killing monsters below dungeon level 26, since these monsters are abnormally tough.
You gain 1 experience point for eating awful-tasting food.
Your experience level is determined according to the following table. Each time your experience level rises, your current and maximum hit points increase by 1d10. You also grow more adept at fighting, and your wounds heal faster.
Experience Level
Experience Experience Experience Heal Rate
Points (V4) Points (V5) Level (HP:turns)
---------------------------------------------
0 0 1 1:18
10 10 2 1:17
20 20 3 1:15
40 40 4 1:13
80 80 5 1:11
160 160 6 1:9
320 320 7 1:7
640 640 8 1:3
1,280 1,300 9 1d2:3
2,560 2,600 10 1d3:3
5,120 5,200 11 1d4:3
10,240 13,000 12 1d5:3
20,480 26,000 13 1d6:3
40,960 50,000 14 1d7:3
81,920 100,000 15 1d8:3
163,840 200,000 16 1d9:3
327,680 400,000 17 1d10:3
655,360 800,000 18 1d11:3
1,310,720 2,000,000 19 1d12:3
2,621,440 4,000,000 20 1d13:3
--------- 8,000,000 21 1d14:3
When you attack a monster, your chance of hitting it is 5%, plus 5%
times your experience level, plus 5% times the monster\'s armor class. A
monster\'s chance of hitting you is 20%, plus 5% times its hit dice,
plus 5% times your armor class, minus 5% for each increment on any rings
of protection you are wearing. A fight consists of you and a monster
hitting each other until one of you runs out of hit points. During a
fight you should always keep one eye on your HP.
The following table gives each monster\'s maximum ability to wound you.
Maximum Damage by Monster (V3, V4).
A 6 | H 8 | O 8 | U 34
B 2 | I 16 | P 32 | V 10
C 12 | J 2 | Q 8 | W 6
D 46 | K 4 | R 0 | X 33
E 0 | L 1 | S 3 | Y 12
F -- | M 12 | T 28 | Z 8
G 6 | N 0
Maximum Damage by Monster (V5).
A 0 | H 8 | O 8 | U 36
B 2 | I 0 | P 16 | V 10
C 12 | J 32 | Q 8 | W 6
D 46 | K 4 | R 6 | X 16
E 2 | L 1 | S 3 | Y 12
F -- | M 34 | T 28 | Z 8
G 27 | N 0
Thus, if you are fighting a Hobgoblin and your hit points fall to 8 or less, the Hobgoblin can kill you in a single turn and you had better think about running away.
How hard you can hit a monster depends on your weapon and your physical strength.
--------------------- --------------- -------- Strength and Damage Strength (V3) Strength (V4) Damage 3 3 −4 4 4 −3 5 5 −2 6 6 −1 7--15 7--15 0 16--18/50 16--17 +1 18/51--18/99 18 +2 18/00 19--20 +3 21 +4 22--30 +5 31 +6 --------------------- --------------- --------
When you start out as a level-1 rogue, your fights will tend to go badly for two reasons:
1. you lack dexterity;
2. you have only 12 hit points.
At level 1, Hobgoblins are your most dangerous opponents (1d8). With strength 16, no experience, a (+1,+1) mace, +1 ring mail, and 12 hit points, if you fight a Hobgoblin to the death you stand about one chance in eight of being killed, assuming that you attack first. (If you are down to 1 hit point, the odds turn against you.) But even a Jackal or Snake may land some lucky blows while avoiding your clumsy swings. When you are dangerously low on hit points, start running! This not only forestalls disaster, it gives you a chance to recover from your wounds.
Since monsters can run diagonally as well as you can, your best bet is to head straight for the nearest corridor in the opposite direction from the monster. When you have recovered enough to be able to withstand another blow, you can strike again. A set of rooms connected in a circle is especially useful; it lets you go on running indefinitely, or at least until your path is blocked by another monster.
The etiquette of fighting is as follows: if you step into a space adjacent to a monster, the monster will strike first. If you and the monster step simultaneously into adjacent spaces, you may strike first. A sleeping monster will not strike first.
Now and then you will be jumped by two or more monsters at once, or be fighting one monster when another monster joins in the fighting. It is good strategy to retreat into a doorway or passage. Since passages have room for only one monster at a time, you can dispatch your opponents singly.
If you are cornered, try to kill the most critical monsters first. Gnomes, Hobgoblins, and Orcs are critical because you can kill them fast and they can hurt you significantly if you don\'t. Trolls, Umber Hulks, and Xorns are critical for the opposite reason: they can kill you fast if you don\'t take them out of action. Monsters such as Centaurs, Jackals, and Mimics are not critical; their strength is not disproportionately greater than their endurance.
Since monsters can run diagonally as well as you can, your best bet is to head straight for the nearest corridor in the opposite direction from the monster. The longer you run, the more your wounds heal. When you have recovered enough to be able to withstand another blow, you can strike again.
A set of rooms connected in a circle is especially useful; it lets you go on running indefinitely. Another way to go on running is to run around a monster that is sound asleep. These methods fail if another monster attacks you from the other direction, so if you are in great danger, consider using a magic wand instead of running away.
Some monsters are best attacked with missile weapons such as bow and arrows. Floating Eyes, Leprechauns, and Nymphs are sitting ducks for such attacks, since they always sit still unless attacked or aggravated. When you find one, you can withdraw to a safe distance and start shooting. If the room is too small for this tactic, you are better off leaving the monster alone. Leprechauns and Nymphs need only one hit on you to get what they want. (You can guard valuable items against a Nymph by simply dropping them before the fight.)
Long-range attacks are advisable against any special monster, provided you know the monster\'s position in advance. Normally you get such information by means of potions of *Monster Detection* or scrolls, staves, or wands of *Light*. Room size is not critical when you fight non-thieving monsters, since you can switch to a mace or sword when the monster is about to reach you.
In any case, when you finish dispatching a monster with bow and arrows, switch back to a mace or sword at your first opportunity.
When a Floating Eye hits you, it transfixes you for two or three turns. While you are transfixed it keeps attacking you, and the hypnotic effect is cumulative. Thus you may remain transfixed until you starve or another monster comes along and eats you.
The better your armor, the more likely you are to avoid this fate. This table gives your chances, assuming that your first blow fails to kill the Eye.
Probability of Being Permanently Transfixed
AC Prob. | AC Prob.
--------------+--------------
3 0.000 | 7 0.346
4 0.038 | 8 0.425
5 0.156 | 9 0.498
6 0.257 | 10 0.564
It helps to have a ring of *Protection*.
When fighting a Rust Monster, take your armor off! You don\'t need it against a Rust Monster, and it will deteriorate rapidly if you leave it on. Since a Rust Monster can normally score two hits on your armor before you get it off, advance notice of Rust Monsters is very useful.
Naturally this advice does not hold if you are being attacked by other monsters, or if your armor is already so rusty that it cannot get worse, or if you are wearing accursed armor.
Rust Monsters are found at levels 9 to 18. At these levels you should usually wear your second-best or third-best suit of armor, to save your best suit from Rust Monsters.
When you are in a tight spot, don\'t panic! There is more than one way to skin a monster. Take inventory and see what you have on hand.
A potion of *Healing* will instantly cure some of your wounds, although this may not help you very long against super-monsters like Dragons and Purple Worms. A potion of *Haste Self* will enable you to move twice as fast as your opponent. If you are greatly weakened, a potion of *Restore Strength* may turn the battle in your favor at the cost of one turn.
If you are desperate, an unidentified potion may help you out.
A scroll of *Genocide* will not only annihilate your opponent, it will forestall further attacks by his relatives. A scroll of *Hold Monster* is also very effective; *Confuse Monster* is less effective, because you must hit the monster to confuse it and a confused monster can still hit you. A scroll of *Teleportation* gives you a breathing spell.
The best place to drop a scroll of *Scare Monster* is in a straight passage. The monster will halt, gnashing its teeth at you. Being too stupid to run away, it can be dispatched at your leisure with missile weapons.
Most staves and wands are good in a fight. *Haste Monster*, *Teleport To*, *Invisibility*, and *Nothing* are obvious exceptions. There are four things to watch out for:
1. A staff or wand may run out of charges just when you need it most.
Unless you were forewarned by a scroll of Identify, you will find
out only when you try to use the staff or wand and nothing happens.
Do not waste staves and wands!
2. Some monsters are resistant to magic attacks. Shoot a bolt of cold
at a troll and it may bounce back at you.
3. Staves of *Drain Life* are non-directional. If two or more monsters
are attacking you, they share the damage equally.
4. When you use a staff or wand of *Polymorph*, anything can happen. A
Troll could turn into a Jackal, but it could just as easily become a
Purple Worm.
Thanks to a potion of *Haste Self* or a staff of *Slow Monster*, you may find yourself moving twice as fast as the monster you are fighting. There are three ways to use this advantage.
1. You can run. This will save your hide, but does you little credit.
2. You can stand and fight, dealing two blows for each of the
monster\'s. This does you credit, but may also do you in,
particularly when you are fighting a Xorn.
3. You can fight and run on alternate turns. This way you can gradually
wear down even a Xorn without sustaining a scratch.
On the other hand, if you may have unwittingly used a staff of *Haste Monster*, you have only two options: fight or run. If you run, even a Snake can gradually do you in without sustaining a scratch from you. Never run from a hasty monster!
The easiest way to identify an object is with a scroll of Identify. If you do not have one, there are other ways.
You can usually identify a scroll by reading it. Scrolls of *Identify*, *Genocide*, *Magic Mapping*, *Food Detection*, *Gold Detection*, *Light*, and *Sleep* announce themselves immediately. Scrolls of *Monster Confusion*, *Enchant Weapon*, *Enchant Armor*, *Remove Curse*, *Aggravate Monsters*, *Scare Monster*, and *Blank Paper* produce characteristic messages. Scrolls of *Teleportation* and *Create Monster* produce no message, but their effect is obvious. Only a scroll of *Hold Monster* cannot be recognized by reading it (unless a monster is standing near you).
You can identify a potion by quaffing it. The only potions that occasionally cannot be recognized this way are *Monster Detection* and *Magic Detection*.
You can tell whether a ring is cursed by putting it on and then trying to remove it. If it is cursed you will fail. This method cannot be wholeheartedly recommended.
A few rings can be readily recognized by their effects. A ring of *Add Strength* will immediately alter your displayed strength. You can tell a ring of *Regeneration* by the remarkable speed with which your wounds heal after a battle. A ring of *Sustain Strength* makes itself known as soon as a Giant Ant stings you, and a ring of *Maintain Armor* as soon as a Rust Monster bites you. A ring of *Teleportation* jumps you all over the dungeon.
A ring of *Searching* announces itself when you first find a trap without searching for it. A ring of *See Invisible* has no effect until you see your first Invisible Stalker at level 16 or lower. You can tell that you are wearing a ring of *Aggravate Monsters* when a Leprechaun attacks you without provocation. Other rings must be recognized by gradual inference.
Most staves and wands produce characteristic effects. A staff of *Light* announces itself explicitly. Staves of *Lightning*, *Fire*, and *Cold* produce the same kind of messages, but an inventory will tell you what they shoot. Staves of *Magic Missile* and *Striking* have characteristic messages.
Staves of *Drain Life* resemble staves of *Teleport Away*. The difference is that when you drain a monster\'s life away you will be told that you have defeated it, and your hit points will be lower.
A staff of *Teleport To* may be mistaken for a staff of *Cancellation* if you use it against a monster that is already attacking you. The only way to distinguish them is by zapping a distant monster. It is very hard to recognize a staff of *Cancellation* until you use it on a monster with special powers. You can easily mistake a staff of *Nothing* for either of these.
Wands of *Slow Monster* and *Haste Monster* are easy to recognize. You will land two blows to the monster\'s one, or one to its two. A wand of *Polymorph* is just as easy to recognize except when it happens to change a monster into itself.
As soon as you wear a suit of mail, its strength is displayed. The only drawback is that the mail may be cursed. This hazard is somewhat compensated by the prospect of discovering that your spare suit of scale mail is +3.
Potions of *Restore Strength* raise your strength to its highest previous level. Since such potions are fairly common, you should try to maximize your highest strength. The best time to drink a potion of *Gain Strength* is when your strength is at maximum; that is, at the beginning of the game or just after you drink a potion of *Restore Strength*. Experienced rogues save their potions of *Gain Strength* until they find a potion of *Restore Strength*. If your strength is 6 or lower, you may wish to drink a potion of *Gain Strength* at once, to keep monsters from kicking sand at you.
There are three popular ways to use a scroll of *Enchant Armor*:
1. To remove an accursed suit of armor. Of course a scroll of *Remove
Curse* will serve just as well, if you can only find one.
2. To create one very good suit of armor. Plus-3 banded mail is a great
comfort when you are expecting Vampires or Xorns.
3. To create a good suit of rust-proof armor. Normal leather armor is
class-8; if you raise it to class 5 you are well protected against
Trolls and Rust Monsters alike.
If you are well supplied with wands of *Polymorph* early in your career, you can have some fun when you find a sleeping monster in a long, lighted room. Go as far away from the monster as you can, change it into something vicious, and kill it with arrows. The experience will promote you to a high level of wizardry.
Dragons, Purple Worms, and Xorns are not good candidates for this campaign. They are likely to ignore your arrows and eat you.
If you have a spare scroll of *Scare Monster*, you can take on any creature. You may even choose to read a scroll of *Aggravate Monsters* first.
Don\'t throw away that wand of *Haste Monster*! Besides making cheap presents for Nymphs, bad magic things can often be put to good use.
A scroll of *Aggravate Monsters* will draw Leprechauns and Nymphs from small rooms to big ones where you can shoot them down. If you are standing on a scroll of *Scare Monster*, then you can fearlessly attract all monsters (except Dragons).
A potion of *Levitation* can be very handy for passing a trap in front of a doorway. It also lets you pass by monsters without waking them.
If you\'re afraid of Umber Hulks or Medusas (or Floating Eyes), quaff a potion of *Blindness*. Then again, maybe you\'re better off confused!
If you\'re outmatched in a fight, put on a ring of *Teleportation*. It might save your life at the cost of some inconvenience.
Use a wand of *Invisibility* on Umber Hulks or Medusas to keep them from confusing you.
When two monsters are pursuing you through a room, use a wand of *Haste Monster* to speed up the monster you\'d rather fight. When you reach the doorway, the Zombie and not the Troll will be attacking you; this may give you time for a draught of *Healing* or a change of armor.
Trap Doors and Teleport Traps are both good for escaping from monsters.
At the higher levels of the dungeon, try to discover and explore every room. Remember that each of the nine sectors of the level must be occupied by a room, a winding passage, or a dead-end passage. With enough searching you should be able to find them all.
There are only two foolproof ways to distinguish a dead-end passage from a passage that leads to a room:
1. Every room must be at least two paces long and two paces wide, not counting the walls. If there is not enough space at the end of the passage for the room to exist, you are in a dead-end passage.
2. A scroll of *Magic Mapping* settles all doubts.
If you cannot tell whether you are in a dead-end passage, search for a while and then give up. Do not judge by the length of the passage; some dead-end passages are very short.
When you enter a dark room, it is good practice to find the doorways at once. On the other hand, there is no need to walk along a wall that cannot have any doorways because of its position. If a room extends to the edge of the screen, you do not even need to verify that the wall on that side of the room exists.
To traverse a dark room with straight sweeps is easy but not economical.
For example:
|............. +@@@@@@@@@@@@. ----------+---
By running straight across the room, you explore an area three paces wide. A better method is shown below:
-----+-------- |.@.@.@.@.@.@. +@.@.@.@.@.@.. ----------+---
By zigzagging you can explore an area four paces wide. In this example you save a whole trip. In general you can expect to save 33% on mileage.
To avoid traps, retrace your steps as much as possible instead of treading on new spaces. By zigzagging as shown above, you can cut your risk roughly in half.
When you have descended to a level at which the monsters threaten to end your career permanently, it becomes very important to discover doorways and stairways. Do not stubbornly insist on exploring every room. Be content with finding a moderate hoard of gold or a valuable object or two. If pursued by something you cannot withstand, just head like blazes for the stairway.
And when you find a stairway on level 19 or lower, test it by walking on it. It could be a mimic!
Typing a control-P (\^P) makes you a Dungeon Master with enormous power, but only if you know the password. (This is used mainly to debug the program, and is not available in V5.)
You may also start out as a Dungeon Master by invoking *rogue* with a null argument; i.e.,
rogue '' ...
You will still need the password.
If you become a Dungeon Master, you can sense all monsters on the
current level. You can also use the following special commands:
C
: Put a new object in your pack. You must specify the type and
ordinal; e.g., "!" and "6" for a potion of *Monster Detection*.
@
: Display your present coordinates.
\^A
: Count the objects in your pack.
\^C
: Display the corridors.
\^D
: Go down to the next lower level.
\^E
: Display how much longer you can go without eating.
\^F
: Display the current level, showing everything but monsters. Secret
doors appear as **&**.
\^H
: Give yourself a +1,+1 two-handed sword, +8 plate mail, and nine more
levels of experience.
\^I
: List the gold hoards and objects lying around on the current level.
\^N
: Recharge a staff or wand.
\^P
: Become an ordinary magic user.
\^T
: Teleport yourself somewhere.
\^U
: Go up to the next higher level.
\^W
: Identify something.
These commands are not robust. By abusing them you can go up to dungeon level −3, drink a tiger\'s eye potion, or wear a ring of Lightning.
If you ever manage to get out of the dungeon alive, you can sell all your booty to the Guild and retire from exploring. The Amulet of Yendor is worth 1,000 gold pieces. The worth of other magical objects is shown in the following table.
Scrolls
-----------------------+-----------------------
Genocide ........ 300 | Remove curse ..... 105
Scare monster ... 200 | Identify ......... 100
Hold monster .... 180 | Create monster .... 75
Teleportation ... 165 | Gold detection .... 50
Enchant armor ... 160 | Aggravate monsters 20
Magic mapping ... 150 | Sleep .............. 5
Enchant weapon .. 150 | Blank paper ........ 5
Monster confusion 140 |
Potions
-----------------------+-----------------------
Raise level ..... 250 | Magic detection .. 105
Extra healing ... 200 | See invisible .... 100
Haste self ...... 190 | Blindness .......... 5
Gain strength ... 150 | Confusion .......... 5
Monster detection 130 | Paralysis .......... 5
Healing ......... 130 | Poison ............. 5
Restore strength 130 | Thirst quenching ... 5
Rings
-----------------------+-----------------------
Stealth ......... 470 | Maintain armor ... 380
Regeneration .... 460 | See invisible .... 310
Dexterity ....... 440 | Sustain strength . 280
Searching ....... 420 | Slow digestion ... 240
Protection ..... 400 | Teleportation ..... 30
Add strength .... 400 | Aggravate monster . 10
Increase damage . 400 | Adornment ......... 10
Staves & Wands
-----------------------+-----------------------
Slow monster 350 | Cancellation 280
Teleport away 340 | Light 250
Cold 330 | Magic missile 170
Lightning 330 | Striking 75
Fire 330 | Teleport to 50
Polymorph 310 | Haste monster 5
Drain life 300 | Nothing 5
The prices for rings, staves and wands are basic. Each increment on a ring, and each charge on a staff or wand, adds 20 gold pieces to the value. For example, a +1 ring of increase damage is worth 420. Any ring with a decrement is worth 50. All unidentified magic objects go for half price.
The price of armor and weapons is given below.
Market Prices of Armor and Weapons
Armor | Weapons
---------------------------+--------------------
leather armor ....... 120 |
studded leather armor 220 | dagger .......... 2
ring mail ........... 225 | spear ........... 5
scale mail .......... 330 | mace ............ 8
chain mail .......... 475 | long sword ..... 15
splint mail ......... 580 | short bow ...... 15
banded mail ......... 590 | crossbow ....... 30
plate mail .......... 750 | two-handed sword 75
Each increment (decrement) on a suit of armor raises (lowers) the price by 110 gold pieces. Each increment (decrement) on a weapon raises (lowers) its price by three times the basic price. No price can fall below zero.
Rations of food (including fruits) sell for 2 gold pieces each.
Agate
: a stripey or cloudy kind of chalcedony.
Alexandrite
: a stone that looks green in sunlight and red in dungeon light.
Amethyst
: a kind of purple quartz.
Aquator
: a monster that attacks by squirting a jet of water.
Balsa
: a very light tropical wood.
Beryllium
: a light, brittle metal.
Black unicorn
: an evil, solitary, one-horned magic horse.
Carnelian
: a red variety of chalcedony.
Centaur
: a monster with the head and trunk of a man and the body of a horse.
It carries a club.
Cinnabar
: red mercuric sulfide. Not the best material for a staff.
Crimson
: deep purplish red.
Cyan
: bright greenish blue.
Diamond
: crystallized carbon, clear and harder than anything else.
Dogwood
: a hard, tough wood resembling boxwood.
Dragon
: a huge, red, winged, fire-breathing reptile.
Electrum
: an alloy of silver and gold.
Emerald
: a bright green beryl.
Emu
: a large flightless bird.
Fall
: a Shakespearean staff. Hopefully this will be dropped from future
versions of **rogue**.
Floating eye
: a transparent, one-eyed sea creature.
Garnet
: a deep red, glassy stone.
Germanium
: a brittle greyish metal.
Gnome
: an ugly, misshapen dwarf that lives underground.
Granite
: a hard, grey, igneous rock.
Griffin
: a fierce monster with the head and wings of an eagle and the body
and claws of a lion.
Hobgoblin
: a large, hairy, nasty underground creature, usually armed and
mailed.
Ice monster
: a humanoid monster that can radiate a freezing ice mist from one
eye.
Invisible stalker
: an invisible airborne creature, single-minded and relentless.
Ironwood
: any of various very hard woods.
Jabberwock
: a fierce monster. Little is known about it except that it possesses
"jaws that bite" (2d12) and "claws that scratch"
: (2d4).
Jackal
: a cowardly, yellow wild dog of Asia and North Africa.
Jade
: a hard, green, opaque stone.
Kestrel
: a large seabird.
Kobold
: a small, vicious underground creature that walks erect and carries a
sword.
Kryptonite
: a green meteoric stone from the planet Krypton.
Kukui
: a large tropical tree.
Lapis lazuli
: an azure-blue opaque stone.
Leprechaun
: a clever fairy in the form of a little man with a pot of gold.
Manzanita
: a desert shrub.
Medusa
: a snake-haired, horrible woman whose gaze can turn creatures to
stone.
Mimic
: an underground carnivore that can imitate objects.
Moonstone
: a kind of milky white quartz.
Nymph
: a nature spirit in the form of a beautiful maiden.
Obsidian
: a dark, glassy volcanic rock.
Onyx
: a kind of agate with layers of color.
Opal
: a milky form of silica that can refract light into colors.
Orc
: an ugly, stupid biped, ill-tempered and foul-smelling.
Pearl
: a round tumor from the inside of a shellfish.
Peridot
: a deep yellow-green stone.
Pewter
: an alloy of tin and lead.
Purple worm
: a giant burrowing animal with a circular mouth full of sharp teeth.
Quagga
: probably a misprint for *quaggoth*, a big, shaggy, ferocious
humanoid creature. Real *quaggas* are striped donkey-like animals,
now extinct.
Quasit
: a small, sneaky, demonlike creature.
Rattlesnake
: a poisonous snake with a rattle in its tail.
Ruby
: a deep red form of corundum.
Rust monster
: a grotesque, long-tailed quadruped that feeds on metal.
Sapphire
: a deep blue form of corundum.
Shuriken
: a small, jagged-edged disk, thrown as a weapon.
Silicon
: a hard grey substance extracted from rocks.
Taaffeite
: a rare mauve-colored stone.
Tiger\'s eye
: a yellowish-brown stone whose colors seem to play.
Topaz
: a yellowish crystalline stone; also, a dark yellow color.
Troll
: a large, greenish personage, fearless and very strong, with an appetite for human flesh.
Tungsten
: a heavy, greyish-white metal.
Turquoise
: an opaque, unstable blue-green stone; also, a light bluish-green color.
Umber Hulk
: a large, dark-colored monster with huge claws and four eyes.
Vampire
: a nocturnal ghoul that sucks blood from its victims.
Venus\' Fly-Trap
: a large green plant that behaves like Violet Fungi (see below).
Vermilion
: deep yellowish red.
Violet Fungi
: a large fungus whose tendrils seize living creatures and rot their flesh.
Wraith
: a malevolent spirit that drains the life from its opponents.
Xeroc
: see *mimic*.
Xorn
: a three-armed, three-legged monster that can rearrange its molecules.
Yeti
: a large, white, shaggy creature that walks erect and dwells in the mountains of Tibet.
Zebrawood
: a hard tropical wood with stripes.
Zircon
: a clear reddish stone.
Zombie
: a walking corpse.
Helpful comments and criticism were offered by J. T. Nutter, T. R. Pellitieri, and E. A. Flinn.
Catalog of Messages, on Internet Archive Wayback machine
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