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DCSS (Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup)

I've been playing a little Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup lately, mainly while waiting on kids. The latest version (v0.25) changed the magic system a little to make different elemental mages' play styles more distinct. I've only won with melee characters before (considered easier), and I've taken a few tries. Splatted a bunch of Draconian and Merfolk Ice Elementalists in Lair branches (mid-game), and a bunch of Vampire Enchanters in the early game. I then decided to try what's generally considered the easiest magic background, which I'd somehow never played before, a Gargoyle Earth Elementalist. And it was a lot easier! My character found a Staff of Earth early on, which enhanced their spell damage, *and* did a lot of melee damage because of his Earth Magic skill. And they were able to wear decent light armor (Acid Dragon Scales) and use (eventually) a kite shield without messing up their spell success rates. I cruised through Lair, Orc, and the two regular Lair branches – the Spider's Nest and the Swamp, for two runes. Really nothing was difficult, and this is where hubris begins.

Earlier on, in the Dungeon, there was an entrance to a treasure trove that would only open if shown the Slimy Rune of Zot. This induced me to attempt the Slime Pit as my third branch instead of the Vaults, and I went straight to it, instead of doing some of Depths and the first few levels of Vaults. This was a mistake. I got blasted by an acid blob that I had lured out of the Pit into Lair. YASD. It was fair though – this was a completely avoidable death.

Not sure what background I'll play next; may not play for a little while. Not because I'm broken up, but because everything interesting will be harder than the game I just played, but I don't want to repeat that background, either, because it will all feel just like trying to catch up to where I was.