rogue36.doc

              A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom

                       Michael C. Toy
              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 describes how to play rogue and gives a
     few hints for those who might otherwise  get  lost
     in the Dungeons of Doom.



11 July 2006













































              A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom

                       Michael C. Toy
              Computer Systems Research Group
 Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
                  University of California
                Berkeley, California  94720


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 sword, 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
night sleeping under the open skies.   In  the  morning  you
gather  your  sword,  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
keystrokes  and  the  results of your commands are displayed
graphically on the screen rather  than  being  explained  in
-----------
As opposed to pseudo English sentences.



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                             A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


words.

     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.  Here
is a sample of what a rogue screen might look like.
                            ---------------------
                            |...................+
                            |...@...........[...|
                            |........B..........|
                            |...................|
                            --------+------------


          Level: 1  Gold: 0      Hp: 12(12)  Str: 16  Ac: 6  Exp: 1/0

3.1.  The bottom line

     At the bottom line of the screen is  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 forever.

Gold    The  number  of gold pieces you have managed to find
        and keep with you so far.

Hp      Your current and maximum  hit  points.   Hit  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 hit points by resting. The
        number in parentheses is the maximum number your hit
        points can reach.

Str     Your current strength.  This can be any integer less
        than or equal to eighteen.  The higher  the  number,
        the stronger you are.

Ac      Your current armor class.  This number indicates how
        effective your  armor  is  in  stopping  blows  from
        unfriendly creatures.  The lower this number is, the
-----------
Or until you get killed or decide to quit.



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                             A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


        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
        experienced 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
press 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 trap, watch out for these.

%     The passage leading down to the next level.

:     A piece of food.

A-Z   The uppercase letters represent  the  various  inhabi-
      tants of the Dungeons of Doom.  Watch out, they can be



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                             A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


      mean.

4.  Commands

     Commands are given to rogue by pressing single letters.
Most  commands  can  be  preceded  by a count to repeat them
(e.g. typing "10s" will do ten searches) 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.

?     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 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")

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.

f     Find prefix.  When followed by a direction it means to
      continue moving in the specified direction  until  you
      pass something interesting or run into a wall.

t     Throw an object.  This is a prefix command.  Follow it
      with a direction and you throw an object in the speci-
      fied  direction.   (e.g.  type "th" to throw something
      left.)

>     If you are standing over the passage down to the  next
      level, this command means to climb down.





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                             A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


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 some-
      thing.

      (space) Rest.  This is the "do nothing" command.  This
      is good for waiting and healing.

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.  Drink one of the potions you are carrying.

r     Read.  Read one of the scrolls in your pack.

e     Eat food.  Take some food out of your pack and eat it.

w     Wield  a  weapon.   Take a weapon out of your pack and
      carry it.  You must be  wielding   weapon  to  use  it
      (except  to throw things).  To fire an arrow, you must
      wield the bow.  You can only wield  one  weapon  at  a
      time.

W     Wear  armor.   Take  a piece of armor out of your pack
      and put it on.  You can only wear one suit of armor at
      a time.

T     Take  armor  off.   You  can't  remove  armor  that is
      cursed.  This takes extra time.

d     Drop an object.  Take something out of your  pack  and
      leave  it  lying  on  the  floor.  Only one object can
      occupy each space.

o     Examine and set  options.   This  command  is  further
      explained in the section on options.

^L    REdraws  the  screen.  Useful  if spurious messages or
      transmission errors have messed up the display.

v     Prints the program version number.

Q     Quit.  Leave the game.

R     Repeat last message.  Useful when a message disappears
      before you can read it.

S     Save  the current game in a 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



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                             A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


      restored game.  This is to prevent people from  saving
      a  game  just  before  a  dangerous  position and then
      restarting it if they die.  To restore a  saved  game,
      give the file name as an argument to rogue. As in
                % rogue save_file

5.  Dealing with objects

     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.  If you are carrying too many
things, the program will tell you and it won't pick  up  the
object,  otherwise  it  will  add it to your pack and if the
notify option is set, 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 press an escape and the command will be aborted.

6.  Light

     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
dark  room, all objects inside the room which might move are
removed from the screen.  In the darkness you can  only  see
one space in all directions around you.

7.  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.

8.  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
classes.  The lower the armor class, the more protection the
armor affords against the blows of monsters.  If a piece  of
armor is enchanted or cursed, its armor class will be higher
or lower than normal.  Here is a list of the  various  armor
types and their normal armor class.










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                             A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


           +------------------------------------+
           |           Type               Class |
           +----------------------------+-------+
           |Leather armor               |   8   |
           |Studded leather / Ring mail |   7   |
           |Scale mail                  |   6   |
           |Chain mail                  |   5   |
           |Banded mail / Splint mail   |   4   |
           |Plate mail                  |   3   |
           +----------------------------+-------+

9.  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
ways.

9.1.  Setting the options

     There are basically two ways to set the  options.   The
first  is  with the "o" command of rogue, the second is with
the ROGUEOPTS environment variable.  On Version  6  systems,
there is no equivalent of the ROGUEOPTS feature.

9.1.1.  Using the "o" command

     When  you  press "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 pressing "t" for true or "f" for false.  For
string options, type the new value followed by a return.

9.1.2.  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 and
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, the name is set to "Conan the Barbarian" and the  fruit
is "mango", use the command
   % setenv ROGUEOPTS "jump,noterse,name=Conan the Barbarian,fruit=mango"
   %  setenv  ROGUEOPTS "jump,noterse,name=Conan the Barbar-
ian,fruit=mango"

-----------
For those of you who use  the  bourne  shell,  the
commands would be
   $ ROGUEOPTS="jump,noterse,name=Conan the Barbarian,fruit=mango"



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                             A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


9.2.  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.

terse [noterse]          Useful  for  those who are tired of
                         the sometimes lengthy  messages  of
                         rogue.  This is a useful option for
                         those  on  slow  terminals.    This
                         option  defaults  to on if your are
                         on a slow (under 1200 baud)  termi-
                         nal.

jump [nojump]            If  this  option  is  set,  running
                         moves will not be  displayed  until
                         you  reach  the  end  of  the move.
                         This saves  considerable  cpu  time
                         and   display  time.   This  option
                         defaults to on if you are  using  a
                         slow terminal.

step [nostep]            When  step is set, lists of things,
                         like inventories or  "*"  responses
                         to "Which item do you wish to xxxx?
                         " questions, are displayed one item
                         at a time on the top of the screen,
                         rather than  clearing  the  screen,
                         displaying  the  list, then re-dis-
                         playing the dungeon level.

flush [noflush]          If flush is set, all  typeahead  is
                         thrown  away  after  each  round of
                         battle.  This is useful  for  those
                         who  type  way  ahead  and watch to
                         their  dismay  as  a  Kobold  kills
                         them.

askme [noaskme]          Upon reading a scroll or quaffing a
                         potion which does not automatically
                         identify  it  upon  use, rogue will
                         ask you what to name it so you  can
                         recognize it in the future.

name [account name]      This is the name of your character.
                         It is used if you get  on  the  top
                         ten  scorer's  list.   It should be
                         less than eighty characters long.

fruit [slime-mold]       This should  hold  the  name  of  a
                         fruit that you enjoy eating.  It is
                         basically a whimsy that the program
-----------
   $ export ROGUEOPTS



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                             A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom


                         uses in a couple of places.

file [rogue.save]        The  default  file  name for saving
                         the game.  If your phone is hung up
                         by  accident,  rogue will automati-
                         cally save the game in  this  file.
                         The  file name may contain the spe-
                         cial character "~" which expands to
                         be your home directory.

10.  Acknowledgements

     Rogue  was originally conceived of by Glenn Wichman and
Michael Toy.  The help of Ken Arnold in making  the  program
easier  to  use  and  putting  the  finishing  touches on is
greatly appreciated.  I  would  also  like  to  thank  Marty
McNary,  Scott  Nelson,  Daniel  Jensen,  Kipp  Hickman, Joe
Kalash, Steve Maurer, Bill Joy, Mark Horton and  Jan  Miller
for their ideas and assistance.






































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