The Newbie Guide
Welcome to FrogComposband! This guide will attempt to give you a quick
overview of the game and get you started on your path to slay the
dreaded Serpent of Chaos.
Overview
FrogComposband is a single-player role-playing game where you, the
brave adventurer, attempt to save (or conquer?) the world by defeating
evil monsters including, eventually, the Serpent of Chaos. The road is
long, and the path is treacherous. Many have tried and failed, and the
dungeons are littered with the bones of would-be heroes, slaughtered by
dark gods or dragons or demons or (in one ignominious case) a sheep. Do
you have what it takes to succeed?
Creating a Character
Your first step will be to create your character. Since you are new to
the game, you may want to choose Beginner Mode at the initial prompt.
This will greatly limit the complexity of the character creation
process and also activate coffee-break mode, a faster-paced version of
the game with accelerated leveling-up and no wilderness. After playing
a few characters to get an idea of how to play, you can start a new
character in Normal Mode to view all the options and allow the
wilderness. Hey, it's not like your first character is going to win
anyway!
In Beginner Mode, the game is going to walk you through creating your
character. You can refer to [a] for more detailed info, but the basics
are that you will choose a sex, a race, a class and the stats you start
with. While your sex is not important (to the game), your race and
especially your class are key to everything that follows.
Don't sweat too much about race selection in Beginner Mode - all the
classic Beginner Mode races are fairly strong, and although their
strengths and weaknesses differ, any of them can play any class
reasonably well. Klackons are an extremely strong race; they gain an
innate speed bonus, as well as innate resistance to confusion (new
players die to confusion a lot!). Another slightly less vanilla option
is the werewolf: you gain the ability to change shape, even affecting
which equipment slots you have. Werewolves are somewhat bad at magic,
so this may not be the ideal (or at least the most thematic) choice for
a beginning mage.
Class Choices
Normally, the game has a vast (overwhelming?) array of choices that
offer myriad, diverse playstyles, and it can take a while to even learn
what is available. For now, we'll consider a few basic approaches in
order to get you going.
The easiest style (especially in the early game!) is 'Hack and Slash',
and it is the essence of the warrior. As noted, almost any race will
make a good one, but if you want to double down on it you could be a
Half-Troll. Be warned: trolls are ugly and stupid, not to mention
unpopular; shopkeepers are loath to sell to one as ugly as you, so you
will have a somewhat harder time buying supplies. You can compensate by
going on a killing rampage, which is more fun anyway! Key stats for
Warriors include Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; but if you
survive the early game you will want some Intelligence too, since even
warriors need magical devices now and then.
Another style is to take the stealthy approach and play a rogue or a
ninja. Both of these classes are quite strong in melee and combine that
with some extra abilities: Ninjas gain special ninjutsu skills as they
level up, while Rogues get to select a magical realm. Sorcery is a
strong realm pick for any character, but there is also the special
option of Burglary, designed uniquely for rogues. Not only is Burglary
a powerful realm, it allows fun stuff like setting traps and picking
pockets! Key stats for both Rogues and Ninjas include strength and
dexterity; but a non-Burglary rogue should also invest in intelligence,
as it will be his primary stat for spellcasting purposes.
Or you can go all in on magic and play a mage. Magic takes some time to
get good with, and mages are quite squishy in the early game, so this
route requires a bit more patience from you. I would suggest picking
Chaos or Armageddon as your primary spell realm, and Sorcery as your
secondary realm; Chaos and Armageddon give the good offense you will
need to kill monsters, while Sorcery provides good utility spells. The
key stat for mages is Intelligence, but you will also need decent
Strength, simply to carry all the goodies you find.
Personality Choices
So you jumped straight to Normal Mode and need a personality as well?
You can pick most of them, but there are a few you should probably
avoid. Lazy and Fragile are pure challenge personalities, so picking
one of those makes the already steep development curve even steeper.
Sexy sounds appealing but tends to give newbies pain. Chaotic and Split
are pretty wild rides; you may want to start with something a bit
calmer. Munchkin is a deliberately balance-breaking god personality, so
don't pick that. Finally, avoid Mundane unless your class is a pure
fighter like Warrior or Weaponsmith. Any of the remaining personalities
you should do okay with.
Many new players do select Normal Mode right away; but for most of this
guide, the assumption will be that you stuck to Beginner Mode. Not only
does it keep the game simpler, it keeps the explanations simpler too!
Equipping for Danger
Once you have completed the birth process, you will find yourself in
the town on the surface. Since you picked Beginner Mode, there will be
only one dungeon and no wilderness to explore. You will spend most of
your adventures in the dungeon (if you live!), but return to the
surface regularly to buy and sell equipment, complete town quests, and
leave and pick up items at your home. When you start, you have some
initial gear that varies with your class, and most of it should already
be equipped for you. You also have a small amount of gold which you can
use to augment your supplies for that first trip into danger.
So, what do you see at first?
#.#..#.##.######.##~~#####.....#####~~##########################~.. LEVEL 1
#....#.##.######.##~~~~~.........~~~~~##.....................###~.. EXP 23
##.#.#.#+....#+#.###~~~~~~~...~~~~~~~~##.#########.#########.##~~.. AU 907
###..#.##........##########...##########.#########.#########.##~~.. | (
###.##............#########...#########..####2####.#########.##~~.. STR : 18/10
4###.#....###...........###...###............................##~~.. INT : 18
.#+#.#...#####..................................######..####.##~~.. WIS : 7
.....#...#####..................................###8##..3###.###~.. DEX : 18/40
.#####....#+#.......................................##..####.###~.. CON : 18
...........................f.................................###~.. CHR : 12
................................................................... AC 6
..........................##6##........##++####....###+####..###~.. HP 43/ 43
.......###.@.............#######......##########...########..###~.. SP 14/ 14
......####>..............#######.....###....#####..########..##~~..
#....#######.............#######.....+#......##+......#####..##~~..
1....#######..............#####......+#......##+......#####..##~~..
#.....#####..............#######.....###....#####...#######..##~~..
#......###...............+#####+......##########....#######..##~~..
.........................#######.......##++####..............##~~..
#..##5##..#####+#####............................##.##7####..##~~..
#.#######.##########9...............##0##.###.#####.#######..##~~.. Study (1)
#..#####..###########.....#.#.......#####.###.#####.#######..##~~..
.........................##M##...............................##~~..
################################################################~..
################################################################~..
Outpost
Well, that @ on the left side of the screen is you for starters. Also,
those # characters are walls and you can see they are shaped into
buildings for the various shops. Each building has a number or '+'
character to represent its entrance; you may enter by simply moving
onto that square. Each number stands for a different type of shop. You
can move about with the numpad keys, and look about with the l or *
command followed by the numpad keys. (If you do not have a numpad, you
should probably turn on the roguelike keyset through the = options
menu; relying solely on the four arrow keys is too much of a pain when
you need to move diagonally.) That f is a monster and you should look
at it with the * command to see if it seems threatening:
Monster: a Scrawny cat [r,q,t,p,o,x,j,+,-,?,<dir>]
Name : Scrawny cat (f)
Level : Town Speed: +0 A Bit Erratic
AC : ? Type : Natural
HP : ?
Attacks : ?
Kills : 0
Exp : 0 at CL1
A skinny little furball with sharp claws and a menacing look.
Hmmm, probably no need to worry about Ms. Kitty.
Notice the Study (1) on the bottom right of the screen, indicating you
can study one new spell. If you are playing a mage, learning spells (G
to Gain a spell) should be your top priority; but at the first level,
you can only learn one, so make it count. I recommend learning Magic
Missile first, assuming you followed my advice and chose the Chaos
realm - as a mage, you really need to use magic to kill stuff, so your
first spell has to be something offensive. Later on, when you are more
experienced, you may pick Detect Monsters from the Sorcery realm. To
cast a spell, use the magic command (m) and follow the instructions.
Not every class can learn a spell right away; non-Burglary rogues, for
example, must reach character level 5 (CL5) in order to learn their
first spell.
Next, you should shop for gear. I recommend buying some means of
escape, such as scrolls of Teleportation or Phase Door from the Alchemy
Shop (5). Also, you will want Potions of Cure Serious Wounds from the
Temple (4). If you are playing a rogue, try to buy a sling and some
ammo (pebbles or shots) from the Weapon Smiths (3), as well as a quiver
to put your newly-bought ammo in. When you enter a store, you will see
a list of inventory, as well as a list of commands to use; simply
follow the instructions to make a purchase.
Eddie Beast-Master (Snotling) Weapon Smiths (25000)
Item Description Weight Price
a) ? 2 Books of Kendo [Yagyuu Bugeichou] 3.0 1510
b) | a Dagger (1d5) (+1,+2) 1.2 230
c) | a Bastard Sword (3d5) (+0,+0) 14.0 720
d) / a Trident (1d10) (+0,+0) 7.0 267
e) / a Broad Spear (1d11) (+3,+2) 10.0 926
f) } a Sling (x2) (+0,+0) 0.5 54
g) } a Short Bow (x2.50) (+0,+0) 3.0 122
h) } 2 Light Crossbows (x3.50) (+0,+0) 11.0 489
i) { 26 Bolts (3d5) (+0,+0) 0.3 3
j) { 36 Rounded Pebbles (2d3) (+0,+0) 0.4 2
k) { 16 Iron Shots (3d3) (+0,+0) 0.5 3
Gold Remaining: 907
b to buy. s to sell. x to begin examining items.
B to buyout inventory. S to shuffle stock. R to reserve an item.
Esc to exit. ? to help.
After buying something, it will be added to your pack. Use the i
command to view your pack:
Inventory | Equipment
a) ? a Thieves' Guide [Burglar's Handbook] 3.0 lb LEVEL 1
b) , 5 Rations of Food 5.0 lb EXP 23
c) ? 2 Scrolls of Teleportation 1.0 lb AU 805
d) ? a Scroll of Word of Recall 0.5 lb | ~(
e) ~ 2 Wooden Torches (with 2500 turns of light) 6.0 lb STR : 18/10
f) } a Sling (x2) (+0,+0) 0.5 lb INT : 18
g) { 16 Iron Shots (3d3) (+0,+0) 8.0 lb WIS : 7
24.0 lb DEX : 18/40
Carrying 36.2 pounds (27% capacity). CON : 18
CHR : 12
Examine which item (Esc to exit)? AC 6
HP 43/ 43
................................................................... SP 14/ 14
............................##6##........##++####....###+####..###~
.........###...............#######......##########...########..###~
........####>..............#######.....###....#####..########..##~~
###....#######.............#######.....+#......##+......#####..##~~
##1....#######..............#####......+#......##+......#####..##~~
###.....#####..............#######.....###....#####...#######..##~~
###......###...............+#####+......##########....#######..##~~
...........................#######.......##++####..............##~~ Study (1)
###..##5##..#####+#####............................##.##7####..##~~
###.#######.##########9...............##0##.###.#####.#######..##~~
###..#####..###########.....#.#.......#####.###.#####.#######..##~~
...........................##M##...............................##~~
Outpost
In my case, I bought a sling and some iron shots; unfortunately, no
quivers were for sale. (Each type of ranged weapon uses a corresponding
type of ammo; pebbles and shots go with slings. Arrows are for bows and
bolts are for crossbows, so they wouldn't have helped me here!) Now,
the sling won't do me any good in my pack: I need to equip it, which I
do with the w command. It will now appear if I press e to check my
equipment:
Inventory | Equipment
a) | Right Hand: a Dagger (1d5) (+0,+0) 1.2 lb LEVEL 1
b) Left Hand : EXP 23
c) } Shooting : a Sling (x2) (+0,+0) 0.5 lb AU 805
d) Quiver : | } ~(
e) Right Ring: STR : 18/10
f) Left Ring : INT : 18
g) Neck : WIS : 7
h) ~ Light : a Wooden Torch (with 2439 turns of ligh 3.0 lb DEX : 18/40
i) ( Body : Soft Leather Armour [4,+0] 8.0 lb CON : 18
j) Cloak : CHR : 12
k) Head : AC 6
l) Hands : HP 43/ 43
m) Feet : SP 14/ 14
12.7 lb
Carrying 36.2 pounds (27% capacity).
Examine which item (Esc to exit)?
###.....#####..............#######.....###....#####...#######..##~~
###......###...............+#####+......##########....#######..##~~
...........................#######.......##++####..............##~~ Study (1)
###..##5##..#####+#####............................##.##7####..##~~
###.#######.##########9...............##0##.###.#####.#######..##~~
###..#####..###########.....#.#.......#####.###.#####.#######..##~~
...........................##M##...............................##~~
Outpost
To shoot something simply fire one of your shots with the f command (t
in the roguelike keyset), press * to pick a target and 5 to select the
nearest monster, and see if you hit:
The Iron Shot (3d3) (+0,+0) hits the Scrawny cat. The Scrawny cat
mewls pitifully. LEVEL 1
...#..##...........##~~######+++######~~##########################~ EXP 23
..#.#..#.##.######.##~~#####.....#####~~##########################~ AU 805
#.#....#.##.######.##~~~~~.........~~~~~##.....................###~ | } ~(
.###.#.#.#+....#+#.###~~~~~~~...~~~~~~~~##.#########.#########.##~~ STR : 18/10
#####..#.##........##########...##########.#########.#########.##~~ INT : 18
#####.##............#########...#########..####2####.#########.##~~ WIS : 7
##4###.#....###...........###...###............................##~~ DEX : 18/40
+#.#+#.#...#####..................................######..####.##~~ CON : 18
.......#...#####..................................###8##..3###.###~ CHR : 12
##.#####....#+#........................@..............##..####.###~ AC 6
..............................{................................###~ HP 43/ 43
.............................f..................................... SP 14/ 14
............................##6##........##++####....###+####..###~
.........###...............#######......##########...########..###~ f[*--------]
........####>..............#######.....###....#####..########..##~~
###....#######.............#######.....+#......##+......#####..##~~
##1....#######..............#####......+#......##+......#####..##~~
###.....#####..............#######.....###....#####...#######..##~~
###......###...............+#####+......##########....#######..##~~
...........................#######.......##++####..............##~~ Study (1)
###..##5##..#####+#####............................##.##7####..##~~
###.#######.##########9...............##0##.###.#####.#######..##~~
###..#####..###########.....#.#.......#####.###.#####.#######..##~~
...........................##M##...............................##~~
Outpost
Sorry about that, Ms. Kitty! She's not dead yet, but will be shortly. I
want you to notice a few things. First, as you play the game, notice
that messages will be displayed in the top region of the screen. Back
when I was a youngster, the game only had a single message line, and we
hapless players were plagued with -more- prompts out the wazoo, not to
mention sore fingers from all the extra keypresses! You may still get a
-more- from time to time; if you do, simply press SPACE when you are
finished reading, and the next batch of output will be displayed. The
messages will clear automatically after you enter your next command, so
make sure you are done reading before pressing any keys. You can always
review messages with the Previous Messages command (CTRL+P).
Next, on the right hand side of the screen you can see a status bar
(f[*--------]). This is very important - it tracks your current target,
or the monster you most recently damaged. In this case, it shows me the
health of Ms. Kitty, and you can see she is in some pretty dire
straits. (See [b] for an explanation of why that last * turned violet!)
Finally, notice my shot ({) laying on the ground next to Ms. Kitty.
Sometimes your projectiles will break on impact; but if they don't,
you'll want to go gather them up after you're done fighting. You can
pick up objects by moving on top of them and using the get command (g);
or if you use the = options menu to turn the always_pickup input option
on, then objects will be automatically picked up on walkover.
You could probably use the n (or roguelike X) Repeat Last Action
command here to finish Ms. Kitty off, but killing cats is not your main
goal in this game: it is time to move on. If you have money left over,
go to the General Store (1) and buy a lantern and some oil; lanterns
cast more light than torches, and so allow you to see further in the
dark. Be sure to equip your lantern to actually use it (w to wear an
item). If you still haven't run out of money, go to the Mushroom Store
(0) and buy some mushrooms of Fast Recovery and Cure Confusion.
Stores do not always sell the same items; every so often they restock,
getting rid of some old items and acquiring new ones, but the
early-game staple items mentioned above should be reliably available as
you begin the game.
Hopefully you managed to shop without too much trouble from the locals
(t), but occasionally the townsfolk will interact with you. This may be
simply annoying, as there are plenty of drunks about, but it can also
be dangerous as urchins have been known to steal gold and you look like
an easy mark. You can attack a monster by simply moving into it
(assuming you have a weapon equipped), or by shooting it as shown
above; but if you are a mage, you should use your offensive spells (m)
instead. Spell target selection works the same way as for archery: *
activates target mode, and *5 always targets the nearest monster.
My First Trip Down
There are two main things that you can do once you are finished
shopping. You could head over to the Count's Castle (that's the big
multi-entrance building up north), request your first town quest and
then try to complete that. But let's take the other path and head
straight into the dungeon!
In Beginner Mode, there is only one dungeon to enter. The > character
represents a dungeon entrance. >, in general, refers to a down
staircase; but dungeon entrances > and quest entrances > are
color-coded to stand out. Similarly, < refers to stairs up. By some
cosmic accident, these are also the keys you press to take the stairs:
> to go down and < to go up. What could be easier to remember? So move
to the stairs down to Angband and get going!
As you walk about, beware of monsters and use the look command (*)
together with the recall option (r) to get a monster description. For
example:
Monster: a Soldier ant [r,q,t,p,o,x,j,+,-,?,<dir>]
Name : Soldier ant (a) L 1
Level : 1 to 10 Speed: +0 23
AC : ? Type : Natural 805
HP : ? ~(
: 18/10
Attacks : Type Effects : 18
Bite Hurt : 7
: 18/40
Kills : 0 : 18
Exp : 2 at CL1 : 12
6
A large ant with powerful mandibles. 43/ 43
#.....'... SP 14/ 14
#.@...#
#a....# a[*********]
#.....#
#######
Study (1)
Angband: L2
In this case, a previous character had encountered a soldier ant, so I
have some basic knowledge of this type of monster - not very much, but
I do know it gets one attack per round and is worth 2 XP to kill
(actually a fair bit more because of coffee-break mode's accelerated XP
gain!). This illustrates what the game calls Monster Lore. As you
battle monsters, you learn more about them, and the game tracks your
knowledge for you. All of the memory is retained in your savefile so
that future characters may benefit. After killing a foe, you can recall
details of your glory through the ~ command (Knowledge Menu), followed
by m for monster knowledge and arrows to select the appropriate
monster. Notice that the description updates as you learn more.
At this point, you basically explore the current level. In normal mode
you could walk back to town at any time by going back up those stairs
you just descended, but coffee-break mode disables up-stairs, so read a
scroll of Word of Recall when you wish to return to town. You can also
find new stairs down to deeper depths. Basically, the deeper you go,
the more difficult things become - but the quality of the loot also
improves, inviting you ever deeper...
So, walk around a bit and kill stuff. Don't worry too much about dying
as it will probably happen quite a bit at first. And if it does, the
next time you load this savefile the birth process will give you an
extra option to Quick Start this character, which basically skips the
entire birth process and starts a character identical to the last one.
I will continue to play a bit. You can just sit back and watch! ...
Oops, I think I'm in trouble:
The Novice warrior attacks you: He hits. He hits. *** LOW HITPOINT
WARNING! *** Press Space to continue. LEVEL 2
EXP 21
AU 805
| } ~(
STR : 18/10
INT : 18
WIS : 7
DEX : 18/40
CON : 18
CHR : 12
#.### AC 6
#...p.# HP 10/ 55
#.(.@...## SP 18/ 18
#.........#
...|.......
#.........#
#.......##
##....
#.#
#.#
#.# Study (1)
#.#
#.#
#.#
#.#
Angband: L2
Notice my 10 HP? Well, if my hit points go below 0, I am dead. Also
notice the very loud *** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***? This is to make
sure you notice when you are in trouble. The game even forces me to
press SPACE before continuing. Really, I think I am about to die!
The Novice warrior attacks you: He hits.-more-
LEVEL 2
EXP 21
AU 805
| } ~(
STR : 18/10
INT : 18
WIS : 7
DEX : 18/40
CON : 18
CHR : 12
#.### AC 6
#...p.# HP -2/ 55
#.(.@...## SP 18/ 18
#.........#
...|.......
#.........#
#.......##
##....
#.#
#.#
#.# Study (1)
#.#
#.#
#.#
#.#
Angband: L2
Ouch! That really hurt!
Goodbye, Filcher! -more-
_______________________
/ \ ___
/ \ ___ / \ ___
/ RIP \ \ : : / \
/ \ : _;,,,;_ : :
/ Filcher \,;_ _;,,,;_
| the | ___
| Vanquished | / \
| | : :
| Rogue | _;,,,;_ ____
| Level: 2 | / \
| Exp: 38 | : :
| AU: 144 | : :
| Killed on Level 2 | _;,,,,;_
| by a Novice warrior. |
| |
| Thu Dec 05 07:54:18 2019 |
*| * * * * * * | *
________)/\\_)_/___(\/___(//_\)/_\//__\\(/_|_)_______
But never fear, I can quickly start over. If I load my old character's
savefile now, there is a new option:
q) Quick Start
Choosing q puts you in the character creation menu with your old race,
class, stats and personality already selected. This is a brand new
character, so any objects I acquired (like that sling) are gone, and I
have no experience. However, my monster memory survives, so I don't
have to learn what soldier ants do all over again.
Go ahead and play a bit. Entering the dungeon immediately was probably
not the best idea; for a sufficiently strong character (which rogues
are), doing the first town quest (Thieves' Hideout) right off the bat
gives a nice early leg-up. The first quest is rated as danger level 5,
so doing it at CL 1 is a bit risky; but you get a valuable item as your
reward for completing it, and the money you find in the quest lets you
buy key supplies like Mushrooms of Cure Confusion. Moreover, you can
then request the highly rewarding Pest Control quest!
At this point, the tutorial is over and I'll just give some basic
tidbits about the game.
Tidbits
Every monster uses a unique ASCII character that sort of tells you what
it is. For example, rats use the letter 'r' while orcs use the letter
'o'. When you see a character you don't understand, press * to look at
it. If it is a monster, you can then press r to recall information
about it, including a description that will give you more information.
Other characters like '/' and '!' represent objects that you may pick
up (g to get) and then use.
How you use an object will depend upon its type. Some common examples
are:
Char Object Usage
==== ============== =========================================================
, Food E to eat it. Do this whenever you feel hungry.
! Potion q to quaff it. Try to identify the potion first.
? Scroll r to read it.
? Spellbook b to browse it. G to gain a spell. m to cast.
- Wand a to aim it.
- Rod z to zap it.
_ Staff u to use it.
~ Lantern w to wear it. F to refill it with oil.
~ Quiver w to wield it. w again to fill it with projectiles.
} Ranged Weapon w to wield it.
/ Polearm w to wield it.
\ Hafted Weapon w to wield it.
| Sword w to wield it.
( Soft Armor w to wear it.
[ Hard Armor w to wear it.
] Misc. Armor w to wear it.
If you want to know what a specific symbol stands for, type /, and then
the symbol. For instance, if you're wondering what all the t's are,
type /t, and the game will tell you that these are townspeople. You can
inspect individual items, features, and monsters with the * targetting
command (see [c] for more details on this). Other useful commands that
help you figure things out include the Y (or [) View Monster List
command and the O (or ]) View Object List command.
From here on we'll be giving detailed dungeon survival information.
Some of it is intuitive, and some of it you aren't likely to find out
without a lot of deaths first. If you want to experience the painful
learning process in all its glory, don't read further. If, however,
you're sick and tired of dying, read ahead.
On Weapons and Multiple Blows
Some characters will start the game being able to get multiple blows
per round with their weapon when attacking. How many blows you get
depends on your class, your weapon weight, your Strength, your
Dexterity, and whether you are wielding the weapon with both hands or
only one hand. Check your Character Sheet (type C):
Name : Filcher ========== Stats ==========
Sex : Male STR : 18/10
Personality: Ordinary INT : 18
Race : High-Elf WIS : 7
Subrace : None DEX : 18/40
Class : Rogue CON : 18
Realm : Burglary CHR : 12
Level : 1 HP : 43/43
Cur Exp : 0 SP : 14/14
Max Exp : 0 AC : 6
Adv Exp : 23 Speed: +0
========== Skills =========
Gold : 774 Melee : Good
Kills : 0 Archery : Good
Uniques : 0 SavingThrow: Good
Artifacts : 0+0 Stealth : Excellent
Perception : Good
Game Day : 1 Searching : Fair
Game Time : 6:00 Disarming : Good
Play Time : 00:00 Device : Good
And then either scroll down to the Melee section, or press m to
navigate more quickly:
Hand #1: a Dagger (1d5) (+0,+0) Accuracy
Weight : 1.2 lbs AC Hit
Profic : Beginner (+0 To Hit) 25 75%
To Hit : 0 + 4 = 4 50 53%
To Dam : 0 + 2 = 2 75 32%
Blows : 2.42 100 10%
Damage 125 5%
Crits : 1.00x (0.5%) 150 5%
Normal : 11 175 5%
200 5%
In my case, this is a newborn adventurer still using his starting
dagger. But you'll notice that he is getting multiple blows per round,
2.42 in this case. What could that possibly mean? Actually, it's rather
simple: 42% of the time I will get 3 attacks per round while 58% of the
time, only 2. This is more than most new characters would get: Rogues
get bonuses to strength and dexterity, and light weapons such as
daggers give more blows. You'll notice, though, that despite the 2.42
attacks my damage is still rather pathetic: only 11 per round.
The Weapon Info screen also displays melee accuracy. Of course, you
won't hit every time you swing; accuracy depends on your skill with the
weapon as well as its magical bonuses, if any. It also depends on your
fighting skill, shown on the initial Character Sheet above under the
Skills section for Melee (mine is Good). Your Melee skill increases
with stats (Strength and Dexterity) as well as experience (Level). All
of this competes against the monster's armor class (AC); basically,
some monsters are harder to hit than others. Dragons, for example, are
notoriously tough-skinned.
You may also see detailed information on your missile weapon in your
character sheet. It is displayed right after the melee section
(provided you are actually wielding a shooter), and can be quickly
navigated to by pressing s:
Shooting: a Sling (x2) (+0,+0)
Range : 160'
Shots : 1.39
Mult : 2.04x
Profic : Beginner (+0 To Hit)
To Hit : 0 + 4 = 4
Xtra Dam: 0 (Multiplier Does Not Apply)
Ammo #1 : 30 Rounded Pebbles (2d3) (+0,+0) AC Hit
Breakage: 8% 25 79%
Weight : 0.4 lbs 50 63%
To Hit : 0 + 4 = 4 100 30%
To Dam : 0 (Multiplier Applies) 150 5%
To Dam : 0 (Multiplier Does Not Apply) 175 5%
Damage 200 5%
Crits : 1.06x (4.1%)
Normal : 8/11
In this case, you see I get multiple shots, but ranged combat works a
bit differently than melee combat. Rather than taking all of your
allowed shots in a single round, you take one at a time, but the game
charges you less than the full amount of energy per shot. I haven't
explained the speed system yet, but suffice it to say that less energy
per action means you move faster, and can do more before any nearby
monsters get a chance to act.
These two screens, Weapon Info and Shooter Info, will become more and
more useful to you as you play the game. Don't worry if you don't
understand everything displayed on them at the moment.
On Armor and Resistance
We just saw how monsters have this attribute called armor class, and
how this makes them harder to hit. Similarly, the player has an armor
class which is determined by the armor they are currently wearing as
well as their dexterity. In addition to making you harder to hit, AC
also actually reduces the damage from certain types of melee attacks,
so it is a very important attribute that you will want to increase as
much as possible. If ever you find yourself getting destroyed in melee,
you'll want to look for better AC from your gear.
Here is my Character Sheet where you can see my starting AC:
Name : Filcher ========== Stats ==========
Sex : Male STR : 18/10
Personality: Ordinary INT : 18
Race : High-Elf WIS : 7
Subrace : None DEX : 18/40
Class : Rogue CON : 18
Realm : Burglary CHR : 12
Level : 1 HP : 43/43
Cur Exp : 0 SP : 14/14
Max Exp : 0 AC : 6
Adv Exp : 23 Speed: +0
========== Skills =========
Gold : 774 Melee : Good
Kills : 0 Archery : Good
Uniques : 0 SavingThrow: Good
Artifacts : 0+0 Stealth : Excellent
Perception : Good
Game Day : 1 Searching : Fair
Game Time : 6:00 Disarming : Good
Play Time : 00:00 Device : Good
In addition to AC, though, the player has a very important set of
resistances. Or, in this case, rather a lack of resistances. Scroll
down to the equipment section of your character sheet, or press e to
navigate more quickly. Here you get to see, in all its gritty detail,
how woefully inadequate your starting character actually is. Here is my
screen:
============================= Character Equipment =============================
a) a Dagger (1d5) (+0,+0)
c) a Sling (x2) (+0,+0)
i) Soft Leather Armour [4,+0]
| } ( | } (
Resistances abcdefghijklm@ Abilities abcdefghijklm@
Acid : .............. 0% Speed : ..............
Electricity: .............. 0% Free Act : ..............
Fire : .............. 0% See Invis : .............+ 1x
Cold : .............. 0% Warning : ..............
Poison : .............. 0% Slow Digest: ..............
Light : .............+ 30% Regenerate : .............. 100%
Dark : .............. 0% Levitation : ..............
Confusion : .............. 0% Perm Lite : ..............
Nether : .............. 0% Reflection : ..............
Nexus : .............. 0% Hold Life : ..............
Sound : .............. 0% Life Rating: ..............
Shards : .............. 0% Dec Mana : ..............
Chaos : .............. 0% Easy Spell : ..............
Disenchantm: .............. 0% Anti Magic : ..............
Time : .............. 0% Magic Skill: ..............
Blindness : .............. 0% Spell Power: ..............
Fear : .............. 0x Spell Cap : ..............
Magic Res : ..............
| } ( Infravision: .............+ 40'
Auras abcdefghijklm@ Stealth : ..............
Aura Elec : .............. Searching : ..............
Aura Fire : ..............
Aura Cold : .............. | } (
Aura Shards: .............. Sustains abcdefghijklm@
Revenge : .............. Sust Str : ..............
Sust Int : ..............
| } ( Sust Wis : ..............
Slays abcdefghijklm@ Sust Dex : ..............
Slay Evil : .............. Sust Con : ..............
Slay Undead: .............. Sust Chr : ..............
Slay Demon : ..............
Slay Dragon: .............. | } (
Slay Human : .............. Detection abcdefghijklm@
Slay Animal: .............. Telepathy : ..............
Slay Orc : .............. ESP Evil : ..............
You'll notice a group of attributes for resistances and another for
miscellaneous abilities along with some additional groupings for Slays
and such. Let's just focus on Resistances for the time being.
So what is resistance and why should you care? Basically, monster
attacks often have an elemental flavor to them. Their damage has a
'type'. For example, a fire-breathing dragon breathes... well, fire!
And your fire resistance helps you withstand that particular type of
damage. Many damage types also have nasty side-effects; sticking with
our example, fire attacks can destroy items in your pack (especially
scrolls, staves and spellbooks), and fire resistance helps out here as
well. Here is a short summary of common attack types, as well as when
you'd like to have resistance (press [d] for a more detailed list). Be
warned that some monster attacks can be very deadly to the unprepared!
Type Comment
==== =============================================================
Acid Destroys scrolls/staves, damages armor, can reduce CHR.
Resist by DL20-30.
Elec Destroys rings/wands, can reduce DEX.
Resist by DL30.
Fire Destroys scrolls/staves/spellbooks, can reduce STR.
Resist by DL20-30.
Cold Destroys potions, can reduce STR.
Resist by DL30.
Poison Does high damage, but with some delay.
Can be cured with potions or mushrooms.
Nexus Scrambles stats and teleports you, sometimes to
very unexpected places. Not very damaging.
Shards Destroys potions, causes wounds. Resistance not needed before
DL40, but becomes extremely important in late game.
Confusion Confuses you so you can't act normally.
Carry mushrooms and potions to cure. See [e].
Paralysis Freezes the player so you lose turns.
Get Free Action by DL25 or Old Man Willow quest. See [f].
My character is not completely hopeless. Being a High-Elf, I begin with
Light Resistance (30%) and See Invisible. The latter gives me a chance
to see ghosts and other invisible monsters. Monsters you can't see can
be very annoying, not to mention deadly! See Invisible isn't perfect,
though, as it only gives me a chance; additional sources, as well as
better Searching, would help make it more reliable.
And while your race can grant resistances and abilities, most of the
time these come from your gear. The 'abcd...' list across the top of
each column corresponds to my current equipment set, and the
corresponding item character is displayed if an item is actually
equipped in that slot (e.g. | for my dagger and } for my sling). You
can track your current resistances and abilities here, and see where
you are getting them from. The '@' character corresponds to the player
(displayed as an @, remember?); this slot lists innate race or class
abilities, as well as any temporarily acquired magical enhancements.
In general, you will want to cover as many resistances as possible.
They are not so important early in the game, but as you descend deeper,
you will learn what you need and when. Abilities are often optional,
except for Free Action and See Invisible which you will want by DL20-25
if possible. (You can get by without See Invisible if you are lucky
enough to have full Telepathy.)
Note that resistances stack. If two items grant fire resistance, your
resistance percentage goes up (though not linearly). Multiple sources
of a given resistance also help to prevent many of the nasty side
effects for various damage types. By the midgame, you will want to have
two sources of resistance to all of the four base elements (Acid, Fire,
Cold and Electricity) to limit both direct damage and item loss. See
[g] for more details on avoiding damage to items.
OK, I cannot help thinking that the starting character sheet is lame,
since every single attribute is empty. Here is a more interesting
sample from a Tanar'ri Demon character I played earlier (notice the
different body type? This was a Monster Mode character, where weird
body types are common):
============================= Character Equipment =============================
a) The Long Sword 'Excalibur' (5d6) (+21,+19) [+5] (+3)
{WiChDg;ShFe;SiHlWrBs|S/*UL(WiCh}
b) The Katana 'Kusanagi-no-tsurugi' (4d4) (+15,+15) (+3)
{DxSl;AcElFiCoNtDi;SiRgLuBs/*DUZ A:Getaway}
c) a Ring of Protection [+18] {SoShFe(StWiDxCnCh}
d) a Ring of Speed (+13) {Sp A:Speed}
e) The Set of Mithril Gauntlets 'Power Shield' [5,+21] (+4) {StCn;ElCaFe;Fa~L}
f) The Scimitar 'Soulsword' (3d6) (+15,+15) (+3)
{InWiLf;DkNtNxCaDi;SiHlBs/*DULZ}
g) a Lochaber Axe (Defender) (3d9) (+15,+15) [+12] {ShBl;FaSiRgLvWr(Cn}
h) a Set of Mithril Gauntlets of the Thief (+2,-3) [5,+20] (+4) {SpDxSl(Dx}
i) The Battle Axe of Balli Stonehand (3d9) (+15,+15) [+5] (+3)
{StCnSl;AcElFiCoBl;FaSiRgLv/oTU}
j) The Pike 'Grassroot' (2d6) (+21,+21) (+4) {SpStDxCnSr/pZ A:Summon Hydras}
k) a Sacred Pendant [+15] (+3) {WiLf;Bs}
l) The Feanorian Lamp 'Armageddon Stone' (+4) {In;NtBl;Wr[M(In}
||==]|/]//"~ ||==]|/]//"~
Resistances abcdefghijkl@ Abilities abcdefghijkl@
Acid : .+......+.... 65% Speed : ...+...+.+..#
Electricity: .+..+...+.... 72% Free Act : ....+.+.+...+ 4x
Fire : .+......+...+ 72% See Invis : ++...++.+...+ 6x
Cold : .+......+.... 65% Warning : +.....+....+.
Poison : ............+ 50% Slow Digest: ............+
Light : ............. 0% Regenerate : .+....+.+.... 400%
Dark : .....+....... 30% Levitation : ......+.+....
Confusion : ............+ 30% Perm Lite : .+...........
Nether : .+...+.....++ 47% Reflection : .............
Nexus : .....+....... 30% Hold Life : +....+......+ 3x
Sound : ..+.......... 30% Life Rating: .....+....+.. +18%
Shards : +.+...+...... 45% Dec Mana : .............
Chaos : ....++......+ 45% Easy Spell : .............
Disenchantm: .+...+....... 40% Anti Magic : ...........+.
Time : ............. 0% Magic Skill: .............
Blindness : ......+.+..+. 45% Spell Power: .............
Fear : +.+.+.......# 4x Spell Cap : .............
Magic Res : .............
||==]|/]//"~ Infravision: ............+ 50'
Auras abcdefghijkl@ Stealth : .+.....++....
Aura Elec : ............. Searching : .........+...
Aura Fire : .............
Aura Cold : ............. ||==]|/]//"~
Aura Shards: ............. Sustains abcdefghijkl@
Revenge : ............. Sust Str : ..+..........
Notice how the resistances stack, as well as how I have most of the
resistances covered? This character is ready for the Serpent of Chaos!
On Skills
Your character sheet also indicates your mastery (or lack thereof) of a
number of skills:
========== Skills =========
Melee : Amber[15]
Archery : Good
SavingThrow: Amber[7]
Stealth : Superb
Perception : Fair
Searching : Fair
Disarming : Superb
Device : Superb
Apart from the obvious Melee and Archery, there are six others; your
level in a particular skill depends on your race, class, personality,
stats and equipment, and you will also gain class-dependent skill
bonuses as you level up. With the exception of Stealth, your class
usually accounts for the bulk of your aptitude for a particular skill,
especially after you have leveled up a bit.
Although resistances are a more obvious place to look for character
weaknesses to remedy, you should not forget your skills either. In
particular, Stealth will help you a lot in the early game - you can
sneak around gathering loot and picking your fights without being
constantly buried in unwelcome enemies. If you survive to the late
game, Device Skill becomes even more important - all characters (except
Berserkers) rely on magical devices to some extent, and some valuable
devices are extremely hard to use if your Device Skill is lacking.
Saving Throw is also nice; it allows you to resist evil curses, and
even improves your chances against paralysis.
Searching, Perception and Disarming are less important skills, although
they do have their uses; in particular, Searching helps you see
invisible monsters more often. Both Searching and Perception allow you
to perceive hidden doors and traps (Searching when you are actively
looking for them, Perception when you're not). The Disarming skill
makes you better at disarming traps without triggering them, improves
your ability to unlock doors, and affects the fail rate on Rogues'
panic teleports. Searching and Perception are closely related; an item
that improves your Searching will also improve your Perception.
On Important Magical Items
Magical items are an important part of every player's repertoire, even
the warrior's. There are several types of magic that everybody needs.
Teleportation and Escape
It is very easy to become surrounded, or cut off from a safe retreat.
The mightiest of warriors can become overwhelmed by sheer numbers;
and this doesn't even account for the fact that many monsters can
summon other monsters who themselves summon monster-summoning
monsters... Things can go bad in a heartbeat, and when they do,
you'll want to have a magical means of escape at the ready.
Phase Door This is a short range teleport; it works as an escape
in confined quarters or against monsters with no
ranged attacks, and is also useful as a tactical tool
if you wish to avoid melee.
Teleport A longer range escape that is the mainstay of most
retreats. However, this escape is a bit risky as you
may land in a worse situation than you started in.
Teleport Away This teleports all monsters in a line away, but many
monsters resist and some are immune. It is generally
useful for getting rid of a single troublesome
opponent while preserving your current position.
Teleport Level This is the safest escape, moving you up or down an
entire dungeon level. You abandon the current level
and all of its goodies, although sometimes you can
find your way back through the new level's staircases.
Destruction This powerful spell removes everything (including
artifacts!) from the area around you, blasting the
surroundings and causing rock to fall from the
ceiling. If you're ever in deep trouble, this is a
good way to escape. However, even Destruction isn't
foolproof: monsters other than summons get a saving
throw and can avoid being removed. Also, Destruction
does actually require the area to have a ceiling... I
recommend saving scrolls of Destruction for the final
battle; you will need plenty to deal with all of the
Serpent's summons.
Healing and Recovery
During your adventures, things will hurt you. This cannot be avoided.
Fortunately, there are many magical potions that cure your wounds or
help against status ailments such as confusion or poison.
Cure Light Wounds Restores a small amount of hitpoints, perhaps 20
or so. And while it won't completely cure cuts,
it does reduce their effects. (Cuts cause you to
bleed out, losing hitpoints every turn, although
small cuts tend to heal before you die.)
Cure Serious Wounds Restores a bit more hp, perhaps 35 or 40. It is
also more effective at curing cuts. This is the
staple potion that most early game characters
should rely on.
Cure Critical Wounds Even better! It heals about 50-60 hp and cures
both cuts and stunning completely.
Curing Does not restore any HP, but cures almost every
status ailment - cuts, stunning, confusion, even
hallucinations and blindness (always good to see
who is attacking you, not to mention be able to
read your scrolls and spellbooks!). Extreme
poisoning may be only partially cured.
Some mushrooms can also be very handy:
Cure Confusion Cures all confusion. Extremely useful in the
early game, being cheaper and more reliably
found than Potions of Curing; usually obsoleted
by the midgame, as your stockpile of Potions of
Curing grows and you start finding gear that
provides resistance to confusion.
Cure Poison Cures all poison. Most potions (and even spells)
only partially cure massive poisoning, so this
reliable option is very convenient in the later
game, especially for characters with low Poison
resistance.
Fast Recovery Restores a small amount of hitpoints (around
10), reduces cuts a bit, and speeds your
regeneration.
The above items are readily available in the town at the Temple and
Shroomery, and you should stock up on them as much as possible. The
following potions must be found in the dungeon or quests or purchased
in the Black Market:
Healing Big time hp recovery at about 300hp. Also, most status
ailments are cured except for fear, hallucinations and
poison. These potions are not all that rare, but the final
battles can eat up a lot of them, especially on melee
builds, so only use them when necessary to make sure you'll
have enough at the end.
*Healing* Bigger time hp recovery at about 1000hp. Also, most status
ailments are cured except for fear and hallucination. These
potions are very rare, and most of them should be saved for
the final two battles.
Life Restores your stats, all your hp and removes all status
ailments except Fear. These potions are so rare they should
be saved for the final battle.
Knowledge
When you find a new object, you generally won't know anything about
it. In order to learn about the objects you find, you need some means
of knowledge. Every player has an innate sense about some of the
objects they find, and simply walking over the object (or at the very
least carrying the object around in your pack for a while) can give
you a clue as to its worth. This ability is called pseudo-ID (see [h]
and [i]). Pseudo-ID only really works on equipment; it can give
feelings about devices, but these feelings are not of much practical
help.
Pseudo-ID does not tell you very much. You can attempt to learn more
by trying the object out; for example, you can eat a newly found
mushroom, or quaff that new potion in your pack. However, this is
very risky, as mushrooms and potions can have horrible effects! For
magical devices like wands, rods and staves, trying them as you find
them is a more acceptable idea; but really you want a Staff of
Identify or another reliable source of Identify.
Even Identify only gives cursory knowledge of an object, revealing
its full name and magical combat bonuses or AC bonuses, as well as
any attributes you have learned to recognize through your previous
experience with similar items. For potions, scrolls and mushrooms,
Identify is enough (and you will even learn to recognize similar
future objects without the need to Identify them at all!); but for
magic devices, and especially for ego and artifact equipment,
important details might not be revealed by Identify.
The second means of enhanced knowledge, *Identify*, gives complete
information about the object, including all the powers and
resistances that simple Identify might not reveal. Both Identify and
*Identify* are available in scroll and device form. Both are also
available as a town service (for a price), and this is the most
common way items are *Identified*. It is also possible to *Identify*
items simply by selling them, but then you don't have the item
anymore!
Detection and Mapping
Detecting threats and knowing the surrounding terrain are of
paramount importance in the dungeon. Rods of Detection are your
all-purpose detection package, and once you find one you will likely
carry it for the rest of the game unless you have an equivalent
spell. During the earliest part of the game you might be using Detect
Monsters instead, maybe even Detect Traps.
Staves of Enlightenment, which map the surrounding areas, are another
item you might carry for nearly the whole game. Rods of Illumination,
which light up rooms, are also very convenient to have; it is easy to
miss something deadly (or valuable) in the dark.
Returning to Town
There is a magic item, called Word of Recall (scrolls) or just Recall
(devices), that will take you back and forth between the surface and
the dungeons. Good thing, too: with wilderness off, this is the only
way to return to the town at all! And wilderness on, it means you
don't need to climb up and down 100 flights of stairs all the time,
or take the same onerous wilderness journeys over and over again.
On Weapons, Armor and Slays
Potions, Scrolls and devices are not the only magical items around. You
can also find magical armor and equipment. We already discussed
resistances above, and magical equipment is the usual place to find
these attributes. Magical weapons often are more deadly against certain
enemies, an attribute known as slays.
Your equipment will always carry around little numbers that tell you
how effective it is. Armors take this form:
A Robe (+x,+y) [a,+b] (+c)
Weapons take this form:
A Long Sword (XdY) (+x,+y) [+b] (+c)
What do all these numbers mean?
(+x,+y) Bonuses to your accuracy (to-hit) and damage (to-dam)
respectively. These are added to whatever other bonuses you
have when you attack. These numbers are displayed for all
weapons (even if they are zero), and are displayed for armors
if they are other than zero. Many body armors have a small
negative number before the base AC (see below); this is a
penalty to your accuracy (your armor is so heavy that you have
trouble moving around in it), but is almost always small enough
to be ignored. The bonuses may apply to melee only, archery
only, both melee and archery, or magical spells only, depending
on the item.
[a,+b] The item's base armor class and magical bonus to armor. The
higher, the better. While theoretically, a weapon could provide
a base armor bonus, none of them do, and only a few weapons
have a magical bonus to armor.
(+c) This is the item's magical bonus to other statistics (and is
sometimes referred to as its pval). Possibilities include one
or more of your stats (Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom,
Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma), your speed or your stealth.
Your searching or infravision might also be improved. There are
other possibilities and learning the effects of this bonus
often requires you to *Identify* the object.
(XdY) These are the damage dice of a melee weapon. When you hit an
opponent, the game rolls a Y sided die X times to figure out a
base damage. This base damage can be multiplied by any slays on
the weapon, and also by critical hits (lucky blows on your
part). Then, the game adds all your damage bonuses to the
total, including the +y from the (+x,+y) discussed above. So a
melee weapon can be good because it has good damage dice (e.g.
(5d6) (+0,+0)) or because it has a high damage bonus (e.g.
(1d5) (+5,+30)). Ideally, it would have both: (5d6) (+5,+30)!
In addition to these attributes, all of which are revealed by Identify,
weapons and armors may have additional bonuses. Both may grant a
particular resistance that we discussed earlier. In additions, weapons
often have slays that target a specific class of monster. Slays work by
multiplying the base damage roll (the (XdY) just discussed), and the
multiplier varies with the type of slay. For example, a weapon of Slay
Orc multiplies the damage dice by a factor of 2.8, while a *Slay Orc*
weapon might (I say, might!) multiply by as high a factor as 4.5.
Obviously, this means more on a (5d6) weapon than on a (1d5) weapon, so
slays are more valuable on weapons with high dice. You usually need to
*Identify* a weapon to learn its slays, unless you have seen the same
slay on a similar weapon before; inspect items (I) to see everything
you know about them.
On Dungeon Exploration
We'll close this Newbie guide with some various tips on exploring the
dungeon.
On Secret Doors
Throughout the dungeon, many doors are hidden from view. To find
them, use the search command (or press S/# to toggle Searching Mode,
then stay still). It helps if you know where to search; usually,
situations like this will have secret doors (walls likely to contain
secret doors are highlighted in red for this example):
##### ###'### ###### #######
#@... ..'@'.. ..@'.# ..'@...
##### ####### ####'# #######
In general, if you see a door by itself in a corridor, there are
usually others nearby. If you find a corner in a corridor with two
doors, look for more. Intersections often have some secret doors.
Finally, secret doors will never be in a situation where you have to
move diagonally to open them. The dead-end situation (the first one)
usually does have a secret door, but not always. If you search for a
while and don't find anything, just give up and move on. Sometimes a
dead end will occur near the end of a map, where there is no room to
have a continuing corridor, and so no secret door is generated.
On Level Feelings
After you have been on a new level for a considerable length of time,
you receive a feeling giving you a vague idea how good the level is.
In general, the more scary the feeling sounds, the better the items
on the level, or the more dangerous the monsters. Probably the
latter... A special feeling almost invariably means there is an
undiscovered artifact on the level, so take the time to locate it.
The speed at which you receive level feelings is influenced by your
Wisdom, so if your big, stupid warrior seems to wait forever for
level feeling, check out his Wisdom and maybe start with a better one
next time. See [j] for more about level feelings.
On Monster Knowledge
In many other games, you are required to take notes on the
weaknesses, strengths, spells, etc. of a given monster; but
FrogComposband takes these notes for you automatically. Every time
you find out something new about a monster (like that it can breathe
fire), this is added to your knowledge of the monster. There are
several ways to look over this knowledge; you can type '/', then the
symbol of the monster (you may have to scroll through other monster
memories to get to the one you're looking for); you can use the '~'
knowledge menu; or you can use the look ('*') and recall ('r')
commands if the monster you are interested in is in view.
In the unpleasant event of your character's death, you can create a
new character using your old character's file (instead of simply
creating a new character, open the dead character's savefile, and the
Creating a Character section will come up). This new character will
retain the monster lore of the old one.
On Death
Death in FrogComposband is permanent. Saving is meant only to let you
pick up where you left off; if you die, your savefile is marked. The
next time you try to use the savefile, you will get the new character
dialogue. Ancestors of dead characters will retain their monster
memory and preferences. Many people here have characters like "Yuppy
XIV"; people die very often and death is common, so don't get
discouraged. In general, you will kill monsters more often than they
kill you!
I'm still unsure about something...?
Try looking elsewhere in the help, particularly in the Frequently
Asked Questions. It's called that for a reason! You can also ask your
question at the angband.oook.cz forums or the angband.live online
chat; both usually have friendly people willing to share their
maxed-out wisdom.
On Big Boy Pants
When you are ready to move past Beginner Mode, the game will open up a
huge variety of race and class options for you as well as giving you a
full wilderness to explore. All of this is discussed in the remainder
of the help system, so when you are ready to move on, be sure to check
out the rest of the documentation. Pay special attention to sections on
the wilderness as well as the various gameplay options. And when you're
ready for a real treat, fire up a game in Monster Mode and play as a
Cyberdemon!
Good luck, have fun, and don't die! :)
Original : Chris Weisiger (TANG version 1.6.2)
Updated : Zangband DevTeam
Updated : Hengband 1.0.11
Updated : PosChengband 1.0.0
Updated : PosChengband 4.0.0
Updated : FrogComposband 7.0.strawberry
Updated : FrogComposband 7.1.liquorice