The Towns and Wilderness
After you have created your character, you will begin your adventure in
a town called Outpost. If you are playing in Beginner Mode, or another
mode that switches off the wilderness, this is the only town in the
game; if not, you will find many other towns in the wide world.
Symbols appearing on your screen represent the buildings, streets, shop
entrances, terrain, and townspeople. In order to direct your character
through his adventure, you will enter single-character commands (see
[a]).
Town and Wilderness Symbols
The symbols on your map can be broken down into three broad categories:
terrain features; objects which can be picked up; and creatures both
friendly and hostile. Listed below are some of the terrain symbols you
are likely to see often in the town and the wilderness:
Town and Wilderness Terrain Shops and Buildings
---------------------- -------------------------------
# Tree/wooded area # Building wall
. Patch of grass 1 Entrance to General Store
: Flower 2 Entrance to Armoury
: Brake 3 Entrance to Weapon Shop
. Swamp 4 Entrance to Temple Shop
~ Shallow water 5 Entrance to Alchemy Shop
~ Deep water 6 Entrance to Magic Shop
~ Shallow lava 7 Entrance to Black Market
~ Deep lava 8 Entrance to your home
# Dark pit 9 Entrance to Book Store
# Mountains 0 Entrance to Shroomery
. Floor/road " Entrance to Jewelry Store
. Dirt M Entrance to Museum
. Grass + Entrance to non-shop building
> Dungeon entrance + Entrance to non-shop building
> Quest entrance
What to Expect in a Town
The exact appearance of Outpost depends on whether you are playing with
the wilderness on or off, but the basics are the same either way: you
will find a number of shops where items can be bought and sold, plus a
handful of other buildings where items are not on display but services
or interesting quests might be offered instead. As a general rule, the
symbols for shop entrances are usually numerical (such as 5 for the
Alchemy Shop), while buildings that offer services or quests are
denoted with the character + in various colors. Outside these rules are
your home 8 and the museum M, which are not shops but also do not offer
quests or services.
A glimpse of Outpost as it appears with the wilderness on can be seen
below:
#~~.#############.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~####~.....:......::.:...# LEVEL 1
#~~######+++######~~##########################~......:##:##:....... EXP 16
#~~#####.....#####~~##########################~........####......#: AU 595
#~~~~~.........~~~~~##.....................###~............##::.... | (
##~~~~~~~...~~~~~~~~##.#########.#########.##~~......::....::#::#.. STR : 16
#########...##########.#########.#########.##~~.....#::.::##:#:.::: INT : 14
#########...#########..####2####.#########.##~~........::##:::.:.:. WIS : 8
......###...###............................##~~.....:..::..::.::.#. DEX : 18/50
......................................####.##~~......#.::::::##:#.: CON : 17
......................................3###.###~.......:#:::.:#>##:: CHR : 12
......................................####.###~................#... AC 15
...........................................###~.................... HP 37/ 37
...................................@...............................
.................................###+####..###~.......#..##.#.#....
.................................########..###~.......:.#.....::.:#
.................................########..##~~..................#.
....................................#####..##~~.......#............
....................................#####..##~~..........:.:......:
..................................#######..##~~............#.##..:.
..........................#####...#######..##~~......:.....::##.::#
...........................####............##~~............#::#....
##.........................7###...#######..##~~.....#......#...:##:
#9................####8....####...#######..##~~............:.::....
##......#.#.......#####...#####...#######..##~~......:#............
.......##M##...............................##~~...........###:#....
Outpost
The > to the east is a dungeon entrance, and is actually where you
start the game, but it is not a good idea to enter the dungeon
immediately! Do some shopping first, maybe even complete a couple of
town quests. The @ symbol marks the player's location; and directly to
the player's southeast is the entrance to the White Horse Inn, one of
two buildings in this wilderness-on version of Outpost to offer quests.
The other one is also visible here - that large multi-entrance building
to the northwest, which is the castle of Uldrik, the Count of Outpost.
Visit these two buildings, press q to request your first quests, and
decide if you're brave enough to take them on immediately.
A few of the town's shops are also visible here, as well as your home
8. Additional shops not visible in this shot can be found to the west,
including the General Store, the Temple Shop and the Alchemy Shop.
These are three shops you should visit at the beginning of every new
game, as they sell very useful items you will need on your adventures.
The first time you are in town it will be daytime (unless you are
playing an undead race who starts at night), but note that the sun
rises and falls as time passes; if you enter the town at night, the
town will be dark. Fortunately for you, the various shops and the other
special buildings are open on a 24-hour basis.
Townspeople
The shopkeepers are not the town's only inhabitants - you will likely
also see some people on the streets. There are the street urchins,
young children who will mob an adventurer for money, and seem to come
out of the woodwork when excited. Blubbering idiots are a constant
annoyance, but not harmful. Public drunks wander about the town
singing, and are of no threat to anyone. Sneaky rogues who work for the
black market are always greedily eyeing your backpack for potential new
'purchases'... And what town would be complete without a swarm of half
drunk warriors, who take offense or become annoyed just for the fun of
it? Finally, stories told in hushed tones on dark nights speak of the
mythical Nick, the butcher; although whether he really is a
bloodthirsty destroyer of worlds remains for you to determine.
These townspeople are in fact some of the first monsters you will meet
during your adventure, and some of them should be avoided by the
largest possible distance as you wander from store to store. Fights
will break out, though, so be prepared. Since your character grew up in
this world of intrigue, no experience is awarded for killing the town
inhabitants, though you may acquire treasure.
One word of warning: occasionally a creature who normally would inhabit
only the wilderness and dungeons may wander into the town. These should
generally be handled with much more caution than ordinary townspeople.
But they do give experience, so there's that!
Shopping in Town
Your character will begin his adventure with a few basic items, plus
some gold with which to purchase additional supplies. Just pick the
store you wish to visit and walk over to the entrance, and you can shop
to your heart's content (or until you run out of money, whichever comes
first). See [b] for the shopping interface help.
Stores do not always have everything in stock. As the game progresses,
stores acquire new items, so check again from time to time to see if
they've got something new you might like. But the opposite also happens
- items get sold to other customers, often just when you had finally
acquired enough money to buy them with. To prevent this from happening,
you can reserve an item you have your eyes on but can't quite afford;
but reserving is itself quite expensive, so be sure you really do want
that item.
Note that new store inventory will not be added while you are in town,
even if you save the game and return. You must spend time in the
dungeon and do some adventuring if you wish the store owner to clear
out his stock and acquire new items. If you have a lot of spare gold,
you can either pay the shopkeeper to restock (this is called shop
shuffling) or simply buy out the store's entire inventory; a buyout
will induce the store owner to bring out new stock, though occasionally
he might just retire on your money and sell the shop to a new owner.
Store owners will not buy harmful or useless items. If an object is
unidentified, they will pay you some base price for it. Having bought
an object, they will immediately fully identify it. If it is a good
object, they will add it to their inventory; if it was a bad bargain,
they simply throw the item away. In either case, you will receive some
knowledge of the item that will help you identify similar objects in
the future. That's cold comfort if it turns out you sold a great item
for a pittance, but does mean the benefits of selling are not purely
monetary. Players who turn on the no selling birth option ([c])
sometimes "sell" an item for nothing just to have it fully identified.
Object Pricing
Each object has a nominal base value, sometimes called the item score,
which is computed based on the quality of the object. Item score is the
most important factor in determining the price for which the object can
be bought and sold. Inspecting an inventory item (or examining a shop
item) will display its score, though if the item has not yet been fully
identified, the score shown may be an inaccurate estimate.
You cannot just buy and sell items for this nominal value, though;
shopkeepers will charge you extra when you buy, and pay you less when
you sell. How bad this effect is depends on several factors: your
charisma, fame, and race, and the shopkeeper's race and greediness.
Each shopkeeper also has an individual selling cap: the maximum amount
they will ever pay for a single item.
Shopkeepers like charismatic players, and will pay them more and charge
them less. Famous players are also treated favorably in the towns; but
new adventurers are a dime a dozen, and make ready marks for store
owners. The average shopkeeper has little respect for pretentious,
know-it-all upstarts who think they can just buy a lantern and go kill
Morgoth. Pshaw!
Your race, and the shopkeeper's race, also affect pricing. Your race
can make shopkeepers less friendly, even if you have high charisma
(shopkeepers are quite distressed whenever a Balrog enters their
shop!), and can affect pricing significantly. The shopkeeper's race is
not as important, but it helps a bit if you and the shopkeeper belong
to the same race.
The final factor affecting pricing is the shopkeeper's greediness,
which is not explicitly displayed but can be inferred from the results.
Black Market operators are all extremely greedy and tend to set
extortionate prices.
List of Shops
The General Store (1)
The General Store sells foods, drinks, some clothing, torches, lamps,
oil, shovels, picks, capture balls, and iron spikes. All of these
items and some others can be sold back to the General store for
money.
The Armory (2)
The Armory is where the town's armor is fashioned. All sorts of
protective gear may be bought and sold here.
The Weaponsmith's Shop (3)
The Weaponsmith's Shop is where the town's weapons are fashioned.
Hand and missile weapons may be purchased and sold here, along with
arrows, bolts, and shots.
The Temple Shop (4)
The Temple Shop deals in healing and restoration potions, as well as
bless scrolls, word of recall scrolls, some approved priestly
weapons, as well as books of Life magic for priests and paladins.
The Alchemy Shop (5)
The Alchemy Shop deals in all types of potions and scrolls.
The Magic Shop (6)
The Magic Shop deals in all sorts of rings, wands, amulets, and
staves, as well as some magic books.
The Black Market (7)
The Black Market will sell and buy anything at extortionate prices.
However, it occasionally has VERY good items in it. The shopkeepers
are not known for their tolerance...
Your Home (8)
This is your house where you can store objects that you cannot carry
on your travels, or will need at a later date. See [d] for more
information.
The Bookstore (9)
The Bookstore deals in all sorts of magical books. You can purchase
and sell spellbooks for the spellcasters here.
The Shroomery (0)
The Shroomery sells many useful basic mushrooms, including the
always-handy Cure Poison, Cure Confusion and Fast Recovery.
The Museum (M)
This is a place where you can donate objects, which will then be put
on permanent display. There is no gameplay advantage to using the
Museum; it is simply for storing memories. See [e] for more
information.
Special Buildings
In addition to the shops, all towns have some special buildings with
custom services. The buildings vary from town to town significantly,
both in terms of their name and the services that they offer, but a few
of the most common or important ones are listed below:
Inns (+)
Inns are places where the player may obtain food, rest for the night,
relax and listen to the latest rumours, and (within limitations - see
[f] below) teleport to other inns. The inns in Outpost and Lite-Town
offer quests. Almost all towns have an inn.
Castles (+)
Nearly all towns have a building, usually a large and conspicuous
one, where the local ruler can be found. All rulers have some quests
for you to complete; Uldrik, the Count of Outpost, is also willing to
identify your items (for a reasonable fee, of course).
Libraries (+)
Librarians are experts in all kinds of lore, and will identify or
*Identify* your items in return for payment. The library in Lite-Town
also researches monsters, a function more commonly left for the local
Beastmaster.
Temples (+)
Many towns have a holy temple, usually connected to or in the
immediate vicinity of the Temple Shop. Temples provide healing and
restoration (as long as you pay offerings).
Arena (+)
There is only one Arena in the game (in either Thalos or Lite-Town).
The Arena is a special building where you may fight a single monster
at a time, for the entertainment of the townsfolk. During these
fights, you cannot use magical devices, read scrolls, quaff potions,
activate equipment or (usually) summon help. Winning an Arena fight
increases your fame (some enemies also drop fixed valuable items);
but losing a fight severely damages your fame and results in a ban
from further Arena fights. You cannot physically die in the Arena;
you will exit at 0 HP, with cuts and poisoning healed. Do be careful
not to die just outside the Arena, though...
Gambling Dens (+)
Casinos that may offer varied entertainment such as card games or
even betting on fights between monsters.
Fighters' Halls (+)
These buildings usually house a weaponsmith who is willing to enchant
your equipment for you... though how much work he's willing to put in
depends on your class and character level, and of course on how much
you pay. Some Fighters' Halls might also offer quests or reforging
(see [g]).
This list is far from exhaustive; there are many other buildings
besides, with many services and quests on offer. Explore and find out!
Town Quests
At least one building in each town will offer your character the
opportunity to undertake a quest. Such quests typically fall under the
following categories: kill all monsters on the quest level (assume this
to be the case if nothing else is stated), kill one or more monsters of
a certain type (for example, kill Old Man Willow or kill 8 Wargs), or
retrieve a certain object and escape from the quest level. Completing
town quests is a key part of the game; you may eventually spend almost
as much time in town quests as you do in dungeons.
When you request a quest, you will be given a brief description of the
quest and your objective, as well as an indication of its danger level.
For example, here we have just pressed q to request a quest from the
Sultan of Thalos:
Sultan Idris (Human) Palace
The Old Watchtower (Thalos) (Level 32): Unfortunately, the citizens of
Thalos are still not safe. A young boy disappeared last week while out
on a walk; we found his corpse in the forest a few days later, lifeless
and sucked dry of blood. The city's lawyers, afraid of being blamed by
the public, are pressuring me to drive out the vampires who have taken
over the old watchtower near the shore. Please help me eliminate the
vampires, you will be well rewarded.
q) Request quest
ESC) Exit building Gold Remaining: 27.8k
Most town quests take place on special town quest levels, which can be
accessed from the town or its immediate vicinity. Quest entrances are
indicated on the map with the symbol >, and will appear at the top of
the ] object list, making them easy to spot. You do not have to take
them immediately; feel free to delay the quest until you are confident
in your ability to succeed. Press Ctrl-Q every once in a while to check
your quest history, which includes an ordered list of uncompleted
quests; this will make sure you won't forget to complete them.
Rarely, you will be assigned a dungeon quest; instead of a special
quest level, these quests occur on normal dungeon levels. See [h] for
more information on dungeon quests.
Having completed a quest (of either type), return to the person who
assigned you the quest and press q again; you will get warm thanks and
(usually) a nice reward for your good work. You can also then request a
new quest! But if you leave a quest level before completing the quest,
you have irreparably failed it; your fame is reduced, and you miss out
on the reward.
Quest lines are semi-fixed; you will mostly receive the same quests
from the same buildings in every game, but there is some randomness in
the list of quests. The special town quest levels' layouts are likewise
semi-fixed; the terrain is usually the same or mostly the same every
game, the objects are usually different or mostly different, and the
monsters may or may not be the same depending on the quest. Finally,
the rewards are semi-fixed; some are more random than others, and many
(though not all) are tailored to the specific needs of your race and
class. Having seen a quest before is a large practical advantage, but
do not assume everything will be exactly the same.
Note: Town quest levels obey a few special rules. In
particular, you cannot use Genocide, Mass Genocide,
Annihilation, Destruction, Earthquake or Teleport Level
inside a quest.
You should also not assume that you can teleport everywhere within a
quest level; usually you can, but some quests have secure areas with
invisible anti-teleportation fields. You can teleport out of these
areas, but not in.
The Wilderness Option
Outside the (relative) safety of Outpost lies a large and diverse
wilderness, where many towns and dungeons await you. Unfortunately, it
is also home to many dangerous creatures, and the distance between
where you are and where you want to go is often vast. It is therefore a
good idea to use the scaled global map (also known as the overworld)
for travelling in the wilderness.
The Global Map: Press < to enter the global map for
wilderness travel, and > to return to the normal map
once you have reached your destination.
You are in Outpost [q,p,o,x,j,+,-,?,<dir>] L0
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.......#........>...................>.#~# LEVEL 1
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.......#..............................~~# EXP 16
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~....#...#...................###.......~## AU 595
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.....#..##...................###......~~# | (
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~......####..................#.#........~~ STR : 16
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~....#####>................>.............. INT : 14
#~~~...~~~~~~~~~~......####................................... WIS : 8
#~~............~~...~....................................~~... DEX : 18/50
#~...>.............~~..................................~~~~... CON : 17
#~................~~~~.......~~~......................~~~~~... CHR : 12
#~..........##....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..............*.....~~~~~.... AC 15
#~.........####.#..~~~~~~.....~~~~~~~~~~~.~~~......~~.......#. HP 37/ 37
#~........##~~##....~~~~....@...~~~~~~~~..~~~~~.........######
#~~........~~>##....~~~...#......~~~~........~~>~~~###########
#~~~.......~~~##.#..~~..###.......~~...........~~~~~##########
#~~~~~.......##.#.~~~..###..............####....~~############
#~~~~###....##.#..~~~...............#########...~#############
#~~~###..#......#..~~...............#########..~~#############
#~~####.###..#.....~~...............######>####.~#############
#~#####>#~~...#.....~.................#########.~~############
#~~####~~~~~........~~~.......~~~~~~...#######..~~~###########
#~~###~~~~~~......~~~~~~....~~~~~~~~~~~~.........~~~##########
#~~###~~~~~~......~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..~~~~~~~~#######
#~######~~~.....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Surface
As displayed on the global map, the wilderness consists of a 97x62 tile
world; each tile corresponds to an area the size of a max-sized dungeon
level on the regular map, and contains themed terrain such as forests,
mountains or plains. A number of towns exist in various parts of the
world, each situated on their own wilderness tile. Two of these towns
are visible in the screenshot above: Outpost, where you start (actually
that one's hidden by the @, which is us!) and Morivant, represented by
the * to the east. Many (too many?) dungeon entrances can also be seen,
each represented by the familiar > symbol. In the top-right corner of
the screenshot, northeast of Morivant, you can just see the dread
dungeon of Angband; it is home to the Serpent of Chaos, whom you must
kill in order to win the game.
Travelling through the overworld is both faster and safer than using
the normal map, but the wilderness is still inhabited and dangerous
monsters still lurk in wait. The unwary adventurer might suddenly walk
into an ambush, and be forced back onto the normal map; in such a
situation, you cannot simply run away by using the < key again, but
might try escaping with a scroll of Teleport.
There are several ways to improve your odds against being ambushed. Try
to stay on the roads as much as possible; they are not completely safe,
but far less dangerous than travelling off the beaten path, and if you
do get ambushed there the surroundings will likely not be as deadly.
Stealthy characters (and very powerful characters) are less likely to
be ambushed. In addition, travelling is safer during the daytime.
You can use the l look command to see the danger level of a wilderness
tile. As the L0 on the screenshot above shows, Outpost is located on a
level 0 tile! Some types of terrain, like lava fields or deep oceans,
are almost invariably very dangerous and best avoided until your
character is a bit stronger.
Discovering and Entering Dungeons
A few of the dungeons are easy to find and enter - they are accessible
from towns. You even start the game on the entrance to one such
dungeon, Warrens. These town dungeons are also some of the least
dangerous dungeons, which makes sense - who would build a town or live
there if the entrance to Hell was next door? Okay, so that's not too
bad a description of the no-wilderness town...
The vast majority of dungeons, though, can only be reached through the
wilderness. It is best to travel there through the global map; but
dungeons cannot be actually entered from the global map, only from the
regular map, so you'll have to switch back as you reach the right tile.
As you do this, a problem sometimes becomes apparent: because one tile
on the scaled global map corresponds to a fairly large area on the
normal map, there is no guarantee you will find yourself immediately
next to the actual entrance. The entrance might be some way away, maybe
even out of sight (in such a situation the game will helpfully tell you
which direction the entrance is in). Take the direction indicated, and
use the ] object/feature list command regularly; it will often spot the
entrance before its actual appearance on the screen.
There is another obstacle you may encounter before reaching the
dungeon. Many dungeons have an entrance guardian - a monster sitting on
top of the entrance who will refuse to budge until you have killed it.
Entrance guardians are also immune to being teleported, so that is not
an easy way out! Sometimes it is possible to dodge an entrance guardian
and reach the stairs despite its watchful eye, but most of the time you
will have to kill it. In general, low-level dungeons have no entrance
guardians while high-level dungeons do have one; some of them, like the
Ethereal Dragon on the Crystal Castle entrance, can be very dangerous.
Occasionally, you will find dungeon entrances in places where you did
not expect any. These are random one-level dungeons - they are often
dangerous, but can have exceptional items within. Random dungeons
sometimes generate quite close to regular dungeons; especially in the
deep oceans, where random dungeons are fairly common, you might have to
double-check that the entrance you found is actually the one you were
looking for. (You can use the look command or the * targetting command
for this.)
Having finally reached the entrance - hopefully the right one - just
press > and you're inside. After that, you'll never have to take this
particular wilderness trip again: you have automatically established a
recall point in the dungeon, and can return there by Word of Recall any
time you wish.
See [i] for what to expect in the dungeon.
Which Dungeons Should I Visit?
There are three main reasons you might wish to visit a dungeon - to
complete a quest there, to kill the final guardian (or boss) who
inhabits the last level of the dungeon, or simply to gather some
experience and loot. The last of these can of course be done in any
dungeon, but sometimes you might feel a particular dungeon is just
really comfortable for your character and playstyle.
The first time you play, you won't really know who the bosses are (or
which depths they inhabit), and you probably haven't received many
dungeon quests yet, maybe just the very early Pest Control quest (see
[j]). So it is a sensible idea to just do the town dungeons first, and
then peek into the others in order of the depth they start at, since
that's what looking at a dungeon reveals. For example, after completing
Warrens, Hideout and the Icky Cave (and a few town quests), you might
wish to enter the Tidal Cave, Orc Cave, Labyrinth and Camelot next.
The Angband dungeon is a bit special in that it starts at a very low
level - level 1 - but the boss (that would be the Serpent of Chaos!) -
is all the way down on level 100. Also, Angband uniquely has a number
of random quests strewn throughout, often with good rewards for
completion. This makes it hard to know when you should enter Angband.
Some players go there very early for the quests; others may postpone it
for a long time, or even use magical methods to skip most of the
dungeon altogether.
Once you have done enough descending into a dungeon, you might be
informed you have located the dungeon's boss:
You enter a maze of down staircases. Mughash the Kobold Lord lives
on this level as the keeper of Warrens.
Killing bosses is fun (and rewarding), but it can also be dangerous,
especially when you are playing for the first time and don't really
know what the bosses do. To improve your knowledge, you can pay your
local Beastmaster (most but not all towns have one) to research the
boss for you; this will reveal you everything about them, and allows
you to prepare and make an informed decision as to whether you are
ready to take them on. Pay particular attention to whether the boss
resists confusion - some bosses are seemingly very tough for their
depth, but if they do not resist confusion, that's an opening for you.
Though some of the higher-level bosses (like Utgard-Loke) seem to shake
confusion off suspiciously quickly...
Sometimes you can just jump from dungeon to dungeon, killing the bottom
guardians and leaving a trail of universal destruction in your wake. At
other times you may have to prepare a bit, in town quests or on the
lower levels of dungeons. In the early mid-game, this might happen in
Lonely Mountain - players often find it a good dungeon to set up camp
in for a while, since the terrain is usually relatively favorable and
the presence of many dragons means that treasures are also abundant.
Note though that the Lonely Mountain is, well, a mountain, and very
difficult to enter for the first time unless you have levitation.
The big takeaway here should be that there is no single right order to
do the dungeons in. Some people like to dive into very deep dungeons
really early, and the entrance guardians be damned! Experiment a bit;
find out what works for you, which bosses you find easy to handle, and
which dungeons you really like. Sometimes you will be completing a
whole dungeon in one go; at other times you may be hopping between
several dungeons you're halfway into, or repeatedly recalling in and
out of a single dungeon with no intention of fighting the boss.
See [k] for a list of dungeons.
Travelling Between Towns
A network of roads connects most of the towns, providing the best and
simplest way to reach them (at least for the first time). Again, use
the global map. Stick to the roads as much as you can; sometimes it is
tempting to take a shortcut through the wild, but this increases the
chance of a dangerous ambush.
As with dungeons, you only need to really take these wilderness trips
once. A teleportation grid connects the inns of the towns, and you can
use it (for a reasonable fee) to jump from town to town. The tavern
keepers, being businessmen, want your money... but they also want their
customers alive, and won't send you into another town without knowing
you can handle the new environment. But once you have proved this by
reaching the town on foot, you can return there by teleport at any
time. There is one exception to this rule: the town of Thalos lies in
the middle of a dangerous ocean, and the innkeepers have no wish to
lose a customer by sending them there on foot. So, you are allowed to
teleport there as soon as you have reached any town besides Outpost.
(It is rumoured that one of the towns may have been cut off from the
teleportation grid by strange disturbances in the space-time
continuum... Perhaps you can do something about that?)
Once you have enough money to afford it comfortably, you will find
yourself teleporting between the towns regularly. All have quests to
complete, and shops to visit - and somehow, your home has its full
inventory in every town, so that's handy!
The No Wilderness Option
Diverse dungeons are fun, multiple towns are fun, and the wilderness is
fun; but sometimes you might want to just forget about them all and
select the No Wilderness option. Maybe you are new to FrogComposband,
and want to learn the basics in a simplified version of the game before
moving on to the full version. (Beginner Mode automatically turns on
coffee-break mode, which turns off the wilderness - though sometimes,
enthusiastic new players jump straight to the Normal Mode!) Or maybe
you are a long-term player who has already been everywhere, seen
everything, and wants a quicker and more streamlined game experience
for a change. Maybe you just really like coffee-break mode.
In no-wilderness play, there is only one town: Outpost. The
no-wilderness version of Outpost is somewhat different from the
wilderness Outpost and is sometimes referred to as lite-town, although
it actually has a lot more stuff in it than the regular version does.
With wilderness on, Outpost is a very basic and simple town; it has the
shops, the inn, the castle, but to find exciting special buildings you
have to travel elsewhere. This is not the case with Lite-Town - there
is no elsewhere to travel, so all the special buildings important to
the game (and a few that are not so important) can be found in the
single town. The number of quests available in Lite-Town is also much
higher than in regular Outpost, though also much lower than in all the
wilderness towns combined.
Here's a glimpse of this alternative Outpost - the Count's castle, the
inn and most of the other buildings are in the same locations, but
there are many additional buildings, and the dungeon entrance is within
the walls.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~####.......####~~.......................... LEVEL 1
######################~~###############~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EXP 15
######################~~.#############.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#### AU 819
#...#..##...........##~~######+++######~~########################## | (
#..#.#..#.##.######.##~~#####.....#####~~########################## STR : 16
.#.#....#.##.######.##~~~~~.........~~~~~##.....................### INT : 18
..###.#.#.#+....#+#.###~~~~~~~...~~~~~~~~##.#########.#########.##~ WIS : 9
.#####..#.##........##########...##########.#########.#########.##~ DEX : 18/40
.#####.##............#########...#########..####2####.#########.##~ CON : 17
###4###.#....###...........###...###............................##~ CHR : 12
#+#.#+#.#...#####..................................######..####.##~ AC 6
........#...#####..................................###8##..3###.### HP 37/ 37
###.#####....#+#.................@.....................##..####.### SP 14/ 14
................................................................###
...................................................................
.............................##6##........##++####....###+####..###
..........###...............#######......##########...########..###
.........####>..............#######.....###....#####..########..##~
####....#######.............#######.....+#......##+......#####..##~
###1....#######..............#####......+#......##+......#####..##~
####.....#####..............#######.....###....#####...#######..##~ Study (1)
####......###...............+#####+......##########....#######..##~
............................#######.......##++####..............##~
####..##5##..#####+#####............................##.##7####..##~
####.#######.##########9...............##0##.###.#####.#######..##~
Outpost
Coffee-Break Mode
Coffee-break mode is a birth option you can select from the = options
menu during character creation. Selecting Beginner Mode at the intro
screen automatically turns coffee-break mode on, but coffee-break mode
is also available in Normal Mode and in Monster Mode.
Coffee-break mode greatly accelerates experience gain in the dungeon
(only the dungeon!), increases monster drops, improves their quality,
and speeds up a number of less obvious game mechanics such as reforging
and most forms of proficiency gain. Coffee-break mode also makes the
game faster in other ways - it reduces early-game level size, turns all
staircases into shafts, and disables all upstairs altogether. The only
way you can go is down, and you will find yourself in the thick of the
action very quickly! Coffee-break mode (unlike other forms of
forced-descent play) does allow you to recall back to town, to shop and
to complete town quests; you are also allowed to fail dungeon quests,
although this causes you to permanently lose the special accelerated
reforging bonus.
It is not possible to use coffee-break mode with the wilderness on. It
is possible to play with both the wilderness and coffee-break mode off,
but this is not recommended.
How to Cope in Coffee-Break Mode
Although coffee-break mode is turned on for beginners, it does not
necessarily make the game easy. Sure, your character will gain in power
very fast - but you also run into nasty enemies very fast! It is
therefore best to have a plan.
One town quest is available to coffee-break players that many
characters can complete before entering the dungeon - the Thieves'
Hideout quest, offered by Count Uldrik. Completing this quest nets you
several character levels, a reward from the Count, and a fair bit of
money; you can now purchase better supplies, as well as request your
next quest: Pest Control (the Warg Quest). This quest is in the
dungeon, so you cannot delay going there any further - but killing the
Wargs will give you quite a lot of experience, radically improving your
chances when you meet the first random questor.
Random Questors
Random level guardians are both the greatest peril, and the greatest
opportunity, that you will face early in a coffee-break game. Killing a
random questor gives you a free stat-up, bonus exceptional items
(beyond what they'd drop anyway!), and the warm feeling of making
tangible progress.
On the other hand... the random level guardians are all out-of-depth
uniques, and even with your accelerated power gain it is far from a
given that you can kill them. Occasionally, you get very unlucky and
the game hits you with a guardian who is simply way too tough for you.
Players have often pulled off miraculous kills in these situations -
desperation can come up with a strategy where a calmer mind would give
up. But sometimes it is better to just accept your unfortunate fate and
purposely fail the quest before you die or burn all your supplies in a
futile attempt at completion. The penalties for failing a quest are
rough (you can probably already forget your dream of reforging Ringil
onto a ring); but at least you are alive.
Because you never know when you might meet a tough guardian, and cannot
just recall home to get your supplies like you could in a wilderness
game, it is best to be always prepared. Nothing is more annoying than
making a heroic attempt at killing the guardian and narrowly failing
because you had left one potion too many at home.
See [l] for the basics of how a random dungeon quest works.
Original : (??)
Updated : (??)
Updated : Zangband DevTeam
Updated : Hengband 1.0.11
Updated : PosChengband 4.0.0
Updated : FrogComposband 7.0.nougat
Updated : FrogComposband 7.1.liquorice