Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga.games:1989 rec.games.hack:10225 rec.games.misc:11928 comp.misc:10458 rec.games.programmer:2442 talk.bizarre:55286 rec.games.frp:26804 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!apple!spies!zorch!xanthian From: xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games,rec.games.hack,rec.games.misc,comp.misc,rec.games.programmer,talk.bizarre,rec.games.frp Subject: Nethack, a description (Re: Nethack etc. Help wanted.) Summary: A fine rant Keywords: Introduction to nethack, with passion Message-ID: <1990Nov1.011749.8880@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> Date: 1 Nov 90 01:17:49 GMT References: <34845@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <107887@convex.convex.com> Followup-To: rec.games.hack Organization: SF-Bay Public-Access Unix Lines: 83 This got posted in comp.sys.amiga. It is a fine, impassioned ad for nethack. It deserves wider circulation. Nethack is available for most microcomputers. If anything, Steve understates the case. Note the followup to rec.games.hack. Kent, the man from xanth. swarren@convex.com (Steve Warren) writes: > fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu writes: >>I haven't seen Nethack, but Hack Lite had a little dog. You have to have him > [...] >>MORIA is the *BEST* of the PD hack & slashers! You just have to be patient > [...] >You haven't seen Nethack, but you feel qualified to make a judgement of >what is the best pd hack game? ;^) > >Well, Moria is an interesting game, but it has nowhere *near* the depth >of nethack. The spoiler sheet I have on nethack is 40 pages of closely >spaced text. There are so many behavioral complexities in nethack. You >can do things like training your dog to rob things from the store (don't >try it yourself, or the keystone kops will come after you). You can chat >with some of the creatures in the dungeon. You get all sorts of intrinsics >from eating the right kinds of critters (like the ability to teleport at >will, intrinsic fire resistance, intrinsic cold resistance, sleep resistance, >disintegration resistance, etc). > >Also, once you explore a level it remains explored (in Moria once you leave >a level it is regenerated from scratch). > >There are various special armors and weapons like Moria. There is also >a great deal of urgency to perform in Nethack, because food is much scarcer >in Nethack, and you run out of food faster. You have to live off the land >most of the time, eating whatever you can kill. You learn quickly what >animals are good for you and which ones will kill you to eat them. > >You have to watch out for critters that poison you, burn you, stun you, >confuse you, steal your money, steal your artifacts, freeze you, turn >you to stone, polymorph you (turn you temporarilly into a critter of >some random type) disintegrate you, put you to sleep, shock you, weaken >you, steal your experience levels, teleport you, give you a disease, or >turn you into a were-creature (werewolf, werejackal, wererat), which means >until you are cured you will occassionally turn into a rat or a wolf or >a jackal for a while. Really big critters like purple worms will swallow >you whole, which means you have about 4 or 5 turns (depending on your armor) >to dig or teleport out of its belly before you are completely digested. > >When you die all of your belongings are left lying where you died, and all >the critters that were killing you are still there. The next time you play, >if you come to the level you died on before, you will find the ghost of your >last character standing guard over the booty. Ghosts can be killed, but they >are really hard to hit. Sometimes the monsters that killed you continue to >kill you game after game on the same level, eventually producing what is >known as a ghost level. This is a level with 8 or 9 ghosts on it. It >is hard to kill them all, but once you do you will have a lot of weapons and >armor to play with. But you have to watch out because ghost treasure >usually has curses on it, and you will need to remove the curses before >you use the artifacts. > >There are so many interesting little tricks in the game. For example, if >you happen to have a long sword and you find a pool of water, and your >luck is high enough, then when you dip the sword into the pool a hand will >come up out of the water and turn your sword into Excaliber (a very good >weapon, especially if you get any plusses added to it). But there is also >the chance that your fooling around with pools will attract a water nymph, >who will progressively steal everything you own until you are naked and >poverty-stricken. The only way to get your stuff back is to find the nymph >who took it and kill her. > >I could go on, but it would take all day. > >If you haven't tried nethack (not hacklight) you should try it. But try to >get the spoiler or else play the game in explore mode (non-scoring mode in >which you have infinite lives) for a while. Nethack is much more severe >than Moria, and the chances are good that you will not survive the first >level until you get some experience playing the game. There is an incredible >variety of monsters, some of whom will eat the very walls of the dungeon >itself. Nearly all of them would enjoy a bite or two of you ;^). > >-- > _. >--Steve ._||__ DISCLAIMER: All opinions are my own. > Warren v\ *| ---------------------------------------------- > V {uunet,sun}!convex!swarren; swarren@convex.COM