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From: alien@gcc-opus.ARPA (Alien Wells)
Newsgroups: net.games.hack
Subject: Re: Ghosts and rabid dogs... (spoiler)
Message-ID: <212@gcc-opus.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 28-Jan-85 12:30:04 EST
Article-I.D.: gcc-opus.212
Posted: Mon Jan 28 12:30:04 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 30-Jan-85 19:19:34 EST
References: <397@spp2.UUCP> <63@gitpyr.UUCP>
Reply-To: alien@gcc-opus.UUCP (Alien Wells)
Distribution: net
Organization: General Computer Company, Cambridge Ma (creators of Ms. Pacman)
Lines: 34
Summary: 

In article <63@gitpyr.UUCP> robert@gitpyr.UUCP (Robert Viduya) writes:
>  If you're killed, or starve to death or choke, a ghost is always
>created.  The seeming randomness occurs later when you (or someone else)
>starts another game.  Whenever they go down a level, there's a one in
>three chance that the level they end up on has a ghost (assume that someone
>died on that level previously).  There are a other modifiers, like no
>ghosts are saved on the earlier levels and things like that.

Wrong.  All ghosts are saved in files of the form /usr/games/bin/tmp/bones*.
I have a macro called 'ghosts' which lists them.  The creator is the player
that was playing the character turned into a ghost.

I have experimented a lot with ghost creation, and I know for sure that most
games to not create a ghost.  It also does not have any correlation (that I
can see) to you hearing the 'Wail of the Banshee' or Carol-Ann either (:-)).
I suspect that it is probabilistic, as is whether you get a level with the
ghost or not.  You can have a ghost on any level starting with 2, though the
earlier ghosts tend to get cleaned out more often.

You can have more than one ghost on a level (I have had up to three).  This
is caused by someone dying on a level that they are sharing with a ghost.

It is good to play a variety of characters, so you will have a variety of
items you can get from ghosts.  The best character is a caveman with a 
wizards elven cloak, a knights armor, and a tourists camera.  (Though beware,
items a ghost has are typically cursed.)

Note that the state of the entire level is saved with a ghost.  If you go down
a level and see unusual monster activity right away, chances are you are on
a ghost level.  The best way to take ghosts out are either the tourists
camera (I had two ghosts blinded once, as I calmly plundered their hordes)
or wands (polymorph is especially good, striking is virtually useless).

					Alien