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A Guide to XRogue

Expeditions into the Dungeons of Doom


Robert Pietkivitch (1955-2002)

XRogue: Expeditions into the Dungeons of Doom
Copyright (C) 1991 Robert Pietkivitch
All rights reserved.

Based on "Advanced Rogue"
Copyright (C) 1984, 1985 Michael Morgan, Ken Dalka and AT&T
All rights reserved.

Based on "Rogue: Exploring the Dungeons of Doom"
Copyright (C) 1980, 1981 Michael Toy, Ken Arnold and Glenn Wichman
All rights reserved.

See the file LICENSE.TXT for full copyright and licensing information.

 

History

The first version of Rogue was written in the fall of 1980 in an apartment in Santa Cruz by two roommates, Michael C. Toy and Glenn R. Wichman.  The name "rogue" was given to the game by Glenn.  It was written in C under UNIX on a PDP 11/70 at U.C. Santa Cruz.  It was one of the earliest programs to use the "curses" terminal-independent cursor library developed by Ken Arnold.  Later, (winter of '81) development of the game (and Michael Toy) moved from Santa Cruz to Berkeley, where Ken Arnold got involved. Rogue was distributed in binary format for various BSD Unix operating system between 1981 (v3.6) and 1985 (v5.4).  The game was later distributed commercially for various home computer systems in the early to mid 1980s.

One way or another Robert Kindelberger at AT&T Bell Labs (Indian Hills) obtained a copy of  the source code to Rogue version 3.6 and, along with his friends, enhanced it for their own amusement in 1982 and 1983. Binary copies of  version 9.0 were commonly available for the AT&T 3b1 computer systems. Ken Dalka and Michael Morgan, also at AT&T Bell Labs (Indian Hills), picked up the 3.6 source code and developd their own version which was dubbed Advanced Rogue in 1984. While, apparently, not based on Super Rogue by Kindelberger it did, eventually, borrow some components of that version. After a while, they decided it would make sense to make the game available to others outside of Bell Labs.  The appropriate channel for such a release was the AT&T Toolchest.  It was supposed to be a "free" distribution mechanism, though they did charge some for source to pay for the upkeep of the distribution organization.  You could get the source through the Toolchest.  Much of the Toolchest is now owned by Lucent (Bell Labs), however Advanced Rogue is no longer distributed and queries regarding it have gone unanswered. The last version released was likely v7.8.

After reaching version 7.8 Michael Morgan handed the source code off to Robert Pietkivitch (also a Bell Labs employee at the time) who made a number of enhancements and bug fixes and dubbed it XRogue 8.0 in 1989. In 1997 Pietkivitch gave the source code to several people expressing interest in porting it to modern computer systems. Eventually this led to the creation of the Roguelike Restoration Project which now maintains the code. Unfortuneately Robert Pietkivitch died in December 2002, taking his final set of modifications and enhancements to XRogue with him.

Introduction

XRogue includes over 200 monsters with many new capabilities, many of the monsters are intelligent and they, like the player, must avoid traps and decide when it is better to fight or to run. There are also a number of new commands in this version not found in previous versions.

The game contains monsters, spells, weapons, armor, potions, and other magical items that you will discover during your quest. The Dungeon's geography changes with every game and although many magical items have certain identifiable properties, such as turning the player invisible, the physical manifestation of the magic changes each game. A red potion, for example, will cause the same reaction throughout a given game but it may be a completely different potion in a new game.

Entering the Dungeon with only a little food, armor, and a weapon, the player must develop a good strategy of when to fight, when to run, and how to best use any magical item found in the Dungeon. To make things interesting the player has a quest to return one of several unique and magical artifacts which are rumored to lie deep within the Dungeon. Returning with this artifact to the surface brings great honor.

However, after finding the artifact, the player may wish to continue his quest deeper into the Dungeon to match wits with an arch-devil, a demon-prince, or perhaps Charon the Boatman. Defeating such a creature will gain the player many experience points which is the basis for scoring in xrogue. It is very difficult to return from the Dungeons of Doom alive. Very few players have won this game.

Character Classes

Before placing the player in the Dungeon, the game requests that you select what type of character they would like to be: Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Magic-User, Cleric, Thief, Assassin, Druid, or Monk.

The Fighter

A Fighter has the best odds at winning battles with monsters. At high experience levels, the Fighter is able to attack his opponent multiple times in a single turn. Strength is the main attribute of the Fighter.

The Magic-User

A Magic-User is able to cast spells. Intelligence is the main attribute. The number of spells a Magic-User can cast increases as he gains in experience points and in intelligence. His spell casting ability allows him to identify any item in the Dungeon. 16 spells.

The Cleric

A Cleric is able to pray for assistance in battle. Wisdom is the main attribute. The number of prayers granted to the Cleric increases as he gains in experience points and in wisdom. Clerics can affect (turn) the undead monsters to avoid battle. Ie., zombies, ghouls, etc. If the Cleric is very powerful relative to the undead monster, turning it will utterly destroy it. 16 prayers.

The Paladin

A Paladin is a type of holy warrior, being a cross between a Cleric and a Fighter. He is able to pray and affect the undead like the Cleric and fight like the Fighter, but both to a lesser extent. He is on the side of all that is righteous and good and would never attack a monster that has not attacked him first. If he happens to kill such a monster, inadvertantly or otherwise, he will begin to feel increasingly uneasy. If he kills too many such monsters, he will face karmic retaliation and be reduced to a mere Fighter, minus all of the Cleric's ability. Charisma is the main attribute with Wisdom second.

The Ranger

A Ranger is a type of mystical warrior, being a cross between the Magic-User and Fighter. Like the Paladin, he is on the side of all that is righteous and good and would never attack a monster that has not attacked him first. A Ranger is able to cast spells like the Magic-User and fight like the Fighter, but both to a lesser extent. Charisma is the main attribute with Intelligence second.

The Thief

A Thief is exceptionally dexterous and has great skill at being able to set a traps for and/or rob (steal) items from monsters. Thieves have the ability to detect all the gold and hidden traps on each level of the Dungeon. Their dexterous nature gives Thieves the ability to move very quietly, so they are not as likely as to wake up sleeping monsters as are the other character types. If a Thief manages to sneak up on a creature without waking it he may be able to backstab the monster. The damage from a backstab is greatly increased based upon the experience level. Dexterity is the main attribute.

The Assassin

An Assassin is a person trained in the art of killing monsters by surprise. He has some of the abilities of the Thief, but he cannot sense traps or backstab. Instead, the Assassin has the chance to kill an opponent outright with one deadly blow. He can recognize and use poison found in the Dungeon on his weapon, thereby, making his next attack exceptionally lethal. Dexterity is the main attribute.

The Druid

A Druid is a type of magical warrior, being a cross between the Cleric and the Magic-User. A Druid can chant both spells and prayers plus a few of his own. The number of chants available to the Druid increases as he gains in experience points and in Wisdom. Wisdom is the main attribute. 16 chants.

The Monk

A Monk is trained in the martial arts. He wears no armor and does not need a weapon (although using them is not forbidden). As the Monk gains in experience points his natural defense or ability to dodge attackers increases. The Mong is a cross between the Druid and Fighter, so he can chant and also fight like the Fighter, but both to a lesser extent. Constitution is the main attribute, with wisdom second.

Attributes Of The Charaters

Strength The primary attribute for encumberance.
Intelligence The primary attribute for casting spells.
Wisdom The primary attribute for prayers and chanting.
Dexterity The primary attribute for stealthiness.
Charisma The primary attribute for good will.

High Charisma also affects the cost of objects when making transactions.

Constitution The primary attribute for health.

High Constitution affects the amount of hit points you receive when moving up in experience levels.

Note: The Ranger, Paladin, and Monk do not receive their "special" magical abilities until they have advanced a few experience levels.

Experience Levels

Characters gain experience points mostly from killing monsters. Other actions, such as stealing items from monsters, backstabbing, and turning monsters, also add extra experience points. Each character type gains experience points and moves up in experience levels at different rates. Moving up in experience levels adds extra hit points to the character which determines how many "hits" he can take before being killed.

Allocating Attribute Points To The Characters

A player starts with 75 attribute points to distribute in to the character he has chosen to play. When you are prompted to distribute the attribute points, the screen displays the minimum and maximum allowable values for that particular attribute. The player can type a backspace (Ctrl-H) to go back and change a previous value and typing an escape (ESC) sets all the remaining attributes to the maximum value possible, given the number of remaining attribute points to be distributed.

THE SCREEN

During the normal course of play, the screen consists of three separate sections: the top line, the bottom two lines, and the remaining screen in the middle. The top line reports actions which occur during the game, the middle section depicts the Dungeon, and the bottom two lines describe the player's current condition.

Whenever anything happens to the player, such as finding a scroll, hitting a monster, or being hit by a monster, a short report appears on the top line of the screen. When you see the word 'More' on the top line, that means you must press the space key to continue.

The following items may be found within the Dungeon. Some of them have more than one interpretation, depending upon whether your character recognizes them or not.

| A wall of a room.
- A wall of a room.
* A pile of gold.
% A way to another level.
+ A doorway.
. The floor in a room
# The floor in a passageway
  Solid rock (denoted by a space)
^ The entrance to a Trading Post.
@ The player.
_ The player, when invisible.
: Some food.
! A flask containing a potion.
? A sealed scroll.
= A ring.
) A weapon.
] Some armor.
; A miscellaneous magic item.
, An artifact.
/ A wand or a staff.
> A trapdoor leading to the next level.
{ An arrow trap.
$ A sleeping gas trap.
} A beartrap.
~ A trap that teleports you somewhere else.
` A poison dart trap.
" a shimmering magic pool.
' An entrance to a maze.
$ Any magical item. (During magic detection)
> A blessed magical item. (Duriing magic detection)
< A cursed magical item. (During magic detection)

Monsters are depicted as letters of the alphabet. Note that all letters denote multiple monsters, depending on which level of the Dungeon you are on. The player may identify a current monster by using the identify command ('/') or the clarify command ('=').

The bottom two lines of the screen describe the player's current status. The first line gives the player's characteristics: Intelligence, Strength, Wisdom, Dexterity, Charisma, and Constitution all have a normal maximum value of 50 points, but they can go higher if augmented by a ring. Encumberance is a measurement of how much the player can carry versus how much he is currently carrying. The more you carry relative to your maximum encumberance causes you to use more food. The attribute of Strength fortifies one's encumberance.

The player's current number of hit points are denoted as (Hp) and it is followed in parentheses by the player's current maximum hit points. Hit points express the player's survivability. As a player heals by resting, using potions, or spells, the player's current hit points gradually increase until they reach the current maximum. This maximum number will be increased each time a player goes up an experience level. If the player's current hit points reach 0, the player becomes "metabolically challenged".

The player's armor class is denoted as (Ac). This number describes the amount of protection provided by the armor, cloaks, and/or rings currently worn by the player. It is also affected by high or low dexterity. Wearing no armor is equivalent to an armor class of 10 (Monk excepted). The lower the armor class number, the better.

The player's current experience level is denoted as (Exp), followed by the player's experience points. A new experience level brings extra hit points and possibly added abilities, such as new spells for a Magic-user, new prayers for a Cleric, and new chants for a Druid. There are a total of 26 experience levels per character.

Commands

A player can invoke most commands by typing in a single character. Some commands, however, require a direction, in which case the player types the command character followed by a directional letter. Many commands can be prefaced by a number, indicating how many times the command should be executed.

When the player invokes a command referring to an item in the player's pack (such as reading a scroll), the game prompts for the item. The player can then type the letter associated with the item. Typing a '*' will produce a list of eligible items.

A list of basic games commands

? Preceding a command by a '?' produces a brief explanation of the command. The command '?*' gives an explanation of all the commands. A '?@' gives information on things you encounter (rock, forest, etc). / Preceding a symbol by a '/' identifies the symbol. = Clarify. After typing an '=' sign, the player can use the movement keys to position the cursor anywhere on the current level. As long as the player can normally see the selected position, the game will identify whatever is there.

h Move one position to the left.
j Move one position down.
k Move one position up.
l Move one position to the right.
y Move one position to the top left.
u Move one position to the top right.
b Move one position to the bottom left.
n Move one position to the bottom right
H Run to the left until reaching something interesting.
J Run down until reaching something interesting.
K Run up until reaching something interesting.
L Run to the right until reaching something interesting.
Y Run to the top left until reaching something interesting.
U Run to the top right until reaching something interesting.
B Run to the bottom left until reaching something interesting.
N Run to the bottom right until reaching something interesting
> Go down the stairs to the next level or enter the outer region if you are standing upon the wormhole trap (must be "flying" for this to work).
< Go up the stairs to the next level or enter the outer region if you are standing upon the wormhole trap (must be "flying" for this to work).
* Count the gold in the player's pack.
! Escape to the shell level.
$ Price an item at the Trading Post.
# Buy an item at the Trading Post.
% Sell an item at the Trading Post.
. This command (a period) causes the player to rest one turn.
^ This command sets traps and is limited to Thieves and Assassins. If the command is successful the game will ask the player for the trap type and sets it where the player is standing.
a Affect the undead. This command is restricted to Clerics and Paladins and must be followed by a directional letter.
A  Choose your quest item (at game startup only!).
c This command is restricted to Druids and Monks and it produces a list of available chants. The player can select one of the displayed chants and if the player's energy level is sufficiently high, "chant" it. The more complicated the spell, the more energy it will take.
C This command is restricted to Magic-Users and Rangers and it produces a list of available spells. The player can select one of the displayed spells and if the player's energy level is sufficiently high, "cast" it. The more complicated the spell, the more energy it will take.
d Drop an item from the player's pack.
D Dip something into a magic pool.
e Eat some food from the player's pack.
f When this command is preceded with a directional command, the player will move in the specified direction until he crosses something interesting.
F Frighten a monster. Not available to all characters. This command loses it's power at around level 10.
g Give away or trade a slime-mold for food with a monster.
G This command is restricted to Thieves and Assassins. It causes the game to display all of the gold on the current level.
i Display an inventory of the player's pack.
I This command prompts for an item from the player's pack and displays the inventory information for that item.
m When the player types this command, you are prompted to mark an item with a one-line name.
o Typing this command causes the game to display all the settable options. The player can then examine them or change (some of) them
O Display your current character type and quest item.
p This command is restricted to Clerics and Paladins and it produces a list of available prayers. The player can then select one of the displayed prayers and if the player's energy level is sufficiently high, "pray" it. The more complicated the prayer, the more energy it will  take.
P Pick up the items currently under the player.
q Quaff a potion from the player's pack.
Q Quit without saving the game.
r Read a scroll from the player's pack.
s Search for a secret door or a trap in the circle surrounding the player.
S Save your game to play at a later time.
t This command prompts for an object from the players pack. The player then can throw the object in the specified direction.
T Take off whatever the player is wearing.
v Print the current xrogue version number.
w Wield a weapon from the player's pack.
W Wear some armor, ring, or a miscellaneous magic item from the player's pack. The player can wear a maximum of 8 rings.
X This command is restricted to Thieves only. It causes the game to display all of the hidden traps on the current level.
z This command prompts for a wand or staff from the player's pack and zaps it in the specified direction.
+ Fortune cookie! (Note: if you play xrogue over a modem, typing three consecutive '+' will tell your modem to enter "command" mode. See your modem manual on how to return from this mode).
Escape Pressing the Escape key will cancel the current command.
Ctrl-B Check your current score. Scoring is based on experience points and gold. However, gold is not that important and 10% is hacked off if a player is killed.
Ctrl-E Check your current food level. This command is used when you want to see just how much food you have remaining in your stomach. A full stomach is measured to be about 2000(2100). As you play the game, this level drops until you become hungry at about 200(2100). A food level over 2000(2100) makes the character satiated, and a level under 200(2100) makes the character hungry, then weak, and finally fainting. A level of 2000(2100) is the most the character can eat, a full, satisfied stomach!
Ctrl-L Redraw the screen.
Ctrl-N When the player types this command, the game prompts you to type a one-line name for a monster or for an item in the player's pack. To name a monster, position the cursor over the desired monster and rename it.
Ctrl-O Display the current "affects" on the player (such as slow, phased, confused, extra sight, flying, dancing, etc.).
Ctrl-R Repeat last message displayed on the top line of the screen.
Ctrl-T This command is restricted to Thieves and Assassins. It must be followed by a directional letter. If a monster is standing next to the player in the specified direction, the effect is to steal an item from the monster's pack. If successful, the monster does not notice anything, but if the player is unsuccessful, there is a chance the monster will suddenly wake up and attack.
Ctrl-U Use a magic item in the player's pack.

There is no explicit attack command. If a player wishes to do battle with a monster, the player simply moves onto the spot where the monster is standing. Whatever the player is wielding will be used as the player's weapon.

As the player moves across items, the game automatically picks them up and places them into the player's pack. If there is no room left in the pack, the item is left on the floor. Setting the "pickup" option to "NO" will allow the player to pick up items at will using the 'P' command.

All actions except for bookkeeping commands, such as taking an inventory, take time. The amount of time varies with the command. Swinging a weapon, for example, takes more time than simply moving; so a monster could move several spaces in the time it takes the player to make one attack. The time it takes to swing a weapon also varies based on the bulk of the weapon, and the time it takes to simply move one space varies with the type of armor worn and the player's level of encumberance. Movement is always faster when the player is "flying".

Actions also take time and some of them can be disrupted. If the player is casting a spell for example, and gets hit before finishing it, the spell is lost. Similarly, the player might choke if hit while trying to eat. These same rules apply to monsters as well.

Some of the rooms in the Dungeon possess a natural light source. In most other rooms and in corridors, the player can see only those things within a one-space radius around the player. Dark rooms can be lit with magical light or by fire beetles and other monsters.

The player can wield only one weapon at a time. When a player attacks a monster, the amount of damage depends on the particular weapon he is wielding. To fire a projectile weapon, such as a crossbow or a short bow, the player should wield the bow and throw the bolt or arrow at the monster.

A weapon may be cursed or blessed which will affect the likelihood of you hitting a monster with it and the damage that it will inflict on the monster. If the player has identified the weapon he is using, the "to hit" and the "to damage" bonuses appear (in that order) before the weapons name in the inventory listing. A positive bonus indicates a blessed weapon, and a negative bonus usually indicates a cursed or misguided weapon. A player cannot release a cursed weapon until a remove curse scroll is read or cast by magical means.

After the player has identified a suit of armor, the protection bonus appears before the armors name in the inventory listing. If the bonus is positive the armor is blessed but if it is negative, the armor is probably cursed. The player cannot remove a cursed suit of armor until a remove curse scroll is read or cast by magical means.

Some monsters can corrode your armor! If such a monster hits a player when the player is wearing metal armor, the armor will lose some of its protective value. This same corrosive property also applies to weapons when a player hits a monster with this ability. Search for a scroll of "protection" to guard against corrosion of your armor and weapon.

A player will find many potions and scrolls in the Dungeon. Reading a scroll or quaffing a potion will usually cause some magical occurrence. Potions and scrolls may be either cursed or blessed. In this version of xrogue, Monster Confusion scrolls will turn your hands a variety of colors. A blessed Magic Mapping scroll shows very detailed maps. A scroll of Genocide works within the dungeon as well as in the outer region. A scroll of blessed Teleportation will teleport you "upward" a few levels. Blessed Remove Curse will cause certain monsters to panic if the scroll is read near them. Charm Monster will let you charm several monsters.

The player can wear a maximum of eight rings. Some of them have a magical effect on the player as long as they are worn. Some rings also speed up the player's metabolism, making the player require food more often. Rings can be cursed or blessed and the player cannot remove a cursed ring until a remove curse scroll is read or cast.

Wands, rods, and staves help a player in battle and affect the Dungeon. A player uses the "z" (zap) command to use a wand either to shoot at a monster, teleport, or to light up a dark room. Wands can be cursed or blessed.

A player must be frugal with his food. Both moving and searching through the Dungeon, and fighting monsters, consumes energy. Starving results in the player's fainting for increasingly longer periods of time, during which any nearby monster can attack the player at will. Food comes in the form of standard rations and as a variety of berries. Some berries have side effects in addition to satisfying one's hunger. Slime-Molds are monster food and if you have one, you may be able to trade it for a regular food ration, if the monster is of "friendly" persuasion.

Gold has a couple of uses in the Dungeon. The first use of gold is to buy things, either at a Trading Post or from a Quartermaster. The Trading Post when found, is entered via the '>' command, like going down a stairway. A Quartermaster ('q') is a Dungeon vendor who appears at certain times and will try to sell the player some of his wares. The Quartermaster's wares are never cursed but they can be blessed, though blessed goods do cost more than normal goods. If the player chooses to buy something offered by a Quartermaster, he will make the transaction for the specified amount of gold and then disappear. Attacking a Quartermaster causes him to vanish in haste! You can sometimes find gold at the bottom of "magic pools". Use the ">" command to dive for the gold, but be careful you don't drown!
 

When beginning a new game, a player is placed in the Trading Post with an allotment of gold based upon the type of character chosen to play. There are some restrictions on the use of certain items by character. For example, only Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers can wield two-handed swords while Thieves and Assassins can not wear certain types of armor. However, the Trading Post (and Quartermaster) will happily sell a player anything that he can afford, whether you need it or not.

Miscellaneous magical items such as a Pair of Boots or a Book are numerous within the Dungeon. These items are usually used to a player's advantage, assuming they are not cursed. Some of these items can be worn, such as a Cloak, while others are to be used, such as a Book, Beaker, or Ointment. The Medicine Crystal will heal you, remove all curses, heal you, and may cause panic in some monsters.

There are a number of unique monsters deep within the depths of the Dungeon that carry very special magical items or artifacts. When you begin the game, you are asked to choose a "quest item" to retrieve from the Dungeon. Most of these items can be used to the player's advantage, even if they are not one's own personal quest item during the game. However, care must be taken when handling some of them for they have intelligence and some will reject mishandling or abuse. These items consume your food (and your gold) so carrying them around results in increased food use. Some of these items will kill you outright if you happen to pick them up while wielding another artifact as your weapon. Don't be too greedy with the artifacts! Quest items begin appearing in xrogue between levels 40-50. The less traumatic quest items appear earlier while the more severe ones appear later. Once a unique monster is killed, you will not encounter another one like it in the Dungeon.

A variety of traps exist within the Dungeon, including trap doors, bear traps, and sleeping traps. Sometimes they are hidden from sight until sprung by a monster or by the player. A sprung trap continues to function, but since it is visible, an intelligent monster is not likely to tread on it. A trap called the Wormhole trap, will transport you to the "outer region" of the dungeon. There you will fight strange dinosaurs until you can make your way back to a starwell, and promptly return from whence you came.

Each monster except for the Quartermaster appears in a limited range of Dungeon levels. All monsters of the same type share the same abilities. All giant rats, for example, can give the player a disease, and all jackalweres can put the player to sleep. Monsters of the same type will vary however, in strength and intelligence. For example, one kobold may be much more difficult to kill off than another. In general, the more difficult it is to kill a monster, the more experience points the monster is worth.

Most monsters attack by biting and clawing, but some monsters carry weapons and can use their breath as a weapon. Some monsters can even use magical items, such as wands and artifacts. Monsters with distance weapons or magic can sometimes attack a player from across a room or from down a corridor.

Some monsters are more intelligent than others, and the more intelligent a monster is, the more likely it will run away if it is about to die. A fleeing monster will not attack the player unless it is cornered.

It is sometimes possible to enlist a monster's aid. Reading a charm monster scroll, for example, or singing a charm monster chants can make a monster believe that the player is its friend. A charmed monster will fight hostile monsters for the player as long as they are not of its own race. Be sure your charmed monsters are in the same room with you when you enter the next level, or they will be lost.

Options

The game has several options, some of which can only be set by the player at the beginning of the game and others during the course of play.

default Play the character with "default" attribute settings.
terse Shorten messages at top of screen.
jump Speed up the display of the player's movement
step Lists all inventories one line at a time.
overlay Allows listings of inventories to overlay the currnt screen.
flush Supposed to flush all typed-ahead characters.
askme Prompt the player to name new types of scrolls, potions,
etc.
pickup Pick up items automatically as you move across them
name The player's name.
file Saved game filename. Defaults to xrogue.sav.
score Identifies the location of the game scorefile.
type Specifies the character type (unchangable).
quested item Set at start up (unchangeable).

A player can set the game options at the beginning of a game via the ROGUEOPTS environment variable.

Some examples

ROGUEOPTS="default nopickup, nooverlay, name=Corwin, class=magician"
ROGUEOPTS="pickup, overlay, file=xrg.sav, score=/home/games/scorefile"

The player may change an option at any time during the game via the 'o' (option) command. On the options menu, typing a new value changes the option and a RETURN moves to the next option in the list. Typing an '-' moves you to the previous option and an ESCAPE returns you to the Dungeon.

A new option called "default" was added in xrogue. When you put the word "default" into your ROGUEOPTS environment variable your character will be created with "default" attribute settings, armor, weapon, quest item, and some food.

Setting "default" will force the game to skip over the beginning screen where you can choose/distribute your attribute points and it also skips over the beginning "equippage screen" where you can choose your armor, weapon, quest item, and etc.

If you use the "class" option with "default" in ROGUEOPTS, you will start the game immediately at level 1 with the default selections for your character.

Here is a list of the main and secondary attributes, special ability, and quest item ("default" settings) for each character type:

Character Main Attr. Secondary Specialties Def. Quest Item
Fighter strength constitution sense gold Axe of Aklad
Ranger charisma intelligence cast spells Mandolin of Brian
Paladin charisma wisdom affect undead Ankh of Heil
Cleric wisdom dexterity prayer spells Horn of Geryon
Magician intelligence dexterity cast spells Stonebones Amulet
Thief dexterity strength sense traps Musty Daggers
Assassin dexterity strength steal/use poison Eye of Vecna
Druid wisdom dexterity chant spells Quill of Nagrom
Monk constitution dexterity chant spells Emori Cloak

A different quest item may be chosen ONLY while you are in the beginning Trading Post (if you have NOT set the "default" option via ROGUEOPTS).

When a player is killed, his score will be equal to the amount of his experience points gained, plus his gold (minus 10%). A player that quits the game will not lose 10% of his gold. If a player makes it back up and out of the Dungeon alive, his score will be equal to the amount of experience points, plus the gold, plus additional gold received from selling all of the items in his pack.

The game maintains a top-twenty player scorefile. As an installation option, the game may be compiled so as to record only three entries per character type and name.


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