









                           A Guide to the Mazes of Menace
                               (Guidebook for NetHack)


                         Original version - Eric S. Raymond
             (Edited and expanded for 3.6 by Mike Stephenson and others)



          Preface - Version 3.6

               This  version  of  the  game is special in a particular way.
          Near the end of the development of 3.6, one  of  the  significant
          inspirations  for  many of the humorous and fun features found in
          the game, author Terry Pratchett, passed away.  We have dedicated
          this version of the game in his memory.

          1.  Introduction

               Recently,  you  have  begun to find yourself unfulfilled and
          distant in your daily occupation.  Strange dreams of prospecting,
          stealing,  crusading,  and  combat have haunted you in your sleep
          for many months, but you aren't sure of the reason.   You  wonder
          whether  you have in fact been having those dreams all your life,
          and somehow managed to forget about them until now.  Some  nights
          you awaken suddenly and cry out, terrified at the vivid recollec-
          tion of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be  lurk-
          ing  behind  every  corner  of  the dungeon in your dream.  Could
          these details haunting your dreams be real?  As each night  pass-
          es,  you feel the desire to enter the mysterious caverns near the
          ruins grow stronger.  Each morning, however, you quickly put  the
          idea  out  of  your head as you recall the tales of those who en-
          tered the caverns before you and did not return.  Eventually  you
          can  resist  the yearning to seek out the fantastic place in your
          dreams no longer.  After all, when other  adventurers  came  back
          this  way after spending time in the caverns, they usually seemed
          better off than when they passed through the first time.  And who
          was to say that all of those who did not return had not just kept
          going?


               Asking around, you hear about a bauble, called the Amulet of
          Yendor  by  some, which, if you can find it, will bring you great
          wealth.  One legend you were told even mentioned that the one who
          finds  the  amulet  will be granted immortality by the gods.  The
          amulet is rumored to be somewhere beyond the Valley of  Gehennom,
          deep  within  the Mazes of Menace.  Upon hearing the legends, you
          immediately realize that there is some profound and  undiscovered
          reason that you are to descend into the caverns and seek out that
          amulet of which they spoke.  Even if the rumors of  the  amulet's


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          powers are untrue, you decide that you should at least be able to
          sell the tales of your adventures to the local  minstrels  for  a
          tidy  sum,  especially if you encounter any of the terrifying and
          magical creatures of your dreams along the way.   You  spend  one
          last  night  fortifying  yourself at the local inn, becoming more
          and more depressed as you watch the odds of  your  success  being
          posted on the inn's walls getting lower and lower.


                 In the morning you awake, collect your belongings, and set
          off for the dungeon.  After several days  of  uneventful  travel,
          you  see the ancient ruins that mark the entrance to the Mazes of
          Menace.  It is late at night, so you make camp  at  the  entrance
          and  spend the night sleeping under the open skies.  In the morn-
          ing, you gather your gear, eat what may be your  last  meal  out-
          side, and enter the dungeon...


          2.  What is going on here?

               You have just begun a game of NetHack.  Your goal is to grab
          as much treasure as you can, retrieve the Amulet of  Yendor,  and
          escape the Mazes of Menace alive.

               Your abilities and strengths for dealing with the hazards of
          adventure will vary with your background and training:

               Archeologists understand dungeons pretty well; this  enables
          them  to  move  quickly  and sneak up on the local nasties.  They
          start equipped with the tools for a proper scientific expedition.

               Barbarians  are  warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to
          battle.   They  begin  their  quests  with  naught  but  uncommon
          strength, a trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword.

               Cavemen  and  Cavewomen start with exceptional strength but,
          unfortunately, with neolithic weapons.

               Healers are wise in medicine and apothecary.  They know  the
          herbs  and  simples  that  can restore vitality, ease pain, anes-
          thetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they
          can  divine a being's state of health or sickness.  Their medical
          practice earns them quite reasonable amounts of money, with which
          they enter the dungeon.

               Knights  are  distinguished  from  the  common skirmisher by
          their devotion to the ideals of chivalry and  by  the  surpassing
          excellence of their armor.

               Monks are ascetics, who by rigorous practice of physical and
          mental disciplines have become capable of fighting as effectively
          without  weapons  as with.  They wear no armor but make up for it
          with increased mobility.



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               Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders  ad-
          vancing  the  cause  of  righteousness with arms, armor, and arts
          thaumaturgic.  Their ability to commune with deities  via  prayer
          occasionally extricates them from peril, but can also put them in
          it.

               Rangers are most at home in the woods, and some say slightly
          out of place in a dungeon.  They are, however, experts in archery
          as well as tracking and stealthy movement.

               Rogues are agile and stealthy  thieves,  with  knowledge  of
          locks,  traps,  and  poisons.   Their advantage lies in surprise,
          which they employ to great advantage.

               Samurai are the elite warriors of feudal Nippon.   They  are
          lightly  armored  and  quick, and wear the dai-sho, two swords of
          the deadliest keenness.

               Tourists start out with lots of gold (suitable for  shopping
          with),  a  credit card, lots of food, some maps, and an expensive
          camera.  Most monsters don't like being photographed.

               Valkyries are hardy warrior women.  Their upbringing in  the
          harsh  Northlands  makes  them strong, inures them to extremes of
          cold, and instills in them stealth and cunning.

               Wizards start out with a knowledge of magic, a selection  of
          magical  items,  and a particular affinity for dweomercraft.  Al-
          though seemingly weak and easy to overcome at first sight, an ex-
          perienced Wizard is a deadly foe.

               You may also choose the race of your character:

               Dwarves are smaller than humans or elves, but are stocky and
          solid individuals.  Dwarves' most notable trait  is  their  great
          expertise  in mining and metalwork.  Dwarvish armor is said to be
          second in quality not even to the mithril armor of the Elves.

               Elves are agile, quick, and perceptive; very little of  what
          goes  on  will escape an Elf.  The quality of Elven craftsmanship
          often gives them an advantage in arms and armor.

               Gnomes are smaller than but generally  similar  to  dwarves.
          Gnomes  are known to be expert miners, and it is known that a se-
          cret underground mine complex built by this  race  exists  within
          the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger.

               Humans are by far the most common race of the surface world,
          and are thus the norm to which other races  are  often  compared.
          Although  they have no special abilities, they can succeed in any
          role.

               Orcs are a cruel and barbaric race that  hate  every  living
          thing  (including other orcs).  Above all others, Orcs hate Elves


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          with a passion unequalled, and will go out of their way  to  kill
          one  at  any opportunity.  The armor and weapons fashioned by the
          Orcs are typically of inferior quality.

          3.  What do all those things on the screen mean?

               On the screen is kept a map of where you have been and  what
          you  have  seen on the current dungeon level; as you explore more
          of the level, it appears on the screen in front of you.

               When NetHack's ancestor rogue  first  appeared,  its  screen
          orientation  was  almost  unique  among  computer  fantasy games.
          Since then, screen orientation has become the  norm  rather  than
          the  exception;  NetHack  continues  this fine tradition.  Unlike
          text adventure games that accept commands in pseudo-English  sen-
          tences and explain the results in words, NetHack commands are all
          one or two keystrokes and the results are  displayed  graphically
          on  the  screen.  A minimum screen size of 24 lines by 80 columns
          is recommended; if the screen is larger,  only  a  21x80  section
          will be used for the map.

               NetHack can even be played by blind players, with the assis-
          tance of Braille readers or  speech  synthesisers.   Instructions
          for  configuring NetHack for the blind are included later in this
          document.

               NetHack generates a new dungeon every time you play it; even
          the  authors  still find it an entertaining and exciting game de-
          spite having won several times.

               NetHack offers a variety of display  options.   The  options
          available  to  you  will vary from port to port, depending on the
          capabilities of your hardware and software, and  whether  various
          compile-time options were enabled when your executable was creat-
          ed.  The three possible display options are: a monochrome charac-
          ter  interface,  a color character interface, and a graphical in-
          terface using small pictures called tiles.  The two character in-
          terfaces allow fonts with other characters to be substituted, but
          the default assignments use standard ASCII characters  to  repre-
          sent everything.  There is no difference between the various dis-
          play options with respect to game play.  Because we cannot repro-
          duce the tiles or colors in the Guidebook, and because it is com-
          mon to all ports, we will use the default ASCII  characters  from
          the  monochrome  character  display  when referring to things you
          might see on the screen during your game.

               In order to understand what is going on  in  NetHack,  first
          you  must  understand what NetHack is doing with the screen.  The
          NetHack screen replaces the ``You see ...'' descriptions of  text
          adventure  games.   Figure 1 is a sample of what a NetHack screen
          might look like.  The way the screen looks  for  you  depends  on
          your platform.




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          --------------------------------------------------------------------
           The bat bites!

               ------
               |....|    ----------
               |.<..|####...@...$.|
               |....-#   |...B....+
               |....|    |.d......|
               ------    -------|--



           Player the Rambler     St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15  Neutral
           Dlvl:1 $:0  HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:257 Weak

          --------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      Figure 1


          3.1.  The status lines (bottom)

               The  bottom  two lines of the screen contain several cryptic
          pieces of information describing your current status.  If  either
          status  line  becomes  longer  than  the width of the screen, you
          might not see all of it.  Here are explanations of what the vari-
          ous status items mean (though your configuration may not have all
          the status items listed below):

          Rank
               Your character's name and professional ranking (based on the
               experience level, see below).

          Strength
               A  measure of your character's strength; one of your six ba-
               sic attributes.  A human character's  attributes  can  range
               from  3  to 18 inclusive; non-humans may exceed these limits
               (occasionally you may get super-strengths of the form 18/xx,
               and  magic  can  also  cause attributes to exceed the normal
               limits).  The higher your strength, the  stronger  you  are.
               Strength  affects  how  successfully  you  perform  physical
               tasks, how much damage you do in combat, and how  much  loot
               you can carry.

          Dexterity
               Dexterity  affects  your  chances to hit in combat, to avoid
               traps, and do other tasks requiring agility or  manipulation
               of objects.

          Constitution
               Constitution  affects  your ability to recover from injuries
               and other strains on your stamina.  When strength is low  or
               modest,  consitution  also  affects  how much you can carry.
               With sufficiently high strength, the contribution to  carry-
               ing capacity from your constitution no longer matters.


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          Intelligence
               Intelligence  affects  your  ability to cast spells and read
               spellbooks.

          Wisdom
               Wisdom comes from your practical experience (especially when
               dealing with magic).  It affects your magical energy.

          Charisma
               Charisma affects how certain creatures react toward you.  In
               particular, it can affect the prices shopkeepers offer  you.

          Alignment
               Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic.  Often, Lawful is taken as good
               and Chaotic as evil, but legal and ethical do not always co-
               incide.   Your alignment influences how other monsters react
               toward you.  Monsters of a like alignment are more likely to
               be  non-aggressive, while those of an opposing alignment are
               more likely to be seriously offended at your presence.

          Dungeon Level
               How deep you are in the dungeon.  You start at level one and
               the  number  increases  as  you  go deeper into the dungeon.
               Some levels are special, and are identified by  a  name  and
               not  a  number.  The Amulet of Yendor is reputed to be some-
               where beneath the twentieth level.

          Gold
               The number of gold pieces you  are  openly  carrying.   Gold
               which you have concealed in containers is not counted.

          Hit Points
               Your  current  and  maximum hit points.  Hit points indicate
               how much damage you can take before you die.  The  more  you
               get  hit in a fight, the lower they get.  You can regain hit
               points by resting, or by  using  certain  magical  items  or
               spells.   The  number  in  parentheses is the maximum number
               your hit points can reach.

          Power
               Spell points.  This tells you how much mystic energy  (mana)
               you  have  available for spell casting.  Again, resting will
               regenerate the amount available.

          Armor Class
               A measure of how effectively your armor stops blows from un-
               friendly  creatures.  The lower this number is, the more ef-
               fective the armor; it is quite possible to have negative ar-
               mor class.

          Experience
               Your current experience level and experience points.  As you
               adventure, you gain experience points.  At  certain  experi-
               ence  point  totals, you gain an experience level.  The more


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               experienced you are, the better you fight and withstand mag-
               ical attacks.  Many dungeons show only your experience level
               here.

          Time
               The number of turns elapsed so far, displayed  if  you  have
               the time option set.

          Status
               Hunger:  your  current  hunger status.  Values are Satiated,
               Not Hungry (or Normal), Hungry,  Weak,  and  Fainting.   Not
               shown when Normal.

               Encumbrance: an indication of how what your are carrying af-
               fects your ability to move.  Values are Unencumbered, Encum-
               bered,  Stressed,  Strained, Overtaxed, and Overloaded.  Not
               shown when Unencumbered.

               Fatal conditions: Stone (aka Petrifying, turning to  stone),
               Slime  (turning into green slime), Strngl (being strangled),
               FoodPois (suffering  from  acute  food  poisoning),  TermIll
               (suffering from a terminal illness).

               Non-fatal  conditions: Blind (can't see), Deaf (can't hear),
               Stun (stunned), Conf (confused), Hallu (hallucinating).

               Movement modifiers: Lev  (levitating),  Fly  (flying),  Ride
               (riding).

               Other conditions and modifiers exist, but there isn't enough
               room to display them with the other status fields.  The `^X'
               command shows all relevant status conditions.

          3.2.  The message line (top)

               The top line of the screen is reserved for messages that de-
          scribe things that are impossible to represent visually.  If  you
          see  a  ``--More--'' on the top line, this means that NetHack has
          another message to display on the screen, but it  wants  to  make
          certain  that  you've  read the one that is there first.  To read
          the next message, just press the space bar.

               To change how and what messages are  shown  on  the  message
          line, see ``Configuring Message Types`` and the verbose option.

          3.3.  The map (rest of the screen)

               The  rest  of the screen is the map of the level as you have
          explored it so far.  Each symbol on the screen  represents  some-
          thing.   You  can  set various graphics options to change some of
          the symbols the game uses; otherwise, the game will  use  default
          symbols.  Here is a list of what the default symbols mean:




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          - and |
               The walls of a room, or an open door.  Or a grave (|).

          .    The floor of a room, ice, or a doorless doorway.

          #    A  corridor,  or iron bars, or a tree, or possibly a kitchen
               sink (if your dungeon has sinks), or a drawbridge.

          >    Stairs down: a way to the next level.

          <    Stairs up: a way to the previous level.

          +    A closed door, or a spellbook containing a spell you may  be
               able to learn.

          @    Your character or a human.

          $    A pile of gold.

          ^    A trap (once you have detected it).

          )    A weapon.

          [    A suit or piece of armor.

          %    Something edible (not necessarily healthy).

          ?    A scroll.

          /    A wand.

          =    A ring.

          !    A potion.

          (    A useful item (pick-axe, key, lamp...).

          "    An amulet or a spider web.

          *    A gem or rock (possibly valuable, possibly worthless).

          `    A boulder or statue.

          0    An iron ball.

          _    An altar, or an iron chain.

          {    A fountain.

          }    A pool of water or moat or a pool of lava.

          \    An opulent throne.




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          a-zA-Z and other symbols
               Letters  and certain other symbols represent the various in-
               habitants of the Mazes of Menace.  Watch out,  they  can  be
               nasty and vicious.  Sometimes, however, they can be helpful.

          I    This marks the last known location of an invisible or other-
               wise  unseen  monster.   Note  that  the  monster could have
               moved.  The `F' and `m' commands may be useful here.

               You need not memorize all these symbols;  you  can  ask  the
          game  what  any  symbol  represents with the `/' command (see the
          next section for more info).


          4.  Commands

               Commands are initiated by  typing  one  or  two  characters.
          Some  commands, like ``search'', do not require that any more in-
          formation be collected by NetHack.  Other commands might  require
          additional  information, for example a direction, or an object to
          be used.  For those commands that require additional information,
          NetHack  will present you with either a menu of choices or with a
          command line prompt requesting information.  Which you  are  pre-
          sented with will depend chiefly on how you have set the menustyle
          option.

               For example, a common question, in the form  ``What  do  you
          want  to use? [a-zA-Z ?*]'', asks you to choose an object you are
          carrying.  Here, ``a-zA-Z'' are the  inventory  letters  of  your
          possible  choices.   Typing  `?'  gives  you an inventory list of
          these items, so you can see what each letter refers to.  In  this
          example,  there  is  also a `*' indicating that you may choose an
          object not on the list, if you wanted to use something  unexpect-
          ed.  Typing a `*' lists your entire inventory, so you can see the
          inventory letters of every object you're carrying.   Finally,  if
          you change your mind and decide you don't want to do this command
          after all, you can press the ESC key to abort the command.

               You can put a number before some  commands  to  repeat  them
          that  many times; for example, ``10s'' will search ten times.  If
          you have the number_pad option set, you must type `n' to prefix a
          count,  so  the  example  above  would be typed ``n10s'' instead.
          Commands for which counts make no sense ignore  them.   In  addi-
          tion,  movement commands can be prefixed for greater control (see
          below).  To cancel a count or a prefix, press the ESC key.

               The list of commands is rather long, but it can be  read  at
          any  time during the game through the `?' command, which accesses
          a menu of helpful texts.  Here are the commands for  your  refer-
          ence:

          ?    Help menu:  display one of several help texts available.




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          /    The  ``what-is''  command, to tell what a symbol represents.
               You may choose to specify a location or type  a  symbol  (or
               even  a  whole  word)  to explain.  Specifying a location is
               done by moving the cursor to a particular spot  on  the  map
               and  then  pressing  one of `.', `,', `;', or `:'.  `.' will
               explain the symbol at  the  chosen  location,  conditionally
               check for ``More info?'' depending upon whether the help op-
               tion is on, and then you will be asked to pick another loca-
               tion;  `,'  will  explain the symbol but skip any additional
               information, then let you pick another  location;  `;'  will
               skip  additional  info  and  also  not  bother asking you to
               choose another location to examine; `:' will show additional
               info, if any, without asking for confirmation.  When picking
               a location, pressing the ESC key will  terminate  this  com-
               mand,  or pressing `?'  will give a brief reminder about how
               it works.

               If the autodescribe option is on,  a  short  description  of
               what  you see at each location is shown as you move the cur-
               sor.  Typing `#' while picking a location will  toggle  that
               option  on or off.  The whatis_coord option controls whether
               the short description includes map coordinates.

               Specifying a name rather than a location  always  gives  any
               additional information available about that name.

               You  may  also request a description of nearby monsters, all
               monsters currently displayed, nearby  objects,  or  all  ob-
               jects.  The whatis_coord option controls which format of map
               coordinate is included with their descriptions.

          &    Tell what a command does.

          <    Go up to the previous level (if you are on  a  staircase  or
               ladder).

          >    Go down to the next level (if you are on a staircase or lad-
               der).

          [yuhjklbn]
               Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure  2).   If
               you  sense  or  remember a monster there, you will fight the
               monster instead.   Only  these  one-step  movement  commands
               cause   you  to  fight  monsters;  the  others  (below)  are
               ``safe.''

                                    y  k  u          7  8  9
                                     \ | /            \ | /
                                    h- . -l          4- . -6
                                     / | \            / | \
                                    b  j  n          1  2  3
                                              (if number_pad is set)

                                         Figure 2


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          [YUHJKLBN]
               Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run into  some-
               thing.

          m[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:   move  without picking up objects or fighting (even
               if you remember a monster there)

          F[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:  fight a monster (even if  you  only  guess  one  is
               there)

          M[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:  move far, no pickup.

          g[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:  move until something interesting is found.

          G[yuhjklbn] or <CONTROL->[yuhjklbn]
               Prefix:   same  as `g', but forking of corridors is not con-
               sidered interesting.

          _    Travel to a map location via a shortest-path algorithm.

               The shortest path is computed over map  locations  the  hero
               knows  about  (e.g. seen or previously traversed).  If there
               is no known path, a guess is made instead.  Stops on most of
               the  same conditions as the `G' command, but without picking
               up objects, similar to the  `M'  command.   For  ports  with
               mouse  support,  the  command  is also invoked when a mouse-
               click takes place on a location other than the current posi-
               tion.

          .    Rest, do nothing for one turn.

          a    Apply (use) a tool (pick-axe, key, lamp...).

          A    Remove one or more worn items, such as armor.

               Use  `T'  (take  off) to take off only one piece of armor or
               `R' (remove) to take off only one accessory.

          ^A   Redo the previous command.

          c    Close a door.

          C    Call (name) a monster, an individual object, or  a  type  of
               object.

               Same as extended command ``#name''.

          ^C   Panic button.  Quit the game.




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          d    Drop something.

               Ex. ``d7a'' means drop seven items of object a.

          D    Drop several things.

               In answer to the question

               ``What kinds of things do you want to drop? [!%= BUCXaium]''

               you should type zero or more object  symbols  possibly  fol-
               lowed by `a' and/or `i' and/or `u' and/or `m'.  In addition,
               one or more of the  blessed/uncursed/cursed  groups  may  be
               typed.

                    DB  - drop all objects known to be blessed.
                    DU  - drop all objects known to be uncursed.
                    DC  - drop all objects known to be cursed.
                    DX  - drop all objects of unknown B/U/C status.
                    Da  - drop all objects, without asking for confirmation.
                    Di  - examine your inventory before dropping anything.
                    Du  - drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).
                    Dm  - use a menu to pick which object(s) to drop.
                    D%u - drop only unpaid food.

          ^D   Kick something (usually a door).

          e    Eat food.

          E    Engrave a message on the floor.

                    E- - write in the dust with your fingers.

               Engraving  the word ``Elbereth'' will cause most monsters to
               not attack you hand-to-hand (but if you attack, you will rub
               it  out);  this is often useful to give yourself a breather.
               (This feature may be compiled out of the game, so your  ver-
               sion might not have it.)

          f    Fire  one  of  the  objects placed in your quiver (or quiver
               sack, or that you have at the ready).  You may select  ammu-
               nition with a previous `Q' command, or let the computer pick
               something appropriate if autoquiver is true.

          i    List your inventory (everything you're carrying).

          I    List selected parts of your inventory, usually be specifying
               the  character for a particular set of objects, like `[' for
               armor or `!' for potions.







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                    I* - list all gems in inventory;
                    Iu - list all unpaid items;
                    Ix - list all used up items that are on your shopping bill;
                    IB - list all items known to be blessed;
                    IU - list all items known to be uncursed;
                    IC - list all items known to be cursed;
                    IX - list all items whose bless/curse status is known;
                    I$ - count your money.

          o    Open a door.

          O    Set options.

               A menu showing the current option values will be  displayed.
               You  can change most values simply by selecting the menu en-
               try for the given option (ie, by typing its letter or click-
               ing  upon  it,  depending  on your user interface).  For the
               non-boolean choices, a further menu or  prompt  will  appear
               once  you've  closed  this  menu.  The available options are
               listed later in this Guidebook.  Options are usually set be-
               fore the game rather than with the `O' command; see the sec-
               tion on options below.

          p    Pay your shopping bill.

          P    Put on an accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold).

               This command may also be used to wear armor.  The prompt for
               which  inventory item to use will only list accessories, but
               choosing an unlisted item of armor will attempt to wear  it.
               (See the `W' command below.  It lists armor as the inventory
               choices but will accept an accessory and attempt to put that
               on.)

          ^P   Repeat previous message.

               Subsequent  ^P's  repeat earlier messages.  The behavior can
               be varied via the msg_window option.

          q    Quaff (drink) something (potion, water, etc).

          Q    Select an object for your quiver, quiver sack, or just  gen-
               erally  at  the  ready  (only one of these is available at a
               time).  You can then throw this (or one of these) using  the
               `f' command.

               (In  versions  prior to 3.3 this was the command to quit the
               game, which has been moved to ``#quit''.)

          r    Read a scroll or spellbook.

          R    Remove a worn accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold).




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               If you're wearing more than  one,  you'll  be  prompted  for
               which  one to remove.  When you're only wearing one, then by
               default it will be removed without asking, but you  can  set
               the paranoid_confirmation option to require a prompt.

               This command may also be used to take off armor.  The prompt
               for which inventory item to remove only  lists  worn  acces-
               sories,  but  an item of worn armor can be chosen.  (See the
               `T' command below.  It lists armor as the inventory  choices
               but will accept an accessory and attempt to remove it.)

          ^R   Redraw the screen.

          s    Search  for  secret  doors and traps around you.  It usually
               takes several tries to find something.

          S    Save (and suspend) the game.  The game will be restored  au-
               tomatically the next time you play.

          t    Throw an object or shoot a projectile.

          T    Take off armor.

               If  you're  wearing  more than one piece, you'll be prompted
               for which one to take off.  (Note that this treats  a  cloak
               covering  a suit and/or a shirt, or a suit covering a shirt,
               as if the underlying items weren't there.)  When you're only
               wearing  one,  then  by default it will be taken off without
               asking, but you can set the paranoid_confirmation option  to
               require a prompt.

               This  command  may  also be used to remove accessories.  The
               prompt for which inventory item to take off only lists  worn
               armor,  but  a  worn  accessory can be chosen.  (See the `R'
               command above.  It lists accessories as the inventory choic-
               es  but  will accept an item of armor and attempt to take it
               off.)

          ^T   Teleport, if you have the ability.

          v    Display version number.

          V    Display the game history.

          w    Wield weapon.

                    w- - wield nothing, use your bare hands.

               Some characters can wield two weapons at once; use  the  `X'
               command (or the ``#twoweapon'' extended command) to do so.

          W    Wear armor.




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               This  command may also be used to put on an accessory (ring,
               amulet, or blindfold).  The prompt for which inventory  item
               to use will only list armor, but choosing an unlisted acces-
               sory will attempt to put it on.  (See the `P' command above.
               It  lists  accessories as the inventory choices but will ac-
               cept an item of armor and attempt to wear it.)

          x    Exchange your wielded weapon with the item in your alternate
               weapon slot.

               The latter is used as your secondary weapon when engaging in
               two-weapon combat.  Note that if one of these slots is  emp-
               ty, the exchange still takes place.

          X    Toggle two-weapon combat, if your character can do it.  Also
               available via the ``#twoweapon'' extended command.

               (In versions prior to 3.6 this was  the  command  to  switch
               from normal play to "explore mode", also known as "discovery
               mode", which has now been moved to ``#explore''.)

          ^X   Display basic information about your character.

               Displays name, role, race, gender (unless  role  name  makes
               that  redundant,  such  as Caveman or Priestess), and align-
               ment, along with your patron deity and his  or  her  opposi-
               tion.   It  also shows most of the various items of informa-
               tion from the status line(s) in a less terse form, including
               several  additional  things which don't appear in the normal
               status display due to space considerations.

          z    Zap a wand.

                    z. - to aim at yourself, use `.' for the direction.

          Z    Zap (cast) a spell.

                    Z. - to cast at yourself, use `.' for the direction.

          ^Z   Suspend the game (UNIX(R) versions with job control only).

          :    Look at what is here.

          ;    Show what type of thing a visible symbol corresponds to.

          ,    Pick up some things from the floor beneath you.

               May be preceded by `m' to force a selection menu.

          @    Toggle the autopickup option on and off.


          __________
          (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.


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          ^    Ask for the type of a trap you found earlier.

          )    Tell what weapon you are wielding.

          [    Tell what armor you are wearing.

          =    Tell what rings you are wearing.

          "    Tell what amulet you are wearing.

          (    Tell what tools you are using.

          *    Tell what equipment you are using.

               Combines the preceding five type-specific commands into one.

          $    Count your gold pieces.

          +    List the spells you know.

               Using  this  command,  you  can  also rearrange the order in
               which your spells are listed, either by sorting  the  entire
               list  or by picking one spell from the menu then picking an-
               other to swap places with  it.   Swapping  pairs  of  spells
               changes their casting letters, so the change lasts after the
               current `+' command finishes.  Sorting  the  whole  list  is
               temporary.   To  make the most recent sort order persist be-
               yond the current `+' command, choose the sort  option  again
               and  then  pick  "reassign  casting  letters".   (Any spells
               learned after that will be added to  the  end  of  the  list
               rather than be inserted into the sorted ordering.)

          \    Show what types of objects have been discovered.

          `    Show discovered types for one class of objects.

          !    Escape to a shell.

          #    Perform an extended command.

               As  you can see, the authors of NetHack used up all the let-
               ters, so this is a way to introduce the less frequently used
               commands.   What  extended commands are available depends on
               what features the game was compiled with.

          #adjust
               Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option
               is ``on'').

               This  command allows you to move an item from one particular
               inventory slot to another so that it has a letter  which  is
               more meaningful for you or that it will appear in a particu-
               lar location when inventory listings are displayed.   ``#ad-
               just''  can  also  be used to split a stack of objects; when


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               choosing the item to adjust, enter a count prior to its let-
               ter.

          #annotate
               Allows you to specify one line of text to associate with the
               current dungeon level.  All levels with annotations are dis-
               played by the ``#overview'' command.

          #chat
               Talk to someone.

          #conduct
               List voluntary challenges you have maintained.

               See the section below entitled ``Conduct'' for details.

          #dip
               Dip an object into something.

          #enhance
               Advance or check weapon and spell skills.

          #exploremode
               Enter the explore mode.

          #force
               Force a lock.

          #invoke
               Invoke an object's special powers.

          #jump
               Jump to another location.

          #kick
               Kick something.

          #loot
               Loot  a  box  or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle
               from a steed standing next to you.

          #monster
               Use a monster's special ability (when polymorphed into  mon-
               ster form).

          #name
               Name  a  monster, an individual object, or a type of object.
               Same as `C'.

          #offer
               Offer a sacrifice to the gods.

               You'll need to find an altar to have any chance at  success.
               Corpses  of  recently  killed  monsters  are  the  fodder of


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               choice.

          #overview
               Display information you've  discovered  about  the  dungeon.
               Any  visited level (unless forgotten due to amnesia) with an
               annotation is included, and many  things  (altars,  thrones,
               fountains,  and  so on; extra stairs leading to another dun-
               geon branch) trigger an automatic  annotation.   If  dungeon
               overview is chosen during end-of-game disclosure, every vis-
               ited level will be included regardless of annotations.

          #pray
               Pray to the gods for help.

               Praying too soon after receiving prior help is a  bad  idea.
               (Hint:  entering  the dungeon alive is treated as having re-
               ceived help.  You probably shouldn't start off a new game by
               praying  right  away.)  Since using this command by accident
               can cause trouble, there is an option to  make  you  confirm
               your  intent  before praying.  It is enabled by default, and
               you can reset the paranoid_confirmation  option  to  disable
               it.

          #quit
               Quit the program without saving your game.

               Since  using  this  command by accident would throw away the
               current game, you are asked to confirm  your  intent  before
               quitting.   By  default  a response of 'y' acknowledges that
               intent.  You can set the paranoid_confirmation option to re-
               quire a response of "yes" instead.

          #ride
               Ride (or stop riding) a saddled creature.

          #rub
               Rub a lamp or a stone.

          #sit
               Sit down.

          #terrain
               Show  bare  map  without  displaying  monsters,  objects, or
               traps.

          #tip
               Tip over a container (bag or box) to pour out its  contents.

          #turn
               Turn undead.

          #twoweapon
               Toggle two-weapon combat on or off.



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               Note  that  you  must  use suitable weapons for this type of
               combat, or it will be automatically turned off.

          #untrap
               Untrap something (trap, door, or chest).

               In some circumstances it can also be used to rescue  trapped
               monsters.

          #version
               Print compile time options for this version of NetHack.

          #wipe
               Wipe off your face.

          #?
               Help menu:  get the list of available extended commands.

               If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in com-
          bination with another key, modifies  it  by  setting  the  `meta'
          [8th,  or  `high'] bit), you can invoke many extended commands by
          meta-ing the first letter of the command.  In NT, OS/2, PC and ST
          NetHack, the `Alt' key can be used in this fashion; on the Amiga,
          set the altmeta option to get this behavior.  On  other  systems,
          if  typing  `Alt'  plus another key transmits a two character se-
          quence consisting of an Escape followed by the other key, you may
          set  the  altmeta  option  to  have  nethack  combine  them  into
          meta+key.

          M-?  #? (not supported by all platforms)

          M-2  #twoweapon (unless the number_pad option is enabled)

          M-a  #adjust

          M-A  #annotate

          M-c  #chat

          M-C  #conduct

          M-d  #dip

          M-e  #enhance

          M-f  #force

          M-i  #invoke

          M-j  #jump

          M-l  #loot




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          M-m  #monster

          M-n  #name

          M-o  #offer

          M-O  #overview

          M-p  #pray

          M-q  #quit

          M-r  #rub

          M-R  #ride

          M-s  #sit

          M-t  #turn

          M-T  #tip

          M-u  #untrap

          M-v  #version

          M-w  #wipe

               If the number_pad option is on, some additional letter  com-
          mands are available:

          h    Help  menu:   display  one  of several help texts available,
               like ``?''.

          j    Jump to another location.  Same as ``#jump'' or ``M-j''.

          k    Kick something (usually a door).  Same as `^D'.

          l    Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you,  or  the  saddle
               from  a  steed  standing  next to you.  Same as ``#loot'' or
               ``M-l''.

          N    Name a monster, an individual object, or a type  of  object.
               Same  as ``#name'' (or ``M-n'') which is the same as the `C'
               command.

          u    Untrap a trap, door, or chest.  Same as ``#untrap'' or  ``M-
               u''.


          5.  Rooms and corridors

               Rooms  and  corridors in the dungeon are either lit or dark.
          Any lit areas within your line of sight will be  displayed;  dark


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          areas  are  only  displayed  if they are within one space of you.
          Walls and corridors remain on the map as you explore them.

               Secret corridors are hidden.  You can find them with the `s'
          (search) command.

          5.1.  Doorways

               Doorways connect rooms and corridors.  Some doorways have no
          doors; you can walk right through.  Others have  doors  in  them,
          which may be open, closed, or locked.  To open a closed door, use
          the `o' (open) command; to close it again, use  the  `c'  (close)
          command.

               You  can  get  through a locked door by using a tool to pick
          the lock with the `a' (apply) command, or by kicking it open with
          the `^D' (kick) command.

               Open  doors  cannot be entered diagonally; you must approach
          them straight on, horizontally or vertically.   Doorways  without
          doors are not restricted in this fashion.

               Doors  can  be  useful for shutting out monsters.  Most mon-
          sters cannot open doors, although a few don't need to (ex. ghosts
          can walk through doors).

               Secret  doors  are  hidden.   You can find them with the `s'
          (search) command.  Once found they are in all ways equivalent  to
          normal doors.

          5.2.  Traps (`^')

               There  are  traps throughout the dungeon to snare the unwary
          delver.  For example, you may suddenly fall into  a  pit  and  be
          stuck for a few turns trying to climb out.  Traps don't appear on
          your map until you see one triggered by moving onto it, see some-
          thing fall into it, or you discover it with the `s' (search) com-
          mand.  Monsters can fall prey to traps, too, which can be a  very
          useful defensive strategy.

               There is a special pre-mapped branch of the dungeon based on
          the classic computer game ``Sokoban.''  The goal is to  push  the
          boulders  into  the pits or holes.  With careful foresight, it is
          possible to complete all of the levels according  to  the  tradi-
          tional  rules  of Sokoban.  Some allowances are permitted in case
          the player gets stuck; however, they will lower your luck.

          5.3.  Stairs (`<', `>')

               In general, each level in the dungeon will have a  staircase
          going up (`<') to the previous level and another going down (`>')
          to the next level.  There are some exceptions  though.   For  in-
          stance,  fairly  early  in the dungeon you will find a level with
          two down staircases, one continuing  into  the  dungeon  and  the


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          other  branching  into an area known as the Gnomish Mines.  Those
          mines eventually hit a dead end, so after exploring them (if  you
          choose  to  do so), you'll need to climb back up to the main dun-
          geon.

               When you traverse a set of stairs, or trigger a  trap  which
          sends  you to another level, the level you're leaving will be de-
          activated and stored in a file on disk.  If you're  moving  to  a
          previously visited level, it will be loaded from its file on disk
          and reactivated.  If you're moving to a level which has  not  yet
          been  visited,  it  will be created (from scratch for most random
          levels, from a template for some ``special''  levels,  or  loaded
          from  the  remains  of  an  earlier game for a ``bones'' level as
          briefly described below).  Monsters are only active on  the  cur-
          rent  level;  those  on  other levels are essentially placed into
          stasis.

               Ordinarily when you climb a set of stairs, you  will  arrive
          on  the  corresponding  staircase  at your destination.  However,
          pets (see below) and some other monsters  will  follow  along  if
          they're close enough when you travel up or down stairs, and occa-
          sionally one of these creatures  will  displace  you  during  the
          climb.  When that occurs, the pet or other monster will arrive on
          the staircase and you will end up nearby.

          5.4.  Ladders (`<', `>')

               Ladders serve the same purpose as staircases,  and  the  two
          types  of  inter-level  connections  are nearly indistinguishable
          during game play.

          5.5.  Shops and shopping

               Occasionally you will run across a room  with  a  shopkeeper
          near  the  door  and  many items lying on the floor.  You can buy
          items by picking them up and then using the `p' command.  You can
          inquire  about the price of an item prior to picking it up by us-
          ing the ``#chat'' command while standing on it.   Using  an  item
          prior  to  paying  for it will incur a charge, and the shopkeeper
          won't allow you to leave the shop until you have  paid  any  debt
          you owe.

               You  can  sell items to a shopkeeper by dropping them to the
          floor while inside a shop.  You will either be offered an  amount
          of  gold  and  asked whether you're willing to sell, or you'll be
          told that the shopkeeper isn't interested (generally,  your  item
          needs  to  be  compatible with the type of merchandise carried by
          the shop).

               If you drop something in a shop by accident, the  shopkeeper
          will  usually  claim ownership without offering any compensation.
          You'll have to buy it back if you want to reclaim it.




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               Shopkeepers sometimes run out of money.  When that  happens,
          you'll  be  offered  credit  instead of gold when you try to sell
          something.  Credit can be used to pay for purchases,  but  it  is
          only  good  in  the shop where it was obtained; other shopkeepers
          won't honor it.  (If you happen to find a "credit  card"  in  the
          dungeon, don't bother trying to use it in shops; shopkeepers will
          not accept it.)

               The `$' command, which reports the amount of  gold  you  are
          carrying (in inventory, not inside bags or boxes), will also show
          current shop debt or credit, if any.  The `Iu' command lists  un-
          paid items (those which still belong to the shop) if you are car-
          rying any.  The `Ix' command shows an inventory-like  display  of
          any  unpaid  items which have been used up, along with other shop
          fees, if any.

          5.5.1.  Shop idiosyncracies

               Several aspects of shop behavior might be unexpected.

          * The price of a given item can vary due to a variety of factors.

          * A  shopkeeper treats the spot immediately inside the door as if
            it were outside the shop.

          * While the shopkeeper watches you like a hawk, he will generally
            ignore any other customers.

          * If  a  shop  is "closed for inventory", it will not open of its
            own accord.

          * Shops do not get restocked with new items, regardless of inven-
            tory depletion.


          6.  Monsters

               Monsters  you  cannot  see  are not displayed on the screen.
          Beware!  You may suddenly come upon one in a  dark  place.   Some
          magic  items  can  help  you  locate  them before they locate you
          (which some monsters can do very well).

               The commands `/' and `;' may be used to  obtain  information
          about  those  monsters who are displayed on the screen.  The com-
          mand ``#name'', or its synonym `C', allows you to assign  a  name
          to  a  monster,  which may be useful to help distinguish one from
          another when multiple monsters are  present.   Assigning  a  name
          which is just a space will remove any prior name.

               The  extended command ``#chat'' can be used to interact with
          an adjacent monster.  There is no actual dialog (in other  words,
          you  don't get to choose what you'll say), but chatting with some
          monsters such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
          useful results.


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          6.1.  Fighting

               If  you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
          to walk into it.  Many monsters you  find  will  mind  their  own
          business unless you attack them.  Some of them are very dangerous
          when angered.  Remember:  discretion is the better part of valor.

               In  most  circumstances, if you attempt to attack a peaceful
          monster by moving into its location, you'll be asked  to  confirm
          your  intent.   By default an answer of 'y' acknowledges that in-
          tent, which can be error prone if you're using 'y' to move.   You
          can set the paranoid_confirmation option to require a response of
          "yes" instead.

               If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible,  or  if  you
          are  blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
          presence.  If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to  fight
          it  just  like a monster that you can see; of course, if the mon-
          ster has moved, you will attack empty air.  If you guess that the
          monster  has  moved  and you don't wish to fight, you can use the
          `m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't  re-
          member a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use the
          `F' command.

          6.2.  Your pet

               You start the game with a little dog (`d'),  cat  (`f'),  or
          pony  (`u'),  which follows you about the dungeon and fights mon-
          sters with you.  Like you, your pet needs food  to  survive.   It
          usually feeds itself on fresh carrion and other meats.  If you're
          worried about it or want to train it, you can feed  it,  too,  by
          throwing  it food.  A properly trained pet can be very useful un-
          der certain circumstances.

               Your pet also gains experience from  killing  monsters,  and
          can  grow  over  time,  gaining hit points and doing more damage.
          Initially, your pet may even be better  at  killing  things  than
          you, which makes pets useful for low-level characters.

               Your  pet  will  follow  you up and down staircases if it is
          next to you when you move.  Otherwise your pet will  be  stranded
          and  may  become wild.  Similarly, when you trigger certain types
          of traps which alter your location (for  instance,  a  trap  door
          which  drops you to a lower dungeon level), any adjacent pet will
          accompany you and any non-adjacent pet will be left behind.  Your
          pet  may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
          with it even if adjacent at the time.

          6.3.  Steeds

               Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be  rid-
          den if you have the right equipment and skill.  Convincing a wild
          beast to let you saddle it up is  difficult  to  say  the  least.
          Many  a  dungeoneer  has  had  to resort to magic and wizardry in


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          order to forge the alliance.  Once you do have  the  beast  under
          your control however, you can easily climb in and out of the sad-
          dle with the `#ride' command.  Lead the beast around the  dungeon
          when  riding,  in the same manner as you would move yourself.  It
          is the beast that you will see displayed on the map.

               Riding skill is managed by the `#enhance' command.  See  the
          section on Weapon proficiency for more information about that.

          6.4.  Bones levels

               You  may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-
          ers (or even former incarnations of yourself!) and their personal
          effects.   Ghosts  are  hard  to  kill,  but easy to avoid, since
          they're slow and do little damage.  You can plunder the  deceased
          adventurer's  possessions; however, they are likely to be cursed.
          Beware of whatever killed the former player; it is probably still
          lurking around, gloating over its last victory.


          7.  Objects

               When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want
          to pick it up.  In NetHack, this is accomplished automatically by
          walking  over  the object (unless you turn off the autopickup op-
          tion (see below), or move with the `m' prefix  (see  above)),  or
          manually by using the `,' command.

               If  you're carrying too many items, NetHack will tell you so
          and you won't be able to pick up anything  more.   Otherwise,  it
          will  add  the  object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
          picked up.

               As you add items to your inventory, you also add the  weight
          of  that  object to your load.  The amount that you can carry de-
          pends on your strength and your constitution.  The  stronger  and
          sturdier  you  are, the less the additional load will affect you.
          There comes a point, though, when the weight of all of that stuff
          you  are carrying around with you through the dungeon will encum-
          ber you.  Your reactions will get slower and you'll burn calories
          faster,  requiring food more frequently to cope with it.  Eventu-
          ally, you'll be so overloaded that you'll either have to  discard
          some of what you're carrying or collapse under its weight.

               NetHack  will  tell  you how badly you have loaded yourself.
          The symbols `Burdened', `Stressed', `Strained',  `Overtaxed'  and
          `Overloaded' are displayed on the bottom line display to indicate
          your condition.

               When you pick up an object, it is assigned an inventory let-
          ter.   Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find
          out which object you want to  use.   When  NetHack  asks  you  to
          choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually pre-
          sented with a list of  inventory  letters  to  choose  from  (see


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          Commands, above).

               Some  objects,  such  as weapons, are easily differentiated.
          Others, like scrolls and potions, are  given  descriptions  which
          vary  according to type.  During a game, any two objects with the
          same description are the same type.   However,  the  descriptions
          will vary from game to game.

               When you use one of these objects, if its effect is obvious,
          NetHack will remember what it is for you.  If  its  effect  isn't
          extremely  obvious,  you will be asked what you want to call this
          type of object so you will recognize it later.  You can also  use
          the  ``#name''  command, or its synonym `C', for the same purpose
          at any time, to name all objects of a particular type or just  an
          individual object.  When you use ``#name'' on an object which has
          already been named, specifying a space as the value  will  remove
          the prior name instead of assigning a new one.

          7.1.  Curses and Blessings

               Any  object  that you find may be cursed, even if the object
          is otherwise helpful.  The most common effect of a curse is being
          stuck  with (and to) the item.  Cursed weapons weld themselves to
          your hand when wielded, so you cannot unwield them.   Any  cursed
          item  you  wear is not removable by ordinary means.  In addition,
          cursed arms and armor usually, but not always, bear negative  en-
          chantments that make them less effective in combat.  Other cursed
          objects may act poorly or detrimentally in other ways.

               Objects can also be blessed.   Blessed  items  usually  work
          better  or more beneficially than normal uncursed items.  For ex-
          ample, a blessed weapon will do more damage against demons.

               Objects which are neither cursed nor blessed are referred to
          as  uncursed.   They  could just as easily have been described as
          unblessed, but the uncursed designation  is  what  you  will  see
          within  the  game.  A ``glass half full versus glass half empty''
          situation; make of that what you will.

               There are magical means of bestowing or removing curses upon
          objects,  so  even  if you are stuck with one, you can still have
          the curse lifted and the item removed.  Priests  and  Priestesses
          have  an  innate  sensitivity  to this property in any object, so
          they can more easily avoid cursed objects  than  other  character
          roles.

               An  item with unknown status will be reported in your inven-
          tory with no prefix.  An item which you know the state of will be
          distinguished  in  your  inventory  by  the  presence of the word
          ``cursed'', ``uncursed'' or ``blessed'' in the description of the
          item.  In some cases ``uncursed'' will be omitted as being redun-
          dant when enough other information  is  displayed.   The  implic-
          it_uncursed  option can be used to control this; toggle it off to
          have ``uncursed'' be displayed even when that can be deduced from


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          other attributes.

          7.2.  Weapons (`)')

               Given  a  chance,  most monsters in the Mazes of Menace will
          gratuitously try to kill you.  You need weapons for  self-defense
          (killing  them  first).   Without  a  weapon, you do only 1-2 hit
          points of damage (plus bonuses, if any).  Monk characters are  an
          exception; they normally do much more damage with bare hands than
          they do with weapons.

               There are wielded weapons, like maces and swords, and thrown
          weapons,  like arrows and spears.  To hit monsters with a weapon,
          you must wield it and attack them, or throw it at them.  You  can
          simply  elect  to  throw  a spear.  To shoot an arrow, you should
          first wield a bow, then throw the arrow.  Crossbows shoot  cross-
          bow bolts.  Slings hurl rocks and (other) stones (like gems).

               Enchanted weapons have a ``plus'' (or ``to hit enhancement''
          which can be either positive  or  negative)  that  adds  to  your
          chance  to  hit and the damage you do to a monster.  The only way
          to determine a weapon's enchantment is to have it magically iden-
          tified  somehow.  Most weapons are subject to some type of damage
          like rust.  Such ``erosion'' damage can be repaired.

               The chance that an attack will successfully hit  a  monster,
          and  the  amount  of damage such a hit will do, depends upon many
          factors.  Among them are: type of weapon, quality of weapon  (en-
          chantment and/or erosion), experience level, strength, dexterity,
          encumbrance, and proficiency (see below).   The  monster's  armor
          class  - a general defense rating, not necessarily due to wearing
          of armor - is a factor too; also, some monsters are  particularly
          vulnerable to certain types of weapons.

               Many  weapons  can be wielded in one hand; some require both
          hands.  When wielding a two-handed weapon, you  can  not  wear  a
          shield,  and  vice versa.  When wielding a one-handed weapon, you
          can have another weapon ready to use by setting  things  up  with
          the  `x'  command,  which  exchanges  your primary (the one being
          wielded) and alternate weapons.  And if you have  proficiency  in
          the  ``two  weapon combat'' skill, you may wield both weapons si-
          multaneously as primary and secondary; use the  `#twoweapon'  ex-
          tended  command  to engage or disengage that.  Only some types of
          characters (barbarians, for instance) have  the  necessary  skill
          available.   Even  with that skill, using two weapons at once in-
          curs a penalty in the chance to hit your target compared to using
          just one weapon at a time.

               There  might be times when you'd rather not wield any weapon
          at all.  To accomplish that, wield `-', or else use the `A'  com-
          mand  which  allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition
          to taking off other worn items.




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               Those of you in the audience who are AD&D players, be  aware
          that each weapon which existed in AD&D does roughly the same dam-
          age to monsters in NetHack.  Some of  the  more  obscure  weapons
          (such as the aklys, lucern hammer, and bec-de-corbin) are defined
          in an appendix to Unearthed Arcana, an AD&D supplement.

               The commands to use weapons are `w'  (wield),  `t'  (throw),
          `f'  (fire,  an  alternative  way of throwing), `Q' (quiver), `x'
          (exchange), `#twoweapon', and `#enhance' (see below).

          7.2.1.  Throwing and shooting

               You can throw just about anything via the `t'  command.   It
          will  prompt  for the item to throw; picking `?' will list things
          in your inventory which are considered likely to  be  thrown,  or
          picking `*' will list your entire inventory.  After you've chosen
          what to throw, you will be prompted for a direction  rather  than
          for  a specific target.  The distance something can be thrown de-
          pends mainly on the type of object and your strength.  Arrows can
          be  thrown  by  hand,  but can be thrown much farther and will be
          more likely to hit when thrown while you are wielding a bow.

               You can simplify the throwing operation  by  using  the  `Q'
          command  to select your preferred ``missile'', then using the `f'
          command to throw it.  You'll  be  prompted  for  a  direction  as
          above,  but  you  don't  have to specify which item to throw each
          time you use `f'.  There is also an option, autoquiver, which has
          NetHack choose another item to automatically fill your quiver (or
          quiver sack, or have at the ready) when the inventory  slot  used
          for `Q' runs out.

               Some  characters have the ability to fire a volley of multi-
          ple items in a single turn.  Knowing how to load  several  rounds
          of ammunition at once -- or hold several missiles in your hand --
          and still hit a target is not an easy task.   Rangers  are  among
          those  who are adept at this task, as are those with a high level
          of proficiency in the relevant weapon  skill  (in  bow  skill  if
          you're  wielding one to shoot arrows, in crossbow skill if you're
          wielding one to shoot bolts, or in sling skill if you're wielding
          one to shoot stones).  The number of items that the character has
          a chance to fire varies from turn to turn.   You  can  explicitly
          limit  the  number  of shots by using a numeric prefix before the
          `t' or `f' command.  For example, ``2f''  (or  ``n2f''  if  using
          number_pad mode) would ensure that at most 2 arrows are shot even
          if you could have fired 3.  If you specify a larger  number  than
          would have been shot (``4f'' in this example), you'll just end up
          shooting the same number (3, here) as if no limit had been speci-
          fied.  Once the volley is in motion, all of the items will travel
          in the same direction; if the first ones kill a monster, the oth-
          ers can still continue beyond that spot.






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          7.2.2.  Weapon proficiency

               You will have varying degrees of skill in the weapons avail-
          able.  Weapon proficiency, or weapon skills, affect how well  you
          can  use  particular  types of weapons, and you'll be able to im-
          prove your skills as you progress through a  game,  depending  on
          your role, your experience level, and use of the weapons.

               For  the  purposes of proficiency, weapons have been divided
          up  into  various  groups  such  as  daggers,  broadswords,   and
          polearms.   Each  role has a limit on what level of proficiency a
          character can achieve for each group.  For instance, wizards  can
          become  highly  skilled in daggers or staves but not in swords or
          bows.

               The `#enhance' extended command is used  to  review  current
          weapons  proficiency (also spell proficiency) and to choose which
          skill(s) to improve when you've used one or more skills enough to
          become eligible to do so.  The skill rankings are ``none'' (some-
          times also referred to as ``restricted'', because  you  won't  be
          able  to  advance),  ``unskilled'',  ``basic'',  ``skilled'', and
          ``expert''.  Restricted skills simply will not appear in the list
          shown  by  `#enhance'.   (Divine  intervention might unrestrict a
          particular skill, in which case it will start at unskilled and be
          limited  to basic.)  Some characters can enhance their barehanded
          combat or martial arts  skill  beyond  expert  to  ``master''  or
          ``grand master''.

               Use of a weapon in which you're restricted or unskilled will
          incur a modest penalty in the chance to hit a monster and also in
          the  amount of damage done when you do hit; at basic level, there
          is no penalty or bonus; at skilled level, you  receive  a  modest
          bonus  in  the chance to hit and amount of damage done; at expert
          level, the bonus is higher.  A successful hit  has  a  chance  to
          boost  your  training towards the next skill level (unless you've
          already reached the limit for this skill).   Once  such  training
          reaches  the  threshold  for that next level, you'll be told that
          you feel more confident in your skills.  At that  point  you  can
          use  `#enhance'  to increase one or more skills.  Such skills are
          not increased automatically because there is a limit to your  to-
          tal  overall  skills, so you need to actively choose which skills
          to enhance and which to ignore.

          7.2.3.  Two-Weapon combat

               Some characters can use two weapons at once.  Setting things
          up  to  do  so can seem cumbersome but becomes second nature with
          use.  To wield two weapons, you need to  use  the  ``#twoweapon''
          command.   But  first  you  need  to  have a weapon in each hand.
          (Note that your two weapons are not fully equal; the one  in  the
          hand  you normally wield with is considered primary and the other
          one is considered secondary.  The most noticeable  difference  is
          after  you  stop--or  before you begin, for that matter--wielding
          two weapons at once.  The primary is your wielded weapon and  the


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          secondary is just an item in your inventory that's been designat-
          ed as alternate weapon.)

               If your primary weapon is wielded but your off hand is empty
          or  has the wrong weapon, use the sequence 'x', 'w', 'x' to first
          swap your primary into your off hand, wield whatever you want  as
          secondary  weapon,  then  swap  them  both back into the intended
          hands.  If your secondary or alternate weapon is correct but your
          primary one is not, simply use 'w' to wield the primary.  Lastly,
          if neither hand holds the correct weapon, use 'w',  'x',  'w'  to
          first wield the intended secondary, swap it to off hand, and then
          wield the primary.

               The whole process can be simplified via  use  of  the  push-
          weapon option.  When it is enabled, then using 'w' to wield some-
          thing causes the currently wielded weapon to become  your  alter-
          nate weapon.  So the sequence 'w', 'w' can be used to first wield
          the weapon you intend to be secondary, and then wield the one you
          want  as  primary  which will push the first into secondary posi-
          tion.

               When in two-weapon combat  mode,  using  the  ``#twoweapon''
          command toggles back to single-weapon mode.  Throwing or dropping
          either of the weapons or having one of  them  be  stolen  or  de-
          stroyed will also make you revert to single-weapon combat.

          7.3.  Armor (`[')

               Lots of unfriendly things lurk about; you need armor to pro-
          tect yourself from their blows.  Some types of armor offer better
          protection  than  others.   Your armor class is a measure of this
          protection.  Armor class (AC) is measured as in AD&D, with 10 be-
          ing  the equivalent of no armor, and lower numbers meaning better
          armor.  Each suit of armor which exists in AD&D  gives  the  same
          protection in NetHack.  Here is an (incomplete) list of the armor
          classes provided by various suits of armor:

                             dragon scale mail         1
                             plate mail                3
                             crystal plate mail        3
                             bronze plate mail         4
                             splint mail               4
                             banded mail               4
                             dwarvish mithril-coat     4
                             elven mithril-coat        5
                             chain mail                5
                             orcish chain mail         6
                             scale mail                6
                             dragon scales             7
                             studded leather armor     7
                             ring mail                 7
                             orcish ring mail          8
                             leather armor             8



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                             leather jacket            9
                             no armor                 10

               You can also wear other pieces of armor (ex. helmets, boots,
          shields,  cloaks) to lower your armor class even further, but you
          can only wear one item of each category (one suit of  armor,  one
          cloak, one helmet, one shield, and so on) at a time.

               If  a piece of armor is enchanted, its armor protection will
          be better (or worse) than normal, and  its  ``plus''  (or  minus)
          will  subtract  from  your  armor class.  For example, a +1 chain
          mail would give you better protection  than  normal  chain  mail,
          lowering your armor class one unit further to 4.  When you put on
          a piece of armor, you immediately find out the  armor  class  and
          any ``plusses'' it provides.  Cursed pieces of armor usually have
          negative enchantments (minuses) in addition to being unremovable.

               Many  types of armor are subject to some kind of damage like
          rust.  Such damage can be repaired.  Some types of armor may  in-
          hibit spell casting.

               The commands to use armor are `W' (wear) and `T' (take off).
          The `A' command can also be used to take off  armor  as  well  as
          other worn items.

          7.4.  Food (`%')

               Food  is  necessary  to survive.  If you go too long without
          eating you will faint, and eventually die  of  starvation.   Some
          types  of  food  will  spoil, and become unhealthy to eat, if not
          protected.  Food stored in ice boxes or tins (``cans'') will usu-
          ally  stay  fresh, but ice boxes are heavy, and tins take a while
          to open.

               When you kill monsters, they usually leave corpses which are
          also ``food.''  Many, but not all, of these are edible; some also
          give you special powers when you eat them.  A good rule of  thumb
          is ``you are what you eat.''

               Some character roles and some monsters are vegetarian.  Veg-
          etarian monsters will typically never eat animal  corpses,  while
          vegetarian  players can, but with some rather unpleasant side-ef-
          fects.

               You can name one food item after something you like  to  eat
          with the fruit option.

               The command to eat food is `e'.

          7.5.  Scrolls (`?')

               Scrolls  are labeled with various titles, probably chosen by
          ancient wizards for their amusement value (ex.  ``READ  ME,''  or
          ``THANX MAUD'' backwards).  Scrolls disappear after you read them


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          (except for blank ones, without magic spells on them).

               One of the most useful of these is the scroll  of  identify,
          which can be used to determine what another object is, whether it
          is cursed or blessed, and how many uses it has  left.   Some  ob-
          jects  of  subtle  enchantment  are difficult to identify without
          these.

               A mail daemon may run up and deliver mail to you as a scroll
          of  mail  (on  versions compiled with this feature).  To use this
          feature on versions where NetHack mail delivery is  triggered  by
          electronic  mail  appearing  in your system mailbox, you must let
          NetHack know where to look for new mail by setting  the  ``MAIL''
          environment  variable  to the file name of your mailbox.  You may
          also want to set the ``MAILREADER'' environment variable  to  the
          file  name  of  your  favorite reader, so NetHack can shell to it
          when you read the scroll.  On versions of NetHack where  mail  is
          randomly  generated internal to the game, these environment vari-
          ables are ignored.  You can disable the mail  daemon  by  turning
          off the mail option.

               The command to read a scroll is `r'.

          7.6.  Potions (`!')

               Potions  are distinguished by the color of the liquid inside
          the flask.  They disappear after you quaff them.

               Clear potions are potions of  water.   Sometimes  these  are
          blessed or cursed, resulting in holy or unholy water.  Holy water
          is the bane of the undead, so potions  of  holy  water  are  good
          things  to throw (`t') at them.  It is also sometimes very useful
          to dip (``#dip'') an object into a potion.

               The command to drink a potion is `q' (quaff).

          7.7.  Wands (`/')

               Wands usually have multiple magical charges.  Some types  of
          wands require a direction in which to zap them.  You can also zap
          them at yourself (just give a `.' or `s' for the  direction).  Be
          warned,  however, for this is often unwise.  Other types of wands
          don't require a direction.  The number of charges in  a  wand  is
          random and decreases by one whenever you use it.

               When  the number of charges left in a wand becomes zero, at-
          tempts to use the wand will usually result in nothing  happening.
          Occasionally, however, it may be possible to squeeze the last few
          mana points from an otherwise spent wand, destroying  it  in  the
          process.   A  wand  may be recharged by using suitable magic, but
          doing so runs the risk of causing it to explode.  The chance  for
          such  an  explosion starts out very small and increases each time
          the wand is recharged.



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               In a truly desperate situation, when your back is up against
          the  wall,  you might decide to go for broke and break your wand.
          This is not for the faint of heart.  Doing so  will  almost  cer-
          tainly cause a catastrophic release of magical energies.

               When  you have fully identified a particular wand, inventory
          display will include additional information in  parentheses:  the
          number  of  times  it  has been recharged followed by a colon and
          then by its current number of charges.  A current charge count of
          -1 is a special case indicating that the wand has been cancelled.

               The command to use a wand is `z' (zap).  To break  one,  use
          the `a' (apply) command.

          7.8.  Rings (`=')

               Rings  are very useful items, since they are relatively per-
          manent magic, unlike the usually  fleeting  effects  of  potions,
          scrolls, and wands.

               Putting  on  a  ring activates its magic.  You can wear only
          two rings, one on each ring finger.

               Most rings also cause you to grow hungry more  rapidly,  the
          rate varying with the type of ring.

               The commands to use rings are `P' (put on) and `R' (remove).

          7.9.  Spellbooks (`+')

               Spellbooks are tomes of mighty magic.  When studied with the
          `r'  (read) command, they transfer to the reader the knowledge of
          a spell (and therefore eventually become  unreadable)  --  unless
          the  attempt  backfires.   Reading a cursed spellbook or one with
          mystic runes beyond your ken can be harmful to your health!

               A spell (even when learned) can also backfire when you  cast
          it.   If  you  attempt to cast a spell well above your experience
          level, or if you have little skill  with  the  appropriate  spell
          type,  or  cast  it at a time when your luck is particularly bad,
          you can end up wasting both the energy and the time  required  in
          casting.

               Casting  a  spell  calls  forth magical energies and focuses
          them with your naked mind.  Some of the magical  energy  released
          comes  from  within you.  Casting temporarily drains your magical
          power, which will slowly be recovered, and causes you to need ad-
          ditional  food.   Casting of spells also requires practice.  With
          practice, your skill in each category of spell casting  will  im-
          prove.   Over  time, however, your memory of each spell will dim,
          and you will need to relearn it.

               Some spells require a direction in which to cast them, simi-
          lar  to  wands.   To cast one at yourself, just give a `.' or `s'


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          for the direction.  A few spells require you to pick a target lo-
          cation  rather  than  just specify a particular direction.  Other
          spells don't require any direction or target.

               Just as weapons are divided into groups in which a character
          can  become proficient (to varying degrees), spells are similarly
          grouped.  Successfully casting a spell exercises its skill group;
          using  the `#enhance' command to advance a sufficiently exercised
          skill will affect all spells within the  group.   Advanced  skill
          may  increase the potency of spells, reduce their risk of failure
          during casting attempts, and improve the accuracy of the estimate
          for  how much longer they will be retained in your memory.  Skill
          slots are shared with weapons skills.  (See also the  section  on
          ``Weapon proficiency''.)

               Casting a spell also requires flexible movement, and wearing
          various types of armor may interfere with that.

               The command to read a spellbook is the same as for  scrolls,
          `r' (read).  The `+' command lists each spell you know along with
          its level, skill category, chance of failure when casting, and an
          estimate  of  how strongly it is remembered.  The `Z' (cast) com-
          mand casts a spell.

          7.10.  Tools (`(')

               Tools are miscellaneous objects with various purposes.  Some
          tools  have  a limited number of uses, akin to wand charges.  For
          example, lamps burn out after a while.  Other tools are  contain-
          ers, which objects can be placed into or taken out of.

               The command to use tools is `a' (apply).

          7.10.1.  Containers

               You  may  encounter bags, boxes, and chests in your travels.
          A tool of this sort can be opened  with  the  ``#loot''  extended
          command  when you are standing on top of it (that is, on the same
          floor spot), or with the `a' (apply) command when you are  carry-
          ing  it.   However,  chests are often locked, and are in any case
          unwieldy objects.  You must set one down before unlocking  it  by
          using a key or lock-picking tool with the `a' (apply) command, by
          kicking it with the `^D' command, or by using a weapon  to  force
          the lock with the ``#force'' extended command.

               Some chests are trapped, causing nasty things to happen when
          you unlock or open them.  You can check for and try to deactivate
          traps with the ``#untrap'' extended command.

          7.11.  Amulets (`"')

               Amulets  are very similar to rings, and often more powerful.
          Like rings, amulets have various magical properties, some benefi-
          cial, some harmful, which are activated by putting them on.


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               Only one amulet may be worn at a time, around your neck.

               The  commands  to use amulets are the same as for rings, `P'
          (put on) and `R' (remove).

          7.12.  Gems (`*')

               Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot  of  gold.
          They  are  also a far more efficient way of carrying your riches.
          Valuable gems increase your score if you bring them with you when
          you exit.

               Other small rocks are also categorized as gems, but they are
          much less valuable.  All rocks, however, can be used  as  projec-
          tile  weapons  (if  you  have a sling).  In the most desperate of
          cases, you can still throw them by hand.

          7.13.  Large rocks (``')

               Statues and boulders are not particularly  useful,  and  are
          generally  heavy.   It  is rumored that some statues are not what
          they seem.

               Very large humanoids (giants and their ilk) have been  known
          to use boulders as weapons.

               For  some  configurations  of  the  program,  statues are no
          longer shown as ``' but by the letter  representing  the  monster
          they depict instead.

          7.14.  Gold (`$')

               Gold  adds  to  your  score, and you can buy things in shops
          with it.  There are a number of monsters in the dungeon that  may
          be influenced by the amount of gold you are carrying (shopkeepers
          aside).


          8.  Conduct

               As if winning NetHack were  not  difficult  enough,  certain
          players  seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on
          the way they play the game.  The game automatically  tracks  some
          of  these  challenges,  which can be checked at any time with the
          #conduct command or at the end of the game.  When you perform  an
          action  which  breaks  a  challenge, it will no longer be listed.
          This gives players extra ``bragging rights'' for winning the game
          with  these  challenges.  Note that it is perfectly acceptable to
          win the game without resorting to these restrictions and that  it
          is  unusual  for  players  to adhere to challenges the first time
          they win the game.

               Several of the challenges are related  to  eating  behavior.
          The  most difficult of these is the foodless challenge.  Although


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          creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is
          a  physiological  need for water; thus there is no restriction on
          drinking beverages, even if they provide some  minor  food  bene-
          fits.   Calling  upon  your god for help with starvation does not
          violate any food challenges either.

               A strict vegan diet is one which  avoids  any  food  derived
          from animals.  The primary source of nutrition is fruits and veg-
          etables.  The corpses and tins of blobs (`b'), jellies (`j'), and
          fungi  (`F') are also considered to be vegetable matter.  Certain
          human food is prepared without animal  products;  namely,  lembas
          wafers,  cram  rations, food rations (gunyoki), K-rations, and C-
          rations.  Metal or another normally indigestible  material  eaten
          while polymorphed into a creature that can digest it is also con-
          sidered vegan food.  Note however that eating  such  items  still
          counts against foodless conduct.

               Vegetarians  do  not eat animals; however, they are less se-
          lective about eating animal byproducts than vegans.  In  addition
          to the vegan items listed above, they may eat any kind of pudding
          (`P') other than the black puddings, eggs and food made from eggs
          (fortune  cookies  and pancakes), food made with milk (cream pies
          and candy bars), and lumps of royal jelly.  Monks are expected to
          observe a vegetarian diet.

               Eating  any kind of meat violates the vegetarian, vegan, and
          foodless conducts.  This includes tripe rations, the  corpses  or
          tins  of  any monsters not mentioned above, and the various other
          chunks of meat found in the dungeon.  Swallowing and digesting  a
          monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate the creature's
          corpse.  Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items  while  poly-
          morphed  into  a  creature  that can digest it, or eating monster
          brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered eating
          an animal, although wax is only an animal byproduct.

               Regardless  of  conduct,  there will be some items which are
          indigestible, and others which are hazardous  to  eat.   Using  a
          swallow-and-digest attack against a monster is equivalent to eat-
          ing the monster's corpse.  Please note that the term ``vegan'' is
          used  here  only  in  the context of diet.  You are still free to
          choose not to use  or  wear  items  derived  from  animals  (e.g.
          leather,  dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not
          keep track of this for you.  Also note that ``milky'' potions may
          be a translucent white, but they do not contain milk, so they are
          compatible with a vegan  diet.   Slime  molds  or  player-defined
          ``fruits'',  although they could be anything from ``cherries'' to
          ``pork chops'', are also assumed to be vegan.

               An atheist is one who rejects religion.  This means that you
          cannot  #pray,  #offer  sacrifices  to  any god, #turn undead, or
          #chat with a priest.  Particularly selective  readers  may  argue
          that  playing  Monk or Priest characters should violate this con-
          duct; that is a choice left to the player.  Offering  the  Amulet
          of  Yendor  to  your  god is necessary to win the game and is not


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          counted against this conduct.  You are also not penalized for be-
          ing  spoken  to  by an angry god, priest(ess), or other religious
          figure; a true atheist would hear the words but attach no special
          meaning to them.

               Most  players  fight with a wielded weapon (or tool intended
          to be wielded as a weapon).  Another challenge is to win the game
          without  using such a wielded weapon.  You are still permitted to
          throw, fire, and kick weapons; use a wand, spell, or  other  type
          of item; or fight with your hands and feet.

               In  NetHack,  a  pacifist  refuses to cause the death of any
          other monster (i.e. if you would get experience for  the  death).
          This  is a particularly difficult challenge, although it is still
          possible to gain experience by other means.

               An illiterate character cannot read or write.  This includes
          reading  a scroll, spellbook, fortune cookie message, or t-shirt;
          writing a scroll; or making an engraving of anything other than a
          single ``x'' (the traditional signature of an illiterate person).
          Reading an engraving, or any item that is absolutely necessary to
          win  the game, is not counted against this conduct.  The identity
          of scrolls and spellbooks  (and  knowledge  of  spells)  in  your
          starting  inventory  is  assumed to be learned from your teachers
          prior to the start of the game and isn't counted.

               There are several other challenges tracked by the game.   It
          is possible to eliminate one or more species of monsters by geno-
          cide; playing without this feature  is  considered  a  challenge.
          When the game offers you an opportunity to genocide monsters, you
          may respond with the monster type ``none'' if  you  want  to  de-
          cline.   You  can change the form of an item into another item of
          the same type (``polypiling'') or the form of your own body  into
          another  creature  (``polyself'')  by  wand,  spell, or potion of
          polymorph; avoiding these effects are each considered challenges.
          Polymorphing  monsters,  including pets, does not break either of
          these challenges.  Finally, you may sometimes receive  wishes;  a
          game  without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as
          is a game without wishing for an artifact (even if  the  artifact
          immediately disappears).  When the game offers you an opportunity
          to make a wish for an item, you may  choose  ``nothing''  if  you
          want to decline.


          9.  Options

               Due  to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how
          NetHack should do things, there are options you can set to change
          how NetHack behaves.

          9.1.  Setting the options

               Options  may  be  set in a number of ways.  Within the game,
          the `O' command allows you to view all options and change most of


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          them.   You can also set options automatically by placing them in
          the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable  or  in  a  configuration
          file.  Some versions of NetHack also have front-end programs that
          allow you to set options before starting the  game  or  a  global
          configuration for system administrators.

          9.2.  Using the NETHACKOPTIONS environment variable

               The  NETHACKOPTIONS  variable  is  a comma-separated list of
          initial values for the various options.  Some can only be  turned
          on  or  off.   You turn one of these on by adding the name of the
          option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or ``no'' be-
          fore  the  name.  Others take a character string as a value.  You
          can set string options by typing the  option  name,  a  colon  or
          equals sign, and then the value of the string.  The value is ter-
          minated by the next comma or the end of string.

               For example, to set up an environment variable so that ``au-
          toquiver''  is  on,  ``autopickup''  is  off,  the name is set to
          ``Blue Meanie'', and the fruit is set to  ``papaya'',  you  would
          enter the command

               % setenv NETHACKOPTIONS "autoquiver,\!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"

          in  csh  (note the need to escape the ! since it's special to the
          shell), or

               $ NETHACKOPTIONS="autoquiver,!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"
               $ export NETHACKOPTIONS

          in sh or ksh.

          9.3.  Using a configuration file

               Any line in the configuration  file  starting  with  `#'  is
          treated  as a comment.  Any line in the configuration file start-
          ing with ``OPTIONS='' may be filled out with options in the  same
          syntax as in NETHACKOPTIONS.  Any line starting with ``SYMBOLS=''
          is taken as defining the corresponding symbol in a different syn-
          tax,  a sequence of decimal numbers giving the character position
          in the current font to be used in displaying each entry.  Such  a
          sequence  can  be continued to multiple lines by putting a `\' at
          the end of each line to be continued.

               Any line starting with ``AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION='' is taken as
          defining  an  exception  to  the pickup_types option.  There is a
          section of this Guidebook that discusses that.

               The default name of the configuration file varies on differ-
          ent  operating systems. On DOS and Windows, it is ``defaults.nh''
          in the same folder as nethack.exe or nethackW.exe. On Unix, Linux
          and  Mac  OS X it is ``.nethackrc'' in the user's home directory.
          NETHACKOPTIONS can also be set to the full name  of  a  file  you
          want to use (possibly preceded by an `@').


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               Here is a short example of config file contents:

               # Set your character's role, race, gender, and alignment.
               OPTIONS=role:Valkyrie, race:Human, gender:female, align:lawful

               # Turn on autopickup, and set automatically picked up object types
               OPTIONS=autopickup,pickup_types:$"=/!?+
               # Show colored text if possible
               OPTIONS=color
               # Show lit corridors differently
               OPTIONS=lit_corridor

               # No startup splash screen. Windows GUI only.
               OPTIONS=!splash_screen

          9.4.  Customization options

               Here are explanations of what the various options do.  Char-
          acter strings that are too long may be truncated.   Some  of  the
          options listed may be inactive in your dungeon.

               Some  options  are  persistent,  and  are saved and reloaded
          along with the game.  Changing a persistent option in the config-
          uration file applies only to new games.

          acoustics
            Enable  messages  about what your character hears (default on).
            Note that this has nothing to do with your computer's audio ca-
            pabilities.  Persistent.

          align
            Your   starting   alignment  (align:lawful,  align:neutral,  or
            align:chaotic).  You may specify just the  first  letter.   The
            default  is  to randomly pick an appropriate alignment.  If you
            prefix the value with `!' or  ``no'',  you  will  exclude  that
            alignment  from  being picked randomly.  Cannot be set with the
            `O' command.  Persistent.

          autodescribe
            Automatically describe the terrain under cursor when  asked  to
            get  a  location  on the map.  The whatis_coord option controls
            whether the description includes map coordinates.

          autodig
            Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving
            into a place that can be dug (default false). Persistent.

          autoopen
            Walking into a door attempts to open it (default true). Persis-
            tent.

          autopickup
            Automatically pick up things onto which you move (default  on).
            Persistent.  See pickup_types to refine the behavior.


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          autoquiver
            This  option  controls  what  happens  when you attempt the `f'
            (fire) command with an empty quiver (or  quiver  sack  or  have
            nothing  at the ready).  When true, the computer will fill your
            quiver or quiver sack or make ready some suitable weapon.  Note
            that  it  will not take into account the blessed/cursed status,
            enchantment, damage, or quality of the weapon; you are free  to
            manually fill your quiver or quiver sack or make ready with the
            `Q' command instead.  If no weapon is found or  the  option  is
            false,  the  `t'  (throw) command is executed instead.  Persis-
            tent. (default false)

          blind
            Start the character permanently  blind.   Persistent.  (default
            false)

          bones
            Allow  saving  and  loading  bones files.  Persistent. (default
            true)

          boulder
            Set the character used to  display  boulders  (default  is  the
            ``large rock'' class symbol, ``').

          catname
            Name your starting cat (ex. ``catname:Morris'').  Cannot be set
            with the `O' command.

          character
            Synonym for ``role'' to pick the type of  your  character  (ex.
            ``character:Monk'').  See role for more details.

          checkpoint
            Save  game state after each level change, for possible recovery
            after program crash (default on).  Persistent.

          checkspace
            Check free disk space before writing  files  to  disk  (default
            on).   You may have to turn this off if you have more than 2 GB
            free space on the partition used for your save and level  files
            (because  too much space might overflow the calculation and end
            up looking like insufficient space).  Only applies when MFLOPPY
            was defined during compilation.

          clicklook
            Allows  looking at things on the screen by navigating the mouse
            over them and clicking the right mouse button (default off).

          cmdassist
            Have the game provide some additional  command  assistance  for
            new  players  if  it detects some anticipated mistakes (default
            on).




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          confirm
            Have user confirm  attacks  on  pets,  shopkeepers,  and  other
            peaceable creatures (default on).  Persistent.

          dark_room
            Show  out-of-sight  areas  of lit rooms (default off).  Persis-
            tent.

          disclose
            Controls what information the program  reveals  when  the  game
            ends.   Value  is  a space separated list of prompting/category
            pairs (default is `ni na nv ng nc no', prompt with default  re-
            sponse of `n' for each candidate).  Persistent.  The possibili-
            ties are:

                 i - disclose your inventory;
                 a - disclose your attributes;
                 v - summarize monsters that have been vanquished;
                 g - list monster species that have been genocided;
                 c - display your conduct;
                 o - display dungeon overview.

            Each disclosure possibility can optionally  be  preceded  by  a
            prefix  which  lets  you  refine  how it behaves.  Here are the
            valid prefixes:

                 y - prompt you and default to yes on the prompt;
                 n - prompt you and default to no on the prompt;
                 + - disclose it without prompting;
                 - - do not disclose it and do not prompt.

            Omitted categories are implicitly added with `n' prefix.  Spec-
            ified categories with omitted prefix implicitly use `+' prefix.
            Order of the disclosure categories  does  not  matter,  program
            display for end-of-game disclosure follows a set sequence.

            (ex.  ``disclose:yi na +v -g o'') The example sets inventory to
            prompt and default to yes, attributes to prompt and default  to
            no,  vanquished to disclose without prompting, genocided to not
            disclose and not prompt, conduct to implicitly prompt  and  de-
            fault to no, and overview to disclose without prompting.

            Note  that  the  vanquished monsters list includes all monsters
            killed by traps and each other as well as by you.  And the dun-
            geon overview shows all levels you had visited but does not re-
            veal things about them that you hadn't discovered.

          dogname
            Name your starting dog (ex. ``dogname:Fang'').  Cannot  be  set
            with the `O' command.

          extmenu
            Changes  the  extended  commands  interface to pop-up a menu of
            available  commands.   It  is  keystroke  compatible  with  the


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            traditional  interface except that it does not require that you
            hit Enter. It is implemented only  by  the  tty  port  (default
            off),  when the game has been compiled to support tty graphics.

          female
            An obsolete synonym for ``gender:female''.  Cannot be set  with
            the `O' command.

          fixinv
            An  object's  inventory  letter  sticks to it when it's dropped
            (default on).  If this is off, dropping an  object  shifts  all
            the remaining inventory letters.  Persistent.

          fruit
            Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (ex. ``fruit:man-
            go'') (default ``slime mold'').  Basically a  nostalgic  whimsy
            that  NetHack  uses  from time to time.  You should set this to
            something you find more appetizing than  slime  mold.   Apples,
            oranges,  pears,  bananas, and melons already exist in NetHack,
            so don't use those.

          gender
            Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female).   You  may
            specify  just  the first letter.  Although you can still denote
            your gender using the  ``male''  and  ``female''  options,  the
            ``gender'' option will take precedence.  The default is to ran-
            domly pick an appropriate gender.  If you prefix the value with
            `!'  or  ``no'', you will exclude that gender from being picked
            randomly.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.  Persistent.

          help
            If more information is available for an object looked  at  with
            the  `/' command, ask if you want to see it (default on). Turn-
            ing help off makes just looking at  things  faster,  since  you
            aren't  interrupted with the ``More info?'' prompt, but it also
            means that you might miss some interesting and/or important in-
            formation.  Persistent.

          hilite_pet
            Visually  distinguish  pets from similar animals (default off).
            The behavior of this option depends on the  type  of  windowing
            you use.  In text windowing, text highlighting or inverse video
            is often used; with tiles, generally displays  a  heart  symbol
            near pets.

          hilite_pile
            Visually  distinguish  piles of objects from individual objects
            (default off).  The behavior of this option depends on the type
            of  windowing you use.  In text windowing, text highlighting or
            inverse video is often used; with tiles, generally  displays  a
            small plus-symbol beside the object on the top of the pile.

          horsename
            Name  your  starting horse (ex. ``horsename:Trigger'').  Cannot


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            be set with the `O' command.

          ignintr
            Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off).  Per-
            sistent.

          implicit_uncursed
            Omit "uncursed" from inventory lists, if possible (default on).

          legacy
            Display an introductory message when starting the game (default
            on).  Persistent.

          lit_corridor
            Show  corridor  squares  seen by night vision or a light source
            held by your character as lit (default off).  Persistent.

          lootabc
            Use the old `a', `b', and `c' keyboard shortcuts when  looting,
            rather  than  the  mnemonics  `o',  `i', and `b' (default off).
            Persistent.

          mail
            Enable mail delivery during the game (default on).  Persistent.

          male
            An  obsolete  synonym  for ``gender:male''.  Cannot be set with
            the `O' command.

          mention_walls
            Give feedback when walking against a wall (default off).

          menucolors
            Enable coloring menu lines (default  off).   See  ``Configuring
            Menu Colors'' on how to configure the colors.

          menustyle
            Controls the interface used when you need to choose various ob-
            jects (in response to the Drop  command,  for  instance).   The
            value  specified  should be the first letter of one of the fol-
            lowing:  traditional, combination, full,  or  partial.   Tradi-
            tional  was the only interface available for early versions; it
            consists of a prompt for object class characters,  followed  by
            an  object-by-object prompt for all items matching the selected
            object class(es).  Combination starts with a prompt for  object
            class(es) of interest, but then displays a menu of matching ob-
            jects rather than prompting one-by-one.  Full displays  a  menu
            of  object  classes  rather than a character prompt, and then a
            menu of matching objects for selection.  Partial skips the  ob-
            ject class filtering and immediately displays a menu of all ob-
            jects.  Persistent.

          menu_deselect_all
            Menu character accelerator to deselect all  items  in  a  menu.


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            Implemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports.  Default '-'.

          menu_deselect_page
            Menu character accelerator to deselect all items on  this  page
            of  a  menu.  Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  De-
            fault '\'.

          menu_first_page
            Menu character accelerator to jump to the first page in a menu.
            Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default '^'.

          menu_headings
            Controls  how  the  headings in a menu are highlighted.  Values
            are 'none', 'bold', 'dim', 'underline', 'blink', or  'inverse'.
            Not all ports can actually display all types.

          menu_invert_all
            Menu  character accelerator to invert all items in a menu.  Im-
            plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports.  Default '@'.

          menu_invert_page
            Menu character accelerator to invert all items on this page  of
            a  menu.  Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default
            '~'.

          menu_last_page
            Menu character accelerator to jump to the last page in a  menu.
            Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default '|'.

          menu_next_page
            Menu  character accelerator to goto the next menu page.  Imple-
            mented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default '>'.

          menu_objsyms
            Show object symbols in menu headings in menus where the  object
            symbols act as menu accelerators (default off).

          menu_overlay
            Do  not  clear the screen before drawing menus, and align menus
            to the right edge of the screen. Only for the tty  port.   (de-
            fault on)

          menu_previous_page
            Menu character accelerator to goto the previous menu page.  Im-
            plemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default '<'.

          menu_search
            Menu character accelerator to search for a menu  item.   Imple-
            mented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports.  Default ':'.

          menu_select_all
            Menu  character accelerator to select all items in a menu.  Im-
            plemented by the Amiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports.  Default '.'.



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          menu_select_page
            Menu character accelerator to select all items on this page  of
            a  menu.  Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default
            ','.

          msghistory
            The number of top line messages to save (and  recall  with  ^P)
            (default 20).  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          msg_window
            Allows  you  to change the way recalled messages are displayed.
            (It is currently implemented for tty only.)  The possible  val-
            ues are:

                 s - single message (default; only choice prior to 3.4.0);
                 c - combination, two messages as `single', then as `full';
                 f - full window, oldest message first;
                 r - full window reversed, newest message first.

            For  backward  compatibility,  no  value  needs to be specified
            (which defaults to `full'), or it can  be  negated  (which  de-
            faults to `single').

          name
            Set  your  character's  name (defaults to your user name).  You
            can also set your character's role by appending a dash and  one
            or more letters of the role (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B
            -C -H -K -M -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -V -W).  If -@  is  used  for  the
            role,  then  a random one will be automatically chosen.  Cannot
            be set with the `O' command.

          news
            Read the NetHack news file, if present (default on).  Since the
            news is shown at the beginning of the game, there's no point in
            setting this with the `O' command.

          nudist
            Start the character with no armor (default false).  Persistent.

          null
            Send padding nulls to the terminal (default on).  Persistent.

          number_pad
            Use  digit  keys instead of letters to move (default 0 or off).
            Valid settings are:

             0 - move by letters; `yuhjklbn'
             1 - move by numbers; digit `5' acts as `G' movement prefix
             2 - like 1 but `5' works as `g' prefix instead of as `G'
             3 - by numbers using phone key layout; 123 above, 789 below
             4 - combines 3 with 2; phone layout plus MSDOS compatibility
            -1 - by letters but use `z' to go northwest, `y' to zap wands

            For backward compatibility, omitting a value  is  the  same  as


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            specifying  1 and negating number_pad is the same as specifying
            0.  (Settings 2 and 4 are for compatibility with MSDOS  or  old
            PC Hack; in addition to the different behavior for `5', `Alt-5'
            acts as `G' and `Alt-0' acts as `I'.  Setting -1 is to accommo-
            date  some  German keyboards which have the location of the `y'
            and `z' keys swapped.)  When moving  by  numbers,  to  enter  a
            count  prefix  for  those  commands  which  accept one (such as
            ``12s'' to search twelve times), precede it with the letter `n'
            (``n12s'').

          packorder
            Specify   the   order   to   list   object  types  in  (default
            ``")[%?+!=/(*`0_'').  The value of  this  option  should  be  a
            string  containing  the  symbols  for the various object types.
            Any omitted types are filled in at the end  from  the  previous
            order.

          paranoid_confirmation
            A  space  separated list of specific situations where alternate
            prompting  is  desired.   The  default  is   paranoid_confirma-
            tion:pray.

            Confirm - for any prompts which are set to require "yes" rather
                      than 'y', also require "no" to reject instead of  ac-
                      cepting any non-yes response as no
            quit    - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm quitting the
                      game or switching into non-scoring explore mode;
            die     - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm  dying  (not
                      useful in normal play; applies to explore mode);
            bones   - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm saving bones
                      data when dying in debug mode;
            attack  - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm attacking  a
                      peaceful monster;
            pray    - require 'y' to confirm an attempt to pray rather than
                      immediately praying; on by default;
            wand    - require "yes" rather than 'y' to confirm  breaking  a
                      wand;
            Remove  - require selection from inventory for 'R' and 'T' com-
                      mands even when wearing just one applicable item.

            By default, the pray choice is enabled,  the  others  disabled.
            To  disable  it  without  setting any of the other choices, use
            ``paranoid_confirmation:none''.  To keep it enabled while  set-
            ting any of the others, include it in the list, such as ``para-
            noid_confirmation:attack pray Remove''.

          perm_invent
            If true, always display your current  inventory  in  a  window.
            This  only makes sense for windowing system interfaces that im-
            plement this feature.  Persistent.

          pettype
            Specify the type of your initial pet,  if  you  are  playing  a
            character  class that uses multiple types of pets; or choose to


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            have no initial pet  at  all.   Possible  values  are  ``cat'',
            ``dog'', ``horse'', and ``none''.  If the choice is not allowed
            for the role you are currently playing, it will be silently ig-
            nored.   For example, ``horse'' will only be honored when play-
            ing a knight.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          pickup_burden
            When you pick up an item that  would  exceed  this  encumbrance
            level  (Unencumbered,  Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed,
            or overLoaded), you will be asked  if  you  want  to  continue.
            (Default `S').  Persistent.

          pickup_thrown
            If  this option is on and autopickup is also on, try to pick up
            things that you threw, even if they aren't in  pickup_types  or
            match an autopickup exception.  Default is on.  Persistent.

          pickup_types
            Specify the object types to be picked up when autopickup is on.
            Default is all types.  You can use autopickup_exception config-
            uration file lines to further refine autopickup behavior.  Per-
            sistent.

          pile_limit
            When walking across a pile of objects on the  floor,  threshold
            at  which the message "there are few/several/many objects here"
            is given instead of showing a popup list of those  objects.   A
            value  of 0 means "no limit" (always list the objects); a value
            of 1 effectively means "never show the objects" since the  pile
            size  will  always  be  at  least that big; default value is 5.
            Persistent.

          playmode
            Values are `normal', `explore', or `debug'.   Allows  selection
            of  explore  mode  (also known as discovery mode) or debug mode
            (also known as wizard mode) instead of normal play.  Debug mode
            might  only be allowed for someone logged in under a particular
            user name (on multi-user systems) or  specifying  a  particular
            character name (on single-user systems) or it might be disabled
            entirely.  Requesting it when not allowed or not  possible  re-
            sults in explore mode instead.  Default is normal play.

          pushweapon
            Using  the  `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
            pushes the old item into your alternate  weapon  slot  (default
            off).   Likewise  for  the `a' (apply) command if it causes the
            applied item to become wielded.  Persistent.

          race
            Selects your race (for example,  ``race:human'').   Default  is
            random.   If  you prefix the value with `!' or ``no'', you will
            exclude that race from being picked randomly.   Cannot  be  set
            with the `O' command.  Persistent.



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          rest_on_space
            Make  the  space  bar a synonym for the `.' (rest) command (de-
            fault off).  Persistent.

          role
            Pick your type of character (ex. ``role:Samurai''); synonym for
            ``character''.   See ``name'' for an alternate method of speci-
            fying your role.  Normally only the first letter of  the  value
            is  examined;  `r'  is an exception with ``Rogue'', ``Ranger'',
            and ``random'' values.  If you prefix the  value  with  `!'  or
            ``no'',  you will exclude that role from being picked randomly.
            Cannot be set with the `O' command.  Persistent.

          roguesymset
            This option may be used to select one of the named symbol  sets
            found  within ``symbols'' to alter the symbols displayed on the
            screen on the rogue level.

          rlecomp
            When writing out a save file, perform run length compression of
            the  map.  Not all ports support run length compression. It has
            no effect on reading an existing save file.

          runmode
            Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window  when
            engaged  in multi-turn movement (running via shift+direction or
            control+direction and so forth, or via the  travel  command  or
            mouse click).  The possible values are:

            teleport - update the map after movement has finished;
            run      - update the map after every seven or so steps;
            walk     - update the map after each step;
            crawl    - like walk, but pause briefly after each step.

            This option only affects the game's screen display, not the ac-
            tual results of moving.  The default is `run';  versions  prior
            to  3.4.1  used  `teleport' only.  Whether or not the effect is
            noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type
            of terminal.  Persistent.

          safe_pet
            Prevent  you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
            Persistent.

          scores
            Control what parts of the score list you are shown at  the  end
            (ex.   ``scores:5  top  scores/4 around my score/own scores'').
            Only the first letter of each category (`t', `a',  or  `o')  is
            necessary.  Persistent.

          showexp
            Show your accumulated experience points on bottom line (default
            off).  Persistent.



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          showrace
            Display yourself as the glyph for your race,  rather  than  the
            glyph  for your role (default off).  Note that this setting af-
            fects only the appearance of the display, not the way the  game
            treats you.  Persistent.

          showscore
            Show your approximate accumulated score on bottom line (default
            off).  Persistent.

          silent
            Suppress terminal beeps (default on).  Persistent.

          sortloot
            Controls the sorting behavior of the pickup lists for inventory
            and  #loot commands and some others.  Persistent.  The possible
            values are:

            full - always sort the lists;
            loot - only sort the lists that don't  use  inventory  letters,
                   like with the #loot and pickup commands;
            none - show lists the traditional way without sorting.

          sortpack
            Sort  the  pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
            fault on).  Persistent.

          sparkle
            Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
            hit  by  an attack to which it is resistant (default on).  Per-
            sistent.

          standout
            Boldface monsters and ``--More--'' (default off).   Persistent.

          statushilites
            Enable  coloring of status fields (default off).  See ``Config-
            uring Status Hilites'' for futher information.

          suppress_alert
            This option may be set to a NetHack version level  to  suppress
            alert  notification messages about feature changes for that and
            prior versions (ex. ``suppress_alert:3.3.1'').

          symset
            This option may be used to select one of the named symbol  sets
            found  within ``symbols'' to alter the symbols displayed on the
            screen.  Use ``symset:default'' to explicitly  select  the  de-
            fault symbols.

          time
            Show  the  elapsed  game  time in turns on bottom line (default
            off).  Persistent.



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          timed_delay
            When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as  with  ex-
            plosions  and  moving  objects, use a timer rather than sending
            extra characters to the screen.  (Applies to ``tty''  interface
            only;  ``X11''  interface always uses a timer based delay.  The
            default is on if configured into the program.)  Persistent.

          tombstone
            Draw a tombstone graphic upon your death (default on).  Persis-
            tent.

          toptenwin
            Put the ending display in a NetHack window instead of on stdout
            (default off).  Setting this option makes the score list  visi-
            ble  when  a  windowing version of NetHack is started without a
            parent window, but it no longer leaves the  score  list  around
            after game end on a terminal or emulating window.

          travel
            Allow the travel command (default on).  Turning this option off
            will prevent the game from attempting unintended moves  if  you
            make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map window.  Persistent.

          verbose
            Provide  more commentary during the game (default on).  Persis-
            tent.

          whatis_coord
            When using the `/' or `;' commands to look around  on  the  map
            with  autodescribe  on,  display coordinates after the descrip-
            tion.  Also works in other situations where you  are  asked  to
            pick a location.

            The possibile settings are:

                 c - compass ('east' or '3s' or '2n,4w');
                 m - map <x,y> (map column x=0 is not used);
                 s - screen [row,column] (row is offset to match tty usage);
                 n - none (no coordinates shown) [default].

            The whatis_coord option is also used with the `/m', `/M', `/o',
            and `/O' sub-commands of `/', where the `none' setting is over-
            ridden with `map'.

          windowtype
            Select  which  windowing  system  to  use,  such  as ``tty'' or
            ``X11'' (default depends on version).  Cannot be set  with  the
            `O' command.

          zerocomp
            When  writing out a save file, perform zero-comp compression of
            the contents. Not all ports support zero-comp  compression.  It
            has no effect on reading an existing save file.



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          9.5.  Window Port Customization options

               Here  are  explanations of the various options that are used
          to customize and change the  characteristics  of  the  windowtype
          that you have chosen.  Character strings that are too long may be
          truncated.  Not all window ports will  adjust  for  all  settings
          listed  here.   You  can  safely add any of these options to your
          config file, and if the window port is capable  of  adjusting  to
          suit  your  preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it can't it
          will silently ignore it.  You can find out if an option  is  sup-
          ported  by the window port that you are currently using by check-
          ing to see if it shows up in the Options list.  Some options  are
          dynamic  and  can  be specified during the game with the `O' com-
          mand.

          align_message
            Where to align or place the message window (top, bottom,  left,
            or right)

          align_status
            Where  to  align or place the status window (top, bottom, left,
            or right).

          ascii_map
            NetHack should display an ascii character map if it can.

          color
            NetHack should display color if it can for different  monsters,
            objects, and dungeon features

          eight_bit_tty
            NetHack  should  pass  eight-bit character values (for example,
            specified with the traps option) straight through to your  ter-
            minal (default off).

          font_map
            NetHack  should  use a font by the chosen name for the map win-
            dow.

          font_menu
            NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for menu  windows.

          font_message
            NetHack  should  use  a font by the chosen name for the message
            window.

          font_status
            NetHack should use a font by the chosen  name  for  the  status
            window.

          font_text
            NetHack  should use a font by the chosen name for text windows.




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          font_size_map
            NetHack should use this size font for the map window.

          font_size_menu
            NetHack should use this size font for menu windows.

          font_size_message
            NetHack should use this size font for the message window.

          font_size_status
            NetHack should use this size font for the status window.

          font_size_text
            NetHack should use this size font for text windows.

          fullscreen
            NetHack should try and display on the entire screen rather than
            in a window.

          large_font
            NetHack should use a large font.

          map_mode
            NetHack should display the map in the manner specified.

          mouse_support
            Allow use of the mouse for input and travel.

          player_selection
            NetHack  should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts for charac-
            ter selection.

          popup_dialog
            NetHack should pop up dialog boxes for input.

          preload_tiles
            NetHack should preload tiles into memory.  For example, in  the
            protected  mode  MSDOS  version, control whether tiles get pre-
            loaded into RAM at the start of the game.   Doing  so  enhances
            performance  of  the  tile graphics, but uses more memory. (de-
            fault on).  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          scroll_amount
            NetHack should scroll the display by this number of cells  when
            the hero reaches the scroll_margin.

          scroll_margin
            NetHack  should  scroll  the display when the hero or cursor is
            this number of cells away from the edge of the window.

          selectsaved
            NetHack should display a menu of existing saved games  for  the
            player to choose from at game startup, if it can. Not all ports
            support this option.


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          softkeyboard
            Display an onscreen keyboard.  Handhelds  are  most  likely  to
            support this option.

          splash_screen
            NetHack  should display an opening splash screen when it starts
            up (default yes).

          tiled_map
            NetHack should display a tiled map if it can.

          tile_file
            Specify the name of an alternative tile file  to  override  the
            default.

          tile_height
            Specify  the  preferred  height  of each tile in a tile capable
            port.

          tile_width
            Specify the preferred width of each tile in a tile capable port

          use_darkgray
            Use bold black instead of blue for black glyphs (TTY only).

          use_inverse
            NetHack should display inverse when the game specifies it.

          vary_msgcount
            NetHack should display this number of messages at a time in the
            message window.

          windowcolors
            NetHack  should  display  windows  with  the  specified   fore-
            ground/background colors if it can.

          wraptext
            NetHack  port  should wrap long lines of text if they don't fit
            in the visible area of the window.

          9.6.  Platform-specific Customization options

               Here are explanations of options that are used  by  specific
          platforms or ports to customize and change the port behavior.

          altkeyhandler
            Select  an  alternate  keystroke handler dll to load (Win32 tty
            NetHack only).  The name of the handler  is  specified  without
            the .dll extension and without any path information.  Cannot be
            set with the `O' command.

          altmeta
            On Amiga, this option controls whether typing `Alt' plus anoth-
            er key functions as a meta-shift for that key (default on).


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          altmeta
            On other (non-Amiga) systems where this option is available, it
            can be set to tell nethack to convert a two character  sequence
            beginning  with  ESC  into a meta-shifted version of the second
            character (default off).

            This conversion is only done for commands, not for other  input
            prompts.  Note that typing one or more digits as a count prefix
            prior to a command--preceded by n if the number_pad  option  is
            set--is also subject to this conversion, so attempting to abort
            the count by typing ESC will leave nethack waiting for  another
            character  to complete the two character sequence.  Type a sec-
            ond ESC to finish cancelling such a count.  At other prompts  a
            single ESC suffices.

          BIOS
            Use BIOS calls to update the screen display quickly and to read
            the keyboard (allowing the use of arrow keys to  move)  on  ma-
            chines  with  an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM (default off, OS/2,
            PC, and ST NetHack only).

          flush
            (default off, AMIGA NetHack only).

          MACgraphics
            (default on, Mac NetHack only).

          page_wait
            (default on, Mac NetHack only).

          rawio
            Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more  bullet-
            proof  input  (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P' as a printer toggle
            without it) (default off,  OS/2,  PC,  and  ST  NetHack  only).
            Note:   DEC  Rainbows hang if this is turned on.  Cannot be set
            with the `O' command.

          soundcard
            (default on, PC NetHack only).  Cannot be set with the `O' com-
            mand.

          subkeyvalue
            (Win32  tty  NetHack  only).  May be used to alter the value of
            keystrokes that the operating system returns to NetHack to help
            compensate  for international keyboard issues.  OPTIONS=subkey-
            value:171/92 will return 92 to NetHack, if 171  was  originally
            going  to be returned.  You can use multiple subkeyvalue state-
            ments in the config file if needed.  Cannot be set with the `O'
            command.

          video
            Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only).  Values are `autode-
            tect', `default', or `vga'.   Setting  `vga'  (or  `autodetect'
            with  vga  hardware  present)  will  cause  the game to display


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            tiles.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          videocolors
            Set the color palette for PC systems  using  NO_TERMS  (default
            4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11,  (PC NetHack only).  The order
            of  colors  is  red,  green,  brown,   blue,   magenta,   cyan,
            bright.white,  bright.red,  bright.green,  yellow, bright.blue,
            bright.magenta, and bright.cyan.  Cannot be set  with  the  `O'
            command.

          videoshades
            Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available (de-
            fault dark normal light, PC NetHack only).  If the game display
            is  difficult to read, try adjusting these scales; if this does
            not correct the problem, try !color.  Cannot be  set  with  the
            `O' command.

          9.7.  Regular Expressions

               Regular  expressions are normally POSIX extended regular ex-
          pressions. It is possible to compile NetHack without regular  ex-
          pression  support on a platform where there is no regular expres-
          sion library. While this is not true of any modern  platform,  if
          your  NetHack  was built this way, patterns are instead glob pat-
          terns. This applies to Autopickup exceptions, Message types, Menu
          colors, and User sounds.

          9.8.  Configuring Autopickup Exceptions

               You can further refine the behavior of the autopickup option
          beyond what is available through the pickup_types option.

               By placing autopickup_exception lines in your  configuration
          file,  you  can  define  patterns  to be checked when the game is
          about to autopickup something.

          autopickup_exception
            Sets an exception to the pickup_types  option.   The  autopick-
            up_exception  option should be followed by a regular expression
            to be used as a pattern to match against the singular  form  of
            the description of an object at your location.

            In  addition, some characters are treated specially if they oc-
            cur as the first character in the pattern, specifically:

                 < - always pickup an object that matches rest of pattern;
                 > - never pickup an object that matches rest of pattern.

            A `never pickup' rule takes precedence over an `always  pickup'
            rule if both match.

            Exceptions  can  be set with the `O' command, but ones set that
            way will not be preserved across saves and restores.



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          Here are some examples:

                 autopickup_exception="<*arrow"
                 autopickup_exception=">*corpse"
                 autopickup_exception=">* cursed*"

               The first example above will result  in  autopickup  of  any
          type  of  arrow.   The second example results in the exclusion of
          any corpse from autopickup.  The last example results in the  ex-
          clusion of items known to be cursed from autopickup.

          9.9.  Configuring Message Types

               You can change the way the messages are shown in the message
          area, when the message matches a user-defined pattern.

               In general, the config file entries to configure the message
          types look like this: MSGTYPE=type "pattern"

          type         - how the message should be shown;
          pattern      - the pattern to match.

            The pattern should be a regular expression.

            Allowed types are:

                 show  - show message normally.
                 hide  - never show the message.
                 stop  - wait for user with more-prompt.
                 norep - show the message once, but not again if no other message is shown in between.

            Here's  an  example  of  message types using NetHack's internal
            pattern matching facility:

                 MSGTYPE=stop "You feel hungry."
                 MSGTYPE=hide "You displaced *."

            specifies that whenever a message "You feel hungry"  is  shown,
            the  user  is prompted with more-prompt, and a message matching
            "You displaced <something>." is not shown at all.

            The order of the defined MSGTYPE-lines is important;  the  last
            matching  rule  is used. Put the general case first, exceptions
            below them.

          9.10.  Configuring Menu Colors

               Some platforms allow you to define colors used in menu lines
          when  the  line  matches a user-defined pattern. At this time the
          tty, win32tty and win32gui support this.

               In general, the config file entries to  configure  the  menu
          color mappings look like this:



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               MENUCOLOR="pattern"=color&attribute

                 pattern    - the pattern to match;
                 color      - the  color to use for lines matching the pat-
                              tern;
                 attribute  - the attribute to use for lines  matching  the
                              pattern.  The  attribute  is optional, and if
                              left out, you must also leave out the preced-
                              ing  ampersand.   If no attribute is defined,
                              no attribute is used.

            The pattern should be a regular expression.

            Allowed colors are black, red,  green,  brown,  blue,  magenta,
            cyan,  gray, orange, lightgreen, yellow, lightblue, lightmagen-
            ta, lightcyan, and white.

            Allowed attributes are none, bold, dim, underline,  blink,  and
            inverse.   Note  that  the  platform used may interpret the at-
            tributes any way it wants.

            Here's an example of menu colors using NetHack's internal  pat-
            tern matching facility:

                 MENUCOLOR="* blessed *"=green
                 MENUCOLOR="* cursed *"=red
                 MENUCOLOR="* cursed *(being worn)"=red&underline

            specifies  that  any menu line with " blessed " contained in it
            will be shown in green color, lines with "  cursed  "  will  be
            shown  in  red,  and  lines with " cursed " followed by "(being
            worn)" on the same line will be shown in red color  and  under-
            lined.   You can have multiple MENUCOLOR entries in your config
            file, and the last MENUCOLOR-line  in  your  config  file  that
            matches a menu line will be used for the line.

               Note that if you intend to have one or more color specifica-
          tions match " uncursed ", you will probably want to turn the  im-
          plicit_uncursed option off so that all items known to be uncursed
          are actually displayed with the ``uncursed'' description.

          9.11.  Configuring User Sounds

               Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be  played
          when  a  message that matches a user-defined pattern is delivered
          to the message window.  At this time the Qt port and the win32tty
          and win32gui ports support the use of user sounds.

               The  following  config  file entries are relevant to mapping
          user sounds to messages:

          SOUNDDIR
            The directory that houses the sound files to be played.



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          SOUND
            An entry that maps a sound file  to  a  user-specified  message
            pattern.   Each  SOUND  entry is broken down into the following
            parts:

            MESG       - message window mapping (the only one supported  in
                         3.6);
            pattern    - the pattern to match;
            sound file - the sound file to play;
            volume     - the volume to be set while playing the sound file.

            The pattern should be a POSIX extended regular expression.

          9.12.  Configuring Status Hilites

               Your copy of NetHack may have been compiled with support for
          ``Status  Hilites''.   If so, you can customize your game display
          by setting thresholds to change the color or appearance of fields
          in the status display.

               For  example,  the  following  line in your config file will
          cause the hitpoints field to display in the  color  red  if  your
          hitpoints drop to or below a threshold of 30%:

               OPTION=hilite_status: hitpoints/30%/red/normal

               For  another example, the following line in your config file
          will cause wisdom to be displayed red if it drops and green if it
          rises.

               OPTION=hilite_status: wisdom/updown/red/green

               You can adjust the display of the following status fields:
                      title             strength         dexterity
                  constitution        intelligence        wisdom
                    charisma           alignment           score
                carrying-capacity         gold             power
                    power-max       experience-level    armor-class
                       HD                 time            hunger
                    hitpoints        hitpoints-max     dungeon-level
                   experience          condition

            Allowed  colors  are  black,  red, green, brown, blue, magenta,
            cyan, gray, orange, lightgreen, yellow, lightblue,  lightmagen-
            ta, lightcyan, and white.

            Allowed  attributes  are  bold, inverse, normal.  Note that the
            platform used may interpret the attributes any way it wants.

            Behaviours can occur based on percentage thresholds, updown, or
            absolute  values.  The in-game options menu can help you deter-
            mine the correct syntax for a config file.




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            The whole feature  can  be  disabled  by  setting  option  sta-
            tushilites off.

          9.13.  Modifying NetHack Symbols

               NetHack can load entire symbol sets from the symbol file.

               The  options that are used to select a particular symbol set
          from the symbol file are:

          symset
            Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load.

          roguesymset
            Set the name of the symbol set that you want to load  for  dis-
            play on the rogue level.

               You  can also override one or more symbols using the SYMBOLS
          config file option. Symbols are specified  as  name:value  pairs.
          Note  that  NetHack  escape-processes the value string in conven-
          tional C fashion.  This means that \ is a prefix to take the fol-
          lowing character literally. Thus \ needs to be represented as \\.
          The special escape form \m switches on the meta bit in the symbol
          value,  and  the  \^  prefix causes the following character to be
          treated as a control character.

                                      NetHack Symbols
          Default Symbol Name            Description
          ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  S_air                  (air)
             _    S_altar                (altar)
             "    S_amulet               (amulet)
             A    S_angel                (angelic being)
             a    S_ant                  (ant or other insect)
             ^    S_anti_magic_trap      (anti-magic field)
             [    S_armor                (suit or piece of armor)
             [    S_armour               (suit or piece of armor)
             ^    S_arrow_trap           (arrow trap)
             0    S_ball                 (iron ball)
             #    S_bars                 (iron bars)
             B    S_bat                  (bat or bird)
             ^    S_bear_trap            (bear trap)
             -    S_blcorn               (bottom left corner)
             b    S_blob                 (blob)
             +    S_book                 (spellbook)
             )    S_boomleft             (boomerang open left)
             (    S_boomright            (boomerang open right)
             `    S_boulder              (boulder)
             -    S_brcorn               (bottom right corner)
             C    S_centaur              (centaur)
             _    S_chain                (iron chain)
             #    S_cloud                (cloud)
             c    S_cockatrice           (cockatrice)



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             $    S_coin                 (pile of coins)
             #    S_corr                 (corridor)
             -    S_crwall               (wall)
             ^    S_dart_trap            (dart trap)
             &    S_demon                (major demon)
             *    S_digbeam              (dig beam)
             >    S_dnladder             (ladder down)
             >    S_dnstair              (staircase down)
             d    S_dog                  (dog or other canine)
             D    S_dragon               (dragon)
             ;    S_eel                  (sea monster)
             E    S_elemental            (elemental)
             /    S_explode1             (explosion top left)
             -    S_explode2             (explosion top center)
            `\'   S_explode3             (explosion top right)
             |    S_explode4             (explosion middle left)
                  S_explode5             (explosion middle center)
             |    S_explode6             (explosion middle right)
            `\'   S_explode7             (explosion bottom left)
             -    S_explode8             (explosion bottom center)
             /    S_explode9             (explosion bottom right)
             e    S_eye                  (eye or sphere)
             ^    S_falling_rock_trap    (falling rock trap)
             f    S_feline               (cat or other feline)
             ^    S_fire_trap            (fire trap)
             !    S_flashbeam            (flash beam)
             %    S_food                 (piece of food)
             {    S_fountain             (fountain)
             F    S_fungus               (fungus or mold)
             *    S_gem                  (gem or rock)
                  S_ghost                (ghost)
             H    S_giant                (giant humanoid)
             G    S_gnome                (gnome)
             '    S_golem                (golem)
             |    S_grave                (grave)
             g    S_gremlin              (gremlin)
             -    S_hbeam                (wall)
             #    S_hcdbridge            (horizontal raised drawbridge)
             +    S_hcdoor               (closed door)
             |    S_hodoor               (open door)
             ^    S_hole                 (hole)
             @    S_human                (human or elf)
             h    S_humanoid             (humanoid)
             -    S_hwall                (horizontal wall)
             i    S_imp                  (imp or minor demon)
             J    S_jabberwock           (jabberwock)
             j    S_jelly                (jelly)
             k    S_kobold               (kobold)
             K    S_kop                  (Keystone Kop)
             ^    S_land_mine            (land mine)
             }    S_lava                 (molten lava)
             l    S_leprechaun           (leprechaun)
             ^    S_level_teleporter     (level teleporter)



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             L    S_lich                 (lich)
             y    S_light                (light)
             #    S_litcorr              (lit corridor)
             :    S_lizard               (lizard)
            `\'   S_lslant               (wall)
             ^    S_magic_portal         (magic portal)
             ^    S_magic_trap           (magic trap)
             m    S_mimic                (mimic)
             ]    S_mimic_def            (mimic)
             M    S_mummy                (mummy)
             N    S_naga                 (naga)
             n    S_nymph                (nymph)
             O    S_ogre                 (ogre)
             o    S_orc                  (orc)
             p    S_piercer              (piercer)
             ^    S_pit                  (pit)
             #    S_poisoncloud          (poison cloud)
             ^    S_polymorph_trap       (polymorph trap)
             }    S_pool                 (water)
             !    S_potion               (potion)
             P    S_pudding              (pudding or ooze)
             q    S_quadruped            (quadruped)
             Q    S_quantmech            (quantum mechanic)
             =    S_ring                 (ring)
             `    S_rock                 (boulder or statue)
             r    S_rodent               (rodent)
             ^    S_rolling_boulder_trap (rolling boulder trap)
             /    S_rslant               (wall)
             ^    S_rust_trap            (rust trap)
             R    S_rustmonst            (rust monster or disenchanter)
             ?    S_scroll               (scroll)
             #    S_sink                 (sink)
             ^    S_sleeping_gas_trap    (sleeping gas trap)
             S    S_snake                (snake)
             s    S_spider               (arachnid or centipede)
             ^    S_spiked_pit           (spiked pit)
             ^    S_squeaky_board        (squeaky board)
             0    S_ss1                  (magic shield 1 of 4)
             #    S_ss2                  (magic shield 2 of 4)
             @    S_ss3                  (magic shield 3 of 4)
             *    S_ss4                  (magic shield 4 of 4)
             ^    S_statue_trap          (statue trap)
                  S_stone                (dark part of a room)
             -    S_sw_bc                (swallow bottom center)
            `\'   S_sw_bl                (swallow bottom left)
             /    S_sw_br                (swallow bottom right)
             |    S_sw_ml                (swallow middle left)
             |    S_sw_mr                (swallow middle right)
             -    S_sw_tc                (swallow top center)
             /    S_sw_tl                (swallow top left)
            `\'   S_sw_tr                (swallow top right)
             -    S_tdwall               (wall)
             ^    S_teleportation_trap   (teleportation trap)



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                  S_throne               (opulent throne)
             -    S_tlcorn               (top left corner)
             |    S_tlwall               (wall)
             (    S_tool                 (useful item (pick-axe key lamp...))
             ^    S_trap_door            (trap door)
             t    S_trapper              (trapper or lurker above)
             -    S_trcorn               (top right corner)
             #    S_tree                 (tree)
             T    S_troll                (troll)
             |    S_trwall               (wall)
             -    S_tuwall               (wall)
             U    S_umber                (umber hulk)
             u    S_unicorn              (unicorn or horse)
             <    S_upladder             (ladder up)
             <    S_upstair              (staircase up)
             V    S_vampire              (vampire)
             |    S_vbeam                (wall)
             #    S_vcdbridge            (vertical raised drawbridge)
             +    S_vcdoor               (closed door)
             ^    S_vibrating_square     (vibrating square)
             -    S_vodoor               (open door)
             v    S_vortex               (vortex)
             |    S_vwall                (vertical wall)
             /    S_wand                 (wand)
             }    S_water                (water)
             )    S_weapon               (weapon)
             "    S_web                  (web)
             w    S_worm                 (worm)
             ~    S_worm_tail            (long worm tail)
             W    S_wraith               (wraith)
             x    S_xan                  (xan or other mythical/fantastic insect)
             X    S_xorn                 (xorn)
             Y    S_yeti                 (apelike creature)
             Z    S_zombie               (zombie)
             z    S_zruty                (zruty)

          9.14.  Configuring NetHack for Play by the Blind

               NetHack can be set up to use only standard ASCII  characters
          for  making  maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
          of NetHack completely accessible to  the  blind  who  use  speech
          and/or  Braille access technologies.  Players will require a good
          working knowledge of their screen-reader's review  features,  and
          will  have  to  know  how to navigate horizontally and vertically
          character by character. They will also find the search  capabili-
          ties  of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
          examine this Guidebook before playing so you have  an  idea  what
          the  screen layout is like. You'll also need to be able to locate
          the PC cursor. It is always  where  your  character  is  located.
          Merely  searching for an @-sign will not always find your charac-
          ter since there are other humanoids represented by the same sign.
          Your  screen-reader  should  also have a function which gives you
          the row and column of your  review  cursor  and  the  PC  cursor.
          These  co-ordinates  are  often useful in giving players a better


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          sense of the overall location of items on the screen.

               While it is not difficult for experienced users to edit  the
          defaults.nh  file  to accomplish this, novices may find this task
          somewhat daunting.  Included within the ``symbols'' file  of  all
          official  distributions  of  NetHack is a symset called NHAccess.
          Selecting that symset in your configuration file will  cause  the
          game  to  run in a manner accessible to the blind. After you have
          gained some experience with the game and with editing files,  you
          may  want  to  alter  settings via SYMBOLS= in your configuration
          file to better suit your preferences.  The most crucial  settings
          to make the game accessible are:

          symset:NHAccess
            Load a symbol set appropriate for use by blind players.

          roguesymset:NHAccess
            Load  a  symbol set for the rogue level that is appropriate for
            use by blind players.

          menustyle:traditional
            This will assist in the interface to speech synthesizers.

          number_pad
            A lot of speech access programs use the  number-pad  to  review
            the screen.  If this is the case, disable the number_pad option
            and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.

          9.15.  Global Configuration for System Administrators

               If NetHack is compiled with the SYSCF option, a  system  ad-
          ministrator  should set up a global configuration; this is a file
          in the same format as the traditional per-user configuration file
          (see above).  This file should be named sysconf and placed in the
          same directory as the other NetHack support files.   The  options
          recognized in this file are listed below.  Any option not set us-
          es a compiled-in default (which may not be appropriate  for  your
          system).

            WIZARDS = A  space-separated list of user names who are allowed
            to play in wizard mode (the debugging mode, not the magic-using
            role).  A value of a single asterisk (*) allows anyone to start
            a game in wizard mode.

            SHELLERS = A list of users who are allowed to use the shell es-
            cape command (!).  The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.

            EXPLORERS = A  list of users who are allowed to use the explore
            mode.  The syntax is the same as WIZARDS.

            MAXPLAYERS = Limit the maximum number of games that can be run-
            ning at the same time.




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            SUPPORT = A  string explaining how to get local support (no de-
            fault value).

            RECOVER = A string explaining how to recover  a  game  on  this
            system (no default value).

            SEDUCE = 0  or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the SEDUCE
            option.  When disabled, incubi and succubi behave like  nymphs.

            CHECK_PLNAME = Setting  this to 1 will make the EXPLORERS, WIZ-
            ARDS, and SHELLERS check for the player name instead of the us-
            er's login name.

            CHECK_SAVE_UID = 0 or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the
            UID (used identification number) checking for  save  files  (to
            verify  that  the  user  who  is  restoring is the same one who
            saved).

               The following options affect the score file:

            PERSMAX = Maximum number of entries for one person.

            ENTRYMAX = Maximum number of entries in the score file.

            POINTSMIN = Minimum number of points to get  an  entry  in  the
            score file.

            PERS_IS_UID = 0  or 1 to use user names or numeric userids, re-
            spectively, to identify unique people for the score file.

            MAX_STATUENAME_RANK = Maximum number of score file  entries  to
            use for random statue names (default is 10).

          10.  Scoring

               NetHack  maintains  a  list  of the top scores or scorers on
          your machine, depending on how it is set up.  In the latter case,
          each  account  on the machine can post only one non-winning score
          on this list.  If you score higher  than  someone  else  on  this
          list,  or better your previous score, you will be inserted in the
          proper place under your current name.  How many scores  are  kept
          can also be set up when NetHack is compiled.

               Your  score  is  chiefly  based upon how much experience you
          gained, how much loot you accumulated, how deep you explored, and
          how the game ended.  If you quit the game, you escape with all of
          your gold intact.  If, however, you get killed in  the  Mazes  of
          Menace, the guild will only hear about 90% of your gold when your
          corpse is discovered (adventurers  have  been  known  to  collect
          finder's  fees).   So, consider whether you want to take one last
          hit at that monster and possibly live,  or  quit  and  stop  with
          whatever  you  have.  If you quit, you keep all your gold, but if
          you swing and live, you might find more.



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               If you just want to see what the current  top  players/games
          list is, you can type nethack -s all on most versions.


          11.  Explore mode

               NetHack  is  an intricate and difficult game.  Novices might
          falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of the means to survive.
          Well,  fear not.  Your dungeon comes equipped with an ``explore''
          or ``discovery'' mode that enables you to keep old save files and
          cheat  death, at the paltry cost of not getting on the high score
          list.

               There are two ways of enabling  explore  mode.   One  is  to
          start  the game with the -X command-line switch or with the play-
          mode:explore option.  The other is to issue the  ``#exploremode''
          extended  command while already playing the game.  Starting a new
          game in explore mode provides your character with a wand of wish-
          ing  in  initial  inventory; switching during play does not.  The
          other benefits of explore mode are left for the trepid reader  to
          discover.

          11.1.  Debug mode

               Debug mode, also known as wizard mode, is undocumented aside
          from this brief description.  It is intended  for  tracking  down
          problems  within the program rather than to provide god-like pow-
          ers to your character, and players who attempt debugging are  ex-
          pected  to  figure out how to use it themselves.  It is initiated
          by starting the game with the -D command-line switch or with  the
          playmode:debug option.

               For  some systems, the player must be logged in under a par-
          ticular user name to be allowed to use debug  mode;  for  others,
          the  hero  must  be given a particular character name (but may be
          any role; there's no connection between ``wizard mode''  and  the
          Wizard  role).   And  on  any system, the program might have been
          configured to omit debug mode entirely.  Attempting  to  start  a
          game  in debug mode when not allowed or not available will result
          in falling back to explore mode instead.


          12.  Credits

               The original hack game was  modeled  on  the  Berkeley  UNIX
          rogue  game.   Large  portions  of  this  paper  were shamelessly
          cribbed from A Guide to the Dungeons of Doom, by Michael  C.  Toy
          and  Kenneth  C.  R. C. Arnold.  Small portions were adapted from
          Further Exploration of the Dungeons of Doom, by Ken Arromdee.

               NetHack is the product of literally dozens of people's work.
          Main  events  in the course of the game development are described
          below:



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               Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack, with help  from  Kenny
          Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne.

               Andries Brouwer did a major re-write, transforming Hack into
          a very different game, and published (at  least)  three  versions
          (1.0.1, 1.0.2, and 1.0.3) for UNIX machines to the Usenet.

               Don  G. Kneller ported Hack 1.0.3 to Microsoft C and MS-DOS,
          producing PC HACK 1.01e, added support for DEC  Rainbow  graphics
          in  version 1.03g, and went on to produce at least four more ver-
          sions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6).

               R. Black ported PC HACK 3.51 to  Lattice  C  and  the  Atari
          520/1040ST, producing ST Hack 1.03.

               Mike Stephenson merged these various versions back together,
          incorporating many of the added features,  and  produced  NetHack
          1.4.   He  then  coordinated a cast of thousands in enhancing and
          debugging NetHack 1.4 and released NetHack versions 2.2 and  2.3.

               Later, Mike coordinated a major rewrite of the game, heading
          a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet, Steve
          Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, John Rupley, Mike Threep-
          oint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack 3.0c.

               NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by  Eric  R.  Smith,  to
          OS/2  by  Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel.  The three
          of them and Kevin Darcy later joined the main development team to
          produce subsequent revisions of 3.0.

               Olaf  Seibert ported NetHack 2.3 and 3.0 to the Amiga.  Norm
          Meluch, Stephen Spackman and Pierre  Martineau  designed  overlay
          code  for  PC  NetHack 3.0.  Johnny Lee ported NetHack 3.0 to the
          Macintosh.  Along with various other Dungeoneers, they  continued
          to  enhance  the PC, Macintosh, and Amiga ports through the later
          revisions of 3.0.

               Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by  Izchak  Miller
          and  Janet  Walz, the development team which now included Ken Ar-
          romdee, David Cohrs, Jean-Christophe Collet,  Kevin  Darcy,  Matt
          Day,  Timo Hakulinen, Steve Linhart, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric
          Raymond, and Eric Smith undertook  a  radical  revision  of  3.0.
          They re-structured the game's design, and re-wrote major parts of
          the code.  They added multiple dungeons, a new  display,  special
          individual  character  quests,  a  new endgame and many other new
          features, and produced NetHack 3.1.

               Ken Lorber, Gregg Wonderly and Greg Olson,  with  help  from
          Richard  Addison,  Mike  Passaretti,  and Olaf Seibert, developed
          NetHack 3.1 for the Amiga.

               Norm Meluch and Kevin Smolkowski, with help from Carl  Sche-
          lin, Stephen Spackman, Steve VanDevender, and Paul Winner, ported
          NetHack 3.1 to the PC.


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               Jon W{tte and Hao-yang Wang, with help from Ross Brown, Mike
          Engber,  David  Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan Handler, Johnny
          Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson,  developed  NetHack
          3.1 for the Macintosh, porting it for MPW.  Building on their de-
          velopment, Barton House added a Think C port.

               Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2.  Eric Smith port-
          ed  NetHack  3.1 to the Atari.  Pat Rankin, with help from Joshua
          Delahunty, was responsible for the VMS version  of  NetHack  3.1.
          Michael Allison ported NetHack 3.1 to Windows NT.

               Dean  Luick,  with  help from David Cohrs, developed NetHack
          3.1 for X11.  Warwick Allison wrote a tiled  version  of  NetHack
          for  the Atari; he later contributed the tiles to the DevTeam and
          tile support was then added to other platforms.

               The 3.2 development team, comprised of Michael Allison,  Ken
          Arromdee,  David  Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin Darcy,
          Timo Hakulinen, Steve  Linhart,  Dean  Luick,  Pat  Rankin,  Eric
          Smith,  Mike  Stephenson,  Janet  Walz, and Paul Winner, released
          version 3.2 in April of 1996.

               Version 3.2 marked the tenth anniversary of the formation of
          the  development team.  In a testament to their dedication to the
          game, all thirteen members of the original development  team  re-
          mained  on the team at the start of work on that release.  During
          the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and  3.2,  one  of  the
          founding  members of the development team, Dr. Izchak Miller, was
          diagnosed with cancer and passed away.  That release of the  game
          was dedicated to him by the development and porting teams.

               During the lifespan of NetHack 3.1 and 3.2, several enthusi-
          asts of the game added their own modifications to  the  game  and
          made these ``variants'' publicly available:

               Tom  Proudfoot  and  Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was
          quickly renamed NetHack--.  Working independently, Stephen  White
          wrote  NetHack Plus.  Tom Proudfoot later merged NetHack Plus and
          his own NetHack-- to produce SLASH.  Larry Stewart-Zerba and War-
          wick  Allison  improved  the spell casting system with the Wizard
          Patch.  Warwick Allison also ported NetHack to use the Qt  inter-
          face.

               Warren  Cheung  combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to pro-
          duce Slash'em, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added  more  fea-
          tures.   Kevin later joined the DevTeam and incorporated the best
          of these ideas in NetHack 3.3.

               The final update to 3.2 was the bug fix release 3.2.3, which
          was  released  simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999 just in
          time for the Year 2000.

               The 3.3 development team, consisting of Michael Allison, Ken
          Arromdee,  David  Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin Darcy,


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          Timo Hakulinen, Kevin  Hugo,  Steve  Linhart,  Ken  Lorber,  Dean
          Luick,  Pat  Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and
          Paul Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and 3.3.1 in  August
          of 2000.

               Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to
          separate race and profession. The Elf class was removed in  pref-
          erence to an elf race, and the races of dwarves, gnomes, and orcs
          made their first appearance in the game  alongside  the  familiar
          human  race.  Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists, Barbar-
          ians,  Cavemen,  Healers,  Knights,  Priests,  Rogues,   Samurai,
          Tourists,  Valkyries  and  of  course,  Wizards.  It was also the
          first version to allow you to ride a steed,  and  was  the  first
          version  to  have  a  publicly available web-site listing all the
          bugs that had been discovered.  Despite that  constantly  growing
          bug  list,  3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than a year
          and a half.

               The 3.4 development team initially consisted of Michael  Al-
          lison,  Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin Hugo, Ken
          Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz,  and
          Paul  Winner,  with   Warwick Allison joining just before the re-
          lease of NetHack 3.4.0 in March 2002.

               As with version 3.3, various people contributed to the  game
          as a whole as well as supporting ports on the different platforms
          that NetHack runs on:

               Pat Rankin maintained 3.4 for VMS.

               Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS  plat-
          form.  Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.

               Dean  Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
          hanced the Macintosh port of 3.4.

               Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Alex  Kompel,  Dion  Nicolaas,
          and  Yitzhak  Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for the Microsoft
          Windows platform.  Alex Kompel contributed a new graphical inter-
          face  for  the Windows port.  Alex Kompel also contributed a Win-
          dows CE port for 3.4.1.

               Ron Van Iwaarden was the sole maintainer of NetHack for OS/2
          the  past several releases. Unfortunately Ron's last OS/2 machine
          stopped working in early 2006. A great many  thanks  to  Ron  for
          keeping NetHack alive on OS/2 all these years.

               Janne  Salmijarvi  and  Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced
          the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected  it  for
          3.3.1.

               Christian  ``Marvin''  Bressler maintained 3.4 for the Atari
          after he resurrected it for 3.3.1.



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               The release of NetHack 3.4.3 in December 2003 marked the be-
          ginning of a long release hiatus. 3.4.3 proved to be a remarkably
          stable version that provided continued enjoyment by the community
          for  more than a decade. The devteam slowly and quietly continued
          to work on the game behind the scenes during the tenure of 3.4.3.
          It  was during that same period that several new variants emerged
          within the NetHack community. Notably sporkhack by Derek S.  Ray,
          unnethack  by Patric Mueller, nitrohack and its successors origi-
          nally by Daniel Thaler and then by Alex Smith,  and  Dynahack  by
          Tung  Nguyen.  Some  of  those variants continue to be developed,
          maintained, and enjoyed by the community to this day.

               At the beginning of development for  what  would  eventually
          get  released as 3.6.0, the development team consisted of Warwick
          Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie  Col-
          let,  Ken  Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet
          Walz, and Paul Winner.  Leading up to the  release  of  3.6.0  in
          early  2015,  new  members Sean Hunt, Pasi Kallinen, and Derek S.
          Ray joined the NetHack development team.

               In September 2014, an interim snapshot of the code under de-
          velopment was released publicly by other parties. Since that code
          was a work-in-progress and had not gone through  the  process  of
          debugging  it as a suitable release, it was decided that the ver-
          sion numbers present on that code snapshot would be  retired  and
          never  used  in  an official NetHack release. An announcement was
          posted on the devteam's official nethack.org website to that  ef-
          fect,  stating  that  there would never be a 3.4.4, 3.5, or 3.5.0
          official release version.

               In November 2014,  preparation  began  for  the  release  of
          NetHack  3.6. The 3.6 version merges work done by the development
          team since the previous release with some of the beloved communi-
          ty  patches.  Many bugs were fixed and a large amount of code was
          restructured.

               The development team, as well as Steve VanDevender and Kevin
          Smolkowski ensured that NetHack 3.6 continued to operate on vari-
          ous Unix flavors and maintained the X11 interface.

               Ken Lorber, Haoyang Wang, Pat Rankin, and Dean  Luick  main-
          tained the port of NetHack 3.6 for Mac.

               Michael  Allison,  Derek S. Ray, Yitzhak Sapir, Alex Kompel,
          and Dion Nicolaas maintained the port  of  NetHack  3.6  for  Mi-
          crosoft Windows.

               The 3.6 development team consisting of Michael Allison, War-
          wick Allison, Ken Arromdee,  David  Cohrs,  Jessie  Collet,  Sean
          Hunt,  Pasi  Kallinen,  Ken  Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike
          Stephenson, Derek S. Ray, Janet Walz, and  Paul  Winner  released
          3.6.1 as a bug fix release in January 2016.




          NetHack 3.6                                     February 22, 2016





          NetHack Guidebook                                              70



               The official NetHack web site is maintained by Ken Lorber at
          http://www.nethack.org/.

               SHOUT-OUTS

               The devteam would like to  give  a  special  "shout-out"  to
          thank  the  generous  people primarily responsible for the public
          NetHack servers available for playing the game at nethack.alt.org
          and devnull.net. In addition to providing a way for the public to
          play a game of NetHack from almost anywhere, they have hosted an-
          nual NetHack tournaments for many, many years.

               On  behalf  of the NetHack community, thank you very much to
          M. Drew Streib, Pasi Kallinen and Robin Bandy.

                    - - - - - - - - - -

               From time to time, some depraved  individual  out  there  in
          netland  sends a particularly intriguing modification to help out
          with the game.  The Gods of the Dungeon sometimes  make  note  of
          the  names  of the worst of these miscreants in this, the list of
          Dungeoneers:

               Adam Aronow              Janet Walz            Nathan Eady
               Alex Kompel           Janne Salmijarvi         Norm Meluch
              Andreas Dorn        Jean-Christophe Collet      Olaf Seibert
               Andy Church             Jeff Bailey           Pasi Kallinen
              Andy Swanson            Jochen Erwied            Pat Rankin
              Ari Huttunen             John Kallen            Paul Winner
              Barton House             John Rupley          Pierre Martineau
           Benson I. Margulies         John S. Bien            Ralf Brown
                Bill Dyer               Johnny Lee             Ray Chason
            Boudewijn Waijers           Jon W{tte           Richard Addison
                Bruce Cox            Jonathan Handler        Richard Beigel
             Bruce Holloway          Joshua Delahunty      Richard P. Hughey
             Bruce Mewborne           Keizo Yamamoto           Rob Menke
              Carl Schelin              Ken Arnold            Robin Bandy
               Chris Russo             Ken Arromdee          Robin Johnson
               David Cohrs              Ken Lorber         Roderick Schertler
             David Damerell           Ken Washikita          Roland McGrath
              David Gentzel            Kevin Darcy          Ron Van Iwaarden
             David Hairston             Kevin Hugo           Ronnen Miller
               Dean Luick              Kevin Sitze             Ross Brown
                Del Lamb             Kevin Smolkowski       Sascha Wostmann
              Derek S. Ray             Kevin Sweet            Scott Bigham
              Deron Meranda            Lars Huttar          Scott R. Turner
              Dion Nicolaas            Leon Arnott             Sean Hunt
             Dylan O'Donnell          M. Drew Streib        Stephen Spackman
               Eric Backus             Malcolm Ryan        Stefan Thielscher
            Eric Hendrickson          Mark Gooderum          Stephen White
              Eric R. Smith            Mark Modrall           Steve Creps
             Eric S. Raymond         Marvin Bressler         Steve Linhart
              Erik Andersen            Matthew Day         Steve VanDevender



          NetHack 3.6                                     February 22, 2016





          NetHack Guidebook                                              71



            Frederick Roeber           Merlyn LeRoy           Teemu Suikki
               Gil Neiger            Michael Allison           Tim Lennan
               Greg Laskin             Michael Feir          Timo Hakulinen
               Greg Olson             Michael Hamel             Tom Almy
             Gregg Wonderly          Michael Sokolov            Tom West
              Hao-yang Wang            Mike Engber           Warren Cheung
              Helge Hafting            Mike Gallop          Warwick Allison
          Irina Rempt-Drijfhout      Mike Passaretti         Yitzhak Sapir
              Izchak Miller          Mike Stephenson
              J. Ali Harlow            Mikko Juola

          Brand and product names are trademarks or  registered  trademarks
          of their respective holders.











































          NetHack 3.6                                     February 22, 2016



