









                           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.

          Intelligence
               Intelligence  affects  your  ability to cast spells and read


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


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               here.

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

          Hunger status
               Your current hunger status, ranging from  Satiated  down  to
               Fainting.   If  your hunger status is normal, it is not dis‐
               played.

               Additional status flags may appear after the hunger  status:
          Conf  when you’re confused, FoodPois or Ill when sick, Blind when
          you can’t see, Stun when stunned, and Hallu when hallucinating.

          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:

          ‐ 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.



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          ^    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.

          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


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          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.

          /    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 par‐
               ticular spot on the map and then pressing one of  ‘.’,  ‘,’,
               ‘;’,  or ‘:’.  ‘.’ will explain the symbol at the chosen lo‐
               cation, conditionally check for ‘‘More info?’’ depending up‐
               on whether the help option is on, and then you will be asked
               to pick another location; ‘,’ will explain  the  symbol  but
               skip  any  additional  information; ‘;’ will skip additional
               info and also not bother asking you to choose another  loca‐
               tion  to  examine;  ‘:’  will  show additional info, if any,
               without asking for confirmation.  When picking  a  location,
               pressing  the ESC key will terminate this command, or press‐
               ing ‘?’  will give a brief reminder about how it works.

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

          &    Tell what a command does.




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          <    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


          [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


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               position.

          .    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.

          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.


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               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.

                    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.




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               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).

               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.)


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          ^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.

               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.



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          ^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.

          ^    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.



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


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

          #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.

          #force
               Force a lock.

          #invoke
               Invoke an object’s special powers.

          #jump
               Jump to another location.

          #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’.



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          #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
               choice.

          #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 monster.

          #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.

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




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          #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 (if supported)

          M‐c  #chat

          M‐C  #conduct

          M‐d  #dip

          M‐e  #enhance

          M‐f  #force

          M‐i  #invoke

          M‐j  #jump

          M‐l  #loot

          M‐m  #monster

          M‐n  #name



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          M‐o  #offer

          M‐O  #overview (if supported)

          M‐p  #pray

          M‐q  #quit

          M‐r  #rub

          M‐R  #ride (if supported)

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




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               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 oth‐
          er  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


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          dungeon.

               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.

               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


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          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  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  car‐
          rying  around  with  you  through  the dungeon will encumber you.
          Your reactions will get slower and you’ll burn  calories  faster,
          requiring  food  more  frequently  to  cope with it.  Eventually,
          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.




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          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.

               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


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          (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.

          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


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          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
          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


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          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
                             studded leather armor     7
                             ring mail                 7
                             orcish ring mail          8
                             leather armor             8
                             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.



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               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
          (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.



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               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 (‘/’)

               Magic wands usually have  multiple  magical  charges.   Some
          wands  are  directional—you must give 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 wands are nondirectional—they 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.

               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


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          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, and casting several spells in  a  row  may
          tire  you.  Casting of spells also requires practice.  With prac‐
          tice, your skill in each category of spell casting will  improve.
          Over  time,  however, your memory of each spell will dim, and you
          will need to relearn it.

               Some spells are directional—you must  give  a  direction  in
          which  to  cast  them.   You can also cast them at yourself (just
          give a ‘.’ or ‘s’ for the direction).  Be  warned,  however,  for
          this is often unwise.  Other spells are nondirectional—they don’t
          require a direction.

               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


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          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.

               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).





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          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.

          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
          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


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          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
          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


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          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
          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.






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          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, but NETHACKOPTIONS can also be set to the
          full name of a file you want to  use  (possibly  preceded  by  an
          ‘@’).

          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.




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               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 a ‘!’ or ‘‘no’’ to  the  value,  you  can  exclude  that
            alignment  from  being picked randomly.  Cannot be set with the
            ‘O’ command.  Persistent.

          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.

          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  rock
            class symbol).




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

          character
            Pick your type of character (ex.  ‘‘character:Monk’’);  synonym
            for ‘‘role’’.  See ‘‘name’’ for an alternate method of specify‐
            ing your role.  Normally only the first letter of the value  is
            examined; the string ‘‘random’’ is an exception.

          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.
            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).

          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:


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                 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 tradi‐
            tional  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


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            randomly  pick  an  appropriate gender.  If you prefix a ‘!’ or
            ‘‘no’’ to the value, you can exclude  that  gender  from  being
            picked  randomly.  Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.  Persis‐
            tent.

          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
            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.



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          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.
            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
            ’~’.



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          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_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 ’.’.

          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.


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          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
            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;


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            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
            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.


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          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 a ‘!’ or ‘‘no’’ to the value, you can
            exclude that race from being picked randomly.   Cannot  be  set
            with the ‘O’ command.  Persistent.

          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 a ‘!’  or  ‘‘no’’  to  the
            value,  you  can  exclude that role from being picked randomly.
            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;


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            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.

          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.



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          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.

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

          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.

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




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          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.

          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.


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

          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.




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          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.

          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


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            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).

          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’


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            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
            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.

          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’


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            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.

          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


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          tty, win32tty and win32gui support this.

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

               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.

          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 sys‐
            tem (no default value).

            SEDUCE 0 or 1 to disable or enable,  respectively,  the  SEDUCE
            option (see the source for details on this function).

            CHECK_SAVE_UID  0  or 1 to disable or enable, respectively, the
            UID checking for savefiles.

               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.

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






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          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:


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



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               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.

               Jon W{tte and Hao‐yang Wang, with help from Ross Brown, Mike
          Engber, David Hairston, Michael Hamel, Jonathan  Handler,  Johnny


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          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,
          Timo  Hakulinen,  Kevin  Hugo,  Steve  Linhart,  Ken Lorber, Dean
          Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet  Walz,  and


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          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.

               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


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          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 3.6.0  continued  to  operate  on
          various Unix flavors and maintained the X11 interface.

               Ken  Lorber,  Haoyang Wang, Pat Rankin, and Dean Luick main‐
          tained the port of NetHack 3.6.0 for Mac.

               Michael Allison, Derek S. Ray, Yitzhak Sapir,  Alex  Kompel,
          and Dion Nicolaas maintained the port of NetHack 3.6.0 for Micro‐
          soft Windows.

               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


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          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
            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



          NetHack 3.6                                         June 22, 2015





          NetHack Guidebook                                              69



              J. Ali Harlow            Mikko Juola

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




















































          NetHack 3.6                                         June 22, 2015



