diff --git a/doc/nethack.6 b/doc/nethack.6 new file mode 100644 index 000000000..923be6903 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/nethack.6 @@ -0,0 +1,288 @@ +.TH NETHACK 6 "17 November 1999" +.UC 4 +.SH NAME +nethack \- Exploring The Mazes of Menace +.SH SYNOPSIS +.B nethack +[ +.B \-d +.I directory +] +[ +.B \-n +] +[ +.B \-p +.I profession (role) +] +[ +.B \-r +.I race +] +[ +.B \-[DX] +] +[ +.B \-u +.I playername +] +[ +.B \-dec +] +[ +.B \-ibm +] +.br +.B nethack +[ +.B \-d +.I directory +] +.B \-s +[ +.B \-v +] +[ +.B \-p +.I profession (role) +] +[ +.B \-r +.I race +] +[ +.I playernames +] +.SH DESCRIPTION +.PP +.I NetHack +is a display oriented Dungeons & Dragons(tm) - like game. +The standard tty display and command structure resemble rogue. +.PP +Other, more graphical display options exist if you are using either a PC, +or an X11 interface. +.PP +To get started you really only need to know two commands. The command +.B ? +will give you a list of the available commands (as well as other information) +and the command +.B / +will identify the things you see on the screen. +.PP +To win the game (as opposed to merely playing to beat other people's high +scores) you must locate the Amulet of Yendor which is somewhere below +the 20th level of the dungeon and get it out. +Nobody has achieved this yet; anybody who does will probably go down +in history as a hero among heros. +.PP +When the game ends, whether by your dying, quitting, or escaping +from the caves, +.I NetHack +will give you (a fragment of) the list of top scorers. +The scoring is based on many aspects of your behavior, but a rough estimate +is obtained by taking the amount of gold you've found in the cave plus four +times your (real) experience. +Precious stones may be worth a lot of gold when brought to the exit. +There is a 10% penalty for getting yourself killed. +.PP +The environment variable NETHACKOPTIONS can be used to initialize many +run-time options. +The ? command provides a description of these options and syntax. +(The +.B \-dec +and +.B \-ibm +command line options are equivalent to the +.B decgraphics +and +.B ibmgraphics +run-time options described there, +and are provided purely for convenience on systems +supporting multiple types of terminals.) +.PP +Because the option list can be very long (particularly when specifying +graphics characters), options may also be included in a configuration +file. +The default is located in your home directory and +named .nethackrc on Unix systems. On other systems, the default may be +different, usually NetHack.cnf. On DOS the name is defaults.nh, while +on the Macintosh or BeOS, it is NetHack Defaults. +The configuration file's location may be specified by setting NETHACKOPTIONS +to a string consisting of an @ character followed by the filename. +.PP +The +.B \-u +.I playername +option supplies the answer to the question "Who are you?". +It overrides any name from the options or configuration file, USER, LOGNAME, +or getlogin(), which will otherwise be tried in order. +If none of these provides a useful name, the player will be asked for one. +Player names (in conjunction with uids) are used to identify save files, +so you can have several saved games under different names. +Conversely, you must use the appropriate player name to restore a saved game. +.PP +A +.I playername +suffix or a separate option, +.B \-p +.I profession +can be used to determine the character role. You can specify either the +male or female name for the character role, or the first three characters +of the role as an abbreviation. +.B "\-p \@" +has been retained to explicitly request that a random role be chosen. +It may need to be quoted with a backslash (\\@) if @ +is the "kill" character (see "stty") for the terminal, in order +to prevent the current input line from being cleared. +.PP +Likewise, +.B \-r +.I race +can be used to explicitly request that a race be chosen. +.PP +.PP +Leaving out either of these will result in you being prompted during +the game startup for the information. +.PP +The +.B \-s +option alone will print out the list of your scores on the current version. +An immediately following +.B \-v +reports on all versions present in the score file. +The +.B \-s +may also be followed by arguments +.B \-p +and +.B \-r +to print the scores of particular roles and races only. +It may also be followed by one or more player names to print the scores of the +players mentioned, by 'all' to print out all scores, or by a number to print +that many top scores. +.PP +The +.B \-n +option suppresses printing of any news from the game administrator. +.PP +The +.B \-D +or +.B \-X +option will start the game in a special non-scoring discovery mode. +.B \-D +will, if the player is the game administrator, start in debugging (wizard) +mode instead. +.PP +The +.B \-d +option, which must be the first argument if it appears, +supplies a directory which is to serve as the playground. +It overrides the value from NETHACKDIR, HACKDIR, +or the directory specified by the game administrator during compilation +(usually /usr/games/lib/nethackdir). +This option is usually only useful to the game administrator. +The playground must contain several auxiliary files such as help files, +the list of top scorers, and a subdirectory +.I save +where games are saved. +.SH AUTHORS +.PP +Jay Fenlason (+ Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne) wrote the +original hack, very much like rogue (but full of bugs). +.PP +Andries Brouwer continuously deformed their sources into an entirely +different game. +.PP +Mike Stephenson has continued the perversion of sources, adding various +warped character classes and sadistic traps with the help of many strange +people who reside in that place between the worlds, the Usenet Zone. +A number of these miscreants are immortalized in the historical +roll of dishonor and various other places. +.PP +The resulting mess is now called NetHack, to denote its +development by the Usenet. Andries Brouwer has made this request for the +distinction, as he may eventually release a new version of his own. +.SH FILES +.PP +All files are in the playground, normally /usr/games/lib/nethackdir. +If DLB was defined during the compile, the data files and special levels +will be inside a larger file, normally nhdat, instead of being separate +files. +.br +.DT +.ta \w'cmdhelp, opthelp, wizhelp\ \ \ 'u +nethack The program itself. +.br +data, oracles, rumors Data files used by NetHack. +.br +options, quest.dat More data files. +.br +help, hh Help data files. +.br +cmdhelp, opthelp, wizhelp More help data files. +.br +*.lev Predefined special levels. +.br +dungeon Control file for special levels. +.br +history A short history of NetHack. +.br +license Rules governing redistribution. +.br +record The list of top scorers. +.br +logfile An extended list of games +.br + played. +.br +xlock.nnn Description of a dungeon level. +.br +perm Lock file for xlock.dd. +.br +bonesDD.nn Descriptions of the ghost and +.br + belongings of a deceased +.br + adventurer. +.br +save A subdirectory containing the +.br + saved games. +.SH ENVIRONMENT +.DT +.ta \w'HACKPAGER or PAGER\ \ \ 'u +USER or LOGNAME Your login name. +.br +HOME Your home directory. +.br +SHELL Your shell. +.br +TERM The type of your terminal. +.br +HACKPAGER or PAGER Replacement for default pager. +.br +MAIL Mailbox file. +.br +MAILREADER Replacement for default reader +.br + (probably /bin/mail or /usr/ucb/mail). +.br +NETHACKDIR Playground. +.br +NETHACKOPTIONS String predefining several NetHack +.br + options. +.br + +In addition, SHOPTYPE is used in debugging (wizard) mode. +.SH "SEE ALSO" +.PP +dgn_comp(6), lev_comp(6), recover(6) +.SH BUGS +.PP +Probably infinite. + + +.PP +Dungeons & Dragons is a Trademark of TSR Inc.