the original LJ nethack community

somewhat on topic

2007-11-04T19:06:48Z

I'm giving SLASH'EM a try but I really hate the tileset. I've spoiled myself with the absurd 128x128 tiles for a long time in regular NH - is there a way to use that tileset for SLASH'EM?

Or, if not, can anyone recommend a decent-sized set that isn't 3D?

What should I wish for?

2007-10-31T23:37:57Z

Four more wishes. What should I do?

Doran the Enchantress     St:25 Dx:14 Co:16 In:20 Wi:18 Ch:10  Chaotic
Dlvl:17 $:0  HP:137(137) Pw:195(195) AC:-33 Exp:16 Burdened

Current Attributes:

You have transgressed.
You are fire resistant.
You are cold resistant.
You are sleep resistant.
You are poison resistant.
You are magic-protected.
You are telepathic.
You are warned.
You have infravision.
You can teleport.
You have teleport control.
You are protected.
You are very fast.
You have reflection.
Your life will be saved.
You are very lucky.
You have extra luck.
Good luck does not time out for you.
You can not safely pray.




Amulets
 g - the blessed Eye of the Aethiopica
 h - an uncursed amulet of life saving (being worn)
Weapons
 a - a greased +7 quarterstaff
Armor
 b - a blessed greased fireproof +4 cloak of magic resistance (being worn)
 m - an uncursed greased fireproof +5 pair of speed boots (being worn)
 p - a blessed greased +6 silver dragon scale mail (being worn)
 s - a blessed greased rustproof +5 pair of gauntlets of power (being worn)
 u - an uncursed fireproof +4 elven leather helm (being worn)
Comestibles
 l - an uncursed lizard corpse
Rings
 e - an uncursed ring of conflict
 i - an uncursed ring of free action
 k - an uncursed ring of levitation
 n - an uncursed ring of regeneration
 q - an uncursed ring of invisibility
 t - an uncursed ring of teleport control (on left hand)
 I - a blessed +3 ring of increase damage
Wands
 c - a wand of cancellation (0:8)
 f - a wand of cancellation (0:5)
 o - a wand of wishing (1:3)
 r - a wand of striking (0:4)
 w - a wand of cold (0:2)
 x - a cursed wand of create monster (0:11)
 z - a cursed wand of cancellation (0:5)
 A - a wand of magic missile (0:4)
 B - a wand of digging (0:7)
 C - a wand of fire (0:3)
 D - a wand of magic missile (0:7)
 E - a wand of magic missile (0:6)
 F - a rusty wand of digging (0:0)
 G - a wand of digging (0:7)
 H - a wand of nothing (0:8)
 J - a wand of make invisible (0:6)
 K - a wand of magic missile (0:4)
 L - a wand of fire (0:3)
Tools
 d - the Bell of Opening (0:3)
 v - an uncursed skeleton key
 y - a blessed +0 unicorn horn
 X - an uncursed bag of holding named CASH
 Y - a blessed bag of holding
 Z - a blessed bag of holding
Gems
 j - a blessed luckstone


Your bag of holding named CASH is empty.

 Take out what?

 Scrolls
 a - a cursed scroll of identify
 b - 2 uncursed scrolls of food detection
 c - an uncursed scroll of remove curse
 d - an uncursed scroll of stinking cloud
 e - 6 uncursed scrolls of teleportation
 f - 2 uncursed scrolls of confuse monster
 g - an uncursed scroll of enchant weapon
 h - 5 uncursed scrolls of gold detection
 i - a blessed scroll of light
 j - a blessed scroll of stinking cloud
 k - 3 uncursed scrolls of create monster
 l - 10 uncursed scrolls of identify
 m - a cursed scroll of enchant weapon
 n - an uncursed scroll of magic mapping
 o - 18 uncursed scrolls of blank paper
 p - a cursed scroll of light
 q - 7 cursed scrolls of blank paper
 r - 4 uncursed scrolls of destroy armor
 s - a cursed scroll of amnesia
 t - a blessed scroll of punishment
 a - 3 uncursed scrolls of punishment
 b - 3 uncursed scrolls of fire
 c - 4 uncursed scrolls of light
 d - an uncursed scroll of amnesia
 e - a cursed scroll of fire
 Spellbooks
 f - an uncursed spellbook of magic mapping
 g - an uncursed spellbook of detect food
 h - an uncursed spellbook of detect food
 i - an uncursed spellbook of remove curse
 j - an uncursed spellbook of sleep
 k - an uncursed spellbook of detect treasure
 l - an uncursed spellbook of restore ability
 m - an uncursed spellbook of charm monster
 n - an uncursed spellbook of blank paper
 o - an uncursed spellbook of charm monster
 p - an uncursed spellbook of restore ability
 q - an uncursed spellbook of restore ability
 r - an uncursed spellbook of knock
 s - an uncursed spellbook of detect treasure
 t - an uncursed spellbook of charm monster
 u - an uncursed spellbook of light
 v - an uncursed spellbook of magic missile
 a - an uncursed spellbook of blank paper
 b - a blessed spellbook of identify
 c - an uncursed spellbook of healing
 d - an uncursed spellbook of detect monsters
 e - an uncursed spellbook of detect treasure
 f - a spellbook of finger of death
 g - an uncursed spellbook of blank paper
 h - an uncursed spellbook of protection
 i - a blessed spellbook of force bolt
 j - an uncursed spellbook of charm monster
 k - an uncursed spellbook of invisibility
 l - a blessed spellbook of create monster

Take out what?

 Coins
 a - 14487 gold pieces
 Armor
 b - an uncursed +2 cloak of invisibility
 c - an uncursed greased fireproof +5 pair of leather gloves
 d - a blessed +0 pair of water walking boots
 e - a cursed +0 pair of levitation boots
 f - an uncursed +0 shield of reflection
 g - an uncursed +0 pair of speed boots
 Comestibles
 h - a lembas wafer
 i - an uncursed pancake
 j - 26 uncursed C-rations
 k - 13 uncursed K-rations
 l - 17 uncursed food rations
 m - an uncursed sprig of wolfsbane
 n - 4 uncursed tripe rations
 o - 3 uncursed lembas wafers
 Potions
 p - an uncursed potion of restore ability
 q - a cursed potion of confusion
a - 13 potions of holy water
 b - an uncursed potion of booze
 c - 2 potions of unholy water
 Rings
 d - an uncursed ring of fire resistance
 e - an uncursed ring of cold resistance
 f - a cursed ring of invisibility
 g - an uncursed ring of levitation
 h - an uncursed ring of slow digestion
 i - an uncursed ring of polymorph
 j - a blessed ring of polymorph control
 k - an uncursed ring of shock resistance
 l - a ring of teleport control
 m - a ring of polymorph control
 n - a ring of stealth
 o - a ring of polymorph
 p - a ring of gain constitution
 Wands
 q - a wand of polymorph (1:2)
 r - a wand of cold (0:1)
 s - a greased wand of teleportation (0:4)
 t - a wand of sleep (0:2)
 u - a wand of enlightenment (0:11)
 a - a wand of sleep (0:4)
 b - a cursed wand of striking (0:1)
 c - a cursed wand of lightning (0:2)
 d - a cursed wand of striking (0:0)
 e - a cursed wand of light (0:4)
 f - a cursed wand of striking (0:7)
 g - a cursed wand of magic missile (0:2)
 h - a cursed wand of digging (0:0)
 i - a cursed wand of lightning (0:2)
 j - a wand of light (0:15)
 k - a cursed wand of digging (0:5)
 l - a wand of teleportation (0:3)
 m - a wand of locking (0:8)
 n - a wand of make invisible (0:4)
 o - a wand of create monster (0:15)
 p - a rusty wand of make invisible (0:4)
 q - a wand of striking (0:5)
 r - a wand of make invisible (0:4)
 s - a wand of create monster (0:14)
 t - a rusty wand of striking (0:1)
 u - a wand of make invisible (0:5)
 v - a wand of digging (0:4)
 w - a wand of digging (0:4)
 a - a wand of locking (0:4)
 b - a rusty wand of digging (0:5)
 c - a wand of speed monster (0:5)
 d - a wand of teleportation (0:6)
 e - a wand of make invisible (0:7)
 Tools
 f - a blessed magic marker (1:5)
 g - an uncursed towel
 h - a +0 pick-axe
 i - a magic marker (1:12)
 j - a can of grease (0:4)
 k - an uncursed pair of lenses
 l - an uncursed brass lantern
 m - 3 uncursed wax candles
 n - 2 uncursed tallow candles
 o - a blessed tallow candle
 Gems
 p - an uncursed opal
 q - 6 uncursed fluorite stones
 r - 3 uncursed topaz stones
 s - 3 uncursed citrine stones
 t - 2 agate stones
 u - an uncursed aquamarine stone
 a - an uncursed touchstone
 b - an uncursed jet stone
 c - 4 uncursed black opals
 d - 4 uncursed agate stones
 e - an uncursed turquoise stone
 f - a ruby
 g - 8 uncursed emeralds
 h - 4 uncursed amber stones
 i - 11 uncursed amethyst stones
 j - 5 uncursed rubies
 k - 3 uncursed chrysoberyl stones
 l - an uncursed dilithium crystal
 m - 6 uncursed diamonds


 Choose which spell to cast

     Name                 Level  Category     Fail
 a - force bolt             1    attack         3%
 b - detect monsters        1    divination     3%
 c - identify               3    divination     3%
 d - cure blindness         2*   healing        3%
 e - haste self             3*   escape        65%
 f - light                  1    divination     3%
 g - restore ability        4*   healing       87%
 h - confuse monster        2*   enchantment    3%
 i - healing                1*   healing        3%
 j - stone to flesh         3*   healing       65%
 k - levitation             4*   escape        87%
 l - cure sickness          3*   healing       65%
 m - detect treasure        4*   divination     3%
 n - knock                  1*   matter         3%
 o - finger of death        7    attack        12%
 p - detect unseen          3    divination     3%
 q - magic mapping          5    divination     3%
 r - slow monster           2    enchantment    3%
 s - jumping                1    escape         3%
 t - invisibility           4    escape        87%
 u - create familiar        6    clerical     100%
 v - cause fear             3    enchantment    3%
 w - protection             1    clerical       3%
 x - extra healing          3    healing       65%
 y - create monster         2    clerical       3%
 z - sleep                  1    enchantment    3%
 A - remove curse           3    clerical      65%
 B - charm monster          3    enchantment    3%
 C - detect food            2    divination     3%
 D - magic missile          2    attack         0%

 Current skills:

 (Skills flagged by "#" cannot be enhanced any further.)

 Fighting Skills
       bare handed combat [Unskilled]
       riding             [Unskilled]
 Weapon Skills
       dagger             [Unskilled]
       knife              [Unskilled]
       axe                [Unskilled]
       short sword        [Unskilled]
       club               [Unskilled]
       mace               [Unskilled]
    #  quarterstaff       [Expert]
       polearms           [Unskilled]
       spear              [Unskilled]
       javelin            [Unskilled]
       trident            [Unskilled]
       sling              [Unskilled]
       dart               [Unskilled]
       shuriken           [Unskilled]
 Spellcasting Skills
    #  attack spells      [Expert]
       healing spells     [Unskilled]
    #  divination spells  [Expert]
       enchantment spells [Basic]
       clerical spells    [Unskilled]
       escape spells      [Unskilled]
       matter spells      [Unskilled]

Discoveries

Unique Items
  Bell of Opening
Artifacts
  The Eye of the Aethiopica [chaotic amulet of ESP]
Amulets
  amulet of ESP (oval)
  amulet versus poison (circular)
  amulet of restful sleep (concave)
  amulet of strangulation (square)
  amulet of life saving (octagonal)
Weapons
  quarterstaff (staff)
* elven short sword (runed short sword)
* elven arrow (runed arrow)
* elven bow (runed bow)
* elven spear (runed spear)
* elven dagger (runed dagger)
* elven broadsword (runed broadsword)
Armor
  cloak of magic resistance (tattered cape)
* elven leather helm (leather hat)
* elven shield (blue and green shield)
* elven boots (combat boots)
* elven cloak (faded pall)
  speed boots (buckled boots)
  low boots called cheap shoes (walking shoes)
  leather gloves (fencing gloves)
  high boots (jackboots)
  shield of reflection (polished silver shield)
  levitation boots called lev (mud boots)
  gauntlets of power (old gloves)
  gauntlets of fumbling (padded gloves)
  water walking boots (riding boots)
  cloak of invisibility (piece of cloth)
Scrolls
  scroll of punishment (ELBIB YLOH)
  scroll of enchant armor (FOOBIE BLETCH)
  scroll of amnesia (JUYED AWK YACC)
  scroll of earth called earth (HACKEM MUCHE)
  scroll of enchant weapon (VELOX NEB)
  scroll of blank paper (unlabeled)
  scroll of teleportation (READ ME)
  scroll of magic mapping (PRATYAVAYAH)
  scroll of identify (ANDOVA BEGARIN)
  scroll of light (NR 9)
  scroll of gold detection (XIXAXA XOXAXA XUXAXA)
  scroll of create monster (TEMOV)
  scroll of remove curse (VENZAR BORGAVVE)
  scroll of destroy armor (DAIYEN FOOELS)
  scroll of taming (LEP GEX VEN ZEA)
  scroll of stinking cloud (KERNOD WEL)
  scroll of genocide (ZELGO MER)
  scroll of confuse monster (GARVEN DEH)
  scroll of scare monster (THARR)
  scroll of food detection (YUM YUM)
  scroll of fire (ELAM EBOW)
  scroll of charging (KIRJE)
Spellbooks
  spellbook of force bolt (copper)
  spellbook of detect monsters (turquoise)
  spellbook of identify (indigo)
  spellbook of cure blindness (wrinkled)
  spellbook of blank paper (plain)
  spellbook of haste self (light brown)
  spellbook of light (orange)
  spellbook of restore ability (dull)
  spellbook of confuse monster (dark green)
  spellbook of healing (dark brown)
  spellbook of stone to flesh (cyan)
  spellbook of levitation (velvet)
  spellbook of cure sickness (bronze)
  spellbook of detect treasure (dog eared)
  spellbook of knock (silver)
  spellbook of finger of death (parchment)
  spellbook of detect unseen (dusty)
  spellbook of magic mapping (light green)
  spellbook of slow monster (cloth)
  spellbook of jumping (leather)
  spellbook of invisibility (magenta)
  spellbook of create familiar (plaid)
  spellbook of cause fear (vellum)
  spellbook of protection (stained)
  spellbook of extra healing (tan)
  spellbook of create monster (ragged)
  spellbook of sleep (thin)
  spellbook of remove curse (yellow)
  spellbook of charm monster (purple)
  spellbook of detect food (gray)
  spellbook of magic missile (pink)
Potions
  potion of healing (dark)
  potion of see invisible (dark green)
  potion of gain energy called cyan peculiar (cyan)
  potion of invisibility (cloudy)
  potion of speed (pink)
  potion of confusion called bubbly hurled to not much effect (bubbly)
  potion of water called h2o (clear)
  potion of fruit juice called papaya juice (effervescent)
  potion of blindness (golden)
  potion of booze (emerald)
  potion of paralysis (brown)
  potion of sickness (orange)
  potion called bril blue (brilliant blue)
  potion of extra healing (magenta)
  potion of object detection (swirly)
  potion of sleeping (yellow)
  potion of gain level (ruby)
  potion of enlightenment (white)
  potion of polymorph (milky)
  potion of levitation (black)
  potion of monster detection (fizzy)
  potion of gain ability (purple-red)
  potion of oil (smoky)
  potion of hallucination (puce)
  potion of full healing (sky blue)
  potion of restore ability (murky)
Rings
  ring of gain constitution (steel)
  ring of poison resistance (granite)
  ring of regeneration (ruby)
  ring of searching (wire)
  ring of warning (clay)
  ring of gain strength (shiny)
  ring of free action (black onyx)
  ring of slow digestion (diamond)
  ring of polymorph (jade)
  ring of increase damage (tiger eye)
  ring of polymorph control (opal)
  ring of see invisible (pearl)
  ring of conflict (emerald)
  ring of invisibility (topaz)
  ring of fire resistance (moonstone)
  ring of aggravate monster (iron)
  ring of protection (silver)
  ring of teleportation (ivory)
  ring of shock resistance (copper)
  ring of protection from shape changers (agate)
  ring of increase accuracy (bronze)
  ring of cold resistance (gold)
  ring of levitation (sapphire)
  ring of stealth (engagement)
  ring of adornment (twisted)
  ring of teleport control (wooden)
Wands
  wand of cancellation (curved)
  wand of teleportation (crystal)
  wand of sleep (oak)
  wand of make invisible (steel)
  wand of cold (uranium)
  wand of digging (long)
  wand of create monster (iron)
  wand of polymorph (jeweled)
  wand of striking (spiked)
  wand of magic missile (iridium)
  wand of fire (copper)
  wand of speed monster (brass)
  wand of locking (balsa)
  wand of light (platinum)
  wand of lightning (maple)
  wand of enlightenment (glass)
  wand of wishing (ebony)
  wand of nothing (silver)
Tools
  sack (bag)
  bag of holding called holding (bag)
  tallow candle (candle)
  wax candle (candle)
  oil lamp (lamp)
  tin whistle called tin (whistle)
  skeleton key (key)
  Bell of Opening (silver bell)
  bag of tricks (bag)
Gems
  worthless piece of violet glass (violet)
  worthless piece of yellowish brown glass (yellowish brown)
  worthless piece of red glass (red)
  worthless piece of yellow glass (yellow)
  worthless piece of blue glass (blue)
  diamond (white)
  worthless piece of white glass (white)
  dilithium crystal (white)
  worthless piece of green glass (green)
  chrysoberyl stone (yellow)
  ruby (red)
  worthless piece of black glass (black)
  amethyst stone (violet)
  luckstone (gray)
  amber stone (yellowish brown)
  emerald (green)
  worthless piece of orange glass (orange)
  turquoise stone (green)
  agate stone (orange)
  touchstone (gray)
  aquamarine stone (green)
  black opal (black)
  jet stone (black)
  citrine stone (yellow)
  fluorite stone (blue)
  topaz stone (yellowish brown)
  opal (white)

nethackers @ 2007-10-13T16:57:00

2007-10-13T23:06:52Z

Well, my Wizard died today, on the Astral Plane. Nothing sucks more than being within sight of the end, Amulet in hand, and just not being cool enough. (maybe next time!)

This was the first Wizard I've run that didn't suck, but I'm still not very comfortable playing a non-fighter character. Throwing fireballs is pretty sweet, but man, I'd blow away in a stiff breeze.

The stats:

Gaborn the Wizard, St 25 Dx 18 Co 16 In 20 Wi 20 Ch 15, elven
HP 0 (196), Pw 524, AC -25, lvl 27, killed by Pestilence

Carrying Magicbane, Frost Brand, Orcrist, Sunsword (found virtually at the end), Trollsbane
and a total of 124 gems and 6 amulets, as well as the Eye of Aethiopica; wearing gauntlets of power, speed boots, silver dragon scale mail, cornuthaum, cloak of magic resistance

Fire/cold/sleep/shock/disintegration/poison resistant, magic protected
Telepathic, warned, clairvoyant
Died 7 times (I found a horde of life saving amulets)

Notable kills include Baalzebub, Orcus, Juiblex, 1 Pestilence, 8 Rodneys, 6 mastodons, an Archon, The Dark One of course, Vlad, and did not extinct anything although I did kill a whopping 66 wraiths, 47 water elementals and 41 vampire lords

Genocided L, h, and krakens

Used 8 wishes (2 lamps, 2 thrones, 4 wand charges) but no artifact wishes, 2873574 points total.

Moving on to a burlier class next, I think.

nethackers @ 2007-09-25T13:04:00

2007-09-25T17:04:21Z

If it's one thing I hate it's a djinni with a bad sense of humor.

I rub a lamp that I bought in Mintown, a djinni pops up and offers me a wish. I wish for a +3 blessed gray dragon scale mail. What do I get?

A cursed -4 gray dragon scale mail. And he disappears.

I swear, when I find him...

London roguelike meet

2007-07-14T13:46:28Z

The next London roguelike meet will be at 14:00 on Saturday 28 July in the Pembury Tavern (http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/pembury/). We plan to (e)at, (q)uaff and #chat about roguelikes and related topics. Look for people who are either wearing NetHack T-shirts, or just looking generally geek-like.

[This was historically a rec.games.roguelike.nethack meet, but has since expanded its scope to be a general nattering about roguelikes; I'm crossposting the announcement here to see if there are any non-Usenet types who'd be interested in turning up.]

Nethack: the valkyrie continues

2007-04-23T02:46:15Z

So, I've got a valkyrie. 15th level, 171HP. Got crowned, and a bunch of stuff. Currently sitting on the stairs down into Gehennon. Suggestions of things I should take care of now before heading down?

Gabriel the Warrior         St:25 Dx:17 Co:18 In:10 Wi:13 Ch:10  Lawful
Dlvl:26 $:787 HP:171(171) Pw:62(62) AC:-13 Xp:15/227470 T:55085

Amulets
 B - an uncursed amulet of reflection
 T - an uncursed amulet of ESP (being worn)
 Weapons
 a - the blessed rustproof +7 Mjollnir (weapon in hand)
 H - the +0 Sunsword (alternate weapon; not wielded)
 Armor
 b - a blessed +0 elven leather helm (being worn)
 c - an uncursed burnt +3 small shield (being worn)
 f - an uncursed +0 pair of speed boots (being worn)
 k - a blessed +2 silver dragon scale mail (being worn)
 l - a blessed rustproof +2 pair of gauntlets of power (being worn)
 o - an uncursed +0 pair of levitation boots
 W - a blessed greased fireproof +3 cloak of magic resistance (being worn)
 X - an uncursed +2 pair of elven boots
 Comestibles
 F - an uncursed lizard corpse
 R - an uncursed food ration
 Scrolls
 y - a scroll of create monster
 I - a scroll of create monster
 Rings
 u - an uncursed ring of regeneration (on left hand)
 v - an uncursed rusty ring of slow digestion (on right hand)
 O - a ring of protection
 Wands
 d - a wand of digging (0:6)
 j - a wand of sleep (0:4)
 m - a wand of death (0:6)
 n - a wand of digging
 r - a wand of magic missile (0:1)
 s - an uncursed silver wand
 w - a wand of lightning (0:4)
 E - a wand of magic missile (0:1)
 P - a wand of digging (0:5)
 Q - an uncursed wand of polymorph
 U - a wand of cold (0:8)
 Y - a wand of slow monster (1:6)
 Z - a wand of undead turning (0:4)
 Tools
 i - the Bell of Opening (0:3)
 x - a blessed rustproof +1 pick-axe
 z - a brass lantern (lit)
 J - a +0 unicorn horn
 K - an uncursed oil lamp
 L - an uncursed blindfold
 N - an uncursed credit card
 S - the blessed Orb of Fate (0:5)
 V - a blessed bag of holding
 Gems
 q - an uncursed diamond named hard white
 t - a green gem
 A - 2 white gems
 C - 4 red gems
 D - 2 yellowish brown gems
 G - 5 violet gems

Bag:

 Coins
 a - 6817 gold pieces
 Amulets
 b - an uncursed amulet of reflection
 Armor
 c - an uncursed +0 mummy wrapping
 Comestibles
 d - 10 uncursed C-rations
 e - 2 lizard corpses
 f - a food ration
 g - a lizard corpse
 h - 2 fortune cookies
 i - 4 tripe rations
 j - a tripe ration
 Scrolls
 k - 2 blessed scrolls of blank paper
 l - 2 cursed scrolls of enchant weapon
 m - an uncursed scroll of enchant weapon
 Spellbooks
 n - a spellbook of blank paper
 Potions
 o - a cursed potion of healing
 p - an uncursed potion of invisibility
 a - a cursed potion of object detection
 b - 4 blessed potions called holy water
 Rings
 c - a ring of fire resistance
 d - a cursed gold ring
 e - an uncursed ring of warning
 f - an uncursed +2 ring of gain strength
 g - an uncursed ring of sustain ability
 h - an uncursed ring of see invisible
 i - a ring of invisibility
 Wands
 j - a wand of locking (0:5)
 k - a wand of fire (0:3)
 l - an uncursed wand of wishing
 m - an uncursed rusty wand of death named of death
 n - a cursed wand of digging
 o - a wand of opening (0:4)
 Tools
 p - a magic marker (1:0)
 q - an uncursed horn
 r - a blessed tinning kit
 s - an uncursed can of grease
 Gems
 t - a turquoise stone
 u - a turquoise stone
 a - 6 jasper stones
 b - 7 rubies
 c - 3 emeralds
 d - 6 amethyst stones
 e - a diamond

YAAP

2007-04-12T00:25:37Z

It's been a while since my last ascension (http://community.livejournal.com/nethackers/57541.html) but that's mainly due to not playing at all. I finally won with my original favorite character, the Valkyrie, and almost topped my last score ... but damn, this was my most difficult ascension thus far.

First of all ... not genociding mind flayers was a big mistake. I got brainsucked so many times, even with a greased helmet. It's embarrassing. Next character will kill them all first thing.

I got Mjolnir early through prayer, and not much later Grayswandir through prayer as well, sticking with it most of the way. Got crowned by Tyr - a first for me. Still can't keep a pet to save my life. I have, at least, finally mastered holy water, and I was totally stocked the whole game. Found a stack of other artifacts along the way, but never wished for one.

Come to think of it most of this game was pretty uneventful until the end. I plowed through the Elemental Planes without any problems; twice the portal was within 12-15 squares of my character. (sweeet) I picked the center altar on the Astral Plane (correctly) but lost about 25% of my hard-drunk HP to Death. Ran out of confusion-inducing items otherwise I would have tried the pet trick again like I did with my Caveman.

The tale of the tape, then!

Chihiro, lvl 30 Valkyrie, the Hand of Elbereth, 295 HP, -23 AC, wielding +6 Grayswandir
Eight artifacts, zero gold (I gave up on carrying it all), 153 gems and 24 amulets
(better than gold, I figured)

Died twice
Never changed form
Killed Baalzebub, Orcus, Yeenoghu, and Juiblex, but bribed Asmodeus
10 Rodneys
7 Deaths
one measly arch-lich before genociding them (along with master liches and disenchanters)
and I didn't freakin' extinct anything, but did kill 119 soliders (?)

8589156 points

I want to do the Wizard next, but I need to master keeping a non-combat character alive first :D

I r newb.

2007-03-25T23:31:29Z

Soo. Hi. I have a pretty funny story to tell about a long time ago when I was new to nethack. I'm kidding, this happened last month.

So, I was playing around, not really sure of what I was doing. I started polymorphing, got a baby white dragon, spider, and snake so that was interesting. Then.. I found the Sokoban level. Now at the time I had no idea what I was doing, so I just moved things around. I also thought that leaving and coming back would fix things. Not so much. Heh. Thinking you supposed to actually finish that puzzle (smart I'm not), I just let that character die. For the sixtieth time. Yeah, for some reason that character wouldn't die. I feel silly though, because I feel I could've done so many stupid things with an undying character.

Luckily I have found that spoiler page and now know that you don't really have to finish Sokoban, so that's good. I'm still not the best player ever but I'm learning. Maybe one day I'll get to dungeon level twenty..

Eulogy of a personal best.

2007-03-14T17:51:00Z

  1    2557065  relsqui-Val-Hum-Fem-Law died in Gehennom on level 36           
                [max 44].  Killed by a baluchitherium.                  - [242]

Figures. Two Wizards of Yendor and a master lich on the level, and the baluchitherium gets the kill.

Really it was my fault, though. I wasn't paying attention to my health--one of the Wizards stole the Orb of Fate, so I was taking about twice as much damage as I was used to. That's what I get for playing first thing in the morning, I guess.

To give you an idea of how good that game was for me, keep in mind that this was the first game in which I'd ever reached the quest level--much less received and finished the quest; killed Medusa; reached, entered, and cleared the Castle; killed Asmodeus, Juiblex, Baalzebub, and Orcus; and cleared the Tower and killed the Wizard of Yendor. (It shouldn't be terribly surprising that I used ten wishes over the course of this game.)

You know what's sad? There were TWO amulets of lifesaving in my inventory. The amulet (reflection) that I was wearing was cursed, though, so there's nothing I could have done about it.

Let's see, other highlights. I cheerfully ate the first green slime I came across, and then stopped playing and did some research when I started seeing sliming messages. Whoops. Luckily I had a wand of fire on me (and a healthy set of resistances).

When I got to the base of the fake Wizard's Tower I was looking for a way to cross the water. I mentioned this problem in IRC (not a Nethack channel) and someone said "why not just freeze it and walk over?" This hadn't occurred to me! I had a wand of cold, though, so I zapped away and went on over.

Later I found out he was kidding and had no idea it was actually possible. Can we say "the dev team thinks of everything"?

I used the same trick in the Wizard's Tower proper. The Wizard himself only took a couple of steps before I got the few turns that wiped him out. Those few steps, however, happened to take him out over his moat.

Which the Book of the Dead therefore ended up at the bottom of.

This was a little worrying. testing4l was seriously considering the possibility of the Book having been erased, even if I could get at it again. I was more optimistic than this, but I still didn't have an amulet of magical breathing, much less a way to remove my current amulet. I DID have a pet water moccasin, though, and plenty of time on my hands. I lured it through the portal and tried to get it upstairs.

I would love to say that worked--I still think it could have--but before I managed to drag it to the second level, another IRC friend noted that the invocation artifacts cannot be buried. Did I still have that wand of cold? Yes, but with no charges left. So I zapped ... and I zapped ... and I zapped ... and after an awful lot of zapping I coaxed one last charge out and froze the moat where the Book had fallen. Pop! There it was on top. Phew!

Soon, as I searched for boots of water walking or some other way I'd be able to get home after the Invocation, I understood why I had been advised not to kill the Wizard until absolutely necessary. I think I killed four or five of him before encountering the pair that did me in. I did have the boots, too--known uncursed, thanks to the altar in Orcustown, but not yet identified.

Finally, I think it's worth noting that I started this Nethack game almost a year ago. Obviously most of that time was not actually spent playing it; it was spent being frustrated (e.g. not knowing how to get across the Medusa level) or nervous (afraid of screwing up my best game ever). Eventually I found the balls to play it, though, so I have that to be proud of regardless of how stupid my death was.

Now, to start another game . . .

Roguelike fanworks

2007-02-17T00:39:42Z

I'm currently trying to create/compile a complete archive of all the fanart, fanfiction, fanmovies and whatever based on roguelike games. This includes Angband (and variants), NetHack, ADOM, Crawl, Rogue, Moria and any others. Therefore, if you have anything that you've drawn, written or made that you'd like to be included, please contact me! Each work is fully credited to the author and linked back to any site you choose - I host all the files locally so you don't have to worry about bandwidth :)

So if you're feeling... creative, why not make something to add, oh NetHack players?

The Roguelike Fanworks Archive - fan art, fan fiction and fan movies about roguelike games.

And now, my wizard (hereby renamed Lucky Git) has found a Wand of Wishing in Sokoban, and I intend to milk the situation to the max, to see if I can get all the leftover conducts besides wishless (veggie, vegan, polyself, polyitem, artiwish, genoless). Oddly, I've never ascended a vegan before. Even my monk that got close broke veggie by accident.

Another Silly Death

2007-01-28T20:23:12Z

An absolutely great game with a Barbarian, just playing Sokoban. Then... A barrow wight with a wand of death. Oh, you might say, I'm wearing an amulet of life saving, so no problem? Wrong! The ray bounces back from the wall a couple of steps behind me and strikes me a second time...

i love this picture

2007-01-19T07:10:04Z

Nethack reference
Originally uploaded by nascent.

Old but good. :) And now that I've had wine, I can't hack, so it's bedtime.

(crossposted because we for some reason have 'nethack' and 'nethackers'...)

YAFAP!

2007-01-16T03:09:19Z

Nothin' new here, but it's been, what, six or seven years since I started? I get to be happy. :D

NAO dump

To be honest, I was very very lucky. Not the "wand of wishing on floor 2" kind of lucky, but the kind where I got away with things I shouldn't. I played incredibly sloppily all through this game, even for me, and there's a reason I hadn't ascended before. I was making typos all over (there's a spot in the Minetown that still has Elberetj engraved on it), forgetting things constantly, doing stuff I already knew I shouldn't... the RNG simply decided not to take any of the ample opportunities to smite me. Highlights!

One thing I did get lucky on was leveling. The dungeon had a lot of wraiths this time around, including one BIG graveyard before Medusa, as well as some potions of gain level from a shop and someone's bones.
I held a full-on nurse ball in Sokoban, which was crashed by a mind flayer. I shrieked and ran and threw Mojo at it till it died. Between that and the levels, the HP were surely the biggest counter to my own general ditziness.
I had a cat polymorph into a green slime and learned that those things are worse than useless as pets. They're surprisingly low level, so they won't attack anything remotely tough, instead going around turning harmless newts into angry slimes. I believe my exact words when I finally got it to hit something were "Coo-- oh wait, that's not good." Fortunately the thing wasn't next to me.
I looted all the vaults plus Ludios and hauled that cash all the way back to the Minetown, only to remember that I'd killed the priest way back on my second visit. So I started making water to enholy instead, and some dumb ogre king with a wand of striking broke all 21 bottles. BUT! In the process of dipping all those potions into the fountains, I summoned a water demon, which, amazingly, gave me a wish.
Stupidest, stupidest mistake in a game full of stupid mistakes? Forgetting to put any of my armor back on after sex with an incubus. In Gehennom. For about four levels. During which some random demon managed to summon Yeenoghu. I still didn't even notice till ANOTHER incubus caught me. I burned an AoLS and used a wish for a ring of free action (which was a good investment anyway, since I never found one) but I still think I pretty much deserved to lose the game for that. Thank you, RNG! ♥
Gehennom sure was crawling with elves today. I always knew those treehugging jerks were up to no good.
Rodney was merciful today! Mostly he just made me nervous a lot, and showed up in person once before the Plane of Earth. And unblessed my GDSM once.
Speaking of green slimes, up on the Astral Plane my guardian angel was slimed (that's better than they usually do, I guess) and I was amused to note that the game called it "the green slime of Tyr". I polymorphed it into the lynx of Tyr, which unfortunately got itself killed before I could get something better. I'll have to play around more with polymorphing those. (Incidentally, the slime touched me too, and while I was completely mixing up my home remedies, a helpful fire ant corrected me. Seriously, I am not usually quite that dumb.)
Having been to the Astral Plane once before, I found that on the whole I was much, much better prepared for it this time. Which is a shame, because on my previous trip I was rather well prepared for the dungeon as a whole -- but I had no ring of conflict, only a couple charges on a wand of death, and one wand of teleportation (which I spent a wish recharging only to have it explode, and that's the only time I've ever had a wand explode on me so far). Three AoLSs didn't make up for a general inability to get through the crowds. Even so, if that first altar had been chaotic my YAFAP would've been a cool orcish ranger instead of just some valkyrie. Drat.
...How exactly is it possible for soldiers to go extinct? Maybe world peace, but if War weren't alive and well I wouldn't be here.

All in all, I'm glad I did it, but it just wasn't as exciting as that near-ascension a few months ago. Of course, that was my first time with a lot of the later parts of the game. I'll just have to make up for it by playing more tourists!

YAAP: Tourist

2007-01-03T18:02:32Z

alt.org record
my own mirror

Rodney: tourist[3]: "A tourist is like a piece of tissue paper walking around in the rain." ~ dtype

I agree with dtype, this class is hard getting momentum with. I died 32 times before I managed to get enough traction to take the game to the end. I've never been more upset than when I'd take a tourist all the way through Sokoban and the mines just to die. I probably only took this one to the end due to finding a bones file in the mines that provided a BoH, Cloak of MR, SDSM, and Wand of Wishing. I wished up Grayswander and Orb of Fate, and from there on I had plenty of damage immunity and an almost constant source of escape. I raised a pet army and stormed the mall, once I had my credit card in hand, coupled with my horn of plenty, I began a very slow paranoid game during the course of which I exploded many many wands due to over charging, and ran through over 100 bottles of holy water.

The game was pretty standard after I got the PYEC. A can of grease was the most useful item, as I fell into water (as I usually do) several times. When I got my second wishing wand, I had pretty much all the equipment I needed, so I wished up a bunch of magic markers and genocided the usual things, enchanted everything else, and gave myself lots of gold detection and such.

The climb was more difficult than usual, I kept getting pulled back below Jublex's lair, probably about 6-8 times. I felt like I was playing a lawful for awhile. The planes went quickly, I had four polymorph wands that took care of the air elementals, was able to summon a purple worm army that did a good job getting in the way of the riders, and found the alter on my second attempt. Just for fun I filled the astral with acid blobs before offering the amulet, as I've only had one occasion I can recall where doing that was useful. In retrospect, it might be wise to unleash the acid blobs immediately upon entering the astral, just to keep riders from sneaking up behind me. Not sure though.

In any case, I'm glad to have finally finished all the hard classes. Having a blessed PYEC was great, but there was a lot of frustration getting there.

YAAP: Healer

2006-12-18T16:42:25Z

alt.org log

I'm committed to ascending at least once in every class on alt.org, healer was next in line since it's one of the harder classes. But after playing Archeologist, Healer wasn't that difficult in comparison. Mainly because you start equipped to dominate.

First off, you have healing spells which keep your pet alive and leveling. Hugging that pet to take you down to the Mine Town, you can burn your initial gold on at least 4 doses of protection. Blank out your healing potions, convert the first alter you find and turn them into holy water. Then bless your extra healing potions and you have a lot of hit points and a low AC at an early level, plus a difficult to kill pet. Once you're high enough level to reliably cast stone to flesh, you now have enough good to be really paranoid. It only took me about 4-5 tries to get a good start.

Healer is still weak, so you can run around killing things. But the only real hard part is getting a unicorn horn, once I had that I was able to cut through most everything until I got around Medusa's level. From there I went and did the quest and got the Staff of Aesculapius which got me through Medusa's level and went on to be my weapon for the rest of the game.

Here I got lucky, which might have made my game easier than most. I found a bones file that had a cloak of magic resistance and silver dragon scale mail. That got me to the wand of wishing rather easily, which freed me up to wish for The Eye of the Aethiopica and The Orb of Fate. The rest of the game was just a standard building of the ascension kit, mapping Gehennom and clearing paths between stairways. Along the way I found a few magic markers, which allowed my to finish enchanting everything and left me with several scrolls of genocide and taming and charging which would come in handy in the Astral. Of course, I screwed that up when I was standing on frozen water and a hellhound ran around the corner and dunked me.

Left with only about 11 charges on my death wands, I hurried down to get the amulet, melee fighting Rodney and saving the death charges for double trouble, and using my few teleportation scrolls for when I got pulled down a few levels. Eventually I made it into the Earth plane, where I killed Rodney for the last time then proceeded to burn all the charges on my orbs trying to find the first portal. Eventually I found it, went to the air plane and read a gold detection scroll while confused. In the fire plane I hung around until I saw monsters disappearing and in the water plane I spent many turns just killing things until I stumbled across the portal (thank God for slow digestion).

The astral plane was easy enough, I lucked out again. I only had enough death wand charges to handle one rider, so I chose famine and blasted him, then teleported everything in my way until I got to the alter which fortunatly was the one I needed. I still had several scrolls and wands of monster summoning to create fodder to block away riders if I needed it, and a helm of opposite alignment if my second guess was wrong, but with that staff constantly feeding me hitpoints, I can't say I was ever really worried. I had a harder time ascending fighter classes.

YAAP: Archeologist

2006-12-12T13:31:27Z

Results recorded on NAO

Archeologist is HARD! I thought it'd be fun running around with a pickaxe and selling gems, but most shopkeepers don't buy gems and those that do can only afford to buy one or two! Over and over I kept trying different things but nothing I did seemed to get me to Medusa's level. Archeologists are tough!

My ascension was a result of luck and frustration, I don't like winning by luck but for now I'll take it! I had finally decided to try doing the protection racket, I hugged my pet, the mines were less dangerous because I played a Dwarf for once, so the mines were mostly a training ground for my dog. I fed every other domestic I came across until I found some leashes to keep them nearby (and discovered that leashing a pet is a good way to detect traps!) and made it to mine town still level 1. I hadn't found any gems or spellbooks yet so I was worried this wasn't going to work out, but one of the shops had an expensive camera and a magic whistle, so I was able to leech money out 100gp at a time until I could get my natural AC to 5.

By that time I had enough close calls against Elves that I decided to just hang onto the camera since it was able to scare off whatever Elbereth wouldn't. My pets were strong enough to kill some guards which gave me some good armor and I was able to take on Sokoban with a decent AC, something between -5 and -10. From there on it was like any other game for awhile. As I got close to Medusa's level I found the pickaxe wasn't doing enough damage anymore, so I spent a day hunting dwarves in the mines until one finally dropped a mattok.

Then I finally came across Medusa's level, but had no levitation. So it was up and down looking for Ludios, which ended up not being there. So I did the quest instead and came across levitation in there. Crossed Medusa's lair, went to the Castle and wished up the usual things, then went on down looking for Vlad. I had just enough magic mapping to find him, and was still unburdened so I decided to see if I could push down all the way so I could drop the candelabra and silver bell on the vibrating square. By the time I did that I was unable to avoid being burdened. Instead of being smart and teleporting back to my stash, I decided to start digging paths between the staircases on my way up. I'd only genocided LR; at this point, because I was a dwarf I hadn't had the opportunity to get rid of the mind flayers, but they respect E so I wasn't worried.

Evidently I forgot that any dick with a monster summoning scroll could ruin my day, and a hill giant did just that. Master Mind Flayer popped up right next to me while I was burdened and sucked my brain stupid. After I had scared him off I suddenly saw the wisdom of teleporting to the stash, and went through the laborious process of harvesting identify scrolls and re-learning what all my gear was. I burned my genocide scrolls I had planned on using to make a purple worm army in the astral to get rid of all mind flayers, then went on to finish digging my getaway paths.

Rodney died easy this game, didn't dodge the deathwands more than once or twice. I didn't get teleported back more than a few times despite being lawful. All the elemental planes were easy, and though I had damage issues in the Astral since I only had -30 AC, I had enough healing potions and teleport wands to hold them off so I could use confused monster creation scrolls to put a wall of acid between me and my enemies. With no real close calls and no reliance on life saving amulets I managed to find the lawful alter on my second try, while conquering my fear of facing Death in melee, and finally the nightmare that is ascending Archeologist is over!

black objects & monsters that are dark blue...

2006-12-02T20:50:00Z

So everyone that plays nethack on the server I play on has this color problem. Everyone that plays on nethack.alt.org probably has it too, I'm guessing, since it seems to be an acknowledged behavior on Debian, and both my server and alt.org are running that. I don't want to just change my ANSI colors, as that's not going to fix the problem (then my blue monsters are just going to be black!) - so my question is (this is what I haven't been able to find):

If it's even possible, how do you define the colors for specific monsters & items in the .rc file? I might have missed this while I was digging through rec.games.roguelike.nethack, and I apologize if I did, or if I missed the question in the community's history, too.

(cross-posted to nethack)

Bad Bone file days

2006-11-01T13:14:26Z

I've been offsite on a client zone lately and since there's no Internet there, it's been Nethack to keep me from going stir crazy :P

Now, a while back-I posted about my wand of poly adventures and ended up getting some nice effects on my pets when I zapped them. So chances are, I always have some obscenely powerful pet and I'm stuck at level 2, trying to make my way through to find a magic whistle somewhere to pet tank with but mostly end up dying when my pet wanders off or a trapdoor lands me in the middle of some horde who isn't pleased to see me :(

Anyway, a while back I had an Archelogist with a Marilith as a pet. Very. awesome.

Bad part is: she wreaked havoc on the whole of Minetown when I brought her down, killed all the guards and shopkeepers, armed herself with armor and a sword and for some stupid reason, brought a horde of Dwarves who dug up the whole town and she refused to attack any of them. No walls or shops ftl. Nowhere to hide. :(

Either way, loot right? Wrong.

Queue up my horrible luck and I get the crap beaten out of me by a pissed off gnome with a Wand Of Fire and everything in my inventory either exploding or burning me alive. So that's that right?

Wrong again.

6 games yesterday. SIX. And EVERY time I hit Minetown, there's that Marilith and that gnome waiting at the bottom of the stairs :( So I descend and WHAM-Die. Very. Painfully. Talk about aggravation right? And no wands of death or anything anywhere to be found. And this was a different character every time. So I can only imagine how many graves are down there...

*sigh* I love this game at time but it chooses the oddest of times to just throw the worst horrors at me eh? Anyone wanna trade bonefiles?

Nethack = comedy gold

2006-10-26T23:47:46Z

OK, this was pretty damn funny to me...

I'm playing a chaotic elven priestess, xplvl 4, dlvl 4, and I am getting my ass handed to me by a large mimic in a shop. Weep. Noting that I have a tooled horn in my inventory, I play it, terrifying the large mimic, a nearby small mimic, and the shoppie. I flee outside, shut the door, and heal up, then go back in to prepare to go 'shopping' with my kitten. The mimic is still fleeing me at this point, and it takes me a while to finally kill it, having chased it out into the hallway, and since I'm constantly running hungry, I eat the corpse, and get the standard:

You can't resist the temptation to mimic a pile of gold.

By some stroke of timing, a rock mole happens to be approaching at the same time, and I see this...

Wait, rock mole!  That gold is really a priestess named Eve!

I never stop being surprised by this game. ;)

nethackers @ 2006-10-19T07:20:00

2006-10-19T11:22:42Z

It seems that October 19th is Official Nymph Day, or something. Seriously, 6 nymphs within three levels? Four of them on the same one? What the hell.

(I guess this is what I get for taking a break from high level characters and starting a new one, eh?)

This is why you don't play on Friday The 13th...

2006-10-16T14:58:43Z

This is what I get for being lazy.

Rolled onto a Tourist Friday morning just for the heck of it since I didn't feel like playing a saved game. One level up later, mine level 2 and I found a Poly Wand. Sweet right? :D

Now queue the random shop. BUT: this one is WELL STOCKED. I mean complete.

Food.
Wands.
Armor.
A bag.
Scrolls.

I.e. a nice decent kit to get you at least to Minetown without being harassed too much.

Very nice. :D But the bad part-I haven't trained the kitty to do a lot of stealing so the overall process is taking me very very long and I'm running outta patience seeing all that possible stealable loot and my only barrier is a shopkeeper who will most likely blast me into oblivion if I try to snatch and run.

Poly wand! I had zapped a random crappy item to test it initally when I found it was a poly wand so I decided to go for gold and get myself outfitted by zapping the shopkeep and just whomping whatever he changed into. So I zap him.

...out of all things to change into: a Mind Flayer. =(

So here I am, ready to panic now since I'm level 2, staring at a mind flayer and no helm, much less something decent to attack with. So I try zapping the wand again.

It explodes. And the Mind Flayer just has his way with me afterwards with the remaining 2 HP :(

See folks? This is WHY you don't play on Friday The 13th...

Update on Cort the Caveman

2006-10-13T13:41:35Z

Well, the caveman I had mentioned in a previous post is still alive, but quite stupid. Wait, not the caveman. Me.

For the first time in memory, I found a Bones file in the Valley (no yummy wraiths!), and a rather PO'd Asmodeus. For some reason, he never 'ported to the stairs, so I just stood there and killed him. Turned out a Samurai/Barbarian with Helm of OA of mine from a previous game had in the temple, and had stuff that I didn't, well, need. I looted him for his stuff, and forgot to identify the wands first.

Whoops.

Luckily, the corpse had a blessed bag of holding (Dropped when I knew I was a goner, probably), complete with pickaxe and magic lamp, which I hadn't managed to find this time around. So, he may be a lot lighter in gems, but he at least has food and accessories again!

Luckily, the only artifact I had in the bag was Cleaver. Big Loss, eh?

Gotta love Hallucinating with pets...

2006-10-10T04:08:20Z

Recently I've seen:

"The Predator Bites the Dalek" and "The Y2K bug touches the Flying Purple People Eater"