NetHack 3.4.3
By: Brian Schroeder
NetHack
• NetHack is a text-based
graphical RPG.
• Current version is 3.4.3
• NetHack is Copyright 1985-2003
by Stichting Mathematisch
Centrum and M. Stephenson.
• NetHack is freely available ‘dungeoncrawling’ style RPG for a number of
computing platforms.
• It is available on the internet under the
Nethack General Public License.
• There are also a number of public NetHack
servers that can be connected to with any
terminal program.
• One of the more popular ones,
nethack.devnull.net runs an annual, monthlong, NetHack tournament starting on
Halloween at midnight where they track a
number of statistics like most ascensions
(games won), highest score in each role
and most unique deaths. (These will be
explained later)
Hardware Requirements
(Estimated)
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386 or equivalent or higher
5 MB hard disk space
8 MB ram
Monitor capable of 24 lines x 80 columns
of text display
*These requirements are estimated and based
on the Microsoft Windows port of NetHack
(which requires Windows 98 or higher to
run w/o special patches.) A tile-based
version is also available with probably
only slightly higher requirements.
History
• Based on the early game ‘Rogue’
• Derived from ‘Hack’, written by
Jay Fenalson with help from
Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome and
Jon Payne
• Andries Brouwer took ‘Hack’ and
modified it considerably.
History
• Mike Stephenson began making his own
changes to Brower’s ‘Hack’ and
enlisted the help a group of people
on USENET.
• Eventually it acquired the name
NetHack at the request of Brower who
would like to keep the ‘Hack’ name
open for his own possible releases.
• Contrary to any impressions you
might get from the name, ‘Net’Hack
is a single-player game and will
remain so.
Overview
• You control your @ on a quest to
descend into the Mazes of Menace,
(Dungeons of Doom, whatever),
retrieve the Amulet of Yendor for
your deity, gain as much power and
wealth as you can manage and return
to the surface alive.
• Begin on level 1 of the dungeon.
• Amulet is below level 20.
• The fake Amulet of Yendor is common,
so take some identify scrolls.
Story
It is written in the Book of Kos:
After the Creation, the cruel god Moloch rebelled
against the authority of Marduk the Creator.
Moloch stole from Marduk the most powerful of all
the artifacts of the gods, the Amulet of Yendor,
and he hid it in the dark cavities of Gehennom, the
Under World, where he now lurks, and bides his time.
Your god Kos seeks to possess the Amulet, and with it
to gain deserved ascendance over the other gods.
You, a newly trained Footpad, have been heralded
from birth as the instrument of Kos. You are destined
to recover the Amulet for your deity, or die in the
attempt. Your hour of destiny has come. For the sake
of us all: Go bravely with Kos!
Story cont’d
• That is the main story and the
primary quest of the game. If you
had chosen a different class (other
than rogue) those words in red would
be different to reflect your
particular character.
• There are a number of side-quests
related to your class that you can
uncover also…
Sub-Quest Example
(for Samurai class)
I managed to get down to about level 9 when I received
this message…
• “You receive a faint telepathic message from Lord Sato:
Your help is urgently needed at the Castle of the Taro
Clan! Look for a …ic transporter.”
Once you enter the transporter, you get some extra
information.
• “Even before your senses adjust, you recognize the kami
of the Castle of the Taro Clan. You see the standard of
your teki, Ashikaga Takauji, flying above the town. How
could such a thing have happened? Why are ninja
wandering freely; where are the samurai of your daimyo,
Lord Sato? You quickly say a prayer to Izanagi and
Izanami and walk towards town.”
I am sure there was something after this, but I fell into
a pit that used to be a river and killed by a pack of
ninjas, wolves and an invisible stalker.
Player’s Roles
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Archeologist
Barbarian
Caveman/Cavewoman
Healer
Knight
Monk
Priest/Priestess
Rogue
Ranger
Samurai
Tourist
Valkyrie
Wizard
Installation
Unzip and run.
-orConnect to a server and log in
(assuming you have an account.)
Simple.
Text-Based Graphical?
• As opposed to something like
‘Adventure’, yes.
• Players see an overhead view of
the current dungeon level,
everything in the game is
denoted by individual
characters.
User Interface
• Movement is capable using
keyboard or mouse and keyboard.
• Arrow keys or number pad
control movement.
• Most other keys have functions
also and are case-sensitive.
The door opens.
The killer bee stings!
Message area
Map area
┌────
┌──────┐
···
░░░░░░░░░░░░░·······│
·a·
░
│······│
a
░░░░░░░░░░░░░■?·····│
a
░
│····%·│░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
@▒░░░░░░░░░░░░
│······■░░░░░░░ ┌───·────┐
└──────┘░
░ │········│
you
░░ │········│
·········│
│·<··%···│
│···$····│
└────────┘
Name
Title
Statitics
Alignment
Jumo the Thaumaturge
St:12 Dx:14 Co:16 In:14 Wi:10 Ch:10 Chaotic
Dlvl:5 $:251 HP:39(62) Pw:78(78) AC:9 Xp:7/763 T:3289 Stun Hallu Conf Hungry
Gold
Mana
Level/experience
Hitpoints
Armor
Turns taken
Dungeon Level
Status
Summary of key commands
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^D
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^T
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^X
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a
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A
c
C
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d
D
e
E
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f
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F
kick
kick (a door, or
something else)
'port
teleport (if you
can)
show
show your
attributes
apply
apply or use a tool
(pick-axe, key,
camera, etc.)
armor
take off all armor
close
close a door
call
name an individual
monster
drop
drop an object.
Drop
drop objects
eat
eat something
engrave write message in
floor
fire
fire ammunition
from quiver
fight
followed by
direction, fight a
monster
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i
o
p
P
q
Q
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r
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R
s
t
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T
w
W
x
z
Z
<
>
invent
open
pay
puton
quaff
quiver
list your inventory
open a door
pay your bill
put on an accessory
drink something
select ammunition
for quiver
read
read a scroll or
spellbook
remove remove an accessory
search search for secrets
throw
throw or shoot a
weapon
takeoff take off some armor
wield
wield a weapon
wear
put on some armor
xchange swap weapons
zap
zap a wand
Zap
cast a spell
up
go up the stairs
down
go down the stairs
Extended commands
execute by typing # and the first few letters of the command
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#adjust
#chat
#conduct
#dip
#enhance
#force
#invoke
#jump
#loot
#monster
#name
#offer
#pray
#quit
#ride
#rub
#sit
#turn
#twoweapon
#untrap
#version
#wipe
#?
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adjust inventory letters.
talk to someone.
list which challenges you have adhered to.
dip an object into something.
advance or check weapons skills.
force a lock.
invoke an object's powers.
jump to a location.
loot a box on the floor.
use a monster's special ability.
name an item or type of object.
offer a sacrifice to the gods.
pray to the gods for help.
exit without saving current game.
ride (or stop riding) a monster.
rub a lamp or a stone.
sit down.
turn undead.
toggle two-weapon combat.
untrap something.
list compile time options for this version of NetHack.
wipe off your face.
get this list of extended commands.
Scoring
• Score based primarily on experience,
gold and things you’ve done, how
deep you went in the dungeon, etc..
• Experience-level style reward system
– gain a level (by killing monsters,
doing a quest, drinking a potion of
gain level, eating a wraith corpse
or praying), presumably become more
powerful, capable of surviving
deeper in dungeon.
Artwork
• Clearly, the most realistic ever
seen or that will be seen for some
time.
• All thing in game represented with
individual characters, generally
based on the type/first letter of
the thing or something remotely
similar looking (like ‘=‘ for a
ring)
• Different from the text-adventure
game method of describing something.
NetHack
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abcdefghijkl-
MONSTERS
ant or insect
blob
cockatrice
canine
floating eye/sphere
feline
gremlin
humanoid
imp/minor demon
jelly
kobold
leprechaun
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nopqrstuvwxyz-
nymph
orc
piercer
quadruped
rodent
spider or centipede
trapper or lurker
unicorn or horse
vortex
worm
xan
light
zruty
NetHack
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mABCDEFGHIJKL-
mimic
angelic being
bat/bird
centaur
dragon
elemental
mold/fungus
gnome
giant
something unseen
jabberwock
Keystone Kop
lich
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MNOPQRSTUVWXY-
mummy
naga
ogre
pudding/ooze
quantum mechanic
rust monster
snake
troll
umber hulk
vampire
wraith
xorn
apelike
NetHack
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Z‘@&;:-
zombie
golem
you or another human
ghost or shade
demon
sea monster
lizard
ITEMS/THINGS
.- floor or a doorway
#- corridor, bars,
tree, sink or a
drawbridge.
>- stairs down
<- stairs up
)- a weapon
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[%/=?!($*+^“‘-
some armor
something edible
a wand
a ring
a scroll
a potion
something USEable
gold
stone/gem
door or spellbook
a trap
amulet or spiderwab
a boulder or statue
Sound and Music
• Sound is an important part of
the game as it can give you
information about what is on a
particular level.
• There is no actual sound, per
se, but the textual description
of what your character can
hear.
• Some examples follow:
Sound and Music
You ring the bell.
This means you just rang a bell.
Sound and Music
You hear the chime of a cash
register.
This means there is a vendor on
the level.
Sound and Music
You hear the splashing of a
naiad.
There is water somewhere on the
level.
Sound and Music
You hear a door open.
This means that a monster
capable of opening doors is
nearby (most monsters cannot
open doors.)
Sound and Music
You hear water falling on coins.
This means that a sink or
fountain on the level might
have treasure in it.
Influences
The game as a whole seems to be drawn
from a number of sources, primarily
Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the
Rings and mythology, also from other
fantasy writing and some pop-culture
references (eating spinach from a
tin will get you a Popeye-esque
message, eating a trident (spear)
while polymorphed into a metallivore
(metal-eater) will get you a message
along the line of “pure chewing
satisfaction” ala Trident gum.)
Special Features
• The game keeps copies of your dead characters
‘bones’…you just might run into them at some point with
a different character. (most of your stuff will probably
be cursed though, and whatever killed you before will
still probably be lurking around.
• Whenever you start a new game, all the levels,
potion/scroll/book/amulet/ring descriptions are
randomized so you have to figure out everything over
again. Kinda like Diablo, but more difficult.
• Cursed, normal, blessed, enchanted, disenchanted and
rustproof items.
• Don’t kill your pet, use it to rob stores! Plus that
would abuse your luck and make god mad at you!
• Engraving (E- use fingers) the word ‘Elbereth’ in the
floor will cause monsters to flee. (Very useful!)
Special Features
• ‘Conduct’ challenges, restrictions on the actions
a player can make. These are optional and include
things like not eating (very difficult), not
reading, not praying, not changing form, not
wielding a weapon, not attacking anything (very
difficult), not wishing or not committing
genocide. Just in case you don’t think the game
is hard enough and want more of a challenge.
• Strange interactions. While everything may not
have a use with everything, there are enough
things that interact to keep you quite busy or
perhaps in a constant state of peril. Things like
hearing different sounds while hallucinating, or
how scrolls can have completely different effects
while you are confused.
• Line-of-sight when entering lit rooms.
• Special Sokoban levels!
Special Features
• Windows version includes a
version with image tiles
instead of characters.
• Most settings in the game are
changeable/extendable.
Manual/Documentation
• I suppose you could print it out if you wanted.
• 54 page guidebook, a README file, in-game help.
• In game character identification feature ‘/’ key.
Identifies just exactly what a character on the
screen is and, if applicable, offers some
additional information. Additional information
may just be a definition of what, say, a xan (no
idea) is or it could be a quote or passage from
literature noting the source of the feature. (More
info on the Jabberwock monster, for example, gives
a copy of Lewis Carroll's poem.)
You will be greeted with this:
NetHack, Copyright 1985-2003
By Stichting Mathematisch Centrum and M. Stephenson.
See license for details.
Who are you?
Bugs
• You are not responsible for the actions of your
pets in stores, they are free to take things out
of the shop, eat them or anything else they might
wish to do. In fact, sometimes pets will steal
items from stores for you. In general,
shopkeepers seem to only pay mind to players.
• Regarding the ‘Conduct’ subquests mentioned
earlier: One of the conduct quests is atheism,
and is violated by praying, speaking with a priest
of your god, etc. , however, you are still allowed
to maintain this conduct as a Priest/Priestess
(Priest of atheism?) and after having given the
amulet to your deity.
Fun things
• Finding a leprechaun hall when you have
fireball/something explosive and reusable. From my
experience, leprechaun halls have around 5k+ gold in
them if you can manage to kill all the leprechauns
before they start using their wands of dig (makes a hole
to the next level down). If leprechauns hit you, they
take about 75% of your gold.
• Being polymorphed into a lycanthrope. You gain the
ability to summon forth your kin but you generally can’t
carry very much stuff…
• Ascending…I’d assume. Aka. Winning the game (never done
it)
• Explore mode… Otherwise I’d have never been below level
13.
• Eating corpses and getting intrinsics instead of dying.
After you kill certain monsters with elemental attacks,
you can eat their corpse to gain resistance to that
elemental type or other effects like teleport control.
Not fun things
• Being polymorphed against your will, especially if it’s
into a werejackal. Werejackals are pitifully weak and
sprigs of wolfsbane (the antidote) do not seem to be all
that common.
• Having all your stuff stolen by those bloody nymphs!
Nymphs have absolutely no melee presence and therefore
cannot actually harm you, but they do seem to have quite
a penchant for taking your equipment right off of you!
• Rust monsters, acid monsters, level drainers, HP
drainers. It hurts to lose the stuff you worked hard to
keep nice, especially when its stuff like…your body.
• Death and it’s permanence (unless you backup your
savegames in a separate directory.) A lot of games
nowadays wouldn’t even think of having permanent death;
NetHack is an exception.
• 191 known ways to die. They range from things as mundane
as ‘drowned in a pool’ and ‘killed by an undead monster’
to things like ‘killed by sipping boiling water’ and
‘killed by a carnivorous bag’.
Comparason
• As a character-based RPG, it is very
similar to other RPG’s in the ‘Roguelike’
genre.
• As an adventure game, it shares many
puzzle-like elements with text-based
adventure games but with more of a freeform gameplay style on the order of Grand
Theft Auto, something where the
clandestine goal of the game can be to
formulate your own goals. You can be
perfectly content with having accomplished
something that has nothing to do with
winning the game.
Comparason
• As a hack-and-slash style RPG, it
shares many game elements with
Diablo, randomly generated worlds,
monsters and objects interspersed
with predefined monsters, artifact
objects and areas. Under most cases
you can simply charge in and
slaughter everything, but sometimes
discretion is the better part of
valor, especially if you’ve gone
down a bit farther than your level
might otherwise allow.
Why/What makes
better/worse?
• Compared to other Roguelike games, I think NetHack
has a distinct advantage in being cooperatively
developed by the people who play it. As people
come up with new features and others adopt them,
they can eventually find their way into an
official release.
• Compared to other RPG’s, its text-based nature
allows for a much more complete set of reactions
from the characters and world because its
graphical complexity is so low, However, it is
definitely not going to win any points in the art
dept. and this will IMMEDIATELY turn off a huge
number of people who have grown up with
increasingly complex graphics or feel that they
have outgrown the ‘text era’
Why/What makes
better/worse?
• Its better than other RPG’s because there are just
so many different ways to do most of everything
and so much nuance, you can get truly days worth
of play time.
• However, all of this nuance makes for an
exceedingly difficult game that requires either
tons and tons of memorization or for you to take
notes on what you’ve seen happen in previous play.
• It can be very unforgiving, the right combination
of events (or bad luck) can completely destroy
even the most well-planned character.
• Also, there really Isn’t much player to NPC
interaction from what I’ve seen, I think the
unrealistic graphics create a sense of separation,
you are just issuing commands to an at-sign that
looks exactly like all the other at-signs that are
trying to kill you…
Audience
• Overall, there isn’t much to offend anyone, the
occasional hell-hound or some such thing romping
around in the pits of hell. every once in a while
you will be seduced by some incubi or succubae,
but you’d really have to know what was going on to
realize it (sometimes they demand you pay them).
• More than the content, the complexity of the game
is probably at issue, as you progress further and
further, there are more and more things you have
to pay attention to and remember.
• It is best for everyone to use their own
discretion.
Design Mistakes
• As mentioned earlier, Priests and
priestesses are allowed to be
atheistic. That’s more of a wording
mistake, but it lends a little bit
of inconsistency.
• I am sure there are others or if you
took a fine toothed comb to the
thing you’d uncover some huge
consistency nightmare just as a
result of the way the program is
structured and causes some things to
react.
Summary
Strengths
• Open-endedness
• Open source
• Explore mode
• Complexity (interesting)
Weaknesses
• Despite all the open-endedness,
only one way to win (leave the
dungeons with the real amulet)
• Difficulty
• Complexity (infuriation)
Worth purchasing
downloading?
• It’s free isn’t it?
• Check nethack.sourceforge.net
if you don’t like it, you can
delete it.
Room for improvement?
• As I mentioned in ‘weaknesses’,
it wouldn’t hurt if there were
more/varied endings that
involved winning. Why can’t the
character use the amulet to
gain ascendance over the gods?
• A training mode to let you know
exactly what things like
cameras and towels were for.