A Guide to the Mazes of Menace:
Guidebook for NetHack
Eric S. Raymond(Extensively edited and expanded for 3.4)
February 12, 2003

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 yourlife, and somehow managed to forget about them until now. Some nights you awaken suddenly andcry out, terrified at the vivid recollection of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be lurking
behind every corner of the dungeon in your dream. Could these details haunting your dreams be real?
As each night passes, 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 whoentered 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 firsttime. 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 canfind 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 andseek out that amulet of which they spoke. Even if the rumors of the amulet’s powers are untrue, you
decide that you should at least be able to sell the tales of your adventures to the local minstrels for atidy sum, especially if you encounter any of the terrifying and magical creatures of your dreams along theway. 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 themorning, you gather your gear, eat what may be your last meal outside, and enter the dungeon. . .

2What is going on here?

You have just begun a game of NetHack. Your goal is to grab as much treasure as you can, retrieve theAmulet of Yendor, and escape the Mazes of Menace alive.
Your abilities and strengths for dealing with the hazards of adventure will vary with your backgroundand 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.
1

Barbarians

are warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to battle. They begin their quests withnaught but uncommon strength, a trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword.
Cavemen and Cavewomen start with exceptional strength, but unfortunately, neolithic weapons.
Healers
are wise in medicine and apothecary. They know the herbs and simples that can
restore vitality, ease pain, anesthetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they can divine a being’s state of health or sickness. Their medical practiceearns 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 ofchivalry 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.
Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders advancing 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.
Roguesare agile and stealthy thieves, with knowledge of locks, traps, and poisons. Theiradvantage 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 themstrong, 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 particularaffinity for dweomercraft. Although seemingly weak and easy to overcome at firstsight, an experienced Wizard is a deadly foe.
You may also choose the race of your character:
DwarvesElves
GnomesHumansOrcs

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.
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.
are smaller than but generally similar to dwarves. Gnomes are known to be expert
miners, and it is known that a secret underground mine complex built by this race
exists within the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger.
are by far the most common race of the surface world, and are thus the norm bywhich other races are often compared. Although they have no special abilities, they
can succeed in any role.
are a cruel and barbaric race that hate every living thing (including other orcs). Above
all others, Orcs hate Elves 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.

2

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 pseudoEnglish sentences and explain the results in words, NetHack commands are all one or two keystrokes andthe 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 21 × 80 section will be used for the map.
NetHack can even be played by blind players, with the assistance 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 despite 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 created. The three possible display options are: a monochrome
character interface, a color character interface, and a graphical interface using small pictures calledtiles. The two character interfaces allow fonts with other characters to be substituted, but the default
assignments use standard ASCII characters to represent everything. There is no difference between thevarious display options with respect to game play. Because we cannot reproduce the tiles or colors in the
Guidebook, and because it is common to all ports, we will use the default ASCII characters from themonochrome 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 doingwith 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.
The bat bites!
-----|....|---------|.<..|####...@...$.||....-#|...B....+|....||.d......|------------|--

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

NeutralFigure 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. Hereare explanations of what the various status items mean (though your configuration may not have all thestatus items listed below):
RankYour character’s name and professional ranking (based on the experience level, see

3

Strength

Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
WisdomCharisma
Alignment

Dungeon LevelGold
Hit Points

Power
Armor Class

ExperienceTime
Hunger Statusbelow).
A measure of your character’s strength; one of your six basic attributes. A humancharacter’s attributes can range from 3 to 18 inclusive; non-humans may exceed theselimits (occasionally you may get super-strengths of the form 18/xx, and magic canalso cause attributes to exceed the normal limits). The higher your strength, thestronger you are. Strength affects how successfully you perform physical tasks, howmuch damage you do in combat, and how much loot you can carry.
Dexterity affects your chances to hit in combat, to avoid traps, and do other tasks
requiring agility or manipulation of objects.
Constitution affects your ability to recover from injuries and other strains on yourstamina.
Intelligence affects your ability to cast spells and read spellbooks.
Wisdom comes from your practical experience (especially when dealing with magic).
It affects your magical energy.
Charisma affects how certain creatures react toward you. In particular, it can affectthe prices shopkeepers offer you.
Lawful, Neutral or Chaotic. Often, Lawful is taken as good and Chaotic is evil, but legal and ethical do not always coincide. 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 yourpresence.
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 aname and not a number. The Amulet of Yendor is reputed to be somewhere beneaththe twentieth level.
The number of gold pieces you are openly carrying. Gold which you have concealedin containers is not counted.
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 canregain 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.
Spell points. This tells you how much mystic energy (mana) you have available forspell casting. Again, resting will regenerate the amount available.
A measure of how effectively your armor stops blows from unfriendly creatures. The
lower this number is, the more effective the armor; it is quite possible to have negative
armor class.
Your current experience level and experience points. As you adventure, you gain
experience points. At certain experience point totals, you gain an experience level.
The more experienced you are, the better you fight and withstand magical attacks.
Many dungeons show only your experience level here.
The number of turns elapsed so far, displayed if you have the time option set.
Your current hunger status, ranging from Satiated down to Fainting. If your hunger
status is normal, it is not displayed. Additional status flags may appear after thehunger status: Conf when you’re confused, FoodPois or Ill when sick, Blind when
you can’t see, Stun when stunned, and Hallu when hallucinating.

4The message line (top)The top line of the screen is reserved for messages that describe things that are impossible to represent
visually. If you see a “--More--” on the top line, this means that NetHack has another message todisplay on the screen, but it wants to make certain that you’ve read the one that is there first. To readthe next message, just press the space bar.

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 something. 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.
^
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 & other symbols Letters and certain other symbols represent the various inhabitants of theMazes 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 otherwise unseen monster. Notethat 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).

5

4

Commands

Commands are initiated by typing one or two characters. Some commands, like “search”, do not
require that any more information be collected by NetHack . Other commands might require additional
information, for example a direction, or an object to be used. For those commands that require additional
information, NetHack will present you with either a menu of choices, or with a command line prompt
requesting information. Which you are presented 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 thisexample, there is also a ‘*’ indicating that you may choose an object not on the list, if you wanted touse something unexpected. Typing a ‘*’ lists your entire inventory, so you can see the inventory lettersof every object you’re carrying. Finally, if you change your mind and decide you don’t want to do thiscommand 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 theexample above would be typed “n10s” instead. Commands for which counts make no sense ignore them.
In addition, 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 reference:
?
/

&
<
>
[yuhjklbn]

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 particular spot on the map and then pressing one of ‘.’, ‘,’, ‘;’, or ‘:’. ‘.’will explain the symbol at the chosen location, conditionally check for “More info?”
depending upon whether the help option is on, and then you will be asked to pickanother location; ‘,’ will explain the symbol but skip any additional information; ‘;’will skip additional info and also not bother asking you to choose another location to
examine; ‘:’ will show additional info, if any, without asking for confirmation. Whenpicking a location, pressing the ESC key will terminate this command, or pressing ‘?’
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.
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 ladder).
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
\ | /
h- . -l
/ | \
b j n

7

8 9
\ | /
4- . -6/ | \1 2 3(if number pad set)
Figure 2[YUHJKLBN]

Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run into something.

6

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 consideredinteresting.
_
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 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) an individual monster.
^C
Panic button. Quit the game.
dDrop something.
d7a — 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 followed 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. Engraving the word “Elbereth” will cause mostmonsters to not attack you hand-to-hand (but if you attack, you will rub it out); thisis often useful to give yourself a breather. (This feature may be compiled out of thegame, so your version might not have it.)E- — write in the dust with your fingers.
f
Fire one of the objects placed in your quiver. You may select ammunition with aprevious ‘Q’ command, or let the computer pick something appropriate if autoquiveris true.
i
List your inventory (everything you’re carrying).

7

I

o
O

p
P
^P
q
Q

r
R
^R
s
S
t
T
^T
v
V
w
W
x

X
^X
z
Z
^Z
:

List selected parts of your inventory.
I* — list all gems in inventory;
Iu — list all unpaid items;
Ix — list all used up items that are on your shopping bill;
I$ — count your money.
Open a door.
Set options. A menu showing the current option values will be displayed. You canchange most values simply by selecting the menu entry for the given option (ie, by
typing its letter or clicking upon it, depending on your user interface). For the nonboolean 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 before
the game rather than with the ‘O’ command; see the section on options below.
Pay your shopping bill.
Put on a ring or other accessory (amulet, blindfold).
Repeat previous message. Subsequent ^P’s repeat earlier messages. The behavior canbe varied via the msg˙window option.
Quaff (drink) a potion.
Select an object for your quiver. You can then throw this using the ‘f’ command. (Inversions prior to 3.3 this was the command to quit the game, which has now been
moved to ‘#quit’.)Read a scroll or spellbook.
Remove an accessory (ring, amulet, etc).
Redraw the screen.
Search for secret doors and traps around you. It usually takes several tries to findsomething.
Save (and suspend) the game. The game will be restored automatically the next time
you play.
Throw an object or shoot a projectile.
Take off armor.
Teleport, if you have the ability.
Display version number.
Display the game history.
Wield weapon.
w- — wield nothing, use your bare hands.
Wear armor.
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. Notethat if one of these slots is empty, the exchange still takes place.
Enter explore (discovery) mode, explained in its own section later.
Display your name, role, race, gender, and alignment as well as the various deities inyour game.
Zap a wand. To aim at yourself, use ‘.’ for the direction.
Zap (cast) a spell. To cast at yourself, use ‘.’ for the direction.
Suspend the game (UNIX versions with job control only).
Look at what is here.

8

;
,
@
^
)
[
=
"
(
*
$
+

\
!
#

#adjust#chat#conduct#dip#enhance#force#invoke#jump#loot#monster#name#offer
#pray
#quit
#ride
#rub
#sit
#turn
#twoweapon

Show what type of thing a visible symbol corresponds to.
Pick up some things. 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 inwhich your spells are listed. They are shown via a menu, and if you select a spell inthat menu, you’ll be re-prompted for another spell to swap places with it, and thenhave opportunity to make further exchanges.
Show what types of objects have been discovered.
Escape to a shell.
Perform an extended command. As you can see, the authors of NetHack used up all
the letters, so this is a way to introduce the less frequently used commands. Whatextended commands are available depends on what features the game was compiled
with.
Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option is “on”).
Talk to someone.
List which challenges you have adhered to. See the section below entitled “Conduct”
for details.
Dip an object into something.
Advance or check weapons and spell skills.
Force a lock.
Invoke an object’s special powers.
Jump to another location.
Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle from a horse standing next
to you.
Use a monster’s special ability (when polymorphed into monster form).
Name an item or type of object.
Offer a sacrifice to the gods.
Pray to the gods for help.
Quit the program without saving your game.
Ride (or stop riding) a monster.
Rub a lamp or a stone.
Sit down.
Turn undead.
Toggle two-weapon combat on or off. Note that you must use suitable weapons forthis type of combat, or it will be automatically turned off.

9

#untrap#version#wipe#?

Untrap something (trap, door, or chest).
Print compile time options for this version of NetHack.
Wipe off your face.
Help menu: get the list of available extended commands.

If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in combination with another key, modifies it bysetting 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, and PC NetHack, the ‘Alt’ key can be used in this fashion.
M-?
M-2
M-a
M-c
M-d
M-e
M-f
M-i
M-j
M-l
M-m
M-n
M-o
M-p
M-q
M-r
M-s
M-t
M-u
M-v
M-w

#? (not supported by all platforms)#twoweapon (unless the number pad option is enabled)#adjust#chat#dip#enhance#force#invoke#jump#loot#monster#name#offer
#pray
#quit
#rub
#sit
#turn
#untrap#version#wipe

If the number pad option is on, some additional letter commands are available:
h
j
k
l
N
u

5

Help menu: display one of several help texts available, like “?”.
Jump to another location. Same as “#jump” or “M-j”.
Kick something (usually a door). Same as ‘^D’.
Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle from a horse standing next
to you. Same as “#loot” or “M-l”.
Name an object or type of object. Same as “#name” or “M-n”.
Untrap a trap, door, or chest. Same as “#untrap” or “M-u”.

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 remainon the map as you explore them.
Secret corridors are hidden. You can find them with the ‘s’ (search) command.
10

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, orby 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 monsters 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.

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 something fall into it, or you discover it with the ‘s’ (search)command. 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 traditional rules of Sokoban. Some allowances are permitted in case theplayer gets stuck; however, they will lower your luck.

Stairs (‘<’, ‘>’)In general, each level in the dungeon will have a staircase going up (‘<’) to the previous level and anothergoing down (‘>’) to the next level. There are some exceptions though. For instance, fairly early in thedungeon you will find a level with two down staircases, one continuing into the dungeon and the otherbranching 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 dungeon.
When you traverse a set of stairs, or trigger a trap which sends you to another level, the level you’releaving will be deactivated 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 current 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 yourdestination. However, pets (see below) and some other monsters will follow along if they’re close enoughwhen you travel up or down stairs, and occasionally one of these creatures will displace you during theclimb. When that occurs, the pet or other monster will arrive on the staircase and you will end up nearby.

Ladders (‘<’, ‘>’)Ladders serve the same purpose as staircases, and the two types of inter-level connections are nearly
indistinguishable during game play.

6

Monsters

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

11

can do very well).
The commands ‘/’ and ‘;’ may be used to obtain information about those monsters who are displayedon the screen. The command ‘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 suchas a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce useful results.

Fighting
If you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt to walk into it. Many monsters you findwill mind their own business unless you attack them. Some of them are very dangerous when angered.
Remember: discretion is the better part of valor.
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 thatyou can see; of course, if the monster 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 remember a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use the ‘F’ command.

Your pet
You start the game with a little dog (‘d’), cat (‘f’), or pony (‘u’), which follows you about the dungeon
and fights monsters 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 under certain circumstances.
Your pet also gains experience from killing monsters, and can grow over time, gaining hit points anddoing 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 yourpet 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 willaccompany you and any non-adjacent pet will be left behind. Your pet may trigger such traps itself; youwill not be carried along with it even if adjacent at the time.

SteedsSome types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be ridden 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 order to forge the alliance. Once you do have the beast under yourcontrol however, you can easily climb in and out of the saddle with the ‘#ride’ command. Lead the beastaround the dungeon when riding, in the same manner as you would move yourself. It is the beast thatyou 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.

Bones levels
You may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventurers (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.
12

7

Objects

When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want to pick it up. In NetHack, this isaccomplished automatically by walking over the object (unless you turn off the autopickup option (seebelow), 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 yourinventory, you also add the weight of that object to your load. The amount that you can carry depends
on your strength and your constitution. The stronger you are, the less the additional load will affectyou. There comes a point, though, when the weight of all of that stuff you are carrying 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 haveto 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 letter. Many commands that operate on
objects must ask you to find out which object you want to use. When NetHack asks you to choose aparticular object you are carrying, you are usually presented with a list of inventory letters to choose
from (see 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 willrecognize it later. You can also use the “#name” command for the same purpose at any time, to nameall 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 assigninga new one.

Curses and Blessings
Any object that you find may be cursed, even if the object is otherwise helpful. The most common effectof a curse is being stuck with (and to) the item. Cursed weapons weld themselves to your hand whenwielded, 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 enchantments that make themless 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 example, a blessed weapon will do more damage against demons.
There are magical means of bestowing or removing curses upon objects, so even if you are stuckwith 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 othercharacter roles.
An item with unknown status will be reported in your inventory 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.

Weapons (‘)’)
Given a chance, most monsters in the Mazes of Menace will gratuitously try to kill you. You needweapons 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 withbare hands than they do with weapons.

13

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 crossbow 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 aweapon’s enchantment is to have it magically identified 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 willdo, depends upon many factors. Among them are: type of weapon, quality of weapon (enchantment
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 haveanother 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 simultaneously as primary and secondary; use the ‘#twoweapon’
extended 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 incurs a penalty inthe 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’ command which allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition to taking offother 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 damage to monsters in NetHack. Some of the more obscure weapons (suchas 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).

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 yourentire inventory. After you’ve chosen what to throw, you will be prompted for a direction rather than fora specific target. The distance something can be thrown depends mainly on the type of object and yourstrength. 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 haveto 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 when the inventory slot used for ‘Q’ runsout.
Some characters have the ability to fire a volley of multiple items in a single turn. Knowing how toload 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 ofproficiency 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 have14

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 specified. Once the volley is in motion, allof the items will travel in the same direction; if the first ones kill a monster, the others can still continue
beyond that spot.

Weapon proficiency
You will have varying degrees of skill in the weapons available. Weapon proficiency, or weapon skills,
affect how well you can use particular types of weapons, and you’ll be able to improve your skills as you
progress through a game, depending on your role, your experience level, and use of the weapons.
For the purposes of proficiency, weapons have been divided up into various groups such as daggers,
broadswords, and polearms. Each role has a limit on what level of proficiency a character can achievefor each group. For instance, wizards can become highly skilled in daggers or staves but not in swords orbows.
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” (sometimes also referred to as “restricted”, because you
won’t be able to advance), “unskilled”, “basic”, “skilled”, and “expert”. Restricted skills simply will notappear in the list shown by ‘#enhance’. (Divine intervention might unrestrict a particular skill, in whichcase 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 tohit 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 thresholdfor 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 isa limit to your total overall skills, so you need to actively choose which skills to enhance and which toignore.

Armor (‘[’)
Lots of unfriendly things lurk about; you need armor to protect yourself from their blows. Some types ofarmor 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 being 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 isan (incomplete) list of the armor classes provided by various suits of armor:
dragon scale mailcrystal plate mailsplint maildwarvish mithril-coatchain mailscale mailring mailleather armor
no armor

1
3
4
4
5
6
7
8
10

plate mailbronze plate mailbanded mailelven mithril-coatorcish chain mailstudded leather armor
orcish ring mailleather jacket

3
4
4
5
6
7
8
9

You can also wear other pieces of armor (ex. helmets, boots, shields, cloaks) to lower your armor classeven 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.

15

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 inhibit spell casting.
The commands to use armor are ‘W’ (wear) and ‘T’ (take off). The ‘A’ command can also be used totake off armor as well as other worn items.

Food (‘%’)
Food is necessary to survive. If you go too long without eating you will faint, and eventually die ofstarvation. Some types of food will spoil, and become unhealthy to eat, if not protected. Food stored in
ice boxes or tins (“cans”) will usually 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 theseare 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. Vegetarian monsters will typically never eat
animal corpses, while vegetarian players can, but with some rather unpleasant side-effects.
You can name one food item after something you like to eat with the fruit option.
The command to eat food is ‘e’.

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 blankones, 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 objects of subtle
enchantment are difficult to identify without these.
A mail daemon may run up and deliver mail to you as a scroll of mail (on versions compiled withthis 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 toit when you read the scroll. On versions of NetHack where mail is randomly generated internal to thegame, these environment variables are ignored. You can disable the mail daemon by turning off the mailoption.
The command to read a scroll is ‘r’.

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’) atthem. It is also sometimes very useful to dip (“#dip”) an object into a potion.
The command to drink a potion is ‘q’ (quaff).

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).
16

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, attempts to use the wand will usually resultin 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 suitablemagic, 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 certainly cause acatastrophic release of magical energies.
When you have fully identified a particular wand, inventory display will include additional informationin parentheses: the number of times it has been recharged followed by a colon and then by its current
number of charges. A current charge count of -1 is a special case indicating that the wand has beencancelled.
The command to use a wand is ‘z’ (zap). To break one, use the ‘a’ (apply) command.

Rings (‘=’)
Rings are very useful items, since they are relatively permanent 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).

Spellbooks (‘+’)
Spellbooks are tomes of mighty magic. When studied with the ‘r’ (read) command, they transfer tothe 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 yourhealth!
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 themagical energy released comes from within you, and casting several spells in a row may tire you. Castingof spells also requires practice. With practice, 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 themat 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 the skill group; sufficient skill
may increase the potency of the spell and reduce the risk of spell failure. Skill slots are shared withweapons skills. (See also the section on “Weapon proficiency”.)
Casting a spell also requires flexible movement, and wearing various types of armor may interfere withthat.
The command to read a spellbook is the same as for scrolls, ‘r’ (read). The ‘+’ command lists yourcurrent spells, their levels, categories, and chances for failure. The ‘Z’ (cast) command casts a spell.

17

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 containers, which objects
can be placed into or taken out of.
The command to use tools is ‘a’ (apply).

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 withthe ‘a’ (apply) command when you are carrying it. However, chests are often locked, and are in any caseunwieldy objects. You must set one down before unlocking it by using a key or lock-picking tool withthe ‘a’ (apply) command, by kicking it with the ‘^D’ command, or by using a weapon to force the lockwith the “#force” extended command.
Some chests are trapped, causing nasty things to happen when you unlock or open them. You cancheck for and try to deactivate traps with the “#untrap” extended command.

Amulets (‘"’)
Amulets are very similar to rings, and often more powerful. Like rings, amulets have various magicalproperties, some beneficial, 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).

Gems (‘*’)
Some gems are valuable, and can be sold for a lot of gold. They are also a far more efficient way ofcarrying 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 projectile weapons (if you have a sling). In the most desperate of cases, you can still
throw them by hand.

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.

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 gamewithout resorting to these restrictions and that it is unusual for players to adhere to challenges the firsttime they win the game.
18

Several of the challenges are related to eating behavior. The most difficult of these is the foodlesschallenge. Although creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is a physiologicalneed for water; thus there is no restriction on drinking beverages, even if they provide some minor foodbenefits. 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 nutritionis fruits and vegetables. The corpses and tins of blobs (‘b’), jellies (‘j’), and fungi (‘F’) are also considered
to be vegetable matter. Certain human food is prepared without animal products; namely, lembas wafers,
cram rations, food rations (gunyoki), K-rations, and C-rations. Metal or another normally indigestible
material eaten while polymorphed into a creature that can digest it is also considered vegan food. Notehowever that eating such items still counts against foodless conduct.
Vegetarians do not eat animals; however, they are less selective about eating animal byproducts thanvegans. In addition to the vegan items listed above, they may eat any kind of pudding (‘P’) other thanthe 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 meatfound in the dungeon. Swallowing and digesting a monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate thecreature’s corpse. Eating leather, dragon hide, or bone items while polymorphed into a creature that candigest 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 eating 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 Monkor Priest characters should violate this conduct; that is a choice left to the player. Offering the Amuletof Yendor to your god is necessary to win the game and is not counted against this conduct. You are also
not penalized for being 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). Anotherchallenge is to win the game without using such a wielded weapon. You are still permitted to throw, fire,and kick weapons; use a wand, spell, or other type of item; or fight with your hands and feet.
In NetHack , a pacifist refuses to cause the death of any other monster (i.e. if you would get experience
for the death). This is a particularly difficult challenge, although it is still possible to gain experience byother 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” (thetraditional 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 genocide; playing without this feature is considered a challenge. When you game offers
you an opportunity to genocide monsters, you may respond with the monster type “none” if you want
to decline. 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 notbreak either of these challenges. Finally, you may sometimes receive wishes; a game without an attempt19

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.

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.

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 thelist, and turn it off by typing a ‘!’ or “no” before 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 thestring. The value is terminated by the next comma or the end of string.
For example, to set up an environment variable so that autoquiver is on, autopickup is off, the nameis 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 NETHACKOPTIONSin sh or ksh.

Using a configuration file
Any line in the configuration file starting with “OPTIONS=” may be filled out with options in the same
syntax as in NETHACKOPTIONS. Any line starting with “DUNGEON=”, “EFFECTS=”, “MONSTERS=”,“OBJECTS=”, “TRAPS=”, or “BOULDER=” is taken as defining the corresponding dungeon, effects, monsters, objects, traps or boulder option in a different syntax, a sequence of decimal numbers giving thecharacter position in the current font to be used in displaying each entry. A zero in any entry in such asequence leaves the display of that entry unchanged; this feature is not available using the option syntax.
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 ‘#’ is treated as a comment.
The default name of the configuration file varies on different operating systems, but NETHACKOPTIONS can also be set to the full name of a file you want to use (possibly preceded by an ‘@’).

Customization options
Here are explanations of what the various options do. Character strings that are too long may betruncated. Some of the options listed may be inactive in your dungeon.

20

alignautodig
autopickup
autoquiver

bouldercatnamecharactercheckpoint
checkspace

cmdassistconfirm
DECgraphics

discloseYour starting alignment (align:lawful, align:neutral, or align:chaotic). You
may specify just the first letter. The default is to randomly pick an appropriatealignment. Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving into a place that canbe dug (default false).
Automatically pick up things onto which you move (default on).
This option controls what happens when you attempt the ‘f’ (fire) command with
an empty quiver. When true, the computer will fill your quiver with some suitableweapon. 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 withthe ‘Q’ command instead. If no weapon is found or the option is false, the ‘t’ (throw)command is executed instead. (default false)
Set the character used to display boulders (default is rock class symbol).
Name your starting cat (ex. “catname:Morris”). Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
Pick your type of character (ex. “character:Monk”); synonym for “role”. See “name”
for an alternate method of specifying your role. Normally only the first letter of thevalue is examined; the string “random” is an exception.
Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery after program crash(default on).
Check free disk space before writing files to disk (default on). You may have to turnthis off if you have more than 2 GB free space on the partition used for your save andlevel files. Only applies when MFLOPPY was defined during compilation.
Have the game provide some additional command assistance for new players if it
detects some anticipated mistakes (default on).
Have user confirm attacks on pets, shopkeepers, and other peaceable creatures (default
on).
Use a predefined selection of characters from the DEC VT-xxx/DEC Rainbow/ANSI
line-drawing character set to display the dungeon/effects/traps instead of having todefine a full graphics set yourself (default off). This option also sets up proper handling of graphics characters for such terminals, so you should specify it when appropriate even if you override the selections with your own graphics strings.
Controls options for disclosing various information when the game ends (defaults toall possibilities being disclosed). The possibilities 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.
Each disclosure possibility can optionally be preceded by a prefix which let you refine
how it behaves. Here are the valid prefixes:y — prompt you and default to yes on the prompt.
n — prompt you and default to no on the prompt.
+ — disclose it without prompting.
- — do not disclose it and do not prompt.
(ex. “disclose:yi na +v -g -c”) 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 to prompt, and conduct to not discloseand not to prompt. Note that the vanquished monsters list includes all monsters

21

dogname
dungeoneffects

extmenu

femalefixinv
fruit

genderkilled by traps and each other as well as by you.
Name your starting dog (ex. “dogname:Fang”). Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
Set the graphics symbols for displaying the dungeon (default “ |--------||.-|++##.##<><>_|\\#{}.}..## #}”). The dungeon option should be followed by a stringof 1–41 characters to be used instead of the default map-drawing characters. The
dungeon map will use the characters you specify instead of the default symbols, anddefault symbols for any you do not specify. Remember that you may need to escapesome of these characters on a command line if they are special to your shell.
Note that NetHack escape-processes this option string in conventional C fashion. Thismeans that ‘\’ is a prefix to take the following character literally. Thus ‘\’ needs tobe represented as ‘\\’. The special escape form ‘\m’ switches on the meta bit in thefollowing character, and the ‘^’ prefix causes the following character to be treated asa control character.
The order of the symbols is: solid rock, vertical wall, horizontal wall, upper left corner, upper right corner, lower left corner, lower right corner, cross wall, upward T
wall, downward T wall, leftward T wall, rightward T wall, no door, vertical open
door, horizontal open door, vertical closed door, horizontal closed door, iron bars,
tree, floor of a room, dark corridor, lit corridor, stairs up, stairs down, ladder up,
ladder down, altar, grave, throne, kitchen sink, fountain, pool or moat, ice, lava, vertical lowered drawbridge, horizontal lowered drawbridge, vertical raised drawbridge,
horizontal raised drawbridge, air, cloud, under water.
You might want to use ‘+’ for the corners and T walls for a more aesthetic, boxier
display. Note that in the next release, new symbols may be added, or the present
ones rearranged.
Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
Set the graphics symbols for displaying special effects (default “|-\\/*!)(0#@*/-\\||\\-//-\\| |\\-/”). The effects option should be followed by a string of 1–29
characters to be used instead of the default special-effects characters. This string issubjected to the same processing as the dungeon option.
The order of the symbols is: vertical beam, horizontal beam, left slant, right slant,
digging beam, camera flash beam, left boomerang, right boomerang, four glyphs
giving the sequence for magic resistance displays, the eight surrounding glyphs for
swallowed display, nine glyphs for explosions. An explosion consists of three rows
(top, middle, and bottom) of three characters. The explosion is centered in the centerof this 3 × 3 array.
Note that in the next release, new symbols may be added, or the present ones rearranged.
Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
Changes the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu of available commands.
It is keystroke compatible with the traditional interface except that it does not requirethat you hit Enter. It is implemented only by the tty port (default off), when thegame has been compiled to support tty graphics.
An obsolete synonym for “gender:female”. Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
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.
Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (ex. “fruit:mango”) (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.
Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may specify just the22

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 randomly pick
an appropriate gender. Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
help
If more information is available for an object looked at with the ‘/’ command, ask if
you want to see it (default on). Turning help off makes just looking at things faster,since you aren’t interrupted with the “More info?” prompt, but it also means thatyou might miss some interesting and/or important information.
horsenameName your starting horse (ex. “horsename:Trigger”). Cannot be set with the ‘O’command.
IBMgraphics
Use a predefined selection of IBM extended ASCII characters to display the dungeon/effects/traps instead of having to define a full graphics set yourself (default off).
This option also sets up proper handling of graphics characters for such terminals, so
you should specify it when appropriate even if you override the selections with yourown graphics strings.
ignintr
Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off).
legacy
Display an introductory message when starting the game (default on).
lit corridor
Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source held by your character as
lit (default off).
lootabc
Use the old ‘a’, ‘b’, and ‘c’ keyboard shortcuts when looting, rather than the mnemonics ‘o’, ‘i’, and ‘b’ (default off).
mail
Enable mail delivery during the game (default on).
male
An obsolete synonym for “gender:male”. Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
menustyleControls the interface used when you need to choose various objects (in responseto the Drop command, for instance). The value specified should be the first letterof one of the following: traditional, combination, partial, or full. Traditional was
the only interface available for earlier versions; it consists of a prompt for object classcharacters, 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, butthen displays a menu of matching objects rather than prompting one-by-one. Partial
skips the object class filtering and immediately displays a menu of all objects. Fulldisplays a menu of object classes rather than a character prompt, and then a menu
of matching objects for selection.
menu deselect all Menu character accelerator to deselect all items in a menu. Implemented by theAmiga, Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default ‘-’.
menu deselect page Menu character accelerator deselect all items on this page of a menu. Implemented
by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default ‘\’.
menu first page
Menu character accelerator to jump to the first page in a menu. Implemented by theAmiga, Gem and tty ports. Default ‘^’.
menu invert all
Menu character accelerator to invert all items in a menu. Implemented by the Amiga,
Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default ‘@’.
menu invert page Menu character accelerator to invert all items on this page of a menu. Implemented
by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default ‘~’.
menu last page
Menu character accelerator to jump to the last page in a menu. Implemented by theAmiga, Gem and tty ports. Default ‘|’.
menu next page
Menu character accelerator to goto the next menu page. Implemented by the Amiga,
Gem and tty ports. Default ‘>’.
menu previous page Menu character accelerator to goto the previous menu page. Implemented by theAmiga, Gem and tty ports. Default ‘<’.
23

menu searchmenu select allmenu select page
monsters

msghistory
msg window

name

news
null
number pad
objects

packorder

perm invent
pettype

Menu character accelerator to search for a menu item. Implemented by the Amiga,
Gem and X11 ports. Default ‘:’.
Menu character accelerator to select all items in a menu. Implemented by the Amiga,
Gem, X11 and tty ports. Default ‘.’.
Menu character accelerator to select all items on this page of a menu. Implemented
by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default ‘,’.
Set the characters used to display monster classes (default “abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv
wxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ@ ’&;:~]”). This string is subjected to the sameprocessing as the dungeon option. The order of the symbols is ant or other insect,blob, cockatrice, dog or other canine, eye or sphere, feline, gremlin, humanoid, imp or
minor demon, jelly, kobold, leprechaun, mimic, nymph, orc, piercer, quadruped, rodent, arachnid or centipede, trapper or lurker above, horse or unicorn, vortex, worm,
xan or other mythical/fantastic insect, light, zruty, angelic being, bat or bird, centaur,dragon, elemental, fungus or mold, gnome, giant humanoid, invisible monster, jabberwock, Keystone Kop, lich, mummy, naga, ogre, pudding or ooze, quantum mechanic,rust monster, snake, troll, umber hulk, vampire, wraith, xorn, apelike creature, zombie, human, ghost, golem, demon, sea monster, lizard, long worm tail, and mimic.
Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
The number of top line messages to save (and recall with ‘^P’) (default 20). Cannot
be set with the ‘O’ command.
Allows you to change the way recalled messages are displayed. (It is currently implemented for tty only.) The possible values are:s — single message (default, this was the behavior before 3.4.0).
c — combination, two messages as single, then as full .
f — full window, oldest message first.
r — full window, newest message first.
For backward compatibility, no value needs to be specified (which defaults to full ),or it can be negated (which defaults to single).
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.
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.
Send padding nulls to the terminal (default off).
Use the number keys to move instead of [yuhjklbn] (default off).
Set the characters used to display object classes (default “])[="(%!?+/$*‘0_.”).
This string is subjected to the same processing as the dungeon option. The orderof the symbols is illegal-object (should never be seen), weapon, armor, ring, amulet,
tool, food, potion, scroll, spellbook, wand, gold, gem or rock, boulder or statue, ironball, chain, and venom. Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
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.
If true, always display your current inventory in a window. This only makes sense forwindowing system interfaces that implement this feature.
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 are24

pickup burden

pickup types
prayconfirm
pushweapon
racerest on spacerole

runmodesafe petscoresshowexp
showraceshowscoresilentsortpacksoundstandout
sparklesuppress alert
time
timed delay“cat”, “dog” and “none”. Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
When you pick up an item that would exceed this encumbrance level (Unburdened,
Burdened, streSsed, straiNed, overTaxed, or overLoaded), you will be asked if you
want to continue. (Default ‘S’).
Specify the object types to be picked up when autopickup is on. Default is all types.
Prompt for confirmation before praying (default on).
Using the ‘w’ (wield) command when already wielding something pushes the old item
into your alternate weapon slot (default off).
Selects your race (for example, “race:human”). Default is random. Cannot be set
with the ‘O’ command.
Make the space bar a synonym for the ‘.’ (rest) command (default off).
Pick your type of character (ex. “role:Samurai”); synonym for “character ”. See“name” for an alternate method of specifying your role. Normally only the first letterof the value is examined; ‘r’ is an exception with “Rogue”, Ranger”, and “random”
values.
Controls the amount of screen updating for the map window when engaged in multiturn movement (running via shift+direction or control+direction and so forth, or
via the travel command or mouse click). The possible values are:teleport — update the map after movement has finished;
run — update the map after every seven or so steps;
walk — update the map after each step;
crawl — like walk , but pause briefly after each step.
This option only affects the game’s screen display, not the actual results of moving.
The default is run; versions prior to 3.4.1 used teleport only. Whether or not theeffect is noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type of terminal.
Prevent you from (knowingly) attacking your pets (default on).
Control what parts of the score list you are shown at the end (ex. “scores:5top
scores/4around my score/own scores”). Only the first letter of each category (‘t’,‘a’ or ‘o’) is necessary.
Show your accumulated experience points on bottom line (default off).
Display yourself as the glyph for your race, rather than the glyph for your role (default
off). Note that this setting affects only the appearance of the display, not the way
the game treats you.
Show your approximate accumulated score on bottom line (default off).
Suppress terminal beeps (default on).
Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (default on).
Enable messages about what your character hears (default on). Note that this has
nothing to do with your computer’s audio capabilities. This option is only partly
under player control. The game toggles it off and on during and after sleep, forexample.
Boldface monsters and “--More--” (default off).
Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is hit by an attack towhich it is resistant (default on).
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”)
Show the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default off).
When pausing momentarily for display effect, such as with explosions and moving
25

tombstone
toptenwin

traps

travelverbosewindowtype

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.)
Draw a tombstone graphic upon your death (default on).
Put the ending display in a NetHack window instead of on stdout (default off). Setting
this option makes the score list visible 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.
Set the graphics symbols for displaying traps (default “^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"^^^^”).
The traps option should be followed by a string of 1–22 characters to be used insteadof the default traps characters. This string is subjected to the same processing as thedungeon option.
The order of the symbols is: arrow trap, dart trap, falling rock trap, squeaky board,bear trap, land mine, rolling boulder trap, sleeping gas trap, rust trap, fire trap, pit,
spiked pit, hole, trap door, teleportation trap, level teleporter, magic portal, web,statue trap, magic trap, anti-magic field, polymorph trap.
Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
Allow the travel command (default on). Turning this option off will prevent the gamefrom attempting unintended moves if you make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map
window.
Provide more commentary during the game (default on).
Select which windowing system to use, such as “tty” or “X11” (default depends on
version). Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.

Window Port Customization options
Here are explanations of the various options that are used to customize and change the characteristicsof 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 yourconfig 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 supported by the window port thatyou are currently using by checking to see if it shows up in the Options list. Some options are dynamic
and can be specified during the game with the ‘O’ command.
align message
align status
ascii mapcolor
eight bit tty
font mapfont menu
font message
font status
font text
font size map
font size menu

Where to align or place the message window (top, bottom, left, or right)
Where to align or place the status window (top, bottom, left, or right).
NetHack should display an ascii map if it can.
NetHack should display color if it can for different monsters, objects, and dungeon
features
Pass eight-bit character values (for example, specified with the traps option) straight
through to your terminal (default off).
NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for the map window.
NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for menu windows.
NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for the message window.
NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for the status window.
NetHack should use a font by the chosen name for text windows.
NetHack should use this size font for the map window.
NetHack should use this size font for menu windows.

26

font size message
font size status
font size text
hilite petlarge font
map modemouse support
player selection
popup dialog
preload tiles

scroll amount
scroll margin
splash screen
tiled map
tile file
tile heighttile width
use inversevary msgcountwindowcolors

NetHack should use this size font for the message window.
NetHack should use this size font for the status window.
NetHack should use this size font for text windows.
Visually distinguish pets from similar animals (default off). The behavior of thisoption 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.
NetHack should use a large font.
NetHack should display the map in the manner specified.
Allow use of the mouse for input and travel.
NetHack should pop up dialog boxes or use prompts for character selection.
NetHack should pop up dialog boxes for input.
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 thegame. Doing so enhances performance of the tile graphics, but uses more memory.
(default on). Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.
NetHack should scroll the display by this number of cells when the hero reaches thescroll margin.
NetHack should scroll the display when the hero or cursor is this number of cells awayfrom the edge of the window.
NetHack should display an opening splash screen when it starts up (default yes).
NetHack should display a tiled map if it can.
Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the default.
Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable port.
Specify the preferred width of each tile in a tile capable port
NetHack should display inverse when the game specifies it.
NetHack should display this number of messages at a time in the message window.
NetHack should display windows with the specified foreground/background colors if
it can.

Platform-specific Customization options
Here are explanations of options that are used by specific platforms or ports to customize and change
the port behaviour.
altmeta
BIOS

flush
Macgraphics
page wait
rawio

soundcard(default on, Amiga NetHack only).
Use BIOS calls to update the screen display quickly and to read the keyboard (allowing
the use of arrow keys to move) on machines with an IBM PC compatible BIOS ROM(default off, OS/2, PC and ST NetHack only).
(default off, Amiga NetHack only).
(default on, Mac NetHack only).
(default off, Mac NetHack only).
Force raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bulletproof 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 withthe ‘O’ command.
(default off, PC NetHack only). Cannot be set with the ‘O’ command.

27

videovideocolors

videoshades

Set the video mode used (PC NetHack only). Values are autodetect, 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.
Set the color palette for PC systems using NO TERMS (default 4-2-6-1-5-3-1512-10-14-9-13-11, 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.
Set the intensity level of the three gray scales available (default 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.

Configuring User Sounds
Some platforms allow you to define sound files to be played when a message that matches a user-definedpattern is delivered to the message window. At this time the Qt port and the win32tty and win32guiports support the use of user sounds.
The following config file entries are relevant to mapping user sounds to messages:
SOUNDDIRSOUND

The directory that houses the sound files to be played.
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 3.4).
pattern — the pattern to match.
sound file — the sound file to play.
volume — the volume to be set while playing the sound file.

The exact format for the pattern depends on whether the platform is built to use regular expressions
or NetHack’s own internal pattern matching facility. The regular expressions matching can be much
more sophisticated than the internal NetHack pattern matching, but requires 3rd party libraries on some
platforms. There are plenty of references available elsewhere for explaining regular expressions . You canverify which pattern matching is used by your port with the #version command.
NetHack’s internal pattern matching routine uses the following special characters in its pattern matching:*--- matches 0 or more characters.
?--- matches any single character.
Here’s an example of a sound mapping using NetHack’s internal pattern matching facility:
SOUND=MESG "*chime of a cash register*" "gong.wav" 50
specifies that any message with ”chime of a cash register” contained in it will trigger the playing of”gong.wav”. You can have multiple SOUND entries in your config file.

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 Brailleaccess 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 alsofind the search capabilities of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to examine thisGuidebook 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 character since there are other humanoids represented by the same sign. Your28

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 sense of the overall
location of items on the screen. While it is not difficult for experienced users to edit the defaults.nh fileto accomplish this, novices may find this task somewhat daunting. Included in all official distributions of
NetHack is a file called NHAccess.nh. Replacing defaults.nh with this file will cause the game to run in amanner accessible to the blind. After you have gained some experience with the game and with editing
files, you may want to alter settings to better suit your preferences. Instructions on how to do this areincluded in the NHAccess.nh file itself. The most crucial settings to make the game accessible are:IBMgraphics
Disable IBMgraphics by commenting out this option.
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 thecase, disable the number pad option and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.
Character graphics Comment out all character graphics sets found near the bottom of the defaults.nh
file. Most of these replace NetHack ’s default representation of the dungeon using
standard ASCII characters with fancier characters from extended character sets, andthese fancier characters can annoy screen-readers.

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 scorehigher 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 yourgold 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 allon most versions.

11

Explore mode

NetHack is an intricate and difficult game. Novices might falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of themeans to survive. Well, fear not. Your dungeon may come 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 thehigh score list.
There are two ways of enabling explore mode. One is to start the game with the -X switch. The otheris to issue the ‘X’ command while already playing the game. The other benefits of explore mode are left
for the trepid reader to discover.

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.

29

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 gamedevelopment are described below:
Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack with help from Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome, and Jon Payne.
Andries Brouwer did a major re-write, transforming Hack into a very different game, and published (atleast) 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 versions (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 version 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, Eric S. Raymond, John Rupley,
Mike Threepoint, 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 teamwhich now included Ken Arromdee, 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 othernew 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 Schelin, 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 Lee, Tim Lennan, Rob Menke, and Andy Swanson, developed NetHack
3.1 for the Macintosh, porting it for MPW. Building on their development, Barton House added a Think
C port.
Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2. Eric Smith ported 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 thenadded to other platforms.

30

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 totheir dedication to the game, all thirteen members of the original development team remained on theteam at the start of work on that release. During the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and 3.2, oneof the founding members of the development team, Dr. Izchak Miller, was diagnosed with cancer andpassed 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 enthusiasts 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 andhis own NetHack−− to produce SLASH. Larry Stewart-Zerba and Warwick Allison improved the spell
casting system with the Wizard Patch. Warwick Allison also ported NetHack to use the Qt interface.
Warren Cheung combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to produce Slash’em, and with the help of
Kevin Hugo, added more features. Kevin later joined the DevTeam and incorporated the best of theseideas into 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 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 preference 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,
Barbarians, 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 apublicly 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 Allison, 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 release 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 platform. Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir
provided encouragement.
Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and enhanced 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 interface for the
Windows port. Alex Kompel also contributed a Windows CE port for 3.4.1.
Ron Van Iwaarden maintained 3.4 for OS/2.
Janne Salmijärvi and Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijärvi
resurrected it for 3.3.1.
31

Christian “Marvin” Bressler maintained 3.4 for the Atari after he resurrected it for 3.3.1.
There is a NetHack web site maintained by Ken Lorber at http://www.nethack.org/.

Dungeoneers
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 theworst of these miscreants in this, the list of Dungeoneers:
Adam Aronow
Alex Kompel
Andreas Dorn
Andy Church
Andy Swanson
Ari Huttunen
Barton House
Benson I. Margulies
Bill Dyer
Boudewijn Waijers
Bruce Cox
Bruce Holloway
Bruce Mewborne
Carl Schelin
Chris Russo
David Cohrs
David DamerellDavid Gentzel
David Hairston
Dean LuickDel Lamb
Deron Meranda
Dion Nicolaas
Dylan O’Donnell
Eric Backus
Eric Hendrickson
Eric R. Smith
Eric S. RaymondErik Andersen
Frederick Roeber
Gil Neiger
Greg Laskin
Greg Olson
Gregg Wonderly
Hao-yang Wang
Helge Hafting

Irina Rempt-Drijfhout
Izchak Miller
J. Ali Harlow
Janet Walz
Janne Salmijärvi
Jean-Christophe Collet
Jochen Erwied
John Kallen
John Rupley
John S. Bien
Johnny Lee
Jon W{tteJonathan Handler
Joshua Delahunty
Keizo Yamamoto
Ken Arnold
Ken Arromdee
Ken Lorber
Ken Washikita
Kevin Darcy
Kevin Hugo
Kevin Sitze
Kevin Smolkowski
Kevin Sweet
Lars Huttar
Malcolm Ryan
Mark Gooderum
Mark Modrall
Marvin Bressler
Matthew Day
Merlyn LeRoy
Michael Allison
Michael Feir
Michael Hamel
Michael Sokolov
Mike Engber

32

Mike Gallop
Mike Passaretti
Mike Stephenson
Norm Meluch
Olaf Seibert
Pasi Kallinen
Pat Rankin
Paul Winner
Pierre Martineau
Ralf Brown
Richard Addison
Richard BeigelRichard P. Hughey
Rob Menke
Robin Johnson
Roderick Schertler
Roland McGrath
Ron Van Iwaarden
Ronnen Miller
Ross Brown
Sascha Wostmann
Scott Bigham
Scott R. Turner
Stephen Spackman
Stephen White
Steve Creps
Steve Linhart
Steve VanDevender
Teemu Suikki
Tim Lennan
Timo Hakulinen
Tom Almy
Tom West
Warren Cheung
Warwick Allison
Yitzhak Sapir