Are there any really good sites that explain the secrets and strategies for luckless beginners such as myself?
My apologies, then. I thought you were asking for details of ascensions. Stupid deaths cannot occur in ascensions, by definition. Sorry about that.
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Justin
Sascha’s www.nethack.de is by far the best source for spoilers.
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Justin
Can’t think of any really clever deaths, but I was once really amused after killing a quantum mechanic, who left a large box which contained “a large cat corpse named Schroedinger’s cat”. I wonder if it was alive until I looted the box?
I usually play a samurai or an elven ranger or a lawful human monk. I was just playing the fiftieth incarnation of the ranger and had two decent starts where I had a touchstone for gems and a credit card. The first time I killed myself because my dog was too close when I killed a gas spore. The other time I was overwhelmed by jackals while trying to get into a corridor so they’d come one at a time.
I was reading rec.games.roguelike.nethack and someone mentioned something about a foodless, atheist ascension. Is such a thing possible?
Ah, Nethack. A true classic. I’ve so very, very much time playing but never ascended. Closest I ever got was a samurai in the planes. I couldn’t imagine ascending with a lot of strange requirements, particularly one like not eating.
Anyone know of a good guide for someone who has never played before and is very confused?
And what does a blinfold do? I just found one.
It makes you blind.
If you have ESP you can see monsters if you’ve been somehow blinded.
I won’t spoil how you might gain ESP, thought.
Killed by a shopkeeper after I’d accidentally read a spellbook I hadn’t purchased. This was after successfully fighting off most of a horde of keystone kops before getting frozen by a floating eye. I felt pretty dumb.
Then what is the poin of the blindfold? And I found an iron skullcap and scale armor, but everytime I try to put them on the game replies “That is a silly thing to wear”.
Again, this is a very complicated game, does anyone know of any beginers guides?
W(ear) armor and P(ut on) accessories. Check out guidebook.txt that comes with the game. It has a lot of helpful tips.
Why is it the Chaotic is not given as a choice (only lawfull and neutral)?
Why does search not do anything? I press s, and a turn passes, that is all.
And I sometimes see things in rooms, yet I will not interact with them, or even be told what they are when I pass over them.
Certain class/race/alignment combinations just aren’t possible while you’re playing vanilla.
That’s the unadulterated version of the game. There’s a small truckload of variants available all over the net. Stick with vanilla until you get a better feel for the game, sez I. Learn the fundamentals, as it were, before you really confuse yourself with all the extra goodies.
And, yeah, as Number said, pretty much RTM.
[sub]I do actually recall reading a newbie’s guide type of thing… I’ll get back to you with a link, (gotta find the bloody thing) if you’re still interested.[/sub]
Hit the colon (
to see what you’re standing on. Use the forward slash (/) to look at things around you. Hit y to look at a specific object, then move the cursor over it and hit period (.). You’ll get a short description and an optional longer one, frequently with an interesting literary quote.
I forgot to mention that the Guidebook is available in HTML format online.
Likely to be graves(|), altars (_), or fountains (er…blue curly-things). Some very interesting features that have a wide variety of uses, some intuitive, some not.
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Justin
You are perhaops thinking of Mikko Saari’s “Absolute Beginner’s Guide for NetHack.”
http://www.melankolia.net/nethack/nethack.guide.html
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Justin
Eye am not above giving a hint.
Blindfolds have presumably have other uses too, my characters have hallucinated Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts. If those things are in the game as standard monsters then having a blindfold or a towel handy would be quite helpful.
Muad: there is a look command which will tell you of any objects in the same square as you. There are also sinks (#) in addition to what JS listed. If it’s available in the version you have, I recommend using the tile graphics instead of ASCII. That way you’ll have little icons representing everything instead of having to guess.
I’ll spoil it then, eat a floating eye. Do not engage them in hand to hand combat, use ranged weapons. Or wear a blindfold so you’re not affected by their gaze.
Eat the floating eye’s corpse and you’ll get a message (hopefully) saying “You have a strange mental acuity”. You now have telepathy. Now and again you may see monsters on the unexplored areas of your current dungeon level or if you put on the blindfold you’ll see all the available monsters.