The Dungeons of Doom
AT&T Bell Laboratories
The Dungeons of Doom
1. INTRODUCTION
Rogue is a screen-oriented fantasy game set in the
ever-changing Dungeons of Doom. The game comes complete
with monsters, spells, weapons, armor, potions, and other
magical items. The dungeon's geography changes with every
game, and although many magical items have certain
identifiable properties, such as turning the player
invisible, the physical manifestation of the magic changes
each game. A red potion, for example, will cause the same
reaction throughout a given game, but it may be a completely
different potion in a new game.
Entering the dungeon with only a little food, armor,
and a weapon, the player must develop a good strategy of
when to fight, when to run, and how to best use any magical
items found in the dungeon. To make things interesting, the
player has a quest to return one of several unique
artifacts, rumored to lie deep in the dungeon's bowels.
Returning with this artifact brings great glory and the
title of Complete Winner. But even after finding the
artifact, the player may wish to continue further to match
wits with an arch-devil, demon prince, or even a deity found
far down in the dungeon. Defeating such a creature will
gain the player many experience points, the basis for
scoring in Rogue.
It is very difficult to return from the Dungeons of
Doom. Few people ever make it out alive. Should this
unlikely event occur, the player would be proclaimed a
complete winner and handsomely rewarded for any booty
removed from the dungeon.
2. CHARACTER CLASSES AND ATTRIBUTES
Before placing the player in the dungeon, the game
requests the player to select a character class: a fighter,
a magic user, a cleric, or a thief.
2.1 The_Fighter
A fighter is very strong and will have a high strength
rating. This great strength gives a fighter the best odds
of winning a battle with a monster. At high experience
levels the fighter also gets to attack multiple times in a
single turn. This obviously further increases his chances
at winning battles. Intrinsic to the fighter class is a
robustness which results in 1 to 10 extra hit points for
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every new experience level.
2.2 The_Magician
A magician's major attribute is intelligence, which
enables the magician to cast spells. The number and variety
of spells increases as the magician gains experience and
intelligence. Other types of characters can cast spells,
but only if they manage to gain extraordinarily high
intelligence. Magic users are not as hearty as fighters;
they receive 1 to 8 extra hit points for every new
experience level.
2.3 The_Cleric
A cleric has a high wisdom rating and can thus pray.
The number and variety of prayers which the gods are willing
to grant to a cleric increase as the cleric gains experience
and wisdom. Other character types can pray only if they
manage to gain extraordinary wisdom.
Because of their religious nature, clerics can also
affect the "undead" beings, like zombies and ghouls, which
became monsters after they died. If an "undead" creature is
next to a cleric, the cleric may try to turn it and cause it
to flee. If the cleric is sufficiently powerful relative to
the monster, the cleric will destroy it. This ability
increases as the character gains experience levels.
Clerics can gain from 1 to 8 extra hit points on
reaching a new experience level.
2.4 The_Thief
A thief is exceptionally dextrous and has a good chance
to set a trap or rob a monster. Any type of character can
try to set a trap or steal from a monster standing next to
the character, but the chances of success are low compared
to a thief's chances.
By their nature, thieves can automatically detect all
the gold on the current level of the dungeon. They are also
good at detecting hidden traps. Because thieves slink
along, they are not as likely as other characters to wake
sleeping monsters. If a thief manages to sneak up on a
creature without waking it, he will get a chance to backstab
the monster. When this is done, the damage done by the thief
greatly increases based on his experience level.
Thieves gain from 1 to 6 extra hit points from a new
experience level.
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2.5 Constitution
Every character has a constitution rating. A character
with an exceptionally good constitution will gain more than
the normal amount of hit points associated with the
character's class when the character reaches a new
experience level. Exceptional constitution also provides
better protection versus poison-based attacks and diseases.
2.6 Experience_Levels
Characters gain experience for killing monsters,
stealing from monsters, and turning monsters. Each
character class has a set of thresholds associated with it.
When a character reaches a threshold, the character attains
the next experience level. This new level brings extra hit
points and a greater chance of success in performing the
abilities associated with the character's class. Magicians
receive new spells, and clerics receive new prayers.
Thieves have the lowest threshold for gaining
experience levels, followed by clerics. Fighters are next,
and magicians have the highest threshold.
3. THE SCREEN
During the normal course of play, the screen consists
of three separate sections: the top line of the terminal,
the bottom two lines of the terminal, and the remaining
middle lines. The top line reports actions which occur
during the game, the middle section depicts the dungeon, and
the bottom lines describe the player's current condition.
3.1 The_Top_Line
Whenever anything happens to the player, such as
finding a scroll or hitting or being hit by a monster, a
short report of the occurrence appears on the top line of
the screen. When such reports occur quickly, one right
after another, the game displays the notice followed by the
prompt '--More--.' After reading this notice, the player
can press a space to display the next message. At such a
point, the game ignores all commands until the player
presses a space.
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3.2 The_Dungeon_Section
The large middle section of the screen displays the
player's surroundings using the following symbols:
| A wall of a room.
- A wall of a room.
* A pile of gold.
% A way to the next level.
+ A doorway.
. The floor in a room.
@ The player.
_ The player, when invisible.
# The floor in a passageway.
! A flask containing a potion.
? A sealed scroll.
: Some food.
) A weapon.
Solid rock (denoted by a space).
] Some armor.
; A miscellaneous magic item
, An artifact
= A ring.
/ A wand or a staff.
^ The entrance to a trading post
> A trapdoor leading to the next level
{ An arrow trap
$ A sleeping gas trap
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} A beartrap
~ A trap that teleports you somewhere else
` A poison dart trap
" A shimmering magic pool
' An entrance to a maze
$ Any magical item. (During magic detection)
> A blessed magical item. (During magic detection)
< A cursed magical item. (During magic detection)
A letter A monster. Note that a given letter may signify
multiple monsters, depending on the level of the
dungeon. The player can always identify a current
monster by using the identify command ('/').
3.3 The_Status_Section
The bottom two lines of the screen describe the
player's current status. The first line gives the player's
characteristics:
o Intelligence (Int)
o Strength (Str)
o Wisdom (Wis)
o Dexterity (Dxt)
o Constitution (Const)
o Encumbrance (Carry)
Intelligence, strength, wisdom, dexterity, and
constitution have a normal maximum of 25, but can be higher
when augmented by a ring. Encumbrance is a measurement of
how much the player can carry versus how much he is
currently carrying. The more you carry relative to your
maximum causes you to use more food.
The second status line provides the following
information:
o The current level (Lvl) in the dungeon. This number
increases as the player goes further down.
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o How much gold (Au) the player is carrying.
o The player's current number of hit points (Hp),
followed in parentheses by the player's current maximum
number of hit points. Hit points express the player's
health. As a player heals by resting, the player's
current hit points gradually increase until reaching
the current maximum. This maximum increases each time
a player attains a new experience level. If the
player's current hit points reach 0, the player dies.
o The player's armor class (Ac). This number describes
the amount of protection provided by the armor and
rings currently worn by the player. Wearing no armor
is equivalent to an armor class of 10. The protection
level increases as the armor class decreases.
o The player's current experience level (Exp) followed by
the player's experience points. The player can gain
experience points by killing monsters, successfully
stealing from monsters, and turning monsters. When a
player gains enough experience points to surpass a
threshold that depends on the player's character type,
the player reaches a new experience level. A new
experience level brings extra hit points and possibly
added abilities, such as a new spell for a magician or
a new prayer for a cleric.
o A description of the player's character. This
description depends on the player's character type and
experience level.
4. COMMANDS
A player can invoke most Rogue commands by typing a
single character. Some commands, however, require a
direction, in which case the player types the command
character followed by a directional command. Many commands
can be prefaced by a number, indicating how many times the
command should be executed.
When the player invokes a command referring to an item
in the player's pack (such as reading a scroll), the game
prompts for the item. The player should then type the
letter associated with the item, as displayed by the
inventory command. Typing a '*' at this point produces a
list of the eligible items.
Rogue understands the following commands:
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? Preceding a command by a '?' produces a brief
explanation of the command. The command '?*' gives an
explanation of all the commands.
/ Preceding a symbol by a '/' identifies the symbol.
h Move one position to the left.
j Move one position down.
k Move one position up.
l Move one position to the right.
y Move one position to the top left.
u Move one position to the top right.
b Move one position to the bottom left.
n Move one position to the bottom right.
H Run to the left until reaching something interesting.
J Run down until reaching something interesting.
K Run up until reaching something interesting.
L Run to the right until reaching something interesting.
Y Run to the top left until reaching something
interesting.
U Run to the top right until reaching something
interesting.
B Run to the bottom left until reaching something
interesting.
N Run to the bottom right until reaching something
interesting.
t This command, followed by a directional command, prompts
for an object from the players pack. The player then
throws the object in the specified direction.
f When this command precedes a directional command, the
player moves in the specified direction until passing
something interesting.
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z This command must be followed by a directional command.
Rogue then prompts for a wand or staff from the player's
pack and zaps it in the specified direction.
> Go down to the next level.
< Go up to the next level.
s Search for a secret door or a trap in the circle
surrounding the player.
. This command (a dot) causes the player to rest a turn.
i Display an inventory of the player's pack.
I This command prompts for an item from the player's pack
and displays the inventory information for that item.
q Quaff a potion from the player's pack.
r Read a scroll from the player's pack.
e Eat some food from the player's pack.
w Wield a weapon from the player's pack.
W Wear some armor or miscellaneous magic item from the
player's pack.
T Take off whatever the player is wearing.
P Put on a ring from the player's pack. The player can
wear a maximum of eight rings.
R Remove a ring from the player's hand.
^U Uuse a miscellaneous magic item in the player's pack.
d Drop an item from the player's pack.
c When the player types this command, Rogue prompts for an
item from the player's pack and a one-line name. Rogue
then calls all similar items (such as all the blue
potions) by the specified name.
m When the player types this command, Rogue prompts for an
item from the player's pack and a one-line name. Rogue
then marks the specified item with the given name.
o Typing this command causes Rogue to display all the
settable options. The player can then merely examine
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the options or change any or all of them.
C This command, restricted to magicians and characters
with exceptionally high intelligence, produces a listing
of the magician's current supply of spells. The player
can select one of the displayed spells and, if the
player's energy level is sufficiently high, cast it.
The more complicated the spell, the more energy it
takes.
p This command, restricted to clerics and characters with
exceptionally high wisdom, produces a listing of the
cleric's known prayers. The player can then offer one
of these prayers to the character's deity. Deities are
not known for favoring characters which continually pray
to them, and they are most likely to answer the least
"ambitious" prayers.
a This command is restricted to clerics and characters
with exceptionally high wisdom and must be followed by a
directional command. If there is an "undead" monster
standing next to the player in the specified direction,
there is a chance the player will affect the monster by
causing it to flee or possibly even destroying it.
^ This command sets a trap and is most likely to succeed
for a character with a high dexterity, such as a thief.
If the character is successful, Rogue prompts the player
for a type of trap and sets it where the player is
standing.
G This command is restricted to thieves. It causes Rogue
to display all the gold on the current level.
D Dip something into a magic pool.
^T This command is most likely to succeed for a character
with a high dexterity, such as a thief, and it must be
followed by a directional command. If there is a
monster standing next to the player in the specified
direction, the player tries to steal an item from the
monster's pack. If the player is successful, the
monster does not notice anything, but if the player is
unsuccessful, there is a chance the monster will wake
up.
^L Redraw the screen.
^R Repeat the last message that was displayed on the top
line of the screen.
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^[ Typing an escape will usually cause Rogue to cancel the
current command.
v Print the current Rogue version number.
! Escape to the shell.
S Quit and save the game for resumption at a later time.
Q Quit without saving the game.
5. IMPLICIT COMMANDS
There is no "attack" command. If a player wishes to
attack a monster, the player simply tries to move onto the
spot where the monster is standing. The game then assumes
that the player wishes to attack the monster with whatever
weapon the player is wielding.
When the player moves onto an item, the game
automatically places the object into the player's pack. If
there is no room left in the pack, the game announces that
fact and leaves the item on the floor.
6. LIGHT
Some rooms in the dungeon possess a natural light
source. In other rooms and in corridors the player can see
only those things within a one space radius from the player.
These dark rooms can be lit with magical light or by a fire
beetle.
7. WEAPONS AND ARMOR
The player can wield exactly one weapon at a time.
When the player attacks a monster, the amount of damage
depends on the particular weapon the player is wielding. To
fire a projectile weapon, such as a crossbow or a short bow,
the player should wield the bow and "throw" the bolt or
arrow at the monster.
A weapon may be cursed or blessed, affecting the
likelihood of hitting a monster with the weapon and the
damage the weapon will inflict on the monster. If the
player has identified a weapon, the "to hit" and "to damage"
bonuses appear in that order before the weapon's name in an
inventory listing. A positive bonus indicates a blessed
weapon, and a negative bonus usually indicates a cursed
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weapon. The player cannot release a cursed weapon.
Without any armor the player has an armor class of 10.
The lower the player's armor class, the harder it is for a
monster to hit the player, so wearing armor can improve the
player's armor class. A cursed suit of armor, however,
offers poor protection and may sometimes be worse than no
armor at all.
After the player has identified a suit of armor, the
protection bonus appears before the armor's name in an
inventory listing. If the bonus is positive the armor is
blessed, and if it is negative, the armor is usually cursed.
The player cannot remove a cursed suit of armor.
Some monsters can corrode armor when they hit it. If
such a monster hits the player when the player is wearing
metal armor, the armor loses some of its protection value,
but the corrosion does not curse the armor.
8. POTIONS AND SCROLLS
The player can frequently find potions and scrolls in
the dungeon. In any given dungeon, the player can
distinguish among the different types of potions by a
potion's color and among the different types of scrolls by a
scroll's name. Quaffing a potion or reading a scroll
usually causes some magical occurrence. Most potions and
scrolls may be cursed or blessed.
9. RINGS
The player can wear a maximum of eight rings, and they
have a magical effect on the player as long as they are
worn. Some rings also speed up the player's metabolism,
making the player require food more often. Many rings can
be cursed or blessed, and the player cannot remove a cursed
ring. The player can distinguish among different types of
rings by a ring's jewel.
10. WANDS AND STAVES
Wands and staves affect the player's environment. The
player can zap a wand or staff at something and perhaps
shoot a bolt of lightning at it or teleport it away. All
wands or staves of the same type are constructed with the
same type of wood. Some wands and staves may be cursed or
blessed.
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11. FOOD
The player must be careful not to run out of food since
moving through the dungeon fighting monsters consumes a lot
of energy. Starving results in the player's fainting for
increasingly longer periods of time, during which any nearby
monster can attack the player freely.
12. GOLD
Gold has one use in a dungeon: buying things. One can
buy things in two ways, either in a trading post or from a
quartermaster. A trading post is a place "between levels"
of the dungeon and can be entered by stepping on the
entrance. A quartermaster is a person who will sometimes
appear and will try to sell the player some of his wares.
These wares are never cursed and frequently blessed, though
blessed goods cost more than normal goods. If the player
chooses to buy one of the quartermaster's items, the
quartermaster trades the item for the specified amount of
gold and disappears. Attacking a quartermaster causes him
to vanish without offering a trade.
13. MISCELLANEOUS MAGIC ITEMS
Miscellaneous items such as a pair of boots or a book
may be found within the dungeon. These items can usually be
used to the player's advantage (assuming they are not
cursed). Some of these items can be worn, such as a cloak,
while others are to be used, such as a book.
14. ARTIFACTS
Some monsters down in the depths of the dungeon carry
unique artifacts. The game begins as a quest to retrieve
one of these items. Each artifact appears only on its
owner's person.
15. TRAPS
A variety of traps, including trap doors, bear traps,
and sleeping traps, are hidden in the dungeon. They remain
hidden until sprung by a monster or the player. A sprung
trap continues to function, but since it is visible, an
intelligent monster is not likely to tread on it.
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16. THE MONSTERS
Each monster except for the merchant quartermaster
appears in a limited range of dungeon levels. All monsters
of the same type share the same abilities; all giant rats,
for example, can give the player a disease, and all
jackalweres can put the player to sleep. Monsters of the
same type can vary, however, such that one kobold may be
much more difficult to kill than another one. In general,
the more difficult it is to kill a monster, the more
experience points the monster is worth.
Most monsters attack by biting and clawing, but some
monsters carry weapons, including such projectile weapons as
short bows and crossbows, and some monsters have breath
weapons. These latter monsters can attack the player from
across a room or down a corridor.
Some monsters are more intelligent than others, and the
more intelligent a monster, the more likely that the monster
will run away if it is about to die. A fleeing monster will
not attack the player unless cornered.
As the player moves down in the dungeon, the monsters
get more powerful. Deep down in the dungeon there exist
some one-of-a-kind monsters. These monsters are greatly
feared. However, once a "unique monster" is killed, the
player will not find another in the current dungeon.
17. OPTIONS
Rogue has several options which may be set by the
player:
terse Setting this Boolean option results in shorter
messages appearing on the top line of the screen.
jump Setting this Boolean option results in waiting until
the player has finished running to draw the player's
path. Otherwise the game always displays the path
one step at a time.
step Setting this Boolean option results in most listings,
such as an inventory, appearing one item at a time on
the top line of the screen. When this option is not
set, the game clears the screen, displays the list,
and then redraws the dungeon.
flush Setting this Boolean option results in flushing all
typeahead (pending) commands when the player
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encounters a monster.
askme Setting this Boolean option results in the game
prompting the player for a name upon encountering a
new type of scroll, potion, ring, staff, or wand.
name This string is the player's name and defaults to the
player's account name.
fruit This string identifies the player's favorite fruit,
sometimes encountered in the dungeon. It defaults to
slime-mold.
file This string, which defaults to rogue.save, specifies
the file to use for saving the game.
score This string identifies the top-ten score file to use
for the game.
class This option specifies the character class of the
rogue. It can be set only in the ROGUEOPTS
environment variable.
The player can set options at the beginning of a game
via the ROGUEOPTS environment variable. Naming a Boolean
option sets it, and preceding the Boolean option name by
"no" clears it. The syntax "stringoption=name" sets a
string option to "name." So setting ROGUEOPTS to "terse,
jump, nostep, flush, askme, name=Ivan the Terrible,
fruit=pomegranate" would set the terse, jump, flush, and
askme Boolean options, clear the step Boolean option, set
the player's name to "Ivan the Terrible," set the player's
favorite fruit to a pomegranate, and use the defaults for
the save file and the score file.
The player may change an option at any time during the
game via the option command, which results in a listing of
the current options. Typing a new value changes the option,
a RETURN moves to the next option, a '-' moves to the
previous option, and an ESCAPE returns the player to the
dungeon.
18. SCORING
The player receives experience points for stealing
items from monsters, turning monsters (a clerical ability),
and killing monsters. When the player gets killed, the
player's score equals the player's experience points. A
player who quits gets a score equal to the player's
experience points and gold. If the player makes it back up
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out of the dungeon, the player's score equals the player's
experience points plus the gold the player carried and the
gold received from selling the player's possessions. Rogue
maintains a list of the top ten scores to date, together
with the name of the player obtaining the score, the level
where the player finished, and the manner in which the
player ended the game.
19. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This version of Rogue is based on a version developed
at the University of California at Berkeley by Michael Toy
and Ken Arnold.
The Dungeons of Doom
AT&T Bell Laboratories
The Dungeons of Doom
ABSTRACT
Rogue was first introduced by Michael Toy at the
University of California at Berkeley as a screen-oriented
fantasy game. The game had 26 types of monsters that the
player could meet while exploring a dungeon generated by the
computer. Scrolls, potions, rings, wands, staves, armor,
and weapons helped the player to battle these monsters and
to gain gold, the basis for scoring.
The version of Rogue described in this guide has been
expanded to include over 110 monsters with many new capabil-
ities. Many of the monsters are intelligent, and they, like
the player, must avoid traps and decide when it is better to
fight or to run. The player chooses a character class at
the beginning of the game which defines the player's abili-
ties. Experience, rather than gold, decides the player's
score.