









                           A Guide to the Mazes of Menace
                           (Guidebook for SLASH'EM 0.0.6)


                                   Eric S. Raymond
            (Extensively edited and expanded for 3.0 by Mike Threepoint)
                    (Revised for SLASH'EM 0.0.3 by Warren Cheung)
                    (Revised for SLASH'EM 0.0.6 by J. Ali Harlow)



          1.  Introduction

          Recently, you have begun to find yourself unfulfilled and distant
          in your daily occupation.  Strange dreams of prospecting,  steal-
          ing,  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 your life,
          and somehow managed to forget about them until now.  Some  nights
          you awaken suddenly and cry out, terrified at the vivid recollec-
          tion of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be  lurk-
          ing  behind  every  corner  of  the dungeon in your dream.  Could
          these details haunting your dreams be real?  As each night  pass-
          es,  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 who en-
          tered 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 first time.  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 can find 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 and seek 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  a
          tidy  sum,  especially if you encounter any of the terrifying and
          magical creatures of your dreams along the way.   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


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          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 the morn-
          ing, you gather your gear, eat what may be your  last  meal  out-
          side, and enter the dungeon...


          2.  What is going on here?

               You  have  just  begun  a game of SLASH'EM.  Your goal is to
          grab as much treasure as you can, retrieve the Amulet of  Yendor,
          and escape the Mazes of Menace alive.

               Your abilities and strengths for dealing with the hazards of
          adventure will vary with your background and 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.

               Barbarians  are  warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to
          battle.   They  begin  their  quests  with  naught  but  uncommon
          strength, a trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword.

               Cavemen  and  Cavewomen start with exceptional strength but,
          unfortunately, with neolithic weapons.

               Flame Mages have managed to harness mystical  energies  into
          the  control  of  the element of fire.  Notwithstanding their pet
          hell hounds,  woe be unto anyone who  stands  in  the  way  of  a
          skilled mage casting a fireball.

               Healers  are wise in medicine and apothecary.  They know the
          herbs and simples that can restore  vitality,  ease  pain,  anes-
          thetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they
          can divine a being's state of health or sickness.  Their  medical
          practice earns them quite reasonable amounts of money, with which
          they enter the dungeon.

               Ice Mages command the forces of cold.  An  experienced  Mage
          can  summon  great blizzards yet remain unaffected by the turmoil
          of the elements.

               Knights are distinguished  from  the  common  skirmisher  by
          their  devotion  to  the ideals of chivalry 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


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          without weapons as with.  They wear no armor but make up  for  it
          with increased mobility.

               Necromancers  have  delved  into  the darkest of the magical
          lore, and mastered some of the  most  forbidden  of  the  magical
          lore.  Many have fallen to the armies of the undead that they are
          capable of bringing forth and controlling.

               Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders  ad-
          vancing  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.

               Rogues are agile and stealthy  thieves,  with  knowledge  of
          locks,  traps,  and  poisons.  They specialize in surprise, which
          they employ to great advantage.

               Samurai are the elite warriors of feudal Nippon.   They  are
          heavily  armored  but  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.

               Undead Slayers are specialists,  trained to hunt the  undead
          as  well  as  other incarnations of evil.  They are well aware of
          the weaknesses of their foes and come prepared.  Few denizens  of
          darkness  ever  encounter such warriors of light and live to tell
          of it.

               Valkyries are hardy warrior women.  Their upbringing in  the
          harsh  Northlands  makes  them strong, 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 particular affinity for dweomercraft.  Al-
          though seemingly weak and easy to overcome at first sight, an ex-
          perienced Wizard is a deadly foe.

               Yeomen are sturdy fighters. They are famed for their ability
          to stand doing nothing for hours. It is said that this is because
          they  are  none  too bright. Yeomen can both take a lot of damage
          and inflict it on others.

               You may also choose the race of your character:

               Doppelgangers have the anviable ability to  change  form  at
          will,   at  a  cost  of some mystic energy (mana),  although what


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          they become may be a bit of a surprise,  even for them.

               Dwarves 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.

               Elves  and Drows are agile, quick, and perceptive; very lit-
          tle of what goes on will escape an Elf.   The  quality  of  Elven
          craftsmanship often gives them an advantage in arms and armor.

               Gnomes  are  smaller  than but generally similar to dwarves.
          Gnomes are known to be expert miners, and it is known that a  se-
          cret  underground  mine  complex built by this race exists within
          the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger.

               Hobbits are quick of hearing and sharp-eyed, and though they
          are  inclined  to be fat and do not hurry unnecessarily, they are
          nonetheless nimble and deft in their movements. A love of  learn-
          ing  (other  than  genealogical  lore)  is far from general among
          them. Hobbits are difficult to daunt, or to kill, and at need can
          still handle arms.

               Humans are by far the most common race of the surface world,
          and are thus the norm by which other races  are  often  compared.
          Although  they have no special abilities, they can succeed in any
          role.

               Lycanthropes are wild beasts who draw  their  strength  from
          the  phases of the moon,  and can transform into wolves when they
          channel their magical energies.  Even unarmed,  a Lycanthrope  is
          a  savage fighter,  as many scarred by their deadly claws can at-
          test.

               Orcs 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.

               Vampires strike fear into the heart of many. Their super-hu-
          man strength, notorious dexterity and resiliance make them diffi-
          cult to defeat while their almost hypnotic charm makes them  dan-
          gerous  opponents.  Even  their own Gods treat vampires with some
          distaste.

          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 SLASH'EM's ancestor rogue first  appeared,  its  screen
          orientation  was  almost  unique  among  computer  fantasy games.


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          Since then, screen orientation has become the  norm  rather  than
          the  exception;  SLASH'EM  continues this fine tradition.  Unlike
          text adventure games that accept commands in pseudo-English  sen-
          tences  and  explain  the results in words, SLASH'EM commands are
          all one or two keystrokes and the results are  displayed  graphi-
          cally  on  the  screen.   A minimum screen size of 24 lines by 80
          columns is recommended; if the screen is  larger,  only  a  21x80
          section will be used for the map.

               SLASH'EM  can  even be played by blind players, with the as-
          sistance of Braille readers or speech synthesisers.  Instructions
          for configuring SLASH'EM for the blind are included later in this
          document.

               SLASH'EM 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.

               SLASH'EM 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 creat-
          ed.  The three possible display options are: a monochrome charac-
          ter  interface,  a color character interface, and a graphical in-
          terface using small pictures called tiles.  The two character in-
          terfaces allow fonts with other characters to be substituted, but
          the default assignments use standard ASCII characters  to  repre-
          sent everything.  There is no difference between the various dis-
          play options with respect to game play.  Because we cannot repro-
          duce the tiles or colors in the Guidebook, and because it is com-
          mon to all ports, we will use the default ASCII  characters  from
          the  monochrome  character  display  when referring to things you
          might see on the screen during your game.

               In order to understand what is going on in  SLASH'EM,  first
          you  must understand what SLASH'EM is doing with the screen.  The
          SLASH'EM screen replaces the ``You see ...'' descriptions of text
          adventure  games.  Figure 1 is a sample of what a SLASH'EM screen
          might look like.

          ------------------------------------------------------------------------
           The bat bites!

               ------
               |....|    ----------
               |.<..|####...@...$.|
               |....-#   |...B....+
               |....|    |.d......|
               ------    -------|--



           Player the Rambler         St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15  Neutral



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           Dlvl:1 $:0  HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:257 Weak

          ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      Figure 1


          3.1.  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.  Here are explanations of what the vari-
          ous status items mean (though your configuration may not have all
          the status items listed below):

          Rank
               Your character's name and professional ranking (based on the
               experience level, see below).

          Strength
               A measure of your character's strength; one of your six  ba-
               sic  attributes.  Your attributes can range from 3 to 18 in-
               clusive (occasionally you may  get  super-strengths  of  the
               form  18/xx).   The  higher  your strength, the stronger you
               are.  Strength affects how successfully you perform physical
               tasks,  how  much damage you do in combat, and how much loot
               you can carry.

          Dexterity
               Dexterity affects your chances to hit in  combat,  to  avoid
               traps,  and do other tasks requiring agility or manipulation
               of objects.

          Constitution
               Constitution affects your ability to recover  from  injuries
               and other strains on your stamina.

          Intelligence
               Intelligence  affects  your  ability to cast spells and read
               spellbooks.

          Wisdom
               Wisdom comes from your practical experience (especially when
               dealing with magic).  It affects your magical energy.

          Charisma
               Charisma affects how certain creatures react toward you.  In
               particular, it can affect the prices shopkeepers offer  you.

          Alignment
               Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic.  Often, Lawful is taken as good
               and Chaotic as evil, but legal and ethical do not always co-
               incide.   Your alignment influences how other monsters react
               toward you.  Monsters of a like alignment are more likely to


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               be  non-aggressive, while those of an opposing alignment are
               more likely to be seriously offended at your presence.

          Dungeon Level
               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  a  name  and
               not  a  number.  The Amulet of Yendor is reputed to be some-
               where beneath the twentieth level.

          Gold
               The number of gold pieces you  are  openly  carrying.   Gold
               which you have concealed in containers is not counted.

          Hit Points
               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 can regain 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.

          Power
               Spell points.  This tells you how much mystic energy  (mana)
               you  have  available for spell casting.  Again, resting will
               regenerate the amount available.

          Armor Class
               A measure of how effectively your armor stops blows from un-
               friendly  creatures.  The lower this number is, the more ef-
               fective the armor; it is quite possible to have negative ar-
               mor class.

          Experience
               Your current experience level and experience points.  As you
               adventure, you gain experience points.  At  certain  experi-
               ence  point  totals, you gain an experience level.  The more
               experienced you are, the better you fight and withstand mag-
               ical attacks.  Many dungeons show only your experience level
               here.

          Weight
               The total weight of all items in your  inventory,  displayed
               if  you have the showweight option set. The number after the
               slash is your carrying capacity.

          Time
               The number of turns elapsed so far, displayed  if  you  have
               the time option set.

          Hunger status
               Your  current  hunger  status, ranging from Satiated down to
               Fainting.  If your hunger status is normal, it is  not  dis-
               played.


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               Additional  status flags may appear after the hunger status:
          Conf when you're confused, FoodPois or Ill when sick, Blind  when
          you can't see, Stun when stunned, and Hallu when hallucinating.

          3.2.  The message line (top)

               The top line of the screen is reserved for messages that de-
          scribe things that are impossible to represent visually.  If  you
          see  a ``--More--'' on the top line, this means that SLASH'EM has
          another message to display on the screen, but it  wants  to  make
          certain  that  you've  read the one that is there first.  To read
          the next message, just press the space bar.

          3.3.  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 some-
          thing.  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.



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          !    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 and other symbols
               Letters and certain other symbols represent the various  in-
               habitants  of  the  Mazes of Menace.  Watch out, they can be
               nasty and vicious.  Sometimes, however, they can be helpful.

               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).


          4.  Commands

               Commands  are  initiated  by  typing  one or two characters.
          Some commands, like ``search'', do not require that any more  in-
          formation be collected by SLASH'EM.  Other commands might require
          additional information, for example a direction, or an object  to
          be used.  For those commands that require additional information,
          SLASH'EM will present you with either a menu of choices or with a
          command  line  prompt requesting information.  Which you are pre-
          sented 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 this
          example, there is also a `*' indicating that you  may  choose  an
          object  not on the list, if you wanted to use something unexpect-
          ed.  Typing a `*' lists your entire inventory, so you can see the
          inventory  letters  of every object you're carrying.  Finally, if
          you change your mind and decide you don't want to do this command
          after all, you can press the ESC key to abort the command.



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               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 the example above  would  be  typed  ``n10s''  instead.
          Commands  for  which  counts make no sense ignore them.  In addi-
          tion, 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.  As well,  there is now a menusystem
          available through the '`' command for those who would rather page
          through  menus than hunt and peck for keys. Here are the commands
          for your reference:

          ESC  Cancel the current operation (where applicable) or skip mes-
               sages.  If the menu_on_esc option is set, then this key will
               access the menusystem when  pressed  while  the  program  is
               waiting for a command.

          ?    Help menu:  display one of several help texts available.

          `    Main menu:  access the menusystem.

          /    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 par-
               ticular spot on the map and then pressing one of  `.',  `,',
               `;',  or `:'.  `.' will explain the symbol at the chosen lo-
               cation, conditionally check for ``More info?'' depending up-
               on whether the help option is on, and then you will be asked
               to pick another location; `,' will explain  the  symbol  but
               skip  any  additional  information; `;' will skip additional
               info and also not bother asking you to choose another  loca-
               tion  to  examine;  `:'  will  show additional info, if any,
               without asking for confirmation.  When picking  a  location,
               pressing  the ESC key will terminate this command, or press-
               ing `?'  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 the staircase or
               ladder).

          >    Go down to the next level (if you are on  the  staircase  or
               ladder).

          [yuhjklbn]
               Go  one  step in the direction indicated (see Figure 2).  If
               you can sense a monster there, you will  fight  the  monster
               instead.  Only these one-step movement commands cause you to


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               fight monsters; the others (below) are ``safe.''

                                    y  k  u          7  8  9
                                     \ | /            \ | /
                                    h- . -l          4- . -6
                                     / | \            / | \
                                    b  j  n          1  2  3
                                              (if number_pad is set)

                                         Figure 2


          [YUHJKLBN]
               Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run into  some-
               thing.

          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 con-
               sidered interesting.

          .    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.

          ^B   Borrow (steal) money from an adjacent monster.

          c    Close a door.

          C    Call (name) an individual monster.

          ^C   Panic button.  Quit the game.

          d    Drop something.  Ex. ``d7a'' means drop seven items  of  ob-
               ject a.


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          D    Drop several things.  In answer to the question ``What kinds
               of things do you want to drop? [!%= aium]'' you should  type
               zero  or more object symbols possibly followed by `a' and/or
               `i' and/or `u' and/or `m'.

                    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  ``El-
               bereth'' will cause most monsters to not attack you hand-to-
               hand (but if you attack, you will rub it out); this is often
               useful  to  give  yourself a breather.  (This feature may be
               compiled out of the game, 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 se-
               lect ammunition with a previous `Q' command, or let the com-
               puter pick something appropriate if autoquiver is true.

          i    List your inventory (everything you're carrying).

          I    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.

          o    Open a door.

          O    Set  options.  A menu showing the current option values will
               be displayed.  You can change most values simply by  select-
               ing  the  menu entry for the given option (ie, by typing its
               letter or clicking upon it, depending on  your  user  inter-
               face).   For  the  non-boolean  choices,  a  further menu or
               prompt will appear once you've closed this menu.  The avail-
               able  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.

          p    Pay your shopping bill/Shopkeeper services.

          P    Put on a ring or other accessory (amulet, blindfold).




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          ^P   Repeat previous message (subsequent ^P's repeat earlier mes-
               sages).

          q    Quaff (drink) a potion.

          Q    Select an object for your quiver.  You can then  throw  this
               using  the  `f'  command.  (In NetHack versions prior to 3.3
               this was the command to quit the game, which  has  now  been
               moved to `#quit'.)

          r    Read a scroll or spellbook.

          R    Remove an accessory (ring, amulet, etc).

          ^R   Redraw the screen.

          s    Search  for  secret  doors and traps around you.  It usually
               takes several tries to find something.

          S    Save (and suspend) the game.  The game will be restored  au-
               tomatically the next time you play.

          t    Throw an object or shoot a projectile.

          T    Take off armor.

          ^T   Teleport, if you have the ability.

          v    Display version number.

          V    Display the game history.

          w    Wield weapon.

                    w- - wield nothing, use your bare hands.

          W    Wear armor.

          x    Exchange your wielded weapon with the item in your secondary
               weapon slot.  The latter is used as your  second  weapon  in
               two-weapon  combat.  Note that if one of these slots is emp-
               ty, the exchange still takes place.

          X    Enter explore (discovery) mode, explained in its own section
               later.

          ^X   Display your name, role, race, gender, and alignment as well
               as the various deities in your game.

          ^Y   Polymorph yourself, if you have the ability.

          z    Zap a wand.  To aim at yourself, use `.' for the  direction.




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          Z    Zap (cast) a spell.

          ^Z   Suspend the game (UNIX(R) versions with job control only).

          :    Look at what is here.

          ;    Show what type of thing a visible symbol corresponds to.

          ,    Pick up some things.

          @    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 in which your spells are listed.  They
               are shown via a menu, and if you  select  a  spell  in  that
               menu, you'll be re-prompted for another spell to swap places
               with it, and then  have  opportunity  to  make  further  ex-
               changes.

          \    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  intro-
               duce  the less frequently used commands.  What extended com-
               mands are available depends on what features  the  game  was
               compiled with.

          #adjust
               Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option
               is ``on'').



          __________
          (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.


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          #borrow
               Borrow (steal) money from an adjacent monster, if  you  have
               the ability.

          #chat
               Talk to someone.

          #conduct
               List which challenges you have adhered to.

          #dip Dip an object into something.

          #enhance
               Advance or check weapons and spell skills.

          #force
               Force a lock.

          #invoke
               Invoke an object's special powers.

          #jump
               Jump to another location.

          #loot
               Loot  a  box  or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle
               from a horse standing next to you.

          #monster
               Use a monster's special ability (when polymorphed into  mon-
               ster form).

          #name
               Name an item or type of object.

          #offer
               Offer a sacrifice to the gods.

          #pray
               Pray to the gods for help.

          #quit
               Quit the program without saving your game.

          #ride
               Ride (or stop riding) a monster.

          #rub Rub a lamp.

          #sit Sit down.

          #technique
               Perform  a  role  or race specific technique. A menu showing
               the  techniques  available  to  your   character   will   be


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               displayed.

          #turn
               Turn undead.

          #twoweapon
               Toggle  two-weapon combat on or off.  Note that you must use
               suitable weapons for this type of combat, or it will be  au-
               tomatically turned off.

          #untrap
               Untrap something (trap, door, or chest).

          #youpoly
               Polymorph yourself, if you have the ability.

          #version
               Print compile time options for this version of SLASH'EM.

          #wipe
               Wipe off your face.

          #?   Help menu:  get the list of available extended commands.

               If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in com-
          bination with another key, modifies  it  by  setting  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
          SLASH'EM, the `Alt' key can be used in this fashion.

          M-2  #twoweapon

          M-a  #adjust

          M-b  #borrow

          M-c  #chat

          M-d  #dip

          M-e  #enhance

          M-f  #force

          M-i  #invoke

          M-j  #jump

          M-l  #loot

          M-m  #monster

          M-n  #name



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          M-o  #offer

          M-p  #pray

          M-q  #quit

          M-r  #rub

          M-s  #sit

          M-t  #technique

          M-u  #untrap

          M-v  #version

          M-w  #wipe

          M-y  #youpoly

               If  the number_pad option is on, some additional letter com-
          mands are available:

          j    Jump to another location.  Same as ``#jump'' or ``M-j''.

          k    Kick something (usually a door).  Same as `^D'.

          l    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''.

          N    Name an item or type of object.  Same as ``#name''  or  ``M-
               N''.

          u    Untrap  a trap, door, or chest.  Same as ``#untrap'' or ``M-
               u''.


          5.  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 remain on the map as you explore them.

               Secret corridors are hidden.  You can find them with the `s'
          (search) command.

          5.1.  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)


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          command.

               You can get through a locked door by using a  tool  to  pick
          the lock with the `a' (apply) command, or by 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  mon-
          sters 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.

          5.2.  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 some-
          thing fall into it, or you discover it with the `s' (search) com-
          mand.   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 tradi-
          tional rules of Sokoban.  Some allowances are permitted  in  case
          the player gets stuck; however, they will lower your luck.

          5.3.  Stairs (`<', `>')

               In  general, each level in the dungeon will have a staircase
          going up (`<') to the previous level and another going down (`>')
          to  the  next  level.  There are some exceptions though.  For in-
          stance, fairly early in the dungeon you will find  a  level  with
          two down staircases, one continuing into the dungeon and the oth-
          er branching 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  dun-
          geon.

               When  you  traverse a set of stairs, or trigger a trap which
          sends you to another level, the level you're leaving will be  de-
          activated  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


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          from the remains of an earlier game  for  a  ``bones''  level  as
          briefly  described  below).  Monsters are only active on the cur-
          rent 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  your  destination.   However,
          pets  (see  below)  and  some other monsters will follow along if
          they're close enough when you travel up or down stairs, and occa-
          sionally  one  of  these  creatures  will displace you during the
          climb.  When that occurs, the pet or other monster will arrive on
          the staircase and you will end up nearby.

          5.4.  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 in a  dark  place.   Some
          magic  items  can  help  you  locate  them before they locate you
          (which some monsters can do very well).

               The commands `/' and `;' may be used to  obtain  information
          about  those  monsters who are displayed on the screen.  The com-
          mand `C' allows you to assign a name to a monster, which  may  be
          useful  to  help  distinguish one from another when multiple mon-
          sters 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 such as a shopkeeper or the Oracle of Delphi can produce
          useful results.

          6.1.  Fighting

               If  you see a monster and you wish to fight it, just attempt
          to walk into it.  Many monsters you  find  will  mind  their  own
          business unless you attack them.  Some of them are very dangerous
          when angered.  Remember:  discretion is the better part of valor.

          6.2.  Your pet

               You  start the game with a little dog (`d'), cat (`f'), hell
          hound pup ('d'), winter wolf cub  ('d'),  ghoul  ('Z'),  or  pony
          (`u'),  which  follows  you about the dungeon and fights monsters
          with you.  With the exception of ghouls, your pet needs  food  to
          survive.   It  usually  feeds  itself  on fresh carrion and other


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          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 and doing 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 your pet 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 will
          accompany you and any non-adjacent pet will be left behind.  Your
          pet  may trigger such traps itself; you will not be carried along
          with it even if adjacent at the time.

          6.3.  Steeds

               Some types of creatures in the dungeon can actually be  rid-
          den 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 or-
          der to forge the alliance.  Once you do have the beast under your
          control  however,  you  can easily climb in and out of the saddle
          with the `#ride' command.  Lead the beast around the dungeon when
          riding, in the same manner as you would move yourself.  It is the
          beast that you 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.

          6.4.  Bones levels

               You  may encounter the shades and corpses of other adventur-
          ers (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.


          7.  Objects

               When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want
          to pick it up.  In SLASH'EM, this is  accomplished  automatically
          by  walking  over  the object (unless you turn off the autopickup
          option (see below), or move with the `m' prefix (see above)),  or
          manually by using the `,' command.

               If you're carrying too many items, SLASH'EM will tell you so
          and you won't be able to pick up anything  more.   Otherwise,  it


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          will  add  the  object(s) to your pack and tell you what you just
          picked up.

               As you add items to your inventory, you also add the  weight
          of  that  object to your load.  The amount that you can carry de-
          pends on your strength and your constitution.  The  stronger  you
          are, the less the additional load will affect you.  There comes a
          point, though, when the weight of all of that stuff you are  car-
          rying  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 have to  discard  some
          of what you're carrying or collapse under its weight.

               SLASH'EM  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 let-
          ter.   Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find
          out which object you want to use.   When  SLASH'EM  asks  you  to
          choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually pre-
          sented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see  Com-
          mands, 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,
          SLASH'EM 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 will recognize it later.  You can also  use
          the  ``#name''  command for the same purpose at any time, to name
          all 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  in-
          stead of assigning a new one.

          7.1.  Curses and Blessings

               Any  object  that you find may be cursed, even if the object
          is otherwise helpful.  The most common effect of a curse is being
          stuck  with (and to) the item.  Cursed weapons weld themselves to
          your hand when wielded, 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  en-
          chantments that make them less effective in combat.  Other cursed
          objects may act poorly or detrimentally in other ways.




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               Objects can also be blessed.   Blessed  items  usually  work
          better  or more beneficially than normal uncursed items.  For ex-
          ample, 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 stuck with 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  other  character
          roles.

               An  item with unknown status will be reported in your inven-
          tory 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.

          7.2.  Weapons (`)')

               Given  a  chance,  most monsters in the Mazes of Menace will
          gratuitously try to kill you.  You need weapons 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 with bare hands than
          they do with weapons.

               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.  An alternative method would be wield a bow and  place
          the  arrows  in your Quiver, after which you fire the ammunition.
          Rangers and the like may find that having a  bow  as  their  sec-
          ondary  weapon  is  a  useful combination. In order to use a sec-
          ondary weapon to fire ammunition however, it must first be  moved
          to  the  primary  weapon slot. The ``x'' command is available for
          this use.  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 a weapon's enchantment is to have it magically iden-
          tified  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 will do, depends upon many
          factors.  Among them are: type of weapon, quality of weapon  (en-
          chantment 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


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          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 have another weapon ready to use by setting  things  up  with
          the  `x'  command,  which  exchanges  your primary (the one being
          wielded) and secondary weapons.  And if you have  proficiency  in
          the  ``two  weapon combat'' skill, you may wield both primary and
          secondary weapons simultaneously; use the  `#twoweapon'  extended
          command  to engage or disengage that.  Only some types of charac-
          ters (barbarians, for instance), have the necessary skill  avail-
          able.   Even  with that skill, using two weapons at once incurs a
          penalty in the 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'  com-
          mand  which  allows you to unwield the current weapon in addition
          to taking off other worn items.

               Those of you in the audience who are AD&D players, be  aware
          that  each weapon which exists in AD&D does roughly the same dam-
          age to monsters in SLASH'EM.  Some of the  more  obscure  weapons
          (such as 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).

          7.2.1.  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 your entire inventory.  After you've chosen
          what to throw, you will be prompted for a direction  rather  than
          for  a specific target.  The distance something can be thrown de-
          pends mainly on the type of object and your strength.  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  have to specify which item to throw each
          time you use `f'.  There is also an option, autoquiver, which has
          SLASH'EM  choose  another  item to automatically fill your quiver
          when the inventory slot used for `Q' runs out.

               Some characters will throw multiple items in  a  single  ac-
          tion.  Rangers, for instance, or anyone who achieves a high level


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          SLASH'EM Guidebook                                             24



          of proficiency in the relevant weapon  skill  (in  bow  skill  if
          you're  wielding one to shoot arrows, or in sling skill if you're
          wielding one to shoot stones).  There is little  you  can  do  to
          control  this;  if SLASH'EM decides that you'll be shooting 3 ar-
          rows on the current shot, then three arrows will  travel  in  the
          direction  you've indicated, even if the first or second succeeds
          in killing the target.  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 SLASH'EM decides
          that your skill warrants 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 speci-
          fied.

          7.2.2.  Weapon proficiency

               You will have varying degrees of skill in the weapons avail-
          able.  Weapon proficiency, or weapon skills, affect how well  you
          can  use  particular  types of weapons, and you'll be able to im-
          prove 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 achieve for each group.  For instance, wizards  can
          become  highly  skilled in daggers or staves but not in swords or
          bows.

               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'' (some-
          times also referred to as ``restricted'', because  you  won't  be
          able  to  advance),  ``unskilled'',  ``basic'',  ``skilled'', and
          ``expert''.  Restricted skills simply will not appear in the list
          shown  by  `#enhance'.   (Divine  intervention might unrestrict a
          particular skill, in which case 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 to hit 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  threshold  for 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


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          not increased automatically because there is a limit to your  to-
          tal  overall  skills, so you need to actively choose which skills
          to enhance and which to ignore.

          7.3.  Armor (`[')

               Lots of unfriendly things lurk about; you need armor to pro-
          tect yourself from their blows.  Some types of armor 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 be-
          ing 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 SLASH'EM.  Here is an (incomplete) list of the  ar-
          mor classes provided by various suits of armor:

                             dragon scale mail         1
                             plate mail                3
                             crystal plate mail        3
                             bronze plate mail         4
                             splint mail               4
                             banded mail               4
                             dwarvish mithril-coat     4
                             elven mithril-coat        5
                             chain mail                5
                             orcish chain mail         6
                             scale mail                6
                             studded leather armor     7
                             ring mail                 7
                             orcish ring mail          8
                             leather armor             8
                             leather jacket            9
                             no armor                 10

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

               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 in-
          hibit spell casting.

               The commands to use armor are `W' (wear) and `T' (take off).
          The  `A'  command  can  also be used to take off armor as well as
          other worn items.


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          7.4.  Food (`%')

               Food is necessary to survive.  If you go  too  long  without
          eating  you  will  faint, and eventually die of starvation.  Some
          types of food will spoil, and become unhealthy  to  eat,  if  not
          protected.  Food stored in ice boxes or tins (``cans'') will usu-
          ally 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 these are 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.  Veg-
          etarian  monsters  will typically never eat animal corpses, while
          vegetarian players can, but with some rather unpleasant  side-ef-
          fects.

               You  can  name one food item after something you like to eat
          with the fruit option.

               The command to eat food is `e'.

          7.5.  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 blank ones, 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 ob-
          jects 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 with this feature).   To  use  this
          feature  on versions where SLASH'EM mail delivery is triggered by
          electronic mail appearing in your system mailbox,  you  must  let
          SLASH'EM  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 SLASH'EM can  shell  to  it
          when  you read the scroll.  On versions of SLASH'EM where mail is
          randomly generated internal to the game, these environment  vari-
          ables  are  ignored.   You can disable the mail daemon by turning
          off the mail option.

               The command to read a scroll is `r'.





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          7.6.  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') at them.  It is also sometimes very  useful
          to dip (``#dip'') an object into a potion.

               The command to drink a potion is `q' (quaff).

          7.7.  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). 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, at-
          tempts to use the wand will usually result in 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 suitable magic, 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  cer-
          tainly cause a catastrophic release of magical energies.

               When  you have fully identified a particular wand, inventory
          display will include additional information in  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 been cancelled.

               The command to use a wand is `z' (zap).  To break  one,  use
          the `a' (apply) command.

          7.8.  Rings (`=')

               Rings  are very useful items, since they are relatively per-
          manent 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.


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               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).

          7.9.  Spellbooks (`+')

               Spellbooks are tomes of mighty magic.  When studied with the
          `r'  (read) command, they transfer to the 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 your health!

               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.  Releasing the magical energy releases
          some  of  your memory of the spell with it.  Each time you cast a
          spell, your familiarity with it will dwindle, until you eventual-
          ly forget the details completely and must relearn it.

               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 with weapons
          skills.  (See also the section on ``Weapon proficiency''.)

               Casting a spell also requires flexible movement, and wearing
          various types of armor may interfere with that.

               The  command to read a spellbook is the same as for scrolls,
          `r' (read).  The `+' command lists your current  spells  and  the
          number  of  spell  points  they  require.  The `Z' (cast) command
          casts a spell.  The ``#enhance'' extended command  advances  your
          spellcasting skills.

          7.10.  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 contain-
          ers, which objects can be placed into or taken out of.

               The command to use tools is `a' (apply).






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          7.10.1.  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 with the `a' (apply) command when you are carry-
          ing it.  However, chests are often locked, and are  in  any  case
          unwieldy  objects.   You must set one down before unlocking it by
          using a key or lock-picking tool with the `a' (apply) command, by
          kicking  it  with the `^D' command, or by using a weapon to force
          the lock with the ``#force'' extended command.

               Some chests are trapped, causing nasty things to happen when
          you unlock or open them.  You can check for and try to deactivate
          traps with the ``#untrap'' extended command.

          7.11.  Amulets (`"')

               Amulets are very similar to rings, and often more  powerful.
          Like rings, amulets have various magical properties, some benefi-
          cial, 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).

          7.12.  Gems (`*')

               Some  gems  are valuable, and can be sold for a lot of gold.
          They are also a far more efficient way of carrying  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 projec-
          tile weapons (if you have a sling).  In  the  most  desperate  of
          cases, you can still throw them by hand.

          7.13.  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.

          7.14.  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).


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          8.  Conduct

               As  if  winning  SLASH'EM 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 game without resorting to these restrictions and that it
          is unusual for players to adhere to  challenges  the  first  time
          they win the game.

               Several  of  the  challenges are related to eating behavior.
          The most difficult of these is the foodless challenge.   Although
          creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is
          a physiological need for water; thus there is no  restriction  on
          drinking  beverages,  even  if they provide some minor food bene-
          fits.  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 nutrition is fruits and veg-
          etables.  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 con-
          sidered  vegan  food.   Note however that eating such items still
          counts against foodless conduct.

               Vegetarians do not eat animals; however, they are  less  se-
          lective  about eating animal byproducts than vegans.  In addition
          to the vegan items listed above, they may eat any kind of pudding
          (`P') other than the 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 meat found in the dungeon.  Swallowing and digesting a
          monster while polymorphed is treated as if you ate the creature's
          corpse.   Eating  leather, dragon hide, or bone items while poly-
          morphed into a creature that can digest  it,  or  eating  monster
          brains  while polymorphed into a (master) mind flayer, is consid-
          ered 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


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          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  Monk or Priest characters should violate this con-
          duct; that is a choice left to the player.  Offering  the  Amulet
          of  Yendor  to  your  god is necessary to win the game and is not
          counted against this conduct.  You are also not penalized for be-
          ing  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).  Another challenge 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  SLASH'EM,  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 by other means.

               An illiterate character cannot read or write.  This includes
          reading  a scroll, spellbook, fortune cookie message, or t-shirt;
          writing a scroll; or reading (or making) an engraving of anything
          other than a single ``x'' (the traditional signature of an illit-
          erate person).  Reading 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 minor challenges.  It is possible to
          eliminate a species of monsters by genocide; playing without this
          feature is considered a challenge.  You can change  the  form  of
          any  object into another object 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.  Finally, you may  sometimes  re-
          ceive  wishes; a game without an attempt to wish for an object is
          a challenge, as is a game without wishing for an  artifact  (even
          if the artifact immediately disappears).




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          9.  Options

               Due  to variations in personal tastes and conceptions of how
          SLASH'EM should do things, there  are  options  you  can  set  to
          change how SLASH'EM behaves.

          9.1.  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 SLASHEMOPTIONS environment variable  or  in  a  configuration
          file.   Some  versions  of  SLASH'EM also have front-end programs
          that allow you to set options before starting the game.

          9.2.  Using the SLASHEMOPTIONS environment variable

               The SLASHEMOPTIONS 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 the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or ``no'' be-
          fore 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 the string.  The value is ter-
          minated by the next comma or the end of string.

               For example, to set up an environment variable so that ``au-
          toquiver'' is on, ``autopickup'' is  off,  the  name  is  set  to
          ``Blue  Meanie'',  and  the fruit is set to ``papaya'', you would
          enter the command

               % setenv SLASHEMOPTIONS "autoquiver,\!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"

          in csh (note the need to escape the ! since it's special  to  the
          shell), or

               $ SLASHEMOPTIONS="autoquiver,!autopickup,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:papaya"
               $ export SLASHEMOPTIONS

          in sh or ksh.

          9.3.  Using a configuration file

               Any  line  in  the  configuration  file  starting with ``OP-
          TIONS='' may be filled out with options in the same syntax as  in
          SLASHEMOPTIONS.   Any  line  starting  with  ``DUNGEON='',  ``EF-
          FECTS='', ``MONSTERS='', ``OBJECTS='', or ``TRAPS='' is taken  as
          defining the corresponding dungeon, effects, monsters, objects or
          traps option in a different syntax, a sequence of decimal numbers
          giving  the  character position in the current font to be used in
          displaying each entry.  Such a sequence can be continued to  mul-
          tiple  lines  by putting a `\' at the end of each line to be con-
          tinued.  Any line starting with ``TILESET='' defines a  tile  set
          in the same syntax as in SLASHEMOPTIONS (although the options are


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          different). See the section on tile sets, below, for more  infor-
          mation.  Any line starting with `#' is treated as a comment.

               The default name of the configuration file varies on differ-
          ent operating systems, but SLASHEMOPTIONS can also be set to  the
          full  name  of  a  file  you want to use (possibly preceded by an
          `@').

          9.4.  Customization options

               Here are explanations of what the various options do.  Char-
          acter  strings  that  are too long may be truncated.  Some of the
          options listed may be inactive in your dungeon.

          align
               Your starting  alignment  (align:lawful,  align:neutral,  or
               align:chaotic).  You may specify just the first letter.  The
               default is to randomly pick an appropriate alignment.   Can-
               not be set with the `O' command.

          autopickup
               Automatically  pick  up  things onto which you move (default
               on).

          autoquiver
               This option controls what happens when you attempt  the  `f'
               (fire) command with an empty quiver.  When true, the comput-
               er will fill your quiver with some  suitable  weapon.   Note
               that  it  will not take into account the blessed/cursed sta-
               tus, enchantment, damage, or quality of the weapon; you  are
               free  to  manually fill your quiver with the `Q' command in-
               stead.  If no weapon is found or the option  is  false,  the
               `t' (throw) command is executed instead.  (default false)

          BIOS
               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 SLASH'EM only).

          catname
               Name your starting cat (ex. ``catname:Morris'').  Cannot  be
               set with the `O' command.

          character
               Pick  your  type of character (ex. ``character:Monk''); syn-
               onym for ``role''.  See ``name'' for an alternate method  of
               specifying your role.  Normally only the first letter of the
               value is examined; the string ``random'' is an exception.

          checkpoint
               Save game state after each level change, for possible recov-
               ery after program crash (default on).



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          checkspace
               Check  free disk space before writing files to disk (default
               on).  You may have to turn this off if you have more than  2
               GB  free space on the partition used for your save and level
               files.  Only applies when MFLOPPY was defined during  compi-
               lation.

          color
               Use  color for different monsters, objects, and dungeon fea-
               tures (default on for microcomputers).

          confirm
               Have user confirm attacks on pets,  shopkeepers,  and  other
               peaceable creatures (default on).

          DECgraphics
               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 to define a full
               graphics set yourself (default off).  This option also  sets
               up  proper  handling  of graphics characters for such termi-
               nals, so you should specify it when appropriate even if  you
               override the selections with your own graphics strings.

          disclose
               Offer  to  disclose  various  information when the game ends
               (default all).  The possibilities are identifying  your  in-
               ventory ('i'), disclosing your attributes ('a'), summarizing
               monsters that have been vanquished ('v'), and  listing  mon-
               ster  species that have been genocided ('g'), and displaying
               your conduct ('c').  Note that the vanquished monsters  list
               includes all monsters killed by traps and each other as well
               as by you.

          dogname
               Name your starting dog (ex.  ``dogname:Fang'').   Cannot  be
               set with the `O' command.

          dungeon
               Set the graphics symbols for displaying the dungeon (default
               `` |--------||.-|++##.##<><>_|\\##{}.}..## #}'').  The  dun-
               geon  option  should be followed by a string of 1-42 charac-
               ters to be used instead of the default  map-drawing  charac-
               ters.   The  dungeon map will use the characters you specify
               instead of the default symbols, and default symbols for  any
               you  do  not  specify.  Remember that you may need to escape
               some of these characters on a command line if they are  spe-
               cial to your shell.

               Note  that  SLASH'EM  escape-processes this option string in
               conventional C fashion.  This means that `\' is a prefix  to
               take  the  following character literally.  Thus `\' needs to
               be represented  as  `\\'.   The  special  escape  form  `\m'
               switches on the meta bit in the following character, and the


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               `^' prefix causes the following character to be treated as a
               control character.

               The  order  of  the  symbols is:  solid rock, vertical wall,
               horizontal wall, upper left corner, upper right corner, low-
               er  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,  toilet,  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 re-
               lease, new symbols may be added, or the present  ones  rear-
               ranged.

               Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          effects
               Set the graphics symbols for displaying special effects (de-
               fault
               ``|-\\/*!)(0#@*/-\\||\\-//-\\| |\\-//-\\| |\\-//-\\| |\\-//-\\| |\\-//-\\| |\\-//-\\| |\\-//-\\| |\\-/'').
               The effects option should be followed by a  string  of  1-83
               characters to be used instead of the default special-effects
               characters.  This string is subjected 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  sur-
               rounding  glyphs for swallowed display, nine glyphs each for
               magical, fire, cold, death, lightning, poison and  acid  ex-
               plosions.  An explosion consists of three rows (top, middle,
               and bottom) of three characters.  The explosion is  centered
               in the center of this 3 by 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.

          eight_bit_tty
               Pass eight-bit character values (for example, specified with
               the traps option) straight through to your terminal (default
               off).  Only applies to the tty port.

          extmenu
               Changes the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu  of


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               available  commands.   It  is  keystroke compatible with the
               traditional interface except that it does not  require  that
               you  hit  Enter. It is implemented only by the tty port (de-
               fault off), when the game has been compiled to  support  tty
               graphics.

          female
               An  obsolete  synonym  for ``gender:female''.  Cannot be set
               with the `O' command.

          fixinv
               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.

          fruit
               Name  a  fruit  after  something  you  enjoy   eating   (ex.
               ``fruit:mango'') (default ``slime mold'').  Basically a nos-
               talgic whimsy that SLASH'EM uses from  time  to  time.   You
               should  set  this to something you find more appetizing than
               slime mold.  Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons al-
               ready exist in SLASH'EM, so don't use those.

          gender
               Your  starting  gender  (gender:male or gender:female).  You
               may specify just the first letter.  Although you  can  still
               denote  your  gender  using  the ``male'' and ``female'' op-
               tions, the ``gender'' option will take precedence.  The  de-
               fault  is to randomly pick an appropriate gender.  Cannot be
               set with the `O' command.

          ghoulname
               Name your starting ghoul (ex. ``ghoulname:Casper'').  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  that  you  might miss some interesting
               and/or important information.

          hilite_pet
               Visually distinguish  pets  from  similar  animals  (default
               off).   In  text windowing, use text highlighting when color
               is turned off; with X11 and Qt interfaces in tile mode, dis-
               play a heart symbol near pets.  In the GTK interface in tile
               mode, display a red box around the pet.

          horsename
               Name your starting horse (ex. ``horsename:Trigger'').   Can-
               not be set with the `O' command.




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          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 op-
               tion 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.

          ignintr
               Ignore interrupt signals, including breaks (default off).

          invweight
               Display the weights of items in your inventory (and at other
               times) in braces (default off).

          keep_savefile
               Keeps the save file after restore.  SLASH'EM usually deletes
               your  savefile  after  you restore,  making death permanent.
               This option can allow you to restore  from  the  last  save.
               (default off).

          legacy
               Display  an introductory message when starting the game (de-
               fault on).

          lit_corridor
               Show corridor squares seen by night vision or a light source
               held by your character as lit (default off).

          mail
               Enable mail delivery during the game.

          male
               An obsolete synonym for ``gender:male''.  Cannot be set with
               the `O' command.

          menustyle
               Controls the interface used when you need to choose  various
               objects  (in  response  to  the Drop command, for instance).
               The value specified should be the first letter of 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 class charac-
               ters, 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,  but  then
               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.  Full displays a
               menu of object classes rather than a character  prompt,  and
               then a menu of matching objects for selection.




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          menu_deselect_all
               Menu  character accelerator to deselect all items in a menu.
               Implemented by the X11, GTK and tty ports.  Default '-'.

          menu_deselect_page
               Menu character accelerator deselect all items on  this  page
               of  a menu.  Implemented only by the tty port.  Default '\'.

          menu_first_page
               Menu character accelerator to jump to the first  page  in  a
               menu.  Implemented only by the tty port.  Default '^'.

          menu_invert_all
               Menu  character  accelerator  to invert all items in a menu.
               Implemented by the X11, GTK and tty ports.  Default '@'.

          menu_invert_page
               Menu character accelerator to invert all items on this  page
               of  a menu.  Implemented only by the tty port.  Default '~'.

          menu_last_page
               Menu character accelerator to jump to the  last  page  in  a
               menu.  Implemented only by the tty port.  Default '|'.

          menu_next_page
               Menu  character accelerator to goto the next menu page.  Im-
               plemented only by the tty port.  Default '>'.

          menu_on_esc
               Make the ESC key a synonym for the ``' (main  menu)  command
               (default on).

          menu_previous_page
               Menu  character  accelerator to goto the previous menu page.
               Implemented only by the tty port.  Default '<'.

          menu_search
               Menu character accelerator to search for a menu  item.   Im-
               plemented only by the X11 port.  Default ':'.

          menu_select_all
               Menu  character  accelerator  to select all items in a menu.
               Implemented by the X11, GTK and tty ports.  Default '.'.

          menu_select_page
               Menu character accelerator to select all items on this  page
               of  a menu.  Implemented only by the tty port.  Default ','.

          monsters
               Set the characters used to display monster classes  (default
               ``abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ@ '&;:~]'').
               This string is subjected to the same processing as the  dun-
               geon  option.   The order of the symbols is ant or other in-
               sect, blob, cockatrice, dog or other canine, eye or  sphere,


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               feline,  gremlin,  humanoid,  imp  or  minor  demon,  jelly,
               kobold, leprechaun, mimic, nymph, orc,  piercer,  quadruped,
               rodent,  spider,  trapper or lurker above, horse or unicorn,
               vortex, worm, xan or other mythical/fantastic insect, light,
               Zouthern  aminal, angelic being, bat or bird, centaur, drag-
               on, elemental, fungus or mold, gnome, giant humanoid, invis-
               ible  monster,  jabberwock, Keystone Kop, lich, mummy, naga,
               ogre, pudding  or  ooze,  quantum  mechanic,  rust  monster,
               snake, troll, umber hulk, vampire, wraith, xorn, yeti or ape
               or other large beast, zombie, human,  ghost,  golem,  demon,
               sea  monster,  lizard, long worm tail, and mimic.  Cannot be
               set with the `O' command.

          msghistory
               The number of top line messages to save (and recall with ^P)
               (default 20).  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          name
               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 -F -H -I -K -M -N -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -U -V -W -Y).
               If  -@ is used for the role, then a random one will be auto-
               matically chosen.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          news
               Read the SLASH'EM 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.

          null
               Send padding nulls to the terminal (default off).

          number_pad
               Use the number keys to move instead of  [yuhjklbn]  (default
               off).

          objects
               Set  the  characters used to display object classes (default
               ``])[="(%!?+/$*`0_.'').  This string  is  subjected  to  the
               same  processing  as  the  dungeon option.  The order of 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,  iron  ball,
               chain, and venom.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          packorder
               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.




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          perm_invent
               If  true, always display your current inventory in a window.
               This only makes sense for windowing system  interfaces  that
               implement this feature.

          pettype
               Specify  the  type of your initial pet, if you are playing a
               character class that uses multiple type of  pets.   Possible
               values  are ``cat'' and ``dog''.  Cannot be set with the `O'
               command.

          pickup_burden
               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').

          pickup_types
               Specify  the object types to be picked up when autopickup is
               on.  Default is all types.

          prayconfirm
               Prompt for confirmation before praying (default on).

          preload_tiles
               For the protected mode MSDOS version, control whether  tiles
               get  pre-loaded into RAM at the start of the game.  Doing so
               enhances performance of the tile  graphics,  but  uses  more
               memory. (default on).  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          pushweapon
               Using  the  `w'  (wield) command when already wielding some-
               thing pushes the old item into your  secondary  weapon  slot
               (default off).

          race Selects your race (for example, ``race:human'').  Default is
               random.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          radar
               Display a radar (overview)  map,  useful  when  using  large
               tiles. Implemented only by the GTK port (default off).

          rawio
               Force  raw (non-cbreak) mode for faster output and more bul-
               letproof input (MS-DOS sometimes treats `^P'  as  a  printer
               toggle  without it) (default off).  Note:  DEC Rainbows hang
               if this is turned on.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          rest_on_space
               Make the space bar a synonym for the `.' (rest) command (de-
               fault off).

          role
               Pick  your type of character (ex. ``role:Samurai''); synonym


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               for ``character''.  See ``name'' for an alternate method  of
               specifying your role.  Normally only the first letter of the
               value is examined;  `r'  is  an  exception  with  ``Rogue'',
               ``Ranger'', and ``random'' values.

          safe_pet
               Prevent  you  from  (knowingly) attacking your pets (default
               on).

          scores
               Control what parts of the score list you are  shown  at  the
               end  (ex.   ``scores:5  top  scores/4  around  my  score/own
               scores'').  Only the first letter  of  each  category  (`t',
               `a', or `o') is necessary.

          showexp
               Show  your accumulated experience points on bottom line (de-
               fault off).

          showscore
               Show your approximate accumulated score on bottom line  (de-
               fault off).

          showdmg
               Show damage inflicted/damage received (default off).

          showweight
               Show total weight in inventory on bottom line (default off).

          silent
               Suppress terminal beeps (default on).

          sortpack
               Sort the pack contents by  type  when  displaying  inventory
               (default on).

          standout
               Boldface monsters and ``--More--'' (default off).

          suppress_alert
               This  option  may be set to a SLASH'EM version level to sup-
               press alert notification messages about feature changes  for
               that and prior versions (ex. ``suppress_alert:0.0.6'').

          tiles
               This  option may be set to the name of a tile set to use, or
               specified as ``notiles'' to disable the use  of  tiles.  Not
               all  windowing  interfaces support this option. The tile set
               named must also be defined. See the section on tile sets for
               more information on that.

          time
               Show  the elapsed game time in turns on bottom line (default
               off).


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          timed_delay
               When pausing momentarily for display effect,  such  as  with
               explosions and moving objects, use a timer rather than send-
               ing extra characters to the screen.  (Applies to ``tty'' in-
               terface  only;  ``X11'' and ``GTK'' interfaces always uses a
               timer based delay.  The default is on if configured into the
               program.)

          tombstone
               Draw a tombstone graphic upon your death (default on).

          toptenwin
               Put  the  ending  display in a SLASH'EM window instead of on
               stdout (default off).  Setting this option makes  the  score
               list visible when a windowing version of SLASH'EM is started
               without a parent window, but it no longer leaves  the  score
               list  around  after game end on a terminal or emulating win-
               dow.

          traps
               Set the  graphics  symbols  for  displaying  traps  (default
               ``^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"^^^^'').   The  traps  option  should be
               followed by a string of 1-22 characters to be  used  instead
               of  the  default traps characters.  This string is subjected
               to the same processing as the dungeon 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 tele-
               porter, magic portal, web, statue trap,  magic  trap,  anti-
               magic field, polymorph trap.

               Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          verbose
               Provide more commentary during the game (default on).

          videocolors
               Set the color palette for PC systems using NO_TERMS (default
               4-2-6-1-5-3-15-12-10-14-9-13-11).  The order  of  colors  is
               red,   green,  brown,  blue,  magenta,  cyan,  bright.white,
               bright.red, bright.green, yellow, bright.blue, bright.magen-
               ta, and bright.cyan.  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          videoshades
               Set  the  intensity level of the three gray scales available
               (default dark normal light, PC SLASH'EM 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.

          windowtype
               Select  which  windowing  system  to use, such as ``tty'' or


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               ``X11'' (default depends on version).  Cannot  be  set  with
               the `O' command.

          wolfname
               Name your starting wolf (ex. ``wolfname:Beast'').  Cannot be
               set with the `O' command.

          9.5.  Tile sets

               For those windowing ports which support tiles  (multicolored
          pictures instead of the traditional characters), tile sets can be
          defined using a  line  in  the  configuration  file  that  begins
          ``TILESET=''.  There  should  be one tile set definition line for
          each available tile set. Once defined, tile sets can  be  slected
          for  initial  display (using the tiles option) or dynamically se-
          lected during the game (for those windowing  ports  that  support
          this).

               A ``TILESET'' line has the same syntax as an ``OPTION'' line
          but with the following options available:

          name The name of the tile set (for selection). This  can  be  any
               string  of characters excluding the comma. It must be speci-
               fied.

          file The name of the file which contains the tile set. This  must
               be specified.

          transparent
               Marks  a  tile  set  as  being  transparent  (as  opposed to
               opaque). Transparent tile sets allow  eg.,  monsters  to  be
               displayed  on  top of the background.  Tile sets must be de-
               signed to be used in this way in order to achieve meaningful
               results.  This option is ignored by windowing ports which do
               not support transparency.

          pseudo3D
               Marks a tile set as being designed for  use  with  Mitsuhiro
               Itakura's  pseudo-3D  display algorithm. They are assumed to
               have an offset-X value equal to one third of the total  tile
               width  and  an offset-Y value equal to one half of the total
               tile height. Such tile sets are not compatible with standard
               tile  sets  and while amusing effects can be created by set-
               ting  this  option  incorrectly,  nothing  useful   can   be
               achieved. Windowing ports that do not support pseudo-3D dis-
               play will ignore tile sets with this option set.

          9.6.  Configuring SLASH'EM for Play by the Blind

               SLASH'EM can be set up to use only standard ASCII characters
          for  making  maps of the dungeons. This makes the MS-DOS versions
          of SLASH'EM completely accessible to the  blind  who  use  speech
          and/or  Braille access technologies.  Players will require a good
          working knowledge of their screen-reader's review  features,  and


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          will  have  to  know  how to navigate horizontally and vertically
          character by character. They will also find the search  capabili-
          ties  of their screen-readers to be quite valuable. Be certain to
          examine this Guidebook 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 charac-
          ter since there are other humanoids represented by the same sign.
          Your  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  file  to accomplish this, novices may find this task
          somewhat daunting.  Included in  all  official  distributions  of
          SLASH'EM  is  a  file  called NHAccess.nh.  Replacing defaults.nh
          with this file will cause the game to run in a manner  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 are includ-
          ed 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 the case, turn  off  the  number_pad
               option and use the traditional Rogue-like commands.

          Character graphics
               Comment  out all character graphics sets found near the bot-
               tom  of  the  defaults.nh  file.   Most  of  these   replace
               SLASH'EM's default representation of the dungeon using stan-
               dard ASCII characters with fancier characters from  extended
               character  sets,  and  these  fancier  characters  can annoy
               screen-readers.

          10.  Scoring

               SLASH'EM 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  score higher 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 SLASH'EM is compiled.




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               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 your gold 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 slashem -s all on most versions.


          11.  Explore mode

               SLASH'EM is an intricate and difficult game.  Novices  might
          falter in fear, aware of their ignorance of the means to survive.
          Well, fear not.  Your dungeon may come  equipped  with  an  ``ex-
          plore''  or  ``discovery'' mode that enables you to keep old save
          files and cheat death, at the paltry cost of not getting  on  the
          high score list.

               There  are  two  ways  of  enabling explore mode.  One is to
          start the game with the -X switch.  The other is 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.  R. C. Arnold.  Small portions were adapted from
          Further Exploration of the Dungeons of Doom, by Ken Arromdee.

               SLASH'EM is the product  of  literally  dozens  of  people's
          work.   Main events in the course of the game development are de-
          scribed 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 (at  least)  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 ver-
          sions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6).


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               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
          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, John Rupley, Mike Threep-
          oint, 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.

               A scant one month before the next major version  release  of
          NetHack,  two  adventurous souls undertook their own modification
          to the sacred NetHack formula. Tom Proudfoot and  Yuval  released
          Nethack++,   which  was rapidly renamed Nethack--,  contained new
          monsters,  items and other miscellaneous modifications.

               Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by  Izchak  Miller
          and  Janet  Walz, the development team which now included Ken Ar-
          romdee, 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 other new
          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  Sche-
          lin, 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 de-
          velopment, Barton House added a Think C port.


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          SLASH'EM Guidebook                                             47



               Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2.  Eric Smith port-
          ed  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 then added to other platforms.

               Time passed,  and Nethack-- was ported to 3.11 by Chris.

               Stephen White then released his own  modification  known  as
          Nethack  Plus,   which  contained  new  character classes.  Unbe-
          knownst to the world at large,  Tom Proudfoot  took  this  source
          and combined it with his Nethack--.  Stephen White went on to add
          weapon skills,  which were eventually integrated  into  the  next
          version of Nethack,  and other features.

               In February 1996,  Tom Proudfoot released SLASH V1.  Includ-
          ing part of Stephen White's Nethack Plus and his  own  Nethack--,
          leaving  unmentioned his own slew of further modifications,  this
          is perhaps the best known of the Nethack modifications.  Six ver-
          sions of this,  ending with SLASH V6,  are known to exist.

               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 to their dedication to  the
          game,  all  thirteen members of the original development team re-
          mained on the team at the start of work on that release.   During
          the  interval  between  the  release of 3.1.3 and 3.2, one of the
          founding members of the development team, Dr. Izchak Miller,  was
          diagnosed  with cancer and passed away.  That release of the game
          was dedicated to him by the development and porting teams.

               Larry Stewart-Zerba set along a different track - to enhance
          the  spellcasting abilities of the Wizard.   Thus, in April 1996,
          he released version 0.1 of the Wizard Patch.  By  July,   he  was
          joined by Warwick Allison and version 0.4 of the Wizard Patch was
          released.  The final update came in April 1997,  with the release
          of Wizard Patch 1.0.

               Warwick Allison also ported NetHack to use the Qt interface.

               SLASH V6 was picked up by Enrico Horn, who managed  to  syn-
          chronize  it  with  the  3.2 source.  The new SLASH 4.1.2 was re-
          leased as far back as November 1996 went through at least  4  ed-
          itlevels  (E5,  E6,  E7)  with  the latest version being 4.1.2E8,
          synchronized  with  Nethack  3.2.2  and  the  Blackmarket  option


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          SLASH'EM Guidebook                                             48



          available,  released in June 1997.

               Nathan  La  began  the arduous task of drawing tiles for the
          SLASH monsters.

               Kentaro Shirakata ported SLASH 4.1.2E8 to Unix.

               Lief Clennon ported SLASH 4.1.2E8 to OS/2 EMX.

               Romain Dolbeau ported SLASH 4.1.2E8 to Macintosh.

               Warren Cheung combined SLASH 4.1.2 and Wizard Patch to  cre-
          ate  SLASH'EM  0.1 in November 1997.  Several revisions including
          new  spells  and  other  additions  led  eventually  to  SLASH'EM
          0.0.5E7F1. Steven Uy generously made additional modifications.

               Dirk Schoenberger continued updating the SLASH/SLASH'EM mon-
          ster tiles.  He also ported SLASH'EM to Linux.

               Lief Clennon ported SLASH'EM to OS/2 EMX.

               Kevin Hugo ported SLASH'EM  to  Macintosh,   and  also  con-
          tributed additional changes and improvements.

               Robin Johnson finished the arduous task of drawing tiles for
          the SLASH'EM monsters.  He also contributed many more new  tiles.

               Kevin  later joined the DevTeam and incorporated the best of
          these ideas in NetHack 3.3.

               JNetHack (the Japanese version of NetHack) has  been  around
          since  at  least  1994, developed by Issei Numata and others. The
          GTK interface was written for this variant and released in  1999.

               Mitsuhiro  Itakura  headed a team which began the process of
          redrawing the NetHack tiles in 8-bit color at 32x32 pixels.

               The 3.3 development team consisted of Michael  Allison,  Ken
          Arromdee,  David  Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps, Kevin Darcy,
          Timo Hakulinen,  Kevin  Hugo,  Steve  Linhart,  Dean  Luick,  Pat
          Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner.

               As with version 3.2, 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 3.3 for VMS.

               Michael Allison maintained NetHack 3.3 for the MS-DOS  plat-
          form.  Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.

               Dean  Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and en-
          hanced the Macintosh port of 3.3.



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          SLASH'EM Guidebook                                             49



               Michael Allison maintained and  enhanced  3.3  for  the  Mi-
          crosoft Windows NT platform.

               Ron Van Iwaarden took over responsibility for the OS/2 port.

               The Amiga port of NetHack was resurrected for 3.3.1 by Janne
          Salmijarvi.

               The  Atari  port  of  NetHack  was  resurrected for 3.3.1 by
          Christian ``Marvin'' Bressler.

               Warren Cheung combined SLASH'EM 0.0.5E7F1 and NetHack 3.3 to
          create  SLASH'EM  0.0.6 and continues to maintain the DOS and Mi-
          crosoft Windows ports.

               J. Ali Harlow incorporated the GTK interface  and  Mitsuhiro
          Itakura's  32x32  tileset  into  SLASH'EM 0.0.6 and maintains the
          UNIX port of SLASH'EM.  Peter Makholm maintains the Debian  pack-
          age.

               Paul Hurtley maintains the MAC port of SLASH'EM.

                  - - - - - - - - - -

               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 the worst of these miscreants in this, the  list  of
          Dungeoneers:



























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          SLASH'EM Guidebook                                             50



                   Adam Aronow       Irina Rempt-Drijfhout       Mike Gallop
                   Andy Church           Izchak Miller         Mike Passaretti
                  Andy Swanson             Janet Walz          Mike Stephenson
                  Ari Huttunen          Janne Salmijarvi         Norm Meluch
                  Barton House       Jean-Christophe Collet     Olaf Seibert
               Benson I. Margulies       Jochen Erwied           Pat Rankin
                    Bill Dyer             John Kallen            Paul Winner
                Boudewijn Waijers         John Rupley         Pierre Martineau
                    Bruce Cox             John S. Bien           Ralf Brown
                 Bruce Holloway            Johnny Lee          Richard Addison
                 Bruce Mewborne            Jon W{tte           Richard Beigel
                  Carl Schelin          Jonathan Handler      Richard P. Hughey
                   Chris Russo          Joshua Delahunty          Rob Menke
                   David Cohrs           Keizo Yamamoto         Robin Johnson
                 David Damerell           Ken Arromdee         Roland McGrath
                  David Gentzel            Ken Lorber         Ron Van Iwaarden
                 David Hairston          Ken Washikita          Ronnen Miller
                   Dean Luick             Kevin Darcy            Ross Brown
                    Del Lamb               Kevin Hugo          Sascha Wostmann
                  Deron Meranda           Kevin Sitze          Scott R. Turner
                 Dylan O'Donnell        Kevin Smolkowski      Stephen Spackman
                   Eric Backus            Kevin Sweet           Stephen White
                Eric Hendrickson          Lars Huttar            Steve Creps
                  Eric R. Smith          Mark Gooderum          Steve Linhart
                 Eric S. Raymond          Mark Modrall        Steve VanDevender
                  Erik Andersen         Marvin Bressler          Tim Lennan
                Frederick Roeber          Matthew Day          Timo Hakulinen
                   Gil Neiger             Merlyn LeRoy            Tom Almy
                   Greg Laskin          Michael Allison           Tom West
                   Greg Olson             Michael Feir          Warren Cheung
                 Gregg Wonderly          Michael Hamel         Warwick Allison
                  Hao-yang Wang         Michael Sokolov         Yitzhak Sapir
                  Helge Hafting           Mike Engber

          Brand  and  product names are trademarks or registered trademarks
          of their respective holders.




















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