









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


                                   Eric S. Raymond
                  (Extensively edited and expanded for NetHack 3.4)
                    (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 way the screen looks  for  you  depends  on
          your platform.

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

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






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           Player the Rambler     St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15  Neutral
           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.  A human character's  attributes  can  range
               from  3  to 18 inclusive; non-humans may exceed these limits
               (occasionally you may get super-strengths of the form 18/xx,
               and  magic  can  also  cause attributes to exceed the normal
               limits).  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


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               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
               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.




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

               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).




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          ?    A scroll.

          /    A wand.

          =    A ring.

          !    A potion.

          (    A useful item (pick-axe, key, lamp...).

          "    An amulet or a spider web.

          *    A gem or rock (possibly valuable, possibly worthless).

          `    A boulder or statue.

          0    An iron ball.

          _    An altar, or an iron chain.

          {    A fountain.

          }    A pool of water or moat or a pool of lava.

          \    An opulent throne.

          a-zA-Z 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.

          I    This marks the last known location of an invisible or other-
               wise  unseen  monster.   Note  that  the  monster could have
               moved.  The 'F' and 'm' commands may be useful here.

               You need not memorize all these symbols;  you  can  ask  the
          game  what  any  symbol  represents with the `/' command (see the
          next section for more info).


          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


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          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.

               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.



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          <    Go up to the previous level (if you are on  a  staircase  or
               ladder).

          >    Go down to the next level (if you are on a staircase or lad-
               der).

          [yuhjklbn]
               Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure  2).   If
               you  sense  or  remember a monster there, you will fight the
               monster instead.   Only  these  one-step  movement  commands
               cause   you  to  fight  monsters;  the  others  (below)  are
               ``safe.''

                                    y  k  u          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.

          _    Travel to a map  location  via  a  shortest-path  algorithm.
               Stops  on  most  of  the  same conditions as the `G' command
               does. For ports with mouse support, the command is also  in-
               voked  when  a mouse-click takes place on a location further
               than 1 cell away from the current position.

          .    Rest, do nothing for one turn.




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          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.

          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. Vampires cannot eat as  such.  However,  they  can
               gain  nutrition  by  draining blood from fresh corpses using
               this command.

          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.




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                    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).

          ^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.




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          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.

          Z    Zap  (cast)  a  spell.  To cast at yourself, use `.' for the
               direction.

          ^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.


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


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          SLASH'EM Guidebook                                             15



          +    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'').

          #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.  See the  section
               below entitled ``Conduct'' for details.

          #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).



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          #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 or a stone.

          #sit Sit down.

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

          #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-?  #? (not supported by all platforms)



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          M-2  #twoweapon (unless the number_pad option is enabled)

          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

          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:

          h    Help menu:  display one of  several  help  texts  available,
               like ``?''.

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

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



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          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)
          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.


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               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
          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).




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               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.

               If you can't see a monster (if it is invisible,  or  if  you
          are  blinded), the symbol `I' will be shown when you learn of its
          presence.  If you attempt to walk into it, you will try to  fight
          it  just  like a monster that you can see; of course, if the mon-
          ster has moved, you will attack empty air.  If you guess that the
          monster  has  moved  and you don't wish to fight, you can use the
          `m' command to move without fighting; likewise, if you don't  re-
          member a monster but want to try fighting anyway, you can use the
          `F' command.

          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
          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.


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          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
          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.


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               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.

               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.






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          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
          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.



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          SLASH'EM Guidebook                                             24



               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 existed 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 have the ability to fire a volley of multi-
          ple items in a single turn.  Knowing how to load  several  rounds
          of ammunition at once -- or hold several missiles in your hand --
          and still hit a target is not an easy task.   Rangers  are  among
          those  who are adept at this task, as are those with a high level
          of proficiency in the relevant weapon  skill  (in  bow  skill  if
          you're  wielding one to shoot arrows, in crossbow skill if you're
          wielding one to shoot bolts, or in sling skill if you're wielding
          one to shoot stones).  The number of items that the character has
          a chance to fire varies from turn to turn.   You  can  explicitly
          limit  the  number  of shots by using a numeric prefix before the
          `t' or `f' command.  For example, ``2f''  (or  ``n2f''  if  using
          number_pad mode) would ensure that at most 2 arrows are shot even
          if you could have fired 3.  If you specify a larger  number  than
          would have been shot (``4f'' in this example), you'll just end up
          shooting the same number (3, here) as if no limit had been speci-
          fied.  Once the volley is in motion, all of the items will travel
          in the same direction; if the first ones kill a monster, the oth-
          ers can still continue beyond that spot.


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          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
          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:



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                             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.

          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.''



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               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'.

          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).






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          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.

               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!


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               A spell (even when learned) can also backfire when you  cast
          it.   If  you  attempt to cast a spell well above your experience
          level, or if you have little skill  with  the  appropriate  spell
          type,  or  cast  it at a time when your luck is particularly bad,
          you can end up wasting both the energy and the time  required  in
          casting.

               Casting  a  spell  calls  forth magical energies and focuses
          them with your naked mind.  Some of the magical  energy  released
          comes  from  within  you, and casting several spells in a row may
          tire you.  Casting of spells also requires practice.  With  prac-
          tice,  your skill in each category of spell casting will improve.
          Over time, however, your memory of each spell will dim if you  do
          not  use it, and you will need to relearn it. Casting a spell re-
          inforces your memory of it, so you may never need  to  relearn  a
          frequently used spell.

               Some  spells  are  directional--you must give a direction in
          which to cast them.  You can also cast  them  at  yourself  (just
          give  a  `.'  or  `s' for the direction). Be warned, however, for
          this is often  unwise.   Other  spells  are  nondirectional--they
          don't require a direction.

               Just as weapons are divided into groups in which a character
          can become proficient (to varying degrees), spells are  similarly
          grouped.  Successfully casting a spell exercises the skill group;
          sufficient skill may increase the potency of the spell and reduce
          the  risk  of spell failure.  Skill slots are shared 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,  their
          levels, categories, and chances for failure.  The `Z' (cast) com-
          mand 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).

          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


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          carrying 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).


          8.  Conduct

               As  if  winning  SLASH'EM were not difficult enough, certain
          players seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions  on


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          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 eat-
          ing 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


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          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).


          9.  Options

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


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          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='',  ``TRAPS='',  or  ``BOUL-
          DER=''  is  taken as defining the corresponding dungeon, effects,
          monsters, objects traps or boulder 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 se-
          quence can be continued to multiple lines by putting a `\' at the
          end of each line to be continued.  Any line starting with ``TILE-
          SET='' defines a tile set in the same syntax as in SLASHEMOPTIONS
          (although the options are different). See  the  section  on  tile
          sets, below, for more information.  Any line starting with `#' is
          treated as a comment.



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               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.

          autodig
               Automatically dig if you are wielding  a  digging  tool  and
               moving into a place that can be dug (default false).

          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).

          boulder
               Set the character used to display boulders (default is  rock
               class symbol).

          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.


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

          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.

          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
               Controls options for disclosing various information when the
               game ends (defaults to all possibilities  being  disclosed).
               The possibilities are:

                    i - disclose your inventory.
                    a - disclose your attributes.
                    v - summarize monsters that have been vanquished.
                    g - list monster species that have been genocided.
                    c - display your conduct.

               Each  disclosure possibility can optionally be preceded by a
               prefix which let you refine how it  behaves.  Here  are  the
               valid prefixes:

                    y - prompt you and default to yes on the prompt.
                    n - prompt you and default to no on the prompt.
                    + - disclose it without prompting.
                    - - do not disclose it and do not prompt.

               (ex. ``disclose:yi na +v -g -c'') The example sets inventory
               to prompt and default to yes, attributes to prompt  and  de-
               fault to no, vanquished to disclose without prompting, geno-
               cided to not disclose and not to prompt, conduct to not dis-
               close  and not to prompt.  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


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               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
               `^' 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


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               surrounding glyphs for swallowed display, nine  glyphs  each
               for  magical,  fire, cold, death, lightning, poison and acid
               explosions.  An explosion consists of three rows (top,  mid-
               dle, and bottom) of three characters.  The explosion is cen-
               tered 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.

          extmenu
               Changes  the extended commands interface to pop-up a menu of
               available commands.  It is  keystroke  compatible  with  the
               traditional  interface  except that it does not 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.


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

          IBMgraphics
               Use a predefined selection of IBM extended ASCII  characters
               to  display  the  dungeon/effects/traps instead of having to
               define a full graphics set yourself (default off).  This 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 (default on).

          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


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               menu  of  object classes rather than a character prompt, and
               then a menu of matching objects for selection.

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

          menu_deselect_page
               Menu character accelerator deselect all items on  this  page
               of  a  menu.   Implemented  by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.
               Default '\'.

          menu_first_page
               Menu character accelerator to jump to the first  page  in  a
               menu.  Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default
               '^'.

          menu_invert_all
               Menu character accelerator to invert all items  in  a  menu.
               Implemented  by the Amiga, Gem, X11, GTK and tty ports.  De-
               fault '@'.

          menu_invert_page
               Menu character accelerator to invert all items on this  page
               of  a  menu.   Implemented  by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.
               Default '~'.

          menu_last_page
               Menu character accelerator to jump to the  last  page  in  a
               menu.  Implemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default
               '|'.

          menu_next_page
               Menu character accelerator to goto the next menu page.   Im-
               plemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  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 by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.  Default '<'.

          menu_search
               Menu  character  accelerator to search for a menu item.  Im-
               plemented by the Amiga, Gem and X11 ports.  Default ':'.

          menu_select_all
               Menu character accelerator to select all items  in  a  menu.
               Implemented  by the Amiga, Gem, X11, GTK and tty ports.  De-
               fault '.'.



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          menu_select_page
               Menu character accelerator to select all items on this  page
               of  a  menu.   Implemented  by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports.
               Default ','.

          monsters
               Set the characters used to display monster classes  (default
               ``abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU-
               VWXYZ@ '&;:~]'').  This string is subjected to the same pro-
               cessing  as the dungeon option.  The order of the symbols is
               ant or other insect, blob, cockatrice, dog or other  canine,
               eye  or  sphere, feline, gremlin, humanoid, imp or minor de-
               mon, jelly, kobold, leprechaun, mimic, nymph, orc,  piercer,
               quadruped, rodent, spider, trapper or lurker above, horse or
               unicorn, vortex, worm, xan or other  mythical/fantastic  in-
               sect,  light,  Zouthern  aminal, angelic being, bat or bird,
               centaur, dragon, elemental, fungus or mold, gnome, giant hu-
               manoid,  invisible  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 mim-
               ic.  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.

          msg_window
               Use  a screen-size window to show the previous messages with
               ^P instead of showing them one at a time.

          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


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               ``])[="(%!?+/$*`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.

          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 types of pets; or choose
               to have no initial pet at all.  Possible values are ``cat'',
               ``dog'' and ``none''.  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).

          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


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               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
               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).

          sparkle
               Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself)
               is hit by an attack to which it is resistant (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


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               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).

          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


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               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
               ``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 selected
          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


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               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.  Window Port Customization options

               Here  are  explanations of the various options that are used
          to customize and change the  characteristics  of  the  windowtype
          that you have chosen.  Character strings that are too long may be
          truncated.  Not all window ports will  adjust  for  all  settings
          listed  here.   You  can  safely add any of these options to your
          config file, and if the window port is capable  of  adjusting  to
          suit  your  preferences, it will attempt to do so. If it can't it
          will silently ignore it.  You can find out if an option  is  sup-
          ported  by the window port that you are currently using by check-
          ing to see if it shows up in the Options list.  Some options  are
          dynamic  and  can  be specified during the game with the `O' com-
          mand.

          align_message
               Where to align or place the  message  window  (top,  bottom,
               left, or right)

          align_status
               Where  to  align  or  place  the status window (top, bottom,
               left, or right).

          ascii_map
               SLASH'EM should display an ascii character map if it can.

          color
               SLASH'EM should display color if it can for  different  mon-
               sters, objects, and dungeon features

          eight_bit_tty
               SLASH'EM  should  pass eight-bit character values (for exam-
               ple, specified with the traps option)  straight  through  to
               your terminal (default off).

          font_map
               SLASH'EM  should  use  a font by the chosen name for the map
               window.

          font_menu
               SLASH'EM should use a font by the chosen name for menu  win-
               dows.

          font_message
               SLASH'EM  should  use a font by the chosen name for the mes-
               sage window.




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          font_status
               SLASH'EM should use a font by the chosen name for the status
               window.

          font_text
               SLASH'EM  should use a font by the chosen name for text win-
               dows.

          font_size_map
               SLASH'EM should use this size font for the map window.

          font_size_menu
               SLASH'EM should use this size font for menu windows.

          font_size_message
               SLASH'EM should use this size font for the message window.

          font_size_status
               SLASH'EM should use this size font for the status window.

          font_size_text
               SLASH'EM should use this size font for text windows.

          hilite_pet
               Visually distinguish  pets  from  similar  animals  (default
               off).   The  behavior  of this option depends on the type of
               windowing you use.  In text windowing, text highlighting  or
               inverse  video is often used; with tiles, generally displays
               a heart symbol near pets or a red box around the pet.

          large_font
               SLASH'EM should use a large font.

          map_mode
               SLASH'EM should display the map in the manner specified.

          player_selection
               SLASH'EM should pop up dialog  boxes,  or  use  prompts  for
               character selection.

          popup_dialog
               SLASH'EM should pop up dialog boxes for input.

          preload_tiles
               SLASH'EM  should preload tiles into memory.  For example, in
               the protected mode MSDOS version, control whether tiles  get
               pre-loaded  into RAM at the start of the game.  Doing so en-
               hances performance of the tile graphics, but uses more memo-
               ry. (default on).  Cannot be set with the `O' command.

          scroll_margin
               SLASH'EM  should  scroll the display when the hero or cursor
               is this number of cells away from the edge of the window.



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          splash_screen
               SLASH'EM should display an opening  splash  screen  when  it
               starts up (default yes).

          tiled_map
               SLASH'EM should display a tiled map if it can.

          tile_file
               Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
               default.

          tile_height
               Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile  capable
               port.

          tile_width
               Specify  the  preferred width of each tile in a tile capable
               port

          use_inverse
               SLASH'EM should display inverse when the game specifies  it.

          vary_msgcount
               SLASH'EM should display this number of messages at a time in
               the message window.

          windowcolors
               SLASH'EM should display windows  with  the  specified  fore-
               ground/background colors if it can.

          9.7.  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
          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


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          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, disable the number_pad op-
               tion 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.

               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.







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          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).

               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.




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               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.

               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.



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               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 avail-
          able,  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.




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          SLASH'EM Guidebook                                             52



               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 final update to 3.2 was the bug fix release 3.2.3, which
          was released simultaneously with 3.3.0 in December 1999  just  in
          time for the Year 2000.

               The 3.3 development team, consisting of Michael Allison, Ken
          Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Steve Creps,  Kevin  Darcy,
          Timo  Hakulinen,  Kevin  Hugo,  Steve  Linhart,  Ken Lorber, Dean
          Luick, Pat Rankin, Eric Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet  Walz,  and
          Paul  Winner, released 3.3.0 in December 1999 and 3.3.1 in August
          of 2000.

               Version 3.3 offered many firsts. It was the first version to
          separate  race and profession. The Elf class was removed in pref-
          erence to an elf race, and the races of dwarves, gnomes, and orcs
          made  their  first  appearance in the game alongside the familiar
          human race.  Monk and Ranger roles joined Archeologists,  Barbar-
          ians,   Cavemen,  Healers,  Knights,  Priests,  Rogues,  Samurai,
          Tourists, Valkyries and of course,  Wizards.   It  was  also  the
          first  version  to  allow  you to ride a steed, and was the first
          version to have a publicly available  web-site  listing  all  the
          bugs  that  had been discovered.  Despite that constantly growing
          bug list, 3.3 proved stable enough to last for more than  a  year
          and a half.

               The  3.4 development team initially consisted of Michael Al-
          lison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Kevin Hugo,  Ken
          Lorber,  Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and
          Paul Winner,  with   Warwick  Allison  joining  just  before  the


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          release of NetHack 3.4.0 in March 2002.

               As  with version 3.3, various people contributed to the game
          as a whole as well as supporting ports on the different platforms
          that NetHack runs on:

               Pat Rankin maintained 3.4 for VMS.

               Michael  Allison maintained NetHack 3.4 for the MS-DOS plat-
          form.  Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.

               Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and  en-
          hanced the Macintosh port of 3.4.

               Michael  Allison,  David  Cohrs, Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas,
          and Yitzhak Sapir maintained and enhanced 3.4 for  the  Microsoft
          Windows platform.  Alex Kompel contributed a new graphical inter-
          face for the Windows port..pg Ron Van Iwaarden maintained 3.4 for
          OS/2.

               Janne  Salmijarvi  and  Teemu Suikki maintained and enhanced
          the Amiga port of 3.4 after Janne Salmijarvi resurrected  it  for
          3.3.1.

               Christian  ``Marvin''  Bressler maintained 3.4 for the Atari
          after he resurrected it for 3.3.1.

               There is a NetHack web site  maintained  by  Ken  Lorber  at
          http://www.nethack.org/.

               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                                             54



                   Adam Aronow           Helge Hafting           Mike Engber
                   Alex Kompel       Irina Rempt-Drijfhout       Mike Gallop
                  Andreas Dorn           Izchak Miller         Mike Passaretti
                   Andy Church           J. Ali Harlow         Mike Stephenson
                  Andy Swanson             Janet Walz            Norm Meluch
                  Ari Huttunen          Janne Salmijarvi        Olaf Seibert
                  Barton House       Jean-Christophe Collet      Pat Rankin
               Benson I. Margulies       Jochen Erwied           Paul Winner
                    Bill Dyer             John Kallen         Pierre Martineau
                Boudewijn Waijers         John Rupley            Ralf Brown
                    Bruce Cox             John S. Bien         Richard Addison
                 Bruce Holloway            Johnny Lee          Richard Beigel
                 Bruce Mewborne            Jon W{tte          Richard P. Hughey
                  Carl Schelin          Jonathan Handler          Rob Menke
                   Chris Russo          Joshua Delahunty        Robin Johnson
                   David Cohrs           Keizo Yamamoto        Roland McGrath
                 David Damerell            Ken Arnold         Ron Van Iwaarden
                  David Gentzel           Ken Arromdee          Ronnen Miller
                 David Hairston            Ken Lorber            Ross Brown
                   Dean Luick            Ken Washikita         Sascha Wostmann
                    Del Lamb              Kevin Darcy           Scott Bigham
                  Deron Meranda            Kevin Hugo          Scott R. Turner
                  Dion Nicolaas           Kevin Sitze         Stephen Spackman
                 Dylan O'Donnell        Kevin Smolkowski        Stephen White
                   Eric Backus            Kevin Sweet            Steve Creps
                Eric Hendrickson          Lars Huttar           Steve Linhart
                  Eric R. Smith          Mark Gooderum        Steve VanDevender
                 Eric S. Raymond          Mark Modrall          Teemu Suikki
                  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

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


















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