=== Town and Dungeon ===


After you have created your character, you will begin your Zangband
adventure. Symbols appearing on your screen will represent the
dungeon's walls, floor, objects, features, and creatures lurking about.
In order to direct your character through his adventure, you will enter
single character commands (see "commands.txt").


***** <A>
=== Symbols On Your Map ===

Symbols on your map can be broken down into three categories: Features
of the dungeon such as walls, floor, doors, and traps; Objects which
can be picked up such as treasure, weapons, magical devices, etc; and
creatures which may or may not move about the dungeon, but are mostly
harmful to your character's well being.

Some symbols are used to represent more than one type of entity, and
some symbols are used to represent entities in more than one category.
The "@" symbol (by default) is used to represent the character.

It will not be necessary to remember all of the symbols and their
meanings. The "slash" command ("/") will identify any character
appearing on your map (see "commands.txt").

Note that you can use a "user pref file" to change any of these symbols
to something you are more comfortable with.
   
 
                Features that do not block line of sight
 
  .   A floor space                   1   Entrance to General Store
  .   A trap (hidden)                 2   Entrance to Armory
  ^   A trap (known)                  3   Entrance to Weapon Smith
  ;   A glyph of warding              4   Entrance to Temple
  '   An open door                    5   Entrance to Alchemy Shop
  '   A broken door                   6   Entrance to Magic Shop
  <   A staircase up                  7   Entrance to the Black Market
  >   A staircase down                8   Entrance to your Home


                   Features that block line of sight

  #   A secret door                   #   A wall
  +   A closed door                   %   A mineral vein
  +   A locked door                   *   Treasure in wall / Pattern
  +   A jammed door                   :   A pile of rubble


                             Objects
 
  !   A potion (or flask)             /   A pole-arm
  ?   A scroll (or book)              |   An edged weapon
  ,   A mushroom (or food)            \   A hafted weapon
  -   A wand or rod                   }   A sling, bow, or x-bow
  _   A staff                         {   A shot, arrow, or bolt
  =   A ring                          (   Soft armor
  "   An amulet                       [   Hard armor
  $   Gold or gems                    ]   Misc. armor
  ~   Lites, Tools, Chests, etc       )   A shield
  ~   Junk, Sticks, Skeletons, etc    &   (unused)
 
 
                             Monsters
 
            $   Creeping Coins      ,   Mushroom Patch
            a   Giant Ant           A   Angelic being
            b   Giant Bat           B   Bird
            c   Giant Centipede     C   Canine
            d   Dragon              D   Ancient Dragon
            e   Floating Eye        E   Elemental
            f   Feline              F   Dragon Fly
            g   Golem               G   Ghost
            h   Humanoids           H   Hybrid
            i   Icky-Thing          I   Insect
            j   Jelly               J   Snake
            k   Kobold              K   Killer Beetle
            l   Giant Louse         L   Lich
            m   Mold                M   Multi-Headed Hydra
            n   Naga                N   (unused)
            o   Orc                 O   Ogre
            p   Human               P   Giant Human(oid)
            q   Quadruped           Q   Quylthulg
            r   Rodent              R   Reptile/Amphibian
            s   Skeleton            S   Spider/Scorpion/Tick
            t   Townsperson         T   Troll
            u   Minor demon         U   Major demon
            v   Vortex              V   Vampire
            w   Worm or Worm Mass   W   Wight/Wraith
            x   (unused)            X   Xorn/Xaren
            y   Yeek                Y   Yeti
            z   Zombie/Mummy        Z   Zephyr Hound
            ~   Aquatic monsters


***** <B>
=== The Town Level ===

The town level is where you will begin your adventure. The first time
you are in town it will be daytime, but note that the sun rises and
falls as time passes and if you enter the town at night, the town will
be dark. Fortunately the various shops and the other special buildings
are open on a 24-hour basis.

Zangband 2.2.0 introduced a dramaticlly extended town level to the
game. In addition to the basic town and the standard nine shops, new
buildings and multiple towns seperated by a wilderness were added.
Fixed quests were also added to the game and could be begun by entering
certain buildings in the town(s).

While most people welcome these new additions, they are not for
everyone and consequently, there are three possible town options in
Zangband - the 'Standard' town(s), the 'Lite' town and the 'Vanilla'
town. The default is the standard town and the lite town and the
vanilla town options can be selected by pressing '=' during character
generation.

Your choice of town is fixed for the duration of your character's
life and will be the new default for future characters created with
that savefile. This of course may be changed by again pressing '='
during the creation of your next character.


--- The 'Standard' Town ---

The 'standard' town consists of a 10x10 square world. Each square
(actually a rectangle) is the size of a standard ZAngband dungeon level
and contains themed wilderness terrain (mountainous areas, oceans,
plains, etc). There are several towns located in various parts of the
world. Each town is situated in its own wilderness square.

The wilderness is not uninhabited and can be dangerous indeed for the
unwary. As a general rule, the further your character gets from
civilization the more cautious he or she should be.

Each of the towns contains the standard nine shops where you can
puchase your supplies for your trips into the dungeon and sell the
items you have collected. There are also special buildings offering
services for a fee. The services available and the prices charged may
vary from town to town so it can be worth hunting around for the best
prices.

Selection of the standard option also allows the creation of the
buildings from which the various fixed quests begin.


--- The 'Lite' Town ---

The 'Lite' town option creates a 1x1 wilderness square containing a
single town. This town contains the nine standard shops, the special
buildings and access to a limited wilderness. The fixed quests are also
available. This option is intended to be used by players who want to
take advantage of the special buildings and fixed quests but don't want
the large 10x10 wilderness and by players who need a smaller wilderness
for computer efficiency reasons.


--- The 'Vanilla' Town ---

The vanilla town consists of the nine standard shops only and an
inpenetrable wall which surrounds the town. There are no other
embellishments. The special buildings and the fixed quests are
unavailable if you select this option as is the wilderness.


***** <C>
=== Townspeople ===

The town contains many different kinds of people. There are the street
urchins, young children who will mob an adventurer for money, and seem
to come out of the woodwork when excited. Blubbering idiots are a
constant annoyance, but not harmful. Public drunks wander about the
town singing, and are of no threat to anyone. Sneaky rogues who work
for the black market are always greedily eyeing your backpack for
potential new 'purchases'. . . And finally, what town would be complete
without a swarm of half drunk warriors, who take offense or become
annoyed just for the fun of it.

Most of the townspeople should be avoided by the largest possible
distance when you wander from store to store. Fights will break out,
though, so be prepared. Since your character grew up in this world of
intrigue, no experience is awarded for killing the town inhabitants,
though you may acquire treasure.

One word of warning however, occasionally a creature who normally
would inhabit only the wilderness and dungeons may wander into the
town. These should generaly be handled with much more caution
than the ordinary townspeople.


***** <D>
=== Town Buildings ===

Your character will begin his adventure with some basic supplies, and
some extra gold with which to purchase more supplies at the town
stores.

You may enter any open store and barter with the owner for items you
can afford. When bartering, you enter prices you will pay (or accept)
for some object. You can either enter the absolute amount, or precede a
number with a plus or minus sign to give a positive or negative
increment on your previous offer. But be warned that the owners can
easily be insulted, and may even throw you out for a while if you
insult them too often. To enter a store, simply move onto the entrance,
which is represented by a number from 1 to 9.

If you consistently bargain well in a store, that is, you reach the
final offer much more often than not, then the store owner will
eventually recognize that you are a superb haggler, and will go
directly to the final offer instead of haggling with you. Items which
cost less than 10 gold pieces do not count, as haggling well with these
items is usually either very easy or almost impossible. The more
expensive the item is, the less likely the store owner is to assume
that you are a good haggler. Note that you may disable haggling with a
software option, though this will inflict a 10% "sales tax" on all
purchases for which the store owner would have required you to haggle.

Once inside a store, you will see the name and race of the store owner,
the name of the store, the maximum amount of cash that the store owner
will pay for any one item, and the store inventory, listed along with
tentative prices, which will become "fixed" (at the "final offer")
should you ever manage to haggle a store owner down to his final offer.

You will also see an (incomplete) list of available commands. Note that
many of the commands which work in the dungeon work in the stores as
well, but some do not, especially those which involve "using" objects.

Stores do not always have everything in stock. As the game progresses,
they may get new items so check from time to time. Also, if you sell
them an item, it may get sold to a customer while you are adventuring,
so don't always expect to be able to get back everything you have sold.
Note that the inventory of a store will not change while you are in
town, even if you save the game and return. You must spend time in the
dungeon if you wish the store owner to clear out his stock and acquire
new items. If you have a lot of spare gold, you can purchase every item
in a store, which will induce the store owner to bring out new stock,
and perhaps even retire.

Store owners will not buy harmful or useless items. If an object is
unidentified, they will pay you some base price for it. Once they have
bought it they will immediately identify the object. If it is a good
object, they will add it to their inventory. If it was a bad bargain,
they simply throw the item away. In any case, you may receive some
knowledge of the item if another is encountered.

The General Store ("1")
     The General Store sells foods, drinks, some clothing, torches,
     lamps, oil, shovels, picks, and spikes. All of these items and
     some others can be sold back to the General store for money.

The Armory ("2")
     The Armory is where the town's armor is fashioned. All sorts of
     protective gear may be bought and sold here.

The Weaponsmith's Shop ("3")
     The Weaponsmith's Shop is where the town's weapons are fashioned.
     Hand and missile weapons may be purchased and sold here, along
     with arrows, bolts, and shots.

The Temple ("4")
     The Temple deals in healing and restoration potions, as well as
     bless scrolls, word of recall scrolls, some approved priestly
     weapons, as well as books of Life magic for priests and paladins.

The Alchemy shop ("5")
     The Alchemy Shop deals in all types of potions and scrolls.

The Magic User's Shop ("6")
     The Magic User's Shop deals in all sorts of rings, wands, amulets,
     and staves, as well as some magic books.

The Black Market ("7")
     The Black Market will sell and buy anything at extortionate
     prices. However, it occasionally has VERY good items in it. The
     shopkeepers are not known for their tolerance...

Your Home ("8")
     This is your house where you can store objects that you cannot
     carry on your travels, or will need at a later date.

The Bookstore ("9")
    The Bookstore deals in all sorts of magical books. You can purchase
    and sell spellbooks for the spellcasters here.


***** <E>
=== Within The Dungeon ===

Once your character is adequately supplied with food, light, armor, and
weapons, he is ready to enter the dungeon. Move on top of the '>'
symbol and use the "Down" command (">").

Your character will enter a maze of interconnecting staircases and
finally arrive somewhere on the first level of the dungeon. Each level
of the dungeon is fifty feet high (thus dungeon level "Lev 1" is often
called "50 ft"), and is divided into (large) rectangular regions
(several times larger than the screen) by titanium walls. Once you
leave a level by a staircase, you will never again find your way back
to that region of that level, but there are an infinite number of other
regions at that same "depth" that you can explore later. So be careful
that you have found all the treasure before you leave a level, or you
may never find it again! The monsters, of course, can use the stairs,
and you may eventually encounter them again.

In the dungeon, there are many things to find, but your character must
survive many horrible and challenging encounters to find the treasure
lying about and take it safely back to the town to sell.

There are two sources for light once inside the dungeon. Permanent
light which has been magically placed within rooms, and a light source
carried by the player. If neither is present, the character will be
unable to see. This will affect searching, picking locks, disarming
traps, reading scrolls, casting spells, browsing books, etc. So be very
careful not to run out of light!

A character must wield a torch or lamp in order to supply his own
light. A torch or lamp burns fuel as it is used, and once it is out of
fuel, it stops supplying light. You will be warned as the light
approaches this point. You may use the "Fuel" command ("F") to refuel
your lantern (with flasks of oil) or your torch (with other torches),
so it is a good idea to carry extra torches or flasks of oil, as
appropriate. There are rumors of objects of exceptional power which
glow with their own never-ending light.


***** <F>
=== Objects In The Dungeon ===

The mines are full of objects just waiting to be picked up and used.
How did they get there? Well, the main source for useful items are all
the foolish adventurers that proceeded into the dungeon before you.
They get killed, and the helpful creatures scatter the various treasure
throughout the dungeon. Most cursed items are placed there by the
joyful evil sorcerers, who enjoy a good joke when it gets you killed.

Only one object may occupy a given floor location, which may or may not
also contain one creature. Doors, rubble, traps, and staircases are
considered "objects" for this purpose. As below, any item may actually
be a "pile" of up to 99 identical items.

You pick up objects by moving on top of them. You can carry up to 23
different items in your backpack while wearing and wielding up to 12
others. Although you are limited to 23 different items, each item may
actually be a "pile" of up to 99 similar items. If you somehow manage
to stuff 24 items into your pack, for example, by removing an item
from your head while your pack is full, then your pack will "overflow"
and the most recently added item will fall out and onto the ground. You
will be warned about any command that seems likely to induce this
behavior.

You are, however, limited in the total amount of weight that you can
carry. As you approach this value, you become slower, making it easier
for monsters to chase you. Note that there is no upper bound on how
much you can carry, if you do not mind being slow. Your weight limit is
determined by your strength.

Many objects found within the dungeon have special commands for their
use. Wands must be Aimed, staves must be Used, scrolls must be Read,
and potions must be Quaffed. You may, in general, not only use items in
your pack, but also items on the ground, if you are standing on top of
them.

Chests are complex objects, containing traps, locks, and possibly
treasure or other objects inside them once they are opened. Many of the
commands that apply to traps or doors also apply to chests and, like
traps and doors, these commands do not work if you are carrying the
chest.

One item in particular will be discussed here. The scroll of "Word of
Recall" can be found within the dungeon, or bought at the temple in
town. It acts in two manners, depending upon your current location.
If read within the dungeon, it will teleport you back to town. If read
in town, it will teleport you back down to the deepest level of the
dungeon which your character has previously been on. This makes the
scroll very useful for getting back to the deeper levels of Zangband.
Once the scroll has been read it takes a while for the spell to act, so
don't expect it to save you in a crisis. Reading a second scroll before
the first has had a chance to take effect will cancel both scrolls.

Since an accidental dive to a new depth (via a trapdoor, for example),
may result in the Word of Recall dungeon depth being 'broken', so to
speak (meaning that the next Word of Recall in town will take you back
deeper than you would like to), there is a new feature in Zangband
which allows you to read a scroll of Word of Recall on a different
level and 'reset' the recall depth to that level (instead of the
deepest level).

You may "inscribe" any object with a textual inscription of your
choice. These inscriptions are not limited in length, though you may
not be able to see the whole inscription on the item. The game applies
special meaning to inscriptions containing any text of the form "@#" or
"@x#" or "!x" or "!*", see "commands.txt".

The game provides some "fake" inscriptions to help you keep track of
your possessions. Wands and staves which are known to be empty will be
inscribed with "empty". Objects which have been tried at least once but
haven't been identified yet will be inscribed with "tried". Cursed
objects are inscribed with "cursed". Broken objects may be inscribed
with "broken". Also, any item which was purchased at a discount,
implying that it is slightly "sub-standard", will be inscribed with the
appropriate "discount", such as "25% off". Note that these inscriptions
are fake, and cannot be removed, though they can be covered up by a
real inscription if you so desire. Try "_" as a nice short one.

Also, occasionally you will notice that something in your inventory or
equipment list seems to be magical. High level characters are much more
likely to notice this than beginning characters. When you do notice
this, the item in question will be inscribed with "good" or "cursed" as
is relevant. Priests acquire this ability far more readily than other
character classes.

Warriors, Rogues, Rangers and Paladins have a special method of
"sensing" their inventory/equipment items, which tells them not only if
an item is "good" or "cursed", but also if it is "average", and if it
is "special" or "excellent", or "terrible" or "worthless".

It is rumored that rings of power and extra rare spell books may be
found deeper in the dungeon...

And lastly, a final warning: not all objects are what they seem. The
line between tasty food and annoying mushroom is a fine one, and
sometimes a potion will reach out and bite you...


--- Cursed Objects ---

Some objects, mainly armor and weapons, have had curses laid upon them.
These horrible objects will look like any other normal item, but will
detract from your character's stats or abilities if worn. They will
also be impossible to remove until a remove curse is done. In fact some
are so badly cursed that even this will not work, and more potent
methods are needed.

If you wear or wield a cursed item, you will immediately feel something
wrong. The item will also be inscribed "cursed".

Shopkeepers will refuse to buy any known cursed item.


***** <G>
=== Mining ===

Much of the treasure within the dungeon can be found only by mining it
out of the walls. Many rich strikes exist within each level, but must
be found and mined. Quartz veins are the richest, yielding the most
metals and gems, but magma veins will have some hordes hidden within.

Mining is rather difficult without a pick or shovel. Picks and shovels
have an additional magical ability expressed as '(+#)'. The higher the
number, the better the magical digging ability of the tool. A pick or
shovel also has plusses to hit and damage, and can be used as a weapon,
because, in fact, it is one.

When a vein of quartz or magma is located, the character may wield his
pick or shovel and begin digging out a section. When that section is
removed, he can locate another section of the vein and begin the
process again. Since granite rock is much harder to dig through, it is
much faster to follow the vein exactly and dig around the granite.
There is an option for highlighting magma and quartz. At a certain
point, it becomes more cumbersome to dig out treasure than to simply
kill monsters and discover items in the dungeon to sell. However, early
on mineral veins can be a wonderful source of easy treasure.

If the character has a scroll, staff, or spell of treasure location, he
can immediately locate all strikes of treasure within a vein shown on
the screen. This makes mining much easier and more profitable.

Note that a character with high strength and/or a heavy weapon does not
need a shovel/pick to dig, but even the strongest character will
benefit from a pick if trying to dig through a granite wall.

It is sometimes possible to get a character trapped within the dungeon
by using various magical spells and items. So it can be a good idea to
always carry some kind of digging tool, even when you are not planning
on tunneling for treasure.

There are rumors of certain incredibly profitable rooms buried deep in
the dungeon and completely surrounded by titanium and granite walls,
requiring a digging implement or magical means to enter. The same
rumors imply that these rooms are guarded by incredibly powerful
monsters, so beware!


***** <H>
=== Staircases, Secret Doors, Passages, and Rooms ===

Staircases are the manner in which you get deeper or climb out of the
dungeon. The symbols for the up and down staircases are the same as the
commands to use them. A "<" represents an up staircase and a ">"
represents a down staircase. You must move your character over the
staircase before you can use it.

Each level has at least one up staircase and at least two down
staircases. There are no exceptions to this rule. You may have trouble
finding some well hidden secret doors, or you may have to dig through
obstructions to get to them, but you can always find the stairs if you
look hard enough. Stairs, like titanium walls, and the doors into
shops, cannot be destroyed by any means.

Many secret doors are used within the dungeon to confuse and demoralize
adventurers foolish enough to enter. But with some luck, and lots of
concentration, you can find these secret doors. Secret doors will
sometimes hide rooms or corridors, or even entire sections of that
level of the dungeon. Sometimes they simply hide small empty closets or
even dead ends. Secret doors always look like granite walls, just like
traps always look like normal floors.

Creatures in the dungeon will generally know and use these secret
doors, and can often be counted on to leave them open behind them when
they pass through.

For historical reasons, secret doors are never locked.


***** <I>
=== Random Quests ===

During character generation, you will be asked to input the number
of random quests you wish to participate in. You may choose any
number from 0 to 49. Random quests are always of the type 'Kill a
random number of an out-of depth monster'. There is a limit to the
number of levels a random quest monster may be out-of-depth but
these quests can still be very dangerous. 

Random quests always appear on even levels and are equally spaced
throughout the dungeon (for example, a choice of 49 random quests
results in one such quest on every even level until level 98 (level
100 is the Serpent quest)). On entering a random quest level you
will be told what the quest monster is and how many you have to
kill (for example, 'This level is guarded by 10 young green
dragons').

On random quest levels, no down staircases are generated until the
last monster is killed whcih means that you cannot continue further
into the dungeon until you have completed your quests. When you
kill the last quest monster, the down staircase will be created and
the monster will drop an item of 'excellent' quality or above. This
is true even of monsters that do not normally drop items. Using the
services of the Trump Tower (see the Town section) can teleport you
past a particularly nasty quest but you must come back and finish
it later if you want your character to be a winner.

Random quests can be either 'easy' or 'hard' and you must choose
which type you want during character generation. This choice is
irrevocable for the duration of the character's dungeon diving
career. 'Easy' means that the game tracks how many quest monsters
you have killed on each attempt at the quest and adds these to the
total count. This allows you to kill one or more quest monsters,
leave the level and return later to finish up. 'Hard' means that
each time you enter the quest level the number of quest monsters
remaining is reset. In other words, you have to kill all the quest
monsters in one go.

'Hard' quests can allow you to 'farm' the quest monsters by killing
all but one, leaving the level and repeating. This allows you to
collect and sell the dropped items and gain repeated experience for
killing the monsters. This technique is frowned upon by many players
and should be noted in any 'winner' post to the newsgroup.


***** <J>
=== Winning The Game ===

Once your character has killed Oberon, who lives on level 99 (4950') in
the dungeon, a magical staircase will appear that will finally allow
you to reach level 100. The Serpent of Chaos lurks on this level of his
dungeon, and you will not be able to go below his level until you have
killed him. Try to avoid wandering around on level 100 unless you are
ready for him, since it has a habit of coming at you across the
dungeon, to slay you for your impudence.

The Serpent of Chaos cannot be killed by some of the easier methods
used on normal creatures. The Serpent of Chaos, like all other "Unique"
monsters, will simply teleport away to another region of the level if
you attempt to use a spell such as destruction is upon it. The Serpent
of Chaos, like some other monsters, cannot be polymorphed, slept,
charmed, or genocided. Magical spells like Mana Storm and Orb of
Draining are effective against it, as are some of the more powerful
weapons, but it is difficult to kill and if allowed to escape for a
time it will heal itself rapidly.

If you should actually survive the attempt of killing the Serpent of
Chaos, you will receive the status of WINNER. You may continue to
explore, and may even save the game and play more later, but since you
have defeated the toughest creature alive, there is really not much
point. Unless you wish to listen to the rumors of a powerful ring
buried somewhere in the dungeon...

When you are ready to retire, simply "commit suicide" ("^K") to have
your character entered into the high score list as a winner. Note that
until you retire, you can still be killed, so you may want to retire
before wandering into a hoard of Cyberdemons...


***** <K>
=== Upon Death and Dying ===
 
If your character falls below 0 hit points, he has died and cannot be
restored. A tombstone showing information about your character will be
displayed. You are also permitted to get a record of your character,
and all your equipment (identified) either on the screen or in a file.

Your character will leave behind a reduced save file, which contains
only the monster memory and your option choices. It may be restored, in
which case the new character is generated exactly as if the file was
not there, but the new player will find his monster memory containing
all the experience of past incarnations.


--
Original   : (??)
Updated    : (??)
Updated    : Zangband DevTeam
Last update: December 3, 1999
