An introduction to
the wonderful world of
HACK
Written by Douglas Rosengard
with contributions from
Erik Lauer.
Edited into human-readable form
by Pete Granger & Steve Yaste
[When I received this, it was suffering badly from line-wraps, misplaced tabs, t
ypos, bad grammar, misspellings, etc. I have now cleaned up as much as I can of
it. It's not perfect, but it's better. Although I have edited the context fre
ely, the content as originally posted is unchanged, with the exception of one pl
ace which contained data which I know to be incorrect for all versions: It was s
tated that nothing bad would happen if you prayed at the wrong time. This has b
een corrected. I have also adde
d some new data to reflect changes in the latest release of NetHack. Any other
comments of my own are in brackets, like this, with my initials, like this. -PG
]
[My contribution has been to reformat into MS-Word (from the original text file)
and add whatever information, comments and recommendations I can. All such add
endums are initialed. - SY]
[With the 2.3 mods we received two spoiler files. These files have been edited
into a format which matches the original version of this document.]
CHAPTER 1: What is Hack?
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
È Dorothy
Hack is a single-player, interactive fantasy game in which you play a mighty her
o, determined to recover the powerful Amulet of Yendor. This task will not be
easy, however. During your quest, you will journey deep into the earth, battle
strange and ferocious creatures, be blinded, confused and encounter deadly trap
s. And, perhaps worst of all, you will slowly starve. Have no fear, however.
Although an unending horde may assail you, and you are a weakling at the start o
f your trek, you have the potent
ial to far surpass all of your mightiest enemies. As you defeat your foes, you
will become more powerful, learn how to fight better, and increase your stamina.
You will also find many items, some ordinary, while others have great powers.
In addition, you are not quite alone. You will find shops which can sell you u
seful items. And what fool would adventure without a faithful watchdog beside
him. But beware! The gods frown upon those who turn against their allies. Her
e begins your journey into a new
and exciting world... the world of HACK.
CHAPTER 2: A brief introduction to the game of Hack.
The first step is to run the game itself. Type hack (or whatever the name of y
our version is), and press return. The first thing which will happen is that it
will welcome you to the game, and ask you what type of character you wish to p
lay. For now, we will play a Caveman. Type "c" to indicate this to the program
. After a few moments, the game will start. You will see something like this:
Your Command ?
------------
|..........|
|...@......|
+.d........|
|..........|
|.....+....|
----+-------
AC 7 Str 18 Hp 12(12) Exp: 0 Level: 1
You are the "@" symbol. What you see is a single room in the Dungeon of Doom.
The dungeon is divided into many "levels." Most levels consist of up to nine roo
ms connected by a twisting passageways. The "." are simply empty places on the
floor of the room. The "-" and "|" symbols are the walls of the room. The "+"
symbols represent doorways leading out of the room. Finally, the "d" symbol is
your faithful dog. Don't worry yet about the information on the bottom of the
screen. The "Your Command?" at
the top of the screen indicates that the program is waiting for you to give it a
command. In Hack, the world literally waits on your command. Until you type i
n something for it to do, NOTHING will happen during the game. This means that
you can leave the computer, eat lunch, and come back, and the game will be exact
ly as you left it. (Note: The command prompt is not always as it appears above.
) Basically, if nothing is happening on the screen, the program is waiting for y
ou to give it a command. Let's
move the character one space to the left. Movement is performed by typing the k
ey (make sure your caps lock is off) which corresponds to the direction you want
to go in.
The direction keys are:
y k u
\ | /
h- @ -l
/ | \
b j n
This means that if you type "h", the "@" will move one space to the left. If yo
u type "u", the "@" will move diagonally up and to the right one space. So to m
ove to the left one space, we type "h". The room now looks something like this:
-------
|.....|
|..@<.|
+..d..|
|.....|
|.....+
----+--
Notice that not only have you moved one space to the left, but the dog has moved
one space to the right. The dog's movements are controlled by the program, and
he will move when all the other computer controlled people (and monsters) move.
The "<" symbol is the way out of the dungeon. "<" represents a set of stairs
which go up to the previous level. If you leave the dungeon, then the game ends
. Similarly, the ">" symbol represents stairs going to the next level. To clim
b or descend the stairs, type th
e stair symbol you are on. That is, to climb up, type "<". To go down, type ">
". Once you have moved a few times, you should have the idea of how basic move
ment works in Hack. Now to deal with other things. Type "i". You now see a li
st of objects. It will look something like this:
(a) +1 Club (weapon in hand)
(b) +1 Bow
(c) 43 +0 arrows
(d) +0 Leather armor (being worn)
The "i" command stands for "Inventory." The list of objects is the list of item
s in your possession. Most items will be carried in your characters "back-pack
." Those that are not, such as the club in the above example, are indicated in y
our inventory. "Weapon in hand" means that your character is holding that item
in his hand. If he attacks a creature, he will hit it with this weapon. "being
worn" means the character is wearing that item. In particular, the character w
ill wear armor to protect himsel
f from damage. You may have seen symbols in the room other than the ones discus
sed. The general rule is: if a symbol is a letter, then it is a creature. Othe
rwise, it is an object. There are exceptions to both parts of the rule, however
, so be careful. To see a list of all the object symbols, type "?". This will
send you into the help subroutine. If the program asks you "Long or Short help?
" type "s" for now. A list of all the objects and commands will be printed on t
he screen. Read them carefully,
and follow the prompts. The long help contains information on how to play hack
. It is strongly recommended that you read this also. To pick up an item, you
simply walk over it. When this occurs, you will automatically attempt to pick u
p the item. Be aware, however, that items are not weightless, and so you may fi
nd yourself unable to pick up an item because it weighs to much. To move onto a
space without picking up an item, type "m", and then the direction you wish to
move. If there is something on
the space you are on, you may look at it by typing ":". [In some versions, you
can also set your "pickup" option on or off by typing the "@" symbol. This is v
ery useful if there are a lot of items around that you don't want to pick up. -
PG] The last thing which will be covered is combat. Let's say that you have be
en wandering about for a little while, and you have found a monster. The monst
er appears as a symbol on the map, just like the little dog. Combat in hack is
very simple. There are three wa
ys that you can fight a monster:
1) You can bash it with your weapon.
2) You can throw or shoot something at it.
3) You can zap it with a wand, or cast a spell at it.
(Spells are only used in nethack.)
To accomplish 1), you simply attempt to move into the space the monster is curre
ntly in. So, for example, if the creature is one space to the left of your cha
racter, and you type "h", you will attack it. Likewise, monsters attack you by
moving into your space. For 2), you must have something to throw. You can thro
w anything, but it is strongly recommended that you use a weapon if you want to
do damage to the creature. To throw an object in your inventory, type "t". The
game now asks what object you w
ish to throw. To see your inventory, type "*". To see the weapons in your inve
ntory, type "?". Once you have decided what to throw, type the objects letter,
and then the direction you wish to throw it in. You will now (hopefully) hit th
e monster with whatever you threw. To use a bow and arrows for maximum effect,
you must be wield the bow, and then "throw" an arrow. To wield a different weap
on, type "w", and then the letter of the object you wish to wield. Be careful t
hat you are not bashing a creat
ure with your bow, as this is not very effective. The same applies for slings
and rocks. [And crossbows and bolts. -PG] For 3), the procedure is similar to
2). Type "z" (for zap), and the letter of the wand you wish to use. If the pr
ogram now prompts you to type a direction, then type the direction you want to b
last in. There are three basic effects possible when zapping a wand:
1) The wand has no direction, and simply does something.
Example: When a wand of light is zapped, it will light up the room.
2) The wand affects whatever is in the given direction.
Example: A wand of slow monster will slow down any monster it is zapped
at.
3) The wand shoots a "ray" or "bolt" in the given direction. It will try t
o hit any creature in its path, and may bounce off of walls and doors. BE CAREF
UL! It is very easy to bounce such a blast into yourself.
Example: A wand of fire shoots a bolt of fire in the indicated direction
. Note that you may throw or zap in any direction (including up (<) or down(>))
that you may move in.
When you attack a creature (or are attacked by one), if the attack hits damage i
s done by the attacker. This damage is represented as hit points, or HP for sho
rt. Every creature, including yourself, has a certain number of these hit point
s. When you take damage, you will lose a certain number of them. The greater t
he damage, the more hit points you will lose. If a creature is reduced to less
than one hit point, it dies. Hence, ALWAYS BE AWARE OF HOW MANY HIT POINTS YOU
HAVE LEFT, because if you lose t
hem them all, the game is over, and you have lost. The amount of HP's damage th
at is done depends on a number of different factors, such as what weapon you are
wielding and what your current strength. Your strength is the number listed af
ter "STR" on the bottom of the screen. This is discussed later on, and you do n
ot have to worry to much about it to start. Any attack has a percent chance to
hit which depends on a few key statistics. The first of these is the armor clas
s of the defender, or AC for sh
ort. This number ranges (usually) from 10 to -10. It may go higher or lower de
pending on the circumstances. In particular, armor classes for a winning charac
ter very often do go below -10. The lower the number, the better the chance tha
t any attack on that defender will miss. The second factor is the "level" of th
e attacker. Your level is listed on the bottom of the screen. Initially it is
1, but it will rise as you kill monsters. For every monster you kill, you will
be awarded points, called experi
ence points (EXP). Your level is directly determined by the number of EXP you p
ossess. In addition, your hit points will increase every time you go up a level
as well. The final factor is a vague factor known as luck. The program will n
ot tell you what your luck is, but it is used in many factors of the game. Basi
cally, the higher your luck, the better you are at doing almost everything. The
re are ways to modify your luck, which are up to you to find. [These are virtua
lly impossible to find out throu
gh play. If you want to know them, read them in the spoilers section below. -P
G] Now you should know enough to play the game, and discover things on your own
. What follows is a summary of the commands and symbols, and then a section whi
ch discusses more advanced topics. It is meant to act as a guide to players of
what their options are. The final section contains "spoilers", or information w
hich gives away something in the game which might "spoil" the game for those wh
o prefer to find the information
on their own. CONSIDER CAREFULLY YOUR DECISION TO READ THIS SECTION. Only if
you are truly stuck should you have to resort to reading it, and many players fe
el that spoilers are another form of cheating. That being said, enjoy the game!
CHAPTER 3: COMMAND SUMMARY AND DESCRIPTIONS
(The following is an excerpt from the long help command in nethack)
Commands:
Hack knows the following commands:
? help: print this list.
Q Quit the game.
S Save the game.
! Escape to a shell.
^Z Suspend the game.
< up: go up the staircase (if you are standing on it).
> down: go down (just like up).
kjhlyubn È go one step in the direction indicated.
k: north (i.e., to the top of the screen),
j: south,
h: west,
l: east,
y: ne,
u: nw,
b: se,
n: sw.
KJHLYUBN È Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run into something.
m (followed by one of kjhlyubn): move without picking up any objects.
M (followed by one of KJHLYUBN): Move far, no pickup.
g (followed by one of kjhlyubn): move until something interesting is found
.
G (followed by one of KJHLYUBN): as previous, but forking of corridors is
not considered interesting.
i print your inventory.
I print selected parts of your inventory, as in I* È print all gems in inv
entory; IU È print all unpaid items; IX È print all used up items that are on yo
ur shopping bill; I$ È count your money.
s search for secret doors and traps around you.
^ ask for the type of a trap you found earlier.
) ask for current wielded weapon.
[ ask for current armor.
= ask for current rings.
$ count how many gold pieces you are carrying.
. rest, do nothing.
, pick up some things.
: look at what is here.
^T teleport.
^R redraw the screen.
^P repeat last message (subsequent ^P's repeat earlier messages).
/ (followed by any symbol): tell what this symbol represents.
\ tell what has been discovered.
e eat food.
w wield weapon.
w- means: wield nothing, use bare hands.
q drink (quaff) a potion.
r read a scroll.
T Take off armor.
R Remove Ring.
W Wear armor.
P Put on a ring.
X transcribe (learn) a spell.
x print a list of know spells.
z zap a wand.
t throw an object or shoot an arrow.
p pay your shopping bill.
d drop something.
d7a: drop seven items of object a.
D Drop several things.
In answer to the question "What kinds of things do you want to drop? [!
%= au]" you should give zero or more object symbols possibly followed by 'a' and
/or 'u' 'a' means: drop all such objects, without asking for confirmation 'u' me
ans: drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).
a use, apply È Generic command for using a key to lock or unlock a door, u
sing a camera, using a rope, etc.
c call: name a certain object or class of objects.
C Call: Name an individual monster.
E Engrave: Write a message in the dust on the floor.
E- means: use fingers for writing.
O Set options: You will be asked to enter an option line.If this is empty
, the current options are reported Otherwise it should be a list of options sep
arated by commas. Possible boolean options are: oneline, time, news, tombstone,
rest_on_space, fixinvlet, beginner, male, female. They can be negated by prefi
xing them with '!' or "no".
A string option is name; it supplies the answer to the question "Who are
you?"; it may have a suffix denoting character class, i.e. Name=Brunhilda-V, is
a Viking named Brunhilda.
A compound option is endgame; it is followed by a description of what pa
rts of the list of topscorers should be printed when the game is finished. Usua
lly one will not want to use the 'O' command, but instead put a HACKOPTIONS="...
." line in one's environment.
v print version number.
See Options below for more details.
You can put a number before a command to repeat it that many times, as in "20s"
or "40.".
COMMAND REFERENCE MANUAL:
The following is a more complete description of the commands in hack. The synta
x used is:
(Command name) (additional prompts)
Example:
a [*? or letter] means type "a". At the next prompt, type a letter, * or ?
a [*? or letter]
- apply an item which has an unusual use, such as a camera, leash or lunc
h box. All such items fall under the class of Tools.
"a ?" È gives an list of all Tools in the inventory.
"a *" È prints the inventory.
"a " È If that letter is in the inventory, applies that item if
possible.
b - move one space down and to the left.
B - move down and to the left until an object is encountered.
c [yn] [?* or letter] - allows the player to name an object or type of ob
ject in his inventory. At the prompt "Do you want to name an individual object?
[yn]" type "y" if you wish to name a specific item in your inventory, or type "
n" if you wish to name a type of object.
"c y" È Typing "?" or "*" displays the inventory. If the letter of an o
bject is typed, the player is prompted for the name of the object. This name wi
ll be used whenever the program refers to that object. Example:"c y Stormbringer" results in the long sword being called "Stormbringer",
as in the inventory listing: "a long sword named Stormbringer"
"c n" È Typing "?" will list all unidentified items in the inventory. T
yping "*" will display the inventory. If the letter of an object which is not i
dentified is typed, then the player will be prompted for the new name of that ty
pe of item. Example:"c n Feel Good" results in all whit
e potions being referred to as "a potion of Feel Good." The name will be nullif
ied when the item is identified.
C [hjkl.] È allows the player to name a specific creature. At the prompt
, a cursor will appear. Move the cursor with the keys "hjkl" as with normal mo
vement. When the cursor is over the monster to be named, type ".", and then th
e name of the creature. This names only that monster, and not that class of mo
nsters. Example: naming your little dog "Spot" will result in any future refere
nces to the little dog as "Spot", as in: "Spot hits the acid blob. Spot kills t
he acid blob!" [This can be hila
rious at times. Try walking into a treasure zoo while wearing a ring of conflic
t and naming every creature in sight. The play-by-play of the ensuing brawl is
a riot. -PG]
d [?*$ number or letter] È Allows the player to drop either his gold or a specif
ic item in his inventory. Typing "?" or "*" displays the inventory. Typing a l
etter drops all items labeled with that letter. Typing "$" drops all of the pla
yer's gold. Typing a number, and then either a letter or "$" drops that number
of the item being dropped
Example: "d 3 " drops 3 darts. "d 250 $" drops 250 gold.
D [`()[]%/=?!*$ and/or a] [nyaq] - Allows the player to selectively dro
p items from a selected set of object types. To use, type a string which consis
ts of object symbols of the types which are to be dropped. If this string is fo
llowed by an "a", all items of the listed types are dropped. Otherwise, the pro
gram displays, in inventory order, each item which is one of the selected types,
and prompts the player with "[nyaq]". Typing "n" will keep the item in the inv
entory, and prompt for the next
item. Typing "y" will drop that item, and prompt for the next item. Typing "a"
will drop that item, and all subsequent items. Typing "q" will abort the comma
nd. Example: "D %/=* a" will drop all food, wands rings and gems in the invento
ry.
e [?* or letter] È Eats something in the inventory. Typing "?" displays all foo
d in the inventory. Typing "*" displays the inventory. Typing a letter of a Co
mestible results in the player eating one of that item.
E [?*- or a letter] - Allows the player to engrave a phrase on the grou
nd with some specified object. Typing "?" displays all items listed after "-" i
n the prompt. Typing "*" displays the inventory. Typing a letter wields that i
tem if the item can be engraved with. Typing "-" unwields the players weapon (i
f uncursed), and writes in the dust with the players fingers. Once the writing
implement is selected, the player is prompted for a phrase. This phrase is writ
ten in that spot. If a sharp ob
ject or magic marker was used, the engraving is permanent, and whenever the play
er walks over the spot, he will see the phrase which is engraved there. If fing
ers are used, the engraving will smudge after the player takes an action, and no
t be as legible. The effects of different objects on Engravings are left to the
reader's imagination.
(f or g) [yuhjklbn] È Moves the player in the specified direction until next to
an object, intersection, door, stairs or unfriendly monster.
(F or G) [yuhjklbn] È moves the player as above, but ignores intersections.
h È moves the player one space to the left.
H È moves the player to the left until he moves onto an object.
i È displays the inventory
I [`)([%/=?!+] È Allows the player to display objects of specific types in the i
nventory. At the prompt, type the symbols for the types of objects you wish to
display. Example: "I %=!?" gives a list of all food,rings, potions and scrolls
in the inventory.
j È Moves the player down one space
J È Moves the player down until he moves onto an object.
k È Moves the player up one space.
K È Moves the player up until he moves onto an object.
l È Moves the player one space to the right.
L È Moves the player to right until he moves onto an object
m [yuhjklbn] È Moves the player one space in the specified direction, but if the
player moves onto an object, he will not attempt to pick it up.
M [yuhjklbn] È As above, but moves in the specified direction until no legal mov
es are possible.
n È Moves the player one space down and to the right.
N È Moves the player down and to the right until he moves onto an object.
O
