A Guide to the Mazes of Menace

1. Introduction

Recently, you have begun to find yourself unfulfilled and distant in your daily occupation. Strange dreams of prospecting, stealing, 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 recollection of the strange and powerful creatures that seem to be lurking behind every corner of the dungeon in your dream. Could these details haunting your dreams be real? As each night passes, 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 entered 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 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 morning, you gather your gear, eat what may be your last meal outside, and enter the dungeon….

2. What is going on here?

You have just begun a game of NetHack. 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, and are able to read ancient languages.

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.

Healers are wise in medicine and apothecary. They know the herbs and simples that can restore vitality, ease pain, anesthetize, 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.

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

Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders advancing 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. Their advantage lies in surprise, which they employ to great advantage.

Samurai are the elite warriors of feudal Nippon. They are lightly armored and 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.

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. Although seemingly weak and easy to overcome at first sight, an experienced Wizard is a deadly foe.

You may also choose the race of your character (within limits; most roles have restrictions on which races are eligible 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 are agile, quick, and perceptive; very little 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 secret underground mine complex built by this race exists within the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger.

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

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.

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 NetHack’s ancestor rogue first appeared, its screen orientation was almost unique among computer fantasy games. Since then, screen orientation has become the norm rather than the exception; NetHack continues this fine tradition. Unlike text adventure games that accept commands in pseudo-English sentences and explain the results in words, NetHack commands are all one or two keystrokes and the results are displayed graphically 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.

NetHack can even be played by blind players, with the assistance of Braille readers or speech synthesisers. Instructions for configuring NetHack for the blind are included later in this document.

NetHack 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.

NetHack 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 created. The three possible display options are: a monochrome character interface, a color character interface, and a graphical interface using small pictures called tiles. The two character interfaces allow fonts with other characters to be substituted, but the default assignments use standard ASCII characters to represent everything. There is no difference between the various display options with respect to game play. Because we cannot reproduce the tiles or colors in the Guidebook, and because it is common 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 NetHack, first you must understand what NetHack is doing with the screen. The NetHack screen replaces the “You see …” descriptions of text adventure games. Figure 1 is a sample of what a NetHack screen might look like. The way the screen looks for you depends on your platform.

The bat bites!

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

Player the Rambler   St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15 Neutral
Dlvl:1 $:993 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:752 Hungry Conf

Player the Rambler   St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15        
Neutral $:993 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 Hungry          
Dlvl:1 T:752                                  Conf            

4. Commands

Commands can be initiated by typing one or two characters to which the command is bound to, or typing the command name in the extended commands entry. Some commands, like search, do not require that any more information be collected by NetHack. Other commands might require additional information, for example a direction, or an object to be used. For those commands that require additional information, NetHack will present you with either a menu of choices or with a command line prompt requesting information. Which you are presented with will depend chiefly on how you have set the menustyle option.

For example, a common question, in the form “What do you want to use? [a-zA-Z ?*]”, asks you to choose an object you are carrying. Here, a-zA-Z are the inventory letters of your possible choices. Typing ? gives you an inventory list of these items, so you can see what each letter refers to. In this example, there is also a * indicating that you may choose an object not on the list, if you wanted to use something unexpected. 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 addition, 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. Here are the default key bindings for your reference:

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

/ The whatis command, to 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 particular spot on the map and then pressing one of ., ,, ;, or :. . will explain the symbol at the chosen location, conditionally check for More info? depending upon 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, then let you pick another location; ; will skip additional info and also not bother asking you to choose another location 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 pressing ? will give a brief reminder about how it works. If the autodescribe option is on, a short description of what you see at each location is shown as you move the cursor. Typing # while picking a location will toggle that option on or off. The whatis_coord option controls whether the short description includes map coordinates. Specifying a name rather than a location always gives any additional information available about that name. You may also request a description of nearby monsters, all monsters currently displayed, nearby objects, or all objects. The whatis_coord option controls which format of map coordinate is included with their descriptions.

& Tell what a command does.

< 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 ladder).

[yuhjklbn] Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure 3). 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    
(number_pad off)   (number_pad on)

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

m[yuhjklbn] Prefix: move without picking up objects or fighting (even if you remember a monster there). A few non-movement commands use the ‘m’ prefix to request operating via menu (to temporarily override the menustyle :traditional option). Primarily useful for ‘,’ (pickup) when there is only one class of objects present (where there won’t be any “what kinds of objects?” prompt, so no opportunity to answer m at that prompt). The prefix will make #travel command show a menu of interesting targets in sight. It can also be used with the ‘\’ (known, show a list of all discovered objects) and the ‘`’ (knownclass, show a list of discovered objects in a particular class) commands to offer a menu of several sorting alternatives (which sets a new value for the sortdiscoveries option); also for #vanquished and #genocided commands to offer a sorting menu. A few other commands (eat food, offer sacrifice, apply tinning-kit, drink/quaff, dip, tip container) use the ‘m’ prefix to skip checking for applicable objects on the floor and go straight to checking inventory, or (for #loot to remove a saddle), skip containers and go straight to adjacent monsters. In debug mode (aka wizard mode), the m prefix may also be used with the #teleport and #wizlevelport commands.

F[yuhjklbn] Prefix: fight a monster (even if you only guess one is there).

g[yuhjklbn] Prefix: move until something interesting is found.

G[yuhjklbn] or <Control>+[yuhjklbn] Prefix: similar to g, but forking of corridors is not considered interesting. Note: <Control>+<key> means holding the <Control> or <Ctrl> key down like <Shift> while typing and releasing <key>, then releasing <Control>. ^<key> is used as shorthand elsewhere in the Guidebook to mean the same thing. Control characters are case-insensitive so ^x and ^X are the same.

M[yuhjklbn] Old versions supported ‘M’ as a movement prefix which combined the effect of ‘m’ with <Control>+<direction>. That is no longer supported as a prefix but similar effect can be achieved by using ‘m’ and G <direction> in combination. m can also be used in combination with g <direction>, <Control>+<direction>, or <Shift>+<direction>.

_ Travel to a map location via a shortest-path algorithm. The shortest path is computed over map locations the hero knows about (e.g. seen or previously traversed). If there is no known path, a guess is made instead. Stops on most of the same conditions as the ‘G’ prefix, but without picking up objects, so implicitly forces the ‘m’ prefix. For ports with mouse support, the command is also invoked when a mouse-click takes place on a location other than the current position.

. Wait or rest, do nothing for one turn. Precede with the m prefix to wait for a turn even next to a hostile monster, if safe_wait is on.

a Apply (use) a tool (pick-axe, key, lamp…). If used on a wand, that wand will be broken, releasing its magic in the process. Confirmation is required.

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 Repeat the previous command.

c Close a door.

C Call (name) a monster, an individual object, or a type of object. Same as extended command #name.

^C Panic button. Quit the game.

d Drop something. For example d7a means drop seven items of object a.

D Drop several things. In answer to the question What kinds of things do you want to drop? [!%= BUCXPaium] you should type zero or more object symbols possibly followed by a and/or i and/or u and/or m. In addition, one or more of the blessed/uncursed/cursed groups may be typed.

The last example shows a combination. There are four categories of object filtering: class (! for potions, ? for scrolls, and so on), shop status (u for unpaid, in other words, owned by the shop), bless/curse state (B, U, C, and X as shown above), and novelty (P, recently picked up items; controlled by picking up or dropping things rather than by any time factor). If you specify more than one value in a category (such as !? for potions and scrolls or BU for blessed and uncursed), an inventory object will meet the criteria if it matches any of the specified values (so !? means ! or ?). If you specify more than one category, an inventory object must meet each of the category criteria (so %u means class % and unpaid u). Lastly, you may specify multiple values within multiple categories: !?BU will select all potions and scrolls which are known to be blessed or uncursed. (In versions prior to 3.6, filter combinations behaved differently.)

^D Kick something (usually a door).

e Eat food. Normally checks for edible item(s) on the floor, then if none are found or none are chosen, checks for edible item(s) in inventory. Precede e with the m prefix to bypass attempting to eat anything off the floor. If you attempt to eat while already satiated, you might choke to death. If you risk it, you will be asked whether to “continue eating?” if you survive the first bite. You can set the paranoid_confirmation:eating option to require a response of yes instead of just y.

E Engrave a message on the floor. E- - write in the dust with your fingers.

Engraving the word Elbereth 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.

f Fire (shoot or throw) one of the objects placed in your quiver (or quiver sack, or that you have at the ready). You may select ammunition with a previous Q command, or let the computer pick something appropriate if autoquiver is true. If your wielded weapon has the throw-and-return property, your quiver is empty, and autoquiver is false, you will throw that wielded weapon instead of filling the quiver. This will also automatically use a polearm if wielded. If fireassist is true, firing will automatically try to wield a launcher (for example, a bow or a sling) matching the ammo in the quiver; this might take multiple turns, and get interrupted by a monster. Remember to swap back to your main melee weapon afterwards. See also t (throw) for more general throwing and shooting.

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

I List selected parts of your inventory, usually be specifying the character for a particular set of objects, like [ for armor or ! for potions.

o Open a door.

O Set options. A menu showing the current option values will be displayed. You can change most values simply by selecting the menu entry for the given option (ie, by typing its letter or clicking upon it, depending on your user interface). For the non-boolean choices, a further menu or prompt will appear once you’ve closed this menu. The available 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. Precede O with the m prefix to show advanced options.

^O Show overview. Shortcut for #overview: list interesting dungeon levels visited. (Prior to 3.6.0, ^O was a debug mode command which listed the placement of all special levels. Use #wizwhere to run that command.)

p Pay your shopping bill.

P Put on an accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold). This command may also be used to wear armor. The prompt for which inventory item to use will only list accessories, but choosing an unlisted item of armor will attempt to wear it. (See the W command below. It lists armor as the inventory choices but will accept an accessory and attempt to put that on.)

^P Repeat previous message. Subsequent ^Ps repeat earlier messages. For some interfaces, the behavior can be varied via the msg_window option.

q Quaff (drink) something (potion, water, etc). When there is a fountain or sink present, it asks whether to drink from that. If that is declined, then it offers a chance to choose a potion from inventory. Precede q with the m prefix to skip asking about drinking from a fountain or sink.

Q Select an object for your quiver, quiver sack, or just generally at the ready (only one of these is available at a time). You can then throw this (or one of these) using the f command.

r Read a scroll or spellbook.

R Remove a worn accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold). If you’re wearing more than one, you’ll be prompted for which one to remove. When you’re only wearing one, then by default it will be removed without asking, but you can set the paranoid_confirmation:Remove option to require a prompt. This command may also be used to take off armor. The prompt for which inventory item to remove only lists worn accessories, but an item of worn armor can be chosen. (See the T command below. It lists armor as the inventory choices but will accept an accessory and attempt to remove it.)

^R Redraw the screen.

s Search for secret doors and traps around you. It usually takes several tries to find something. Precede with the m prefix to search for a turn even next to a hostile monster, if safe_wait is on. Can also be used to figure out whether there is still a monster at an adjacent “remembered, unseen monster” marker.

S Save the game (which suspends play and exits the program). The saved game will be restored automatically the next time you play using the same character name. In normal play, once a saved game is restored the file used to hold the saved data is deleted. In explore mode, once restoration is accomplished you are asked whether to keep or delete the file. Keeping the file makes it feasible to play for a while then quit without saving and later restore again. There is no “save current game state and keep playing” command, not even in explore mode where saved game files can be kept and re-used.

t Throw an object or shoot a projectile. There’s no separate shoot command. If you throw an arrow while wielding a bow, you are shooting that arrow and any weapon skill bonus or penalty for bow applies. If you throw an arrow while not wielding a bow, you are throwing it by hand and it will generally be less effective than when shot. See also f (fire) for throwing or shooting an item pre-selected via the Q (quiver) command, with some extra assistance.

T Take off armor. If you’re wearing more than one piece, you’ll be prompted for which one to take off. (Note that this treats a cloak covering a suit and/or a shirt, or a suit covering a shirt, as if the underlying items weren’t there.) When you’re only wearing one, then by default it will be taken off without asking, but you can set the paranoid_confirmation:Remove option to require a prompt. This command may also be used to remove accessories. The prompt for which inventory item to take off only lists worn armor, but a worn accessory can be chosen. (See the R command above. It lists accessories as the inventory choices but will accept an item of armor and attempt to take it off.)

^T Teleport, if you have the ability.

v Display version number.

V Display the game history.

w Wield weapon. w- - wield nothing, use your bare (or gloved) hands.

Some characters can wield two weapons at once; use the X command (or the #twoweapon extended command) to do so.

W Wear armor. This command may also be used to put on an accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold). The prompt for which inventory item to use will only list armor, but choosing an unlisted accessory will attempt to put it on. (See the P command above. It lists accessories as the inventory choices but will accept an item of armor and attempt to wear it.)

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

X Toggle two-weapon combat, if your character can do it. Also available via the #twoweapon extended command. (In versions prior to 3.6 this keystroke ran the command to switch from normal play to explore mode, also known as discovery mode, which has now been moved to #exploremode and M-X.)

^X Display basic information about your character. Displays name, role, race, gender (unless role name makes that redundant, such as Caveman or Priestess), and alignment, along with your patron deity and his or her opposition. It also shows most of the various items of information from the status line(s) in a less terse form, including several additional things which don’t appear in the normal status display due to space considerations. In normal play, that’s all that ^X displays. In explore mode, the role and status feedback is augmented by the information provided by enlightenment magic.

z Zap a wand. z. - to aim at yourself, use \. for the direction.

Z Zap (cast) a spell. Z. - to cast at yourself, use \. for the direction.

^Z Suspend the game UNIX" versions with job control only)." ( See #suspend below for more details.

: Look at what is here.

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

, Pick up some things from the floor beneath you. May be preceded by m to force a selection menu.

@ Toggle the autopickup option on and off.

^ Ask for the type of an adjacent 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.

$ Report the gold you’re carrying, possibly shop credit and/or debt too.

+ List the spells you know. Using this command, you can also rearrange the order in which your spells are listed, either by sorting the entire list or by picking one spell from the menu then picking another to swap places with it. Swapping pairs of spells changes their casting letters, so the change lasts after the current + command finishes. Sorting the whole list is temporary. To make the most recent sort order persist beyond the current + command, choose the sort option again and then pick “reassign casting letters”. (Any spells learned after that will be added to the end of the list rather than be inserted into the sorted ordering.)

\ Show what types of objects have been discovered. May be preceded by ‘m’ to select preferred display order.

` Show discovered types for one class of objects. May be preceded by ‘m’ to select preferred display order.

| If persistent inventory display is supported and enabled (with the perm_invent option), interact with it instead of with the map. Allows scrolling with the menu_first_page, menu_previous_page, menu_next_page, and menu_last_page keys (‘^’, ‘<’, ‘>’, ‘|’ by default). Some interfaces also support menu_shift_left and menu_shift_right keys (‘{’ and ‘}’ by default). Use the Return (aka Enter) or Escape key to resume play.

! Escape to a shell. See #shell below for more details.

Del Show map without obstructions. You can view the explored portion of the current level’s map without monsters; without monsters and objects; or without monsters, objects, and traps. The <del> key is also shown as <delete> on some keyboards or <rubout> on others. It is sometimes displayed as ^? even though that is not an actual control character. Many terminals have an option to swap the <delete> and <backspace> keys, so typing the <del> key might not execute this command. If that happens, you can use the extended command #terrain instead.

# Perform an extended command.

As you can see, the authors of NetHack used up all the letters, so this is a way to introduce the less frequently used commands. What extended commands are available depends on what features the game was compiled with.

#adjust Adjust inventory letters (most useful when the fixinv option is on). Autocompletes. Default key is M-a. This command allows you to move an item from one particular inventory slot to another so that it has a letter which is more meaningful for you or that it will appear in a particular location when inventory listings are displayed. You can move to a currently empty slot, or if the destination is occupied—and won’t merge—the item there will swap slots with the one being moved. #adjust can also be used to split a stack of objects; when choosing the item to adjust, enter a count prior to its letter. Adjusting without a count used to collect all compatible stacks when moving to the destination. That behavior has been changed; to gather compatible stacks, #adjust a stack into its own inventory slot. If it has a name assigned, other stacks with the same name or with no name will merge provided that all their other attributes match. If it does not have a name, only other stacks with no name are eligible. In either case, otherwise compatible stacks with a different name will not be merged. This contrasts with using #adjust to move from one slot to a different slot. In that situation, moving (no count given) a compatible stack will merge if either stack has a name when the other doesn’t and give that name to the result, while splitting (count given) will ignore the source stack’s name when deciding whether to merge with the destination stack.

#annotate Allows you to specify one line of text to associate with the current dungeon level. All levels with annotations are displayed by the #overview command. Autocompletes. Default key is M-A, and also ^N if number_pad is on.

#apply Apply (use) a tool such as a pick-axe, a key, or a lamp. Default key is a. If the tool used acts on items on the floor, using the m prefix skips those items. If used on a wand, that wand will be broken, releasing its magic in the process. Confirmation is required.

#attributes Show your attributes. Default key is ^X.

#autopickup Toggle the autopickup option on/off. Default key is @.

#bugreport Bring up a browser window to submit a report to the NetHack Development Team. Can be disabled at the time the program is built; when enabled, CRASHREPORTURL must be set in the system configuration file.

#call Call (name) a monster, or an object in inventory, on the floor, or in the discoveries list, or add an annotation for the current level (same as #annotate). Default key is C.

#cast Cast a spell. Default key is Z.

#chat Talk to someone. Default key is M-c.

#chronicle Show a list of important game events.

#close Close a door. Default key is c.

#conduct List voluntary challenges you have maintained. Autocompletes. Default key is M-C. See the section below entitled Conduct for details.

#debugfuzzer Start the fuzz tester. Debug mode only.

#dip Dip an object into something. Autocompletes. Default key is M-d. The m prefix skips dipping into a fountain or pool if there is one at your location.

#down Go down a staircase. Default key is >.

#drop Drop an item. Default key is d.

#droptype Drop specific item types. Default key is D.

#eat Eat something. Default key is e. The m prefix skips eating items on the floor.

#engrave Engrave writing on the floor. Default key is E.

#enhance Advance or check weapon and spell skills. Autocompletes. Default key is M-e.

#exploremode Switch from normal play to non-scoring explore mode. Default key is M-X. Requires confirmation; default response is n (no). To really switch to explore mode, respond with y. You can set the paranoid_confirmation:quit option to require a response of yes instead.

#fight Prefix key to force fight a direction, even if you see nothing to fight there. Default key is F, or - with number_pad

#fire Fire ammunition from quiver, possibly autowielding a launcher, or hit with a wielded polearm. Default key is f.

#force Force a lock. Autocompletes. Default key is M-f.

#genocided List any monster types which have been genocided. In explore mode and debug mode it also shows types which have become extinct. The display order is the same as is used by #vanquished. The m prefix brings up a menu of available sorting orders, and doing that for either #genocided or #vanquished changes the order for both. If the sorting order is “count high to low” or “count low to high” (which are applicable for #vanquished), that will be ignored for #genocided and alphabetical will be used instead. The menu omits those two choices when used for #genocide. Autocompletes. Default key is M-g.

#glance Show what type of thing a map symbol corresponds to. Default key is ;.

#help Show the help menu. Default key is ?, and also h if number_pad is on.

#herecmdmenu Show a menu of possible actions directed at your current location. The menu is limited to a subset of the likeliest actions, not an exhaustive set of all possibilities. Autocompletes. If mouse support is enabled and the herecmd_menu option is On, clicking on the hero (or steed when mounted) will execute this command.

#history Show long version and game history. Default key is V.

#inventory Show your inventory. Default key is i.

#inventtype Inventory specific item types. Default key is I.

#invoke Invoke an object’s special powers. Autocompletes. Default key is M-i.

#jump Jump to another location. Autocompletes. Default key is M-j, and also j if number_pad is on.

#kick Kick something. Default key is ^D, and k if number_pad is on.

#known Show what object types have been discovered. Default key is ‘\’. The ‘m’ prefix allows assigning a new value to the sortdiscoveries option to control the order in which the discoveries are displayed.

#knownclass Show discovered types for one class of objects. Default key is ‘`’. The ‘m’ prefix operates the same as for #known.

#levelchange Change your experience level. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#lightsources Show mobile light sources. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#look Look at what is here, under you. Default key is :.

#lookaround Describe what you can see, or remember, of your surroundings.

#loot Loot a box or bag on the floor beneath you, or the saddle from a steed standing next to you. Autocompletes. Precede with the m prefix to skip containers at your location and go directly to removing a saddle. Default key is M-l, and also l if number_pad is on.

#monster Use a monster’s special ability (when polymorphed into monster form). Autocompletes. Default key is M-m.

#name Name a monster, an individual object, or a type of object. Same as #call. Autocompletes. Default keys are N, M-n, and M-N.

#offer Offer a sacrifice to the gods. Autocompletes. Default key is M-o. You’ll need to find an altar to have any chance at success. Corpses of recently killed monsters are the fodder of choice. The m prefix skips offering any items which are on the altar.

#open Open a door. Default key is o.

#options Show and change option settings. Default key is O. Precede with the m prefix to show advanced options.

#optionsfull Show advanced game option settings. No default key. Precede with the m prefix to execute the simpler options command. (Mainly useful if you use BINDING=O:optionsfull to switch ‘O’ from simple options back to traditional advanced options.)

#overview Display information you’ve discovered about the dungeon. Any visited level with an annotation is included, and many things (altars, thrones, fountains, and so on; extra stairs leading to another dungeon branch) trigger an automatic annotation. If dungeon overview is chosen during end-of-game disclosure, every visited level will be included regardless of annotations. Precede #overview with the m prefix to display the dungeon overview as a menu where you can select any visited level to add or remove an annotation without needing to return to that level. This will also force all visited levels to be displayed rather than just the interesting subset. Autocompletes. Default keys are ^O, and M-O.

#panic Test the panic routine. Terminates the current game. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Asks for confirmation; default is n (no); continue playing. To really panic, respond with y. You can set the paranoid_confirmation:quit option to require a response of yes instead.

#pay Pay your shopping bill. Default key is p.

#perminv If persistent inventory display is supported and enabled (with the perm_invent option), interact with it instead of with the map. You’ll be prompted for menu scrolling keystrokes such as ‘>’ and ‘<’. Press Return or Escape to resume normal play. Default key is |.

#pickup Pick up things at the current location. Default key is ,. The m prefix forces use of a menu.

#polyself Polymorph self. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#pray Pray to the gods for help. Autocompletes. Default key is M-p. Praying too soon after receiving prior help is a bad idea. (Hint: entering the dungeon alive is treated as having received help. You probably shouldn’t start off a new game by praying right away.) Since using this command by accident can cause trouble, there is an option to make you confirm your intent before praying. It is enabled by default, and you can reset the paranoid_confirmation option to disable it.

#prevmsg Show previously displayed game messages. Default key is ^P.

#puton Put on an accessory (ring, amulet, etc). Default key is P.

#quaff Quaff (drink) something. Default key is q. The m prefix skips drinking from a fountain or sink if there is one at your location.

#quit Quit the program without saving your game. Autocompletes. Since using this command by accident would throw away the current game, you are asked to confirm your intent before quitting. Default response is n (no); continue playing. To really quit, respond with y. You can set the paranoid_confirmation:quit option to require a response of yes instead.

#quiver Select ammunition for quiver. Default key is Q.

#read Read a scroll, a spellbook, or something else. Default key is r.

#redraw Redraw the screen. Default key is ^R, and also ^L if number_pad is on.

#remove Remove an accessory (ring, amulet, etc). Default key is R.

#repeat Repeat the previous command. Default key is ^A.

#reqmenu Prefix key to modify the behavior or request menu from some commands. Prevents autopickup when used with movement commands. Default key is m.

#retravel Travel to a previously selected travel destination. Default key is C-_. See also #travel.

#ride Ride (or stop riding) a saddled creature. Autocompletes. Default key is M-R.

#rub Rub a lamp or a stone. Autocompletes. Default key is M-r.

#run Prefix key to run towards a direction. Default key is G when number_pad is off, 5 when number_pad is set to 1 or 3, otherwise M-5 when it is set to 2 or 4.

#rush Prefix key to rush towards a direction. Default is g when number_pad is off, M-5 when number_pad is set to 1 or 3, otherwise 5 when it is set to 2 or 4.

#save Save the game and exit the program. Default key is S.

#saveoptions Save configuration options to the config file. This will overwrite the file, removing all comments, so if you have manually edited the config file, don’t use this.

#search Search for traps and secret doors around you. Default key is s.

#seeall Show all equipment in use. Default key is *. Will display in-use items in a menu even when there is only one.

#seeamulet Show the amulet currently worn. Default key is ". Using the ‘m’ prefix will force the display of a worn amulet in a menu rather than with just a message.

#seearmor Show the armor currently worn. Default key is [. Will display worn armor in a menu even when there is only thing worn.

#seerings Show the ring(s) currently worn. Default key is =. Will display worn rings in a menu if there are two (or there is just one and is a meat ring rather than a real ring). Use the ‘m’ prefix to force a menu for one ring.

#seetools Show the tools currently in use. Default key is (. Will display the result in a message if there is one tool in use (worn blindfold or towel or lenses, lit lamp(s) and/or candle(s), leashes attached to pets). Will display a menu if there are more than one or if the command is preceded by the ‘m’ prefix.

#seeweapon Show the weapon currently wielded. Default key is ). If dual-wielding, a separate message about the secondary weapon will be given. Using the ‘m’ prefix will force a menu and it will include primary weapon, alternate weapon even when not dual-wielding, and also whatever is currently assigned to the quiver slot.

#shell Do a shell escape, switching from NetHack to a subprocess. Can be disabled at the time the program is built. When enabled, access for specific users can be controlled by the system configuration file. Use the shell command ‘exit’ to return to the game. Default key is !.

#showgold Report the gold in your inventory, including gold you know about in containers you’re carrying. If you are inside a shop, report any credit or debt you have in that shop. Default key is $.

#showspells List and reorder known spells. Default key is +.

#showtrap Describe an adjacent trap, possibly covered by objects or a monster. To be eligible, the trap must already be discovered. (The #terrain command can display your map with all objects and monsters temporarily removed, making it possible to see all discovered traps.) Default key is ^.

#sit Sit down. Autocompletes. Default key is M-s.

#stats Show memory usage statistics. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#suspend Suspend the game, switching from NetHack to the terminal it was started from without performing save-and-exit. Can be disabled at the time the program is built. When enabled, mainly useful for tty and curses interfaces on UNIX. Use the shell command ‘fg’ to return to the game. Default key is ^Z.

#swap Swap wielded and secondary weapons. Default key is x.

#takeoff Take off one piece of armor. Default key is T.

#takeoffall Remove all armor. Default key is A.

#teleport Teleport around the level. Default key is ^T.

#terrain Show map without obstructions. In normal play you can view the explored portion of the current level’s map without monsters; without monsters and objects; or without monsters, objects, and traps. If there are visible clouds of gas in view, they are treated like traps when deciding whether to show them or the floor underneath them. In explore mode, you can choose to view the full map rather than just its explored portion. In debug mode there are additional choices. Autocompletes. Default key is <del> or <delete> (see Del above).

#therecmdmenu Show a menu of possible actions directed at a location next to you. The menu is limited to a subset of the likeliest actions, not an exhaustive set of all possibilities. Autocompletes.

#throw Throw something. Default key is t.

#timeout Look at the timeout queue. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#tip Tip over a container (bag or box) to pour out its contents. When there are containers on the floor, the game will prompt to pick one of them or “tip something being carried”. If the latter is chosen, there will be another prompt for which item from inventory to tip. The ‘m’ prefix makes the command skip containers on the floor and pick one from inventory, except for the special case of menustyle :traditional with two or more containers present; that situation will start with the floor container menu. Autocompletes. Default key is M-T.

#travel Travel to a specific location on the map. Default key is _. Using the request menu prefix shows a menu of interesting targets in sight without asking to move the cursor. When picking a target with cursor and the autodescribe option is on, the top line will show “(no travel path)” if your character does not know of a path to that location. See also #retravel.

#turn Turn undead away. Autocompletes. Default key is M-t.

#twoweapon Toggle two-weapon combat on or off. Autocompletes. Default key is X, and also M-2 if number_pad is off. Note that you must use suitable weapons for this type of combat, or it will be automatically turned off.

#untrap Untrap something (trap, door, or chest). Default key is M-u, and u if number_pad is on. In some circumstances it can also be used to rescue trapped monsters.

#up Go up a staircase. Default key is <.

#vanquished List vanquished monsters by type and count. Note that the vanquished monsters list includes all monsters killed by traps and each other as well as by you, and omits any which got removed from the game without being killed (perhaps by genocide, or by a mollified shopkeeper dismissing summoned Kops) or were already corpses when placed on the map. Using the request menu prefix prior to #vanquished brings up a menu of sorting orders available (provided that the vanquished monsters list contains at least two types of monsters). Whichever ordering is picked gets assigned to the sortvanquished option so is remembered for subsequent #vanquished requests. The #genocided command shares this sorting order. During end-of-game disclosure, when asked whether to show vanquished monsters answering ‘a’ will let you choose from the sort menu. Autocompletes. Default key is M-V.

#version Print compile time options for this version of NetHack. The second paragraph lists the user interface(s) that are included. If there are more than one, you can use the windowtype option in your run-time configuration file to select the one you want. Autocompletes. Default key is M-v.

#versionshort Show the program’s version number, plus the date and time that the running copy was built from sources (not the version’s release date). Default key is v.

#vision Show vision array. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wait Rest one move while doing nothing. Default key is ., and also ‘ ’ if rest_on_space is on.

#wear Wear a piece of armor. Default key is W.

#whatdoes Tell what a key does. Default key is &.

#whatis Show what type of thing a symbol corresponds to. Default key is /.

#wield Wield a weapon. Default key is w.

#wipe Wipe off your face. Autocompletes. Default key is M-w.

#wizborn Show monster birth, death, genocide, and extinct statistics. Debug mode only.

#wizbury Bury objects under and around you. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wizcast Cast any spell. Debug mode only.

#wizdetect Reveal hidden things (secret doors or traps or unseen monsters) within a modest radius. No time elapses. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Default key is ^E.

#wizgenesis Create a monster. May be prefixed by a count to create more than one. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Default key is ^G.

#wizidentify Identify all items in inventory. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Default key is ^I.

#wizintrinsic Set one or more intrinsic attributes. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wizkill Remove monsters from play by just pointing at them. By default the hero gets credit or blame for killing the targets. Precede this command with the ‘m’ prefix to override that. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wizlevelport Teleport to another level. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Default key is ^V.

#wizmap Map the level. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Default key is ^F.

#wizrumorcheck Verify rumor boundaries by displaying first and last true rumors and first and last false rumors. Also displays first, second, and last random engravings, epitaphs, and hallucinatory monsters. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wizseenv Show map locations’ seen vectors. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wizsmell Smell monster. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wizwhere Show locations of special levels. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#wizwish Wish for something. Autocompletes. Debug mode only. Default key is ^W.

#wmode Show wall modes. Autocompletes. Debug mode only.

#zap Zap a wand. Default key is z.

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

If your keyboard has a meta key (which, when pressed in combination 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.

On Windows and MS-DOS, the Alt key can be used in this fashion. On other systems, if typing Alt plus another key transmits a two character sequence consisting of an Escape followed by the other key, you may set the altmeta option to have NetHack combine them into meta+<key>. (This combining action only takes place when NetHack is expecting a command to execute, not when accepting input to name something or to make a wish.)

Unlike control characters, where ^x and ^X denote the same thing, meta characters are case-sensitive: M-x and M-X represent different things. Some commands which can be run via a meta character require that the letter be capitalized because the lower-case equivalent is used for another command, so the three key combination meta+Shift+<letter> is needed.

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

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

M-a #adjust

M-A #annotate

M-c #chat

M-C #conduct

M-d #dip

M-e #enhance

M-f #force

M-g #genocided

M-i #invoke

M-j #jump

M-l #loot

M-m #monster

M-n #name

M-o #offer

M-O #overview

M-p #pray

M-r #rub

M-R #ride

M-s #sit

M-t #turn

M-T #tip

M-u #untrap

M-v #version

M-V #vanquished

M-w #wipe

M-X #exploremode

If the number_pad option is on, some additional letter commands are available:

h #help

j #jump

k #kick

l #loot

N #name

u #untrap

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 and appear to be solid rock. You can find them with the s (search) command when adjacent to them. Multiple search attempts may be needed. When searching is successful, secret corridors become ordinary open corridor locations. Mapping magic reveals secret corridors, so converts them into ordinary corridors and shows them as such.

6. Monsters

Monsters you cannot see are not displayed on the screen. Beware! You may suddenly come upon one in a dark place. Some magic items can help you locate them before they locate you (which some monsters can do very well).

The commands / and ; may be used to obtain information about those monsters who are displayed on the screen. The command #name (by default bound to C), allows you to assign a name to a monster, which may be useful to help distinguish one from another when multiple monsters 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.

7. Objects

When you find something in the dungeon, it is common to want to pick it up. In NetHack, this is accomplished by using the , command. If autopickup option is on, you will automatically pick up the object by walking over, unless you move with the m prefix.

If you’re carrying too many items, NetHack 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 depends on your strength and your constitution. The stronger and sturdier 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 carrying 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.

NetHack will tell you how badly you have loaded yourself. If you are encumbered, one of the conditions Burdened, Stressed, Strained, Overtaxed, or Overloaded will be shown on the bottom line status display.

When you pick up an object, it is assigned an inventory letter. Many commands that operate on objects must ask you to find out which object you want to use. When NetHack asks you to choose a particular object you are carrying, you are usually presented with a list of inventory letters to choose from (see Commands, 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, NetHack 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 instead of assigning a new one.

8. Conduct

As if winning NetHack were not difficult enough, certain players seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on the way they play the game. The game automatically tracks some of these challenges, which can be checked at any time with the #conduct command or at the end of the game. When you perform an action which breaks a challenge, it will no longer be listed. This gives players extra bragging rights for winning the game with these challenges. Note that it is perfectly acceptable to win the game without resorting to these restrictions and that it is unusual for players to adhere to challenges the first time they win the game.

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

Vegetarians do not eat animals; however, they are less selective 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 polymorphed into a creature that can digest it, or eating monster brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered 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 eating the monster’s corpse. Please note that the term vegan is used here only in the context of diet. You are still free to choose not to use or wear items derived from animals (e.g. leather, dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not keep track of this for you. Also note that milky potions may be a translucent white, but they do not contain milk, so they are compatible with a vegan diet. Slime molds or player-defined fruits, although they could be anything from cherries to pork chops, are also assumed to be vegan.

An atheist is one who rejects religion. This means that you cannot #pray, #offer sacrifices to any god, #turn undead, or #chat with a priest. Particularly selective readers may argue that playing Monk or Priest characters should violate this conduct; 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 being 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 NetHack, 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 does not read or write. This includes reading a scroll, spellbook, fortune cookie message, or t-shirt; writing a scroll; or making an engraving of anything other than a single X (the traditional signature of an illiterate person). Reading an engraving, or 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 is a side-branch to the main dungeon called Sokoban, briefly described in the earlier section about Traps. As mentioned there, the goal is to push boulders into pits and/or holes to plug those in order to both get the boulders out of the way and be able to go past the traps. There are some special rules that are active when in that branch of the dungeon. Some rules can’t be bypassed, such as being unable to push a boulder diagonally. Other rules can, such as not smashing boulders with magic or tools, but doing so causes you to receive a luck penalty. No message about that is given at the time, but it is tracked as a conduct. The #conduct command and end of game disclosure will report whether you have abided by the special rules of Sokoban, and if not, how many times you violated them, providing you with a way to discover which actions incur bad luck so that you can be better informed about whether or not to avoid repeating those actions in the future. (Note: the Sokoban conduct will only be displayed if you have entered the Sokoban branch of the dungeon during the current game. Once that has happened, it becomes part of disclosed conduct even if you haven’t done anything interesting there. Ending the game with “never broke the Sokoban rules” conduct is most meaningful if you also manage to perform the “obtained the Sokoban prize” achievement (see Achievements below).)

There are several other challenges tracked by the game. It is possible to eliminate one or more species of monsters by genocide; playing without this feature is considered a challenge. When the game offers you an opportunity to genocide monsters, you may respond with the monster type none if you want to decline. You can change the form of an item into another item 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. Polymorphing monsters, including pets, does not break either of these challenges. Finally, you may sometimes receive wishes; a game without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as is a game without wishing for an artifact (even if the artifact immediately disappears). When the game offers you an opportunity to make a wish for an item, you may choose nothing if you want to decline.

9. Options

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

?NETHACKOPTIONS=color,!pickup,name:Blue%20Meanie,pickup_types:$

?pickup=1&showexp=1&time=1
?name=Gandalf&color=0

?NETHACKOPTIONS=name:Blue%20Meanie,!pickup&name=Mindy&pickup=1

?wizard=1

10. Scoring

NetHack 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 NetHack 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 nethack -s all on most versions.

11. Explore mode

NetHack 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 comes equipped with an explore 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 command-line switch or with the playmode:explore option. The other is to issue the #exploremode extended command while already playing the game. Starting a new game in explore mode provides your character with a wand of wishing in initial inventory; switching during play does not. 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 document 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.

NetHack is the product of literally scores of people’s work. Main events in the course of the game development are described below:

Jay Fenlason wrote the original Hack, with help from Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome, and Jon Payne.

Andries Brouwer did a major re-write while at Stichting Mathematisch Centrum (now Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica), transforming Hack into a very different game. He published the Hack source code for use on UNIX systems by posting that to Usenet newsgroup net.sources (later renamed comp.sources) releasing version 1.0 in December of 1984, then versions 1.0.1, 1.0.2, and finally 1.0.3 in July of 1985. Usenet newsgroup net.games.hack (later renamed rec.games.hack, eventually replaced by rec.games.roguelike.nethack) was created for discussing it.

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 versions (3.0, 3.2, 3.51, and 3.6; note that these are old Hack version numbers, not contemporary NetHack ones).

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 version 1.4 in 1987. He then coordinated a cast of thousands in enhancing and debugging NetHack 1.4 and released NetHack versions 2.2 and 2.3. Like Hack, they were released by posting their source code to Usenet where they remained available in various archives accessible via ftp and uucp after expiring from the newsgroup.

Later, Mike coordinated a major re-write of the game, heading a team which included Ken Arromdee, Jean-Christophe Collet, Steve Creps, Eric Hendrickson, Izchak Miller, Eric S. Raymond, John Rupley, Mike Threepoint, and Janet Walz, to produce NetHack 3.0c.

NetHack 3.0 was ported to the Atari by Eric R. Smith, to OS/2 by Timo Hakulinen, and to VMS by David Gentzel. The three of them and Kevin Darcy later joined the main NetHack 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.

Version 3.0 went through ten relatively rapidly released patch-level revisions. Versions at the time were known as 3.0 for the base release and variously as 3.0a through 3.0j, 3.0 patchlevel 1 through 3.0 patchlevel 10, or 3.0pl1 through 3.0pl10 rather than 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 through 3.0.10; the three component numbering scheme began to be used with 3.1.0.

Headed by Mike Stephenson and coordinated by Izchak Miller and Janet Walz, the NetHack Development Team which now included Ken Arromdee, 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. Version 3.1.0 was released in January of 1993.

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 Schelin, Stephen Spackman, Steve VanDevender, and Paul Winner, ported NetHack 3.1 to the PC.

Jon Wätte 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 development, Bart House added a Think C port.

Timo Hakulinen ported NetHack 3.1 to OS/2. Eric Smith ported 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. It drew the map as text rather than graphically but included nh10.bdf, an optionally used custom X11 font which has tiny images in place of letters and punctuation, a precursor of tiles. Those images don’t extend to individual monster and object types, just replacements for monster and object classes (so one custom image for all “a” insects and another for all “[” armor and so forth, not separate images for beetles and ants or for cloaks and boots).

Warwick Allison wrote a graphically displayed version of NetHack for the Atari where the tiny pictures were described as icons and were distinct for specific types of monsters and objects rather than just their classes. He contributed them to the NetHack Development Team which rechristened them tiles, original usage which has subsequently been picked up by various other games. NetHack’s tiles support was then implemented on other platforms (initially MS-DOS but eventually Windows, Qt, and X11 too).

The 3.2 NetHack 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 3.2.0 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 NetHack Development Team remained on the team at the start of work on that release. During the interval between the release of 3.1.3 and 3.2.0, one of the founding members of the NetHack 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.

Version 3.2 proved to be more stable than previous versions. Many bugs were fixed, abuses eliminated, and game features tuned for better game play.

During the lifespan of NetHack 3.1 and 3.2, several enthusiasts of the game added their own modifications to the game and made these variants publicly available:

Tom Proudfoot and Yuval Oren created NetHack++, which was quickly renamed NetHack– when some people incorrectly assumed that it was a conversion of the C source code to C++. Working independently, Stephen White wrote NetHack Plus. Tom Proudfoot later merged NetHack Plus and his own NetHack– to produce SLASH. Larry Stewart-Zerba and Warwick Allison improved the spell casting system with the Wizard Patch. Warwick Allison also ported NetHack to use the Qt interface.

Warren Cheung combined SLASH with the Wizard Patch to produce Slash’EM, and with the help of Kevin Hugo, added more features. Kevin later joined the NetHack Development Team and incorporated the best of these ideas into NetHack 3.3.

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. Because of the newer version, 3.2.3 was released as a source code patch only, without any ready-to-play distribution for systems that usually had such.

(To anyone considering resurrecting an old version: all versions before 3.2.3 had a Y2K bug. The high scores file and the log file contained dates which were formatted using a two-digit year, and 1999’s year 99 was followed by 2000’s year 100. That got written out successfully but it unintentionally introduced an extra column in the file layout which prevented score entries from being read back in correctly, interfering with insertion of new high scores and with retrieval of old character names to use for random ghost and statue names in the current game.)

The 3.3 NetHack 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 preference 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, Barbarians, 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 NetHack Development Team initially consisted of Michael Allison, 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 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 platform. Paul Winner and Yitzhak Sapir provided encouragement.

Dean Luick, Mark Modrall, and Kevin Hugo maintained and enhanced 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 interface for the Windows port. Alex Kompel also contributed a Windows CE port for 3.4.1.

Ron Van Iwaarden was the sole maintainer of NetHack for OS/2 the past several releases. Unfortunately Ron’s last OS/2 machine stopped working in early 2006. A great many thanks to Ron for keeping NetHack alive on OS/2 all these years.

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.

The release of NetHack 3.4.3 in December 2003 marked the beginning of a long release hiatus. 3.4.3 proved to be a remarkably stable version that provided continued enjoyment by the community for more than a decade. The NetHack Development Team slowly and quietly continued to work on the game behind the scenes during the tenure of 3.4.3. It was during that same period that several new variants emerged within the NetHack community. Notably sporkhack by Derek S. Ray, unnethack by Patric Mueller, nitrohack and its successors originally by Daniel Thaler and then by Alex Smith, and Dynahack by Tung Nguyen. Some of those variants continue to be developed, maintained, and enjoyed by the community to this day.

In September 2014, an interim snapshot of the code under development was released publicly by other parties. Since that code was a work-in-progress and had not gone through the process of debugging it as a suitable release, it was decided that the version numbers present on that code snapshot would be retired and never used in an official NetHack release. An announcement was posted on the NetHack Development Team’s official nethack.org website to that effect, stating that there would never be a 3.4.4, 3.5, or 3.5.0 official release version.

In January 2015, preparation began for the release of NetHack 3.6.

At the beginning of development for what would eventually get released as 3.6.0, the NetHack Development Team consisted of Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Pat Rankin, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner. In early 2015, ahead of the release of 3.6.0, new members Sean Hunt, Pasi Kallinen, and Derek S. Ray joined the NetHack Development Team.

Near the end of the development of 3.6.0, one of the significant inspirations for many of the humorous and fun features found in the game, author Terry Pratchett, passed away. NetHack 3.6.0 introduced a tribute to him.

3.6.0 was released in December 2015, and merged work done by the development team since the release of 3.4.3 with some of the beloved community patches. Many bugs were fixed and some code was restructured.

The NetHack Development Team, as well as Steve VanDevender and Kevin Smolkowski, ensured that NetHack 3.6 continued to operate on various UNIX flavors and maintained the X11 interface.

Ken Lorber, Haoyang Wang, Pat Rankin, and Dean Luick maintained the port of NetHack 3.6 for MacOS.

Michael Allison, David Cohrs, Bart House, Pasi Kallinen, Alex Kompel, Dion Nicolaas, Derek S. Ray and Yitzhak Sapir maintained the port of NetHack 3.6 for Microsoft Windows.

Pat Rankin attempted to keep the VMS port running for NetHack 3.6, hindered by limited access. Kevin Smolkowski has updated and tested it for the most recent version of OpenVMS (V8.4 as of this writing) on Alpha and Integrity (aka Itanium aka IA64) but not VAX.

Ray Chason resurrected the MS-DOS port for 3.6 and contributed the necessary updates to the community at large.

In late April 2018, several hundred bug fixes for 3.6.0 and some new features were assembled and released as NetHack 3.6.1. The NetHack Development Team at the time of release of 3.6.1 consisted of Warwick Allison, Michael Allison, Ken Arromdee, David Cohrs, Jessie Collet, Pasi Kallinen, Ken Lorber, Dean Luick, Patric Mueller, Pat Rankin, Derek S. Ray, Alex Smith, Mike Stephenson, Janet Walz, and Paul Winner.

In early May 2019, another 320 bug fixes along with some enhancements and the adopted curses window port, were released as 3.6.2.

Bart House, who had contributed to the game as a porting team participant for decades, joined the NetHack Development Team in late May 2019.

NetHack 3.6.3 was released on December 5, 2019 containing over 190 bug fixes to NetHack 3.6.2.

NetHack 3.6.4 was released on December 18, 2019 containing a security fix and a few bug fixes.

NetHack 3.6.5 was released on January 27, 2020 containing some security fixes and a small number of bug fixes.

NetHack 3.6.6 was released on March 8, 2020 containing a security fix and some bug fixes.

NetHack 3.6.7 was released on February 16, 2023 containing a security fix and some bug fixes.

The official NetHack web site is maintained by Ken Lorber at https://www.nethack.org/.