Hack

I have the original Hack code - Version 1.0.3

Beware there are lots of spoilers in this file!

Welcome to HACK!

Hack is a Dungeons and Dragons like game where you (the adventurer)
descend into the depths of the dungeon in search of the Amulet of Yendor
(reputed to be hidden on the twentieth level). You are accompanied by a
little dog that can help you in many ways and can be trained to do all
sorts of things. On the way you will find useful (or useless) items, (quite
possibly with magic properties) and assorted monsters. You attack a monster
by trying to move into the space a monster is in (but often it is much
wiser to leave it alone).

Unlike most adventure games, which give you a verbal description of
your location, hack gives you a visual image of the dungeon level you are on.

Hack uses the following symbols:
A to Z and a to z: monsters. You can find out what a letter
represents by saying "/ (letter)", as in "/A", which will tell you that 'A'
is a giant ant.
- and | These form the walls of a room (or maze).
. this is the floor of a room.
# this is a corridor.
> this is the staircase to the next level.
< the staircase to the previous level.
` A large boulder.
@ You (usually).
^ A trap.
) A weapon of some sort.
( Some other useful object (key, rope, dynamite, camera, ...)
[ A suit of armor.
% A piece of food (not necessarily healthy ...).
/ A wand.
= A ring.
? A scroll.
! A magic potion.
$ A pile or pot of gold.

Commands:
Hack knows the following commands:
? help: print this list.
Q Quit the game.
< up: go up the staircase (if you are standing on it).
> down: go down (just like up).
kjhlyubn - 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 - 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.
f (followed by one of kjhlyubn): move until something
interesting is found.
F (followed by one of KJHLYUBN): as previous, but forking
of corridors is not considered interesting.
i print your inventory.
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.
. rest, do nothing.
^R redraw the screen.
^P repeat last message
(subsequent ^P's repeat earlier messages).
/ (followed by any symbol): tell what this symbol represents.
e eat food.
w wield weapon. w- means: wield nothing, use bare hands.
q drink (quaff) a potion.
r read a scroll.
T Takeoff armor.
R Remove Ring.
W Wear armor.
P Put on a ring.
t throw or shoot a weapon.
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' means: drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).
a use, apply - Generic command for using a key to lock
or unlock a door, using 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. (see below)
v print version number.

You can put a number before a command to repeat it that many times,
as in "20s" or "40.".

Options:
To turn an option on, say 'ox', where x is the optionletter.
To turn it off, say 'o!x'. The following options currently exist.

e echo Echo typed characters.
o oneline Give inventories one line at a time
(at the top of your screen).

Have Fun, and Good Hacking!

Notes: a (?) means that the person who wrote was unsure of something, or that
someone else knew he was wrong but didn't know what was right.
A (") indicates that the given name for an item is the name given by an
identify scroll, suitable for wishing. Many items not bearing this mark are
in fact given by their proper names, but who's going to wish for a scroll of
fire?

If you see mistaken or uncertain information, please correct or confirm as
appropriate, and post the corrections on the net if you aren't on the home
system of these files. (That's h-sc4@harvard.ARPA)
Send questions to harmon%h-sc4@harvard.

Table of contents of this and subordinate directories:

Main directory: (HackHints Mailing List, h-sc4@harvard.ARPA)
potions listing and explanation of potions
scrolls "" " "" of scrolls
wands "" " "" of wands, also tips on usage
rings "" " "" of rings
food Our findings and commentary on food items.
monsters Our discoveries about monsters, living and dead.
rumors The rumors file tapped by fortune cookies, with our notes.
other Weapons, armor, special ares, traps, gems, and more!

tactics directory: (Mailing list and hack files)
commands+ listing of commands (help file from game)
basic_instr. Beginning advice
low_level advice for surviving.
med-hi_level advice for surviving longer, and winning.
tricks little known features of the game.

net.files directory: (Col. Sicherman's and other's files, from the net)
monsters.1 Attack, armor class and move.
monsters.2 Same plus size, level, and food information.
weapons Damage of each weapon
food Edibility info on monsters plus exact nutritional values for
all food, and special effects of normal food.

Happy Hacking!

Basic instructions:

If you have never played hack before, go look at the file 'commands+'
and then come back to this file. The commands+ file gives an introduction to
the game and a listing of all the commands. It is the same as the file printed
out by typing "?" while playing hack. This file gives some strategy hints for
beginners.

This is a game of you against them. The idea is to kill monsters, gather gold,
and (eventually) get the amulet. The primary objective, however, is to sur-
vive, which isn't that easy. There are a bunch of basic moves that you should
become familiar with. The ? command will be invaluble at first, to remind you
of the commands. Learn all the move keys--diagonal movement can save your
life. When moving around, or running from monsters, the idea is to give them
as few chances as possible to hit you. If you end a move in the square next to
where a monster is now, he can definitely hit you. Some monsters, like leps
and bats, can leap an extra space and still hit you. When moving in a room
with monsters in it, plan your moves ahead. Remember that you can enter a door
only at right angles to the wall it is in, but can attack to or from a door
either head-on or diagonally. This applies to the monsters too.
Eating monsters is a necessary supplement to your diet. Not only do they
stave off starvation, but eating some monsters will give you special powers.
However, you must be very careful to only eat monsters killed within the last
few turns. See the food files for further information.
At low levels, you only have to worry about 3 things: your hit points, your
food supply, and dealing with cursed magic that can temporarily cripple you.

Skim through each of the other files immediately, and read through them
after your 2nd or third game. In the monsters file, pay close attention to the
monsters you've seen and skim the rest. In the magic items files, at least
have some idea what to do with each of the items. The magic item distribution
seems totally random, so don't be caught off guard if your wizard starts with
two wands of wishing! (Believe me, he could. It happened to me once!) Keep at
least one item in mind that you will wish for if you stumble upon such, so
that you don't wind up wasting the wish. 3 scrolls of identify or remove
curse are always good, you can never have too many of those. Similarly, think
of a monster which you hate most, so if you stumble on a scroll of genocide,
you will get use out of it. For a raw beginner, H (hobgoblins) are good,
because they are the nastiest monsters you start out with. Think these out
ahead of time, so you don't have to think "on the spot", which can muddle your
judgement.

While playing, it is best to read any unknown scrolls immediately, and
you may wish to do the same for potions. (Or, you can save potions until
you're hurt, *after* you know which is poison.) Exception: you may wish to
postpone such tryouts if you are hurt when you find them, for fear of scrolls
of fire or create monster, or potions of sickness or poison. Before testing
scrolls or potions, especially if you've cleared a lot of the level, drop 1
gold piece, one magic item, and one corpse or food around the room. Also, try
to leave at least one monster on the level. That will help avoid "strange
feelings" from detect items. With most magic items, after testing you will be
able to identify them the next time you pick one up, or at least have an idea
what they are. If an item asks you to call it something (usually a scroll) it
is asking what you want to call items of the type if you pick one up again.
Either type what it is if you know, or if it gave you a strange feeling, type
strange1, strange2, etc, or if it did nothing, (for a scroll, thats either
scare monster or taming) unknown1 etc. You may be able, depending on what
you're wearing or what's lying around, you may be able to narrow this to
"something armor", "something2 weapon", "detect something", etc. Sometimes,
you can even identify items by elimination.
Zap wands immediately, if they are non-directional you will usually
find out what it is immediately. A non-directional wand that doesn't seem to
do anything is a wand or secret door detection. You may want to conduct such
tests in a room where you suspect a secret door, but haven't searched it out
yet. This is also when a wand of wishing asks for a wish. If it asks for a
direction, hit to cancel, and next time you have a cooperative monster,
go under Elbereth and shoot it at the monster in such a way that if it's a
"bolt" wand it won't bounce back at you. That is, diagonally off a wall (not
into a corner, and watch the double rebounds!) or with plenty of empty space
in that direction. Don't accidentally hit your dog!
Try to use identify scrolls on rings, but if you don't have any and
don't think you will, use the PMD (Polish Mine Detector) method. *Don't* PMD
rings from ghost hoards unless you have a scroll of remove curse handy, or at
least know which one is levitation! If you have a ring of levitation that
won't come off, and no scroll of remove curse, you may be able to escape the
dungeon before you starve, but if you "hang around", you will indeed starve.
Remember, even if you found a scroll of remove curse in this case, you couldn't
pick it up!

FOOD:

Monsters: eating fresh-killed monster corpses is good for saving your
rations. However, some are poisonous, and all rot after a very short time.
Eating some monster corpses will give special abilities or effects (see monster
file), but may simultaneously do poison damage. Eating rotted ('tainted')
corpses is lethal within 20 turns at most, unless you have a handy healing or
extra-healing potion. If you do, drink it fast. Poison resistance will not
protect against rotted corpses.

Food items: Aside from monsters, food seems to keep forever. Most
named items have fairly little food value. Food rations however, are a super-
food which will take you from fainting to healthy in one shot. Some pancakes
also seem to do this. Fortune cookies contain hints from a rumor file.
Ignore 'clues' to next level, they are random. Hints about monsters, methods,
etc. are usually good. Dead lizards are edible, but little food value. They
also seem to be an exeption to the comments about fortune cookies; There
doesn't seem any way to avoid petrification with dead lizards. Tripe
is dog food. If you eat it, it will usually behave as a food ration, (which
it always does for doggie) but you may throw up, and be left only slightly
better (or worse) than you started. Small food items can at least delay
starvation. Carrots will cure blindness, and a clove of garlic can be used to
drive off a vampire by hitting him with it as a weapon. Eat 10 cloves of gar-
lic to keep all humans at a two-square distance... (just kidding!) A few food
items (random) are rotten. There is not much you can do about this or the
fairly minor effects that it may have, but be warned that rotten things have
only 1/4 the food value.
 
Avoid becoming weak from hunger. Unlike rogue, this has a direct
effect on your strength, which may persist well after you are fed. If you
eat two food rations in a row, or an enormous amount of other stuff, you will
become Satiated ('You're having a hard time getting all that food down').
DO NOT EAT WHILE SATIATED! You may choke and die!

Tins: tins take a while to open. Wielding an axe or a dagger helps,
but if your strength isn't too good you may want to write Elbereth for the
process. I have seen them contain apple juice (useless) peaches (food),
rotten meat (causes you to vomit) unknown substance (disgustingly nutritious)
and the important stuff, spinach. This miracle weed increases your strength
by a random but potentially quite large amount. Two or three of them will
almost certainly turn you into a hulk. Note that once you start opening a tin
you are committed to opening it, no matter what happens, like teleporting off
your Elbereth into a roomful of hostile monsters. Axes, crysknives, and dag-
gers help speed up the process of opening tins. To help you, though, they
have to be wielded, and if you wield a stickeycursed dagger, tough luck.

This file was contributed by Colonel George l. Sicherman on the net.

Levels: satiated, not hungry, hungry, weak, fainting.

Initial food in belly: 900 units.

Distribution of foods:

50 food ration
20 tripe ration
3 pancake
3 dead lizard
7 fortune cookie
2 carrot
7 can
1 orange
1 apple
1 pear
1 melon
1 banana
1 candy bar
1 egg
1 clove of garlic

Consumption time, weight, and food value of foods:

food ration 5 4 800
tripe ration 1 2 200
pancake 1 1 200
dead lizard 0 1 40
fortune cookie 0 1 40
carrot 0 1 50
can 0 1 *
orange 0 1 80
apple 0 1 50
pear 0 1 50
melon 0 1 100
banana 0 1 80
candy bar 0 1 100
egg 0 1 80
clove of garlic 0 1 40
dead human 4 40 400
dead giant ant 1 3 30
dead giant bat 1 3 30
dead centaur 5 50 500
dead dragon 15 150 1500
dead floating eye 1 1 10
dead freezing sphere 1 1 10
dead gnome 1 10 100
dead hobgoblin 2 20 200
dead stalker 4 40 400
dead jackal 1 10 100
dead kobold 1 10 100
dead leprechaun 4 40 400
dead mimic 4 40 400
dead nymph 4 40 400
dead orc 2 20 200
dead purple worm 7 70 700
dead quasit 2 20 200
dead rust monster 5 50 500
dead snake 1 10 100
dead troll 4 40 400
dead umber hulk 5 50 500
dead vampire 4 40 400
dead wraith 1 1 10
dead xorn 7 70 700
dead yeti 7 70 700
dead zombie 1 3 30
dead acid blob 1 3 30
dead giant beetle 1 1 10
dead cockatrice 1 3 30
dead dog 2 20 200
dead ettin 1 3 30
dead fog cloud 1 1 10
dead gelatinous cube 1 10 100
dead homunculus 2 20 200
dead imp 1 1 10
dead jaguar 3 30 300
dead killer bee 1 1 10
dead leocrotta 5 50 500
dead minotaur 7 70 700
dead nurse 4 40 400
dead owlbear 7 70 700
dead piercer 2 20 200
dead quivering blob 1 10 100
dead giant rat 1 3 30
dead giant scorpion 1 10 100
dead tengu 3 30 300
dead unicorn 3 30 300
dead violet fungi 1 10 100
dead long worm 5 50 500
dead xan 3 30 300
dead yellow light 1 1 10
dead zruty 6 60 600

Food values of canned food:
spinach 600
peaches 40
salmon 60
apple juice 20
substance 500
rotten meat -50
empty can 0

Side effects of canned food:
salmon makes your fingers slippery for 1-15 turns
spinach makes you stronger (18/01-18/00 if you are > 16;
18/01 otherwise)

Distribution of canned food:
spinach 1 in 2
others 1 in 12

Weapons for opening cans quickly:
axe
crysknife
dagger

Probability of rotten food (unless fortune cookie or dead monster): 1/7

Consequences of rotten food:
1 in 4 confusion (2d4)
3 in 16 blindness (2d10) (if not blind already)
3 in 16 loss of consciousness (1-10)
3 in 8 no harm

Value of rotten food: 1/4 normal value.

Consequences of eating dead monsters:
acid blob, giant ant, giant beetle, dragon, homunculus,
kobold, snake, vampire: poison (save: 1 in 5).
bat: you become confused.
cockatrice: you turn to stone.
dog, human: you aggravate all monsters.
dragon: you can resist fire.
floating eye: you become telepathic.
freezing sphere, yeti: you can resist cold.
invisible stalker, yellow light: you become confused. In Quest,
also improves your vision by 1.
killer bee, scorpion: poison (save: 1 in 5); you can resist poison
thereafter.
leprechaun, nymph, tengu: you will teleport occasionally.
mimic: you turn into a treasure chest for 30 moves.
nurse: restore your hit points. You aggravate all monsters.
wraith: you gain a level of experience.

floating eye, leprechaun, nymph, orc, purple worm, quasit,
rust monster, umber hulk, unicorn, xan, zruty: you get
sick and lose 1d8 hit points (save 1/5).

If the monster is not fresh, you get very sick.

Belly limit: 1499 units

Side effects of ordinary food:
tripe: gain 1 experience point; 1 chance in 2 of throwing it up
carrot: in Quest, improves vision by 1
fortune cookie: contains a message

Eating restores 1 strength point unless it leaves you weak or satiated.

As far as fortune cookies...I never used to get them either. Then I
stop killing my dog right away. Does this have something to do with the
"luck" attribute people talk about? I don't know if it is a valid correlation.
After you eat the fortune cookie a message will appear.

I have discovered several "incorrect" items in the original posting of
this article. Through play (not source peeking), I have found the
following that contradict the original item:

>Side effects of canned food:
> salmon makes your fingers slippery for 1-15 turns
> spinach makes you stronger (18/01-18/00 if you are > 16;
> 18/01 otherwise)

I have had a strength of 9 go to 18/86, and a strength of 16 go to
17 before.

>Consequences of eating dead monsters:
> ...
> invisible stalker, yellow light: you become confused. In Quest,
> also improves your vision by 1.

In hack, eating an I also allows you to see invisible.

>Side effects of ordinary food:
> tripe: gain 1 experience point; 1 chance in 2 of throwing it up
> carrot: in Quest, improves vision by 1
> fortune cookie: contains a message

A carrot in hack will also cure blindness.

Poison resistance: If you find a potion of healing or extra healing, save it.
When you kill a killer bee, eat it and then quaff the potion
on your next turn.

General Strategy:

LOW LEVELS:
1) Let doggie do your fighting for you when you are badly hurt or
outclassed. He is bigger and stronger than you. Don't steal all his kills,
he can starve to death. He will eat more than he needs, but the more he eats,
the faster he grows into a big dog. There is no monster except a cockatrice
that a big dog cannot take on with a reasonable chance of survival.
His body is one guaranteed non-hostile food source, provided you don't
wait so long you die before you can catch and kill him. Starvation exepted,
however, (and not then if you have an alternative) DO NOT kill your dog
out-of-hand! He gets in the way, sure, but he is a powerful ally. Also, the
minute you eat a dog, every monster on the level will head for you with blood
in its eye(s). There are a few monsters he will not normally attack, such as
shopkeepers, and others which he won't attack until he sees you fighting
them. On the other hand, he loves to munch on bats ond orcs. (let him-you
can't eat them). However, a ring of conflict will make him fight anything.
Don't test wands out on him. He's not quite invulnerable.
If you meet a wild dog, the best bet is to throw food at him--anything
you could eat, or a few he can eat but you can't, like bats and orcs. Tripe
is wonderful, but don't even bother throwing rotted corpses. Speaking
of which, if you find a 'wild' dog above 8th level or so, or a named monster
anywhwere, you are on a ghost level. Watch out for the dog's former owner....
Please name your dog, even if it's Ralph. That way, other people will have the
same advantage if you get ghosted. By the way, there are no baby dragons,
baby (or miniature) demons, or dinosaurs of any size in the dungeon.
Don't try to maintain more than two tame dogs-- if you get more than
that, abandon them (save some tripe in case you need to go back to the level)
or, if you are powerful enough to face enraged hordes, kill and eat the extras
next time you're hungry. Dogs are fun to polymorph, but there is a hazard.
If you are dumped to the next level by a trap door, or just forget and go dowm
without him, you may not want to reenter the level until you can deal with his
polymorphed form, especially since he will no longer be tamable. Scrolls of
taming produce tame monsters which should be treated exactly like polymorphed
dogs. Tame monsters all eat a lot, except the cockatrice, and you can't eat
anything he kills!
(By the way, if you get a tame cockatrice, DO NOT GO AROUND BARE-
HANDED! If you are not wearing gloves, wield anything, even an egg! Otherwise,
you run a terrible risk of bumping into it with your bare hands, and being
stoned yourself!)
 
2) Don't get careless. A major cause of low-level fatalities, or
fatalities at any level, is not keeping an eye on your hit points. If you are
low on hit points, freeze with your hands off the keyboard and figure out what
to do. Can you get away from the monster? Do you have a secret weapon?
The first thing to do is often to write Elbereth. Even a puny monster can
kill you if you don't watch your hit points. Monsters to keep an eye on at
low levels are hobgoblins (H) and acid blobs. If you have 8 or fewer HP,
a hobgoblin can take you out in one blow. Accordingly, you don't want to
give him the chance. Getting killed by acid blobs is always embarrasing,
because the only way they can hurt you is if you hit them. Don't chase acid
blobs if you're low on HP, and don't be afraid to give up on one.

3) Try to eat a leprechaun and a floating eye as soon as you can. The
latter, your dog will be happy to kill for you, but you will, as usual when he
kills monsters, have to move fast to prevent him from happily eating it for
you. The latter, you should be able to kill by 3rd level or so. You could
use a wand, but if planning an extended visit in the dungeon, just wear him
down hand-to hand, perhaps softening him up with a couple of darts or such.
To keep him from stealing all your gold, drop it in a corridor, and once you
disturb him off his butt, defend the door to that corridor. (remember, he's
faster than you are). If he gets your gold anyway, remember that he and the
gold are still somewhere on the level! Again, the dog may be some help
in the fight, but you will have to grab the corpse before he does.
Alternate strategy: start with doggie well away from both you and
lep. Throw something at lep from 3 squares or so away, and go under Elbereth
(or throw from the Elbereth). He will come up to you, and your dog may fight
him and kill him at your feet. This works best with you standing in a door
and your gold behind you in a corridor, and your dog wandering someplace on
the far side of the room.

4) Try to conserve your missles and magic. You can just take it slow,
and deal with monsters as leisurely as your food supply (including their
contributions) permits. If you conserve firepower early, then you can use it
against tougher monsters when you really need it! (see next item). On the
other hand, you might find that your weapons and skill have improved to the
point where you can deal with tougher monsters.... That's how you get up
to level 8 or so. Remember, if you use a potion of extra-healing to gain
4 HP now, you may not have it when you're down to 10 out of 40 HP.
A partial exeption is wands of wishing. Dont wish for a crysknife yet,
but go for one weapon, one armor (ie, +3 mace and plate mail) and one
miscellaneous such as 3 tins (hopefully spinach), or a powerful ring.
This applies to wizards, of course--other types should wish for whatever they
are short of. Don't wish for scrolls of genocide just yet, either. If you
are genuinely doing all right, you might save a wish or two for future needs.
5) Do anything to survive. If you are starving and no edible monsters
in sight, then kil your dog! If you are fainting, down to 2 HP, and cornered
by a hobgoblin, then zap anything you can, try all your rings, quaff all your
potions, read all your scrolls. You might be teleported, or discover a ring
of regeneration or a potion of extra healing, or a wand of fire. If you
are killed by the rebound of your magic missle, well, at least you tried.

1) The big thing for getting to levels above the 8-10-12 range is
to conserve your expendable magic, that is potions, scrolls, and wands. You
are meeting monsters that are tougher than you've seen before, but you are
tougher too. So what if the sword that slew Hs in one shot takes a while to
get an imp or jaguar? You have enough hit points now so they are fairly
minor dangers, at least you can afford to take the time to kill them.
You are regaining hit points faster, you know what many of the magic items are,
and you've hopefully built up fairly good armor, weapons, and rings.
You don't need to kill the orc swarms, with a wand, you can pick them off with
your Orcrist mace as they come through the door. Same for killer bees, once
you've eaten one. Giant ants are a pain, but once you have poison resistance,
you can often let the dog kill them. (You didn't leave him behind, did you?
He should be getting to be a big dog about now. If you lost him, pick up
one whose master has become a ghost.) Speaking of ghosts, you should have
robbed or be robbing a at least one by the 6th-8th level. And, you should
have plundered at least one store, giving you an assortment of goodies.
On the other hand, don't get cocky, either. A giant ant can mess you
up good before you get the dead bee, and even after. A swarm of orcs may not
seem like much in a corridor, but when they are surrounding you in a room,
then numbers will tell. Double for killer bees.
Encumbrance will be getting to be a problem by now. Leave your
gems in caches by the staircase. Don't carry around corpses; every so
often, check to see whether you accidentally picked up a few. Drop
definitely cursed or useless items. If you have a ring of levitaion, do
you need the potion? You may want to use a one wish of a wand for 3
remove curse scrolls--with all the stickeycurses from the ghosts, you'll
need them. By the way, you should have used and be using every wish. You
certainly have uses for them. If you don't have any, relax, but keep
your fingers crossed. If you do, now is also the time to wish for scrolls of
genocide. If you have a usual nemesis, genocide that, or go for one of
the basic pains like Dragons, xan, killer bees, or, if you're short on missles,
cockatrices. Speaking of the last, now is also the time to get a pair of
gloves. Cockatrices can be dealt with by throwing missles from an Elbereth.
(And, preferably, from the other side of the room.) If you have gloves, then
you can pick up the cockatrice and wield it until it decays, but don't try to
take it to the next level! If you don't have gloves, avoid the area. You may
want to dodge upstairs for a moment to let it decay. They don't usually have
treasure, so don't get paranoid, but don't touch that corpse!
The big key for this and higher levels is CONSERVE MAGIC! Even at 8th
level, most monsters can be dealt with by hand-to hand, but at higher levels
you will meet monsters such as dragons, xan, and trappers which can be dealt
with only by wands, and have much greater need for those detect items and
healing potions. Similarly, the longer you wait, the more valuble a potion
of gain level becomes (up to a point-by 10th level, the potion (or dead
wraiths) becomes damn near the only way to gain a level.) If you expect to
reach the maze, try to save a potion of detect object and a scroll of mapping
for it. The minotaur will supply the wand of digging. Take as great
advantage of the healing/strengthening powers of nurses as your food supply
(and other monsters) will allow. That is how you get 200+HP.

A bestiary of the monsters of hack, and the special dangers and uses thereof.

"Should" or "may" mean unverified info. A (?) means uncertain info. Edibility
information is latest available; it may change over weeks.(?) XP (experience
point) values are from experience. A poison attack will do hit point damage
and may lower your strength by several points, except the giant ant's sting,
which when it affects you always lowers your strength by one point. If you
have 18/xx strength, the points are taken from the xx.

NR= Net Rumor

Last Edit: 3-9/85
a) acid blob: Not edible. Does not attack unless confused, but when you hit
it it may splash you with acid or corrode your weapon or armor. (Elven
cloaks and leather armor are not affected.) Worth 9 XP, so good for
building your levels at first. However, an acid splash can do as much
as 8 points of damage. They are slow and easy to fake out. If one is
blocking your path in a corridor or door, you can lead it into a room
and dodge around it.
b) giant beetle: Edible. Nothing else special.
c) cockatrice: VERY DANGEROUS!!!! Any hit will turn you to stone. Even if it
misses, it has a one in five chance to do so by hissing. Touching a
dead cockatrice is also lethal, unless you are wearing gloves. If you
threw things at it, do not try to retrieve them until detect food
(irony!) tells you there is no corpse underneath. Don't even THINK of
eating it. Gloves allow you to handle dead cockatrices, but not
necessarily safely (see gloves, and watch the stairs) Any monster
turned to stone by a living cockatrice (ring of conflict, polymorphed
dog) turns into a pile of rocks. Monsters you hit with a dead one
seem to be normal corpses, but I never picked one up.
The wand of cancellation DOES NOT stop the petrification!
There is a rumor floating around that says that dead lizards may
somehow prevent petrification of your character. I don't know how this
may be achieved, but it is NOT standing on it (scare monster style),
throwing it at the cockatrice, wielding it, or eating it. What else
is left? It's almost certainly a fake rumor. (The net seems to concur.)
d) dog: your dog, or that of a previous adventurer. If you throw tripe or any-
thing else edible (not rotted corpses) at a wild dog, it becomes tame.
If you leave a tame dog alone on a level, he instantly goes wild. To
take a tame dog to another level, use stairs when he is in an adjacent
space. A tame dog will not attack you unless it is confused.
He can starve to death, and for a while near the end will be confused
(like the *scroll*!) by hunger. If you get "Sad feelings" it means
that your dog has died or been killed. If you feel "worried" it means
that he's dangerously hungry. Dogs are surprisingly powerful. Note:
if the dog falls down a trap door, he will still be tame - he only
goes wild if you desert him. Little dogs grow to be BIG dogs as a game
goes on. There is nothing except a cockatrice that a big dog cannot
at least argue with, and have a reasonable chance of killing. He seems
to kill only for food, with a few exeptions such as acid blobs and
sometimes kobolds. If you are fighting something and he has a high
loyalty quotient, he may get the idea.
NOTE: Dogs will not step on a cursed object. Sooo...
Tired of bumping into Fido at every turn? Don't have the heart to kill
him? Well here's a great way to keep him where you want him: drop a
cursed object (rings do well) in a passageway or door. Fido can't
follow. Later, come back and get him, no worse for the wear.
(CAVEAT: This may apply only to stickeycursed items; my dog stepped
on a scroll of destroy armor)
Dogs are very fun to polymorph. They remain tame. Ever had a tame
cockatrice?
NR: eating a dog causes you to thereafter aggravate all monsters.
Confirmed: eat your dog, and every monster on the level heads for
you with blood in its eye(s). I'm not sure if this effect continues
to succeeding levels.
e) ettin: in D&D, hard to suprise. In hack, hard to kill (meaner than a troll)
f) fog cloud: edible, weak. 24XP. A real bargain.
g) gelatinous cube: Occasionally paralyzes by touch (when it hits you!). 23XP
h) homunculous: it's bite can put you to sleep. (Rare for wizards) Not edible.
i) imp: Poor attack, but very hard to hit. You might starve to death trying
to kill one. Edible.
j) jaguar: has multiple attacks, but does not inflict much damage.
k) killer bee: Like orcs, this denizen of the dungeon appears in swarms.
If you get hit, you may find that the bee's sting is poisoned. If
you haven't already eaten a killer bee or a scorpion, eat one fast
(see hints on foods). This will give you permanent resistance to
poison. They also are created in swarms by create monster.
Unlike orcs, these are individually medium-tough monsters, and there
is no Orcrist for them. Poison resistance, however, takes (pardon the
pun) a lot of the sting out of them.
l) leocrotta: The leocrotta is a master of hit and run tactics. He tends to
take three hits and then step back. The leucrotta is a real headache
when you are fighting other monsters.
m) minotaur: The minotaur is the king of the mazes which exist on the lowest
levels of the dungeon (~27+). One of these bull-headed creatures
can be found in each maze level. Kill him and you will find a wand of
digging. Don't squander your charges on this wand; it may lead
you to the Amulet of Yendor!.
n) nurse: tends to a wear a ring, but not always.
NR: Eat to restore hit points, but you will then aggravate all monsters
Experienced Truth: The nurse does a lot of damage when she hits if
you are wielding a weapon, or wearing any armor at all (including
shields and helmets). If you are completely naked and defenseless,
she heals you and raises your maximum hit points(!).
Note: Elbereth works to stop her either way. You can either be truly
defenseless, heal yourself, or fight her. Try to avoid her until you
have cleared the level.
o) owlbear: If the owlbear gets a good hit on you, he will embrace you in a
bear hug! You are then unlikely to be able to escape from its
clutches short of killing it or teleporting away.
p) piercer: can drop from ceiling by surprise (You never saw it until.)
If it falls and hits you, it might do up to ~30+HP damage.
Once on the ground, however, is not much of a problem.
One of the prime reasons to wear a helmet in hack. Edible. 10XP
A hanging (hidden) piercer can be found by searching.
q) quivering blob: Edible. Weak and slow.
r) giant rat: Edible
s) scorpion: poisonous sting. Edible for poison resistance. (with poison
damage the first time?). Like snakes, scorpions love to hide
under objects. You can turn this to your advantage by throwing
missiles at him from across the room. He will hide under the first
one, then sit still for you to hit him with many more.
t) tengu: The tengu tends to engage in guerilla tactics (like the leocrotta).
Tengus teleport short distances while in melee, and may even be able
to follow you if you teleport away.
NR: eating corpse is like eating lep's corpse
u) unicorn: DON'T fight! this is a good guy. Throw gems at it. If the gems
are valuble, the unicorn will give you something valuble.
NR: won't give you anything valuble, but if you throw a gem which
is worth something, 'Horny' will graciously accept your gift and (with-
out telling you) raise your luck 5 points, which is supposed to be
very useful. It won't tell you that, however. If you throw worthless
glass at it, it will be insulted and refuse the gift.
v) violet fungi: slow, edible
w) long worm: Has a long body (~) behind a head (w). Only the head can hit,
though you can hit (and destroy) the worm at any segment. Hitting
the last segment is by far the best approach.
You can get a worm tooth out of the corpse. Enchanting that will
produce a crysknife, a very powerful weapon.
Long worms tend to hit in long bursts; you may get one that
just sits there while you hit it a few times and then hit you 10 or
more times. Doesn't seem to do all that much damage per hit -- it's the
number of hits he gets in. Watch out when you are gleefully hacking
away at a long worm's middle. You may get in double trouble, by divid-
ing the long worm in half, in which case you now have 2 shorter worms!
I once split a worm, then split each of the halves! For this reason,
try tail rather than middle attacks.
Find a good running loop (two doors on the same side of a room
that connect through tunnels) and sneak around to whack at its tail.
You do not have to kill every single segment to kill the whole worm.
It is worth 115XP.
x) xan: pricks your leg, ruins your load-carrying capacity...potion of speed
will cure it. A real bugger. Found under 20th level. Good candidate
for genocide.
y) yellow light: if it hits, it will blind you and disappear. Blindness is
temporary (much shorter than from a potion of blindness).
See floating Eye, and potion of blindness.
NR: corpse confuses you-if you can get a corpse!
z) zruty: nothing special (?). Hits a lot.
A) giant ant: poisonous sting can lower your strength. Edible.(?)
Moves several times in one turn.
B) giant bat: jumps around. Not powerful, but so fast that it can hit you and
get out of hand-to-hand range. Eating corpse causes confusion like
potion. (No warning message.) Good as dog treat, though.
C) centaur: Fast and powerful. Edible, but corpse is very heavy.
D) dragon: A mega-monster. Nasty attack or breathes fire. THE best reason
to own a ring of fire resistance at high levels. You may also do
it the hard way; according to the source, eating a dragon's corpse
will give you permanent fire resistance. Unfortunately, a dragon's
corpse is an unliftable object.
Dragons can flame you even through walls, though probably won't hit
you. This is particularly common in mazes (level 27+).
A dragon at the back of a zoo can be very useful- they flame at you, and
take out any intervening monsters. Dragons can flame you through
Elbereth!! The fire seems to be every bit as bad as a bolt of fire.
Maybe worse. They and their breath weapon are unaffected by cancel-
lation ala wand.
E) floating eye: Gaze can paralyze you, leaving you game for monsters. It
cannot do this unless you attack it hand-to-hand. Eating corpse makes
you sick but bestows telepathy; whenever you are blind, you
know what and where every monster on the level is. This turns yellow
lights and potions of blindness into potential godsends when you have
most of the level mapped out. To get corpse without getting frozen,
stand next to it while doggie kills it, then grab corpse before he
eats it. (Note for Tourists: use your camera to blind it. A blinded
floating eye cannot defend itself. If your dog is deceased, throw
things at it. Unaffected by wand of cancellation. Wand of invis-
ibility doesn't help either.
F) freezing sphere: eating corpse gives protection from cold as ring, but
permanent. (but may do poison damage.) Usually gives you a blast.
You may kill a freezing sphere with projectiles/ray wands or missile
weapons. Exploding freezing spheres leave no bodies. It is rather
easy to kill at a distance (two crossbow bolts). Ring of cold
resistance will protect you from explosions, as will having eaten a
sphere corpse.
G) gnome: edible
H) hobgoblin: very edible - good food source. Attack can do up to 8 points
of damage.
I) invisible stalker: this monster is invisible; the letter is what you
see with ring or potion of see invisible. (Or telepathy)
Eating corpse confuses you and/or allows you to see invisible
thereafter (not to mention turn you invisible for a while!)
J) jackal: usually edible, but seems to rot fast, or perhaps sometimes start
a bit rotten. (not enough to kill you, enough to confuse you.)
K) kobold: not edible.
L) leprechaun: if it hits while you are carying gold, will do no damage but
will teleport away with a lot of gold. If it hits while you have
no gold, does damage. Can also pick up piles of gold, even from under
your feet. Eating corpse may do poison damage, but bestows teleportation
as the ring, but permanently. Usually have a pile of gold on them,
including any they took from you. Good for building up experience in
the lowest levels (40+ XP!).
M) mimic: Poses as object in shop or elsewhere. Step outside shop, the items
that vanish are mimics. Once they hit you, they can prevent you from
moving off the square until they are dead (or you teleport away).
Edible. (When eaten, you mimic a treasure chest for 30 turns)
In shops, mimics are usually seen as inverted armor, i.e.
if armor looks like this [ then mimics look like this ].
Mimics often mimic doorways (+) or chests of gold ($). They can be
discovered by searching, including the ring. Wand of cancellation will
also show them up.
N) nymph: Seduces you and swipes many possesions, including at least one armor
that she talked you into taking off. Or, may just grab an item.
Either way, she teleports away. Eating corpse is just like eating a
lep's corpse. Kill her, and you get your possesions back. Ignores
Elbereth. (but see ring of adornment) You may ignore her charms if
you zap her with a wand of cancellation.
O) orc: *always* appear in swarms. See one, there are others. Probably right
behind the first. Rarely edible. May have personal treasure. Scroll
and wand of monster creation (but not polymorph) may create 8-9 of
them. Call your weapon Orcrist and whack away. Can carry items around
that they find on the floor; ie, in shops.
P) purple worm: Not that hard to deal with, by the time you get to that
level. Several blows from a good mace, but he doesn't do much in
the meantime.
P's swallow you and digest you ala the trapper. They digest you faster
than trappers do, and towards the end you cannot hit. This is their
main attack, and it is dangerous.
Q) quasit: FAST! (3 spaces and/or attacks per move) But little damage per
blow.
R) rust monster: Rusts armor when it hits. Items which will rust: all armor
(except leather) and helmets. You will be glad to know that elven
cloaks, shields, and gloves are unaffected. An elven cloak will
even protect the armor underneath it from rusting! Note that once you
start taking off your armor, he cannot harm it, unlike rogue. Takes no
hit points. Try wand of cancellation. An item may only be rusted to
-3. (?)
S) snake: can hide under items on floor.
T) troll: in D&D and rogue, regenerates its wounds. Hack Trolls do not seem
to be as nasty as Rogue Trolls. Several hits per move.
U) umber hulk: chance of confusing you (as potion) if you catch sight of it.
Save a potion of blindness (and a potion of healing) for the umber
hulk if you detect him beforehand. Unlike rogue, umber hulks seem
to have more than one chance of confusing you. Alternately, you can
just sit on Elbereth and throw rocks at it as long as you can.
Note: an U can definately confuse you even after you've been fighting
it for a while.
V) vampire: In hack I've yet to lose any experience levels to a vampire. You
can drive a vampire away with one hit while wielding a clove of
garlic. Confirmed: no life levels lost in our version of hack. Net
info seems to indicate otherwise for other versions.
W) wraith: in D&D, drains one level/hit. Drops you an experience level if it
gets in a good hit. In extreme cases, may take several levels if it
hits well several times. When you kill it, you will go back up one
level if you've lost any (but won't get the extra experience points).
Wraiths usually don't drain levels if you have good armor;
Eat corpse to gain experience level--one of the fastest and easiest
ways to increase your level.
X) xorn: In Hack, a xorn is a fairly tough monster, about the same as
attacking a ettin.
Y) yeti: gives cold resistance when eaten
Z) zombie: edible
@) you or a shopkeeper: Shopkeepers will kill you if you get them mad without
killing them fast. They are very tough, ie, three+ cold bolts, five+
fire bolts. They ignore Elbereth. If you teleport out with unpaid
items, they will not hold a grudge, but later will accept contributions
instead of buying items. See shops under "other" for ways of dealing
with them. Don't try to genocide shopkeepers. Genociding shopkeepers
genocides all humans (@). You are a human (@). Bye-bye!
There are stories that killing humans, including shopkeepers or guards,
kills your luck, an internal variable. It certainly kills telepathy.
(but you can then regain it in the usual manner).
Eating a shopkeeper produces the message: "You cannibal! You'll be
sorry for this!" Go figure it out.
You may encounter a shop on a ghost level which has been robbed by the
ghost. In that case, the shopkeeper is likely to take your money for
the items stolen by the ghost!
NR: eating humans also causes you to enrage all monsters thereafter.
,) a trapper: Unlike its AD & D counterpart, the trapper in Hack does not
bother to hide its presence. The trapper does possess a unique attack
-- it simply swallows and digests you. After being swallowed by a
trapper, you will get the message "The trapper digests you" about
every third turn. You can still hit him from within, and stand a
fairly good chance of killing him. If you don't, after about six (6)
such messages you will get the message "The trapper digests you
totally!". If such is the case, better luck with your next character.
If you have been swallowed by a trapper, you may polymorph it into
some other creature whose digestive tract may be less hostile.
(Ever been inside a Nymph?) Wands of digging will blast through his
stomach, leaving him very weak. Two bolts of cold didn't seem to
faze him too much. Teleport out if you can. When teleporting out of a
trapper, a ring of teleport control will let you choose where you want
to go as usual, but not let you see the level while choosing.
A wand of teleport monster will take you with the trapper.
 
Digesting seems to be cumulative, so if you escape one trapper
after 5 digesting messages, be VERY wary of being swallowed by
another trapper. He may digest you totally in one turn..
There may be something that cures digestion, like a potion of speed
cures xan pricks, but we don't know what it is. (but it isn't
extra healing)

&) demon: a monster between the strength of a xorn and a purple worm. Once on
a high level, I was hit by a pack of 9 demons. (Luckily I had a ring
of conflict!) Seems to have a very high armor class and good magic
resistance, so good luck hitting it! (Note: demons are not resistant
to fire.) Demons are rumored to replicate--that is, one demon will
give rise to a second, and a third, etc. The way to deal with this is
to back the bunch (or perhaps even just the original) into a dead end
and start hacking away-replicas can't appear unless there is room next
to the replicator. This could also be useful when you have some spare
firepower and need some experience points.
Try wand of cancellation to stop replication (and/or destroy replicants)
I think they do replicate. I'm not sure about cancellation, exept that
it does not destroy replicants. The wand of undead turning makes them
turn tail and run.
~) lurker above: In hack, it has yet to
manage to do anything special to my characters.
:) chameleon: Whereas the mimic will mimic objects, the chameleon will
mimic other monsters. When hard pressed, the chameleon will
revert to its original form. Also unlike the mimic, the chameleon
changes form constantly. So if you see a monster, and then look
again and see a different one, its probably a chameleon.
WARNING! chameleons have at least some of the powers of the monsters
they appear as! I had my leg pricked by a chameleon in xan form,
and a chameleon in xorn form hits 4x/move like the real thing.
And xan were genocided early that game. If you see a genocided monster
it's a chameleon. Additional notes: Chameleons posing as cockatrices
turn you to stone. Chameleons posing as Dragons blow flame! Chameleons
posing as Invisible Stalkers are invisible. Chameleons posing as
unicorns accept gems.
" ") (a space) ghost: incredibly hard to hit. Does little damage. Always has
"ghost hoard" lying around, which can be obtained by killing ghost
or by sneaking around it. Watch out! All items in hoard are sticky-
cursed, but *NOT* necessarily minus on protection or to hit!
Sneaking around a ghost is MUCH easier than destroying it, because they
move slowly and do little damage per hit. Find a good running loop.
Don't get caught in a dead end -- you'll either get killed or starve
to death.
If you're getting clobbered by a ghost, please don't retreat toward an
up staircase! If a ghost kills you, you become a ghost on the same
level, on the spot where you are killed. If many people get ghosted
there, future dungeon-delvers will face up to 5 or 6 ghosts and their
dogs, too! This can get them killed before they can escape, which
of course aggravates the problem.
Ghosts are surprisingly easy to kill if you have a lot of experience
(level 11+). Hack away. Worth 175XP. If you are about to die on a
ghost level, and you know it, DROP everything so when you become a
ghost, your hoard will not be stickeycursed!

Symbol Ordinal Name HitDice Move*12 Armor Damage
a 8 acid_blob 2 3 8 0d0
b 22 giant_beetle 4 6 4 3d4
c 24 cockatrice 4 6 6 1d3
d 36 large_dog 6 15 4 2d4
e 50 ettin 10 12 3 2d8
f 16 fog_cloud 3 1 0 1d6
g 25 gelatinous_cube 4 6 8 2d4
h 10 homunculus 2 6 6 1d3
i 11 imp 2 6 2 1d4
j 26 jaguar 4 15 6 1d8
k 27 killer_bee 4 14 4 2d4
l 37 leocrotta 6 18 4 3d6
m 56 minotaur 15 15 6 4d8
n 52 nurse 11 6 0 1d3
o 30 owlbear 5 12 5 2d6
p 18 piercer 3 1 3 2d6
q 20 quivering_blob 3 1 8 1d8
r 7 giant_rat 0 12 7 1d3
s 32 scorpion 5 15 3 1d4
t 33 tengu 5 13 5 1d7
u 40 unicorn 8 24 5 1d10
v 21 violet_fungi 3 1 7 1d4
w 35 long_worm 8 3 5 1d4
x 46 xan 7 18 -2 2d4
y 13 yellow_light 3 15 0 0d0
z 47 zruty 9 8 3 3d6
A 15 giant_ant 3 18 3 1d6
B 1 bat 1 22 8 1d4
C 23 centaur 4 18 4 1d6
D 49 dragon 10 9 -1 3d8
E 9 floating_eye 2 1 9 0d0
F 29 freezing_sphere 2 13 4 0d0
G 2 gnome 1 6 5 1d6
H 3 hobgoblin 1 9 5 1d8
I 42 stalker 8 12 3 4d4
J 4 jackal 0 12 7 1d2
K 5 kobold 1 6 7 1d4
L 6 leprechaun 5 15 8 1d2
M 38 mimic 7 3 7 3d4
N 17 nymph 6 12 9 1d2
O 12 orc 2 9 6 1d8
P 54 purple_worm 15 9 6 2d8
Q 19 quasit 3 15 3 1d4
R 31 rust_monster 10 18 3 0d0
S 28 snake 4 15 3 1d6
T 39 troll 7 12 4 2d6
U 43 umber_hulk 9 6 2 2d10
V 44 vampire 8 12 1 1d6
W 34 wraith 5 12 5 1d6
X 45 xorn 8 9 -2 4d6
Y 41 yeti 5 15 6 1d6
Z 14 zombie 2 6 8 1d8
: 48 chameleon 6 5 6 4d2
~ 51 lurker_above 10 3 3 0d0
, 53 trapper 12 3 3 0d0
& 55 demon 10 9 -4 1d4
@ 57 shopkeeper/guard 10 18 0 4d8

The following is a list of monsters for hack. It is the result of intensive
study and long hours using a tags file. (You don't think I have fought those
high level monsters yet, did you?)

The hack source code is an excellent example of a "slash and burn" coding
style. With many games, looking at the source code will tell you quickly
how to cheat. Not so this gobbler. This sucker has linked lists, arrays,
and more structure pointers pointing to structures that point to other
structures than the UN*X kernel. I _still_ haven't figured out how to
train that damned dog, or even what good it does! At least I know which
rumors are true. But I won't tell you....

• *****************

The columns are as follows:

mname: Monster's name.
mlet: Monster's letter.
mlev: Monster's level.
mmove: Non-Spelunkers have a mmove of 12.
ac: Monster's armor class. Gee, demons are tough!
damage: Monster's basic attack on you. Note that quasits, jaguars,
dragons, etc will have extra attacks.
weight: how heavy the cadaver is. Food value is 10*weight, and will
take weight/10 turns to eat.
poi: whether the food is poisoned.
lge: Whether monster is large. Determines weapon damage.
intrinsic: What permanent effect eating it will have on you.

/* Copyright (c) Stichting Mathematisch Centrum Amsterdam 1984.*/
mname mlet mlev mmove ac damage weight poi lge intrinsic

giant_rat r 0 12 7 1d3 3
jackal J 0 12 7 1d2 10

bat B 1 22 8 1d4 3 confused+=50
kobold K 1 6 7 1d4 10 *
gnome G 1 6 5 1d6 10
hobgoblin H 1 9 5 1d8 20

floating_eye E 2 1 9 0d0 1 Telepat
zombie Z 2 6 8 1d8 3
acid_blob a 2 3 8 0d0 3 *
homunculus h 2 6 6 1d3 20 *
little_dog d 2 18 6 1d6
orc O 2 9 6 1d8 20
freezing_sphere F 2 13 4 6D6 1 Cold_resistance
imp i 2 6 2 1d4 1

quivering_blob q 3 1 8 1d8 10
violet_fungi v 3 1 7 1d4 10
piercer p 3 1 3 2d6 20
giant_ant A 3 18 3 1d6 3 *
quasit Q 3 15 3 1d4+2(1d2) 20
fog_cloud f 3 1 0 1d6 1
yellow_light y 3 15 0 0d0 1 confused+=50,vision++

gelatinous_cube g 4 6 8 2d4 10 *
cockatrice c 4 6 6 1d3 3 Death
jaguar j 4 15 6 1d8+2(1d3)+2(1d4) 30
dog d 4 16 5 1d6 20 Aggravate_monster
giant_beetle b 4 6 4 3d4 1 * *
killer_bee k 4 14 4 2d4 1 * Poison_resistance
centaur C 4 18 4 1d6 50 *
snake S 4 15 3 1d6 10 * *

leprechaun L 5 15 8 1d2 40 Teleportation
yeti Y 5 15 6 2(1d6) 70 * Cold_resistance
owlbear o 5 12 5 2d6+2(1d6)+2d8 70 *
tengu t 5 13 5 1d7 30 Teleportation
wraith W 5 12 5 1d6 1 level++
scorpion s 5 15 3 1d4+2(1d8) 10 * * Poison_resistance

nymph N 6 12 9 1d2 40 Teleportation
chameleon : 6 5 6 4d2
leocrotta l 6 18 4 3d6 50 *
large_dog d 6 15 4 2d4 *

mimic M 7 3 7 3d4 40 Treasure_chest
troll T 7 12 4 2d6+2(1d6) 40 *
xan x 7 18 -2 2d4 30
 
long_worm w 8 3 5 1d4 50 *
unicorn u 8 24 5 1d10 30
stalker I 8 12 3 4d4 40 * See_invisible,confused
wumpus w 8 3 2 3d6 *
vampire V 8 12 1 1d6 40 *
xorn X 8 9 -2 4d6+3(1d6) 70

zruty z 9 8 3 3d6 60
umber_hulk U 9 6 2 2d10+2(3d4) 50 *

ettin e 10 12 3 2d8+3d6 3 *
lurker_above ~ 10 3 3 0d0 *

rust_monster R 10 18 3 0d0 50
shopkeeper @ 10 18 0 4d8 40 Aggravate_monster
dragon D 10 9 -1 3d10+2(1d8) 150 * Fire_resistance
demon & 10 9 -4 Lots! *

nurse n 11 6 0 1d3 40 * Aggravate_monster

trapper , 12 3 3 0d0 *

minotaur m 15 15 6 4d8 70 *
purple_worm P 15 9 6 2d8 70 *

Rings listing:

Note: all rings increase your food consumtion to varying degrees.

1) cold resistance: You are invulnerable to cold, including backblasts from
the wand and freezing spheres.

2) fire resistance: You are invulnerable to fire, including backblasts from
the wand and dragon breath.

3) teleport control: gives you control of teleport destination, no matter what
does the teleporting. Try to teleport into a wall or monster and you get a
random teleport. Gives no control of when you go, just where.

4) regeneration: Regain extra one hit point per round (But makes you eat more
than doggie!)

5) conflict: causes monsters to attack each other instead of you, if they are
next to each other.

6) hunger: ? (didn't mess with it) Probably increases hunger a lot without doing
anything good.

7) stealth: monsters don't wake up when you enter a room

8) searching: finds secret doors/traps more easily, and occasionally without
your even searching. NOT necessarily on first try of searching.
Also finds mimics and piercers.

9) increase damage: Increases the damage you do to monsters when hitting them.

10) protection: Increases your armor class and probably your (internal) saving
throws. Can be +1, +2, etc or cursed -1,-2, etc.

11) teleportation: teleports you randomly about every once in a while. No way
to control when, but ring#3 can control where. Without that ring, destination
is random on level. Is often cursed though not necessarily a bad thing to
wear. Take it off (if you can) when you're trying to get anywhere, unless
you're more than halfway across the dungeon from it. Maybe even if you are--
this ring can be ornery!

12) adornment: useless in rogue, but can protect against nymphs (temporarily)
in hack (they're dazzled by it and don't attack)

13) resistance to poison: You are invulnerable to poison (including poison
corpses but not rotted ones, and all poison stings, bites, and potions).
DOES NOT protect you from rotted (tainted) meat or potions of sickness.

14) gain strength: Just what it says. Increments as protection (#10).

15) protection from shape changers: ???? Not a plussed item.

16) warning: glows in various colors, which may be indications of approaching
monsters, traps, etc. Code unknown. This ring may be a total fake.
Seems to indicate when a monster is near, but not where, so still
almost useless (monster coming? Ok, I'll run down here...Oops, wrong
way...)

17) levitation: equivalent to a potion of levitation when worn. Has minor
advantages if you wish to avoid traps, but a cursed ring of levitation
could spell the end of your character! You are unaffected by traps,
but you cannot pick anything up or go downstairs.

18) see invisible: same as potion.

You can wear only one of these items on each hand at any time, so
a stickeycursed ring is a pain when say, you want protection from fire, but
you're too heavily loaded to take off your increase strength ring, and your
ring of searching is stuck on.

This being a list of the scrolls found in hack:

Unless stated otherwise, all scrolls identify themselves.
Exception: detect scrolls will give a "strange feeling" if there are none of
their objects on the level, and enchant/damage/destroy weapons/armor will do
the same if you are not wearing any of the item affected.

1) genocide("): everybody's favorite scroll.
There are *no* multiple-effect scrolls here. If it asks for more than
one monster type, only the last will be genocided. Also prevents
the creation by scroll or wand of more monsters of the type.
Note that genociding cockatrices does not remove c cadavers (so you
still have to watch those ghost treasure hoards!).
Also, you can't genocide monsters represented by punctuation
marks (chameleons :, trappers , , demons &, lurkers above ~).
Does not prevent you from polymorphing a monster into the wiped-out
type or chameleons from assuming that form. If you try to double-
genocide a type, you lose! (No effect, and the scroll is used up)
2) destroy armor("): one random item of armor (from those worn) annihilated.
(This scroll may affect the last item of armor place on. Last in,
first out? ) Nice for KOing cursed armor.
3) enchant armor("): As 2), but +1 added to enchantment. Also removes stickey-
curse. Don't try to go too far; armor tends to evaporate if enchanted
beyond +3.
4) enchant weapon("): weapon in hand or random if bare-handed(?). Otherwise as
enchant armor, applied to weapons.
 
Both enchants make item glow green.
There are two kinds of these - one makes your weapon glow green
for a "moment", the other for a "while". The first is +1, the
second is +2. This also applies to enchant armor, and damage weapon.
If bare-handed (or naked skin for armor) you get a strange feeling
for a moment then it passes. Also applies to damage weapon and destroy
armor. Enchanting a worm tooth turns it into a crysknife, a very
powerful weapon.

5) damage weapon: -1 added to weapon. No effect on or of stickeycurse.
Makes item glow black. (see enchant weapon)
(?re:4,5; damage or to hit? is it random, or whichever is lowest?)
Read on a crysknife, this turns it back into a worm-tooth, and
reports that your weapon seems duller.
6) food/gold detection("/"): briefly see all {} on level, where {} is the
type of detect scroll you have.
7) magic mapping("): all rooms, corridors, secret doors and stairs on level
revealed. Amnesia is the nemesis.
8) amnesia: accumulated map of level lost, exept for where you're standing.
9) teleportation("): random spot on level. See ring of teleport control.
Useful in shops.
10) fire: reduces your maximum hit points. Permanently. NG!
11) taming("): hard to figure out. If a monster is in sight, it becomes tame,
like your dog, but there is no message. The monster is then equalivent
to a polymorphed dog. Thereafter, scroll is named in inventory.
Reading it when surrounded by multiple monsters seems to affect only
the ones nearest you, i.e., a maximum of 8 monsters could be affected.
Warning: If you abandon a tame monster (on a level) it will go wild,
and will not be pacified by tripe.
12) identify("): identify one item. A few (perhaps 1 in 10) of these will ID
all items of a type that you own. Use it on rings first, potions
second. Note that if you choose to ID a)ll items, then you had better
have one of the special types, or you will only get the first item in
your inventory IDed (NO y/n prompt!)
13) remove curse("): gets rid of all stickeycurses on worn items.
"you feel like someone is helping you". This scroll is very
important! Anyone wielding a -3 dart, wearing a cursed ring of
levitation, or dragging about a heavy iron ball can attest to
this fact.
14) create monster("): one monster in adjacent square, appropriate to level.
Note if it creates Orcs or killer bees, it will make a whole tribe of
them.
15) monster confusion("): your hands begin to glow blue. The next monster you
hit with a hand-to-hand attack will be confused, and your hands will
stop glowing. A confused monster (assuming it survives the blow that
confused it) will move in random directions, attacking anything in its
way. This includes you (so *don't* confuse your dog!) or other
monsters. Can occasionally be discharged when you kill a monster with
wand, etc. This scroll has variable effects. Sometimes monsters will
attack at double speed, but usually they will either wander randomly
or flee.
16) punishment("): this cursed scroll outfits you with a ball and chain,
indicated on the screen by @_0. The ball, if left to drag, may slow
you down. However, it can also be picked up, and if then wielded as a
weapon, is devastatingly effective. It is also very heavy, however.
The remove curse scroll will cause ball and chain to come loose; you
can drop them then, but I'd suggest sticking with them if you're
strong enough. Also good for getting around fast. Try picking up the
ball, and throwing it in the direction you want to go. Great for
getting out of shops without paying. (but won't work after chain is
loose) A net rumor indicates that this scroll may reduce your luck
to 0 for the duration.
17) scare monster("): Similar to rogue in use. If you pick up a scroll that
"turned to dust", it WAS a scare monster scroll that had already
been dropped. If you read a scare monster scroll with monsters
in the room, nothing will seem to happen (and thus can
can be confused with taming, see above). You will find, however,
that the monsters will try to run away from you. (Try this in
a shop that contains a Mimic, then hit the Mimic and watch it
flee ... I once got four mimics cowering in the corner of a store!)
18) blank("): this scroll 'appears to be blank'. Never having gotten an effect
out of it, I can only assume that it IS blank. It even identifies as
blank.

WEAPONS

name of damage to damage to
weapon large monsters small monsters

crysknife 1d12 1d12
long sword 1d8 1d12
boomerang 1d9 1d9
spear 1d6 1d8
mace 1d6 1d7
two-handed sw. 1d10+2d6 1d6
flail 1d6+1d4 1d5
axe 1d6 1d4
dagger 1d4 1d3
worm tooth 1d2 1d2

arrow 1d6 1d6
sling bullet 1d4 1d6
crossbow bolt 1d4 1d6
rock 1d3 1d3
dart 1d3 1d2

Large monsters: centaurs, demons, dogs, dragons, ettins, gelatinous cubes,
giant beetles, invisible stalkers, leocrottas, long worms,
lurkers above, minotaurs, nurses, owlbears, purple worms,
snakes, scorpions, trappers, trolls, umber hulks, and yetis.

This being a listing of the various types of wands to be found in hack, with
desriptions thereof. Starred wands have obvious uses in shops. Most wands
seem to start with 6 charges or thereabouts. When a wand is out of charges
and you zap it, "Nothing Happens".

1) wishing("): you usually get 3 wishes, and wishing for wands of wishing pro-
duces wands with 0 charges left. When it asks you what you want,
answer with the exact syntax it would appear in your inventory as, if
you had identified it with the scroll of ID. The wand does not ID
it for you, but if you wish for a scroll and get a scroll, you're
probably OK. If you wish for an illegal item or a non-existent item,
you get a random one. You can wish for any plussed item up to +3,
above that you take your chances. You can wish for one wand or 3 of
any other non-plussed item with each wish. Sample wishes are for:
+3 plate mail/pair of gloves/helmet/elven cloak/crysknife
3 potions of gain level
ring of regeneration/teleport control(#)
3 tins (There is no way to specify spinach, but the odds are
good)
3 diamonds (#)

(#) means I'm not sure of the exact wording.
/ means wish for *one* of the items listed.

You may want to wish for 3 rings of regeneration (say) in hopes of
selling the extras to a storekeeper before you rob him. DO NOT
make wishes when you are too loaded down to carry the items, or you
will get zilcho! Wishing for "a wand of wishing (3)" will not work.
"Illegal" wishes that seem to work often are +7 plate, 3 +3 crysknives
(but sometimes gives 3 -3 crysknives) Your luck may influence the
cahnce of getting many items.

2*) death("): kills target creature, but sometimes has bad side effects (takes
half of everything else's hit points, including yours!) This is a ray.
3*) sleep("): of variable duration, and doesn't seem to work on bats. Some
monsters get saving throws-i.e., a chance not to be affected. This
is a ray.
4-7) fire, cold, lightning, magic missile("): all fire rays/bolts/zaps which do
damage to anything they hit. (See note below.) Cold seems to do the
most damage, MMs do the least, fire seems to have the longest range.
8) striking("): wand hits the first monster in the direction you point it, even
from a considerable (but not infinite) distance. NOT a ray.
9*) polymorph("): turns one monster into a random other monster. New monster
could be anything! Of course, most people would rather turn a dragon
into a bat than vice versa. Use on your dog intil you get a monster
well above norm for your level, or a mega-monster. May not change all
characteristics of the monster (ie, speed may be unchanged).
Warning: if you polymorph your dog, then leave his level (fall in
a trapdoor, etc) he will not be tamed merely by throwing food at
him (need taming scroll). The dungeon apparently forgets he ever
was your dog. While it may be fun to polymorph your dog, you are
better advised to use it against any mega-monsters that you may
find at the higher level (eg. Dragons, demons, trappers). Your
dog is a fairly strong monster in his own right.
This wand is almost as useful as digging when you're being digested
by a trapper or a purple worm; have you ever been inside a nymph?
10) make invisible("): makes monster invisible, permanently. (?while on level?)
Don't use on doggie, you'll just keep tripping over him. Easy to con-
fuse with teleport away. No use whatsoever, except to maybe keep you
from taking the wand of teleport away for granted.
11*) teleport monster("): monster teleported to random spot on level (?or next
room?). Check to be sure you don't have a wand of invisibility. Note
that the monster will usually head straight back home at top speed,
and if he finds you still there, or on the way out, he will be pissed.
12) haste monster("): monster moves twice as fast. Use on doggie, but watch you
don't trip on him.
13) slow monster("): monster moves at half speed. Some monsters get multiple
attacks every other round (ie. xorn, 3 claws and bite or shopkeeper,
2 fists).
14*) digging("): This produces new corridor sections, and doors where the ray
intersects a room wall. Within the room, it produces useless fireworks
like ********. Naturally, this does not bounce off anything.
Net info seems to indicate that no monster can enter a dug tunnel.
They will go to door (and attack once or twice if fast enough) but can
never enter. (WRONG - a monster entered fom the far end of a newly
dug tunnel.) (Are you sure you didn't have a wandering monster appear
inside the tunnel?) Can dig through/under boulders, such as the one
the Amulet is under. Also useful for blasting your way out of a
trapper.
15) undead turning("): somewhat like fear, but no effect on most monsters.
Undead are: zombies, ghosts, wraiths, vampires, demons and
perhaps other monsters. Destroys weaker undead, causes bigger ones
to flee, including(!) demons.
16) create monster("): Creates a monster next to you, just like the scroll.
Once I zapped this wand and was immediately surrounded
by 8 monsters! Semi-Confirmed; it can happen, but it seems to be a
random (1 in 10?) occurence on a wand of create monster. This wand
may be useful to keep around if you are ever desperately short on
food. If you are, create a monster, kill it, and feast on the remains!
As noted above, there is a random chance that you will create 8
monsters at once instead of the customary one.
17) cancellation("): Should knock out any magical abilities of the monster.
Monsters which are affected:
Nymphs -- cancels her magical allure.
Wraiths -- cancels life draining.
Demons -- cancels powers of replication.
Vampires (?) -- cancels life draining.
Monsters which are not affected:
Rust Monsters -- still rusts your armor.
Dragons -- still blow flame at you.
Invisible Stalkers -- still invisible.
Chameleons -- still pose as different monsters.
Trappers -- still swallow you.
Cockatrices -- still petrify you.
Floating Eyes -- still paralyze you.
Unknown at present:
Giant Ants, Xans, Leprechauns, Freezing Spheres, Umber Hulks,
etc.
Please post if you have any more information!
18) secret door detection("): discovers all secret doors in room or in sight in
a corridor. If there are none, a charge is used and the wand seems
to do nothing. This is the only non-directional wand without a
special message. (?) This wand also detects shape-changers in the
room (eg. mimics, piercers). Usually comes in 10+ charges.
19) light("): lights up dark rooms. Usually comes in 10+ charges.

Also note that ray/straight-line wands are best fired when you are
diagonally aligned with your target so that ricochets can't hit you. ric-
ochets can be used to hit targets that won't get in straight line of fire
(leps, shopkeepers, etc.), or to get two hits on a target. Shots into corners
bounce straight back at you. Doors can reflect a diagonal shot back at you,
and the wand of fire reflects diagonally back at you occasionally just for the
heck of it. Wands seem to have differing, and possibly partly random, maximum
ranges. For a ray wand, ray just won't reach, for others, there is no effect.
When you get a wand, try zapping it. If it is non-directional, (like

• wishing*) you will usually find out what it is immediately. If not, hit

when it asks you what direction, and save it until you reach a monster,
as before. This lets you ID many wands before you find a monster to test
them out on, and improves the odds that a partly-tested, directional wand
will turn out to be offensive, rather than secret door detection or light.

Rumors file from hack.

This is a somewhat abridged list of the rumors from which are drawn the sayings
and hints found in fortune cookies. The appearance of any given rumor is comp-
letely random. Some of these rumors are true, many are false or misleading.

General notes: comments on individual rumors will be in [square brackets]
comments: U=useless, M=misleading, F=False, T=True S=Sort of true

In the original rumors file, there are many rumors about different colored
potions, various wands, and so on. All statements about magic items that use
their "found names" are worthless, since these are determined randomly for
each game. Accordingly, and in the interest of space, they have all been
deleted from this file, exepting those which have some special aspect to them
that requires individual explanation. Similarly, 'hints' about the current or
upcoming levels appear as randomly as any other rumors, and have no relation to
what might really be there. So, those have also been deleted. Ignore those
types of rumors when you find them in the game.

The thing to remember is that all of these come up randomly.
starred rumors are still unknown.

---

"Quit" is a four letter word. [U]
A fading corridor enlightens your insight. [M a wand of light zapped in a cor-
ridor will always cause the corridor to light breifly, then fade.]
A long worm hits with all of its length. [S A long worm can only hit with it's
head, not with body segments. However, it gets one hit for each
segment]
A monstrous mind is a toy for ever. [U]
A ring of adornment protects against Nymphs. [T]
A rumour has it that rumours are just rumours. [S]
A spear will hit an ettin. [F]
A spear might hit a nurse. [F]
A tin of smoked eel is a wonderful find. [M- no smoked eels in dungeon]
A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn. [T]
A two-handed sword usually misses.[F]

• A unicorn can be tamed only by a fair maiden.

• Be careful when throwing a boomerang - you might hit the back of your head.

• If you're afraid of trapdoors, just cover the floor with all you've got.

• Leprechauns hide their gold in a secret room.

• M.M.Vault cashiers teleport any amount of gold to the next local branch.

• Only a wizard can use a magic whistle.

• Savings do include amnesia.

• Speed Kills (The Doors)

• The Leprechaun Gold Tru$t is no division of the Magic Memory Vault.
• The Leprechauns hide their treasure in a small hidden room.

• There are monsters of softening penetration.

• They say that you need a key in order to open locked doors.

• You need a key in order to open locked doors.

• You offend Shai-Hulud by sheathing your crysknife without having drawn blood.

---

From fortune!amdcad!decwrl!decvax!tektronix!daemon!richl Mon Mar 18 02:27:55 1985
Relay-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site wdl1.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site daemon.UUCP
Path: wdl1!fortune!amdcad!decwrl!decvax!tektronix!daemon!richl
From: richl@daemon.UUCP (Rick Lindsley)
Newsgroups: net.games.hack
Subject: spoiler - more hints on how to steal
Message-ID: <489@daemon.UUCP>
Date: 18 Mar 85 10:27:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: daemon.489
Posted: Mon Mar 18 02:27:55 1985
Date-Received: 20 Mar 85 13:41:08 GMT
References: <25400001@ciprico.UUCP>
Reply-To: richl@daemon.UUCP (Rick Lindsley)
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 16
Summary:

I was playing as a tourist a few nights ago and had a pretty dismal game
going so I did some experimentation. Learned two good ways to steal; and
they both depend on the fact that shopkeepers just keep ringing up the
bill mentally until you leave. That is, they don't know how much money
you have! So.......you use everything in his shop! Book shops are especially
good for this; there's bound to be a scroll of teleport there somewhere!
I also walked into a liquor shop, drank everything in sight, and then,
since I was a tourist and had tons of food, just waited for a leprechaun
to come in and I killed him and ate him and teleported out of there. Hey,
after the 3 potions of raise level it wasn't nearly as difficult as I
thought it would be! You also might be able to do this in a cane shop
with the wands, if you can identify a wand of fire or cold or something
equally destructive on the shopkeeper!

Rick Lindsley
...!{ihnp4,decvax,allegra,and a host of others}!tektronix!richl

A compilation of useful tricks, tactics, and hints not assosiated with any
item or place in particular.

Elbereth: If you E)ngrave Elbereth with your bare hands (-), it acts
As a sort of sign of peace. Most monsters are then unable to attack you as
long as you do not move off the square or fight a monster next to you.
You can throw or zap, however, and the monsters still cannot attack. The
only monsters who are unaffected are the nymph ,because she isn't really

• attacking* you, and other humans, because if they are after you, it is because

Orcrist: If your weapon in hand is named Orcrist, it gets a hefty bonus
on damage (rumored to be +10) against orcs. Fun..

Points: You get points for gold, gems (if you leave the dungeon with
them), and the amulet. (The first amulet is worth 5000, each successive
(genuine) amulet doubles your score.) You also seem to get points for the
following things: levels descended to (so dungeon-diving may help),
, and magic items identified or possibly just tried out (or possibly
just accumulated). And also, experience points, seemingly 4-for-1. Also,
mapping out rooms, and possibly discovering secret doors.

Luck: This is an internal variable which can make life in the dungeon
much easier or much harder. Little is known about it, but it probable affects
your chances of finding secret doors, waking up monsters, saving vs. magic,
and posiibly hitting and being hit by monsters. Giving gems to a unicorn is
known to increase your luck, and killing shopkeepers (possibly dogs and nurses
as well) is known to decrease it. There is also a very small chance to
decrease it slightly by killing defenseless (blinded) monsters.

Various items and features of the game of hack.

WEAPONS:

Stickeycurses: many items, including most cursed (negative bonus) armor
and almost everything gained from ghost hoards, are stickeycursed. This means
that having worn or wielded the item, you cannot unwield/wear it. Weapons
weld themselves to your hand immediately, but other such items are discovered
only when you try to take them off. Good magic items can be stickeycursed, but
upgrading or changing needs are then prevented. Ie, your -2 plate is still AC
4 with elven cloak (which can still be changed, since you don't need to remove
the plate first), but if you find +3 banded mail, tough luck. Similarly, a
welded-on ring of regeneration can kill you through starvation. A remove
curse scroll will remove the stickeycurse permanently, a destroy armor scroll
will remove the armor permanently (if your elven cloak isn't affected instead,
so you take everything else off), and enchant armor/weapon will cancel the
stickeycurse on the affected item.

Enchant scrolls and weapons: we know too little about these, except
that if any item is enchanted above +3, there is a random chance at each
improvement above +3 or so that the object being improved will evaporate.
I've heard tell of +8 two-handed swords, though.

Crysknives: Kill a worm, get the worm tooth (you may have to look
under the body), wield the worm tooth, and read a scroll of enchant weapon.
Result: a crysknife, one of the more powerful weapons in the dungeon.
(Rumor has it that only the ball and chain are more deadly.) You can also get
crysknifes from a ghost's hoard and with a wand of wishing. Once you do
get a cryskife, though, don't ever unwield it. I unwielded my crysknife
once to throw crossbow bolts at a xan, and the crysknife turned back into
a worm tooth!

Crysknives are good, but not necessarily (in the word of lucius)
"nuclear"; it takes an improved crysknife before you have any chance of,
say, killing dragons in one shot.

ARMOR:

Elven Cloaks: Elven cloaks are magic cloaks which increase your
armor class by one. Rumor also has it that elven cloaks protect you
from enchantments. Elven cloaks do protect your armor from being
dissolved by rust monsters or acid blobs. They can be enchanted.

Helmets: Helmets are prone to being digested by rust monsters,
but they protect you from piercers and from rocks dropping on you
in mazes (if you get that far).

Gloves: Gloves normally improve your armor class by one, but
their greatest advantage is in preventing you from getting stoned by cockatrice
cadavers. If you have a wand of wishing, ask for "a pair of +3 gloves".
Gloves allow you to pick up and even wield cockatrice cadavers, turning mon-
sters to stone right and left until the corpse rots away. However, if you
subsequently fall down the stairs, as is usual when heavily loaded, you will
touch the cadaver and die. Note also that this is very inconsiderate of other
players, as if you become a ghost, any player takng your hoard will encounter
the cockatrice cadaver before they reach the gloves you were using. If you
have a second pair of gloves, please put them at the bottom of your inventory,
and the cockatrice at the top, except of course for the gloves you are
actually wearing. (drop items above it, then pick them up again).
Any grave-robber will hopefully reach your spare pair and be overloaded before
he hits the cadaver, allowing him to put on the gloves. Note that the cadaver
will eventually rot away, so don't throw away your +3 mace.

Armor: various types of armor have different basic armor classes, and
any given suit may have a plus or minus in addition. Minused armor (including
the other items under this heading) is almost always stickeycursed. Note that
most armor takes some time to put on or take off, and that once you start
either process, you will follow through no matter what is attacking you.

Armor Class values:
none 10
leather 8
ring 7 (?)
studded 7 (?)
chain 5
splint 4
banded 4
plate mail(") 3
sheild +1
helmet +1
gloves +1
elven cloak +1
And add in the bonuses of all items worn.

USEFUL ITEMS:

Whistles: When you blow a ordinary whistle (syntax is 'a whistle',
you produce a 'high' whistling sound and your dog, (?if within a certain
range?) immediately heads in your direction. particularly useful if you are
teleporting randomly with a dead lep. Magic whistles (syntax is 'magic
whistle') produce a 'strange' whistling sound, and teleport your dog to you.
Be careful, whistling may also wake up other denizens of the level whom you
would rather not see awake (Leperchauns, Nymphs, ...).

Icebox: This is the box which a spelologist starts out with. Corpses
promptly placed in it will not spoil. It is, however, incredibly heavy, and
you must be carrying both the box and the corpse to use it. You may want to
leave it on the first level and go back for it when you've had some spinach.

Camera: Tourists start out with this one. Flash in the direction of a
monster to temporarily dazzle the monster.

Keys: we have never seen these. Presumably they may be wished for,
(syntax unknown) and rumors indicate they are used for locking and unlocking
doors.
 
Rope: We've never seen one. Keys and ropes are mentioned in the help
(? command) file in our version.

SPECIAL ROOMS

Assorted shops: Shops add much of the spice to hack. Shops
are rooms filled with goodies which are guarded by a shopkeeper. Shops
may specialize in a particular object (armor, weapons, scrolls,wands,rings) or
they may be general (antiques).
There are three things you can do in a shop:
you can buy things, sell things, or steal.

Buying things is simple. You pick up items and p)ay your shopping bill.
(Note: prices for magic items are high, but you often may want to buy food or
a weapon if you aren't equipped to steal)

Selling things is almost as simple. You drop (not throw) the items, and if
the shopkeeper is interested, he will buy it from you. Warning: if not
interested, he may take the item without paying.

Stealing is harder. You must kill or sleep the shopkeeper or get out past
him. A nasty but lucrative tactic is to enter a shop, sell everything you can
to him, including extra rings, cursed items, and/or dead monsters, then take
(not buy) back everything you want to keep, anything of his you can carry, and
steal it all, including the gold he paid you. At the level which you find the
shops, the shopkeepers are probably too much for you to kill easily. You will
have to rely on your brains, not your brawn. Note that the shopkeeper usually
has some treasure of his own, which may not appear until he is dead.

Strategies for dealing with shopkeepers:

1) teleport out: this is the simplest and safest method of getting away
clean. The shopkeeper would love to chase you, but luckily for you he has to
stay and take care of his shop. Take care! Many a time, to my despair, I have
been teleported across the shop.
2) dig your way out: this method is marvelous, provided that you
have a wand of digging.
3) teleport the shopkeeper away with a wand of teleportation: just
don't meet him on the way out! (This is risky. He WILL be heading straight
toward the shop from the moment he is teleported.
4) avoid the shopkeeper: lure the shopkeeper away from the door, then
zap him with a wand of sleep. Tiptoe around him and you're home free.
5) kill the shopkeeper: Hope you have a wand! This may have some bad
effects- see @ (human) in monsters file. These guys are, in the words of R.
Thau, retired barbarians who will wipe up the floor with you if they catch you.
They are faster than you and THEY IGNORE ELBERETH!!! I once, at 8th level,
managed, by quaffing a potion of speed and zapping him with a wand of slow
monster, managed to get out of the shop with 12 (out of 88) hit points left.
Oddly, when I came back (timidly) he didn't hold more than the usual grudge of
refusing to let me out. If you quaff a potion of invisibility, he will stand
in front of the door no matter what you shoot or throw at him. However, he
knows who's attacking him, and if you get too close, he'll get you.
6) train your dog: your dog may steal items from a shop for your
but this is likely to be a tedious method.
7) if by some chance you have a shop with a bunch of orcs in the back,
Elbereth one step *behind* the door, and kill the orcs as they exit the room.
(You may have to take a step into the room or throw something to wake up the
orcs). The orcs will carry many items outside the shop for you, and you will
not be charged for them. The shopkeeper may not even declare his shop
'pillaged'!
Shopkeepers have long memories. They will refuse to let you out
of a shop if you have stolen any items from it, even if you are not trying
to steal anything on this visit. Shopkeepers are also crafty enough to
stay out of your line of fire, unless you are within 2 spaces of the door.
Make sure you have a means of escape *before* trying anything, since you will
have to pay for or steal anything you use up or get stickeycursed by! If you
know which scroll is teleportation, then you can use one of his, but if trying
his scrolls out to find a teleport scroll (don't even try it except in a book-
store) you run a risk of being stranded. Trying wands out in a walking-cane
shop will avoid that problem (since wands are not used up in one shot) but
if any wand is fired at, or any ray hits (look out for rebounds) the shop-
keeper, he will get mad! If you really wipe out a shop, the storekeeper
will declare it pillaged, and instead of buying, he will accept contributions.

The Magical Memory Vault: This little 2x2 room holds the current
balance of the Magical Memory Bank. It has no doors connecting it to any
room or corridor on the level. You may locate it in three ways. 1)
read a scroll of gold detection. The four piles of gold are unmistakable.
2) read a scroll of magic mapping. Any 2x2 rooms on the level not
connected to any other rooms will be a Magic Memory vault. 3) get there.

There are two ways of actally getting to a Magical Memory vault.
1) teleport in. This is the fastest way in, but I hope you can get out
again! 2) use a wand of digging. Occasionally when I have a wand of
digging to spare I dig around at random, hoping to hit a vault.

If you stay in a vault too long, a guard will come by and ask you
to drop all your gold. So far, my reaction has been to teleport out
(with a weak character) or kill the guard (with a strong character).
The one time I killed the guard, I did it in one blow. (I had 18/** str
and was wielding a +3 crysknife). I (a different one) was never attacked by
the guard - he just stands there and waits until you teleport out.
To deal with the guard, follow this procedure:
1) drop your gold, and move one step toward the guard (once he
gives you room). He will move a step down the corridor.
2) take a step back to pick up the gold; the guard will stay put.
3) step toward the guard again, till you are next to him (Don't
hit him!). Drop gold again. He will advance again.
4) Repeat until guard reaches end of corridor, where he will dissapear.

David's Treasure Zoo: The zoo is what corresponds to a monster
room in Rogue. There are some differences: A zoo is packed with monsters,
except for the row facing the door. There are no magic items, (except for
what materializes when you kill a monster) but a pile of gold is under
every monster. Monsters in a zoo are best dealt with with a ring of
conflict, but zapping a missile wand (fire, cold, magic missile, death,
etc.) will kill a lot of monsters. Otherwise, you better run as fast as
you can away from the zoo and come back when you are better prepared.
Best thing is to use Elbereth and a strong wand. If a lep is in the zoo,
when you use a wand or a ring of conflict, he will go around picking up the
gold left by dead monsters. When he has all the gold, he will teleport, which
is wise of him, because he is carrying a heck of a lot of gold!
Orcs will also pick up gold but won't teleport.

The Maze: The maze is what you find on the lowest levels of the
dungeon. The exact level may vary depending on your version of hack.
The maze takes up the entire level, and is inhabited by a variety of
strong monsters. One peculiarity of the maze is that there are no
staircases down. All staircases in mazes lead up, even if you had just
ascended the staircase from a lower level. The only way to get to the second
or greater maze levels is to fall several levels through a trapdoor. Even
then, you will have to repeat the fall if you want to return. You may wish to
save a scroll of mapping for the maze, especially if you possess a ring of
teleport control. Also useful are potions of object detection (see the Amulet),
monster detection, and blindness (if you have telepathy).
Every maze is inhabitted by a minotaur (m) who carries a wand of digging.
Useful for getting the Amulet out from under an immovable rock,
crashing through maze walls, and ripping out of trappers' bellies.
Minotaur, by the time you get there, isn't such a tough bugger.
There is an Amulet on each maze level. This amulet is always under a rock in
a dead end, so that the rock cannot be pushed off said amulet.

VALUBLE ITEMS:

Amulet: This is generally the big part of your final score (if you
have one, that is!). There is an amulet on the lowest maze level, hidden
under an immovable (but diggable) boulder. Other amulets can be gotten from
ghosts. When leaving the dungeon, the first Amulet scores 5000, and each
sucessive amulet you have doubles your score. There are rumors that amulets
cut down on your need for food. You can wish for an amulet, but you will get
a cheap imitation amulet instead.
Gems: these, the Amulet(s) and your gold seemto be the only thing that
count once you get out of the dungeon. There are valuble gems and pieces of
worthless glass. You can trade a gem (but not glass) to a unicorn for 5
points of luck. Varieties of gems:
glass: 0 zorkmids
jasper: 500 zorkmids
topaz: 900 zorkmids
agate: 600 zorkmids
opal:
turquoise: 2000 zorkmids
diamond:
Shopkeepers will buy all gems, including glass from you at trinket prices,
sell them back at a 300% markup.

You may read scrolls of identify on gems to find out what they are worth.
I recommend you postpone this until you are on the way back up and have no
better things to identify.

TRAPS:
There are various types of traps, designed to injure, incapacitate,
or relocate you. In the first category are arrow traps and dart traps.
Dart traps are occasonally poisioned, but these are otherwise unremarkable.
Pit traps combine the first and second categories, doing a few points of
damage (very few) and requiring many turns of moving in a direction to get
off the square. Bear traps are similar in effects. In both cases, you can
attack, throw thngs, or write Elbereth, you just take a while to get out.
A shortcut if your dog is unlikely to get in the way is just hit a shifted
move. Sleeping gas traps are potentially more dangerous. While they are
shorter in duration, you can do nothing until you awaken. Teleport traps
send you to a random spot on the level (potentially useful). Trap doors
send you to the level immediately or up to 4 levels below your own. This
is usually unwanted, except in the lowest levels, where it can help you drop
faster and even reach more than one maze level.
All traps can be discovered by searching, or by passing near with a ring of
searching. A wand of secret door detection may also find them.

• EOF ***** This is all I have for hack.doc as of 4/8/85