


NETHACK(6)          UNIX Programmer's Manual           NETHACK(6)



NAME
     nethack - Exploring The Mazes of Menace

SYNOPSIS
     nethack [ -d _d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y ] [ -n ] [ -[ABCEHKPRSTVW] ] [ -[DX]
     ] [ -u _p_l_a_y_e_r_n_a_m_e ] [ -dec ] [ -ibm ]
     nethack [ -d _d_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y ] -s [ -[ABCEHKPRSTVW] ] [ _p_l_a_y_e_r_-
     _n_a_m_e_s ]

DESCRIPTION
     _N_e_t_H_a_c_k is a display oriented Dungeons & Dragons(tm) - like
     game.  Both display and command structure resemble rogue.

     To get started you really only need to know two commands.
     The command ? will give you a list of the available commands
     (as well as other information) and the command / will iden-
     tify the things you see on the screen.

     To win the game (as opposed to merely playing to beat other
     people's high scores) you must locate the Amulet of Yendor
     which is somewhere below the 20th level of the dungeon and
     get it out.  Nobody has achieved this yet; anybody who does
     will probably go down in history as a hero among heros.

     When the game ends, whether by your dying, quitting, or
     escaping from the caves, _N_e_t_H_a_c_k will give you (a fragment
     of) the list of top scorers.  The scoring is based on many
     aspects of your behavior, but a rough estimate is obtained
     by taking the amount of gold you've found in the cave plus
     four times your (real) experience.  Precious stones may be
     worth a lot of gold when brought to the exit.  There is a
     10% penalty for getting yourself killed.

     The environment variable NETHACKOPTIONS can be used to ini-
     tialize many run-time options.  The ? command provides a
     description of these options and syntax.  (The -dec and -ibm
     command line options are equivalent to the decgraphics and
     ibmgraphics run-time options described there, and are pro-
     vided purely for convenience on systems supporting multiple
     types of terminals.)

     The -u _p_l_a_y_e_r_n_a_m_e option supplies the answer to the question
     "Who are you?".  It overrides any name from NETHACKOPTIONS,
     USER, LOGNAME, or getlogin(), which will otherwise be tried
     in order.  If none of these provides a useful name, the
     player will be asked for one.  A _p_l_a_y_e_r_n_a_m_e suffix or a
     separate option consisting of one of -A -B -C -E -H -K -P -R
     -S -T -V -W can be used to determine the character role.

     The -s option alone will print out the list of your scores.
     It may be followed by arguments -A -B -C -E -H -K -P -R -S
     -T -V -W to print the scores of Archeologists, Barbarians,



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NETHACK(6)          UNIX Programmer's Manual           NETHACK(6)



     Cave(wo)men, Elves, Healers, Knights, Priest(esse)s, Rogues,
     Samurai, Tourists, Valkyries, or Wizards.  It may also be
     followed by one or more player names to print the scores of
     the players mentioned, or by 'all' to print out all scores.

     The -n option suppresses printing of any news from the game
     administrator.

     The -D or -X option will start the game in a special non-
     scoring discovery mode.  -D will, if the player is the game
     administrator, start in debugging (wizard) mode instead.

     The -d option, which must be the first argument if it
     appears, supplies a directory which is to serve as the play-
     ground.  It overrides the value from HACKDIR or the direc-
     tory specified by the game administrator during compilation
     (usually /usr/games/lib/nethackdir).  This option is usually
     only useful to the game administrator.  The playground must
     contain several auxiliary files such as help files, the list
     of top scorers, and a subdirectory _s_a_v_e where games are
     saved.

AUTHORS
     Jay Fenlason (+ Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne)
     wrote the original hack, very much like rogue (but full of
     bugs).

     Andries Brouwer continuously deformed their sources into an
     entirely different game.

     Mike Stephenson has continued the perversion of sources,
     adding various warped character classes and sadistic traps
     with the help of many strange people who reside in that
     place between the worlds, the Usenet Zone.  A number of
     these miscreants are immortalized in the historical roll of
     dishonor and various other places.

     The resulting mess is now called NetHack, to denote its
     development by the Usenet.  Andries Brouwer has made this
     request for the distinction, as he may eventually release a
     new version of his own.

FILES
     All files are in the playground, normally
     /usr/games/lib/nethackdir.
     nethack                  The program itself.
     data, oracles, rumors    Data files used by NetHack.
     help, hh                 Help data files.
     cmdhelp, opthelp         More help data files.
     castle, endgame          Predefined special levels.
     tower1, tower2, tower3   More special levels.
     history                  A short history of NetHack.



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NETHACK(6)          UNIX Programmer's Manual           NETHACK(6)



     license                  Rules governing redistribution.
     record                   The list of top scorers.
     logfile                  An extended list of games played.
     save                     A subdirectory containing the saved
                              games.
     bones.dd                 Descriptions of the ghost and
                              belongings of a deceased
                              adventurer.
     xlock.dd                 Description of a dungeon level.
     perm, safelock           Lock files for xlock.dd.
     record_lock              Lock file for record.
     logfile_lock             Lock file for logfile.

ENVIRONMENT
     USER or LOGNAME      Your login name.
     HOME                 Your home directory.
     SHELL                Your shell.
     TERM                 The type of your terminal.
     HACKPAGER or PAGER   Replacement for default pager.
     MAIL                 Mailbox file.
     MAILREADER           Replacement for default reader
                          (probably /bin/mail or /usr/ucb/mail).
     HACKDIR              Playground.
     NETHACKOPTIONS       String predefining several NetHack
                          options.

     In addition, SHOPTYPE is used in debugging (wizard) mode.

BUGS
     Probably infinite.



     Dungeons & Dragons is a Trademark of TSR Inc.





















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