
     NETHACK(6)                  28 March 1989                   NETHACK(6)



     NNAAMMEE 
          nethack - Exploring The Mazes of Menace 

     SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS 
          nneetthhaacckk [ -DD directory ] [ -NN ] [ -[AABBCCEEHHKKPPRRSSTTVVWW] ] [ -[XX] ]
          [ -UU playername ] 
          nneetthhaacckk   [   -DD  directory  ]  -SS  [  -[AABBCCEEHHKKPPRRSSTTVVWW]  ]  [
          playernames ] 

     DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN 

               NetHack 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 identify 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, NetHack 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
          initialize many run-time options.  The ?  command provides a
          description of these options and syntax.  

               The  -UU  playername  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 playername
          suffix or a separate option consisting of one of -AA -BB -CC -EE
          -HH  -KK  -PP  -RR  -SS  -TT  -VV  -WW  can be used to determine the
          character role.  

               The -SS option alone will print out  the  list  of  your
          scores.   It  may be followed by arguments -AA -BB -CC -EE -HH -KK
          -PP -RR -SS -TT -VV -WW to  print  the  scores  of  Archeologists,
          Barbarians,    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.  


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     NETHACK(6)                  28 March 1989                   NETHACK(6)


               The  -nn option suppresses printing of any news from the
          game administrator.  

               The  -XX  option  will  start  the  game  in  a  special
          non-scoring discovery mode (or in debugging (wizard) mode if
          the player is the game administrator).  

               The  -DD  option, which must be the first argument if it
          appears, supplies a directory  which  is  to  serve  as  the
          playground.  It  overrides  the  value  from  HACKDIR.   The
          playground must contain several auxiliary files such as help
          files, the list of top scorers, and nethack.cnf.  

     AAUUTTHHOORRSS 

               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.  

     FFIILLEESS 

               All files are in the playground, e.g.  c:\games\nethack 
          nethack.ttp The program itself.  
          nethack.cnf The configuration file.  
          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.  
          license Rules governing redistribution.  
          record The list of top scorers.  
          save A subdirectory containing the saved 
               games.  
          bones.dd Descriptions of the ghost and 
               belongings of a deceased 
               adventurer.  
          levels.dd Description of a dungeon level.  

     EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT 
          USER or LOGNAME Your login name.  
          HOME Your home directory.  
          SHELL Your shell.  


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     NETHACK(6)                  28 March 1989                   NETHACK(6)


          TERM The type of your terminal (for playing NetHack over the
          modem).  
          HACKDIR Playground.  
          NETHACKOPTIONS String predefining several NetHack 
               options.  

          In addition, SHOPTYPE is used in debugging (wizard) mode.  

     BBUUGGSS 

               Probably infinite.  



               Dungeons & Dragons is a Trademark of TSR Inc.  













































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