A Guide to the Mazes of Menace

(Guidebook for NetHack)

Original version - Eric S. Raymond

(Edited and expanded for NetHack 3.7.0 by Mike Stephenson and others)

February 29, 2024

1. Introduction

Recently, you have begun to find yourself unfulfilled and distant

in your daily occupation. Strange dreams of prospecting, stealing,

crusading, and combat have haunted you in your sleep for many months,

but you aren't sure of the reason. You wonder whether you have in

fact been having those dreams all your life, and somehow managed to

forget about them until now. Some nights you awaken suddenly and cry

out, terrified at the vivid recollection of the strange and powerful

creatures that seem to be lurking behind every corner of the dungeon

in your dream. Could these details haunting your dreams be real? As

each night passes, you feel the desire to enter the mysterious caverns

near the ruins grow stronger. Each morning, however, you quickly put

the idea out of your head as you recall the tales of those who entered

the caverns before you and did not return. Eventually you can resist

the yearning to seek out the fantastic place in your dreams no longer.

After all, when other adventurers came back this way after spending

time in the caverns, they usually seemed better off than when they

passed through the first time. And who was to say that all of those

who did not return had not just kept going?

Asking around, you hear about a bauble, called the Amulet of Yen-

dor by some, which, if you can find it, will bring you great wealth.

One legend you were told even mentioned that the one who finds the

amulet will be granted immortality by the gods. The amulet is rumored

to be somewhere beyond the Valley of Gehennom, deep within the Mazes

of Menace. Upon hearing the legends, you immediately realize that

there is some profound and undiscovered reason that you are to descend

into the caverns and seek out that amulet of which they spoke. Even

if the rumors of the amulet's powers are untrue, you decide that you

should at least be able to sell the tales of your adventures to the

local minstrels for a tidy sum, especially if you encounter any of the

terrifying and magical creatures of your dreams along the way. You

spend one last night fortifying yourself at the local inn, becoming

more and more depressed as you watch the odds of your success being

posted on the inn's walls getting lower and lower.

In the morning you awake, collect your belongings, and set off

for the dungeon. After several days of uneventful travel, you see the

NetHack Guidebook 1

NetHack Guidebook 2

ancient ruins that mark the entrance to the Mazes of Menace. It is

late at night, so you make camp at the entrance and spend the night

sleeping under the open skies. In the morning, you gather your gear,

eat what may be your last meal outside, and enter the dungeon....

2. What is going on here?

You have just begun a game of NetHack. Your goal is to grab as

much treasure as you can, retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, and escape

the Mazes of Menace alive.

Your abilities and strengths for dealing with the hazards of ad-

venture will vary with your background and training:

Archeologists understand dungeons pretty well; this enables them

to move quickly and sneak up on the local nasties. They start

equipped with the tools for a proper scientific expedition.

Barbarians are warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to bat-

tle. They begin their quests with naught but uncommon strength, a

trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword.

Cavemen and Cavewomen start with exceptional strength but, unfor-

tunately, with neolithic weapons.

Healers are wise in medicine and apothecary. They know the herbs

and simples that can restore vitality, ease pain, anesthetize, and

neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they can divine a be-

ing's state of health or sickness. Their medical practice earns them

quite reasonable amounts of money, with which they enter the dungeon.

Knights are distinguished from the common skirmisher by their de-

votion to the ideals of chivalry and by the surpassing excellence of

their armor.

Monks are ascetics, who by rigorous practice of physical and men-

tal disciplines have become capable of fighting as effectively without

weapons as with. They wear no armor but make up for it with increased

mobility.

Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders advancing

the cause of righteousness with arms, armor, and arts thaumaturgic.

Their ability to commune with deities via prayer occasionally extri-

cates them from peril, but can also put them in it.

Rangers are most at home in the woods, and some say slightly out

of place in a dungeon. They are, however, experts in archery as well

as tracking and stealthy movement.

Rogues are agile and stealthy thieves, with knowledge of locks,

traps, and poisons. Their advantage lies in surprise, which they em-

ploy to great advantage.

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NetHack Guidebook 3

Samurai are the elite warriors of feudal Nippon. They are

lightly armored and quick, and wear the dai-sho, two swords of the

deadliest keenness.

Tourists start out with lots of gold (suitable for shopping

with), a credit card, lots of food, some maps, and an expensive cam-

era. Most monsters don't like being photographed.

Valkyries are hardy warrior women. Their upbringing in the harsh

Northlands makes them strong, inures them to extremes of cold, and in-

stills in them stealth and cunning.

Wizards start out with a knowledge of magic, a selection of magi-

cal items, and a particular affinity for dweomercraft. Although seem-

ingly weak and easy to overcome at first sight, an experienced Wizard

is a deadly foe.

You may also choose the race of your character (within limits;

most roles have restrictions on which races are eligible for them):

Dwarves are smaller than humans or elves, but are stocky and

solid individuals. Dwarves' most notable trait is their great exper-

tise in mining and metalwork. Dwarvish armor is said to be second in

quality not even to the mithril armor of the Elves.

Elves are agile, quick, and perceptive; very little of what goes

on will escape an Elf. The quality of Elven craftsmanship often gives

them an advantage in arms and armor.

Gnomes are smaller than but generally similar to dwarves. Gnomes

are known to be expert miners, and it is known that a secret under-

ground mine complex built by this race exists within the Mazes of Men-

ace, filled with both riches and danger.

Humans are by far the most common race of the surface world, and

are thus the norm to which other races are often compared. Although

they have no special abilities, they can succeed in any role.

Orcs are a cruel and barbaric race that hate every living thing

(including other orcs). Above all others, Orcs hate Elves with a pas-

sion unequalled, and will go out of their way to kill one at any op-

portunity. The armor and weapons fashioned by the Orcs are typically

of inferior quality.

3. What do all those things on the screen mean?

On the screen is kept a map of where you have been and what you

have seen on the current dungeon level; as you explore more of the

level, it appears on the screen in front of you.

When NetHack's ancestor rogue first appeared, its screen orienta-

tion was almost unique among computer fantasy games. Since then,

screen orientation has become the norm rather than the exception;

NetHack continues this fine tradition. Unlike text adventure games

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NetHack Guidebook 4

that accept commands in pseudo-English sentences and explain the re-

sults in words, NetHack commands are all one or two keystrokes and the

results are displayed graphically on the screen. A minimum screen

size of 24 lines by 80 columns is recommended; if the screen is

larger, only a 21x80 section will be used for the map.

NetHack can even be played by blind players, with the assistance

of Braille readers or speech synthesisers. Instructions for configur-

ing NetHack for the blind are included later in this document.

NetHack generates a new dungeon every time you play it; even the

authors still find it an entertaining and exciting game despite having

won several times.

NetHack offers a variety of display options. The options avail-

able to you will vary from port to port, depending on the capabilities

of your hardware and software, and whether various compile-time op-

tions were enabled when your executable was created. The three possi-

ble display options are: a monochrome character interface, a color

character interface, and a graphical interface using small pictures

called tiles. The two character interfaces allow fonts with other

characters to be substituted, but the default assignments use standard

ASCII characters to represent everything. There is no difference be-

tween the various display options with respect to game play. Because

we cannot reproduce the tiles or colors in the Guidebook, and because

it is common to all ports, we will use the default ASCII characters

from the monochrome character display when referring to things you

might see on the screen during your game.

In order to understand what is going on in NetHack, first you

must understand what NetHack is doing with the screen. The NetHack

screen replaces the "You see ..." descriptions of text adventure

games. Figure 1 is a sample of what a NetHack screen might look like.

The way the screen looks for you depends on your platform.

+---------------------------------------------------------------+

|The bat bites! |

| |

| ------ |

| |....| ---------- |

| |.<..|####...@...$.| |

| |....-# |...B....+ |

| |....| |.d......| |

| ------ -------|-- |

| |

| |

| |

|Player the Rambler St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15 Neutral |

|Dlvl:1 $:993 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 T:752 Hungry Conf |

+---------------------------Figure-1----------------------------+

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+---------------------------------------------------------------+

|Player the Rambler St:12 Dx:7 Co:18 In:11 Wi:9 Ch:15 |

|Neutral $:993 HP:9(12) Pw:3(3) AC:10 Exp:1/19 Hungry |

|Dlvl:1 T:752 Conf |

+---------------------------Figure-2----------------------------+

3.1. The status lines (bottom)

The bottom two (or three) lines of the screen contain several

cryptic pieces of information describing your current status. Figure

1 shows the traditional two-line status area below the map. Figure 2

shows just the status area, when the statuslines:3 option has been set

(not all interfaces support this option). If any status line becomes

wider than the screen, you might not see all of it due to truncation.

When the numbers grow bigger and multiple conditions are present, the

two-line format will run out of room on the second line, but sta-

tuslines:2 is the default because a basic 24-line terminal isn't tall

enough for the third line.

Here are explanations of what the various status items mean:

Title

Your character's name and professional ranking (based on role and

experience level, see below).

Strength

A measure of your character's strength; one of your six basic at-

tributes. A human character's attributes can range from 3 to 18

inclusive; non-humans may exceed these limits (occasionally you

may get super-strengths of the form 18/xx, and magic can also

cause attributes to exceed the normal limits). The higher your

strength, the stronger you are. Strength affects how success-

fully you perform physical tasks, how much damage you do in com-

bat, and how much loot you can carry.

Dexterity

Dexterity affects your chances to hit in combat, to avoid traps,

and do other tasks requiring agility or manipulation of objects.

Constitution

Constitution affects your ability to recover from injuries and

other strains on your stamina. When strength is low or modest,

constitution also affects how much you can carry. With suffi-

ciently high strength, the contribution to carrying capacity from

your constitution no longer matters.

Intelligence

Intelligence affects your ability to cast spells and read spell-

books.

Wisdom

Wisdom comes from your practical experience (especially when

dealing with magic). It affects your magical energy.

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NetHack Guidebook 6

Charisma

Charisma affects how certain creatures react toward you. In par-

ticular, it can affect the prices shopkeepers offer you.

Alignment

Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic. Often, Lawful is taken as good and

Chaotic as evil, but legal and ethical do not always coincide.

Your alignment influences how other monsters react toward you.

Monsters of a like alignment are more likely to be non-aggres-

sive, while those of an opposing alignment are more likely to be

seriously offended at your presence.

Dungeon Level

How deep you are in the dungeon. You start at level one and the

number increases as you go deeper into the dungeon. Some levels

are special, and are identified by a name and not a number. The

Amulet of Yendor is reputed to be somewhere beneath the twentieth

level.

Gold

The number of gold pieces you are openly carrying. Gold which

you have concealed in containers is not counted.

Hit Points

Your current and maximum hit points. Hit points indicate how

much damage you can take before you die. The more you get hit in

a fight, the lower they get. You can regain hit points by rest-

ing, or by using certain magical items or spells. The number in

parentheses is the maximum number your hit points can reach.

Power

Spell points. This tells you how much mystic energy (mana) you

have available for spell casting. Again, resting will regenerate

the amount available.

Armor Class

A measure of how effectively your armor stops blows from un-

friendly creatures. The lower this number is, the more effective

the armor; it is quite possible to have negative armor class.

See the Armor subsection of Objects for more information.

Experience

Your current experience level. If the showexp option is set, it

will be followed by a slash and experience points. As you adven-

ture, you gain experience points. At certain experience point

totals, you gain an experience level. The more experienced you

are, the better you fight and withstand magical attacks. (By the

time your level reaches double digits, the usefulness of showing

the points with it has dropped significantly. You can use the

`O' command to turn showexp off to avoid using up the limited

status line space.)

Time

The number of turns elapsed so far, displayed if you have the

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NetHack Guidebook 7

time option set.

Status

Hunger: your current hunger status. Values are Satiated, Not

Hungry (or Normal), Hungry, Weak, and Fainting. Not shown when

Normal.

Encumbrance: an indication of how what you are carrying affects

your ability to move. Values are Unencumbered, Burdened,

Stressed, Strained, Overtaxed, and Overloaded. Not shown when

Unencumbered.

Fatal conditions: Stone (aka Petrifying, turning to stone), Slime

(turning into green slime), Strngl (being strangled), FoodPois

(suffering from acute food poisoning), TermIll (suffering from a

terminal illness).

Non-fatal conditions: Blind (can't see), Deaf (can't hear), Stun

(stunned), Conf (confused), Hallu (hallucinating).

Movement modifiers: Lev (levitating), Fly (flying), Ride (rid-

ing).

Other conditions and modifiers exist, but there isn't enough room

to display them with the other status fields.

The #attributes command (default key ^X) will show all current status

information in unabbreviated format. It also shows other information

which might be included on the status lines if those had more room.

3.2. The message line (top)

The top line of the screen is reserved for messages that describe

things that are impossible to represent visually. If you see a

"--More--" on the top line, this means that NetHack has another mes-

sage to display on the screen, but it wants to make certain that

you've read the one that is there first. To read the next message,

just press the space bar.

To change how and what messages are shown on the message line,

see "Configuring Message Types" and the verbose option.

3.3. The map (rest of the screen)

The rest of the screen is the map of the level as you have ex-

plored it so far. Each symbol on the screen represents something.

You can set various graphics options to change some of the symbols the

game uses; otherwise, the game will use default symbols. Here is a

list of what the default symbols mean:

- and |

The walls of a room, or an open door. Or a grave (|).

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NetHack Guidebook 8

. The floor of a room, ice, or a doorless doorway.

# A corridor, or iron bars, or a tree, or possibly a kitchen sink

(if your dungeon has sinks), or a drawbridge.

> Stairs down: a way to the next level.

< Stairs up: a way to the previous level.

+ A closed door, or a spellbook containing a spell you may be able

to learn.

@ Your character or a human.

$ A pile of gold.

^ A trap (once you have detected it).

) A weapon.

[ A suit or piece of armor.

% Something edible (not necessarily healthy).

? A scroll.

/ A wand.

= A ring.

! A potion.

( A useful item (pick-axe, key, lamp...).

" An amulet or a spider web.

* A gem or rock (possibly valuable, possibly worthless).

` A boulder or statue.

0 An iron ball.

_ An altar, or an iron chain.

{ A fountain.

} A pool of water or moat or a pool of lava.

\ An opulent throne.

a-zA-Z and other symbols

Letters and certain other symbols represent the various inhabi-

tants of the Mazes of Menace. Watch out, they can be nasty and

vicious. Sometimes, however, they can be helpful.

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NetHack Guidebook 9

I This marks the last known location of an invisible or otherwise

unseen monster. Note that the monster could have moved. The `F'

and `m' commands may be useful here.

You need not memorize all these symbols; you can ask the game

what any symbol represents with the `/' command (see the next section

for more info).

4. Commands

Commands can be initiated by typing one or two characters to

which the command is bound to, or typing the command name in the ex-

tended commands entry. Some commands, like "search", do not require

that any more information be collected by NetHack. Other commands

might require additional information, for example a direction, or an

object to be used. For those commands that require additional infor-

mation, NetHack will present you with either a menu of choices or with

a command line prompt requesting information. Which you are presented

with will depend chiefly on how you have set the menustyle option.

For example, a common question, in the form "What do you want to

use? [a-zA-Z ?*]", asks you to choose an object you are carrying.

Here, "a-zA-Z" are the inventory letters of your possible choices.

Typing `?' gives you an inventory list of these items, so you can see

what each letter refers to. In this example, there is also a `*' in-

dicating that you may choose an object not on the list, if you wanted

to use something unexpected. Typing a `*' lists your entire inven-

tory, so you can see the inventory letters of every object you're car-

rying. Finally, if you change your mind and decide you don't want to

do this command after all, you can press the ESC key to abort the com-

mand.

You can put a number before some commands to repeat them that

many times; for example, "10s" will search ten times. If you have the

number_pad option set, you must type `n' to prefix a count, so the ex-

ample above would be typed "n10s" instead. Commands for which counts

make no sense ignore them. In addition, movement commands can be pre-

fixed for greater control (see below). To cancel a count or a prefix,

press the ESC key.

The list of commands is rather long, but it can be read at any

time during the game through the `?' command, which accesses a menu of

helpful texts. Here are the default key bindings for your reference:

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

/ The "whatis" command, to tell what a symbol represents. You may

choose to specify a location or type a symbol (or even a whole

word) to explain. Specifying a location is done by moving the

cursor to a particular spot on the map and then pressing one of

`.', `,', `;', or `:'. `.' will explain the symbol at the chosen

location, conditionally check for "More info?" depending upon

whether the help option is on, and then you will be asked to pick

another location; `,' will explain the symbol but skip any

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NetHack Guidebook 10

additional information, then let you pick another location; `;'

will skip additional info and also not bother asking you to

choose another location to examine; `:' will show additional

info, if any, without asking for confirmation. When picking a

location, pressing the ESC key will terminate this command, or

pressing `?' will give a brief reminder about how it works.

If the autodescribe option is on, a short description of what you

see at each location is shown as you move the cursor. Typing `#'

while picking a location will toggle that option on or off. The

whatis_coord option controls whether the short description in-

cludes map coordinates.

Specifying a name rather than a location always gives any addi-

tional information available about that name.

You may also request a description of nearby monsters, all mon-

sters currently displayed, nearby objects, or all objects. The

whatis_coord option controls which format of map coordinate is

included with their descriptions.

& Tell what a command does.

< Go up to the previous level (if you are on a staircase or lad-

der).

> Go down to the next level (if you are on a staircase or ladder).

[yuhjklbn]

Go one step in the direction indicated (see Figure 3). If you

sense or remember a monster there, you will fight the monster in-

stead. Only these one-step movement commands cause you to fight

monsters; the others (below) are "safe."

+----------------------------------------------------------------+

| y k u 7 8 9 |

| \ | / \ | / |

| h- . -l 4- . -6 |

| / | \ / | \ |

| b j n 1 2 3 |

| (number_pad off) (number_pad on) |

+---------------------------Figure-3-----------------------------+

[YUHJKLBN]

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

m[yuhjklbn]

Prefix: move without picking up objects or fighting (even if you

remember a monster there).

A few non-movement commands use the `m' prefix to request operat-

ing via menu (to temporarily override the menustyle:traditional

option). Primarily useful for `,' (pickup) when there is only

one class of objects present (where there won't be any "what

kinds of objects?" prompt, so no opportunity to answer `m' at

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NetHack Guidebook 11

that prompt).

The prefix will make "#travel" command show a menu of interesting

targets in sight. It can also be used with the `\' (known, show

a list of all discovered objects) and the ``' (knownclass, show a

list of discovered objects in a particular class) commands to of-

fer a menu of several sorting alternatives (which sets a new

value for the sortdiscoveries option); also for "#vanquished" and

"#genocided" commands to offer a sorting menu.

A few other commands (eat food, offer sacrifice, apply tinning-

kit, drink/quaff, dip, tip container) use the `m' prefix to skip

checking for applicable objects on the floor and go straight to

checking inventory, or (for "#loot" to remove a saddle), skip

containers and go straight to adjacent monsters.

In debug mode (aka "wizard mode"), the `m' prefix may also be

used with the "#teleport" and "#wizlevelport" commands.

F[yuhjklbn]

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

g[yuhjklbn]

Prefix: move until something interesting is found.

G[yuhjklbn] or <Control>+[yuhjklbn]

Prefix: similar to `g', but forking of corridors is not consid-

ered interesting.

Note: <Control>+<key> means holding the <Control> or <Ctrl> key

down like <Shift> while typing and releasing <key>, then releas-

ing <Control>. ^<key> is used as shorthand elsewhere in the

Guidebook to mean the same thing. Control characters are case-

insensitive so ^x and ^X are the same.

M[yuhjklbn]

Old versions supported `M' as a movement prefix which combined

the effect of `m' with <Control>+<direction>. That is no longer

supported as a prefix but similar effect can be achieved by using

`m' and G<direction> in combination. m can also be used in com-

bination with g<direction>, <Control>+<direction>, or

<Shift>+<direction>.

_ Travel to a map location via a shortest-path algorithm.

The shortest path is computed over map locations the hero knows

about (e.g. seen or previously traversed). If there is no known

path, a guess is made instead. Stops on most of the same condi-

tions as the `G' prefix, but without picking up objects, so im-

plicitly forces the `m' prefix. For ports with mouse support,

the command is also invoked when a mouse-click takes place on a

location other than the current position.

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NetHack Guidebook 12

. Wait or rest, do nothing for one turn. Precede with the `m' pre-

fix to wait for a turn even next to a hostile monster, if

safe_wait is on.

a Apply (use) a tool (pick-axe, key, lamp...).

If used on a wand, that wand will be broken, releasing its magic

in the process. Confirmation is required.

A Remove one or more worn items, such as armor.

Use `T' (take off) to take off only one piece of armor or `R'

(remove) to take off only one accessory.

^A Repeat the previous command.

c Close a door.

C Call (name) a monster, an individual object, or a type of object.

Same as extended command "#name".

^C Panic button. Quit the game.

d Drop something.

For example "d7a" means drop seven items of object a.

D Drop several things.

In answer to the question

"What kinds of things do you want to drop? [!%= BUCXPaium]"

you should type zero or more object symbols possibly followed by

`a' and/or `i' and/or `u' and/or `m'. In addition, one or more

of the blessed/uncursed/cursed groups may be typed.

DB - drop all objects known to be blessed.

DU - drop all objects known to be uncursed.

DC - drop all objects known to be cursed.

DX - drop all objects of unknown B/U/C status.

DP - drop objects picked up last.

Da - drop all objects, without asking for confirmation.

Di - examine your inventory before dropping anything.

Du - drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).

Dm - use a menu to pick which object(s) to drop.

D%u - drop only unpaid food.

The last example shows a combination. There are four categories

of object filtering: class (`!' for potions, `?' for scrolls, and

so on), shop status (`u' for unpaid, in other words, owned by the

shop), bless/curse state (`B', `U', `C', and `X' as shown above),

and novelty (`P', recently picked up items; controlled by picking

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NetHack Guidebook 13

up or dropping things rather than by any time factor).

If you specify more than one value in a category (such as "!?"

for potions and scrolls or "BU" for blessed and uncursed), an in-

ventory object will meet the criteria if it matches any of the

specified values (so "!?" means `!' or `?'). If you specify more

than one category, an inventory object must meet each of the cat-

egory criteria (so "%u" means class `%' and unpaid `u'). Lastly,

you may specify multiple values within multiple categories:

"!?BU" will select all potions and scrolls which are known to be

blessed or uncursed. (In versions prior to 3.6, filter combina-

tions behaved differently.)

^D Kick something (usually a door).

e Eat food.

Normally checks for edible item(s) on the floor, then if none are

found or none are chosen, checks for edible item(s) in inventory.

Precede `e' with the `m' prefix to bypass attempting to eat any-

thing off the floor.

If you attempt to eat while already satiated, you might choke to

death. If you risk it, you will be asked whether to "continue

eating?" if you survive the first bite. You can set the para-

noid_confirmation:eating option to require a response of yes in-

stead of just y.

E Engrave a message on the floor.

E- - write in the dust with your fingers.

Engraving the word "Elbereth" will cause most monsters to not at-

tack you hand-to-hand (but if you attack, you will rub it out);

this is often useful to give yourself a breather.

f Fire (shoot or throw) one of the objects placed in your quiver

(or quiver sack, or that you have at the ready). You may select

ammunition with a previous `Q' command, or let the computer pick

something appropriate if autoquiver is true. If your wielded

weapon has the throw-and-return property, your quiver is empty,

and autoquiver is false, you will throw that wielded weapon in-

stead of filling the quiver. This will also automatically use a

polearm if wielded. If fireassist is true, firing will automati-

cally try to wield a launcher (for example, a bow or a sling)

matching the ammo in the quiver; this might take multiple turns,

and get interrupted by a monster. Remember to swap back to your

main melee weapon afterwards.

See also `t' (throw) for more general throwing and shooting.

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

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NetHack Guidebook 14

I List selected parts of your inventory, usually be specifying the

character for a particular set of objects, like `[' for armor or

`!' for potions.

I* - list all gems in inventory;

Iu - list all unpaid items;

Ix - list all used up items that are on your shopping bill;

IB - list all items known to be blessed;

IU - list all items known to be uncursed;

IC - list all items known to be cursed;

IX - list all items whose bless/curse status is unknown;

IP - list items picked up last;

I$ - count your money.

o Open a door.

O Set options.

A menu showing the current option values will be displayed. You

can change most values simply by selecting the menu entry for the

given option (ie, by typing its letter or clicking upon it, de-

pending on your user interface). For the non-boolean choices, a

further menu or prompt will appear once you've closed this menu.

The available options are listed later in this Guidebook. Op-

tions are usually set before the game rather than with the `O'

command; see the section on options below. Precede `O' with the

`m' prefix to show advanced options.

^O Show overview.

Shortcut for "#overview": list interesting dungeon levels vis-

ited.

(Prior to 3.6.0, `^O' was a debug mode command which listed the

placement of all special levels. Use "#wizwhere" to run that

command.)

p Pay your shopping bill.

P Put on an accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold).

This command may also be used to wear armor. The prompt for

which inventory item to use will only list accessories, but

choosing an unlisted item of armor will attempt to wear it. (See

the `W' command below. It lists armor as the inventory choices

but will accept an accessory and attempt to put that on.)

^P Repeat previous message.

Subsequent `^P's repeat earlier messages. For some interfaces,

the behavior can be varied via the msg_window option.

q Quaff (drink) something (potion, water, etc).

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NetHack Guidebook 15

When there is a fountain or sink present, it asks whether to

drink from that. If that is declined, then it offers a chance to

choose a potion from inventory. Precede `q' with the `m' prefix

to skip asking about drinking from a fountain or sink.

Q Select an object for your quiver, quiver sack, or just generally

at the ready (only one of these is available at a time). You can

then throw this (or one of these) using the `f' command.

r Read a scroll or spellbook.

R Remove a worn accessory (ring, amulet, or blindfold).

If you're wearing more than one, you'll be prompted for which one

to remove. When you're only wearing one, then by default it will

be removed without asking, but you can set the paranoid_confirma-

tion:Remove option to require a prompt.

This command may also be used to take off armor. The prompt for

which inventory item to remove only lists worn accessories, but

an item of worn armor can be chosen. (See the `T' command below.

It lists armor as the inventory choices but will accept an acces-

sory and attempt to remove it.)

^R Redraw the screen.

s Search for secret doors and traps around you. It usually takes

several tries to find something. Precede with the `m' prefix to

search for a turn even next to a hostile monster, if safe_wait is

on.

Can also be used to figure out whether there is still a monster

at an adjacent "remembered, unseen monster" marker.

S Save the game (which suspends play and exits the program). The

saved game will be restored automatically the next time you play

using the same character name.

In normal play, once a saved game is restored the file used to

hold the saved data is deleted. In explore mode, once restora-

tion is accomplished you are asked whether to keep or delete the

file. Keeping the file makes it feasible to play for a while

then quit without saving and later restore again.

There is no "save current game state and keep playing" command,

not even in explore mode where saved game files can be kept and

re-used.

t Throw an object or shoot a projectile.

There's no separate "shoot" command. If you throw an arrow while

wielding a bow, you are shooting that arrow and any weapon skill

bonus or penalty for bow applies. If you throw an arrow while

not wielding a bow, you are throwing it by hand and it will

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NetHack Guidebook 16

generally be less effective than when shot.

See also `f' (fire) for throwing or shooting an item pre-selected

via the `Q' (quiver) command, with some extra assistance.