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+                            Crawl Quick-Start Guide
+                        (Copyright 1999 Linley Henzell)
+
+So, you want to start playing Crawl straight away without bothering with the 
+manual? Read this, the guide to starting Crawl with a minimum of preparation. 
+When you get some more time, you can read crawl.txt in the Docs directory
+for more detailed information.
+
+I suggest printing it out and following its instructions while playing your 
+first few games (you can also press '?' while playing for a list of commands). 
+
+ INTRODUCTION TO CRAWL 
+
+Crawl is a large and very random game of subterranean exploration in a fantasy 
+world of magic and frequent violence. Your quest is to travel into the depths 
+of the Dungeon (which is different each time you play) and retrieve the Orb of 
+Zot. 
+
+Crawl is an RPG of the 'rogue-like' type, one of the descendants of Rogue. Its 
+graphics are simple but highly informative, designed to be understood at a 
+glance, and control is exercised largely through one-keystroke commands. 
+
+ STARTING OUT 
+
+After starting the program you will be greeted with a message asking for your 
+name. Don't spend too much time over this, as your first character will *not* 
+last very long (sorry, but it's true). 
+
+Next you are given menus of species and character classes from which to 
+choose. A dwarf, orc, ogre or troll Fighter is a good bet. Elves are quite 
+fragile, humans are pretty average at everything, and the weirder species are 
+mostly too tricky for beginning players. Finally, you may be given a choice of 
+weapons. I suggest an axe (axes are fun). 
+
+Now you are in the game. The game screen has three parts:
+ - the Map takes up the upper left part of the screen. In its very centre is 
+the @ sign which represents You. The coloured parts of the Map are the parts 
+you can see, while places which you have visited before but cannot currently 
+see are shown in grey.
+ - the Message box is the large part of the screen below the map. It describes 
+events as they happen and asks you questions from time to time. 
+ - the Stats area (to the right of the Map) contains various indicators of 
+your health and abilities. 
+
+ EXPLORING 
+
+Try walking around, using either the numeric keypad (turn numlock off) or the 
+hjklyubn keys. To move in a given direction until you reach something 
+interesting or see a hostile creature, press shift and the direction. 
+
+If you want to know what a certain character on the screen represents, you can 
+use the 'x' (examine) command to get a short description. You use the 'o' 
+(open) command to open doors, and the '<' (up) and '>' (down) commands to 
+climb staircases. Sometimes doors are hidden, and must be searched out by 
+standing next to walls and resting (a number of commands do the same thing: 
+'s', '.' (period), delete, or '5' on the numeric keypad). 
+
+The Dungeon gets more dangerous (but more interesting!) as you go down. If you 
+get lost you can access a map of the whole level you are on with the 'X' 
+command, which uses the whole screen. 
+
+ ITEMS 
+
+ After walking around for a while, you will no doubt come across some items 
+laying around (you may come across some monsters as well; for help in dealing 
+with them skip to the Monsters section). You can pick up items with the 'g' 
+(get) or ',' commands and drop them again with 'd' (drop), and the 'i' 
+(inventory) command shows you what you're carrying. 
+
+There are several different types of items: 
+
+ - Weapons, represented by the ) sign. Wield them with the 'w' (wield) 
+command. Some weapons are cursed and cannot be un-wielded without the use of 
+magic. 
+
+ - Armour (]). Wear it with the 'W' (Wear) command, and remove it with 'T' 
+(Take off). Heavier armours give more protection, but may hamper your ability 
+to fight and to dodge attacks aimed at you. 
+
+ - Ammunition (also the ) sign). Throw it with 't' (throw). Darts are meant to 
+be thrown by hand; other missiles need an appropriate launcher to be wielded 
+(eg arrows are much more effective when shot with a bow).
+
+ - Wands (/), Scrolls (?) and Potions (!) can be very valuable, but have 
+limited uses (scrolls and potions can only be used once each, wands contain 
+only a certain number of charges). Wands are 'z'apped, scrolls are 'r'ead and 
+potions are 'q'uaffed.
+ Unfortunately, you won't at first know what a wand, scroll or potion does; it 
+will only be described by its physical appearance. But once you have used, for 
+example, a potion of healing, you will in future recognise all potions of 
+healing. 
+
+ - Rings (=) and Amulets (") often contain powerful magic, but it can be 
+difficult to work out exactly what one does. They are put on with 'P' (Put on) 
+and removed with 'R' (remove), but can, like weapons, be cursed. 
+
+ - Food (%) is vital to your survival. Eat it with the 'e' (eat) command when 
+hungry. Monsters' corpses, also %, can be eaten if chopped up (the 'D' 
+(Dissect) command), but not all of them are healthful, and many species of 
+player-character dislike eating raw flesh unless very hungry. 
+
+ - Money ($) can be used to buy stuff in shops, and increases your score if 
+you escape. 
+
+There are a few other types of item, but you will discover these as you play. 
+
+One vital command to remember when dealing with items is 'V' (View), which 
+gives you a short description of any item. Use it on everything you find. The 
+magical Scroll of Identify can also help for identifying magical items of 
+uncertain nature. 
+
+ MONSTERS 
+
+You will also run into monsters (most of which are represented by letters of 
+the alphabet). You can attack a monster by trying to move into the square it 
+is occupying. 
+
+When you are wounded you lose hit points (displayed near the top of the stats 
+list); these return gradually over time through the natural process of 
+healing. If you lose all of your hp you Die. 
+
+To survive, you will need to develop a few basic tactics:
+ - Never fight more than one monster if you can help it. Always back into a 
+corridor so that they must fight you one-on-one. 
+ - If you are badly wounded, you can run away from monsters to buy some time. 
+Try losing them in corridors, or find a place where you can run around in 
+circles to heal while the monster chases you. 
+ - Rest between encounters. The 's', '.', delete or keypad-5 commands make you 
+rest for one turn, while pressing '5' or shift-and-keypad-5 make you rest for 
+a longer time (you will stop resting when fully healed). 
+ - Learn when to run away from things you can't handle - this is important! 
+
+ DEATH 
+
+Before long, you'll probably end up dead. 
+ 
+Death in Crawl is permanent; you cannot just reload a saved game and start 
+again where you left off. The 'S' (Save) command exists only to let you leave 
+a game part-way through and come back to it later. Quitting ('Q') is a way of 
+committing suicide if you can't even be bothered to help your character escape 
+from the Dungeon alive. 
+
+
+
+Well, that's it for the quick-start guide. This should help you through your 
+first few games, but Crawl is extremely (some would say excessively) complex 
+and cannot be adequately described in so short a document. So when you feel 
+ready to start playing with magic, skills, religions, the arcane intricacies 
+of the initfile and a whole heap of other stuff, glance through the manual. 
+Happy Crawling! 
+