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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.
I suggest printing it out and following its instructions while playing your
first few games (you can also press '?' twice while playing for a list of
commands).
When you get some more time, you can read crawl_manual.txt in the docs/
directory for more detailed information.
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 jobs 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 (try numlock off and on) or
the Rogue (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', 'C'
commands to open or close 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; even better you rest
or search for a longer duration with either '5' on the digit row or Shift-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
lying 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, or take it off, with the 'W' (Wear) command. Heavier
armours give more protection, but may hamper your ability to fight and to
dodge attacks aimed at you. These can also be cursed.
- Ammunition (which has the ( sign). Throw it with 'f' (fire). Darts are
meant to be thrown by hand; other missiles need an appropriate launcher to
be wielded (e.g. 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 e'V'oked, 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 can be removed with the same command, or also with 'R'. They 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 'c'
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 items, but you will discover these as you play.
One vital command to remember when dealing with items is examing items more
closely. In order to do so, bring up the inventory ('i') and press the key of
any item therein. This 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 as a very last resort find a place where
you can run around in circles to heal while the monster chases you.
- Remember to use projectiles before engaging monsters in close combat.
- 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!
It is often wise to skip a dangerous level. But don't overdo this.
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 ('Ctrl-Q') lets
you commit suicide if you can't even be bothered to help your character escape
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, and religions, browse the manual.
Happy Crawling!
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