Introduction

You play atrogue by entering keyboard commands. Most commands consist of a single key, some commands require additional input like an object inventory letter or a direction key. For some commands, you can give a "count/number" parameter in advance by entering the command "C", telling atrogue e.g. how many darts you want to throw or for how many turns you want to rest.

Movement Keys

The most important keyboard commands concern moving around in the dungeon. You can move in eight directions; but diagonal moves aren't always possible, e.g. when you want to enter or leave a tunnel - the doorways are quite narrow. There are three kinds of movement commands: you can move a single step or until you get "next to something of interest" or until you are stopped by e.g. running into a wall. Additionally, you can move a certain number of steps by combining the command "C" and a single-step movement key.

Single-step moves can be made by pressing the following keys. The letters are the same as in some other Rogue-like games; to make comfortable use of the number keys, activate the keypad. For horizontal and vertical movement, you can also use the cursor keys, but it seems that these don't work with all terminals.

       k, 8
        |
  y, 7  |  u, 9
      \ | /
       \|/
h, 4 ---+--- l, 6
       /|\
      / | \
  b, 1  |  n, 3
        |
       j, 2

To move until you're stopped by something, use the above letter keys (not number or cursor keys) in combination with the <Shift> key. To move until "next to something of interest", use <Control> instead of <Shift>. (The exact behavior of these kinds of moves will change in later versions - they don't yet work as intended.)

To fight a creature, move in its direction as if you wanted to run into it. To pick an object which is lying around in the dungeon, move on its location.

Other Keys

The following other keyboard commands can be used; they are roughly sorted alphabetically; uppercase and lowercase letters are different. For some commands, you can give a "count/number" parameter in advance with the command "C", as explained below. Some commands ask you for a direction; you can then use any of the above movement keys to specify the direction. Some commands (e.g. throwing) concern an object from your pack; in such cases, you are asked for a letter representing an inventory object; please read the inventory handling documentation for details. You can cancel any command which requires additional information by pressing the <Escape> key; if this needs a longer time on your terminal to take effect, try Ctrl-e instead.

• a - apply
  apply a weapon or tool from your pack in a special way or invoke the power of a magic object, or un-apply a permanently applied tool such as a cape. You can use this e.g. to light a lantern.
• c - close a door
  close a nearby door in horizontal or vertical direction; you can't close a door which is blocked, e.g. by a creature.
• C - give a count/number
  give a count/number argument in advance for another command which can use such an argument (movement, drop, pick, rest, sleep, throw); the current count appears in the statistics line of the map screen.
• d - drop
  drop an object from your pack; you can't immediately drop armor you're currently wearing (use the command "T" to take it off first) or a ring on hand (use the command "R" to remove it first) or a permanently applied tool (such as a cape; use the command "a" to un-apply it first). - You can use the command "C" in advance, e.g. if the object consists of five stones and you want to drop only one or two of them.
• e - eat food
  eat some food from your pack; you should do this when the player character is hungry or weak or (at the latest!) starts fainting.
• E - explain/help
  display a little help message; if you don't know what you should do next in a certain situation during the game, try this command. Sometimes you get a specific help message, otherwise a rather general information about the next longer-term goal you should try to reach.
• g - glimpse
  glimpse at something that is shown on the dungeon map; this allows you to select a location on the map (e.g. a creature or object symbol) and to get a descriptive message about what's there. If the compile-time configuration option OPTION_TEXTMODEMOUSE is enabled, you can get such messages more easily by just clicking the location with the mouse.
• i - show inventory list
  display a complete inventory list of all the objects you are carrying, sorted by object letters; please read the inventory handling and scrollable texts documentation for details.
• I - show special inventory list
  display a special part of the inventory list; you are asked what shall be listed; press a key: ">" provides the usual complete inventory, sorted by object letters; "<" provides the complete inventory, sorted by object classes; "g" counts all pieces of gold in the inventory; "u" provides a list of all unpaid objects, useful in shops; or you can enter a character which is used in the dungeon map for an object class, e.g. "?" for magic scrolls. For more information, please read the inventory handling and scrollable texts documentation.
• m - move onto
  move on a location without picking an object which is lying there; you can also use this command to move without accidentally hitting a creature - useful if you can't see whether a creature is on the location and you want to avoid fighting.
• o - open a door
  open a nearby door in horizontal or vertical direction; if the door is locked, you need a matching key to open it - or some other means.
• p - pick up an object
  pick up the object which is lying on the ground at the current location; this is useful e.g. if you used the command "m" to move onto a location and now decide that you want to pick the object which is lying there. - You can use the command "C" in advance, e.g. if the object consists of five darts and you want to pick only one or two of them.
• P - put a ring on hand
  put a magic ring from your pack on the left or right hand
• q - quaff a potion
  quaff a magic potion from your pack
• Q - quit
  quit atrogue; the current dungeon, your pack and the information about magic objects are lost and forgotten; when you start atrogue the next time, you get a different dungeon...
• r - read a scroll
  read a magic scroll from your pack
• R - remove a ring
  remove a magic ring from the left or right hand; you can't remove cursed rings!
• s - search
  search for hidden doorways and other things in the neighborhood
• S - sleep
  fall asleep on your current location for a single tick. You can use the command "C" in advance if you want to sleep for more than one tick. You might sleep for a little longer than you expected, and you don't necessarily wake up when a creature arrives near you; so sleeping is somewhat "dangerous", but you heal faster than when simply resting.
• t - throw
  throw an object from your pack in a certain direction; you can't immediately throw armor you're currently wearing (use the command "T" to take it off first) or a ring on hand (use the command "R" to remove it first) or a permanently applied tool (such as a cape; use the command "a" to un-apply it first). - You can use the command "C" in advance, e.g. if the object consists of fifty pieces of gold and you want to throw only ten of them.
• T - take off armor
  take off the armor you're currrently wearing; you can't take off cursed armor!
• v - version information
  show a short message about the current version of atrogue; for more, use the command "V" instead.
• V - extended version/software information
  show verbose information about the current version of atrogue, the license, possible other software (e.g. the version of the "ncurses" library, if you use that) etc.
• w - wield a weapon
  wield (pull out) a weapon from your pack; you can be wielding only one weapon at a time
• W - wear armor
  wear some piece of armor from your pack; you can be wearing only one piece of armor at a time
• x - unwield a weapon
  unwield the weapon you're currently wielding; you can't unwield cursed weapons!
• X - extended command
  perform one of the following special commands:
  • "c" - cast a spell; that is, recite the title of a scroll you found some time during the game but don't have anymore. Since there's no helping magic energy of a scroll here, this costs you more magic energy than reading a scroll with the command "r". Not all scroll titles can be used to cast a spell, and you might currently not have enough energy to cast certain spells. How much energy a spell costs also depends on your current state; the necessary magic energy for each spell is shown in the list of spells you get when using this command. The list is implemented as a scrollable text.
  • "C" - lets you call a magic object from your pack, i.e. give it a name; you can use this to write up a guess about the effect of a magic object which you could not yet identify
  • "m" - show everything you already found out about magic objects; the list is implemented as a scrollable text
  • "M" - turn mouse click recognition on/off (if the compile-time configuration option OPTION_TEXTMODEMOUSE is enabled)
  • "s" - save a screenshot of the current map into a text file named ".atrogue-screenshot-<number>" in your home directory
  • "+"/"-" - increase/decrease the interval between animation steps (if the compile-time configuration option OPTION_ANIMATION is enabled)
• z - zap with a wand, staff or rod
  zap with a magic wand (metal), staff (wood) or rod (prismatic glass) from your pack in a certain direction
• . (dot) or 5 - rest on location
  rest on your current location for a single tick. You can use the command "C" in advance if you want to rest for more than one tick; resting is interrupted e.g. when a creature arrives near you. The key "5" is useful when you move via keypad.
• > (the "greater than" character) - climb down one storey; descend
  climb down to the next storey if you're standing on a "downstairs" location (marked on the map with the same character) and aren't levitated
• < (the "less than" character) - climb up one storey; ascend
  climb up to the previous storey if you're standing on an "upstairs" location (marked on the map with the same character); such stairs might only appear if you have got the Amulet of Yendor!
• ? (question mark) - show a help screen
  show a help screen which lists all available keyboard commands with short explanations; this is implemented as a scrollable text.
• Ctrl-d - kick
  kick a nearby creature, a locked door or other obstacle or object
• Ctrl-p - previous message
  show the previous message; you can read older messages by pressing this key combination several times before a new message appears.
• Ctrl-w - wish
  wish for rescue in a seemingly hopeless situation; you can summon the magic of the dungeon so that it fulfills a few rare wishes; what you can wish for depends on the difficulty preference and your experience and other factors; in general, you can wish for a teleportation or for certain objects. Be warned that you have to pay a price of some kind for each fulfilled wish; for example: you may lose important objects from your pack, or they become cursed or age more quickly, or your luck may deteriorate, or you are teleported back into an earlier storey or a big maze, or you are teleported repeatedly after a few actions, or you get chained to an iron ball which slows down your motions. And don't try to leave a shop with unpaid items this way...
• Ctrl-x - base attributes
  show a screen with some base attributes of the player character such as current/initial role, conduct and statistics. This screen also provides a template for the command-line option "--pref=string"; you can simply copy-paste it (maybe you have to toggle the mouse handling mode with the key combination "X"-"M" to enable copy-paste before you enter this screen).
• Finally, you can enter any character which represents a certain class of objects to view a partial inventory which only lists objects of that class; the characters are the same as those used in the dungeon map. This shortcut only doesn't work for magic scrolls here, because the key "?" shows a help screen; use the key sequence "I?" instead.

Missing Commands

The following commands have not yet been implemented in this release of atrogue; they will be available in a future version...

• Save the current state of the game into a file so that you can resume the game (e.g. some days or a week) later; this can't yet be implemented because the final set of features (many of which have to be considered when saving a game) of atrogue isn't yet clear enough.

Scrollable Texts

During gameplay, you are sometimes provided with longer texts, especially the inventory listings. These are implemented as "scrollable texts": if a text is so long that it doesn't fit on your screen, you can scroll it up and down. The bottom line explains which keys can be pressed and which effect they have.

You can scroll with the Cursor-up/down keys, if they work on your terminal. You can also scroll with the usual j/k keys, unless you are asked to select a letter, e.g. for an inventory item - in such cases, use the key combinations with Shift or Control or the digits for scrolling.

As usually, you can always cancel the current operation with the Escape and Ctrl-e keys.