Introduction

The map screen is shown most of the time during the game. It consists of three parts: the dungeon map, a message line and a statistics/state line.

The Dungeon Map

The dungeon map shows the regions of the current section which you already explored and all creatures and objects which you can currently perceive. This little example shows two rooms which are connected by a tunnel:

                -------- --
                |       > |
                |         +
           #####          |
           #    -----------
 ---.------#
 |........|#
 |....H..:@#
 |........|
 ----------

The dungeon consists of storeys. As you proceed downward, the storeys become increasingly difficult and diverse. Each storey consists of one or more separate big rectangular areas which are called sections. A section usually consists of several small rectangular rooms which provide objects and are populated by creatures. The rooms are connected by tunnels.

The text characters in the map have the following meaning; of course we don't reveal everything - there should be something left for you to discover! :-)

• @ - the player character; your current position in the section
• -| - horizontal and vertical walls of a room; an open door in the walls
• . - a lit location inside the room you're currently in
• + - a closed or locked door in the walls of a room
• # - a tunnel
• > - a downward staircase to the next storey
• < - an upward staircase to the previous storey
• ~ - might be dangerous ground; step on it with care
• { - an obstacle; usually in yellow color, if you have enabled color support; e.g. a chest which may contain an interesting object; some obstacles are represented by special symbols, e.g. a closed door by "+" and a boulder by "`"

There can also be creatures, which are mostly represented by letters; a lowercase letter usually means that the creature currently doesn't act, e.g. because it's sleeping. If you have enabled color support, most creatures appear in red color. As you get deeper into the dungeon, you meet more and stronger creatures and ones with special abilities which make your life harder.

There are also text characters which represent objects lying around in the dungeon. If you have enabled color support, most objects appear in green color. As you get deeper into the dungeon, you can find "better" objects - more solid armor, stronger magic potions and scrolls etc.

• [ - armor
• ) - weapon
• : - food
• % - gold
• * - stone
• & - tool (e.g. lantern)
• ! - magic potion
• / - magic wand, staff or rod
• ? - magic scroll
• = - magic ring
• , - the Amulet of Yendor (genuine or fake)

The Message Line

The message line below the dungeon map contains messages (what else:-) which appear during the game, e.g. when you pick up an object or when a creature hits. If you read "-more-" at the end of this line, there are more messages available which didn't fit into the line; press <Space> to get them.

The Statistics/State Line

The statistics/state line contains lots of information about game statistics and your current state. An example:

L:c1  H:n12/12 S:16/16 E:0  A:3  M:15&0  T:9 C:3 LN

The individual parts of this line have the following meaning:

• L (level, storey): a lowercase letter indicating the gameplay difficulty you selected in the intro screen ("a".."f"; "c" means "normal") and the number of the current storey
• H (health): a lowercase letter indicating how many actions you can do yet, and your current/maximal health; "n" means normal, "h" hungry, "w" weak, "f" fainting and "s" starved; if it's not "n", you should eat some food; you can act for about 1000 ticks before getting hungry, but less if you do strenous things like fighting or searching. The health e.g. decreases when you are hit by a creature and grows to the maximum while you're healing (e.g. when you rest); watch this carefully if you don't wanna die surprisingly! :-)
• S (strength): your current/maximum strength values
• E (experience): your current experience; this roughly combines attributes like dexterity, intelligence, wisdom and charisma known from other games
• A (armor): if you're wearing armor, it holds some damage off when you're hit; this part shows "-" if you aren't wearing armor, "?" if you didn't yet find out how good your armor is or a number indicating how much damage the armor can hold off.
• M: magic energy and experience; you can perform certain magic actions only if you have enough magic energy! If you need more energy, quaff some yummy potions...
• T (ticks, time): how many ticks have passed since the beginning of the game; in the magic dungeon, time is measured in discrete ticks, the continuous "real" time is meaningless - so you can think about your next action without time pressure... Creatures usually act once per dungeon tick; but they can act more often if they are small, supple or hasted, and less often if they are slowed or confused or held.
• C (count): this only appears if you have entered a count/number argument with the keyboard command "C"

To the right of these, some letters might appear, describing the player character's current state further:

• B - blind
• C - confused (the same letter as for the count/number argument, but this shouldn't confuse you:-)
• F - frozen, you can't act
• H - hasted
• I - invisible
• L - levitated
• N - napping (sleeping, you can't act)
• S - slowed

The maximum health and strength values increase as you gain experience during the game.