796
Off-topic (Locked) / Re: music to play to
« on: October 28, 2007, 10:44:28 PM »
The "Mark of the Mole" Trilogy by The Residents. (:
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797
Other Announcements / Re: Hey ^_^
« on: October 06, 2007, 12:08:38 AM »
There are some nice rogue anecdotes, maybe even some tales of victory, at http://www.wichman.org/roguestories.html
798
Other Announcements / Re: Alternatives to hack and slash for roguelikes
« on: October 06, 2007, 12:00:54 AM »
Anyone remember the old strategy game "The Horde"? You would have a certain amount of time/money to spend sowing, ploughing etc. and basically preparing for the annual horde of monsters invariably invading your farm every spring. Depending on how well you protected your crops, the farm grew, yielding more cash, better weapons to keep the monsters at bay, etc. A solid farming system might well change a roguelike into something... similar, but different. Who's got the time for dungeon crawling, now that harvest time is coming?
* Setting traps: might be fun, and doesn't have to be too complicated, and probably would fit well with a "regular" dungeon crawling rl. Other crafts might be interesting, as well, but I can see how it would quickly be boring to make bread, for instance. Just imagine the equipment you'd have to carry around to shear corn, crush it, mix with water, yeast and spices, make a fire and bake it. But I would like a game where there's more interaction with the landscape -- digging for buried treasure or maybe even using a dousing rod, clearing overgrown bush, building and tearing down walls...
* Working with servants/pets/henchmen/allies. Maybe a system where more complex orders can be given, and different servants are better differenciated. Like asking a servant to guard a door or patrol an area (and recognising this particular person's voice when he shouts as someone/-thing enters the room), or hiring certain allies for certain tasks (some servants/allies might act as scouts, others as healers). If you don't want to implement a complex alchemy system, you can always create friendly monsters who will mix potions for a fee, or if they like the player. One could include skills like "agitating" to sway crowds. For a game with long term ideas like farming, I also don't see why the player shouldn't have children, that might take up adventuring when their heroic parent pass on in some dungeon level N.
* More randomness. It could be an interesting task to try and make exploration more exiting, by randomly determining stuff like architectural style and other quirks of different places. Is the village an anarchistic commune protected by the villagers (they'll fight if one of them is attacked), or maybe there is a small barracks with soldiers (villagers will generally flee from violence, but guards will emerge)? Is there a village elder or other heroic npc? Distinguishing traits (and possible sources of quests), such as a mineral source, a temple, a casino, a haunted forest, a holy ruin? What is the main source of income/food? Farming, hunting, domestic animals, scavenging, craft and trade? (would effect what kinds of equipment/food the player can get hold of) etc. There also shouldn't be anything wrong with randomly generating some common monsters and/or herbs at the beginning of the game. What is the popular steed of the land like? Slow or quick, obedient or wild? What does it eat? Anything from three-legged, grass eating brutes to quick, zebroid carnivores could emerge. What are the weaknesses of vampires? Maybe fire in one game, water in the next, and so forth. Also, there would be nothing wrong with randomly generating artifacts, maybe even complete with a small legend.
And so forth.
My guess is that if you take this far (too far?), you'll have to add lots of text for flavor and explanation, which will suit some players better than others. But it could certainly be a new take on random/coherent content. I've always liked ADOM for the heavy emphasis on mood, but in the end, it's kind of boring to do the exact same quests over and over, every game.
* Setting traps: might be fun, and doesn't have to be too complicated, and probably would fit well with a "regular" dungeon crawling rl. Other crafts might be interesting, as well, but I can see how it would quickly be boring to make bread, for instance. Just imagine the equipment you'd have to carry around to shear corn, crush it, mix with water, yeast and spices, make a fire and bake it. But I would like a game where there's more interaction with the landscape -- digging for buried treasure or maybe even using a dousing rod, clearing overgrown bush, building and tearing down walls...
* Working with servants/pets/henchmen/allies. Maybe a system where more complex orders can be given, and different servants are better differenciated. Like asking a servant to guard a door or patrol an area (and recognising this particular person's voice when he shouts as someone/-thing enters the room), or hiring certain allies for certain tasks (some servants/allies might act as scouts, others as healers). If you don't want to implement a complex alchemy system, you can always create friendly monsters who will mix potions for a fee, or if they like the player. One could include skills like "agitating" to sway crowds. For a game with long term ideas like farming, I also don't see why the player shouldn't have children, that might take up adventuring when their heroic parent pass on in some dungeon level N.
* More randomness. It could be an interesting task to try and make exploration more exiting, by randomly determining stuff like architectural style and other quirks of different places. Is the village an anarchistic commune protected by the villagers (they'll fight if one of them is attacked), or maybe there is a small barracks with soldiers (villagers will generally flee from violence, but guards will emerge)? Is there a village elder or other heroic npc? Distinguishing traits (and possible sources of quests), such as a mineral source, a temple, a casino, a haunted forest, a holy ruin? What is the main source of income/food? Farming, hunting, domestic animals, scavenging, craft and trade? (would effect what kinds of equipment/food the player can get hold of) etc. There also shouldn't be anything wrong with randomly generating some common monsters and/or herbs at the beginning of the game. What is the popular steed of the land like? Slow or quick, obedient or wild? What does it eat? Anything from three-legged, grass eating brutes to quick, zebroid carnivores could emerge. What are the weaknesses of vampires? Maybe fire in one game, water in the next, and so forth. Also, there would be nothing wrong with randomly generating artifacts, maybe even complete with a small legend.
And so forth.
My guess is that if you take this far (too far?), you'll have to add lots of text for flavor and explanation, which will suit some players better than others. But it could certainly be a new take on random/coherent content. I've always liked ADOM for the heavy emphasis on mood, but in the end, it's kind of boring to do the exact same quests over and over, every game.
799
Classic Roguelikes / Re: ADOM - tips & strategies
« on: June 24, 2007, 11:17:47 PM »
Last part of post contains minor spoiler about altars (about the same spoiliness as leading the mad carpenter to the healer). Rest is just stray thoughts.
If I play a healing class, I´ll usually do the doggie quest and then head west to the caverns of chaos (a truly forboding place), where the real action is at. For non-healers, I go to help the insane lumberjack. I´ll usually try to descend as quickly as possible, to get the healing skill at a low level (and with some luck even have time to go raider hunting afterwards). If I feel adventurous, I´ll skip all the quests in Terinyo and enter the dangerous cave north west of the village while I´m still level 1, hoping to find the stairs down before I get slaughtered. Usually, though, I´ll wait with that particular dungeon until I have some means of invisibility. Magic mapping and teleportation doesn´t hurt, either. Same with the evil druid quest; since he is a pretty tough opponent, I´ll usually wait until I´m pretty powerful. I´ve never found the pyramid particularily hard (but I almost always play magic users, and mummies don´t like fire). The tower of eternal flames, on the other hand... has left me dead every time so far.
I like playing magic users, since they get it easier from the middle game onwards. Elven archers are also nice in that regard. Elves are good with magic, and archers have the concentration skill, which means they can become reasonable magic wielders later on. Lately I´ve played some gnomish weapon smiths, hoping for a similar result (with not so much luck, but I had some interesting characters, and some who developed a small repertoire of spells (Strength of Atlas is nice with weapon smiths)). I also like to play hurthling barbarians, but that´s just silly, I guess. My current character, with which I´ve had the luck to get pretty high up in the levels, is a hurthling wizard. It´s working out pretty well, but I´m preparing for the tower of eternal flames now, so I´m sure he´ll soon be french fried potatoes.
Altars are very handy -- if I find an altar not of my alignment, I seriously consider switching world view. Making repeated small donations (10 gp or so) slowly changes your alignment towards that of the god.
Kind regards from the aging minotaur
If I play a healing class, I´ll usually do the doggie quest and then head west to the caverns of chaos (a truly forboding place), where the real action is at. For non-healers, I go to help the insane lumberjack. I´ll usually try to descend as quickly as possible, to get the healing skill at a low level (and with some luck even have time to go raider hunting afterwards). If I feel adventurous, I´ll skip all the quests in Terinyo and enter the dangerous cave north west of the village while I´m still level 1, hoping to find the stairs down before I get slaughtered. Usually, though, I´ll wait with that particular dungeon until I have some means of invisibility. Magic mapping and teleportation doesn´t hurt, either. Same with the evil druid quest; since he is a pretty tough opponent, I´ll usually wait until I´m pretty powerful. I´ve never found the pyramid particularily hard (but I almost always play magic users, and mummies don´t like fire). The tower of eternal flames, on the other hand... has left me dead every time so far.
I like playing magic users, since they get it easier from the middle game onwards. Elven archers are also nice in that regard. Elves are good with magic, and archers have the concentration skill, which means they can become reasonable magic wielders later on. Lately I´ve played some gnomish weapon smiths, hoping for a similar result (with not so much luck, but I had some interesting characters, and some who developed a small repertoire of spells (Strength of Atlas is nice with weapon smiths)). I also like to play hurthling barbarians, but that´s just silly, I guess. My current character, with which I´ve had the luck to get pretty high up in the levels, is a hurthling wizard. It´s working out pretty well, but I´m preparing for the tower of eternal flames now, so I´m sure he´ll soon be french fried potatoes.
Altars are very handy -- if I find an altar not of my alignment, I seriously consider switching world view. Making repeated small donations (10 gp or so) slowly changes your alignment towards that of the god.
Kind regards from the aging minotaur
800
Classic Roguelikes / Re: ToTRL Competitions: Recover the Amulet of Yendor!
« on: June 15, 2007, 10:59:42 PM »Level 20 :| --- How did you manage to get there??
Luck
. I found some very nice armor and weaponry early on. Strategically, I try to be careful, not to mention patient -- two things I am usually not. Rogue strikes me as an extremely tactical game; you don't want to waste a single move (a feeling I don't from ADOM, for instance). One tip I found useful was to not start trying out magical stuff until the backpack is actually full (and then start with using items of which you have two). That means that for instance, if you read a scroll of identify, chances are greater you have something interesting to actually id, or if you quaff a potion of blindness, chances are greater you'll have some healing remedy. This at the expense of a slightly harder opening game. I try to stay away from nymphs, and to ration magic tools. I don't put on strange jewelery; you never know where it's been.The lower levels I will certainly clean out, to gain the xp and treasure, but once things start getting tough, I might consider making a dash for the stairs rather than risking battle with a powerful foe (expending useful potions and wands), even if the reward looks promising. I also came over some interesting spoilers (which I won't repeat here) concerning scrolls of scare monster. I haven't gotten to the point of actually trying out such a scroll, though.
If I recall correctly, the amulet is found at level 26.
Good luck,
--Your friendly neighborhood buffalo man
801
Classic Roguelikes / Re: ToTRL Competitions: Recover the Amulet of Yendor!
« on: June 13, 2007, 11:56:49 PM »Quote
I seem to be the only one trying...
Not quite
. I took the challenge as an opportuinity to play some Rogue after a long time of abstinence. I don't expect to actually make it, though. My current high score is at 5888 gold, killed by a Medusa on level 18. Argh. I wasn't terribly lucky in the early game, but not unlucky either, as one usually is in Rogue. This was my first encounter with the dreaded 'M'. My hero didn't know what hit him 
. Rogue is a terrific game; as a coffee break dungeon dive I prefer it to any other non-epic RL I've tried, and the fact that a lot of the mechanisms are still used in modern RLs (cursed items, importance of food, etc.) says something about the ingenuity of this game, I think.Kind regards from the aging minotaur
EDIT: I can't believe it! I just got down to level 20 -- took on trolls easily, and managed to kill off a few medusas and black unicorns (I had 20 strength, 14 armor(!) and a decent two-handed sword). What killed me in the end? Hunger!
802
Classic Roguelikes / Re: ToTRL Competitions: Recover the Amulet of Yendor!
« on: May 30, 2007, 01:48:28 AM »
Note: If you use Debian or a derivated linux distribution (Ubuntu etc.), you can install Rogue with Synaptic, apt-get etc. The package is called "bsdgames-nonfree". It is in the non-free section because Rogue's license prohibits commercial use.
Kind regards from the aging minotaur
Kind regards from the aging minotaur