Good Roguelikes for beginners?

[Lord Blade]

So naturally I'd enjoy getting my girl to play ADoM, cause it's an excellent game (and I'm in it).
But it's a bit much for a beginner.

I was wondering what games (aside from the original of course) would be a good idea for someone to get their feet wet?

For me, I grew up gaming, so I can jump into anything without a thought and do well at it. But for those who haven't played much, it can all get rather confusing.

[getter77]

Cardinal Quest, Dungeons of Dredmor, Dweller, DoomRL, Triangle Wizard, Spelunky, Binding of Isaac, Meritous, ToME 4 to an extent, several others that escape me.

[Holsety]

Try Brogue, The Slimy Lichmummy or Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

[Darren Grey]

ToME4 if she's played any graphical RPGs - everything will feel familiar to her, and she'll likely appreciate the story.

[guest509]

  Yeah I'd say ToME4. Brogue, Crawl and Doom have a bit higher learning curve. And the Ascii of Doom and Brogue turns off the uninitiated. If she's comfortable with text and a slightly involved interface then she's good to go on just about anything really. If she digs ToME then the sky is the limit. Good luck.

[Z]

Spelunky, despite being a semi-roguelike, has the highest rating on IRLDb (not counting games with only one voter), and is very good for beginners, assuming that they play platformers.

Other suggestions, well, probably it depends on what she likes...

[dweller]

I've introduced roguelikes to my girlfriend through brogue successfully. She plays it months now, trying to win. I've shown her also stone soup and te4, but brogue is best for her. Recommended.

[Skeletor]

A quest too far
The slimy lichmummy

[AgingMinotaur]

Regarding Spelunky: As much as it's a fun game, I wouldn't recommend it as a "gateway RL", it being a realtime platformer, and all. Liking Spelunky doesn't guarantee that you'll enjoy Nethack.

brogue is probably a good suggestion. Depending on personal tastes, Legerdemain might be worth considering. The interface is not too difficult, it has tiles and a nice setting.

Some quick games with a punchline: Teemu, Vicious Orcs. Lastly, let me mention that my own game Squirm, for all it's shortcomings, was developed as a coffeebreak RL with new players explicitly in mind.

As always,
Minotauros

[Vanguard]

Mage Guild is a good one.  It has an option for tiles, a nice tutorial, and it's not too long.

[NeedsFoodBadly]

My 9 year old son is playing both Dungeons of Dredmor and ToME4. 

My work on making my own roguelike in my spare time is also sparking some interest in programming for him as well.

[guest509]

My 9 year old son is playing both Dungeons of Dredmor and ToME4. 

My work on making my own roguelike in my spare time is also sparking some interest in programming for him as well.

  Yes! Indoctrinate early. And often. I was hacking at that age.

[NeedsFoodBadly]

My 9 year old son is playing both Dungeons of Dredmor and ToME4. 

My work on making my own roguelike in my spare time is also sparking some interest in programming for him as well.

  Yes! Indoctrinate early. And often. I was hacking at that age.

I tried to start him on Vulture/Nethack but that was a little too much for him.  Hell, even I need to play that game with a reference sheet for commands.

[ido]

I tried to start him on Vulture/Nethack but that was a little too much for him.  Hell, even I need to play that game with a reference sheet for commands.

That's just cruel. At least go with a crawl if you absolutely have to introduce him to a "hardcore" roguelike (although I wouldn't go with any of the "classic" majors for a beginner - tome4 is probably a pretty decent choice).

[NeedsFoodBadly]

I tried to start him on Vulture/Nethack but that was a little too much for him.  Hell, even I need to play that game with a reference sheet for commands.

That's just cruel. At least go with a crawl if you absolutely have to introduce him to a "hardcore" roguelike (although I wouldn't go with any of the "classic" majors for a beginner - tome4 is probably a pretty decent choice).

Ha!  Well, at least I tried to get him to play the Vulture (graphic) version of Nethack.

Although he did surprise me the other day, when I was tooling around working on programming a prototype of an Ascii roguelike and he said, "Hmmm. That looks kinda cool. I might be interested..."

I've tried to work on getting him to see that it's gameplay not graphics that makes a game.  I've actually got a Mame cabinet in the house with full arcade sticks/buttons/trackball and the kids have a blast playing Pong and Warlords on it...although it usually devolves into fighting and arguing sooner or later...