Just found this forum...
I've been playing rogue (ver 1.1) off-and-on for 26 years now, and have won 3 times. I don't count the losses.
I've got a friend who's much better at it than me (mostly because he's a lot more careful and patient) and has probably won several dozen times. The first time he did so, I thought it must be one of the great all-time achievements by the human race... except nobody knew about it!
Here are a few tips we discovered that I didn't see in this thread. Hope some of them work for you.
1. On the early levels, don't pick up any scrolls before you find a Scare Monster. When you see a new scroll, go find yourself a Snake or an Emu (or any monster you should be able to handle easily) and drag it back to the scroll. When you get back, instead of stepping on the scroll, walk around it. If the monster follows you around the scroll instead of stepping on it itself, you've got a Scare. In no case, will any monster ever step on a Scare.
2. In some games you only get one warm (restore strength), in which case you don't want to quaff it until out of Rattlesnake territory (and hopefully after you've identified, one way or another, the potion of poison). Unless you've got inventory overload problems, don't quaff any unknown potions until you've got two of them (or you've already found a warm or are desperate for one). Few things are more frustrating than wandering the lower levels having to use up your magic because your strength is so poor.
3. Before quaffing your unknown potions, drop your unidentified objects in a hallway. (Just be sure there aren't any trap doors between you and your stuff.) If you get magic detection, you'll know which of your belongings are cursed or enchanted. This can save you a lot of identify and remove curse scrolls.
4. In the lower levels, mazes are your friend. I don't know if this a bug or not, but in many mazes with two-level rows, monsters get disoriented. Try dragging a relatively harmless monster into one of them, and then move diagonally, either below or above the monster. This appears to be giving the monster a free shot, but the monster will often head back to the exit instead. This gives you one free swing as the monster is leaving. After you've taken it, go back to the maze entrance, lead the monster back in, and do the same trick. It's a great way to kill Griffins because, if you do it right, they never swing at you. Ideally, you'll find one of these mazes on level 17, pre-Medusas, with the staircase in a room next to the maze, and a ring or two of slow digestion in hand. If you can kill 4 or 5 Griffins before going to level 18, your chances against Medusas are much improved.
5. Medusas may seem impossible at first, but they can be beaten. Don't try to swing at them while confused (unless you have no other option) because you'll probably miss. Instead, throw something (crossbow bolts are quite effective if you're strong) or use a magic wand. You have a much better chance of hitting with a wand or thrown object than with your wielded weapon.
6. This has been said before, but I'd like to reiterate: once you get to level 18 (earlier if you don't have good escape technology), find the exit as quickly as possible and go down.
7. It's tempting to enchant leather armor, but you're better off enchanting plate mail and waiting until level 18 to use it. That's when you really need it! With +4 plate mail and high experience, you can often wait out a Medusa confusion. As unfair as rogue is, it could be worse: Medusas and Aquators don't occupy any of the same levels (except for the occasional level 17 zoo). Great armor is also useful for preventing Vampires from permanently taking your hit points.
8. There's no food on the way back (except perhaps for the occasional nymph), so, if you're going to win, you've got to conserve some. Needless to say, slow digestion is extremely valuable.
9. Some monsters (Centaurs, Wraiths, Phantoms, Jabberwocks, etc.) are often asleep and won't wake up until attacked. If you have a ring of stealth, more monsters fit into this category. On the lower levels, leave these monsters alone, at least until you're ready to leave the level. You can often kill off an Ur-vile or a Griffin by walking around the sleeping monster, and taking a swing at the following monster only when you have sufficient hit points. Just be careful and don't hit the sleeping monster by mistake. Even if that doesn't work, you can use the sleeping monster as a pick to change directions without getting hit.
10. A ring of regeneration is awesome in the early levels. As long as you've got enough food, you have very little chance of being killed. (Just be sure to take it off immediately when you get back to full hit points.) Once you get to a very high experience level, however, your hits come back very quickly anyway, so it may not be worth keeping. Deep down, stealth and slow digestion are your friends.
11. If you've got a ring of teleportation that you've managed to uncurse, consider keeping it in your pack if you've got room. If you get desperate, put it on, and you might just escape that Medusa or Dragon. Then again, it can also cause a lot of problems, so you should use it as a last resort.
There's probably more, but that's what comes to mind at the moment. Hope it helps!
