ToTRL Competitions: Recover the Amulet of Yendor!

[Slash]

Hello all...

Today, we feature a competition that goes back to the roots of the genre, back to the very same moment when the adventurer stood in the entrance of the dungeons of doom, seeking fame and fortune for his guild of Rogues. Yes gentlemen (and gentlegirls), I am talking about the game that started it all. Rogue.

Rogue was a game made in 1980, but don't be fooled... this doesn't means it is a simple, easy or uninteresting game. One may be led to think that all these years of enhancements made on further games would opaque the features of Rogue, well, this is not true.

Rogue's pushforward nature and the cruelty of the enemies makes up for a lot of fun and challenge, prepare for a lot of keyboard bashing and screen cursing, as your adventurer's armor melt again to rust monsters' breath, Vampires suck your HP away and wraiths level you down (yes, permanently).

After all, as you know, this is the game that spawned the genre.

The competition is simple:

• Recover the amulet of Yendor and report your deed to Temple of The Roguelike
• Post screenshots of your victory
• Post the history of your brave rogue.
• The competition will run for 2 weeks from now on.
• If there happens to be more than 1 victory, the winner will be judged this way
  
  • Highest Score adds 2 points
  • Coolest Rogue's History adds 5 points
• Posting failures or almost victories is encouraged
• If you cheat, the RNG will haunt you for eternity, andall the characters you play in any roguelike will begin with a Doomed intrinsic or equivalent
• This challenge applies for the "happy face" Rogue version which can be found here: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?name=Rogue, or for Linux the version inside the bsdgames-nonfree package which can be installed via Synaptic, apt-get, etc.
  
• Good luck!

[Adral]

Hey, count me in. I'll try and post something one of these days

Although I guess it would be better to stick to *one* specific version of Rogue. One that runs on Linux, preferably

Or are there two versions completely equivalent?

[Lavastine]

I like the Epyx version of the game, the color makes a huge difference for me. Though I actually have the pre-comercial version of it(1.1)

[Slash]

Duh was playing yesterday but

a. Rogue 5.4 seems to have a bug which didnt let me equip anything (played on winXP)
b. My best character on happy face Rogue was killed by a bug on DosRecorder (was recording overwriting a file, the game hanged up when I got to the last frame of that file), this was sad (down to level 11, stuffed with food and magical items:( )

Will give it a shoot again tonight

[AgingMinotaur]

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

[Slash]

Slash the Rogue, 3028 gold pieces, Killed by a Troll on Level 14

YetAnotherUnluckyDeath

Met a Venus flytrap and thought I could handle it. I was wrong... It was tearing me apart and I had to read my only scroll of teleportation, 7HP left. I am teleported right behind a Leprechaum... stumbling around in confusion I find myself lucky not to hit it and make it beat me... I slowly start regenerating until about 12HP, then a Troll appears... found nothing of use in my inventory so it was the end.

Died with 2 potions of recover strength, one of increase strength, an unidentified wand, an unidentified staff, 9 rations of food, amongst some stuff.

Equipment was a sword and an aquated chain mail.

[Slash]

I seem to be the only one trying...

Rogue version 1.1

2164 gold, Killed by a Troll on Level 12

Landed on a zoo with two aquators and a troll surrounding me; disposed them and a centaur but panicked at the sight of another troll (19 HP)... tried two staffs over him without any effect... then died

Trolls are nasty

[AgingMinotaur]

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!

[Slash]

Wow sorry to hear that...

Level 20 :| --- How did you manage to get there??

By the way... how many levels are there til the amulet of yendor??? (I forgot)

[Slash]

This time the RNG was pretty evident on his will to destroy me... I landed on a monster zoo on level 12... two yetis, two trolls, one centaur, several zombies... I fought until the end... wish I have had some teleport scroll :*( but it was a doomed fight...

Attached screenies

[AgingMinotaur]

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

[Slash]

I keep going at it.... getting closer everytime!

I had one character get like 8 rations of food before level 6. No weapons, no armor... my armor eventually got aquated to 1 and I was monster food.

... Then I had one find FIVE two handed swords and FOUR plate mail, before level 6. No food... my stomach eventually started yelling and I collapsed cursing into a dungeon floor.

Ah... I love Rogue

[Slash]

Rogue is evil.

Yesterday I lost a character with 9 rations of food, strength 20, a two handed sword, enchanted splint mall... was just careless against a Centaur and a Quagga... and very unlucky! I just couldn't hit the Quagga, as hard as I tried! it took me from 36 HPs to death, after escaping via scroll of teleport...

A shame...

I just want to see the fucking amulet

[Slash]

Ok, I am about to give up

This game is evil.

Any fight below level 15 is deadly, an Ur-Vile will just kill you in 3 blows if you dont have a decent (as in a +3 plate mail) armor equiped, and even so, it will just kill you if you miss two hits.

However, you will be lucky if you are in posession of such thing... because if you by any chance find one, it will be destroyed to nothing as you pass through the Aquators. Off course, you can save this by using a ring of preservation, but if you are *lucky* to find one, you will need to munch a lot of food, which you need to be very lucky to find. And if you find enough food, you wont find a good armor, so it's a no-no game.

Then we have rattlesnakes, and they droping your strength to 10 or less, and not having enough luck to find potions of recover strength.

So, how many times have I written "luck"? yes, you need to be in a lucky strike (a very lucky strike) to have a chance to win. and this chance is so dismal that you just won't win.

Rogue is got its charm, but after level 15 things are just unfair, unbalanced, too depending on luck, and just evil to the player.

[Slash]

So, has nobody done it yet?