--------------------- Intro ---------------------
Hack is a D&D type of game where (you), the faithful explorer get
to descend countless levels in a dungeon looking for a mysterious
amulet rumored to be on the 29th level. You have a choice of what
type of explorer you want to be: a Fighter, a Cave-man, a Wizard,
a Knight, a Speleologist, or a Tourist. There are shops where
you can buy items (or try to steal them) and a multitude of
monsters that want to kill you. You begin the game with your
faithful companion, a little dog.
Basically, Hack is a pretty good (or great) imitation of D&D
available for the Rainbow and other PC DOS machines. It has many
enthusiasts who play it almost every day - it's quite addicting.
Wizards, Cavemen, Knights, etc. who contributed to this Scroll of
Wisdom that you might get greater enjoyment out of HACK:
Kurt Reisler David Purks Jared Brennan
Rick McClinton Tony Movshon John DeCarlo
Scott Novell Richard Shrout
<many others>
--------------------- History ---------------------
PC-HACK is a "hacked" version of the classic UNIX game of ROGUE.
It is a 39 level D&D type game with a huge number of monsters and
problems to be faced by the intrepid player character. Hack and
Rogue are quite different, in detail, but it is clear from the
general orientation of the game that the current versions of
Rogue and Hack share a common ancestor, an earlier version of
Rogue. HACK was written in Amsterdam, Holland, not at Columbia.
Those who have played both can detail the differences. The Rogue
sources were once posted to the Usenet, and this version was
probably the ancestor of them all ... <kr>
Actually, there was a game on the original UI Plato called
OBULETTE, that may have been the granddaddy of them all, but who
cares. It is public domain and a great way to lose a few hours.
<kr>
--------------------- Environment ---------------------
You can copy save files to make a backup files of yourself. If
you get killed you can then rename your backup file and start
again from where you last saved the game.
In order to use the generic version of Hack, users with IBM PCs
and compatibles will have to install the ANSI.SYS device driver
in their CONFIG.SYS file before they play HACK. This causes the
PC to behave like a standard ANSI Standard terminal (i.e. like a
VT-100). There should be a copy of it on your DOS distribution
diskette.
The "graphics" HACK uses are not fancy. It draws a map of each
level as you explore using '+---+' type drawings. Monsters,
treasure and other objects are represented by various characters.
The way to save the game is by the "S" (capital s) command. It
will then save the game in the file you have defined. (set
hacksave=[d]:hack.sav) It may then tell you to hit any key when
the save disk is ready. You can save it on your game disk or your
defined file, (may be other drive, or hard disk) or you can pull
out the game disk and slip in another in the same drive it.
To restart where you left off, you can set the hacksave variable
to the disk, or just run hack and wait for it to say 'press any
key when the SAVE disk is ready', switch floppies, and hit any
key. There is no way to tell it not to start from the save
file, so if you have a save file called 'hack.sav' on your save
disk, and you have not defined the hacksave variable (default
is: default directory:hack.sav) it will start from the file when
you run the game.
It does not matter what your name is (set hack=Schmoo) when you
save and restart a game, so you can save as 'Tharg' and continue
the game as 'Charlie Brown'.
"There is a novel way accumulating large quantities of magic
items. Here's how it works: when you lock up the system,
reboot, or turn the computer off while running the game (note
that the last method isn't smart), your LEVELs are still one the
disk -- and they take priority when you start the game again!
So, what I have done is start out with a wizard, with all his
magic items, gone up to the second level, and rebooted. I now
have several hundred items in my own "shop." I am now
transporting this up to the next level, and, having saved the
second level under a different name, now have twice the number
of items I had before. This is cheating of the worst kind, of
course, but its interesting at least." <jb>
--------------------- General ---------------------
WARNING!!! HACK is addicting and can be harmful to ones health!
Wizards are good, but not as good as knights and cavemen are even
better!
Try searching the walls of the rooms near large empty spaces on
the screen to find secret passages. You can use '10s' to search
10 times then move down the wall two spaces and do '10s' again,
and so on. The reason for this is that search (s) examines each
of the 8 compass points around you.
Source code can make very interesting reading for characters with
bellyaches from eating one too many dead corpses....
Engravings occur several ways in HACK. Sometimes you will be
told that there is "Something [written/burned] in the [dust/rock]
here." Sometimes it will read "A? ?eu?e?" and implies there is a
hidden passage to a "vault" nearby. If you do get into the
vault, watch out for the guards; they are as bad as shopkeepers.
You can also engrave things in the floor. For a hint as to what
to engrave, you may have to re-read the _Lord_of_the_Rings_. <kr>
Ors and bees travel in packs....Back into a corridor so you only
have to fight one of them at at time.
Wands of death, rings of fire resistance, and spears are
definitely helpful when dealing with angry dragons. Dead dragons
make good eating.
Ghosts generally are more of annoyance than anything else. They
guard caches of supplies which can be quite handy. Using magical
weapons is a definite plus when dealing with ghosts - try a wand
of death (interesting concept!), fire, or cold. Patience is the
word when you fight a ghost.
Don't tarry tearing yourself out of that lurker or trapper - you
may be digested before you know it! Wands of digging make nice
holes in the beasts.
If you have a case of teleportitis (blipping madly from place to
place), try wearing a ring of teleport control. The disease can
be caught by eating a newly killed Nymph or Leprechaun.
Sometimes the best things in life turn out to be Mimics.
Try killing monsters from across the room - wield (w) a bow and
throw (t) an arrow. Using a better bow and arrow (higher pluses)
mean greater chances of hitting and killing what you shoot.
Killing unicorns is bad bad luck.
To kill a leprechaun - drop all your gold before you attack. If
you don't, he'll just steal your gold when he hits you and
disappear. Don't forget to guard the gold you dropped or he'll
steal it anyway! He may still steal the gold out from under your
feet but at least you have a better chance of killing him.
BONES files are a record of characters which have attempted the
dungeon before you and failed. They contain the character's
name, a map of the level the character died on, and a treasure
cache which the character's ghost guards.
"In order to go below the labyrinths near the end of the dungeon
(level 23+) you need the following: helmet, scroll of teleport,
and a potion of confusion. You also need a ring of teleport
control and a ring of levitation. By the time you reach this
level you should also be fire proof, poison resistant, and VERY
LUCKY!" <kr> Talk about perverse!
Gems are useful if you are into paying shopkeepers for things.
You can also increase your luck level by throwing them at
unicorns. Otherwise...
Beware wands of vibration - they can be a very earth shattering
experience. The message comes from the RUMORS file. Most of
them are wrong, and some are deliberate lies. Others are
misleading or totally irrelevant.
A dead lizard is a good thing. Carrying one (not eating it)
will protect you from the hissing of a cockatrice (which would
otherwise turn you to stone). If you have a pair of gloves, a
cockatrice makes a good weapon. Carrying it down stairs though
can be harmful to your health.
Worm's teeth can be changed to crysknives: wield a tooth, read a
scroll of enchant weapon, and Voila! They are instant death to
anything they hit. Don't drop or throw them though - it causes
them to lose their edge.
The potion that makes you feel good is restore strength.
Remember that wearing rings increase the rate of food consumption.
Do not try to eat food or open tins in the same room as a nymph.
She may steal you blind.
"I hate cockatrices. I also hate xans. and umber hulks. and
invisible stalkers. and chameleons. and dragons. and
leprechauns. and nymphs. and ghosts. and imps. and kobolds
(one would think they would at least have the common decency to
be edible, for god's sake). and everything else. and never,
ever, have I found a wand of digging near a trapper (or a lurker
above, for that matter). and a fading corridor does NOT
enlighten your insight, no matter how many times it happens."
<jb>
--------------------- Dogs ---------------------
In order to tame your little dog, whistle for him (if you find a
whistle) and feed him when he comes. Tripe rations or your
favorite newly dead monster make good dog food. Avoid hitting
him. Dogs are handy for killing monsters when you are
incapacitated. They also steal things from shops and bring them
to you.
You can use the 'f' command (go forward until you find
something) in order to keep from hitting the little dog.
If you're in a situation where the little dog (Phydeaux?) is in
the way, just hit the '.' (rest) until he moves. The little pup
is extremely energetic and doesn't like to sit in one place for
very long.
Your little dog will be left behind if you go downstairs when
he's not in the room with you.
Sometimes it's possible to tame large dogs...if they attack while
you are attempting to tame them though, don't hesitate to kill
them.
--------------------- Food ---------------------
Look for scrolls of identification and rings of poison
resistance to help you decide what to eat and survive afterwards.
Certain critters are beneficial if eaten. Others are slow
death. Remember that wearing rings INCREASE rate of food
consumption.
SUBJECT: Bletch... rotten food, the room spins... If your dog
eats it, you MIGHT be able to eat it. Trial and error is the
best teacher. Remember that corpses spoil in a few moves.
Tins may contain spinach - tell HACK to eat the tin. They're
rather difficult to open but well worth the effort if they do
contain spinach (remember what it does to Popeye!) Or it may
just contain something like apple juice or salmon. The salmon
makes your fingers slippery which causes you to drop things -
including cursed weapons.
Bad food will cause you to be confused. This means your ability
to go where you want to is flurbed. Also, reading scrolls and
drinking potions in this state can be interesting and hazardous
to your health. HOWEVER, eating certain monsters will make you
sick AND confer certain magic abilities, such as the ability to
teleport or see invisible critters, as well as other things.
These are poisonous:
killer bees
homunculi
kobolds
acid blobs
snakes
giant scorpions
giant ants
These have various effects, besides being slightly poisonous:
leprechauns -- teleportitis
nymphs -- teleportitis
floating eyes -- monster detection when blind
mimics -- (you mimic a chest of gold for a while)
unicorns -- teleportitis
bats -- confusion
one (1) freshly dead killer bee will protect you from killer
bee stings. Eating any more bees is deadly.
("slightly poisonous" means "You feel sick.")
("teleportitis" means you bounce around the dungeon a lot.)
Everything else can be eaten -- if you get to them before they
become tainted. Orcs are slightly poisonous a lot of the time,
but can be nutritious sometimes. <jb>
When you see "Ulch -- that meat was tainted! You get very sick."
you are dead unless you have an extra healing potion.
--------------------- Rings ---------------------
Rings work automatically when you put them on. Remember though,
rings cause digestion to speed up. How do you tell if a ring is
cursed when you don't have an identify scroll? Put it on. If you
can't get it off, it's cursed and you have to use a remove curse
scroll to get it off.
Zoos are fun - if you happen to have a ring of conflict on.
The ring which glows red or white at times is a ring of warning -
white is a monster. Red means a trap (or a sleeping monster,
maybe).
Rings may be cursed - in which case you won't be able to get them
off. If that happens with a ring of teleportation you'll end of
with teleportitis.
--------------------- Wands ---------------------
Wands are manually worked. The 'z' command will zap a wand. This
is not mentioned in the help file. It prompts you for which wand
you'd like to use and then performs it's function, such as
lighting the room, or it will ask you for a direction to zap
(such as the wand of fire) before working.
Wands of polymorph are a definite no-no when you have been
swallowed whole - try imagining you're inside a wet paper bag
and cut or beat your way out.
Beware bouncing zaps from a wand - they can be deadly.
Distance is of no consequence to a wand (within a room). It does
use up charges to zap one though and they have a limited number
of charges. Scrolls of identify will tell you how many charges a
wand has left.
Offensive wands like cold, fire, and magic missile will often
have their beams bounce off the wall - occasionally right back at
YOU!
Wands of wishing are picky - be sure to spell out in full, using
the same name that Hack uses, what you're wishing for.
Wands of wishing can be used to wish for wands of wishing....they
may be blank or have no charge though.
--------------------- Scrolls ---------------------
The identify scroll works like the 'D' command. It will prompt:
"What kind of objects do you wish to identify? [)]%/* a ]". The
objects in the brackets [] are types of things you hold. You
then input the type of things to identify, like '!<cr>' to
identify potions. Suppose you have four potions. It will tell
you, one potion at a time, the color of the potion (e.g., a sky
blue potion) and ask you (ynaq)? Type 'y' to identify the
potion displayed, 'n' to go on to the next one; 'a' occasionally
causes Hack to identify all the rest. 'q' quits and does not
identify any more. <rm>
"You feel like someone is helping you" - This is a scroll of
remove curse. Handy after reading a scroll of punishment, or
removing cursed weapons from your hands. When you're confused,
it curses everything you're wearing!
The hardest thing about using a scroll of genocide is deciding
what type of creature you really don't want to see again....how
many times have you been killed by (k) killer bees - or was it
(U) umber hulks - or was it (x) xans - or was it....
Never use a Scroll of Genocide to eliminate @'s ... No matter how
tired you are of being killed by shopkeepers (@) when you bump
into them or have no money, don't use a scroll of genocide to
kill them.....remember, you too are a @ and scrolls of genocide
are not particular.
Do not read a Scroll of Genocide when confused or you will die.
Scrolls of enchantment come in two flavors....+1 & +2....Beware
enchanting something too many times - your precious +4 Elven
Cloak may end up a puddle on the floor or your +5 mace may
become so much rusty iron filings.
The scroll that doesn't seem to do anything is taming.
The scroll that causes laughter in the distance is scare monster.
When you see '__0', you have read a scroll of punishment. To
remove the ball and chain, read a scroll of remove curse.
Also, the heavy ball makes a nifty weapon. It will crush just
about anything when thrown. It may also crush you when going
down stairs.
--------------------- Shopkeepers ---------------------
A useful pastime while in the game: steal from shops! Wand shops
and scroll shops are the easiest. "Antique Walking Sticks" shops
are filled with all sorts of goodies like wands of death, cold,
magic missiles, digging, etc. Pick up what you can and then
carefully use a wand of digging to make a new door. The
shopkeeper is too dumb to realize there is another door and won't
even recognize you if you go back into the shop. Many useful
wands and scrolls can be gained this way. It can also give you
much needed duplicate wands for use when the you see the awful,
unbearable, capitalized 'Nothing Happens' when you wield your
favorite wand of cold - not a pleasant sight when you are up
against a room full of Wraiths, Vampires, and Umber Hulks!
Don't try reading a scroll you haven't paid for unless it's the
teleportation scroll you're using to get out of the shop.
NEVER zap a shopkeeper with a wand of teleport. It will make him
angry and he'll come back fast. He'll then very promptly kill
you. Few souls can survive being hit even once by a shopkeeper.
Shopkeepers are easily angered - be careful not to bump them.
If you manage to steal items from a shop and stay on the same
level as that shop, the shopkeeper may find you and follow you
around, pestering you to pay. As long as he does not corner you
or you don't accidentally hit him, this is no major problem.
However, if you die in a shop, and go back to the same shop
(remember the bones files), the shopkeeper will kick your butt
again. Vault guards have no such memory.
Don't think that you can steal things from a shop, and then go
back in to sell it. It doesn't work and you end up giving it
back to the shopkeeper as charity to replenish his stock.
Especially brave souls have (in desperation) used wands of cold,
fire, and magic missiles to attempt to kill shopkeepers. A very
few have even managed to succeed. Resourceful players have used
wands of polymorph on a shopkeeper to turn him into a more
manageable beastie - some have really botched the effort though
and turned the shopkeeper into a purple worm.
Don't try to sell a scroll to shopkeeper who runs an Antique
Walking Stick store - he'll be happy to take it from you though
and sell it back to you at a BIG profit (that goes for any other
specialty shop - you can sell anything to Antique Items
shopkeepers).
Shopkeepers are not too bright - they'll buy spent wands....maybe
that's what makes them so powerful - they beat you over the head
with dead wands.
--------------------- IBM Bugs ---------------------
The IBM version of hack is either very buggy or I had a bad
connection when I downloaded it. It is faster, though, and the
omnipotent mode is very useful. <jb>
Also, whenever I run the IBM version of hack, trying very hard to
still urges to hit the '?' key when quaffing or reading or
whatever, I get down to about the 23rd level and then hit about
150 demons on that level and the next. This can be very
annoying... <jb>
"There is absolutely no way of getting down to the lower levels
in the ms-dos version of hack. After looking at the sources, I
noticed something in the scrolls section about elevators (?!) ...
which isn't quite the same as what I've experienced ... in any
case, there is no control over vertical teleportation ... also,
the zoo in this version seems to be a mishmash of the zoo and
fort knox ... and the graveyard does exist, I think, but is not
named ... the swamp just isn't there ..." <jb>