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- Welcome to HACK! ( UN*X version 1.0.3 and PC HACK 3.4 )
-
- HACK is a Dungeons and Dragons like game where you (the adventurer)
- descend into the depths of the dungeon in search of the Amulet of Yendor
- (reputed to be hidden on the twentieth level). You are accompanied by a
- little dog that can help you in many ways and can be trained to do all
- sorts of things. On the way you will find useful (or useless) items, (quite
- possibly with magic properties) and assorted monsters. You attack a monster
- by trying to move into the space a monster is in (but often it is much
- wiser to leave it alone).
-
- Unlike most adventure games, which give you a verbal description of
- your location, hack gives you a visual image of the dungeon level you are on.
-
- HACK uses the following symbols:
- A to Z and a to z: monsters. You can find out what a letter
- represents by saying "/ (letter)", as in "/A", which will tell you that 'A'
- is a giant ant.
- - and | These form the walls of a room (or maze).
- . this is the floor of a room.
- # this is a corridor.
- (in PC HACK the dungeon symbols are user definable so may
- not look like this on the screen)
-
- > this is the staircase to the next level.
- < the staircase to the previous level.
- ` A large boulder.
- @ You (usually).
- ^ A trap.
- ) A weapon of some sort.
- ( Some other useful object (key, rope, dynamite, camera, ...)
- [ A suit of armor.
- % A piece of food (not necessarily healthy ...).
- / A wand.
- = A ring.
- ? A scroll.
- ! A magic potion.
- $ A pile or pot of gold.
-
- Commands:
- HACK knows the following commands:
- ? help: print this list.
- ! Escape to a shell.
- < up: go up the staircase (if you are standing on it).
- > down: go down (just like up).
- ^ tell about the type of a trap you found earlier.
- ) tell about current wielded weapon.
- [ tell about current armor.
- = tell about current rings.
- $ count how many gold pieces you are carrying.
- . rest, do nothing.
- , pick up some things.
- : look at what is here.
- / (followed by any symbol): tell what this symbol represents.
- \ tell what has been discovered.
- ^A abort a long command (like waiting, searching, opening a tin)
- ^P repeat last message
- (subsequent ^P's repeat earlier messages).
- ^R redraw the screen.
- ^T teleport.
- a again - do the previous command again
- A use, apply - Generic command for using a key to lock
- or unlock a door, using a camera, using a rope, etc.
- c call: name a certain object or class of objects.
- C Call: Name an individual monster.
- d drop something. d7a: drop seven items of object a.
- D Drop several things.
- In answer to the question "What kinds of things do you
- want to drop? [!%= au]" you should give zero or more
- object symbols possibly followed by 'a' and/or 'u'.
- 'a' means: drop all such objects, without asking for
- confirmation.
- 'u' means: drop only unpaid objects (when in a shop).
- E Engrave: Write a message in the dust on the floor.
- E- means: use fingers for writing.
- e eat food.
- g (followed by one of kjhlyubn): move until something
- interesting is found.
- G (followed by one of KJHLYUBN): as previous, but forking
- of corridors is not considered interesting.
- kjhlyubn - go one step in the direction indicated.
- k: north (i.e., to the top of the screen),
- j: south, h: west, l: east, y: ne, u: nw, b: se, n: sw.
- KJHLYUBN - Go in that direction until you hit a wall or run
- into something.
- ^K^J^H^L^Y^U^B^N - Go in that direction until you find something
- interesting.
- i print your inventory.
- I print selected parts of your inventory, like in
- I* - print all gems in inventory;
- Iu - print all unpaid items;
- Ix - print all used up items that are on your shopping bill;
- I$ - count your money.
- m (followed by one of kjhlyubn): move without picking up
- any objects.
- M (followed by one of KJHLYUBN): Move far, no pickup.
- O Set options. You will be asked to enter an option line.
- If this is empty, the current options are reported.
- Otherwise it should be a list of options separated by commas.
-
- Boolean options are set TRUE by doing "O <option>" and set
- FALSE by doing "O !<option>" or "O no<option>", where <option>
- is one of:
-
- <option> default effects
- -------- ------- -------
- female FALSE If you're a female player (= !male).
- fixinvlet (no longer available)
- male TRUE If you're a male player (= !female).
- rest_on_space FALSE If true, space does the same as `.'
- time FALSE Show elapsed time
- tombstone (no longer available)
- confirm TRUE Prevents you from hitting your dog.
- pickup TRUE Whether you pick up what you step on.
- rawio FALSE If PC HACK can use raw mode for output.
- silent FALSE If the bell rings for input errors.
- sortpack TRUE Whether pack is sorted by object class.
- IBMBIOS FALSE If your computer is IBM BIOS compatible
- DECRainbow FALSE If your computer is a DEC Rainbow.
-
- Compound options are set by doing "O <option>:<value(s)>" where
- <option> and <value(s)> are:
-
- <option> default <value(s)> effect
- -------- ------------------ ------
- name none Supplies the answer to the question
- "Who are you?"; it may have a suffix.
- Name can only be set in the configur-
- ation file.
- endgame 5 t / 4 a A description of what parts of the list
- of topscorers should be printed when
- the game is finished. The default is
- to show the 5 top scores and 4 scores
- around your score.
- packorder ")[%?/=!(*0 The order to display your inventory in.
- Only has an effect if sortpack is TRUE.
-
- Usually one will not want to use the 'O' command, but instead
- put an OPTIONS=.... line in the configuration file.
- p pay your shopping bill.
- P Put on a ring.
- q drink (quaff) a potion.
- Q Quit the game.
- r read a scroll.
- R Remove Ring.
- s search for secret doors and traps around you.
- S Save the game.
- t throw an object or shoot an arrow.
- T Takeoff armor.
- v print version number.
- w wield weapon. w- means: wield nothing, use bare hands.
- W Wear armor.
- z zap a wand.
-
- You can put a number before a command to repeat it that many times,
- as in "20s" or "40.".
-
- When you see the prompt `[ynaq]' this means:
- y - yes for this item.
- n - no for this item (skip to the next one).
- a - yes for all items starting at this one.
- q - quit. Stop asking about these items.
- If you do `D%', HACK will ask you whether you want to drop each piece
- of food. If you answer `a', HACK will drop all pieces of food. If
- you answer `q', HACK will not drop any pieces. You can drop pieces
- selectively by answering `y' or `n' for each piece.
-
-
- On the bottom line you see on what dungeon level you are, how
- much gold you're carrying, how many hit points you have now
- (and will have when fully recovered), what your armor class is
- (the lower the better), your strength, experience level and the
- state of your stomach.
-