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What better way to start off the Roguelike megathread than with the precursor to them all, Rogue?

Rogue was developed in 1980 for Unix systems. In Rogue, you are an adventurer who is heading to the Dungeons of Doom to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, then return to the surface. To do so, you must descend floor by floor, fighting (or running from) dangerous monsters and using any items you find along the way to give you an edge. Even though Rogue has been adapted to be able to be played on a Windows system (I am running version 5.4.4), the version I am playing is in ASCII, so I'll use opportunities throughout this game to talk about how ASCII graphics work. With that said, let's begin!


Part 1: Welcome To Die



The main character of this game (represented by the @) starts off in a nice open room (. represents a floor tile, | and - represent walls, and + represents doors). Lying on the ground near me is also our first item type, a scroll (represented by the ?)!

Also present is the HUD, which tells us (from left to right) what level of the Dungeon of Doom we are on, our current gold, our current and max HP (which always starts at 12), our current and max strength (which always starts at 16), our current armor rating, and our current experience level and amount of xp we have obtained. As a quick breakdown of each:

Level - Simple to understand. The Amulet of Yendor can usually be found on Level 26.

Gold - Completely useless for anything other than score at the end of the game. Still, it's fun to collect!

HP - If this hits 0, we die. Luckily, gaining experience can increase this!

Strength - This stat gives us bonuses (or penalties) to attacking things in battle. The higher the number, the better; conversely, the lower it is, the harder it becomes to kill things.

Armor - This determines how hard it is for monsters to be able to hit us. Rogue uses AD&D Second Edition rules for armor class and combat (aka THAC0), but the game has thankfully simplified the visible number for us to a quick "bigger is better" rule.

EXP - Our experience level is solely there to tell us how many times we have leveled up; if the number is bigger, it will take more xp in order to level up again. I'll cover more about level ups when one has actually happened.



I also pop open our inventory. Every game will start you with this exact same equipment: one ration of food, a +1 ring mail (AC of 7, or Arm 3 normally, but the enchantment makes it Arm 4), a mace with +1 to hit and +1 to damage, a short bow with +1 to hit, and 39 unenchanted arrows.

Notice a trend? Every game starts exactly the same, so the only thing that can change what the character has is the dungeon itself, which is completely randomized every time. Replayability, ho!


When I head on over to grab the scroll (which is picked up automatically and does not take any extra time), it is labeled with complete gibberish. This is because all items in Rogue start out unidentified; even if you find an item in a different game with the same name, it may be a completely different item. This serves to make it riskier to try items out if you are already doing well, since some items have negative effects. Items are also only identified if they had a visible effect, which can make it harder to figure out if what you used was something useful or harmful.



I head through the door and a tunnel (represented by #) to another room, which contains more things!

There is a kestral (represnted by a K) aka a name replaced kobold. All monsters in Rogue are represented by letters, and there are 26 different types. Early on, there are usually only relatively weak monsters; later on, monsters slowly approach the point where it is suicide to try to fight them. Kestrals specifically have a special ability that lets them move twice as quickly as other monsters.

There is also a pile of gold (represented by *) and a staircase down to the next level (represented by %). When you take a staircase down, the level you were on disappears, and there is no way to return to it. Once you get the amulet of Yendor on Level 26, you gain the choice of ascending back upstairs, or descending to show off more/get more gold (although around Level 30, monsters will start getting two turns to every turn you take). More modern roguelikes were designed to keep their levels between transitions, but remember that this was 1980.



I inch closer and see that the kestral hasn't started running towards me. That means that it is probably asleep. If this were a more dangerous creature, it would be wiser to just leave it alone. However, I want to try to get a level up while it is still easy to do so.



I run up and attempt to smack it in the face (by running my character into it). Unfortunately, I can't seem to hit a stationary target.



Thankfully, it can't hit me either.



After a few embarrassing rounds, I finally manage to hit (and kill) the kestral! It's only worth 1xp though, and I'm going to need a lot more than that to level up.



I keep exploring and run into a snake (represented by a S)! Snakes are harder to hit than kestrals, but are do less damage and are worth more experience. I also find a ration of food (represented by a : )! Although it has not come up yet, there is a hunger timer that slowly ticks down the longer you play, and only food can restore it. If you don't progress through the dungeon fast enough to find food to replace what you are eating (such as taking too much time to rest between fights), you can easily end up starving to death.



I also find a potion (represented by a !)!



Although it is randomized like scrolls are, potions are much more dangerous to identify through use. This is usually reserved for an emergency situation.



Heading into the next room has me run into a pair of hobgoblins (represented by an H). Hobgoblins are the nastiest creatures to fight this early on, as they are as agile as a snake, and can hit for upwards of 8 damage!



Since they are lined up nice, though, I take the time to equip my short bow over my mace. Ranged weapons work in a funny way with Rogue: technically, you can just throw arrows at an enemy without using a bow, and it will be almost as effective, since they only thing a bow will change about the arrows is giving them improved hit chance and damage based on how enchanted the bow is. Since these hobgoblins are pretty dodgy, I figure I need the extra edge.



However, I accidentally move into range of the first hobgoblin instead of shooting it with an arrow



I manage to recover from my mistake and pincushion the first hobgoblin at point blank range. As a side note, any arrow that hits an enemy will disappear, while arrows that missed will land on the ground around where they were.



I also take out the second one before he gets in range of me, which manages to get me enough experience for level 2!

Gaining a level in Rogue only does two thing: increase your max HP, and how long it takes to regenerate HP. Max HP is increased from anywhere between one to ten (I got five here, which is pretty middling). How long it takes to regenerate HP starts at 19 turns at level one, and decreases to 3 turns at level 8 (after which, you regain more HP per 3 turns). Thus, it is important to get some early levels. After a certain point, however, it will take too much xp to get to the next level compared to the benefits it will give you.



I swap back in the mace, since the game is not kind enough to remind you that whacking things with a short bow is not very effective.



I find some more food over in this room as well! Looks like I will be able to take my time and play careful for a while!



In the last room of this floor, I encounter an emu (represented by an E). Emus are very weak, but still worth more than kestrals in experience for some reason.

All levels in Rogue are based on a 3x3 grid, which are connected by tunnels. Inside each space on the grid, there can be the potential for a room (like this layout), tunnel mazes, or even nothing at all. It is good to remember, if the stairs down are missing, to see if all nine grid spots are have been found.



I head over to the stairs and jump down to Level 2, spotting a new enemy type: a bat (represented by a B)! Bats are very weak, and have randomized movement, but they are fast.



Unfortunately, I get unlucky in combat, and have gotten very injured. I proceed carefully to try to find a safer room to rest in.



After almost dying to a kestral, I manage to find a safe room.



I retreat to the corner and start hitting the rest key until my health is at a reasonable level again.



With most of my health back, I continue exploring the level, encountering my first dark room. Dark rooms will only let you see the floor tiles and monsters immediately around you, unless you use something to light it up.



I stumble upon a couple kestrals in the dark while I explore the room, managing to get myself to Level 3! Unfortunately, the randomzied HP was much less kind this time (only three)



I spot another emu and decide to show off a positioning feature that will be important later.



I head to the doorway and stand inside it, then wait for the emu to come close to me. Doorways can only be entered from an orthagonal direction (not diagonally), making it very useful for funneling monsters towards you one at a time.



This works both ways, however: finding this kestral in the room, I cannot attack it diagonally either. I have to wait a turn for it to move in front of me.



The last thing I find on this floor is another scroll (with nothing in the top left corner).


NEXT TIME: We continue diving down into the Dungeon of Doom!