"Lost in the Pits of Angband" by Troy H. Cheek on Nov 06, 2006

Every few years, I re-discover The Pits of Angband. For those who don't know, Angband is a turn-driven single-play role-playing game with a ASCII interface. It is based very roughly on Dungeons and Dragons, the writings of JRR Tolkien, and the original Rogue computer game.

Many years ago there was Rogue, which I never played and know nothing about except that it spawned a great number of spiritual offspring. One of these was Mines of Moria, which placed the players in said mines with the mission of finding and killing the Balrog. That one, I played. Well, I played something called uMoria, which I'm told is just a later version. I played uMoria on a VAX/VMS system at school, connected with a 300 baud modem (back when 1 baud=1 bps and such things were considered state of the art) and a 40-col screen running on an Atari 8-bit computer. The 40-col screen was a particular problem because the game was designed to run in 80-col. I eventually found an emulator which allowed me to pretend my 13" B&W TV was an 80-col monitor, but it was not the easiest thing in the world to do.

For several months, I mistakenly believed that I was aiming magic hands at monsters. I was quite surprised to find out that I had been collecting magic wands instead.

Of course, uMoria isn't exactly a standard part of a VAX/VMS Engineering school mainframe. The program was actually compiled and installed by an upperclassman, very hush hush and in total violation of several rules, and the exact location and how to access it was doled out on a need to know basis. You had to impress the inner circle with your geekiness to even be told of such a thing.

When they saw how I'd re-wired the dorm room phone, made a computer desk out of stolen milk crates, and had my very own modem, they gave me full access.

I played entirely too much uMoria in those days, even going so far as to blow off study groups to get in a few more levels. I would have blown off classes, but the thing was configured to not run during normal business hours. I don't know if that was to make us go to class, or to keep the adnministrative types from noticing that we were using the very expensive state of the art (back then) mainframe to play silly games.

I never came close to winning. I was never in the same ZIP code as winning.

Years later, I discovered that uMoria was available for my Atari ST, which was great because I didn't need a modem and to tie up a phone line to play for hours on end. I also finally had a real monitor, and not a TV. Not so great because I hadn't gotten any better at winning. At least the display was much better.

Years later again, I decided my brand new Windoze computer needed some good games, so I began looking for uMoria. Instead, I found a game called The Pits of Angband which was even better. In Moria, you killed the Balrog. In Angband, the Balrog was just a servant. You were after the Great Enemy Sauron himself, followed by the Tolkien equivalent of Satan himself, Morgoth (formerly known as Melkor).

I always play as a magic user, or mage. I do this because long ago I read that they're harder to keep alive in the beginning, but it's worth it because they're easier to win the game with. Considering how often I die horrible deaths, perhaps I should revise this strategy.

I usually play as a human because they go up in levels faster, being shorter-lived and more adventurous that most other races. I mean, if you're a High-Elf who's already lived a thousand years, killing a kobold isn't really going to teach you anything new, is it?

I started most recently a few weeks ago, and "Catfish the human mage" has died any number of horrible deaths. He's also been restored from backup savefiles a few times. Yes, I know this is considered cheating, but it's not like I'm restoring because I died wading into a room full of Trolls or miscalculating resists when going up against a pack of Nether Hounds. Instead, I've saved Catfish from the following deaths:

1. killed by brown recluse spider. No, a real spider which decided to crawl across my keyboard at 2AM. By the time I finished swatting it to death and cleaning its remains off the keys, Catfish had somehow committed suicide.
2. killed by keypress buffer. In spite of all those options about flushing input and whatnot, a Battle-Scarred Veteran came up behind me while I was kicking Farmer Maggot around, and before I could get the game to stop, the Vet had hacked me to an early grave.
3. killed by power flicker. In spite of the UPS I installed specifically to fix that little problem.
4. killed by targeting bug. Three times hit "*" to target, three times tell it I want to shoot my cold ball spell at that ancient red dragon (D) in the corner, and three times in a row it fires backwards to the empty floor tile where that green glutton ghost (G) was sitting earlier.
5. killed by nephew. I leave the computer alone for three minutes, and not only does the nephew figure out how to take off and drop my best equipment, but he finds the nearest stairway as well.
6. killed by touch typing. Oh, the tombstone says it was an out of depth Vampire Lord, but the actual cause of death was the fact that I was one row of keys off when I was trying to type in the command to teleport out of there.

All the other deaths, I let slide. And start again.

Funny, but when your strength rating is 10, every good weapon you find is something like "Boat Anchor of Westernesse (8d7) (+25,+30) (+1) 88 lbs" and "you feel uncomfortable weilding such a heavy weapon." But once your strength gets up to where you could actually carry such a thing, well, I swear I found three (3) daggers of Gondolin on the same level.

For amusement, here's a character dump of the latest incarnation of Catfish. Don't bother writing in about it, as he'll probably be dead by the time you read this.

  [Angband 3.0.6 Character Dump]

Name   Catfish                                  Self  RB  CB  EB   Best
Sex    Male              Age        15   STR! 18/100  +0  -5  +4  18/90
Race   Human             Height     62   INT! 18/100  +0  +3  +7 18/200
Class  Mage              Weight    217   WIS! 18/100  +0  +0  +4 18/140
Title  Warlock           Status     17   DEX! 18/100  +0  +1  +5 18/160
HP     448/448           Maximize    Y   CON! 18/100  +0  -2  +4 18/120
SP     305/305           Preserve    Y   CHR! 18/100  +0  +1  +0 18/110

Level           38       Armor     [12,+85]     Saving Throw     Superb
Cur Exp     949250       Fight      (+7,-3)     Stealth          Superb
Max Exp     949250       Melee     (+18,+8)     Fighting         Superb
Adv Exp    1105000       Shoot    (+19,+15)     Shooting         Superb
MaxDepth    Lev 35       Blows       4/turn     Disarming        Superb
Gold        706595       Shots       1/turn     Magic Device     Heroic
Burden   137.7 lbs                              Perception       Superb
Speed           +7       Infra         0 ft     Searching        Superb

You are one of several children of a Serf.  You are a credit to the
family.  You have green eyes, straight brown hair, and a dark
complexion.


     abcdefghijkl@       abcdefghijkl@
Acid:......+++.... Blind:.........+...
Elec:.+....+.+.... Confu:......+.+....
Fire:.+....+.+.... Sound:.............
Cold:.+....+.+.... Shard:.............
Pois:...+......... Nexus:.............
Fear:............. Nethr:.............
Lite:..........+.. Chaos:.............
Dark:............. Disen:.............

      abcdefghijkl@       abcdefghijkl@
S.Dig:............. Stea.:.......++..+.
Feath:...........+. Sear.:....+........
PLite:..........+.. Infra:.............
Regen:.+........... Tunn.:.............
Telep:.........+... Speed:..+....+...+.
Invis:+............ Blows:.............
FrAct:+.........+.. Shots:.............
HLife:......+...... Might:.+...........


[Character Equipment]

a) a Katana of Westernesse (3d4) (+11,+11) (+2)
   It increases your strength, dexterity, and constitution by 2.  It
   slays orcs, trolls, and giants.  It grants you immunity to paralysis
   and the ability to see invisible things.  
b) The Short Bow of Amrod (x2) (+12,+15) (+2)
   It increases your strength and constitution by 2.  It increases your 
   shooting power by 2.  It provides resistance to lightning, fire, and 
   cold.  It speeds your regeneration.  It cannot be harmed by the
   elements.  
c) a Ring of Speed (+2)
   It increases your speed by 2.  
d) a Ring of Resist Poison
   It provides resistance to poison.  
e) an Amulet of Searching (+8)
   It increases your searching by 8.  
f) The Phial of Galadriel {Mughash, Level 10}
   It lights the dungeon around you.  It activates for illumination
   every 10+d10 turns.  It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
g) a Robe of Permanence [2,+19]
   It provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, confusion,
   and life draining.  It sustains all your stats.  It cannot be harmed
   by the elements.  
h) The Cloak 'Holcolleth' [1,+11] (+2)
   It increases your intelligence and wisdom by 2.  It increases your 
   stealth and speed by 2.  It provides resistance to acid.  It
   activates for sleep II every 55 turns.  It cannot be harmed by the
   elements.  
i) a Large Leather Shield of Elvenkind [4,+14] (+1 to stealth)
   It increases your stealth by 1.  It provides resistance to acid, 
   lightning, fire, cold, and confusion.  It cannot be harmed by the
   elements.  
j) The Hard Leather Cap of Thranduil [2,+10] (+2)
   It increases your intelligence and wisdom by 2.  It provides
   resistance to blindness.  It grants you the power of telepathy.
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
k) The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cammithrim' [1,+10]
   It provides resistance to light.  It sustains your constitution.  It 
   lights the dungeon around you.  It grants you immunity to paralysis.  
   It activates for magic missile (2d6) every 2 turns.  It cannot be
   harmed by the elements.  
l) The Pair of Soft Leather Boots of Wormtongue (-8,-8) [2,+10] (+3) {uncursed}
   It increases your intelligence and dexterity by 3.  It increases your 
   stealth and speed by 3.  It makes you fall like a feather.  It
   activates for phase door every 20 turns.  It cannot be harmed by the
   elements.


[Character Inventory]

a) 7 Books of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners] {!d!v}
b) 5 Books of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks] {!d!v}
c) 5 Books of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions] {!d!v}
d) 6 Books of Magic Spells [Sorcery and Evocations] {!d!v}
e) a Book of Magic Spells [Resistances of Scarabtarices] {!d!v}
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
f) a Book of Magic Spells [Raal's Tome of Destruction] {!d!v}
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
g) a Book of Magic Spells [Tenser's Transformations] {!d!v}
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
h) 3 Rods of Recall {!*}
   It cannot be harmed by electricity.  
i) a Rod of Enlightenment {!d!v}
j) a Staff of Dispel Evil (7 charges) {!d!v}
k) 75 Arrows of Venom (1d4) (+0,+0) {=g}
   It is branded with poison.


[Home Inventory]

a) 2 Books of Magic Spells [Resistances of Scarabtarices]
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
b) a Book of Magic Spells [Raal's Tome of Destruction]
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
c) a Book of Magic Spells [Tenser's Transformations] {!d!v}
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
d) 20 Potions of Speed
e) 29 Potions of Healing
f) 15 Potions of Restore Mana
g) 8 Scrolls of *Identify*
h) a Staff of the Magi (3 charges)
i) a Ring of Protection [+14]
j) Bronze Dragon Scale Mail (-2) [30,+5] (charging)
   It provides resistance to confusion.  It activates for breathe
   confusion (120) every 450+d450 turns.  It cannot be harmed by the
   elements.  
k) The Cloak of Thorongil [1,+10]
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  It might have hidden powers.
l) a Metal Cap of Telepathy [3,+4]
   It grants you the power of telepathy.  
m) The Metal Cap of Thengel [3,+12] (+3)
   It increases your wisdom and charisma by 3.  It cannot be harmed by
   the elements.  It might have hidden powers.
n) The Steel Helm of Hammerhand [6,+20] (+3)
   It increases your strength, dexterity, and constitution by 3.  It
   cannot be harmed by the elements.  It might have hidden powers.
o) The Set of Gauntlets 'Paurnimmen' [2,+15]
   It provides resistance to cold.  It slows your metabolism.  It
   activates for frost bolt (6d8) every 7+d7 turns.  It cannot be harmed
   by the elements.  
p) The Broken Sword 'Narsil' (3d2) (+6,+10) (+2)
   It increases your strength and dexterity by 2.  It increases your 
   attack speed by 2.  It slays orcs and trolls.  It provides resistance
   to fire.  It is blessed by the gods.  It cannot be harmed by the
   elements.  
q) The Dagger 'Belangil' (2d4) (+6,+9) (+2)
   It increases your dexterity by 2.  It cannot be harmed by the
   elements.
   It might have hidden powers.
r) The Dagger 'Dethanc' (2d4) (+4,+6)
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  It might have hidden powers.
s) The Dagger 'Narthanc' (2d4) (+4,+6)
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  It might have hidden powers.
t) The Dagger 'Nimthanc' (2d4) (+4,+6)
   It is branded with frost.  It provides resistance to cold.  It
   activates for frost bolt (6d8) every 7+d7 turns.  It cannot be harmed
   by the elements.  
u) The Battle Axe 'Lotharang' (2d8) (+4,+3) (+1)
   It increases your strength and dexterity by 1.  It slays orcs and 
   trolls.  It activates for cure wounds (4d8) every 3+d3 turns.  It
   cannot be harmed by the elements.  
v) The Lochaber Axe 'Mundwine' (3d8) (+12,+17)
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  It might have hidden powers.
w) The Flail 'Totila' (3d6) (+6,+8) (+2 to stealth)
   It increases your stealth by 2.  It slays all evil creatures.  It is
   branded with fire.  It provides resistance to fire and confusion.  It
   activates for confuse monster every 15 turns.  It cannot be harmed by
   the elements.


[Options]

Adult: Allow purchase of stats using points  : no  (adult_point_based)
Adult: Allow specification of minimal stats  : no  (adult_auto_roller)
Adult: Maximize effect of race/class bonuses : yes (adult_maximize)
Adult: Preserve artifacts when leaving level : yes (adult_preserve)
Adult: Restrict the use of stairs/recall     : no  (adult_ironman)
Adult: Restrict the use of stores/home       : no  (adult_no_stores)
Adult: Restrict creation of artifacts        : no  (adult_no_artifacts)
Adult: Randomize some of the artifacts (beta): no  (adult_rand_artifacts)
Adult: Don't stack objects on the floor      : no  (adult_no_stacking)
Score: Peek into object creation             : no  (score_peek)
Score: Peek into monster creation            : no  (score_hear)
Score: Peek into dungeon creation            : no  (score_room)
Score: Peek into something else              : no  (score_xtra)
Score: Know complete monster info            : no  (score_know)
Score: Allow player to avoid death           : no  (score_live)

Well, back to the mines! I mean, the pits!

Copyright 2006 by Troy H. Cheek. Reprint with prior written permission only. Comments and questions to