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< The Dungeons and Places of Middle-earth >
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Symbols On Your Map The Town and Buildings
The Wilderness In the Dungeon
Objects Mining
Doors, Rooms, Staircases etc. Pets
Winning Dying
Where to get more help
After you have created your character, you will begin your ToME
adventure. Symbols appearing on your screen will represent the world's
walls, floor, objects, features, and creatures lurking about. In order
to direct your character through his adventure, you will enter single
character commands (see "command.txt").
=== Symbols On Your Map ===
Symbols on your map can be broken down into three categories: Features of
the world such as walls, floor, doors, and traps; Objects which can be
picked up such as treasure, weapons, magical devices, etc; and creatures
which may or may not move about the dungeon, but are mostly harmful to your
character's well being.
Some symbols are used to represent more than one type of entity, and some
symbols are used to represent entities in more than one category. The "@"
symbol (by default) is used to represent the character.
It will not be necessary to remember all of the symbols and their meanings.
The "slash" command ("/") will identify any character appearing on your map
(see "command.txt").
Note that you can use a "user pref file" to change any of these symbols to
something you are more comfortable with.
Features that do not block line of sight
. A floor space 1 Entrance to General Store
. A trap (hidden) 2 Entrance to Armoury
^ A trap (known) 3 Entrance to Weapon Smith
; A glyph of warding 4 Entrance to Temple
' An open door 5 Entrance to Alchemy Shop
' A broken door 6 Entrance to Magic Shop
< A staircase up 7 Entrance to the Black Market
< A quest exit 8 Entrance to your Home
< A quest up level 9 Entrance to Bookstore
< A shaft up > A quest down level
> A staircase down > A shaft down
> A quest entrance > Dungeon entrance
_ A fountain _ An empty fountain
* Straight road start/exit * Section of the Straight Road
* Section of the Straight Road * Section of the Straight Road
* Corrupted straight road * An explosive rune
~ Stream of water (shallow) ~ Stream of water (deep)
~ Tainted stream (water) # Underground tunnel
# Pool of lava (shallow) # Pool of lava (deep)
# Dark pit . Dirt
. Patch of Grass . Ice
. Sand . Ash
. Mud . Nether mist
. Floor 0 Altar of Darkness
0 Altar of Force 0 Altar of Winds
0 Altar of Being + Void Jumpgate
; Monster trap . Glass wall
# Illusion wall ; Grass with flowers
. Cobblestone road # Small tree
* Town (in wilderness) ^ Underground tunnel
+ A web
Features that block line of sight
# A secret door # A wall
+ A closed door % A mineral vein
+ A locked door * A mineral vein + treasure
+ A jammed door : A pile of rubble
# A dead tree # Ice wall
# A tree # Sand wall
^ A mountain chain ^ High mountain chain
Objects
! A potion (or flask) / A pole-arm
? A scroll, book, map, parchment / Music instrument
? A rune, runestone | An edged weapon
, A mushroom (or food) \ A hafted weapon or digger
- A wand, rod or rod tip } A sling, bow, or x-bow
_ A staff { A shot, arrow, bolt, boomerang
= A ring ( Soft armour/cloak
" An amulet [ Hard armour
$ Gold or gems ] Misc. armour
~ Lites, Tools, Chests, etc ) A shield
~ Junk, Sticks, Skeletons, etc ` Trapping kit, climbing set
~ Stone, random artifact o Egg
* An essence & (unused)
Monsters
$ Creeping Coins , Mushroom Patch
a Giant Ant A Angelic being
b Giant Bat B Bird
c Giant Centipede C Canine
d Dragon D Ancient Dragon
e Floating Eye E Elemental
f Feline F Dragon Fly
g Golem G Ghost
h Humanoids H Hybrid
i Icky-Thing I Insect
j Jelly J Snake
k Kobold K Killer Beetle
l Giant Louse L Lich
m Mold M Multi-Headed Hydra
n Naga N (unused)
o Orc O Ogre
p Human P Giant Human(oid)
q Quadruped Q Quylthulg
r Rodent R Reptile/Amphibian
s Skeleton S Spider/Scorpion/Tick
t Townsperson T Troll
u Minor demon U Major demon
v Vortex V Vampire
w Worm or Worm Mass W Wight/Wraith
x (unused) X Xorn/Xaren
y Yeek Y Yeti
z Zombie/Mummy Z Zephyr Hound
=== The Town Level ===
The town level is where you will begin your adventure. The town consists of
several buildings (most with an entrance), some townspeople, and a main wall
which surrounds the town (with gates in it). Outside the gates may be found
unclaimed lands and wilderness, where beasts still run wild. The first time
you are in town it will be daytime (unless you are an undead character), but
note that the sun will rise and set (rather instantly) as time passes.
There are a few different towns around the world map, and your starting town
will eventually become too small for you (if you survive the dangers of the
dungeon). Other towns will have some different facilities, and you can find
your way to other towns by reading the "Adventurer's Guide to Middle-earth"
parchment that *every* character begins the game with.
=== Townspeople ===
The town contains many different kinds of people. There are the street
urchins, young children who will mob an adventurer for money, and seem to
come out of the woodwork when excited. Blubbering idiots are a constant
annoyance, but not harmful. Public drunks wander about the town singing,
and are of no threat to anyone. Sneaky rogues who work for the black
market are always greedily eyeing your backpack for potential new
'purchases'... And finally, what town would be complete without a
swarm of half drunk warriors, who take offense or become annoyed just for
the fun of it.
Most of the townspeople should be avoided by the largest possible distance
when you wander from store to store. Fights will break out, though, so be
prepared. Since your character grew up in this world of intrigue, no
experience is awarded for killing the town inhabitants, though you may
acquire treasure.
=== Town Buildings ===
Your character will begin his adventure with some basic supplies, and some
extra gold with which to purchase more supplies at the town stores.
You may enter any open store and barter with the owner for items you can
afford. When bartering, you enter prices you will pay (or accept) for some
object. You can either enter the absolute amount, or precede a number with
a plus or minus sign to give a positive or negative increment on your
previous offer. But be warned that the owners can easily be insulted, and
may even throw you out for a while if you insult them too often. To enter
a store, simply move onto the entrance, which is represented by a number
from 1 to 9.
If you consistently bargain well in a store, that is, you reach the final
offer much more often than not, then the store owner will eventually
recognise that you are a superb haggler, and will go directly to the final
offer instead of haggling with you. Items which cost less than 10 gold
pieces do not count, as haggling well with these items is usually either
very easy or almost impossible. The more expensive the item is, the less
likely the store owner is to assume that you are a good haggler. Note that
you may disable haggling with a software option, though this will inflict a
10% "sales tax" on all purchases for which the store owner would have
required you to haggle.
Once inside a store, you will see the name and race of the store owner, the
name of the store, the maximum amount of cash that the store owner will pay
for any one item, and the store inventory, listed along with tentative
prices, which will become "fixed" (at the "final offer") should you ever
manage to haggle a store owner down to his final offer.
You will also see an (incomplete) list of available commands. Note that
many of the commands which work in the dungeon work in the stores as well,
but some do not, especially those which involve "using" objects.
Stores do not always have everything in stock. As the game progresses,
they may get new items so check from time to time. Also, if you sell them
an item, it may get sold to a customer while you are adventuring, so don't
always expect to be able to get back everything you have sold. Note that
the inventory of a store will not change while you are in town, even if you
save the game and return. You must spend time in the dungeon if you wish
the store owner to clear out his stock and acquire new items. If you have
a lot of spare gold, you can purchase every item in a store, which will
induce the store owner to bring out new stock, and perhaps even retire.
Store owners will not buy harmful or useless items. If an object is
unidentified, they will pay you some base price for it. Once they have
bought it they will immediately identify the object. If it is a good object,
they will add it to their inventory. If it was a bad bargain, they simply
throw the item away. In any case, you may receive some knowledge of the
item if another is encountered.
The General Store ("1")
The General Store sells foods, drinks, some clothing, torches, lamps,
oil, shovels, picks, and spikes. All of these items and some others
can be sold back to the General store for money.
The Armoury ("2")
The Armoury is where the town's armour is fashioned. All sorts of
protective gear may be bought and sold here.
The Weaponsmith's Shop ("3")
The Weaponsmith's Shop is where the town's weapons are fashioned. Hand
and missile weapons may be purchased and sold here, along with arrows,
bolts, and shots.
The Temple ("4")
The Temple deals in healing and restoration potions, as well as bless
scrolls, word of recall scrolls, some approved priestly weapons, and
priest spell books.
The Alchemy shop ("5")
The Alchemy Shop deals in all types of potions and scrolls.
The Magic User's Shop ("6")
The Magic User's Shop deals in all sorts of rings, wands, amulets, and
staves, as well as spell books.
The Black Market ("7")
The Black Market will sell and buy anything at extortionate prices.
However it occasionally has VERY good items in it. The shopkeepers are
not known for their tolerance...
Your Home ("8")
This is your house where you can store objects that you
cannot carry on your travels, or will need at a later date.
The Bookstore ("9")
The Bookstore deals in all sorts of magical books. You can purchase
and sell spellbooks for spellcasters and priests here.
Other Buildings
In addition to the basic stores, there are some special buildings that can be
found in some towns. These Buildings (represented by +'s) include:
Mayor's Office/Castle
The home office for the town, adventurer's looking for work besides
exploring the dungeon should hunt in here.
Pet Shop
Great place to purchase eggs and get pets.
The Soothsayer
To discover what fates ("a") lie in store for you.
The Prancing Pony
Wine, dine, rest and relax!
The Nest
Thunderlords are masters of teleportation, and will consent to bear you
to your chosen dungeon destination for a fee.
Beastmaster Shanty
For those who enjoy trophy hunting, and to research that strange animal
you saw during your adventures.
Fighters Hall
The place to reforge weapons and armour.
Rangers Guild
The place to reforge distance weapons and their ammunition.
Library
For information of all kinds.
Gambling House
Read the rules ("b") before paying. And, the games
are not rigged, just naturally difficult.
Tower of Magery/Wizards Spire
The wizards will identify your items or recharge your magical items for
a fee.
Inner temple/Priests Circle
A place of healing.
Paladin guild
Some healing and enchantments available.
=== The Wilderness and the Wilderness Map ===
Between the towns, the hand of civilisation has not tamed the lands, and
wild creatures run rampant. This is another place that is worth exploring.
Hidden within the wilderness are several interesting locations, with the
four main ones for any adventurer - Barrow Downs, Mirkwood, Mordor and
Angband each being located at or near one of the main towns of Middle-
earth. These locations should be explored consecutively, as each one
increases in difficulty from the point where the previous dungeon finished.
A new character should not try to go at Mordor or Angband as their first
dungeon (well, not if you wish to survive your first step, anyway)!
As well as these (and other) locations, the wilderness can be a good place
to go when you are seeking a change to the scenery of the dungeons, or just
a bit of fast experience.
Be warned - some creatures found in the Wilderness can be quite dangerous,
and travel through the wilderness can be time-consuming. If you are wishing
to simply move to another town, there is an overview map (called the
"Wilderness Map") that can be travelled through by going up "<" from the
town level. While travelling through this map, your character is still having
to actually walk through each square of the normal view, but you only see the
end result of them moving from one 4x4 panel to the next. As such, food
consumption will appear to be much higher in the Wilderness View than it is
normally, and it is recommended that you travel prepared. It is also possible
for the wild creatures within the wilderness to ambush you when travelling,
which will force you out of the Wilderness Map so that you can safely get
yourself out of trouble, before continuing on your way.
All of the special locations can be seen as downstairs (">") on the
Wilderness Map and towns as "*"s. This makes it *much* easier to find your
way from one interesting place to another.
The "Adventurer's Guide to Middle-earth" (a parchment that *every*
character begins the game with) contains details about the towns and
some of the dungeons, including rough directions on how to get there.
=== Within The Dungeon ===
Once your character is adequately supplied with food, light, armor, and
weapons, he is ready to enter Barrow Downs. Move on top of the `>' symbol
and use the "Down" command (">").
Your character will enter a maze of interconnecting staircases and finally
arrive somewhere on the first level of the dungeon. Each level of the
dungeon is fifty feet high (thus dungeon level "Lev 1" is often called
"50 ft"), and is divided into rectangular regions several times
larger than the screen. Once you leave a level by a
staircase, you will never again find your way back to that region of that
level, but there are an infinite number of other regions at that same "depth"
that you can explore later. So be careful that you have found all the
treasure before you leave a level, or you may never find it again! The
monsters, of course, can use the stairs, and you may eventually encounter
them again.
In the dungeon, there are many things to find, but your character must
survive many horrible and challenging encounters to find the treasure lying
about and take it safely back to the town to sell.
There are two sources for light once inside the dungeon. Permanent light
which has been magically placed within rooms, and a light source carried by
the player. If neither is present, the character will be unable to see. This
will affect searching, picking locks, disarming traps, reading scrolls,
casting spells, browsing books, etc. So be very careful not to run out of
light!
A character must wield a torch or lamp in order to supply his own light. A
torch or lamp burns fuel as it is used, and once it is out of fuel, it stops
supplying light. You will be warned as the light approaches this point. You
may use the "Fuel" command ("F") to refuel your lantern (with flasks of oil)
or your torch (with other torches), so it is a good idea to carry extra
torches or flasks of oil, as appropriate. There are rumours of objects of
exceptional power which glow with their own never-ending light.
=== Objects Found In The Dungeon ===
The mines are full of objects just waiting to be picked up and used. How
did they get there? Well, the main source for useful items are all the
foolish adventurers (like you?) that proceeded into the dungeon before you.
They get killed, and the helpful creatures scatter the various treasures
throughout the dungeon. Most cursed items are placed there by the joyful evil
sorcerers, who enjoy a good joke when it gets you killed.
You pick up objects by moving on top of them. You can carry up to 23
different items in your backpack while wearing and wielding up to 12 others.
Although you are limited to 23 different items, each item may actually be a
"pile" of up to 99 similar items. If you somehow manage to stuff 24 items
into your pack, for example, by removing an item from your head while your
pack is full, then your pack will "overflow" and the most recently added
item will fall out and onto the ground. You will be warned about any command
that seems likely to induce this behaviour.
You are, however, limited in the total amount of weight that you can carry.
As you approach this value, you become slower, making it easier for monsters
to chase you. Note that there is no upper bound on how much you can carry,
if you do not mind being slow. Your weight limit is determined by your
strength.
Objects do not block the line of sight, but may stack on top of one another,
with the one on top hiding others beneath it.
Q: I'm standing on a pile of items. How do I see what's in the pile
without picking it all up, moving it, or destroying it all?
A: 1. Stand on the pile in question
2. Type shift + i (examine)
3. Type - (examine items on floor)
4. Type * (expand list of items on floor)
5. (as needed) Type letter associated with item to look at it more
closely.
Objects may also obscure stairs, Ways and void jumpgates.
Q: I'm standing on a pile of items. Is there a command to see if
there is a stair beneath the pile?
A: Stairs, void jumpgates and Ways that obscured by clutter still
function.
You are advised to take a good hard look at your surroundings before
creating lots of dungeon clutter. You can see if there is a stair
beneath the pile with either of these methods:
1. Pick up, move, or eliminate the pile.
2. Press l (look), then select the square you wish to inquire about.
Press ; it will scroll through everything on the ground,
and eventually it ends with "It is in a Void Jumpgate", or
whatever.
Many objects found within the dungeon have special commands for their use.
Wands must be Aimed, staves must be Used, scrolls must be Read, and potions
must be Quaffed. You may, in general, not only use items in your pack, but
also items on the ground, if you are standing on top of them. For a detailed
list of the commands to use objects, see command.txt.
Chests are complex objects, containing traps, locks, and possibly treasure
or other objects inside them once they are opened. Many of the commands that
apply to traps or doors also apply to chests and, like traps and doors, these
commands do not work if you are carrying the chest.
One item in particular will be discussed here. The scroll of "Word of
Recall" can be found within the dungeon, or bought at the temple in
town. It acts in two manners, depending upon your current location. If read
within the dungeon, it will teleport you back to town. If read in town, it
will teleport you back down to the deepest level of the dungeon which your
character has previously been on. This makes the scroll very useful for
getting back to the deeper levels of the dungeon. Once the scroll has been
read it takes a while for the spell to act, so don't expect it to save you
in a crisis. Reading a second scroll before the first has had a chance to
take effect will cancel both scrolls. Since an accidental dive to a new depth
(via a trapdoor, for example), may result in the Word of Recall dungeon depth
being 'broken', so to speak (meaning that the next Word of Recall in town
will take you back deeper than you would like to), there is a feature in
ToME which allows you to read a scroll of Word of Recall on a different
level and 'reset' the recall depth to that level (instead of the deepest
level). Some dungeons cannot be recalled into, though you can still recall
out.
You may "inscribe" any object with a textual inscription of your choice.
These inscriptions are not limited in length, though you may not be able to
see the whole inscription on the item. The game applies special meaning to
inscriptions containing any text of the form "@#" or "@x#" or "!x" or "!*",
see "command.txt" and "macrofaq.txt".
The game provides some "fake" inscriptions to help you keep track of your
possessions. Wands and staves which are known to be empty will be inscribed
with "empty". Objects which have been tried at least once but haven't been
identified yet will be inscribed with "tried". Cursed objects are inscribed
with "cursed". Broken objects may be inscribed with "broken". Also, any
item which was purchased at a discount, implying that it is slightly
"sub-standard", will be inscribed with the appropriate "discount", such as
"25% off". Note that these inscriptions are fake, and cannot be removed,
though they can be covered up by a real inscription if you so desire. Try
"_" as a nice short one.
Also, occasionally you will notice that something in your inventory or
equipment list seems to be magical. High level characters are much more
likely to notice this than beginning characters. When you do notice this,
the item in question will be inscribed with "good" or "cursed" as is
relevant. You can increase your ability to notice magical effects of armour
and weapons by increasing the Combat skill. You can increase your ability
to sense particularly well enchanted magical items (potions, scrolls. wands
etc) by increasing your Magic skill. If you increase these
high enough, you will gain a special method of "sensing" your
inventory/equipment items, which tells you if an item is "good" or "cursed",
but also if it is "average", "special", "excellent", "terrible" or "worthless".
The colour of the letter that identifies each item in your backpack can tell
you something about their magical status. Grey indicates the item has not been
identified yet. After identification, the colour changes to one of the
following: white, indicating it is normal; b;ue indicates it is an ego-item
(pseudo-id's as {excellent}); yellow indicates it is an artifact {special};
green shows it is an artifact which is part of a set.
It is rumoured that rings of power and extra rare spell books may be found
deeper in the dungeon...
And lastly, a final warning: not all objects are what they seem. The line
between tasty food and annoying mushroom is a fine one, and sometimes a
potion will reach out and bite you...
=== Cursed Objects ===
Some objects, mainly armour and weapons, have had curses laid upon them.
These horrible objects will look like any other normal item, but will
detract from your character's stats or abilities if worn. They will also
be impossible to remove until a remove curse is done. In fact some are
so badly cursed that even this will not work, and more potent methods are
needed.
If you wear or wield a cursed item, you will immediately feel something
wrong. The item will also be inscribed "cursed".
Shopkeepers will refuse to buy any known cursed item.
=== Digging and Mining ===
It is possible for you to be trapped within the dungeon. You will not be able
to dig your way out without a digging tool (shovel, pick, or other means of
digging). It is absolutely essential to always carry some kind of digging tool,
even when you are not planning on tunnelling for treasure. Do not leave the
town level of Bree without a digger!
Picks and shovels have a digging ability expressed as "(+)", e.g. (+2).
The higher the number, the better the digging ability of the tool. Diggers are
effective against rubble, trees, and many walls. Rubble and veins may hide
treasure; trees do not.
You dig in something with the dig (shift + t) command. Thorough digging removes
one ASCII square (i.e. tile) of what is being dug. This may require multiple
attempts depending on how good your digger is. Once the square is removed, you
will be informed if you found anything there. If another diggable square exists
beyond the area you just dug, you can begin the process again.
Some dungeons contain rich strikes which may be found only by mining it out of
the walls. Quartz veins are the richest, yielding the most metals and gems, but
magma veins may also hide hoards within them. When digging rock, granite is
much harder to dig through than quartz or magma veins, so it is much faster to
follow a vein exactly and dig around the granite. There is also a game option
for highlighting magma and quartz within the walls, which makes this easier.
If the Character has a scroll, staff, or spell of treasure location, she can
immediately locate all strikes of treasure within a vein shown on the screen.
This makes mining much easier and more profitable.
=== Staircases, Ways, Void jumpgates, Secret Doors, Passages, and Rooms ===
Staircases are the manner in which you get deeper or climb out of the
dungeon. The symbols for the up and down staircases are the same as the
commands to use them. A "<" represents an up staircase and a ">" represents
a down staircase. You must move your character over the staircase before
you can use it. You use it by typing the same character as the staircase
itself (either "<" or ">".)
In flat environments such as forests, Ways replace staircases. On the map, Ways
are identical to staircases and behave the same way.
Yellow down stairs and Ways are quest entrances.
Shafts are also represented by "<" or ">", but are brown. They work similarly
to stairs and Ways, but if you use one, you might traverse more than dungeon
level all in one go as a result.
Stairs, impenetrable walls, and shop entrances like titanium walls, and the
doors into shops, cannot be destroyed by any means (although their location can
occasionally change under the right circumstances).
A void jumpgate appears on your map as a violet '+'. Jumpgates always occur in
pairs. To activate a jumpgate, stand on it and type ">". You will instantly
appear on top of its paired jumpgate, which will be somewhere else on the same
dungeon level.
Many secret doors are used within the dungeon to confuse and demoralise
adventurers foolish enough to enter. But with some luck, and lots of
concentration, you can find these secret doors. Secret doors will sometimes
hide rooms or corridors, or even entire sections of that level of the
dungeon. Sometimes they simply hide small empty closets or even dead ends.
Secret doors always look like granite walls, just like traps always look
like normal floors.
Creatures in the dungeon will generally know and use these secret doors, and
can often be counted on to leave them open behind them when they pass
through.
For historical reasons, secret doors are never locked.
=== Pets and Companions ===
You may, in the course of a game acquire friendly monsters who will help you
defeat enemies. There are several different types of these, you can determine
which your monster is by 'l'ooking at it.
neutral This monster will not help you by attacking other monsters, but nor
will it attack you.
co-aligned This monster will attack other enemy monsters, but you will not
gain any experience for it's kills.
pet This monster will kill things for you. The amount of experience you gain
from its kills is determined by the level of your Monster-lore skill.
This monster will gain levels and experience of its own, but cannot travel
between dungeon levels.
companion This type of monster will not only take experience and level up like
pets, but will also follow you from one dungeon level to the next. If
you successfully complete an adventurer quest for a lost sword and let
him join you, he will become a companion. Once again the amount of
experience you gain from a companions kill depends upon your
Monster-lore skill.
Your Monster-lore skill also determines the maximum amount of pets and
companions you can have at any one time.
Pets, companions and co-aligned creatures cannot deliver killing blows to
uniques or quest monsters. You must do this yourself!
You can give commands to pets and companions to make them more useful, using the
'P' command. The list of available commands is as follows:
dismiss companions Dismisses your companions. They can be difficult to get rid
of any other way.
dismiss pets Dismisses pets. You will be given the opportunity to dismiss all
current pets, or if you answer no to that first question, to
dismiss specific pets.
call pets Calls your pets (and companions) to you.
follow me Asks your pets (and companions) to follow you. They do have a mind of
their own, and may not be able to travel as fast as you can.
seek and destroy Selecting this will cause your pets and companions to wander
further from you, looking for enemies to kill.
allow/disallow open doors Selecting this toggles whether your pets and
companions can open doors.
allow/disallow pickup items Selecting this toggles whether your pets and
companions can pick up items. Disallowing it will
cause the monster to drop any items he is carrying on
the floor.
give target to a friend Selecting this will cause one of your pets or
companions to attack your current target.
give target to all friends Causes all pets or companions to attack your
current target.
friend forget target All your friends will follow their normal attack
patterns, neglecting any targets you have given them.
=== Game Objectives ===
In ToME you will be required to complete a certain number of quests. Your
first quest is to discover the true nature of the evil lurking in the Tower of
Dol Goldur near Mirkwood
Each quest may lead on to others, and many quests can be postponed until when
you feel ready to tackle them. Simply explore other dungeons until you feel you
have gained enough experience to tackle your next task. Other quests are
optional and can be used for further experience.
When you are ready to retire, simply "commit suicide" ("^Q") to have your
character entered into the high score list as a winner. Note that until you
retire, you can still be killed, so you may want to retire before wandering
into a hoard of nasties...
You may also like to make a character sheet of your winning character (by
going through the "C"haracter screen and choosing "f"ile, and posting in the
rec.games.roguelike.angband newsgroup with a text copy of the dump pasted
into the post. Include details about anything major that happened to your
character - did they find a ring of speed (+10) on dungeon level 2? Or had
they reached dungeon level 60 before finding their first artifact? Did you
have a really scary moment that stands out from the rest of the game? And how
*did* you actually win the game, anyway?
=== Upon Death and Dying ===
If your character falls below 0 hit points, he has died and cannot be
restored (for most classes, anyway). A tombstone showing information about
your character will be displayed. You are also permitted to get a record of
your character, and all your equipment (identified) either on the screen or
in a file.
Your character will leave behind a reduced save file, which contains only
the monster memory and your option choices. It may be restored, in which
case the new character is generated exactly as if the file was not there,
but the new player will find his monster memory containing all the experience
of past incarnations.
In this way, death in ToME is permanent. You cannot simply 'reload at the last
save' as in most other contemporary games. Death is permanent. Just as it is
in real life in fact.