The following is adapted from Don G. Kneller's PC Hack documentation.



A Guide to AGB_Hack
===================



Introduction
------------

The object of Hack is to descend into a dungeon to retrieve the Amulet of
Yendor and return to the surface with it. The Amulet is in the possession of
the Wizard of Yendor.

Your character
--------------

You can be one of several character classes when you start the game. Each
character starts with different attributes (strength, hit points) and a
different inventory of items (armor, weapons, etc). You should try the
different classes to see which is best for you. The class most likely to
survive the first few dungeon levels is probably the cave-person. However,
each class has its strong and weak points so you should try them all.

The status line
---------------

At the bottom of the screen is displayed information about your state of
being. You see the dungeon level you are on, 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.

The little dog
--------------

You start Hack accompanied by a little dog (nameable with the 'C' command) who
can be very useful to you -- try not to kill him! Your dog will follow you --
if you carry tripe rations, he will follow you even better. Sometimes he gets
in your way. Either move around him, or wait (with the '.' command) until he
moves. If you want him to follow you to the next dungeon level, he must be on
a square next to you when you descend or ascend the stairs. Sometimes he gets
hungry and confused and hits you. You can feed him by throwing food at him
with the 't' command.

Your dog may get mad at you if you move to a different dungeon level without
taking him with you. Although he may not hit you, he won't help you either.
You'll have to appease him somehow.

Your dog is useful for his ability to fight and to pick up and carry objects.

Of course, your dog can be male or female; it makes no difference in the game.

The dungeon
-----------

The dungeon is a set of levels connected through stairways and trapdoors.
Each level is an interconnected system of rooms and corridors. The rooms have
doors that lead to the corridors. You must walk straight through a door -- no
diagonals allowed. Some doors (and some corridors) are hidden and you must
search for them (with the 's' command). Usually you must search several times,
so use a repeat count (e.g. '5s'). Some rooms are special and have no doors or
connecting corridors. There is a way to get in, though, but you will have to
find out how on your own.

The Wizard resides below the normal dungeon levels and can't be reached by
only taking the stairs.

Some rooms have special contents -- some are shops (but be aware that the
shopkeeper expects payment (the 'p' command) for the items you get there) and
some are zoos, full of interesting monsters. Some rooms are lit and you can
see the entire room, and some rooms are dark so you can see only the floor
near you.

Monsters
--------

To fight monsters, move to occupy the same square they are in. You can also
throw things at them, or zap them with wands. It is best to leave some
monsters alone.

Objects
-------

The objects you find may be enchanted (that's good) or cursed (that's bad) or
normal. Cursed items are generally less effective than normal and also, once
you have them on your body, they are impossible to remove unless you remove
their curse.

You use different objects in different ways:

       )  WEAPONS are wielded ('w') or thrown ('t').
          Some weapons are more effective when used together. For example, you
          get more effect by wielding a bow before throwing arrows. 'w-' means
          to wield nothing; i.e. be barehanded.

       [  ARMOR is worn ('W') and taken off ('T').
          You can wear more than one piece of armor, but there are some
          restrictions on the combinations. For example, you can only wear one
          suit of armor, but you can also wear an elven cloak over it.

       !  POTIONS are quaffed ('q').

       =  RINGS are put on ('P') and removed ('R').
          You can only wear two rings at a time, one on each hand. Also,
          wearing rings makes you use up more food, so use them sparingly.

       /  WANDS are zapped ('z').
          Some wands need a direction to be zapped in, but others do not.

       ?  SCROLLS are read ('r').

       (  TOOLS are applied ('A').
          For example, to use a whistle, you apply it.

Initially you will not know what the potions, rings, wands or scrolls do until
you use them. They will have names like "XIXIXI". Some of these objects are
identified as soon as you use them (for example, a scroll of light causes a
dark room to be lit).

Other objects have no noticeable effect. If it's not immediately obvious what
a scroll or potion does the first time you use it, you may be asked to give it
a name. Hack does this so that if you have an idea about what the object does
you can name it something appropriate so the next time you find it you will
know something about it. Whenever Hack asks for a name it is possible to use
<Backspace> to erase the previous character and <Esc> to quit without
supplying a name.

Using some objects gives a message like "You have a strange feeling for a
moment, but it passes". This means the object would have done something but
couldn't do it now (for example, some scrolls affect your weapon, but if
you're not wielding a weapon you'll get this message).

If you want to name an individual object, use the name command '!'. To name
all objects of a certain type, use the call command 'c'. For both commands
Hack will prompt you for the inventory letter of the object you want to name
or call. For example, if you put on a silver ring that has inventory letter
's' and notice that your strength increases by two, you might do this:
  
       'c' 's' 'strength' <Enter>
            (call all objects with the same type as item 's' "strength")
  
       '!' 's' '+2' <Enter>
            (call individual inventory item 's' "+2")
  
When you do an inventory you will see:
  
       s) a ring called strength named +2
  
The next time you pick up a silver ring it will be called strength so you will
know what it does. However, you will not know if it will increase or decrease
your strength! You will have to put it on to find out or you will have to
identify it.

Enchanting objects
------------------

If you enchant an object, it will be better than it was before. Enchanting
armor changes your armor class by 1 (e.g. you could go from class 7 to class 6
-- the less positive the number, the better the armor class. For weapons, the
more positive the number, the better. Thus a +2 mace is better than a +1 mace.
Some armor is better than others -- normal plate mail is better than normal
ring mail. Some weapons are better than others, but factors such as experience
and luck determine whether you can effectively use the better weapons.

Identifying objects
-------------------

The scroll of identify will help you to identify many objects, but generally
you just have to use them and see what happens. Occasionally a scroll of
identify will have the ability to identify several objects, so it is to your
advantage to have several unidentified objects before you use an identify
scroll. When you read a scroll of identify Hack will ask you which classes of
objects you want identified. If, for example, you choose rings and wands, then
for each ring in your pack you will be asked if you want to identify it. After
going through all the rings, you will be asked about the wands. If you do not
identify any of these objects you will return to the question about which
classes of objects you want identified.

The effect of rings may not be obvious, and cursed rings can't be removed
unless you remove their curse. Thus scrolls of identify are probably best used
to identify rings.

Scoring
-------

When the game ends, either by your death, when you quit, or if you escape from
the cave, Hack will give you a score. The scoring is based on many aspects of
your behavior but a rough estimate is obtained by taking the amount of gold
you've found in the cave plus four times your real experience. Precious gems
may be worth a lot of gold when brought to the exit. There is a 10% penalty
for dying.

What is "--More--"?
-------------------

Whenever there is a lot of information for you to see, Hack waits for you to
read it all by giving you a "--More--". If the "--More--" is displayed on the
normal response line (the top line that most messages are shown on), then Hack
is waiting for you to type the <Space> or <Enter> key.

If Hack has printed out a list of information (e.g. with the 'i' command),
then Hack will accept <Space> or <Enter> as well as the inventory letter of
anything in the list. Where is this useful? An example is when you want to
quaff a potion but you can't remember the letter of the potion you want. If
you type 'q' then '?', Hack will give you a list of all your potions
followed by a "--More--" message. If you type <Space> or <Enter> you will
return to the prompt about which potion you want to quaff. If you type the
inventory letter of the potion, you will immediately quaff that potion.

If the screen is completely cleared to give you information (e.g. you're
looking at the help documentation with the '?' command), then there will be
more than one screen full of information. In this case, <Space> or <Enter>
means "show the next screen" and 'q' or <Esc> means "stop".

Conclusion
----------

It may take hundreds of games before you discover all of Hack's secrets. The
only way to win is to learn how to reach the Wizard's domain. It will not be
easy, but with practice you might just be lucky enough to make it out of the
Dungeon alive with the Amulet!
