Provided by: nethack-common_3.4.3-15build1_amd64 bug

NAME

       nethack - Exploring The Mazes of Menace

SYNOPSIS

       nethack [ -d directory ] [ -n ] [ -p profession (role) ] [ -r race ] [ -[DX] ] [ -u
       playername ] [ -dec ] [ -ibm ]

       nethack [ -d directory ] -s [ -v ] [ -p profession (role) ] [ -r race ] [ playernames ]

DESCRIPTION

       NetHack is a display oriented Dungeons &  Dragons(tm)  -  like  game.   The  standard  tty
       display and command structure resemble rogue.

       Other,  more  graphical  display  options  exist  if  you are using either a PC, or an X11
       interface.

       To get started you really only need to know two commands.  The command ?  will give you  a
       list  of  the  available  commands  (as  well as other information) and the command / will
       identify the things you see on the screen.

       To win the game (as opposed to merely playing to beat other people's high scores) you must
       locate the Amulet of Yendor which is somewhere below the 20th level of the dungeon and get
       it out.  Nobody has achieved this yet; anybody who does will probably go down  in  history
       as a hero among heros.

       When  the  game ends, whether by your dying, quitting, or escaping from the caves, NetHack
       will give you (a fragment of) the list of top scorers.   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 stones  may  be
       worth a lot of gold when brought to the exit.  There is a 10% penalty for getting yourself
       killed.

       The environment variable NETHACKOPTIONS can be used to initialize many  run-time  options.
       The  ?  command  provides  a  description of these options and syntax.  (The -dec and -ibm
       command line options are equivalent to the decgraphics and  ibmgraphics  run-time  options
       described  there,  and  are provided purely for convenience on systems supporting multiple
       types of terminals.)

       Because  the  option  list  can  be  very  long  (particularly  when  specifying  graphics
       characters), options may also be included in a configuration file.  The default is located
       in your home directory and named .nethackrc on  Unix  systems.   On  Debian  systems,  use
       .nethackrc.gnome  for  the  Gnome windowing port, use .nethackrc.x11 for the X11 windowing
       port, and use .nethackrc.qt for the QT windowing port.  You can use .nethackrc.tty for the
       non-graphical  version.   The  configuration  file's  location may be specified by setting
       NETHACKOPTIONS to a string consisting of an @ character followed by the filename.

       The -u playername option supplies the answer to the question "Who are you?".  It overrides
       any  name from the options or configuration file, USER, LOGNAME, or getlogin(), which will
       otherwise be tried in order.  If none of these provides a useful name, the player will  be
       asked  for  one.  Player names (in conjunction with uids) are used to identify save files,
       so you can have several saved games under different names.  Conversely, you must  use  the
       appropriate player name to restore a saved game.

       A  playername  suffix can be used to specify the profession, race, alignment and/or gender
       of the character.  The full syntax of the playername that includes a suffix is  "name-ppp-
       rrr-aaa-ggg".  "ppp" are at least the first three letters of the profession (this can also
       be specified using a separate -p profession option).  "rrr" are at least the  first  three
       letters  of  the  character's  race  (this  can also be specified using a separate -r race
       option).  "aaa" are at last the first three letters  of  the  character's  alignment,  and
       "ggg" are at least the first three letters of the character's gender.  Any of the parts of
       the suffix may be left out.

       -p profession can be used to determine the character role.  You  can  specify  either  the
       male  or  female name for the character role, or the first three characters of the role as
       an abbreviation.  -p @ has been retained to explicitly  request  that  a  random  role  be
       chosen.   It may need to be quoted with a backslash (\@) if @ is the "kill" character (see
       "stty") for the terminal, in order to prevent the current input line from being cleared.

       Likewise, -r race can be used to explicitly request that a race be chosen.

       Leaving out any of these characteristics will result in you being prompted during the game
       startup for the information.

       The  -s  option  alone  will print out the list of your scores on the current version.  An
       immediately following -v reports on all versions present in the score file.   The  -s  may
       also  be followed by arguments -p and -r to print the scores of particular roles and races
       only.  It may also be followed by one or more player names to  print  the  scores  of  the
       players mentioned, by 'all' to print out all scores, or by a number to print that many top
       scores.

       The -n option suppresses printing of any news from the game administrator.

       The -D or -X option will start the game in a special non-scoring discovery mode.  -D will,
       if the player is the game administrator, start in debugging (wizard) mode instead.

       The  -d option, which must be the first argument if it appears, supplies a directory which
       is to serve as the playground.  It overrides the value from NETHACKDIR,  HACKDIR,  or  the
       directory    specified   by   the   game   administrator   during   compilation   (usually
       /usr/lib/games/nethack).  This option is usually only useful to  the  game  administrator.
       The  playground  must  contain several auxiliary files such as help files, the list of top
       scorers, and a subdirectory save where games are saved.

AUTHORS

       Jay Fenlason (+ Kenny Woodland, Mike Thome and Jon Payne) wrote the  original  hack,  very
       much like rogue (but full of bugs).

       Andries Brouwer continuously deformed their sources into an entirely different game.

       Mike  Stephenson  has continued the perversion of sources, adding various warped character
       classes and sadistic traps with the help of many strange people who reside in  that  place
       between the worlds, the Usenet Zone.  A number of these miscreants are immortalized in the
       historical roll of dishonor and various other places.

       The resulting mess is now called  NetHack,  to  denote  its  development  by  the  Usenet.
       Andries  Brouwer has made this request for the distinction, as he may eventually release a
       new version of his own.

FILES

       All files are in the playground, normally  /usr/lib/games/nethack.   If  DLB  was  defined
       during  the  compile,  the  data  files  and  special levels will be inside a larger file,
       normally nhdat, instead of being separate files.
       nethack                     The program itself.
       data, oracles, rumors       Data files used by NetHack.
       options, quest.dat          More data files.
       help, hh                    Help data files.
       cmdhelp, opthelp, wizhelp   More help data files.
       *.lev                       Predefined special levels.
       dungeon                     Control file for special levels.
       history                     A short history of NetHack.
       license                     Rules governing redistribution.
       record                      The list of top scorers.
       logfile                     An extended list of games
                                   played.
       xlock.nnn                   Description of a dungeon level.
       perm                        Lock file for xlock.dd.
       bonesDD.nn                  Descriptions of the ghost and
                                   belongings of a deceased
                                   adventurer.
       save                        A subdirectory containing the
                                   saved games.

ENVIRONMENT

       USER or LOGNAME      Your login name.
       HOME                 Your home directory.
       SHELL                Your shell.
       TERM                 The type of your terminal.
       HACKPAGER or PAGER   Replacement for default pager.
       MAIL                 Mailbox file.
       MAILREADER           Replacement for default reader
                            (probably /usr/bin/mail).
       NETHACKDIR           Playground.
       NETHACKOPTIONS       String predefining several NetHack
                            options.

       In addition, SHOPTYPE is used in debugging (wizard) mode.

SEE ALSO

       dgn_comp(6), lev_comp(6), recover(6)

BUGS

       Probably infinite.

       Dungeons & Dragons is a Trademark of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.