git-svn-id: https://crawl-ref.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/crawl-ref/trunk@1235 c06c8d41-db1a-0410-9941-cceddc491573
5CBQGKSFXYQ6SKY3YK7B7GZMHXOOVQS37EGQ3EFPWKBOY73P47GAC
Missing/wrong information or comments denoted by '>>':
* Find author names for Axcrawl and Tile Crawl
* Unarmed combat will necessarily stay fuzzy for a while
* Ranged combat likewise, but _needs_ text.
.............................................................................
Some items can be stickycursed, in which case they weld themselves
to your body when you use them. Such items usually carry some kind
of disadvantage: a weapon or armour may be damaged or negatively
enchanted, while rings can have all manner of unpleasant effects
on you. If you are lucky, you might find magic which can rid you
of cursedness for welded items.
Some items can be sticky-cursed, in which case they weld themselves to
your body when you use them. Such items usually carry some kind of
disadvantage: a weapon or armour may be damaged or negatively
enchanted, while rings can have all manner of unpleasant effects on
you. If you are lucky, you might find magic which can rid you of
cursedness for welded items.
characteristic, like a label or a colour, which will let you tell
them apart on the basis of their function. However, these characteristics
change between each game, so while in one game every potion of
healing may be yellow, in another game they might all be purple and
bubbly. Once you have discovered the function of such an item, you
will remember it for the rest of the current game. You can access
your item discoveries with the '\' key.
characteristic, like a label or a colour, which will let you tell them
apart on the basis of their function. However, these characteristics
change between each game, so while in one game every potion of healing
may be yellow, in another game they might all be purple and bubbly.
Once you have discovered the function of such an item, you will
remember it for the rest of the current game. You can access your item
discoveries with the '\' key.
If you want to discuss Crawl, it's best to stick to the long-standing newsgroup
rec.games.roguelike.misc.
Flag queries with -crawl- as other games are discussed there, as well. All
topics related to this game usually meet a warm response there, including tales
of victories (going under 'YAVP', i.e. 'Yet Another Victory Post'), especially
first victories (YAFVP) as well as sad stories of deceased characters (being
'YAAD' or 'YASD', i.e. 'Yet Another Annoying/Stupid Death').
Some players, especially those on crawl.akrasiac.org, also frequent ##crawl
on IRC's freenode network.
If you'd like to discuss Crawl, the Usenet newsgroup
rec.games.roguelike.misc is a good place to do so. Flag queries with
-crawl- as other games are also discussed there. All topics related to
this game usually meet a warm response there, including tales of
victories (going under 'YAVP', i.e. 'Yet Another Victory Post'),
especially first victories (YAFVP) as well as sad stories of deceased
characters (being 'YAAD' or 'YASD', i.e. 'Yet Another Annoying/Stupid
Death'). Some players, especially those on crawl.akrasiac.org, also
frequent ##crawl on IRC's freenode network.
The Stone Soup branch of Dungeon Crawl has its own homepage located at
http://crawl-ref.sourceforge.net
Use this page for direct links to downloads of the most recent version. You can
also submit bug reports and feature requests there. Be sure to make sure that
your bug/feature isn't already in the list. For more complicated requests, it
might be a good idea to discuss them in the newsgroup first.
Stone Soup's homepage is at
http://crawl-ref.sourceforge.net
Use this page for direct links to downloads of the most recent
version. You can also submit bug reports and feature requests there.
Be sure to make sure that your bug/feature isn't already in the list.
For more complicated requests, it might be a good idea to discuss them
in the newsgroup first.
The history of Crawl is somewhat twisted, as is the case with many
open-source projects of this size. It started in 1995, when Australian
based Linley Henzell decided to create a game that takes its cue
from Angband and Nethack but avoids several things annoying him in
both these games. Progress was made rapidly, and Linley produced
Crawl versions up to 3.30 in March 1999. During this time all of
the basic design principles discussed in the next section were
already established. Further work was then carried out by a group
of developers who released 3.40 in February 2000. Of them, Brent
Ross emerged as the single maintainer, producing versions until
4.0.0.beta26 in 2002. After a long period of silent work, he went
a great step by releasing 4.1.2alpha in August 2005. This version
is generally considered unplayable due to severe balancing issues.
It is likewise accepted, however, that 4.1.2 contained many valuable
ideas for future progress. In the meantime, several patchers appeared,
improving Crawl's interface tremendously. Several of them formed a
new devteam; after figuring out that rebalancing 4.1.2 threatened
to become an impossible task, they created a new branch. This was
coined Stone Soup for some reason, and is the game this manual
describes.
It should be mentioned that there have been other Crawl variants
over the years, among them Ax-Crawl by... and Tile Crawl by....
The history of Crawl is somewhat convoluted: Crawl was created in 1995
by Linley Henzell. Linley based Crawl loosely on Angband and Nethack,
but avoided several annoying aspects of these games, and added a lot
of original ideas of his own. Crawl was a hit, and Linley produced
Crawl versions up to 3.30 in March 1999. Further work was then carried
out by a group of developers who released 3.40 in February 2000. Of
them, Brent Ross emerged as the single maintainer, producing versions
until 4.0 beta 26 in 2002. After a long period of silent work, he went
a great step by releasing 4.1.2 alpha in August 2005. This alpha
contained a lot of good ideas, but was nearly unplayable due to
balance issues. In the meantime, several patchers appeared, improving
Crawl's interface tremendously. Several of them formed a new devteam;
reasoning that rebalancing 4.1.2 was a very difficult task, they
decided to fork Crawl 4.0 beta 26 and selectively include good ideas
from 4.1.2 and other sources. This fork is Stone Soup, and is the game
this manual describes. Stone Soup's release versions were restarted at
0.1 to avoid confusion with the existing plethora of Crawl versions.
>> Find names and dates (I think it shows generosity if we allude to the other
>> branches. We are creating the Right Crawl, of course :)
>> Mention the current TileCrawl adaption of Stone Soup.
>> [r] Is there any reason not to explain the name "Stone Soup?"
It should be mentioned that there have been other Crawl variants over
the years, among them Ax-Crawl, Tile Crawl, and Dungeon Crawl
Alternative.
% Show resistances and general character
overview, including health, experience,
gear, status, mutations, abilities (the
latter three more terse than with the
command @, A, a). This is a highly condensed
conglomeration of the commands [, (, ", C,
^, @, A, a, usually fitting on one screen.
% Show resistances and general character overview,
including health, experience, gear, status,
mutations, abilities (the latter three more terse
than with the command @, A, a). This is a highly
condensed conglomeration of the commands [, (, ",
C, ^, @, A, a, usually fitting on one screen.