                            Crawl Quick-Start Guide
                        (Copyright 1999 Linley Henzell)

So, you want to start playing Crawl straight away without bothering with the 
manual? Read this, the guide to starting Crawl with a minimum of preparation. 

I suggest printing it out and following its instructions while playing your
first few games (you can also press '?' twice while playing for a list of
commands).

When you get some more time, you can read crawl_manual.txt in the docs/
directory for more detailed information.

 INTRODUCTION TO CRAWL 

Crawl is a large and very random game of subterranean exploration in a fantasy 
world of magic and frequent violence. Your quest is to travel into the depths 
of the Dungeon (which is different each time you play) and retrieve the Orb of 
Zot. 

Crawl is an RPG of the 'rogue-like' type, one of the descendants of Rogue. Its 
graphics are simple but highly informative, designed to be understood at a 
glance, and control is exercised largely through one-keystroke commands. 

 STARTING OUT 

After starting the program you will be greeted with a message asking for your 
name. Don't spend too much time over this, as your first character will *not* 
last very long (sorry, but it's true). 

Next you are given menus of species and character classes from which to 
choose. A dwarf, orc, ogre or troll Fighter is a good bet. Elves are quite 
fragile, humans are pretty average at everything, and the weirder species are 
mostly too tricky for beginning players. Finally, you may be given a choice of 
weapons. I suggest an axe (axes are fun). 

Now you are in the game. The game screen has three parts:
 - the Map takes up the upper left part of the screen. In its very centre is 
   the @ sign which represents You. The coloured parts of the Map are the parts 
   you can see, while places which you have visited before but cannot currently 
   see are shown in grey.
 - the Message box is the large part of the screen below the map. It describes 
   events as they happen and asks you questions from time to time. 
 - the Stats area (to the right of the Map) contains various indicators of 
   your health and abilities. 

 EXPLORING 

Try walking around, using either the numeric keypad (try numlock off and on) or 
the Rogue (hjklyubn) keys. To move in a given direction until you reach 
something interesting or see a hostile creature, press Shift and the direction.

If you want to know what a certain character on the screen represents, you can 
use the 'x' (examine) command to get a short description. You use the 'O', 'C' 
commands to open or close doors, and the '<' (up) and '>' (down) commands to 
climb staircases. Sometimes doors are hidden, and must be searched out by 
standing next to walls and resting (a number of commands do the same thing: 
's', '.' (period), delete, or '5' on the numeric keypad; even better you rest 
or search for a longer duration with either '5' on the digit row or Shift-5 on 
the numeric keypad). 

The Dungeon gets more dangerous (but more interesting!) as you go down. If you 
get lost you can access a map of the whole level you are on with the 'X' 
command, which uses the whole screen. 

 ITEMS 

After walking around for a while, you will no doubt come across some items 
lying around (you may come across some monsters as well; for help in dealing
with them skip to the Monsters section). You can pick up items with the 'g' 
(get) or ',' commands and drop them again with 'd' (drop), and the 'i' 
(inventory) command shows you what you're carrying. 

There are several different types of items: 

 - Weapons, represented by the ) sign. Wield them with the 'w' (wield) 
   command. Some weapons are cursed and cannot be un-wielded without the use of
   magic.

 - Armour ([). Wear it, or take it off, with the 'W' (Wear) command. Heavier 
   armours give more protection, but may hamper your ability to fight and to
   dodge attacks aimed at you. These can also be cursed.

 - Ammunition (which has the ( sign). Throw it with 'f' (fire). Darts are 
   meant to be thrown by hand; other missiles need an appropriate launcher to
   be wielded (e.g. arrows are much more effective when shot with a bow).

 - Wands (/), Scrolls (?) and Potions (!) can be very valuable, but have 
   limited uses (scrolls and potions can only be used once each, wands contain
   only a certain number of charges). Wands are 'Z'apped, scrolls are 'r'ead
   and potions are 'q'uaffed. Unfortunately, you won't at first know what a
   wand, scroll or potion does; it will only be described by its physical
   appearance. But once you have used, for example, a potion of healing, you
   will in future recognise all potions of healing.

 - Rings (=) and Amulets (") often contain powerful magic, but it can be 
   difficult to work out exactly what one does. They are put on with 'P' (put
   on) and can be removed with the same command, or also with 'R'. They can,
   like weapons, be cursed.

 - Food (%) is vital to your survival. Eat it with the 'e' (eat) command when 
   hungry. Monsters' corpses, also %, can be eaten if chopped up (the 'c'
   command), but not all of them are healthful, and many species of player
   character dislike eating raw flesh unless very hungry.

 - Money ($) can be used to buy stuff in shops, and increases your score if 
   you escape.

There are a few other types of items, but you will discover these as you play. 

One vital command to remember when dealing with items is examing items more
closely. In order to do so, bring up the inventory ('i') and press the key of
any item therein. This gives you a short description of any item. Use it on 
everything you find. The magical Scroll of Identify can also help for 
identifying magical items of uncertain nature. 

 MONSTERS 

You will also run into monsters (most of which are represented by letters of 
the alphabet). You can attack a monster by trying to move into the square it 
is occupying. 

When you are wounded you lose hit points (displayed near the top of the stats 
list); these return gradually over time through the natural process of 
healing. If you lose all of your hp you die. 

To survive, you will need to develop a few basic tactics:
 - Never fight more than one monster if you can help it. Always back into a 
   corridor so that they must fight you one-on-one. 
 - If you are badly wounded, you can run away from monsters to buy some time. 
   Try losing them in corridors, or as a very last resort find a place where 
   you can run around in circles to heal while the monster chases you. 
 - Remember to use projectiles before engaging monsters in close combat.
 - Rest between encounters. The 's', '.', delete or keypad-5 commands make you 
   rest for one turn, while pressing '5' or Shift-and-keypad-5 make you rest
   for a longer time (you will stop resting when fully healed). 
 - Learn when to run away from things you can't handle - this is important! 
   It is often wise to skip a dangerous level. But don't overdo this.

 DEATH 

Before long, you'll probably end up dead. 
 
Death in Crawl is permanent; you cannot just reload a saved game and start again
where you left off. The 'S' (save) command exists only to let you leave a game 
part-way through and come back to it later. Quitting ('Ctrl-Q') lets you commit
suicide if you can't even be bothered to help your character escape alive. 

Well, that's it for the quick-start guide. This should help you through your 
first few games, but Crawl is extremely (some would say excessively) complex 
and cannot be adequately described in so short a document. So when you feel 
ready to start playing with magic, skills, and religions, browse the manual.

Happy Crawling!
