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Let's Play Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
Let's Play: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup

Currently playing: Tiles version 0.7.1

opening.jpg


Welcome to my Let's Play DCSS Thread.

This first post is going to have the table of contents and list my latest accomplishments (read: list my latest YASD posts). After the first character dies I'll be taking requests for new character combos and names. This is my first time doing an LP, so bear with me as I figure out what is and is not relevant to a post. I may be either image light or image heavy in the early going.

The second post will be an FAQ and a link repository. Beyond that I'll have actual LP posts.

Please chime in of course, both with suggestions and with general comments.

LP Posts
General DCSS Info:
FAQ regarding Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
General LP Info:
Unique Encounters: A list of all uniques encountered by one of my characters as well as information about them.
Current Adventure:
el_MalakalNew.png

Malakal the Demonspawn Fire Elementalist of Vehumet

Malakal's Incredible Adventures:
Malakal's Adventures: Part 1 - Reaching the Temple
Malakal's Adventures: Part 2 - King Grognir's Castle
Malakal's Adventures: Part 3 - Spriggans in the Forest
Malakal's Adventures: Part 4 - RIP Mr. Hawking
Malakal's Adventures: Part 5 - Killing Uniques

Graveyard of Heroes
R-I-P-gravestone.jpg


Grog_Dead.jpg

Grog the Hill Orc Berserker of Trog

Grog's Adventures in the Deep:
Grog's Adventures: Part 1 - The Basics
Grog's Adventures: Part 2 - Exploring the Dungeon
Grog's Adventures: Part 3 - Dungeon Delving
Grog's Adventures: Part 4 - To the Temple We Go
Grog's Adventures: Part 5 - Barnum and Bailey
Grog's Final Adventure: The Morgue File
Code:
 Began as a Hill Orc Berserker on Jan 29, 2011.
             Was an Elder of Trog.
             Slain by an orc knight
             ... in the bailey.
             The game lasted 01:14:02 (10104 turns).

al_MrHawkingDead.png

Mr. Hawking the Spriggan Enchanter of Nemelex Xobeh

Mr. Hawking's Dungeon Adventures:
Adventures of Mr. Hawking: Part 1 - Running Away
Adventures of Mr. Hawking: Part 2 - Searching for the Temple
Adventures of Mr. Hawking: Part 3 - Some Unique Encounters
Aventures of Mr. Hawking: Part 4 - Crawling Through the Lair
Adventures of Mr. Hawking: Part 5 - Gateway to Hell
Adventures of Mr. Hawking: Part 6 - Manic Miner
Mr. Hawking's Final Adventure: The Morgue File
Code:
  Began as a Spriggan Enchanter on Jan 29, 2011.
             Was a High Priest of Nemelex Xobeh.
             Killed from afar by a hellion
             ... on Level 4 of the Orcish Mines.
             The game lasted 03:46:55 (20093 turns).

bl_LordPacoDead.png

Lord Paco the Self-Worshipping Demigod Wizard

Lord Paco's Dungeon Delving Disasters:
Lord Paco's Dungeon Crawl: Part 1 - The Cowardly Wizard
Lord Paco's Dungeon Crawl: Part 2 - Dungeon Clearing
Lord Paco's Dungeon Crawl: Part 3 - Hole in the Floor
Lord Paco's Final Adventure: The Morgue File
Code:
   Began as a Demigod Wizard on Feb 4, 2011.
             Killed from afar by a quicksilver dragon
             ... on Level 15 of the Dungeon.
             The game lasted 02:29:46 (24348 turns).

cl_LightbaneDead.png

Lightbane the Human Chaos Knight of Xom

Lightbane's Short Adventures:
Lightbane's Sole Adventure: Part 1 - Xom is BORED
Lightbane's Final Adventure: The Morgue File
Code:
   Began as a Human Chaos Knight on Feb 5, 2011.
             Was a Plaything of Xom.
             Slain by an iguana
             ... on Level 4 of the Dungeon.
             The game lasted 00:14:34 (2534 turns).

Z1_MonicaDead-1.png

Zot Defense: Monica the Troll Monk of Makhleb

A Short Interlude: Zot Defense with Monica
Zot Defense with Monica
Code:
   Began as a Troll Monk on Feb 12, 2011.
             Was an Initiate of Makhleb.
             Slain by a yak
             ... on Level 1 of the Dungeon.
             The game lasted 00:26:27 (2515 turns).

Latest Update
Finally updated the main page. Up to date on Malakal (part 5) and the short Zot Defense interlude with Monica.
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
LP DCSS: FAQ

FAQ

What is DCSS???

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is an open source roguelike* that has been branched off of Linley's Dungeon Crawl. It is under active development and is in fact one of the more popular roguelikes being developed today. It aims for balanced systems that do not require spoiling of the players. It is combat and magic heavy with little of the dross (quests, NPCs, etc) that come with certain other roguelikes. It's a great roguelike for beginners and is my personal favorite.

*Not the place to discuss what is a roguelike. If you need an explanation go here or here or here or here or even here. My personal favorite for defining a roguelike is John Harris' breakdown here.

Needless to say, DCSS has the following major features that make it a roguelike:
- random world generation
- an item-identification subgame
- permanent death
- turn and grid based movement
- hack and slash gameplay


7hm, are you any good???

No. I've never even seen past dungeon level 20 or so. Furthest I've been is the Vault or the bottom of the Elven Halls, and the most powerful character I've had has died when he was about level 20. I certainly haven't seen any of the end-game content I've read about. I've been playing off and on for a couple years.

Why do this then???

I was re-reading John Harris' excellent @play column and was struck by him mentioning that the first time he managed to ascend in NetHack was while he was doing an LP of the game. I noticed that while there is a thread about DCSS in the main RPG boards there isn't really any kind of Let's Play. DCSS is the kind of game that is well suited to an LP.

So really I have two reasons. Because I think the game is fantastic and deserves more notice. And because I think that playing more carefully and documenting my actions may give me an increased chance to actually win.

If I like this where can I read more???

The first stops are of course the main website and the new official forums: The Tavern.

To spoil yourself about the game you have the slightly outdated wiki and the more up to date learndb. If you want to play online the main CAO tracking site is here and instructions to get online are here. (Playing online is really cool btw. You can't use tiles ***easily*** but others can watch you play and all your info is stored on the db. There are also cool tournaments in the summer and there is a possibility there may be some throughout the year.)

You may want to check out the latest Something Awful or Bay12 Games threads about DCSS. There's also a solid LP similar to what I'm aiming for here on Game Spite's forums. And of course there is a thead on the Codex in the RPG GD.

You also have the John Harris articles from his @Play column on GameSetWatch that deal specifically with DCSS. They are:

Crawlapalooza Part 1, Skills and Advancement
Crawlapalooza Part 2, What's With All These Skills, Anyway?
Crawlapalooza Part 3, Beogh Liturgical School for Orcs
Crawlapalooza Part 4, Travel Functions & Play Aids
Sprinting Rapidly Through The Dungeon **this one deals with Sprint, which is a DCSS variant**
Before Learning to Walk, One Must First Learn to Crawl **actually about Linley's Dungeon Crawl, not DCSS**

Feb 1st Update: A couple more links to check out.

Tech Lore by Igor - Dungeon Crawl Posts: this guy Igor goes through and plays a whole bunch of race / background combos. He also has a decent intro to DCSS here and he explains how to cheat by backing up your character (if you save-scum as part of play, you suck at life and should consider suicide - dying sucks but man up and live with it)

Weapon Comparison Chart: A weapon comparison chart - this is the link to the forum post where danr keeps it. Download it there for more infos.

Feb 6th: Another article about DCSS.

DCSS as a comfort game

Feb 14th: A link that makes the learndb a lot easier to use (and also gives you the gretell info as well).

Knowledge Bots
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
Grog's Adventures: Part 1 - The Basics

The Initial Adventures of Grog the Hill Orc Berserker of Trog

Part 1 - The Basics

This post outlines the basics of creating a character. I won't be posting many of these screenshots as I go through second, third, fourth and more characters, but I figure it's good to go through it at least once for those who haven't played the game.

OpenScreen.jpg


When you first start the game you are presented with a loading screen. Your options are:
- Dungeon Crawl; use this to start the game
- Tutorial for Dungeon Crawl; use this to start a tutorial... which you can then use as a playthrough
- Hints mode for Dungeon Crawl; I've never used this before to be honest
- Dungeon Sprint; a variant of Dungeon Crawl
- Instructions; self explanatory
- The Arena; a fun mode where you can pit monsters against one another to see who would win

I didn't want to go through the tutorial again, so I just opened the game itself.

RaceSelect.jpg


That leads to the Race Selection screen. Here you can pick your character's race. As you can see there are a ton of options. Some races are more geared towards combat while others are geared towards magic, but almost every combination of race / class can work in DCSS.

OrcDescription.jpg


I chose the Hill Orc. They're a fairly straightforward melee class in most playthroughs.

BackgroundSelect.jpg


Next up we choose our background. Again you'll notice that there are a ton of backgrounds to choose from. Some are white while others are greyed out. The white backgrounds are the "recommended" backgrounds for your particular race selection. This is really only a suggestion. As I noted above you can really do whatever you want.

Of particular note with the Hill Orc class is the Priest background. What happens there is you get to worship Beough, the god of the orcs. With this build you can have orcs you encounter in the dungeon convert from enemy to ally and follow you around. As they get kills they level up, so you end up being not a lone adventurer in the dungeon but the leader of an army of orcs. Very cool. That said, I'm not interested in starting with that.

BerserkerDescription.jpg


I chose to be a Berserker of Trog. This is a fairly lame class selection. Trog is a god of war and berserkers are his faithful. Trog's followers all have the berserk ability which allows you to go into a special mode where your HP increase and your damage output increases as well. It's a great get out of jail free card if you find yourself in a jam, though relying on it too much will lead to your doom. Later on Trog gives other abilities like regeneration and the ability to summon other berserkers to aid you. He also grants you god gifts of weapons and armor. To get on Trog's good side all you have to do is kill monsters and sacrifice the occasional corpse to him. The big downside to Trog is that he doesn't like when you use magic, so that's really not an option. Which is fine for this first playthrough. Melee all the way.

After you select your background you may also get the option to pick a weapon or a god. Because my god defaults to Trog and because the combination I chose means I start with a hand axe, I don't get those screens this time around.

NameSelect.jpg


Then you pick your name and you're off to the dungeon.

ScreenOverview.jpg


This is the the main game screen. Excuse the horribleness of the picture, I'm really only using it to give an idea of what I see when I play. You'll notice that the screen is really broken down into several parts.

MainArea.jpg


You have the main portion of the screen which shows both your character and everything your character can see.

Grog is the guy standing on the stairs. Those stairs lead up out of the dungeon. The reddish stair is an emergency exit out of the dungeon. I haven't gone down to the depths to get the Orb of Zot yet, so I'm in no rush to use the stairs leading up, In fact, if I were to use them the game would end and I would lose.

StatArea.jpg


In the top right hand corner you have the stat screen. This displays all the pertinent info about Grog. That he's a Hill Orc of Trog with 16 HP out of a possible 16 and 0 MP out of a possible 0. His primary stats (STR, INT, DEX) and his defensive stats(AC - how well you take hits, EV - how well you dodge, SH - how well you block). The amount of gold he has, the turn he's on and how much EXP he has in his EXP pool to use. It also shows where he is in the dungeon and what weapons he has ready in his hand and in his quiver.

As you can see, Grog has no magic and very little gold and experience and he's on DL:1. He wields a +0 hand axe but has nothing quivered. There is no stat randomization in this game. All HOBe (Hill Orc Berserkers) start with 20 STR, 4 INT and 10 DEX. This is to avoid players start scumming for stats and part of the aiming for balance and spoiler removal that you see throughout DCSS' design decisions.

AutoMap.jpg


Right below the stat area is the auto-map. Right now it's pretty empty but as Grog explores it will fill up. Fairly self explanatory.

InvArea.jpg


Below that in the bottom right hand corner is an inventory screen. I'll be honest, I don't use it - I'm used to playing with the console version rather than Tiles. But it's there if you want it and allows you to right click and etc.

MessageArea.jpg


In the bottom of the screen you have the message area. This is where messages show up. Each turn you'll get a message based on your actions. Different messages come in different colours and it's a good idea to actually pay attention to what you see there.

Next up - we begin to explore the dungeon.
 

Malakal

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Messages
10,253
Location
Poland
Orc berserker is a solid solid choice, I think you should get at least to the Lair so an excellent pick for a LP.Good luck!
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
Grog's Adventures - Part two

The Further Adventures of Grog the Hill Orc Berserker of Trog

Part Two - Exploring The Dungeon

... in which we begin our explorations of dungeon level one and explain some of the mechanics of the game.

MainArea.jpg


This is Grog.

groginv1.jpg


This is Grog's inventory. He's got pretty well nothing. The axe is a decent starting weapon because Hill Orcs have a good affinity for it and because you can use it to cut up corpses without changing weapons. The animal hide is pretty well useless. We'll replace that as soon as possible. Even though armor is garbage in this version of DCSS, I'm still going to try and get Grog's AC and armor skills up in this playthrough.

grogabils1.jpg


These are Grog's abilities. His main one is going berserk. This gives him lots more HP and increase his damage output significantly. When Grog is berserk he can pretty well go heads up in melee against any one monster even when he's far outclassed. The other ability of note is the ability to burn spellbooks. It's a very minor ability but it makes Trog happy when Grog does it, and it has some application as a combat tactic.

DL_1.jpg


Grog starts to explore the dungeon. Right beside the entrance he finds this odd collection of monsters. Luckily they're hidden behind glass walls. One of the cool things about DCSS is all the different starting areas. There is a lot of love put into this game in regards to stuff like that.

DL_2.jpg


Grog leaves the starting area and comes across some stairs down. While Grog could immediately go down to level two to explore and just forget about level one, it's usually better to go at a slightly slower pace. What Grog is going to do though, is go down the stairs just to see what's there.

DL_3.jpg


The reason for going down these stairs is so that later on if Grog gets into a sticky situation and needs to run for his life he knows where the exits are. It also means that if the levels have areas that don't connect I'll be able to see that right away. So I always send my characters down stairs as soon as I encounter them (assuming they're healthy of course).

DL_4.jpg


Back up on DL:1 Grog continues to explore. After a short while he comes across his first monster. It's a small snake. These are very easy enemies, akin to rats. There's no real danger here, but it's always a good idea to confront monsters in the corridors if you can. Just in case another monster decides to join in, you won't be in a situation where you can get him from multiple directions at once.

DL_5.jpg


After a couple hits Grog gets his first kill! Take that evil snake!

DL_6.jpg


This is a great opportunity to get in with our god Trog. Because Grog just started and can't eat dungeon meat unless he's hungry, we have no real use for this corpse. Trog likes fresh sacrifices though, so what Grog does is he stands above the small snake corpse and prays to Trog. The corpse dissapears in a flash of smoke and fire and Grog gets the sense that Trog is happier with him than before. We'll be doing this with the vast majority of the enemies we encounter who happen to drop corpses and as a result we'll gain piety with Trog faster than if we just passed the corpses by. Waste not, want not.

grogskills.jpg


Before going any further; I just realized that I didn't set Grog's skills. One of the really cool things about DCSS is that skills increase through a use based system. Without going into too much detail, what happens is that as you or your allies kill monsters you gain EXP for your EXP pool. Every time you use a skill and have EXP in the EXP pool, that skill increases slightly. If there's no EXP in the pool it doesn't increase. Skills increase at different rates for different builds. My HOBe Grog is going to be great at fighting and axes and such but not as good at, for example, dodging. You can still train skills your build isn't good for but it's not as easy.

One of the ways to work with this system is the screen above. This allows you to adjust which skills your character will concentrate on. Because fighting increase HP and because my character's Axes skill will increase quickly even when turned off, Grog is going to turn off his Axes skill and leave his fighting skill on. Because there's no advantage to learning both dodging and armour, Grog is going to turn off dodging and leave Armour on. As we get further into the game and more skills appear in this screen I'll be adjusting what I turn on and what I turn off.

DL_7.jpg


Grog continues to explore when he comes across a bat flying around another set of stairs. Bats can be quite annoying. They have a random flying pattern that makes it frustrating to nail them down and kill them. Luckily Grog picked up some stones earlier in the level. One of the biggest suggestions for new players is to use everything you see. By throwing these stones at the bat (as you can see, Grog is already taking aim in the screenshot above) we can hit it even when it's out of range.

DL_8.jpg


Grog one shots the bat with a stone and continues down the stairs. As he comes down the stairs he notices a Kobold out of the corner of his eye!

The ? above the Kobold means that he is sleeping. If Grog were a stealth based build he could then sneak up on the Kobold and stab him to death. He's not though, so he'll just toss some stones at him until he dies. Grog gets the quick kill and moves on. You should note that stealth is a GREAT skill in this game. Even non stealth characters do well to learn it, as the difference of a single turn between a monster noticing you or not can save your life. That's one skill I don't ever turn off.

DL_9.jpg


Grog spotted some new armor on the ground. Normally you want to be fairly cautious when equipping armor and weapons but because I'm so early into the game I didn't really worry about it. Grog puts on the armor and as you can see his AC goes up. His picture changes to display the armor as well, one of the nicest things about the Tiles version.

DL_10.jpg


Grog comes upon a scroll. Scrolls are really useful for every build but especially important for Grog because he has limited access to magic. DCSS, like other roguelikes, has an item-identification subgame so one of the most important things for Grog to do throughout the game will be to figure out what each scroll does. There are a couple different ways to do that but we'll deal with that later. For now Grog picks the scroll up and moves on.

DL_11.jpg


Grog beats up on a slime so badly that the slime starts to flee. Whenever a monster has a ! above it's head you know it's running away from you. The monster will keep running until it either heals up or reaches a corner, at which point it will turn back around to fight again. Grog kills this one before that happens though.

DL_12.jpg


Whoa! Grog steps in a dart trap. There are traps throughout the game. Most of them do minor damage but there are some doozies later on. Their danger level also depends on your build. For a sturdy fellow like Grog who is in peak physical condition a little dart trap doesn't pose a threat. For a fraily mage who is running from an orc? Maybe not a minor challenge. In any case Grog ventures forward unfazed by such traps.

(If Grog had more experience in his EXP pool we would have him attempt to disarm the trap. By the time you start reaching the mid-game you want to be working on your trap skill. Even before the endgame there are some traps that do serious damage to the unprepared. It's a bit too early to worry about that though.)

DL_13.jpg


Grog has been wandering around the dungeon for a while now and a couple things have happened here. First he killed a goblin. That gave him the experience to level up to level 3. Every three levels you get to pick a stat to increase. Because Grog has very low INT, I decided to work towards getting his intelligence towards a safe level - he goes from INT 4 to INT 5 and feels very clever as a result.

The second thing that happens is that the goblin dropped a runed sling. Grog has been throwing stones but using a sling to launch the stones would be even more effective so he immediately tries to equip it.

Remember what I said about equipping weapons and armour carefully? Oops. Should have listened to my own advice. Now Grog can't change to the axe! If we don't fix this asap we'll have a real problem. Obviously Grog will have trouble killing things, but more importantly he won't be able to cut up corpses for food. Grog's chances for survival will plummet! This mistake is going to force Grog's hand...

Next post will have Grog use-ID'ing some scrolls :))) and continuiing to explore the dungeons.


***Thanks for bearing with me as I write the first couple posts. As I mentioned, I'm still getting the hang of this. The flow between posts is still lacking a bit. I've gone back to the basics post and edited it a bit with things I was going to include in this one that I don't feel like repeating down the road.

Also - is this about a good number of images for a single post? I have about 25 to go from my initial LP batch and at this rate it'll be about 1 post of about this size every 1-2 levels.

I should go a fair bit faster once I get my mechanic explanations out of the way. Are they even needed for people? I figure not everyone has played the game and they don't hurt.
 

Peter

Arcane
Joined
Jun 11, 2009
Messages
1,570
You're doing great. Very tidy and informative posts. :thumbsup:
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
Grog's Adventures - Part Three

The Further Adventures of Grog the Hill Orc Berserker of Trog

Part Three - Dungeon Delving

... in which Grog removes the glue from his sling and clears out the first couple levels.

Welcome back. In our last adventure (all of a couple hours ago!) Grog left us with a cliffhanger. His last action was to wield-ID a sling that turned out to be cursed. If he couldn't find a way to remove this curse he would be in serious trouble.

DL_14.jpg


These are the scrolls that Grog has picked up throughout his travels. Scrolls are the only way to remove curses on items (correct me if I'm wrong people). Hopefully one of these scrolls will allow Grog to do just that.

By this point in the game we'll normally have picked up at least one remove curse scroll so the odds are pretty good Grog will be ok, but I've lost characters to hunger before because of this exact reason and the RNG making me unable to find a remove curse scroll.

DL_15.jpg


The first scroll Grog tries is the one he has two of. This turns out to be a blink scroll. He warps across the room. It's not great that we've now wasted a blink scroll but the odds are we'd have wasted it later on anyway, and it's a good scroll to have ID'd.

The second scroll Grog tries removes the curse. Lucky. Grog switches back to his trusty axe and moves on to the next challenge.

dl_16.jpg


Grog finishes exploring the first level of the dungeon.

One of the really cool features to DCSS is the auto-travel feature. This allows you to quickly get from one place to another. One that I end up using a lot allows you to quickly cycle through the stairs in a level. I'm doing that in the screenshot above.

Grog goes to the nearest stairs and takes them down to level two. Remember that he's already been down to this level on all three staicases, so if things get hairy he has a good idea of where to run.

dl_17.jpg


Grog has been wandering around in the second dungeon level for a little while now. He's feeling somewhat peckish. He knew he would get hungry fairly soon, so a little while back he cut up the corpse of a giant newt after killing it. That meat has started to rot but when you're hungry you're hungry. Grog eats the meat and satiates his hunger.

Hunger is an important aspect to every roguelike. It forces you to constantly be on the move looking for food and it prevents you from simply grinding one area for hours (in DCSS where monsters drop corpses this is generally less of a factor to food - DCSS uses out of depth [OOD] monsters to combat that grindy tactic). Once you cut up a corpse in DCSS it will eventually rot. Rotting corpses have the potential to cause sickness but the odds are pretty low, so there's really no harm in eating the meat. There are all kinds of other interesting little tidbits about eating in roguelikes in general and DCSS in particular but we'll cover those as we encounter them.

dl_18.jpg


Grog finds a +1 Orc Leather Armour so he switches to that. It's actually slightly better (for Grog, who has an affinity for armour made for orcs) than the ring mail.

dl_19.jpg


One of the cool things about DCSS is that sometimes levels aren't all connected. In this level (DL:2) for example two of the stairs that led down from DL:1 are off to the left hand side and one of the stairs is on the right side. There's actually no way to walk all across this map without going up or down levels. One important thing to note here is that you should always check to see if you've found all three up stairs and all three down stairs on a level. If you haven't, you're missing something and should keep exploring.

Grog notices this after he finishes exploring the right hand side of the map, so he goes back up to DL:1 and starts to explore the left hand side of the map.

dl_20.jpg


As he leaves the staircase and turns around the corner Grog sees a snake bearing straight for him! Snakes are dangerous opponents in the early game because they move faster than most builds and they have a deadly poison attack. For a character like Grog they're beatable enemies as long as he's in good health, but he still needs to be cautious.

Grog starts throwing stones at the snake as it slithers towards him. Most of the stones miss but every little bit of damage helps to end the combat sooner.

dl_21.jpg


With the snake upon him Grog swings his axe and manages to chop it right in two. Checking his wounds he sees that while the snake bit him once it was unable to inflict any damage. He thus avoided the deadly poison that can kill early adventurers.

By killing the snake rather than running away Grog was rewarded with a level increase. Now level four he finishes exploring the second dungeon level and descends to level three.

Next post: Grog goes to level three and beyond. At some point in the next level or so Grog is going to have to clear out a space and use-id some of his major scrolls and potions. There's nothing worse than dying in the first five levels with a scroll or a potion that could have saved you.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,140
Nice, this is either a very advanced advertisement-bot or a subtle way to make advertising through a lp. Still, :thumbsup: let's see how it goes.
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
lightbane said:
Nice, this is either a very advanced advertisement-bot or a subtle way to make advertising through a lp. Still, :thumbsup: let's see how it goes.

FREE SHOES GENUINE QUALITY $$$$$

LEATHER CROCODILE SKIN ALL REAL NO FAKES

CLICK HERE !!!!!! ORDER ONLINE SO EASY !!!

$$$ PRADA GOLCE ARMANI QUALITY ITEMS PRICE SO LOW $$$$

Edit: in seriousness... glad you think it's an ad for DCSS. I love the game despite being middling at it, so if more people play it, good. Of more importance, I LOVE the genre. So even better if people choose to ignore the LP and just play some other roguelike because of a link above.

Also - I have the next post ready to go but I'll wait for the next page. It's got something like 40 images and there's no need to put that on this first page.
 

golgepapaz

Augur
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
381
Location
Istanbul-Ankara express
Divinity: Original Sin Wasteland 2
heh, I was trying to make a Demonspawn fighter of Okawaru for some time with the new 0.8 build with armor changes, albeit without success (demonspawn XP and affinity penalties is teh hard) .Then I saw this LP
and created the same char.For now it's going well.Finished orcish mines and the lair, and attempting the swamp at the moment, Trog keeps giving me nice axes( battleaxe of orc-slaying .What!!?) but nothing else (don't know if he gives armor or not, at least he didn't give to me), I want to do Elven vaults next but without magic it doesn't look possible, seems like berserker is pretty good for lower levels but as you go deeper lack of magic impedes the progress real bad.

Oh and if you come upon death yak or elephant packs,brother in arms does wonders, berserk tends to end at most unfortunate times..

here is the char dump if anyone is interested, I snipped the vanquished creatures and notes..


Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.8.0-a0-4584-gb914d3b character file.

macabre the Severer (Hill Orc Berserker) Turns: 31059, Time: 01:07:28

HP 135/135 (138) AC 25 Str 24 Exp: 16/115767 (58), need: 27233
MP 14/14 EV 6 Int 8 God: Trog [*****.]
Gold 2046 SH 0 Dex 13 Spells: 0 memorised, 17 levels left

Res.Fire : . . . See Invis. : . a - +4,+6 dwarf battleaxe (flame) {god gift}
Res.Cold : . . . Warding : . P - +4 orc plate mail {rPois}
Life Prot.: + . . Conserve : . (no shield)
Res.Acid. : . . . Res.Corr. : . q - -1 helmet
Res.Poison: + Clarity : . (no cloak)
Res.Elec. : . Spirit.Shd : . (no gloves)
Sust.Abil.: . . Stasis : . d - +2 pair of boots
Res.Mut. : . Ctrl.Telep.: . K - amulet of faith
Res.Rott. : . Levitation : . e - ring of life protection
Saprovore : + . . Ctrl.Flight: . t - ring "Shreanao" {rPois Dex+3 Acc+3}

@: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy
A: saprovore 1
a: Burn Spellbooks, Berserk, Trog's Hand, Brothers in Arms, Renounce Religion


You are on level 1 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Trog.
Trog is extremely pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 4 branches of the dungeon, and seen 29 of its levels.

You have collected 2702 gold pieces.
You have spent 676 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
a - a +4,+6 dwarven battleaxe of flaming (weapon) {god gift}
h - a +4,+5 executioner's axe {god gift}
i - the +3,+7 battleaxe of Cuvvagom {god gift, slay orc, +Rage MR Str+2}
(Trog gifted it to you on level 2 of the Orcish Mines)
It is especially effective against all of orcish descent.
It affects your strength (+2).
It increases your resistance to enchantments.
It lets you go berserk.
D - an uncursed dwarven anti-magic battleaxe {god gift}
H - the +1,+9 battleaxe of Infinite Pain {god gift, freeze, Str+3}
(Trog gifted it to you on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts)
It has been specially enchanted to freeze those struck by it, causing extra
injury to most foes and up to double damage against particularly
susceptible opponents. It can also slow down cold-blooded creatures.
It affects your strength (+3).
Missiles
v - 3 silver javelins
Q - a runed javelin (quivered)
Armour
d - a +2 pair of boots (worn)
p - a +0 ice dragon hide
q - a -1 helmet (worn)
L - a +0 swamp dragon hide
P - a +4 orcish plate mail of poison resistance (worn)
Magical devices
l - a wand of disintegration {zapped: 2}
m - a wand of lightning {zapped: 8}
o - a wand of teleportation (6)
u - a wand of enslavement {zapped: 3}
x - a wand of random effects {zapped: 17}
z - a wand of frost {zapped: 3}
A - a wand of healing (2)
C - a wand of random effects {zapped: 11}
M - a curved silver wand {zapped: 3} {tried by monster}
S - a wand of fireball {zapped: 10}
X - a brass wand
Comestibles
f - 8 bread rations
j - 2 apples
r - 3 meat rations
I - a sausage
Scrolls
c - 3 scrolls of detect curse
g - 10 scrolls of teleportation
k - 2 scrolls of identify
y - 3 scrolls of remove curse
E - a scroll of fear
J - a scroll of amnesia
T - a scroll of immolation
W - a scroll of fog
Jewellery
b - an uncursed ring of teleport control
e - a ring of life protection (right hand)
t - the ring "Shreanao" (left hand) {rPois Dex+3 Acc+3}
(You bought it in a shop on level 8 of the Dungeon)
[ring of poison resistance]
It affects your dexterity (+3).
It affects your accuracy (+3).
K - an amulet of faith (around neck)
Potions
n - 2 potions of might
B - 3 potions of speed
F - 2 potions of healing
N - 4 potions of heal wounds


You have 58 experience left.

Skills:
+ Level 12 Fighting
+ Level 19 Axes
+ Level 1 Staves
+ Level 3 Throwing
+ Level 14 Armour
+ Level 7 Dodging
+ Level 1 Stealth
+ Level 2 Traps & Doors
+ Level 1 Spellcasting
+ Level 3 Evocations


You have 17 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (12/27) Temple (0/1) D:6 Orc (4/4) D:11
Elf (0/5) Orc:4 Lair (8/8) D:9 Swamp (5/5) Lair:2
Slime (0/6) Lair:6 Snake (0/5) Lair:6
Hive: D:11-16

Altars:
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Makhleb
Sif Muna
The Shining One
Xom
Zin
Beogh

Shops:
D:5: (*(%/ D:8: = Orc:1: /


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You can tolerate rotten meat.


Message History

You feel extremely unstealthy.
You are alive. Your movement speed is average. Your attack speed is above average.
You are somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments.
You feel extremely unstealthy.
Char dumped successfully.
Char dumped successfully.
Char dumped successfully.
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
Oh and if you come upon death yak or elephant packs,brother in arms does wonders, berserk tends to end at most unfortunate times..

Yeah proper use of Brothers in Arms is key if you're running with Trog. It's a good option in the midgame.

On another note...

I need some ideas for future builds. Not at all related to a possible upcoming YASD post.

Names too if you want me to name someone after you.

Edit: also and I don't really care that much, but you should a) trim a tad more from the morgue. Stuff like what you've visited and the altars you've seen are meh. and b) put it in [code ] tags.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,952
I suggest Spriggan Enchanter. Pretty far cry from what you got now, as I'm sure you'll have fun explaining. You can name him Mr. Hawking, since they probably have similar durability and intelligence.
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
Part Four - To the Temple We Go

The Further Adventures of Grog the Hill Orc Berserker of Trog

Part Four - To the Temple We Go

... in which Grog clears dungeon levels until he reaches the Temple.

DL_22.jpg


We rejoin our hero Grog on the second level of the dungeon. It's a good thing Grog went to the trouble of going to search out that left part of the dungeon, as it's in that part of the map that Grog finds a wand. Along with scrolls wands are Grog's main source of magic. There are many things this wand could be.

dl_23.jpg


Use-ID'ing a wand is not generally recommended but in this case Grog thought it was worthwhile. There is of course a chance that the wand helps the monster (if it's a wand of haste or random effects and a good random effect comes up) or makes the situation more dangerous (if it's a wand of polymorph) but with the distance between them Grog was fairly safe using the wand. And lucky for him he discovers the wand is a wand of fire. That will definitely come in handy down the road.

dl_24.jpg


Grog gets into a tough spot fighting an orc and needs to use the wand to finish the job. He happens to be hungry at the time and is quick to learn that there isn't a stigma for cannibalism when you get below. He decides that orc meat tastes good. Or at least as good as rat meat.

dl_25.jpg

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Like almost all roguelikes DCSS uses secret doors and passageways. This is just one example where Grog discovers a secret door. It was fairly obvious from the way the map was laid out, but coming at it from the other side as Grog did originally, you wouldn't easily see where to search.

dl_27.jpg


Not much else to see in level 3, so Grog is checking out the dungeon below. When he gets to the bottom of the stairs he sees an Ogre waiting for him! While Grog could take the Ogre on using his berserk ability, it's safer for him to go back up the stairs and find another way down. Live to fight another day Grog. In any case, he has more exploring to do up above.

I think this was the right move. Normally I would attack the Ogre head on and come what may... and the odds are that I would win and everything would be ok. But the reality is that in some cases there will be something nasty just around the corner and I won't see it until my berserk has worn off and I'm slowed down. That's what kills the inexperienced adventurer.

dl_28.jpg


Grog is ready to decend to level 4, so he goes down a different set of stairs and finds a Giant Ant waiting at the bottom of them. Giant Ants are dangerous opponents, akin to Snakes. They do poison damage and are very fast. You don't want to tangle with them if you don't have to.

dl_29.jpg


That being said, Grog just ran from an Ogre. A Berserker of Trog has his pride. A Hill Orc has a reputation. Death to the ants! Grog makes short work of this particular ant with the wand of fire and gets up to level 5 as a result! With his level increase Grog gains a point of strength. Time to explore level 4.

dl_30.jpg


Oops. A net drops down from the ceiling and ensnares Grog. This happens every so often and is usually harmless. You cut it a few times and then escape. It is death if you're low on HP and being chased though. Along with a million other things that's just another hazard of running into dark, unexplored tunnels.

dl_31.jpg

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Grog gets surprised by a Kobold with poison needles and a blowgun. He kills the Kobold using his Wand of Fire but one of the needles nicks him. Grog is poisoned!

Poison can be very deadly in DCSS, especially when you're at low health to begin with. In this case Grog was ok. He had the space to rest out his illness.

dl_35.jpg


Grog finds a cool looking war axe in this otherwise empty room. He has no intention of equipping another cursed item in the middle of a level though, so he decides to save this weapon for later. His plan is to wield-ID all the cool looking weapons and armour he finds once he gets to the Temple. Which should be any minute now...

I usually do this. I will sometimes stop early to use-ID stuff when I need to, but it's pretty rare that a weapon will make the difference between living and dying. Much better to play it safe in this regard.

dl_36.jpg


Grog takes a trip down to dungeon level 5 to do some reconnaissance. He kills some orcs and is attacked by a giant catepiller. These things are very slow, so a favoured tactic is to run away from it spamming missile weapons. They do make good eats! Back up to finish off level 4 though.

dl_37.jpg

dl_38.jpg


Grog opens a door to find a giant ant and a gecko. They're lined up perfectly for him and two shots with the Wand of Fire do them in. Grog levels up as a result! Level 6 so he has the choice of stats to increase. Once again he's going to pick intelligence.

dl_39.jpg


Aha!

Grog has circled around and found the Ogre from before. Time to teach it a lesson. Grog wasn't afraid earlier, he was merely cunning!

Grog leads the Ogre into a corridor. The hulking but stupid Ogre follows with the Kobold right on his heels. The trap is set...

dl_40.jpg

dl_41.jpg

dl_42.jpg


Grog calls upon the power of Trog and berserks on their asses. Take that, Ogre!

dl_43.jpg


Grog sees an escape shaft but doesn't use it. Escape shafts are like those one way stairs leading up. If you're totally screwed, use them. Otherwise stay the hell away. You can also have shafts open up under your feet. Those are scary. Nothing quite like finding yourself in two or three levels down from where you planned to be, with no idea how to get back up to a safe spot.

Grog does descend to level 5 via a normal stairway though. ... where is the temple?

dl_44.jpg


Grog encounters a Gnoll. Gnolls can be scary monsters at this level. They're fast, they're very strong, and they often have halbers and spears of reaching, which allow them to attack from a distance.

Luckily this Gnoll is alone, so Grog leads him into a corridor and goes berserk. It was the safest way of dealing with the Gnoll.

dl_45.jpg

dl_46.jpg


Grog has to backtrack to find this area of the map, but it's worth it. He finds another wand!

dl_47.jpg


Grog encounters both a snake and a gnoll. This could be a dangerous situation.

dl_48.jpg


Once again Grog use-ID's a wand. He finds out that the wand he just picked up was a Wand of Draining. Not the greatest weapon as it seriously reduces the amount of EXP that Grog gets from a kill, but it does do a lot of damage and is better than dying. Grog dispatches the gnoll with the wand and kills the snake with some darts.

dl_49.jpg


Grog finds a sweet amulet. As with the weapons he chooses not to wear it just yet.

dl_50.jpg

dl_51.jpg


Grog meets and has to kill an orc wizard... he tries negotiating with the Orc but there's some sort of bug in my version of DCSS. The "[N]egotiate with Monster" shortcut doesn't work!

In any case, Grog says screw it and just kills the wizard with the help of the wand of draining. Grog gains in power and levels up to level 7.

*There is in fact no [N]egotiate shortcut. Obviously. What. Did you think this was some sort of storyfag rpg?

dl_52.jpg


Grog meets an Orc Priest. We're at the point where we see a lot of orcs. Pretty soon we will see the entrance to the Orc Mines. That's normally guarded by a lot of Orcs so whenever I see a few orcs at this level of the dungeon I get concerned. There's nothing quite like accidently stumbling into a massive group of Orc Priests and Wizards to ruin a playthrough.

The Orc Priest has the ability to call upon his god to smite Grog, which does quite a bit of damage. That puts Grog in a tough spot because of the spear trap to his right, but he manages to kill the priest without taking too much damage.

dl_53.jpg


Later on in the same dungeon level Grog meets Reknor, the ghost of a former adventurer. From what Grog has been led to understand, he will meet many Reknors in this dungeon. Many an adventurer of that name have come here to die. Luckily this was one of the more useless adventurers so Grog berserks to kill him.

Ghosts are a really cool thing about DCSS. In offline games you have a morgue file. Every time one of your characters dies there is a chance that it will reemerge in future games. Nothing quite like dying to a past champion. In online games you can actually meet the ghosts of other players who have lost adventurers in the dungeon. In some cases, ghosts can be absolutely deadly, especially if you're playing online and have no clue what the ghost is capable of.

When dealing with ghosts, always better safe than sorry. Either kill them quickly or get the hell away from them asap.

Level 5 has been very exciting but Grog still hasn't found the Temple. He's starting to get worried. Sometimes it doesn't show up until level 7 (or even later?).

dl_54.jpg


When Grog does down the stairs to level 6 he is attacked by a Centaur. Centaurs are dangerous opponents with powerful ranged attacks and fast closing speed. Grog makes haste up the stairs to escape. As with the Ogre, better safe than sorry. This time though, Grog isn't content to merely continue exploring and find this monster by chance. This time, Grog goes hunting.

dl_55.jpg


Grog takes a different set of stairs and circles back around to attack the Centaur, but the Centaur has left by the time Grog gets there. The hunt is on.

dl_56.jpg

dl_57.jpg


No big deal for a master hunter like Grog.

I considered taking the bow and arrow but I screwed up earlier and I left the throwing skill untagged. I ended up levelling it to 6, so I figure I'll stick with the darts and javelins that I've found for now.

dl_58.jpg

dl_59.jpg


Grog finds his first shop. DCSS does have shops, though unlike in Nethack or a game like Shiren they are simply a list of items you can purchase. Also, there is no re-selling of items. There is absolutely no incentive to carry items around to sell them down the road. Gold is thus at a premium throughout the game (or at least in that parts I've seen - I don't really know if gold is plentiful in the end-game).

This first shop happens to be a book store though. That's no good. Grog can't read!

dl_60.jpg


Grog killed a hound to get to level 8, but when he attempted to pick up the hound's meat, he found that his pack was full. What that means is that while Grog can still carry more items based on his strength, there simply isn't any room in the pack of anything that's not of the same type of what he already has.

While Grog wanted to wait to get to the temple to ID his things, that just wasn't going to happen. So back up to level 5 where it's nice and safe and time to start use-ID'ing.

dl_61.jpg


After some fun with cursed items (Grog made sure he had a remove curse scroll first) Grog found that most of the stuff he picked up was crap. This is pretty well expected. You see so much stuff that most of it is going to be fairly useless, or useless to the build you're using. If this game were made by Bioware you wouldn't be able to find items that aren't designed for your character build, but luckily it's not. The RNG is god here.

Grog did find some new armour though, so he switched to wearing some orcish chain mail. Not as good for his EV but it improves the AC and will help Grog level his armour skill. He also found out that his unidentified amulet was an amulet of faith!. This is actually a mixed bag because while it helps Grog gain piety as long as he wears the amulet, it really hurts his piety when he takes it off. That's something to worry about later though.

Grog leaves all the crap he found on the ground. He also leaves both wands because they've been drained of charges.

When he goes back down to level 6 Grog is wearing a brand new suit of chain mail and a new pair of +0 gauntlets and wielding a +2,+1 war axe.

dl_62.jpg

dl_63.jpg


Grog found another store, this time a general store. This is much more useful. Grog bought a healing potion in the general store so that he wouldn't waste one through use-IDing. If the store sold it Grog would have also bought any bad potions. They show up in red and do things like slow you down, poison you, confuse you, etc. If you find them in the stores they only ever cost 1 GP and are always a good buy.

I also noticed that there are scrolls of recharging there. I may just send Grog back to get one. They're useful things to have and it means you wouldn't waste one through use_ID'ing.

dl_64.jpg


Grog finds an altar to Evilion. Though most altars are to be found in the Temple you also find some throughout the dungeon levels. Usually they're pretty cool designs. This one is fairly lame, but then, so is Evilion. Grog is a follower of Trog, so he takes a dump on the altar before moving on.

dl_65.jpg


This is a pretty dangerous situation Grog finds himself in. He's out in the open fighting an Orc Wizard and an Imp when a Giant Scorpion saunters in from the north. This has the potential to go badly for Grog. He keeps his cool though and just as the Giant Scorpion closes on Grog a judicious use of berseking ends the fight.

Grog does have to waste a bunch of time afterwards killing the damn imp though. I hate those things.

dl_66.jpg


Finally!

After having almost cleared DL:6 Grog spots the entrance to the Ecunemical Temple. Though he is beset by a slimy Snake on the way to the Temple, Grog has reached his objective and can finally relax.

dl_67.jpg


I leave you with a view of the Temple from the safety of the first steps.

Next up: Grog descends through the dungeon in search of the Lair. With the potential for detours through the Orcish Mines.
 

golgepapaz

Augur
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
381
Location
Istanbul-Ankara express
Divinity: Original Sin Wasteland 2
Here is the YASD

Code:
 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.8.0-a0-4584-gb914d3b character file.

118202 macabre the Severer (level 17, -5/145 (148) HPs)
             Began as a Hill Orc Berserker on Jan 29, 2011.
             Was a Priest of Trog.
             Killed from afar by an illusion of Mara (13 damage)
             ... with a bolt of fire
             ... woven by Mara
             
             ... on Level 3 of the Snake Pit on Jan 30, 2011.
             The game lasted 01:23:08 (38046 turns).
the most annoying boss ever, this time I've died because the berserk didn't end and I couldn't quaff potions and I was unable to invoke brothers in arms because I've removed the amulet of faith earlier (as you've mentioned in your post), should have fled as soon as I saw him.
Well at least I've got the bastard down with myself. :x
Code:
You could see 2 Maras and macabre's illusion.

Vanquished Creatures
  Mara (Snake:3)
  Nikola (Snake:1)
  Roxanne (Snake:1)
  Aizul (Snake:1)

Permadeath does teach humility. It makes you a better person :hmmm:
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
Part Five - Barnum and Bailey

The Further Adventures of Grog the Hill Orc Berserker of Trog

Part Five - Barnum and Bailey

... in which Grog learns a valuable lesson.

dl_68.jpg


We rejoin Grog on dungeon level 7. He's moved on from the Temple and is working his way down the dungeon towards the Lair.

dl_69.jpg

dl_72.jpg


Grog makes a kill and his god, Trog, takes notice. Trog is so pleased that Grog looks down to find a gift at his feet. Trog granted Grog a god gift. God gifts are typically weapons or armour or books that aid adventurers throughout their travels. Only the most pious of followers are blessed with these gifts.

In this case Trog gifted a Lajatang of Venom. A good weapon, but not ideally suited to Grog. We're going to skip this one (did I make a mistake skipping it?) and continue to use the war axe. By the time we get through Lair we won't know what to do with all the gifts, so it's really not that big a deal that the first one wasn't helpful.

dl_70.jpg


Grog slashes at an Orc Wizard but rather than defending himself the Wizard turns invisible! Grog can no longer trust his vision and will need his cunning to defeat this dangerous monster.

When you encounter an invisible opponent, or when an opponent turns invisible during a fight, there are some tactics that can really help you out. Leading the monster into a narrow corridor is the best way for someone without sense invisible to deal with the situation.

In this case Grog gets the edge on the Orc Wizard, and Trog is pleased. This won't be the only Orc Wizard Grog meets and has to kill without the aid of sight.

dl_71.jpg


Grog encounters a Jelly at the end of a corridor. Jellys have the ability to damage equipment, so you need to be cautious when fighting them. Grog flees the corridor back to safety. Safe, he puts on his other armour that he keeps for cases just like these and wielding a lesser weapon goes back to kill the Jelly.

dl_73.jpg


Grog is beset by Orcs! It turns out to be the hardest fight so far in the dungeon. Among the normal Orcs are a couple Wizards and Priests and an Orc Warrior as well. By pulling back and using his poison darts and some sensible tactical maneuvering Grog is able to put an end to the Orc threat.

I thought I might stumble upon the entrance to the Orc mines here, but it was not to be. We continue to search.

dl_74.jpg


Having moved down a level to DL:8, Grog meets his first unique. Unique monsters are monsters that have a random chance of showing up in each game but which are consistent across games. They have special power or equipment and are one of the major challenges that face adventurers throughout the early and midgame. This one, Blork the orc, is fairly straightforward. I'll quote the Henzell learndb here to describe him:
A unique spellcaster orc. Tends to have a rather strong weapon, and dangerous if he hastes himself and you don't have much AC.

Luckily Blork does not haste himself and Grog does have decent AC. He also has some dangerous darts and javelins. He makes short work of Blork.

dl_75.jpg


As soon as Grog kills Blork Erolcha emerges from the shadows! She is a fair bit more dangerous to Grog.
A unique ogre magess spawned with a random set of spells, one of which includes the power to banish players to the Abyss, and another of which is Lehudib's Crystal Spear; if she casts Invisibility, then she has neither. Do not underestimate her.

Discretion being the better part of valour, as they say, Grog gets out of there as quickly as possible.

dl_76.jpg

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Grog finds a shop. Not too much to see here though he considers getting the cap. He ends up buying a pair of boots (not displayed here) for 40 GP. They are +0 boots, but he didn't have any so it's not a bad purchase.

dl_78.jpg


Grog spots a portal entrance. You've got to be careful with these portals. You can't wait too long to enter them, because they close after a certain amount of time. At the same time, they can be dangerous. Just how dangerous? Let's see what Grog finds inside. He's going in...

dl_79.jpg


It's a Bailey. The learndb says:
A forbidden dungeon of the mad chevalier. A timed portal vault. It's full of axes, polearms, gnolls, orcs, or elves, depending on the RNG. Loot is somewhere between "some crappy axes" and "multiple scrolls of acquirement." Note that Teleport Control is sometimes blocked inside.

dl_80.jpg

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Grog explores the Bailey and is soon in a fight for his life. He calls on his Ogre brethren for help against the Orcs.

He thinks that with some smart play he may just be able to survive this.

dl_82.jpg


Turns out he is wrong. That Orc Knight - who is an extremely challenging opponent at Grog's level anyway - had a Glaive of Reaching. This is a weapon which allows the bearer to attack from a distance of two squares rather than just a single square. So while Grog thought he was safe from a distance and went about his business, the Ork Knight slashed at him unexpectedly and Grog died unaware.

And thus the adventures of Grog the Hill Orc Berserker of Trog come to an ignoble end in a Bailey reached through DL:8.

What did I do wrong here?

A couple meta-game things that are on me completely:

- I was tired. I forgot what needs to be my first rule. Don't play when you're tired. I make stupid mental errors and push past the limits of safety into risk / reward play where the potential reward just isn't worth losing a character to permadeath.

- I went too fast. I just wanted to beat the Bailey and get the potions and other potential rewards. I didn't stop to examine my surroundings. This is a turn based game, you lose nothing by [l]ooking around or by checking our your inventory to really examine your options.

Some more tactical mistakes I made:

- I should have waited earlier in the Bailey. What you don't see is that this was the second fight. After the first fight I pushed through the Bailey with about 2/3 health. I wanted to keep my Brothers in Arms going. If I have been full though, I could have just summoned new ones. I had the piety. Then I wouldn't have been in this low HP situation and I might have survived the Glaive of Reaching.

- I didn't use some of the escape mechanisms I had. I could have summoned another Brother. I could have used a health potion. What I probably should have done? I had a scroll of blinking, I sould have used that to get closer to the exits.

Oh well, live and learn.

Next post will be the morgue file and I've already started on Mr. Hawking the Spriggan Enchanter. He's not dead yet so that's good news. :)

After Mr Hawking will be a Demonspawn Wizard that goes by the name of Lord Paco.
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
panzertoter said:
(tiles are for the weak)

Fair enough. They make for better screenshots though.

Also, if I were playing console I'd just play CAO. Later on I may actually LP that.
 

oldmanpaco

Master of Siestas
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
13,609
Location
Winter
Question about spells. Can you un-memorize them? Was worried about using up my spell slots and got killed with my slots half unused.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,952
Yep. One way is via a god granted ability, the other is a spell you can learn that unlearns spells. I think it's enchanting school?

I'd go ahead and fill those slots. It's a lot harder to die because your book is filled with useful spells than it is because you never learned half of what you could have. Unless you're near the level cap you're going to get more slots anyways. Low level spells are especially worth grabbing, since they use few slots.
 

7hm

Scholar
Joined
Oct 29, 2010
Messages
644
Grog's Morgue File

This Was Grog, Hill Orc Berserker of Trog
Grog_Dead.jpg


Code:
2366 Grog the Chucker (level 9, 0/74 HPs)
             Began as a Hill Orc Berserker on Jan 29, 2011.
             Was an Elder of Trog.
             Slain by an orc knight
             ... wielding a +0,+2 orcish glaive of reaching
              (9 damage)
             ... in the bailey.
             The game lasted 01:14:02 (10104 turns).

Grog the Chucker (Hill Orc Berserker)                                                                  Turns: 10104, Time: 01:14:02

HP   0/74        AC 13     Str 21      Exp: 9/2986 (356), need: 924
MP   5/5         EV  7     Int  7      God: Trog [****..]
Gold 276         SH  0     Dex  9 (10) Spells:  0 memorised,  8 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .   F - +2 war axe (curse)
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : .   x - +0 orc chain mail
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (no shield)
Res.Poison: .       Res.Corr.  : .   (no helmet)
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   m - +0 dwarf cloak
Spirit.Shd: .       Stasis     : .   H - +1 pair of gauntlets
Sust.Abil.: . .     Rnd.Telep. : .   e - +0 pair of boots
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   Q - amulet of faith
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .   (no ring)
Saprovore : + . .   Ctrl.Flight: .   (no ring)

@: very slightly glowing, slightly resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy
A: saprovore 1
a: Burn Spellbooks, Berserk, Trog's Hand, Brothers in Arms, Renounce Religion


You were in the bailey.
You worshipped Trog.
Trog was extremely pleased with you.
You were hungry.

You visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and saw 9 of its levels.
You visited 1 portal chamber: bailey.

You collected 321 gold pieces.
You spent 65 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 a - a +5,+1 lajatang of venom {god gift}
 F - a cursed +2,+2 war axe (weapon)
Missiles
 D - 19 poisoned +0 orcish needles
 X - 6 +0 javelins of returning (quivered)
Armour
 e - a +0 pair of boots (worn)
 i - a +3 dwarven splint mail
 m - a +0 dwarven cloak (worn)
 x - a +0 orcish chain mail (worn)
 H - a +1 pair of gauntlets (worn)
 U - a +1 orcish leather armour
Magical devices
 l - a wand of lightning (0)
Comestibles
 c - 2 meat rations
 f - 3 bread rations
 g - a chunk of snake flesh
 I - an apple
 J - a choko
 L - 2 pears
 M - a lemon
Scrolls
 j - 3 scrolls of teleportation
 o - 2 scrolls of blinking
 r - 2 scrolls of identify
 O - a scroll of remove curse
 V - a scroll of enchant armour
Jewellery
 h - an uncursed ring of regeneration
 Q - an amulet of faith (around neck)
Potions
 b - 2 potions of heal wounds
 d - 6 potions of healing
 k - a potion of invisibility
 n - a potion of gain strength {unknown}
 t - 5 potions of might


 You had 356 experience left.

   Skills:
 + Level 6 Fighting
 - Level 6 Axes
 - Level 7 Throwing
 + Level 6 Armour
 - Level 2 Dodging
 + Level 1 Stealth
 + Level 1 Evocations


You had 8 spell levels left.
You didn't know any spells.

                    Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You can tolerate rotten meat.


Message History

Your ogre misses the orc knight.
The orc knight misses your ogre.
The orc knight hits your ogre with a runed orcish halberd!
Your ogre dies!
Your ogre's corpse disappears in a puff of smoke!
The orc knight hits you from afar with an orcish glaive of reaching!
You die...

#####        ####### 
.....#########.....##    #
......#.....#.......######
.....o'o!!!.'.......#.$$.#
o....ooo#)..'.......'....'
o....oooO@..'.......#.$$.#
.....o#.)...#.......######
.....#########.....##    #
#####        ####### 


You could see 4 orc knights, 3 orc warriors, 2 orcs and a friendly ogre (berserk).

Vanquished Creatures
  Blork the orc (D:8)
  The ghost of Reknor the Skirmisher, a weakling DSFi (D:5)
205 creatures vanquished.
 

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