Linley's Dungeon Crawl

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This article is about the computer game. For the general style of adventure it is named after, see dungeon crawl.
Linley's Dungeon Crawl
Developer(s) Linley Henzell
Publisher(s) None
Designer(s) Linley Henzell
Release date(s) 1997
Genre(s) Roguelike
Mode(s) Single player
Platform(s)

Linley's Dungeon Crawl (or just Dungeon Crawl or Crawl) is a roguelike computer game originally programmed by Linley Henzell in 1995. Version 1.00 was released in 1997 and the game is still being developed.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Crawl starts by having the player choose one of 26 races. These races include five different types of elves; two types of dwarves; humans; ogres; kenku; merfolk; and other fantastic and/or mythological races. Racial selection determines a character's starting attributes, how quickly different skills advance, and the base rate of movement.

The next choice that a player makes is that of his/her character's class. There are 28 different choices in total, with different races limited to different jobs. The classes include the more traditional choices of fighter, wizard, and thief, as well as various specialties. There are elementalists for fire, ice, wind and earth. There are also monks, berserkers, assassins, crusaders, and wanderers. Wanderers receive a random assortment of skills. Class and race together determine the starting equipment and skills of the character, but from then on characters may attempt to learn any other skills.

The goal of Crawl is to recover the "Orb of Zot" hidden deep within a dungeon complex. In attempting to accomplish this goal, characters have to visit dungeon side branches, such as the Orcish Mines or The Lair. These branches often have sub-branches, like the Elven Halls or The Swamp.

The skill system in Crawl covers most abilities upon which an adventurer might call. The skills include the ability to move freely in armor, move silently, attack effectively with different types of weapons (pole arms, long blades, short blades, maces, whips and staves), cast spells from different colleges of magic (the elements, necromancy, conjuration, enchantments, summoning and so on), and the ability to use magical artifacts or pray to the gods. Each skill is trained by repeating the action that the skill controls (e.g., hitting a monster with a longsword trains long blades and fighting skills).

The religion system in Crawl is more varied than in most roguelikes. There are twelve gods in total. Each god expects the character to act a certain way and will reward conformance to a particular code of conduct. The berserker god, Trog, expects followers to abstain from casting spells but gives rewards to help in battle. Sif Muna expects characters to use spells frequently and gives rewards to help in this area. Other gods campaign against evil, while still others are random in their actions. Xom treats his followers as toys giving punishments and rewards on a whim. Another god gives a deck of cards that produce many different results. One may even join an evil god of death or chaos, who rewards indiscriminate killing of the living.

The magic system is divided into many realms. Each can be used in conjunction with another to form an outcome, although some spells depend upon only one type of magic and some even three different types. The areas of ice and enchantment may be used to give the caster ice armor, while fire and conjuration magic produce fireballs. Each area of magic offers effects distinct from the others.

The dungeon maps in Crawl are persistent. When the player moves between levels the dungeon map does not change. This is a feature which is not implemented in some other roguelike games available.

[edit] Typical Dungeon Crawl screen

                                      wiki the Stabber
        ∙∙                            High Elf
       ∙∙∙    ▒▒▒▒                    HP: 5/16
      ▒∙∙[   ▒▒g∙∙ ▒▒                 Magic: 2/2
      ▒∙∙∙∙   ∙∙∙ ∙∙▒                 AC: 2     (0)
     ▒▒∙∙∙∙▒▒▒▒∙▒▒∙[▒                 EV: 11
     ▒∙∙∙∙∙∙▒∙∙<∙∙∙∙▒                 Str: 11
     ▒∙∙∙∙∙∙▒∙∙>∙∙∙▒▒▒▒               Int: 13
       ▒∙∙∙∙<∙∙∙@∙∙∙%∙▒               Dex: 16
       ▒▒▒▒▒∙∙∙∙▒▒▒▒▒ ▒               Gold: 131
           ▒∙∙▒∙∙∙∙                   Experience: 2/16  (2)
           ▒∙▒▒∙▒▒                    Level 2 of the Dungeon
           ▒∙ ∙∙▒  ▒                  a) +0 elf short sword
           ▒▒▒▒▒▒                     Encumbered


[edit] Example Dungeon Crawl character dump

Dungeon Crawl version 4.0.0 beta 26 character file.

wiki the Stabber (High Elf)
(Level 2 Thief)

Play time: 00:03:20       Number of turns: 291

Experience : 2/16
Strength 11     Dexterity 16     Intelligence 13
Hit Points : 5/16          Magic Points : 2
AC : 2          Evasion : 11          Shield : 0
GP : 131

You are on level 2.
You are encumbered.
You are not hungry.

  Inventory:
Hand weapons
 a - a +0 elven short sword (weapon)
 b - a +0 elven dagger
 o - a club
 q - a dagger
 A - an orcish club
Missiles
 e - 26 +0 elven darts
 l - 22 needles
 w - 27 darts
Armour
 c - a +0 elven robe (worn)
 d - a +0 elven cloak (worn)
 i - an elven cloak
 v - an orcish ring mail
Comestibles
 f - 2 bread rations
Scrolls
 g - a scroll labeled UNONYV
 p - a scroll labeled PESIFREHYC
 u - a scroll labeled MINUGYKUGESHI
 y - a scroll labeled QET FIP
 z - a scroll labeled OGOTEQ D
Potions
 h - an orange potion
Carrion
 j - a rotting giant newt corpse
 k - a rotting giant newt corpse
 m - a hobgoblin corpse
 n - a giant bat corpse
 r - a kobold corpse
 s - a goblin corpse
 t - a giant cockroach corpse
 x - a giant bat corpse
 B - a hobgoblin corpse

 You have 2 experience left.

   Skills:
 + Level 1 Fighting
 + Level 3 Short Blades
 + Level 1 Darts
 + Level 1 Throwing
 + Level 2 Dodging
 + Level 2 Stealth
 + Level 2 Stabbing
 + Level 2 Traps & Doors

You have one spell level left.
You don't know any spells.

[edit] Versions

The most recent stable release of LDC was the v4.0.0 beta on 26 March 2003, with version 4.1.0 alpha released for testing in July 2005.

The crawl-ref project was started to address the rather stagnant official development of Crawl. In September 2006, the crawl-ref project made its first release of a Crawl variant called Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup that aims for greater openness in development and more involvement from the community.

An excellent version with color tile graphics and mouse support also exists. The game is released under an open source license based on the original NetHack General Public License.

[edit] External links

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