Death comes in many flavors. Let's play Ancient Domains of Mystery!

Chapter 0: Skip to next post for actual game stuff



Ancient Domains of Mystery, or ADOM for short, is a roguelike: one of the oldest and one of the best. Unlike most roguelikes, it was developed by one person and remains closed-source. To this day, there is a lot of mystery surrounding certain aspects of the game. It's huge, challenging, and jam-packed with places to explore and things to do.

ADOM and me

They say if you grow up on roguelikes, you either grow up on Angband or NetHack. I'm a NetHack kid. My very first roguelike was Rogue, but I found NetHack at a young age and played the everloving crap out of it. It was a long time later that I discovered that there were more of these games. I sought them out and learned their dark secrets. Some of them were flat and repetitive, like Angband (don't shoot me). Some of them were gimmicky and unapproachable, like IVAN. And one of them was ADOM.

Like NetHack, ADOM offers a wealth of discovery for the inquisitive and persistent player. Unlike NetHack, ADOM doesn't demand in-depth knowledge of the game's esoteric secrets. The world of Ancardia is populated by people who are worth talking to. Your alignment actually matters and can be influenced by your actions. The game's many classes are appreciably distinct. The world is enormous - even a winning run might only scratch the surface of the game's many locales.

ADOM might not be the One True Roguelike, but I'm never going back to NetHack's ID game.

While ADOM hasn't been updated in over a decade, its influence is felt throughout the roguelike universe. ADOM's corruptions are probably the inspiration for the mutations found in ToME and Crawl. ADOM is listed as an influence for a variety of other games, notably Incursion. And Thomas Biskup is working on a follow-up...

This is my second time LPing ADOM. The first time, I was lucky enough to pull off a victory.


And that's enough infodumping. Let's play ADOM!

Helpful links
http://www.adom.de/ - Official website. Note that while the game hasn't received an update in forever, the forums are still active and the author is semi-active on the forums.
http://kiserai.net/adom/sage/ - ADOM Sage. Use this!
http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopme...index.php/ADOM - RogueBasin's entry for ADOM.
http://www.adomgb.info/ - Comprehensive spoilers. You've been warned!

Other recommended roguelikes
POWDER: Best handheld roguelike? Probably. It's good enough to run with the big boys, even if it seems relatively small.
Crawl: Dudes already know about Crawl.
Incursion: The d20 roguelike. Ridiculously detailed, tons of flavor. You can play a diplomancer!
Spelunky: The action-adventure roguelike. If you haven't played it yet, why haven't you played it yet?

Chapter 1: Character Creation

Character creation is one of my favorite parts of ADOM, convoluted though it may be. That's good, because you end up needing to do it every time you die, which can be often.

You're assigned a starsign and then you pick a race and a class. Starsigns give various benefits, often intended to nudge you towards a certain kind of character. Some starsigns are better suited to mages, some better suited to warriors. They're almost all strictly good, though, so if you really feel like playing a certain character, the starsign probably won't stop you.

Suggest me a character. The more viable the character is, the better things will go. If you pick me a gray elf merchant, his lifespan will be measured in seconds. The races are fairly balanced, but not all classes are created equal. Pick something interesting!

Genders
a- Male: has one more Strength and one less Dxterity than females. Impresses people with Charisma.
b- Female: has one more Dx and one less St than males. Since Dx is easier to raise... Impresses people with Appearance. Sexism runs rampant in the Drakalor Chain. There are a few other minor differences that I'll mention later on.

Races
a- Human: average at everything. Ho-hum.
b- Troll: awesome regeneration, insanely strong and tough, but terrible terrible experience progression. Short lifespan makes them vulnerable to aging attacks. Excellent early-game characters.
c- High Elf: fragile, but good with bows and magic.
d- Gray Elf: see High Elf. Virtually indistinguishable, except whereas High Elves are lawful, Gray Elves are neutral.
e- Dark Elf: the elf that kills things. Still fragile, but a good melee fighter. Compare orcs, but these guys have elven lifespans.
f- Dwarf: stock stocky dwarfness. Notable for the Detect Traps skill and access to the Mithril Skin talent. Dwarves are pretty great, you guys.
g- Gnome: less fragile than elves, but still good with magic 'n stuff. Levels quickly.
h- Hurthling: the not-a-hobbit. Really good at throwing rocks. Levels quickly.
i- Orc: kills things with Backstabbing and Find Weakness. Shortest lifespan, narrowly edging out trolls.
j- Drakeling: spits acid, swims, and preserves corpses. The acid spit is a godsend for otherwise melee-only classes and can carry you through the early game. Drakelings are cold-blooded, which matters in exactly two areas in the game.

Classes
a- Fighter: generic weapon user that learns to use armor more effectively. Mid-tier.
b- Paladin: hybrid warrior/caster. Mid-tier.
c- Ranger: two-weapon class in a game where two-weapon fighting isn't recommended. Learns wilderness survival in a game where wandering the wilderness isn't recommended. See Archer for a better ranged option. Mid-tier.
d- Thief: great skills to offset lack of any real offense. A classy but difficult selection. Low-tier.
e- Assassin: a more combat-oriented thief. Mid-tier.
f- Wizard: arcane caster with a knack for finding spellbooks. Magic is good. Highest tier.
g- Priest: divine caster that usually doesn't start out with useful spells. Wishes he were a wizard. Mid-tier.
h- Bard: grab-bag of skills, plus the ability to tame animals. Cross your fingers and hope for the best! Low-tier.
i- Monk: gets bonuses for fighting unarmed and unburdened. See Beastfighter for a better barefisted class. Mid-tier.
j- Healer: high HP regen makes this better than it sounds. Generous healers can be highly rewarded. Mid-tier.
k- Weaponsmith: can make some really good stuff if he survives long enough to find a forge. Smithing is tedious and unnecessary. Low-tier.
l- Archer: rains pointy death. It's hard to exaggerate how powerful these can be. Highest tier.
m- Merchant: good at shopping, for what it's worth. Can throw coins at dudes! The game has been beaten just by throwing coins at dudes. ADOM fans are crazy. Low-tier.
n- Farmer: good at planting, for what it's worth. Learns to carry lots of things. Good with polearms. Low-tier.
o- Mindcrafter: quirky psionics class that can't use magic ever. High-tier if you can get them past a very rough early game. I am bad at mindcrafters.
p- Barbarian: brute force class. Learns to hit things even harder. High-tier.
q- Druid: friend to animals, largely outclassed by priests. Mid-tier.
r- Necromancer: uses corpses as pets, not as useful as it sounds. Necromancy can be acquired by anyone, but only necromancers have it guaranteed. Mid-tier.
s- Elementalist: learns blasty spells as he gains levels. High-tier.
t- Beastfighter: the other unarmed fighter. Gets penalties for using weapons. High-tier.

Stats (just for reference!)
St: Strength helps you beat things up.
Dx: Dexterity helps you shoot things dead. Probably also affects your DV (defense value; read: evasion).
To: Toughness helps you survive. At high levels, it contributes to your PV (protection value; read: armor).
Le: Learning helps you gain new skills and spells. If your starting Le is below 10 or if you are a non-elf barbarian, you will start illiterate.
Wi: Willpower helps you in a variety of ways. It's important to everyone, but especially casters.
Ma: Mana helps you cast magical spells by determining your MP reserves.
Ap: Appearance helps you sexy. This has little in-game effect.
Ch: Charisma helps you endear yourself to others. Petkeepers want it, but it's not really vital even for them.
Pe: Perception helps you see. Determines range of vision and probably searching.

What say you, Talking Tyrants?

XYZ, the generic male High Elf Wizard.

Well, since you mentioned that: Gray elf Mindcrafter, named Akira.

I remember downloading versions of this game from a BBS. I even sent Thomas Biskup the post card...

Male Human Thief. Work for your money!

Male Dwarven Barbarian

You must crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of the beardless!

Chapter 2: Character Creation, Part II

I've decided to start with our first suggestion. Say hello to XYZ, the gray elf wizard. I forgot to screencap it, but XYZ's starsign is the Candle, which increases health regeneration and is generally agreed to be the best starsign of all time.



The game provides us with some backstory. It makes absolutely no gameplay difference, but it's nice flavor. (actually, age matters a little)

We then have the opportunity to choose between answering questions and having our stats rolled for us. This honestly doesn't make that much difference, and for the sake of time I usually go with the random option. But for this installment, let's answer us some questions.


Grandpa was a pretty cool guy. Let's learn with the priests. [Le +1, To -1, Ch -1, Ma +1]


Man, XYZ doesn't have time for this! Ignore the thief. [Ch -1, Wi +1]


Wow, this is a mouthful. Uh... let's give them a hand up. [St +1, Le -1, Wi +1, To +1, Ch -1, Ap -1]


XYZ wants to be the very best, like no one ever was. Let's go with A. [St +1, Le -1, Dx +1, To +1, Ch -1, Ma -1]


You gotta fight! For the right! To parrrrty! [St +1, Le -1, Wi +1, To +1, Ma -1, Pe -1]


XYZ is a bookworm, eh. [Le +1, Wi +1, To -1, Ch -1]


Man, XYZ doesn't have time for this! Ignore the dog (and the typo). [Wi +1, Ch -1]


XYZ has keen eyesight. Let's see what the scouter says about the area's help level. [St -1, Wi +1]


XYZ claimed it was because the deer was so magnificent, but really it's because he sucks with a knife. [Wi +2, Ch -2]


Bookworm etc. [Le +1, Ma -1]


XYZ is actually kind of a pansy, so he waits until the master returns and then asks about the book. [Le +1, Wi +1, Ma -2]


Man, XYZ doesn't have time for this! Follow the quest... indefinitely. [Wi +2, Ch -1, Pe -1]


Okay FINALLY we're done with that. The last part of character creation is to choose your talent. There are scads of talents and they're not all available from the start. To make matters worse, some of the talents are only available at level 1. They're all well-documented in the in-game help, luckily. This time, we're starting with three (count 'em) talents. Here's what we'll grab:

Potent Aura [+3 power points] - Honestly, +3 PP is a drop in the bucket. However, this is a prereq for...
Strong Magic [+2 to all damage caused by spells] - Aww yeah. This is the business. Most of our damage will come from spells, so this is an awesome bonus.
Long Stride [movement costs 950 energy points] - Uh... I'll explain the speed system later. For now, you should know that we now walk faster. Base cost is 1000, so it now takes 95% as long to walk the same distance.

Talent selection is honestly a minor optimization in the grand scheme of things -- only a few talents actually make a noticeable difference. Melee types will want to delve into the PV line, magic types should get Strong Magic and Strong Healing as applicable, and ranged types have an actual relevant talent tree.

Next: Game start!

Character Queue:
- Akira, GE Mindcrafter
- Olli, Human Thief
- Arithon, Dwarf Barbarian

Durinn, Male Dwarf Weaponsmith.

Irving, Male Human Merchant.

Namfoodle, male gnome elementalist.

Chapter 3: Welcome to ADOM World



Here's XYZ! Pretty balanced stats overall, except for his Toughness, which is abysmal. I can't complain about 20 HP, though -- I've definitely had worse.

Our hero appears to be trapped in the northeast corner of the Drakalor Chain. Actually, this isn't quite accurate -- if you go back to the starting tile, you're given the option to leave. This results in a "you survive but you don't win" game over. We're not interested in that, so let's head southwest.



The game's first town is also the area most players will discover first -- it's hard not to. Let's give it a look.


of the local populace. You feel at ease.

Decision time: Which quest shall we try first? In ascending order of difficulty, our options are:
- Rynt's quest: A fairly easy dungeon with few surprises. The quest reward is vital for other characters, pretty crummy for XYZ right now, and potentially abusable later.
- Girl's quest: A somewhat difficult dungeon complicated by the rather strict time limit. The quest reward is an alignment boost and a warm fuzzy feeling in your heart.
- Guth'Alak's quest: A fairly easy dungeon with a difficult boss fight at the end. The quest reward is of middling value for XYZ. If we don't care about when we tackle this quest, then it becomes easier than the puppy quest. Hint: that is exactly what will happen if you choose this quest.

Not a real option:
- Sheriff's quest: Kranach is a random encounter. If we happened to run into him, we could probably kill him, but it's rare and not particularly worthwhile.

While we're here, let's take a look at our inventory.


This screen shows what we're currently wearing. If your character starts off with a dumb weapon, it isn't equipped by default. Let's examine what we're carrying.


Ah, there's our crappy weapon. A big stick. It's actually got decent damage, but A) it's two-handed in a game where shields are great and B) training staves is useless.

Other inventory items: The rings aren't great, the torches are situational, and the wands are kinda gimmicky. But those potions! Healing is useful anywhere, and the troll blood means bonus regeneration. It stacks with our Candle starsign and everything.

But wait, there's more! Pressing [+] lets us see the rest of the inventory.



Potions of invisibility are cool. If you manage to curse them, then you can throw them to blind, which works on almost any enemy. The scroll is the equivalent of Crawl's enchant weapon I, but with a more sensible name. Finally, our spellbooks.

Fire Bolt is a nice, generic blaster spell, dealing fire damage in a line. It damages every enemy in that line and can cook or melt things on the ground (which can be a drawback).

Lightning Ball is a ball spell. The two major spell types are bolt spells and ball spells; whereas bolts damage in a line, balls damage in an area centered around the caster. Many higher-level monsters can shrug off bolts, but ball spells are affected only by elemental resistance. This makes ball spells Great. The downside is that they're several times more expensive.

Okay, guys. Quest me. We can learn more about spells later.

Next: Actual dungeoneering!

Character Queue:
- Akira, GE Mindcrafter
- Olli, Human Thief
- Arithon, Dwarf Barbarian
- Durinn, Dwarf Weaponsmith
- Irving, Human Merchant
- Namfoodle, Gnome Elementalist

help the elder!

I would like to propose Jeltz, the male orc bard, for the character queue.

Chapter 4: Adventure Time!

We bring you your regularly scheduled ADOM, already in progress.


"'t disappeared near da dark hole on da pass..." (more)
"Me fears it got lost." (more)
"Would'cha gettit back to me?" (more)
"Hurry! Mommy sayz dere a bad bad things in da cave!"

Yes, most NPCs talk like this. ...I don't know either.

If you talk to her after the four-day limit but without the dog, her dialogue changes and you feel like a bad, bad person. Poor kid.


"Hey! Listen!"
"Kranach, the raider is roaming the country side." (more) (Wait, my name's not--)
"He's a nasty raider out on pillage." (more)
"Slay him and ye'll receive a nice reward." (more)
"Aye, lad. Abide by the laws and us'll be friends." (more)
"Ye know, we set bounties on the heads of criminals. Bring'em in!"


(Note: This is clearly a lie.)
"The village carpenter tried to explore the dungeon but was not seen again." (more)
"It would be great if ye could discover his whereabouts."

Quests in hand (this is a metaphor), we're ready to depart the village. XYZ drinks the troll blood and reads each spellbook once.



Bad news! It looks like Lightning Ball is a little beyond XYZ right now. We could try again and maybe get it next time, but even if we managed it, the spell would only be barely learned. This is as good a time as any to go over Magic Mechanics.

Magic can be cast from memory or from a spellbook. Book casting costs several times as much, but on the plus side, you don't have to worry about spell memory. What's that? Well, let's take a look at XYZ's spell menu.


Note: This menu looks a bit different in ADOM Sage (which I'm running).

Here's what we're looking at:
A - The spell's hotkey. Spells are always alpha-sorted, so be careful what you're casting if you learn a new spell. You can assign keys to spells or something. I don't, personally.
Fire Bolt - That's the name of the spell.
231 - The spell memory. Each time we cast the spell, it will decrease a little. When it gets low, the spell's PP cost increases. When it reaches 0, the spell can no longer be cast.
10pp - The spell's current PP cost. This can be altered in a few different ways.
P:+0 - I'm not sure what the P is supposed to stand for here, but the gist of it is that this is the spell's level. Using a spell can cause it to level up, making it slightly stronger.
R:6 - The spell's range. This is primarily increased by having a high Willpower.
E:4d6+R* - The spell's effect; in this case, damage. It deals 4d6 damage plus one for each tile of range left. Firing bolts point blank is slightly more powerful than firing them at range. Not pictured: the +2 bonus from Strong Magic.


OK, back to the game. The village dungeon is to the southeast and -- hey! Where do you think you're going?



Ah, I see. We'll just stop here to spawn the cave, then hurry to somewhere more interesting.


You have entered a small cave. A lingering menace seems to loom over this place. You feel as if you should not stay for too long. Several items are lying here. There is a stair leading upwards here.

Mysterious!

To our left are a goblin and three rats. To our right are some clothes. Under ordinary circumstances, we'd be forced to deal with the monsters before leaving the area, but it's the first turn and they're not hostile yet.

You climb upwards... The goblin rockthrower decides to follow you. The rat decides to follow you. The goblin rockthrower leaves. The rat leaves.

Chumps!


You don't get away!

Um, okay! Let's learn about wilderness encounters why not.



Ambushes suck. This could kill XYZ.



But it won't. Wizards are great, you guys. (More on "Coward" later.)

You become more efficient in using the 'Fire Bolt' spell (now +1). (more)
Congratulations! You advance to level 2. (more)



I'd like to interrupt this level-up to point out that all I did was cast Fire Bolt once. One spell, three bandits, one level.

Now, back to that skills screen. Each time you gain a level, you can improve at least three skills. The exact number is determined by your Learning, your starsign, and I think your race. Your race/class determines which skills are available initially. As you practice your skills, they can go up naturally; this can also improve the maximum for that skill and its dice roll. I'll talk more about skills later. Right now, I'm going to boost Concentration (PP recovery), Healing (HP recovery), Dodge (dodge), and Climbing (climbing). That maxes Healing for now, but since Healing gets exercised by not having full HP, it will be available for another raise very soon.

Where were we? Oh, bandits.



Wizards are great, you guys.

Congratulations! You advance to level 3. (more)

The early levels come hard and fast. I can now raise Concentration to 62 and Healing to 27, so I do. I'll also boost Herbalism and, uh, Alchemy. Really, I just care about Concentration and Healing for now. If I could raise them any faster, I would.

Every three levels is another talent, so XYZ picks up Careful (+1 DV -- not great, but it's a prereq).

Congratulations! This battle is complete. I scavenge leather boots, a hard girdle, a leather girdle, and a bandit corpse from the battlefield. The hard girdle is a girdle of strength {St+1} and Tywat Pare will pay me for the corpse, but the rest is junk. Can't complain about a stat boost, though.



Next time: Our second turn in a dungeon!

Character Queue:
- Akira, GE Mindcrafter
- Olli, Human Thief
- Arithon, Dwarf Barbarian
- Durinn, Dwarf Weaponsmith
- Irving, Human Merchant
- Namfoodle, Gnome Elementalist
- Jeltz, Orc Bard

I'd like to request Buck the troll healer.

I would like to add Kalbiens the Drakeling Farmer to the list, hopefully before it gets too long!

I was going to add Gray Elf Wizard to the list, but given that there's a High Elf Wizard in progress, not much point; they're practically identical, IIRC.

Lucky on the Candle! I was going to say that you weren't really playing ADOM unless you startscummed for a decent sign, but... Candle. I can just pretend you were scumming and got it on the first try. :P

With Candle, you almost don't even need to train Healing, your natural regeneration is so fast. Suits me, because Wizzards want to pump Concentration as much as possible until you're allowed to max it out.

You forgot to mention the other downside to ball spells: most of them, for now, require letting something get into melee range. In proper wizardly tradition, this can be a very bad idea.

It is going to be so hard to resist kvetching about this game between updates; I want to like this game, but I just can't. For now, I'll just gripe about this being a roguelike with random encounters.

XYZ is a gray elf. I screwed that one up.

Re Candle: Actually, I opened up ADOM to take some screenshots of the chargen and landed Candle magically! I got so excited I forgot to take the screenshots.

Maybe you can like this game when it's played vicariously.

I usually don't like to post suggestion stuff in threads that have already gotten going for a bit, so I'll refrain. Just stopping by to say I'll be watching.

Oh! Well then.

Wow, you're really blazing away there. As a fan of the SA thread, I'll be paying close attention and scrutinizing your every move.

Which is my way of saying "more polearms and Treasure Hunter" from now on.

Blazing away? Why, I haven't even set foot in my first real dungeon!

I'm on the anti- side of the Treasure Hunter debate, but I'll be sure to show it off at some point.

Polearms, on the other hand, are a given.

Much appreciated, moogle-dood. And I'm just saying I'm enjoying the quick little updates you've got going since yesterday.

Maybe I'll give this game a fair shot once I see some more of how it's played. The LPs looking good so far.

Do you have an opinion of elona?

First I've heard of it! The website is mostly Japanese, which is not super helpful, but based solely on the screens, it looks more JRPG than roguelike.

@dtsund: Closing with the enemy isn't a huge deal if you can kill it instantly. Burning Hands is one of my favorite spells despite being melee-range.

@orcus: Thanks! I appreciate the sentiment.

Character Queue:
- Akira, GE Mindcrafter
- Olli, Human Thief
- Arithon, Dwarf Barbarian
- Durinn, Dwarf Weaponsmith
- Irving, Human Merchant
- Namfoodle, Gnome Elementalist
- Jeltz, Orc Bard
- Buck, Troll Healer
- Kalbiens, Drakish Farmer

Me and Asema and Satonakaja know about Elona! It's something like a cross between a roguelike and an MMO, if you'd believe that. I haven't played it, but there's kind of a... creepy overlap between pets and humans, I'll put it that way.

You must be new to the internet. Also, now I'm curious.

Chapter 5: Village Dungeon, part I



While shopping for food, I get a handy boost to Concentration. This is because I cast a few spells earlier. Wizards should max their Concentration as early as possible. We're right on track here.

Shops in ADOM work much like their NetHack equivalents, except whereas NetHack shops were easily robbed by anyone with a pet and patience, ADOM shops tend to be fairly airtight. The really important difference, though, is that ADOM shopkeepers keep their wares pre-identified. Selling something also IDs it, which is really handy. You can't directly discern an item's BUC status, but the price is an indicator. In the above screenshot, I've picked up the most expensive large ration, knowing that it's blessed since it costs a bit more.





And here we're already seeing the downside of bolt spells. Gremlins are easy opponents, so I switch out of Coward and kill it in one hit. That means it's time to talk about Tactics.

ADOM lets you alter your battle stance to optimize for attack or defense. The scale ranges from Berserker to Coward, with more aggressive tactics increasing your hit and damage but decreasing your DV. Defensive tactics have the opposite effect. These bonuses and penalties scale with your character and can be further increased by starsign or talents.

There's also what's called "True Berserker," achieved by using Berserker tactics wearing nothing except possibly a shield and girdle. This massively boosts your attack power, but also causes you to attack anything you bump into without any prompt. Because you're ANGRY. True Berserker is best in the early game when your armor's not so great anyway. Later, you really need the protection.

Naturally, XYZ will spend most of his time as a Coward.



And it's our first dungeon feeling! Dungeons are noisy places. This message indicates the presence of a tension room on this floor. Tension rooms are a lot like zoos in other roguelikes: rooms full of monsters. Upon opening the door to a tension room, the surrounding area will collapse, allowing the monsters to swarm you unless you retreat a bit. Tension rooms are often themed; if you find what appears to be a deserted shop, it is a mimic tension room and you will die if you go in there.

A little further from this shot, I trigger a stone block trap, which knocks off about 20 HP. That's right, you can get OHKO'd by traps at level 1. (This is still much more forgiving than certain other games.)



And here's the tension room. A single fire bolt takes out half the room and brings us to level 4. Our Concentration cap is now 100, so all four boosts go to that, bringing it to 95. A couple more clear the rest of the room and leave some tasty corpses.



Doors have traps, too! Always open/kick them from a diagonal if possible. That's the same stone block trap that smooshed me earlier.


in front of it.

Case in point.



Second floor: Another tension room and our Learning goes up by 1, perhaps from studying those spellbooks.



A rat drops a fancy new spellbook. Here's our second ball spell (but actually our first).



And here's our first special room. Some rooms will give you some text when you enter them, either once or every time. These can have a variety of effects; for example, a room that smells like carrots will give you a nice bonus to Perception if you drink carrot juice there. This particular room doesn't have a noticeable effect. If the game were open-sourced, we'd know for certain what they all do. But it's not, so... mystery!

The tension room on this floor looks a lot like the last and brings us to level 5. Our Concentration reaches 100, an important milestone, and we also boost Dodge and Healing. Like talents, many of the skills have a very minor effect, so it's important to focus on the ones that actually do make a difference.

On floor 3, an orc throws his knife at me. Knives are mostly bad, but they are also notable for not being staves. I switch weapons and equip a small shield I found earlier. This isn't a stellar loadout, but it's a step up from what we had.



A burping sound indicates the presence of a breeder on this floor, probably a worm. I never find them because they're behind a locked door that I'd prefer not to facecheck for traps.

On floor 4, a spear trap! This is excellent luck, since spear traps mean spears. You can intentionally activate the trap to spawn more spears, meaning you can cherry-pick your weapon. As alluded to earlier in the thread, polearms are the best. Why? They're the weapons that provide the highest DV, meaning you get attack AND defense. Here's my pile o' spears:



The heap of 3 spears is almost certainly mundane. I pick up the other two and try one on. It ends up being a spear (+1, 1d8+3), which is really good.



And here's Jharod. Jharod actually cares more deeply about me than you will ever know, but this display only shows his hostility status, not his level of brotherly love.



The flavor text assures me that I'm about to die. Heartwarming!

Next: Yrrigs, the happy-go-lucky carpenter

What's with the timing on when you get skill bonuses? If that concentration boost at the start was from casting spells earlier, why'd you get it while buying stuff at the store?

I played it once or twice; always meant to play some more of it....

There's a timer that checks for training stuff every 2000 turns or so. This is particularly relevant for the trainers in the game -- you can pay money for stat/skill training, but the actual boosts don't come immediately.