[rec.games.roguelike.adom] Newsgroup FAQ (v. 0.9.4)
Richard Fowler
abbreviations frequently seen on the group. It should be read by
anyone who wishes to interact with the natives on
rec.games.roguelike.adom.
Archive-name: games/roguelike/adom/newsgroup
Posting-Frequency: Monthly
Last-modified: February 01, 1999
Version: 0.9.4
URL: http://www.aleph-null.com/adom/rgrafaq.html
Copyright: (c) 1998, 1999 by Richard Fowler
Maintainer: Richard Fowler <thi...@aleph-null.com>
r.g.r.adom FAQ
Last updated : 01 Feb 1999
This deals with Frequently Asked Questions about or involving the newsgroup
rec.games.roguelike.adom (r.g.r.adom). It does not deal with questions
about the game itself, as those are in the ADOM FAQ, posted regularly to
r.g.r.adom, or available at http://www.aleph-null.com/adom/adomfaq.html.
The r.g.r.adom FAQ is for those seeking information about the newsgroup,
and the traditions and customs of its denizens. It tends to be a friendly
group, but some of the newer residents expressed a desire for a guide to
assist them through smoother enculturation. Here it is! This document is
always available at http://www.aleph-null.com/adom/rgrafaq.html, or by
e-mail by sending a request to rgr...@aleph-null.com. Suggestions for
additions or changes should be made to thi...@aleph-null.com, the
maintainer of this FAQ.
--------------------------------------
Table of Contents
Section 1: Origins & History
1.0 The newsgroup's charter "What's this newsgroup for? What's it about?"
1.1 A little history
Section 2: Posting advice & guidelines
2.0 If you're new to USENET
2.1 Spoiler policies
2.1.0 Recommended 'spoiler' post policy "Why do people keep putting
lots of space in the middle of their posts?"
2.1.1 What is / what constitutes a spoiler?
2.1.2 Why bother covering them up?
2.1.3 How should I compose posts containing spoilers?
2.1.4 Other general points
2.1.5 Credits for Spoiler policies
2.2 Dealing with stuff that doesn't conform to expectations
2.3 Taboo topics (troll food)
2.4 YAVP--A Guide to good Victory Posting
Section 3: Common abbreviations
"How do you expect me to read a post when half of it's in code? What do all
the abbreviations stand for?"
3.1 Items
3.2 Creatures
3.3 Places
3.4 People
3.5 Other
3.6 The ADOM Code
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 1: Origins & History
1.0 CHARTER: rec.games.roguelike.adom
This group is for the discussion of the game ADOM, by Thomas Biskup, an
ASCII-character graphics adventure game in the style of Omega and Nethack.
All things pertaining to ADOM are acceptable here, including requests for
help locating and playing the game, announcements of new versions of the
game (which should also be posted in rec.games.roguelike.announce), and so
forth. When posting information about gameplay which is not mentioned in
the manual and/or is not "common knowledge", it is customary to put a
notice such as [SPOILERS] in the title of the post. Large binary files
should not be posted to this group. If you have a large binary which is
related to ADOM, please place it on an ftp or web site and post a message
to this group saying what the file is and how to get it. Posts on other
roguelike games such as Larn or BOSS should be directed to a more
appropriate newsgroups such as rec.games.roguelike.misc. Commercial posts
(advertisements, MAKE..MONEY.FAST, etc) are also not appropriate for this
newsgroup.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1 A little history
The proposal for rec.games.roguelike.adom passed (232:21) and was created
after its first proposal. It's announcement was made on 22 Feb 1997 and
propagation began soon after. Before this time, ADOM chat was conducted on
rec.games.roguelike.misc, where you can still see the occasional ADOM
query/discussion.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 2: Posting advice & guidelines
2.0 If you're new to USENET
Before posting anything, I would strongly advise that you go to the group
news.announce.newusers and read the several informative documents about
using USENET. They will save you (and many others) a lot of time and
frustration. Of course, the fact that you are reading a FAQ shows that you
already have some sensitivity to your environment and its requirements, but
the documents at news.announce.newusers should help you with some basic
netiquette and posting guidelines. They really do mean it when they advise
lurking for a while to get a feel for the natives; it's like being at a
party where you don't know anybody--you might be successful by barging into
a conversation and trying to be entertaining, but more likely you'll end up
getting a reputation as being rude and insensitive. Listen for a while and
when you start noticing that the things you would have said are being said
by others, you're probably getting fairly enculturated to us and should
jump on into the discussions. Or you can just go for it; it has worked out
(eventually) for some. Well, maybe two. Have I mentioned
news.announce.newusers yet? :^)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1.0 REC.GAMES.ROGUELIKE.ADOM: Recommended 'spoiler' post policy
This section used to be an independent document that has been incorporated
into the group FAQ with the original author's permission. Please direct
questions/suggestions/flames about this section to the maintainer of the
r.g.r.adom FAQ, as listed at the top of this document. These policies
reflect a general consensus of r.g.r.adom users, although not everyone
follows or even agrees with them entirely. Following them should prevent
flames of the "Use spoiler space, you..." variety.
--------------------------------------
2.1.1 What is / what constitutes a spoiler?
A spoiler is any piece of information which gives away something another
player might not know, or which requires some degree of 'special' insight.
For instance:
While it is not a spoiler to say that the Dwarven Elder in the Caverns of
Chaos will offer quests to players, it *is* a spoiler to explain the
quests, and detail how to complete them successfully.
It is not a spoiler to say that an artifact named 'Kinslayer' exists, but
it *is* a spoiler to list its powers and statistics (which can normally
only be found via great identify) or to reveal the location or acquisition
method of any artifacts (which can normally only be found via actually
playing).
--------------------------------------
2.1.2 Why bother covering them up? Won't people just find this all out
anyway?
Because it can ruin the game for people if they know exactly what they must
do, without discovering it for themselves. This is why spoiler protection
is strongly recommended--so that those who wish to read spoilers can, and
those who wish to avoid them can, too.
--------------------------------------
2.1.3 How should I compose posts containing spoilers?
We recommend the following format:
Subject lines should contain [SPOILER] in the subject line (which should be
kept as near to the content of the message as possible in replies),
possibly [Minor SPOILER] or [Major SPOILER] depending on how 'severe' the
spoilers could be considered (how much of the game do they affect?)
Make sure to include a spoiler warning within the text itself, as many
peruse the group from message to message without looking at subject lines.
This is where the inclusion of spoiler space is appreciated. Spoiler space
is simply a break between the spoiler warning (or the top of the message)
and the spoily content. Personally, I recommend asterisks or similar every
(other) line, for about 20 lines (this can be an opportunity to be clever
and expressive). Some people recommend the use of the '^L' character to
insert a page break, but this does not work properly for a number of
newsreaders, so if you use this method, please include some space filler as
well (lest you be accused of being agents of spoiliness, er...chaos). You
can really fill this space with anything you want, but it's preferred you
don't insert 30k ASCII graphics. Use common sense, bearing in mind the
purpose of the exercise.
If only part of a post is a spoiler, put the spoiler space before the
spoiler section (which should go at the end of the message). This allows
you to give 'hints' which are not really spoilers followed by spoiler space
before the *real* spoilers--so that readers may pick either the hints or
the heavy stuff.
--------------------------------------
2.1.4 Other general points
If your followup to a spoiler post must include those spoilers, be sure to
preserve the spoiler space and tag. If you've moved on from that topic,
then change the subject line and delete spoilers as appropriate. I
personally use the following format for 'changed' subject lines:
Re: Wilderness strategies [Was: avoiding encounters]
The above example being a post which no longer contains spoilers--some
users will automatically delete spoiler posts, so if your post is *not* a
spoiler, remove the spoiler tag, please. Of course, if it is still a
spoiler, leave the tag in place.
--------------------------------------
2.1.5 Credits for Section 2.1
Written by Matt Chatterley (ne...@itl.net) with contributions from many
readers of rec.games.roguelike.adom. Edited and maintained by Richard
Fowler (thi...@aleph-null.com), with the continued aid of many ADOMites.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2 Dealing with stuff that doesn't conform to expectations
Sometimes things show up in the newsgroup that it's denizens do not expect
or desire. Universally belonging to this category are commercial
solicitations, MLM plans, porn ads, and all the other junk commonly known
as spam (no offense intended, Hormel). While you should feel free to
respond to the instigator of the offensive message (or their provider)
according to your own inclinations, please do not include any response to
the newsgroup, as many residents have spam-filtering services and would
otherwise never see the spam if it weren't included in a response. Let it
die the ignoble, ignored, silent death it deserves.
There have also been occasions when personalities have collided, leading to
lengthy threads that contained little content other than flames and
defenses (whether by the original participants or others). Feel free to
express your opinions, but unless they are relevant to ADOM, please take
them to e-mail or a more appropriate forum.
What should I do if someone is posting spoilers with no space, and no
spoiler warning headings?
You should email them politely (we're a nice bunch, please, no flames!).
It's likely they're a new user and not aware that we prefer spoiler posts
to be marked, informing them that some users may not like them posting as
such, and refer them to this document. See section 2.1 for advised methods
for posting spoilers and the reasoning behind it all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.3 Taboo topics (troll food)
While the charter does not forbid discussions of the following nature, they
tend to quickly degenerate to flame wars and so are not considered fit for
polite company. If you want to discuss their merits, you can, but you will
likely find the crowd to be short-tempered and even hostile. These are some
of the quickest ways into killfiles and will hopefully be ignored or
replied to only by e-mail if they come up.
Discussions regarding the potential release of the source code when 1.0 is
completed. For or against, most of the reasonable things that can be said
on this topic have been said and it's all up to Thomas, anyway. Please
leave it alone as all it does is stir up dust and irritate participants
(and designers).
The functional status of the Save feature. It is designed as a "save so you
can continue your game later" feature, not as a "save just in case
something bad happens so I can avoid negative consequences" feature. Thomas
is well aware that people "savescum" and while he has made it harder for
people to edit savefiles with impunity, he has not taken action to prevent
back-ups. Playing a character after it has died (by restoring a backed-up
savefile) is, according to the designs of the game's creator, cheating.
Having said that, many, if not most, have done it at some time. If it makes
the game more enjoyable for you, do it, but be aware that completing the
game using this method is not considered a victory. More like a tour.
Reformed savescummers report an improvement in game enjoyment after kicking
the habit, so you might give it try if you've gotten hooked on cheating
while exploring the Chain. In summary, sinning in this way is usually
accepted and forgiven, but advocating this sin might be met with less than
friendly comments.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.4 YAVP--A Guide to good Victory Posting
Woohoo! You finally won! Now you want to share your accomplishment with the
whole ADOM community. The first and easiest instinct might be to just copy
your character's .flg file into a message and post it. Unfortunately, that
usually results in a long post, most of which nobody will ever read. Sure,
you want to share it, and many of us would like to give you your due
credit, but a plain old .flg file is just too much.
At the very least, you'll want to edit out the repetitive stuff that every
winner would be expected to have (there go most of the carried-items and
the monsters-killed lists). Items or monsters that are unusual or that you
are particularly proud of should be left in (one person collected monster
statues for their palace, another saved several wish items for improving
their homeland). This much trimming should get you out of hot water for
wasting bandwidth (and download time), but it's still not the best.
For the best possible VP, you get to add more stuff back in: tell us your
character's story. Which quests did you take and in what order? Any tense
times or close calls? Lucky moments? Epic battles in the wilderness? Just
how did you get those stats so high? Just picture your character around the
campfire telling other adventurers about their time in the Drakalor Chain,
teaching and being impressive. If the story stays in character, all the
better ("Grok not want paper with marks, but keep finding them. They good
for cleaning big sword. Later learned some reading and wondered what marks
meant."). Have fun with it and we probably will, too.
Note that in addition to your adventures, any meta-game alterations should
be noted; if you pool-save-scummed at the very end to get rid of some
corruptions, you really should mention it or better yet, play out the
ending that Thomas intended. Posts of characters that have been edited or
otherwise cheated in any way are not considered "wins" but if the cheat was
subtle and the game had other worthy elements, you might get a pat on the
back or two for your almost-win. Posting cheats is an at-your-own-risk
venture; the other adventurers might just throw you in the campfire for
invoking such demonic forces in your effort to defeat Chaos. (After all,
breaking the rules is chaotic and they might think you've defeated one lord
of ChAoS just to put up another.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 3: Common abbreviations
"How do you expect me to read a post when half of it's in code? What do all
the abbreviations stand for?"
3.1 Items
Since typing out the names of items can become repetitive (and we all need
to hoard our carpal-tunnel abuse for playing ADOM), item names are commonly
abbreviated in postings. The convention for this comes from discussions of
other roguelikes, and generally follows a variant of two forms. The first
is to simply use an acronym of the item's name, so that a Potion of Cure
Corruption becomes a PoCC. The other convention is to replace the item's
category (ie. potion) with the game's symbol for the item, marking the
above potion as a !oCC. Some people combine the two claiming the symbolic
representation can be confusing when used alone, giving us the !PoCC. I
find this last one useful, if a little unsettling at first, because it
marks the abbreviation as that of a game item and not some meta-character,
like a newsgroup entity such as TB (Thomas Biskup), which I once mentally
flashed as a non-existant Tenser of Burning. So which symbols go with which
items? Read the manual! Oh, okay, here's the list.
[ armor/clothes/robes, shields, gauntlets/gloves, cloaks, girdles,boots,
and helmets
& necklaces/amulets or tools
( hand weapons
} missile weapons (bows, crossbows, hand crossbows, slings)
* rocks or jewels
/ missiles (arrows, quarrels, certain daggers, spears, javelins)
= rings
! potions
? scrolls
\ wands
~ bracers
{ musical instruments
% food, corpse of...
" books, spellbooks (SB)
in 0.9.9 gamma 12 the following started being used
' necklaces/amulets
] tools
Some of the more commonly abbreviated items are (sometimes with one of the
two leading characters missing)
\WoW -- Wands of Wishing(WoWi) or Wands of Wonder(WoWo); the difference can
be important.
"SBoDI -- Spellbook of Divine Intervention (Clerical spellbook)
!PoCC -- Potion of Cure Corruption
!PoE -- Potion of Exchange (PoEx)
!PoEd -- Potion of Education (PoEd)
?SoCR -- Scroll of Chaos Resistance
=RoDS -- Ring of Djinni Summoning
=RoI -- Ring of Ice
=RoS -- Ring of Slaying
&AoFA -- Amulet of Free Action
&AoLS -- Amulet of Life Saving
[GoS -- Gauntlets of Strength, not to be confused with
[GoGS -- Girdle of Giant Strength
(SoS -- Sword of Sharpness
(PD -- Phase Dagger
(DoD -- Dagger of Death
(<insert item abbreviation here> oD -- weapon of Death; there are several
(WoS -- Whip of Slaughtering, not to be confused with
(WotS -- Whip of the Snake
There are also some specific items, such as the RotHK (Ring of the High
Kings) or the PoC (Phial of Caladriel--more commonly seen as "the phial"
since it's the only one in the game).
Some of the more frequently discussed items almost never have their
corresponding symbol, because they're just so darned familiar; but it's
really up to you. Keep in mind that the more cryptic you are, the more
likely you are to be misunderstood, so try to keep the abbreviations within
the Drakalor Chain dialect and not just SiT (Speak in Tongues). If in
doubt, type it out.
--------------------------------------
3.2 Creatures
There aren't a lot of creatures whose name shortens well, but the ones that
do are important. The most notable is WMoPC (Writhing Mass of Primal
Chaos), although the ACW (Ancient Chaos Wyrm) and the AKW (Ancient Karmic
Wyrm) quickly come to mind, as well. Some have nicknames such as a certain
cute puppy frequently called "Kenny" after a cartoon character who dies in
almost every episode, and a certain Ancient Blue Wyrm represented by a
purple W, frequently heard as "Barney." In general, recurring names are
unique monsters that you will eventually encounter in the game, including
any references to "Fisty" (Fistinarius), who appears on the final level.
--------------------------------------
3.3 Places
The names of the various game locations are frequently abbreviated, usually
using the abbreviation shown on the play screen when on that level. The
more common ones are: SMC (Small Caves), VD (village Dungeon), CoC (Caverns
of Chaos), ID (Infinite Dungeon), ToEF (Tower of Eternal Flame), and the
various Temple levels WT, AT, ET, MT (Water, Air, Earth, Mana Temple).
--------------------------------------
3.4 People
Some personalities in the newsgroup are frequently recognized by certain
references or abbreviations. If any of the following are displeased with
their description or reference, please let me know and they will be
adjusted accordingly.
TB, Thomas, Herr Biskup, the creator -- Thomas Biskup, the author of ADOM.
He is active in the group and quite responsive to non-silly ideas and
suggestions, as long as the one doing the suggesting has clearly read and
followed the readme.1st file included with the current distribution.
--------------------------------------
3.5 Other
Frequently seen in Subject headers:
YASD -- Yet Another Sad/Stupid/Silly Death
YAVP -- Yet Another Victory Post
YAFM -- Yet Another Funny Message
Frequently seen in text:
RNG -- Random Number Generator
YMMV -- Your Mileage May Vary
TIA -- Thanks In Advance
HTH -- Happy To Help
LOL -- Laughing Out Loud / Lots of Laughter
ROFL -- Rolling On Floor Laughing
For more abbreviations along these lines, please see the Usenet Acronyms
Dictionary at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tajwileb/dictionary.html.
--------------------------------------
3.6 The ADOM Code
A Code in the tradition of the Geek/Goth/Trek/Other_Obsession Codes for
expressing one's ADOM experience/preferences. Currently in development.
When it has a home, I'll list its URL.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright 1998, 1999 by Richard Fowler. This FAQ may be freely
distributed as long as these two copyright messages are distributed with
it. Karmic creatures are exempted from this restriction.
ADOM © Copyright 1996-1999 by Thomas Biskup. All rights reserved.