Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.

Dismiss

rec.games.roguelike.adom FAQ

2 views

Skip to first unread message

Mandor Sawall

unread,

Nov 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM11/11/99

Forgive me that I have allowed myself. And I am not a karmic
being.

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 Gnereator
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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

0 new messages