Random ideas...

[dhegler]

I know most here are Angband-only players for the most-part, but does anyone play other roguelikes like Nethack to get ideas for Angband? For instance, there seems to be A LOT more possible items in Nethack than Angabnd, including potions, scrolls, etc... Angband has vaults, but I found the few levels of Nethack that had an underground town kind of interesting, only because repeated vaults or pits tend to get tiring. Maybe some potential for a SPECIAL level to appear randomly when you get deeper, rather than just SPECIAL rooms? I know people will say there are other flavors of Angband that are similar, but why can't vanilla be more "french vanilla" with more twists and objects? Or, just have additional birth options to turn some of that off if you're a v-purist?

To me, the other variants seem to be too far off the deep end in many ways for me to enjoy playing. However, after finally beating the game after 17 years, I am finding it increasingly difficult to get psyched to dive down, slash all the monsters that I just slashed, over every "random" level that has the exact same feeling to it every time. Also, it gets boring finding all the same objects so quickly... Can't we expand the item library a bit more? Or perhaps there is something newer than my version of 3.1.1 that does? There have been so many good updates, like "looking" at your weapons to auto-calculate average damage, etc.

[fizzix]

A couple suggestions for playing V

1: play with randarts
2: add your own items and monsters to the edit files. You can do this with no coding knowledge.
3. Try playing challenge games. Play for low turncount, ironman, or clearing every level completely. Whatever is most appealing. You might get a different appreciation for the game.

Personally, I think the joy of V is that there's a great amount of variability with a relatively simple base. I think it's a great introduction into the world of *bands yet provides enough replayability to keep people coming back for more. Personally, I'm more of a fan of tweaking the current set of (useless) items rather than generating more.

As an aside. You might want to try will_asher's DaJAngband. It is a variant that pretty much does what you want, adding new classes, monsters and items, while remaining pretty true to the standard Angband format. And it's being updated regularly.

[Hariolor]

A couple suggestions for playing V

2: add your own items and monsters to the edit files. You can do this with no coding knowledge.

is there any kind of guide available online for doing this? I've been thinking for awhile I want to get in there and "fix" monsters. I haven't looked at the file yet, but I am assuming some of the attribute values are not opaque and I'd rather have a guide than waste time guessing what my changes will do...

[Derakon]

Each of the resource files has a guide at the top of it that describes how entries should be formatted. For example, here's the guide for monster.txt:

N: serial number : monster name
G: symbol : color
I: speed : hit points : vision : armor class : alertness
W: depth : rarity : unused (always 0) : experience for kill
B: attack method : attack effect : damage
S: spell frequency |
S: spell type | spell type | etc
F: flag | flag | etc
D: Description

You should be able to figure out what most of these mean by comparing existing entries and the monster memory.

Last I checked, which was admittedly years ago, the experience you get for a kill is a function of your level, the monster's level, and the "experience for kill" entry. So e.g. if you take the Cave Troll entry and make them be native to level 1, then you'll get much less experience for them than normal. This may have changed, though; as I said, it's been years.

[tigen]

You can also try NPPAngband and Oangband for variants with more "stuff" but which still feel relatively normal. I believe Oangband does have "special levels".

I guess having an overworld == off the deep end?

Vanilla's fundamentals are pretty basic... there just isn't that much variety in how different characters play, or in dungeon levels. Also, because it's "vanilla" I think people are scared to do anything too exciting or radical to it. People will say it's off the deep end...

[dhegler]

I am looking for more gameplay (not birth/overworld) variations - items, spells, monsters, etc. Some of those variants have the "overworld", which I don't care for. I don't want a variant where I have 20 classes and 15 races - I look at that and get instantly turned off. I follow some of the other forums and hear things like "my character morphed into a half-zombie warrior, from a spirit-vampire" or something crazy like that and it hurts my head.

[buzzkill]

Give Steam a spin.

[Magnate]

Give Steam a spin.

He means the steampunk Angband variant "Steamband", not the intrusive malware IP-fest of HalfLife2 fame.