Starting the quest

[Dirk Madfire]

Hi all, first time poster and first time player!

I learned about Angband after a furious late night delving into the depths of TvTropes and it sounded like the perfect antidote to the highfalutin dragon-slaying, force shouting antics of Skyrim. I downloaded the game and as of a few minutes ago, I created a high elf mage who was promptly killed unceremoniously by a rugged mercenary in the very first area.

I am very much out of my depth.

I have never actually played a rougelike before, and although I am confused as hell, I'm deeply interested in Angband.
What kind of advice or help could ye seasoned delvers give to a complete noob?

[buzzkill]

Search for and browse the other noob threads here at oook.
Learn from your deaths. There will be a lot of them.
As you said, this isn't Skyrim. Know that you may never beat Angband.
Don't make the same mistake twice. This is key. Town folk usually won't attack you.
Buy a stack of phase door scrolls before you leave town. they come in handy.
Just play a few games, shouldn't take too long, and try not to die. This is also the key.
When you have more specific questions, and you will, check back in here. There's no shortage of players here willing to give advice.

[ghengiz]

Hi all, first time poster and first time player!

I learned about Angband after a furious late night delving into the depths of TvTropes and it sounded like the perfect antidote to the highfalutin dragon-slaying, force shouting antics of Skyrim. I downloaded the game and as of a few minutes ago, I created a high elf mage who was promptly killed unceremoniously by a rugged mercenary in the very first area.

I am very much out of my depth.

I have never actually played a rougelike before, and although I am confused as hell, I'm deeply interested in Angband.
What kind of advice or help could ye seasoned delvers give to a complete noob?

First, welcome to the forum
You can find basic usage instructions in the manual in the doc directory, but if you are looking for general hints, you can read lib/edit/hints.txt. Be warned though that some of them may be a bit spoilery, but not too much.
They are a collection of suggestions gathered from various posts in this forum...
For starters, you may try a melee character, who are more tough than a mage this should help you survive a bit longer.
A dunadan warrior may be a good choice: they have very good stat, and, as warriors, have fast pseudo-id. This means you can have a feeling of the quality of an item in a short time.
On the other hand, a warrior can't use spells, so you have to use scrolls, wands and rods for your magic needs be warned that you suffer a bigger fail rate for every magic device but the scrolls.
Some more advice:
*you don't really have to fight everything no seriously, you don't have to. some monster hit hard and may have other bad tricks up their sleeves (stunning, confusiong or blinding you, for example).
*buy some scroll of phase door for escaping. they teleport you a short dinstance away.
*buy some oil too. especially in the first few levels, they do a lot of damage when trown and are cheap.
*you can look at what a monster is with the 'l'ook command. the description may contain some hint on how to fight him, or if it's better to escape.
*one last:if a monster has a proper name, like Smeagol, Bullroarer, Grip etc, BE CAREFUL! they are the so called uniques, monsters much more though than the others.
*you'll die. a lot. but you may learn from your mistakes, and you'll be better next time
have fun!

[LostTemplar]

http://angband.oook.cz/comic/strip.php?view=1 Here is todo list.

http://angband.oook.cz/fun/mages.php And here is a good advice for a new player, playing a mage.

Wellcome to Angband.

[Derakon]

This isn't like modern RPGs in which every option is balanced. Not all classes and races are of equal difficulty. In fact, your choice of race is at some level a difficulty switch -- humans, half-elves, and elves are all fairly terrible races compared to the others, for example. Half-trolls, high-elves, and dunadan are the easiest races. Though of course not every race is suited to every class.

Mages have the hardest start bar none since they have pathetic survivability and strictly limited offensive ability. If you want to experiment with magic while being better-able to survive, try a rogue or paladin. Their magic isn't as strong as the mage and priest, but they get much more HP and their melee capabilities are solid.

We really should put a warning on the mage class that it's prone to Sudden Character Death Syndrome. Modern games have built up certain expectations that Angband really, really doesn't hew to.

[Dirk Madfire]

Thanks for the help everyone!

I think it's just the control system I have to get used to, I can't wait to get into this thing.

[ghengiz]

Thanks for the help everyone!

I think it's just the control system I have to get used to, I can't wait to get into this thing.

Don't try to learn every command at once, there are too many.
This is the minimal set you need imo:
Concentrate on the movement (direction, run ('.'+direction), use stairs ('<','>')), inventory&equipment management('i', 'w', 't'), ranged attack ('f' and especially 'h'), 'q'uaff potion, 'r'ead scroll, and the magic devices ('u', 'a', 'z'). Oh, and don't' forget to 'F'uel your light source when it's low

Then, you may learn the map, activate item and so on ones.
Later, you'll need to understand the resistances (fire, cold, fear etc), but grasp the basics first.

You'll get used fast, don't worry...and then the fun will be

[caruso]

Don't try to learn every command at once, there are too many.
This is the minimal set you need imo:
Concentrate on the movement (direction, run ('.'+direction), use stairs ('<','>')), inventory&equipment management('i', 'w', 't'), ranged attack ('f' and especially 'h'), 'q'uaff potion, 'r'ead scroll, and the magic devices ('u', 'a', 'z'). Oh, and don't' forget to 'F'uel your light source when it's low

Then, you may learn the map, activate item and so on ones.
Later, you'll need to understand the resistances (fire, cold, fear etc), but grasp the basics first.

You'll get used fast, don't worry...and then the fun will be

You can also press enter to open a menu that helps you learn the commands.

Visit Roguebasin for more info on the roguelike world

[PowerDiver]

If you want to be able to cast spells, I think the best choice to start learning the game is a dwarf rogue. Put equal birth points into Str/Int/Dex/Con. Your melee attacks depend strongly upon Strength/Weapon_Weight, so you will want to use light weapons until you get your strength up.