add rogue article and 1999 vade* guide

categories.gmi

@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ This page is coded by hand and may occasionally miss an article. The full list c
 
 ## Games
 
+=> intro-to-rogue.gmi 2023-07-30 - Beginners Guide to Rogue, the Roguelike Game
 => mini-bike-game.gmi 2023-06-02 - Mini daily solo bike game
 => chesslikes.gmi 2023-03-14 - Chesslikes
 => puzzlescript.gmi 2021-12-28 - Building Gameworlds in PuzzleScript

index.gmi

@@ -23,10 +23,13 @@ This gemlog is best visited between 1am and 6am local time.
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+
 => categories.gmi Posts organized by category instead of date
 
 # Posts
 
+=> intro-to-rogue.gmi 2023-07-30 - Beginners Guide to Rogue, the Roguelike Game
+
 => old-computer-recap.gmi 2023-07-17 - Old Computer Challenge 2023 Recap
 
 => void-pi.gmi 2023-07-14 - Setting Up Void Linux on an Old Raspberry Pi

intro-to-rogue.gmi

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# Beginners guide to Rogue, the roguelike game
+
+2023-07-30
+
+Rogue is one of my favorite video games, and the original reference game for later 'roguelike' games. It's a classic 'dungeon crawler' game. You descend through a dungeon, collect gold, fight monsters, and retrieve the amulet of Yendor before returning up to the surface. In Rogue you wield weapons, wear defensive shields, don rings, and carry magical staffs.
+
+Rogue is inspired by Dungeons and Dragons and can be thought of as one attempt at making a single player D'n'D game. It's noteable for its different-every-time dungeon. No two playthroughs of the game will be the same.
+
+This guide is meant to give you a minimum of info so you can get started. I have been playing the game off and on for about 7 years. I'm okay, but I have yet to beat the game (aka 'ascend'). After reading this, dive in and try playing the game. If you die, try again. There's no way to save your progress. This is called 'permadeath' and it's one of the quirks of the genre. Try playing a few times. Each time you will (probably) get better. After you've played through half a dozen times or so and are starting to get the feel for it, and wanting to learn more, try out one of the more advanced or comprehensive guides listed at the end.
+
+I won't detail how to install Rogue as that varies based on system to system. It's usually in various linux repositories listed as 'bsdgames-nonfree' and can also be downloaded from a variety of sites online, or played online on the Internet Archive. Note that there are multiple similar versions with minor differences, and even some with graphics, minimal or quite detailed, where others are only ASCII. 
+
+=> https://archive.org/details/ROGUE_PD Rogue on the Internet Archive
+
+## An orientation to the map and movement
+
+Rogue is a top down view of the world. Each level of the dungeon has the possibility of being up to a generated 3 x 3 maze of rooms, interconnected through hallways. You are the '@' symbol on the board. When you walk over something or into something you'll see a message at the top of the screen. Press spacebar to clear the message.
+
+Move with the "vim keys" (if you know them) or your arrow keys. Pick up an object by walking onto it. Attack by attempting to move into a monster. It will announce whether you were successful in your hit and whether the monster hit you back. Keep attacking until you kill the monster, or it flees, or you do. Watch your hit points (hp) in the bottom of the UI. When you get to 0hp you're dead. 
+
+For more efficient moving (aka to flee monsters faster) you can use the diagonal keys around the vim keys. For example, 'n' moves diagonally down to the right. 'y' moves diagonal up and to the left. 'b' moves down and to the left. 'u' moves up and to the left. 
+
+As you walk around you consume energy. After walking around for a good while the game will warn you that you're hungry, in the bottom right of the UI. If you ignore this for a while you'll pass out temporarily from lack of food, and eventually starve. So be sure to look for food (':') or slime mold and eat it by pressing 'e' when you get hungry!
+
+Doorways are '+' signs. Walk through them into the hallway. Some hallways twist and turn into little mazes. Sometimes a hallway deadends or you can't figure out how to get out of a room (most have 2 exits). Use 's' to search the area around you. You have a 1/5th chance of finding traps and hidden doorways. You will usually need to type 's' a few times to find hidden doorways and traps.
+
+## Get help / see all options
+
+From the normal game screen press the question mark key '?' to get to the help prompt. It will ask what key you want help with. Type '*' to list all the keys. This is the full display of all actions you can take in the game.
+
+## Major Items
+
+'%' is the staircase. Move onto it and type '>' to go down a level. I usually try to clear most of a level before descending.
+
+'?' is a scroll, a type of magic item you can use. To use a scroll's magic, press 'r' to read, and then the letter for the scroll you want to use. If you don't know what scrolls you have, press '*' to list them all, then type the letter for one of them and see what happens. 
+
+'!' is a potion. Like scrolls, you can cast them. To use a potion press 'q' to quaff it. To 'quaff' means to drink with gusto. 
+
+`/` is a staff, occasionally present in the lower depths of the dungeon. You can 'zap' them.
+
+`=` is a ring. Press 'P' to 'put on' a ring. It will ask you to specify a hang. These have magic properties that affect your health, weapon, visibility, etc.
+
+### Weapons and shields
+
+You start with a basic sword. You can pick up other weapons. Careful, some are cursed. To wield a new weapon, press 'w'. You can list your weapons and select another. Cursed weapons cannot be removed.
+
+To fire an arrow, press 't' for throw. It will ask you to choose a direction and an item.
+
+There are various kinds of armor you can find in the dungeon. 'W' to wear armor will allow you to select one of your armor, if you have any in your inventory. The number indicates the amount of protection it offers, and whether it's affected by any magic items. 
+
+Armor is prefaced with a positive or negative value which signifies its protective strength. Here are the various items of armor you may find in your quest, and the ordinary protective strength of each item. 
+
+## Next steps
+
+Play through the game a few times, seeing if you can get a bit better. What strategies seem to work best? What kinds of monsters tend to kill you? How can you avoid them or get the better of them?
+
+There are a variety of strategy guides on the internet that would make a good next step for getting better at the game.
+
+Enjoy.
+
+### Links
+
+=> hosted/games/rogue.gmi The Rogue's Vade-Mecum, a comprehensive guide to Rogue, from 1999, (gemini mirror based on source page on Internet Archive Wayback machine)
+
+=> https://www.roguebasin.com/index.php/Rogue Rogue on RogueBasin (lots of links and strategy guides at the bottom)
+
+---
+
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