Your first run

New to the game? Make a warrior, walk into the little cave beside the pass where you start, then on to the market town to the east. Rest when you are hurt, eat when you are hungry, and leave a fight that is going badly. Death is final. This page tells you the rest of what you need for your first hour; the other pages tell you everything else.

Make a character

Choose New run on the main menu. You pick your race, your gender, your class, two talents (or let Random pick them), and a name (see Your character). Any race will do for a first run. Your class matters more.

Choosing a class

The warrior, the berserker, and the paladin are the best first picks. They have the most hit points, they start with good arms, and they fight by walking into the enemy. Casters and the thief are harder: they have few hit points and need to keep their distance or stay unseen. The everyday folk are hardest of all, and two of them are a joke.

The key stats are the ones the class rolls dice to raise. Hit points and mana are what the class adds to yours. Each class’s page says how to play it (see Classes).

The keys you need first

These are the default keys. ? shows them in the game, as you have bound them (see Controls).

What the status bar tells you

The line under the map (see The screen) shows your hit points as HP 18/24. When something is wrong, it says so in words: Bleeding, Poisoned, or Diseased for what ails you, Hungry or worse for hunger, and Burdened or worse when you carry too much (see Burden). Each of these is a reason to stop and deal with it.

Your first hour

The run starts at eight in the morning on Beorggeat, the pass on the western edge of the Ascmearc. Snow closes it behind you.

• Lytelscræf, a little cave two cells from the pass, is the easiest dungeon there is: three short floors of rats, bats, and kobolds, with a chest at the bottom (see The dungeons). On the overworld map, walk onto it and press >.
• Cēaptūn, the market town, lies six cells east along the road, under two hours’ walk (see Cēaptūn). It is safe. Its shops sell food, arms, and armour; at the Mynster you can rest, and Sister Hild cures and mends for gold; at the Gildhalle, Wat One-Eye gives out work (see Quests).
• Cealdhlāw, the cold barrow in the downs east of the town, is the next dungeon, and harder (see Dungeons and danger).

Pick up what the dead leave behind: arms, armour, potions, and gold. Sell what you don’t need in town, and buy food before you run short.

When you level up

Kills and finished quests give you experience. At each new level your hit points grow, and a screen opens by itself for the choices you make: skill rolls at every level, and a talent at every third (see When you level up).

Staying alive

• Rest when you are hurt. Press b once no enemy is about. You heal twice as fast resting (see Healing).
• Eat when you are hungry. Press e. Carry food; the corpses of what you kill can be eaten too, but not all of them safely (see Food and corpses).
• Bleeding and poison wear off by themselves, but they hurt, and they slow or stop your healing while they last. Potions, the Heal skill, and prayer end them sooner (see Curing bleeding, poison, and disease).
• Carry a light. Most races start with a lantern; press u to light it in a dark dungeon. Dwarves and the other races that see in the dark start without one.
• Don’t fight burdened. Too much in your pack makes you slow and clumsy (see Burden). Drop what you don’t need with d.
• Leave a losing fight. Walk away, drink a healing potion, or take the stairs. A foe right beside you that knows you are there follows you up or down the stairs (see Stairs), so get a step ahead first.
• Death is final. When you die, your character’s save is deleted. Your save is your character: you can stop and go on later, but never go back (see Saving and Death).

Questions about a task? How do I…? links the answers.

See also: Controls, Your character, and Combat.