After a long hiatus, I decided to fire up Zangband 2.7.3 again.
I prefer IMoria, since it’s the variant I know best, but Zang is available and easy to run, and it’s got several upgrades that I really like (colored text, auto-disarm/open, “roguelike” or “morialike” commands, and homes, to name a few). There are several things I don’t like also (fragmented dungeon, one-page inventory, junky mac support). But honestly, I am just playing the one I’ve got.
As expected, my first 7 Vampire Mages got killed before they reached level 11. I switched to Half-Giant Warriors for a bit (Sustain STR rocks for a fighter), got bored and killed, but went back to Mages remembering things like “always carry Phase Door”, “listen carefully to level feelings”, etc., with all the increased survivability that implies.
And I finally got a mage with some staying power. “Bait” (if you know me, you know they’re all called Bait, a little joke there) made it through the initial dungeon with flying colors.
And I ran into a problem.
Zang has fragmented dungeons. Each one spans some 10 or 15 levels, but once you clear out the first one (which always goes to 750′ and starts in a town with a Home in it), you have to wander the wilderness to find the others. My problem? I’m a vampire, so daylight is … not my favorite thing.
So I figured out how to tell time (started punching keys until I found it in the roguelike keyset), and started wandering about in the dark until I got the hang of “always be home by sunrise”.
I found several other towns (10?) and a few other dungeons (5?), but all of them were Way Too Deep for me. I even got caught out once, but that’s another story.
Anyway, in my travels, I started finding my second books (I have all 4 now), and started being able to stash away Restore Stat potions and the like. I’m all prepared for the next big push, but I’m just not certain how to get there yet.
I am a Mage on the rise, and something’s gotta give soon.
Stay tuned.