=== General Information ===

This document gives a brief introduction to XAngband. You will probably
want to browse through all the "help files", especially the sections on
available commands (see command.txt [1] and commdesc.txt [2]), before
beginning any serious adventuring...


***** <Overview>
=== An Overview ===

The game of XAngband is a single player dungeon simulation. A player
may choose from a number of races, classes and magic realms when
creating a character (see charattr.txt [3]), and then "run" that
character over a period of days, weeks, even months. Deep down inside,
the real objective of the game is to increase your experience, and
certain other characteristics, and also to collect useful items, to
give you a decent chance against the great Serpent of Chaos, who lurks
somewhere in the depths of the dungeon.

The player will begin his adventure in a town where he may acquire 
supplies, weapons, armor, and magical devices by bartering with
various shop owners. After preparing for his adventure, the player can
descend into the dungeon where fantastic adventures await his coming!


***** <Winning>
--- Winning The Game ---

Once your character has killed Sauron, who lives on level 99 (4950') in
the dungeon, a magical staircase will appear that will finally allow
you to reach level 100. Morgoth, Lord of Darkness lurks on this level of 
his dungeon, and you will not be able to go below his level until you 
have killed him. Try to avoid wandering around on level 100 unless you 
are ready for him, since it has a habit of coming at you across the
dungeon, to slay you for your impudence.

Morgoth cannot be killed by some of the easier methods used on normal 
creatures. He, like all other "Unique" monsters, will simply teleport 
away to another region of the level if you attempt to use a spell such 
as destruction is upon it. Morgoth, like some other monsters, cannot be 
polymorphed, slept, charmed, or genocided. Magical spells like Mana 
Storm and Orb of Draining are effective against him, as are some of the 
more powerful weapons, but he is difficult to kill and if allowed to 
escape for a time he will heal himself rapidly.

If you should actually survive the attempt of killing Morgoth, Lord of 
Darkness, you will receive the status of WINNER. You may continue to
explore, and may even save the game and play more later, but since you
have defeated the toughest creature alive, there is really not much
point. 

When you are ready to retire, simply "commit suicide" ("Q") to have
your character entered into the high score list as a winner. Note that
until you retire, you can still be killed, so you may want to retire
before wandering into a hoard of Cyberdemons...


***** <UponDeath>
--- Upon Death and Dying ---

If your character falls below 0 hit points, he has died and cannot be
restored. A tombstone showing information about your character will be
displayed. You are also permitted to get a record of your character,
and all your equipment (identified) either on the screen or in a file.

Whether your character is killed or you retire victorious, it will
leave behind a reduced save file, which contains only the monster
memory (see attack.txt#MonsterMemory [4]) and your option choices. It
may be restored, in which case the new character is generated exactly
as if the file was not there, but the new player will find his monster
memory containing all the experience of past incarnations.


 
***** <DevTeam>
=== XAngband DevTeam ===

XAngband is maintained by a small scale development team.
The members may generally be found on the the IRC channel
#guriddobagu (in hiragana).

***** <Web>
=== XAngband on the Web ===

XAngband is located at http://xangband.sourceforge.jp/eng/

The official Zangband website is http://www.zangband.org/.
The unofficial Z+Angband's home can be found at 
http://mangojuice75.googlepages.com/ while 

--- XAngband Homepage ---

XAngband's website includes information on where to download the 
XAngband source code and current executables as well as information on 
current development issues such as future plans, bug lists, etc. 
You can also find TinyAngband there, the Japanese answer to Quickband.

--- Talk about XAngband ---

Join XAngband's support forum at http://jbbs.livedoor.jp/game/16689/
(in Japanese). 
Or talk about XAngband in the Angband variant forum at 
http://angband.oook.cz/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4

--- #Angband IRC Chat ---

You can find the #Angband IRC channel on one of the WorldIRC.org 
servers.

***** <VersionNumber>
=== Version Numbering System ===

XAngband uses a version numbering system similar to that of Linux. Odd
minor version numbers (for example 1.3.0) denote a development version.
Even minor version numbers (for example 1.3.1 ) denote a stable
release. The development versions are released for beta-testing and are
likely to contain bugs of varying significance.


--
Original   : (??)
Updated    : (??)
Updated    : Zangband DevTeam
Updated    : XAngband DevTeam
Last update: March 3, 2009


***** Begin Hyperlinks
***** [1] command.txt
***** [2] commdesc.txt
***** [3] charattr.txt
***** [4] attack.txt#MonsterMemory