A varient with more traditional save options?
 

I know that deleting save files for characters that die is intrinsic to the value and the philosophy of all roguelikes. However, I'm wondering if any variants offer the chance to play the game with a more traditional save structure, that won't delete your character for every death?

I know some people will vehemently protest to this request but...I don't know what else to tell you guys. I just feel I'd personally derive more enjoyment with a more traditional save scheme...if one exists.

I don't think there are any *bands which support this, but I vaguely recall reading about a game on r.g.r.misc that does, so you may want to investigate there.

That said, save scumming isn't particularly difficult. Just make a copy of your save file whenever you deem it reasonable. No one's gonna bother crucifying you unless you attempt to debate the relative merits of doing so. ;)

No, because there is an option 'Allow player to avoid death' in the Cheat Options. Activate that and you could live forever.

Cheat death is an unsatisfying way to do things. With a traditional save/load system you can treat tough battles as repeatable puzzles and experiment with ways to overcome them. With cheat death you still only get one chance to fight each battle.

Doh! POWDER has a built-in option to savescum that operates similarly to traditional save games. You still have to save & quit, but if you die, you can restore your last save. I play it fairly often - strange I didn't recall it had that feature. Then again, I never use it.

Save Scummer is great but that's not what you'd call a traditional save system :)

Just copy the save file. Why should there be in-game code for that? How would in-game code be better than copying a file yourself?

In the dark days before I saw the light, I used to save scum but, even doing so, I never won because, after several copies, I eventually managed to overwrite my backup with my current dead character :)

I find the title of this thread a little disconcerting: permanent death _is_ the traditional save format, going all the way back to Rogue (and presumably D&D 1.)

Permadeath is used by very few non-rougelike games. Going back to e.g. Ultima and I think Zork and Adventure. I can't think of anything that lets you save, but not load a save after death that isn't a rougelike. Permadeath is very nonstandard.