Some questions about vanilla Angband

[dayafterday123]

Hey all, hope you're doing good.

I'm planning to dive deep into Angband. I'll be playing the ASCII version in gnome-terminal.

Since I'm quite busy these days, I have only few hours (10 hours max) per month for gaming. This let me almost ditch all other games and just pick up a deep and complex game that rewards player skills, so that I can pick it up at any time, play it a bit, and then leave it until the next time I play again. It is like a story that I read every now and then to unwind.

The thing is, I don't want to "buy-in" into a game and then later find that it contains elements that I find offensive. Therefore, I need you're help answering these questions:

1. Does this game contain any sexual themes? Any sexual innuendo?
2. Does it have any alcohol or drug reference?
3. Does it have vulgar or bad language?
4. Does it contain any thing related to gambling?

Unfortunately, I can't get into Angband if it contains any of the elements listed above.

Now other few questions about RNG and player skills:

1. How is the replay value?
2. Does Angband reward player knowledge and skills?
3. Can I consistently win if I'm good enough?

TLDR:
I'm planning to play Angband but I want to make sure that I'm diving into something that has a lot of play time/replay value, and that rewards player's knowledge, and that doesn't have any bad elements in it.

Many thanks!

[fph]

Originally Posted by dayafterday123

Hey all, hope you're doing good.

1. Does this game contain any sexual themes? Any sexual innuendo?
2. Does it have any alcohol or drug reference?
3. Does it have vulgar or bad language?
4. Does it contain any thing related to gambling?

1. No sexual themes at all. Even the sex/gender character option has been removed.
2. There are wine and orcish liquor available as a food item (the liquor comes with a drawback, the wine with a small benefit). You can safely ignore them, most players do not use them anyway I believe. Or you can rename them or edit them out in the configuration files.
3. No, not that I know.
4. No explicit gambling, but there are lot of sources of random objects; basically every monster you kill is a "loot box". But you will hardly play any computer game, especially in this genre, if that's a dealbreaker for you.

Note that the game contains 'demons' as an enemy monster class; I don't know if that offends you, too. There used to be also angels and archangels, but they have been replaced by various gods and demigods from Tolkien's mythology (Maiar).

[DavidMedley]

Tolkien's mythology is explicitly monotheistic. It's fair to compare the Ainur to gods in other mythologies, but Tolkien doesn't describe them as such and nether does Angband AFAIK.

[Werbaer]

Originally Posted by dayafterday123

Since I'm quite busy these days, I have only few hours (10 hours max) per month for gaming.

That's very low for a game with permanent death.
You can play for several hours, then die meeting some unknown monster that's more powerful than you expected, and have to start from scratch.

3. Does it have vulgar or bad language?

There are a few monsters with an "insult" attack which results in text like "xxx makes obscene gestures" or "xxx insults your mother".

[Adam]

Originally Posted by dayafterday123

[*]Does it have any alcohol or drug reference?

There is a mushroom which has hallucination as side effect. That may be interpreted as drug.

[Selkie]

I seem to remember in old versions that when you drank a potion of confusion it said something like "hiccup" implying it was booze.

Could a potion of strength be considered anabolic steroids?

Ten hours isn't very long to invest in Angband per week. I'd rather do 40 hours in one week and then take a three week break while I get over losing my clvl 40 Hobbit rogue to paralysis because I swapped around my randarts and forgot to check resistances.

[Pete Mack]

10 hr/week is fine for a beginner IF you dive. Otherwise, you'll never get past DL 10. Aim for DL 30 and expect to die. Only requirements are See Invisible and Free Action. (Later tou can do without for a while.) There are plenty of online how-to for this. but the basics are to carry a source of healing; a source of detection (if you can); a source of escapes; and phase door scrolls and a source of damage at a distance. What these are evolves as the game progresses.

[Estie]

Have you read the LotR ? The degree of items which might offend your sensitivity regarding points 1) - 4) is about the same in the game as in the book.

[fph]

Originally Posted by Selkie

Could a potion of strength be considered anabolic steroids?

I don't want to know what is in a potion of speed then.

[DavidMedley]

Originally Posted by fph

I don't want to know what is in a potion of speed then.

Amphetamines of course... "greenies"