Command Descriptions

The following command descriptions are listed as the command name plus the default key to use it. For those who prefer the “Angband-like” keyset, the name and key of the Angband-like command is also shown if it is different. Then comes a brief description of the command, including information about alternative methods of specifying the command in each keyset, when needed.

Some commands use the “repeat count” to automatically repeat the command several times, while others use the “repeat count” to specify a “quantity” for the command, and still others use it as an “argument” of some kind.

The following command is very useful for beginners,

Command lists (‘Enter’)

This brings up a little window in the middle of the screen, in which you can select what command you would like to use by browsing. If you wish to begin playing immediately, you can use this option to navigate the commands and refer to this guide when you need more details about specific commands.

Inventory Commands

Inventory list (i)

Displays a list of objects being carried but not equipped. You can carry up to 23 different items, not counting those in your equipment. Often, many identical objects can be “stacked” into a “pile” which will count as a single item. Each object has a weight, and if you carry more objects than your strength permits, you will begin to slow down. The amount of weight you can still carry without being overencumbered, or the amount of extra weight you are currently carrying is displayed at the top of the screen.

Equipment list (e)

Use this command to display a list of the objects currently being used by your character. The standard body (which all races currently have) has 12 slots for equipment. Every equipment slot corresponds to a different location on the body, and each of which may contain only one object at a time, and each of which may only contain objects of the proper “type”. For the standard body these are WEAPON (weapon), BOW (missile launcher), RING (ring) (two of these), AMULET (amulet), LIGHT (light source), BODY_ARMOR (armor), CLOAK (cloak), SHIELD (shield), HAT (helmet), GLOVES (gloves), BOOTS (boots). You must be wielding/wearing certain objects to take advantage of their special powers.

Drop an item (d)

This drops an item from your inventory or equipment onto the dungeon floor. If the floor spot you are standing on already has an object in it, NarSil will attempt to drop the item onto an adjacent space. Doors and traps are considered objects for the purpose of determining if the space is occupied. This command may take a quantity, and takes some energy.

Destroy an item (k)

This destroys an item in your inventory or on the dungeon floor. If the selected pile contains multiple objects, you may specify a quantity. Once destroyed, items are gone forever.

Ignore an item (G)

This ignores an item in your inventory or on the dungeon floor. If the selected pile contains multiple objects, you may specify a quantity. When ignored, the game will sometimes prompt you whether to ignore only this item or all others like it. If the second option is chosen, all similar items on the floor and in your inventory will be ignored. To view all items regardless of whether they are ignored, you can use K to toggle the ignore setting on and off.

Wear/Wield equipment (w)

To wear or wield an object in your inventory, use this command. Since only one object can be in each slot at a time, if you wear or wield an item into a slot which is already occupied, the old item will be first be taken off, and may in fact be dropped if there is no room for it in your inventory. Wielding ammunition will add it to an empty slot in your quiver and prompt you to replace a type of ammunition if your quiver is already full. This command takes some energy.

Remove equipment (r) or Take off equipment (t)

Use this command to take off a piece of equipment and return it to your inventory. Occasionally, you will run into a cursed item which cannot be removed. These items normally penalize you in some way and cannot be taken off until the curse is removed. If there is no room in your inventory for the item, your pack will overflow and you will drop the item after taking it off. You may also remove ammunition from your quiver with this command. This command takes some energy.

Movement Commands

Moving (arrow keys, number keys) or (arrow keys, number keys, ‘yuhjklbn’)

This causes you to move one step in a given direction. If the square you wish to move into is occupied by a monster, you will attack it. If the square is occupied by a door or a trap you may attempt to open or disarm it if the appropriate option is set. Preceding this command with CTRL will cause you to attack in the appropriate direction, but will not move your character if no monster is there. These commands take some energy.

Walk (_)

The walk command lets you willingly walk into a trap or a closed door, without trying to open or disarm it. This command may take a count, requires a direction, and takes some energy.

Run (.)

This command will move in the given direction, following any bends in the corridor, until you either have to make a “choice” between two directions or you are disturbed. You can configure what will disturb you by setting the disturbance options. You may also use shift plus the “hjkl” direction keys (hjkl-movement), or shift plus the “original” direction keys on the keypad (both keysets, some machines) to run in a direction. This command may take an argument, requires a direction, and takes some energy.

Go up staircase (<)

Climbs up an up staircase you are standing on. There is always at least one staircase going up on every level. Going up a staircase will take you to a new dungeon level. Note that whenever you leave a level, you will never find it again. This means that for all intents and purposes, any objects on that level are destroyed. This command takes some energy.

Go down staircase (>)

Descends a down staircase you are standing on. There are always at least one staircase going down on each level, except for the bottom level which is Morgoth’s lair. Going down a staircase will take you to a new dungeon level. See “Go Up Staircase” for more info. This command takes some energy.

Exchange places (X)

This command is only available if you have the “Exchange Places” ability. It allows you to exchange places with an adjacent monster.

Resting Commands

Stay still (with pickup) (z) or Stay still (with pickup) (s)

Stays in the same square for one move. If you normally pick up objects you encounter, you will pick up whatever you are standing on. You may also use the 5 key (both keysets). This command may take a count, and takes some energy.

Get objects (g)

Pick up objects and gold on the floor beneath you. Picking up gold takes no time, and objects take 1/10th of a normal turn each (maximum time cost is a full turn). You may pick up objects until the floor is empty or your backpack is full.

Rest (Z) or Rest (R)

Resting can be told to automatically stop after a certain amount of time, or when various conditions are met. In any case, you always wake up when anything disturbing happens, or when you press any key. To rest, enter the Rest command, followed by the number of turns you want to rest, or * to rest until your hitpoints and voice are restored, or & to rest until you are fully “healed”. This command may take an argument (used for the number of turns to rest), and takes some energy.

Alter Commands

Tunnel (T)

Tunnelling or mining is a very useful art. There are many kinds of rock, with varying hardness, including permanent rock (permanent), granite (very hard), quartz veins (hard), and rubble (very soft). Rubble sometimes covers an object but is easy to tunnel through. Tunnelling requires a digging tool. This command may take a count, requires a direction, and takes some energy.

Open a door or chest (o)

To open an object such as a door or chest, you must use this command. If the object is locked, you will attempt to pick the lock based on your disarming ability. If you open a trapped chest without disarming the traps first, the trap will be set off. Opening will automatically attempt to pick any door locks. You may need several tries to open a door or chest. This command may take a count, requires a direction, and takes some energy.

Close a door (c)

Non-intelligent and some other creatures cannot open doors, so shutting doors can be quite valuable. Furthermore, monsters cannot see you behind closed doors, so closing doors may allow you to buy some time without being attacked. Broken doors cannot be closed. This command may take a count, requires a direction, and takes some energy.

Bash a door (b) or Bash a door (B)

If you cannot open a door, bashing it may open or break it, but this is a noisy process. This command may take a count, requires a direction, and takes some energy.

Disarm a trap or chest (D)

You can attempt to disarm traps on the floor or on chests. If you fail, there is a chance that you will blunder and set it off. You can only disarm a trap after you have found it. This command may take a count, requires a direction, and takes some energy.

Alter (/) or Alter (+)

This special command allows the use of a single keypress to select any of the “obvious” commands above (attack, tunnel, bash, open, disarm), and, by using keymaps, to combine this keypress with directions. In general, this allows the use of the “control” key plus the appropriate “direction” key (including the hjkl direction keys in hjkl-movement mode) as a kind of generic “alter the terrain feature of an accessible grid” command. Note that the player’s grid can be altered with 5. This command may take a count, requires a direction, and takes some energy.

Object Manipulation Commands

Use an item (u) or Use an item (U)

This command will use any item in the most appropriate manner. Individual item types have specific command which can be used to restrict selection to items of that type, but the general use command is usually easier. This command takes some energy.

Eat some food (E)

You must eat regularly to prevent starvation. There is a hunger meter at the bottom of the screen, which says “Fed”. If you go hungry long enough, you will become weak, then start fainting, and eventually, you may well die of starvation (accompanied by increasingly alarming messages on your hunger indicator). It is also possible to be “Full”, which will make you move slowly. You may use this command to eat food in your inventory. Note that you can sometimes find food in the dungeon, but it is not always wise to eat strange food. This command takes some energy.

Fuel your lantern/torch (^F)

If you are using a lantern and have flasks of oil in your pack, then you can “refuel” them with this command. Torches and Lanterns are limited in their maximal fuel. In general, two flasks will fully fuel a lantern. This command takes some energy.

Quaff a potion (q)

Use this command to drink a potion. Potions affect the player in various ways, but the effects are not always immediately obvious. This command takes some energy.

Inscribe an object ({)

This command inscribes a string on an object. The inscription is displayed inside curly braces after the object description. The inscription is limited to the particular object (or pile) and is not automatically transferred to all similar objects. Under certain circumstances, Narsil will display “fake” inscriptions on certain objects (‘tried’, ‘empty’) when appropriate. These “fake” inscriptions remain all the time, even if the player chooses to add a “real” inscription on top of it later.

An item labeled as ‘{empty}’ was found to be out of charges, and an item labeled as ‘{tried}’ is a “flavored” item which the character has used, but whose effects are unknown. Certain inscriptions have a meaning to the game, see ‘@#’, ‘@x#’, ‘!*’, and ‘!x’, in the section on inventory object selection.

Uninscribe an object (})

This command removes the inscription on an object. This command will have no effect on “fake” inscriptions added by the game itself.

Toggle ignore (P)

This command will toggle ignore settings. If on, all ignored items will be hidden from view. If off, all items will be shown regardless of their ignore setting. See the customize section for more info.

Magical Object Commands and Singing

Use a staff (a) or Use a staff (u)

This command will use a staff. A staff will normally either have an area effect or affect a specific object. Staves are magical devices, and there is a chance you will not be able to figure out how to use them. This command takes some energy.

Play an instrument (p)

This command will blow a horn. Horns have a variety of effects, and take a direction (in some cases, up < or down >). This command takes some energy.

Sing (s) or Sing (a)

This command will begin a song of power, if you know any. It is also used to finish singing. This command takes some energy.

Throwing and Missile Weapons

Fire an item (f)

This command will allow you to fire a missile from your primary quiver provided you have a bow equipped. Fired ammunition has a chance of breaking. This command takes some energy.

Fire an item (F)

This command will allow you to fire a missile from your secondary quiver provided you have a bow equipped. Fired ammunition has a chance of breaking. This command takes some energy.

Fire default ammo at nearest (m)

If you have a bow equipped and the arrows in your quiver, you can use this command to fire at the nearest visible enemy. This command will cancel itself if you lack a bow, ammunition or a visible target that is in range. The first arrow in the primary quiver is used. This command takes some energy.

Throw an item (t) or Throw an item (v)

You may throw any object carried by your character. Depending on the weight, it may travel across the room or drop down beside you. Only one object from a pile will be thrown at a time. Note that throwing an object will often cause it to break, so be careful! Some weapons are especially designed for throwing. Once the creature is hit, the object may or may not do any damage to it. Note that potions may have effects on a monster on impact. If you are wielding a bow, then you automatically use it to fire arrows with much higher range, accuracy, and damage, than you would get by just throwing them. Throw, like fire, requires a direction. Targeting mode (see the next command) can be invoked with * at the ‘Direction?’ prompt. This command takes some energy.

Targeting Mode (*)

This will allow you to aim your ranged attacks at a specific monster or grid, so that you can point directly towards that monster or grid (even if this is not a “compass” direction) when you are asked for a direction. You can set a target using this command, or you can set a new target at the “Direction?” prompt when appropriate. At the targeting prompt, you have many options. First of all, targeting mode starts targeting nearby monsters which can be reached by fired or thrown objects. In this mode, you can press t (or 5 or .) to select the current monster, space to advance to the next monster, - to back up to the previous monster, direction keys to advance to a monster more or less in that direction, r to “recall” the current monster, q to exit targeting mode, and p (or o) to stop targeting monsters and enter the mode for targeting a location on the floor or in a wall. Note that if there are no nearby monsters, you will automatically enter this mode. Note that hitting o is just like p, except that the location cursor starts on the last examined monster instead of on the player. In this mode, you use the “direction” keys to move around, and the q key to quit, and the t (or 5 or .) key to target the cursor location. Note that targeting a location is slightly “dangerous”, as the target is maintained even if you are far away. To cancel an old target, simply hit * and then ‘ESCAPE’ (or q). Note that when you cast a spell or throw an object at the target location, the path chosen is the “optimal” path towards that location, which may or may not be the path you want. Sometimes, by clever choice of a location on the floor for your target, you may be able to convince a thrown or fired object to squeeze through a hole or corridor that is blocking direct access to a different grid.

Target closest monster (')

This will set the closest visible monster as your target. It has the same effect as * followed by ENTER.

Forging

Forge an item (0) or (^D)

If you are standing on a forge with uses remaining, this will begin the process of smithing an item. If you are not on a forge, or on a forge which is exhausted, this command allows you to see what you could smith if you were at an appropriate forge. Forging an item takes multiple turns; you will be able to see before you start how many turn are required.

Looking Commands

Full screen map (M)

This command will show a map of the entire dungeon, reduced by a factor of nine, on the screen. Only the major dungeon features will be visible because of the scale, so even some important objects may not show up on the map. This is particularly useful in locating where the stairs are relative to your current position, or for identifying unexplored areas of the dungeon.

Locate player on map (L)

This command lets you scroll your map around, looking at all sectors of the current dungeon level, until you press escape, at which point the map will be re-centered on the player if necessary. To scroll the map around, simply press any of the “direction” keys. The top line will display the sector location, and the offset from your current sector.

Look around (l)

This command is used to look around at nearby monsters (to determine their type and health) and objects (to determine their type). It is also used to find out if a monster is currently inside a wall, and what is under the player. When you are looking at something, you may hit space for more details, or to advance to the next interesting monster or object, or minus (-) to go back to the previous monster or object, or a direction key to advance to the nearest interesting monster or object (if any) in that general direction, or r to recall information about the current monster race, or q or escape to stop looking around. You always start out looking at “yourself”.

Examine an item (x) or Inspect an item (I)

This command lets you inspect an item. This will tell you things about the special powers of the object, as well as attack information for weapons. It will also tell you what resistances or abilities you have noticed for the item and if you have not yet completely identified all properties.

List visible monsters ([)

This command lists all monsters that are visible to you, telling you how many there are of each kind. It also tells you whether they are asleep, and where they are (relative to you).

List visible items (])

This command lists all items that are visible to you, telling you how of each there are and where they are on the level relative to your current location.

Message Commands

View previous messages (‘^P’)

This command shows you all the recent messages. You can scroll through them, or exit with ESCAPE.

Take notes (:)

This command allows you to take notes, which will then appear in your message list and your character history (prefixed with “Note:”).

Game Status Commands

Character Description (@) or Character Description (C)

Brings up a full description of your character, including your skill levels, your current and potential stats, and various other information. From this screen, you can change your name, gain abilities, increase skills, view your character’s history, or use the file character description command to save your character status to a file. This last command saves additional information, including your background, your inventory, and the contents of your house.

Display abilities (TAB)

This command takes you directly to the ability screen (also accessible from the character description screen). From this screen you can view or gain abilities.

Check knowledge (~)

This command allows you to ask about the knowledge possessed by your character. Currently, this includes being able to list all known “artefacts”, “uniques”, and “objects”. The “uniques” are special “unique” monsters which can only be killed once per game. Certain “objects” come in “flavors”, and you must determine the effect of each “flavor” once for each such type of object, and this command will allow you to display all “known” flavors. Inscribing items in this list will cause you to similarly inscribe all similar items you find from this point on.

Saving and Exiting Commands

Save and Quit (‘Ctrl-X’)

To save your game so that you can return to it later, use this command. Save files will also be generated (hopefully) if the game crashes due to a system error. After you die, you can use your savefile to play again with the same options and such.

Save (‘Ctrl-S’)

This command saves the game but doesn’t exit NarSil. Use this frequently if you are paranoid about having your computer crash (or your power go out) while you are playing.

Quit (Q)

Kills your character and exits NarSil. You will be prompted to make sure you really want to do this, and then asked to verify that choice. Note that dead characters are dead forever.

User Pref File Commands

Interact with options (O) or Interact with options (=)

Allow you to interact with options. Note that using the “cheat” options may mark your savefile as unsuitable for the high score list. The “window” options allow you to specify what should be drawn in any of the special sub-windows (not available on all platforms). See the help files ‘customize.txt’ and ‘options.txt’ for more info. You can also interact with keymaps under this menu.

Interact with keymaps - option submenu

Allow you to interact with keymaps. You may load or save keymaps from user pref files, or define keymaps. You must define a “current action”, shown at the bottom of the screen, before you attempt to use any of the “create macro” commands, which use that “current action” as their action.

Interact with visuals - option submenu

Allow you to interact with visuals. You may load or save visuals from user pref files, or modify the attr/char mappings for the monsters, objects, and terrain features. You must use the “redraw” command (‘^R’) to redraw the map after changing attr/char mappings. NOTE: It is generally easier to modify visuals via the “knowledge” menus.

Interact with colors - option submenu

Allow the user to interact with colors. This command only works on some systems. NOTE: It is commonly used to brighten the ‘Light Dark’ color (eg. Cave Spiders) on displays with bad alpha settings.

Help Commands

Help (?)

Brings up the NarSil on-line help system. Note that the help files are just brief descriptions of available comands and symbols; this manual is the most comprehensive source of information.

Identify Symbol (|) or Identify Symbol (/)

Use this command to find out what a character stands for. For instance, by entering ‘.’, you can find out that the . symbol stands for a floor spot. When used with a symbol that represents creatures, the this command will tell you only what class of creature the symbol stands for, not give you specific information about a creature you can see. To get that, use the Look command.

There are three special symbols you can use with the Identify Symbol command to access specific parts of your monster memory. Typing ‘Ctrl-A’ when asked for a symbol will recall details about all monsters, typing ‘Ctrl-U’ will recall details about all unique monsters, and typing ‘Ctrl-N’ will recall details about all non-unique monsters.

If the character stands for a creature, you are asked if you want to recall details. If you answer yes, information about the creatures you have encountered with that symbol is shown in the Recall window if available, or on the screen if not. You can also answer k to see the list sorted by number of kills, or p to see the list sorted by dungeon level the monster is normally found on. Pressing ‘ESCAPE’ at any point will exit this command.

Game Version (V)

This command will tell you what version of NarSil you are using. For more information, see the ‘version.txt’ help file.

Extra Commands

Toggle Choice Window (‘^E’)

Toggles the display in any sub-windows (if available) which are displaying your inventory or equipment.

Redraw Screen (‘^R’)

This command adapts to various changes in global options, and redraws all of the windows. It is normally only necessary in abnormal situations, such as after changing the visual attr/char mappings, or enabling “graphics” mode.

Save screen dump ())

This command dumps a “snap-shot” of the current screen to a file, including encoded color information. The command has two variants:

• html, suitable for viewing in a web browser.

• forum embedded html for vBulletin, suitable for pasting in web forums like http://angband.oook.cz/forums.

Special Keys

Certain special keys may be intercepted by the operating system or the host machine, causing unexpected results. In general, these special keys are control keys, and often, you can disable their special effects.

If you are playing on a UNIX or similar system, then Ctrl-C will interrupt NarSil. The second and third interrupt will induce a warning bell, and the fourth will induce both a warning bell and a special message, since the fifth will quit the game, after killing your character. Also, ‘Ctrl-Z’ will suspend the game, and return you to the original command shell, until you resume the game with the ‘fg’ command. There is now a compilation option to force the game to prevent the “double ‘ctrl-z’ escape death trick”. The ‘Ctrl-\’ and ‘Ctrl-D’ and ‘Ctrl-S’ keys should not be intercepted.

It is often possible to specify “control-keys” without actually pressing the control key, by typing a caret (^) followed by the key. This is useful for specifying control-key commands which might be caught by the operating system as explained above.

Pressing backslash (\) before a command will bypass all keymaps, and the next keypress will be interpreted as an “underlying command” key, unless it is a caret (^), in which case the keypress after that will be turned into a control-key and interpreted as a command in the underlying angband keyset. For example, the sequence \ + . + 6 will always mean “run east”, even if the . key has been mapped to a different underlying command.

The R (0 in the Angband-like keyset), ^ and \ keys all have special meaning when entered at the command prompt, and there is no “useful” way to specify any of them as an “underlying command”, which is okay, since they would have no effect.

For many input requests or queries, the special character ESCAPE will abort the command. The ‘[y/n]’ prompts may be answered with y or n, or ‘ESCAPE’. The ‘-more-’ message prompts may be cleared (after reading the displayed message) by pressing ‘ESCAPE’, ‘SPACE’, ‘RETURN’, ‘LINEFEED’, or by any keypress, if the “quick_messages” option is turned on.

Command Counts

Some commands can be executed a fixed number of times by preceding them with a count. Counted commands will execute until the count expires, until you type any character, or until something significant happens, such as being attacked. Thus, a counted command doesn’t work to attack another creature. While the command is being repeated, the number of times left to be repeated will flash by on the line at the bottom of the screen.

To give a count to a command, type R (0 in the Angband-like keyset), the repeat count, and then the command. If you want to give a movement command and you are not using hjkl-movement (so the movement commands are digits), press space after the count and you will be prompted for the command.

Counted commands are very useful for time consuming commands, as they automatically terminate on success, or if you are attacked. You may also terminate any counted command (or resting or running), by typing any character. This character is ignored, but it is safest to use a ‘SPACE’ or ‘ESCAPE’ which are always ignored as commands in case you type the command just after the count expires.