A quick autumn contest

[meh]

While we're hoping the server will return, here is a small challenge game to pass the time.

This is basically a one player version of the weakest link game, with some modifications. You have much fewer turns per level, and instead of a random character, I hand-picked one that shouldn't favour any particular playing style too much.

Rules:
Load the save provided here. Rename the character and enter the ID. In the ID, you may never take the up stairs for any reason. You may spend no more than 500 turns on any level. If you reach SIL, you have an unlimited time to get the Sceptre, but may not leave the level. No abuse of game bugs is allowed.

Ranking:
Getting the sceptre is the top achievement. If more than one player can achieve this, then the number of turns used (counting from the start of the game) is used as a tie-breaker. Otherwise, players are ranked by the dungeon level reached. If there is a tie, then the turn count when arriving on that particular level decides the order. Fewer turns is of course better in both cases.

Reporting:
Keep record of the turn count when entering each level. Use the turn count displayed after descending, i.e. 13 for level 1. This will help in making sure you don't break the 500 turn limit and also in determining the ranking. You are encouraged to report anything of note that happens during the game, to make the reports more interesting to read. At the very least, you should tell how you died or ran out of turns. IMO, we can keep both reports and general discussion in this one thread.

Deadline:
Exactly two weeks from the time of this post.

The character:
A male hurthling paladin born in the month of book. Starting talents are alert and hardy.

[meh]

List of players:

I24
zsomkovacs - Killed along with his werewolf lord friend by a wall beast

I10
Mogri - Slain by an orc butcher
Soirana - Stuck between ettins and spiders
moomoo - Killed by a large spider

I8
JellySlayer - Killed by a trapped door

I6
gekko - Poisoned
gut - Slowed by a stone snake with deadly results

I5
fazisi - Poisoned by spiders
meh - In need of a map

I4
Grey - Stoned to death by a goblin
_Ln_ - Disarmed and killed
Molach - Killed by a flying axe

I3
Python - Stranded by a river
CheatMan - Carried away and lost track of time

I2
Arctic - Burnt by a book of hellish flames
Al-Khwarizmi - Delayed by secret doors

I1
breeolson - Stoned to death by a trap

[Soirana]

class sucks honestly.

i10 4457 turns 9760xp...

looks like used all my ID luck in past. nearly got killed on I7 than towards end of 500 turns realised i need to cross large snake room....[bye bye prayers]

On I10 i got stuck between ettins [threat room] and spider factory [priestess]. Killed one ettin to free uppercorridor and run as rabbit just to find upper left corner is already infested with spiders...

Sucks to be me. On other hand nearly everyone can beat me up and pick good emotions...

[Silfir]

That should only add to the challenge, right?

EDIT: Essentially, this is sort of an Iron Man challenge with rules that make instakills of unluckily hard-to-cross levels. I think it's more fun to use genuine Iron Man rules - it's hard enough to do without an extra game over condition.

As far as Iron Man variants go, I'd probably go for the one that lets you finish current fights and collect loot after spotting the stairs.

Personally I think random characters are more fun - it's not like you will get a lot of balance out of having the same r/c combo, given that the levels themselves are completely random. And I don't think I'd enjoy the bookkeeping, honestly. Isn't it enough to report the final turncount?

[Grey]

Sounds fun - I'm in.

Edit: Started, entered dungeon, renamed char to "Zero".

Bah, stupid. Got killed on I4 by a chaos brother whilst I was milking a rockthrower. 1767 turns (I was keeping to the 500 limit very tightly), level 6, 3949 xp, 2051 points. Ack, and looking at the high score I see it was the rockthrower that actually got in the last hit - shameful :(

[breeolson]

Got killed by stone block trap on I1.
Random r/c classes interest me more. I agree that regular iron man rules are fun. Having a "normal" character is boring, and the random characters make it more interesting.

[moomoo]

Don't mind the haters. Was fun while it lasted.

Got killed by a large spider at I10.
3915 points, 4179 xp and level 7.

500 turns is rough tho :) Rushing a weakling like that is great.

[gut]

the stone snake punches through your armor and hits you!
you suddenly slow down!

I6 mixed tension room turn 1531 xp: 6/2796

[fazisi]

I am not even going to attempt this. Between turn restrictions and weakling r/c combo, I would predict a death between I:5 and I:7.

[meh]

I can understand those preferring a random character. I first considered that, but then decided it would be best to use someone with healing. Swimming would also be important. And literacy. Soon I had such a restricted list of options, that I figured I might as well just pick one particular character for everyone. And I wouldn't really call a hurthling with 5 PV a weakling.

Anyway, it seems that I have become a victim of my own strict rules. The room with the stairs down from I5 were hidden with a non-obvious point of entrance. I didn't find it in time.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

I prefer a non-random char. There's enough randomness already in the ID, so why add more?

The challenge seems very difficult but I'm going to give it a try as soon as I can.

[Soirana]

I can understand those preferring a random character. I first considered that, but then decided it would be best to use someone with healing. Swimming would also be important. And literacy. Soon I had such a restricted list of options, that I figured I might as well just pick one particular character for everyone. And I wouldn't really call a hurthling with 5 PV a weakling.

Anyway, it seems that I have become a victim of my own strict rules. The room with the stairs down from I5 were hidden with a non-obvious point of entrance. I didn't find it in time.

11To crappy Dx and narly being guatanteed to be burdened by allm rocks you drag arround is not crappy?

If you have time to develop him, well, maybe yes. But it is not push for depth character. I would guess best achievement could be arround I20

[zsomkovacs]

Played it and it was fun. I enjoyed it. But this char is really weak for the Sceptre.


M 20: first kill: large bat
M 45: scroll found
M 74: softwood wand found
M 185: Level 2 - Athletics, Healing, Dodge, Stealth
M 208: [+0; +1] white gauntlets found
M 355: descended to I2
M 448: Level 3 - First Aid, Archery, Stealth, Swimming - Talent: Good Learner
M 593: descended to I3
M 657: scroll found
M 756: Level 4 - Athletics, Healing, First Aid, Stealth
M 788: scroll found
M 800: 11 quarrels found
M 821: carrot juice found
M 874: tiny key found
M 977: exploding door destoyed torch and white gauntlets
M1000: descended to I4
M1179: Level 5 - Archery, Dodge, Healing*2
M1203: 4 rocks found
M1216: slimy potion found
M1370: descended to I5
M1404: another exploding door - 1 scroll destroyed
M1810: descended to I6 (spent time with healing)
M1837: blanket found
M1903: Level 6 - Dodge, Healing*3 - Talent: Quick
M2001: descended to I7
M2008: descended to I8
M2111: almost died to a leucrotta, low hp speed bonus saved me
M2279: descended to I9
M2417: descended to I10
M2442: descended to I11 - propably I'll die soon due to too fast diving...
M2446: stone block trap - good: +8 rocks bad: -26 Hp
M2454: short bow found
M2478: killed and ate fire beetle
M2542: descended to I12 - rocks make this much easier...
M2554: found bone wand
M2555: read scroll, it was familiar summoning. Got werewolf lord
M2556: read other scroll, it was amnesia
M2644: descended to I13
M2658: werewolf lord seem to be really powerful. He killed lizard man with one hit, bandit with other. He has 120 speed.
M2665: werewolf lord summoned dire wolves. Hope they won't attack me.
M2680: glass wand found
M2735: werewolf lord summoned werewolves. Things seem to get out of control.
M2813: scroll found - was identify, wands are stunning, monster detection, door creation
M2997: finally found stairs behind secret door. Descended to I14.
M3041: descended to I15
M3055: werewolf lord is still powerful. He can deal 110 damage.
M3058: long bow found
M3117: descended to I16
M3144: speckled potion found
M3164: cursed archery gloves (+0; +4) [+0; +0] found
M3209: ice vortex brought werewolf lord down to moderately injured
M3299: lightnng vortex found, now it's behind a closed door
M3394: appearantly the downstairs are behind the vortex. *SIGH*
M3452: WOW! Werewolf lord seems to be really clever! He summoned dire wolves and they attacked the vortex, which exploded without harming him.
M3462: descended to I17
M3491: descended to I18
M3494: bubbly potion found
M3551: stairs found while running away from fire vortex. Descended to I19
M3614: gnoll tension room on the level
M3892: descended to I20
M3933: descended to I21
M3956: descended to I22
M4031: descended to I23
M4037: giant tension room on the level. Will try to evade it.
M4049: descended to I24
M4088: werewolf lord cleared minotaur tension room easily
M4317: wall beast found. Almost killed me with thrown rock.
M4333: wall beast killed werewolf lord. I'll die on this level.
M4477: managed to critically inhure wall beast with thrown rock criticals. Have no more rocks nor time. Will attack it in Berserk and die heroically.
M4478: wall beast threw a rock at me, bringing me down to -40 Hp. Died.


Frodo St:15 Le:13 Wi:13 Dx:14 To:11 Ch:18 Ap:14 Ma: 7 Pe:11 L
DV/PV: 6/5 H: -40(45) P: 17(17) Exp: 6/3659 I24 M: 4479

It was plain luck with werewolf lord. If I don't found that scroll I would die somewhere I13-14.

Frodo survived for 4478 turns. He descended to I24 and advanced to Level 6 by gaining 3659 Xps.

[gekko]

M110 descending to I2.
M415 descending to I3. Picked up 3 rocks, 5 scurgari and 15 quarrels in the way.
M495 Level 2.
M600 Level 3.
M762 descending to I4.
M774 Level 4. My rocks are 1d4-3, very good...
M880 Level 5.
M1073 I5.
M1150 Level 6, found 7 another rocks.
M1266 Scroll found.
M1477 Got stuck between a dark elven warrior and two claw bugs. Prayer used twice for healing.
M1485 Descended to I6 because I thougth that I will die because of the poison very soon.
M1488 I died...


Big Ears, the hurthling paladin, died of acute blood poisoning. (I6)
He scored 2460 points and advanced to level 7.

[fazisi]

m13 entered I1
m36 find 4 rocks
m178 level up to 2
m268 orc gives 7 more rocks
m288 level up to 3, pick Quick
milk a rockthrower for more rocks, stop counting these now
milk a spear trap for two uncursed spears, didn't want to risk using a non-stacking spear in case of cursed status
m500 descend to I2
m568 explosive door wrecks my carrot juice
m588 level up to 4.. "Thinking seems to get tougher."
m641 level up to 5.. "Your muscles feel stronger."
m840 level up to 6, pick Good Shot
m950 descend to I3
m1067 find an unlabeled scroll
m1263 berserker gives me a fire opal ring
m1433 descend to I4
m1575 muscles feel stronger
m1596 find ironwood wand
m1649 level up to 7
m1700 find a short bow
m1774 find a scroll labeled "SutsI"
m1775 find a sandy potion
m1873 find a crude spear
m1892 descend to I5
m1895 find a medium shield
m2097 muscles feel stronger
m2183 die to spider factory and poison

How nice.

[Arctic]

Well, that was fast. Thought I could make it a little further, but guess not...



M13: entered I1
M50: first kill: large bat
M51: found heavy spear (-1,1d8+2)
M83: found ragged tome
M272: level 2, +1 st
M310:entered I2
M335: level 3, talent:careful
M379: claw bug bug has me down to 1HP. Going to try running away.
M399: Managed to run away and close door behind me.
M402: Standing on down stairs, started reading the rugged tome.
M441: Learned "hellish flames" 40 , 16pp
M480: "You start to page through the spellbook of hellish flames. The spellbook explodes into a ball of fire! You die..."


Jack Sparrow, L3, 1596 points, 12 monsters killed 499 xps. 481 turns.
He was ripped apart by an exploding spellbook on level 2 of some ancient caves.

[_Ln_]

Jack Sparrow, L3, 1596 points, 12 monsters killed 499 xps. 481 turns.
He was ripped apart by an exploding spellbook on level 2 of some ancient caves.

Hah, style points for that! :D

P.S. Will play my turn in the evening.

[Python]

This game is interesting, but the 500 turn rule is a bit harsh. I got a very unlucky river on ID3 and wasn't able to reach ID4 in time.

Another similar game would be good, maybe with a hurthling (?) mindcrafter or a bard.



M13 entered ID1
found a metal girdle, milked some kobolds for arrows
M359 entered ID2
M393 found a short bow
ran away from an orc tension
M486 entered I3
river
killed large orc, down to 14 hp
M623 lost metal girdle to a fireball door trap, 7 hp
killed large kobold, down to 8 hp
swimming, down to 3 hp
M946 still on ID3


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Hero St:12 Le:13 Wi:13 Dx:14 To:11 Ch:18 Ap:13 Ma: 7 Pe:10 L
DV/PV: 24/5 H: 5(29) P: 11(11) Exp: 3/716 I3 M: 947
Coward


(I only realised after playing that I haven't renamed myself.)

[_Ln_]

Ahem. I1: the first door opens to a tention room with 2 ogres, goodbye 2 prayers and that was freaking close. I4: the first door explodes in my face and then ratling duelist waves goodbye to my weapons, picks them up, calls his flesh golem and wererat friends and they joyfully hack me to pieces.

[CheatMan]

That's a really crippling turn restriction. I got carried away clearing a big orc tension room and didn't make the down stairs to lvl 3 before 1013.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

In 15-20 minutes I will play this and *try* to broadcast my gruesome death following gut's instructions (I already have an Ubuntu VM up) in case anyone is interested.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

A sad, boring way to end... I had to quit on I:2 because I couldn't find the down stairs within the turn limit, due to a lot of secret doors that forced me to search.

[Mogri]

M0129: Reached level 2
M0367: Reached level 3; took Shield Specialist; "Your muscles feel stronger. Your health increases."
M0378: Descended to ID:2
M0507: Reached level 4; "Your movements are getting swifter."
M0684: Descended to ID:3
M0912: Reached level 5
M0975: Descended to ID:4
M1291: Descended to ID:5
M1349: Reached level 6; took Tough Skin
M1421: Defeated corpse fiend, but not before he sickened me; "Your muscles feel stronger. Your movements are getting quicker."
M1496: Sick, strained, and bleeding with 2 hp left, first emergency prayer
M1608: 2 hp left again, second emergency prayer
M1725: Descended to ID:6
M1729: Took my chance with a potion, curing my disease
M1942: Reached level 7
M2048: "Your muscles feel stronger."
M2140: Descended to ID:7
M2207: Obtained bloody dagger
M2451: Descended to ID:8
M2626: Reached level 8
M2814: "You are done eating the claw bug corpse. You feel furious!"
M2943: Descended to ID:9
M3383: Descended to ID:10
M3410: Slain by an orc butcher

Yay for bloody knives! Boo for orc butchers!

[Molach]

13: I1. Empty rooms, empty rooms. Call myself Sharkbait, and start exploring.
Level 2, +dx. Found stairs at 186.
348: I2. Found a regular 1d7+1 broadsword. Levelled to 4. Got +st and +to then. Talent good shot
824: I3. Level 5.
1238: I4. Level 6, 'tough skin'. Killed by a battle axe thrown by a large gnoll (he got me in the back as I was making a tactical retreat to the downstairs?.)
Also got +1 Pe somehow.
2560 points, 1611 turns
Notice that I managed to put on a wedding ring, hehe.

If I'm trying this again I want infinite time on each level. This speedrunning is cramping my style.

[JellySlayer]

I:1 Found stairs quickly (<100 turns). Heard tension room, so continued on. Found room of rats and wererat. Killed all and leveled to 5 by turn 250. Cooked a few corpses on stairs, descend at turn 494. Talent = long stride
I:2. Found stairs quickly (531). Found [-1,1] heavy boots. Swapped short sword for heavy spear. Lucky drop gives blessed scroll of ID. I have a healing potion and a ring of ****. Killed dark sage to hit level 6. Talent = quick. Trade up heavy spear for orcish spear from scorcher. Cook till turn 950 and descend.
I:3. Milk a few rocks from rockthrower. Find stairs turn 1212. Get Dx increase from athletics. Heal on stairs till 1449 and descend.
I:4 Milk a few rocks from rockthrower. Find stairs turn 1500. Find black tome (100s) on turn 1612. Read successfully: bless. Don't have enough PP to bookcast though. Kill necromancer and advance to level 7. Descend on turn 1900.
I:5 Find fire opal ring from hippogriff. Equip. Find stairs on turn 2143. Milk rocks from goblin rockthrower. Descend on 2399.
I:6. Find stairs on turn 2414. Find spider factory on turn 2423. Kill a few spiders and grab corpse, retreat and descend on turn 2483.
I:7. Forced to pray for healing to avoid death by poison. Gain poison resist from spider corpse. Use holy symbol for a bit until poison wears off. Attacked by yellow ooze! Flee with 12 HP left. Find stairs at 2850. Heal while using holy symbol till 2982, descend. [also picked up amulet of preserverence at some point]
I:8. Find wooden ring. Decide to test scrolls to see if I can remove my cursed gloves. Get melee damage and power instead. Killed by door rune trap dealing ~40 damage.



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Messiah St:14 Le:13 Wi:16 Dx:15 To:11 Ch:18 Ap:14 Ma: 7 Pe:10 L
DV/PV: 19/5 H: -14(47) P: 16(21) Exp: 7/6883 I8 M: 3182
Burdened

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total weight: 1204 stones Carrying capacity: 1400 stones

Head : -
Neck : uncursed amulet of perseverance {Wi+3} [3s]
Body : blessed chain mail (-1, -3) [-3, +5] [400s]
Girdle : -
Cloak : -
Right Hand : uncursed orcish spear (+3, 1d8+3) [75s]
Left Hand : blessed small shield [+2, +0] [50s]
Right Ring : cursed ring of searching [1s]
Left Ring : uncursed ring of stun resistance [1s]
Bracers : -
Gauntlets : cursed gloves [+2, +0] [6s]
Boots : -
Missile weapon: -
Missiles : heap of 9 uncursed rocks (+0, 1d4) [45s]
Tool : blessed holy symbol [5s]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapon Skills
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Melee weapon Lvl Hit Dam DV Level Required marks
--------------------- --- --- --- -- ------------- --------------
Swords 3 +2 +1 +0 basic 61
Pole arms 2 +2 +0 +1 basic 2

Missile weapon Lvl Hit Dam Ra Level Required marks
--------------------- --- --- --- -- ------------- --------------
Thrown rocks & clubs 5 +10 +7 +1 skilled 39

Shields Lvl DV Level Required marks
--------------------- --- --- ------------- --------------
Shields 2 +4 basic 40


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Archery .................. 10 (poor) [+4d4]
Athletics ................ 65 (good) [+3d4]
Climbing ................. 36 (fair) [+3d5]
Concentration ............ 32 (fair) [+4d5]
Cooking .................. 69 (good) [+1] (ma)
Dodge .................... 51 (good) [+2d4]
First aid ................ 53 (good) [+3d3]
Food preservation ........ 64 (good) [+1d3]
Gardening ................ 23 (mediocre) [+2d4]
Haggling ................. 29 (mediocre) [+3d4]
Healing .................. 88 (great) [+1d5]
Law ...................... 28 (mediocre) [+4d4]
Listening ................ 21 (mediocre) [+3d4]
Literacy ................. 41 (fair) [+3d3]
Stealth .................. 45 (fair) [+1d5]
Swimming ................. 38 (fair) [+3d3]
Two weapon combat ........ 5 (poor) [+4d5]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
His achievements during his adventures:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Messiah, the hurthling paladin, was fried by a magical explosion.
He scored 5411 points and advanced to level 7.
He survived for 0 years, 2 days, 5 hours, 43 minutes and 15 seconds (3182
turns).
Messiah visited 2 places.
His strength score was modified by +2 during his career.
His dexterity score was modified by +1 during his career.
His perception score was modified by +1 during his career.
He ended his adventuring life on level 8 of some ancient caves.
108 monsters perished under his attacks.
He possessed the following intrinsics:
He was poison resistant.
He was stun resistant (gained through an item).
He had the following talents: Alert, Hardy, Long Stride, Quick.
He had a final speed score of 97 (final base speed: 102).
He was religious.
He asked for 1 divine intervention.
He was lawfully aligned.
He was slightly tainted by Chaos.

The following monsters were vanquished:
1 ankheg
1 berserker
1 cave fisher
1 chaos plague bearer
1 chaos rat
2 corpse fiends
1 cutpurse
1 dark sage
1 eye of destruction
3 fire beetles
2 ghost bats
3 ghuls
1 giant bat
1 giant lizard
5 giant rats
5 giant spiders
2 gnolls
1 goblin
1 goblin chieftain
4 goblin rockthrowers
3 goblin slavemasters
1 harpy
2 hippogriffs
2 hobgoblins
1 huge bat
2 kobold chieftains
1 kobold shaman
3 large bats
2 large kobolds
2 large orcs
3 large spiders
1 lizard man
1 necromancer
1 orc chieftain
1 orc scorcher
40 rats
1 ratling fencer
1 ratling warrior
1 red worm
1 wererat


I blame the PC's very lame starting stats for this.

[meh]

It seems that one week would have been enough for this.

Congratulations to zsomkovacs for getting far deeper than anyone else and winning this contest!