Anyone taught themselves to play without the numpad?

[auricbond]

Using the number keys to move. It's generally quite faster having your fingers constantly in touch-typing position, and you do get used to it, though some things feel a bit more awkward. Took me about three separate days of playing before I adapted (incidentally the reason I tried it is because my wireless numpad has stopped working).

[Moeba]

Yes I do this all the time. But as a kinda geeky thing to do, it's hard to get followers

[Scooter Fox]

Apart from unfortunate cases of limited laptop keyboards, why would you want to not use the numpad? I'm curious.

[_Ln_]

Apart from unfortunate cases of limited laptop keyboards, why would you want to not use the numpad? I'm curious.

"Unfortunate" is a strong word IMHO.
Although I have no practical experience (tried to play with numpad once and failed), I would assume the probability of mistyping is lower with the number row. It's still there (a week (?) ago I accidentally punched a staircase instead of a pile of garbage on an altar and instantly killed my PC), but at least you won't mistake vertical directions.

[blunk]

Only when on laptop, it works but I make misstakes when playing this way.

[Mobius]

I've gotten pretty good at it, strangely enough.
But I also mastered the VI style nethack movement too, so there is that.

[auricbond]

Apart from unfortunate cases of limited laptop keyboards, why would you want to not use the numpad? I'm curious.

My numpad is a seperate keyboard, and as I said, it died.

As to whether I'd go back if I did have the numpad, I'm not sure. I don't have to move my arm/wrist at all and that's a plus. I did have a mis-step where I lost a char to a chaotic altar (literally seconds after mentally warning myself to be super careful on the keys-- I still can't fathom how I slipped up) but that was while I was still in the learning stage, I think. Just having a keyboard on your lap allows you to play on the couch or in bed easier I think.

[buick_roadmaster]

Not only do I do this, (I only own a laptop) but for the first couple of years during which I occasionally played ADOM, I didn't realize the number keys moved your character at all; I just used the arrow keys. It was annoying to me that monsters could move diagonally while I apparently could not. The day I discovered the "w" commands was a glorious day.

(And then one day I actually read the keybindings and learned all kinds of things)

Nowadays, I still use the arrow keys (with "w"), and occasionally jump the appropriate hand up to the numbers row to move diagonally.

I've never given it much thought until now, but I guess that's pretty unusual...?

[GordonOverkill]

I sometimes do that when I play "on the road". Doesn't happen very often, but at least I won one whole run without using a numpad a while ago.

[Blasphemous]

I'm an avid enthusiast of desktops and full keyboards so it's been numpad for me since forever.
Occasionally I play on a laptop and then I'm forced to use the regular numbers.
It's doable but not comfortable.