In ages long past, great heroes bound the dark lord Dredmor in the depths of the earth that his evil would trouble the land never more.
Alas, the foul lich Dredmor proved most devious and patient, for he has been loosening his magical bonds, slowly freeing himself to again spread his evil in the world of light.
He must be stopped...Again!
Once more it is a time of adventure, of glory. It is the time for a Hero. Unfortunately this hero is You.
You have been summoned by the king to prove yourself, to save the land and it's people, to join the heroes of legend in victory over the
Dungeons of Dredmor
And with that, the adventures of Hopson the axe-wielding, armor-wearing, clockwork-powered, demon-hunting berserker begin!
First things first: taking inventory! Like most roguelikes, you are perfectly safe if you remain still, giving you all the time you need to plan and craft.
Thanks to his skills, Hopson started with a good set of equipment. A Cap With A Cog In It, an Iron Breastplate, a Wooden Shield, and a Crude Stone Axe. He also has a single point in both Piercing and Radiance resistance and does 4 Slashing +3 damage per hit.
His stats, however, are a mixed bag. He's got a rather impressive Block Chance of 25, but the rest are kinda low.
He also has a Junior Smithing Set and an Ingot Press thanks to his smithing skill, and a back-up set of leather armor. In his hotbar, he has some low-quality food and drink. In DoD, food restores health over time, while booze restores mana. Both also slowly regenerate on their own. Finally, he has a single active skill: Turn Demon, which does large amounts of damage to a single demon enemy and can also be used to knock things around.
Not a bad start, but we can't take on Lord Dredmor like this. Time to explore!
Near the entrance, we have a couple of vending machines. There are several kinds of machines, and each has a random assortment of goods, from cheap sewer brew to high-quality martinis. They can be helpful, but I usually ignore them.
We also see a couple of doors, to the west and to the south. Let's go west for now.
And here we see Hopson's first foe: a diggle! A flightless bird with a strange drill-like appendage on it's face. There are many varieties of diggle that we will face, but these are the basic ones. It looks like we also stumbled into a nest, as we can see a diggle egg! Those are low-level healing items on their own, but they can be crafted into far superior items with relative ease. Thus, you should pick them up every chance you get.
The diggle collapses in a pile of ketchup! Victory! It also drops some zorkmids, the currency here in the dungeons. The real prize, however, is the egg. Hopson sticks it in his bag for future cooking. Moving on.
Thanks to the armor and shield, Hopson blocks frequently, and even when he doesn't these diggles only do 1 damage anyway.
Here we encounter a new danger and a new foe. Traps like these are all over the dungeon, and can some can be quite dangerous. Any character can attempt to disarm a trap, but for a warrior build like Hopson even these simple IEDs can blow up in his face.
Behind those shelves you might see the eyestalks of a Blobby. Blobbies come in a variety of colors, many of which can deal elemental damage in addition to their normal attacks. Perhaps we can lure the blobby onto the trap for us.
Success! Hopson finishes it off and begins to loot.
These stairs lead to the next level of the dungeon. We don't want to go down there yet. The potion off to the side is a Potion of Dire Empowerment, which will add necronomic damage to our attacks for a short time.
The bookcase contains a secret recipe for our use. This one requires a smithing kit, which we have, but also two fire wands which we do not have. Thankfully, the game will remember all recipes we find.
Continuing our wanderings, we come across Brax's store. There is usually at least one of these per floor, and he sells just about anything. He will also buy your unwanted items. Looking around inside, he's got some items that would be useful, including pants and magic rings, but we can't afford anything just yet.
This thing next to me is a Satanic Displacement Glyph, otherwise known as a teleporter. Stepping on this would instantly transport me to another section of the dungeon, but I'll leave it alone for now. The chest just contained a Simple Wooden Shield, inferior to the shield we've got already.
Here's our first diggle variety, the sickly diggle. These deal toxic damage, which is not stopped by armor. Still, they are only dangerous in large numbers.
Oooo...I'll be holding on to this.
I wonder what's in here?
Wish we used staff weapons
These named items are called artifacts. They come with a variety of extra abilities that normal items don't have. Most of them are found randomly, earned by doing sidequests, or bought from the store. In certain locations, however, we can make our own.
These things are always nice to see. Smash it, and you get free XP for Heroic Vandalism!
Alright, Hopson is just one monster away from level 2. What new ability should he choose?
Axe Skill: Viking Strike
Has a chance to perform a special attack in combat. Also increases counter chance and accuracy.
Shield Skill: Duck and Cover!
Has a chance to increase defense for a while after getting hit. Also increases block chance.
Berserker Skill: Viking Temperment
Has a chance to increase attack power for a while after getting hit.
Master of Arms Skill: Suit Up
A cooldown ability. When active, your defensive abilities are increased. Also passively increases block chance and piercing resistance.
Smithing Skill: Ingoteer
Increases burliness, tinkering ability, and smithing ability.
Demonology Skill: Fervor of the Flagellant
When hitting or being hit by a demon, has a chance to provide a buff to damage resistance and damage, at the cost of a little health.
Clockwork Skill: Rocket-powered Punch
Cooldown skill. Allows you to launch an explosive long-range attack.
If you have any questions about the game in general or so far, be sure to ask! Otherwise, I'll see you next time!