NetHack with randomized magic equipment, magic chests, new branches and a friendlier interface, played in the browser.

DynaHack (Tung Nguyen, 0.6.0 from 2016 is the last release) is a NetHack variant built on NitroHack's interface and much of UnNetHack's content. Weapons, armour and jewellery can spawn with random magic properties (fiery, frosty, telepathic, stealthy …); magic chests share one inventory across the dungeon; there are new branches (the Town, the Black Market, dragon caves), many new special levels, and Gehennom has no mazes. Several instant deaths became slower (delayed stoning, a turn before drowning). The goal is NetHack's: bring the Amulet of Yendor up to the Astral Plane. Death is permanent.

• About the game
• Keyboard controls
• Saving your game
• Tips
• New player's guide
• Playing in the browser

About the game

DynaHack keeps NetHack's core (levels stay as you left them, items start unidentified, almost everything interacts) and changes a lot around it. Equipment can carry random magic properties; magic chests share one store across the dungeon; the Town, the Black Market and dragon caves are new branches; Gehennom trades its mazes for caverns and special levels; Sokoban's prize moved to Mines' End. Several unfair instant deaths now give you a few turns to react, and resistances from corpses are only partial. The interface comes from NitroHack: item action menus, a dungeon overview (Ctrl+O), an Elbereth command (Ctrl+E) and built-in auto-explore.

Keyboard controls

Essential keys

Saving your game

• Saving is automatic. DynaHack writes every command to its game log, and the browser keeps it (IndexedDB), synced every couple of seconds. If the tab is closed or crashes, reloading the page replays the log and you continue at the same turn.
• S saves the game and ends the session; reload the page (or press Play again) to continue exactly where you were.
• When your character dies or you quit, the game is over for good: death is final.
• Each browser keeps one game. New character deletes it and starts over.
• Export save downloads the game log (.nhgame); Import save loads one back, also in another browser.
• Private windows and "clear site data" delete the stored game: export first if it matters.

Tips

• A Valkyrie or Samurai is the easy start; the new Convict starts with almost nothing and is for later.
• Look at what you find: a plain-looking weapon or ring may carry a magic property that shows itself in use.
• Put spare loot into a magic chest (M-l next to it): anything inside can be taken out of any other magic chest.
• Body armour and shields have their own skills now: wearing them trains them for extra AC.
• Resistances from eating corpses are only partial: don't count on one corpse to make you immune.
• If you start turning to stone you get a few turns: eat a lizard corpse or an acidic one, or pray.
• Ctrl+O lists every level you have seen with its shops, altars and fountains.
• Sokoban is optional here: its prizes moved to Mines' End.
• Pray (M-p) only in real trouble, and not again for about a thousand turns.

New player's guide

Your first steps

1. Pick role, race, alignment and gender from the menus (a Valkyrie is easiest), then type a name.
2. Look at your gear in the Inventory window; i lets you use an item with its letter or open its action menu with Enter.
3. Explore with v (or ~) with your pet following; press it again after each stop. Walk into monsters to fight, pick things up with ,.
4. When the level is done, press >: you walk to the known down stairs and go down. Nothing left to explore but no stairs? Search dead ends with s (10s searches ten times).
5. Nothing to do on your turn? Enter lists every command.

Staying alive

• Watch the HP in the Status window; rest with 20s before going down.
• Fight in corridors so only one monster reaches you. The Visible window lists everything in sight.
• Eat fresh corpses of your kills, but never cockatrices, and nothing old or acidic when you are fine.
• Ctrl+E writes Elbereth in the dust: most monsters won't attack you in melee while you stand on it.
• Pray (Alt+P) when HP are below a seventh of the maximum or you are Weak from hunger.
• Try unknown potions and scrolls at full health, with no monster near.

Playing in the browser

• The map is drawn with the NetHack 3.4.3 16×16 tiles (DynaHack has none of its own; its new monsters borrow look-alikes). A− / A+ on the Map title bar change the tile size, Tiles switches to None (the game's characters); Windows hides, shows and rearranges the windows (drag a title bar, drag the gaps).
• Keys: hjklyubn or the arrow keys move you (Home, PgUp, End, PgDn for the diagonals); capital letters run. Alt+letter gives the M- commands. _ travels to a spot you pick; click a menu row to pick it. The game's own options menu is not available here.
• Sound effects and Music under Audio in the top bar are off at first: Sound plays short effects (hits, misses, doors, "You hear", stairs, level up), Music a town tune in Mine Town, the Town and the Black Market. The choice is remembered.
• Browsers keep a few shortcuts for themselves (Ctrl+W, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+N, and Cmd shortcuts on a Mac), so those never reach the game.
• If the game ever crashes, a message appears at the top; reload the page: the game log is replayed up to your last move.

About this version

• DynaHack 0.6.0 (Tung Nguyen, 2016), commit 25aaf2a of github.com/tung/DynaHack.
• Our changes (browser client, auto-explore stops and stairs walking, command menu, inventory item menus, tiles, sound, web build) are in github.com/memmaker/dynahack, one commit per topic on top of the upstream commit.
• Tiles: the NetHack 3.4.3 set as shipped with SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F3; sounds and music are synthesized for this port (web/mksounds.py, public domain). Licence: NetHack General Public License.