Grog

Rogue for barbarians · 25 levels, the Throne of Immortality, and back out · “Axes High!”

Date of birth2018 begun the morning after Roguelike Celebration 2018; 1.0.0 released 24 May 2022; this build 1.0.2, 19 August 2023

CreatorThomas Biskup the author of ADOM

LanguageC# .NET Framework 4.8 (Mono on Mac and Linux)

PlatformWindows, Mac, Linux an 80×26 text console

Lineage

Grog is new C# code, not a port or variant: it is inspired by the original Rogue, which Biskup played on a PDP-11 at Roguelike Celebration 2018. It keeps Rogue’s shape (one 80-column screen, rooms and tunnels, 26+26 lettered monsters, an amulet-style goal at the bottom) and adds its author’s ideas from ADOM and later. Work began in 2018; 1.0.0 followed in May 2022 and 1.0.2, the last version, in August 2023. No descendants are known.

See the family tree (under Rogue, as inspired). Sources: RogueBasin, roguelike.games, the game’s credits.

Credits

Thomas Biskup	Design and programming, 2018–2023
Krzysztof Dycha	Play testing, bug squashing, design discussions
Andrew Clifton	His talk “Don’t generate, hash!” gave the idea and code for stable, platform-independent character generation
Ignacio Bergkamp	The idea of player-written flavour texts on high-score entries
Thanks	Slashie (Santiago Zapata); the organisers of Roguelike Celebration
Web port	Decompiled with ilspycmd, run on .NET WebAssembly (memmaker/grog)

From the game’s credits screen.

Trivia

Grog was “born” the morning after Biskup played the original Rogue on a real PDP-11 at Roguelike Celebration 2018. (in-game credits, RogueBasin)
The question behind the name: why a rogue, when fantasy fiction is usually led by “fighters or barbarians”? (roguelike.games)
Your name, gender and type are hashed into your stats and starting kit: the same three words always give the same hero, on any machine. (in-game help, credits)
High-score entries can carry a personal note written by the player, an idea from a Roguelike Celebration lightning talk. (roguelike.games, credits)
The monster list is two alphabets, like Rogue’s: giant ant to zombie, then Alp and Balor to Zombie Lord, plus Doppelganger, Ghost and Grog himself. (MonsterPool.cs)
A cheater is told they “are barred from entering the holy halls of Hi’Skorr” and gets no high-score entry. (Grog.cs)

What's unique

Hashed heroes: no class menu; type any name, gender and type (“barbarian”, “accountant” …) and the hash decides the rest.
Your deaths come back: dead characters return as ghosts, and revenge monsters come back with extra powers, so the dungeon grows harder the more you lose.
Short and focused: 25 levels, a small inventory, four monster kinds on level 1 and two new ones per level, special rooms from level 3.
Time identifies: items you carry long enough identify themselves.
Piety: pray (p) for help, but not too often.

Code dive

Language: C# for .NET Framework 4.8. Biskup never published the source; our repo is the release grog.exe decompiled by ilspycmd (19,882 lines in 197 files; roguelike.games counts 18,564 lines in 199 files for the original). Names of classes and methods survive decompiling, comments do not.
Structure: namespaces Grog.Dressings (beings, items, features), Grog.Dungeons (level, room and monster generators, decorators), Grog.Systems (ghosts, prayers, revenge, special rooms, traps) and Grog.Kernel, which has its own double-buffered curses layer on System.Console.
Files: saves, options, high scores, ghosts and revenge monsters are BinaryFormatter object graphs, gzipped (grog_v1.gst, grog_v1.rmf …). A crash autosave slot is offered at the next start.
This port: retargeted to .NET 10, built for browser-wasm and run in a Web Worker (keys through Atomics.wait); saves in IndexedDB, extra windows, an Enter command menu, item cursor, g explore and </> stairs walking. Source: memmaker/grog (first commit = untouched decompiler output).

Stats

Thing	Count	Notable ones
Levels	25	the Throne of Immortality at the bottom; then escape
Monsters	52	+ Doppelganger, Ghost, Grog; Jackalwere, Quinotaur, Fomorian, Exterminator, Burrow Wight, Ur-Vile, Yeth Hound
Monster races	10	undead, humanoid, giant animal, fairy, demon, giant, mythical beast, devil, animal, dragon
Item kinds	9	armour, food, melee weapons, potions, rings, scrolls, shields, wands (+ aliases); RogueBasin: 138 base types, 36 modifiers
Traps	11	acid, arrow, blindness gas, confusion gas, explosion, falling rock, paralysis gas, pit, spear, squeaky board, teleport
Room modifiers	11	dark, mud, water, webbed, tomb, monster pit, teleport, damage; RogueBasin: 60 special room types

Manual

Grog ships no manual file, and the game is freeware with all rights reserved, so nothing else is copied here. Its online help is the manual: the help screens (keys, more prompts, character generation, rules, monster list, hints, credits). Our port’s help page adds the browser keys.

Getting started

Open the game and start a new game.
Type a name, gender and type; try a few until the stats suit you.
Move with wasd or the arrows (four directions only); g explores, > walks to known stairs down and takes them.
i for the inventory, c to pick up, f to use, x to throw, z to zap, p to pray, . to rest until healed.
Enter lists every command; the game’s help page has keys and saving.

Help

We found no walkthrough or strategy guide. Rules of thumb from the game’s own hints:

Run if you can’t win; there are many ways out of tight spots.
Pray in times of need, but sparingly: watch Piety in the status line.
Carry unknown items for a while: they identify themselves.
Throw things at monsters; check m for their AC, hit dice and damage.
More: RogueBasin, roguelike.games.

Cheats

There is a hidden cheat menu (CheatMode.cs, Ctrl+x): wish for an item, map the level, teleport, go to any level, strength +10, 10,000 gold, create altars, traps, ghosts or every item. It opens only for a male character named Brannalbin whose type is “wizard” (Player.HasAccessToCheatMode). This build keeps it. Using it marks the run as cheated: no high-score entry.

Save scumming: Export / Import on the game page (a loaded save is deleted, as in the original).
Re-rolling a hero is free: the same name, gender and type always give the same start.