crawl
TLDR
Start Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
SYNOPSIS
crawl [options]
DESCRIPTION
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (DCSS or Crawl) is a roguelike dungeon exploration game focused on combat, strategy, and careful resource management. The player descends through a procedurally generated dungeon to retrieve the Orb of Zot and escape alive.
The game features permadeath (death is permanent), turn-based gameplay, dozens of species and backgrounds with unique abilities, religion system with various gods, extensive magic and item systems, and deep tactical combat.
DCSS is known for its streamlined design philosophy, removing tedious elements common in roguelikes while maintaining depth. Both console (ASCII) and graphical tiles versions are available.
PARAMETERS
-name name
Set character name.-species species
Choose starting species.-background background
Choose starting background (class).-seed n
Set dungeon generation seed.-console
Force console (ASCII) mode.-tiles
Force tiles (graphical) mode.-sprint
Start in Sprint mode.-tutorial
Start the tutorial.-rc file
Use specific configuration file.-morgue dir
Directory for morgue files.-version
Display version.
GAMEPLAY BASICS
Movement: Arrow keys or numpad
Commands: o auto-explore, g get item, i inventory
Combat: Move into enemies to attack
Rest: 5 or . to rest/wait
Stairs: > descend, < ascend
Save: Ctrl-S (or quit, auto-saves)
CAVEATS
Steep learning curve; expect many deaths while learning. No manual saves - death is permanent. Games can take many hours to complete. Console mode requires a terminal supporting Unicode or CP437 graphics.
HISTORY
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup forked from Linley's Dungeon Crawl in 2006 when the original development stalled. Named after the development philosophy of "stone soup" (collaborative improvement), DCSS has been continuously developed by a community of volunteers. It's considered one of the best modern roguelikes, praised for accessibility while maintaining challenge.
