YAFAP
For those who don't understand the title, I've been playing a game called NetHack for years. It's a sort of archetypical single-player RPG: start out with a weak character, explore dungeons, fight monsters, find loot, get stronger. The goal of nethack is to explore the whole dungeon, find the mysterious Amulet of Yendor, and offer it to your god. When you do so, your god rewards you for your diligence by granting your immortality and making you a demigod(dess), colloquially known as 'ascending'.
NetHack is a notoriously difficult game. Many people (myself included) have played for years without ever winning a game. This is for many reasons. Magical items aren't identified, and if you try and use them without knowing what they do, they can do some very nasty things. There are a number of very nasty monsters that can instantly kill you if you're not appropriately protected. Oh, and, death is permanent. Did I mention that? Once you die, you're dead. You don't get to restore an earlier game and try again. You roll a new character and start over again.
All this is prelude to me bragging that I've finally ascended a character.
One of the things you get to choose when you start a new character is the role, analogous to class in other games. Roles include standard RPG archetypes like Priest, Barbarian, Rogue, and Wizard as well as more esoteric ones like Valkyrie, Archaeologist, Caveman, and Tourist. Barbarians and Valkyries are generally considered to be the easiest roles to play. They're both very strong melee fighters that can afford to just run up to most monsters and smack them with a heavy metal stick. Wizards are also surprisingly strong, as they start with a random selection of (known) magical items and strong spellcasting abilities.
I however, play Tourists. The Tourist role is based off of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, particularly the first two. You even get to meet Twoflower in the middle of the game as a Tourist. They're generally considered to be the hardest role in the game. They're lousy fighters and lousy spellcasters. Their starting equipment is pitiful: they start with a Hawaiian shirt, an expensive camera, some money, and some food.
And I just ascended one for the first time ever:
NetHack is a notoriously difficult game. Many people (myself included) have played for years without ever winning a game. This is for many reasons. Magical items aren't identified, and if you try and use them without knowing what they do, they can do some very nasty things. There are a number of very nasty monsters that can instantly kill you if you're not appropriately protected. Oh, and, death is permanent. Did I mention that? Once you die, you're dead. You don't get to restore an earlier game and try again. You roll a new character and start over again.
All this is prelude to me bragging that I've finally ascended a character.
One of the things you get to choose when you start a new character is the role, analogous to class in other games. Roles include standard RPG archetypes like Priest, Barbarian, Rogue, and Wizard as well as more esoteric ones like Valkyrie, Archaeologist, Caveman, and Tourist. Barbarians and Valkyries are generally considered to be the easiest roles to play. They're both very strong melee fighters that can afford to just run up to most monsters and smack them with a heavy metal stick. Wizards are also surprisingly strong, as they start with a random selection of (known) magical items and strong spellcasting abilities.
I however, play Tourists. The Tourist role is based off of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, particularly the first two. You even get to meet Twoflower in the middle of the game as a Tourist. They're generally considered to be the hardest role in the game. They're lousy fighters and lousy spellcasters. Their starting equipment is pitiful: they start with a Hawaiian shirt, an expensive camera, some money, and some food.
And I just ascended one for the first time ever:
