Zangband? Hehe, let me show you a
good game, instead.
Dwarf Fortress.
Allow me to tell you of this game, or rather, two games.
The meat of it is Fort mode. In this, you begin with a team of dwarves, usually 7 or 8, and begin to establish a working stronghold. You must tunnel it out, set up rooms, gather supplies, maintain a constant food source, and keep your dwarves reasonably happy. Each of these challenges can be met by a variety of ways. Will you try to keep your dwarves happy with rewards and consistant profit or perhaps with comfortable living? Will you live via hunting, fishing, or farming? How will you design your fortress? How will you keep it safe? A trained Militia? Dozens of crazy traps? A maze-like design? And will you survive the winter?
If this were all, I would not be wasting your time.
When you start the game, it does not just plunk you into a pregenerated world. It creates an entire world, populating it with geography, flora, fauna, and unique civilizations. Not only this, it weaves a history of this world from an immense bank of pregenerated legends, and hidden about for you to find. This is a map of my present world.
Is it not pretty?If this were all, I would not be wasting your time.
Note that this world exists past one game, and time you play, it is influenced by your actions and especially failures. You create legends as well. If a Hold fails, it becomes a legend. If someone creates or finds something exceptional, this too becomes a legend.
The other game style, Adventure Mode, allows you to roam the world, interacting with these civilizations and exploring ruins; learning of it's legends and history. And should you die, it will ecome a myth. In fact, if you are killed by a certain monster, it will be given a name, and you can find it later. It works much like a standard roguelike in this respect. Sadly, it is a bit threadbare right now.
If this were all, I would not be wasting your time.
Combat itself is extremely detailed. You do not see your HP, you simply see how your character is wounded, and how badly. You do not just attack your enemy, you hit them in specific spots and inflict specific penalties. You can sever limbs. You can blind them. You can vivsect them. And they can do it to you, too. Combat tends to get extremely graphic (Ha! Ha! Graphics in a rogue-like!), and sometimes downright funny. I've heard stories of characters losing their limbs, and carrying on with their teeth and coming out on top.
The creator, one Toady, is an insanely devoted programmer, fixing bugs and improving things daily. I've been playing Dwarf Fortress for a couple days now, and he's released several minor updates.
Try it! You'll love it =(The only drawback is that the interface for Fortress Mode is a tad complex.
-I highly suggest, when you start out, that you hit the space bar to pause things and sort yourself out.
-Use the Tab button to shift the menu around.
-Use D to designate where your lads dig, gather plants, and gather lumber.
-Use P to tell them where to place food, leftover stone, wood, ores, gems, and all that good stuff.
-Use J to see what your dwarves are doing/not doing; select them and hit C to focus on them, then P to see their general preferences, then L to assign them to specific sorts of labor. (That's the most annoying part)
-When you get shops, levers, and that sort of thing set up, use Q to interact with them and set jobs to be done there. the dwarves will get to it.
