Tunnel Hack: The Definitive Guide

By Bryce Schroeder, 2006

Special Thanks to Aaron Gallagher for setting up the TunnelHack CVS server, for the new-and-improved map generator, colorized main map, and homocidal beatniks.
Also, thanks to all the beta testers of 1.0 TunnelHack who helped convince me, by their playing this game of their own free will, that I should spend the time to maintain it even after I had already got an 'A' on it. :)
Thanks to Doug Joksch, my computer science professor, for letting me do this rather than yet another boring "Home Loan Calculator".

** Warning! Achtung! ¡Peligro! Abunai! **


This guide contains many spoilers for Tunnel Hack - information that you may wish to obtain by experiance instead of just reading about it. On the other hand, it is said that "Forewarned is Four-armed," and indeed if you had four arms you would likely die less often. The individual sections are labeled according to how "spoily" they are.
** General Advice & Commands (minimal spoilers) **
** Character Types (low spoilers) ** Physical Education Students Advantages: High strength (can carry more stuff, does more damage). Good dexterity. Starts out with good items, possibly including a decent weapon. Disadvantages: Dumb as hamster - can be killed by reading the _title_ of some books. Difficulties using items become more significant as the game goes on. Advice: Smash bad things. Take their stuff. Level up. Be careful doing anything else until you're sure your IN is high enough that you can't be stunned by "Gomer's World of Outhouses". Avoid labs and internet cafes; the students there are very capiable of stunning you. Liberal Arts Students Advantages: Decent intelligence, dexterity, and strength. Co-aligned with many "natural" creatures (animals), and pyrex elves, which makes the early game easier. Disadvantages: Starts with crummy inital items. May start with low enough intelligence that it is bothersome. Advice: Avoid locker rooms like the plague 'till you're at least level 5. Ditch low-quality inital items that take up inventory space. Let your pet carry stuff. Science Students Advantages: Very smart. May start with an excellent early weapon (textbook). Disadvantages: Very low strength early on makes it difficult to carry stuff. Advice: Avoid non-coaligned rooms. (Especially locker rooms!). Use your high intelligence to your advantage - you can use gnome hats and textbooks early on without much danger. Manage your inventory carefully, and try to make getting a sack a priority. (Kill a dwarf if worse comes to worse, they often have several of them.) Give non-critical items to you pet.
** Strategy (low spoilers) **
** Not Dying (low spoilers) **
** Special Rooms (medium spoilers) ** Some rooms are just cosmetic alteration of a normal room, such as the Boiler Room. The Entrance is also like this, although it has one special property: you can win by entering it with your artifact! Laboratories come in two flavors, having equal chances of creation. One contains 1-2 mad scientists (who are never insane) and 2d4 Science students. The other contains 2d4 pyrex elves and d4 shards of glass and human corpses. Both labs also contain d6 items chosen randomly from scapels, textbooks, lab coats, flasks, and pencils. Both versions are fairly dangerous if you are not co-aligned with the inhabitants. The neutral-aligned pyrex elves do decent damage and have that irritating spit attack; nerd-aligned science students and mad scientists are wont to stun low-IN characters with textbooks and throw various chemicals on them. Which kind it is can be determined with good accuracy by looking into it with the view command, and checking to see what the inhabitants are. (Mixed labs with elves and scientists are not generated; if you see this it must be the result of random creatures going there on their own.) Gnome Hives contain d8 Garden Gnomes and an equal number of items chosen from conical hats, cloaks, sticks, flasks, sacks, magic cookies, and wands. Remember that gnomes can and will pick up items. Overall, not an especially dangerous room, however, especially for characters co-aligned with the gnomes. (Who are nerds.) Locker Rooms contain d6 [Physical Education Student]s and a coach. They also contain as many items as students, chosen from steroid pills, sodas, jackets, T-shirts, baseball bats, balls, and pocket knives. Locker rooms are a leading cause of death for low-level science students. Be careful not to stumble into one before you are ready. Hamster Nests contain 2d6 hamsters and a giant hamster, with a 50% chance of a pikachu as well. They are filled with clutter chosen from carrots, peanuts, tattered rags, hamster corpses, and fur scraps. Since all hamsters as well as pikachu are peaceful by default, the room presents little difficulty to characters of any alignment - the only risk is rabid creatures. Hamsters are useful as early sources of food and experiance for your pet. (And you, if there are rabid hamsters or you don't mind the slight penalty for attacking peaceful creatures.) Internet Cafes are inhabited by 2d4 nerds and a 50% chance of a code monkey for every Science Student. There is also a 50% chance of one debugger! Although physicaly not especialy threatening, remember that nerds can be generated with textbooks that can stun you. Random items are chosen from ethernet cables, sodas, cookies, chocolates, scredrivers, and textbooks. Ooze Lairs start with d4 gelatinous cubes and a random item chosen from all possible non-artifact items. The eponymous oozes will be generated sleeping. Since gelatinous cubes are peaceful, this room is generally fairly safe, although they do have a chance of being rabid. The main danger is that, once awoken, the gelatinous cubes will go around eating your loot. The Programmer's Tower contains the Programmer and nothing else. See the entry pretaining to the Programmer for information about how to deal with him successfully. The Champion's Hall contains a Champion. See the information about creatures for details. The Evil Lab contains the nemesis, Zeius. She will be generated sleeping, and holding your artifact. Fetid Cesspools are inhabited by the like of toads, fetid blobs, and crocodiles. They may also contain a number of items, however, that items found in cesspools are, as one would hopefully assume, not in edible condition.
** Insta-Deaths, 1-Turn-Kills, & Other Nasty Suprises (medium spoilers) ** Insta-Death Garbage Collectors and The Programmer have outright insta-kill attacks. Insta-death can also occur from eating rotten corpses (1/12 chance), eating a tainted Chromatic Cookie (1/5 chance), drinking acid (1/2 chance), or drinking poison (1/4 chance), teleporting with a tainted magic cookie (1/2 chance), using a Conical Hat or reading a Textbook with low IN, or having your brain eaten by a mind flayer. 1-Turn Kills The best defense against one turn kills, is, obviously, to have high HP. Also, pay attention to the link descriptions so that you don't blunder into things such as locker rooms and labs before you are ready. Nasty Suprises You game can be rendered unwinnable if your artifact is destroyed. Don't drop your artifact, and don't let your nemesis be killed by a gelatinous cube, which can destroy items. The artifact is fairly resiliant but it is possible to destroy it in several ways.
** Weapons, Armor, and Food (spoilers) ** This section gives exact numerical stats for certain kinds of items. Weapons Weapons effect the amount of damage you do with your physical attack ('a' command). The formula adds the damage rating of the weapon to a random number up to your strength, this is the base damage. (Armor of the target is subtracted, giving the final HP reduction, which must be zero or more.) Weapon Damage Rating Special Stick 1 Sports Ball 1 Pencil 1 Plastic Spork 1 Disects Food Chromatic Cookie 1 Various effects Flask 1 Various chemical splashes Networking Cable 2 Blue Gum 2 Blueberry Death Screwdriver 3 Lens 3 Detects Defective Items Novel 3 Estimates IN Meter Stick 4 Scalpel 4 Disects Food Rock 5 Rubber Wand 7 Issues Blazing Electric Death Textbook 5 May stun enemies Baseball Bat 9 Metal Slab 9 Also can be used as armor Bullwhip 10 Frying Pan 10 Also can be used as armor Knife 10 Disects Food Dragon Fang 12 Very accurate (+50% To-hit) Pick-Axe 12 Dread Sword of Nerfing 15 Can reduce enemy stats Glowing Sword 20 Pen of The Propagandists 25 May charm creatures Using an item that Disects food on a food item will reveal if it is tainted or not; there is a chance that you will destroy the item if your DX is too low. If your DX is 11 or higher, this won't happen. If your DX is lower than 5 it will always happen. Reading a Novel gives you a rough indication of your intelligence. (None of the novels are very will written.) If you are "confused by the big words", your IN is less than 6. If you think it is "turgid prose", your IN is less than 10. If you fit neither catagory, you will be told that you "wonder how this drivel got published." There are no harmful effects from reading a novel, so it can safely be used to determine roughly how safe it is to read a particular textbook. Textbooks are not all the same; their topic is chosen from several at random. _The Art of Computer Programming_ and _Java in a Nutsheel_ are "powerfuly nerd aligned"; hitting a jock-aligned creature with either will sear its flesh, doing d8 armor ignoring damage. The _CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics_ is an especially large book and does an extra d8 physical damage. The primary benefit of wielding a textbook, its damage being fairly low, is that it has a chance to stun the victim. Non-intelligent creatures have a 50% chance of "recoiling in fear" and being stunned or turning to flee. Sentient creatures with low IN are the most at risk: these can be stunned for a number of turns up to the difficulty of the book. (Science students in labs wielding textbooks is a leading cause of death among PE PCs.)
** Items (spoilers) ** The section covers the various items found in the game. (There is a quick reference for weapons in its own section.)
** Monsters & Other Tunnel Denizens (spoilers) ** This section describes the various creatures in the game, including unique ones! Robots "A mechanical creature, no doubt escaped from some lab." Robots are moderate-difficulty monsters; they have no special attacks and start with no items. (They can pick up and use items, but do not eat.) Their HP is not especially high (30), and they do 0-10 damage with their physical attack. They always drop a metal slab on death. They are nerd aligned. The fact that they do not eat (or drink!) represents a considerable threat to polymorphing randomly. Robots cannot level up. They are large. Candy Golem A construct of candy and chocolate, animated by arcane energies. Usually created by mad confectioners to do work in factories, as an alternative to troublesome, unionized human workers. Fairly high HP (50), otherwise moderate stats. Doesn't pick up items, can't level up, and does not eat. It reisists chemical attack. It is of gigantic. Beatniks // Write me! Debuggers "An aetherial minion of The Management, designed to keep things in good order." Debuggers are fairly dangerous, doing 0-40 physical damage and having 100 HP. They are neutrally aligned and can teleport. Debuggers always drop a magic cookie on death, a prime motivation for killing them. They don't pick up or start with any items. (Gnomes, the other source for magic cookies, have an irritating tendency to wield or eat magic cookie before you can kill them.) Debuggers resist polymorphing and do not level up. They don't use items, and are of gigantic size. Ancient Dragons Dragons are high-level neutrally aligned creatures with very high HP, intrinsic teleportation, no chance of being a cyborg, and very high stats generally. They are _not_ peaceful, and should be considered fairly dangerous. They are uncommon, however. When dragons die, they leave behind a Dragon Fang, an uncommonly accurate and fairly powerful weapon. They are giant. Garbage Collectors Essentially a much more powerful varriant of the Debugger. It has more HP, varrying from 140-220, and is very resistant to stunning and charming. Although it does the same physical damage as the debugger, the garbage collector is far more feared because of its special attack. It has a 25% chance per turn of attempting this special attack, which is insta-death for everyone except the player. It may also insta-kill the player, however, the player has a chance to survive. This chance is based on the number of murders the player has commited: a player who has never killed a human being will always be protected, a player who has killed 9 or more will never be. Garbage collectors are neutrally aligned, along with debuggers; this is considered a key advantage of the Liberal Arts Student. (Neither Debuggers nor Garbage Collectors can be generated rabid/insane.) The special attack is not usable by polymorphed players. Garbage collectors resist polymorphing and do not level up. Tribbles Essentially worthless monsters with little HP. Good food/practice for pets early on. Tribbles are noteworthy only for their summon-help special attack, which is not very common since tribbles only use it when attacking and are generally peaceful or one-hit-killed. However, it is not as bounded (as the zergling special attack is), thus a sort of tribble population explosion could potentially occur. (Although it is vanishingly unlikely, reports from the field indicate at least one instance of this ecological catastrophe.) Tribbles are tiny. Crocodiles Mid-level mundane monster that does moderate damage (0-12) and is a scavenger. Slightly harder to kill than its HP (23-37) would suggest since it tends to start out carrying several edible corpses. Neutrally aligned, like most animals. They are large. Talking Fox An anthropromorphic sentient fox. Not especially notable, although it carries some unusual items. It will pick up and use items, meaning that it can still fall into the catagory of "Things that can dispense blazing electric death at inopportune times." It is usually peaceful. They are small. They use all kinds of items. Spiders Low level monster that is fairly agile but has very low health and does a mere 0-1 physical damage. The corpse is always tainted, and is thus a threat to creatures who stupidly eat them. The spider does have a special attack, in which it jumps on enemies and bites them; it has a 10% chance of doing this per turn. The bite is poisonous and can reduce strength and dexterity by d2, and stun for 3 turns; the chance of avoiding these effects is improved with dexterity. (The bite attack will do d6 armor-ignoring damage in any case, however.) If you have the acute misfortune to be polymorphed into one, you can take some small comfort in knowing that you will be able to use this special attack. Furbies Furbies are low level creatures that are fairly unremarkable, although their cryptic language may reveal disturbing facts about the apparently harmless furballs. They are scavengers and can use items, though, which distinguishes them from most creatures of similar difficulty level; any monster is dangerous with a glowing sword. They drop a guaranteed fur scrap when killed, and are neutrally aligned. Furbies how low HP (11-15) and other stats, and are able to teleport (making them somewhat harder to kill for the fur). Furbies are small, and although they wield and use items, they can't wear armor. Hamsters Weakest of Weak monsters. Utterly non-threatening in most cases, it will run away if attacked and is peaceful (perhaps because it recognizes that it would be squished like an insect if it attacked anyone). May start with some minor food items in its cheek pouches. Care Bears Fairly weak monster, neutrally aligned although they have a 50% chance of being rabid. They start with items and can use them, although they will not pick up additional items or use items that require intelligence. They don't leave corpses. They are fairly intelligent (26) and thus have some chance to resist charming and other IN dependant attacks. Uses all kinds of items and is small. Dwarfs Of the Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs variety. A mid-level creature, somewhat dangerous if hostile (nerd aligned), doing 0-20 base physical damage. (Likely more, as they have a good chance of starting with a weapon such as a pick axe, one of best weapons in the game.) They have fairly low HP (20-30) however, so they are not very difficult to deal with by the time you encounter them in most cases. Parodic Dwarf A bit more dangerous type of dwarf. Very similar to the ordinary dwarf with respect to stats, but they are jock aligned and usually in a disordered mental state do to substance abuse. Also tends to say crazy stuff at random. (Much of what they say is amusing or nonsensical.) Giant Hamster Like a hamster, but not pathetic. Moderate difficulty monster does 0-30 base physical damage, and has 40-60 HP. It is neutrally aligned and peaceful, although it will not flee at once if attacked as regular hamsters do. Oddly, it leaves a regular hamster corpse. Pikachu Neutrally aligned peaceful mid-level monster with an elevated chance (25%) of being rabid. It also posesses fast regeneration and starts with a random minor food item. It is a scavenger and will eat corpses. Although agile (DX 20) it has little health (15-25 HP) and does only 0-7 base physical damage. It is notable mainly for its special attack, executed on 40% of qualifying turns, in which it fires an electric blast at an enemy. The bolts do d10+10 armor-ignoring damage, although the target has a DX-based chance to avoid the attack. If you polymorph into a Pikachu, you can use its thundershock attack. Giant Pikachu A pikachu that has grown to tremendious size because it is unable to undergo its final metamorphosis (to who-knows-what). It is essentially the same as its smaller cousin, but has better stats. It's thundershock special attack is usable if you polymorph into one. Gelatinous Cubes Neutrally aligned peaceful creature that eats items, even ones not edible to other species. It has a large ammount of HP (300-400) and tends to resist charming and stunning with textbooks. Gelatinous cubes are only rarely rabid or cyborgs. They posess good regeneration (1/5), will eat corpses and other items off the floor, and, if actually angered, they will chase you from room to room. Gelatinous cubes start off with 8 random items (chosen from all non-artifact items) engulfed in them, but they will usually digest these before you would have a chance to kill them. Gelatinous cubes have a pralyzing attack, which they perform on 50% of turns. This stuns the victim for 3d6 turns, and has a 1 in 6 chance of engulfing and digesting (insta-killing) the victim, if not the player. The special attack is not avaible to polymorphed players and the gelatinous cube cannot level up. Fetid Blobs A disgusting amorphous blob of organic matter. Has low stats except for HP. Fetid blobs congregate in cesspools, and are generally rare elsewhere. They are often the result of tragic polymorphing accidents. They resist (further) polymorphing and chemical attacks, are scavengers, regenerate HP fairly quickly, and can be found with many kinds of items embedded in their purulent flesh. Giant Blueberries The regretable result of eating second-hand gum, among other things. They have poor stats and are prone to being popped. They resist chemical attacks, but not much else. A thing that it is very bad to be turned into. Feral Cats Low level mundane creature. Fairly agile and has an elevated chance of being rabid. It will chase you from room to room if hostile, and is a neutrally aligned scavenger. Does 0-13 damage and has 1/10 regeneration. Giant Toads Low-level mundane creature. Not very notable. The corpse is poisonous, but it has no special attack. Often found in cesspools. They are large. Dogs Slightly stronger than a cat in terms of damage and HP, but slightly less agile. Quite unremarkable. Both it and the cat have 1/10 regeneration. Zerglings Mid-level creature that is not very threating when alone. It will chase you and has excellent regeneration, but its solo power is limited by its low HP and ST. The danger this neutrally aligned creature poses is in its special attack, in which d4 additional zerglings of the same AI state as the summoning zergling are created. The chance of it using this attack falls off as the room becomes filled with zerglings, but because of their chase behavior, they can propagate to dangerous numbers with disturbing frequency as you attempt to retreat from them. They can hold weapons. Garden Gnomes Nerd-aligned low-level creatures of varrying but moderate stats. They start with items that can be very useful, especially in the early game, but have an irritating tendency to teleport away when injured, thus denying you of your prize. They can teleport intrinsically, or with the conical hats they are often generated with. Gnomes can pose an unexpected threat by spawning (as they occasionally do) with a wand, or wielding a magic cookie; It is advisable to look at their inventories (with 'l') before attacking peaceful gnomes, if you desire to do so. Gnomes use all kinds of items and are small in size. Programmer Possibly the most difficulty creature in the game. Nerd aligned (naturally), but peaceful (thank goodness!) and vanishingly rare. (Although one programmer is guaranteed - see the special room Programmer's Lair.) Starts with many good items (possibly including an artifact!) and will make use of non-food items. The programmer can teleport and is chemical resistant. Attacking the programmer is a very bad idea, even for high-level characters, since he has a 50% chance per turn of using an undogeable insta-kill attack. (Meaning that your chances of surviving N turns with a hostile programmer in the room are 1/2^N at best - the programmer also does fairly high physical damage, particularly if he starts with a good weapon. (Programmer + Sword of Nerfing = PWN'D!) The programmer is mainly useful for his other effects, which can be obtained by talking to him. 25% of the time, the programmer will give you a message that is a rough indicator of how many murders you have commited and how many you can get away with: if he says "You are doomed", you have already exceeded the number you could have gotten away with. "Do not forget the laws of the surface world" means you can't get away with any more, but are currently safe, and if he "watches you", you can get away with 1 or more murders. Another 25% of the time, the programmer will just stare at you, unless you have attacked non-hostile creatures, in which case the programmer has a chance of becoming hostile. (Not desirable!) The chance is 0 if you have never attacked a peaceful creature and 100% if the number of times you have attacked peaceful creatures is greater than or equal to your experiance level. Another 25% of the time, if you have ever canabalized a member of your own species, the programmer will be irritated and turn you into a hamster. If you haven't resorted to canibalism, murdered, or attacked a peaceful creature, the programmer will grant you 10000 XP and usually a level up, then disapear. (This is likely the most desirable outcome and a good reason to go on the western branch after finding the boiler room - human enemies become somewhat more common as you progress, and thus the occasional murder is harder to avoid.) The final 25% of the time you talk to the programmer, he demand that you "embrace the true path" (Computer Science). (If you are already a science student, or otherwise nerd-aligned - e.g. polymorphed into a gnome - there is no effect: the programmer just observes you.) If you agree to convert, you get changed into a Science Student and your stats are rerolled. (This might be an improvement if you were recently polymorphed into something lame like a hamster, but is not generally a good thing.) If you refuse to convert, the programmer becomes hostile and the exits of the current room are collapsed. Unless you have a way to teleport, you are going to be dead in a few turns. Your non-HP stats are also reduced to 1, making it difficult to use a teleporting item. Under these circumstances it is likely best to accept the programmer's terms. Angry programmers chase you. Mind Flayer Fairly dangerous creature, nerd aligned and intelligent. It does limited physical damage and has moderate (40-56) HP; the danger comes from its attack which can stun and instakill (although it is fairly unlikely and has a DX based chance to avoid death, meaning that high level characters are generally safer and can fight it without excessive caution.) The special attack is, naturally, brain-eating; In order to do this it must latch all four of its tenticles onto the head of the victim in one turn. The chance of a tenticle latching on is a straight randomized comparison between the flayer's DX and the target's. If even one tenticle latches on, the target will be stunned for one turn. (Being stunned does not affect the chance to avoid having your brain eaten.) Mind flayers always attempt this special attack in combat. It will chase you and starts with some items, possibly including a knife. The special attack is player-usable. Greater Mind Flayer High level monster, shares the special brain-eating attack of the Mind Flayer but has substantially better stats. (80-120 HP, for instance, and higher DX, which enhances its special attack's chance of success.) Generally, a nastier version of the Mind Flayer, handle with increased caution but the same methods. Might be worth it to introduce it to an electric blast from a wand. Note that both kinds of mind flayers are nerd aligned, and have only the normal chance of being rabid; this is useful for co-aligned players. The special attack is player-usable, and the greater mind flayer can level up. This makes it an attractive target for controlled polymorphing. Pyrex Elves Irritating creatures of moderate difficulty. Often first encountered in Laboratories. They use items and start with an assortment of broken glass, flasks, and the like; they will throw chemicals from the flasks at enemies and additionally have a iron-compound based spitting attack, used 60% of qualifing turns, that will do d12 armor ignoring damage and may reduce strength by d3 if the victim is not chemical resistant. (Pyrex elves themselves are intrinsically chemical resistant; you can get this resistance by wearing a lab coat - really a must have item since the nemesis has a VERY dangerous chemical attack.) Pyrex elves, thankfully, have fairly low HP (20), and do little (0-7 in theory, but almost always 5-12 in practice because of their usually starting with and wielding a shard of glass) physical damage. Pyrex elves have an elevated chance of being insane, and are guaranteed to drop a shard of glass in leu of a corpse, for what it's worth. They're neutrally aligned, not nerd aligned, as might be expected. (They are mortal enemies of science students - they are taken from a bit of Yuba College chemistry lab lore: the notional elves are sometimes blamed for soiling glassware, messing up experiments, etc.) The special attack of the pyrex elves is usable by the player if polymorphed. Pyrex elves use items of all kinds. Oompa Loompa A member of the pestilentially irritating race of dwarvish slaves owned by the mad confectioner, Willie Wonka. Not of exceptionally notable physicals stats, but it is an item user and usually starts with several good food items, which tend to amplify its HP. Slightly jock aligned. Beware of the gum they carry. They sing. Fat Oompa Loompas Like an Oompa Loompa, but more of it. Somewhat more dangerous. Zeius, the Mad Technician Your nemesis, the dreaded Zeius Magus (self proclaimed). The second most difficult enemy in the game by most estimations. She has good physical stats, high HP (250), and starts with a variety of good items (including lab coats, flasks, etc.) She is always insane, so even if you are also neutrally aligned, Zeius will be hostile. Zeius will chase you if you flee. Zeius is not considered a human for murder purposes (she is an evil criminal trying to take over the world, after all), but eating her is still a bit much and is counted as canibalism. The greatest danger the Mad Lab Tech presents is from her special attack, which she will start using once her HP falls below 200, with increasing frequency. This attack is chemically based (she throws hot acid on you), and does 2d20 armor ignoring damage. In addition, it stuns you for d4 turns and reduces your strength by 1. Thus, chemical resistance is an absolute must! If you resist chemicals from a lab coat, you will only take d20 damage, and your armor will be subtracted from it. The lab coat will also protect you from the stunning and stat drain. Being polymorphed into a pyrex elf will make you totally immune to the attack, but this really isn't worth it unless you polyed early on and have been leveling up as a pyrex elf to the point that you have stats comparable to a normal character! Still, this fact is worth knowing, if you can charm some pyrex elves for backup during the battle - they will serve as a distraction that will not be stunned as most other creatures would be. (Mad scientists and anything wearing a lab coat are another possibility.) Interestingly, the nemesis herself is not immune to chemical attack intrinsically, and although she usually starts with a lab coat (and wears it), pyrex elves could theoretically use their spitting attack on her sucessfully. Be very careful when facing Zeius: she is hard to lose once woken up and chasing you! Also, it is possible for a wandering monster to wake her up, whereupon she will start wandering the maze. In addition to the obvious undesirable aspect of having her suddenly drop in on you (or worse, walking into a room and being ambused by her while not yet ready, especially if you are not ready because you haven't found a lab coat), this also makes it a pain to find her to get your artifact, and brings into play unpeasant possibiltes that could render your game unwinnable. (E.g. Zeius is engulfed by a gelatinous cube, which digests your artifact.) Thus, try to keep her sleeping until you really want to fight her. The best way is to avoid the southern branch as much as possible until you are ready for her, as even if you stay out of the lab itself, a wandering/fleeing monster could go in there and wake her up. It is possible to controlled-polymorph into Zeius, although you will not get her special attack, she can't level up, and she is polymorph resistant. Mad Confectioner (Willie Wonka) The boss of the Chocolate Mines, he rules over his confectionary empire with an iron fist and the assistance of the brutal slave-drivers that control his legion of dwarvish slaves, called Oompa-Loompas. Wonka has high HP, 150, very good stats, is jock-aligned, and has an elevated chance of being a cyborg (taking his HP to 300, possibly.) Wonka resists polymorphing and memory management, he will chase you, and uses items. He does not level up, although you can polymorph into him. He has a special attack that summons a small number of oompa-loompas. Neither wonka nor the oompas are exceptionally dangerous, however they all have some chance of having Blue Gum, which can be exceedingly dangerous unless you have very high DX or are polymorphed into something polymorph-resistant. It is thus best to finish off Wonka expiditiously. He drops an artifact, the Brass Whistle, on his death. You can use it to free the oompa-loompas. Science Students (You start out as this creature if you choose Science as your major. For information about playing science students, see the character types section; this is about them as NPCs.) Science students are obviously nerd aligned, have poor physical stats, and have 1/25 regeneration. They will chase you, and use items. Not especially threatening, although they frequently start with textbooks that can stun you, particularly if you have low IN. (This can be devistating to low or even medium level PE student PCs, in areas where nerds congregate, such as labs and internet cafes.) Hobos Low level monster of moderate danger to beginning characters. Co-aligned with jocks, so they have less to worry about hobos (and are more able to deal with them anyway when insane ones turn up.) It is important to note that hobos are human; it is murder to kill them! However, they usually flee easily enough, and are durable enough that low level characters can typically attack them until they run away without worrying about mistakenly killing them. If you want their stuff, weaken them, and then let a pet, ahem, take care of the situation. They do start off with items, but none are very good. Hobos have moderate HP for their difficulty level, will chase you, and use items. Hobos have a useless special attack that was made to test the special attack system - they will compare you to rodentia. (This does nothing.) Hobos have low physical stats and have the interesting feature of always being generated wandering rather than sleeping - meaning that they may well have picked up good stuff. Check their inventory before attacking peaceful hobos (if you choose to do so), they may have glowing swords. (Hobos may also irritatingly take stuff from your kills, kill and eat your pet, etc; these behaviors make them more vexatious than their humble stats and low difficulty level would suggest at first.) Liberal Arts Students (You start out as this creature if you choose Liberal Arts as your major. For information about playing liberal arts students, see the character types section; this is about them as NPCs.) Neutrally aligned student, starts with items (but not very good ones) and uses them. Mediocre physical stats, has moderate rate of regeneration, and will chase you. Danger is low; despite their physical stats being a distinct improvement over Science Students, they are much less frequently in possession of dangerous textbooks, and seldom start with a good weapon. They also do not exhibit horde behaviors of nerds and jocks, which makes them less likely to kill players early on. Physical Education Students (You start out as this creature if you choose Physical Education as your major. For information about playing Physical Education students, see the character types section; this is about them as NPCs.) Moderatly dangerous mid level creature. (Sometimes appears at low levels, so watch out - jocks are much more dangerous when your level is low.) Poor mental and good physical stats, chases, and has moderate regeneration (1/20). They often start with a decent weapon, such as a baseball bat or knife. Their tentency to congregate in locker rooms and ambush unsuspecting cross-aligned players is a great contributor to their lethality; avoid locker rooms until you are sure you are ready. Champion Dangerous high-level NPC, possibly the third hardest in the game. No insta-kill, but does a lot of conventional damage and has VERY high HP from his diet of chromatic cookies. High physical stats, including 26-28 ST. Uses items and starts out with quite a number of good ones, including possibly a wand or glowing sword. The champ is neutrally aligned and never insane, so you can bypass him easily if you are co-aligned with him. He will chase you and has great regeneration (1/2). Lots of XP and potential good items from killing him, but likely not worth the risk of you can avoid him. (He is also human.) Coach Like a [Physical Education Student], but more powerful. There is little else to say; coaches can be insane or cyborgs, unlike regular jocks. They are also somewhat smarter than their students are more resistant to stunning from textbooks for that reason. Slave Driver One of the most dangerous human adversaries - possibly the most dangerous one that is not a "boss". Often comes with a bullwhip, and has fairly high stats. Be careful - they also chase you. They don't have any resistances. Jedi Skunk It's like a skunk, but with a lightsaber and stuff. Nerd-aligned, and of high-moderate difficulty. It's weakness is its fairly low HP, but it is stil lethal to the unprepared. Doesn't chase or pick up items. Used to be much more dangerous, but it was nerfed somewhat and now appears less frequently and usually only by the time you will be reasonably well-equiped to deal with it. Since Jedi Skunks always start with glowing swords, they are a good source for this item. Still, do not underestimate it, because its special attack can trip an enemy (stunning the enemy for a turn), steal items, and eject creatures from the room. (It only uses this special ability 15% of turns, though, so don't worry too much.) Vorpal Ape Jock-aligned analog of a Jedi Skunk, although it lacks the force powers. It has slightly better physical stats. Code Monkey Very irritating mid-level monster. Has enough HP to usually not nicely die in one hit, and has an IN-draining special attack that it uses all too regularly. The special attack removes 1-2 IN and 1-3 HP against most creatures. In of itself, these properties are not all that bad, however the Code Monkey has the capacity to become VERY irritating by the other aspect of its special attack: It can steal the special attacks of other creatures and use them. For instance, if one attacked a garbage collector, it would posess the instakilling special attack of that creature. Worse, the knowledge of the attack will be propagated to all code monkeys everywhere. Code monkeys should generally be killed quickly if hostile; they may have stolen a very nastly special attack while you were not observing them. Code Monkeys will also pick up and use items, and sometimes start with textbooks. The code monkey special attack is player usable. Mad Scientist Similar to the Science Student but more dangerous. Has decent HP and other physical stats, and almost always starts with textbooks and flasks, making them fairly hazardous. Fortunatly, by the time you encounter them outside of labs, you should be ready: their difficulty class is high. They will chase you and are usually insane (90% chance). They also have an elevated chance (25%) of being Borg.
** The Tunnels (major spoilers) ** The tunnel complex is randomly generated, but always follows a basic layout: four "major tunnels" radiate outward from a central boiler room, each major tunnel terminating in one of four special nodes. The direction of the tunnels can be obscured by the fact that they are not straight and indeed can double back and loop around - it may not be clear which is which (apart from the northern wing) until you reach the boiler room, if then. The northern tunnel terminates in the entrance, where you start your new game. Unlike the other tunnels, the monsters are easier closer to the terminal node, and harder towards the beginning. (For obvious reasons). The southern tunnel terminates in the evil laboratory of Zeius. She is always generated in that room, asleep and carrying your artifact. The western tunnel terminates with the Programmer's Tower, where a programmer will always be generated. The eastern tunnel ends in the Champion's Hall, which (unsuprisingly) contains a guaranteed champion (named Seijik, after a player character who reached XP Level 104 on an early version of Tunnel Hack: although leveling was linear at the time, this was still considered very impressive) with good items. Random special rooms are interspersed throughout the maze. One random dead end in the maze will be selected and replaced with the entrance to Wonka's chocolate mine. This can be in any branch.