LambdaRogue

LambdaRogue
Stable game
Developer	Mario Donick
Theme	Lost, Apocalyptic, Magic, Beautiful, Dark, Absurd
Influences	Nethack, Angband, ADOM, Sacred, Diablo 2
Released	August 2006 ({{{relver}}})
Updated	20 Jun 2008 ({{{updver}}})
Licensing	Open Source (GPL)
P. Language	FreePascal
Platforms	Windows, Linux
Interface	SDL or Console, Keyboard
Game Length	Medium
Official site of LambdaRogue

Description

LambdaRogue is a roguelike RPG. The most recent version is 0.3.1 (gamma 2).

If one had to categorize LambdaRogue to be either a "hack"-game or a "band"-game judging by dungeon generation, it would clearly fall into the "band"-category: Like in Angband and other *bands, standard dungeon levels are randomly generated every time a staircase is used and the player will never encounter the same dungeon level twice.

Videos

There exist several trailer videos to give potential players an impression of the game:

• [1] (showing an unfinished version of 0.3.1)
• [2] (second trailer; outdated)
• [3] (first trailer; outdated)

Story

Men and the species of Drekh'nar once lived peaceful together on Earth, both not far away from reaching the stars with spaceships. Sadly, a misunderstanding led to war before these dreams could be realized. However, after a long and bloody battle, a peace treaty was created. This treaty forced mankind to go underground, while the Drekh'nar could stay on the surface of Earth.

Since then, ages have passed. Both species haven’t seen each other and for many people, the Drekh'nar are just legends. Mankind has lost the most of its technological knowledge, but it has developed a civilization based on respect and belief.

However, some people are still striving for more. One of them is Ahna, priestess in one of the underground settlements. Since her youth, she was interested in the old stories, in dreams of Sky and Stars. Her whole life she has researched on a legendary book once written by Yron shortly after the war: The Book of Stars.

Most people think that this and the other Books of Yron are lost since centuries, but Ahna does not. Indeed she has found hints that may lead to the discovery of the Books of Yron - and therefore to the re-discovery of Earth and Space.

If you will help Ahna and find the Book of Stars in the depths of mankind's caves.

Key Features

Describing LambdaRogue, version 0.3.1

LambdaRogue's feature set, esp. the number of different monsters and items, is rather small compared to many other games. However, all features are chosen in a "less is more" manner by the developer with clear concepts in mind.

• graphical SDL mode and text-based console mode
• optional soundtrack
• control by using keyboard (keys are configurable) or mouse

• 3 difficulty levels
• 2 alternate ways to win (with different endings)
• 5 professions to choose from (Constructor, Enchanter, Thief, Ranger, Soldier)
• 5 gods, inspired by greek mythology, to worship (Aphrodite, Apoll, Hermes, Dionysos, Ares)
• 10 skills, abilities and talents to train
• 4 character presets for an easier start for new players

• 10 dungeon levels, all randomly generated when entered
• wilderness
• 20+ quests
• 17 different standard monsters, many of them with special abilities
• up to 7 unique monsters (depending on the selected difficulty level)
• many carefully handcrafted items, among them are
  • 43 different weapons (incl. some rare and 13 unique weapons)
  • 35 different armour, helmet and ring items (incl. many rare and 14 unique items)
  • 28 different potions (incl. many rare and 9 unique potions)
• 21 different spells to learn (incl. some not so easy to be obtained)

Versions and Platforms

LambdaRogue is available for Windows and Linux. The most current version is 0.3.1.

Currently there are no offical versions for BSD or Mac, but the FreePascal source code (which is freely available) should compile very easy (without changes). If anyone wants to contribute an offical BSD- or Mac-version, contact me.