Welcome to Opinion Angband! Opinion Angband, or Oangband for short, is one of the many variants of Angband. It was created to accomplish exactly two things: To be an exercise in C programming, and to turn a new conception of non-magical combat into a game you can enjoy. As you will shortly discover, however, Oangband has developed a life of its own. A selection of features includes: -The elimination of years of slow HP and damage inflation, and a "tabula rasa" approach to game balance in general. -A fundamentally altered conception of physical combat. -A radically revised magical system, offering you the chance to play any of four spellcasters, any of four warrior-spellcasters, or the pure warrior we all know and love. -Very much more varied classes. Mages are great with magical items, Rogues steal and set traps, Assassins whip poisoned knives at their foes, Paladins smite with elemental powers, Priests evoke the power of Holy Light, and Necromancers just blast everything in sight. -Races are also more differentiated. There are three new races, including one designed especially for new players. -More ways to combat monsters. Now you really can start and win the game relying on magic, melee, shooting, throwing, or magical devices to do damage to your foes. -All sorts of new monster nastiness. Dragons are dangerous once more, Undead have a deadly touch, Trolls will gleefully pelt you to death with boulders, and those Zephyr Hounds are *nuts*. -Enhanced object description and learning code. -dungeon features that affect movement, sighting, and combat. -exciting chests and nasty traps. -More varied dungeons, including "Interesting Rooms", new room types, and themed levels. -One-slot wand and rod stacking, arc spells, themed random artifacts, and player ghosts that challenge you to mortal combat. -Shapeshifting is introduced as a major new element of the game. -Nearly total removal of genocide-type spells. -A heavily reworked monster list. -New just about everything. Whether it be Wands of Storms, the Dark Elven Smith Eol, Shields of Night and Day, Athelas, new vaults, rods of Northwinds, Large Jeweled Chests, or activatable rings, Oangband has novelty enough for anyone. -And Angband-compatible savefiles. If you feel the need for more detail, I'd suggest just perusing the help files. If you like, you will find a diff.txt file In the "lib/info" folder that lists (most) of the changes between Oangband 0.3.2 and 0.4.0, in more detail than you really want to know. A complete listing of Oangband diff.txt files can be found at the Oangband development site. === The Jaded Angband Player's Guide to Oangband === -Don't think a whip will instantly make you a combat machine. -Don't ignore combat magic and spells that hinder monsters. -Melee requires as much backpack space as magic. -Don't try to melee or shoot with the pros if you haven't the Skill to swing it. -Forget about blows. Everybody gets two for a long time. -don't ignore infravision, searching, and perception. -Don't go into autopilot and sell every damage-dealing wand, staff, or rod you see. -Useful utility magics aren't only found in spellbooks and rods. -Don't expect to deal with vaults just using Genocide and Destruction. -Don't expect to trap or trick Morgoth easily. -Beware of uniques you don't know from Angband; even some you do know (like Ancalagon) may be different -And never, never, never, think this game is fair. It's not. Bahman Rabii and Leon Marrick === Oangband Copyright Information === === See also angdesc.txt for Angband Copyright Information === Oangband Version 0.4 : 4/18/99 Leon Marrick Oangband Version 0.5 : 4/18/99 Bahman Rabii Copyright (c) 2000 Bahman Rabii, Leon Marrick, Robert Ruehlmann, Ben Harrison, James E. Wilson, Robert A. Koeneke This software may be copied and distributed for educational, research, and not for profit purposes provided that this copyright and statement are included in all such copies. Other copyrights may also apply. All changes made by Bahman Rabii are also available under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. Note that this doesn't influence the current distribution, since parts of the source are still only available under the old Moria/Angband/Oangband license. Until all parts of Angband are distributed under the GPL the only valid license remains the original Moria/Angband license.