Tutorial

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

The tutorial is a helpful introduction for new players to Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Featured in both offline and online versions of Crawl, it is a text and gameplay integrated mode designed to teach you the controls and basic gameplay functions. You play as a Human, with fixed rooms, items, and tasks for each lesson. Once you have finished the tutorial, you may go into hints mode for a guided, but randomized experience, with the full difficulty of Dungeon Crawl.

There are 5 tutorial lessons available:

• Movement and Exploration
• Monsters and Combat
• Items and Inventory
• Magic and Spellcasting
• Gods and Divine Abilities

A summation of each tutorial is detailed below, for viewing convenience. Note that commands are case sensitive.

Movement and Exploration

• You can move around with the numpad (try numlock on and off), vi-keys, or clicking with the mouse. Arrow keys work, though you can't move diagonally with them. Pressing Shift and a direction will move until you see/hit something.
• Pressing > will take you down a staircase, and < to go up a staircase.
• You can open doors by walking into them, and close them with C.
• You can autoexplore by pressing o.
• You can re-view recent messages with Ctrl-p.

Monsters and Combat

• You can pick up items with , or g.
• Wield weapons with w. Weapons have different stats.
  • (You may also engage in Unarmed Combat, though it isn't very effective when untrained).
• Attack monsters in melee by walking in their direction (or with Ctrl-v)
• You can wait with . or s, passing your turn - such as to get monsters into a corridor with you.
• You can rest with 5, waiting until you are fully healed, or something noteworthy happens.
• Either mouseover and rightclick, or use x then v on the monster to examine monsters. Monsters with a red border are 'dangerous' relative to your current XP level (XL).
• Quiver (often ranged) actions for further use with Q.
• You can fire ranged weapons manually with f, or auto-target your quiver with p or Shift-Tab. Throwing weapons can be thrown immediately, while launchers (like bows) need to be wielded first.

Items and Inventory

• View your inventory by pressing i. Most item related commands can also be done with this menu.
• You can wear armour with W; armour gives AC, while heavier body armour reduces EV.
• Autoexplore will automatically pick up useful items, such as potions and scrolls, if you aren't in danger.
• You can read scrolls with r and drink ("quaff") potions with q.
• Equipment items may have brands, with special properties. Branded equipment is blue when unidentified.
• Equipment items may be artefacts, often with unique properties, and are unmodifiable. They are written in white.
• You can evoke wands with V.
• You can put on jewellery with P, and remove it with R.
• Gold is used in shops, which can be interacted with by either > or <.

Magic and Spellcasting

• Once you find a spellbook, you can memorize spells with M.
• You need to be the same XL as the spell's spell level in order to learn it, in addition to training magical skill (to lower failure rate).
• Cast spells by pressing z, then the letter assigned to the spell. You may also Quiver a spell and then use it like a ranged weapon (with Shift-Tab).
• You can view your memorized spells by pressing I (capital-i) or z
• Like HP, you can recover MP by resting (with 5).
• Many spells can be positioned more effectively, or combined with other spells, in order to get (more effective) use out of them.
• Heavier armour and shields hamper spellcasting.

Gods and Divine Abilities

• You may look at a god's overview by praying at their altar (with > or <). After praying, you can worship the god by pressing Enter afterwards.
• Gods all have unique features about them. Trog, the god of the tutorial, is also the god of rage and bloodshed, and so despises spellcasting.
• Gods like and dislike different things. Most gods either like killing things (like Trog) or exploring new areas (like Elyvilon), rewarding you piety (divine favor) for doing so.
• You should learn to use and even rely on divine abilities often, as they are usually very strong. Trog's Berserk gives you 1.5x health, 1.5x speed (to all actions), and a big damage boost. After berserk ends, however, you are slowed down and can't berserk again for a short time. In addition, the vast majority of abilities consume piety in the process.
• Pressing ^ will let you view your current god, abilities, and piety.