There are a large number of races and classes in Cthangband, which require different play styles. To start with, you are advised to play a human warrior. This is neither the most powerful nor the weakest of the race and class combinations, but it is the easiest to get the hang of while learning the basics of the game.
When you start your first game, you will begin in a town. The other inhabitants of the town may be dangerous, so it is best to avoid them while you visit the shops to buy equipment and then either enter the town’s sewers or leave the town into the wilderness in order to start adventuring.
You will have started with some basic equipment, enough to start adventuring immediately if you prefer. Press the ‘e’ key to view the equipment that you are wearing/wielding, and the ‘i’ key to view the items in your backpack. Generally, items in your equipment list will have an ongoing effect on your abilities, and items in your backpack will not; although many types of item can be used directly from your backpack for an immediate effect.
On the left hand side of the main screen you can see a summary of your character. Pressing ‘C’ will show you your full character sheet, similar to the one that you were shown on character creation.
Try exploring with your character (the first level of the dungeon is almost certainly safer than the wilderness for a first level character – press ‘>’ when standing on the dungeon stair to go down). Remember that using the ‘l’ command to look around takes no game time, so it’s always safe to do that wherever you are.
You can press ‘?’ in game to get a quick reminder of the commands available, or go to the commands page in this manual to get a more detailed list of all the commands and what they do.