ToME Wiki
Introduction
I immensely enjoyed Wastrel's triumphant Trapper DitL, and had to try out a similar character of my own. Not having tried stealing from shops before in any serious way, I scummed a bit by starting characters out and looking for something good to steal from the BM or wherever, and generally restarting if I failed to steal. So that's how I wound up with the Iron Crown of Telepathy, which has been very instrumental in my survival thus far.
The Rules
- Any damage intentionally done to monsters must be by traps or co-aligned monsters, the former being vastly primary.
- Melee attacks which do zero damage are allowed as an expedient to wake monsters up.
- If I'm cornered and have no hope of survival otherwise, it's okay to throw any items in my inventory in a desparate attempt to escape. That's why they say "never corner a hobbit."
Breaking News
Yet Another Stupid Death, I'm afraid. I was so annoyed at myself that I didn't even get a final dump. He beat the wolves quest and got to level 17, and died for stupid stupid reasons on the second lost temple quest.
But...
There is... another!
Gameplay Log
Humble Beginnings
Birth: Tripper comes into the world with a strange sense of deja vu. He feels inexplicably drawn to the Black Market, where he successfully steals an Iron Crown of Telepathy! His self-worth vastly increases and he resolves not to die a stupid death for a little while.
He wanders out into the fields east of Bree for some good old-fashioned ant hunting. He's careful not to stray too close to the edges, having heard tales of one of his ancestors accidentally stepping off the map panel and leaving his only trap behind. A few giant ants later, he's up to level 5.
Coming back to town, he sees 10 iron shots (+4,+6) for sale at the General Store. He preys on a few unsuspecting civilians to scrape the cash together, and buys the lot. One of them also gives up a pile of exploding pebbles {confusion}, which are nice to have but a lot of weight to carry around. He wishes he had a place to call home, but he's not ready to take on those nasty thieves yet -- they'll probably just steal his trap, and then where will he be?
Tripper feels a little bad about his treatment of the kind folk of Bree, and he decides to help old Farmer Maggot as a penance for his multiple murders. Running like a cowardly maniac, he scoops up handfuls of mushrooms and trades them to the old fella for a nice scary sling and some healing shrooms.
Feeling all warm and sunny inside after doing this good deed, our hero slaughters numerous townfolk to get enough money to buy a spellbook of Phase Door, then heads down to the Barrow Downs.
Where he finds that a princess is held by a vicious group of green molds. As we all know, molds are the most intelligent form of life, because they've devised the perfect strategy for avoiding traps -- they never move. This is quite distressing for our hero Tripper the Trapper (you think that's bad? I'm gonna name the next one Trapper Keeper), and we imagine also quite bothersome for the princess.
Trapper does a little half-hearted dungeon delving, but he's pretty discouraged by the mold situation. Coming back up for air and seeing a Catapult Trapkit for Undead, (+24,+12) [+11] (+4) in the BM doesn't raise his spirits any; he lacks the 90,000 AU by quite a bit, and isn't feeling intrepid enough to try and snatch it.
Broadening Horizons
So what do we do when we're feeling down? Road trip! To a magical place called Gondolin. Travel the world, meet interesting elves, pick their pockets! Discover that you actually gain experience from picking their pockets, and rejoice! Get to level 7 thusly (level 6 came in the downs). Beyond an easily victimized populace, Gondolin doesn't currently have much to recommend itself. The mayor crazily thinks Tripper's the man for the job of clearing out a band of dragons. There are some Thunderlords here who could send him past all that green mold nonsense, but they want more gold than Tripper's ever seen in his life to do the job.
Well, time to broaden the old horizons, it seems. Tripper knocks on the door of the orc caves, but the growling inside convinces him that he's not quite ready for that scene. But how about the old forest? Yes, that might do.
Tripper plays around very cautiously on the fringes of the old forest for a little while. Gets a level, a ring of fire resistance, a little money and stuff, but it's pretty unfulfilling, not to mention dangerous. With one lonely little catapult trap, the world is a harsh and unforgiving place. Where can a hobbit find a little succour?
Road trip again! Much longer trip this time, visiting Lothlorien and Minas Anor. The beastmaster gives Tripper a quest for a pitiful-looking beggar corpse. Hehehe. That beastmaster is one sick individual.
A Divine Mandate
But enough fooling around. The voice of Eru has called upon our hero to pull a little Indy Jones, and who is he to refuse? He locates the temple in the plains near the land of Rhun, and steps inside. The first level is easy -- a bunch of unleveled kobolds sleeping all over the place. He finds the parchment with the inscription for summoning dwarves, a handy trick to be sure. In fact, he decides to try it out a bit over the next couple of levels, clearing out bands of nasty little snotlings (By the way, did anyone know that snotlings are a carryover from the Warhammer table-top wargame/RPG universe? Along with a lot of the Zangband monsters like Bloodletters of Khorne, Lords of Change, Flamers of Tzeentch, Daemonettes of Slaanesh, etc.). Oh, and poltergeists. Trip's traps are useless against ghosts, so dwarves are the only way to keep those little pests under control.
But it was sure worth fighting a few of them off, as one drops a Catapult Trap Set! Tripper now has two traps!
Three levels of the temple are clear, there are snotlings running everywhere (and yes, poor Tripper is weak enough that snotlings can rip him up if they gang up). His inventory is filling up as he reaches character level 10, and it's time to take a break and read a recall scroll.
Back to Minas Anor. A little bit of cash on hand, so Tripper visits those nice warriors at the guild and gets his armor enchanted up to +2. He also picks up some scrolls of teleport level from the BM, hoping that they can get him past those nasty green molds (no, they can't, alas). Recalling back to the temple, he sets about clearing the level again, just to be sure. Stealthy as he tries to be, there seem to be a number of monsters already awake when he arrives, notably some leveled novice rogues, which run faster than poor Trip. The level's not quite all clear, but it's mostly clear, and didn't he already search it last time anyway? In any case, things are sure heating up and the time comes to read that recall scroll and get out -- only to get an angry message from Eru about Tripper's incompetence. Argh.
(Side note: I've been playing Eru-worshippers lately, and gotten my share of God quests, though usually just the first couple before the character dies. Incredibly, I have yet to find the darn relic! My other experience is with Melkor quests, which I never had much of a problem with. Why can't I find the stupid Eru relics?)
No Honor Among Thieves
A dejected Tripper heads back to Minas Anor, hoping that Eru didn't really mean all that stuff about never asking him to help out again. He really did try his best, after all. He cheers up a bit when he finds some lovely Mithril Shots (+10,+11) at the BM, and blows almost his whole bankroll on 10 of them.
Well, hobbits make lousy pack mules, and after his failure at Eru's great task, Tripper feels like climbing into a nice cozy hobbit hole for a good long nap. Unfortunately, this intrepid soul has no place to call home! This state of affairs can't be allowed to stand! So it's home again, home again, jiggety-jig, some thieves are gonna bleed like a lot of stuck pigs! Having enjoyed the advantage it afforded in the lost temple, and pragmatically wanting to win this house with a minimum of fuss (specifically, thieving bastards snatching up precious trap sets), he finds a nice high-mana grid, opens the door to alert the thieves that Daddy's Home, and summons up a dwarven warrior to get things started. A dwarven warrior who, with typical dwarven zeal, goes above and beyond by rapidly dispatching each and every member of that thieving gang of thugs. Well, Tripper will shed no tears for them -- if anyone's gonna rob the good folk of Bree, it's to be Tripper the Trapper, esq.!
And how beautiful it is to have a place called home! He stows some excess weight, then hits the local shopping district to sell of his booty from his little set-to vs. the thieves. What's this, a device trap set in the BM? And not too expensive! That's bound to come in handy later, so he buys it and stashes it in his cozy hobbit hole, which he's already noted has copious cellar storage space. Once you clear out the bones.
Those mithril shots are nice to have, but there's only 10 of them, and with a 25% disappearance rate (outrageous!), Tripper knows he's going to need more quality ammo. He's got a little cash left, so he buys up all the enchantment scrolls he can find and tries them out on a nice big pile of shots. Only to find that the scrolls almost all fail! Lesson learned: large piles of ammo are significantly harder to enchant!
Journeying Onward
The Barrow Downs are still a no-go after the failed Teleport Level Experiment. Feeling more experienced and wise in the ways of the world after his travels, Tripper decides to see what those Orc Caves are all about. He steps inside... wow, scary stuff! Big open rooms full of stuff that would demolish him if it just woke up. Good thing he's so stealthy! And right off the bat he makes a great find -- a Book of Teleportation! It's a bit downhill from there, though, and eventually he leaves, a little disappointed. But not for long, as he discovers that he's left with a nice pair of gauntlets -- Paurhach, to be precise.
Even better than that, though, is the fact that the Black Market is offering a great deal on a Catapult Trap Set (+2,+5)! Tripper quickly snatches up the new centerpiece of his arsenal. Sweeeeeeeeet...
So where to now? Something suggests to him that he ought to try taking care of that wolf problem in Lothlorien, but even with the new trap he finds that he doesn't have enough good ammo to make it happen. The wolves keep their distance, but there are too many of them hitting the traps, and no single wolf is taking enough damage to go down.
Maybe this Mirkwood place people are always talking about? He steps into the woods and is accosted by a gentleman who begs him to fight off some evil Water Spirits and reclaim the fellow's sword. Tripper is more than willing to lend a hand, but a quick run in with a couple of those selfsame Water Spirits tells him that the time is not yet ripe for this endeavor.
So, a number of possibilities crossed off the list for now, Tripper heads back to some familiar ground, the Old Forest, and delves it a bit deeper than before. He finds it considerably less scary now, and even goes down a level or three. He gets some stuff that sells for a decent amount of cash -- and while he's at the shops, he uses his improved thieving abilities to snatch up a nice shot of Slay Evil, and a potion of restore life levels to take care of some XP loss from a trap back in the orc caves. His Int and Wis are drained a bit too, but that can wait. The potion gets him back to level 11, and Eru shows a bit of forgiveness and offers him another quest. Thanks, Eru, but it'll have to wait until Trippers sure he's ready to pull it off without a hitch this time.
Back in the forest, Tripper finds a pair of Ogres playing a variation of the old "she loves me, she loves me not," involving the limbs of small furry forest animals in place of flower petals. It's an excellent time to test out the fancy new trap, and he shows the both of them what-for, reaching level 12 into the bargain.
A bit later, just as he's thinking of heading back to town to sell some of his goodies, Trip comes across that dastardly dastard, Ulfast, son of the equally dastardly Ulfang! It turns out that Ulfast is always up for a game of ring-around-the-rosey, spiced up of course with catapult traps and some mithril shots, and when he collapses it's not from mere exhaustion. The pretty Slay Evil shot is expended in the venture, but at least the deed is done. It's really time to go back to town now. Oh, wait, there's Wormtongue! Nah, another time, Wormy.
Selling some wands gets Trip a comfortable pile of dough to play with, and to show his gratitude he steals a ring of protection from the magic shop. Maybe a bit cocky from that, he also tries to get an amulet of the serpents from the BM, only to have the door slammed and locked in his face! Bummer.
Tripper's really having some ammo problems, and patience is the only answer as he waits for the store to get some enchant for damage scrolls in stock. He divides his shots up into smaller piles and manages to get something decent. In all the time he spends waiting, the Black Market opens back up! Hey, that wasn't so bad after all! What a relief. Also during that time, he picks up a great deal on a Cloak of Stealth from the general store. Things are looking up! On the next trip to the forest he burns through a bit of ammo, but is still feeling pretty good, especially after managing to steal another ring of protection, this one [+11]. And with almost 9,000 AU, it's starting to look like Tripper's got some real prospects.
More to follow...
Chatter
MayLith: Please watch your language, as we have some very young community members. Aside from that, a very interesting tale. I'm going to have to try a trapper one of these days....
PermanentInk: Roger that -- I thought I had moderated it enough, but it's hard to guess at standards. No problem, in any case. I'm glad you're enjoying the tale. I wasn't sure if this style would be interesting to read, so let me know if it drags on at all. Up to level 14 now -- very exciting time for trappers everywhere! Or, if not everywhere... here.
Wastrel: You may wish to consider the wolf quest to get your first home. You have enough traps and ammo to gain several more levels on just that quest. Personally, I would sell the exploding shot. Confused/erratic moving monsters are harder to trap.
PermanentInk: Gave it a try on your suggestion, but I didn't have the ammo for it. Not having been able to do any random quests, and thus have a shot at getting Archery/Ammo creation, I'm having a harder time of it than I might otherwise. Any suggestions for getting rid of those molds? I don't have access to a lot of potions of detonations like you used for the poison water quest... does lamp oil have splash damage? I'm thinking of having a dwarven warrior set off a trap with an exploding shot that would set off some lamp oil to take out nearby molds, but I'm not at all confident it will work. I did sell those exploding pebbles, at your suggestion. Not that I got much cash for them...
Wastrel: The Wolf Quest requires some patience, lots of ammo, and at least 2 traps (one trap requires much more patience). I've done it using just a huge stack of average iron shot, but it took a long time. Lamp Oil can not be used in traps. I don't think it will do any damage if it is on the floor and breaks (like a potion would do). RE. Molds: IF the green molds don't like light, then you may be able to defeat them with the Magic Trap + Light scrolls (lots of them). The trap will have to be set off by another monster so the light damage won't even deal full damage to the molds (1/2 of 2d8 damage I believe). Darkness scrolls have a larger damage radius but are harder to acquire in bulk. Your other options are exploding shot and a device trap + rod of foo-balls (maybe illumination).
Character Sheet
[ToME 2.2.7 Character Dump]
Name : Tripper Age 26 STR: 14
Sex : Male Height 40 Int: 14 16
Race : Hobbit Weight 63 Wis: 12 13
Class : Rogue Social Class 52 DEX: 22
Body : Player CON: 18
God : Eru Iluvatar CHR: 15
+ To Melee Hit -8 Level 14 Max Hit Points 135
+ To Melee Damage -10 Experience 1626 Cur Hit Points 135
+ To Ranged Hit 12 Max Exp 1626 Max SP (Mana) 37
+ To Ranged Damage 0 Exp to Adv. 1890 Cur SP (Mana) 37
AC 13+74 Gold 8784 Piety 10043
(Miscellaneous Abilities)
Fighting : Poor Perception : Excellent Blows/Round: 1
Bows/Throw : Superb Searching : Excellent Shots/Round: 2
Saving Throw: Superb Disarming : Superb Mel.dmg/Rnd: nil!
Stealth : Heroic Magic Device: Superb Infra-Vision: 60 feet
Tactic: coward
Explor: running
(Character Background)
You are one of several children of a Hobbit Home Owner.
You are a credit to the family. You have brown eyes, wavy
brown hair, and a dark complexion.
[Miscellaneous information]
Cth monsters: OFF
Z-like monsters: OFF
Joke monsters: OFF
Maximize mode: ON
Preserve Mode: OFF
Autoscum: OFF
Small Levels: ON
Arena Levels: ON
Always unusual rooms: OFF
Persistent Dungeons: OFF
Recall Depth:
Mirkwood: Level 11 (550')
Barrow-Downs: Level 1 (50')
Orc Cave: Level 11 (550')
The Old Forest: Level 17 (850')
Your body is a Player.
You are currently in the town of Bree.
You have defeated 143 enemies.
You saved no princesses.
You started your adventure the 43rd Yavie of the 2890th year of the third age.
It is currently the 7th Quelle of the 2890th year of the third age.
You have been adventuring for 21 days.
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Add Stea. : .......3........
Add Tun.. : ..............1.
Sust Str : ................
Sust Int : ................
Sust Wis : ................
Sust Dex : ...............+
Sust Con : ................
Sust Chr : ................
Invisible : ................
Mul life : ................
Sens Fire : ................
Reflect : ................
Free Act : ................
Hold Life : ................
Res Acid : ................
Res Elec : ................
Res Fire : ................
Res Cold : ......+.........
Res Pois : ................
Res Fear : ................
Res Lite : ................
Res Dark : ................
Res Blind : ................
Res Conf : ................
Res Sound : ................
Res Shard : ................
Res Neth : ................
Res Nexus : ................
Res Chaos : ................
Res Disen : ................
Full ESP : .........+......
Skills (points left: 0)
- Combat 01.000 [0.700]
- Weaponmastery 01.000 [0.700]
- Sword-mastery 01.000 [0.300]
. Critical-hits 01.000 [0.500]
. Sling-mastery 00.000 [0.300]
- Sneakiness 14.500 [2.000]
. Stealth 17.500 [1.500]
. Disarming 07.000 [2.000]
. Backstab 01.000 [1.000]
. Stealing 17.000 [2.000]
. Dodging 13.000 [2.000]
- Magic 06.509 [0.700]
. Magic-Device 02.550 [1.550]
. Conveyance 13.000 [0.500]
. Divination 00.000 [0.500]
. Temporal 00.000 [0.500]
- Spirituality 01.140 [0.700]
. Prayer 01.000 [0.500]
. Monster-lore 00.000 [0.500]
Abilities
* Extra Max Blow(1)
* Trapping
[Character Equipment]
a) (nothing)
d) The Sling of Farmer Maggot (x2) (+20,+0) (+2) {100% off}
e) a Ring of Protection [+10] {100% off}
You stole it from the Magic shop.
f) a Ring of Protection [+11] {100% off}
You stole it from the Magic shop.
k) (nothing)
m) a Shiny New Brass Lantern (with 14986 turns of light)
n) Hard Leather Armour of Resist Cold (-1 to accuracy) [6,+7]
o) a Fur Cloak of Stealth [3,+2] (+3 to stealth)
It increases your stealth by 3.
You bought it from the General Store.
p) (nothing)
s) an Iron Crown of Telepathy [0,+10] {100% off}
It gives telepathic powers.
You stole it from the Black Market.
u) The Set of Gauntlets 'Paurhach' [Teleportation] [2,+15]
x) a Pair of Soft Leather Boots [2,+2]
z) (nothing)
{) 7 Expensive Mithril Shots (3d4) (+10,+11)
|) a Shovel (+1)
[Character Inventory]
a) a Book of Teleportation {@m5}
b) 10 Maggoty Mushrooms of Cure Serious Wounds {100% off}
c) 5 Flasks of oil
d) 11 Scrolls of Teleportation
e) 5 Scrolls of Word of Recall
f) a Scroll of Identify
g) 8 Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger
h) a Rod Tip of Door/Stair Location (10 Mana to cast)
i) a Catapult Trap Set (+2,+5) [+1] {@2}
j) 2 Catapult Trap Sets (+0,+0) {@1}
k) 7 Iron Shots (1d4) (+6,+4)
l) 35 Iron Shots (1d4) (+5,+4)
m) (nothing)
n) (nothing)
o) (nothing)
p) (nothing)
q) (nothing)
r) (nothing)
s) (nothing)
t) (nothing)
u) (nothing)
v) (nothing)
w) (nothing)
[Home Inventory - Bree ]
a) a Potion of Booze
b) a Potion of Sleep
c) 5 Scrolls of Teleportation
d) a Magic Trap Set [+3]
e) a Device Trap Set [+2]
f) an Indestructible Amulet of Teleportation {cursed}
g) a Small Leather Shield [2,+2]
h) 5 Iron Shots (1d4) (+0,+5)
i) 70 Iron Shots (1d4) (+0,+0)