History VideoGame / NetHack

* {{Medusa}}: A boss, though by the time you reach her you're usually strong enough that she's no big deal. ''Getting'' to her is often more challenging than actually defeating her, since she has a unique level that requires the player to cross large bodies of water to reach her on her island, and the water is infested with sea monsters than can drag you in and drown you.

* DoNotDropYourWeapon: You can un-equip enemies with a [[WhipItGood bullwhip]], ala Franchise/IndianaJones. One of the few useful applications for a bullwhip, since it is a pretty lousy weapon. Enemies can do the same, so if Magicbane is your only source of magic resistance, stay alert...

** If you tell a vault guard your name is Croesus, he will assume you are ''the'' Croesus, his boss, and (if the real Croesus is still alive) will let you get back to stealing all his gold. Even if you're the wrong gender and/or the wrong ''species'' to pass as Croesus. This is justified by the ability to change form and gender being present and common enough that the master of Fort Ludios would have it as his disposal. You can also deter the guard by being unable to speak (he leaves, saying "I'll be back when you're ready to speak to me!") or by eating a mimic corpse while hallucinating, which disguises you as an orange: [[RuleOfFunny "Hey! Who left that orange in here?"]].

* AllThereInTheManual: The in game guide is a remarkable collection of quotes and information, not all of which is entirely accurate in describing game mechanics.

* TomatoInTheMirror: "Who do you think you are, [[spoiler:War]]?"

* OptionalSexualEncounter: Succubi and incubi again. The page image for that trope is from this game.

* AnachronismStew: Let's see... playable characters include an Franchise/IndianaJones-inspired AdventurerArchaeologist, a Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian-style BarbarianHero, a [[OneMillionBC caveman]], a [[EverythingsBetterWithSamurai Samurai]], and a HawaiianShirtedTourist complete with a credit card (used to pick locks). Items and enemies include traditional staples like [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]], [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]] and [[OurGiantsAreBigger Giants]], but also included are things like [[Film/{{Tron}} Grid Bugs]], Quantum Mechanics, and Jabberwocks. Finally, plastic, while fairly uncommon, isn't unknown either.

* DeathBySex: The Succubus takes off your gloves. You [[TakenForGranite turn to stone]] because the gloves are the only thing protecting you from the petrifying capabilities of the corpse you're holding. The Succubus takes off your [[WalkOnWater water-walking]] boots. You drown. Also, a level drain when you're at level 1 will end you.

* ElementalPlane: The late game.

** Between 10 pm and 6 am, some creatures are slightly more dangerous.

* {{Medusa}}: A boss.

* PetInterface: a surprising amount for tame monsters.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The Rogue Level, which is a level that resembles ''VideoGame/{{Rogue}}''.
* {{Unicorn}}s of varying alignment.

* BinomiumRidiculus: [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner Coyotes]] in the game are naturally labeled in this fashion.

* EatingTheEnemy: One way to neutralize a troll's HealingFactor is to eat, or have your pet eat the corpse before the troll regenerates from it.

* SuperWeight: You start at [[ActionSurvivor zero]] or occasionally [[BadassNormal one]] on Wiki/TVTropes' scale. You spend the game [[TookALevelInBadass climbing the scale]].

Still, for a [[http://nethack.org free game]] (in the sense of both "free beer" and "free speech") that can take up to a decade to beat for the first time, you could do worse.

* MailerDaemon: A literal one; it delivers messages from other users on the system. The daemon normally appears and disappears within one turn without giving a chance for the player to interact with it. However, a CrazyPrepared player [[LordBritishPostulate can kill it]], preventing further messages from being delivered; to do this, the player needs to [[spoiler:stone-to-flesh a statue of a mail daemon, which is not something that occurs naturally but needs to be wished for, and to be prepared to kill the resulting daemon in one turn as it otherwise disappears with a cry of "I'm late!"]].

* BasiliskAndCockatrice: Cockatrices appear here. If you hear the cockatrice's hiss or are touched by a living cockatrice, there's a chance that you'll slowly start [[TakenForGranite turning to stone]]; this can be cancelled by [[spoiler:eating a lizard corpse or eating/drinking something acid]]. Touching a cockatrice (living or dead) with your bare skin will ''[[OneHitKill instantly]]'' turn you to stone. Gloved characters can take advantage of this by picking up a cockatrice corpse [[ImprovisedWeapon and using it to bash monsters]] (in which case ''[=NetHack=]'' players will call it a [[FanNickname "rubber chicken"]]). But keep in mind that gloved monsters can ''also'' pick up a cockatrice corpse and use it against you.

* SdrawkcabName: The Wizard of Yendor is [[FanNickname affectionately referred to as]] Rodney.

[[DescribeTopicHere What would you like to identify first? nethack]]@@

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:What happens when you win.]]

* DevelopersForesight: The former {{Trope Namer|s}}. It even has its [[DevelopersForesight/NetHack own page]]. See also the [[https://nethack.org/v364/bugs.html bugs list]], for things the Dev Team didn't think of.

** One of which is [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife "TV Tropes ruined my life"]]

** Those records have since been bested on NAO (though in version 3.6.6 rather than 3.4.3) by Tariru, won 61 times in a row.

* WizardNeedsFoodBadly: In an exception to BottomlessBladder, the PC needs to eat, with the PC fainting if s/he gets hungry enough, and eventually dying of starvation. If your character class is a Wizard or Valkyrie, or your character race is Elf, the game will actually use this phrase, in one of the game's many [[ShoutOut Shouts Out]].

* {{Pun}}

** The "protection racket," an opening strategy where you dive to Minetown as quickly as you can while your level is low while gathering enough gold to buy divine protection from the priest through donations. This is risky in that trying to dive that far without killing any monsters has a huge chance of getting ''you'' killed, and there might not even be a priest in Minetown when you arrive, but again, it's a strong opening if you pull it off.[[note]]If you're a gnome healer, then this is less of a forbidden technique and more of a standard practice, since many of the dangers of the Gnomish Mines don't apply to you.[[/note]]