Been playing Angband and Neverwinter Nights 2. It may seem unusual, but Angband seems to be the better game. While Angband has graphics a step above a TI-86 calculator, it is far more complicated and even enjoyable than Neverwinter Nights 2's main campaign. Of course, the borg for version 3.0.6 of Angband registers its scores in the hall of fame unlike previous versions, and since I can't seem to alter the record and data files for the game in notepad under Windows XP like I could in earlier versions, I screwed up the scores file and lost all of my previous scores when trying to get rid of the borg's entries (luckily, there was only one).

I remember, back in the day when I first started playing Angband, how I figured out that I could edit the properties of all the monsters, items, and other goodies using Notepad. I basically made the town level absolutely unplayable because I put in cops that could shoot you, politicians that spawned with groups of about 20 cops or so, wandering hobos that frequently cast stinking cloud on themselves, and random stuff like that. I also changed all the weapons and armor so I'd be fighting with a Spork (+0, +0) and wearing a T-Shirt (+0, +0).

Even with the regular version, it is still way too hard for me. The deepest I ever got a character was level 20 or so (three cheers for the Dunadan Warrior!) before he got killed by a Dark Hound while blinded, confused, poisoned, and grazed in the genearl vicinity of Uvatha the Horseman. Also, I couldn't tell you how many times I've lost a character to Wormtongue, Agent of Saruman. Forget Morgoth. Grima is the true enemy!

Roguelikes are good fun. I might end up trying Dwarf Fortress sooner or later. I want to finish up some Counterstrike maps (1.6 for life, at least until the ads kick in, which will just prompt everybody to roll back to 1.5 and find another way to look for servers) and try my hand at making a module for Neverwinter Nights 2 first.