http://yarns.felis7.civ.pl/index.php

Roguelikes are games that derive there basic gameplay from the game "Rogue". Rogue was written more than twenty years ago and is, apparently, a bit primative but it inspired Hack and then, the most famous example of the genre, NetHack.
These games are rpgs that give you a top down, tile based view of the action. You usually get a choice of classes and species and you wander around your dungeon looking for some great, powerful object to drag back to the surface.
Tactical play is key. Use of your items and environment to the best effect and knowledge of the various monsters habits will yield the best results.
These games are a lot more involving than the screenshots would suggest and offer a great deal of gameplay to the determined pursuer of such things. They are also pretty light in terms of system requirements so if you have an ancient machine you might want to investigate further.

Linkage Constructed by David Gentle on 12/30/03 12:44:08

http://www.btopenworld.com/news/topstories/0,,csn=646|csr=4446265,00.html

This is what tragedy really means. Thousands dead for no reason. It seems uncharitable and overly political of me to say this but I hope the religous authorities of Iran don't attempt to use this in a sort of "act of God" ploy to try and convince people that the burgeoning democratic movement are evil. I can't imagine anyone sane actually believing them and you could make the opposite argument just as convincingly but some might be persuaded away. There's always a desire, when huge tragedies take place, to try to explain them. Sometimes human error can be blamed and lessons are learned but this is one of those occasions where the actual tragedy could not have been stopped. When humans appear to be powerless religeous leaders often step in to offer a comforting explanation for things that are inherantly uncomfortable and some people's desire to be comforted in their grief overrides their good sense.

Linkage Constructed by David Gentle on 12/28/03 06:06:51