LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Angband
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Angband is, at base, a complex single player dungeon simulation. A player creates a character, choosing from a variety of sexes, races and classes, and then "runs" that character over a period of days, weeks, even months. The player will begin his adventure on the town level where he may acquire supplies, weapons, armour, and magical devices by bartering with various shop owners. Then the player can descend into the Pits of Angband, where he will explore the many levels of the dungeon, gaining experience by killing fierce creatures, collecting powerful objects and valuable treasure, and returning to town occasionally to barter for new supplies. Eventually, as the player grows more experienced, he may attempt to win the game by defeating Morgoth, the Lord of Darkness, who resides far below the surface.
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Angband is a text mode game which is displayed in an OS/2 command window. Unzipping the archive is about all there is to installation. If you want a Desktop object, you will need to create it yourself. Running angband.exe starts the program. Note... that you will need the EMX runtime files (ZIP, 538k) installed before you can run Angband for OS/2.
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Angband has many variants -- games based on the original's code -- which have split off in different directions. The first major variant was FAngband, now long dead, but which introduced many ideas later adopted into Angband. Zangband has been one of the most persistently popular variants, but has faded from visibility due to a lack of development. The Zangband legacy survives in the many variants that developed from the Zangband code, rather than directly from Angband. These include ToME, which is developing into a module of a roguelike engine. There is a more complete list of variants available.
Angband has a very long history. It started in 1990 as an improved and "Tolkienized" variant of Moria. Moria itself was created in 1985 and was inspired by Rogue (from the late 70s). The first version of Angband was created by Alex Cutler and Andy Astrand at the University of Warwick. The notable maintainers in the 90s were Charles Swiger and Ben Harrison. In 2000, Robert Rühlmann took over.
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Angband was primarily an underground fortress, at least after its initial destruction by the Valar in the Years of the Trees. Like its prototype, Utumno, it had many hidden underground chambers and vaults far beneath the earth. Its main features above ground were the three peaks of the Thangorodrim, mighty towers of ash and slag raised above Angband's gates. The peaks of Thangorodrim were hollow, and from them channels and chimneys ran down to the deepest pits of Angband. So, Morgoth could produce poisonous clouds and vapours, as indeed he sent against the Noldor in Mithrim during the first days after their Return.
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Angband's dungeons are not persistent; every time the player moves up or down stairs, a new dungeon is randomly generated. The dungeons are large and are composed of halls and passages of different shapes. An Angband game requires more patience and time than most roguelike games. Angband is a game of infinite resources -- you have as much time as you like and the game will continue to provide new monsters and items. Nevertheless, most players still find the game challenging. The more advanced players attempt various challenge games, some of which are supported by the game's many options, others of which must be self-monitored.
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Angband