Acronyms

A list of acronyms, initialisms and abbreviations of the NetHack community. Red links in this list probably need a redirect to the correct article, or maybe a new article. Also look in Category:Acronyms.

• AC - armor class - Usually called AC, and displayed as AC on the status line.
• AoY or "oY - Amulet of Yendor - Everyone wants it. Also called "the Amulet". The cheap plastic imitation is a "fake AoY" or "fake Amulet".
• ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange - The character set from which NetHack finds those map symbols.
• BSD - Berkeley System Distribution - Once a popular operating system for the VAX machine, and the original platform for NetHack. Today "BSD" refers to the modern variants of the original BSD.
• BDSM - Probably an attempt to refer to black (or blue) dragon scale mail, in analogy to GSDM and SDSM. In non-NetHack contexts, or in certain jokes about nymphs or foocubi, BDSM may refer to...
• DSM - dragon scale mail - Without the color, if you remove the first letter from GDSM or SDSM.
• DYWYPI - Do you want your possesions identified? - The familiar message from the end of your game. Writing "DYWYPI?" is a way to imply that the hero died.
• E - Elbereth - In contexts like "Engrave E" or "Why didn't you E?", especially in IRC where participants remain too lazy to type Her name.
• FAQ - frequently asked questions - Many Usenet groups, including RGRN, periodically post a FAQ to explain the group.
• GDSM - gray dragon scale mail - Non-metal armor that provides good AC and magic resistance. Frequent wish, along with SDSM.
• GoD or [oD - gauntlets of dexterity - Sometimes an alternative to GoP in ascension kits.
• GoP or [oP - gauntlets of power - Common item in ascension kits, for boosting strength to 25.
• IRC - Internet Relay Chat - Online chat, divided into rooms called channels. Freenode has a #nethack channel for spoily discussion.
• LRS - Larn Revenue Service - NetHack mentions the LRS when you try to drop 2^32-n gold.
• NGPL - NetHack General Public License - Usually refers to the template {{NGPL}} on this wiki.
• NH - NetHack
• NHINRL - NetHack is not real life - Explanation for why NetHack does not always follow the physics of the real world.
• PYEC - the Platinum Yendorian Express Card - Tourist's quest artifact, and popular wish for other neutral characters who want to add charges to items.
• RGRN or rgrn - rec.games.roguelike.nethack - The game's discussion group on Usenet.
• RL - real life or roguelike - Usually in the phrase NHINRL. Some other roguelike games have RL in their names.
• S or S'EM - SLASH'EM - An "S" in the subject line of RGRN posts may indicate that the post is about SLASH'EM.
• SDSM - silver dragon scale mail - Non-metal armor that provides good AC and reflection. Frequent wish, along with GDSM.
• TDTTOE - The DevTeam Thinks Of Everything - The expression for when you try something strange in NetHack, and the game reacts appropriately.
• unihorn - unicorn horn - Important cure. A cursed unihorn is a problem, but a spare unihorn may help.
• WoW or /oW - wand of wishing - Everyone wants this. The WoW in the Castle is usually termed the "castle wand".
• WoY - Wizard of Yendor - More frequently terms for him are "Rodney" or "the Wizard". The WoY wants the AoY.
• YA... - yet another...
  • YAAD - Yet Another Annoying Death - Alternative to YASD, when the annoyed player blames the game, not a player's mistake, for the death of the hero.
  • YAAP - Yet Another Ascension Post - A post to RGRN announcing that a player won the game!
  • YAFAP - Yet Another First Ascension Post - A post to RGRN announcing a player's first win!
  • YAFM - Yet Another Funny Message - Because you did not expect the message, but TDTTOE.
  • YANC - Yet Another Newt Comic - A strip in which a newt appears and scares (and usually kills) Dudley.
  • YANI - Yet Another New Idea - A muse to add some feature to NetHack.
  • YASD - Yet Another Stupid Death - A mistake that causes the death of the hero.

Another tactic that sometimes appears in IRC is to take the name of an object like "scroll of gold detection", then to take the initials, replacing the first initial with the object system, thus forming for example "?oGD".