ZAPM

ZAPM is not a true variant of NetHack, but it had importance in the 2008 /dev/null/nethack tournament.

ZAPM is a sci-fi roguelike game by Cyrus Dolph. From the homepage: "It's my humble attempt to create "the sci-fi NetHack". It is very much a work in progress."

The latest unstable version 0.8.2 was released 2010-06-06. The source code of version 0.8.3 can be downloaded here from the /dev/null/nethack page. A continuation of ZAPM named PRIME has been started in March 2011.

The aim of ZAPM is to explore a derelict space hulk in search of the fabled "Bizarro Orgasmatron", rumored to be the most powerful artifact in the galaxy and the only hope of saving the universe from an unknown doom.

Differences and similarities

Being roguelike, ZAPM has some things that are familiar, some that are different:

NetHack	ZAPM
Scrolls	Floppy disks - requires a computer to "run", can sometimes be reused
Potions	Canisters don't have effects when thrown at monsters
Rings	You may have up to five bionic implants installed in your brain
Wands	Ray guns are not tied to particular energy ray type but can be reloaded with something else when empty
Launchers	Guns of many descriptions, bearing distant similarity to SLASH'EM's firearms
Projectiles	Gun ammunition and grenades which need to be identified
Shirts	Jumpsuits usually have single AC point and may give resistances
Suits	Various body armor pieces like flak jackets and stormtrooper suits
Dragon Suits	Marine power armor are somewhat similar because being self-powered they do not encumber the character; no special resistances granted though
Helms	Some headgear pieces may grant air filtering - an extrinsic unique to helms
Boots, Gloves, Cloaks, Shields	Not present
no equivalent	Belts (actually just one type is implemented)
Lenses, Blindfold	Blindfold is available but instead of lenses there are several types of goggles
Tools	Equivalently broad category; its items quite similar in use to NetHacks
Doors	Automatic opening doors, locked doors with key cards of several colors, faulty doors that slam on the player
Traps	Only (acid/sewage) pits, holes and radiation traps
Spellcasting	Mutant powers - cost temporary Charisma rather than Pw
Monsters of almost all ASCII letters	Monsters of many letters of alphabet. Some are yet unused
Corpses	Only droids and bots leave disabled versions once dead, unable to be eaten

There are no races and roles, only professions.

ZAPM is a refreshing jaunt with plenty of differences to vanilla and is quite enjoyable.

Sample screenshot

                                                 #########     Kevin
       ######                      ##### #########.......#     Odd Ball
       #.....                      #...###...+...'.......#     XL  1:88
       #....                       #...'.+...#####.......#
       #....                       #...###...#   #####'###     Str  7  Int 15
       #...                 ###    #...# #...#       #.#       Con  9  Wis 15
       #...                 #?#    #...# #####       #.#       Agi 12  Cha 16
       #..             ######'######=>.#             #.#       Dex  8
       #w.             #!'.....+...'...#             #.#
       #'#             ###.....#########             #.#       Fast    +5
  ######'#################.....###################+# #$#       Armor   13
  #.....@'...............'.....'......+............# #.#       HitPts   4/  7
  #......#################F....########............# #.#       Energy 175/  0
  #......#               #.....#      #......(.....# #'####    $9
  ########               #+#####      ############## #....#
                                                     #....#
                                                     #....#
                                                     #....#    Space Base 1
                                                     #....#
                                                     ######
You smash the lock as you kick the door open!

Classes

ZAPM has only five playable classes: Psion, Quarterback, Space Marine, Software Engineer and Janitor.

Psion

Psions are mutants, using their supercharged DNA to survive the hostile space hulk. They are guaranteed to start with at least 14 Charisma.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +1 laser pistol
• debugged +1 ordinary jumpsuit
• debugged pair of sunglasses
• 200 energy cells
• 2 debugged canisters of Nano Cola
• 1 debugged canister of healing
• 1 debugged canister of Rad-Away
• 2d10 buckazoids

Skills:

• Restricted: Programming
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Light Guns, Heavy Guns, Unarmed Combat, Basic Melee Weapons, Pick Locks, Repair
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Handguns, Spot
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Search
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: all Mutant Powers, Swords, Concentration

Starting skills:

• First random mutant power - 2
• Second random mutant power - 2

Common opening strategy is to drink from sludge vats hoping for more mutant powers. This is especially important if the Psion starts with utility mutant abilities.

Quarterback

Quarterbacks are strong athletes, looking to take on a new challenge but with the physical strength to survive - hopefully.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +0 set of football pads
• debugged +0 football helmet
• debugged +3 football
• 200 energy cells
• 6 debugged canisters of beer

Skills:

• Restricted: all Mutant Powers, Pick Locks, Repair, Programming
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: none
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Light Guns, Heavy Guns, Swords, Concentration, Search
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Basic Melee Weapons
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Unarmed Combat, Spot

Starting skills:

• Thrown weapons - 2
• Spot - 2

Since the quarterback starts without a gun he should destroy fuel barrels by throwing the football. When space goblins with pea shooters appear it is wise to let them shoot a few times at you to see if their weapon is buggy.

Space Marine

Space Marines are well-equipped "badasses" that fight aliens for a living. A space hulk may not be too much of a challenge. They are guaranteed to start with at least 10 Strength.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +1 flak jacket
• debugged +0 pistol
• debugged +0 pulse rifle (set to burst mode)
• 99 bullets
• 100 energy cells
• debugged motion tracker
• 2d10 buckazoids

Skills:

• Restricted: all Mutant Powers, Concentration, Programming
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: Swords
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Pick Locks, Repair, Search, Spot
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Unarmed Combat, Basic Melee Weapons
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: Handguns, Light Guns, Heavy Guns

Starting skills:

• Thrown weapons - 2
• Handguns - 2
• Light Weapons - 2
• Heavy Weapons - 2

Marines have easy start. It is prudent to immediately switch the rifle to single fire by applying it. Weak creatures may be bashed with butt of the rifle since marines usually have very good strength.

Software engineer

Software engineers are physically weak but computer whizzes. They inherently know the ZAPM equivalent of BUC of items and can use technical items from the beginning of the game. They also do not suffer penalties for trying to write unidentified program.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +0 pea shooter
• debugged +0 ordinary jumpsuit
• debugged mini computer
• 4 random floppy disks
• 1 or 2 debugged canisters of Nano Cola
• 1 or 2 debugged rolls of duct tape
• debugged restaining bolt
• 200 energy cells
• 2d100 buckazoids

Skills:

• Restricted: all Mutant Powers, Unarmed Combat
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: Light Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Basic Melee Weapons, Swords
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Concentration, Spot
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Handguns, Programming
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: Pick Locks, Search, Repair

Starting skills:

• Programming - 2

Painfully weak at the beginning the Software Engineer should make use of his sense bugginess innate ability to wear whatever he can as early as possible. Later on he is in perfect position to crack many floppy disks and have unlimited enhancements, identification, teleportation and many other utility powers. One should use the restraining bolt to force an early bot into service and repair it with duct tape whenever the need arises.

Janitor

Janitors start with a mop and a master keycard allowing them to bypass almost any door. By striking the "I'm just cleaning here" pose a janitor can get into Robot Town without a fee.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +1 mop
• debugged +1 janitor uniform
• debugged canister of super glue
• optimized monkey wrench
• debugged master keycard
• debugged restraining bolt
• 75 energy cells
• 1d100 buckazoids

Skills:

• Restricted: all Mutant Powers, Programming
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Light Guns, Heavy Guns, Swords
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Unarmed Combat, Concentration
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Basic Melee Weapons
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: Pick Locks, Repair, Search, Spot

Starting skills:

• Repair - 2
• Search - 2
• Spot - 2

Janitors often spot or find hidden niches generated in rooms which usually contain additional loot. In result have slightly more objects to choose from when assembling equipment. Janitors can hide from any monster behind a door by locking it with the master keycard. So far no monster can deal with locked doors.

Profession titles

Each class advancing in levels has appropriate rank titles.

Rank	Psion	Quarterback	Space Marine	Software Engineer	Janitor
Beginning (XL 1-2)	Odd Ball	Towel Boy	Private	Summer Intern	Toilet Scrubber
Rank 2 (XL 3-5)	Weirdo	Rookie	Corporal	Q/A Tester	Mop Boy
Rank 3 (XL 6-8)	Mind Reader	Bench Warmer	Sergeant	Web Designer	Janitor
Rank 4 (XL 9-11)	Spoon Bender	Starter	Cadet	Help Desk Jockey	Housekeeper
Rank 5 (XL 12-14)	Freakazoid	Jock	Lieutenant	Jr. Programmer	Custodian
Rank 6 (XL 15-17)	Mutant	Star Player	Captain	Sysadmin	Maintenance Man
Rank 7 (XL 18-20)	Empath	Team Captain	Major	Programmer	Sanitation Engineer
Rank 8 (XL 21-23)	Psion	MVP	Lt. Colonel	Lead Programmer	Superintendent
Rank 9 (XL 24-26)	Psyker	Pro Bowler	Colonel	VP Engineering	Property Manager
Rank 10 (XL 27-29)	Farseer	Hall of Famer	General	High Programmer	Landlord

Reaching level 30 or higher results in segmentation fault but it is only possible to do so through use of debug mode.

Attributes and basic character information

ZAPM has the following attributes as an indication of how developed a character is in certain areas:

Attribute	Importance	Impact
Strength	High	Increases all melee damage and is the only determinant of carrying capacity. Determines thrown weapons range. Is drained by poison attacks and having it low to begin with increases chances of getting burdened or worse in combat. In ZAPM there is no unicorn horn equivalent.
Constitution	Medium	Provides hit points modifier. At late levels it can be very substantial. Is drained during radiation sickness attacks making it imperative for surviving radiation exposure.
Agility	High	Besides affecting melee skills it modifies armor class and speed. The last is very useful to have since at high values it allows to outrun aliens.
Dexterity	Low	Impacts gun skills and once player character gains a few levels advantages of high dexterity are easily offset by skill points.
Intelligence	Near zero	Only impacts two skills of which one is only accessible to software engineers and the other is made obsolete by spot and greater perseverance at searching for hidden doors.
Wisdom	Near zero	Impacts only a single non-essential skill and in minuscule way chance to resist enemy mutant power attacks. Near useless attribute.
Charisma	Medium for psykers, low for others	Replaces power points from NetHack. Since shopkeepers are robots there is no haggling for prices with them, thus charisma does not influence shop prices in any way.

You get an increase to one of these every fourth experience level. In addition, there are properties of Experience (and a corresponding Experience Level and Title) Speed, Hit Points. Related and displayed as appropriate are also Energy, being the number of cells in your inventory, Buckazoids, being the currency of ZAPM, and if using a "traditional" projectile weapon, Ammo, being the number of bullets, shotgun shells or railgun slugs in your inventory.

Your locale and overall level is also displayed.

Skills

ZAPM has skills for a variety of aspects of gameplay. Each time the character gains a level, some skills can be increased. Psions, Janitors and Software Engineers receive three points to distribute while Space Marines and Quarterbacks get only two. Skills can be increased at varying paces, and certain skills are restricted for some classes. Each Skill is governed by a main Ability, determining the overall effectiveness of the Skill.

Skills fall in to three main groups: Combat Skills, Adventuring Skills and Mutant Power Skills.

Group	Skill	Ability	Used by
Combat Skills	Grenades	Dexterity	Thrown weapons (grenades, elven daggers and the football)
	Handguns	Dexterity	Small, single handed projectile weapons (phaser, blaster)
	Light Guns	Dexterity	Projectile weapons that are more advanced than handguns (sniper rifle, laser rifle, shotgun)
	Heavy Guns	Dexterity	Large projectile weapons requiring the most skill to manipulate (pulse rifle, laser cannon, railgun, chaingun)
	Unarmed Combat	Agility	Melee combat without any weapon
	Basic Melee Weapons	Agility	Melee combat with clubs, mops or chainsaws and the like but not improvised weapons; bat'leth belongs here
	Swords	Agility	Melee combat with sword or light saber
Adventuring Skills	Concentration	Constitution	Decreases chance to lose control of ongoing mutant powers when stunned or confused
	Pick Locks	Dexterity	Increases chance of picking locks when equipped with a lock pick kit
	Repair	Dexterity	Increases chance of repair of disabled droids, bots and malfunctioning doors with a roll of duct tape or monkey wrench
	Search	Intelligence	Increases chance of successfully searching around you
	Programming	Intelligence	Determines chance of writing floppy disk programs and chances of cracking a floppy disk
	Spot	Wisdom	Increases chance of spotting a trap, a secret door or a hidden monster from a distance, without searching
Mutant Power Skills	Mutant Power	Level	Effect
	Illumination	1	Lights an area around you
	Digestion	1	Allows you to consume inventory items. Primarily useful for getting rid of buggy items you cannot take off or unwield
	Hypnotize	1	Puts a single adjacent enemy to sleep
	Regeneration	1	Instantly boosts Hit Points
	Optic Blast	2	Sends forth a ray from your eyes
	Haste	2	Increases speed while maintained
	Telepathy	2	Allows to sense creatures with mind from a quite long distance. Unlike NetHack it does not encompass to whole level
	Web	2	Briefly immobilizes a monster hit with this power
	Mental Blast	3	Short range power with targeting similar to stinking cloud. Often confuses monsters and does not require you to see your target
	Restoration	3	Very similar to restore ability spell
	Adrenaline Control	4	Increases Strength by four points if maintained
	X-Ray Vision	4	While on you can see a short distance through any obstacle
	Teleport	5	Allows teleportation

There is no way to improve fighting with improvised weapons but hitting with the butt of your pulse rifle might be beneficial to conserve ammo anyways.

Mutant powers

Mutant powers, accessed through the Z or m keys, allow the player to use mutations that the character has acquired. Psions start with two randomly chosen mutations, but all classes may gain them through drinking from a vat or a canister of mutagen. Mutations come in varying levels, with the chance of success and the magnitude of effect tied to the amount of enhancement each mutation has. Psions can put skill points in individual mutant powers to make them easier to use and more powerful.

The use of a mutation costs the character an equivalent number of Charisma points to its level. Charisma does regenerate slowly up to its unaltered maximum, but temporary boosts may be gained from canisters of nano cola. Nano cola may also boost the characters Charisma above the normal maximum, but the effect does wear off with the temporary Charisma boost slowly decreasing over time. Persistent mutant powers prevent amount of Charisma spent to use it as long as they are active.

Some items have negative impact on chance to use mutant powers when worn. Cranial bionic implants have the most effect but even heavy body armor may reduce the ability to employ powers. An exception is the psionic amplifier which modifies the chance by its plus.

Monsters

There are 80 monster types total in ZAPM 0.8.2. Below are the highlights. Level dictates when it will appear. There is generation algorithm for monsters similar to what NetHack uses. Monsters generated tend to be up to level which is average of your experience level and location depth level. HD is hit dice. Creatures get 1d8 hit points for every hit dice point. If it is zero monster gets 1d4 hits.

	HD	Lvl	Name	Notes
b	1	0	fuel barrel	Surprisingly this is a monster you can blow for experience. It cannot be pushed around like a boulder. Attempting to do so will execute a normal melee attack possibly blowing it up in your face. For early characters this may prove fatal.
x	1	0	grid bug	A straight tribute to NetHack, the grid bug has the same movement restrictions and is equally weak enemy.
c	1	0	tribble	Those monsters multiply and do it fast! Take care to control the population if your character cannot kill them quickly. On the other hand they can be easily farmed for experience but game flags them as never having any items generated, even the originals.
t	3	1	man eating plant	Tough sessile plant with very strong poisonous bite. Take down at range.
G	1	1	little grey alien	Essentially a joke monster, the little grey alien starts equipped with an anal probe and is not afraid to use it ... on you! Successful hit will make you feel violated and inflict timed "Sore" (butt) status which carries -50 speed penalty. Be on guard if other monsters accompany the greys.
h	1	2	mutant human	Weak entity capable of hypnotizing you when adjacent, putting you to sleep if successful. Will happily pound on you while you snooze.
S	4	2	tapioca pudding	The pudding is tough but horribly slow but possesses a paralyzing attack. Can be easily whacked with hit and sun tactics. Most probably it has been inspired by floating eye.
b	2	2	smart bomb	Explodes when you come near it so just shoot it down if you want the experience.
h	1	3	redshirt	One of first enemies with ranged weapon, easy to kill. Notable for having 5% chance to be generated with a tricorder.
o	1	3	alien egg	Usually encountered in alien nests it stays harmless until it hatches. Do not risk coming near and preferably use strong ranged weapon because taking damage and surviving is strong impulse for hatching. Grenades are recommended way to clear alien nest of eggs if you have them.
S	3	3	vat slime	Slow, has corrosive attack.
h	1	4	stormtrooper	With so weak hit dice at his level and helmet which hurts accuracy the troopers are a pushover. They go down like flies. Their body armor can be sold in shops for considerable amount of buckazoids but is quite heavy. Their guns, blasters are not affected by reflection.
X	3	4	protocol droid	Has unique ability to translate chirps and beeps of other bots if restrained and in close proximity. Quite valuable trait.
h	2	4	high ping bastard	Somewhat slow but is usually generated with shotgun. Fortunately it does not have much ammo.
$	3	4	creeping credits	Mimics money in plain view. When you come near it steals some from your wallet and teleports away to lay ambush somewhere else. Becomes harmless when you drop all your buckazoids. Is generated with 4d100 buckazoids.
k	3	5	klingon	One in five is generated with a bat'leth. This weapon packs a wallop in melee so beware. Situation can become bad if his buddies blind you with phasers while he is cutting you up to pieces.
@	2	5	troubleshooter	Dangerous because most will have suits of reflec armor which will render your laser weapons useless. They come with often buggy laser pistol and a large stack of energy cells. Sometimes they may get some grenades instead of the cells which is worse. If luck does not favor you the grenades may be radiation grenades. If that was not enough they have significant chance to get a ray gun.
B	2	5	borg	Unimpressive by themselves newly generated Borg get +1 to AC for each previously killed Borg.
f	1	5	facehugger	Quick and hard to hit the facehugger will implant you in close combat. Successful hit will cause you to get pregnant status. If left alone this will end in chestburster ripping your body open, killing you. When that happens death cause put in high score is "died during childbirth".
R	1	5	recognizer	Slow but has powerful melee attack.
i	4	6	radspider	Getting bitten delivers poison but also may grant you shoot web mutant power in 10% cases, unless all of the poison damage was resisted.
d	6	6	pink horror	Tough beast with quick and strong bite. Contrary to Warhammer lore it does not split into two blue horrors in ZAPM.
F	4	6	mi-go	Mi-go will try to operate on your brain in combat. First they need to remove implants from your frontal, parietal and occipital lobes if you have any. This costs them a turn. When they make an incision into your brain next hit will prove fatal. Mi-go will extract your brain.
b	4	7	smart missile	A mobile smart bomb.
T	6	7	usenet troll	Guaranteed to carry a computer and very likely to have several floppies, perhaps even a cracked one.
h	7	7	low ping bastard	Somewhat fast and likely to carry a railgun. Fortunately it does not have much ammo like its counterpart the high ping bastard. Often has enhanced armor.d
q	6	8	killer rabbit	Boss monster! Is very fast, has strong bite and can terrify from afar. Additionally it appears in wide open area allowing it to stay out of your line of fire easily.
A	7	8	alien warrior	Dubbed death-on-a-stick alien warrior has very fast claw attacks and awesomely high strength allowing it to deal copious amounts of damage up close. Has enough hit points to enable it to close distance to player without dying. Additionally it splashes acid everywhere on death and can hide under objects. To make matters worse it is generated in groups. Also, it is usually present in alien nests.
G	6	8	tall grey alien	Spawns with anal probe, regenerates and can hypnotize you. It uses all those to put you to sleep, then probe to slow you (this generates message "you have an unpleasant dream") and regenerate from wounds you dealt earlier. Given they spawn in groups this has possibility to essentially sleep-lock you until something nasty comes for the kill.
@	7	9	aquamarine marine	Their armor has great AC and does not encumber when worn, being self-powered. Usually they get weak assault pistol and chainsaw but occasionally might be generated with pulse rifle.
M	10	9	monolith	Being unable to move monolith mostly sits quietly in center of a room. If angered they can terrify, regenerate and hit hard in melee. The trick is to touch them bare handed while they are still peaceful.
L	7	9	lawyer	Lawyer is somewhat similar to lich. Having telepathy and teleportation it can teleport to you, harass you and when wounded teleport away. Their powers include reading a cease and desist letter to you (paralyzes you in fear), suing for damages (steals money), seizing evidence (steals computer and pirated floppies) and summoning witnesses.
X	10	10	clerkbot	All shops in ZAPM are attended by these. One in four has energy shield equipped. Weapon employed is zapper which can stun you. Has up to six thousand buckazoids in initial possession.
@	9	11	mean green marine	Their armor has great AC and does not encumber when worn, being self-powered. Unlike aquamarine marines they have good chances to get pulse rifle. Additionally they regularly get a restoration canister and/or healing canister.
E	8	11	space elf queen	Has 50% chance to be generated with light saber in which case she can melt your floppy disks in combat. Can use several mutant powers: hypnosis, terror, regeneration, teleport, telepathy.
D	10	13	dalek	Comes with energy shield and a hundred energy cells to power it. Offensively it uses powerful laser which needs no ammunition.
U	12	16	mail daemon	Unix daemon with ability to breathe viruses. Getting hit sickens you
U	12	16	bind daemon	Unix daemon with ability to breathe bugs. Getting hit degrades beatitude of your items.
U	13	17	nntp daemon	Unix daemon breathing fire.
U	13	17	ftp daemon	Unix daemon breathing begabytes. Getting hit hoses you which is powerful slow effect (-100, equivalent of being strained).

Intrinsics

ZAPM provides only a few intrinsics of its own. Most resistances unlike NetHack are treated as flat numeric damage reduction. Some intrinsics like scent, breathless and can swim are unobtainable by player character.

• Air supply

Found exclusively on two helmets (space helmet and stormtrooper helmet) it allows to traverse sewers without getting sick.

• Auto regeneration

Causes you to restore at least one hit point every turn.

• Blind

Distinct from the timed blindness effect caused most often by being shot at with laser weaponry. Granted by blindfold.

• Brain shielded

Wearing brain shield will protect against hypnosis, mental blasts, lawyer's cease and desist power and monolith induced fear. All are uncommon threats but quite nasty.

• Bug sensing

Innate ability of Software Engineers unattainable by other means. Instantly reveals beautitude of all encountered items.

• Crazy Ivan

This pointless user interface degradation is bestowed only by cortex crossover. Having it swaps your movement commands - e.g. north becomes south. It is interesting to note this intrinsic is being xored internally. Gaining it twice (or any even number of times) effectively cancels it. This is the most compelling argument not to install-test implants in ZAPM, besides the narcoleptor.

• Health monitoring

A health monitor implant will color hit point display and cause game to emit low hit point warnings.

• Light-saber deflection

This is not present as true intrinsic but is handled by item-specific check. Light saber besides granting "regular" reflection can also deflect shots of force damage. Those are only used by blasters and pea shooters.

• Lucky

Possession of the rabbit's foot item grants this. It applies to really many rolls and as such has comparably large impact as luck in NetHack does.

• Motion detection

Active motion tracker will detect nearby creatures. Monsters having ability to stay perfectly still (typically robots, aliens, programs) do not register unless they moved last turn.

• Narcolepsy

Provided by narcoleptor which is an amulet of restful sleep by another name.

• Night vision

Wearing pair of night vision goggles allows to see monsters in dark places. It does not do anything else.

• Peril sensing

Another intrinsic brought by only a single item in game - the pair of peril-sensitive sunglasses. Whenever your character is in any situation in peril, which is defined as any monster or trap existing in your view, your glasses will darken in effort to prevent you from seeing anything that could upset you. Note that trap condition is triggered regardless whether it is known to you or not - this is intentionally exploitable.

If one has X-ray vision then nonetheless one can still see the surroundings.

• Radiation detection

Carrying active Geiger counter will give clicking messages when radiation intensity changes.

• Radiation processing

Significantly speeds up treatment of radiation intake which happens very slowly naturally. Granted by radiation processor.

• Reflection

Causes laser damage attacks to bounce off without dealing any harm, possibly hitting other targets or the attacker itself. Granted by wearing brain shield, suit of reflec armor of wielding light saber. Since laser damage is common in ZAPM this is very useful.

• Shielded

Can be gained by wearing shield belt and Daleks have it "naturally". While it is active any energy sources you have will be used for absorbing damage on point for point basis.

• Telepathic

Allows to sense monsters with minds within a certain distance. Unlike NetHack telepathy it does not require being blind to take advantage of. Activate a mutant power to get this intrinsic.

• Translation

A babel fish will translate "beeps and chirps" used by robots into human language.

• X-ray vision

Wearing pair of X-ray goggles or activating appropriate mutant power enables sight through walls and other solid objects, including some worn ones.

Resistances

ZAPM has only three obtainable resistances.

Name	Use	Granted by
Blinding	Protects against loss of sight usually caused by laser weapons.	Pair of sunglasses, pair of peril-sensitive sunglasses and any goggles except night vision goggles. Also by blindfold.
Radiological	Prevents getting irradiated.	Radiation suit ensures practical immunity.
Poisonous	Neutralizes monster's poisonous attacks which normally drain strength.	Poison resistor is the only source of this.

Locations

There are four branches in ZAPM. These are: the Space Base, the Gamma Caves, the Sewers and the Mainframe.

There are also three special locations.

• Robot Town is placed at eight level of the Base. There you may continue down or enter the Sewers.
• Rabbit Hole is just below the last Space Base level. It contains boss monster and entrance to the Mainframe.
• Sewer Plant is at the end of Sewers. It contains guaranteed radiation suit and power plant.

Space Base

You start every game at the Space Base which is 12 levels deep. It is the only place vats of sludge are generated and new monsters are spawned according to player character level and depth just like in NetHack. Each level except the first and Robot Town may contain a single shop.

Robot Town

Robot Town is protected by guardbot asking for a toll of 300 buckazoids. There are three guaranteed shops, hospital with docbot and three sludge vats. The stores are always hardware store, software store and general store. The town is initially populated with bots and droids. Any spawned creature has only one third chance not to be robotic.

Rabbit Hole

It is a rectangular room with a retina scanner door on one end. No monsters spawn on this level except for the killer rabbit. To pass the door one has to be very good at lock picking or have the Eye of the BOFH artifact equipped.

Sewers

Sewers are filled with foul stench which will make the hero sickened unless he wears a helmet granting air filtering. Being sickened suppresses natural hit points regeneration and may quickly lead to death. Monsters spawned in sewers are mutants, insects, vermin, oozes and aberrations. As an exception ratbots also may appear. There are five sewer levels. Each has 50% chance to be unlit.

Sewer Plant

In the Plant there is guaranteed fusion power plant and radiation suit. There is also garbage compactor with some random items generated inside but stepping in triggers the mechanism giving limited time for escape. Getting squished by the moving walls is an instant death.

Gamma Caves

The Caves are dangerous because of constant background radiation. It is necessary to have some means of dealing with this threat while wandering through this location. Radiation suit suffices, so does radiation processor. Monsters present here are oozes, aliens, aberrations, insects, mutants, eggs, beasts and half as likely bots. Two third cavern levels are unlit.

On the sixth and last level of Gamma Caves resides Bastard Operator from Hell. Among his possessions he carries a computer and floppy disks of which one is guaranteed to be cracked. His artifact Eye of the BOFH grants passage to the Mainframe.

Mainframe

Final area of the game contains only program type monsters. The most dangerous of these are Unix Daemons represented by 'U' character. On the top (because this location is ascending like the Wizard's Tower) lies the Bizarro Orgasmatron, the goal of the game. Unlike NetHack one has just to use it in order to win ZAPM. Note that the Bizarro Orgasmatron only exists in the top level of the Mainframe; there are, however, various devices scattered throughout all three levels of the area that are misspellings of "Bizarro Orgasmatron", such as the "Bizaaro Orgasmatron" and the "Bazaaro Orgasmatron", which will produce messages with no effect when used. "Bizarre Orgasmatron" is only one fake item with an actual effect besides message - it teleports player randomly for 15 energy.

In the Mainframe teleportation is imprecise. Character typically lands a few squares off the mark.