Zone spoilers?

[vintermann]

Hi, I've been trying to give ToME another try after first coming across it when version 4 was fairly new... it's a nice diversion from Crawl, which I mostly play. But I have a problem: new zones. Basically every time I enter a zone I don't know what to expect in, I die. And as it takes me a lot of time to get through the initial 10-12 levels, that is not so fun. I had played Trollshaws, the ruins with the Shade, the old forest, the labyrinth and the sandworm lair before - but "Storming the city" killed me pretty quickly. Once I figured out how to deal with that (get lots of lightning resistance), I went on to Daikara and was promptly killed by too much confusion, blocking healing abilities.

I've also come across some near-deathtraps. Dragons in the Old Forest castle level, for instance: since it's no teleport, it was just dumb luck that my then-character was strong enough to survive - a slightly different build and that would have been impossible.

Is there somewhere a quick spoiler which tells you what to expect in the various zones, where it's dangerous to go unprepared, etc? I can't find much on the wiki...

[Hedrachi]

You could try playing on discovery or adventurer difficulty for extra lives. As for the dragon in the old forest thing, that sounds suspiciously like a vault. If you get a message when you try to open the door you see (or move the boulder you see), keep in mind that it's going to have stuff that's potentially able to kill you quickly. You don't need to clear a vault to "win" any part of the game, they're just there to offer more cash and gear at a risk. May also want to try a class that comes with a resistances/saves talent, like fighter. In short, stun resistance is going to be needed for most bosses, confusion resistance is going to be needed for Daikara and the Maze, blindness for SWL and the lake. If it's your first time doing the lake levels, I'd recommend getting an amulet of the fish or helm of the depths to let you breathe underwater. It's doable without one of these, but you're pretty much relying on your runes/infusions for healing, and your ability to find the down staircase, since you can't 'r'est easily. Once you get to the Far East, you should have 100% stun resistance, and should be working towards maxing damage resistances (using jeweler rings if you can't find better gear elsewhere).

[Final Master]

Zone specific mini-guides are going to probably be my next project after I am done with the newbie guide [which unfortunately has stalled a bit.]

[vintermann]

Meh, lost a promising shadowblade in The Old Forest to an orc berserker. Lvl 35 orc berserker. Was barely lvl 12 myself. Is that normal? How do you recognize OOD monsters in ToME, besides holding the mouse over every critter you meet?

[Grey]

That's not normal, no. Was it in a vault?

[greycat]

the Old Forest castle level

That would be the "bandit fortress" vault. Which is nearly as large as the entire dungeon level. In fact, it blocks egress, requiring you to dig out trees or have water breathing in order to get past it. (Also it's got at least one bug -- a missing door for the fourth corner tower area.)

Should you come across this, always remember, "Vaults are optional."