Time and date in NetHack ========================== by Boudewijn Wayers (kroisos@win.tue.nl). Recently, we had another occasion of Friday the 13th, which produces a message at game start: "Watch out! Bad things can happen on Friday the 13th!". Someone subsequently asked whether there was anything special in the code for Fridays the Thirteenth, like the luck penalty for new moons. This inspired me to browse the code for time and day references. There are hardly any references in the code to Friday the 13th (or the phases of the moon, for that case): Friday the 13th: - your base luck is decreased by one. Full moon: - you have a chance of not being able to tame dogs at night (but you will still make them peaceful and you may try again); - your dog won't whine, yip, bark, or growl, but will always howl when you chat at it, at night; - your base luck is increased by one; - werecreatures are usually in their were-form at night... New moon: - there is no effect on your base luck; - if you are hit by a cockatrice's special attack, and you are NOT carrying a lizard corpse, you will always turn to stone. Normally, there is only a one-in-ten chance... Note that the date does not influence the game very much. No need to be scared of playing on Friday the 13th under a full moon at midnight... The time of the day is also taken into account on some occasions: Night (21:00 - 5:59): - your chance of changing into a werecreature when you are a lycanthrope is one in every 60 moves instead of once in every 80 moves; - you have a chance of not being able to tame dogs at when the moon is full (but you will still make them peaceful and you may try again); - gremlins can only steal intrinsics at night; - werecreatures can summon more easily; - your dog won't whine, yip, bark, or growl, but will always howl when you chat at it, when it is full moon; - werecreatures are usually in their were-form when it is full moon... Midnight (0:00 - 0:59): - undead do extra damage; - you get a different message when entering a morgue ("Run away! Run away!" instead of "You have an uncanny feeling...".