NetHack

“Go bravely with Tyr!”

— NetHack introduction for lawful Valkyrie

NetHack is a 1987 textmode computer roleplaying game. Matt Colville describes it as one of the greatest video games of all time.

Matt is currently the number one NetHack streamer on Twitch.[1] The NetHack streams give viewers an opportunity to chat with Matt, and are usually prefaced by music from the TimeRider.

Playthroughs

Matt plays NetHack on Twitch with an irregular schedule. He has announced his intention to continue playing as a lawful female human Valkyrie until he ascends. His Valkyrie is always named Taarna, or some variation thereof, such as Taarna II or Taarna IX.

Before becoming a streamer, Matt has ascended (completed the game) once, a monumental feat given NetHack's legendary difficulty. However, this was some time ago, and was not streamed. Matt also played a valkyrie on that ascension.

Current playthrough

Matt's most successful run took place between late 2018 and February 2019. Matt stated that if he were to fail this run, he would quit streaming NetHack, at least for a time.

Notable events in this run include:

• Taarna ate her pet cat to avoid starvation, gaining permanent intrinsic aggravate monster. Matt later considered this a good luck charm for the run; in fact this intrinsic drawback is largely mitigated by the Valkyrie's intrinsic stealth
• Taarna rubbed a lamp (despite Matt's protestations that nothing would happen) and a genie popped out, granting Taarna an early wish. Matt wished for "Blessed greased +2 gray dragon scale mail", generally considered the best armor in the game
• Doggywog Cookie turned into a bone devil and remained tame
• Acquired both Mjolnir and the Gauntlets of Power necessary to throw Mjolnir
• Completed an ascension kit including a shield of reflection, gray dragon scale mail, a ring of sustenance, a ring of levitation, a unicorn horn, a blessed bag of holding full of items, a cloak of displacement, and intrinsic invisibility
• Genocided mind flayers and master mind flayers, after Taarna briefly became one to fly across the Medusa level and subsequently survived having her brain eaten by a mind flayer
• Reached the bottom of the Dungeons of Doom, progressed through Gehennom, and killed both Demogorgon and Orcus
• Re-chaaaaarged the wand of death! [2]
• Slew the high priest of Moloch and recovered the Amulet of Yendor

Previous playthroughs

Previous incarnations of Taarna met many an ignominious end. Notable events included:

• In true Norse mythic style, Taarna slew a green dragon, but died from the dragon's poison
• Taarna was bitten by a wererat, contracted lycanthropy, ate the wererat's body, and was punished for cannibalism

Twitch emotes

Image	Code
	mcdmGo
	mcdmBravely
	mcdmWith
	mcdmTyr
	mcdmTaarna

Strategies

Lawful human Valkyrie

Valkyries have high Strength and Constitution, giving them plenty of hitpoints, good melee ability and high carrying capacity. It's generally considered a strong combination.

Matt avoids choosing dwarven Valkyrie, despite its increased Strength/Constitution.

Dipping for Excalibur

Matt usually dips for Excalibur early on. Dipping a longsword into a fountain when you are a lawful character of experience level 5 or above has a 1/6 chance to transform it into Excalibur, an exceptionally good artifact sword with many useful abilities. The Valkyrie always starts with a +1 longsword.

This strategy is not without risk. If you do not receive Excalibur, your sword will rust instead.

Gnomish Mines

Matt visits the Gnomish Mines dungeon branch first. These tend to be relatively safe as the dwarves found here are lawful and will not attack a lawful Valkyrie. Minetown is beneficial for its guaranteed altar (for identifying cursed items) and many shops.

He also always completes Sokoban, which always grants either a Bag of Holding or an Amulet of Reflection at the end. Taarna previously died here when a fire elemental caused her Potion of Paralysis to boil and explode, freezing her in place until she died from repeated attacks.

Vocabulary

• Go bravely with Tyr!: An exhortation at the beginning of a NetHack run. It's part of the introductory text when starting a new game as a lawful valkyrie.
• Doggywog: A dog, usually the starting pet. Taarna's dog is usually named Cookie.
• Kittycat: A cat, usually a starting pet. Taarna's cats are often named Tinycat.
• Scrollio: A scroll.
• Potionay: A potion.
• Rationay: A food ration.
• Fuck off, <creature>: Typically said when fighting annoying gnomes in the mines.
• Down, down to goblin town: Matt's traditional chant when descending stairs, especially when headed for Minetown.
• Srawberry: Matt's typo when setting the custom name on the default fruit.
• Go juice: Matt's beverage of choice, usually any caffeinated variety of Crystal Light.

Quotes

"Is this like Dwarf Fortress?"

"No, Dwarf Fortress is like this."

— A Twitch viewer talking to Matt

"... and re-chaaaarge the wand of death!"

— Matt, following an epic rant [3]