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The Big Room is just that. A big room. It is filled with monsters and random items scattered throughout. Because of its size, it is easy for a player to inadvertently find himself surrounded by monsters; therefore, caution should be exercised, especially for weaker players.

The Big Room will not be generated in every game. It has a 40% chance of appearing in the dungeon. If it does appear, it will be on dungeon level 10, 11 or 12.

It is possible for the Big Room to contain the upstair to Sokoban.

It is possible for the Big Room to be the same dungeon level as the entrance portal to your quest. It is also possible that a monster has wandered into a teleportation trap or a level teleporter, so make sure the portal you are about to enter is the correct one.

This is true every time you enter your quest portal, but especially so in the Big Room where monsters can be anywhere.

Strategy[]

Upon your arrival, hostile monsters will spot you from much or all of the room, and will immediately move toward you. It is easy to find yourself surrounded.

Stay on the upstairs (or the downstairs, if you're coming from below), so that you can leave the level quickly and heal if necessary. Note that some monsters can follow you up or down the stairs. If you fell into the level through a hole or trap door and are nowhere near the stairs, digging through the floor could be a very wise move.

It is a good idea to use a scroll of earth to create a boulder fort around the upward stairs. The first level of Sokoban has two guaranteed scrolls of earth, which may be useful if you find yourself in a Big Room.

If you have no ranged attacks, you can break or push away one boulder, so that one and only one square is free for the monsters to approach.

In more desperate situations, breaking wands can be effective due to the large groups of monsters that will attack. A wand of lightning or wand of fire is very effective because not only do both have the advantage of permanent engraving but they also can be broken to deal massive damage to multiple monsters. On the other hand, these wands will also hurt the player, possibly resulting in death, so this is only recommended for prepared players. In addition, wands of lightning can destroy your wands and rings when broken, and wands of fire can burn scrolls and boil potions.

Beyond these pointers, the usual tactics for dealing with multiple foes apply.

Maps[]

These are the Big Rooms for NetHack 3.4.3. All Big Rooms have nondiggable walls, though digging through the floor is possible -- and may often be a good idea.

Each Big Room has 15 random objects, six random traps, and 28 random monsters.

The NetHack General Public License applies to screenshots, source code and other content from NetHack.

Big Room #1[]

This is the simplest Big Room, a large, fully-lit rectangular room.

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Big Room #2[]

This is identical to Big Room #1, except that portions of it are dark.

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Big Room #3[]

This Big Room has niches in the outermost walls and two large columns within it. The initial monsters appear in positions marked M.

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|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|  
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|..............---.......................................---..............|  
|...............|.........................................|...............|  
|.....|M|.|.|M|---|.|.|.|M|..........M........|.|M|.|.|.|---|M|.|.|M|.....|  
|.....|--------   --------|...................|----------   --------|.....|  
|.....|M|.|.|M|---|.|.|.|M|..........M........|.|M|.|.|.|---|M|.|.|M|.....|  
|...............|.........................................|...............|  
|..............---.......................................---..............|  
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|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|.|.|.|.|.|M|  
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Big Room #4[]

This one has a "butterfly" shape and four fountains.

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|.........|                                                     |.........|  
|....{....|-----------|                             |-----------|....{....|  
|-|...................|----------|       |----------|...................|-|  
  -|.............................|-------|.............................|-    
   -|.................................................................|-     
    -|...............................................................|-      
     -|.............................................................|-       
      -|...........................................................|-        
      -|...........................................................|-        
     -|.............................................................|-       
    -|...............................................................|-      
   -|.................................................................|-     
  -|.............................|-------|.............................|-    
|-|...................|----------|       |----------|...................|-|  
|.....{...|-----------|                             |-----------|....{....|  
|.........|                                                     |.........|  
-----------                                                     -----------

Big Room #5[]

This one has an oval shape.

                            ------------------                               
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              -------................................-------                 
         ------............................................------            
      ----......................................................----         
    ---............................................................---       
  ---................................................................---     
---....................................................................---   
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---....................................................................---   
  ---................................................................---     
    ---............................................................---       
      ----......................................................----         
         ------............................................------            
              -------................................-------                 
                    ---------................---------                       
                            ------------------

History[]

Big Room #1 first appears in NetHack 3.1.0. The others first appear in NetHack 3.2.0.

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