We are proud to announce the release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup 0.12: “High Vaultage”! This latest version contains many new and overhauled features, including revamped Vaults and Abyss branches, a new weapon effect for axes allowing them to cleave through multiple enemies at once, and much more!

Head over to the Downloads page to get 0.12, or see the How to play Online page for a list of available servers.

There will be a tournament from May 11-27 to celebrate the release. All 0.12 games played on one of the online servers (CAO, CDO or CSZO) will count for scoring. See the 0.12 tournament website for the rules and start forming clans!

Some of 0.12′s highlights include:

Places: The Vaults branch is now 5 levels deep, with a revamped layout and new guardians. The Abyss consists of 5 (still infinite) levels of increasing danger, with the rune found only on the deeper levels, and contains many new monsters. There are many new layouts and vaults in other branches. Secret doors have been removed. Three Sprint maps have been added: “Thunderdome” by evilmike, and “The Pits” and “Arena of Blood” both by st.

The Vaults branch is now 5 levels deep, with a revamped layout and new guardians. The Abyss consists of 5 (still infinite) levels of increasing danger, with the rune found only on the deeper levels, and contains many new monsters. There are many new layouts and vaults in other branches. Secret doors have been removed. Three Sprint maps have been added: “Thunderdome” by evilmike, and “The Pits” and “Arena of Blood” both by st. Monsters: In the Vaults, vault sentinels alert monsters to your location, ironbrand convokers recall monsters from elsewhere directly to you, vault wardens seal nearby doors, and ironheart preservers reduce the damage that their allies take. The Abyss is inhabited by a variety of new eldritch horrors: ancient zymes, tentacled starspawn, lurking horrors, starcursed masses, wretched stars, apocalypse crabs, thrashing horrors and spatial maelstroms. Two uniques have been added: Jorgrun, a deep dwarf earth elementalist, and Lamia, queen of the nagas. Other new monsters include moths of suppression (with an aura that suppresses the effects of magical equipment) and deep troll shamans and earth mages. Ant larvae, bumblebees, rock trolls and wood golems are no more.

In the Vaults, vault sentinels alert monsters to your location, ironbrand convokers recall monsters from elsewhere directly to you, vault wardens seal nearby doors, and ironheart preservers reduce the damage that their allies take. The Abyss is inhabited by a variety of new eldritch horrors: ancient zymes, tentacled starspawn, lurking horrors, starcursed masses, wretched stars, apocalypse crabs, thrashing horrors and spatial maelstroms. Two uniques have been added: Jorgrun, a deep dwarf earth elementalist, and Lamia, queen of the nagas. Other new monsters include moths of suppression (with an aura that suppresses the effects of magical equipment) and deep troll shamans and earth mages. Ant larvae, bumblebees, rock trolls and wood golems are no more. Spells: Many non-elemental conjurations have been added: Force Lance (causes low-range knockback), Dazzling Spray (blinds multiple enemies), Iskenderun’s Battlesphere (creates an autonomous globe that attacks alongside your other conjurations) and Fulminant Prism (creates a smite-targeted time bomb). Another new spell, Disjunction (blinks away all nearby enemies for a duration), can be found in high-level translocation books. Fulsome Distillation, Evaporate, Cigotuvi’s Degeneration, See Invisible and Insulation have been removed. Venom Bolt, Bolt of Magma, Teleport Other and Dispersal have been made more effective.

Many non-elemental conjurations have been added: Force Lance (causes low-range knockback), Dazzling Spray (blinds multiple enemies), Iskenderun’s Battlesphere (creates an autonomous globe that attacks alongside your other conjurations) and Fulminant Prism (creates a smite-targeted time bomb). Another new spell, Disjunction (blinks away all nearby enemies for a duration), can be found in high-level translocation books. Fulsome Distillation, Evaporate, Cigotuvi’s Degeneration, See Invisible and Insulation have been removed. Venom Bolt, Bolt of Magma, Teleport Other and Dispersal have been made more effective. Characters: Conjurers now start with a spellbook containing the new non-elemental conjurations. Summoned allies now only attack while both the summon and the target are in line-of-sight. Levitation and controlled flight no longer exist – all sources of flight are controlled instead. Stalkers have evaporated.

Conjurers now start with a spellbook containing the new non-elemental conjurations. Summoned allies now only attack while both the summon and the target are in line-of-sight. Levitation and controlled flight no longer exist – all sources of flight are controlled instead. Stalkers have evaporated. Items: Axes cleave through multiple targets when attacking, but have slightly reduced damage. One-handed maces and flails have been improved. The wand of polymorph other is now the wand of polymorph, and causes random transformations instead of mutations in players (with a number of new bad forms: tree, wisp, porcupine and fungus).

Axes cleave through multiple targets when attacking, but have slightly reduced damage. One-handed maces and flails have been improved. The wand of polymorph other is now the wand of polymorph, and causes random transformations instead of mutations in players (with a number of new bad forms: tree, wisp, porcupine and fungus). Gods: Vehumet now gifts destructive spells one at a time, starting with low-level spells at low piety and ending with multiple high-level spells. Vehumet no longer supports summoners. Worshippers of Yredelemnul and Beogh can recall their allies from different floors, and Beogh allies gain experience when the player gets kills. Xom has a number of new available actions, and some negative effects are toned down or removed.

See the changelog for a summary of other major changes. Thanks to Stone Soup’s many contributors, and enjoy playing 0.12!