Shops in Crawl aren't quite the same as those found in
other roguelikes such as Angband
and Nethack.
Unlike those in Nethack, shops in Crawl are only one character in size (looking
roughly like an upside-down 'U' in the DOS version, usually). Unlike those in
Angband, shops in Crawl are buy-only: you can't sell things to them
There are quite a few different types of shop: some sell a selection of
everything ('general stores'), while others sell just one type of item. Some
shops have everything for sale pre-identified, while others work on the
'sold-as-seen' principle. The latter type can provide some real bargains, but
the problem is that you often don't know what you are buying until you've bought it!
If you find a potion or scroll shop in the early levels, take the
opportunity to identify useful items! If the shop sells a useful item which you haven't
already identified (scrolls of remove curse, for example, or potions of cure wounds)
then if you buy it you will recognise that item in future. This can be a life-saving
feature.
Even better, if a shop has cursed or worthless items for sale, then
it's usually worth buying these if you haven't already identified them. They will generally
cost peanuts, and it is far preferable to waste 1 gold buying a potion of degeneration
from a shop than to accidentally drink an unidentified one later!
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