Probably D&D with a human dungeon master would allow more possible actions, in the sense that NetHack only allows (a)pply, (C)all, (d)rop, (e)at, (E)ngrave, (f)ire, (P)ut on, (q)uaff, (Q)uiver, (r)ead, (t)hrow, (w)ield, (W)ear, (z)ap, #dip, #invoke, #name, #offer, and #rub actions with specific items in your main inventory (and most of those actions won't be applicable to most items most of the time). A human DM might allow many more verbs, like stacking things on top of one another, repairing items in a nonmagical way, building new devices or modifying the functionality of existing devices in a nonmagical way, pouring a liquid onto a specific object or dungeon feature (including one that can't be picked up), and a lot more.
I agree that the bot ascension is an astonishing achievement, and one I didn't expect to see for many years!
Then again, human DMs can also be outwitted by careful specification of actions. Like how someone managed to win the original Tomb of Horrors.
Re:First NetHack bot ascension
by steveklabnik on Wednesday February 04, 2015 @02:30AM
(#8995727)
Do you have a link with some backstory on this? I'd be interested.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/TombOfHor...
Crowning moment of awesome entry.
Re:First NetHack bot ascension
by steveklabnik on Thursday February 05, 2015 @08:02PM
(#9007210)
Thanks for the follow-up.
Was that module ever won by the first groups to encounter it?
The fact that someone wrote a bot to think on its feet enough to do this, is astonishing.
You should try it out in your free time, check out alt.org, there's a server where you can play and the irc channel #nethack on freenode (I believe) is very helpful and there's a few wikis available.
But beware, it becomes very addictive. The 'one more turn' rule applies heavily here.