From IvanWiki

Contents 1 What is IVAN? 2 What is a roguelike? 3 But there are hundreds of roguelikes out there, and they are all nearly the same. Why would I want to try out IVAN? 4 Who or what is an ommel? 5 What is the "ommel cerumen trick" everyone saying?

What is IVAN?

Yet another roguelike game. IVAN is an abbreviation for "Iter Vehemens ad Necem" which means "Violent Road to Death" in Latin. IVAN is regarded as one of the more difficult roguelike games, and is also known for innovative game design and sarcastic backgrounds.

What is a roguelike?

A roguelike is a role-playing video game which has a similar gameplay as the 1980 game Rogue. Although there are many different roguelikes theses game shares some common attributes:

• They are turn-based : Every time the player makes an action one or more turn are spent (depending of the speed of the player and the duration of the action
• They feature randomly-generated dungeons
• They implement "permadeath", which means that once the player dies you must start over

For more information, check this article on Wikipedia

But there are hundreds of roguelikes out there, and they are all nearly the same. Why would I want to try out IVAN?

Listing might be the most convenient way to answer this question.

• Bodypart system. Remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail? All bodyparts in IVAN have separate armors and separate hit points. After you’ve found your first good weapons, you will be able to reduce some monsters to helpless torsos by mutilating them frivolously! The game rewards brutality by showing its results graphically. Brutality can also be applied to you, though, so it’s best to have a remedy available in case of a lost limb.
• Material and equipment system, which is unlike that of any other roguelike. In IVAN there is a certain definition for, say, a longsword. However, the material of a longsword can be anything at all. If you have been lucky enough to get a scroll of change material, you will be able to turn your ’iron longsword’ to a ’meteoric steel longsword’, but also to a ’bread longsword’ if you, for some reason, wanted to eat a bread that is shaped like a longsword (I’m not saying it’s a good idea, but it’s not impossible). Another example: you might also want to turn your ’leather boots of strength +1’ to much stronger ’phoenix feather boots of strength +1’. Besides allowing you to upgrade your equipment in a fresh way, the material system makes it possible for the game engine to easily generate lots of different objects in the dungeons for your use and amusement.
• Graphic effects. IVAN has probably more advanced graphics than any other roguelike. ”But graphics are useless in a roguelike!” you might exclaim. You would probably reconsider such an opinion when following a wounded and panicked monster according to its trail of blood. Besides that, you’ll face dynamically generated and animated flames, smoke, auras, weather effects, explosions, sources of coloured light and much more, even animated squares such as water.
• General Gameplay. IVAN brings gameplay issues further than most roguelikes, while still remaining easy to play. Besides the bodypart system and the material and equipment system there are such curiosities as 2x2 monsters, wandering mercenaries and slaves which you can recruit/buy, smiths and tailors who can repair broken equipment, and monsters which are able to reproduce. The game also features many different deities ranging from chaotic to neutral and lawful. Each god has its own specialities and altars, and you will be able to affect your own alignment by the way you play. And on the top of all that, IVAN’s storyline will keep you pumped with its unique events!

Who or what is an ommel?

It is a mystery-shrouded creature (yes, at the least we think it is an organic creature) whose details known only to IVAN DevTeam, or possibly not known even by them. Some rumors say that the ommel is so powerful that it can easily squash Elpuri down with just a foot and doesn't even notice that, and some says it resembles to an enormous cammel or a huge donkey, but they are just rumors.

In-game known facts are

• Ommel hair has reddish color
• Ommel tooth is harder than diamond or adamant
• Ommel urine is a luminous material
• Excretory substances of the ommel are beneficial to most other creatures

Squashmonster has written a fictional work on the Ommel

What is the "ommel cerumen trick" everyone saying?

It is a sort of (known) exploit (in version 0.50) which will break some parts of game mechanism and game balance completely, and thus it is generally regarded as a cheat. If you really want to know about it in details, you may read the FAQ with spoilers page (since this page doesn't provide spoilers)