TERRAIN

Each place on Arda is characterized by a specific terrain type, which is represented (in prompts and elsewhere) as follows:

   [   - Indoors        <   - Mountains      +   - Road
   #   - City           %   - Shallow water  :   - Brush
   .   - Field          ~   - Water          =   - Tunnel
   f   - Forest         W   - Rapids         O   - Cavern
   (   - Hills          U   - Underwater

At the moment, the symbols used in "map" and "map global" are different, due to historical reasons…

Different races find it easier or harder to move in different terrains. The 'easier' and 'harder' below refer to the Human norm.

       | Field  Forest  Hill    Swamp   Mountain 
-------+----------------------------------------
Elves  | .      easier  .       .       harder  
Dwarves| .      harder  .       .       easier  
Hobbits| easier .       .       .       harder  
Orcs   | .      harder  easier  harder  easier  
Trolls | easier .       .       .       easier

See also:

MPS