Brogue is a hard game. Part of that comes from the array of potions available (some negative) and mostly from cursed equipment.
In the early depths (first couple of floors), you should do the following:
- Quaff-identify potions near, but not adjacent to, shallow water: If the potion ends up being incendiary (and thus sets you on fire), you can step into water and put the flames out. This generates scalding steam, which is not hard to run from. Just watch out for eels.
- Quaff-identify potions in a room with a door: Creeping death potions quaffed out in the open can quickly spread to fill the level. Opening them in a room allows you to just walk out. Happily, fungus can't yet open doors.
- Most negative potions are negligable: Other than incendiary potions, you don't have much to worry about; you might fall down one floor deeper, or suffer flesh-eating gas temporarily.
- Try and find a potion of detect magic: Detect magic will identify every item on the level as positively enchanted, negatively enchanted, or unenchanted. You can then get rid of the cursed (negatively enchanted) armor and weapons and make better guesses about what your magic items are. It's worth hauling items to one level before testing potions to make the best use of detect magic.
- Equip everything: your starting equipment is quite weak. Even if you equip a cursed item, chances are you will find a scroll of remove curse or a scroll of enchantment (both of which can be used to lift the curse and discard the item). Be aware that cursed equipment is nonetheless often better than your starting equipment. A -1 axe is much better than a +0 dagger, for instance. You can also use scrolls of protect weapon or protect armor to uncurse your current weapon or armor, respectively.
- When in doubt, choose armor/weapon as if they were non-magic: When you find a treasure room and forced to choose among weapons and armor, think what you’d like if they were all +0. Clearing two or three floors then hauling a bunch of unidentified potions is often a waste of food. Better think of vampire bats and ogres, you’ll never defeat them with leather armor and dagger.
- Don’t waste scrolls of enchantment on low-level things: Prefer to enchant items that you will use until the end of the game. Enchanting your starting +0 dagger only to switch to a broadsword later wastes a scroll. Good candidates are upper tier weapons, plate mail, weapons with runic abilities, offensive staffs and combat charms.
- Have at least one unused scroll of enchantment: In dire situation you can uncurse a thing, recharge a charm, or give one more charge to a staff. And when you find a runic weapon, it really matters whether it is +1 or +2.
- Use X to explore: this will automatically explore until you find something interesting, like an enemy. It saves a lot of time.
- No floor is impossible to pass: Sometimes you find huge lakes or lava pools. You can always, always walk around these; if it appears otherwise, you need to find a hidden door -- use S to search where you suspect a door.
- Have a rest behind the door you expect enemies to arrive from. You are likely to dispatch them unaware in one hit.
- Know when to run: At times you will encounter a monster that is simply not within your power to defeat. When this happens knowing the best ways to escape can save your life.