[Scarblac]

It's of course a similar game but they're so different.

Angband is one of those games that are about endless grind, trying to get those rare item drops that allow you to descend a bit further by offering some form of elemental resistance you lacked. And then you can continue grinding. Also, later on, many fights with unique monsters with extremely powerful attacks.

Nethack is much more about getting a collection of items and then trying to figure out how to identify them until you have enough of the important ones,and not running into random deaths. And a lot of fun because all the obscure interactions that can happen.

[omegaham]

This is the old way to play Angband, and consensus on the forums is that it's incorrect (not to mention extremely boring).

Rather, you want to dive as deep as possible, pick your battles very carefully, and get loot off the ground or from occasional fightable monsters. Hilariously, people have found that Ironman play (never leaving the dungeon, and always descending) is easier because it forces you to play like this.

When grinding, you will still run into out-of-depth monsters that will wreck you, so there is no way to play the game safe.

[Scarblac]

That's probably true, but I don't like that cautious way of playing where you avoid the monsters. I want to kill them all,or most of them anyway. Of course that doesn't have to be too cautious all the time as that does become boring, there's something in between of course.