gistfile1.txt

Alexs-MacBook-Pro ~/personal/crawl/crawl-ref/source [cmake ?] $ g describe
0.24-a0-292-g5def1f51ed
Alexs-MacBook-Pro ~/personal/crawl/crawl-ref/source [cmake ?] $ uname -a
Darwin Alexs-MacBook-Pro.local 18.2.0 Darwin Kernel Version 18.2.0: Mon Nov 12 20:24:46 PST 2018; root:xnu-4903.231.4~2/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64
c
Alexs-MacBook-Pro ~/personal/crawl/crawl-ref/source [cmake ?] $ cmake --version
cmake version 3.14.3

CMake suite maintained and supported by Kitware (kitware.com/cmake).
Alexs-MacBook-Pro ~/personal/crawl/crawl-ref/source [cmake ?] $ cmake -DTILE_MODE=NO_TILES .
-- The C compiler identification is AppleClang 10.0.0.10001145
-- The CXX compiler identification is AppleClang 10.0.0.10001145
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec/cc
-- Check for working C compiler: /usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec/cc -- works
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec/c++
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/local/opt/ccache/libexec/c++ -- works
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
CMake Warning (dev) in CMakeLists.txt:
  No cmake_minimum_required command is present.  A line of code such as

    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14)

  should be added at the top of the file.  The version specified may be lower
  if you wish to support older CMake versions for this project.  For more
  information run "cmake --help-policy CMP0000".
This warning is for project developers.  Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

-- Configuring done
CMake Warning (dev) at CMakeLists.txt:993 (add_executable):
  Policy CMP0028 is not set: Double colon in target name means ALIAS or
  IMPORTED target.  Run "cmake --help-policy CMP0028" for policy details.
  Use the cmake_policy command to set the policy and suppress this warning.

  Target "crawl" links to target "PkgConfig::curses" but the target was not
  found.  Perhaps a find_package() call is missing for an IMPORTED target, or
  an ALIAS target is missing?
This warning is for project developers.  Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

CMake Warning (dev) at CMakeLists.txt:993 (add_executable):
  Policy CMP0028 is not set: Double colon in target name means ALIAS or
  IMPORTED target.  Run "cmake --help-policy CMP0028" for policy details.
  Use the cmake_policy command to set the policy and suppress this warning.

  Target "crawl" links to target "PkgConfig::sqlite" but the target was not
  found.  Perhaps a find_package() call is missing for an IMPORTED target, or
  an ALIAS target is missing?
This warning is for project developers.  Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

CMake Warning (dev) at CMakeLists.txt:993 (add_executable):
  Policy CMP0028 is not set: Double colon in target name means ALIAS or
  IMPORTED target.  Run "cmake --help-policy CMP0028" for policy details.
  Use the cmake_policy command to set the policy and suppress this warning.

  Target "crawl" links to target "Threads::Threads" but the target was not
  found.  Perhaps a find_package() call is missing for an IMPORTED target, or
  an ALIAS target is missing?
This warning is for project developers.  Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

CMake Warning (dev) at CMakeLists.txt:1040 (add_dependencies):
  Policy CMP0046 is not set: Error on non-existent dependency in
  add_dependencies.  Run "cmake --help-policy CMP0046" for policy details.
  Use the cmake_policy command to set the policy and suppress this warning.

  The dependency target "copy-generated-png-files" of target "crawl" does not
  exist.
This warning is for project developers.  Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /Users/alex/personal/crawl/crawl-ref/source
Alexs-MacBook-Pro ~/personal/crawl/crawl-ref/source [cmake !?] $

I think i know know what the problem is:
You took the CMakeLists.txt in crawl-ref/course as input, but the root cmake file is in crawl-ref!

Also I looked into the ncurses not being found: You need to export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/usr/local/opt/ncurses/lib/pkgconfig" (if you installed ncurses with homebrew) so that cmake will find the library.cd ..

I will update the docs accordingly