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The Dragon's Claw ═════════════════ Welcome to The Dragon's Claw. The Dragon's Claw is a midevil style scenario for Rude Dog On-Line Adventure Engine. I have spent quite a few hours designing and creating this scenario. I hope that you enjoy it as much as my beta testers do. The Dragon's Claw uses ANSI graphics extensively to give you a topographical view and easy movement around the game's terrain and dungeon maps. The Dragon's Claw features over 200 monsters, each complete with their own statistics including descriptions, alignment, descriptions for a successful hit, special abilities, etc. Other features include towns, inns, temples, ruins, ancient relics, traps, various shops, a variety of weapons and armor, and much more. Getting Started ═══════════════ The first and most important thing about playing The Dragon's Claw is to turn on your Num-Lock key. Movement around the terrain and dungeon maps is done using the keys on your numeric keypad as shown in the diagram below. If your computer isn't equipped with a numeric keypad, you can use the corresponding number keys on your standard keyboard. 7 │ 8 │ 9 Up- │ │ Up- Left │ Up │Right ─────┼─────┼───── 4 │ 5 │ 6 │ │ Left │ │Right ─────┼─────┼───── 3 │ 2 │ 1 Down-│ │Down- Left │Down │Right The second most important thing is that you can save your position and character nearly anywhere in the game by pressing "S." Saving often is a good idea. If you get killed by a trap or monster, you can restart at your last saved position. Creating Your Character ═══════════════════════ The first thing that you will do in the game is to create a character. You should pay special attention to this process. A good character is the key to winning The Dragon's Claw. Below is a list of questions asked during the character creation process. Name: The name you want your character to be called. Gender: What gender you want your character to be. Alignment: The alignment that you want for your character. Alignment is used to determine if a given priest or priestess will heal your character, and to determine if a monster will negotiate with you. A list of available alignments is listed below: Chaotic Evil Lawful Evil Evil Chaotic Good Lawful Good Good Neutral Evil Neutral Good Neutral Character Attributes: At this point the game will randomly generate your character's attributes. Each attribute determines your character's strengths and weaknesses in certain aspects of the game. You can have the game re-roll these attributes until you are happy with their values. In all cases, the higher the value, the better. Below is a listing of the randomly generated character attributes: Strength: The strength attribute ranges from 1 to 20. This is used in determining the amount of damage that your character does to an opponent during combat. If your strength is greater than 15, you will receive a damage bonus against your opponent. If your strength is less than 15, you will be assessed a damage penalty. Dexterity: The dexterity attribute ranges from 1 to 20. This is used in determining your ability to hit an opponent during combat, as well as his ability to hit you. If your dexterity is greater than 15, you will receive a 'to hit' bonus against your opponent, increasing your chance to hit your opponent and decreasing your opponent's chance of hitting you. If your dexterity is below 15, you will receive a 'to hit' penalty, decreasing your chance to hit your opponent and increasing his chance to hit you. Constitution: The constitution attribute ranges from 1 to 20. This attribute is used in the determination of contracting a disease of some sort. As with the other attributes, you gain a bonus if your constitution is greater than 15 and a penalty if your constitution is lower than 15. Hit Points: This attribute ranges from 9 to 12 for new characters. Hit points are basically your character's life force. When you get hit in combat, you lose hit points. If your hit points get to zero or less, your character dies. You can restore lost hit points by means of a healing potion. When your character advances a skill level, his overall hit points are raised by 1 to 6. Disarm Trap: This attribute is a percentage. It is used in determining your character's ability to find and disarm traps. The Main Menu ═════════════ The options on the main menu are pretty much self explanatory. However, I will give a brief description of each option. [A] View History: Display the history of Korindia. [B] View Story Line: Display the game's story line. [C] View Documentation: Display the game's full documentation. [D] View Credits: Display the program and scenario credits. [E] View High Scores: Display the high scores file. [F] View Hall of Fame: Display the hall of fame. The hall of fame is a list of players who have won the game. [G] List Players: List all players currently active in the game. [H] View Character Profile: Display your character's statistics and inventory. This option is fully explained later in this documentation. [I] Change Character Name: Change your character's name. [J] Create New Character: Create a new character. This option first deletes your current character. [L] Load Game: Load a previously saved game. [S] Save Game: Save your current game. [P] Play Game: Play the game. [Q] Quit Game: Exit to the BBS. Character Profile ═════════════════ The character profile is a display of all of your character's statistics and inventory. Below is a sample character profile, followed by a description of each piece of information. Name: This is your character's name. Gender: This is your character's gender. Alignment: This is your character's alignment. Level: This is your character's current level of ability. It is displayed as a number followed by a description for that level. These two statistics are separated by a forward slash. Experience: This is the amount of experience that your character has earned. When your character gains enough experience, he will be raised a level. Experience is gained by defeating monsters in battle. Hit Points: This displays your current hit points, followed by the total amount of hit points possible for your character. These statistics are separated be a forward slash. You can use these statistics to determine how damaged your character is. If both of these values are equal, your character has sustained no damage. If the current hit points is lower than the total possible hit points, your character is hurt. The difference between the total possible hit points and the current hit points tells you how much damage that you have sustained. Gold: This tells how many gold pieces that your character is carrying. Gold pieces are the common currency of Korindia. With them you can purchase just about anything. You gain gold pieces by defeating monsters or from treasure found in dungeons. Strength: The strength attribute ranges from 1 to 20. This is used in determining the amount of damage that your character does to an opponent during combat. If your strength is greater than 15, you will receive a damage bonus against your opponent. If your strength is less than 15, you will be assessed a damage penalty. Dexterity: The dexterity attribute ranges from 1 to 20. This is used in determining your ability to hit an opponent during combat, as well as his ability to hit you. If your dexterity is greater than 15, you will receive a 'to hit' bonus against your opponent, increasing your chance to hit your opponent and decreasing your opponent's chance of hitting you. If your dexterity is below 15, you will receive a 'to hit' penalty, decreasing your chance to hit your opponent and increasing his chance to hit you. Constitution: The constitution attribute ranges from 1 to 20. This attribute is used in the determination of contracting a disease of some sort. As with the other attributes, you gain a bonus if your constitution is greater than 15 and a penalty if your constitution is lower than 15. Disarm Trap: This attribute is a percentage. It is used in determining your character's ability to find and disarm traps. Armor: This is the type of armor that your character is wearing. A plus symbol ("+") followed by a number before the armor type indicates that this armor is magical. There are many different types of armor available to your character. Each type of armor has a rating called "armor class." This rating helps determine a monster's ability to hit your character during combat. The higher the rating, the more difficult it is for a monster to hit you. If your armor is magical, the number following the plus symbol indicates the armor's magical bonus. This value is assessed as a penalty against a monster's attempt to hit you during combat. (For complete information on armor types and armor class ratings, refer to the section on Shops.) Weapon: This is the type of weapon that your character is currently using. A plus symbol ("+") followed by number before the weapon type indicates that this is a magical weapon, and this number is called the weapon's bonus value. There are many different types of weapons available to your character. Each weapon has it's own set of statistics. If your weapon is magical, the bonus rating is added as a bonus adjustment to your ability to hit a monster. It is also added as a bonus damage adjustment when you successfully hit a monster. (For a complete description of weapons, refer to the section on Shops.) Health: This indicates the health of your character. If you have contracted some sort of disease it will be shown here. If your character hasn't contracted any diseases, this will say "Healthy." (For a complete list of diseases and cures, refer to the section on Shops. Specifically Alchemist Shops and Temples) Inventory: This is a list of items that your character is carrying. The only items that your character can have in his/her inventory are potions and relics. (For complete information on potions, refer to the section on Diseases. For complete information on relics, refer to the section on Relics.) The Terrain Map ═══════════════ As explained earlier in this documentation, movement around the terrain map is accomplished using the numeric keypad. At the lower left portion of the map, you will see a legend describing the terrain types and other important features. Somewhere in the upper center of the map you will see a "Ω" (Omega symbol). This symbol is your character. If you press one of the movement keys this symbol will move on the map. At the bottom of the screen, you will see a brief menu of options available on the terrain map. A description of each one is listed below: [Q] Quit: This exits back to the game's main menu. [V] View Character: View your character's statistics. [U] Use Potion: This option allows you to use any potion that you are carrying. (Refer to the section on Diseases for a description of the uses for potions.) [S] Save Character: This will save your character's current location and your character's current statistics. If your character gets killed, you can then re-load from the saved position. On the terrain map, there are several places that you may enter. These are the towns, dungeons, and ruins. Each of these is explained below in their own sections. Each time you move on the terrain map there is a 20% chance of encountering a monster. Terrain monsters are specific to certain terrains. This ensures that you won't encounter a Treant in the middle of the water. (For complete details on monster encounters, refer to the section Monster Encounters and Combat.) Dungeons ════════ As with the terrain maps, your character is an "Ω" (Omega symbol.) You move around the dungeon map using the keys on your numeric keyboard. Unlike the terrain map, in the dungeon map you can only see those parts of the map that you have seen or traversed before. Your range of vision is one square in every direction. As you move around the map, the game updates the display. There are certain features in the dungeon maps that indicate what occupies each square. There are no legends displayed on the dungeon maps. It is up to you to discover what each symbol represents. Dungeon maps contain several invisible or hidden objects. These are traps and secret doors. Traps: Traps are always displayed as a blank space, effectively making them invisible. There are only two methods for finding traps. The first and most painful is to accidentally set one off. The second is handled by the game. It determines if you have found and disarmed the trap based on your Disarm Trap rating, and the trap's difficulty rating. Once you have set off or disarmed a trap, it is no longer active and you can freely traverse the square that it occupied. Secret Doors: Secret doors look just like walls. The only way to discover them is by trying to move onto the square that they are on. If it's a real wall, you will be informed. If it is a secret door, you will be moved to that square. At the bottom of your screen is a brief menu of options that are available during dungeon play. Below is a full description of these options: [Q] Quit: This exits back to the game's main menu. Before exiting to the main menu, you will be asked if you wish to save your character's statistics and position. [V] View Character: View your character's statistics. [U] Use Potion: This option allows you to use any potion that you are carrying. (Refer to the section on Diseases for a description of the uses for potions.) [S] Save Character: This will save your character's current location and your character's current statistics. If your character gets killed, you can then re-load from the saved position. Each time you move on the dungeon map there is a 20% chance that you will encounter a monster. (For complete details on monster encounters, refer to the section titled Monster Encounter and Combat.) Ruins ═════ Ruins are a special part of The Dragon's Claw. Each one has a different purpose. Basically ruins are magically or physically protected places that can only be traversed by special means. Physically protected ruins are those guarded by a monster. To learn all the aspects of ruins and the monsters that guard some of them, you must play the game. Towns and Shops ═══════════════ Towns range in size from small farming communities to large cities. When you first enter a town, you are shown a brief description of the town. Each town has a variety of shops and other interesting places to spend your money. A town menu consists of some statistics about the town, a letter for each shop, and the two commands available in all towns. The town statistics and universal commands are described below. Each shop will be discussed in detail later in this section. Name: Name of the town you are in. Population: Population of the town. Elevation: The town's elevation above sea level. Mayor: Name of the town's mayor. Alignment: The town's general alignment. [V] View Character: View your character's statistics. [Q] Quit: This option exits the town and returns you to the terrain map. Shops are places where you can buy a variety of different items. Included in the listing of shops are special places that aren't exactly shops. These places do however offer special services to your character. There are certain characteristics that are common to all shops. When you enter a shop you will be shown a brief description of the shop and it's proprietor. Each shop has it's own menu. At the top of each menu you will see the shop's name and the proprietor's name. Armory: The armory is a shop where you can purchase armor for your character. Every piece of armor has a protection rating called an armor class. The armor class of your armor is used to determine a monster's chance to hit your character during combat. The higher your armor class rating, the more difficult it is for the monster to hit you. Some types of armor are magical. If your armor is magical, it will usually have a magical bonus. This value is assessed as a penalty against a monster's attempt to hit you during combat. Other types of magical armor are just specially crafted armor. Instead of having a bonus rating, they have a fairly high armor class rating. Armor with a magical bonus rating, and several of the specially crafted armor types, cannot be purchased in a shop. It must be found as treasure. Below is a complete list of armor types and their armor class rating. Type: Armor Class: Clothes 1 Leather 2 Padded Leather 3 Studded Leather 4 Ring Mail 5 Scale Mail 6 Chain Mail 7 Splint Mail 8 Banded Mail 9 Plate Mail 10 Samurai Armor 11 Mithril Scale Mail 13 Drow Scale Mail 15 Adamantine Plate Mail 18 The armory consists of a list of available armor types, each preceded by a letter. To purchase a piece of armor, choose the letter corresponding to the armor type that you wish to purchase. You will be shown the cost and armor class of this armor, and prompted as to whether you want to buy it. In addition to the list of available armor types, there are two other options. These are explained below. [X] Sell Armor: This option allows you to sell your current armor to the proprietor. You will receive about 70% of the retail value of the armor. [Q] Quit: Exit to the town menu. Weapons Shop: The weapons shop is a shop where you can purchase weapons for your character. There are two damage statistics for every weapon. The first statistic is the weapon's base damage. This is the minimum amount of damage caused by this weapon when you successfully hit an opponent. The second statistic is called "damage dice." Damage dice tells how many four sided dice to roll to determine the additional damage caused. Some types of weapons are magical. If your weapon is magical, it will usually have a magical bonus. This value is assessed as a damage bonus when you successfully hit an opponent during combat. Other types of magical weapons are just specially crafted weapons. Instead of having a bonus rating, they have a fairly high base damage and damage dice ratings. Weapons with a magical bonus rating, and several of the specially crafted weapon types, cannot be purchased in a shop. It must be found as treasure. Below is a complete list of all weapons available in the game. Weapon: Base Damage: Damage Dice: Fist 0 1 Dagger 1 1 Staff 1 2 Short Sword 2 2 Axe 3 2 Mace 3 3 Bastard Sword 4 3 Battle Axe 4 4 Long Sword 5 4 Great Sword 5 5 Elven Long Bow 6 5 Dwarven Hammer 6 6 Drow Long Bow 10 5 Sword of Sharpness 10 6 Sword of Might 10 7 Vorpal Sword 15 8 Thor's Hammer 20 10 The Dragon's Claw 25 20 The weapons shop consists of a list of available weapons, each preceded by a letter. To purchase a weapon, choose the letter corresponding to the weapon that you wish to purchase. You will be shown the cost and damage statistics of this weapon, and prompted as to whether you want to buy it. In addition to the list of available weapons, there are two other options. These are explained below. [X] Sell Weapon: This option allows you to sell your current weapon to the proprietor. You will receive about 70% of the retail value of the weapon. [Q] Quit: Exit to the town menu. Transportation Shop: There are several types of transportation shops in the game. There are liveries and ship yards. Each sells different modes of transportation. Each mode of transportation allows your character to traverse different types of terrain. Each transportation shop menu consists of a list of available modes of transportation preceded by a letter. To purchase a mode of transportation, choose the letter corresponding to the mode of transportation that you wish to purchase. You will be shown the cost of this mode of transportation, and prompted as to whether you want to buy it. The only other option available in the transportation shop menu is "Q" to quit to the town menu. Below is a complete list of transportation modes and the types of terrain traversable with them. Transportation: Terrain Types: Walking Forest Plains Swamp Galley Water Horse Forest Plains Swamp Desert Alchemist: The alchemist's shop is a place to purchase potions of different types. Every alchemy shop will sell at least one type of potion, the healing potion. Other potions are specialized potions designed to cure some type of disease. The alchemist's shop menu consists of a list of available potions preceded by a letter. To purchase a potion, press the letter key associated with that potion. You will be shown the cost and disease cured by this potion, and prompted as to whether you want to buy it. The only other option available in the alchemist's shop menu is "Q" to quit to the town menu. Below is a complete list of potions and the diseases that they cure. Potion: Disease Cured: Eye of Fire Newt Rat Poison Shrieker Ichor Dioxin Treant Bark Small Pox Quinine Malaria Rakshasa Whiskers The Black Plague Penicillin Herpes Boiling Vinegar Syphallus Aspirin The Flu Smoked Unicorn Dung Rot Grubs Temple: Temples are holy places presided over by a priest or priestess. At the top of the menu you will see the following information about the temple. Name: Temple name. Priest/Priestess: Name of the temple's priest or priestess. Alignment: The alignment of the temple's God or goddess. This is compared against your character's alignment to decide if the priest or priestess will cure your disease or curse. The rest of the menu consists of a list of diseases and curses curable by this priest/priestess. To perform a healing ritual, press the letter key associated with that ritual. You will be shown the cost and disease cured by this ritual , and prompted as to whether you want to have it performed. At the bottom of the menu is the option "Q" to exit back to the town menu. Below is a complete list of rituals and the diseases or curses that they cure. Ritual: Disease/Curse: Exorcism The Curse of Falling Parts Faith Healing The Curse of Rotting Flesh Banishing The Curse of Motzatokl Laying On of Hands The Curse of Wasting Inn: Inn's are places for your character to rest overnight. They provide a safe haven from the beasts that can attack your character during the night. At the top of each inn's menu you will see the following information. Name: Name of this inn. Proprietor: Name of this inn's proprietor. Quality: This is the inn's quality rating. It is used to determine your chance of contracting a disease during your stay at the inn. Cost: This is the cost of a night's stay at this inn. There are only two options on an inn's menu are described below. [S] Stay for Night: Spend the night at this inn. [Q] Quit: Exit to the town menu. Relics ══════ Relics are special items found in dungeons that have some form of special power. A relic's special power will not always be obvious. It is up to you to determine a relic's use. Monster Encounters and Combat ═════════════════════════════ Monsters can be encountered on both the terrain and dungeon maps. For every move that you make on the map, there is a 20% chance that you will encounter a monster. When you encounter a monster, you will see a brief description of the monster and prompted to press any key. After you press a key to continue, the game will randomly decide if you were surprised by the monster. If it is determined that the monster has surprised you, the monster will immediately attack your character. After the monster's surprise attack or your keypress to clear the monster's description, you will be presented with the battle menu. Below is a list and complete description of these options. [A] Attack: Attack the monster. This option will cause you to attempt to hit the monster. If you succeed, you will be shown a description of your hit and the damage, in hit points, that you caused to the monster. If you fail to hit the monster, you will see the message "You missed the [Monster's Name]." After your attack, the monster will attack you. [F] Flee: Try to escape the battle. If you choose this option, the game will determine if you were successful in fleeing from the battle. Either way, you will be informed by the game. If you failed to flee from the battle, the monster will get it's turn to attack you again. [B] Berserk: This option will cause you to fight your opponent to the death without stopping. It also has some minor advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that you gain a damage bonus of +2, causing you to do more damage if you hit your opponent. The major disadvantage is that you receive a 'to hit' penalty of -1, making it harder for you to hit your opponent. [U] Use Potion: This option allows you to use one of your potions during combat. In most cases, you'd use this option to use a healing potion to regain some of your lost hit points. Unlike the other battle menu options, the monster doesn't get it's turn to attack you after you choose this option. [V] View Opponent: This option displays your opponent's information. It displays your opponent's name and hit point information. The hit point information is in the same format as your character's. Treasure ════════ Treasure items are found in dungeons or when you defeat a monster in combat. Usually a treasure will contain only gold pieces. On rare occasions, you will find a healing potion in the treasure. On very rare occasions, you will find a weapon or armor. And, on very rare occasions, you will find a magical weapon or armor. Credits ═══════ I would like to acknowledge and thank the following people for their help in creating this game. Micah Hall: Thanks for the help with the monsters, for all the suggestions, and for testing everything as the game progressed. Tim Seufert: Thanks for proof reading all of the text files and fixing my numerous spelling mistakes. Triumph Software authors Chistopher Russo and Jeremy DuBois: Thanks for providing a powerful and easy to use communications library. Closing Remarks ═══════════════ I think that this should be enough information for you to play The Dragon's Claw. As with any game, certain aspects can only be learned by playing it. There is nothing complicated or difficult about playing this game. Nearly everything is obvious, or self explanatory. Enjoy the game!