This manual is rather in-depth and covers many aspects of the game that you are not required to know to have fun. It is intended for those who really want to get into the nuts and bolts of creating characters and watching them progress. If you just want to jump in and start adventuring, you can use some pre-generated characters included with Realmz. Otherwise, you can generate new characters, called player characters, or PCs.
12 premade characters are included with Realmz. Six first level and six 3rd level characters. If you find yourself getting killed too easily with the 1st level PCs, try using the 3rd level PCs. Once you have a better feel for the game, you will most likely want to create your own PCs.
To start a new game:
1) Select the name of the scenario you wish to play in the Adventure menu.
2) Select Begin New Adventure from the Game menu.
3) Choose the characters you wish to adventure with.
4) Select the difficulty level for play.
5) Select the monster set you wish to use. The scenario was developed with the normal monster set in mind. If you use MONSTER MONSTERS or MEGA MONSTERS the game will be much harder.
6) Click 'DONE' That's it. The game should now build a new world for you to adventure in. Have fun!
To generate new Player Characters (PCs), select Generate New Character from the character menu. See the chapter on CREATING CHARACTERS for more information on creating new PCs.
Each scenario will have a recommended number of experience levels with which to begin the adventure. As you add PCs to the party, the total number of experience levels of the current party is compared to the recommended number.
If you begin the adventure with less than the recommended amount, you will earn experience and monetary treasure at a faster rate to account for the added difficulty. The opposite is also true. If the party has more levels than the recommended number, then PCs will earn experience at a slower rate. Each scenario also has a maximum number of levels.
The City of Bywater's recommended number of levels is 6. What this means is that you may start with any number of PCs with a total of up to 6 levels of experience at normal difficulty to gain experience and treasure at 100% the normal rate. If you have more/less than this amount, or vary the difficulty level, then the rate at which you gain experience and treasure will vary.
NOTE: Registered copies DO NOT have a maximum level limit. The rate at which you gain experience will decline as you add more PCs, so if you add too many, you will be hard pressed to gain levels.
How to add/drop characters from your party
To remove a PC from the party, select the PC, and click DROP.
ERASE will delete a PC from the list of possible PCs FOREVER, and remove his character file from your hard drive. Never do this unless you are sure you don't want this PC anymore.
Done will band the party together and start you on the road to adventure. (Provided you have added at leased one PC to the party)
Difficulty level will adjust the difficulty and frequency of battles and the rate at which PCs will gain experience. The game remains the same, but monsters will be tougher or easier. The amount of experience and monetary treasure will also vary by the difficulty level.
Importing Characters To import characters from a different copy of Realmz put the character file(s) in the Character Files Folder of your new copy. Select Begin New Adventure and click the IMPORT button. The game will then ask you to locate your existing PCs. Once they are selected, they will be added to the list of available characters. NOTE: The IMPORT features doe not move any files, you will have to move the character files from your old copy to your new copy prior to clicking on the import button.
What makes a good party? A good party will consist of a well-balanced mix of characters. Too many of any one type of character is doomed to failure. Each class of character has its strong and weak points. See CHARACTER CLASSES in the Creating Characters chapter for a description of the various classes, including their various strengths and weaknesses.
