Loadstar 128 40/q40.d81/t.dark dungeon

Text File | 2022-08-28 | 9KB | 222 lines

                          D A R K   D U N G E O N

                   Program and Text by Robert Pellegrino


    Welcome to the DARK DUNGEON that's located in the catacombs beneath the
magnificent LOADSTAR Tower. Here, one to four players become intrepid
adventurers who must search for treasure, gain experience points, and try
to defeat the evil creatures that lurk in its 56 chambers. The goal is to
become the first player to reach the 4000 Victory point total and exit the
dungeon in one piece.

 NOTE: DARK DUNGEON runs in 40 columns only.


 THE BEGINNING
 -------------

    After a chance to read some instructions, you are asked to enter the
number of players and their names. Then a random dungeon is created. Every
time you play the game it has a new dungeon so you can enjoy playing again
and again. Each player starts with 1000 Health points, 3 Strength points
and 0 Experience points.


 THE DUNGEON SCREEN
 ------------------

    The screen is divided into three sections. The top section indicates
what, if anything is found in this particular dungeon room, along with your
name, the room you're currently in, and the direction you came from.

    The middle section gives you an ACTION list, something like

 (NSEW) D U P T M AP X Q H

 Inside the parentheses are the directions you can go from this room. The
rest of the ACTION list stands for the following:

 D    Drink
 U    Unlock
 P    Pick up treasure
 T    Totals (your score at present)
 M    Map
 AP   Attack Player
 X    eXit from the dungeon (only from the exit room at 7 8)
 Q    Quit (to BASIC or LOADSTAR 128 if there's a LOADSTAR disk in the
       current drive)
 H    Help (the short help screens seen at the beginning of the program).

    The room numbers are in ROW, COLUMN order. HALLWAY 2 5 means that you
are in a hallway at row 2, column 5 on the map.

    The bottom section of the screen shows the player's status, as well as
any treasures, spells or weapons he possesses.

    Enter N, E, W or S to move north, east, west or south to another
location. Moving takes one turn, and players take turns moving. You can
simply press RETURN (with no key entry) to do nothing (pass).


 TREASURES
 ---------

    When the top section says TREASURE (in reverse) you can pick up that
treasure with P. All rooms can hold up to four treasures. Picking up takes
one turn. There are five types of treasure:

 Potion        50 points
 Silver        100 points
 Gold          200 points
 Magic Sword   300 points
 Diamonds      500 points

    Some treasures may be booby-trapped. There are also two SPELLS that you
can pick up. When you pick up a treasure its initial will be added to the
"string" of your treasures listed at the bottom of the screen, and 10
Experience points are added to your total.


 SPECIAL TREASURES
 -----------------

    A potion is a special treasure. Once you possess it you can keep it for
50 points or drink it to gain more Strength. If you drink it you lose the
50 points and it disappears from your Treasure list.

    The Magic Sword adds 1 to your attack force (more on this later) as
long as you have at least one in your possession.

    Spells do not count for points. You may only use a spell from a hallway
or a dead monster room. You may accumulate spells until you are ready to
use them. Using a spell takes one turn.

    LIGHTNING spells are to be used against another player. To use the
spell, enter LIT. Then enter the name of the player you wish to cast the
spell on. That player will drop four of his treasures, which will be
transported to your room, where you can pick them up. A room can only hold
four treasures so if your room contains two treasures when you cast the
spell, then your opponent will only drop two of his. LIGHTNING spells are
notoriously hard to aim and they often backfire and hit YOU instead.

    TELEPORT spells transport you immediately to another location. To use a
TELEPORT spell enter TEL and the the row and column of your destination.
Enter them as one number with no punctuation or spaces. To TELEPORT to row
2, column 5, enter 25. You may not transport directly to the exit chamber,
78.

    If an item you pick up is booby-trapped, you lose one to four turns.


 THE MAP
 -------

    You may look at the map at any time without losing a turn. Enter M to
see the map. The 56 areas will be drawn on the screen with your location
and the locations of the other players indicated. Locked rooms, dead
monsters, explored areas and unexplored areas are also shown.

    Some hallways will be locked (they'll be purple on the map) and you
will automatically retreat from them into the room you were in. A locked
hallway may contain treasure. To unlock a room, enter U then enter the room
number in RowColumn format, as you did for TELEPORT. It costs you 50 Health
points and takes one turn. Once a room is unlocked, it stays unlocked.

    A few rooms in the dungeon have hidden tunnels in them. Entering a
tunnel room will slide you to a random room in the dungeon.


 MONSTERS AND CHAMBERS
 ---------------------

    If you move into a chamber (red border) your turn will continue. Each
chamber in the dungeon has one monster and a number of treasures in it.
When you move into the room you have a new set of ACTION options:

 AM           Attack Monster
 AP           Attack Player
 R            Retreat
 P            Pick up
 D            Drink potion
 M            Map

    You cannot move through a chamber unless the monster in that chamber is
dead. You can Retreat if you like and it will take you back to the room
from which you came, except:

 Retreating directly after TELeporting will take you to a random room;
 Retreating from the Entrance will take you to a random room;
 Retreating directly after a Tunnel will take you to a random room.

    Each monster has its own characteristics. A Faery is easier to kill
than a Dragon, but if you kill a Dragon you get more Experience points.
Monsters in the northern part of the dungeon are easier to kill than those
in the south, but the ones in the south are usually guarding more
treasures. When you move into a chamber, the border turns red and the
chamber, type of monster and its kill total are shown in the middle
section.


 ATTACKING
 ---------

    Certain factors influence the force of attack against your opponents.
Your Strength is directly related to the force. If you drink a potion and
it's a Strength potion, your Strength will increase by 2 and your Health by
60. If it's a poison potion, your Strength will drop by 1 and you Health by
25. All potions eventually wear off and after a certain number of turns
your Strength will return to the starting value of 3.

    Potions are cumulative; drinking two Strength potions in a row will
increase your Strength by 4.

    If you have a Magic Sword, your attack force is increased by 1.

    To attack a monster, enter AM. If your force is greater than the
monster's, you will defeat him and gain whatever Experience points the
monster is worth. If you lose the battle (your number is equal to or lower
than the monster's) you lose 1 Strength point temporarily and your Health
is reduced, according to the power of the monster. Your shield power, which
increases with experiance, may deflect some of the hits.

    If your Strength goes below 1, you are too weak to pick up any
treasures. If you Strength drops to 0, you die and all your treasures are
randomly scattered around the dungeon.

    You may NOT cast spells in a red chamber. You may try to steal a
treasure from a monster, drink a potion or even attack another player in a
monster's chamber, but there's a chance that you or any other player with
you may be attacked by the monster.

    In order for you to attack another player, he must be in the same room
with you. You must beat a player's force total by MORE THAN ONE to win the
battle. If you tie or only beat him by 1, it's a Stalemate. If you win,
your opponent drops two treasures and retreats, while you get another turn.
The losing player takes hits equal to 30% of your Experience points, minus
his shield value. If you initiate an attack and lose, you drop one
treasure, retreat and