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The Dragon Sword version 2.1718281828459045 (e) (c) copyright 1990 All Rights Reserved Table of Contents DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 THE STORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 GETTING STARTED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 CHARACTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 CHARACTER ABILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 CHARACTER EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 PLAYING THE GAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 USING THE MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 THE GUILD MENU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 THE SHOP MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 THE TEMPLE MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 THE BANK MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 THE HALL MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 VIEWING THE CHARACTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 MOVING THROUGH THE MAZES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 OTHER OPTIONS NOT IN MENUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN THE MAZE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 MAGIC SPELLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 CLERIC SPELLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 MAGE-SPELLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 HELPFUL HINTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 HOW TO REGISTER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 The Dragon Sword Page 1 DISCLAIMER The Dragon Sword is a public domain product and may not be sold or marketed in any way or form without the expressed written consent of the author Brian Tieman. I hold no responsibility or liability for any damages or losses due to the use or abuse of the program Dragon Sword. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS The Dragon Sword was written on and Epson Equity I+ and run and tested on an Epson Equity I+ system with a Hercules graphics monitor as well as on an Epson Equity II+ with an EGA Graphics monitor. The minimum system requirements for play include a 5 1/4" low-density drive or a 3 1/2" low-density drive with more than 256K memory (256K of memory will not work) and a Graphics monitor all running under MS-DOS. INTRODUCTION The Dragon Sword is a fantasy role-playing game very much like the popular Wizardry series. You play the part of a party of adventurers prepared to take on all challenges to seek out and find the "Dragon Sword"--a weapon mighty enough to defeat the dragon Oijngate. If you have played games such as Wizardry or Bard's Tale, the majority of this manual will prove redundant as most of the commands are the same and a simple menu system is implemented throughout the game. A quick browse of the Story section may prove beneficial and the complete spell list found under the magic section may also come in quiet handy, but no further reading should be necessary. For those who have never played Wizardry or Bard's Tale, this manual is for you. In it you will find all you need to play Dragon Sword. It's really not that hard of a game, but it does take a little getting used to. Movement is a simple matter of a key press, but since the view you are offered is a three dimensional view of the maze, mapping and moving around may seem to be hard at first. Once this minor obstacle is overcome, you should find hours of enjoyment in the adventure that awaits. Dragon Sword is somewhat extensive--spanning over thirty levels, it may take many weeks of play to complete, but it is almost never boring. As you progress through the dungeons, the monsters get harder, their attacks trickier, the puzzles harder, and the mazes stranger and more challenging to map and explore. But it all can be done. If you like Wizardry or Bard's Tale, you'll love Dragon Sword. If you've never played either of those games, once you've played this one, it may spark enough interest in you to purchase one of the more advanced and more graphic games of the same ilk. The Dragon Sword Page 2 THE STORY The sudden darkness blinded them. Quickly, Quillian worked the weaving of a light spell. The words echoed hollowly back-- there was no light. "Curse this abysmal dark!" Jurklar hissed, stubbing his nose on a wall for the fourth time now. "The stairs are supposed to be here! The map must be wrong again." "Or we've been teleported." Plandrick added, the first whisper he uttered since using his last spell against the Flightstalkers. He didn't like this. Spells or no spells, this here was an evil place and they'd be damned lucky to get out alive. Jurklar screamed. "Attack men!" Without a moments hesitation, the party grasped cold steal and dashed forward to battle a foe they could not even see . . . . . . And such is the world of the Dragon Sword. Magic, monsters, mayhem. But it wasn't always so. Bralka was once a peaceful town with a prosperous future. Townsfolk once walked the streets without fear. Store owners once thrived on the wealth of trading Bralka received. The crops were good, the land at peace. Then came the dragon. Your goal as adventurists, is to penetrate the web of defenses and secrecy surrounding the Dragon Sword and its whereabouts and retrieve the weapon for use against the mighty Oijngate. The citizenry of Bralka are depending on the return of the sword--they will pay dearly for its recovery and those powerful and crafty enough to return it shall live forever in the minds of the people. GETTING STARTED Dragon Sword has no install program to run. It auto-detects you system's configuration and tries to conform itself to run on almost any system. The simplest way to get started is to copy all the files onto a play disk--be it a hard or floppy disk--and to type DS at the DOS prompt to start. If you are unfamiliar with MS-DOS, consult your manual to find out how to correctly make a duplicate disk and do so. Place the original in a safe place and play only from your play disk. Remember, if you ruin the original disk, it will cost you to have it replaced. If DS refuses to enter graphics mode, you can force it into a particular mode by using the command line. To force DS to enter a certain graphics mode, simply type "DS" and one of the following parameters: parameter graphics type A ATT400 C CGA G MCGA E EGA M EGAMONO 6 EGA 64 COLOR The Dragon Sword Page 3 H HERCULES I IBM8514 P PC3270 V VGA If this also fails to work, drop us a line explaining, in detail, the messages and apparent symptoms of the problem and we will try our best to work out the bug. Another error that may occur at start-up or any time thereafter is "file bad or missing" error. If this error occurs, the game will terminate and you will be returned to DOS. If the file in question is one of the supplied files (i.e. DS*.* files), you can simply recopy the necessary file and start the game again. The other possibility is that it occurred with the savegame.* or *.dsc files in which case, it may be necessary to start over from scratch with new characters--unless you were clever enough to make periodic backups of your characters and savegames to another disk. Possible causes of this error include write protection on the disk, or disk full or lack of disk integrity do to mishandling of the disk. CHARACTERS A) CHARACTER ABILITIES: Dragon Sword is a fantasy adventure game in the tradition of Dungeons and Dragons. In it, you are in control of a party of from one to six characters--each resplendent in a wide range of abilities and characteristics. You are free to chose between six different classes and six different races. There are six different abilities which you character can excel in and your character may gain experience to advance threw the levels of his class to become a better fighter, spellcaster, etc. Your character also has health points to worry about and spell points to maintain to be able to work potent magic. All of this and more will be explained and it all interrelates in a way that it is hard to understand one facet of a character without knowing all the other aspects as well. However, if you take the time to read through the rest of this chapter and not worry about seeming ambiguities, I think you'll find it all easy to understand. First of all, we'll start with the classes and a little about what they mean. The six classes and a brief description of each are as follows: Barbarians : A fighter type class restricted in the use of certain weapons and armours. Barbarians can't use magic or most magic items, but they are compensated for this weakness by having higher stamina and constitution than all other classes, often allowing them to live longer in a fight. Fighters : Fighters aren't restricted in the use of any weapon or armour type. They can use a wider The Dragon Sword Page 4 range of magical items than Barbarians but are correspondingly low in health points and are thus easier to kill than Barbarians. Monks : Perhaps the best of the fighter type classes, Monks are skilled in the art of killing. They have some restrictions on armour and weapons, but they gain bonuses to armour class that allow them to easily avoid attacks. Thieves : In your travels, you are bound to come across locked chests and trapped objects. Thieves are horrible fighters, but when it comes to picking a lock or disarming a trap, thieves are great friends to have. Clerics : Clerics are clergy with a direct line to their gods. They can call upon the gods for favors such as healing or light and are a valuable aspect for any party seeking the unknown. The special favors of the gods come in the form of spells which the cleric can cast when necessary, but watch out, clerics only see so much favor from their gods--once their spell points are lost, they must seek the gods favor once again. Magic-users: Mages don't hold the graces of god, but they can cast powerful spells all the same. By far the weakest character of any party, mages will usually be the last member of a party. But their physical weaknesses and inability to wear most armour is more than compensated by their power in the realm of magic. When one spell can kill every foe before you, you will be thankful you have these weaklings along! The second aspect of any character is the characters race. Races include such creatures as elves and half-elves, dwarves and hobbits, gnomes and humans. There's really not much to say about the individual races. Some races benefit certain classes, for example, elves generally make better mages, dwarves make better fighters, and hobbits are almost always good thieves, but there is no general trend. Each race has benefits on ability rolls and each race also hinders some ability rolls. My suggestion is the trial and error basis of choosing. Roll a few sample characters in each race and decide from that which races you characters will become. There are no restrictions on mixing and matching classes to race, so just be happy with what you decide to make. One you have decided on a class and race, you will have to settle for a set of randomly generated ability rolls. All abilities range from 3 to 18 with 18 being best. The breakdown of each ability is as follows. The Dragon Sword Page 5 STR (strength) : Strength is a measure of the amount of physical power a character can muster. Higher strengths allow the character increased damage for attacks and may lesson damage received from a blow. Strength is one of the main attributes of all fighter classes. INT (intelligence) : Intelligence is the main attribute of magic-users. High intelligence scores lead to spell point bonuses which allow the character to cast more spells before replenishing power. WIS (wisdom) : Wisdom is the measure of wiseness a character has. Clerics are generally very worldly wise individuals and a high wisdom allows them better communion with their god. DEX (dexterity) : The second main attribute of fighters is dexterity. Dexterity allows a character to dodge blows better as well as fight more efficiently. A high dexterity may allow characters to get that important "first strike" as well as lower their armour class--thus making them harder to hit. A monk with a high enough dexterity can reach armour classes far lower than any armour will allow. CON (constitution) : Constitution is the one ability everyone should be high in. Constitution is the level of health and fitness a character maintains and provides bonuses to health point that may save a character from an early death. LUK (luck) : Luck serves no other purpose than to add a more random feature to the game. A high luck will help thieves pick locks, but it will also allow a first level fighter to sometimes prevail over a sixth level mage--after all, we all get lucky once in a while! Each character may also have all or some of these characteristics: Hit Points : Hit points, or health points, is the measure of life a character has before he dies. A character with zero hit points is dead and can only be revived The Dragon Sword Page 6 with special spells which sometimes fail. The higher a character's hit points, the more likely he is to survive in battle. But be warned, there are spells and affects that can effectively kill a character with hundreds of hit points--such as paralysis or turning to stone, and many others known only to the veil creatures of the underdark! AC (armour class) : Armour class is the measure of protection a character has. The lower the armour class the better a character can ward off damage done by other creatures. Without armour, most characters have an armour class of ten-- or very little protection. Armour class is affected by dexterity and a very dexterous monk of high level may have an armour class as low as -20 making him practically invincible to all but the strongest of creatures and magic which armour class does not protect against. Spell Points : Spell points mark off the power at a spell caster's disposal. Certain spells require more spell points than others and you may never cast a spell that requires more spell points than you have. Only clerics and magic-users are given spell points and only in limited numbers. You will find that your success at survival will depend very much on how well you make use of your character's spell points throughout the adventure. Spell Level : Spell level is the level at which you can use spells. There are six levels for both clerics and magic-users and you may only use those spells which are at or below the level of spell proficiency of your character. For example, a cleric with a spell level of three may use spells of level one, two, or three, but not spells of level four or more. EXP (experience) : Experience is a gage by which knowledge is measured. Every monster you defeat teaches you something about battle and so gives you more experience. When you have gained enough experience, you can search out and train at a hall. Training raises your level as well as health points, fighting ability, spell The Dragon Sword Page 7 points and chances of survival. It is best to train as often as possible. LEVEL : Level is the plane of achievement at which you currently lie. A fighter of level ten is certainly a better fighter than a fighter at level two or three. Higher levels may allow you more attacks per round, or higher levels of spell proficiency. Gold : Gold, quite simply, is the amount of money your character has in possession. At the beginning of the game, gold will be scarce and you may not be able to afford to outfit all your characters as you wish, but by the end of the game, your characters should be able to retire comfortably on a very large bank roll. B) CHARACTER EQUIPMENT: Now that you have a general idea of what a character is and the abilities and other characteristics associated with each character, it's time to talk a little bit about the equipment a character can use. There is no comprehensive list of equipment used in this game. When you first enter a shop, you will find items like swords and armour and shields that are basically self- -explanatory. It may take a little trial and error on your part to decide what's better than what (a good rule of thumb is the more expensive--the better) and who can use what, but most items in the shop are easily identified. On the other hand, you may find some items--like a jump stone--which may confuse and baffle you even after you've used them many times--that's part of the adventure! All items have their uses--there are no cursed or evil items in Dragon Sword. It may be difficult to imagine a use for some items, but the uses are there. Each character may carry eight items. Whether or not he can use all his items depends on the item, class limitations, and other obvious factors (a character using a shield, for instance, can not use a two handed weapon to fight with as well--unless he has three hands. There are no mutants in Dragon Sword). Also, some items you may never be able to use. At the beginning of the game, each character starts out with nothing. It is up to you, the player, to seek out a shop and spend your precious few pennies on weapons and armour. It is also possible to find items after a battle has occurred. In fact, the most powerful and interesting items can only be won in battle. The Dragon Sword Page 8 PLAYING THE GAME A) USING THE MENUS: Now that you have an idea of who a character really is, it's time to learn the particulars of how to play Dragon Sword. When you first enter the game, you are given an opening screen with a song playing in the background. Tap the space bar and you will be placed at the guild. All of you sessions will start here. What you will see before you will be one of the many standard menu systems Dragon Sword uses to make things easy and convenient for you. Menus are easy to use. All the selections are listed out for you in the top center of the screen. In each selection, there will be one letter that will be bracketed "<>" or, if no letters are bracketed off, the list will be numbered. To chose an option from the menu, simply type the letter of the choice or, if no letter is bracketed, type the number of the choice. Appropriate action will then be taken. That's it! Nearly every option the game is capable of is in a menu somewhere. There is no long list of keystrokes to remember--when certain options are in effect, those options are in an easy to use menu. Below is an explanation of each of the major menus and what you expect to find under each option. A little later, the manual will cover those few options that are not found in a menu--you'll find that there aren't many. B) THE GUILD MENU: The first menu you will come across is the guild menu. It is the starting place of every session and looks something like this: <M>AKE CHARACTER <A>DD CHARACTER <R>EMOVE CHARACTER <C>HANGE NAME <E>NTER CITY <L>OAD GAME <D>ELETE CHARACTER <Q>UIT The first thing you will notice is that the first letter of each option is bracketed off from the rest of the word. That is the call letter--the letter you type in to call up that option. Below is an explanation of what each option does. MAKE CHARACTER : The make character menu introduces a short series of menus and questions that lead you through the development of a single character. The first menu asks you to pick out a class for your character, the second asks for his race. At this point, you are given a partial screen of abilities and are asked if they The Dragon Sword Page 9 are suitable for your character. If so, simply press 'Y'. Otherwise, any other key will force a reroll of the abilities. When you are satisfied with the rolls, type 'Y' and you will be asked to give you character a name. Type in any series of characters you wish up to a total length of twenty. Finally you will be shown the completed character and asked if you wish to save character to disk. 'Y' will save the character for use in the party. 'N' will erase all record of the character from memory. Both options will return you to the guild menu. ADD CHARACTER : This option will allow you to add a character to the party from a disk file. Using this option will give you a list of all characters you may load into the party which you may then chose by their list number. You may have an unlimited number of characters saved to disk, however, only eight are show on the screen at one time. To search through them, simply type 'C'. You may only have six characters in the party at one time. REMOVE CHARACTER : The remove character option will ask you which character you want to remove. Chose the number of a character in the party you wish removed from the party and that character will be removed from the party and saved to disk. It is a good idea to remove all characters periodically so as to form a back up of them. CHANGE NAME : Change name will allow you to change the name of a character chosen by number. ENTER CITY : Enter city will allow you to enter the city and begin adventuring as long as you have at least one living member in the party. You will be placed just in front of the guild looking away from the door. LOAD GAME : The load game option will load a saved game from disk. Games may be saved anywhere in the mazes at any time providing a convenient way to end a session. Note that saved games are distinct from individual characters on disk and that even though all you characters may be saved in the mazes, you may still add them to the party under the guild menu and use them for adventuring. The Dragon Sword Page 10 DELETE CHARACTER : Delete character will allow you to delete any unwanted characters from you disk. You may have an unlimited number of characters saved to disk, but even so, it is often desirable to clear out the ones that aren't necessary. Choosing this option will provide you with a partial list of characters which you may delete by picking the number of one or may search through by typing 'C'. QUIT : The quit option allows you to do just that--quit. It is recommended that you either quit at the guild or do "Ctrl-Q" anytime to exit the game since Dragon Sword takes over a few functions that are restored through quitting normally. Every time you enter the guild, you will be presented with this menu and the theme song will start playing again (it will end whenever you leave the guild and may be toggled on and off in the guild by typing 'V'). C) THE SHOP MENU: When you first enter one of Aldebar's shops, you are asked who wishes to conduct business. Chose a character from the party by number. That character will then conduct all transactions while in the shop. He will receive all bought items and only he will be able to sell any particular items he's carrying. There are two shop menus. Both are simple to use and straight forward to understand. The first menu gives general options. Its options include: BUY : The buy option will call up another screen displaying all the items on sale, their prices, and another menu that will help you move around the list of items to buy and to purchase particular items. SELL : The sell option will call up a screen showing all the characters items and how much Aldebar will purchase them for. Simply type in the number of the item you wish to sell and the transaction will take place. The item will be removed from the equipment list and the money deposited in the characters pockets. POOL : Pool provides a convenient way for the active character to collect all the money the party owns in order to purchase an item. It is a much simpler method of gaining all the funds that the trade option discussed under "VIEWING THE CHARACTER". QUIT : Quit here will cause the character to leave the shop rather than end the playing session. Typing 'Q' from this menu will return you to the entrance of Aldebar's shop where you will be asked once again who would like to enter. Either type the number of The Dragon Sword Page 11 another character to enter the shop, or type 'Q' once again to reenter the mazes. The second shop menu comes into play when you chose the BUY option from the previous menu. On the top left of the screen will be a list of items and their prices. Just to the right of this list will be the purchasing menu. It offers the following options to aid you in purchasing items. NEXT : Choosing this option will advance the list to the next screen. Only eight items are available on the screen at any one time. This option will allow you to call up the next eight items and thus scroll down the list. PREVIOUS : Previous performs the same function as next, but in the opposite direction. Where next brought up the next eight items in the list, previous calls up the previous eight items and thus allows you to scroll through the list in both directions. TOP OF LIST : There are nearly a hundred or more items in Dragon Sword, and while not all of them can be found in the shop at the beginning of the game, it is certainly possible that all of them could be there near the end. Aldebar keeps a detailed list of his inventory and any item you sell now will most likely still be in his shop later. Top of list provides a quick way to get back to the first item in the list without having to scroll though pages of items you don't care about. BUY ITEM : Buy item will purchase the item and place it in your equipment list provided that you have the funds to pay for the item. QUIT : Quit will return you back to the shop menu where you will be asked to chose another option. Aldebar has a monopoly in Bralka. His shops will be the only ones you will find in the city, but there are several of them and they're not very difficult to find. D) THE TEMPLE MENU: There isn't an actual menu per se in the temple. When you first enter the door, you will be asked who needs healing. Type the number of the character you wish to heal and you will be told how much healing for that person will cost and then asked who will pay for the healing. Either type in the number of the character who will pay the bill or else type 'Q'. 'Q' will return you to the "who needs healing" question. 'Q' once again will exit you from the temple. The Dragon Sword Page 12 Every form of injury or illness can be cured at the temple-- for a price. Some cures fail and the money is lost, but everything can be performed--even dead characters can be brought back to life although the prices for such healing are fairly exorbitant. E) THE BANK MENU: The bank is a convenient place to store large amounts of money. There are several of them located throughout Bralka and your account can be accessed from any one of these banks. Upon entering a bank, you are asked which character will make a transaction. The transaction is then controlled by a simple menu with the following options: POOL : The pool option will pool all the money into the active characters control. He can then conveniently deposit any amount of the parties money for later use. DEPOSIT : The deposit option will subsequently prompt you to enter an amount to deposit. The amount can be any size as long as the character making the deposit has that much money on his person. If not, the transaction is invalid. WITHDRAWAL : The withdrawal option will display the party account and then ask you how much money you wish to withdrawal. Any amount may be taken as long as the party account contains the necessary funds. All withdrawn funds will be placed in the active characters control. VIEW ACCOUNT : View account offer a quick way to view the amount of money in the parties account. QUIT : Quit will return you to the maze just outside of the door you entered. F) THE HALL MENU: The Hall is essential to winning the game. It is here that your characters gain the vital levels they will need to survive tougher creatures and cast more potent spells. When you enter, simply type in the number of the character you wish to raise a level. If that character can advance, he will do so and his ability scores may be adjusted due to the characters new wealth of knowledge. If your character cannot advance, you will be told how much more experience that character needs to advance. Remember to enter the hall as often as you can so that your characters can raise levels as quickly as they can. The Dragon Sword Page 13 G) VIEWING THE CHARACTER: As there is a limited amount of space, you can only see some of the more necessary statistics of each character, but often it is also necessary to see more than those few stats displayed at the bottom of the screen. To do this, you simply type in the number of the character you wish to view while standing in one of the mazes (not in the guild or bank etc.) The first screen you will see is very similar to the screen you see when you first make the character. There are also several options to perform listed out in menu form to the right portion of the view screen. You may chose any of these options by simply typing the bracketed letter. When you are finished with the statistics screen, you may continue on to the equipment screen by hitting 'C'. This screen contains a listing of all the equipment a character possesses. Items with an asterisks (*) are equipped. You may equip or unequip an item by simply typing the number of that item. There are a couple of more menu options to chose from here as well. They are listed on the right portion of the view screen. When you are finished glancing over your character, simply type 'C' and you will be returned to the dungeon view screen and you may continue your journey. H) MOVING THROUGH THE MAZES: Moving through the mazes of Dragon Sword is a simple affair, but it may take a bit of getting used to. When you first enter the city, you are greeted by a picture of what seems to be two crayons pointing at each other. What's important to remember is that you are "in" the maze and that what you see is a two- dimensional rendition of what you see looking in that direction. What appears to be two crayons is actually a passageway vanishing into the distance. Movement is accomplished by hitting one of the cursor keys and is based on a grid system. You stand upon a single square in the middle of a grid of squares. What you see is what's in front of you and a little to the sides--just as if you were really "in" the maze. To see what's to your right, you hit the right arrow key and you swivel to the right and can look that way. Similarly, the left arrow turns you left and the down arrow turns you completely around and lets you view the area behind you. The important thing to remember is that none of these three keys move you from the square upon which you stand! You are still on the same square; you have merely turned in one direction or another. To move, you must hit the up arrow key. This key will advance your characters one square through the maze--provided you are not running your characters into a wall! By using the arrow keys, you may turn and move forward just as if you were walking. If a wall is in your way, it will stop your movement, forcing you to turn and move in another direction. Doors can be walked through by hitting the up arrow key while facing the door. The Dragon Sword Page 14 Try it for a while with characters you could care less about. You'll find walking through the mazes can be quite fun and in no time you'll have the hang of it. Then you may wish to take out your hero's and guide them to their destiny. There are over thirty different mazes to master and you'll soon find that mapping is essential. Each maze is based on a 21 X 21 grid of squares and every square of every level is used although some are tricky to get to. The simplest method of mapping is to get a few sheets of graph paper and mark out a 21 X 21 area. Pick a square to start mapping from and assume you are there (all mazes wrap around and all staircases lead precisely one level up or down). By turning in different directions, you can find out what's around you and draw it accordingly on your map. Be sure to mark where and what messages are and any squares that were particularly good or bad so you can take appropriate action should you need to step through them again. Mapping is probably the most time consuming part of Dragon Sword, but as any square may contain a necessary piece of information, imagine how time consuming it could be to get to level 28 and not know the answer to a vital question and having to start all over from the beginning before you may continue on. Mapping isn't all that hard--and it makes things much easier! I) OTHER OPTIONS NOT IN MENUS: There are certain other options that aren't found in the menu system. A listing of them and the key that invokes them follows. Note that these options will only work while you are in the maze. 1..6 : The numbers one through six will allow you to view that character in more detail as explained in "VIEWING THE CHARACTER." C : Cast This option will allow you to cast a spell out of combat. After hitting 'C', the same options you have during combat casting are available. Keep in mind that some spells have no use outside of combat while other spells may have differing affects while not in combat. D : Change Delay This option will allow you to change the delay time a message will remain on the screen. If you find you cannot read an entire combat message in the default time, you may use this option to adjust the delay time. The time may range from 1 (extremely fast) to 999 (extremely slow). G : Get Rid Of Pet This option will allow you to get rid of whatever pet is in your party at the time making room for a new pet or simply getting rid of an unproductive member. The Dragon Sword Page 15 Ctrl- Q : Quit This option will allow you to quit the game. You will be asked if you really want to leave. Type 'Y' and you will be returned to DOS. Note that your game is not saved automatically so quitting a game will lose your status unless you save it first. R : Reorder This key will allow you to reorder your party as you so desire. After hitting this key, you will be asked which character to move and then where you wish to move him. The character will be moved to that position and the rest of the party will be jostled around to compensate for the hole created. Note that any pets the party has may not be moved from the first position. S : Save Game This option will allow you to save the game right where you are. It's handy for when you're entirely sick of playing for a while and want a break. To load a saved game, type 'L' while in the guild and your most recent save game will be loaded. Note that there is only one save game possible although you may save over your existing game any time you want. The most recent saved game is always the one that is loaded. U : Use Item Once this key is pressed, you will be asked who wishes to use an item. Make your choice and you will be shown what equipment that person is carrying. Type in the number of the item you wish to use and if it does have a special use, that use will be performed. J) ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN THE MAZE: From time to time the game will question you to see if you have achieved enough strength and knowledge to continue on. When you step upon a square, from time to time you will be asked a question which must be answered correctly to pass, or to receive a valuable item. All questions can be easily answered if you have completed everything necessary up till that point. Prior messages provide vital clues or may even hand feed you the answer in clever ways. In either case, it is necessary to answer these questions eventually if you wish to win. To answer a question, you type in the answer at the '>' prompt. You may only place a single word after the '>'. If the puzzle requires more than one word to answer, hit return and you will be given another '>' prompt only if the first part of the answer was correct. All answers must obviously be spelled correctly and 'Yes' and 'No' answers must be typed out. When you have completed The Dragon Sword Page 16 typing in your response, hit the <enter> key to see if it was correct. MAGIC SPELLS A) CLERIC SPELLS: Clerics are perhaps the most important character in the party for it is only they that can wield the life restoring energies that are often necessary to save a character from death. What follows is a comprehensive list of cleric spells. What they can do is left to you, the adventurer, to find out. Level 1 spells: 1) [1] LIGHT 2) [2] LOCATE 3) [3] SANCTUARY 4) [3] MEND WOUNDS 5) [4] EASY HIT Level 2 spells: 1) [2] UNTRAP 2) [4] OPEN WOUND 3) [4] SHIELD 4) [6] HOLY WATER Level 3 spells: 1) [5] LONG LIGHT 2) [6] CAUSE WOUNDS 3) [8] CURE WOUNDS 4) [8] EASIER HIT 5) [9] CURE POISON Level 4 spells: 1) [8] ARMOUR 2) [9] STONE 3) [9] HEAL 4) [11] CURE PARALYSIS 5) [12] CURE STONE Level 5 spells: 1) [14] PARTY HEAL 2) [14] PROTECTION FROM BREATH 3) [15] RECALL 4) [16] RAISE DEAD 5) [16] TELEPORT TO STAIRS Level 6 spells: 1) [15] PROTECTION FROM SPELLS 2) [17] INVULNERABILITY 3) [20] TOUCH OF DEATH 4) [25] PRAYER The Dragon Sword Page 17 B) MAGE-SPELLS: While Mages wield the same forces as clerics do, the emphasis is more on draining away the life force than on restoring it. Mages can cast many deadly spells, and for this alone they are potent allies, but they may also cast various other spells that may save the party or even allow it to continue onward. A complete list of mage spells follows. Level 1 spells: 1) [1] COMPASS 2) [2] SPARK 3) [3] FAMILIAR 4) [3] FRIENDS 5) [4] SILENCE 6) [4] FIND SECRET DOORS Level 2 spells: 1) [3] DART OF FLAME 2) [4] HEAL PET 3) [4] MAGESWORD 4) [5] WOLF 5) [5] FIREBALL Level 3 spells: 1) [5] INVISIBILITY 2) [5] LONG COMPASS 3) [7] LIGHTNING 4) [7] MOVE GROUP 5) [8] OPEN WALL Level 4 spells: 1) [9] DEATH 2) [9] WEAPON OF SILVER 3) [11] STINKING CLOUD 4) [12] PARTIAL CURE 5) [12] BLOCK OF ICE Level 5 spells: 1) [12] DESTROY 2) [13] DISINTEGRATE 3) [13] MOVE MONSTER 4) [15] ICE STORM 5) [16] SWARM 6) [17] TELEPORT Level 6 spells: 1) [20] BURNING AIR 2) [22] DEAMON 3) [25] WISH The Dragon Sword Page 18 HELPFUL HINTS 1) Map everything. Mapping is the only sure way to make sure you step upon each and every square. Remember, help can be found anywhere. 2) Place your spell casters in the back of the party. They aren't good fighters and they will be protected from most attacks there. 3) If a low level character dies, it is often better to create a new one instead of wasting all your money on raising them from the dead. Concentrate on keeping your better characters alive and soon they will be able to support young fledglings on their quest for glory. 4) The hall is located to the north and east of the guild. When you first start out, explore the area around the guild because there are several very important places within shouting distance of it. Find these first. Then, when your characters have a couple hundred experience points, make a break for the hall to see if they can raise levels. 5) Run from the larger battles. Only take on foes you know you can defeat. Prey on weaker monsters and remember that sometimes you may not be able to run away. 6) Sometimes fighting is better. When you run away, you may sometimes find yourself in a totally unfamiliar place with no clue as to how to get back home. Note that when you do run, however, that you will never leave that level. 7) Use spell points sparingly until you find out where they may be regenerated. Even then, you should start thinking about getting back your spell points when you have only about a quarter of them left. 8) Sometimes you have to do some pretty silly things. 9) Sometimes you may find yourself at ropes end. Most games have a hint book for cases such as these, but not this one. However, if you are on a level you simply can't map, have a question you simply can't answer, or would like to know what an object does, you may send me a SASE and I will send out the answer to you as quickly as possible. The catch is that the game must be registered--hey, hint books cost money too! Besides, registration is cheap and it allows you other advantages as well. Read on and you will see. The Dragon Sword Page 19 HOW TO REGISTER There are several ways in which you may register The Dragon Sword, should you choose to do so. Check, or money order. Simply send a check or money order for $15.00 to: The Dragon Sword Writers c/o Tim Musa 721 Elm Street Park Ridge, IL 60068 When you register The Dragon Sword, you will receive a registered copy of the game with your very own version number (wow!). You will also get free hint support and notification of any upgrades and future sequels. Incidently, we are currently planning a sequel and welcome any suggestions on how we may improve the game or any thoughts you might have on anything in general. Thanx!