What's new in 3.0

• Added a chapter just prior to this one named "Realmz Support Files"  It lists some interesting web sites and documents.

• Changed the Magic-user spell "Portable Hole" to "Thought Lace"  This new spell makes the party more resistant to charm spells.

• I have gotten a LOT of complaints that the spells for the Magic-users just don't pack the punch that the other classes spells do.  I have increased the damage and lowered the spell points cost of a number of Magic-user spells to give them a leg up.

• Added a top down view of many indoor areas.  Now, only true dungeons will have the 3D view.  Have also added some new areas to Bywater to explore in this new view.

• Modified the Magic-user spell "Wizard Eye".  It will now allow you to see past walls in the new indoor areas.  However, the cost of the spell has been increased and the duration reduced.

• Added code that will allow the use of boats/ships.  You will not see boats used in the current scenarios in release, but they should show in future scenarios.

• Added a small button next the your PCs portrait.  It looks like a small "A"
This acts as a toggle between AUTO mode and normal mode in combat.  This way you can make some of your PCs move in permanent AUTO mode during combat.

• Removed the effects of AGE on your PCs.  It caused more problems than it was worth.

• Added a chapter that replaces the TEXT ONLY copy of the spell list.  It now appears after the chapter on keyboard commands.

• Completely revamped the music menu.  You can now install music files by various names and have them play at specific times in the game.  For more info on this, select "How to Alter Music" from the MUSIC menu.

• Made some changes to the experience charts to account for massive amounts of experience gained at upper levels.

• Bunch of tweaks/bug fixes.

What's new in 2.5

• Increased the maximum number of monsters that can be in any one battle.  The old limit of 50 has been doubled to 100.  This was no small feat as it involved recoding a lot of stuff to get it to work.  Thank the makers it's now done.

• Some monsters will now be vulnerable to some types of spells and will take extra damage from them.  For example:  Red Dragons are resistant to heat but will take extra damage from cold based spells.

I have modified the bestiary screen to show the monsters vulnerabilities but not to what degree.  i.e.  It will show that a creature will take extra damage, but not how MUCH extra damage.  That can vary by creature and by difficulty level of the game.

• Some monsters may now only be affected by specific types of weapons.  i.e.  Some require sharp weapons like swords and axes to damage while others may only be hurt by smashing weapons like maces or staffs.

Example:  Slimes and Giant Slugs require sharp weapons to inflict damage while something like a minarite (A heavily armored, 3 legged eating machine) requires a weapon that can crush armor.

• Some monsters may now do special things when destroyed. Example:  Yellow Mold Men, when destroyed, will explode, leaving a stinking cloud behind.  They may also split in half and continue to attack as two separate Yellow mold men.  

Other monsters may be life linked.  Example:  If you destroy a Mush Mound, all of its attacking podlings (Move and attack independent of the mound) will wither and die.  Thus, by killing one creature, you can cause the demise of those that are life liked to it.

There is more stuff that can happen when special creatures are destroyed, but that is up to you to discover.

• Added new keyboard equivalents to select spells from within the spell selection screen.  You can use the arrow keys to select the SPELL, SPELL LEVEL & POWER LEVEL you wish to cast.  You can hit the "C" or "Return" keys to cast a spell and "A" to ABORT the spell casting.

• Added some keyboard shortcuts for toggling between your missile and melee weapons.  You may also activate your missile weapon from the keyboard as well.  See the chapter "Keyboard Commands" to find out what the keys are.

• Added new keyboard equivalents to aim a spell during combat.  The arrow keys will now move the map around.  The spell area will not move, so place the spell towards the center of the screen.  Then adjust the position  of the combat map with the arrow keys.  To launch a spell you can hit "Enter" on the keypad.

• The arrow keys use to be used to adjust the power level of a spell that is currently being cast.  This has been changed to account for the changes I just mentioned above.  You can now change the POWER LEVEL of a spell by using the +/- keys.  The "Keyboard Commands" chapter has been updated to show the new keyboard commands.

• Holding the <Option> key down during startup of the game will disable the check Realmz makes for screen size and colors of the display.  If you have an oddball display, or one that may be patched together in an odd way, Realmz may have difficulty in testing it.

What's new in 2.4.1

• Added preferences to turn WEAPON FUMBLE and UNIQUE ITEMS on or off.  Note: There are some penalties if you turn these items off.  Make sure you check your preference settings, so you know what you're in for.

• Made age a factor in a PC's development.  There are five age classes to which a PC can belong: Young, Prime, Mature, Elder, and Ancient.  There are a couple of new tables in the Appendix of Tables, as well as in the chapter "Creating Characters / Importing Characters" that give the breakdown by age group and race.  The changes that your PC will go through are outlined in those tables.  Also, there is no limit to how long your PC can live.  Once they hit a certain age, there will be an ever-increasing chance that they will just up and die on you.

• Fumbled weapons will be identified automatically when you retrieve them in the treasure collection screen.

What's new in 2.4

• A long time I ago, many items in Realmz were unique.  i.e.  Your party could only have one of them.  I took that out because a lot of people were not happy with that.  Well, I put it back in because just as many liked it.  Even though many of the items appear in more than one location, they are still considered unique and you will only be able to have one.  With the addition of FUMBLING, this makes it more important than ever for a warrior to possess several weapons, yet nobody will be toting around a whole sack of +8 Death Cleavers.

• Added FUMBLING.  From time to time your PC may make a bad move with their melee weapon that causes them to drop or FUMBLE their weapon.  If this happens, your PC will need to equip a new weapon, or use their bare hands, for the rest of the battle.   All fumbled weapons will NOT be available to PC until after combat.  During treasure collection, all fumbled weapons will be returned to the party.

• Changed a few spells.

- Magic User,  3rd Level,  Hold Portal is now Major Fumble.

- Enchanter,   2nd Level,  Suggestion is now Fumble.

• Changed the way unidentified items are identified.  If an item is not identified, it will be displayed (usually, but not always) with a generic icon until it is identified.  You will see a new button in the treasure collection screen next to the PCs' portraits.  This is the ID button.  If the PC has an identify scroll -OR- if the PC is capable of casting identify, then they will cast the spell, or use the scroll when you click that button.  Identify will ID any one group of items:  either all of the items in the treasure collection screen -OR- all items a PC has in their inventory.  Note that the spell acts as a combination identify and detect magic in the treasure collection screen.

Also,  the cost to cast the identify spell has been raised to 25 points.

• Added the version of the Spell's data to the preferences list.  Much like the items file, we can update the entire selection of spells used in Realmz via a new file.  This version info will let you determine which version you currently have.