Table of Contents
Nethergate Instructions

Copyright 1999, Spiderweb Software, Inc.

Welcome to Nethergate, an exciting, epic fantasy role-playing game for Windows 95 and 98! This document will tell you everything you need to know about exploring the mysteries of Shadowvale and how to get around as a band of ancient warriors.

Of special importance are the registration instructions. These explain how to pay for the full version of Nethergate on a CD-ROM. Without the complete game, you will only be able to play the first quarter of Nethergate. How to register. This document also includes a full order form.

You can order by credit card. We accept VISA, MasterCard, and American Express. To order by credit card, call (206) 789-4438. You can also buy the game using the secure registration form on our web site: http://www.spidweb.com.

New player?

Read the section Beginner's Tutorial. This section will give you detailed, step by step instructions to explain how to play Nethergate. If you're having any trouble getting Nethergate to run correctly, be sure to look in the troubleshooting section.

Table of Contents:

Section 1: About Nethergate

Section 2: Beginners Tutorial

Section 3: Introduction, Starting Out

Section 4: The Nethergate Screen

Section 5: The Character Info Screen

Section 6: Things To Do In Town

Section 7: Beating People Up

Section 8: Casting Spells

Section 9: The Character Editor

Section 10: Credits

Section 11: Bibliography and Historical Notes

Troubleshooting Tips

How To Order

Order Form

Technical support:

      Should you have any questions, problems or comments, contact:

Spiderweb Software, Inc.

PO Box 85659

Seattle, WA 98145-1659

(206) 789-4438

Internet: SpidWeb@spidweb.com

America Online: SpidWeb

WWW: http://www.spidweb.com

Nethergate is Copyright 1999, Spiderweb Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Nethergate and Spiderweb Software are trademarks of Spiderweb Software.


How to Order
How to Register Nethergate

Nethergate is being marketed under the shareware concept. You can download and play the demo for free. It includes the first quarter of the Celt and Roman adventures, and the demo version of the character editor.

Registering Nethergate costs $30 (U.S.). Upon registering, you will receive the full version of Nethergate and the character editor on CD-ROM. There is also a hint booklet with maps and a walkthrough for the entire game. This is $7 when ordered with Nethergate, or $10 by itself.

You can register by credit card or by sending a check or money order.

ORDERING BY PHONE: We accept VISA, MasterCard, and American Express. Call us at (206)789-4438, or FAX us your order at (206) 789-6016. Our hours are M-F, 10-6 Pacific time. If we aren't open, you can leave your phone number on our machine and we'll get back to you right away.

ORDERING : E-mail us at SpidWeb@spidweb.com. Include your name, address, phone number, registration codes (get them by clicking Shareware Info on the title screen), credit card number, and expiration date. Dont forget to mention that you want the CD for Windows!

BY CHECK OR MONEY ORDER:

Foreign orders are welcome. Pay with a postal money order in US currency, or a check or money order in US currency, DRAWN ON A U.S. BANK. Please dont pay with a EuroCheque - we cant accept them. To print the order form, click on Order Form below and select Print from the menu above. Pay with a check or money order (to Spiderweb Software).

You should get your installation CD, along with full printed documentation, in the mail within 4-5 business days. If the CD gets damaged in the mail, please let us know so that we can replace it.

Order Form


Order Form
Registration / Order Form

Mail this completed form with payment to:

Spiderweb Software, Inc.

PO Box 85659

Seattle, WA 98145-1659

USA

OR Phone us at:  (206) 789-4438 (We're open M-F 10-6 Pacific time.)

OR FAX info below to us at:  (206) 789-6016

OR E-mail information required below to us at: SpidWeb@spidweb.com.

OR use our secure registration form at: http:// www.spidweb.com.

Non-U.S. orders welcome! Pay with a check or money order in US Dollars drawn on a US bank (like CitiBank or American Express), or a postal money order in US Dollars. For orders outside North America, add $4 shipping and handling.

Please print clearly!

Last Name                                              First Name

Address

City                                                         State                     Zip

I would like to register:

The Nethergate CD-ROM and hint booklet ($37) .............................................NO          YES

The Nethergate CD-ROM ($30) ......................................................................NO          YES

The hint booklet to Nethergate ($10)...............................................................NO           YES

Blades of Exile (Sent on CD-ROM, $30) ..........................................................NO          YES

The Exile Trilogy CD-ROM ($45) ......................................................................NO          YES

   (All 3 Exile games and character editors, registered, on a CD-ROM.)

The Exile Trilogy Hint Books ($15) ......................................................................NO          YES

   (All 3 Exile hint booklets.)

Exile III: Ruined World ($25)...........................................................................NO        YES

Exile III: Character Editor ($9)........................................................................NO        YES

Exile II: Crystal Souls ($25).............................................................................NO        YES

Exile II Character Editor ($9).........................................................................NO        YES

Exile: Escape From The Pit ($25)...................................................................NO        YES

Exile Character Editor ($9).............................................................................NO        YES

The hint booklet to Exile III ($8)........................................................................NO        YES

The hint booklet to Exile II ($7)........................................................................NO        YES

The hint booklet to Exile ($6)............................................................................NO        YES

Exile III Bundle: Exile III, the Editor, and a Hint Book..............................NO        YES        ($35)

Exile II Bundle: Exile II, the Editor, and a Hint Book................................NO        YES        ($35)

Exile Bundle: Exile, the Editor, and a Hint Book.....................................NO        YES         ($35)

Total so far:                                                                                                   ______________

Outside US and Canada add $4 shipping and handling                             ______________

Total:                                                                                                              ______________

My e-mail address is: _________________________________

If you're registering Exile I-III (NOT Nethergate), give your registration codes for:

     The Game: ___________   The Character Editor: __________

Credit Card:

I am paying with (circle one):   VISA    MasterCard    American Express

Number: __________________________   Expiration date: _______________

Name on card: ________________________    Signature: _________________________


Troubleshooting

If Nethergate is not working right, read this section. One of the tips below may help.

Question:  Nethergate crashes sometimes for no reason!

Answer: Several steps to try, which will eliminate most problems.

1. Sometimes files can become corrupted. If you have a lot of recurring troubles and crashes, redownloading and reinstalling the game might help, especially if a crash started happening after a long period of no problems.

2. Run Nethergate with no other programs running.

3. Your sound and video drivers may be out of date or corrupted. Contact your computers maker of go to the manufacturers web site and download new drivers.

4. Play Nethergate on a 800x600 screen in 16 bit color. To set your screen resolution, right click on the desktop and select Properties.

Question:  The Nethergate screen is really tiny!

Answer: Go into Windows preferences (in Windows 95/98, right click on the desktop and select Properties), and select a monitor mode with a different resolution. 640x480 is recommended.

Question: The Nethergate screen colors are all bizarre!

Answer:  You need to play Nethergate in 16 bit (or more) color mode. Change the screen resolution by right clicking on the desktop and selecting Properties.

Question: Sometimes, when I switch to another window and

switch back to Nethergate, the colors are all strange.

Answer: One of the other programs you're running is messing with Nethergate's color management. Quit everything else you're using (including the

fancy front-end programs some computers come with) and try running Nethergate again.


About Nethergate
Section 1: About Nethergate

About this copy:

This is Nethergate, a huge, highly-detailed Shareware fantasy role-playing system for Windows 95/.98 and Macintosh. Inside, you will find beautiful full color graphics, a powerful, easy to use interface, and a fascinating storyline. You can choose to play Nethergate as the good or the bad guys, and the game is completely different depending on which side you play. It's two games in one!

About the Demo:

If you don't yet have the Nethergate CD-ROM, you are probably playing the demo version. Until you purchase the CD-ROM, you can only play the first quarter of the game. This will give you a chance to make sure Nethergate runs properly on your system and that you like it. Should you then decide that you want to purchase Nethergate, select How To Order from the starting screen or press the Registration Form button (above).

When you order, by mail, phone, or on the secure registration form on our web site, a CD-ROM with the full game and character editor will be mailed to you. Nethergate is $30 (outside North America, add $4 shipping). When you order, you can also get a hint booklet with a full walkthrough of the game and a pile of maps for $7. Ordered separately, the hint book is $10.

Should you have any questions, problems or comments, contact:

Spiderweb Software, Inc.

PO Box 85659

Seattle, WA 98145-1659

(206) 789-4438

Internet: SpidWeb@spidweb.com

America Online: SpidWeb

WWW: http://www.spidweb.com

Comments and Bugs:

Any comments and bug reports may be made to the address above. Please do so. We love to hear from you, and any comments can serve to make this game (and possible sequels) better.

System Requirements:

To install and play Nethergate, you need a PC or %100 compatible running Windows 95 or 98, 8 MB of free RAM, and a color monitor. Playing with 16 bit color is strongly recommended.


Beginners Tutorial
Section 2: Beginners Tutorial

Like most role-playing games, Nethergate can seem rather complicated at first. In fact, it is extremely easy to play, and the interface is designed to be learned very quickly. To get a quick start, read this chapter. It will give you simple, step-by-step instructions to get started, teaching you, along the way, about all of the most important features.

To begin this tutorial, select New Game on the title screen and choose to play a Roman party. Accept the prefabricated party without changing anything. You can always go back and start over later (perhaps as the Celts). Follow these instructions step by step, and youll find out everything you need to know to get started in Shadowvale.

The Roman Tutorial

After you start the game, you will be standing inside your quarters in Shadow Valley Fort. First, move around a little bit. Move the cursor onto the terrain area. It will turn into an arrow. Click the mouse button a few times to move around. Try pressing the keys on the keypad. The keypad can move you around, too (as can the arrow keys). Some people find it much easier to walk around using the keyboard.

Notice that your characters are moving in a line behind the lead character. If you move the leader into someone else, theyll switch places, thus preventing you from getting trapped in a dead end.

Roman Starting Quarters

Notice that there is a scroll sitting on the table. Press the Get Items button (It looks like a hand. You can also type g.). When the Getting screen comes up, click on the scroll to pick it up and press the Done button. You will now see the scroll in your item list. Click on it to read it. Interesting.

The scroll mentioned that there were supplies in the dresser. You should look inside it. Walk up to the dresser. Press the Look button (It looks like an eye. You can also type l.), and click on the dresser. Get everything inside. One of the things inside is a healing potion. When youre damaged, click on it to drink it and get some health back. Dont do this right now.

Now youre ready to go look around. First, you need to get out of your quarters. Walk up to the door and walk into it. It will open, and you can walk outside. Walk to the south a little bit (south is to the lower left), and you will see a door in the south wall of the building to the right. There is a sign by the door. Walk next to the sign and look at it (press the Look button and click on the sign). It says youre outside a Storeroom. Walk into the door to open it and walk inside. Press the Get button. Now try clicking on one of your characters portraits before picking up any of the items. That character will now be the one picking up items. You can help yourself to all of the supplies (dont forget to look inside the barrel and the crate).

One of the things in the supply room is a pair of boots. You should put them on. Switch to the character who got the boots (by clicking on that characters portrait). Put on the boots by clicking on them. That character now has more protection! The boots will appear to the left. Click on them again to remove them. Try clicking on your suit of armor. It will appear to the right, and you arent wearing it anymore. Click the armor again to put it back on.

You should also learn how to manipulate items. Click on the boots to take them off. They will now be in your item list. Notice that there are three small buttons to the right. Press the button with the G (for give), and then click on a different characters portrait. That character now has the boots. Click on that characters portrait again to make him active, and click on the I button by the boots. You will see a full description of the item. The third button (marked with a D) would drop the boots, but you dont need to do that. Put the boots back on. Youre ready to go look around.

Talking and Getting Your Mission

Now its time to find your commander and get your first mission. Wander to the middle of town and look for the Headquarters (theres a sign in front which says Headquarters). Walk inside and enter all of the rooms until you meet Commander Vibius. A window will come up describing him and the first job you need to do. Afterwards, you should talk to him. Click the Talk button (or type t) and click on the commander, sitting peacefully at his desk.

You will now be looking at the talk window. Select Look, Name, and Job at the bottom to get the basic information about Commander Vibius. When a word appears in bright blue, that signifies something you can ask about. Click on it to get more information. Talk to Vibius until you think that youve learned everything he has to say. In particular, be sure to ask about 'mission.'

The Character Info Screen

The next important thing to learn is how to train your characters. If you started with the prefabricated characters and didnt edit them in any way, each of your characters will start with five skill points. You can spend these to improve your characters skills. First, though, you need to find the training hall. Its at the northwest corner of the fortress (i.e. to the upper left), right next to headquarters. Walk inside the training hall and bring up the Character Info screen, where you do training. To see this screen, click on the question mark beneath one of your characters portraits. Select one of the skills at the left side of the screen and arrow buttons will appear to its right. Press the up button to spend skill points to increase a skill. For Roman characters just starting out, weapons skills and Roman Training are very good investments.

Before leaving the Character Info screen, try clicking on Character Traits, Potions, and the other topics at the lower right corner of the screen. You can use this screen to find out just about anything about your characters. Select something (like a spell or recipe) and a full description will appear to the upper right. When youre through, press the Done button.

You probably couldnt buy very many skills. Five skill points doesnt go far. To get more skill points, you need to get more experience by going out on adventures. Looks like its time to go out on the mission Vibius gave you.

Your First Mission

Walk around Shadow Valley Fort, talking to people and picking up any item that isnt marked with a NY on the Getting screen (NY means Not Yours). In particular, be sure to find Quintus. He can identify an item if you dont know what it is. He also can buy your excess goods, sells supplies, and sometimes gives you free items. Eventually, it will be time to go to the Abandoned Mine, your first mission. Walk out of one of the gates and you will be outdoors.

Outside Shadow Valley Fort

Walk west (to the upper left) and look around until you find the Abandoned Mine. Walk into the dark entrance to go inside.

Outside Abandoned Mine

Its time for your first combat. Once youre inside, walk into the room to the south (to the lower left). You will soon be attacked by three goblins. Press the Start Combat button (it looks like a sword, you can also type f).

When youre in combat mode, all four of your characters will act separately. The active character (who youre currently moving) will glow blue. Walk into a goblin to attack it with your weapon. You and they will take turns attacking.

When youre fighting, there are two other special attacks you can use. Each of your characters starts out with three javelins. Press the Fire Missile button (it looks like a sling) and then click on a goblin to throw a missile.

Your fourth character (Aulus) also starts out knowing some druid spells. When he is active, press the Cast Spell button (it looks like a stone structure from Stonehenge, you can also type c). You will see all of the spells Aulus can cast. Select Lance of Fire, and click on one of the goblins. You will sear it with fire!

Watch your health as you fight. Keep an eye on the blue bars under your characters portraits. When a bar is almost gone, have Aulus heal him. When Aulus is active, press the Cast Spell button, select Mild Healing, and click on the portrait of the wounded character (to select a character using the keyboard, type 1-6). When playing Romans, you should also read about the First Aid skill in the chapter titled About Your Characters.

When the goblins are dead, you may need to rest. (If one of your characters is killed, you should probably start over and try again.) Press the End Combat button and walk out the way you came. When youre outside, press the Rest button (it looks like a tent) to regain your health.

Finally, now that youve made some progress, you should record it. Select Save from the File menu, and save your game. Later, to pick up where you left off, select Open from the File menu and select your saved game.

And that was a good start! You can now move around, get and equip items, talk to people, train, fight, cast spells, and save your progress! There is more to learn, but these basic skills will get you through the vast majority of Nethergate. To learn the other details, read on. But first, play a while. And have fun!


Introduction, Starting Out
Section 3: Introduction, Starting Out

Introduction

The Good Old Days

The whole race ... is madly fond of war, high-spirited and quick to battle ... and on whatever pretext you stir them up, you will have them ready to face danger, even if they have nothing on their side but their own strength and courage.

- Strabo

Though nowadays people think of them as the Celts, back in ancient days nobody would have thought to label them all with one name. They were a very diverse scattering of tribal peoples: the Gauls in France, the Celtiberians in Spain, the Galatians to the east, and the many small tribes of Britannia.

They were proud and warlike people, bearing iron weapons and bad attitudes. In 390 BC, they even sacked a small, backwater city in central Italy. Unfortunately for them, they didnt raze it to the ground.

The people of that city, called Rome, had long memories. When they exploded forth and created one of the greatest Empires history has ever known, the Celtic tribes fell, one after another, victims of superior Roman training, tactics, and discipline.

The Subjugation of Britain

Forget not, Roman, that it is your special genius to rule the people; to impose the ways of peace, to spare the defeated, and to crush those proud men who will not submit.

-  Virgil, Aeneid

Julius Caesar had great success fighting the Celts, taking all of Gaul and then mercilessly putting down a series of rebellions. In 55 BC, he turned his attention to Britannia, the island we now call Britain. He took a large expedition there, marched around the isle for a while, defeated several native armies, and left. It was a peculiar campaign, resulting in little more than a few trade routes and a lot of hard feelings.

Though Britannia traded a fair amount with the Romans in years to come, sending raw materials like tin and lead and getting the Romans wine and crafts in return, it would be many years before Roman troops returned in force. This invasion would be led by Claudius, a weak emperor eager to display his might by expanding the Empire. The Roman invasion came in 43 AD.

The Romans were highly outnumbered. As usual. And they won a series of decisive victories. As usual. The Britons were brave, but fractious. They simply couldnt organize themselves well enough to fend off the Roman soldiers. One tribe after another fell to the invading armies, and during the next 15 years, the southern half of Britannia was absorbed by the Empire.

Obedience and Revolt

Had my lineage and rank been accompanied by only moderate success, I should have come to this city as a friend rather than a prisoner, and you would not have disdained to ally yourself peacefully with one so nobly born, the ruler of so many nations. As it is, humiliation is my lot, glory yours. I had horses, men, arms, wealth. Are you surprised I am sorry to lose them? If you want to rule the world, does it follow that everyone else welcomes enslavement?

- Caratacus, British rebel, prisoner of Rome

The people of Britannia did not meekly accept Roman rule. The rebel Caratacus, for example, led a bloody guerrilla campaign against the Roman invaders for many years, before Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes tribe betrayed him and turned him in.

Harsh Roman treatment of the Iceni people led their queen, Boudicca, to lead a rebellion in 60 AD. Tens of thousands of Roman citizens were killed in a series of bloody battles. As Nethergate begins, this revolt is still raging, and, although the final result is uncertain, the Empire has never had difficulty putting down a rebellion before.

The northern half of Britannia is still free, as is Ireland to the west, but the people there are still waiting for the axe to fall. It seems inevitabile that Emperor Nero, or some other greedy ruler to come, will decide that it is time for the Empire to expand once again.

In the conquered land of Britannia, the grip of Rome seems to grow stronger with every passing year. The memory of freedom is fading, slowly being replaced by a sad acceptance of servitude. Except for isolated pockets of defiance, the Romans are firmly in charge.

Yet, in a magical and isolated valley in the lands of the Brigantes tribe, there is a threat to the Empire. There are strange forces there, forces enjoying their last few days of potency before disappearing from the world forever. Two small groups, one Roman, one Celt, will soon fight to change the destiny of a people, and of an Empire.

So whose side are you on? Will you fight for freedom? Or order? The choice is yours, and the battle is about to begin ...

Starting Out

After you launch Nethergate, you will see the starting screen, from which your adventures begin. Select from the following:

New Game: Start a new game. You will select a side (Romans or Celts) and be given a band of four pre-generated characters. After you edit them, your adventure will begin. Read the next chapter to find out more about creating a party.

Load Game: Once youve started and saved a game, press this button to load it and continue your adventure. How convenient!

How To Order: Nethergate is distributed as shareware. You can play the first quarter of the game for free. Select this to find out how to pay and play the entire game.

Character Editor: Stuck? Too weak to continue? Want a few powerful, blessed items? Press this button. Read the chapter on the Character Editor to find out about your options.

Quit: Farewell! Please stop by again someday!

Creating Your Characters

After selecting New Game on the title screen, you will be asked whether you want to play as the Romans or the Celts. The two sides have different abilities and are sent out on very different adventures. Romans are much more skilled with weaponry, and they can use armor. The Celts are weaker fighters, but they have more access to the magic of Shadowvale.

Select which side you want to play (by clicking on the Roman or the Celt) and then press the Done button. You will be looking at the Creating Your Party screen.

The Party Creation Screen

Nethergate will automatically and helpfully provide you with a party of four pre-generated characters, balanced to give you a good starting group. Each has a name, portrait, and a little bit of text telling you about him or her. To customize your party, select from the following options:

Edit Statistics - This brings you to the all-important Character Info screen, where you can edit your skills, see the spells you know, and add and remove traits (advantages and disadvantages).

To learn more about your skills and about the traits you can possess, read the next chapter: About Your Characters. To change your skills, click on the name of the skill. An up and down arrow will appear to the right. Use these arrows to adjust the skills up and down. The list of traits you can own is to the lower right. To add or remove a trait, click on the button to its right. To find out more about the things you can do here, read the chapter on the Character Info Screen.

Your character can start automatically knowing some spells. In any of the 5 spell circles, your character will start out knowing as many spells as his/her initial skill in that spell circle. For example, if you start out with a War Circle skill of 5, you will know the first 5 spells in the War Circle.

Change Name, Change Graphic - These customize the appearance and name of your character.

Delete - If you would like to start out with fewer than 4 characters or if you dont like the changes youve made and would like to start over, press Delete to consign this warrior to the eternal void.

Create Character - This option appears after you Delete a character. Select this to refill the slot with the basic prefabricated character.

When youre first starting out, its often a better idea to just start with the pre-generated characters. As you play more of Nethergate, you will learn what the skills do and which ones are more useful to you, and you can start over and mess around with your party to your hearts content.

About Your Characters

To you, your characters can be living, breathing things, creatures of subtlety and complexity.

To Nethergate, your characters are a bunch of numbers. These numbers are called Statistics, and they determine how skilled you are with weapons and spells, and how capable you are when dealing with the various threats and challenges in Shadowvale.

As time goes on and you complete adventures, you will earn experience points. The harder the task you complete or the more powerful the creature you kill, the more experience you will earn. For every 15 experience you earn (roughly), you will earn a skill point. Skill points are the currency you use to buy higher levels of your skills. The higher your skills, the tougher you are, and the greater the challenges you will be able to meet.

Romans and Celts have access to different skills, and the skills will have different costs for the two sides. For example, weaponry skills are generally cheaper for Romans. Certain skills (like Roman Training) are only available to one side, although the other side might be able to learn them under certain very special circumstances.

The skills in Nethergate are listed below. Each skill has an abbreviation (Strength is STR, for example), a base level (what it starts out at), a base cost for Romans, and a base cost for Celts. If the cost for one side is given as X, that side cant normally train in that skill (such as Roman Training for Celts).

The cost in skill points to increase a skill by one is the base cost, plus half the current level of the skill. The more you buy of a skill, the more expensive it is to increase it further. For example, suppose Publius has a Strength of 8. The base cost in skill points to increase strength is 6. Thus, it will cost Publius 10 skill points (the base cost of 6 plus half of 8) to buy another level of Strength. Thats a lot.

Your Skills:

Base Skills:

Strength (STR, Base level: 2, Roman cost: 6, Celt Cost: 6) - How muscular you are. Influences how much you can carry and how much damage your blows do in combat.

Dexterity (DEX, Base level: 2, Roman cost: 6, Celt Cost: 6) - How fast you are on your feet. Helps you act sooner in combat, hit more often with melee and missile weapons and be less likely to be hit by foes.

Intelligence (INT, Base level: 1, Roman cost: 6, Celt Cost: 6) - How good you are at thinking things out and solving problems. The higher your intelligence is, the more powerful your spells will be.

Endurance (END, Base level: 3, Roman cost: 5, Celt Cost: 5) - Measures how hardy you are. The more endurance you have, the more health youll have, and the less poison and other such afflictions will affect you.

Weaponry Skills:

Melee Weapons (MW, Base level: (STR + DEX) / 4, Roman cost: 1, Celt Cost: 1) - Your base chance of hitting with a melee weapon (e.g. sword, axe, mace) in combat is %30 + %5 for each level of Melee Weapons skill you have.

Spears (SP, Base level: (STR + DEX) / 4, Roman cost: 1, Celt Cost: 1) - Your base chance of hitting with a spear in combat is %30 + %5 for each level of Spear skill you have.

Javelins (JAV, Base level: DEX / 3, Roman cost: 1, Celt Cost: 3) - Your base chance of hitting with a thrown javelin is %40 + %5 for each level of Javelin skill you have.

Slings (SLI, Base level: DEX / 3, Roman cost: 3, Celt Cost: 1) - Your base chance of hitting with a sling stone is %30 + %5 for each level of Sling skill.

Armor Use (ARM, Base level: DEX / 4, Roman cost: 1, Celt Cost: 3) - Using armor, heavy shields, and bulky clothing reduces your chance of hitting in combat. Each level of Armor Use skill reduces this penalty by %5. As Celts cant wear body armor, this skill isnt as useful for them.

Berserker (BRZ , Base level: 0, Roman cost: X, Celt Cost: 3) - Each level of Berserk gives you an extra %5 chance of hitting in melee and makes your blows do an extra point of damage, but also makes your opponents %5 more likely to hit you.

Hardiness (HRD, Base level: END / 3, Roman cost: 3, Celt Cost: 2) - Hardiness acts like natural armor. Each level of Hardiness has a chance of reducing damage taken from enemy blows by 1.

Defense (DEF, Base level: DEX / 3, Roman cost: 2, Celt Cost: 3) - Defense skill helps you parry away the blows of your enemies. Each level of Defense skill reduces their chance of hitting you in melee by %3.

Roman Training (ROM, Base level: 0, Roman cost: 2, Celt Cost: X) - Roman military training was unmatched at its time. Each level of Roman Training increases your chance of hitting with any weapon by %4.

Druidism Skills:

Druidism (DRU, Base level: INT / 2, Roman cost: 3, Celt Cost: 1) - This is the basic knowledge necessary to cast druid spells. A character needs to buy some of this skill before he or she can learn any of the spell circles.

Health Circle (HC, Base level: 0, Roman cost: 3, Celt Cost: 1) - For each level of this skill you can cast one spell from the Health Circle. It can only be as high as your Druidism skill. The more of this skill you have, the more powerful your Health Circle spells will be.

War Circle (WC, Base level: 0, Roman cost: 3, Celt Cost: 1) - For each level of this skill you can cast one spell from the War Circle. It can only be as high as your Druidism skill. The more of this skill you have, the more powerful your War Circle spells will be.

Beast Circle (BC, Base level: 0, Roman cost: X, Celt Cost: 2) - For each level of this skill you can cast one spell from the Beast Circle. It can only be as high as your War Circle skill. The more of this skill you have, the more powerful your Beast Circle spells will be.

Craft Circle (CC, Base level: 0, Roman cost: X, Celt Cost: 2) - For each level of this skill you can cast one spell from the Craft Circle. It can only be as high as your Health Circle skill. The more of this skill you have, the more powerful your Craft Circle spells will be.

Spirit Circle (SC, Base level: 0, Roman cost: X, Celt Cost: 4) - For each level of this skill you can cast one spell from the Spirit Circle. It can only be as high as the lower of your Beast and Craft Circle skills. The more of this skill you have, the more powerful your Spirit Circle spells will be.

Useful Skills:

First Aid (AID, Base level: INT / 4, Roman cost: 1, Celt Cost: 2) - Someone with this skill can use the First Aid skill (in the Actions menu) to heal wounded characters. Beware - if the skill is low you may end up doing harm. You need a First Aid Kit (or similar item) to use this skill properly. The higher this skill is, the more damage will be healed.

Herbcraft (HCR, Base level: INT / 4, Roman cost: 2, Celt Cost: 1) - Determines how knowledgeable you are with herbs and potions. Knowing this helps you find herbs in the wilderness and improves your Potion Making skill.

Tool Use (TUS, Base level: (INT + DEX) / 4, Roman cost: 1, Celt Cost: X) - How good you are at working with simple mechanical devices. Each level of this skill improves one character's chance of picking locks and disarming traps by %5. Only one character needs to have much of this.

Faerie Lore (FAE, Base level: 0, Roman cost: X, Celt Cost: 4) - How much you know about the working of the faerie realms. Helps with a wide variety of knowledge skills, and may help get you out of trouble in special encounters. If possible, try to have at least 3 or 4 levels of this in your party. The more of this skill you collectively have in your group, the more likely you are to be helped.

Woodscraft (WCR, Base level: 0, Roman cost: 2, Celt Cost: 1) - How much you know about hunting and finding your way through the wilderness. Helps you hunt for food when walking outdoors, and helps in some special encounters. The more of this skill you collectively have in your group, the more likely you are to be helped.

Barter (BTR, Base level: INT / 2, Roman cost: 1, Celt Cost: 1) - How good you are at trading with shopkeepers. The more of this skill you collectively have in your group, the more money you get when selling your items.

Luck (LCK, Base level: 0, Roman cost: 4, Celt Cost: 4) - This helps you whenever something random happens around you. Which is often. Gives you a small bonus when doing just about anything.

In addition to these skills, there are eight secondary skills. You cant spend skill points directly on secondary skills. Instead, they depend on the levels of the skills above.

Secondary Skills:

Health (Level: 7 + END + the sum of all weaponry skills) - Probably the most important skill. This determines how much damage you can withstand before you die. Each time you get hit, you lose some health. When your health drops below 0, you die. Read the chapter on Beating People Up for more information.

Spell Energy (Level: INT + the sum of all druidism skills) - How much energy you have to cast magic spells. When you cast a spell, you lose some energy. It comes back slowly with time.

Poison Resistance (Level: END + HRD + LCK) - Helps you resist the effects of poison and disease. Each level of it increases your chance of resisting a poison attack by %5.

Magic Resistance (Level: END + DRU + LCK) - Helps you resist the effects of magical attacks (like energy bolts). Each level of it increases your chance of resisting magic by %5.

Willpower (Level: INT + DRU + LCK + ROM) - Helps you resist the effects of charming and paralysis. Each level of it increases your chance of resisting by %5.

Rune Reading (Level: INT + DRU + FAE) - Helps you understand strange runes and writing you find in your journeys. When you find an interesting scroll, the more Rune Reading skill you collectively have in your party, the better your chances of understanding it.

Item Lore (Level: INT + DRU + TUS + FAE) - Item Lore helps you identify items you find in your travels. If your Item Lore is high enough to identify an item you are holding or trying to get, it will become identified. The more Item Lore skill you collectively have in your party, the better your chances of identifying an item.

Potion Making (Level: HCR + FAE + (AID / 2)) - Used for making potions. For a character to use a recipe, his or her Potion Making skill must be high enough. The higher this skill is, the better your chance of making the potion. You can learn more about potion making in the chapter on Things To Do In Town.

Character Traits:

When creating a character, you can choose traits. Traits come in two flavors: Advantages and Disadvantages. These will help (or hinder) your characters performance in the adventure to come. Each trait affects how fast your character gains skill points. The more advantages you have, the more slowly you will gain skill points, and vice versa. These are the 15 traits you can choose from (the number in parentheses is the percentage bonus or penalty applied to your experience when you have this trait).

Advantages:

Faerie Blood (-%20 penalty to experience): You were sired on the isle of Britannia, and one of your ancestors was a bit exotic. Because of this, hostile magic has less of an effect on you, and sometimes the faerie folk will treat you more kindly.

Toughness (-%10): One wouldnt know it to look at you, but you were born with an exceptionally strong constitution. Weapon blows and poison will affect you less.

Nimble Fingers (-%8): You have a natural talent for dealing with those newfangled lock things, and traps are far less of a threat to you.

Recuperation (-%12): When something damages you, youll recover more quickly. Your natural rate of healing is increased, and youll be more resistant to disease.

Beastmaster (-%10): Animals like you. A lot. In fact, sometimes, when youre in trouble, you can call animals to aid you. (This is a command in the Actions menu.)

Fast on Feet (-%12): Theres no moss growing on you. You can move more quickly than others. Youll act sooner in combat, and sometimes youll even be able to take extra actions.

Faerie Familiar (-%8): You are lucky enough to have received a blessing in your past. Because of this, you can occasionally call a faerie to aid you. (This is a command in the Actions menu.)

Nature Lore (-%5): The birds and the bushes and all the little animals of the forest are friends to you. Youre more likely to find special things outside.

Highly Alert (-%8): To put it kindly, youre a bit on the hyper side. Fortunately, because of this, youre more likely to resist magical sleep and paralysis.

Mighty Warrior (-%20): Youre a natural born fighter. Every weapon is your friend, and every target jumps in the way of your blows. Your chance to hit in combat is much better, and your attacks will do more damage.

Disadvantages:

Cursed at Birth (%20 bonus to experience): You were born under a bad sign. Youve been down since you began to crawl. If it wasnt for bad luck, you wouldnt have no luck at all.

Sluggish (%15):Youre always kind of sleepy. A bit slow on your feet. Youll always get fewer action points in combat. At least you get more time to smell the flowers.

Frail (%10): You were a sickly child, and the harsh ancient environment hasnt been easy on you. Disease and poison will have more of an effect on you, and your constant coughing will annoy your friends.

Berserk Rage (%8): You have a hair-trigger temper. In combat, youre always close to going berserk. When this happens, your attacks will do more damage, but your foes will have a much easier time hitting you.

Rational Mind (%8): The Greeks brought about a more scientific, rational age, and youve really bought into it. All of this magic stuff bugs you. You cant use magical items, and any spell you cast will be very weak.


The Nethergate Screen
Section 4 - The Nethergate Screen:

When youve started a new game or loaded an old saved game, you will see the Nethergate screen. This is where you will do most of your game playing. How thrilling!

The Nethergate Screen

The Nethergate screen is divided into seven areas.

The Name: Suppose your friends walk up behind you and ask, Hey! What game are you playing? Just point at this and tell them to go away. Youre busy.

The Terrain Area: Youll probably spend most of your time looking here. You can see your adventurers. Handsome little people, arent they? To move them around, click on the terrain area in the direction you want them to move. You can also use the keypad or arrow keys to move (this is usually a much easier way to move around than using the mouse). In the terrain area, north is to the upper right, and east is to the lower right.

If you press the arrow buttons in the corners of the terrain area, the view will shift. You can use these buttons to look at or target things just out of sight.

When youre looking, targeting a spell or missile, or doing something else which requires selecting a target, letters will appear on the creatures/items/whatever you can choose. To select something to look at/talk to/disintegrate, type the letter on it or click on it.

The Character Area: Displays the portraits of the members of your group. You can also rearrange them and look at their statistics.

The Character Area

You can click on this area to do a variety of useful things.

The portrait: When you click on a characters portrait, that character becomes active (you can also do this by typing 1-6). When you try to cast a spell or get items, the active character will be the first person who tries. Also, when youre casting a spell on one of your characters, click on the portrait to pick the target.

Switch places: To have two characters switch places, select the Switch Places icon for one of them and then the other. Note that the fifth and sixth characters have to stay in the same place in the party order (these spots are for special characters who join your group later).

Character info: Select the question mark to bring up the Character Info screen. This screen is very important. This is where you see your characters statistics, do training, and see all the spells, recipes, and special items your party has. The Character Info screen is described in more detail later on.

Health and spell point bar: The two numbers below your characters portrait are his/her current health and number of spell points. The longer the bar to the left of the number is, the more of your points remain.

Gold and food: At the bottom of this area, the number of coins and units of food you currently own are conveniently displayed.

Help icon: The little metallic button with the question mark always brings up a help window.

When a character is affected by some sort of special effect (such as poison or disease), an icon will appear by that characters portrait. To see all of the possible conditions and what icons represent them, click on the Help icon.

The Inventory Area: In this area, decorated by the drawing of a bold, burly Roman or Celt, you will see all of the items you have equipped (i.e. are wearing or are ready to use).

To remove an item, click on it. Move the cursor over an item to see a description.

The Item List Area: All of the items you dont currently have equipped are listed here. Use the scroll bar to move up and down the list.

The Item List Area

When you click on an item, you will attempt to use it. If it is an item that can be equipped, it will appear in the Inventory Area (possibly trading places with an item of the same type you already have equipped). If it is an item you use (like a potion or scroll), you will use it.

To give an item to someone else, select the Give icon and then the portrait of the character to give it to. To drop an item, select the Drop icon. You may be asked to select the location to place the item. Finally, for a detailed description of the item, select the Item Info icon.

The Game Buttons: There will be up to nine buttons in this area, each of them enabling you to do something very important. Move the cursor over a button to see what it does. Each button has a keyboard shortcut. The buttons will change from time to time, depending on which mode the game is in (outdoor, town, or combat). The different buttons (plus the modes you can use them in and what they do) are:

Look/Search/Use (any mode): When you press this button, letters will appear on anything interesting on the terrain view (monsters, chests, items, etc.). Click on (or type) the letter and a description of what you see will appear in the text area.

If you are standing next to a container when you look at it (such as a barrel, crate, box, desk, etc.), you will search it. Sometimes you will find items or special things inside.

If you are standing next to a door when you look at it, you will close the door. If youre next to a sign, you will read it.

Cast Spell (any mode): The active character will try to cast a spell. Learn more about this in the Casting Spells chapter.

Make Potion (town mode): The active character will try to make a potion. Learn more about this in the Things To Do In Town chapter.

Rest (town or outdoor mode): You will stop for a while and rest. If no hostile monsters are in sight, time will pass, and you will recover some health and spell points.

Warning - if you do this too often in a hostile area, the monsters will often take advantage of the delay to gather and ambush you when you emerge.

See AutoMap (town or outdoor mode): You will constantly take note of your surroundings and memorize them. When you press this button, a map of the nearby terrain will appear. On the map, north is up. In the terrain area, north is to the upper right.

Wait (any mode): In combat, this character will wait until the end of the round, after all enemies have taken their moves, to act. Any other time, this action simply causes a little time to pass.

Sometimes, your characters will get webs on them, hampering their actions. When you wait, some of the webs will be cleaned off.

Talk (town mode): You will attempt to talk with someone nearby. Learn more about this in the Things To Do In Town chapter.

Get (town or combat mode): You will attempt to pick up some nearby items. If hostile monsters are nearby, you will only be able to pick up items within reach. If no nasties are in sight, you can pick up any item within four spaces.

To pick up an item, click on it in the Getting screen. To have a different character pick up items, select that characters portrait in the PC screen (or type 1-6).

Some items will be marked with an NY (for Not Yours). This is an item which doesnt belong to you and which its owner wants to keep. If you pick up an item which isnt yours when someone can see you, the town will turn hostile.

Start Combat (town mode): Draw your weapons and attack! You will now be in combat mode. Learn more about this in the chapter on Beating People Up.

Parry (combat mode): This ends the current characters turn, and he or she will get a defensive bonus when monsters attack later in the round. The more action points you have left, the higher the bonus.

One/All Active (combat mode): When you press this button, the currently active character will become the only character who does anything. All other characters will automatically skip their turns until you press this button again.

Fire Missile (combat mode): If you have a missile weapon (such as a sling or javelin) equipped, when you press this button you will be asked to select a target to shoot or fling it at.

AutoCombat (combat mode): This is a handy time-saving feature. If you find yourself in a combat you are easily powerful enough to win, press this button and your party will immediately set about devastating your foes with no need for commands from you.

Your party will end autocombat when one of your characters gets very wounded, there are no more foes in sight, or you click anywhere in the game screen. When your characters are in autocombat, they will usually only use melee attacks (not spells or missiles).

End Combat (combat mode): In town, you will attempt to reform your party and put your weapons away. You can only leave combat in town when all of your characters are within 5 spaces of your lead character and you have space to form in a line.

Outdoors, you will attempt to depart whatever battlefield youve found yourself in. You can only do this when all of your foes are dead.

The Text Area: A running transcript of whatever happens to you will appear in the text area at the lower right corner of the screen.

The Nethergate Menus

In addition to the panoply of buttons, switches, and toggles on the Nethergate window, there is a menu bar at the top of the screen with all sorts of other options.

The File Menu

Open - Open a previously saved game. You will be instantly transported to wherever you were in the game when you last saved.

Save - This will save your current status and position in the game to your hard drive. This command automatically writes your progress over the last save file you opened.

Save As - This will save your current status and position in the game to your hard drive, creating a new file. You will be asked for the name of the new save file. We strongly recommend keeping several saved games around, each at a different point in your progress. Then, if you get stuck, you can always go back to an earlier point later.

New Game - Returns you to the starting screen, where you can create a new group or use the character editor.

Preferences - Lets you change a variety of settings which determine how the game runs. These are the options in the preferences window:

Preferences Settings

Difficulty - Goes from easy to very hard. Determines how powerful the monsters are and how easy it is for you to hit in combat. If you find yourself getting killed a lot, dont be afraid to switch to Easy.

Game Speed - Setting this to faster speeds makes certain time-consuming special effects go away and changes the length of the pauses in the game.

Play Special Effects - If Nethergate is very slow on your machine, turn special effects off to make things snappier. Note that, on older machines, Nethergate may always be a bit slow no matter what.

Play Sounds - Turns sound effects on and off.

Put Game Area in Center - Normally, the game area of Nethergate is in the middle of your monitor. On large monitors, you might want to turn this option off. Then the Nethergate game area will move to the upper left corner of the screen.

Give Tip Of Day - Turns the Tip of Day window that appears at the beginning of the game on and off.

Show Instant Help - Turns the Instant Help windows that appear occasionally on and off.

Reset Instant Help - Press this to make all Instant Help windows reappear, just in case you need a refresher on how to do things.

The Options Menu

Pick New Character Graphic - Select a new character icon and portrait.

Pick New Character Name - Select a new name for your character.

Create New Character - If you have an empty space in the first four character slots, you can fill it with a new character. To do this, select this option while youre in the town you started in (Shadow Valley Fort or Nethergate). You will be given a chance to customize the new characters skills. When youve finished this, use the Pick New Character Graphic and Pick New Character Name options to set the characters name and appearance.

Delete a Character - Gives you a chance to delete the currently active character. How sad.

See Adventure Notes - When you press the Record button on a special encounter window or while talking, you will take a note of what you were just told. You can go through these notes in this window. You can only have so many things in memory, so press the Delete key to forget anything you dont need to know anymore.

See Overall Party Stats - Brings up a tally of how many things youve killed, how many experience points youve earned, and so on in the Text Area.

The Help Menu

This menu brings up several screens, each containing bits of useful information. A useful tutorial for people who dont have this instruction book.

The Actions Menu

Use First Aid - Has the character with the highest first aid skill attempt to heal the current active character (select an active character by clicking on his or her portrait or by typing 1-6).

Wait/Long Wait - This works like the Rest button (see The Game Buttons in the chapter on Game Interface).

Call a Beast - The active character will attempt to summon a wild beast to aid you (only works if this character has the Beastmaster advantage).

Call Faery Familiar - The active character will attempt to summon a sprite to aid you (only works if this character has the Faerie Familiar advantage).

Start AutoCombat - This works like the AutoCombat button (see The Game Buttons in the chapter on Game Interface).

Print Party Location - Prints the coordinates of your characters in the text area. These will be in the form of an X-Y coordinate. X is west-east, Y is north-south, and the northwest corner of the current area is X = 0, Y = 0.


The Character Info Screen
Section 5 - The Character Info Screen:

When you click on the question mark under a characters portrait, you bring up the Character Info screen, one of the most useful features of Nethergate. You can find out just about everything about your characters and do training as well.

The Character Info Screen

These are the areas of the Character Info screen:

Skills List - Your characters skills are listed at the left half of the screen. Click on the name of a skill to see a description to the upper right. The first column tells you the base level of the skill. The second column says how many levels youve bought. The third column tells you how many skill points it will cost for the next level of the skill. Finally, the fourth column tells the total amount of the skill.

When youre in the training hall in Shadow Valley Fort (for Romans) or Nethergate (for Celts), when you click on a skill name, up and down arrows will appear to the right. Use these buttons to buy more levels of the skill. The number of skill points you currently have are at the bottom.

Some skills will be listed as ???. This signifies skills you cant train in. You need to be taught these skills specially in certain hidden areas in the towns and dungeons of Shadowvale.

Description Area - Whenever you want to know what anything is, select it, and a description of it will appear in this area.

Other Stuff - All of the other things about your character are described in this area. Click on any of the options at the bottom (Other Skills, Potions, etc.) and you will see what you have. The topics are:

Other Skills: Lists the 8 secondary skills (such as Health and Potion Making) and their values.

Character Traits: This characters advantages and disadvantages.

Special Items: The special items youve found during your adventures, such as keys and rare artifacts. When you are in a place where one of these items is relevant, you will use it automatically.

Potions: The potion recipes you have found. Recipes you know are in dark letters.

Spell Circles: The six classes of spells. Spells you know are in dark letters. You cant learn what Nether Circle spells do until you find them.

When youre through with the Character Info screen, select Done.


Things To Do In Town
Section 6 - Things To Do In Town

You will spend most of your time in Shadowvale inside, either in towns (cheery, brightly lit areas filled with people who want to be your friend) or dungeons (a general purpose term for dark, scary places where everyone wants to kill you). Towns change drastically depending on whether youre playing Romans or Celts. For example, if you go to the Temple of Brigantia as a band of Celts, you will get a warm greeting. If you enter as a group of Romans, you will be savagely attacked.

To move around, click on the terrain screen in the direction you want to go, or use the keypad or arrow keys (the keypad tends to be the easiest way to move around).

There is a lot to do in town ...

Doors, Locked Doors, and Secret Doors

You will often need to go through doors to get places. To open a door, walk into it. Easy enough.

Sometimes, however, doors are locked. When you walk into a locked door, you will be asked if you would like to pick the lock or try to bash the door open. If you select Pick Lock, your character with the highest Tool Use skill and a lockpick will try to unlock the door. If you select Bash, the active character will try to knock the door down, taking damage if he or she fails. Some doors are magically locked. Bashing wont work on them, and you can only pick the lock if you have a magical lockpick.

Celts have a hard time picking locks. Fortunately, they can cast the Craft Circle spell Pass Portal, which has a chance of unlocking any nearby doors.

Finally, some doors are so securely locked that you can only pass them if you have the correct key. When you approach such a portal, you will be told if you need a key to open the door and whether you were able to unlock it.

Crates, Barrels, Magic Barriers, and so on.

You can find a variety of interesting things scattered among the towns ...

Crates and Barrels: You can push these around by walking into them. These often have items inside. To search a barrel or crate, stand next to it and look at it.

Webs: When a character walks into a space with webs, he or she will be covered with them. Press the Wait key to clean off webs.

Blood stains, slime, bones: These are just background details. They dont do anything.

Magic Barriers: Some magical barriers will prevent you from moving through them. Others inflict magical damage when you walk through. There is a certain magical item which can destroy a magical barrier, or you can use the Craft Circle spell Break Barrier.

Push Blocks: Some puzzles involve large stone blocks you need to push around. These blocks cant be pushed diagonally.

Light and Darkness

Some areas are dark. You wont be able to see more than a space away from you without using a light source (like a lamp or candle) or casting the Craft Circle spell Create Light.

Talking

To obtain information, get quests, and shop, you will need to talk to people. Lots of people. To talk to someone, press the Talk button (or type t) and click on the man/woman/hideous monster with whom you wish to converse. If this is someone who will talk with you, you will go to the talking screen.

The Talking Screen

Everyone responds to your asking about look, name, and job. When a character says a word which is highlighted in blue, he or she knows something else of interest about it. Click on a word to ask about it. For example, if you ask Bob about his job, he might say I make swords. If the word swords is blue, that is something Bob knows more about. Click on that word to get more information.

Characters sometimes offer you quests. You can do these quests for notoriety or a rich reward. Talk to everyone to find out if they have a quest for you. When youve completed a mission, you usually get your reward by going back and asking about the keyword which got you the job in the first place. For example, suppose you ask Bob about mission and he offers you a magical sword if you find out where his dog is. When you find the dog, talk to Bob and ask about mission again to get a reward.

There are several buttons at the bottom of the talking screen:

Look, Name, Job: Select to get a description of the characters appearance or to ask about his or her name and occupation.

Ask About ... : A word doesnt need to appear in blue for you to ask about it. Select Ask About and you will be asked what key word to ask the character about. For example, if someone tells you to ask Bob about swords, when you talk to him, select Ask About and respond swords to find out what he has to say.

Buy: This option will only appear if this character will sell items. It brings up the shopping window (described below).

Sell: This option will only appear if this character will buy items. When you select this, a Sell button will appear next to each non-equipped, identified item. The number of coins you get when you sell it will be next to the button. Press the Sell button to sell the item. Quintus (in Shadow Valley Fort) and Morgan (in Shadowvale) are two people who will identify and purchase your excess items.

Record: Records what the character just said in your adventure notes. You can read these later by selecting See Adventure Notes in the Options menu.

Go Back: Jumps back to what the character previously said.

Done: Quit talking.

Shopping and Identification

If a character has something to sell when you talk to him or her, there will be a Buy button at the bottom of the talking window. Press it to enter shop mode.

The Shopping Screen

Shops can sell items, or spells, or potion making recipes. Select a characters portrait to have that character shop. Click on an item or spell to buy it. Click on the I button to the right of somethings name for a description.

When youre through shopping, press the Done button.

Some people dont sell items, but identification. For a fee, they will tell you what your items are. When you find someone who can do this (such as Quintus in Shadow Valley Fort or Morgan in Nethergate) and ask about identification, ID buttons will appear by unidentified items in your item list. Press this button to pay the fee and find out what the item is.

Healers

Some people dont sell items. Instead, they sell health. If one of your characters gets wounded, killed, or turned to stone, the right person can, for a fee, restore their health. When you select Buy while talking to them, you will enter the shopping screen and see a list of all the things wrong with the active character. Select an ailment to pay the fee and have it cured.

If youre playing Romans, the most convenient healer is in a hut in the swamps west of Shadow Valley Fort (though you wont be able to get there until Chapter 2). If youre playing Celts, Mugain in Nethergate sells healing.

Making Potions

In a long, grueling adventure in a hostile area, there is nothing more refreshing than a nice, long swig of healing potion or energy elixir. Fortunately, if you obtain the right knowledge and the right ingredients, you can make powerful potions yourself before going on a long journey.

It is possible to find ten different potion recipes. To make a potion, you first need to know the recipe (the first two recipes are hidden in Shadow Valley Fort and Nethergate). Then you need a high enough Potion Making skill. You can find the minimum skill by going into the Character Info screen, selecting a type of potion (in the Potions section) and reading the description in the upper right hand corner.

Finally, you need the proper ingredients. There are four sorts of potion ingredients: Mistletoe, Healing Herbs, Spiritual Herbs, and Energetic Herbs. When you have everything you need, enter town and press the Make Potion button. Select the character with the highest Potion Making skill (by clicking on the portrait or typing 1-6). A list of the potions youre able to make will appear. Select the desired potion and youll be told whether or not you succeed. If it works, a new potion will appear in your inventory!

The ingredients for potions are scattered through Shadowvale. There are several places to find each ingredient hidden in the outdoors. When you find one of these places, take the herbs, and, when you return later, they may have grown back.

Getting Items

Ah, wealth. What could be more useful? Items are scattered everywhere in Shadowvale, on the floor, on tables, inside dressers and chests. To get nearby items, press the Get Items button (or type g). To take items out of a container, stand next to it and look at it.

Each character can equip a maximum of 12 items and carry up to 20 non-equipped items. In addition, each object has a weight. Each character can only carry so much mass. The higher the characters strength, the more he or she can carry.

When you get an item, it will appear in your item list. To use or equip it, click on it.

Some items are cursed. When you equip them, you wont be able to take them off! To remove the curse on an item, find a healer or have one of your characters cast the Craft Circle spell Remove Curse.

When you have an identified item you dont need, find someone who will buy it. For example, Quintus in Shadow Valley Fort and Morgan in Nethergate are two people who can identify items and pay money for excess items.

Finally, if you leave an item in a town, the item will still be there when you return. For example, if you cant carry all the items you want to keep, leave the excess in your quarters in Nethergate or Shadow Valley Fort.


Beating People Up
Section 7 - Beating People Up:

Alas, no matter how kind or soft-spoken you are, there are a lot of people and creatures in Nethergate who would like nothing more than to savagely attack you. Fortunately, there are a wide variety of weapons, magical and mundane, you can use to defend yourself. Then, when you defeat the enemy, you can take their stuff! Combat may be painful and stressful, but in Shadowvale it tends to be necessary an awful lot of the time, and profitable as well.

There are two ways to get into a fight. First, you can enter a town containing hostile characters. Second, you can encounter a band of wandering monsters when walking outdoors. When the group moves next to you, you will find yourself sharing a battlefield with them.

How To Attack

To attack someone, you should first equip a weapon (by clicking on it when its in your item list). Then walk into the foe to attack. Thats all there is to it.

When youre wandering around in town mode, if you move your lead character into an enemy, the lead character will attack. This isnt very efficient, though, since your other characters cant do anything. To let everyone act separately, enter combat mode by pressing the Start Combat button (or typing f).

Rounds and Action Points

Combat is divided into segments of time called rounds. Each round, each character gets around 4 action points with which to act. Each action eats up some of your action points, and, when you reach 0, you cant do anything else that round. When nobody has any action points left, a new round starts, and so on until combat ends. To see how many action points each action costs, select Combat Help from the Help menu.

During a round, the fastest characters act first. The fastest character is usually the one with the highest Dexterity, although other factors (like being hasted or slowed, or having a lot of Roman Training) can play a part.

If you want, one of your characters can wait to act until after all of the monsters have used up their action points. To do this, press the Wait button (or type w). If you dont want your character to do anything that round, press the Parry button (or type p or hit 5 on the keypad).

When youre knocked below 0 health, youre dead. If you get hit hard enough, youre turned to dust. Also, some creatures can turn you to stone with a gaze. Any character luckless enough to suffer one of these fates will be out of action until you can get back to a healer or cast a Raise Dead spell. Also, if youre really desperate, the character editor can heal people.

Health and Damage

When something takes damage, it loses health points. When health goes below zero, the character dies. Your characters have an extra advantage. When one of them takes a blow which would knock him or her below 0 health, the health will end up at 0 instead, and you will hear a warning coughing noise. This will give you a chance to move that character to safety or apply healing.

There are several ways to restore a characters health. Damage will be slowly healed over time. Several spells in the Health Circle will cure damage, as will healers in towns. If you have a first aid kit, you can use the Use First Aid command (in the Actions menu). However, you can only use first aid on a character every so often, and your first aid kits will be slowly used up over time. You can also make potions which cure damage.

Killing Everything Off

When youre in town and dont want to fight anymore, press the End Combat button to reform as a group and return to town mode. All of your characters need to be within five spaces of your lead character for this to work. If you got into the fight outdoors, you can use the End Combat button after all of your foes are dead.


Casting Spells
Section 8 - Casting Spells:

Ah, magic. Where would an enterprising druid be without it? Magic in the world is rapidly fading away to nothing, but in Shadowvale it is still a potent force. If youre playing the Celts, its also your best tool and weapon.

The Spell Circles

There are five circles of spells: Health, War, Beast, Craft, and Spirit. (Theres also the Nether Circle, but more on that later.) Each circle has a corresponding skill (Health Circle, War Circle, etc.) and contains eight spells. To cast a spell, you need to have enough spell points and you need to know how to cast it. In addition, you must have a high enough skill in its spell circle (to cast the fourth spell in the War Circle, for example, you need a War Circle skill of at least 4).

To have the active character cast a spell, you press the Cast Spell button, select the spell, and then select the target(s). As always, to change the active character, click on its portrait or type 1-6.

Nethergate has three playing modes (town, outdoors, and combat). Some spells can only be cast in certain modes (Battle Rage, for example, can only be cast in combat). Some spells are very challenging and time consuming, so you cant cast them in the heat of combat (such as Capture Soul or Beast Ceremony).

The Nether Arts

It is rumored that there are, hidden in the most remote parts of Shadowvale, secret and incredibly powerful spells. These spells make up what is called (in the awestruck whispers of amazed druids) the Nether Circle.

If such spells exist (and I cant confirm or deny that fact) and you get one, go into the Character Info screen to find out what it does and how high your statistics need to be to cast it.

Learning New Spells

When you start a new party, you get as many spells in each circle as your skill in that circle (so if your starting druid has a Health Circle skill of 6, you start with the first 6 Health Circle spells). This will, of course, only be a small fraction of the spells in the game. To find the rest, youll need to look around.

All of the lower level spells in the circles can be bought in towns. Ask around in Vanarium and the Faerie Bazaar. The most powerful spells, however, can only be found by searching more remote areas of the outdoors, towns, and dungeons. When you find one of these spells, you will probably need to have a high Rune Reading skill to understand it. Other powerful spells are given as rewards for doing missions, so be sure to talk to the powerful people you meet in your travels.

Targeting Spells

Some spells are cast on a character in your party. To select the target, click on the characters portrait (or type 1-6).

Some spells are cast on your enemies. If a spell damages, say, three foes, click on all three of them. This will make target symbols appear. Click on a target again to cancel the selection. If you dont want to use all of your targets, hit the space bar to launch the spell.

All Known Spells

These are the 40 spells (8 from each of the five circles) you start out knowing about. After the name of the spell, in parenthesis, are the cost in spell points and the modes you can cast the spell in (O for outdoors, T for town, C for combat).

Some spell descriptions refer to your bonus for the spell. Your bonus for a spell is your intelligence plus your skill in that spell circle.

Health Circle

Mild Healing (Cost: 2, TCO) - This powerful restorative heals (2-8 + Bonus/2) points of damage to one character.

Purge Venom (Cost: 1, TO) - Some creatures blows fills your veins with lethal, slow-acting venom. Fortunately, this spell prevents 3-12 + Bonus points of poison damage for one poisoned character.

Alertness (Cost: 1, TC) - When one of your characters is magically put to sleep, this spell wakes him or her up. If its cast on an awake character, it protects him or her from being put to sleep.

Healing (Cost: 4, TCO) - When a wound is too serious for Mild Healing, you can try this spell instead. It heals (3-18 + Bonus) points of damage, putting you back in action that much faster.

Recovery (Cost: 4, TO) - Impure substances clogging your veins? This powerful spell completely removes poison and disease from an afflicted character.

Unshackle Mind (Cost: 6, TC) - Certain extremely dangerous monsters can paralyze you or cloud your mind and turn you against your allies. When this happens, this spell will restore one victim of these effects to an alert, sensible state.

Total Healing (Cost: 7, TO) - This is the most powerful healing spell in the Health Circle. It restores all of a characters health points, cures all poison, and removes all disease.

Raise Dead (Cost: 20, TO) - The power of some druids is sufficient even to return your allies from beyond the veil of death. To cast this spell requires Balm of Life. This does not work on characters who have been turned to dust, but it does help characters who have been turned to stone.

War Circle

Battle Rage (Cost: 2, C) - This gives one character (1-3 + Bonus/3) levels of blessing. Each level increases the chance of hitting in combat by %5 and damage by 1. Blessing slowly fades with time.

Shielding (Cost: 2, C) - This gives one character (1-3 + Bonus/3) levels of shielding. Each level reduces the chance of being hit in combat by %5 and damage by 1. Shielding slowly fades with time.

Lance of Fire (Cost: 4, C) - This is the first of the damage inflicting spells. It strikes one foe with a lance of fire, dealing (1 + Bonus / 3) times (1-8) damage.

Quicksilver Feet (Cost: 3, C) - This makes a character move much faster, doubling his/her number of actions in combat. This effect lasts for (3-5 + Bonus/3) combat rounds.

Beast Ceremony (Cost: 15, T) - This powerful ritual fills your party with the power of fierce beasts. Each character is given the effects of Battle Rage, Shielding, and Quicksilver Feet. Ceremony spells are very time consuming. You cant cast this spell when any hostile creatures are in sight.

Darts of Ice (Cost: 6, C) - Devastate your foes with lances of ice, flung through the air into their bodies. This spell creates (1 + Bonus/4) chunks of ice, which must target different enemies. Each does (1 + Bonus / 3) times (1-8) damage.

Heartshock (Cost: 8, C) - Some druids can grab and still the heart of a living foe, doing a devastating amount of damage. Not pretty. This spell only affects living beings who actually have hearts. The victim takes (1 + Bonus / 2) times (1-12) damage.

Hero of Old (Cost: 10, C) - This powerful ritual makes one of your allies incredibly powerful, lightning fast, and heavily protected. It is said that it even, for a short time, makes the character indestructible.

Beast Circle

Call Aid (Cost: 3, C) - Druids skilled in the Beast Circle can summon beasts to help out in battle. This spell brings (1 + Bonus/5) small animals, which stay and fight on your side for a short time.

Bite of the Serpent (Cost: 3, C) - Not only do your foes sometimes poison you, but you can return the favor. This spell fills (1 + Bonus/3) targets with venom, damaging them continuously during combat.

Coils of the Serpent (Cost: 4, C) - This powerful spell constricts (1 + Bonus/3) foes with invisible bonds, causing them to move more slowly. They will only get half the normal number of actions in combat.

Charm Beast (Cost: 4, TC) - A skilled druid can control and tame an animal with magic. This spell has a chance of charming a beast, making it fight on your side for a short time. This spell only works on animals (giant or normal).

Beast Call (Cost: 5, C) - As your power increases, you will be able to call larger and larger creatures to your aid. This spell summons (1 + Bonus/6) medium sized animals to fight with you for a short time.

Capture Soul (Cost: 15, T) - When you successfully cast this very powerful spell, your mind will contain a perfect image of the target. You can then clone this creature by casting Simulacrum. This doesnt work on ordinary humans or faeries. You can memorize images of four monsters. When you successfully cast the spell, that monster will be stored in one of these four slots, selected at random. This will copy over whatever creature is already there. When you meet a powerful monster, try to make a copy of it! Certain, very strong monsters are immune to its effects.

Simulacrum (Cost: 7, C) - You can use this spell to create a copy of a creature you captured with the spell Capture Soul. The more powerful a creature you summon, the less time it will stay and help.

Mighty Beast (Cost: 10, C) - This spell summons the largest creatures nearby and brings them to fight mightily on your side. It brings (1 + Bonus/7) huge beasts.

Craft Circle

Create Light (Cost: 1, T) - You no longer need to fear the darkness of caves and dungeons. This spell creates a magical light which lasts for (50 + 5 * Bonus) turns.

Piercing Sight (Cost: 4, TO) - You see a magical vision of everything near you, even things which would be blocked by walls. These areas then appear on your automap. This spell can help you find hidden areas.

Pass Portal (Cost: 5, T) - When this spell is cast, every locked door within two spaces has a chance of becoming unlocked. Some doors will require several castings, and a small number of doors are immune to this spell.

Remove Curse (Cost: 5, TO) - Some items are cursed. When you equip them, they cant be removed. When this spell is cast on a character with a cursed item, it has a chance of removing the curse.

Word of Recall (Cost: 15, O) - This spell instantly moves your adventurers to just outside the town where you started.

Create Food (Cost: 3, TO) - Your adventures might sometimes lead you to places where youre dangerously low on food. This spell summons edible (if unappetizing) meals from thin air. It creates (2-8 + Bonus/2) units of food.

Break Barrier (Cost: 8, T) - Sometimes, your progress will be blocked by a powerful magical barrier. This spell has a chance of destroying any such barrier within two spaces of the caster. It may take several castings to destroy any one barrier.

Stone Guardian (Cost: 12, T) - The most powerful ritual in the craft circle, this spell turns the very ground itself against the foe. It forms the earth into a deadly statue, which fights for you for a short time.

Spirit Circle

Disrupt Spirit (Cost: 3, C) - This spell fires a bolt of bright, happy, positive energy, which deals (3 + Bonus / 5) times (1-12) damage to one undead or demonic creature. Other types of creatures wont be affected.

Sever Seal (Cost: 6, C) - Every great once in a while, you will come across an item or place which has had a magical seal placed on it. When such an item is within two spaces of the caster of this spell, the seal will be broken.

Spirit Ceremony (Cost: 6, TO) - This heals everyone in the party, and, if that isnt enough, it also removes any negative effects which afflict you (poison, disease, paralysis, etc.).

Ravage Life (Cost: 5, C) - This vicious and nasty spell damages, slows, and curses a living target. However, it only works on living foes, not, for example, statues or the undead.

Control Life (Cost: 7, C) - You attempt to seize control of an enemys brain and force that foe to fight on your side for a short time. It might not work, though, and this only works on living beings (not, say, the undead).

Soul Lance (Cost: 7, T) - You throw (1 + Bonus/7) powerful bolts of magical energy, each of which deals a vicious blow to its target. Each bolt must be thrown at a different enemy.

Call Spirit (Cost: 10, C) - When you cast this spell, several wights appear nearby and proceed to destroy your foes. They stay for a little while, and then disappear.

Doom (Cost: 14, C) - You deal (10-100 + Bonus) damage to one target. This damage cant be reduced or prevented. This awesome spell is known only in legend. It is likely that nobody knows it anymore, if anyone ever did.


Character Editor
Section 9: The Character Editor

Shadowvale is filled with creatures who would like to beat you up. And some of them, alas, are capable of delivering some serious beatin. Fortunately, when its really necessary, you have the ultimate weapon on your side.

The Nethergate Character Editor.

On the title screen, select Character Editor, and you will enter a new realm of absolute power, where unbelievable energies are available to be harnessed. You can give your characters higher statistics, magic items, spells, and other neat stuff.

The Main Character Editor Screen

Once youre on the main character editor screen, select Open from the file menu to choose a saved game. You can now edit that party to your hearts content (although, if Nethergate is unregistered, you wont be able to use all of the features).

Of course, some people feel that using a character editor is cheating, in its purest, vilest form. Fortunately, there is an option which allows you to turn off the character editor permanently. Nobody will be tempted by its evil ever, ever again.

If, on the other hand, you can withstand the temptation, here are the editor options:

Edit Statistics - Brings up the Character Editor screen, as if you were about to do training. However, you can spend as many skill points as you want to improve your skills.

When you look at the lists of spells and potion making recipes, each spell and recipe will have a button to the right. If you know that spell or recipe, it will be lit. If the button is dark, click on it and it will light up. You will now know that spell or recipe. Alas, this doesnt work for Nether Arts spells. Those are too rare and powerful for even the character editor to obtain.

In the character editor screen, you can also add and remove Advantages and Disadvantages. When youre through, press the Done button.

Do Healing - Restores this character to full health, and removes the highly unfortunate dead, dust, or stone status. If the character is poisoned, diseased, paralyzed, etc. this heals those conditions too.

Energize - Restores all of a characters spell points.

All of your characters items will be listed at the right side of the screen. To look at a new character, click on his or her portrait. If an item is unidentified, it name will be in boldface. Click on the name of an item to identify it.

When youre in the character editor, there will be two new menus at the top of the screen: Editor and Add Items.

The Editor Menu:

Edit Gold - Lets you set how many coins your characters own.

Editor Food - Lets you set how much food your characters own.

Uncurse Items - Removes any curses on the items youre carrying.

Take Party Out Of Town - If your adventurers are in town and you use this command, when you next load the save file, they will be outdoors. You wont see them at first (they are still standing inside the town). Move away from the town, and you will see them again.

This option is provided in case youre completely trapped inside a town and cant get out. Try to avoid, if at all possible, using this command. Jumping out of towns can cause the plot to take unexpected turns.

Reset Hostile Towns - Sometimes, if you steal from a town or attack someone, it will get angry at you. This option makes all angry towns like you again and brings back to life anyone in those towns you may have killed.

Turn Off Character Editor - If you just dont like having the character editor around, select this. After you give a confirmation, the character editor will be permanently turned off.

There is, actually, a secret way to restore the editor if you come to regret its loss. To find out how, look on the Nethergate page on our web site (http://www.spidweb.com/nethergate).

The Add Items Menu:

This menu lists twenty different items. Select one of them, and it will instantly be given to the currently selected character (click on a portrait to select a character).

The purpose of most of the items is pretty obvious. The only unusual item is the Piercing Crystal. When this is used, it attempts to destroy all nearby magical barriers.


Credits
Section 10: Credits and Other Info:

Credits

Concept, Design, Programming: Jeff Vogel

Icon Design: Andrew Hunter

Business Manager: Mariann Krizsan

Sound Design: Benjamin Young

Title Screen: Brian Snoddy

Line Art: Michael P. OConnor, Toivo Rovainen

Nethergate Logo: E. Jordan Bojar

Windows Beta Testing: Joseph Blood, Evan Day, Paul Gomi Echeverri, Normal Friis Wormfire, Dawn L. Gilliland, Steven Marsh, George ONeill, Polychromic, Floyd Shimm, Joe Talamandes, Dave Wilson, Jason Winter

Macintosh Beta Testing: Ivan Godard, Bill Greentree, Michael 'Intrinsic' Schuster, Beth Davies, Don Henson, Bryan Robbins, Sean Aldous (gilthanas@aol.com), Justin Worrell, Chris Baer

Proofreading: Diane O' Brien, RobinRPH, Aaron Lenterman, Darin Takemoto, Yuanli Zhou, Jushua Mosher, Peter Hawkinson, Eric Kaye

Artist Contact Info

All of the fine artists who did work for Nethergate are available for freelance work. Please give them work!

Andrew Hunter

Wormius@aol.com

Brian Snoddy

8415 - 5th Ave. NE, #B1

Seattle, WA 98115

Benjamin Young

benyoung@pobox.com

Michael P. O'Connor

1404 NW 61st

Seattle, WA 98107

Voice Mail: (206) 781-3824

tanngnost@wport.com

Toivo Rovainen

1555 Lakeview Blvd. E, #E

Seattle, WA 98102

E. Jordan Bojar

bojar@eskimo.com

Thanks to:

Mariann Krizsan: Spiderweb Software's radiant business manager, web site maintainer, jack-of-all-trades, and resident wife. You were helpful beyond all human comprehension.

All of the testers and proofreaders: For working countless hours for little more than the credit above and the satisfaction of making my game better.

The Celts: For being blue, nekkid, and cool.

The Romans: For being well-armed, violent, and cool.

A&E: For playing Northern Exposure and Law & Order during the day, and thus giving me extra shareware programming energy.

Comedy Central: For, as always, sustaining me during the grim, late-night designing hours. Craig, Brian, and Whitney, you will be missed.

Relevant Quotes:

"Real Artists Ship." - Steven Levy

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

"I don't have low self-esteem. ... I have low esteem for everyone else." - Daria Morgendorfer

One Final Note:

As I put the final touches on Nethergate, I think back to its genesis. It was about two years ago, at the conclusion to my step aerobics class. We were doing crunches, and, as I ached and sweated, it suddenly came to me.

"What if I wrote a game like Exile, but the spaces in the dungeons had a height! Then, in the first dungeon, there could be this big cliff, and you couldn't find out what was at the bottom until you come back later with the item that let you survive a fall."

Two years, hundreds and hundreds of hours, and a serious case of burnout later, you have in your hard drive the result of those few moments of inspiration. So, in closing, let me give you one final bit of advice: "Never, ever commit years of your life to an idea which came to you when you were in extreme physical pain."

- Jeff Vogel

Seattle, Washington, 1999.


Historical Notes, Bibliography

Section 12: Historical Notes, Bibliography

In many ways, Nethergate was a very foolhardy project. First, it was set in an actual historical period. Second, it involves two groups of people (Romans and Celts) that are very well known and about which a lot of people are very passionate. Third, it then puts a good, thick layer of magic and mysticism on top of it.

I predict a lot of irritated E-mail.

I formally apologize for any historical mistakes. I did my best to make things make sense, but I am sure that I made some errors. I will try to correct the more egregious problems in later revisions. I have included a bibliography below, so that you can see the sources for my wrongheadedness.

A few other notes.

Female Warriors

In my games, I normally like to give the player the option to have female characters. I honestly believe that not allowing female characters is generally a really bad idea. However, there were no women in the Roman army, and only very thin historical justification for female Celtic warriors. After a good deal of thought and torment, I decided to split the difference. It's possible to have an all-female Celtic party, but Roman warriors have to be male. In addition, half of the characters who join you in Vanarium are women.

I apologize to anyone who is (probably quite rightly) irked by the omission of female Roman characters, and I plan to make amends in the next game.

Building Shape

Buildings constructed by Britannian natives were round, not rectangular. The buildings in Nethergate are rectangular because the game engine did not lend itself well to round buildings.

Celtic Mythology

People have many different ideas about the religious beliefs and practices of the druids. The truth is that we really have no idea exactly what they believed and how they practiced their religion. We have some good guesses and Roman sources, but that's about it.

In creating Nethergate, I read a number of different viewpoints about their mythology, and then ran with it from there. Nethergate's take on what the druids did and believed in should not be taken as in any way reflecting what they actually believed. On the other hand, unless you're a scholar of ancient history, my guess is likely to be as good as yours.

The Term "Celtic"

As mentioned in the introduction, the term "Celtic" to refer to the people of the ancient world is a recent invention. That is why the characters in the game refer to the Brigantes as natives or savages or tribesmen, but never "Celts."

Life Expectancy

There is actually some controversy about how long the Romans and Celts tended to live. Some recent research indicates that they may have lived longer than we suspected. Nethergate is written from the low life expectancy point of view.

Game Balance Considerations

Some things in Nethergate are not entirely realistic, but were written that way for reasons of gameplay and balance. For example, in ancient times, people did use a spear and shield and the same time. Wealthier Celts sometimes wore armor, although most native warriors fought while wearing very little (or nothing at all). People aren't exactly sure what the Celts used to paint themselves blue, and what, if any, effect the dyes had on them.

Also, there is minimal historical evidence indicating that any of the druids had magical powers.

In closing, I had a great time researching and writing Nethergate. The people of the ancient world were truly fascinating. It was a hard world, and they dealt with it in amazing ways. I can only hope that, in some tiny way, I did them justice.

Bibliography

Matthews, John and Caitlin , British and Irish Mythology, Diamond Books, England, 1995

Goodman, M., The Roman World: 44 BC - AD 180, Routledge, London and New York, 1997

Peddie, J., Conquest: The Roman Invasion of Britain, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1987

(A very enjoyable read.)

Salway, P., A History of Roman Britain, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 1997

Adkins, L. & Adkins, R., Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, Facts On File, New York, 1994

(A fantastic collection of details about the mundane day to day life of the Romans.)

James, S., The World of the Celts, Thames and Hudson, London, 1993

(Very interesting introductory text. Great quotes.)

Rees, A. & Rees, B., Celtic Heritage,  Thames and Hudson, London, 1990

A.J. Marks & G.I.F. Tingay, The Romans, Usborne Publishing, London 1990

Martell, H., The Celts, Penguin, New York, 1996

(These last two are books aimed at children, primarily used for art references.)