DOCS FOR LOOM INTRODUCTION - You do not need the audio tape included with the packaging. It merely tells you the history of your character, Bobbin Threadbare. Seems that sometime in the future, the world is divided up into Guilds, i.e. Blacksmiths, crystal makers, etc. The Weaving Guild lives on an island and keeps very much to themselves. The patterns they weave out of thread can form spells and these spells have a musical value. All children born within the Guild die at birth, but your mother is smart. She asks the Guild Elders to weave their threads so you can live when you are born. The Elders are afraid to do this so your mother weaves a pattern herself that allows you to live. You are born FROM THE FABRIC THAT YOUR MOTHER WEAVES BUT YOU ARE NOT TOLD ABOUT IT. The Elders do not like this so your mother is banished to be a Swan forever. You are born and are raised by an old lady who teaches you "drafts" which are groups of 4 notes that will produce a spell. As you grow up, each year your nanny takes you to the top of a mountain on your birthday to look down and to see a beautiful Swan fly by once a year. You are not told who the swan is. When you are 17 years old and your nanny has trained you to sing these "drafts" you go to the top of the mountain alone.....and the story begins. ABOUT LOOM You can never be stranded nor will you be in a situation where you cannot escape. You must find the "distaff" in the beginning of the story in order to get the note (drafts) to appear at the bottom of the screen. Of course, at the beginning you only know one draft and that is E C E D which is the "Open" draft. As you go along you will learn more notes and be able to cast more spells. IN SOME CASES YOU MAY HAVE TO PLAY THE NOTES BACKWARDS....NOT TOO OFTEN THOUGH. MODES Standard Mode - a segment of the distaff will glow whenever you hear or spin a musical thread. Use this if you are already familiar with Loom or other computer adventure games. Practice Mode - a small box appears beneath the musical staff whenever a thread is heard or spun. This box "records" upto four notes and displays their corresponding letters for your convenience. Expert Mode - the distaff does not glow in response to musicalÔ threads except the ones you spin yourself. Also there is no musical staff to help you identify the threads you hear. You literally have to play the game by ear! If you use this there is a reward scene near the end of the story. SPINNING A DRAFT - Point and click on each note on the distaff in the proper sequence. As you gain experience, you will gain more notes and they will light up on the distaff. When something new appears, you will see new notes appear ....write these down in the blanks below. CUT SCENES - you can exit the cutscenes by hitting ESC SAVE GAME - You can save with F5 OPENING - This fundamental draft is traditionally the first one taught to novice spellweavers. Once mastered, it may be spun into tarpaulins, theater curtains or any covering that must be whisked aside on command. DYEING - This draft was perfected by the dye chemists of the Woonsocket Chapter, who slaved for hours over steaming pots to satisfy the Clerics' appetite for colorful vestures. Orginally woven into all types of fabric, the applicability of the Dyeing draft has diminished over the course of centuries. Now it works only on wool. SUMMONING - Chiefly spun by the Eleders in those rare instances when a member's physical presence is required in the Santuary. The fraft may be perceived by its recipient in many different ways. It most often takes the form of a small, luminous spheroid, referred to in children's stories as a "messenger nymph". TONGUES - The Pattern of Tongues was first spun into the dinner placemats at the 423rd Conclave of the Guilds, held at Elstree in 7610. For the first time, the Guild delegates could understand each other's speeches. This innnovation was widely praised util an Undertaker was overheard insulting a Florist. Both Guilds were plunged into a bloddy war lasting five hundred years. STRAW INTO GOLD - When times are lean, the Elders may invoke this draft to generate extra revenue. Its use is strictly regulated by the Treasurer of the Guild to prevent inflation. Other Guilds, ignorant in the ways of spellweaving, have concocted a variety of outlandish fairy tales involving this rather elementary weav. TEMBLOR - Temblor was discovered by a reckless ( and now very dead) spellweaver who directed the threads of Rending upon a thought to be dormant volcano. Eagerly sought after by the Guild of Seismologists, this extremely dangerous draft is included here only for reference; its spinning has been forbidden by the Guild. RENDING - The inventors of this innocent draft could not have imagined how badly it would be abused. The Guild of Embalmers orginally licensed the draft for tearing rags into long strips. Then the Embalmers were disbanded in 6529 a legal battle awarded the rights to the Guild of Career Politicians, who employed it to shred documents. The secret wandered from one unscrupulous Guild to another until it ended up among the Assassins, whose uses for Rending are too horrible to decsribe. HEALING - IN Volume 19 of her Brief History of the Guild of Weavers, Third Elder Lazykate documents the way bandages were treated with Healing as early as 1716. The four threads have evolved far beyond their orginal form. They can now be spun into virtually anything which needs rejuvenation, with the notable exception of the spellweaver's own body. NIGHTVISION - The threads of this distinctive and beautiful draft are extrapolated from the song of nocturnal birds. At one time, Night Vision was prized by the Guild of Miners, whose legendary underground realm was chiefly illuminated by luminous tapestries, bearing our Seal. Tragically, demand fell off after the Great Earthquake of 7331. SHRINKAGE - Many simple fabrics contact when exposed to moisture or heat. In studying this phenomenon, the ancient Weavers isolated the threads that cause this natural Shrinkage, and soon developed a draft to weave the effect into any material object. Be wary in its use! Once spun, the Shrinkage threads can never be unwoven. DESIRE - The draft of Desire has its orgins in the primitive days of our community when it was used to lure unsuspecting passersby into Guild shops. When spun upon a creature or person, it warps the threads around the spellweaver so that he or she resembles whatever thing the victim desires most. The illusion is quite fragile and impossible to maintain for more than a few moments. WATERPROOFING - The 5992 expedition of Fifth Elder Spindleshank to the rain forests of Lesser Uxbridge yealded this very practical draft, which shields any fabric from the effects of moisture. The Poison Galoshes Panic of 6003 almost resulted in a permanent ban on Waterproofing, until it was revealed that magazine test reports had been rigged by the Guild of Umbrella Openers. REFLECTION - This draft was commissioned by the GUild of Dancers to expidite costume changes for their 500th anniversary performance of the classic ballet Olema. When properly invoked, the spellweaver immediately assumes the appearance of the being the draft is spun upon, and vice versa. The four threads are based upon the mating grunt of the slitİthroated chameleon. TERROR - This draft reweaves the spellweaver's appearance into a form from the deepest anxieties of the being the threads are spun upon. In effect, it turns you into the thing the reciepient fears most. Terror works only on sentient beings, but its potency more than makes up for this limitation. It is approved for limited therapeutic use by the guild of Psychotherapists. FOLDING - Archaeological evidence suggests that Folding was never supposed to be spun upon the fabric of space. INstead, its inventors seem to have been more concerned with the management of laundry! No faster or more convenient way has been found to move a spellweaver from one place to another. Caution must be exercised when Folding a section of space already Folded by another spellweaver. Careless spinning can create an uninhabitable "wrinkle" zone, such as the Gainsborough Blind Spot. INVISIBILITY - When spun upon a person or group, Invisibility frays the focus of their vision, rendering the spellweaver quite difficult to see. The provenance of this draft is uncertain. It seems to have been acquired (under questionable circumstances) from the Guild of Shepherds, whose genius in the art of stealth is probably unrivaled. TWISTING - The orgins of this ancient draft are lost in history. The earliest references to it are woven into the foremost hem of the Long Tapestry, beside threads depicting the manipulation of flax and yarn by hand. Tradition has it that the four notes were derived from the rhythmic squeak of First Elder Swellflax's own spindle. CONFUSION - The reason why this unusual draft was first developed is lost in time. Revisionists claim that it was spun into the cheaper fabrics sold at Guild shops in an attempt to undermine the confidence of bargain hunters. Whatever its orgin, Confusion's potency has not diminished over time. One spin leaves a victim helplessly bewildered until the spellweaver is safely out of sight. SHAPING - Only a handful of Weavers possess the concentration necessary to Shape a material substance. The threads of the draft must be spun with unusual singleİmindedness before the Pattern will yeald. Even then, a successfully Shaped object may revert to its orginal form if the draft is not rewoven periodically. WARMTH - What Weaver has never been wrapped in the cozy threads of a Warmth draft? Second only to Aphrodesia in popularity ( they are often sold together). Warmth has been a staple of our Guild for much of our recorded history. Even a thin qauze coverlet feels as substantial as a Penumbrian quilt after a single application. APHRODESIA - The Guild's quick rise to prosperity and influence was due in a very large part to the success of this bestİseller. Fabrics woven with threads of Aphrodesia are guaranteed to soften the heart of even the most indifferent love interest. Only the Elders are privileged to know the true orgin of the draft. Rumors of a secret affair between Second Elder Twillfast and a member of the Guild of Organists are malicious and completely unfounded. SLEEP - It would be difficult to find a pillow, baby bonnet or sleeping bag that has not been imbued with the soothing properties of this popular draft. The Guild of Nannies requires its use in all household fabrics, and the Anesthesiologists have approved an industrial strength version as an alternative to chloroform. SILENCE - Silence was hailed as a welcome relief for firstİtime parents and dwellers in college dormitories. Unfortunately, our Guildmembers are too often hired to spin these threads in situations of doubtful appropriateness. The worst offender is the Guild of Conductors, whose members frequently impose a draft of Silence over their audience before a concert. EMPTYING - The contents of almost any filled container may be instantly unravelled with this handy draft. Before its development c. 4200, the streams of Woonsocket ran green with the discarded dyes of the chemists. Avoid the temptation to spin Emptying upon lakes or clouds; its range is deliberately limited to prevent catastrophies such as the Double Deluge of 4202 (for which the Guild admits no responsibility). UNMAKING - Novices are often impatient to acquire the undeniably dramatic ability to Unmake physical objects. Luckily, these volatile threads lie well beyond the grasp of all but the most mature spellweavers. Entire armies can and have been disembodied by the transawesome power of Unmaking. Let us hope we are never again called upon to demonstrate our craft in this manner. EXTINGUISHING - Open flames are easily smothered with the draft of Extinguishing. It untangles the threads of oxygen and fuel within a conflagration almost instantly, with few if any side effects and very little smoke. The Guild of Firefighters awarded us with their 6222 Plaque of Distinction for the development of this safe, fastacting treatment. SHARPENING - Sicissors, pins and knitting needles are the usual benefactors of this simple draft. IN acient times, however, warriors often submitted their blades to our Guildmembers for treatment. A formal protest by the Blacksmiths resulted in the Whetstone Bridge Treaty of 7550, which specifically prohibits the use of the Sharpening draft on weapons of war. BLESSING - also known as "casion's Bane". Blessed items acquire a charmed state of probability which manifests itself as "good luck" to laymen. Use of this draft outside the Guild is restricted by the Emerick Agreement of 5858, which coincidentally supplies our treasury with an ample endowment from the Order of Statisticians. TRANSCENDENCE - Few indeed are the Weavers who have successfully spun this, the most subtle and mysterious expression of our art. Transcendence dissolves the ties that bind our threads into the Pattern, elevating mind and body to an undefined state of existence. Transcended beings are said to assume from the form of birds, constellations, or even sunspots. Because corporal punishment is forbidden in our Guild, Transcendence is occasionally used as a means of humane banishment, but only for the most unforgivable infractions of the rules.