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Text File | 1995-05-30 | 29KB | 699 lines

_____ _____ __ _____ / ) / ) / / ) /) ) /_____/ /_____/ / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / <C>1994 Michael Goatly / / / | / / / / | / ( ( ( (_/_ (_____/ ( |/ VERSION 1.0 ********************************** . , ,. ''" - * # ,&., " , " ,,&&#####" ##*. $**,#&, ,/###* &#$#* ###,, , #" , # #" #, ,##***" #*#### ####,, #"##&&###& #" ### , ,, ""+*#,, # "*.,, #&##&##--#""&, ,*" ### , * ####& ''#*&,, ,#"# #* #& #,, ,,*"" ++ ., ###* * , ####, +, , """*#"#" #&"##&## #"# +* ,,.&#*&.+*"" # $####& ,#,# # #, '"### "" " ##.#" + * """""""****##&, , # #, & * +,,"## * , "# ", "*+%, #, ! , ##" , ' #,,. * "* $ * "* # $ . *& "& & # #/" #*++. "- * , # (This will look incredibly silly if you don't use a fixed width font, such as corpus or the system font!) IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU HAVE A LOOK AT THIS DOCUMENTATION CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU PLAY, BECAUSE ARION IS A COMPLEX GAME, AND IT IS UNLIKELY YOU WILL GET THE MOST OUT OF IT WITH OUT READING THIS. It is also recommended that you print this file out, so you can refer to it in game. Contents: PART: 1: Copyright and legal stuff. 2: The story of Arion. 3: Character generation: i.Choosing a race i. Racial bonuses ii. Racial class allowance ii.Choosing a class i. Class bonuses 4: The dungeons: i.Movement and controls ii.Combat iii.Treasure i. Found treasure ii. Treasure chests iv.The sounds of the dungeon 5: Magical items: i.Magical weapons ii.Magical armour iii.Miscellaneous magical items i.Scrolls ii.Staffs iii.Amulets, rings, etc. iv.Potions and mushrooms iv.Using magical items with more than one power 6: Character death, and fate.... ******* {PART 1:} ******* Copyright and legal stuff. Basically you can do what you want with Arion, including altering the code, graphics, gameplay and everything. It's public domain, freeware, whatever. (If you want a reason for this - see !!Readme!!) All I ask is that whenever Arion is spread, I am credited with the original code and program. Thanks. ******* {PART 2:} ******* Arion - the background. It was just over five hours past nightfall when you found the old, tatty book lying on the bookshelf. It was like all the others, bound with red leather. The only difference was that it had no title. This fascinated you, so you placed some more wood on the fire, and settled down, preparing for a long read. Flicking past the first few empty pages you found the first page of writing. Instantly you knew who had written this book. It was your Grandfather's, the one on your mothers side who was always off on adventures when he was young. It was his diary. 'Whatever happened to my Grandfather?' you wondered. You had never met him, and no one visited him. You thumbed through to the last few entrys, and read them. ******************************************************************************* *Nurensbat 1, Dagensat 71. -------------------------- I have heard rumours that the beasts have returned. I thought I had rid the dungeons of them three barems ago, but it seems I was wrong. I hope I don't have to go through the ordeal of chasing them off again. I won't do anything if they leave us alone. What a thing to find out on Newbarem day. *Nurensbat 1, Naksat 71. ------------------------ I should have realised. Yesterday was a full moon and evil things always seem to happen on new full moons here. *Nurensbat 1, Websat 71. ------------------------ I am starting to worry. A new full moon is due in two days, and if that is anything to go by, then something is about to go VERY wrong. *Nurensbat 2, Dagensat 71. Full moon. ------------------------------------- I knew something would happen, I KNEW it. The Tarrasques rised to their full power, calling upon the forces of evil. They have summoned all sorts of evil creatures that have entered into the towns, destroying everything in their path. The Knights of Tawek have been called from their homes to fight off the evil, but there isn't anything THEY can do. They don't know what they are up against. There is nothing for it. I will have to go down into the bowels of the dungeon and face my nightmares again. ******************************************************************************* 'He cannot of returned.' you thought, reading that, the last entry. 'I always wondered what was down in the dungeons, my parents wouldn't tell me.' 'Poor old Grandfather. Well, who wants to live forever anyway, I'll go down after him, follow in his footsteps, so to speak!' you continued to yourself. 'Now what should I be...' ------------------------------- And thus it began. You control your character through the dungeons that lie beneath your city sewers, killing all manner of creatures, some evil, some not. The mission is simple (or maybe not....), go down into the depths of the dungeon, and slay a Tarrasque or two, driving them off as your characters Grandfather did all those years ago. ******* {PART 3:} ******* Character generation. The first thing you will want to do, when you first enter Arion, is to generate your character. This is done in a number of steps. *******3.i*** Choosing a race. The first thing you are asked is what race you would like your character to be, and you are given a choice:between Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Ogre or Minotaur. Each race has it's pro's and con's, and these are shown below ***********3.i.i*** Racial bonuses. HUMANS: Humans recieve no special bonuses, and have no special abilities, they are the norm around which every other race is based. ELVES: Elves recieve +1 dexterity, +1 intelligence, -1 strength and -1 constitution. Elves are normally very sophisticated, and polite, and as such they are generally better recieved at shops. (That is to say the shopkeepers add less on to the price of the goods.) DWARVES: Dwarves have their statistics adjusted by +1 constitution and -1 speed. They are used to living underground with all sorts of venemous creatures, and as such they have developed a resistance to poison over the years. This resilience lessens the effect of poisons. HALFLINGS: These short fellows have +1 speed, +1 dexterity, -1 constitution and -1 strength applied to their statistics. They make great thieves, and have very acute hearing, which allows them to hear creatures move about further away, providing an excellent early warning system. OGRES: Ogres the toughest of all the races that can be chosen, and their stats are adjusted accordingly. +3 strength, -1 speed, -1 dexterity, +1 constitution and -1 intelligence. The only advantage that an Ogre has, is it's strength. MINOTAURS: Minotaurs are the second strongest race, surpassed only by the Ogres. Like the Ogres their only advantage is their strength. The following modifiers are applied to their stats. +2 strength, -1 dexterity, +1 constitution and -1 intelligence. Fig 1: Table representing the modifiers applied to different races: /-------l-----l-------l----------l------l----------\ | Human | Elf | Dwarf | Halfling | Ogre | Minotaur | /----T-------T-----T-------T----------T------T----------T |Str:| 0 | -1 | 0 | -1 | +3 | +2 | T----T-------T-----T-------T----------T------T----------T |Dex:| 0 | +1 | 0 | +1 | -1 | -1 | T----T-------T-----T-------T----------T------T----------T |Spe:| 0 | 0 | -1 | +1 | -1 | 0 | T----T-------T-----T-------T----------T------T----------T |Con:| 0 | -1 | +1 | -1 | +1 | +1 | T----T-------T-----T-------T----------T------T----------T |Int:| 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | -1 | \----l-------l-----l-------l----------l------l----------/ ***********3.i.ii*** Racial class allowance. Some races are better at being one type of class, and some can only be certain races. The allowed classes for for the races are listed below: Humans: Fighter, Mage, Priest, Rogue or Ranger Elves: Fighter, Mage, Rogue or Ranger Dwarves: Fighter, Priest or Rogue Halfling: Fighter or Rogue Ogres: Fighter or Priest Minotaurs: Fighter or Mage Be careful when you are choosing your race, because you may not be able to be the class that you would prefer! **** After you have chosen your characters race, you are asked for the sex of your character. The sex has NO effect on the statistics of the character, it just allows Arion to describe the situations better to you, i.e. in the right gender For example: Jenny is a female character. Arion comes up with the message: Jenny has his arm bitten off by a huge 100ft two headed troll. See why Arion asks for the gender? ;) *******3.ii*** Choosing a class. The next question you will be asked is what class you want your character to be. Only the allowed classes will come up (See section 3.i.ii). Each class also has it's pro's and con's. ***********3.ii.i*** Class bonuses. FIGHTER: Any race can be a fighter. They are bog standard, run of the mill people, who charge headlong into a fight. They can not cast spells of any kind, and have limited knowledge of magical items. They can, however, use magical weapons and armour, and also scrolls. Fighters get +1 to their strength, constitution and speed, but a -1 to their intelligence. MAGES: Mages are people who have devoted their life to the art of magic. They have had little time for weapon useage. They generally make poor fighters, but make up for it with their spells, which are mainly offensive. There is, however, no reason why you shouldn't be able to develop a Mage with good fighting abilities. They are able to use magical items to a high standard, normally without any problems. Mages have +1 to their intelligence and dexterity, but -2 to their strength and -1 to their constitution. PRIESTS: Priests are better at fighting than Mages, which is a good thing, because the spells that they can cast are mainly defensive. They too can use magical items to a high degree, although perhaps not as efficiently as Mages. Priests have modifiers of +1 intelligence and +1 speed, and also -1 strength and constitution. ROGUES: Rogues, or thieves, rely on speed and dexterity in combat, avoiding hits, and running away when necessacary. They are normally brought up as thieves, and have very nimble fingers that allows them to pick locks on treasure chests easlily, and without equipment. This is very useful deeper in the dungeon, when chests become protected by traps. Rogues have a +1 dexterity and speed, but they also have a -1 strength applied. RANGERS: Rangers cannot cast spells of any sort, but they were trained from birth to understand the ways of animals (including monsters!). This means that when they hear a monster closeby, they can identify it accurately. This is an advantage, because they can run when they identify a Fire giant to the south, and they are only level 3! The only modifier applied to a Ranger is +1 speed. Fig 2: Table showing the modifiers applied to classes: /---------l------l--------l-------l--------\ | Fighter | Mage | Priest | Rogue | Ranger | /----T---------T------T--------T-------T--------T |Str:| +1 | -2 | -1 | -1 | 0 | T----T---------T------T--------T-------T--------T |Dex:| 0 | +1 | 0 | +1 | 0 | T----T---------T------T--------T-------T--------T |Spe:| +1 | 0 | +1 | +1 | +1 | T----T---------T------T--------T-------T--------T |Con:| +1 | -1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | T----T---------T------T--------T-------T--------T |Int:| -1 | +1 | +1 | 0 | 0 | \----l---------l------l--------l-------l--------/ ******* Once you have chosen your characters class, all the information for your character is shown. You are given the opportunity to reroll your characters stats as many times as you want (This includes weight, height, age, hp, etc.) Once you are satified with the stats, your character is saved to disc, and you are ready to begin! ******* {PART 4:} ******* The Dungeons. The dungeons beneath the city were created long ago by unknown, powerful forces. They are forever changing, and no one who has entered (and returned) has arrived back with the same maps drawn. Mapping is the only way your character will survive the dungeons, and fortunately, it is done automatically by the character. As you progress through the game, maps will be drawn in the top right of the screen. In the bottom left part of the screen, there is a representation of what your character sees. It does NOT show monsters or items. It is simply to give you more of a feel of what your character would be seeing. To the right of this are your characters statistics (stats). Also displayed there are the current bad influences affecting your character, for example 'FEAR' or 'POISON'. In the top left part of the screen is the general message area. The current exits are displayed here, whether your character can see them or not (It is assumed that they can feel them). Also displayed here are things like whether your character is hungry or thirsty, and what sounds can be heard where (See later). *******4.i*** Movement and controls. Movement may seem a little confusing to some at first, but if you stick at it, it will become second nature in the end. Control over movement is generally done through the numerical keypad, as follows: 8- move forward in the current direction 4- turn left 6- turn right 2- move backwards In addition, '5' wait in the same square for a turn / enter a shop '7' go up a ladder '1' go down a ladder When you are moving your character around normally, you can do the following things: 'i' - list inventory 'l' - list worn/held equipment 'g' - get an item off the floor 'E' - examine an object 'd' - drop an item on the floor 't' - take off a worn item 'h' - hold an item 'w' - wear an item 'L' - let go of a held item 'U' - use a worn item 'e' - eat something 'u' - use an item in inventory 's' - swig a drink 'c' - cast a spell <CTRL> 's' - save game <CTRL> 'l' - load game <CTRL><Insert> - quit game When you enter your character into a shop, you can still use most of the above commands, and in addition you are given some extra commands: 'p' - Purchase and item from the shops inventory. 's' - Sell an item 'I' - Identify an item - This will cost you! 'r' - Recharge a magical item when it is low on power - This will cost as well! 'e' - Exit the shoppe. Shoppe keepers reserve the right to sell cursed or dangerous items, and to refuse to purchase any items that they think are bad from you. (HINT - If your character knows that the item is cursed, then the keeper will not buy them, but if YOU know, and your character doesn't, then the shopkeeper won't guess!) *******4.ii*** Combat. Unfortunatly you can't move your character around the dungeons unhindered. You will very quickly encounter a potential combat situation. When you come across a monster of some sort, you will get a brief description in the bottom left of the screen, and a question will be asked of you. You are asked whether you would like your character to Attack or Run. If you feel that you are outclassed, and don't stand a chance, or have been fighting this monster and have lost all of your hitpoints, then you can try to get away by pressing 'r'. Should you wish to take the monster on, press 'a' to attack. When in combat, you the following commands can be used: 'i' - inventory 'l' - list worn equipment 'E' - Examine an object 'u' - use an item in inventory 'w' - wear an item 't' - take off a worn item 'c' - cast a spell 'h' - hold an item 'a' - attack using held object 'U' - use a worn item 'T' - throw held object (You will not get it back!!) Once a round of combat has been completed, if the combat has not been resolved, you will once again be asked whether you want you's character to Run of Attack. *******4.iii*** Treasure. ***********4.iii.i*** Found treasure. On your journeys around the dungeons you will come across items left lying about on the floor. This is treasure! Sometimes it is valueless, sometimes it is worth alot. Treasure comes in all shapes and sizes. Weapons, armour, you name it, you'll probably find it down there. **WEAPONS When you are going about killing monsters, weapons come in quite handy. Different weapons do different amounts of damage, and although you won't know exactly how much damage they inflict (unless you identify them at a shop, or with a spell), you can probably have a good guess at which weapons are more powerful. **ARMOUR Armour can come in the form of breastplates, gloves, amulets, rings, etc. Most armour will increase your character's armour class (The higher the better), but occasionally, bad armour will decrease your character's armour class. Avoid the latter type at all costs. ***********4.iii.ii*** Treasure chests. Sometimes, when your character slays a higher level monster, he/she will discover a treasure chest, instead of the normal treasure. If this is the case, then you will be given a list of options. Should you try to open it straight away, without picking a lock, you may find that the chest won't open, because it is locked, although you may be lucky and find that it is unlocked. In either case, there is a chance that your character will set off a chest trap. Thest traps sometimes cause a little damage, and sometimes a lot. If you try to pick the lock on the chest, you are given an option of using an item to pick the lock, or using your bare hands to try. Thieves can pick locks with their bare hands, but it is not advisable for any other class to try! When picking a lock there is again, a chance of setting off a trap, but once the lock is picked, the chest is automatically opened. Another option available, and one that doesn't involve setting off traps, is bashing the chest open. This is done using bare hands, weapons, shields, anything that is available, but it has one or two drawbacks. It is not always successful being one, and the second, which is slightly worse, is that you can break open the chest, destroying the contents in the process. *******4.iv*** Sounds of the Dungeon. The dungeon is normally a quiet place. Quiet and dark. In fact the darkness is almost alive, it sucks in light so much that your character can barely see where they are going with a light source. As such, your character relys on their hearing to detect where monsters are. Some races/classes are better at this than others. (see race/classes section above) When a sound is heard, a warning indicator right of the map (an ear with an exclamation mark next to it) will appear. The direction, type, and volume of the noise will be displayed in the messages section of the screen. In addition to the written discription, small exclamation marks will appear on the graphical display in the bottom left of the screen. These show the direction the noises are coming from. For example, if a noise were to radiate from the north east, a small exclamation mark will appear in the top right part of the display. (N.b. The positions of the marks are not relative to the direction your character is facing) If your character is bestowed with acute hearing, they will hear things from further away. This means that monsters that make a normal amount of noise will sound louder close up, but quieter at a distance. ******* {PART 5:} ******* Magical items. Firstly a warning about magical items, and the dangers of holding/wearing unknown ones.... Cursed items are normally placed in the dungeons by powerful (evil) wizards, who are just out for a laugh at someone elses expense. Once held or worn, they cannot be removed or let go of, until a REMOVE CURSE spell has been cast, either by scroll, spell, or otherwise. *******5.i*** Magical weapons. Magical weapons can be found deeper in the dungeons, and their powers can be either beneficial or disasterously dangerous. Special powers include: Slay Dragon - Swords with this power do more damage to dragons than to other creatures. Slay Humanoid - These swords inflict more damage to humaniod lifeforms. Some weapons may increase (or decrease!) your armour class, these are normally very valuable, and powerful items, and should not be just thrown away! There are of course, more special powers, but I won't reveal them now, what would be the fun of adventuring, if you knew what you were going to find? Some VERY powerful weapons may contain magical powers, and these can be used in the same way as any other magical item. (See below for multi-powered items) *******5.ii*** Magical armour. It is very unlikely that you will not come across magical armour of some sort when you venture deeper into the dungeons. Quite a few of the powers that they bestow upon your character are covered in the next section, under amulets and rings, etc. but some highly powerful armour can bestow great strength on your character, or other such attributes. These are prize items, and should be looked after. As with swords, some pieces of armour may contain magical powers. *******5.iii*** Miscellaneous Magical Items. ***********5.iii.i*** Scrolls. Scrolls are created by high powered wizards of many races, some long forgotten. They are simply pieces of paper with the essence of magic woven into their very fibres. They remove the need for any magical gestures or elements, all that has to be done in order for the spell to be cast, is for the words on the paper to be read. Even stupid fighters can do this without any trouble. There are some drawbacks to scrolls. The first is that although the magical words are universal, and do not need to be understood for the magic to work correctly, the titles of the scrolls are written in many different languages. Some will be written in your own tongue, so you will know the effect of reading the scroll, but the effect of those written in a foreign language will remain unknown until the scroll is read. Even then, if the results are unseen you will still not know what happened. The spell contained in the scroll may not take effect in that situation either. Some of the spells contained on scrolls can be very nasty indeed, in certain situations, so it is advisable that you find out what a scroll may do, before reading it... you have been warned! The second drawback is that scrolls can only be used once. Once they have been read, all the power in them is dissipated, and the scroll falls apart at its seams. ***********5.iii.ii*** Staffs. Another method that mages often use to store magic, is that of implanting magical powers into a staff. These can be operated in a wide variety of ways, some may require the twisting of knobs and the pulling of small levers in the correct order before a spell will be released, and some may just need a slight tap on the ground. Because of this, there is a chance that your character will not be able to use the staff properly. Fighters always seem to find magical items difficult to operate. Staffs contain a whole host of magical spells, good and bad. This means that you might end up doing yourself more bad than good, if you use an unknown staff. Staffs have a limited number of charges. Each time you use the staff, you drain it's power. When it runs out of charges, it will cease to operate, but unlike scrolls, staffs can be recharged and reused. The only way an item can be recharged, is by taking it to a shop, and paying lots of money! ***********5.iii.iii*** Amulets, rings, etc. Amulets and rings are normally only useful (or dangerous!) when they are worn. When they are worn, the powers interwoven into them become active. These powers can bestow wonderful results on your character, such as perminant light, or acute hearing. However, they can also have equally disasterous results, with powers such as deafness and decrease strength. The items that contain bad powers are usually cursed, so WATCH OUT! Amulets and rings sometimes contain magic powers as well. They have a certain number of charges in the same way as staffs do. They can also be recharged in a shop. ***********5.iii.iv*** Potions and mushrooms. Potions are another little aid produced my mages. They mainly only affect your characters metabolism, by increasing/decreasing his/her strength or dexterity, etc. Some contain healing elements, and some have no power at all. Mushrooms are naturally occuring items, that offer a herbal alternative to potions. They have the same powers as potions, plus a few that only nature can offer! It highly inadvisable to go around eating mushrooms and drinking potions willy nilly, because this could lead to a horrible, deformed character..... well you never know, do you? *******5.iv*** Using magical items with more than one power. Some magical items, be they swords, rings, or anything else, may have more than one magical power. If this is the case, when you go to use the item, a small question will pop up. If your character knows what the item does, then the question will list the powers, and you can choose which one to activate. If, however, your character does not know what powers the item has, the question will allow you to choose from a list of unknowns, each one being a different spell. ******* {PART 6:} ******* Character death, and fate.... (Upon death, and dying) Dying is a natural part of life, and it is highly probable that it is a part of life tht will occur quite a few times in your characters early times as an adventurer in the dungeons. However, fate is on your side, and when your character dies, fate will lend a hand by sending along a nice wizard who will attempt to raise you from the dead. He will ALWAYS succeed if your characters constitution is 10 or greater, but if it is less, there is a chance that your character is not strong willed enough to survive his/her soul being pulled back into a more physical form. This chance of perminant death gets greater, the lower the constitution of the character. If your character dies perminantly, then he or she is removed from disc, never to be seen again. That's it. Finito. Start again. ******************************************************************************* And that's it for the Docs. Mike Goatly, 20 Ely Road, St. Albans, Herts. AL1 5NA or E-Mail me at M.P.Goatly@Herts.ac.uk (Until June 1998!!!) Enjoy!