The Game Master (3rd Edition)/The Game Master 3rd edition.iso/files/gameture/ranadinn/readme.ran

Text File | 1980-01-04 | 19.9 KB | 372 lines

                              RANADINN

                      a fantasy adventure game
                     copyright 1988 Jeff Mather



SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

IBM PC or compatible system
64K RAM
Color Graphics Adapter (CGA)
1 disk drive


PROGRAM STARTUP PROCEDURE

To play Ranadinn, first make sure you have made at least one copy of
the game disk using a simple MS-DOS "DISKCOPY" or equivalent
procedure.  Once this has been completed, you can start the program's
execution from a copy of the game disk, on either a floppy or hard drive,
by typing "RANADINN" at the system prompt.  Wait for the game's opening
screen to display, follow its instructions and then press any key to
load in the game's data and begin play.


PLAYER BACKGROUND

The life of a gold-hungry warrior is often one of boredom and inactivity.
This has been especially true during the last few years of your stay
in Rapthalmann.   Killing for loot can no longer be called a profitable
enterprise against the forces of evil, for there is no evil left, or at
least it seems that way.  The once-great clans of horrific creatures of
the North have vanished, killed off by their own kind during intertribal
wars and small battles throughout the countryside.  The evil has passed,
and while the human residents of the land are once again safe in their
villages, the situation created by such a purging has been one of
unemployment for your kind, the hired mercenary.   Now many trained
fighters are putting their skills to use against their own countrymen,
robbing and marauding innocent people.   Not that this includes you,
for your own sense of righteousness has placed you far above such vulgar
acts.  And yet, being a warrior with an empty stomach and no job is not
exactly the best of circumstances to be in, either.

This is all rather disappointing to you, for you had extremely high hopes
for success as a fighter.   And you are different from the others who
share your title of 'Mercenary-for-Hire', for you are not simply a mere
warrior.   You are also a magician, and a clerical spellcaster as well.
Long ago, as a child in your native country, having lost your own family
to the destruction of war, you were taken in by an extremely old man who
preferred seclusion in the forest to the business of town activity.  This
man, whom you adopted as a father as much as he adopted you as a son,
proved to be one who had mastered many skills in his lifetime, and now,
during his retirement to a more natural setting, desired to pass on his
knowledge and wisdom to one who had not already spent his years wasting
away as a farmer or merchant.  Of course, the person he selected as his
most valued pupil was you.

Now, four years after the old man's death, you still find unbelievable
the abilities of the man you came to know as your father.   Osnenemus,
for that was his name, was a rare combination of the professions of
magic-user and cleric, and had spent much of his life using his magical
powers to rule a small kingdom far to the north.  Why he left he never
disclosed to you, but it mattered little, for you were too grateful for
his presence in your life to worry about his past.  Nevertheless,
as time passed on Osnenemus educated you about magic, its uses and its
limits, as well as the responsibilities that went with it.  Watching
your progress, however, he was disappointed that you were in fact a born
fighter much more than a worker of sorcery.  Your battle skills
self-developed far faster than your magical aptitude, and it looked as
if the efforts of your noble father had been wasted on the wrong person,
namely you.

Nearing his death, Osnenemus was forced to concede to you that your
training in the magicial arts had not turned out to be the success he
had hoped for.  Almost an adult, you had grown to be a strong and powerful
fighter much more than an intelligent wizard or wise cleric.  Yet,
your father had not failed completely in his attempts.  At the time of
Osnenemus's death you had progressed to the point where you could cast
both sorceral and clerical spells from scrolls with the full power of
a normal cleric or wizard.  Such a skill, combined with your obviously
exemplatory fighting capabilities, had made you quite a formidable force
in all the battles which you had entered into.  With such a mixture of
abilities you had given yourself a title by which you hope others would
come to recognize and fear you by...  the title of 'Ranadinn', a
self-thought description of your combined talents.

After the death of your father you began to work your way about the
countryside, looking for mercenary jobs to take on.  Young and
inexperienced, you nearly met your doom many times at the hands of foul
beasts, and were saved only by the work of fellow warriors along with
whom you fought to earn your pay.   The pay was, in fact, excellent,
as the northern hordes of monsters, though relatively small in number,
bore their force against the scattered human villagers through raids and
looting.  Gradually, however, due to the aforementioned internal fighting,
the creatures' numbers thinned out, along with the loot that was to be
gained through their deaths.  Soon it came to be that those beasts that
were still around and had survived the fighting were heading north in
search of more of their own kind.  The necessity of the presence of trained
fighters in villages and towns soon became to be regarded as something
less than a necessity, a luxury.   The warrior became the symbol of the
unemployed members of the agricultural society, and you, even after
all your glorious fighting, were no exception.

But recently, after a couple of years of your having little money and
even less food, times began to look up.  From the south came strange
reports of threatened invasion by monsters ruled by a dark and ominous
figure.   The little southern island kingdom of Argentan was having problems,
it seemed, trying to muster up a military force with which to defend itself
against just such an invasion.  Since there was obviously no gold to be
gained while staying in Rapthalmann, you secured passage on one of the
country's few trade ships and went on your way southward in search of
work.

Arriving at Argentan, you bypassed a local town and went immediately to
the Inishtrahull, the ruling palace of the four islands of Argentan.
After having waited in line behind other mercenaries who were seeking
quick gain, you managed to secure the audience of King Gregory, the
greatest fighter of the kingdom, as well as its leader.  Proving yourself
through demonstration to be counted worthy of serving the respected king,
you were immediately accepted into the ranks of Gregory's hired fighting
men.

"You see, my friend," the noble king told you, "we of Argentan make up
only a small country, and essentially have nothing to offer those who
would want to conquer us.  However, our islands would make a perfectly
good stronghold from which to attack your native country of Rapthalmann,
if so desired.  That is the reason why we now face destruction by these
monstrous hordes.  Their leader has successfully led them in conquering
all the islands of the southern seas.  Our kingdom is the last stop before
the northern mainland, and it is from here that the beasts will stage
their continental operations if they have a chance."

"Being so small, we have not the manpower to successfully defend ourselves
against attack.  What little military force we possess has been divided up
amongst our larger towns as militias, but their numbers are far too small
to repel an invasion.  That is why, in all good honor, we have committed
ourselves to hiring fighting men such as you to give us as much of a chance
of winning as possible.   Other mercenaries have already been sent out
in search of action.  We must hope that their efforts will not prove
fruitless."

"Our losses to the monsters have already been substantial.  We believe
that we have lost the entire fourth island of our kingdom to the beasts,
including two towns and not a few farming villages.  Such a loss of life
bears down hard against our peaceful souls.   The people of the other
islands, including this one, realize that their turn will come soon.
It is likely that, without assistance, our kingdom will be taken over
completely within months.  Remember, your homeland will be next."

"We are fortunate in that we have managed to learn much about our adversary
from those who have escaped the destruction that surrounds him.  Apparently,
some worn out old magician from the east came to this part of the world
in search of what others thought to be a legend: the disembodied hand of
Mordanneus, a terrible and ruthless wizard  of centuries past, who was
purported to once have ruled the entire northern continent. He had
met his demise during his attempted conquest of the deep southern islands,
where none return if they are so misfortunate as to land there.  Myth
has it that, before his death, he was able to concentrate his life force
in his spellcasting hand, break away from the rest of his body, and thus
escape from the doom he was about to face.  However, it was his fate to
stay in the form of the disembodied hand until he had found a person willing
to let the wizard's essence join with his own.  Since for so long he
had no such willing human to use to regain a normal material form, legend
goes on to say that the hand, with the life force of Mordanneus within it,
died, and yet kept on living, having undergone a transformation into a
magically ethereal state.  It is said to exist floating about a southern
island searching for a host.  This is what the old magic user went off to
search for."

"Time went on, and the old man was not heard of again, but strange
happenings began to take place.  Tribes of creatures, long thought dead,
began to be visible about the deepest of the islands.  Soon, southern
commerce was upset by monster brigands which patrolled the seas.  The
small villages of the south were attacked one by one and destroyed, with
incredible numbers of creatures pouring in to populate the newly acquired
land.  The larger towns of the area, realizing the threat of danger they
were going to have to face, united forces and attempted to take the
islands where the monsters seemed to be originating from.  Sadly, they
never had a chance, for they had few fighters of expertise, and ended
up being overwhelmed and exterminated, leaving their townships defenseless.
These soon fell.  There were no survivors."

"Since that time nothing has been able to stop the progress of these
tribes north.  The few island towns that could put up a decent defense
attacted the attention of the creatures' leader, who, from all reports,
resembles an elderly, transparent version of the famed Mordanneus, who
is depicted in many of our paintings and tapestries.  The towns were
leveled to rubble by the power that came from the sorceror's shriveled
spellcasting hand, which has taken the form of death to all its enemies."

"Now our kingdom has began to fall before his might.  Those escaping from
the newly conquered island say that Mordanneus has arrived at the southern
edge of the landmass.  Apparently, he is having a place of worship built
there in his honor.  We must presume that he will make it his headquarters
as well.   If we are to succeed in defending ourselves, we must get at
the head of the snake and kill this Dark Mage so that his forces cannot
combine and defeat us.   Of this task we have learned especially important
information from captured creatures whom my palace magicians have
interrogated magically.  What we have learned from them is this:
apparently, in an effort to ensure his prolonged survival in his magical
state, the Dark Mage (Mordanneus) has transferred his essence to his famed
black crown and sceptre, and has subsequently broken up the crown and
given its pieces to his hordes to guard and protect.  He most likely guards
the sceptre himself.  The prisoner creatures have informed us that as
long as the crown pieces and sceptre remain, Mordanneus can exist in
his halfway state in the material world.  Therefore, all such objects
must be found and somehow destroyed, or else we are doomed."

"Time may be short.  There are even reports that some of the beasts have
been seen roaming the fringes of this, our capital island.  The creatures
have taken up residence in the many caves which are scattered about the
tall mountain ranges that our islands boast.   Raids are now occurring
frequently on our villages, and deaths of our people are becoming common.
The problem must be stopped now.   I have instructed all mercenaries such
as you to use our great teleportation bridge, which the wise Osnenemus
supervised our construction of.  It will allow you to instantly travel
to any of the four island groups that make up our kingdom, which is a
great advantage to you now that boat travel has almost completely halted,
due to brigand attacks.  I must admonish you about this, however: all
the men that I have sent to the fourth island by the teleport bridge
have failed to return.  I fear that I have sent them to their deaths
needlessly in search of knowledge of what is going on there."

"I trust that you will serve our kingdom well.  As for reward, successful
completion of your mission would mean tremendous compensation.   I wish
you well, and I must be off to other business.  May your arrows hit their
mark, for the good of Argentan!"   With that, you are ushered out of
the castle, and now find yourself strangely ill-equipped, both physically
and mentallty, to meet the task before you.  A faint wind comes from the
south, and carries with it the excitement of newfound challenge.  You
realize that you must fight, not only for your own good, but for the
good of all around you.    This time, the prize to be won is not just
gold, it's survival...


PLAYER STATISTICS

The following six player character abilities are used throughout the
game.  Their affect on the actions of your character must be determined
by you as the game progresses.

S  |  strength
I  |  intelligence
W  |  wisdom
En |  endurance
Co |  coordination
Pe |  personality

The Ranadinn can take a certain amount of damage before dying.  This
amount is known as the hit point total (hp) of the Ranadinn.   When the
hit point counter of the character reaches zero, the character dies.
Clerical spells and potions, either bought or found, must be used to keep
the hit point total of the Ranadinn away from the zero point.

Your character earns experience points (EXP) for vanquishing foes during
the course of battle.   For every 200 experience points earned, your
character moves up one level of experience.   Progression through the
ranks of the Ranadinn class means increased amounts of both magical
and clerical capability, as well the possession of more hit points, so
that more powerful foes can be adequately met in battle.


GAME COMMANDS

<arrow keys>  |  player movement
C             |  change screen color (changes to all black at first)
I             |  ignite torch (if in possession)
R             |  execute ranged attack (if a ranged weapon is in use)
U             |  use possessions
<return>      |  enter area, get object, read sign, etc.
Q             |  quit

Note: The data used by the game for the player's character is saved every
time an area is entered or left.  Also, the changes made to the areas
themselves are saved as well.  Therefore, one or more backup copies of
this game disk should be made before execution of the program, so that
the game can be restarted from the point where the player's character
originally starts out, if so desired.  A simple "DISKCOPY" procedure, as
outlined in the DOS manual, will handle such copying of the game disk.


CLERICAL SPELL EXPLANATIONS

To be successful in your quest you will have to make use of the various
clerical scrolls you have learned how to read. These scrolls may be
purchased in towns from those people who make a business of dealing with
the monks and priests who imbue such parchments with their priestly power.

Name             Explanation
----             -----------
Flame-light      Creates a floating ball of light, equal in brightness
                    to a torch, which follows the spellcaster around
Mend Wounds      Removes small wounds from the spellcaster's person
Nullify Traps    Disarms all traps in the spellcaster's presence
Illuminance      Makes the area around the spellcaster lit for an extremely
                    long period of time
Produce Food     Creates normal rations which add to the spellcaster's
                    food total
Excise Disease   Rids the spellcaster's body of any viral or bacterial
                    impediment to his health
Warding Symbol   Makes a glowing rune in the air in front of where the
                    spellcaster stands, which shocks all enemies of the
                    caster who pass through it
Detach Curse     Removes any curse that has befallen the spellcaster
                    during his adventures
Repair Wounds    Tends to some of the more serious injuries that have
                    been inficted on the caster's person
Cancel Poison    Stops any poison within the caster's body from causing
                    death to its host
Cure Wounds      Heals most, if not all, of the harms done to the caster
Column of Fire   Calls down a pillar of flame from the sky, to be directed
                    at the enemies of the caster
Complete Heal    Assuredly rids the caster of all of his bodily injuries
Wall of Blades   Creates a number of whirling, flashing blades in a target
                    area, which chop and slice at anything that comes within
                    their reach


SORCERAL SPELL EXPLANATIONS

While the clerical spells deal more with healing and repair,  the scrolls
of the magic-user are generally much more offensive in nature.   These
are the scrolls which give the superiority needed in battle to handle
large numbers of enemies, or simply large enemies.   The sorceral scrolls
may also be purchased in the towns, from dealers who purchase the spells
directly from the libraries of the kingdom's few magic-users.

Name             Explanation
----             -----------
Accurate Arrow   Creates a number of small magical projectiles which
                    automatically hit their living targets
Unlock           Unlocks any locked doors within a certain radius of
                    the spellcaster
Invisibility     Allows the spellcaster to become unseen for a length
                    of time, or until an offensive action is taken
Sphere of Flame  Hurls a ball of fire at enemies, which explodes to do
                    a goodly amount of fire damage to all nearby
Cylinder of Cold Causes the entire area in front of the spellcaster to be
                    hit with waves of magical cold and sharp ice
Create Stone     Makes a block of stone appear in a previously unoccupied
                    area
Execution        Kills all lesser creatures in the presence of the caster
Crumble          Causes any one object or creature to disintegrate into
                    dust, immediately


NOTE ON CHARACTER EQIUPMENT

As a Ranadinn you may only use swords and bows as weapons and suits of
plate mail as armor.   This is because of your specialization in these
pieces of equipment.  Shopkeepers who sell such equipment will only offer
you the items that you are able to use in battle.   You may not buy,
sell, or even carry any other type of weapon or armor.


PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION

Ranadinn is distributed under the user-supported software concept.  You are
encouraged to copy and share this program with other users, if so desired.
If you enjoy Ranadinn and find it of value, a $5-$10 contribution would
be greatly appreciated to the following address:



     ========================
     Jeff Mather
     1150 W. San Nicolas Cir.
     Tucson, AZ  85704
     ========================