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AVATARS OF SCREAMING STEEL Version 1.30 By Steven H. Lin Copyright 1992 by Steven H. Lin All rights reserved GUIDE FOR GAME PLAYERS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS 1.0 Please! 2.0 The Histories 3.0 Starting 4.0 The Main Menu 5.0 The Combat Zone 6.0 Final Words ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 PLEASE! AVATARS OF SCREAMING STEEL (AoSS) is a simple game from [The Deviant's Palace], but we recommend to you, the game player, that screen capturing this file for printing out on your system will greatly benefit you. If your sysop is a kind and considerate individual, he/she has made provisions for you to download this file directly so you can print it out. But if he/she has not, you can tell AoSS at the prompt that you want to have this guide displayed continuously, and you can screen capture all of this information easily. Thank you for taking the time to flip through this. Although AoSS is easy to understand, there may be a few areas which you may have questions about. Hopefully, this guide will answer those questions for you. If not, we suggest that you ask your sysop or, alternatively, contact Steve Lin at [The Deviant's Palace] or in various DoorNet echos. 1.1 Warning - If you have never used a program from [The Deviant's Palace], then you may be in for a massive shock. Please, if you suffer from an angina pectoris condition, keep your supply of amyl nitrate or nitroglycerin within easy reach. If you are using stronger medications, like calcium channel blocking agents (most notably verapamil) or ß-adrenoceptor blocking agents (AKA "beta blockers"), you may want to have some experienced medical personnel nearby to monitor your health condition as you play AoSS. Use AoSS at your own risk. If you suffer from psychological problems or disabilities, AoSS is not guaranteed to not injury your psyche. Use AoSS at your own risk. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.0 THE HISTORIES AVATARS OF SCREAMING STEEL (AoSS) is a simple game from [The Deviant's Palace] about decisive arena combat in the dark, uncertain future, where faith and technology coexist in an uneasy balance. You are allowed to choose between the two warring groups, the fanatics and the scientists, for your character. Your character will be either an Avatar or a Defender, respectively. Here are the two viewpoints of what has happened in history to arrive at this present juncture in time: 2.1 History #1 - Before the Coming, all the Gods kept away from the True Believers because of the evil powers of the Unbelievers were perpetuating the Evil Barrier that the Gods couldn't cross. After the Coming, the Gods were able to hear our pleas for help, and They came to us, to remake the world into what it was meant to be. Now we must destroy the Unbelievers. Luckily, because us True Believers are really peace-loving people, we have agreed with the Unbelievers to do our fighting through representative combat. We send into the arena our Chosen Avatars from the Gods to best the Unbelievers and to prove once and for all that science is the Ultimate Evil. - Cron Ickfhag, High Priest of Piece-Muphin. 2.2 History #2 - In the early 1960's, with the inception of UNIX and microcomputers, work on cybernetics, artificial intelligence, and weapons research boomed. In the United States of America, the Soviet menace presented a reason for careful development of offensive and defensive measures geared toward protecting the way of life that the U.S. embodied. In the late 1970's, Modemland (and subsequently, the Matrix) came into being. Telecommunications-driven "bulletin board systems" slowly began to blanket the U.S. and the world, bringing people closer to together than ever thought possible. The written word became as important as the spoken word, in a manner of stating. And technology improved from the sharing of ideas. There was another renaissance of the spoken word through the written word, however. In the mid-1980's, there was a resurgence of religious and neo-religious fervor ("established" religion, cults, and New Age covens). Some of these religious groups based their beliefs on one or more bits of written text, while some others augmented their faith with crude artificial neural stimulants ("recreational" drugs), particularly dopa-mimetic types which intensified feelings of euphoria and "God-reaching". In the late 1980's, one particular individual completed work on what was to become the basis of all functioning artificial intelligence entities. After great controversy over the ethical implications of creating an "artificial being", the project was hushed up to satisfy the growing body of religious fanatics in the U.S. The political situation of the early 1990's continued to worsen on the Eurasian continent; by the early 2000's, the former Soviet republics had degenerated into general chaos, and virtually all of Europe became balkanized into little "princedoms" of political radicals and reactionaries. In the Americas, the drug abuse issue also worsened, as South American recreational drug distributors began to chemically bind brain-damaging and mind-influencing agents into their exported products to their North American customers in an attempt to effect confusion similar to the situation in Eurasia. Ironically, several drug-induced brain-damaged religious fanatics broke into nuclear missile silos in Colorado and Arizona and triggered off what is now known as the Nuclear Holocaust of 2008. The missiles affected all of Eurasia except for the British Isles; all of Africa; all of South America; and most of Micronesia. In addition, the polar ice caps were melted considerably, bringing up the seawater level by several meters; this shift in the sea level effectively submerged many island groups around the world. What the general rise in water did not completely destroy, the massive tidal waves following the nuclear detonations did. By 2020, the nuclear fallout had diminished enough for the remnants of civilization to regroup for the first time since the Nuclear Holocaust. The skies were still overcast with the dust of the ages, but at least people could walk around without immediately dying from the irradiated airborne particles and mutated pathogens. The scientists who survived in the underground bunkers in the United States, Canada, and the British Isles emerged into a new world. Sort of. Contact between the scientific groups during the underground survivalist period was maintained through tight beam transmissions, and after emerging on the surface, the British scientists were quick to relocate themselves to what was the U.S., as all of the 'Isles were almost entirely drowned. The Canadian scientists likewise relocated themselves south to the U.S., as the nuclear winter was still quite bad in the region which previously was Canada. The scientific groups were quick to locate each other and consolidate themselves and their available resources, plenty of research materials and food growing supplies, into cohesive unions along both U.S. coasts. The choice to relocate on the coasts was derived from the fact that oceanic desalination and incredible dilution of nuclear fallout to safe levels made the seawater safe for drinking and for hydroponics work. However, something unusual had happened while we, the scientists, were cached in our underground bunkers. Many of the religious fanatics had, in the cozy covens, somehow survived the Nuclear Holocaust as well, although with very costly changes: these survivors and their progeny were mostly horribly mutated, often lacking body parts or having body parts reshuffled along their torsos. But perhaps the most unusual event was the appearance of "gods", as these religious fanatics call them. Exactly what these deities are is beyond our knowledge at this time; however, there are some individualized forces at work on our world now, and these religious fanatics are somehow able to tap into them through intense group prayer. Our initial contact with these survivors was not encouraging: they were convinced that we are "demonspawn" and must be destroyed. There is generally no reasoning with them. We were forced to spend con- siderable effort relearning how to fashion weapons from our stored notes rather than working on a way to salvage DNA from these survivors to remodify them back to normalcy. Our communities were attacked regularly by these fanatics armed with clubs and stone axes; we repulsed them easily and in droves with our high-energy weapons. On 18 April 2088, a strange event occurred: every one of our communities was visited by bands of normal-appearing fanatics armed with forged weapons and armor, generally long swords and plated armor, with a single ultimatum: fight in arenas for the right to survive on the earth. At first, we did not take these individuals seriously, but our skepticism was killed when single lightning bolts flew down from clear skies to strike dead one of our people in each of our communities. Certainly not a coincidence, but a marshalling of forces by their god-forces. It is now 2101. We know that our existence is being tolerated by the fanatics' multitude of gods. As a constant reminder, the weather is always changing in ways that defy what we consider natural, and earthquakes regularly rumble through tectonically dead regions. Why we are not obliterated outright is still unknown. But we have observed whole communities blasted to dust whenever our defenders for those communities are defeated by the Avatars. These Avatars, as the cadre of normal-appearing fanatics are called, are our fighting opponents, and our cybernetically-enhanced volunteers are our saviors. That we are able to keep their Avatars at bay is a testament to the usefulness of our restored technology. We are constantly seeking ways to improve our warriors, for survival of our communities is now dependent on the strengths, and weaknesses, of our warriors. In a sense, we have our own avatars: avatars of screaming steel. - Arcand Melanc, Ancient Lich and Director of Scientific Research at the Isle. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.0 STARTING As a new player, when you access this game, it will ask you a couple of questions concerning the type of character you want to make. There are two basic character types: an Avatar and a Defender. These two classes match the two warring groups in the world of AoSS: The Avatars are superior representatives of the religious fanatics and their gods. Unlike the majority of fanatics, the Avatars are not misshapen through centuries of drug abuse or genetic damage. Instead, the Avatars are characteristically well-proportioned, strong, handsome individuals. The fanatics claim that the Avatars are their children through intercourse with various gods and are thus, earthly manifestations of their deities. The Defenders are people from the scientific enclaves who have volunteered to fight against the Avatars in personal combat. In many cases, they have been cybernetically enhanced, but all have to be physically fit persons. Because their gene pool has not been contaminated but have actually been genetically improved, the Defenders also appear as very vigorous, handsome individuals. Each group has certain advantages over the other, although in different developmental areas. It is one of your tasks as an observant player to determine what those strengths are... you must learn to train your character to optimize those abilities available to it, while at the same time looking at the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents. 3.1 After Character Selection - After you have selected your character and given it (him/her) a name, you will be presented with a main menu. Notice that although the menus for Avatars and Defenders differ, their options are generally identical in function. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 THE MAIN MENU All of the options in the Main Menu are self-explanatory, but here are some explanations in case you get a little confused about the functions. Note that there are different descriptions for some of these options, but they are basically the same; the paired descriptions mark the common options below. 4.1 Read game documentation - This option will force the display of this particular document on your screen. 4.2 See your character's statistics - This option will display all of your character's pertinent information, which will help you in determining how to conduct your combat actions, how to purchase better weaponry or upgrade your armor, and other valuable tasks. 4.3 News from your AoSS coordinator - This is the individual in charge of maintaining AoSS on this BBS. Usually, it is your sysop; however, your sysop may have delegated this responsibility to someone else. Whichever the case, this is where AoSS coordinator has the opportunity to pass along any important information to you regarding this AoSS game. 4.4 Scan list of inhabitants of the area - This is basically a list of the players and characters in this AoSS game. This is helpful to you if you wish to see who is playing this game. 4.5 Visit the healing church / Visit the medical center - If you have sustained damage, either to your armor or to your body, this is the place for you to visit. 4.6 Visit the power-grant church / Visit the military research center - If you are ready (and able) to upgrade your armor or your current statistics to a better level, this is the place for you to visit. When you access this option, you are presented with another menu of items, which are discussed below: Obtain a weapon Bless a weapon / Enhance weapon performance Expand strength / Enhance strength motor units Expand agility / Enhance agility motor units Gain better armor / Expand armor protection Gain more hit points / Improve tissue strength 4.6.1 Obtain a weapon - To obtain a better weapon, verify that you have enough upgrade points to do so. Compare your current amount of upgrade points with the weapon you wish to obtain. If you have enough, select the weapon. 4.6.2 Bless a weapon / Enhance weapon performance - This option allows you to upgrade your weapon with "bonuses" (the pluses that appear right after your weapon name in your character's statistics listings, if your weapon has been enhanced). These bonuses give your weapon greater hit probability and damage capability. 4.6.3 Expand strength / Enhance strength motor units - Your character's strength value helps to determine how much damage your character is capable of inflicting upon opponents in the combat zone. Increasing this value will obviously, then, increase damage. 4.6.4 Expand agility / Enhance agility motor units - Your character's agility value helps to determine combat initiative (who gets to strike "first" and have an upper edge in combat action determination; more on this later). The better your agility, the greater chance you will be able to achieve initiative and also gain greater mobility. 4.6.5 Gain better armor / Expand armor protection - Improving your armor will help to prevent the transference of damage from your opponent directly to your body by interposing more and more armor in-between. 4.6.6 Gain more hit points / Improve tissue strength - Although improving your armor is often adequate protection, toughening your own flesh (via mortification for Avatars; via cybernetic tissue enhancements and improved steroids for Defenders) is a preferred last line-of-defense protective measure. When your armor has been blasted to useless shreds, it is often very comforting to know that your flesh may withstand plenty of damage. Also, sometimes some damage manages to bypass your armor and go straight to your body, so having a healthy, strong body is important. 4.7 Visit the suicide counselor / Visit the termination advisor - If you feel that your character is too "wimpy" to continue playing, use this option to have your character "killed off". 4.8 Journey to the conflict zone - This is where the real fun starts: by accessing this option, you prepare yourself for combat by selecting various choices: Select opponent Prepare weapon Arrange dynamic combat actions Arrange static combat actions View your character's statistics Enter combat arena 4.8.1 Select opponent - There are basically two options available to you here: either selecting a random (computer-generated) opponent, or a known opponent (another player). Avatars may only attack Defenders; Defenders may only attack Avatars. This option is important: you cannot enter the combat arena without having selected an opponent to fight! 4.8.2 Prepare weapon - Just in case you may have forgotten to make sure about this, you can have any carried weapons prepared for combat. That is, you take it out of its carrying case on your body (whether it be a sheath, a scabbard, a backcase, etc.) and grasp it in your hand. You may also use this option to switch weapons. This will save you a step in combat, so that you may be able to get an extra strike in combat. 4.8.3 Arrange dynamic combat actions - This option allows you to program the initial combat solution for your character. Be careful in what options you pick, because success is sometimes measured in how well you make your first strike. Striking fast and hard may save you a lot of grief from a long, protracted combat. See Section 5 for information concerning the various combat actions available to your character. 4.8.4 Arrange static combat actions - This option allows you to program your character's combat actions while you are NOT playing the game, ie. when another player decides to attack your character! Because AoSS will handle combat actions for you after this initial strike, all you need to do is insure that your initial sequence is a solid foundation for AoSS to build upon in defending your character from the attacks of other players. See Section 5 for information concerning the various combat actions available to your character. 4.8.5 View your character's statistics - This is similar to the option described in Section 4.2. 4.8.6 Enter combat arena - This is IT: by entering this option, you will be shuttled into the combat arena to face your opponent in a face-to-face combat to the death! Make sure that you have selected a foe, or else you will be bounced back out and asked to pick a target (Section 4.8.1). 4.9 QUIT game - This allows you to leave the game gracefully. You may return to play at a later time, of course. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 THE COMBAT ZONE Combat proceeds as follows: Your character enter the arena with your set of initial combat actions, and your opponent does likewise. Initiative is secretly determined by AoSS to see who will have that indefinable "edge" for that combat round. The combat round starts immediately, with each combatant going through their combat actions. The combatant with initiative on its side will be able to attack better and maneuver quicker. You will be prompted to hit the <ENTER> periodically as the combat results are scrolled at the bottom of the screen. Note that the interaction of some combat actions do not result in any observable damage, so those results are not detailed. However, on the LEFT hand side of the screen, there is a one-dimensional representation of the distance between the combatants (your character is located at the bottom of the 1D strip), so movements are displayed there as the difference between the combatants (ie. if your character moves back two paces, and the opponent moves forward two paces, there is no resultant change in the display). This makes it much easier for you to plot your actions. After the run-through of the four combat actions of both sides, the combat round is ended, and you are presented with three simple options: Alter Surrender Continue 5.0.1 Alter (combat actions) - This allows you to alter your dynamic combat actions for use in the next combat round. This is a vital command, particularly if your opponent is adept at shifting tactics quickly; you will need to anticipate its moves quickly, too, and then using this command to implement your choices. 5.0.2 Surrender (to your opponent) - Not much of a choice, really: you surrender yourself to your opponent, who will then summarily execute you. Not much fun. 5.0.3 Continue (with your present set of combat actions) - This allows you to continue using the same set of dynamic combat actions from the previous combat round in the upcoming combat round. Be careful: if your opponent is changing tactics on you, your present combat actions may not adequately account for his improvements, which will certainly place your character at a disadvantage. It might be better for you to A)lter your combat actions instead... 5.1 The Combat Actions - There has been much talk about "combat actions". Well, what are they? They are the elements which comprise each combat round that you engage your opponent with. Each combat round consists of four steps, each of which may be filled with a combat action. Although the list of combat actions may seem formidable, they can be grouped into two major categories: movement related, and non-movement related. As you can see, these categories are quite self-evident when examining the combat actions themselves. The list of combat actions available to your character are as follows: No action Prepare carried weapon 1 Prepare carried weapon 2 Use prepared weapon Step forward Step backward Lunge forward Lunge backward Leap forward Leap backward Dodge aside Crouch down Hop up Punch Arm swipe Kick Flying kick Back flip Head butt Elbow pummel Arm block Disarm 5.1.1 No action - This is exactly what it says... the character does nothing for that step of the combat round. 5.1.2 Prepare carried weapon 1 - The character will arm itself with the weapon in weapon slot 1. If you do not have a weapon in that slot, the character will prepare no weapon. 5.1.3 Prepare carried weapon 2 - The character will arm itself with the weapon in weapon slot 2. If you do not have a weapon in that slot, the character will prepare no weapon. 5.1.4 Use prepared weapon - The character will attack with the weapon that it is armed with. Any modifiers and bonuses will apply. 5.1.5 Step forward - This is a movement action. The character moves forward ONE pace. 5.1.6 Step backward - This is a movement action. The character moves backward ONE pace. 5.1.7 Lunge forward - This is a movement action. The character moves forward TWO paces. 5.1.8 Lunge backward - This is a movement action. The character moves backward TWO paces. 5.1.9 Leap forward - This is a movement action. The character moves forward THREE paces. 5.1.10 Leap backward - This is a movement action. The character moves backward THREE paces. 5.1.11 Dodge aside - The character will attempt to evade any attacks directed against it by shifting its body to the left or right. It is ineffective against certain attacks. 5.1.12 Crouch down - The character will attempt to evade any attacks directed against it by quickly bending its knees, thus bringing the whole body closer to the ground without actually kneeling. It is ineffective against certain attacks. 5.1.13 Hop up - The character, expecting an attack aimed toward his lower extremities, jumps up into the air. It is ineffective against certain attacks. 5.1.14 Punch - The character throws out a balled fist at the opponent. This attack mode may also prevent the opponent from performing some attacks if the character has initiative. 5.1.15 Arm swipe - The character swings out his arm with deadly force, with the intent of striking the opponent on a crucial body part (the axilla or the neck, for instance). It also acts as a defensive action against a few attacks. 5.1.16 Kick - The character directs a powerful kick at the opponent, with the intent of striking the opponent on a crucial body part (the groin or legs or even midriff, for instance). It also may prevent the opponent from performing some attacks if the character has initiative. 5.1.17 Flying kick - This is both a movement action and an attack: it will force the character forward FOUR paces and, if successful, will strike the opponent hard on some part of its body. 5.1.18 Back flip - This is a movement action in which the character moves backward FOUR paces in a rather dramatic way... There is a small possibility that, if the opponent is relatively close, the initial flip will cause the character's heels to strike the opponent hard enough to cause damage. 5.1.19 Head butt - The classic head butt is presented in AoSS as an attack. 5.1.20 Elbow pummel - This is an attack done by the character in which the elbow is jammed hard into the opponent. 5.1.21 Arm block - This is used as a defensive measure, in which the character presents one forearm in front of its body to block the attack of the opponent. Although the forearm may sustain some damage, it is significantly better than having the damage pass to the trunk. Also, the arm will be armored, allowing for some (or all) damage absorption by the armor... 5.1.22 Disarm - This is a classic weapon disarming technique. This requires that the character be close enough to the opponent and have the appropriate timing in order to wrest the weapon away from the opponent, enough to fling the weapon out of the combat arena. Because it is very difficult to disarm an opponent, this technique is not recommended for use during most combat rounds. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.0 FINAL WORDS AoSS is a simple game with a lesson. That it has the same origins as many of the Arena-derived online games is coincidental. That it uses an anti- cipatory solution model rather than a one-for-one command-exchange model is NOT coincidental. In reality, combat between two individuals, particularly professionals, is rarely a matter of exchanging blows. Rather, it is an issue of attempting to anticipate your opponent's moves and presenting a rapid-fire set of actions of your own to gain an advantage over that opponent. So it is with AoSS. To become a superior warrior in AoSS, careful study of the possible actions available to your character is crucial, particularly with the randomly created opponents in the game... the algorithms used to generate them are such that these "random" opponents will push the limits of your abilities to effectively fight in the arena. If you are careless, the game will over- come you mercilessly. With these humble words in mind, then, happy gaming! - Steven H. Lin, Ph.D., M.S.