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Text File | 1991-07-29 | 13.5 KB | 290 lines

WIZARD WARS (c) 1991 Version 1.0
Property of The Phantasm Brigade Inc.

  by Neal Bucknell AKA The Binary Beast
  with special help from James Matzdorff AKA Master Skeeve



Setting:
  Aeons after The Great War, Cryptic Alliances battle to
Reshape wasted Tarmara in their own image.  With the
invoking of the Apocalypse by the Cryptic Alliance known as
The Gathering of Chaos, a terrible secret was revealed unto
the surviving Alliances.  Each suspects how to invoke the
same Spell, and each suspects how to invoke another, similar
Spell, the Spell of Reshaping....

Purpose:
  The purpose of Wizard Wars is to annihilate all other
Cryptic Alliances and establish your own as the absolute,
unchallenged ruler of Tarmara.  This is accomplished through
the acquisition of Mana.  Mana is the energy of Magic.  It
comes from the earth.  As your empire expands, the Mana you
get each day will increase.  It is through the use of this
Mana that your Cryptic Alliance survives.  Tarmara is still
too wasted and inhospitable for any Human to venture out
into for more than a few minutes.  Any doing so soon die
from the Plague.  The Hosttower protects the Cryptic
Alliance from these effects, but this makes the growing of
food difficult.  Mana is used to create the food which
sustains the members of your Cryptic Alliance.  It is also
used to create other things....
  With Mana, armies immune to the Plague and capable of
withstanding the harsh environment of Tarmara's deserts can
be created.  These armies consist of Magical Constructs made
of Ether and clay.  The most common of these are Imps and
Golems.  However, in The Great War, there were RUMORED TO BE
OTHER, MORE SINISTER FORCES used.  There are a few accounts
of sitings of the walking dead, fearsome elementals, and
even darker rumors of ferocious, unidentifiable beasts.  Of
those that fled from encounters with the latter, none were
sane enough to give further details.
  Whatever troops are used, it is necessary to take
territory and add it to your empire.  Any Alliance that does
not do so is surely doomed as this is the only known way of
increasing the Mana supply.  The ultimate goal is to gain
enough Mana to Cast the Spell of Reshaping.  Though this is
a purely theoretical Spell, it is believed that if enough
Mana is used to power it, it will Reshape Tarmara as if the
Casting Alliance were recreating the world.  WARNING:
Casting this Spell without sufficient Mana has been proven
by history to be disastrous.  Unfortunately it is not known
exactly how much Mana is sufficient....

  The following is a brief summary of SOME of the commands
in WIZARD WARS.  It is important to note that other commands
DO become available later in the game, but for the purpose
of suspense, they will not be described.  This means that
when you do see a new command on one of your menus,
SOMETHING YOU SHOULD BE CONSTANTLY LOOKING FOR, you will
have to figure it out for yourself.  (For ANSI users, new
commands will be in different colors than the normal text.)
I have confidence that anyone with the interest and skill to
get this far will have no trouble with any of these commands.
  It is also important to note that the game can be paused
in SOME places by hitting the "p" key and the SPACE bar will
abort certain print outs.  However, because this is the
UNREGISTERED VERSION, the Phantasm Brigade and the WIZARD
WARS log on screens cannot be aborted.
  Also, whenever you are asked to enter a region's
coordinates, typing "h" followed by a return will default
to your Hosttower's location.
  In this game, ANSI users will have a slight advantage.
Their map will utilize the colored ANSI character set.  The
meanings of such symbols and characters can be determined
with the L egend command.
  It is important to note that this version is UNREGISTERED.
It is a preview of the actual game only.  Many commands found
later in the game are disabled.  If you find this
frustrating then ask your SYSOP to register this game so
that you can play THE REAL WIZARD WARS.  You may even want
to send your SYSOP a donation to help with the small
registration fee.  Also, the very first screen that pops up
when you run WIZARD WARS prints the registration information
for the game.  For this version, it just says the game is
UNREGISTERED.  However, if you play a REGISTERED version that
is obviously not being run by the real owner (ie:  The game
is registered to Mr. Bill of The Midnight Express BBS when
the game is really being run by Ms. Piggy of The Footweary
Firegiant.) then please let me know.  I can be reached at
the following address:

  The Phantasm Brigade Inc.
  The Binary Beast
  1031 Arbutus
  Chico, CA  95926

I can also be reached on Mesopotamia:  Mirage Works
(#916-891-3546), 10 @ 9654.  WIZARD WARS is protected by all
Federal Copyright Laws.  Distribution of the REGISTERED
version is a felony.  Please help by reporting pirates.  If
we can't keep piracy down to a minimum and turn a little
profit, then we at The Phantasm Brigade will have to get real
jobs and will no longer be able to supply you with high quality
<SNICKER SNICKER> products.  We also welcome any suggestions
or donations.  Anyway, here's the docs....

Available Commands:

B uild Portal  (Cost varies)
  Mobility can be a serious problem for your armies.  Imps
move so slowly that by the time they get to battle, the
enemy may have already moved. Golems are not much better.
There is a solution however.  Portals are linked together by
powerful Spells of Spacial Binding.  Any troops passing
through one Portal may exit from any other Portal that is
linked to the one which they entered without any mobility
cost.  This can speed newly created troops, thousands of
leagues away, to battle instantaneously.
  When Constructing a Portal, it is always wise to use as
many troops with as much mobility as possible.  Only mobile,
bipedal troops with minds can assist.  If no troops are
available, the Portal may still be built, but it will be
VERY expensive to Construct.  The more troops that assist,
the lower the Mana cost will be.
  If the Mana cost is acceptable you will then be asked to
enter a Stellar Alignment value for that Portal (any number
from 1 to 11,111).  Choose this number carefully.  Any other
Portal, even an Enemy's which has the same Stellar Alignment
as this Portal is linked to it.  Once the Alignment has been
selected for a Portal, it can never be changed unless the
Portal is D estroyed.  Also, the Portal's Stellar Alignment
will never be displayed again so write it down.  And
remember, a single, unlinked Portal by itself is of no use;
there is no place for passers through to go.

C onstruct Magical Construct  (Cost varies)
  This command creates Imps or Golems in your Hosttower.

D estroy Site  (Cost 10)
  This command is used to destroy a site in a region such as
a Portal.  There must be at least one troop in the target
region.  This is not a command that most Alliances like to
use, but it is sometimes necessary.

G o to Library
  Many library topics are available.  You should research
them all thoroughly.  NEW TOPICS MAY BE FOUND later in the
game; constantly visit your library, it can be a great aid.

H osttower Status
  When you need to know the current status of your Hosttower
and your Cryptic Alliance, use this command.

L egend
  When you see an unfamiliar marking on your map or in your
R egion Information Display use this command and it will
tell you what it is that puzzles you.

M ove Troops  (Costs mobility)
  This is the command used to move your troops from one
region to another.  It is fairly self explanatory.  As you
move into uncharted regions of Tarmara, your map of the
world gets bigger and the Mana you receive the next day will
be greater.  You can always see one region around any region
you occupy, but the information may not always be accurate.
There may be unspotted enemy troops right next to you at
anytime.  The best way to discover such things is by
scouting with troops or by S crying.  Unfortunately,
movement costs mobility and most troops can only move a few
regions in a day. Mountains are a great obstacle also.
Record the speeds of your troops and soon you will learn
their strengths and weaknesses.

Q uit
  This command will exit WIZARD WARS.  The game asks for
confirmation.

R egion Information
  This command will display pertinent information about your
occupied regions.  The header looks something like this:

 X,Y   Terrain  Site  Mana  Imps  Golems

  X,Y tells what region the information is referring to. The
X value is the region's horizontal value on the map, and the
Y value is the vertical value.
  Terrain and Sites vary depending upon whether you are an
ANSI or non-ANSI user.  Use the L egend command to discover
what the various symbols are for your map.
  Mana is the Mana level of that region.  The number in this
column represents approximately how much Mana this region
will bring in each day.
  The Imps and Golems column is simply a listing of how many
of each type of troop are in that region.  A slash after a
number indicates the average mobility of the troops. If
under Golems there was "23  /10"  then that means that there
are 23 Golems there with an average of 10 mobility (the
maximum mobility allowed).  At the start of each new day,
mobility for all troops is renewed and set to 10.
  Choosing to display only one region does exactly that.
Showing all your regions gives information on all the
regions that your Cryptic Alliance currently claims as part
of its territory.  The "T" option displays only those
regions that are claimed AND that possess troops that can
still move at least one region in at least one direction.
This option is very helpful for players with large empires.
Simply capture this listing in your buffer and print it out
to your printer.  Then you have the listing of exactly which
troops you need to move.  This ensures that you use each
troop to its full exploring potential.

S cry  (Cost 1)
  This is the safest, most reliable means of mapping out
Tarmara there is.  All information about the target region
will be displayed with 100% accuracy.  It is advised to use
this command before going into battle.

V iew Map
  This displays Tarmara in all its wasted splendor.  Only
occupied regions and their adjacent regions or regions that
have been scryed upon will be displayed.  The X values are
printed across the top and bottom of the map and the Y values
are printed along the sides for coordinate purposes.  Here
is where ANSI users have an advantage.  Not only does the
map look more realistic, possessing multiple colors and
graphics symbols, but occupied regions, regions contributing
to the empire's Mana level, will glow dark blue and regions
that possess mobile troops will glow green.

W rite a Message
  This command Constructs a small carrier pigeon designed to
carry a small message (75 characters) to a particular
region.  In order for the message to be received, there must
be troops or a Hosttower there.  The recipient will not know
who wrote the message unless you say so.

^ Normal/Enhanced Map
  This command toggles the ANSI option.  ANSI users may want
to use it to capture the map in their scroll back buffer for
a printer dump.  Non-ANSI users may want to use it to
dream....

# Invoke Apocalypse  (Cost unknown)
  This is the last ditch, selfish act of a desperate empire.
Those that subscribe to the philosophy, "If you're gonna
die, you might as well take everyone with you," may like
this alternative to defeat.  You still have to be fairly
tough to succeed here; usually only the second place empire
will be strong enough to do this.
  It is unknown exactly how The Gathering of Chaos Invoked
the Apocalypse and stalemated The Great War.  The best
theory suggests that because most of their territory had
been taken over by The Fellowship of Steel, they couldn't
have possessed any great supply of Mana (most estimate
roughly 200).  This would seem to indicate that the
Invocation did not require much to Power it.  Indeed, Time
has proven many times that compared to the difficulty of
Creating, Destroying is easy.  However, The Gathering of
Chaos did possess 2 temples and some believe that these were
the key to their Apocalypse.
  Whatever the case may be, it is not advised to experiment
with this Spell.  Neither failure nor success would promise
a bright future.  The latter is proven by History to be
devastating and the former is theorized to be fatal to the
Casting Alliance.  Don't mess with this until your Darkest
Hour is upon you....

! Reshape Tarmara  (Cost unknown)
  This will attempt to Invoke the Spell of Reshaping.  All
of your Mana will automatically be used in the attempt.  If
you are successful, you will win the game and everyone will
know it.  But if you fail, be prepared for the worst.  The
Cryptic Alliance known as The Talon, a faction of The
Gathering of Chaos during The Great War, completely
disappeared in a fiery explosion.  It is rumored that they
attempted to perform this ritual, an offshoot of the
Apocalypse, but failed.  The Gathering of Chaos claims that
The Talon used over 400 Mana in the Casting....

? Help
  This command gives a little help.

--The Binary Beast AKA N. P. Bucknell

  If you like WIZARD WARS and would like to be able to play
  the FULL game, ask your SYSOP to register our product.
  You might even want to send your SYSOP a donation to help
  with the small registration fee.