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PHANTASIA - A Multi-Node BBS Fantasy Door Game
By Edward Boston
PLAYERS MANUAL
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Welcome to Phantasia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Creating a Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Playing in General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Fighting Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Treasures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Inter-terminal Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Council of the Wise (C.O.W.), Valar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Valar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
i Welcome to Phantasia
Welcome to the world of Phantasia. Phantasia is a role playing
game which allows players to roll up characters of various types
to fight monsters and other players. Progression of characters
is based upon gaining experience from fighting monsters and other
players. Most of the game is menu driven and self-explanatory
(more or less).
Your journey begins when you select the Phantasia door on your
favorite BBS system. After the game has been loaded, you will be
asked to make sure the NUM LOCK is enabled. This is so you can
use the keypad to give commands to the game. The game takes the
number values for movement directions and input to menus. If you
have a keyboard with both a number pad and a cursor pad, you will
use the number pad in the mode that numbers are sent.
The next step in your journey is to decide if you want color. If
you answer yes, you will see the game presented in exciting
color. The draw back to this is the game must send the display
commands to your terminal to get the colors to show up. Because
of this, the speed of the game will be a bit slower. The slower
your modem, the more noticeable the loss of speed. If you decide
not to have colors shown, the game will be displayed faster, but
the screens are just not as exciting. The choice is yours. Play
both with and with out colors and make your own choice. After
you make your choice about color, the title screen will appear.
If this is the first time you have played the game, you will
go right into the create character screen. If you have played
before, one of two things could happen. The wizard of the game
can set it up so each player can only run one character or
several. If the game is set up for only one character each, the
game will start your character automatically. If you can run
several character, you will be asked the name of the character to
run. If the game is restricted to only characters you created,
the character will start playing. Otherwise, you will be asked
for the password of the character.
Creating a Character
The first thing you do when creating a new character is to select
the type of character you want to have. Character types are
identified by numeric values as follows and explained below:
1:Magic User 2:Fighter 3:Elf 4:Dwarf 5:Halfling
6:Experimento
Magic user Strong in magic level and brains, weak in other
areas. Must rely on wits and magic to survive.
Fighter Good in strength and energy level, fairly good in
other areas. This adds up to a well-equipped
fighter.
1
Elf Very high quickness and above average magic level
are elves' selling points.
Dwarf Very high strength and energy level, but with a
tendency to be rather slow and not too bright.
Halfling Rather quick and smart, with high energy level, but
poor in magic and strength. Born with some
experience.
Experimento Very mediocre in all areas. However, the
experimento may be placed almost anywhere within
the playing grid.
After you have made your selection as to the type of character
you want to use, a table of stats will be generated for you
character. The values generated will be based upon the character
type you have selected and will range in value based on the
following table:
Type Strength Quickness Mana Energy Brains Magic
----------- -------- --------- ------ ------ ------ -----
Magic User 20-25 30-35 50-100 30-45 60-85 5-9
Fighter 40-55 30-35 30-50 45-70 25-45 3-6
Elf 35-45 28-38 45-90 30-50 40-65 4-7
Dwarf 50-70 25-30 25-45 60-100 20-40 2-5
Halfling 20-25 34 25-45 55-90 40-75 1-4
Experimento 25 27 100 35 25 2
Not only are the starting characteristics different for the
different character types, the characteristics progress at
different rates for the different types as the character goes up
in level. Experimento's characteristics progress randomly as one
of the other types. The progression as characters increase in
level is summarized in the following table.
Type Strength Mana Energy Brains Magic
----------- -------- ------ ------ ------ -----
Magic User 2.0 75 20 6.0 2.75
Fighter 3.0 40 30 3.0 1.50
Elf 2.5 65 25 4.0 2.00
Dwarf 5.0 30 35 2.5 1.00
Halfling 2.0 30 30 4.5 1.00
Experimentos level increase is randomly selected from one of the
five other types.
After the stats are generated, you are given a choice of
accepting the character or rolling up new stats. If you choose
not to keep the character, new stats will be generated. This
process continues until you choose to keep a character. When you
choose to keep the character, you will be asked to give the new
character a name. The name you enter will be checked against
2 other characters in the game for possible duplication. If the
name is already in use, you will be asked to supply a different
name for your character.
Once a valid name has been given, you will be asked to enter a
password. The password is to keep other players from using your
character. You will be asked to enter your password twice to
make sure you have entered the correct password. If the two
passwords differ, you will be asked to enter them again.
At this point, you have created your new character. Your
character will now be place in the world of Phantasia for you to
start the game.
Playing in General
Certain of the player's more important statistics are almost
always displayed on the screen, with maximum values (where
applicable) in parentheses. Also shown on the display is the
character's name, location, and character type. The next two
lines are the character's stats. The line immediately below the
stats is where messages are displayed. If the message was from
another player, it would be prefixed with the character's name
followed by the message. The line above the prompt is a menu of
your available option. If you have enabled the color, the
capitol letter would be in bright yellow. If you did not select
color, just enter the capitol letter of the option you want.
After a new character is generated, the character is placed
randomly near the center of a cartesian system. Most commands
are selected with a single letter or digit. For example, one may
move by hitting E, W, N, or S (lower case may also be used. Also
the arrow keys may be used for movement. If the arrow keys are
to be used, NUM LOCK must be enabled.
The following commands are available from the main menu. If
there are restrictions to the function, they are indicated in the
description.
Move To move to a particular (x,y) coordinate, use the move
('M') command. The distance a character can move is
calculated by the smallest integer to 1.5 times level
plus 1. Moving in a particular compass direction using
the arrow keys or the compass direction (N, E, S, W),
will move the player the maximum allowed distance in
that direction. A valar does not have this option
since they reside in Valhala and there is no location
on the grid associated with it. They still have most
of the other options. See the section on Valar for
more details.
Players A player may at any time see who else is playing with a
players ('P') option. One may see the grid location
only of those who are the same distance or closer to
3 the origin as they are. A palantir removes these
restrictions. Kings and members of the council of the
wise can see and can be seen by everyone. This command
will also show the number of characters active in the
game.
Announce One can talk to other players with the announce ('A')
option. Messages are a single line of text. To remove
a current message, just press RETURN when prompted for
a message.
Your Your stats ('Y') option show additional characteristics
stats of a player. This option is a toggle of the display.
Selection of this option will turn on the display if
off, or turn off the display if on. See below for a
description of these values.
Quit One may leave the game with the quit option. Please
note that only character of level 1 or above are saved
for future play. To help you remember, the system will
verify that you want to quit if your character is at
level 0.
Cloak This allows a character to hide from other players and
monsters. To be able to use cloaking, the character
must be at least level 7 and have a magic level of 20
or greater. For more information, see cloak under the
spells section.
Teleport This allows a character to move greater distances than
the Move command. See teleport under spell section.
Help This gives a brief summary of the commands you can use.
Fight This option allows you to call a monster to fight. A
monster appropriate for the location will be called.
Calling a monster will add a small amount of sin to
your character. This command is not shown in the menu
options, but is always available.
One may rest by default (any key except the menu ones). Resting
lets one regain maximum energy level, and also lets one find mana
(more is found for larger levels and further distances from the
origin).
Several other options become available as the player progresses
in level and magic, or to other stations in the game (valar,
council of the wise, king). These are described elsewhere.
A CTRL-L will force the redrawing of the screen.
Fighting Monsters
4 At times in the game, you will have to do battle against various
monsters. A player has several options while fighting monsters.
On the color display, the options are selected by the bright
yellow character. For non-color, the options are selected by the
number before the option name, or the capitol letter of the
option. The numbers can be used during battle so you can use the
key pad. The following options are available during battle:
Melee Inflicts damage on the monster, based upon strength.
(or Also decreases the monster's strength some.
space)
Skirmish Inflicts a little less damage than melee, but decreases
the monster's quickness instead.
Evade Attempt to run away. Success is based upon both the
player's and the monster's brains and quickness.
Nick Hits the monster one plus the player's sword, and gives
the player 10% of the monster's experience. Decreases
the monster's experience an amount proportional to the
amount granted. This also increases the monster's
quickness.
Cast Several options for throwing spells (described below).
Repeat This command allows you to repeat on of the attack
commands a number of times. You will be asked how many
times to repeat the attack and which attack you want to
repeat. The attack will be repeat until the number of
attacks have been reached, your enegry get low enough
that the strongest hit from the monster will kill you,
the monster does a special hit, or the monster dies.
Luckout This is essentially a battle of wits with the Monster.
Success is based upon the player's and the monster's
brains. The player gets credit for slaying the monster
if successful. Otherwise, nothing happens, and the
chance to luckout is lost.
Character Statistics
The following is a list of stats used with each player. Some of
the stats will always be displayed on the screen. Other stats
will only be displayed when the 'Y' option of the main menu is
selected. The following list shows the stat and the purpose of
it.
Age Number of seconds of playing time for the character.
As the character ages, they slow down. The
character's quickness and speed are effected by the
aging process.
5 Brains Are basically the character's intelligence; used for
various fighting options and spells.
Energy Specifies how much damage a character may endure
Level before dying.
Experience Is gained by fighting monsters and other characters.
The number in parenthesis is the amount of
experience needed to achieve the next level.
Level Indicates how much experience a character has
accumulated; it progresses geometrically as
experience increases.
Magic Level Determines which spells a character may throw, and
how effective those spells will be.
Mana Is used as a power source for throwing spells. The
amount of mana a player may posses is limited to
their level by the formula: 5000 + (level * 15).
Poison Is sickness which degrades a character's performance
(affects energy level and strength). Can be reduced
by resting or by other items found in game.
Quick Determines how many chances a character gets to make
decisions while fighting.
Sin Is accumulated as a character does certain nasty
things; used only rarely in normal play of the game.
Even though it is not used much, it is best to keep
the sin as close to zero as possible.
Strength Determines how much damage a character can inflict
and how much treasure can be carried before the
weight effects quickness.
Users Show how many people are playing the game at the
time. Should only be over 1 on multinode BBS
systems.
Gold and Tells how much gold and gems the character is
Gems carring.
Holy Water, Shows how many of the items are being carried.
Amulets, These items are used to fight monsters and protect
Charms the player from bad things happening to them in the
game.
Crowns Indicates how many crowns the character possess. A
crown is needed to enter the Lord's Chamber to
become king. Whe a character becomes king, they
give up a crown. As long as the character is king,
they can go into the Lord's Chamber. If the player
is bumbed off from being king, they must have
6 another crown to enter the Lord's Chamber and become
king again.
Shield Shields add to the character's energy level. This
allows the player to take more damage in fights.
Quicksilver Quick silver adds to the player's quickness.
Blessing This flag shows if the characer has been blessed.
Ring Show is the character is in possesion of a ring.
Virgin Tells if the character has a vigin accompaning them.
Palantir Indicates if the character has a palantir. A
palantir is used to search for the grail.
Spells
During the course of the game, the player may exercise their
particular magic powers. These spells are described below. The
two numbers before each description represents the magic level
necessary to throw the spell and the mana used by the spell
(MLN/Mana).
All or (none / 1) Used while combatting monsters. Has a
nothing 25% chance of working. If it works, it hits the
monster just enough to kill it. If it fails, it
doesn't hit the monster, and doubles the monster's
quickness and strength. Paralyzed monsters wake
up much quicker as a result of this spell.
Cloak (20 and Level 7 / 35 + 3 per turn). Used during
normal play. Prevents monsters from finding the
character, as well as hiding the player from other
players. Their coordinates show up as '?' in the
players option. Players cannot collect mana, find
trading posts, or discover the grail while
cloaked. Uncloak by calling a monster or choosing
this option again.
Force field (15 / 30) Used during monster combat. Throws up a
shield to protect from damage. The shield is
added to actual energy level, and is a fixed
number, based upon maximum energy. Normally,
damage occurs first to the shield, and then to the
players actual energy level. Some monsters do
have the ability to get around the Force Field.
increase (35 / 75) Used during combat with monsters.
Strength Increases strength up to a certain maximum. This
spell may be thrown several times, but a maximum
level will be reached.
7 Invisibility (45 / 90) Used while fighting monsters. Makes it
harder for the monster to hit by temporarily
increasing the player's quickness. This spell may
be thrown several times, but a maximum level will
be reached.
magic Bolt (5 / variable) Used while combatting monsters.
Hits the monster based upon the amount of mana
expended and magic level. Guaranteed to hit at
least 10 per mana.
Paralyze (75 / 150) Used during monster combat. 'Freezes'
the monster by putting it's quickness slightly
negative. The monster will slowly wake up.
Success is based upon player's magic and the
monster's experience. If it fails, nothing
happens.
power blast (none / 5 times level). Used during inter-
terminal battle. Damage is based upon magic level
and strength. Hits much harder than a normal hit.
Choose (Valor or C.O.W. / 1000) Used during monster
combat only by valar or council of the wise.
Allows the player to pick which monster to fight.
Teleport (40 + level 12 / 20 per 75 moved). Used during
normal play. Allows the player to move with much
more freedom than with the move option, at the
price of expending mana. The maximum distance
possible to move is based upon level and magic
level.
Metamorphosis (25 / 50) Used during monster combat. Transforms
the monster randomly into on of the other
monsters. Damage from the original monster is
transferred to the new monster.
Transport (60 / 125) Used during monster combat. Transports
the monster away from the player. Success is
based upon player's magic and brains, and the
monster's experience. If it fails, the player is
transported instead. 60% of the time, the monster
will drop any treasure it was carrying. If the
monster is transported away, the character does
not get the experience points of the monster.
Monsters
Monsters get bigger as one moves farther from the origin (0,0).
Rings of distance 125 from the origin determine the size. A
monster's experience, energy level, and brains are multiplied by
the size. Strength is increased 50% per size over one, and
quickness remains the same, regardless of size.
8 Also, meaner monsters are to be found as one progress farther out
from the origin. Monsters also may flock. Monsters outside the
first ring may carry treasure, as determined by their treasure
type. Flocking monsters and bigger monsters increase the chances
of treasure.
The following list show the treasure type, flocking percent and
special abilities. The numbers in the parentheses are (Treasure
Type / Flocking percent). The monsters are listed alphabetically
and the order they appear in the list does not represent the
monster number.
Argus (8/0) No special abilities.
Aspidchelone (7/2) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Balrog (7/0) Inflicts damage by taking away experience,
not energy.
Bandersnatch (6/3) No special abilities.
Beetle (0/48) No special abilities.
Begion (8/0) No special abilities.
Black Annis (4/2) No special abilities.
Bogie (1/57) No special abilities.
Bogle (2/15) Killed by Holy Water.
Bonnacon (4/14) This guy can be a real stinker if he gets
bored with the fight.
Bwca (3/1) Killed by Holy Water.
Cacus (8/0) No special abilities.
Carrion (2/42) No special abilities.
Crawler
Centepede (0/61) No special abilities.
Cerberus (9/0) Loves metal and will steal all the metal
treasures from a player if able.
Chaladrius (5/20) No special abilities.
Chimaera (7/0) No special abilities.
Cinomulgus (5/18) No special abilities.
Cluricaun (0/5) Killed by Holy Water.
Coblynau (6/2) No special abilities.
9 Cocodrill (4/38) No special abilities.
Cold-drake (7/0) No special abilities.
Crebain (2/81) No special abilities.
Dark Lord (13/0) Very nasty person. Does not like to be
hit (especially nicked), and many spells
do not work well against him. One can
always evade from the Dark Lord. Can be
defeated if you are blessed and have a
charm with you.
Dodo (3/3) No special abilities.
Fachan (1/10) Killed by Holy Water.
Fenoderee (3/42) No special abilities.
Fir Darrig (0/1) Killed by Holy Water.
Gargoyle (5/7) No special abilities.
Ghillie Dhu (2/2) Killed by Holy Water.
Glaistig (3/0) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Gnoll (1/61) No special abilities.
Gnome (0/21) No special abilities.
Green Slime (0/26) No special abilities.
Grendel (8/0) No special abilities.
Gryphon (7/1) No special abilities.
Gwyllion (5/4) No special abilities.
Hamadryad (3/12) No special abilities.
Harpy (6/2) No special abilities.
Hob-goblin (3/18) No special abilities.
Hydra (3/27) No special abilities.
Idiot (0/0) No special abilities.
Imp (0/1) No special abilities.
Jabberwock (9/0) May tire of battle, and leave after
calling one of his bigger friends (Jubjub
Bird or Bandersnatch).
10 Jack-in-Irons (7/0) No special abilities.
Jello Blob (4/13) No special abilities.
Jubjub Bird (4/0) No special abilities.
Kelpie (5/0) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Killmoulis (3/22) Killed by Holy Water.
Kobold (1/68) May get nasty and steal one gold piece and
run away.
Kopoacinth (5/20) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Lampry (4/37) May bite, inflicting poison. Will only be
found in the Dead Marshes.
Leanan-Sidhe (9/0) Also a very nasty person. She will
permanently sap strength from someone.
Leech (0/73) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Mermaid (3/0) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Merman (4/0) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Mimic (1/2) Will pick another name from the list of
monsters in order to confuse the player.
Modnar (7/12) Has random characteristics, including
treasure type.
Morgoth (7/12) Actually Modnar, but reserved for council
of the wise, valar, and ex-valar. Fights
with Morgoth end when either he or the
player dies. His characteristics are
calculated based upon the player's. The
player is given the chance to ally with
him. No magic, except force field works
when battling with Morgoth.
Moron (0/50) No special abilities.
Naiad (2/11) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Nazgul (12/9) May try to steal a ring or neutralize part
of one's brains.
Nixie (3/6) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Nuckelavee (8/0) No special abilities.
11 Ogre (3/19) No special abilities.
Orc (1/92) No special abilities.
Owlbear (4/22) No special abilities.
Peridexion (5/2) No special abilities.
Phooka (5/12) No special abilities.
Pixie (0/32) No special abilities.
Red Cap (9/0) No special abilities.
Red Dragon (8/0) No special abilities.
Saruman (11/0) Wanders around with Wormtongue, who can
steal a palantir. Also, Saruman may turn
a player's gems into gold pieces, or
scramble their stats.
Scatha the (8/0) No special abilities.
Worm
Serpent (0/10) No special abilities.
Shellycoat (2/0) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Shelob (7/0) May bite, inflicting poison.
Shrieker (2/0) Will call one of its (much bigger) buddies
if picked upon.
Siren (4/24) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Smaug (7/0) No special abilities.
Smeagol (5/0) Will try to steal a ring from a player, if
given the chance.
Snotgurgle (6/3) No special abilities.
Spider (1/57) No special abilities.
Sprite (1/43) No special abilities.
Stirge (2/95) No special abilities.
Succubus (9/0) May inflict damage through a force field.
This subtracts from energy level instead
of any shield the player may have thrown
up. This is a very easy way to die.
Thaumaturgist (6/0) Can transport a player.
12 Tiamat (9/0) May take half a players gold and gems and
escape.
Tigris (6/3) No special abilities.
Titan (8/0) No special abilities.
Troll (4/29) May regenerate its energy and strength
while in battle.
Trow (2/36) No special abilities.
Uldra (1/6) No special abilities.
Ungoliant (10/0) Can bite and poison. Also takes from the
player's quickness.
Unicorn (3/0) Can only be subdued by a virgin.
Urisk (1/3) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Vortex (6/4) May take some mana.
Warg (2/88) No special abilities.
Water Leaper (0/62) Will only be found in the Dead Marshes.
Wichtlein (4/8) No special abilities.
Wraith (5/13) May make a player blind.
Treasures
Various treasure types are as follows:
0 None
1 Power Booster adds mana.
Holy Water Kills assorted faeries.
Holy Orb subtracts sin.
2 Amulet protects from cursed treasure.
Druid adds experience.
Hermit reduces sin by 25% and adds some mana.
3 Shield adds to maximum energy level.
Virgin used to subdue a unicorn, or to give
much experience (and sin).
Athelas subtracts one poison.
4 Shield * throws a bigger than normal force field.
Scrolls Invisible * puts the finder's quickness to one
million.
13 Strength * multiplies finder's strength by ten.
Pick Monster allows finder to pick next monster to
battle.
Knowledge adds to finder's brains and magic level.
All the scrolls except general knowledge automatically
calls a monster. Those that are marked with a *
preserve any spells that were already in effect. Those
that call monsters are only in effect while in battle.
5 Dagger adds to strength.
Amour same as shield, but bigger.
Tablet adds brains.
6 Priest rests to maximum; adds mana, brains; and
halves sin.
Robin Hood increased shield and adds permanently to
strength.
Axe like dagger, but bigger.
7 Charm protects from cursed treasure (used if
you have no amulets). Used in
conjunction with blessing to battle Dark
Lord.
Merlyn adds brains, magic, and mana.
War Hammer Like an axe, but bigger.
8 Healing Potion subtracts from poison.
Transporter allows finder to move anywhere.
Sword like war hammer, but bigger.
9 Golden Crown allows the player to become king by
going to (0,0).
Blessing reduces sin, adds mana, rests to
maximum. Kills Dark Lord with a charm,
and gives bearer first hit on all
monsters.
Quicksilver adds to quickness.
10 Elven Boots adds permanently to quickness.
11 Palantir allows one to see all the other players;
used by council of the wise to seek the
grail.
12/13 Ring allows one to hit much harder in battle,
etc.
Any treasure type 10 - 13 monsters may carry a type nine treasure
instead.
A monster may also be carrying gold or gems. These are used at
trading posts to buy things. A gem's value is set by the Wizard.
Too much gold will slow a player down. One may carry 1000 plus
14 200 per level of gold. A gem weighs one half a gold piece.
Monsters of treasure type 7 or higher may carry gems.
The chance of a cursed treasure is based upon treasure type. The
more valuable treasures have a greater chance of being cursed. A
cursed treasure knocks energy level very low, and adds poison.
Rings
Rings are only carried by Nazguls and Dark Lord. They come in
four different types. All rings keep the player rested to
maximum and causes them to hit much harder in battle with
monsters (assuming one has chosen to use the ring for battle).
Some rings are cursed and after a few times of using these types,
the player falls under control of the ring, and strange, random
things will occur. Eventually, the player dies, and gives their
name to a monster on the file. If you try to pick up a cursed
ring and you have a charm, you will be saved from this fate.
Other rings are much more benign. One type is good for a limited
number of battle rounds, and will save the player from death if
it was being used when they died. The other type is the same,
except that it is never used up. Rings disappear after saving
someone from death. In general, cursed rings occur much more
often than normal ones. It is usually not a good idea to pick
one up unless you have a charm. The only way to get rid of a
ring is to have a monster steal it.
King
A player may become king by finding a crown and going to (0,0).
Players must have a level in the range of 10 to 1000 to be able
to find a crown. To become king, the player must go to the
Lord's Chamber at (0, 0). After becoming king, you relinquish
one crown as payment. If another player becomes king after you,
you must find another crown to regain the throne.
Once a player is king, they may do certain things while in the
Lord's Chamber (0,0). These fall under the Decree option of the
main menu.
Players Lists all players on file, whether playing or not.
Transport This is done to another player. It randomly moves
the affected player about. If the other player
posses a charm, they will be protects from
transports.
Curse This is done to another player. It is analogous to
cursed treasure, but worse. It inflicts poison,
knocks energy level very low, and removes a cloak. A
blessing protects from king's curses.
15 Energy The king may put up to twenty of these scattered
void about their kingdom as they please. If a player hits
one, they lose mana, energy, and gold. The energy
void disappears after being hit. Once an energy void
is set, it can only be removed by a player hitting it
or when a new king takes the throne when all energy
voids are removed.
Bestow This is also done to another player. The king may
wish to reward one or more loyal subjects by sharing
riches (gold). Or it is a convenient way to dispose
of some unwanted deadweight.
Irs This function has two subfunctions: Set Tax Rate and
Collect Taxes. When there is a king in the game,
they have the option of setting a tax rate on all
gold found. This value can be from 0 to 20 percent.
As gold is found, it is taxed at this rate. When the
king is in the Lord's Chamber, they may collect the
gold payed in taxes.
The king may also teleport anywhere for free by using the Lord's
Chamber as a starting place.
Special Places
Certain regions of the playing grid have different names. In
general, this is only to give the player some idea of their
present location. Some special places do exist.
Trading These are located at |x| == |y| == n*n*100 for n = 1,
Posts 2 ... 1000 (ie (100,100), (400,400), (900,900),
etc.). Trading posts farther out have more things
for sale. Be careful about cheating merchants there,
as they have short tempers. Merchants are dishonest
about 5% of the time.
Lord's This is located at (0,0). Only players with crowns
Chamber may enter.
Point of This is located beyond 1,200,00 in any direction.
No Return The only way to return from here is a transporter or
to have a valar relocate the player. You will be
warned that you are about to enter into this area.
You cannot teleport into the Point of No Return.
Dead This is the band located fairly distant from the
Marshes origin. The water type monsters can normally only be
found here.
Valhalla This place is where the valar resides. It is
associated with no particular coordinate on the
playing grid.
16 Wormholes At fixed locations on the grid are several holes to
underground defects in the playing area. Sixty-four
chambers exist; sixteen of which open to the outside
world. While in the wormholes, one moves by going
forward, backward, left, or right. One can always
undo a move by going in the opposite direction. The
wormholes are mappable. For example, to move from
the first wormhole (at (-400,0)) to the second
wormhole, type 'LL'. When you leave the wormholes,
you will exit at the location of the wormhole you
leave from.
If you entered the first wormhole at (-400, 0), move
'LL' to reach the second wormhole, you will be at
location (800, 0). While in the wormholes, monsters
will not be found. When in the wormholes, the
following commands are available.
Forward Move forward one cave.
Back Move back one cave.
Left Move to the cave on the left.
Right Move to the cave on the right.
Quit Leave the game. See main menu.
Talk Talk to other players. See
Announce under main menu.
Players List the current players in the
game. See main menu.
Your Stats Toggle your status display. See
main menu.
Miscellaneous
There are several bits of trivial knowledge which fall under this
category.
- A GURU will never be disgusted with your sins if they are
less than one.
- A PHYSICIAN wants about half of a player's gold to be
happy. Offering more than one has, or a negative amount
will anger the PHYSICIAN, who will make the player worse.
- The HOLY GRAIL does little for those who are not ready to
behold it. Whenever anyone finds it, it moves. It is
always located within 1,000,000 in any compass direction
of the origin and will be a mutiple of 1000.
17 - There is a maximum amount of mana and charms a player may
posses, based upon level. Quicksilver is always limited
to a maximum of 99. Charms are limited to 10 plus
current level.
- BOOKS bought at a trading post increase brains, based
upon the number bought. It is unwise, however to buy
more than 1/10 of one's level in books at a time. Doing
so could blow your mind, literally.
- Players over level 10,000 are automatically retired.
- A blindness goes away in random time.
- For YES and NO questions, you can use '+' for YES and '-'
for NO.
Inter-terminal Battle
When two player's coordinates correspond, they may engage in
battle. In general, the player with the highest quickness get
the first hit. If the two players are severely mismatched, the
stronger player is drastically handicapped for the battle. When
the two combatants first meet, they are given the option of
casting a Force Field spell. They are only given this option if
they have a high enough magic level and enough mana for the
spell. WARNING: This might be the only time you get to put up a
force field. In order to protect from being stuck in an infinite
loop, the player waiting for a response may time out. Every time
you strike at the other player, you also pick up sin. If you are
not careful, you could find you have a whole lot of sin after
fighting another character.
Options for battle are:
fight Inflicts damage upon the other person.
run away Escape from battle. Has a 75% chance of working.
power Battle spell.
blast
luckout One-time chance to try to win against the foe. Has a
10% chance of working.
Force Throws up a force field to help you withstand more
Field damage.
Upon slaying a player in battle the winner gets the other's
experience and treasures. Rings do not work for inter-terminal
battle.
Council of the Wise (C.O.W.), Valar
18 A player automatically becomes a member of the council of the
wise upon reaching level 1000. If the character possesses any
crowns at this time, they are cashed in for 1000 gold pieces
each. Members of the council cannot have rings. Members of the
council have a few extra options which they can exercise. These
fall under the intervention ('I') option.
Heal This is done to another player and is a quick way for
that player to be rested to maximum and lose a little
poison.
Seek grail The main purpose in life for members of the council
is to seek the Holy Grail. This is done with a
palantir under this option. The distance cited by
the seek is accurate within 10%, in order not to make
it too easy to find the grail. Seeking cost 1000
mana. A player must have infinitesimally small sin,
or else it's all over upon finding the grail. In
order to help members of the council on their quest,
they may Teleport with greater ease.
Valar
Upon finding the grail, the player advance to position of valar.
They may then exercise more and niftier options under
Intervention. These include all of the council members' options
plus:
Throw This allows the valar to throw monsters at other
players. The monster is picked at random and is
appropriate for the location of the player.
Relocate With this option, the valar can move other players
around in the playing area.
Bless The valar can bless other players with this option.
This blessing is different from a blessing you buy or
receive as a gift during normal play. A Valar
blessing will rest to maximum, reduce poison, add
some strength, brains and mana. This blessing will
not work in defeating the Dark Lord.
trading Allows the Valar to drop in on a trading post for new
Post supplies.
Valar are essentially immortal, but are actually given five
lives. If these are used up, the player is left to die, and
becomes and ex-valar. Valar cannot Move, Teleport, or call
monsters with the Fight option. Any monsters which a valar
encounters are based upon their size. Only one valar may exist
at a time. A player replaces the exiting valar upon finding the
19 grail and the present valar is then bumped back to the council of
the wise and must find the grail again to reclaim the title of
valar.
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