******************Instructions****************** Welcome to the game "Knights of the Golden Sword." Be sure to check out our contest. You can win $500, $300 or $200. Instructions for entering the contest can be found after the King's Ball on the 12th level. Help your sysop register so you can get to the 12th level. Good Luck! "Knights of the Golden Sword" is a role playing game. Played on a bulletin board it will allow you to interact with other players. Played locally, you can play with family members or simply play under several names for the same effect. John Reynolds, programmer, and Granville Cooley, writer and editor, had hoped that this game would be intuitive, that is, you can make your way around it without a lot of instructions on our part. The keys are there. Just press them to find out what they represent. We figured if we told you what each is then the game would be no fun and fun is what we have strived for in our story telling and our programming. But it seems that some of you are having a hard time getting underway so I'm going to take you through a session to see how the different parts work. Seems like everyone knows how to kill monsters, but as much fun as that might be, "Knights of the Golden Sword" is much more than just doing that. **First view your stats to see how much gold you have to start with, your armor and weapon power and the number of hit points you have to start the game. When you get into the game you will see that the stats will also let you check the "items." **When you are in the village chose "Castle" and then "Go See the King." He will greet you and tell you to go look for a jewel. There are 11 jewels in the game and one Golden Sword at the end of the game. **Return to the village. Select "Hills." There you can "Go Further in the Hills," where monsters are fought, but let's leave that for later. **Select "Look For Jewel." A story line comes up on the screen. You ask an old man to help you find the jewel. He agrees to help if you bring him a Wool Coat. Below the story line a menu says to give the old man the Wool Coat. You are told you don't have it. **So the problem now is to find a "Wool Coat." Back in the village you decide to go look for the "Wool Coat." There are none in the village. A "Wool Coat" is an "item." And all the items are found in the 20th Century. **To get to the 20th Century select "Time Module." (We do hope you like our little Time Module!). **Now you are in downtown New York City. Here you can walk down the street and go into stores. There is an item in each store. If you select "Buy" and you don't need the item at this time, you will be told so, which means that those items are needed on another level. **You can (Get a Cab) and go to the airport and go to different cities and visit different stores looking for the item you presently need. **But I want to help you get started and I know where the Wool Coat is, so let's (Get a Cab), select "Airport" and then select (Detroit). (Get a Cab). Since Currency and not gold is used in the 20th century, go to the Currency Exchange. Exchange the maximum. Now you have money to buy items. **"Return to Cab." "Return to Streets Downtown". "Walk Down Street." You can "Pass By" any store you do not want to go into. If you go into one, you don't have to buy, just return to the street. If you run by a store you can always "Walk Down Street" again and the stores will be repeated. **For now, let's "Go in the Dollar Store." We find that they have Wool Coats for $500. So choose (Buy Wool Coat). **Now all you need do is take the Wool Coat back to the old man. So get a cab and go back to the airport. You can always check your stats at the airport or in the village. So (View Stats) now. Under items you will see there is a Wool Coat. It is not necessary to view your stats, but sometimes it is fun just to see what you have. **Since the Time Capsule is always in New York in the 20th century, you have to return there. Then get a cab and return to the front of the capsule and then return to the 12th century. **You are now back in the village. Choose (Hills) again and (Look for Jewel). Same story comes up as before, give the old man the coat and he thanks you and tells you to take a path to the jewel. **Choose (Look for Jewel) again and another part of the story comes up and do as we did before...or **You can fight some monsters. There is no exact order in which things should be done. You can fight some monsters and then go look for items (if you don't get killed first) or look for items and then fight monsters. You should exchange gold for money every day. But you can exchange only once a day so best to exchange for maximum amount. There are four items on each level. The last item on each level is a key with which to unlock the Golden Gate to get the jewel to take to the king to get to the next level. Very little gold is needed to exchange for currency to buy items. You fight monsters to get gold and experience, but 99 per cent of the gold is used to buy better weapons and better armor. As you advance to each level the monsters get stronger so you need better weapons and armor to be able to have a good chance to defeat them. Some gold should always be on hand to (Heal) your Hit Points and they should be healed often to keep from getting killed. If you run upon a strong monster and there are some on each level, you can always (Run Home to Momma) to avoid it. (But it can come up again in the same session). If you are killed you loose your "gold on hand" so if you build up more than you need to heal yourself it is best to put it in the bank. You can always Withdraw it again when needed. Gold in the bank and money in the bank draw 10 per cent interest a day. Another good reason to use the bank! If you want to hide from other players so they won't kill you, you can get a room at a motel in any city in the 20th Century. There is no place to hide in the 12th Century. There are other bits and pieces to our game but for now I would like for you to explore them on your own. We have taken great pleasure in writing this game. Like other software writers we make mistakes. Feel free to tell us about any mistake in spelling, etc. that you find, no matter how small, so we can change it in the next version. Granville Cooley John Reynolds