.-=>PRELUDE<=-

|Year :| 2051 AD
|Place:| Seattle Washington

The combination of Cybernetics and human flesh began early in the 21st
Century. Computers are now interfaced with human minds and, after a many
century lull of mystic energy the 'Magic' has returned. This combination 
has produced a special breed of person/cyber which is highly demanded
in the world of large Megaplex Businesses.

When the 'Giants' need the 'Dirty' work done it's time for you to go to 
work. Today when you checked your Electronic Mailbox there was one message
of great importance. A well known mediator between the Megaplex and the 
'Runners', has requested your services to help steal a very important 
Micro-Chip.


|Message:| #10102051
|From   :| 
|To     :| 

'Let me assure you that I fully understand your position. I hope you can
understand mine. We need you to infiltrate the Protechnology building and 
retrieve a Microchip for us, I feel that you are the right person for the 
job. Let's just say that it would be uncomfortable for all concerned were 
any news of this to be made public knowledge. I am quite sure that we can 
rely on your discretion. Remember who I am and bring us what we need.


.KEY LOCATIONS

.Protechnology Building
The building has four levels. Your job is to find the Microchip. There are
Androids and other Future Runners in the building. Each level and certain
areas require Passes, Keys, Combinations, Etc.. There are also Trap and Lazer
rooms that move around depending on the Play Version of the game. Passes and
other items that are required may be in any location throughout the City.

.Monorail Station
This is how you travel about the city and metroplexes. You will be visiting
two other locations in the city; The Seattle Center and Kobe Terrace Park.
You will be required to have RAIL Passes for each location you wish to visit.
During certain play versions of the game one line of the Monorail System may
be down for maintenance and other modes of transportation will be required.

.Seattle Center
The Center has five structures. Within these structures are clues, codes,
cards, and more. There are Metroplex Guardsmen, security robots and Androids
ready to make your job a little more difficult.

.Kobe Terrace Park
This is another area that you must travel to in order to complete your
mission. There is an Information center here as well as various paths leading
to....

.Main Street
This area is accessed from one of the Exit gates in Kobe Terrace Park. Here
you will find Shops, Old Warehouses and items required to complete your 
mission.

.Abandoned Subway
Beneath a manhole cover you will find a late 20th century abandoned subway.
The manhole cover may be heavy and weaker characters may have to try several
times in order to move it. In some play versions it will be necessary to find
items that will help you remove the cover.

.BATTLES AND ENCOUNTERS

Throughout the game you will encounter Guards, Androids, Gangs and even other
'Runners' that will require that you do battle with them. How well you do in
these battles depend on your Character, Reflexes, Health and your opponents
strength. During Battle you will be presented with a Color bar that contains
Grey and Red squares. You must hit your SPACE BAR on the red square to hit
your opponent. In actual combat you will soon learn that you have to time your
reflexes to anticipate the next color. Stronger 'COMBAT' characters will have
better luck in battle than Non-Combat characters. Hitting the ESC key will
enable you to retreat, but you could suffer more if you wait too long. When
you are confronted by other 'Runners' in the game you will have 3 options:
[F]ight, which is just as it implies, you will battle them until one of you
loses or retreats. [R]ob, this allows you to try and steal credits from them.
[I]gnore, you don't wish to make trouble or have trouble bestrewed in your
direction. There is a chance, however, that on the latter option your opponent
may not be as friendly and may wish to come after you.


.HEALING

After Battle your health points will be somewhat less than full strength and
you will need to get healed at the nearest 'DOC', 'CHOP SHOP'. Consuming food
and beverage will also bring your health up. If your health falls below 1 you 
will die. Try to avoid further battles until you receive medical attention. 
Some Magic Users will be able to heal themselves with a 'Spell'. Another way
to improve your health is by sleeping. This will happen when your number of
moves per day has been exceeded and you must rest until tomorrow.


.WINNING THE GAME
To win, you must be the first 'Runner' to deliver the correct Micro-Chip to
the the individual that is paying for your services. Towards the end of the 
game, right before and right after you obtain the Micro-Chip, there are 
certain events that must be done in correct sequence in order to obtain your 
transportation out of the mess you will find yourself in. Once you arrive at
your final destination you must also possess certain information in order to 
make contact with the proper person.

.-=>HINTS and TIPS<=-

|-Q-| - from any prompt will exit Future Runner and return you to the BBS.
|-Y-| - from any prompt will give you your stats and objects you possess.

If you are extreemly quick during battle and can hit the first red square
on the first pass you will do 1 additional hit point of damage.

Be sure to thoroughly search each area. Some clues or items require that you
search more than once. If the message 'NOTHING OF USE IS FOUND' appears or you
continue to get the same message you can be sure that no more searching is 
required at that location. Each Card, Pass, Item, Number or set of numbers are 
required to help you to complete the game. The object is NOT to defeat all the 
other 'Runners' but to be the first to obtain the right Micro-Chip and take it 
to the individual that hired you.

Be sure to write down ALL numbers and clues. Most all of them are needed
to complete the game successfully. All clues and encounters are replaced
each new day so be prepared..

All the Non-Carried items such as Credits, Clues, Maps, Newspapers, etc.. 
will always be available the next day. This is important as you will need to
remember where they are if you need to refer to them or you run out of
credits. If you should run out near a place that requires them you may need
to lay low for a couple days to gather enough to proceed on your mission.

.HELP VIEWER COMMANDS
As a standard, our Windowed Help File Viewer will accept the following keys 
to navigate besides the ones listed on the bottem stat line. These commands 
can only be used if you are in the |Doorway Mode| from your terminal program.

|PAGE UP| - Same as [P]revious - Moves up one page at a time.
|PAGE DOWN| - Same as [N]ext - Moves down one page at a time.
|CURSOR UP| - Same as Scroll [U]p - Moves up one line at a time. 
|CURSOR DOWN| - Same as Scroll [D]own - Moves down one line at a time.
|HOME| - Same as [F]irst - Moves to the top of the help file.
|END| - Same as [L]ast - Moves to the bottom of the help file.
|ESC| - Same as e[X]it - Exits the help file viewer.


.GOOD LUCK!...You'll need it...

