Thabean Knights Ver 1.4 ----------------------- Knight's Scroll of Wisdom Set in the days of old, when Knights roamed the Realms in search of Honour and Valour, the Thabean Knights door is your gateway to adventure. With Quests and Battles around every corner, best that you read this scroll before entering the realm. The game follows the basic gameplay of most role playing/multi- player BBS doors. The idea has been around for a while. However, the structure of the game differs from most in many ways. All of the items within the realm interact with one another. For example: A Knight battles a Rogue Guard in the Tavern (the guard has been drinking). The guard has chain mail armour and a short sword. If, in the course of the battle, the armour and weapon are not damaged beyond repair, the Knight may take and use them in future battles. Bear in mind that the items have already been used and the number of uses remaining for each (their "Life Spans") make them less valuable. If the Knight then bought a new short sword as well, the old short sword taken from the guard would still be of lesser value and would break in battle before the new one. Another outstanding feature in the game is the control the sysop has over every aspect within it. Any item used, found, bought, sold, etc may be removed, added or altered by the SysOp. You may find one day that your SysOp has changed the game several ways by adding one new foe to battle or a couple of new weapons. That brings us to the Quests (described in more detail later). The quests of the game have been written by players and are one of the most exciting features within the game. Each is a seperate adventure and may be linked to other adventures (for example, you must find a key within one adventure to complete the next). Ask your SysOp how you may write Quests for the other players to solve. GAME CONTROL ³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ All of the menus within the game are "Hot-Keyed" meaning that you need simply press the key of your choice. You do not need to wait for the menu to finish it's display before you make your choice. This speeds the game up tremendously as you can jump from one area to another without even seeing the menus for each. The menus will always display themselves if no selection has been made. To stop the logo screen display (the two bloodied swords), press "S" as it begins displaying. Playing in Non-ANSI mode only removes the colours from the screen. This speeds up display but will take away from the feel of the game. THY KNIGHT ³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ You become a Knight within the realm. All or your actions are performed by your Knight as though you yourself were the mind and concience of the Knight. ATTRIBUTES: Your Knight has the basic attributes found in almost all role-playing games. These determine your Knight's abilities to perform tasks for the King. All of your basic (starting) attributes are determined the first time you enter the realm. These attributes will improve as you gain more experience. Some magic items will artificially increase your attributes for a time. As you train your Knight through battle and adventure, skills are earned making your Knigh more effective in the Realm. SKILLS: Your Knight's skills will increase your effectiveness in situations. Each is a "plus" to your ability score when the situation is encountered. OFFENSE: Added to your skills when attacking. DEFENSE: Added to your skills when defending. MAGIC: Added to your skills when using a magic item. Offense and Defense skills are catagorized into Melee (close combat), Missile (long range combat), and Enchanted (against a magic foe). EQUIPMENT: Your Knight has an array of weapons and armour available as well as magical items (such as potions and vials). Each item has a seperate set of characteristics assigned to it. For example, a sword may be magical or it may be so brittle that it breaks with one swipe. Each item has a set life span (number of times it may be used before it breaks or gone). A potion may be used once; a charm more than once, a bow may be used 200 times before its string breaks, etc. Equipment may be found, won, bought, or sold. WEAPONS - Your Knight may carry up to 10 different weapons. Each must be "readied" before it will be used. A different weapon may be wielded in each hand unless one is a two- handed weapon or you wish to use a shield. Weapons have a limited range. Some may be used at a distance (missile weapons), some may be used in close combat (melee weapons), and some may be used at any range (a dagger may be thrown or used to stab). You begin the game with a Knife in hand. Remember to carry spares as weapons tend to wear out. ARMOURS - Your Knight may carry up to 10 different armours. Each must be "worn" before it will be used. The exception to this is a shield which occupies the left hand. You begin the game in plain street clothes. MAGIC - Items of magic will restore or increase your Knight's attributes. Your Knight may carry up to 10 different types of magic items and up to 250 of each type. You begin the game with 3 potions of healing. GOLD - Gold, the basic monetary system in the game, is the wealth of your Knight. Weapons, Armours, and Magic Items may be bought and sold in the Shoppes. Gold may be borrowed from the Bank or put into your bank account. The gold you have in hand is what is used for purchases. Items may not be bought on credit. As your Knight travels the Realm, experience points will be gained. They are rewarded by winning battles, finishing quests, etc. 50 or more experience points earned will automatically increase the Knight's attributes, skills, and/or maximum number of Hit Points (health pts.). Your Knight will need to finish all of the Quests in the current level to be promoted to the next level. By increasing the level of your Knight, more Guilds will be available, more weapons, armours, and magic items will be found in the shoppes, a wider range of foes will be found, more gold will be available in the Bank for loan, and a new set of Quests will be revealed. Your Knight begins the game with 0 experience points and at level 0. Experience points will not raise your Knight's Level, only finishing all the quests for the current level will allow you to move on. Each day your Knight has a set number of turns to use. The number of turns may be adjusted by your SysOp. Turns are the basic time limit within the game. Actions take a set number of turns from your Knight's daily amount. Some Examples: Bank Transactions: 1 Turn per Transaction Buying Weapon: 0 Turns Selling Weapon: 1 Turn Tavern Brawling: 1 Turn Reading/Writing Scroll: 0 Turns Reading/Writing Tale: 0 Turns Guild Mission: 1 Turn to Search then 1 per Mission MERCHANTS ³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Found in the Armoury section, the Weapon Shoppe will provide you with the selection of available weapons for your Knight. The list of weapons grows as your Knight increases in Level. Weapons must be readied before they will be used! A description of each weapon will be displayed before you buy it. The description includes the life span (maximum number of times it may be used before it "breaks"), price, weapon level, and range. A weapon's value depreciates with use so selling a weapon will not return the gold that you would pay for it. Found in the Armoury section, the Armour Shoppe will provide you with the selection of available armours for your Knight. The list of armour grows as your Knight increases in Level. Armour must be worn before it will be used! A description of the armour will be displayed before you buy it. The description includes the life span (maximum number of blows it can withstand), price, weapon level, and maximum damage absorbed each round. NOTE: A shield may be readied but will occupy a hand that could otherwise be filled by a weapon. Bear this in mind when equiping your Knight. The Bank is the only truely reliable place to put your gold. Gold is available for loan which adds 5% interest each day. Depositing your gold in hand into the bank insures that you won't lose your gold if your Knight is attacked overnight. The Mage of the Realm offers many items of interest for your Knight. Items that increase your Knight's Health, Stamina, Strength, Wisdom, etc. may be bought and sold here. If poisoned during a battle, this is the place to go to find a cure. Items sold to the mage will not bring as much gold as they cost (why would the mage wish to buy what he can readily make?) but you should never need to sell a magic item. MEETINGS ³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ The Tavern is a general free-for-all pub set amongst the shoppes of the realm. Here, Knights may spread rumors of the kingdom, join in brawls, order food or drink, and gamble their gold in hand in the Taverns Games. Food will restore hit points. Drinks will restore a few hit points and the Knight's stamina. The games all have instructions to teach your Knight the rules. The fights within the Tavern usually involve foes who have been drinking. This could be beneficial or could be hazardous as a foe who is inebriated will tend to not feel your Knight's blows or not be able to stand very well. When a Knight remains in the streets instead of a guild, he is available for battle in the streets. Street battles are chivalrous and do not usually result in death. Your opponent will usually flee the battle when wounded critically and return to his guild to heal. Experience points and skills are earned more readily during a street fight because your opponent will usually be trained and offer more of a challenge. Challenges are the best way to settle disputes among Knights. If your Knight is challenged, the next time you play you will automatically join in battle with the challenger. If you challenge a Knight, be sure that you have readied your Knight before leaving him within the Kingdom. Magic Items are not allowed when Knights battle Knights. >> BE SURE TO READY YOUR KNIGHT BEFORE LEAVING THE REALM! << All challenges and their outcomes are recorded in the Kingdom news for public reading. MISSIONS ³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ GUILDS - The Guilds are the general meeting places of Knights. Within each guild, a leader is voted to office. The leader is paid daily an amount set by your SysOp. Jobs and Border Marches may be undertaken here to earn extra gold. Guild Messages may be posted to the Knights of your guild. Resting overnight within your guild is the best way to insure protection against attack and to heal your knight. It will, however, use any turns you may have remaining for the day. If you intend to return to the realm later the same day, it would be better to stay in the streets and let your Knight fend for himself until your return. QUESTS - The Quests are the services to the King and Kingdom. All Quests must be finished for your Knight's level before he will be promoted to the next level. Some Quests are easy, some are difficult, some may need items from other quests, some may hold secrets to other quests. The quests have all been written by players and vary greatly from level to level. If you are interested in writing a Quest for the other Knights to enjoy or despair, leave a scroll to your SysOp. He/She can provide you with the files/information needed to create a quest. Seeking the King's audience (paging the SysOp) many times will grant you extra privellages (depending upon your approach). More turns, hit points, gold, etc. are often the reward for visiting the King. But this is a two-edged sword. Not all SysOps enjoy chatting as much as the author of the realm, so try not to abuse the paging or you may find that you have fewer turns, hit points, gold, etc. MISSIVES ³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is everything you need to know about your Knight. All of your Knight's attributes, skills, weapons, armours, magic items, gold, hit points, etc. are available here. Here also is where you ready your weapon(s) and armour(s) as well as use a magic item. Statistics are also available during Battles. Remember that when readying weapons, you have two hands so you can wield two weapons, a weapon and a shield, or a two-handed weapon (such as a bow). Remember also that you cannot change armour during battle! To quickly see how your Knight stands compared to the other Knights of the realm, view the Rankings. To see what has happened within the realm since last you played, view the News. The rankings are sorted by level. Knights of the same level are sorted by life (dead Knights at the bottom) and then alphabetically. The news is kept for the last 5 days in case you skip a day or two between plays. Unlike the Guild Scrolls, the Library is where you can send messages to Knights of different guilds. Scrolls may be private or public and may be addressed to a single Knight or all Knights. Messages addressed to a specific Knight will be read the next time that Knight plays. Messages addressed to all Knights may be read at any time from the Library. Make sure you visit the Library each time you play as public scrolls can hold vital clues to finishing Quests. WIZENED ³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ I hope you enjoy this game as much as I enjoyed writing it. Started in 1990, this game has both proven a challenge as well as a learning experience for me. If you have any questions, comments, or (King Forbid) corrections, please leave me a note by either calling Thabes at: (208)338-5145 or by sending me NetMail at: 1:347/21 I'm sure updates will be frequent as ideas come in... >>> The TONIC AVENGER <<< The Thabes BBS (208)338-5145 RemoteAccess CREDITS ³ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Special thanks to the Author of almost ALL the Quests Bob Cooper (Andorax) Idaho Interactive BBS (208)345-4987 (8 lines, one number!) For his Ideas, Corrections, Complaining, Pushing, Planning, Encouragement, and general Enthusiasm... Without Bob, you wouldn't be reading this... At least not for a couple more years. And thanks also to his father, Bob Cooper, who gave up computer time that his son could help me out. And thanks to the Beta-Testers! Sam Evans Michael West Rob Behner Kip Higgins Medieval Times ABC BBS ROB'S ROOST The Jester's Court (208)368-0644 (208)939-6478 (208)888-3010 (208)342-4617 WildCat SpitFire RBBS RemoteAccess Without their testing and support, this wouldn't work on most BBS's.