.-=>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
or |[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 or passive as you are 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 or 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.

|Save Game| - Future Runner allows you to save your current position in the game
            before you do anything that  you think might get you killed.  This
            feature is accessed from the |Your Stats| command. You may save as
            often as you like, but only the last save is read when you die.

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
and require more.  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...

