H E R O !
V 1.0
Dan Winslow
1988
The program you have just downloaded was written in GFA
basic over the period of one and a half years. It represents
a lot of effort and patience, especially on the part of my
wife. It is also, as you may have guessed, that particularly
optimistic species of software known as shareware. If you
play this game, and if you like it, a donation of ten bucks
to the Winslow Programming Fund would be appreciated. Here
are the benefits of contributing :
1. You don't feel guilty while you are whacking away at the
monsters.
2. You get a free copy of the HERO Dungeon Construction Set,
in progress and due for release this time next year.
Design your own Dungeons to confound your friends. It
will not be uploaded to COMPUSERVE.
3. You enable me to provide some sort of justification to my
wife as to why she should put up with me huddling in
front of my computer every night.
4. You get a free copy of HERO hints, a booklet that will
reveal all of the awesome secrets of the dungeon, and
will tell you various techniques for doing things like
oh, say, living beyond level two...and how to kill that
pesky Baldur fellow.
Please send donations, comments, and bug reports to :
Dan Winslow
1201 Sunshine Blvd.
Omaha, NE 68123
Or leave comments at COMPUSERVE PPN [72637,1044]
And now for the good stuff!
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Running the Program :
1. HERO.ARC should de-arc into four files : Hero.prg,
Hero.lvl, Hero.spr, and Hero.ins. All four files must be
in the same directory for HERO to execute properly.
2. Double-click on the Hero.prg file and you should see the
HERO greet screen.
The greeting screen :
There are four options on the greeting screen: Play, Make,
Load, and Quit. to choose an option, move the mouse cursor to
the box desired and press the left button.
Play : This option initiates game play. The currently
loaded character will be inserted into the dungeon at the
starting room and level. If there is no currently loaded
character an alert box will appear to remind you to load a
character first.
Make : This option transfers you the character creation
screen. See that section for further info.
Load : This option brings up a standard file selector,
looking for *.HCR files in the current directory. Choose a
file in the normal manner and the character contained in that
file will be loaded as the current character.
Quit : This option exits to the desktop.
Character Creation Screen :
The idea here is to create a new character to be a Hero.
You have sixty five points to distribute among the five
attributes. By placing the mouse pointer over the two letter
acronym of the attribute you wish to affect, you can add or
remove points by pressing the left or right mouse buttons,
respectively. An attribute cannot have less than 0 or more
than 18 points, except for the Hit Points attribute, which
can go as high as you have points for.
Here is a brief description of the attributes and thier
functions.
Attribute Abbreviation Effects
Strength ST The stronger you are, the more damage
you will do to the monsters that you
manage to hit.
Intelligence IN The more intelligent you are, the
more damage you do when you cast a
spell. Intelligence also controls how
fast you get spell points back.
Constitution CO This attribute controls how well you
can take a blow and how fast you
recover your Hit Points.
Dexterity DE This attribute represents how 'agile'
your Hero is. It governs how often he
connects when he swings at a monster,
and also how fast he moves in
general.
Hit Points HP This is the most important attribute.
It represents your 'life-force'.
When a monster hits you, you lose
some Hit Points. When you run out of
Hit Points, you die. How many you
lose at one blow depends on the
strength of the monster, on the
quality of the armour your're
wearing, the level of Dungeon you
are on, and certain spells that may
be in effect.
Choose your distribution of points with care, as it can
greatly affect the lifespan of your character. Your first
impulse may be to load up on Hit Points at the expense of the
other attributes, but this is not the best policy. You can
expect to lose many characters at first, anyway, so you will
be able to try many combinations.
The options for this screen are as follows:
O.K. : Click this box to save the character and exit back
to the main menu.
You will be prompted to enter a name for the
character. The character will be saved to disk before you exit.
It will also become your current character.
REDO : Click this box to throw away the current distribution of points
and start afresh.
SAVE : This does the same as O.K. except that you stay in
this menu.
QUIT : This exits you without saving and without disturbing
the current character you may have already loaded.
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Playing the game:
Controls : The Hero is controlled with a joystick in port 1. The options are
selected and objects are identified with the mouse. Joystick mode is the
normal mode. Whenever you move the mouse, you are switched over to the mouse
mode, and the pointer appears. Game action stops completely while in mouse
mode. To choose a menu selection, point to the item with the mouse and click
the left button. To identify an object on the screen, point to the object and
hold down the left button until you are finished reading the description. To
return to joystick mode and restart game play, either click the right button,
move the joystick, or press the joystick trigger.
Attacking : To attack something, face the Hero towards it and press the
joystick trigger. The Hero will extend his sword and strike ( maybe )
whatever he is facing.
Identifying things : To identify an item or monster, move the mouse. The
pointer will appear and game play will stop. Move the pointer to the item
that you want to know more about and hold down the left button. The name of
the item will appear, and if it is a monster the Attack Damage and Hit Points
that the monster possesses will also be shown. Some of the more common items
are :
Scrolls and Potions : You have to GET these to find out what
particular spell they will cast when USED.
Armour and Weapons : You have to GET these to fully identify them. To
wear them, you must USE them. Armour types are ( in order of
protection afforded ) : Leather,Chain mail,Silver Mail,Banded Steel,
and Full Plate armour. Swords are rated by their 'Plus' factor, that
is, a +1 sword does twice the damage that a regular ( +0 ) sword
does. There used to be a rumour about some sort of magical armour
and weaponry somewhere inside the dungeon, but it has pretty much
been given up on. Remember to DROP your old armour after USEing your
new stuff.
Chests : You face a chest and GET the contents. If the chest is locked,
you have to OPEN it first, which takes a key, unless you have the
OPEN spell. Chests can contain pretty much anything, including
traps.
Water flasks and Rations : You will need these to keep from dying of
thirst or hunger.
Remember, everything on the screen can be identified, so when in doubt,
identify!
Getting around :
Doors : Connections between rooms appear as a blank spot in the wall.
Sometimes they are closed doors, which dissapear when OPENed. To move
from room to room, just walk into the blank spot. You will appear in
next room.
Stairs : Stairs are concave indentations in the walls, with a column at
each end. Stairs either go up or down to the next level. Going up the
stairs in room 0 of level 1 leads you back 'outside', ie the main menu.
Secret Doors : Well , this doesn't really apply now, since virtually all
of the Secret Doors have been found. But anyway, it used to be that
there were perfectly ordinary looking blocks of wall stone, that when
identified and carefully examined, were found to be Locked Doors,
leading to un-explored parts of the dungeon! Too bad there aren't any
left.
Spells :
There are lots of good spells. They are accessible through the CAST
menu or by USEing Scrolls or Potions. They cost Magic Points (see CAST)
and Hit Points. The higher the level of the spell, the higher the cost.
The cost to cast a spell also goes up as your Hero gains levels,
because his spells will have increased power, and thus use up more
stamina and energy. Too bad you left Hero school before you had a
chance to learn what all the spells do. Now you'll just have to
figure it out on your own. Except one : you do know that casting the
lowly PROTECT spell will increase the protection afforded you by your
armour ten-fold.
Object of the Game : The beautiful ( but not too bright ) Princess Pulchra
has been taken captive by the really naughty wizard Baldur. The King wants
her back, and you being a real Hero, have determined that you will rescue
her. in order to do this, you must find your way to the lowest section of
the dungeon and find the room containing the princess. She is held in a
cell in this room. Also in this room is Baldur himself. Good luck.
You must kill Baldur somehow, and open the door to the cell. The princess
will follow you wherever you go, but when going from room to room or from
level to level she must be within a certain distance from you in order to
follow. If she gets killed by monsters on the way up, all is not
neccesarily lost, providing that you have the spell-power to bring her
back to life. If you guide her out the front door of the dungeon, you win!
* * * GOOD LUCK, BUDDY * * *
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The Command and Status Display :
To the right of the Dungeon room display you will find a strip of commands and
status information.
Status Display items : ( From the top down )
ROOM This item shows the current room number.
LEVE This item shows the current dungeon level.
(Name) Below the LEVE item the name of the Hero will appear.
LE This is the Experience level of the Hero.
HP Current Hit Points left
IN Intelligence
ST Strength
DE Dexterity
CO Constitution
EX Experience points Gained. (See Gaining Levels and Experience)
ARMOUR Armour being worn
WEAPON Weapon being held
GOLD Gold carried
SPELL This shows the currently SELECTed spell. (See Menu item CAST)
Vertical purple bar : This bar shows the current Magic Points level. Each
time a spell is cast, it drains some from this bar. You cannot cast a
spell until this bar has regained its full height. (See menu item CAST)
Commands and Menu Items :
CAST : This initiates the CAST sub-menu.
USE : This initiates the USE sub-menu.
INVE : This command displays a list of the items you are carrying.
You cannot carry more than 15 items.
GET : This command attempts to add to your inventory any item you are
facing. If you are facing an open chest, you will GET the contents.
If what you are facing is not GETable, you will be informed.
OPEN : This command attemps to open any item that you are facing. It uses
up one key from your inventory. If you do not have a key, or if the
item is not a locked chest or door, you will be informed.
QUIT : This commands exits you back to the main menu WITHOUT converting
gold to Experience points OR saving the character. The ONLY way
to save a character is to walk out of the 'front door' of the
dungeon. ( The stairs in room 0, level 1 )
The Cast Submenu :
When you choose Cast from the main menu, the command strip will be dimmed,
indicating that they are no longer usable, and a new menu will appear
in the lowest portion of the status display. In addition, the current spell
and its level and drain will be displayed just above the new command strip.
The level of a spell is the Experience Level your character must obtain to
use that spell. The drain is the amount of Hit Point damage and Magic Point
Drain that casting the spell will cause. If a bell rings and the spell does
not take effect, it means that you did not have enough Hit Points or Magic
Points to cast the spell. If it says " CANNOT CAST THAT SPELL ", it means
that your Experience Level is not high enough to cast that spell.
Spells cast will have a varying effect according to Intelligence of the
caster. The IN your Hero has, the more damage the spells will do and
the faster you will get your Magic Points back.
Spells cast from scrolls and potions always operate at the highest
strength, and even a lowly First-level Hero can cast any spell he finds.
Since four spells have a duration, if one is in effect then a bar will
be displayed in one of four positions above the Magic Points indicator bar.
Each has a unique color and in addition the first letter of the spell
appears above the bar. When the bar dissapears, the spell is over. For
instance, casting the PROTECT spell will cause a green bar and a green
letter P to appear.
PREV : This command will rewind the spell list by one, showing the spell
just previous to the spell currently displayed. If the spell does
not change, then you are at the first spell.
NEXT : This command shows the next spell in the list after the currently
displayed spell. If the spell does not change, then you are at the
last spell.
CAST : This command casts the spell that is being displayed.
SELECT : This command selects the currently displayed spell as the battle
spell. This spell is shown in the status display under SPELL :
and can be cast at any time by pressing the space bar. This
eliminates the need for many tedious trips to the CAST sub-menu
just to cast the same spell during the heat of battle.
CANCEL : This command returns you to game play.
The USE Submenu :
This Submenu is pretty much the same as above, except that instead of
spells being displayed, this displays inventory items and the number that
you have.
PREV : Same as for CAST.
NEXT : Same as for CAST.
USE : This command USES the item that is display. If it is Armour or
weaponry, it becomes worn or held, and the old one appears in your
inventory. If it is a Potion or Scroll, the spell they contain
is cast. If it is water or rations, it is eaten or drunk. If it is
a key, it disappears. ( OPEN uses keys to open doors and chests )
DROP : This item removes the current displayed item and deposits at your
feet. This comes in handy as you can only carry a certain amount
of items.
CANCEL : Same as for Cast.
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Gaining Levels and Experience points :
Your Hero starts out as a first level. As he accumulates Experience Points,
he will eventually make second level. When he does this, his Hit Points
will increase, his attributes will increase, the damage he does and the
damage he can take all increase. He generally becomes a lot more powerful
than he was, and he also now gets to cast all the second level spells. By
the time he gets to third level, he can pretty much make mincemeat out of
anything he runs into. ( On the first dungeon level, that is ).
You gain Experience points by killing monsters. The more powerful the
monster, the more Experience Points you get. Experience points are also
affected by the ratio between the Hero's level and the Dungeon Level he is
on. A Third level Hero isn't going to make much headway by chopping up
monsters on the first Dungeon level, for instance. But if he were wandering
around on the third Dungeon level..or even lower...well, IF he survives he'll
get lots of Experience points. There is no limit to the levels you can reach,
but it takes more and more EP's the higher you go. You will make second level
at 2000 EP. After that, who knows?
The other source of Experience Points is gold. You get gold automatically
from dead monsters, and also you can find it in chests. When you exit out
of the front door of the dungeon, your gold is automatically converted
10-for-1 to EP's. You character is then saved. Remember, that is the ONLY WAY
to save your character. The menu item QUIT _WILL NOT_ save your character.
Notes on Monsters :
None of them are friendly. You will get to know the commonest types very
quickly. They get much stronger and deadlier with each Dungeon Level you
go down. Some of them shoot. Kill everything that moves except for the
princess.
Baldur has strewn 'generators' in strategic locations in the dungeon. These
are square, static spells that spew forth monsters of a certain type.
Each type has its own color scheme. They can be struck and killed, just like
a living object, although they are pretty tough. Go for any of these in a room
first, because they can generate monsters faster than you can kill them, and
you will quickly be overwhelmed. Some generators can generate any monster,
including other generators. These are the most dangerous and should be
destroyed at all costs.
Baldur is a wizard, and can cast spells. If strange stuff starts happening
while you are in a room with him, thats probably the explanation.
General Notes :
The dungeon will remain the same so long as you do not exit the game
entirely. Any changes you have made will remain in effect. If you get
nervous, go back out the front door. This will save your character. Then
simply click 'PLAY' again, and you will pick up where you left off.
If you happen to get killed, just click on 'LOAD' without leaving the game
and re-load your character. Any points or items that you collected since
your last save will be lost, but you will pick up again in the exact same
place that you got killed in, and all other things will be as they were.
If you exit the game, the next time you play all levels of the dungeon will
have been returned to thier original state.
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Have Fun !
Dan Winslow