DUNGEONLORD
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PROGRAMMED BY PATRICK MAIDORN
GAME INSTRUCTIONS
It is the dawn of the 7th millenium.
Mankind has stretched its power
across the universe, and has
gathered god-like knowledge and
wisdom. Reaching out across the
gulfs of time and space, the
interdimensional company INTERSPACE
sends its agents into the future and
past of the known universe, both
exploring and protecting it.
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But sometimes mistakes are made. And
each time something goes wrong, a
daring INTERSPACE agent is sent
through time to repair history and
save the universe from destruction.
That agent is you! You have been
chosen to protect the destiny of the
planet Thago.
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Thago is a planet not unlike Earth.
It is located in a very remote part
of the Universe and was only
dicovered recently. Plunging through
the shafts of time, INTERSPACE found
its history to be very close to our
own. It would have become one of the
greatest research programmes of this
century, if there haden't been a
mistake. One of the INTERSPACE
agents was acidentally killed while
visiting Thago in medievil times.
And his Dimensional Warp was
discovered by Lord Shrax, the evil
high priest of a religious movement
called 'the Avirans'. Shrax now
uses the Warp to open up gates of
dimensions that even INTERSPACE
doesn't dare to touch.
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Until now, he has used his powers
only to summon minor demons, which
he uses to control the major cities
of the planet. But Shrax, trying to
gather more and more power, isn't
satisfied yet. He is preparing to
summon a demon lord, who is commonly
known by the name of The Evil One.
And once unleashed, The Evil One
will gain enough power to crush the
universe and destroy the entire
future.
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This is your mission: You are going
to be sent to the entrance of
Shrax's dungeon via time tunnel.
Once you arrive there, you will have
only little time to find Shrax and
destroy him before he can summon The
Evil One.
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How to play:
Getting started:
Before you can enter the dungeon of
Shrax to fulfill your mission, you
have to create a character by
clicking on 'New Game'. Please
notice: each time you create a new
character, your old character will
be erased from disk and you will
start a new game. Please be careful
not to select 'New Game' if you
still want to play the game with
your old character.
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Creating a character:
The first thing you have to do is to
name your character. Then you will
be shown some statistics about him
or her. At some stages during
these statistics you will be asked
if you want to keep that character.
If you select 'No' you will be put
back to the beginning of the
process, where a new character will
be created and his statistics shown
to you. These statistics have the
following meaning:
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Strength, Agility, etc: These are
your basic characteristics. They
range from 3 to 18 points. A
character with strength 16 is a lot
stronger than someone with
strength 5.
Resistance: This shows how well you
are able to withstand an attack with
fire, poison and magic.
Hitpoints: This is very important.
Shows you how many attacks you can
withstand without dying. Each time
you are attacked by a monster you
might lose hit points. As soon as
they reach zero, you're out of the
game.
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Armour: Armour class shows you how
often your character will be hit by
attacks. An armour class of 20% will
mean that a monster will be able to
injure you 80% of the time. Armour
power shows how often an attack of a
monster will simply bounce off your
armour.
Skills: These show how well-trained
you are for hand-to-hand combat and
how good you are as an archer.
Levels: You will start off as a
simple level 1 fighter. During the
game you will be able to reach
higher levels as fighter, archer and
wizard.
Magic: Shows you how many spells you
can cast.
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Playing the game:
Once your character has been saved
on disk you will start the game in
the entrance hall of Shrax's
dungeon. In the upper left corner of
the screen is a first-person 3D view
of your surroundings. By clicking on
the 'arrow' icons on the right hand
side of the screen you can move your
character through the dungeon. All
icons are activated by moving the
mouse pointer on top of them and
pressing the left mouse button. In
case of the 'arrow' icons, you can
also use the cursor keys on your
keyboard. By pressing the right
mouse button, you will be shown the
current status of your character.
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You can call these statistics
anytime during the game. Each time
you do so you will also be given the
possibility of training your
character as fighter, wizard or
archer (see 'Training').
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Objects:
In some dungeon rooms you will find
valuable objects. The computer will
pick them up for you. By selecting
the 'use' icon (in the upper-left
corner) you will be shown a list of
all objects you're carrying. By
clicking on the name of the desired
object, you can activate it. This
will have the following effects:
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Weapons: By 'using' any weapon, you
can ready that weapon for combat.
You can only select up to two
weapons at a time. Selecting a third
weapon will put the first weapon
back into your knapsack. Only
weapons which have been selected can
be used during combat, so make sure
you ready a weapon in time, or you
will have to fight with your bare
hands. A good strategy is to ready
the weapon as soon as you get it.
Then it will be ready for future
use.
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Runes: Runes are the symbols of
power that you will need to cast a
magical spell. Most runes can only
be used during combat. Clicking on
them will activate a spell (for
example: the Him Lig Rune will cast
a lightning bolt on your enemies).
You will have to find out for
yourself which effect each rune has.
Also notice that using a rune will
diminish your magic points. Without
sufficient magic points you cannot
cast spells, and they regenerate
themselves only very slowly.
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Armours: 'using' an armour will make
your character wear that armour.
Other objects: there are lots of
other objects in the game, potions,
gems, keys, ropes, etc. You will
have to find out yourself how to use
them properly.
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Ladders:
The dungeon of Shrax reaches deep
into the earth. In some places in
his dungeon there are ladders with
which you can climb into the deeper
reaches of the dungeon. To climb a
ladder (either up or down), move
your character on top of a ladder
and click the 'enter' icon (the one
with the door and the ladder).
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Saving:
As the game is too complex to play
through in one go, Dungeonlord lets
you save your position in any part
of the dungeon. Simply select the
upper-right icon. Once you have died
or if you reload the game at a later
date, you can continue from that
point by selecting 'Old Game'.
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Encounters:
You're not alone in the dungeon of
Shrax. A multitude of monsters,
dragons, wizards and the servants of
Shrax are wandering through the
mazes.
For each monster you kill, you will
be given points and money. Money is
useful in shops to buy better
equipment and points can be used to
train your character.
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Once engaged in combat, you will be
shown a list of your enemies. Your
current target (ie the one you are
trying to inflict damage on) is
highlighted. To chose a different
target, simply click on the desired
name of the monster. A light in
front of the name will indicate its
distance. A red light means it is
still rather far away, and only
long-range weapons can be used
(throwing knifes, bows, most
spells). A green light indicates
that your foe is right in front of
you, and both of you can use short-
range weapons such as swords.
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To get closer to a group of foes,
click on the little 'arrow-up' sign
to the right of the monster-list.
You can also retreat from the
battlesight by using the 'arrow-
down'-icon. Sometimes you will even
be able to escape entirely from the
battlefield.
During combat you have three basic
options: attack, draw and use. All
three options are represented by
icons. Clicking on the draw-icon
will make your character draw one of
his two weapons. Only weapons that
have been readied prior to combat
can be drawn.
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Use the attack-icon to attack your
current target with the weapon you
have drawn. Your hitpoints and those
of your current target are
represented by little bars at the
bottom. If one of those bars reaches
the skull, that creature will die.
With the use-icon you can fire
spells, drink healing potions or
perform other actions.
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All comments about what is currently
happening are shown in a rectangle
in the center of the screen. The
arrow-icons on its side can be used
to speed up or slow down the flow of
text. It is recommended that
beginners play the game at slowest
speed, so they can become familiar
with combat. At a later point you
will probably chose to speed up the
text.
After you have chosen an action
(changing textspeed or selecting a
target does not count as a move!)
your foes will attack you. The key
to survival is to anticipate what
your enemy will do.
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Training:
Once you have gathered enough points
(you need quite a lot), you can
train your character: Press the
right mouse button, select 'Train'
and the category. Fighters and
Archers receive more hit points and
combat skills while wizards gain
more magical power.
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Hints for beginners:
Surviving the first level of the
game can be very hard, as your
character still has very few hit
points and not a lot of equipment.
Therefore try not to engage in
combat with too powerful monsters
and try to find objects which will
restore your health - you will need
them badly. And don't forget ....
Save often!!!
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