From 6e2123b24a5d8eff93ee5764e2d81977776561da Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Celtic Minstrel Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:10:51 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Uploaded the rest of the original Mac documentation. It still needs major cleanup though. git-svn-id: http://openexile.googlecode.com/svn/trunk@106 4ebdad44-0ea0-11de-aab3-ff745001d230 --- doc/editor/About.html | 49 +++ doc/editor/Advanced.html | 56 +++ doc/editor/Building.html | 66 ++++ doc/editor/Contents.html | 56 +++ doc/editor/Dialogue.html | 145 ++++++++ doc/editor/Editing.html | 112 ++++++ doc/editor/Graphics.html | 56 +++ doc/editor/Items.html | 68 ++++ doc/editor/Monsters.html | 93 +++++ doc/editor/Outdoors.html | 132 +++++++ doc/editor/Specials.html | 110 ++++++ doc/editor/Terrain.html | 75 ++++ doc/editor/Testing.html | 44 +++ doc/editor/Towns.html | 135 +++++++ doc/editor/appendix/Examples.html | 38 ++ doc/editor/appendix/Items.html | 186 ++++++++++ doc/editor/appendix/Magic.html | 112 ++++++ doc/editor/appendix/Messages.html | 49 +++ doc/editor/appendix/Sounds.html | 122 +++++++ doc/editor/appendix/Specials.html | 581 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ doc/editor/appendix/Terrain.html | 64 ++++ doc/game/About.html | 6 +- doc/game/Combat.html | 55 +++ doc/game/Contents.html | 32 +- doc/game/Credits.html | 41 +++ doc/game/Editor.html | 91 +++++ doc/game/Hints.html | 31 ++ doc/game/Intro.html | 100 +++-- doc/game/Mage.html | 103 ++++++ doc/game/Menus.html | 106 ++++++ doc/game/Misc.html | 39 ++ doc/game/Outdoors.html | 26 ++ doc/game/Priest.html | 101 ++++++ doc/game/Screen.html | 2 +- doc/game/Tips.html | 2 +- doc/game/Town.html | 70 ++++ doc/game/Valleydy.html | 70 ++++ 37 files changed, 3168 insertions(+), 56 deletions(-) create mode 100644 doc/editor/About.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Advanced.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Building.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Contents.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Dialogue.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Editing.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Graphics.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Items.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Monsters.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Outdoors.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Specials.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Terrain.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Testing.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/Towns.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/appendix/Examples.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/appendix/Items.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/appendix/Magic.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/appendix/Messages.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/appendix/Sounds.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/appendix/Specials.html create mode 100644 doc/editor/appendix/Terrain.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Combat.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Credits.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Editor.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Hints.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Mage.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Menus.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Misc.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Outdoors.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Priest.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Town.html create mode 100644 doc/game/Valleydy.html diff --git a/doc/editor/About.html b/doc/editor/About.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..32b54df3 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/About.html @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

Section 1: About the Blades of Exile Scenario Editor

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OK. Youve played Blades of Exile (and maybe other Exile games), and you have your own ideas for adventures. Youd like to come up with your own twisted ideas, and inflict them upon the general public. Well, now you can! Blades of Exile comes with a powerful elaborate scenario design kit.

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How powerful? Well, the three scenarios that came with Blades of Exile were created using the scenario editor and only the scenario editor. It can create fully detailed adventures, including weird special encounters, people to talk to, and a world that changes as time goes by.

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There are other great things. You can also include customized graphics. You can distribute scenarios you make over the Internet, so that all sorts of people can play them. Scenarios you make on a Macintosh will work on a PC running Windows, and vise versa. And, best of all, you can make basic scenarios with very little work. If you dont want to learn all the complicated nitty gritty, you dont have to!

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How to Get Started

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If you want to make scenarios, the first thing to do is play Blades of Exile. A lot. Much of what follows wont be the least bit clear if you arent familiar with how the game works.

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When youre familiar with what Blades of Exile is like, read the next chapter. It gives a detailed, step by step description of how to make a scenario, make a new town, and populate it with monsters and treasure. It will tell you all you need to know to make a basic, fun scenario with lots of chopping and hacking. 

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Once you have the basics down, the other chapters in this section go into a bit more detail on scenario basics. You will learn how to make multiple towns, create wandering encounters, and do other, more elaborate things.

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Finally, when you have a grasp of all the basics, if you are strong of heart you can move on to the next section: Advanced Scenario Design. There you will learn how to make special encounters and write dialogue, the heart of any truly good scenario.

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Using the Instructions

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Unfortunately, while you can play all the way through Blades of Exile without ever cracking open the documentation, the Scenario Editor is very different. Scenario design is a tricky business, and printing out the documentation and keeping it handy is strongly recommended. Alternately, you can get editor documentation (in loose-leaf form) from Spiderweb Software, Inc. Call us at (206) 789-4438.

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In this section, you will often see (Advanced). This indicates something related to the advanced stuff described in the next section. Feel free to ignore these things for now.

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The Basic Basics

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Any Blades of Exile scenario is divided into two parts: the outdoors and the towns (and dungeons - theres no difference). The outdoors is a rectangle of sections, each 48 x 48 spaces (for example, Valley of Dying Things is 4 sections wide and 3 sections high, each section a 48 x 48 grid of spots of terrain). You can have up to 100 outdoor sections (although 10-20 is usually plenty).

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Towns have 3 sizes: 32 x 32, 48 x 48, and 64 x 64. You can have at most 200 towns (although 20-22 is already quite a few).

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When a player starts your scenario, his or her party will start in one of your towns. From there he or she can leave the town to explore the outdoors. To design a scenario, you will edit towns and outdoor sections, and them make town entrances in the outdoors and link them with towns (this isnt hard, and is well explained in the next section). Populate the towns with critters, traps and puzzles, and you have a scenario!

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Three Final Warnings:

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Good scenario design is a time consuming thing. Each of the Blades of Exile scenarios involved a month of full-time work. Start small at first, such as with a small outdoors and 4 or 5 towns. Put the massive Exile-sized epic off for a little while, or you risk putting a month of work into a scenario you will never finish, and which nobody will ever see. There is little more satisfying than getting an E-mail saying how much fun someone had playing your scenario. Alas, you never get such an E-mail until your scenario is done.

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Also, ALWAYS test your scenarios. Debugging is critically important. Play through them yourself, and, if possible, get someone else to play them too. If you design a scenario which cant be finished because of a bug, nobody will appreciate it.

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Finally, back up your scenario file. Frequently. The designer of Blades of Exile does it hourly.   Put a copy on a floppy, and hide the floppy in your car. Copy it onto a friends computer. Put a copy in your safety deposit box. Remember, one hard drive crash can wipe out a month (or more) of work in a moment.

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But enough preamble ... lets make a scenario!

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Section 9: Advanced Topics Introduction

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As fun as making exciting dungeons filled with nasty monsters can be, often the scenario designers ambitions encompass larger goals. Many designers want to create a plot, with interesting characters and challenging special encounters. This section describes how to move on into these challenging and satisfying realms.

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Before progressing too far, it is best to read this chapter in its entirety. The basics here will be necessary to master, if you are to move on.

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Counting and Coordinates

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As described earlier, all counting begins with 0. The first town is town 0, and 2nd town is town 1, and so on. The coordinate system for Blades of Exile towns and dungeons starts with X = 0, Y = 0 (also written (0,0) ) in the upper left.

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Stuff Done Flags

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The single most important concept to master in scenario design is the Stuff Done Flag. The Stuff Done Flags are numbers the game keeps track of, which are used by the game to remember what the party has done in the scenario so far.

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For example, suppose you have a treasure hidden somewhere, like, say, a shield. You only want the party to be able to get that shield once, so the game needs a way to remember that the party has gotten it.

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This is done with a Stuff Done Flag. It is a number that starts at 0, and is matched up with getting the shield. When the shield is reached, the game sees if the Stuff Done Flag is 0. If it is, the shield hasnt been taken yet, so the game gives the party the shield, and the Stuff Done Flag is set to 1. The Stuff Done Flag being 1 tells the game in the future that the shield has been taken.

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Stuff Done Flags - the Specifics

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But what are the Stuff Done Flags? Picture a grid of numbers, 300 wide and 10 high, all of which start at 0. These 3000 numbers are your Stuff Done Flags, and they are all set to 0 when the party starts a scenario (and are saved in the save file, which is how the game remembers what youve done already when the save file is opened).

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Stuff Done Flag are described by coordinates. Much as the coordinates of a spot of terrain are given by an X and Y value, a Stuff Done Flag has coordinates too. The first coordinate of a Stuff Done Flag is the column it is in (out of 300 columns, a number from 0 to 9), and the second coordinate of a Stuff Done Flag is the row it is in (out of 10 rows, a number from 0 to 299). For example, the taking of a shield may be attached to Stuff Done Flag X = 112, Y = 3, also written (112,3). Later chapters often refer to the two parts of a Stuff Done Flag (the X coordinate is the first part and the Y coordinate is the second part). In the example, 112 is the first part, and 3 is the second part.

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All Stuff Done Flags start as 0 when the scenario is started. For every event or thing that must be remembered, you will need to assign a Stuff Done Flag to it. When the party completes some mission, you may decide that (91,9) will become 1, and when a demon is killed, (94,2) will become 1. Later, you can have special encounters check a Stuff Done Flag, and do different things depending on what the value of the Stuff Done Flag is. For this reason, you will want to keep careful notes on your scenario, to make sure that no two events are linked to the same Stuff Done Flag.

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Keeping Notes

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One thing all of the Exile games have had in common is that, when they were done, dozens of pages of careful, intricate notes had been taken about them. For example, in the first Blades of Exile scenario, Valley of Dying Things, when you take the opening stone in Avizos shop, the Stuff Done Flag (1,2) is set to 250. Later, when the player tries to take the stone, the program will see that the Stuff Done Flag (1,2) is not 0, and will know that stone has been taken and should not be given again.

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In the same scenario, when you kill the evil spirit in Blinlock, Stuff Done Flag (2,3) is set to 1. Suppose, however, that the designer has made a mistake and made the Stuff Done Flag (1,2) set to 1 when the spirit was slain. In this case, if the party killed the spirit first (causing (1,2) to be set to 1), and then went to get the opening stone, it wouldnt be there! (because (1,2) has been set to 1, making the game think that the item has been taken, even if it hasnt) Then the party wouldnt be able to finish the game. This is bad. However, careful notes reminded the designer that the Stuff Done Flag (1,2) had already been used, and thus it wasnt used in Blinlock.

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One useful tip for making sure Stuff Done Flags dont get reused: in town 0, only use Stuff Done Flags with first part 0 ((0,0), (0,1), etc.). It town 1, only use Stuff Done Flags with first part 1, and so on. For outdoor sections, use the Stuff Done Flags with first part 200, 201, 202, and so on. This way, you can be sure when designing town 8, you wont use a Stuff Done Flag already needed for town 4.

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Of course, in some towns you will need to use more than 10 Stuff Done Flags. When this happens, you can consult your notes to find Stuff Done Flags that arent being used for anything yet.

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Text Length

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When writing text messages or dialogue, the maximum message length is 256 characters. If the message is too long, it will be chopped off at 256 letters.

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Editing Text

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The scenario, each town, and each outdoor section has a list of pieces of text. The scenario has 260 pieces of text, each town has 140 pieces of text, and each outdoor section has 108 pieces. Selecting Edit Text from the Scenario, Outdoor, and Town menus will bring up the lists of text. To edit a piece of text, click on it. Each piece of text in each list has a specific purpose. The meanings of the text are listed in the appendices.

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At this point, its time to tackle the most complicated, most powerful thing in the Blades of Exile editor, the tool that makes the differences between a bland adventure and a masterpiece: special encounters.

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Section 2: Scenario Building: A Step By Step Guide

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As promised, this chapter contains a detailed, step-by-step description of how to make a scenario, create a dungeon, and populate it with monsters and loot. Everything you need to know to make a basic scenario is in here. 

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Getting started

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First, go into the Blades of Exile Editor directory. Run the Blades of Exile Editor (or, if using Windows, BLADESED.EXE). You will now see the introductory screen. Press Make New Scenario (if using Windows, always use the left button, unless otherwise specified). A dialog box will come up asking you a few important questions (These gray windows are called dialog boxes. Remember this term - it will be used later).

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The first text box is for the name of your scenario. This is the real name, like Quest For the Sword, or Guys Running Around Lost. Make up some sort of name.

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The second box is for your scenarios file name, the name of the actual file the program will create. This must be all letters, and can be at most 8 characters long, like questsrd, or lostguys. Make up a file name.

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Finally, the button at the bottom determines whether the outdoors the scenario will start with will be caves or grass. Click on this button. Then press OK.

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Another dialog box will come up. This is where you decide how large you want your scenario to be. In the upper section, enter the number of sections wide and high you want the outdoors to be. In the middle section, enter how many large, medium, and small towns you want the scenario to start with.

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The number of towns you select now is not important - you can always add more towns later. On the other hand, you cant make or remove outdoor sections later on, so the size of the outdoors is an important question. For this basic scenario, however, you can leave all of these values alone.

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The button at the bottom, however, is important. If pressed, the first town in your scenario will be a town called Warriors Grove, where adventurers can rest, buy weapons, and get training. Every scenario should have a place like this, but such towns can be time-consuming and difficult to make. Fortunately, Warriors Grove is provided for you. Press the Include Starter Town button, and then OK.

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Finally, you can give your scenario a password. This is a 5 digit number which must be entered by anyone who wants to edit your scenario. You can use this to keep your adventure secret from prying eyes. If left at 0, you wont have a password. If you pick a password, please write it down, so that you dont forget it and lock yourself out of your own adventure! For this test scenario, however, you probably want to leave it at 0. You can always change it later. Press OK.

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Finally, press OK on the final dialog box, and your scenario will be created. Time to edit it!

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Editing Your Scenario

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You will now be facing the Blades of Exile main screen. First, lets look at our default town and maybe edit it a little. Press the Edit Town Terrain button.

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You are now looking at Warriors Grove. Look around it for a little bit. To scroll the view around, click on the white border around the terrain (or use the keypad). Now take a more panoramic view. There is a grid of buttons in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Press the first button in the second row. You will see an overall view of the town. You could edit terrain from this view, but its often better to use the other view. Press the button again to zoom back in.

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Scroll the terrain back to the center of the town, by the dog. Lets place a tree. Drawing terrain works much like a painting program. Each of the spots of terrain to the upper right represents a different terrain type (many of them have small symbols - ignore these for now). Look for the trees (in the middle of the seventh row). Click on a tree. Then click on the pencil button (in the upper left hand corner of the grid of buttons). Finally, click on the spot of grass to the right of the dog.

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There should be a tree there! Now click on the tree again. It should disappear. Now position the cursor to the right of the dog, press the mouse button, and hold it down. Move the cursor to the right. Youll draw a line of trees. Click on a different tree icon, and try drawing a tree somewhere else.

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Editing the outdoor terrain works the same way. Press Back to Main Menu (in the lower left corner), and then press Edit Outdoor Terrain. You will be viewing the middle of your single outdoor section, with Warriors Grove in the middle. Click on the Sign on Grass terrain (in the eighth row) and then click on the grass just northwest of town. This is a sign, so you will immediately be asked what the sign says. Type Warriors Grove, and press OK.

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Now that you know how to change terrain, its time to make a dungeon.

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Making a Dungeon

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Press Back to Main Menu, and select Save from the File menu. This records all the changes youve made so far. Now press Create New Town. Were going to make a second town to put in our adventure.

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Put a name for your new town in the text area (such as Goblin Pit). The other buttons determine the size of the town and the sort of terrain the town will start with. Press the button by Grass With Flowers and the press OK. Your new town, town 1, is now loaded into memory.

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It may seem peculiar that Warriors Grove was described as town number 0, and your second town is described at town 1. Similarly, your outdoor section is described as X = 0, Y = 0. This is because in Blades of Exile, everything is counted beginning with 0 (this is something computer programmers will be very used to, but may take some getting used to for others). Also, the Blades of Exile Editor can only hold one town and outdoor section in memory at the same time. If you want to go back to editing Warriors Grove, you will need to press the Load Another Town button on the main screen and enter town 0 to load it.

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But for now, its time to make an adventure. Press Edit Town Terrain, and you will be looking at your new town. You will be looking at a blank slate. Theres nothing here but grass and a few rocks. First, lets make a building.

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Click on the basic wall terrain, the fourth terrain in the eighth row. Dont click on any of the walls with little symbols on them - these symbols indicate that the terrain has some sort of special property. What these symbols mean is explained later.

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Now that youre drawing walls, draw a large rectangle in the terrain area. It can be whatever size youd like, but make it be around seven high and seven wide. This will be the walls of a building. Then select the floor terrain (first terrain in the 11th row). Paint a floor inside the walls. Finally, click on the first door icon (7th terrain in the 8th row). Place a door somewhere in your wall. You will now have a building.

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By now, you are probably confused by the huge number of terrain types available to you. Fortunately, there is a list of all the default terrain types in the appendices, in the online help. Also, the meaning of the little symbols is described in the chapter on editing terrain types.

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Now that you have a building, lets make a hill a little to the north of it. As you played Blades of Exile, you probably noticed that the cave walls and mountains curved around, which is why there are so many different graphics for cave walls and mountains. Fortunately, when you draw cave walls, hills, water, or mountains, the editor will automatically change them so that they curve around and match each other at the edges.

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To see this, scroll the terrain view a little to the north of your building, and select the hill terrain (third terrain in the third row). Draw a 3x3 square of hill on the grass. Notice how the editor automatically shifts it around so it all lines up into a nice square! This will save you a huge amount of time.

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Now, we can make some monsters to fight. Scroll back down to your building. Were going to place a few goblins into it. Go up to the M1 menu, and select Goblin. Then click inside the building. Theres now a goblin there. Do it a few more times.

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When the player enters this room, the goblins will attack. That is because goblins are set to be always hostile. You can find out later how to make the goblins friendly, but for now, they might as well fight.

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Now, you can give the goblins some loot to steal. Go up to the I1 menu, and select a weapon. Then click inside the building. There is now a weapon there for the player to find. Now select Gold from the I1 menu and click inside the building. There is some gold there.

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You may, however, want to choose how much gold to find. Fortunately, this is easy. Press the Edit Item button (first button in the third row), and click on the gold. Enter a new value in the Amount area, and press OK.

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There. You have a short adventure. A building to enter, monsters to fight, and treasure to find. If you want a larger adventure, all you need to do is repeat what youve done so far, with gradually larger monsters and larger treasures. Finally, all you need to know is how to make it possible for the party to enter your towns.

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Entering Towns

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Press Back To Main Menu, and then press Edit Outdoor Terrain. Scroll the terrain view a few spaces north of Warriors Grove. Select the Outdoor Building terrain (in the lower right hand corner) and place it somewhere. Theres your town. Finally, you need to link it to your dungeon. The last button in the second row is the Set Town Entrance button. Press it, and then click on your town. You will be asked what town is here. Enter 1 in the text area (for town 1, your new town), and press OK. When the party moves onto this town, they will find themselves in your new town.

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This is all it takes! You have now created a new scenario! To run it, copy it into the Blades of Exile Scenarios folder, run Blades of Exile, and play away! (You need to have a registered copy to play your own scenarios.)

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You might want to play with what youve learned so far before reading further. Or, you can just dive in! The next few chapters flesh out what youve read so far.

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Blades Scenario Editor Instructions

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Copyright 1998, Spiderweb Software, Inc.

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This document contains all the information you need to play use the Blades of Exile Scenario Editor and make new scenarios for Blades of Exile!

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This menu can also take you to the different sections of this document. To find the thing you're looking for, try the table of contents...

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Table of Contents

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  1. About the Blades of Exile Scenario Editor
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  2. Scenario Building: A Step By Step Guide
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  3. Making and Editing Scenarios
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  4. Editing the Outdoors
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  5. Editing Towns
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  6. Editing Terrain Types
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  7. Editing Monster Types
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  8. Editing Items
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  9. Advanced Topics Introduction
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  10. Special Encounters
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  11. Dialogue
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  12. Customizing Graphics
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  13. Testing and Distributing Your Scenario
    14. +
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Appendices

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  1. Special Encounter Node Types
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  2. Item Ability Types
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  3. Starting Terrain Types
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  4. Blades Sound Effects
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  5. Text Messages
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  6. Spell and Alchemy Lists
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  7. Special Encounter Examples
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    Troubleshooting Tips

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    New player or having problems?

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    The Scenario Editor seems pretty tricky to use at first, but in the long run it's actually not that hard to use. However, you won't be able to use it at all without these documentation. To get started, be sure to use the chapter Scenario Building - A Step By Step Guide. It gives a very simple, detailed set of instructions for writing a simple scenario. Using this, you'll be designing in no time!

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    Scenario Design Contest!

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    Spiderweb Software is throwing a contest to see who can create the best scenario. This contest has $1000 cash and piles of products as prizes ... be sure to check it out! For more information, look on our web site (www.spidweb.com) or read the file CONTEST.TXT. {TODO: Spiderweb no longer throws the contests; update accordingly}

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    Technical support

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    {TODO: Refer to forum instead? I doubt Jeff would still be supporting this...} Should you have any questions, problems or comments, contact:

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    Spiderweb Software, Inc.

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    PO Box 85659

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    Seattle, WA 98145-1659

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    (206) 789-4438

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    Internet: SpidWeb@spidweb.com

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    America Online: SpidWeb

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    CompuServe: 76463,1521

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    WWW: http://www.spidweb.com

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    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Dialogue.html b/doc/editor/Dialogue.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..18688f26 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Dialogue.html @@ -0,0 +1,145 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 11: Dialogue 

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    Along with special encounters, character dialogue is a key way to give your scenario a plot and depth. Writing good dialogue is difficult and time consuming, but there is no better way to get a player involved.

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    Each character has a personality number. This number determines what the character the party talks to says. Only characters in towns can be given personalities. 

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    Each town has 10 personalities stored in it. Town 0 has personalities 0-9. Town 1 has personalities 10-19, town 2 has 20-29, and so on. A character from any town can  have a personality from any town. To enable the party to talk to a character, place the creature, press Select Monster, click on the monster, and put the personality number in the Personality area. Now that the personality is there, you just need to write the dialogue.

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    Writing Dialogue

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    Press Edit Town Dialogue to edit a towns 10 personalities. A character always responds to name, look, and job, and has a response for when the party asks about something weird. The first 10 entries in the dialogue lists are where these responses are written. Entries for name, look, and job must be given. The Dont Understand Response can be left blank (a generic response will be given).

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    Dialogue has nodes, like special encounters. Each town has 60 dialogue nodes. Each dialogue nodes represents one thing the party can ask about. The 60 dialogue nodes are listed when you press Edit Town Dialogue. Click on a dialogue node to edit it. The dialogue nodes editing window will come up. It has these options:

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    Personality - This starts at -1, which means that the node is unused. The number of the personality to whom this node belongs. If this is changed to -2, any of the 10 personalities in this town respond to this.

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    Response to #1, Response to #2 - The key word (or key words) the player must ask about to get this node as a response. Each node can have two different words that activate it. These words must consist only of letters and numbers.

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    The game only looks at the first 4 letters of these fields, and a word that the player can ask about must be at least 4 letters/numbers long. You can have a character respond to insect, but not to bug. 

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    The default value for these fields is xxxx. If you only want a certain response to be given for one key word (as opposed to two) you can leave one of the fields set to xxxx.

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    If one character has redundant talking nodes (i.e. two nodes which respond to asking about fish) the earlier one is used.

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    If the talking node is for a store of some sort (buying or selling) and the player presses the Buy or Sell button, this node will be used as a response. Again, if one character sells two sorts of things, the earlier one will be used should the player hit the Buy button.

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    Example: You set the first  field to swor and the second to demo. Then this talking node will be used as a response when the player asks this character about sword, demon, demonstration, Sworgenov.

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    Node type - Click the light for the appropriate talking node type. These types are described below.

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    A,B,C,D - These four fields define certain things for the node type (such as how much an item costs, or what items are sold in the store). In the descriptions below, the value of Field A is referred to by simply A, as in The cost for identification is A.

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    Text 1, Text 2 - The text the character actually says. For some node types, the character responds with the text in both boxes, one before the other. For some node types, however, the character will only respond one bit of text or the other, depending on the node type.

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    Create New - To edit a fresh dialogue node, press this. To return to an earlier node, press Go Back.

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    When writing character responses, remember that while the two halves of the response text can each be 256 characters long, there isnt room for more than 400 characters on the talking screen. Test your dialogue to make sure it is all fitting. 

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    Special Node Types

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    The talking node types (and the meanings of the A, B, C, and D fields) are:

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    Basic Conversation Talking Nodes - 

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    These are the basic talking node types, the talking nodes you will use the most often.

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    Node Type 0 - Regular Talking   The character responds with the text in the Text 1 and Text 2 fields. All other fields are ignored.

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    Node Type 1 - Depends on Flag  The response depends on a given Stuff Done flag, specified in the A, B, and C fields. If the stuff done flag (A,B) is less than or equal to the value in C, the character responds with the text in Text 1. Otherwise,  the character responds with the text in Text 2.

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    Example: Suppose A is 58, B is 3, and C is 2. If the Stuff Done flag (58,3) is 1, the response is Text 1. If Stuff Done flag (58,3) is 5, the response is Text 2.

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    Node Type 2 - Set to One   The character responds with the text in the Text 1 and Text 2 fields. In addition, the Stuff Done flag (A,B) is set to 1.

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    Example: You want Stuff Done flag (100,2) to be set to 1 when the party knows that theres a treasure hidden in a tree. Old Man McGee tells them that its there when asked about tree. When Old Man McGee is asked about tree use a talking node of this type as a response, with A set to 100 and B set to 2.

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    Node Type 3 - Inn  If the party can afford it, conversation ends, and the party is moved to a different place and healed. Field A is the cost of the inn, and field B is the quality of the inn (Range 0 ... 3). If the party can afford it, the character says Text 1, and the party is moved to (C,D). Otherwise, they are told Text 2 and conversation continues.

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    If-Then Talking Nodes - 

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    What the character says when one of these talking nodes is called depends on circumstances, such as what town the party is in or whether a certain Stuff Done flag has been changed.

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    Node Type 4 - Depend on Time  Response depends on what day it is. If it is after day A, the character responds Text 2. Otherwise, the character responds Text 1. (For more information on this, see the section on passing time). 

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    Node Type 5 - Depend on Time w. Event   Response depends on what day it is. If it is after day A and event B did not happen before day A, the character responds Text 1. Otherwise, the character responds Text 2. (For more information on this, see the section on passing time). 

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    Node Type 6 - Depends On Town  Response depends on what town the party is in. If the party is in town A, the response is Text 1. Otherwise, its Text 2. 

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    Shopping Talking Nodes - 

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    When one of these nodes is a response, conversation temporarily ends, and a shopping screen appears. When the party is done shopping (and the player hits the done button) talking resumes. Most of these require you to specify a cost adjust, which is one of the following:

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    0 - Extremely Cheap

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    1 - Very Reasonable

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    2 - Pretty Average

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    3 - Somewhat Pricey

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    4 - Expensive

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    5 - Exorbitant

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    6 - Utterly Ridiculous

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    Node Type 7 - Buy Items  Shop where the party can buy items. A is the cost adjustment (Range 0 ... 6, see above). B is the number of the first item in the shop (from the scenarios item list). C is the total number of items in the shop, taken in order from the scenario item list starting with B (press the Choose button to select). Text 1 is the name of the shop.

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    Example: If A is 1, B is 193, C is 15, and Text 1 is Freds Fish, and this talking node is the response, the player gets to shop in a store called Freds Fish. The prices are quite cheap, and the player can buy items 193-207.

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    Node Type 8 - Training   The training window immediately comes up. Text 1 & 2 are 

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    ignored. 

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    Node Type 9 - Mage Spell Shop  Shop where the party can buy mage spells. A is the cost adjustment (Range 0 ... 6, see above). B is the number of the first spell sold in the shop (press the Choose button to select). C is the total number of spells sold in the shop, taken from the list of spells in the game, starting with B. Text 1 is the name of the shop.

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    Node Type 10 - Priest Spell Shop Exactly like Mage Spell Shop (above) but with Priest spells.  

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    Node Type 11 - Alchemy Shop   Shop where the party can buy alchemy recipes. A is the cost adjustment (Range 0 ... 6, see above. B is the number of the first recipe sold in the shop (press the Choose button to select). C is the total number of recipes sold in the shop, taken from the list of recipes in the game, starting with B. Text 1 is the name of the shop.

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    Node Type 12 - Healer   Brings up the healing screen. A is the cost adjustment (Range 0 ... 6, see above) and Text 1 is the name of the healer.

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    Item Button Talking Nodes - 

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    Each of these talking node types makes a button appear by certain items in the PC Inventory Screen. Pressing these buttons does something with the item, such as sell it or identify it. When two of these nodes are used in a row, the buttons created by the second node replace the buttons created by the first.

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    Node Type 13 - Sell Weapons  The text in Text 1 is the response, and the party can sell all their identified weapons.

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    Node Type 14 - Sell Armor   The text in Text 1 is the response, and the party can sell all their identified armor.

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    Node Type 15 - Sell All   The text in Text 1 is the response, and the party can sell all their identified items.

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    Node Type 16 - Identify   The text in Text 1 is the response, and the party can identify all their items. A is the cost to identify.

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    Node Type 17 - Enchant Weapons  Enables the part to spend money to have their weapons augmented. The character responds Text 1, and Enchant buttons (with costs) appear by all of the characters identified, non-magical weapons. A is the sort of enchantment the party can buy (0 - +1, 1 - +2, 2 - +3, 3 - shoot flame spells,  4- flaming weapon, 5 - +5, 6 - blessed)

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    Buying Talking Nodes - 

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    All of these talking nodes try to sell the party something (such as the location of a town) but are not regular shops, and dont bring up a shopping screen.

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    Node Type 18 - Buy Response   The party is charged A gold. If they have it, the text in Text 1 is the response. Otherwise, the text in Text 2 is the response.

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    Example: If the inn sells drinks with a cost of 5, use this talking node type. Set A to 5, and have Text 1 be what happens when the party buys the drink.

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    Node Type 19 - Buy Response, Change flag   The party can spend money to get a response and have one of their Stuff Done flags changed. The party is charged A gold. If they have it, the text in Text 1 is the response, and the value of Stuff Done flag (B,C) is set to D. Otherwise, the text in Text 2 is the response.

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    Example: You want Stuff Done flag (100,2) to be set to 1 when the party knows that theres a treasure hidden in a tree. Old Man McGee tells them that its there when asked about tree, but he charges 50 gold for the knowledge. When Old Man McGee is asked about tree use a talking node of this type as a response, with A set to 50, B set to 100, C set to 2, and D set to 1. Write in Text 2 Old Man McGees acerbic response if the party doesnt have 50 gold.

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    Node Type 20 - Ship Shop   Sells the party a boat. A is the cost of the boat. B is the number of the first boat sold in the shop (from the scenarios boat list). C is the total number of boats sold in the shop, taken from the list of boats in the game, starting with B. If the party buys a boat, one boat in the given range becomes their property. Text 1 is the response if the party buys a boat. Text 2 is the response if the party doesnt have enough gold. If all boats in the given range are already owned by the party, the characters response is There are no boats left.

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    Example: If A is 100, B is 5,C is 1, and the party has 100 gold, if the party doesnt already own boat 5, it becomes their property and theyre out 100 gold.

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    Node Type 21 - Horse Shop   Sells the party a horse. A is the cost of the horse. B is the number of the first horse sold in the shop (from the scenarios horse list). C is the total number of horses sold in the shop, taken from the list of horses in the game, starting with B. If the party buys a horse, one horse in the given range becomes their property. Text 1 is the response if the party buys a horse. Text 2 is the response if the party doesnt have enough gold. If all horses in the given range are already owned by the party, the characters response is There are no horses left.

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    Node Type 22 - Buy Special Item   Sells the party a scenario special item. A is the number of the special item being sold. If they already have it, they are told You already have that. Otherwise, the cost of the item is B gold. If the party can afford it, they are told Text 1. Otherwise, they are told Text 2.

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    Note: If you set the cost to 0, the party is always given the item.

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    Node Type 23 - Special Item Shop  This brings up a shop window where the party can buy up to 10 randomly chosen items. These items are changed every 3000 moves, and are often magical. There are 5 different, independently maintained lists of items the shop can give. A is the cost adjustment of the shop (Range 0 ... 6, see above) and B is list of items to sell from (0 .. 4).

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    Node Type 24 - Reveal Town Location   Charges the party money, and enables them to enter a hidden town. The cost is A gold. If the party can afford it, they are told Text 1, and they will be able to see and enter town/dungeon number B. Otherwise, they are told Text 2. If the party already knows where this town is, no gold is taken.

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    Note: If you set the cost to 0, the party is always told where the town is.

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    End Conversation Talking Nodes - 

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    When one of these node types is the response to something the player asks, the conversation ends immediately. Only the Record and Bye buttons at the bottom will be active, and the player can ask about nothing else.

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    Node Type 25 - Force Conversation End   Responds the text on Text 1 and Text 2 normally, but then the conversation ends.

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    Node Type 26 - Hostile Conversation End   Responds the text on Text 1 and Text 2 normally, but then the conversation ends, and the character attacks the party.

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    Node Type 27 - Town Hostile Conv. End   Responds the text on Text 1 and Text 2 normally, but then the conversation ends, and the entire town becomes hostile.

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    Node Type 28 - Eliminate Creature   Responds the text on Text 1 and Text 2 normally, but then the conversation ends, and the character will disappear. If the character has a Go Away Permanently Stuff Done flag chosen for it, that flag is set to 1 and the character will disappear permanently.

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    Uses: A dying character who tells the party one last thing and expires.

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    Special Encounter Talking Nodes - 

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    These highly important node types provide the way to have elaborate special encounters embedded in conversations. When a talking node of one of these types is the response, a town (or scenario) special node is called, which can give the party gold or items, set Stuff Done flags, or do most anything else a special node can do.

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    When a special encounter is called inside a conversation, the big question generally is what the character will say (be it Heres some gold, or This is where the hidden treasure is.). What the character says in response to the players question is determined using the Mess 1 and Mess 2 fields in the special nodes called. How this works is described below.

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    Node Type 29 - Call Town Special   Calls Town Special Node A, and does what it says. This special encounter can do anything but damage the party or other monsters or move the party.

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    Displaying messages in special encounters works differently in talking special encounters. If the special node(s) called bring up a dialog box, it is displayed normally (over the talking screen). However, if one or two messages are selected in one of the special nodes, they are not displayed in a dialog box (as they would be if the special encounter wasnt called while talking). Instead, the one or two messages selected in the special node will become the characters response while talking. If no messages are ever selected in the special nodes, the character says the text in Text 1 and Text 2.

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    There is one serious limitation to using talking nodes of this type. The special encounter will only work correctly if the personality is one of the current towns 10 personalities. For example, the 10 personalities for town 5 are 50-59. A talking special encounter for personality 55 will only work correctly when the party is in town 5. If you placed personality 55 in town 6 and the party triggered a special encounter while talking to it, it wouldnt work. If you want to have a personality special encounter work no matter what town the party triggers it in, use a Call Scenario Special talking node (type 30, described below).

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    To create the talking special encounter, first select Edit Special Nodes from the town menu, select the first node of the special encounter (a node you havent used yet), and create the special encounter. Then, on the dialogue node editing sceen, enter the number of the first node of the encounter in A.

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    Example: Suppose Text 1 is He casts a spell, and the special node selected heals the party, and is the only special node called. If, in Mess 1 and Mess 2 of that special node, no messages are chosen, the character will say He casts a spell. If messages are chosen in Mess 1 and Mess 2, that will be what the character says in the talk area. The player can then ask about things mentioned in those messages in the normal way (clicking on words to ask about them).

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    Node Type 30 - Call Scenario Special   Calls Scenario Special Node A. Except for calling a Scenario special node instead of a Town Special Node, this is exactly the same as Call Town Special, above. The main difference is that you create the special encounter in the Scenario special node list instead of the Town special node list.

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    Note: If a town special is called, only a town message will be shown. If a scenario node is called, a scenario message will be shown.

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    The Buy and Sell Buttons

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    When the game is in talk mode, there are Buy and Sell buttons at the bottom of the talking area. The player will expect that, when the former is pressed, the game will go into shopping mode (if the character has anything to sell), and when the latter is pressed the character will offer to buy items (if he or she is so inclined).

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    When the Buy button is pressed, that is equivalent to the player asking about purchase. Thus, you should have every shopkeeper respond to this word. Similarly, pressing the Sell button is equivalent to asking about sell. Any character who buys things should respond to this word.

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    Item Order in Shops

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    Items can only be sold in shops in the order they appear in your scenario's item list. A shop can only sell, say, items 117-125 from the item list, not items 117, 121, and 131. If you want to customize the items in a shop (so that it only sells strong poison, steel chain mail, and rings of protection), edit the items in the item list so that those items appear next to each other.

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    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Editing.html b/doc/editor/Editing.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..80bce669 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Editing.html @@ -0,0 +1,112 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 3: Making and Editing Scenarios

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    This chapter describes how to create a scenario, and how to edit the general scenario properties. As mentioned before, something marked (Advanced) can be ignored by people who arent interested in making more complicated scenarios.

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    The File Menu

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    You use the File menu to load new scenarios and save scenarios youve edited.

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    Open... - Select this option to load in a new scenario.

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    Save - This saves your changes. 

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    New Scenario... - This makes a new scenario.

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    Quit - This closes the program. If youve made any changes, you will be asked if you would like to save first.

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    Scenarios made in Macintosh and Windows are interchangeable. A scenario edited  on the Mac can be run on a Windows machine, and vise versa.

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    Creating a scenario

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    When you make a new scenario, three dialog boxes will come up, asking you for information about the scenario to make:

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    First Dialog: Enter the name of your scenario and the file name of the scenario (which must be at most eight characters long, all letters). To make the terrain for the surface be grass and mountains (as opposed to cave), press the small button. When done, press OK, or Cancel to stop the process.

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    Second Dialog: Enter the width and height, in 48 x 48 sections, of the outdoors. This cant be changed later, so choose carefully (outdoor sections are small, so you may want to make it a little large than you think you will need).

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    In the second section, enter the number of towns the scenario will start with, of the three different sizes. The large towns will be placed first, followed by the medium towns followed by the small towns (so if you select 3 large towns and 3 small towns, towns 0 - 2 will be large, and 3 - 5 will be small). The exception to this is that if you want your scenario to be Warriors Grove, this will always be town 0.

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    Finally, select Include Starter Town to have one of your Medium Towns (town 0) be Warriors Grove, a pre-made town.

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    Third Dialog: Enter a number from 0 to 30000. This will be the scenarios password, which must be entered before it can be edited. Leave at 0 to have no password. The password for the three scenarios that come with Blades of Exile are 100.

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    Be sure to write this down. If you forget it, you wont be able to edit your scenario. You may want to set it to 0 ... you can always change it later.

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    Finally, you will be asked for a final go-ahead, and your scenario will be built.

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    Scenario Menu

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    A lot of things for your scenario are set using the Scenario menu.

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    Create New Town - This tacks a new town onto the end of your scenarios town list. If you currently have 8 towns, for example, the new town will be town number 8 (your 9th town). Creating a new town is described later in this section.

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    Scenario Details - This dialog sets the information the player will see when theyre choosing your scenario in the Custom Scenario Window in the game. You can set your scenarios version (it starts at 1.0.0), a brief description (each bit of text can be at most 60 characters long), contact information for you (such as an E-mail address), your scenarios rating (G to NC-17), and a guideline for how experienced the players party should be before they do your scenario.

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    Note that you can't control the level of adventurers the player takes into your scenario. They are free to take as weak or powerful a party through as they want. All you can do is warn them how tough your scenario is in advance.

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    Scenario Intro Text - Select this to edit the text the player will see when first entering your scenario, Press the Select Icon button to pick the graphic the player will see by your scenario when in the Custom Scenario Window.

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    Set Starting Location - The scenario must have two starting locations. The first is the town the party will start in. The second is the location in the outdoors the party will be in with they leave that town.

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    Select this to set the first location, the starting location in a town. Enter the number of the town to start in, and the starting location in that town.

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    Change Password - Enter your new password.

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    Edit Special Nodes (Advanced) - This moves you to the main screen, where all of the scenarios special nodes are listed to the right. Click on a node to edit it.

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    Edit Scenario Text (Advanced) - This moves you to the main screen, where all of the scenarios text messages are listed to the right. Click on a message to edit it, or command click (right click in Windows) to clear it.

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    Import Town (Advanced) - You can import a town from another scenario (or the same scenario). The town pulled in will be copied over the current town in memory. Aster selecting this option, you will be asked the number of the town to import, and then to select the scenario to import it from (you can select the scenario you are working on). Finally, you need to put in the password of the scenario you are opening. The scenario will be loaded in, and the selected town will be copied over your current town. the town selected must be of the same size (small, medium, large) as the current town.

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    Edit Saved Item Rectangle (Advanced) - You can set three rectangles in towns where the partys items can be stored (i.e. they wont disappear when they leave town). Enter the number of the town, and the top, left, bottom, and right of the rectangle where the items will be remembered. To have no rectangle, leave the town number at -1. The three towns must be different.

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    Edit Horses (Advanced) - The scenario can have up to 30 horses, which must all start in towns. Enter the number of the town the horse is in, and the horses location. If the horse isnt owned by the party, click on the button to the right. Press the arrows to edit other horses. 

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    When you place a boat in a scenario your party is already in, the boat does not actually appear in the scenario until the party enters a town. If the party is in a town, it won't appear until they leave the town and reenter.

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    Edit Boats (Advanced) - The scenario can have up to 30 boats, which must all start in towns. They are edited the same way as the horses (above), and new boats don't appear until the party enters a town.

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    Set Variable Town Entry (Advanced) - When they party enters a town, you can have the town they enter change, depending on the value of a Stuff Done Flag. Enter the number of the town, and the two parts of the Stuff Done flag to add to the town number when town 8 is entered.  

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    Example: Town 8 may be destroyed. When this happens, set Stuff Done Flag (3,4) to 1, have this flag added to town 8, and make the destroyed version of the town be town number 9.

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    Set Scenario Event Timers (Advanced) - You can have a special node called every so many moves while the party is playing the scenario. Enter the interval between node calls on the left, and the number of the scenario special node to call on the right. Press the Create/Edit button to assign or edit the special node. Leave the time at -1 for no node to be called.

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    Note that calling a special node takes some time. Dont set the interval too small, or your scenario wont play as well.

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    The interval between calling a special node must be a multiple of 10 (such as 30, or 100, but not 55).

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    Example: If the time is set to 100, and the node is set to 15, scenario special node 15 is called every 100 moves, no matter where the party is.

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    Edit Item Placement Shortcuts (Advanced) - You can create 10 item placement shortcuts. This can enable you to place preset items in towns much more quickly. When Add Random Items is picked from the Town menu, the editor sorts through these shortcuts, and places random items on the terrain types you select.

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    When editing a shortcut, first select a terrain type (press Choose to the upper right), and press the button to the left if you want the preset items to not be the partys property. Then select the items to place on a terrain type of this sort. Press one of the 10 Choose buttons below to pick an item, and then enter the percentage change (0 - 100) of the item being placed.

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    Example: Suppose you want a pair of pants to appear in %25 of the dressers in a city. Press the Choose button by the terrain space and select Dresser. press one of the Choose buttons below, and select pants. Finally, enter a 25 in the chance spot.

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    Delete Last Town (Advanced) - This deletes the last town in the scenarios town list. You cant delete the last town.

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    Write Data To Text File (Advanced) - It is often convenient to have a list of all your scenarios terrain types and monsters. Select this, and lists of your terrain types, items, and monsters will be dumped into a text file titled Scenario data.

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    Do Full Text Dump (Advanced) - It is also often very convenient to have a complete printout of all the text in a scenario, especially for proofreading. Select this, and all of the scenarios special messages will be dumped into a file titles Scenario Text. This will take a while - be patient.

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    Making a New Town -

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    When you select making a new town, a dialog box will come up asking for information on the town to create, which will then be added to the end of the current town list. The text area at the top is where you enter the name of the new town.

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    Click the button by the town size to select that size, and the button by the default terrain type to select the terrain the town will start with.

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    You will automatically be editing the new town. The scenario must be saved before you can create a new town.

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    Using the Main Menu

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    The main menu is the first screen that comes up when you load or create a new scenario, and is where you load new towns and outdoor sections.

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    Edit Terrain Types - When pressed, all of the terrain types appear in the right hand side of the screen. Click on a terrain type to edit it. For more information, see the chapter on Editing Terrain.

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    Edit Monsters - When pressed, all of the monster types appear in the right hand side of the screen. Click on a monster type to edit it. For more information, see the chapter on Editing Monsters.

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    Edit Items - When pressed, all of the item types appear in the right hand side of the screen. Click on an item type to edit it. For more information, see the chapter on Editing Items.

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    Create New Town - This is the same as the Create New Town option in the Scenario menu.

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    Edit Scenario Text - This is the same as the Edit Scenario Text option in the Scenario menu.

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    Edit Special Items (Advanced) - When pressed, all of the special items appear in the right hand side of the screen. Click on a special item to edit it. For more information on special items, see below.

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    Load New Section - At any given time, the scenario editor will only have one outdoor section and one town in memory. To load another outdoor section for editing, press this button.

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    A dialog box will come up, asking you to select an outdoor section to edit. The upper left section is considered to be X = 0, Y = 0. The sections to the right have a higher X, and the sections below have a higher Y.

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    Edit Outdoor Terrain - When pressed, you will start editing the current outdoor section.

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    Load Another Town - To load another town into memory for editing, press this button, followed by the number of the town to edit.

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    Edit Town Terrain - When pressed, you will start editing the current town.

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    Edit Town Dialogue (Advanced) - When pressed, all of the dialogue nodes will appear to the right. For more information on how to edit dialogue, see the chapter in the next section on dialogue.

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    Special Items (Advanced):

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    Each scenario can have up to 50 special items. These are given to the party during special encounters, and other special encounters can check for their presence. A key to a locked door might be a special item, and when the door is reached, the party will only be let through if they have that item.

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    To edit a special item, click on Edit Special Items on the main screen, and click on one of the 50 special items to the right. A dialog box will come up, in which you can edit the items information. The first two text areas are for the items name and description (the description appears when the payer uses the Special Item screen).

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    If you want the party to start with the item, click the first button. If you want them to be able to use it, click the second button. When a special item is used, the game will call a given Scenario special node. To create or edit this special node, press the Create/Edit button. Special encounters are described in great depth in the next section.

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    Changing Your Scenario's Name

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    if you want to give your scenario a new name, select Edit Scenario Text from the Scenario menu. Click on Message 0 (in the area to the write where the messages are listed) and enter your scenario's name.

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    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Graphics.html b/doc/editor/Graphics.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b04dedfd --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Graphics.html @@ -0,0 +1,56 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 12: Customizing Graphics

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    One of the best ways to put your own personal spin on your scenario is to give it your own graphics. You can provide your own graphics for monsters, items, terrain (animated or not), and dialog pictures (36 x 36).

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    To create your own graphics, you need to use a painting program. The basic dimension of customized graphics is 28 x 36. The custom graphics must be arranged in a one single PICT (Macintosh) or .BMP file (Windows) which is 280 wide (wide enough for 10 graphics and some multiple of 36 (36,72, 108, etc.) high. This single graphic containing all your custom graphics is called the custom sheet.

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    The custom graphics are arranged on the custom sheet in rows, 10 to each row. Each row is considered to have 10 slots. The first ten slots are in the top row, the next 10 slots are in the next row, and so on. The upper left graphic is considered slot 0. The top row contains slots 0 to 9 (numbered left to right), the second row contains slots 11 to 20, and so on.

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    How to Make Your Custom Sheet (Macintosh)

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    Make your graphic in a painting program. Make it in the standard Macintosh 256 color palette. Find a copy of the freeware Apple utility ResEdit (available online, or at the Spiderweb Software web site, www.spidweb.com). Run it and make a new resource file. Give the file the same name as your scenario file, but with .meg at the end instead of .exs (for example, if your scenario is called swords.exs, title the graphics resource file swords.meg).

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    Select the custom sheet in your painting program, and copy it. Move to ResEdit, and select paste to paste your graphic into the resource file as a PICT. Double click on the PICT icon in the ResEdit window, and you will see your custom graphic. Click on it, hit Command-I, and give the PICT resource number 1. Save the file, and copy it into the Blades of Exile Scenario folder.

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    How to Make Your Custom Sheet (Windows)

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    You must make your graphic in a painting program. However, you need to use a palette similar to the Blades of Exile palette. Create a copy of one of the Blades of Exile graphics files. Give the file the same name as your scenario file, but with .bmp at the end instead of .exs (for example, if your scenario is called swords.exs, title the bitmap file swords.bmp).

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    Open it with your painting program, and change its size to the size of your custom sheet. Draw your graphic here, so that you can be sure to be using the same palette as Blades of Exile. Place your bitmap file in the BLDSSCEN folder to use it.

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    Note that Macintosh and Windows custom graphics are not compatible. If you dont know how to translate a custom graphics file, submit your full scenario at www.spidweb.com (or mail a copy on disk to us) and well translate your graphics file when we put your adventure on our web site (more on this in the next chapter).

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    Custon graphics can be drawn in the scenario editor. To see your custom graphics, place your custom graphics file in the same folder/directory as your scenario. If your graphics file isn't there, the custom graphics won't be known. THis is a good way to test to make sure your custom graphics file is valid.

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    Placing and Using Your Custom Graphics

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    When you use custom graphics, you must arrange them pr operly on your custom sheet, and then tell the editor to use them. These are the graphics you can customize, and how to use them:

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    Terrain (not animated) - Place the 28 x 36 custom terrain graphic in one of the custom sheets slots. To give a terrain type this graphic, add 1000 to the number of the slot the graphic is in, and put that number in the Terrain Picture field on the editing terrain window.

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    To use this graphic as the dialog picture in a dialog (created by a special node), select Display Dialog (Terrain pic) as the special node type. Add 1000 to the slot the graphic is in, and put that number in the Pict spot.

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    Terrain (animated) - Animated terrain has four different graphics. Put the 4 graphics in 4 consecutive custom sheet slots. To give a terrain type this graphic, add 2000 to the number of the slot the first of the four graphics is in, and put that number in the Terrain Picture field on the editing terrain window.

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    Monster (1 x 1) - There are 4 graphics needed: monster facing right, monster facing left, monster attacking facing right, and monster attacking facing left. Put these 4 graphics in 4 consecutive custom sheet slots. To give a monster type this graphic, add 1000 to the number of the slot the first of the four graphics is in, and put that number in the Monster Picture field on the editing monster window.

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    To use this graphic as the dialog picture in a dialog (created by a special node), select Display Dialog (Monster pic) as the special node type. Add 1000 to the slot the first of the 4 graphics is in, and put that number in the Pict spot.

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    Monster (2 x 1) - There are 8 graphics needed: the left half and then the right half of the monster facing right, the left half and then the right half of the monster facing left, the 2 parts of the monster attacking facing right, and the 2 parts of the monster attacking facing left. Put these 8 graphics in 8 consecutive custom sheet slots. To give a monster type this graphic (and make is a 2 x 1 monster), add 2000 to the number of the slot the first of the four graphics is in, and put that number in the Monster Picture field on the editing monster window.

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    Monster (1 x 2), Monster (2 x 2) - These 2 graphics require 8 and 16 custom sheet slots. Put the parts of the monster facing right, then facing left, then attacking right, then attacking left, with the parts arranged left to right and top to bottom. To give a monster type this graphic, add 3000 (if 1 x 2) or 4000 (if 2 x 2)  to the number of the slot the first of the four graphics is in, and put that number in the Monster Picture field on the editing monster window.

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    Dialog Picture - You can put a custom 36 x 36 graphic in the upper left corner of a dialog box. Split the graphic into 2 18 x 36 halves, and put the 2 graphics in 2 consecutive custom sheet slots (pushed into the upper left corner). 

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    To use this graphic as the dialog picture in a dialog (created by a special node), select Display Dialog (Dialog pic) as the special node type. Add 1000 to the slot the left half is in, and put that number in the Pict spot.

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    Item - An item graphic takes up one 28 x 36 slot.  Add 150 to the slot the graphic is in, and put that number in the Item Picture field on the editing items window. You can only put new item graphics in the first 105 slots (the highest item graphic number Blades can handle is 255).

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    Face in Dialogue - You can customize the face of a character the party is talking to. A dialogue face is a 32x32 graphic. Split the graphic into 2 16x32 halves, and put them in two adjacent slots (left half in one slot, and then the right half in the next slot). Add 1000 to the slot the left half is in, and put that number in the Facial Graphic space in the Editing a Townsperson/Monster window.

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    For examples of using custom graphics, look at the scenarios that came with Blades of Exile. The three Blades of Exile scenarios, between them, contain examples of Custom Sheets with all of the different sorts of custom graphics.

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    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Items.html b/doc/editor/Items.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d70ed83c --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Items.html @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 8 - Editing Item Types

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    Your default scenario comes with 383 premade item types, number 0 to 382, and you can have 400 item types overall. Like terrain types, you can customize the item types to suit your scenario. Click on Edit Item Types to bring up a list of items, and click on an item type to bring up the item editing window. This window has these options:

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    Full Name, Unidentified Name: The names of the item the party sees when the item is identified (or unidentified).

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    Item Picture: Press the Choose button to select an item icon.

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    Item Type: The item's types are generally self-explanatory. The item types determine how many of each item can be equipped, and what affect each type has (armor protects, weapons can be used to attack, etc.). The item type determines which special abilities each item can have. For more on this, read about special abilities, farther on.

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    Item level:  Determines the strength of armor or weapons. The higher the number, the more damage the weapon does, or the more damage the armor prevents. It has no meaning for items that arent armor or weapons.

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    Awkwardness:  Determines how much the item interferes with performance in combat when equipped. The higher value, the more the interference.

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    Bonus:  Gives extra strength to armor and weapons. The higher the number, the more extra damage the weapon does, or the more extra damage the armor prevents. It has no meaning for items that arent armor or weapons.

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    Protection:  When the item is equipped, if it has a protection value, the item reduces damage in combat. The higher the number, the greater the reduction.

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    Charges:  The number of times the item can be used. Only has an effect for magical items (like potions) or missiles.

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    Type Flag (Advanced) :  When a character gets several items of the same type (like darts or arrows), they will all be combined into one item. This happens when the items have the same type flag. You can have items have the same type flag, and thus be combined. Only give an item a type flag greater than 100 ... smaller type flags are reserved for the preset items.

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    Value: The value of the item in gold.

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    Weight:  The weight of the item.

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    Special Class (Advanced) :  Some special nodes (like Have Item With Class?) check to see if the party has a special item. Set an items special class here (0 for no special class).

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    For example, an item Boat Ticket can have special class 1, and a special node which checks if the party has a ticket can check for special class 1. Note that items with a non-zero special class are taken away from the party when they leave the scenario.

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    An item can also have special abilities, like providing resistance to fire, or being a demon slaying weapon. To set an items special ability, press the Abilities button.

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    Setting Item Abilities (Advanced)

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    When you press the Abilities button, you will see the item ability dialog. Each item type can have a special ability. The types of abilities available range from shooting fireballs to weapons doing special damage to dragons to items being ingredients for alchemical recipes.

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    There are two types of item abilities: usable and inherent.

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    Usable abilities:  Usable item abilities are only activated by pressing the items use button on the PC inventory screen. Otherwise, the ability has no effect. Examples are a wand that shoots fireballs or a healing potion.

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    Usable abilities are always linked to the items charges. Whenever an item with a usable ability is actually used, the items amount of charges goes down by 1. When the items charge level goes down to 0, the item disappears. An item with a usable ability must have at least 1 charge.

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    The cash value of an item with a usable ability is calculated differently from normal items. The items actual cost is its value multiplied by the number of its charges. (Example: Suppose a Potion of Healing has a value of 100 and 2 charges. This potion would cost 200 gold and sell for half that.)

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    Inherent Abilities:  Inherent abilities are abilities that are always present and are activated automatically, as opposed to being activated by pressing the Use button on the PC Inventory screen. Examples are a shield with fire protection (which is activated automatically when the character takes fire damage) or comfrey root (whose ability is that it can be used as an alchemical ingredient, and which is used automatically when the party tries to make a potion with it).

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    Some inherent abilities have charges (such as alchemical ingredients). When used, the amount of charges goes down by one. When there are no charges left, the item disappears. The name of inherent ability types that require charges have a (c) after them.The value of these items is calculated the same way as for Usable abilities.

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    There are six different classes of item ability type, each with its own properties and varieties of items that can possess it. These are listed below, along with whether they are classes of Usable or Inherent abilities:

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    Weapon Abilities (Inherent):  Abilities of this type can be given to one and two handed weapons, weapon ammunition (darts, arrows, etc.) and non-ammunition missiles (like slings). None of these items have charges.

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    General Abilities (Inherent):  Abilities of this type can be given to non-missile items which can be equipped (e.g. rings, armor, sword, but not arrows) but not to items that cant (e.g. wands, potions). Only a few of these ability types require that the items having them have charges.

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    Non-Spell Usable (Usable):  Abilities of this type change the status of the party or individual character in some way, such as making them more or less poisoned, or raising or lowering health. Abilities of these types can be given to any item thats not a missile (e.g. arrows, bolts). Being usable item abilities, any item having one of these abilities must have charges.

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    Spell Usable (Usable):  Abilities of this type cast some sort of a spell, such as firing a fireball or summoning monsters. Abilities of these types can be given to any item thats not a missile (e.g. arrows, bolts). Being usable item abilities, any item having one of these abilities must have charges.

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    Reagents (Inherent):  Items with these abilities are alchemical ingredients, spell reagents (e.g. smoky crystals, sapphires), or similar substances. All items with an ability of this type must have charges, and must be of variety Non-use Object.

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    Missiles (Inherent): These abilities can only be given to missiles (e.g. arrows, bolts, darts). Each ability is activated when the missile is fired (such as exploding a fireball on the target space).

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    There are a wide variety of special abilities. The abilities (and the meaning of the Ability Strength field) are listed in the one of the Appendices.

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    To select an ability, press one of the six buttons to the upper right. Each button brings up a menu with one of the six classes of special item. The items ability strength (a number from 0 - 10, 10 is strongest) can be entered in the text area just below. The other buttons set other item properties:

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    Item Use Properties:  For items that affect the party (like healing, or curing/causing poison), you can have use of the item help only the using person, help the entire party, hurt the using PC, or hurt the entire party. For example, if the ability is Slow/Haste, and hurt the entire party is selected, then the item slows the entire party when it is used.

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    Always Identified:  If selected, whenever the item is found, it will be identified.

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    Magical:  The item is magical, and thus cant be augmented by people in towns.

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    Cursed:  The item is cursed, and a PC equips it, it cant be removed until the curse is removed.

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    Conceal Ability:  When item info is selected for the item, the player wont be told what the special ability is.

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    Item Treasure Class:  Determines how often the item is left as a treasure by slain monsters. The higher the class the less often it is left. If Junk, not left is selected, the item will never be found on dead monsters.

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    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Monsters.html b/doc/editor/Monsters.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a0f89563 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Monsters.html @@ -0,0 +1,93 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 7 - Editing Monster Types

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    Your default scenario comes with 187 premade monster types, number 1 to 187, and you can have 256 monster types overall. Like terrain types, you can customize the monster types to suit your scenario. Click on Edit Monster Types to bring up a list of creatures, and click on a monster type to bring up the monster editing window. This window has these options:

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    Monster Name:  The name of the creature.

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    Level:  Determines how much morale and skill the creature has. You should make this at least 1.

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    Health:  Number of health points.

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    Armor:  The damage from each weapon blow is reduced by a random amount from 1 to this number.

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    Skill:  Determines chance of hitting and gives an extra damage bonus.

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    Speed:  Number of action points monster gets each turn.

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    Mage Spells, Priest Spells:  Strength of spells creature casts. This is from 0 - 7, 0 meaning no spells and 7 meaning the strongest spells.

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    Attack Damage Number of Dice and Sides:  The amount of damage the monster does when it hits. For example, if a blow does eight dice of damage, each of which has 11 sides, the program generates 8 random numbers from 1 to 11, adds them up, and does that much damage. A monster can have up to 3 different attacks.

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    Monster Type:  Press Choose to pick a monster type (e.g. human, insect, demon, etc.).

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    Attack 1 Type, Attack 2-3 Type:  Press Choose to select an attack type (e.g. bite, claw, etc.)

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    Treasure:  Determines how much treasure the monster leaves when killed (0 - none, to 4 - lots). Dont have common creatures leave treasure of type 3 or 4.

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    Default Talking Picture:  Press Choose to select the default picture the player sees when talking to this character. This can be changed for individual creatures when editing towns.

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    Default Attitude:  Select the attitude the monster has when first placed (which can be changed when the monster is placed, using the Edit Monster button).

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    The monster type can also have a wide variety of special abilities. To edit them, press the Abilities button.

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    Editing Monster Abilities

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    The monster abilities screen has a wide variety of options.

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    Monster Poison - A number from 0 to 8 (0 - none, 8 - powerful).

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    Breath Weapon, Breath Weapon Type - The weapon is a number from 0 to 40 (0 - none, 40 - strong). This is the number of random numbers from 1 to 8 to sum to generate the breath damage. The type is the damage type of the breath (e.g. fire, cold, etc.).

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    Special Ability - Press choose to pick the monsters special ability. These are listed in the Monster Abilities section, later in this chapter.

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    Summon Type - Determines whether the monster can be summoned by the mages summoning spells. Type 1 monsters are easy to summon, while Type 3 monsters require much more powerful spells. If No Summon is selected, spells never summon the monster.

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    Create Monsters/Fields - Press choose to pick the monsters ability to summon aid or radiate magical fields. Several of these require giving an extra value in the text area just below. The abilities and values needed are listed in the Monster Abilities section, later in this chapter. 

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    Item To Drop When Killed, Chance of Dropping - The number of an item to place when the monster is killed (like a spider fang when a spider is killed in Exile), and the chance to place it (0 - 100).

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    Monster Resistances - You can have the monster take half or no damage from fire, cold, magic, and poison.

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    Monster Abilities:

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    There are two different classes of monster abilities: regular special abilities and fields/summoning abilities. The regular abilities are:

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    No Ability -  No special ability.

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    Missile abilities (Throw darts, Shoot arrows, etc.) - Monster fires missiles.

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    Petrification Ray - Monster fires ray which has chance of turning victim to stone.

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    Spell Point Drain Ray - Monster fires ray which drains spell points.

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    Heat Ray - Monster fires ray which does fire damage.

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    Invisible - Monster cant be seen. You can select a graphic for this creature, but its only seen when editing the town, not playing the scenario.

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    Splits When Hit - When hit, monster splits into two weaker creatures. Dont give creatures like this too many health points.

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    Mindless - Creature is immune to fear.

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    Breathes Stinking Clouds - Monster fires clouds of stinking cloud.

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    Icy Touch - When hitting in combat, victim takes cold damage.

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    Experience Draining Touch - When hitting in combat, victim loses experience.

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    Icy and Draining Touch - When hitting in combat, victim loses experience and takes cold damage.

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    Slowing Touch - When hitting in combat, victim is slowed.

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    Shoots Webs - Monster fires globs of web.

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    Steals Food - When hitting in combat, victim loses food.

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    Permanent Martyrs Shield - Anyone hitting creature in combat takes damage.

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    Paralysis Ray - Monster fires ray which paralyzes target.

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    Dumbfounding Touch - When hitting in combat, victim is dumbfounded.

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    Disease Touch - When hitting in combat, victim is diseased.

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    Paralysis Touch - When hitting in combat, victim has chance of being paralyzed.

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    Petrification Touch - When hitting in combat, victim has chance of being turned to stone.

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    Acid Touch - When hitting in combat, victim is covered with acid.

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    Breathe Sleep Clouds - Monster fires sleep clouds.

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    Acid Spit - Monster spits globs of acidic spittle.

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    Death Touch - When hitting in combat, victim has chance of dying.

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    Invulnerable - Creature practically immune to damage.

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    Guard - Creature is a guard. When the party commits a crime and makes the town hostile, it becomes stronger and will immediately seek out the party to kill them (even if it started out immobile).

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    Each monster can also radiate dangerous fields, or summon monsters to its aid. Press the Choose button to select one of these abilities. You will then need to input an extra value into the text area just below:

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    Radiate Fire Fields (or ice, shock, antimagic, sleep, or stink fields): The monster occasionally surrounds itself with a field of the selected sort. The extra value is the chance of the creature doing so on any given turn.

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    If a creature radiates fire fields, you probably shouldnt put it near creatures who arent immune to fire.

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    Summon (%5, %20, %50 chance):  The extra value is the number of the creature this creature occasionally summons. The chance is the chance each turn of the creature appearing.

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    Death Triggers Scenario Special (Advanced) :  The extra value is the number of a scenario special node, which is called when a creature of this type is killed.

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    Some Monsters Should be Left Alone

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    Certain monster types are summoned by mage spells, and should be left alone. These monster types are Guardian, Demon, Snake, Asp, Shade, and Deva.

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    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Outdoors.html b/doc/editor/Outdoors.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5cf39f8b --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Outdoors.html @@ -0,0 +1,132 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 4 - Editing the Outdoors

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    When you press Edit Outdoor Section at the main menu, you will find yourself in the outdoor editing screen. Here, you can edit your outdoor sections terrain, special encounters, wandering monsters, etc.

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    The Outdoor Editing Screen

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    The areas of the outdoor editing screen are as follows:

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    Terrain Editing Area - This is where you view the terrain, items, and monsters you have placed, and place new things. To shift the view in the terrain area around, click on its border (click on the top border to shift the view up, etc.) or use the keypad.

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    When placing a monster, item, etc., click on the appropriate space in the terrain area. To draw a spot of terrain, do the same thing. For more discussion of drawing terrain, read the Drawing Terrain section later in this chapter.

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    One useful shortcut for moving around: Control clicking (or right clicking for Windows users) on the terrain border (or control pressing a keypad key) moves the terrain view as far as it can go in that direction.

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    Terrain Selection Area - To draw a certain sort of terrain, click on that terrains icon in the upper right hand corner. For a list of all the default terrain types and what they do, look in the appendices.

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    Many of the terrain types have small icons, each of which represents special property. These are described in the Special Icons section, later in this chapter.

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    Current Location - Each space in an outdoor section or town has a coordinate, a pair of numbers that uniquely identifies it. These numbers are the X coordinate, which is the column the space is in (0 the leftmost column, 47 the rightmost), and the Y coordinate, which represents the row the space is in (0 the top, 47 the bottom). For example, the upper left space is X = 0, Y = 0, and the lower left space is Y = 0, Y = 47.

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    This Current Location area tells you the current location of the center space in the terrain view. 

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    Editing Buttons - These buttons activate the many useful features the scenario editor has. To find out what they do, read the section Editing Buttons.

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    Current Terrain - The terrain type currently being drawn is shown to the right of the editing buttons.

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    Editing Terrain

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    In all probability, the bulk of your scenario editing time will be spent painting the terrain onto the empty canvas of a blank town or outdoor section. While this can often be painful, tedious work, there are a number of shortcuts available to aid in the task.

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    Painting terrain works much like in any sort of painting program. To draw a line of walls, click on the wall icon to the right, move the cursor onto the terrain area, press the mouse button, and hold it down. Move the cursor in the shape of the desired wall, and release the button when done.

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    if you click onto a spot of terrain which is the same as the terrain you are painting, the spot will be erased, and replaced with a spot of ground. This spot of ground will be either cave floor or grass (whichever one you last placed).

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    There are two very important shortcuts available when drawing terrain, which make the job much less painful. First, the Blades of Exile editor will automatically adjust cave walls, mountains, hills, and water so that the edges line up properly (for example, if you draw a 3 x 3 square of cave wall, the editor will automatically place cave wall corner terrain in the corners of the square). Along similar lines, because mountains must be edged by hills to look right, when you draw mountains, ground around the mountains will be replaced by hills. Also, when you draw one half of a two space pile of rubble, the editor will automatically fill in the other half.

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    The second shortcut is the customizable keyboard shortcuts available for the terrain types. For example, when you press w repeatedly, the currently drawn terrain will cycle through the 3 different sorts of basic walls. See the chapter on Editing Terrain Types to find out how to change these shortcuts. The shortcuts for the default scenario are:

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    a - Cave Wall

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    b - Bed

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    c - Cave Floor

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    d - Doors (3 sorts, press d repeatedly to cycle through them)

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    e - Dresser

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    f - Floors (3 sorts)

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    g - Grass

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    h - Hills

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    l - Water, Dark Blue Water, Lava

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    m - Mountain

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    p - Pillars (2 sorts)

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    r - Rubble (4 sorts: cave, cave 2 x 1, grass, grass 2 x 1)

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    s - Cave Stuff (4 sorts: 2 types of mushrooms, small stalagmites, large stalagmites)

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    t - Trees (5 types)

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    w - Walls (3 types)

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    x - Windows (3 types)

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    y - Chairs (4 types)

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    When you place a sign, you will immediately be asked what the sign will say when someone looks at it. 

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    When you scroll to the edge of the outdoor section, you will be able to see one space of the next section. For example, if you scroll to the top of the view, you will see the bottom row of terrain spots in the next outdoor section to the north. You cant edit this row - its just there to help you line the terrain up.

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    Rectangles with special descriptions are marked in the terrain screen as red rectangles.

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    Two terrain types that requires special care are grass and cave walkways (near the end of the fifth row). The corners of walkways are rounded off when the game draws them. When cave walkways (the first of the two, marked with a C) are rounded off, it is with cave floor. When grass walkways  (the second of the two, marked with a G) are rounded off, grass if drawn. Make sure to only use cave walkways around cave floor, and grass walkways around grass floor.

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    Editing Buttons

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    Figure 1: Terrain Editing Buttons

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    There are 23 different buttons for use while editing the outdoors (see figure above for a diagram of button positions).

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    1 - Draw Terrain: Press to draw terrain normally.

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    2 - Big Paintbrush:  Draw a circle of terrain (9 wide).

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    3 - Small Paintbrush:  Draw a small circle of terrain (3 wide).

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    4 - Large Spraycan:  Spray a random sprinkling of terrain (area to spray on is a 9 diameter circle). The spray can will only place the terrain on ground. it wont spray onto walls, floor, etc. 

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    5 - Small Spraycan:  Spray a random sprinkling of terrain (area to spray on is a 3 diameter circle). 

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    6 - Eyedropper:  Click on a terrain spot to make that spot the current terrain.

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    7 - Empty Rectangle:  Create a rectangle of the current terrain. Only the edges of the rectangle are drawn with that terrain. The inside is left alone. To place a rectangle, press this button, select the upper left corner of the rectangle (on the terrain area), and then select the lower right corner.

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    8 - Full Rectangle:  Like Empty Rectangle, except that the rectangle selected is filled with the current terrain.

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    9 - Change View:  Change the terrain view from zoomed in to zoomed out, and back again. When zoomed out, you cant see monsters or items, but you can get an overall look at your work. Also, you probably only want to use the large paintbrush in this view.

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    10 - Eraser:  Replace a 3x3 square around the area selected with the current ground (cave floor or grass, depending on which you last drew).

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    11 - Edit Sign Text:  Change the text on a sign. Press this button, and then click on the sign to edit.

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    12 - Set Area Description:  Each outdoor section can have up to eight rectangles with brief area descriptions, which appear on the text bar in the game when the party enters the rectangle. To place a description, press this button, click on the upper left corner of the rectangle to place, and finally click on the lower right corner. You will be asked for the areas description. To change the description or delete an area, select Edit Area Descriptions in the Outdoor menu.

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    13 - Place Wandering Monster Location:  There are always four spaces in an outdoor section where wandering monsters can appear. To set these locations, press this button, and click on the four spots in your terrain. Be careful not to place these spaces in water, mountains, or other inaccessible spots.

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    14 - Replace Terrain:  You can have the program go through your terrain and randomly chance spots of one terrain type to another (for example, to make a forest, you can change grass to trees). To do so, press this button.

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    When you do, a dialog box will come up. Enter the number of the terrain to change in the first box (to select a terrain type, press the Choose button), the terrain to change it to in the second box, and the chance of any given spot being changed in the third box (0-100, 0 being never and 100 being always). Press OK to do the replacement.

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    15 - Set Town Entry:  Set the town that is entered when the party walks into a town/dungeon/tower space in the outdoors. To place a town, draw a town spot in your outdoor section, press this button, click on the town, and enter the number of the town to be entered.

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    16 - Edit Item:  Not used in outdoor editing.

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    17 - Duplicate Item: Not used in outdoor editing.

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    18 - Erase Item: Not used in outdoor editing.

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    19 - Place/Edit Special Encounter (Advanced) :  To place a special encounter on a space, press this button and click on the space. To edit a special encounter, press this button, and click on the special encounter. To find out about special encounters, read the Special Encounters chapter in the next section.

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    20 - Copy Special (Advanced) :  If you want several copies of the same special encounter in your outdoor section, you can copy and paste it. To copy a special, press this button, and click on the space with the special encounter.

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    21 - Paste Special (Advanced) :  To paste a special encounter youve copied, press this button and click on the new location for the encounter.

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    22 - Erase Special (Advanced) :  Removes a special encounter. Note that this doesnt delete the special nodes the special encounter called. It simply removes the encounter from the terrain, so that the nodes arent called when the party steps there.

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    23 - Set Special (Advanced) :  Selects the outdoor special node called when the party steps on a space. When you press this button and click on a space, you will be asked for the number of an outdoor special node. The node you give will be called when the party steps on this space.

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    The Outdoor Menu

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    The Outdoor menu also has a number of important features.

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    Outdoor Details - Select this to set the name of your outdoor section.

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    Outdoor Wandering Monsters - You can have four different outdoor wandering encounters created when the party walks through this section. For more on outdoor wandering encounters, read the section later in this chapter.

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    Outdoor Special Encounters (Advanced) - You can also have 4 outdoor special encounters, which are created by special encounters. These are edited in the same way as wandering encounters.

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    Frill Up Terrain - This randomly changes some grass spaces to grass with rocks or grass with flowers and some cave floor spaces to cave floor with small mushrooms, to give the terrain a little more varied appearance.

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    Remove Terrain Frills - This changes grass with rocks or grass with flowers back into ordinary grass, and cave floor with small mushrooms back to cave floor.

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    Edit Area Descriptions - Select this to edit the eight rectangles with brief area descriptions (to find out how to place these, read Set Area Description, above). Press the Delete buttons to remove rectangles, or edit the text in the text areas.

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    Set Starting Location - You need to set a location in the outdoors for the party to be at when they leave the town they start in. To set this, select this option, and click on the appropriate space in the outdoors.

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    Edit Special Nodes (Advanced) - This moves you to the main screen, where all of the outdoor sections special nodes are listed to the right. Click on a node to edit it.

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    Edit Outdoor Text (Advanced) - This moves you to the main screen, where all of the outdoor sections text messages are listed to the right. Click on a message to edit it, or command click (right click in Windows) to clear it.

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    Outdoor Wandering Encounters

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    No outdoor travel would be complete without a few fights. Your main tool for providing action outdoors is the outdoor encounter editing windows (accessed by selecting Outdoor Wandering Encounters or Outdoor Special Encounters from the Outdoor menu). You can have 4 wandering and 4 special encounters.

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    When you select these options from the Outdoor menu, the encounter editing window will come up. Use the arrow keys to select different encounters to edit. An outdoor encounter can have 7 sorts of hostile creatures and 3 sorts of friendly ones. Press the Choose button to pick a monster. Note that an encounter must have at least 1 hostile monster before it appears. Each slot has a different number of monsters that appear, listed to the left.

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    Other options:

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    Monster Cant Flee Party: If selected, the encounter will not flee, no matter how strong the party is. This should always be set for special encounters.

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    Encounter Is Forced: The party will fight the encounter as soon as it appears, even if it isnt anywhere near the party. This should always be set for special encounters, but almost never for wandering encounters.

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    Special Called When Encounter Starts (Advanced) : The number of an outdoor special node to be called when the encounter begins. Press Create/Edit to set and edit the special. One warning: if this encounter follows the party into a different outdoor section, the special node in the new section, not the old section will be called, probably causing a problem. To get around this, only use this for monsters with Encounter Is Forced set, or with encounters that can only be fought in the outdoor section theyre placed in (like in a 1x1 outdoors).

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    Special Called When Party Wins (Advanced) : The number of an outdoor special node to be called when the party defeats the encounter.

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    Special Called When Party Flees (Advanced) : The number of an outdoor special node to be called when the party escapes the encounter.

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    Special Icons

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    The terrain icons to the right and the terrain spaces in the terrain editing area often have small icons, which represent special properties of the spaces/terrain types:

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    Figure 2: Meanings of the Display Symbols

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    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Specials.html b/doc/editor/Specials.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..cd6d1d11 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Specials.html @@ -0,0 +1,110 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 10: Special Encounters 

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    When you walk into a room and a description comes up, that was a special encounter (called a special, for short). When you enter a valley and monsters appear to attack you, that was a special too. When you reach a locked door, and its unlocked if you have the right key, that is a special. In general, anything strange or out of the ordinary that happens is a special encounter.

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    You can create special encounters yourself, and can make them very simple or very elaborate. It can be as straightforward as a text description, or getting an item, or taking damage, or as complicated as a huge branching tree of results, which depends on what missions the party has completed so far (and thus what Stuff Done Flags have been set so far).

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    When a special encounter is run by the game (by, for example, the party stepping on a certain space) we say Blades of Exile has called the special. You can have Blades of Exile call a special in a variety of ways. It can happen when the party looks at a space, or steps on a space, or meets wandering monsters outdoors, or kills a certain monster, or even casts Ritual of Sanctification on an evil altar. No matter when or how the special is called, they are all created in the same way, and Blades of Exile runs through them in the same way. Before this will make much sense, though, there needs to be some background on how exactly special encounters work.

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    Special Nodes

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    The basic ingredient of a special encounter is called a special node. Each town and outdoor section has a list of special nodes, and the scenario itself has a bunch of them too. A special node is the basic building block of a special encounter.

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    What a special node is is an instruction. One sort of special node is Display Message, which flashes up some sort of text. Another special node is Damage Party, which does damage. There is a special node for poisoning the party, and another for giving the party an item.

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    When a special encounter is called, what happens is that Blades of Exile looks at a special node you create, and does the instruction in it (when this happens, we say Blades of Exile calls the special node). One thing that a special node can do is say do something, and then call another special node. This is called chaining. You can chain several special nodes together, to make a long, complicated special encounter. For example, suppose you want the party to be told theyve been sprayed with poison gas, and then damage and poison all of them. In this case, you would have Blades of Exile call a special node which flashes up the message saying Youve been gassed! and then calls another special node. This next special node will damage the party and then call a third special node. This third node will poison the party, and not specify any more nodes to be called. In this case, you have created a special encounter which is a chain of special nodes, three long.

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    Each town has 100 special nodes. Each outdoor section has 70. The scenario itself has 256. This multitude of special nodes will be the clay with which you can sculpt a wild, elaborate adventure.

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    Simple Examples

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    Confused yet? Understandable. Creating a special encounter is a lot like writing a short computer program. Writing computer programs is not incredibly difficult, but it does take time to learn how to do it. Time and practice. Making special encounters is not something you can learn to do overnight, but once you can do it, there is nothing that can stop you from creating a truly great scenario.

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    And it really isnt that difficult. Here are three simple, step by step examples (and there are several more examples in the appendices), which will show you much of the process. Load up a scenario, such as the very basic scenario you created in the introductory chapter. Select Edit Outdoor Terrain.

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    Example 1:

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    First, were going to create a simple text message, which will appear when a party steps on a space. The fourth button in the third row is the Create/Edit special encounter button. Press it, and then click on a spot of ordinary grass.

    +

    Wow. A pretty complicated dialog box just came up. This is the special encountering editing box. Its not as bad as it look. For now, were just creating a text message. Press General (a list of special node types will come up), select Display Message, and then press OK. There. You are now editing a node of type Display Message. Now you need to write the message. Notice that two of the fields below that buttons have changed to First Part of Message and Second Part of Message, and that there is a button to the right marked Create/Edit. Press it. This is where you edit the text that will come up. Type something, like You feel very weak and tired. and press return. You will be back on the special editing window. Press OK.

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    That was it! Now, whenever a party steps on that space, they will see your text message. If they step on it again, they will see it again. Notice the space is marked with a small S icon. You can edit the encounter if you want. Press the same button (Create/Edit Special) you pressed to create the encounter, and then click on the space with the S icon. You will be editing the encounter again.

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    +

    Example 2:

    +

    Unfortunately, you probably dont want a message to keep reappearing every time they step on a space. It gets annoying. Fortunately, you can have a message only appear once, the very first time you step on it, and then never appear again. The way you do this is to use a Stuff Done Flag. Pick a Stuff Done Flag to be attached to your text message, such as, say, (3,4). This assumes you havent used (3,4) already.

    +

    You are going to create a special encounter which when it is first stepped on displays the text message and sets the Stuff Done Flag (3,4) to 250. The Stuff Done Flag being set to 250 tells Blades of Exile that this special encounter is dead and done and never comes back again.

    +

    To create the encounter, first click on the grass with white spot terrain (second row from bottom, fifth from right), and then place this terrain type on some grass. The white spot marks a special encounter. Press the Create/Edit Special button, and click on this spot.

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    Special encounters that only happen once are listed under One Shots, so press the One Shots button. Select One-Time Text Message and press OK.

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    This looks very similar to the earlier special editing window, with one addition: it now says Stuff Done Flag, First Part and  Stuff Done Flag, Second Part by the top two text areas. This is where you enter the Stuff Done Flag this encounter will be linked to. Enter 3 in the first box and 4 in the second to indicate Stuff Done Flag (3,4). Then press Create/Edit to edit the message text, and finally press OK to finish editing the special.

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    You may want to run the game now to see what happens. Step on the encounter, and youll see the text. After the encounter, notice that the white spot has disappeared. When you put a One Shot special on a space with a white spot, Blades of Exile will make the spot disappear after the special has been visited.

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    Third Example:

    +

    Finally, we will create the earlier example of a chain of specials. This encounter will put up a text message, damage the party, and poison them as well.

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    Press Create/Edit Special again, and click on a spot of grass. Press General, select Display Message, press OK, and press Create/Edit to write some text. Write You get hurt, or whatever. That was the first node in the chain.

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    Now, we want this special encounter to do several things. We want several encounters chained together. To do this, we need to tell this special node to call another node once it is done. That is what Jump To means, at the bottom of the window. The Jump To special is the special a node calls when it is done.

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    To make a special to be jumped to, press Create/Edit to the right of Jump To. The special editing window will reset itself. You are now editing a different special node. This special node will damage the party. Press Affect PCs, and select Do Damage. Now all of the text areas on the special editing dialog have labels, waiting for you to provide values.

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    For now, type 3 in Number of Dice, and 5 in Number of Sides on Dice. Put 2 in Extra Damage and 1 in Type of Damage. This node will add up 3 random numbers from 1 to 5, add 2, and do that amount of damage to each PC. The 1 indicates that the damage is fire damage (damage types are described later on).

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    Note that there is a Create/Edit button to the right of the text message area. You can press it to create another text message, which is displayed while the damage is being done. Many of the special nodes have a button of this sort, so that you can accompany the calling of the special node with text.

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    Now we need one more special node. To make the third node in the chain, we need to use the Jump To field again. Press the Create/Edit button to the right of Jump To. You will now be editing a third special node. Press Affect PCs again, and select Affect Poison. New messages have appeared by the text areas, asking for different values. Put a 2 in the Amount (0 .. 8) field (for a small amount of poison), and 1 in the 0 - cure, 1 - inflict area (since we want to cause poison, not cure it). Press OK. Our special encounter is now complete.

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    Run the scenario again, and trigger this encounter. Your party will be damaged and poisoned, as promised.

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    This is only scratching the surface of special encounters and what they can do. There are If-Thens specials, which can call one of 2 or 3 different special nodes, depending on some sort of condition (such as whether a Stuff Done Flag is a certain value, or whether the party has enough gold). There are Town Specs: town specials, which can act as stairways to move the party from one level to another, or fill areas with fire barriers or ice walls. Read on, to find out the basics of special nodes, and how to work with them.

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    The Editing Dialog

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    There are almost 200 different sorts of special nodes. These nodes, their effects, and the values you need to give to determine exactly what they do are listed in the Special Nodes section in the appendices. Reading through these is a great way to determine how special encounters work and get ideas for things your scenario can do.

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    The special editing dialog has a number of fields and buttons on it, each of which determine the traits of your special encounter.

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    For all of the nodes in the fields below, if you place a -1 or leave a -1, that means that there is no effect. If you leave -1s in the message areas for example, no message will be displayed.

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    Type Selection Buttons - These six buttons each bring up a list of one of the different classes of special encounters. These classes, when they can be used (town nodes have no effect outdoors, for example), and what they do are described in the Appendix on special nodes.

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    Stuff Done flags - Many special nodes either change or examine a Stuff Done flag. Put the two parts of the required stuff done flag in these two text areas.

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    Message 1, Message 2, Pict - Some special nodes display a piece of text on the screen. Other special nodes display a dialog box, with text in the middle and a picture in the upper left corner. The numbers for these messages and the number of the picture to display can be put in these text fields.

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    Each picture and each text message has a number associated with it (for example, every town has 100 text messages, numbered from 0 to 99). Most of the time, you really dont want to have to worry about these. Fortunately, there is an easier way to deal with this. Press the Create/Edit button to create and edit text messages, and press Choose to the right of the picture test area to select a picture. These buttons only appear if you need to specify a value.

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    Extra 1a and Extra 1b, Extra 2a and Extra 2b - Many special nodes require you to provide different values, such as the amount of health to heal or the value to set a Stuff Done Flag to or the number of an item to give. When you select a special node type, text will appear to the left of these text fields prompting you to enter a value.

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    Extra 1a and Extra 2a often require you to choose an item, terrain, or monster type. For most special nodes, when this happens, you can press the Choose button to select the appropriate thing.

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    Similarly, Extra 1b and Extra 2b often require you to special a special node to call. When this happens, a Create/Edit button appears to the right of the text area. Press it to edit the special node to be called.

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    Jump To - Some special nodes call a different special node which is specified in the Extra 1b or Extra 2b fields. If this doesnt happen, and a special node is given in Jump To (in other words, if the value there isnt -1), that special node will be called when this special node is through.

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    These meanings for the fields are not without exceptions. Some fields sometimes mean different things, and some nodes prevent the Jump To node from being called. These exceptions are detailed in the descriptions of the individual nodes in the node list in the appendices.

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    Inserting Special Nodes into a Chain - Suppose you create a chain of 3 special nodes, and then realize that you forgot something. Suppose you want to bring up a text message, damage the party, and give them experience. You create special node 16 to bring up a message, click on the Create/Edit button by the Jump To: slot to assign a new node (you get node 17), make node 17 give experience, and then realize that you forgot to include the Damage the Party node.

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    The Create/Edit button is to the right of a text field, in which you can enter the number of the next special node to be called. When you press the Create/Edit button to get a new special node, if the number in the text field is -1, you are assigned a new node. If the number is 0 or larger, you will start editing that node.

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    For the example above, you can place a new special node inbetween 16 and 17 to damage the party. Go to node 16 (of type Text Message). The Jump To is set to 17. Instead, set it to -1 (enter -1 in the Jump To text field). Then press the Create/Edit button, and you will be assigned a new node. Make that node the desired type (in this case, Damage the Party), and set the Jump To field in the new node to 17. Voila! The chain is now 3 nodes long.

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    Other Ways to Edit Specials

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    When you select Edit Special Nodes from the Scenario, Town, or Outdoor menus, you will see a list of all of the scenario, current town, or current outdoor section nodes. Click on a node to edit it. For some dialog boxes in which a special node is asked for (like Advanced Town Properties), there is not a Create/Edit button. To create a special encounter for these features, make a special encounter in the Edit Special Nodes window, remember the number of the first special node in the chain, and enter it into the appropriate place (such as Special To Call When Town Entered in the Advanced Town Properties window).

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    The Limits

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    You can only have so many special nodes, and so much text in them. Each town can have at most 100 special nodes, which can use at most 100 text messages (each dialog box uses 6 text messages, so these can be eaten up quickly if you arent careful). Each outdoor can have at most 60 special nodes, which can use at most 90 text messages. Finally, the scenario itself has 256 special nodes, which have access to only 100 text messages.

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    What Nodes are Called When

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    If you put a special encounter on the ground in town, it is called when the party walks onto it. If you put a special encounter on a space the party cant walk onto, it is called when the party searches that space (such as a Trap special node on a chest). If the special node is triggered in town, a town special node is called. If the special node is triggered while walking or searching outdoors, a special node from that outdoor section is called.

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    Most of your special encounters will be called when the party walks onto a specified space outdoors or in town. In addition, when the party is outdoors and sails a boat onto a special encounter on the water, that encounter will be called. However, special encounters on the water won't be called while in town.

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    Scenario special nodes are only called in a few different ways. You can use the General type special node Call Global Special to call a scenario special node. Also, when a special item is used, a Scenario special node is called.

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    You can specify a town special node to be called every so many turns while the party is in a town (select Set Town Event Timers from the Town menu). You can also specify a scenario special node to be called every so many moves no matter where the party is in the scenario (select Set Scenario Event Timers from the Scenario menu).

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    Very importantly, you can have special nodes called during conversation. This is described in more detail in the chapter on dialogue.

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    Time Passing

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    When a party begins a scenario, the scenario will be set on day 1, and they won't have done anything or completed any quests. As time passes and the party does things, you might want the world and events to change in response to what the party does.

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    Every 3700 moves, the Day counter goes up by one. You can have If-Then special nodes call different nodes based on whether a day has been reached. You can also have characters appear or disappear based on what day it is. You set this on the Advanced Monster Settings Dialog, described in the chapter on Editing Towns.

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    You may not always want things to change based on just what day it is, however. You may want things to happen based on what the party actually does. In this case, you can use Events. In each scenario, you can have up to 20 events (number 1 .. 20). An even can be something like a town being reached, or a treasure being stolen, or a major creature being killed. When something happens you want to be an Event, call a special node of type Major Event Has Occured. For example, if you want the killing of the Goblin Chief to be Event 4, have a special node called when that creature is killed. That node should, of course, be of type Major Event Has Occured, set to Event 4.

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    The purpose of Events is determine whenther things should happen in the scenario or not. The occurance of an Event can prevent bad things from happening. For example, suppose you want the goblin tribe to attack a town on day 90 and kill Fred, one of the characters in the town. This will be prevented if the Goblin Chief is killed before day 90 (killing the chief is Event 4).

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    When you place Fred in the town, bring up the Advanced Monster Settings Dialog, and set When Is Creature Here to Appear On Given Day. In the Day Creature Disappears field, enter 90 (for Day 90), and for the Event Code which prevents the disappearance (the second field), enter 4. This character will disappear on day 90 unless Event 4 happens to prevent it.

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    Similarly, when talking to characters, you can have their responses depend on whether events have happened or not. Suppose, Sue, in the same town, talks about Fred. Before Fred dies, she says something nice about him. After he dies, she says he died. When writing Sue's dialog, give her a dialogue node of type Depends On Time (and event). Set the day the response changes (the first field) to 90, and the Event which prevents the change (the second field) to 4. If Fred was killed (i.e. if the Goblin Chief was not killed before Day 90), she will respond with the second text field. Otherwise, she will respond with the first.

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    Finally, you can use the If-Then Special Node Type 150: Special Thing happened?, which calls different special nodes depending on whether a day has been reached and whether an Event has happened before that day or not.

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    Using Events is a good way to spice up your scenario. By picking things that will disappear and people that can die and Events to prevent those occurances, you can create the feeling of the passing of time. This can create a real feeling of urgency in the player!

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    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Terrain.html b/doc/editor/Terrain.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0c716298 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Terrain.html @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 6 - Editing Terrain Types

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    Your default scenario comes with 256 premade terrain types, number 0 to 255 (which are listed in the Appendices). However, you can also customize the terrain types to suit your scenario. Click on Edit Terrain Types to bring up all of the terrain icons, and click on a terrain type to bring up the terrain editing window.

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    The first 90 terrain types (0 to 89) are fixed by the game. The only thing you can change in these is the picture. You can do what you want with terrain types 91 - 255.

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    Defining Terrain Types

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    To define a new terrain type, you need to enter several values, which determine whether the party can walk through it, what it looks like, and similar properties. What each value means is described below:

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    Picture: Simply, what the terrain looks like. To select a picture, click the Pick Picture button (if you dont want the terrain graphic to be animated) or the Animated button (if you do). If you want to use a customized terrain graphic, see the chapter Customized Graphics.

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    Name: The name of the terrain, which is given when the party looks at it. This can be at most 30 characters long.

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    Blockage: Whether the party can see through and walk through it. Click on the button by the desired blockage. The blockage values are:

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    Clear - Party can see through and walk through terrain unobstructed. (Example: floor, grass)

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    Walk through, opaque - Party can walk through this terrain, but cant see through it. (Example: secret passage)

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    Clear, special - Party can see through and walk through terrain unobstructed, but monsters will not walk through it. (Example: Special encounter, lava)

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    Clear, blocked - Party can see through, but not walk through. (Example: Pits, water)

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    Clear, blocked, obstructed - Party can see through, but not walk through. Also, this terrain partially obstructs missile weapons passing through it. (Example: Pillar, window)

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    Blocked, opaque - Cannot see through or walk through. Total obstruction. (Example: Walls)

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    Can Fly Over - Click on this button to turn on/off the light. If this light is lit, a flying party can pass over this terrain.

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    Can Boat Over - If this light is lit, a party in a boat can pass over this terrain.

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    Block Horses - If this light is lit, horses will not walk on this terrain. 

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    Step Sound - The sound that plays when something steps on this terrain. Current options are a regular stepping sound, a squish, a crunch, or nothing.

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    Shortcut Key - This is a shortcut for you when editing your towns and dungeons. Enter a single key in this field, and when editing outdoor or town terrain, this terrain type will be selected. If you give more than one terrain type the same key, typing that key cycles among all the different terrain types that have it (for example, you may want to give all your basic walls the key w).

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    Light Radius - A number from 0 to 10. This determines whether the terrain type casts light, and how far out that light extends. For example, a torch has a light radius of 4, so all spots in town within 4 spaces of a torch space are always lit.

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    Transform to what - This field is used in conjunction with certain types of special nodes (see Special Encounters). If this is a terrain type that you often want to change to something else (such as a closed portcullis, which you may often want to change to an open portcullis), enter the number of the terrain type to change it to here. Then, to change the terrain type, use a Transform Terrain special node.

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    Special Properties, Extra 1, Extra 2 - These fields are where you give the terrain types the really interesting properties. All of the properties are listed on the terrain type editing window. To select a property, click on the button by it.

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    Many of the special properties need more information to work, which you enter in the two fields (Extra 1, and Extra 2) at the bottom of the terrain type editing window. The window will prompt you with what information needs to be given.

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    The special property types, and what you need to enter in Extra 1, and Extra 2 are as follows:

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    No Property - The default. The terrain is ordinary. Extra 1 and Extra 2 are ignored.

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    Change When Walk - The terrain type changes to another when the party tries to walk into it. This happens even if the terrain is blocked to travel. Extra 1 is the number of the terrain type the terrain changes into. Extra 2 is the number of the sound that plays when this happens (for a list of sounds, look in the Appendices). If Extra 2 is left at 200, no sound plays.

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    Does Fire Damage - When someone walks on this space, fire damage is inflicted. Damaged inflicted is a random number from 1 to Extra 1, times Extra 2. Only monsters with fire resistance will walk through this space.

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    Does Cold Damage - Exactly like Fire Damage, but cold damage is inflicted.

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    Does Magical Damage - Exactly like Fire Damage, but magical damage is inflicted.

    +

    Poison Land - Poisons people walking on it. Extra 1 is the intensity of the poison (a number from 1 to 8, with anything above 4 being pretty lethal). Extra 2 is the percentage chance of being affected, a number from 0 to 100 (0 meaning never, and 100 meaning always).

    +

    Diseased Land - Exactly like Poisoned Land, but spreads disease instead of poison.

    +

    Crumbling - When Move Mountains or Crumble is cast on this space, it turns into the terrain in Extra 1a.

    +

    Lockable Terrain - Indicates a terrain type that can be locked. This only comes into play when a special node which locks a terrain type is used on the space (see the chapter on Special Encounters for more information). When that happens, Extra 1 is the terrain type the space changes to. Extra 2 is ignored.

    +

    Unlockable Terrain - This terrain type can be unlocked, by picking locks, an Unlock spell, or a special encounter which unlocks terrain (though not by bashing). Extra 1 is the number of the terrain type the space becomes when unlocked. Extra 2 is the difficulty of unlocking the door. This is a number from 0 to 10. The higher the number, the harder the door is to unlock. If the difficulty is 5 or above, picking locks always fails (the door is magically locked and requires an Unlock spell). If the difficulty is 10, the lock cant be picked and unlock spells dont work. In this case, the only way this space can become unlocked is if a special encounter unlocks it.

    +

    Unlockable/bashable - This is exactly like Unlockable, except that the party can also try to unlock it by bashing.

    +

    Is a Sign - This terrain type is a sign. When a space is given this terrain type, you will be asked what the sign says. When the party looks at that space, that will be the text that is displayed.

    +

    Call Local Special - When stepped on, this space calls a town special encounter. The number in Extra 1 is the number of the town special encounter node to call. 

    +

    Note: If stepped on outside, no special encounter is called.

    +

    Warning: If you create a terrain type with this special property, using it in more than one town can have unpredictable effects. If you, for example, have a terrain type with this property that calls town special encounter 29, make sure every town you use that terrain type in has a sensible special encounter in slot 29.

    +

    Call Scenario Special - When stepped on, this space calls a scenario special encounter. The number in Extra 1 is the number of the scenario special encounter node to call. Terrain with this special property can be used outdoors.

    +

    Is a Container - This terrain type can contain items. In the town editor, when you place an item on terrain with this property, the item is automatically considered to be inside it. Extra 1 and Extra 2 are ignored.

    +

    Example: A dresser, chest, or body.

    +

    Waterfall - If the party, while outdoors (not in town), moves in a boat to the space just north of a spot of terrain with this property, they are sucked through to the space south of it. There is a screaming noise and they lose some food. Extra 1 and Extra 2 are ignored.

    +

    Conveyor belt (north), Conveyor belt (east), Conveyor belt (south), Conveyor belt (west) - This space is a conveyor belt, which moves everything on it in the indicated direction. Extra 1 and Extra 2 are ignored.

    +

    Blocked to Monsters -  Monsters will never walk into a space of this type. Extra 1 and Extra 2 are ignored.

    +

    Town Entrance - For use when outdoors. This is the entrance to a town. Stepping on a space of this type has no effect when indoors. When you place a space of this type while editing the outdoors, you need to click on the Edit Town Entrance button and then click on the town entrance to attach it to a town or dungeon.

    +

    If the town in question is hidden, when the party sees it it will look like the terrain type in Extra 1a.

    +

    Usable Space - When the player clicks the Use button and selects this space, it will change to a different terrain type (an example being an open door, which closes). Extra 1 is the number of the terrain type it changes to. Extra 2 is the number of the sound that plays when this happens (for a list of sounds, look in the Appendices). If Extra 2 is left at 200, no sound plays.

    +

    Call Scenario Special when used- When used (using the Use button in town mode), this space calls a scenario special encounter. The number in Extra 1 is the number of the scenario special encounter node to call.

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Testing.html b/doc/editor/Testing.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5c8313cc --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Testing.html @@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 13: Testing and Distributing Your Scenario

    +


    +

    So youve spent many hours learning to write your scenario, and even more of them writing one. Its almost done, and you want to share it with the world. First, however, you need to test it.

    +


    +

    Getting More Information - Spiderweb Software will be keeping a scenario editor information clearing house on our web site at www.spidweb.com, in the Blades of Exile section. If at all possible, go there often. You'll find hints, FAQs, articles with tipe, and bug reports (so you'll learn what features don't work right), as well as the very latest version of the scenario editor.

    +

    Your feedback is welcome! If you have a neat article on how to do something cool, have found a nasty bug or have a question that should be answered on our page, send it to blades@spidweb.com.

    +

    However, please don't send general questions to us and expect an answer. While we can help with bugs, we don't have the time to personally teach you how to use the editor. You'll have to rely on our web page, this documentation, and the help of people on the net.

    +


    +

    Scenario Contests! - Spiderweb Software will be holding scenario design contests, with big cash prizes! For information, look in the Blades of Exile folder for the Scenario Design Contest file, or visit us at www.spidweb.com.

    +


    +

    Playtesting - There are few tasks less welcome, and more important. Without testing, you are almost destined to release a scenario with serious bugs, which may not even be finishable at all.

    +

    The best way around this is to play it. And give it to friends and let them play it. With time and careful play, the problems will become clear, and you can fix them.

    +

    One debugging aid has been provided for you. When playing your scenario, if you type the D key and enter the scenarios password, you will enter debug mode. The monsters will no longer move and any blow will kill them, so that you can fight through combats quickly. Press D again to exit debug mode. Note, however, that you can only test your scenario in the registered version of Blades of Exile.

    +

    You can edit a scenario while playing through it. It is often convenient to keep the editor open while playing through a new town, so you can make fixes immediately. However, when you save the scenario, it may scramble the data in your game. Whenever you save the scenario, upon returning to the game you should immediately load a new save file to keep the game from falling apart.

    +

    Even more importantly, Blades of Exile remembers the state of special encounters in towns you have visited. If you enter a town in the game and then place or change a special encounter in that town in the editor, the change will not be recognized in the game until the town is reset. To reset a town or dungeon level in the game, go to a different town or outdoors, and press the > key. This will reset the towns, and your changes will be visible.

    +


    +

    Distributing - Once you are sure your scenario works, you can place it onto the Internet and let people all over the world play it. To distribute a scenario, place it and its custom graphics files (if any) into a folder, and go to www.spidweb.com. There is a scenario uploading area there. Alternately, you can mail the scenario on disk to Spiderweb Software, Inc. (the address is in the order form). 

    +

    Before sending your scenario out, you may want to take a look at the scenario legal stuff, elsewhere in this documentation. A few guidelines when writing your scenario:

    +


    +

    i. Overt racism and other sorts of prejudice, as well as obscenity and explicit sexuality, are bad ideas. Such scenarios will probably not be kept on software sites, such as Spiderweb Softwares.

    +

    Use common sense here. If a character says that the Nephilim are evil and should be wiped out, that's all right. That is just that character's viewpoint, not an editorialization on the part of the game. On the other hand, a scenario where the party was expected to keep and capture slaves would be very questionable.

    +

    ii. Play balance is important. Dont give low level scenarios too much gold, too much treasure, or too much magic.

    +

    iii. Dont make things too difficult. Keep the monsters not too tough, and make sure the puzzles are solvable and give at least a few hints. Its always better to be a little too easy than a lot too hard.

    +


    +

    And with that, good luck! Tell everyone a story, and share the results of your imagination! After all, there is very little that is more satisfying than creating something truly great, and having it get the appreciation it deserves!

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/Towns.html b/doc/editor/Towns.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..20a35463 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/Towns.html @@ -0,0 +1,135 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 5 - Editing Towns

    +


    +

    Editing a town is very similar to editing an outdoor section. The basic mechanics are the same. There are simply more options.

    +


    +

    Editing Buttons

    +


    +

    There are 45 buttons for use while editing the towns (see the figure in the previous chapter for a diagram of button positions). Most of these buttons have the same effect as they do when editing outdoors. The buttons which work differently are described below.

    +


    +


    +

    12 - Set Area Description: Works like in outdoor sections, except that you now get 16 rectangles to edit.

    +

    13 - Place Wandering Monster Location:  Towns, like outdoor sections, have 4 wandering monster arrival points, which can be chosen here. Make sure to choose places with open area around them, so that theres room for the monsters to appear.

    +

    15 - Set Town Entry:  Not used when editing towns.

    +

    16 - Edit Item:  Edit an item youve already placed. Press this button and then click on the item to edit. A dialog will come up.

    +

    To change the item, press the Choose button. If the item is gold, food, or has charges, you can use the text area to set the amount of gold or food, or the number of charges (leave at -1 for it to be ignored). If Always Here is selected, the item will always be there when the party enters the town, even if theyve grabbed it before. If Someones Property is selected and the party takes the item when a townsperson is watching, the town becomes hostile. Finally, if Contained is selected, the item is considered to be in a barrel, crate, dresser, etc.

    +

    The . key is a shortcut for this button.

    +

    17 - Duplicate Item: When this button is pressed and a spot of terrain is selected, an exact duplicate of the last item placed/edited is placed. The / key is a shortcut for this button.

    +

    18 - Erase Item: Use to erase all items in a space.

    +

    19 - Edit Monster:  Press this and click on a monster to change its properties. For more information, read Placing and Editing Monsters, later in the chapter. The , key is a keyboard shortcut.

    +

    20 - Duplicate Monster:  Press and click a terrain space to place an exact duplicate of the last placed/edited monster. The ` key is a keyboard shortcut.

    +

    21 - Erase Monster:  Erase a placed monster.

    +

    22, 23, 24,25 - Set North Entry, Set West Entry, Set South Entry, Set East Entry - Use these to set the space the party starts in when they enter the town from the outdoors. When the party enters the town from due north or due south, they start at the north and south entry spaces. If they enter from the east, northeast, or southeast, the start at the east entry space. If they enter from the west, northwest, or southwest, the start at the west entry space. 

    +

    26 - Place Web

    +

    27 - Place Crate

    +

    28 - Place Barrel

    +

    29 - Place Fire Barrier

    +

    30 - Place Force Barrier

    +

    31 - Place Quickfire: Places these objects/fields in the selected space. Each town can have at most 50 of these items or special effects (see below).

    +

    32 - Clear Space: Clear all fields, webs, barrels, crates, and special effects from a space.

    +

    33 - Place Small Blood Stain

    +

    34 - Place Medium Blood Stain

    +

    35 - Place Large Blood Stain

    +

    36 - Place Small Slime Pool

    +

    37 - Place Large Slime Pool

    +

    38 - Place Dust

    +

    39 - Place Bones

    +

    40 - Place Rubble:  These are the eight special effects, things that have no game purpose but enhance the atmosphere of the level. 

    +


    +

    Town Menu

    +


    +

    Town Details - These are described below.

    +

    Town Wandering Monsters - You can have four different groups of monsters appear in the town. Each group can have 4 different types of monsters. One monster of each of the first 3 types will appear, and 1-2 of the 4th type will appear.

    +

    Selecting this option brings up a dialog box, in which you can enter the sorts of monsters in each group. To choose the monsters in a group, press the Choose button below it. You will be asked to pick each of the 4 monsters.

    +

    Set Town Boundaries - Every town has a boundary. When the party reaches the boundary, they leave the town. This boundary is marked by a white rectangle, which always starts 4 spaces from the edge of the town. 

    +

    In any town the party can walk out of, the boundary should stay 4 spaces from the edge of the dungeon. Otherwise, the party will be able to get closer to the edge of the town and look off the edge, which you probably dont want. However, if the town can only be left by a stairway (which is a special encounter), you might want to make the active area in the town larger, to give you more room for stuff.

    +

    To change the town boundary, select this option, click on the upper left corner of the town boundary, and then click on the lower right hand corner of the town boundary.

    +

    Frill Up Terrain, Remove Terrain Frills, Edit Area Descriptions - Works like the similar option in the Outdoor menu.

    +

    Add Random Items (Advanced) -  This places the random items you set in Edit Item Placement Shortcuts in the town. See the chapter on scenarios for a description of this feature.

    +

    Set All Items Not Property - All items in the town that are marked as someone elses property become safe for the party to get.

    +

    Clear All Items - Erase all items in the town.

    +

    Edit Special Nodes, Edit Town Text (Advanced) - Takes you to the main screen, where you can directly edit the special nodes and the town text respectively.

    +

    Advanced Town Details (Advanced) - These are described below.

    +

    Set Town Event Times (Advanced) -  You can have special nodes called at regular time intervals while the party is in the town. Select this option, and a dialog box will come up. Enter the time between calling the node in the left column, and the special node to call to the right. Press Create/Edit to create the special.

    +

    Dont make the interval between calling specials too low ... special encounters slow the game down.

    +


    +

    Town Details, Advanced Town Details

    +


    +

    There are two dialog boxes to edit the town details and advanced town details, which are accessed through the Town menu.

    +


    +

    Town Details Window

    +


    +

    This window can be used to edit the basic details about the town, which influence what it will be like to play through.

    +


    +

    Town name - The name of the town.

    +

    Day When Town Dies, Event Which Prevents Town Death (Advanced) -  After the given day, you can have the town be abandoned (i.e. empty of creatures). If the given day is left at -1, this doesnt happen.

    +

    You can also have an event which prevents the town from being emptied at the given day. To have an event prevent this, enter the events number (1 .. 9) in the second text area. For more on this, read the section on Time Passing in the Special Encounters Chapter.

    +

    Lighting - A town can be fully lit, dark, very dark (torches burn down faster), or totally dark (light sources go out immediately).

    +

    Maximum Number of Monsters - When the given number of monsters in the dungeon is killed, the dungeon is considered abandoned, and will be completely empty from now on. Note that this will remove friendly monsters as well.

    +

    Difficulty - This is a number from 0 to 10. The higher the number, the harder the town is, i.e. the faster wandering monsters appear and the more challenging locks and traps are.

    +


    +

    Advanced Town Details Window

    +


    +

    You can also edit more complicated features of the town in this window. All of these are advanced topics. For all of these fields, if the value is left at -1, it is ignored.

    +


    +

    Exit Town Specials - When the party leaves town while heading in a certain direction, you can have a town special node called. Enter the number of the node to call. You can use the Edit Special Nodes option in the Town menu to create the special encounter.

    +

    Town Entry Special Node - You can also set town special nodes to be called when the town is entered while abandoned or not abandoned.

    +

    Exit Town Location - When the party leaves the town, you may want the party to end up in different areas in the current outdoor section. Enter the locations in the outdoor section for the party to arrive at when leaving town in that direction.

    +

    Town Hidden - You can have a town be invisible when the party enters the scenario, only to be made visible by a special encounter (for example, the Show/Hide Town node type). To do this, press this button.

    +

    Note that towns are only hidden when the party enters a scenario. If you add a town to a scenario and set it has hidden while a party is in the scenario, that party will still be able to see the town. If that party leaves the scenario and then reenters, the town will be properly hidden.

    +


    +

    Placing Items

    +


    +

    You can place preset items in towns for the party to find. To place an item, select one from the I1 - I5 menus, and click on the space to place it on. To edit a placed item, press the Edit Item button (in the lower right hand corner) and click on the item to edit. 

    +

    When you select an item to edit, the Editing Preset Item window will come up. You can change which item is here by pressing the Choose button. If you want to set the amount of gold or food here or the number of charges the item has (it it's a wand, set of arrows, or other item with charges) enter the new amount in the Amount or Charges Text field. Finally, there are three options at the bottom of this window:

    +


    +

    Always Here - Normally,  when the party takes an item,  it won't be there the next time they enter the town. If this option is selected, the item will be there every time they enter the town.

    +

    Someone's Property - If the party takes this item and a friendly person sees them do it, the town will become hostile.

    +

    Contained In Something - This item is contained inside a barrel, dresser, etc. and can't be taken until the party looks inside. When an item is placed onto a contained, this option is automatically selected for you. If you select this option and the item is not inside a container, the party won't be able to see or get it.

    +


    +

    Placing And Editing Monsters

    +


    +

    Placing and editing monsters works like editing items. Select a monster, from the M1 - M4 menus, and click on the spot for it to appear in. Each monster has a default attitude (friendly, hostile, etc.), which is set in the monster type editing screen. The monster has this attitude when it appears.

    +

    To edit a monster, press the Edit Monster button (in the lower right hand corner) and click on the monster. The monster dialog window has several options:

    +


    +

    Creature Type - Press to select a new monster type.

    +

    Creature Starting Attitude - Select Friendly (wont attack), Friendly, Will Fight (wont fight party, and will fight bad monsters), Hostile, Type A (will attack the party, and monsters of type Hostile Type B), and Hostile, Type B (will attack the party, and monsters of type Hostile Type A).

    +

    Creature Can Move - If no, monster cant move.

    +

    Personality - If left at -1, the creature cant be talked to. Otherwise, see chapter on Dialogue.

    +

    Facial Graphic - Press Choose to select the picture the player sees when talking to this character. If this is left at -1 and the character can be talked to, the player will see the creatures graphic on the talking screen.

    +


    +

    There are also more advanced settings for any placed creature. Press the Advanced button to set them.

    +


    +

    Advanced Monster Settings Dialog

    +


    +

    When is Creature Here (Advanced) -  You are allowed to set a variety of settings which determine when this creature will appear in the town. These mainly depend on what day it is, and what special events have occurred. For a more detailed description of how time works, read the chapter on Passing Time.

    +

    Note that, if the town has been abandoned, creatures never appear.

    +

    There are two text editing areas after these buttons, where you will enter the days the creatures appear/disappear and the events theyre linked to. The first area will always get a day, and the second area will get the number of a special event (0 - 9, with 0 meaning no event).

    +

    Always Here - Always here, no matter what.

    +

    Appear on Given Day - Here after day in first text area, unless Event in second box has occurred (if 0 is put in second box, the creature is always there after given day).

    +

    Disappear on Given Day - Disappears day in first text area, unless Event in second box has occurred.

    +

    Sometimes Here A-C - Creature is present every third day. If Sometimes Here A is selected, creature is there on days 1, 4, 7, etc. If Sometimes Here B is select, creature is here on days 2,5,8, etc.  If Sometimes Here B is select, creature is here on days 3,6,9, etc. This can be used for a character which travels from town to town.

    +

    Appear When Event - After event in second box has occurred, creature is here.

    +

    Disappear When Event - Once event in second box has occurred, creature disappears.

    +

    Special Encounter Group (Advanced) - You can specify that a creature in a town will not be there at first, but will be brought into being by a special encounter. You can have 10 different groups of these creatures, who will be brought into being by calling a special node of the type One-Time Place Town Encounter.

    +

    Special Node to Call When Killed (Advanced) - Give the number of a town special node to call when the creature is killed (or -1 for none).

    +

    Linked Stuff Done Flag (Advanced) - Give the two parts of a Stuff Done flag. If this flag is non-zero, the creature wont be here. If it is 0, the creature will be here, but, should the creature die, the flag will be set to 1.

    +

    This can be used for a monster you only want the party to be able to kill once.

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/appendix/Examples.html b/doc/editor/appendix/Examples.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a146aee1 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/appendix/Examples.html @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Appendix 7 - Special Encounter Examples

    +


    +

    Extra examples can be very useful when making special encounters. Here are a few quick sets of instructions for making popular types of encounters.

    +

    As before, to create a special encounter in a town, press the Place/Edit Special Encounter button and click on the space to place the encounter in. To select the special node type, click one of the six buttons at the top of the special node editing window.

    +


    +

    Stairway - To make a multi-level dungeon, you need stairways to connect the levels. Suppose town 6 is the first level of a dungeon and town 7 is the second. You want a stairway at (10,12) in town six leading to (20,23) in town 7.

    +

    Place a special encounter at (10,12), press the Town Specs button and select Generic Stairway. Below will be fields for the X coordinate and Y coordinate to place the party in. Place 20 and 23 in these fields. Enter 7 by Number of Town to Place Party In. Finally, you need to enter a number from 0 to 7 in the final field (What Text), representing what the description of the stairway will be. Best keep it simple. Enter 0 for an up stairway and 1 for down.

    +


    +

    Alchemy Ingredients - In Exile I-III, sometimes outdoors the party could find alchemy ingredients. When you took them, within a day or two, they would grow back. You can do this in Blades of Exile. Suppose you want comfrey root to be in a spot outdoors, and every 2 days, it will grow back. Pick a Stuff Done to attach to the root, say, (101,3).

    +

    Place a special encounter outdoors. For type, press One Shots on the special node editing window and select Give Item. Place (101,3) in the stuff done flag fields. Press the Choose button to the right of Item To Give, and select Comfrey Root from the item selection window. This special will automatically give the party the root when they step there. (If you want a dialog box to come up and give the option of whether or not to take it, use one of the Give Item One-Shot special node types).

    +

    Now that the item is there, you need to set things so that the item is occasionally replaced. Two days is about 7500 moves. Select Set Scenario Event Timers from the Scenario menu. In the first row (or the first free row) enter 7500 in the Number of Moves Between Each Call field. Press the Create/Edit button to the right, and the special node editing window will come up. Press General and select Set Flag for the node type. Enter (101,3) into the Stuff Done flag fields, and enter 0 in the Set Flag To field. Now, every two days, the comfrey root will be replaced.

    +


    +

    Teaching a Spell - Suppose there is a bookshelf in a town. When the party searches it, you want them to learn the spell Firestorm. Look in Appendix VI, and note that Firestorm is spell 10.

    +

    Place a special encounter in the bookshelf. To pick the type, press the Affect PCs button and select Give Mage Spells. Press Create/Edit in the Message area to type the message the party will read (e.g. You can now cast Firestorm!), and enter 10 into the Which Spell field.

    +

    Now suppose you want the party to only learn the spell if their Mage Lore total is 8. Then make the first node called be an If-Thens Mode of type Has Enough Mage Lore? Set the How Much field to 8. Set the Jump-To special to be the special node called if they don't have enough lore, and the Has Enough Mage Lore special be the node that gives them the spell.

    +


    +

    Store Outdoors - Suppose you want a shop outdoors, where the party can buy very cheap arrows. While editing the outdoors, place a special. Press Out Specs on the node editing screen, and select Outdoor Store.

    +

    Press the Choose button to pick the first item in the shop, and select Arrows. Enter 0 for the store type (this means the store sells regular items), and 3 for the Number of Items in the shop (so the shop will then sell arrows, iron arrows, and magic arrows). Finally, put 0 on the Cost Adjust field, to make the arrows very cheap.

    +


    +

    Secret Passages - It is easy to place a secret passage on any space using special encounters. Suppose you want the party to be able to walk through a certain tree. Place a secret encounter on the tree and make it of type Secret Passage (to select this, press the General button).

    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/appendix/Items.html b/doc/editor/appendix/Items.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..726c01ec --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/appendix/Items.html @@ -0,0 +1,186 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Appendix 2 - Item Ability Types

    +


    +

    Each item type can have a special ability. The types of abilities available range from shooting fireballs to weapons doing special damage to dragons to items being ingredients for alchemical recipes.

    +

    There are two types of item abilities: usable and inherent.

    +


    +

    Usable abilities:  Usable item abilities are only activated by pressing the items use button on the PC inventory screen. Otherwise, the ability has no effect. Examples are a wand that shoots fireballs or a healing potion.

    +

    Usable abilities are always linked to the items charges. Whenever an item with a usable ability is actually used, the items amount of charges goes down by 1. When the items charge level goes down to 0, the item disappears. An item with a usable ability must have at least 1 charge.

    +

    The cash value of an item with a usable ability is calculated differently from normal items. The items actual cost is its value multiplied by the number of its charges. (Example: Suppose a Potion of Healing has a value of 100 and 2 charges. This potion would cost 200 gold and sell for half that.)

    +

    Inherent Abilities:  Inherent abilities are abilities that are always present and are activated automatically, as opposed to being activated by pressing the Use button on the PC Inventory screen. Examples are a shield with fire protection (which is activated automatically when the character takes fire damage) or comfrey root (whose ability it that it can be used as an alchemical ingredient, and which is used automatically when the party tries to make a potion with it).

    +

    Some inherent abilities have charges (such as alchemical ingredients). When used, the amount of charges goes down by one. When there are no charges left, the item disappears. The name of inherent ability types that require charges have a (c) after them.The value of these items is calculated the same way as for Usable abilities.

    +

    +

    There are six different classes of item ability type, each with its own properties and varieties of items that can possess it. These are listed below, along with whether they are classes of Usable or Inherent abilities:

    +


    +

    Weapon Abilities (Inherent):  Abilities of this type can be given to one and two handed weapons, weapon ammunition (darts, arrows, etc.) and non-ammunition missiles (like slings). None of these items have charges.

    +

    General Abilities (Inherent):  Abilities of this type can be given to non-missile items which can be equipped (e.g. rings, armor, sword, but not arrows) but not to items that cant (e.g. wands, potions). Only a few of these ability types require for the item having them to have charges.

    +

    Non-Spell Usable (Usable):  Abilities of this type change the status of the party or individual character in some way, such as making them more or less poisoned, or raising or lowering health. Abilities of these types can be given to any item thats not a missile (e.g. arrows, bolts). Being usable item abilities, any item having one of these abilities must have charges.

    +

    Spell Usable (Usable):  Abilities of this type cast some sort of a spell, such as firing a fireball or summoning monsters. Abilities of these types can be given to any item thats not a missile (e.g. arrows, bolts). Being usable item abilities, any item having one of these abilities must have charges.

    +

    Reagents (Inherent):  Items with these abilities are alchemical ingredients, spell reagents (e.g. smoky crystals, sapphires), or similar substances. All items with an ability of this type must have charges, and must be of variety Non-use Object.

    +

    Missiles (Inherent): These abilities can only be given to missiles (e.g. arrows, bolts, darts). Each ability is activated when the missile is fired (such as exploding a fireball on the target space).

    +


    +

    As mentioned before, each item type has accompanying Ability Strength and Magic Item Adjust targets. For each ability, these two fields have different ranges and different affects, and their values will modify the affects of the item abilities in different ways. What each ability does and how the Ability Strength and Magic Item Adjust fields affect it are described below.

    +


    +

    Ability 0 - No ability  The item has no special ability.

    +


    +

    Weapon Abilities (Inherent):  For each of these abilities, the Ability Strength is a number from 0 to 10, which represents the strength of the ability (0 is weakest, 10 is most powerful). The Magic Item Adjust field is ignored.

    +


    +

    Ability 1 - Flaming Weapon  The weapon does extra fire damage.

    +

    Ability 2 - Demon slayer  Does extra damage to demons.  

    +

    Ability 3 - Undead slayer  Does extra damage to undead.  

    +

    Ability 4 - Lizard slayer  Does extra damage to lizards.  

    +

    Ability 5 - Giant slayer  Does extra damage to giants.  

    +

    Ability 6 - Mage slayer  Does extra damage to mages.  

    +

    Ability 7 - Priest slayer  Does extra damage to priests.  

    +

    Ability 8 - Bug slayer  Does extra damage to insects.  

    +

    Ability 9 - Acidic Weapon  Sprays acid on anything it hits.

    +

    Ability 10 - Soulsucker  When it hits, the wielder is healed.  

    +

    Ability 11 - Drain Missiles  Drains missiles twice as fast. This only has an effect on bows and crossbows.  

    +

    Ability 12 - Weak Weapon  Does less damage than usual. If Ability Strength is 10, does no damage at all.

    +

    Ability 13 - Causes Fear  Drains morale of target.

    +

    Ability 14 - Poisoned Weapon  The weapon poisons any monster it hits.

    +


    +

    General Abilities (Inherent):  For each of these abilities (unless otherwise stated), the Ability Strength is a number from 0 to 10, which represents the strength of the ability (0 is weakest, 10 is most powerful). The Magic Item Adjust field is ignored.

    +


    +

    Ability 30 - Protection  This partially blocks weapon damage the wielder takes.

    +

    Ability 31 - Full Protection  This partially blocks weapon and spell damage the wielder takes.

    +

    Ability 32 - Fire protection  This reduces fire damage the wielder takes.

    +

    Ability 33 - Cold protection  This reduces cold damage the wielder takes.

    +

    Ability 34 - Poison protection  This reduces poison damage the wielder takes.

    +

    Ability 35 - Magic protection  This reduces magic damage the wielder takes.

    +

    Ability 36 - Acid Protection  Acid sprayed on the wielder is weakened.    

    +

    Ability 37 - Skill  Increases the wielders chance of hitting in combat.  

    +

    Ability 38 - Strength   The wielders bonuses due to strength are increased.

    +

    Ability 39 - Dexterity   The wielders bonuses due to dexterity are increased.

    +

    Ability 40 - Intelligence   The wielders bonuses due to intelligence are increased.

    +

    Ability 41 - Accuracy  Missile weapons are more accurate.     

    +

    Ability 42 - Thieving  Picking locks and disarming traps is easier.  

    +

    Ability 43 - Giant Strength  Improves odds of hitting and damage in combat.   

    +

    Ability 44 - Lighter object  Wielder can carrier more weight.  

    +

    Ability 45 - Heavier object  Wielder can carry less weight.  

    +

    Ability 46 - Occasional Bless  Sometimes blesses the wearer in combat.  

    +

    Ability 47 - Occasional Haste  Sometimes hastes the wearer in combat.  

    +

    Ability 48 - Life Saving (c)  When the wielder takes a death blow, he/she survives and is healed, and the item loses a charge. This item must be given charges.

    +

    Ability 49 - Prot. from petrify  Reduces chance of being petrified. 

    +

    Ability 50 - Regenerate   Heals wielder occasionally.

    +

    Ability 51 - Poison Augment  Wielders weapon poison more effective. 

    +

    Ability 52 - Disease Party  When carried (not just equipped), the item occasionally diseases the entire party. 

    +

    Ability 53 - Will  Wielder more effective in a mindduel, and resists sleeping and paralysis. 

    +

    Ability 54 - Free Action   Wielder resists sleeping and paralysis.

    +

    Ability 55 - Speed  The wearer gets more action points in combat (powerful). 

    +

    Ability 56 - Slow Wearer  Occasionally slows the wearer in combat. 

    +

    Ability 57 - Undead Protection  Protects from blows received from undead in combat. 

    +

    Ability 58 - Demon Protection  Protects from blows received from demons in combat. 

    +

    Ability 59 - Humanoid Protection  Protects from blows received from humanoids in combat. 

    +

    Ability 60 - Reptile Protection  Protects from blows received from reptiles in combat. 

    +

    Ability 61 - Giant Protection  Protects from blows received from giants in combat. 

    +

    Ability 62 - Disease Protection  Provides resistance from disease. 

    +


    +

    Non-Spell Usable (Usable):  Each of these item abilities affects a characters statistics (e.g. health, spell points) or status (e.g. poison, flying) when the item is used. 

    +

    For each of these abilities, the Ability Strength is a number from 0 to 10, which represents the strength of the ability (0 is weakest, 10 is most powerful). The meaning of this changes depending on the ability affected. Sometimes, the number affects the duration, sometimes the damage done.

    +

    The Item Use Properties buttons affect whether using the item affects just the using character or the whole party, and whether the item helps or hurts the party.

    +


    +

    Some of these abilities can only help (like Bliss) or only hurt (like Doom). For these abilities, the Magic Item Adjust values of 0 and 1 have the same effect, and the values 2 and 3 have the same effect. Also, some abilities only affect the whole party (like Light or Firewalk).

    +


    +

    Example: Suppose you give an item the ability Dumbfound, set Ability Strength to 2, and Magic Item Adjust to 0. Then, when the item is used, the users level of dumbfounding will go down a little bit. If Ability Strength is set instead to 10, the user will be totally cured of Dumbfounding.

    +

    Example: Suppose you give an item the ability Cause/Cure Acid, set Ability Strength to 5, and Magic Item Adjust to 3. When someone uses the item, the entire party gets 5 levels of acid (which means the acid lasts about 5 turns).

    +

     

    +

    Ability 70 - Poison Weapon  Increases or decreases the amount of poison on the users/parties weapons. If the item is beneficial, when used, the user has a chance (based on the Poison skill) of poisoning him/herself. 

    +

    Ability 71 - Curse/Bless User   

    +

    Ability 72 - Cure/Cause Poison   

    +

    Ability 73 - Speed/Slow User   

    +

    Ability 74 - Add/Lose Invulnerability   

    +

    Ability 75 - Add/Lose Magic Resistance   

    +

    Ability 76 - Add/Lose Web  Affects how much web is on the PC/party. 

    +

    Ability 77 - Cure/Cause Disease   

    +

    Ability 78 - Add/Lose Sanctuary   

    +

    Ability 79 - Cure/Cause Dumbfounding   

    +

    Ability 80 - Add/Lose Martyrs Shield   

    +

    Ability 81 - Cure/Cause Sleep   

    +

    Ability 82 - Cure/Cause Paralysis   

    +

    Ability 83 - Cure/Cause Acid   

    +

    Ability 84 - Bliss  Both heals and blesses. Only has a positive effect.

    +

    Ability 85 - Add/Lose Experience  Experience gained/lost is equal to 5 times Ability Strength. 

    +

    Ability 86 - Add/Lose Skill Pts. Amount of skill points gained/lost is equal to Ability Strength. 

    +

    Ability 87 - Add/Lose Health  Amount added or lost is 10 times Ability Strength plus or minus a small random amount. Health will not be reduced below 0. This can be as high as 20.

    +

    Ability 88 - Add/Lose Spell Points   Amount added or lost is 5 times Ability Strength plus or minus a small random amount.

    +

    Ability 89 - Doom   Poisons, damages, diseases, dumbfounds, and drains experience. Only has a negative effect.

    +

    Ability 90 - Light  Acts as a Light spell. 

    +

    Ability 91 - Stealth  Acts as a Stealth spell. 

    +

    Ability 92 - Firewalk  Acts as a Firewalk spell. 

    +

    Ability 93 - Flying  Acts as a Flying spell. 

    +


    +

    Spell Usable (Usable):  When an item with one of these abilities is used, it casts a spell (which may need to be targeted). For each of these abilities, the Ability Strength is a number from 0 to 10, which represents the level the spell is cast at (0 is weakest, 10 is most powerful). The meaning of this changes depending on the ability affected. Sometimes, the number affects the duration, sometimes the damage done.

    +

    The Magic Item Adjust field is not used, except as noted below.

    +


    +

    Ability 110 - Flame  Casts a Flame spell. 

    +

    Ability 111 - Fireball  Casts a Fireball spell. 

    +

    Ability 112 - Firestorm  Casts a Firestorm spell.

    +

    Ability 113 - Kill  Casts a Kill spell. 

    +

    Ability 114 - Ice Bolt  Casts an Ice Bolt spell. 

    +

    Ability 115 - Slow  Casts a Slow spell. 

    +

    Ability 116 - Shockwave  Casts a Shockwave spell. 

    +

    Ability 117 - Dispel Undead  Casts a Dispel Undead spell. 

    +

    Ability 118 - Dispel Spirit  Casts a Dispel Spirit spell. 

    +

    Ability 119 - Summoning  Summons one monster. The Ability Strength field contains the number of the monster to summon. When the party leaves the scenario, all items of this type are taken away (because the monsters in the next scenario might be completely different).

    +

    Ability 120 - Mass Summoning   Summons 3-5 monsters. The Ability Strength field contains the number of the monsters to summon.  When the party leaves the scenario, all items of this type are taken away (because the monsters in the next scenario might be completely different).

    +

    Ability 121 - Acid Spray  Sprays acid on target. Amount depends on value of Ability Strength field. 

    +

    Ability 122 - Stinking Cloud Casts a Stinking Cloud spell. 

    +

    Ability 123 - Sleep Field  Creates a Sleep Field at target. 

    +

    Ability 124 - Venom  Casts a Venom spell. 

    +

    Ability 125 - Shockstorm Casts a Shockstorm spell.  

    +

    Ability 126 - Paralysis  Casts a Paralysis spell.  

    +

    Ability 127 - Web Spell Casts a Web spell.  

    +

    Ability 128 - Strengthen Target  Makes the target monster stronger. Can only be used on unfriendly monsters. 

    +

    Ability 129 - Quickfire  Creates quickfire on space where its used. 

    +

    Ability 130 - Mass Charm  Charms all monsters nearby.

    +

    Ability 131 - Magic Map  Casts a Magic Map spell.

    +

    Ability 132 - Dispel Barrier  Casts a Dispel Barrier spell.

    +

    Ability 133 - Ice Wall  Casts an Ice Wall spell.

    +

    Ability 134 - Charm  Casts a Charm spell.

    +

    Ability 130 - Antimagic Cloud  Casts an Antimagic Cloud spell.

    +


    +

    Reagents (Inherent):  To perform alchemy or cast certain spells, the alchemist/caster must have items with certain abilities in his/her inventory. For example, to make a Weak Poison potion, the maker must have an item with the Holly ability, or to cast a Magic Map spell, the caster must have an item with the Sapphire ability.

    +

    These items must have charges, representing the number of times they can be used. The Magic Item Adjust and Ability Strength fields are not used (except for Lockpicks).

    +

    The name of each ability represents the ingredient/spell component that the item with that ability can substitute for. For example, a gem with the ability Smoky Crystal can be used to cast Mindduel.

    +


    +

    Ability 150 - Holly/Toadstool   

    +

    Ability 151 - Comfrey Root

    +

    Ability 152 - Glowing Nettle

    +

    Ability 153 - Crypt Shroom/Wormgrass

    +

    Ability 154 - Asptongue Mold

    +

    Ability 155 - Ember Flowers

    +

    Ability 156 - Graymold

    +

    Ability 157 - Mandrake

    +

    Ability 158 - Sapphire

    +

    Ability 159 - Smoky Crystal

    +

    Ability 160 - Resurrection Balm

    +

    Ability 161 - Lockpicks  This item can be used as a lockpick. The Ability Strength determines how good a pick it is.

    +


    +

    Missiles (Inherent): These abilities can only be given to missile ammunition. The Magic Item Adjust and Ability Strength fields are not used, except as noted below.

    +


    +

    Ability 170 - Returning  This missile is not used up when fired. It is best to only give it one use.

    +

    Ability 171 - Lightning  Target takes an amount of magical damage equal to the Ability Strength.

    +

    Ability 172 - Exploding  Fireball explodes at the target, cast at a level equal to the Ability strength.

    +

    Ability 173 - Acid  Target is sprayed with acid. 

    +

    Ability 174 - Slay Undead  Does major extra damage versus undead.

    +

    Ability 175 - Slay Demon  Does major extra damage against demons. 

    +

    Ability 176 - Heal Target  Restores health to target.

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/appendix/Magic.html b/doc/editor/appendix/Magic.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ad1243f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/appendix/Magic.html @@ -0,0 +1,112 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Appendix 6 - Spell and Alchemy Lists

    +


    +

    You can set special encounter nodes to give the party mage spells, priest spells, and alchemical recipes. These lists contains the numbers you enter to give specific spells/recipies. Note that characters automatically know all mage and priest spell of the first 3 levels.

    +


    +

    Mage Spells -

    +

    0 - Poison (L4)

    +

    1 - Ice Bolt (L4)

    +

    2 - Slow Group (L4)

    +

    3 - Magic Map (L4)

    +

    4 - Capture Soul (L4)

    +

    5 - Simulacrum (L4)

    +

    6 - Venom Arrows (L4)

    +

    7 - Wall of Ice (L4)

    +

    8 - Stealth (L5)

    +

    9 - Major Haste (L5)

    +

    10 - Firestorm (L5)

    +

    11 - Dispel Barrier (L5)

    +

    12 - Fire Barrier (L5)

    +

    13 - Summoning (L5)

    +

    14 - Shockstorm (L5)

    +

    15 - Spray Fields (L5)

    +

    16 - Major Poison (L6)

    +

    17 - Group Fear (L6)

    +

    18 - Kill (L6)

    +

    19 - Paralyze (L6)

    +

    20 - Daemon (L6)

    +

    21 - Antimagic Cloud (L6)

    +

    22 - Mindduel (L6)

    +

    23 - Flight (L6)

    +

    24 - Shockwave (L7)

    +

    25 - Major Blessing (L7)

    +

    26 - Mass Paralysis (L7)

    +

    27 - Protection (L7)

    +

    28 - Major Summoning (L7)

    +

    29 - Force Barrier (L7)

    +

    30 - Quickfire (L7)

    +

    31 - Death Arrows (L7)

    +


    +

    Priest Spells -

    +

    0 - Cure Party Poison (L4)

    +

    1 - Curse All (L4)

    +

    2 - Dispel Undead (L4)

    +

    3 - Remove Curse (L4)

    +

    4 - Sticks to Snakes (L4)

    +

    5 - Martyrs Shield (L4)

    +

    6 - Cleanse (L4)

    +

    7 - Firewalk (L4)

    +

    8 - Bless Party (L5)

    +

    9 - Major Heal (L5)

    +

    10 - Raise Dead (L5)

    +

    11 - Flamestrike (L5)

    +

    12 - Mass Sanctuary (L5)

    +

    13 - Summon Host (L5)

    +

    14 - Shatter (L5)

    +

    15 - Dispel Fields (L5)

    +

    16 - Heal All (L6)

    +

    17 - Revive (L6)

    +

    18 - Hyperactivity (L6)

    +

    19 - Destone (L6)

    +

    20 - Summon Guardian (L6)

    +

    21 - Mass Charm (L6)

    +

    22 - Protective Circle (L6)

    +

    23 - Pestilence (L6)

    +

    24 - Revive All (L7)

    +

    25 - Ravage Spirit (L7)

    +

    26 - Resurrect (L7)

    +

    27 - Divine Thud (L7)

    +

    28 - Avatar (L7)

    +

    29 - Wall of Blades (L7)

    +

    30 - Word of Recall (L7)

    +

    31 - Major Cleansing (L7)

    +


    +

    Alchemical Recipes -

    +

    0 - Weak Curing (1)

    +

    1 - Weak Healing (1)

    +

    2 - Weak Poison (1)

    +

    3 - Weak Speed (3)

    +

    4 - Medium Poison (3)

    +

    5 - Medium Healing (4)

    +

    6 - Strong Curing (5)

    +

    7 - Medium Speed (5)

    +

    8 - Graymold Salve (7)

    +

    9 - Weak Power (9)

    +

    10 - Potion of Clarity (9)

    +

    11 - Strong Poison (10)

    +

    12 - Strong Healing (12)

    +

    13 - Killer Poison (12)

    +

    14 - Resurrection Balm (9)

    +

    15 - Medium Power (14)

    +

    16 - Knowledge Brew (19)

    +

    17 - Strong Strength (10)

    +

    18 - Bliss (16)

    +

    19 - Strong Power (20)

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/appendix/Messages.html b/doc/editor/appendix/Messages.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..816ea385 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/appendix/Messages.html @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Appendix 5 - Text Messages

    +


    +

    You can edit the text messages for the scenario, a town, or an outdoor section. This gives you the chance to directly edit the adventure text, without going through the editing windows. You can access the text messages by selecting the Edit Text options from the Town, Outdoors, or Scenario menus. Click on a text message to edit it. Remember each message can be at most 256 characters long.

    +

    Each list is, as always, numbered starting with 0.

    +


    +

    The Outdoor Text Messages:

    +


    +

    0 - Name of Scenario

    +

    1,2 - Descriptive text and credits (each max. 60 characters long)

    +

    3 - Contact information

    +

    4-9 - Intro message (when scenario is started)

    +

    10-59 - Currently unused.

    +

    60-159 - Name and description of 50 special items (60 is name of special item 0, 61 is description of special item 0, 62 is name of special item 1, and so on)

    +

    160-259 - The 100 text messages for the scenario special nodes. The messages that begin with an * are unused special messages.

    +


    +

    The Town Text Messages:

    +


    +

    0 - Name of Town

    +

    1-16 - Descriptions of area rectangles

    +

    17-19 - Private comments on the town (not used in scenario)

    +

    20-119 - The 100 text messages for the town section special nodes.

    +

    120-134 - The text for the areas signs (string 120 is for sign 0).

    +


    +

    The Outdoor Text Messages:

    +


    +

    0 - Name of Area

    +

    1-8 - Descriptions of area rectangles

    +

    9 - A private comment on the section (not used in scenario)

    +

    10-99 - The 90 text messages for the outdoor section special nodes.

    +

    100-107 - The text for the areas signs (string 100 is for sign 0).

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/appendix/Sounds.html b/doc/editor/appendix/Sounds.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5861f9ca --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/appendix/Sounds.html @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Appendix 4 - Blades Sound Effects

    +


    +

    There are several places in the editor where you are asked for the number of a sound effect. These are the available Blades effects:

    +


    +

    0 - High Beep

    +

    1 - Low Beep

    +

    2 - Sword Swish

    +

    3 - Cough

    +

    4 - Bless noise

    +

    5 - Explosion

    +

    6 - Chewing

    +

    7 - Cool

    +

    8 - Bubbles

    +

    9 - Lock click

    +

    10 - Teleportation sound

    +

    11 - 3 Fast Booms

    +

    12 - Longbow

    +

    13 - Party death sound

    +

    14 - Thrown missile

    +

    15 - Cash register

    +

    16 - Town entry

    +

    17 - Short cough

    +

    18 - Drawing sword

    +

    19 - Sword swish

    +

    20 - Yawn

    +

    21 - PC Dying

    +

    22 - Opening music (You cant call this sound)

    +

    23 - Start outdoor combat

    +

    24 - Cast priest spell

    +

    25 - Cast mage spell

    +

    26 - Gremlin laugh

    +

    27 - Monster dying 1

    +

    28 - Waterfall

    +

    29 - Monster dying 2

    +

    30 - Monster dying 3

    +

    31 - Monster dying 4

    +

    32 - Getting hit 1

    +

    33 - Getting hit 2

    +

    34 - Button press 1

    +

    35 - Spider Hi

    +

    36 - SpiderHello

    +

    37 - Button press 2

    +

    38 - Coin on counter

    +

    39 - Coins jingling

    +

    40 - Thank you

    +

    41 - Darn

    +

    42 - Dang

    +

    43 - Stoning noise

    +

    44 - Monster breathe

    +

    45 - On who?

    +

    46 - Growl

    +

    47 - Walk - gravel

    +

    48 - Boat move

    +

    49 - Step 1

    +

    50 - Step 2

    +

    51 - Magic noise 1

    +

    52 - Magic noise 2

    +

    53 - Magic noise 3

    +

    54 - Scream

    +

    55 - Walk - squish

    +

    56 - Swallow

    +

    57 - Special noise

    +

    58 - Open door

    +

    59 - Close door

    +

    60 - Small boom

    +

    61 - Summoning

    +

    62 - Mmmmmm.

    +

    63 - Ow

    +

    64 - Spit

    +

    65 - Draining noise

    +

    66 - Disease

    +

    67 - Huh?

    +

    68 - Identify noise

    +

    69 - Sword 1

    +

    70 - Sword 2

    +

    71 - Sword 3

    +

    72 - Club

    +

    73 - Fire impact

    +

    74 - Fireball swoosh

    +

    75 - Cold damage

    +

    76 - Chirp 1

    +

    77 - Chirp 2

    +

    78 - Drip 1

    +

    79 - Drip 2

    +

    80 - Bark

    +

    81 - Meow

    +

    82 - Baa

    +

    83 - Moo

    +

    84 - Neigh

    +

    85 - Gallop

    +

    86 - Attack - Claw

    +

    87 - Attack - Bite

    +

    88 - Attack - Slime

    +

    89 - Attack - Zap

    +

    90 - Paralyze

    +

    91 - Chirp 3

    +

    92 - Chicken

    +

    93 - Sheathe sword

    +

    94 - Lever

    +

    95 - Enter dungeon

    +

    96 - Sleep

    +

    97 - Damage - Uh

    +

    98 - Missile hit

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/appendix/Specials.html b/doc/editor/appendix/Specials.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c63e9195 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/appendix/Specials.html @@ -0,0 +1,581 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Section 14: Appendix 1 - Special Encounter Node Types

    +


    +

    These are the many types of special encounter nodes. They are divided into six different categories, and given with examples and descriptions of what the various editing fields do.

    +


    +

    General Use Specials

    +


    +

    This is the class of special encounters which can be called at practically any time. Most of them can always be called. A few cant - these are noted in the encounter description.

    +


    +

    General notes:

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2:  Some of these nodes change a Stuff Done flag. A Stuff Done flag is described by two values: Stuff done 1 and Stuff done 2. The legal range of the first flag is from 0 to 299, and the range for the second flag is 0 to 9. If a value is given outside the legal range, the special node does nothing and the Jump To node is called next (though often the editor will give you an error when you try to do this).

    +

    Jump To:  After a special node is called and has its effect, this field specifies the next node to be called. If this value is negative, the special encounter ends. 

    +

    The exceptions to this are the nodes that stop the special encounter (e.g. Town Block, Out Block). When a node stops the encounter, the Jump To flag is ignored.

    +


    +

    Type 0: No special  This is the default setting for all special nodes. It does nothing. If the Jump To field contains a non-negative number, the encounter jumps to that node.

    +

    Uses: If you have a chain of special nodes and want to remove one of the nodes in the middle, set its type to Null Special, and leave the Jump To value unchanged. When the party reaches that special, and that node is reached, it just passes through to the Jump To node.

    +

    Type 1: Set Flag  This node sets a Stuff Done flag to the desired value.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: This is the Stuff Done flag to change.

    +

    Extra 1a: This is the value to change it to.

    +

    Example:  If Stuff done 1 is set to 90, Stuff done 2 is set to 4, and Extra 1a is set to 8, when this node is called Stuff Done (90,4) becomes 8. If, instead, Stuff done 2 is set to 40, this value is out of range (0 ... 9) and you will get an error.

    +

    Type 2: Increment Flag  This node increases (or decreases) a Stuff Done flag by a specified amount.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: This is the Stuff Done flag to change.

    +

    Extra 1a: This is the amount to increase/decrease the flag by.

    +

    Extra 1b: If this is 0, the flag is increased by Extra 1a. If its non-zero, the flag is decreased by that amount.

    +

    Type 3: Display Message  This vitally important special displays a dialog window containing one (or two) text messages.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Type 4: Secret Passage  This unusual special encounter only has an effect when its called when the party steps on it, and its the first encounter in the chain. Then, the party can walk through that space as it its a secret passage.

    +

    Uses: Suppose you want a pillar the party can walk through. Place a special encounter on the pillar, and have a node of this type be the first special node called.

    +

    Type 5: Display Small Message  A text message is displayed on one (or two) line(s) of the text area (in the lower right hand corner). Dont make the displayed messages too long.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage - these are the numbers of the messages to put in one or two lines of the text area.

    +

    Type 6: Flip Flag  This node changes a Stuff Done flag from 0 to 1 (or back). 

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: This is the Stuff Done flag to change. If the flag is 0, its changed to 1. Otherwise, its changed to 0.

    +

    Type 7: Out Block  If the party is currently outdoors, this node ends the special encounter and nothing else happens. Otherwise, the Jump To node is called.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Extra 1a: This starts as 0. If this is 1, and the party is outdoors and walking, they are not allowed to enter the space.

    +

    Type 8: Town block  Like Out Block, but ends the special if the party is in town.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Extra 1a: This starts as 0. If this is 1, and the party is in town and walking, they are not allowed to enter the space.

    +

    Type 9: Combat block  Like Out Block, but ends the special if the party is in combat.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Extra 1a: This starts as 0. If this is 1, and the party is in combat and walking, they are not allowed to enter the space.

    +

    Type 10: Looking block  Like Out Block, but ends the special if this node was called by the party looking at something.

    +

    Uses:  Suppose you place a special on a closed portcullis, to be called when the portcullis is opened and the party walks through it. Normally, if the party looks at the closed portcullis, the special you intended to be triggered when they walked on it will be called. Placing a Looking Block before that special will keep it from being called before they actually walk on it.

    +

    Type 11: Cant Enter  If the party is walking, they are not allowed to enter the space. This can be accompanied by one or two messages, if you wish. 

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage. If the party is not moving, no messages are displayed.

    +

    Extra 1a:  If this is set to 1, the party is kept from entering the space. If not 1, the party is allowed to enter the space (this undoes any Cant Enter nodes already called).

    +

    Uses:  If you dont want a party to be able to walk down a passage (for example, a guard wont let them), use this node.

    +

    Note: This doesnt have to be the last node in a chain. If this is the first special node called, the party is still kept from entering the space.

    +

    Type 12: Change Time  This special node sets the adventure time forward.

    +

    Extra 1a: This is the number of ticks to set the timer forward. A day is 3000 ticks. The maximum this can be set to is 30000.

    +

    Type 13: Start General Timer  One of the parties special encounter timers is activated. Each move taken, the timer goes down by 1. When it runs out, a scenario special node is called (even if the party enters or leaves town). Also see Start Town Timer, under Town Special Nodes.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of moves before the timer runs out. (Range 0 ... 30000)

    +

    Extra 1b: The scenario special node to call when the timer runs out. If left at No Special, nothing happens.

    +

    Type 14: Play a sound  Plays one of the games sounds. 

    +

    Extra1a: Which sound to play. For a list of sounds, read Appendix A.

    +

    Type 15: Change Horse Possession  Makes a horse the parties property (or not). 

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage. 

    +

    Extra1a: The horse to change ownership of. (Range 0 ... 29)

    +

    Extra 2a: If 0, the horse becomes the parties property. Otherwise, it is no longer the parties property.

    +

    Type 16: Change Boat Possession  Like Change Horse Possession, except for boats. 

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage. 

    +

    Extra1a: The boat to change ownership of. (Range 0 ... 29)

    +

    Extra 2a: If 0, the boat becomes the parties property. Otherwise, it is no longer the parties property.

    +

    Type 17: Show/Hide Town  This either makes a party know a town is there, or hide it so they cant enter it anymore. This can be accompanied by one or two messages, if you wish.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Extra1a: This is the town to show/hide.

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, the town becomes hidden. If not 0, the town becomes visible.

    +

    Uses:  Suppose dungeon 14 contains a big treasure, revealed by reading a treasure map. When the map is read, call this special. Set Extra 1a to 14 and Extra 2b to 1.

    +

    Type 18: Major Event Has Occurred  A major event is recorded as having occurred. See Passage of Time in the chapter on Special Encounters for a more detailed explanation.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage. 

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of the special event. (Range 1 ... 20)

    +

    Example: If the slaying of the goblin king is event 4, when it is killed, call this special node with Extra 1a set to 4.

    +

    Type 19: Forced Give  This places an item in the parties inventory, whether or not its too heavy for them to carry. It only fails to give the item if there is absolutely no room in their inventory.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage. 

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of the item to give. Press the Choose button to pick an item.

    +

    Extra 2b: The special to jump to if the item is not successfully given (if all the parties item slots are full). If No Special is given, the Jump To special is used as usual. 

    +

    Uses: If you want the party to get an item after winning a combat outdoors, use a Forced Give. This makes sure that if it is at all possible, they get it.

    +

    Uses 2: Use this is the party is given an item during a talking special encounter. If the party inventory is full, jump to a special telling them that they cant carry the item and to come back later, and then end the special. This enables you to keep from setting a Stuff Done flag saying they got the item, when, in fact, they didnt.

    +

    Type 20: Buy Items of Type All items that belong to the given special class (described in the chapter on items) are taken from the party. For each item taken, the party gets some gold. This can be accompanied by one or two messages, if you wish.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage. Note that the messages are only displayed if some items are actually taken away.

    +

    Extra 1a: The item class to take away. (Range 1 ... 100)

    +

    Extra 1b: The special to jump to if no items are taken. If No Special is specified, the Jump To special is used as usual.

    +

    Extra 2a: The amount of gold to pay for each item (Range 0 ... 250) 

    +

    Uses:  This is a how you give a bounty for items. If you want someone to give the party 10 gold for each unicorn horn, give unicorn horns a special class of, say, 30, and call this special node with Extra 1a set to 30 and Extra 2a set to 10.

    +

    Type 21: Call Global Special  This node does nothing itself. However, its Jump To node specifies a scenario special node, not a town or outdoors special node. This is how you call a scenario special node when in town or outdoors.

    +

    Note: Use when in town or outdoors. This can be used if you have one special thing which you want in many towns or outdoors sections. You can place the encounter in scenario specials once, and then just call it from the many places its used.

    +

    Type 22: Set Many Flags   This node sets 10 Stuff Done flags to a desired value.  

    +

    Stuff Done 1: A number from 0 to 299. When this node is called, (Stuff Done 1, 0), (Stuff Done 1, 1), ... (Stuff Done 1, 9) are all set to Extra 1a.

    +

    Extra 1a: This is the value to change it to.

    +

    Example: Suppose Stuff Done flag (200,4) is 35. This node is called with Stuff Done 1 equal to 200, and Extra 1a set to 5. Then Stuff Done flag (200,4) will be 5 (as will flags (200,0), (200,1), etc.).

    +

    Type 23: Copy Flag  This sets one Stuff Done flag equal to another. 

    +

    Stuff Done 1, Stuff Done 2: The flag to change.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The flag to change it to. 

    +

    Example: If Stuff Done 1 is 12, Stuff Done 2 is 5, Extra 1a is 8, and Extra 1b is 8, then the value of Stuff Done flag (12,5) becomes the same as Stuff Done flag (8,8).

    +

    Type 24: Ritual of Sanct. Block  When the party casts Ritual of Sanctification on a space, any special encounter on that space is called. If the first node called is of this type, the special encounter in Jump To is called, and the special encounter continues. Otherwise, the special encounter ends immediately, and the player is told that the ritual had no effect.

    +

    If this special node is called for a reason besides the party casting Ritual of Sanctification (for example, if they searched the space), the special node in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Extra 1b: The special node called if this node is called for any reason other than the party casting Ritual of Sanctification. 

    +

    Type 25: Have a rest  If the party is in combat or if the party is in town and there was just combat going on, nothing happens. Otherwise, the party gets rested. Some time passes, and their health and spell points are restored.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of ticks that pass (a day is 3000 ticks)

    +

    Extra 1b: The amount of health and spell points to restore. 

    +

    Type 26: Wandering Will Fight  This special node only has an effect if called when the party has just encountered a group of monsters outdoors. If called at any other time, it has no effect. The node determines whether the monsters in the group will actually attack the party or not.

    +

    Extra 1a: If this is set to 0, the monsters will not attack the party, and the outdoor encounter will simply end. If its non-zero, the monsters will attack the party.

    +

    Uses: Suppose a group of soldiers outdoors will only attack the party if they have the stolen Wand of Balloo. If they don't have it, use this node with Extra 1a set to 0. If you dont call a special node of this type, the soldiers will attack.

    +

    Type 27: End Scenario  Every scenario should call a node of this type at least once. When called, the scenario immediately ends, and the player will be returned to the starting screen, with the option of saving the game. 

    +

    Note: Without a node of this sort, the players only option for leaving the scenario is to use the character editor. Please make sure a node of this sort can always be reached.

    +


    +

    One-Shot Specials

    +


    +

    This is the class of specials you generally only want to occur one time, such as giving items. 

    +

    For each of these special node types, you can specify a Stuff Done flag in the Stuff Done 1 and Stuff Done 2 fields. If you do, when the node is called, if that flag has a value of 250, the node does nothing and the special ends immediately. If the flag is not 250, the node has the desired effect, and then that Stuff Done flag is set to 250 (so this node has no effect is called again).

    +

    These nodes have one more special property. If you have a have a special encounter marked by a white dot, the first node called from that special encounter is a One-Shot Special, and the specified Stuff Done flag in that node is 250, then the white dot disappears. Thus, specials that dont do anything anymore arent marked by a special dot.

    +


    +

    General notes:

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2:  All of these nodes change a Stuff Done flag. A Stuff Done flag is described by two values: Stuff done 1 and Stuff done 2. The legal range of the first flag is from 0 to 299, and the range for the second flag is 0 to 9. You can give a value outside the legal range (such as -1 for Stuff Done 1). If you do this, the special node does its job normally, and if this node is called again, it will do it again. This is sometimes a good idea.

    +

    Jump To:    This works as before, with one exception. If the specified Stuff Done flag for the called node is 250, the special encounter ends and the Jump To field is ignored.

    +


    +

    Type 50: Give Item  An item is given to the party (specifically, to the first character who can carry it). Gold and food can also be given. If the party cannot carry another item, the Stuff Done flag is not set to 250. This can be accompanied by one or two messages, if you wish. 

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage. If the items cannot be taken, no messages are displayed.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of the item to be given. If -1, no item is given. Press the Choose button to select an item.

    +

    Extra 1b: The amount of gold to give. (Range 0 ... 25000)

    +

    Extra 2a: The amount of food to give. (Range 0 ... 25000)

    +

    Extra 2b: The special to jump to if the item cannot be given (to, perhaps, tell them their inventory is full). If No Special is given, the Jump To special is called normally.

    +

    Type 51: Give Special Item  Gives the party one of the scenarios special items. This can be accompanied by one or two messages, if you wish. 

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage. 

    +

    Extra 1a:  The number of the special item to give. (Range 0 ... 49)

    +

    Extra 1b:  If 0 (the default), the special item is given. Otherwise, its taken away.

    +

    Type 52: One-Time Do Nothing  If the Stuff Done flag is set to 250, this node ends the special encounter. Otherwise, it just calls the Jump To node. 

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual.

    +

    Uses:  This is provided for one time encounters that dont fit into any of the other types. Some other special node must set the Stuff Done flag to 250 to get the encounter to disappear.

    +

    Type 53: One-Time Nothing and Set  If the Stuff Done flag is set to 250, this node ends the special encounter. Otherwise, it sets the Stuff Done flag to 250 and calls the Jump To node. 

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual

    +

    Type 54: One-Time Text Message  Displays one or two message strings. 

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Type 55: Display Dialog (Dialog pic)  This very important special node displays a dialog box with up to six text messages and a dialog picture (which you choose) in the upper left. The lower right hand corner can have 1 to 3 buttons. The player must press a button, at which point another special node will be called. You choose a special node to call for each button.

    +

    The first button is always labeled OK if its the only button or Leave if there are other buttons. If the first button is pressed, the Jump To special is called normally. Otherwise the special node in Extra 1b or 2b is called.

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual, with one exception. If the first button is pressed, the Stuff Done flag is not set to 250. Otherwise, it is.

    +

    Mess 1: The number of the first message to be displayed in the dialog box. The six messages starting with this message will be displayed in the dialog box (though the strings can, of course, be blank). Press the create/edit button to edit the text.

    +

    Mess 2: This determines whether the default OK/Leave button appears. If this is 1, this button appears. Otherwise, it doesnt.

    +

    Pict: This is the number of the picture to display. To select a picture, press the Choose button.

    +

    Extra 1a: Determines what the second button is labeled. If left -1, there is no second button. Press the Choose button to select a label.

    +

    Extra 1b: What special node to call is button 2 is pressed.

    +

    Extra 2a: Determines what the third button is labeled. If left -1, there is no third button. Press the Choose button to select a label.

    +

    Extra 2b: What special node to call is button 3 is pressed.

    +

    Example: If Mess 1 is 30, and Mess 2 is 4, the dialog box that comes up contains messages 30 through 33.

    +

    Note: A dialog box can only contain consecutive text messages. You cant bring up a dialog box which contains message 24, followed by messages 1, 20, and 64.

    +

    Example: Suppose to want a dialog box to come up displaying messages 37 through 40. 

    +

    Uses: This is one special node where you may often want to leave Stuff Done 1 at -1 (so this node displays the dialog box every time its called). For example, if you want the text of a book to come up when the party looks at a certain bookshelf, you probably want the same text to keep coming up when the look at the bookshelf later on.

    +

    Type 56: Display Dialog (Terrain pic)  This is exactly like Display Dialog (Dialog pic), except that the picture in the upper left is of a sort of terrain. Press the Select Picture button to pick the picture.

    +

    Type 57: Display Dialog (Monster pic)  This is exactly like Display Dialog (Dialog pic), except that the picture in the upper left is of a monster. If you select a monster with size greater than 1 x 1, the dialog will show the complete picture of the monster. Press the Select Picture button to pick the picture.

    +

    Type 58: Give Item (Dialog pic)  Displays a dialog box with up to six text messages and a dialog picture (which you choose) in the upper left. At the lower right hand corner are two buttons: Take and Leave. If take is pressed, the party is given an item (if the item can be carried). If the item is taken, the Stuff Done flag is set to 250, and a specified special node will then be called. Otherwise, the special encounter ends immediately and the Stuff Done flag is not set.

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual.

    +

    Mess 1: The number of the first message to be displayed in the dialog box. The six messages starting with this message will be displayed in the dialog box (though the strings can, of course, be blank). Press the create/edit button to edit the text.

    +

    Mess 2: The number of special item to give (0 .. 49). If this is left at -1, no special item is given.

    +

    Pict: This is the number of the picture to display. To select a picture, press the Choose button.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of the item to give. Press the Select Item to pick an item.

    +

    Extra 1b: The amount of gold to give. (Range 0 ... 25000)

    +

    Extra 2a: The amount of food to give. (Range 0 ... 25000)

    +

    Extra 2b: The special to jump to if the item is taken (note that this is different from the Give Item special node, above). If No Special is given, the Jump To special is called normally.

    +

    Type 59: Give Item (Terrain pic)  This is exactly like Choose to Take Item (Dialog pic), except that the picture in the upper left is of a sort of terrain. Press the Select Picture button to pick the picture.

    +

    Type 60: Give Item (Monster pic)  This is exactly like Choose to Take Item (Dialog pic), except that the picture in the upper left is of a monster. If you select a monster with size greater than 1 x 1, the dialog will show the complete picture of the monster. Press the Select Picture button to pick the picture.

    +

    Type 61:  One-Time Place Outdoor Encounter  This node only has an effect when called while walking outdoors. It places a special outdoor wandering encounter in a random open space near the party. This can be accompanied by one or two messages, if you wish. 

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of the special outdoor wandering encounter to place. (Range 0 ... 3)

    +

    Type 62: One-Time Place Town Encounter   Activates all monsters in town in the specified Special Encounter Group (see the section on monsters in town for more information). If no monsters in that group are left, the encounter has no effect. This can be accompanied by one or two messages, if you wish. 

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Extra 1a: The Special Encounter Code of the monsters to activate. (Range 0 ... 9)

    +

    Type 63: Trap  Brings up a dialog saying the party has found a trap, and asking if they want to disarm it. If they say no, the special ends immediately, and, if theyre walking, they cant enter the space. Otherwise, they must select a character to disarm it. Once disarmed (or triggered) the Jump To special is called. This node only has an effect in town or combat (no traps outdoors).

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: As usual.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage. You can provide customized text saying the party sees what may be a trap. If both of these fields are left at -1, the game displays a generic You Found A Trap message.

    +

    Extra 1a:  The type of trap: 0 - randomly selected, 1 - damage 1 character,  2 - poison 1 character, 3 - poison party, 4 - damage party, 5 - paralyze character, 6 - no trap after all, 7 - drain experience, 8 - make town hostile, 9 - fire damage 1 character, 10 - dumbfound 1 character, 11 - disease 1 character, 12 - disease party

    +

    Extra 1b:  The severity of the trap. The higher the number, the deadlier the trap. A severity of three all but guarantees lethality. (Range 0 ... 3)

    +

    Extra 2a:  The disarming penalty. The higher the number, the harder to disarm. (Range 0 ... 100)

    +

    Note: If this special node is placed on a container (like a chest), the party must disarm the trap to be able to take any of the items in the chest.

    +


    +

    Affect PC/Party Specials

    +


    +

    All of these special encounters do something to one character or to the party. Whether they affect one character or the party depends on several factors.

    +

    Special node 80 (Select a PC) asks the player to select one of their PCs. Once this node is called, any Affect PC/Party special nodes called only affect the selected PC.

    +

    If no Select PC node has been called, the node affects the entire party.

    +

    Finally, the last few node in this section (like Firewalk, Stealth, Affect Gold) only affect the whole party.

    +

    Note that when one of these specials does something bad (e.g. diseases or poisons) a character, all resistances (e.g. protection from poison rings) apply.

    +


    +

    General notes:

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2:  None of these special node types use these fields.

    +

    Mess 1, Mess 2: All of these special node types (except Select a PC) can display one or two messages. If you dont want a message displayed, just leave these at -1.

    +

    Extra 1b:  This field usually affects whether the node helps of hurts the party. In general, if its 0 (the default) it helps. Otherwise, it hurts.

    +

    Extra 2b:  When these nodes are called during combat, if this is 0, the node only affects the active PC. Otherwise, it affects the whole party. (Exception to this - the Do Damage node type)

    +

    Jump To:  All of these special node types use this field.

    +


    +

    Type 80: Select a PC  Brings up a window asking the player to select a living character. Once this is called, any Affect PC/Party nodes during this special encounter only affect the selected character. 

    +

    Extra 1a: if this is left at 0 (the default), only living characters may be selected. If it is set to 1, any character (dead or alive) can be picked. If it is set to 2, no choice dialog comes up, Instead, any previous PC selections are undone, and any further Affect PC/Party specials called during this special encounter affect the whole party.

    +

    Extra 1b: This special is called if the Cancel button on the select PC dialog box is pressed. If this is left at No Special, when the Cancel button is pressed the special encounter immediately ends.

    +

    Uses:  If you want something to increase the strength of one character, call a Select a PC node, followed by an Affect Statistic node. 

    +

    Type 81: Do Damage  This special node damages a character, or the whole party. It has no effect when called during a talking special. When called during combat, and a Select a PC node has not been called, it only affects the active character.

    +

    Pict: If this is 0, this node damages the whole party. If this is 1, and the node is called during combat, only the current pc is damaged. Otherwise, the whole party is damaged.

    +

    Extra 1a: This is the number of dice of damage that is rolled. (Maximum: 256)

    +

    Extra 1b: This is the number of sides of the dice that are rolled. For example, if Extra 1a is 5 and Extra 2b is 8, the game generates 5 random numbers from 1 to 8, adds them, and does that much damage.  (Maximum: 256)

    +

    Extra 2a: This is the amount of extra damage to add. If this is 100, for example, 100 extra points of damage are inflicted.

    +

    Extra 2b: This is the type of damage inflicted (0 - weapon, 1 - fire, 2 - poison, 3 - general magic, 4 - unblockable, 5 - cold, 6 - demon,7 - undead)

    +

    Type 82:  Affect Health  Increases/decreases health. Health can be changed to a maximum of 250 or a minimum of 0. This special cannot kill anybody, only reduce their health to 0.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to raise/lower health.

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, health is raised. Otherwise, its lowered.

    +

    Type 83:  Affect Spell Points  Increases/decreases spell points. Spell points can be changed to a maximum of 100 or a minimum of 0. 

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to raise/lower spell points.

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, spell points are raised. Otherwise, theyre lowered.

    +

    Type 84:  Affect Experience  Adds/drains experience.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount of experience to add/take. (Range 0 ... 100)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, adds experience. Otherwise, drains.

    +

    Item: Use sparingly, esp when draining.

    +

    Type 85:  Affect Skill points  Adds/drains skill points.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of skill points to add/take. (Range 0 ... 10)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, adds skill points. Otherwise, drains.

    +

    Item: Use sparingly, esp when draining.

    +

    Type 86:  Kill/Raise  Adds/drains skill points.

    +

    Extra 1a: If field Extra 1b is non-zero, this field is ignored. Otherwise, this is the type of death inflicted: 0 - regular death, 1 - dust, 2 - stoned.

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, makes the PC/Party intact again (not dead, stoned, etc.) Otherwise, kills/stones the PC/party.

    +

    Item: Needless to say, this should be used very carefully. Nothing makes a scenario unpleasant faster than lots of arbitrary death.

    +

    Type 87:  Affect Poison  Poisons/cures. Note, if poisoning the party, all resistances apply.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to cause/cure health. (Range 0 ... 8)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, cures PC/party. Otherwise, poisons.

    +

    Type 88:  Affect Slow/Haste  Hastes/slows.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to cause/cure health. (Range 0 ... 8)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, hastes PC/party. Otherwise, slows.

    +

    Type 89:  Affect Invulnerability  Makes the PC/party invulnerable.

    +

    Extra 1a: The duration. (Range 0 ... 8)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, adds invulnerability. Otherwise, removes.

    +

    Type 90:  Affect Magic Resistance  Makes the PC/party magic resistant.

    +

    Extra 1a: The duration. (Range 0 ... 8)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, adds Magic Resistance. Otherwise, removes.

    +

    Type 91:  Affect Webs  webs/unwebs.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount of webs to pile on. (Range 0 ... 8)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, removes webs. Otherwise, adds.

    +

    Type 92:  Affect Disease  Diseases/cures.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to cause/cure disease. (Range 0 ... 8)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, cures PC/party. Otherwise, diseases.

    +

    Type 93:  Affect Sanctuary  Gives the PC/party Sanctuary.

    +

    Extra 1a: The duration. (Range 0 ... 8)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, adds Sanctuary. Otherwise, removes.

    +

    Type 94:  Affect Curse/Bless  Makes the PC/party blessed or cursed.

    +

    Extra 1a: The duration. (Range 0 ... 8)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, bless. Otherwise, curse.

    +

    Type 95:  Affect Dumbfounding  Dumbfounds/cures.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to cause/cure dumbfounding. (Range 0 ... 7)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, dumbfounds PC/party. Otherwise, cures dumbfounding.

    +

    Type 96:  Affect Sleep  Puts to sleep/awakens.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to cause/cure sleep. (Range 0 ... 8)

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, wakes up PC/party. Otherwise, puts to sleep.

    +

    Type 97:  Affect Paralysis  Paralyzes/cures.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to cause/cure paralysis. (Range 0 ... 5000) The amount is the number of turns character is paralyzed. 

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, cures PC/party. Otherwise, paralyzes.

    +

    Note: Warning - dont paralyze the whole party for too long. Its boring.

    +

    Type 98:  Affect Statistic  Changes the characters statistics (e.g. Strength, Mage Spells, etc.)

    +

    Pict: This is a number from 1 to 100, which represents the percentage chance the statistic is affected. If 100 (the default) its always changes. If 0, it never is. 

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to increase/decrease (0 .. 10).

    +

    Extra 1b: If 0, increase. If 1, decrease.

    +

    Extra 2a: The statistic to increase/decrease (Range 0 ... 18): 0 - Strength, 1 - Dexterity, 2 - Intelligence, 3 - Edged, 4 - Bashing, 5 - Pole, 6 - Missile, 7 - Bow, 8 - Defense, 9 - Mage Spells, 10 - Priest Spells, 11 - Mage Lore, 12 - Alchemy, 13 - Item Lore, 14 - Traps, 15 - Lockpick, 16 - Assassination, 17 - Poison, 18 - Luck.

    +

    Note: Use this node sparingly, especially if decreasing the stat.

    +

    Type 99: Give Mage Spell  Gives a mage spell. The spells are listed in the Appendices.

    +

    Extra 1a: The spell to give (Range 0 ... 61).

    +

    Example: To give the spell Wall of Force, set Extra 1a to 25.  

    +

    Type 100: Give Priest Spell  Gives a priest spell. The spells are listed in the Appendices.

    +

    Extra 1a: The spell to give (Range 0 ... 61).

    +

    Type 101: Affect Gold  Adds/removes gold.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to increase/decrease. (Range 0 ... 25000)

    +

    Extra 1b: Whether to increase or decrease.

    +

    Note: This special (and all following) only affect the whole party.  

    +

    Type 102: Affect Food  Adds/removes food.

    +

    Extra 1a: The amount to increase/decrease. (Range 0 ... 25000)

    +

    Extra 1b: Whether to increase or decrease.

    +

    Type 103: Give Alchemy  Gives an alchemy recipe. The recipes are listed in the Appendices.

    +

    Extra 1a: The recipe to give (Range 0 ... 19).

    +

    Type 104: Give Stealth  Affects the party like a Stealth spell.

    +

    Extra 1a: The duration (Range 0 ... 250).

    +

    Type 105: Give Firewalk  Affects the party like a Firewalk spell.

    +

    Extra 1a: The duration (Range 0 ... 250).

    +

    Type 106: Give Flying  Affects the party like a Flying spell.

    +

    Extra 1a: The duration (Range 0 ... 250).

    +


    +

    If-Then Specials

    +


    +

    These special node types dont do anything by themselves. Instead, they choose from several choices which node to call next. For example, if you want something to happen when the party has the Crown of Might and something different to happen when they dont, you would use an If-Then special, which would lead to two different special nodes, one for when they have the crown, and one for when they dont.

    +

    All of these nodes can be used for any type of special. All of them require selecting a new special node (or nodes) in the Extra 1b and/or Extra 2b fields. If No Special is selected in both of these fields, the Jump To special node is called.

    +


    +

    Type 130: Stuff Done Flag?  Calls new nodes depending on the value of a given Stuff Done flag. If the Stuff Done flag is greater than the value of Extra 1a, the special in Extra 1b is called. Otherwise, if the Stuff Done flag is less than the value in Extra 2a, the special in Extra 2b is called. If neither case applies, the Jump To special is called.

    +

    The default values for Extra 1a is -1. If it is left at -1, it isnt checked, and the special in Extra 1b wont be called. The same is true for Extra 2a.

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: Specifies the Stuff Done flag to inspect.

    +

    Type 131: Town Number?  Result depends on the town the party is in.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of a town. If the party is in this town, the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: This is called if the party is not in a town, or not in the town in Extra 1a.

    +

    Type 132: Random Number?  Result depends on a randomly generated number. The game will pick a random number from 1 to 100.

    +

    Extra 1a: If the random number is less than this value, the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Type 133: Have Special Item  Result depends on whether the party has a certain special item.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of a special item. If a character has this special item, the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Type 134: Stuff Done Compare?  Calls new nodes depending on whether one Stuff Done flag is greater than another or not. If the first Stuff Done flag is greater than or equal to the second, the special in Extra 2b is called. Otherwise, the Jump To special is called.

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: Specifies the first Stuff Done flag.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: Specifies the second Stuff Done flag.

    +

    Extra 2b: The special to jump to if the second flag is less than the first.

    +

    Example: Stuff Done flag (1,8) is 15. Stuff Done Flag (2,3) is 5. If this node is called with Stuff Done 1 equal to 1, Stuff Done 2 equal to 8, Extra 1a equal to 2, and Extra 1b equal to 3, then, as (1,8) is higher than (2,3), the special in Extra 2b will be called.

    +

    Type 135: Terrain this type? (town)  Result depends on whether a specified spot in town is of a given terrain type.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the desired space.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of a terrain type. If the given space is of this terrain type, the special in Extra 2b is called.

    +

    Jump To: If the party is not in a town, or the terrain is not of the given type, this special is called.

    +

    Uses: Suppose a guard opens a gate for the party, and tells them he opened it. First, you might want to check if the gate is already opened, so that he can get angry and tell them he already opened it.

    +

    Type 136:   Terrain this type? (outdoors)  Result depends on whether a specified spot in town is of a given terrain type.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the desired space.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of a terrain type. If the space is of this terrain type, the special in Extra 2b is called.

    +

    Jump To: If the party is not outdoors, or the terrain is not of the given type, this special is called.

    +

    Type 137: Has Gold?    Result depends on whether the party has enough gold.

    +

    Extra 1a: If the party has at least this much gold, the special is Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Uses: If someone is selling, say, Strength improvement, you can first use this to see if the party has enough gold to afford it.

    +

    Type 138: Has Food?    Result depends on whether the party has enough food.

    +

    Extra 1a: If the party has at least this much food, the special is Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Type 139: Item Class on Space?  Result depends on whether an item of a given special item class is sitting on a specified spot in town.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the desired spot.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of a special item class. If an item with this special item class is sitting on the given space, the special in Extra 2b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise (or if the party is outdoors) this special is called.

    +

    Uses: A magic barrier that only lets people through is a certain item has been placed on a nearby pedestal.

    +

    Type 140: Have Item with Class?  Result depends on whether a PC owns an item with the specified Special Class (see the chapter in items for information on item special class).

    +

    Extra 1a: An item special class number. If a character has an item with this special class, the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Type 141: Equipped Item with Class?  Result depends on whether a PC owns an item with the specified Special Class, which is currently equipped.

    +

    Extra 1a: An item special class number. If a character has an item with this special class which is equipped, the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Type 142: Has Gold? (and take)    Result depends on whether the party has enough gold.

    +

    Extra 1a: If the party has at least this much gold, the special is Extra 1b is called, and that much gold is taken from them.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Note: This node (and the next four) are the only If-Then nodes that actually have an effect in the game.

    +

    Type 143: Has Food? (and take)    Result depends on whether the party has enough food.

    +

    Extra 1a: If the party has at least this much food, the special is Extra 1b is called, and that much food is taken from them.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Type 144: Item Class on Space? (and take)  Result depends on whether an item of a given special item class is sitting on a specified spot in town.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the desired spot.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of a special item class. If an item with this special item class is sitting on the given space, the special in Extra 2b is called and that item is removed from the game.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise (or if the party is outdoors) this special is called.

    +

    Uses: A magic barrier that only lets people through is a certain item has been placed on a nearby pedestal.

    +

    Type 145: Have Item with Class? (and take)  Result depends on whether a PC owns an item with the specified Special Class (see the chapter in items for information on item special class).

    +

    Extra 1a: An item special class number. If a character has an item with this special class, the special in Extra 1b is called and that item is removed from the game.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Uses:  This is a great special to implement tickets to enter somewhere. Create a ticket item with a special class of, say, 20. Have this special take one item of class 20. If the party has none, have Jump To point to a special node telling them they have no ticket and blocking them from entering.

    +

    Type 146: Equip Item with Class? (and take)  Result depends on whether a PC owns an item with the specified Special Class, which is currently equipped.

    +

    Extra 1a: An item special class number. If a character has an item with this special class which is equipped, the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Type 147: Day reached?   Result depends on whether a certain day has been reached.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of a day. If it is this day (or later) the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.  

    +

    Type 148: Any barrels?   Result depends on whether any barrels exist in the current town.

    +

    Extra 1b: If any barrels are present, this special is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise (or if this special is called while outdoors), this special is called.  

    +

    Type 149: Any crates?   Result depends on whether any barrels exist in the current town?

    +

    Extra 1b: If any barrels are present, this special is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise (or if this special is called while outdoors), this special is called.  

    +

    Type 150: Special Thing happened?  Result depends on whether a given day was reached before a given event happened (see the chapter on the passage of time for more explanation).

    +

    Extra 1a: The day some special thing is supposed to happen.

    +

    Extra 1b: The number of an event (0 .. 20). This is the event that would prevent the special thing from happening (leave at 0 for no event). If the day in 1a has been reached, and this special event did not occur before the day in 1a, then the special in Extra 2b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Uses: Suppose an altar is destroyed on day 50, if the Demon Fred is not killed by them. Let the killing of the demon Fred be event 3 (so, when Fred is killed, a Major Event Has Happened special is called).

    +

    Then, when the party reaches the altar, call this special with Extra 1a set to 50 and Extra 1b set to 3. Then, should Fred have destroyed the altar, the special in Extra 2b will be called.

    +

    Type 151: Has Cave Lore?    Result depends on whether a living PC has Cave Lore skill. If so, the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Type 152: Has Woodsman?    Result depends on whether a living PC has Woodsman skill. If so, the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Type 153: Has Enough Mage Lore?  Result depends on whether the sum of the parties Mage Lore skill is high enough.

    +

    Extra 1a: If the sum of the living PCs mage lore skill is at least this amount, the special in Extra 1b is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Note: Dont make the required Mage Lore be much higher than 20.

    +

    Type 154: Text response?  This is one of the most complicated and powerful special nodes. It brings up a dialog box asking the party to type in some text (such as the answer to a ridder, or a password). If the response matches one of two given text messages, a specified special node is called.

    +

    Pict: This is a number from 1 to 10. It is the number of characters the players answer has to match the correct answer to be accepted. If it is 4, the first four characters of the players answer must match the first four characters of the correct answer.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of a scenario special message (not  a town or outdoor special message). 

    +

    Extra 1b: If the players answer matches the message in Extra 1a, this special is called.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of a scenario special message (not  a town or outdoor special message). 

    +

    Extra 2b: If the players answer matches the message in Extra 1a, this special is called.

    +

    Jump To: Otherwise, this special is called.

    +

    Note:   To create the scenario message containing the correct answer, select Edit Scenario Text from the Scenario menu. Scroll down to messages 160-259, the special encounter messages, and select one that begins with an * (i.e. is unused). Put the correct answer to the question there. The number of that message (160-259) is the number to put in the Extra 1a/Extra 2a field.

    +

    Example:  A pixie asks a riddle whose answer is cheese. Scenario message 185 is cheese. Message 1 says the pixies riddle. Extra 1a is 185, Extra 1b is the special node with the result of correct answering of the riddle, and Jump To leads to the node with the result of an incorrect answer.

    +

    If pict is set to 4, only the first 4 characters of the players answer are looked at. Thus, cheese, cheer, and cheep would count as right answers. Chew, however, would not.

    +

    Note:   Letter case is ignored. ChEeSe would be counted as a correct answer, even is the correct answer was CHEese.

    +

    Type 154: Stuff done equal?  If the specified Stuff Done flag is equal to the value given in Extra 1a, the special in Extra 1b is called. Otherwise, the Jump To special is called.

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: Specifies the Stuff Done flag to inspect.

    +

    Extra 1a: If the Stuff Done flag equals this value, call special in Extra 1b.

    +


    +

    Town Mode Specials

    +


    +

    These special nodes only have an effect in town mode (where most of the game takes place). If called outdoors, all of these nodes immediately jump to the Jump To special.

    +

    For all of these special types, unless the description specifically says it ends the special encounter, once done, each node calls the Jump To node.

    +


    +

    General notes:

    +

    Mess 1, Mess 2: All of these special node types can display one or two messages. If you dont want a message displayed, just leave these at -1.

    +


    +

    Type 170: Town Hostile  When called, all friendly people in the town immediately turn hostile.

    +

    Type 171: Change Terrain  Changes a space to a given terrain type.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the desired space.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of the terrain type to change it to. Press the Choose button to select a terrain type.

    +

    Type 172: Swap Terrain  Changes a space from a given terrain type to another, or back.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the desired space.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of a terrain type. If the given space is of this type, change it to the type in Extra 2b. 

    +

    Extra 2b: The number of a terrain type. If the given space is of this type, change it to the type in Extra 2a. 

    +

    Type 173: Transform Terrain  If the terrain in a given space has a terrain type given in the Transform To What field, it is changed to that terrain type. 

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space to transform.

    +

    Type 174: Move Party  The party is moved to a new location. The party cannot be moved while in combat ... if the party is in combat mode, they will not be allowed to enter the space, and the special encounter ends immediately.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space to move them to.

    +

    Extra 2a: If 0, they are simply moved. If non-zero, they are teleported (i.e. there is a noise and a pretty flash of light).

    +

    Type 175: Hit Space  Everything within the specified space takes damage. 

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space to hit.

    +

    Extra 2a: The amount of damage to inflict. (Range 0 ... 1000)

    +

    Extra 2b: This is the type of damage inflicted (0 - weapon, 1 - fire, 2 - poison, 3 - general magic, 4 - unblockable, 5 - cold, 6 - demon,7 - undead)

    +

    Note: Damage doing specials are ignored when called while Talking.

    +

    Type 176: Explosion on Space  Everything within a given radius of the specified space takes damage. Only creatures who can be seen from the exploding space are affected.

    +

    Pict: The radius of the explosion. (Range 0 ... 100)

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space to hit.

    +

    Extra 2a: The amount of damage to inflict. (Range 0 ... 1000)

    +

    Extra 2b: This is the type of damage inflicted (0 - weapon, 1 - fire, 2 - poison, 3 - general magic, 4 - unblockable, 5 - cold, 6 - demon,7 - undead)

    +

    Note: Damage doing specials are ignored when called while Talking.

    +

    Type 177: Lock Space  If the terrain in a given space has Special Type lockable, it becomes locked (i.e. is changed to its locked terrain type). 

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space to lock.

    +

    Type 178: Unlock Space  If the terrain in a given space has Special Type unlockable, it becomes unlocked (i.e. is changed to its locked terrain type). 

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space to unlock.

    +

    Type 179: Do sfx burst  A flashy explosion appears on the specified space. This has no other affect.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space for the explosion to appear on.

    +

    Extra 2a: The type of explosion. 0 - fire  1 - electricity  2 - teleportation

    +

    Note: This does nothing if called when in talking mode.

    +

    Type 180: Make Wandering Monster  A group of wandering monsters appears (at one of the designated wandering monster sites).

    +

    Type 181: Place a Monster  Places a creature of the selected type at the selected space. 

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates to place the monster at.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of the creature to place. Press the Choose button to select the monster.

    +

    Extra 2b: If this is 0, if no creature can go there (for example, a creature is already there), nothing happens. If nonzero, the placement is forced.

    +

    Note: There can be at most 60 creatures in a town/dungeon level at any one time.

    +

    Type 182: Destroy Monster  All creatures of the given type in the dungeon are instantly removed.

    +

    Extra 1a: The type of creature to remove.

    +

    Type 183: Destroy all Monsters  Most or all of the creatures in the dungeon disappear.

    +

    Extra 1a: If this is 0, all creatures disappear. If 1, only friendly creatures disappear. If 2, only hostile creatures disappear.

    +

    Type 184: Generic Lever  A dialog box comes up saying the party has found a lever, and asking if they want to pull it. The dialog buttons are Yes and No. If the No button is pressed, the Jump To special is used. If the Yes button is pushed, the terrain in the special space is turned to its Transform To What type (if this special is called while looking or moving, not talking), and the special node specified in Extra 1b is called. 

    +

    Type 185: Generic Portal  A dialog box comes up saying the party has found a portal, and asking if they want to enter it. The dialog buttons are Enter and Leave. If the Leave button is pressed, the Jump To special is called. Otherwise, the party is moved, and the special encounter ends.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space the party is teleported to if the player pushes Enter.

    +

    Note:  Like all party moving special nodes, if this is called any time besides when walking in town mode, the special encounter ends immediately, and, if moving, the party is not allowed to enter the space.

    +

    Type 186: Generic Button  A dialog box comes up saying the party has found a button, and asking if they want to push it. The dialog buttons are Yes and No. If the No button is pressed, the Jump To special is used. If the Yes button is pushed, the special node specified in Extra 1b is called. 

    +

    Type 187: Generic Stairway  A dialog box comes up saying the party has found a stairway, and asking if they want to climb it. The dialog buttons are Climb and Leave. If the Leave button is pressed, the Jump To special is used, and the party is not allowed to enter the space. If the Climb button is pushed, the party is moved to another town.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space the party is to be placed in in the new town.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of the town to place them in.

    +

    Extra 2b: Determines what text appears in the dialog. 0 - stairs up, 1 - stairs down, 2 - path slopes up, 3 - path slopes down, 4 - slimy stairway up, 5 - slimy stairway down, 6 - dark passage up, 7 - dark passage down.

    +

    Type 188: Lever  A dialog box comes up with text you supply (saying, perhaps, theyve found a lever). The picture in the dialog box is of a terrain type you choose. The dialog buttons are Yes and No. If the No button is pressed, the Jump To special is used. If the Yes button is pushed, the terrain in the special space is turned to its Transform To What type (if this special is called while looking or moving, not talking), and the special node specified in Extra 1b is called. 

    +

    Mess 1: The number of the first message to be displayed in the dialog box. Press the Create/Edit button to edit the text.

    +

    Pict: This is the number of the terrain type to display. To select a picture, press the Select Picture button.

    +

    Extra 1b: The special node to call is Yes is pushed.

    +

    Type 189: Portal  A dialog box comes up (saying, perhaps, theyve found a teleporter). The picture in the dialog box is a dialog picture you choose. The dialog buttons are Enter and Leave.

    +

    Mess 1: The number of the first message to be displayed in the dialog box.  Press the Create/Edit button to edit the text.

    +

    Pict: This is the number of the dialog picture to display. To select a picture, press the Select Picture button.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space the party is teleported to if the player pushes Enter.

    +

    Note:  Like all party moving special nodes, if this is called any time besides when walking in town mode, the special encounter ends immediately, and, if moving, the party is not allowed to enter the space.

    +

    Type 190: Stairway  A dialog comes up text you supply (saying, perhaps, theyve found a stairway). The picture in the dialog box is a dialog picture you choose. The dialog buttons are Climb and Leave. If the Leave button is pressed, the Jump To special is used, and the party is not allowed to enter the space. If the Climb button is pushed, the party is moved to another town.

    +

    Mess 1: The number of the first message to be displayed in the dialog box.  Press the Create/Edit button to edit the text.

    +

    Pict: This is the number of the dialog picture to display. To select a picture, press the Select Picture button.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space the party is to be placed in in the new town.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of the town to place them in.

    +

    Extra 2b: If this is set to 1, the stairway is forced. No dialog box appears. Instead, the party is immediately moved to the different level.

    +

    Type 191: Relocate Outdoors  Changes the outdoors location of the party. 

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the outdoor section to place the party in.

    +

    Extra 2a, Extra 2b: The x and y coordinates of their new location in that sector (Range 0 ... 47, 0 ... 47)

    +

    Uses: If, when the party leaves at the north end of a dungeon, you want them to be in a different location in the outdoors from where they were when the entered, place a special node of this type just before the north exit (where theyre forced to step on it).

    +

    Note:  When this node is called, there is a delay while the new outdoors section is loaded into memory. Try not to call it too often.

    +

    Type 192: Place Item  Places an item on a specified space.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the space to place it on.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of the item to place. Press the Choose button to select an item.

    +

    Type 193: Split Party  This powerful and unique special node splits up the party. The player is asked to select a character. If the player hits Cancel, the node special encounter ends immediately and the party is not allowed to enter the space. Otherwise, the selected character is moved to a given spot and everyone else is left behind. To later reunite the party, use the Reunite Party special node below.

    +

    There are three rules when using this special. First, once the character is alone, never let him or her leave town without reuniting with the party. Second, dont let the character reach another Split Party node. Finally, always make it possible to reach a Reunite Party node. Otherwise, the player will be stuck with only one character permanently.

    +

    If this node is called at any time besides in town mode, while walking or looking, the special encounter ends immediately and this node is ignored.

    +

    When this node is used, if the player sends a PC off alone, the special encounter ends immediately. Only is the player hits Cancel is the Jump To node used.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates to place the alone character in.

    +

    Extra 2a: If 0, nothing else happens. If non-zero, a teleportation noise plays when the party is split up.

    +

    Type 194: Reunite Party  If the party is not split up, this node is ignored. If the party is split up, the lone character is moved back to where the party was when it was split up, the party is rejoined, and the special encounter ends.

    +

    Extra 1a: If 0, nothing else happens. If non-zero, a teleportation noise plays when the party is split up.

    +

    Type 195: Start General Timer  One of the parties town encounter timers is activated. Each move taken, the timer goes down by 1. When it runs out, a town special node is called. If the party leaves town (even to go to a different dungeon level), however, the timer cleared and no special happens.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of moves before the timer runs out. (Range 0 ... 30000)

    +

    Extra 2b: The town special node to call when the timer runs out. If left at No Special, nothing happens.

    +


    +

    Rectangle Specials:

    +


    +

    The remaining Town Special nodes all do things to a rectangle of terrain in the town you select. For these nodes, the values have slightly different meanings than before:

    +


    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b, Extra 2a, Extra 2b: For each of these specials, Extra 1a and Extra 1b are the top and left of the rectangle. Extra 2a and Extra 2b are the bottom and right of the rectangle.

    +

    The default values of Extra 2a and Extra 2b are -1. If you want the effect to only apply to one space (and not a whole rectangle), leave Extra 2a and Extra 2b at -1. In this case, the node only affects the space specified by Extra 1a and Extra 1b.

    +

    Stuff done 1, Stuff done 2: These are used differently than usual. Their special meanings are described below.

    +

    Mess 1, Mess 2: These can be used to display one or two messages when the node is called, as usual. If both are left at -1, no message is displayed.

    +

    Pict: If this is 0 (the default), the entire rectangle is affected. If non-zero, only the outside edges of the rectangle are affected. 

    +


    +

    Type 200: Place Fire Wall   Fills the rectangle with walls of fire.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: The percentage chance that each space will be filled with fire. (Range 0 ... 100)

    +

    Note: Fields are never places on spaces that contain walls, or other impenetrable terrain.

    +

    Type 201: Place Force Wall   Fills the rectangle with walls of force.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Type 202: Place Ice Wall   Fills the rectangle with walls of cold.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Type 203: Place Blade Wall   Fills the rectangle with walls of blades.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Type 204: Place Stinking Cloud  Fills the rectangle with stinking clouds.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Type 205: Place Sleep Field   Fills the rectangle with sleep fields.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Type 206: Place Quickfire   Fills the rectangle with quickfire.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Note: Be careful with this stuff. Always give the party a chance to escape. Also, quickfire cant move through secret doors. Place a few around the quickfire area so the whole dungeon doesnt get flooded with fire.

    +

    Type 207: Place Fire Barrier   Fills the rectangle with fire barriers.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Type 208: Place Force Barrier   Fills the rectangle with force barriers.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Note: Dont block the party in with these. If they dont have the Dispel Barrier spell, theyll be trapped.

    +

    Type 209: Cleanse Rectangle   Removes all fields, walls, clouds, etc. in the rectangle.

    +

    Stuff Done 1: If 0, leave Fire and Force barriers, barrels, crates, and webs alone. If non-zero, erase them too.

    +

    Type 210: Place sfx  Fills the rectangle with a special effect (blood, slime, bone chips, etc.).

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Stuff Done 2: The type of effect (0 - small blood, 1 - medium blood, 2 - large blood, 3 - small slime, 4 - big slime, 5 - ash, 6 - bones, 7 - rubble).

    +

    Type 211: Place barrels, etc.  Fills the rectangle with a permanent effect (webs, barrels, crates)

    +

    Stuff Done 1: As in Place Fire Wall, above.

    +

    Stuff Done 2: The type of effect (0 - web, 1 - barrel, 2 - crate).

    +

    Type 212: Move Items  Moves all of the items in the rectangle to a specified space. Items inside containers are not moved.

    +

    Stuff Done 1, Stuff Done 2: The x and y coordinates of the space to move the items to.

    +

    Type 213: Destroy Items  Destroys all of the items in the rectangle. Be careful not to destroy something the party needs to finish the scenario.

    +

    Type 214: Change Rectangle Terrain  Changes the terrain in the rectangle to a given terrain type.

    +

    Stuff done 1: The number of the terrain type to change it to. 

    +

    Stuff Done 2: The percentage chance that each space will be changed. (Range 0 ... 100)

    +

    Type 215: Swap Rectangle Terrain  Changes the terrain in the rectangle from a given terrain type to another, or back.

    +

    Stuff done 1: The number of a terrain type. If the given space is of this type, change it to the type in Stuff done 2. 

    +

    Stuff done 2: The number of a terrain type. If the given space is of this type, change it to the type in Stuff done 1. 

    +

    Type 216: Transform Rectangle Terrain  Every square of terrain in the rectangle given is changed to the terrain type given in its Transform To What field. 

    +

    Type 217: Lock Rectangle  If the terrain in the rectangle has Special Type lockable, it becomes locked (i.e. is changed to its locked terrain type). 

    +

    Type 218: Unlock Rectangle  If the terrain in the rectangle has Special Type unlockable (or unlockable and bashable), it becomes unlocked (i.e. is changed to its locked terrain type). 

    +


    +

    Outdoor Mode Specials

    +


    +

    These special nodes only have an effect in outdoor mode. If called anywhere but outdoors, all of these nodes immediately jump to the Jump To special.

    +

    For all of these special types, unless the description specifically says it ends the special encounter, once done, each node calls the Jump To node.

    +


    +

    Type 225: Make Outdoor Wandering  A group of wandering monsters appears (at one of the designated wandering monster sites).

    +

    Type 226: Change Out Terrain  Changes an outdoor space to a given terrain type.

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the desired space.

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of the terrain type to change it to.    

    +

    Type 227: Place Outdoor Encounter  Places a special outdoor wandering encounter in a random open space near the party. This can be accompanied by one or two messages, if you wish. 

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of the special outdoor wandering encounter to place. (Range 0 ... 3)

    +

    Type 228: Outdoor Move Party  Moves the party to another location. This can be accompanied by one or two messages, if you wish. 

    +

    Mess1, Mess2: Standard usage.

    +

    Extra 1a, Extra 1b: The x and y coordinates of the desired space.

    +

    Type 229: Outdoor Store  You can places stores outside using this special node type. When called, the special encounter ends immediately, and the party is not allowed to enter the space they were moving into. The game immediately goes into shopping mode.

    +

    In fields Extra 1a and Extra 1b, enter the number of the first item in the scenarios item list that the store sells, and the total number of items the store sells. If the numbers given are, for example, 50 and 10, the store sells items 50-59 from your scenarios item list.

    +

    Mess1: This message is the name of the store the party has found.

    +

    Extra 1a: The number of the item. This is the first item in the stores item list. Press the Choose button to pick an item.

    +

    Extra 1b: The type of store. (0 - items, 1 - mage spells, 2 - priest spells, 3 - alchemy, 4 - healing)

    +

    Extra 2a: The number of items in the store. (Range 1 ... 40) 

    +

    Extra 2b: The item cost adjuster, a number from 0 (very cheap) to 6 (very expensive). See chapter 11 (Dialogue) for the complete list of cost adjustments.

    +


    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/editor/appendix/Terrain.html b/doc/editor/appendix/Terrain.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0d9c4507 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/editor/appendix/Terrain.html @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +

    Appendix 3 - Starting Terrain Types

    +


    +

    There are 256 premade terrain types (numbered 0 - 255) in the basic scenario you start with. Many of them have special properties, or need to be handled in different ways. Remember that terrain types 0-90 cant be edited (except for the graphic).

    +


    +

    Type 0,1 - Cave Floors (2 types)

    +

    Type 2,3,4 - Grass (3 types)

    +

    Type 5-21 - Cave Walls: Terrain 7, 10, 13, and 16 are secret passages. The party can walk through them. Like hills, mountains, and water, the editor automatically adjusts the walls while youre drawing them.

    +

    Type 22-35 - Mountains: Type 23 is high mountains, which cant be flown over. Mountains are automatically surrounded with hills while youre drawing them.

    +

    Type 36-49 - Hills

    +

    Type 50-62 - Surface Water

    +

    Type 63-74 - Various waters, with rocks, bridges, etc.: Note that some of these waters are darker and animated, unlike the lighter earlier waters. These darker water spaces are generally used for subterranean water.

    +

    Type 75,76 - Lava: The second lava type doesnt do damage.

    +

    Type 77 - Waterfall: When the party moves to the space north of this in a boat, they will be thrown two spaces to the south and will lose some food.

    +

    Type 78 - Portal

    +

    Type 79, 80, 81 - Roads (Cave, Grass, Hill): When drawn in the game, the road spaces will be connected by drawn roads. Roads only go up, down, left, and right, not diagonally. You can have a road be drawn smoothly from grass onto hills. To have the road continue unbroken, set the spot of terrain at the border between grass and hills to be hill w. road (not grass w. road).

    +

    Type 82, 83 - Cave and Grass Walkway: Only use the former when drawing walkways on cave floor. Use the latter when drawing walkways around grass.

    +

    Type 84-89 - Rubble

    +

    Type 90 - Pit

    +

    Type 91-100 - Cave floor terrains (trees, mushrooms, etc.). The swamp poisons the party when they walk on it.

    +

    Type 101-109 - Cave terrains (boxes, bodies, etc.). Note that the box and body terrain types are containers.

    +

    Type 110-121 - Grass terrains (trees, shrubbery, etc.). The swamp poisons the party when they walk on it.

    +

    Type 122 - Basic Wall

    +

    Type 123,124 - Wall w. Secret Door, Wall w. Visible Secret Door: When the party walks into the former, it turns into the latter.

    +

    Type 125 - Wall w. Door (Unlocked): Turns into Open Door when walked into.

    +

    Type 126 - Wall w. Door (Locked): Can be picked or bashed to turn into Door (Unlocked)

    +

    Type 127 - Wall w. Door (Magically Locked): Must cast Unlock Door to turn into Door (Unlocked). The party can try to pick or bash it, but it doesnt work.

    +

    Type 128 - Wall w. Door (Impassable): Cant be opened (though a special encounter can change the terrain type). The party can try to pick it, bash it, or cast Unlock Doors, but it doesnt work.

    +

    Type 129 - Wall w. Open Door: If party uses space, it closes the door.

    +

    Type 130, 131 - Wall w. Portcullises: Open and closed. The closed portcullis cant be opened.

    +

    Type 132 - Wall w. Sign

    +

    Type 133-135 - Cracked Wall, Moldy Wall, Fragile Wall: Casting Move Mountains on these walls turns them to rubble.

    +

    Type 136,137 - Wall w. Painting, Window: Scenery

    +

    Type 139-153 - Basalt Walls: All of these terrains function like their regular Wall counterparts They just looks different.

    +

    Type 154=169 - Adobe Walls: All of these terrains function like their regular Wall counterparts They just looks different.

    +

    Type 170 - Floor

    +

    Type 171 - Blocked Floor: Monsters wont walk onto this space.

    +

    Type 172 - Shock Floor: Damages party when they walk on it.

    +

    Type 173 - Floor w. Rune: Monsters wont walk onto this space.

    +

    Type 174-207 - Floors with a variety of decorative terrain types. Some of them (like desk and bookshelf) are containers.

    +

    Type 208,209 - Levers (Advanced): There are used in conjunction with the lever Town special node types.

    +

    Type 210-216 - Nice floor with various terrains. Monsters wont walk on 211 (the second nice floor).

    +

    Type 217-231 - Vahnatai floor types.

    +

    Type 232-245 - Town entries. Notice the fifth town entry is just grass - this is a hidden town.

    +

    Type 246-251 - Special encounter spots (Advanced): These are used in conjunction with One Shot special encounter nodes. If you put a One-Shot special on a space with this terrain type, after the special is triggered the white spot will disappear.

    +

    Type 252-255 - Conveyor Belts: These are conveyor belts, which move the party in the 4 different cardinal directions.

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/game/About.html b/doc/game/About.html index 10de545c..227ca3ba 100644 --- a/doc/game/About.html +++ b/doc/game/About.html @@ -4,12 +4,12 @@ About Blades of Exile - Blades of Exile Guide - +

    Section 1: About Blades of Exile

    About this copy

    -

    This is Blades of Exile, a huge, highly-detailed Shareware fantasy role-playing system for the Macintosh. This remarkable set of programs contains nearly infinite possibilities for adventure. First, the game itself comes with three full, exciting scenarios, filled with excitement, puzzles, and role-playing. Then there is the Blades of Exile scenario editor, which you can use to make your own role-playing adventures to play yourself or trade with friends. Finally, you can obtain scenarios which other people have made with the scenario editor and play through them yourself. Even when you’ve finished the scenarios that come with Blades, you’ve only started to tap the potential for fun this product offers you!

    +

    This is Blades of Exile, a huge, highly-detailed Shareware fantasy role-playing system for the Macintosh. This remarkable set of programs contains nearly infinite possibilities for adventure. First, the game itself comes with three full, exciting scenarios, filled with excitement, puzzles, and role-playing. Then there is the Blades of Exile scenario editor, which you can use to make your own role-playing adventures to play yourself or trade with friends. Finally, you can obtain scenarios which other people have made with the scenario editor and play through them yourself. Even when you've finished the scenarios that come with Blades, you've only started to tap the potential for fun this product offers you!

    In {TODO: insert year}, the source code of the game was released, and {TODO: put something here...}

    About Open Source

    This program is being distributed and licensed under the GNU General Public licence. You should have received a copy of this license with the game – if you haven't, it may be found online at this site. This copy should, when you first receive it, contain a copy of the game, data files, four scenarios, and documentation.

    @@ -17,6 +17,6 @@

    Comments and Bugs

    Any comments and bug reports should be submitted using the form at the Issues page. Please do so. We love to hear from you, and any comments can serve to make this game better. You may also submit suggestions for improvements there.

    System Requirements:

    -

    Blades of Exile for Macintosh requires 3 MB of free memory, Mac OS X (10.4 and newer is supported; it may or may not work on older systems), 7 MB of hard drive space, a 13” screen, and 256 colors. {TODO: This section is probably out of date; update it.}

    +

    Blades of Exile for Macintosh requires 3 MB of free memory, Mac OS X (10.4 and newer is supported; it may or may not work on older systems), 7 MB of hard drive space, a 13" screen, and 256 colors. {TODO: This section is probably out of date; update it.}

    diff --git a/doc/game/Combat.html b/doc/game/Combat.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..17b22d90 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/game/Combat.html @@ -0,0 +1,55 @@ + + + + Killing Stuff - Blade of Exile Guide + + + + + +

    Killing Stuff

    +

    Combat works much like being in town or outdoors, except that you move your party one PC at a time instead of all at once. You will get to move each of your PCs, and then all the other people/monsters move (and maybe attack you). Then the process repeats.

    +

    The main difference between normal town and combat mode, of course, is that you're probably trying to kill something.

    +

    Action Points:Each turn, each character get a base 4 action points. Wearing heavy armor reduces this amount; being hasted increases it. Whenever you do something, this amount goes down. It can go negative, and when your PC has 0 or less action points, your turn ends.

    +

    The actions you can perform in combat are listed below, with their action point cost.

    +

    Line of Sight: A character can only fire a missile or spell at a location he or she can see. Also, trees and other obstructions between the shooter and the target will make the missile less effective.

    +

    When targeting, a line will appear between the attacker and the target. When the line disappears, you can't see the space you're aiming at.

    +

    Moving and Attacking: You move by clicking on the terrain screen in the desired direction. To attack something, move into that thing. The result of your attack will appear to the lower right.

    +

    If you attack someone who wasn't attacking you, you will be asked if you really want to do that. Attacking innocents will bring the town guard down on your head, and you may have a serious problem. Be careful! Merely causing damage to an innocent will also bring the cops down on your head, and you may not get a warning before you do it.

    +

    Switching Places:In combat, when one PC moves into another, they switch places. This is very useful during combat in cramped quarters.

    +

    Stand Ready:As before, when you click on the active character, that character will wait. However, should a hostile creature then move into weapon range, that PC will attack the enemy.

    +

    Targeting: When you cast a magic spell or fire a missile, you select a creature to fire at by clicking on it. When you may want to aim at someone off screen, before selecting your target you can scroll the view around by clicking on the border of the terrain screen.

    +

    The buttons have the following effects:

    +

    Look (Eye, 'l', 0 AP): Looking works much as it did before, with one major difference: when you start looking, you can click on the border of the terrain screen to move the view around, and see things that were off-screen before. Note, however, you cannot see things by scrolling the screen around that you haven't yet seen by being close to them.

    +

    Parry (Shield, 'd', all AP): Should a character be at risk, you can have that character use his or her turn simply defending. How effective this is depends heavily on the defense skill of the character, although there will always be some benefit.

    +

    Get (Hand grabbing scroll, 'g', 4 AP): Works exactly as before, except you don't get to choose who gets the item - the active character gets it.

    +

    Hitting 'G' has your party grab all nearby items. This only works when no monsters are visible.

    +

    Wait ('Wait', 'w', 0 AP): Clicking this has the PC wait for the other PCs to attack. Eventually, he or she will get another chance to act.

    +

    Shoot (Arrow, 's', bow - 3 AP, thrown missile - 2 AP): When you click on this and the active PC has a thrown missile weapon or a bow and arrows equipped, you will shoot a missile at the target you select.

    +

    End Combat ('End', 'e'): In town, when you are through fighting, click this button to go back into town mode (whether or not any foes remain). When in an encounter outdoors, you can resume traveling by clicking this button (although it will only work if all the enemies are dead).

    +

    Active ('Act', 'x'):Clicking on this button makes the current PC the only active PC. None of the other PCs will do anything until the active PC dies, or you click the 'Act' button again.

    +

    Other actions have an action point cost:

    +

    Using An Item (3 AP)

    +

    Equipping/Removing An Item (1 AP)

    +

    Giving An Item (1 AP)

    +

    Dropping An Item (1 AP)

    +

    Moving a Space (1 AP)

    +


    +

    This sums up the things you can do in combat. But what of the rewards, and the risks?

    +

    Getting Damaged, Armor: Every time you get hit, your health goes down. When you receive a blow that would take you to 0 or less health, you end up at 0 health (this is signified by a coughing noise). When you get damaged and have 0 health, you die. When you take a lot of damage and have 0 health, you will be obliterated (making this PC much harder to raise from the dead).

    +

    Fortunately, there is a wide variety of armor in the game. Armor will not reduce the number of blows you take, but will reduce the amount of damage you take when those blows land. However, the heavier the armor, the more it interferes with your ability to attack and cast spells (although defense skill reduces this effect).

    +

    Changing armor takes a while. While you can change helms, gloves boots, and shields in the heat of combat, you cannot change armor.

    +

    Dying:This happens. A lot. When it does, all the newly deceased's possessions drop to the ground in a pile. Should this happen when you are in a boat, you may need to row back for them.

    +

    Items can't be dropped when outdoors. Should someone die when wandering around outside, the items will stay with you until you enter a town or get into combat, at which point they immediately drop to the ground.

    +

    Dead people can be brought back to life. This can be done using certain priest spells, or at the healers you will find in some of the towns. If the killing blow does enough damage, it will turn the PC into dust. It will then be much more difficult to raise him/her from the dead.

    +

    Killing Enemies: Whenever you kill an enemy, the person dealing the death blow gets some experience, and everyone else gets a much smaller amount. Should this experience give you a level, the game will let you know in the text screen.

    +

    Treasure: Will appear when the monster is killed and you get lucky. If you have decent Item Lore skill, the item may even appear fully identified.

    +

    Fleeing: Of course, sometimes the enemy is just too tough. When this happens, it is possible to escape.

    +

    In town combat, you must move your party to the outskirts of town, leave combat mode, and then walk out of town. You cannot leave town when you're in combat,

    +

    In outdoor combat, you flee by moving to the boundary of the battlefield (which will look like a black nothingness) and walk off. If you succeed, the character will have fled. When your whole party is fled or dead, or you've killed all of the enemies and pressed the End Combat button, combat will end and your party will be reunited.

    +

    If you are adjacent to a monster and move away from it, it will get a free attack against you. The same goes in reverse.

    +

    Poisoning a Weapon: Using poison poisons your equipped weapon, which can be either a hand-to-hand weapon or a quiver of arrows (not darts or throwing knives). Hitting a monster with it then does a considerable amount of damage, spread out over time. The level of the poison decreases with every blow delivered and every blow that lands. The poison is lost should you change weapons or leave town.

    +

    Using poison on an already poisoned weapon gives the weapon a strength of poison equal to the maximum strength of the poison already there and the poison you're putting on.

    +

    Enemy Resistances: There are a wide variety of types of damage you can do. Hand to hand weapons do physical damage. Poison is another kind of damage, fire is another, non-fire magic (such as ice bolts or kill spells) is yet another. These sorts of damages affect different monsters differently. Many monsters are resistant to fire. Less are resistant to magic. Very few are resistant to poison, however - keep this in mind when dealing with that pesky enemy mage in the back.

    + + diff --git a/doc/game/Contents.html b/doc/game/Contents.html index 8887238a..ffefd04f 100644 --- a/doc/game/Contents.html +++ b/doc/game/Contents.html @@ -1,7 +1,6 @@ - Blades of Exile Guide + + +


    +


    +

    Section 11: The Blades of Exile Editor

    +


    +

    Section 11.1: What is the Blades of Exile Editor

    +


    +

         This copy of Blades of Exile comes with the Blades of Exile Character Editor, a simple utility for improving your Blades of Exile party in a mind-boggling variety of ways. 

    +

         The unregistered (i.e. as is) version of the editor can give you unlimited gold and food, heal your party, and do several other useful things (go to the section on menus, and read about the Free Extras menu). The registered version can do much more - give you all sorts of items, complete your quests and give you maps, add as much experience and skill as you want, and more. The registered version comes with Blades of Exile registration.

    +


    +

    Section 11.2: Using the Editor

    +


    +

    11.2.1 - How to use the editor.

    +


    +

         The Blades of Exile editor is very easy to use. To do so,

    +

    1. Run it. It's called Blades Character Editor.

    +

    2. Select Open from the File menu.

    +

    3. Select the save file to edit.

    +

    4. Make the changes.

    +

    5. Select Save from the File menu.

    +


    +

         To make a change, press one of the other buttons. Their uses are described in the next five chapters. Note, however, if you, in an unregistered copy, selecting any option not in the Free Extras menu prevents you from saving that party.

    +


    +

    11.2.2 - A Serious Warning

    +


    +

         The Blades of Exile Editor is a powerful utility, and, as has been said, "With great power comes great responsibility." It is not only possible, but in fact quite easy to use the editor to make the game unwinnable. All you need to do is dispose of the wrong item, or rub away the memory of the wrong piece of information. The editor can also correct the damage, of course. But as a rule of thumb, it is best to 

    +

       1. Be careful, 

    +

       2. ALWAYS keep an unaltered back-up save file, and

    +

       3. Only do positive things with the editor. It's generally safe to give yourself new information or a new item, but very risky to take things away.

    +


    +

    11.2.3 - Using the Main Screen

    +


    +

    Once you've opened a save file, you'll see your party displayed on the main screen. One character's button will be blue. This is the active character. Click on another character to make him/her active.

    +

    To the right is the active character's inventory. To drop an item, click the 'D' button. To identify an item, click the 'I' button.

    +

    To the right are the five buttons you can use to edit this character:

    +


    +

    Add Mage Spells, Add Priest Spells:  Enables you to give or take away the character's ability to cast certain spells. Press the button to the right of a spell to toggle the spell on/off. When the button is lighted green, the party knows the spell.

    +

    Edit Traits:  Enables you to change the character's race, advantages, and disadvantages.

    +

    Edit Skills:  Works like the training window in Blades of Exile, but all training is free. Press the + and - buttons to increment and decrement a skill.

    +

    Edit XP:  Enables you to set the number of experience points the character has. Note that, if you give enough experience for the character to gain a level, the new level won't be awarded right away. The character will get the new level the next time he or she gains experience in Blades of Exile.

    +


    +

    Section 11.2: The Blades of Exile Editor Menu

    +


    +

    Most of the Blades of Exile Editor's features are activated through the menus.

    +


    +

    File Menu:

    +

    Save - Records the changes you've made. If the editor is unregistered and you've used features not in the Free Extras menu, this won't work.

    +

    Open - Reads one of your save files in for editing.

    +

    How To Order - Tells you how to register Blades of Exile.

    +

    Quit - When you're ready to get back to business.

    +


    +

    Free Extras:  (All the stuff you can use without paying.)

    +

    Edit Gold, Editor Food:  When selected, you will be allowed to set how much gold or food your party has.

    +

    Leave Town - Should you become trapped in a town, say by a horde of guards between you and the exit, selecting this option moves your party to the dungeon entrance. Things you did in the dungeon will not be recorded, and your maps will not be saved. Stuff you got will remain yours.

    +

    Be careful using this option. Suppose, for example, you're in a dungeon you can only enter once, and there's something you need to do inside to win. Use the Leave Town option then, and you won't able to finish the scenario. Back up your save file before using this option.

    +

    Reunite Party - Sometimes your party gets split up in dungeons. Selecting this option reunites them. As with Leave Town, be careful. This option can deny you the chance to do something you need to do to win the scenario.

    +

    Make Towns Forget You - Only use this outside town (use Leave Towns first). Any towns that were angry at you will forget about it. Any monsters slain in the dungeons will return to life. This does not affect the people of Shayder's anger if you rob the Anama temple.

    +

    Heal Damage, Restore Spell Points - These restore your characters to full health and energy.

    +

    Cure Dead, Stoning, etc. - All Dead, Dust, and Stoned characters will be restored to life.

    +

    Remove Bad Conditions - All nasty conditions (e.g. disease, dumbfound) will be cured.

    +

    Remove Party From Scenario - Sometimes you'll be stuck and won't be able to reach the end of a scenario. Sometimes you'll just be sick of it and want out. Use this option. The next time you load this party, you'll be on the Blades of Exile title screen, ready to go on a new adventure.

    +


    +

    Special Edit:  (Editor must be registered)

    +

    Add Alchemy -  This brings up a menu from which you can add and delete knowledge of alchemical recipes. Click on the light by a recipe to add it. Click again to delete it.

    +

    Own all Boats/Horses - All boats and horses will become your property.

    +

    Edit Day - This lets you set the current day. Be careful using this - it can have very peculiar effects.

    +

    Add Outdoor Maps, Add Town Maps - When you select one of these options the Automap in Blades of Exile will display all of the town/outdoor section your party is in. Great for finding hidden stuff!

    +


    +

    Item 1, Item 2, Item 3, Item 4:  (Editor must be registered)

    +

    These menus list a wide variety of useful items. Select an item to have it added to the inventory of the active PC.

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/game/Hints.html b/doc/game/Hints.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..7d6fa166 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/game/Hints.html @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +


    +


    +

    Section 12: Hints For Getting Started

    +


    +

    Blades of Exile is not an easy game. The monsters are many, and very unforgiving of error. Gold can often be scarce, and the puzzles are tricky. Fortunately, when the going gets tough, there are plenty of resources available to you:

    +


    +

    * Change the game. Select the Preferences option from the File menu, and select Easier Monsters. Your fights from then on will be a lot less stressful. You can also reduce the number of wandering monsters, but this may not be a good idea, as ...

    +

    * Wandering monsters are your friends. In Valley of Dying Things, wander around the surface in the northeast corner of valley, killing goblins and bandits. They have good gold, and aren't too tough to fight. Rely heavily on magic at first, until your fighters gain experience.

    +

    * There's a lot of encounters and treasures hidden in the outdoors. Remember - to search for secret passages, walk into walls. Walking into mountains around the start will reveal several bits of loot.

    +

    * Don't forget to take all the stuff in Fort Talrus (in Valley of Dying Things). There's stuff for you in all of the storerooms. Use the Unlock spell to get into the locked rooms.

    +

    * If you get stuck on a puzzle, look in the next chapter. There's a walkthrough for Valley of Dying Things..

    + + diff --git a/doc/game/Intro.html b/doc/game/Intro.html index 5343d06a..237c0692 100644 --- a/doc/game/Intro.html +++ b/doc/game/Intro.html @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Getting Started - Blades of Exile Guide - +

    Getting Started

    @@ -114,42 +114,72 @@

    To find out what all these skills are good for, keep reading...

    Getting To Know Your Characters:

    Your little computerized people are, basically, a whole bunch of numbers, each determining how well he or she deals with the horrid threats the game will come up with. These are the most important statistics.

    -{TODO: Format these nicely.} -

    Level and Experience: These two numbers (starting at 1 and 0 respectively) represent how much stuff your character has done. Your experience goes up when you kill stuff and complete missions. For every 100 experience points you get (adjusted up or down for race and PC traits), your level increases (up to a maximum of 50). When your level increases, you gain some health points and skill points (described below), and become a little better at everything you do. Alas, the higher your level, the fewer skill points and health you gain.

    -

    Skill Points: As mentioned before, these points are the money you will spend to increase your skills. After creating your character, you will spend them at training schools, located in certain towns. For example, in Valley of Dying Things, Lillian in Sweetgrove does training.

    -

    Current Health: This very important number represents how much punishment your PC can take before dying. Every time he or she is damaged, the number goes down. Time and magical healing raise it again, up to your maximum amount. Keep an eye on it!<

    -

    Every skill point spent on health increases your maximum by 2.

    -

    Spell Points: This number represents how many and how powerful spells your PC can cast. Whenever a spell is cast, you lose some spell points. Time and certain magic items bring the level back up.

    -

    Every skill point spent on spell points increases your maximum by 1. Also, every level of Mage Spells and Priest Spells (described below) bought while creating your character gives you three bonus spell points.

    -

    You can have a maximum of 250 health points and 100 spell points.

    +
    +
    Level and Experience
    +
    These two numbers (starting at 1 and 0 respectively) represent how much stuff your character has done. Your experience goes up when you kill stuff and complete missions. For every 100 experience points you get (adjusted up or down for race and PC traits), your level increases (up to a maximum of 50). When your level increases, you gain some health points and skill points (described below), and become a little better at everything you do. Alas, the higher your level, the fewer skill points and health you gain. +
    Skill Points
    +
    As mentioned before, these points are the money you will spend to increase your skills. After creating your character, you will spend them at training schools, located in certain towns. For example, in Valley of Dying Things, Lillian in Sweetgrove does training.
    +
    Current Health
    +
    This very important number represents how much punishment your PC can take before dying. Every time he or she is damaged, the number goes down. Time and magical healing raise it again, up to your maximum amount. Keep an eye on it!
    +Every skill point spent on health increases your maximum by 2. +You can have a maximum of 250 health points.
    +
    Spell Points
    +
    This number represents how many and how powerful spells your PC can cast. Whenever a spell is cast, you lose some spell points. Time and certain magic items bring the level back up.
    +Every skill point spent on spell points increases your maximum by 1. Also, every level of Mage Spells and Priest Spells (described below) bought while creating your character gives you three bonus spell points.
    +You can have a maximum of 100 spell points.
    +

    The myriad skills you can buy for your characters are described below. Each can attain a maximum level of 20, unless otherwise specified. The cost for each skill in Skill Points is in parentheses after its name. Note that, when training in these skills later, each point of increase will cost gold, too.

    -

    Strength (3): Measures how much brute strength the character possesses. High strength increases damage done in combat, improves odds of kicking down doors, and has other, more subtle effects.

    -

    IMPORTANT - Strength also affects how much health you gain when you attain a level, and how many items you can carry. Buy strength up to 3 as soon as possible. Otherwise, you won't gain much health when you gain levels.

    -

    Dexterity (3): Measures how nimble the character is. High dexterity gives a better chance of hitting in combat (esp. with missile weapons) and makes the character harder to hit. High dexterity also makes picking locks and disarming traps easier.

    -

    Intelligence (3): Measures mental strength and dexterity. High intelligence also makes your spells more effective, sometimes very much so. Intelligence below 4 makes your spells work poorly.

    +
    +
    Strength (3)
    +
    Measures how much brute strength the character possesses. High strength increases damage done in combat, improves odds of kicking down doors, and has other, more subtle effects.
    +IMPORTANT - Strength also affects how much health you gain when you attain a level, and how many items you can carry. Buy strength up to 3 as soon as possible. Otherwise, you won't gain much health when you gain levels.
    +
    Dexterity (3)
    +
    Measures how nimble the character is. High dexterity gives a better chance of hitting in combat (esp. with missile weapons) and makes the character harder to hit. High dexterity also makes picking locks and disarming traps easier.
    +
    Intelligence (3)
    +
    Measures mental strength and dexterity. High intelligence also makes your spells more effective, sometimes very much so. Intelligence below 4 makes your spells work poorly.
    +

    The above three skills are important. When high, they give many bonuses in the things you do. On the other hand, when one of these three skills is below 4, the PC will have penalties in any situation involving that skills. A PC in combat with a 1 dexterity will miss a lot.

    -

    Edged (2), Bashing (2), Pole (2), Thrown Missile (1), Bow (3): The higher the skill, the better the chance to hit in the appropriate weapon type:

    -

    Edged: Daggers, swords, axes.

    -

    Bashing: Clubs, maces, flails, hammers.

    -

    Pole: Spears, halberds, bardiches, slith spears.

    -

    Thrown Missile: Darts, Thrown daggers

    -

    Bow: Bows, Crossbows

    -

    Defense (2): This skill has three effects. It determines how well a character does at parrying, decreases the penalty in combat from bulky armor, and occasionally decreases the damage taken from enemies' weapons.

    -

    Bulky armor prevents a character from casting mage spells. However, when your armor is only a little too bulky, sometimes casting a mage spell will sometimes work when the mage has high defense skill.

    -

    Mage Spells (6), Priest Spells (5): These two skills are very expensive and very powerful. They enable the owner to cast spells of the appropriate type of a level up to the level of skill owned. The maximum level for both is 7.

    -

    You automatically know most spells of level 3 and below. It takes some time to find spells of level 4 and above. Thus, getting these skills above level 3 at the beginning may not be a good idea.

    -

    Mage Lore (1): You will occasionally need to decipher strange magical readings. This skill determines how good you are at this. If your skill is high enough, you may gain a spell or a valuable piece of information. What is important when trying to decipher something is how much of this skill is present in the party. One character with 18 Mage Lore is equivalent to 6 characters with 3 Mage Lore.

    -

    Alchemy (2): You will eventually gain the ability to make magic potions. To make a given potion, however, your Alchemy skill must be above a certain level. The higher it is above this level, the better the chance of succeeding.

    -

    When one PC is trying to make a potion, only that PC's Alchemy skill counts. Thus, it is much, much better to have one PC with high Alchemy skill than several PCs with low Alchemy skill.

    -

    Item Lore (4): When you kill a monster, there will occasionally be items on its body. Normally, you wouldn't know what they were. However, Item Lore skill makes it possible that when you find the item, you will know what it is. Otherwise, you would have to take it to town and spend money to identify it.

    -

    The higher the Item Lore, the better the chance of the item appearing identified. In general, several PCs with low Item Lore is better than one PC with high Item Lore.

    -

    Item Lore does not affect items already in town when you enter, or items gained in special encounters.

    -

    Traps (2): Many chests and some corridors will have traps on them, which can be devastating. You will, however, be given a chance to pick a PC to disarm it. Chance of success depends on this skill.

    -

    Pick Locks (2): Many towns and dungeons will have locked doors. A PC with some of this skill and lock picks equipped can try to pick them. The higher this skill, the better. Beware. Some locks are magical, and cannot be picked. Try the spell Unlock Doors on these.

    -

    Assassination (4): Sometimes, when a character attacks a much weaker monster, the blow will do a good deal of extra damage. The more of this skill you have, the better the chance of this happening, and the stronger the monsters it can affect.

    -

    Poison (2): You will find poisons, which you can put on your weapons for a little extra punch. Having a few levels in this skill will make it more likely you will put the poison on at full strength, and the less likely you will nick yourself with the poison accidentally.

    -

    Although you can buy a lot of this skill, 3-4 levels should be sufficient.

    -

    Luck (5): This skill is expensive, but can be a bargain at twice the cost. Its effects are pervasive, subtle, powerful, and sometimes irreplaceable.

    +
    +
    Edged (2)
    +
    The higher the skill, the better the chance to hit with daggers, swords, axes, and other bladed weapons.
    +
    Bashing (2)
    +
    The higher the skill, the better the chance to hit with clubs, maces, flails, hammers, and other blunt weapons.
    +
    Pole (2)
    +
    The higher the skill, the better the chance to hit with spears, halberds, bardiches, slith spears, and other pole weapons.
    +
    Thrown Missile (1)
    +
    The higher the skill, the better the chance to hit darts, thrown daggers, and most other missile weapons.
    +
    Bow (3)
    +
    The higher the skill, the better the chance to hit with bows and crossbows
    +
    Defense (2)
    +
    This skill has three effects. It determines how well a character does at parrying, decreases the penalty in combat from bulky armor, and occasionally decreases the damage taken from enemies' weapons.
    +Bulky armor prevents a character from casting mage spells. However, when your armor is only a little too bulky, sometimes casting a mage spell will sometimes work when the mage has high defense skill.
    +
    Mage Spells (6)
    +
    This skill is very expensive and very powerful. It enables the owner to cast Mage spells of a level up to the level of skill owned. The maximum level is 7.
    +You automatically know most spells of level 3 and below. It takes some time to find spells of level 4 and above. Thus, getting these skills above level 4 at the beginning may not be a good idea.
    +
    Priest Spells (5)
    +
    This skill is very expensive and very powerful. It enables the owner to cast Priest spells of a level up to the level of skill owned. The maximum level is 7.
    +You automatically know most spells of level 3 and below. It takes some time to find spells of level 4 and above. Thus, getting these skills above level 4 at the beginning may not be a good idea.
    +
    Mage Lore (1)
    +
    You will occasionally need to decipher strange magical readings. This skill determines how good you are at this. If your skill is high enough, you may gain a spell or a valuable piece of information. What is important when trying to decipher something is how much of this skill is present in the party. One character with 18 Mage Lore is equivalent to 6 characters with 3 Mage Lore.
    +
    Alchemy (2)
    +
    You will eventually gain the ability to make magic potions. To make a given potion, however, your Alchemy skill must be above a certain level. The higher it is above this level, the better the chance of succeeding.
    +When one PC is trying to make a potion, only that PC's Alchemy skill counts. Thus, it is much, much better to have one PC with high Alchemy skill than several PCs with low Alchemy skill.
    +
    Item Lore (4)
    +
    When you kill a monster, there will occasionally be items on its body. Normally, you wouldn't know what they were. However, Item Lore skill makes it possible that when you find the item, you will know what it is. Otherwise, you would have to take it to town and spend money to identify it.
    +The higher the Item Lore, the better the chance of the item appearing identified. In general, several PCs with low Item Lore is better than one PC with high Item Lore.
    +Item Lore does not affect items already in town when you enter, or items gained in special encounters.
    +
    Traps (2)
    +
    Many chests and some corridors will have traps on them, which can be devastating. You will, however, be given a chance to pick a PC to disarm it. Chance of success depends on this skill.
    +
    Pick Locks (2)
    +
    Many towns and dungeons will have locked doors. A PC with some of this skill and lock picks equipped can try to pick them. The higher this skill, the better. Beware. Some locks are magical, and cannot be picked. Try the spell Unlock Doors on these.
    +
    Assassination (4)
    +
    Sometimes, when a character attacks a much weaker monster, the blow will do a good deal of extra damage. The more of this skill you have, the better the chance of this happening, and the stronger the monsters it can affect.
    +
    Poison (2)
    +
    You will find poisons, which you can put on your weapons for a little extra punch. Having a few levels in this skill will make it more likely you will put the poison on at full strength, and the less likely you will nick yourself with the poison accidentally.
    +Although you can buy a lot of this skill, 3-4 levels should be sufficient.
    +
    Luck (5)
    +
    This skill is expensive, but can be a bargain at twice the cost. Its effects are pervasive, subtle, powerful, and sometimes irreplaceable.
    +

    Eventually, one way or another, you will have a party to control. At this point, you will be returned to the main menu, where you can select a scenario.

    diff --git a/doc/game/Mage.html b/doc/game/Mage.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1ecb56e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/game/Mage.html @@ -0,0 +1,103 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +


    +

    Section 10: Mage Spells: 

    +


    +

          These are the spells available to your mages. A character starts with most of the first three levels of spells automatically. The higher level spells must be found or bought.

    +

          PCs can cast spells on other PCs regardless of the distance between them. Hostile spells, on the other hand, can only affect monsters sufficiently nearby. The number in parenthesis after the name is the cost of the spell in spell points. When there is an R and a number, the second number is the range for the spell.

    +


    +

    Level 1:

    +

    Light:  (C 1) Creates a weak light.

    +

    Spark:  (C 1, R 6) Fires a weak bolt of electricity at an enemy.

    +

    Minor Haste: (C 1)  Makes the selected PC move faster for a while. All haste spells take effect at the beginning of the next round.

    +

    Strength:  (C 1)  Makes the selected PC more skilled for a short time. Works like the priest spell ‘Bless.’

    +

    Scare:  (C 1, R 6)  Decreases the morale of the victim. Casting this on a weak foe will make the foe flee. Even if the monster doesn't flee, later castings have a higher chance of success.

    +

    Flame Cloud:  (C 2, R 7)  This spell fills the selected space with a short-lasting wall of fire.

    +

    Identify:  (C 15)  This draining spell makes all of your parties unidentified items identified.

    +

    Scry Monster:  (C 2, R 14)  When cast, you receive information about the monster you target: current health, spell points, etc. In addition, this monster will now appear on your Monster Info menu.

    +

    Goo: (C 1, R 8) This spell covers the target with sticky goo, slowing it down and interfering  with its attacks.

    +

    True Sight: (C 3)  This spell lets you see everything in a short radius around you, even spaces blocked off by walls. It's useful for finding secret passages, for example.

    +


    +

    Level 2:

    +

    Minor Poison:  (C 2, R 6) Poisons the target creature. This does a fair amount of damage, but it takes time to happen.

    +

    Flame:  (C 3, R 8)  Fires a decent-sized bolt of flame at the target. The damage done increases with the level of the caster.

    +

    Slow:  (C 2, R 7)  Makes the victim get half its usual number of actions for a while.

    +

    Dumbfound:  (C 2, R 10)   Makes the victim incompetent: easier to hit, easier to damage, and less able to attack you.

    +

    Envenom:  (C 2)  This spell puts poison on the weapon of the selected PC, with no chance of failure or accidental poisoning.

    +

    Stinking Cloud:  (C 2, R 8)  When cast, a 3x3 area you select becomes filled with choking gasses. Anyone entering will be cursed. The gas will slowly fade on its own.

    +

    Summon Beast: (C 4)  This spell summons one low-level non-magical monster to fight on your side. It disappears after a short time.

    +

    Conflagration:  (C 4, R 8) This spell makes the air in a radius 2 circle burst into flames, charring anyone inside the cloud. After creation, the cloud will rapidly fade.

    +

    Dispel Field:  (C 2, R 10) This spell erases a magical field in a target space. It does not work on certain powerful sorts of field.

    +

    Sleep Cloud: (C 6)  This spell creates a small sleep field around the target space.

    +


    +

    Level 3:

    +

    Unlock: (C 3)   Some doors are magically locked, and others are just hard to open. This spell will crack them. However, it isn’t guaranteed to succeed, and won’t work on all doors.

    +

    Haste:  (C 3)  Makes the selected PC get twice the usual number of actions for a long time.

    +

    Fireball:  (C 5, R 12)  Fires a powerful ball of flame, which affects 

    +

    the target space and every space adjacent. The damage done increases with the level of the caster.

    +

    Long Light:  (C 3)  Like the first level light spell, but much more effective.

    +

    Fear:  (C 3, R 10)  Like scare, but much more powerful.

    +

    Wall of Force:  (C 5, R 12)  This powerful spell creates a line of force walls, which are like fire walls but more damaging and lasting. Hitting space while targeting this spell makes the wall rotate.

    +

    Weak Summoning: (C 6, R 4)  When cast, a group of monsters appears and attacks all enemies of the caster. The number of monsters depends on the level of the caster. After a time, they disappear.

    +

    Flame Arrows:  (C 4, R 10)  This spell is like flame, but the caster gets to select several targets. The number of missiles increases with the level of the caster. If you don't want to use all the missiles, hit space to cast the spell.

    +

    Web:  (C 6, R 8) This spell covers a large circle with icky webs, slowing down everyone inside. The webs last until torn down.

    +

    Resist Magic: (C 4)  You can cast this spell on another PC to make him/her resistant to magical damage and effects. Note this does not help against damage from fire and cold.

    +


    +

    Level 4:

    +

    Poison:  (C 4, R 8)  This makes poison run thick in the veins of the target. Repeated castings will have a devastating effect.

    +

    Ice Bolt:  (C 5, R 12)  Slams the target with a heavy, pointed bolt of ice. Effective against monsters who are resistant to fire. Damage increases as level of caster increases.

    +

    Slow Group:  (C 4, R 12)  Makes all monsters within a 12 space radius move at half speed for a time.

    +

    Magic Map:  (C 8)  This powerful spell gives you a vision of the entire level. Your map will show you the entire area. However, to cast this spell requires a sapphire.

    +

    Capture Soul:  (C 30, R 10) You need a Soul Crystal to cast this. When you cast it on a monster, you attempt to store a copy of it in your Soul Crystal, so you can later recreate it with the simulacrum spell. The stronger the monster, the lower the chance of success.

    +

    Simulacrum:  (C ?)  This spell summons a monster you select from your Soul Crystal. The cost depends on the level of the monster being summoned.

    +

    Venom Arrows:  (C 8, R 8) This spell is similar to Flame Arrows, except that your targets become poisoned.

    +

    Wall of Ice: (C 6, R 8)  This spell is similar to Wall of Force, except that it creates an ice wall. Ice walls do as much damage as force walls, but last a lot longer.

    +


    +

    Level 5:

    +

    Stealth: (C 5)   This powerful spell makes monsters less likely to see you for a time which depends on your level. Try casting it before walking through a room crowded with monsters.

    +

    Major Haste: (C 8)   Gives the entire party double the actions for a time depending on the level of the caster.

    +

    Fire Storm:  (C 8, R 14)  This spell is like fireball, but does more damage, and affects all creatures within two spaces of the space you target. Be careful not to fry your party!

    +

    Dispel Barrier:  (C 6)  In some towns, you will find magical barriers blocking you from certain areas. This spell will remove them. The 

    +

    chance of success starts low, but improves with the caster’s level. Some barriers are harder to dispel than others, some cannot be dispelled, and it is rumored some barriers can be walked through.

    +

    Fire Barrier:  (C 9) This spell creates a single fire barrier at the target space. Fire barriers are damaging and permanent.

    +

    Summoning:  (C 10) This spell is like Minor Summoning, but summons more powerful monsters.

    +

    Shockstorm: (C 6, R 10) This spell creates a large sphere of force walls.

    +

    Spray Fields: (C 6, R 12) This spell creates a large number of small fields of a random sort, each of which may be individually targeted. The number of fields increases with the level of the caster.

    +


    +

    Level 6:

    +

    Major Poison:  (C 7, R 8)  This spell makes the targeted monster very poisoned. This spell does a lot of damage, but it takes time to take effect.

    +

    Group Fear:  (C 6, R 12)  When cast, the caster begins to radiate a horrible aura of fear. All monsters within 12 spaces lose a lot of morale. This spell gains effectiveness rapidly with the level of the caster.

    +

    Kill:  (C 8, R 6)  The deadly Kill spell deals a devastating blow to one target you select.

    +

    Paralyze: (C 7, R 8)  This spell has a chance of paralyzing the target. Paralysis lasts for a very long time.

    +

    Daemon:  (C 12)  This dangerous spell summons a beast from the netherworld to fight at your side.

    +

    Antimagic Cloud: (C 10)   This spell creates a spherical field, from which no spells may be cast and in which no spells may be targeted. After creation, it slowly fades.

    +

    Mindduel:  (C 12)  When cast on a magic using enemy, the two creatures get in a mental battle, absorbing spell points from each other. The loser may end up dumbfounded or killed. Requires a Smoky Crystal to cast.

    +

    Flight:  (C 20)  When cast outdoors, the party can fly for a short time.

    +


    +

    Level 7:

    +

    Shockwave:  (C 12)  A dangerous spell. It sends a wave of force out from the caster, damaging everyone  nearby--monsters and PCs. The farther someone is from the caster, the more damage is taken, out to a radius of 10. Don’t cast this spell in towns.

    +

    Major Blessing:  (C 8)  When cast, the entire party is blessed and hasted, and has their weapons mildly poisoned.

    +

    Mass Paralysis: (C 20, R 8)  This spell has a chance of paralyzing any foes within 8 spaces of the caster. Very dangerous.

    +

    Protection:  (C 10)  One of the most powerful spells in the mage’s repertoire. It makes the whole party temporarily magic resistant, and makes one PC you select immune to ALL damage for a short time.

    +

    Major Summoning: (C 14)  This spell works like Summoning, but brings forth much more powerful creatures.

    +

    Force Barrier: (C 10)  This spell creates an impenetrable, permanent barrier. Be careful not to trap yourself.

    +

    Quickfire: (C 50)   Devastating beyond words, this spell creates a space of quickfire, which will sweep over the area killing everyone and everything.

    +

    Death Arrows: (C 10, R 6) This spell is like the previous Arrow spells, but strikes each target with a kill spell. The number of arrows increases with the level of the caster.

    +


    + + diff --git a/doc/game/Menus.html b/doc/game/Menus.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0b045b9f --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/game/Menus.html @@ -0,0 +1,106 @@ + + + + The Blades of Exile Menus - Blades of Exile Guide + + + + + +

    The Blades of Exile Menus

    +

    Blades of Exile’s menus can perform many of the actions in the game, and dispense help and information as well.

    +

    File Menu

    +
    +
    Open
    +
    Selecting this has you load in one of your older games. You can do this anytime.
    +
    Save, Save As
    +
    This option has Blades of Exile take a "snapshot" of your current position in the game, so you can resume from this point later, should you mess up. Blades of Exile will prompt you for the name of your save file. You can only save the game in town or outdoors. Making several back-up save files is recommended.
    +
    New Game
    +
    Should you get fed up, you can start over again.
    +
    Preferences
    +
    This option brings up the preferences dialog. This is described below.
    +
    Quit
    +
    When you’ve just plain had enough.
    +
    +

    The Preferences Window

    +

    From here, you can change how the game plays.

    +
    +
    Display Alignment
    +
    This option determines how the Blades of Exile window is drawn on the screen. You can have the game take up the full screen, with the game information drawn in a corner you choose, or you can play Blades of Exile in a window you can drag around the screen.
    +
    Game Speed (Fast/Medium/Slow)
    +
    This option reduces or increases the speed at which things take place.
    +
    No graphics frills
    +
    When turned on, most of Blades of Exile’s animation and graphics tricks disappears, resulting in a dramatic increase in game speed.
    +
    Turn off terrain animation
    +
    When on, Blades of Exile’s terrain will not be animated, making the game go faster.
    +
    Turn off frills on shore
    +
    When on, the frilly edge at the edge of pits, water, and lava won’t be drawn, making the game go faster.

    +
    Don’t Save Maps
    +
    Normally, the game stores maps you’ve found in your save files. This makes the save files 60K larger. Selecting this option keeps Blades of Exile from saving your maps, resulting in smaller save files.
    +
    No Sounds
    +
    This option turns off the game’s sounds.
    +
    Show Room Descriptions More Than Once
    +
    Often, you will find a special encounter which shows a description of what you’ve just found. Once found, most of these won’t be printed again. This option makes the messages kept around to be printed whenever you encounter them.
    +
    Never Show Instant Help
    +
    When selected, the Instant Help windows will never appear.
    +
    Reset Instant Help
    +
    Click on this to make all Instant Help windows appear again.
    +
    Make Game Easier
    +
    When on, monsters will have fewer health points, and do less damage.
    +
    Fewer Wandering Monsters
    +
    When on, fewer monsters will randomly appear outdoors and in towns.
    +
    No Targeting Line (Windows Only)
    +
    If experiencing crashes when targeting a missile or spell, you may have problems with your display driver. Turn this on to remove the problem.
    +
    Fewer Sounds (Windows Only)
    +
    If you have an older sound card (or sound card driver), some sound effects may cause crashes. Turn this on to remove the problem.
    +
    +

    Options Menu

    +
    +
    Pick New PC Graphic
    +
    You can use this option to change the graphic of a PC. You will be asked which PC.
    +
    Pick New PC Name
    +
    You can use this option to change the name of a PC. You will be asked which PC.
    +
    Create New PC
    +
    When this is selected in the town you start the scenario in, you can create a new PC. Of course, this only works when you have less than 6 people in your party.
    +
    Delete a PC
    +
    This lets you select a character to delete permanently.
    +
    See Talking Notes
    +
    When you record something while talking to somebody in town, you can review it here.
    +
    See Encounter Notes
    +
    When you record a message in a special encounter, you can review it here.
    +
    See Overall Party Stats
    +
    This brings up a tally of how many things you’ve killed, how much experience you’ve gained, and other vital statistics.
    +
    +

    Help Menu:

    +

    This menu brings up various reminders of the commands in the game. As a shortcut, typing ‘?’ brings up the most relevant help screen for your current situation.

    +

    Monsters Menu:

    +

    This menu provides a reference for monsters in the games, and their vital statistics. You can make a monster appear here by casting Scry Monster on it.

    +

    Library Menu:

    +

    These library menu options are extremely useful. They are your best source for information about Blades of Exile: its spells and monsters, handy tips for playing, and other useful things.

    +
    +
    Mage Spells
    +
    This brings up a window which describes all of the mage spells in the game.

    +
    Priest Spells
    +
    This brings up a window which describes all of the priest spells in the game.

    +
    Skills
    +
    This option brings up a window describing the different skills your characters can attain, and giving hints for how much of them to buy and when.

    +
    Alchemy & Poison
    +
    This window describes the different alchemical concoctions and how to make them, and tells how best to use poison.

    +
    Tip of the Day
    +
    This very useful option gives a host of hints for playing Blades of Exile.

    +
    Show Introductory Dialog
    +
    This option brings up the dialog you saw the first time you ran the game.

    +
    +

    Actions Menu

    +
    +
    Do Alchemy
    +
    When in town, select this option to try to make a potion. There is more information on this in the next section.
    +
    Wait 100 Moves
    +
    When in town, you cannot make camp. Selecting this option, however, has you wait for a long time in order to regain health and spells points. Beware - the monsters can use this time to get reinforcements.
    +
    Display AutoMap
    +
    This brings up a map of your current location.
    +
    +

    Mage Spells, Priest Spells

    +

    These menus constantly list the spells the active PC can currently cast. Select a spell to cast it.

    + + diff --git a/doc/game/Misc.html b/doc/game/Misc.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5fde1267 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/game/Misc.html @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ + + + + Miscellaneous - Blades of Exile Guide + + + + + +

    Miscellaneous

    +

    Material Wealth

    +

    There are three sorts of possessions you can come across:

    +

    Gold: Well, this isn’t always literal chunks of gold. It’s gold nuggets or silver coins or trade goods or anything else you can give people to get stuff. You start with a small amount, and can get more.

    +

    Food: Preserved giant lizard steaks, dried mushrooms, yummy, tangy lichens, and all the other rich bounty of Exile. Every once in a while you will eat some of it, one unit for each active PC. Not having enough food results in starvation, damage, and bad things.

    +

    Items: Each PC can carry 24 objects, such as armor, helmets, tools, weapons, etc. You can do various things with these items. These are described in Chapter 4.

    +

    You can only carry so much weight. The amount of bulk you can carry depends on your strength. Armor is very heavy, while potions and scrolls aren’t.

    +

    When equipping items, you only have two hands, and some weapons take up both of them. You can only wear two rings, and one necklace (too many magic items interfere with each other in bizarre ways). Beware. When you equip a cursed item, you will need to find a healer to take the curse off.

    +

    Magic

    +

    There are seven levels of spells. Your characters begin the game knowing most spells up to third level. They can cast a mage spell of a given level if they have enough spell points, and Mage Spells skill of that level (and the same goes for priest spells). Upon casting, the character loses the spell points, and something neat happens.

    +

    Spell effects are cumulative, and build up quickly. For example, if you bless a character twice, the effect will be much more than twice the effect of one bless. When you poison a monster twice, it will do well over twice the damage the first spell would have caused. If one fear spell doesn’t make a monster flee, the next one will have a much better chance of working. Casting two light spells makes the light last twice as long.

    +

    Mage spells require great delicacy of movement to cast. For this reason, they cannot be cast when when armor with total encumbrance of more than 1 is being worn. High defense skill can sometimes offset this effect, but it never will when any single item has an encumbrance value of more than 2.

    +

    Mage Spells and Encumbrance:If you are wearing armor with a total encumbrance of greater than one, you cannot cast mage spells. However, high defense skill can counteract this. If your armor isn’t too bulky, sometimes defense skill will enable you to cast spells (though spells never, ever work when any single item has an encumbrance value greater than 2). If you fail, however, you lose your turn.

    +

    Priest spells, consisting mainly of prayers shouted very loudly, do not have this limitation.

    +

    Multiple Target Spells:Some spells, such as the Arrow spells, have more than one target. When you cast such a spell, click on each target. Click on a target again to untarget it. Should you decide to cast the spell without using all your targets, hit space.

    +

    Magical barriers:Some spells create a two space wide barrier of some sort of magical wall. You can rotate this before placing it. Do so by hitting space.

    +

    Dumbfounding:Being dumbfounded reduces the number of spells you can cast. Being a little dumbfounded prevents you from casting high level spells. The more dumbfounded you are, the more spells you lose access to. The priest spell Restore Mind, healers, and certain magic items can undo the effects of dumbfounding.

    +

    Magical Walls and Barriers

    +

    Both you and your foes have the capability to create a wide variety of magical fields and barriers, each with different effects and durations.

    +

    There are fire, force, ice, and blade walls, which damage anyone entering and fade with time. There are stinking clouds, which curse anyone entering and fade quickly, sleep clouds, which make beings fall asleep, and antimagic clouds, which prevent any spell casting or targeting inside them, and fade slowly.

    +

    Webs cover anyone entering with goo, which slows the victim down. Pausing cleans off the goo.

    +

    Quickfire:The rarest and most deadly of the magical fields is quickfire. Once quickfire is created, it begins to spread, expanding until it fills the entire dungeon! Antimagic clouds slow it down, and dispel fields spells can hinder its progress, but once quickfire is loose, running is your only real option.

    +

    When a dungeon is overcome with quickfire, leave and return later. The flames will have died down.

    +

    Fire and Force Barriers:  These barriers last until they are dispelled. The former damages anyone entering, and the latter prevents anyone from entering at all.

    +

    Summoned Monsters

    +

    Both you and your foes can magically bring forth creatures to aid you. These summoned monsters fight for a short time, and then disappear. If killed, they leave no treasure.

    +

    The most (potentially) powerful summoning spells are Capture Soul and Simulacrum. Casting Capture Soul on a monster stores a copy of it in your party’s mind. Later, you can cast Simulacrum to bring a copy of the monster forth. Collect copies of the most powerful monsters and bring them to your aid! You can only remember at most 4 monsters.

    +

    Beware - when you Capture Soul a monster, its copy is stored in a random slot (out of the 4 available). It may copy over a monster you already have.

    + + diff --git a/doc/game/Outdoors.html b/doc/game/Outdoors.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..d39dd5d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/game/Outdoors.html @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ + + + + Getting Around Outdoors - Blades of Exile Guide + + + + + +

    Getting Around The Outdoors

    +

    When you leave town, you will be in the massive caverns that make up Exile or the Empire, or the seemingly limitless expanses of the surface. The things you can do out here are similar to what you can do indoors, but slightly more restricted.

    +

    Moving around and casting spells works the same as in town. However, the spells you can cast are a bit more limited. Looking works the same, although there will no longer be things to search (there are still signs to read).

    +

    The map button works the same. You will keep track of what you've seen outside, and can call it back up. However, if you move a long way away from an area and then return, you may have forgotten what you saw the first time.

    +

    When you see a town, tower, fort or dungeon, move onto it to enter it.

    +

    As in town, you can find boats and horses to get around on. Move onto a boat to board it, and steer the boat onto ground to disembark.

    +

    Watch out for waterfalls! Not only will they suck you down them, but when you fall down one you lose a bunch of food too.

    +

    There are three new buttons outdoors:

    +

    Rest (A tent, 'r'): When you are far from a friendly town and a hospitable inn, this is your best option for recovering strength. When you press this button, you will settle down for a while and sleep. You will wake up, however, if a group of monsters gets close to you, and not get any rest in the bargain. It is usually best to rest in secluded areas.

    +

    You cannot rest if someone is poisoned, if you are on dangerous ground (such as swamp or lava), or if you don't have enough food to get through the night.

    +

    Save (Disk with arrow pointing to it), Restore (Disk with arrow out): These magical buttons enable you to make a 'snapshot' of the current status of your game so that, should you get killed, misplace the game-winning artifact, etc., you can return to the spot you saved at.

    +

    >When you click on save, you can enter a name for the snapshot of your progress. When you restore, double click on the file you saved. You can also save from the pull-down File menu. You can also save in town. See 'Other options' below.

    +

    There will still be combats outdoors. Occasionally, monsters will run up to attack you. When this happens, you will find yourself on a battlefield where you will fight the monsters, much as you would have fought them in town. Finally, certain outdoor combats are automatic. These special combats will happen even when you aren't adjacent to the monsters.

    +

    You can drop items outdoors, but when you do, they're gone forever. Should a PC die (of starvation, for example), the PC's items will appear on the ground the next time you enter a town or get in an outdoor combat.

    +

    Finally, note that traveling outdoors is very time consuming. Be careful not to do too much of it, until you get horses. See the section in the previous chapter on The Ravages Of Time.

    + + diff --git a/doc/game/Priest.html b/doc/game/Priest.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..69c21663 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/game/Priest.html @@ -0,0 +1,101 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + +


    +

    Section 11: Priest Spells: 

    +


    +

    As with mage spells, all PCs start with the first three levels of priest spells, and some only work within a certain range.

    +


    +

    Level 1:

    +

    Minor Bless: (C 1)   Makes the character harder to hit and take less damage from blows. It also makes the PC hit more often, and his or her blows do more damage. Its effects decay with time.

    +

    Minor Heal: (C 1)   Increases the health of the selected PC a small amount, up to the PCs maximum health.

    +

    Weaken Poison: (C 1)    Reduces the amount of poison running around in the veins of the selected PC.

    +

    Turn Undead:  (C 2, R 8)  When cast on an undead creature, it usually does a reasonable amount of damage to it. It has no effect on non-undead.

    +

    Location:  (C 1)  Returns the party’s x-y location in the town or outdoors.

    +

    Sanctuary:  (C 1) The target of this spell becomes magically shielded. 

    +

    For a time, monsters probably won't be able to attack him/her. The effects disappears when the PC attacks someone.

    +

    Symbiosis: (C 3)  This spell has the caster absorb the damage taken by another character. The higher the caster’s level, the less damage the caster takes per health point healed.

    +

    Minor Manna:  (C 5)  Casting this spell gives the party a little more food.

    +

    Ritual - Sanctify:  (C 50) When cast on a location filled with evil magic, the location receives a blessing. This might drive out the evil magic. Then again, it might not.

    +

    Stumble:  (C 1)  The victim of this spell moves slower and has worse attacks for a short time.

    +


    +

    Level 2:

    +

    Bless:  (C 2)  Like Minor Bless, but better. Its effect increases with the level of the caster.

    +

    Cure Poison:  (C 2)  Like Weaken Poison, but better. Its effect increases with the level of the caster.

    +

    Curse:  (C 2, R 10) The opposite of bless. It makes everything work much worse for the victim, for a time.

    +

    Light:  (C 2)  Gives a short, reasonable quality magical light source.

    +

    Wound:  (C 3, R 5)  Deals a painful blow to the targeted victim. The damage increases with your level.

    +

    Summon Spirit:  (C 5) This spell summons a shade from the netherworld to aid you. It will disappear after a short time.

    +

    Move Mountains:  (C 8) When cast on a fragile wall or outcropping of rock, the wall or outcropping crumbles into rubble. It doesn't work on all walls.

    +

    Charm Foe: (C 6, R 6) This spell has a chance of making the target monster start to fight for the party. The chance of it working drops sharply with the level of the monster.

    +

    Disease:  (C 4)  The victim of this spell is afflicted by a disease, which slowly weakens it. The disease lasts a long time.

    +

    Awaken:  (C 2)  Casting this on a character immediately wakes him/her up. 

    +


    +

    Level 3:

    +

    Heal:  (C 3)  A much better version of Minor Heal.

    +

    Minor Heal All: (C 4)   Casts one minor heal on each PC.

    +

    Holy Scourge:  (C 3, R 8)  This spell gives the victim a powerful curse, the effect of which increases with the level of the caster.

    +

    Detect Life:  (C 3)  This spell causes all other living things to appear on your map for a short time. Note, however, that this spell only detects creatures in areas you have explored.

    +

    Cure Paralysis:  (C 3)   This spell revives a paralyzed character. 

    +

    Manna:  (C 10)  This spell magically creates a lot of food for the party.

    +

    Forcefield:  (C 5, R 8) This spell fills an area with walls of force,  which are fairly damaging and reasonably long lasting.

    +

    Cure Disease:  (C 3)  Casting this spell cures a PC’s disease.

    +

    Restore Mind:  (C 4) This spell completely undumbfounds the recipient.

    +

    Smite: (C 6, R 8) This spell fires a number of bolts of divinely inspired cold, the number of which increases with the level of the caster. To cast without using all the targets, hit the space bar.

    +


    +

    Level 4:

    +

    Cure All Poison:  (C 5)   Causes everyone to become less poisoned. Useful for dealing with those nasty swamps.

    +

    Curse All:  (C 5, R 10)  Causes all monsters within ten spaces to receive a powerful curse.

    +

    Dispel Undead:  (C 5, R 8)  Deals a deadly blow to the targeted undead nasty. Chance of having effect increases with level.

    +

    Remove Curse:   (C 15)  Occasionally, you will put on an item which then refuses to be taken off. Casting this spell has a chance of removing the curse.

    +

    Sticks to Snakes: (C 6)   This spell summons a bunch of snakes to aid the party. Skillful casters have a chance of getting asps instead of the weaker giant snakes.

    +

    Martyr's Shield: (C 5)  When something strikes the recipient of this spell in hand-to-hand combat, it takes as much damage as the victim. The duration of this spell increases with the level of the caster.

    +

    Cleanse: (C 5)  This spell purifies the recipient. The beneficiary is completely unwebbed, and all disease is cured.

    +

    Firewalk: (C 8)  When cast, for a short time everyone in the party can walk across lava with no damage. The duration increases slowly with the level of the caster.

    +


    +

    Level 5:

    +

    Bless Party:  (C 6)  Much like Bless, but affects everyone.

    +

    Major Heal:  (C 7)  Works like the Heal spell, but gives much more bang for the spell points.

    +

    Raise Dead:  (C 25)  This spell returns a dead character to life. However, you need to have Resurrection Balm for the spell to work, and there is a small chance (decreasing with your level) that it turns the corpse to dust. A dusted character can only be revived with a Resurrect spell.

    +

    Flamestrike:  (C 8, R 9)  The first good offensive priest spell. It chars all beings adjacent to the space you target. The damage done increases with level.

    +

    Mass Sanctuary: (C 10)  This spell hides all PCs (like a sanctuary spell). As before, the effect for a PC is voided when that PC attacks.

    +

    Summon Host: (C 12)  This powerful spell summons four spirits, and a magical being to lead them. They then fight on the side of the caster for a little while. 

    +

    Shatter: (C 12)  This spell strikes every space adjacent to the party with a Move Mountains spell.

    +

    Dispel Fields: (C 6)  All magical walls, etc. in the large area affected by this spell will be dispelled. It has a small chance of affecting quickfire.

    +


    +

    Level 6:

    +

    Heal All: (C 8)   Like the Heal spell, but affects the whole party. Very efficient.

    +

    Revive:  (C 7)  This heals all damage and cures all poison for a PC.

    +

    Hyperactivity: (C 8)   This spell wakes up all PCs, and provides a small amount of magical protection from sleeping.

    +

    Destone: (C 8)   Certain rare monsters can turn one of your characters to stone. This valuable spell undoes the damage.

    +

    Summon Guardian: (C 14)  This spell summons a powerful, invisible being to fight on the side of the party. Be careful not to damage it by mistake!

    +

    Mass Charm: (C 17)  When cast, all creatures within eight spaces of the caster have a chance of coming under his/her control.

    +

    Protective Circle: (C 8)  A very unusual and effective spell for a party on the defensive. The caster is surrounded by several layers of magical fields, which fend off anyone attacking.

    +

    Pestilence: (C 7)  This spell afflicts everyone within eight spaces with an effective but slow-acting disease.

    +


    +

    Level 7:

    +

    Revive All: (C 10)   When cast, the party receives a powerful healing (increasing with level of the caster) and has poison cured as well.

    +

    Ravage Spirit:  (C 10, R 4) Demons have a nasty tendency to resist any  spells you throw at them.  This spell gives them a blow which, most of the time, does a lot of damage. The chance of success increases with the level of the caster.

    +

    Resurrect:  (C 35)  Like raise dead, but much more effective, and works on even a dusted character. It still requires Resurrection Balm to cast.

    +

    Divine Thud:  (C 10, R 12)  The most powerful offensive priest spell. It delivers a stunning blow of force to all beings within two spaces of the targeted space.

    +

    Avatar: (C 12)  This spell temporarily makes the caster an invulnerable, incredibly powerful avatar of the gods. 

    +

    Wall of Blades: (C 12, R 10) This spell creates a wall of the most damaging (and long lasting) of the magic walls. Rotate the wall by hitting space.

    +

    Word of Recall:  (C 30) This spell returns the party to the town where you began the scenario. Because of the danger of teleporting from narrow, windy tunnels, it can only be cast outdoors.

    +

    Major Cleansing: (C 10)  This spell removes all webs and disease from the party. 

    + + diff --git a/doc/game/Screen.html b/doc/game/Screen.html index 68d4566c..7893de3b 100644 --- a/doc/game/Screen.html +++ b/doc/game/Screen.html @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ The Blades of Exile Screen - Blades of Exile Guide - +

    The Blades of Exile Screen

    diff --git a/doc/game/Tips.html b/doc/game/Tips.html index 46e6fae3..b0225b32 100644 --- a/doc/game/Tips.html +++ b/doc/game/Tips.html @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Playing Tips for Beginners - Blades of Exile Guide - +

    Section 2: Playing Tips for Beginners

    diff --git a/doc/game/Town.html b/doc/game/Town.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..856703a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/game/Town.html @@ -0,0 +1,70 @@ + + + + Getting Around Town - Blades of Exile Guide + + + + + +

    Getting Around Town

    +

    When you begin the game, you will be in one of Exile's many towns and forts. There are a variety of things you can and should do.

    +

    Moving around: To move, place the cursor on the terrain screen in the direction you want to move (it should turn into a little arrow) and click. You will take a step in the direction the arrow points. To move up, for example, move the cursor above the little person in the middle (you). The cursor should turn into an arrow pointing up. Click. You will move up a space.

    +

    You can also move using the keypad. Hitting '5' pauses your party, '8' makes you move up, '2' down, and so on.

    +

    If you cannot move there, because of something in the way, the text screen will tell you so. If you've stepped on something unpleasant, like swamp, lava, or some sort of trapped square, you will be informed. There are several interesting things to know about moving around...

    +

    Leaving Town: When you want to leave a town or dungeon, pick a direction and keep walking. Eventually, when you walk off the edge of the map, you will be outdoors. A handy way of telling how far you are from the edge of the map is to use the Map button, described below.

    +

    Special Encounters:You will occasionally see, both in town and outdoors, a white circle on the the nearby floor/ground/whatever. The white circle signifies a special encounter or occurrence of some sort. Step on it to find out what it is.

    +

    Wall and Secret Doors:Not all walls, man-made or otherwise, are as they appear. Some walls (and trees, and pillars, and many other terrain types) have secret doors and hidden tunnels. When you walk into a wall with one of these, you will pass through it. This may not always be a good thing.

    +

    Locked Doors:When you walk into a door, you will try to open it. However, some doors are guarded by locks, magical and non-magical. To open a locked door, you can bash it or pick the lock. Bashing only rarely works, and failed attempts are punished by damage. Only strong characters should try to bash doors.

    +

    Locks can be picked by a character who has a decent Pick Locks skill and haslockpicks equipped. When you fail, there is a chance that one of your picks will break. It is rumored that you can find higher quality lockpicks.

    +

    Finally, some doors are magically locked. Bashing and lockpicking will not work - you will need to use the mage spell Unlock Doors. And, every great once in a while, you will find a door on which none of these methods will work! You'll need to find a key or lever or something else to open it.

    +

    Boats and Horses: Both outdoors and in town, you can find boats. To enter one, move onto it. To leave it, steer it onto ground. Boats are essential to get to certain interesting places, and may be able to travel over more things than water...

    +

    Horses, on the other hand, enable you to move over land much faster. Monsters are easier to outrun, and the time it takes to travel outdoors will be halved. To mount horses you own, move onto them. To dismount, pause (click on your party or press '5' on the keypad).

    +

    When you find boats and horses you don't own, often you will be able to find someone nearby to sell them to you.

    +

    Light: Some areas are dark. To see beyond your nose, you will need a light source, be it a torch or spell. In certain unpleasant areas, even a torch or spell won't get rid of the darkness.

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    Pausing: Sometimes, you'll just want to sit and watch the world go by. Click on your party or hit '5' on the keypad to let a turn pass without action.

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    Alchemy: One of the things you can do in town is use ingredients you've found in your adventures to try to make potions. Should you have the right ingredients, the right recipe, and a PC with sufficient alchemy skill, select Do Alchemy from the Actions menu. You will be asked who is going to make it, and then given a list of potions you can make. Certain potions cannot be made by a character with low alchemy skill. The higher the alchemy skill, the better the odds of success.

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    For more information on the things you can make with alchemy, inside the game select Alchemy Info, under the Library menu.

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    The Town Guard:Be careful! Damaging a friendly townsperson or stealing items can get the town guard after you! If this happens, you best flee town, before they destroy you.

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    An angry town will generally forget that it's mad at you, if you stay away for long enough.

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    Selecting Spaces Shortcut: When you hit the 'look' button (or the 'talk' button), click on the space you want to look at to look at (talk to) it. A quicker way to look at something is to hit 'l' on the keyboard, and then the keypad key in the direction you want to look. This has you look at (or talk to) whatever is in the next space in that direction.

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    The Buttons:Each of the many buttons at the bottom left corner of the screen has you do something. Several of them have keyboard equivalents. When they do, the key is given in the parentheses below:

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    Cast Mage (Fireball. 'm'): You will be asked to select one of your party members, who will then be given a chance to cast any mage spells he or she knows. Mage spells are described later.

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    Cast Priest (Black ankh. 'p'): Same as cast mage, but for priest spells.

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    Look (Eye. 'l'): Clicking on this button and then on a space in the Terrain Screen gives you a list of everything in the space you click. Terrain, monsters, and items will be listed. Also...

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    Looking Off screen:When you look, if you click on the terrain border, the terrain you're looking at will scroll in the direction you click on, so you can see the monsters before they're right on top of you.

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    Signs:When your party is adjacent to a sign, you can read it by looking at it.

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    Searching Stuff:When your party looks at something it is standing adjacent to, you will search the crate/desk/bookshelf/body/whatever for interesting things. If there is something there, you will have a special encounter. Some dungeons have very interesting things hidden in very mundane objects.

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    Talk (Lips, 't'): You can talk to any living creature which is not actually trying to kill you. To do so, click on this button, and then the thing you want to talk to. You will then be presented with a window with a description of the person.

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    To ask someone about something, click on the word after they say it. If someone says "I really hate goblins," click on 'goblins' to ask about that. If the person has something to say, the word will flash, and something else will come up. In addition, there are buttons at the button of the talk area:

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    Look/Name/Job:Clicking on these buttons always gets a response, and clicking on 'Name' and 'Job' is the best way to begin a conversation.

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    Ask About:This extremely important button lets you ask characters about things beside what they mention. For example, if you're told to ask Honkblatt about swords, when you find Honkblatt, click on Ask About, and enter 'swords,' and you may be pleasantly surprised.

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    Go Back:Clicking on this brings up whatever the character said previously. A useful time saver.

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    Buy/Sell:Many characters will buy, sell, or identify items, or otherwise do useful things. These buttons provide a useful shortcut to obtaining these services.

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    Record: This has your characters write down what was just said. You can review it later by selecting See Talking Notes from the Options menu.

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    Bye:Ends the conversation.

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    Other interesting things about conversation:

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    Special Information: Occasionally, someone will tell you something that will help you do something else, such as a password or the location of a hidden item. When this happens, you will be told something along the lines of "You take note of this." This means your characters know something new. If you die later without saving, be sure to go back to get this information again.

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    Stores: Most of the towns have a store of some sort in them. To buy something or sell something, you can generally press the appropriate buttons. How to buy, sell, and identify items is described later on.

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    Training: You can spend your experience to gain valuable skills at the occasional training center. This works exactly the same as when you created your character, but you also have to pay gold. Each level in a skill costs the amount after the slash in the cost column. Should you buy some skills and then decide you don't want them, press the Cancel button to restore your character. Press the Keep button to keep the training.

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    Boats and horses:Some people will sell you boats and horses, both useful ways to get around. When you buy one, a nearby boat or horse will become yours, and you will be able to enter/mount it.

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    Get (Hand picking up scroll. 'g'): When you see items nearby, click on this button to get them. If hostile monsters are in sight, you will only be able to get adjacent items. If not, you will be able to get all items nearby.

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    When the item-getting window comes up, click on an item to get it. To have a new PC get items, click the button by their picture.

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    Finally, some items in towns are not your property. Getting these items puts you in danger of being attacked by the town guard!

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    Use ('Use', 'u'):This all-purpose command has you do something to an adjacent space. Using an open door closes it, and vice versa. Using a space with webs has you clear the webs away. Perhaps this action has other uses...

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    Map (A Scroll, 'a'): As you wander around the town or dungeon, you will automatically keep track of the terrain you see. When you click this button, you will see a map of the area you're in.

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    Also, you can leave the map window up while you play. It will keep updating itself as you travel. Note that this will slow the game down.

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    Enter Combat Mode (Sword. 'f'): As you wander around, someone or something might decide to attack you. When in town mode, you travel in a tight-knit, awkward group. Thus, you can't fight back, and the monsters move and act faster than you.

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    To deal with this unpleasant situation, click on this button to enter combat mode. Your group will split up into its individual members, and you will be able to fight back.

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    Buying Items:Often, someone you meet in town will have something to sell you. Clicking on the Buy button will bring up the shopping window.

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    The items available will be listed, along with their prices, and, if weapons or armor, their important statistics. To get detailed information on an item, click on the 'I' button to the item's right. To buy it, click on the item's name. To have a different character shop, make that character active (click on his/her name, or type '1'-'6').

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    There are some unusual sorts of shops:

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    Healers:Visiting a healer brings up a list of bad conditions the active character has, with the cost to heal that ailment. You can, for example, pay to heal a character's dumbfounding, but leave the character's damage unhealed.

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    Alchemists:A few characters sell alchemical recipes. You only need to buy each recipe once for the entire party. The seller will usually explain what ingredients that recipe calls for.

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    Mage and Priest Spells:Most spells can be bought from people in towns. When you buy a spell for one character, only that PC knows it. You need to buy it again for other PCs who want it.

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    Selling/ID'ing/Augmenting:Some characters in town will attempt to buy your items. When you hit the Sell button while talking, smaller Sell buttons appear by your items. Some people only buy armor, some only weapons, some everything. Click the small Sell button to sell an item.

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    People will only buy identified items. To identify an item, go to a sage (such as Axel, in Sweetgrove, in "Valley of Dying Things"). Ask about 'identify' (or, usually, click the Buy button), and ID buttons will appear by your unidentified items. Click this button to pay to have it identified. You will now know exactly what it is.

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    Finally, a very few people will cast magical spells to strengthen your identified, non-magical weapons. When this is offered, small 'Augm' buttons will appear by items that can be augmented. Press them to buy the improvement.

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    When you leave town (or go into combat) the buttons will change. The next two sections say what the new buttons do.

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    Section 13: How to Solve Valley of Dying Things

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    This chapter contains all the information you need to get to the end of the scenario Valley of Dying Things.It does not contain the solution to every puzzle. For the minor puzzles and quests, you’ll just have to work them out on your own. What this guide does provide are directions for navigating your way through the main storyline, from the first steps all the way to the grand conclusion.

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    When you get stuck, go to the section on the appropriate scenario. Each section is divided into subsections, each of which describes a specific part of the scenario. The subsections begin with several questions you might be asking about how to get through. Read these sample questions first. If none of them make any sense, back up to an earlier subsection.

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    When you find the subsection that describes the area you’re stuck in, start reading. Slowly. Eventually, you get to the area you’re having problems with. If the place you’re stuck at isn’t described, the puzzle you’re working on isn’t important to the overall adventure and can be skipped.

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    When you’ve found out what you need to know, go back to playing. Try not to read too far ahead ... too many hints can spoil your adventure!

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    What do the coordinates mean?  All of the walkthroughs have coordinates. For example, one hint might be “Now step on the rune at (18,5).” In Blades of Exile, the upper left corner is considered to be (0,0). The spot 5 to the right of that is (5,0). The spot 8 below (0,0) is (0,8). To find out where you currently are, cast the first level priest spell Location. This should help you find your way to the correct space.

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    Section 1: The Valley of Dying Things

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    Getting Into the School

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    Sample Questions: How do I start investigating the problem? Where should I look? What’s this school people are talking about? Where do I find Avizo? How do I get into the school?

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    You begin the scenario in Fort Talrus. Leave to the north, and travel up to Sweetgrove. Once inside, talk to Mayor Crouch to find out about the valley’s troubles, and then talk to Axel to find out about the old library (talk to other people for useful background). He mentions you should talk to someone named Avizo. Travel back south to Fort Talrus. Avizo is in the room next to where you started. Ask him about ‘stone’ to get him to talk to you, and then ask about “object” to find out where the Runed Stone is. Go back north to Sweetgrove. Avizo’s store is on the center of town. Break in (use the mage spell Unlock) and search the potted plant at (35,21). Take the stone.

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    Now it’s time to start investigating the School of Magery. It’s north of Sweetgrove. There’s a large mountain up there with four entrances, north, south, east, and west (to get to the west entrance, walk over the river by the Ford Here sign). Enter at each point, and insert the stone in the hole by the gate. The gates will open, and the school will be open to you.

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    The School of Magery - Upper Half

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    Sample Questions: What do I do in the upper levels of the school? What do I do in the Holding Cells/Storage areas? How do I help the dragon? How do I pass the blocked wall at the south end of the Administration level? How do I pass the glowing gates?

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    The stairway down from the School Entry level is in the center. Go down to the Visitor’s Quarters. There are two stairways down on that level, one to the Holding Cells and one to the Storage Areas. One stairway is in the east half of the level. To get there, there is a secret door at (31,2). Go down to the Storage Level first.

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    There are several places on these levels with closed, glowing gates. Ignore them for now. You’ll get the item to open these much later.

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    Once on the Storage level, walk south down the central corridor until you reach the sign that reads “HIGH SECURITY CREATURE HOLDING CELL”. Enter this area, and find the dragon Pythras. Talk to her about her imprisonment, and be sure to ask about “magic” or “word.” Go back up to the Visitor’s Quarters and down to the Holding Cells.

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    The controls to Pythras’ cell are at the east side of the Holding Cells level. Go through the secret door at (46,26), and go to (39,18) to use the control panel. Say “quark” to it, and Pythras will be freed. If you want to explore the northwest corner, you can use the control panel at (41,23).

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    Pythras escapes the school by going down to the Administrative level. Follow her. Climb down the stairway at (14,42) (in the Holding Cell level - there’s also a stairway down in the Storage Level).

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    Administration has been wrecked, but you can still make your way through it. There’s a colony of Giant, Intelligent, Friendly Talking Spiders in the southeast corner, but you don’t need to talk to them yet. Instead, you can leave the upper half of the school at the southwest corner of the level. 

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    The School of Magery - Lower Half

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    Sample Questions: What can I do about the pollution in the cave below the upper half of the school? What do I do at the Major Waste Depository? How do I get into the lower half of the school? How do I reach the stairway down from the Student Quarters? How do I get into the school library? What can I learn from the Vahnatai? How do I exit the Experiment Halls to the south? The people of Marralis want a scepter - where is it?

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    When you leave the Administration level, you will find yourself in a huge cavern filled with diseased pollution and filth. This is the source of the Valley’s problem. This huge cavern has several interesting things in it. There is a tunnel up to the surface to the west, which will provide a useful shortcut. To the southeast is the Major Waste Repository. You can explore it a little if you want, but you can’t do anything there yet.

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    Instead, enter the lower half of the school. The entrance is at the southwest corner of the large cave. You will meet many hostile gremlins. Kill them. These were the student quarters. You will need to find a key to get through. Walk into the west half of the level, go south to (1,46), and search the bookshelf there to get the key. 

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    There is a scepter hidden at (12,6), which some people on the surface want. It can also cure your disease. You might want to keep it - this is very useful later on.

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    When you have the key, find your way to the door at (32,37), and go through. You will be in the main dining hall. Go down the stairway on the right, and you will be in the School Library. The library is closed off by another glowing portcullis. You can’t enter it yet. Instead, leave the library at (43,35). You will be in a cavern with several Vahnatai. Talk to them. In particular, talk to Baia-Tel and ask about the “peculiar insect” it said it met. Ask Zereen about “power” or “stone.” Finally, they will tell you that someone on the surface has the instructions to the School controls. This will be important later.

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    Now that you know that the spiders have something you need, go back up to the Administration level. Talk to different spiders until you meet their chief, and ask it about the “pretty rock.” It will tell you about the giant gnats, and, if you ask, tell you that the password to get to the gnats is “Gnats.” Tell this to the spider at (57,35) and you will be able to reach the gnats.

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    The eggs you need are at (59,4). Get them and go back to the chief spider. Ask it about “eggs” and it will tell you where the Opening Stone is. Search the trash at (25,3) to get it. You can use this item from the Special Items page. When you do, all glowing portcullises on your current level will open. This will be very useful. Go back down to the Library level.

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    Open the glowing gate and search the library. The most interesting room is the one in the northeast corner. The room only contains a pedestal, and, when you enter, a ghost tells you that you should place a green book on it.

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    The green book the spirit refers to is a school textbook. There are three of them in this dungeon. To find one, from the Library level, climb down the stairway at (45,47). You will be on the Experiment Halls level. Go through the door at (36,9) and then the door at (40,11). There will be a green book in this cell. Take it back to the library and place it onto the pedestal in the northeast corner. You will be rewarded with a key. You now are ready to start ending the Valley’s Curse. First, you need to return to the surface. There is a shortcut up in the Experiment Halls level at (44,13).

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    Ending the Curse

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    Sample Questions:  What do I do at Pangle’s Hut? How do I talk to Pangle? How do I get to (and through) the School’s control chambers? What do I do at the Major Waste Depository?

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    Once on the surface, you need to get the instructions scroll from Pangle. However, he won’t want to talk to you. Fortunately, Kevin, in Marralis, is a friend of his. Kevin tells you to say his name to Pangle. Go to Pangle, say “Kevin” to him, and question him for a while. Ask about “adventurers” or “interest”, and you will be told about his scroll. Ask about “paper,” and then search the chest at (10,24) to get the instructions to operate the school control. You’re now ready to solve the valley’s problem.  Go back down to the Experiment Halls level.

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    Leave the level to the south (you’ll use the silver key), and you will be in the caves under the school. Fight your way through them to the southeast corner, where you find a cave. Enter it.

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    You will be inside the Control Rooms.  Use the Opening Stone to get inside. Find your way through to the control chambers on the east side. You will find a shade to talk to, who will tell you a lot of things about the situation with the school. Sit in the throne at (34,20), and the controls to clean up the waste will be activated.

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    Finally, travel back up to the giant cavern between the Upper and Lower halves of the school and enter the Major Waste Depository. Go through the secret passage at (38,39). Walk up to the gate at (29,2), through the gap at (14,15), and through the gate at (18,24) into the center of the repository. Use the Opening Stone to open the glowing gate, and sit in the chair at (23,23). Sit in the chair, flip the switch, and insert the stone. The cleaning process will begin. Walk out to (26,23), and you will be carried out to safety. You’ve won.

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