SWORDS OF THE TWYLYTE Typed in by ???. Edited by PARASITE. Swords of Twilight offers you an extraordinary opportunity: freedom of action in a world of wonder and sense. Eat, sleep, explore, learn. Meeting interesting people. Talk, fight. Just like real life - with magic. If you like, bring a friend or two, and live the life of a knight or magician on a quest to recover the Sword of Shambala. Gossip with dragons, cast a spell with word an gesture, swing your sword at an armored foe, or stalk the musty corridors of ruined tombs where skeletons stir at night. Short of first- degree burns, this is a close as you can get to a dragon's breath or a wizard's fireball. Swords of Twilight is fairly intuitive and largely self-prompting. Learning it can be done in 5 ways. * Read the manual. (We know it's against your principles, but give it a try.) If you're in a hurry, at least read THE DISKS AND QUICK START TO SWORDS OF TWILIGHT. * Trial and eror is a reasonable way to familiarize yourself with movement and the menus. Nothing dire will happen (Honestly) * Observe the conduct of your computer-controlled comrades; although they lack an overall sense of purpose or direction (thats up to you) they do know how to conduct themselves in an encounter with friend or foe. If you do not speak up, they will. * Ask anyone you meet everything the menus allow, and pay attention to the answers, which may depend on the type, experience, and locatation of the speaker. Even commonplace sayings are true and relevant. * Use your imagination. Put yourself in an ancient world where magic works or used to. What would you do? How would you act? Would someone object to theft or murder. Could you go a week without food? Or sleep? When in doubt, act naturally. The world you experience, however fantasitic, reflect our own. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CAUTIONS 1 THE DISKS 1 LOADING INS. 2 GAME COMMANDS 4 QUICK START TO S.T. 6 THE SCREEN 8 GETTING STARTED 9 CONTROLLING YOUR CHAR. 10 MENUS AND OPTIONS 12 MONITORING YOUR CHAR. 12 TRAVEL 19 DONJONS 20 MAGIC 22 CAST OF CHARACTERS 28 COMPUTER CONTROLLED CHAR 31 CAUTIONS This manual is written for Amiga computers. If you're using anything other than an Amiga, consult the Command Summary Card included in the package. To play Sword of Twilight, your Amiga must have at least one floppy drive and 512k of RAM If you're going to play from a hard disk, you'll need more than 512k of memory. Your machine must be operting iwth Kickstart 1.2 or higher. The game supports up to two joysticks. Dont' throw away the box - you'll need those crests on the inside front cover. THE DISKS Inside the package you'll find a program Disk and a Data Disk. The disks are not copy protected. Unless you install the game on a hard disk, yo also need a blank floppy disk. Before you begin play, YOU MUST MAKE A COPY OF THE DATA DISK. It'll auto. be named "copy of Sword data Disk" Leave it that way. When playing, use only your copy, no the original. The copy will be updated every time you "save the game. (See saving the game, page 5); if you ever go to start a new game, make another copy of the original data disk. If you don't know how to make a copy, read the instructions below that pertain to your particular system. Becuase Swords of Twilight uses a custom font, you must boot (or reboot) with the Swords of Twilight Program Disk. That is, when the computer asks for a Workbench disk, insert the program disk. Double click on the disk icon when the window opens up, double-click on the sword icon to begin the game. You can install the game on a hard disk by folliowing the instructions below. In these instructions, left click means click (quicking press and release (the left mouse button ; double click mean click a mouse button twice in a row) GAME COMMANDS Characater Actions Use the cursor keys or the joystick to move your character. All other actions requre the "trigger key" the right ALT of AMIGA key or the joystick button. Press and release the trigger key to get into the menu of further options what allow you to: * Shift your attitude or manner * Take items (pick up or drop items, ready or unready equipment, eat food or drink a potion) * Talk to people (Ask for information and aid, Offer answers, give and receive gifts) * Move (exit the menu and move or fight) See Menus and other options for more details. To fight, select SHIFT and change your attitude to HOSTILE (If you aren't already) Next, select MOVE to exit the menu. When your character is next to a foe, press the trigger key, and without releasing it, use the cursor keys or push the joystick in the direction you wish to strike. PAUSING THE GAME. Press ESC to pause the game any time you're not on the Rainbow Road. To resume play, press the spacebar. You can also pause the game by holding down the left ALT or AMIGA key. Use this if you wish to write down a message on the screen. The game resumes as soon as you release the key. QUITTING THE GAME. To quit, remove the disk(s) from the drive(s) turn off your computer, or reboot with a different disk. REGROUPING. During the game, you can shift control of a character from the computer to a human player or vice versa. If a friend arrives or leaves, you can "regroup" Hold down the left ALT or AMIGA key, and press R. Next, use the left/right cursor keys and the right ALT or AMIGA key to specify how each char- acter in your party will be controlled. Note: your can't regroup during an encounter or on the Rainbow Road. SAVING THE GAME. The standard way of ending a game session is to return home, see the Queen, and Part. At that point you have two options: Save or Regroup. To save the game and preserve your progress up to that point, choose Save. If you just wantto try new character, choose Regroup. (Note that this does not have the same effect as left ALT-R) If you save the game, you can then continue playing with the same character, choose new ones, or quit playing. If you're about to enter a particularly forebidding dungeon, or you don't have time to make it back to Glorianaa's castle, press F10 to save the game. You must be outdoors but not in an encounter. You can then continue playing or quit. When you quit and later restart the game, you'll be exactly where you left off. With this option, you cannot changed the character in or the locations of you group. QUICK START OF SWORD OF TWILIGHT. FORM A PARTY From a cast of 31, pick three characters to begin your quiest. Using the keyboard and one or two jouysticks as input devices, up to three people can play simultaneously, each controllling one character The computer will direct any of your comrades not controlled by a human. ( You can't use a mouse, but you can leave it connected if the computer is running the cor- respoding character.) Your initial choice of characters is not crucial. All of them are reasonably equipeed, and a mixture of ranks works best. For starters, avoid the slow (e..g. Tessalon) and the stubborm (Bercilak or Ursin) In fact, let the mages stay home for now, and begin with Imric, Araianaa, and Lochinvar, pe- hapes, or Valor, Bronwen, and Gardol. (See Cast of Characters for more in- formation.) A DYNAMIC WORLD Swords of Twilight is dynamic. Things change. Reputatin spreads. Circumatances vary. Castles fall to ruin; ruins can be rebuilt. Treasure taken away is gone. A valuable object left behind may be moved and put away. ENCOUNTERS. Every individual in unique. All ogres are ogrish, but some are stronger or stupider than others. Even commoners differ in skill and experience. There is no direct way to tell the rank of those you meet. Someone with several followers will tend to be higher-ranking than a lone individual. A more experienced person knows more and is harder to impress. Encounters are fluid. Everyone's behavious affect everyone else's. Friendly folk naturally move physically closer to one another. People whisper secrets they won't shout across the room. If you get too close for comfrot, however, people will withdraw or get angry. Pressuring them can work- but not for long. REPUTATION. People remeber how you treat them , and gossip spread quickly. If you roam through a town slaying everyone you meet, you'll ensure a hostile reception there. And you'll be unwelcome elsewhere in the land. Try to part on a positive role with those you met Freindly or Polite. Leaving people Hostile or dead will cause you trouble alter and, to some degree, will even harm the reputation of the Queen's other envoys. There are exceptions. Slaying ghols, ogres, or Shadowlard's minions may earn you a hostile gretting in a Shadowlord's cidatel but will en- hance your reputation elsewhere. However, nobody cares what you do in a ruin - except th people who live ther. Lifewise, the repution you earn in one world has little effect on your repution in another. NIGHT AND SHADOW The gloom of night is real. Those who prowl the darkness are often dangerous, and even decent folk are more apprehenseive and less friednly in the dead of night. Time is against you. As Shadow falls across the worlds, fear breeds distrust; suspicion leads to hate. Emboldnened ghouls strike at human habitiation; sacked setllments become ruins: home of the lost, the desperate, and those who prey on them. In a ruin, no guards man their posts' no one has authority or influence; none can help or heal. Slaughter and theft on your part only hasten the decline. To restore order and allow rebuilding, you must act quickly.