Swords Of The Twylyte The Docs Are 32 Pages Long, Its Late, These are the first few pages to get you started, and by the end of the weekend< Oct 1>. The Final docs will be available! PATIENCE! Thanx To BIRDMAN For Typing so fast at such a late hour! CRESTS! /\ This poor imitation is roughly the shape of the first set of || shields, which are shaped like hexagons (6 sided)...look it up \/ in your old math books if you're not sure! TESSALON Hexagonal shield. White star, in a yellow circle, on a green field. Small stars have six points. PERCODAN Hexagonal shield. Yellow star, in a white circle, on a mauve field. Small stars have six points. FIORNAL Hexagonal shield, red star in a black circle, on a yellow field. Small stars have six points. ALTHEA Hexagonal shield. White field, on which there is centred a 'ankh', ie symbol of life. Top centre, there is a upside down "U", bottom centre Left side there is a 5 sided star, right side there is a "spinning" symbol. YARROW Hexagonal shield. Same as Althea, except the field is red, and the pictures are white. INDERAL Hexagonal shield. Large purple star on a white circle, on a purple field. The 5 sided star's point is up. VISKEN Hexagonal shield. Large black star in a yellow circle, on a turquoise field. The 5 sided star's point is down. TENORMIN Hexagonal shield. Black star on a white circle, on a red field. The 5 sided star's point is up. BENEDIC Hexagonal shield. Black raven/falcon on a white field. Black star on left. side, red star on right side. CARMEN Hexagonal shield. Yellow raven/falcon on a brown shield. Yellow star on left side, white star on right side. BELLADONNA Hexagonal shield. Black star on white circle. On a purple field 5 sided star's point is down. BRUCINE Hexagonal shield. Brown star on a white field. On a black field. The 5 sided star's point is up. _____ | | This is supposed to be the rough design of a standard shield | | If you're still confused, sorry, buy the game. \ / \ / BERCILAK Standard shield. Yellow squid/octopus on a green field. MGOREM Standard shield. Black field full of white stars. URSIN Standard shield. Yellow circle on a red field. IMRIC Standard shield. Light brown raven/falcon on a yellow field. Field has a light brown border KEVIN Standard shield. Yellow triangle on a purple field. Point of triangle is up. THEELIN Standard shield. Yellow triangle on a purple field. Point of triangle is down. VALOR Standard shield. Green/purple dragon on Yellow field. Top of shield is green with a yellow castle. POLARIC Standard shield. Blue field with a yellow stripe diagonally across the shield. Within the yellow stripe, there is a black square, circle, and triangle. BRITOMART Standard shield. Purple unicorn on white field. TORONTO Standard shield. White squid/octopus on a mauve field. AJAC Standard shield. Red field with a white stripe diagonally across the shield. Within the white stripe, there is a black square, circle and triangle. GARDOL Standard shield. Black raven/falcon on a white field. Shield has a black border. ARIANA Standard shield. Black unicorn on a yellow field. There is a white stripe running down the centre of the shield from top to bottom. LOCHINVAR Standard shield. White field full of brown stars. BRONWEN Standard shield. White circle on brown field. CORIANDER Standard shiled. 3 white ankhs on field of alternating purple and brown diagonal stripes. KODAK Standard shield. 3 yellow ankhs on field of alternating yellow and light brown diagonal stripes. PARSIFAL Standard shield. Full plain light blue field. BELLATRIX Standard shield. Full plain green field. Swords of Twilight offers you an extraordinary opporutnity: 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. 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, you 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 partticular system. Because 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 release 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 character 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 want to 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- responding 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, perhapes, or Valor, Bronwen, and Gardol. (See Cast of Characters for more information.) 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 commonersd iffer 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 induviudal a more experiecne person know more and is harder to impress. Encounters are fluid. Everyone's behavious affect everyone else's. Freindly 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 remember 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 Friendly 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. EXPORE ALBION FIRST... The world in which you begin the game, Ablion, is initially friendly and peacful. Combat is inapporiprate,and magic spells are ineffecitve. In a game sense, it is a "learning" world: a nonthreatening environment in which to learn some basic information about your quest and accustom yourself ot the mechanics of the game. ...THEN TRAVEL TO OTHER WORLDS. To get to other worlds, you must travel the Rainbow Road, which means getting past a dragon or two. If a dragon asks you to identify the bearer of a displayed crest, look on the game package. Type in the answer on the keyboard and press RETURN. THE SCREEN WINDOW 1 WINDOW 2 WINDOW 5 (The main window) WINDOW 3 WINDOW 4 The game screen is dived into five sections (called "windows"). One of the first three window shows the face, name and status or maner of the characer. you're currently playing. The other two show your comrades: The characters accompanying you on your quest. At different times, your character's window will show choices you can make, your dialouge, and news aoubt your condition. (See Menus and other options and monitoring your characters. Windows 1 and 2, reserved for knights and champions, are controlled by jouysticks 1 and 2. Window 3 can be occupied by a mage or knight controlled by the keyboard. any of the three can represent a companions controlled by the computer. Anyone you encounteron your quest appears in window 4. Window 5 - the main window - displays your group their surroundings, and the action. GETTING STARTED. Once you have loaded the game, the initial title screen will apear, and the Roade them will play (The Amiga version has four voices - four instruments a playing at once - in stereo.) Press the key, as requested on the screen, and the display will change. In the game, there are 31 characters you can play: 12 mages, 7 champions, and 12 knights. Only three are active (on the quest) at a time, so you must first decide which three will start the game. You'll take the part of (that is, play or control) one; each of the other two can be played by a friend or the computer. Only one can be a champion, and only one (whoever is using the keyboard) can be a mage, but neither champion nor mage is required. CHOOSING CHARACTERS. Starting with Window 1, use the left/right cursor keys on the key- board to highlight the type of character you want (Champion or knight). Put the highlight under COMPUTER if you want the computer to run the character or under JOYSTICK 1 if you want the character controlled by someone using a joystick in port 1 (which is usually occupied by the mouse). Presss the right ALT or AMIGA key. Use the up/down cursor keys to scroll through the list of characters. (They are described under Cast of Characters) When you see the name of the character you want, press the right ALT or AMIGA key. Select next to go on to the next character, or Redo to reselect the character for window 1. Select characters for windows 2 and 3 following the steps above. Once you've selected characterss for all three window, you can redo Choices all over again or Begin Game. BEGINNING THE QUEST. You begin the game in the main hall of Queen Glorianas castle, AEdifice, in the heart of the land of Albion. You and your comrades are reasonbaly equiped, and the Queen will provide provisions (gifts and rations, perhapds an elixir, if you're not overburdened,) every time you leave home. Ask questions, and pay attention to what she says. When the audience is over, leave by the center door behind (below_) you, and continue out the main gate. In a moment, youl'll be out of the castle and on the road to adventure. CONTROLLING YOUR CHARACTER MOVEMENT. If you're not in a menu( see below) pressing the cursor keys or pushing a joystick will move the correspding characer around on the main window. Each cursor key moves the keybaord controlled characer in the direction indicated on the key. Pressing two keys right and up, for example would move the character diagonally, toward the upper right corner. If one direction was blocked (by and east-west wall above your position, say) the character would move in the unblocked direction (right) until an open in the wall enabled an upward move. If your characters's face is in one of the upper window, you'll be playing with a joystick . Push the joystick forward to move your characrer toward the top of the screen. Pull the joystick back to move your character down. Move joystick left or right moves your chacter left or right. To move diagaonaly to the upper right push the joystick up and to the right. No character wants to stray too far from everyone else. If you try to move too far way, you'll be stopped (at lesat momentarily) with the mesage "Too far from the others." You may have to wait for your comrades to move - or turn around. COMBAT Although the majority of your encounters with other should be peaceful, some may involve combat. To fight, you must be Hostile (see Manner) and out of the menu. If you then hold down the "trigger key" and press a cursor key your character will strike - not move - in the indicated direction. Strking is not instantaneous. There is a slight lag between your action and your characters, as your character (not you) aims and prepares a blow. (The lag is longest for novies, shortends for champions. ) after your character strikes, there is another delay before you can strike again. (Quick characters recover fast than clumsy ones. Even computer-controlled character experience, these delays. Holding down both trigger and cursor keys allows you to strike repeadtely, as fast as your character can manage, but it is tiring and not always good tactics. Note that a blow has force onlya t the exact instant that the character is first shown in the striking position. The rest of the time the character is depicted in the outstreteched position, the character is recovering and can't strike or move. Dealing or receiving blows is fatiging, but a blow that penetrates armor and shield causes a wound. Although an unarmored indiviudal may fall from a single powerful blow, defrat is more commonly the result of a series of wounds - and exhaustion. although it is hard to keep track of an entire melee, you can see, hare read and (after a while) even feel the results of your own battles. The success of an attack depends on many factors: stregth, skill, fatigue, aim, timing and the quality of your weapon. In general, you should be as close as possible and lined up horizontally, vertically or diagonally with your foe. Fatigue slows you, weakens your blows, and reduces your ability to defend yourself. Magic items and spells may aid attack or defense, while armor worn by a defender absorbs much of the force of a blow. A shield give you additional proteciton, but not while you're in process of strking (including delays) MENUS AND LISTS All other actions available to your character involve "the menu" - actually a series of menus and lists. To get into the menu, press and release the trigger key without moving your character. The main menu will appear in "your" window. As long as you are in the menu, the cursor keys or joystick move you from option to option. A menu is simply a row of options or choices. To choose an option, move the highlight left or right and press the trigger key when the option is highlighted. A list is a column of items or optoins, only one of which is visible at a time. An arrow next to an item in a list points in the direction (s) of other items in the list. Your persue a list by "moving" vertically (scrolling) Press the trigger key when your choice is showing. Many menu options lead to a sub-menu or list of options that inititate dialoge or action. If you decide not to pick an option from a list or menu, select X (for exit) To leave the menu altogether, keep choosing X until the main menu appear with Move highlighted. Press the trigger key once more. MENUS AND OTHER OPTIONS. Much of the action of the game involves encounter with people or creatoure, you meet. An encounter is essentially an exchange - of information (usually) gifts or aid (sometimes) or blows (often ) At least the first two possibilities require using the menu. THE MAIN MENU SHIFT TAKE TALK MOVE Change attitude Use, ready, Greet, warn; Return to action. pick up, and offer and ask (exit main menu) drop items for information and items. MANNER Your manner determines how friendly you seem the words you use, and, to some degree, what you can do. The friendlier your are, the more comfortable those encounters will be; the more hostile you are, the more threatening others will find you. The friendlier other are, the more helpful and informative they'll be. If you are alive, awake, and aawre, your manner is shown in a corner of the window. To change it, select a SHIFT from the main menu, scroll through the coices, and select the one you want witht the trigger key. FRIENDLY - open , warm, casual, relaxe, informative. POLITE - Slightly less open and friendly WARY - Cool, cautious, guarded. Since your movement is slow and quite, you attract less attention and have fewer encounters. HOSTILE - Aggressive, rude, threatening, uninformation. You must be Hostile to fight. You need not fight while Hostile, but it is hard to carry on much of a converstion that way: most people you encounter will feel impelled to defend themselves, or run away. For clarity, the manner of those who choose to fight you is labled Combat. Over time, anyone controlled by the cmputer will tend to match your man- ner, but changed in circumstances and other developments may prevent this. CONVERSATION The main way you learn things in the game is by talking to people you meet. Think of a conversation as an exhcange of attituedts and information. The more information you and your comrades provdie, the more you get. What is said depends on the manner and idenity of the speaker: a sage's greeting is not the same as a knight's; the words of a Friednly warning are not those of a Hostile one. You converser by using the TALK menu. TALK GREET (PART) WARN OFFER ASK X Say hello or goodbye | | | | | | | Exit to Caution or threaten | | | | Who What Why yes No | | Who What Where Aid Info STARTING AND STOPPING A CONVERSTAION. A conversation normall begins with an exchange of greetings and ends with a parting message. To say hello, just select Greet from the talk mean. To say goodbye,, choses PART (which replaces GREET as soon as you select anything in the Talk menu). The program will render your choice as a line of dialogue appriiate to your manner. All converstion in the game works this way. Press the trigger key again to erase your dialogue and retrun to the menu. A warning usually indicaties the imminent end of a converstion - and the beginning of a battle. Depending on your manner, choosing WARN may prevent - or provoke - a fight. Indeed , if your foes are divided or uncertain, saying anything at all may quell combat and permit further talk. QUESTIONS Choosing ASK from the Talk menu allows you to ask various questions. Everyone knows some facts that may be useful to your quest, but no one knows everything. The dragons that guard the Rainbow Road are likely to know where it goes, they might recognize the scene of ambrosia but neither know nor care what humans call the nearest town. Commoners, on the other hand, could name the town but not the potion in your flask. Those of higher rank know more than their less experienced or less traveled fellow. The more significatnt the information, the harder it is to learn. ASK WHO to learn something about the people you meat. If the answer con- tains the phrase, "my words are heard", you're talking to someone of sufficieint influence (if not neecessarily the inclintaion) to offer you any helpful item stored in the building (the "donjon") To learn something about an item in your possession, ASK WHAT, scroll through the list of your items, and pick the one you want to identify. If you ASK WHERE , you may find out not only where you are but also, perhapsh, the loction of other important places, where to enter the Rainbow Road, or where it leads. Most information pertaing to your quest, magic, the Shadowlords, and the way of the universe works in Sword of Twilight can be learned by choosing ASK INFO. You can pursue a line of questioning by choosing MORE - When it is available. Remember that the answers to Where or Info depend not only on who you're talking to but also on where you are. Aid is help if material kind: food, shellter, healing, arms, or equipment. Unless distrackecd or sidetracked anyone who has the power and the incliination to offer you aid will do so. You may, however, ASK AID to hasten or clarify matters. ANSWERS Anyone who does not know you will want to know who you are and why you're there. (The pharsing varies substantially but the interest is universal). To answer questions or offer information, select OFFER from the Talk menu. You can Offer WHO or Offer WHY before or after you're asked, but ignoring questions antagonizes people. The "translation" of Offer WHO depends on circumstance as well as manner. An expansive answer is more informative - and more impressive - comming from a champion than from a novice. Howevr, if your rep. is bad, you may want to let one of your comrades Offer WHO. Similarly, a Friendly Offer WHY is more informative than a hostile one - but that may have negative condsequences if you are talkin to minion of a Shadowlord.! DRAGONS The only time you need to go outside the menu to ansewr a question is when a dragon asks you to identify the bearer of a crest. On the inside of the game package, find the picture matching the crest shown, type the name of the person to whome the crest belongs, and press RETURN. If the name appear on the screen, all is well. If not, try again. GIFTS AND OFFERS. Offering a gift or spare item to someone you meet is usually preliminary (or a responese ) to getting aid. Try it with those who can provide substantial informtiona or help. To offer a gift, select OFFER from the Talk menu, WHAT and then the item. If your offer is accepted, the gift is automatically and invisibly borne away. If no one else is around, you can offer an item to one of your comrades in exactly the same way. You might want to offer an elixir to a wounded comrade, for instance If no one seems interest, you can end (erase) the offer simply by pressing your trigger key. To accept an offer form someone else, Offer YES, to decline, Offer NO. TAKE USE READY LIST DROP GET X | | | | | | Ingest food | View your | | REturn to or a potion | possessions | | main menu | Drop something | Put on (or take | off (equipment ) Pick up something EQUIPMENT Choosing TAKE from the main menu allows a varitey of non strenuous physical activity. With one small exception, any verb in the Take menu generates a list of the items (one at a time) on which you could perform the action chosen. Select the item you want or X to return to the Take menu. You can review the items in your possession by selcting LIST. A symbol (+) next to an item in you list indicates the item is ready. The same symbol between your name and status indicated you have as many items (8) as you can carry, To take hold of a staff, belt on a sword, or have a key at hand, choose Ready. You can also Ready armor, an accouterment, shield, ring or talisman. A readied item will stay readied until you "unready" it (by repeat the precedure) You can also unready an item by readying a comparale item - for instance, readying a ring automatically unreadies the ring currently worn. In general, anything that can be readied probably shoud be' otherwise, it has no effect. Note that you can't Offer or Drop a readied item. If you're touching an open chest, a sack left buy a vanquiest foe, or the body of a dead comrade, choosing GET allows you to view a list of any meaningful items left behind. Selecting an item then adds it to your possessions if you have room. You can try to open a closed chest by touching it and choosing GET. (See chest and trap under Donjons) To eat journeycake or take a swlalow of a potion in a flask, pick USE. If you finish a potion, the flask is discarded automatically. To get rid of an item you no longer want, select DROP. Unless you are looking through a chest, anything you drop will normally appear in a sack. you or anyone else can retrive the item by touching the sack or chest and choosing GET. "Ooops !" warns that the item you just dropped may vanish unless you GET the item before dropping anything else. (That happens rarely perhaps the chest if overflowing) If you wan to recover the item, choose GET.