1 ADVENTURING 2 Armor-Class Armor class is a number that describes the amount and the quality of armor begin worn. Armor class will generally run from about 0 to 100, but could become negative or greater than 100 in some cases. The larger your armor class, the more protective it is. A negative armor class would actually help get you hit. Armor protects you in three manners. One, it makes you harder to be hit for damage. A hit for no damage is the same as a miss. Two, good armor will absorb some of the damage that your character would have taken. An armor class of 100 would absorb 25% of any damage meant for him. Three, fire and acid damage are reduced by wearing body armor. It is obvious that a high armor class is a must for surviving the lower levels of the Boss's realm. Each piece of armor has an armor class adjustment, and a special bonus. Armor bought in town will have these values displayed with their description. Armor that is found within the realm must be identified before these values will be displayed. Armor class values are always diplayed between a set of brackets '[#,+#]'. The first value is the armor class of the item. The second number is the special bonus of the item, and will always have a sign preceding the value. There are a few cases where the form '[+#]' is used, meaning the object has no armor class, only a special armor bonus if worn, for example, (DF) weapons. Some pieces of armor will possess special abilites denoted with abbreviations. More information can be found under items/armor. 2 Bashing Weight is the primary factor in being able to bash something, but strength plays a role too. After bashing, a character may be off balance for several rounds depending upon his or her DEXTERITY. Doors can be broken down by bashing them. Once a door is bashed open, it is forever useless and cannot be closed. Chests too may be bashed open, but be warned that the careless smashing of a chest often ruins the contents. Bashing open a chest will not disarm any traps it may contain, but does allow the strong and ignorant to see what's inside. Finally, a creature may be bashed. If a shield is currently being worn, the bash is a shield bash and will do more damage. In either case, a bash may throw an opponent off balance for a number of rounds, allowing a player to get in a free hit or more. If the player is thrown off-balance, his opponent may get free hits on him. This is a risky attack. 2 Stuck Objects Some objects, mainly armor and weapons, have had curses laid upon them. These horrible objects will look like any other normal item, but will detract from your characters stats or abilities if worn. They will also be impossible to remove until they are demagnetized. When a stuck item has been identified, an asterisk '*' will appear next to the inventory letter of the item. If you should wear a stuck item, you will immediately know it is stuck and the asterisk will appear again. 2 Death If your character falls below 0 hit points, he has died and cannot be restored. A tombstone showing information about your character will be displayed with the option to print the information to a file. After the tombstone, the top fifty list of heroes is displayed. If your score beats any of the top fifty, your character will join this elite rank of heroes. Otherwise, well, there is always next time... It is important to keep in mind that dying isn't the worst thing in the world. BOSS is just a game. If your 40th level Sexy Con-Artist bites the dust, hey, that's life. Roll up another one. 2 Fighting Attacking is simple in BOSS. If you move into a creature, you attack him. You can attack from a distance by firing a missile, or by special means such as aiming a ray gun. Creatures attack in the same way, if they move into you, they attack you. Some creatures can attack you from a distance, and alien type creatures can breathe from a distance, but these are the only exceptions. If you are wielding a weapon, the damage for the weapon is used when you hit the creature. If you are wielding no weapons, you get two fist strikes. Note that very strong creatures can do a lot of damage with their fists... A character may have a primary and secondary weapon. A secondary weapon is kept on the belt, or on the shoulder for immediate use. You can switch between your primary and secondary weapons by using the 'x' command. Be sure you are wielding the proper weapon when fighting. Hitting an alien over the head with a purse will simply make it mad, and get you killed. Missile weapons, such as pistols, can be wielded, and then the proper ammo can be fired across the room into a target. Hits and misses are determined by ability to hit vs. armor class. A miss doesn't necessarily mean you failed to hit the target, but only that you failed to do any damage. Therefore a 'hit' is a strike that does some damage. Higher armor classes make it harder to do damage, therefore more misses. 2 Light There are two sources for light once inside the dungeon. Permanent light which has been specially placed within rooms, and a light source carried by the player. If neither is present, the character will be unable to map or see any attackers. Lack of light will also affect searching, picking locks, and disarming. A character must wield a flashlight or lantern in order to supply his own light. Once a light source has only 50 or less turns left before burning out, the message "Your light is getting low" will be displayed at random intervals. Once a flashlight is burnt out, it is useless and can be dropped. A lantern can be refilled with batteries by using the Fill 'F' command. 2 Mining Much of the money within the tunnels can be found only by digging it out of the walls. Many rich strikes exist within each level, but must be found and mined. Quartz veins are the richest, yielding the most metals and gems, but magma veins will have some hordes hidden within. Mining is virtually impossible without a pick or shovel. Picks and shovels have an additional special ability expressed as '(+#)'. The higher the number, the better the special digging ability of the tool. Note that a pick or shovel also has plusses to hit and damage, and can be used as a weapon. Several very powerful digging tools exist in the game, but must be found. When a vein of quartz or magma is located, the character should wield his pick or shovel and begin digging out a section. When that section is removed, he should locate another section of the vein, and begin the process again. Since granite rock is much harder to dig through, it is much faster to follow the vein exactly and dig around the granite. If the character has a floppy or device of treasure location, he can immediately locate all strikes of treasure within a vein shown on the screen. This makes mining much easier and more profitable. 2 Objects The tunnels are full of objects just waiting to be picked up and used. How did they get there? Well, the main source for useful items are all the foolish adventurers that proceeded into the tunnels before you. They get killed, and the helpful monsters scatter the various treasure throughout the realm. Most cursed items are placed there by the joyful servants of the Boss who enjoy a good joke when it gets you killed. You pick up objects by moving on top of them. You can carry up to 52 different items in your backpack while wearing and wielding many others. Note that although you are limited to 52 different items, you may be carrying several of each item restricted only by the amount of weight your character can carry. Your character's weight limit is determined by his Strength. Only one object may occupy any one given floor location, which may or may not also contain one monster. Note that doors, traps, and staircases are considered objects for this purpose. Many objects found within the dungeon have special commands for their use. Ray Guns must be aimed, Devices must be used, Floppy disks must be run, and potions must be quaffed. In any case, you must first be able to carry an object before you can use it. Some objects, such as chests, are very complex. Chests contain other objects and may be trapped, and/or locked. Read the list of player commands carefully for a further understanding of chests. Once in a while, a chest will contain another chest... One item in particular will be discussed here. The Floppy of "Beam Me Up" can be found within the dungeon, or bought at the computer store in town. It acts in two manners, depending upon your current location. If ran within the dungeon, it will teleport you back to town. If ran in town, it will teleport you back down to the deepest level of the tunnels which your character has previously been. This makes this floppy very useful for getting back to the deeper levels of BOSS. Once the floppy is executed it takes a while for the program to act, so don't expect it to save you in a crisis. Beware, however, of your soul plummeting to the depths of hell. And lastly, a final warning. Not all objects are what they seem. Sparkly treasures lying peacefully about the dungeon have been known to bite... 2 Secret Doors Many secret doors are used within the dungeon to confuse and demoralize adventurers foolish enough to enter. But with some luck, and lots of concentration, you can find these secret doors. Secret doors will sometimes hide rooms or corridors, or even entire sections of that level of the dungeon. Sometimes they simply hide small empty closets or even dead ends. Creatures in the tunnels will generally know and use these secret doors. If they leave one open, you will be able to go right through it. If they close it behind them you will have to search for the catch first. Once a secret door has been discovered by you, it is drawn as a known door and no more searching will be required to use it. Of course, you'll probably still have to pick the lock... 2 Staircases Staircases are the manner in which you get deeper, or climb out of the Boss's realm. The symbols for the up and down staircases are the same as the commands to use them. A '<' represents an up staircase and a '>' represents a down staircase. You must move your character over the staircase before you can use them. Each level has several staircases, many leading up, and many leading down. Be careful, though, because some staircases are very steep and will bring you more than one level up or down. Be sure to look at the staircase first to see how steep it is. 2 Weapons Carrying a weapon in your backpack does you no good. You must wield a weapon before it can be used in a fight. Note that a secondary weapon can be kept by wielding it and then using the exchange command 'x'. A secondary weapon is not in use, simply ready to be switched with the current weapon if needed. Weapons have two main characteristics; their ability to hit and their ability to do damage, expressed as '(+#,+#)'. A normal weapon would be '(+0,+0)'. Many weapons in BOSS have special bonuses to hit and/or do damage. Some weapons are cursed, and have penalties that hurt the player. Note that cursed swords are stuck and cannot be un-wielded until the curse is removed. Missile weapons, such as pistols, have only one major characteristic which is to hit, expressed '(+#)'. This plus to hit is added to that of the missile used, if the proper weapon/ammo combination is used. Although you recieve any special bonuses an unidentified weapon may possess when you wield it, those bonuses will not be added in to the displayed values of to-hit and to-dam on your character sheet. You must identify the weapon before the displayed values reflect the real values used. Finally, some rare weapons have *special* abilities. These abilities augment the normal capabilities of the weapon. More information about special weapons can be found under items/weapons. 2 Winning Once your character has progressed into killing aliens with but a mean glance and snap of his fingers, he may be ready to take on the Boss. The Boss will appear on every level after 2450 meters, so don't go down there until you are ready for him. The Boss cannot be killed in some of the easier methods used on normal creatures. Because of the Boss's cunning, he will teleport away to another level if a skill such as genocide is used upon him, and the Boss cannot be polymorphed, slept, or charmed. Special skills like coldball are effective against him as are weapons, but he is difficult to kill and if allowed to escape for a time can heal himself. If you should actually survive the attempt of killing the Boss, you will recieve the status of WINNER. Since you have defeated the toughest villain alive, your character is ready to retire and cannot be saved. When you quit the game, your character recieves a surprise bonus score and is entered into the top fifty list, probably at the top. 2 Wizards There are rumors of BOSS Wizards which, if asked nicely, can explain details of the BOSS game that seem complicated to beginners. In addition, they have special skills which can restore characters lost by accident, such as power-outs and such. 1 BANKING There is a savings and loan institution in the office building of every town, run by Danny Dollar. Well, Danny is more of a figure- head for the s&l, sort of like Ronald McDonald is for McDonalds. While there's a Danny in every town, no one is sure which town has the real Danny Dollar. In fact, no one even knows whether or not Danny is still working, or if he has retired. 2 Deposits Danny has a wife, three kids, a dog, and employees, so he takes a cut when you deposit, but only then. His rates are displayed upon entering the establishment. To be fair, however, your account does earn interest at the weekly rate listed. 2 Withdrawls Getting your money out is as easy as asking for it. 2 Loans Getting a loan is simple. Danny will give you as much as he thinks you are worth, depending on your level. Persumably higher level characters are going to live for a while, and are good for more money. Your loan is charged interest at the advertised rate. 2 Payments It is necessary that you pay back your loans. If you do not, several things may happen to you. First, Danny will start charging you higher rates on your loan. Second, he will take a bigger cut on your deposits. Third, he will pay you less interest on any money you have deposited. Fourth, and without warning, Danny may send out two of his large 'enforcers' to collect on his loan. They will beat you up and take your money. Danny gives you some time to get your cashflow under control before he begins enforcing payments, and will warn you when he thinks it's time. Finally, if your loan is not payed off, Danny's enforcers will keep you from leaving town. 1 CHARACTER All characters have six main attributes which modify their basic abilities. These six attributes, called stats, are STRENGTH, INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, DEXTERITY, CONSTITUTION, and CHARISMA. Stats may vary from 3 as a minimum to 18/200 as a maximum. Because adventurers of interest tend to be better than average characters, BOSS stats will average about 16, and are further adjusted by qualities and class. In addition to the more visible stats, each character has certain abilities which are mainly determined by his quality and class, but are also modified by his stats. The abilities are MELEE FIGHTING, GUNS/GRENADES, SAVING THROW, STEALTH, DISARMING, WIERD DEVICES, PERCEPTION, SEARCHING, and INFRA-VISION. Characters will be assigned an early history, with money and a social class based on that history. Starting money is assigned based on history, charisma, and somewhat upon the average of a character's stats. A character with below average stats will receive extra money to help him survive the first adventure. Each character will also have physical attributes such as a race, a height, weight, sex, and a physical description. None of these, except weight, play any part in the game other than to give the player a "feeling" for his character. Weight is used for computing carrying capacity and also for BASHING. Finally each character is assigned HIT POINTS based on their race, class, and constitution. Special skill users will also recieve Resources ("RSRC") which is expended when using skills. Your total resources are based on Wisdom for Gurus, Intelligence for Scientists, and Charisma for Con-Artists. 2 Abilities Characters possess nine different abilities which can help them to survive. The starting abilities of characters are based upon the quality and class of characters. Abilities may be adjusted by high or low stats, or may increase with the level of the character. 3 Melee-Fighting Melee Fighting is the ability to hit and do damage with hand weapons or fists. Normally a character gets a single blow from any weapon, but if his dexterity and strength are high enough, he may receive more blows per round with lighter weapons. Strength and dexterity both modify the ability to hit an opponent. In addition this skill increases with the level of the character. 3 Guns/Grenades Firing guns with ammo and throwing objects, such as grenades, is included in the skill. Different stats apply to different weapons, but may modify the distance an object is thrown/fired, the amount of damage done, and the ability to hit a creature. This skill increases with the level of the character. 3 Saving-Throw A Saving Throw is the ability of a character to resist the effects of special skills used on him by another person/creature. This ability increases with the level of the character, but then most high level creatures are better at using their skills, so it tends to even out. 3 Stealth The ability to move silently about is very useful. Characters with good stealth can usually surprise their opponents, gaining the first blow. Also, creatures may fail to notice a stealthy character entirely, allowing a player to avoid certain fights. 3 Disarming Disarming is the ability to remove traps (safely), and includes picking locks on traps and doors. Note that a successful disarming will gain the character some experience. The character must have found a trap before it can be disarmed. Dexterity and intelligence both modify the ability to disarm, and this ability increases with the level of the character. 3 Wierd-Devices Using a special device such as a ray gun or device requires experience and knowledge. This skill is modified by intelligence, and increases with the level of the character. 3 Perception Perception is the ability to notice something without actively seeking it out. This skill is based entirely upon race and class, and will never improve unless specially enhanced. 3 Searching To search is to actively look for secret doors, floor traps, and traps on chests. Ninjas are the best at searching, but thieves, gurus and scientists are good at it, too. Intelligence modifies your ability of searching, and your ability will also increase with your level. 3 Infra-Vision Infra-vision is the ability to see heat sources. Since most of the dungeon is cool or cold, infra-vision will not allow the player to see walls and objects. Infra-vision will allow a character to see any warm-blooded creatures up to a certain distance. This ability works equally well with or with out a light source. Note that the majority of the creatures are cold blooded, and will not be detected unless lit up by a light source. 2 Classes Once a quality has been chosen, you will need to pick a class. Some classes may not be available to aliens. For the first few adventures it is suggested that you run a wrestler or ninja. Special skill using classes tend to take much more experience with the game to keep them alive. 3 Wrestler A Wrestler is a hack-and-slash character, who solves most of his problems by cutting them to pieces, but will occasionally fall back on the help of a special device. His prime stats are Strength and Constitution, and a good Dexterity can really help at times. A Wrestler has lots of hit points and will be good at Melee Fighting and using Guns/Grenades, but bad at most other skills. 3 Scientist A Scientist must live by his wits. He cannot hope to simply hack his way through the tunnels, and so must therefore use his special skills to defeat, deceive, confuse, and to escape with. A scientist is not really complete without a golf-cart of special devices to use in addition to his skills. He can master the higher level wierd devices far easier than anyone else. Intelligence is obviously his primary stat. There is no rule that says a scientist cannot become a good fighter, but skills are his true calling. 3 Guru A Guru is a character of holy devotion. They explore the dungeon only to destroy the evil that lurks within, and if treasure just happens to fall into their packs; well, so much more to the glory of their church! Gurus receive their prayers from their diety, and therefore do not choose which prayers they will learn. He is familiar with special devices, preferring to call them instruments of his god, but is not as good as a scientist in their use. Gurus have good saving throws and a very Preceptive, and make decent fighters, preferring blunt weapons over edged ones. Wisdom is the primary stat for the Guru. 3 Ninja A Ninja is a character that prefers to live by his cunning, but is capable of fighting his way out of a tight spot. He is the master of traps and locks, no device being impossible for him to over-come. A ninja has a high stealth allowing him to sneak around many creatures without having to fight, or sneak up and get the first blow. A ninja's perception is extrememly high and many times he will notice a trap or secret door before having to search. A ninja is better than wrestlers or wanderers with special devices, but still can not rely on their performance. Due to their special training, strength, and exceptional fighting skill, ninja's get more critical hits than other classes. A ninja's primary stats are Strength and Dexterity. 3 Soldier A Soldier is a fighter/scientist. He is a good fighter, and the best of the classes with a missile weapon such as a gun. The soldier learns skills much more slowly than a scientist, but is capable of learning all but the most powerful skill. Because a soldier is really a dual class character, it requires more experience to advance him. A soldier has a good stealth, good perception, good searching, a good saving throw, and is good with special devices. His primary stats are Intelligence and Dexterity. 3 Wanderer A Wanderer is a fighter/guru. He is an average fighter, but not very good at missile weapons. He receives prayers at a slower pace then the guru, and can receive all but the most powerful prayer. Because a wanderer is really a dual class character, it requires more experience to advance him. A wanderer lacks much in the way of abilities. He is poor at stealth, searching, and special devices. He has a decent saving throw due to his divine alliance. His primary stats are Strength and Wisdom. 3 Con-Artist A Con-Artist is an alternative sort of profession using tricks of the mind as their special skills. A con-artist relies on his charisma to out-wit his foes and to avoid thier dangerous blows. Their primary stat is Charisma. 3 Thief A Thief is a fighter/con-artist. A good thief avoids direct contact with his foes and relies on his good stealth and con-artist tricks. A thief learns tricks slower than a con-artist, but is a much better fighter. He is the master of traps and locks, no device being impossible for him to over-come. His primary stats are Charisma and Dexterity. 2 Qualities There are eight different qualities that you can choose from in BOSS. The alien quality is restricted as to what profession it may be, and each quality has it's own adjustments to a character's abilities. 3 Elite Rather than having a speciality in one stat, the Elite quality gives a small bonus to each stat. As an added extra, the elite character has especially high disarming, searching, melee fights, etc. An elite character needs a little extra experience to go up each level. 3 Hefty Hefty characters are given a huge bonus to their Strength and also bonuses to Constitution, Melee Fighting, Saving Throw, and Hit Points. 3 Mad Mad characters are given a huge bonus to their Intellegence and also bonuses to Dexterity and Wierd Device. 3 Wise Wise characters are given a huge bonus to their Wisdom and also bonuses to Intellegence, Searching, and Perception. 3 Lucky Lucky characters are given a huge bonus to their Dexterity and also bonuses to Wisdom, Disarming, Searching, Guns/Grenades, Saving Throw, and Perception. 3 Healthy Healthy characters are given a huge bonus to their Constitution and also bonuses to Strength and Melee Fighting. 3 Sexy Sexy characters are given a huge bonus to thier Charisma and also bonuses to Dexterity and Saving Throw. 3 Alien This quality means that you are a Jarwangian Alien. These Aliens have extrordinary Strength, Intellegence, Dexterity, and Constitution, plus 80' Infra-Vision. Because of their unfamiliarity of our world, aliens need much more experience to gain levels. 2 Sex You may choose to be either a male or a female character. Only height and weight are affected by a character's sex. Female characters tend to be somewhat smaller and lighter then their male counterparts. No adjustments to stats or abilities are made because of the sex of a character. 2 Stats 3 Strength (STR) Strength is important in fighting with weapons, or hand to hand. A high strength can improve your chances of hitting, and the amount of damage done with each hit. Characters with low strengths may receive penalties. Strength is also useful in tunneling, body and shield bashing, etc. 3 Intelligence (INT) Intelligence is the prime stat of a scientist or soldier. A high intelligence increases a scientist's chances of learning spells, and in gaining resources. No skill may be learned by scientists with intelligences under 8. Intelligence also modifies a character's chance of disarming traps, picking locks, and using wierd devices. 3 Wisdom (WIS) Wisdom is the prime stat of a guru. A high wisdom increases the chance of recieving new prayers from a guru's diety, and in the gaining of resources. Wisdom also modifies a character's chance of resisting special skills used upon his person. 3 Dexterity (DEX) Dexterity is the combination of agility and quickness. A high dexterity may allow a character to get multiple blows with lighter weapons, thus greatly increasing his kill power, and may increase his chances of hitting with any weapon. Dexterity is also useful in picking locks and disarming traps. 3 Constitution (CON) Constitution is a characters ability to resist damage to their body, and to recover from damage received. Therefore a character with a high constitution will receive more hit points, and be more resistant to poisons. 3 Charisma (CHR) Charisma represents a character's personality, as well as physical looks. A character with a high charisma will receive better prices from store owners, whereas a character with a very low charisma will be robbed blind. A high charisma will also mean more money when the character starts out. Charisma is very important for Con-Artists. A high charisma will give make the skills and gaining of resources more efficient for thieves and con-artists. 1 COMMANDS All commands are entered by pressing a single key, or control sequence (holding down the control key while pressing a key). If a particular command requires additional action, it will be prompted for, with one exception. When a direction is required, no prompt is given unless and until an illegal response is given. 2 Directions In the following instructions, the symbol refers to a numeric direction based on your keypad. It is not valid to use the number '5' in this context. One exception to this is with movement, in which case '5' will rest the character for one turn. Commands which require a direction will not prompt you for one, unless you input an illegal direction. Just enter a direction after the entering the command. Directions \ | / 7 8 9 - 4 6 - 1 2 3 / | \ 2 Movement Movement is accomplished by using your numeric keypad. Simply press a number and your character will move one step in that direction. Pressing a '5' is equivalent to waiting for one round (More efficient resting over long periods of time is accomplished by using the Rest command). You can only move onto and through floor spots, and only if they contain no creatures or obstructing objects such as a closed door. Moving your character one step at a time can be time consuming and boring, so a faster method has been supplied. By using the Move command '.', you may move in a direction until something interesting happens. For instance, by pressing the period key '.' followed by the direction 8, your character would continue to move up the screen, only coming to a stop after at least one condition is satisfied. These conditions are: 1. A creature appears upon the screen, or a creature already on the screen moves. 2. You move next to an object, or feature such as a door, staircase, or trap. 3. You come to a wall, and have more than one choice of directions from which to continue, or are in a dead in passage. 4. You come to a junction of several passages. Movement \ | / 7 8 9 - 4 6 - 5 rests the character for one turn. 1 2 3 / | \ 2 BASH B - Bash The Bash command includes breaking open doors and chests, or bashing an opponent. Two main factors determine the ability of a character to bash; their weight and their strength. In addition, when bashing an opponent, you will either perform a body bash, or if wielding a shield, perform a shield bash which is more effective. Bashing a door can throw the character off-balance, but this will not generally be a problem. Doors that have been jammed closed with spikes can only be opened by bashing. Locked doors may also be bashed open. Note that bashing a door open will permanently break it. Bashing a creature has effects on both the player and his opponent. Depending on a character's dexterity, he may or may not be thrown off-balance allowing free moves to his opponents. If the bash is successful, the opponent will be thrown off-balance for 1 to 3 turns, thus allowing the character free hits or a chance to run. A player automatically performs a shield bash instead of a body bash, if he is currently wearing a shield. A shield bash adds the damage of a shield to that of the bash, so is more effective. Note that size and material both affect the damage that a shield will do. 2 CHARACTER C - Print character sheet to screen This command allows the player to display his character information on the terminal screen. All stats and abilitlies are shown, along with current bank balance information. Note that the descriptors of the misc. abilities are subjective and do vary each time you use the shift-C command. If you need to print your character info to a file, see the shift-P command. 2 DISARM D - Disarm a trap. You can attempt to disarm floor traps, or trapped chests. If you fail to disarm a trap, there is a chance that you blunder and set it off. You can only disarm a trap on a chest after finding it with the search command. 2 EAT E - Eat some food. A character must eat occasionally to remain effective. As a character grows hungry, a message will appear at the bottom of the screen saying "Hungry". If a character remains hungry long enough, he will become weak and eventually start fainting. 2 FILL F - Fill a lantern with batteries. If your character is currently using a lantern for light, and if he has a package of batteries in inventory, he may refill the lantern by using this command. A lantern is capable of a maximum of 12000 turns of light. 2 LOCATION L - Display map co-ordinates. The Location command will display your character's current co-ordinates as shown on a printed map (printed with the 'P' command). Sectors contain up to 44 rows by 99 columns each. The Location command will display the character's current row and column map co-ordinates, as well as the sector number. 2 MIX_POTIONS M - Mix two potions together. A player with good luck and intellegence can sometimes be able to mix together two potions and come out with a new, more powerful one. The results are unpredictable, and so potion mixing should be done with caution. 2 MORE-TOGGLE Q - Toggle the 'question-more' feature on and off. This command does not take a turn. 2 PRINT P - Print map or character sheet to file. The Print command will write an entire map of the dungeon floor explored to a file. Since the dungeon floor is large, the map is broken up into sectors, each containing up to 44 rows by 99 columns. This command also allows the player to print his entire character sheet info listing to a file. The character's history, equipment list, and an inventory list are included. 2 REST R - Rest for a number of turns. You may rest one turn by pressing the '5' key. Resting for longer periods of time is accomplished by using the Rest command, followed by the number of turns you want to rest your character. Resting will continue until the specified duration has expired, or something to wake the character happens, such as a creature wandering by. It is sometimes a good idea to rest a beat-up character until he regains some of his hit points, but be sure to have plenty of food if you rest often. If you have accidently entered in a rest period too large, or change your mind about the resting period, you may wake your character up by pressing any key. 2 SEARCHMODE S - Search mode toggle. The Searching toggle will take the character into and out of searching mode. When first pressed, the message "Searching" will appear at the bottom of the screen. The character is now taking two turns for each command, one for the command and one turn to search about him. Note that this means he is taking twice the time to move about the dungeon, and therefore twice the food. If a creature should happen by or attack you, search mode will automatically shut off. Otherwise you may turn off search mode by again pressing the 'S' key. 2 TUNNEL T - Tunnel through rock. Tunneling (Mining) is a very useful art. There are four kinds of rock present in the dungeons of Moria; Permanent Rock, Granite Rock, Magma Intrusion, and Quartz Veins. Permanent Rock is exactly that, permanent. Granite is very hard, therefore hard to dig through, and contains no valuable metals. Magma and Quartz veins are softer and sometimes bare valuable metals and gems, shown as a '$' or a '*' character. You can tell if the metal or gems are embedded into the wall by trying to move onto them. If you can't move over them, you'll have to dig them out. Tunneling can be VERY difficult by hand, so when you dig be sure to wield either a shovel or a pick. Special shovels and picks can be found which allow the wielder to dig much faster than normal, and a good strength also helps. 2 AIM a - Aim a ray gun. Ray Guns must be aimed in a direction to be used. Ray Guns are a special device and therefore use the Special Devices ability of the player. They will either affect the first object/creature encountered, or affect anything in a given direction, depending upon the ray gun. An obstruction such as door or wall will general stop the effects of a ray gun from traveling further. 2 BROWSE b - Browse a book. You can only understand a book if you are trained in its arts. Therefore a scientist could read a tech manual, but not a holy book. Fighter's will not be able to read either kind of book. When the browse command is used, all of the skills or prayers contained in the book along with information about it, such as it's level, the amount of resources used up in using it, and wether or not you know the skill or prayer will be displayed. There are a total of 31 different special skills in four books, and 31 different prayers in four books. 2 BERZERK b - Go Berzerk A Wrestler character makes up for his lack of special skills by having *lots* of hit points and also by his ability to lose his head in battle and lash out at every opponent around him. This skill is nicknamed 'Berzerking' and is quite effective. There are currently no restrictions on the amount of times a Wrestler can go berzerk. 2 CLOSE c - Close a door. Non-intelligent and certain other creatures will not be able to open a door. Therefore shutting doors can be a life saver. You must be adjacent to an open door, and you cannot close broken doors. Note that bashing a door open will break it. 2 DROP d - Drop an object from you inventory. You can drop a single object onto the floor beneath you if that floor spot does not already contain an object. Note that doors and traps are considered objects in this sense. If you drop an object such as a potion or floppy, a single one is dropped onto the floor at a time. Group objects such as arrows are all dropped at once onto the floor. 2 EQUIPMENT e - Display a list of equipment being used. Use the Equipment command to display a list of objects currently being used by your character. Note that each object has a specific place were it is placed, and that only one object of each type may be used at any one time; excepting rings of which two can be worn, one on each hand. 2 FIRE f - Fire a Gun. To use a gun with ammo, simply wield the gun and then specify which ammo clip you want to use after hitting the fire command. The caliber of the gun must match the ammo size, of course. 2 Hurl h - Hurl an Item. You may throw any object carried by your character. Depending upon the weight of an object, it may travel across a room or drop down beside you. If you throw an object such as a round of ammo, only one will be used at a time. If you hurl at a creature, your chance of hitting the creature is determined by your pluses to hit, your ability at throwing, and the objects pluses to hit. Once the creature is hit, the object may or may not do any actual damage to it. Certain objects in the game can do great amounts of damage when thrown, but it's for you to figure out the obscure ones. Grenades are the most effective of thrown weapons, but be careful not to throw one too close to you, or you will be hit by the blast. 2 HELP h - Enter the BOSS help library. A subprocess is spawned and the HELP utility entered. Help on individual commands may be displayed without actually exiting your game. You may return to your game by entering a -Z character. 2 INVENTORY i - Display a list of objects being carried. The Inventory command displays a list of all objects being carried, but are not in current use. You may carry up to 22 different kinds of objects, not including those in your equipment list. Depending upon your strength, you will be able carry many identical objects before hitting your weight limit. 2 JAM j - Jam a door with an iron spike. Most humanoid and many intelligent creatures can simply open a closed door, and can eventually get through a locked door. Therefore you may spike a door in order to jam it. Each spike used on a door will increase it's strength. It is very easy to jam a door so much as to make it impossible for your character to bash it down, so spike doors wisely. Note that the bigger a creature is, the easier it can bash a door down. Therefore four or more spikes might be necessary to slow down an alien, where one spike would slow down a gang member. 2 Skills m - Do a skill from a con artist or tech manual First, a character must have learned a skill before he can cast it. Next, when using a skill, he must read the skill from a manual, so a manual containing the skill must be in his inventory. Each skill has a chance of failure which starts out fairly large but decreases as a character gains levels. If a character does not have the available resources, he increases his chance of failure, and gambles on losing a point of constitution. Note that since a character must read the skill from a manual, he cannot be blind or confused when using a skill, and there must be some light present. 2 LOOK l - Look in a direction. The Look command is useful in identifying the exact type of object or creature shown on the screen. Also, if a creature is on top of an object, the look command will describe both. You can see creatures and objects up to 200 feet away (20 units). Note that you may freely use the Look command without the creatures getting a move on you. 2 OPEN o - Open a door, chest, or lock. To open an object such as a door or chest you must use the Open command. If the object is locked, the Open command will attempt to pick the lock, based on your ability at disarming. Note that if an object is trapped and you open it, the trap will be set off. 2 PRAY p - Read a prayer. First, a character must have learned a prayer before he can read it. Next, when reading a prayer, he must have the book containing the prayer in his inventory. Each prayer has a chance of failure which starts out fairly large but decreases as a character gains levels. If a character does not have the available resources, he increases his chance of failure, and gamble on losing a point of constitution. Note that since a character must read the prayer from a book, he cannot be blind or confused and there must be some light present. 2 QUAFF q - Quaff a potion. To drink a potion use the Quaff command. A potion affects the player in some manner. The effects of the potion may be immediately noticed, or they may be subtle and unnoticed. If you wish to try mixing potions, use the Mix command. 2 READ r - Run a floppy in a computer. Floppy disks in BOSS are strange alien constructs that react with the immediate environment when they are ran inside a computer. Some floppies will light up a room, while others will identify a player's inventory. Cheap, earth made, computers will invariably 'eat' a floppy once it is ran, but the more advanced (and expensive) computers are less likely to destroy the disk. 2 SEARCH s - Search general area one turn. The Search command can be used to locate hidden traps and secret doors about the player. Note that more than a single turn of searching will be required in most cases. You should always search a chest before trying to open it because they are generally trapped. 2 TAKEOFF t - Take off a piece of equipment. Use the Take-Off command to remove an object from use, and return it to your inventory. Occasionally you will run into a cursed item which cannot be removed. Cursed items are always bad, and can only be taken off after removing the curse. 2 USE u - Use a wierd device. The Use command will activate a wierd device. Wierd Devices are bizarre alien devices that baffle earth's scientists. The Boss has stolen many of them from both the Dasyians and the Jarwangians, and many have turned up in city stores. Like floppys, most wierd devices have an area affect. Becasue devices are generally more powerful than most other items, they are also harder to use correctly. 2 VERSION v - Display current version of game. The Version command displays the credits for the current version of Moria/BOSS. 2 WEAR w - Wear or wield an item being carried. To wear or wield an object in your inventory, use the Wear/Wield command. If an object is already in use for the same function, it is automatically removed first. Note that an objects bonuses cannot be gained until it is worn or wielded. 2 EXCHANGE x - Exchange primary and secondary weapons. A secondary weapon is any weapon which may be needed often. Instead of searching through your inventory, you may use the exchange command to keep the weapon ready. For instance, if you wanted to use your gun most of the time, but needed an axe for close combat, you could wield your axe, use the exchange command to make it the secondary weapon, then wield your gun. If the axe was suddenly needed, simply use the exchange command to switch between the gun and the axe. 2 IDENTIFY / - Identify a character shown on screen. Use the identify command to find out what a character displayed on the screen stands for. For instance, by pressing '/.', you can find out that the '.' stands for a floor spot. When used with a creature, the identify command will tell you only what class of creature the symbol stands for, not the specific creature, therefore use the look command for this information. 2 COMMANDS ? - Display a list of commands. The ? command displays a one page quick reference help page on the screen. 2 REPEAT ^M - Repeat last message. The -M (Carriage-Return or Enter key) command will re-display the last message printed on the message line at the top of your screen. 2 REDRAW ^R - Redraw the screen. To redraw the entire screen, use the -R command. 2 QUIT ^Y - Quit the game without saving. To exit the game without saving your character use the -Y command. Once exited in this manner, your character is non-recoverable. 2 SAVE ^Z - Save your character and quit the game. To save your game so that it can be restarted later, use the -Z command. The save file can be moved about at will, but do not edit it. Note that a copy of a saved character will not work after that character has died. 2 SHELL $ - Shell out of game. Use the Shell command '$' to temporarily exit the game to execute DCL commands. You may re-enter the game by typing in a log command. 2 UP < - Go up an up-staircase. If you move onto an up-staircase you may use the '<' command to go up one level. There are always several staircases going up on every dungeon level. Going up a staircase will always take you to a new dungeon area except for the city level, which remains the same until you go to the next city. 2 DOWN > - Go down a down-staircase. If you are on top of a down-staircase you may use the '>' command to go down one level. There are always several staircases going down on each level, including the city level. Going down will always take you to a new dungeon area. 2 GO . - Move in direction. The Move command '.' will move you in the indicated direction until one of several conditions happen. These conditions include, a creature appearing on the screen, a creature already on the screen moving, an object or feature such as a door, a staircase, or a trap is adjacent to the character, character comes into a junction of passages, or character comes to a wall with no choice or more than one choice of continuing directions. 1 COMPUTERS Part of a character's survivial in BOSS will depend on the computer that the character buys or finds in the dungeon. A computer is needed to run Floppy Disks. Most computers will always successfully run a disk, but in doing so will usually corrupt the data and 'eat' the disk. Some computers are less 'hungry' then others and this is immediately apparent in the relative price of the model. Current computer efficiency ranges from 1% to 70%. 1 DISCLAIMER BOSS (Moria) is intended for Public Domain, and may not be sold or marketed IN ANY FORM without the permision and written consent from the author Robert Alan Koeneke. I retain all copyrights to this program, in either the original or modified forms, and no violation, deletion, or change of the copyright notice is allowed. Futhermore, I will have no liability or responsibilty to any user with respect to loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by this program. 1 HELP You can get help on a topic by typing in the first few letters of the topic or subtopic. If a topic is abbreviated, the text for all topics which match the abbreviation is displayed. To exit from a topic simply hit the return key. 1 ITEMS There are a lot of different types of items in BOSS. Knowing what they can do and how they can be used is key to winning the game. 2 WEAPONS Anything in the game can potentially be used as a weapon. However, some things cannot be wielded effectively as a weapon. Real weapons come in three types, and there are also special abilities that some rare weapons may contain. 3 SPORTS_EQUIPMENT Sports equipment are specialized types of weapons that can be purchased in the Pro Shop. They are generally cheaper than weapons found in the Weapon Shop. Sports Equipment Cost Weight Damage Towel 1 2 2d3 Hair Brush 1 1 2d2 Umbrella 10 10 1d6 Hat Stand 15 70 1d8 Aligator Skin Purse 30 15 1d4 Walking Stick 10 10 1d4 Ping Pong Paddle 5 2 2d2 Tennis Racket 40 25 2d4 Jai-Lai Scoop 45 20 1d6 Bowling Pin 5 30 1d6 Golf Club (9 iron) 60 35 3d3 Golf Club (1 wood) 80 40 3d4 Cricket Bat 50 65 2d5 Baseball Bat (wooden) 30 80 2d6 Baseball Bat (aluminum) 35 70 3d6 Baseball Bat (spiked) 50 100 4d6 Croquet Mallet 10 10 2d5 Hockey Stick 50 30 2d4 Snow Ski Pole 50 30 1d10 Foil 100 35 1d10 Water Ski 150 100 2d5 Surf Board 200 50 3d3 3 HAND-TO-HAND Type Cost Weight Damage Lead Pipe 2 15 2d3 Wrench 10 15 1d5 Hammer 10 15 1d6 Crowbar 20 25 2d4 Hand Axe 100 50 4d4 Chainsaw 250 100 5d5 Flail 300 150 5d4 Katana 350 150 6d4 Long Sword 375 250 7d4 Broadsword 400 250 8d4 Two-Handed Sword 500 275 9d4 Battle Axe 600 300 10d4 3 DISTANCE Thrown Weapons Cost Weight Damage Frisbee 1 1 1d3 Baseball 10 5 2d4 Lawn Dart 10 20 1d10 Large Brick 1 50 1d7 Throwing Knife 50 15 2d5 Throwing Star 40 1 2d4 Dynamite 20 5 2d5 Fragmentation Grenade 50 10 4d5 Incendiary Grenade 50 10 4d6 Guns Cost Weight Damage Bursts Shotgun 130 40 2d4 2 Pistol (45cal) 100 20 2d5 Rifle (45cal) 150 40 3d5 Machine Gun (45cal) 500 105 2d5 6 Pistol (9mm) 120 20 2d4 Uzi (9mm) 700 50 2d4 6 Laser Pistol 300 20 3d8 Laser Rifle 500 50 4d8 Heavy Laser 900 200 6d8 Laser Machine Gun 1500 120 3d8 4 3 Special-Weapons You may discover many weapons that have special and powerful abilities. These abilities augment the normal capabilities of the weapon. Special weapons are denoted by the following abbreviations: 4 Defender (DF) A special weapon that actually helps the wielder defend himself, thus increasing his armor class. 4 Frost-Brand (FB) A special weapon of ice that delivers a cold critical to heat based creatures. 4 Flame-Tongue (FT) A special weapon of flame that delivers a heat critical to cold based creatures. 4 Holy-Avenger (HA) A Holy Avenger is by far the most powerful of weapons. Holy Avengers have been known to increase several of the wielder's stats, to actually increase the wielder's armor class (because of the terror the weapon spawns in it's foes), and to actually help the wielder to fight more effectively. 4 Kill-Alien (KA) A Kill Alien weapon is a special purpose weapon created by the Jarwangian race with the sole purpose to defeat the Daisyians. Therefore, when used against an alien, the amount of damage done is greatly increased. 4 Kill-Scum (KS) A Kill Scum weapon is a special purpose weapon whose sole intent is to destroy scummy life forms. When used against a scummy creature the damage done is greatly increased. 4 Kill-Creature (KC) A Kill Creature weapon is a special purpose weapon whose sole intent is to destroy all the vile creatures in the realm. A creature is usually non-intellegent and very hungry. 4 Kill-Mutant (KM) A Kill Mutant weapon is a special purpose weapon whose sole intent is to destroy all living mutants. This weapon is hated and feared by the intelligent mutants, for a single blow from this weapon is capable of much damage to them. 4 Destroyer (DST) A super leathal weapon of unknown origin. Known for its awesome damage potential. Unfortunately with its great power comes a greater weight. Conan would have liked this kind of weapon. 5 Rare There are rumors of *very* special weapons that the minions of the Boss have created. One such rumor is about a weapon called "Slicer". This weapon is said to do double damage before adding on other special bonuses. How sharp is your blade? (or towel for that matter) 2 DIGGING_IMPLEMENTS Some items are particularly useful in aiding you to dig for things. Type Cost Weight Damage Tunnel Sturdy Shovel 20 50 1d4 1 Pick Axe 50 70 1d5 2 Jack Hammer 550 220 3d5 4 Diamond Tipped Drill 2200 40 2d5 5 2 ARMOR Armor is worn to give you defense against physical attacks. Having a high armor class will actually result in your taking less damage in battles. Armors Cost Weight Armor Pair of Nikes 4 5 2 Pair of Suede Pumps 6 5 2 Pair of Combat Boots 20 40 4 Baseball Cap 4 5 1 Bicycle Helmet 12 15 2 Motorcycle Helmet 30 20 4 Football Helmet 75 20 5 Steel Helmet 200 100 6 Bath Robe 4 15 2 Spandex Jumpsuit 25 20 4 Cowboy Suit 35 25 5 Bullet-Proof Vest 55 30 6 Ski Jacket 75 90 6 Fire-Proof Suit 200 110 7 Flak Jacket 230 150 8 Kevlar Vest 430 130 12 Cheap Riot Armor 430 250 12 Riot Armor 530 220 14 Space Suit 800 250 16 Slightly Rusty Chainmail 300 280 22 Really Old Platemail 400 290 24 Electrically Powered Ar. 3000 300 30 Nuclear Powered Armor 10000 260 50 Raincoat 3 10 1 Black Leather Gloves 3 5 1 Set of Gauntlets 35 25 2 Silver Hubcap 100 10 2 Garbage Can Lid 1 30 2 Stop Sign 20 60 3 Serving Platter 40 90 4 Small Riot Shield 110 75 6 Large Riot Shield 220 100 10 3 Special-Armor Some pieces of armor will possess special abilites denoted with abbreviations. The following is a list those abilities: (RA) = Resist Acid 1/4 damage, armor immune to corrosion. (RC) = Resist Cold and Frost 1/2 damage. (RF) = Resist Heat and Fire 1/4 damage. (RL) = Resist Lightning 1/4 damage. (RG) = Resist Poison Gas 1/2 damage. (Resist) = All of the Above (P) = Protection Extra bonus to armor class, but is slightly more heavy in weight. (CR) = Combat Ready Bonus to hit in melee, very light in weight. (W) = Weightless Built by Daisyian anti-gravity scientists. Weighs almost nothing. 3 Rare-Armor Rumors abound about *very* special armor types that the Boss's minions have either created or stolen from who knows where. Here is a list of armors that are rumored to exist: Qwethleg - Some sort of nightmare armor that even gives a bonus to hit when attacking. Fi-Yoh - Possibly created by the Jarwangian Gurus. Jarth - Something Eddie (the Boss's nephew) keeps talking about. He says it can make you dodge or survive most anything. ????? - Who knows what else is out there? 2 COMPUTERS In order to run any Floppy Disks that you have, it is necessary that you own, and be wielding a computer. The efficiency rating on a computer relates to it's propensity for destroying floppies after they have been used. Computers Cost Weight Efficiency Vic-20 20 30 1% (Sounds right, doesn't it?) Laptop Computer 400 50 10% Mini-Computer 1200 90 30% Mini-Super Computer 2000 200 50% Matrix Computer 5000 20 70% 1 NEWS In order to take the bus, you must first defeat the mob boss of your current city. The mob bosses are major henchlings of the Boss. They can be found somewhere on the 500 meter level tunnel below the city. Their ASCII representation is a capital P. There are lots of corpses to be found. Currently the corpses have no valuable use. Monsters multiply differently now. You may find packs of previously non-multiplying monsters. Be careful, they may be more dangerous. We have implemented the long promised time limit to the game. You have 100 game days (subject to change) before the Boss takes over the world and you lose. (KR) Kill Robot and (RG) Resist Gas items have been added to the game. Robot monsters include Bots, Drones, Seekers, Borgs, and a few others. If you should use either of these new items please send mail to Raoul. Also, don't forget about these useful commands: W - toggle wall patterns b - go berzerk (for Wrestler class only) k - display kill list M - mix potions Q - toggle question-more 1 OLD-NEWS The winning conditions have been extended a bit. If you should get lucky enough to defeat the Boss, be warned that another may take his place. The number of Boss's you defeat will be reflected in your score when you die or decide to retire. A few of the stores have changed a bit. You'll now find potions and food at the Bar and Grill. Guns and ammo have been relocated to the Gun Shop. Be the first kid on the block to own and use a new laser gun! You'll find them in the Gun Shop. They're expensive, but worth it. (And don't forget to buy power pack ammo.) 1 SCORE Calculation of your final score happens when your character dies, or kills the Boss and retires. If you die, your score is based on your experience, plus a small amount per dungeon level you explored, minus any outstanding debt from the bank. If you win, you get a big bonus for winning, and another bonus based on how fast you did it, measured in game days. 1 SUMMARY The game of BOSS places you in the role of vigilante, on a quest for truth, justice, and the American way as you gather knowledge and power so that you may defeat the Boss, an evil and powerful underworld figure who lurks in his lair, skulking like a rat, somewhere deep under the surface of the earth, where good and pure mortals live their lives. The Boss is bad. He has no shame, and no honor. The Boss is a coward, and keeps himself protected by hiring all sorts of street scum to guard him. It is your task to defeat these underlings who protect him, to penetrate his defenses and confront him in his underground lair, a veritable city under the earth. Your lowly and wimpy character will start his/her trek in Seattle, the Emerald City. There, you should purchase all the things that you will need to survive the trials and travails that await you. You are given some basic amenities, and if you're gutsy, you can survive on these mere items. The pits under Seattle are rumored to be about ten levels deep, extending a half kilometer under the city. At the deepest level of the city you will find one of the Boss's major henchman. After defeating him and when you fell confident that you are ready for the next stage of your quest, you can then catch a bus to the next town, a little further east, and a little further into the Boss's demense. Being closer to him, things will be more dangerous. Occasionally, you will see the carcass of a fellow vigilante whose luck was not so good. Your travels will eventually lead you to New York City, the very heart of the Boss's territory. Things are rough in New York, and even rougher underneath. Because the Boss is such a spineless coward, the pits under New York are especially deep. It is common (if unacknowledged publicly) knowledge that the Boss has joined forces with factions from three alien races, the Jarwangians, the Vogons, and the Daisyians. The Jarwangians are more or less nice guy aliens, and have been duped or drugged into the Boss's servitude. The Vogons, well, nobody really likes the Vogons anyway, not even the Boss, so even he hires relatively few of them. The Daisyians are just plain really mean. Daisyians have no remorse, no compassion. They are completely without feeling. They would just as soon beat up their aging grandmother as you, and probably have already done so. Rule number one: unless you're looking for trouble, *don't* mess with a Daisyian. Of course, rule number one is pretty useless, because the Daisyian will probably come looking for you anyway. The Boss isn't content with simple association with extra-terrestrials, however. He has also hired an elite core of scientists (well, not so much hired as blackmailed, but, that's the Boss for you) to perform genetic experiments on poor hapless victims, in the aim of creating a master race of accounting executives, who would them infiltrate the entire world's banking system, and make the Boss the richest man on the planet. Note that the Boss is no fool. He didn't get to his position of power and prestige by being a fool. He will be aware of you, and will occasionally exert his influence to cause strange and unpleasant things to happen. You will perhaps think they are accidents, but be warned, they are not... Time is short, potential hero. Rumors are afoot that the Boss's plans are drawing to a close, and within three or four months or so, they may reach fruitation. This would be a death-knell for freedom and justice everywhere. Do not waste time. Good luck, brave vigilante, the causes of freedom (and justice, too) are resting upon you. 1 SYMBOLS Symbols on your map can be broken down into three categories; Features of the dungeon such as walls, floor, doors, and traps; Objects which can be picked up such as treasure, weapons, special devices, etc; and Monsters which may or may not move about the dungeon, but are mostly harmful to your character's well being. Note that some symbols can be in more than one category. Also note that treasure may be imbedded in a wall, and the wall must be removed before the treasure can be picked up. It will not be necessary to remember all of the symbols and their meanings. A simple command; the '/'; will identify any character appearing on your map. See the section on commands for further help. Features : . A floor space, or hidden trap. K Entrance to K-Mart. #,8,&,@ A wall. C Entrance to Computer Store. ' An open door. B Entrance to Black Market. + A closed door. T Entrance to Temple. ^ A trap. + Entrance to Bar and Grill. < A staircase up. P Entrance to Pro Shop. > A staircase down. G Entrance to Gun Shop ; A loose floor stone. W Entrance to Weapon Shop. : Obstructing rubble. L Entrance to Leather 'n Chains ' ' An open pit. (Blank) < Stairs to Office Building Objects : ! A vial of chemicals. ? A floppy disk. " An amulet. [ Hard armor. $ Money. / Sports Equipment. & A chest. ] Misc. armor. ( Soft armor. _ An alien device. ) A shield. { Ammo. * Gems or Grenades. | A melee weapon. - A ray gun. } A Gun (Laser, Shotgun, etc.) ~ Misc. % Computer. = A ring. , Food. Monsters : a Animals. A Aliens. b Bats. B The Boss. c cloister. C Acidic Cubes. d Androids. D Droids. e Ectoplasms. E Evil Things. f Walking Fungi. F Mind Flayers. g Gang Members. G Genies. h Hackers. H Hounds/Horses. i Insect Swarms. I Insane Lads. j Jackals. J Jarwangian Molds. k Kitchen Utensils. K King Mutant l Lasers. L Mutants. m Machinery. M Mutants. n ??? N Nothingness. o Oorbs. O Oozes. p People. P Power People. q ??? Q Queen Mutant. r Rodents. R Ropers. s Acid Trips. S Snake. t Giant Ticks/Trekkies. T ??? u Unknowns. U ??? v Vogons. V Vortexes. w Worms. W Warbots/Snarfbangers. x Spiders. X Momifractors. y Yokels. Y Yeth Hounds. z Zymoggers/Zippy. Z Zarg! $ Creeping Coins. , Mushroom Patch. ? Computer Viruses. | Animated Swords. 0 - 9 Patrol Robots. * Gems. 1 CITY You will begin your quest in the city of Seattle, the Emerald city, not to be confused in any way with the land of Oz, which is rumored to exist in other parts of the game. The city consists of 12 buildings. 11 shops, and an office building. There are also stairs down, and various people and pigeons in the city. Not all of them are nice. 2 Buildings You may enter any of the shops, provided it's during business hours. Once inside, you may buy and sell items, as in any normal store in the real world. In fact, I wonder why i'm bothering to tell you all this. Why don't you just read the rest of the information about the stores themselves. Once inside a store, his inventory will appear on the screen along with a set of options for your character. You may browse the store's inventory if it takes more than one page to display, and you may sell or purchase items in his inventory. You can execute your inventory and equipment commands to see what you are carrying. Not shown with the options are the wear, take-off, and exchange commands which will also work, but were excluded to keep the options simple. Stores do not always have everything in stock. As the game progresses, they may get new items so check from time to time. Also, if you sell them an item, it may get sold to a customer while you are adventuring so don't always expect to be able to get back anything you have sold. Store owners will not buy harmful or useless items. If an object is unidentified, they will pay you some base price for it. Once they have bought it they will immediately identify the object. If it is a good object, they will add it to their inventory. If it was a bad bargain, they simply throw the item away. In any case, you may receive some knowledge of the item if another is encountered. 3 Bar_and_Grill The Bar and Grill serves all manner of drugs, chemicals, drinks, food items and even the occasional bagel. It's a good restaurant. You can get all sorts of non-perishable foods, fit to take with you on your travels. But beware, the owner of the restaurant was a hippie back in the sixties, and he sells some foods with rather interesting side effects. The entrance to this store is a `+'. 3 Leather_and_Chains Leather & Chains is where the town's armor is sold. All sorts of protective gear may be bought and sold here. The entrance to this shop is a 'L'. 3 K-Mart K-Mart sells clothing, flashlights, lanterns, and batteries. All of these items, and others, can be sold back to K-Mart for money. The entrance to this store is a 'K'. 3 Alien_Artifacts The Alien Artifact store is the most expensive of all the "legal" stores. It deals in all sorts of ray guns and alien devices. The entrance to this store is a 'A'. 3 Temple The Temple deals in healing and restoration potions, as well as amulets, rings and some approved priestly weapons. The entrance to the Temple is a 'T'. 3 Weapon_Shop The Weapon Shop is where the town's weapons are legally bought and sold. Hand and thrown weapons may be purchased here, but guns and ammo are only sold at the Gun Shop. The entrance to the Weapon Shop is a 'W'. 3 Computer_Store Well duh! They sell computers and floppy disks here. The entrance is a 'C'. 3 Guild The guild is hidden. We can't tell you what the entrance looks like. They sell con-artist and thieves manuals there, and other stuff that sneaky kinds of people use. 3 Gun_Shop Boise Gun fanciers weren't satisfied with the quality of service at the Weapon Shop and so opened up a chain of speciality Gun shops across the nation. All types of guns and lasers can be purchased along with their corresponding ammo. The entrance is a 'G'. 3 Pro_Shop This is a sports supply store. You can buy all sorts of things that can be used as general weapons and armor here. The entrance is a 'P'. 3 Black_Market The Black Market stocks all manner of illicit and hard to get items. Beware, though, the items in this store are *really* expensive. The owner is also kind of a snob, and won't let you in if you don't have enough money. 3 Office_Building The office building is a towering structure, dwarfing all the other structures in the city. If you dare enter this massive structure, you will gain access to its refurbished interior and also the hotel, bank, NewsInc Ltd, and medical clinic. 2 Supplies Your character will begin his adventure with some supplies already on him. Use the Inventory 'i' command to check what these supplies are. It will be necessary to buy other supplies before continuing into the dungeon, however, so be sure to enter each of the stores.