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First Screen: HIT POINTS: The amount of damage your character can take. MAXIMUM HIT POINTS: Your character's full potential if unwounded. LEVEL: This is the measure of your character's experience and expertise. ENDURANCE LV: This is the indicator of your character's level of fatigue. WEAPON-IN-HAND: Tells what weapon the character has ready to use. ARMOR CLASS: This tells you what type of armor the character is wearing. GOLD OWNED: The amount of gold the character possesses. EXPERIENCE: This figure shows how much experience the character has earned as a result of victories in battles and gold found. Second Screen: SPELLS OWNED: (if the character is a Spellcaster) Third Screen: WEAPONS OWNED: SELECT ONE (This screen permits the character to change the weapon-in-hand). Permanent Status Display During actual game play, there are always four lines of information displayed at the bottom of the screen. The information shown is: CHARACTER NAME/PROFESSION RACE/HIT POINTS: ENDURANCE (1-100) WEAPON-IN-HAND On occasion, such as during combat or when a spell has been cast, special messages will be shown in this window. When you have finished reading such a message, press the spacebar to continue. Miscellaneous Commands There are four other important commands to remember while playing Xyphus. They are: Q - Quit and save. Pressing "Q" will save the current game status to your Game Disk, allowing you to attend to frivolities such as eating, sleeping, or being social. W - Weapon Selection. Pressing "W" will allow you to change the weapon-in-hand, and costs the character one movement turn. S - Spell. This command allows you to cast spells, and will be discussed in the file on Spellcasting. Z - Change text delay and movement delay. The text delay is the amount of time that special messages are displayed on the screen. The movement delay is the amount of time taken for response to a selected directional move. Pressing "Z" will get the message: ENTER TEXT DELAY (1-9) CURRENT VALUE IS X; followed by: ENTER MOVEMENT DELAY (1-9) CURRENT VALUE IS X. Play with these values until you have found the right ones for you. Movement,Endurance, & Dexterity Factors Each character and creature in Xyphus is rated for movement, endurance, and dexterity. What this means is that each creature will move better on certain types of terrain and worse on others, as is the case for the different races of player characters. Furthermore, depending on the weapon used, each character or creature will strike more frequently during the length of a fight, or less often. For example, a Dwarf wielding a two-handed longsword will not strike nearly as frequently as an Elf using a hunting knife. (He will do a lot more damage per blow, however). Different monster types will strike at different rates as well. Finally, each character and creature is rated for endurance. That means that depending on the weapon being used and the spell being cast, the player will tire out more quickly or at a slower pace. The effects of fatigue on player cahracters is that there will be reduced damage on blows struck or the character may cease to be able to fight at all, and fatigued Spellcasters may not be able to cast some of the more demanding spells. Armor & Weapons Metal is very scarce is Arroya - The Dwarves are the only true miners and smiths in the whole land and there are only a few of them. A warrior's wealth is often measured by the armor and weapons he or she owns. There is no plundering of corpses for weapons. In fact, when possible, the weapons and armor are buried with the corpse in accordance with the dictates of Arroyan culture. However, weapons which are lost and have no rightful owner may be claimed by any Arroyan. Legends tell of many magical weapons which are scattered about the Lost Continent. The Arroyan warrior uses only one kind of armor, and only the most powerful of warriors have full suits. The armor consists of a padded jerkin of cloth, covered with a leather tunic that protects the waist and hips. The tunic is in turn covered with a hauberk of chain mail that covers the torso and protects the arms. Finally, a breastplate of polished bronze is placed over the hauberk. Most Arroyans, however, cannot afford this much armor and they must collect it piece by piece. Fortunately, each component of the armor does provide an additional degree of protection as it is accumulated. Custom (and practicality) dictates that a warrior first purchase a shield, then begin building his or her armor collection. No armorer will sell armor to a warrior without a shield. Should a warrior manage to purchase a full suit of armor, there is yet another way of increasing his or her armor class. This is through the purchase of an enchantment available through any armorer. The enchantment is a two-part affair called the Veils of Szhaalin. The first part is called the Inner Veil, and must be in place before the second part - the Outer Veil - can be purchased. Weapons There are many types of weapons available in Arroya, some of which cannot be purchased anywhere. The forts and trading posts in different parts of the continent may offer weapons particular to that locale as well as common weapons such as swords, maces, and morningstars. Mnay of the special weapons are outlawed in other parts of the Lost Continent and may be confiscated by garrison commanders there. (The program will take care of these simply by eliminating them when you move to a new scenario). Many of the creatures found in Arroya are enchanted by nature, and may only be wounded with magical or silver weapons. Most Lost Continent veterans will tell you that if the creature seems unusual, it will probably require the use of a special weapon to destroy it. At some time your party may come across enchanted weapons useable either by Fighters or Spellcasters. Be thankful and grab them! Some of these weapons will last throughout the campaign, while others will vanish when their enchantment is used up. Be warned that there are cursed weapons around... SPELLCASTING & MAGIC AND MONSTERS ARE IN FILE #2. THEY WILL BE RELEASED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE...