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-<Bronze Dragon>-
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*Softdocs typed by*
The Cracksmith of First Class
Introduction:
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You've just entered another world. A world with fabulous riches,
unbridled sorcery, and no end. Your adventureing paties may work
together or break up and fight one another. Over 200 different monsters
are waiting for a chance to kill your characters in dozens of exotic
ways. Even if the monsters don't get you, the traps lurking around every
corner certainly will.
Ahem. You say your're a veteran of many types of role playing games?
you've always emerged victorious? We shall see. Computers show no mercy.
If you'r new to adventure games, you'll find that Bronze Dragon is an
easy game to play, yet it creates an infinite variety of situations.
Bronze Dragon is a fantasy role-playing game that can accomodate up to 5
players at once. There are many objectives in Bronze Dragon. In fact,
there are no less than 12 castles and 1 full-blown module contained in
the basic game. The ultimate goal is survival, and more importantly,
enjoyment!
The Disks:
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Bronze Dragon consists of two disks that we provide and one that you
must supply. Whenever you're promted to insert a new disk, do so and
press return. If the program doesn't tell you to change disks, you
don't need to. To abort a procedure at a disk promt, press the space
bar.
Disk one ->
S1 <Bronze Side>: The Main Menu and Dragon Village Menu are on this disk
side. You will always boot the Bronze Side to begin play.
S2 <Dragon Side>: The disk side containts the monsters, the plots, and
generates the castles.
Disk two ->
S1 <Character Disk>: Up to 40 of your characters can be saved on this
disk side. If characters aren't saved, they don't exist.
S2 <Module Disk>: Our first module, Seekers of the Storm, is contained
in its magnificent entirely on this disk side. The monsters and the
dstardly plot are already there, waiting for you. You must copy the
module onto a blank and name it Castle Disk before you can explore in
it. See "Copying Modules."
Disk Three ->
S1 <Castle Disk>: Use one of YOUR blank disks for this, name it Castle
Disk. You'll copy the module and castles onto it. Instructions on how
to copy castles and modules are under "Copy Modules" and "Constructing
Castles."
Write Protect all sides except the character disk and your castle
disk!!!!!!!
For Those With Two Disk Drives:
Bronze Dragon can be configured for two disk drives quite easily.
Instead of switching disks and pressing return when the program promts
you, just put the required disk in drive two and enter "2".
From then on, the program will know to access drive two for that disk.
The character disk should be put in drive two when you're copying a
modules or creating a castle.
Beginning Play:
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Boot the Bronze side of disk one to start playing Bronze Dragon. The
first screen you'll see after the Bronze Dragon logo clears is the Main
Menu. The choices on that menu are summarized below, then explained in
detail later.
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#Main Menu#
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1> Create a Character: You can actually make a flesh and blood being!
Well not really, but you can determine the name, race, class, and
alignment for each character.
2> Enter Dragon Village: Dragon Village is a mystical town where almost
anything can be bought or sold.
3> Copy a Module: Seekers of the Storm, out first module, must be
copyied on a blank disk that you provice - you can't play on the
origional. The disk you've copied in on will henceforth be called the
"Castle Disk," so remember that when you're asjed to insert it. See
"Copying Modules."
4> Construct a Castle: A "castle" is the setting for one of the 12 plots
which the computer can generate itself. while not as complex as a
module, they're fine adventures in their own right. The blank disk upon
which the castle is constucted is called the "Castle Disk." See
"Constructing a Castle."
5> Gather a Party: One to five character MUST be "gathered" before they
can start and adventure. It's kind of like assigning a group of
characters to a certain adventure temporarily. Be sure the characters
have finished their businedd in Dragon Village before gathering them
into a party.
6> Go On An Adventure: After you've equipped and gathered your party,
it's time to go on an adventure
7> Go To The Crossroads: After the adventure is over, a group of
characters must travel to the Kingdom of King Leopold or the Pit of Lord
Usul to gain skill points and skill levels.
How To Create A Character:
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Bronze Dragon begins when you start to create a party of characters.
Every Bronze Dragon "persona" is unique and will help the party with
indivitual powers.
You create characters by choosing amoung the options in each category,
such as name, race, etc. After everything is entered, the status of the
character is shown, including ability scores and bronze peices. The
meaning of the ability scores is given in the glossary under "ability
scores." Each character starts with 75 bronze peices.
Name: Any name up to 16 characters in length is acceptable. By entering
"r", you can check the roster and delete characters if you want to...
Race: You have 3 to choose from: humans, elves, and dwarves. Each is
detailed below.
Humans-> Humans are a very odd race, one that isn't very well liked by
more advanced creatures. They are usually around six feet in hight and
seem to regard this mutation as an advantage somehow. Special Commands:
Humans can approximate the value of any object.
Human ability scores:
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Strength : 12
Agility : 10
Intelligence : 11
Constitution : 10
Endurance : 11
Elves-> Elves are the fairest of all races and never hesitate to point
this fact out to others. Arrogance and Vanity are currently the two most
popular elven children's names. Special Commands: Elves can detect evil
in characters or monsters.
Elven ability scores:
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Strength : 09
Agility : 13
Intelligence : 13
Constitution : 07
endurance : 08
Dwarves-> Dwarves are generally a sullen and ill-tempered race. Many
schollars attribute this to the fact that they're incredibly ugly. In
fact, most females dwarves have beards, which is why so many dwarves go
on adventures. Special Command: Dwarves are always aware of their
relative position above or below ground.
Dwarves ability scores:
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Strength : 12
Agility : 08
Intelligence : 08
Constitution : 14
Endurance : 13
Class: You have 5 classes to choose from. The special commands are
explained in their own section.
Knights are fightin' strong, blood 'n guts, here's mud in yer eye type
characters. they're blue collar adventureers; they can take dammage and
dish it right back out. Knights can wear any type of armor and use any
type of weapon. Their special commands include swordplay and rage. They
have the most hit points and can carry up to 15 objects.
Assassins are shifty, underhanded, and extremely dangerous. They're
somewhat restricted in armor, but they can use almost as many weapons as
a knight. Their special commands include assassination and sneaking.
Assassins have average hit points and can carry up to 13 objects.
Ninjas are mysterious masters of the orient fighting arts. They can only
wear little more armor than wizards, but they have many weapons to
choose from. Their special commands are martial arts, imitate dead, and
leap. Ninjas have average hit points, and can cary up to 10 items.
Elders are experts on living systems; their spells make them adept at
both healing and killing. Elders are slightly more restricted in armor
than assassins, and have very few weapons to choose from. Sorcery,
destroy, and innate healing are their special commands. Elders have a
few more hit points than wizards and can carry up to 8 objects.
Wizards are powerful magic-users who can create massive amounts of
damage with their powerful spells. They can own very little in the way
of armor of weapons. Sorcery and cast energy are their special
commands. Wizards have the fewest hit points and can carry up to 8
objects.
Alignments: This is a character's basic nature, whether it's virtous,
lawful, chaoric, or vile. Virtuous and lawful characters are "good,"
while chaotic and vile characters are "evil."
During an adventure a character's alignment will change according to the
player's actions. The most common method is by striking a monster or
character. If you constantly attack good monsters, your characters will
become vile if they didn't start out that way. If you adopt a "wait and
see" attidued toward creatures you're not sure about (like lions), and
only attack the evil creatures you're characters will become virtuous.
It's much easier to become vile than virtuous. One or two swats on a
unicorn will make anyone vile, but a vile character will have to
killmany hobgoblins to become virtuous.
I can't resist mentioning that character can change their alignments by
attacking themselves! If a virtuous character attacks himself, he'll
become evil. By the same token, a vile character will become a little
less vile by attacking himself. Sure, it's a radical way of doing
things, but Bronze Dragon inspires such lunacy....
Dragon Village:
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After you've created a party of characters, you'll need to supply them
one by one with weapons and equipment in Dragon Village. The guard at
the outer gates will ask for the name of one of your characters. If you
can't remember it, just hit "R" and you'll get a complete roster of
characters. If you just hit "return," you'll go back to the Main Menu.
Dragon Village Menu:
1> Purchase Equipment: The provisioner brings out his stuff in three
groups: weapons, armor, and muscellaneous equipment. Hittle the space
bar will take you to the next group; the return key brings back the
Dragon Village Menu. Characters who go adventuring without wearons or
armor are known as "Bronze Dragon Chow." Consult appendices 3,4, & 6 for
details on equipment.
2> Haggle with Merchants: Wanna sell something? Anything at all? Our
three crooks -excuse us, merchants, will buy anything except cursed
objects. They use haggling system, so wise folks don't take the first
offer. Hit return if you wish to cut short a haggling session. Don't get
cute by asking outrageous prices, because these guys are extremely
touchy. See tips for advice on bargaining.
3> Learn Spells: Only Elders and Wizards can learn spells, which they
buy with spell points instead of bronze peices. They receive two spell
points for each skill level, bonus points are given for high
intelligence. Even beginning character can acquire several spells.
Spells cost their level number. in other words, a second level would
cost 2 spell points. High level spells are only available to high level
characters. Spell points are regained when a character uses a spell or
forgets it. A maximum of 7 spells for Wizards and 6 for Elders can be
learned at one time. See appendix 7 for details 7 for details.
4> Learn Martial Arts: Only Ninjas can learn martial arts, and even they
have to have the money and skill levels to use 'em. As with spells,
there are different levels of martial arts, only they're called
disciplines to confuse you. Check appendix 5 and special commands for
details.
5> Mingle in the Pub: You'll probably need help to solve the plots, and
who better to ask than the drunkards of Dragon Village? After you tell
then which plot you're working on, many of our blottoed barflies will
spill their guts for free. Some pub people want money for their
cooperation, and still others lie through their teeth. We never said an
adventurer's life was easy!
6> Visit Healers: When your characters get bashed around a bit, the
Healers will fix them up completely for a price. If you pay anything
less than the asked-for fee, we'll make no garantees.....
7> Consult Wizard: The Tower Wizard loves to check out rare and
wonderful goodies. If you bring him an object, he'll try to detect a
magical aura about it. If the object is indeed magical, he'll try to
guess its nature. The Wizard also uncurses items, but charges a fee for
this service.
8> Resurrect a Character: Aw...Did one of yer characters fall down and
snuff it?? You're in luck. In addition to his other abilities, the Tower
Wizard brings the dead back to like. All you have to do is inform the
Wizard of the dead character's name and he'll attempt to resurrect the
character from a distance. He's not very good at it, however, and
giving him the asked-for amount of bronze peices will only give you a
50-50 chance. If you offer more or less, you chances will adjust
accordingly. The resurrected character will lose 3 points of
constitution if the process is successful.
9> Look at Status: This will show everything about the character you
currently have in Dragon Village.
10> Bring in Somebody Else: When your character is through messing
around in Dragon Village, this commands will bring a new character. Make
sure the "old" character has been saved (by pressing "S") before using
this option.
Hit "S" when you want to save your character. To go back to the Main
Menu, just hit Retrn.
Copying Modules:
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Warning: Copying a module destroys all data on the disk you provide, so
we recommend using a blank disk.
You can copy the module on the castle disk by pressing 3 on the Main
Menu and following the prompts. The entire procedure should take less
than 5 minutes. After you've copied the module, you can gather your
party and fo on an adventure.
Our first module, Seeksers of the Storm, is an extremely entertaining
and complex adventure of tremendous scope. If you find it too difficult,
you might try exploring a castle (suck as Dungeon of the Undead) to
familiarize yourself with the world of Bronze Dragon.