| The Dragontorc of Avalon
for the Amstrad CPC464 and CPC664 INTRODUCTION Welcome to the World of Adventure Movies. If you are familiar with the Amstrad Computerthen loadthegameand start playing. You will probably soon master the keyboard/joystick controls but if you have difficulty refer to the relevant section of the Detailed Instructions. DRAGONTORC is inhabited by a cascade of people and creatures for you to meet and match - Werewolves in Wolfwood, Wraiths in the Cursed Crypt, Dwarfs on Dreamdown and Bats in Hellsmouth Caverns. It will probably take you several hours of play before you meet them all. Good luck! Hints to Get You Started You start off in Wispwood with the spells MOVE, SERVANT and BANE atyour command. Toselecta spell use Up or Down to wind the scroll. When the arrow indicates the spell you need, press Fire once to select it and a second time to activate it. Notice that it is Maroc's astral projection which moves away- his body is left behind. We suggest that you take the Seal of Merlyn (use SERVANT) because you'll need it later on. The Wispwood is inhabited by Wisps and Elves. You can sample the arcade style features of Dragontorc by selecting BANE and attacking the Wisps but be careful of your energy level. Explore the wood to collect the MISSILE spell, the sickle, the herb and other items. Find the stone slab lying in the forest and use the Seal to get under it and into the Lost Vaults of Locris. Attack the Skeletons in the vaults with MISSILE -collecting further spells as you go. When you have completed Wispwood and the Vaults you'll get a message from Merlyn telling you where to go next. Hints for Experienced Games Players 1) Dragontorc is a whole new world of experience. There are peoples and creatures who have lives of their own. How you deal with them is crucial to your progress. 2) The characters of the other creatures will change as you progress depending on how you treat them. You may be able to win over the most dastardly enemies if you try hard enough - but you may get killed off several times in the process. 3) You can select the MOVE spell very quickly by hitting Left or Right whilst in "scroll" mode. 4) Other creatures are often unfriendly and may try to kill you. You will have to overpower them. Some, like the Elves, are fairly harmless. If you trade with them you will win their confidence and they will become more useful to you. 5) Each stone circle is a separate explorable area. Some circles have underground levels which are accessible through trapdoors etc. 6) If you are killed you return to the beginning of your current area. 7) Leylines connect each area - mark them on the map as you discover them. 8) Make a note of Merlyn's messages as they appear because they usually only appear once. 9) Your score increases as you discover objects or spells, when you defeat enemies or unlock doors etc. 10) Your current rank is displayed posthumously when you are killed. DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS This game has a number of features that you may not have previously encountered and though you will quickly become accustomed to them, these detailed instructions are necessarily lengthy. If you get stuck you are advised to read the relevant instructions carefully. Basic Control The controls for Dragontorc are very straightforward -Up, Down, Left, Right and Fire. You are asked to select your keyboard/joystick preference before the game begins. No other commands are necessary during play although SHIFT P and SHIFT O pause and unpause the game respectively and SHIFT S and SHIFT L can be used to save the current position and load it at a later date. Loading a New Game If you have a joystick plug it into the socket at the rear of your Amstrad., Place the cassette in the player, rewind if necessary and press the Play button. Press CTRL and the small ENTER key at the same time. Wait a few minutes for the game to load and follow the instructions displayed on the screen. Winding the Scroll When Dragontorc has loaded and the initial screens are completed you will be presented with a view of a forest clearing with a pathway on the right hand side. Maroc sits cross-legged in the centre and a large scroll is displayed at the bottom of the screen on which the words MOVE, SERVANT and BANE are written (these are spells). A large arrow points to the spell which will be selected when the 'fire' button is pressed. Moving the joystick up or down scrolls the list of spells slowly at first, then quickly. To scroll very slowly, just repeatedly touch the joystick up or down and the scroll will move one position at a time. When you have many spells it is best to fast scroll until you see the spell you need and then stop. Adjust up or down by the one touch method until the arrow points to the right place. Selecting the MOVE spell To move, first align the MOVE spell with the arrow. Press the Fire button once and the scroll changes to display MOVE in the top left of the scroll - this is the spell you have selected. Three M's to the right of MOVE tell you you have three or more uses of the spell left. On the far right is a staff - this is the carrier of the MOVE spell and you will notice that Maroc is carrying a staff in his right hand. Underneath is the phrase 'project thy soul' which is a clue to the effect of the MOVE spell. Press the Fire button again and the staff on the scroll will flash. This tells you that the MOVE spell is now activated. Pressing the Fire button again de-activates the spell and the scroll returns. There is a second, emergency, method for selecting MOVE. Deselect your current spell by pressing Fire and hit Left or Right. Move is selected immediately. Try selecting and deselecting MOVE by either method a few times. When you have finished make sure the staff on the scroll is flashing. Energy Level Across the bottom of the scroll is a flame. This is a display of the energy you have left. The longer the flame the more your energy. Moving Around You can use the keyboard or joystick (depending on which was originally selected) to move the wizard around. Notice the wizard cannot passthrough the trees but he can move down the gravel paths (represented by dots on the "ground") to an adjacent location. Explore the Wispwood Forest. There are magic items for you to collect by moving Maroc so that he passes over them. You will encounter Wisps and Elves as you move around. Below the Forest are the Lost Vaults of Locris. Each location in the Lost Vaults is separated by a door. To open the door take Maroc (the wizard) up to the door knob and the door will open. Now take Maroc through the door. This operation will take a little practice but you will soon master it. Collecting Spells If Maroc collects a magic item the demon at the top of the screen flashes. When this occurs, turn off the MOVE spell by pressing the Fire button. You will usually see that a new spell has been added to your Spell List. Sometimes you will collect a duplicate of a spell which you already have in which case your Spell List will be unchanged. However you will now be able to use the spell more times. For example if you collect more than one copy of the MISSILE spell you will be able to fire it more times before it becomes exhausted. The SERVANT Spell The SERVANT spell gives you control of a sprite who can pick objects up, give them to you or to other characters by way of trade, take things from your sack, throw objects, hit things with objects, etc. He is moved with the control keys or joystick. He cannot release an object unless he is switched off by moving him off the bottom of the screen, or unless Maroc or someone else takes the object. The name of the object appears on the scroll. The sack on Maroc's back can hold a small number of objects. When you have collected a few objects using the SERVANT and placed them in the sack, find a quiet place and experiment taking things from the sack and replacing them. When taking an object from the sack steer it away from Maroc or he will take it back again. You will be able to use the SERVANT to look through the objects in the sack by moving the sprite to and from the sack. Exploring Dragontorc As you move about you will encounter various people and creatures, some friendly who may help you, some unfriendly and dangerous. If they attack you they will drain your energy. You can deal with them by attacking with a spell or object, running away and escaping through a leyline, frightening them, or making friends with them. They may have objects to give you or they may steal objects from the place you are in. You may be able to trade with them. Dragontorc is very complex. There are over 250 rooms, forest clearings, caves, crypts and stone circles to explore, connected by magical leylines. Just like an ordinary adventure you must do the correct sequence of things to progress in the game. Here are some clues to help you: * Many significant objects are coloured differently from the location in which they are found. * Some exits are locked and you must find the key. * Some exits are invisible until you solve a problem. * There are some spells and objects to help you maintain your energy as you penetrate deeper, and also to return you close to your previous position if you are destroyed. * Merlyn will give you instructions whenever he can. This will usually be when you find an artifact with energy-enabling him to transmit his thoughts to you. His instructions will appear on the scroll and you will need to write them down as they may only appear once. Making a Map If you wish to pause to make a map or for any other reason press the SHIFT P key to pause the game and the SHIFT 0 to unpause it. Each stone circle on the map is the location of a separate explorable area. A separate map can be made for each area. Some areas have underground levels that overlap the ground level requiring two maps. As you discover leylines mark them in on the map of Britain. Spell Display At the top of the spell display is the spell name which is a clue to the spell's use, and a number of magic tokens. This part of the scroll is replaced by the name of the area whenever you arrive at somewhere new. Magic Tokens The number of tokens indicates how many more times the spell may be used. When there are three tokens, the spell may be used three or more times more. When only two tokens appear it warns that you can only use the spell twice more. On the spell's last use, one token is displayed. Background Spells e.g. BANE Background spells when activated last until you switch them off. You are allowed to select another spell while these spells are running, for instance, you can MOVE whilst UNSEEN. When activated, the spell list is displayed. The background spell name, shown on the small scroll on the bottom right of the screen, reminds you that you have a backgound spell running. Energy used by the spell will be deducted every few seconds. To turn background spells off, reselect the spell and press Fire. Foreground Spells e.g. ENERGISE These have an instant effect when activated after which the spell scroll is redisplayed. Cursor Spells e.g. SERVANT These display some form of object whilst active and the object can be directed with the keyboard controls or joystick. To switch the spell off, press Fire or move the object off the bottom of the screen. Missile Spells e.g. "MISSILE" These are rather like cursor spells. The spell energy is fired from Maroc to the cursor by pressing Fire and switches off automatically after firing. The spell may also be switched off without firing by moving the cursor off the bottom of the screen. Scoring A digital score is updated every time you acquire spells, useful objects, defeat enemies, unlock doors etc. Each time your energy is depleted and you return to the first clearing your current rank is displayed. In this game Maroc starts as a Magician. There are eight ranks he can master, each divided into eight stages: STAGES RANKS Apprentice Magician Minor Sage Lesser Lore Master Learned Warlock Master Wizard Chief Sorceror High Guardian of Lore Supreme Lore Lord You start the game as an Apprentice Magician. It is not possible to go down a rank in this game. Saving and Loading the Current Position The game may be saved in its current state at anytime by pressing SHIFT Pto pause the game, placing a blankcas-sette in your recorder and pressing SHIFT S. On completion, or if an error is detected or ESC is pressed, press SHIFT 0 to restart the game. A previously saved position can be reloaded by first loading the original "Dragontorc" cassette and then pressing SHIFT L and loading the cassette on which you saved your previous game. If an error is detected or ESC is pressed then the game resets for you to try again. ©Copyright. Hewson Consultants Ltd. 1985 The programs and data on this cassette are copyright and may not be reproduced in part or in whole by any means without the written permission of Hewson Consultants Ltd. All rights reserved. No responsibility is accepted for any errors. Our policy is one of constant improvement. Therefore we reserve the right to modify any product without notice. Other programs for Amstrad computers from Hewson Consultants: Technician Ted CPC464 only œ7.95 Heathrow International Air Traffic Control CPC464/664 œ7.95 Fantasia Diamond CPC464/664 œ7.95 ZAPPZ80 Assembly Programming Package CPC464/664 œ14.95 Hewson Consultants Ltd Hewson House 56B Milton Trading Estate Milton ABINGDON Oxon, 0X14 4RX. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Retyped in 2012 by hERMOL Visit my website at http://CPCRULEZ.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------nal Air Traffic Control CPC464/664 œ7.95 Fantasia Diamond CPC464/664 œ7.95 ZAPPZ80 Assembly Programming Package CPC464/664 œ14.95 Hewson Consultants Ltd Hewson House 56B Milton Trading Estate Milton ABINGDON Oxon, 0X14 4RX. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Retyped in 2012 by hERMOL Visit my website at http://CPCRULEZ.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |