Yes, this is another "Hit-Points-and-Dungeons" game! I happen to
like them. When the idea to write my own game came up, all the friends I
asked input from said they still like them. My wife still likes them.
Even my enemies still like them! You know, when talking with each other
about the "current" dungeon game, the biggest complaint I hear is "It's
fun, but after the second level it's too hard!" Nobody, and I mean
absolutely NOBODY I know, likes all these complicated puzzles where you
have to get hint books in order to win! When a friend buys the latest, we
all sit in excitedly to play, until we get bored by the difficulty. It's
gotten so many people I know won't even play a game without a 'walk-thru'
for it. Then you're not adventuring, you're reading a script!
I read the reviews, and all the critics consistently state the
"state-of-the-art" in dungeon games has gone way beyond hit-points-and-
dungeons(hp&d's). To all you critics, Please, don't discriminate an
entire category! Maybe in your vast experience, you've learned how to
work through the toughest of puzzles; maybe you're so intelligent you
snub the MENSA club; or maybe as a reviewer you get jaded by the
similarity in certain types of games, and expect more and more, until what
you want is far beyond us ordinary gamers. Either way, there are still
many of us out here who LIKE hp&d's!
I know my game is amateurish. (I AM an amateur!) But I wrote it
because the professionals have abandoned those of us who just enjoy
adventuring. I hope my artwork and programming will improve with
practice. This is, after all, my first Amiga program. Until now, I've
only done a couple of animations. But to get back to the point,
reviewers, if you don't like this category of game, and can't treat it
impartially, please don't do the review. If a game is done well for it's
genre, then say so! Don't hold it's genre against it! Categorize, by all
means, but rate the game for how well it accomplishes it's purpose, not
what its purpose is!
As far as This particular game goes, don't look for consistent
grammar, or fabulous graphics, or weapons designed from reality. Don't
even expect all monsters to follow popular mythical rules. I wrote this
game for fun, for the thrill of adventuring, and the excitement of
advancing a character. There are some puzzles, but nothing that common
sense can't solve. You don't need any previous mythological knowledge, or
the visionary abilities of an Einstein. Just play, and have fun! If you
run into problems, have suggestions, etc., or have some graphics you'd
like to see in it, feel free to write. If I incorporate your ideas or
graphics, I'll put your name on a credits page in the game! (Sorry, I
can't afford to buy your work, or profit-share. If you send me anything,
it's mine forever unless you include a self-stamped and addressed mailer
ready to ship your work back to you! And in any case, whatever work you
send me will be considered mine to use as I see fit, with no claims on it
present or future!)
INTRO:
The windblown young mage stood on the summit and looked down. A
keypad looked strangely fitting in his hands, his fingers poised to
strike. Clouds flitted across the sky, as the city below sprang to life.
As he stood, a strange cloud began to coalesce behind the mage. It formed
into five odd creatures, one of whom screamed an immediate attack. A
quick flick of the mage's fingers, and a bolt of electric blue struck the
attacking creature. While these two were occupied, a wizard from the
attacking group cast a spell. There was no time to block it, but it only
caused minor pain. "Hmm," mused the mage, "I may need to increase magical
attack strength."
A flick of his fingers, and all the attacking creatures faded away.The
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city once again stilled into nonexistence. For the next few minutes, the
only noise was the clicking keys, and an occasional mutter. Portions of
the city misted over, to return slightly changed. Periodically, it would
all return to life, only to be shut down once again as another flaw became
known. Finally the mage sighed. Raising his eyes to the horizon, he
entered a command, and the world was real again.
A moment of silence, to savor his triumph. Then he called forth the
adventurer. "You will explore my world. If you find something wrong,
return here. When reality has been restructured, you will try again."
A nod of his head, and the adventurer left to find the city, and the
dungeons beneath. After months of searching, and many returns to the
mountaintop, he came again to the young mage.
His heart heavy, the mage asked "More problems?"
"No," said the adventurer, "I have won. I am the Infinity Warrior,
and skilled in the Magics now. Your world is ready!"
After taking his leave of the adventurer, the mage squared his
shoulders. Finally, he called into the realm of swirling probabilities he
and his kind knew as reality. Raising his arms, he threw back his head
and called "I AM READY!"
At first, there was nothing. Then the voices he had used as
guidance, and sometimes as mentor, merged into one voice. It spoke with
slow reverberating weight. "Very nice, for a first attempt. Now on your
next try, we had some new ideas..."
Enter the Warlock's World. Your quest will make itself known as you
explore. Be patient, and above all, careful. Go, and live the Fantasy!
Now for the Instructions:
If you have the Public Domain version, and not the registered owners
version, there are two limits placed on it. First, there is a (roughly)
15-minute limit to play. Save often, because when time is up, the game
will quit! Second, there is a limit on the number of experience levels
you can gain. Once you've hit 10th level, you can't go any higher without
obtaining the registered owners copy. See main instructions on how to
transfer your characters to from the PD to the Registered owners disk.
Booting the game: This game requires a minimum of 1 meg and two floppies
to play. If you have the fatter Agnes, you can boot it from Workbench, or
from a hard drive (see Appendix for Hard Drive information). Otherwise,
you will have to autoboot. In either case, you MUST have the Boot disk
(disk 0) in drive DF0:, and disk 1 in drive DF1:. Don't worry that the
disks are labeled otherwise in workbench. The nomenclature (disk 0,1,and
2) is strictly for loading and playing purposes. They are appropriately
marked on the disk label. If not autobooting, start the program by
double-clicking on the WarlockEx icon (the Sword). When asked to do so,
remove the boot disk from DF0:, and insert disk 2. (Make sure disk 2 is
NOT write-protected! This is the disk your characters will be saved to.)
The game will finish loading.
Getting started: There are quite a few commands, options, and menu
choices. Most should be easily understood. In general, there are mouse
and keyboard equivalents for the commands. To use the keyboard, type the
first letter of the command, or if shown, the letter or number next to the
command.
Sword of the Warlock is a One or Two-player game, at your option.
Whenever you are asked which character slot to use, choose the one
representing your character. If you are playing in two-player mode, the
game does not play
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both simultaneously. It allows a user-programmable number of steps for
each character, at the end of which it becomes the next players turn.
Each player is in a separate world, and they can never meet each other.
This allows true two-player style. The other method, where your party can
have more than one member, is not truly two-player. Instead, the
controlling player makes decisions for both. It also helps when one
player is more advanced than the other. They can both play at their own
level of risk, rather than over ones ability, or beneath the other's.
Think of it as multitasking two games at the same time, but with the
players sharing the same input devices.
Main Menu
Type 'q' to quit the game from the main menu.
1. Create: This allows creation of your own character. Don't be quick
to accept just any character. You are allowed to re-roll as many times as
you wish, until you like the overall stats of your character. Spell
Points and Hit Points max at 20 each. Don't accept too low a Hit Point
level, or you will die easily. Main characteristics and skills max at 10
points during creation. Gold is random, but it helps to have a minimum of
45 gold pieces. Max Weight is how much you are allowed to carry, and
Current Weight is how much you are carrying at the moment. Gold weighs 1
pound per one hundred pieces (I told you this game wasn't realistic!).
Skills are improved through practice. This includes skill with spells
that have a failure chance. Characteristics are improved as your
character advances. Below is a list of the characteristics, and their
principal values:
Skill Level: Each level you go up, your hit points (HP) and Spell Points
(SP) increase randomly, up to 15 points each.
STR: This is how hard you can hit, and related to how much you can
carry.
INT: How well you intuitively cast spells, and resist spells against
you.
SPD: Possibly the single most important characteristic, speed determines
how fast you move. The faster you are than your opponents, the more
attacks you get to make in between theirs. It also determines how well
you avoid an opponents blows, but not significantly. Combat is in
realtime, so I can't stress enough how important speed can be. If you
just stand around doing nothing, you will probably be killed quickly!
LCK: This is your random element of luck, and it applies to almost
everything, though not in an overwhelming way. Skill counts for more than
luck.
CON: This is how well you resist blows, keeping the damage of an attack
lower than it would have been. It is also tied to endurance, both for
fighting when injured, and carrying heavy objects.
Your character also has an Armor Class (AC), which can be enhanced by
equipping armor, or weapons with a protective plus factor.
Your health is good, unless attacked by a creature that can poison
you or cause illness. Either one must be cured at the healers, or with a
spell. If not attended to, either your HP or your SP (depending on
whether sick or poisoned) will continue to drop until reaching zero. If
your HP hits zero, you are dead! (Name will be Green/Healthy or Red/Sick)
Your thieving skills are Lockpick, Steal, and Trap Detect/Disarm.
These can be improved with practice, or by paying for training. To pick
the lock on a door, just run into the door. If it doesn't work the first
time, you can keep trying. The mouse control works well for this, as it
will repeat much faster than you could continue to try by cursor keys. If
you get hurt in the attempt, you can keep trying to open the door, but
chances are the lock is just to good for you. Try again when you have
improved your skills.
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Trap Detect/Disarm is either automatic, or you will be asked if you
wish to try. Stealing requires long practice, or training at the
appropriate shop. To practice, you can go to the tavern, or try stealing
the cheapest item available in the weapons shop. The tavern may be
necessary to obtaining enough experience to steal anything of value. The
barmaid knows you are stealing, but will not stop you unless you become
obnoxiously drunk.
Loading a Character: You may have up to ten characters stored on
disk. These are kept on disk 2, so be sure to have disk 2 NON-write
protected. Simply click in the associated squares, or use keyboard
commands shown onscreen, to make your choices. After choosing Load, you
will be asked which slot. Choose slot one, unless playing in two-player
mode. The slots will be identified by the name of the character occupying
them. If no character, the name 'Nobody Home' will show up. This is so
you won't accidentally load one character over another. You may choose to
do so, but at least you will be aware of the previous character in that
slot. Then you will be shown the character list. Choose which character
you wish to load.
Save is even easier. Simply choose the save option, then choose
which character to save. There is no way possible to save a character of
one name accidentally over a character of another name. Whichever name
you choose will be the character that gets saved, and only to it's own
file. Of course, you can't have more than one character of the same name.
If for some reason you wish to save your character in sequence, without
erasing the previous save, see 'View Character' below. However, that
should never be necessary. If you somehow make a mistake in your quest,
you can always leave the dungeon and try again. In some cases even
leaving the dungeon is unnecessary. This is a beginner's quest, and there
are NOT any trick puzzles that are only offered once. If you fail the
first time, just try again. Do save often, though. As a beginner, save
the game after every fight you survive.
Delete: Use this to permanently delete any character you no longer
wish to keep.
View: This allows you to view all the attributes of your character,
and status of your quest. You are also offered a 'Rename' option. Use
this if you wish to save this character without overwriting the last save.
Or if you wish to generate another character of the same abilities as this
one (perhaps for a friend joining you).
Activate: This turns on a new player character, or one that was
previously turned off. Use when playing in two-player mode.
Deactivate: This turns off a player when in two-player mode. For
instance, one of you has to quit for a while, you may deactivate that
character, while the other player continues to play. Upon return of the
absent player, use Activate to turn the character back on. This is
completely different from Saving and Loading a character. In Activate and
Deactivate, the character is already in the computer, simply in an active
or inactive mode.
Adventure: This is the 'Play the Game' command. Once you are
pleased with all your choices, begin your adventure with this command.
Options: This is a complete submenu that allows the setting of many
game options. All chosen options are saved with the character, and
remembered from game to game. Below are the available choices:
Return: This leaves the Options menu, and goes back to the main menu.
# Turns ______ : Options 2 and 3 set how many turns each character can
take. They can be set individually for each player, allowing a weaker
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character more turns, or a slower character less turns, or any particular
setting you prefer.
Random Attacks: This is a primary option. Some computers this game has
been played on run at a normal level of random attacks, while others
seemed to develope permanently vicious personalities and attack the
players non-stop with random fights. This option allows you to set the
frequency wherever you like, from 0 (no random attacks at all) on up. The
higher the number, the more often you will be randomly attacked. You may
tell a random attack from a pre-planned attack by the experience level of
the attacking monsters. Any preplanned attack will show the level of the
monsters, while a random attack will show only a 0-level attack. This
does not mean the monsters have zero levels, it means the level is hidden,
and can be from level 1 to level 3. The deeper the dungeon, the more
dangerous the fight, even when the monster experience level is low. (In
other words, a level 1 fight in dungeon 15 will be tougher than a level 5
fight in the city).
Noises On/Off: This allows you to turn the sound effects on or off
when playing the game. Useless, you say? I can turn the sound off with
the volume control of my monitor? Probably right.
Family Mode: If you have the adult version, click on this to change
from family to adult mode, and back again. This is admittedly a juvenile
sexist element in the game. Being male, by preference I concentrated this
aspect on females. My wife wants me to do a sequel with males. If I hear
enough interest expressed, I'll do so. Same goes for more females, and a
sequel in general. If I get enough support, I'll generate more.
Delay Longer and Delay Shorter: This is another important one. It
controls how fast text scrolls during combat. A longer delay gives you
plenty of time to read the text, and the monsters animate pretty well. A
short delay scrolls the text by quickly, and spends less time animating
the monsters.
Now for the Adventure:
When in adventure mode, these controls apply:
Help Key: In combat or noncombat, this key gives you an abbreviated
list of available keyboard commands.
Cursor Keys: These can move your character around instead of using the
mouse control. The difference being, the mouse is on automatic re-read,
while the keyboard is only read once for each click of the key. For
movement, the mouse will get you over long distances rapidly, while the
cursor keys will give you 'one-move-at-a-time' control.
Tools: The Tools Icon, or letter "M" will take you back to the main
menu.
Face: The face indicates if you are male or female by its icon.
Clicking on it, or choosing "V" for View will take you to the View
Character screen.
BackPack: Click on this, or hit "I" for Items. This will take you to a
submenu of options you can apply to your items.
Stop Sign: This or "q" exits the game completely. No Save, no restart,
you must completely reload the game to play again.
Spellcasting: You can use the +,-, and "C" keys to choose and cast
spells, or the up/down arrows and spell selection square below the
adventure/combat control icons. Since you start out not knowing any
spells, don't expect these options to do anything at first. See
Advancement, below.
Combat
Boot: Click this, or "R" for run away from the fight. You are not
guaranteed being able to run, but the more attempts you make within the
same fight, the better your chances of escaping. For this reason, this is
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a good command to use the mouse on. Just hold the button down on the
boot, and you will attempt to run as rapidly and often as possible.
Sword: Or "A" for Attack. This is another command that works better
with the mouse. You can simply hold the mouse button down over it until
the fight is over, as long as you are casting no spells. It will
continually attack as long as the mouse button is held down.
Character View works here as in the noncombat mode.
BackPack also works the same.
White Flag: Acts as the Help key, giving you a rundown of available
commands in Adventure or Combat mode.
BackPack Menu:
You have several options while here. First, a quick description.
There are several categories of items, most of which are some type of
protective item. Some of the lower-value items are useless, unless
enhanced over their basic description. Any item, whether weapon, armor,
or misc (the Faery Light, your basic torch) can have a weapon plus factor,
and an armor plus factor. For instance, a Sword3,5 has a weapons plus
factor of 3, and an armor plus factor of 5. This means it's maximum hit
is 3 more points of damage than the basic sword, and that it can add 5
points to your AC. This may not sound like much, until you realize that
when you hit a monster several times, that extra three points can become
significant. Even more important, BOTH WEAPONS AND ARMOR PLUS FACTORS ARE
CUMULATIVE! This means the computer looks at every item you have
equipped, and adds all the weapons plus factors to the damage you do, and
adds all the armor plus factors to your AC! So if every item you have
equipped has some plus factors, you can add a large amount to the base
figures. Aside from plus factors, each and every item can be taught up to
THREE different spells! Each item can also be given power from your own
spell points (charged, or Recharged) to drive the spells it knows. If you
use up all the power in an item, you can recharge the item. Just think
how powerful a sword would be with plus 8 on weapons and armor, and a
major attack spell, healing spell, and teleportation spell! If you're
down in a dungeon and run out of SP, a weapon like that could be a life-
saver!
COMMANDS:
Cancel: Sends you back to the menu you called this from.
Rename: In Sword of the Warlock, Items can be extremely customized.
You can take any standard item, and enhance its ability to do damage, its
ability to protect you, and its magical abilities. Once you've customized
a weapon like that, you may want to give it a specialized name. My
favorite weapon has the characteristics described above, and I renamed it
a Reaver. I took a lot more pride in it. You're also not limited by what
type of item it is within it's own category. In other words, in the
Weapons category, you can buy darts, because it weighs almost nothing,
then enhance it's damage factor and call it a sword, or a boomerang, or
anything you wish. Whatever you call it, the combat sequence will use to
announce how your attack went (You hit with your "Reaver" and did 25
points of damage). Changing the name doesn't change anything about the
item, or its purpose (you can't make a shield into an axe, though you
could call it an axe! You could call your weapon a shield, but it would
still be used to attack when equipped). This command is simply there for
you to personalize things with.
Use: This allows you to use any spell an item knows. It can be used
even if the item is not equipped. To find out how much power an item has,
use the spell Database, or ask the Armorer.
Drop: Don't want an item any more? Weighs you down? The more you
carry, the slower your attacks on other creatures. Warning: if you use
this command,
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the item you choose will be gone forever. Be careful what you click on.
Equip: This means you are wearing, or have readied, an item. You may
only equip one of each category at any one time. (If you have a small
shield equipped, and equip a large shield, the previously equipped item
will automatically become unequipped). Shown with an '*'.
View: This allows you to view the items in your backpack, without the
risk of doing any action upon them.
SPELLS
There are 27 different spells. You start out with none, and gain your
first spell when you go up your first level. After that, you gain a new
spell every two experience levels. Some spells are guaranteed to work, so
long as you apply the minimum power level required. Others have a failure
chance. Those with failure chances are based on your INT, and your
familiarity with the spell. If you cast a spell often enough, you will
become so proficient that nothing can prevent its success. Also, a spell
with a chance of failure can be given a better chance of succeeding by
increasing the power level beyond the minimum requirement. (This also
causes combat spells to do more damage, so a single attack spell can hit
like a feather, or a nuke, depending on how much power you gave it!)
A good example would be a room that has a special treasure in it.
You want in that room, and you have the teleport spell. The room is
locked unless you enter it in a special way. If you don't have the
patience to do it the right way, you can enter the room with a teleport
spell if you throw enough power into it. Everything works this way with
magic. Even if something is protected against a certain spell, if you put
enough power into it you can overcome the resistance. Of course, if you
blow 50 SP into opening that locked door, you may not have enough power
left to defeat the monsters that are probably waiting behind it!
I keep talking about levels. When you cast your first spell, you
will see what I mean. You will always be told what the minimum
requirement is, though that is not necessarily enough to guarantee
success.
Some offensive spells are more effective against certain monster types.
For instance, you can destroy a Mummy with a Shock Wave, but you would
have done MUCH more damage to it with a Banish Undead spell. Some
monsters are more susceptible to physical attacks.
Over a period of time, both SP and HP will rebuild. Usually you can
go up one point per 30 seconds of realtime. Any time you cast a spell for
more than 50 SP, you will get a discount. The idea is the more power you
give it, the more effective it should be overall. Kind of the 'giant
economy size', you might say!
Spells are given by name, SP cost per level, and effect.
Unveil- for the Adult version. Each level takes away slightly more
covering. Each time it is cast, it reduces that opponent's ability to
hurt you by one half. The first cast when in combat just sets the subject
up (so long as the spell was at the minimum required level. Each added
level takes more away at one time). Every time you cast it on the same
subject afterwards will be visibly effective so long as it was successful.
When in the shops, every time it is successfully thrown it will result in
a visible effect. The spell will cycle through, so if you take everything
possible away and cast again, they will get all their clothes back.
Lifeforce/1: This is the prime healing spell. Each level cast will
heal you a minimum of 5 points, and a maximum of 10.
AntiDote/3: If you have been poisoned, this will heal you. This spell
doesn't come with a failure chance, since being poisoned can cause your
spell points to dwindle down to nothing in a hurry. Healing this is a top
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priority - Don't waste any time!
AntiBiotic/3: If you are sick, this heals it. Like AntiDote, this has
no failure chance because it is even more critical the AntiDote. Without
being healed, you will lose hit points until you have died!
ShockWave/4 + # of groups: This is the prime 'Kill Everything' spell,
hitting all creatures with massive bolts of electricity. No creature is
immune to it, though some creatures are extremely resistant. It can be
expensive to cast, but is very effective. As with all offensive spells,
the more experience levels you have, the greater damage you can do with
the same spell points.
Flame & Fury/4: This will send a roaring wave of flame at any one group
of monsters.
Cold Flash/3: This will wash a solid glacier of ice at any one group in
it's way. Some monsters are exceptionally susceptible to it. It is
cheaper to cast than Flame & Fury, but on the average does less damage.
Al's Arrow/2: This sends a mystic arrow into the heart of one monster.
It can be Very effective.
Siphon/9: Like Al's Arrow, this is a single monster attack spell.
While it is admittedly expensive, it does more than just attack. It
drains points out of it's target, and siphons them into you, thus giving
you an attack AND a healing spell simultaneously!
Banish Undead/2: This spell is supremely effective against any undead.
However, it is totally harmless to living creatures, and they are likely
to have a good laugh at your expense if you cast it when there are no
Undead around!
Spell Null/3: This spell will effectively make it more difficult for
ANYBODY in the area to cast magic, including yourself. If you want to
drain some enemy mages in a hurry, while taking your opponents out
physically, use this. They have limited spell points too, and you
MIGHT(!) run them dry.
Faery Light/1: This gives you a light for those dark dungeons. Each
level you cast gives you approximately 25 steps. Ten levels would give
you 250 steps of light. Casting is cumulative, so if you still had 100
steps left to take before your light ran out, and you cast 10 levels of
Faery Light, you would wind up with a total of 350 steps of light. Watch
out for 'Light-eating' zones! These are 'shielded' areas that are blocked
against being lit. They will reduce the amount of light/steps you have
left much faster than normal.
AirShield/6: This is a magical armor that protects you from being hurt
so badly when you get hit. Every level cast gives you 1 point of armor,
and 2000 steps. The armor points are cumulative, but the 2000 steps are
fixed. This means you can have unlimited armor points, but never more
than 2000 steps of it. The way to treat this is with periodic
'refreshing' of the spell. Once you are at your highest effective armor
level, simply cast one level of shielding. You will gain one point of
armor, be reset to 2000 steps again, and have spent minimal SP in doing
so. Now, you wonder, what is my 'highest effective armor level'? It is
five times the amount of natural armor you have on. You can have more
than that, but it will drain at a medium-to-rapid pace until it hits that
X5 level. It will never drop below 5 times your natural armor level until
the spell itself dies (when left unrefreshed for too long). So you can
see, once you've invested the SP in getting the protection, it is cheaper,
and much to your benefit, to remember to recast small levels of it once in
a while. If you improve the armor you are wearing, the amount of magical
armor you can cast will be refigured at 5 times the new number.
Blur/7: This spell makes you harder to be hit by disrupting the
monsters perception of you. Every level gets you 1 point of Blur, and
2000 steps. Like Air Armor, the Blur is cumulative, and the 2000 steps
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are a fixed amount, set each time you cast the spell. Also like Air
Armor, Blur has a limit. Your natural tolerance is 5 times your
experience level, though you can cast more. If you have more, it simply
drains over time until it reaches the natural limit. Once at that level,
it will remain the same until the duration of the spell runs out. Don't
forget to do minor periodic 'maintenance' for this spell, too.
Trapbuster/1: This will defuse any traps you stumble over. One level
will give you twenty-five points of protection. This can be cumulative.
Trap buster has no set duration, but instead is simply reduced by the
amount of power it took to disarm the trap. Different spells take
differing amounts of power.
Float/1: Standard levitation spell. Protects you from specific traps
designed to drop you into the great beyond. One level gives you 25 steps
of protection.
Clairvoyance/1: One level of this spell gives you twenty steps of
advance warning. This spell will warn you of everything but random
attacks, up to three steps away from your position. Stairs, attacks,
inimical areas, friendly encounters, etc. It also warns you of the
experience level of the monsters waiting to attack you at a certain
square.
Overview/10: This spell gives you an overhead map view of the level you
are currently wandering in. As you go deeper, there is more magical
resistance to this form of magical sensory enhancement, so its duration is
unpredictable.
Northstar/1: Each level gives you 25 steps of duration. This is your
compass spell, but much enhanced. It not only informs you of which
direction you are facing, but is positioned on your exact location at all
times(in the overhead map). You will always know your exact location and
compass heading with this spell active!
Enhance/50 up to infinity: This is a powerful spell allowing you to
magically enhance ANY item's ability to do damage to your opponents and
protect yourself! It grows drastically more expensive per level, and
simply adds to either the weapons plus factor (first number) or the armor
plus factor (second number). As mentioned before, both plus factors are
based on the cumulative total of every item you have equipped. If you
have five items equipped, and each one has a plus 2 weapons factor, and a
plus 3 armor factor, you would have a total benefit of 10 more possible
points of damage when you attack, and 15 more points of armor. This is
considered part of your natural armor, as opposed to the magical armor
provided by the spell Air Armor.
Imbue/100/15: This is a complicated, and very powerful, spell.
Possibly the most powerful spell in your repertoire, it is also the most
costly. Imbue 'teaches' an item any magical spell you know, with some
logical exceptions. Essentially, don't Imbue an item with any spell that
acts ON items, such as Imbue, Recharge, or Enhance. This results in an
infinite loop that is almost guaranteed to crash the program when you
attempt to use the spell. With this spell, you are CREATING a powerful
magical weapon, and the best is yet to come! You can Imbue up to 3
different spells into ANY item! Instead of relying on your natural magic
power, now you can have items that cast attack spells, healing spells,
protective spells, etc! Using this spell comes with a HIGH cost, though.
100 spell points just to cast the spell, and 15(!!) points permanently
gone EVERY time you cast this spell! Use it wisely, and don't waste your
power! (You can still gain SP with new experience levels, though.)
Recharge/1: This spell goes hand in hand with the Imbue spell. Any
magical item will require magical power to cast spells. This is how you
charge your item with magic. The good news- If you completely drain your
item of all magical power, it can be recharged, and once again cast all
the spells it has been Imbued with. Even more good news- there is a
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'Bonus' with each time you cast this spell, and you can get more SP in the
item than you spent in putting them there! The bad news- charging the
item with magic can be a tedious and long task. Also, don't waste too
much time charging it, as there are rare, random locations that may drain
an item of its magic charge! (This is so rare, though, I played the game
all the way through from scratch 3 different times, and it only happened
to me once!)
Database/4: Database is an informational spell that will tell you every
identifiable fact about any item in your backpack.
Location/2: Gives you, in coordinates, your exact location (i.e. x,y,
and dungeon number). Dungeons are numbered sequentially, so if the lowest
level you can find is dungeon level 6, then somewhere in the city you
should find an entrance to dungeon 7. This way, you can know if you have
missed a dungeon, and when teleporting you can specify a location you may
never even have been to before.
Kay's Keys/4: Unlocks those recalcitrant doors you may not be able to
pick with your lockpick skills. No matter how good you get at picking
locks, sometimes a lock will give you trouble. You can keep banging your
head against the door, or you can cast Kay's Keys.
Kill Wall/5: Similar to Kay's Keys, but stronger. This spell will
totally obliterate any walls or doors in your way. Simply face your
target, stand right in front of it, and cast.
Traveller/10: Teleport spell. First shows you a grid, and series of
options. The options are Dng (dungeon level), x,y,+,-, Cast, and Quit.
You choose Dng, x, or y as the subject you wish to change. It will turn
red. Once your choice is red, you can use the + or - to raise or lower
the appropriate number. You can choose your dungeon level, from 1 to 25,
and your XY coordinate in this way. When you're ready, click on Cast.
This will first sense for solid objects in your way, and not allow you to
cast if an object blocks your way. The deeper you go, the more power
levels it will take to cast. Some areas are teleport blocked, which could
require more power to overcome than it might be worth. The reverse is not
true, however. If you are already in a heavily blocked zone, and you wish
to teleport to an unprotected zone, it will take the minimum power. Think
of it as a bar of soap being squeezed from your hands. There is a lot of
pressure to keep you out, but none to keep you in. Your target x,y is shown by a small colored square in the teleport grid.
As you gain experience in all spells, your effectiveness with each will improve.
Shops
There are seven shops available to the mall-going Warlock/Warrior.
They are located in an enclosed area, and when you pass by the entrance to
the overall mall, you'll be notified by a sign. When you are told the
mall is to the east, you may not yet have figured out which way is east.
To make it easy, there are only two doors at this point. One has an
attack behind it. The other leads to the mall. All shops are within this
mall area. They are, the Armoury, the Thieves Guild, the Advancement
Center, Tavern, Temple, Magic shop, and Bank.
Below are the different options available to each shop:
Armoury: This is the weapons shop. You can buy, sell, and steal things
from here, plus get items identified as to any unusual attributes. Don't
try to steal items too far above your skill level. The more expensive the
item is, the harder it will be to steal. Generally, it is also more
effective, and heavier too as the value rises. As you go up in experience
levels, the items will be available with higher plus factors built in. As
these better items become available, they will be mixed in with the
ordinary items. You will have to examine an individual weapon to
determine its worth. If you think a better version of the same weapon is
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available, turn down the one you chose, and try again.
Thieves Guild: This is where you can train to improve your 'less
honest' skills. You can improve your thievery, lockpick, and trap
detect/disarm skills here, if you have the money. There is no real limit
to how much you can improve. You would never need to gain more than a
tiny fraction of the real limit. (For the curious, this program cannot
count higher than 32,000, give or take a few hundred. I've tried to limit
all variables except the bank to this amount. The bank is a special case,
and can count into the millions. If any other number goes higher than
32,000 the program may or may not crash, and will probably do some
decidedly odd things.)
Advancement Hall: Here is where you go up in skill levels. It may be a
little difficult to find, but it IS in the mall with all the other shops,
and is NOT hidden. When you enter, if you have enough experience points,
gained from fighting, and enough gold, you will automatically go up a
level. The maximum gain is 15 HP and 15 SP per level. Then you will be
asked to choose which characteristic to improve (STR, CON, INT, SPD, CON).
The one you choose will go up between 1 and 3 points. On going up your
first time, and every other skill level after, you will be asked to choose
a spell you wish to learn also. You can learn ANY spell you want! There
are no limitations! You only get one spell at a time, and must choose
what you consider more important. Will it be that massive attack spell?
Or maybe you'd rather be sure of surviving with a healing spell? Some
spells are specifically non-combat spells, and some only during combat,
but many can be cast at any time. Like the healing spell, Lifeforce. It
can be cast in peace and in combat. One of the best things about
'Warlock' is how individualized you can be. From your weapons and
protective gear, to your own personal stats, you can control a huge amount
of the information that defines your character. Each characteristic has
its own purpose, and a definite effect in the game. If you concentrate on
one, the others will remain weak. Or you could average it out, keeping
them all fairly even. Or any mixture you want. It's all up to you!
If you don't have enough experience points to go up, or if you lack
the gold necessary, you will be informed how much is needed. You never
have to wonder. One of my friends keeps track on paper how many
experience points he's got, so he'll know immediately when he has enough
points.
Tavern: Here is where you can have a few drinks, and exchange some
gossip. You can honestly pay for your drinks, at the rate of 1 gold piece
per, or you can steal them relatively risk-free. It takes so little skill
to steal a drink, you might never get caught. This makes stealing drinks
a wonderful way to practice stealing. It takes a LOT of drinks, though,
to improve your thievery. This is where milk is handy. It cuts down on
the tendency to get drunk, and has a cumulative effect. So if you drink a
lot of milk, you can drink that much more alcoholic beverages. Here is
another place where the rapid-fire mouse read is handy. You can simply
hold the button down, and slide it back and forth between the milk, and
the drink of your choice. Milk itself will not improve your stealing.
Alcohol by itself will get you drunk too quickly to improve your stealing
by any significant amount. You must mix the two. Also, the stronger the
beverage, the faster you can get drunk from it, and will need more milk to
counteract it.
IMPORTANT! FOR THOSE OF YOU TOO YOUNG TO DRINK, AND WHO ARE GETTING
IDEAS HERE, THIS IS NOT REALITY! MILK WILL NOT EVER, NOT AT ALL, CANNOT
COUNTERACT ALCOHOL! ONLY TIME CAN COUNTERACT THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL.
ESPECIALLY DO NOT DRIVE AFTER DRINKING A LOT OF ALCOHOL AND MILK! YOU
WILL STILL BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE! DO US ALL A FAVOR, AND DON'T DRINK, OR
AT LEAST DRINK WISELY AND WITH MODERATION!
The gossip can be anything from something you've already figured out,
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to some truly important information. The more money you pay, the greater
the tip. Start low, and work your way up.
The Temple: Here is where you can soothe the savage wounds you earned
in combat. The temple will recover all your hit points, and heal
poisoning/illness. As a low level character, it is fairly affordable, but
as you gain experience levels, it will get unreasonably expensive. Better
get those healing spells before too long!
The Magic Shop: The only purpose for the magic shop is to recharge your
magic. The proprietor learned long ago, through much experimentation, how
to recharge herself at a great speed, and how to maintain several
reservoirs of spell points. When her primary spell points are drained,
she can recharge herself with a secondary reservoir. Later, she learned
how to transfer SP to other people. Now, she has a life of ease and
luxury, recharging up-and-coming young adventurers. Rumor has it that
some of her early experiments are still in some hidden rooms in the
dungeons, boiling away and changing with age. Be cautious!
Bank: This is where you can store that heavy gold. As you play, you
will discover you have definite limits as to how much you can carry. When
you find you have as much gold as you can carry, and are losing money
because you can't pick up more treasure, make a deposit in the bank. It
never hurts to have a little set aside!
ADVICE TO BEGINNING WARLOCKS: (and some random advice/info)
When creating a character, try to get hit points that are above 15.
Spell Points over 15 are nice, but not as important, since you won't be
casting many spells at first. Warlock can be HOSTILE to new characters!
Secondly, turn off the random encounters (see main menu:options).
Bring the setting right down to 0, because as a beginning character you
don't want to be jumped every time you pause to get your bearings,
especially not until you've found the mall. You can turn it back up when
you're more prepared, and looking for a few fights.
Don't go in any doors until you get to the mall. When you are
wandering down a long street, and are told the mall is to the east, then
go in. There will be one door on either side of the sign, but one will
lead to a fight, and the other will lead to the mall. You'll soon learn
which is which. Once in the mall, look for the Armoury. Here, you will
buy your first gear. Most important, buy Plate armor if you can. Even if
you don't have enough money to buy a weapon afterward, because it has a
good amount of protection for a beginner, and if you can hit a low-level
monster on the city level, it will usually die even if you just use your
bare hand. If you have enough gold left, an Oak Staff is a good weapon
for a beginner.
Don't go down any stairs until you've bought a Faery Light, or know
the spell. Otherwise you'll be in the dark. There are only one set of
stairs you can get to without a fight. These are the first dungeons. Any
stairs you have to get to by fighting are successively harder, and you can
generally judge their difficulty by the level of the fight you have to go
through to get to them.
Save often. As soon as you've created a character you like, save it.
Any time you live through a good fight, save it. Saving a game takes only
a few moments, and is always a good decision. Especially if you're about
to do something and you don't know if it's the smartest choice! Save before advancing, too. If you don't like what you get, you can reload and try again! (Cheater!)
The sword icon in combat is designed to be right over the tools icon
in noncombat. If you are attacking physically, just hold the button down
while placed over the sword. If you leave it down after the fight ends,
you will automatically go to the main menu, to remind you to save the
game. With experience on the mouse control, you can let up right at the
13
end of a fight if you don't wish to save. This is simply a convenience,
and a reminder while playing.
Don't forget that weight slows you down. If you are carrying too
much, you will have a harder time hitting those faster monsters.
In combat, opposing magic users are BAD NEWS! Kill them quickly,
run, or be prepared to hurt. For some defense against them, Blur, Air
Armor, and a high INT help resist magical attacks.
You can clear a dungeon out, but if you use stairs, teleport, or
reload your character, the dungeon will be completely reset and
repopulated with monsters.
Don't forget two-player mode. Invite a friend to share the fun with
you! The computer will hold all information for both in RAM, so there is
no waiting while the computer loads each other's files between turns.
Have competitions to see who can advance the fastest,or achieve some
objective, or just play side-by-side, learning from each others mistakes.
This is a true two-player game. Each player takes his or her turn while
the other player takes a break. The length of EACH individual turn can be
user-defined!
Don't expect to get enough gold from fighting. Learn to steal!
To copy your characters from your PD version to the registered owners
version is an all-or-nothing process. If you're a real hotshot with
script files, you can figure out how to do it individually. The rest of
us, however, can do it this way: On your old Disk 2, drag the "ch" drawer
into your RAMdrive. This is your old character file. Remove the old disk
and insert your new Disk 2 (both the old and new will read "Warlock1" in
Workbench). Delete the "ch" drawer. This was the characters file from
that disk. Now drag your old "ch" drawer from the RAMdrive to the new
Disk 2 (it should be the one currently in your drive). Your old
characters will now be on your new game! The reason for such a long way
around is that both disks share the same label. If you put one in each
drive, the Amiga DOS will get confused, and not work properly.
Sword of the Warlock will play from a hard drive. I'm having trouble
getting the installer to work on systems with less than three megs,
though. If I can't fix it in a reasonable period of time, I'll include a
separate doc describing which files have to go where, for those hardy
souls willing to experiment.
As I said earlier, this is truly a beginners quest. There are no
difficult puzzles to solve. Most require common sense. Some require
special spells. If you blow it, just leave that level and come back. It
will be restored, and you can try again.
If there is enough interest for a sequel, the same character can be
used in the sequel. I left enough room for growth that even with major
changes, I'll be able to keep compatability.
I know the spell list scrolls a bit rapidly when using the mouse, but
this will be handy later when you have a long list of spells. This way,
you can flip quickly through until you get to the one you want. This is
especially handy in combat. The same speed difference will happen in
mouse controlled movement. As you get more and more things happening in
the game, the movement will slow down. Even at it's fastest, with
practice you will be able to control it. I use the mouse to run long
hallways quickly, and the cursors to explore, and navigate twisty turny
halls.
When exploring in the dungeons, it would be wise to explore until
you're down to half power, then return to the city for a recharge. On the
other hand, if you have Traveller, just make sure you have enough points
left to teleport back to the city. Then you can go even further in one
trip.
14
Now for the plug: If you like this program, but you don't like the
built-in time and character limit, send me $20.00 and 3 disks. I'll give
you my most recent version of "Warlock", without the built in limits! Or
you can just send me $25.00 and I'll supply the disks. Please specify if
you wish the family version, or the Adult version. (The adult version can
be set to play in Family or Adult mode.) If you ask for the adult
version, include a signed statement that you are over 21 years old. (The
game includes full nudity available through casting a spell on the
victim.) If you don't include a signed statement, I will only send you
the Family version, no matter which one you request!!
The second plug: Is there a Monster in your life who would look good
in this game? If you would like a personalized monster on your disk, send
me $40.00 (in ADDITION TO the cost for the registered owner's version!)
and 5 photos of your target that can be sequenced for animation. I'll
digitize the images, and put them into an animation file that the game
will call for. If you want something simpler, send only one photo, and
$20.00, and I'll make a 'shopkeeper' of it. (No movement!) Once again,
this is in ADDITION to the first $25.00! If you own the adult version
and send mature photos, please include a signed statement that 1: You are
21 or older; 2: the model on the photos is a 21-or-older CONSENTING adult!
Without this statement, I WILL DESTROY - NOT RETURN - ANY ADULT IMAGES
SENT TO ME!!! I believe in mature people engaging in harmless mature
entertainment- not abuse, nor harmful or embarrassing pranks!
Warning: These files will be in 32-color format, forced into a
matching palette for game requirements. If I can't obtain what I believe
to be a reasonable image, I will return your money and photos. Just keep
in mind, this WILL NOT look like a photograph! If you send me decent
quality photos, they will be recognizable. But by no means can the
results be considered photographic! Some of the shopkeepers were
digitized. They are a good example of what you will receive.
I just moved to Warrensburg Missouri (October 1991), so should be here
a few years. My address is:
Alan Broz
706 Hickory
Warrensburg, Mo. 64093
A more permanent address, if you can't reach me there, is:
Alan Broz
Rte 1 Box 179
Nahunta, Georgia 31553
All reasonable letters will be appreciated, even if it's to criticize (but
please, let's keep criticizing to a minimum!). All spiteful, malicious
letters will be trashed without a second thought. I'd love to hear from
anybody interested. Your thoughts will help me decide what to keep or
change if there is a sequel!
I truly hope you enjoy this!
For the Curious:
It took me about ten months to program this, draw the images, and write
the instructions. This includes play-testing by friends as it was in
creation. It was done using:
Perfect Sound (for the 5 or 6 sound effects)
Digi-View (not much, but for some of the images)
Deluxe Paint III (I now have DPIV; looks EXCELLENT!)
To give credit, DPaint is one of my top 2 most necessary programs.
I wouldn't even dream of being without it!
15
Blitz Basic
Blitz is the best basic on the market for my money (I never liked
AMOS, sorry). It's easy to use, lets me use animations, animbrushes,
pics, in the resolution of my choice, up to HAM in colors. I won't
go into all it can do, and how easily, because it'd take too long.
Just let me finish by saying the customer support is excellent! I
don't have a modem yet, and wrote many letters with problems,
questions, and suggestions. They answered every one, and even sent
me programming examples where I was having some especially tough
problem. Blitz is Best!
More Notes: About the hard drive installer; I was only able to try it
three basic ways. With 1 meg of Chip ram, you should have no trouble
with the hard drive installer, and Warlock should run just fine from
Workbench. With 512K of chip ram, and a total of 3 megs, it seems to
run from workbench just fine. If you have 512K chip ram, and a total of
1 meg, Warlock will only run from an Autoboot. The hard drive installer
may or may not correctly install Warlock either, but that doesn't matter
if you can't run Warlock from Workbench anyway. These are the only
memory configurations I was able to test. Others may or may not work.
With the right memory configurations, the installer works like a charm.
BORING LEGAL STUFF:
Finally, this program is copyright 1991, in my name (Alan Broz). All
Rights reserved! This software is not guaranteed to do anything except
run on my computer! If you feel your PD copy is damaged, send three disks
and five dollars, and I'll recopy it for you. If you have the registered
owners version and think it arrived defective, send it back with an
explanation and I'll recopy it. If you've had it more than one month,
include five dollars with the explanation. I'm not trying to be rude or
moneygrubbing with this, but I am trying to protect myself from being
taken advantage of. A thirty-day guarantee seems fair. Just make sure
your system has enough memory, and no conflicting hardware. If possible
have try it on more than one Amiga, to make sure you aren't having some
kind of incompatibility problems. If the PD version ran you should have
no problems with the registered version, so don't waste your money
before trying it out first! (the PD version, I mean!) Feel
free to pass around the public domain demo version of this program, but
please don't pirate the registered users version. I'm a year older than
when I first began this program. A few honest dollars doesn't seem like
too much to ask. Feel free to send me your comments. It seems like my
friends who playtested for me found bugs forever. They seem to all be
fixed now, but I've learned not to trust everything to be error free. If
you find a bug, make sure you can repeat it if possible. If not, a full
description of what you had just done, where your character was, and any
other information you can think of will help me track it down.
Feel free to copy the public domain version of this game as many
times as you want, and give it to whoever you want. You may also put it
in any bulletin board system so long as that system makes no claim on
the software. The only restriction is that you must include all original
files unchanged. Of course, none of this applies to the registered
owner's versions. You may make backup copies, but please do not pass
