The "Kesmai Kompanion" A Comprehensive Guide to the Basic Game Edited by TJ (76475,3253) Revised and updated by Sir.James (70762,1416) 10-21-93 Table of Contents Sect. Introduction page 1 S1. Pre-requisites page 1 Hardware Software Special Programs S2. Preparing a Character page 2 Ya Gotta Have Class Gender and Nationality Character Attributes Beginning Skills "Rolling" Your Character Pick a Name S3. Getting your Bearings - Entering Kesmai page 9 S4. Don't Leave Town Without Them page 12 S5. Entering the Dungeon (and coming out alive) page 13 Combat Magical Combat (and basic magic use) Strategy Hints S6. Dungeon Loot page 17 Rings Amulets Bottles and Potions Gems Weapons Armor Rings Amulets Bottles and Potions Weapons Apparel Figurines Miscellaneous S7. Back in Town page 27 Banking Gold Lockering Items Training Weapons training Magic training Using the Shops The Sage's Experience S8. Armoring Your Character page 31 Obtaining Troll Armor Obtaining Sally Scales or Fire Protection S9. Developing Your Character page 32 Developing a Fighter Developing a Martial Artist Developing a Thaumaturge Developing a Wizard Developing a Thief S10. Extending Your Horizons: The Three Segments page 41 Kesmai and its crits Leng and its crits Axe Glacier and its crits Moving Between Segments S11. Obtaining Special Weapons page 47 Broadsword Greataxe Returning Axe +5 Rapier S12. I've Been Poisoned! page 49 S13. Karma and Alignment page 50 S14. Social Play page 51 Fighting other Players Stealing from other Players Talking to other Players Matters of Etiquette S15. Miscellaneous page 53 The Janitor Combining Commands Deletion of your Character S16. Information Resources page 54 The Forum Help Conferences S17. Conclusion page 55 Introduction The Island of Kesmai is a multi-player, interactive game, set in a magical environment with a vaguely medieval ambience. It is a combat oriented game that emphasizes tactical challenges. There is no single "object of the game;" the game is open-ended. Players pursue various ambitions--skills, discovery, adventure, wealth, power, ability to help others--often pursuing these ambitions over several characters' lifetimes. The game has proven to be enormously compelling. This manual is an unofficial guide to the Basic Game (BG). It includes new work by the editor (TJ 76475,3253) as well as a compendium taken from several files that have appeared in the BG library. Due to the continuing evolution of IoK, it was deemed necessary to revise and collate several of those files into one work, and then to seek to keep that work constantly maintained and upgraded as the game changes and develops. I wish to emphasize that much of the work herein is not original; many sources and files have been incorporated, in part or in whole, into this work. Full acknowledgment must be made for the borrowing of large pieces of material from Polly's Beginner's Guide, Uncle Balrog's Help Manual, and various more singularly focused files. It is hoped this manual will be of use to novices and veterans alike. S1. PRE-REQUISITES Hardware No additional hardware is needed to play IoK. IoK does produce character graphics, and various front-end programs provide enhancement of these graphics; if your computer supports color and high-resolution, these can be made that much more enjoyable. But neither color nor high- resolution is required to play (or to enjoy) the game. As for your modem, there is no need for a fast one. The game requires time and patience to be successful, and, since time is not inexpensive on Compuserve, the game can be expensive. Most players opt to play the game at 300 baud--at $6 rather than $12 per hour. The slower baud rate does not handicap play. Software The software program you use to access Compuserve and play IoK should be capable of doing two things: 1. It should allow the player to store frequently used commands and spells for recall with a few keystrokes. Most communications programs have this capacity; Procomm, Crosstalk, Mirror, Qmodem, and Pibterm are popular IBM compatible programs that have this ability. There are similar programs for users of other computers. 2. It should allow you to use "cursor control" in the game. Emulations such as Vidtex, VT52, VT100 and many more provide his ability. Cursor control is not absolutely necessary, but makes playing IoK much, much easier, without a timing penalty. In other games, cursor control may not be advisable; in IoK, it surely is. PAGE 1 Front-end Programs There are currently four communications programs written specifically for IoK. These front-end packages provide several enhancements to the game, and are a must for serious gamers that can use them. For people with IBM computers and clones which use MS-DOS and/or Windows, there are TheGuide and Kplus, each available in library 7. Also available is IoKTerm which, however, is no longer supported by its' author. IoKTerm is mentioned here because it does provide an auto roller feature for generating new characters, which is still outstanding to use. For those with Macintosh computers, Kterm is available in library 7, with a level of sophistication at least equal to that of Kplus. Each of these three programs provides the macro capability and cursor control essential for play. S2. PREPARING A CHARACTER When you GO GAM-26, and come to the Island of Kesmai menu area, you will first have to create a new character (commonly called "rolling a character"). A couple of suggestions for your first character: first, recognize that it will probably not be a "keeper" character; in other words, you will probably be killed several times as you learn the manner of the game, and your character will eventually die once too often, and you will have to roll another. At the beginning, this is no real tragedy; in fact, you should plan on it as you learn the game and begin preparations for an eventual "keeper" character. Secondly, you will have the opportunity to select what class you would like to play: a Fighter, a Martial Artist, a Thaumaturge, a Wizard, or a Thief. All of these classes have their own strengths and unique characteristics, but at the beginning a Fighter is probably the easiest to learn with, and I suggest you begin with that class. But as you will certainly like to make up your own mind a discussion of each class follows. Character class is the most important decision you will make; other choices for nationality and sex complement class. Ya Gotta Have Class: A discussion of each character class Running a fighter traditionally has been the most popular choice. It is an especially good choice for first time players. Fighters rely on weapon skills and strength to kill opponents, and blocking skill and dexterity to avoid opponents' weapons. Fighters gain vital experience points rapidly and are given a higher number of hit points (how much damage can be absorbed is determined by how high your "hits" are) than any other class except Martialartists. When fighters are knighted, moreover, they gain magical powers that enhance their weapon use, strength and hunting abilities. There are disadvantages, however. Fighters are able to fight only one opponent at time in direct combat. Furthermore, they must fight or run, they lack the furtiveness of thieves, the blocking ability of martial artists and the stun spell of thaumaturges. PAGE 2 Martial artist (MAs) characters are for the action oriented player. They are fast, nimble and possess extraordinary ability to block opponents' blows. At higher skill levels they have offensive blows that rival those of most knights. Like thieves, martial artists have a knack for penetrating opponents' areas, relying on quickness and blocking, rather than stealth. Indeed, they have theft skills too (although they cannot train in them). Martial artists also receive many hit points and acquire skills and experience quickly. One secret for running a successful MA is to avoid any type of armor. There is a severe performance penalty in both offensive hitting power and defensive blocking to any character class that wears armor and the effects are really noticable with MAs As for the fighter, dexterity and strength are most important for martial arts. This is not a difficult class to begin with, and it offers much power to the player at higher levels. It requires, however, much patience during the middle skill levels when characters are impotent against powerful opponents. Wizards rely almost utterly on magic for their play. Highest level wizards are, arguably, the most powerful characters in the game. Even at middle experience levels, wizards possess terrain spells that can clear rooms of opponents. Intelligence and dexterity are extremely important for this character class. Additionally, wizards are gifted with a powerful shielding spells effective against missile weapons. However, there are several disadvantages for this class. A low level (beginning) wizard spends most of his/her time running for their life. To balance the awesome powers of the magic spells wizards can aquire, a wizard gets considerably less hit points to work with. This is why beginning players should consider a fighter or MA for the first character. Thaumaturges are a compromise between pure magic users and pure head bashers like fighters and MAs. Thaums, as they are called, are easier to train with standard weapons and are somewhat more durable than wizards. Like wizards, they have powerful spells and higher level thaums can even summon phantasms of various sorts to assist them. The main drawback is they usually have fewer magic points and their spells are more restricted than wizards. Whereas a wizard has a number of area type spells like fireballs and icestorms, a thaum's spells are more taylored for one-on-one combat, which can be awkward at times, since in most areas of the game the critters and other nasties like to gang up on adventurers The final class of characters to consider are the thieves. Running a thief is both infuriating and exciting. The biggest strength of the thief class is the ability to 'hide'. Critters (and people) can not attack what they can't see, means that thieves early in their careers can penetrate the lairs of dragons and drakes, the castle of the giant and rooms full of opponents (if careful) without detection. Also, although not terribly effective, thieves can steal. They can steal goodies from opponents and occasionally not get caught. But, the PAGE 3 disadvantages with thieves are many, it is not a class for a beginner. Chief among the disadvantages is lack of offensive power and class A weapons. This is one reason most successful thieves take the time to develop MA skills. A thief with a high skill level in unarmed (hand) combat is NOT a character to be triffled with. One other major handicap is thieves are not lawful. This means that lawful non-player characters in the towns will attack you. Until late 1992, other lawful players could also attack you, but since then all player vs player combat has been banned by the ghods of Kesmai. Gender and Nationality You will be asked to choose your character's sex and nationality. Gender is merely cosmetic, there is little, if any difference in skills or capacities between the sexes. Nationality is somewhat more important, the class you choose to run may have some bearing on this choice. There are two things you will want to be considering in this regard. First, your primary character attribute for your class and second, the skill level at which you begin to play. Character Attributes When you "roll" your character, you will be selecting character attributes of Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, and Charisma. 1. Strength determines a character's carrying capacity and is a key factor in determining how hard a character's offensive blows hit. 2. Dexterity determines a character's ability to avoid and block blows and may influence ability to manipulate objects. 3. Intelligence determines the level of magic points for wizards and thieves, as well as how quickly they progress in magic skill. 4. Wisdom works like intelligence, but only for thaums. 5. Constitution determines the survivability of your character, and the rate at which he/she will earn hitpoints as the character develops through experience in the game. 6. Charisma is sort of a forgotten trait, which was originally intended for the failed sorcerer class. Actually, calling the sorcerers a 'failed' class is wrong, since the reason they were never allowed in the game is they were way too successful and they scared the living hell out of the ghods of Kesmai. Of these attributes, each class has certain PRIMARY attributes that should be sought. Every character is going to need good Strength, Dexterity and Constitution stats. As well, Wizards and Thieves will want good Intelligence stats, and Thaums will want good Wisdom stats. PAGE 4 Here is where nationality comes in. There are eight choices of nation: Mnar, Mu, Lemuria, Leng, Hovath, Draznia, and a kind of non-national Barbarian. Some nationalities give better averages of certain primary statistics; for example, Draznians enjoy a much higher average in Intelligence stats than do the inhabitants of Mu, and Hovathians score higher in Wisdom than do citizens of Mnar. The chart on the following page was taken from a survey of 100 characters supplied by the computer for each nationality, and shows the average statistic for each character attribute. This chart was uploaded to the library as "Rolls.ref". B D H I L L M M A R O L E E N U R A V L N M A B Z A Y G U R STR 12.3 11.9 11.3 11.2 10.1 13.3 14.0 14.2 DEX 12.0 12.2 11.4 11.7 12.7 12.5 12.0 11.8 INT 12.5 15.1 11.1 12.2 13.4 12.3 10.5 10.2 WIS 11.9 12.1 13.4 12.5 11.2 11.9 11.2 13.2 CONS 11.4 12.0 13.3 12.3 9.4 11.4 13.4 11.8 CHAR 12.1 11.4 12.2 12.0 13.9 12.5 11.8 11.4 HITS 23.5 23.5 23.7 23.4 23.3 23.6 23.5 23.5 STAM 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.5 Keep in mind that these are only averages, and can only serve as a guide. One may well find a roll where Mu yields a high intelligence average, but one's chances are probably going to be better in Draznia. From this chart, it is clear that those who are only looking for high Strength, Dexterity and Constitution stats (fighters and martial artists) might well choose Mnar as their nation of origin; those needing high Intelligence (wizards and thieves) might choose Draznia, and Thaums might choose Hovath for its wisdom potential. Beginning Skills The other aspect to keep in mind is the skill with which your character will begin. The following chart shows what weapons each class in each nationality starts out with, and what their skills are with each weapon. Keep in mind that you can use most any weapon you like (except for thieves, more on that later) Also, remember that the skills at this stage are still fairly low level, and can easily be taken to higher levels. Overall, choosing nationality according to primary character attribute is far more important than choosing it according to skill. Still, the chart on the next page may prove useful to you (compiled from "Dock.ref"). PAGE 5 Abbreviations: Untr=Untrained, Awk=Awkward, Med=Mediocre, Cap=Capable. OCCUP/NAT. IN-HAND ON-BELT ON-BELT H2H MAGIC THEFT FIGHTER Illyria Rapier/Cap Longswd/Med Dagger/Cap Untr Untr Mu Axe/Cap Shield Dagger/Awk Untr Untr Lemuria Halberd/Cap Mace/Awk Dagger/Awk Untr Untr Leng Longswd/Cap Shield Dagger/Med Whit Untr Draznia GSwd/Cap ShrtBow/Cap Dagger/Awk Untr Untr Hovath Longswd/Cap ShrtBow/Cap Spear/Cap Untr Untr Mnar ShrtBow/Med Shield Axe/Cap Untr Untr Barbarian Axe/Cap Shield Longswd/Med Untr Untr MARTIALARTS Illyria Staff/Cap Shurikn/Med Shurikn/Med Grn Clum Mu Staff/Cap Axe/Cap Dagger/Awk Grn Clum Lemuria Katana/Cap Staff/Cap Dagger/Med Grn Clum Leng Katana/Cap ShrtBow/Med Dagger/Med Blue Med Draznia Katana/Cap Shurikn/Med Shurikn/Med Grn Clum Hovath LongBow/Cap Katana/Cap Dagger/Cap Blue Clum Mnar Staff/Cap ShrtBow/Med Axe/Cap Grn Clum Barbarian Axe/Cap Staff/Cap Shurikn/Med Grn Clum THIEF Illyria Dagger/Cap Sword/Med Dagger/Cap Yel Skulk Med Mu Dagger/Cap Sword/Med Dagger/Cap Yel Apprn Aver Lemuria Dagger/Cap Sword/Med Dagger/Cap Yel Skulk Med Leng Dagger/Cap Sword/Med Dagger/Cap Yel Apprn Aver Draznia Dagger/Cap Sword/Med Dagger/Cap Yel Apprn Aver Hovath Dagger/Cap Sword/Med Dagger/Cap Yel Apprn Aver Mnar Dagger/Cap Sword/Med Dagger/Cap Yel Apprn Aver Barbarian Dagger/Cap Sword/Med Dagger/Cap Yel Apprn Aver THAUM Illyria Rapier/Med Dagger/Med Dagger/Med Untr Shamn Untr Mu Axe/Med Shield Dagger/Awk Untr Apprn Untr Lemuria Longswd/Med Shield Dagger/Awk Untr Apprn Untr Leng Longswd/Med Shield Dagger/Awk Whit Shamn Untr Draznia Longswd/Med ShrtBow/Med Dagger/Awk Untr Apprn Untr Hovath Spear/Med ShrtBow/Med Dagger/Med Untr Apprn Untr Mnar ShrtBow/Awk Shield Axe/Med Untr Apprn Untr Barbarian Axe/Med Shield Longswd/Awk Untr Apprn Untr WIZARD Illyria Rapier/Med Staff/Awk Dagger/Med Untr Apprn Untr Mu Axe/Med Staff/Awk Dagger/Awk Untr Asprt Untr Lemuria Sword/Med Staff/Awk Dagger/Awk Untr Apprn Untr Leng Sword/Med Staff/Awk Dagger/Awk Untr Apprn Untr Draznia ShrtBow/Med Staff/Awk Dagger/Awk Untr Apprn Untr Hovath Sword/Med Staff/Med Dagger/Med Untr Asprt Untr Mnar Axe/Med Staff/Awk Dagger/Awk Untr Apprn Untr Barbarian Axe/Med Staff/Awk Dagger/Awk Untr Apprn Untr PAGE 6 "Rolling" your Character After you have chosen your character's gender and nationality, you will be presented with a display of a character the computer has chosen for you. It will look something like this: Strength 12 Adds 0 Dexterity 15 Adds 1 Intelligence 10 Wisdom 8 Constitution 14 Hits 22 Charisma 16 Stam 2 Roll again? (y,n,p): Scan the description. You will want a minimum of 15 in each of your "primary" categories (strength, dexterity and constitution for all classes; additionally, intelligence for wizards and thieves, wisdom for thaums). 15 will give you any "adds" (category bonuses) that are available. NOTE: IN GENIE IoK, Character Gen is simple: just distribute your ÊÊÊÊallotted points as you see fit. Most fighters and martialartists care very little what the numbers are in categories other than strength, dexterity, and constitution; many magic users (wizards, thieves and thaums) like to see at least 15 in all categories except charisma (which is not presently used in the game). However, getting 15 or higher in all categories may take a LONG time and at least for your first character, a score of 15 in your primary categories should be adequate. If you like what you see, hit n. If not, hit y. Hitting p will display the same screen again. "Hits" tells you how many damage absorption points the character will begin with. This number usually runs between 21 and 26; the higher the better, but at this early stage it is not terribly important. The same holds true for stamina; you want all you can get, but your choices are only 1-3, and it won't make all that much difference. Be patient with this phase of character generation. Be willing to keep rerolling the generator for as long as it takes to get good numbers. If one nationality isn't working out, try a different one (by accepting the character, then backing out and starting over). Time spent here is time that will be of value for the rest of your character's life. This is one area where the front end program IoKTerm will be outstanding. IoKTerm is no longer supported and for general game playing is pretty much obsolete, but the auto roller feature is still one of the best. You can program the minimum requirements you desire for your character, and the program will continiously keep 'rolling' new characters until one meets your requirements. PAGE 7 Pick a Name After you are done "rolling" your character, you will be asked to name it. Players are stuck with the their character's name after selection. Pick a name, therefore, with which you can grow old. There are no traditional conventions for naming, except for appending the guild logos to those players belonging to these groups. Guild logos follow a few dots behind character names, ie. Daenbear..Sea, Wooly..Sun, Fizzy..Alf. Beyond guild names, there are few other considerations. Humor, self-deprecation and imagination are appreciated by other players. So too are literary, mythical and historical allusions. Pick a name that complements the role you envision for your character. Thaums are religious zealots, wizards are stuffy intellectuals, thieves are sly and unobtrusive, knights may be pompous buffoons or mock-heroic gay blades, martial artists have a wealth of history behind them. S3. GETTING YOUR BEARINGS - ENTERING KESMAI When you enter Kesmai, your player will be standing at the end of a dock (you've just gotten off the boat). Your screen will look something like this, though Val may not be present: . . A . . . 1. A Val ~~~~::~~~~~~ ~~~~::~~~~~~ ~~~~^:~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ R Axe Hits: 34 Hits Taken: 0 L Stamina: 10 Experience:1600 The graphics in the upper left represent a map of 49 "hexes" of Kesmai. Graphics in Kterm make this display much different. Each hex is made up ÊÊÊÊof a pair of characters. Your PC (player character) is represented by the ^ in the center of the map. Above (north of) you is the pair of characters :: which represents a dock or bridge in the game. Around you are hexes made up of the pair of characters ~~ which represents water. The northernmost hexes are made up of pairs consisting of a period (.) and a blank ( ) representing empty ground, or plains. The "A" three hexes north of you represents another personality; it could be another PC, an NPC (non-player character - a computer generated human player), or a monster (trolls, orcs, dragons, etc.). The upper right of the screen tells us which; in this case, we are told that "A" is a character by the name of Val...whether Val is a PC or an NPC can only be determined by experience. PAGE 8 The bottom left tells you your crt (character) is holding an axe in right hand, and left hand is empty. The bottom right tells you the number of "hits" (how many units of damage your crt can endure, 34 in this case) and how many hits he has taken (how much damage he has received, in this case 0) and your crt's stamina. It also reveals the "experience" of your character - 1600 points. Experience is gained simply by existing in Kesmai, but primarily by killing monsters. As your experience climbs, every time it doubles you can obtain more hits, stamina and other bonuses. (To receive those bonuses, once your experience has doubled, simply ensure you have taken no damage and are at full stamina, then type REST. You must REST at maximum hits and stamina to move up to the next level; this is commonly called "resting up levels".) Before we go anywhere, let's check out your crt's stats and equipment. Type SHOW STATS. Beneath the graphics box, in the middle left of the screen, you should obtain a readout listing your stats for strength, dexterity and so on, as well as telling you the level and alignment (explained later) of your crt ("You are a level 3 lawful fighter) and your encumbrance ("You are lightly encumbered"). If your encumbrance is moderate or heavy, moving around, especially quickly, will gradually lower your stamina. In that case, you might want to lighten your load. To see what you are carrying, type SHOW BELT. You will receive a list of the weapons on your belt, as well as a description of the armor you are wearing. To belt a weapon, such as your axe, type BELT AXE. To draw a weapon, type DRAW AXE or WIELD AXE (or DRAW SHORTBOW, or whatever weapon you want). Your crt can walk (move one hex at a time), run (two at a time) or sprint (three at a time). If your stamina is low, you may only be able to walk. In the dungeons it is best not to sprint, at least until you get a feel for the place; you may sprint right into danger! But in town, as long as you are not carrying too much heavy stuff, you can sprint and save time. Right now, let's sprint northwards, towards the town proper. Type N N N (north, north, north, or north three hexes). If Val hasn't moved, you should have landed right in the same hex. Your screen may now look somewhat like this: {}{}. B . [] 1. Val longbow plate . . . $ . | 2. B Tak . . . . . [][] . . . ^ . . . ~~~~~~::~~~~~~ ~~~~~~::~~~~~~ ~~~~~~::~~~~~~ R Axe Hits: 34 Hits Taken: 0 L Stamina: 10 Experience:1600 PAGE 9 The pair of characters {} represents trees or bushes. The [] represents a wall, and the | a door, so we can see that we have arrived near the corner of a building, with the door two hexes northeast of us. Note, if you are using one of the front end programs available like TheGuide, enhanced ASCII graphics will be used. Another character, Tak, is two hexes north of us. Since we are standing on the same hex as Val, we are given a little more information about her; she is carrying a longbow and wearing plate armor. We could have found this out earlier by typing LOOK AT VAL from any place in sight of Val. Now, we could LOOK AT TAK and we would be told his sex, nationality, class, what kind of armor he is wearing, and what he is holding. The $ in the map represents something lying on the ground. It could be almost anything: an empty bottle, a ring, some gold, a weapon, armor, a potion, a gem, or any combination of these things. The best way to tell is to go to the hex with the $ and type LOOK. You will be told what is on the ground. You can also look in adjacent hexes by typing LOOK N, LOOK SE, etc. If you see something interesting (like coins or gems) you can go to the hex where the object is and type in LOOK AT . If there was anything there you wanted, you could TAKE . Once you have the item, you have to decide what to do with it. If it was armor you might WEAR . If it was a ring, you might PUT RING ON 2 LEFT to put it on the second finger of your left hand. If it was a weapon, you might BELT . If it was a potion, you might OPEN BOTTLE AND DRINK IT (don't do this if you are not VERY sure of the results!). If it was gold or gems, you might PUT GOLD IN SACK. Your sack is always with you, and holds twenty items. Right now, if you LOOK IN SACK you will be told what is in it - probably only one gold coin. You can TAKE FROM SACK or PUT IN SACK. You could go NE NE AND LOOK AROUND and you would move up to stand in the doorway, and be told what kind of place it was (in this case, the weapon shop). A later section, "Using the Shops", will tell you what you could do there. Right now, you are probably anxious to get into the dungeons and start hacking away at crits. There are a couple of things you might want to do first. S4. DON'T LEAVE TOWN WITHOUT THEM Most importantly, get some Balm, or at least some balm berries. Balm is a wonderful potion, sold for 16 coins by an NPC in the temple (just keep going north in town). If you OPEN BALM AND DRINK IT you will be immediately healed of any and all damage you have taken. This is an absolute must, because you WILL take damage! Balm berries are not so useful, but at least they are free. If you TAKE BERRIES FROM SACK AND EAT IT it will remove up to 6 points of damage. Balm berries are found by going to the temple, going through PAGE 10 the doors to the east, then heading north up the hall, then NE into the garden. Stand on the hex with the bushes and TAKE BERRIES. To obtain your first few coins for balms, you can look around town for used recall rings which have been dropped by other players. These will be described as 'small gold ring' and be worth 48 coins. 48 coins just happenes to be enough for 3 balms. In a pinch, you can grab any and all the junk laying around and sell it to one of the shop keepers in town. The other thing to consider is a RECALL RING. This is a magical ring that, when removed from your finger, magically transports you to wherever you were when you put it on. Recall rings cost 150 coins, are small gold rings emitting a faint blue glow, and are sold by an NPC just outside of the pawnshop (near a little plaza in east section of town). At 150 coins, they seem awfully expensive at first (later, you will think it chicken feed), especially since they can only be used once, but they can be well worth the bargain if they save your life. I recommend that after you buy the ring, you hold it in your left hand (SWAP if it is in right hand) and type PUT RING ON 1 RIGHT. Wearing it on this finger means that in an emergency all you have to type is REMOVE RING (rather than the usual TAKE 1 RING OFF RIGHT). Of course, if you are holding something in your left hand, you have to belt it or drop it before you can use that hand to REMOVE RING. One VERY important note here, please do NOT drop used recall rings by the ring vendor. A number of adventurers have suffered untimely deaths because they picked up used recall rings some inconsiderate slob dropped and did not check them before putting the ring on. There is nothing more depressing than when you are getting badly beat up by some critters and have NOTHING happen when you remove the recall ring. Make sure that the location you are in when you put the ring on is a safe one, as when you transport yourself there magically by removing the ring later you may be near death. Do not put the recall ring on when you are standing in water, or in a doorway, or on a ruined wall. One hint for aspiring wizards, the recall ring should be set in an out of the way place. Accidents can happen with area spells and if you happen to kill something lawful (like a snake or griffin figurine), you will turn neutral. Recalling into the middle of the town square in this condition will be extremely hazardous to your health, since all the towns people will immediately attack any nonlawful character they see. You have just started, so you don't have much gold with which to buy these nice products. But if you wander around town and check every $ you see, you should soon be able to pick up enough gold rings, dropped weapons, and other such that you can resell. If you are the bold type, you can ask any other players you see for a loan or gift of some gold to help you get started...most are willing to be of help to beginning players. PAGE 11 To buy balm or recalls (or any other products from a peddlar who is not behind a counter) simply step into the seller's hex, and drop the required amount of gold. The seller will then drop as many balms (or rings, or whatever he is selling) as you have paid for, one at a time. Just pick them up at your feet. S5. ENTERING THE DUNGEON (AND COMING OUT ALIVE) Now you are loaded up with balm, and if you could afford it you are wearing your recall ring. You are ready for the dungeon hunt. Take your weapon in hand (right hand holds the weapon), head to the temple, and go through the western door, then up north and west to the stairway. Type DOWN (or just D) to go down the stairs, and you will find yourself on level -1 of the dungeon. Be on guard...fierce creatures inhabit these areas! In the screen below, you have just come upon a typical level -1 dungeon scene: [][][][][]. . 1. A *2 skeletons | . . < / . . 2. B *wyvern [] B. . [][][] []. A. | [][][][][] R axe Hits: 34 Hits Taken: 0 L Stamina: 10 Experience:1600 Combat The wyvern can move two hexes at a time, and will probably be on you next round ("you" are the <, in the northeast corner of the room). The skeletons are a little slower, but will arrive the next round after, at which time you will have three monsters on you (unless you have already disposed of the wyvern by then ). You can fight it out, or you can run from them (you can move three at a time, so can outrun them), balm up, try to separate them again, and renew the battle. At this point you have to choose your fights carefully, since almost everything in the dungeon is going to be bigger, meaner, and tougher than you are. To fight a crit, type FIGHT (in this case, FIGHT WYVERN) and you will swing on the crit with the weapon in your right hand. If you are holding a bow, you must first NOCK the bow, then SHOOT next round. You will be told the results of your swing. You may be blocked by the crit's armor, or by a defensive move on its part. You may miss. You may fumble, in which case you must TAKE your weapon again to use it. Hopefully, you will hit, and do either light, moderate, heavy, severe or fatal damage to the crit. PAGE 12 Meanwhile, the crit will also be attacking you. You will automatically respond to its attack and you will be told whether you or your armor blocked the crit, or, if the crit hits, you will see how much damage you took in the "Hits Taken" slot. If you have taken more than 1/3 of your total hits, it is time to move out and balm. If the crit manages to slay you (it happens to the best) you will receive the "fatal" message. You can do nothing except quit or talk to other players within sight (as a ghost). If you quit (you must wait 60 seconds to do this) and your constitution stat is high enough (about 5 or higher), the gods will resurrect you, and you will re-enter the game at some relatively safe location. Now for the bad news, each time you die you will suffer some kind of permanent damage; loss of constitution and strength stats, loss of hit points, and skill deterioration. If other players are within sight when you die, and can come to pick up your corpse, they can take you to a priest or a thaumaturge with a working RAISEDEAD spell for resur- rection, and the damage taken is usually somewhat less (if you are with someone who dies, it is an excellent help to them if you can grab their corpse and get it to a priest or thaum for resurrection). If you die in front of a critter or one wanders by your corpse, they will strip you of your armor and all your possessions. If this happens, you may be able to get some things back by going back to the scene (it is best to get help for this, as you are now even less able to handle matters there) and searching the $ and the crits in the area for your things. If you die in fire, you will lose whatever you were holding at the time, but the ghods will immediately resurrect you with the contents of your sack, back in town. On the other hand, if you slay the critter, you get to do the looting! A '$' will show up in the hex in which it died. Type SEARCH CORPSE and you will rifle through the loot, and might find that the crit was carrying gold or gems or rings or something else valuable to you. Pick up what you want (see "Dungeon Loot"), and carry on. If there is more than one corpse in the hex, SEARCH CORPSE searches the top one. To search the others, you can type SEARCH CORPSE. Each time a corpse is searched, it is moved to the top of the pile, so if you have a stack of 5 corpses you can type in SEARCH 5 CORPSE and for the next four rounds type in 'A'. 'A' is short for AGAIN, which repeats the previous command. Take note of the * before the names of the crits in the upper right section of the screen. The * means they are chaotic monsters, and will attack you. A + by the name means they are evil, and will attack anything. An ! means you have encountered a neutral player, and though you may wish to be on guard, you should probably not attack. Most neutrals are upright players and won't harm you; in fact, they may be of much help to you. If there is no character by the name, it is a lawful player, and potential ally. Watch the change in your experience points when you finally manage a kill, you will gain anywhere from 20 to 250 experience points for a level -1 kill, depending on the type of crit you slew. PAGE 13 Until you get the hang of it, it is best to stay on level -1 for a while. The deeper you go in the Kesmai dungeons, the more dangerous it becomes. Fire is used on the next level down, as well as weapons and claws, and until you get good fire protection that can be very dangerous indeed. See the section on developing your character. Magical Combat (and basic magic use) In addition to combat with weapons, described above, MUs (magic users) have to learn to fight with magic, as well (technically, thaums use prayers, not magic, but as the principles are the same this manual will include them in the Magic Users category). Some principles are the same for each class: 1. Spells are written in the spellbook that the character begins the game with. This book will only provide spells for the character it was assigned to; no one else will be able to read the spell book or make the spells work. 2. To cast a spell, the player must first "warm" the spell. This is done by typing the spell words exactly as they appear in the book; no quotation marks are used. For instance, if the spell book says: The following will cast the spell of strength: asak nungi irrga luubluyi the player would type in only the words asak nungi irrga luubluyi without any qualifiers, and that would constitute warming the spell. If the "warming" is mistyped, the spell cannot be cast. This is where the advantage of using a communications program that allows you to assign phrases to your function keys or special key combinations is most clearly seen. Rather than being forced to type the spell, the player need only hit the function key or key combination that holds that spell and it will be entered for him. 3. If, in the round in which the player warmed the spell, more than 1/6th of the players REMAINING hits were taken in damage, the spell will be disrupted, and will fail. If not more than 1/6th damage was taken, the player may cast the spell. Personal spells, such as Strength, Prfire or Shield are simply CAST or CAST AT . Directed offensive spells like Curse, MagicMissile or Stun are CAST AT . Terrain spells like Bonfire, Lightning or Icestorm are CAST , i.e. CAST N N N. Every round that a spell is warmed, but not cast, one magic point will be subtracted. Further, thaumaturges may discover that the longer the period is, between warming and casting, the greater the likelihood grows that the spell will fail (wizards and thieves never suffer from failed spells). PAGE 14 More about the strategies and means of MUs will be covered in the section "Developing your Character". Strategy Hints 1. "Zoos" are rooms with several crits in them. Don't try tackle zoos all at once. If you come in sight of several crits at once, retreat; not all the crits move at the same speed, so as they start to chase you, they will be drawn apart. When you have them drawn out so there are only a couple or so to deal with, slay them. Then head back slowly towards the zoo area, and repeat until done. If you have a fireball staff or wand, or an icestorm wand, or a ball, you might want to throw a spell or two into the zoo while they are together. But be prepared to run immediately, as they probably won't all succumb to the spell. 2. Always keep a line of retreat open, and KNOW what it is. You may not always be able to SEE three open hexes to your rear, but you should know where they are, so you can retreat at full speed (three hexes at a time) without danger of running into walls (stunning) or unknown areas. I like to be sure of a 9 hex retreat path. 3. Unless you are very confident of your area, never advance more than 2 hexes at a time into an unknown area. Try to advance in perpendicular lines, not an angle. This cuts down on the number of new hexes--potentially filled with crits--that you will encounter with each move. 4. Remember that you can be stunned in battle at any time. Balm or Cast Cure at 1/3 hits on, much earlier if involved with a very hard hitting crit. If you are fighting 4 hobgoblins at once (very dangerous) and you have 80 hits and one of the hobs hits for 20 while the other three miss, realize that that means the hobs could potentially hit you harder in one round than all of your hits. Even if they only hit for 10 each, if your are stunned in combat, they can still potentially slay you without giving you a chance to react. Be cautious in such situations; use a wand or staff to soften or break them up, or a distance weapon. 5. MOST crits cannot move as fast as you can. Even of those that can, few can move that fast and hit you in the same round. So constant moving is a good way to get out of trouble. If you are heavily encumbered or very badly wounded, you will lose stamina quickly, so this strategy can't work forever, but it is helpful. Some exceptions include gargoyles and dragons and sometimes bears. 6. Don't hesitate to RECALL in trouble. There is absolutely no shame in that. Death in the BG is VERY hard to recover from, it is advisable to avoid it at all costs, once you are working on your "keeper" crt. PAGE 15 More strategy can be gleaned from careful reading of the section describing the various segments of the game and the nature of the crits in those segments, beginning on page 41. S6. DUNGEON LOOT: Things you may find in the dungeons When you LOOK at $, you can find most anything: weapons, armor, rings, bottles, gold, even dried up toads (worthless). The following information may give you some help understanding the value of what you have found. Rings The following are some rings that can be found in dungeons: Strength Rings -- These provide a spell that increases the strength of the wearer. They are gold rings with red gems. If the gem is small, the spell has a power of 1. If the gem is large, the spell is power 3. If the gem glows (often called a "glower", and much more rare), the spell is power 6. Vermeil Ring -- This ring contains the spell of identify, and can help you determine the nature of objects you find. Hold the ring in the left hand (or wear it) and the object you want to know about in your right hand. Type CAST IDENTIFY. You will be told the properties of what you hold, but not its cash value. A shopkeeper can tell you that when you ask him to APPRAISE it. Shield Rings -- These are iron rings with black gems, and provide protection against archers, and some protection against weapons. Their spell power is either 1 or 3, but you can only tell which by CAST IDENTIFY or an appraisal. In the AG (Advanced Game) there are +6 shield rings, which are iron rings with glowing black stones. Waterbreathing Rings -- These are silver rings with black stones, and when worn provide a spell that will prevent you from drowning in water. Moonstone Rings -- These are good for resale, worth between 300 and 400 gps. Some players believe that the 400 gp moonstone ring can increase your chances of getting more hit points than you otherwise might when you gain a level. This has started many arguements over the years, but the only thing you can be sure of is you need a moon- stone ring to get into the night portals of Axe, where the returning axe and silver greataxe are obtained. Rings with Emeralds, or with Diamonds in a Rosette of Rubies -- Sometimes are fire and ice storm protection, but most of the time are only good for resale, and are worth between 800 and 1200 gps. PAGE 16 Flexible Rings of Interwoven Gold Wire-- Wearing one of these rings will provide a spell of increase dexterity. Ring of Tiny Green Feathers-- These provide the spell of RESIST BLIND and can increase your chances of not being blinded by a crit's blindness spell. Brass Ring -- Worth one coin. Useless. Heavy Lead ring -- Worth 5 coins. Some people believe wearing this ring helps them punch harder (if they use martialarts skills). Probably not worth the finger. Gold Ring -- Worth between 20 and 48 coins, and can be changed by a thief into recall rings. Gold Ring with Blue Glow -- A recall ring. When removed from the finger, this ring will transport the wearer to wherever he/she was when the ring was placed on the finger (unless that was in water or on a wall). To wear a ring, you must hold it in the hand opposite the one on which you wish to wear it. The PUT RING ON . To wear it on the 3rd finger of the left hand, hold the ring in right hand, and PUT RING ON 3 LEFT. Removing rings is similar, but just different enough to keep you alert. Make sure the opposite hand is not holding anything, then TAKE OFF . To see what fingers are free, you can SHOW RINGS. To look at rings on your fingers, type LOOK AT ON . Amulets There are four amulets available in the Basic Games. One is diamond with a ruby, and provides excellent f&i protection when worn. One is a jade pendant, and allows the wearer to CAST LOCATE and determine where a certain player or crit is. The third is a silver chain with an onyx scorpion, and allows the wearer to CAST NEUTRALIZE and thus neutralize the ill effect of any poison he has taken. The fourth is found in Leng, and is a sapphire necklace. No one has yet determined any special characteristics of this amulet. Bracelets Most bracelets are useless, but there are a few found in various lairs which are desirable. In the Iron Lich lair in Oakvael, there are wide bands with bold swirling lines, which are +3 strength bracelets. There are some other bracelets like this one as random treasure, but are either +1 strength or worthless. The Axe Glacier Yeti has a silver bracelet with tiny dolphins, which has the spell of breathe water. These are usefull for freeing up fingers for more strength or shield rings. Bottles and Potions PAGE 17 LOOK at a bottle to see what is in it. Some of the bottles and potions in the BG are: Cloudy White Liquid -- This is balm. Clear liquid -- This is probably nitro, sometimes water. If it is nitro you can use it by first opening the bottle and then throw the bottle, and it will set a two-hex-radius explosion where it lands. Useful with crits that are maintaining their distance, but dangerous to throw at incoming crits, as both they and the explosion might land on you next round. Throw either at the crits or by naming a hex, i.e. THROW BOTTLE AT ORC or THROW BOTTLE N NE NE. Nitro bottles make things interesting when you fumble them, since they will blow up in your face Black ceramic bottle -- These contain naphtha. Open the bottle, then throw it, and it will set off a one-hex bonfire. Same cautions as above for nitro. Clear Red Liquid -- This a potion that will temporarily increase your strength when you drink it. These spells are non-additive; in other words, one is as good as five, until it wears off. Reddish Clay Bottle with Three Concentric Circles -- This bottle is a potion of permanent strength increase. Drinking it will permanently raise your strength stat 1 point, up to a maximum of 17. It will also stun you for several rounds, so make sure you are safe before drinking! Black Ceramic Bottle with Gold Whorls -- This potion will permanently raise your dexterity stat 1 point, up to a maximum of 17. It will also stun and/or blind you for several rounds, so make sure you are safe before you drink it. Green Glass Bottle with Blue Liquid and Tiny Bubbles -- This is a youth potion, and is needed by players who are approaching very old age. Every 24000 rounds or so, your crt will age. The increments are Young, Middle Aged, and Old. Before the introduction of the Under World (Praetosoba), youth potions where essential to keep characters from aging and suffering a permanent death. Most players drank a youth potion at Old age, which reset their age to the vicinity of 24000 rounds, making them Middle Aged again. Some deterioration of abilities begins when Old Age is reached. Small Porcelain Vial -- This is the rare and highly prized Drake Potion (called a DP). This potion will add 2 points to your constitution stat (up to 18), add 4 points to your stamina, and add an additional 4 points to your hits, up to 10 times your experience level. Since Oakvael opened up with a fairly generous supply of DPs they sell for about 40K in coins on the open market, though it appraises at a much smaller value. The Oakvael serpent carries a DP in a slightly different bottle, described as mother of pearl bottle with delicate tracings PAGE 18 Blue and White Streaked Bottle -- This is a stamina-restore potion. It will restore all stamina points lost, due to exertion or injury. Wine comes in various containers, usually a clay bottle with a thin, tapering neck. Used mainly to delay the effects of poison (see the section on poison). Ale comes in various containers, usually a blue enamel flask. Worthless, unless you owe someone a drink . There are other various other potions and drinks, some for intelligence and charisma. Use your ID ring or have them appraised if you are curious about one you find. Gems Purple Gems -- are amethysts. They are almost without value. Yellow Gems -- are topazes. These go for 40-60 coins. Red Gems -- sell for 100 to 300 coins. Tiger-eyes -- do not sell for much, but they are the required ingredient for wizard's "peek" spell. Sapphires -- sell for quite a range of prices, but most are in the 250-500 range. The ones sold in the Axe Chaotic Town are worth 10K each and are used to help move gold to the AG. Emeralds -- come in many varieties, the best being the simple "large green" version. Prices range from 600 to 2000. Diamonds -- also come in many forms. Generally, they are worth more than emeralds. Stalking Panther or Whale -- are carved sapphires useful for anyone headed to the advanced game, used for the Sword of Light (SoL) quest. Pear Cut Diamond -- is a special gem needed for puzzle in Leng. There are also a few AG gems floating around the BG game, like the salamander eye ruby. These have no purpose, but they are very valuable. Also, the value of gems depends of where you find them. A gem found in Oakvael can look just like one found in Kesmai, but be worth twice as much. Weapons There are weapons, and then there are WEAPONS! Most of the common weapons in the game such as axes, hammers, greatswords, longswords, bows, daggers, etc. are random treasure or carried by critters. Some weapons are considerably better than others, a special variety that contains extra combat ADDS. These weapons hit much harder than a PAGE 19 regular one, and may block better as well. They are not always easily discernible from the regular variety; i.e. a +4 axe does not LOOK any different than a regular axe. But you can use your vermeil ring to ID weapons, or have them appraised. It would be very rare to find one of these special weapons on the first two dungeon levels, however. +4 axes and hammers can regularly be found in the pawn shop. Shields -- wooden, wooden with steel plates, and steel. Steel is the best, wooden is worst. Steel found on npc-s wielding short melee weapons. Steel shields can also be purchased at Chaos Town in Axe Glacier. Shields are seldom carried by advanced players because their effectiveness is not sufficient to offset the hassle or weight of an extra object to carry. Swords -- iron short sword, longsword, katana, and +4 longsword. The katana hits hard and blocks well (in the BG) but there are no enhanced katanas. The +4 longsword is a good, balanced weapon. It's favored as a thief weapon since when it is belted thieves can still hide. The regular longsword can be enchanted by knights, but none of the other sword weapons can. Maces -- mace, +3 mace, axe, +4 axe, hammer, +4 hammer, rhammer and raxe. The +3 and +4 varieties are excellent one-handed weapons, all of which can be thrown effectively at fleeing opponents. The rhammer and raxe are magic weapons that return to your hand after throwing. The rhammer is found in the crypt behind the lair of the Daisy the Kesmai dragon twice a week after game resets, on the altar near the giant's throne room and in the Iron Lich's lair in Oakvael. There is another version of the rhammer in the AG refered to as a Thor. Using this hammer can scare you to death, since fumbling it will release a 300+ hit lightning bolt which will kill you for real. The raxe is acquired from Vulcan for an obsidian egg. The raxe hits harder than the rhammer, but may not block as well. The raxe is useful since some critters can only be hurt by edged weapons, notably the Leng Drake Greatswords -- iron greatsword, +3 iron greatsword, +4 steel greatsword, black broadsword, and greataxe. This category of weapons is the most popular in the game due to the magic weapons: the black broadsword and the silver greataxe. These weapons hit hard and except for the greataxe, they block well. The +4 steel greatsword is found on npc-s on Axe Glacier and in Leng, and in the Kesmai dragon's lair. The broadsword is obtained from Ironbar, the blacksmith, in exchange for yttril and iron. It is considered the best weapon in the BG, for its hitting and blocking power. The silver greataxe is obtained from Silvermoon, the Axe Glacier blacksmith, also for yttril and iron. It can hit harder than the broadsword, but doesn't block at all. The greataxe is required for the Axe icedragon, which can not be hurt by any other weapon. Rapiers -- steel, +4, and +5. This is a good offensive weapon, that is seldom blocked. Its deficiency is defense--i.e., having PAGE 20 none. Players using this weapon usually carry a shield or parrying weapon in the right hand. The +4 rapier can be found on -4 of the Kesmai dungeon, or in Axe Glacier. It is sometimes available in the pawn shop. The +5 rapier is obtained by battling a VERY fierce NPC in Leng. Staffs -- wooden, +3 carved wood, +3 iron rod, fireball staff, cobra (snake) staff, steel (lightning) staff, pine (fireball) wand, hickory (portal) wand and glass (icestorm) wand. Not too many players use staffs as their weapon of choice. They are not good offensive weapons, and the threestaff is a better defensive weapon. The best staff is the +3 iron rod, which has a circle of glowing red stones at its center. This weapon comes in lawful and chaotic varieties--do not use the chaotic ones. They are often found on minotaurs. Daggers -- steel, +2 silver, and +3 gilt-handled. Only the silver dagger and the +3 parrying dagger are worth attention. The silver dagger is the only weapon in the game other than the greataxe that can kill silver wolves. Thieves often carry several to throw in the dark at wolves. The +3 parrying dagger is a good blocking weapon that is often wielded in the left hand to add blocking to a more offensive weapon wielded in the right. Silver daggers are found everywhere except level one and the surface of Kesmai. The +3 dagger is found on rapier wielding npc-s and as random treasure. There is one other dagger carried by the Axe Yeti used in the knight's quest. Spears -- wooden, +3 wooden, and javelin. The spear is a neglected weapon in the basic game. The weapon blocks well, while also avoiding blocks against it. It is also effective when thrown. But, it does not seem to hit hard. The javelin is a very dangerous weapon, good for only one throw. It contains the spell of lightning in various degrees. Wise players avoid this weapon, since it inevitably will strike your character either when fumbled or when an opponent charges into your square. Halberds -- There are two types of halberds, one can be purchased at some weapons shops and are easily available wherever ogres are found. The other halberd is obtained in the Knight's quest and is a +5 weapon. They hit harder than spears, and seem to block about as well, but they are themselves blocked more easily. The advantage of the halberd is "poking," which allows you to strike at opponents one hex away. The big drawback with halberds is they can not be belted, which makes carrying them around climbs most annoying. Bows -- shortbows, longbows, crossbows, +3 longbows, +3 and +4 crossbows. Crossbows are nice because they are an easily handled distance weapon that can be shot indefinitely and can be carried while loaded. Moreover, because they can be used while in hiding, crossbows are extremely popular as the main weapon of many thieves. The +4 crossbow is found on the Doom.Orc in Oakvael and is the prefered weapon of thieves. PAGE 21 The longbow hits harder and seems to be blocked less. The +3 versions of each are found on level four of the Kesmai dungeon and at advanced locations in Axe Glacier and Leng. These are good distance weapons for fleeing opponents. Shurikens -- come in only one version. This is a distance weapon designed for martial artists or thieves who would otherwise be encumbered with a bow. It is blocked less than the bow weapons. Shurikens can be enchanted by knights, which make them very effective one-shot distance weapons. hitting much harder than bows. Shurikens can be found on many berserkers in Leng. One advantage to shurikens is that they, like daggers and javelins, can be draw from the belt and thrown in one round with a simple THROW SHURIKEN AT ___ command. Other weapons cannot be drawn and thrown in the same round. Threestaff -- comes only in a +3 variety. The threestaff is the best blocking weapon in the basic game. It is used by martial artists in the left hand to enhance blocking. Some wizards use it as their main weapon, since they use magic for their main offense. The threestaff can be found wherever martial arts npc-s are to be had. Gauntlets -- leather, +2, +4 (MA) and +5 (MA) These increase the hitting power of martial arts' hand blows. Leather gauntlets can be purchased in weapons shops. The +2 variety (thin steel plates) can be found in more advanced play areas. The leather and +2 gauntlets allow anyone with MA skills to hit harder, they are more often blocked than is the bare hand. The +4 gauntlets are a quest item for MAs are without a doubt the hardest hitting weapon in the BG. For the past several years many people have started MA characters to get the MA gauntlets and then rerolling and ancestoring them to another character (usually a knight). The ghods of Kesmai have been greatly annoyed by this practice and have promised to change the next game version (as of 10/93) to stop the practice of non-MAs using the MA gauntlets. The +5 MA gauntlets are an AG MA quest item. One must remember that recall rings cannot be removed while wearing gauntlets. Balls -- darkness (black), light (white), web (milky), fire (red), ice (blue) and concussion (green metal). Balls contain spells that are released when thrown. The strengths of the spells vary. It seems to be best to throw them at areas rather than directly at opponents; less fumbles result. Apparel Armor -- You start out wearing leather armor. This is really not excellent armor, as you can imagine. You can buy chain (slightly better) or plate (a little better than chain) in the armory for 25 or 100 gps (gold pieces) respectively. But the best armor in the game is the hide of certain crits. The following BG (Basic game) crits, when skinned and their hide or scales fashioned into a vest, provide good armor: PAGE 22 -Trolls, plate +1 -Salamanders, fire protective -Dragons, plate +2, f&i (protection against fire and ice) -Drakes, plate +3, f&i -Ice Dragons, plate +4, f&i The ones that concern you most right now are troll and "sally" (salamander) armor. The Dragon, Drake and Ice Dragon are VERY dangerous opponents, and some of them even EAT you if you are slain, spelling the end of your crt and necessitating rolling a completely new one. Your first armor objectives should be to acquire troll skin and sally scales. See the section on developing your character. Scales -- wyvern, salamander, serpent, lizard, dragon, drake and ice dragon. Wyvern scales are equivalent to leather. Salamander scales offer less protection than leather against blows, but half the damage done by fire. Serpent scales are pretty, but seem otherwise useless. Lizard scales offer good ice protection. Dragon scales offer fire and ice protection as well as some protection against concussion. Against blows they are equivalent to +2 plate. Drake scales are equivalent to +3 plate, offer all the protection of dragon scales and (reputedly) some lightning protection. Ice dragon scales are equivalent to +4 plate with all the aforementioned protection. Furs and feathers -- various creatures. Furs and feathers are largely out of fashion, these days. Furs offer ice protection in various degrees. The best fur for ice protection comes from the Axe Yeti and offers fire protection equal to a robe or dragon scales plus much better ice protection. Furs, though, will likely remain out of fashion until either a few are granted other magical properties (like nightvision or neutralize) or until a few will allow the quickened recovery of magic points in the manner of robes. Griffin feathers are a little different, since they offer good protection from blindness, which is essential in the lower levels of Oakvael. Robes -- black with red runes and white with scorpion are the most common. A black robe with gold serpent can be found on the robed minotaur in Oakvael occassionally. Yellow torn strips and cresting wave robes can also be found. The official line is that all robes are equal. Yellow and cresting wave robes are worn by lawful NPCs, and not easily obtained. About the only thing that makes the rarer robes more desirable is some people want to make a fashion statement. Boots -- soft leather, crocodile and featherfall. Soft leather boots seem useless. Crocodile boots grant waterbreathing. Featherfall boots (rimmed with fur) allow a character to fall 5000 feet without taking damage. They are found only in the Axe Drake / Dragon / Yeti lairs, and in the Iron Lich's lair in Oakvael. PAGE 23 Skulls -- dragon skulls and bear skulls. Skulls offer additional protection against blows and the bear skull is the coveted night vision helm which allows you to see in darkness. Figurines In the BG, gold and yellow figurines in the shape of a snarling tiger are available as (quite rare and valuable) treasure. These figurines serve two uses: 1. If a player has taken a karma point (see page ___) the figurine can be traded to a confessor ghost for forgiveness; 2. Figurines, when thrown in sight of creatures of a different alignment than the thrower, will "activate" and become creatures allied with their thrower. For example, if a lawful player is in sight of a *hobgoblin, he can throw the figurine and it will turn into a lawful tiger. The tiger will attack the hobgoblin, and fight until either the hobgoblin or the tiger is slain. If the tiger remains alive after the hobgoblin is slain, it will proceed to attack any other non-lawful crits in sight. It will continue until it can no longer find crits to attack, or it itself is slain. If it can no longer find crits to attack, it will "deactivate" within a few rounds, reverting to a figurine again. If it is slain, it will revert to a figurine as well. Figurines make fairly powerful and endurable allies. Each time the tiger makes a kill, it gains experience, and become even more powerful. You can determine the experience of your figurine by having it appraised. There is a downside. Each time a figurine is thrown (one can throw it AT at crit, or throw it a direction, as in THROW FIGURINE N N N) there is a chance - say 10% - that it will shatter. It may be that figurines thrown over water will not shatter even if they do fail to activate. Miscellaneous Eggs -- golden and obsidian. The gold eggs are simply treasure, worth about 4k. The obsidian egg is key to the quest for the returning axe of Vulcan, and is obtained by killing the KingWolf in Axe Glacier. Rocks -- small, iron ore, gold nuggets, and yttril. The nuggets are treasure, usually work 425 coins. The ore and yttril are components for magical weapons. The yttril looks like a gray rock flecked with glowing bits. Do the small rocks have any value in the basic game? Berries -- various sorts. Few players bother with berries any more. Ripe (red) balm berries reduce hits when eaten. Other berries (yellow) are poisonous. PAGE 24 Scrolls -- small leather. Scrolls were designed to pass useful information to new players. There is not much use for them now, as currently they contain outdated information. Books -- character-tied spell books and a few general information books. Keep your personal spell book; replacement costs a hundred coins. General books are worth perusing once, but no book offers really valuable information. S7. BACK IN TOWN Once you have filled up your sack with loot, head back to Kesmai and sell your gains in any shop (see "Using the Shops"). This new wealth can be used in many ways: 1. Bank your gold It is a good idea to bank some proportion for the benefit of your "keeper" crt later; this first crt probably will not last. Gold can be deposited in and withdrawn from the bank. Money placed in any bank can be withdrawn from any other bank in the BG. Just put the coins on the counter and type , DEPOSIT. To withdraw cash, type , WITHDRAW . To see how much you have in your account, type , SHOW BALANCE. Kesmain banks offer only safety, not interest, for your gold. Coins deposited by your crt remain in account for that PPN; if you roll a new crt from the same Compuserve ID, the bank balance will be available to your new crt. 2. Locker your items There are lockers located above the bank in Kesmai and to the east of the bank in Oakvael. Just head west down the alley that runs along the bank's northern wall, and go up the stairs. If you stand in the hex three hexes south of the stairs, you will be standing before your locker, which will open upon your arrival and close upon your departure. Using the locker is much like using your sack; it holds twenty items (of any size). Just PUT IN LOCKER or TAKE FROM LOCKER. To see what is in your locker, type SHOW LOCKER. To look at a specific item in your locker, type LOOK AT IN LOCKER (i.e. LOOK AT 5 RING IN LOCKER to look at the fifth of 7 rings in your locker). Like the bank, items placed in your locker are available to any crt running under the same PPN. 3. Buy training One of the most important investments you will make is skill training. Your skill with a weapon is largely responsible for determining how much damage you can do with it, and how often you will fumble, or be blocked, or miss. Increasing skill is a constant endeavor. When you arrive on the dock, and SHOW SKILLS, you will see that you are untrained in many areas, Awkward in some, Mediocre (a little better) in others, and maybe even Capable in one or two (these are skill ratings for weapons, magic skills have different names, but follow the same pattern). But Capable is just beginning. You want to keep moving up to Familiar, Practised, Competent...all the way up to Immortal, which no one has yet attained. PAGE 25 Skill is gained whenever you swing a weapon. Even if you fumble it, you get a little. If you hit, you get a little more. If you manage a kill, you get a "kill bonus". Skill gain is faster if you have a few, but not too many, hits on (damage taken). A really fast way to gain skills is to do what is commonly refered to as 'skill-cowing', where you round up a couple low level critters and an amoral demon to train with under controlled circumstances. The basic idea is to have the critters do 10 percent damage to you with each swing while you beat on the demon. If you have 80 HPs, you would want the critter(s) to hit you for at least 8 hits. This indicates to the game that you are in a real fight and activates what is refered to as a risk bonus for training. This bonus is typically four times what you would normally get for each swing. Since you can not hurt the amoral demon, you can spend hours of accelerated training in relative safety, only pausing for balms when your hit points get over 60 percent of what's available. Please note, this is another practice that has aroused the ire of the ghods of Kesmai and may be changed without warning. You can increase the rate at which skill is gained in these ways by undergoing training. Take your weapon to the weapon's trainer, and hold it in your right hand. Drop gold at the trainer's feet, or put it on the nearby counter if it is there, and type , TRAIN ME. He will train you in the weapon, and you will gain some experience. Your skill will not immediately increase, but the rate at which it is gained will increase. To see how quickly you are learning your skills, you can ask the trainer for a critique. Just type , CRITIQUE SKILL. The key words are as follows: Weapon Weap. Category (SHOW SKILLS) Key Word (Critique) ---------- ----------------------- -------------- hammer, axe, mace Mace Mace any kind of bow Bow Bow dagger, knife Dagger Dagger rapier Rapier Rapier greatsword, broadsword, greataxe 2-handed Greatsword staff, wand, spear Staff Staff shuriken, thrown objects Shuriken Shuriken sword, katana, longsword Sword Sword threestaff Threestaff Threestaff halberd Halberd Halberd martialarts Unarmed combat Martialarts picking pockets Thievery Thievery magic Magic Magic The trainer will tell you your RANK and LEVEL. There are ten ranks to each level, so if you are at the seventh rank of Mediocre, you have three ranks to go to reach the level of Capable. Magic Training Training is no less important for magic users (thaums, wizards and thieves) in magic skill. While they will also be concerned to develop PAGE 26 some weapons skills, magic is very important to their survival. To train in magic, the MU (magic user) must go to the appropriate trainer of his class (in Kesmai, thaums go to Sven in the temple, wizards to Oscar near the pawn shop, and thieves to Lars in the thieves' guild). They take their personalized spell book in right hand (spells written in spell books will only work for the person to whom the book was issued; others will be unable to use the spells. If you have lost your spell book, the magic trainer will sell you another for 100 coins) and place their money on the counter or altar. Then, the command is , TRAIN ME. If the MU would like to check on progress, he can ask , CRITIQUE MAGIC SKILL. If a new rank has been made and the MU wants to know what spells he may be able to learn at this time, he can ask, , SHOW SPELLS. To purchase a spell, the money is placed on the altar or counter, and the MU asks, , TEACH . Skill points are awarded every time a spell is cast. I suggest that MUs undergoing training NEVER allow their magic points to top out. Cast, and cast, and cast, even small spells such as Shieldspell, or Prfire, or Strength, or Fsdoor; keep casting them whenever you have mps (magic points) to do so, and keep training, and magic skill will rise very quickly over the lower levels. It doesn't hurt to "wagonwheel" spells, even if your last Shieldspell hasn't yet worn off, it won't hurt to cast it again...the more mps you use in casting, the faster your skill will grow. As well, the sooner you can get hold of a Robe, the better off you will be, as Robes allow your mps to build at twice the usual rate, allowing you to cast more often, and your skill to climb that much more quickly. A short discussion of each magic class can be found in the section "Developing Your Character". 4. Go Shopping Most items you may want you don't need to buy, but you may want to save for a special weapon on sale at the pawn shop, or a ring you saw there. Once you enter any shop, SHOW PRICES will tell you what is on sale in that shop, and for how much. If you want to buy something, you move up to the counter (represented by == in the shop) and PUT GOLD ON COUNTER. Then you address the shopkeeper by his name, and tell him to sell the item (if the NPC behind the counter is Steen, for example, you would type STEEN, SELL ). The shopkeeper will take the correct amount of gold, leaving the item and your change on the counter. TAKE FROM COUNTER AND TAKE GOLD FROM COUNTER. To see what is on the counter, LOOK ON COUNTER. If you have something to sell, you can TAKE FROM SACK AND PUT IT ON COUNTER, and then sell it by asking, , BUY . He will take the item, and leave the proper amount of gold in its place. Almost any shopkeeper (not the banker) will buy almost anything from you. If you have more than one item of a certain type that you would like to sell, you can DUMP them all from the sack unto the counter at once, as in DUMP GEMS ON COUNTER or DUMP RINGS ON COUNTER. If you have PAGE 27 a pile on the counter, ask the shopkeeper, , BUY ALL. Then don't forget to take the gold the shopkeeper leaves, in exchange, on the counter! If you'd like to know what an item is worth, take it to a shopkeeper, put it on the counter, and say, IN PAWN. Besides the shops, it is a good idea to pick up some more balms and recall rings, too. 5. Buy experience points from the Sage (near the pawn shop). The Sage sells experience points at around 2.5 per gold coin. Just drop the coins at his feet, and type SAGE, TRAIN ME. S8. ARMORING YOUR CHARACTER Your first objectives will concern getting properly outfitted. You will need to be wearing proper armor before you go too far, and in the early stages, that means Troll Armor and Sally Scales. Obtaining Troll Armor Begin by setting a recall ring for the tailor shop. Then, enter the dungeon and find your troll. It may be best to confine your hunt to level -1 if you can; trolls are tough prey for new characters, as they hit hard and can endure many hits themselves. You may wish to enlist the aid of others in your hunt. After the kill, you must pick the corpse up and yank the recall ring to the tailor's shop. This can be difficult for characters without high strength numbers; trolls are heavy. Strength potion can be purchased in the tavern or apothecary for such situations. If you cannot lift the corpse, you can PUSH it PAGE 28 one hex at a time, even up the stairs...but pushing all the way back to the shop will take some time. Drop the corpse at Stam's (the tailor's) feet, or push it into his hex. Wait a round, then TAKE LEATHER AND LOOK AT IT. You should find that Stam has made you a vest of a peculiar stone colored leather. Nice protection, and it was free for the killing! You are limited to two pieces of such apparel; you can wear two suits of armor, or a robe and armor, etc. But the armor "adds" are not really additive themselves; that is, two suits of troll armor are not very much better than one. Troll armor with sally scales is a good beginning combination, or armor with a robe. Obtaining Sally Scales or other Fire Protection Robes have excellent fire protection, but area hard for new players to get. They can be found on level -4 or often bought in the pawn shop (7500 gps). These also help magic users restore their magic points faster. You may save your gold for a robe, or borrow one from a more experienced player, but you certainly can't hunt -4 for one, until you have another form of fire protection, at least. This is where Sally Scales come in. Sometimes goblins will wander up to -1, in pursuit of fleeing characters, and sometimes they'll be wearing Sally Scales. You may be able to kill one and obtain the scales that way. Otherwise, you'll have to kill the salamander, much as you had to kill the troll. But it won't be as easy. Salamanders spew fire that can easily incinerate an unprotected character. Your troll armor or plate won't protect you at all. If you are a wiz or thaum, or can find one to hunt with you, you may be able to use the PRFIRE spell to cut some of the damage. If you are a thaum, you can stun the salamander immediately and then try to kill it before it comes unstunned. But the best method, for any new character, is probably to take a longbow, wear a waterbreathing ring, and try to lure the salamander into following you to water. Then duck into the water yourself, and plink away with the bow until the salamander is dead. Take the corpse to the tailor, and he'll make you vest of sally scales, which offer pretty good fire protection. Anyway you look at it, getting fire protection on your own is very risky. Many older players will sell you a robe or fire protection amulet cheaply. The amulet is the best fire protection in the game, and can be bought at pawn for about 14000 coins. There is also a ring, sold in Axe Glacier for 400 coins, that gives a small amount of fire protection (diamond surrounded by rubies - not to be confused with diamond with ruby rosette, found in Kesmai). S9. DEVELOPING YOUR CHARACTER With fire protection and troll armor it is time to begin the development of your character's skills. Development paths vary PAGE 29 according to character class; developing a fighter is quite different from developing a thief. Nonetheless, there are some basic generalities common to all classes. First, concentrate on building up offensive skills in as few areas as possible. There is little payoff for range of skills; what is important is degree of skill. Second, avoid taking risks with your character. Death comes all too easily. With death you lose hit points, skills, permanent constitutions points and permanent strength points. After your first death, there is a good chance on subsequent deaths that your character will be "stripped" , i.e. reincarnated without armor, rings, weapons, sack and so forth. Permanent death will occur if your constitution points are too low or is your corpse is destroyed. Third, train, train and train some more. In the current version of the game, training is arguably more important than fancy weapons. Developing a Fighter After the acquisition of fire protection and troll armor, fighter's next goal is knighthood. Knighthood will be granted to any lawful fighter of the eighth rank in experience (51,200 in experience points). Stick to level two of the Kesmai dungeon until you cross this threshold. By then, your character's hit points should be in the mid to upper 60s to low 70s. An occasional foray into level 3 is fine, but be wary of fast-hitting gargoyles and of groups of hobgoblins. Use balm often. Fighters should develop weapon skill in two weapon categories, melee weapons and distance weapons. Melee weapons include swords, greatswords, hammers and axes. Most fighters tend to gravitate toward greatswords as their principal weapon. One of the most effective weapons in the BG is the black broadsword (BBS), which requires greatsword skills. There are also several critters in Axe, Leng and Oakvael which can only be hurt by silver weapons. Since few people care to battle major critters with silver daggers, a greataxe is necessary and also requires greatsword skill to use. (Note, quest weapons will be covered in detail later.) The second weapon class of interest will be distance weapons like bows, daggers/shurikens, hammers and axes. For a beginning character, development of bow skills will be important. Bows are readily available, even ones that have weapon adds, and can be used to kill fleeing critters. Even more important than killing fleeing critters, bows can allow you to challenge tougher critters from relative safety. A favorite technique of many players is to wear a water breathing ring and lead critters to water. Most critters don't know how to swim, so a player with a bow can jump in water and shoot away without having to fear for his/her life. Although bows are great for beginners, as you advance and can survive in tougher areas of the game, one item close to the top of your shopping list should be a rhammer (returning hammer) or raxe (returning axe). The primary benifit of these weapons is you can throw them every round instead of having to spend every other round loading a bow. They also hit considerably harder than most bows can. PAGE 30 When your character has reached the eighth level, it is time for pursuing knighthood. Knighthood is granted to lawful eighth level fighters who have no karma points (you get penalized one karma point if you kill any lawful humanoid character, either computer operated or another player). This is done by one of several knight trainers. They are Hermann in the northeast corner of Kesmai, Aniette in Oakvael and Kaz in Leng. If there is a Knight trainer in Axe, nobody has found him yet. Hermann (the hermit) was the very first knight trainer and can be found in the far northeast corner of the Kesmai surface. The trip there is very hazardous for an eighth level fighter. Look for an escort or be very cautious. Your character will need waterbreathing, either a water ring or crocodile boots. The way to Hermann's is populated with all sorts of animals. Crocodiles, boars, sharks, wolves, bears, and last but not least, a pair of very nasty griffins will be encountered. It helps to have some (big) friends when you go to visit Hermann. At this point, a more attractive alternative is to visit the Oakvael knight trainer, who can be found in the northeast corner of Oakvael. The big advantage here is there are not nearly as many critters to deal with and you can generally outrun anything you find on the surface of Oakvael. At the knight trainers, empty your right hand and say: , train (or teach) me. The trainer will then place a knight's ring in your hand, which is usually worn on the left hand. While you wear the ring you can cast several spells: strength, cure, light, locate and enchant. These spells dramatically improve the effectiveness of your character. The most commonly used spell will be cure, which will remove approximately 30 to 80 percent of hits taken during combat. This spell can be used either to remove hits on the knight, or the knight can cure other players (or critters). The next couple of spells are used about equally; the locate spell is used to locate critters you want to attack (or avoid) and light is used to disrupt certain undead critters like banshees, liches, wights and wraiths. A high level knight can easily kill these creatures with a light spell. Strength is pretty self explanatory and comes in really useful when you have built up your character to the point where you can find 50K coins in a game session. This is a very realistic goal when you can play areas like the undead level (-280ft) in Oakvael. The last spell available to a knight is to enchant weapons. The weapon in question must have no combat adds to begin with. With the availability of powerful quest weapons like the knight's halberd, the enchant spell is not nearly important as it once was. One weapon that is still useful when enchanted are the shurikens. These weapons can be thrown at a critter directly from the belt (like daggers) and are devastating to fleeing critters when enchanted. In addition to the above advantages, there is a special quest available to knights, which will be covered in detail later. PAGE 31 Developing a Martial Artist For the first few levels of his/her life, a MA will need to wear armor. Troll leather will do nicely, since as soon as the MA gets his/her black belt, ALL armor should be abandoned, which means the higher priced and hard to obtain dragon/drake/icedragon scales are not needed. There is a severe performance penalty in MA skills when armor is worn, so at the most you will want to wear a robe for fire and ice protection. Fire and ice protection amulets are also essential, and until you can find a amulet (diamond with ruby) you should stay in the upper levels of the Kesmai dungeon. An effective two space jumpkick is really needed for any elevation in Axe Glacier, for level four of the dungeon or for most of Leng. Training is key, any coins not required for recall rings, balm or strength potion should be invested in training. The jumpkick will most often be ineffective below black belt. An attempt to jumpkick at lower levels will often cause the MA to lose his balance and fall, taking minor damage. But the FIGHT command and the KICK commands work well even early on. Blocking ability increases slowly until about 1st Dan skill, then begins to show marked increase. At 3rd Dan skill and above, a bare-handed MA can pack a wallop equal to many of the best weapons in the game, and probably will block more efficiently. Patience is required to develop a potent MA, but they can be very effective fighters. For low level MAs, the threestaff is a wonderful blocking weapon that MAs often hold in left hand while keeping right hand free for offensive strikes. The threestaff is a +3 variety wielded by numerous npc-s on Kesmai -4 and in Axe Glacier. These are tough opponents, bring plenty of balm. Gauntlets are available to the MA, increasing offensive punch, but any gain seems to be outweighed by the increase in blocks against gauntlets. I recommend the MA go bare-handed and bare-footed. In addition to the above advantages, there is a special quest available to MAs for crystal gauntlets, which will be covered in detail later. Developing a Thaumaturge Thaums start the game with 14 spells written into their spellbooks, and a magic skill level (usually) of 2 (Apprentice). At this skill level, the only spells that will work with any measure of reliability are Strength, Curse, and Fear. Casting Strength upon him/herself (or upon anyone standing in the same hex) will give a little bit of combat advantage, or help with carrying heavy objects (like that troll). Casting Fear will cause those hit by it to run in random directions for approximately 10 rounds (and is by far the most aggravating spell to be on the receiving end of). PAGE 32 Casting Curse at a crit will cause damage equal to from 2 to 4 times the thaum's magic skill level. However, thaums can attempt to cast ANY of the spells written in their spellbooks; sometimes the spell will work (if the thaum has enough mps) even though the spell was designed for a higher skill level. This is a good way to gain skill, because whether the spell succeeds or fails, skill is awarded for the attempt, and the more mps expended, the more skill points received. A couple of advantages accompany attainment of the next magic skill level. First, the spells of Light, Blind and Prfire will become more reliable (thaum spells are NEVER totally reliable and of course they fail at the worst times). Light can be used in dark areas and to disrupt undead critters like wraiths and wights. Blind can be cast at crits or groups of crits to give the thaum time to deal with them while they can't see him/her (Blind lasts several rounds, depending on skill level of the thaum). Prfire will give the thaum or anyone upon whom it is cast some (not total) protection from fire thrown by crits in the dungeon. However, just as important as the new spells gained is the fact that at higher skill levels, the spells become more potent. Curse, which at level 2 does about 6 points of damage, will now do between 9 and 12 points. Once magic skill level 10 (Summoner of Snakes) is reached, the thaum's Curse, once so weak, will be doing nearly 40 points of damage, more than enough to slay most wraiths, for example. After the acquisition of troll armor and fire protection, thaums need to develop their magic skills. The secret to a steady advancement in magic skills is to constantly cast spells. The more magic points you burn up, the faster the process. As more powerful spells start functioning they should be used, mostly because they use more magic points. With frequent trips to the thaum trainer, you can see a steady increase in magic skills. The four most important thaum spells are: stun, lightning, death and phantasm. Stun comes first, becoming effective at magic level four. Stun will freeze an opponent or group of opponents for about four moves depending on your character's skill. Thaums then wade into their frozen opponents with a melee weapon. The curse spell is used to bring down wounded opponents fleeing from such encounters after the stun spell lapses. As with fighters, because of the structure of the game, the melee weapon of choice is the greatsword. With the spells available to thaums, they do not need to rely nearly as much on distance weapons. The lightning spell allows thaums to strike at groups of opponents. Care needs to be taken with this spell. More thaums have been killed by their own lightning then by critters. Cast it only at unmoving opponents, stunned groups or archers, or cast it at a hex rather than a crit on the hex. DO NOT cast lightning while in the water, or attempt to cast it over water. Lightning is also the only 'area' spell that is available to thaums, that is a spell that affects groups of critters standing on one hex. PAGE 33 The death spell is the second best offensive spell in the BG, second only to the wizard's ice spear. Death cannot be blocked, is not affected by armor, and cannot be effectively saved against by creatures in the basic game. It hits for ten times the thaum's skill level. A stun and death combination is effective for all but the toughest critters. The next and most important spell a thaum can aim for is the Phantasm spell, obtained at level 11. This will allow the thaum to create djinn, magical characters that will obey certain of his commands. Djinn are useful to use in "baiting" critters; sent ahead of the thaum, zoos (or more commonly dragons) will focus on the djinn, and continue to try to slay it, and the thaum can fight them while they are thus engaged with little danger to himself. Djinn can be commanded to follow, to stop, to attack crits, to take items from the ground or drop them to the ground, to climb up or down stairs or cliffs. Djinn wield spells themselves; casting icestorms or concussions at crits they have been commanded to fight, or advancing on them to attack with MA skills or held weapons. They make wonderful partners for thaums, even though they aren't very conversational Once the thaum has this spell, there is little point in continuing magic ** training. Higher magical levels will continues to make present spells more potent, and earn the ability to learn new spells, but presently most spells beyond phantasm are useless. Better now, to concentrate on weapons training. Developing a Wizard Like thaums, the first things a wizard needs to aquire is troll armor and fire protection. Also like thaums, the secret to a steady advancement in magic skills is to constantly cast spells. The more magic points you burn up, the faster the process. As more powerful spells start functioning they should be used, mostly because they use more magic points. With frequent trips to the wizard trainer, you can see a steady increase in magic skills. One of the more important spells a wizard has is one of the two he starts the game with; MagicMissile and Bonfire. Magicmissile will do about 4 times the magic skill level of the wizard, in terms of damage. At low levels, that is not a lot, but a wizard of 15th level magic skill is shooting 60 point MMs, and that is nothing to scoff at. Thus, it is important to develop magic skill early. Many wizards have little or no weapon skill, concentrating on magic from the very beginning. Bonfire is the first of the wizards terrain spells (terrain spells must never be cast in town, by the way, or the wizard will turn neutral). Terrain (or area) spells differ from direct attack spells like MagicMissile, or the thaum's Death spell, in that they work upon the terrain, and not the crits. If any crits dies in the first round due to the casting of a terrain spell, the wizard will receive the experience points he would have received with a direct attack spell. The big advantage to terrain spells like Fireball is they can level entire "zoos" in the first round, giving lots of experience for little effort. Wizards start out as the weakest crts in the game (excepting, PAGE 34 perhaps, thieves) but with patience can grow to become the most powerful. Bonfire becomes more useful when the wizard has gained for himself some fire protection. Until then, it can be quite dangerous, since bonfires must be cast a direction, i.e. CAST N N rather than AT a crit or the fire can land on the wizard's hex and make wizard toast. Once fire protection is obtained (Prfire spell can immediately purchased for 200 coins) the wizard can PURPOSELY cast bonfire on his own hex. This serves to burn up any crits that have entered the hex with the wizard, or to keep them at bay while the wizard casts MMs at them. Using fire upon the wizard's own hex is one of their most effective strategies. Bonfires typically last 10 to 12 rounds. First goal in this class is to become a shaper of fire and to acquire the fireball spell. The spell is used defensively and offensively. Defensively, it holds opponents at bay, or weakens them prior to armed combat. Offensively, it can kill multiple opponents. Using a prfire spell in conjunction with the other fire protection, wizard can cast even concentrated fireballs on their own location to kill or weaken opponents who have closed. Except for salamanders, silver wolves, some gargoyles, drakes and dragons, all critters in the basic game take damage from fire. Obviously, some critters are much tougher than others and may need several fireballs to kill them. The icestorm spell that can be obtained at the level of shaper of ice is more powerful than the fireball spell. This is both good and bad. It is good for dealing with the creatures with many hitpoints that are harder to handle with the fireball spell. It is bad because the spell will also damage the wizard. To be used effectively, the icestorm spell requires that the wizard be very well protected against cold. As an absolute minimum, the following protection is recommended: 1) fire & ice amulet, 2) scales (lizard or dragon), 3) a robe or suitable fur, 4) prcold spell. One important note on area spells like the fireball and icestorm. A competant wizard can vary the size of the area the spell covers. Normally, these spells cover a 2-hex radius, but can be cast to cover a 3-hex radius or, more importantly, on a 1-hex radius. The reason you would want to cast on a 1-hex area is to concentrate the effectiveness of the spell. If you take a spell designed for 2-hex area and concentrate it on 1-hex area, you effectively double it's power. This is also true if you cast it on a 3-hex area, in which case you halve the effectiveness. With proper ice protection, a favored technique to deal with ghouls (who are among the nastiest critters in Oakvael) is to run 3-hexes away from the ghoul and warm up an icestorm, wait for the ghoul to reappear on your hex, cast a 1-hex icestorm and run 3 more hexes. You may take 10 to 20 hits damage from the icestorm, but a ghoul can do considerable more damage to you than that. After the second or third icestorm, the ghoul will either die or start running. The next important spell is a Firebolt, which can be cast for a total of 6 hexes, including going around corners and out of the wizards sight. It is a devastating spell that does as much damage to most critters as an icestorm. PAGE 35 No other direct attack spell is presently available to wizards until they reach the 14th level of skill. At this point the marvellous IceSpear spell can be acquired. IceSpear is the single most potent spell in the game, doing over 19 times the magic skill level of the wizard in hit points of damage! As for defensive spells, the wizard's Shield spell is almost completely effective against missile weapons and becomes somewhat effective against melee weapons as the wizard's skill increases. The darkness spell works as emergency defense against many creatures. When the number of opponents is too great, cast darkness and then blanket the area with fire or ice. Wizards have equipment needs, as well. A robe is essential for your wizard. Scales, furs and protection amulets are required appropriate to the offensive spells your wizard will use. Finally, wizards still need weapons. The KingWolf in Axe Glacier will not succumb to any wizard spells, and can still only be killed by silver weapons (although the wizard can simply cast darkness upon him and walk around). Wizards especially need good blocking weapons to complement their offensive spells. The best blocking weapon in the basic game is the martial arts +3 threestaff. This weapon can be found on martial arts npc-s and is often available in the pawn shop. A better bet, however, may simply be Ironbar's broadsword, which blocks very well and operates with the same skill as the Silver Greataxe needed for the KingWolf Although most traditionalists frown on spending a lot of time developing weapons skills for wizards, when you start using higher powered spells you will find that the MP (magic point) regeneration has trouble keeping up with you, even when wearing a robe. At times like this, you will need to be proficient with at least one melee weapon, if only for self defense. Developing a Thief Like wizards, thieves begin the game with only two spells, Hide and Fsdoor. Running a thief can be a frustrating experience at low levels and is not recommended for a first character. Aside from the hazards of the dungeons, thieves also have to cope with NPC knights in town like the sheriff, who will attack them on sight. They have no offensive magic power, they don't receive many hits, and they can't use the game's best weapons. Moreover, the STEAL command is not very effective, and it is more efficient to kill and strip crits than it is to steal from them. Now for the fun part of operating thieves, namely the Hide spell. Hide allows the thief to go unnoticed through the dungeon. A thief in the same hex as a player or crit will ALWAYS be seen (unless there is a spell of darkness in place), and a thief standing in an adjacent hex will ALMOST ALWAYS be seen. But from two or three hexes away, thieves can hide very effectively, given enough magic skill. The effectiveness of Hide is determined by the thief's magic skill level against the experience level of the player or crit from whom PAGE 36 he/she is hiding. A thief with magic skill of 3 (Diviner of Magics) can rarely hide from a crit of high experience at any distance, however a thief with a magic skill of 10 (Master of Secrets) can successfully hide from anything in the BG, from three hexes away. A thief can only hide when he/she is in darkness, or in a hex adjacent to a wall, tree, mountain or ruin. The hide spell, once cast, remains in effect until the thief moves into the open, takes damage (any amount), draws or holds a large object, or quits. The thieves' Fsdoor spell allows them to find and open secret doors. When this spell is cast, any secret door within sight will fly open and remain open for several rounds. Useful, in that the thieves' guild can only be entered through secret doors. With troll armor and fire protection, thieves should work concurrently on pursuing magic skill and weapon skill. Sadly, stealing works so poorly in the game that there is little point in developing that skill (although thieves have been able to steal from the drake, which yields valuable treasure--but is very dangerous). In magic skill, the key spells are darkness and nightvision (available at magic skill level 6, Lurker in Darkness). Once your character has nightvision, he can go anywhere in the game save the lairs of drakes and dragons by casting darkness and hiding. Bigger crits can be fought in the darkness the thief has cast, where the thief with nightvision can see, but the crit can't. Be warned that several crits can see in the dark, including ogres, rockworms, ghouls, dragons and drakes. Since thieves do not possess offensive spells, magic skill is accumulated only by practice and training. Training is expensive and so is the purchase of most thief spells. Thievery may be the most expensive occupation in the game. The best place to train is in the thieves' guild at the 120 level of Axe Glacier. This is a good point to mention that if you do wish to train your character for thieving you will need to go to Lockpick Town (above the 120 level) and purchase a lockpick from the general store. Weapons require some early choices. Only small weapons can be held by thieves without evaporating the hide spell. Daggers, short swords, shurikens and crossbows are preferred weapons for thieves. Really large weapons like staffs and greatswords cannot even be belted with the hide spell. Melee weapons and long bows will evaporate the hide spell when wielded. Also, no "lawful" weapons can be wielded by thieves at all. With the dismal choice of weapons available, many thieves have chosen to develop MA skills and end up running mini-ninjas. A thief with high level MA skills will make up for most of the aggravations of getting one started. The thief trainer in Oakvael will train thieves up to 3rd Dan in MA skills, which is extremely powerful for any BG character. Note, if you decide to run a MA type thief, most of the hints given in the MA section will apply here too. PAGE 37 There is one quality weapon that is available to thieves, namely the +4 crossbow carried by the Doom.Orc in Oakvael. It is a blue glowing weapon, therefore can be used against several critters that are magic weapons only. Used from hiding, this crossbow is a potent weapon and is one of the reasons night vision helms are readily available. A thief can sneak by the Axe drake, ice dragon and into the Yeti's lair, spend 20 minutes sniping at the Yeti in relative safety and have a nice hoard to loot with the NV helm the Yeti carries. Also, about the only time a knight will start kissing up to a thief is when the knight needs the dagger the Yeti carries, which a thief can produce with little fuss. Thieves are excellent characters for exploring new territory or going into dangerous areas other characters would not tackle. The downside is, that once there, thieves are limited in what they can do. But some valuable items have been picked up by thieves that much more powerful "lawful" characters don't dare attempt to retrieve. Thieves are neutral, but have an inherent disguise spell (they never need to cast it, it is built in) that makes them appear to everyone but Knights or higher level thieves as lawful fighters. This is fortunate, because, being neutral, they have no protection by the "karma" rules of the game. However, since Kesmai Corp. banned player vs player combat, no one is allowed to attack thieves except in self defense. The only problem is Kesmai Corp. never got around to telling the NPC (non-player character or computer operated) knights about this policy, so they will attack a thief on sight. This can make it hard to do things like banking and using the locker, but careful use of the Hide and Darkness spells will often take a thief through safely. As far as equipment for thieves go, robes are useful fire and ice protection and help to regenerate the limited magic points thieves get. Since thieves don't have any offensive magic spells to use, limited MPs is not a big problem. Any variety of dragon scales is optional, unless MA skills are being developed. S10. EXTENDING YOUR HORIZONS: The Four Basic Game segments Kesmai Kesmai is the beginning scenario, but holds challenge enough for the most skilled players. It has essentially two hunting sections: the dungeon, and the eastern Islands. The dungeon is made up of 4 underground levels; the top level is designated -1, the bottom one -4. Level -1 is the easiest level, and the best place for the new player to get accustomed to the game. Skeletons and kobolds are the easiest crits on this level, hitting for about 5-7 hits and not hard to kill. Skeletons and kobolds can only move one hex at a time. Kobolds will run from you when badly wounded. Orcs are split between archers and fighters, are a little harder to kill, but are worth 4 times the experience points of skeletons. Wyverns are tough and fast flyers, able to move 2 hexes at once, and can hit for as much as 15 points damage. Trolls are perhaps the PAGE 38 toughest of all, although they are still confined to 2 hex movement; they are worth the most experience points, and will also run when badly wounded. An occasional wight may be encountered; wights stand away and cast curses at you, but do not do much damage. Level -2 has much the same selection of crits, but they each hit a little harder than their -1 counterparts, and are tougher to kill. Some of the orcs on -2 can cast fire at you, which can do a lot of damage to an unprotected character. Still, -2 fires are relatively cool, and most characters will be able to get out of them alive, even without protection. Goblins are found on -2, split between archers and fighters. Level -3 has a few changes. Few skeletons or kobolds will be encountered. The orcs will almost all be fighters, and more fierce than any previously encountered. The wights curses hit harder. Trolls become very powerful. And some new crits will be encountered: hobgoblins are larger and much more dangerous cousins to the upper level goblins; wraiths are crits that stand off and cast spells of blindness (blinding you for several rounds; you can recall if it seems necessary, or having previously memorized your retreat path, retreat blindly but safely) or death. Death spells can do as much as 40 points of damage on this level. Gargoyles are very fast, hard hitting pests that present great danger because they can do so much damage even when you are trying to run away from them. Salamanders will engulf you in intense flame. Some orcs will cast web spells at you, hindering your movement while they follow up with magicmissiles. Webs can be burned, or simply escaped as you try often enough; one can also recall out of a web if necessary. Level -4 presents challenge to the best. All of the -3 crits are present in harder hitting varieties. They are joined by several others, making a wonderfully thrilling and dangerous package. NPCs (non player characters), ghouls, spectres, minotaurs, and of course, the dragon. NPCs are wizards, thaumaturges, and fighters. One old thaumaturge, who usually is wearing a robe, can cast death spells that sometimes approach 70 points. The wizards will surround you in storms of fire or ice, and the fighter attacks with a +4 rapier. Ghouls are invisible except from one hex away, and ferocious, they can hit or bite for 30 points, often stunning you in the process, and their bites are POISONOUS (see the section on poison)! Spectres are invisible until they run low on magic points, and cast blindness and death, like wraiths. Minotaurs are fierce beasts swinging hard-hitting staves or greatswords, and they can absorb a LOT of damage before they will run. The dragon is the ultimate challenge in Kesmai, not to be fought until a great deal of experience and hits have been obtained. The eastern islands are not usually hunted, unless a fighter is travelling to Hermann for Knighthood, or a player is travelling to Leng. The islands are home to boars, wolves, and bears that are mostly equivalent to -2 or -3 beasts in danger. But there is one bear out there that is second only to the dragon in ferocity, called "Bigfoot" by the players. This bear announces his presence with a low roar and he is fire-resistant, hard hitting (as much as 65 points can be dealt out), fast and extremely durable. PAGE 40 The griffins guarding the approach to Hermann's make the gargoyles of the dungeons seem tame. A tiger roams the area, and is about -4 average danger. Finally, there are manticoras roaming about; mantis do not hit particularly hard, nor are they hard to kill, but they are POISONOUS, and that makes them dangerous indeed. See the section on poison, page 49. Leng Most sections of Leng are approximately equivalent to Kesmai -3 in terms of danger. The areas I would so describe include the plains of Leng, the dungeon, the mausoleum level, and the first cliff level. Other areas, such as the Dark Tower and the higher cliffs, are much more dangerous. Skeletons, berserkers, NPCs, manticoras, hyenas, boars and sandwyrms inhabit the plains of Leng. Skeletons are still not very tough, though they are perhaps a bit faster than their Kesmain cousins. Berserkers are archers or fighters, roughly equalling -3 orcs. The NPCs are pale reflections of their Kesmain relatives, quite weak and easily handled. Manticoras are still poisonous. Sandwyrms are invisible unless on your hex, but fairly easy to handle (many of them also bear a polished star ruby that must be held in hand to go through the "shimmering portal" west of town). Hyenas and boars are much like the easier crits in Kesmai's eastern islands. Dungeon creatures are of the same variety as those found in Kesmai's -4. But they are not as tough. They yield very good experience and skill, however. Think of the dungeons probably as equivalent to -3. Crits on the mausoleum level and the first cliff level are much the same as those on the plains and dungeons. Griffins are not nearly as fierce as those in Kesmai. One exception is the scorpion. This crit stings with intense poison, and usually stuns with the sting. The danger with both manticoras and scorpions is that they will sting and stun you, then sting and stun you in the next round, and the next, and keep repeating it until you are dead. Even if you manage to recall out, the poison they have injected will likely finish you before you can balm or get it neutralized. It is not a bad idea to wear a neutralize amulet in Leng. The second cliff level holds a tiger of great durability, as well as bears, boars and wolves. These crits all hit harder than their counterparts elsewhere in Leng, and, though not especially terrifying to experienced players, should be treated carefully. This area is also where you can find the knight trainer and MA trainer. The level of the drake's lair holds minotaurs and manticoras. The greatest danger with these are their number and their regeneration rate; as fast as you kill them, new ones will always be around to pester you. The drake, of course, is especially dangerous; in the present version, both the Leng drake the dragon are EATERS, they eat your character and send you on your way to the under world PAGE 41 The Dark Tower of Leng is popular for its fast regeneration rate. The lower levels of the tower are the easiest, though the crits may overwhelm you simply by weight of numbers. As one goes higher in the tower, the crits become more dangerous. Some of them are able to HIDE in the shadows, like a thief, and there is one critter called a lich that from some invisible point will STUN you if it can, then proceed to cast Death at you while the others beat on you. The topmost level of the tower holds a couple of fierce griffins (much more powerful than the cliff dwelling griffins) and a Vampire. The Leng Vampire is very quite nasty by himself, but combined with the griffins, salamander and lich, this is without a doubt the most dangerous area in the BG. North of the mausoleum area, there is also a SandSerpent's lair. The SandSerpent is, perhaps, the easiest of lair crits in the BG, killable probably by most players who can handle the rest of Leng. The SandSerpent can hit for 40 on a good roll, usually much less, and can cast Whirlwinds to knock you about. His lair holds two +3 shield rings, which make an attractive addition to usual loot. Underneath the stables west of town is the Granite Hall where Barbarossa hangs out. This NPC fighter wields a +5 rapier, one of the best weapons in the game. Those that desire that rapier must first kill Barbarossa, though, and that is not easy. He can hit for 65 points, and often stuns his opponent. His rapier is not easily blocked without high skill, and he himself is hard to bring down. Not to be tackled by the unsure. Axe Glacier Until Oakvael was opened for businesss, Axe Glacier was home of the most advanced trainers in the game. If you should find that your skills have advanced to the point where the Kesmai trainers say he/she is no longer able to help you you can get advanced training in Axe Glacier. Axe Glacier is also home to an entirely new set of creatures. The Axe is made up of several levels, as is Kesmai. But there is a significant difference. In Kesmai, each level is graded, progressing to greater and greater danger. In Axe, all levels except the surface level are of equal danger, and the danger POTENTIAL is much higher than in Kesmai, although the traveller's time will often, even mostly, be spent in far less danger, due to a general lower density of crits than on Kesmai -4. An Axian zoo, however, can be one of the most dreaded encounters in the BG. The surface level of Axe Glacier is relatively tame, somewhere in the range of -2 to -3 of Kesmai. Skeletons, kobolds, gargoyles, orcs...the usual range of Kesmain crits is to be found there. One interesting change to the skeletons is that those in Axe cannot be harmed by bow weapons, although they are relatively wimpy for the experienced player. All of the remaining levels, from 60' to 230', are another matter entirely. They are populated by crits that are individually tougher than their Kesmain counterparts. Hobgoblins and trolls hit just a bit harder, and can take just a bit more damage. PAGE 42 Orcs, always archers, sometimes carry +3 longbows or +3 crossbows that can punch through the strongest shield spell and do 20 points of damage or so. Ogres are like tough cousins to the trolls, hitting about as hard but even harder to kill. They are usually armed with halberds, and can hit from one hex away from you. They can also see in the dark. Gargoyles are fast and fierce, often moving three hexes and hitting in the same round; they have been toned down slightly, but the sight of an Axian "threepack" of gargoyles can still cause a tremor to the stoutest of Knights. Spectres cast Death and sometimes Stun. Being hit by a Stun spell is most unnerving, as for four rounds or so you have to simply stand there and take what the crits can dish out. Spectres are still invisible until they approach you. Wraiths cast Death, and are roughly comparable to the wraiths on Kesmai -4. Rockworms are a frightening Axe creature. They are confined to two hexes of movement at a time, but can move and hit in the same round. They can see in the dark, and ram their way through illusionary walls. They can only be killed by pointed weapons such as rapiers, daggers, or arrows. Lightning and fire are also effective against them. Most rockworms hit for about 15-35, but there is one, a granite worm or super rockworm (indistinguishable from others) that can hit for four times that amount of damage. Wolves come in three varieties. "Baby" wolves usually run in packs, and are fairly easy to handle; they are easily killed and do less than 15 points damage on average. "Dire" wolves is a category encompassing both of the remaining varieties, Prince wolves and King wolves. Dire wolves usually run alone, and can only be killed by a silver weapon--a silver dagger, or the silver Greataxe. The Prince wolves bite for between 10 and 35 points of damage. The King wolf (indistinguishable) is much harder to kill, and does damage for between 10 and 110 points! His attacks usually are in the 30-40 range, but can be much more severe, and he often will stun you with a blow. When killed, his corpse will yield an Obsidian Egg, necessary to obtain a Returning Axe (see section dealing with quests). Dire wolves can be stunned, and cannot see in the dark. They are fast, able to move three hexes at a time almost indefinitely, but they cannot move those hexes and hit at the same time; a fact that is of great strategic value to a fighter who can run and balm at the same time. Bears come in two indistinguishable varieties. Regular bears are less trouble than a common troll, but Bigfoot is not uncommon in Axe. Possessed of tremendous durability, and able to dish out damage in the 65 hits per round area, this bear is to be feared. Bigfoot will always greet you with a roar, while smaller bears will will be content to growl at you. PAGE 43 Lizards are cold cousins to the Kesmain salamanders. They cast Icestorms, which are more damaging to most characters than are Fireballs. Usually, the damage from ice does not amount to more than 15 hits (often much less), but should a player get caught in overlapping or double storms, the damage can skyrocket quickly. One player reports taking 90 hits in one round from ice! Lizards are not difficult to kill, and will run when severely wounded. NPCs run all types in Axe. Thaums cast Stun and Death, Wizards cast Icestorms most often, and a variety of fighters will be met. Most fighters carry +4 weapons; greatswords, longswords or axes and hit hard and fast. Martialarts NPCs are unique to Axe, they have very effective jumpkicks and can hit you from three hexes away. They can average 15 to 40 hits with a punch and 20-65 hits with a good jumpkick. It is wise to try to handle NPCs from a distance, and singly. There are the "special" creatures in Axe, too. On the 60' level the Giant's castle may be found. The area surrounding his castle is often swarming with NPCs, as is the interior. An altar on the second floor of the castle often holds a Returning Hammer. And there is the Giant. Carrying a halberd, possessed of high Martialarts skill, the Giant can swing on you, kick you, stomp you and generally pulverize the unwary. He can hit for upwards of 90, and connect for stuns often. He cannot (usually) move and hit in the same round, and some players have used that fact and the castle terrain to fight the giant; few stand toe-to-toe and slug it out with him. The Giant wears dragon scale armor. The drake lives in a lair atop the 230' level. Coveted for the dp he carries, and for the wealth in his lair, the drake is nonetheless a fierce foe. He strikes with lightning (to which he himself is nearly immune) that can hit for as much as 100 hits, and often stuns the player for two rounds. His strikes with tooth and tail are no less furious, and he moves and hits in the same round. He is himself possessed of approximately 1500 hits, so can often outlast, in battle, the mightiest foes. The Ice dragon lives in a lair above the drake's lair. If the drake is a tough opponent, the ice dragon makes him look like a baby. You can expect 20 to 30 hit icestorms, EVEN with top notch ice protection. Hitting with tooth, horn, and claw, this dragon can do 120+ hits per round. The most successful technique for fighting the icedragon is to have a thaum summon about 10 or 12 djinee and with 4 or 5 high level players, march in to the lair TOGETHER and give her hell. The icedragon can only be hit with the (silver) greataxe. One other technique for the adventurous soul who wants to SOLO the icedragon is to stand on an ice hex (yes, for some reason the ice dragon IS afraid of ice) and throw the greataxe at the dragon. Scoot out and grab the greataxe and back to the ice hex, and hope you don't get stunned in the process. Very few people have gone toe-to-toe solo with the ice dragon and lived to tell about it. PAGE 44 Oakvael - The last and greatest(?) BG segment to be implemented, Oakvael handily displaced Axe as being the toughest area in the BG. The surface area of Oakvael is relatively mild, with the most dangerous critters being the wandering griffins. Oakvael is also home to the most advanced trainers in the BG. The most notable feature of Oakvael are the pits that drop to the deepest parts of the area. FF (featherfall) boots are very necessary here. The southeast pit drops directly to the undead level (-280 ft), sometimes it's called the express elevator to hell. The end of the drop is by an altar, which is populated by banshees, ghouls, liches, NPC thaums and wizards, stalkers, wraiths and wights. Please take note, there are times when you WILL find all of the above in the same spot at the same time, the area is notorious for zoos. If you blunder into the wrong spot in this area, you can take more than 200+ hits in one round. Now for the good news, for a high level player this area will yield the most loot, gold and experience that can be found in the BG. You can average more that 1/2 million experience points per hour, plus 50K in coins. To survive in this area, a minimum of 140 hits is suggested, with the more the better (see above note on zoo damage potential). If the undead level sounds too intense for your taste, one level up at the -240 level, there is the troll/demon temple area. This area is is inhabited mostly by gargoyles, hobgoblins, minotaurs, NPCs and orc archers. They are all considerably more mild mannered than what you would find on the undead level and a character with 120 hits or so can usually be successful. The main attraction of this level is fairly common DPs (drake potions). It is fairly common to find one DP per hour in the area. One more level up is the serpent level. The main feature of this level is a wandering serpent who typically carries a DP in a mother of pearl bottle. The critters are pretty much the same as on the troll level, except for one robed minotaur who can be quite nasty. The serpent can hit for 30 to 50 hits, with frequent poisons. This area also has fairly common DPs; again the average seems to be about 1 per hour. The next level up is the hobgoblin caves, which is (obviously) populated by hobgoblins, orcs, trolls and an occasional spectre. Finally, just before you reach the surface, there is the spider level. The spider and hobgoblin cave areas are comparable to what you would find in Kesmai -3. The serpent and troll temple levels are comparable to Kesmai -4, with the undead level being much like the upper levels of the Annwn dungeon in the AG (advanced game). Up to now, one level has been omitted, namely the reptile pit (-310). This area is primarily for the final part of the knight's quest, which will be covered in detail in the quests section. This area is the residence of two to four robed minotaurs, four big wyrms, PAGE 45 numerous stalkers and one whirl wind breathing dragon. After getting past the wyrms, the dragon is usually a piece of cake (as long as you have two or three really big knights along). A minimum of 200 hit points is recommended, and at times that won't seem nearly enough. Moving Between Segments Movement between the segments of Kesmai, Leng, Oakvael and Axe Glacier is accomplished by portals. There are two portals from Kesmai to Leng; the first is in the SE corner of level -2, or the SW corner of level -3, in a room with a pool and an altar. This portal takes you to the Lost City of Leng. The second portal to Leng is in the far eastern section of the surface of Kesmai, in the Eastern Islands and takes you to Stonehenge in Leng. The same portal will transport you back to Kesmai, where you will appear in the western section of the temple. The portal from Kesmai to Axe Glacier is inside the limestone cavern on -3. This will transport you to Axe Surface town; the same portal will transport you back to Kesmai, where you will appear in the western section of the temple. The portal to and from Oakvael is just to the east of Kesmai town, behind Sage's shack. At the other end of the portal to Oakvael, you will find yourself next to the right of an altar. Moving to the opposite side (left) of the altar, that is the return point to Kesmai. The town in Oakvael is to the west of the portal and is located in the trees above the surface. There is a portal in the NW section of Kesmai, and another near Chaotic Town in Axe Glacier, that will transport a player directly to the Advanced Game. These are one way portals, once in the Advanced Game the only way back is by rerolling. Don't use them unless you are sure. Before moving to the AG, files in the MPGames library should be consulted. S11. OBTAINING SPECIAL WEAPONS AND OTHER QUESTS The following is a brief summary of various special and quest weapons. Broadsword The Black Broadsword (BBS for short) is the best weapon in the BG. It hits hard and blocks well. Though the Silver Greataxe can hit harder at times, the BBS has a harder hitting average than than the Greataxe. The +5 Rapier sometimes hits harder when each weapon is used one-handed, but the BBS has two advantages over the Rapier. First, it blocks well while the rapier doesn't block at all, and the BBS is "lawful" so it gains one extra damage add against evil crits like dragons and drakes. The Black Broadsword is obtained by taking yttril and iron ore to Ironbar, who will fashion it for you. Yttril is a "blue-grey stone with flecks of glowing metal", and is found as rare random treasure on PAGE 46 Kesmai -4, although much more frequently on the undead level of Oakvael. Iron ore is a somewhat more common rock. Take these two rocks to Ironbar (the blacksmith shop is west and a little south of town), drop them in his hex, and say, IRONBAR, SELL BROADSWORD. He will take them and forge them into a BBS for you. The BBS is a character tied (personalized) weapon, only the character for whom it was made can wield it. It uses greatsword skill, and it uses a short slot on the belt. Silver Greataxe The Silver Greataxe has the potential to hit harder than any other weapon in the BG. It does not always hit that hard, though (sometimes not hard at all) and never blocks anything. It is really only good for one thing, killing the Axe Ice Dragon and to a lesser extent, the Axe KingWolf (more on that in a bit). It is a heavy weapon, and will add much to your encumbrance. It is lawful, personalized, and uses greatsword skill, much like the BBS. It uses the long belt slot on your back. The Greataxe is obtained by taking yttril and iron ore to Silvermoon, the blacksmith in Axe Glacier. The entrance to his shop is located near the statue by the portal to Kesmai. To enter, you must stand in the entranceway at night, holding or wearing a moonstone ring. Once you are inside, drop the rocks before him, and say, SILVERMOON, SELL GREATAXE. He will forge the fine weapon and leave it for you. Go back out the way you came in. Returning Axe The returning axe (Raxe) is one of the most sought after weapons in the game. It is a lawful axe, using mace skill, that hits hard and blocks well, though in neither case as well as the BBS. When it is thrown, it will magically return to the thrower's hand. This makes it a very effective weapon for dealing with archers, or spell casters, or crits that are running away. A combo of Raxe in left (for casters and runners) and BBS or Rapier in right (for melee situations) is fiercesome. The Raxe is obtained from Vulcan, high atop Axe Glacier, in return for an obsidian egg. This egg is obtained by killing the KingWolf in Axe Glacier. There is one special challenge in dealing with the Vulcan. The vulcan is located in the upper levels of Axe, just before the drake lair. His home is hiddened behind another night portal which requires a moonstone ring. When you finally stand before the Vulcan, beware of his daughter, Alia. Given the opportunity, she will steal the egg before the Vulcan gives you the raxe. The best way to deal with her is to wait until she moves onto your hex and then STEAL from her. Unless you are the best of thieves (in which case you wouldn't need a raxe in the first place), you will be caught and she will run away from you. Another way to deal with Alia is to scatter several coins between you and her, and deal with the Vulcan while she is occupied. PAGE 47 Rhammer +4 The rhammer can be found in several areas of the game; the crypt behind the dragon lair, the Iron Lich lair in Oakvael and the Giant's castle in Axe. Overall, the easiest one to obtain may be in the Giant's castle, where it can be found on an altar next to the room the giant occupies. The only major hazard are the NPCs that inhabit the castle; you can get the rhammer without having to fight the giant. Rapier +5 The +5 rapier is relatively new to the game. It is wielded by a nasty NPC fighter in the Granite Hall of Leng. This fighter, named Barbarossa, can hit very hard (20 to 90 range) and can absorb a lot of damage. The water-checkerboard terrain in his domain makes some styles of play difficult. He can move and hit in the same round. But if he can be slain, his rapier is one of the hardest hitting weapons available, though it does not block well. Thieves find the rapier attractive because it is unaligned--not lawful--so they can use it. It is not personalized, so anyone who comes upon it can wield it. Crossbow +4 The +4 crossbow is carried by the Doom.Orc on the surface of Oakvael. This is the only non-aligned blue glowing weapon in the BG and is a favorite weapon of thieves, since it can be wielded while hiding. The only big hazard to obtaining this weapon is the zoo that usually keeps the Doom.Orc company. The critter that is hardest to deal with is the 'presence', which can continously cast stuns. This makes it rather difficult to fight the rest of the critters. Knight's Halberd +4 The knight's halberd is a quest weapon that is more of a by product of the knight's quest. It is a hard hitting weapon with fairly good blocking, but has one big draw back in that it can not be belted. This makes playing in any areas with 2-handed climbs very annoying. Crystal Gauntlets +4 The crystal gauntlets are a quest weapon for MAs. Due to a bug in the game (which the Ghods of Kesmai have promised to fix), these gauntlets can be ancestored to non-MA characters, which made them one of the most prized weapons in the BG. The gauntlet quest starts with a visit to the Oakvael MA trainer, Yuri, who will tell you to save the lonely one and slay the Leng dragon. The lonely one is named Konran, and he is located on the troll temple level in Oakvael, next to the stairs to the undead level. The object of the quest is to safely escort him back to his hut in town. The best way to approach this quest is to start from the surface and work your way down, killing everything on the way down. Bring Konran PAGE 48 back up the way you went down and hope no new zoos pop up on the way back. This can be a frustrating quest, since Konran is basically a wimp and can be killed by almost any critter. Also, Konran has a very annoying habit of disappearing if he gets out of your sight for more that 2 rounds. The final climb up from the spider level to the surface is the most likely place for Konran to get lost. If possible, have a friend stand at the top of the climb to wait for Konran. When you get Konran back to town, he will give you some cloth to take to another trainer. The second part of the quest can be either easy or terrifying. If you can get a high level player to kill the Leng dragon for you, it will be easy. If you want to kill the dragon yourself, be prepared to be scared witless and possibly eaten. The Leng dragon casts icestorms that can do 20 to 30 hits, even with ice protection, and can hit for 60 to 90 hits. The only thing that helps during the fight is when you get hit too bad you can jump of the cliff to balm (assuming you remembered the FF boots). When the dragon is dead, the corpse will yield a small ivory buddha. Sometimes buddhas can be found at the bottom of the climb up to the dragon, since most people who regularly kill the dragon will push the corpse off the cliff. Once you have the cloth and buddha, which are both character tied, you take the items to Kiku in the Leng town. Drop them in front of Kiku and say 'Kiku, teach me', then pick up your new gauntlets. Knight's Quest The knight's quest is to give knights more hit points and increase the number of hit points awarded each time he/she advances an experience level. If done properly, a 12th level knight can end up with 200 or more hits. The quest starts by a knight seeking out Cudyl in Oakvael. Cudyl is usually found in the southeast part of Oakvael, next to the pit to the undead level. Ask Cudyl to teach you and he will tell you to slay the little dragon in Kesmai. The Kesmai dragon is not nearly as nasty as her other cousins in Leng or Axe, hitting for an average of 30 hits with frequent knock downs and occasional fireballs. With proper fire protection, the fireballs are harmless. If anything, the fireballs are prefered, since when she is breathing fire she is not beating on you. After the dragon is dead, searching her corpse with turn up an agate gem. This is another situation where is you look around the entrance to the lair, you may see a gem left from an earlier kill. Take the gem to the hermit's sister on Kesmai and ask her to teach you. You will be engulfed in a rainbow and end up with *32* more hit points. 32 hit points sounds like a lot, until you consider what the second hald of the quest requires. The second half of the knight quest starts with Brysch in Oakvael, who will tell you to bring him the dagger called the bane of knights. Commonly called the misery dagger, this is carried by the Axe Yeti. The Yeti is located beyond the Axe drake and ice dragon, which can be a challenge to get by in themselves. The Yeti is a fierce fighter that PAGE 49 averages 60 to 80 hits, with 100+ on occasion. There is an another bonus when you kill the Yeti, in addition to the knight's dagger, the 'macro 5' 'macro 6'carries a bear skull which is the coveted night vision helm. 'macro ENTER'ea where it helps to make friends with a thief, who can 'macro S-F2'ee the Yeti in relative safety. 'macro F2' 'macro ASCII'urvived the drake, ice dragon and Yeti, you take the 'macro HOME'o Brysch and get a lovely new halberd. To complete the quest, you have to take the halberd to another NPC located behind the whirlwind dragon in the reptile pit in the deepest and nastiest part of Oakvael (see notes in section on Oakvael). S12. I'VE BEEN POISONED! Certain crits can inject poison into your system. These include ghouls, the scorpions and manticoras in Leng, the Leng drake and Oakvael serpent. The ghoul's bite and the tails of the others are the poisonous attacks. Poison has a delay period before it is activated. The ghoul's poison, and the drake's, have a two-round delay; the scorpions and manticoras have a one-round delay. Once activated, the poison will hit for several consecutive rounds, in decreasing measure. The ghoul's poison, for example, will hit for 15 points damage two rounds after the bite. On the third round, it will hit for 14 points, on the fourth for 13, on the fifth for 12, and so on until it runs it's course. If one were to be bitten twice by the ghoul, the poison could be hitting for above 25 points in every round, coupled with any other damage being received. This can become quite serious very quickly. Scorpions and manticoras have a nasty habit of stunning you with their stings, then stinging again, and again, so that by the time you come out of the stun, you may have 60 hits/round damage to deal with. There are several ways one can deal with poison. One is for a thief or thaum to CAST NEUTRALIZE upon you, eliminating the poison. Another is to buy some "sprigs" (sold just north of the pawnshop, outside the apothecary in Kesmai); sprigs can be taken from the sack and eaten in one round, and will cut the poison damage by about 5 points. A neutralize amulet worn on the belt or carried in the sack can be drawn and held in the hand, so that the next round you can CAST NEUTRALIZE yourself. A very effective way sounds a bit strange at first...that is to drink another poison, with a very long activation delay. Wine (bought at the tavern) is a mild poison (does 1 hit of damage) that has a 10 round delay. Since no poison is injected into the system until the delay period of the last received poison is finished, a poisoned player can drink some wine and get a 10 round respite from poison effects; enough time to quit and locate, from the conference rooms, a thief or thaum to come to the player's position with a NEUTRALIZE spell, or to get a pile of balms together in anticipation of the coming damage. PAGE 50 S13. KARMA AND ALIGNMENT All characters in the game have a certain "alignment". Most of the players are "lawfuls", which means they are in good standing in the various communities. Most of the crits are "chaotic" (signified by an * in front of their designation) or "evil" (signified by a + in front of their designation). Chaotics will attack all non-chaotics; evils will attack all non-evils. Sometimes chaotic and evil crits can be found in combat with one another. Thieves are "neutral" players, although they appear to everyone (including crits) except Knights to be lawful. Thieves will be attacked on sight by the NPC Knights in towns such as the sheriff and his deputies; but will not be bothered by other NPCs or statues that live in or guard the towns. Wizards or Thaums that cast terrain altering spells (such as lightning, fire, illusions, portal, darkness, etc.) inside town limits will turn neutral immediately, and will be seen as neutral by everyone. They will immediately be attacked by all lawful NPCs, not just the sheriff. The only way they can be restored to lawful status is by taking a silver dagger to the confessor ghost (in Kesmai, the ghost is in the northwest corner of the temple), dropping the dagger in the ghost's hex, and asking GHOST, FORGIVE ME. Any player that slays a lawful character will also turn neutral. Some terrain spells may result in inadvertent killing of a lawful crit or player, so special care must be maintained. If the lawful character that was killed was "human" (another player or an NPC) the killer will also take a "karma hit". Karma is revealed when a SHOW STATS command is given. If you have taken one karma point, you will be told "You have killed one lawful." If you have two karma points, it would be "two lawfuls", etc. If a player has three or more karma points, the player's alignment may be changed to evil, and the player will not be resurrected upon dying. Karma can be removed by the confessor ghost, as well. The price demanded, rather than a silver dagger, is a tiger figurine (fairly rare in the Basic Game). Drop the tiger figurine in the ghost's hex, and say GHOST, FORGIVE ME. Weapons may also have an alignment. Broadswords, Greataxes, Rhammers and Raxes are lawful, and cannot be used by non-lawful players, even if such a player could obtain one. As well, lawful weapons give an extra combat add than normal when used against evil characters. S14. SOCIAL PLAY One of the nicest thing about the game of IoK is the IoK community. The cooperation and camaraderie of the players involved makes this game a unique and wonderful experience. Please keep the following in mind as you play: PAGE 51 1. Fighting other players The rules of the Basic Game forbid unwilling player-player combat. No experience will be gained from killing a player. Players can be banned from the game for ignoring this rule. If you feel you have a complaint against another player, it is appropriate to address a complaint to Kesmai Corp. directly (76703,1066), and also to post it in the MPGAMES forum if you like. 2. Stealing from other players Since some items can take a very long time and a significant amount of expense to obtain, the IoK community takes a very dim view of stealing from other players. If you are running a thief, it may seem most natural to steal from other players, but keep in mind that most of the other thieves in the game, besides the other players, may take great exception to this, and you will find it a dangerous activity. If you should ever come upon a "deathpile" (the items left after a player is slain and stripped) it is considered good etiquette to try and search out the player who died and return the items to him/her. The rewards, even in material terms to speak of nothing else, that you will realize by participating in the cooperative spirit of the game will far outweigh any you may gain by theft. Also keep in mind, you are going to die sometime too and be wanting help to recover your stuff. 3. Talking to other players in the game You can talk to any player in sight by typing anything after quotation marks, or after a slash mark. Both 'Look at Tak "Hi Tak, how are you?' and 'Look at Tak /Hi Tak, how are you?' will accomplish the same thing (you are looking at Tak and talking to him). If you'd like to shout at players close by, but not actually in sight, just add quotation marks or a slash to the end of your sentence, and then an exclamation mark. 'Fight troll "Can anyone help me with this troll?"!' 'Fight troll/Can anyone help me with this troll?/!' Occasionally, you may want to talk to someone who is playing, but far away from you. Six conference rooms, lettered from A to F, are provided for this purpose. Just quit playing, and when you return to the IoK menu, choose the "Talk to players" option, or type TALK . Once in the room, anything you type will be readable by anyone else in the room. If you want to execute a command in the conference room, use a slash (/) at the beginning of the command; thus you can /ENTER the game right from the conference room, type /ROOM to go to another conference room, type /USERS to find out who is playing, or /PAGE to ask a player to come to the conference room and talk to you. PAGE 52 4. Matters of Etiquette When you come across a player involved in combat with a crit or group of crits, LOOK at the player and ask if he/she would like a hand. If the player is badly wounded, it might be wise to lend a hand even before waiting for the reply. But keep in mind that a player who has fought long and hard to bring a crit to near death is not going to be pleased if you come along and finish the crit off with a blow, taking the experience points and skill bonus involved. As you enter a room with several $ hexes and a player involved with a crit or two, realize that some of the $ may represent recent kills that player has made and not yet had time to loot. Don't do any looting there, without asking first. Lair etiquette operates on a first-come, first-served basis. If you come to the dragon or drake lair, and find another player engaged or waiting ahead of you, DO NOT engage the crit without being asked. Offers of help may be appreciated, and the loot shared after the crit is slain. Simply ask. S15. MISCELLANEOUS The Janitor There is a "janitor" always on duty in Kesmai. Most players refer it it as the +janitor (+ = evil), since many people have lost valuable property. The reference here is to a continual sweeping of dropped items into the database. If this were not done, the dungeon would soon be waist deep in unwanted swords, shields, suits of leather armor, etc. from the slain crits. Every hex would have a $ on it, and searching for valuable loot would soon become very difficult and tedious. Hence, the janitor. But there is a downside. Items you drop on the ground for retrieval later may not be there when you come back. Your "deathpile" (items stripped from you at death) may be raided by the janitor before you get back to it. Be very careful leaving valuable items on the ground for any length of time. Apparently, counters and tables are not in the janitor's contract, and are not cleaned. Combining commands Many game commands can be combined with one other. For example, you can FIGHT TROLL AND LOOK AT TROLL in the same round. You can TAKE GOLD AND PUT IT IN SACK, or TAKE GOLD FROM SACK AND PUT IT ON COUNTER. Some commands cannot be combined with others; you cannot SEARCH CORPSE AND TAKE GOLD, for instance. You can move and look, or move and manipulate an item, but you cannot move and fight in the same round, except for the MAs jumpkick. Commands are combined by using AND or by placing a semicolon (;) between them. You can always tack a message on to any command or pair of commands. PAGE 53 One command that took me a while to figure out was the LOOK command. If you LOOK AT an item, the program searches for that item in the following order: right hand, left hand, ground, ring fingers. So if you are holding a greatsword in each hand, and want to look at the one in your left hand, LOOK AT GREATSWORD will give you the wrong info - try LOOK AT GREATSWORD IN LEFT. If you see a greatsword on the ground, LOOK AT GREATSWORD will still tell you about the one in your right hand; try LOOK AT GREATSWORD ON GROUND. If you LOOK AT RING, the program will tell you about a ring in your right hand, or your left, or on the ground. If it still finds none, it will tell you about the one on the first finger of your right hand. If it still finds none, it will keep searching the fingers of your right hand, then your left, until it finds one to describe. Be as specific as you can be with the LOOK command. For a complete reference on each command allowed in the game, see the file "CMD.REF" in library 7. Deletion of your Character One of the most feared dangers in IoK isn't really a critter at all, it is the MONNCI or network or program interrupt, or disconnection. Disconnection without properly exiting the game is often called a "phone slam", drawn from past practice of players who would disconnect their modem (slam the phone down, on the old modems) when in danger. In IoK, this can result in a severe penalty, and in the worst cases, can result in a trip to the underworld. Several years ago, this would have resulted in a permanent erasure of your character from the database. If you suffer a loss due to a network disconnection or slow down by CIS, contact Kesmai Corporation and inform them of the details. Your crt will also be erased if you fail to logon to IoK within a specified period. The period is supposed to be 90 days, but you are much safer if you ensure that you log in each one of your characters every 60 days, and manoeuvre them about in the game for at least three rounds. S16. INFORMATION RESOURCES Use the Forum For the most up-to-date information, regular use of the MPGAMES forum (a discussion forum used by players used by the players of the game) is highly recommended. GO MPGAMES, and there you will find folk dedicated to answering your questions, helpful discussions about myriad facets of the game, and up-to-the-hour information. The forum, and folk I met there, became my SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT resource early in my IoK game playing. Section 7 of the forum is devoted to discussion of the Basic Game of IoK. MPGAMES is a separate entity from Kesmai Corporation (authors and maintainers of the game). But Kesmai Corp. does regularly read the forum messages, and can be directly contacted there or by Email (76703,1066). PAGE 54 As well, the data libraries in the forum contain many reference files, stories, game replays and other notes about the game. Downloading these to your computer and examining them carefully will serve to uncover a lot of useful information. Perhaps the most important file to you right now is called KESMAI3.MAP and contains maps of the surface and dungeons of Kesmai - a must until you have the place memorized. Do not begin to play until you have downloaded at least this map. Attend the Conferences MPGAMES also conducts question-and-answer conferences for IoK players. Thursday evenings at 9:30 Eastern time is one dedicated especially to newer players. There are also conferences on Saturday evenings at 11:00 Eastern and Sunday evenings, 9:30 Eastern. Knowledgeable "teachers" will be on hand to field your questions and give helpful hints. S17. CONCLUSION All of this should be more than enough to help you get to a profitable start. There is still more information that will be helpful to you if you play the game more than a very short while. I recommend that you scour the Data Libraries in the forum. Read the online docs. Attend the help conferences. Don't hesitate to ask players on the Island. And have a great time.