Chapter 4: Exploring the world

The first thing you will want to do when you begin playing Jewel of Arabia, is get out and explore the world around you. One of the most intriguing and fulfilling aspects of role-playing games is their emphasis on discovery. In Dreamers, you are presented with a whole new world of people and races and places, and much of the challenge in the game involves interacting with the world and piecing together, bit by bit, what is going on and what your role in it all is. This question should always be in your mind when you play the game. There is a well-defined ultimate goal in the game, and many sub-goals along the way. Talking with people and interacting with the world are the ways you will learn the whole story.

This chapter covers in detail the portion of the display devoted to the map. This is where all of the action takes place and it deserves some attention and explanation. This chapter describes the mechanics of interacting with the world, as well as all of the different terrain types you will encounter while adventuring in Jewel of Arabia.

Interacting with objects in the world

When you see an object on the map that you want to interact with, the first thing you should always try to do is walk onto it. More often than not, this is how you accomplish your goal. Occasionally, though, this won't work. For example, people don't like you to walk on top of them and they won't allow you to. In this case, you'll have to talk to them by using the talk button. But for inanimate objects, like towns, buildings, tents, caves, and rivers, walking on top of them is just fine.

Shown below are some characteristic objects that you will encounter in the world and a brief explanation of what they stand for.

Towns: This is a town. Almost all towns you encounter in Jewel of Arabia are friendly and you will want to enter them, as a great deal of the story will be revealed by the townspeople. To enter a town, walk your party on to any of the squares that make up a town. When you do so, you will switch to a "blow-up" map of the town and will be able to wander around and explore it.

Most of the towns in Jewel of Arabia are named after actual places in the Near East. These names were chosen to give the game an authentic Arabian feel only, and do not correspond to actual places or locations. Thus, you should not rely on your knowledge of geography to help you locate towns. It will not help.

Buildings: Inside of towns you will encounter many buildings. Some buildings are people's private homes and they aren't of general interest or even accessible to you. You will not be able to enter these buildings. But other building are of interest and you enter them by walking on top of them. In general, buildings that are accessible to you have a pathway leading up to them to indicate that you can go there. When you enter a building, you will often switch to a "blow-up" map of the building's interior, or you might just meet someone at the door to talk to.

Bazaars: This is an example of a bazaar, which is the bustling center for trade in every town. Bazaars are the first place you will likely head when you arrive at a new town, since you'll want to see what new goods they have for sale. When you step onto a bazaar stall, you will switch to a display very much like the trading display. But instead of your party characters on the right side, you will see a list of bazaar stalls. Clicking through them gives you access to all the wonderful goods for sale at the different shops. The shopping display is explained in greater detail in Chapter 8: Inventory Management, but shopping is easy. The hard part is finding the money for all the stuff you'll want to buy.

Caves: This is a cave entrance and walking on top of it will usually switch you to a "blow-up" of the cave's interior. There are two things to beware of when you enter a cave: monsters who live in the caves and the dark. Caves are not friendly places, and you enter them at your own risk. The darkness can not be avoided, but a torch or a lamp purchased at the bazaar will help you to better navigate in the dark.

The above are just a sampling of the types of objects you can interact with in the world. Other objects do exist, like swamps, and orchards, and oases, etc. The first thing to always try whenever you encounter a new object, is to walk onto it.

Terrain types and how they affect your party

There are five major terrain types that you will encounter when you play Jewel of Arabia. It is important that you understand these terrain types and how they affect your party's resources.

Hospitable terrain

Hospitable terrain types are those that are easy to travel over and which yield up resources and so do not consume too much of your own precious food and water. There are two terrain types that are considered hospitable:

Fertile terrain: Lush, fertile land is indicated by the color green. This is the easiest terrain to navigate, since it is mostly low-growing grasses and is well-watered. On this terrain, a full party consumes water at half the normal rate, or approximately one liter per day.

Farmland terrain: Rich farmland is depicted by an earthy brown color. This is good land that is flat and easy to travel over. It contains some water, but not as much as lush, green land. On this terrain, a full party consumes the normal rate of approximately two liters of water per day.

Inhospitable terrain

Inhospitable terrain is difficult to pass and can be trecherous if you do not plan ahead for it. This terrain is usually encountered around mountains and inside of caverns.

Stone terrain: Stone, rubble and mountain foothills are all indicated by the color grey. This terrain is rocky, hilly and difficult to pass. It yields up little in the way of food and water, and you should not venture onto this terrain without preparing in advance. On this terrain, a full party consumes water at approximately twice the normal rate, or four liters per day.

Dangerous terrain

Dangerous terrain is nearly impossible to pass because it requires many resources, while offering up none. This terrain can not be traveled unless your party is well prepared for the journey, and has ample stores of fresh water and food.

Desert terrain: Desert terrain is indicated by this sandy beige color. The desert is a dangerous place and saps resources, strength, and life out of everyone and everything. Occasional oases can be found deep in the desert, but they are few and far between and should not be relied upon.

On desert terrain, a full party consumes water at eight times the normal rate, or approximately 16 liters per day. For this reason, you should consider traveling by night when you travel in the desert. A night march presents its own perils, but will halve the water requirement.

Impassable terrain

Impassable terrain is so steep or forbidding that the only way to pass it is to go around it, as there is no way through it. It serves mainly to block your path, and unless you can find a secret entrance, you're out of luck.

Mountainous terrain: Impassable terrain and cave walls are indicated by dark grey mountains. These mountains are not scalable and you will not be allowed to walk over them.

Special terrain types

In addition to the five major terrain types discussed above, there are several other terrains and objects that you will encounter and which bear mentioning.

Dream terrain: This terrain represents the dreamscape: that vast void that we encounter every time we dream. The Land of Dreams is difficult if not impossible to enter at will, and is only accessible to our subconscience minds. If you encounter this terrain, it is highly likely that you are asleep and dreaming. But it is rumored that there are those who have learned to transcend these boundaries and who walk freely in the Land of Dreams.

Rivers: This is a river and walking on top of a river is permitted and even encouraged. Whenever you pass over a river, your characters will automatically replenish their stores of fresh water.

Fountains: Fountains beautify towns, but also supply vital fresh water to the townspeople. Whenever you visit a town with a fountain, you should walk next to it to refill your water carrying vessels.

Freshwater terrain: This is an example of fresh water. It is safe to drink this water and if you walk along the edge of fresh water pools, your characters will automatically fill their vessels. The water is usually too deep to walk into past the shore, but there are narrow places where crossing is possible.

Saltwater terrain: This is salt water or ocean water and is not safe to drink. You can splash along the edge of the shoreline, but you will not be allowed to draw water here. And your characters won't venture deep into the ocean, they will only walk along the beach.

Pathways: This is a paved roadway. These appear in towns and are where you should walk when exploring them.

Building walls: This picture shows some building walls. Like building walls in the real world, they are impassable.

Don't be afraid of the dark

The first time you will likely encounter the dark is when you enter into a cavern or dungeon. These places are enclosed and do not have windows or man-made sources of light handy to illuminate them. Thus, you will need to enter dark caves and caverns with a torch or lamp or some other form of light to help you see.

Dark mask: Darkness is shown by restricting your entire field of view. If you have a light source, using it will enable you to see more of the map and will make exploring easier and safer. The less light you have around you, the more likely monsters are to sneak up on you in the dark.

During combat, the entire map will be dimmed as well. This makes combat more troublesome, or more challenging, depending on your point of view.

You will also encounter the dark if you venture out during the nighttime. The "night march" was described in the previous chapter, and you should take a look at this section for an explanation of the negatives and positives of adventuring by night.

One time that it is relatively painless to explore the outside world at night is during a full moon. The light of the full moon provides you with a much brighter and unrestricted field of view.