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TANGLED TALES (The Misadventures of a Wizard's Apprentice) Another FastDoc from GtR> Plagarite @1989 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Young Wizard's First Journal A Useful Record of Experiences & Discoveries for the Beginning Apprentice ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Student of Magic should record here important events, observations, and disasters. Only diligent study of past mistakes brings advances towards ultimate spiritual awareness and a lucrative career as a wizard. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Svenday, 23rd of Lombasa There should be more bleeding cats around here. Innkeepers and cooks chase them -- wretched children play tricks on them -- not to mention dogs and even wolves! The cats in Fairhaven should look like soldiers after a bad loss. But they are all healthy, at least the ones I have chased down. HOW am I supposed to practice this new Heal spell? I almost worked up the nerve to twist one fat tom's lef when I thought no one was looking, but Drek (grrr!!) was waiting to catch me. He appeared in that same cloud of smoke he always uses. It smells like sweat, like he does, but worse. (It's from all those potions) Of course he jumped to conclusions when he saw me with the cat, and he swore he'd tattle to Master Eldritch if I didn't let it go. So I did, and then Drek laughed and chased off the cat with a fireball! Then he laughed and disap- peared again. I wish he would disappear FOR GOOD. When I told Master Eldritch I hadn't found a subject for my Heal spell, he said, "an apprentice should be more resourceful. Take your fellow student Drek as your example." And then, as punishment, he wiped the Silence spell from my book! After all that trouble I had finding it! I should have used it on Drek while I still could! Turnday, Lombasa 24th I decided to be more resourceful by buying some cat food to lure the cats. I went to Master Eldritch for some money, but he wouldn't give me any. "A wizard relies on citizens' generosity," he said, "or if all else fails, on thievery." He was probably thinking of that time a farmer in Fairhaven Valley asked him to clear a field of tooth- beetles. Eldritch lured the insects out with a Redo- lent Decoy potion, then flamed them all. He named 30 gold pieces has his price. The farmer said he couldn't afford it, so Eldritch left. But he snuck into the farmer's house later, under a cloak of invisibility, and rooted around until he found a pouch of 50 gold pieces under a mattress. "The other 20 I took as interest," he told me. With Master Eldritch's example in mind, I borrowed a vial of adamantite dust from his labortory. I was sure he wouldn't mind. It's such pretty, sparkly stuff that I hated to use any of it, but I only needed a pinch for invisibility, and another pinch for a few demon images. I couldn't work anything on a farmer, since they're all poor from the drought this year. But Mayheco, the bartender at the Crystal Goblet, is a warty lout, so I went in and started knocking over some chairs and bottles. When that got everyone's attention, I brought in the demon images. People SCREAMED! Mayheco just about tossed his beer bottles. IT WAS GREAT! I was waiting for the moment to become visible and happen along to perform a convenient exorcism for a price. But then this tall, spook-looking, bald man with weird eyebrows wandered in, took a look around, said "images" -I heard him- and waved his hand in a Dispel. Poof! All the illusions gone, and my invisibility too! Good thing I was crouching behind a counter. "Minor prank," was all the weird man said to their questions. Then he asked for a tankard of stout. I managed to leave while everyone was looking at him. I told Master Eldritch about it later (leaving out the bit about the adamantite dust). All he said was, "That's Xavier. We'll have to do something about him someday." He was so preoccupied with the story that he forgot to penalize me another spell for not Healing a cat. Spawnday, 1st of Vorntchik They wanted resourceful? I gave them re- sourceful! I used a little more adamantite dust for another spell of invisibility, stole some cat food from the merchant's, and set it out in a forest clearing. I figured the cats in the woods wree probably in worse shape than the ones in town. But that lousy Drek followed me again! From the forest I watched him appear above the food. He was cackling in that scrawny chicken-cluck way he has, and he poured some kind of potion over the food. What a stink. It took me a moment to recognize it -- Redolent Decoy. I was about to rush out and jump him, when this stampede of forest animals just about killed me! Every beast for a mile around made a beeline for that potion. There were deer and rabbits and I think I saw a bear! Good thing I was invisible. But even over the growls and squawks, I still heard Drek laughing. I barely dodged a charging buck, but I dropped the vial of adamantite dust. It hit a squirrel. All that dust, enough for a platoon of soldiers, but unshaped by a spell - all soaking into one little brown squirel! I am surprised the squirrel didn't explode right away. Eldritch said later anything could have happened, and he was surprised when I told him what did. That squirrel grew bigger than a young dragon. Must have been 30 feet at the shoulder. The squirrel charged into the clearing, snapping tree limbs like twigs, brushing aside deer and bears with its tail, heading right for the Redolent Decoy. Drek was laughing, but when he saw that squirrel barreling toward him, he looked like he'd swallowed a beehive! The squirrel's tail bopped him right out of the air and onto the ground, where he got trampled by a couple of goats! It was GREAT! The squirrel never stopped. It grabbed the potion and stampeded into the forest. Of course, moving the Decoy deactivated it. That sent all the animals screaming back into the forest. Drek was in fairly bad shape, so I started to drag him back to town. Then I remembered Master Eldritch saying, "an apprentice should be more resourceful. Take your fellow student Drek as your example." So I did! The Heal spell worked pretty well, all things considered. Drek complains about the ah, robust hue of his skin, but Master Eldritch says that will wear off in a few days. And now Drek smells better - exactly like a bushel of roses. Eldritch congratulated me on my resourcefulness. Then he found out that I lost all the adamantite dust, so he wiped my entire book of spells! Says he's going to give me an assignment tomorrow that should put me in the way of plenty of new ones. I can already guess what that is....... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TANGLED TALES ============= by Gary Scott Smith & Alex Nghiem This playbook explains how to play Tangled Tales. For loading instructions and the hardware you need to play consult the Reference Card included with your game. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to be an Apprentice ======================= You'll find that life as an apprentice is not easy. Money is tight, assignments are dangerous, and you have to scrounge spells wherever you can find them. Only a gifted and resourceful student can achieve success. When you start playing, think carefully about your attributes: Strength, Intelligence, Speed, Charisma. Of these inborn abilities, Intelligence determines how many spells you can cast; Strength and Speed determine how well you fight, and Charisma measures how easily you can enlist people to help you. Your attributes have ranks. The higher the rank, the better your character is in that category. Here are the ranks: WORST BEST -------------=============================================================== Strength | Puny | Weak |*Athletic | Mighty | Powerful | Intelligence| Moronic | Ignorant |*Educated | Brilliant | Genius | Speed | Lethargic | Sluggish |*Brisk | Energetic | Swift | Charisma | Offensive |*Tactful | Diplomatic | Influential | Persuasive | ------------================================================================ It's rumored there are even higher ranks, earned by only the most worthy. The standard character begins with the attribute ranks marked by an asterisk. You can adjust your attributes before the game begins (see your Reference Card). If you reduce one attribute by a rank, you can add that rank to another attribute. For each rank you lose in one attribute, you gain one in another. The better your Strength and Speed, the more elaborate the weapons and armor you can select to equip yourself. Strength also affects how much damage you can withstand, and Speed also affects how successfully you can run from monsters. Intelligence determines your starting spell points (the "currency" of magic). Charisma influences the prices characters charge you, as well as how long some hirelings stay with you. You can select your character's gender, but your title only changes when you successfully complete Eldritch's assignments. You begin as a lowly Initiate. The other ranks, in ascending order, are Magician, Sorcerer, and Wizard. Playing Tangled Tales ===================== The game screen shows what you see at the upper left, and where you are at the upper right. Your character is always shown in the center of the map. To move, follow the instructions on your Reference Card. In the middle of the screen is the command interface. Its pictures, or icons, display the commands you use in the game. When you press the space bar, you enter command mode, and your character stops moving. A pointing hand appears beneath the icons. Move the hand to point to the command icon you want, then choose the command (see the Reference Card). A second row of icons can be displayed using the lever on the right. Move the hand to the lever, and flip it down to display additional icons. Flip the lever up to see the first row again. If you don't want to issue a command, press the space bar again to abort your action and go back to the movement mode. These icons appear in the first row. From the left: Look: [An Eye] -------------- Shows you your surroundings, the people in your party, and you are carrying. Sometimes looking at something reveals more things you can look at. For example, you may look at a shelf and discover that a scroll lies on the shelf. Choose LOOK again to examine the scroll. Look may also give clues to possible actions. For instance, if you look at a box and see that it's closed, you might select Actions and find a choice that lets you open the box. Cast Magic [An Open Spell Book] ------------------------------- Indicated by the Spell Book icon, lets you cast a spell you have learned. To cast a spell, use the arrow keys to highlight the desired spell and press RETURN to select it. Repeat this for all spells that you want to cast. When finished, press SPACE to cast the spell(s). To learn a spell, see Actions. Eldritch can provide information about some spells. Spells are either non-continual or continual. Non-continual spells, like Recall or Heal, cost you spell points only at the time you cast them. Continual spells, like Light, drain spell points as long as they are active. Get [A Hand With An Arrow Pointing Up Into It] ---------------------------------------------- Shows a list of all the items you can pick up in your current location. Select the item you want to pick up, or select ALL to pick up everything. You can carry up to 30 items in your backpack. [These icons appear in the second set of the command display] Talk [An Open Mouth] -------------------- Lets you speak with people in your party or standing nearby. You can greet someone, ask questions, try to buy something, or ask a person to leave your party. See Getting to Know People. Actions [A Large Check Mark] ---------------------------- Includes special commands: learning spells so you can use them to Cast Magic, speaking magic words, moving objects, drinking potions. Often issued after Look, this command sometimes provides clues about a promising approach to a problem. Drop/Give [An Open Hand With An Arrow Pointing Down] ---------------------------------------------------- Lets you remove an item from your backpack. You can give an item to a person you are talking to or just drop it where you stand. If the person accepts the item, he or she will pick it up. Save Game [A Picture of a Floppy Diskette] ------------------------------------------ Stores the current status of the expedition on the diskette, so you can end the play session or try something foolish. The game also saves itself occasionally. To resume playing from the point you saved, choose CONTINUE THE EXPEDITION at the opening screen. Inspect/Inventory [A Picture of a Knight in Armor] -------------------------------------------------- Tells how many gold pieces and spell points you have, as well as your current health. If you press RETURN, this command shows a brief description of the members of your party, including status of their health. If the list runs longer than one screen, press any key except the space bar or Return to see the next page. Press RETURN again for a list of items you carry. Equip [A Picture of a Shield and Sword] --------------------------------------- Lets you choose weapons, armor, and a shield. Use the Return key to select the item(s) you wish to use, then press the space bar when you are finished. The equipment screens show all the items your current Strength and Speed allow you to carry. Note that you cannot Drop/Give this equipment. Rest [A Picture of a Bed] ------------------------- Halts the expedition while you and your companions rest. This restores your health and spell points. But you should choose someone to stand guard against prowling monsters. The guard doesn't get to rest or heal. When you fight, new commands are automatically displayed. See Combat. Some commands give you new choices. These appear in the text window at the bottom of the screen. For instance, if you want to Drop/Give something, the game asks you to choose which item to drop. Move the cursor bar to the item you want and select it, or press the space bar to abort the command. Getting to Know People ====================== The citizens of Fairhaven and its environs are, without question, a peculiar lot. But by and large they're harmless, and they can give you valuable aid or information. When you encounter someone (being on the same spot on the map), his or her picture will appear along with an identifying name. To greet the individual, choose the Talk command and the Greet option. Often a polite greeting leads to a pleasant chat, the imparting of information, or even a request to join the expedition. Other options that the Talk command might offer: Ask about something: You can select a question from a list of subjects you currently 'know about' in the game. If the person you are talking to has brought up some weighty topic in conversation, look under this topic to see if the subject has been added to your character's list of 'known' question topics. Buy an item: Some people, especially merchants, have valuable merchandise - at least, they think so. They will customarily offer discounts to a smooth, charismatic customer. Ask the person to leave: If you are talking to someone who has already joined your party, this choice lets you dismiss the character from your hire. Some hirelings won't leave! Ask the person for a cure: Some citizens, such as Fairhaven's pious Brother Vincent, can magically cure people of wounds, poison, paralysis, or even death. A donation for this service is mandatory. Say Goodbye: To end a conversation with a character it is usually considered polite to say "goodbye" rather than walking off unannounced. Combat ====== As a rule, apprentices do not actively seek out physical conflict. But if conflict has found you, new icons will appear on the command interface. Reading from left to right: Fight [Crossed Swords] ---------------------- Lets you attempt to inflict bodily harm on a foe with your Equipped weapon. To attack, move your character onto a nearby enemy and choose this command. Your speed attribute determines whether you or the opponent attacks first. Inspect/Inventory Action ------------------------ Work Normally. Inspect/Inventory shows the status of each of your party members. That may indicate whether a Heal spell is needed. Run Away [Running Legs] ----------------------- Running is often the better part of valor, especially against powerful foes. You can escape if your Speed attribute exceeds your foe's. Cast Magic ---------- Lets you cast any non-continual spell that you have learned. As with the Fight command, your Speed attribute determines whether you can cast your spell before the opponent acts. Other members of your party decide for themselves whether or not they will participate in combat. A message is displayed only when another character in your party kills or is killed by an opponent. You can encounter foes in the least likely places. Even ordinary basements may harbor a giant serpent or two. Sometimes wizards like to throw these obstacles in their apprentice's paths to keep them wary. So stay alert! Staying Alive ============= Use the Inspect/Inventory command to see how well you are faring. It will tell you your status - whether you are healthy or poisoned - and your wound level. The wound levels, in increasing order of severity: Not at all, Bruised, Lightly Wounded, Heavily Wounded, Intensively Wounded, Critically Wounded, and Unconcious. As described under Rest, a good night's rest restores your health. If all else fails and you die, Eldritch may try to find someone to resurrect you. After all, good apprentices are hard to find! Having a Party ============== Naturally, being an apprentice bestows a great deal of status upon the wizard in training. You will find that as you encounter the citizens of the land that you will be able to convince some of these people to become your companions. Others that you encounter will gladly assist you in your tasks if you share your gold in payment for their service. In any case, you will have the opportunity to explore the realm with your companions. Having a party of adventurers with you is important, for it will allow them to combine their talents and skills with yours. Also, some of your friends will assist you in combat. This can be extremely beneficial for obvious health reasons. Another benefit from having a large party is that certain characters have knowledge of people and places that you would not. Thus, don't be surprised if you find that one of your friends will be able to reveal a clue to a puzzle that you couldn't solve otherwise. All of these benefits are lost, however, if one of your companions is unconscious or dead. A person who might normally say or do something important at a certain location won't be much help if incapacitated. It is important to keep all your people healthy and happy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Player Reference Card ===================== TO BEGIN PLAY ------------- If you are going to play Tangled Tales on a Hard Disk, or are going to use a Hercules Monochrome or CGA graphics card, please reference the appropriate sections below before continuing. Boot your computer using any DOS startup disk. Place your Tangled Tales BOOT diskette into your disk drive. Type in the word START at the DOS prompt and press ENTER. During Bootup, the Tangled Tales program will automatically select the best graphics mode available on your computer. 1. If your computer is a Tandy 1000, with at least 384k, Tangled Tales will use the 16 color mode. 2. If your computer has an EGA or VGA card with at least 64k of memory on the card, TT uses the 320 X 200 16 color mode. 3. If your computer has a Hercules Monochrome card, TT uses the 720 x 348 Monochrome mode. 4. Otherwise, the CGA mode will be used {GAG}. You may wish to use a different graphic mode than what the program selects. To do this, you must force the mode you wish to use at boot up. Start c will force CGA mode. Start e will force EGA mode. Start t will force the Tandy 16 color mode and Start h will force Hercules mode. After a short wait, the Tangled Tales title screen and opening menu will appear. If nothing appears, see Troubleshooting below. You may press any key during the boot-up sequence to bypass the title screen. o If you are just beginning to play TT, press any key to display the character creation screen. (See Creating a Character below.) o If you have already played Tangled Tales, a key press will bring up the Main Menu with the following options; 1) If you wish to continue your saved game in Tangled Tales you may select "Continue the Expedition". 2) If you wish to rename your character, select the "Rename your Character" option. 3) If you want to erase the current game and create a new character, backup your game to another disk, restore a character that was backed up, or setup your drive configuration, select "Game Utilities" (see Game Utilities on next page). GAME UTILITIES ============== This option is available on the title screen. Selecting this option will display the following choices: o Start a New Game - This selection will erase all of the information about the current game and create a new character. o Backup the Game - This selection will copy all of the current game information to a copy of your original disk, a specified path name on your hard disk, or any previously formatted disk. o Restore the Game - This selection will restore a game that has been previously backed up for use as the current adventure. o Set Drive Option - This will allow you to select the most appropriate drive configuration for your system. HARD DISK INSTALLATION ====================== To install Tangled Tales on your hard disk do the following; 1) Boot to the DOS prompt. 2) Insert the Tangled Tales Boot disk into drive A. 3) Type INSTALL and then the letter of your hard disk followed by a colon (ex. INSTALL C:), and then press <ENTER>. 4) Follow the onscreen instructions. To run the game off of your hard disk do the following; 1) Boot to the DOS prompt. 2) Log to your hard disk by typing the letter of your hard disk followed by a colon (ex. C:), then press <ENTER>. 3) Type CD \TANGLED and then press <ENTER>. 4) Type START and then press <ENTER>. 5) See "To Begin Play" for further instructions on getting started. TO RUN ON A HERCULES GRAPHICS CARD ================================== To run Tangled Tales on a Hercules graphics card, you must first translate the graphics files to Hercules mode. CAUTION: running this program will destroy the EGA/Tandy 16 color graphics files on your disks. Do not run this program on your original disks. FLOPPY DISK USERS: 1) Make a copy of your Tangled Tales game disk using diskcopy or other similiar disk copying utility. IMPORTANT NOTE: When copying the ADVENTURE 1 disk (the ADVENTURE disk on the 3.5 inch version), you will get an unrecoverable read error. This error is caused by our disk copy-protection and should be disregarded. 2) Return to the DOS prompt. 3a) 5 1/4" users place the Adventure Disk 2 in drive 1. 3b) 3 1/2" users place the Adventure Disk in drive 1. 4) Type MAKEHERC and press <ENTER>. 5) Follow the on-screen instructions. HARD DISK USERS: 1) Use the install program to install Tangled Tales onto your hard disk (see instructions under HARD DISK INSTALLATION). 2) Return to the DOS prompt. 3) Type CD \TANGLED 4) Type MAKEHERC and press <ENTER>. 5) Follow the on-screen instructions. TO RUN ON A CGA GRAPHICS CARD: To run Tangled Tales using a CGA graphics or 4-color Tandy, you must first translate the graphics files to CGA./Tandy 4-color mode. CAUTION: running this program will destroy the EGA/16 color graphics files on your disks, do not run this program on your original disks. FLOPPY DISK USERS: 1) Make a copy of your Tangled Tales game disk using diskcopy or other similiar disk copying utility. IMPORTANT NOTE: When copying the ADVENTURE 1 disk (the ADVENTURE disk on the 3.5 inch version), you will get an unrecoverable read error. This error is caused by our disk copy-protection and should be disregarded. 2) Return to the DOS prompt. 3) Place the BOOT disk in drive 1. 4) Type MAKECGA and press <ENTER>. 5) Follow the on-screen instructions. HARD DISK USERS: 1) Use the install program to install Tangled Tales onto your hard disk (see instructions under HARD DISK INSTALLATION). 2) Return to the DOS prompt. 3) Type CD \TANGLED and press <ENTER>. 4) Type MAKECGA and press <ENTER>. 5) Follow the on-screen instructions. CREATING A CHARACTER: ===================== Note: If you want to erase the current character and create another, press "ESC" at any time. o Type in the name for your character (up to 14 characters long). You may use both upper and lower-case letters. Press ENTER. o Select the character's sex using the left and right arrow keys. Press ENTER when the character's sex is correct. o You have the option of altering your starting attributes. It is suggested that you NOT change the starting ranks. To use the standard attribute ranks, press ENTER. If you wish to alter an attribute's rank, press the "up" and "down" keys to select the attribute to change. Press the "left" and "right" arrow keys to alter the rank of the chosen attribute. For each rank of an attribute reduced, you may raise another attribute by one rank. Refer to the playbook for a list of these ranks and their effects on the game. Press ENTER when your character's attribute ranks are as you desired. You will now begin your career as Eldritch's apprentice. Refer to the Commands section of this card for assistance. COMMANDS ======== Commands may be selected by either pressing the key which corresponds to a particular command or by using the command icon interface. The keyboard shortcuts and their corresponding commands are: / or A - Choose an action L - Look at an object or person C - Cast a spell P - Pause settings D - Drop or Give an item R - Rest E - Equip character R - Run away* F - Fight oponents* S - Save game to disk G - Get an item T - Talk to a person I - Inspect/inventory <CTRL Q> - Quit to DOS (Doesn't save game) * Used during combat only In the middle of the screen is the command icon interface, which uses pictures ("icons") showing your command options. Selecting Icons wth a Keyboard or Joystick: ------------------------------------------- To select a command icon press the space bar or joystick button 1. Use the arrow keys or joystick to move the pointing hand to the command icon you want, and press the ENTER key or joystick button 0. To abort the selection, press the space bar or joystick button 1. Selecting Icons with a Mouse: ----------------------------- To select a command icon simply position the mouse pointer over the desired icon, and press the left mouse button. Pressing the right mouse button will abort your selection. Note to three button mouse users: pressing the middle mouse button will activate the Inspect/Inventory command. o The first set of icon commands represents: Look, Cast Magic, Get, Talk and Actions. At the right is a lever that selects the command icon set. Pressing the right mouse button while the pointer is over the icon panel will toggle between the two command sets. Otherwise, move the pointing hand onto the lever and press ENTER, left mouse button or joystick button 0 to toggle between the two command icon sets. o The second set of icon commands represent: Drop/Give, Save Game Inspect/Inventory, Equip, and Rest. During combat, a new set of command icons will appear. This icon set is only available during combat. o The combat set of icon commands represent: Fight, Run, Inspect/Inventory, Cast Magic, and Actions. For more information about the commands, refer to the playbook. MOVEMENT ======== Movement is controlled by the arrow keys, mouse or joystick. The keyboard commands are: Up arrow = move up Down arrow = move down Left arrow = move left Right arrow = move right To move with the mouse, simply position the mouse pointer on the travel screen in the direction you wish to move. Click the left mouse button and you will move toward the pointer 1 space. For quicker travel, place the pointer on any visible square on the travel map and press the right mouse button. If there is any visible path to that square, you will automatically move there. To climb up or down, move onto the position of the ladder or opening and press ENTER or click the mouse pointer or joystick button 1 on your party icon. The PAUSE command allows you to set the amount of delay caused by a message appearing on the screen. This can be very useful when you walk into an area containing a clue or item. Alternatively, if you are speeding through the countryside, you may not wish to be delayed by messages you have already seen. The pause level has a value between 0 and 9, with 0 being no pause and 9 being the longest pause. The default setting is 2. GAME SCREEN =========== The game screen is divided into four sections. The upper left box is a picture showing what you can see. The upper right box displays the travel screen, which is a map of the current area with your character in the middle. The center of the screen contains the command icon interface. The bottom of the screen is the text window. This area is used for descriptions, interaction with other characters, and for listing available actions (after selecting the Actions command). If the word "MORE" appears in the lower right hand corner of the text window, press a key to see the continuation of the text or list. TROUBLESHOOTING =============== o If the game fails to load or you can't save the game, make sure your computer is turned on, and everything is connected properly. Reinsert the disk, label side up, in the proper drive. Close the drive door and try again. o If you cannot save a game to disk, check the notch on the side of your storage diskette to make sure it's not "write protected". Also, make sure the diskette is properly formatted. If still unable to save, you might want to try another storage diskette. o If nothing works, you may have a damaged dikette or a hardware problem. Call your computer dealer for help. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plagarite @1989 by GtR>