ALTERNATE REALITY begins with the first of six scenarios in THE CITY. Your
character, after escaping from the spaceship in which he was abducted from
his home, will find himself facing the Floating Gate in the City Square.
Your character will have 3 packets of food, 3 flasks of water and some
money. Although food and water will always be of concern in this game, you
need not worry about them at this time. You do need a weapon.
To the north and south of this position are shops. To the west is a
smithy's; and to the east, one of the three banks. Near the bank there is a
tavern, and near the smithy's there is an inn. Turn to the west and enter
the smithy's. Make an offer on a dagger of slightly under whatever your
character was given at the start of the game. If the smithy will not accept
this offer, try making an offer on a stiletto.
Once armed, you are prepared as a beginning character to take on THE CITY.
THE CITY is primarily a game of mapping and building your character for the
scenarios that are supposed to follow.
Although the city square is reputed to be one of the safest parts of town,
it is not the cheapest; and you will need to find cheaper inns and taverns
in order to survive the initial developement of your character.
There are in THE CITY: 7 inns, 14 taverns, 3 banks, 15 shops, 4 smithies, 2
healers, and 12 guilds.
Inns provide a safe place for your character to rest and regain hit points.
Inns will also allow you to check the time.
Taverns supply food and water. Food packets and water flasks are never
offered for sale at the same time.
Banks will allow you to deposit your money in three types of accounts with
increasing risk. They will also purchase gems and jewels.
Shops sell a wide variety of clothing which is of little importance in this
first scenario. Shops also sell compasses for 5 silver pieces.
Smithies sell armor and weapons. As with the shops, prices vary and few
items are cheap.
There are two healers. Healers can serve a variety of purposes, but are
most useful for curing disease.
There are 12 guilds in THE CITY. In this first scenario your character may
not join the guilds, but they still have their usefulness. Your first visit
to a guild will improve one of your stats or your chances of surviving.
Guilds can also remove curses from weapons and armor. Prices for these
serivces vary from guild to guild.
The map for THE CITY is 64 squares by 64 squares. Square 1,1 is in the
southwestern corner. When I give locations, I will be giving first the
number of squares north on the map, the second number will be the number of
squares east on the map. When I give the location of a place, the
coordinates listed will be those of the actual place. If you must enter
from a specific direction, and it is not an obvious door, these directions
will be listed after the coordinates.
The following is a list of Inns, Taverns, Banks, Shops, Smithies, Healers
and Guilds, and their corresponding map coordinates.
More hit restoring benefits seemed to be gained by renting a room with a
bath, but this is not a universal rule. Let your purse and needs decide.
TAVERNS:
30,40 expensive
20,33 reasonable, hours limited
25,8 reasonable, hours limited, enter from south
13,14 reasonable, special song at midnight
10,45 reasonable
3,61 cheap
31,61 reasonable,enter from east 32,59 to 32,60 south to 31,60
34,58 dues to join, expensive, enter from north
36,6 reasonable
36,7 reasonable
55,2 dues to join, limited hours
63,21 cheapest, enter by going north at 63,2, then go east to 64,21, then
south
54,34 dues to join, limited hours
57,53 reasonable, can be entered from south or west
Food packets and/or Pemmican will never be offered at the same time as
water flasks. Menus change hourly. It is easiest to find food on even hours,
and water on odd. This is not universally true, but a good guide. Almost
all taverns sell food at midnight.
BANKS:
28,39 interest rates are lower but investment is safe
7,31 higher interest rates, more likely to lose money
62,3 higher interest, most risky, enter from south at 61,2
Banks that offer higher interest for your deposits are more likely to have
bank failures.
SHOPS:
25,36
31,36
14,1 enter going west from square 15,6
13,4 enter going west from square 15,6
6,20
16,26
9,52
10,53
19,56
37,47
56,34
57,38 enter from north
62,61
60,27
44,21-22
38,10
Shops carry a wide variety of clothing which has no importance in THE CITY,
but will become important in THE DUNGEON. Shops have different hours. All
shops sell compasses for 5 silver.
SMITHIES:
28,33
10,55
35,51
33,20 enter from north
Smithies have different hours. Goods change, prices change, and almost
everything is expensive.
HEALERS:
20,5
30,30
Healers tend to be open for business on ODD hours. Repeated visits in one
day will cause prices to increase.
GUILDS:
44,35 Thieves Guild, increase skill, enter from wes|
3,56 Assassins Guild, increase stealth, north from 2,57 to south from 4,56
15,48 Red Wizards Guild, increase strength, north from 13,47 east to 14,48,
north
22,34 Dark Wizards Guild, increase charm
48,19 Blue Wizards Guild, increase speed, enter from west
12,28 Star WIzards Guild, increase hit points and strength
15,6 Physicians Guild, increase hit points, enter from west
5,3 Light Wizards Guild, increase wisdom, enter from west
60,51 Wizards of Chaos Guild, increase charm, enter from east
50,58 Guild of the Order, increase intelligence
50,62 Wizards of Law Guild, increase wisdom
43,12 Green Wizards Academy, increase stamina, enter from north
Guilds will raise your stats on your first visit to them. Guilds can remove
curses from armor and weapons. Costs will vary from guild to guild. Prices
can be as low as 2,000 coppers or as high as 11,000 coppers.
POTIONS:
COLOR TASTE SIP EFFECT
AMB PLN C Cure Poison
AMB PLN DD Poison
AMB SOUR S Spirits
AMB SOUR S Beer
BLK ACID C Invulnerability Fire
BLK ALK C Invulnerability Water
BLK BIT C Invulnerability Mental
BLK BIT U Delusion
BLK DRY C Invulnerability Power
BLK PLN C Invulnerability Sharp
BLK PLN C Invulnerability Blunt
BLK PLN C Fleetness
BLK SALT C Invulnerability Air
BLK SOUR S Beer
BLK SOUR DD Strong Poison
BLK SOUR C Invulnerability Earth
BLK SWT C Invulnerability Cleric
CLR ACID S Cure
CLR ACID C Water
CLR ACID DD Acid
CLR ACID C Cleanse
CLR BIT C Unnoticeability
CLR DRY C Mineral Water
CLR DRY C Invisibility
CLR PLN C Water
CLR PLN C Invisibility
CLR SALT S SaltWater
GRN SOUR C Heal Minor Wounds
GRN SWT DD Ugliness -1 Charimsa pt.
ORG BIT S Inebriation
ORG SOUR C Protection+2
ORG SWT C Protection+1
ORG SWT DD Dumbness -1 Int. pt.
RED ACID S Vinegar
RED BIT C Strength
RED DRY S Wine
RED SWT C Treasure Finding
RED SWT DD Deadly Poison
RED SWT C Fruit Juice
SLV BIT D Weak Poison
SLV BIT C Intelligence
SLV PLN C Cure Major Wounds
SLV SWT C Charisma
WHT ALK C Milk
WHT ALK C Healing
WHT ALK DD Poison
WHT BIT DD Slowness
WHT SALT C Heal All
YLW BIT C Noticeability
YLW DRY DD Weakness -1 Str. pt.
YLW PLN C Cure Wounds
Potions can be helpful or harmful. The higher your wisdom and intelligence,
the more easily you will be able to identify the potions. Some potions such
as Fleetness and Protection+1 and Protection+2 have a greater frequency of
occurrence than do the others. What a potion will be is randomly decided by
the program when you unseal the potion.
You can increase your control over potions by saving them, saving your
character, making backup copies, re-entering the game and trying them. If
you are not satisfied with the potions you got, you can restore and try
again. Treasure Finding will greatly increase your ability to find money,
potions and weapons!
GAME HINTS:
1) Save your character often to a separate backup disk!
2) Have (or get) a fast copy utility. Do NOT use the backup utility that
comes with the game.
3) Copy your character to several disks when: A) you have many potions or
B) you are about to increase a level. Enter the game with each of these
disks, keeping notes on what potions you found or what stats were increased.
Use the best of the ones you tried, or recopy and try again!
4) Avoid Brown Molds, Black Slimes, and Giant Rats as often as possible
until you are either rich and can afford trips to the healers, or can
defeat these monsters. Tricking them is a successful means of defeating
these disease giving creatures IF you have high enough intelligence.
5) Do not carry more food, water, gold and gems then you really need to.
Excess weight will cause your character to become weary sooner and reduce
your adventuring time between stops at the inns.
6) Do not bother to examine or taste potions, just sip. Avoid too many
protection potions as this will cause your character to crash.
7) While still a lower level character, avoid being out at night or in the
rain.
8) When finding a weapon, always equip it as a secondary weapon in case it
is cursed.
ALTERNATE REALITY: THE CITY is published by Datasoft.
