
      MAGUS, 2nd edition, by Ronny Wester

This a sorry attempt at making a manual. I have developed this game 
during a period of about four years (not that it is apparent ;-) and the controls
have become second nature to me. It is quite likely that I will forget to
mention something...mail me if anything is unclear and I will attempt to sort
it out.


Objective:

To have fun - or as an option to waste the bad mage in the citadel. 
Killing him/her/it wins the game.
Almost all NPCs are hostile bogeys - the exceptions are small brown furry
creatures wearing hats. Keep giving them things and they will eventually give 
you things. They like heavy objects and do not want spells. Do NOT kill them
or you will be punished!


Running the game:

Pretty straightforward. MAKE SURE YOUR MOUSEDRIVER IS LOADED (I was too lazy 
to check) and that MAGUS.ART, WORLD.MGS and EGAVGA.BGI is in the current 
directory and run MAGUS.EXE. The game runs in 640x480x16 (VGA Hi). Mouse 
controls only (it was developed on an Atari. They all have mice).
NOTE: 2nd edition has some keyboard controls.


Creating characters:

A dialog box will appear. Click arrow buttons to select character. They differ
in skills, speed, the terrain they can traverse and their initial equipment.
You may change the sex of some characters by clicking their icons. This changes
the visual appearance only - no affect on gameplay or attributes.
Enter a name for the character and press OK. You will have the option of 
editing (some of) the attributes of the character. 

When done you will return to the original dialog where you may enter more 
characters (multiplayer is real fun!). When satisfied press "Done".


Playing the game:


The Display:
At the left is the status/control panel. At the right is the playing area.
At the bottom is a message area.


Control buttons:
NextPC   - Switch computer ;-), Seriously, go to next Player Character.
End turn - End turn. Computer characters will act.
Sound    - Toggles sound effects (really awful speaker sound!)
Drop     - Drop an item from current characters inventory
Quit     - Quit game. You will be asked to confirm this.
           You will have the option of saving an aborted game.
	   This game will automatically be resumed next time.


Controlling the character:

Clicking the left button on an empty adjacent square moves the character,
provided it can reside in that square and that it has movement points left.

Clicking the left button on yourself allows you to pick up any items there.
(A dialog box will appear)

Clicking the left button on an adjacent character enables interaction mode.

Clicking the right button on a character acts upon the character. Exactly what
happens depends on what the character is holding in its hands.

Nothing - Throws a punch.
Weapon  - Uses weapon.
(Note: Some weapons require that target be immediately adjacent; others that
target is NOT immediately adjacent, eg bow. Yet others have no restrictions - 
apart from LineOfSight of course)
Spell   - Casts spell.
Potion  - Drinks it (may only click yourself with potions).

You may only act on squares you see (ie non-black).


Inventory controls:

If a characters load exceeds its strength (with some exceptions) it cannot
move about. 
NOTE: In 2nd edition characters can move, but get reduced MP's.

It can do everything else though, including using the teleport
spell. The load will go red when this happens.
NOTE: The load display is not always updated correctly. I think it is when 
you give items away or something like that. Please let me know what causes it,
cause I keep forgetting to fix it...

The inventory is divided into three sections.
Top    - What the character holds in its hands.
Middle - What the character is wearing
Bottom - What's in the characters backpack (they all have one!)

Clicking an inventory item with the left button tells you what it is, along 
with its status (-7 to +7 or something. Positive is good).

Clicking an item with the right button will move it (if possible). Ie weapons 
will be wielded, armour worn etc. Some items are incompatible with others.
Note that this frequently costs movement points.

Shift + left click drops an item.
NOTE: The drop button is another way to drop items. They are equivalent.

A character may wield two weapons. This reduces its skill with 5 but gives
it two attacks instead of one.


Spells:
Spells are items. They look like pieces of paper with pictures on them.
Try them out. Some spells (grey and red) can be used by non-mages.
Some spells are beneficial, others not.
The confusion spell is particulary funny :-)
Just about all spells can be used on yourself as well as on other characters.

Potions:
Most potions raise an attribute when drunk. Some raises two attributes and 
lowers one (White & Black).
Try them out (ie I do not recall which does what). They remain the same across
games.


Game play:

Players start at roughly (100, 15). The citadel is at (100, 300) somewhere.
Opposition will be increasingly difficult the further from the starting point
the players travel.

Games are played in turns. Characters have a number of movement points (MP:s) 
per turn. This can be changed by potions, amulets and spells. When you are
satisfied with your movements (or out of MP:s more likely) you press the 
End Turn button.

Waste the bad guys! Characters will earn levels as they go...


Some special items:

Chock   - Lightning bolt hammer. Is wielded by wisdom rather than agility.
Amulets - Raises attributes.
Rings   - Green recovers lost health quicker, Blue - mana.
Focus   - Raises strength
Bubble  - Increases characters maximum load.
Negator - Makes character immune to many spells (including beneficial ones!)
Ghostblade - "long range sword"
Sunbow - Requires no arrows
Faithful - Arrow that returns
Falling star - Wishing spell. You have to know the name of the 
               object to wish for though.
Enchant - Raises the status of an item of your choice.


Known problems:
Some of my friends have reported multicoloured lines in the message area.
I have never seen them myself and have no clue what is causing them.

Occasionally (very seldom) the game crashes when characters are killed.
Havent got a clue on that one either. It has happened once in four years
on my Atari and twice in a few months on the PC.

Best of luck! Please let me know what you think...

Ronny
ronny@rat.se
