****************** THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF EAMON DELUXE **********************
*                                                                           *
*                     EAMON DELUXE PLAYER'S MANUAL                          *
*                                                                           *
*                         By Frank Black, 1999                              *
*                      (Some text by Donald Brown)                          *
*                                                                           *
************** ALL NON-COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION IS ENCOURAGED ****************


  Contents.     
     1.     WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF EAMON DELUXE.
     1.1    A BRIEF HISTORY OF EAMON.
     1.2    A BRIEF HISTORY OF EAMON DELUXE.
     1.3    WHAT IS EAMON?
     1.4    INSTALLING EAMON DELUXE ON YOUR PC.            
     1.5    RUNNING EAMON DELUXE ON YOUR PC

     2.     PLANET EAMON
     
     3.     BASIC CHARACTER ATTRIBUTES
     3.1    HARDINESS
     3.2    AGILITY
     3.3    CHARISMA
             
     4.     COMBAT
     4.1    WEAPONS AND WEAPON EXPERTISE
     4.2    ARMOR AND ARMOR EXPERTISE
     4.3    ATTACKING YOUR OPPONENT
     4.4    DAMAGE FACTORS

     5.     MAGIC
     5.1    BLAST
     5.2    HEAL
     5.3    SPEED
     5.4    POWER
             
     6.     RELATING WITH CITIZENS, MONSTERS, ETC.

     7.     THE MAIN HALL
     7.1    BUYING WEAPONS AND ARMOR
     7.2    BUYING SPELLS
     7.3    THE BANKER
     7.4    EXAMINING YOURSELF
     7.5    LEAVING THE UNIVERSE
     7.6    RETURNING FROM AN ADVENTURE (SELLING YOUR LOOT)
     
     8.     USING THE CHARACTER EDITOR

     9.     USING TEST BENCH CHARACTERS

     10.    GOING ON AN ADVENTURE     
     
            
1.           WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF EAMON DELUXE.

1.1  A BRIEF HISTORY OF EAMON.

Eamon is one of the oldest computer role-playing systems in history.  The 
first version was developed in the early 80's by a man named Donald Brown.  
Don created a system that consisted of one master disk (Main Hall & 
Beginner's Cave) where you created a character, made small modifications and 
went on adventures.  Each adventure was a separate disk with a database of 
rooms, monsters, treasure, etc..  Basically a cheap "Dungeons & Dragons".  
It was all non-commercial and Don encouraged people to do whatever they 
wished with it.  Don Brown wrote the Main Hall, a few dungeon designer 
utilities, two manuals, and 8 adventures before completely dropping out of 
sight in the Eamon world, never to be heard from again.

The Eamon reigns were soon taken up by a programmer named John Nelson who 
started the National Eamon Users Club and hacked Eamon to the next level.  
The NEUC gave each adventure an official number, and a produced a 
semi-regular newsletter.  John developed a new dungeon designer and a series 
of utilities.  He also standardized things such as doors, healing potions 
and levels of light in rooms.  He eventually shut down the club and moved on 
to an IBM PC version of Eamon, among other pursuits.

The NEUC was then taken over by Tom Zuchowski and renamed The Eamon 
Adventurer's Guild.  Tom also developed Eamon to the next (and final) level.  
Tom redesigned the database and base programs to be more efficient and take 
up less disk space.  He also standardized things such as armor and increased 
the speed at which the system ran considerably.

By now the Apple II world of Eamon (and the Apple II world in general) have  
pretty much ground to a halt.  At last count there were 245 non-commercial 
adventures, 4 commercial, and a series of dungeon designer and utility 
disks.  Not a small amount considering it's all free software.  There have 
also been attempts to convert Eamon to nearly every other system.  All Eamon 
adventures can be downloaded free off of the Internet (just look around) in 
PC and Macintosh files.  These can be run with an "Apple II Emulator" 
program.  There are several emulators also available freely on the 'net.  
"Apple PC" and "AppleWin" to name a few.

There is a very old PC version written by a guy named John Walker which runs 
under BASICA and is a direct copy of Don Brown's Eamon.  I'm also aware that 
John Nelson has been developing his own PC Eamon for years (which I haven't 
had the opportunity to try).

SPECIAL NOTE:  Don Brown, the "Father of Eamon" can be found on-line, but is 
not interested in any sort of Eamon-related correspondence.  He hasn't 
answered anybody's mail (electric or regular) in over fifteen years!  Please 
don't try to contact him as he wishes to be left alone and won't answer you 
anyway.


1.2  A BRIEF HISTORY OF EAMON DELUXE.

Eamon Deluxe is a brand new adaption of Eamon for the PC.  While it is 
written in the MS-DOS environment, it will work with all versions of 
Windows.  I wrote it entirely by myself, and basically from scratch.  
Eamon Deluxe is pretty true to it's predecessor, with the exception that 
I've standardized all the old adventures and thrown in every feature and 
enhancement I could think of.  I had the good fortune of being able to draw 
on the good and bad aspects of nearly two decades of Eamon while developing 
Eamon Deluxe.  I've attempted to stay as true to the original as possible, 
while taking advantage of the PC's capabilities and making everything much 
more user-friendly than previous Eamon versions.


1.3  WHAT IS EAMON?

Eamon is a computerized version of what are called "fantasy role-playing 
games" (RPGs for short).  When you enter the universe of one of these games, 
you are no longer Jon (or Jane) Smith, mild-mannered computer hobbyist.  
Instead, you become a character in a land of adventure, doing almost 
anything you want to.

In the land of Eamon, you will be a member of the select Free Adventurers 
Guild, which is made up of hardy individuals like yourself who want to live 
by your wits, defeating horrible monsters and finding glorious treasures.  

Unlike most games, there is no single set goal for you to achieve, no 
experience points to earn, no way to 'win' the game.  Instead, in Eamon, you 
have a lasting goal to both better yourself and also get rich.  If you set 
for yourself another goal (do good to all princesses, kill all evil wizards, 
that sort of thing), you may also work towards it in your quests.


1.4  INSTALLING EAMON DELUXE ON YOUR PC.

To run the adventures of Eamon Deluxe, you'll need an IBM PC or compatible 
computer (a 386 or faster processor is recommended) running on PC-DOS, 
MS-DOS, or Windows.  You'll also need a BASIC interpreter.  I wrote Eamon 
Deluxe entirely with Microsoft's QBASIC, but it will most-likely work under 
other versions of Microsoft BASIC (such as Visual BASIC).  QBASIC came with 
most later versions of MS-DOS, however it doesn't come with Windows 95/98.  
You can get QBASIC from Microsoft, or find somebody with MS-DOS and borrow a 
copy from them.  Most Eamon Deluxe Disk #1's seem to, uh, mysteriously come 
with QBASIC.  Since QBASIC is a copyrighted program, I have no idea how that 
got there and should, of course, be removed if you find it.

Run the INSTALL.EXE file on Eamon Deluxe Disk #1 to install Eamon Deluxe on 
your hard drive.  Each Eamon Deluxe disk contains a file called INSTALL.EXE 
which allows you to install certain adventures and/or accessories.


1.5  RUNNING EAMON DELUXE ON YOUR PC

Once you've installed Eamon Deluxe on your hard drive, simply type "EAMONDX" 
from the MS-DOS prompt (Windows 95+ users should set the MS-DOS window to 
"Full Screen" before proceeding).  It's as easy as that.  You may also run 
INSTALL.EXE by clicking on it in the Windows 3.1 File Manager.  Remember, 
you'll need QBASIC on your hard drive in either your DOS, WINDOWS, or 
EAMONDX directory.

The first time you install Eamon Deluxe, it should automatically set the 
proper speed to run at (depending upon how fast your PC is) and prompt you 
to select a desired graphics mode (if your computer supports any).  Eamon 
Deluxe is mainly text-based, but there is an animated demo and a graphic 
version of the Main Hall.  Currently only CGA, EGA/VGA 320x200, and EGA/VGA 
640x350 modes are supported.  If possible, I suggest using EGA/VGA 320x200.

To reset the system speed, change graphics mode, change the color of the 
Main Hall's text, or select between text and graphic versions of the Main 
Hall, choose the Control Panel option from the Main Menu.

You start from the main Eamon Deluxe menu.  To get started playing, select 
option 1 (Enter the Main Hall).  You will first see the animated demo 
(if you have a valid graphics mode selected).  The demo can be exited by 
pressing the <Escape> key (you may have to try a few times).  You can also 
step through all of the animation sequences by pressing <Spacebar>.  From 
the demo you are brought to the Front Desk at the entrance of the Main Hall.  
Here you may select a character (Eamon Deluxe comes with three pre-made 
characters), or create a new one.  If you create a new one, you will get a 
brief review of the Eamon rules and be sent on your way.

Finally you reach the Main Hall.  The Main Hall is a place where your 
character can buy equipment, and do other such activities, and is covered 
more in-depth in section 7.  You can also create characters with the 
Eamon Deluxe character editor (covered in section 8).  From the Main Hall 
you can send your character on any Eamon Deluxe adventures that have been 
installed on your hard drive.

You may also return to any previously played adventure that your character 
hasn't come back from yet, by selecting "Play a saved game" from the main 
Eamon Deluxe menu.  Note that you don't actually have to have saved a game, 
just sent your character to that adventure.  This is covered further in 
section 10.


2.                        PLANET EAMON

Far away, at the dead center of the Milky Way, is the planet Eamon.  It 
doesn't orbit any suns-- all of the suns orbit it.  The shifting pulls of 
all of these great bodies bring strange forces to bear upon this planet; 
twisting light, tides, even the laws of science itself!  Strange things 
happen there, and the citizens of Eamon must always be adaptable, for things 
are rarely what they seem, and even more rarely what they were yesterday!

You are a citizen of this weird world.  You are a free man (or woman) out to 
seek your fortune in this world of shifting laws and time.  You will usually 
find yourself fighting terrible monsters such as orcs, trolls, and dragons 
to get their treasure.  However, at times you may find yourself fighting 
such varied opponents as Billy the Kid and Darth Vader!  Anything can happen, 
anything at all.

Eamon is usually non-sexist, there is full room for both male and female 
adventurers.  However, for simplicity's sake, an adventurer will usually be 
referred to as "he".  Please understand that this is a proper English 
pronoun to imply both male and female indiscriminately.

                      
3.                  BASIC CHARACTER ATTRIBUTES

Eamon is a fantasy role-playing game.  This means that the computer will 
generate a character for you and you will pretend to be that person.  You 
will command your character into fierce battle, where hopefully he/she will 
emerge victorious and wealthy.

Obviously, not all characters are equal in ability.  Three numbers (called 
attributes) describe various parts of your physical condition.  You also 
will have various abilities with weapons, which will increase as you gain 
experience with them, and learn how to better use them.  Additionally, you 
will be able to learn some powerful magic spells.

The three basic attributes are not normally changed, but you will find ways 
to increase (and sometimes decrease) your attributes if you play enough 
adventures.  In fact, their is a witch who runs a shop in the Graphic 
version of the Main Hall who will give your character a little boost here 
and there (for a hefty fee of course).  Still, without magical intervention, 
a player who starts life as a 90-pound weakling will remain one until he 
dies.  Because really weak characters have little to no chance of surviving 
most adventures, Eamon Deluxe will automatically re-roll attributes if 
hardiness is less than 15, agility is less than 12 or HD + AG + charisma is  
less than 42.  In any event, hardiness and agility can never exceed 300 (200 
for charisma).  Even these factors are quite ridiculous.

The three numbers which describe the basic "working material" of your 
character are all gotten by the computer generating three random numbers 
from one to eight and summing them, thus the numbers can range from three to 
twenty-four (with most numbers around twelve to fifteen).  This is called 
"three die eight" or written as "3D8".  This terminology comes from pencil  
and paper type role-playing games where you roll strange dice, and means 
roll three eight-sided dice and add.  The three attributes' descriptions and 
effects are given below.


3.1  HARDINESS

Your character's hardiness has two major effects.  The most important is 
that your hardiness is the number of damage points that your body can 
withstand before you die.  In other words, assume a character named Hedric 
the Horrible is fighting a troll.  Hedric has an HD (hardiness) of 13.  The 
troll swings his battle axe (as described in section 4 of this manual) and 
hits Hedric for 10 points of damage.  This brings Hedric down to three more 
points of damage before death-- if the troll can hit Hedric again and do 
more than two points of damage (before Hedric can go home and heal himself, 
or use some magic to heal), Hedric will die!

The other effect of hardiness is the total weight that you can carry.  The 
standard measure of weight on Eamon is the grond, which can be split into 
ten dos.  You can carry up to ten times your hardiness.  Therefore, Hedric 
can carry up to 130 gronds (or 1300 dos).  Note that weight-carrying ability 
is based on the characters base hardiness, not the number of hits he has 
left.  In his unpleasant encounter with the troll, Hedric can still carry 
130 gronds, even though he only has three hits left before death.  Like most 
every type of adventure game, you'll find that you'll be able to carry far 
more than is reasonably possible anyway, and Eamon Deluxe in particular 
allows you to carry a considerable amount of items.


3.2  AGILITY

The second basic ability is the player's agility (abbreviated "AG").  
Agility's major effect is in combat, where a character with high agility is 
more likely to hit an opponent.  Sometimes certain aspects of an adventure 
will be based around agility as well (A good example would be a trap which 
can only be avoided by some kind of dice roll based on the characters 
agility).


3.3  CHARISMA

The last basic attribute for the player is his charisma (abbreviated "CH").  
Charisma is mostly a measure of physical attractiveness, although it also 
includes such things as a forceful manner, pleasant speaking voice, and 
anything else that makes people look at you and say, "GEE, WHAT A NICE GUY!" 
(or girl).  In some ways, charisma may be the most important attribute, at 
least for the beginning character.  The first major effect of charisma is on 
the prices you'll have to pay for goods and services (or the prices people 
will pay you).  Obviously, if somebody likes you, he will give you a better 
price than if you disgust him.

The second effect of charisma is how citizens of Eamon (generically 
called monsters) will react to you.  Not all monsters are bad, you can make 
friends with some (and their assistance may mean the difference between life 
and death in an adventure!), do business with others, etc. (for more 
information on that, see section 6).  To figure out the effect of your 
charisma on the chance of a monster liking you, subtract 10 from your 
charisma, multiply the difference by 2, and the result adjusts the 
percentage chance of a favorable reaction from the monster (if there ever 
was any chance at all!)

Example: The mad hermit of the Beginner's Cave has a 50% friendliness 
rating, which means that Joe Normal with a charisma of 10 will get to make 
friends with the hermit one-half of the time.  However, old Hedric the 
Horrible with his charisma of 5 has only a 40% chance of making friends 
(5 - 10 = -5, -5 x 2 = -10).  On the other hand, Lovable Linda with her 
charisma of 24 has a 78% chance of making friends.  Unfortunately a rat with 
a friendliness rating of 0% will never be a friend, be it with Joe Normal, 
Hedric the Horrible, or Lovable Linda.

Note:  Many monsters you will meet will already have a pre-determined 
friendliness rating and will react the same regardless of your charisma.


4.                         COMBAT

Being a rough and violent world, combat is the most important aspect of 
Eamon.  In most adventures, combat is taken care of on a blow-by-blow 
method: Every player or monster in turn uses his weapon(s) on one enemy, the 
effects are calculated, and then applied.


4.1  WEAPONS AND WEAPON EXPERTISE

Roughly speaking, all weapons in the world of Eamon can be divided into five 
types: Axes, bows (this includes all thrown weapons and guns), clubs (or any 
blunt weapons), spears (or other weapons that must be lunged or jabbed 
with), and swords.  Every player has what are called "weapon expertise" for 
each class.  All players start at the same levels: 5% for axes, -10% for 
bows, 20% for clubs, 10% for spears and 0% for swords.  (These numbers are 
to reflect the fact that somebody who doesn't know what he's doing is more 
likely to hit with a club than with an arrow.)

Weapon expertises can be increased through use in combat.  The scheme goes 
as follows: assume Hedric is fighting his troll and scores a successful hit.  
The question now is, did Hedric learn anything about how to use his weapon 
better?  Well, it just so happens that his chance to learn is his chance to 
have missed.  Thus, if his chance to have hit was 60%, then 60% of the time 
Hedric will learn from his blow.  If he does, his sword expertise will go up 
by 2%.  Thus, next time his chance of hitting will be 42%.  (notice that his 
chance of learning on the next successful blow is only 58%).  Weapon 
expertise can be raised all the way up to 200% via the character editor.

The amount of physical damage your weapon will cause your opponent is 
determined by the weapons damage "dice".  Each weapon has a certain number 
of dice with a certain amount of sides to the die.  An average sword has 
a damage level around 1D10, or one ten-sided dice, or 1-10 points of damage.  
A really nice weapon will have a damage level around 2D8, or 2-16 points of 
damage.  Note that any amount of 1-sided dice will always do a set amount of 
damage; a 12D1 weapon will always do 12 points of damage, etc.  The minimum 
to maximum range for weapon factors is -100 to 200 for complexity and 1D1 to 
50D50 for damage.  Although factors that high are completely absurd!


4.2  ARMOR AND ARMOR EXPERTISE

Your character can buy a shield and several types of armor to protect him 
somewhat from his enemies.  If you're wearing armor or a shield, your chance 
of hitting an opponent may be reduced.  After all, one just isn't as agile 
when one is fighting from within a tin can!  The following chart describes 
the types of armor, the amount of protection they provide, and how much 
they reduce your chance to hit your opponent.  For armor class, even numbers 
are types of armor and odd numbers are types plus a shield (e.g. 3 = leather 
armor with a shield).

      AC   Armor          Hits Absorbed     Odds Adjustment
     -------------------------------------------------------
      0 ....None ..................0 .................0%
      1 ....Shield ................1 ................-1%
      2 ....Leather ...............1 ................-4%
      4 ....Chain .................3 ...............-16%
      6 ....Plate .................5 ...............-36%

However, these numbers are "worst cases".  A player becomes used to the 
constricting effect of wearing armor, and will build up an armor expertise.

Armor expertise is built the same way that weapon expertise is increased.  
Every time a successful blow is landed and the effect of armor is bigger 
than the player's AE, a check is made on the chance to miss and that is the 
chance of the armor expertise going up by 2%.  Armor expertise is carried 
over from each type of armor.  Thus if you've brought your AE up to 10% 
while in leather armor and you go to chain, your chance to hit will only 
drop by 6%, not 16%.  However, the effect of armor expertise can never 
increase the chance to hit; if your AE is 32% and you go to leather armor, 
the net effect will be 0, not adding 28%.

You can also obtain stronger armor (dubbed "magical" and/or "exotic") which  
will absorb much larger amounts of damage (but also reduce your chance of 
hitting accordingly).  Exotic armor can be obtained in some adventures, or 
via the character editor.  Armor class can never exceed 15, and the limit 
for armor expertise is 65%.


4.3  ATTACKING YOUR OPPONENT

Every time that a player or monster attempts to strike someone else,  there 
is a percentage chance of success.  The computer "rolls" a hundred-sided die 
(1D100), generating a number from 1 to 100, and if the number is less than 
the chance to hit, the blow did strike.  As a general rule of thumb, all 
combatants are given an average chance of 50% to strike their foes.  That 
percentage is then adjusted by several factors determine just what their 
actual chance to hit is.

If your character isn't wearing armor then your percentage chance of hitting 
your enemy is 50% plus 2 times the difference in agility and armor between 
you and your target plus your ability with the type of weapon you're using 
divided by 4 plus your weapon's quality (or "complexity", or "odds") divided 
by 2.  If you're wearing armor and your expertise in fighting with armor on 
is less than your armor class times itself than you must subtract the sum 
of your armor class times itself minus your armour expertise.  Are you 
confused yet?  It's really more simple than it sounds.

For example, say our old friend Hedric has an agility of 20, isn't wearing 
any armor and is using a fair quality sword (with a complexity of 5%).  
Since he is a starting character, he has a sword ability of 0%.  
Furthermore, his enemy has an agility of 15 and an armor class of 2 (leather 
armor).  We take Hedric's agility minus his armor (20 - 0 = 20), subtract 
his opponents agility minus armor (15 - 2 = 13); (20 - 13 = 7), and multiply 
the sum by 2 (7 x 2 = 14), then add that to the standard 50% chance to hit 
(50 + 14 = 64).  Base odds are now 64%.

Now we figure in his weapon's complexity divided by 4 (5 / 4 = 1.25) plus 
his skill with this particular weapon divided by 2 (0 / 2 = 0), or 1%.  His 
chance to hit is now 65%.

However, say Hedric just bought a shiny new suit of chain armor.  We'll also 
say that he has no experience fighting while weighed down by such armor, and 
therefore his chance to hit will be reduced.  Chain armor is an armor class 
of 4 and Hedric's armor expertise is still at 0%.  His armor expertise (0) 
is less than his armor class times itself (16), so we subtract his armor 
class times itself minus his armor expertise (16 - 0 = -16).  His chance to 
hit is now 64% - 16%, or 48%.

If his armor expertise had been 16 or higher, his armor would have had no 
effect at all, and the odds would have still been 64%.  If his armor 
expertise were, say 8, then the odds would have been 64% - (16 - 8) or 56%.

Well, Hedric somehow made it out alive from his troll battle, and has 
brought his sword expertise up to 12%.  He then wants to take his booty and 
new knowledge and get a better weapon and some leather armor.  If Hedric 
goes and buys a new sword-type weapon, such as a cutlass which has a weapon 
complexity of 15%, his base odds to hit the same troll with it would be 
50 + 2 x (18 - 13), or 60%.  Then figure in the new weapon factor of 
12 / 4 + 15 / 2, or 10.5, bringing his odds up to 70% (combat figures aren't 
rounded).  Finally figure in the armor factor (we'll say his AE is up to 
2%) which is 2 - 2 x 2, or -2, making a final chance to hit of 68%

However, if he decides to switch weapons and get a battle axe with a 
complexity of 15%, his weapon factor will be 5 / 4 + 15 / 2, or 8.75, 
bringing his odds to hit to 68%, then (figuring in his armor) 66%.  His 
experience with swords will not help him with his axe.

In addition to the above, there may be magical or other extraordinary forces 
at work in some adventures which will affect the chance of hitting.  Also 
some adventures will have much more detailed and/or specialized combat.


4.4  DAMAGE FACTORS

As explained in section 4.1, when a blow hits, a random amount of damage is 
done to the target.  This amount of damage is based on the weapon's dice and  
number of sides to those dice.  This base number of damage is usually 
lowered by the armor worn by the defender; leather armor and shield each 
take one point of damage, chain takes 3, and plate armor takes 5 points of 
damage away from that taken on the body (all effects are cumulative and 
magical devices may sometimes act as armor).

That, of course, is what usually happens.  However, due to flashes of good 
luck or clumsiness weird things can happen.  For example: in many of the 
classic adventures, about 5% of the time an attacker will get what is called 
a "Critical Hit".  That will get one of the following results (each result 
is followed by the percentage chance of its occurrence): Ignore armor (50%), 
three-halves normal damage (35%), twice normal damage (10%), triple normal 
damage (4%), or an automatic kill (1%).  This was a standard in the early 
versions of the original Eamon system and was carried over to many Eamon 
Deluxe conversions (such as The Donald Brown Adventures) to make them more 
authentic.  The Beginner's Cave has standard "classic" combat and the Eamon 
Deluxe Demo Adventure has standard "modern" combat.

About 4% of the time the attacker will fumble with his weapon.  It will have 
one of the following effects: Recover from fumble without any other effect 
(35%), drop weapon (40%, if the attacker is using natural weapons such as 
claws, the attacker simply recovers instead), break weapon (20%, with a 10% 
chance of hitting oneself at the same time), Hit self normally (4%), and hit 
self with double damage, ignoring armor (1%).


5.                         MAGIC

The strange shifting forces around Eamon sometimes give results that can 
only be described as magical.  However, most of these effects are extremely 
localized, and will not be consistent from one adventure to the next.  Most 
often these strange things will be the special results of manipulating 
magical items, however, some citizens of Eamon who have lived all of their 
lives in one location have learned how to control the forces around them.

There are four spells that work almost everywhere.  Anyone can be taught 
these spells without too much difficulty by a knowledgeable wizard.  When you 
learn a spell, you will start with a random ability in it from 25% to 75%.  
As with combat experience, this can be increased every time you successfully 
cast the spell; if a random percentage roll is less than your chance to not 
have cast it, your ability will go up by 2%.  Spell abilities may be raised 
past 100% via the character editor, but may never exceed 500.

There is a catch to casting spells:  Due to the tiring effects of sending 
all this power through your body, every time that you attempt to cast a 
spell (regardless of whether or not the attempt was successful) your chance 
is halved until you rest up.  Thus, old Hedric who knows a spell with a 200% 
ability will always cast it the first time.  His second try will also always 
work (100% of the time).  His third try will only work half (50%) of the 
time.  On the fourth try the chance is down to 25%, fifth try 12%, and sixth 
only 6%.  Fortunately for Hedric, however, if you know a spell your chance 
of successfully casting it can never be less than 5%.  Your spell abilities 
will also gradually increase again when depleted if your give them a "rest".

The four basic spells are listed below.  Note that for all of these spells, 
it should be pointed out that this manual describes the way they USUALLY 
work out.  In some obscure sections of the world spells may not drop in 
ability every time you use them, in other places spells may work quite 
differently or maybe not work at all!


5.1  BLAST

This spell sends a magical blast of pure energy at your opponent.  Armor 
will absorb damage from it, but if the spell is successfully cast it will 
always hit its target, regardless of the range.  The blast will do 1D6 of 
damage (a random number from one to six).  You can also BLAST items such as 
doors and locked boxes, not just monsters.


5.2  HEAL

The heal spell removes hits from the body of whomever it is directed at.  It 
will cure 1D10 hits, but never past 0.  Say Hedric, having taken five hits, 
casts a heal spell on himself successfully.  He got a good casting this 
time, it would have cured 8 hits normally, however it only cures five hits 
on him, bringing Hedric back up to perfect condition.  You may also heal any 
other living beings.


5.3  SPEED

This powerful spell will double the caster's agility for from 10 to 34 
turns.  You will know when you have cast the spell successfully and you will 
be told when it wears off.  If you successfully cast a speed spell while one 
is already in effect on you, the new spell will reset the time for you (but 
it will not have the effect of quadrupling you agility).  Obviously, when 
you cast the speed spell your chance of hitting goes up accordingly.  In the  
first example of section 4.4, Hedric has a 65% chance of hitting.  Were he 
affected by a speed spell, that chance would increase to 105%!


5.4  POWER

The power spell may well be the most powerful spell available to you, and 
certainly the most uncertain.  It has no set effect, it's a call to the gods 
saying "HEY, DO SOMETHING!".  What it will do certainly differs from place 
to place, and may even differ from one moment to the next!  It could kill 
all of your enemies, teleport you randomly somewhere else in the place you 
are exploring, cause an earthquake that buries you and your opponents alive, 
or anything else you can and cannot think of.  In many adventures, Power 
will do little more than make a loud noise, in many others it may be the key 
to surviving certain points.  If you are totally stuck, give Power a try.


6.              RELATING WITH CITIZENS, MONSTERS, ETC.

There are two places you will be encountering other denizens of Eamon, on 
your adventures and at the Main Hall of the Guild of Free Adventurers.

At the Main Hall, you will be able to communicate with the various people 
there and do business.  However, they will not do you any real favors 
(except possibly giving you good prices on things if they like you), and you 
will not be permitted to fight with anybody there.  Essentially, they will 
be businessmen and women, out to relieve you of some of your gold while 
helping outfit you to go get more.

On the other hand, during your adventures outside of the Main Hall, you may  
or be able to communicate further with the people you find.  Some adventures 
allow you to talk and ask important questions.  As a standard though, they 
will usually be rather simple-minded; when meeting you they will decide if 
they like you.  If they do like you they will follow you around and fight on 
your side during any battles.  If they don't like you, they will try to kill 
you.  These people are rather set in their ways and once they make up their 
mind about you they will usually keep with their decisions, unless you do 
something nasty such as attack a friend, or you do something especially nice, 
such as giving them valuable items or money.  Most neutral characters (those 
who "ignore" or "look at" you when you SMILE) will sell their friendship to 
you for 5000 gold pieces.

However, just because they do or do not like you does not mean that they 
will always fight to the bitter end.  Some people or monsters you encounter 
will be less courageous (or smarter) than others and will run from what they 
view as a losing battle, this includes both your enemies and your friends.  
When someone retreats they usually kick up a cloud of dust so you cannot see 
which way they ran.  In some adventures they will only run out of exits that 
are really there, and you can follow them.  In others they will leave the 
game completely, never to return.

Once again, though, note that all of the statements above were prefaced by 
the word "USUALLY".  In some parts of the world you may be able to work 
quite well with others, give orders, get ideas, even play games with them.  
As always, the key word in Eamon is flexibility.


7.                        THE MAIN HALL

Your headquarters will be the Main Hall of the Guild of Free Adventurers.  
You can buy spells there, as well as weapons and armor, you can "check out" 
yourself and all your attributes and abilities.  You can also keep some 
money with the banker (money in the bank is safe if you're robbed on an 
adventure, but you can't use it to ransom yourself out of a sticky 
situation, either!).  The graphic version of the Main Hall also has a 
casino, a shop which makes custom weapons, as well as several other 
interesting diversions.


7.1  BUYING WEAPONS AND ARMOR

Your character will start with 200 gold pieces.  One of the most important 
things for you to do with this gold is to buy weapons and armor.  
Additionally, you may sometimes want to sell a weapon, be it because you 
have no need of it or because you have reached the legal limit on weapon 
ownership (four).

Marcos Cavelli owns a small weaponry store in the Main Hall that will do 
this for you.  Marcos carries the five standard weapons:  An axe, which does 
1D6 of damage and has a base price of 25 gold pieces, a bow which does 1D6 
and has a base price of 40, a mace which does 1D4 and has a base price of 
20, a spear which does 1D5 and has a base price of 25, and a sword which 
does 1D8 and has a base price of 30.

Marcos will also buy old weapons.  He will pay 15 gold pieces for an average 
or poor quality weapon.  He will pay considerably more for better quality 
weapons, it all depends on what you have.

Marcos' base prices for armor are 50 gold pieces for a shield, 100 for 
leather, 250 for chain mail, and 500 for plate armor.  He will also give you 
a trade-in of your old armor at a bit less than what you paid for it.  
Marcos' credit terms, like all of the businesses in the Main Hall, are very 
simple:  None.


7.2  BUYING SPELLS

Hokas Tokas, the local wizard in the Main Hall, is willing to teach anybody 
spells for a price.  His base prices for spells are: Power (100 gp), Heal 
(1000 gp), Blast (3000 gp), and Speed (5000 gp).  He is gruff, but will 
never cheat you and stick by you until you learn your spell.


7.3  THE BANKER

Shylock McFenney, the local banker, will open up an account with anybody.  
He is absolutely trustworthy with the funds you leave in his care, although 
he does not give interest, nor does he make loans.  (He makes enough money 
from adventurers who deposit money with him and never come back.)


7.4  EXAMINING YOURSELF

Unlike most things at the Hall, it does not cost you anything to examine 
yourself.  It is generally a good idea to examine your attributes last thing 
before leaving to go on an adventure to make sure that you have a weapon and 
armor, etc.


7.5  LEAVING THE UNIVERSE

This is simply leaving the Main Hall and returning to the main Eamon Deluxe 
menu.  From there you can quit and return to DOS or Windows.  Your character 
is stored on the hard drive, so he or she can be called up again the next 
time you play.

7.6  RETURNING FROM AN ADVENTURE (SELLING YOUR LOOT)

Once you leave an adventure, and return to the Main Hall, the local dealer 
of treasure and booty will pay you what they are worth (with the price 
adjusted for charisma).  Sam Slicker is a shrewd business man, but fair.  
The standard adjustments to treasure value by charisma is:  Characters with 
charisma greater than 15 will be able to haggle an extra 5% on the value of 
each item, charisma greater than 20 get you 10%.  Some treasures, such as 
gold bars, and other precious metals obviously have a set value and you 
won't be able to get any more than what they are worth.


8.                  USING THE CHARACTER EDITOR

To make things a bit nicer, a complete character editor has been included.  
This is a very useful program which will let you make your characters just 
how you want them.  It will also revive your dead characters for you.  The 
character editor will let you enter the maximum values for any character 
attribute within legal Eamon Deluxe limits (which are actually a lot higher 
than you'll ever need).  Note that it will take a lot of the fun out of game 
play if you make your character ridiculously tough, but that choice is 
entirely yours.

An "average" really tough character (who should be able to complete almost 
all of the Eamon Deluxe adventures) has stats somewhere around this:  
Hardiness = 40, agility = 30, charisma = 24, armor expertise = 65%, heal 
spell = 300%, all other spells = 200%, all weapon abilities around 40%, and 
plate or magic armor with a shield.  You should also have two 2D8 weapons 
with about a 25% complexity.  Note that an "honest" character can't 
naturally have Hardiness, agility, or charisma over 24 and can't have a 
spell ability over 100%.


9.  USING TEST BENCH CHARACTERS

You can also go on an adventure using a special set of "test" characters.  
These are pre-made characters (both male and female) ranging from semi-weak, 
to nearly invincible, and were designed for testing new adventures because 
they never change.  It doesn't matter if they die in an adventure (they'll 
always be at the Test Bench), and they can adventure in as many adventures 
at one time as you have installed (normal characters can only go on one at a 
time).  Some people prefer this to having to "maintain" real characters.

Those of you that are familiar with Apple II Eamon will be happy to know 
that a favorite Apple II Eamon test character, "Sam", has been included in 
the test bench.  To access the Test Bench, select the Dungeon Designer menu 
from the main Eamon Deluxe menu, then select "Test Bench".


10.                 GOING ON AN ADVENTURE

(Never though we'd actually get here, did you?)

Most of your exploits will be exploring castle, caves and old ruins, doing 
similar things as in the popular adventure games.  However, Eamon is wide 
enough to also have you go to casinos and gamble your money away, raise an 
army to fight invaders (both from other countries and from space!), or do 
just about any other activity you can think of.  The typical setting of an 
Eamon adventure tends to be on the mediaeval side, but you'll also find a 
good portion of sci-fi settings as well as Earthly places (from ancient 
Greece to the sewer systems beneath Chicago, Illinois!)

As noted in sections 7 and 9, you may play all installed adventures from 
either the Main Hall or the Test Bench.  Note that non-Test Bench characters 
who are sent on an adventure can not be used until they return from that 
adventure.  However you can quit playing an adventure whenever you want.  
Simply use the QUIT command (You should use the SAVE command first, or 
you'll have to start at the beginning when you return).  Later, select the 
"Play saved game" option from the main Eamon Deluxe menu, RESTORE your saved  
game and finish up your adventure.  If your character is killed on an 
adventure (and you don't mind breaking the laws of nature) you can use the 
character editor to bring him back to life.

The main Eamon Deluxe package (Eamon Deluxe Disk #1) comes with a set of 
beginning-level adventures, as well as a demonstration adventure which shows 
off nearly all of Eamon Deluxe's features.  If you have little or no 
experience with Eamon gaming, I strongly suggest you run your new character 
through the Beginners Cave.  It's a gentle little romp through a set of 
caves underground.  If he or she can't survive this, there's no point in 
going out to the dangerous places.  The Beginner's Cave will also help your 
character get some gold to equip themselves properly and gather a little bit 
of experience.  I also suggest you try the Eamon Deluxe Demo Adventure to 
familiarize your self with the way Eamon Deluxe adventures work.  These 
adventures are all part of the adventure called "Beginner's Adventures", as  
well as four other simple adventures.


10.1  STANDARD COMMANDS IN AN EAMON DELUXE ADVENTURE

                   MOVEMENT COMMANDS

North, South, East, West, Up, Down:  Go in that direction if possible.

NE, NW, SE, SW:  These will also work in some adventures.

Flee:  If combat gets too rough, you can attempt to run away.  You can FLEE 
in a given direction if you wish (e.g. FLEE SOUTH).  FLEE by itself will 
send you through a random exit.

Item manipulation--

Close: Will close a door OR a container.

Drink & Eat: Will drink or eat something.
Drop: Drop something that you are carrying.  "DROP ALL" will drop everything.
Examine:  Recall the descriptions of items and monsters.  Also may reveal
          hidden things.  Examining monsters will give their health 
          condition, examining drinkable items or food will tell you how many 
          drinks/bites are left.
Get: Will get that item and add it to your inventory.  "GET ALL" will get
     everything possible in a room.  If you "GET ALL" and some things are 
     still in the room, try to GET them individually.  They may just be too 
     heavy...or they may be alive!
Light: Lights things so that you can see in dark rooms.  If you want to 
       extinguish it, use the LIGHT command again. 
Open: Opens doors, containers, etc.
Put: Attempts to put one item either inside of or on top of another.
Read: Read markings in the room or on items.
Ready: Readies a weapon.  You can't fight until you have a readied weapon.
Remove: This has two functions, 1. Remove something that you are wearing, and
        2. Remove an item that is inside something else.
Use: Use certain items.
Wear: Wear armor and clothing.  (Note: Shields must be WORN to be used)

Interactions--
Attack: Attack someone.  You can also attack doors and containers that won't 
        open, sometimes forcing them to open.
Free: Release a captive princess/soldier/dog, etc..
Give: Give an item to someone.  If you enter a numeric value, you can give
      that many gold pieces to a monster.  "GIVE 100" would pay 100gp to the
      monster specified.  Sometimes you can bribe unfriendly monsters into
      liking you.  If you give a drinkable/eatable item to a monster, they 
      will take a drink/bite and hand it back to you.  If you give them a 
      weapon (and they don't have one), they will READY it.
Request: You can request things that friendly monsters are carrying.
Smile: Just trying to be friendly.  It will show how everyone in the room
       feels about you.  Neutral monsters will "ignore" or "look" at you.

Spells--    (These only work if you know the particular spell)
Blast: Send a magic blast at an enemy.  You can also BLAST doors and 
       containers.  BLAST will do 2-10 points of damage, ignoring armor.
       Very useful if you don't have a weapon.  Note: You can also BLAST 
       doors and containers, sometimes forcing them to open.
Heal: Heals your wounds.  You can also HEAL others.
Speed: Doubles your agility for a time.  Useful when losing a battle.
Power: Unpredictable, has special effects in many adventures.  In some it is 
       very important, in many it just makes a "sonic boom" sound.

Miscellaneous--
Inventory: Lists all of the items you are currently carrying.  If you follow 
           it with a monster name, it will list what that monster is 
           carrying.  (Unless they aren't friendly.)
Status: Display your character's vital statistics or 'character sheet'.
Look: Recalls the description of the room that you are in.
Say:  Say something.  Many adventures have 'magic words'.  Also useful for 
      letting off some steam!
Save: Save a game.  Up to 5 positions may be saved in each adventure.
Restore: Restores a saved position.
Hints: Calls up any available on-line hints or help for the adventure.
Quit: Leaves the adventure and returns to the main Eamon Deluxe menu.  To 
      return to the adventure, select "Continue a saved game" from the main 
      Eamon Deluxe menu (even if you didn't save).  Your character will be 
      stuck in this adventure until you perish or find an exit back to the 
      Main Hall.

That's really about all there is to say about playing Eamon. Of course, 
the best way to learn is by starting up a character and running him/her 
through a few adventures.  One thing I would like to warn you about-- do 
not get too attached to any character.  Unfortunately, while wealth and 
expertise come rather quickly in this world, so does death.


CREDITS

I'd like to thank the following:

Donald Brown:  For very humbly hatching the egg of the best computer 
role-playing system in history, giving it away, and demanding that it be 
completely flexible and open-ended.  A fair portion of the text in this 
manual was taken from Don Brown's original Eamon players manual.

John Nelson, Bob Davis, and the rest of the NEUC staff:  For the enormous 
amount of time and effort they volunteered to support and develop the system.

Tom Zuchowski:  For optimizing the Eamon system, supporting it in a very 
professional and impersonal manner, and helping me through my early days of 
Apple Eamon programing.  It could be said that Eamon Deluxe may very well 
not exist if not for him.  

And all the game authors out there who contributed their own adventures, 
whether 26-room, 5-monster caves or Middle-Earth epics.
