                        ALTERNATE REALITY: THE CITY

By ???. Edited by PARASITE.

Part 1
  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.

  INNS:
 26, 32 Prices high*
 25, 33 Prices high*
        (*these are both the same inn)
 24, 33 Reasonable
 20, 10 Reasonable
 04, 32 Very expensive
 07, 61 Cheap
 53, 34 Reasonable
 55, 29 Cheap

  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, 08 Reasonable, hours limited, enter from south
 13, 14 Reasonable, special song at midnight
 10, 45 Reasonable
 03, 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, 06 Reasonable
 36, 07 Reasonable
 55, 02 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
 07, 31    Higher interest rates, more likely to lose money
 62, 03    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, 01  Enter going west from square 15,6
 13, 04  Enter going west from square 15,6
 06, 20
 16, 26
 09, 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, 05
 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|
 03, 56 Assassins Guild, increase stealth, north from 2,57 to south from
 04, 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, 06 Physicians Guild, increase hit points, enter from west
 05, 03  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

 LEGEND
 Colors: RED=Red, BLK=Black, SLV=Silver, WHT=White, YLW=Yellow,
         CLR=Clear, ORG=Orange, AMB=Amber, GRN=Green.

 Tastes: SWT=Sweet, SALT=Salty, SOUR=Sour, BIT=Bitter, ALK=Alkaline,
         ACID=Acidic, PLN=Plain, DRY=Dry.

 Sips: D=Danger, C=Caution, S=Safe, DD=Dangerous, U=Unsure.

  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.
