

*********

The Project 64 etext of the Blade of Blackpoole manual. Original
document released 1982,83 by Sirius.  Converted by Paul David Doherty
<h0142kdd@rz.hu-berlin.de>, retrieved from the Sirius section of the
Preserving Classic Adventures (PreCAP) Project
<precap@zes.hu-berlin.de>.

BLADEB10.TXT, November 1996, etext #116.

*********

Blade of Blackpoole Manual
--------------------------

[text on box:]

Methinks if I live 'till the seas have withered I'll ne'er know of
more adventure than befalleth those that quest for the sword bearing
the name Myraglym. Many have abandoned their earthly toils to pursue
this great sword o'magic. Legend saeth this mighty blade rests in the
caverns 'neath the lake at Blackpoole, where evil serpents and horrid
plants have a taste for the flesh of humans. And yea, even man has
taken arms against his fellow man in search of Myraglym. So come
hither be ye brave. For if ye seek a life of adventure, ye too must
go in search of the Blade of Blackpoole. Travel with wisdom and
cunning and the magic powers of Myraglym shall be for none other.

Blade of Blackpoole featureth a myriad of challenging situations and
colorful, detailed graphics. Haveth fun with this exciting new
adventure game from Sirius.


[instruction booklet:]

=====================================================================
SIRIUS (tm) presents
                      The Blade Of Blackpoole
                           By Tim Wilson
=====================================================================

Blade Of Blackpoole (tm)
------------------------

Object Of The Game:

  The Object of the game is to recover the magical sword MYRAGLYM and
  return it to the altar from whence it was stolen. Rumors speak of a
  secret chamber near Blackpoole in which the sword is said to lie.

  Playing this game involves solving many puzzles to reach a
  successful conclusion. It is not intended to be solved quickly, so
  don't get frustrated if you can't seem to make any progress at
  times.

Beginning A Game:

  ATTENTION APPLE OWNERS: You should first make a copy of the BACK
  SIDE of the disk using a standard DOS 3.3 copy program such as COPY
  or COPYA with the DOS master disk. Use only the copy to play on, so
  that the original is safe for backup purposes.

  To play the game, simply boot the front side of the original disk,
  wait until the disk "in use" light goes out, then remove the disk
  and store in a safe place. Insert your copy of the "back side" into
  the drive and press any key to begin. You will not need to swap
  disks during the save or resume options as these functions are
  performed on your copy of the "back side" of the disk.

  ATTENTION ATARI 800 OWNERS: Boot the Blade of Blackpoole disk as
  usual. You may begin the game by pressing any key BUT the "B" key,
  however, we recommend that you first make a back up copy of the
  disk. To do so, press the "B" key and follow the prompts provided.

Notes On Saving And Resuming Games:

  It is very important for new adventurers to save the game
  frequently. You may get very frustrated if you fall prey to one of
  the many traps when you are halfway through the game and must start
  over from the beginning. By saving the game at strategic locations,
  you can "freeze" your place in the game should some terrible fate
  befall you, or just because you want to quit playing for a while.

  To save a game, enter "SAVE" at any time during play and follow the
  instructions given. You may save up to ten "versions" of the game
  on the diskette. When prompted during the save, enter a number from
  0 to 9. You must use the same number when resuming the same game.

  To restart a saved game, enter "RESUME" at any time during play and
  follow the instructions given.

  You may exit either option by pressing the "Q" key when prompted
  for the version number to save or resume.

Communication:

  Sentence Structure:

  Playing the game is accomplished by entering commands from the
  keyboard in the form of short sentences. The Blade of Blackpoole
  will understand almost any sentence. You do not need to limit
  yourself to simple verb-noun combinations. However, it is very
  important that the operative verb always precede the noun or object
  of the sentence. A good example would be a command such as "TURN
  THE LAMP ON." To be correctly understood, this sentence must be
  phrased "TURN ON THE LAMP."

  In some cases you may find it necessary to include the noun clauses
  such as "MOVE THE ROCK WITH THE LEVER." As with many other
  adventure games, some experimentation may be necessary in certain
  situations. However, The Blade of Blackpoole has an extensive
  vocabulary, so that very specific word combinations are not
  required. Messages will inform you if your sentence structure needs
  to be modified in order to be understood.

  All words entered are only significant to five characters in
  length, so you may avoid overworking your fingers in many cases by
  just typing the first five letters of any word.

  Speaking to Blackpoole Characters:

  When you want to "speak" to another character in the game, you must
  always precede your words with ASK, TALK, TELL or SAY, such as
  "TALK TO THE BARTENDER." Any other method will result in a message
  of "I DON'T UNDERSTAND."

  Movement:

  Movement may be accomplished in several ways. You may use Up, Down
  or the four cardinal directions (North, South, East and West). Any
  of these may be abbreviated by using only the first letter (i.e.,
  N, S, U, etc.). In many instances you may use a phrase like ENTER
  BUILDING or GO DOOR, or maybe CLIMB THE TREE, however, these may
  not work in all cases.

  Multiple commands are acceptable, and must be separated by commas
  or the word THEN (i.e., GO NORTH THEN DROP THE ALE).

Special Commands:

  SAVE: Save your place in the game.
  RESUME: Resume a saved game.
  SCORE: Display current score and number of moves.
  BRIEF: Abbreviate description after a "room" has been visited (this
     is the default condition).
  LONG: Always display long descriptions.
  L or LOOK: Describe your surroundings.
  I or INVENTORY: List your possessions.
  WITH: If you are asked "WITH WHAT?" during the game, you must
     always use the word "WITH" or "USE" in your reply (i.e., "WITH
     WHAT?", your reply "USE THE NAIL").
  HINT or HELP: Requesting help at some point may or may not result
     in a helpful hint. You are not penalized for using hint or help.
  Q: Aborts SAVE or RESUME option if pressed during the "which
     version" prompt.

Scoring:

  The score is displayed as a ratio of 500. It is also desirable to
  finish the game in the least amount of moves. (A perfect score is
  500/500.)

Important:

  ATARI 800 OWNERS: If "BOOT ERROR" appears on the screen after
  booting, try the disk on another computer to verify that the disk
  is good. All of our disks are tested prior to shipping.

  APPLE OWNERS: This diskette, when booted will do a quick test of
  itself and your Apple. This assures that the load of the game is
  exact. Failure of the test results in a "beep" and an attempt at
  rebooting will occur. If after several "beeps," the game is still
  not running, you have one of the following-problems: 1) the disk
  drive is out of adjustment, 2) there is bad RAM in the Apple,
  3) you have a bad diskette. Try the diskette on a different Apple
  to eliminate the possibility of a bad diskette. All of our products
  are tested prior to shipping.

Other Stars From Sirius:

  Atari(*) 800 & 1200 Disk:

  Bandits                    Space Eggs
  Cyclod                     Wayout
  Snake Byte                 Blade Of Blackpoole
  Sneakers                   Twerps

  Apple II, II+, IIe Disk:

  E Z Draw 3.3               Phantoms 5
  Space Eggs                 Autobahn
  Gamma Goblins              Gorgon
  Sneakers                   Epoch
  Dark Forest                Pascal Graphics Editor
  Snake Byte                 Beer Run
  Twerps                     Hadron
  Minotaur                   Borg
  Bandits                    Computer Foosball
  Fly Wars                   Kabul Spy
  Freefall                   Cyclod
  Type Attack                Escape From Rungistan
  Flip Out                   Blade Of Blackpoole
  Critical Mass              Repton
  Wavy Navy                  Wayout
  Fantastic Voyage

  IBM-PC(*) Disk:

  Call To Arms               Gorgon II


  For more information, contact your local Sirius(tm) dealer or write
  us at 10364 Rockingham Drive, Sacramento, CA 95827

SIRIUS REPLACEMENT POLICY: Sirius will replace any defective disk at
no charge if the original disk and proof of purchase are returned to
Sirius within 30 days of purchase. After 30 days, Sirius will replace
any defective disk for $5.00 provided the original disk is returned.
For those outside the U.S.A., please include enough additional funds
to cover return postage.

=====================================================================

Game design by Tim Wilson

Package, program and audio visual (c) 1982 Sirius
Blade of Blackpoole and Sirius are trademarks of Sirius Software,
Inc., Sacramento, California 95827
All rights reserved

IBM-PC is a trademark of International Business Machines, Inc.
Atari 800 is a trademark of Atari, Inc.
Apple II, II+ and IIe are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Sirius is not affiliated with Apple or Atari

=====================================================================

The Blade Of Blackpoole(tm)

Commodore 64 Addendum
---------------------

IMPORTANT!

  BEFORE YOU PLAY. In order to be able to save and resume the game,
  you must format your own disk. To do so, place your own blank disk
  in drive #1 and type:
     OPEN 15,8,15, "N0:SIRIUS SOFTWARE,BP": CLOSE 15
  then press the RETURN key.

  To load the game, place the BLACKPOOLE disk in drive #1 and then
  type:
     LOAD "SIRIUS", 8
  and press the RETURN key. Then, when you receive the "READY"
  prompt, type:
     RUN
  and press the RETURN key.

  To cancel a line of typed commands (before pressing return), press
  the commodore key. A slash will appear at the end of the old line
  and you will be given a new prompt.

Important Notice To Commodore 64 Owners:

  If the disk fails to load in four minutes, try it on another
  computer to eliminate the possibility of a bad diskette. All of our
  products are tested prior to shipping.

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End of the Project 64 etext of the Blade of Blackpoole manual.

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