THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



RANARAMA



PUBLISHER

Hewson Consultants



AUTHOR

Graftgold Ltd



YEAR 1987



CONTROLS

Keyboard, Cursor, Kempston



 KEYS:  Up       - A, S, D, F, G

        Down     - Z, X, C, V

        Left     - B, N

        Right    - M

        Fire     - H, J, K, L

        Autofire - W



   Use Offence Spell - Fire with a direction selected

   Use Effect Spell  - Fire with no direction selected

   Activate Glyph    - Stand on Glyph and press fire with no

                       direction selected

   During Combat - Use left/right to select a pair of letters

                       and press fire to reverse their order





INSTRUCTIONS

Mervyn the sorcerer's apprentice has inadvertantly changed

himself into a frog whilst trying to make a potion to improve his

looks! Trapped in a dungeon with only evil Warlocks and their

minions for company, he must escape...



You start in one of the rooms on the top level of the dungeons.

Your aim is to explore each room in turn to track down the evil

Warlocks, but you will also have to fight their malevolent

minions. In some rooms there are also squat weapon generators

which create spinning blades and other weapons to attack you. You

can destroy these for extra points.



Each room lights up as you enter it. You will see the room's

inhabitants and magical floor Glyphs (if any) which can be used

to help you. When you locate a Warlock, leap on top of him to

enter a ritual combat in which you must put the letters of the

word RANARAMA in the right order before time runs out. Pairs of

letters may be swapped by moving a cursor over them and pressing

fire.



When a Warlock is defeated, the runes he holds are scattered to

the four winds. Collect as many of them as you can before they

fade and die, as you can use them to cast spells to increase your

power and resilience.



GLYPHS : There are four types of Glyph:



Glyph of Power (star symbol)  - Releases magic bolt which kills

some or all of your opponents in the room



Glyph of Seeing (eye symbol)  - Shows all rooms and doors

explored so far. With the See spell, it also shows in red the

position of Warlocks.



Glyph of Sorcery (triangle)    - Essential for casting spells.

At least 5 screens of information can be accessed using up/down

to scroll through the screens. The first screen shows spells

currently in use and also runes collected so far. Subsequent

screens give details on other active spells and spells which can

be cast using the runes collected. These can be cast by pressing

the fire button.



Glyph of Travel (diamond) - A side view of the dungeon appears

and you may use up/down to travel to another level, or press fire

to leave the Glyph. You may not be able to return the way you

came!



SPELLS: There are also four types of spells - Power, Offence,

Defence and Effect. You start the game with the weakest versions

of each but as you collect runes from defeated Warlocks, you may

cast stronger versions. You will need these to survive in the

lower levels!



Bear in mind that spells should be evenly matched. A strong

Offence spell, for example, makes your fire more powerful but

also rapidly drains a weak Power spell so you might die from lack

of power. You start the game with Psychic, the second weakest

Power spell, with Mortal (the weakest) in reserve. Your power

continually drains at a steady rate and if you do not succeed in

replenishing it with Energy Crystals or a stronger Power spell,

you will eventually fade and drop to the Mortal level. If you

fail a second time on Mortal you die for good.



You also start with the weakest Offence spell (Zap), which means

that some generators and creatures will need several hits to

destroy. Your Defence spell (Protect) is also weak, giving you

only minimal protection against attack. Your initial Effects

spell (Find) enables you to locate invisible doors. If you

suspect there is one in your current room, stop and press fire.

Any hidden doors will then be revealed.



ENERGY CRYSTALS : You will stumble across these floating,

spinning crystals from time to time. Touch them to absorb their

energy and replenish your power level.



 THE EVIL MINIONS :

  Dwarf Warrior - 1st Level Fighter     (100 Points)    Weak

  Fire Golem - 2nd Level Fighter        (200 Points)

  Bisect - 3rd Level Fighter            (300 Points)    Average

  Guardian - 4th Level Fighter          (400 Points)

  Death Serpent - 5th Level Fighter     (500 Points)    Tough

  Ghoul - 6th Level Fighter             (600 Points)

  Arachne - 7th Level Fighter           (700 Points)    Hard

  Gargoyle - 8th Level Fighter          (800 Points)    Very

Hard!



WARLOCKS :

Wizard - Level 1-4 Mage               (500-4000 Points)

Are frequently cowards, running away if you are of a higher level



Necromancer - Level 5-8 Mage          (4500-8000 Points)

The toughest of the tough, they give no ground and possess

devastating spells. Do not tackle without a high Defence spell!





SCORES RECEIVED

"The most innovative GAUNTLET clone." 90% (CRASH #38, March 1987)



GENERAL FACTS



NOTES

