Source:Eamon Deluxe Player's Manual, 1st edition

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Description	The Eamon Deluxe Player's Manual, 1st edition, written by Frank Black and included with Eamon Deluxe through version 4.5.
Source	archive.org
Date	2012
Author	Frank Black
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Other versions	File:Eamon Deluxe Player's Manual, 1st edition.pdf
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The Wonderful World of Eamon Deluxe
Eamon Deluxe Player's Manual

By Frank Kunze, 1999
(Some text by Donald Brown)

All non-commercial distribution is encouraged.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Eamon Deluxe

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 reins were soon taken up by a programmer named John Nelson who started the National Eamon User's 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 Jon Walker which runs under BASIC 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.

A brief history of Eamon Deluxe

Eamon Deluxe is a brand new adaptation of Eamon for the Windows/MS-DOS environment. I wrote it entirely by myself, and basically from scratch. Eamon Deluxe is pretty true to its 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.

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.

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.

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 the 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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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 Beginners 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 × 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.

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.

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!

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%.

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 × 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 × (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 × 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.

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 Beginners 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%).

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!

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.

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.

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%!

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.

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.

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.

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 Cavielli 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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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%.

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".

Going on an adventure

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

Most of your exploits will be exploring castles, 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 medieval 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 Beginners 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 "Beginners Adventures", as well as four other simple adventures.

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 Player's 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 programming. 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.