GUIDE TO PLAY |
| To load Doomdark's Revenge, type REVENGE
and then press ENTER. The game will then LOAD and RUN automatically. |
 Starting off
When loading is complete, the title screen will vanish and instead
you will find yourself looking through the eyes of Luxor the Moonprince upon the chill
land of Icemark. From now on, single key presses will control your actions, something you
will find useful as you gather diverse Lords of the Icemark to your banner and come to
make decisions for them all.
|
Saving a game in progress
The data for the Doomdark’s Revenge can be saved at any stage
of the game. To save a game in progress, you must first press the key marked SAVE on the
keyboard overlay. The SAVE key should only be pressed at a time when the computer is
waiting for you to press an option key: if it is doing something else, it will simply
ignore your key-stroke.
When you press SAVE a screen will appear instructing you what to
do next. Just simply select a slot to save the game in [A-Z] If there are no previous save
game files in the current directory, then slot A is automatically selected. |
Abandoning a game
We hope that you will never need to abandon a game of the
Doomdark’s Revenge, but if it should come to pass that your situation is beyond all
hope, you can abandon the game by pressing OLD GAME
You can’t simply start a fresh game at the press of a button.
Instead, you must either load the program back in or load back in the data from a game you
have already saved and pressing OLD GAME enables you to do this.
If you feel you are going to need a lot of fresh starts, we
recommend that you make a copy of the early stages of the Doomdark’s Revenge by
pressing SAVE either at the very start of the game or during your first few moves. |
Keeping track
Because Doomdark's Revenge presents such a vast canvas for you to
make your mark upon, we have provided a facility whereby you can keep a printed record of
each game as it progresses. Of course, you will need a printer compatible with the
computer and you may need a lot of paper! Pressing the COPY key at any stage of the game
will print-out the screen in front of you. |
You and the computer
You, the player, take the role of Luxor, the Moonprince of
Midnight. By virtue of the Moonring, which lends you the Power of Vision and the Power of
Command, you can control those characters in the land of Icemark who are friendly to your
cause, looking through their eyes at the surrounding landscape and guiding them in their
many tasks. Some will bejust individuals, some will be commanders at the head of whole
armies; when you move a commander, his army moves with him.
The computer plays the part of Shareth the Heartstealer, Empress
of the Frozen Empire and controls the characters and armies under her sway. It also guides
the fortunes of the many independent characters you will find in the land of Icemark,
making impartial decisions on their behalf. Independent characters may be persuaded to
join your cause, but equally may be persuaded by Shareth to fall in with her. |
Victory for the
Heartstealer
Shareth the Heartstealer has one single goal, the destruction of
Luxor the Moonprince, he who slew her father, Doomdark, Witchking of Midnight and who, in
her eyes, usurped her rightful inheritance. Her cold powers are, even now, greater than
Doomdark s ever were and if Shareth can bring about the death of the Moonprince. Midnight
will inevitably fall under her sway eventually. Shareth, therefore wins the game outright
if Luxor is slain. |
Victory for you, the
Moonprince
Many choices face Luxor, the Moonprince. Should he simply rescue
Morkin and retreat to the Gate of Varenorn and thence to Midnight? Should he seek to limit
Shareth’s power before returning through the Frozen Gates? Or should he seek ultimate
victory and, risking all attempt to destroy her forever?
Accordingly, Doomdark s Revenge allows for different kinds of
victory, some lesser, some greater, but before any of these victories can
be claimed. Luxor must return safely to the Gate of
Varenorn. The most basic victory that can be achieved is the rescue of
Morkin, Luxor’s son. He must be brought, alive and well, to the Gate of Varenorn. In
this task Tarithel, Fey daughter of the Lord of Dreams, will be the main protagonist but
she will not succeed alone.
Greater victories can be won by bringing other characters safe to
the Gate of Varenorn. Tarithels safe return is important and so is Rorthrons. The spoils
of war play their part too. Bring to Varenorn any of the Crowns of Icemark and your
victory will be the greater. It will be the greater still if you discover and return with
any of the arcane objects upon which Shareth s power depends. Knowledge of these must be
found during your struggles.
If, by any chance Morkin should be slain, only one victory remains
to Luxor - Shareth’s complete destruction. How this can be achieved, you must
discover during your travels through the Icemark but be warned, it is no easy task. If
Morkin dies. Luxor, racked with grief, will diminish in power.
The greatest victory of all is the destruction of Shareth and the
safe return of Luxor, Morkin, Tarithel and Rorthron to Varenorn. Upon this event. glowing
letters will flame on the surface of the Moonring, revealing to Luxor the ancient
Watchwords of Midnight that when spoken will awaken all the land to whatever peril
gathers. With these words at his command, the Moonprince will be sure to protect Midnight
for as long as he lives.
Victory is acknowledged when you press the N IGHT key. You will
then be told of the greatness of your triumph. Defeat. however, will immediately follow
upon Luxor’s death. After victory or defeat, only the LOAD key and the COPY key will
continue to function. |
Selecting a character
At the beginning of the game you have three characters under your
control. These are LUXOR the Moonprince, RORTHRON the Wise and TARlTHEL the Fey. You can
select any of these by pressing the key marked with their name. MORKIN also has his own
selection key but this will not work until you have released him from Shareth s spell of
enchantment. When selected, the display will switch immediately to that character's point
of view.
To select other characters (which you must rally to your banner
during the course of the game) you must press the SELECT key. When you do this, a list of
all the characters you control will appear, together with a list of the keys that will
select them. Press one of these selection keys and the display will switch immediately to
that character's point of view. If you control more characters than can be listed on the
screen, the message "More . . ." will appear at the bottom of the display. Press
the key marked MORE to view the rest of the list. |
Controlling a
character
Doomdark's Revenge is not an ordinary adventure
game and controlling the characters does not require you to guess at the right phrase of
command. Instead, you have four basic options, each available at the press of a single
key:
1) Look
On screen will appear a landscape corresponding to the view that the
character sees in the direction he is looking atthe time. During the LOOK option, you can
turn the character to look in another direction by pressing one of the compass keys:
NORTH, NORTH-EAST, EAST, SOUTH-EAST, SOUTH, SOUTH-WEST, WEST and NORTH-WEST.
2) Move
When this key is pressed, the character will move forward in the direction
he was last looking. When he reaches his new location, he will continue looking in that
direction and a new panorama will appear. Characters cannot move during night nor can they
move into the Icy Wastes that surround the Icemark. Other factors may also restrict
movement - exhaustion, cowardice and so on.
3)
Choose
The CHOOSE screen presents you with a list of special options and the keys
you must press to obtain each. What special options are open will depend upon the
situation the character finds himself or herself in but they also reflect the particular
personality of the character. So, the choices open to a greedy character will seldom
include acts of generosity, nor the choices open to a cowardly character include brave
deeds.
4) Check
There are four CHECK keys. They enable you to access
detailed information concerning the character you control and the situation he or she is
in.
a) CHECK PLACE: Gives you general information about the time of day, the
place and what your character may or may not have found there.
b) CHECK BATTLE: Gives you details of any battle or skirmish your
character has been involved in.
c) CHECK ARMY: Gives you details of your own army, any otherarmy in the
same location and any army in the location immediately ahead of your character.
d) CHECK PERSON: Gives a run-down on the personality of the character you
are controlling. Beware - some personalities may change as the game progresses!
You can press the LOOK, MOVE,
CHOOSE and CHECK keys at any stage during any of the
four basic options and the new screen will appear at once. |
More . . .
Sometimes there may be no room on a screen to print all the
relevant information. Whenever this happens, the message "More . . . ' will
appear at the bottom of the display. Pressing the key marked MORE will access the
remaining text. |
Night and Dawn
The game begins on the day that the Moonprince
rides forth from the Gate of Varenorn into the Icemark and proceeds by day and by night.
During the day you can move any or all of the characters you control. together with any
armies that accompany them. The distance a character can move in one day depends on the
difficuIty of the terrain and whether he is riding or walking as well as his generaI
vigour. You must learn by experience how far you can travel under given circumstances. However.
there is one important thing to remember: when you travel directly north. south. east or
west you are moving just one league at a time; moving in any other direction, you are travelling
along the diagonal of a square. a distance of approximately 1.4 leagues. This will
therefore take you longer and leave less hours of daylight for your journey.
Each character has his own. individual "clock" and when
he has exhausted his hours of daylight, nightwill fall for him. He will be unable to make
any further movement until the following day. Other characters under your control.
however, will still be able to move.
Once you have moved all the characters you wish to, you must press
the NlGHT key. This lets nightfall everywhere and signals the beginning
of movement for the forces of the Heartstealer. Independent characters will also move at
this time. There will be a pause as the computer "thinks" and rumours of battle
and other events may appear on the screen. Soon, however, the night will be over and the
message, "Dawn breaks" will appear on the screen.
To begin the new day you must press the DAWN key and then you will
be able to control your characters afresh. IF YOU DO NOT PRESS THE NlGHT KEY OR
THE DAWN KEY AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME, NOTHING FURTHER WILL HAPPEN AT ALL! |
| THE WARRING FACTIONS BATTLE 
Minor skirmishes involving individual characters can take place at
any stage during the day and will have an immediate result. Battles between armies,
however, are not decided until the day is over.
You are NOT able to move an army into the same
location as an unfriendly army by using the MOVE key. Such a decision is
always a special option that you must select using the CHOOSE option.
Some of the commanders you control may be so afraid that the possibility does not occur in
their list of options.
Two options can move an army onto unfriendly ground, ATTACK
and APPROACH. ATTACK should be used if you want to fight
a battle regardless of the other commander's intentions. APPROACH is like
going forward under a flag of truce; you may be able to parley with the other commander
and perhaps persuade him to join your cause. On the other hand, he may well ignore
your flag of truce and fall upon you. The APPROACH option should
be used with some caution, for if battle does follow, you will be at a disadvantage
compared to ATTACK.
Once battle has beenjoined, the character will not be able to move
until the following day. You can. however, move other characters into the same battle if
you wish. Atthe morrow's dawn, the outcome of the battle will be known to your commanders.
If the enemy has lost, his armies will have been destroyed or have fled, Ieaving the
battlefield in your possession. If the enemy has won a decisive victory, you will find
your characters (if they still live) scattered and bereft of troops. If, however, the
battle continues, you can move your commanders away that dawn or leave them there to fight
on through the next night.
Many things influence the outcome of a battle but you must learn
by hard-won experience which are crucial. |
THE
KINGDOMS OF ICEMARK 
The land of Icemark is ruled by five major races and the map that
Luxor carries with him, though lamentably lacking in detail, shows their Kingdoms. To the
North-east, the Men of the Frozen Empire are governed by Shareth the Heartstealer. To the
North-west lies the Kingdom of the Giants, to the East the Kingdom of the Dwarves whilst
to the South are the Outlands of the Barbarians and the Realm of the Fey. All these are
intermittently at war with each other, involved in petty feuds and border raids but of
them all, the Frozen Empire is the strongest and the most feared. To defeat Shareth, Luxor
must find allies in these foreign domains. The Lords of the Fey should be counted most
friendly, the Lords of the Iceguard least so, but a cunning Moonprince will exploit their
differences to his own purpose. There is only one in the whole of the Icemark who will
never rally to his banner - Shareth Heartstealer, his mortal enemy. |
