Alternate Reality: The City
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 CheapMore 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 westFood 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 61,2Banks 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, 10Shops 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 northSmithies have different hours. Goods change, prices change, and almost everything is expensive.
HEALERS:
20, 05
30, 30Healers 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 northGuilds 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 WoundsLEGEND
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:
- Save your character often to a separate backup disk!
- Have (or get) a fast copy utility. Do NOT use the backup utility that comes with the game.
- 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!
- 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.
- 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.
- Do not bother to examine or taste potions, just sip. Avoid too many protection potions as this will cause your character to crash.
- While still a lower level character, avoid being out at night or in the rain.
- When finding a weapon, always equip it as a secondary weapon in case it is cursed.
