                             Rooms of the Abyss

The story begins...

  Once upon a time, in a land named Garthern, there lived a benevolent king by
the name of Edward.  King Edward ruled the land fairly and orderly for many 
years accompanied by his faithful assistant, Deerg the Wizard.  Deerg was very
wise in the ways of alchemy and sorcery, and protected Garthern from many out-
side foes.  Everythig was complacent throughout the realm until one unfortunate
night when evil thoughts overtook Deerg's mind.

  Deerg figured that with his magical powers and might, he could overthrow 
Edward and rule Garthern himself with an iron fist.  While gathering his evil
horde of turncoats, Deerg poisoned the King's gruel and began his plot to take
over.  Unfortunately for Deerg, he didn't calculate the resistance of the loyal
members of Edward's army.  Led by the brave knight Sir Mark Wolfe, the legion
of good met Deerg and his evil followers.

  A great battle ensued as Wolfe and Deerg confronted each other in the midst
of war.  Mark lunged at Deerg with his sword, plunging it deep into the chest
of the evil wizard.  As he took another look at the fallen wizard, Mark 
realized it was an illusion and he had actually killed one of his own soldiers.
Spinning around, Mark had just enough time to see Deerg wave his staff as he
fell to the ground unconscious.

  Light began to pour through Mark's eyes as he awoke from his deep slumber.  
Sensing that he was in an unfamiliar place, he sprang to his feet and scanned
the environment around him.  After close scrutiny, Mark noticed he was in a 
small room with a door in front and to the right of him.  No lantern or 
candle was visible, yet the room almost glowed with an unnatural light.  
Glancing down, Mark noticed a small, silver key lying by his feet.  As he bent
down and touched it, an echo filled his subconscious as Edward's voice was 
heard: "Sir Mark Wolfe, if you are to prove your worth as a knight, you must
fight your way through these Rooms of the Abyss.  Only with the magic and items
found in here can you defeat Deerg after you escape.  You must save Garthern and
avenge my murder.  Good Luck...".  The voice faded and Mark was left standing 
alone, clutching the silver key in his hand.  His mind raced as he paced the
room, searching his thoughts for a course of action.  Finally, Mark tightened
his grip on the key, glanced upwards toward the heavens, and slowly began to
make his way to the large, wooden door that loomed in front of him...




Game Requirements: VGA graphics, 512K of RAM.

Recommended: Hard Drive, 12Mhz or better.





                                 Instructions

1. To install the game onto a hard drive, which is recommended, use the 
   INSTALL.BAT file located on the disk.  Let's say for instance you want to  
   install the game from floppy drive A: to hard drive C: in a directory
   called ROOMS.  Put the game disk in the A: drive, access the drive, then
   type in INSTALL C A ROOMS, where C is the hard drive letter, A is the 
   floppy drive letter, and ROOMS is the directory you want it in. 
   This will make the directory ROOMS on your hard drive and copy all the
   needed files over.  When the installation is complete, access your
   hard drive, in this case, type in C: <ENTER>, then CD ROOMS <ENTER>, 
   and finally ROOMS <ENTER>.  You will then be greeted with the intro screen.


2. To run "Rooms of the Abyss", insert the disk into a drive, access the drive,
   and type in ROOMS, then <ENTER>.

3. After reading the intro screen, the program will ask you to select a level 
   of difficulty.  Selecting easy will start you with 400 hit points and 50
   experience points, normal will give you 300 hit points and 25 experience
   points, and hard will start you with 200 hit points and zero experience
   points.  Every time you start a new game, you will be asked to choose a 
   level of difficulty.  After this, the program will search for a mouse.  If 
   you want to use a mouse during the game, make sure your mouse driver is
   loaded before playing.  If a mouse is detected, a screen will come up
   asking you if you want to use it.  If no mouse is detected, the program
   defaults to the keyboard.  Whatever method of control, whether defaulted
   to or chosen, will be saved to a file called CONFIG.ROM.  Everytime you 
   play after the first time, the program will search for this file and use
   the method of control saved in it.  If you would like to change the
   method of control, simply erase the CONFIG.ROM file.  To do this, access
   the directory or disk, then type in ERASE CONFIG.ROM <ENTER>.  Now when
   you run the game, it will ask you what method you want. 


4. After step 3, wait for the main menu to appear.  If you choose 1,
   you will be taken to the Game Options Menu.  If you choose a 2, you will go
   through the title screen and begin a new game.  Choosing a 3 will auto-
   matically exit you to DOS.  If you chose to start a new game, you will start
   in level 1, room 1.  A silver key will appear on the floor.  Use the arrow 
   keys to move around and use the commands(see #4) to perform certain actions.
   A small square at the bottom of the screen means there is a door behind you.

   WARNING!!!  Do not rapidly press the arrow keys, or any other keys for that
               matter, as it will cause bothersome, but not critical, 
               graphical problems.  Allow each room to be drawn before typing
               any keys.

5. There are fourteen action keys in this game.

   4-1. A=Ascend         Allows you to move up a ladder or similar object.
   4-2. C=Chat           Initiates communication with another character.
   4-3. D=Descend        Allows you to move down a ladder or similar object.
   4-4. F=Fight          Initiates combat with an enemy.
                         See item #6.
   4-5. G=Game Options   Lets you choose between starting a new game, exiting
                         to DOS, or going to the Hint Menu.
   4-6  H=Help           Takes you to the help screen, a smaller version of this
                         manual.
   4-7. K=Knapsack       Displays your current inventory.
   4-8. M=Map            Displays a map of the area you have explored.
   4-9. O=Open           Opens a chest in a room.
   4-10. R=Restore       Allows you to type in the name of a saved game and 
                         restore it.
   4-11. S=Save          Saves your current status and allows you to continue
                         at another time.
   4-12. T=Take          Allows you to take an item you find in a room.
   4-13. U=Unlock        Unlocks a locked door, if you have the key.
   4-14. Z=Utilize       Displays a numerical list of items available to be 
                         used. To use the item, type in the number preceeding
                         the name and press <ENTER>.

  Left arrow-Move left.
  Right arrow-Move right.
  Up arrow-Move forward.
  Down arrow-Move backwards. 

  If you are using the mouse, you will notice 4 red squares on the right hand
  side of the screen, pointing in all 4 directions.  To move the way of the 
  arrow, simply click on the arrow.



    To get back to your game after you have viewed the map, knapsack, or a 
    similar command, press the spacebar.  Generally, when the computer says to
    hit a key, you should always hit the spacebar.  The following keys should
    be hit if you have accidentally struck the command and don't want to 
    perform it:
                Restore Menu: Hit <ENTER> to return to game.
                Game Options Menu: Hit the spacebar to return to game.
                Save Menu: Hit <ENTER> to return to game.
                Utilize Menu: Hit <ENTER> to return to game.

    Mouse users: To return to the game, you should generally press the right 
    button.     

 
5. Combat

    Fortunately for you, Deerg's denziens are frozen in their trcks and will not
    attack you unless provoked by the (F)ight command.  You may walk right
    past these monsters, but be warned: You must eventually fight these
    monsters to go to the next level, find secrets, and eventually finish the
    game.  Once invoking the (F)ight command, you will be greeted with the
    combat screen.  On the left you will find your hit point bar compared to
    the monsters hit point bar.  In the middle, you will see the monster or
    monsters' weapon, and your weapon move as the battle ensues.  And finally,
    at the right, the Comabt Options and Combat Results boxes will appear.

    The Combat Options box shows you the command keys available for combat.  
    These include:
                   (A)ttack- You will attack the monster once.
                   (I)ntimidate-You will try to scare the monster.
		   (S)kip-You will skip your turn.
                   (R)un-You will try to run away from the monster.
                   (C)onstant Attack-You will keep attacking without pressing
                                     anymore keys until you or the monster dies.     		
   
    If you have more hit points than the monster, you will start first in combat
    and take turns after that.  If the monster has more, the opposite is true.
    There is a chance, as you will see, that you or the monster will miss an 
    attack during the battle.  There is also a small chance, depending on the 
    level, that the monster will become frightened and run away forever.  


6. On the (U)tilize command

    The utilize command will allow you to use different items any time.  If
    you wanted to use a lower class weapon than you currently have, go to the
    utilize screen, type in the number preceeding the wepon, and press <ENTER>.
    You will now be fighting with the weapon you just selected.  To use any
    potions you find, do the same thing.  Potions usually restore hit points,
    how many depends on the level.

7. Other topics:

    This game has a total of 10 levels in it with over 700 rooms to explore.
    There are plenty of weapons, armor, keys, and other goodies to find along
    the way.  Use the keys to unlock doors with an X through the handle.
    Also, watch out for the evil servants of Deerg, which are roaming through
    the rooms.  You will gain experience points as you continue on your quest.
    You will need to accumulate enough experience points to move to a higher
    level.  You will start with zero experience points.  Try to gain experience
    as quickly as you can, or watch your hit points fall.  If your hit points
    ever drop to zero, your game is over.  
    
    Remember to keep your eyes open for hidden secrets.  Deerg is a twisted,
    sly wizard, and all is not as it seems.  Good luck!  The people of Garthern
    are counting on you!

8.  On the Hint Menu...

      When you get to the hint menu, you will have 4 choices.  The first choice
    will be to see what there is to get on the current level.  This includes 
    all the keys, potions, weapons, aromr, and elements you need to get to 
    finish that level.  Your second choice will be to see what kind of monsters
    are on the current level.  This includes the monsters name, range of hit
    points, weapon class, armor class, and attitude.  This will also tell you 
    which rooms each monster can be currently found in.  Also, if there is a 
    boss on the current level, it will tell you who it is and what room he's
    in. Your third choice tells you how to get off the current level, and 
    should only be used as a last resort, as it gives away where everything is
    and how to get it on that level.  Only use this option if you're really
    stuck!  The last choice will be to exit the menu, and doing so will return
    you to the game.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      We would like to once again express our thanks to you for having
    registered our game.  Hopefully enough people will register and pay
    our way through college!  Well, maybe not, but we still appreciate you
    interest in our game.  If you have any questions, comments or thoughts
    about Rooms of the Abyss, or if you're just interested in learning more
    about us, feel free to write to us at any time.  You'll find our addresses
    listed below.  Have fun playing Rooms and keep your eyes peeled for our
    next game!


 
       Rooms of the Abyss                       Rooms of the Abyss
       c/o Damon Lichtenwalner       or         c/o Martin Binder
       R.R. #1 BOX 1313                         105 Lafayette Ave.  
       Kunkletown, PA  18058	                Palmerton, PA  18071


			     Rooms of the Abyss
		    Written, Created, and Programmed by:
         	   Martin Binder and Damon Lichtenwalner
			      Copyright 1992
