CITY OF DEATH RULES
THE STORY SO FAR.....
SWORDBANE pulled his cloak tightly around him
and watched the shore receding into the distant
early morning mist. His mission was entering it's
final stage. Somewhere up ahead was a small
island, where the Oracle had said he would find the
great wizard Bellatrix. Only Bellatrix had the power
to save his small village from the dark sorcery of
the evil Druids.
He was the finest warrior that his village had ever
produced, and had been granted the title of
SWORDBANE, and as the SWORDBANE, it had
fallen on him to undertake this mission.
The sun was now dissipating the mist, and
looming ahead of him, SWORDBANE could see
the City of Death, it's harbour lined with cannons
and a castle dominating the harbour, and on the
hill overlooking the harbour, a palace surmounted
by a grinning skull. The city was indeed aptly
named......
THE GAME
CITY OF DEATH is an adventure game that takes
place in an old city inhabited by some very unusual
people. Strangers are avoided by the populace,
and hunted down and jailed or killed by the
mercenary guards of the city. Far more dangerous
still are the soul-looters, who in their bright red
garb roam the streets, terrorising the inhabitants.
You start the game on the jetty of the harbour
where your ship has docked. All you know about
the city has been gleaned from whispered
rumours. Your objective is to find the wizard
BELLATRIX.
You will need whatever money you can get hold of,
as information does not come cheap. You can
enter houses, steal, request information, fight,
surrender, or buy weapons, food and spells.
Many of the guards that you will meet have
superior combat skills to yourself, and you will
need to improve your combat skill when at all
possible. This can be done by purchasing superior
weapons and armour at the Armoury, or by
purchasing magical abilities at the Wizard's Villa.
Stamina can be increased by the purchase of food
at one of the several taverns in the city. The
purchase of magical abilities also buys an increase
in stamina.
HOW TO PLAY
1. To load CITY OF DEATH follow the instructions
given on the cassette label.
2. To move SWORDBANE around the city, the
movement keys are as follows:
NORTH = A
SOUTH = Z
WEST = X
EAST = C
These movement keys are displayed on-screen in
the yellow box for quick reference.
3. Displayed on the screen in the blue box are a list
of all of the options available and the single-key
entries for each option. Not all of the options can
be used at any time: for example, you can only buy
food from a Tavern.
4. When confronted by a guard, you will be asked
if you wish to surrender. Should you be running
short of stamina points, or if you feel that you are
unlikely to win, it may be wise to surrender.
5. When you enter into combat, attack options are
displayed (HEAD, CHEST, BODY, LEGS and
ARMS), in order of difficulty of hitting that location
and the damage inflicted by a successful hit. So a
head blow is more tricky but scores greater
damage if successful. However, you can choose to
aim 'Blind', which gives you a better chance of a
hit, but the computer randomly selects the location
of inflicted damage. The severity of a wound
inflicted on you is displayed in "damage points".
6. When entering a house, you are given the
option of either searching the house with a view to
stealing anything of value, or of asking the
inhabitants (if any) the direction of Bellatrix's
house. However, in a city where greed plays an
overwhelming part, you will find that you need to
bribe them for an answer. False clues will be given,
but a false clue will never be given twice, whilst
genuine clues can appear again and again.
7. Displayed in the top-right hand corner is your
current status. This shows you: your current skill
level; your stamina; your current wealth (in coins);
and how many moves you have taken so far.
PROGRAMMED BY: PETER CARMPOULONI AND
GEORGE CARMPOULONI
PLAYTESTERS: STANLEY, KEITH, CHRIS AND
MANY OTHERS
ARTWORK: ED DOVEY
PRINTING: P.J. LITHO. TEL: 01-527 6225
DUPLICATION: DATACLONE
Copyright-RED SHIFT LTD., 1984. This copyright covers all
elements of the game including Visual, Audio and Program.
RED SHIFT Ltd.
12c Manor Road,
Stoke Newington,
London N16 5SA.
If you have any problems with this game please contact:-
Dr. Strange-Love on 01-800 1333 on Mondays only.
