The Hound of Shadow manual
------------------- THE HOUND OF SHADOW ------------------- CREATING A USER DISK It is necessary to have a user disk ready before starting play, simply format a blank disk using the initialize command. Insert the Hound of Shadow Disk 2 into drive 0(df0:) and turn on your computer. The disk starts normally up, then it prompts for an empty disk to initialize. After initializing it prompts for the Hound of Shadow Disk 2 (DiskB). Then the computer copies the character files into your RAM. After prompting for your User Disk it will copy the character files into your User Disk from the RAM: Now you have an User Disk and the game can commence. GETTING STARTED Before you can start playing a scenario it is necessary to select a character with which to play. If you have previously created characters or wish to use the pre-designed characters then choose Select Character from the main menu. You are then prompted to insert your user disk and select the character of your choice. Having selected your character you may either Begin A Scenario or Examine This Character. If you wish to create a new character then see below. CREATING A CHARACTER Choose the Create Character option from the main menu. You will find the instructions on how to create a character in the manual. Once you have finished you will be asked to save the character record to disk. Simply enter a name of up to 8 characters you must use the Select Character option from the main menu before you can Begin A Scenario. BEGINNING A SCENARIO Once you have chosen your character select Begin A Scenario. You will be asked to insert your user disk. PLAYING A SCENARIO This is a role-playing game that uses a traditional adventure-style parser system. This means that you must use the keyboard to type in commands that the game interprets. Since this is an investigative horror role-playing adventure, you must be careful to remember the information presented and unravel the plot if you are to succeed. To help you do this, the game has a command to summarise the extent of your plot knowledge - type "What do I know" to get this information. Do not rely on it to store all of your knowledge, just use it as a helpful reminder. To help you, here are a number of commands relating to the game: EXITS Lists all possible routes from one place, this includes ways of getting lost and stranger less substantial routes. HELP This offers some quick advice about conversation. R This describes the location that you currently are in. It will also display the picture for the location again, if there is one. INV This gives you a list of the objects that you are carrying. GRAPHICS/TEXT These switch the graphics on or off, although when switched off the picture will be displayed once when you enter that location for the first time. PAUSE Forces a pause and waits for a key press. Press the Escape key to return from the full screen graphics. At the ------=====oOo=====------ pause marker press any key to continue. Press any key to continue when "[more]" is displayed on the screen. The function keys have some pre-programmed responses: F1 Get F2 Drop F3 Inv (+return) F4 Examine F5 Time (+return) F9 Load Saved Position F10 Save Position CURSOR can be used to input KEYS Directional Movement HELP echoes "Help" INSERT echoes the last entry At the "ENTER FILENAME" prompt during load saved position enter a "?" to catalogue the saved positions on your user disk. There are a number of conventions that allow you to move about and live in the real world, rather than a problematic adventure world. You are able to 'Go To...' places simply. For example typing 'Go To The Bedroom', will take you straight into the bedroom, allowing you to move quickly and easily between locations. Sometimes this facility is disabled due to circumstance. If you are having a conversation you will probably be able to walk out. However, you can't use the 'Go To...' command, whilst you are in the middle of a conversation, you must end it first. The game relies on meetings and events taking place at certain times and places, in fact peoples lives depend on it. To help with your control of time there is a simple 'Wait Until...' command. This allows you to wait for up to 12 hours at a time. SAVING, LOADING AND DEATH Three things that are not usually connected. When your character dies in this game they are really dead and this fact is saved to their character record. You cannot use them in this or any other Timeline game. You can save your position to paues the Scenario at any point, allowing you to switch off the machine or take a break. A saved position is limited to the specific character that was playing at the time of saving. To load a saved position you must be playing the scenario with the same living character that was used to save the game. This means that when your characters die they are dead. COMPLETING THE HOUND OF SHADOW Once a particular character has completed the Hound of Shadow they will not be able to play the Hound of Shadow scenario again. Completion of a scenario does not always mean successful completion. You can finish a scenario in a number of ways, most of which are unsuccessful. THE PRE-DESIGNED CHARACTERS: A BRIEF SYNOPSIS BRIAN O'DONELLY Filename: Brian The young Brian O'Donelly grew up on the streets of New York, and what he lacked in formal schooling he made up for in street smarts and native toughness. It was all too easy to use his natural charm and Irish blarney to make money from backroom card games and, but for the intervention of a brother in the Priesthood, he might have ended up rose to the rank of Sergeant in the Police force. One of the first to volunteer for service in France, he survived the carnage in the trenches, only to find on his return that the politicians were in the pockets of the mobsters. Disillusioned with the Police, he left two years ago to become a Private Eye. Now, 1925 finds him in London.... SALLY CHEVERTON Filename: Sally The daughter of a prominent surgeon, Sally grew up helping her father in his charity work in the slums of Southampton. No shrinking violet, she can take care of herself in most situations and has inherited her father's strength of will. Educated at a progressive ladies college, she chose not to follow a scientific or medical career but instead aimed to become a Historian. Frustrated by the conservatism and chauvinism of the academic establishment and unable to earn a living from her first love Photography, she has decided to follow the example of Mary Anne Evans, who became famous as the novelist George Eliot, and write. She however, is not going to use an assumed name. By 1921 sha hass already had one book published and is ambitious for greater success. SIR EDWARD BEAUCHAMP-SMYTHE Filename: Edward Born in India, Sir Edward's family moved back to England when he was only six months old. Expelled from half a dozen schools for wild pranks, the only academic subject that interested him was the classics. The young Edward was the despair of his parents, university was out of the question and his natural talent for things mechanical was hardly the basis of a fitting career for a baronet. It was not until a trip to France in 1909 that he found his true vocation, when he saw Bleriot's triumphant cross-channel flight. For the next five years, his time was evenly divided between flying and High Society. When the Defence of The Realm Act outlawed civil aviation for the duration of the Great War, he had only one option, and for the next four years flew over the Western Front. Not as famous as Ball, Rickenbauer or Lafayette, he was none the less decorated for valour, and more than that came back alive. Four years later, he is toying with the idea of attempts on several long distance aviation records, and is waiting for Mrs. Sopwith to finish the BS Special....
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