Abandonware DOS title

Worlds of Legend: Son of the Empire manual

                       worlds of legend: son of empire

the character classes

berserkers

in the forbidding wastes of the far north live the berserkers, a race of
warriors without equal who never tire of slaying the minions of chaos, in the
heat of battle some heroes of the northern clans can enter a state of blood
lust known as the "berserker rage". this turns them into wild and furious
killing machine who foam at the mouth and are completley unstoppable until
all their foes are slain.

troubadours

a troubadour is a class of warrior/musician who travel from place to place
hiring themselves out as fighters or entertainers, whichever is the most
lucrative. the songs sung in battle by a troubadour are, ancient melodies
steeped in magic that bolster characteristics like strenght, speed or
healing. this ability works on the whole party, not just on the singer,
(although they are more strongly affected).

assassins

to the east of the anciant realm lies the empire of the mooncomprising as it
does of numerous feuding provinces, it isnot, surprising therfore that the
way of the assassin is a popular career choice for many young adventureres
there. assassins are highly trained fighters who specialise, in the back
attack which can triple the damage they inflict when they attack from behind.
heavy weapons, such as swords or staves are to cumbersome for the assassins
to inflict critical damage with, but small weapons like daggers are ideal.

runemasters

the most potent form of magic found in the ancient realm, and the surrounding
lands entails the use of runes to cast spells. arcane reagents are mixed into
a bowl whilst invoking these runes to give them the power all runemasters
must have served an apprenticeship under an older and more powerfull mage
known as a "mantric"usually grants the would-be runemaster the knowlegde of a
few runes and then sends them into the world never to return. runemasters may
learn of the new runes and their reagents by finding another mantric who will
sell them the knowledge in the empire of the moon, only the mad monks know of
such things.

monsters

this is a general term refering to any characters who are not members of your
own party. there are many different types of monster to be found in the
dungeons, but they all have one thing in common-an overpowering natural
instinct to attack your party at the first opportunity. some monsters will be
axe fodder for the berserker, whilst others are capable of using magic and
must be dealt with in the same way. a good general rule when fighting
monsters is that the smaller they are, the easier they are to destrouy. for
example, koboids are tiny humonoid creatures who like nothing better than
hanging around with the more powerfull orcs of ratmen. fortunatly, they can
be destroyed with the minimum of effort. intelligent and very dangerous magic
using monsters can be easily spotted by their tendency to wear flowing robes
or shroud their faces under deep cowls . they can also be recognised by their
constant attempts to blast your party with spells rather than engage them in
physical combat!


welcome

haveing viewed the graphic introduction, pressing any key will display
another screen. this will also ask you to press a key for a new game or press
f1 to load in a save game. new players should press any key and skip this
section and read "what to do when the game has loaded". if you have a save
game from son of the empire press f1 and select f8 to load it in. you can
carry on from where you were when you last saved the game.


veteran legend players

hopefully only veteran legend players are left this part. hello. its nice to
see you again. you will be pleased to know that you can transfer your
experienced party of adventurers from legend into son of the empire by
selecting f1 (to load a save game) and then f4. you will also be very pleased
to discover that not only are their experience points and levels intact, but
so is their gold. whats more, their hit points will be double the strength
they were in legend and you will discover that the runemaster has retained
his spellbook, his ingredients and all his runes!


to transfer your party you must choose the save game number from legend that
you wish to load in. you will then begin the game at the start just like
everyone else, but with your legend party intact.

you should already be familiar with the game system, but you might notice a
few differences. the east doesn`t care much for taverns, and the only way of
finding those facilities offered by the guild in trazere is to visit the mad
monks. they can also offer you runes to buy and information on magic items,
just like the ancient could. if you`re looking for the minstrel, he doesn`t
usually travel this far east. don`t worry too much though, as a close
relation of the assassin can teach you any songs you don`t already know.
visiting places isn`t as straightforward as before, mainly due to the various
feuding provinces that are roaming the land and occupying villages, towns
etc. to gain entry to occupied locations you will need passes, and to get a
pass you need to defeat an enemy banner. for more details on passes see
banner encounters. many of the items to be found in the game will be
familiar, but there are also some new and different ones waiting to be
discovered. as in legend, ignore the usefulness of objects at your peril.

what to do when the game has loaded:


you should press any key to start a new game if you wish to start at the
begining with a fresh party, having selected a new gane you will be presented
with the party selection screen this allows you to select your own four
adventurers.

party selection:

there are a few restrictions to who you can have in your party you must have
four members at the start of the quest and you have to have one of each
character class. who you have within these restrictions and what gender they
are is completely up to you.

see screen:

object types:

keys:

these are very important. there are many locked doors within the dungeon
which require certain keys you will not always find the key you require in
the same location as the locked door.

rings: (worn)

there are many different types of ring, all are magical and have different
powers.

potions:

the potions all have magical effects and can only be used once.

scrolls:

these magigical scrolls allow any character to cast a spell once only.

helms: (worn)

all helms are magical and have various effects.

wands:

allow the user to cast the revelent spell until they expire.


new game:

click on the large x which shows the land map (see screen)the map shows every
location in the game, the small flags show which army controls different
locations.


traveling:

simply position the cursor over the desired location, press select button.
the party banner will then head for that location. speed will depend on the
quality of the steeds in the party, they can be bought imperia or the keeps.

banners

at the start of the quest you are located approximately in the middle of the
map other banners will appear due to the number of feuding provencies each
one representing a different army colours white/black=imperia
white/red=kasyai red=iyoto green=tokiama brown=guidato the only army on your
side comes from impria all others should be considerd hostile


the time of day

time goes by quite quickly when you are on the land map the sun and moon will
pass over head if you place the cursor in the scroll at the bottom of the
screen or anywhere outside the map the the day and date will be displayed.


menu system see screen
inside towns only.


the apothecary


specaialises in selling magic ingredients that are used only by the
runemaster.


the artificer


the shop buys and sells items that are not armour or weapon related.


the blacksmith

this man will buy and sell armour and weaponry.


holy temples

inside you can do one of three things 1 resurrrect 2 offer prayer 3 buy
healing potin.

mad monks

they will identify items have magical powers, sell new runes and train
characters.


the imeria dungeon:

see screen select enter vault option.

to servive you must find and use items and unlock doors, fight monsters etc.
to move the characters around the dungeon simply click on the floor tille you
wish the character to go to. if any monsters are present they will probably
try to attack the characters or just get in the way. to move from one romm to
another just select an exit tile. at this point all four will head for the
exit. note;that if you exit a room with monsters present you will enter
chicken mode and will keep running until you reach a dead end or the rally
icon is selected.

the skulls

these measure the total number of hit points per character each one
represents a quarter of the total hit points. the current luck score is also
shown in the colour of the skulls.


damage

whenever a monster gets a hit on a character then the total hit points damage
will be shown over the figure of the character.

elliot the dragon

main role in life is to map out the dungeon for the party. rooms are
displayed as boxes and corridors arre lines connecting the boxes together.

the inventory

selecting the knapsack shows the inventory screen.


objects in possession

each character can cary up to 16 items at any one time

the characters ability scores

these scores will chance throughout the game as they are affected by objects
magic or other influences

attack factor

determines how hard a monster will hit the character.

defence facter

determines how fast a character can block and dodge a blow from a monster.


armour class

minus numbers are better than posative numbers eg, -5 is better than +2.

strength

determines how strong your characters are.

intellagece

effects the strength of magic spells.

speed

determines the number of attacks a character can inflict on a monster at any
given time.

dexterity

determines how agile a character is during a monster encounter.

constitution

determines how well a character resists a magical attack.

luck

is bistowed on the character by the gods. it saves the character from a
killing blow. if the move was succesful one point will be deducted from the
characters total luck score.


steeds

the speed at which your party can move around the land map is determined by
the type of steed each of your party has. nag is the slowest.

levels and experience

for every encounter a character wins he will gain experience points. once a
character has achieved a certain number of points he is ready to be trained
up for a new level.

level 1-level 2 2000 points
level 2-level 3 5000 points
level 3-level 4 12000 points

gold

gold is used for buying items and information from various locations.

equiping

to use an item in your inventory it must be equiped first

drop icon

highlight item in hte inventory then click on the drop item icon.

giving objects to other characters

to give an object to another character select the item from the inventory and
then click on the character you wish to give it to.

disk icon

used for saving and loading games

exit screen icon

this icon will take you back to the dungeon from the inventory.

the item plinths

there are three item plinths the equiped items appear here.

(e) carry plinth

this plinth is the characters left hand and wands, scrolls and keys will
appear here.

(f) weapon plinth

the plinth represents the characters right hand, any usable weapons will
appear here.

(g) arcane plinth

magical items will appear here if they can be worn.

using equiped object

move the pointer over the revelent plinth and press the selector to opperate
the item eg sword etc.

(h) ralley (enter key )

this icon has a number of uses but the principal remains the same, selecting
this gives the remaining characters an order to rally round the party leader.
reasons being are as follows:

during battle

if a party member is getting beaten by the monsters the other characters will
come to his aid.

surround spells

this will surround the party with magic and help ward off the rune masters
spells.

action menu

this menu has five basic functions that any of the characters can perform the
sixth item is the xharacters special ability

push =f5
take =f6
look =f7
open =f8
shut =f9
special abilities f10 or spacebar

trubadore bardish melody


the thief of dolic pass boosts party dexterity
warriors awakening boosts party strength
ballard of elanor boosts patry defence factor
kijam litany boosts party constitution
smithy song boosts party armour class
adieu sweet dullard boosts party intellagence
dance of the fairy queen boosts party speed
march of the bold ones a weak regeneration spell

runemaster

the runemaster is the only official magic user and can prepair up to ten
spells.

.......................................................

additional information

due to the graphical nature of the manual, to those who have played adventure
games before should have no problem.