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How to play Dark Tower
CONTENTS
OBJECT OF THE GAME
The object of the game is to circle the board, passing through three foreign
kingdoms, collecting three keys along the way. You then return to the
fourth kingdom, your home kingdom, and lay siege to the brigands in the
tower. When you have defeated the brigands, the game is over and you have
won.
GETTING STARTED
When the game has finished loading (please be patient, as loading can take
several minutes on a dial up connection) you will be asked by the game if you
are ready to begin. After pressing YES here, the game will ask you to
choose your home kingdom. Pick whichever kingdom you like, as it makes no
real difference. It only affects the look of your pawn.
Next, choose which level of difficulty you would like to play. The
level affects only one thing -- the possible number of brigands you will face in
the tower. Level one is the easiest, two the hardest, and three is in the
middle. Confusing, I know, but that is how Milton Bradley designed
it. Please note that there is no level four in this Flash version, because
level four was only used for learning the rules of the game, and was not much fun to
play.
Now you're ready to play.
MOVING YOUR PAWN
Your pawn starts in his own kingdom and should quickly make his way to the
neighboring kingdom in the counter clockwise direction. There is NO key to
be found in your own kingdom, so don't linger. You may move to any
adjacent space by clicking on the space you would like to move to. Legal
spaces will show up highlighted blue when you place the mouse cursor over
them. You may only pass from one kingdom to the next in a counter
clockwise direction. Move to a frontier space to pass into the next
kingdom.
Once you have moved into a foreign kingdom, you must find a key there, and
only then may you move on to the next kingdom. In the first foreign
kingdom you will find a BRASS KEY. In the second foreign kingdom you will
find a SILVER KEY. And you may have guessed that you will find a GOLD KEY
in the last foreign kingdom. When you have all three keys, make your way
back to your home kingdom, to the Dark Tower space near the center of the board.
Note that you may not pass back into a kingdom (in a clockwise direction)
once you have left it.
If you try to leave a kingdom before you have collected the key from that
kingdom, the tower will prohibit you from leaving, and warn you that a key is
missing.
INVENTORY
Dark Tower is similar to many role playing games, in
that you possess an inventory of items and companions. You may view the
contents of your inventory at any time by holding the mouse cursor over the top of
the inventory card, which is located beneath the tower in the lower left corner
of the game screen. Inventory quantities are tracked automatically by the
game for you and are displayed in a manner consistent with the original board
game.
These are the things you may possess, and in some cases must
possess, throughout the course of the game:
WARRIORS - They fight your
battles against the brigands and they help carry your gold. You begin the
game with 10, and you may hire more warriors at the bazaar, win warriors by the
aid of a healer, or be granted warriors through charity when your need is
great. You may have in your company up to 99 warriors, and no more.
If you lose all of your warriors, you have lost the game, so be careful.
GOLD - Won in battles,
found in abandoned tombs, and recovered from slain dragons, gold is the currency
of the lands. You must use it to make any purchase at the bazaar.
You always begin with 30 bags of gold. You may never own more than 99 bags
of gold. Gold is heavy. One warrior may carry only six bags.
So you may never possess more than your number of warriors times six bags of
gold, unless you have purchased a beast (see below.)
FOOD - Your warriors must
be fed! Without food they will quickly starve to death. You may buy food
at the bazaar. When you have less than five rations left, a sanctuary will
generously bestow you with a gift of food, as will your own citadel. Food
is consumed at the rate of one ration per turn for the first 15 warriors in your
company, 16-30 will consume two rations per turn, 31-45 will consume three;
46-60 4; 61-75 5; 76-90 6; 91-99 7. The most food you can carry is 99
rations. Food always costs 1 bag of gold at the bazaar, and you may not
haggle the price any lower. The beast, scout and healer do not consume
food rations.
BEAST - The beast is one
of burden. The sole purpose of a beast is to help you carry your
gold. A beast can carry 50 bags of gold above and beyond what your
warriors are capable of themselves carrying. You may buy a beast at the
bazaar and can own only one. A beast cannot be slain or lost in any way
once purchased.
SCOUT - A scout is a man
hired at the bazaar to remain with you permanently throughout the rest of the
game. When you have a scout among your party, you will never be
lost. Getting lost will cause you to not be able to move and your turn
will be over. With a scout you will not only move, but receive a free
second turn. Note that you do consume food on the second turn. A
scout is most useful in a multiplayer game (which is not yet supported by this
Flash version), but can be useful in a single player game to help you achieve a
higher end- of- game score by allowing you to complete the game in fewer turns (a
factor in scoring.) The scout cannot be killed.
HEALER - The healer keeps
the plague away. Hired and treated the same as a scout, the healer
is useful when you unwittingly bump into the plague in the course of your
travels. Rather than lose two warriors when you encounter the plague, when
your party counts a healer amongst their number, they GAIN two warriors.
SWORD - The Dragonsword is
a prized magical item which cannot be purchased, but rather must be won in
battle. If you are fortunate enough to hold this sword when you are
attacked by a dragon, the dragon will be immediately slain (temporarily) and you
will receive back anything that he has taken from you (or others in the case of
a multiplayer game.) The sword will vanish after a dragon attack.
PEGASUS - This magical
winged horse will carry you any number of spaces in one turn. The Pegasus
is awarded by the game, usually following battle. Once used, he will fly
away. You may only have one Pegasus at a time. Unlike the board game
version, you may not cross a frontier with a Pegasus, but if you possess the
necessary key, you may move to a frontier. You may save your Pegasus for use at
any time in the game.
WIZARD - The wizard is not
used in a single player game, as his only purpose is to curse other players.
KEYS - Finally, one of the
most important inventory items. The purpose of the keys is to unlock the
Dark Tower towards the end of the game. There are three keys -- one brass,
one silver, and one gold. You will find them in that order, one in each
foreign kingdom. You will not find a key in your own kingdom. You
may not leave a foreign kingdom until you have found that kingdom's key, but
once you have found it you should quickly move on to the next kingdom.
EVENTS
Events occur randomly each time you move your pawn to a
featureless territory or to a tomb or a ruin. After you move the Tower
will tell you what awaits you. You may experience any of the following:
SAFE MOVE - Nothing
exciting, you simply move to the desired territory.
BATTLE WITH BRIGANDS -
What it's all about! Kicking brigand butt. Brigands are the bad
guys in the game, and aside from the dragon (sort of,) the only enemy you will
fight. Your warriors are pitted against a band of brigands and their fate
is determined by a computer controlled battle. During a battle your option
is to remain and fight or to retreat. If you do retreat you will always lose one additional
warrior. So be careful not to retreat when you are down to your last warrior,
because you will lose him and the game.
The mechanics of a battle are fairly simple.
First the Tower will show you how many brigands the computer has and then the
Tower will show how many warriors you have. A skirmish will take place and
you will hear a sound that indicates if you won the skirmish or a different
downer sound will indicate that the brigands have won. After the sound you
will be shown the new totals. For each skirmish you lose, you will lose
one warrior. For each skirmish the brigands lose, they will lose HALF
their number (rounded down!) Hardly fair, but don't complain. A
skirmish outcome favors the party with the most combatants, but know that even
one fighter always stands at least a small chance of winning against a
crowd. You may retreat from battle at any time, but your retreat will not
occur until the end of the current skirmish round.
After a battle, if you are victorious, the Tower may
award you a prize, which may include gold, a sword, a Pegasus, a key, or you may
get nothing at all. Please note that when ever the Tower shows you a
quantity of gold or warriors, this number is your TOTAL, not to be added to your
previous number.
LOST - If you do not have
a scout you may become lost. This means that you do not successfully move
into your desired territory and your turn is over. If you have a scout,
you do move and you immediately take another turn.
PLAGUE - A deadly disease
which may strike without warning. When it hits your party you will lose
two warriors. If you only have one or two warriors when the plague
strikes, you will lose the game. If you have a healer, rather than lose
two warriors, you will gain two warriors. A nice prize for just getting
the plague!
STARVATION - Starvation
will occur at the beginning of EVERY turn when you do not have enough food to
feed your troops. You will simply hear the death sound and you will lose
one warrior per turn until you stock up on food. You will receive a
warning sound at the beginning of each turn when your inventory contains less
than five rations.
DRAGON - You are being
silently stalked by a vicious dragon throughout your travels and he may choose
nearly any time to strike! He will mercilessly take 25% of your gold and
warriors when he does attack, unless you have the Dragonsword, in which case you
will slay him instantly (though others like him may show up later) and recover
any previously stolen gold or kidnapped warriors. Note that you do not
place the dragon pawn in a single player game, as you would in a multiplayer
game, as it would be pointless to block yourself from any territory.
LOCATIONS
There are several different types of buildings and
special territories scattered throughout the lands. You will need to visit
many of them to make your way to victory. Each kingdom has the same
locations positioned accordingly as every other kingdom. The locations are
described below:
SANCTUARY - As the name implies this is a place
of peace. Most times that you visit the sanctuary you will simply be
granted a safe move. But the inhabitants of the sanctuaries are generous
folk and recognize dire circumstances. If you have fewer than five
warriors, fewer than eight bags of gold, or fewer than six rations of food, you
will be bestowed with a gift, free of charge, to help you boost those sad
numbers. Return as often as you like.
CITADEL - You begin the
game in your own citadel. It is marked with your Kingdom's crest.
The citadel behaves exactly the same way as a sanctuary, with a couple of
exceptions. The biggest exception is that you may only enter your own
citadel. You may not move to the citadel space of a foreign kingdom.
The other exception is that when you have solved the riddle of the keys, and are
prepared to do battle with the inhabitants of the Dark Tower, you may return to
your citadel for extra aid. Upon this return, if you have 24 or fewer
warriors, this number of warriors will be doubled for you. You may keep
returning to the citadel to receive this gift so long as in between visits you
enter a different building location (other than a sanctuary) first.
BAZAAR - This is where all
commerce takes place. Here you may purchase food or a beast, or hire
warriors, a scout or a healer. When you enter you will first be offered
warriors. If you want to hire warriors for the price shown, press
the green button for as many warriors as you wish to hire. When the tower
shows as many warriors as you wish to hire, press the red button to cash out.
Pressing the white CANCEL button at any time will end your turn and void any
transactions you may have been preparing. If you are not at the bazaar to
hire warriors, press the red NO button when the warriors are shown to you.
The Tower will show you the next item for sale. Continue this way, cycling
through all the items, until you see what you want. You will only be able
to buy what is available to you within the rules of the game. For
instance, if you already own a beast, you will not see another available for
purchase. Be careful with your gold though, because if you attempt to
purchase something or things that you cannot afford, the merchant will take
offense and close the bazaar to you for this turn and no sales will
transpire. You may always return directly to the bazaar on your next turn
to try again.
You may think that a price is too high for something
you wish to purchase and you may decide to haggle with the merchant. This
gives you a chance to lower the price of whatever you are shopping for. Be
careful though, because the merchant may become offended and close the bazaar to
you. You may press the haggle button repeatedly, trying to achieve a
target price. Each press of the haggle button risks offending the
merchant. Every item has a price below which the merchant will not
go. You must figure out what the limit is. You may not haggle on the
price of food. Prices may be different each time you go to the bazaar.
You may only buy one item, or group of the same types
of item, per turn. You may stay at the bazaar on your next turn if you
like.
TOMB/RUIN - These two
locations are in every way identical, except in their appearance and location on
the game board. Here you are more likely to encounter a battle than
anywhere else (except for the final Tower battle, which is 100% likely.)
These are good places to go when you are searching for a key. The
buildings may be empty, too. Or they may contain unguarded treasure.
FRONTIER - These are the
long narrow borders which separate the kingdoms. You must travel to them
when you have the key for the kingdom you are in or when you are first leaving
your kingdom. Moving to a frontier is always a safe move. If you do
not have the key you need, you will not be permitted to move onto a frontier.
DARK TOWER - When you have
collected all the keys and returned to your home kingdom, you may visit this
space near the center of the board. When you reach this space you will be
presented with the Riddle of the Keys. It is not enough to have the keys; you must also know the order in which to use them. The Tower will
present you with a random key and you must guess if you believe it is the first
key. If you are right you will be shown a second key, and so on. If
at any time you are wrong, your turn will end and you must try again on your
next turn. If you solve the riddle, you will be allowed inside and you
will fight the final battle. You may retreat from the final battle
(especially as a tactic to learn how many brigands you will finally face) and
each time you return to the Tower you will be presented with the riddle.
The order of the keys remains the same for the entire game, so remember it if
you are going to leave and come back. Also, each time you return to the
final battle, the number of brigands will be the same as the last time you were
there. They will be replenished if you had previously killed some.
THE FINAL BATTLE
Fought like all battles against a band of brigands,
this battle's outcome will determine if you can win the game. This battle
is notably different in that the number of brigands you will face does not
correspond to the number of warriors you have in your employ. Rather, the
number is determined by the difficulty level you chose to play under. Win
this battle and you have won the game!
YOUR SCORE
Your score is based on a secret formula which considers
two main factors -- how many turns did you need to complete the game and how
brave were you when you entered the final battle (the fewer your number, the
braver you are.)
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