Games PC THE BARD S TALE CONSTRUCTION SET User Manual

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

The Bard

’

s Tale

CONSTRUCTION

SET

™

Contents

Getting Started 130
Item Editor 131
Spell Editor 133
Monster Editor 135
Map Editor 137
Draw Map 138
Specials 139
Utilities 142
Tips For Creating A World 143
Technical Information 151
Playing Your Game 157
Sample Scenario 160

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

™

129

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

Once you have selected which one you will be working with, a separate
menu will appear containing all the editing information. Each item on the list
can be selected by

(1) clicking on it with the mouse,

(2) moving the highlight bar up and down and pressing <enter> to select, or

(3) pressing the first letter of the desired selection.

A NOTE ABOUT MENUS AND WINDOWS

Many of the selections contain choices in “<>” brackets. These can be
selected with the mouse or by pressing the first letter of that choice. For
example, to <draw map> simply press “D” or click on the <draw map> with
the mouse. The “up” and “dn” in the lower left corner represent “Page Up”
and “Page Down”. You can page up and down through these menus by
clicking on them or pressing the “Page Up/Down” keys. Some also have a
“lft” and “rgt” in the corners signifying left and right arrows to scroll the text in
the window.

ITEM EDITOR

The Item Editor contains the following options:

Name - Choose a name for your weapon. The name can be up to 24
characters long but only the first 12 letters will appear on item lists during
game play.

Item Type - Your choices are as follows:

1. Miscellaneous

2. Hand Weapon

3. Shield

4. Armor

5. Helm

6. Gloves

7. Figurine

8. Instrument

9. Ring

10. Wand

11. Bow

12. Arrow

13. Thrown Weapon

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

™

131

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

GETTING STARTED

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set requires 640K of free memory. It

requires about 1.2 MB of hard disk space. When you create a dungeon with
the Set, you will need blank disks to hold the data or hard disk space available.
The amount will vary greatly upon the size of your dungeon that you create.

Loading Instructions

1. Boot your computer with DOS. If you have a mouse, make sure it is
connected and the driver is installed.

2. Insert the disk marked STARTUP into your disk drive.

3. Change the disk prompt to the drive that your STARTUP disk is in by
typing A: <enter> (or B:) depending on where your STARTUP DISK is.

4. First you should read the README file for any additional information
not included in this manual. Type README <enter>.

5. After reading the README file, you will want to install The Bard’s Tale
Construction Set to either your hard disk or to floppies. Type
INSTALL <enter>.

6. Follow the instructions there to install The Bard’s Tale Construction Set.

7. When finished installing, type BTCS <enter> to load the program.

The Main Menu

After the title screens appear, the Main Menu will appear on your monitor.

The options at the Main Menu are as follows:

1. Item Editor - create your own items

2. Spell Editor - create your own magic spells

3. Monster editor - create creatures to inhabit your world

4. Map Editor - design your own cities, dungeons, and specials

5. Utilities - save information to disk, test a dungeon level, print out spell
lists, import your own pictures, and Build Your Dungeon!

If you select any of the Editors from the Main Menu, you will then be
shown a selection of the currently available items, spells, monsters, or maps
previously created - or you can create a new one altogether.

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

™

130

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

Spell Cast - Choose from any spell off the spell list (that you create).
Cause - Text that occurs when the weapon attacks (eg. “swings at”, “aims

at”, “slices at”, etc.)
Effect - Text that occurs when the

weapon hits (eg. “hits for”, “punches
for”, “cuts for”, etc.) So that a combat
message would look like “Rusty slices
at Orc and cuts for 10 points of
damage.”

SPELL EDITOR

Maximum number of definable spells is 100. Maximum number of

simultaneously running spells is 100.
Spells have the following qualities for you to define:

Name - The name you have chosen to give your magic spell. Your spell name
can be up to 24 characters long.

Code - The four letter code that the mage uses to cast the spell.
Mage Class - Which class of magician can use this spell:

1. Magician

2. Sorceror

3. Conjurer

4. Wizard

5. Archmage

Level - What level of the particular mage class can use this spell (1 through

7). Setting level 8 makes the spell one that mage’s cannot cast.
Points Needed - How many points are drained from the mage when he/she

casts the spell.

Range - How far the spell will work for (10 to 90 feet).
Effective Range - Normal or Double. If Double is selected, then the spell

will work at twice the range but at half the damage.

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

™

133

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

User Class - Select which class can equip the item. You can select one
classs, all classes, or any combination of the classes below:

1. Warrior

2. Paladin

3. Rogue

4. Bard

5. Hunter

6. Monk

7. Conjurer

8. Magician

9. Sorceror

10. Wizard

11. Archmage

Price - From 1 to 32,000 gold pieces or sell to Garth for half price.
Armor Plus - From 1 to 15 points to lower a character’s AC if equipped.

Any item type can have an armor plus.
Hit Plus - From 1 to 15 points to increase a character’s chance of hitting

an opponent. The Hit Plus makes a difference for only hand weapons, bows,
arrows, or thrown weapons.

Damage Dice - How much damage the item will do if equipped and used to
attack (only true for hand weapons, arrows, or thrown weapons).

X-Special - An item that does damage can do one of the following types of
damage in addition to its normal damage:

1. Poison

2. Level Drain

3. Insanity

4. Aging

5. Possession

6. Stoned

7. Paralyze

8. Critical Hit

Likelihood of X-Special - The percentage chance of doing the X-tra
Damage above if the weapons hits.

Times Usable - If the item casts a spell when Used, this will determine how
many charges it has before it cannot be Used anymore. Set from 0 to 255,
with 255 meaning that its Uses are unlimited. This number is also used for
thrown weapons and bows.

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

™

132

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

Damage/Healing - How much damage the spell does or how many points
it heals. This is determined by a dice roll. (eg. 4 6-sided dice).

Duration -

ONE one round (6 seconds or 1 combat round)
SHORT 2-4 minutes (or 20-40 rounds, since there are 10

rounds in a minute)

MEDIUM 3-6 minutes
LONG 4-8 minutes
COMBAT run until combat is over (cannot be cast outside of

combat

PERMANENT start only (i.e. effect is permanent)
CONTINUOUS run until dispelled, then just stop (don’t end effect)
INDEFINITE run until dispelled, then end effect

Note that different permutations of these options will create vastly different
spells. For example, a spell that does Continuous Damage on your Party will
continue to damage your party every round or movement turn until it is
dispelled. This can make for some pretty nasty spells. See the Spell Effects
Chart on page ((technical information section page number)) in the Technical
Section of this manual.

If a spell is cast at a magic resistant monster, it gets to use its magic
resistance when the spell is cast and each subsequent round (if any) that the
spell operates. A group of monsters gets one roll for the entire group. If all
monster groups are affected, the group with the highest magic resistance rolls.
In any case, a resisted spell shatters and ends immediately.

MONSTER EDITOR

Name - Give your wonderful creation a name.
Starting Distance - If encountered randomly, what is the maximum

distance this monster can appear at? (from 10’ to 90’)
Moves Per Round - How many feet (in increments of 10’) can this monster

move forward each round.

Rate of Attacks — how many attacks per round this monster gets.
Illusion - Yes/No toggle to detemine if this creature is real or illusion
Picture Number - Select what the monster looks like (from our list of about

40 or your own)

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

™

135

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

Type - Select one effect from the list below:

1. Heal

2. Resurrect

3. Cure Poison

4. Cure Insanity

5. Youth

6. Dispossess

7. Stone to Flesh

8. Cure Paralysis

9. Restore Lost Levels

10. Damage

11. Kill

12. Poison

13. Cause Insanity

14. Age

15. Possess

16. Flesh to Stone

17. Paralyze

18. Summon Monster

19. Summon Illusion

20. Dispel Illusion

21. Scry Sight

22. Light

23. Armor Class Bonus

24. Hit Bonus

25. Trap Destruction

26. Secret Door Detection

27. Phase Door

28. Dispel Magic

29. Regenerate Bard Song

Area/Target - NA Not applicable; no target is need or used

SINGLE A single target, in either the party or a monster group,

is affected

GROUP An entire group, the party or a monster group, is

affected

ALL MONSTER All of the monster groups are affected
GROUPS

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

™

134

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

Thaumaturgical Resistance - Percentage that the monster will resist any
spell cast upon it.

Xtra Ranged Attack -

1. Type (can be a Magic Spell,
Group Range, or Single Foe)

2. Message *such as “breathes at”)

3. Damage (if a spell, ocerrides spell
information)

4. X-tra damage (see X-tra
damage above)

5. Range (10’-90’. Again, overrides
spell information)

Gold - Random gold for killing monster multiplied by the number in the
group.

MAP EDITOR

Name - The name of the dungeon (or city)
Type of Dungeon - Select from from types of walls for this dungeon
Level - What level of the dungeon the party is on.
Chance of Wandering Monster - Percentage that a wandering monster

encounter will occur after each action.
Wandering Monster Difficulty -

What random monsters can appear on
this level detemined by the Monster Level.
(see monsters) For example, if a monster
is defined as Level 2, then he can appear
randomly only on levels with a Monster
Difficulty of 2.

File Name - Name to save this
dungeon level to disk under.

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

™

137

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

Combat Options - Choose from the list below what the monster will do for
4 rounds (after the 4 rounds are finished, the monster repeats the list again
starting at 1):

1. Attack

2. Move and Attack (if possible to move)

3. Dependent Attack (attack if close enough)

4. Special Attack (do monster’s special attack)

5. Random Attack (monsters chooses best option or random)

6. Nothing (do absolutely nothing)

Extra Damage — Select one from the list below if you want your monster
to do X-tra Damage:

0. None

1. Poison

2. Level Drain

3. Insanity

4. Aging

5. Possession

6. Stoned

7. Paralysis

8. Critical Hit

9. Item-Zot

10. Point Phaze (take spell points)

Base AC - What the monster’s armor class is.
Upper Limit Appearing - In random encounters, what is the maximum you

can find in a group (1-99).
Hit Points - Dice range to determine how many points of damage the

monster can take before getting killed.
Damage Dice - Dice range that determines how many points of damage the

monster does.
Attack Msg. - Text that describes what the monster does in combat (eg.

“attacks”, “bites at”, “whips”, etc.) To create a combat message such as
“Monster whips Hayato for 10 points of damage.”

Level - What level the monster is. Used for determining which monsters
appear randomly on which dungeon levels (ie. if a monster is level 3, and the
monster difficulty is defined as 3, then this creature may randomly appear on
that level).

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set

™

136

The Bard’s Tale Construction Set