

                            RISE TO POWER
                            -------------       
                         by Robert A. Dalton

 						  VERSION  1.96

                  Copyright (c)  1993, 1994 & 1995

                              SITUATION
                              ---------
    For a small part of your day forget the present and relive the past
    represented by RISE TO POWER.  The time is the 15th Century, the place
    is medieval Germany.  The situation:  Germany is a divided land at
    constant war.  A weak king with little real power has been elected to
    rule over the 10 provinces that make the greater Germany of that time.
    The electors were the 10 Barons which rules the provinces and only
    nominally submit to the king.  These Barons are forever feuding among
    themselves and each harbors a desire to become the eventual King over a
    powerful and united Germany.   You are a small but very ambitious
    landholding KNIGHT who sees an opportunity to RISE TO POWER in this
    system and become eventual KING!

       GOAL:  TO BECOME THE KING AND UNITE ALL 10 PROVINCES OF GERMANY!

               BREAK DOWN OF RANKS RELATIVE TO LEADERSHIP:

     KING   :  Rules the ENTIRE land which includes all 10 provinces of
                Germany.
     BARON  :  Rules 1 province of Germany.
     COUNT  :  A respected leader who maintains a large land holding, good
                sized keep and a considerable force of men at arms.
     KNIGHT :  Leader of a small land holding of peasants and a few men at
                arms in a small keep.


                                GAME PLAY
                                ---------
    If the sysop has registered the game, then play is limited only by the
    amount of time the sysop has issued that particular player on the BBS.
    If NOT registered, Game play will be limited to 10 minutes. UNREGISTERED
    GAMES will be limited to a maximum of 10 players allowed.  Encourage your
    Sysop to register the game, or better yet do it for the sysop, so that
    you and everyone else may enjoy the additional options.  From almost any
    menu, EVEN THOUGH THE OPTION IS NOT DISPLAYED, you can select '*' as
    your selection and kick the game into expert mode and return to novice
    mode in the same way.

                            Moving Around The Map
                            ---------------------
    Movement on the map is done by using the Number Pad on your keyboard.
    Make sure your NumLock key is activated.  Except for the "5" key each
    number on the number pad corresponds to the direction you wish to
    move to.  Hitting the "8" key for instance moves you one space North
    of your present position. When moving be sure to use the Recon Option on 
    occasion to avoid possible problems such as the brigands, etc.. On
    the NumberPad the "5" key activates the recon option when you are moving
    on the map. After you hit the "5" key you will then be asked to hit a
    number key to point out the direction of the area you wish to check out.
    You can only perform a recon on an area one position away from where you
    currently are.  After entering the direction key the computer will tell
    you what is in that area.  There IS a small chance that something was
    overlooked and the area may NOT be as empty as you were told. After
    telling you what it found you will be returned back to normal movement.
    If you encounter one of the other players traveling with his troops on
    the map and you decide to fight him, and in the process manage to kill
    him, you will get any gold and wheat that player has remaining.  If YOU
    get killed in the fight the reverse is true as well!  For a list of
    OTHER available commands when moving just type <?> and hit enter. 

                              Starting Out
                              ------------
    Everyone starts out as a Knight who leads a small group of men at arms.
    You are the leader of a small land holding with a few peasants who are
    sworn to your service. You are given some bushels of wheat and some
    Gold Florins (the currency of that time) to Start.  THE FIRST THING you
    must do is decide were you want to build your Home Keep (similar to a
    castle). You will be starting in an arbitrary province inside of one of
    the local Baron's Keeps.  To build your Home Keep, travel through the
    provinces until you find a spot that pleases you and select command <B>.
    This will build it.  When you build the keep you will be given 100 acres
    of land and you may never attempt to sell or give away any quantity of
    land that takes you below this 100 acres or your action will not be
    allowed. Next hit the <E> key to enter your new keep. For help type <?>
    and hit enter.

                              STARTING A FAMILY
                              -----------------
    Marriage is the KEY to successfully playing and winning this Game!!!
    It is VERY important that you find a wife as soon as possible and get
    married.  When you are married, the computer will check daily to see if
    your marriage has produced any children. (No 9 month waiting period
    here!) You can only have a MAXIMUM of 2 children at any one time in the
    game. If so, it can be either a son or daughter, or some combination.
    Right after you have a daughter born, you can attempt to marry her off
    (They married YOUNG in those times!).  To do this you must first set
    a dowry which another player will have to pay in order to marry your
    fair daughter. If the other player accepts this Dowry your daughter
    will be married to him and you will find you are now minus one child
    and can have another. If one of your children is a boy he will become
    your Heir in case of your untimely death.  Yes, this means you can
    ALMOST be immortal! Be careful, other player's can kidnap or kill your
    children or wife. In the event you die while your heir is kidnapped you
    LOSE everything. Also random events such as the ever present medieval
    bane - PLAGUE - can also take your wife or children. If an heir does
    take over, your new alias will be the same as the name of the child that
    you chose for it. Also his attributes will all be reset EXCEPT Reputation
    (it IS passed on).  Except for Count, titles are NOT passed on to your
    heirs.  If you were a Baron or King and die the deposed computer King and
    Barons will retake over their titles and lands and your heir will be
    reduced to a Count who owns only the family Keep. By the way, of course
    your dear wife and other children will all disappear too to make way for
    the heirs family members. Once daily the KING will announce the
    availability of a woman of suitable lineage for marriage at his Keep.
    If someone beats you to her for that day then visit the other player
    Keeps and see if someone wants to marry off his daughter for a dowry you
    can afford.

                            Feeding Your Populous
                            ---------------------
    Each acre of land will produce about 10 bushels of wheat depending on
    how good the growing season was.  Each peasant eats 4 bushels of wheat.
    Each man-at-arms consumes 8 bushels of wheat. Each Knight consumes 12
    bushels of wheat.  As you can see the cost of being powerful mounts
    quickly.  Make sure you buy land when you can afford to do so to keep
    up with your growing populous and army. Buying more land does not
    automatically mean larger harvests.  You have to have enough workers for
    the land you have to get greater harvests. The ideal ratio is one worker
    to one acre. Warning: If you don't have enough food famine will quickly
    reduce your power!  Your peasants will have children so take that into
    account when figuring how much land is required.

                            Marching With Troops
                            --------------------
    Marching troops across the country side can be an expensive proposition
    as they tend to eat more because of the increased energy expended. As
    a result each space you move away from your Keep with more than 30 Troops
    will cost you an additional bushel of wheat for EACH man-at-arms above
    the 30 limit. If you run out of wheat your Troops will start deserting
    quickly.  An army marches on its stomach!!
    
                               Watch Out For
                               -------------
    BRIGANDS! They roam randomly throughout the provinces of Germany.  The
    king rewards those knights who eliminate these brigands.  The reward
    is a standard GF 25 for the head of each brigand you get. Be warned
    they CAN wipe you out quickly. They can be most often found in the
    province of Saxony and will ambush your party without warning.
    
                                 ATTRIBUTES
                                 ----------
     Almost every aspect of the game will effected by your 3 main Attributes
     which range from 1 to 10 with 1 being lowest:
    
                  1. Swordsmanship (Your weapons proficiency)
                  2. Leadership (Your ability to motivate others)
                  3. REPUTATION (How others see you)

    If your reputation is low, you will notice that it effects EVERYTHING
    you do in a negative manner. As already mentioned the attributes are
    set on a scale of 1 to 10. All start out initially at 1 except for
    Reputation which is 3 (barely adequate). Losing in combat, and many
    other similar actions, can adversely effect your reputation.  Think of
    it this way. If it would cause you to be looked on less than favorably
    in the real world then it will most certainly do so here to! These
    attributes can be moved up in a number of ways. This strategy will be
    discussed later on.
   
                                MOVING UP
                                ---------
    You start out as a Land Holding Knight and then move forward through the
    ranks in the following order:

                               1. Knight
                               2. Count
                               3. Baron
                               4. KING

    To reach the level of Count a player needs 400 men at arms and 1000
    acres of land, AND maintains a Reputation value of 4 or better. During
    daily Maintenance, the computer will check stats for qualifying
    players who will be notified the next day when they loggon.  <if you
    had enough to be promoted and didn't get it, someone could have
    attacked you before maintenance>.  After you reach Count, you need
    only travel to a local Barons Keep and Attempt to ASSUME the position
    and the computer will put you up against the Baron in a Duel to see if
    you are good enough. After controlling 4 provinces you can attempt to
    DEFEAT the current KING!  Please note that even though you are elevated
    to Baron or King you will still retain your old keep and it will be
    shown as a counts keep on the map because there is ALWAYS a possibility
    that someone may replace you as Baron or King!


                                  QUESTS
                                  ------
    The KING will periodically issue quests and print the information
    concerning the quests in the news....such as Location and type of
    opponent you can expect to face.  The range of opponents is very wide.
    You could fight anything from a common thief to the BLACK KNIGHT.
    Under the laws of chivalry you are expected to best the opponent,
    unaided, in mortal combat.  Win and you will gain in reputation and
    stature which brings Men at Arms and possibly other Knights flocking
    to your banner.  Lose and your followers will probably desert you for
    a more capable lord!  To accomplish the quest you must travel to the
    coordinates of the quest and once there hit the "P" key to attempt to
    perform it. You may only perform a quest ONCE per day! The computer
    will then put you into to hand-to-hand combat mode of which the options
    displayed are straightforward and to the point.  Fighting bigger
    opponents will of course bring BIGGER rewards; such as increased
    abilities, gold, more men at arms, etc...... Before each quest, you will
    be asked to select a sword.  This is important because it effects how
    you want to fight.  If you select a smaller sword you'll have lower
    attack value but a HIGHER reward value. As you go down the list to more
    powerful swords the attack value goes up whereas the reward value goes
    down. If you come across something you just can't defeat.....leave it!
    If no one conquers it by the end of the day, the computer will replace
    it the following day.  Also, upon completion of each quest, the KING
    will immediately issue another.   This can be a good option, but if you
    have low Attributes, it is unwise to under take every quest the King
    announces. You CAN lose more than you gain by fighting a too tough
    opponent early on.

                           ADDING TO YOUR KEEP
                           -------------------
    Your Keep is your castle-like place of home.  The higher the
    value, the bigger the keep.  The bigger the keep the better
    Defense value is.  THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT when People start
    attacking your keep, especially with a siege engine!!  

                                TAX RATE
                                --------
    Although with smaller landholds the tax rate doesn't mean much, it does
    when you start building up people.  Your TAX rate CAN effect everything
    you do.  It's a FAST way to make money, but if you keep it up too long,
    your peasants and men at arms will start to notice and you could
    possibly start a rebellion that you yourself could be killed in. You
    will learn quickly what the peasants will tolerate in taxes!

                             DUELING PLAYERS
                             ---------------
    You are allowed a certain number (1-10) duels a day.  A stage with
    both players will be displayed and a power rating will be calculated
    from the attributes of each player.  The computer will handle the
    Duel based on your attributes.  The winner will receive any number of
    things from the loser.  This can be a good option, but if you have low
    Attributes, it is unwise to duel everyone you run into.  You can lose
    members of your family if you have nothing to give the winner.

                             ATTACKING KEEPS
                             ---------------
    <F> ight to Death    =  Excellent way to build up Leadership, but do
                            NOT try this if you are just starting out and
                            are not very strong.  If you survive you get his
                            remaining gold and wheat.  If he survives and
                            wins he gets yours. There are FIVE outcomes
                            possible:
                            (A) You kill the other guy.
                            (B) You are killed by the other guy.
                            (C) the other guy is killed by your men-at-arms
                                but you are ALSO killed in the fighting in
                                the Home. This will happen most if you are
                                not very strong.
                            (D) He is not home but you trash his place and
                                kill anyone you can find there.
                            (E) You lose but you did not lead the attack
                                on his home.  All your men at arms and
                                Knights are killed in the attack and your
                                reputation declines.
    <R> aid for Treasure =  The more men you send the higher your chance for
                            success and amount of gold and wheat retrieved.
    <A> ttack Peasants   =  Wipe out a player's peasants.
    <L> ay Siege to Keep =  Lowers Enemy Keep values - but not below the
                             minimum Keep value of 1.  If his Keep is only
                             rated at a value of 1 (the starting value for
                             all Keeps) you are wasting your time and men
                             at arms by attacking it.
    <K> ill Family Member=  Kills Wife or Children in that keep.
    <B> attle Men at Arms=  Pit your army against another. Wear down an army!
    <E> xecute           =  Attempt to assassinate a player

                               TREACHERY
                               ---------
    Word of warning on using treachery - There IS a small chance you can
    be caught in the act with sometimes unpleasant consequences!

    <I> ncite Rebellion    =  Start a rebellion in player's keep.
    <R> escue Hostage      =  Rescue a family member from an enemy player.
    <S> py on Family       =  Learn VITAL information about a player.
    <L> oot Treasury       =  Steal money from player's money vault.
    <T> ake a Hostage      =  Take another player's family member hostage.
    <P> lant Evidence      =  Attempt to plant incriminating evidence on a
                              player.
    <C> ause Wheat Spoilage=  Spoil player's wheat and cause peasant
                              starvation.

                        Options in the KINGS KEEP
                        -------------------------
    Recruit Knights -  Once a day you can choose this option and it will
                       randomly recruit knights to your keep which aid in
                       defensive and offensive actions with other players.
                       The more men at arms you control, the more Knights
                       you will attract. Knights act as VERY powerful men
                       at arms for combat purposes but have no other direct
                       role in the game.  One knight is worth roughly 10
                       men at arms for combat and defense purposes!

    Look for Wife  -   During nightly maintenance a woman of suitable
                       lineage MAY OR MAY NOT become available for marriage.
                       Selecting this option will reveal the answer.  Also,
                       it will be advertised in the daily News when one is
                       available.  Of course, you'll have to pay the dowry
                       which is arbitrarily set by the computer.

    Hire Men at Arms - Allows you to add more men at arms to your army for
                       a Fixed price.

    Purchase Siege Engine - While the cost is high (GF 1500) buying a siege
                       engine from the Kings Siege Engineer will greatly
                       assist your reduction of the defensive value of an
                       enemies Keep and help in combat when the other player
                       is in his Keep. Because of the potential danger
                       involved to the King he only allows each player to
                       have one siege engine in his armory.


                              ASSASSIN SUB-MENU
                  --------------------------------------------

                  You can hire an assassin from the Assassins Guild
                  located at the King's Keep to perform a single
                  mission for you.  Cost for an assassin depends on
                  what you want him to do.  Costs are listed in the
                  Assassin menu and are Nonnegotiable with the
                  GuildMaster.
                  
  <1> Assassinate Player  =  Attempt to kill a player.
  <2> Take Hostage        =  Attempt to take a member of a players family
                              hostage.
  <3> Start Fire          =  Attempt to burn up some of a player's grain.
  <4> Rescue Hostage      =  Attempt to rescue a member of your family who
                              is being held hostage by another player.
  <5> Spy on Player       =  Attempt to find out information on another
                              player.
  <6> Kill Players Family =  Attempt to kill a member of another players
                              family.
  <7> Massacre Peasants   =  Attempt to kill the peasants of another player.
  <8> Hand Carry Message  =  Hand carry a secret message from you to another
                              player.  This is a great way to make alliances
                              or treaties! There is a small chance the
                              assassin will be killed enroute and the
                              message will be lost.

                             Options in BARONS Keep
                             ----------------------
    Donate Land  -  Donating land to the church is the easiest way to gain
                    in reputation.  Every 500 acres of land donated will
                    increase your reputation by 1.
 
    Erect Church -  Building a church in the province is a great way to
                    increase your reputation but can be expensive.  To do
                    this will cost 500 acres of land, GF 5000 and 1000
                    bushels of wheat, but will raise your reputation by 2.

    Buy/Sell Menu - Allows you to buy Wheat and Land at arbitrary prices
                    set by the computer during nightly maintenance.

    Increase Weapons Proficiency - The higher you increase this value the
                    better your men at arms and knights can fight and defend
                    your keep. This helps you in Duels, Attempting Quests
                    and in all battles that include you or your men at arms.

                      Options while VISITING player keeps
                      -----------------------------------
    Goto Trade Menu - Allows you to Buy and Sell Wheat & Men at Arms at
                      prices and amounts set by the owner of the Keep.

    Duel Visiting Players - Allows you to Duel ALL players (INCLUDING OWNER)
                      in a duel that is run by the computer.  The stakes
                      can be anything from Gold to your Children.

    Marry Owner's Daughter - If owner has a daughter he may or may not make
                      her available for Marriage.  If so you will be shown
                      the dowry he is asking and if it meets with your
                      approval she's all yours....however, she will have to
                      bear the name, the owner assigned her at birth.

    Ransom Hostage -  Use this option to ransom a hostage the player took
                      from you.  The ransom will be 25% of your land, gold
                      and wheat!

    Attempt Treachery - SEE ABOVE

                              Options in HOME Keep
                              --------------------
    Prevent Entry - This will allow you to shut the gates and keep other
                    players out of your keep.  Can be a good idea sometimes,
                    but not ALWAYS recommended. This is NOT selective.
                    Either everyone can enter or everyone cannot enter. You
                    of course can ALWAYS enter your Keep.

  * Edit Trade Market - IMPORTANT!  There are 3 values to be set for both
                    Wheat & Men at Arms on this menu.

                    1. Amount to Sell - how many you want to take out of
                       stock or from your army and sell. Used for surplus
                       or if in need of money.
                    2. Price to Sell At - price your willing to sell the
                       above amount at.
                    3. Price to Buy At - If you want to buy something, set
                       a price and players can come along and sell as much
                       as they want.  REMEMBER,  a player could theoretically
                       sell you INFINITE numbers of either value so watch it
                       closely.

    Build on To Keep - DISCUSSED ABOVE

    Kick Player Out  - If someone is in your keep that you don't want there,
                       this option will throw them out.

    ! ATTACK KEEPS ! - options are discussed ABOVE
                       Something to remember--when a keep is under attack,
                       and the owner is home, the defense value is GREATLY
                       increased.  This is not to say, sit at home and defend
                       your Keep, but it doesn't hurt to be at home if your
                       not going to be playing a couple of days. The more men
                       at arms, knights, etc.. you have the better your
                       chances are.  A siege engine is highly recommended
                       when attacking a player in his Keep.  I highly
                       recommend you do NOT use this option if you are JUST
                       starting out and have little power, men at arms,
                       etc..

    Send Reconnaissance - Given any coordinates, it will tell you what is
                         there.

    Marry Off Daughter - This will allow you, if you have a daughter, to set
                         a dowry and allow your daughter to marry other
                         players.

    Free & Kill Hostage - If you have a hostage you can choose either option

                                 RANDOM EVENTS
                                 -------------
    During the game several random events will come into play.
    These can be good, bad or both.  As mentioned earlier PLAGUE is one of
    the random events and can affect members of your family, Men at arms,
    Knights, and, of course, those long suffering peasants who are
    part of your land holding.  Random events can also effect your wheat
    crops and royal treasury in several different and colorful ways.
