DungeonPager is a Roleplaying game set in a world of magic & monsters called Thang. As a player, you will control the actons of a hero (Thangie) in a dangerous quest.

Basics

-Click on any square next to your hero to move there.

-Click on a nearby monster (not directly next to your hero) to fire your bow at it.

Damage categories:

-Reading the health bar - in the area of the page usually reserved for the title is a row of letters. A=agility, P=physique, S=social status, | is a health point, : is a wound point. A|| P|: S7||||||| represents a health status of 2 agility, 2 physique (1 healthy, 1 wounded) and 7 social status. As you play, this bar will change. Simply put, the more |'s the better.

-Strength - click on your Thangie to try to heal 1 point

-Agility - heals 1 point per turn, but any hit reduces it to 0

-Social status - it never heals, but you can find it "lying around".

Attacking:

-Hand weapons (axes, swords, etc) use all 4 attributes, but are weighted towards strength and dexterity.

-Bows use perception for maximum range and effect. A bow shot will weaken a monster but your Thangie must fight it to destroy it

-Magic uses mentality for effect. Sometimes the effect is not obvious. Experiment.

The Action List:

-Bow: with this chosen, your Thangie can shoot his bow.

-Drink potion: Choose this to heal all agility and physique instantly. Your Thangie must have a potion to drink.

-Enchant: Raises RISK (attack strength) for all attacks. Costs 1 amber and lasts until you choose another action.

-Blast: Choose this and "fire" it like a bow but with no maximum range and using mentality for effectiveness. Each shot costs 1 amber. Note: each monster can only be hit by 1 bow shot or 1 magic blast.

-Elemental: If a monster walks onto an elemental they may both be destroyed. Moving or creating elementals costs 2 amber. The elemental will disappear if you choose another action.

-Predict: Forces monsters to re-roll combat and choose the worst number. Costs 3 amber and lasts until you choose another action.

-Draw: Exchanges your Thangie's ready weapon with his slung weapon. When an item is picked up, it is exchanged with his slung weapon. The higher the weapon RISK is the better your Thangie will fight. Each weapon has an attack bonus and a defence bonus. In general, it's better to attack faster monsters and defend from larger ones, but weapon bonuses also affect the results. When your Thangie moves onto a monster he's attacking it, he's defending when a monster moves onto him.

The Status List: WebTV users scan by moving the selection box over each item and select by clicking - inspect must be selected to work.

-Health: shows the health bar as described above. If your Thanie is attacked this will automatically be selected.

-Stats: shows the current rating in Physique, Agility, Perception, Mentality, and Social Status. High numbers are better in all categories.

-Items: shows how many amber stones and potions currently carried

-Ready: gives details about the weapon your Thangie will use in combat.

-Slung: gives details about the weapon your Thangie has slung.

-Inspect: displays a description of what is in the selected square.

Expertise:

-When your Thangie moves onto an altar, you will be asked if you want to increase strength, if you click cancel you'll be asked if you want agility, perception, or mentality in that order. Click okay on the one you want to increase.

-Your Thangie's RISK (attack strength) with a specific hand weapon will not increase until he finds a new one. Each type of weapon uses an equation to calculate a new RISK, each type weighs the importance of attributes differently.

• You can mix and match items freely by checking and unchecking boxes. By checking "custom Fx" you can easily transfer Fx statements between items for some interesting effects.
• If you check an item's movement box, it must have a speed of 1 or greater or it will not move.
• If you check an item's blocking box, it must have a size of 1 or greater or it will not block movement.
• Monster intelligence affects how often a monster moves toward its target. Normally the monster's target is the hero, if you uncheck chase you will be prompted to choose a target square. When the monster gets there (in play), its target will become the hero, also if a monster is shot with a bow, its target becomes the hero.
• Designing a weapon: The format looks like:
  pickup("shortsword", "B2", 0, 0)
  The first word in quotes is what it will be called in the game, the code in quotes is its balance category. "B1" is symetrical, "B4" uses an offsett weight. The first number is the attack bonus, the second number is the defence bonus.
• Don't try to fit more than three rooms on a map. The number of walls will slow movement (and generation) and several of the game-play mechanics will make less sense. One of the things to adjust as you change the number of rooms is monster intelligence, which should usually be raised in large open areas and reduced in confined areas. Optimum scale varies between 4-10 feet (1-3m) per square.
• Be sure to write a one or two word description (using the custom option in the item picker) about each item. This is what will be seen when the player uses the "inspect" option.
• Monster size and strength are both used in combat.
• The more things on the map, the slower the game will play.
• Every Fx statement slows the map down a little and the generator down a lot.
• Animated gifs take the biggest toll of all, (transpaernt gifs all have a green background).
• IMPORTANT - you will have to transload any images you plan to use before they will work in your maps!
• There are often extra files in my arcade directory, these are either experimental or unrelated to Dungeon Pager. Specifically, files named dungeontemplate-2.html or dungeonbuilder-2.html are experimental files I use during upgrades. You should not transload them, since I'll move them into their active slots when they work.
• Be sure that each time you transload the Template, you transload the matching Builder and vis-a-versa. Sometimes changes made within one puts requirements on the other. Maps are always compatible, although devices found on new maps may not work on old templates. Occasionally, things may work differently on two map versions, but will represent the same thing. As a general rule, new maps are better than old ones.
• If you find something that you think isn't working, email me about it with a complete description of the problem.
• Yes I know these rules are hokey :)