                         ADVENTURER KINGS

                              "SAGA"

                          PROGRAM MANUAL

                       Updated through v. 27


ADVENTURER-KINGS: "THE GUIDED TOUR"

  You can join the Guided Tour by downloading the saga.exe program and simply
typing "saga /g".  It's the easiest and most entertaining way to learn about
Adventurer-Kings and the "Saga" program!  It will both explain the game and
give you all the information you need to decide whether you want to play it.
While in the Guided Tour, you can hit the "<Esc>" key at any time to quit.


INTRODUCTION

  "Saga" is the computer program for "Adventurer Kings", the play-by-mail game
of epic adventure and imperial conquest.  Saga displays a complete, colorful
world-map of the fantasy world of Adventurer-Kings.  It makes it easier to
decide on your Kingdom's orders.  And, it helps to screen out player errors,
such as typos or rules oversights.  You can play with Saga by postal mail
using a disk-mailer, or if you have a modem, you can play by electronic mail
on the InterNet, GEnie or CompuServe services.  We can help you sign on to
these services, just ask.
  To read all about Adventurer-Kings, read the file "INFO.AK" in library 5 of
the PBMGAMES Forum.
  Here's how the program works:  each turn, the game moderator sends you a
binary (non-text) "Moves Datafile" which contains information such as
character locations and the provinces you control, and also a text "Turn
Report File" which tells what happened in the just-processed gameturn. 
Everything you know about the events of the game-year and the state of the
world is written onto your disk when we process your orders.  If you're
playing with a disk-mailer, this Moves Datafile will be written onto your disk
and mailed to you; if you're playing with an electronic mail service (such as
GEnie or CompuServe), it will be sent to you by binary electronic mail,
usually archived with PKZIP.EXE.  On the Internet, it is also processed with
the UUENCODE program, so you would need UUDECODE.EXE to extract the results.
You never need to uuencode the moves files you send to me.
  After extracting the results, you can then read the Moves Datafile into Saga
and view the Turn Report File for the gameturn.  Then you can enter your
orders for the upcoming turn, write them to an "Orders File" on the disk, and
then send either this orders file or the disk back to the game moderator. 
Your orders can then be read directly into our computer and quickly
processed.


STARTING THE PROGRAM

  If you are using Windows, first take the following steps:

  1. In Windows Program Manager, click on the "Main" group icon.
  2. In the "Main" group, click on the "MS-DOS Prompt" icon.
  3. Change to the directory where the file "saga.exe" is located.

  To run the program, type "SAGA <Return>" (if you have a computer other than
an IBM PC, see the "Translation Notes" page on the back of the Quick Reference
Card for further instructions.) You'll now see the Main Menu, which includes
an option to "(R)ead Moves Datafile".  Type "R", and at the prompt, type the
name of the Moves Datafile (it's suggested you first try the demo-game file
"XK9__T1.K2"; the filename has two underline characters, and the numbers in
the name stand for "Game 9, Turn 1, King number 2". MacIntosh users have a
different demo-filename, which is listed in the Quick Reference Card under the
heading "What the heck is THAT file for?")
  Anytime you run the program, you can also tell the computer to automatically
read the latest Moves Datafile for any given game number by typing the game
number as a parameter.  For example, if you run the program by typing "SAGA 18
<Return>", it will read the latest Datafile for game 18.

  If you're using Windows, type "Alt-<Enter>" at ANY time, to switch between
DOS and Windows.
  You can also run saga.exe with disabled graphics, which looks a little
better in a DOS window.  To do this, use "/w" as your last parameter (e.g.
type "saga /w".)
  After exiting Saga, to get rid of the DOS window, type "exit" and then
hit <ENTER>.


VIEWING YOUR GAME-WORLD

  To see the world map, try the "(E)nter Moves" menu option. A map will appear
which will show the political, military and adventuring situation in your area
of the world, along with a menu scroll on your left which we'll call the "Map
Menu".  To see what all the words and symbols mean, use the up-arrow and
down-arrow keys (at the "2" and "8" keys on the keypad).  These keys will
highlight each symbol in the province, and at the same time an explanation of
the symbol will be provided on the scroll at the bottom of the screen.  Now
try typing the "Y" key, which will bring up a Map Key which will aid you in
understanding the other map symbols.  To explain this Key a little further:

  -The Political Color indicates ownership.  It's used for
    the province name, and for character numbers.
  -The color of the army type symbols shown at the bottom of
    the province indicates the race of the inhabitants.
  -The color of the army symbols shown underneath character
    numbers (or under "GC") indicates the quality of the army.
  -Next to each army-type symbol is listed the abbreviation
    (e.g., "HC" is Heavy Cavalry.)

  The "(End-PgUp) Move" option of the Map Menu refers to the keypad on the
right-hand side of the computer keyboard.  It can be used to move around the
world: the three keys to the right of the central "5" key move you east over
the map, and the three keys to the left will move you west.  For most
translations of Saga, when you hold down the shift  key while typing one of
these directional keys, the cursor will jump all the way past the mapedge, and
the map will be redrawn.
  Other Map Menu options are further described on the Quick Reference card. 
After you're done exploring the world map, press <Esc> to exit to the Main
Menu.

  For 16-color graphics adaptors, if an army on the map display has a red
background, that means it's quality is reduced because of desert conditions,
or because its race is different from that of its leader.  If it has a purple
background, it has a better quality because of a special magic item or the
home-province quality bonus.  If your King owns a province with an Illusory
Terrain spell cast on it, the province will be displayed differently on your
screen: the exterior will have the color of the illusion, while the interior
will have the color of the real terrain.


READING YOUR TURN REPORT

  Now, let's say you've entered your moves, sent them to the game moderator
and received the results of your moves, which will include a text Turn Report
and another Moves Datafile.  In the case of the demo game, you should now read
in the "XK9__t2.k2" Moves Datafile (the corresponding Turn Report File is
called "SE9__t1.k2"; you can print it out on an Epson-compatible printer if
you wish.)  Now, try the "(S)how Turn Report" option of the Main Menu.  This
will lead to the "Show Menu", which lets you view your turn results on your
computer screen.
  The "(K)ing _______'s great saga, year 1" option of the Show Menu will tell
the story of what happened to your King as the events of the year unfolded. 
At the end of each season, the King also convenes the the Royal Court and
receives news from his characters, granting them an audience if they are in
the same province, or reading a letter from them if they are currently in
another province.
  When the program presents you with a list of letters and audiences to choose
from, you may read any or all of them, one at a time.  There's a "Quick Read"
option to scroll through all remaining news which is ready to be reported to
you in the current season.  When reading about a character's adventures,
pressing a key between "0" and "9" will cause the speed of scrolling to
increase or decrease ("0" is the fastest.)  Another way to speed up the
program is to copy everything to a ramdisk and run the program from there.  If
you do this, remember to copy your Orders File to a permanent disk after
you're done entering orders.
  At any prompt, if you hit the Backspace key while reading a section of your
Turn Report, you will back up to the previous page.  The <Esc> key will always
exit you from where you are. The "T" key will toggle the printer echo on and
off.
  You can't use the Show Menu to see your "(K)ing's Saga" if you've already
gone into the Map Menu, because the turn data is cleared when you enter
orders.  You must re-read the Moves Datafile whenever you use the "(K)ing's
Saga" option.

  Most other Show Menu options display the various status reports describing
your current armies, characters, provinces and so forth.  The "(?) Read Rules"
option lets you read any rules section just by typing the section number
(e.g., "3.3"). Alternatively, you can search for any game term (e.g., type
"druid" to learn all about the druidic alignment and the Druid ability.)


ENTERING YOUR ORDERS

  Now let's go back to the Map Menu to see how to enter your orders.  To bring
up the Moves Menu, use the "(C)haracter"-select menu option to select a
character.  Orders for this character can now be entered, and whenever you're
done with him, just press <Esc> or <Return>.

  When you spend gold, a line will appear in the upper left corner telling you
how much of the total gold in your treasury you have spent.  If you take back
a move, or clear a character's orders, the computer does not adjust your
spending; but if you perform a (R)ead or (W)rite Moves, the accuracy will be
restored. There is one other cost factor not taken into account: when you pay
double to recruit a non-native army type, it's still counted at normal cost.

  When attempting to enter a move, sometimes the program will comment that the
move may be illegal.  If the comment has a red text color, the move is
certainly illegal and will be disallowed. If the text color is green, the move
may become illegal during the turn, depending on what else happens during the
turn.  In this case, use your knowledge of the rules to decide whether the
move is legal.  At the end of the displayed comment, the program will list,
for your reference, the relevant rules sections and paragraph(s). Note: For
black-and-white monitors, the "green" color will be represented by a normal
typeface, while "red" will be boldface.

  When you're finished entering orders, the "(W)rite Moves" option will save
them to the disk as your "Orders File", which is separate from your Moves
Datafile. The name of the Orders File will vary, but as an example, if you are
in turn 9 of game 3 and the I.D. of your King is #5, the file will be named
"ak3__t9.k5". It's a text file, so if you're playing by electronic mail, you
can send it as you would any other text message (please don't send it as a
binary file, because those take longer to send and download.)  If you have
comments for the moderator, you can write them at the end of your Orders
File.

  If you are playing by disk or electronic mail, you can place messages to
other players inside their Turn Reports.  All you need to do is put your
messages in a file named "AK.#" (where "#" is the number of your King.)  Each
message in the file should start with a line which begins with "To:" and also
has the number of the character you want to receive it.  If you're playing by
disk-mailer, make sure the file is on the disk.  If you play by electronic
mail, send it to us in a separate message after you send your Orders File.
  The program can also accept email messages with the header "TO: All", which
will broadcast the message to every king.  I should also point out, you can
send messages not only to another player, but any character he owns, and it
will appear in that character's "letter report".  Of course, if the character
changes employers, that may not be in accordance with your intentions.

  The messages you send should be ASCII text, without the formatting
characters used by many word processors.


SENDING IN YOUR MOVES

   If you're playing by CompuServe, please send your orders via the PBMGAMES
forum (where we have free connect time) with the "post pri unf" command. 
Always send your orders as a regular text message, not as an binary file.
   If you are playing on CompuServe or GEnie, we will send the turn results to
you as a compressed archive.  You can download it using a protocol such as
XModem or CompuServe Quick B.  Then use an archive-extraction tool (such as
PKUNZIP.EXE to extract the files from the archive (there's a list of
compatible extraction tools on the back of the Quick Reference Card.)  It's
wise to check your email-service for your results archive before 10:00 PM
Eastern Time on the day after your moves are due, because if we somehow missed
your move, we'll send a reminder to you and wait until that time to process
the game.

   If you're playing with a disk mailer, just slip your disk in the mailer and
mail it in.  Don't use a disk sleeve because that increases the weight and
adds to postal expenses.  To be on the safe side, you might want to include a
printout of your moves, just in case your disk goes bad in the mail.
   The disk mailers we use for 5.25" disks are re-usable.  When you peel off
your address label on the front of the disk-mailer, our mailing address will
magically appear beneath it.  You'll also notice that the easiest way to put
the disk in the envelope is to insert it sideways.  Finally, when you seal the
mailer, please do so lightly, so it doesn't add too much weight and can be
opened easily.
   3.5" disks don't require a disk mailer.  You can put them in a regular
envelope, but keep in mind that the letter will go through the postal machines
more smoothly if the disk is wrapped in a piece of paper.
   When your disk is returned to you, it will contain your Turn Report and the
Moves Datafile for the next turn.  A printed Turn Report summary is also
available, in case the disk goes bad in the mail.



                            Quick Reference Sheet

MAIN MENU:

  C) Create Character        -A program which writes a "*.SET" setup request
                              file, which is sent to the GM to start a game.
  B) Begin Library           -Begins the "library.ak" file, a fact-file about
                              special abilities, treasures, discoveries,
                              special titles, and game news that you have
                              learned about in the course of play.
  E) Enter Moves             -See the game map and enter your Kingdom's orders
  H) Heraldry                -Heraldic editor of "*.HER" files
  I) Program Instructions    -Basic Instructions
  L) Load a Font             -This will load any one of about 10 custom
                              fonts.  Try them all!
  N) ***New V. 24 features   -New features implemented in this version of SAGA
  P) Preferences             -Allows you to choose your preferred scroll color
  R) Read Moves Datafile     -Read your Moves Datafile for this turn
  S) Show Turn Report        -Show the Turn Report for this turn
  T) Tour                    -A "Tour of Adventurer-Kings" for new players
  <Esc> Exit Program         -I'm outta here.

SHOW TURN REPORT MENU:

Turn Report:
  (K)ing ________'s great  -The story of what happened to your Kingdom and
   saga, year 1             its characters during the turn (see SAGA MENU).
  (L)etter Reports         -Use this option to view any individual letter
                            report from a hero in it's entirety.
  (S)croll through report  -Scroll through the Turn Report page by page.
  (G)eneral Intelligence   -Rumors from other Kingdoms and spy reports.

Status Reports:
  (A)rmies                 -Summary of the Kingdom's armed forces.
  (B) Adventure            -Features and characters available for adventure.
  (C)haracters             -The characters in service to your Kingdom.
  (D)iplomacy              -New contacts; relations with other Kingdoms.
  (F)inances               -Your finances for the current turn.
  (I)mperial Offices       -Your standing in the race for Imperial Offices.
  (M)oves Sheet            -Your turn sheet, including your account balance/
  (N)ews                   -Game News for Adventurer-Kings.
  (P)rovinces              -A summary of your Kingdom's provinces.
  (Q)uote of the Week      -The adventurous and kingly quote for the week.

Instructions:
  (E)xplain Menu           -Instructions for the Show Turn Report Menu.
  (?) Search Files         -You may search any files for any game term.


KING'S SAGA MENU:

  (A) An audience with (Hero 1)      -Tells the tale of Hero 1.
  (B) A letter from (Hero 2)         -A letter of the adventures of Hero 2.

  (1) to see the next season         -See your King's next action.
  (2) to see remaining news quickly  -All remaining unread letters are shown.

  Note:  At ANY time you are reading a report about one of your character's
adventures, you may speed up or slow down the report by pressing any key
between "0" and "9".


MAP MENU:

  (I)nstructions       -Instructions for entering orders King:
  (T)reat              -Treat with another King.  To see your diplomatic
                        orders, choose "(C)haracter" and select your King.
  (B)reak Treaty       -Break Treaty with another King.
  (V)ote request       -Request that a vote for Emperor be held next turn. If
                        a vote is to be held THIS turn, this menu-option will
                        say "(V)ote for Emperor!" and you can use it to choose
                        who to vote for.
  (K)ING'S SKILLS      -This option is shown only if your King died in the
                        previous turn and thus can select new abilities.
  (H)ERALDRY           -On turn 1, you may edit your "AH###.K#" heraldry file.
  (N)AMES              -On turn 1, you may change the name of your hired
                        characters and starting province. Cursor:
  (Keypad 1-9) Move    -The keypad is used to move the map cursor.
  (2/8, Up/Down Arrow) -In (S)ymbolic mode, allows you to examine each
                        characteristic of the province more closely. Display:
  (P)olit              -Draws a political map, showing province name, owner,
                        race, army types, tax and exploration level.
  (L)eader             -Shows all leaders and features.
  (M)ilit              -Shows all leaders and armies.
  (S)ymbol             -Symbolically shows all the most important information.
  (+,.,-) Redraw       -"+" redraws at a zoomed-in scale,"-" redraws at a
                        larger scale, "." redraws at the same scale.
  (Z)oom               -Zooms to a map with a 3-hex heighth.  If already at
                        3 hexes, it toggles between a 1-hex and 3-hex heighth.
  (O)verview           -Shows the entire map.
  (E)xtra              -Displays a wider map and draws the menu at the bottom.
  (Y) Keys             -Shows map-keys for the colors and symbols used for
                        terrain, military units and political status.
  (F)ast               -Less graphics, but faster (Atari-ST only.) Moves:
  (:) Print            -Sends a summary of your entered orders to the printer.
  (;) Review           -Writes a summary of your entered orders on the screen.
  (W)rite              -Writes your entered orders to the disk.
  (R)ead               -Reads your orders from the disk.
  (?) Report Menu      -Takes you to the "Show Turn Report Menu".
  (C)haracter          -Shows a list of characters you may enter orders for,
                        then takes you to the Moves Menu.

MOVES MENU:

  (*) Redo Moves     -Cancel and clear the character's previously entered
orders.
  (+,.,-) Redraw     -Same as Map Menu.
  (BkSp) Back Up     -Take back the character's last action.
  (>) Edit Hireling  -Edit the orders of a character who was hired, charmed or
                      resurrected by the current character.
  (1-5)              -Edit a character's move for any given phase.
  </> Spec Enc Plan  -Enter a Special Encounter Plan.
  (End-PgUp)         -Move to an adjacent province.
  (A)..(Z)           -These keys will give orders to the character you have
                      selected.  For example, "D" will order a Defend action.
                      For more information on these men options, see rules.
  (=) Repeat Action  -Repeat the character's action of the previous phase.

  In addition to the above options, the following options from the Map Menu are
available, even though they're not listed on the menu:

  (Numeric Keypad)  Move    (Up/Down Arrow)  Explain Symbols


APPENDICES: ADVANCED FEATURES

APPENDIX 1: HERALDRY

  The usage of heraldry has been expanded.  Each king is given a unique coat
of arms for each game; you can either use that, or create your own.  When you
meet a king during the game, his heraldry is written to your moves datafile.
When Saga.exe reads that moves datafile, it automatically writes
his heraldry file to the disk.  Each time you use Saga, all heraldry files of
kings you have met are available.  A foreign king's heraldry is shown at
battles, in messages that he sends you, and in the General Intelligence Report
for his Kingdom.  Also in the General Intelligence Report, the king's race
will be listed, and his name will be colored according to whether he is an
Ally, Enemy, or is Neutral towards you.
  If you'd like to design your own heraldry for each of your kings, Saga's
heraldic editor makes it easy.  Just type "H", then "R", then "*" to preview
the files available.  Then type "R" to read in the file you liked best, change
the colors with the "F" and "B" keys, and type "W" to save the file.  Done!!
If you want to design a more unique shield, experiment some more with the
functions shown in the heraldic editor.
  For mottos, please include an English translation.  An example motto:
"E Pluribus Unum (From the Many, One)".


APPENDIX 2: BATTLE DEPICTIONS

  The depiction of battles in the turn report has been given some good
graphics.  The background-color of the battle is the same as the provincial
terrain color.  For each army, the coat-of-arms of its owner is shown, along
with the army-type symbol, shown in the color of the army's race.  Skeletal
armies are marked with a "/S" notation, and the armies are shown with a red
background.  If an army is in the front row of a battle, its quality is also
notated (e.g., "/A" means Average, "/V" means Veteran, etc.)  Also, the text
description of front-row armies is colored according to their quality.  NOTE:
older turn reports are not able to show any of these features.


APPENDIX 3: MERGING DATA FILES

  You can merge your ally's XK*.K* data files with your own.  To do this,
type "saga <game-number> <+king-number>", for example "saga 405 +3".  This
automatically loads the latest xk405*.k3, and merges all xk*.k* files of the
same gameturn.  To omit the merges, leave out the "+" (e.g., "saga 405 3").


APPENDIX 4: USING THE MOUSE

  There is now limited mouse support.  Use it to move a cursor over the map,
and click the right button on any item in the screen, to get its description.
Click on a province number to describe the whole province.  Also, you can
move around the map by moving the mouse cursor to an edge and holding down
the right mouse button.  The left button does nothing, at this time.


APPENDIX 5: COMING SOON FOR SAGA

  I will do some more mouse programming, allowing you to give orders by
using the left mouse-button; also, I hope to add advanced message editing,
allowing you to send and receive music and heraldry in diplomatic messages.
If all goes well, these features will be available by mid-May.


APPENDIX 6: SAGA TRANSLATION NOTES, BY COMPUTER TYPE

Atari ST:
   The Atari-ST version was completely updated in October 1991. 

Amiga:
   If you downloaded Saga by modem in archived form, there's a few more steps
to take before you can run Saga: you can read "install.doc" to see how to
install your fonts into your system.  If you elect not to install the fonts,
then whenever you run Saga on the Amiga, you need to bring up a CLI window and
then type "STACK 35000" and "ASSIGN FONTS: AK:FONTS". If you ever run the
program and see a lot of funny characters on the map screen, that means the
fonts are not loaded by the "Saga" program.
   To "Jump" the cursor around your map, you need to hold the <Shift> key down
while pressing a number on the top row of the keyboard.  For example, "!"
(Shift-1) will jump you northeast on the map.  Also, "*" and "@" are the keys
to use when you want to display the first or last pictures of a province
display, not the "2" and "8" keys.

MacIntosh:
   The most recent MacIntosh translation is dated April 1991, and is much
faster and better than the previous version, done in January 1990.  That
version had a bug in the printing which is hopefully fixed now (I can't say
for sure because I don't have a printer that can be hooked up to a Mac.)
   I have heard that Saga doesn't work very well under MultiFinder: you can
switch away from Saga, but if you come back then the computer locks up.


DESIGNED BY:

  David SNell
  Ark Royal Games,
  14332 NE 126th Ave., Suite #B-203
  Kirkland, WA  98034
  (206)-820-2398
  GEnie: ARK.ROYAL
  CompuServe: 71750,1153


  The following companies are licensed to operate Adventurer-Kings, as of
March 1996, with their InterNet email addresses:

  USA/Canada:
    David Snell, Ark Royal Games [>INTERNET:71750.1153@CompuServe.Com]
    Debbie & Bob Thomson, Llucky Llama Games [74044.325@CompuServe.Com]

  Holland/Germany:
    Paul Hartmann, PBM Express [100141.404@CompuServe.Com]

  United Kingdom:
    Neil Harris, Ventura Games [100601.3053@CompuServe.Com]

  France:
    Roland Danard, Productions Roland DANARD [73653.574@CompuServe.Com]

  Italy:
    Roberto Flaibani, Strategia e Tattica [MC3547@mclink.it]

  Australia:
    Peter Catling, Roma Games [RomaGames@b022.aone.net.au]


