The Adventurers' Guild
http://www.bardstale.de

The Bard's Tale: Tales of the Unkown
Apple ][ Command Summary Card


APPLE II FAMILY
THE BARD'S TALETM

HOW TO START
1. Before you begin playing, you need to create your own Character disk--a disk
the computer can write to as you play, to keep track of your fortunes and
misfortunes. Here's how to make a Character disk which contains a completely
outfitted and ready-to-go band of adventurers named *ATEAM. Get a blank disk
or one which contains information you no longer need. Use your DOS 3.3 disk to
start your computer, then create a Character disk by using your DOS copy
program to make a copy of the back side of the Bard's Tale Boot disk. (Refer to
your DOS manual if you need help with this step. For information about the
"Make" command in the Bard's Tale Utility menu, see "Utilities Menu" inside.)

2. Now restart your computer using Side 1 of the Bard's Tale Boot Disk. When the
title screen appears, you may press Return at any time to begin the game. When
the prompt appears asking for your Character disk, remove the Boot Disk and
insert the disk you made in step 1, then press any key. (APPLE IIe and IIc
OWNERS, BE SURE YOUR CAPS LOCK KEY IS DEPRESSED.)

3. The Utilities menu which appears contains 4 choices. To enter the
Adventurer's Guild so you can start playing, just press S for S(tart) game. For
information about the other 3 choices (including the option that lets you transfer in
characters from WizardryTM and Ultima IIITM), see "Utilities Menu" inside.

4. The Character disk you made in step 1 already contains a good beginning
party of adventurers who are equipped and ready to go. To use them, just type A
to A(dd) a character, and then type *ATEAM to load the entire party. You can
then E(xit) the Guild and enter the town of Skara Brae by typing E. To learn how
to create your own characters, form your own parties, remove characters or
rearrange their order, see the inside of this card. HINT: The first dungeon is the
wine cellar in the only tavern in town which serves wine. It's on Rakhir street.

--continued inside--

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SAFETY AND DEATH
Face it. The sort of streets where you run into wandering Kobolds, Werewolves
and Orcs are dangerous. And the streets of Skara Brae are especially dangerous
at night. Beginning parties should not be shy about spending the night in the
Adventurer's Guild. Leaving the Adventurer's Guild always sets the clock ahead
to the next morning. Also, don't despair if you lose a favorite *ATEAM member.
First deletet him from your Character disk (with the Delete command available in
the Disk menu in the Adventurer's Guild). Then use the Copy characters
command in the Utilities menu (described inside) to copy the original from the
back of the Boot disk or the most recently saved version from a backup of your
Character disk. Finally, add him to your party.

MOVING ABOUT
I or Return--move forward.
K--kick a door open.
J or left arrow--turn left.
L or right arrow--turn right

VIEWING CHARACTERS
Press the number (1-6) of the character whos statistics you want to view. In the
sub menu, Press:
E to E(quip) a character with an item. You will be prompted for the item number
(1-8). Press 0 to unequip all of a character's items.
T to T(rade) an item. Type the item number at the prompt. To trade gold, type G.
Then type the number of the character you want to give the item to.
D to D(rop) an item. Type the item number at the prompt.
P to P(ool) all gold. This gives all the party's gold to the character being viewed.
Press the Spacebar to leave the View Character mode.

IF YOU HAVE TWO DISK DRIVES
From time to time as you play, you will be prompted to put a Character disk or a
Dungeon disk in the drive. If you want to play with the character disk in drive 2
and the Dungeon disk in drive 1, type a 2 after inserting the Character disk when
first prompted to do so. You can then play the game without doing any disk
swapping.

2

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COMBAT COMMANDS
If monsters attack, press F to F(ight) or R to R(un). (Note, you don't always get to
run just because you want to.) Or you can press P for P(arty attack) at any time to
voluntarily enter intra-party combat. In combat, press:
A to A(ttack) monsters in the first 2 ranks, hand-to-hand. Available only to the first
3 party members.
D to D(efend). This lessens the chance of damage from a monster in that round.
U to U(se) a magical item. The character must have been equipped with the item
in advance.
B to sing one of the 6 B(ard's) tundes for one combat round. Available only to
Bards.
C to C(ast) a spell. Type in the code letters for the spell at the prompt. Available to
magic users only.
H to H(ide) in the shadows. Available only to rogues.
Left arrow and right arrow to speed up or slow down the combat message
scrolling rate.

OTHER ADVENTURING COMMANDS
C to C(ast) a spell when not in combat. At the prompt, type the number of the
character who will cast the spell, then type the code letters for the spell.
P to start intra-party combat at any time with a P(arty attack).
B to sing one of the 6 B(ard's) tunes while wandering. Availavle only to Bards.
E to go up a portal. The party must have a levitation spell in operation. Works in
D to go down a portal. Works in dungeons only.
? to learn the name of the street the party is on, and the time of day.
N to establish a N(ew order) for the party members. At the prompt, type the
numbers of the members in the order you want them to march.
U to U(se) an item. Some items, like torches, must be activated with this
command in order to work. Type the character number who has the item at the
prompt, then pick the item (by typing its number) from the list which will appear.
Some items run out of power after only one use.
V to turn sound on/off.
Esc to pause/resume the game.

3

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HOW TO FORM PARTIES AND CREATE NEW CHARACTERS
Characters can be created and parties formed only in the Adventurer's Guild.
When you're ready to leave the Guild, type E for E(xit). Here are the other
commands available to you there. Press:
C to C(heck) the roster of characters and party names contained on the
Character disk. Party names are indicated with an *. The characters which belong
to a party may be anywhere in the list.
A to load a party or A(dd) a character to an already loaded party. Type either a
character name or a party name at the prompt. Party names must begin with an *
(e.g., *ATEAM). A party can contain up to 6 adventurers and must contain at least
one adventurer to use the E(xit) command.
R to R(emove) a character from a party. This saves all current character status
information to disk.
N to establish a N(ew) marching order for a party.
D to bring up a set of additional D(isk) options so you can create a new
character, save a party name, delete a character from the disk or leave the game,
saving all current character status to disk.

After pressing D to bring up the disk options, press:
C to C(reate) a new character. Select the race and class for the character as
prompted, then type in a character name of up to 15 letters and spaces. Press
Return to enter the name. A disk will hold up to 30 characters.
S to S(ave) a party name. IMPORTANT. This command does not save the
characters themselves. It only saves a rostter of the currently loaded characters
under the name you type in. When you use this command, the program will
automatically add an asterisk to the name to mark it as the name of a party. You
must type that asterisk first when you want to load the party again.
D to D(elete) a character from a character disk to make room for another
character.
L to L(eave) the game, saving all current character status information to disk.
E to E(xit) the disk options menu anad return to the Guild.

4

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UTILITIES MENU
To produce this menu, start your system with the Bard's Tale Boot Disk and insert
a Character disk when prompted to do so. When the menu appears, press:
S to S(tart) playing the game.
C to C(opy) characters from one character disk to another. Just follow the
prompts as they appear. This disk you are copying from is the source disk, the
one you are copying to is the target disk.
M to M(ake) a new Character disk. The disk you plan to use for your new
Character disk must have been formatted with DOS before you use this
command. This command does not put any characters on the disk. It simply
prepares the disk for a new game of the Bard's Tale, i.e., it places all objects
where they belong at the start of a game, etc.
T to T(ransfer) characters to a Character disk from a Wizardry character backup
disk
or an Ultima III player disk. At the prompt type W for Wizardry or U for Ultima
III. If you are transfering characters with a Wizardry character backup disk, type 1
for Wizardry I and II characters and 2 for Wizardry III characters. Follow the
prompts as they appear. NOTE: Character data will not be changed in any way
on your Wizardry or Ultima III disks. Just to be safe, though, you may wish to
write-protect those disks before using the Transfer command.

MANUAL ADDENDA
On page 21, item number 3, what's said about intelligence and spell points is true
as far as it goes: the higher the intelligence of your magic user, the faster the rate
of increase in spell points through experience. But the beginning number of spell
points is randomly bestowed at creation.
On page 21, item numer 2, the manual uses the words "save" and "exit" in
connection with "game". They were meant there as common verbs rather than as
command names. The Save command in the Adventurer's Guild Disk menu does
only one thing: if saves a roster of the currently loaded characters under a party
name. To write the current status of a single character to disk, use the Remove
command to remove him from the party. To write the current status of all loaded
characters to disk, use the Leave game command in the main Adventurer's Guild
menu. If you turn off the power without using the Leave command, all currently
loaded characters will lose all their gold regardless of when they acquired it.
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Limited Warranty

Electronic Arts warrants to the original purchaser of this computer software product that the recording medium on
which the software programs are recorded will be free from defects in materials and workmanship for ninety days from
the date of purchase. Defective media returned by the purchaser during that ninety day period will be replaced without
charge, provided that the returned media have not been subjected to misuse, damage or excessive wear.
Following the initial ninety day warranty period, defective media will be replaced for a replacement fee of $7.50.
Defective media should be returned to: Electronic Arts, 390 Swift Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080. Enclose it
in protective packaging, accompanied by (1) proof of purchase, (2) a brief statement describing the defect, (3) a
$7.50 check (if beyond the inital ninety day warranty period), and (4) your return address.

WHAT IS NOT COVERED BY THIS WARRANTY

THIS WARRANTY DOES NOT APPLY TO THE SOFTWARE PROGRAMS THEMSELVES. THE PROGRAMS ARE
PROVIDED "AS IS."
THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED. ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE LIMITED IN DURATION TO NINETY DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PURCHASE.
ELECTRONIC ARTS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES FOR BREACH OF
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY.

Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages or limitations on how long
and implied warranty lasts, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific
legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. Address all correspondence to
Electronic Arts, 2755 Campus Drive, San Mateo, CA 94403. Or call us at (415) 572-ARTS.
Unless identified otherwise, all programs and documentation are ©1985 Electronic Arts.

APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE
ENCLOSED COMPUTER SOFTWARE PACKAGE, ITS MERCHANTIBILITY OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE
EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE
MAY BE OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.







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