.uW@$$$$$****$Wu. .oW$$$$$$$$! ``"#*bL. u@$$$$$$$$#"` NWou ^#Ru. .d$$$$$$$$$" $$$$c '*N. x$$$$$$$$$$F $$$$$: "Rk :$$$$$$$$$$$k $$$$$! `9b :$$$$$$$$$$$$N. $$$$# `$k @$$$$$$$$$$$$$Nu. $$*" "$. '$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$NX` M& X$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$X ?$ X$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$X '$ X$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$X <$ ~$$$$$$$$*#""`^"#$$X .zedeeu. d$ $$$$$$$# `9X @$$$$$$$$c $f #$$$$$F 'X d$$$$$$$$$$ d$ #$$$$( X $$$$$$$$$$$> d$" $$$$& 'X #$$$$$$$$$$ U$~ '#$$$b. .@X #R$$$$$$*":d*" "*$$$buuuuoW$$X ""##"".oR" "*$$$$$$$$$$X .ud$# ^#*R$$$$$$&...uue@*#" ^?TB$$$$$RT?? ||| MASTERSWORD PLAYER'S GUIDE ||| Hail, Mastersword player! Whether you're a new entrant into our vast world or a veteran player, you'll probably find this resource handy in playing Mastersword! 1.) Installing Mastersword -Simply run MasterSword1.exe and select your Half-Life directory! 2.) Opening Mastersword -Run hl.exe (or any other half-life executable shortcut) and select 'Custom Game', click on 'Mastersword', and select 'Activate. 3.) Setting up the game A) Setting up your controls/commands Choose your control setup by going to the 'Customize' option on the main menu, then selecting 'Controls.' Important new controls include: - Use Hand Item: Uses whatever you're holding in your hand, including potions or weapons - Switch Hands: Switches between your two available hands - Use World Object: Pressing this will allow you to use buttons, doors, and shopkeepers. - Equip Hand Item: If possible, equips what you're holding (e.g. armor/backpacks) - Remove Equipped Item: Brings up a list of items you're wearing, allowing you to remove them. - Drop Hand Item: Drops whatever is in your hand on the ground. - Get Item from Ground: Picks up an item from the ground or from bodies (use this around all bodies) - Offer Items: Use this to offer money or items to NPCs or to use keys on keyholes. - Use Steal Skill: Attempt to steal from nearby creatures. - Special Action: Hold this and press your switch hands button to view item descriptions. - Display Character Statistics: Pressing this brings up your character page. PGUP/PGDN cycles through skill focus. - Emotes: Currently only allows your character to sit down (regain stamina faster) - Confirm: Confirms world actions (such as transitions and allows people to join parties) - Forgive an Ally that Killed You: Removes the PK status of anybody who kills you. - Create New Character: Allows you to make a new character (NOTE - only perform in STARTING MAPS like Edana) - Use Special Skill: Brings up the skill list (currently the rogue is the only one with a special skill) - Open Pack Slot 1: Opens up your primary pack slot (backpack or quiver, back slot) - Open Pack Slot 2: Opens up second pack slot (belt) - Open Pack Slot 3: Opens up third pack slot (shoulder) - Show Personage Stats: Shows the vital statistics of all the people in the area. - Begin speaking: Begins speaking in mode selected. - Set Speech: Important - sets mode of speech (group, global, 'say'). Use 'say' to talk to NPCs!! - Leave party: Leaves current party CONSOLE COMMANDS OF NOTE: 'joinparty xxxx' - Joins party 'xxxx.' This party does not have to already exist, if none of that name exists, then you make your own party of that name. If a party with the entered name already exists, you will send a request to join the party to the party leader. He will have to 'confirm' your joining (with the key above) B) Setting up your character name Select 'Multiplayer' on the main menu, then 'Customize.' Type in a name. The next character you create will have this name. 4.) Playing the game A) Joining the world If you do NOT have a character in the game world (you have not played or your character has been 'rerolled') then you MUST join a map that allows you to start. The only map that allows you to create a new character in this beta is 'Edana', so find a server that is playing 'Edana' (or start your own) and begin there. If you DO have a character in the game world, find a server (or start your own) that is playing the map that you last played on, whether it be 'a3' (the thornlands) or 'sfor' (eswen meldanual/spooky forest) B) Starting off/Creating your ingame character Congratulations! If you've joined a server and gotten to the screen that asks you to create your character, then you are almost ready to play! First you must decide a gender. This is purely an aesthetic choice - there are no stat differences between the two. After that, you must decide a class. This decision can be much harder to make, so here's a rundown on each class: "Warrior" The warrior is the master of melee combat. Unparalleled in strength, he excels at swordsmanship, blunt weapons use, and axe handling. Remember that the weapon you choose to use the most will eventually become your 'best' weapon, even if this weapon is a dagger or a bow. Your options are quite open with the warrior. "Ranger" Master of bowmanship and surviving away from towns, the ranger has an expensive life but is unparalleled when it comes to fighting with daggers, skinning dead animals, and much more! "Rogue" Master of stealth, the rogue is a deadly choice. Not good in melee combat and not good in ranged combat, he makes up for these shortcomings with his wide variety of skills, including using his 'Stealth' command to fade into darkness and provide a backstabbing attack if he attacks while he's faded! Also, he can steal many things from NPCs and monsters alike, including 'disarming' an opponent by stealing his weapon out of his hands! After you have selected a class, your body will materialize in Daragoth! In the case of Edana, you are in the Temple of Urdual, diety of balance. It is recommended that first you talk to Sembelbin, the head priest of the temple who sits at the far end of the room in which you materialize. C) Interacting with NPCs To see if an NPC has anything to say, walk up to them and type 'Hail' or 'Hello'. Make SURE that your speech mode is set to 'say' and not global or party, because NPCs only hear things when you 'say' them. Also, try using your 'Use World Item' button on certain NPCs, this automatically asks them if they have anything to sell or want to buy anything. If an NPC is talking, make sure he's finished speaking before you ask any more questions of him. They often get mixed up and lose their train of thought otherwise. D) Fighting monsters For this, you need a weapon, whether it be your fists or a dagger or the Skullblade. Notice that certain weapons have different attacks depending on how you are moving when you press your attack (or 'use hand item' button as it is sometimes called) button. Example - The longsword can manually parry attacks, just press 'move backward' and 'attack' at the same time and hold the attack button. Giant Rats and Giant Boars can be skinned after they are killed. You must use a dagger to skin things, and rangers are the best at it to start out. If you are successful, you'll be treated to a skin laying on the ground. Pick it up and find somebody to sell it to - that's the best way to start to gain money until you're strong enough to fight down the giant skeletons and orcs. E) Recovering Health To recover your health, you need a healing item. The two most common are Apples and Medium Health Potions. Simply hold them in your hand and hit your 'use hand item' button. F) Transitioning between areas Any time you see a section of land that seems to hit the 'sky' in the background, walk up to it. Most times, this is a transition from one area to another. It will ask you to confirm that you want to travel to 'xxxx' location, and you must press your 'confirm button.' Alternatively, the ingame VGUI version of the map browser may open up, allowing you to select a different server playing the map you are trying to transition to. G) GETTING UP FROM SITTING! :) If you sit down, hit your crouch key to stand up. Thanks MrHankey. :) H) Checking your status Press your 'Show player statistics key' (default p) to bring up the character stats page. Then use PGUP and PGDN keys to scroll through the individual skills. Look for things that say % trained that are more than 0% (for example, if you have been using a sword and fighting things, check swordsmanship) Once one of those gets to 100% trained, you will gain a level in that area of that skill. I) Manipulating items in your hand Once you have bought a backpack, sack, big sack, sheath, or quiver, you can use those to store items. To equip one of these, simply buy it and when it is in your hand press your 'equip' button. To remove it after equipting, hit your 'remove equipped items' button and select it from the list. Note that you can only wear a backpack if you are not wearing a quiver, and vice-versa. Once you have an item in your hand AND you are wearing a container, press your 'equip' button to place that item in the best possible container (e.g. if you are wearing a sack and a quiver, the arrow will go into the quiver automatically while an apple would go into the sack) You can open these packs, after equipping, by pressing your number keys. Selecting an item from within your pack will cause it to be put into your hands (if you have a free hand) J) Recommended loadouts for some of the most common class types Warrior - Axefighter Once you have enough money, get chainmail armor (of any color, they're all the same armor value), a heavy backpack to wear, and your favorite type of axe. Note that there is a powerful axe which is held by a special Orcish warboss. I wonder where he might be? Warrior - Swordsman Again, once you have enough money, buy chainmail armor, a sheath, and a bigsack. I recommend the sheath because its absolutely the best way to keep a sword out of use, you can automatically sheath the sword by pressing 'q' and if you aren't holding anything in your current hand, pressing 'q' will unsheath the sword for you! You can't wear a sheath and a backpack at the same time, which is why the bigsack is recommended. For a sword, I recommend either the shortsword if you like speed, or the longsword if you like blocking, or if you can score one, a skullblade because it is very powerful. Warrior - Macer Chainmail armor, Heavy backpack. Definitely good for the mace warrior. Note that Lord Calrian, a tyrant of old, was said to be fond of maces. Ranger - Archer I recommend Leather Armor (the heavier chainmail will slow you down much), a quiver, and a big sack. The quiver is absolutely required for any class that wants to use a bow as its main weapon, and the sack because you can't wear a quiver and a backpack at the same time. A longbow is quite the catch as far as bows go...I wonder where you could find one? Ranger - Bandit This is the type of ranger that would use smallarms more than his/her bow. I recommend leather armor (same reason as above), a heavy backpack, and a good dagger. There is supposedly a very powerful thieves dagger, I wonder where you could find one? Rogue - Swashbuckler This rogue type uses one of the warrior weapon types (he'll have to gain skill in it first), but believe me, when a rogue gets good with swords/axes/maces, things get pretty scary. I recommend leather armor, because the rogue has very little stamina. A heavy backpack will do well on him, and the best possible weapon he can get in his highest fighting skill. Recommended tactic - BACKSTAB! Note on backstabbing - Stealth your character when in shadows, sneak up behind your enemy and attack. Enjoy. Rogue - Assassin This rogue type uses the smallarms that is inherent with his class to his best advantage, especially backstabbing. Recommended leather or no armor (to speed up movement while stealthed), a backpack, and the thieves' dagger if you can get ahold of it. The machete is also quite good, but only recommended IF you get a backstab in first. K) Giving items/money to other players and NPCs Assuming you own something that hasn't been stolen - :) -, and you want to give it to an NPC or another player, then you should use the 'Offer/Accept' system of trade. Simply hold in your hand what you want to give to the person, look at the person you want to give it to, and press your 'offer' key. You should get a list that allows you to select which item you want to give to him (if you have two, one in each hand) or to select an amount of gold. Once you select what you want to give him, if it is an NPC AND it wants the item you're trying to give it (like an item to complete a quest) then the NPC will automatically accept it from you. If it is a player, then they will see a message informing him/her that you want to give them suchandsuch item/gold. After they see that message, they must press their 'accept' button (the same button used to transition between maps if not server switching) L) The Combat System The combat system in Mastersword is a real time skill based system (RTSB). Depending on what weapon you are using to attack a creature, you use a different skillset and will advance in that skillset if you attack a creature. Your skill goes up AS YOU ATTACK, not when you kill something. When you attack, it will say: "Your character name attacks monster's name." Followed by a Hit! or a Miss! After that will be a small section that will probably look something like this: (53/70). The first number is what you skillrolled, the second number is your 'tohit' roll. If the number on the left is higher than the number on the right, you hit. After that will be your damage. Any more questions/comments should be sent to me, Lanethan - wintermute@cvinternet.net Thanks for reading, and have fun exploring the world of Mastersword!