Defender of Boston, May 1992
Version 1.1
To run Defender of Boston you will need a 286 10mhz or faster
machine, a VGA display, and a Mouse. Before you run Defender of
Boston be sure to have your mouse driver running. This program
will support the Sound Blaster(tm) sound card or the PC speaker.
Defender of Boston is a Fantasy Roleplaying game. You play the
role of an investigator in 1921 Boston, who must go to a strange little
island known as Rock Island to solve mysterious disappearance. After
creating your investigator you will start on Rock Island. Your goal is
to solve the mysteries of Rock Island and return to Boston alive.
There are many things you will discover and learn as you play.
Half the fun of an adventure game like this is finding out just how
to play the game.
If you are just learning to play. Do this...
1. Run START.EXE
2. Make an investigator with high stamina, strength, life, and mental.
Give the investigator a little of everything else.
3. Name your investigator and pick a portrait.
4. Click on <Install as game 1>
5. Click on <START>
6. Click on <SOUND BLASTER> or <PC SPEAKER>
7. Click on <GAME 1>
8. Play! Learn! Have fun!
Here are some hints:
The best way to find anything out is to ask questions.
You may want to take notes.
Remember that your investigator is on the side of good.
Sometimes it is a better idea to run then fight.
The very sight of some creatures is enough to make you sick!
Exploring at night is very dangerous.
Defender of Boston uses a mouse to input most commands.
There are a few keyboard commands you will need to know.
ARROW KEYS : control your movement both inside and out
<SPACE BAR> : allows you to take an one hour nap
<ESC> : saves current game and quits
Here are commands that you can give with the mouse or the keyboard
<p> pummel with a weapon or punch if unarmed
<k> kick
<t> throw a weapon or pull trigger of a gun
<l> load a bullet
<a> aim gun
<z> clear the text box at the bottom of the screen
<-> light your lantern
<=> turn on flashlight
<\> light a candle
<|> turn light off
<,> turn one degree counter clock wise when outside
<.> turn one degree clock wise when outside
<n> knock on door
<enter> enter or exit a cave or house
There are many more commands that you can give with the mouse.
In the start up program you are able to choose the skills and physical
statistics of your character. You have a limited number of points
to work with. Different skills require various number of points to go
up a level. You may add and subtract skill levels until you are happy
with your character's statistics. You may then save the character in one
of the four game slots. To bring a character up click on <start> and
choose one of the four game slots. After you have played the game
and saved you may start your character up by running DOB. If you want
to play one of the other saved games or make a new character run START.
Here is a run down on what the different statistics do.
The stronger you are the more you can carry and the more you weigh.
The more stamina you have the more energy you have to run or fight.
Your dexterity is a measure of how fast you are in a fight.
If your mental ever reaches zero you will pass out or go insane.
A very bad fright can blast your mental down to nothing. A lack of sleep
can drain your mental. You are constantly generating more mental power
as your mind slowly recovers from shocks and mental attacks.
Life is your health. Life also slowly recovers. When life reaches zero
you die...
The other skills should be self explanatory.
When you are playing Defender of Boston there are two different screens,
one is the inside screen the other is the outside screen. When you are
inside a picture of what you see in the upper middle of the screen. If
there is a person in the room with you a small person icon button will show
up under the room picture. Click on the person icon button to look at the
person so that you may talk or fight with them. While looking at a person
or animal there is a red life meter next to them. When this goes down to
nothing they die. If there is a picture of a weapon in the life meter box,
look out! They are aiming that thing at you!
The arrows surrounding the room picture when you are inside are your
choice of directions you may go. A yellow arrow means it is okay to go this
way. A red arrow means the door is locked and a black arrow means it is too
dark to see. If a <exit> button is by a room picture you may click on it to
go outside. If a <room> button is by a person you may click on this to look
at the room. Some rooms have special extra buttons.
If you are outside you will have a tactical circular display in the
top center of the screen. The yellow circle in the center is you. An animal
shows up as a red blip, a person as a green circle and a landmark as a white
box. You can click on what ever you wish to look at and a picture will pop
up under the tactical display. There will be a small yellow box on whatever
you are currently viewing. There is a small map the upper left corner,
you are the small red dot. Beside the map is a red arrow pointing the
direction you are traveling.
The box on the far right has your energy meter. This is your energy
reserve. You will very quickly recover more energy just by resting.
If you are injured, sick, thristy or hungry you may have a hard time
producing enough energy to move very much.
The speed meter bar is a measure of how fast you trying to move. If
you run into a wet area you will get stuck. Even though you are trying
to move and burning energy you will not be able to move.
Keep a eye on your life meter. When it gets too low you will die.
Anytime you get hurt or sick you will lose life.
If your mental meter drops to low you will pass out or go insane.
The area under the mental meter shows the weapon you are currently
armed with. Guns also have a ammo bar and extra rounds remaining.
The weight indicater at the bottem is a measure of your body weight plus
the weight of all the idems you are carring, wearing or holding. If your
weight gets too high you will have a hard time traveling very fast.
Next to the picture of your character in the upper right corner is a
injury indicator (it is the outline of a person) . A injured area shows
as yellow. Red is a area that has a very bad wound.
The column of icons on the left side of the screen each open up a
pad of different controls. Here is a list of what they do.
<look> look at sky,ground,room,person or self. You may also search an area.
<melee weapons> choose a hand to hand or thrown weapon
<gun> choose a firearm
<fight> combat controls, hand to hand and weapons
<backpack> choose a idem to drop, use and in some cases read
<all purpose> chemistry, field engineering and other skills
<talk> ask a question or try to gain someone's trust
As with all shareware this is a try before you buy program.
So do your part to support talented shareware authors.
The standard registion for this program is $10.00. Everyone
who registers will recieve a map of Rock Island. If you would
like to receive the latest version of this program and the
map send $16.00.
I ship the program on high density disks (1.2M or 1.44M).
Please state which size floppy you want when you register.
Tim Wisseman
P.O. Box 204
North Fork
Ca. 93643 USA
