				OSSUARY
		    A Simple Roguelike Dungeon Crawl
	     Copyright (C) Damian Gareth Walker 2013, 2020.

Contents:

	The Story
	The Game
	Running the Game
	How to Play
	Using the Menu
	Your Inventory
	Understanding Your Hero
	Items and Their Effects
	The Enemies
	Licence
	Acknowledgements

The Story

	The villagers were quite proud of their ossuary. Centuries of
	custom and practice dictated that at the end of their lives, the
	people of this village, like all the other villages and towns in
	the land, would inter their dead in grand, uderground vaults
	built for the purpose. At special times, like birthdays and
	holidays, the living would descend into the ossuary to visit and
	make offerings to their ancestors.

	But things have been a bit different recently. Every age has its
	social ills, and today was no different. Though magic had often
	been used in medicine, religion and war, a new breed of
	sorcerors made it less welcome. A craze for necromancy took hold
	in the towns, and many young sorcerors developed an addiction
	for communicating with, and even raising, the dead. Senior
	practitioners of the magic arts needed a good reason to disturb
	the sleep of the dead, but their younger colleagues were often
	caught doing it for the sheer fun of it.

	This had to stop, and in a short time the more irresponsible
	students of magic were banished from the towns and the colleges
	in disgrace. Did this stop them? Of course not. Off they went
	into the country to find other places to practice their dark
	arts, and what better place to raise the dead than in the vast
	burial chambers built across the land?

	And so, periodically, along with the wolves, the goblins and the
	occasional dragon, villagers now have necromancers to put up
	with too. While the necromancers are happy to confine their
	activities to the underground chambers, making pets out of wild
	creatures and friends out of the dead, the intrusion of spirits
	and animated corpses adds nothing to the dignity of the funerals
	and other ceremonies the villagers are still trying to hold in
	their grand, centuries-old cemeteries. They want it stopped. The
	villagers want their Ossuary back.

The Game

	Ossuary is an adventure game for the IBM PC and compatibles. You
	play the hero who has agreed to rid the ossuary of its unwanted
	visitor, the necromancer. You must fight your way through the
	twenty-four levels of enchanted creatures, animated bodies and
	summoned spirits with which the necromancer has filled his
	adopted domain. And on reaching the final level, you must defeat
	the necromancer himself. Your prize is all the gold you can
	carry. And being an adventurer, you can carry a lot.

	Every game is different. The layout of the dungeon is generated
	each time you play. While things get more difficult the further
	down you go, the manner in which this happens varies from one
	game to another. In some games you encounter spirits early on,
	while in other games it may take longer, but the very animals
	themselves become more vicious. Sometimes you will encounter a
	great variety of creatures on a single level, while at other
	times the enemies seem to come in waves, one kind succeeding
	another.

	Your character will also be different each time you play. Attack
	strength, defensive skill and intelligence are all randomly set
	at the beginning of the game, though every hero whose role you
	take on will be of a similar overall ability. In some games you
	might have a strong character suited to physical attacks; in
	others a physically weaker character might be better suited to
	magic; in some games the abilities are finely balanced and you
	need to see how your character develops in order to decide how
	best to deal with the various enemies.

	In the manner of dungeon hack games everywhere, there are
	objects to be found on the way which will help you in your
	quest. Some things sustain your health, there are weapons and
	shields to be found, magic wands and amulets may come in useful
	if you have the ability to use them, and there are incantation
	scrolls to keep evil spirits at bay. But with all this, your
	chances are still slim: all these things were left by previous,
	failed adventurers, who now add to the numbers of the wandering
	dead.

Running the Game

	The minimum specification to run Ossuary is an IBM PC with an
	8088 processor and CGA graphics, running PC-DOS or MS-DOS. The
	game will run at an acceptable speed on faster machines, and its
	graphics will display correctly on any CGA-compatible card with
	an RGB colour monitor. Clarity and legibility are not guaranteed
	on monochrome or colour composite monitors, but the game will
	run.

	The game can be run from a floppy disk or from a hard disk. The
	following instructions assume that you have the game installed
	to hard disk C: in the directory OSSUARY. To run the game, type
	the following commands:

		c:
		cd \ossuary
		ossuary

	The first thing you will see is the high score table. This lists
	the players who have made it back after ridding the Ossuary of
	its necromancer, and shows how much gold they collected. You
	will be asked under what name you want to play. Note that if you
	omit to type in a name, you will not be entered on the high
	score table even if you collect enough gold and beat the
	necromancer. Once you have entered your name, you will start
	your first game.

How to Play

	The interface for Ossuary is very simple to pick up. You see the
	dungeon from the top down, in the form of a level plan. The four
	cursor keys move your hero around the map. You only see part of
	the current dungeon level at a time; the view is kept centred on
	your hero as you move around. You might notice that enemies move
	only when you do. Ossuary is a turn based game, in which careful
	thought is more important than fast reactions.

	To attack creatures, simply move so as to push into them. There
	is no specific attack command, nor is there ranged combat in the
	game. This much exploration and attacking can be done with the
	direction keys only, but the menu system and its shortcut keys
	give access to more of the game's features. To start playing the
	game properly, let's look at the screen in a bit more detail.

	The screen is split into four parts. The least important part is
	the bottom: this is purely there for decoration. The part you
	will be looking at most is in the middle: this is the map view
	on which you move around. The cyan bar underneath the map is the
	message bar. It is used to show brief messages, and to show the
	menu.

	To the left are your hero's statistics. These are his strengths,
	and the additions to his natural abilities which are affected by
	the things he is currently holding. At the bottom of this panel
	is the amount of gold collected, which functions as a score in
	the game. It will be listed on the high score screen if you beat
	the necromancer.

	On the right is the inventory, the items your hero has collected
	and holds in his hands or in his bag. You'll need to understand
	this and the statistics panel to play the game effectively, but
	first let's look at the menu.

Using the Menu

	The SPACE bar activates the menu. The current option will appear
	on the menu bar, and pressing SPACE again will select
	it. Pressing LEFT and RIGHT will allow you to select the other
	options that are available to you. The game will normally try to
	select the most appropriate option when you first press SPACE,
	so for instance, when standing at an item you can pick up, PICK
	UP ITEM is the default option. This means that much of the time
	you can take the most appropriate action at any given time just
	by pressing SPACE twice. The menu options are:

		SHOW GAME KEYS
		WAIT A MOMENT...
		VIEW INVENTORY
		PICK UP ITEM
		DESCEND STAIRS
		EAT A NICE APPLE
		QUAFF A POTION
		START NEW GAME
		EXIT THIS GAME
		CANCEL MENU

	If no appropriate action suggests itself, the default option
	will be VIEW INVENTORY. From this you can see how to pick up
	items, and to descend the stairs to the next level. You can, by
	the way, go downstairs leaving monsters and objects behind, but
	trying to rush headlong down to the last level without fighting
	or collecting anything is a recipe for failure.

	All of these options have shortcut keys which can be used to
	activate them with or without bringing up the menu first; those
	shortcut keys are given as each option is discussed.

	SHOW GAME KEYS brings up a list of in-game shortcut keys. Space
	is cramped, so where alternative keys exist for a function they
	will not be listed. ESC returns to gameplay when viewing that
	list.

	The WAIT A MOMENT... option makes the hero stand still while
	allowing the other creatures to move; useful if you want to wait
	for an enemy to come to you or move out of the way. The shortcut
	key for this is the dot (full-stop, or period, depending on
	where you come from).

	VIEW INVENTORY enters the inventory subsystem, which is
	explained in detail later. The shortcut key for this is I.

	PICK UP ITEM picks up any item in the square where the hero is
	standing, and puts it in the hero's bag. The shortcut key is T
	(for "take").

	DESCEND STAIRS will take the hero down the stairs to the next
	level. The shortcut key is S, but players of other roguelike
	games will be pleased to know the > key also works.

	EAT A NICE APPLE selects an apple from the hero's hands or bag,
	and eats it, restoring four health points. the shortcut key is
	E.

	QUAFF A POTION selects a health potion from the hero's hands or
	bag, and quaffs it, restoring the hero to full health. The
	shortcut key is Q.

	START NEW GAME abandons the current game and starts afresh with
	a new hero in a new Ossuary. You are asked for confirmation,
	then given an opportunity to choose another name for your hero,
	before the new game begins. The shortcut key is N.

	EXIT THIS GAME abandons the game and returns to DOS. The
	shortcut keys are X and ESC. As with starting a new game, you
	are asked for confirmation in case you pressed the key by
	mistake.

	CANCEL MENU lets you exit the menu without choosing an option,
	in case you entered it by mistake. Its shortcut key, while
	viewing the menu only, is ESC.

	As promised, it is time to look more closely at the VIEW
	INVENTORY option.

Your Inventory

	The panel on the right of the screen shows the items you are
	currently carrying with you. The top two items are separate;
	these are the things you are holding in your hands, or wielding
	as the game puts it. The other items are in your bag, not
	currently being used but available for you at any time you need
	them. Usually you would wield a weapon and a shield or a
	protective amulet.

	When you select the option VIEW INVENTORY from the main menu, a
	cursor appears in this panel. The action in the game is
	suspended, and your movement controls instead move the cursor
	around your inventory. The message bar identifies the currently
	selected item. Pressing SPACE when viewing the inventory brings
	up another menu:

		WIELD ITEM
		PUT ITEM AWAY
		CONSUME ITEM
		DISCARD ITEM
		CLOSE INVENTORY

	The CLOSE INVENTORY option returns you to the game without any
	other effect, allowing you to move around again. The shortcut
	key is ESC.

	All the other options, when used successfully, cause time to
	pass as with the WAIT A MOMENT... option on the main menu. The
	relevant shortcut keys are available while moving around the
	inventory or while browsing this menu. They are not available
	from the main menu or while moving your hero; you need to enter
	VIEW INVENTORY first.

	WIELD ITEM will put the currently selected item into your
	hand. The cursor needs to be on an item in your bag, and one
	hand needs to be empty. Ossuary doesn't care whether your hero
	is left- or right-handed, so it doesn't matter which hand your
	weapon is in. The shortcut key is W.

	PUT ITEM AWAY will return a wielded item to your bag, and is
	only useful when selecting an item in your hand. The shortcut
	key is P.

	CONSUME ITEM, useful only for apples and potions, causes you to
	eat or drink the currently selected item. You can do this
	directly from the bag; you do not need to be wielding the
	item. This differs from the EAT/DRINK options available from
	outside the inventory; here you choose the apple or potion, and
	it allows you to be fussy about the layout of your
	inventory. The shortcut key is C, but if you are pointing at an
	apple you can use E, and if you are pointing at a potion you can
	use Q.

	DISCARD ITEM drops the currently selected item on the
	ground. This cannot be done where there is already an item on
	the ground where the hero stands, and you cannot drop items down
	the stairs! The shortcut key is D.

Understanding Your Hero

	Your hero is described by the statistics panel on the left of
	the screen. The four statistics are Attack Strength, identified
	by the fist, Defence Skill shown by the raised hand,
	Intelligence shown by the quill, and Health shown by the heart.

	The first three statistics are generated randomly at the start
	of the game. Under each is a modifier, preceded by a +
	sign. This shows how much that statistic has been augmented by
	objects the hero is wielding. Weapons modify the attack
	strength, shields modify defence skill, and magical items modify
	intelligence.

	The fourth statistic, health, is calculated by adding together
	the other three. This calculates a maximum; health is depleted
	by enemy attacks, but can be restored to this maximum. The
	current health level is above the bar, the maximum is below.

Items and their Effects

	The following items are available at various points in the game:

	Gold. The purse of gold contains 20 gold pieces. The casket of
	gold contains 50 gold pieces. These are added straight to your
	gold total when you pick them up; they don't take up any space
	in your inventory and have no other use apart from score.

	A nice apple. These refreshing snacks restore four hit points to
	your health when you eat them. They will not increase your
	health beyond its maximum limit. They are more common than
	potions.

	A magic potion. Potions restore your health to its maximum. If
	you have only slight injuries, it is better to eat an apple than
	to waste a potion which could be used to restore a greater
	amount of health.

	Weapons. These add to your attack strength when you wield
	them. The dagger adds +2 points, the broadsword adds +4, and the
	battle axe adds +6. It is possible to wield two weapons for
	added effect, like the sword and the axe for +10, but it is only
	advisable if you have a high natural defence skill.

	Shields. When wielded, a shield will add to your hero's natural
	defence skill. The wooden shield adds +2, and the iron shield
	adds +4. It is possible to wield them both, but is not
	recommended as your hero is more effective when carrying a
	weapon.

	A magic wand. This has two effects when wielded. Firstly, a +2
	modifier is added to intelligence. Secondly, all attacks are
	magical, and use the modified intelligence rather than physical
	attack strength.

	A magic amulet. This needs to be wielded to be useful. Wielding
	it has two effects. Firstly, a +2 modifier is added to
	intelligence. Secondly, all defence is magical, and uses the
	modified intelligence rather than physical defence skill. The
	amulet is often combined with the wand to give a +4 intelligence
	modifier, as this combined modifier affects both attack and
	defence.

	A banish spell. When wielded in place of a weapon, this spell
	can banish a spectre or daemon. Chances of success are a little
	under 50%. There is a small chance that the spell will crumble
	to dust on failure, so it is advisable to carry a few spells. As
	spectres and daemons are immune to physical attacks, the banish
	spell is the most effective way to deal with them for heroes
	without good magical abilities.

The Enemies

	Bats. These giant bats have little attack power but their
	agility gives them good defence skill. They are also the only
	non-humanoid enemies that can pick up and carry objects. Still,
	they are the easiest creatures in the game to beat.

	Other creatures. Other enemies from the animal kingdom become
	progressively more difficult to beat: the vermin are giant rats,
	arachnids are giant spiders with a nasty bite, and serpents have
	a scaly hide which gives them great defensive ability. These
	creatures cannot carry items, but are often found guarding them.

	Corpses. There are two kinds: cadavers, whose decomposing forms
	are still dangerous foes, and skeletons whose bleached bones are
	all that remains of these centuries-old warriors. Both of these
	enemies can carry items with them.

	Spirits. These are also of two kinds: spectres and
	daemons. Neither can be hurt with physical weapons, though
	shields might be useful against their attacks. Spectres are
	often found guarding valuable items, while daemons are able to
	pick things up and carry them.

	The Necromancer. This is the ultimate enemy, as strong as any
	daemon, he sits in his lair awaiting your arrival. Only the
	stoutest hero will make it to face him, let alone defeat him.

Licence

	You are welcome to copy Ossuary and share it with your
	friends. The source code is also available for inspection,
	modification and distribution under the GNU General Public
	Licence, a full copy of which is included in the source code
	distribution.

Acknowledgements

	Thanks must go to Phil Cooper, Ricky Walker, and discord users
	bananaboy, Epona142, DethroTull and Kimdol for their help in
	testing the DOS release of this game.

	DGW, July 2020.
