140 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
140 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
<html>
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<head>
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<title>Crossfire Playbook - Chapter 1</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<H1> Chapter 1 - Introduction</H1>
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<H2><A name="1.1.0">What is <em>Crossfire</em> ? </a></h2>
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In the words of its original author Frank Tore Johansen :<P>
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``<em>Crossfire</em> is a multi-player graphical arcade and adventure game
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made for the X Windows systems environment. It has certain flavours from
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other games, especially <em>gauntlet</em> and the rogue-like games (mainly
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<emhack , moria , angband,</em> and <emragnarok</em> ). Any number of
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players can move around in their own window, finding and using items and
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battling monsters. They can choose to cooperate or compete in the same
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<em>world</em>.'' <P>
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In the years of development that have followed, <em>Crossfire</em> has grown to
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encompass over 150 monsters, ~3000 maps to explore, an elaborate
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magic system, over 15 character types, a system of skills, and
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many, many artifacts and treasures. <p>
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<em>Crossfire</em> is freely distributed under the GNU license and the code may be
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obtained from a number of FTP sites (
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<a href="#1.3.0">Obtaining crossfire</a>).
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<b>Take note:</b> you will need at least an ANSI C compiler (i.e. <em>gcc</em>)
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and UNIX to build the game. <em> X Windows are necessary to play.</em>
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A screen shot of the <em>Crossfire</em> display appears below<p>
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<IMG SRC="fig/screen_dia.gif">
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<center>This screen shot is real size, using XPM display mode</center><p>
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<em>Crossfire</em> is currently being maintained by Mark Wedel
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(<samp>mwedel@pyramid.com</samp>) and is awaiting the ``great leap forward''
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to a true client-server status (Look for version 1.0+). Not to fear,
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<em>Crossfire</em> is certainly playable in its present form! But the game
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is in flux and new releases of <em>Crossfire</em> occur on a quasi-monthly
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schedule. You may want to subscribe to the announcement mailing list (see
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section <A href="#1.2.0"> mailing lists</a>) to get notified of updates.<p>
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<h2><A name="1.1.1">1.1.1. What is included in this document?</h2>
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This document is a guide intended to focus on the game-play aspects of
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<em>Crossfire</em>.
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The original intention of this text was to
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help aspiring players create and play a character and more quickly initiate
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them into the intricacies of <em>Crossfire</em> . But, as things went along, many of the
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older docs began to be incorporated and lots of good reference material
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slipped in; this document may also be a good resource for more experienced
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players.<p>
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Having said all of that, lets point out that each release contains a fair
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amount of documentation and the <em>Crossfire</em> Player's Handbook is
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definitely not the last word! Certainly, every player will want to obtain
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the <A href="../spoiler-html/spoiler.html">spoiler</a>, and while this may
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sound flippant, its still true\emdash a good place to start tracking down
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much of the information you may want is the README document in the top
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directory of your release.<p>
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<h2><A name="1.1.2">1.1.2 Getting started: beginning players</h2>
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First-time players may want to skim over sections
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<a href="chap2.html#2.1.0">character attributes</a>,
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<a href="chap2.html#2.2.0">generating a character</a>,
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<a href="chap3.html#3.1.0">Basics</a>, and
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<a href="chap7.html#7.1.0">Beginning players</a> before playing the game. Don't be daunted by the apparent
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complexity of <em>Crossfire</em> - in reality <em>Crossfire</em> is quite
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easy to play and character generation is simple. Later on, when you have
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some experience playing the game, you may wish to go back and re-read
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skimmed material and expand your knowledge of the unread sections. <p>
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If you just want to damn the torpedoes and ``roll'' up a character quickly
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then proceed to section <a href="chap2.html#2.2.0">generating a character</a>,
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in this text. You may <em>still</em> find section <a href="chap7.html#7.1.0">Beginning players</a> helpful
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reading. <p>
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<h2><A name="1.2.0"><em>Crossfire</em> Mailing Lists</h2>
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Two mailing-lists exist; the first is for discussing bugs and development
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while the second is for just announcing new versions. If you want to join
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or leave any of the lists, send mail to
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<samp>crossfire-request@ifi.uio.no</samp> with the subject
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``<samp>subscribe</samp>'', ``<samp>unsubscribe</samp>'',``<samp>subscribe
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announce</samp>'' or ``<samp>unsubscribe announce</samp>''. If you use the
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subject ``<samp>subscribe</samp>'' or ``<samp>unsubscribe</samp>'' you will
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(un)subscribe to <em>both</em> lists.<p>
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To send messages directly to the list, mail <Samp>crossfire@ifi.uio.no</samp>.
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While the development/bug list is not supposed to be used for helping
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players solve problems, sometimes a knowledgeable reader of the
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list can be tempted into answering your question.<p>
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An archive of old messages can be found at <samp>ftp.ifi.uio.no</samp> in the
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directory <samp>/pub/crossfire/archive</samp>.
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<h2><a name="1.3.0">Obtaining <em>Crossfire</em></h2>
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FTP sites where you can look for the latest versions are:<p>
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<pre>
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ftp://ftp.sourceforge.net/pub/sourceforge/crossfire (64.28.67.101)
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ftp://ftp.real-time.com/pub/games/crossfire
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ftp://ftp.cs.city.ac.uk/pub/games/crossfire/
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ftp://ftp.cs.titech.ac.jp/pub/games/crossfire
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ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/games/roguelike/crossfire/
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ftp://crossfire.futt.org//pub/crossfire
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</pre>
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Please use the one nearest to you. ``.se'', ``.no'' or ``.uk'' in Europe,
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``.au'' in Australia, ``.net'' in North America, and ``.jp'' in Asia.<p>
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<h2><a name="1.4.0">Document Credits</h2>
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B.T. provided the bulk of the written material; K.E. and
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(to a lesser extent) J.K provided expert editing and typesetting advice.
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The <em>Crossfire</em> Player's Handbook uses material borrowed from older documentation written
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by the following people (in rough order of borrowing magnitude):<p>
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Sam Mackrill (lots of bits from the old FAQ)<br>
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Laurent Wacrenier<br>
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Kjetil T. Homme<br>
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Lars H. B. Olafsen<br>
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Peter Mardal<br>
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Rupert G. Goldie<br>
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Frank T. Johansen<br>
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<p>
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If I left anyone out, please send me some email!<p>
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Brian Thomas<br>
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<samp>thomas@astro.psu.edu</samp>
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<p>
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<a href="handbook.html"><img src="fig/book.gif">Back to table of contents</a><br>
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<a href="chap2.html"><img src="fig/stairdown.gif">Go to chapter 2</a><br>
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