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Revision: 1.3
Committed: Thu May 25 23:22:22 2006 UTC (18 years, 1 month ago) by root
Branch: MAIN
Changes since 1.2: +96 -4 lines
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improved docs

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# Content
1 =head1 CFPlus - a Crossfire+ and Crossfire game client.
2
3 =head2 What's Crossfire+ - Basic Game Concepts
4
5 In the words of Frank Tore Johansen, the author of the original Crossfire
6 game:
7
8 "Crossfire is a multi-player graphical arcade and adventure game made for
9 the X Windows systems environment. It has certain flavours from other
10 games, especially gauntletand the rogue-like games. Any number of players
11 can move around in their own window, finding and using items and battling
12 monsters. They can choose to cooperate or compete in the same world."
13
14 In the years of development that have followed, Crossfire has grown to
15 encompass hundreds of monsters, thousands of maps to explore, an elaborate
16 magic system, over 15 character types, a system of skills, and many, many
17 artifacts and treasures.
18
19 Crossfire+ is freely distributed under the GNU license and the code may be
20 obtained from L<http://crossfire.schmorp.de/>.
21
22 =head2 Getting Started
23
24 First of all, don't be daunted by the apparent complexity of Crossfire -
25 in reality, Crossfire is quite easy to play and character generation is
26 simple. Later on, when you have some experience playing the game, you may
27 wish to read the full manual.
28
29 =head2 User Interface Basics
30
31 # very short description of all ui elements
32
33 =head2 How to create a new Character
34
35 When you start up Crossfire, you will be asked for a character name and a
36 password (you may need to open the B<Server Setup> dialog for this using
37 the button at the top of the screen). If you are playing for the first
38 time, type any name you like; this will be your character name for the
39 rest of the life of that character. Next, type in any password. Remember:
40 you will need to remember the same password again to play that character
41 again! You can use B<Save Config> to save your settings, including name
42 and password, but if it gets lost recovery is difficult, so remember your
43 password or write it down at a safe place.
44
45 One more note: it's not a good idea to use "real" passwords to your
46 computer accounts! Doing so may make your system vulnerable to
47 unscrupulous Crossfire server administrators.
48
49 Your next step will be to generate random (primary) stats for your
50 character (to see the stats, you might have to open the B<Stats Window>
51 using the button at the top of the screen). You aren't limited to the
52 number of times you can roll your stats - so have fun. Notice that the
53 stats are always arranged that the B<Str> stat has the highest value, the
54 B<Cha> stat has the lowest. You may rearrange the order of these values
55 when you decide that you have rolled some decent stats. Two points: you
56 can never roll a character with better stats than an average of straight
57 15's, and you can't roll higher than 18 in a stat.
58
59 When you roll your character, the stats displayed are the stats you will
60 get as a human (which are unmodified). When satisfied, you can step
61 through a number of races, each with special bonuses in stats.
62
63 The manual shows how your basic stats will be changed by choosing a
64 different race. The difference between the natural stat limit and 20
65 indicates the bonus/penalty assigned to rolled primary stats. For example,
66 a troll has a maximum strength which is 5 higher than 20-that means he
67 will begin with an additional 5 points added to his strength roll. On the
68 other hand, a troll can never get above 15 in intelligence. This means
69 that your rolled character will have 5 less in intelligence if you choose
70 that race. You should also note that any bonus to an ability can't raise
71 the final number above your racial maximum, and no penalty can give you an
72 ability score less then one; the lowest it can ever get is one.
73
74 =head3 Selecting a class
75
76 While each class has its particular strengths and weaknesses, in summary
77 its just a fact that some classes are easier to play than others.
78
79 For beginning players, the "simple fighter" characters are the easiest
80 to play successfully. The B<Dwarf>, B<Human>, and B<Warrior> are among
81 good earlier choices. As you gain experience with using Crossfire+ you
82 may wish to branch out into other "fighter" characters such as the
83 B<Thief> or B<Elf>, or try your hand at playing "spellcaster" characters
84 like the B<Wizard>, B<Mage>, B<Cleric> or B<Priest>. The "exotic" races
85 (e.g. B<Fireborn>, B<Quetzalcoatl> and B<Wraith>) and the B<Monk> class
86 are the hardest classes to master.
87
88 One more note: You will probably find any character class that has a low
89 natural B<Int> (for example, the B<Barbarian> class) will have a fairly
90 difficult time at higher levels. Skills, and most importantly, spells,
91 will be more difficult learn. Plan to spend a lot of loot on grimores,
92 prayer books and skill scrolls.
93
94 =head2 Playing the game
95
96 #TODO biggers house, binding keys etc.
97
98 =head1 Authors
99
100 Parts of this document were originally compiled, edited, and written by
101 Brian Thomas, Klaus Elsbernd, and John W. Klar. Additional information
102 compiled by Maciej Kalisiak, Gorlin, Anton Oussik and Gene Alexander.
103
104 Adapted for use by I<cfplus>, enhanced and corrected by Pippijn van
105 Steenhoven and Marc A. Lehmann.
106