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<title>Crossfire Playbook - Chapter 1</title> |
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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> |
