Dungeon Crusade BETA 7
by Steven C. Brown
March 24th, 2009


Dungeon Crusade is a turn-based RPG where the player must battle through twenty floors of a dungeon in order to slay an ancient evil that is gathering a dark army.

Basic:
Features
Main Screen
The Map
View
Action
Mini-Map
Statistics

Gameplay:
Starting a New Game
Turns
Moving
Combat
Skills
Treasure
Encounters
Leveling
Strategy

Appendix:
Version Changes


Basic

Features
- 20 large floors full of treasures and monsters.
- 69 custom drawn friends and foes to encounter.
- No character classes! Build your character any way you like.
- 26 skills and spells for characters to use.
- 31 weapons to fight with.
- 25 pieces of armor to equip.
- 63 magical enchantments that can be found on your items.
- 25 special items loaded with powerful bonuses.
- An in-game infopedia that gives detailed statistics on equipment, monsters, and skills.
- An editor that allows the user to edit game data for completely new experiences.
- Monster personalities: One monster may be trying to kill you but another of the same species may try to befriend you.
- Allies: Some people and monsters you encounter in the dungeon will decide to follow you and help you fight off evil.
- Trading: Some people or monsters may ask you to trade items, giving you more ways to find treasure.
- Death: Dying is not the worst fate that may befall your character...
- Numerous options exist to speed up the flow of the game.
- Conversions: Beware! If a human ally falls prey to a Vampire, you may be in for a rude awakening...


Main Screen
The main game screen is divided into different sections.

The left side of the screen is for the Game Messages. The results of all attacks and most skills by both the player and monsters are listed here. The use of some items is also recorded. Messages colored in green display actions that cause either the player or a monster to gain life. Messages colored in yellow display actions that cause a monster on the screen to take damage, either from the player or from an ally. Messages colored in red display damage taken by the player. All other messages are colored in gray including attacks blocked and attacks avoided.

The center part of the screen is where the main map is. This is where the player navigates through the dungeon. More details on the objects found on the map are located in the The Map section.

The Stats portion of the screen lists basic statistics for the players' character. The character's Name, Race, Level, Experience, Life, Mana, Damage, and Defense are all listed here. Hovering the mouse over each box will give a description and in some cases more details. For example, if you hover the mouse over the Defense box will display the character's blocking ability. For a more detailed view of all of the character's statistics, click on the View button towards the lower-right corner of the screen.

The equipment section shows all of the items the character currently has equipped. Characters can equip a Weapon, Body Armor, a Helmet, and a Shield. A shield cannot be equipped if the character has a two-handed weapon equipped. Hovering the mouse over the name of each item equipped will give a detailed description of the attributes of that item. There is also a button to the left of each equipped item that will cycle through the player's inventory and equip the next item available. The fifth box below the Shield box is for unequipped items and other items such as potions. These items can be selected using the drop down arrow on the right side of the box. The player can use the item by pressing the Use button or Drop the item by pressing the Drop button.

To the right of the equipped items there are four colored boxes that display the character's resistance to various forms of magical attacks. All characters start the game with 0% resistances. Resistances are increased by equipping magical items or using skills.
The Action portion of the screen is where the player tells the character what to do. The player may click on the arrows (or simply use the keyboard arrow keys) to move the character around the map. The Map button will display a mini-map that informs the player how much of the current floor they have explored. The X and Y boxes display the current coordinates the character is at (upper-left corner of the map is 1,1). The Moves box displays the number of moves left that the player can make before ending their current turn. The Floor box displays what floor the character is currently on. The View button brings up a detailed listing of all of the character's stats. Above the View button is the Action button which allows the player to select what action they want the character to preform next including attacking, moving, and using skills. The End Turn button ends the player's current turn.


The Map
Each floor is 100 by 100 tiles in size. There are basically only five types of tiles you will see on the map: Floor, Wall, Stair, Treasure, and Monster tiles.

Floor covers much of the space inside of the dungeon.
Walls cannot be passed through by anyone, player or monster. The only exception to this is the Teleport skill which bypasses multiple tiles completely.
Each floor except the final one will have a set of stairs that leads down to the next floor. Monsters will treat stairs like a normal floor tile but if the player steps on it then the player is transported to the next floor.
Numerous treasures will be found across the dungeon. Both players and monsters can pass through treasures but only the player is able to collect them.
Players and monsters cannot pass through the same tile, even if they are a ghost or have wings.


View
The View window is accessed from the View button on the lower-right corner of the main window. The View window gives in-depth character and game statistics. Amongst the information given is the character's Name, Race, Character Level, Experience Earned, Experience Needed to level up, Life, Mana, Status (whether the character is under the effects of any positive or negative skills), Equipment, Damage, Range (how many squares across can the character's weapon reach), Defense, Block %, Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Wisdom, Charisma, Damange Reduction, Magical Resistances, and what items the character has in inventory. Hover the mouse over any box for more information.

Included in the View window is the difficulty level the player is playing on and the number of turns the player has taken during the course of their game. A picture of what the character looks like is also present. For a more detailed description of all of the stats and what they mean, see the Statistics section. For a list of what skills are currently available to the character, click on the Action button near the lower right corner of the main window.


Action
The Action window is accessed from the Action button located in the lower-right corner of the main screen. This window displays all of the actions that the character can perform from Attacking, Moving, to skill use.

Basic actions include Attacking and Moving. These choices will always be available to the player.

Passive skills include Regenerate and Will. These skills operate automatically each turn to replenish the character's Life and Mana and cannot be selected from the Action window.

Elemental skills are skills that cause elemental damage to hostiles. These skills include Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Poison magics.

Boosts are skills that aid the player. These skills include healing magic, protection magic, and other dungeon aids.

Status skills inflict a negative status onto an enemy. These skills will cause enemies to be less effective in combat or may incapacitate an enemy completely.

Necro skills are special skills that inflict regular damage. If an enemy dies from being damaged in this way, an undead minion is raised from the corpse to fight for the player. These raised minions will follow the character indefinately until they are killed or get lost.


Mini-Map
The Mini-Map is accessed by clicking on the Map button on the main window. The Mini-Map is a map of the entire floor that the character is on. Only the parts of the floor that the player has explored will be visible on the map. The rest of the floor will be black. The map will only display Floors and Walls, no treasures. The character's current location on the map will be indicated by a solid white square. If the player has located the stairs on the map, the stairs will show up on the mini-map as a solid green square.









Statistics
There are many attributes associated with the character, monsters, and the dungeon itself. This list will give a description of each one and how they work throughout the game.

Name: Everything has a name!
Race: The player and all monsters have a race. Race in this game means the same as species.
Level: All players start out at level 1. Killing monsters gives experience which will eventually allow the player to level-up. Leveling-up allows the player to learn new skills and increase their Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Experience: Experience is divided into the player's current amount of experience and the amount of experience needed to level-up.
Life: Life is how healthy a character or monster is. Once the player's Life or Monster's life reaches zero, they die. In the case of the player, this usually means game over. The maximum amount of Life a player can have increases when points are added into Vitality. Life will not regenerate on its own. Life can only be restored with potions and skills.
Mana: Mana is how much magical energy the player has. Almost all skills require a certain amount of Mana in order to use them. The maximum amount of Mana a player can have increases when points are added into Wisdom. Mana will not regenerate on its own. Mana can only be restored with potions and skills.
Status: Both the player and monsters have status. Status is always normal unless a skill is used on them, be it positive or negative. Some status changing effects include: Haste, Slow, Stun, Mute, Cripple, and many more. Status changes will all go away after a certain number of turns.
Damage: The average amount of Damage the character will inflict, already taking into account bonuses provided by Strength. Two numbers are given, the minimum and maximum amount of damage each attack may inflict. Damage does not take into account any kind of Damage Reduction attributes the enemy may have.
Range: How many horizontal or vertical squares distant that the player's weapon can reach. Most weapons have a range of 1, which means the player can only attack adjacent targets. A range of 3 would be able to attack an enemy 3 squares away.
Defense: The amount of defense the character has after combining all pieces of armor and bonuses received from strength. The higher the defense the less likely the player or monster is to take damage.
Block: The percent chance to block a physical attack. Block is calculated after the Defense is calculated. If the player has a 20% chance to block, 20% of attacks that manage to get by the Defense will be blocked.
Weapon: The weapon the player has equipped. Weapons can either be one-handed or two-handed. The infopedia will list whether a weapon requires one or two hands. The player's shield will also be disabled once a two-handed weapon is equipped. Weapons require a certain amount of Strength and Dexterity to use.
Armor: The body armor the player has equipped. Armor provides the most defense for a character. Armor requires a certain amount of Strength to wear.
Helmet: The helmet the player has equipped. Helmets provide some defense for a character. Helmets requires a certain amount of Strength to wear.
Shield: The shield the player has equipped. Shields provide defense for a character as well as a chance to Block physical attacks. Shields require a certain amount of strength to use.
Strength: Strength allows the player to equip heavier weapons and armor. It also increases the Damage of the character.
Dexterity: Dexterity is required to equip certain weapons. Dexterity also increases the odds of landing an attack on a target as well as increasing the character's Defense.
Vitality: Each point of Vitality increases a character's maximum Life by 2.
Wisdom: Each point of Wisdom increases a character's maximum Mana by 2. Higher levels of Wisdom is also required to learn more powerful skills.
Charisma: The higher the Charisma the more likely encounters within the dungeon are going to be friendly. Some monsters will always be hostile no matter what, but many monsters will be won over by high Charisma and may even fight along side you.
Damage Reduction: Damage Reduction is listed in orange color in the View window. Damage Reduction is calculated after the game decided that a character is going to get hit. For example, if a monster is going to inflict 10 damage on a player with a Damage Reduction of 3, the player will end up taking 7 damage instead.
Elemental Resistance: There are four magical elements that the player can earn resistances to: Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Poison. Any damage taken from a specific element is reduced by the resistance percentage listed. If a monster is going to inflict 15 Ice damage onto a player with 33% Ice Resistance, the player will end up taking 10 damage.
Moves: The player and all monsters have a certain number of moves that they can use each turn. The number of moves can be modified by positive and negative skills as well as equipping certain magical items. Each move can either be a Move, Attack, or Skill use. A player with 4 moves could attack 4 times or use a skill 4 times if they please. Monsters can do the same. Using items such as potions does not cost a Move point.
Floor: What floor the player is on determines what monsters and treasures that will be found. In the infopedia, there is a Level number for each item, magical attribute, and monster in the game. This level number means that the object in question can start to appear on that floor or later. For example, a Ghoul has a level listing of 5 meaning that the player can expect to start running into them on the 5th Floor.


Gameplay

Starting a New Game
There are two ways to start a new game. From the opening menu you can select New Game or if you are already in a game you can go to the File menu in the upper-left corner and then click on New Game. The New Game window will pop up. Here you will be asked to type in the Character's name, whether the character is male or female, and the difficulty level.

First time players should select Normal difficulty as the higher difficulty levels fairly quickly become increasingly more difficulty. All monster stats listed in the infopedia show the values as they are on Normal difficulty. On higher difficulties, monsters have better stats. Corrupt difficulty provides a decent stat boost that will provide a challenge for veteran players of Dungeon Crusade. Reaper difficulty will really test the limits of the player who will require new strategies and a lot of running in order to survive. Demon difficulty is designed to kill the player very quickly. Good luck with Demon, because luck will be your only ally.


Turns
Dungeon Crusade is a turn based game. The player, allies, and foes all have a certain number of movement points that can be used during their turn. Different creatures have a differing amount of base movement points. The player and all other Humans have 4 base movement points. This number can be raised or lowered depending on what equipment the player has and what skill effects the player is under.

The player and all monsters can take as many actions as they have movement points during each of their turns. If the Player has 4 movement points, they can move 4 spaces, attack 4 times, use a skill 4 times, or do any combination of the three. Using items such a potions does not cost a movement point. Click on the Action button in the lower right corner of the main window to select an action.

There are a few things to keep in mind while playing the game. First, the turn cycle. When the game begins, the player has the first turn. After the player, each monster will take their turn. Finally, the game checks the skills whose use lasts a certain number of turns and removes the skill effect if the skill has used up its duration. The player now takes their turn and the game continues. Another thing to keep in mind is damage. If an enemy has 5 movement points, they could potentially damage you 5 times during their turn. Make sure you always have enough Life to survive multiple attacks from surrounding enemies.


Moving
When the action button displays these boots you can move your character around the dungeon. Click on the action button to select another action. You need to have movement points available in order to move. Click on the arrow buttons on the screen or use the keyboard arrow keys to move the character. Once you are out of movement points, click on the End Turn button. Selecting the Auto Turn feature from the Option menu will automatically end your turn after all movement points have been used.

The player and monsters can move across all floor tiles. The player may move onto a treasure tile in order to collect what treasure is there. Monsters may move onto a treasure tile but cannot collect the treasure. The player can also move onto a stair tile in order to move on to the next floor. Monsters can move onto the stair tile but cannot move to the next floor (exception: if you move into a stair tile, any monster that is friendly towards you and is close by will also move to the next floor). Neither the player nor any monster can cross wall tiles. However, it is possible to attack and use skills through wall tiles.


Combat
Combat is done similar to moving in that it requires movement points and an arrow key to select the direction of the attack. To select an attack, click on the Action button. To attack with your character's weapon, select the Attack action. All weapons except bows require the target to be right next to your character. After selecting Attack, use the arrow keys to select the direction of the attack. Your character will now attack in that direction. The success of the attack will depend on many factors such as Weapon Damage, Strength, Dexterity, target's Defense, and much more.

Using skills is done the say way as attacking. First, select which skill you want to use, then choose the direction in which you want to use it. Some skills though, such as Heal, are to be used on your own character (Heal can also be used on your allies if you so choose). To use a skill on yourself, click on the image of yourself on the map. Otherwise, for most skills such as Fireball, select the direction of the target. Different skills have a different range so be sure to read the skill description or look through the Infopedia to see if the selected skill can be used for the distance you need it to be used.

An important thing to note though is that the player can only attack and use skills either up, down, left or right. The player cannot attack or use skills diagonally. The monsters on the other hand CAN attack and use their skills diagonally so make note of this when you see a monster moving at you from an angle.

Things to keep in mind when engaging in combat:
- If the player finishes off a monster then the player will gain 100% of the experience the monster has to offer. However if an ally of the player finishes off a monster (even if the player did most of the work), the player will only receive 50% of the experience the monster has to offer. Undead minions the player creates are included. If they kill a monster, the player still only gets 50% of the experience.
- It is possible to attack an ally (a monster that is Friendly towards you), either by accident or on purpose. Attacking a Friendly will cause ALL Friendlies on the entire floor to turn hostile against you. This could prove fatal if you happen to have a lot of allies. Be careful not to attack in the direction of your allies.


Skills
As described in the Combat section above, most skills are either used like a weapon and targeted using the arrow keys or they are used on yourself by clicking on your character on the map. Here we will look at the skills in greater detail. The Actions in this game are divided into 6 different groups.

Basic: Basic actions are Attack and Move. All character start the game with these Actions.

Passive: Passive skills include Regenerate and Will. These skills are "background" skills in that they run automatically each turn and do not cost the player any Mana. Regenerate restores some Life each turn and Will restores some Mana each turn.

Elements: All Elemental skills are damage skills. All but one are ranged attacks and each one utilizes a specific element to damage its target. It is important to keep in mind that each monster can have a certain resistance or immunity to a specific element. If you base your character solely on Fire skills, you will be in a lot of trouble should you run across a monster that is immune to Fire. A few Elemental skills also have a radius stat which will cause splash damage onto nearby enemies.

Boosts: Most boosts are used on your own character via clicking on your character. Some boosts such as Heal or Haste can be used on either your character or an ally. The Teleport skill is used by using the arrow keys, as it is a movement skill.

Status: Status skills are used like other attacks via the arrows. They do not damage their target, but they do hinder their target's abilities. Use these skills to make it easier to kill enemies or survive enemy attacks.

Necro: Necro skills allow the player to create an undead army. Use these skills on an enemy and if the enemy dies as a result of the skill, the enemy is transformed into an undead minion. These undead minions will follow you around like any Friendly monster would. Necro skills inflict physical damage, not elemental damage.


Treasure
Treasure tiles are scattered across each floor. Move onto one of these tiles and a pop-up window will tell you what you have found. You can either click Yes to keep the item and place it in your inventory or No and the item will disappear forever. At the top of the pop-up window it will tell you the type of item and whether it is magical or not. The stats of the item will only be revealed once you place the item in your inventory. If the item is no longer wanted afterwards it can always be dropped.

When a monster dies, there is also a chance that it will leave behind a treasure to be picked up. It is possible to automatically ignore some undesired treasures to speed up the game. By going to the options menu at the top, you can select between three options that ignore certain types of treasures (the treasure will simply vanish without a prompt to keep it). Ignore Plain Arms will ignore any weapon or armor finds that are not magical. Ignore Tradeables will ignore any item that other monsters might ask for in a trade. Ignore Potions will ignore any potion finds.


Encounters
All encounters in the game are divided into three types. When you come across a monster (the term monster here including all NPCs found within the dungeon, including humans) it will either be Friendly, Unknown, and Hostile towards you. Moving the mouse cursor over the monster will reveal if it's hostile or not. Different monsters also may have different personalities. One monster may be Hostile towards you but another monster of the same type may be Friendly. The higher your Charisma the more likely you are to make friends.

Friendly monsters are just that, friendly towards you. They will never attack you (unless you attack them for some reason). They will even follow you around and help you fight off Hostile monsters. Some Friendly monsters may even ask you to trade. If you have the item that they want and agree to the trade, they will give you an item in return. They may even give you a map of the floor. Attacking a Friendly monster will cause ALL Friendly monsters on the floor to become Hostile towards you. Be careful who you are attacking.

Unknown monsters are neutral towards you. They will generally ignore you and go about their own business. The only exception is that sometimes they will ask you to trade items. The results of the trade are the same as they would be if the monster was Friendly. Attacking an Unknown monster will turn it Hostile. This will not affect any relationships with other monsters. Unknown monsters will never attack unprovoked.

Hostile monsters are hostile towards you. They will always seek to attack you or your allies. They will not offer to trade with you even if they were once Friendly or Unknown.


Leveling
Once a character's Experience exceeds the amount of Experience Needed for the next level, the Level-up window will appear. The player will now be able to improve their character as they see fit by raising the five character attributes as well as selecting one skill to improve on. The player will be given 7 points in which to distribute amongst Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Wisdom, and Charisma. Click on the up and down arrows to increase or take away increases to a specific attribute. Then select a skill from the skill dropdown box. The player can either learn a new skill or increase the effectiveness of an already learned skill. Once all 7 attribute points have been spent and a skill selected, the player will be able to click Accept and continue on with the game.


Strategy








Appendix

Version Changes
Version 1.0 BETA 7
- The map creation for each floor has been completely reworked and improved.
- A Mini-Map feature has been added to allow the player to see how much of the floor they have explored.
- A much better cheat function has been added that allows player to change character values more specifically.
- New options allow the player to ignore potion finds and trader item finds.
- The Action button has been added to allow the player to directly select what action or skill they wish to take instead of having to cycle through them all.
- More dialogue has been added to encounters as well as the option of disabling dialogue.
- The players inventory can now been more easily seen in the View window now. The skill list there has been removed.
- Added a counter to the View window that tells the player how many turns they have made during the game.
- Several new screens were added including a new New Game screen, Victory screen, and Game Over screen.
- Difficulty levels have been added to the game. Normal difficulty keeps the game at the same level as it has been while the others increase the difficulty.

Version 1.0 BETA 6
- An Auto-Turn option has been added that will automatically end the Players turn when they run out of moves.
- An Auto-Attack option has been added which will cause the Player to automatically attack hostiles if they try to move into a square occupied by a hostile.
- A new option "Ignore Plain Arms" has been added to allow the player to automatically decline picking up any non-magical weapon or armor.
- Prerequisites have been changed for many skills.
- Statistical changes made to the Drain and Cripple skills.
- Skills with a turn length duration of less than 2 now properly last at least one full turn.
- The player can no longer level up after they have been transformed into a monster.
- Help has been completely redone.
- A custom icon has been added to the game.

Version 1.0 BETA 5
- The background for monster tiles now changes properly depending on what floor the player is on.
- Duplicate magical attributes will no longer spawn on the same item given from monsters.
- Teleport now works properly.
- Guardian now works properly.
- Magic Shield now works properly.
- Fixed a bug that activated a shield when cycling through shields with a two-handed weapon equipped.
- Charmed players will no longer move through monsters.
- Players can now select items by using a drop down menu instead of cycling through them one at a time.
- The Moves box now turns red when the player is out of moves.
- When transformed, the player now gains the skills of the creature they are turned into.
- Improved a lot of internal coding.

Version 1.0 BETA 4
- The Heal skill now only requires 10 Wisdom to learn.
- Changed the amount of experience given by almost every monster.
- Neutral monsters turned hostile and transformed monsters no longer offer to trade.
- Monsters with healing skills will now use them on their allies.
- Character statistics now update properly after a level-up.
- The Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Wisdom, Charisma values shown in the View window are now the character's base value, not the magically enhanced value.
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from choosing a new skill while wearing items that add to skill levels.
- Fixed a bug that caused monsters to stop moving when standing diagonal to their intended target.
- Fixed a bug that did not enable a shield's blocking ability after switching from a two-handed weapon to a one-handed weapon.
- Duplicate magical abilities no longer spawn on the same item.
- There is now a greater chance of getting Damage, Defense, and Blocking magical attributes on weapons and armors.
- The maximum resistance increase found on an item has been increased from 25 to 40.
- Game messages are now cleared when starting a new game.
- Added an image to the New Game screen.
- Help has been redone. Tips were also added to the Help menu.
- The Infopedia now displays how much wisdom is required to learn a skill.
- The Infopedia now displays how much dexterity a monster has.

Version 1.0 BETA 3
- Necromancer skills such as Skeleton now raise minions properly.
- Numerous keyboard shortcuts have been added including using the arrow keys to move the character.
- Fewer treasure spawn on the map but monsters now have an increased chance of dropping treasure.
- Currently learned skills are now shown on the Level-Up screen.
- If the player is slain and transformed into a Vampire, all Vampires on the floor turn friendly.
- The Dread Lord will no longer spawn if the player is not a Human or Vampire.
- Improvements made to AI movement.

Version 1.0 BETA 2
- Mute now works on Players.
- Monsters turned hostile no longer offer to trade.
- Monsters with a healing skill no longer attack themselves.
- Drain now steals Mana from its target instead of just draining it.
- An "Unselect Skill" option has been added to quickly return to moving or attacking.
- Will, Stun, Cloak, Mute, and Charm turn lengths have been corrected.
- Monsters will no longer use a status changing skill on a target that is already affected.
- Shields will now properly disable when using a two-handed weapon.
- Weak monsters no longer complain about always being hurt.
- The Charm skill was reworked.
- Monsters no longer get stuck if they are standing next to the player.
- Monsters and Players may no longer share the same map square.
- Updated the Help and Infopedia.