Blade of Blackpoole  (1982 - Sirius)
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Blade of Blackpoole Manual
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[text on box:]

Me thinks if I live 'till the seas have withered I'll ne'er know of more adventure than befalleth those that quest for the sword bearing the name Myraglym. Many have abandoned their earthly toils to pursue this great sword o'magic. Legend saeth this mighty blade rests in the caverns 'neath the lake at Blackpoole, where evil serpents and horrid plants have a taste for the flesh of humans. And yea, even man has taken arms against his fellow man in search of Myraglym. So come hither be ye brave. For if ye seek a life of adventure, ye too must go in search of the Blade of Blackpoole. Travel with wisdom and cunning and the magic powers of Myraglym shall be for none other.

Blade of Blackpoole featureth a myriad of challenging situations and colorful, detailed graphics. Haveth fun with this exciting new adventure game from Sirius.

[instruction booklet:]

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SIRIUS (tm) presents
                      The Blade Of Blackpoole
                           By Tim Wilson
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Blade Of Blackpoole (tm)
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Object Of The Game:

The Object of the game is to recover the magical sword MYRAGLYM and return it to the altar from whence it was stolen. Rumors speak of a secret chamber near Blackpoole in which the sword is said to lie.

Playing this game involves solving many puzzles to reach a successful conclusion. It is not intended to be solved quickly, so don't get frustrated if you can't seem to make any progress at times.

Beginning A Game:

ATTENTION APPLE OWNERS: You should first make a copy of the BACK SIDE of the disk using a standard DOS 3.3 copy program such as COPY or COPYA with the DOS master disk. Use only the copy to play on, so that the original is safe for backup purposes.

To play the game, simply boot the front side of the original disk, wait until the disk "in use" light goes out, then remove the disk and store in a safe place. Insert your copy of the "back side" into the drive and press any key to begin. You will not need to swap disks during the save or resume options as these functions are performed on your copy of the "back side" of the disk.

ATTENTION ATARI 800 OWNERS: Boot the Blade of Blackpoole disk as usual. You may begin the game by pressing any key BUT the "B" key, however, we recommend that you first make a back up copy of the disk. To do so, press the "B" key and follow the prompts provided.

Notes On Saving And Resuming Games:

It is very important for new adventurers to save the game frequently. You may get very frustrated if you fall prey to one of the many traps when you are halfway through the game and must start over from the beginning. By saving the game at strategic locations, you can "freeze" your place in the game should some terrible fate befall you, or just because you want to quit playing for a while.

To save a game, enter "SAVE" at any time during play and follow the instructions given. You may save up to ten "versions" of the game on the diskette. When prompted during the save, enter a number from 0 to 9. You must use the same number when resuming the same game.

To restart a saved game, enter "RESUME" at any time during play and follow the instructions given.

You may exit either option by pressing the "Q" key when prompted for the version number to save or resume.

Communication:

Sentence Structure:

Playing the game is accomplished by entering commands from the keyboard in the form of short sentences. The Blade of Blackpoole will understand almost any sentence. You do not need to limit yourself to simple verb-noun combinations. However, it is very important that the operative verb always precede the noun or object of the sentence. A good example would be a command such as "TURN THE LAMP ON." To be correctly understood, this sentence must be phrased "TURN ON THE LAMP."

In some cases you may find it necessary to include the noun clauses such as "MOVE THE ROCK WITH THE LEVER." As with many other adventure games, some experimentation may be necessary in certain situations. However, The Blade of Blackpoole has an extensive vocabulary, so that very specific word combinations are not required. Messages will inform you if your sentence structure needs to be modified in order to be understood.

All words entered are only significant to five characters in length, so you may avoid overworking your fingers in many cases by just typing the first five letters of any word.

Speaking to Blackpoole Characters:

When you want to "speak" to another character in the game, you must always precede your words with ASK, TALK, TELL or SAY, such as "TALK TO THE BARTENDER." Any other method will result in a message of "I DON'T UNDERSTAND."

Movement:

Movement may be accomplished in several ways. You may use Up, Down or the four cardinal directions (North, South, East and West). Any of these may be abbreviated by using only the first letter (i.e., N, S, U, etc.). In many instances you may use a phrase like ENTER BUILDING or GO DOOR, or maybe CLIMB THE TREE, however, these may not work in all cases.

Multiple commands are acceptable, and must be separated by commas or the word THEN (i.e., GO NORTH THEN DROP THE ALE).

Special Commands:

SAVE: Save your place in the game.
RESUME: Resume a saved game.
SCORE: Display current score and number of moves.
BRIEF: Abbreviate description after a "room" has been visited (this is the default condition).

LONG: Always display long descriptions.
L or LOOK: Describe your surroundings.
I or INVENTORY: List your possessions.

WITH: If you are asked "WITH WHAT?" during the game, you must always use the word "WITH" or "USE" in your reply (i.e., "WITH WHAT?", your reply "USE THE NAIL").
 
HINT or HELP: Requesting help at some point may or may not result  in a helpful hint. You are not penalized for using hint or help.

Q: Aborts SAVE or RESUME option if pressed during the "which
     version" prompt.

Scoring:

The score is displayed as a ratio of 500. It is also desirable to finish the game in the least amount of moves. (A perfect score is 500/500.)

Important:

ATARI 800 OWNERS: If "BOOT ERROR" appears on the screen after booting, try the disk on another computer to verify that the disk is good. All of our disks are tested prior to shipping.

APPLE OWNERS: This diskette, when booted will do a quick test of itself and your Apple. This assures that the load of the game is exact. Failure of the test results in a "beep" and an attempt at rebooting will occur. If after several "beeps," the game is still not running, you have one of the following-problems: 1) the disk drive is out of adjustment, 2) there is bad RAM in the Apple, 3) you have a bad diskette. Try the diskette on a different Apple to eliminate the possibility of a bad diskette. All of our products are tested prior to shipping.

Other Stars From Sirius:

Atari(*) 800 & 1200 Disk:

Bandits                    Space Eggs
Cyclod                     Wayout
Snake Byte                 Blade Of Blackpoole
Sneakers                   Twerps

Apple II, II+, IIe Disk:

E Z Draw 3.3               Phantoms 5
Space Eggs                 Autobahn
Gamma Goblins              Gorgon
Sneakers                   Epoch
Dark Forest                Pascal Graphics Editor
Snake Byte                 Beer Run
Twerps                     Hadron
Minotaur                   Borg
Bandits                    Computer Foosball
Fly Wars                   Kabul Spy
Freefall                   Cyclod
Type Attack                Escape From Rungistan
Flip Out                   Blade Of Blackpoole
Critical Mass              Repton
Wavy Navy                  Wayout
Fantastic Voyage

IBM-PC(*) Disk:

Call To Arms               Gorgon II

For more information, contact your local Sirius(tm) dealer or write us at 10364 Rockingham Drive, Sacramento, CA 95827

SIRIUS REPLACEMENT POLICY: Sirius will replace any defective disk at no charge if the original disk and proof of purchase are returned to Sirius within 30 days of purchase. After 30 days, Sirius will replace any defective disk for $5.00 provided the original disk is returned.  For those outside the U.S.A., please include enough additional funds to cover return postage.

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Game design by Tim Wilson
