How to play · Chapter 13
Controls
Every key, and the mouse and touch.
Keyboard first, and never keyboard only
Every screen can be played from the keyboard alone. The mouse and a finger work everywhere too, and neither is ever required. You never need to learn the keys up front: hold the space bar on any screen and every control on it shows its key, and the ACTIONS menu lists what a screen's keys do. F1 opens the manual from anywhere.
Moving and choosing
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| ← ↑ → ↓ | Move, walk a list, change a value, and step the aiming cross between monsters. In a corridor the arrows turn and step relative to the way the party faces; in a room or on a staircase they are compass directions. |
| Enter | Confirm and advance. In a battle it ends the turn. |
| Esc | Back out of a screen. In the dungeon, with nothing to back out of, it opens the ACTIONS menu. |
| Tab | Hand the turn, the lock or the report to the next member of the party. |
| , . | Page back and forward. On a staircase, climb up or go down. |
| 1 2 3 4 | The four reports: MEMBER STATUS, QUEST STATUS, the BESTIARY and the COMPENDIUM. |
| Other digits | Pick a row of a list, or type the digits of a vault combination. |
In the dungeon
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| L | Listen at the door ahead. |
| S | Sneak into the room ahead. |
| C | Search the room for a hidden way out. |
| M | The map. |
| O | Change the party's marching order. |
| G | Enter the general store, in the courtyard or in a store room below. |
| R | Train, at the courtyard's training ground. |
| A B | Step up to the LIVING STATUE, or to the BATH OF FATES. |
| U T | Use an item, or trade it to another member. |
| K | Save the run and return to the main menu. |
In a battle
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| F | Aim a ranged weapon and fire it. |
| W | Change weapon. |
| B | Ask the monsters to name a price. |
| U | Use an item: a potion, a scroll, a wand, a spoken WORD. |
| Enter | End this member's turn. |
On a member's status sheet
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| I | Details for the item in focus, with its picture and its facts. Resting the pointer on a row does the same. |
| E | Everything currently acting on this member. |
| P | Open the ammo pack, where a kind of shot is loaded, traded or shared out. |
| D | Drop the item in hand. |
On a lock plate
A vault's lock plate is a sliding puzzle with three controls of its own: B starts the board over, Z takes back the last slide, and H buys one key.
Mouse and touch
The button in the top left corner of the dungeon or the battle opens ACTIONS. A click on a member in the party panel opens that member's status sheet, and a click on a monster's row in a battle opens its report. The dungeon picture itself is a three by three board: the top middle steps forward, the sides turn, the bottom middle turns around, and in a room a press on an item, a member or a staircase acts on that thing. On a touch screen a long press on any item shows its details.
Saving
The game saves as you play. Closing it from the window, the keyboard or the QUIT row on the main menu writes the run, and CONTINUE GAME picks up at the step you were standing on. The one moment nothing can be saved is the middle of a battle.