MINI CONAN
for the Commodore 128 (native 128 mode) in plain BASIC V7

This game is an original text role game by Fabrizio Caruso.

The is a menu-driven and text role game, where you are presented a short list of choices.
The game concept was inspired by the Italian text-based role-playing game "Conan" (aka "Avventura"):
http://ready64.org/giochi/scheda_gioco/id/858/conan

- SETTING
You are Conan, an adventurer who goes on quests to recover treasures and slaughter enemies.

- GOAL
The goal of the game is to reach the highest possible score.

- ENVIRONMENTS
The game has 3 types of environments:
1. "The Inn" (main menu to select quests and/or the merchant)
2. "Merchant" (where you buy items)
3. "Quests" (where you fight or try to escape enemies and where you can find treasures)

- THE INN
The Inn is your base from which you can choose to start either one of 3 quests or go to the merchant to buy some of its items.

- ABILITIES AND STATUS
The full status of Conan is displayed on the first two top lines:
1. energy,
2. power,
3. speed,
4. boots level,
5. armor level,
6. money,
7. score

-- Energy
Conan's life level is given by the his energy.
When the energy is below 1, he is dead.

-- Power and Speed
Conan (as well as the enemies) has 2 main abilities:
1. power (used in attacks): it increase by fighting and by completing quests
2. speed (used when fleeing enemies): it increases by succeeding escapes and completing quests

-- Boots level
This is a non-permanent consumable special ability that lets your hero escape enemies safely.

-- Armor level
This is permanent ability that provides a reduction of lost hit points in fights and failed escapes.

-- Money
Money are used to buy items from the merchant.
They are acquired by:
- fights (small random amounts)
- completing quests (the harder the quest, the higher the amount)

-- Score
The score is the sum of the number of successful attacks and successful escapes.

- MERCHANT
The merchant sells 3 types of items:
1. Potion (+20 energy, consumed immediately)
2. Boots (+10 boot level,i.e., safe escapes, non-permanent, consumed when escaping from enemy encounters): Each upgrade provides safety in the next 10 escape attempts
3. Armor: (+1 armor level, permanent): It provides a damage reduction factor both when you fight and when you fail an escape

Remark: There is a constant supply of potions when your return from a quest. Boots and armor upgrades are never replenished.

- ENEMIES
1. Trolls (fast and weak)
2. Orcs (slow and strong)
3. Elves (very fast and moderately strong)
4. Werewolves (very strong and moderately fast)

- QUESTS
1. Eerie Forest (only trolls and orcs here)
2. Cave (only trolls, orcs and elves here)
3. Dark Woods (trolls, orcs, elves and werewolves here)

- FIGHTS
When you fight, you lose an amount of energy that depends on:
- the enemy nominal strength
- the number of enemies (quadratically)
- a random factor so that enemies' strenght in a fight is in a range MIN...MAX where MAX=4xMIN (*)
- your armor level
A fight ends with dead enemies. You may also die if your energy goes below 1.

(*) For example, if you have already beaten 3 trolls with no dammage, it is very luckly that you can beat 3 trolls with zero or no dammage again and almost sure you can beat 2 trolls.

- ESCAPES
When you try an escape you may succeed or fail.
When you fail you get a penalty that depends on:
- the enemy nominal speed
- the number of enemies (quadratically)
- a random factor so that enemies' speed in an escape attempt is in a range MIN...MAX where MAX=4xMIN (**)
The lost points are significantly fewer than in a fight.
After you fail you can decide to try an escape or attack.
If you have a positive boots level, your escape will always succeed with no lost points but your boot level decreases by 1.

(**) For example, if you have already escaped 3 orcs with zero or few failed attempts, it is luckly that you can escape 3 orcs again.

- GAME DIFFICULTY
The number of enemies will slowly increases in all 3 quests.

- BASIC STRATEGY
Simple initial strategy is to attack weak/fast enemies and escape from strong/slow enemies.
As your abilities increase, you will be able to fight against stronger enemies and run away from faster enemies.

- THE END
You will get an increasing number of enemies in your encounters.
The game has no ending other than your death!