Akalabeth: World of Doom/Gameplay

Documents
There are two versions for the Apple II: the later one includes the manual within the game.

Lucky number
This is a "seed" for the random number generator (or "randomizer"). This determines the overworld and dungeon layouts.

The three versions behave differently:
 * In the original Apple II version, the randomizer is also reset every time you enter a dungeon floor. Therefore, if you repeat the same actions in the same order, you get the exact same result.
 * In the 1996 black & white Dos version, the dungeons are always randomly generated whenever you enter them, thus the lucky number only applies to the wilderness.
 * In the color Dos version, all dungeons for a given lucky number are identical, although each floor is different. However, events still change each time entering the dungeon.

Difficulty level
Select difficulty level at leisure: 1 is easier, 10 is the toughest level. It affects the health points of the enemies, each level increasing 2 hit points per dungeon floor. If you clear the game at level 10, the ending will be different, otherwise it will suggest increasing the difficulty.

Status-statistics (stat.)
All attributes are generated randomly, between 4 and 24. You can re-roll them until you are satisfied.
 * HP (health points): health decreases every time an enemy hits the hero, but it is increased as a reward for defeating enemies. The health increased is calculated and awarded every time the hero exits from a dungeon.
 * Strength: determines the amount of damage dealt. Each points adds 0.2 to damage (rounded after calculation)
 * Dexterity: determines hit rate and evasion rate. Each point adds a flat 1/25 chance to hit.
 * Stamina: reduces the amount of damage suffered. Each point increases enemy miss chance by 1/20.
 * Wisdom: determines the starting quest target. At 3 points, starts with Thief, and advances to the next monster every three points.
 * Gold: necessary to buy food and equipment.

The same attributes (plus charisma and intellect) are used in Ultima 1 and 2.

Choose your class:
 * Both classes can use axe and shield.
 * The fighter can use a sword (rapier) and bow & arrows.
 * The mage can control magic amulets.

Of the two classes, the fighter can get an early-game benefit of better equipment, while the mage has the long term benefit of using magic amulets to quickly navigate the dungeon without worry of having the stats drained.

Food
If the hero runs out of food, he instantly dies of starvation (the same mechanic is used in Ultima 1 and 2).

At game start, purchase as much food as possible. Keep an eye on the "food meter". The hero eats one portion per step on the world surface, and 0.15 portions per step in the dungeons.

Weapons
There are four weapons:
 * The Rapier does 0-10 damage.
 * The Axe does 0-5 damage, and may be thrown.
 * The Bow does between 0-4 damage on each hit, and is always ranged.
 * The Shield does 0-1 damage. If carried, it reduces enemy hit chance by 1/20.

Exact damage is calculated by a random number between 0 and the weapon's max damage, adding the strength bonus, then rounding down. Without a weapon, damage is solely based on the strength attribute.

The magic amulets
The magic amulets allow a hero to cast four spells. Every amulet has a limited number of charges.

If a fighter uses the amulet, the effect is random. If a mage uses it, he can choose one of four spells (but the 4th one still has a random outcome).
 * 1) Ladder-up creates a ladder in front of the hero; it disappears as soon as he climbs it to the previous floor up.
 * 2) Ladder-down creates a ladder in front of the hero; it disappears as soon as he climbs it to the next floor down.
 * 3) Kill instantly defeats any enemy in front of the hero.
 * 4) Bad??? can have one of three effects at random:
 * 5) * Backfire cuts the hero's current health points in half;
 * 6) * Lizard man turns the hero into a powerful lizard man; all of his attributes are permanently multiplied by 2.5, and the effect is cumulative!
 * 7) * Toad turns the hero into a toad, and all of his attributes (except for health points) are permanently set equal to 3. Permanently, that is, until another use of an amulet turns him into a lizard man again.

Even if the hero is turned into a toad, three subsequent transformations into lizard man bring his attributes back to 18, near the starting values. You can then continue to power-up.

Beware: even the most powerful lizard man can still die of starvation, if he runs out of food!

Saving
Only the Color DOS version of the game supports saved games. All other versions need to be completed in one sitting, although shouldn't be too difficult if you know how to exploit game mechanics.