Excalibur! (XCLIBUR)

Description

Excalibur! is a mythical kingdom loosely styled after the mythical kingdom of King Arthur. The kingdom is laid out upon a grid of 260 squares labeled A through Z horizontally and 0 through 9 vertically. Thus, any location in the kingdom can be identified by a unique letter-number combination, such as the city of Camelot located at M5. Each location on the map represents one of several different types of terrains which might be encountered. Camelot, for example, is a city. Other locations can be forests, plains, mountains, swamps, deserts, or other cities. Each terrain has its own characteristics, which may bring adversity or good fortune to the player depending upon a variety of factors which will be described later. The city of Camelot is unique in that it is the seat of government and the location of shops where a player can purchase knights, traveling potions, information, cutthroats, or a cutpurse. He may also joust knights and win (or lose) gold. He may deposit or withdraw gold from the king's vault, exchange mail with other players, file suit against other players in the court of the king, check his status, read the recent news, consult his map, see how he ranks compared to other players, and attack the king's guard in order to become king himself. The player is initially given a purse of gold pieces and a small account in the king's vault. Each day when the player logs on he will be given more gold, and will be assessed wages for the knights in his retinue. A player may accumulate more gold by exploring the countryside, finding and capturing cities, and posting knights to defend them against other players. Each day a player owns a city he collects taxes from it.However, the defending knights' wages are assessed from these taxes, so striking a balance between defensibility and profitability can be a challenge.