Alliance of Heroes is a text-based, adventure role-playing game, set in the mythical lands of ancient Greece. Through the technological magic of Simutronics' Interactive Fiction Engine, you are able to assume the identity of an ancient adventurer to create your own epic tale of heroism. Alliance of Heroes is more than just a game, though. It is a complete world, rich with detail and filled with opportunity for adventure. Through the guise of your character, you and other players like you form a true online society.

You are fully able to interact with other players. You can join them to form alliances against the forces that would dominate, or even destroy the world. Alliance of Heroes is not limited to a predefined game script that simply goes forward regardless of what you do. Your actions can affect future events. You are not simply an observer of what goes on, you are a participant in the action. In this way, through the guise of your character, you create the legends and tales that will be recalled and told by future generations of players.

Did you ever play cowboys and indians, or cops and robbers as a young child? If so, then you already know what role-playing is. Role-playing simply means that you assume the identity of a character which you create in order to participate in the game. It is all play-pretend. You pretend to be a fictional person who lives in a fictional world. As that character, you observe what goes on around you, and then you have your character do things based on his or her fictional personality.

You can't just pick any fictional person for any world though. Flash Gordon would be very much out of place were he to step into the world of Alliance of Heroes. Instead, you need to create an identity that is suited to the game world. Since you are playing a game that involves high adventure in a world based on ancient Greek myths, your character should be appropriate for that setting. That means you should select a name that is appropriate for the place and time. Your character should behave and speak as if the game world were his or her true home.

Forget the office, forget school, and forget that pile of laundry waiting for you. When you step into the world of Alliance of Heroes, put reality behind you and enjoy a little fantasy. That's role-playing. Create a personality for your character. You don't need to make detailed notes about every aspect of your character's life, beliefs, and personality, but you should have some sense of who and what your character is. When you have your character react to something in the game, he or she should not necessarily react the way you would in real life. Instead, have your character react in a way that is appropriate for the fictional personality you have made up.

Avoid trying to imitate legendary, mythical, and fictional characters about which others have written. Don't try to assume the role of a god or goddess, or of a real legendary figure from Greek mythology. The story of Achilles has already been told. You will get much more enjoyment from the game if you make up your own, new hero or heroine, and then let his or her story happen by playing the game.

There is no graphic-based game system in existence that can match the power and versatility of Simutronics' Interactive Fiction Engine. All of the so-called graphic adventure games face serious limitations in how they present their game world, in the ability of players to interact with the world and with each other, and in their ability to expand and add new game features. With a text-based system, we are able to present to you a vivid and complete virtual reality. The only limits on this game system are the limits of your imagination.

You can fully interact with the world and with other players using literally hundreds of plain English commands. When you want to do something, just tell the computer what you want to do. If you want to hug Athena, simply type HUG ATHENA. If you want to climb a set of stairs, simply type CLIMB STAIRS. You can perform highly complex actions using simple English, like OPEN THE JAR ON THE TABLE, or GET THE GOLD SWORD FROM MY BACKPACK. In response to these commands, the game provides you with rich descriptions of the world and what is going on around you. Descriptions of the rooms and locations in the game shift with the time of day. You don't have to depend on some artist's interpretation of what you see. Instead, you read the text and you create your own mental image of the world around you.

Alliance of Heroes has lots of graphics. We have a large team of artists who have provided us with hundreds of illustrations, and who continue to work to illustrate the game world. We simply don't allow the limitations of graphic images to limit the versatility of the game engine. Instead of having graphics limit the size, scope, and function of the game, we use graphics to illustrate and enhance our game world.

If you have never before played a computer adventure game of any kind, then you are probably at an advantage, because you do not have to unlearn anything you are used to from single-player adventure games. If you have played single-player adventure games before, you must understand that Alliance of Heroes is different from any of the games you have played. One major difference is that Alliance of Heroes does not have a beginning and an end like the single-player games. When you create a new character and enter the world for the first time, the game is already in progress. There are many players already playing the game, and many of them may have been playing for a long time. The story is just beginning for your character, but the game began long ago.

Similarly, there is no end to the game. Alliance of Heroes is not going to end when a player kills the ultimate monster, or solves the ultimate puzzle. Instead of having a pre-programmed ending, Alliance of Heroes is an open-ended game. Winning is a matter of perspective. You are not trying to do what some programmer decided you have to do in order to win. Instead, you set the goals for your character. You may want to become the wealthiest person in the land, or you may want to become the most skilled warrior. You may decide to become the most skilled priest, or the most influential with the gods. It is possible that your goals are not so grandiose, and set the simple goal of having your character survive to explore the world. Set your goals and then work to achieve them. Once you have done that, you can either decide that you have won, or you may want to set new goals and continue the struggle. Winning becomes what you decide it is.

New characters are created in the Character Manager. When you enter Alliance of Heroes for the first time, you will automatically be placed in the Character Manager to create a new character. If you already have a character but wish to retire him or her to create a new one, use the REROLL command. When you type REROLL, you will be moved into the Character Manager, where you will have the option either to retire your current character, or to return to the game. If you enter the Character Manager by mistake, simply select the option to return to the game, and your current character will remain in place. Creating a new character is a simple matter of answering a series of questions about the character you wish to play.

See the Character Management section of the documentation for more details.

Speaking is easy. Simply type a quote mark (") followed by what you want to say. For example:

"I sure hope Hera isn't watching.

All of the other players who are present will see you say the message. The punctuation you use at the very end determines if you say the message, ask it as a question, or make an exclamation. For example:

See the Communicating section of this documentation for more details.

There are two kinds of movement in Alliance of Heroes. There is directional movement, and there is movement through a portal.

For directional movement, simply type the direction you want you move. You can abbreviate it to one or two letters. Valid directions include:

You can see what directions are available for travel by looking at the room description. At the bottom of the room description, you will see a list of Obvious Exits (or Obvious Paths) that list what directions of travel are available. If the room description has scrolled off your screen, you can see the room again by typing the command LOOK.

Portals are anything that lead to a new location except one of the standard directions. This includes obvious portals such as doors, arches, and openings, and less obvious ones such as a path, a cave, a clearing, etc. In town, you can enter many of the shops and buildings by using the name of the shop or building as the name of the portal.

To move through a portal, simply type GO <portal name>. For example, GO DOOR or GO SHRINE.

Portals are not as obvious as directions. To determine what portals are available, if any, you have to read the full room description. For example:

A "jeweler's shop" is mentioned  in the room description. To enter that shop you would type GO SHOP.

See the Getting Around section of this documentation for more details.

When you enter the game for the first time, you are in the city of Athens. Basic maps of Athens are available here on the official website.

Since exploration is part of the game, there are no other official maps provided. Players may create maps of the world and provide them on their websites, but be warned that those maps are not official and they may contain errors.

See the Finding Your Way section of this documentation for more details.

Type INV to see an inventory list of the items you are wearing and holding in your hands. If you are wearing a container such as a backpack, this command will not list the contents of the container. To see what is in the container you must LOOK IN the container. For example, LOOK IN MY BACKPACK.

See the Getting Information About your Character section of this documentation for more details.

You can get different equipment if you have enough money to purchase what you want. There are many shops located all around Athens. You may need to make do with the equipment you have until you earn enough dinar to buy new things.

See the Shopping section of this documentation for more details.

Type WEALTH to see how much dinari you are carrying.

See the Getting Information About your Character section of this documentation for more details.

You must have at least one hand empty to pick up another item. Simply GET the item you want to pick up. For example, type GET SWORD to pick up a sword. If your right hand is empty, the item will be placed in your right hand, otherwise if you left hand is empty it will be placed in your left hand. If both hands are full, you will not be able to pick the item up.

See the Interacting with your Environment section of this documentation for more details.

If you want to put the item down onto the ground, you must be holding the item in one of your hands and then DROP the item. For example, to drop a shield on the ground, you would type DROP SHIELD.

If you want to put the item in a specific location, you must use the PUT command.

See the Interacting with your Environment section of this documentation for more details.

If you are standing in a shop that has things for sale, type ORDER. You will be presented with a menu of options that list the items for sale in that shop. Only 9 items are listed at a time. Some shops sell more than 9 different items, so to see more of the inventory of that shop, type MORE. When you seen a item listed that you want to buy, type the number of that item. You will see a brief description of the item and will be presented with several new options.

If the item can be customized with a special material or special color, you will see the CUSTOMIZE option. Customizing items raises the price of that item. If the item is something you want, type BUY to confirm you want to buy it. The shopkeeper will tell what he or she wants for the item. You can either ACCEPT their price, or you can OFFER a different price. Once you have completed all transactions, type DONE to leave the merchant menu. When you type DONE, your character is returned to the game, and any items you have purchased will be given to you.

See the Shopping section of this documentation for more details.

If you want to put the item in a specific location, you must use the PUT command. Examples: PUT SWORD IN SHEATH to put a sword into a sheath, PUT ROSE ON TABLE to put a rose on a table, PUT JUG BEHIND COUNTER to put a jug behind a counter, etc.

Using the word MY will ensure that you don't accidentally put an item in the wrong place. For example, PUT STONE IN BACKPACK could cause you to place the stone in a backpack lying on the ground, but PUT STONE IN MY BACKPACK will safely put it in one you're holding or wearing.

See the Interacting with your Environment section of this documentation for more details.

When you see a creature you want to attack, simply hold the weapon you want to use in your hand, and ATTACK the creature. The combat system will automatically detect what weapon you are using, and launch an attack against the creature. If you are in a situation where you need to ADVANCE on the creature before you can attack it, the combat system will handle this for you. Once you start an attack, the combat system will continue to launch attacks against the creature until either the creature is dead, you are dead, or you stop the attack. To stop the attack, type STOP ATTACK. You may take more direct control of the attacks if you choose to do so. You can override the automatic system by using the ADVANCE and RETREAT commands. You can specify a weapon to use, such as ATTACK BOAR WITH DAGGER.

See the Combat section of this documentation for more details.

Information about the status of your character is automatically saved when you log off, and is loaded when you log back on. You do not have to do anything special to save the game.

You should note that the game continues to run when your character is not there. The immediate circumstance can change dramatically between the time you log off and log back on. If you are in the wilderness, you may log off in a place you think is perfectly safe, with no monsters or creatures present, but when you log back on you may find that a creature is now there.

GameMasters, or GMs, are staff members who perform a variety of duties in the game. Under the guidance of the Product Manager, the GMs are the ones who design new areas, create new creatures and monsters, and build new puzzles to expand the game world. GMs also monitor the day-to-day operation of the game. They monitor the game itself to make sure things are running correctly, but they also monitor what the players are doing. GMs are responsible for handling problems that may arise.

GMs have the authority to take action if a player is behaving inappropriately, but they also have the authority to reward players who do particularly well while role-playing their character. GMs respond to player requests for assistance. They will try to help you with any technical problems you may experience. However, GMs cannot help you by giving you hints, clues, or solutions to puzzles. The GMs cannot create creatures or monsters for you, they cannot "turn up" the generation rate, they cannot give out special treasure, etc.

See the Getting Help section of this documentation for more details.

See our special Staff application section for more information about how to become a GameMaster, Host, Webmonitor, and more!