Progress Quest

Back story

Since time before time the Vorlak had held the Crosshutch at Thraeskamp. The ancient reckoning held that the Five Skrelkampi (and their Truebine) would return when the great Trond-feast could be held anew and the Belnap reunited. But this legend became lost to all but the Papperboxen at Horbug. One of their own was Yallow the Speldrig, who found an unlikely pupil in Torbole Understeady, the discarded illigitimate waif of Wainthane Topknox, whom Yallow renamed Grumdrig and began to school as a boar-pulmet's apprentice. ...And, as it was said by some, in aberdoxy.

As our story opens young Grumdrig has returned to Horbug following a trying stint in Spilwaer Spond where his laconic disposition and fertile mind bred a series of misadventures which had landed him outside the good graces of the Jordref there, Welham, who had secretly begun a long term course of slow but disaccomodating illpeel in the lad's morning fanwael. Meanwhile, though scarce a tuft of mansefur had yet made its appearance on the boy's manssach, a number of visiting Roilwachhs have begun to exhibit a discreet and seemingly inexplicable interest in the boy. Strange indeed, as he would not reach his krouchensterm for another harvest or more. And when Grumdrig's resiliant compatriot Paedri appears at Grumdrig's lochnotat with a Scrolstamp from the old Speldrig, a woozy foreboding feeling rises from his young gut...

Introduction

Progress Quest is a next generation computer role-playing game. Gamers who have played modern online role-playing games, or almost any computer role-playing game, or who have at any time installed or upgraded their operating system, will find themselves incredibly comfortable with Progress Quest's very familiar gameplay. Progress Quest follows reverently in the footsteps of recent smash hit online worlds, but is careful to streamline the more tedious aspects of those offerings. Players will still have the satisfaction of building their character from a ninety-pound level 1 teenager, to an incredibly puissant, magically imbued warrior, well able to snuff out the lives of a barnload of bugbears without need of so much as a lunch break. Yet, gone are the tedious micromanagement and other frustrations common to that older generation of RPG's.

User manual

Even inexperienced gamers will find Progress Quest remarkably intutive and simple to play. Start the program and click the New Game (Single Player) button, or click New Game (Multiplayer) and select a Realm to compete against players from all over the world. You will then be presented with the character creation screen. Select a name, race and class for the new character. Then, use the Roll button until you are statisfied with the stats for your character. Tip: You can use the Unroll button (a feature exclusive to Progress Quest) to go back to any previous roll if you find that you've clicked too hastily.

If you choose to play an online game, your character will share adventures with other Progress Quest characters in an online virtual world. Online play requires internet connectivity, though sophisiticated algorithms keep the bandwidth usage to a minimum. You can compare your character against the top Progress Quest players by visiting http://progressquest.com/realms.php (or hit <Ctrl>-<B> from within the game).

Finally, hit the Sold! button to begin the game. The game will start immediately and you can safely familiarize yourself with the game's single interface screen as the game progresses on its own. Soon your avatar will will be seeking and destroying an exotic panopoly of beasts while you gaze proudly on. Missing, you will notice, is the tedious march from town, the bewildering maze of cookie cutter streets hiding some specific merchant or NPC, and the repetetive hunt for just the right beast to execute. Progress Quest supplies your character with an endless series of victims, as well as exciting quests which keep your quest log full to the brim at all times.

TREASURE: Each slain creature yields a trophy, which can be sold in any town. When the encumbrance bar reaches maximum, your character automatically returns to the nearest town to sell your loot. If sufficiently liquid, he may then purchase an upgrade in equpiment (weapon or armor). That being done, the interpid adventurer then returns to the frontier to spill more blood. Tip: The amount your character can carry before his encumbrance bar fills up increases as his STR stat improves.

QUESTS: When a quest is complete, your character is rewarded with one of: a) a special, valuable, treasure item, b) an improved weapon or piece of armor, c) a boost in stats, or d) a new spell for his spellbook. The character is then assigned a follow-up quest, which he immediately begins to make progress on.

EXPERIENCE AND LEVELING UP: Experience represents your character's knowledge about the world around him, as well as his battle prowess and ability to channel the forces of magical power. Your character gains experience by killing monsters and sentient beings, over and over again. Once the experience bar is full, your character levels up, and is given an automatic boost in several of his stats and a new spell for his spellbook.

DYING: Be warned that your character can be slain by monsters which are tougher than he can handle. However, this concept has been abstracted out of the game and takes effect simply by somewhat reducing the experience accumulated for each successful murder.

SAVING YOUR PROGRESS: Your game is saved whenever you quit, as well as each time your character levels up or completes a quest. You can pick up where you left off by restarting Progress Quest and clicking the Load Game button. Progress Quest makes a backup of your existing save file each time it saves anew, so if your save file becomes corrupted, load the backup, and lament the progress that must now be regained.

Game controls

Progress Quest belongs to a new breed of "fire and forget" RPG's. There is no need to interact with Progress Quest at all; it will make progress with you or without you.

You can quit Progress Quest by using the window close box, or by hitting <Alt>-<F4> (hold down the <Alt> key while hitting <F4>), but there is really little need to ever do so. Please note that your character will not make any progress except when Progress Quest is running. Your character will make no progress once you quit the program, until you start Progress Quest again.

Keyboard quick reference

Key	Description
Alt-F4	Exit Progress Quest