











               ήΫΫΫΫΫά άΫΫΫΫά ήΫΫΫΫά   άΫΫΫΫά ήΫΫέήΫΫέ άΫΫΫΫά
                ΫΫ  ΫΫ ΫΫ  ΫΫ  ΫΫ ίΫΫ ΫΫί  ίίί ΫΫάάΫΫ ΫΫί  ίΫΫ
                ΫΫ     ΫΫΫΫΫΫ  ΫΫ  ΫΫ ΫΫά  άάά ΫΫίίΫΫ ΫΫά  άΫΫ
               ήΫΫέ   ήΫΫ  ΫΫέήΫΫέήΫΫέ ίΫΫΫΫί ήΫΫέήΫΫέ ίΫΫΫΫί

               ήΫΫΫΫΫά   άΫΫΫά ΫΫ    ΫΫ άΫΫΫΫά ήΫΫΫΫά  άΫΫΫΫά
                ΫΫ  ίΫΫ ΫΫί άΫΫ ΫΫ  ΫΫ  ΫΫ  ΫΫ  ΫΫ ίΫΫ ΫΫ  ΫΫ
                ΫΫ   ΫΫ ΫΫάΫΫί   ΫΫΫΫ   ΫΫΫΫΫΫ  ΫΫ άΫΫ ΫΫΫΫΫΫ
               ήΫΫέ ήΫΫέ ίΫΫΫΫί   ΫΫ   ήΫΫ  ΫΫέήΫΫΫΫί ήΫΫ  ΫΫέ

                 Rancho Nevada - An Adult Fantasy Online Game

             Rancho Nevada 5.00 (C) 1992,1997 Whirlwind Software
        Concept, Coding and Documentation written by Gerald T. Albion
                             ALL RIGHTS RESERVED



                          Extended Documentation File


                                      or

                                Zen and the art
                                      of
                                 Rancho Nevada





















                                        















                               TABLE OF CONTENTS


          Section 1:  Introduction to Rancho Nevada ................  3
          Section 2:  Playing Rancho Nevada ........................  6
          Section 3:  Winning Strategies ........................... 18
          Section 4:  Installing the game as a BBS door ............ 20
          Section 5:  Command Line Switches ........................ 24
          Section 6:  Running Rancho - A SysOp Perspective.......... 25
          Section 7:  Embedded Commands Reference .................. 27
          Section 8:  The "Maze" and MAZE.CTL ...................... 29
          Section 9:  Configuring the game ......................... 32
          Section 10: Using the User Editor ........................ 38
          Section 11: Employees and Maintenance .................... 43
          Section 12: External Files ............................... 44
          Section 13: Acknowledgements ............................. 47
          Section 14: Terms of Your Registered Licence ............. 48



























                                     - 2 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 1   ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί  Introduction to Rancho Nevada  Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        The first thing that should be gotten out of the way is that
        the X-Rated verion of Rancho Nevada is an ADULT game.  Minors
        should NEVER be allowed access to the Adult version; the
        possibility of reprisal from irate parents and gung-ho law
        enforcement is very real.  The graphic sex described in the
        game leaves little doubt as to its unsuitability, in the current
        sociological climate, for exposure to young, sexually
        unsophisticated people. Likewise, the game's overall tone of
        vice and excess could be viewed as setting a bad example for
        young people.  The PG-Rated version is not sexually explicit or
        even suggestive, but it still revolves around vice and excess
        and situations that, in real life, would have real consequences.
        Neither version of Rancho Nevada is particularly "Politically
        Correct." This author's interpretation of the Canadian Charter
        of Rights and Freedoms is that, responsibly administrated,
        Rancho Nevada is protected by the Canadian Constitution.  If in
        doubt, consult your legal counsel or local police. Prevent
        hassles by acting responsibly when putting this game online.

        That said, if you and your users happen to be fun-loving,
        open-minded adults, or if you choose to run only the PG-Rated
        version, then Rancho Nevada should provide many hours of
        entertainment for your users and an increase in popularity for
        your BBS.  Rancho Nevada is a fantasy pseudo-adventure game set
        in a huge pleasure palace somewhere in the only state where that
        sort of thing is perfectly legal...

        It's no secret that this game borrows gameplay elements from
        older games by other authors.  Even the great classical
        composers were influenced by others.  So it should come as no
        surprise that some parts of the game look a bit familiar.  Rest
        assured that Rancho Nevada is 100% original code and borrows
        concepts, not programming, from other games.  It is hoped that
        the fusion of all these gaming elements (plus the many original
        ideas that went into the game) results in a truly addictive and
        playable game.

        Like many multi-player adventures, Rancho Nevada is basically a
        statistical game, wrapped in a theme and a storyline of sorts.
        As you progress through the game you pick up more and more
        "experience" but there is a caveat: things get more expensive.
        So it is up to the player to decide the best strategy for
        winning.  See section 3, "Winning Strategies" for some
        insight...








                                     - 3 -


        DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PG and X RATED VERSIONS OF THE GAME

                   PG                               X
        -----------------------------------------------------------
        The PG-Rated version is           The X-Rated version can only
        available on BBSes and the        be had by registering the game
        internet as shareware to          and signing a declaration of
        anyone who wants it.              age over 19, and requesting it.

        The 20-room corridor is called    The 20-room corridor is called
        the "Hall of Fun"                 "Virginkillers Row"

        A player's hit points are called  A player's hit points are called
        her "Interest"                    her "libido"

        Soda drinking contests.           Drinking contests.

        Non-adult story when you succeed  Sexually explicit story when you
        in an encounter.                  succeed in an encounter.

        Annie's Toy Shop.                 Annie's Sex Shop.

        Your weapon is called a "toy"     Your weapon is called a "sex toy"
        and is generally presented in a   and is intended as a sexual
        non-sexual way.                   stimulant.

        No words you won't hear on        Occasional very coarse language,
        network TV.                       even outside of the sex stories.

        Some area names in the original   The adventure maze is a full-
        adventure maze have been renamed  service pleasure palace with all
        for the PG-Rated version.         the extras!

        Read about Elvis in the           Read about sex techniques in
        tabloids.                         the skin magazines.

        Special items have been de-       Some special items are sexually
        sexualized.                       oriented.



















                                     - 4 -

        On the SysOp end, Rancho Nevada is designed to keep you well-
        informed and in control.  You can break in to "chat" with a user
        just as you can in your BBS.  You can "dump" a user who is
        abusing the game.  You can invoke a user editor while the player
        is still online, edit her or anyone else's game record, and
        let her continue.  Rancho Nevada also has a "Super SysOp Bar"
        (SSB) at the top of the screen which, in the space of just four
        text lines, shows you almost everything about the user currently
        playing.  Some SysOps may find the SSB a bit imposing (it leaves
        only 20 lines of display window) so the SSB can be toggled "on"
        or "off."

        Rancho is constructed with a "one-executable-does-all"
        philosophy. Using command line switches, RANCHO.EXE performs all
        the functions that other doors require external programs to
        achieve.  For a complete rundown on command line switches, refer
        to section 5, "Command Line Switches."









































                                     - 5 -


                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 2   ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί      Playing Rancho Nevada      Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        When a user enters the game for the first time, she is asked a
        few short questions before the player record is created.
        Firstly, the game offers the user a chance to chicken out and
        get out of the game.  Then, the user is prompted for gender and
        sexual preference. Users can select Male or Female, Straight,
        Gay or Bisexual.  These do not have to be the player's actual
        gender or preference, and in fact there are strategic advantages
        to various combinations of these.  See section 3, "Winning
        Strategies", for more information on this.

        This done, the player is sent to the main prompt.  By default,
        the game starts the player off in room #1 (this can be changed -
        see Section 9: "Configuring The Game."



        Getting Around (Options "N","S","E","W","U" and "D"):

        The main prompt looks something like this:

             ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ
             You're in the business office (Location #11)

             There is an audiovisual station here.  Press V to use it.

             (#11) Annie is here!

             You can go South East Down
             [60 moves left] What now, babe? ώώώ]

        At this prompt, you can go in any direction indicated.  In the
        case of the example above, you can go either South, East, or
        Down.  Any of these directions will take you to another room.

        Getting around the complex is easy if you have ever played a
        text-adventure game.  The keys N,S,E,W,U and D will (if you are
        allowed) take you North, South, East, West, Up or Down
        respectively.  You can also use the arrow keys to go in the compass
        directions.

        The prompt also gives you other important information.  As you
        can see, there is a description of the room ("You're in the
        business office") and a room number.  The room number lets users
        look other users up on the Computer Terminals, and aids in
        mapmaking. You are also informed of any other people in the room
        with you, and of any special items you can use.  In this case,
        "Annie" is in the same room, and there is an "Audiovisual
        Terminal" in the room.



                                     - 6 -


        As of version 2.0, Rancho has some new features at the prompt.
        Certain players will run away as soon as you enter the room,
        while others will actually try to start an encounter with you!
        As sysop, you can set the employees' behavior in this regard
        using the user editor, and users can set this through the trade
        menu.

        As of version 3.0, there are a few more properties of the rooms
        in Rancho Nevada.

        Firstly, some rooms are "Dark", which means you can't see while
        you're in them, and can only "peek" into them from other rooms
        with the aid of the Flashlight special-item.  This will allow
        players in non-runaway attack modes to "lurk" in a dark area
        waiting to pick off passing users...

        Secondly, some rooms can be "free", meaning that no turns are
        expended for -exiting- the room.  A turn could still be deducted
        for entering, though.  This will allow you to create areas in
        the maze where weary players have a little respite - a path
        between the Virginkillers Row / Hall of Fun and the nearest
        Jacuzzi would be a thoughtful use of this feature!

        The third new property is the "Safe" room.  A sign is clearly
        displayed in each "safe" area prohibiting sexual encounters.
        Any user who even begins to attempt an encounter in such rooms
        will be sternly reminded by a bouncer that this is a safe room.
        A thoughtful use of this would be to make all rooms with ATMs
        "safe" so powerful players cannot profit by "lurking" in
        conservative mode at the ATMs, picking off weaker users as they
        come in to make deposits.

        Beginning with version 4.0, Rancho Nevada now has some random
        events.  When the player moves, there is a 15 percent chance that
        she will have some random occurrence happen to her.  These range
        from getting free money and better toys to getting mugged to
        gambling and bank computer hacking.

        Encounters (Option "M"):

        Now, since there is someone else in room, you may want to make
        an attempt at an encounter.  You do this with the "M" command.
        In our example above, "Annie" is user #11, and that is how you
        specify who to make your pass at.  If, for any reason, you can't
        make a pass, the game will abort the attempt.  Here are the
        possible reasons why you might not be able to "M"ake a pass:

                - You don't prefer the other player's gender
                - The other player doesn't prefer your gender
                - The other player is "recovering" from a prior encounter
                - The other player isn't in the room
                - Your resistance/libido is zero or less
                - Your level is too far above the other player's level
                - You are in a safe area.



                                     - 7 -


        If, however, you are "compatible" with the other player, you
        will start an encounter.

        When you start an encounter, the first thing that happens is the
        games decides who gets the first move.  Since you are the
        aggressor, the game gives you a small advantage (the surprise
        element) but really it is the Skill of both players which
        determines who goes first: the player with the highest skill
        gets the first move.

        Skill continues to be important factor in sexual melee.  It
        determines the probability that your advances on the other
        player will succeed - the player with the higher skill will
        "hit" more often.  This goes for the defense as well - for each
        advance you make, your partner has a chance to resist your
        advances and subtract from your libido.  The chances are
        improved by better skill, so skill obviously is both a defensive
        and offensive attribute.

        Another attribute which affects your ability to perform is
        Stamina.  Stamina directly determines the effectiveness of your
        advances - the number of resistance points taken.  Likewise
        stamina determines the defensive ability of your defensive
        items.

        Basically, the first player to reduce the other to zero
        resistance or libido "wins" the encounter.  The "winner" gets
        experience points, plus all the cash the loser is carrying.
        Also, if the loser has better sex toys or defensive items, the
        winner gets those too, swapping his/her old ones with the loser.
        Resistance and libido, by the way, are the same quantity,
        depending on whether you are aggressing or defending.

        The third attribute, Knowledge, doesn't directly affect your
        encounters but it does determine the number of Maximum
        Libido/Resistance points you get when you climb levels.

        The fourth (and newest) attribute is Talent.  This doesn't
        affect your sexual encounters directly, but it determines the
        number of Maximum Co-ordination points you get when you are
        promoted to new levels.

        Should you accumulate enough experience points to merit climbing
        a level, the game will inform you of this fact, and then award
        you with cash, attribute points, and of course the L/R points
        determined by your Knowledge and co-ordination points determined
        by your talent.

        During an encounter, if things look hopeless you can attempt to
        "run away" by using the R command.  Be warned -- if your
        opponent's skill is much greater than yours, you may not be able
        to get away!

        Also during encounters, several of the "special" items can be
        used.  Use these with the U command.


                                     - 8 -

        Once the encounter is over, if you succeeded, you have the
        opportunity to send "voice mail" (really e-mail) to your victim.
        This feature is handy for underdogs to gloat over the quivering
        bodies of their fallen adversaries...

        Beware!  Every time you engage in an encounter (whether you
        succeed or not) you use up a condom.  If you happen to be out of
        condoms, you'll be warned of the fact, but unless you [R]un
        away, you run a 20 percent risk of getting VD!  Having a condom
        reduces the risk to zero.  If you get VD, you lose 20% of your
        maximum resistance/libido points and you cannot play again until
        the next day (midnight system time).



        ----------------------- "V" key Features -----------------------

        Some places in Rancho Nevada have special features - these are
        accessed with the "V" key.  The special features are: Bar (Drinking
        Contests), Computer Terminals, Audiovisual Terminals, Pay Phones,
        Annie's Sex Shoppe (err... "Toy" Shop in the PG rated version!),
        Bank machines, Jacuzzi, Virginkillers Row/Hall of Fun, and the Slot
        Machines.

        If you are in a room with one of these features, the game will
        advise you of this fact and will allow you to hit "V" to access it.

        ----------------------------------------------------------------


        Drinking Contests:

        The drinking contests are only available if you are in a bar.  If
        you are in a bar, the prompt will inform you of this fact.

        The rules for the drinking contest are simple.  The first player
        to throw up three times loses.  The winner gets cash, and
        players' win/loss statistics are kept on record.  It is a good
        idea to drink as often as possible because you get 5 points
        added to each attribute every twentieth win!

        Unlike sex encounters, the players you drink against don't have
        to be in the same room.

        The number of times you can enter a drinking contest - win or
        lose - is limited, and you as sysop can set that limit (see
        Section 9: "Configuring The Game").











                                     - 9 -

        Computer Terminals:

        The terminals offer three options.

        First, you can scan for players which you are eligible (by level
        and sex/preference) to engage in encounters with.  This is a
        simple listing which is self-explanatory when you try it.

        Second (this is the only Computer Terminal Service that requires
        a fee) you can locate players.  You specify the player by number
        and the terminal comes back with the room number the player is
        located in.  This is essential when you are at a high level and
        your list of eligible partners is shrinking fast...

        The third option is to look up a few of a player's statistics.
        It's always prudent to look up this information on a more
        powerful player before you try to take them on.  You may find
        you want to invest in better sex toys or more attribute points
        first...


        Audiovisual Terminals:

        These are extremely important to your character.  At the
        audiovisual terminals you can increase your Stamina, Skill, or
        Knowledge for a fee.  The number of times per round you can
        use the AV Terms is limited (the limit is sysop-defined) but
        most players should find that they are limited by how many times
        they can afford to use them.  You should use the AV Terms as
        often as you can afford to.  Again, here are the attributes you
        can increase and what they do:

                [1] Stamina - increases effectiveness of sex toys
                [2] Skill - increases chances of making successful
                            contact in encounters
                [3] Knowledge - determines how many R/L points you get
                    when you climb a level.
                [4] Talent - determines how many co-ordination points
                    you get when you climb a level.


        Pay Phones:

        These form the messaging center of Rancho Nevada.  From the pay
        phones you can leave other players "voice mail" messages, use
        the public "chat line" or even call a live phone sex line!  The
        "Cell Tel" special item is exactly identical to the Pay Phones
        option except that you can use it anywhere.

        The voice mail messages are private messages which only your
        intended recipient can read.  They can be up to 16 lines long.
        The "Chat Line" is a message base of one-liners where players
        can boast and flame each other.  The "live phone sex" line is
        just a fun feature where the computer "talks dirty" to you.  Of
        course, it's more of a dumb chat line in the PG-Rated version.

        These functions more or less explain themselves so no more
        discussion is required here.
                                     - 10 -


        Annie's Sex Shoppe/Toy Shoppe:

        This is another very important place in the game.  Here you buy
        and sell sex toys and defensive items, and buy condoms and
        special items.  The sex toys basically aid you in seducing your
        "victims."  The more a sex toy costs, the more powerful it is.
        The defensive items allow you to counterattack when a player
        advances on you. Again, you get what you pay for.  As for
        condoms, well, their importance is obvious when the game throws
        you off for getting VD.  The price of condoms goes up with your
        level, but keep well-stocked with them anyway because you expend
        one each encounter.  The special items all have different
        functions.

        You can sell your sex toys and defenses back to Annie, but she's
        not likely to give you more than half what they're worth.  You
        can't sell condoms or your special items.

        You can change the names of sex toys and defenses, or add
        entirely new ones.  See Section 13, "External Files" for a full
        explanation of this process.

        Here is SPECITEM.ASC, from the game, in its entirety, to explain
        the functions of all the "Special Items".

                     Special Items: A Buyer's Guide.

        [1] -- Energy Pill.  This restores your libido back to its maximum
               level in an encounter.  Works in Virginkillers Row only.

        [2] -- Chloroform Pad.  This disinhibits your partner-to-be.  Its
               effectiveness increases with your level.

        [3] -- Herpes Scabs / Cold Virus.
               This rather nasty item will give your victim V.D. about 35%
               of the time, even if s/he has protection! But be warned, it
               can backfire -- the odds are 1 in 10 that YOU will get V.D.
               instead!  (In the PG rated version this is called the "cold
               virus" and it does the same thing).

        [4] -- Rope and Gag.  This old standby will take off 50% of your
               opponent's resistance, regardless of defenses or skill on
               the other player's part!

        [5] -- BlinkPorter.  This is a transporter pad with no guidance
               system!  It is guaranteed not to beam you into deep space,
               but where you DO end up is anyone's guess!

        [6] -- Recovery Pill.  If you get a disease, you will be given only
               ONE chance to pop a recovery pill (if you have one).  When you
               take the pill, you are not thrown out of the game but you
               lose one round for the day.  If you don't take the pill (or
               don't have one) you cannot play again until the next day.




                                     - 11 -


        [7] -- Love Mist Inhaler / Laughing Gas.
               This most powerful (and expensive) aphrodisiac is guaranteed
               to knock off 90 percent of your target's resistance!  (This
               is called "Laughing Gas" in the PG-Rated version).

        [8] -- Syphilis Culture / The Flu.
               This horribly expensive and powerful biological weapon will
               give your victim syphilis nine times out of ten!  This is
               safer for you than Herpes Scabs (Item #3) as there is only a
               4% probability of it backfiring on you.  (This is called
               "The Flu" in the PG-Rated version).

        [9] -- Priapism Jel / Steroids.
               This remarkable substance will temporarily double your
               libido!  Great for cruising through the trickier parts of
               the Virginkillers Row.  (This is called "Steroids" in the
               PG-Rated version).

       [10] -- Super Stud Pill / Super Edurance Pill.
               This is (at lower levels) the costliest special item sold in
               Rancho Nevada.  It increases your libido to an unholy FIVE
               TIMES its normal maximum!  Great for crushing the toughest
               nuts in the VKR, or for deflating the egoes of the
               highest-level players!  (This is called a "Super Endurance
               Pill" in the PG-Rated version).

       [11] -- Teleport.  This item is a one-use transporter beam which
               will take you anywhere in the Rancho Nevada complex!  Handy
               for a systematic sweep of the entire place.

       [12] -- Room Zoom.  This most expensive item will instantly zap you
               ahead five doors in VirginKiller's Row!  Great for
               skipping past lower level virgins, this item can easily pay
               for itself... if you can afford it and if your character's
               powerful enough to survive what it encounters at the end of
               the jump!

       [13] -- Cell Tel.  This is a cellular phone which will let you use
               any of Rancho Nevada's communications features without
               having to use a payphone!  You automatically get an
               opportunity to use one free each time you successfully
               encounter someone!

       [14] -- Western Money Express.  This special delivery service gives
               you instant access to your bank account from anywhere in the
               complex! No more hunting for a bank machine!

       [15] -- Datacomm PDA.  This Personal Digital Attache' is linked by
               wireless localnet into the Rancho Nevada computer network!
               Now you don't have to look around for a terminal to find
               someone!

       [16] -- Flashlight.  This will allow you to peek into adjoining
               rooms which are too dark to see!



                                     - 12 -

        Bank Machines:

        Scattered throughout the complex, these machines let you
        withdraw (and more importantly, deposit) money into your bank
        account.  You should deposit your money frequently and only
        withdraw when you need it; if someone seduces you they will get
        all the money you have that isn't in the bank!  The "Western
        Express Cash Service" special item is identical to the Bank
        Machines except that you can use it anywhere.

        Jacuzzi:

        The Jacuzzis found throughout the game are used for relaxation
        and recuperation.  If you have no libido left, there is a chance
        that the Jacuzzi will restore just enough to allow you to
        initiate encounters again.  If you have less than half your
        normal libido, you might get a goodly amount of your libido back
        (but not all of it by a long shot).  If you have full libido,
        you could actually increase your maximum by one or two points!
        

        VirginKillers' Row (the VKR) (Hall of Fun in the PG version):

        VirginKillers Row (VKR for short) is a sort of training grounds
        for users.  Basically, the VKR is a 20-door corridor, and
        behind each door is a person you try to seduce.  As with
        employees there are cash prizes to be won, as well as toys
        and defenses.

        In the VKR, more special items can be used than in
        regular encounters.  This is to give you a little edge
        so you can go after partners who would otherwise be over
        your head.

        As sysop, you can actually put more than one VKR in the game,
        but it is recommended that only one be used.  We don't want the
        game to be TOO easy, do we?

        The previous several options are only available at
        certain times and places within the game.  However the
        remaining commands to follow, can be used at ANY main
        prompt!

        At the end of the VKR you will find one of the four
        owners of Rancho Nevada.  Rancho Nevada is owned and
        operated by porn czar John Q. Holmes, Jr.; "Bubbles"
        Munro, a former Miss Nude Vegas; Ilka the Dominatrix
        Queen; and the flamboyant "Queen" Marvin Jackson.  Which
        one you encounter will depend upon your character's sex
        and orientation.  All are nearly impossible opponents,
        and if you can beat one of them, you will truly have
        earned the title of BIG KAH0NA!






                                     - 13 -


        Slot Machines:

        These one-armed bandits are located at various locations throughout
        Rancho Nevada.  How can you have a game in Las Vegas without having
        gambling?  The sign outside DID say we have the "loosest slots in
        town"...

        ---------------------------------------------------------------
  
        Trade Statistics (Option "T")

        This is a multi-faceted command which lets you edit your
        character's profile... for a price!

        There are seven sub-options from the Trade Statistics menu:

                [1] Change Gender - Go from M-->F or F-->M.
                    There are strategic advantages to each gender.  You
                    may decide that you need to change sex to get ahead.
                    This is allowed but horribly expensive.

                [2] Change Orientation - You pick Straight, Gay or Bi
                    just as you did when you first entered the game as a
                    new player.  There is an advantage to changing
                    orientation - bisexual players can go after more
                    different players while straights and gays are
                    protected against aggression from incompatible
                    partners.  However the cost of changing orientation
                    is even higher than that of changing sex!

                [3] Trade Attributes.  This option opens up a sub-menu
                    which allows you to trade any of the four encounter
                    attributes - stamina, skill, knowledge and talent,
                    for each other.  Be warned -- each time you make
                    such a trade you pay a 20% penalty in the attribute
                    being traded. This is to prevent overuse of this
                    feature as a tactic.  This option will not allow you
                    to leave yourself with less than 10 of any given
                    attribute.

                [4] Reset Drinking Statistics.  This is sort of a
                    "mercy" feature.  Experience has shown that a player
                    with many more losses than wins can tend to be
                    "picked on" a lot by many other players, because
                    s/he is an easy target.  This option sets both wins
                    and losses to zero.

                [5] Re-Roll character.  This is a last-resort command.
                    If you have mismanaged your character and gotten VD
                    many times, or run out of money and can't out-drink
                    or seduce anyone at your level, then this may be
                    your only way to get back in the game.  It resets
                    your charcter to the level-one "plebe" it was when
                    you first entered the game.  You will be asked twice
                    if you're sure... make sure you are.


                                     - 14 -

                [6] Change Behavior.  This option lets you change your
                    character's behavior when you are not playing.
                    There are seven modes in version 2.0, numbered from
                    0 to 6.  They are:

                       0 -- "Default".  In this mode, your character
                             will just sit there when anyone else enters
                             the room.  This is what all characters did
                             prior to this version of the game.

                       1 -- "Paranoid".  Your character will attempt to
                             flee to another room whenever anyone
                             enters.  Your character might be "cornered"
                             and unable to escape, however.  The
                             probability of this happening is set in
                             RANCHO.CFG (see the section on RANCHO.CFG
                             elsewhere in this document).

                       2 -- "Coward".  Your character will behave like a
                             true coward.  It will try to seduce all
                             weaker players who enter, and flee all
                             stronger or equal opponents.  The
                             determination as to who is stronger is made
                             up of a composite of the player's stamina,
                             skill, and maximum resistance.

                       3 -- "Chicken".  Your character will flee
                             stronger players when they enter, and will
                             stay put for weaker ones.

                       4 -- "Conservative".  Your character will try to
                             seduce weaker players who enter, and will
                             stay put for stronger ones.

                       5 -- "Suicidal".  Your character will ignore
                             weaker players, and only try to seduce
                             stronger ones.  I have yet to think of a
                             strategically advantageous use for this
                             mode, but it's included nevertheless.

                       6 -- "Berserk".  Your character will try to
                             seduce everything that moves, weak or
                             strong.  Berserk and Suicidal should be used
                             with extreme caution, as players could find
                             themselves a lot poorer this way.  However
                             these are great modes for employees...

                [7] Trade co-ordination/libido.  This will allow you to
                    trade resistance/libido points for co-ordination
                    points and vice versa.  Beware; when you trade these
                    two attributes, you lose 10% of the amount traded!
                    This option will not allow you to leave yourself
                    with less than 10 of either attribute.





                                     - 15 -


                [8] Change your name.  Fairly self explanatory.  Use this
                    if you want to try and fool other players (which is a
                    very lame thing to do and never works) or just to put
                    some colour codes in your handle...

        Use Special Item (Option "I"):

        This allows you to use some of your special items.  At the main
        prompt, only the Transporter Pad and Energy Pill, Western
        Express, Datacomm PDA, Cell Tel and Flashlight items will work.


        Use Cell Tel (Option "C"):

        This is a shortcut to using the Cell Tel special item.  Note that
        the cell tel is perpetual; you don't need to keep buying them
        unlike other special items each time you use it.


        Read the Daily Log (Option "F"):

        The game maintains a daily journal of events (which it nukes at
        the beginning of each day).  This command will view it.

        Your Statistics (Option "Y"):

        This produces a display of your entire user account and all of
        your game stats.  Use the information from this display to make
        decisions on who to go after, what attributes to increase/trade,
        et cetera.  You also have the option of reading an inventory of
        your special items.


        Rankings (Option "R"):

        This produces a hierarchical listing of players, starting with
        the one with most experience points and working down from there.
        Sort of a top-ten list, but much longer.  If you have many
        hundreds of players and/or are on a slow machine, this could
        take a few seconds.  I have tried to make the sorting process as
        fast as possible using a special tagsort algorithm, but since
        it's still an n^2 algorithm a huge userlist WILL slow it a bit.
        Users will see "Sorting..." when there are more than 100 users
        to sort.


        Players Online (Option "P"):

        This produces a list of players who are actually online playing the
        same on other nodes at the same time.







                                     - 16 -


        Say Something (Option "A"):

        This lets you enter a line to "say" which will be "heard" by
        everyone else in the area with you.


        Player Listings (Option "L"):

        This produces a list of all players, including employees.


        Help & Instructions (Option "H"):

        This displays INSTRUCT.ASC (regardless of which video mode the
        player is in) which is a condensed set of player instructions.
        You can change this files, but it is deliberately kept as brief
        as possible so that users don't have to plow through a long
        document like this one at 2400 baud or slower.  It uses the new
        embedded colour tokens so that the same file can be used for
        ANSI and non-ANSI users.


        Help (Option "?"):

        This displays a one-screen command reference, in ANSI colour or
        vanilla ASCII.


        Quit (Option "Q"):

        Exits the game and returns to the BBS.


        Look (Option "O"):

        This command lets you peek into an adjoining map area.  This
        is most useful if you wish to avoid more powerful players who
        might be set to attack you...



















                                     - 17 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 3   ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί        Winning Strategies       Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        This section will be kept rather brief, as I do wish to let
        players develop some of their own strategies.  That said, here
        are a few tips which will help you to win...

        - Use the AudioVisual stations as often as you can afford to.
          They boost your stats and make your character more powerful.

        - When you first play the game, build your skill for the first
          few rounds so that you can start winning drinking contests
          right away, and so you won't be a pushover to other new
          players.  After a couple of rounds of this, build your
          knowledge as much as you can before you advance to the next
          level.  The more knowledge you have, the higher your maximum
          libido/resistance will be.  I have found a ratio of 2:3:4
          stamina:skill:knowledge to be an excellent stratregic stat
          ratio.

        - Win as many drinking contests as you can.  Not only does this
          give you extra cash, but it also gives you five extra stat
          points for each stat on every twentieth win!  This can give
          you an added advantage...

        - Try to visit as many different rooms in the game each day as
          you can.  You may find an employee who has not been seduced in
          a long time, and this can mean a huge cash payoff if you
          seduce him/her!

        - Once you can afford them, use transporter pads to go directly
          from a computer terminal (where you locate players you want to
          make passes at) to the player/employee in question.  This
          saves a LOT of moves and time.

        - Don't waste a lot of time (and moves!) chasing fleeing players
          through the game unless you are sure they will pay off in
          money or toys.

        - Use the Jacuzzis.  If you have full libido the Jacuzzi will
          (probably) increase your max by one or two points.  After
          you've done this once in a round, don't use a Jacuzzi again
          unless you regain full libido by going up a level or using a
          special item.  You'll just waste Jacuzzi turns that way when
          they could be used to save your ass.










                                     - 18 -

        - In most cases, it is best to play the game as a bi-female.
          By playing a bi, you are automatically allowed to go after
          more people than if you played a straight or a gay.  Also,
          since it is likely that most players who play males will play
          straight males, you won't run into a preference problem with
          these players if you play a female.  The more players you can
          try to seduce, the less restricted you are and therefore you
          have an advantage.

        - Just before you exit the game for the last time for the day,
          go into Conservative behavior mode and "hide" in a "dark"
          area.  You will attack weaker players and (hopefully) acquire
          money and toys.

        - Another good place to "lurk" is at a Sex Shoppe - this will
          allow you to attack users with lots of money before they spend
          it on toys!

        - Don't develop Talent as much as other attributes, or make it
          the most important, never in between!  If you become extremely
          powerful with special items you may not need to be as well
          stamina'd as other players.  But, if you decide to build your
          other attributes and "hack & slash" your way through the game,
          you should trade away most of your talent and co-ordination on
          other attributes, leaving only enough for emergency VKR exits
          and the like.

        - One hint: One of the author's favorite unattainable fantasies is
          Tori Amos (hey try and tell me she's not a desirable, talented
          and brilliant woman).  Anyway, wiping the drool off my chin, you
          will find that her name is of value somewhere in the game.  Can
          you find out where?


























                                     - 19 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 4   ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί    Installing the Game as a     Ί
                     Ί             BBS Door            Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

        - MS-DOS 3.x or higher. This is due to certain types of DOS
          calls used.

        - at least 384k free RAM. This was arrived at experimentally by
          playtesting Rancho Nevada under DesqView with varying task
          sizes, and might vary

        - a FOSSIL such as BNU, OpusComm, or X00 is recommended but is not
          required.  Rancho Nevada has been tested extensively with BNU and
          X00 at speeds from 300 to 115200 bits per second.

        - a fair amount of hard disk space.  You should have a meg or
          more free, so that there will be room for the message files,
          the event files, and the userlog, all of which will grow as
          the game progresses.

        - a BBS that supports DOS drops for doors and can generate
          DORINFO1.DEF, DOOR.SYS, CALLINFO.BBS or PCBOARD.SYS.  This
          pretty well covers almost every BBS available, but if
          your BBS software doesn't generate one of these, you should be
          able to find a door info convertor program which will convert
          your BBS's door info file into DORINFO1.DEF or one of the
          other formats.  Look for such a program on any BBS which is
          well-stocked with shareware programs.

        - a PC and modem, and an open mind. ;-)



        Rancho Nevada should be run from its own directory, i.e. you
        should give Rancho a directory of its own and have your system
        log to that directory each time the door is called.  This keeps
        all of Rancho's files together, and Rancho expects to find them
        in the currently logged directory.

        The easiest way to run Rancho Nevada is by a shell to DOS from
        the BBS.  Most modern BBS packages support this, including
        Maximus and the entire line of QuickBBS clones.  We shall use
        Maximus as an example throughout this manual, but the concepts
        are valid for other BBS software as well - consult your BBS's
        documentation!









                                     - 20 -


        In Maximus, you would first write a DORINFO1.DEF file to
        Rancho's directory by running a MECCA file which does this.
        Maximus comes with a sample file called DORINFO.MEC.  Make a
        copy of this, and edit it so that it writes the DORINFO1.DEF
        file to your Rancho directory.  At the end of the file, use an
        [Xtern_Dos] command to call a batch file (also in your Rancho
        directory).  An example of the last line in your MECCA file
        would be like this:

        [xtern_dos]c:\doors\rancho\remote.bat

        This would cause Maximus to shell out to DOS and execute
        REMOTE.BAT in your Rancho directory.  Now you want to compile
        the MECCA file and make sure you have a menu which calls it so
        the game can be accessed.

        One step remains.  You now have to create a REMOTE.BAT file.
        This is an example (your batch file could be different; use what
        works for you)...

                c:
                cd\doors\rancho
                rancho -p -r
                del dorinfo1.def
                cd\max

        So, what does this batch file do?  Well, first it makes sure you
        are logged to the right drive, then it logs you to the Rancho
        directory.  Then, since Maximus has already written the
        DORINFO1.DEF file, you only need to call Rancho.  The parameters
        shown affect the gameplay and will be explained in section 5
        "Command Line Switches."  After that, we delete the DORINFO1.DEF
        file so that you can log into the game locally after the user is
        done without having to remember to delete the door info file.
        Without DORINFO1.DEF, Rancho assumes local mode... After that,
        log back to the Maximus directory, and you're finished.  Maximus
        will return at the end of the batch file.  Too easy.


        WHAT TO DO IF YOU CAN'T SHELL:

        There is the possibility that Rancho Nevada will crash, exit
        with an errorlevel, or just plain refuse to run when you shell
        to it.  This is almost always because of insufficient free
        memory.  There are a few remedies, and we will explore them
        here.

        - Try removing some TSRs or device drivers, or loading them into
          high memory.  Of course this is not always preferable or
          possible, but some people find that when they critically
          examine their TSRs and device drivers, they sometimes find
          programs that they no longer use, and are just taking up
          space.  So, try a little "spring cleaning" and see if that
          frees up enough memory for Rancho to run.



                                     - 21 -


        - If you're running QEMM, try running the OPTIMIZE program.
          You'd be surprised what could be loaded into high memory,
          saving precious base memory.

        - If you're using DesqView, try making your task memory larger.
          In conjunction with QEMM Optimize and a little "spring
          cleaning" you may get results that let you run the game.

        - Your BBS may have a configuration option to specify that you
          want the BBS to swap itself to disk or EMS, freeing up RAM,
          before executing the shell.  If your BBS has such an option,
          make sure it is enabled.

        - If your machine has less than 640k, you might need to buy more
          memory.

        - If none of these work, you probably just don't have enough
          memory to use a shell type DOS drop with Rancho.  As mentioned
          above, you need about 384k minimum free to run Rancho.  Many
          BBSes leave their entire code in memory during shells, which
          doesn't leave much memory for Rancho, especially in the
          reduced window size of a DesqView task.

          The solution to this problem is an Errorlevel type DOS drop.
          Maximus supports this kind of drop, as do some other BBSes.
          It is considerably trickier than a shell drop, but it has the
          advantage that the entire BBS code is removed and its memory
          space is freed up for Rancho to use.  If you are already using
          Errorlevel type drops with other doors then setting up Rancho
          to work this way will be almost as easy for you as a shell.
          However, if you have never tried using errorlevel drops, you
          are in for some tricky batch file writing, and you should
          consult a DOS guru (i.e. someone who has installed a door
          using errorlevel drops for your BBS software) for help.
          Batchfiles which process errorlevels are beyond the scope of
          this manual.





















                                     - 22 -


                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 5   ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί      Command Line Switches      Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        Rancho Nevada can be set to do certain things by specifying a
        parameter on the command line.  You can mix most of these
        switches with each other to tailor the game's general behavior
        to your desires.  Here are the available switches and their
        functions:

                -E : This invokes the user editor instead of the game.
                     When you are done using the user editor with this
                     parameter, Rancho brings you back to DOS.  Note
                     that, for security reasons, the User Editor is ONLY
                     available locally.  If you specify -E, Rancho will
                     ignore any DORINFO1.DEF that may be present, and
                     will accept input and generate output to the local
                     console only.

                -L : This switch should be used when you have a
                     high-speed modem and your FOSSIL's baud rate is
                     locked.  If you find your users are getting a lot
                     of garbage instead of Rancho, then you should use
                     this parameter.

                -M : Compiles the "maze" file MAZE.CTL into a form
                     readable by the game.  You have to run RANCHO.EXE
                     with the -M parameter every time you make changes
                     to the "maze" or game layout.  When the maze is
                     compiled, the program exits.  Usually this only
                     needs to be run before the first time Rancho is
                     called.  You can also compile a maze file by
                     erasing the compiled RANCHO.MAZ file.

                -P : "Pays" the "employees."  Normally "employees" are
                     given an allowance every night.  If you find that
                     most players are not making any money from
                     employees, then you should run the game with this
                     parameter so they they are paid every time the game
                     is invoked by a user.  There is a parameter in
                     RANCHO.CFG (see section elsewhere) that defines how
                     much employees are paid.

                -R : Normally players must "recover" until the next day
                     when someone else has successfully seduced them.
                     This switch forces the game to "recover" all
                     players immediately.

                -A : "Ambulates" the "employees".  Basically this switch
                     causes the game to move the employees (without
                     paying or advancing them).  This feature is FAR
                     faster than the same one on a comparable adult
                     "fantasy" game I could mention.


                                     - 23 -


                -* : This will cause RN to reset the game, without
                     deleting the employees.  This should be used if you
                     want to re-start a stagnant game, or if a player
                     has been (somehow) cheating.

                -F : This causes RN to use a different filename for
                     DORINFOx.DEF type door info files.  Without this
                     switch, RN will always assume node 1, and thus will
                     look for DORINFO1.DEF.  Using this switch, you can
                     specify a different node.  For example, -F2 causes
                     RN to look for DORINFO2.DEF instead of
                     DORINFO1.DEF.  For really big multiline BBSes
                     <grin> RN will assume that node numbers of two or
                     more digits will eat into the "DORINFO" filename,
                     for example -F69 would cause RN to look for
                     DORINF69.DEF.  -F1993 would cause RN to look for
                     DORI1993.DEF.  The parameter selected by -F can be
                     from 0 to 65535, and if -F is used "bare" it means
                     node 0 (DORINFO0.DEF).

                -B : This causes RN to look for a DOOR.SYS file (used by
                     some versions of WildCat!, GAP, and other BBSes I
                     am probably unaware of) instead of DORINFOx.DEF.

                -C : This causes RN to look for a PCBOARD.SYS file (used
                     by PC-Board) instead of DORINFOx.DEF.  I am not
                     entirely "hip" to the PC-Board door convention, but
                     I believe this should work; it needs the 128-byte
                     version of PCBOARD.SYS (or higher as it seems
                     PCBOARD.SYS's evolution has been to simply grow on
                     the end of the structure).  Let me know if you
                     experience problems with RN under PC-Board...

                -I : This causes RN to look for a CALLINFO.BBS file
                     (used by some versions of WildCat! and other BBSes
                     I am probably unaware of) instead of DORINFOx.DEF.

                -D : This specifies an alternate path for the door drop
                     file.  Example: RANCHO.EXE -Dc:\pcboard\


















                                     - 24 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 6   ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί          Running Rancho         Ί
                     Ί       A SysOp Perspective       Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        Once set up and running, Rancho Nevada is one of the easiest
        online games to maintain and control.  You are (by default)
        presented with a 4-line "Super SysOp Bar" (the SSB) which
        displays most of the current player's game stats.  The SSB is
        even present in local mode so that you (and your guests playing
        at the BBS console) can quickly refer to your statistics for
        tactical information.

        Some SysOps may find the SSB a little imposing and distracting,
        so a hotkey has been provided which allows the sysop to turn off
        the SSB, leaving only the title bar at the bottom of the screen.
        Just hit F1 to lose the SSB and then again to get it back.

        There are several other features available to the sysop at any
        time a user is playing.  You can "Chat" with a user in realtime
        just like on the BBS (with different text colours for sysop and
        user, and automatic word wrapping).  You can also "Dump" a user
        who is abusing the game or who otherwise should be turfed.  And,
        of course, you can invoke the user editor and actually edit the
        user online (or any other user while you're at it!).

        When you run Rancho without first having a DORINFO1.DEF file in
        the same directory (or a door info file in one of the other
        supported formats), Rancho assumes "local" mode and ignores the
        modem, dealing only with the local screen and keyboard.  Local
        mode is as fast as any other local application you might run.

        Because Rancho does not have DORINFO1.DEF information in local
        mode, it prompts you for a username.  This should be your name
        as it appears on the BBS.  From there, Rancho will behave as if
        it were called in normal, remote mode, except without modem I/O.
        This includes, incidentally, asking you the new-player questions
        if you have not added yourself to the userlog yet.

        For your convenience, Rancho ignores the string "NLN" which is
        generated by Maximus and some other BBSes when writing a
        username to DORINFO1.DEF which has no last name.  Rancho does
        not require a last name, and automatically strips NLN if it
        occurs as a word in the name.  As I said in the docs for
        PagePlay, NLN is pretty ugly and well worth stripping/ignoring.












                                     - 25 -

        Without further ado, here are the four "hotkeys" available in
        the game (all of these, incidentally, can be used in local mode,
        although some -- like chat -- have very little utility without a
        remote user involved....).

                Alt-C : This invokes the Chat Mode.  Your typing (SysOp
                        end) appears in yellow, and the user's appears
                        in cyan.  Rancho attempts (it cannot predict all
                        possible cases) to word-wrap at the 75th column
                        during chat.  When you are finished chat, the
                        ESC key will get you out (a reminder of this
                        fact is displayed when you enter chat).

                Alt-D : "Dump" user.  This will eject the user back to
                        the BBS, saving his/her account stats as if s/he
                        had quit for the round.  This should be used
                        with discretion as it could be very annoying to
                        users

                Alt-E : "Edit" user.  This tells the user that the sysop
                        is "working" and then invokes the User Editor
                        in local mode.  The user record displayed will
                        be that of the user who is online at the
                        moment, but all User Editor commands are
                        available and that allows you to edit, add,
                        and delete any player.  The only restriction is
                        that you cannot delete the player who is
                        online, as his/her account would only be
                        re-created when s/he exited the game.

                        See section 10, "Using the User Editor" for a
                        complete description of the User Editor
                        functions.

                F1    : This key toggles the "Super SysOp Bar" (SSB) on
                        and off.  When on, 5 lines are dedicated to
                        sysop information: 4 for the SSB and one for the
                        title bar at the bottom of the screen.  When
                        off, the game displays text as is does to the
                        user, with 24 lines and the title bar.


















                                     - 26 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 7   ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί   Embedded Commands Reference   Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        Rancho Nevada 5.00 has only a few embedded commands.  The
        embedded commands are special codes embedded in the ASCII and
        ANSI files which Rancho Nevada displays, including the
        STORY??.DAT files.  They are made up of a ~ (tilde) character
        and a command letter, e.g. ~N . There will likely be many more
        commands in future versions, but the existing features of the
        game require only these...

        ~Y --- Name.  This changes the text colour to yellow and
               displays the name of the other player in sexual melee.
               If the player has not yet started an encounter, this
               could display unpredictable stuff, so it is recommended
               to only be used in the STORY??.DAT files.

        ~X --- Level.  This displays the player's current level.

        ~W --- Champion.  This displays the name of "Last Game's
               Champion" (if any).  If this is the first game, then
               there was no previous champion and this just returns
               "Nobody".

        ~Z --- Pause.  This highly generic command simply presents a
               "Hit Any Key" prompt to the user.

        The following commands are "special effects:"

        ~( -- Begin a gray ANSI 3-D box.
        ~) -- End a gray ANSI 3-D box.
        ~{ -- Begin a blue ANSI 3-D box.
        ~} -- End a blue ANSI 3-D box.
        ~< -- Begin a red ANSI 3-D box.
        ~> -- End a red ANSI 3-D box.
        ~ώ -- Displays the coloured ώώώ] prompt.  ώ is character 254.



















                                     - 27 -

        The following commands are only effective when ANSI is enabled,
        otherwise they are ignored and not displayed:

        ~1 -- Clear the screen
        ~2 -- Clear to the end of the line
        ~6 -- Turn on blinking characters
        ~7 -- Clear all text attributes to plain gray
        ~A -- Change colour to black foreground
        ~B -- Change colour to red foreground
        ~C -- Change colour to green foreground
        ~D -- Change colour to brown foreground
        ~E -- Change colour to blue foreground
        ~F -- Change colour to magenta foreground
        ~G -- Change colour to cyan foreground
        ~H -- Change colour to light grey foreground
        ~I -- Change colour to dark grey foreground
        ~J -- Change colour to light red foreground
        ~K -- Change colour to light green foreground
        ~L -- Change colour to yellow foreground
        ~M -- Change colour to light blue foreground
        ~N -- Change colour to light magenta foreground
        ~O -- Change colour to light cyan foreground
        ~P -- Change colour to white foreground
        ~a -- Change colour to black background
        ~b -- Change colour to red background
        ~c -- Change colour to green background
        ~d -- Change colour to brown background
        ~e -- Change colour to blue background
        ~f -- Change colour to magenta background
        ~g -- Change colour to cyan background
        ~h -- Change colour to grey background
         


























                                     - 28 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 8   ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί     The "Maze" and MAZE.CTL     Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        One of the most striking features of Rancho Nevada is the fact
        that it is set out like a text adventure game, and even more
        striking is the fact that you, as sysop, can freely edit the
        topographical definition of that adventure -- the "Maze" for
        short -- as you wish (within the game's limitations).  Basically
        there can be up to 800 "rooms" or areas.  You set up links from
        room to room to room by specifying which directions take you to
        which room.  You can also place special facilities like the
        bars, AV terminals, etcetera in these rooms (max 1 per room).

        The maze in Rancho is basically defined by a text file called
        MAZE.CTL.  This text file is structured with commands defining
        all the rooms in your maze.  It must be compiled into
        machine-readable form (for greater speed) before it can be used.

        Although it can probably be better grasped by studying the
        layout of the MAZE.CTL file included in the distribution
        archive, here is a sample of a typical room record in MAZE.CTL:

        room 2
                desc    in a magnificent hotel lobby.
                special 7
                south   1
                north   5
                east    3
                west    4
        end

        First off the tabs are optional.  White space is basically
        ignored.  Not only that, but only the first two characters of
        each command are significant; you can abbreviate down to two
        characters.  Now, our room here begins with the "room" command,
        which tells Rancho's Maze Compiler to create a new room record.
        This will be room #2 (and will be displayed as such to users) so
        we specify that on the same line.

        Next we have several commands (which can, incidentally, be in
        any order) followed by an "end" command.

        "Desc" (or "Description") basically is just the descriptive
        string shown to users when they enter the room.  In the above
        example, the user will see: "You're in a magnificent hotel
        lobby."  The game always prepends the word "You're" before the
        description, so your description should be in a "you-are-here"
        style.







                                     - 29 -

        "Special" is the special facility found in that room.  It is
        specified by a number from 1 to 8, and here are the meanings of
        those numbers:

               1 -- Virginkillers Row
               2 -- Sex Shoppe
               3 -- Bar -- Drinking Contests
               4 -- Pay Phone
               5 -- Computer Terminal
               6 -- Audiovisual Station
               7 -- Bank Machine
               8 -- Jacuzzi
               9 -- Slot Machine

        NOTE: As of version 3.0, you can actually type the name of the
        special facility in the SPecial command.  These too are only
        counted to two characters (capitalised below).  They are:

             VKr -- Virginkillers Row (VKR!!!)
             HOf -- Hall of Fun, this is the same as VKr
            SHop -- Sex Shoppe
             BAr -- Bar
           PHone -- Pay Phone
            TErm -- Computer Terminal
              AV -- Audiovisual Station
             ATm -- Bank Machine
         JAcuzzi -- Jacuzzi
           SLots -- Slot Machine


        See the gameplay overview in section 2 ("Playing Rancho Nevada")
        for a full rundown on the functions of each of these items.

        The others, "North", "South", "East", and "West" specify the
        valid directions the user can go and the room number these
        directions will take him/her to.  If a direction is not
        specified, the user cannot go that way.  Valid directions are
        "Up", "Down", "North", "South", "West", and "East".  You must
        specify a valid room number or your players will get stuck in
        nonexistent rooms!  Similarly, unless you plan to have the game
        won by those with the most Teleporters, you should make sure
        every room has an exit.  Care must be taken to make sure that
        rooms are properly double-linked (i.e. if room 3 has a north
        exit to room 5, room 5 should have a south exit to room 3) in
        order to prevent player confusion.

        There are three "properties" which can be assigned to rooms (in
        any combination):

        FREE - "Free" rooms will not deduct a move when you exit them.

        DARK - "Dark" rooms are too dark to see people and special
                facilities.

        SAFE - "Safe" rooms prohibit sexual activity.



                                     - 30 -


        See chapter 2 ("Playing Rancho Nevada"), for more in-depth
        descriptions of these properties and their implications.

        The maze files that come with Rancho have been exhaustively
        tested to be properly linked.

        Every room's definition must end with an "end" command.

        Once you have made your changes to MAZE.CTL, you have to compile
        the maze into RANCHO.MAZ by using the Maze File Compiler.  This
        is accomplished by simply running Rancho with the -M parameter,
        e.g. RANCHO -M.













































                                     - 31 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 9   ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί       Configuring the Game      Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        Rancho is easily configured text-file style using the text
        config file RANCHO.CFG.  Unlike the maze file, this compiles so
        quickly that it can be done each time Rancho is invoked, so
        there is no need (nor way) to compile this, just edit it and
        play.

        NOTE: You can also use the RNCONFIG.EXE program which provides a
        more sysop-friendly interface to the config file.  It actually
        outputs to the text RANCHO.CFG file so you can edit a config file
        created by RNCONFIG.

        There are many configuration options, most of which tailor the
        way the game behaves so that you can control the pace and
        difficulty of the game, depending on your users' tastes.  They
        are commented verbosely for your convenience in the file itself
        as found in the distribution archive, and we will expound on
        each of them here in detail.  For each command we will, by
        example, show the default as RN is shipped.


        Plays           3

        The Plays option defines how many times a player can enter
        Rancho in one 24-hour period (which terminates at midnight).
        This is also referred to as the number of _rounds_ a player gets
        in a day.  Default is 3.


        Moves           80

        The Moves option defines how many moves a player gets in each
        round.  Each time a player moves to another room, a move is
        decremented.  The VKR can also be configured to subtract moves;
        see page 25.


        AVTerm          4

        The AVTerm option defines the maximum number of times in each
        round a player can use the AudioVisual terminals.  This is a
        maximum; the player might not be able to afford to use the AV
        Terms a maximal number of times per round.


        Drink           3

        The Drink option sets the maximum number of times per round a
        player can enter the drinking contests.  By default, Rancho is
        set so that if this option is 3 (drinking contents per round), a
        player who wins all three contests in a round will win just not
        quite enough cash for one trip to the AV Terminals.

                                     - 32 -


        Diff            5

        The Diff option is a sort of mercy feature for weaker players.
        It defines the maximum number of levels below a player's own
        level that a player can initiate a sexual melee with.  When set
        to 5 (the default), a level 13 player can only try to start an
        encounter with players of level 8 or higher.



        Pay             300

        The Pay option defines how much employees are paid each time.
        It is expressed as a percentage of default, but since this was
        coded, it was found that the original 100 default was not
        sufficient, so Rancho now defaults to 300 percent employee pay.
        You may even want to set this higher if you are finding that
        your players are all generally destitute.


        XP              200

        The XP option defines the number of experience points (on
        average) to award to employees each day.  This defaults to 200
        percent, but a higher setting will allow the game to develop and
        advance the employees at a faster rate, for a more advanced
        game.


        ClimbPay        200

        ClimbPay defines how much money (on average) is given to players
        when they climb a level.  The higher you set this, the more
        players will be paid for advancing in the game.  This is a
        percentage like the above two options.


        MinusHP         100

        MinusHP defines the effectiveness of sex toys against opponents.
        The higher this is, the more resistance sex toys are able to
        remove from players.  Increasing this will have the effect of
        speeding the game up as more players will succeed in encounters
        and win experience.


        LoserXP

        This keyword is now obsolete.  When a player loses an encounter,
        she also loses 10 percent of her experience.  This is hardcoded.







                                     - 33 -


        RobotReRoll     6

        The RobotReRoll option is the probability (in percent) that a
        given employee will be considered for re-rolling during nightly
        maintenance.  Every night, each employee is subjected to this
        possibility.  Those employees with the lowest Employee
        Advancement Factors (see EAF, section 10, "Using the User
        Editor") are most likely to actually be re-rolled.


        Corner          30

        Corner is a probability, in percent, that a fleeing player or
        employee will be "cornered" when you enter the room.  In this
        example, this probability is 30 percent, meaning that the other
        70 percent of the time, a fleeing player will make it away.  Set
        this higher or lower depending how much you want to annoy your
        upper level players.


        Escape

        The Escape keyword is now obsolete because you can now escape the
        VKR after any room.



        SpecialToy

        SpecialToy is now obsolete.  The "Special" toy is now found randomly
        and rarely by players above level 90.




        SpecialDefense

        SpecialDefense is now obsolete.   The "Special" defensive item
        is now found rarely and randomly by players above level 90.
        Don't flame me for the special defensive item names; this IS a
        fantasy game.  The "accursed chastity belt of demonkind" will
        remove all of an attacker's libido...  assuming you either get
        the first move or survive his/her first move!


        VKRMoves        No

        VKRMoves is a simple yes/no option.  When Yes, players are
        decremented one move for each room in the VirginKillers Row.
        When no, VKR moves are free.







                                     - 34 -


        MaxJacuzzi      3

        MaxJacuzzi is simply the number of times per round a player can
        normally use the Jacuzzis.  The Jacuzzi usage counter is zeroed
        when a player emerges from the VKR, so a player can effectively
        double his/her Jacuzzi visits! (This is NOT a bug!)


        JacuzziLuck     50

        JacuzziLuck is a probability, in percent, that using the Jacuzzi
        will give any benefits at all.  See section 2 for details on
        Jacuzzi benefits.


        Start           1

        Start is simply the room number to start new players in.  It
        defaults to 1, but can be set to any valid room in the maze.


        WinLevel

        The WINLEVEL configuration keyword is now obsolete.  The object of
        the game is no longer simply to reach a level; now you have a
        "Boss" to beat at the end of the VKR/HoF.  The "Bosses" are level
        100 characters and generally are unbeatable by anyone lower than
        a few levels below, so it is still necessary to elevate one's
        level and stats in order to win.








        LocalColour     yes

        LocalColour is a simple yes/no option.  When no, Rancho will
        display no colours on the sysop end, making it more readable for
        sysops with monochrome monitors.  Otherwise, the SSB is white on
        blue and game text is seen in full colour.


        Timeout         4

        Timeout is the number of minutes with no keyboard input before
        the game exits with a "User Suffered Cardiac Arrest" error.
        Four minutes is plenty, in my political opinion...







                                     - 35 -

        DVSlice         No

        DVSlice enables or disables Desqview timeslicing.  If Yes,
        Rancho will give up timeslices copiously during input waits.
        This might slow Rancho down quite a bit, so only use it if your
        entire system seems to be bogged down when Rancho is running. If
        No, or if DesqView is not running, this has no effect.


        NoVKR

        This was a temporary fix installed for version 2.6 of Rancho
        Nevada, and is now obsolete.





        ;ANSI ask
        ;ANSI detect
        ANSI doorinfo

        The ANSI mode allows you to control how ANSI is detected and
        used in the game.  Not every BBS can properly pass whether or
        not to use ANSI to Rancho, so Rancho allows you to handle it in
        one of three ways.  The default way is to attempt to read it
        from the door info file and set ANSI accordingly.  If this
        fails, you should try the AUTO method, where the game will send
        an ANSI DSR and attempt to automatically detect an ANSI
        compliant terminal on the other end.  If even this does not
        work, your final resort is to use the ASK method, where the game
        will simply ask the user if s/he wants ANSI each time.
        Practical experimentation has shown that Galacticomm MajorBBS
        sysops may have to use "detect" or "ask"...

        All three options are shown here, but exactly (and only) one
        should be "un-commented".


        VKRKEY

        By default, VKRKEY is ON.  This feature requires users to first
        find a key to the VKR/Hall of Fun.  There are four VKR keys hidden
        throughout the Rancho Nevada and their location changes each time
        the player enters the game.  The player must seek out one of these
        keys in order to be able to enter the VKR.  If you comment this
        out, the game works like in older versions and lets the user in
        once per round with or without a key.










                                     - 36 -


        COMM PORT DEFINITIONS

        Rancho Nevada supports the FOSSIL driver but can be run without it.
        If you are not using a FOSSIL and have a comport which is anything
        other than standard COM1 or COM2, you need to pay attention to the
        PORT keyword.

        You can define ports 1 thru 100.  The first parameter after PORT is
        the com port number (one-based!), followed by the hexadecimal port
        address, followed in turn by the IRQ.  The defaults are given here.
        I do not recommend using COM5 and up with these defaults, and you
        should check the hardware settings for COM3 and COM4 carefully
        before you use this table as-is.

        Here are some examples:

        Port 1 03F8 4
        Port 2 02F8 3
        Port 3 03E8 4
        Port 4 02E8 3

        Uncomment this to if you want to force the use of the internal comm
        driver even if you have a FOSSIL

        ; NoFossil


        Effective with version 4.0, the game no longer hardcodes new
        employees as bisexual females with a first and last name.  You can
        now configure the sex, orientation, and whether or not to use a
        last name for employees, or you can randomize them.

        The following 3 keywords govern the random generation of Employees
        in the player editor.

        ;Robot Gender Male
        ;Robot Gender Female
        Robot Gender Both

        ;Robot Preference Straight
        ;Robot Preference Gay
        Robot Preference Bisexual
        ;Robot Preference Random

        ;Robot Lastname On
        Robot Lastname Off


        Rancho now lets you get rid of player accounts who aren't playing,
        freeing up their slots for users who are actually interested.  The
        default example below tells Rancho to delete players who have not
        played in 15 days.  Comment this out or set it to 0 to have Rancho
        never delete inactive players.

        Delete Inactive 15


                                     - 37 -


                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 10  ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί      Using the User Editor      Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        Rancho Nevada features an uncomplicated, straightforward user
        editor which can be invoked while a user is playing (by hitting
        ALT-E) or from the command line (by typing RANCHO -E).  When
        invoked from within the game, it presents a full editing profile
        for the user who is currently logged in, otherwise, it will
        start with the first record in the user file.

        In the top right corner of the Editor Screen, the editor identifies
        itself: Rancho Nevada User Editor 3.0.  This way there is no
        question, should you walk away and forget about it, that you're
        in the editor.

        In the top right corner, the record number of the current player
        is displayed, along with the total number of users (including
        employees) in the game.  The time and date of the last time the
        user played are shown on the next line.

        Following this, is a complete display of the user's game
        statistics.  Each field in the user record can be accessed by a
        number, which is indicated in a mini "3-D" box next to the field
        itself.  This is quite self-explanatory when you look at it.
        When you type one of these keys, you are usually prompted to
        enter new data for that field.  The exception to this is
        "Yes/No" type fields where hitting the key simply toggles the
        field without any prompting.

        Towards the bottom of the screen, below the user stats display,
        is a brief reminder of the general editor commands.  There are
        six basic commands (aside from the 26 which actually edit users)
        in the editor.

        They are:

       <--  -- (left arrow) This causes the PREVIOUS player record to be
               displayed.  If you were already on the first record, it
               will "roll back" to the last record.

       -->  -- (right arrow) This causes the NEXT player record to be
               displayed.  If you were already on the last record, it
               will "roll over" to the first record.

     Alt-S  -- Search for a user.  You are prompted for a name or partial
               name, which can be part of the Game name or BBS Name.








                                     - 38 -

       Ins  -- Add User.  This causes a default user record to be
               generated.  By default, it generates a bisexual female
               employee with a random female name in the "Game Name"
               field and "NO NAME" plus a serial number in the BBS Name
               field.  If you want the account to be accessible to a
               user, you must change the game name to exactly the same
               name that the user uses on the BBS.  If you want
               something other than a bi-female employee, you have to
               make those changes yourself.

               A quick and dirty way to generate a bunch of employees is
               to simply hit A plus Enter a couple dozen times, and then
               run a maintenance cycle.

       Del  -- Delete user.  Self-explanatory, really.  This command
               blanks out the currently displayed, freeing that record to
               be used by another user.  Use with caution.

       Esc  -- Quit.  This command is also self-explanatory.  If you
               called the editor while a user was playing, that user
               will be allowed to resume.  If that user was edited, the
               new stats apply immediately.  If you called the editor
               from DOS, the changes are saved and you are placed back
               at the DOS prompt.

        Here, in detail, are the editable fields (in no real order):

          1 -- BBS Name.  For players, this field should not be edited,
               because it is the way in which Rancho Nevada looks up
               players when they enter the game.  It is the name passed
               to Rancho by your BBS, less the string NLN (if
               applicable).

          2 -- Game Name.  Rancho allows users to have pseudonyms (other
               than those used on the BBS), so this field could be
               different from the BBS name.  This is the name that other
               players see during encounters and in lists et cetera.  It
               makes no difference to the price of tea in China if you
               change this one, but your players might become confused
               and annoyed if you do.

          3 -- Sex Toy.  This is the "offensive" object used in sex
               encounters.  They can be purchased at Annie's Sex Shoppe,
               stolen from other players, or won in the VKR.  It is
               specified by number (from which its name is generated).
               Do not set this to any number above 999 (except 2001) or
               you could cause a crash.  Sex Toy #9999 is the "Enchanted
               Aphrodisiac of the Ghods", and it can not be bought at
               Annie's shop.









                                     - 39 -

          4 -- Defensive Item.  In contrast to the Sex Toys above, this
               is a defensive item which reduces the penalty of libido
               when you are trying to seduce someone, or reduces a
               player's libido who is trying to seduce you.  Defensive
               Item #9999 is the "Accursed Chastity Belt of Demonkind"
               and can not be bought at Annie's shop.

          5 -- Plays Today.  If this is 0, the player has not yet
               played since midnight today.  If it is 65535, the user
               got VD while attempting a seduction.

          6 -- Total Plays.  This is the total number of times a player
               has been in the door.

          F -- Experience.  Every time you win an encounter (and,
               depending on configuration, even when you lose) you gain
               experience.  As your experience builds you achieve higher
               levels, for which you are given money and stats.

          G -- Level.  This, as explained above, is the level which is
               determined by your experience.   When this level reaches
               the "WinLevel" in the config file, the player wins.  An
               employee cannot win the game.

          7 -- Cash on hand.  This is the amount of money the player is
               carrying.  If the player loses an encounter, the player
               loses all this money (so better hit the bank before
               taking on a player 10 levels above!).  Only this money
               can be spent.

          8 -- Bank Balance.  This is the amount of money the player has
               in "the bank".  This money must be withdrawn in order to
               be spent but it is safe if the player loses an encounter.

          9 -- Condoms.  Players should keep stocked up on these.  When
               a player goes into an encounter, s/he has a 20% (1 in 5)
               chance of getting VD if s/he doesn't have a condom.  One
               condom is expended per encounter, and VKR encounters
               count!

          A -- Libido/Resistance.  These twin attributes are really the
               same amount.  When YOU are in an encounter, it is your
               libido which is taken off, and your opponent's
               resistance.  When another player takes you on in an
               encounter, the roles are reversed.  Think of it as a
               general hit-points register, if you're an adventurer or
               RPG gamer.

          B -- Maximum Libido/Resistance.  This is the amount of
               Libido/Resistance which you are assigned when you enter
               the game, or when (while you are not playing) another
               player goes after you.  This amount is increased when you
               climb levels.





                                     - 40 -

          L -- Co-ordination.  This determines you ability to use
               Special Items.  It is depleted as you use them, and
               replenished every time you re-enter the game, just like
               libido/resistance points.  The higher your level, the
               higher the co-ordination points consumption of special
               items.  More powerful items use more co-ordination.

          M -- Maximum co-ordination.  This is the amount of
               co-ordination which you are assigned when you enter the
               game.  This amount is increased when you climb levels.

          H -- Stamina.  This determines two things: the effectiveness
               of your Sex Toy and Defensive Item, and your drinking
               ability.  Higher is better.

          I -- Skill.  This also partly determines drinking ability, but
               its main purpose is to decide who gets the first "shot"
               in an encounter.  If a player's skill is much higher than
               his opponent's, the opponent will not stand a chance of
               being able to make any move at all!

          J -- Knowledge.  This has only one purpose: to determine how
               many Maximum L/R points to add when the player goes up a
               level.  The higher this amount, the more R/L the player
               will get.

          K -- Talent.  This has only one purpose: to determine how many
               Co-ordination points to add when the player goes up a
               level.  The higher this amount, the more co-ordination
               the player will get.

          C -- Drinking Wins.  This is the number of times the player
               has won in the drinking contests.  It is a factor in
               determining drinking ability.  Every time this amount
               reaches an even multiple of 20, the player is given 5
               additional Stamina, Skill, and Knowledge as a reward
               (this is commonly called the "plus fives").

          D -- Drinking Losses.  This is the number of times the player
               has lost in the drinking contests, and is a factor in
               determining drinking ability.  If it ever goes below
               Drinking Wins, it is a liability, and at that
               point the drinking stats should be reset from the Trade
               menu in the game.

         F4 -- Sex.  This can be male or female.  When you select this
               field, there is no prompt, the field just changes to its
               opposite.

         F5 -- Preference.  This can be straight, bi, or gay.  I
               personally know of one other orientation, but I was
               unable to find a plausible way to factor Celibacy into
               this game ;-)





                                     - 41 -

          E -- Room.  This is the room within the maze that the user is
               in at this time.  If you change it make sure the number
               you specify is a valid room of your player will be stuck!
               On the other hand, you can "incarcerate" an employee in
               an invalid room this way until the next maintenance
               update (or the next call with -A).

         F1 -- Employee.  This is a yes or no field, so hitting the key
               just toggles it.  If Yes, the player is an employee.  See
               section 11, "Employees and Maintenance", for an
               explanation of the differences between employees and
               normal players.

         F3 -- Recovering.  This is a yes or no field.  When Yes, the
               player cannot be seduced by anyone because s/he is
               "recovering from a prior encounter".  If you do not want
               players to be protected by the recovery feature, simply
               call Rancho with the -R switch in your batch file and all
               players will be recovered (i.e. this field will be set to
               No) every time.

          N -- EAF - Employee Advancement Factor.  This number is
               randomly generated when an account is created and
               determines how fast employees will develop.  It can be
               between 0 and 255, where 0 means dead-stop and 255 means
               grow like wildfire.

         F2 -- GVD - Given Veneral Disease.  This flag is set when a
               player uses a Special Item which causes Venereal Disease.
               If, when the victim player logs on, s/he has a Recovery
               Pill, s/he is given the option to take it, losing a round
               but saving the day.  If the pill is not taken or s/he has
               none, the player's calls for the day are set to 65535,
               signifying Venereal Disease and prohibiting the player
               from playing again until midnight.

         F6 -- Attack Mode.  This is the unattended behaviour mode,
               which can be from 0 to 6.  See section 2, "Playing Rancho
               Nevada", for a list and explanation of unattended
               behaviour modes.


















                                     - 42 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 11  ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί    Employees and Maintenance    Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        Rancho Nevada supports a special kind of player record.
        "Employees" are players which are automated by the game so that
        even when there are few real players the game can be quite
        playable.  Employees can also be used to even up the
        usually-lopsided sex ratio of BBSes, so that there are plenty of
        people for all preferences.

        When a player has been designated an "employee", that player is
        handled differently by the game in several respects.  Firstly,
        employees are moved to different rooms at maintenance time, or
        when Rancho is run with the -A parameter. Second, employees are
        paid an allowance at maintenance time or when Rancho is run with
        the -P parameter.  Third, employees are automatically given
        increases in stats and experience at each maintenance cycle.
        Fourth, emplyees never acquire special items and never use them
        (hence their Talent and co-ordination scores are not advanced
        with the other attributes).  Finally, employees cannot win the
        game and are not deleted when the game has been won.

        Maintenance is automatically run on the first call of the game
        in a calendar day.  The file RANCHO.MKR stores the last time the
        game was invoked, so you can actually force a maintenance cycle
        by deleting this file before you invoke the game.

        Employees are advanced -- awarded experience, stats, and money --
        at each maintenance cycle.  Like regular players, employees move
        up levels when they accumulate enough experience.  The amount of
        advancement given to each employee can be controlled with the
        Employee Advancement Factor (EAF) field in the user editor.
        When this is zero, the employee does not progress at all (unless
        it gets experience from a losing player).  The higher the EAF,
        the more powerful the employee gets and quicker.  An EAF of 255
        will generate an employee which will quickly become tough for
        all but the best Rancho Nevada players to beat.  If you're
        unhappy with the way employees are developing, you can change
        that with the EAF control, or with the employee controls in the
        config file.















                                     - 43 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 12  ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί          External Files         Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        RANCHO.KEY ------ This file is what you receive when you
                          register Rancho. It must be present in the Rancho
                          directory.  It causes the "Unregistered
                          Evaluation" message to be replaced with a message
                          stating that the door is registered and licenced.

        AV-KN.ASC \       These four files are the "mini-stories" which
        AV-SK.ASC  |_____ are displayed when a player uses an AV Terminal.
        AV-ST.ASC  |      In order shown, they apply to Knowledge, Skill,
        AV-TA.ASC /       Stamina and Talent.  The game colours them;
                          they are stored as vanilla ASCII (but can be
                          coloured with the use of embedded colour
                          tokens).

        BEHAVIOR.ANS \___ These are the ANSi and ASCII helpfiles which
        BEHAVIOR.ASC /    explain the different unattended behaviour
                          modes to players.

        BIRDBEE2.ANS \___ These are the ANSi and ASCII helpfiles which
        BIRDBEE2.ASC /    are displayed when a user hits ? when the game
                          asks the user to enter his/her sexual
                          preference.

        BIRDBEES.ANS \___ These are the ANSi and ASCII helpfiles which
        BIRDBEES.ASC /    are displayed when a user hits ? when the game
                          asks the user to enter his/her gender.

        BOYSNAME.LST \    These are lists of male first names, female
        GIRLNAME.LST  >-- first names, and family names.  There are over
        LASTNAME.LST /    600 of each gender in the first name files and
                          1200 family names with a wide ethnic mix, from
                          which some 1440000 unique names can be
                          synthesized.  These names are used in the VKR
                          and when new employees are generated.

        CHERI.DAT ------- This is the raw data file used by the Cheri
                          Chat routine.  The format has not been
                          explicitly given to me by Allen Walker, but I
                          am sure that any reasonably intelligent
                          sysop could figure out how to add or modify
                          the Cheri Chat text without _crashing the
                          game_.  Hint hint.

        DEFENSE.LST \____ These are the Sex Toys and Defensive Items
        SEXTOYS.LST /     available in the game.  You can have to to 255
                          unique toys and defenses, after which Rancho
                          starts arbitrarily synthesizing them from the
                          last one.




                                     - 44 -

        INSTRUCT.ASC ---- This is the general help file.  It uses
                          embedded colour commands instead of ANSI, so
                          that the same file can be used for both ANSI
                          and non-ANSI players.

        MAINHELP.ANS \___ These are the main menu command lists in
        MAINHELP.ASC /    both ASCII and ANSi.

        MAZE.CTL -------- This is a most important file.  It contains
                          the topographical definition of your Rancho
                          Nevada landscape.  See section 8, "The Maze
                          and MAZE.CTL" for a full explanation.

        RANCHO.MAZ ------ This file is the "compiled" version of
                          MAZE.CTL.  It is generated by running
                          RANCHO -M.  Each time you make changes to
                          MAZE.CTL you must compile that file into
                          RANCHO.MAZ with the -M switch.

        NEWUSER.ANS \____ These ANSi and ASCII files welcome new users
        NEWUSER.ASC /     to the game and give them their only warning
                          that they are about to enter into a rather
                          raunchy door...

        PAYPHONE.ASC \___ These ASCII and ANSi helpfiles list the available
        PAYPHONE.ANS /    options at the Pay Phones.

        RANCHO.CFG ------ This is the general configuration file.  See
                          section 9, "Configuring the Game", for all the
                          details about this file.

        RANCHO.DOC ------ The doc file for cheapo's who don't register
                          the game.  You no longer need RANCHO.DOC
                          because ZEN.DOC has much more information...

        RANCHO.EXE \_____ These are your basic executable and overlay
        RANCHO.OVR /      files.  Don't mess with them and Rancho will
                          continue to run smoothly and the Earth will
                          continue to rotate in its orbit.

        RANCHO.MKR ------ This binary file contains the time (in Julian
                          seconds) that the game was last played, in
                          order to determine whether to start a
                          maintenance cycle.  Force a maintenance cycle
                          by deleting this file, and another will be
                          generated.

        RANCHO.TOP ------ This file is generated by Rancho when someone
                          wins the game.  It simply contains the name of
                          the winner of the last game.

        RANCHO.SCB ------ This is the data file used by the "Chat Line"
                          off of the payphones.  It contains the text of
                          all the messages in the chatline.




                                     - 45 -

        RANCHO.EVT ------ This file contains all of the information you
                          see when you enter the game, when it tells you
                          what happened to you while you were gone.

        RANCHO.MSG ------ This file contains all of the private messages
                          (VoxMail messages) in the game.  Unlike other
                          games, messages between users in Rancho occupy
                          the same single file, for optimum disk use!

        RANCHO.USR ------ This is the main user/player database file.
                          It is modified by the user editor and
                          frequently by the game itself.

        RNGAME.TXL ------ The Rancho Nevada Language File.  Edit this with
                          a text editor capable of outputting flat ASCII,
                          and then type RCL RNGAME to make your changes
                          apply to the game.

        SEXHELP.ANS \____ These are the ASCII and ANSi helpfiles displayed
        SEXHELP.ASC /     when the user hits ? in the midst of making a
                          pass at someone else.

        SEXSHOP.ANS \____ These ASCII and ANSi helpfiles are displayed
        SEXSHOP.ASC /     when the user hits ? at the Sex Shoppe menu.

        SPECITEM.ASC ---- This file replaces SPECITEM.ANS and .ASC from
                          earlier versions of the game, using embedded
                          colour tokens.  It is the helpfile displayed
                          when the user is purchasing special items in
                          the sex shoppe.

        STARTDAY.DAT ---- This contains headers for the log file which are
                          randomly chosen once per day.

        STORYFF.DAT \     These files are the stories which are
        STORYFM.DAT   \__ displayed when a user successfully seduces
        STORYMF.DAT   /   another.  Each story is delimited from the
        STORYMM.DAT /     others by a ### alone on a line.  Embedded
                          commands are available (and recommended).
                          Stories are selected at random from the
                          appropriate (the genders of both players are
                          the only consideration) data file. STORYFF.DAT
                          applies when the encounter is between two
                          females.  STORYMF applies when a male seduces
                          a female.  STORYFM applies when a female
                          seduces a male.  STORYMM applies when both
                          players are male.  There's no real limit to
                          the number or size of stories in these files
                          but I'd suggest keeping them brief for your
                          users' convenience.

        WELCOME.ANS \____ These ASCII and ANSi files are displayed when
        WELCOME.ASC /     the player first enters the game, and are a
                          general welcome screen.

        YOUWIN.ANS \_____ These files rather colourfully explain to a
        YOUWIN.ASC /      user that s/he has just won the game.

                                     - 46 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 13  ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί                                 Ί
                     Ί         Acknowledgements        Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        Although Rancho is 100% original code, there are many sources of
        influence which have helped shape the final form of this game.

        Firstly, the gameplay mechanics are strikingly similar to those
        of The Proving Grounds.  This is no accident as the author used
        to play PG _incessantly_ when there were still Apple ][ systems
        to run it on.

        Secondly, much of the code for Cheri Chat was written by Allen
        Walker, and donated for exclusive use in this game.  This is
        part of an exchange agreement which we have; his doors have my
        comm/ANSi routines and chatmode.

        Thirdly, the stories included with Rancho Nevada were culled
        from the huge text file library on Tommy's Holiday Camp BBS, and
        converted to the first-person perspective and present tense (and
        in some cases, gender-reversed) by the author.  It is impossible
        to individually acknowledge the individual authors' works as
        most of them were anonymous.  Those who weren't would probably
        not want to be named here anyhow. ;-)

        Fourthly, the author acknowledges Martin Sikes' "Scribbles"
        feature of Blue Board (for the C-64) after which the "Chatline"
        feature of Rancho is modeled.

        Finally, the author wishes to thank Allen Walker and all
        the adult users of Tommy's Holiday Camp BBS and Crazy
        Train II BBS who patiently playtested the game and
        helped identify the seemingly endless onslaught of bugs
        and quirks, all of which I think I have squashed.  I
        must have uploaded a hundred Rancho betas to Crazy Train
        before I was finally satisfied with the program.

        I could come up with a lot of anti-greets too, to people who've
        annoyed me with incessant and uselessly uninformative bug
        complaints; authors of other doors who think I'm ripping them off;
        politically correct persons who think sex in any form is demeaning;
        the guy who accused me of selling out when I decided to split
        Rancho into two versions; religious persons who think that sex
        except between married people with the man on top and the woman
        never experiencing pleasure is immoral; the entire beta team I
        fired three years ago; the users who've tried to crash THC, and many
        more.  A lot of people have opposed me and the Rancho Nevada
        project for reasons that are mainly selfish, but the product lives
        on and is better than ever thanks to the support of open minded,
        easy going sysops everywhere!  I could name all those people and
        tell them what I think of them, but that would only bring bad karma
        down on me, and I think that it will suffice that the journey of
        Rancho Nevada from an idea in my head to its current glory was a
        long and hard one for me.  I hope you think the result it worth
        it...

                                     - 47 -

                              ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ   Section 14  ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ»
                     Ί          Terms of your          Ί
                     Ί        Registered Licence       Ί
                     ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ

        By remitting your registration fee and completing the
        registration form, you become entitled to use Rancho Nevada
        (henceforth referred to as "the software") for an unlimited time
        period.

        With your licence, you may run Rancho Nevada on a commercial or
        pay-access basis so long as the node licence stipulation is compied
        with.  Because replacement key files are not available, the
        software is not transferable to any other party.  The software is
        warranted only to exist.  No other warranties, express nor implied,
        are given.  In no event shall Whirlwind Software's or Gerald T.
        Albion's liability for this software exceed the purchase price of
        the licence.  The licence is automatically terminated and revoked
        if the key is transferred to another person, BBS, or other entity
        without the permission of Whirlwind Software. nodes-per-licence
        stipulation is contravened by action or omission of the licence
        holder.  You may make one backup copy of RANCHO.KEY for archival
        purposes only, and may not transfer RANCHO.KEY to any other person
        without written authorization from Whirlwind Software.  These terms
        may be superseded or amended by special agreement. By installing
        and using RANCHO.KEY you indicate your acceptance of these terms.



        IF YOU HAVEN'T REGISTERED RANCHO NEVADA YET, PLEASE GIVE IT
        CONSIDERATION.

        IF YOU ALREADY HAVE REGISTERED RANCHO NEVADA, THANK YOU!

                                                
   ²Ϋ±²ΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫ²Ϋ²± ²ΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫ±  ²ΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫ    ²ΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫ² Ϋ
   ²²²±±°±±±±Ϋ°°°°°±°°²²±± ²°°²²°°°°°±  ²°°²²²°°°°±Ϋ  ±²ΫΫ²°°°°°°°°°°²²±
  ²²±±²    ΫΫΫ°°°    ²²²²±±  ²²²±±±        ²²²°°°    ²²²°°°°       °°°°±
  ²°°Ϋ     ΫΫΫ±±°      °°±±  ²²²±±±        ²²±±±±  ²²²²±°°           ±°±
           ²²²±±±            ±²²²²²        ²±²±±± ±²²²²±±±           Ϋ°°
           ±±±±±±            ²±²²ΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫ±±± ²±±±²±±
           ±±±±±²            ±±²°°°°°°°°°°°°°±±±² ±±±±²²²
           ±±±²²²            ±±²±±±        ±±±²±²  ±±°±²²²           ²²Ϋ
           ±°±²²²            ±±²±²±        ±±°±²²  °±°°±²²²         ΫΫ²±
           ²°°²²²            °°²²²²        °°°±²²    °±°²Ϋ²Ϋ²     ²ΫΫ²²±
        ²²ΫΫΫ²²ΫΫΫ±±       ²²ΫΫ²²ΫΫΫΫ±  ²²ΫΫΫ²ΫΫΫΫ±    °°°°ΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫ²°°±±
        ²°°°°°°°°°°±       °°°°°°°°°°±  ²°°°°°°°°°°       °°°°°°°°°°°±°°

  Tommy's Holiday Camp BBS   Victoria, B.C., Canada    35,OOO Text Files

   Latest versions of Rancho Nevada always online to play and download!

               (25O) 361-4549  (25O) 36O-O628  (25O) 38O-6467

                                 Call now!


                                     - 48 -
