Introduction


SagaJ is a classic single-user 2D role-playing game written in Java(TM).
 
Copyright (C) 1996-2001 Individual authors.
Graphics by David E. Gervais and Klaus Rennecke
Music sequenced by Ron Clarke and Margaret Greentree
Source code by Sandra and Klaus Rennecke
This software may be copied under the terms of the Artistic License
More info at http://sagaj.sourceforge.net
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System Requirements


Hardware

My old AMD K6/200 machine with 96 megs of RAM running Linux is quite sufficient to play the game. Works even with networked X Windows. Your mileage may vary of course.

Software

To run the software, you'll need a standard Java 1.3 runtime environment, you can get one at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/jre/ for some popular operating systems. Some might have it already pre-installed, MacOS X seems to have it according to http://developer.apple.com/java/.

Running

There are two script files included in the binary release, saga.sh and saga.bat, which may be able to launch the game on your platform. However, you can always start the program from the command line using:
 
java -jar saga.jar

from the directory where you extracted the distribution, if these scripts should fail for your system configuration.

The Game


 
Once the game is started, the character generation screen opens. Adjust things as you like, but leave the game controls at the right side alone since they are not yet live. Once satisfied with the character image and traits, press "Accept" and you are popped into the Town.


Open the equipment screen and equip all stuff that can be equipped. Otherwise you would be over-encumbered and under-equipped. You can open the equipment screen either by using the Show-Equip menu entry or pressing "i" on the keyboard. Equip items by double-clicking on the in the inventory or using the "Equip" button below the inventory.

 
Find a guild in town, it's the house with the elbow symbol on it. Knock on the door and request a quest by pressing the button with the scroll. There come some instructions with the quest description. Leave the town by pressing the Button with the foot in the center of the compass-like movement panel and follow the quest instructions.
 

Things to do in town

Shop
There are several kinds of shops in town to provide you with equipment you need to survive.

  First are the shops that sell armor and weapons.  The equipment you start out with in the beginning of the game is not the greatest, so you might think about spending the initial 100 gold to buy yourself something more suitable to the world.  I recommend buying the best sword you find (Gemstudded Longsword) and the best shield you can find (Round Shield).  You may need to do a bit of fishing to help pay for your purchases.

  If you don't find what you need at the armor/weapon shops try looking in the 'general store' type places.  These shops sell everything from food to magical potions that heal you when they are injured.  These shops also will buy items that you find on the corpses of your enemies or the fish that you catch.

Adventurer Guild
 
Adventurer Guild is a place to get Quests. You can improve your stats here by training.  Constitution, Strength, Dexterity and Agility are trained here to a max value of 5. Each training costs skill points and takes several weeks. You get skill points by solving quests.  Training shows increases <oldvalue >> newvalue> and costs <oldvalue> skillpoints.

Rest and get healed
  If you get tired of sleeping on the hard ground, you should visit one of the many hovels that are conveniently positioned in town to provide you with a peaceful nights rest.  Be warned, hovels are know to take advantage of tired travelers and may raise their prices above that of their neighbor!

  If you die or do not have enough healing mushrooms to survive, the temple will heal you for a price.

Earn some money
  If you are short on cash and need some fast, you might try your luck at the local water whole.  Some fish you land might be worth a pretty gold piece, but others might not be usable at all.

 

Things to do on the Islands

  Fight monsters!  Complete quests!  Gain skill points!

  Take a ride on the magic blue turtle and find yourself on another island to explore.

 


Have Fun!

 

Author: Paul Hatcher Last edited: 10/26/01

System Requirements and Running by Klaus Rennecke