ALTERNATE REALITY begins with the first of six scenarios in THE CITY. The editor does not know if the remaining five were ever made or released on the Amiga platform.

Your character, after escaping from the spaceship in which he was abducted from his home, will find himself facing the Floating Gate in the City Square. Your character will have three packets of food, three flasks of water and some money. Although food and water will always be of concern in this game, you need not worry about them at this time. Note that it may be possible to contract Scurvy if your character does not drink any fruit juice or have a single bit of fruit in a tavern (Curtesy of Chopper Commander). Your character does need a weapon.

Shops are to be found to the north and south of this position. To the west is a smithy, and one of the three banks is to the east. There is a tavern near the bank, and an inn is near the smithy. Turn to the west and enter the smithy's shop. Make an offer on a dagger of slightly under whatever your character was given at the start of the game. If the smithy will not accept this offer, try making an offer on a stiletto.

Once armed, you are prepared as a beginning character to take on THE CITY. THE CITY is primarily a game of mapping and building your character for the scenarios that were supposed to follow.

The map for THE CITY is 64 squares by 64 squares. Square 1,1 is in the southwestern corner. When locations are given, the number of squares north on the map will be given first, followed by the number of squares east. When the location of a place is given, the coordinates listed will be of the actual place. If you must enter from a specific direction, and it is not an obvious door, these directions will be listed after the coordinates.

Although the city square is reputed to be one of the safest parts of town, it is not the cheapest. You will need to find cheaper inns and taverns in order to survive the initial development of your character. In THE CITY, there are: seven inns, fourteen taverns, three banks, fifteen shops, four smithies, two healers, and twelve guilds.

Inns provide a safe place for your character to rest and regain hit points. Inns will also allow you to check the time.

Taverns supply food and water. Food packets and water flasks are never offered for sale at the same time.

Banks will allow you to deposit your money in three types of accounts with increasing risk. They will also purchase gems and jewels from your character.

Shops sell a wide variety of clothing which is of little importance in this first scenario, but which is needed in cold weather. Shops also sell compasses for five silver pieces.

Smithies sell armor and weapons. Prices vary, as with the shops, and few items are available cheaply.

There are two Healers. Healers can serve a variety of purposes, but are most useful for curing diseases.

There are 12 Guilds in THE CITY. In this first scenario your character may not join the guilds, but they still have their usefulnesses. Your first visit to a guild will improve one of your character's statistics or his chances of surviving. Guilds can also remove curses from weapons and armor. Prices for these services vary from guild to guild.

Potions can be helpful or harmful. The higher your wisdom and intelligence, the more easily you'll be able to identify the potions. Some potions such as Fleetness and Protection+1 and Protection+2 have a greater frequency of occurrence than do the others. What a potion will be is randomly decided by the program when you unseal the potion.

Here're some hints, which should help the intrepid adventurer.

Here's a letter, which the original author mystically received from the Alternate Reality, that just magiacally appeared on the save game disk. It contains many useful hints.