WANDMASTER (XP version)  (c)2002  by Robert A. Kraus     E-mail:  bobkrauschicago@cs.com
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This game is (and always has been) FREEWARE.  [If anyone charged you for it you were ripped off!]

This is a 100%  menu-driven  text-adventure game using only the left-click mouse button (no keystrokes).

It was programmed to run under Windows 98 (second edition) and Windows XP.

It MUST be run with a screen resolution of 800 x 600 and High Color (16 bit) or HIGHER.
If run under a higher resolution the game will appear small.

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To play the game, go to your WANDMASTER  folder and double-click on WM.exe.
Or you could run it from the Start Run menu, browsing to find WM.exe.
(Better yet make a shortcut of WM.exe for your desktop.)
Be sure you carefully read the Help Screen.

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TROUBLESHOOTING: If you get error messages while trying to run the game, go to my website:
http://www.geocities.com/bob_kraus_2000/troubleshooting.html

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WANDMASTER takes place in a fantasy world of Wizards and Magic. You are an Apprentice Wizard (yes!) on a Quest (of course!) to recover an Artifact (what else?) which was stolen from the King (who else?) by (you guessed it!) an Evil Wizard. In the course of your adventure you encounter (guess what!) Elves, Giants, Goblins, Fairies, a Mad Dwarf, a mean Ogre,  a Dragon and many other characters and animals. You get to explore a Dungeon, a Forest, a Mine, many caves, and (of course) a Black Tower! You also get to use over a 100 different objects including over a dozen magic wands and amulets.  

Now in this game you do have to die many times in order to finish. [ Personally, I like that! If you don't go play something else!] If you do die, or at any other time, there is a Restore to the Last Location feature which acts as an undo function. There are also situations where you will do something that makes it impossible to finish (and you might not even know it!) However, this is compensated  by a Restore to a Safe Position feature which sends you to a previous position from which you can finish. Also, by just accessing this feature (without using it) you can tell how many moves back you will be sent. (However, sometimes you can also be sent back from a safe position, so you can't really be sure your current position is unsafe, only that any position you are sent back to is safe.) Of course the game also includes the standard Save and Load features.

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Comparing this game to my previous one, Stellar Agent, you will find that WandMaster does not contain any of those pure-logic  type of puzzles (unless you count a maze and a simple balance-scale game) --- I did not want to make another Stellar Agent. Also, since several critics complained that Stellar Agent was poorly written and had a skimpy story, I made a strong effort to produce better writing and a much better storyline. However you will easily recognize my personal style! 

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