Game:				Rune
Mutator Name:			Balance
Version :                       v.0.5
Released:			December 26, 2000
Filename:			Balance.zip
Author:				Barnett Bairan
E-mail:				Commoner@Goplay.Com

Description:
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Rune is truly a great game. Unfortunately, most of the weapons and Rune Powers seem to be designed more for 
the SinglePlayer Campaign than for MultiPlayer Weapon Balance. 

The main purpose of this simple Mutator is to weaken Rune-Powers to make them more acceptable for use in Deathmatch 
and TeamDeathmatch games. The tweaks were also designed to significantly reduce the currently wide Power Gap 
between the different Rune Powers of different Weapons.

Currently, most experienced players of Rune tend to prefer playing with Runes disabled simply because they
are too upsetting to Game Balance and are powerful enough to encourage less skilled players to "Rune Whore"
rather than fight fairly. I find this unfortunate since I believe that the Rune Powers could add a great deal
to the game. I tried as much as possible to make the Rune Powers balanced enough so that they will only give
a very slight edge in battle against someone who is not using a Rune Power and yet still be worth gathering
when nobody is in the immediate vicinity to stab you in the back while picking it up.

For even further balance, minor tweaks were made to the weapons and shields in order to encourage more
varied fighting styles. Although some of the weapons are still clearly superior to others (for the sake of realism),
the weapons should now be better balanced in battle.

Aside from this, the Mutator grants players 220 Health when they start as well as a maximum of 220 Rune Power
Storage (some of the heftier Rune Powers now require anything between 100 to 200 Rune Power to use). Low
Weapon Damage is also applied. This in effect will make melee combat more involved and last longer with the
focus on getting multiple hits in rather than that one lucky strike that instantly kills the opponent. It also makes
hurled weapons less of a threat. Players will also start out with a flimsy waterlogged shield so that they will stand
a figthing chance even if they don't have enough time to gather their weapons of choice.

Finally, all Berserk Runes, Full Power Runes, Full Health Runes, and Dwarven BattledShields are removed from the
game and replaced with Partial Runes of Power. This is again for the sake of game balance, since I perceive these
items as giving too great an advantage to whoever is able to get them first.

Online Performance:
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This Mutator is fully compatible with MultiPlayer Games over the Internet and is a Server Only Mutator. This 
means that it only needs to be installed on the Server. Clients do NOT need to download it in order to join 
the server.

Installation:
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Extract the contents of the zip file into your \Rune\System Directory. Then just go ahead and start a server with
the mutator enabled and you should be set to go.

Legal Information:
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You may distribute this Mutator through any electronic network (internet, FIDO, local BBS etc.), provided you
include this file, leave the archive intact, and do not charge a fee for access to this file.