The Magic Stack Version 1.0 Copyright 1991 Jerry Stratton The Magic Stack is designed to keep track of all of your extra spells. It vastly simplifies the task of finding spells that aren't in the Players' Handbook.™* This version of the Magic Stack is written using Hypercard 2.0. If you are currently using the version for Hypercard 1.2.x, you may import your spells to this newer version with the Import Spells or Import Stack options. The Magic Stack is freeware. Please feel free to use the Magic Stack to distribute free collections of your own original spells. Be sure to include this documentation along with the stack. If you do have questions, suggestions, or comments, you can write me, either at the above U.S. Mail address, or at any of the following Electronic Mail addresses, listed in order of preference: [m--cs--k] at [hoboes.com] Do not use the Magic Stack to distribute spells owned by someone other than yourself, unless you have the explicit permission of the spell owner(s). Using the Magic Stack Double-click on the Magic Stack icon to start it up. You will see the control screen. Five spells should be listed in the lower left hand corner. If this is somebody else's collection of spells, there will probably be a different number of spells listed there. Double-click on any of the spell names. Now, you should be looking at a spell description. The spell's name is in the upper left hand corner. If the spell is reversible, this is listed in the upper right hand corner. The actual spell description is in the lower left hand corner. On the left side of the screen are the spell's game statistics, and on the right hand side are the schools and spheres the spell is a part of, and a list of the areas of the world where this spell is used. The lower right hand side of the screen is a control panel. You can use the arrows to view different spells. The icon that looks sort of like a miniature version of the control screen (it's next to the left arrow) returns you to the control screen. Click once on that icon now. The Control Panel on the Control Screen You're back at the control screen. Notice that in the lower right hand corner of this screen, there's a new icon: a down arrow. Anytime a down arrow is visible, you can click on it to return to the last spell you were looking at. The left and right arrows here work just like the arrows in the spell description. The left arrow brings you to the last spell in the spell list, and the right arrow brings you to the first spell in the spell list. The house icon (between the left arrow and the down arrow) returns you to your Home stack. The question mark (between the right arrow and the down arrow) enables the built-in help function. Click on it now. It should remain highlighted, and a message will appear in the lower left hand part of the screen. As long as the help icon is highlighted, clicking on a button or box will only show you the help for that object. You can click on the help field to make the field disappear. To get out of the help mode, click again on the help icon (the question mark). Fool around with the help for awhile, then click on the question mark so that it's no longer highlighted. Controlling the List of Spells The left side of the control screen allows you to control which spells are listed. At the top of that side, there is a button that should say All Spells. It may say Priest Spells or Wizard Spells. Use the mouse to bring the hand over this button, and hold the mouse button down. A menu will pop up, listing the spell-using classes. The final option in the list will always be All. This informs the Magic Stack that you want to see all of the spells, no matter which classes use them. Hold the mouse button down over this pop- up menu, select Priest, and let go of the mouse. The button should now say Priest Spells. Move the mouse down, just to the left of the list of spells, and click on the button that says List. The spell list should change. If this is the original collection of my spells, the list will go blank. This is because I have not included any Priest spells. Notice that the field just above the spell list now says All Spheres, and the button to its left says, simply, Spheres. Schools and Spheres Go back up to the top, and change Priest Spells to Wizard Spells. The field and button that once said Spheres now says Schools. Use the mouse to move the hand on top of All Schools. Hold the mouse button down. A list of schools will pop up. Choose Evocation. Then click on the List button. You should see a list of spells that is different from the list you saw before. Probably, the only spell you'll see listed is Area Contingency. That's because Area Contingency is currently the only wizard spell in the Magic Stack that is also an Evocation spell. Hold the mouse button down over Evocation and choose Alteration. You are given the choice to Replace or Add. Choose Replace. Alteration then replaces Evocation in that field. Now, click on List again. You see the rest of the spells, minus Area Contingency. These are all the Alteration spells in the Magic Stack. You can do the same thing for Spheres, while viewing Priest spells. Alphabetically or By Level There are four buttons in the upper left hand side of the screen, above the list of spells. We've already dealt with the bottom one, Schools and Spheres. The top button will either say Alphabetically or it will say By Level. If it doesn't say Alphabetically, click on it once so that it does. This means that spells are listed alphabetically in the spell list, without regard for the spell level. Click on it again, so that it says By Level. Now, spells will be listed in alphabetical order by level -- all first level spells first, second level spells second, and so on. Next to the By Level button, there should be a small box that says All. This tells the Magic Stack that you want to view all levels of spells. Move the mouse hand over the All that is next to By Level and hold the mouse button down. A list of numbers should pop up, from 1 to 9. Choose 8, and then click on the List button. Only the 8th level spells will be shown in the spell list. Change the 8 back to All. Used By/Created By Directly below By Level there is a button that says either Used By or Created By. If it says Used By, click on it once, so that it says Created By. There's a small box next to this button that probably says All. Double click on the word All, and type Sether. Then, click once on the List button. The Magic Stack will list all of the spells that were created by the wizard William Sether. If my spells still exist in this copy of the Magic Stack, these spells will be Wraithshape and Ghostshape. Go look at these spells if you want to, and then return here (the control screen). Double click on Sether, and change it back to All. When the Created By button says Used By, the Magic Stack shows you only those spells that are used by the culture or person you type into the Used By text box. Look for all the spells that are used by the Underground. When you're done, set Used By to All, and list all of the spells. Key Word Below the Created By/Used By button is the Key Word button. Click on it a couple of times. All it does is show and hide the text box right next to it. When you can see the text box next to Key Word, the Magic Stack will only list the spells for which the text in that box exists in the spell's description. Type creature into the key word box, and hit the return key (or click on the List button). Only the spells that mention creature in their description will be listed. Adding and Deleting Spells, Schools, Spheres, and Classes Down the right hand side of the screen are seven buttons. These allow you to Add Spells, and Add or Delete Schools, Spheres, and Classes. Adding something is pretty straightforward. Click on the appropriate Add button, and type in the name of the spell, school, sphere, or class. When you want to delete a school, sphere, or class, you need to hold the mouse button down over the appropriate Delete button. A list of schools, spheres, or classes will pop up under the mouse, and you can choose which you want to delete. Adding Classes When you add a class, you are also given the option of linking the class to either Schools (like wizards), or Spheres (like priests). All this means is that when you tell the Magic Stack to restrict it's spell list to spells of that class, the Schools/Spheres button will change to the appropriate name. Deleting Classes When you delete a class, you need to tell the Magic Stack what to do about all the potential spells that exist as part of that class. The options are Delete and Merge. If you choose Delete, the Magic Stack will delete all spells that were part of the deleted class (if the spell was part of more than one class, it won't be deleted). If you choose Merge, you will be presented with a list of the remaining classes. The Magic Stack will give all of the spells of the deleted class to the class that you select. The Tiny Little Button Right next to the spell list, and below the List button, is a tiny little button with no name. This button gives you access to some lesser-used functions of the Magic Stack. Click on it now, and I'll describe them for you. Import Spell The Import Spell button (the one with the eye icon) allows you to import spells from another Magic Stack. It will present you with a list of all the spells in that stack, and you can choose the ones you wish to import. Import Stack The Import Stack button (the one with the hole-in-the-stack icon) imports all of the spells in a Magic Stack. This will be useful when you download someone else's Magic Stack with all-new spells. You'll be able to import them into your personal Magic Stack without losing any of your spells. This allows you to keep all of your spells in a single stack. Delete All The Delete All button (the one with a trashcan icon) deletes all of the spells in the Magic Stack. It gives you the option of saving a copy of the Magic Stack before deleting. Copy Stack The Copy Stack button (the one with the half-and-half stack icon) saves a copy of the Magic Stack. Save List The Save List button (the one with a hand and paper icon) writes the current list of spells viewable to a file. You can then open and edit this file using a word processor. It saves the Spell Name, the classes that use the spell, and the spell's level, all separated by tabs. File Spells The File Spells button (the one with the sheet of paper icon) writes each spell in the current list of spells to a text file. You can then open and edit this file using a word processor. The full description of each spell, and their game statistics, are saved to the file. Re-Sort The Re-Sort button (the one with the sort icon) resets the Magic Stack's internal spell list. Hopefully, you'll never have to use this, but if the Magic Stack's internal spell list gets corrupted for some reason, and you haven't got a backup, this will restore the internal spell list. Be patient, though. It takes a long time. The Spells Click on one of the spell names, and let's go over what you can do with each spell. The Name The spell name is in the upper left hand corner. If you need to change a spell's name, you can click on the old name. The Magic Stack will ask you for the new name. The Class You can add or delete classes to the list of classes that can use the spell. Hold the mouse button down over the list of classes, and choose the class you wish to add or delete. If the spell is already in the list, it asks you if you wish to delete it. If the spell isn't already in the list, it asks if you wish to Add it or Replace it. If you choose Add, the spell is simply appended on to the end of the list. If you choose Replace, the new spell replaces all of the old ones. The Level If you need to change a spell's level, you can click on the current level. The Magic Stack will ask you for the new level, and replace it. Range, Components, Duration, Casting Time, Area of Effect, and Saving Throw All of these parts of the spell description can be edited directly. Created By and Used By These are the boxes that the corresponding buttons on the control screen use to determine who created and who uses each spell. If you want to list a different creator for each culture that uses the spell, try to put the creator and culture on the same line in each box. Then, clicking on Created By will align the Created By box with the Used By box. Clicking on Used By will align the Used By box with the Created By box. Schools and Spheres These are the boxes that the corresponding buttons on the control screen use to know whether or not a spell is part of a particular school or sphere. To add a school or sphere, hold the mouse button down over the appropriate box. A list of all the schools/spheres will pop up underneath the mouse, and you can choose the one you wish to add. If you want to delete a school or sphere, do the same, and select the school or sphere you wish to delete. The Spell Description At the bottom left hand side of the screen is the spell's description. You can edit the text in this box directly. The Copyright Notice The copyright notice is to the right of the spell description, above the Controls and Viewer buttons, and below the Used By box. If you wish to place a copyright notice on your spells, you can put it here. Simply click in the area and edit it. The Controls Click on the Controls button, and a dialog box comes up with buttons similar to those on the control screen. These allow you to create a new spell, copy the current spell, delete the current spell, file the current spell, create a new school or sphere, or make the current spell reversible. Reversible simply means that the word Reversible appears in the upper right hand corner of the spell. The Viewer The Viewer allows you to move to any other spell in the current spell list. When using the Viewer to navigate the Magic Stack, you can always return to the last spell with the down arrow in the spell's control panel, in the lower right hand side of the screen. The Help Button The help button here works the same as the help button on the control screen. The End Well, that's it for now. I'm sure I'll be adding more to the Magic Stack. And, I hope this facilitates easy distribution of new spells, at least among Macintosh users. Give a hand to Thor for his work on the graphics. Jerry Stratton FireBlade Publications™ * The Players' Handbook™ and other AD&D™ trademarks mentioned are owned by TSR, Inc.