SANCTUARY ‘wooDs’w INTRODUCTION T up Rinpue oF Masrer Lu” is an adventure game, where you control the actions of Robert Ripley, the famous world traveler and collector of the bizarre, and guide him as he attempts to unravel an ancient mystery swrounding the tomb of the First Emperor of China, Chin Shih Huang Installation instructions are on the next page of this booklet. In the following section, you'll find a detailed explanation of the game interface and options. Here we'll just provide a few general tips to help you get the most from the game. Playing the adventure is largely a matter of wits, not reaction time. There is no way to “lose” the game, except by not finishing it. From time to time you may find that you just can't seem to accomplish anything, ‘but we assure you there is always some way ahead. Be prepared to enjoy the Rippié oF Master La) over several days. It will take the average player an esti mated 50 hours to complete the game. ‘There are six world locations for you to visit. Once Ripley has talked to the Priest in the Hall of Classics, and Baron von Seltsam, most locations are available to explore. To arrange travel, talk to the THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LU agent in any Posh Express office, If you miss s thing in your explorations, you'll always have the opportunity to come back for it later, Talk to every- one you meet and learn as much as you can. If you find you are stuck at a certain point, try travel to broaden your mind. Who knows? You might come across something that may help! As well as solving the mystery of the emperor's tomb, Ripley has a business to rm. The Odditorium is only recently opened, and not doing very well as yet, so be on the lookout for more exhibits. Some of the things you will come across are free for the takin others must be bartered for. You can send acquisi- tions back to the Odditorium from any Posh Express office, or by returning to the Odditorium. If you've exhibited something you later find you need for another purpose, you can retrieve it from the Odditorium. Don't neglect to search for oddities, or Ripley's business partner, Feng Li, won't be able to pay the Odditorium bills, and you may have an unpleasant surprise waiting for you when you return to New York!| he following is a walk-through of the Installation and Setup procedures for Tue RIDDLE oF Master Lt”. For optimum game play, it is recommended you choose the largest install your drive space will allow. EASY INSTALLATION 1. Ifyou have an external CD-ROM drive, turn it on first. 2. Tum on your computer and allow it to boot completely. 3. Place THe RIDDLE oF Master Lv game disk in your CD-ROM drive. 4. At the DOS command prompt, type D: (or whichever letter corresponds to your CD-ROM drive). Press [ENTER] 5. ‘Type INSTALL and press ENTER] 6. When prompted, select EASY installation from the Install Menu. Click on the Done button. @ Note: EASY INSTALLATION will search your drive to determine if you have 50MB free disk space. If so, the program will perform the MEDIUM install (requiring 34MB free disk space); otherwise, it will default to MINIMUM install (requiring 5MB free disk space). For MAXIMUM (620MB free space) install, you must go through the ADVANCED installation procedure. @ = = Note: Under MINIMUM install, gameplay will be slower as the program will have to read more frequently from the RiDbLé or MASTER Lu CD-ROM. README.DOC FILE During installation, the program will open the README.DOC file for you to read. This document contains useful information. (We recommend you take the time to read this file completely.) SANCTUARY WOODS [=] ADVANCED INSTALLATION Follow steps 1 through 5 of EASY INSTALLATION 1. When prompted, select ADVANCED installation from the Install Menu. When finished, click on the Done button. 2. Choose the drive you wish to install the game on. Click on the Choose button beside the Drive dis- play window to proceed to the Choose Drive sub- ‘menu. Included in the list of choices is the amount of space currently free on each drive. Click on the drive letter to select it, then click on the Done button. (Continue to use the Choose and Done buttons as you select other settings listed below.) 3, Select the install size. Choose between MINIMUM (requires 5MB free disk space), MEDIUM (requires 34MB free space) or MAXIMUM (requires 620MB free space) install. 4. Next, choose the directory in which you'd like the game installed. Click on the Browse button beside the Directory display window, then select the directory of your choice. 5. At the ADVANCED Install menu, click on Done. @ Note: A HELP button is available at each stage of the ADVANCED INSTALLATION process. SETUP Once installation is complete, you will be asked to configure your sound card(s). THe Ripp1# OF Master Lv supports a variety of sound cards and add-ons for music and digital sound. 1. Select your Music Card by clicking on the Choose button beside the Music Card display window. At the Music Card sub-menu, choose a card that matches your own or one that your card supports. Once you've made a selection, click on the Done button. (Continue to use the Choose and Done buttons to select other settings listed below.) 2, Select a Digital Sound Card that matches your own, or one that your card supports. (If you only have one card, select that card for both music and digital sound.) 3. Click on the DETECT SETTINGS button, 4, The program will attempt to autodetect settings for your card(s). When finished, click on the Done button. If the program fails to correctly detect your card settings, you will have to enter the settings manually, @ Notes: If you're unsure about which sound cards you have, check your sound card documentation. If you've opted for MINIMUM or MEDIUM install, check that the CD-ROM Source Drive setting is correct. THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LUTECHNICAL SUPPORT: ‘Telephone help is available Monday through Friday, 9AM to 5:30PM PST by calling (415) 286-6110. For information on international technical support see README.DOC. TO PLAY NOW 1. ‘Type MASTERLU. 2. Strike [ENTER]. Enjoy! TO PLAY LATER 1. Switch to the directory that contains Tar RIppLe oF Master Lu program. At the prompt, type either CD \GAMEXRIDDLE, CD\GAMES\RIDDLE or CD \RIDDLE. (During installation, the program will have attempted to find a \GAME or \GAMES directory under which to put the \RIDDLE program. If it discovered no \GAME or \GAMES directory, the Rippue oF Master Lu will be found in C: \RIDDLE. 3. Type MASTERLU and hit [ENTER]. Enjoy! ~ ORION BURGER DEMO We've included on the Rippie oF Master Lu CD-ROM a sneak preview of Sanctuary Woods’ hilarious new animated game, ORION BURGER. This quirky cartoon adventure pits you as an earthling named Wilbur against an alien fast-food chain that wants to Larvest, Earth and serve humanity up with a side of fries. TO INSTALL THE ORION BURGER DEMO: 1. Ifyou have an extemal CD-ROM drive, tum it on first. Tum on your computer: 2. Ifyou haven't already done so, place the RIDDLE oF Master Lu game disk in your CD-ROM drive 3. Atthe DOS command, type D: (or whichever letter corresponds to your CD-ROM drive). Press (ENTER). 4. ‘Type CD \BURGDEMO and press [ENTER J. 5. Type INSTALL and press [ENTER] 6. When installation is complete and you have been returned to the DOS prompt, type DEMO and strike [ENTER]. Have fun! SANCTUARY WOODS. QUICK KEY REFERENCE KEY Spacebar/right mouse buttor/"F” Letter key “T” or “A” letter key “U" or “S” letter key “L’ or “D" letter key ESC FUNCTION Causes Ripley to “jump” across screen (Click destination first) Changes cursor into “TAKE” icon Changes cursor into “USE” icon Changes cursor into “LOOK” icon From game screen, brings up the Game Menu From Game Menu, returns you to game screen From Options Menu, returns you to Game Menu In Save Game dialogue box, cancels save In Load Game dialogue box, cancels load From Game Menn, returns you to game screen From Options Menu, retums you to Game Menu In Save Game dialogue box, initiates save (if you've clicked on a slot) In Load Game dialogue box, initiates load (ifyou've clicked on an active slot) ALTQ, ALEX, CRTL-Q or CRTL-X Quits to DOS F2 Key Brings up Save Game dialogue box F3 Key Brings up Load Game dialogue box THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LUE verything in Ta Robie oF Master Lu can be done with the mouse. All references to “clicking” in the following sections are to the left mouse button, GETTING AROUND ‘To move Ripley around the screen, click where you want him to walk. To go to a different screen, move the mouse until the cursor becomes a pointing finger, then click. To climb ladders and other climbable objects, first click on the USE icon (see below), then click on the object you wish Ripley to climb. Itis often possible to save time by “jumping” Ripley across the screen. To do this, click on Ripley's destination, then press the SPACEBAR or click the right mouse button, or hit the “F” letter key. You may have to repeat this more than once to get all the way across some larger screens. This method can't be used to bypass barriers; all it does is skip some ani- mation frames. PLAYING AROUND There are four buttons in the bottom left comer of the screen. The first three all work in exactly the same way. Notice that as you move the cursor around a location, short text descriptions of various objects and features appear above the buttons. Click here if you want to TAKE an object Click here if you want to USE/MANIPULATE an object Click here if you want to LOOK at an object Click here to open/close inventory Click here to bring up the Game Menu © © @ U © SANCTUARY WOODS Ifyou want Ripley to TAKE something, click on the hand icon with the palm down. The cursor will become the icon. Now click on the object you would like Ripley to pick up. If he can comply, he'll pick it up. A closer view of the object will pop up on screen. When you've admired it long enough, click anywhere on the game screen, and the object will appear in your inventory. If Ripley can't pick up the object (for example if it's too heavy or nailed down), he'll tell you why he can’t follow your instructions. (You can also use the “T” or “A” keys to change your cursor into the TAKE icon.) ‘The second button is a hand icon with the palm up. Click on it if you want Ripley to USE or MANIPU- LATE something. When this convenient button is, selected, he can OPEN and CLOSE things like doors and drawers. He can also MOVE onscreen objects, and OPERATE machinery. In general this button. allows Ripley to interact with any inanimate object in asereen. Just click on the object with this button, and Ripley will do the rest. If for some reason, he can't do what you ask, he'll explain why. (You can also use the “U” or “S” keys to change your cursor into the USE button.) ‘To USE an INVENTORY item, click on it. The cursor will become the item. Click that item on. another object either in the scene, or in the inventory. Ripley should be able to figure out what you have in mind, and perform the appropriate action. ‘To USE an ON-SCREEN object with something else on-screen (an inventory or background object), click on the USE button. Now, click on the object you “THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LU wish to use. ‘The cursor will become that object. Click on the second (inventory or background) object and Ripley will spring into action. If he cannot perform the function you've requested, he'll explain why. If you want Ripley to LOOK at something, click on the magnifying glass button. The cursor will become the magnifying glass. Now click where you would like Ripley to look. He'll be happy to describe what he sees. If Ripley has nothing to say about a particular item, he will describe his general surround- ings. (You can also use the “L’or “D” keys to change your cursor into the LOOK at button.) ‘The fourth icon is Ripley's amazing steamer trunk: the one essential piece of luggage he needs in his travels. This is the INVENTORY where Ripley keeps all the objects he picks up in the course of the game. You can put an incredible amount of things in there, big and small, yet they will never slow Ripley down. Believe it or not! If you accumulate too many inventory objects to see at one glance, a scrolling bar will appear. Click on the scrollbar arrows to browse through your collection of objects. Click on the trunk, and it will open, revealing its contents. Click on it again, and its contents will be hidden from view. Ripley is always ready for an adventure. Inside his steamer trunk you'll find pocket money (U.S. do- lars) that can be exchanged for local currency at any Posh Express office. The second object in Ripley's trunk, his WWI photograph, is a piece of nostalgia he keeps with him at all times. Ripley's journal is his other constant, companion (see Ripley's Journalsection, this page, for more details). The cursor will default to the most logical action when it passes over something of interest. Like the pointing finger that appears over a door or other exit, the magnifying glass will appear over something you might want to LOOK at, and a talking mouth icon will appear over characters you may want to TALK to. To change this default momentarily, simply select a dif- ferent button from below. Click on the pointing finger icon in the bottom, right comer of the sereen or press ESC to bring up the Game Menu (see p. 10). TALKING AROUND Luckily for Ripley (and you) most of the major characters in the game speak English. Some don't, but Mei Chen speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese, so she'll be able to translate. When you click the talking mouth icon on a char- acter two things may happen. If Ripley has something he wants to say, he'll say it, When he’s at a loss for words, however, you can help. A menu of dialogue entrees will appear in the upper left comer of the screen. Choose a statement or question that interests you, and Ripley will say it to the character. A short conversation will ensue, sometimes only a line or two, sometimes more. Then one of two things will happen. Either an entirely new menu of choices will replace the first, or several choices from the previous menu Q will reappear. It really depends on the flow of the conversation. ‘You will have to direct Ripley through some con- versations in their entirety, but for most, if you no longer want to talk to someone, you'll be able to choose a polite goodbye for Ripley to pass along. You may immediately talk to characters again, wait: ‘until later, or ignore them completely. However, many characters may have information that will make your quest easier, so it's best to be sociable. ‘You can never make a “wrong” choice that will permanently bar your progress in the game. However, how you choose to proceed in a conversation does make a difference in how characters respond to you. You can choose to be polite, or try and drive some- one crazy just for the heck of it, but you must be pre- pared for the consequences. RIPLEY’S JOURNAL As you discover clues to ‘Tue Rippie oF Master Lu, Ripley will ot them down in his journal. Refer to the journal regularly to check your progress. To see inside the jour- nal, use the LOOK at button. To turn pages once in the joumal screen, click on the pointing hand button at the bottom right of the page. Exit the joumal by clicking on the finger that points away from the journal (any- where along the perimeter of the page) You can also direct Ripley to sketch things of SANCTUARY WOODS * interest by PUTting the journal on places/objects on the active game screen. If the place or object is wor- thy of a Ripley's Believe It or Not! cartoon, he'll promptly sketch it. On Ripley's next visit to New York, look in the Cartoon Room to see the new sketch on display. LETTERS, NOTES AND RADIOGRAMS Use the LOOK at button to re-read any of the let- ters and notes in your inventory. Click on the letter or note of your choice and a popup will appear as. Ripley begins to read it aloud. If you decide you've heard as much as you need to for the moment, click outside the popup (on the active game screen) and Ripley's voice cover will cease. Ripley also keeps a log of the messages he receives at the Posh Express offices. To listen to these, place the LOOK at button on the message log icon in inventory. Select the radiogram you wish to hear from the menu that appears on screen and Ripley will read it for you. POSH EXPRESS OFFICES No matter which world location Ripley visits, there'll always be a trusty Posh Express office nearby. It is here Ripley can send and receive radiograms, arrange to have oddities sent home, exchange U.S, dollars for local currency and travel to new locations THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LU. ‘To make the necessary arrangements, simply talk to the friendly Posh Express agent behind the counter. Booking Passage Select the conversation option ‘Td like to book pas- sage.” The locations available to Ripley at any given point in the game will appear as text on the upper left; comer of the screen. Once you've talked to the right: people and obtained the necessary documents, all game locations will be available for exploration. Sending Oddities Home Direct Ripley to tell the agent he'd like to send a parcel to New York. A menu of all the oddities you've collected will appear at the bottom right of the game screen. Select the object you wish to send to Feng Li. When you next visit New York, you'll find it on dis- play in the Odditorium! Local Currency Choose “I'd like to buy some...(marks, yuan, etc.).” No matter how badly Ripley's financial situa- tion is at home, he'll always have enough pocket. money to get by. Withdrawing Money Ripley can ask to withdraw the money in his account, however until the Odditorium is overflowing with new oddities, he may have to end up paying his way in cash. Be sure to look around each of the Posh Express offices and talk to the agents. Even here you might find something that could help Ripley in his quest.GETTING RIPLEY KILLED If you should make a move that gets Ripley Killed, don't worry. The game's “auto-resurrect” feature will restore you to the point just before you made the fatal mouse click. Nevertheless, it's still a good idea to save your game frequently. (Be especially sure to save the game before entering the Baron's laboratory at the Ace of Spades castle. This is an advanced puz- zle — you cannot exit the laboratory without having first solved it.) MAIN MENU The first time you run the game, you'll see the introductory sequences and proceed right into game- play. The second (and subsequent) times you run the game, you'll go to the Main Menu. Introduction. Allows you to see the game's opening sequences. Clicking either mouse button will fast for- ward you to the end of the introduction. New Game. Starts the game from the beginning, bypassing the introduction. Resume Play. Returns you to the game at the spot from which you left it. Load Game. Presents a dialog box with a list of all your saved games. Select a slot and then click on Load, or strike the ENTER key, or double click on the selected slot. Credits. Runs the closing credits of the game. Quit to DOS. Retums you to DOS. The game is auto- matically saved to a special file that is loaded when 10 The choices on this menu are: Main Menu. Returns you to the Main Menu \, described above. | Options Menu. Takes you to a menu where you can adjust sound volume and tum scrolling on or off. \ Resume Play. Returns you to the game at the spot from which you left it. You can also press the ESC or ENTER keys to resume game play. Click here to go to Options Menu Click here to quit to DOS Click here to return to Click here to Click here to Click here to see the intro | resume game | quit to DOS Click here to | Click here to | Click here to start anew load a previ- _ see credits game ously saved game you choose the Resume Play button from the Main ‘Menu. You can also quit to DOS by typing either ALT Q, ALEX, CTRL-Q or CTRL-X, however using this method may cause the Resume Play function to ‘ Dehave erratically. | GAME MENU | { At any time during play you can click on the pointing finger icon in the bottom right comer of the screen or press the ESC key to bring up the Game Click here Click here to resume to save to load a Menu. gameplay game previously saved game SANCTUARY WOODS THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LU Save Game. Presents a dialog box that allows you to describe the game and save it. This dialog box can also be reached directly from the game by pressing F2. Click on a slot, then type any combination of let- ters, numbers, and spaces into it. To the right of the game description you'll notice an image of the game screen you just left. This image will be saved along with the game description so that it will be easy for you to identify the point at which the game was saved. If you choose an occupied slot, the previously saved game in that slot is erased. To delete an old game description either hit the DELETE key or back- space. To complete the save, click on the Save button or press the ENTER key. To cancel the save, press the Cancel button or the ESC key. You can save up to 99 game positions. Load Game. Presents a dialog box with a list of all your saved games. This dialog box can also be reached directly from the game by pressing F3. As you pass the mouse along an active slot, you'll see to the right of the dialogue box a miniature screenshot of the point at which you saved the game. To select a slot, click on the description of your choice, then press the Load button, strike the ENTER key, or dou- ble click on the selected slot. (If no saved games are detected, the Load Game button is disabled.) To can- cel a game load, press Cancel or the ESC key.NOTE: If you load a new game without having first. saved the current game, the current game will not be saved. Quit to DOS. Returns you to DOS. The game is auto- matically saved to a special file that is loaded when you choose Resume Play from the Main Menu. You can also quit to DOS by typing either ALT-Q, ALEX, CTRL-Q or CTRL-X, however using this method may cause the Resume Play function to behave erratically. If you quit the game using any of the above key- strokes, and wish to resume that game later, be sure you quit at a time when the menu system would nor- mally be available to you. For example, quitting in the middle of running dialogue, signified by the watch cursor, will prevent the game from being saved. OPTIONS MENU Digital Sound Volume. You can adjust the volume of the speech, sound effects, and digital music by dragging the slider with the mouse. Midi Sound Volume. You can adjust the volume of the midi music by dragging the slider with the mouse. Scrolling (On/Off). Certain scenes in the game are more than one screen wide, and when Ripley moves across the scene the camera moves with him. If you have the scrolling switched On, the scene will scroll as Ripley moves. If you have it switched Off, the cam- era will simply jump to a new position. Selecting this button will switch scrolling between On and Off modes. Game Menu. Returns you to the Game Menu described above. Hitting the ESC or ENTER keys will also bring you back to the Game Menu. Drag the slider to adjust volume of Drag the slider to adjust volume of speech, sound effects Click here to return to the Game Menu Click here to toggle scrolling on/off 12. SANCTUARY WOODS FACT AND FICTION IN THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LU R obert Ripley took great pride in the fact that none of the incredible assertions he presented. in his daily cartoon were ever proved false. So we feel we owe it to his memory to sort out the purely fictitious from the factual in our story. We won't give away the solutions to any puzzles, but just the same you may prefer not to read what follows until you've played the game. First, all the characters are either entirely ficti- tious or, like our Ripley, simply inspired by real-life people. Mei Chen was suggested by Robert Ripley's fondness for Chinese women. Feng Li, the Candle Man, is based on an authentic Ripley discovery, but his real-life counterpart never worked in the Odditorium. Most of the unusual objects in the story are based on Believe It or Not! cartoons, but some of these are from the post-Ripley era. The New York Odditorium was not actually founded until several years after the date of our story. At one point the Odditorium did feature a man setting THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LU the record for rocking in a straight chair. ‘The objects in our Odditorium are for the most part “Ripley-inspired” rather than the real things. We've had a little fun with the idea that Ripley hasn't been able to acquire anything more interesting than a stuffed cow with a map of Ireland on its hide, or a giant matchstick made entirely out of toothpicks. By the way, if you take a look at the pictures hanging on the wall in our Odditorium, you'll at first find some real Ripley cartoons. As the game pro- 13gresses Ripley will send back new cartoons. Some will be authentic; others are based on his new adven- tures. So be sure to check back now and then. Our pre-Inca city of Mocha Moche is entirely ficti- tious, but it is just the kind of mysterious place Ripley would have loved. He did travel widely in South America and featured some of the ancient ruins in cartoons. The Baron's house with the ace of spades theme is inspired by a similar house in England built in honor of the ace of clubs. The premature-burial alarm is drawn from similar devices documented in the Ripley archives. The cursed emerald of the Romanovs is also to be found in one of the cartoons, Microscopic messages were part of Ripley's stock-in- trade; he once received a letter of 1,615 characters written on a grain of rice. Ripley visited Easter Island long before it became a major tourist attraction. It’s unlikely he knew any- thing about the mysterious script that has survived 14 ona few wooden tablets found in caves there. For the purposes of the story we've made this script far older than it is actually thought to be; in fact, Easter Island was probably not populated until many cen- turies after the time of Master Lu. In the 1930s Sikkim, today a province of India, was an independent kingdom. We chose it as aset- ting because of its unique mixture of Hindu and ‘Tibetan Buddhist cultures. Prayer wheels are the subject of several Ripley cartoons, and he even had a prayer wheel on board his famous junk, the Mon Lei. ‘The ‘Temple of the Hidden Way is a complete fabrica- tion however: Ifit weren't, most of the game players here at Sanctuary Woods would have already made a pilgrimage or two. The basket of severed heads to deter thieves in Beijing (known as Peiping in the time of our story) is from a Ripley sketch of 1927. ‘The original basket, contained speeders. SANCTUARY WOODS Ripley seems not to have known any- thing about the tomb, but if the scanty his- torical sources are to be believed, itis one of the greatest “believe it or nots” ‘The Hall of Classics, where the great works of Chinese literature are engraved on stone tablets, is authentic. Ripley’ cartoon on the subject suggests that the exis- of all time. The huge burial mound, tence of these tablets enabled known as Mount Li, has never been the classics to survive the great opened, but literary sources tell us destruction of books by the that the entrances were booby- First Emperor, but other trapped with crossbows, and describe sources state that the tablets the interior much as we have pictured were not set up until later, to it. The thousands of clay soldiers guard- prevent a repetition of that dis- ing the mound were not discovered until aster 1974. For the game, we've taken the liberty As far as we of ignoring the damage done in the years of know, there is no chaos immediately following the emperor's tablet set-up by death, when this remarkable army was stripped of its weapons and buried under the ruins of its bumed-out quarters Master Lu, but that ancient sage is based on Finally, the great seal of a historical per- Chin Shih Huang-di was not really sonage who did in fact buried with the emperor but was joumey abroad, on the orders of Chin Shih Huang-di, in search of the elixir of life. Lu advised the emperor on many things, and could well have had something to do with designing his fabulous tomb. handed down from one ruler to the next throughout the Han dynasty before finally disappearing from sight. THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LU 15,ROBERT L. RIPLEY THE MAN AND HIS WORK T ie man whose name was to become synony- mous with the unbelievable was born LeRoy Ripley (he added the Robert later) into a poor family in Santa Rosa, California, on December 26, 1893. Asa child he had two main interests: sports and drawing. A fine athlete in his own right, he might have had a career as a baseball player, but instead he was able to combine his interests when, with the help of a family friend, he landed a job with the San Francisco Bulletin as a sports illustrator. From there he moved to the Chronicle, and when he was fired by that paper after asking for a raise he headed east, where he ended up at the New York Globe. From 1913 to 1918 Ripley produced a daily sports cartoon for the Globe. His vigorous style was well suited to the subject matter, and he was well paid — around $100 a week, enough to help out his widowed mother while leaving him enough to lead a lively bachelor's life in the big city. Despite his buck teeth and natural shyness, Ripley was a ladies’ man, and it was his haste to get away from the office for a date 16 with a showgirl that led to the creation of the first Believe It or Not! cartoon. According to the oft-repeated story — and no sketch of Ripley's life would be complete without it — he was struggling to find a subject for his cartoon in the late afternoon of December 18, 1918. At last he decided to assemble some snippets of unusual athlet- ic accomplishments — backwards jumping, rope- skipping, three-legged racing, and so on — that he had been collecting. He sketched nine iteras and headed them “Champs and Chumps.” After some dis- cussion with the editor, he changed the heading to “Believe It or Not!”. The cartoon was well receved, the editor asked for more, and before long Ripley had. expanded his subject matter beyond sports and was producing a daily collection of miscellaneous odd facts. In 1923 the Globe folded and he moved to the Post. His cartoons enjoyed limited syndication until 9, when the word came down from William Randolph Hearst, owner of King Features Syndicate: SANCTUARY WOODS “Get Ripley!” Ripley was got, and his fortune was made. His cartoons would eventually be published in over 300 newspapers with a readership of 80 million people, and Ripley's earnings would rise to a stagger- ing $500,000 a year during the Great Depression, when the dollar was worth many times what it is today. In 1933, at the suggestion of a promoter called C.C. Pyle, Ripley assembled a collection of unusual people and objects in his first “Odditorium” at the Century of Progress exhibition in Chicago, At an admission of 40 cents (25 cents for children) the Odditorium packed in the customers, and Ripley was to boast that a hundred a day fainted at sights like a man driving nails into his sinus cavities. In eight months the exhib- it brought in over $1 million, and the success prompted Ripley to open similar Odditoriums in Dallas, San Francisco, and San Diego. In the midst of all this show busi- ness Ripley found time to become one of the greatest globetrotters of all time, earning the epithet “the modern Marco Polo.” He traveled to almost every part of the world — with a little fudging of defini- tions he was able to m that he had visited 201 countries — but the place he kept going back to was THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LU China, Ripley was enthralled by Chinese history, Chinese customs, Chinese cooking, and Chinese women. He decorated his homes in the Chinese style, sometimes affected Chinese dress and the signature “Rip Li,” and owned the westemn worlds only authen- tic Chinese junk, a 50-foot Foochow river fishing boat called the Mon Lei. As he traveled he collected, and his collections ended up not only in the Odditoriums but in his homes: his big house in upstate New York, called Bion (an acronym of Believe It or Not!), his lavish apartment in New York City, and the estate on Lake Worth in Florida that he bought in his last years. Another thing Ripley collected was mail. He actively solicited material for his cartoons, and it arrived by the truckload —a niillion or more letters a year: “That's one for Ripley” became the byword for any strange event or unusual accomplishment. If your cousin Myrtle could touch her forehead with her tongue, or if your grandfather had shaved for forty years without missing a day — well, that was one for Ripley. ‘The variety of the cartoons astonishes in itself. Thibal customs, coin- cidences, matchstick puzzles, natural rock formations that look like animals, feats of strength executed with earlobes or eyelids, remarkable survivals, contortion. 17ists, optical illusions, predictions that came true, the cruelty of kings, unusual names — whatever was out of the ordinary was grist for Ripley's mill. The cartoons and exhibits contained their share of deformed animals and doublejointed people, but Ripley forbade his staff ever to use the word “freak” to describe one of his “oddities.” This avoidance of the term was partly to elevate the Ripley image — remember, this was the heyday of the carnival sideshow with its phony Lizard Boys and geeks biting the heads off chickens. But the fact is that the merely freakish was not his thing. Disgust, horror, and morbid curiosity are but single strings on the emotional instru- ment; Ripley's range was much wider. Despite his insistence that every fact presented in his cartoons was documented, it has to be acknowledged that some of Ripley's material was of dubious authenticity. The sources for some of his historical anecdotes, for example, were semi-legendary accounts that would never be taken seriously by scholars. Some of his assertions were simply untestable — at least at the time — such as his statement that the Great Wall of China is visible from the moon (it isn't), or that a golf ball can be dri- ven two miles “uphill” on a clear stretch of river ice, When he was not traveling or working, Ripley was partying, His grand homes were seldom without guests, and they never went hungry or thirsty: Many of these guests were young women. Ripley remained avery eligible bachelor till the end, and he made the most of it. ‘The high life took its toll. In his last years his health rapidly failed and he began to exper ence mental lapses. In 1949, at age 55, he checked into a New York hospital and promptly died of a heart attack. His body was returned to Santa Rosa, where it lies, appropriately, in the Odd Fellows cemetery. Every day for 30 years, Robert L Ripley had stimulated the minds and aroused the wonder of millions. His lega- cy remains even in the jaded world of today, where firewalking has become a sub- urban pastime, and the wearing of earrings by men is, not considered in any way remarkable. The Ripley organization continues to syndicate a Believe It or Not! cartoon feature with original material. Compendiums of the cartoons, new and old, continue to appear regularly, and Believe It or Not! museums draw crowds in many cities around the world. Now, Robert Ripley is back on his travels in a medium that, even he could not have imagined: the personal com- puter. We think he would have been amazed. 18 SANCTUARY WOODS THE RIDDLE OF MASTER LU CREDITS A WOODWORKS STUDIO Animation. Additional Programming PRODUCTION Brent Amst, Garth Buzzard ten. Richard Fern, “in Brae, Jacob Dewey, ‘Matt Grusoni, Aaron Hon, Designed by sot Dongs, Mike Gibson, ‘Matthew Powell aid Lee Sheldon and ieee ne treet Peter ever rangots Robillard Self Riper Step Seca yates tisaciaa ‘Written by and Gay Lee Sheldon at Mike Gibson ee Sheldon 3D Animation pacers ‘Art Direction Davie Henuy, Andrew James and Were Mike Gibson ee Video Production Assistant Background Designer en Danielle Cooper aE ‘Mark Ferant Costumes Lead Gane Program ets Rosemary McGrath at . Savid Henry Makeup by ae Nick Porn GUL and Detail Art A Ena ovate Soave Calin Jones sti rg Score iapenacaee Caroline Woodbridge ‘Taruect S. Alia Martial Arts Choreographer Sound Design Pardeep §.Alhwal, Martin Hitos Darren McGrath peter Costly Mita! Ei, ate in Cane al tata : . avid How Ta ocean 3 Proce : Raymond Yee ‘pastas Cooper roots Robilard Duncan McCall, Demo Programming » ier Art Atnieiry mu Devin Young ent AME Richard Hescox ty Casting STG Sytem Design i icc Sani 3D Modeling : " David Flemry, andrew James, Systems Programmers ee Aa Jed Kuper Mathew Manel Michael Els Xifiuang, Danelle Cooper ard Rath Giverin Andras Kovacs, Paul Lahaise, rection a ‘Nick Poreino al Tran vole Braddon Additional Background GULP daais tah tS 'rogramming .udio Producer Calvin Jones Nick Poreino and Tinman ‘Durren Mecrath Animation Desi Compralt Gare: Voice Recording Engineers Mike Gibson an Karl Johanson Bwan Deane, Toby Carroll Stephen MeCallum, ‘and Kirby Jinnah, Airwaves Sound Design Production Coordination Matthew Manuel and Mike Gibson Marketing Coordinator BF Panter Writer's Assistant Hope Hick Design Assistant Poter Taylor Additional Design Elements Peter Donnelly, Mike Gibson ‘and Richard Heseox, Marketing Maven Stacey Lamiero Knoles Product Advisor Chris Manuel Advanced Technology "Advisor Matt Gruson User's Guide Lee Sheldon and Peter Donnelly jer's Guide Hope Hickli Player's Guide Illustrations Calvin Jones ity Assurance fichael Beninger, ‘Tym Bradford, Chins Capel, Bruce Elder, El Robert Eryou, Karl Johanson, Daren Reet Richard Kocurek, Jeff Kuipers, Kimberlie Manuel, Cam McKeown and Tex Riddell 19VIDEO CAST Robert Ripley Phil Bantor Mei Chen Karen Yip Feng li ‘Tony Eng Samantha Twelvetrees ‘Tara Moss Baron von Seltsam Graham Croft Hall of Classics Priest. Anthony Towe Kuang Matthew Landers Shen Guo Gerald Wong Wolf ‘Ted Gaskell Emilio Menendez Robbie Sheffinan Butler Rick Caulfield ‘Old Woman (Easter Island) Hope Hick ‘Old Chinese Lady Mary Eng. Pesky Peasant William Lee New York Posh Express Agent Jeff Kuipers Peiping Posh Express Agent Craig Cameron ‘Danzig Posh Express Agent Eric Breker Lima Posh Express Agent Emie Foort Sikkim Posh Express Agent ‘Taranjeet S. Athwal ‘Temple of the Hidden Way Guard ‘Mandeep Grewal Gatekeeper Yong Feng, Acolyte Lome Chen. Farmer Danny Cooper Official Bric Coching New York State Marshall Matthew Manual Japanese Soldier #1 Jason Chen. Japanese Soldier #2, Eric Lowe New York Taxi Driver Garth Buzzard Monks Pardeep S. Athwal, Taranjeet S. Athwal, Michael Beninger, Allan Cameron, Kathy Elder, Robert Eryou, Mike Gibson, Cindy Johnson, Paul Lahaise, Nick Porcino, Matthew Powell, Francois Robillard, Lee Sheldon, Peter Taylor ‘and Raymond Yee 20 AUDIO CAST Robert Ripley Garry Chalk Mei Chen Karen Yip Feng Li Mike Donovan ‘Samantha Twelvetrees Baron von Seltsam Safiron Henderson John Payne Hall of Classics Priest ‘Tong Leung, Kuang Marke Driesschen Shen Guo Mike Donovan Wolf Mike Donovan Emilio Menendez Marke Driesschen Butler John Payne (Old Woman (Easter Island) Cathy Weseluck Pesky Peasant Marke Driesschen Farmer Peter Poon New York Posh Express Agent ‘Marke Driesschen Peiping Posh Express Agent Ricky Cheung Danzig Posh Express Agent Mike Donovan Lima Posh Express Agent John Payne Sikkim Posh Express Agent Mike Donovan ‘Temple of the Hidden Way Guard John Payne Danzig Taxi Driver Marke Driesschen Gatekeeper Michael Choi Official Ricky Cheung ‘New York State Marshall Mike Donovan ‘Zeppelin Passengers Mike Donovan, Marke Driesschen, and Hope Hiekli Monks — Mike Donovan, Marke Driesschen and John Payne RAINBOW IPAS routine, © Copyright 1994, POINTER Software Architects Special thanks to Bob Whiteman, Norm Deska and Edward Meyer from the Ripley's Believe It or Not! team. Very Special Thanks to Significant Others and Offspring who often made do without their loved ones so that this product could be made. SANCTUARY WOODS1 POEL OF ey SANCTUARY wooD’s’