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An Introduction 1.1 The alt.games.tombraider Newsgroup and how to survive it The alt.games.tombraider newsgroup is a medium-volume newsgroup that enjoys worldwide participation on the subject of the Tomb Raider (TR) games. Any discussion related to any of the TR games is welcomed whether it be about the games plot, their difficulty level, the "Jeeves for Prime Minister" campaign, promoting your TR website, or even arguments over what kind of designer label socks Lara stomps around in. All such discussion is welcome here. We occasionally make us of obscure acronyms in this newsgroup. A full list of the more common ones can be found in the appendices. Spam, large inappropriate binaries (file attachments), non TR-Related arguments, and moronic flames/trolls are not welcome. May I please refer all newcomers to alt.games.tombraider (and USENET in general) to one of the netiquette FAQ's available at http://www.primenet.com/~vez/neti.html or to the slightly satirical version located at http://www.templetons.com/brad/emily.html. Both are worthwhile reading. This FAQ however concerns itself solely with alt.games.tombraider. So please peruse the information contained herein if you should require an answer to your burning query. Who knows? -- Five minutes of reading here might save you a few flames and many days of waiting for a reply. Note: In line with common USENET policy special mention must be made of binaries -- we don't want 'em here. Your best to either place the program/picture on a website or a specialist binary group (such as news:alt.binaries.game) and then post a quick message here telling us where we can find it. Now, if we're not helping, flaming, trolling, or spreading vile rumours about each other, what is it we actually talk about here in the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup and in the Eidos Interactive Tomb Raider forums? We'll the topics can be anything from; who's going to play Lara in the next Tomb Raider movie; Jeeves for Galactic Overload; Can you do the Great Wall level without guns?; major announcements of minor changes to websites; demands made of the games programmers; etc... We haven't yet actually had a thread on what designer brand of socks Lara wears (however I'm assured she buys them from Tesco), but your more than welcome to start one. We in no way condone software piracy and do not wish to see any discussion relating to the ripping off of Core or Eidos - or any other software company for that matter. Finally, don't be afraid to jump into a discussion as we're a very friendly bunch who rarely pull the legs of(f) newbies - if at all... An enormous amount of topics posted on the alt.games.tombraider Newsgroup and Eidos forums concern the endless rumours that Tomb Raider seems to attract. The discussion of them is welcome provided that the information you produce is new and/or relevant. The following should help with the most common rumours. 1.3.1 Got any information on the next Tomb Raider game? Both Core Design and Eidos Interactive have kept the next adventure in the Tomb Raider series, which is currently in development and codenamed 'Next Generation', tightly under wraps. However over the past couple of weeks some details about the game has started to emerge. Check out http://www.3dactionplanet.com/tombraider/guides/tomb6/ for some screenshots. Here we present our efforts with what we know so far about this year's most eagerly awaited computer video game featuring Lara Croft due for release on PlayStation II and PC in November. The bulk of the game is said to be set in Paris were Lara is on the run from the police for the murder of... wait for it... Werner Von Croy. After a mad dash through the narrow streets of Paris the story then moves to the catacombs beneath the city before ending in a mental asylum. Sounds feasible to us as Core Design wish to change the direction of the game to attract a more mature adult audience. It is said Lara is in this situation after being framed for the murder and is expected to take place at the beginning of the new game with her attempts to clear her name uncovering a sinister, dark, criminal underworld led by a unscrupulous villain only known at this time as Eckhardt. Weaponless to start with this is where the new games major differences start to surface with past adventures as Lara is expected to earn cash so she can purchase weapons and other items from back street stores. One example given to us is that Lara finds a Comic on her travels and must pawn it for some cash. She is said to also be searching for five fourteenth century paintings by the famous "Obscure Painter" but whether she wants these to hock at the local pawnshop is also unknown. The famous Musée du Louvre Museum in Paris plays host to a spectacular robbery where she is supposed to obtain the five paintings before venturing into the cities ancient catacombs. Once here the much-loved death-defying leaps and jumps that made the original game so famous makes an appearance with some of the most mind-bending puzzles every seen in a Tomb Raider game. A new character called Curtis Trent is also expected to be introduced opening enthusiastic possibilities of multiplayer and/or rotating between characters just like in Project Eden. It is said that he joins forces with Lara so that they both can retrieve the five paintings that Lara stole in the first place. This is where the game moves to its final location expected to be Prague, Eastern Europe, where Lara ends her adventure in the Strahov Complex for a final showdown with Eckhardt. However the characters exact role and what he will actually do is still shrouded in mystery and we believe he may just provide skills that Lara simply does not possess. Some are suggesting that Curtis is an AI character and that no multiplayer option will be available whilst others conflict with different stories. Also rumours have surfaced that a spin-off game featuring Curtis is also in the pipeline and it is this game that will eventually take over from Tomb Raider. It turns out that Core Design would like to rid itself of the pressure of releasing a new game every year and plans to make updates for the game available over the Internet in downloadable components. The idea is that new characters, plots, etc., can be plugged into the game so players can play all new adventures and adding to the longevity of the game. But remember folks! Core also said it would release updates for the Tomb Raider: Level Editor via the web but we haven't had anything for almost twelve months now. While were on the subject of Level Editing the editing community may also get a much needed boast with some saying that the games new Level Editor being bundled with the PC version. Sounds plausible if they really want Curtis to take over from the series. The game play is also being completely overhauled with elements from role-playing games being introduced. This will take the form of what is termed 'attribute development' which awards better players with more game content and improvements to Lara's skills. So for example if you like to sprint all of the time, Lara will become more able of sprinting and will be able to sprint faster and for longer. Or alternatively if you want Lara to become better at climbing she can with a little practice. This allows the games developers to add areas into the game that are only accessible to players if they have reached a certain proficiency level. Suggestions say that it's these areas that will replace the 'hunt high and low for secrets' strategy. Although a lot of this article is speculation and unconfirmed we do know some information for sure. The model of Lara has been completely rebuilt from scratch and now has been replaced with 5000 polygons compared to the 500 polygons used by the original game. The environments that Lara finds herself in are also more realistic with much of the games architecture being taken from actual places and buildings. And the old Lego block game engine has been replaced with a brand new and up-to-date wire frame system instead with PlayStation II owners benefiting from Cores plans to exploit the consoles huge terrain capabilities. Finally rumours have surfaced that there is currently major bust-ups between Core Design and Eidos Interactive over the games name. Core Design wishes to rid itself of the world famous 'Tomb Raider' name claiming that Lara no longer just raids tombs. However Eidos Interactive is apparently keen to preserve the name and the heated internal debate may go on for some time. 1.3.2 When is the next Tomb Raider game due out? Tomb Raider VI was originally planned to be on sale now in stores. However because of the lack of take up for the next generation consoles (mainly the PlayStation II) Eidos Interactive and Core Design decided to give the games developers another year on it. At the time of writing a November release has been hinted. The delay will hopefully have it's benefits as we should get an all round better game for our money since it would have been in development for almost three years when it's released. 1.3.3 I've heard that there is a way to see Lara in the nude whilst playing the games! What is it please? Please refer to section 4.1 entitled "Someone please tell me the nude code!!!!!" It's _Lara_ you heathen! Pronounced Lah-rah or at least something sounding like that depending on your regional dialect... As a side note it should be mentioned that originally Lara was called Laura Cruz. Core Design decided to change it because Americans couldn't pronounce her first name properly and Cruz sounded too American when the games character was meant to be British. Please refer to section 1.5 entitled "The History of Tomb Raider" for more information on the games history. This has nothing to do with sales of the game. Announcements of TRC going Gold before it was released confused many as the term is generally associated with the music industry to describe when an album sells a few copies (I think it's a million). What it actually means is that the master CD-ROM has been made from which all of the other duplicate copies are made from and then packaged for us to purchase. The person behind the voice of Lara Croft is a Judith Gibbons, a thirty something from Derbyshire. In real life she is a ballet instructor who's favourite party trick is to creep up behind people and say, "No, that's not right. Go back to the beginning and try again." Chilling words to all those who has tried the assault courses. Core Design spokesperson, Susie Hamilton said: "We wanted an upper-class accent with character, a strong but sweet voice. Judith's was just right." 1.3.7 What's that piece of music called? All the music in the Tomb Raider series is original work written by the games composers. The music for the first three games was written and composed by Nathan McCree. A Peter Connelly can lay claim to the music of the fourth and fifth games. 1.4 What are the gold add-on levels, such as TRUB? Unfinished Business is the name given to the four additional add-on levels for the original Tomb Raider game. The plot involves Lara returning to Egypt, and then Atlantis, for further adventures. The two Egyptian levels (Return to Egypt, and Temple of the Cat) are collectively known as "Shadow of the Cat", and the two Atlantean levels (Atlantean Stronghold, and The Hive), "Unfinished Business". Somehow Unfinished Business stuck as the name to describe all four levels. The repackaged Tomb Raider; known as "Tomb Raider Gold" (TRG) in the United States, and "Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business" elsewhere (TRUB); comes as a two CD-ROM set with one disk containing the original game, and the second holding the other four add-on levels. It should also be mentioned that the four extra levels are also free for download from the Eidos Interactive website at http://www.eidosinteractive.com/ which can be run using the original Tomb Raider CD-ROM. These extra levels are only available for the PC and Apple Mac and there are currently still no plans to release them for the PlayStation. The sets of additional levels for subsequent games have been labelled for that game (i.e., Tomb Raider II: The Golden Mask, and Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artefact.) 1.5 The History of Tomb Raider [This section Coming Soon] 1.5.1 Chronolgié de Lara Croft I'm often asked what happens and when in Lara's life so hopefully the following will clear up any misunderstandings. If you want a more detailed look at the Divine Ponytails life then I suggest a visit to the Tomb Raider Travellers Guide website at http://trinity.westhost.com/tomb/ and look at what Ivans Chou and Brian came up with, with the help and notes of Vicky Arnold from Core Design. It should be noted that I've not added (or do I wish to try) any fan fiction, movie or comic material.
Published by Top Cow the comics are completely independent of the games and pit Lara against dinosaurs, various bad guys with guns, and her own [*spoiler*] butler [/*spoiler*] at one point. They're not in keeping with the Chronology above however as several details appear to have been changed to give her a more traditionally clichéd comics style super-heroine background (the ubiquitous "parents died in plane crash driving her to seek danger in the unknown" type mush...). The artwork is very nice however... Often makes appearances in crossover comics with Sara Pezzini from _Witchblade_. 1.6.1 What is Tomb Raider Fan-Fiction? "Everybody has a great novel inside them" - or so it is said. If you want to read Tomb Raider stories which your fellow Tomb Raider fans have created then I suggest you look at the Croft Times for a start and work your way through the rest of the sites listed in the appendix. It tends to vary in quality from "Bwah???" to "Neato!" and doubtless prolonged exposure to it will result in your own attempt sooner or later. Just remember that other old writers' quote (which is usually directed at the readers) "I've suffered for my writing… now it's your turn."
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