AutoMap

This neat feature keeps track of where your character(s) have been and gives a player access to a graphical map of exactly where they are (if the character isn’t lost), what direction they're facing, and where they have been.  The nice thing is that it’s shared.  If one character goes down and completely maps level 1, then all of the other characters in the game have access to the same Map.  Mapping ability is based on a character’s Perception ability (See Guild Statistics).  As a character becomes more powerful, they will be able to map more completely, not missing little things.  Once a square is properly mapped, it will not be "erased” by another character with a lower perception ability.

The map for a level is automatically updated as a character walks into unmapped areas.  Newly mapped areas will have small black squares with a little gray around them to show that is where a character has recently mapped.

Getting Lost

If your character manages to get lost (by hitting a Teleporter, or something), the Automap will no longer reflect where you are.  A lost character can find themself by either stepping back into explored territory or figuring out where they are (by using their perception ability).

Resizing the Automap

You can resize the Automap by dragging the corners or double-clicking on the map itself.  When the Automap is smaller than the base size, the map will center itself in the window, allowing the area closest to the character to be seen.

If the Auto Change Level option in the Character’s Control Panel is set to true, the Automap will load each level and display it as the character moves between levels.  If this flag is not set, the Automap will display the same level until another level is manually selected with the Scrollbar.

Redrawing the Automap

You may notice as you explore that the 'new' areas you step into are black squares with surrounding gray.  This can sometimes cause other map items (i.e. fog, water, etc) to look strange.  The reason for this 'grey mapping' is to show you where you most recently explored.  If you wish to redraw the Automap (i.e. get rid of the explore squares), you can Right Click on the Automap, or switch to another level.

Changing Levels

You can either use the scroll bar located in the Automap window, or use the ‘<‘ and ‘>‘ keys from any other window in the game to page through the levels.  The Automap will only allow levels that have been 'visited' to be accessible (i.e. if the deepest you have been is level 6, the Automap will not allow you to look at any levels deeper than 6 until somebody ventures down there!).

You can access the AutoMap from the Dungeon by pressing F8 or clicking on the Map command in the Dungeon Commands Window.

NOTE: even though you may have the Automap Window minimized, it will still be updated as you are walking through the maze just as if it was open.  This may cause the game to play slower on some systems.  If this happens, be sure to close the Automap window completely to increase the game play speed.

Move to the next section to read about Encounters.

Move to the previous section to read about the Dungeon.


Banish Spells

Taken from the art of demonology, spells of this kind are of ancient magic, of which little is known.  Used to banish demons and devils back to the planes of Hell from whence they came, the amount of damage inflicted by these spells can sometimes be extensive.  The effectiveness of these spells depends on the caster’s experience and the Magic Resistance of the monster.

Banish Devil

Base Level: 5	Guilds: Wiz (10), Hea

Required Stats: 13 Int, 15 Wis, 10 Con

COMBAT Spell, will cause 8 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Banished.

An ancient spell that invokes the fury of Hell to yank the specified target(s) back to the plane from whence they came.

Banish Demon

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Wiz (12), Hea

Required Stats: 12 Int, 14 Wis, 10 Con

COMBAT Spell, will cause 8 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Banished.

A dark spell of old, much like Banish Devil, this spell calls upon Hades to take back those who have escaped.

Move to the next section to read about Dispell Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Movement Spells.


Bind Spells

Once the Charm spells were mastered, the Mages guild then realized that once a creature had been befriending or dominated that a way to keep the creature under control was required.  It was for this reason that the Bind class of spells was introduced - to reinforce a companions ‘binding’ to make it harder for them to break away from their master.  Bind spells will not work on companions that have joined an adventurer free of will.

Control

Base Level: 3	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 12 Int, 12 Wis, 10 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will increase the Bind level of a companion.

This spell can be used to reinforce the Bind that is already imposed on a companion. Note: This spell will not function on companions that have joined you of their own free will.

Bind

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 14 Int, 14 Wis, 16 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will increase the binding level of a bound companion.	.

This spell  is a  more powerful version of Control that will renew the Bind on a companion when it begins to fade.

Domination

Base Level: 12	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 18 Int, 18 Wis, 18 Con, 18 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will increase the binding level of a bound companion.	.

This is the most powerful of the Binding spells, and in the hands of a master Mage, almost no creature can resist it.

Move to the next section to read about Heal Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Charm Spells.


Character Information

To play Mordor, you must first create a character (your Mordor alter-ego).  Each character requires several basic pieces of information that the game uses in various ways.

The name that you wish to be known by is used whenever another character wishes to refer to you specifically.  For example, when giving gold or items, a name is required.  When healing, your character’s name is needed.  Choose your name well since it cannot ever be changed again.  Only one character in the game can have a given name at a time.

The race you choose to be will determine your maximum age, how quickly you learn (gain experience) and how strong, intelligent, wise, healthy, charismatic and dexterous you can be.  There are several other important points concerning your race; they will be discussed later.  The race you choose will also determine the number of ‘stat points’ you have when creating your character.  You can discover this by exploring different race selections when creating your character.

Stats

There are six basic statistics (stats) that determine how well or poorly your character will do when faced with certain tasks (e.g. fighting, casting spells, etc.).  Some Items and Spells may require a minimum stat to use or cast.  Some guilds may also require a minimum stat to join.  Certain items found in the dungeon may modify a stat while equipped, but the unmodified (natural) stat is still used in some circumstances (i.e. the guilds look only at your natural unmodified stats when deciding if you may join.  Also, the ability to equip or use an item, along with the maximum spell points a character has, is based on a characters natural unmodified stats).  You may raise your natural stats by using certain items you can find in the dungeon.

The six basic statistics (stats) are described as to what effect they have on your characters abilities.

Strength (Str): Your character’s Physical Strength determines:

> Your chances of hitting a monster in combat

> How much damage is done when you hit a monster

Intelligence (Int): Your character’s Intelligence determines:

> Your chances of hitting a monster in combat

> The maximum spell points that your character is allowed

> Your ability to identify an item

> Your ability to identify a monster

Wisdom (Wis): Your character’s common sense and insight. This gives you:

> Your chances of hitting a monster in combat

> The maximum spell points your character is allowed

> Your ability to recognize a trap on a chest

> Your ability to identify an item

> Your ability to recognize a monster

> Your chances of leaving combat without being hit

Constitution (Con): Your character’s "healthiness" consists of:

> The number of hits you receive when you make a level

> The chance of being raised when dead

> Your ability to resist special attacks from monsters:

   poison, disease, stoning, aging, paralysis, "breath" (being fire, cold or other

   breath types), and spells cast by monsters.

Charisma (Cha): Your character’s beauty and leadership. It will determine:

> Your chances of having monsters join and become your companions

> How long a companion will stay with you

> The chance of monsters becoming hostile towards you

Dexterity (Dex): Your character’s speed and agility determining:

> Your chance of hitting a monster in combat

> Your ability to disarm traps

> How long it takes your character to open a chest while in combat

> The chances a monster has of stealing from you

> Your chances of leaving combat without being hit

> Your chances of surprising monsters

When a stat has reached its natural peak, it will appear in bold type on the screen.  For example: 26.

Attack/Defense (Att/Def)

These numbers vary with what items you are wearing, your statistics (strength, etc.), your characters fighting ability and experience level.  Some spells will modify your Att/Def, making your character harder to hit.  The Att/Def of your character is a percentage representation of how well you do in combat.  An Att/Def of 9/12 means that you have an 9% additional chance of hitting a monster while the monster has an additional 12% chance of missing you.  Keep in mind that as your character progresses and as you head deeper into the dungeon, the monsters will be more experienced and have a higher Att/Def.

Hits

Hits determine how much abuse and damage your character can take before dying.  They depend heavily on the level in your strongest guild.  Your constitution is also important in determining your maximum hit points.  You can receive "bonus" hits when you make a level if your constitution is above 16 (and you have not yet reached ML in the current guild you are receiving hits from).  When your character’s hits reach 0, you are dead.  You can be raised by another character or in the morgue (discussed later).  Hit points are expressed in a fraction.  For example, 12/12 means that you are at full strength, while 6/12 means you are at half strength.  The first number represents your current hits while the second number represents your maximum hits.  You can raise your hits by achieving higher levels in your guild or having ‘special’ events occur.  If you ever see 0/12, you will be dead.  Some guilds have the ability to cast spells (e.g. Healers) and heal lost hits.

Experience

Experience is used to determine how much your character has learned (from fighting, casting spells, opening chests, etc.).  When you have reached a certain amount of experience, your guild will allow you to "make level" which will increase your character’s powers.  Both your race and guild will affect how much experience is required to make a level in your current guild.

Gold

Gold in Mordor is practically weightless, so there is no limit as to how much your character can carry.  Gold is what makes the entire city function.  When buying items, making levels in guilds, raising dead characters or companions, you need gold.  It’s a good idea to use the bank to store your gold, considering that some monsters have the ability to steal it from you - and sometimes in great amounts.

Spell Points & Spell Level

Every character has a certain number of Spell Points that they can use for casting spells (even if they don't know any).  As a character's Intelligence and Wisdom go up, so do the maximum number of spell points that they have.  Like Hit Points, Spell Points are expressed in a fraction that show the current number of points and maximum number of points.  Every character also has a 'spell level', which is related to a character's current Guild & Guild Level.  The power of a spell is based on a character's spell level, which goes up as a character raises levels in their guild(s).

Move to the next section to read about Races.

Move to the previous section to read the Game Options Window.


Charm Spells

The pride of the Mages guild, these types of spells have the ability of controlling certain types of creatures ranging from Humanoids to Dragons and causing them to befriend the spellcaster, becoming their companion.  It is said that none can resist a Mage who has mastered this class of magical spells.  The effectiveness of these spells depends on the casters experience and the Magic and Charm Resistance of the monster.

Charm Insect

Base Level: 1	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 12 Int, 12 Wis

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

This spell will bind one or more insects to the caster, causing them to become companions.

Charm Animal

Base Level: 2	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 12 Int, 12 Wis, 14 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

An excellent spell for charming vicious animals, causing them to befriend the caster.

Charm Elemental

Base Level: 3	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 13 Int, 13 Wis, 15 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

Much like Charm Animal spell, this spell will cause a group of Elementals to join the caster.

Charm Humanoid

Base Level: 4	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 16 Int, 16 Wis, 18 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

One of the most useful binding spells, depending on the power of the caster and the resistance of the target, one can befriend almost any humanoid with this magic.

Charm Undead

Base Level: 5	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 15 Int, 17 Wis, 10 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

Unlike the other charm spells that affect the living, this spell affects the Undead and attempts to magically bind them to the caster.

Charm Giant

Base Level: 5	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 15 Int, 15 Wis, 16 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

A more advanced version of Charm Humanoid, this spell will affect only Giants and attempt to bind them to the caster.

Bind Animal

Base Level: 5	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 13 Int, 17 Wis, 10 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

A more advanced version of Charm Animal.  Depending on the power of the caster and the resistance of the target, one can befriend almost any animal with this magic.

Charm Monster

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 12 Int, 17 Wis, 10 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

This spell attempts to Charm creatures that no other charm-specific spell will work on.

Bind Elemental

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 15 Int, 15 Wis, 12 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

This spell is a more advanced version of Charm Elemental, Binding the more powerful of these creatures to the caster.

Charm Dragon

Base Level: 7	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 18 Int, 18 Wis, 18 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

Requiring strict concentration, this spell will attempt to bind one or more dragons to the caster.  Be warned that if the spell fails, the targets tend to respond adversely.

Dominate Demon

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 15 Int, 17 Wis, 12 Con, 17 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

Old magic derived from Demonology, this spell uses the powers of the earth to bind a Demon to the caster for an unknown period of time.

Dominate Devil

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 15 Int, 18 Wis, 12 Con, 18 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

The more advanced magic of control, this spell attempts to bind one or more devils and keep them with the caster by using the powers from the dark elements

Dominate Humanoid

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 16 Int, 16 Wis,  16 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 humanoids in 1 Group to be Charmed.

This will put humanoids well under the Charm of the caster. Like other Dominate spells, it is among the most difficult to break.

Dominate Giant

Base Level: 10	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 18 Int, 18 Wis,  18 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 giants in 1 Group to be Charmed.

This will affect giants with the same potency of  advanced Charm that constitutes the Dominate class of spells.

Soul Entrapment

Base Level: 12	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 18 Int, 21 Wis, 18 Con, 22 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 1 Group to be Charmed.

The most advanced of all charm spells, only a master Mage has the ability to cast this magic and Charm any creature, living or not.

Move to the next section to read about Bind Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Kill Spells.


Cold Spells

After mastering Fire, the Sorcerers guild sought to prevent rivals from having an equaling force and quickly moved to master the element of coldness so that both Fire and Cold were controlled by one group. The effectiveness of these spells depends on the experience of the caster and the Cold Resistance of the target.

Cold Blast

Base Level: 2	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 12 Int, 9 Wis, 9 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Frozen.

This simple spell creates a blast of air that is cold enough to kill most small creatures.

Ice Spray

Base Level: 5	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 16 Int, 8 Wis, 9 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 6 Monsters in 3 Groups to be Frozen.

This spell creates a wall of ice and blasts it towards the opponents.  The wave of liquid ice will almost certainly freeze the victim instantly.

Hail Storm

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 19 Int, 18 Wis, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 8 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Frozen.

A more advanced spell, casting this will create a storm of magical hail that crushes and  smothers its victims, attempting to freeze and shatter them.

Arctic Storm

Base Level: 12	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 21 Int, 20 Wis, 18 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 12 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Frozen.

The spell most feared by fire creatures, the storm that is invoked is a collection of all other cold spells, and is so intense that very few can survive.

Move to the next section to read about Electrical Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Fire Spells.


Commands

Below is a list of available commands in Mordor.  They are broken up into two sections.  Game Commands and Dungeon Commands.  Game commands will work in both the City and the Dungeon (any time).  Dungeon Commands will work only in the dungeon.  Dungeon Commands will also specify whether or not they are Combat or Non-Combat.

Game Commands

F1	HelpLesson

F2	Area Look (User List of Area)

F3	Character Stats Information

F4	Resistance Information

F5	Experience Information

F6	Character Information

F7	Guild/Abilities Information

F9	Buffer Information

F10	Game Options

F11	Toolbar Toggle

a	Ask character to Join

e	Equip Item (currently selected item)

d	Drop Item (currently selected item)

i	Item Info (currently selected item)

g	Give Item/Gold

p	Pickup Body

l	Drop Body

s	Swap Items

Tab Keys

Unlike standard Windows Tabbed Dialog Boxes, you must use the CTRL key to access the tabs in Mordor (see below).  The reason for this is so the user can access a specific tab from any window in the game.

Character Window

CTRL-l	Look in Room Tab

CTRL-b	Buffers Tab

CTRL-m	Miscellaneous Tab

CTRL-s	Character Stats Tab

CTRL-r	Resistances Tab

CTRL-c	Character Info Tab

CTRL-g	Guild Info Tab

Objects & Spells Window

CTRL-i	Items Tab

CTRL-p	Spells Tab

CTRL-o	Companions Tab

Party Keys

n	Select next Character

ALT-s	Switch to Character (updates all windows)

ALT-o	Party Options

ALT-l	Ask character to leave

ALT-1-4	Switch to character

ALT-p	Pool party's on-hand gold to current character

Automap Keys

F8	View AutoMap

<	Display Previous Automap Level

>	Display Next Automap Level

General Keys

ESC	Backout (of a Dialog Box, Text Box, etc.)

Miscellaneous Keys

SHIFT-F6	Outputs current character stats, statistics and information to CHARSTAT.TXT (in the Root Mordor directory)

You can also hit CTRL-<letter> to switch to any Character Window Tab or Item Window tab anytime in the game (i.e. Ctrl-P to switch to the Spells Tab of the Items Window)!

Dungeon Commands

f	Fight	Combat

d	Drop	Non-Combat

d	Defend	Combat

c	Cast Spell	Non/Combat

o	Open Chest	Non/Combat

1-4	Select Monster Group	Combat

u	Use Item (currently sel. item)	Non/Combat

t	Take Stairs, Chute, etc.	Non/Combat

j	Allow monster(s) to join	Combat

<space>	Stop fighting, opening, etc.	Combat

Shift 0-9	Cast Spell or Use Item in Buffer	Non/Combat

In general, the ESC key is for backing out of selections made during combat.  For example, say that during combat, you hit ‘c’ and then ESC, focus will be returned to the Main Dungeon Window.

It’s highly recommended that one uses the buffers - they will definitely help in speeding up the casting of spell and the using of items during combat.

A player also has the ability of ‘clicking’ on certain locations of the Main Dungeon Window to carry out a command.  The locations and linked keys are as follows:

Click Commands

Monster Label	(Same as ‘1-4’)

Companion Name Label	Name a Companion

Double Click Commands

Automap	Either Resets or Resizes the Automap

Party Character	Switch all windows to Character

Companion Picture	Get Companion Stats

Item in Items Tab	Use the Item

Spell in Spell Book	Cast the Spell

Buffer Entry	Cast Spell/Use Item in Buffer

Right Click Commands

Companion Picture	Attack Companion

Automap	Redraw/Refresh Level

Move to the next section to read the Control Panel.

Move to the previous section to read about Parties.


Companions

Companions can play a very important role when fighting.  A character that is by themselves will always be the sole target of every monster they encounter.  However, a character with a group of companions can even out the odds during combat by having the attacking monsters split their attention between the character and companions.  Also, having a group of bloodthirsty monsters fighting for you can be helpful.  When a monster becomes a companion, it can use its abilities (i.e. breathe fire, stone, spit acid, cast spells) against the group of monsters a character is fighting, and if a companion kills a monster your character is quested for, you will get full credit for the kill.  The only real disadvantage to having companions is that some of them can be rather greedy when sharing the treasure after the fight, and there’s always the chance that a bound companion may turn on its master.  Another disadvantage is if two or more characters form a party and each have their own companions, quite often the companions can become disoriented during battle and attack a party member!

To find out the current information on a companion, double-click on the companions picture in the Companions Tab, located in the Objects & Spells window.  A player can also drag and drop the companion into the store by dragging the picture of a companion.

Companions cannot be traded between characters and only a companion's master can heal or resurrect a companion.

Charming & Binding Companions

Unless a creature offers to join a character, the only other way for an explorer to gain companions is by the use of magic (usually either a Charm spell or an Item), which binds a companion against their will to serve the character.  When an adventurer does acquire companions, the initial spell used will ‘bind’ the creature at a certain level.  Depending on this level (and the level of the character), the monster may break free and either leave or turn on the character and attack.  The lower the ‘bind level’, the higher the chance of the creature breaking free.  Also, the lower the bind level, the easier it is for a creature to weaken the binding.

It is almost impossible for low level characters to regulate high level monsters, even with the most powerful spells.  The true power of companion regulation comes with experience and guild levels.

If a binding level reaches 0, the creature will always break free.

Increasing Bind Levels

A character can increase (fortify) the bind level of a companion by either casting a Bind spell (i.e. Mages can cast Control, Bind and Domination), using an item, or using the Bind services in the Holding & Confinement store.  A creature with a high Bind Level in the hands of an experienced character is very unlikely to break free.

As mentioned above, the level of binding inflicted on a companion during charming or refortification is dependent on the level of the spell and the level of the character casting the spell.

Combat & Companions

Having four companions for a single character is a great idea.  However, when two or more characters get together and each character has one or more companions, things can get confusing in battle, which can quite often result in a companion mistaking a character (and any companions they may have) as an enemy group and attack!  This can be especially dangerous with powerful magic users and fire-breathing creatures.  The possibility of a companion mistaking another character in the party and their companions for the enemy is based on the companion's experience (or character equivalent) level, which varies from creature to creature.  Creatures on the upper levels will usually have little experience in picking out the enemy and hit other party members more often while creatures from the lower levels will be much more advanced and experience, and can tell the difference between a party member and an enemy in the middle of combat.

The more bodies there are in combat, the better the chance that another party member (and their companions) will be mistaken for the enemy.  It's recommended that a total 'body' count for an adventuring group never exceeds 6.

Any player who organizes a party of four characters with each character having four companions is going to have a real bad day - especially if some of the companions can cast high level spells or can stone their targets!!

Handling Companions

How dedicated are your companions?

Monsters that offer to join are about 50% of the time dedicated to staying with the character (provided the character heals and tends to the creature as necessary).  The other 50% are just looking for some fun and could leave when they get bored or too beat up.  Keep in mind that even very dedicated companions will leave if they are hurting too bad and you don’t heal them.

Monsters that join the character free of will are different from bound companions in the sense that they cannot be re-bound and will not attack the character when/if they leave.

Regulating companions & dealing with surprise attacks

There is a good chance that if a bound companion breaks free of their master that they will turn and attack (quite often taking other weakly bound companions with them).  This is all dependent on the alignment of the creature versus the alignment of the character (oppositely aligned creatures will always attack), and whether or not the creature is afraid of the character.  Evil creatures tend to attack any character when they break free.

It is strongly recommended that a character does not take on a companion that is significantly more powerful than themselves, since there is always the slight possibility that the companion could break free of binding and surprise attack the character and/or the party.

One can also select to attack their companion by right-clicking on the companions picture.

Naming your Companions

To make things a little more personal between a character and their companions, one can assign a Name to their companions by clicking on the label that holds the companion name.

Learning about your Companions

Another major advantage to having a monster as a companion is that it gives the character time to learn about the monster, its abilities, strengths and weaknesses.  A character with a good ID skill (combined Intelligence, Wisdom and Guild Level) can usually deduce almost all information about a companion, using it to their advantage if they have to end up fighting that type of monster.  Characters with a low ID skill won’t be able to learn very much about their companions and will probably have to end up using the ID features of the Holding & Confinement store in the City.

Healing & Resurrecting your Companions

One can heal their companions by either casting a heal spell from the Spell Book, or using an Item that casts a spell.  Characters cannot heal the companions of other character in the party, since most other characters companions are only partial to their ‘master’ or ‘friend’.  A companion that is hurt will be able to break a binding level much easier, or become very restless.

One can also raise their companions from the dead while in the dungeon with standard resurrect spells.

Moving & Reorganizing your Companions

You can move and reorganize your companions by dragging and dropping the companion picture onto another companion slot.  This allows the player to place stronger companions in front, and weaker (or spell-casting) companions in the back.

Selling your Companions

One advantage to collecting companions is the ability to Sell them in the city for profit.  Holding and Confinement will pay handsome prices for powerful creatures.  On the flip side, the more powerful creatures are harder to contain and regulate than the lower, weaker ones.

There are only two ways to get a completely identified monster in the library: either have it as a companion and study it, or take the creature to the Holding & Confinement store and have then identify it for you.

Only one spell-casting companion will be able to cast a spell each round.

A character can obtain companions by casting a "charm” spell, using an item that casts a "charm” spell, or allowing monsters to ‘j’oin (if they offer).

Move to the next section to read about Dying.

Move to the previous section to read about Monsters and Treasure.


Control Panel

A character can access the Control Panel by Pressing F10 in either the City or Dungeon.  From here, you can set various options.

Available options

Hide

Setting this option to True will make it so that no other character’s can pick you up and carry you anywhere.

Preload Character

If you select this option, the character will be automatically loaded (without verification of the password) the next time Mordor is started.

No Perception Msg.

Selecting this option will disable any perception messages (i.e. "You are pretty sure you are standing on an Anti-Magic square”) while you are walking through the dungeon.

Auto Change Lev.

Turning this on will cause the Automap to automatically update the map to reflect what level the character is always on (if character is not lost).

No Party Sound

Selecting this will disable all background combat sounds (from other characters and companions in the party).

Available Functions

Window Control

With this section, a player can reset the size of one or all windows back to the original size.  One can also resize (adjust) windows to match the current resolution by clicking on the Adjust to Display button.

Game Options

This will display the Game Options screen, allowing the user to set volume, etc.

Move to the next section to read the Hints & Tips.

Move to the previous section to read about Commands.


Creating a Character

When you select Create Character from the Main Menu, the window to the left will appear.  It is fairly self-explanatory.  In order to save a Character, you must select a Name and a Race.  On the right hand side of the window are your character’s statistics.  You can modify these by clicking on the adjuster (up and down) arrows to the right of the stat box.  The amount of extra "points” you have to disperse to your character’s stats are shown below the stats.

On the right side of the Create Character Window is a section that shows you what Guilds the character is currently capable of joining (with the selected Race).  Bold represent guilds your character can join given the selected stats, race and alignment. Guilds that are not in Bold represent those guilds which your selected race and alignment can join, but not with your current stats.  Guilds that are in Italic represent those guilds that your selected race can join, but not with your selected alignment (either Good, Neutral or Evil).

This window is only for creation purposes.  With some guilds, a starting character just can’t select the stats to join (the requirements for stats are too high) - the way to join these guilds is to create the character, run around as a Nomad (or another guild) until you find enough items to raise your stats to the minimum requirements of the guild.

Once you’ve chosen your Name, Race, Alignment, Sex and Stats, you can then save your character and start playing.

Passwords

Even though the game will prompt you for a password when you create a character, if you do not wish one, simply press ENTER twice.  This will allow you (or anybody else on the computer) to run the character without requiring a password.  If you change your mind later, you can always change your character's password!  Also remember that passwords in Mordor are case sensitive!  If you do enter a password for you character,  be sure you remember it or write it down somewhere.

If you wish, you can click on the "Tutorial” button for a basic walk-through on creating a character, buying items, and encountering your first monster(s).  For beginners, this is recommended.

Move to the next section to read about the Game Screen.

Move to the previous section to read about Race Statistics.


Damage Spells

The creation of these spells came about by accident as one Healer realized that their healing magic could be turned to inflict harm.  Spells of this type are excellent combative/defensive spells that can instantly kill victims just as easily as the originals can be used to heal.  The effectiveness of these spells depends on the experience level of the caster and the Magic Resistance of the target.

Cause Wounds

Base Level: 2	Guilds: Wiz, Hea

Required Stats: 11 Int, 11 Wis, 8 Con, 11 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Killed.

When cast, this spell attempts to rupture the internal and external tissues of the target(s) and kill them.

Cause Heavy Wounds

Base Level: 4	Guilds: Wiz, Hea

Required Stats: 12 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Con, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 6 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Killed.

An advanced form of Cause Wounds, this spell not only attempts to rupture the tissues of the designated targets with more force, it also attempts to implode the victim as well by bursting the organs.

Power

Base Level: 5	Guilds: Wiz (6), Hea

Required Stats: 15 Int, 15 Wis, 12 Con, 15 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 6 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Killed.

Not much is known about how this spell functions, but it causes the life force of the targets to be yanked from their bodies.

Harm

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Wiz (7), Hea

Required Stats: 17 Int, 16 Wis, 13 Con, 16 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 7 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Killed.

A more devastating form of Power that functions slightly differently; this spell drains the life force of its victims and feeds it to the earth.

Draining Touch

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Wiz (7), Hea

Required Stats: 17 Int, 17 Wis, 12 Con, 14 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 1 Monsters in 1 Groups to be Drained.

A deadly spell, when invoked and the caster touches the designated target, their life force is usually drained into the ground, leaving a lifeless shell.

Cause Fatal Wounds

Base Level: 7	Guilds: Wiz (8), Hea

Required Stats: 17 Int, 17 Wis, 14 Con, 16 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 9 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Killed.

This hideous spell causes the bones of the designated targets to explode,  causing instant death.

Word of Death

Base Level: 12	Guilds: Wiz (15), Hea

Required Stats: 21 Int, 21 Wis, 18 Con, 21 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 14 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Killed.

One of the most feared magic spells in the world since there are few known resistances, Word of Death, which is known by only the most advanced spell casters, calls upon the wrath of Nardun, the God of Pain, and asks him to dispose of the caster’s targets.  When summoned in full, it is said that Nardun can never be overcome.

Move to the next section to read about Element Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Mind Spells.


Dispell Spells

These types of spells were actually created in the beginning by the Healer’s guild to banish any poor soul that a resurrect failed upon, turning the victim into the walking dead.  Now since the Resurrect spells have been mastered and no longer produce these results, the study of this class turned towards defending one’s self from any undead creatures that posed a threat.  The effectiveness of these spells depends on the casters experience and the Magic Resistance of the monster.

Dispel Undead

Base Level: 3	Guilds: Wiz, Hea

Required Stats: 9 Int, 12 Wis, 6 Con

COMBAT Spell, will cause 8 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Dispelled.

A useful spell when attacked by undead, any targets affected by this spell will instantly break down and become dust .

Dispel Elemental

Base Level: 4	Guilds: Wiz, Hea

Required Stats: 15 Int, 15 Wis, 15 Con, 17 Cha

COMBAT Spell, will cause 8 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Dispelled.

Even though the true nature of most Elemental creatures is unknown, this spell is said to act much like Dispel Undead whereas it breaks apart the Elemental targets and turns them to back into the elements from which they were formed.

Abolish Undead

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Wiz, Hea

Required Stats: 16 Int, 18 Wis, 18 Con, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Dispelled.

The most advanced Dispell spell ever devised, the magic induced when invoked is so great that it usually annihilates all targets.  The only drawback is that the magic is usually too focused to affect a large number of targets.

Move to the next section to read about Resistant Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Banish Spells.


Dying
“If an individual can be found in one piece and services can be paid, Death is only an inconvenience.”

- “Marlow”, Local Morgueworker

Isn’t half as serious as it sounds.  Since Magic is available in Mordor, so is life after death.  However, under most circumstances, it will cost a character.  The most common way of dying is in combat - either being outright torn to pieces or blown away by a spell.  If your character dies, you can either be raised by another character (who uses some sort of raise dead spell), carried to the morgue and raised, or wait for rescue.  Keep in mind, however, that being raised by the morgue will quite often cost 1 point of constitution and a good amount of money.

Dealing with Death

When a character dies, they have the option of waiting for another character to come and get them, or wait for a rescue party to show up.  On the upper levels, waiting for a rescue party usually doesn’t take too long, but as you venture deeper into the dungeon, it’s better to rely on your other characters to help out.

The main disadvantage to waiting for rescuers is that your character will age in the process.  Sometimes just days, but on the lower levels, it can take MUCH longer
(months, and even years)!

Once a character is in the morgue, or has a form of resurrect cast on them by another character, they have the option of accepting the raise and living once again.

Complications

When a raise fails on a character, they are usually laid back to rest as they were before the raise was initiated.  However, sometimes things get out of hand as one tries to lay the character back to rest, and much like an experiment gone wrong, the character is suddenly yanked back into the living with much of their life force drained away.  When this happens, it's known as 'complications'.  The chance of complications is based on the age of the character compared to the maximum age of the characters race.  This means that a younger character has a less chance of getting complications than an older character.  When complications occur, they can leave your character drained of life and stats, so be careful when accepting a raise - make sure the percentage of success is worth the risk.

Rocked Characters

Rocked characters are BAD news.  One can only rock characters by casting a movement spell (i.e. teleport, ethereal portal) that lands a character (or party) in solid rock.  Once a character has been embedded in solid rock, only the Retrieve Soul spell can grab them out of the rock.  After that, only the Resurrect spell can bring them back from the dead.  Unfortunately, Rocked characters will always have complications.

Rocked characters are different from Stoned characters, which require the Restore Flesh spell to be resurrected.

Getting too old

As your character gets near its maximum age, there is a slight chance that they may die of old age.  The only known way around old age is by magical items that are said to lower the actual age of a character.

Getting Items & Gold from Dead Characters

The only way to get items or gold from a Dead character is to use the Exchange Items feature from the Main Menu.  Both characters must be in the same place in order to complete an exchange!

Move to the next section to read about Parties.

Move to the previous section to read about Companions.


Electrical Spells

After discovering the destructive force of this element, the Sorcerer Masters went to work on controlling this strange element that they didn’t understand.  For decades, they worked to make spells of this class controllable, and in the end succeeded.  The effectiveness of these spells depends on the experience of the caster and the Electrical Resistance of the target.

Shock

Base Level: 1	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 12 Int, 9 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 2 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Shocked.

This basic spell creates an electrical arc from the caster's hands to the designated targets, attempting to instantly electrify and kill them.

Lightning Bolt

Base Level: 3	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 14 Int, 9 Wis, 9 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Electrocuted.

Summoning the power of the storm, this spell pulls electricity from the ground and blasts it into the midst of one’s targets.

ThunderBolt

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 16 Int, 10 Wis, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 6 Monsters in 3 Groups to be Electrocuted.

A more advanced form of Lightning Bolt, this spell  triples the damage and affects more targets.

Static Mesh

Base Level: 7	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 18 Int, 10 Wis, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 7 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Electrocuted.

Very little is understood about this spell, which creates an   electrical mesh in the middle of one’s targets and explodes into an electrocuting fury.

Electric Field

Base Level: 11	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 17 Int, 12 Wis, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 12 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Electrocuted.

The most devastating of electrical spells, very few creatures can withstand the shock delivered from this white-hot field of electricity.

Move to the next section to read about Mind Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Cold Spells.


Element Spells

In the Sorcerer’s continued study of destruction, which included the study of Acid, Disease and Poisons, birthed spells of the Element type.  Deadly in nature, these spells affect many monsters that other magics cannot affect.  The type of resistance associated with these spells can also vary depending on the spell.

Poison

Base Level: 2	Guilds: Vil (6), Sor, Hea

Required Stats: 10 Int, 10 Wis, 9 Con, 14 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Choked.

This useful spell introduces a deadly poison into the system of the casters targets. This fast-acting toxin causes paralysis of the respiratory system, asphyxiating even the strongest creatures.

Leprosy

Base Level: 4	Guilds: Vil (12), Sor, Hea

Required Stats: 12 Int, 12 Wis, 12 Con, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 3 Groups to be Rotted.

When invoked, this spell causes the target to become infected with such an advanced case of Leprosy, that quite often, the victim falls apart and dies horribly.

Acidic Spray

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 10 Str, 10 Int, 12 Wis, 10 Con, 15 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 6 Monsters in 3 Groups to be dissolved.

Causes an acidic wall to fly at ones attackers corroding them upon contact.

Flesh to Stone

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 15 Str, 16 Int, 18 Wis, 16 Con, 14 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 1 Monster in 1 Group to be Stoned.

A  chilling, deadly spell derived from creatures capable of turning flesh to stone, the caster simply needs to touch its target to turn them into a bird perch for eternity.

Paralyzing Death

Base Level: 10	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 18 Str, 20 Int, 18 Wis, 16 Con, 14 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 8 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Killed.

This spell has the ability of the caster to nullify the target’s nerves, stopping them in their tracks and ceasing all life functions.

Move to the next section to read about Kill Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Damage Spells.


Encounters

“Fear is of  the unknown, and the unknown is all that exists below!”
- “Charnal”, Apprentice to the Master Seeker

Exploring the dungeon would be completely boring unless there were monsters trying to terminate your existence.  An encounter can either be peaceful (represented by a ‘peace’ sign) or hostile (represented by a skull and crossbones).  If the encounter is peaceful, the monsters may decide to attack you eventually, so don’t plan on sticking around the room for too long (a high Charisma will delay them from eventually attacking you).  The first hostile act you take towards a group of monsters will cause them to become hostile towards you.  This includes attacking monsters, casting a spell at the monsters, or attempting to open a monster's chest.

You may walk through any room containing monsters (either peaceful or at war).  If you are peaceful, they will leave you alone as you walk through - this is often useful if your character is beat up or if you don’t want to bother with small encounters.  However, if you are at war, the monsters will try to terminate you as you maneuver through the room.

As you venture further into the dungeon, your character may have problems properly identifying monsters within the first few rounds.  How long it takes for your character to recognize a monster depends on your characters Intelligence, Wisdom and Experience.  After a few rounds, your character should be able to recognize the monster(s) properly.

Companions & Monsters offering to Join

Sometimes one or more monsters may offer to join you and become your companions.  When they do offer to join, you can press ‘j’ to allow them to follow you.

Once a companion, a monster will fight for you in combat and will act as an alternative target for the monsters you are fighting.  Your Charisma will determine how likely a monster is to join you and once joined, how long it is likely to stay around.  You may heal and raise a companion just like it was another character.  If you don’t keep a companion at full hits there’s a better chance that they will leave you.

Whenever a companion dies, you will automatically carry them - if they can be carried (ever tried to carry a giant or dragon?).  If you pick up another character, you will drop any companion you might be carrying.  If a companion dies and you are already carrying one, the companion with the most hits will be carried.  A character will never drop a character to carry a dead companion.

For more information on Companions, see the Companions section later in this Helplesson

Additional Topics:

Monsters

Attacks

Combat

Treasure

Move to the next section to read about Encounters and Monsters.

Move to the previous section to read about the AutoMap.


Encounters: Combat

“He who flees and runs away, lives to fight another day!”
- “Kodan”, Master of the Paladin’s Guild

Default combat takes place every 2 seconds.  And to make things more interesting, It also takes place in real time - whether you’re ready or not. Every round, you have the option of selecting what you wish to do.  You can fight, cast a spell, open a treasure container (if any), or just run.  The symbol in front of the monster group tells you which group you are currently fighting and what your selection was for that round.  To change the current monster group, hit either a number key for the new group (I.E. 1-4) or click on the monster.  You can only fight one monster group at a time.

Listed below are the cursors and their description:

Symbol	Selection	Associated Key
+	Fight Chosen	f
[	Defend Chosen	d
>	Cast Spell Chosen	c
•	Nothing Chosen (or Open Chest)	Nothing, <space>, or ‘o’

If auto-fight isn't turned on (default) in the Party Setup (i.e. begin fighting as soon as non-peaced monsters are encountered), the player can 'turn on' fighting by pressing 'f'.  Keep in mind that if the monsters are at war with you, they don’t care what you do - they’ll attack you every round.  Sometimes a party of characters may want to stop fighting to allow other party members to kill the monsters and gain experience - one can turn off fighting (or defending) by pressing the space bar.

Defend is an option usually only used when in a Party, however, if a player is experienced enough, they can use Defend when running through a room right before a monster strikes.  Defend will increase a characters Defense (while selected) by 50% during combat.  For more information on commands during combat, see the Commands section of this Helplesson.

It is in combat that your character gains the most experience.  The tougher the monster, the more experience your character will gain.

Sometimes, your character may become "pinned”.  This means that your character cannot learn any more (gain experience) until they reach the next level in their current guild.  It also means that your character has enough experience to make level and is 1 experience point away from making the next level.  This quite often happens when a character is looking for a quested monster.  The only way to become "un-pinned” is to make a level.

Move to the next section to read about Encounters and Treasure.

Move to the previous section to read about Encounters and Monster Attacks.


Encounters: Monster Attacks

Besides using their claws, swords, or whatever weapons they have, many monsters have forms of attack that the player must be aware of.  Below is a list of known attacks, but beware that there are rumors of other forms of attacks existing that have not yet been documented!

Poison

Will cause the player to lose hit points every few seconds.  Poison can wear off (a high constitution helps this) but does not wear off very quickly.

Disease

Will cause the player to lose less hit points every few second than poison, but takes longer to wear off.

Stone

Like Medusa in Greek mythology, some monsters can turn characters to stone.  Getting unstoned either requires a special spell or a trip to the morgue.  One point of Constitution will always be removed from the character being unstoned.  Getting stoned is not the same as Rocking a character (which requires some sort of teleport/movement spell).

Age

Will age the character up to five years.

Paralysis

Paralysis is very dangerous.  The player cannot fight or leave the room.  Additional defensive bonuses due to the players ability to move, parry, etc. are lost so the monster has a better chance of hitting you.  Paralysis will wear off after some time (a high constitution helps it to wear off more quickly) but quite often only after your character is dead.

Electrocute

Some monsters have the ability to Electrocute a character when they make physical contact.  This form of attack can be very dangerous and is usually delivered by Water creatures.

Drain

This attack will attempt to reduce one or more of a characters stats, or drain hit points!

Breath

Being fire, cold, electrical, or gaseous, this will cause extra damage to your character in addition to the monsters attack.  Monsters will use their breath attack more often if they feel threatened.

Acid

Some monsters have the ability to spit acid.  This form of attack is rare and requires good aim, but when successful, it can be very deadly.

Spells

Can be very dangerous, especially if the monster is of a high level.  Since monsters have no guild spell restrictions, certain monsters can cast a wide variety of spells.

Beware that high level spell casters can even throw spells of the likes that even the guilds do not know!

Critical Hit

Will do extra damage to your character - quite often enough to kill you.

Backstab

Many thieving monsters have the ability to hide in the shadows and backstab your character for extra damage.

Destroy Item

Some monsters can destroy items you are carrying or wearing.  The chance of the item being destroyed is based on the power of the item and the power of the monster.  If you find a powerful item, it should not be able to be destroyed by a weak monster.  Monsters that destroy items that are found on the lower levels are greatly feared because they can destroy any item!

Steal Item

Thieving monsters are good at this.  They can only steal items that you are carrying, not items you are wearing.  If they get a clear shot at stealing an item, they will pick the easiest one to grab at that time.  If a monster grabs an item and feels it’s worthless, it’ll bash it against the wall, destroying it, and continue to fight with you, hoping to steal another item.  If the monster feels that the item is valuable, it will run away.

Steal Gold

Thieving monsters aren’t always brave, so if they steal gold from a character, there’s a good chance that they will run away.

For both stealing attacks above, the chance is based on the monster’s dexterity, thieving ability, and your dexterity and thieving ability.  So, a thief has less chance of being robbed than a non-thieving character.  Gold or other Items held in the bank are safe, but unavailable while in the Dungeon.

Move to the next section to read about Encounters and Combat.

Move to the previous section to read about Encounters and Monsters.


Encounters: Monsters

Rumor has it that the dungeon is more than ten levels deep and contains hundreds of different types of inhabitants.  Since few have ventured beyond the first level, little is known about the creatures that lurk below.  Some are Humanoid and good in nature, some are more Animal and Neutral in nature.  However, some are Demons, foul and evil.  Basically, if one can imagine it, one can probably find it somewhere in the dungeon.

Lairs

Some monsters tend to stay in the same place all the time - these locations are known as ‘Lairs’.  If you encounter a monster in its lair, you will usually find more goodies as well.  Beware that many monsters that are found only in lairs can be more dangerous than the ones who wander around.  There are also some creatures that will only be found in their lair and nowhere else in the dungeon - because of this, some of these monsters tend to carry unique items.

Resistances

Some creatures are rumored to have natural resistances to certain elements and magics while others are said to require powerful and sometimes magical items to defeat.  Unfortunately, the only way to find this out is usually by trial and error.

Below is a collection of known facts about some of the creatures that roam the upper levels.

Outcast Goblins & Kobolds

These little guys are everywhere on the first level.  Small and quick, they’re excellent for target practice and make good snacks for giants.  They’re not very dangerous except to inexperienced characters.  They quite often give useful Potions and Tomes as well.

Clean-up

The acidic nature of these little creatures keep the dungeon floor nice and shiny.  While the Clean-Up is usually docile, they have a habit of attacking anybody or anything that comes around.  These creatures aren’t hard to kill, but they can spit acid, which makes them dangerous.

Dungeon Bear & Giant Owl

These creatures are the most common Animals on the first level.  To a beginning character, the Dungeon Bear is deadly, but to an experienced character, both of these creatures are good for gaining experience.

Giant Spider & Giant Centipede

The insects of the upper levels aren’t too dangerous, but can poison a character if they are able to hit them.

Zombie

These undead creatures are mean and hard to kill, since they don’t really care about much.  Known for giving items that raise stats, these creatures are also good for gaining experience.

Footpad & Gredlan Rogue

The thieves of the upper levels, these Humanoids are very good at stealing items from a character, which also means they quite often have stores of treasure and items.

The above information should give a starting player enough knowledge to know what to run away from and what to stay and fight.

As a player becomes more experienced, running into new monsters isn’t as threatening since the player may be able to relate the name of the monster in some fashion to previously encountered monsters.  However, a new monster that has a name like no other is completely unknown, and caution should probably be used when fighting such creatures.

Also, it’s good for a player to keep track of what type (i.e. humanoid, undead, demon) a monster is (which can generally be guessed by the assigned monster picture).  The reason for this is so a player knows which "charm” spell (i.e. ‘Control Humanoid’) may work on a monster.  Also keep in mind that monsters of like types generally share the same abilities (i.e. insects poison, slimes spit acid, etc.).  Quite often, Mages have to go by Trial and Error for charming monsters and getting companions.  ‘Dominate Undead’ just doesn’t work on a Dragon.

Move to the next section to read about Encounters and Monster Attacks.

Move to the previous section to read about Encounters.


Encounters: Treasure
“Go down there?!  I would rather burn in hell than enter that dark place!
What?  How much gold did you say?  Well, since you put it that way...”
- Anonymous

Running around and killing monsters can be great sport, but even the most devoted warrior would quickly lose interest without some type of reward.  Like you, monsters run around and fight each other and collect valuables for themselves.  Almost all monsters in the dungeon will have a little gold and sometimes items as well.

Chests & Boxes

After an encounter with a group of monsters (if you survive), you will collect all of the gold that you can find.  However, if the monsters do have a type of container, they will store their valuables in it.  That’s where the thieving skills come in handy.

There are two types of containers.  Chests and Boxes.  You’ll learn the difference between the two as you find them.  Chests contain the best treasure while Boxes contain your average find.  Keep in mind that quite often the better the container, the deadlier the trap.

Examining Traps

When you are in a room with a container, you will find that the lower right hand corner of the Main Dungeon Window displays some information.  The first bit of information (e.g. Exploding Trap) is the trap (if any) that you think is protecting the container.  Beneath the trap are symbols which represent how sure you are of the trap and how sure you are that you can disarm the trap.

The '•' characters represent how sure you are that the trap you see is the trap on the container.  Four •'s represents very sure, while 1 • represents you have no idea.  In front of the '•' characters, you will see the symbols that represent your chance of disarming the trap successfully (either '+','*', or '-' characters).  ‘*’ would represent 50% chance while the ‘+’ and ‘-’ signs represent a better/worse chance.  In the above picture of the trap name and disarm information, it is noticed that the character is around 50% sure that it is an Exploding Trap (by the two •'s), but doesn’t really know how to disarm it (the ‘-’).  A '+++ ••••' would only be seen through the eyes of a very experienced thief!

Quite often, your character will come along a Magically Locked chest.  The only way to open one of these chests is with the "charm of opening" spell, which various guilds (e.g. Thief’s guild) have access to.

Sometimes, a character will encounter monsters that are so much quicker than themselves that they don’t have time to look very closely at the container to identify whatever trap it may have until after combat.

To open a chest during peacetime or combat, either press ‘o’ or click on the chest.  If the chest is Magically Locked or Unidentified, nothing will happen.

Knowing the Traps

When triggered, some traps will affect all characters in the party while others will only affect the opener.  Below is a list of the known traps that can be found on chests and their affects.

Disease Spores

This trap releases gaseous spores into the air that will Disease the opener and any other party members.

Poison Gas

A burst of poisonous gas that shoots out and poisons all of the characters in the vicinity of the chest.

Exploding Box

Explodes upon contact, inflicting damage on all Characters in the group.

Fire Trap

A huge ball of fire that explodes and envelops the opener and any other characters in the area for a good amount of damage.  Characters who are Fire resistant will take less damage, but will still be affected by the exploding pressure of the flames.

Slime

A disgusting goo that instantly attaches itself to one of the items belonging to the opener and eats it away.

Fate

Sometimes good, sometimes bad.  Never predictable.

Teleporter

These traps will teleport the opener to a random location on the same level.  Once a teleporter trap is triggered, the chest then becomes untrapped.

Fear

Will scare away all companions of the opener.

Withering

Will age the opener four weeks.

Blackout

A pulse of Anti-Magic that will remove all resistances and modifiers (i.e. Levitation) from the opener unless the resistances or abilities come from an equipped item or natural resistances.

On all of the above traps, the intensity of the damage done is based on the level of the monster that set the trap.  The higher level the monster, the more deadly/effective the trap is.

Once a container is opened, all of the surviving party members (or single character) will divvy up the loot, sharing it evenly.  Most of the time, items will only be found in chests, even though there is the remote possibility of finding an item outside of a chest.

Chests that are identified and not magically locked can also be opened during combat as they are during non-combat, except that it usually takes a number of rounds and makes your character much easier to hit.

Move to the next section to read about Companions.

Move to the previous section to read about Encounters and Combat.


Fire Spells

Fire was the first of the elements sought to be controlled by the Sorcerers guild.  Spells of this class inflict damage with heat, which can range from a burning candle to a fiery inferno.  The effectiveness of these spells depends on the experience of the caster and the Fire Resistance of the victim.

Firebolt

Base Level: 2	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 12 Int, 9 Wis

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Fried.

This simplest of Fire Spells creates a small fireball and hurls it into a group of monsters, burning anything that gets in its way.

Blue Flame

Base Level: 4	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 14 Int, 10 Wis

COMBAT Spell, will cause 2 Monsters in 1 Group to be Fried.

A more advanced spell of flame, when invoked, the caster is able to hurl a blue colored magical flame at a group of monsters, inflicting extensive damage.

Flamesheet

Base Level: 5	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 15 Int, 14 Wis

COMBAT Spell, will cause 6 Monsters in 3 Groups to be Fried.

Derived from the Firebolt spell, this spell will summon a wall of fire and hurl towards ones opponents, usually causing the targets to be burnt  to cinders.

Pillar of Fire

Base Level: 7	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 18 Int, 18 Wis, 16 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 7 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Fried.

When invoked, this spell creates a devastating pillar of fire that forms directly in the middle of one's opponents and arcs outwards, enveloping all who are caught in the flames.

Sphere of Flames

Base Level: 10	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 20 Int, 21 Wis, 18 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 10 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Immolated.

This spell creates a gigantic sphere of fire and hurls it into the midst of ones opponents.  Once the sphere contacts living matter, it explodes in an immolating blast of fury.

Burning Air

Base Level: 12	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 21 Int, 21 Wis, 18 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 14 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Immolated.

The deadliest Fire spell of all, this hideous magic will cause the air to instantly turn white hot around one’s opponents, killing  almost anything that moves.

Move to the next section to read about Cold Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Spells.


Frequently Asked Questions

This section is a collection of frequently asked questions about Mordor.  They are broken up into four sections: City, Dungeon, Combat and Other.

City

Q:  What does the "0 1 1 0” to the right of an item in the store mean?

A:  This means that there are 0 Unaligned, 1 good, 1 Neutral and 0 Evil items of that particular type in stock.  To get the price, select the item, then the alignment you wish to look at.

Q:  How come some items are so expensive?

A:  Because they have special abilities, or are rare.  You may notice that items such as "Padded Leather Armor” cost nearly 500,000, and it’s just Leather Armor.  However, it offers more defense to the wearer than Leather Armor and requires a higher guild level for a character to use.  Some items even raise stats while they are equipped.  However, once your character grows and runs the lower levels, 500,000 will become play money.

Q:  I want to join another guild.  When should I do this?

A:  It is recommended to get a character to Level 30 Nomad before joining another guild.  By this time, your character has built up enough hits and experience to survive the first few levels of the new guild and will be able to stay out longer to collect experience and grow faster.

Dungeon

Q:  How can I tell what other Characters are in the room?  How do I carry them?

A:  Press F2 (see Commands) to look in the room (or click on the Look tab in the character window) and then ‘p’ (or click the Pick Up button on the Dungeon Command Window) and type in the character’s name.  If you are carrying a companion, the companion will be dropped to pick up the other character.

Q:  How do I open a "Magically Locked Chest”?

A:  You need to be able to cast the "Charm of Opening” spell, or find a magical item that unlocks chest.  Some guilds have this, some do not.

Q:  How come I keep on getting lost in the Dungeon?  How does this happen?

A:  If you hit a Teleporter (or any other type of square that changes the location of your character) and it lands you in an area that nobody has been in before, you’ll become lost until you reach an area that somebody has been in before.  Depending on your character’s perception ability, sometimes you will be able to locate where you are and what level you’re on.  Rotators will also disorient your character, causing you to become lost if you step in an unmapped location after hitting one.

Q:  How come my companions don’t stay around, or attack me all the time?

A:  Charming a companion is only half of the work.  Once you get a companion, you must keep the bind level strong enough so that the companion cannot break free.  If you are trying to charm tough monsters with a beginning character, you probably don’t have the experience to keep hold of the monster - especially if you don’t continue to reinforce the ‘bind level’ of the companion.  The way around this is to increase your characters guild level(s) before charming certain monsters, or use a more powerful charm and bind reinforcement spell.  It’s also a good idea to keep a companion at full hits, since they lose interest (and binding) when they’re wounded.

Q:  How come my companions hit my other characters and their companions during combat?

A:  If you have a large party of characters and companions (i.e. 4 characters with 2-4 companions each), there's bound to be some mistakes made by companions as to who the enemy is during the rush of battle (especially if the attacking companions are from the upper levels).  The best way around this is to keep the whole body count (companions & characters) around 6 or less.  For more information, see the Companions section on Combat.

Combat

Q:  I keep on dying.  How can I survive?

A:  Try to keep your Strength and Dexterity around 12 or so (for beginners) and don’t wander too far from the city.  The farther away your character gets from the city, the nastier the monsters get.  Also, there is strength and reliability in numbers.  A group of two or three has a much better chance of surviving than a single character on their own - however, it takes longer for a character to advance since experience and gold is shared with all.

Q:  How come I can’t see some monsters?

A:  Because they are invisible.  In order to see them, you must be able to cast a spell or find an item that allows you to see them.  It’s almost twice as hard to hit a monster that’s invisible.  Same goes for a character that’s invisible being attacked by monsters that can’t see them.

Q:  How come some monster’s names change while I’m fighting them?

A:  Because your character mis-identified the monster and later realized what it really was.  Mis-identification decreases as a character becomes more intelligent, wise, and powerful.

Q: How do I run away from monsters?

A:  During Combat, you can use the cursor keys to move around just as you can when there are no monsters in a room - you can therefore use this ability to "run away”.

Other

Q: My new magic user keeps on dying.  How can I help them out?

A: Unless you have a stash of stats to give to the character or have taken them to level 30 Nomad, it can be hard for a starting magic using character to survive.  A good technique is to put them behind a party of 1 or 2 fighters who are in defend mode.  Put the magic user in back and cast away!  The one or two fighters in the front will take the brunt of the attack (and not kill the monsters since they are in defend mode), allowing the magic user to zap the monsters and gain experience!  This technique works for any type of character.

Q: What does it mean when my character is "Pinned”?

A:  It means that your character cannot learn anymore (gain experience) until they reach the next level in their current guild.  It also means that your character has enough experience to make level and is 1 experience point away from making the next level.  This quite often happens when a character is looking for a quested monster.  The only way to become "de-pinned” is to make a level.

Q:  I’m quested for a monster that I can’t find and I’m pinned!  Help!

A:  In this situation, it’s best to either go to the Seer for help (to find the monster), or grab another one of your characters and run them around (build them up) and look for the monster for your other character.  If you find the monster, grab your other character, run to the place where the monster is and kill it.  Rarely will a character be quested for a monster they have never seen.  Be sure to keep track of where you meet what monsters just in case this happens.  If all else fails, one has the option of forfeiting a quest when they try to make a level (and are pinned).

Q:  I have all of these Items, but I don’t have the money to identify them.  What should I do?

A:  Sell them!  At first, having money is more important then knowing what they are.  If they’re special items, you can just buy them back later when you get more gold.  It’s recommended that a Character sells the first few items it finds then uses that money to identify other found items.

Q:  What guilds should I join and work on to create the best character?

A:  That depends on a number of things - do you plan on having the character be a "team player”, meaning run in lots of parties with other characters, or be independent?  A party of characters can consist of characters that are specific guild types (i.e. don’t have any other guild abilities other than their main guild).  However, if a character wants to survive on their own, they should take the time to build up other abilities in other guilds so that they can be independent.  Of course the best combination is a party of independent characters - however, this takes much more time to create than the previously mentioned choices.

Move to the previous section to read about Beginner Hints & Tips.


Game Options Window

When one selects the Options button from the Main Menu, the window to the left will be displayed.

Game Options

From here, you can turn on or off the Music and Sound FX.  You can also set the desired volume (provided that your sound card supports adjustable volume), which will be saved.  Also available are the following options:

No Party Sound

This will disable the background sounds made by other characters in a party during combat.

No Msg. Ding

Checking this will disable the message ‘dink’ sound that’s heard whenever a message appears in the Message List box..

No Help Sound

This will disable the "HELP!" sound that's heard when a party member is near death.

No Toolbar

This will remove the Toolbar that appears when the game is in play.  Useful for making more screen room in 640x480 resolution.

No 3-D

The No 3-D option either turns on or off the 3 Dimensional look to the game’s windows.  This may speed up the drawing of the windows on some systems.

No StretchBlt

No StretchBlt is for Video Drivers that cause Mordor to display black or gray squares when the maze and monsters should be shown.  Turning this on will cause the game not to shrink or stretch the game’s pictures (this feature has been added to compensate for older video drivers).

No Load Automap

Selecting this will tell the game not to automatically load the Automap when play beings.

No AutoSave

The option is for systems that don’t have a large enough disk cache to keep up with Mordor’s general disk access. Switch to this option if your system appears to be slow while walking in the dungeon due to disk hits.  With this selected, the game will only save when you enter the city or a character dies.

No Automap Cursor Blink

This will disable the blinking of the Automap directional cursor.

Use Sound Canvas MIDI

This will cause Mordor to use the MIDI files that were designed specifically for a Sound Canvas-compatible Sound Card (digital sound).  Using this setting with a normal MIDI sound card will not cause any problems - it may even make the music sound better!

It’s highly recommended that one try the Sound Canvas MIDI with a normal sound card, because this setting may sound better even without a Sound Canvas-compatible card!

Screen Saver...

If you purchased the CD-ROM/Enhanced version of Mordor and installed the Screen Saver, you can run the Screen Saver configuration from the Options window.

NOTE: If you test the screen saver while in Mordor, no Music or Sound will be heard (if you have it selected).  This is because Mordor must receive a system-wide message when the saver is activated before it can release sound to the screen saver, and simply testing does not send this message to the game.  When the Screen Saver is activated by the Windows OS, Mordor will release sound control and minimize for the Saver.

Font Settings

This section allows the player to set the Proportional (fix spaced) Font and the Non-Proportional (non-fixed spaced) Font and Font Sizes for the game.  Selecting the Default button will return the fonts to their original settings.

Having the game set to the default Font settings will cause forms to be loaded quicker and display faster on slower machines.

File Backups

This feature was built for security.  It allows the player to back up the game data files whenever necessary (it's no fun playing Mordor for 500 hours and losing your Data for unknown reasons).  It is up to you as to how often you want to back up the game data, but it's recommended that players do it at least once every week.

It is not recommended that players use this feature as a 'Load & Save' option for restoring games because of dead characters, etc. since that is not what it was intended for.

Move to the next section to read about Character Information.

Move to the previous section to read the Game Overview.


Game Overview

Mordor was built to be as realistic as possible.  With this in mind, characters can interact with other characters, pick up and resurrect dead characters, cast spells and exchange items, and even wander around the dungeon with each other.  This is what makes the game really enjoyable. In order to interact with another character, they must be in the same room (or in the city), or in the same party.  Wherever the selected character was last run (before exiting the game) will be the place they will stay until run again.

Another feature that separates Mordor from most CRPG (Computer role-playing Games), is that a player need not "save” the game or character since it operates in real-time and the "saving” is all done automatically without the player even realizing it.  If your character dies, there is no way to go back and "load” the character before they died.  The game just doesn’t work that way.  So, when an event happens, it’s permanent.  This definitely makes the game more challenging.  It’s also nice when a player’s machine accidentally "shuts down” - to load the game back up and find your character exactly the way they were before the accidental shutdown.

Game Interface

The Windows in Mordor have been created to be similar to each other in use and look.  To add flexibility to the game interface, Character Windows ( e.g. Stats, Items, Companions), can be resized.  When a Character Window is resized, the font within the window will resize accordingly to fit the new size of the window.  To reset a window to it’s base size, use the Control Panel.  A player also has the option of setting which fonts they wish to use for the game from the Option section of the Main Menu.

Areas where a user can type in information or Drag and Drop an object ( e.g. Item, Spell), are shaded in a light-tan color.

Pausing the Game

Anytime the Main Mordor Window is minimized, the game will be paused.  It does not matter if one is in combat or lying poisoned in the dungeon.  Absolutely no game events will take place during the time that the window is minimized.

Move to the next section to read about the Main Menu.

Move to the previous section to read the History of Mordor.


Guilds: Statistics

Guild Statistics

Below is a list of the guilds and information on each one.

Guild	AH	ML	MH	EP	QP	Str	Int	Wis	Con	Cha	Dex	G	N	E
Nomad	5	30	1	8	20	1	1	1	1	1	1	X	X	X
Warrior	6	28	2	16	20	14	7	5	10	3	8	X	X	X
Paladin	5	29	2	19	25	14	9	9	10	16	15	X
Ninja	4	25	2	21	35	13	11	7	9	3	15	X		X
Villain	4	26	2	21	25	15	14	14	11	6	16			X
Seeker	4	27	2	18	20	10	13	13	11	5	13	X	X	X
Thief	3	21	2	15	15	8	12	8	6	5	17		X
Scavenger	4	24	2	18	20	11	8	8	9	4	14	X	X	X
Mage	3	27	2	27	15	6	11	13	8	10	14	X		X
Sorcerer	2	29	2	27	10	6	14	13	11	5	8	X	X	X
Wizard	2	41	2	30	15	8	18	18	13	6	14	X	X	X
Healer	2	28	2	32	15	8	14	14	8	7	14		X

AH: Average hit points received when making a level before reaching the level of ML.

ML: The Maximum level up to which AH hit points are received.  After reaching ML, MH hit points are received.

MH: Hit points received when making new levels after reaching ML.

EP: Experience Parameter.  The higher the number, the more experience required to make a level.

QP: Quest Parameter.  The percentage chance that a character will be assigned a quest after making a level, requiring the quest to be completed before making the next level.

The Str, Int, etc. are the minimum stats required to enter the guild.  G, N, E, represents the alignments allowed in the guild.

Note:  A character will only receive AH hits when making a level in a guild if that guild is the 'highest' guild the character is a member of (e.g. a level 25 healer will not gain any hits making level 26 if the character is also a level 30 Thief.  The Healer would need to make level 31 (because they were also a level 30 Thief) before they received any hits - and by that point, ML would have been passed, so the character would only receive MH hits).

Guild Abilities

In addition to stats, Guild Abilities determine a character’s power and awareness, especially as a character becomes a higher level in the Guild.  When a character is Fighting, Casting a Spells, Mapping, etc. the highest (not combined) ability out of all joined guilds is used (i.e. if a character is a Level 30 Nomad and Level 30 Warrior, Fighting Ability will come from the Warrior’s guild).

Below is a list of some special abilities and the rate at which the guilds gain these abilities.

Guild	A	B	C	D	E	F
Nomad	5				7	5
Warrior	2		9	5	12	2
Paladin	2		5	2	10	3
Ninja	7	2	5	8	10	6
Villain	6	4	1	3	8	4
Seeker	3.5		3		9	9
Thief	9	9			6	3
Scavenger	7.5	5		1	7	3
Mage	2				5	3
Sorcerer	2				5	2
Wizard	2				5	2
Healer	2				5	2

The numbers represent the level of the specified "ability”.  The higher the number, the better.

A - Thieving Ability	E - Fighting Ability

B - Backstabbing Ability	F - Perception Ability

C - Critical Hit Ability

D - Multiple Swings

Multiple Swings represents a character's abilities to swing a weapon additional times in Combat .  A character wielding a 2 swinged weapon with an additional swing learned from a guild will have the chance of swinging 3 times if each swing is successful in killing a foe.

A Character’s perception ability is used to notice things in the dungeon (I.E. Anti-Magic squares, rotators, etc.).  In addition to the guild’s perception level, a character’s Guild Level, Intelligence and Wisdom also affect the level of the ability.

Move to the next section to read about The Library.

Move to the previous section to read The City Guilds.


Heal Spells

The first of all spell classes to exist, the Healers guild built the foundation for spells that had the ability to heal, take away disease, poisons and other ailments.  Shared with the Mages guild in good faith, a spell caster with these types of spells is a definite asset to any party of characters.  Spells of this class either Heal or Raise the dead.

Minor Heal

Base Level: 2	Guilds: Pal (6), Vil (6), Mag(4), Hea

Required Stats: 13 Int, 13 Wis

NON-COMBAT Spell, will heal hits.

This general heal spell is useful for removing small wounds only, so it will not help any other type of  injury..

Cure Poison

Base Level: 3	Guilds: Pal (9), Vil (9), Mag (6), Hea

Required Stats: 13 Int, 13 Wis, 13 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will remove Poison.

Very useful to any adventurer, this spell will remove any form of poison that has been inflicted on a victim.

Heal

Base Level: 4	Guilds: Pal (12), Vil (12), Mag (8), Hea

Required Stats: 15 Int, 15 Wis

NON-COMBAT Spell, will heal hits.

A more powerful heal spell, this magic is used to repair both small and large wounds.  However, just as Minor Heal, other ailments are not affected.

Cure Paralysis

Base Level: 4	Guilds: Pal (12), Vil (12), Mag (8), Hea

Required Stats: 6 Str, 11 Int, 11 Wis, 10 Con, 6 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will remove Paralysis.

This spell will remove any type of paralysis that has been inflicted upon the receiving character.

Cure Disease

Base Level: 5	Guilds: Pal (15), Mag (10), Hea

Required Stats: 15 Int, 15 Wis, 12 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will remove Disease.

Another useful spell, invoking this magic will remove any type of disease that the receiving character may be suffering from.

Raise Dead

Base Level: 7	Guilds: Hea

Required Stats: 13 Str, 16 Int, 16 Wis, 13 Con

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the dead.

This spell recalls the spirit of the receiving characters body and attempts to reunite the two.  Be aware that this spell will only bring the recipient to life, not heal them.

Restoration

Base Level: 7	Guilds: Hea

Required Stats: 17 Int, 17 Wis, 12 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will heal hits.

Restoration is the most advanced Heal spell.  It usually renews a character to full health after only one casting.

Cure

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Hea

Required Stats: 12 Str, 18 Int, 18 Wis, 12 Con

NON-COMBAT Spell, will heal hits and remove Poison and Disease.

This spell will both heal the receiving character’s wounds and remove any ailments that the character may be suffering from, such as poisons and disease.

Restore Flesh

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Hea

Required Stats: 18 Int, 18 Wis, 16 Con, 15 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise a stoned character.

Specifically used to return a stoned character to flesh, this spell is the only resurrection spell which will restore those who have suffered such a fate.

Mass Heal

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Hea

Required Stats: 16 Int, 16 Wis

NON-COMBAT Spell, will heal hits for every member of party.

An advanced heal spell that heals the entire party.

Resurrect

Base Level: 12	Guilds: Hea

Required Stats: 21 Int, 21 Wis, 14 Con, 18 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the dead and restore recipient to full health.

A more powerful version of Raise Dead, this magic also brings the receiving character back to full health.

Move to the next section to read about Movement Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Bind Spells.


Hints & Tips
“You are now an explorer and soon will be a keeper of knowledge.
Use this time to educate yourself,  and then educate others as they arrive. Prepare to be a teacher.”
- “Crashland”, Master of the Guilds

Mordor is a very large game and things can quite often seem to be just a little overwhelming for beginners.  Here is compilation of helpful hints and tips that may save a player the time and frustration of dying too many times.

Creating a Character

Be sure to read the Race Statistics and Guild Statistics before creating a character.  That way, you know what you’re dealing with.  For a first character, it’s recommended that you make them strong and fast - not too stupid - and as ugly as possible.  Taking points from your Charisma and putting them into your others stats is recommended - unless you plan on being a Paladin or Mage.  It’s highly recommended that one keep their Int and Wis at least 10 so Tomes can be used if found (items that raise stats).  Remember - your first character is there to check things out, find items and build a foundation for the other characters to come.

Starting Out

As mentioned above, be sure to go over the Race Statistics and Guild Statistics before choosing which guild(s) you would like to join.  It is recommended that a character remains with the Nomad’s guild until level 30 is reached.  This is because Nomad’s learn quickly and gain more hits per level that most guilds.  Besides that, they can use items earlier than most of the other guilds and are pretty good at collecting treasure.  Once level 30 is reached, you should have found many useful items that your character can use when acting under the chosen guild(s), and your character should then change to the next guild of choice.  It will now be easier for your character to survive because the A/D and maximum hits you built within the Nomad’s guild will transfer with you.  You may also have noticed that some guilds require stats that are just too high for a beginning character to have.  The way to get into these guilds is to find items that increase your character’s stats permanently and use them (i.e. Tomes and Potions vs. apparel).  You can quite often find enough of these items while you are attempting to reach level 30 in the Nomad’s guild.

Multiple Guilds

It’s good to have a character that is balanced (i.e. Join a guild with good Fighting Ability and one with good Spell Casting abilities).  Be sure to keep the levels in these guilds balances (i.e. having a level 100 Warrior and level 10 Sorcerer doesn’t give the Warrior much in the way of spells).  However, be sure not to join too many guilds, since only one can be worked on at a time!

Auto Mapping

This can be a lifesaver.  Always keep track of where you are.  If you get lost (I.E. Teleporter, etc.), the AutoMapper will find you if you step back into known territory, or if your character figures out where they are (by using their perception skill).

Also remember that the dungeons can sometimes be quite tricky.  Keep in mind that certain types of monsters will only appear in certain places and that some teleporters will always take you to the same location.  This can make traveling through the levels much easier and quicker.  When exploring new areas, it is highly recommended that a character is levitating - it’s no fun stumbling across a chute that drops you down three levels.  Also, if a character’s guild has a high Perception ability, they can quite often identify what they are standing on, see secret doors, or realize if they hit a teleporter.

Companions

Always try to have companions, but make sure you don’t get monsters that you can’t handle.  It is fairly easy for a Mage, but for all other guilds, items must be used (i.e. scrolls that charm).  Keep in mind that a group of monsters you are fighting will attack the closest target - hopefully one of your companions.  Spell casting and breathing (i.e. Mages and Dragons) companions are some of the most effective, since their abilities can affect the whole group of monsters you encounter.  Always keep a watch on a companions Bind Level, for they can turn on and attack your character and the party!  Also keep in mind that companions can mistake other party members (and their companions) for the enemy in the heat of battle if there's too many bodies in the party (total characters & companions).  It's only recommended that one keep 2-4 companions for each character only if the party is 2 characters or less.  It's no fun getting hit by another characters companion that can stone!

Wandering Around

When you first start out, stay as close to the city as possible.  The further away you go, the nastier the monsters get and the longer it takes to get to the safety of the city.

Combat

As a rule of thumb, always watch your hits.  Some monsters will have the ability to Poison, Disease, Breathe, and even spit Acid on you.  Keep these monsters in mind.  However, one of the deadliest attacks is Stoning.  Every time a monster with this ability hits you, there’s a chance you will be turned to stone.  If this happens, you will die, and 1 point of constitution will always be removed when you are raised.  It’s usually best to either run away or blast them with a spell before they can get to you.  Also try to recognize the most powerful monsters in a party of monsters.  Take them out first then move on to the easier ones.

Running Away

When you first start out, you’ll probably end up doing more running that fighting.  Since you start with only 15 hit points, a pair of Kobolds can finish you off in two rounds.  So, if you ever get hit, remember that they can hit you for the same amount or harder in the next round, or even as you try to leave the room.  It’s best to fight, run away to the castle, heal, then go back down and get revenge.  Remember - he who flees and runs away lives to fight another day!

Gold

In the beginning, the amounts of gold a character deals with may seem inconsistent.  When you first start out, you'll have 1,500 gold to use as you see fit.  That’s enough to buy the starter items that you will need.  However, what happens when you find your first tome that costs 500,000 to identify?  The best way to build up your gold base is to sell the first items you find (that are worth anything) instead of waiting to find enough gold to identify them.  Once you get the base started, your character shouldn’t have any major problems that can’t be solved by finding a few other expensive items to sell.

Dying

Isn’t much fun.  Don’t let this get you down - your character can always be picked up by another and resurrected.  After which you may be able to go back and get even with the same buggers that killed you.  Revenge can be sweet!

Spells

Magic is one of the most powerful things in the game.  It can be used to heal and destroy.  Everybody should become a member of at least one Magic Users guild.  Keep in mind that beginning Magic Users aren’t too powerful and have trouble their first few levels casting spells successfully on monsters.  However, after a few levels are made, the power begins to build.

Treasure and Chests

After killing a group of monsters, you’ll hopefully find some type of container to poke around in.  Chests are the best because they usually hold more powerful items and more gold, while boxes aren’t much better than just gold.  Beware of the traps that can be triggered when opening a chest.  As you go deeper, Teleporters and Slime traps become more common, making things more interesting.  It’s usually a good idea to have a Thief around when you feel like gathering loot.

Other Characters

It is recommended that a player keep multiple characters.  What happens if your Thief dies on level 4 and you don’t have anybody to get them?  That’s what another character is for.  Starting out, I would recommend creating a Giant with maximum Strength and Dexterity to go and pick up dead characters on levels 1 & 2.  Equip them with a Battle Axe, and voila!  You’ll be surprised at how well it works.  However, if all else fails and you have the money, there’s always the option of hiring "Rescuers” in the Morgue to bring back those characters who you can’t get to.

Parties

As mentioned above, it’s a good idea to keep multiple characters.  Not only for rescuing other characters, but to join up together and run around with each other.  Remember that parties are optional, but if you do decide to run around with other characters, remember that it’s very nice to have a balanced party of a Fighter, Magic User and Thief (but remember that one character alone who is a member of multiple guilds can achieve the same balance).  Also, a group of characters are much safer together than by themselves and can generally run deeper (which allows them to find stranger monsters and neater items).  Keep in mind that while a party can be advantageous in the sense of survival, there is also an experience penalty.  The more characters that are in a party, the less experience a party member will earn when they kill a monster, etc.  Solo characters will gain the most experience the quickest while a party of four will be much safer, but will require much more time to get experience!  Also, as mentioned above in the companions section, be sure not to have too many companions if you have a party of 3 or more characters since companions can mistake other party members for the target!

Move to the previous section to read about the Control Panel.

Move to the next section to read about Frequently Asked Questions.


History of Mordor

The History of Mordor

“‘And when the darkness fell from the land, all was well’ wrote the scholars.  However, since anything that once existed can never cease to exist, this evil must still be out there to be found!”
- “Torak”, Historian of Mordor

“`And when the darkness fell from the land, all was well’ wrote the scholars. However, since anything that once existed can never cease to exist, this evil must still be out there to be found!”“Torak”, Historian of Mordor

Following the War of The Races, the land of Mordor, shrouded in darkness for hundreds of years, started to thrive and attract settlers and adventurers from far and wide. Trading posts became towns and towns flourished into cities. Today there are hundreds of cities in the land of Mordor. The largest of these cities is Marlith, which was built on the ruins of the ancient city of Rohin, known to historians as “Dejenol”, which translates to “City of the Mines”. It was at this location that vast Mines of Dejenol were built - over fifteen hundred years ago by the Dwarven inhabitants of Rohin. These Mines were created for the extraction of precious metals, including Platinum, Adamantite, Mithril, and Gold, as well as necessities like Iron and Copper.

The facts surrounding the sealing of the Mines and the fall of Rohin are shrouded in mystery, but are believed to be mostly accurate. Legends have it that Rohin was the most powerful and wealthy city in all of ancient Mordor, owing most of its wealth to the minerals and ores taken from the Mines. As the metals were depleted on the upper levels, the miners dug deeper to find new sources. Over a period of centuries, the Mines became so deep that it could take several days to descend and work in the lower levels. As best as can be determined, somewhere on a lower level, a floor gave way. It was from this location that foul creatures began to appear, killing everything in sight. As word reached the city of this catastrophe, search parties were organized using only the best and most skilled miners. The few survivors recovered from the lower levels had glazed and terrified looks and referred to the Mines simply as “The Doorway to Hell”. From that time on, most of the search parties that entered the Mines were never seen again. Those who did return told stories of creatures and happenings that were so mystical and magical as to be nearly unbelievable.

In a matter of days, strange events were occurring closer and closer to the entrance of the Mines and the city. It was then, that a decision to close the Mines was made and a massive door was fashioned from a combination of ElvenOak and Adamantite, the only combination believed strong enough to entomb the creatures and the magic of the Mines. Once the Mines were sealed, a lack of work and commerce caused the population of Dejenol to dwindle. It was during this period that an evil wizard accompanied by an band of thieves blew the door from its mounts and stole it for the valuable Adamantite.

The Wizard and his thieves were caught and the remains of the door returned, but the damage had been done. Creatures had escaped from the Mines and built up their numbers, hiding in the forests near the city. The city elders decided to punish the thieves and their master by locking them inside the Mines. This time the door was sealed with magic so strong that no-one would be able to open it without the secret knowledge of the spell used to seal it.

It was after the Mines were once again magically sealed that a great battle began between the inhabitants of Dejenol and the creatures that had escaped. Due to the lack of warriors in Dejenol, a summons was sent out to all of the lands. From this calling, the most skilled warriors and magicians came from all over Mordor and from foreign regions as well.  Many of the creatures from the Mines were not susceptible to normal combat. The battles for Dejenol lasted 2 years, during which the city was destroyed, the entrance to the Mines lost, and most of the inhabitants were killed or driven mad. A few strong souls did survive and lore has it that they guarded the entrance to the Mines until they died, spending their final days recording what they knew, thought they knew, or had heard about the Mines and the creatures within. Those who have entered and returned speak of vast treasures, magical items, and unexplainable occurrences.

Over a thousand years passed before the entrance to the Mines was once again discovered. With this discovery, the elders of Marlith began making preparations to open the Mines and explore its depths. Scholars studied the manuscript remnants found near the Mines’ entrance to glean what knowledge they could about the Mines from the ancient scribblings. Equipped with this knowledge, a limited number of explorers were permitted inside the Mines. At first, many who ventured into the Mines were killed instantly, despite being well equipped with the best weapons and magical skill. However, as the explorers’ experiences of fighting, magic, and their knowledge of the Mines increased, so did their chances of survival. With exploration came newer knowledge, and with this new knowledge came a healthy respect for the long-lost Dwarves, who created this vast underground world, and for the creatures that still dominated the dark Mines. In the past year, more explorers have ventured into the Mines than ever, eradicating the creatures they’ve encountered, and forcing the nastier monsters deeper into the darkness.

It was around this time that a rumor began about a Prince of Devils, who was said to exist in the deepest depths of the mines. At first, many believed the creature to be a myth, used purely to instill fear into would-be explorers. Yet, those with magical powers who have astrally scanned the mines swear that they sense the presence of a dark, evil, and powerful being.

Even though nothing more is known about this Prince of Devils, the guilds have decided to add the destruction of the dark being to their list of goals - and for those who accomplish this task, they will receive the greatest gift of all - Eternal life in the pages of history.

And now, having nearly run out of experienced explorers, a decision was made to train new adventurers to survive in the Mines, hence the city elders formed The Guilds. The Guilds train “students” in the skills and arts that are essential to surviving and prospering in the Mines. It is now up to these new Guild members to explore and return with information about the mines, which have taken on a new name to those who dare enter...

The Depths of Dejenol.

Move to the next section to read  the Game Overview.

Move to the previous section for the Introduction.


Introduction

I would like to extend a special thanks to the authors of AVATAR - a multi-user game on CDC’s private supersystem, PLATO.  Their fine creation, which was the spark for this type of game, was the incentive for this program.

Mordor is the result of over a year of programming, testing and planning by an individual who wanted to create a new, more involved, Dungeons and Dragons game for the Windows environment.  I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I have enjoyed creating it!

Mordor offers fun not only to the beginner, but to the most advanced and serious player as well.  There is no absolute goal in the game; the players will make their own as they go along - this makes the game as realistic as a player wishes it to be.

Mordor is based on many ‘role-playing’ fantasy games where you create your own characters and take their roles in an ‘alternate reality’, which in this case is the land of Mordor.

This Helplesson has been written as to give you only the information you will need to start the game.  There are many things that you will not be told about the game.  Part of the fun is fighting a monster you’ve never seen before, or finding an item you know nothing about.  The game is far too large to explain and you would soon become tired reading about it.  Go discover it!  Role-playing is an adventure!

I recommend that you read the entire Helplesson thoroughly before playing the game (it’s not that long).  As you become accustomed with the game, you will learn which sections contain the bits of information you will need from this Helplesson, so don’t worry about all of the information - just suck in as much as you can and go for it!

The game may appear to be complex to the beginner, but don’t be concerned - just dig in and enjoy!  It’s an adventure!

Thank you very much for your interest and I hope you enjoy the game!

David Allen

Mordor CIS Address: 102033,242

Internet Address: 102033.242@compuserve.com

Move to the next section to read  the History of Mordor.

Move to the previous section for the Table of Contents.


Items

The term ‘item’ refers to any object that your character wears, carries, or can use.  Your character has 40 item ‘slots’ where your items are listed.  You can buy items in the store, find them in the dungeon, or exchange them with other characters.

You can learn what an item does in the store by identifying it.  Items can modify any one or more of the following: attack, defense, stats, hits, age, spell points, resistances, swings, and damage done to monsters.  Some items can cast a spell and will show how many ‘charges’ or times you can cast that spell listed next to them.  Certain items weigh you down, causing you to drown in water or quicksand and increasing the damage you take when you fall into a pit.

In general, If you wish to use an item, you must Equip it - however, some items (i.e. Tomes, Rods, Potions, etc.) do not need to be equipped to be Used.  A weapon must be equipped before you can fight with it.  To cast a spell from an item, you Use the item.  You can Give and Leave (Drop) items also.  An item may require certain minimum stats and may be restricted to certain guilds.

Aligned Items

Quite often, you will find items that are ‘aligned’.  This means that only a character of the given alignment can use the item to its fullest potential.  If a Neutral character Equips an item that is aligned Good, the character will only benefit from half of the items abilities.  If a Good character Equips an item that is aligned Evil (and vise versa), the item will attach itself to the character and become cursed - having adverse affects on the character in the process.  Items that are Unaligned (no alignment) can be used by all characters without any problems.  Using (versus Equipping) an item of a different alignment will have no affect, still taking away one ‘charge’.

Class Restriction

Some items will be 'class restricted'.  This means that a characters current guild must be a high enough level in order for the character to equip or use the item.  Some items cannot be used by some guilds (and will not be listed in the item information).  A 'non-class restricted' item is usable by a character who is a member of any guild (and high enough level in that guild) to use the item.  A good example is a level 30 Nomad and a level 1 Mage.  If the character attempts to equip an Iron Dagger (which is not class restricted), they will be allowed to because the level 30 Nomad part of the character can use the item.  However, if the character attempts to equip an item such as Padded Leather Armor, they will not be able to use it (even though their Nomad level it high enough to use it) because it's a 'class restricted' item, and their Mage level is only 1 (which is too low to use the item).  For more information, see the Item Information, section of the Game Screen topic.

Item Classes

Every item is of a certain "class”, for example a Bronze Sword is of the "Sword” sub-class, which is a member of the "Weapon” class.  A Dagger is of the "Dagger” sub-class, which is also a member of the "Weapon” class.  So,  Swords, Daggers, Maces, etc. are all members of the Weapons class.  Same with armor sub-classes (i.e. Leather Armor, Chain Armor, etc.), these are all members of the "Armor” class.  Now, a character can only Equip one item of a given class at once - this means that a character cannot use two types of "Armor” or two items in the "Shield” class at once.  Same goes for Rings, Stones, etc.  When an item is identified in the store, depending on the ID level, your character will be told what class the item is a member of.  Items such as Potions, Tomes, Dust, etc. cannot be equipped at all, just used.

Metals

Most of the metal items in the General Store are made from Bronze.  This metal is readily available, making Bronze Items inexpensive.  Any other type of item (i.e. Weapon) made of a stronger is usually found in the dungeon.  Below is a list and brief description of known metals:

Bronze

Many Bronze items are only found in the store - the reason is because they’re cheap to make.  A Bronze item does well for a starting character, but as one ventures deeper into the dungeon, it just doesn’t cut it.

Iron

Items made from Iron are common in the dungeon and are slightly stronger than Bronze and tend to offer more protection or attack capabilities.

Steel

Much harder than iron, weapons made of steel usually offer quicker and stronger strikes.  The armor from this metal is also more reliable.

Adamantite

Stronger than Steel, items forged from Adamantite offer the protection and swiftness of steel and are generally more durable.

Rumor has it that a metal called Mithril, which is twice as strong as Adamantite, can be found deeper in the dungeon.  However, very few have seen items made from this substance and there is currently no proof that such items can be found anymore.  It was also heard that something even stronger than Mithril was found once, but such a rumor quickly died out.

A character can also find many other items that really don’t specify the substance they are made from.  One of them is the Lethe Dagger, a swift wicked blade constructed by magical iron used by Thieves and Mages.  Another is the Brown Cloak, which is widely found on Level 1 by starting adventurers.  The best thing to do with any item that a character hasn’t seen before is take it to the store and completely identify it so that one knows what advantages the item can offer.,

Weapons

There are many weapons which one can find both in the store and in the depths below.  Some of these weapons will offer more than one swing in combat, allowing the wielding character to strike down more than one foe at a time.  Items that give a character multiple swings will only offer extra swings if a foe is stuck down by a preceding swing.  For example, if a 3 swinged item kills on the first swing, but only damages a creature on the second, a third swing will not be available.  The same rules apply for character who have additional swings from guild abilities.

Move to the next section to read about the City Guilds.

Move to the previous section to read about Holding & Confinement.


Kill Spells

Created in a parallel study by the Mages and Wizards guilds as they crafted the Mind spells; the Kill spells, which revolved around direct mental and spiritual forms of attack, would either kill the victim outright or have absolutely no affect.  The effectiveness of these spells depends on the experience of the caster and the Magic Resistance of the target.

Nerve Blank

Base Level: 1	Guilds: Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 11 Int, 7 Wis

COMBAT Spell, will cause 2 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Killed.

This spell causes all nerves in the designated targets to stop functioning, causing death. Similar to the Paralyzing Death spell, but requires less ability to master.

Dazzle

Base Level: 3	Guilds: Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 13 Int, 8 Wis, 8 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 6 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Dazzled.

A more advanced form of Nerve Blank, this spell also affects the spirit as well, attempting to extinguish it.

Flickering Doom

Base Level: 5	Guilds: Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 16 Int, 13 Wis, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 7 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Killed.

When invoked, this spell paralyzes the victims with a blinding light then sucks their life force from their helpless bodies.

Cause Death

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 18 Int, 16 Wis, 14 Con, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 8 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Killed.

A simple spell which drives the spirit from the flesh and attempts to shut down the mind and body.

Piercing Darkness

Base Level: 10	Guilds: Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 17 Int, 18 Wis, 10 Cha, 12 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 10 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Scared.

It is said that this spell invokes a dark form from the spiritual world which penetrates its victims and consumes their life force.

Field of Death

Base Level: 14	Guilds: Mag

Required Stats: 22 Int, 22 Wis, 18 Con, 21 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 20 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Immolated.

A more powerful and flexible form of Cause Death, this spell attacks the spirit with such power that the body is enveloped in flames and turned to ash.

Move to the next section to read about Charm Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Element Spells.


Location Spells

Created by the Mage’s guild for failed attempts at movement, spells of this nature are able to locate other specified characters or objects, and aid the caster in  orientation when  lost.

Set Sanctuary

Base Level: 1	Guilds: Nom, War, Pal, Nin, Vil, See, Thi, Sca, Mag, Sor, Wiz, Hea

Required Stats: NONE

NON-COMBAT Spell, will set the "Sanctuary” return location.

Casting this spell will set the caster’s "Sanctuary” location.  This means that when the caster  casts Sanctuary,  he or she will then be returned to the exact location where Set Sanctuary was last cast.

Depth Perception

Base Level: 3	Guilds: See, Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 13 Int, 13 Wis, 13 Con

NON-COMBAT Spell, informs the caster of what level they are on.

Useful in helping  lost explorers ‘find themselves’.

Soul Search

Base Level: 6	Guilds: See, Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 15 Int, 14 Wis, 12 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, will seek out and return the location of another character.

This spell allows the caster to search for another character.  The caster will receive the offset coordinates, relative to the spell caster, of where the searched soul is (if they are on the same level).  If the character being searched for is not on the same level as the caster, an up or down value will be returned.

Find Direction

Base Level: 6	Guilds: See, Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 14 Int, 14 Wis, 14 Con

NON-COMBAT Spell, informs the caster of what direction they are facing.

Also useful in helping  lost explorers ‘find themselves’.

Retrieve Soul

Base Level: 14	Guilds: See, Mag

Required Stats: 18 Int, 18 Wis, 16 Con, 18 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, removes a character from Rock.

For the times that an unlucky character teleports or walks into solid rock, the only way to retrieve them is with this spell.  The caster of the spell must be on the same level that the Rocked character is, or as close as they can get.  If the spell is successful, the retrieved character’s body will appear at the feet of the caster ready to be carried or resurrected.

Move to the next section to read about Protection Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Magical Spells.


MIDI Mapper & Troubleshooting

Windows MIDI Mapper, an Overview

Mordor comes with a rich MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) Musical score.  However, some systems may require the modification of the computers MIDI setup before the music for Mordor will play properly.

To understand how the MIDI Mapper works, one must understand how MIDI data is transferred from one place to another.  This information will help in troubleshooting problems such as no sound from your sound card.

MIDI data is carried on 16 discreet channels.  MIDI used in computer applications usually uses channels 1-9 and 11-16 for melodic instruments, like flute, piano, etc. Channel 10 is usually reserved for percussion instruments, i.e. drums, cymbals, etc. Windows' MIDI Mapper divides the channels into two setups, Extended and Basic.

An Extended Setup uses MIDI channels 2-9 for melodic instruments and channel 10 for percussion.  A Basic Setup uses channels 13-15 for melodic instruments and channel 16 for percussion. Both setups use only the channels mentioned and will not transfer data on any other channels.  The MIDI data in Mordor has been authored for Extended Setups only.  A troubleshooting chart is included here for help in getting Mordor to use your sound card.

Before attempting to make changes to your MIDI Mapper, please read and understand the information in your Windows documentation regarding MIDI and the MIDI Mapper.  It is highly recommended that copies of all files in your Windows directories, including SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files be made on a blank floppy disc. These files can be copied back to their original directories should changing your MIDI Mapper cause problems.

If you have any problems with hearing the MIDI music, or it doesn’t sound right, please see the following troubleshooting section.

MIDI/Sound Troubleshooting

Problem

No Sound

Solutions

1.	Make sure your speakers or headphones are plugged in and working.

2.	Make sure you have drivers for your sound card installed in Windows. If you have not done this, please refer to your Windows manual and the documentation for your sound card.

3.	Your MIDI Mapper is setup for Basic. Edit the MIDI Mapper. See below.

Problem

Beeps when WAVE files should be playing

Solutions

1.	Set the ShowDevices property in the [general] section of WINDOWS\WAVEMIX.INI to 1.

2.	WAVMIX16.DLL is out of date, or was not installed properly

Problem

The instruments don't sound right, i.e. there are no drum sounds.

Solution

1.	Make sure the sound card driver you are using is a General MIDI driver. If it is not, you will need to contact your sound card vendor or manufacturer for an updated driver. Many drivers are available on Compuserve, America on-line, and local BBS's. Drivers are device specific, which means that a driver for a Sound Blaster Pro will probably not work on any other card.

2.	Your MIDI Mapper is setup for Basic. Edit the MIDI Mapper. See below.

Problem

The volume is very low.

Solution

1.	Many sound cards include software mixer applications. Find this and open it. If the volume for MIDI is low, turn it up.

Problem

Sound is distorted

Solution

1.	You are probably running the speakers or sound card amplifier beyond its capacity.  Try connecting the sound card output to an external amplifier, like a stereo system. Always turn off the stereo when connecting or disconnecting devices from its inputs. After powering the stereo back up, bring up the volume slowly to avoid damaging the stereo speakers and your ears.

Editing the Windows MIDI Mapper

Do not try to edit the MIDI Mapper unless you feel completely comfortable making these changes.  If you are new to Windows, please seek the assistance of someone experienced with Windows. Also, do not make changes until you have backed up the files listed in item 1.

1)	Always make a copy of existing files. Include WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI in the WINDOW directory.  Also include MIDIMAP.CFG and MIDIMAP.DRV in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.

2)	Open Control Panel and open MIDI Mapper.

3)	In the MIDI Mapper dialog box, "Setups" should be selected. Press "New".

4)	Enter Name and Description and press "OK".

5)	All "SRC" (Source) channels should be the same as all "DEST"

6)	(Destination) channels, i.e. SRC 1-DEST 1, SRC 2-DEST 2, etc.

7)	The third column is "Port Name". Press the down arrow to open the menu of installed drivers.

8)	Select the General MIDI driver installed on your system. If you have a separate MIDI port, such as the Roland MPU-IPC, and wish to use it to drive an external device, select it.

9)	Repeat number 7 for all 16 channels.

10)	Press "OK".

11)	When asked to save, answer "Yes".

12)	The name of your new MIDI Map should appear in the Name box. It is now active. Press ALT and F4 to close MIDI Mapper.

Compuserve subscribers can find additional help with MIDI issues in the MIDI/Music Forum (GO MIDIFORUM). Other on-line services also offer sections for users interested in MIDI to discuss issues. Please consult your service's help section for details.


Magical Spells

Spells of this nature vary depending on type.  Being purely magical and created by various guilds, spells of this type usually revolve around some effect that is not supported by any of the other classes.

Charm of Opening

Base Level: 1	Guilds: Nom (12), Nin (9), Thi(3), Sca (6)

Required Stats: 12 Str, 13 Int, 13 Wis, 13 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, will open Magically Locked chests.

Casting this spell will unlock a magically locked chest.

Move to the next section to read about Location Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Visual Spells.


Main Menu

The first thing you see when you start Mordor will be the Main Menu. In order to play the game, you must first Create or Load a character, and then Run the character.

Below is a brief summary of each available option on the Main Menu.

Create Character

This option is only available when another character is not loaded.  Clicking this button will bring up the Character Creation window, allowing a new character to be created.  If the new character is saved, it will automatically be loaded when you come back to the Main Menu.  All you then need to do is Run the character.

Run Character

When you Load a character, the Create Character button will be replaced with Run Character.  This will start the game with the currently loaded character (specified in the caption of the command button).

Change Password

This option allows you to change the password for the currently loaded character.  Passwords are important since they protect your characters from somebody else having access to them.  This feature also allows more than one person to play on a single machine.

Exchange Items

This option allows you to exchange gold and items between two characters that are at the same location.  This is extremely useful when a player wants to keep a "bank” character - that is: a character that just sits in the City (or Dungeon) and holds items.  This is also the only way one can exchange items or gold with a dead character.

Load Character

Will prompt the user for the character to Load, then load the character (if the proper password is specified).

Unload Character

Will unload the currently loaded character, allowing the user to Create or Load another character.

Character List

This option will list all available characters on the current Machine.

Some of the options listed above will remain unavailable (invisible) until a character is loaded.

Options

This will bring up the Game Options Window, which is described in the next section.

Hall of Records

This will bring up a list of characters that hold the set Records for various abilities in the game.

About

This option displays the current information and credits for Mordor.

Helplesson

Executes this Helplesson

Exit

Shuts down Mordor and returns to the Program Manager.

Move to the next section to read about Game Options Window.

Move to the previous section to read the Game Overview.


Mind Spells

As the Sorcerers were working on destructive elemental forces, two other guilds, the Mage and Wizards guilds, joined together in the study of the mind, and in the process, came up with many powerful defensive and aggressive spells.  The effectiveness of these spells depends on the experience of the caster and the Mind Resistance of the monster.

Sleep

Base Level: 1	Guilds: Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 12 Int, 11 Wis, 8 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 2 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Slept.

When cast, this spell attempts to take over the mind and put the designated targets to sleep so that they may be killed without a struggle.

Light Spray

Base Level: 4	Guilds: Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 15 Int, 9 Wis, 9 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 6 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Dazzled.

When invoked, this spell creates a mentally projected and amplified light so bright that many are instantly killed.

Summon Shade

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 14 Int, 12 Wis, 10 Cha, 8 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 7 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Scared.

A  ghastly spell that creates a mental demon so terrifying that it scares most creatures to death.

Precognitive Death

Base Level: 12	Guilds: Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 18 Int, 15 Wis, 10 Con, 14 Dex

COMBAT Spell, will cause 14 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Killed.

The most powerful of all Mind spells, this dark form of magic convinces the targets that they have died, causing their bodily functions to stop - effectively killing them from inside.

Move to the next section to read about Damage Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Electrical Spells.


Mordor Order Info
Mordor Ordering Information

NOTE: When you purchase the Mordor, you are NOT registering a shareware product.  You are getting the full blown commercial application that includes a manual, playguide, CD ROM (or disk) and a box  The commercial version of Mordor is exactly what you would get at a retail software store.

Whether you’re ordering MORDOR for yourself or as a gift, this one of a kind Windows FRP game, designed to be played for hundreds of hours and longer, will put a smile on any avid FRPer’s face!

The full version of MORDOR has so many more Monsters, Items and Dungeon Levels than the PUBLIC version that we can’t even begin to get into detail.  Find out for yourself!

You can now pre-order the full version of MORDOR at any time for only $39.99 + S&H!  Feel free to use your VISA, MASTERCARD, Check, or Money Order to have this first of its kind Windows FRP game sent directly to your doorstep!

To order, call TDA at (800) 624-2101 between the hours of 9AM and 4PM PST (Monday - Friday) and ask to order MORDOR!  Be sure to specify either 3.5" disks or CD-ROM!

When you order Mordor, please have the following information ready:

Name
Shipping Address
City, State/Province - Zip/Post Code
Country
Phone Number
Fax Number
Credit Card Number
Credit Card Expiration Date

You can also contact the company at the following CIS & Internet address:
CIS: 102033,242
Internet: 102033.242@compuserve.com

If you get a chance, visit the official Mordor Internet Home Page for general discussion, information, comments, and upgrades at the following location:

http://www.tyrell.net/~hawkenet/mordor.html

Remember!  If you order via EMail, be sure to include the proper Credit Card information as well as your name/address information!

IMPORTANT: Remember that ordering over the Internet with a Credit Card is not a good idea since your message may be readable by others.  Please consider using the fax machine, telephone, or mail to place your order.   TDA's Fax 206/742-3666

Mail Address:
TDA!
720 132nd St SW #202
Everett, WA 98204
(206) 742-4145

FAX your Order information:
TDA !
(206) 742-3666

Order the full version of MORDOR now & see just how far you can take adventure!

MORDOR is © Copyright 1994-1995, MakeItSo Software


Mordor Screen Saver

The Mordor 1.1 Commercial CD-ROM Version comes with a unique Mordor Screen Saver that hooks into the game's Library and displays large, high quality graphics for monster entries in the library along with general information.  It also features the Sound FX and Music from Mordor.  Allowing password protection, this Screen Saver is guaranteed to dazzle any Mordor Player as the unique graphics define the dark creatures from the depths below.

Please feel free to use the graphics that come with the Mordor Screen Saver for your own personal use, but understand that they cannot be modified, reproduced, or distributed in any way since they are the legal property of MakeItSo Software.

NOTE: If you test the screen saver while in Mordor, no Music or Sound will be heard (if you have it selected).  This is because Mordor must receive a system-wide message when the saver is activated before it can release sound to the screen saver, and simply testing does not send this message to the game.  When the Screen Saver is activated by the Windows OS, Mordor will release sound control and minimize for the Saver.

Sound

The Mordor Screen Saver uses the same volume settings that are used by the game.  If you wish to adjust the volume at which either the Music or Sound FX are played at while the Screen Saver is active, you can do it from the Game Options Window of MORDOR.


Movement Spells

In an effort to control one’s surroundings, the Wizard’s guild focused their study towards the ability of traveling and moving by the use of magic.  Ranging from the ability to walk through walls to teleporting a long distance away, these spells are very handy in moving around in the dungeon.

Detect Rock

Base Level: 1	Guilds: See, Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 14 Int, 14 Wis, 12 Con

NON-COMBAT Spell, will inform caster of Rock.

This spell allows the caster to detect whether rock exists behind the wall in front of them or not.  Very useful for mapping and finding secret rooms.

Feather Essence

Base Level: 3	Guilds: See, Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 14 Int, 14 Wis, 14 Con

NON-COMBAT Spell, will levitate recipient.

This will cause the recipient to hover in the air, avoiding pits, chutes, water and other dangerous areas.  There is always the slight chance that levitation over a space  will fail.

Ethereal Portal

Base Level: 5	Guilds: See, Mag, Wiz

Required Stats: 14 Str, 18 Int, 18 Wis, 18 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, will move a character or party.

When cast, the character, and all members of the party, will move through the solid wall in front of the caster and appear on the other side.  If the square behind the wall is rock, all members of the party will die.

Displacement

Base Level: 8	Guilds: See, Wiz

Required Stats: 14 Int, 10 Wis, 14 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, will teleport a character or party on the same level.

A useful spell for teleporting around in the dungeon on the current level.  Be warned that if the caster teleports outside the bounds of the dungeon or into rock, the caster  ( and entire party) will die.

Mass Levitate

Base Level: 8	Guilds: See, Wiz

Required Stats: 12 Str, 16 Int, 16 Wis, 14 Con, 12 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, will Levitate entire party.

This spell accomplishes the same as Feather Essence, except it affects an entire party.

Teleport

Base Level: 12	Guilds: See, Wiz

Required Stats: 17 Int, 14 Wis, 11 Con, 17 Dex

COMBAT & NON-COMBAT Spell, will either cause 4 Monsters in 4 Groups to be Teleported or will teleport a character and their party with a range of multiple levels.

One of the Seeker’s and Wizard’s most useful spells that can move the caster and any party up or down and around the dungeon a maximum of three levels.  This spell can also be used in Combat to transport attacking enemies so far away they they are impaled in solid rock!  When used in combat, the effectiveness of this spell is based on the creatures magical resistance.

Sanctuary

Base Level: 12	Guilds: See, Wiz

Required Stats: 16 Int, 20 Wis, 15 Con

NON-COMBAT Spell, returns the caster or party to the Set Sanctuary location.

When invoked, this spell will instantly transport the caster and any party members to the location that ‘Set Sanctuary’ was cast last.  If ‘Set Sanctuary’ as not been cast, nothing will happen.  Be warned that throwing this spell takes great energy and ages the caster approximately one year.

Move to the next section to read about Banish Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Heal Spells.


Parties

Sometimes four groups of monsters against one character just doesn’t seem fair.  To compensate for this, a player is able to organize a party of up to 4 characters to run around together, fight together, and interact with each other (i.e. cast Heal/Resistant spells on each other).  To create a party, a character must "ask” another character to join them.  This is done by pressing ‘a’ then selecting or typing in the name and password of the character that the user wishes to add to the party.  Once a character becomes a member of the party, they can interact with all other characters in the party.

One can also Ask a character who is dead to join, but the character being asked must have a "raise” spell cast on them already.  Once asked, the player will be prompted to accept the raise or not for the character.  If the raise is accepted, the character will join the party as soon as they are alive.

One of the major advantages to having a group of characters running around versus a single character is that the player will generally be able to take the group deeper into the dungeon and have a better chance of all characters surviving the trip since they can depend on each other.

Characters that are oppositely aligned cannot be in the same party together (i.e. a Good character can’t join a party that has an Evil character in it).

Control is based on the currently "selected” character.  For example, if a player has a party of three characters, the player can select which character they wish to "bring up” or enter commands for by pressing ALT-<character number> (i.e. ALT-1).  Once the character is selected, the interaction with the game is the exact same as if the character was running by themselves.

You may notice that when you switch characters in the dungeon, all of the windows don’t automatically update.  The reason for this is because it sometimes takes a few seconds to repaint all of the windows (on slower machines), and when in combat, wasting this about of time in the middle of a fight for a repaint is unacceptable.  Not updating all of the windows allows the user to switch between characters in the party as fast as one can hit the keys or click the mouse.

To update all of the windows to the ‘current character’ use the Switch To button described below.

Creating a Party

The way you create a party is by 'a'sking other existing characters to join the current character that you are running.  In order for other characters to join you, they must be in the same room, or in the city with you, and alive.  Once a party of characters is formed, the program will automatically remember and reload the party (if requested) when the party leader is loaded again.  A party is only automatically reloaded if the party leader is run from the Main Menu.  Parties are limited to a maximum of 4 characters.  You can remove a party member by asking them to 'L'eave.

For a more detailed list of commands in reference to Parties, see the Commands section of this Helplesson.

The Party Window

 When a party is first organized, this window will pop up and remain until the party is disbanded (or killed).  This window is the control center for the party, displaying each characters status, and allowing certain options to be selected.

Party Order

A player can change the order of the party (and swap character positions) by Dragging and Dropping characters names within the Name field of the Party Information Window.

Giving Items & Gold

You can also give an item or gold to another character by Dragging & Dropping the selected item from the items window or the gold from the character window to the name of the receiving character in the party window.

Switch To

This will cause all character information windows to reflect information about the select character, and cause all commands to switch over to that specific character.  The difference in using this option versus the ALT-<character number> is that this option updates all of the informational windows.  Using ALT-<character number> only changes who the current commands are for (unless in the City).  One can also double-click on the Character's Name to automatically switch to that character.

Leave

Selecting this option will remove the selected character from the party.

Options

Will bring up the following screen.

The Party Options Window

 From here, a player is able to set the general party information and default combat information for each member of the party.

Combat Settings

This is the default setting for the selected character when combat starts.  None, Fight, Defend, or a spell buffer can be selected.  This setting can be changed during combat by switching to the specified character (using ALT-<character number>) and selecting another option.

Party Settings

These are the general settings for the party.

Character Interaction

Any character that is a member of the party can interact (i.e. cast spells on, give to, etc.) with any other character that is a member of the party.

If a player wishes to Give items to another character, but doesn’t want to run around in the dungeon with the other character, simply add the other character to the party, give the items, then have the character Leave the party.

Moving Around

Walking around and casting movement spells (i.e. Teleport) can be done by any member of the party.  If the party leader hits a teleporter that’s random, all members of the party will probably disappear, and the leader will be alone, returning to single-character play.  Keep in mind that if the Leader of the party casts Teleport and lands in Rock, all members of the party will also land in Rock.

Combat

Combat is where the fun starts.  Since it takes place in real time, a player must be quick at the keyboard with switching between characters to select what option they wish carried out for the current round.  If a character has a default option other than "none” set for combat, that option will automatically be executed every round unless it has been interrupted by the player.

In the dungeon, when the player presses ALT-<character number>, the Dungeon Commands windows "focus” is switched to the specified character and the character’s buffer window is updated to show the current character.  Once a character is "switched to”, all commands made will be the selected characters commands for combat.  Below is an example of a combat situation with a party of three.

Example

The party walks into a room containing three groups of monsters, which the player realizes are pretty nasty.  Since focus is on the party leader, the player hits "shift-5” to cast a spell from buffer 5.  They then press ‘N’ to move to the next character (i.e. Character 2) and press ‘2’ to select monster group 2 then ‘f’ to engage in fighting.  The user then presses ‘N’ once again to select party member 3 and presses ‘3’ to select monster group 3 and then Shift-6 to use an item that is in spell buffer 6.

And now, when the round takes place, character one will cast a spell on monster group 1, character two will attack the 2nd monster group, and character three will use their item (#6) on monster group 3.  After the round is over, the player can then choose their combat options once again.

Experience

Experience isn’t distributed any differently for a party than that of a single character.  Whoever hits the monster and/or kills the monster will receive the experience - nobody else.  However, the amount of experience that a character earns for hitting/killing a monster (or casting a spell, etc.) will be less for larger parties.  For best experience, run solo!

Quests

If one or more members of a group are quested for a specific monster that was just killed by the quested character (or a companion) or another character, all members that had that monster for a quest will receive credit for the kill.

Messages

Certain messages will appear when something out of the ordinary happens to a character, or when a character is close to death.  Some examples of messages:

"Crashland” has been paralyzed!

"Sork” is now a statue!

Crashland - "Help!  My hits are 15/250!”

Thief - "Thanks for the Potion of Fitness, Sork!”

It is very important for a player to keep an eye on all messages that appear, since they may be of importance.

Treasure & Traps

All gold found after combat or from a chest is split evenly between all characters that are still alive.  If a character other than the leader opens a chest and triggers a Teleport trap, they will disappear from the party.  If the Leader opens a chest and triggers a Teleport trap, they will disappear and the next character in line will become the Party leader.

Dying

When a  member of the party dies, they automatically are unloaded and treated like any other dead character.  If the party leader dies, the character next in line will become the new leader.  If all members of the party die, the last "selected” character will become the main character and the party window will disappear.

Character Windows & Layout

The layout of the Mordor Character Windows will always reflect those of the Party Leader.  If one loads a party of four and changes the size & position of the windows, these changes will only reflect upon the party leader.  This means if another party member is loaded up individually, they will have their own window configuration intact.

Exiting

When a party leader has had enough for the day and exits Mordor, the character will be asked if they wish to have the party reorganized when they return.  If the character answers yes, the next time they are run, the other characters that were in the party will rejoin (if they are still in the same area and not dead).

Summary

All in all, the game functions just as it does in single-character mode, except that the player has the option of switching between characters and having the characters interact with each other.

Also, keep in mind that regulating a party of characters takes some time to learn and can be tricky, so be sure to be patient and careful when running around a group of characters.  It is recommended that players new to this feature run the upper levels to get the feel of controlling multiple characters in combat.

Move to the next section to read about Commands.

Move to the previous section to read about Dying.


Protection Spells

Created by the Sorcerer’s guild, spells of this type cause the caster, or character receiving the spell, to be protected by an invisible field.  The power of these fields depends on the skill level of the caster.

Protection

Base Level: 3	Guilds: Sor, Wiz (15)

Required Stats: 11 Int, 11 Wis, 11 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, creates a protective field around the receiving character.

This spell will create a protective field around the receiving character, making it harder for attacking creatures to do damage.

Mass Protection

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 14 Str, 18 Int, 18 Wis, 12 Con, 12 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, creates a protective field around every character in a party.

This spell does exactly what Protection does, except that it affects the entire party.

Move to the next section to see the list of Nomad Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Location Spells.


Races

“Let us all come together and decide our fate, for only fortune and glory, misery and death exist in the depths below.
Is it risk or challenge that you seek?”
- “Sh’lan”, City Governess

The race you choose for your character is very important because it affects quite a few things, including what guilds you can join, what alignment (either Good, Neutral or Evil) you can be, how fast you learn and what your maximum statistics can be.  Below is a brief summary and description of each race available in the game.

Human

Humans are something you, as a player, can relate to.  They have no natural resistances, but are the most versatile of all races and are allowed in every guild.  They have the shortest life span, but are the quickest learners.

Elf

Elves are the magic users of the game.  Tall and slender, most Elves become either Mages, Sorcerers, Healers or Wizards.  They are excellent spell casters and can live longer than any other race. They are not, however, very good at fighting with weapons and have a low constitution.  Elves also have a natural resistance to Magical and Mind attacks.  Because of their lack of physical strength, there are some items (which require great strength) that Elves can never use.

Giant

Giants live for one thing - slicing a monster in two with one blow.  Known for their brutal ways and having the advantage of being over eight feet tall, they make the best Warriors one can find.  The only guilds to accept them are the Nomad, Seeker and Warrior guilds.  Because of their size and bulk, Giants are resistant to most forms of attack, including Fire, Cold and Electrical.  Poison and Disease don’t seriously affect them either.

Gnome

Being very charismatic and possessing a slight resistance to Mind attacks, Gnomes make excellent Mages.  Mostly good by nature, Gnomes are usually found in the Mage, Healer and Paladin guilds.

Dwarf

Dwarves are very curious, always poking at chests, injured characters, and carcasses.  Neutral in nature and stockier than most races, Dwarves are found in quite a  number of guilds, ranging from Warriors to Wizards.  They are also fairly resistant to the elements (fire, cold, etc.).

Ogre

Somewhat dim-witted, Ogres are bulky and hairy, and make good Warriors and Scavengers.  Since their constitution and resistances to such elements as Fire and Cold are so high, they are very hard to kill, but their low intelligence is quite often their downfall.

Morloch

Morlochs are huge masses of walking fur and muscle.  Possessing a great deal of natural magic, they make excellent magic-users.  However, because they are so ugly, they cannot easily charm some monsters, and their life span is almost as short as a humans.  They also have a pretty good resistance to certain forms of monster attacks ( e.g. poison, disease).

Osiri

Osiris, which are distant relatives of the elves that have shifted to a more human-like race, are extremely dexterous and are mostly found in the Thief and Scavenger guilds.  They also make marginal spell casters and are almost completely resistant to Electrical and Mind attacks.

Troll

A cross between an Ogre and an Elf, Trolls are strong and swift creatures that possess a few natural resistances.  Making excellent Ninjas and Scavengers, they are quick to take up sides (either Good or Evil), but can sometimes be found as Neutral.  Due to the aggressiveness in relation to their alignment, many guilds will not allow them.

Additional Topics:

Race Statistics

Move to the next section to read about Race Statistics.

Move to the previous section to read about Character Information.


Races: Statistics

Race Statistics and Alignments

Below is some information about each race’s minimum and maximum statistics and what alignments the particular races can be.

Race	Age	Exp	Str	Int	Wis	Con	Cha	Dex	G	N	E
Human	100	3	4\17	4\18	4\18	6\17	5\18	6\18	X	X	X
Elf	400	7	3\15	7\20	7\20	3\16	3\18	3\18	X	X	X
Giant	225	7	12\25	4\17	3\17	9\19	2\16	3\18		X
Gnome	300	7	4\17	7\19	5\19	3\17	9\22	6\18	X	X	X
Dwarf	275	5	3\18	3\18	7\19	3\19	3\17	5\18		X
Ogre	265	6	9\20	3\16	3\16	9\21	3\18	5\17	X	X	X
Morloch	175	4	6\20	3\17	5\19	3\15	2\14	5\20	X		X
Osiri	325	8	5\17	3\18	3\17	7\19	3\18	10\22		X
Troll	285	9	6\20	3\18	3\18	6\19	3\17	6\20	X	X	X

Age: Is only an approximate indicator.  There a is very small chance that a character could die before that age, but as one approaches the age listed, the chance of dying increases.

Exp: The higher the number, the more experience is needed to make a level.

Stats & Alignments: The numbers under the stats are in a low/high format.  For example: Str 7/17 means that a character of that race cannot start with a Strength of less than 7, nor greater than 17.  You may not raise a NATURAL stat more than 5 above the maximum listed above.  G,N and E represent the alignments the specified races can be.

Race Guild Chart

Race	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L		Guilds
Human	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X		A Nomad
Elf	X		X			X	X	X	X	X	X	X		B Warrior
Giant	X	X				X								C Paladin
Gnome	X		X		X	X	X	X	X	X		X		D Ninja
Dwarf	X	X				X	X	X		X	X	X		E Villain
Ogre	X	X						X						F Seeker
Morloch	X	X			X	X		X	X	X				G Thief
Osiri	X					X	X	X		X	X	X		H Scavenger
Troll	X			X	X		X	X						I Mage
														J Sorcerer
														K Wizard
														L Healer

An ‘X’ indicates that a character of the given race may join the listed guild.  All characters are automatically members of the Nomad guild upon creation.  There are other requirements to join a guild.  For example, you must have a minimum intelligence of 11 to join the Mage’s guild.  More information about the Guild requirements is presented in the Guilds Section.

Race Statistic & Resistance Chart

Many races are naturally resistant to the elements (i.e. Fire, Cold, etc.) and other forms of attack (i.e. Poison, Disease, Stone, etc).  Below is a chart that shows the size of each race and their natural resistances (if any).

Race	Size	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K
Human	Normal	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Elf	Small	-	-	-	50%	-	-	80%	-	-	-	-
Giant	Very Big	50%	50%	50%	-	50%	50%	-	25%	50%	50%	-
Gnome	Normal	-	-	-	40%	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dwarf	Small	45%	80%	-	-	50%	50%	-	40%	50%	90%	-
Ogre	Big	75%	75%	-	-	50%	-	-	50%	75%	75%	15%
Morloch	Normal	35%	35%	35%	50%	-	-	40%	-	95%	65%	50%
Osiri	Normal	-	-	90%	90%	-	-	-	90%	-	-	90%
Troll	Normal	-	-	-	-	45%	45%	-	-	45%	65%	25%

Size: The size of a character affects how well they do in combat and in other situations.  Larger characters tend to be harder to kill while the smaller characters are harder to hit.

Resistances

A character’s natural resistance to specific forms of attack and other hazards.

A - Fire	E - Disease	I - Paralysis

B - Cold	F - Poison	J - Drain

C - Electrical	G - Magic	K - Acid

D - Mind	H - Stone

Move to the next section to read about Creating a Character.

Move to the previous section to read about Races.


Resistant Spells

Initially created by the Sorcerers guild to protect themselves from their own destructive forces, these spells are very useful in increasing the resistance of a character from many forms of attack.  The Healers guild also helped in this study and created spells to increase ones resistance to Poison and Disease.

Resist Fire

Base Level: 3	Guilds: See (9), Sor, Wiz (9), Hea (6)

Required Stats: 13 Int, 13 Wis, 13 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Fire Resistance to 95%.

Resist Draining

Base Level: 3	Guilds: See (9), Sor, Wiz (9), Hea (6)

Required Stats: 13 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Con, 13 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Drain Resistance to 95%.

Resist Cold

Base Level: 3	Guilds: See (9), Sor, Wiz (9), Hea (6)

Required Stats: 14 Int, 14 Wis, 10 Con, 12 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Cold Resistance to 95%.

Resist Poison

Base Level: 4	Guilds: See (12), Sor, Wiz (12), Hea (8)

Required Stats: 10 Int, 12 Wis, 10 Con, 10 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Poison Resistance to 95%.

Resist Disease

Base Level: 4	Guilds: See (12), Sor, Wiz (12), Hea (8)

Required Stats: 12 Int, 12 Wis, 10 Con, 12 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Disease Resistance to 95%.

Resist Paralysis

Base Level: 4	Guilds: See (12), Sor, Wiz (12), Hea (8)

Required Stats: 14 Int, 16 Wis, 8 Con, 12 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Paralysis Resistance to 95%.

Resist Stoning

Base Level: 4	Guilds: See (12), Sor, Wiz (12), Hea (8)

Required Stats: 12 Int, 13 Wis, 12 Con, 10 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Stone Resistance to 95%.

Resist Magic

Base Level: 5	Guilds: See (15), Sor, Wiz (15), Hea (10)

Required Stats: 14 Int, 12 Wis, 12 Con, 12 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Magic Resistance to 95%.

Mental Resistance

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Sor, Wiz (18)

Required Stats: 18 Int, 14 Wis, 12 Con, 10 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Mental Resistance to 95%.

Electrical Resistance

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Sor, Wiz (18)

Required Stats: 12 Str, 12 Int, 16 Wis, 12 Con

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Electrical Resistance to 95%.

Resist Acidity

Base Level: 6	Guilds: Sor, Wiz (18)

Required Stats: 10 Str, 13 Int, 10 Wis, 15 Con

NON-COMBAT Spell, will raise the recipient’s Acidity Resistance to 95%.

Move to the next section to read about Visual Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Dispell Spells.


Spells

“Magic is the foundation for all life.  In order to sustain life or inflict death, one must learn the use of magic.”
- “Morgul”, Master of the Sorcerer’s Guild

Magic is the most important aspect of Mordor.  Each guild has certain spells that its members can cast.  As a character learns new spells from joined guilds, they will be added to the character’s Spellbook, making them available to cast.  A spell can be ‘cast’ by the player, or it can be cast from of an item with magical properties (i.e. ‘Potion of Sight’).  When a player casts a spell from their Spellbook, some spell points will be used.  The number of spell points that a spell will take depends on the level of the spell and the power of the character.  A more powerful spell will take more spell points to cast.  As you advance in the guild, lower level spells will take fewer spell points, allowing you to cast them more often.  Upon returning to the city, your spell points will be restored to their maximum capacity.  The maximum amount of spell points a character can have is based on the characters Intelligence and Wisdom.  A character cannot cast a spell if they do not have enough spell points.

The effectiveness of a spell is based on the Spell Level (shown in the Character Stats window) of the guild a character is a member of that teaches the spell, which raises as a character becomes more powerful (makes levels in the guild).  This means that a Level 50 Mage who is also a level 20 Wizard will cast a shared spell (i.e. 'Dazzle') using the Mage's spell level (since it is higher than the Wizard's Spell Level).  However, if the Wizard's guild can cast the spell for less points than the Mage's guild, the lowest points will be used!

When using the special abilities of an item to cast a spell, the highest spell level from all of the guilds the character is a member of is used unless the item casts a spell at a specific level (which can be found out by getting complete information on an item)..

Example of Casting a Spell

You can cast a spell while in the dungeon by pressing ‘c’ and typing in the full name (or the first few letters) of the spell you wish to cast.  You may also ‘load’ a spell in one of the 10 spell buffers, allowing you to cast a spell by pressing a shifted number key (see ‘Buffer Window’ in The Game Screen section for more information) or by double-clicking the buffer itself.

To cast a spell on another character, such as ‘heal’ or ‘resist poison’, the character must be in the current party.  For more information, please refer to the Parties section in this Helplesson

Some monsters have partial immunity to certain spells while some have complete immunity to all spells.  For example, a fire spell won’t work on certain dragons.  The higher the level of the character, the better the chance of affecting a monster with partial immunity to magic (total immunity can never be negated).

Spell Power & Damage

Spells that inflict damage or heal hits have two numbers associated with them - a power & damage (or heal) rating (e.g. '15/2').  This rating includes a Base number and a LevelModifier number for the spell.  The Base number represents the base (average starting) amount of healing/damage points the spell will do.  LevelModifier is the rate at which <base> raises based on the casters spell level.  So, a damage spell of 15/2 means that it starts with an average of 15 hits damage and raises at a rate of 2, which is not much at all.  This means that a caster with a spell level of 25 probably wouldn’t do much more than 20 points of damage with this spell.  However, if we had a spell of 15/15, a spell level of 25 would probably do damage in the 100’s because the LevelModifier value is like a 'focus' value for the casters spell level (i.e. a higher focus number, the higher the additional Base Damage from the caster's spell level).

There really isn't an equation to tell exactly how many points of damage a certain spell (say 30/15) will do when cast at a given spell level since there can be too many other variables involved (i.e. target's resistances, size, etc.).  The player generally must learn by experience and get a 'feel' for the Base/Levelmodifier system works.

Spell Levels

Even though a spell may list as Spell Level 2, some guilds may learn the spell later, say at level 4 or 6.  This all depends on the spell learning abilities of a guild.  A good example is the Charm of Opening spell, which is Spell Level 3 for the Thief’s guild, but Spell Level 12 for  the Nomad’s guild.  In general, Guilds that specialize in spells (i.e. Sorcerers and Fire/Cold spells) will learn a spell before any other guild that has access to the spell.

Base Level, Required Stats and Description

Each spell has Base Level at which the spell is generally learned.  When only one guild has access to a spell, the Base Level is the spell level at which the spells is learned.  However, many spells can be cast by more than one guild, but each guild can get access to the spell at different spell levels - if this is the case, the level at which the spell is learned at by a particular guild is listed after the guild name.  For example:

Base Level: 3	Guilds: See (9), Sor, Wiz (9), Hea (6)

This information would mean the the Seekers and Wizards guild learns the spell at Spell Level 9, the Healers guild learns it at 6 and the Sorcerer's guild learns it at the Base Level of 3.

Required Stats

If a spell has Required Stats, the caster must have the defined stats to cast the spell.  Unlike items, Required Stats for spells are based on Natural and Modified stats!

Spell Information & Description

Each spell has an 'information' line that follows the Required Stats information that states the 'effect' of the spell along with the information of whether it's a COMBAT or NON-COMBAT spell.  COMBAT spells can only be cast in combat while NON-COMBAT spells can only be cast when there are no monsters, or there are peaced monsters in the area.  Below is an example of the Firebolt Fire Spell information:

COMBAT Spell, will cause 4 Monsters in 2 Groups to be Fried.

This line tells you that it's a combat spell, and how many monsters it will affect if it works.  The above spell will affect a maximum of 4 monsters in a total of 4 groups.  This means that if the spell was cast on group #1 of 12 monsters, it could potentially kill up to 4 monsters from that group before moving on to group #2 (which is the next monster group if it exists).

After the general spell information is a brief description for the spell so the caster has a better idea of exactly what it does and where the spell came from.

Spell Classes

Spells are broken down into "spell classes” that specify the nature of the spell.  Below is a list of the spell classes, a brief description of the class origins, and the spells available within the class.

Below is a list of available classes.  You can either use the browse button to page through the spell classes and associated spells, or click on the desired class.

Fire	Heal

Cold	Movement

Electrical	Banish

Mind	Resistant

Damage	Visual

Element	Magical

Kill	Location

Charm	Protection

Bind

Keep in mind that you will have to experiment with the spells to figure out exactly what they do.  Some spells will not be very effective when you are first able to cast them, but will improve as your character becomes more powerful (gains levels).

Move to the next section to read about Fire Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about The Library.


Spells: Healer

Spells usable by members of the Healer's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Cause Wounds	2

Minor Heal	2

Poison	2

Cure Poison	3

Dispel Undead	3

Heal	4

Dispel Elemental	4

Cause Heavy Wounds	4

Cure Paralysis	4

Leprosy	4

Cure Disease	5

Power	5

Banish Devil	5

Resist Fire	6

Resist Draining	6

Resist Cold	6

Harm	6

Banish Demon	6

Draining Touch	6

Raise Dead	7

Restoration	7

Cause Fatal Wounds	7

Resist Poison	8

Resist Disease	8

Resist Paralysis	8

Resist Stoning	8

Abolish Undead	8

Cure	8

Restore Flesh	8

Mass Heal	8

Resist Magic	10

Resurrect	12

Word of Death	12

Move to the next section to see the list of Wizard Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Sorcerer Spells.


Spells: Mage

Spells usable by members of the Mage's guild.

Spell	Level

Sleep	1

Set Sanctuary	1

Nerve Blank	1

Control Insect	1

Detect Rock	1

Control Animal	2

Depth Perception	3

Feather Essense	3

Dazzle	3

Control Elemental	3

Control	3

Minor Heal	4

Sight Veil	4

See Invisible	4

Light Spray	4

Control Humanoid	4

Control Undead	5

Control Giant	5

Flickering Doom	5

Ethereal Portal	5

Bind Animal	5

Soul Search	6

Find Direction	6

Cure Poison	6

Summon Shade	6

Control Monster	6

Bind Elemental	6

Bind	6

Control Dragon	7

Heal	8

Cure Paralysis	8

Cause Death	8

Dominate Demon	8

Dominate Devil	8

Dominate Humanoid	8

Dominate Undead	9

Cure Disease	10

Piercing Darkness	10

Dominate Giant	10

Precognative Death	12

Soul Entrapment	12

Domination	12

Retrieve Soul	14

Field of Death	14

Move to the next section to see the list of Sorcerer Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Thief Spells.


Spells: Ninja

Spells usable by members of the Ninja's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Charm of Opening	9

Move to the next section to see the list of Thief Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Warrior Spells.


Spells: Nomad

Spells usable by members of the Nomad's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Charm of Opening	12

Move to the next section to see the list of Warrior Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Nomad Spells.


Spells: Paladin

Spells usable by members of the Paladin's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Minor Heal	6

Cure Poison	9

Heal	12

Cure Paralysis	12

Cure Disease	15

Move to the next section to see the list of Villain Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Seeker Spells.


Spells: Scavenger

Spells usable by members of the Scavenger's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Charm of Opening	6

Move to the next section to see the list of Seeker Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Wizard Spells.


Spells: Seeker

Spells usable by members of the Seeker's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Detect Rock	1

Depth Perception	3

Feather Essense	3

Ethereal Portal	5

Soul Search	6

Find Direction	6

Sight Veil	6

See Invisible	6

Displacement	8

Mass Levitate	8

Resist Fire	9

Resist Draining	9

Resist Cold	9

Resist Poison	12

Resist Disease	12

Resist Paralysis	12

Resist Stoning	12

Teleport	12

Sanctuary	12

Retrieve Soul	14

Resist Magic	15

Move to the next section to see the list of Paladin Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Scavenger Spells.


Spells: Sorcerer

Spells usable by members of the Sorcerer's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Shock	1

Poison	2

Sight Veil	2

See Invisible	2

Firebolt	2

Cold Blast	2

Protection	3

Resist Fire	3

Resist Draining	3

Resist Cold	3

Lightning Bolt	3

Resist Poison	4

Resist Disease	4

Resist Paralysis	4

Blue Flame	4

Resist Stoning	4

Leprosy	4

Resist Magic	5

Ice Spray	5

Flamesheet	5

ThunderBolt	6

Mental Resistance	6

Electrical Resistance	6

Resist Acidity	6

Acidic Spray	6

Static Mesh	7

Pillar of Fire	7

Hail Storm	8

Flesh to Stone	8

Mass Sight Veil	8

Mass Protection	8

Sphere of Flames	10

Paralyzing Death	10

Electric Field	11

Burning Air	12

Arctic Storm	12

Move to the next section to see the list of Healer Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Mage Spells.


Spells: Thief

Spells usable by members of the Thief's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Charm of Opening	3

Move to the next section to see the list of Mage Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Ninja Spells.


Spells: Villain

Spells usable by members of the Villain's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Minor Heal	6

Poison	6

Cure Poison	9

Heal	12

Cure Paralysis	12

Leprosy	12

Move to the next section to read about The Dungeon..

Move to the previous section to see the list of Paladin Spells.


Spells: Warrior

Spells usable by members of the Warrior's guild.

Spell	Level

Set Sanctuary	1

Move to the next section to see the list of Ninja Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Nomad Spells.


Spells: Wizard

Spells usable by members of the Wizard's guild.

Spell	Level

Sleep	1

Set Sanctuary	1

Nerve Blank	1

Detect Rock	1

Cause Wounds	1

Depth Perception	3

Feather Essense	3

Dazzle	3

Cause Heavy Wounds	3

Light Spray	4

Flickering Doom	5

Ethereal Portal	5

Soul Search	6

Find Direction	6

Dispell Undead	6

Power	6

Summon Shade	6

Harm	7

Draining Touch	7

Sight Veil	8

See Invisible	8

Dispell Elemental	8

Cause Death	8

Displacement	8

Mass Levitate	8

Cause Fatal Wounds	8

Resist Fire	9

Resist Draining	9

Resist Cold	9

Banish Devil	10

Piercing Darkness	10

Resist Poison	12

Resist Disease	12

Resist Paralysis	12

Resist Stoning	12

Banish Demon	12

Teleport	12

Precognative Death	12

Sanctuary	12

Protection	15

Resist Magic	15

Word of Death	15

Abolish Undead	16

Mental Resistance	18

Electrical Resistance	18

Resist Acidity	18

Move to the next section to see the list of Scavenger Spells.

Move to the previous section to see the list of Healer Spells.


System Requirements

Mordor requires the following to run:

Microsoft Windows 3.x, Workgroups for Windows 3.x, Windows NT, Windows 95 or 100% Compatible Windows Operating System

386/33 or greater processor

4 MB RAM Available to Windows

5 MB of Disk Space

640x480x256 color VGA resolution

Mordor recommends the following to run:

Microsoft Windows Operating System

486/33 or greater processor

8 MB RAM Available to Windows with Caching

6.5 MB of Disk Space

Sound card capable of playing MIDI and WAVE files

800x600x256 color SVGA resolution

Because of the size and playing style of Mordor, game performance may be improved by closing any other applications that may be running in the background.  Mordor was also written to be played with either Small Fonts System Resource Sizes in 800x600 resolution or Small or Large fonts System Resource Sizes in 1024x768 resolution.  It is not recommended that one play Mordor in 800x600 with Large Fonts.  Mordor is also a 256 color application that can run in 16 colors in necessary, but the graphic quality will be lacking.


The City
“Let the city be your haven, the store your security, the bank your protection, the guilds your ways, the morgue your commitment to life, and the seer your link to the uncertain.”
- “Crashland”, Master of the Guilds

There are several options available only in the city which will be discussed in the Following Sections.  These options include the Store, the Bank, the Morgue, the Seer, and the Guilds.

Familiarize yourself with the city.  It is your haven.

Upon returning to the city from the dungeon, you will rest and heal yourself (aging in the process).  This process will restore your hits, replenish spell points, and cure any poison or disease.  It will also heal any companions.

Additional Topics:

Bank

Morgue

The Seer

Store

Guilds

Holding & Confinement

Move to the next section to read about the City Bank.

Move to the previous section to read about the Toolbar.


The City: Bank

The Bank of Mordor is where you may put the gold and items that you do not wish to use (or possibly have stolen) while in the dungeon.  When spending money in the city, gold will be taken from your character and/or your bank account.

To Deposit or Withdraw money from your account, either type in the amount and press Enter or press the "All” button.

You can also deposit up to 40 items in the Bank by Dragging and Dropping the selected item from your character’s Items Window into the Items list located on the right hand side of the Bank Window.  To withdraw an item, simply select the item in the Bank Window’s Items list and drag it to your character’s items window and drop it in the preferred slot.  You can obtain information on any item in the Bank by selecting the item and then clicking the Info button.

Party Options

If you currently have a party put together, you will also be presented with a small set of Party Options, which Includes Pool & Deposit, Party Deposit and Party Pool & Deposit.  Pool & Deposit means that all characters in the party give the gold they are currently carrying to the current character in the bank, and then the current character deposits the pooled money.  Party Deposit means that each character in the party Deposits all of their money into their own bank account.  Party Pool & Deposit means that all characters in the party give all of their money (includes that in the bank) to the current character to deposit.

Move to the next section to read about The City Morgue.

Move to the previous section to read about The City.


The City: Guilds
“Even strength in numbers cannot overcome the advanced teachings of a guild!”
- “Bartow”, Master of the Warrior’s Guild

 A guild is an organization of teachers and students dedicated to a specific way of life.  When a character joins a guild, they must adhere to the restrictions specified by the guild (while they are currently acting as a member of that guild) in order to advance in the guild.  Restrictions sometimes affect what items a character can use or wear while they are acting as a member of a specified guild (i.e. Mage’s guild does not allow its members to use swords).  However, Guilds are not restricted in the way of not allowing their members to join and act as members of other guilds.  Even though a character can only act as a member of one guild at a time, one can be a member of more than one guild at a time, causing all abilities, spells, and att/def modifications to be shared throughout all guilds (i.e. an experienced Ninja acting as a new Mage has the fighting abilities they achieved as a Ninja.  However, they may not be able to use the Ninja-specific items while acting as a Mage because of item restrictions set by the Mage’s guild).

In order to advance in a guild, a character must be acting as a member of that guild while gaining the experience required to make a level within that guild.  This means that a character can only work on one guild at a time.  The experience that a character gains is always for the current guild - not for others.

Every character is a member of the Nomads guild when they start the game.  A character may join one other guild free of charge (provided they meet the requirements), but thereafter they must pay to join a new guild.  Guilds that cost the most to join usually provide either a high level or a wide range of spells and abilities.  The price may quite often seem hefty, but it’s worth it in the end.  Guilds that cost the most to join usually provide either the highest level for select spells & abilities, or the widest range (but not necessarily the highest level) of spells & abilities.  For more information, see the next section, Guild Statistics.

Each guild has a spell book which determines which spells the specific guild has access to.  As a character joins other guilds, their spell book will grow in size, giving access to all the spells they have learned.  If a character joins more than one guild that share the same spell (i.e. Healer and Wizard both have a spell called ‘Power’), the most powerful guild that has access to that specific spell will be default.

You may switch between guilds only while in the city.  You may not switch guilds if you are wearing cursed items, or if you are wearing any items aligned opposite to your character.

When a character is as a member of a guild, they are usually assigned a special title relating to their level and experience in the guild.  In the Character Statistics Window, this title is displayed instead of the guild name.  Even though the title may be different from the guild name, the character is still acting as a member of that guild.

There are a number of options available within the guilds.  You can ‘reacquaint’ with a guild if you want to be an active member of that guild again (provided that you are already a member).  When you qualify, you may ‘make level’ in a guild.  Making level within a guild requires that you gain a certain amount of experience by killing monsters.  The guild will also require a fee in gold.

As you achieve higher guild levels, you may gain additional hits (if the guild you are making a level in is the highest guild level of all guilds that you are a member of).  Your attack and defense may also rise.  This is dependent on what "level” of A/D the guild’s teachings has put you at compared to the A/D levels of other guilds.  Nomad’s gain A/D the quickest, but stop raising a character’s A/D much sooner than, say, the Warrior’s guild.  For example, if a Character is a Level 30 Nomad and has gained 75/75 A/D from the Guild’s teachings and joins the Sorcerers guild, the character’s A/D will not raise (from making levels) until the Sorcerer’s teachings raise the A/D above that of the Nomad’s A/D level of 75/75.

Quests

As you gain levels, you may be assigned a ‘quest’ of a certain item you must return with or a monster you must slay before you can make the next level.

A quest for a monster is completed the instant the creature is slain.  A quest for an item is completed when the character returns to the guild with the item and makes a level.  The quested item will then be removed from the character’s inventory.

If an explorer is assigned a quest that he or she cannot complete, or does not wish to complete, the character can always file for forfeit of the quest.  This can only be done if the character is pinned and has an outstanding quest to complete.  If a character does forfeit a quest, they will be demoted a certain number of levels (based on their current level), losing all attack, defense, experience, abilities, and other modifications that were gained between the current guild level and the level that the character is demoted to.  Demoted characters are entered into the guilds log as unable to complete their quest.

The Library

One can also visit the Library by clicking on the ‘Library’ button.  This feature is discussed after the Guilds and Guild Statistics.

The Guild Log

One can also read a guild's log by clicking the ‘Read Guild Log’ button, which will display a collection of actions and events that have occurred in reference to a guilds members.  Information includes quests, resurrections, discoveries and more.

Visiting & Joining other Guilds

A character can also ‘visit’ other guilds and attempt to join, if they meet the criteria (and in some cases, have the gold).  One can also get ‘experience information’ for the current guild (if the character is a member).

To switch between guilds, select the guild you wish to visit from the List Box and press the Visit button.  When visiting a guild, you then have the options of attempting to Join (provided your stats, race and alignment meet the guilds requirements) or Reacquaint yourself with the Guild.

Nomad

Nomads are very quick learners, even though they do not try to learn many different abilities.  Being good fighters and moderate thieves, Nomads are often found roaming the upper levels of the dungeon.

Warrior

Warriors could care less about spells, but are unmatched in brute fighting ability.  Being the quickest to learn how to Critically hit their opponent, they are very good fighters and alone can use the best weapons found in the dungeon.

Ninja

Ninjas are weapons masters and can use almost all weapons including their hands.  Since a Ninja desires quickness, they are very specific about the items they use.  Ninjas are not allowed to wear most types of armor and other items.  However, having access to special weapons that only they can use, Ninjas posses the skills of Critically hitting and Backstabbing their opponents, along with moderate thieving skills.

Thief

Thieves are the best at collecting treasure, although the guild makes sure to get a fair share.  Very devoted to stealing, Thieves often lack fighting skill, but make up for it with their treacherous backstabbing.  Thieves also have the best magical ability to open any type of sealed or locked container.

Mage

Though they lack the destructive powers of a Sorcerer, Mages makes up for it by having the ability to control powerful monsters to act as companions.  They are also fairly adept at killing monsters with a small blade and curing players, though putting a corpse back together is beyond their abilities.

Sorcerer

A Sorcerer lacks the fine mental control and deep concentration of a Mage while in combat, and therefore, their spells tend to blast monsters against the walls instead of charming them.  Outside of combat, a Sorcerer can muster up some useful player protection spells, but lacks access to any types of healing spells.

Healer

Healers are very good at putting characters and companions back together again after a rough day in the dungeon.  The best at curing, they are also fairly good at killing monsters with a wide variety of damage spells.  Healers are valued members of any party since they can fix almost any physical problem, including death.

Wizard

Wizards are very good at teleporting parties around the dungeon, although they cannot always tell where they are going to land.  They also have damage spells equivalent to a Healer and protection spells on par with a Sorcerer.

Scavenger

A Scavenger is a cross between a Warrior and a Thief, fighting a little worse than the former and stealing a little worse than the latter.  A Scavenger can backstab like a Thief, can be other than neutrally aligned, and can use a few more items than a Thief  They are also fairly good at collecting treasure and have access to some of the Thief’s magical spells for opening containers.

Seeker

Seekers are very good at moving through the dungeon, being able to levitate, locate other characters, and teleport.  They can’t directly kill monsters with their magical abilities, but a Seeker does well with a weapon in hand.  They are also the best at mapping the dungeon and detecting any types of ‘anomalies’ they may encounter in the depths.

Paladin

Paladins think of themselves as the heroes of the dungeon, blundering about killing monsters and somewhat successfully healing themselves.  Possessing good fighting skills and the ability to critically hit their enemies (though not nearly at the level of a Warrior), one doesn’t have to be too smart to be a Paladin, they just have to look good doing it.

Villain

Villains are fallen Thieves, having strayed from the magical and equipment restrictions of the Thief’s guild and gone their own way.  While working on various poisons, the Villains learned or stole some of the secrets of healing.  They also have the ability to Critically hit and Backstab their opponents and aren’t bad at collecting treasure.

Keep in mind that a player can be a member of and have the abilities of more than one of the above guilds at a time by joining multiple guilds.  However, remember that Race and Alignment is very important in determining a character’s limitations in joining Guilds since some guilds will not allow certain Races or Alignments to join.  So, if a player wishes to Create a Warrior/Sorcerer/Thief, they should go over the Race Statistics and decide which race would best suit their needs.

A good Starting Combination is a Nomad/Sorcerer or a Nomad/Mage.  The Nomad’s guild has pretty good fighting/thieving abilities, and the Sorcerer’s/Mage’s guilds are good for spells.  It’s good to regulate switching between the two guilds to build up their levels (i.e. make 5 Levels in the Nomad’s guild then 5 in Sorcerers, then 5 more in the Nomads, etc.).  Keep in mind which guilds give the most hits when making new levels (i.e. the Average hits for a Nomad per level (until Maximum Level (ML) is reached) is 5, vs. the 2 or 3 for Mage, so a character will probably want to gain hit points as a member of the Nomad’s guild until Maximum Level (ML) is reached).

Characters with the abilities of Spell Casting, Fighting and Thieving guilds are the most powerful in the game.

Additional Topics:

Guild Statistics

Move to the next section to see the Guild Statistics.

Move to the previous section to read about Items.


The City: Holding & Confinement

Confinement and Holding is where all of the creatures that explorers befriend or bind end up if one grows weary of their companion or becomes short of cash.  It’s said that an experienced Mage can actually make a good living charming & binding monsters in the depths and selling them to the Holding & Confinement center.

On the right is the list of creatures that are currently available.  Like the store, the GNE represent the number of the specified creature that are available for the given alignment. To select a future companion, simply click on it (and select the alignment if prompted).  For Information on a creature, click INFO.  To buy them, click BUY.  To search for a creature, simply type in part of or the whole name of the item you are looking for and hit return.

To Sell or Identify a companion, Drag and Drop the selected companion picture from your Companions tab (Objects & Spells Window) into the Comp. Text Box in the Sell, Identify & Realign Companions area.

Tan-Yellow shaded areas in the window represent fields where you can either type in data or Drag and Drop a companion.  Dark-Gray shaded areas in the window represent fields that just display information.

Holding Inventory

Selling a companion to the store is the only way to get rid of hostile (or bound) companions without taking the chance of them turning on you and attacking.

When you sell a companion to the store, it will be added to the inventory list and available for purchase by others.  However, just as the Items store, other adventurers and explorers sometimes seek companions from holding as well.  This can be a disadvantage if the creature they purchase is the last of its type in stock - especially if it’s a very useful companion!  The advantage to this is that these individuals also sell the creatures they either bind or befriend on their explorations to the holding center as well.  Because of this, it’s recommended that one check Holding & Confinement for any new inventory every once and awhile - you never know what you’ll find!

Available options within Holding & Confinement are as follows:

Buying Companions

You can make a purchase by clicking on the desired creature in the list of available companions (and selecting the alignment if prompted) then pressing the BUY button.

When a companion is Bought, it will be bound to a certain level, but depending on the power (guild levels) of the character, further binding may be required.

Buying companions can be very advantageous for starting characters, because it quite often gives the nasty monsters in the dungeon another target to hit.

Selling Companions

You can Sell companions you have in your possession by either typing the number of the companion into the Sell Comp. field and pressing Return, or Dragging & Dropping the desired companion picture in the Sell Comp. Field, then clicking the SELL button.  This ‘section’ also allows you to identify and realign companions (described below).

Any companion you sell to the holding center will be available for purchase, but usually at a much higher price than you sold it for.

Learning about a Companion

To learn about a companion and their abilities, select/drag it in the ‘Sell & Identify Companion’ area and click the ID button. This gives you different information depending upon your current knowledge of the creature, which is based on your character’s Intelligence, Wisdom and Guild Level.  How much you know about a creature initially is determined by your intelligence and wisdom.  You will be able to identify some creatures when you encounter them, but most others will usually require the use of the Holding & Confinement Centers identification services to obtain all information.

When you bring up the Information on a companion in the Stats Window Misc Tab, the information displayed will be dependent on your current knowledge of the creature.  For more information on companions, please see the Companions Section in this Helplesson

Realign a Companion

This allows you to change the alignment of a companion.  This is a very tedious process that is both very expensive and risky - especially for companions who are realigned opposite to their original alignment, which can result in the death of the companion.  To realign a companion, simply select/drag it in the ‘Sell & Identify Item’ area and click one of the three ‘GNE’ buttons.

Bind a Companion

Once a character has purchased a companion or charmed/bound them in the dungeon, it becomes necessary either sooner or later to reinforce the bind level of a companion.  A Mage has access to specific spells that are built for this, but other characters are not so fortunate (unless they find items capable of this).  For this reason, the Holding and Confinement center offers the services of their bindsmen, who have the ability to re-bind a companion so that they do not break away from their masters (or at least make it harder).

Though very useful, re-binding a companion can quite often be very costly, but can be worth it if the companion is helpful enough to the character.

Companions that joined a character free of will cannot be re-bound.

With all options in the city, gold will be removed from your bank account if you do not have enough on your character, but do in your account.

Move to the next section to read about Items.

Move to the previous section to read about the City Store.


The City: Morgue

At the Morgue, you may raise characters or companions from the dead.  A fairly large sum of money is often required for any type of work.  The advantage to using the morgue is that the workers are very efficient (increasing the % of a successful raise) and convenient.  However, the main disadvantage is the fact that one point of constitution is quite often removed from the character being raised.

Keep in mind that one can also raise characters and companions with spells!  For more information, see the section on Dying.

The only type of death the morgue cannot deal with is a character who has been fused with Rock.

In the morgue, you also have the option of hiring "Rescuers” to go down and try to bring up a dead character.  Their success depends on how deep the rescuers must go and the given coordinates of the dead character.  Also, a large sum of money is always involved whether or not the rescuers succeed.

To execute an option, click on the appropriate button and follow the given directions.

Move to the next section to read about the City Seer.

Move to the previous section to read about the City Bank.


The City: Seer

The Seer of Mordor has the ability to locate other characters, monsters and items that are in the depths of the dungeon.

Characters are easiest for the Seer because he knows what types of energy to look for, often allowing him to tell you exactly where they are.  If a character is close, the Seer usually has no problems,  however, when the character is deep in the dungeon, sometimes it takes the Seer many tries and lots of gold before he can get an exact fix on the character.

The next most useful ability of the Seer is that of locating Monsters and Items.  This information is very useful to characters with a quest they must fulfill to advance in their guild. When the Seer is looking for a monster or item, he needs to know what it is called. Once given the proper name, he can often locate a general area of the dungeon where a creature may reside, or a general creature type that may carry the item of the quest.

Even though the Seer doesn’t charge nearly as much as the Morgue Rescuers do, the total cost can add up when attempting to locate a character, monster, or item deep in the dungeon.

To execute an option, click on the appropriate button and follow the given directions.

Move to the next section to read about the City Store.

Move to the previous section to read about the City Morgue.


The City: Store

The Store is the largest service available in the city.  It is where a character can buy, sell, identify, realign, combine, and uncurse items.

On the right is the list of items currently available.  The UGNE represents the number of the specified items that are available for the given alignment (U for unaligned).  Items that can only be bought in the store (and not found in the dungeon) are displayed with a fixed price (i.e. 350 Gold for a Bronze Sword).  Items that are displayed in bold are items that your character can currently use.  Items not in bold cannot be used by your character (i.e. Guild, Level, Stat Restrictions).  To select an item, simply click on it (and select the alignment if prompted).  For Information on an item, click INFO.  To buy it, click BUY.  To search for an item, simply type in part of or the whole name of the item you are looking for and hit return.

To Sell or Identify an Item, Drag and Drop the selected item from your Items Window into the Item Text Box in the Sell, Identify & Realign Items area.

Tan-Yellow shaded areas in the Store Window represent fields where you can either type in data or Drag and Drop an item.  Dark-Gray shaded areas in the Store Window represent fields that just display information.

Store Inventory

When you sell an item to the store, it will be added to the inventory list and available for purchase by others.  However, other adventurers and explorers (the Morgue rescuers need items, too!) may sometimes buy items from the store as well.  This can be a disadvantage if the item they purchase is the last of it’s type in stock - especially if it's an item that your characters can use.  The advantage to this is that these individuals also sell the items they find on their explorations to the store as well.  Because of this, it’s recommended that one check the store for any new inventory every once and awhile - you never know what you’ll find!

Available options within the store are as follows:

Buying Items

You can make a purchase by clicking on the desired item in the list of available items (and selecting the alignment if prompted) then pressing the BUY button.

You should buy and equip your character with a weapon and whatever protection (armor, cloak) you can afford and use from the store.  Standard attire for a beginning Nomad is a Sword, Armor, Gloves, Boots, Cloak, Shield and Cap.

Selling Items

You can Sell items you have in your possession by either typing the number of the item into the Sell Item field and pressing Return, or Dragging & Dropping the desired item in the Sell Item Field, then clicking the SELL button.  This ‘section’ also allows you to identify and realign items (described below).

Any item you sell to the store will be available for purchase, but usually at a much higher price than you sold it for.  Sometimes, when you sell an item with "charges” (i.e. Potion of Healing [2]), the item won’t appear in the store.  This is because the item had too few available "charges” to put it back on the shelf.  Also, when you sell an item that has many charges (i.e. Potion of Health [23]), you will notice a ‘23->20’ next to the sell value.  This means the store will buy charges from you in "chunks” of three (for the above example) for the specified price.  When you sell a "chunk”, one of that item type then becomes available for purchasing in the store.

This section of the store supports direct Drag and Drop from your Items Window.

Learning about an item

To learn about an item, simply select/drag it into the ‘Sell & Identify Item’ area and click the ID button. This gives you different information depending upon your current knowledge of the item, which is based on your character’s Intelligence, Wisdom and Guild Level.  How much you know about an item is determined initially by your intelligence and wisdom.  You will be able to identify some items when you find them and most others will require a fee to learn more.

When you bring up the Information on an item in the Stats Window Misc Tab, the stats displayed will be dependent on your current knowledge of an item.  For a complete overview of the Item Information Window, please see the Game Screen Section in this Helplesson

Combine

Allows you to combine items that have charges.  For example, you can combine two Potions of Health into one Potion of Health with the sum of the charges on the two different potions.  To combine items, simply drag (or type) the items to the Item section (which will add the item to the Items list so you can see what you're combining) and click COMBINE.  If the items are of like type (e.g. 2 Potions of Health) and can be combined, the first item you selected will now hold the sum of all the other items charges!  Items like Swords, Armor, etc. cannot be combined.

This section of the store supports direct Drag and Drop from your Items Window.

Uncurse an item

This is the only way to remove a curse from an item, which usually requires a substantial fee.  A "cursed” item is either an item that is of opposite alignment to your character (i.e. Iron Sword (e) equipped by a Good character), or an item that’s outrightly cursed (i.e. Gloves of the Blackguard).  The only good thing about getting an item uncursed is that the store clerk will completely identify the item before removing it.

This section of the store supports direct Drag and Drop from your Items Window.

Realign an item

This allows you to change the alignment of certain items.  It provides an alternative to trading with other characters, but can be expensive.  To realign an item, simply select/drag it in the ‘Sell & Identify Item’ area and click one of the three ‘GNE’ buttons.

Recharging Items

You can recharge items that cast spells (i.e. Swords, Artifacts) by selling them to the store and buying them back (the recharging fee being the difference in sell vs. cost price).  You cannot recharge items such as Potions, Scrolls, etc.  This means if you sell a Potion of Healing [1] to the store (where it normally comes with 3 charges), it will not appear in the store's inventory because there wasn't enough left of the potion to create a whole one.  However, if you sell items such as Swords & Artifacts with [0] charges, they will be completely recharged and available for repurchasing.

With all options in the city, gold will be removed from your bank account if you do not have enough on your character’s person, but do in your account.

Move to the next section to read about Holding & Confinement.

Move to the previous section to read about the City Morgue.


The Dungeon

“Let he who ventures into the mines know that without skills, death is certain, and with skills, riches are vast and never-ending -
but death will still hover over you.”
- “Maxx”, Master of the Villain’s Guild

Haven of monsters, treasure, and the unknown, the old Mines are usually made up of rooms and corridors.  As a character walks through a door into a new room (or "territory”), they will often encounter a group of monsters - unless you or somebody else has recently been through and has already killed them.  The dungeon will repopulate over a time, so a room that was empty on the way down might have monsters in it on your way up...

In the above picture, you can see a group of monsters with a treasure chest currently engaged in combat.

The box above the Maze that reads '7,4,1 North [1]' contains the character's current location (x,y,level), direction, and the number of characters in the room (in brackets).. If there are ever dead characters in the room, a number will appear (representing the number of dead characters in the room) with a ‘+’ in front of it in the same location (e.g. [1+1]).  If you ever stumble over a dead body and don’t know who it is, simply use the ‘look in room’ command (see Commands for more information).  If your character (or party) ever becomes lost, you may lose the x,y,lev and direction information until your character (or party) finds out where they are.

The arrow keys underneath the maze represent Left, Forward, Right and Turn Around for movement.  Along the bottom of the window are other command buttons.  These commands are the same as hitting the associated key (i.e. the Fight command is the same as hitting ‘f’ during combat).  The number keys represent an item/spell buffer.  Clicking on one of these numbers will activate the associated buffer.  You may use either the keyboard or this command window to carry out any dungeon commands.  For commands that are not available in the command window, use the associated key.

For an overview of Game and Dungeon Commands, please see Commands at the end of this Helplesson

Knowing the Dungeon

There are several neat features and nasty traps that you can encounter in the dungeon.  Below is a known list of them:

Stairs

Go either up or down (surprise!).  Be aware that the deeper you go, the tougher the monsters.

Teleporter

These can either take you to a specific place (only way to find out is to take them more than once) on the same level or on another level; or they can take you to a random place on the same level.  Unlike the teleport spell, teleporters will not cause you to land in rock.  If a party of characters runs into a random teleporter, each character in the party will be teleported to a different location on the same level.

Pits

You will take hits if you fall into them.  Pits become more dangerous as you go deeper into the dungeon.  Levitation will allow you to hover over a pit, although levitation has a small chance of failing.

Chute

Basically like a pit except that you will be on a different level below you if you fall down it.  You cannot crawl back up a chute.  Unless you are levitating, you will take damage when you fall down a chute.  If a character is levitating, they have the option of using the chute just like taking the stairs.

Fog/Darkness

Prevents you from seeing the maze.  You must ‘feel’ your way around.  Sometimes the Fog/Darkness will be so thick that it might be hard for you to identify monsters within it.  Intelligence and Wisdom help.

Rock

A square that is solid rock.  The only way to enter a square that is solid rock is with a teleport or portal spell, and if you do so, you will die.  To get out, you must be summoned out of rock by another character with a spell.

Rotator

Will turn you in a random direction and cause you to become disoriented, and sometimes lost as well.  There are also squares that will face you in a predetermined direction all the time.

Water

Water will cause you to drown if you are wearing heavy items and are not levitating.  Certain types of monsters will appear only in water.

Anti-Magic

Will not allow the character to cast spells.  Other spells already cast (i.e. Resist Magic) will stay intact.

Quicksand

This stuff is bad news.  You take hits and can lose items if you are not levitating.

Extinguish

These squares will have the same effect as Anti-Magic and will take away any spells cast on your character (e.g. Resist Magic).

Stud

In general, these squares will contain tougher monsters, usually from one level deeper than the current level.

There are also some squares that are a combination of the squares that were previously described.

To take either Stairs, or a Chute (only when levitating), select the Take option (by either pressing ‘t’ or clicking on the Take command in the Main Dungeon Window).

Some rooms will quite often contain tougher or easier monsters.  Learn to recognize these rooms; your character’s life may depend on it.

Characters with a high perception ability are usually able to detect a difference in the maze when walking around.  If the character is high enough level and has a good enough perception ability, they may even be able to completely identify the square they are standing on.

Rumor also has it that secret doors exist within the dungeon.  One can check a wall for a secret door by attempting to pass through it.  If a secret door is there, the character will be allowed through the wall.

In general, the dungeon becomes nastier as you go deeper.  If you get teleported and can’t find where you are, remain cool, grab some graph paper and start mapping away until you find yourself and the AutoMap kicks back in.

Move to the next section to read about the AutoMap.

Move to the previous section to see Spells for the Villain.


The Game Screen

When you start (run your character), you will find a number of windows displayed on your screen.  Feel free to arrange and size (for character windows) them any way you like - their positions and size will be saved when you exit.  To reset a resized window, simply use the Control Panel (F10).  Below is a picture of each main window followed by a brief description.

NOTE: All of the windows (except for the City Services windows) in Mordor can be proportionally resized by dragging the window border.  To resize the City Services windows, you must use the Window functions located in the Control Panel.

Tabbed Windows

In order to make the interface and display of Mordor easier, the two main windows of the game are Tabbed windows.  These two windows are the Character Window (captioned with the current character’s name) and the Spells & Objects Window.  The pages (or tabs) on these two windows can be changed by selecting a tab representing the page that you wish to view.  Below is a description of these windows and pages.

Character (stats) Window

The Character Window is where all of the character and statistical information can be found.  Below is a description of the separate tabs:

Stats (Main Character Information)

This tab is used to display your character’s Name, Guild Title and all other important statistics, including special modifiers (e.g. invisible, levitating, poisoned).

Resist. (Resistances)

This query will list all resistances and the current resistance level (either '-' for none, or the resistance percentage) for the selected character.

Char (Character Statistics)

A general collection of your current character’s information.  Includes total monsters killed, how many times the character has died (and has been raised with complications), the natural and modified (by items) stats of the character, and more.

Guild (Guild Information)

This query will display all of the guilds the character is a member of, the level of each guild, and a list of the abilities that the character has, along with a rating (between 1 and 100) and which guild the ability comes from.

The Ability rating is based on the maximum level of that particular ability available in the game.  For example, the Warrior’s guild is the only guild that can reach a Fighting Ability rating of 100 since they have a higher fighting ability.  And since the Warrior’s guild can reach the highest ability, their highest ability is what your current ability will be rated on.  This means that no other guild can give a character a Fighting Ability of 100.

Look (Area Look)

The Area List will display the characters that are in the same room as the current character.  This is useful for finding out who is in a room if you’ve stumbled over somebody but don’t know who.

Buffers (Spell/Item Buffers)

Contains your spell and item buffer information.  Your character has the ability to move (Drag and Drop) spells and items into the slots, which then allows your character to use the item or cast the spell in the selected slot by hitting Shift-Number Key on the keyboard, clicking on the slot itself, or pressing the associated number button in the dungeon window.  Very useful for combat.

Misc (Item, Spell or Companion Info)

The Miscellaneous Tab is used to display either Item, Spell or Companion Information.

Item Information

Depending on the ID (Identification) Level of an item, the information displayed includes the following:

The Name, Class and A/D an item has to offer (when equipped).  If an item is a weapon, a number in brackets will appear after the A/D that shows the ‘power’ of the item (how hard it can hit - higher numbers are better).  Information also includes how many swings an item has (if any) and how many hands the item requires to equip.

If an item casts a Spell and is completely identified, you will be informed of what the spell is.  You will also be told whether or not the item casts a spell at a specific ‘spell level’ or the level of the caster.  Items that cast spells at a specific level always cast the spell at the same level of power while items that cast spells based on the characters spell level cast spells in magnitude of the characters spell level.

If an item is completely identified, you will also be informed of it’s Abilities (i.e. Resist Fire, or Levitate).  These abilities are only in effect when the item is Equipped.

SR and SM represent "Stats Required” and "Stats Modified”.  The numbers that follow SR represent the stats that are required to use or equip the item (in the following order - Str, Int, Wis, Con, Cha, Dex).  The numbers in SM represent the amount by which a stat will be raised or lowered when the item is equipped or used.

An item is either Class Restricted or Not Class Restricted.  Class Restricted items mean that you must currently be a member of a guild that is allowed to use the item.  Not Class Restricted means that your current guild does not need to be able to use an item, but you must be a member of a guild that can use the item.  Guilds that are allowed to use an item are listed along with what level (in that particular guild) one has to be to use (or equip) the item.  For more information, see the Items section.

ID Level represents how much you know about the item.  The ID Level determines how much you know about an item.  If you do not know very much, most of the above information will not be available.

Spell Information

General Spell Information includes the Name and Class of the Spell.  The Guild (based on the most powerful guild you are a member of that teaches the spell) and spell points required to cast the spell.  Any special information (i.e. how many groups & monsters the spell affects if it’s a combat spell) and the Stats Required to cast the spell.  You will also be told if the spell is a ‘mass’ spell (i.e. affects the entire party).

Spell Power

With Damage and Heal spells, you will also see two numbers after either "Damage:” or "Heal:” (for example, ‘15/5’).  These numbers represent the <base>/<levelmodifier> of the given spell.  For more information, see the Spells section of the Helplesson

Bold spells indicate that your character has the stats to cast the spells.  Non-Bold spells indicate that your character is lacking in one or more stats required to cast the spell.

Companion Information

Depending on the ID Level of the character (based on Intelligence, Wisdom and Guild Level), the information displayed includes the following:

The Name, Alignment and A/D of the companion.  Also showed are the Stats (in the same order as the Item Information stats), the ID Level and Special Abilities (if any) of the monster (i.e. Fire Resistant, Can Stone, etc.).

A character will also be told the level of ‘contentment’ or ‘binding’ of the current companion (based on whether or not the companion joined free of will or was bound/charmed).  Discontent companions (companions who have joined free of will) are likely to leave if they become too discontent while bound companions are likely to turn on their master.

Objects & Spells Window

Items

Items window.  From here, you can Equip, Use, Drop and Examine items.  You can also swap items and move items to the Store, Bank and the Buffer Window by using Drag and Drop.  To select an item to Equip, Use or Drop, click on the item and then on the associated button.  The currently selected item will be highlighted blue.  When you select ‘Equip’, the next item slot will automatically be highlighted (selected).  As a shortcut (nice when in combat), you can use an item by double-clicking on it.

Spells

Your Spells window. From here, you can look up spells and cast them.  You can also get information about a spell as well.  This window also supports Drag and Drop to the Buffer Window.  When you click on a spell, it will be highlighted blue and selected to cast.  To cast a spell that has been typed in or selected, click on the Cast button or hit Enter while in the ‘Spell Name’ text box.  To get information on a spell, click on the selected spell (or type it in) and click on the Info button.  For frequently used spells, it’s recommend that one uses a Buffer.

Companions

Your Companion’s information window, containing the type of creature for a companion along with their hits.  The buttons allow you to kick out a specific companion whenever you wish and even turn and attack them.  When you pick up a dead companion or character, their number (for companions) or name (for characters) will be displayed above the box containing the companion information.  You can also Name your companions and get information on a companions Special Abilities.  For more information, see the Companions section.

Messages Window

 All important messages for your character or others in your party will be displayed here.  When you cast a spell on yourself or another, or find an item, it will be displayed here.  Experience required for your guild will also be displayed here.

You can clear the message window by double-clicking on the list box.

Party Window

 Even when only one character is loaded, the party window is still displayed.  The reason for this is so that the player can see the character’s current hits, status, etc, if the Stats Window is tabbed to a page other than the character stats page.  For more information on using this window, see the Parties section.

When you are in different locations (I.E. the City or the Dungeon), other windows will be available.  They will be discussed and described later in this Helplesson

Move to the next section to read about the Toolbar.

Move to the previous section to read about Creating a Character.


The Library
“The most powerful weapon of all is Knowledge.”

- “Minsak”, Scribe for the Library

The Library is where all of the information that the guilds collect from their explorers is located.  This includes information on both Items and Monsters. Whenever an explorer encounters a new Item or Monster, and can identify it enough to place it in the Library, it is automatically added for all others to see and use.  As a monster or item is identified more thoroughly by an explorer, the information in the library will be updated.

Items

Besides the general item information that is obtainable either by identifying an item in the store or in the Items Window (based on current knowledge), the Library also keeps track of how many times a specific item has been found, what creature it was found by last, and when.

Monsters

Monster information is a little different from Item Information.  Unlike Items, which a character can get info on at any time, a character can only get monster information while in the dungeon when they have a companion.  However, in the library, general information on monsters can be found.  This can include everything from stats and special abilities.  It is also recorded where the last monster of a specific type was last seen, and how long ago.

The only way to completely identify a Monster is for a character to have it as a companion and either have the ID skill to learn all it can about the creature, or take it to the Holding and Confinement Center for identification.

Other Explorers

You may quite often notice that item and monster entries appear in the library that you and your characters have not entered.  These entries are made by other explorers that have wandered into the depths and returned to report their findings (and quite often end up selling the items and companions that they may have come across during their exploration).

Move to the next section to read about Spells.

Move to the previous section to read The City Guilds.


The Toolbar

Depending on the page mode, the Toolbar is a collection of icons that allow the player to carry out commands at the click of a button, or a display of character information.  Below is a list of the command options from left to right:

 Page

Clicking this button will switch the toolbar between two display modes (or pages), being either the icon (command) page, or the info (resistances) page.

 Help

Selecting this will load the Mordor Helplesson and display the table of contents.

 Guild Experience Information

This will display the current characters experience and quest information.

This functions the same as pressing F5

 AutoMap

Selecting this will display (or set focus to) the Automap.

This functions the same as pressing F8

 Ask Character to Join

Use this command to ask other characters to join you.

This functions the same as pressing ‘a’.

 Give Item

Use this command to give items to other characters within a party.

This functions the same as pressing ‘g’.

 Pickup Body

Select this option to pick up another characters dead body.

This functions the same as pressing ‘p’.

 Drop Body

Selecting this option will cause the current character to drop whatever they are carrying (being either the body of a companion or another character).

This functions the same as pressing ‘l’.

 Control Panel

This will bring up the Control Panel for the Character.

This functions the same as pressing F10.

The right hand side of the toolbar is used to display general information for when a character is either in the City or the Dungeon.

If desired, the Toolbar can be turned off in the Options Window either from the Main Menu, or the Character Control Panel.

Move to the next section to read about the City.

Move to the previous section to read about the Game Screen.


Trouble Shooting
General Troubleshooting & Technical Support

NOTE: 16-bit Mordor does not directly support long directory names under Windows NT or Windows 95

General Troubleshooting

Messed up Numbers/Currency

If you are in another country that uses a currency other than dollars (Germany, for example), Mordor should work just fine.  However, there have been some reports of problem with some German and Swiss versions of windows where some of the numbers are displayed improperly.  If you experience this problem, you will need to switch the currency format to US while playing Mordor.

Program Managers other than Windows Program Manager

I cannot guarantee complete functionality with other program managers for Windows (i.e. Norton Desktop).  If you are experiencing problems playing Mordor and are using a manager other than the one that comes with Windows, I would recommend switching back to the Windows Program Manager and seeing if the problem(s) disappear.

Microsoft Office

It has been reported that the Microsoft Office toolbar can greatly interfere with MORDOR.  If you have this up, be sure to unload it if you are having any problems running MORDOR.

Windows NT/Win95

If you are playing MORDOR under Windows NT or Win95 and are having problems, make sure that MORDOR is running in a separate VDM.  You can change this setting by selecting the icon in the Program manager, hitting Alt-Enter and clicking on the Separate VDM check box.

If you are using Windows NT 3.5 with Full Drag on, it’s recommended that you turn it off to play the game (this is the feature that instantly drags and updates windows as you move/size them).  You can do this in the Control Panel/Desktop section.

Also, if you are using Sound FX under Win95 and are experiencing 'skipping' when the files are played, be sure to enter the following line in your WAVEMIX.INI file:

WaveBlockLen=4096

(about) Error

If you encounter an error similar to "(about) property cannot be set at runtime" when you start Mordor, you probably have an old VBX file lying around somewhere other than the one in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory that the game is accessing (i.e. the WINDOWS directory).  The .VBX file that usually causes this problem is VBCTL3D.VBX.  The solution is to make sure the VBCTL3D.VBX file in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory is the latest one and that another doesn't exist on your system someplace else!

GPFs & Video Problems

90% of all GPFs in MORDOR are caused by old MUSIC or DISPLAY drivers.  To get the latest drivers, please contact the manufacturer of your Sound/Video card either by phone or on Compuserve.  A good technique for testing Video Driver incompatibilities is to install the 800x600x16 (or 256) color driver that comes with windows.  If the errors do not persist while using this driver, the problems are more than likely the drivers you have for your display card.

Fonts

If, for some reason, you have removed the Courier New font from your system (which comes with Windows 3.1), some text may not appear correctly or not at all (especially in the information box).  To correct this, simply reinstall the Courier New font or select another Proportional font in the Options section from the Main Menu.

64K Colors

Some players running in 64K colors will see no maze or monster pictures while playing (which, of course, means that the game is not playable).  Because there has been no standard set for 64K colors, quite a few drivers will not work with Mordor at this color level.  There isn’t much that one can do except for switch to either 16 Million (TrueColor) Colors, or 256 Colors.  I apologize for this, but it’s out of my hands.

Black/No Pictures

Not all Video Drivers are completely compatible with the Windows StretchBlt API call, which takes a bitmap and stretches it to a certain size.  If you run into the problem of blank or black pictures, you need to set the No StretchBlt option in the Options panel from the Main Menu to True.  This will cause the graphics to be displayed at default size and not resize themselves to the screen.  This option will not help 64K Color problems.

No Music

If the MIDI player that came with your sound card works, but MORDOR doesn’t, you probably need to create a new MIDI MAP that uses a different PORT NAME for every port (all 16).  See the MIDI Mapper & TroubleShooting section for more information.

Bad Music

If the Music played by Mordor doesn’t sound good, you probably need to either get the latest drivers for your sound card, or re-map your Extended MIDI map.  Please consult the manual that came with your sound card and/or the MIDI Mapper & TroubleShooting section for more information.

Bad Sound FX

Be sure to check the date of your WAVMIX16.DLL and make sure it’s as recent as the .DLL that comes with MORDOR.  If not, manually copy it over.  If problems persist, try changing the ShowDevices option in the [general] section of WAVEMIX.INI (located in the WINDOWS directory) to 1.  This will cause WAVMIX16.DLL to display message windows when errors are encountered with more information on the problem.  From here, it’s up to you!

Technical Support

If you encounter a problem that you cannot resolve by reading the manual or the On-Line Help lessons, then contact our Technical Support representatives directly. You may call, write, or fax us with your questions, or contact via Compuserve E-mail (102033,242).

If you choose to write, fax, or e-mail us with your problem, please include detailed information about your computer system, the version of Mordor you are running (found in the About dialog box inside Mordor), and a detailed explanation of your problem. Please include your address and day & night telephone numbers should we need to provide you with additional information or direct technical support.

Regardless of whether you are calling, writing, faxing, or e-mailing there is a technical support form included with the game to help you gather the needed information. SUPPORT.WRI was installed in the Mordor directory and can be accessed using Windows Write or other Windows word processors that can read Write (wri) files. This file allows you to fill in the blanks so that you have the information ready when you call, or you can print out the completed form and mail, fax, or e-mail it to us.

This is the basic information we will need when you contact us:

Name

Phone (Day)

Phone (Night - Ok to call until - time zone)

Address

City, State,Zip

Version of DOS

Version of Windows

Version and Date of Mordor (found in About dialog box)

Mordor Serial Number (off regisration card)

CPU

RAM memory

Hard Disk Space

Video Board - make and model

Screen Resolution

Number of Screen Colors

Sound Card

A detailed description of the problem and what preceeded the problem.

Does the problem occur every time?

Telephone Technical Support is open 9 - 4 PST Monday - Friday:

(206) 742-4145

Fax Technical Support is available at:

(206) 742-3666

Mail Address is:

TDA

Mordor Tech Support

720 - 132 Street SW, #202

Everett, WA 98204 USA


Tutorial

Welcome to the Mordor "tutorial”.  This section was designed to walk a you through creating a character, buying the proper items in a store, entering the dungeon, and dealing with your first monster.

This window will stay on top until you decide to close it (or open the Race/Guild Stats Window).  To move on to the next "section”, simply scroll the window when you have completed the previous "section”.  Go ahead and position/size the window so it is convenient for you to view.

Starting Out

First thing to do is to select the Create Character button from the Main Menu of Mordor.  Once you’ve done that, you will see the Character Creation Screen pop up.  Here, you select your character’s Name, Sex, Race, Alignment and Stats.  Since you’re just starting out, go ahead and pick whatever name you like, select a Human for the race, whatever sex you like, and select Neutral for the alignment.  Next, move over to the stats and click on the buttons for the associated stats to set the values to 12, 12, 12, 11, 5, 12.  You will notice that when you take away points from your Charisma (move it down to 5), you receive points you can put in your other stats.

It’s a good idea to always keep your Int and Wis at a value of 10, so your character can use any Tomes they might find (items to raise stats which require 10 int and 10 wis to use).

Now, click the Save Character button.  When prompted for a password, enter any password you wish.  The game will ask you to reenter it, so don't worry if you make a mistake.  If no one else will be playing Mordor on your machine, or if you wish to share all of your characters, you may simply hit enter when prompted for a password to create a character without a password.  If you later decide you would like to add a password, you may use the Change Password option from the Main Menu to do so.

Once your character has been created, the game will return you to the Main Menu.  To begin playing, select the button labeled "Run <your character name>".

Now, you see the main screen.  If you are using 640x480 VGA, you may have to do a little arranging to see all of the windows at once.  If you are using 800x600 or higher resolution, you will be able to see everything without any problems.  If you want, you can also resize the windows to fit your screen (make them bigger or smaller).

Overview of Stats

The window in the upper left hand corner with your character’s name as the heading is the main Stats window.  This default tab in this window (stats) contains your character’s age, hits, spells, stats, etc.  The space to the right of the stats is used for special adjusters (I.E. Levitating, Poisoned, Diseased, etc.).  As you see, your hits are 15/15, which means your are at full strength.  If you reach 0/15, you will be dead.  Your Attack and Defense is 0/0 which means you’re pretty much a wimp right now.  You have 120 spell points and are at Spell level 1, but it doesn’t really help much since your current guild (Nomad) isn’t a magic-user guild.

The other tabs located in this window are for other types of character information.  If you want to look in the current area to see what other characters are around (after you have created more than one), you can click on the 'Look' tab, which will display the current characters in the 'room' or 'area'.  You can look at resistances, character statistics, buffers, etc.  You'll learn all of these tabs as you become more familiar with the game and read the Game Screen section of this Helplesson.

Next we have the Objects & Spells Window, which contains 3 main tabs - Items, Spells and Companions.  The Items tab is used to display the items your character is currently wearing or carrying.  After we go to the store and purchase some neat stuff, you can equip the items, which will then raise your Attack and Defense so you won’t be a wimp anymore.  Since you don't know any spells offhand, there's really not much to look at in the Spell Tab - and since you have no Companions, there's not much there either.  As you begin to play, these windows will fill with spells your character has learned and creatures you have befriended or bound!

The Messages window is for various messages that will be displayed during the game. It is important since messages about significant events will be displayed here.

And finally, we have the Party window.  This is where the list of any characters in your party is shown.  Since you're by yourself, you only see the information on the one character.  Later on, as you venture into the depths with an organized party, the other characters will be displayed in this window, allowing you to move/switch to them with the click of a button!  This window is also useful for keeping track of your character's hits & status when a tab other than the 'stats' tab is showing in the main character window!

Before we delve into the city, go ahead and press F6.  You’ll see the 'Char' tab in the Character Window pop up with your character’s statistical information.  Don’t really worry about what all this means right now - you’ll understand it later.  This Information Window is used in many ways - when you identify an item, information about the item is displayed here.  When you press F4 (go for it), your character’s current resistance information is displayed. As you can see, the tabs in this window present a wide variety of information on a wide range of subjects.

You may have also noticed the toolbar at the top of the screen.  It's mostly there for convenience, and can be turned off in the Options Window.  You can carry out an order by clicking on a specific icon, or click on the page icon to switch to your character's 'resistances'.  Give it a try.  Gold and Experience information for the current character are also displayed on the right hand side of the toolbar.  For more information, read the Toolbar section in this Helplesson.

The City

Welcome to the wonderful and exciting city of Mordor.  Everything a character could ever want is found in the city.  You have the store, where you can purchase, sell, identify, combine and Uncurse items.  You have the Morgue, where you can raise dead characters or companions, or hire rescuers to find a lost character.  The Bank is a place to store your items and money - unlike the real world, the Bank of Mordor cannot be robbed, so your money is perfectly safe.  You have the Guilds, which is where your character will learn skills and abilities to become more powerful.  The Seer is available for those who are seeking a lost character or quested monster or item.  And the Holding & Confinement facility is there for explorers to purchase creatures as companions, or sell existing companions.  Each of these places will be described later.

Outfitting your Character - the Store

The first thing every eager adventurer should do is buy neat items to defend themselves from the foul and evil wretches of the dungeon.  Go ahead and click on the General Store button.  Welcome to the store!  If you need to, go ahead and move the windows so you can see the General Store and your Items window at the same time.  Don’t worry if you have to cover up your statistics window.

Let’s run through the sections of the store.  First, we have the "Uncurse Item” section.  This is where your character may remove items that they equipped that were either cursed or had an alignment that was the opposite of your character's alignment.  Some items your character will find in the dungeon will be oppositely aligned others will be downright cursed. That’s why it’s not a good idea to equip anything that’s not completely identified.  You will know what an item is after you have completely identified the item.  Also, if you have a character whose alignment is "good” and equip with an Iron Sword that’s "Evil” (e) your character will LOSE instead of gain fighting ability, A/D, etc. - plus you will have to pay to have the item uncursed before your character can unequip the item.

"Combine Items” is used for combining like items (i.e. 2 potions of curing into 1).  This feature is free and it allows your character to be better organized and carry more items. The risk is that if a combined item is lost or stolen, you lose more.

Next, we have our "Identify, Realign & Sell Items” section.  This area is used to identify items found in the dungeon that your character doesn’t know much about, sell items, display the information on an item, and realign an item.  We'll get to that in just a moment......

To place an item in any of the text boxes, you can either type in the item number, or drag an item from your Items window and drop it in the text box.

Let's start off by setting our focus on the Buy Items section of the Store.  From here, one can browse and purchase items that are in the stores inventory.  See the list of items to the right?  Click on the Bronze Sword (highlight it blue).  See how there’s a 350 to the right of the item?  That means that it costs 350 gold pieces. Items that can only be found in the store will have the cost directly to the right of them. As you find items and sell them to the store, the price will be displayed differently.  For instance, notice the Iron Sword in the store - to the right of it you will see " 0 1 1 1”, instead of a price.  This means that there are a total of three types of this sword in inventory - 0 unaligned, 1 good, 1 neutral and 1 evil.  So to find the price, or buy, an iron sword, click on Iron Sword - you will then be able to specify Unaligned, Good, Neutral, or Evil, after which you can see the price and buy the item (well actually you can’t buy it because you don’t have enough money). If you find an Evil Tome of Might and sell it when there is none in the store, the listing would then read "Tome of Might     0 0 0 1”. Also, the store charges a price that corresponds to the number of items in stock, for example if Iron Sword was  0 2 9 4, Neutral iron swords would be cheaper than either Good or Evil Iron Swords. It is also helpful to note that Unaligned items can be used by characters of all alignments.

Now, to get on with buying some items. Click on Bronze Sword, see how the item name popped into the box under the list of items, along with the price?  Notice the 9(u) in front of the cost?  That means that there’s 9 Unaligned items of that type in stock.  If you had selected a Good item, it would read 4(g). Now, let’s look at the Bronze Sword information. Click on the Info button next to the Buy button.  The Misc tab in the Character Window automatically pops up with the information.  This tab shows you all of the information that the store has on the item - how it affects attack & defense, what the class of the item is, how many hands it takes to use (if any), what guilds are allowed to use it, etc.  Depending on the item, additional information may also be shown, such as the number of 'swings' that a weapon provides, or what spell an item casts (and how may times).  For more information, see The Game Screen Section of this Helplesson.

Well, now that you know all about this sword, click the Buy button.  Voila!  You’re the proud owner of a Bronze Sword.  Now, go through and buy the following items:

Leather Armor

Leather Gloves

Cloth Cloak

Leather Boots

Wooden Shield

Copper Helmet

Before we leave the store, drag one of the items from your Items Window and drop it into the "Identify, Realign & Sell Items” ‘item’ text box.  See how it tells you what they have in stock ((u)99 99 unaligned) and the price you can sell it for.  As you can see, it’s a substantial difference between what you paid and what you can sell it for.  Clicking on the Info button will bring up the same information you saw earlier - the item is also completely identified.  However, when you find an item in the dungeon, bring it here, drop it in the text box and click ID to identify it, you will frequently not know everything about the item.  Some items will require more than one identification stage.  Which usually, but not necessarily, means they are more valuable. Also, you can click the Info button after every ID process and you will see how the information becomes more detailed.

When you find items that are aligned, you have the option of realigning it by using the item realign services of the store. However, the store extracts a hefty fee for this service.  If you have a good item and want to realign it to evil, drag and drop it into the item text box (under Identify, Realign & Sell Items) and click on the E button and you’ll be told how much it will cost to realign it.  The reason a character may wish to realign an item is to be able to use it.  If a Good character finds a Neutral (n) or Evil (e) item, equipping the item will not benefit the character (and become cursed if it's oppositely aligned) in any way, so the character can bring the item to the store and realign it to their actual alignment so they can equip and use the item and receive the full benefit of the items abilities (added attack, defense, etc).

You may notice, in starting out, that things appear very expensive.  The average Tome costs over 200,000 to identify for just the first stage.  Initially the best way to go about this is to sell the first few items you find without identifying them and use that money to identify other found items, then sell those until you have enough money to identify everything you find and make a profit from it.  Items that aren’t completely identified will not bring their full value when sold, while other items may be less valuable when fully identified.

For more information on the Store, be sure it read the City: Store section of this Helplesson.

The Bank

Okay!  Click on the Exit button to return to the City menu and select the bank icon.  Now that the bank is open you can see the separate sections of the bank.  You can deposit money, withdraw money, and deposit & withdraw items.  Most of the time, you will probably want to use the ALL buttons to either deposit the money on your character or withdraw it.  To deposit items, drag the item from the Items tab of the Objects & Spells window and drop them in the Bank Items list box.  To withdraw them, do just the opposite - drag a Bank item back to the Items tab.  However, since you don't need to deposit or withdraw any items, let's deal with the gold on your character!  For right now, click the ‘All’ button in the deposit area.  You just deposited All of your remaining gold into the bank.  If you want to take money out just withdraw it.  However, you wouldn’t very often need to withdraw gold, this is because all of the service and goods providers in the city can automatically withdraw gold from your account when you make a transaction (kind of like electronic banking).  You can also deposit to or withdraw items from the bank.  The reason for this is to secure an item from being slimed or stolen in the dungeon.  Keep in mind, however, that items in the Bank are not with you and therefore cannot be used in the dungeon.

For more information on the Bank, be sure to read the City: Bank section of the Helplesson, which will describe the Party options in more detail (for when you need them).

The Guilds

Let’s leave the bank and mosey over to the guilds.  Once you enter the guilds, you automatically enter your current guild - the Nomad’s guild.  You can see who the Guild Master is, what stats are required to enter this guild, and a welcome message.  On the right is a list of the other guilds that you can visit to see about joining.  For this Tutorial, however, we'll just stick with the Nomad's guild.  You might notice (if you read the Guilds section of the Helplesson) that some guilds are missing from the list.

The only guilds that are shown are those that your character is eligible to join based on your race and alignment.  However, just because you are eligible doesn't mean that you can join - you still have to meet the minimum stat requirements and have enough money to pay any initiation fees.  As you play Mordor, you'll discover items that will allow you to raise your stats, so don't worry too much if you don't qualify for any guilds besides Nomad right now.

Let's move on!  You will see a total of Seven buttons on the Guilds form, two of which are unavailable (Make Level and Reacquaint).  The other 5 are Visit, Library, Guild Log Experience Info and Exit.  The Visit button allows you to visit another guild other than your current guild (by selecting another guild available in the List Box and clicking on the Visit Button).  The Library button will take you to the Library, which is a branch of the guilds that will become very useful later.  The Guild Log button will bring up the Guild Log, which lists the latest events that have taken place - but since you're starting out, nothing will really be listed.

Go ahead and click on the Exp. Info button and you’ll see a message box stating how much experience you need to make the next guild level, in this case level 2.  When you make levels, your hits points go up and usually your A/D increases as well.  To gain experience, you need to go down into the dungeon and slay some monsters.  When your character has enough experience to "make level”, return to the Guild and use the Make Level button to increase your characters skills.  The reacquaint button will become available when you belong to more than one guild and you want to visit a guild you were previously an active member of. This button also doubles as the "join" button when you first visit a guild you are not a member of.

The Morgue

We’ll skip the Morgue for right now, since it’s fairly self-explanatory, and nobody has died yet.  When you do need to visit the morgue you will find it very easy to use. The morgue workers can raise characters or companions as well as go into the dungeon and retrieve characters. It is important to note however that the morgue extracts a fee for these services and the fee can be substantial. Keep in mind that with any type of resurrection (from the morgue or a spell), there is always the risk of complications during resurrection that can leave your character permanently disadvantaged.  For more information on Complications, see the section on Dying & Dealing with Death in this Helplesson.

Holding & Confinement

We'll also skip this neat city service - later on, as you collect more gold, you can go here and purchase companions to help you out in the depths below - you can also bring creatures back from the depths and sell them for profit!  Just think of how much money a skilled Mage could make doing that!

The Dungeon

Well, let’s get going!  Exit the guilds window and click on the dungeon button!  You are now in the exciting world of the dungeon.  There is a wall behind you and to your left and right, and  ahead these is a door.  You are currently at the stairs that take you to the city.  If you wanted to go back to the city, you’d press ‘t’ - to take the stairs.  First thing you need to do is get ready for the nasties.  Make sure the Stats tab is visible in the Character window (so you can watch your A/D increase as you equip items).  Next, start equipping your items by selecting (clicking) on your Bronze Sword (highlighting it blue), then clicking the Equip button.  See how your A/D went up?  Let’s get it a little higher.  Go ahead and hit Equip again (you see that after you equip an item the one after it is highlighted).  Go ahead and stop equipping when all of the items are equipped.  Now, you’re ready!  Movement in the dungeon can be done either via the Dungeon Command window (clicking on the appropriate button), or the Keyboard.  For beginners, I suggest the Keyboard, because the command window is just too slow for the first time.

The other buttons on the Dungeon window are used to carry out actions and bring up information (which can be entered with the Keyboard as well).  The numbers represent Buffers and act the same as pressing Shift-#.  For more information on these commands, see the Commands section in this Helplesson.

Go ahead and press the Up (forward) arrow.  You’re now at the door.  Take a look to your right by pressing the right arrow.  You should see three doors, Good. Now, turn around by pressing the down (turn around) arrow so you can look behind you.  You see a hall way that continues beyond the limits of your vision.  Now, press the right arrow again to face the door.

Combat

Beyond that door is a nasty little critter, maybe even two of them.  So, for your first lesson in combat you’re going to run in, then immediately turn around and run back out.  You will go through the door by pressing the forward arrow (don’t do it yet!), and run out by holding down the shift key and pressing the down (turn around) arrow.  The down (turn around) arrow turns your character around.  By pressing the Shift key at the same time, you tell the game to turn around AND take a step forward.  So, what you’re going to do is run into the room (up arrow) and then run out (shift+down arrow), right?  Now, make sure you get a good look at the monster(s) when you first walk into the room.  You may get hit - and even killed if they are able to hit you when you first enter and then turn to run.  If that happens, create another character and try again.  Now, run into the room, look at the monster(s) and run back out!  If you didn't leave the room quick enough, there's a chance that your character will have swung and hit (and maybe even killed) a monster before they ran out (since the default fight option for a character is attack).

Well, wasn’t that fun. If you got hit go back to the city (one step forward) and press ‘t’ (or click on the ‘take’ button).  When you enter the city, you’ll see that your hits (after resting) are back to normal.  If you didn’t get hit, you’re ready to take out whatever it was *gulp*.  You may be wondering why the monster(s) were able to swing at you even though you didn't do anything besides run in and out.  This is because Combat in Mordor happens in real time - whether you’re ready or not - the monster(s) are always ready.  Combat takes place in 2 second rounds. You get to swing, then the monster does, and so on.  Fortunately, you can run away and save your hide, allowing you to return to the city and recover your hit points before doing battle once again with the nasties.  You may use this as your main "weapon" in trying to survive the first few levels - that's why you learned it first!  This is going to be your main advantage in staying alive for the first few levels.

Now, if you feel up to it and you're all healed up, go back into that room and nail those monsters!  Since your character will automatically begin fighting a creature if they are at war, all you need to do is walk in and watch the fight (unless they are 'peaced', in which case you will want to hit 'f' to begin fighting).  Keep in mind that if the monster hits your character, you'll probably want to turn around and go back to the castle to heal up before continuing the fight.  Even though your character may start automatically fighting, it's up to you to get them out of there if things turn bad!

So, Go for it!

If you were successful, you killed the monster(s), if weren’t - you’re probably dead.  If you’re really having a tough time, try creating a Giant with maximum Strength and Dexterity by taking points away from Intelligence and Wisdom.  That’ll be one hard character to kill.

Now, if you killed the monsters, you’ll notice you have some experience points and probably found some gold (unless they had a chest).  If they had a chest, it’s sitting there, waiting to be opened (unless it’s "Magically Locked”).  If it’s not "Magically Locked” you will see the trap description and "+/-” characters next to the chest.  That tells you how good you are at identifying and disarming traps.  For more information, you’ll need to read the Help Lesson - heck, you’ll end up reading it sooner or later anyway.  If there’s a chest, press ‘o’ to open it.  Gold!  Neat!  Did you find an item?  If so, you can take it back up and try to identify it (if you have enough gold) or sell it.

Follow up

So much for your first encounter - Feel like a studmuffin yet?  Well, you’ve got a long way to go.  You’ve probably noticed that when you kill the monsters that are in a room and go back, it’s empty.  That’s because they’re dead!  However, after a period of time, the dungeon will "repopulate” with new monsters.  So, until then, you're going to have to go exploring.  Since the monsters you killed won't reappear for awhile, you should remember the most recent path you took so you can retrace it when returning to the city (turning on the Automap by pressing F8 while in the dungeon helps).  There's nothing more challenging than trying to fight a running battle back to the city when what you wanted was a full scale retreat!  Keep in mind that you’ll stay alive by running away when your character’s hits get low.  After awhile, you’ll be strong enough to not really have to worry about little encounters.

As mentioned above, your character will automatically begin fighting if they enter a room with hostile monsters (or the monsters become hostile).  You can chance this by clicking on the Options button in the Party window and modifying the action for each character in the party (right now, there's only one) to carry out during a combat situation.

Even though this little "tutorial” got you started, it’s recommended that you go ahead and read the entire Helplesson  You’ll need to anyway to find out what guilds are available, their abilities, and what races can join them.  Mordor is a very large game - easy enough for the beginner, and complex enough for the serious player.

As you become more familiar with Mordor, you may want to organize a Party to explore the depths below.  To do this, simply press the 'a' key to ask a character who is in the current area to join you!

Well, you should be able to figure it out from here!  Good Luck!

Note: For players who have access to CompuServe, you can discuss the game and ask any questions you may have in Section 17 (Mordor BetaTest) of the GAMERS forum!  There will also be Internet sites very soon for Mordor help & discussion!


Visual Spells

In a collected effort, the Sorcerer’s and Wizard’s guilds managed to create spells that allowed one to turn invisible to the naked eye, and allowed one to see those who were invisible as well.

Sight Veil

Base Level: 2	Guilds: See (6), Mag (4), Sor, Wiz (8)

Required Stats: 12 Int, 12 Wis, 12 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will cause the receiving character to become Invisible.

This spell is very useful defensive spell.  When cast the recipient becomes invisible to the naked eye, only those with special abilities will be able to see the character.

See Invisible

Base Level: 2	Guilds: See (6), Mag (4), Sor, Wiz (8)

Required Stats: 12 Int, 12 Wis, 12 Cha

NON-COMBAT Spell, will cause the receiving character to see Invisible.

This spell will enable a character to see those who are invisible to the naked eye.

Mass Sight Veil

Base Level: 8	Guilds: Sor

Required Stats: 10 Str, 12 Int, 16 Wis, 10 Cha, 10 Dex

NON-COMBAT Spell, will cause the entire party to become Invisible.

This spell is the same as Sight Veil except that it affects the entire party.

Move to the next section to read about Magical Spells.

Move to the previous section to read about Resistant Spells.


Welcome

Mordor 1.1 HelpLesson
(Last Edited 7/19/95)

Welcome to the Mordor HelpLesson!  If this is your first time, it is recommended that you use the available browse buttons to go through the sequential order of the HelpLesson.

Below is a list of Mordor Game Playing Topics.

Introduction	Parties

The History of Mordor

Game Overview	Commands

Main Menu	Control Panel

Game Options Window

Character Information	Beginner Hints & Tips

Races	Frequently Asked Questions

Creating a Character

The Game Screen	Mordor Technical Information

The Toolbar	System Requirements

The City	General Troubleshooting & Technical Support

Items	MIDI Mapper & TroubleShooting

Guilds

The Library	Mordor Tutorial

Spells	Tutorial

The Dungeon

AutoMap	Mordor Ordering Information

Encounters	Ordering Mordor

Monsters

Companions	Mordor Screen Saver

Dying	Information

MORDOR is © Copyright 1994-1995, MakeItSo Software