Having examined several players guides to L.O.R.D., I have found them to be severely lacking in several areas and most are hopelessly out of date. Since nobody else seemed to be able and/or willing to do better, I decided to do so myself.
Besides being out of date and incomplete (only vague information about weapons/armor, and no mention of Olivia, for instance), the existing FAQs seemed to be poorly organized in the sense that a lot of useless "fluff" was mixed in with the valuable information. They also included a lot of questionable tips which can best be described as "rumors" or perhaps "myths". This is why this FAQ contains several main text files:
mylordxx.html
These files will contain the bulk of the FAQ. This is material which is verified and, with a couple of exceptions which will be noted later, is truly useful.
rumfluff.html
This contains information which, while it may be interesting, is not especially useful. I put it in a separate text file for reasons mentioned above.
I have made every effort to verify tips that I've heard from other people. I have heard a lot of stories about hidden keys, bugs, etch. and much of it has turned out to be nonsense. There are some things which I haven't been able to verify, but haven't disproven either. These are also contained in this file.
"Just who are you?"
Many of you are probably wondering just who I think I am to be writing a FAQ about L.O.R.D. What makes me such an expert? What experience do I have that qualifies me to set about such a task? By what authority do I take up space? (yes, my sense of humor is somewhat similar to Seth Able's)
Like many of you I am an avid L.O.R.D. player. I am also a former sysop of a BBS that had over 140 doors. L.O.R.D. was one of the more popular doors on my BBS. My BBS was called STEREOWORLD and as sysop I was known as "3DHAM". As a former sysop I have a registered copy of L.O.R.D. and have used it to verify several "theories" as well as to gather specific information.
I have also had experience writing door game FAQs before. When someone suggested I write a FAQ of my own about PC in TW2002 after I pointed out several blatant errors in "the" FAQ about PC, I proceeded to do so. When a new version of TW2002 came out, I started writing a short file about some things others had missed and this soon turned into a fullfledged FAQ for the new version. It was called MYLIST. Though it wasn't as widely distributed as some of the FAQs others had produced (which were already badly out of date and becoming moreso), it was posted twice a month on the FIDO TW2002 conference and was often referred to and quoted in messages. In my experiments I discovered several new bugs and also developed new strategies. Many hotly debated subjects and "what if" situations were settled once and for all by my exhaustive experiments.
If You're still not convinced that I am qualified to write this FAQ, that's your problem! I guess you'll have to settle for the less than adequate and badly outdated FAQs others have produced. Good luck!
Finally, if you've heard of my work with TW2002 and you're expecting me to reveal several hot bugs or "cheats" for L.O.R.D., you'll be disappointed. The only major bug I've found involves the bank and it isn't useful. The only other bugs I've come across in L.O.R.D. involve the message base and those cute little messages the games shows at various times. I'll go into more detail about that later, for now let's just say that if you get "romantic" mail from another guy, don't read too much into it! Apparently Seth Able is not perfect, but he is a much better programmer than Gary martin!
What you will find in here is a lot of hot tips not found in other FAQs, including stuff that very few people know about. I will also go into more detail on subjects that have been only scantily covered before.
INTRODUCTION
First of all the legal stuff. Legend Of the Red Dragon, a.k.a. L.O.R.D. is a copyright now owned by Metropolis [gameport.com]. The use of these terms and any other quoted text or character names from the games does not in any way reduce the legal rights of Seth Able Robinson , the author, or Metropolis, the new owner. [blah blah blah]
The inclusion of of such text herein does not in any way comprise an endorsement of this help file a.k.a. "FAQ" by Seth Able or Robinson Technologies. The fact that such text is used in this FAQ does not comprise an endorsement of the all-too-common practice of playing 20 different L.O.R.D. games as a substitute for getting a life!
This FAQ is Copyright (C) 1998 by John Alan Elson. This FAQ may be freely distributed in complete and unmodified form. Modifications to this FAQ and/or distribution of modified copies is prohibited.
This FAQ is not warranteed in any way, shape, or form. If you wake up with the Letters "FAQ" on your forehead or your significant other wakes you up by elbowing you in the stomach because you kept muttering the name "Olivia", I am *NOT* responsible! You might want to see the doctor about that though... :)
Legend Of the Red Dragon (LORD) has been a mainstay of regular BBSs for many years now and is still one of the more popular doors on Telnet BBSs.
Ok, that out of the way, it's time to to start talking about L.O.R.D. LORD is a BBS Door game with a medievel Role Playing Game theme. You probably knew that already. The usual goal behind playing LORD is to reach level 12 and kill the red dragon. Once you've killed the dragon you can go back and do it all over again or hang out at lower levels and really frustrate people! More on that later.
You advance levels by gaining experience points and then challenging your "master" to a fight (and winning). You can gain experience points by fighting monsters and other players, both online and offline, killing other players in self defense, and through various other methods. Once you get to level 12 you can Search for the red dragon and try to kill him, good luck!
Along the way to level 12 you'll be able to earn gold to buy better weapons and armor, meet and rescue fair maidens, speak with monsters both friendly and otherwise and find gems. Though the goal of LORD may be simple enough, there are lots of surprises that can pop up and there are a number of hidden keys on the various menus.
Now that I've given you a basic overview of LORD, the rest of this document will be organized by menus. As I get to the various menus I'll first list the menu including hidden keys, and then explain the functions in more detail. After this you'll find a "misc" section which contains material that doesn't fit in elsewhere. Because of the menu based organization of this FAQ, if you read it from beginning to end some things may not make sense at first but will become clear when some details are explained later.
Keep one thing in mind. The basic idea of LORD is to have fun and this should be your main goal in playing. In this spirit, I will try to make this document as fun as possible as well as informative.
note: hidden keys are designated by square brackets i.e. [s] Story
submenus will be designated by showing the menu they are in enclosed in curlybraces followed by the submenu item i.e., {F}(H)ealer's hut is the H command from the Forest menu
[In the beginning...]
When you first start enter the game you are presented with this menu:
(E) Enter takes you to the actual game
(I) Instructions online player docs
(L) List warriors shows who's playing and brief status
(Q) Quit quits game before entering
[S] Story [hidden] tells a brief story
Now for a little more detail:
(E) Enter. This selection let's you enter the game but if you are dead you will get a chance to look at the daily log then you'll get a brief message and be kicked back to the BBS. If you are already in the game and alive you'll see various notices and get any mail you might have.
If you are entering the game for the first time You will be asked to pick an alias which can contain color codes (later), your gender (isn't it nice being allowed to choose?), and a special skill.
Your gender doesn't really matter in fighting, but it does make a difference in the way you interact with other players and certain elements of the game. It makes less difference if "clean mode" is enabled. There is nothing that says that the gender you pick has to be the same as your real gender, but unless IGMs are installed there is no way to change your gender, so you'll be stuck with your choice.
Special skills are powerful moves that enhance your ability. You get these choices:
(D) dabbling in the mystical forces
(K) killing a lot of woodland creatures
(L) lying, cheating and stealing from the blind
Option D is the mystical skills which will afterward be accessed by (M). The mystical forces are the most versatile, but not necessarily the most powerful. They are probably the most difficult to "learn". You get additional skills by playing a "guess my number game". You guess a number from 1 to 100 and are told "high" or "low". You get 6 chances. With some effort you can usually get a 50/50 chance of getting the number right. You generally want to start with 50 and then go up or down by 25, then 12,6,3,1 Guessing the lower number on your 6th guess, (65 instead of 66 for instance) seems to give better results.
Note that mystical skills can be either DEFensive or OFFensive. You get one use point for every skill point, but each skill takes a different number of use points. It is broken down as follows:
MYSTICAL SKILLS usepoints action def/off effect
(1) Pinch real hard (off) does slightly more than the usual amount of damage
(4) Disappear (def) like running away, but guaranteed to work
(8) Heat wave (off) an attack which is more powerful than pinching but not as powerful as a thief or death knight attack
(12) Light shield (def) causes you to take about half as much damage as you would otherwise take
(16) Shatter (off) the most powerful attack of all, about twice as powerful as a thief or death knight attack
(20) Mind heal (def) completely heals you
Option K is the Death Knight skills which from here on are accessed with "D" (confusing, isn't it?) you get one use point for every 5 skill points. You also get an extra use point for today only for each time you advance 4 skill points. So if you had 15 skill points and you pass a lesson you get one extra use point for today only. [I know, that's not what the game docs say, but they are wrong!] This is the second most powerful attack, surpassed only by the shatter. Your "lesson" involves choosing to execute or free a prisoner. You have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. If you execute an innocent prisoner you will sometimes check to see if the now severed head is alive and if it would make a good partner for "Olivia" (later), your "kindness" will give you a charm point. The death knight skills are offensive only.
Option L is the Thief skills, which from here on is accessed with "T". Like the death knight these skills are offensive only and you get one use point for every 5 skill points that you have at the beginning of the day. The thief attack is about as powerful as the death knight attack. Your lessons involve giving up a gem (if you have one). Since these lessons are always successful if you have a gem, the thieving skills are considered the easiest skill to learn.
Lessons for special skills are one of those random events that happen in the forest while you are Looking for something to attack. Each successful lesson gives you one additional skill point. You also gain a skill point by advancing a level at Turgon's (later).
In addition to the use points you get from your skill points, you get one additional use point each day for the skill you are currently "studying". You also get an extra use point for today only for each time you get another 4 skill points if you are studying thief or death knight skills. So if you go from 19 to 20 skill points, for example, you get an extra use point for today only. When you get 40 skill points you are considered a "master" and are asked to choose another skill. Once you master all skills you will be given an extra use point when you would normally be offered another lesson. Once you've mastered all skills advancing levels no longer gives you any skill or use points.
You can use all skills against monsters in the forest, including the dragon. You can use all skills against offline players that are at a higher level than you are, but be aware that offensive skills sometimes do only 1 damage point against offline players. When fighting players that are your own level or lower, you can use only the defensive mystical skills, you cannot use the offensive mystical skills or deathknight/thief skills.
You cannot use any special skills while fighting in online duels or against your master.
The game will review your stats before taking you to the main menu and will tell you if you are in "high" or "low" spirits. This will come into play later when you get to the forest.
(I) Instructions This will show the online player docs. Not much more to say about that.
(L) List warriors This shows you the players listed in descending order according to experience. It shows you various stats including whether the player is dead or alive.
(Q) Quit Quit back to the BBS. Hopefully it will still be there!
[S] Story [hidden] Tells a brief (and strange) story about a kid who needed to wear a mask every day *except* Halloween.
After you enter the game you'll get various notices including your mail, the daily log, your statistics, and whether you are in "high" or "low" spirits. This last part will come in later when you get to the forest.
This will bring you to the main menu, or "town square".
(F)orest go to the forest - This is where you fight things
(S)laughter other players - This is how you attack people
(K)ing Arthur's Weapons - You can upgrade your weapons here
(A)bduls armour - You can upgrade your armor here
(H)ealer's hut - Lost hitpoints regained for a fee
(V)iew your stats - Shows various stats
(I)nn - Spend the night here, etc.
(T)urgon's Warrior Training - This is where you raise your level
(Y)e Old Bank - Store cash here and more
(L)ist Warriors - Shows all players
(W)rite Mail - Send messages to other players
(D)aily News - Take another look at the "news"
(C)onjugality List - Shows who is married to whom
(O)ther places - Run In Game Modules
(X)pert Mode - Turn menus on/off
(M)ake announcement - Say something in daily log
(P)eople online - Shows who is online
(Q)uit to fields - Leave the game
[1] [hidden] - Shows game configuration
[2] [hidden] - Turn RIP graphics on/off
[3] [hidden] - Turn ANSI on/off
OK, now for more detail:
[F]orest:
When you first enter the forest, you may find some gems. Maybe 2 or 3. Big deal eh? Well they say every bit helps! This is just one of the "events" that can happen in the forest. There are others, but first, just what are gems anyway? Gems can be traded in at the Inn (no pun intended) for Strength,Vitality or Hitpoints. You get 1 attack strength, defense strength or max hitpoint for every two gems you turn in. You have to be at least level two to do this though. See the T command of the Inn menu (off the main menu) for further explanation. There are other ways to get gems and other ways to use them as well. This involves the other events in the forest. More on this after we look at the main options in the forest.
{forest submenu}
(L)ook for something to kill - self explanatory
(H)ealers hut - heal lost hitpoints
(R)eturn to town - leave the forest
(Q)uit - same as return to town
(T)ake your horse to tavern - only if you have a horse
[B] [hidden] - takes your gold to the bank
[V] [hidden] - shows various stats
[S] [hidden] - Search for the dragon (if level 12)
[jennie] [hidden] - special feature, see explanation
{F}(L)ook for something to kill
This usually results in encountering a monster, but it can also result in nothing or in an "event". More on events later. If you run into a monster, you can either (A)ttack it, (R)un away, use your (M)ystical skills, (D)eath knight skills or (T)hieving skills, or you can look at your stats.
Beware that if you choose to run away the monster may see you and attack you anyway. Usually you get the chance to attack the monster first, but sometimes the monster gets the first shot and if you're really weak it may kill you before you get a chance to do anything.
This seldom happens until you get to level 9 or 10, and then only when you aren't very well armored.
Once in a while, you will make a "powermove", this has nothing to do with the special skills mentioned earlier, it's just that every once in a while your attack will be much more powerful. Your enemy can do the same thing, so don't get caught off guard. As mentioned earlier, you can use all of your special skills against monsters in the forest but do so with care, you can easily run out of use points before you run out of monsters.
There are normally 3 possible outcomes of a fight with a monster:
#1You give up and run away. In this case you will gain nothing and may lose some of your hitpoints. This assumes that you get away, sometimes running doesn't work.
#2 You get killed. If this happens you will lose your gold on hand, but not your gems or the gold you have in the bank. (be very thankful for that!) You will be kicked out of the game and won't be able to get back in until tomorrow.
#3 You kill the monster. If this happens you will get some experience points, some gold, and you may get a gem as well. Using a special skill for the final blow to the monster seems to increase the chance that you'll get a gem. Killing forest monsters is the primary way to accumulate gold and experience in LORD, though there are other ways. Chances are you'll lose some hitpoints, so it would be wise to visit the (H)ealers and regain your lost hitpoints before looking for another monster.
{F}(H)ealers hut
Not much to say here. You can press H and enter to heal all your hitpoints, or all you have the money for if you don't have enough to heal all of them. You can also specify a number of points to be healed, up to the number of hit points you're missing (and have the gold for). You can then Return to the forest. You cannot do this in the middle of a battle.
{F}(R)eturn to town
This takes you back to the main menu.
{F}(Q)uit
ditto. Rush Limbaugh would be proud!
{F}(T)ake your horse to dark horse Tavern
This is *not* a hidden key. This key won't show up unless you have a horse, but if you don't have a horse it doesn't work anyway. (you get a message about how your thief skills won't do you any good here) The Tavern is one of the events which can take place in the forest, and you get a horse from one of the other events. When you get a horse, however, you can go to the tavern any time you want to.
When you get to the tavern you encounter yet another sub menu, or sub,sub menu in this case.
At the tavern:
{FT}(C)onverse with the patrons
This is another conversation, like that one at the bar. If you decide to read it, you'll get a chance to add to it.
{FT}(E)xamine etchings in table
This is a "ranking" of players. It lists players in order according to how many times they've been laid, and also lists the number of times they've slaughtered other players. If "clean" mode is enabled there is no way for anyone to get laid and thus no way anybody can get on this list. This list is a major motivating factor in some games.
{FT}(T)alk with the bartender
This brings up yet another menu!
There are a number of things you can do:
{FTT}(C)hange your profession
You can change the special skill that you are currently pursuing. You will keep whatever skills you've acquired, and you can always go back to your current profession.
{FTT}(L)earn about your enemies
For two gems you can find out about another player. You'll find out basically everything about them that is shown about yourself when you push "V". Their weapon, strength, defense, gold, marital status, etc. This isn't usually all that helpful, but can be quite valuable in certain situations. This is mainly a means to satisfy your curiosity.
{FTT}(T)alk about colors
Ah yes, colors! This will bring up a list of color codes. These codes can be used to put colors in your name, private mail, announcements in the daily log, etc. The bartenders list of color codes is incomplete and somewhat inaccurate. Each color code is preceded by a "`" (a reverse apostrophe, just to the left of the 1 on the top row of a standard keyboard underneath "~"). Here are the real color codes:
`1 dark blue `9 bright blue
`2 dark green `0 bright green
`3 dark cyan `! bright cyan
`4 dark red `@ bright red
`5 dark purple `# bright purple
`6 brown `$ yellow
`7 grey `% white
`8 supposed to be dark grey, but it doesn't work in the current version!
Thus "`1Hey `0there baby" Hey there baby
Would show up with "hey" in dark blue and "there baby" in bright green. You can also use the color codes in your name. Names with multiple color codes really look cool, but keep in mind that the number of characters allowed in your name includes the color codes.
None of the special "flower codes" described below work with WTLORD or any other known version of TLORD, only with DOS LORD. There are several other codes the tavern bartender doesn't tell you about, and as far as I can tell, they work only in the "flowers", one of the forest events:
........ `c clears the screen. Whatever follows this code will be written in the upper left hand corner of the screen instead of scrolling from the bottom
........` b blinking red , this may be bright red or dark red depending on how your terminal is set up.
........` y blinking yellow , this sometimes shows up as brown.
Also, you can change the background color with "`r" followed by:
0 black (default)
1 blue
2 green
3 cyan
4 red
5 purple
6 brown
7 grey
So if you type " `r6`$ hey, cool! `r0 .." You'll get "hey cool" in yellow with a brown background.
WARNING: If you use the background colors, be sure to end with `r0 to set the background back to black. Otherwise, you'll really foul up the flowers and possibly the colors in the rest of the game! Failing to do this can really anger the other players!
People often ask why it is that these extra codes work in the flowers but *not* anywhere else. I have also found that the "profanity checking" (see profanity in MISC ) doesn't work here. This suggests that whatever you write in the flowers is written directly to the file "garden.txt" rather than being filtered by the game. It is then displayed by the game through the same interface used for menus. This allows any color codes used by the game to be used in "flowers.txt".
{FTT}(P)ractice the art of color
This gives you a chance to practice color codes.
{FTT}(R)eturn
This takes you back to the tavern menu
[back to the tavern menu]
{FT} (D)aily log
This has the same function as the daily log command in the main menu, and the game entry menu.
{FT} (Y)our stats
This has the same function as "V" in the main menu
{FT} (G)amble with the locals
This let's you play some games (some disgusting!) with various characters. The outcome seems to be about 50/50. You can play only twice per visit to the tavern. This isn't generally all that useful.
[back to the forest menu]
{F}[B] [hidden] (Bank your gold?)
This generates a message about merrily tossing your bag of gold into the air and having a vulture grab it. The first couple of times I did this I accidently pushed B and thought the gold was gone. Eventually I realized that it had been taken to the bank. This is very convenient, it saves going back to the main menu and then going to the bank then going back to the main menu and going back to the forest. Making this a hidden key is yet another example of Sethable's odd sense of humor. After using this hidden option a few times you'll wonder how you got along without it.
{F}[V] [hidden] (View your stats)
This hidden key serves the same purpose as "V" from the main menu. It is handy for showing your stats while in the forest in case, for example, you want to know when you have the experience needed to challenge your master (see T in main menu) and advance to the next level. This saves you the trouble of having to go back to the main menu.
The jennie codes are truly one of the great secrets of L.O.R.D. Most seasoned players know at least a couple of the jennie codes, but few are aware that it is sometimes possible to do the jennie trick several times in one day.
{F}[jennie] [hidden]
This works only if you are in "high" spirits. The game tells you if you are in high or low spirits when you first enter the game. There is a way, through one of the forest events, to get in high spirits. (see olivia)
Also, once you do this or start to do this you will be put in "low" spirits. You can do it again, however, if olivia puts you back in "high" spirits. Thus, it may be possible to do this several times in one day if you're really lucky. You can also do it again after you kill the red dragon.
Just type the name "jennie" while in the forest. You'll have to type blindly, the letters won't show up as you type them. If you see each letter followed by some kind of message as you try to type it, then either you've started to do it before or you are in low spirits. You'll know when it's working because the letters won't be echoed to the screen.
When you successfully type "jennie" you'll get the message "jennie? Jennie Garth? define her:"
Here is a list of what you can type and the result:
JENNIE CODES babe extra forest fight
cool extra charm point (if HP below max)
dumb scolded
dung turned into a frog (try it, it's funny!)
fair "excited" lose chance to flirt with player
foxy you get a gem (big wow!)
hott "energized" you get 20% more than your max hitpoints, lasts until you take damage below max or until you get healed or until the next day
lady you get some gold (level*1000)
nice duh (nothing special)
sexy extra user fight
star duh (nothing special)
ugly "slapped" kicked out of game, 1 HP when you return
{F} [S] [hidden]
Search for the red dragon. This won't work unless you are level twelve. You can either (A)ttack the red dragon or (R)un away. Once you push A you won't be able to attack the dragon again until tomorrow. Being killed by the dragon has the usual consequences of getting killed.
If you attack the dragon, you can use all your special skills against him. You might want to enter the "jennie" code "hott" and get extra hit points before you attack him. A fairy (see forest events) would also come in handy!
If you have the use points available, I recommend first using the light shield then the shatter. After this use Death Knight or Thieving skills. With good use of these tips it is fairly easy to defeat the dragon with only a blood sword and golden armor. It is sometimes possible to defeat him with crystal shard and magic protection. While having a fairy helps, it isn't always necessary.
Killing the red dragon is often seen as the ultimate goal of L.O.R.D., but some people are so shocked by what happens afterward that they decide never to do it again! If you defeat the dragon your character will be reset. You will be back to level one with only 500 gold. You will also have 10 gems, but you won't be able to turn them in for elixirs until you get to level two. Your weapon will be a stick and your armor will be a coat. All the gold in your bank will be gone. You will keep your special skills, charm, children and marital status. You will now have the number of forest fights you would normally have for the day. If you wrote romantic mail to a player before you killed the dragon, you will be allowed to do it again now, thus you can sometimes do this twice in one day. If you had a fairy and didn't use it, you will still have it. Any special skill points you used will still be used up until tomorrow.
Your name will be added Turgon's list of heroes which shows how many times players have killed the red dragon. If the game is not set to run indefinitely then you will "win" the game if your total "deeds" reaches the total shown on the configuration screen. (press 1 from the main menu).
Once you've killed the red dragon you may decide to climb the ladder and do it all over again or you might decide to hang around at level 2 or 3 and really annoy people. More on that in the "misc" section.
EVENTS IN THE FOREST
As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of events that can occur in the forest. These can happen when you look for something to kill. As mentioned earlier, sometimes nothing happens when you Look for something to kill. This may be an undefined event number, or it could be a result of Sethable's odd sense of humor. I'll let you decide for yourself which is more likely.
I will now list the known forest events in no particular order:
I Gems
Every once in a while you will stumble upon a gem.
II Gold
Every once in a while you stumble upon a sack full of gold. The amount of gold depends on your current level. It generally isn't very significant, especially compared to what the average forest fight is worth at the higher levels.
III The old man
Every once in a while you meet up with an old man. If you help him find his way, you will lose a forest fight but he will give you some gold (the amount is your level times 500), and you will gain a charm point. If you decide not to help him you'll see a message designed to make you feel ashamed of yourself but you won't lose anything.
IV Ugly stick/Pretty stick
Occasionally you will be hit with a stick. The ugly stick will cause you to lose 1 charm point. The pretty stick will cause you to gain 5 charm points.
V The old hag
Sometimes you'll run into an old hag who will ask for a gem. If you refuse nothing in particular will happen. If you give her a gem you will be healed and your max Hit Points will go up by one. This is a better deal than the bar tender gives. If you offer a gem but don't have any gems your current HP will be reduced to 1 and you'll have to get healed.
VI Fairies
This is one of the more useful events in the forest. When you encounter a group of fairies bathing you will be given the choice of Asking for a blessing or Trying to catch one. If you try to catch one and fail your current HP will drop to 1. If you succeed in catching a fairy then you will get an "extra life". If during a fight you lose all your HP then, instead of dying you will be healed back to your max HP! This works against all monsters, including the red dragon. It also works against your master and offline players but it does *NOT* work in online duels. You can have only one fairy at a time and each fairy can be used only once. If you leave the game you will lose your fairy. The fairies have another function in the bank, but only if you are a thief, see (Y)e old bank on the main menu.
If you Ask for a blessing, you will receive one! The blessings are not usually very useful, including a healing, getting small amounts of gems or experience, etc. One blessing, however, is especially useful: A companion for your travels.
The companion is a horse. When you are on horseback you can go to the darkhorse tavern at will. Your remaining forest fights will increase 25%. Unless IGMs are installed, this is the only way you can get a horse. You don't lose your horse when you leave the game or when you are reset after defeating the red dragon. There is a way to lose your horse though.
During battle, your enemy may throw a "crystal" or something at you and your horse will sacrifice itself. You will then "pummel" your enemy with blows. Usually your enemy will then be dead. Sometimes your enemy will still survive, but with 0 HP. One more blow will finish him off. Then end result is that your enemy will be dead but you will lose your horse! Bummer. This usually happens against forest monsters but it *can* happen against the dragon, making it real easy to kill. It can also happen against your master or even an offline player. As far as I know, however, it cannot happen during an online duel.
VII Dark horse tavern
This is well covered under the "T" command in the forest menu. This can also happen as an event even if you do have a horse. If the game is configured for a lot of forest fights this can sometimes be very annoying.
VIII Lessons
As mentioned before, lessons for the skill you are currently pursuing will occur as events in the forest. If you have already mastered your skill, and you are currently a thief or death knight you will get extra use points for today only instead of lessons. If you are currently a mystical skills student and have mastered mystical skills you will be given a lesson and if you are successful you'll get four use points for today only.
IX Merry men
Once in a while you encounter a group of merry men and are then "refreshed". If you weren't at maximum HP, you are now.
Olivia was an advertisement for an upcoming 3rd party IGM called "Wizard Stone", which never saw the light of day!
X Olivia
This is a "creepy event". The first time it happens you will be asked if you want to (G)et smart and leave it alone or (I)investigate further. If you investigate further you will (eventually) encounter a severed woman's head that is still alive! Her name is Olivia. You will then be given the option of (A)sking her who she is or (B)ooting her a distance.
If you boot her a distance you will sometimes be able to get some experience and a forest fight by playing head ball otherwise you can only apologize. The apology is never accepted.
If you ask her who she is (recommended) then you will gain a useful friend. In subsequent encounters one of several things can happen.
Most often you will get a choice between (G)etting inside her head and (A)sking for a kiss. If you get inside her head she will make a "Freudian slip" and tell you where to find the maiden/man (see maiden/man). If you Ask for kiss you will either be rebuffed or accepted, if you are accepted you will be in high spirits. If you are in low spirits or don't know whether you are in low or high spirits this will come in handy.
Sometimes Olivia will ask you if you want to mess around. If you do then usually you will get some experience and a note will appear in the daily log about how you walked out of the forest acting chipper. Despite what you may have heard, however, this does *not* put you in high spirits.
If you have a fairy, however, the results will be rather embarrassing! In the end you will lose your fairy, you'll get no experience, and a note will appear in the daily log about your fairy escaping.
After a few encounters Olivia will tell you more about her history and then the story will conclude with a message about the story being continued in an IGM called "Wizard Stone". At the time of this writing "Wizard Stone" has yet to see the light of day! According to Sethable, He put this in for a friend who was working on an IGM named Wizardstone, but gave up on it. Looks like we'll never know the rest of the story. Oh well, I guess it's like the lady and the tiger or the election at the end of the TV series "Benson". Perhaps several people will write their own conclusions and who knows, one of them might find it's way into a future version.
For female characters the experience with Olivia is a little different. Instead of (A)sking for a kiss you get the option of (C)onsoling her, which seems to work more reliably to put you in high spirits, but works only once per day. You also get the option of (D)oing her hair, which is basically equivalent to (A)sking for a kiss for male players.
XI Rescuing the maiden/man
This is where Olivia really comes in handy! As you go through the forest you will sometimes find a dead bird with a scroll. The scroll will have a message about a man/maiden being trapped in a tower somewhere. If you decide to save him/her you will find 5 choices of where to go. If you had an encounter with Olivia and she told you where to go, go there. Unless you've left the game this is where you want to go. Otherwise, You'll have to guess. After you've picked your option, there are three things that can happen (unless the BBS picks this moment to malfunction!).
#1 You pick the right place!
If you are a female character, you get some experience and some gems. If you are a male character, you get some experience, some gems and you get laid (unless "clean" mode is enabled).
#2 Oops, wrong place...
You see a bunch of people sitting around playing a game. No rescue, no experience, no gems, you don't get laid. That's life.
#3 Oh no, not that!
You don't find anyone, then you hear a voice coming from a trunk. In the trunk you find a troll man/woman. You then get "violated". You lose a bunch of hit points, requiring that you get healed. In case you're wondering, this doesn't count as a lay!
If "clean" mode is enabled, instead of getting "violated" you get the crap beaten out of you. The end result is the same.
The man/maiden will stay put until you leave the game or rescue him/her. If you haven't been clued in by Olivia you will probably want to just pick them in order until you get the right one or run out of forest fights, at which point you won't get any more chances to do the rescue. If you are successful the man/maiden will move to a new location at random. The new location could be any of the five choices, including the one where you just rescued the man/maiden, so don't think that he/she will always be somewhere else.
XII flowers
Occasionally you will stumble upon a patch of flowers. You will get an extra forest fight and if you wish you can "read" the flowers. This is yet another message area except that the first few messages are written by "fairies". If you decide to read the flowers, you'll get a chance to "write" in the flowers. As noted before, there are several "color" codes that work here that apparently don't work any where else.
XIII Hammerstone
You come upon the hammerstone and split it with your weapon. Your attack strength goes up by one point. Well, I guess every little bit helps.
[back to main menu]
(K)ing Arthur's Weapons
Of course, it wouldn't be a good idea to fight all those monsters without some kind of weapon. Neverfear, King Arthur's Weapon's is here! Despite the name of this establishment, "Excalibur" is *NOT* the name of one of the weapons. There are a number of weapons to choose from though.
There are several things you can do here:
(B)uy a new weapon
(S)ell your weapon
(Y)our statistics
(R)eturn
Now for more detail:
{K}(B)uy a new weapon
This option, as you might imagine, let's you buy a weapon (surprise!). It also brings up a list of available weapons and shows how much each weapon costs. Don't be too intimidated by the cost of the higher weapons, as you move up levels you get more for each forest fight, so you will eventually be able to buy that legendary "death sword".
The name of a weapon doesn't really matter, what counts is how much is added to your attack strength(offense) by having that weapon. With that in mind, I've prepared the following table:
AVAILABLE WEAPONS Weapon number Weapon name Price offense added
1 Stick 200 5
2 Dagger 1,000 10
3 Short Sword 3,000 20
4 Long Sword 10,000 30
5 Huge Axe 30,000 40
6 Bone Cruncher 100,000 60
7 Twin Swords 150,000 80
8 Power Axe 200,000 120
9 Able's Sword 400,000 180
10 Wan's Weapon 1,000,000 250
11 Spear Of Gold 4,000,000 350
12 Crystal Shard 10,000,000 500
13 Niras's Teeth 40,000,000 800
14 Blood Sword 100,000,000 1200
15 Death Sword 400,000,000 1800
Note that to figure out how much will be gained by buying a certain weapon you must take into account the amount added by your current weapon which you must trade in. So if you upgrade from crystal shard to Nira's teeth your attack strength gain will be only 300. The attack strength from the weapon is simply added to the attack strength you have gained by advancing levels, turning in gems, etc.
{K} (S)ell your weapon
Before you can buy a new weapon you must sell the weapon you have. When you sell your weapon you'll get about half of what you paid for it. Sometimes you'll get a little more than half, maybe 60% or so.
{K} (Y)our statistics
This has the same function as "V" from the main menu.
{K} (R)eturn
This takes you back to the main menu. and speaking of that...
(W)rite mail
Once you've pressed "W" you're asked who you want to write mail to. If someone's name is a possible match it will ask you if you meant this person, then that person, and so on. If you say no to everyone on the list it will abort. (this will become clear after you've written mail a few times) Once you accept the name of a possible recipient you will then be allowed to enter your message. All the normal color codes apply.
If the person you are writing to is of opposite gender and you haven't flirted with a player yet today, or flirted since killing the dragon, you will get a chance to write romantic mail to the other player. There are a number of choices:
(N)ever mind
(F)latter him/her
(A)sk for a kiss
(B)uy him/her dinner
*(I)nvite him/her to your room at the inn
*(P)propose to him/her
*If "clean" mode is on you won't get the option to Invite him/her to your room. The option to propose doesn't appear unless your charm is 100 or more.
If the flirtation is accepted both players will get varying amounts of experience, depending on the action and their current level. If the flirtation is rejected the inviting person will lose experience and the rejecting person will gain some experience.
If the flirtation is an invitation to the inn, and it is accepted, both players will get credit for a lay.
If you propose and are accepted you and the person you proposed to will be married. As you log on for the first time you will be asked if you feel positive or negative about your marriage partner. This question will be asked in various ways. If you say you feel negative you will be divorced and both you and your spouse's charm will drop to 50. There are similar results when your spouse is deleted for inactivity.
Married couples and single female characters will occasionally have children. Marriages, divorces, and childbirth are all noted in the daily log. As noted earlier, you get one extra forest fight for each child.
(C)onjugality list
This will show you who is married to whom, including those married to Sethable and violet. It is generally not a good idea to try to flirt with a player who is married to someone else!
(X)pert Mode
This let's you control whether you see the whole menu or just the line listing the letters for the various commands, similar to the way the expert mode on most BBSs work.
(P)eople online
This shows you who is online currently. This includes you. The time of arrival is also noted.
(S)laughter other players
This is how you attack other players if they are not staying at the inn. You can attack any player who is still alive and not staying at the inn unless they have gone off into "limbo". BBS and IGM lockups can cause a player to be in "another place" called "maint". Attacking other players is sometimes a good way to advance levels more quickly, especially if you've been given help by cash transfers.
This brings up another submenu:
(L)ist warriors
(S)laughter another player
(R)eturn to town
(E)xamine dirt
(W)rite in dirt
{S} (L)ist warriors in the field
This will show who is available to attack, and will indicate which players are currently online. As noted earlier, players will sometimes be in "maint".
{S} (S)laughter a warrior
This lets you actually attack another player. If the name you enter matches player(s) you will get a list of matches and be asked one by one if that is the one you're after. If they are not available to attack for some reason then you'll get the appropriate message. If they are available to attack you will get a message about them brandishing a dangerous looking X, with X being the player's current weapon and then you are asked if you are sure you want to attack him/her. If you say yes then the battle will begin.
Sometimes the other player will strike first. If you survive this then you'll get several options, which will also come up if you get the first strike.
You can (A)ttack the other player, view your (S)tats or (R)un away. If you have any special skill use points they will also be shown. This is pretty much like fighting forest monsters, with a couple of exceptions. You can use your defensive mystical skills against any opponent but offensive skills can be used only when the player is above your current level. Sometimes offensive special skills do only one damage point. This appears to happen in situations where such an attack would otherwise do no damage. This has to do with your offense, their defense and a random factor.
As with forest fights fairies offer protection and you can lose your horse or any children you have, with the usual results. If you try to run away you won't always be successful. The result of the battle will be posted in the daily log.
If you lose the battle you will be dead and will lose any gold you have on hand, as well as 10% of your experience.
If you win you get whatever gold 1/2 of the gems the player has and 1/2 of their experience. (if this would put you over 2 billion experience you won't get the experience points, but this means that you already have over 1 billion experience points so unless you're trying to get the top experience points, who cares?). You will sometimes get another gem as well. This is a good way to jump levels, if you can pull it off. You will also get a chance to make a note in the daily log that will go along with the announcement of your victory. I like to do a parody of the player's name. If the player's name is "wizard", for example, I will say "we're off to slay the wizard!" or if their name is "highlander" I'll say "in the end there can only be one!". The usual color codes apply in these remarks but you only get one line of text so plan carefully!
Player fights are often a very good way to get experience. If you are well armed you can sometimes jump from level 1 to level 12 in one day. In many games, however, you'll log on and usually find that everyone is dead except some low level players who are staying at the inn. Thus, sometimes there is nobody to attack.
In other games, however, there are usually a lot of people to attack, some of them weak players with a lot of experience points. So you may get most of your experience points from forest fights or you may get most of it from player fights.
If the other player is currently online you'll get involved in what is known as an "online duel". There are special rules concerning online duels. Sometimes the challenger gets the first blow, other times the player being challenged gets the first blow. Both players will get one less player fight. That won't matter to the player who gets killed if one of them do.
In an online duel you occasionally get a chance to "yell" something at your opponent. In online duels you cannot use your special skills and a fairy does you no good. As far as I know, you cannot lose children or a horse in an online duel.
Regardless of the outcome of an online duel a special message will appear in the daily log.
It is generally not considered very nice to challenge a player to an online duel against their will, especially a weaker player who hasn't got a chance. Keep this in mind!
{S} (R)eturn to town
This will take you back to the main menu.
{S} (E)xamine dirt
This is yet another message area, but unlike other message areas, this one shows only the last message entered. The message can be quite long, and the normal color codes apply. The top of the screen will show the name of the player who has the most player kills and how many player kills they have. If two players are tied for the top, the one with the lowest record number will be shown. If nobody has killed anybody, then the player in slot number one will be shown. If you've just made one or more kills to rise to the top of the rankings you may have to leave the game before being properly listed as the "most dangerous" player.
{S} (W)rite in dirt
This is how you can write in the dirt yourself. You must have killed another player in this session in order to be eligible to write in the dirt. Sometimes even entering an IGM will make you ineligible to write in the dirt unless you kill again.
[back to main menu]
(A)bdul's armor
Just as you need weapons to fight monsters, you also need armor. Similar to weapons, armors add to your defensive strength. Here is a table showing the various armor available along with the cost of the armor and the defensive strength it gives you:
AVAILABLE AROMOR Armor # Armour name Price Defense added
1 Coat 200 1
2 Heavy Coat 1,000 3
3 Leather Vest 3,000 10
4 Bronze Armour 10,000 15
5 Iron Armour 30,000 25
6 Graphite Armour 100,000 35
7 Erdrick's Armour 150,000 50
8 Armour of Death 200,000 75
9 Able's Armour 400,000 100
10 Full Body Armour 1,000,000 150
11 Blood Armour 4,000,000 225
12 Magic Protection 10,000,000 300
13 Belar's Mail 40,000,000 400
14 Golden Armour 100,000,000 600
15 Armour Of Lore 400,000,000 1000
Note that to figure out how much will be gained by buying a certain weapon/armor you must take into account the amount added by your current weapon/armor which you must trade in. So if you upgrade from Magic protection to Belar's mail your net defense strength gain will be only 100.
(V)iew your stats This lets you see your statistics. This is the same information which is shown to you just after you enter through the (E)nter command, before you see the daily log. Here is a sample:
You are currently interested in The Thieving skills.
The game will also show if you have a fairy.
(T)urgon's warrior training
Once you have enough experience to get to a certain level, this is how you actually get to that level.
You have several options:
(Q)uestion master
(A)ttack master
(V)iew statistics
(R)eturn to main menu
now for more detail:
{T} (Q)uestion master
If you question your master, he'll either tell you that you are ready to advance a level or will tell you how many experience points you need before you are ready to advance a level. Here are the experience points you need to advance to the various levels:
Level exp needed
2 100
3 400
4 1,000
5 4,000
6 10,000
7 40,000
8 100,000
9 400,000
10 1,000,000
11 4,000,000
12 10,000,000
{T} (A)ttack master
If you have enough experience points to advance a level you can challenge your master to a duel. If you try to attack your master but don't have the necessary experience points you'll find yourself holding air and you won't be allowed to challenge your master again until tomorrow. If you are ready to challenge your master the battle will begin.
As noted earlier, special skills don't apply here, not even defensive mystical skills. You can, however, use extra hitpoints gained by the jennie code and you can use a fairy. You can also lose your children and/or a horse with the usual results.
If you heal yourself before challenging your master then you generally will be successful in your attack. The one exception is when you are trying to get to level two. Often you will get 100 experience, but won't have enough attack/defense points for a successful battle. You usually need some extra edge such as a fairy, extra HP gained through jennie HOTT, or a 3000 gold weapon/armor.
If your challenge is not successful, you won't die, but you won't be able to challenge your master again until tomorrow. If you are successful you will advance a level, get more HP, offense and defense. Once you get enough experience to advance another level you can challenge your new master. In some games it is possible to advance several levels in one day.
While we are on the subject of levels, let's take a look at exactly what you gain by advancing levels. Here are the "stats" for each level, with no armor, no weapon, and no enhancements given by turning in gems or through the various other means available. To figure out what your HitPoints, Attack strength and Defense strength will be at a given level you'll have to take into account any enhancements you've obtained and your weapon, armor.
BASE STATS FOR EACH LEVEL Level HP Attack strength Defense strength
1 20 5 0
2 30 10 2
3 45 17 5
4 65 27 10
5 95 39 20
6 145 59 35
7 220 94 57
8 345 144 92
9 530 219 152
10 780 329 232
11 1130 479 352
12 1680 679 502
As you advance a level the game will tell you how much you're gaining. When you go from level 1 to level 2, for example, the game will tell you that you will gain 10 HP, 5 attack strength and 2 defense strength. When you go from 5 to 6 it tell you that you have gained 50 HP, 20 attack strength and 15 defense strength.
{T} (V)iew hall of fame This will show all the players who have killed the dragon, how many times they have killed the dragon (this is called a heroic deed), and their current level. Players are listed according to their number of deeds, with ties resolved by listing the player with the lowest slot first. If nobody has slain the dragon then the game will say "sad times indeed, their are no heroes in this realm."
NOTE: If you have reached level 12, the game will show you a message about seeking out the red dragon and then kick you back to the main menu. Thus, level 12 players cannot visit the hall of fame. bummer...
{T} (R)eturn to main menu
As you might expect, this takes you back to the main menu!
[back to the main menu]
(L)ist warriors This lists the players and shows you some things about them. Here is a sample listing:
The "F" before the player's name indicates a female player. The next letter indicates the player's current profession. After this is the player's name, followed by their current experience point then their level. The "Mastered" column shows any special skills in which a player has 20 or more skill points. If a player has 40 skill points the "D" "M" or "T" will be in white. The last column lists whether the player is dead or alive.
This functions the same as the (L)ist players command in the entry menu.
(D)aily News This let's you look at today's news, yesterday's news, or continue, just as with the (D)aily News command in the entry menu.
(O)ther places You've heard, no doubt, about In Game Modules. This command is what let's you run them. If no IGMs are listed, that means that none are installed. You'll have to take this issue up with your sysop. Some sysops know about IGMs and don't wish to run them, others just don't know how.
For those not familiar with the concept, an IGM is a program which is run from within LORD itself. It is kind of a door within a door. Some IGMs are really games in themselves, others will modify the LORD game itself. Some modify it too much and are really destructive!
I'm not going to go into great detail on individual IGMs, there are hundreds of them and I have experience with only a few. Perhaps in a future revision of this FAQ I'll have reviews of some IGMs in a separate section.
What I will do is mention a few quirks that can pop up in games with IGMs installed. These are not really bugs in LORD or bugs in the IGMs, these are simply quirks which occur because an IGM let's you do something that you can't do in the game, and this has consequences that the IGM author never imagined.
Double Marriage
Some IGMs let you change your gender (sex). This could cause you to be married to a member of your own gender. This can also allow you to be married to both Violet *and* Sethable at the same time! Both marriages will show up in your stats and both will be shown in the the daily log and in the conjugality list.
Negative skills
The skill points you have for a given skill class is stored in a single byte signed integer [huh?]. This means that if your skill points go over 127, the game will show this as negative skill points and as a result you will not have any use points! Since the game doesn't let you get more than 40 skill points, this isn't a problem unless IGMs are installed. The IGMs I've seen which let you increase your skills *don't* check for this, so be very careful if your skill points get over 120. If you let them get over 127, you'll have to keep going until they get over 255, at which point they will go back to zero and then you can start over.
The fast breeder bug is probably the worst bug in L.O.R.D. , even though it does require the use of an IGM. By simply changing the name of your weapon or armor you can get unlimited children which leads to unlimited forest fights, and the ability to kill anyone or any thing without even attacking them!
The "fast breeder" bug
I guess you could say I've saved the best for last. Double marriage is a neat trick, and negative skills can be very annoying, but this one is in a whole different category! Many IGMs let you rename your weapon and/or your armor. This has no impact on the effectiveness of your armor or weapon, calling your long sword a "Death sword" will *not* allow you to beat the crap out of all the other players. The trouble is that the IGM will typically let you call your weapon or armor anything you want to call it. This allows you to use color codes, which can make things interesting, but there are two problems that crop up. First, people take advantage of it by calling their weapon by "obscene" names which produces amusing, but often sick, results when someone attacks them. I'll let you use your imagination there.
Second, and far more critically, "anything" means that you call your armor or weapon "`K". You might think "so what!" or "why would anyone want to do that?" Well, if you name either your armor or your weapon "`K" then every time you bring up your stats you will get another child! By holding down "V" from the main menu you can get hundreds, even thousands of children. The next day you'll get hundreds, even thousands of extra forest fights!
As if that wasn't enough, when you have several hundred (or more) children the child death sequence kicks in every time you would have otherwise taken damage. This makes you invulnerable while you are online (except in online duels)!
Without an IGM this could never happen, since the game doesn't let you name your armor or weapon, so it's not really a bug in the game, and since the IGM functions exactly as intended this isn't a bug in the IGM either. This is just an unforeseen consequence of an IGM feature that wasn't very well thought out. BTW, this doesn't work if you just change your own name to "`K" so don't bother trying it.
For more about IGMs and a special announcement, see the MISC section!
(M)ake announcement
This let's you make an announcement which will appear in the daily log. The normal color codes apply. As with most other message areas, you end your announcement by entering a blank line.
(Q)uit to fields
This takes you back to the BBS and leaves you outside where anyone can attack you.
[1] [hidden]
This shows you the game configuration. Here is a sample:
** GAME STATISTICS 3.55 **
This game has been running for 13 days.
You are playing a REGISTERED game.
Game can be FINISHED by getting 15 heroic deeds
There are currently 5 people playing.
Players are deleted after 1000 days of inactivity.
Clean mode is OFF! (Thank the stars!)
Transferring Funds is enabled, max of 1000000 per transfer.
You can do this unlimited times per day.
Need an ego boost? This is what you overhear being said about
yourself. "She is ok..If you don't care about outward appearances."
This is pretty much selfexplanatory. If the game is unregistered this screen will note that it is "not winnable".
If the sysop has decided to not let the game be finished, the heroic deeds field will simply say that the game is set to run indefinitely. If the field contains a number of deeds then when a player kills the dragon this many times the game will be over and instead of getting the usual message when killing the dragon the player will get a message telling him that his quest is over and the ancient magic that kept the dragon alive is no more. Then, when players enter the game they will get a message saying that the game is over and suggesting that they ask their sysop to use the "R" command in LORDCFG. If the sysop does this then the game will be reset. In theory at least, this will be just like a new game. There have been reports of some data files not being properly reset, but I haven't been able to track this down. Most notably, some people have found that Olivia seems to recognize them in a newly reset game as someone who had been mean to her.
The sysop can, as an alternative, delete the file that indicates the game has been won. If he does this, then the next time the winner kills the dragon, or when someone else reaches the number of required deeds, the game will once again be over. This will continue until the sysop resets the game or changes the configuration.
If clean mode is enabled then you cannot get laid, either by Violet/Sethable or by other players or by the maidens in the forest. This means that you cannot make the list in the darkhorse tavern. I'm not sure whether or not you can have children.
Transferring funds will be restricted as shown in the next to the last entry. This has a limiting factor on alliances and the sysop will set this parameter according to his/her knowledge of the game and how he/she feels about players making alliances.
The last entry shows you what players will see if they decide to flirt with you.
[2] [hidden]
This will turn RIP graphics on/off. Your terminal emulation is detected at login or taken from the drop file, but in case it isn't properly detected or you change your terminal after entering the game, this command will let you enable/disable RIP graphics.
[3] [hidden]
This will turn ANSI graphics on/off. Normally you won't need to use this command but in case the game setting doesn't currently match your emulation, you can press 3 to set things straight.
MISCELLANEOUS
A note to female players/charachters
I have tried to cover everything that is different about playing the game as a female charachter. I have sometimes played on BBSs as a female charachter, and have often played in test games as a female charachter, but since I usually play as a male charachter it is possible that I may have missed something. If you know of an aspect of playing as a female charachter that I haven't covered, please let me know. You can reach me via EMAIL: 3dham@3dham.com
Super level 2/3 players
For those who aren't into killing the dragon numerous times, there is an alternative. Generally a level two or three player is not much of a threat. But just imagine a level 2 or 3 player with a death sword and armor of lore! Puts a different perspective on it, doesn't it? Now further imagine that the level 2 or 3 player has 1000 or more hitpoints. How can this be? Well there are a few methods which don't involve the use of IGMs. (with IGMs things even more rediculous than this can sometimes be quite easily accomplished!)
First, that Death sword and Armor of lore. If large bank transfers are enabled, you can get the cash from an ally, perhaps gathering it at level 12 then transferring it to your ally just before killing the red dragon. [obviously, you'll lose whatever you have on hand or in the bank when you kill the dragon] If bank transfers are not enabled or are severely limited (use the "1" command) then you'll have to get the gold through the most powerful force in the universe, compund interest! The amount of time it takes to get 1 million in gold will vary a lot depending on the game settings. Once you get there, however, interest alone will turn the 1 million into 800 million in about 70 days. Keep in mind, however, that sometimes when you ask seth able to sing he will double your bank account. Every time this happens it will take about 7 days off the time needed to get to 800 million. With a little luck, you could be there in about a month!
Ok, what about those extra hitpoints? Well, that's why you continue fighting in the forest even though the amount of gold and experience gained through the fights are insignificant compared to what you already have. You get gems through killing things, more likely if you kill them with special skills, through stumbling upon them, through rescuing the maidens/men, through asking a fairy for a blessing, etc. You can get 1 Max HP by giving a gem to the old hag whenever she pops up. Failing that, you can get 1 Max HP for every two gems from the bartender at the inn. Sometimes you can get extra gems by killing players who are holding gems.
As you might imagine, a player pulling this stunt can cause a great deal of frustration to higher level players, especially if he stays at the inn where he can attack them but they can't attack him! Many people who haven't heard of this technique will be mystified by level 2 or 3 playerss who can so easily kill the toughest of level 11 and level 12 players. Of course, the secret lies not only in the the death sword and armor of lore, but in the lower level player's ability to use offensive special skills in combat. Of course, having a fairy helps too!
If you find yourself frustrated by these players, who often have over a billion experience points and like to stay at then inn, the only way to deal with them is to hire one as a hitman or become one yourself.
One last thing remains. Do you play as level two or level three? There are plusses and minuses either way. If you play level three you will be able to gather gems faster. You won't be able to attack level one players staying at the inn, but it might be some consolation that they can't talk to the bartender and so can't attack *anyone* staying at the inn. If you play at level two you won't get gems as quickly, especially from the maidens/men, but you will be able to use offensive skills against level 3 players and you will be able to attack level 1 players staying at the inn who, being level 1 players, won't be able to turn their gems in to the bar tender and will probably be carrying some. However, being level one players they usually won't have very many gems.
Children
You can get children by marrying violet/sethable. You can also have children by marrying other players, though not as frequently. Single female players will also occasionally have children. For every child you have you will get one extra forest fight. This is figured before the 25% extra for having a horse, so if you have 8 children *and* you have a horse, your children will give you 10 extra forest fights.
You will sometimes lose a child by having the child get in your way in the forest. The child will wipe out half of your enemy's damage points and then be killed. This seems to happen most frequently when you have more than 12 children, somewhat less frequently when you have 7-12 children and rarely if ever when you have 1-6 children. This seems to happen only with enemies who are capable of doing some damage to you, though not necessarily capable of killing you.
Disease
Sometimes when you enter the game for the first time in a day you will get a message about having some disease. This just means that an embarrasing note will appear in the daily log and you will have to be healed because your current HP will drop to 1.
Profanity checking
Certain words, when they are put in the various LORD messages, are converted to other words. "dick", for example, is coverted to "richard", "bitch" is converted to "she dog", etc. This is controlled by a file called "BADWORDS.DAT". This file is straight ASCII and selfexplanatory, thus it can be easily eliminated or modified at the sysop's discretion. It should be noted that few sysops bother to tamper with this file, indeed, most sysops don't even know that it is there! The profanity checking involves a simple comparison and can be easily defeated by slight misspellings and color codes.
Monsters
The monsters in the forest have different names, HP, defense, offense, etc. This information is contained in a data file called LENEMY.DAT. Though it isn't all straight ASCII, the format is fairly simple and can easily be modified. A number of utilities are available designed to display and modify this information. Some premade replacement files are also available for giving a LORD game a custom "flavor". Some of these packages also include replacement ANSI and RIP files. The file called MONSTER.TXT shows the available stats on the standard monsters. I could not find a defense stat for the monsters.
I have found that at various levels certain monsters are especially dangerous. The following will be some general advice on monsters, listed by levels:
Level one - If you have upgraded to heavy coat then none of the monsters are a real threat. If you haven't then you'll have to heal yourself after each fight.
Level two - None of the monsters are especially dangerous, particularly if you have upgraded to dagger and heavy coat.
Level three- Watch out for Bone and Winged demon of death.
Level four - Watch out for Rockman
Level five - Silent death can be just that, especially if he pulls a powermove on you!
Level six - Belar can take you by surprise sometimes.
Level seven - This is where they really start getting mean! If you aren't well equipped Goliath and Swiss butcher can be quite deadly!
Level eight - King Vidion can ruin your whole day!
Level nine - Be careful of Scallion Rap and especially Earth Shaker
Level ten - Sweet looking little girl may *look* sweet but looks can be deceiving!
Level eleven - Most of the monsters are mean at this level, but be especially careful of Mountain and Shadowstorm warrior
Level twelve - Corinthian Giant is a genuine challenge and Mutant black widow is also pretty dangerous. Most of the other monsters will be a hazzard only if you are using Crystal Shard and Magic Protection or less. Humongus black wyre is a delight, not only will it seldom do much damage, it is also worth over 600K gold!
CREDITS
Thanks to Seth Able who wrote Legend Of the Red Dragon.
Thanks to Luke Sathers who wrote what up to now has been "the" FAQ for LORD. No doubt many have been inspired to play by his FAQ. I myself was inspired to write this FAQ not so much by his FAQ but by the lack of updates to it.
Thanks to Richard Troiano who wrote one of the earliest help files. Though I didn't use it in the production of this FAQ, it is possible that some of the tips I received from various sources originated from his file.
Thanks to Janne Terava who helped me clarify a few things.
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS FAQ aka Also Known As
APOI And Proud Of It
btw By The Way
cod collect on delivery
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions - usually with answers (hopefully correct ones!) in the case of this FAQ the term is used broadly rather than in a strictly literal sense as this is not just a list of questions and answers.
IGM In Game Module a program which runs from a special menu in L.O.R.D. and "enhances" or alters the game, not necessarily for the better!
(later) This will be explained later or more details will be given later
LORD Legend Of the Red Dragon
misc miscellaneous
TLORD Tournament Legend Of the Red Dragon
WTLORD Wildcat Tournament Legend Of the Red Dragon
MORE ABOUT IGMS
A lot of people have been asking me about hints/tip/"cheats" for IGMs. There are hundreds if not thousands of IGMs and there is no way I could throughly test even a dozen of them, let alone all of them! I have also had a few people leaving suggestions about this IGM or that IGM.
Therefor:
****special announcement*****
I am now taking contributions of tips, etc. regarding specific IGMs which will be included in a separate file called IGMTIPS.TXT The rules for inclusion in this file are as follows:
#1 contributions will be sent via email to:
igms@3dham.com
#2 contribitions will be sent in plain ASCII as part of the message *not* as an attached file.
#3 the contributor will receive no compensation other than having their name mentioned as the contributor. The name must appear within the body of the contribution, preferably as a title at the begining.
#4 I will not settle any disputes about who contributed what first.
#5 I reserve the right to exclude material that in my judgement is superfluous, or in some way offensive.
#6 complaints about what is or isn't in IGMTIPS.TXT will most likely be ignored.
#7 Neither I nor the contributors are in any way liable for the use of the material. You use it at your own risk!
#8 Material contained in IGMTIPS.TXT does not in any way have my endorsement
The following IGM tricks work only with DOS L.O.R.D., not with any version of TLORD (including WTLORD) or with Lord version 4+.
Instant Wealth!
Some IGMs will allow you to get a negative amount of cash onhand, usually by not checking to see if you have enough gold to buy something. (Axehandler's Battlegrounds, for example, will sell you a "technology" through the alchemist even if you don't have the gold to pay for it!) If you return to the game from an IGM and find that you have a negative amount of gold, just exit back to the BBS and then enter lord again before somebody has a chance to kill you. You should now have 2 billion in gold!
Fast Breeder was just the beginning!
You might have thought that if naming your weapon/armor gives you an extra child every time you press "V" from the main menu, then there are probably other things you can do. You're right!
First, let's explain what is going on with the "fast breeder bug". Lord uses something called "mail codes". These are used in messages to players so that an IGM can alter a player's stats without directly accesing LORD's data files. They are sent as a message to the player upon returning from the IGM. These codes are suppresed if you try to send them in a message to yourself or others so don't bother trying. A list of these codes can be found in LORDSTRC.PAS which is included with the game.
For reasons which are unknown to me, these codes also work if they are the name of your weapon/armor and are activated by pressing V to view your stats. However, if the code requires a number, the number winds up being 0 even if you try to include another number! This nullifies the effect of most of these codes when they are used in this way. There are, however, a number of codes that do work:
Name of weapon/armor effect when viewing stats
`K gain a child
`{ get laid (no announcement)
`} gain a charm point
`S gain a point in current skill (up to 40 skill points)
You can also receive romantic invitations from player #0 (regardless of that player's sex and marital status) which you can accept or reject with the usual consequences:
`T flirtation
`Y kiss
`U go to dinner
`I get laid
`P marriage proposal
By player #0 I mean the player with account number 0. This will usually be the first player who enters the game after it is started or reset. If this player was deleted you will do these things with "X". If you like playing jokes on people, you can have all kinds of fun by changing your name and using these codes!
If you are player #0 you might feel that you're being picked on, but there is one code that only player #0 can use!
`O get in an online duel with yourself!
This has no effect if you are not player #0, but if you are player #0 you can have an online duel with yourself every time you view your stats. If you do this you will not die and no message will appear in the daily log but:
Your gold onhand will be doubled
Your experience will increase 50%
Your gems will increase 50%
Be careful that your gems don't go over 32767 as this will result in a negative amount of gems!
There are at least two undocumented mail codes which can be substituted for their uppercase equivalents. Some IGMs filter out the documented codes in weapons/armor but not the undocumented ones, so if "`K" doesn't work try "`k" and if "`O" doesn't work try "`o".
NOTE: The instant wealth trick, the fast breeder bug and the other bugs involving renaming your weapon/armor no longer work as of version 4.0. There have been reports that the instant wealth trick still works under certain circumstances, I haven't been able to replicate this.
REGARDING VERSION 4.0/4.0a
As mentioned above, the more useful bugs involving negative numbers and the mail codes (including the undocumented ones) were fixed with version 4.0/4.0a. There have been reports that certain IGMs no longer work with version 4.0 or cause it to generate runtime errors. I'll tell you more about this later as details become available.
There is a new event in the forest involving a black jack game. There seems to be a limit of 5000 gold in winnings per trip so it won't be especially useful beyond level 8 or 9 but might be an important factor at lower levels if you are really good at it.
In prior versions Olivia would sometimes recognize somebody as having been mean to her even though that player had never met her before. This was apparently caused by grudges inherited from a player in the same slot number in the game before it was reset. This could be cured by deleting PLAYEXT.DAT
In Version 4.0/4.0a this problem is fixed by properly initializing PLAYEXT.DAT but the game has to be reset for this to happen, so if you are upgrading a game from 3.55 to 4.0/4.0a you might want to delete PLAYEXT.DAT. This doesn't disrupt the game.
IN CLOSING
I consider this FAQ a work in progress. Although it is, I believe, the most complete and uptodate FAQ for LORD, it is far from perfect. I do intend to make updates and/or revisions. There is no set time table, however.
I will endeavor to get the latest revisons posted in prominent Webpages on the internet. Hopefully BBSs around the country will follow suit. This will require the cooperation of a lot of other people so remember that there is only so much I can do!
My main webpage is located at:
www.3dham.com
This FAQ in available in HTML at:
www.3dham.com/online.html
The latest version can be downloaded directly with:
www.3dham.com/lordfaq.zip
You can also find it at:
www.softcom.net/users/3dham
If you find an error or something you think should/shouldnot be included in this FAQ feel free to send me EMAIL to:
