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 © 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 .

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 kil. lThis 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:

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 main L.O.R.D. page!