    NOTE:  The page numbers in this document start after the table of
    contents and are designed so that they show up in the upper
    lefthand corner of the screen when it is viewed with the commonly
    available text viewer "LIST.COM".

                       TABLE OF CONTENTS
                                                                    page
   INTRODUCTION.......................................................1
       legal stuff                                                    1
       overview.......................................................2
   ENTRY MENU                                                         4
       (E)nter the game...............................................4
          initial entry                                               4
            your gender...............................................4
            special skills                                            5
       (I)nstructions.................................................9
       (L)ist warriors                                                9
       (Q)uit.........................................................9
       (S)tory                                                       10
   MAIN MENU.........................................................10
       (F)orest                                                      11
           (L)ook for something to kill..............................12
           (H)ealer's hut                                            14
           (R)eturn to town..........................................14
           (Q)uit                                                    14
           (T)ake horse to darkhorse tavern..........................14
               (C)onverse with patrons                               15
               (E)xamine etchings....................................15
               (T)alk to the bar tender                              15
                   (C)hange your profession..........................16
                   (L)earn about your enemies                        16
                   (T)alk about colors...............................16
                   (P)ractice the art of color                       19
                   (R)eturn to tavern menu...........................19
               (D)aily log                                           19
               (Y)our statistics.....................................19
               (G)amble with the locals                              19
            [B] [hidden]  (bank your gold?)......[part two]..........20
            [V] [hidden]  (view your stats)                          20
            [Jennie] [hidden] (special feature)......................20
            [S] [hidden] (search for the red dragon)                 22
            EVENTS IN THE FOREST.....................................24
                    gems                                             25
                    gold.............................................25
                    old man                                          25
                    ugly stick/pretty sick...........................25
                    old hag                                          25
                    fairies..........................................26
                    dark horse tavern                                27
                    lessons..........................................28
                    merry men                                        28
                    Olivia...........................................28
                    rescuing the maiden/man                          30
                    flowers..........................................32
                    hammerstone                                      33

       (K)ing Arthur's weapons.......................................33
            (B)uy a new weapon                                       33
                    list of weapons..................................34
            (S)ell your weapon                                       35
            (Y)our statistics........................................35
            (R)eturn to main menu                                    35
       (H)ealer's hut................................................36
       (I)nn                                                         36
            (C)onverse with patrons..................................36
            (F)lirt with Violet                                      36
            (G)et a room.............................................38
            (H)ear Sethable the bard                                 39
               (A)sk him to sing.....................................39
               (F)lirt with Seth                                     39
            (D)aily news.............................................40
            (T)alk to the bar tender (about):                        41
               (V)iolet..............................................41
               (G)ems                                                41
               (B)ribe...............................................41
               (C)hange your name                                    42
               (D)ragon..............................................42
            (V)iew your statistics                                   42
            (M)ake an announcement...................................43
            (R)eturn to town                                         43
       (Y)e old bank.................................................43
            (D)eposit gold                                           43
            (W)ithdraw gold..........................................43
            (T)ransfer gold to another player                        43
            (R)eturn to main menu....................................44
            [2] [hidden] (rob the bank)                              44
       (W)rite mail..................................[part three]....45
             flirting with another player                            45
       (C)onjugality list............................................46
       (X)pert mode                                                  47
       (P)eople online...............................................47
       (S)laughter other players                                     47
            (L)ist warriors..........................................48
            (S)laughter another player                               48
            (R)eturn to town.........................................51
            (E)xamine dirt                                           51
            (W)rite in dirt..........................................52
       (A)bdul's armor                                               53
            list of available armor..................................53
       (V)iew your statistics                                        54
       (T)urgon's warrior training...................................55
            (Q)uestion master                                        55
            (A)ttack master..........................................56
            (V)iew hall of fame                                      58
            (R)eturn to main menu....................................59
       (L)ist warriors                                               59
       (D)aily news..................................................60
       (O)ther places                                                61
            some quirks..............................................61
               double marriage                                       62
               negative skills.......................................62
               fast breeder                                          62
       (M)ake announcement...........................................64
       (Q)uit to fields                                              64
       [1] [hidden] (game settings)..................................64
               winning the game                                      66
       [2] [hidden] (RIP on/off).....................................67
       [3] [hidden] (ANSI on/off)                                    67
   MISCELLANEOUS....................................[part four]......68
            note to female players                                   68
            super level 2/3 players..................................68
            children                                                 71
            disease..................................................72
            profanity checking                                       72
            monsters.................................................72
            credits                                                  75
            abbreviations............................................75
            More about IGMs                                          76
            Notes concerning version 4.0 ............................81
            closing..................................................83
   INDEX                                                             84







 1                        INTRODUCTION
     First of all the legal stuff.  Legend Of the Red Dragon, a.k.a.
     L.O.R.D. is a copyright of Robinson Technologies.  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
     or Robinson Technologies.  [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) 1997 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... :)
 2
     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.

 3   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
 4                 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
 5      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.
 6
        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:


   use points   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 than 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
 7     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
 8     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
 9     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!

10     [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
11  (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.
12           {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.
13 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 before, 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. #1
   You 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
14 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,
15 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:

16     {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:

             "`" followed by:
17      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"
        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.

        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:

              "`" followed by:
         c    clears the screen. Whatever follows this code will be
18            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!
19    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.
