Legend of the Red Dragon

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For the unrelated film of the same name, see Legend of the Red Dragon (film).
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The LORD inn menu

Legend of the Red Dragon (LORD) is a text-based role-playing game written in Pascal and run on Bulletin board systems as a third party door game. It was created by Seth Robinson of Robinson Technologies and is currently maintained by Michael Preslar. The player's goal is to improve his or her skills in order to defeat the Red Dragon which has been attacking the village. The software is compatible with DOS, Microsoft Windows, and OS/2.

LoRD was first released in 1989.

Contents

[edit] Storyline and gameplay

The premise of LORD is that a Red Dragon is wreaking havoc in a town where the player has recently arrived. Multiple players compete over a period of weeks to advance their skills and to kill the dragon. In order to achieve this goal, players must face combat to gain experience. Once they have gained enough experience, they must face their master at Turgon's Warrior Training and advance in skill level. Advancement presents stronger enemies and masters; a player must reach level 12, the final level, before challenging Turgon himself and attacking the dragon.

Players also select a character class, choosing from among Death Knight Skills, Mystical Skills, and Thieving Skills. While a player is training in a particular skill, s/he is subject to random events in the woods for that particular skill, which provide opportunities for advancement. Eventually, players may master all three skills.

LORD allows many players (as long as the BBS supports it) to play simultaneously, allowing real-time player-versus-player battles.

LORD features several in-game message boards, as well as a limited electronic mail system, which allow players to converse. Players may use the mail system to send flirtations to other players of the opposite sex, propose trysts, or marriage (only marriages lead to the conception of children).

The registration system let all players play right up until level six, then it wouldn't allow players to get past to level 7 until the program was registered. Users often sent in funds for that very purpose.

[edit] Seth Able, Violet, and the Bartender

There are three non-player characters located at the Inn, who provide services helpful to players. Their names are Seth Able the bard (named after the game's author), Violet the barmaid, and the otherwise unnamed Bartender.

Seth Able the bard will sing a song for a player, male or female. Once a day, players can listen to Seth's song and receive a bonus, such as the doubling of one's bank account, or additional forest/player vs player fight opportunities.

Male players can also flirt with Violet, and female players with Seth Able. There are several options ranging from a wink to a proposal of marriage, with success determined by a player's "charm" score. A marriage to Violet or Seth may last one day or two months or more; unlike player-player marriages, the software may terminate these bonds at any time. During marriage, offspring are possible, and these bring sometimes surprising benefits to warriors.

The Bartender provides services and information to any warrior who can pay him in gold or gems, but provides nothing for free.

[edit] IGMs

In-Game Modules (IGMs) are small software extensions written by third-party developers that add functionality to LORD.

Quite a few IGMs have been written to allow a "cheating" style of game play, and others have presented bugs or loopholes to be exploited by players. The current maintainer of the LORD software, has introduced a scripting language called Lady in order to allow smoother development of game extensions.

[edit] Metropolis Gameport

Robinson sold the game and its sequel to Metropolis Gameport in 1998 to concentrate on writing other small games for PC and mobile platforms. His final release was 4.00a.

Metropolis Gameport contracted Michael Preslar on January 8, 2001, to continue the game's development. The most recent version of LORD (4.07) was released in 2006. According to Preslar, further updates to the LORD software are planned, including a web application and versions for ELF-compatible Linux and Unix systems.

[edit] Tournament LORD

Tournament LORD was a port of Legend of the Red Dragon capable of handling many players at once. It was written by Robinson and designed for the MBBS/Worldgroup BBS systems.

[edit] Wildcat Tournament Legend of the Red Dragon (WT-LORD)

Wildcat Tournament Legend of the Red Dragon (WT-LORD) is a multi-player battle game created for Wildcat! 5.x Bulletin Board Systems (Wildcat! BBS). Joe Marcelletti and Allan Benjamin arranged a deal with Robinson prior to the sale to Metropolis software. The software includes a large amount of customized code, including integration with the Wildcat! BBS software. It was maintained by IceRage Technologies however is no longer being developed or supported.

[edit] Legend of the Red Dragon II

Exploring a village in LORD II.

An official sequel, Legend of the Red Dragon II: New World, was a major change from the first game, featuring full ANSI graphics. It employed a top-down view, similar to roguelike games and The Pit. LORD II was written by Robinson and its final release came in 1998, before its sale to Metropolis Gameport.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Red_Dragon"
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