| DOOMDARK'S REVENGE (Lords of Midnight 2)
(c) Beyond 1985 AUTHOR: Mike Singleton ------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION A sort of role-playing game in which you control characters as they fight against evil, rescue a prisoner and/or search for magical objects. As you move characters around the land of Icemark you are presented with views of the landscape which they can see. CONTROLS : Keyboard Character Control Keys: 1-8 Look in direction (N-NE-E-SE-S-SW-W-NW) Space Bar Move in Current Direction <- (back arrow) Back to Look in current direction Space Bar Choose Menu (if you can't move until you choose) Return Check Person, Place, Battle, Army Other Keys: 0 (zero) Night Y Yes (as when dawn appears or for "More" select) N No (as for "No more" in Select Mode) S Save Game to tape L Load Game from tape Specific Characters Selection Keys: F1 Luxor F3 Morkin (when enabled) F5 Tarithel F7 Rorthron INST/DEL Select Mode In Select Mode: There are up to 128 characters which can appear in the list - Press Yes key for more - The initial list in the Select menu is C Luxor V Morkin (when found) B Tarithel N Rorthron AIM : You, the player, take the role of Luxor, the Moonprince of Midnight. By virtue of the magical Moonring, you can control friendly characters throughout the land of Icemark, looking through their eyes at the surrounding landscape and guiding them in their many tasks. Some will just be individuals, some will commandeer whole armies; when you move a commander, his army moves with him. All your followers are united in your common purpose: defeat of the evil Shareth the Heartstealer, Empress of the Frozen Empire, who has kidnapped Luxor's son and heir, Morkin, and holds him captive in her dark capital. Shareth's goal is the destruction of Luxor the Moonprince, he who slew her father Doomdark, Witchking of Midnight (in LORDS OF MIDNIGHT). If Shareth can cause the death of Luxor, Midnight will soon fall under her sway. With her allies in Icemark, she will make your quest to save Morkin both difficult and dangerous... GAMEPLAY : DR has many different solutions, and several types of victory, some lesser, some greater, are possible. Should Luxor simply rescue Morkin and retreat to his starting position, the Gate of Varenorn, and thence back to Midnight? Should he seek to limit Shareth's power in Icemark before returning through the Frozen Gates? Or should he seek ultimate victory and, risking all, attempt to destroy her forever? Whatever happens, though, Luxor must return safely to the Gate of Varenorn. There are several different victories possible for Luxor: 1. The most basic - as Luxor, rescue Morkin and bring him back to the Gate of Varenorn. The rescue of Morkin is a priority for Luxor; once accomplished the greater victories listed below can also be attempted. He is being held in the Plains of Anvaril, surrounded by the Frozen Wastes at the north of Icemark. His heart has been turned against Luxor and only Tarithel the Fey can break Shareth's spell and bring him back to the side of good. 2. Bring other characters to the Gate, notably Tarithel the Fey and Rorthron the Wise, and by nightfall your task will be completed. 3. Bring to Varenorn any of the Crowns of Icemark - Luxor's Crown of Varenand and Morkin's Crown of Carudium. 4. Retrieve any of the arcane objects on which Shareth's power depends and return them to the Gate. Search for the Runes of Finorn, an ancient and magical message which may be read by Rorthron the Wise. Apart from the Runes, there is also Tarithel's Spell of Thigrorn. Each warrior also has a weapon bearing his name which he may find and pick up for extra strength. The special power of each of these items may be used once, although carrying any weapon will always give an advantage in battle. 5. Completely destroy Shareth and her power. If Morkin is slain, this is your only remaining option, although it will be even more difficult for a grief-stricken Luxor. How this can be accomplished you must discover during your travels through Icemark, but be warned, it is no easy task at the best of times. 6. Destroy Shareth and safely return Luxor, Morkin, Tarithel and Rorthron to Varenorn for the greatest victory of all. With this event, the hidden power of the Moonring will awaken, giving Luxor the power to protect Midnight for as long as he lives. SELECTING A CHARACTER : You initially have just three characters under your control, namely Luxor the Moonprince, Rorthron the Wise and Tarithel the Fey. You can select any of these by pressing the appropriate key. You may not control Morkin until you have freed him from Shareth's spell of enchantment. When selected, the display will switch immediately to that character's point of view. To select other characters which you have rallied to your cause, you must press the select key and choose the appropriate character. If you control more characters than can be listed on the screen, the message "More?" will appear at the bottom of the display. Press the Yes key to view the rest of the list. You control each character independently using the person select keys. The four main protagonists have their own keys (although the Morkin key does not work until he is back on the side of Luxor); the others can be selected by pressing the 'select' key. Each character has eight hours in which to travel or rest. Any character who still has hours left in the day can be moved at any time. CONTROLLING A CHARACTER : Unlike ordinary adventures, DR does not use text descriptions and a parser. Instead, you have four basic options, each available at the press of a single key: 1. Look - you will see a view of the landscape which the character is seeing. During the Look option, you can turn the character to look in another direction by pressing one of the compass keys along the top row of the keyboard. 2. Move - the character will move forward in the direction he was last looking. When he reaches his new location, he will continue looking in that direction and a new panorama will appear. Characters cannot move during night, nor can they move into the Icy Wastes surrounding Icemark. Other factors, such as exhaustion or cowardice, may also restrict movement. 3. Choose - you will be presented with a list of options and the keys you must press to obtain each. The options available will depend upon the situation the character finds himself in but they also reflect the particular personality of the character - so a greedy character will not become generous, for example, nor a coward do brave deeds. 4. Check - there are four things you may check. These are: a) check place - gives general information - time of day, the place, any objects discovered, etc. Information about the location (including whether there is an object on the floor and information about any person who might be standing just ahead of you) can be viewed. b) check battle - gives details of the last battle or skirmish your character has been involved in. c) check army - gives details of your own army, any other army in the same location and any army in the location immediately ahead of your character. d) check person - gives a run-down on the personality of the current character. Beware - some personalities may change as events unfold! You can look around by using the direction keys. The 'look' key is used to give a view if one is not currently on the screen (because some information is there instead). To move forward, press the 'move' key. Moving in the 'diagonal' directions takes up to 1.5 times as long as moving North, South, East or West. In order to do something other than moving, such as resting for the remainder of the day, attacking an enemy or entering an underground tunnel, the 'choose' menu tells you what is available. When you are standing before an enemy - or anyone that is not your friend - you have two choices: to approach them for negotiations or to attack them. Either choice may be made in the 'choose' menu (as long as it is still daytime). If you approach them and fail then they will attack you. If this happens, or if you attack, then the rest of the day will be used up in fighting; the result of the battle will be decided during the night. If enemy characters are still alive and occupying the same locations by the time dawn breaks then you have the choice of moving away or continuing the fight by remaining in the same place. In order to approach a character he must be standing by himself. If you approach him and succeed then you will be given control of that character and be able to move for the rest of the day. You are more likely to succeed in recruiting a character if you choose someone to approach whose personality is similar to his. However, it goes without saying that you will never manage to turn Shareth the Heartstealer away from evil, and only Tarithel will successfully be able to approach Morkin. NIGHT & DAWN : The game begins on the day that the Moonprince rides forth from the Gate of Varenorn and proceeds by day and by night. Your characters can move during the day. The distance they can move in one day depends upon the difficulty of the terrain and whether they are riding or walking, as well as upon their general vigor. A move north, east, west or south will be one league (3 miles / 5 km) at a time. However, a diagonal move (northeast or wherever) will be about 1.4 leagues (4.5 miles / 7 km). This will therefore take you longer and leave less hours of daylight for your journey. Each character has, for convenience, his own individual "clock" and when he has exhausted his daylight hours, night will fall for him and he will be unable to move again until dawn. Other characters, however, will still be able to move until they have exhausted their hours. Once you have moved all the characters you wish to, you must press the Night key. This ends your turn and signals the beginning of computer controlled characters' movement - in other words, the forces of the Heartstealer and also independent characters. There will be a delay while the computer moves all of Shareth's forces and the independent characters, calculates the results of battles, and refreshes the spells and wild creatures which may be found at various locations in Icemark. There will be a pause while the computer does this, and rumours of battles and other events may appear on the screen. Soon, however, night will end and the message "Do you seek dawn?" will appear on the screen. To begin the new day you must press the "Yes" key and then you will begin your next turn. If you do not press the Night key or the Yes key at the appropriate time, nothing further will happen at all until you do! BATTLE : Minor skirmishes between individuals can take place at any time and are immediately resolved. Major battles between armies, however, are not decided until the following dawn. You cannot move an army into the same location as an unfriendly army by using the Move key - such a decision is always a special option that you must select from the Choose menu. Some commanders may be so afraid that the option will not appear. Two options can be used to move an army onto unfriendly soil: 1. Attack - go straight into battle. 2. Approach - go forward under a flag of truce. Using this you may be able to rally the other commander to your cause. However, if he ignores your flag of truce and attacks you anyway, you will be at a disadvantage in the battle. Once battle has been joined, you cannot move until the following day. You can, however, move other characters into the battle area to join in the fighting. At dawn you will discover the battle's outcome. If the enemy has lost, his armies will have been destroyed or scattered, leaving you in possession of the field of battle. If he wins, your characters (if they are still alive) will themselves be scattered, bereft of troops. If the battle continues, you can move your commanders away that dawn or leave them there to continue the struggle. ICEMARK : The land of Icemark is ruled by five major races: 1. Men - the Iceguard - in the Frozen Empire of the North-East, ruled by Shareth the Heartbreaker. 2. Giants in their North-Western kingdom. 3. Dwarves in their Eastern kingdom. 4. Barbarians in the Outlands of the South. 5. Fey in their Southern Realm. (See the various available maps.) All of these are intermittently at war with each other, involved in feuds and border raids, but the Frozen Empire is the strongest and most feared. To defeat Shareth, Luxor must find allies in these domains. The Fey will be the most friendly, the Iceguard the least so and the most treacherous. A cunning Moonprince will, however, find ways to exploit their differences to further his own cause. Only Shareth the Heartstealer will never rally to his banner. THE LANDSCAPE : The land of Icemark contains several kinds of terrain: plains, forests, hills and mountains, as well as the frozen wastes which are impossible to cross. The features and structures of Icemark are: 1. Mountain - The hardest and most exhausting type of terrain to traverse, also obscuring anything lying beyond them. 2. City - Provides a fortified dwelling place for recuperation for commanders and armies friendly to those who own it. A fortified city may house friend or foe; storming a city is a hard task accomplished only with enough force. A commander may recruit men from the city guards or post men from his army to guard the city. The population of a city slowly grows as time progresses. 3. Forest - Movement through a forest will not be swift, save for the Fey who inhabit the woods. 4. Tower - Being dwelling places of the Wise, the Watchtowers of Icemark may hold dark secrets. You will receive a word of guidance upon arriving at a tower. 5. Pit - By entering pits you may find access to underground tunnels, but foul creatures may live there. Spells may be found there. If you are lucky you will receive the Spring of Life. 6. Army - A friendly army offers no hindrance but an enemy army is a very different matter. As you look around during your travels, large figures may appear in the foreground. These are the warriors, characters and creatures that lie immediately ahead of you. 7. Hall - Provides a home for the night. You could find shelter or new courage staying there, but sometimes you will find that trolls have taken up residence. 8. Hut - Similar to a hall, but smaller. Brief respite can be found there from the cold winds. Skulkrin or wolves may live there. 9. Hills - Hills slow a traveller and block the view of what lies beyond. 10. Fortress - Similar to a city, but slightly less fortified. The stronghold of minor Lords of Icemark, a fortress will offer some protection. 11. Palace - Though not designed to withstand armed assault, a palace is still a center of power. It provides an entrance to underground tunnels. You may find a spell there, or if you are lucky, some horses. If you are unlucky you will find dragons. 12. Temple - The pyramid-shaped temples are apt to harbour dark and mystical forces, and contain a spell for good or evil. Some give access to underground tunnels. 13. Gate - Set at the entrance of a subterranean road, a Gate of Icemark gives access to an underground tunnel. Dragons can sometimes reside there, or you may find a magic spell. 14. Stones - These mark the route of ancient, forgotten roads. Strange mystical powers - some beneficial, some not - gather about them. Spells for good or evil or occasionally some dragons may be found there. 15. Fountain - Provides respite. From a sparkling fountain, the traveler may drink his fill and be refreshed. But some fountains are inhabited by skulkrins. 16. Mist - Cold mists block the landscape from view as they roll across the Icemark, summoned by Shareth. All save her Iceguard find their courage and strength sapped if caught in their grip. 17. Frozen Wastes - The barrier ice of the Northern glaciers allows no traveller to pass through on the surface. The Frozen Wastes are impenetrable to all. The speed at which a character can travel depends on the terrain; for instance, traveling through mountains takes longer and is more tiring than traveling through plains. Each race of people has a favorite kind of terrain which they find easier to travel through; for instance the Fey people can travel faster through forests than other people. Traveling can be made also more difficult by dragons, skulkrin, trolls and wild creatures found across the land. Should your trusty steed be killed you can sometimes find stray horses to replace it. Losing your horse of course makes you slower and more quickly tired. To kill wild creatures or to change horses you just walk through them. Beneath the land of Icemark is an extensive set of underground tunnels. You can enter and exit from the tunnels at certain places as described above. If you find yourself in a tunnel, tall pillars crowned with fire mark the way forward; if there is no way ahead you will only see darkness. Tunnels only lead north, south, east or west. The underground system is the only way to reach Morkin who is surrounded by the Frozen Wastes. In a tunnel you are safe from attackers but there will be dragons, skulkrin and trolls to delay your journey. --------------------------------------------------- SEQUELS/PREQUELS This game is the sequel to Lords of Midnight INLAY CARD TEXT ----------------------------------------------------- COMMENTS : "Excellent, a classic." RATING: 10/10 (CRASH #13, February 1985) NOW : Although LOM was perhaps the better game, DR still remains a huge and challenging adventure/strategy game. -END- |