Red Dragon in volcano

LordNET Help File

by: Kiteria
February 10, 1998


I would like to thank Joseph Masters for his creative addition to the Legend of the Red Dragon game by Seth Able Robinson. If you love LORD and you love competition, then you'll love LordNET! Joseph has been a fount of information in making this help file, and I am indebted to him and his patience in answering all my questions.

I have been playing LordNET in the Linear Network League since LordNET first came out. I am an avid fan of this addition to the LORD game, and have found that the majority of people who play it think that it is played exactly like the regular LORD game, which it is NOT. It involves some knowledge of the different nuances that set LordNET apart from LORD, and some strategy as well. Unlike LORD, LordNET is a competition between Bulletin Boards within a league, set for a certain length of time, won by one BBS, then restarted. As of yet, Leagues are not competing against Leagues but I do hope that will come in the future.

With the newest version of LordNET that is out, you and the other players on that particular BBS where you are playing, are a TEAM. In the past, different teams were formed through out all the different BBS's that played in that league, but this proved to be too confusing, so the concept was changed.

Team work has always been known to work when all members of a team work together. Sure this is stating the obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people enter LordNET thinking it's a regular LORD game and start killing players because they just happen to all be in the field instead of the Inn. The reason they are in the field is to save gold! We rely on our fellow team mates to NOT kill us, and stay in the field as well.


OLD MAN IN THE FOREST

The Old Man in the Forest is so that you can gain charm. That is something that you do not need in the LordNET portion of the game. Each time you choose to take the Old Man to the Inn, you loose a forest fight. In LordNET you need every forest fight you can get, so by saying 'NO' to the Old Man, you may hurt his feelings but you won't lose a forest fight. It's true that you can marry and have babies, and babies mean forest fights, but by the time this blessed event transpires, the game is over.


EXPERIENCE

The most important thing you can do for yourself in the LordNET game is to ignore experience. It gathers quickly and heavily, and it doesn't mean that you should run through the Lists to get to level 12. The one and only deciding factor to moving up the Lists is whether or not you have the equipment to take on the challenge of the forest guardians, and the other players that are in your "one up, one down" margin.


BE A THIEF

Any other skill other than Thief, is useless in the LordNET game. You can not use your Death Knight, or Mage skills in LordNET. You CAN use these skills against other team members, but that defeats the purpose of the team, and will probably help you to lose the game not win it. The game is usually set to be completed in three or four months depending on your League. The Thieving profession is the only one that plays a major part in LordNET. By being a Thief, for ever SKILL USE you earn you are allowed to use it in the UNDERGROUND OPTIONS. This is a great help for getting ahead faster in the game.


              (H)ire a Spy                  (M)oney Theft
              (G)em Theft                   (S)abotage Mission
              (Y)our Thieving Abilities     (Q)uit to Mains

If you choose to (H)ire a Spy, you can select a particular enemy and find out exactly what their status is. By using this, you will know whether or not you want to take this person on in battle without the loss of a player fight. If you choose to (S)abotage Mission, you are given the choice of: (M)urder, or (E)quipment Theft.

If you select (M)urder, again your Thieving Skills set the limits to your possibilities. If you have 5 uses and the money to do the job, you can kill 5 extra people as well as your usual allotted amount of Player Kills.

Stealing Equipment is wonderful!! If you are a Master Thief, you will be more successful, but it also depends on what equipment you are going for from what level player. For example, a Level One player is NOT going to be able to steal a Level 12's Armor of Lore and Death Sword, UNLESS the person stealing is a Master Thief, and the person being stolen from is not. There are, of course, no guarantees in sucess in every attempt to steal but odds are more in your favor if you are a Thief to be a thief.

If I have a horse and fairy, before I enter the game I go to (L)ist Warriors before going to (E)nter the Realm of LordNET. From there I go through the list of players that would fit into my 'one up, one down' bracket and then steal from them. When I have Mastered my Thieving Skill, I will go as high as three levels above my rank, and hope that I hit the ones that thought it was more important to be a Death Knight or Mage before becoming a Thief. I've had the greatest of success with this strategy, and made many late night trips to another realm and pilfered many bank accounts and/or gotten away with a large amount of gems.

There is nothing more thrilling than going into LordNET and swiping an Armor of Lore and a Death Sword while you are at a low level, and leaving them your stick and coat especially if you have just killed the dragon! Of course don't be surprised if in a day or two you wind up with a coat and stick again. Joseph says the victims are left a message that you have stolen from them, whether it's gold, gems or their fancy equipment, so it's only par for the course that they are going to do their best to get it back. (Here is where you are hoping that they were not smart enough to hone their Thieving Skills first, and CANNOT retrieve their possessions!!!)

All Thieving depends on having two little friends, a horse and a fairy. If you do not have both of these friends, you are going to be knocked unconscious with your attempt. It's been a running gripe where I play LordNET that horses and fairies are impossible to get in the LORD portion of LordNET. Joseph assures me that it is the 'Fickled Finger of Fate' at work. It has nothing to do with the NET version of the LORD game.


GURU

Do not read the Guru one time and think you have it all figured out. Read it again and again. Read it every time you change a level. Read it a lot of times till you have played a couple of rounds of LordNET. Every time you read it you are going to understand more of what information he is passing along to you. Also be aware that the Guru is not going to tell you everything. That would ruin the fun!!


BRIGADE'S

After you get your Armor of Lore, and Death Sword, you'll need to save your gold for launching a Brigade or an Infestation. Brigades are awesome!! They pack a lot of wallop and can nearly decimate your enemy. Plotting in this department is essential and having a leader isn't necessary but very helpful. That way the only amount of Brigades that are sent out are the ones that can be fully supported in the given time by the team. Your Leader is the only one who can stop a Brigade if stopping one is called for. The Leader is always the person who started the Brigade, so having one Leader keeps things neat, and your Leader can tell the team what horses and riders to buy for the Brigade that is being launched. Or how many of each Infestation should be sent, and to whom. The game itself gives good instructions about Brigades, so look to it for more on the IN's and OUT'S of this portion of the game.


INFESTATIONS

Infestations are a good way to cripple your opponent. It doesn't do as much damage as a Brigade, but it can make a large gap between scores a little smaller. If an Infestation proceeds a Brigade, you are guaranteed to pass your enemy in score dramatically, if your leader has planned it out well and most team members are able to contribute. But as always, be prepared to have what you dish out to your enemy plied right back onto you down the road. That is after all, the nature of the beast, and keeping in mind that it's 'only a game' helps you to slow that death rattle in your ears when 'the worm turns'.

These strategies are best done after the majority of the team has killed the dragon once or twice. The reason I say this, is because the more gold you can pump into this tactic, the more successful it is going to be. When you are just starting out in the game, you will not have the gold necessary to launch a viable attack, and keep yourself in the best equipment available at the same time.


GOLD

If you are holding a lot of gold in the bank or in your hand, you are courting disaster. Once the word is out among team members that you are holding a lot of gold or you have a lot of gold in the bank, you are going to be robbed as often a possible. Fortunately, the amount that can be stolen from you is set at I believe 10%, but getting hit everyday by several players can deplete your gold quick. Keep what you need for your equipment, and the special attacks, if your leader has called for one, and spread the rest around.

The better a team cooperates, the better your TEAM score is going to be. This game is not won by individuals, but by the whole TEAM. Once a player has reached level 12, if you can hover there for a few days (and NO MORE) pass down what you make to as many of your fellow players as possible. This also helps for making a small investment into some better equipment once you have slain the dragon. For once the dragon has been slain, gold will be transferred to you by your team members to get you well equipped for your battle up the Lists to killing the dragon again.

If everyone can remember to keep the 'cash cow' moving along among players, your team is going to be fighting like a well-oiled machine. Passing gold on to those who have shown to be good and/or constant players is a vital key to winning.


TEAM BASHING

There's nothing to tell you about Team Bashing other than it is not at this time, a working part of the game. I'm sure when Joe gets it plotted out and working it will be a fun addition to the game.


THE ENEMY

When you go to attack another player, if you see that your enemy has a Nira's Teeth, and you're only carrying a Long Sword, RUN. If you're getting your head beat in, RUN!! No shame in it, you will lose that Player Kill, but it's better than losing your life. Sometimes it doesn't matter, you're going to get killed, that's why it's very wise to make sure while you're playing that you haven't accidentally carried your gold with you into battle. If you do, you lose it, and you make your enemy very happy and rich. Keep a constant eye on your stats, going into the battle without all your hit points is dangerous especially if your opponent appears to have no better a weapon than what you have. Your opponent may have a dandy armor, which you aren't shown, and it could cause you to get slowly killed without you realizing what is happening.


SCORING

Scoring: Dragon Kills *(times) 1001
+(plus) Player Kills *(times) 16
+(plus) 100 if site is not #1

In other words, if your BBS has the most dragon kills (all players added up together), you are ranked #1 in the DKil category. If your BBS's dragon kills (all players added together) divided by the number of players on the BBS is greatest, then your DKil average is 1 + experience /(divided by) 6000000.

If you thing this is convoluted, I agree with you. But far be it for me to argue with the creator. He must have felt that this was a very fair and accurate way to judge a winner. Suffice it to say that Dragon Kills make for the highest score, and Player Kills second. So the main object is to kill the dragon over and over again, as quickly as you can. Anything else you can do such as Brigades or Infestations, is going to be helpful, but in the long run, the team that kills the dragon the most stands the greatest chance of winning the game.


ROUTING

All Leagues handle their routing differently, but the basic thing that concerns us as players is that what action we take today may not show results for two or three more days. The farther away the BBS is from the NC's BBS, the longer it will take for results to return. If you're familiar with BRE, then you will understand this concept. This is most apparent in the SCORING, one day you can be in the #5 slot, and the next day you can be in the #1 slot, or visa versa. It's just a matter of the information catching up all the way around. IF you'd like more information on this portion of the game, ask your SysOps where you play, he or she can tell you more about it from their boards perspective.


THE NET COORDINATOR

It is the Net Coordinator's responsibility to set for the whole league the amount of money that can be transferred in the LORD game, the number of Player kills, the number of Forest Fights that are allowed, and the amount of days before deletion. Unfortunately this is something that any SysOps can change, but most (at least in Linear Net League) do not. We all know there is no way to have a fair contest, if all the participants are not starting off on the same foot and staying consistent with the basics throughout the competition.

The Net Coordinator also selects the length of time the game will be played. Most are played 3 months, but it may vary from league to league. The Net Coordinator will reset the game after it has been won, and in our League, we are informed of the winner by the Net Coordinator in our Linear Net LORD ECHO.

Being Net Coordinator is a hard and thankless job. In the lists of participating BBS in your league, the NC is always the SysOps of the BBS listed in the #1 slot.

In the past Linear Net's NC for LordNET was Glen O'Gorman of Apollo BBS Grand Prairie, TX. Glen did a wonderful job, but I'm sure he was glad to get out from under the responsibility of NC for awhile. Our recent NC at this time is Cammy Cochrane of Mad Hatter of Dudley, North Carolina who is doing a fine job, and we are very grateful. As I said before, it's a thankless job, so consider letting the NC of your League know that you appreciate all the hand work they do to make LordNET available on your BBS.

I'd like to thank Steve Newman of Columbia Spitfire, Dallas, TX where I play LordNET for always being available to me and the other LordNET players. He is very supportive, always giving us 'pep talks' and encouraging us to have fun win or lose. It's like I've always said, 'if you support your BBS, your BBS will support you.'


Disclaimer: Various aspects of this help guide may not be up to date, since there were at least two updates of the LordNet IGM since this page was created in February 1998, including the last Y2K version update, released in February 2000. LordNet v3.00 was released in early September 2002 by Bryan Turner. It may be obtained at his Vagabond Software LORD Page. Site is best viewed using MS Internet Explorer v5.xx+ or Netscape Navigator v7.00.

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