neXus
12-14-2003, 04:03 PM
Ok, you've played Legend of the Red Dragon years ago, and stumbled upon Legend of the Green Dragon now... You're itchin' for some dragon killing, and can't wait to get started... This doc is meant to prevent the nasty surprises that can happen to you since there are some fundamental differences between lord and lotgd...
Timeouts
First things first... lotgd is a web based game and therefore there is a timeout involved. If you let your browser open and go away for more than ten minutes, you'll get a timeout and get logged out. At this point, you're free game for anyone to hunt you down in the fields, with all your gold on you...
LORD was a bbs door game and would only log you out if you actually got logged off the bbs itself, either because your time ran out, or because of a disconnection. It did not need a timeout system of it's own.
Life and Death
Lord was made to be an attraction on a bbs, therefore death in lord meant being pushed back to the bbs since there was nothing else left to do... Not so in lotgd. There is more to lotgd than just life - there's death too!
There can be more game days in a real day than just one, depending on the server you're playing. If you die of your own actions, as in attacking some, dying in the forest or through a special event, you will end up in the graveyard as a shade. There, you have the option to do some more fighting, and gain favor with Ramius the lord of the dead. Depending on how much you gain, there will be several favors he may grant you in return. Also, if you get killed in the fields, or as a result of someone attacking you in the inn, you don't get sent to the graveyard. This is not a mistake, it is the only way of creating a fair browser based game of this kind. So you will lose less experience if you die because someone attacks you instead of the other way around - you will still lose all gold on you however, so use the bank.
Skills and buffs
In lord, you could use skills against your master and against other players. This is NOT so in lotgd - all such fights are done without the use of any skills. Buffs are a new feature in lotgd. Several things in the game can give you a temporary effect, increasing or decreasing your stats, or affecting other things in a fight. Most buffs in existance right now do not carry over into a master or player fight, but there are those that can.
IGMs
There are no IGMs in lotgd. Lotgd however, is written in PHP (http://www.php.net) and you can contribute in various ways by visiting the project page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/lotgd/) on Sourceforge.
Dragon Kills
People with more dragon kills can be much more powerful in lotgd than in lord. Also, the things that one gets to keep after a dragon kill are not the same as in lord, so be warned.
Mounts
Aye, mounts. You probably remember your faithful horse from lord - so faithful and yet so unpredictable. Mounts in lotgd are a lot more integral part of the game. You can buy a mount in the stables for a (usually steep) fee and know that it will be your companion for a while, that without dying in a forest fight either. Mounts can cause many changes on your playing style as each has a different effect on your stats. Beware though, most of the effects last for a limited amount of time only. Oh and while I'm here, your mount CAN die in certain events and If you ever want to try a different mount, you can sell yours back in the stables as well.
Charm and Marriage
Lord used a much wider charm range - you needed at least 100 charm for marrying Violet or Seth. This is done differently in lotgd. As with many things, lotgd uses randomization in this too, so be ready for surprises. Also, the rewards from Seth and Violet are more balanced in lotgd - so don't expect to have your money doubled.
There is also no marriage between players at this point. This again is a result of the way both games work - the possibility of abusing such a feature is too great on the web.
General Advice
In most cases, lotgd is much more lethal than lord - expect to die often if you like to experiment. You will be able to do so without a concern since lethal as it is, most losses are only temporary or small, and the new day is always beckoning in a few hours instead of an entire day... So try things out, die and complain about it in the graveyard... Have fun!
I shall add to this thread as I think of things to add. When this has reached a substantial size, it will go into the documentation part of the project page.
Timeouts
First things first... lotgd is a web based game and therefore there is a timeout involved. If you let your browser open and go away for more than ten minutes, you'll get a timeout and get logged out. At this point, you're free game for anyone to hunt you down in the fields, with all your gold on you...
LORD was a bbs door game and would only log you out if you actually got logged off the bbs itself, either because your time ran out, or because of a disconnection. It did not need a timeout system of it's own.
Life and Death
Lord was made to be an attraction on a bbs, therefore death in lord meant being pushed back to the bbs since there was nothing else left to do... Not so in lotgd. There is more to lotgd than just life - there's death too!
There can be more game days in a real day than just one, depending on the server you're playing. If you die of your own actions, as in attacking some, dying in the forest or through a special event, you will end up in the graveyard as a shade. There, you have the option to do some more fighting, and gain favor with Ramius the lord of the dead. Depending on how much you gain, there will be several favors he may grant you in return. Also, if you get killed in the fields, or as a result of someone attacking you in the inn, you don't get sent to the graveyard. This is not a mistake, it is the only way of creating a fair browser based game of this kind. So you will lose less experience if you die because someone attacks you instead of the other way around - you will still lose all gold on you however, so use the bank.
Skills and buffs
In lord, you could use skills against your master and against other players. This is NOT so in lotgd - all such fights are done without the use of any skills. Buffs are a new feature in lotgd. Several things in the game can give you a temporary effect, increasing or decreasing your stats, or affecting other things in a fight. Most buffs in existance right now do not carry over into a master or player fight, but there are those that can.
IGMs
There are no IGMs in lotgd. Lotgd however, is written in PHP (http://www.php.net) and you can contribute in various ways by visiting the project page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/lotgd/) on Sourceforge.
Dragon Kills
People with more dragon kills can be much more powerful in lotgd than in lord. Also, the things that one gets to keep after a dragon kill are not the same as in lord, so be warned.
Mounts
Aye, mounts. You probably remember your faithful horse from lord - so faithful and yet so unpredictable. Mounts in lotgd are a lot more integral part of the game. You can buy a mount in the stables for a (usually steep) fee and know that it will be your companion for a while, that without dying in a forest fight either. Mounts can cause many changes on your playing style as each has a different effect on your stats. Beware though, most of the effects last for a limited amount of time only. Oh and while I'm here, your mount CAN die in certain events and If you ever want to try a different mount, you can sell yours back in the stables as well.
Charm and Marriage
Lord used a much wider charm range - you needed at least 100 charm for marrying Violet or Seth. This is done differently in lotgd. As with many things, lotgd uses randomization in this too, so be ready for surprises. Also, the rewards from Seth and Violet are more balanced in lotgd - so don't expect to have your money doubled.
There is also no marriage between players at this point. This again is a result of the way both games work - the possibility of abusing such a feature is too great on the web.
General Advice
In most cases, lotgd is much more lethal than lord - expect to die often if you like to experiment. You will be able to do so without a concern since lethal as it is, most losses are only temporary or small, and the new day is always beckoning in a few hours instead of an entire day... So try things out, die and complain about it in the graveyard... Have fun!
I shall add to this thread as I think of things to add. When this has reached a substantial size, it will go into the documentation part of the project page.