LORDS OF MIDNIGHT (c)1984 Beyond AUTHOR: Mike Singleton -------------------------- DESCRIPTION Graphical Adventure Game, with single key stroke controls CONTROLS 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 Return Think Space Bar Choose (if you can't move until you choose) Other Keys: 0 (zero) Night Y Yes (as when dawn appears) N No S Save Game to tape L Load Game from tape Specific Characters Selection keys: F1 Luxor the Moonprince F3 Morkin F5 Corleth the Fey F7 Rorthron the Wise INST/DEL Select Mode In Select Mode (max possible listing): 1 The Lord of Gard 2 The Lord of Marakith 3 The Lord of Xajorkith 4 The Lord of Gloom 5 The Lord of Shimeril 6 The Lord of Kumar 7 The Lord of Ithrorn 8 The Lord of Dawn 9 The Lord of Dreams 0 The Lord of Dregrim Q Thrimrath the Fey W The Lord of Whispers E The Lord of Shadows R The Lord of Lothoril T Korinel the Fey Y The Lord of Thrall U Lord Brith I Lord Rorath O Lord Trorn P The Lord of Morning A Lord Athoril S Lord Blood D Lord Herath F Lord Mitharg G The Utarg of Utarg H Fawkrin the Skulkrin J Lorgrim the Wise K Farflame the Dragonlord ----------------------------------Initial List: C Luxor the Moonprince V Morkin B Corleth the Fey N Rorthron the Wise ------------------------------------------------- INSTRUCTIONS OBJECT OF THE GAME: to otherthrow the evil Witchking Doomdark, who controls the north half of the land of Midnight. Thus freeing the land of Doomdarks evil spell of cold that aflicts it. The game can be completed by completing one of two different tasks: 1: Take control of Doomdarks Home Citadel of Ushgarak in the North 2: Destroy the Ice Crown, the source of Doomdark's power. This is located in the Tower of Doom northwest of the Citadel of Ushgarak. In order to do this you must assume the role of Luxor the Moonprince, who has the power of vision and command over those loyal to him by virtue of the Moonring which he wears. This allows you to control many different allies even though they may be spread across the land of Midnight. Also the Moonring acts against the Ice fear of Doomdark which saps armies strenth and morale. At the start of the game you control 4 characters, Luxor the Moonprince, Morkin (Luxor's Son), Corleth the Fey and Rorthron the Wise. Using these Characters you must attempt to defeat Doomdark. Morkin will be central in an attempt to destroy the Ice Crown as only he is immune to the ice fear and can get close enough to steal it without detection. In order to conquer Ushgarak a large army must be ammassed by recuiting the Lord of the free in the South of Midnight. The Fey will also help but must be persuaded by Corleth to join the cause. The hopes of the free will only be destoyed if Doomdark can succeed in either killing both Morkin and Luxor, or by killing Morkin and taking Xajorkith deep in the south of the lands of the free. Should Luxor be killed and Morkin still live, you will loose control of all you other allies save Morkin. Morkin must then retrieve the Moonring from the site were Luxor fell and put on the ring in order to gain its powers. Unfortunately as the ring radiates warmth in order to ease the Icefear Doomdark can sense its wearer's location, thus making Morkin's quest for the Ice Crown almost impossible. SELECTING A CHARACTER : You initially have four characters under your control, namely Luxor the Moonprince, Morkin the free, Corley the Fey and Rorthron the Wise. You can select any of these by pressing the appropriate key. 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 later in the game, you must press the select key and choose the appropriate character. CONTROLLING A CHARACTER : Unlike ordinary adventures, LOM 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. 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 surrounding Icy Wastes. 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. Think - check person - gives a run-down on the personality of the current character. Beware - some personalities may change as events unfold! NIGHT & DAWN : The game 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 opposing forces and also independent characters. 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 - such a decision is always a special option that you must take in the Choose menu that appears. Some commanders may be so afraid that the Choose menu 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. ----------------------------------------------------------- FEATURES OF THE LANDSCAPE (pictures provided separately) Army A friendly army will offer no hindrance to the traveller but a hostile army should be avoided or engaged in battle. Cavern Can provide shelter from the weather or enemy, but it may have already done so for fouler creatures. Citadel A strongly fortified city which may harbour friendly or enemy forces. Storming a citadel is a hard task. Down Slow down travellers slighly and may hide unseen dangers ahead. Forest Home of the magical Fey. Movement through a forest slows down all but the Fey. Frozen Wastes These surround the land of Midnight. They cannot be crossed by anybody. Henge Possess strange powers which may help or hinder an army. Keep The fortress of a minor Lord. They cannot resist a determined assault from an enemy for very long. Lake Often magical, these can have powers to revive and heal those who oppose Doomdark. Lith Ancient standing stones, often with strange magical powers. Mountains Moving across a range of mountains takes many hours and leaves you exhausted. Ruin Abandoned fortresses of long-forgotten wars. May harbour dark creatures or lost treasures. Snowhall Large structures which offer shelter to hundreds if need be. Tower The refuges of the wise. Although impregnable, help may be sought at these - it may not always be granted though. Village Can offer warmth and shelter if the people prove friendly. --------------------------------------- TIPS The simplest way always seemed to be to send Morkin north to find Farflame and send to two of them straight to Ushgarak. Farflame could usually manage to wipe out the few armies they would meet en-route and them could destroy the ice crown when they got there. Alternatively, the longer (and far more entertaining way) is to split your four main characters up at the start, each going in a different direction and recruiting as many people as possible then sending them all south to Xajorkith to wait for the enemy to arrive. You may want to leave the northern Fey (sorry, can't remember their names now) at home rather than send them south, so that you have a large, spare army left for later use. Don't bother trying to defend individual citidels, as you'll usually lose (take as many troops as you can and run before the enemy arrives). Try to recruit Lord Blood within the first few moves and leave him at his keep. He will delay the oncoming armies giving the rest of the characters time to get going (you may want to pull him out before his armies get completely wiped out, as he's a very useful commander to have around - ie. he doesn't get scared easily, unlike some). You'll have to pick the route they each take fairly carefully, as the main characters have limits on who they can recruit. Once Doomdark's troops arrive at Xajorkith you will have a number of rather large battles, but should win them all (Doomdark's armies are usually outnumbered). After the onslaught stops, send your armies north (reclaiming keeps, etc. as you go) and fight your way into Ushgarak (meeting up with the northern Fey when you get there). ----------------------------------------- SEQUELS/PREQUELS Followed by Doomdark's Revenge which uses similar control methods. Was supposed to be the first part of a trilogy but part 3 (The Eye of the Moon) was never completed (although some work had reportedly been done on it). Recently Lords of Midnight: The Citadel has been released for the PC, this does not have the same scenario as Eye of the Moon was supposed to have, and uses a further advanced form of Landscaping (more like that found in Midwinter). The story does continue on from Doomdark's Revenge. SCORES RECEIVED 10/10 (CRASH #7, August 1984) Included in the box: Booklet text Maps of Midnight/Icemark NOTABLE FEATURES This game was a great hit on the Spectrum. It was the first game to use 'Landscaping' to generate the view of the world from the perspective each of the characters under your control. -END-