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-
