 DOOMDARK'S REVENGE
 Beyond 1985

 CONTROLS : Keyboard

  Note : It is advised that you play this game at the greatest speed
 possible on your machine, as it will speed it up considerably. To use
 the save/load features, it is also advised that you use Gerton
 Lunter's "Z80" emulator, as this has the appropriate features.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 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 commanders at the head of
 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 - rescue Morkin and bring him back to the Gate. The
     rescue of Morkin is a priority for Luxor; once accomplished the
     greater victories listed below can also be attempted.
 2. Bring other characters to the Gate, notably Tarithel the Fey and
     Rorthron the Wise.
 3. Bring to Varenorn any of the Crowns of Icemark.
 4. Retrieve any of the arcane objects on which Shareth's power depends
     and return them to the Gate. Knowledge of these can be found
     during your quest.
 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 key
 marked MORE to view the rest of the list.
 
 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.
 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!

 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 vigour. 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
 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 "Dawn breaks" will appear on the screen.

  To begin the new day you must press the Dawn key and then you will
 begin your next turn. If you do not press the Night key or the Dawn
 key at the appropriate time, nothing further will happen at all!

 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.
  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 : On your travels through Icemark, you will see many
 different features and structures:
 1. Mountain - The hardest and most exhausting type of terrain to
              traverse, also obscuring anything lying beyond them.
 2. City     - A fortified city which may house friend or foe; storming
              a city is a hard task.
 3. Forest   - Movement through a forest will not be swift, save for
             the Fey who inhabit the woods. 
 4. Tower    - The Watchtowers of Icemark may hold dark secrets...
 5. Pit      - By entering pits you may find access to underground
              passages, but foul creatures may live here. 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.
 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. Hut      - Brief respite can be found here from the cold winds.
 8. Hills    - Hills slow a traveller and block the view of what lies
              beyond.
 9. Fortress - The stronghold of minor Lords of Icemark, a fortress
              will offer some protection.
 10. Palace  - Though not designed to withstand armed assault, a palace
              is still a centre of power.
 11. Temple  - The pyramid-shaped temples are apt to harbour dark and
              mysterious forces. Some give access to underground
              tunnels.
 12. Gate    - Set at the entrances of subterranean road, the Gates of
              Icemark give access to the underworld below.
 13. Stones  - These mark the route of ancient, forgotten roads.
              Strange powers - some beneficial, some not - gather about
              them.
 14. Fountain - From a sparkling fountain, the traveller may drink his
               fill and be refreshed.
 15. Icy Wastes - The barrier ice of the Northern glaciers allows no
                 traveller to pass through on the surface. The Icy
                 Wastes are impenetrable to all.
 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.

 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. Its long-awaited sequel
 Eye of the Moon is at last being released on the PC, under the (rather
 confusing) title LORDS OF MIDNIGHT.
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 KEYS : Move            - Q
        Look            - W
        Choose          - E
        Check place     - R
        Check battle    - T
        Check army      - Y
        Check person    - U

        Directions      - 1 to 8        (clockwise round the compass,
                                         going N, NE, E etc.)
        Dawn            - D             - ends turn
        Night           - F             - begins turn
        Select          - M
        More            - A
        Yes (= More)    - G
        No  (= No more) - H
        Save            - S             } See note at
        Load            - J             } top of text
        Luxor           - C
        Morkin          - V
        Tarithel        - B
        Rorthron        - N
        Copy            - Z             - Dumps screen to printer