Welcome, one and all, to Land of Devastation (LOD). Scott Baker has just released version 3.70, which contains a variety of NEW features. Users might notice fewer delays while ANSI graphics are being displayed. Scott has trimmed down the displays to show only necessary information, which is most evident during combat encounters.

GTERM 3.70 is also released with this version of LOD, and rumor has it that there are some hot new additions to the graphics and sound libraries. Be sure to try it out. This will be my initiation to GTERM, and I am looking forward to the fun of it.

As the game documentation will state, I must advise you all that GTERM versions earlier than 3.70 will _NOT_ function properly with LOD version 3.70. Scott will reveal more to you about new features later in the game documentation.

Included in this issue are articles from Christopher Darque, moderator of the proposed _NEW_ LOD Support Forum on FidoNet; and the famed Madonna, lusty wasteland adventurer.

LOD News is published on behalf of Scott Baker with new issues released as user support demands. Articles are needed from users of LOD in order to help LOD News to thrive. Topics include, but are not limited to:

Topics include, but are not limited to:
• CHARACTER STORIES
• COMMON ERRORS & PROBLEM SOLVING
• CUSTOMIZING
• LOD DOOR SETUP
• PLAYER TIPS

Everyone is welcome to write something up and submit it. Like I said, we need user support. LOD News depends almost entirely upon you all. Thanks in advance for your support.

Now, for the News ...

Well, since I didn't get my submission to our editor, Patrick Reed, in time, I'm throwing this in at the last minute, so the formatting might not seems as consistant as the rest of the newsletter.

First of all, let me address the subject of registrations. Many people have questioned why I don't send out registration packages with disks, documentation, etc. The primary reason is, it's a lot simpler to have people just pick up their codes from my bbs system. When A donation arrives in the mail, all I have to do is just type the sysops name and data into the online database, and it is ready and waiting to be picked up.

To pick up a registration, all you have to do is log on (call- back verification is not needed - you may do this on your first call), select "REGLOOK" at my main menu, and you will be asked a few questions to verify your identity. Once that is done, the bbs will display your registration code for you.

An added benefit of this system: If you ever lose your registration code (hard drive failure, etc), then you can just call the bbs up and grab it again.

Next, I would like to extend my appreciation to Patrick Reed, who has taken up the task of maintaining our newsletter. Also of mention is Christopher Darque, who is working on setting up the LOD support echo as well as drawing up EGA images faster than I can implement them into the game! Last but not least, Chris Azure has provided me with even more of his excellent MOD music for the game.

Scott Baker

EDITORIAL NOTE: At publication time, a number of changes have been made to LOD version 3.70. Some of these ideas have been included in the game. An errata to this article may be published in a future issue of LOD News. -- Patrick Reed

LOD provides a number of tools that let you tailor the game to suit your particular desires. With the exception of the Ega graphics almost every aspect of the game can be changed. This opens up all sorts of possibilities that intrigued me because so few games are open to any modification.

In doing so, I used all my years as a GameMaster and role-player to make a game that was based on the concept that I use in my BBS-based role-playing group, Zone Central.

Zone Central is a multi - BBS universe that is based on the concept of our contacting the AlienNet, which as similar to an electronic Network. In doing so, we found that the Aliens could not tell that our Doorgames were not actual Universes. They simply used the connections to begin what it to them the normal exploration and development of a new Galaxy.

All the Members of Zone Central are Dimensional Travelers, or simply Travelers. I wanted to use the customization of LOD to make it fit much more tightly with this concept.

In doing so I realized that even though the tools were available, there was little to help Sysops (from this point on I will use GM, since that is what you become if you do this) actually use the tools.

This article is an attempt to cover some of the basic steps you will have to work through. I hope that it will be helpful. But keep in mind that it is only a beginning, nothing can substitute for the experience of actually working on the game and really seeing what works.

GETTING STARTED

Before you do anything at all, READ THE DOCUMENTATION! I cannot state this strongly enough. Read them, look through the values in the editor and make sure you understand how things work. Scott has always been quite nice about answering questions so use that resource. At the end of this article I have listed a number of NetMail addresses for myself, and I can always be reached through Scott's BBS.

WORKING COPY

To begin, never work on a game that is in progress. There is nothing more annoying than having to restart a game because you made a mistake. Players do not take this at all well. Always set up a separate copy of LOD and work on it. That way you can experiment in safety. If something goes wrong and you have to erase it and start over you will not get angry messages asking what happened to my character that I have spent 3 months getting built up!

So a private working copy is an absolute must.

MAJOR PITFALLS

It is fortunate that LOD is a rather forgiving game. I have found that most errors can be corrected without irreparable loss. If you find that the game is generating errors when run you can usually fix the problem and the datafile will correct themselves. This is not always true, but it usually is.

One of the most common problems come when editing/creating items. If you make a mistake in the work the game might not be able to handle what you did. If a character has an item and you change it the game will still think that it has the old stats, causing confusion and sometimes errors. An easy way to test for this is running the Rankings in NEWLODED. If the problem is centered in a character the command will fail. Usually simply deleting the item from the character will fix the problem.

Another major source of problems is errors in the Strings, Talk, Monster, and Combat DEF files. It is very important to maintain the structure of these files, if you do not then expect the game to go boom.

Always make back-up copies of the original files to check against. Also at each successful step of the way copy the files to a back-up. That way, if you oops you will only lose the most recent work.

The first step is to decide on the concept that you are working towards. What about the basic game do you want to change. There are really two different approaches to consider. One, keeping the basic story-line of the game and adding to it. This would mean that you are not trying to actually change the ideas of the game, just add new things to it. All of the editing sections that follow apply to this style. With the exception of anything that is story-line dependant.

The second, and more complex, is to alter the story-line to create a completely different environment. This takes much more time and effort but can be quite rewarding. This article is directed at this type of effort since it involves all the custom features of LOD.

In doing a full customization, you will want to start with the Story-line. What has happened to put the World in this state? Who are the primary people involved? What are the conditions under which the world operates? The subject of world building is covered quite well in any number of Role - Playing texts. If I tried to really cover that topic we would have a very long article. Suffice to say that you need to investigate and consider every aspect of the game.

In this article I will refer from time to time to Betelgeuse. That is the name of the Zone Central LOD game. The basic premise of it mixes the standard LOD story-line with the Dimensional Traveler concept discussed above.

This is where you should begin the actual work of creation. The map is literally the foundation upon which everything else should be built. No matter what you name them you will have the same basic pieces to work with; Cities, stores, quest locations, and the terrain Set.

The primary focus for Betelgeuse was to make the map much more complicated. I put more in more mountains and limited access to many areas to a single route. I also reduced the number of teleporter pylons. To make the map more visually interesting I mixed terrain types in a sort of gradual style. What I mean by that is if you are moving from a large desert area into a plains area you would first see small patches of plains mixed into the desert. As you move closer, the density of Plains increases until it is 100%.

You need to understand the concepts of LOD zones. The map is divided based on distance from 1,1. Every 30 units you enter a new zone and will meet a different group of monsters. Be aware of this while you are placing things in the wilderness. The farther away from 1,1 they are the higher the level of character needed to reach them.

It is possible to modify the zones in that the monsters have the distance where they can be found as part of their stats. I found that having a few creatures that straddled 2 zones helped to make things seem a little less artificial. You can also reduce the area that a monster in which a monster will appear to make them less active.

Give careful thought to the placement of the quest points. If it is too easy for players to get all the Puritron parts then the game will be over far too quickly. Use the whole map and spread them out.

You can place several Military Base cities on the map to give players supply points. One of the main reasons to do this is so you can place unique people into each tavern.

The map is probably the single most important part of the process. If it is too simply then players will get bored quite easily. If it is too hard they will become frustrated. I tend to err on the hard side; however, you can always compensate by giving players some information to help them along.

The basic item set for LOD covers all the important needs. The greatest area for change comes in the Fortress Items. There is quite a bit of room for more expensive and powerful items.

I have always considered that there are two phases to LOD. In the first, most of the players are low level and money is scarce. Players slowly advance and build. In this part, the quest for the Puritron is pursued very heavily.

Once at least a couple characters reach the level at which taxes are levied the game shifts into Phase II. In this phase, which lasts until the game is reset, players have large amounts of money, and even low level characters can afford the most expensive Items. Fortresses are rapidly constructed and quickly fully stocked.

When Phase II is reached, the limitations of the basic fortress items becomes obvious. A mid-level character armed with strong weapons can destroy even a fully equipped fortress.

The other problem that you will see is the massive amounts of money that the players will have. More powerful and expensive fortress Items would solve both of these problems.

There are other possible solutions to the excess credit problem. One is to set the taxation level much higher and the percent much lower. This will increase the time in Phase I and reduce the money flow once Phase II is reached.

You have a rather wide latitude in creating new items. A good look into the items list will show that some are single purpose devices that cannot be changed (the Laptop, Communicator, Scanners, etc.) but many do allow for variety (Weapons, Armor, Stealths, Ammo Packs, etc.).

In creating new items, try to fulfill a need. Look at what is available and balance your new creation with the others. Cost should be a big factor but also consider availability. If an item can be purchased, then it is open to all. If it has to be obtained from a creature then it is a much more special prize.

There are some inherent limitations that you have to observe. As far as I can tell no weapon can do more than 99 pts of damage on it's own (before strength adjustments are applied in the case of S.R. Weapons). Personal armor is limited to 999 pts. I have successfully created fortress shields that are 2,000 pts and reactors that produce 1,500 energy; so, they are basically unlimited. Most packs are limited to 99 pts as far as I can tell.

Here is a new concept for you, InfoPacks. InfoPacks are items that actually do nothing except carry information. I use the rope application code for simplicity. The only feature of these is if you 'Show' it you will get an ansi picture or text. These can hold details on monsters, partial maps, special hints, or just about anything.

Since items are a major source of game problems, I want to restate that you must carefully read the Documentation. If you look at the existing items and base your creations on those you should be ok.

LOD does give you the ability to set quite a number of the basic starting values. Character attributes, hitpoints, credits, 3 starting items, fortress starting items, fortress costs and taxes are all under your control.

Balance these to suit your tastes. Consider the strength of the characters in relation to the strength of the creatures. Give them enough to survive but not so much that life is too easy.

All of the basic text strings used in the game are in a few files. These are the Strings.Def, Talk.Def, Combat.Def, and Ansi.Def. Each of these are discussed in their own sections.

Strings.Def contains the general text used by the program for things like the laptop, commands issued in the game, menu selections and statistics displays. It is difficult to explain what is in here as opposed to the other Def files. The simple answer is that if you see it in the game, and it is not in the Monster, Talk, Combat, or Ansi files then it is in the Strings file. I know that is not a very good description, but if you look into the files then you should be able to understand.

In this file, you have much of what the player's see. Since a definition is difficult, I am going to give you some example of what you can do with it.

In Betelgeuse I did global replaces to make the to change all occurrences of character to persona. In a few areas, like the Rankings display, I used traveler. I changed the string that talked about the nasty tasting food packs to say, "The new food packs taste wonderful!" All 'Quit' commands were changed to 'Exit Dimension' or 'Retire for the Night'. One of the simplest things I did caught the most attention from my play testers, I changed the laptop main drive from 'C:' to 'Z:'.

Depending on what type of modification you are doing you may not need to work on this file at all. Or, you may change almost everything in it. Unless you know the game extremely well, you may want to change the things you know about, run the game a bit and make notes on the things you wish to change.

In version 3.51 there is a program called COMPSTR, to edit the Strings you change the Strings.Txt file and use COMPSTR to compile it into Strings.Def. Version 3.60 uses a compiler for a number of the Def files, check the Docs on the version you have for specifics.

You have to be extremely careful to maintain the structure of this file. The game has no tolerance for changes that violate this rule.

The Monster.Def file contains all the creature specifications. You can modify the ones that exist and create new ones.

The Zone structure has been discussed previously, so I will not go into it again. Place your creatures in an appropriate area. There are references to origin(x,y,z) commands in the file. As of version 3.51, these do not function properly. I discovered this the hard way when I created a number of lethal monsters and confined them to a valley at the end of the map. When a few play testers got killed by these creatures, far from the valley, I realized that the commands were not functional.

Do not overlook the fact that creatures are the major source of many items. You can make some things easier to find, or harder to find by adjusting the number of monsters that carry them. Balance is important here. Try to make sure that by the time a player reaches the area where she/he might have to fight the new creature they are strong enough to have a fair chance.

If you have any Role-Playing references you should have lots of source material for new creatures. Your new Story-line, if any, should also suggest possible new creatures.

On the simple side, I have found that the special quests will last longer if you make them tougher. Doubling their hitpoints and increasing their stats can make them something that even a strong character will have to work hard to overcome. After all, there are not many of them, and if they are killed too quickly, the game suffers. Do not make them so strong that they will never be beaten but they can stand some work, especially if you have given the players more strength.

If you have created new items consider distributing them to some of the monsters, especially weapons and armor.

The Talk.Def file is a great place to add details to your game. In it, you can give creatures a voice, and create tavern Dwellers. For the monsters you can add personality, instead of just the normal 'kill them when you see them'. If they have some information to impart then the players will have a reason to talk with them. You should mix the information in with a lot of useless chatter so it is not too obvious.

Here is a trick that you might find useful. Have a creature tell a player that it is carrying some important item. It is best it this is set as an automatic item that the monster will always have. If the player hears about it they can either hope that it will not disintegrate, or they can pay the price to buy it. I have found this to work well with InfoPacks of various sorts. For example, the Black Widow Leader will tell you that she is carrying a map that will lead you to a secret treasure house. She is carrying an InfoPack named 'T-Map'. Most players will pay almost anything for such information. A nasty variant on this idea is to set the Disint factor very high so the item will most likely vanish if not purchased.

Each city can have a number of Tavern people who will discuss things with players. By adding to the current stock, you can get information across to anyone who bothers to stop and talk. I always try to put really useful information here. It is also a good place to impart story points.

Since each city can have different people in it, do so! This is currently the only way to make cities different. Once you are inside a Sacre Base style city, all the options are the same. The Tavern people are the one exception. Even if they do not have a lot to say, a few unique people give the city something to help differentiate it from the others.

The Ansi.Def file holds all the menus, item descriptions, and intro screens. Using the ANSIPUT program you can extract, view, and modify all of these. A custom menu set really adds a lot to the uniqueness of your game, even if you simply colorize them differently. Of course you cannot change the keys that are used on each menu, but you can describe the function differently.

If you create new items you will want to make ansi descriptions for them so players can have some idea of what they are getting. The ease of working with the Ansi.Def file is what made me think of the InfoPacks.

There is one minor complication to working on the Ansi.Def, and it has to do with GTERM. Let's say that you have spent some time and completely redone your menus. Each one is a master- piece, colorful and functional. You get everything finished, attach the game to the Board and await your first player. Someone calls, hits the entry key for the game, it loads and opens up on Sacre Base.

So far, so good. But when the player initializes GTERM the trouble begins. As he moves from screen to screen, the menus scroll out, they do not pop up as they should. You wonder what is wrong.

Actually, nothing is wrong, but you have a bit more work to do. You see, if the Ansi.Def you are using for the Host does not match the Ansi.Def the player is using with GTERM things will not work as they should. The game can be played but the player will not get the instantaneous response they are used to. This problem confused me for a time, but I've worked out a solution.

What you will need to do is supply your Ansi.Def file to the players. If they use it with their GTERM they will not have any problems. But, wait, what if they wish to play standard games as well? My solution to this is to provide both your Ansi.Def file and the Standard Ansi.Def file in whatever archive format is popular in your area. Along with this add a couple of simple batch files. Most people have a key on their communications program to start GTERM. They will simply have to add two more.

One of these will unarchive your Ansi.Def file into the GTERM directory, and the other will unarchive the standard Ansi.Def file into the GTERM directory.

It is actually simpler than it sounds. And of course, if your players only play on your game, then they simply replace the standard Ansi.Def file with your modified one.

If you are going to really make a custom LOD game, the slight pain of the GTERM problem is worth overcoming. Nothing makes a game more unique than special menus. And it's easy to handle.

I am not going to say a lot about the Combat strings. It is all of the things that blur by as you hank and slash through fights. You can edit them and even add new ones if you wish. I like the idea, but it is hard to get anyone to really read them.

The only part that is somewhat interesting is the definable type codes. You can create special combat strings for a specific creature or class of creatures if you wish. This would allow for more specific combat. If you are creating a new class of creatures you might wish to investigate this option.

I have created a number of Storms. These are very high hitpoint things that are really supposed to be evaded. It is impossible to 'kill' them. But since I have to work within the game system they are defined as monsters. I have created a few new items to serve as weapons, set the Disint to 100 and made a few combat strings to support them. This is the sort of thing that requires combat string work since storms do not have body parts to be hit and never dodge out of the way.

Unless you are working in an Ansi-only game there are only three things that you can do with the actual terrain pieces. One, you can give them another name, but that is limited since you cannot change what they look like. Two, you can make them passable or not. Three, alter the chance of an encounter occurring when a player steps in them.

Renaming them is something that must be done with care if you want to make the game make sense. Calling the swamp piece a beach will tend to confuse players, since it certainly does not look like sand. But calling the desert piece a beach is acceptable. Just try to make sure there is some sort of visual connection to the names.

Changing which pieces can be passed through can provide some interesting mapping possibilities. While I was writing this article one of my team was working on his first custom map and game (convenient huh?). He decided to make both mountains and rivers impassable. He then proceeded to make a map with a low percentage of mountains but lots of rivers. It worked well.

Each terrain piece has a percentage chance that an encounter will occur. This can only be modified by stealth devices. If you wish to create a bunch of stealth devices with varying abilities, you can increase the encounter rate by turning each piece up. You can also widen the range of levels by turning some pieces up, and some down.

If you plan to make changes in the encounter percentages, you should test the effects of the available stealth devices on the new pieces. After such a test, you might wish to adjust the devices effectiveness to suit you. Sometimes a player wishes to explore and not have to stop every other step to fight something, turning a couple stealths on can accomplish this. Think hard before you take this ability away. If you have even run out of ammo deep in the desert and had to sneak home, you will appreciate this need.

As noted in the Sysop.doc file, you need to change both the terrain name and the Town name to alter the Cities. Remember that their are references to the ones that already exist in the other files which must be changed as well.

Although, much work may be required to remove all references to the Black Widows; if you want to set your game on another world you have little choice. There is always the possibility of recreating their background to fit your new concept.

It is quite important to be thorough. If your background setting contains references to the Black Widows, and you have renamed them the Slar'Kar, players will be confused and the game will suffer.

It is a good idea to write a special file to be distributed to players. This can contain story-line information as well as any notes that they need to be able to handle your new world. If you have created any new Ansi then you can distribute this file with the ANSI.DEF.

I find that players like to have some info files that they can read offline. Sometimes I write Briefing Packs and memos to support the games that I create. Distributing little maps is a nice touch too.

End Notes

In this Doorgame, Scott Baker has created the most flexible format that you could want. It has a great amount of potential and I hope that this article will be of some help when you begin the process of creating your World.

Christopher Darque, Zone Central, January 1993

The Black Widow Gang was another matter... The first one of those girls I saw was around the Death Warrior Camp, South of Sacre Base. She didn't look like what I expected though... Instead of the sleek, jet-black power armor I was briefed on, this bitch was in clunky Energy Armor 500.

She leveled a Phaser 3 at me and missed by a mile, but I wasted no time in heaving a Rad Grenade in her direction. The Rad Grenades may not do as much damage as my Neutron Rifle, but they ALWAYS hit, unlike a random shot, which would often deflect off some of the fancy powered armor I had read up on.

Then we engaged in combat. Her Electrolance singing with radiated power, while I parried her attack with my Neutron Sabre. Suddenly, she fell on the ground, holding her back. Effects of over-exposure to radiation, I suppose. But I had her. I showed no mercy as I made one final slash into her Energy Armor, and deprived her of the last bit of life.

I thought to myself, "These Black Widows are a bunch of WIMPS!" I wondered why Defs and his new guys were having such a hard time with them. Among the effects of the Black Widow, I found a computer diskette simply labeled ROM:T-CODE.EXE. I wasted no time in copying it over to my trusty Laptop, and prayed it didn't have a Virus.

Thinking that I'd have no problem in handling any more of the Black Widows, I began exploring the Pylons with the new data I had just won. Suddenly, I was there! I had found the Black Widow Base!

In moments, a Warmonger approached me, and began to boast about how he had helped the Black Widows steal the Puritron from Sacre Base. I thought about all those brave men Defs had lost in trying to defend it, and shoved a Rad Grenade under his nose. He just laughed when it went off. This geek thought I was an easy mark, and like so many before him; he underestimated me, Badly.

I ripped him a new belly button with my Neutron Sabre, and while he stood there in sheer shock, I thrust my Neutron - powered weapon as deep in his guts as I could and twisted it, just to see the look in his eyes as he died. I pulled my Sabre out, and he fell to the ground.

But no sooner had his guts colored the ground red, I turned to see a Black Widow Leader. She was a handsome woman, and just as deadly as she was beautiful. "So, some of you scum from Sacre Base finally made it here, did you? Well, you will make a welcome addition to our gang...

...In the slave pen! Hahahahahaha!"

OK, bitch... Here's where we see how well that fancy Widow Armor 600 of yours can withstand the meanest Mother of them all! A well-placed Rad Grenade caught her complete attention as I began my attack.

She was quick. I had to give her that; and had it not been for me wearing captured enemy armor myself, I would not have stood a chance against her. My Energy Armor was taking a severe pounding from her WidowLance, and as good as I was, I knew I wasn't going to make it, but I decided to go-for-broke.

I decided to PMS all over her, and just went Berserk! I have to tell you, it was a close one. I was down to less than 10% of my usual health, but when she suddenly quit attacking and fell on the ground, I was on top of her in a hot New York second to give her a new hair-do with my sparking Neutron Sabre.

I wasted no time in examining her armor. It was cold and black, and felt so deliciously wicked and sexy at the same time. I scooped up as much loot as I could carry with me from my fallen enemies, and snuck inside the Black Widow Base.

Talk about expensive! Do you have any idea how much stuff sells for there? I guess the Black Widows never heard of Double Coupon Days. I ended up paying 3 times as much for a new Neutron power pack there as I would have paid at Sacre Base.

But I wanted to see how well this new armor would do, so I sold off all the junk I thought I didn't need, and had the balance put in my bank account for a rainy day and headed out the door.

Hail!

I have started an LOD Support echo here in Indy. It will be made available on the national Backbone as soon as possible. If you would like to connect to it now, here is the information you need:

• NAME: LOD_SUPPORT
• HUB: Syn'er-gis'tic BBS
• SYSOP: Don Packwood
• Address: 1:231/50
• 2400 Line: 546-1537
• 9600+ Line: 549-1835

Your Sysop will need to send a netmail with the following info to get hooked up:

His net/node address, A voice number in case of problems, A Session Password, and Modem Type/Speed

After that you can begin to poll Syn'er-gis'tic to get the Echo. I have a lot of good things planned for it, and should be unique.

I can answer any questions you may have as well.

-- Darque

... (-) LOD Support Moderator (-) ...