First of I would like to apologize for the late date of this document's release. Life has a tendency of getting in the way of important things.....

To make a long story short, I'm the guy chosen to replace Patrick Reed as the LOD Newsletter Editor, because he had to resign from the post do to other pressing engagements. Some of you may recognize my name from the Pictures.IDX file or the Land echo on Fidonet. I've been involved with LOD since....since....well, try to find the first version to have the Loki in it: They and some other monsters and the Cyclops picture where my first submission. Most recently I helped devise the two newest puritron quests and made many of 4.0s new graphics.

I've put my plans for world conquest on hold for the moment and have started to experiment (SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME) with the design of newsletter, attempting to pull the best aspects of earlier issues. It would also help to see more submissions, so the newsletter can be released more often.

But enough theory.

What is a newsletter without articles? I suppose it could be just Scott announcing things, but there are better venues for that sort of thing. Put simply, we need your help. When you do send submissions though, could you please make it clear if you want the authorship credits to be your real name, game pseudonym, or both.

*What sort of articles do we NOT want?

Alterations & Bug Reports: If its something that requires changes to main LOD code or documents, its best sent through the Fido LAND echo or to Scott's address.

*What sort of articles do we want?

Fiction: A nice story of the Wasteland is always entertaining.

Scenario Custimization: Lots of articles can fit here, including Techniques that can be used to build better scenarios, Tricks that produce useful effects in the game, Genobj Code, Rough Ideas, New Gangs & Monsters, and One Liners (for the ghetto blaster, communicater, chaos medallion, and trivia).

New Players Help: LOD can be pretty overwhelming at first. Share your insights and tricks with the new players.

Announcements & Reviews: Want to inform everybody of your new scenario or utility, or your opinion of someone elses? Do it here.

Other Stuff: I can't think of everything. :)

*Where do I send my articles?

e-mail: drosson@primenet.com (this is the ideal method).

snail-mail: Dave Rosson, PO BOX 258, Victorville, CA. 92393.

upload to: Not Yet Named BBS (1-520-544-4655), making sure to note Scott Baker there to tell me about it.

Today I am 15. Tomorrow, I will be 16, and hopefully a man. Finally, I will be allowed out of this small, secluded city that has been my home all these years. They have said the wastelands outside are to dangerous for children, but how bad can it be? I learned about radiation in school four years ago, and I even built my own intensity meter! Ahh, sleep shall come hard tonight.

Breakfast was special for us today, double helpings of RS-32. We were even given a ration of A-19, which is reserved only for special days like today. It had a strange flavor, bacon-like I think my grandfather once said. He used to tell us bedtime stories of days when food was large enough to need a plate, not in pill form like today. How inconvenient!

(ZZT) All passers please report to the ritual dome (ZZT)

Wow, we even get to meet the most respected of all Elders, Def Sacre!

"Children, shortly you shall embark on a great and perilous journey. If you complete this challenge, and return home, you shall be an adult. Your destination is our brothers and sisters in Freedom City. But be forewarned! Entry is reserved only for those who are able to prove themselves in a battle with the mutated giant. This creature, having only one eye, is unable to notice those that approach with stealth. Strike fast, and strike hard! Work together, as the wastelands are harsh and without pity on the weak. The dangers are many, the sanctuaries few. Stay close to our base for a few days, and get the feel for your chosen weapons. Our soldiers have cleared the immediate areas of the harshest of hazards, leaving only an occasional rat for you to practice on. Perhaps even a credit or two may be found, in which case our stores will be happy to supply you with stronger equipment. To begin your journey, I give each of you 2000 credits, a small med-pack, and ration-pills for 5 days. I wish you all well."

That was five years ago. I am now a battle hardened mercenary. Last year I came across the half-buried ruins of a city called Two-Sun, and found enough duralloy to construct a fortress. I also found a storehouse of paper, most of which crumpled at my touch. One piece which did not was titled "Department of Energy, Atomic Studies Division." It listed devices of great power called "Fusion Reactors" which are supposed to generate great amounts of energy. Just what my home-base needs! Could the Phoenix division be near the hamlet of Fe-nick-son?

So now I have a mountain-top fortress with power to last a lifetime. Although I have cleared the valleys below of mutant scum, the skies are still filled with strange looking men who scream "Loki!" every so often. I need weapons, more powerful than this Neutron Sabre I bought off a confused 'droid last week. I've heard a man named "Ed" is a whiz with large scale computer controlled phasers, as well as numerous "bazookas." Perhaps that Death Warrior I caught yesterday has heard of him. A couple shots of Spinal fluid coagulator and he just may tell me...

Editor's Note: This appears to predate the last article by /\/\adonna, "One Mean Mother" but I found no sign of it elsewhere, so...

I remember Defs Sacre from the time before the bombs began to fall, when the world with all it's insanity was still more sane than what came afterwards. I had no idea he was even alive, of course...

Then one day, a runner from Sacre Base caught up with me, with a dispatch from Defs. Seems some of his new boys were having trouble with an all-female gang called the Black Widows, and thought I could come and help them out of the jam they'd gotten themselves into.

I wasn't sure how I'd be received by the new Rookies at Sacre Base. After all, the world before the bombs was pretty sexist, and I didn't know if those prejudices would be carried over into the new nuclear age.

But Defs knew me, and he knew that I wasn't a weak sister. I had just as much training as any of his new recruits, and could do anything they could do. I just did things differently, that's all. Sure. Why not? Since the bombs wiped out the last of the shopping Malls in these parts, all I've kept myself busy with is plinking the stray lizards that cross my path every so often. But I really wasn't ready for the first mutant Valley Girl I ran into.

She must have been somebody's sweetheart at one time or another. Even with her green face, you could tell that she had been very pretty at one time, before the radiation got to her. She was even wearing the cheerleader outfit from the high school she must have gone to before the world turned upside-down.

"Like, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to kill you, y'know?" she said with a hair toss. Fortunately, I had been well-versed in ValSpeak, thanks to my own memorable trips to shopping emporiums like The Galleria. I even had a bumper sticker on my old Mercury Sable that read, "I shop, therefore I am." I felt compassion for the poor girl. After all, it wasn't her fault she looked like a page from an old Don Heck comic book. "Gag me! Like, that is a totally bitchin' outfit you have! Would you like, sell it to me?"

The Valley Girl had to think for a few minutes, but she finally agreed to sell me her Cheerleader Outfit for $1000 American. I thought I could have maybe gotten it for less at the Galleria way back when, but I didn't haggle over price with her. After all, it was a cute outfit, and I didn't have the heart to kill her when it wasn't necessary. Besides, I get tired of cleaning up messes. We parted as friends. I knew I'd see her again, and as I began the final part of the journey to Sacre Base, I found an old Ghetto Blaster just like my Val friend had been carrying. So I turned it on and began walking on to Sacre Base.

I then ran into an Insane Woman hiding behind a tree. I tried to talk to her, but she was beyond reason, so the merciful thing to do was kill her and end her misery and suffering.

And just beyond the gates of Sacre Base, I found a Mutant Mother-In-Law. She ran at me with a rolling pin in her hand, as if I were her errant Daughter-In-Law. But at least I was able to talk to her. She had made some yummy Wasteland Brownies, so I bought some from her to tide me over until I had the chance to go to the store. At least, that's what I told her. If the truth were known, those were the WORST tasting Brownies I'd ever had in my life, but I could hardly tell her that. I nibbled on one just before I got to the huge gates that surrounded Sacre Base. After all, my tummy was growling at me.

Some of the rookies thought I was a Valley Girl, and as I got up to the gates, they had their Crossbows aimed at me! It was a good thing Defs was nearby. "Hold your fire, you idiots! That's not a Valley Girl!" I was glad Defs didn't spend all his time in bars anymore...

"The order you embrace will be your undoing!" spit the high priest of chaos as our weapons locked yet again. I hadn't expected so hard a conflict, even from such a high member of the Loki faith: Things were different with this one, as if the fight was personal. As I watched he performed a midair somersaulting kick that, while easily absorbed by my armor, knocked the warper from my belt. The rules of the fight had changed: Kill or be killed. Throwing caution to the wind I yelled like a banshee and bounded towards him, my A-Mk. II glinting in the moonlight.

I awoke later in the hospital at Sacre Base. The doctor calmed me and said "There was some permanent damage, but you'll live. You really should invest in a clone sir." "I never lost before," I grunted back. He answered that I had this time, and next time I might not be lucky enough to be brought back. He also handed me a ROM disk that had been found near my body.

When loaded, the disk turned out to be a some Loki propaganda. I nearly turned it off before a menu selection caught my eye. With baited breath I pushed the key to view it:

"My beloved Sara and I had been assigned, along with other Sacre recruits, to investigate the wasteland and the recent reports of gangs sprouting up. We were given the best weapons Sacre had available at the time, and felt quite confident.

Avoiding encounters with Death Warriors, already well known for killing eachother off to encourage strength, and the Traders who scavenge the wasteland to sate their greed, we soon entered territory that had unknowingly been claimed by the Widows.

The one that greeted us was tall and muscular, not unlike Sara, dressed in a skin tight suit of grey and black flexible armor. She paused to accuse men of destroying the world, and to state how her kind would create order by reducing our role to menial labor and reproduction. No great feminist, I disagreed, at which point she attacked. Though her delicate LOOKING armor absorbed our first blasts, eventually Sara and I prevailed.

Hearing laughter we whirled to face a man in red and black robes, floating in the air and saying "She sought order with new principles, failing to see that order itself is the problem. Do you understand?" We were dumfounded, so he shrugged and flew off.

Following him only led to more Widows, till one night Sara shook me awake: A person with glowing skin and a "Fang Gang" shirt was approaching the camp. We hailed him in peace, but he only bared his fangs and charged, screaming about hunger. He stopped only after taking tremendous damage, saying "The hunger, I don't feel it now" and vanishing after pushing a button on his belt.

We turned back towards camp, only to see the man in red and black sampling our rations. "He sought internal peace, unaware that all existence is in flux and can never know such a state. I am a Priest of Loki: I understand such things. Do you?" Grinning at my confusion he shot out of sight into the sky.

The ensuing weeks followed much the same pattern: Each encounter with a new gang would invariably bring the comment of the priest, asking if we understood. Of the Snow Demons he said "They seek to retreat from the Chaos and isolate themselves in the cold. But Chaos is all reality. You can not escape it." And the Serpine brought the remark "These beings correctly embrace nature, but foolishly see it as essentially neutral." And over the fallen corpse of a mighty Draku warrior he muttered "Alas, the chaos this one brought by supplying arms to the wasteland will be missed."

Eventually Sara and I decided to head back to Sacre, and didn't set camp, so eager to go home that we kept going. The dark, heavily armored figure that blocked our path was shaped like a man, but had the face of a reptile. "I am a Cabal warrior," his voice wrung out over Sara's Uni-Translator. "My lord Xeboc has chosen this planet as his own. It is time for you to vacate it."

The fight was intense and he seemed immune to everything we could throw at him. I only survived his glowing blade and alien strength because Sara threw herself in the path of a blow that would have surely disemboweled me. Freeing my gun I took careful aim at his head. He stared back with huge snake eyes. I pulled the trigger as he grinned his last words, "HAIL XEBOC!!"

Under that black night I knelt, cradling the corpse of my beloved Sara, unable to staunch the flow of her red blood. "Damn this wasteland!" I screamed, "Damn Xeboc, the Widows, all the gangs! Damn Sacre and the futile attempt to bring order."

I broke down sobbing, failing at first to notice the tall cloaked figure. I couldn't tell who or what he was in the darkness, and didn't care. "Are you ready to die?" I asked.

"Always." he answered with a grin in his voice.

"I'm going to kill every living thing in this wasteland to avenge Sara, starting with you, then the gangs, then...."

"What?" he asked, "You dislike the order the gangs are attempting to bring to the wasteland?"

"Damn ORDER! I follow CHAOS now!" I growled, shaking.

"Then I greet you brother, for I to follow chaos, worship it, become one with it. Only through anarchy can entropy be achieved and the world cleansed. You understand that now. You are ready."

"What....." The word caught in my throat as he floated forwards. He was dressed in Red and Black. The Black of my dark thoughts. The Red of Sara's blood, and the blood of those who would die for her. He was the priest. And at last I understood.

-- High Priest Kestol of the Loki

Kestol had been a friend of mine, a jovial man with a beard and a joke always at the ready. He and his wife had vanished into the wasteland years ago. Funny, how without the beard and the Sacre uniform I hadn't recognized him as the high priest I fought.

Wanted: 3 laborers needed for immediate work. Duties include light demolition, duralloy shaping, phaser installations, and reactor cleaning. Also need 2 techies for transporter realignments. Contact Joc Dresnor at Fortress Constructors Inc.

For Sale: 2 vitron cells with 25/50 charges remaining. May be repowered at Ed's Emporium. 150,000 credits each or trade for Phase Armor, working or not.

Companion needed: Need partner for expedition to Kill Inc. Will share all booty acquired during trip 50/50. Bonus paid for successful return.

Programmer wanted: Must be proficient in Z++ and familiar with the AS/9000 architecture. Contact Hal-4000 for details.

In Sports News: Today at the Octoatholon Arn Wormron achieved a new record in the long jump of 100.2 meters. He also tied the high jump record of 229 meters. The Widowed Warriors destroyed the Black Death in Cre-ball, 69-13, although the judges are questioning the use of neutron assisted backhands. Typhoo Jogl lost to Helnor Actel in the phaser try-outs. Funeral services will be held tomorrow.

Editor's Note: Recruit JudgeDread recently brought in this strange pamphlet that has been circulating through the wastelands. We advise you deal with such material, and the madmen distributing it, as you would deal any wasteland threat: Avoid or execute...

This is to inform you of a great lie our leaders have laid upon us: The Puritron. They have claimed this device will cleanse our world of the radiation that pollutes it, and restore it the pristine beauty our ancestors enjoyed. Bull! How do I know? Because I helped design and build this device over 30 years ago. While my research indicated the idea was feasible, in all actuality it did nothing more than "move" the radiation. For every square mile near us it cleansed, another distant area was polluted. The recycler section never worked, so Dr. Jack Sacre suggested we replace it with circuitry similar to that found in a pylon. "Out of sight, out of mind" he said.

Yeah, until I noticed on a journey to the Widows camp for some spare parts that the ambient radiation levels had _increased_! This is why it was stolen and disassembled. Our world is filled with many factions and communities, not all of which have decided to make their presence known. Why should their families be subjected to the horrors of the atom, for our benefit? They just could not sit idly by and allow us to destroy that which they cherish! So, do not be tempted by the "rewards" offered for its return by our leaders. If in your travels, you should find clues to its whereabouts, destroy it!

Critters

Nature has produced marvelous killers, from the smilidon (sabre tooth tiger), to the veloceraptor, to any of the big cats today. Docile creatures can be scary en'mass or when cornered (beavers have been known to scare off bears). So are why the animalistic things in LOD just humanoid-animal-tool users, except the weak ones in zone 1?

- Step 1: Come up with a list of beasts that you like.

- Step 2: Figure out what they could take out in a fair fight. I.E. A veloceraptor could take out a death warrior easily, so zone 4 or 5 is probably right.

- Step 3: Base their attributes on the zone.

- Step 4: Simple descriptions will do (something like "A bear attacks" suffices, though describing the fangs and blood matted fur is a definite plus).

- Step 5: Look at the stats for the weapons used in your animal's zone and create animal weapon and armor with the same stats (no ammo required of course).

- Step 6: Put DISINT 100 or players will be able to get the items and you will have Sacre recruits biting people.

Quests

Nothing helps a customized set like its own distinctive quests. And there are lots of ways to make them seem distinctive:

1) No Puritron Quests: The recruits can instead be 'Elimination Specialists' blowing away gang leaders. Alter Talk.TXT and Strings.TXT to remove mention of the puritron and add clues to who to kill, (be very careful not to change how many lines any particular topic in Strings.TXT has. Change the descriptions in Ptron.TXT and Bossmon.TXT, and change the Ptron display in Ansi.Def and your set.

2) The Steaks, Eye, and Badge: You can completely change the character of these quests: First go into CUSTOM and change item names. Then go onto the Talk.TXT and Strings.TXT to make them agree with the new names. For instance, in my setup you go to NORT's Base (the Horticulture Center), pick up the data disk (steaks), take them back to Fafnir Base (Sacre), and get the MissionInfo Disk (TroyInfo). Or you could have to present the Skull (Death Badge) found only on Death (Kirk) to enter the Gates of Hell (Death Warrior City) which uses the teleport trick to send you to an area with lots of lava, mountains, and some....interesting....monsters. Etc.

3) Talking Quests: I'm sure you are aware that at several points in Talk.TXT a % and a number signify that the above keyword solves a quest. And you can of course edit the conversations to your hearts content to have other keywords solve those quests. But did you know that all quests can be solved through Talking? If you are a believer in the power of the spoken word, you can get rid of a few ROM quests and make them talk quests instead. The targets are Tetris (4), Windows (10), History (11), and SpWeap (15).

Name: Ray Bacon
• Occupation: Commercial Pilot/Computer Tech.
• What you like most in LOD: Ability to create your own game.
• What you like least: Clues in the text file pain in the ass to edit.
• LOD monster you most identify with: None.
• Hobbies: Running a Multi-Line BBS, Golf.
• Favorite Books: None.
• Favorite Movies: None.
• Favorite Computer Games: LOD.
• Commonly used quotes: N/A.
• Anything you want to say to LODers: Beware the next NAS dataset!

Name: Christopher Darque
• Occupation: Consultant & Counselor.
• What you like most in LOD: DataSets & The Choices.
• What you like least in LOD: Fixed Map, Lack of background activity.
• LOD monster you most identify with: Tranlius Defender.
• Hobbies: Games of all sorts, Lisa, Mind puzzles, & studying Life.
• Favorite Books: Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land, Travels.
• Favorite Movies: Star Trek II, Edward Scissorhands, Buckaroo Banzai.
• Favorite Computer Games: AV8B Harrier, Ultimate Universe, Starfox.
• Commonly used quotes: Computer, Tea, Earl Gray, Hot, in a Cup this time. Time is an illusion, lunchtime, doubly so. Do, or do not, there is no try.
• Anything you want to say to LODers: LOD has the potential for the rich interaction that has made role playing games what they are. More than just a door, this is a complete RPG creation system. Make use of it and your only limitations are those you put on yourself.

Name: Dave Rosson
• Occupation: College Student, Computer Consultant.
• What you like most in LOD: Talk.TXT and IsReals.
• What you like least in LOD: The default pic and No friendly monsters.
• LOD monster you most identify with: The Vampire Aretas.
• Hobbies: Computer Games, RPGs, Writing, Painting Miniatures.
• Favorite Books: The Judge Dee mysteries, the last 3 XXV novels, WarDay, Dune, 2001, Call of the Wild, Jurassic Park, A Separate Piece, Elison's Invisible Man, and Tower of Deception.
• Favorite Movies: Amadeus, the 3 Musketeers, Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones (1 & 3), Nightmare on Elm Streets 1, 3, & 6.
• Favorite Computer Games: LOD, Wasteland, Starflight I & II, Ultima VI, Neuromancer, Sango Fighter, & Romance of the Three Kingdoms III.
• Commonly Used Quotes: Fascinating. Ni! Hmmmmmmm. I'll be back. Huh?
• Anything you want to say to LODers: Embrace Chaos.

Name:Tristan Walling
• Occupation:Blues Critic.
• What you like most in LOD: Strange Little Critters that need a pic.
• What you like least in LOD: Going out into the wasteland to find one of the little beasties that I made, getting lost, getting attacked by that SAME @#*&# Draku Defender a hundred times in a row, then running out of ammo and getting killed by that "little beastie" that I was looking for. With no warper.
• LOD monster you most identify with: The Energizer Bunny.
• Hobbies: Drawing, making rhythmic noises, playing computer games, going out and messing with people as much as I can without getting myself killed.
• Favorite Books: 101 Uses for a Dead Cat, Stranger in a Strange Land, Roget's Thesaurus, and ElfQuest.
• Favorite Movies: Star Wars, Alien, Fantasia, and ones with lots of "hooters" in 'em!
• Favorite Computer Games: LOD, A10, wolfensteiny-shoot-up-everything- -that-moves types of games, and ones with overwhelming 256- color niftiness.
• Commonly used quotes: If I were me, which I sometimes am... Just a little peril... F@*k it!
• Anything you want to say to LODers: When wandering through the wasteland, remember one thing and you'll be fine --- everything IS trying to kill you, and there are always more. But, as they say at Sacre base, you can win, just keep at it! ... by the way, does anyone have a spare warper?