THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE LORDS OF MIDNIGHT PUBLISHER Beyond AUTHOR Mike Singleton YEAR 1984 DESCRIPTION Graphical Adventure Game, with single key stroke controls CONTROLS 1-8 Look in direction (N-NE-E-SE-S-SW-W-NW) Q Move in current direction E Look in current direction R Think T Choose U Night S Save D Load G Yes J No Z Print (crashes most emulators) C Select Luxor V Select Morkin B Select Corleth N Select Rorthron M Select In Select 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 C Luxor the Moonprince V Morkin N Corleth the Fey M Rorthron the Wise INSTRUCTIONS The object of the game is 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 Icecrown the source of Doomdarks 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 ant attempt to destoy 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 suceed 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 retreive the Moon Ring from the site were Luxor fell and put on the moonring in order to gain its powers. Unfortunatly as the Moonring radiates warth in order to ease the Icefear Doomdark can sense its wears location, thus making Morkin's quest for the icecrown almost impossible. Features of the Landscape 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. CHEATS This is more a bug than a cheat. If Luxor is killed you loose control of everyone other than Morkin. However, Morkin can begin to re-recruit Lords without retrieving the Moonring from the site of Luxor's demise. As for 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 suposed 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 suposed 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) BOOKLET TEXT URLS ftp.dcc.uchile.cl/pub/OS/sinclair/snapshots/l/lordsmid.zip GENERAL FACTS The original game came with a keyboard overlay, designed to fit on a rubber-key Spectrum, which had all the keyboard commands written on it. You may also like to try the Lords of Midnight Web Page, at http://www.gatewest.net/~cpb/lom.html. NOTABLE FEATURES This was the first game to use 'Landscaping' to generate the view of the world of Midnight from the perspective each of the characters under your control.