L.O.R.D. - Legend of The Red Dragon

Legend of the Red Dragon (LORD) is a text-based online role-playing video game, released in 1989 by Robinson Technologies. LORD is one of the best known door games. The player's goal is to improve their skills in order to defeat the Red Dragon which has been attacking the village. The software is compatible with DOS, Microsoft Windows, and OS/2.

Here is how to install it:

The example shown below uses these settings:

Operating System: OS/2 or ArcaOS
Fossil / Virtual Modem: SIO & VMODEM
File structure: C:\PB\DOORS\LORD

There are 2 archives for you to obtain. The first one is: LORD400A.ZIP and the second is: LORD407P.ZIP. Both can be downloaded from SiliconUnderground and Outpost BBS.

1. Extract LORD400A.ZIP then LORD407P.ZIP to C:\PB\DOORS\LORD

2. Edit the START.BAT with your favorite text editor. Change the top line to reflect the directory where you uncompressed Legend of the Red Dragon into. It will need to change to the Legend of the Red Dragon directory before executing anything else in the batch file. Added 'NORIP' to the command line as it causes LORD to delay and possibly not start. This forces LORD not to use RIP graphics.

Example:

C:
cd \LORD
c:\pb\doors\lord
@ECHO OFF
IF "%1" == "" GOTO NOSTART
IF EXIST INFO.%1 DEL INFO.%1
IF EXIST DO%1.BAT DEL DO%1.BAT
:BEGIN
LORD.EXE %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 NORIP /DREW
IF ERRORLEVEL 255 GOTO DONE
IF ERRORLEVEL 254 GOTO DO1
GOTO DONE
:DO1
CALL DO%1.BAT
GOTO BEGIN
:NOSTART
CALL START.BAT 0
GOTO REALDONE
:DONE
IF EXIST INFO.%1 DEL INFO.%1
IF EXIST DO%1.BAT DEL DO%1.BAT
:REALDONE

3. Run LORDCFG.EXE.

In LORDCFG, go to (C)onfigure Nodes. This will allow you to configure baud rates, locked baud rates, COM ports, special port addresses (if needed) the dropfile type your BBS makes, and where to find it.

Use the following settings in LORDCFG:

(1) Node Number: (Node number of each node)
(2) BBS Name: (Your BBS Name)
(3) BBS Software: (Select QBBS)
(4) Path to dropfile: C:\PB\NODE(Number of node)
(5) Fossil / Internal: Using extended fossil driver
(6) Locked port speed: (Your locked port speed)
The other settings can be set to defaults

If you run a multi-node BBS, set up EACH dial in/remote node.

Every time you set up a node that does not exist in LORDCFG, the new node configuration will be created with the defaults of the first node installed. So, if you have 200 nodes, it won't be a huge pain to set up all 200 of them.

4. Have your BBS execute the START.BAT. If you run just one node (A single line BBS), you need to have your BBS call START.BAT 1. The 1 is the node number.

If you have a multi-node BBS, use a node parameter (in ProBoard, it's *#) so your BBS will substitute the appropriate node number.

In ProCFG, configure your door to run a Command Line such as this example, which will run START.BAT and pass the system path and node number. Say for example, that your BBS software is ProBoard and your BBS directory structure is:

C:\PB (main BBS directory)
C:\PB\NODE1 (Node 1 dropfile directory)
C:\PB\NODE2 (Node 2 dropfile directory)

ProBoard BBS uses the following Door Command Line macros:

*# is replaced by the Node number

*Z Execute the command as if you typed it from the command line. The main use for this option is to execute DOS batch files. It is exactly the same as entering “*C /C <command>”. It can also be useful to execute programs that are located in your path, without having to specify the exact directory name.

*S ProBoard's system directory (incl. trailing '\')

So the following type-7 Command Line could be configured for this door in ProCfg:

*z*sdoors\lord\start *#

Note that for node 1, the above command line would be translated by the BBS as so:

c:\pb\doors\lord\start *1

TO PLAY LOCALLY:

If you want to just play Legend of the Red Dragon locally, just start it with the LOCAL.BAT file.

Thank you to Sean Dennis for his OS/2 & ArcaOS help and Seth Able Robinson for L.O.R.D. documentation examples!!