LAD is a fantastic little PC strategy game. You are the hero, who must delve into the deep dungeons of CompuServe to find an object that has been stolen by daemons. Once you found it, you must take it to the house on the top floor, before your time is up. On your quest, you will encounter nasty monsters, hazardous traps and difficult puzzles.
But what are you looking for? How to tackle this game with its huge user guide?
I have been playing this game for 8 years now. I have only completed it for the first time recently.
This page does not contain cheats, or spoilers. All the other pages do, so watch it.
Who are you? The hero of our game has various characteristics. You will find these at the top of the playing field, listed in light blue letters. There are:
Level, Depth Level, Hits, Spell Points, Time, Experience, Weapon Class, Armor Class, Strength, Intelligence, Charisma, Wisdom, Agility, Dexterity, Constitution, Luck.
*Level is an odd terminology in this game. It affects the number of items you can carry, and the range of your spells. When you begin, you're in level 1. You can advance a level by stepping onto the target training symbol. You'll find one on the floors 0 and 5. Advancing a level means you get more hits, more spell points, and one extra point for a basic characteristic (Luck, Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, Agility, Dexterity, Constitution)
*Depth Level indicates in which part of the dungeon you are. No matter what game you play, the maps belonging to the respective depth levels, will always look the same. Depth Level ranges from 0 to 13. You start at floor 0. For more information on respective levels, see the Level page.
*Hits indicates the amount of life points, or pips, you have. If this reaches 0, you're dead. You'll start with 12 or 10 depending on your difficulty level. The amount of pips can be altered by advancing levels, drinking potions, drinking from fountains and stepping in puddles. Unless you're poisoned, your hits will regenerate up to your current maximum as time passes. You can also recuperate by magic, or by visiting the hospital.
*Spell Points (SPs) are needed when you want to cast a spell. At the beginning of the game, you have 4 of them. If you want to cast a spell, you'll have to pay a certain amount of points. This amount is subtracted from the number of spell points you have. If you don't have enough spell points for a spell, you can't cast it. Spells may fail, then you'll lose the SP's, but don't have the effects. The number of spell points will regenerate up to your current maximum with time. You can also recuperate by magic, or by visiting Wizard's Rest. Your SP maximum increases as you go up a level, take Magic Class at college, or by magic.
*Time passes whenever you make a move, be it taking a step, fighting with monsters, walking through doors, wield or drop items, sleep, visit college... Just plain walking takes 100th of a time unit. When the Time number reaches 0, you change into a pumpkin, meaning you're dead. Time can be altered by magic, in both directions.
*Experience is gained whenever you kill a monster. Some monsters are worth more points than others. It's only needed when you advance a level.
*Weapon Class: affects how likely you are to hit a monster, and how much damage you do. Your weapon class can be increased by wearing better weapons, or by magic.
*Armor Class: affects how likely you are to be hit by a monster. This number can be affected by magic, or wearing armor.
*Strength affects the impact a monster gets when you hit it, and your ability to open tightly shut doors. It can be increased or decreased by Combat classes at college, and magic.
*Intelligence affects your ability to cast spells, and the amount of extra SPs you get when you advance a level. Wizardry Classes and magic can alter this number.
*Charisma affects how much money you have to pay for identifying items at the Wizard of What, and how much money you get when you sell items at the Pawn Shop. Magic can alter this number.
*Wisdom affects how well protection spells work, and how good you are at finding secret doors. Magic can alter this number.
*Agility affects your ability to dodge spells from monsters, your ability to walk down stairs without slipping, your ability to dodge traps and your ability to prevent injury when you fall through a trap. Gym Classes and Magic can alter this number.
*Dexterity affects your ability to hit monsters, your ability to avoid being hit by monsters, and the amount of items you can carry. Magic can alter this number.
*Constitution affects the amount of extra hits you get when you advance a level. Magic can alter this number.
*Luck affects a lot: your ability to hit monsters, avoid monsters hitting you, avoid special monster effects, avoid falling into traps, and avoid you slipping down the stairs. Magic can alter this number.
Death Awaits You...
when your amount of pips reaches 0, after you battled a monster and lost. Or when you fall through a trap door and get injured and lose all your pips. Or when you step into a dart trap and lose all your pips. Or: when you get teleported and materialize in solid rock. Or when you run out of time, you'll die by changing into a pumpkin.
Essential Survival Tips:
You move around either by mouse or by keyboard. Click on the playing field, and your character will move in that direction. If you want to use the keyboard, Num Lock must be on, and you'll have to use the numeric keypad. Also: the window with the playing field must be active. If you use your mouse to do something with your inventory or whatever, you'll need to click on the playing field first before you can proceed with typing.
If you encounter a monster, you can hit him by running into him. You can see in your message section whether you succeed or not. You can also cast spells towards him, or her, and do some damage.
Apart fro the playing field, you have an inventory window, displaying everything in your possession. Move it up a little, and you can see four buttons at the bottom of it. Using these, you can drop or trash items, so you can carry other things you may find.
If you want to be equipped with an item, double click it, or select it and click the "wield" button. An asterisk will appear in front of the item, so you can see you're using it. If you're using a cursed item (an item with a - and a number behind it), you can't de-equip it. You'll have to wear it until it breaks, or until you find a remove-curse scroll.
You can also see a window which is displaying all the powers and curses you are having at the time. All will wear off eventually.
There are a number of buildings that may help you on your quest. There are:
*HOME which is where you must take the quest item in order to finish the game.
*The TARGET TRAINING on dlv 0 and 5, where you can advance levels depending on the height of your experience. If you advance a level, your maximum amount of pips increases, based on your constitution. Your maximum amount of spell points increases, based on your intelligence. And one of your basic characteristics (Strength, Intelligence, Constitution, Wisdom, Charisma, Dexterity, Agility, Luck) increases by 1.
*The BANK is where you have an account, so you can drop off gold pieces there. You get a nice interest rate. You can also sell gems here.
*The SHOP is where you can buy scrolls, potions, rings, armor and weapons at a large cost. These shop items will last longer than the ones you can find in the dungeon.
*The PAWN SHOP is where you can sell your excess stuff, except for jewellery and gems. The more charisma you have, the more money you can get for your items.
*The WIZARD OF WHAT is a place where you can identify scrolls, potions and rings you don't dare to use. This comes in handy when you come to lower levels, and don't want to risk drinking a Stupidity potion. What you'll have to pay per item depends on your charisma, but in most cases, plain trying is cheaper.
*The DUNGEON COLLEGE is where you can get training. The first class costs 250 GP, and increases your strength by 1. The next costs 500 and gives you 1 extra intelligence. The third improves your agility, the fourth improves your spell points by 4. The 5th improves your strength by 2, and so on. The price doubles at every class. Taking a class also takes 2 time points. While going to school, you may restore pips and spell points, or lose curses, but you can also lose powers and break any items you were wearing during your training.
*The HOSPITAL is where you can stay safely while your pips are restoring. Staying here costs 20 GPs per pip. This, too, takes time, 1 time point per 5 pips. Curing from poison can also be done here, free of cost.
*The WIZARD'S REST is where you can stay safely whilst restoring your spell points. Recovery costs 30 GP per spell point, and takes time, some 2 time points per 5 pips.
This is all you have to know before you can start playing. If you need more help than this, or want to obtain the shareware version, contact me.
A hearty Thank You goes to Mike Berro, the author of this wonderful game.
For more information on monsters, levels and spells, see the respective pages.
Monsters! On weapons, armor, close combat and monsters
Magic! On scrolls, potions, rings, distant combat and more
Levels! On levels, and walkthrough
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