GEnie Livewire e-zine/LW9410MM.ZIP/GAMER.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-23 | 7.2 KB | 197 lines

It's big as a house. It has bad breath, scaly skin
and a nasty disposition. When it's not flying
around barbecuing villages, it's stealing gold,
jewels and expensive trinkets, causing earthquakes,
or generally wreaking havoc.

Dragons do not make good house pets. So why on
earth would anyone want to bring one home and play
with it?

Living On The Edge

If playing with dragons is your idea of living on
the edge, try becoming one. It's easy. No magic
potions, arcane artifacts or esoteric spells are
required. Just log onto GEnie, type DGATE (or M915)
and enter the world of Dragon's Gate.

One of GEnie's popular multi-player games, Dragon's
Gate is a text-based fantasy role-playing game that
offers a smorgasbord of exotic characters with a
menu of unusual attributes, skills and histories.

There are no dwarves, gnomes or halflings here;
this is a world populated with nocturnal winged
humanoids, intelligent man-sized spiders, six-foot
tall cats, and jewelled albinos. There are
creatures possessing natural psionic abilities and
tiny winged healers; crystalline Penthanians and
lizard-like Monitanians; large, dumb, muscle-bound
Thugians and even larger, dumber Oog-ra. Plus a
smattering of San Elves, Usil Elves and Fir Elves.

And dragons. Lots of dragons.

Your Typical Dragon

There are actually two types of dragon in DGate:
the more recognizable house-sized variety; and the
Drag-al.

The typical Dragons (if any dragon could be called
that) possess natural rune-magic abilities,
powerful natural armor and formidable claws. As
they grow older, they learn to fly and develop
breath attacks -- fire, acid, lightning or frost.

Unlike other races, they are unable to choose any
specific profession, and advance through life from
a 1st-stage humanoid form to a 4th-stage full
quadri-pedal winged dragon. They are also unable to
wield weapons or wear armor, and are often hunted
for bounty. All of which makes them one of the most
difficult -- and powerful -- character classes in
the game.

Drag-als, on the other hand, are a kind of dwarf
dragon who'd rather party than fight. "Imagine a
three foot tall Dragon that is fond of wine, bad
jokes and smoking a pipe," explains the game
manual, "and you have a Drag-al."

Some claim that the Drag-al are actually a
higher-order 5th-stage dragon; but don't ever say
that to a real dragon. Like their larger cousins,
however, Drag-al can breathe fire and possess tough
natural armor.

Decisions, Decisions

While character selection is diverse and unusual,
the choice of professions is relatively mild.
Depending on race and alignment (Dgate employs a
D&D type of Entropic, Orderly or Chaotic character
alignment), players can choose fighter, bard,
thief, barbarian, forester or rune-mage
professions. Or they can join one of three clerical
orders: the Order of the Hand, a sect specializing
in martial-arts; the Order of the Sword, a sect of
paladins; or the Order of the Heart, a sect of
healers.

If making choices is one of your weaknesses,
choosing a character in DGate could pose a serious
problem to your social life. Fortunately, you
aren't restricted to a single option, but are
allowed to roll and run up to three separate
characters.

Given the range of possibilities in DGate, this is
a major plus to adventurers who love to experiment.
(And what adventurer worth his or her stats
doesn't?)

Building Character

Since the characters are such an integral part of
Dragon's Gate, character generation has naturally
been given a very high priority by the game's
designers. The result is a Character Manager that
is richly detailed yet remarkably simple.

To get started, you select item #3 (Enter Dragon's
Gate) from the main menu on Page 915 -- item #2
(Character Management) is actually a utility that
lets you view or modify a character.

Once inside, you're given the choice of Creating,
Deleting or Viewing a character. If you already
have an active character, its name will be
displayed in one of the three character slots. Once
all three are filled, you will have to delete a
character before you can create a new one.

You're give three options when 'genning' a new
character:

   1. Character Generator
   2. Speed Create
   3. Insta-Gen

Option 1 is the best choice for first-time players;
it gives you a detailed description of each phase,
liberally enhanced with an entertaining narrative.
It's like reading an interactive book -- a lot of
fun, but also time-consuming. Option 2 provides a
streamlined version of the process, but still
maintains a menu system for choices. Option 3 is
for only the most experienced user: it eliminates
menus and relies entirely on user input; players
have to know exactly what they want ahead of time.

30-Day Life Back Guarantee

Stepping into the world of Dragon's Gate for the
first time can be an intimidating experience, even
for experienced gamers. Its principle attraction is
also its greatest concern: there are so many new,
unusual and unconventional features that it's tough
to know where to start.

Well, you can relax. DGate is a very forgiving
place for newcomers. Instead of being thrown right
into the fire, naked and vulnerable, new characters
are deposited in a free-zone called the TG -- the
Training Grounds. There your fledgling Dragon,
Drag-al, Leuian or Arachnian can gain experience,
wealth and equipment while honing their fighting
and magical skills, without fear of death or dying.
At least for the first 30 real-time days.

You can explore and experiment to your heart's
content; wander around without armor; make as many
mistakes as you want, and suffer no lasting
consequences.

Once you're ready (or the time-limit is up), you
can enter the portal to the Spur, the real world of
DGate. Where death is expensive if not permanent,
and mistakes that don't kill you will cost you.
(You did get those maps from the DGate Archives,
didn't you? And read the manual?)

Earning Your Spurs

In the Spur, the game takes on a whole new meaning.
There are new dangers, new critters and new shops;
there are Games, and Quests and untold wonders.
Special weapons, armor and equipment can be bought
or sold here. Even Familiars can be purchased by
those with enough cash and willpower.

With such a lot to explore, the wise adventurer
will do three things. First, make sure to hang out
in the Town Square -- the de facto gathering place
for players in DGate, and an excellent source of
information, tips, assistance and advice.

Second, pay a visit to the Multi-Player Games
RoundTable at Page 1045, and check out the more
than 50 topics pertaining to DGate in Categories
10, 11 and 12 of the Bulletin Board. There, you'll
find everything you need to know -- from character
generation, maps and magic, to guilds, contests and
dragon lore.

Can't Get Enough

People have long held a fascination for dragons. In
legend, mythology, books, comics, movies and games.
From J.R.R. Tolkien to Anne McCaffrey and Raymond
Feist. From D&D to M&M. We just can't seem to get
enough of them.

It's a good thing Dragon's Gate is available here
on GEnie. Now we can play with them, too.