Lord of the Dungeon - The Definitive Game Manual

[Ikrananka]

Back in May 2018, I announced that I was working on compiling what I hoped would be the definitive manual for the game, Lord of the Dungeon. After much delay and procrastination I am pleased to finally present to you the finished article.



Why did I do this when manuals already exist for this game? Well, the manual that was provided in the CollectorVision release of the game was based on the original game designer's draft manual that was eventually made available at CGE back in 2002. Unfortunately, the CollectorVision manual omitted some significant parts of the CGE 2002 manual's content and so is incomplete. Also, the partial level 1 map included with the game is wrong. Separately, from around 2003 to 2006, CV Gus (aka Aswald) put together a much more detailed text manual for the game that he derived based on many long hours playing the game. He posted this on the Digital Press forums over those years as it evolved. My work has focused on compiling the information from these sources together and eliminating any obvious gaps, errors and inconsistencies (and there were many). I have also enhanced the content with more tables to summarise useful data as well as images from the game. The CGE manual came in at 37 pages and is 4" x 5.5", my definitive manual comes in at 72 pages and is larger at 5" x 7".

I am providing the manual in two different file formats:

Microsoft Publisher (.pub) : This is the software that I used to create the manual. Opening this file will allow you to print the manual as a typical two sided booklet (as shown in the photos above). Note that the page size I selected for the manual is 5" x 7" as this is about as large as is reasonable for storing it in a ColecoVision game box. It is also the size that Team Pixelboy uses (I also based the layout and format of the manual on Team Pixelboy's manuals - with his permission). If you wish to print the manual then please refer to the print settings file attached. These show the settings that I used on my printer. Note that I printed mine onto Letter sized paper and then cut it down to a 5" x 7" booklet using a metal ruler and an X-Acto knife with a curved blade.

PDF : Also attached is a pdf of the game manual. I have added bookmarks for all of the sections of the manual as well as hyperlinks on the contents page that you can click to jump to the relevant section.

Game Review : I've also included a copy of Aswalds last review of the game that he wrote after playing it for over four years. Be aware though that this review does contain some spoilers. Aswald sums it up by saying that Lord of the Dungeon ".. is easily one of the best games ever made for the ColecoVision, and one can only wonder what the sequels would have had."

 

As I state in the manual, this is a live document, so if you have any comments on the manual then please let me know. I'll update this post with any changes I make.

Lord of the Dungeon Definitive Manual v1.0 Feb 2019.zip

[Ikrananka]

For completeness, I also put together a pdf version of the game manual released at CGE 2002.

Lord of the Dungeon Instructions - CGE 2002 - For Viewing.pdf

Lord of the Dungeon Instructions - CGE 2002 - For Printing.pdf

Edited February 25, 2019 by Ikrananka

[Ikrananka]

And here's my complete map of Level 1 (spoiler alert). There is a partial map in the new game manual if you'd rather discover and map out level 1 by yourself.

 

Red wall segments are secret doors (shown in the game as doors with a dashed outline once found).

 

Brown lines are normal doors (which are always unlocked in this game).

Lord of the Dungeon Map - Level 1.pdf

Edited February 26, 2019 by Ikrananka

[Crapahute]

Great work! Thanks.

[sega_SHARK]

Thanks for putting this all together. I think i burned through over 100 characters playing this. So many that I actually rolled a ranger once.

It really is an in depth dungeon crawler. Probably one of my favorite games for the CV.

[Ikrananka]

Thanks for putting this all together. I think i burned through over 100 characters playing this. So many that I actually rolled a ranger once.

It really is an in depth dungeon crawler. Probably one of my favorite games for the CV.

 

And huge thanks to sega_SHARK for playtesting my draft of this manual with LotD. His feedback was invaluable and greatly improved the manual.