An update of Legend of the Red Dragon for the internet generation (playing it a bit closer to its source material than Kingdom of Loathing does), this time the dragon is, well, green. Not that you get to see it for quite a while.
As with many old-school RPGs, this game tracks the fantastic and parallel progress of heroes from lowly aspirants to gallant dragon-slayers, their epic feats measured out in daily installments of forest fights in which dastardly level-appropriate random encounters are vanquished by hitting or clicking on F for Fight until the automated number-crunchers have decided that one of the two parties is an ex-menace (a new feature lacking in the Red variety allows weary players to automatically commit to 5 or 10 rounds of combat… or the ominous Until the end). Treasure is doled out, with which heroes can heal up and purchase upgraded equipment; also, experience is earned, with which heroes can advance through class levels and increase their statistics (including special attacks limited on a per-day basis)—if they can defeat their training master.
Though the game is (now massively) multiplayer, player interactivity remains largely limited to the conventions of the old line-up-and-wait-to-play BBS door game days—while offline, unprotected players can be challenged to PvP duels by others currently online. Upon later login a player may receive a mail informing them that they were successfully or unsuccessfully preyed upon.
A second economy of sorts operates according to a different currency, gems, which can generally only be acquired or spent through special random events, for goods and services not sold in most stores. Other random events may challenge players to answer riddles or gamble on the outcome of simple guessing games or rock-paper-scissor bouts.
A lot is going on behind the scenes—from weather and calendar calculations subtly influencing event outcomes to romances, mounts, body modifications and clan politics, but basic gameplay remains… basic. New features unique to this web incarnation of the game include a protected tutorial area, the Isle of Wen, full of hints and helpers. Also to distribute the load of the thousands of regular players, there are several towns players can choose as their base of operations, plus travel between them (with exclusive travel events!).
Most uniquely, a player who dies before that day’s allotment of forest fights has been expended can mill around in a cosmic clearing-house of lost souls, entering into fierce and unequal Torment with shades and demons in hopes to earn enough favour to impress Raimus, Overlord of Death, who can be persuaded by feats of derring-do to restore a dead player (only dead until the next game-day, when all are brought back to life) prematurely. With less favour, dead players can haunt the living… who can strike back through the services of the gypsy medium in town!
