LORD Server

What it is

LORD Server runs Legend of the Red Dragon on a Windows machine as a service of its own, with no BBS software needed. It listens for telnet and rlogin connections, logs players in, and gives them a menu of games. Each player's game is a copy of LORD FP, built for 64-bit Windows.

A BBS links to it with an rlogin door: the BBS sends the player's name, the server makes an account for them the first time, and they go straight into the game. Several BBSes can share one server, so their players meet in the same realm.

Features

Installing

1. Run LORDSRV-1.4.2-setup.exe as an administrator (or install the MSI: msiexec /i LORDSRV-1.4.2-x64.msi). The default folder is C:\LORDSRV; the server keeps its settings, accounts and games there, so it should not be under Program Files.
2. Choose the parts you want: Start menu items, a Windows Firewall rule, and whether to install the server as a Windows service (it then starts with Windows, with no one logged on).
3. Open LORD Server (console) from the Start menu. It starts the server in its console window, or, with the service running, opens the console on the service. On its first run the server writes lordsrv.ini with the defaults, makes game A and starts listening.
4. Type settings in the console to set the server's name, ports, your own BBS's address for rlogin, the address other BBSes use, your sysops and the games. After saving it restarts the server for you.
5. Telnet in and make an account, then make it a sysop: type sysop <your name> on the server console, or add the name to Sysops= in lordsrv.ini.

Add more games on the settings screen (Add a game). They are kept in lordsrv.ini, one section each:

[Game B]
Name=The Second Realm
Dir=games\B          ; its own folder: players, lord.ini, logs
MaxNodes=20          ; players at once
TimeLimit=60         ; minutes per visit

The console

The console shows the server's name, ports and time up, the connections (who, where from, which game and node), and the log, all updated as it happens. Commands are typed at the bottom: who, kick, users, sysop, passwd, adduser, disable, shutdown and more. As a Windows service the server keeps running when the console is closed; lordsrv -install and lordsrv -uninstall add and remove the service.

To set up a game, type config A in the console: LORD's set-up program opens for game A (game options, tournaments, the player editor, weapons, armour and monsters, LADY events). reset A starts game A again; its players are disconnected first.

The sysop guide covers all of it: installing, the console, settings, games, players, linking BBSes and IGMs. The installer shows Getting started (QUICKSTART.TXT) when it finishes. Everything else, including all the commands and settings, is in README.TXT.

Linking a BBS

Add an rlogin door on the BBS that connects to the server. The BBS user's name becomes their account on the server; no password is asked for. Your own BBS goes in RLoginAllow= in lordsrv.ini. Other BBSes sign up for a key themselves: their door sends it, and their players' accounts get the BBS's tag (Bob@SHS), so the same name on two BBSes is two players.

Synchronet

An external program (SCFG, External Programs, Online Programs) with one of these command lines, and no drop file:

; your own BBS, listed in RLoginAllow
?rlogin your.server.address -t xtrn=A -P
; another BBS: sign up once to get a key ...
?rlogin your.server.address -s register -P
; ... then use the key
?rlogin your.server.address -s KEY -t xtrn=A -P

-t xtrn=A takes the player straight into game A and back to the BBS when they quit; leave it out to show the game menu. Synchronet sends the user's alias as the name. Use address:port if the server listens somewhere other than 513. The console's bbs command lists the BBSes that have signed up, and can make, replace, turn off or remove their keys. See Linking a BBS in the sysop guide.

Other BBSes

Mystic, EleBBS and others: use the BBS's rlogin door or menu command, with the user's name or alias as the client user name, the key (if any) as the server user name, and xtrn=A as the terminal type if you want a game opened directly.

Play on Kalgoorlie's server

Sysops are welcome to link their BBS to the LORD Server here: sign up with ?rlogin bbs.theiguru.au:5130 -s register -P.

Downloads

LORD Server 1.4.2 for 64-bit Windows (Windows 10 or 11, Windows Server 2016 or newer). The installer, the MSI and the zip contain the same programs: lordsrv.exe, the game lord.exe, the set-up program lordcfg.exe and LORD's stock game files.

Read the documents first if you like: Getting started and README.TXT.

The door versions

To run LORD as an ordinary door game on your own BBS instead, use LORD FP, the same game as a door for DOS, Linux or Windows. See the LORD FP page for the details, the source and the sysop guide.

SyncTERM-Lua

A BBS terminal for playing: SyncTERM 1.9 with Lua scripting added. Press F12 while connected to load or run a script, or Alt-R to record one. It comes with two example scripts:

• lordbot.lua plays a day of Legend of the Red Dragon: the forest, the master, gear, the bank and the Inn.
• twbot.lua plays a day of TradeWars 2002: it learns the map, trades between ports and explores.

Scripts go in the script folder: %APPDATA%\SyncTERM\scripts on Windows, ~/.local/share/syncterm/scripts on Linux. The F12 menu's Script Folder item opens it. More in the release notes.

Contact

Questions, bug reports and suggestions are welcome. Email slaterm@theiguru.au, or leave a message for the sysop on the Kalgoorlie Retro BBS (telnet bbs.theiguru.au).

If you link your BBS to a LORD Server, or would like to link to this one, get in touch.

Credits

• Legend of the Red Dragon by Seth Robinson. LORD 4.06 © Robinson Technologies / Metropolis Gameport.
• lord.js, the version LORD FP follows, by Deuce; it ships with Synchronet BBS.
• SyncTERM by Stephen Hurd (Deuce) and the Synchronet developers; Lua by PUC-Rio.
• TradeWars 2002 and TWGS by Gary Martin and John Pritchett, whose game server inspired this one.
• LORD Server, LORD FP and SyncTERM-Lua from the Kalgoorlie Retro BBS.