Contents
- In the Beginning....
- Creating a Character
- The Races
- The Classes
- Hulapop's Journal
- Hunting
- Exploring
- Studying
- Rescues
- Getting Rich
- Quests
- Events
- The Darshak Theocracy
- The History of the World
- Experience
- Skills
- Mind, Body, and Spirit
- Clans
- Karma
- Sharing
- I'm Dead!
- Women
- Secrets
Manual
World design by John Speck
Art and animation by Howard Vives
Produced by Joe Williams
The Fine Print
We provide this software to you under a license.
You can install Clan Lord on as many Macs as you'd like. You can only play Clan Lord on an official Delta Tao server with a valid serial number.
If for any reason you feel the performance of this software is unsatisfactory within the first 30 days after purchase, you may return it to the place you purchased it for a full refund. We tested Clan Lord under a variety of conditions, and we believe it performs satisfactorily and safely. However, no guarantee can be made that it will function on your machine. Especially if your machine is a toaster.
Under no condition will Delta Tao be responsible for damage to your computer system and/or person (including eyesight damage from playing Clan Lord all hours of the day and night), other than refunding the purchase price of the software, even if we've been advised of the possibility of such damage.
Don't disassemble, hack, reverse engineer, or mess with the Clan Lord program or server. Just play it.
Don't sue us for any reason, or we'll stop writing cool games and blame it all on you.
Clan Lord and lots of other things (like monster names) in this manual are trademarks of Delta Tao Software, Inc. Don't make any other games that use our names. You get the idea.
Congratulations, you have discovered Secret Message #2. We knew somebody read this stuff.
Getting Started
This is a portion of a story by Joe Williams.
"It's only a game," Del muttered to himself, glaring at the screen. His heart was pounding. His hand flexed on the mouse, afraid to click.
His eyes snatched the time from the menu bar: 4:21 AM. And he had work tomorrow. Frick.
He forced himself to think. He'd worked hard to get to the bridge. He'd been at his keyboard since 6:30 the previous evening, working his way down the Troubled Road to this bridge. The trip had been costly. He was injured, fatigued, and low on supplies. But he'd found the bridge, and now the urge to step across it was almost unbearable.
But it would be a mistake. Even fresh, he probably was not prepared for the dangers across the Gorge. And even if he was prepared, he'd never finish before 8:30, when he had to leave for work. And that's assuming he got no sleep at all.
He rolled his head, popping his neck, feeling the tension as his muscles stretched. His hand still lay frozen on the mouse. "It's only a game."
The only rational thing to do would be to turn back. He could get a nap, go to work, and return to the bridge afterward. But what if someone else got to the bridge today, while he was at work? And they crossed, and explored the area beyond the Gorge? He could return tomorrow to find the area already tamed and empty.
Heck, if he went to sleep now, he'd only get four hours of sleep anyway -- he'd be useless at work. He might as well call in sick.
Del stepped onto the bridge.
Steve rolled his eyes, dropping the phone onto the cradle. He raised his voice so he could be heard over the cubicle wall. "Del just called in `sick.' Again."
Bee laughed. "I wonder what he's into now. Loser." She double clicked Clan Lord and waited for the net connection to complete. When Sonya appeared on the screen, she pulled down the Command menu to get info on Ferdo. Her eyebrow raised. "Hey, I've never seen this before."
Steve left his cube to look at Bee's screen.
Ferdo, Indigo Lord
Last known location: The Troubled Road
Current location: Unknown
Health: Unknown
Karma: +/-
"Weird." His brow furrowed. "Unknown? Is he blocking? I didn't know you could do that."
"You can't, as far as I know. I don't know why he'd want to, really." She thought for a moment. "Maybe somebody's after him." She used her sunstone to transmit to Ferdo: "Where are you?"
Lord Ferdo not receiving.
Steve, reading over Bee's shoulder, whistled. "He's in some weirdness." His phone rang in the next cubicle. "Crap."
"Hey, watch the language."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Steve rounded the corner and sat. "Bronze Age, this is Steve, what can I do for you?"
Bee turned her attention back to the screen. A couple of clicks later she had Sonya casting a spell, teleporting her to Ferdo's location. The machine responded with a telltale fizzle sound of a spell gone awry. Not that she expected it to work. She drummed her fingers on the keyboard, indecisive.
She brought up her phone book. She double-clicked Del's name, and picked up her receiver. It rang, twice, three, four times -- and Del's machine picked up. "Hi, this is Del, I'm not here right now, but you can leave a message."
"Hey, this is Bee. Where are you? I know you're in Clan Lord, but your status shows `unknown.' It's weird. Give me a call, tell me how to get wherever you are. Bye." She hung up. Then she typed an e-mail saying what her voice mail just said, and sent it off to both Del and Ferdo. She sighed.
With his back to the tree, only two of the dracoids could attack him at once. He focused his attention on the left one, which looked larger. His sword was ineffective, so he zapped it with a Shock Bolt. It froze, stunned at least for a moment. His next two slices scored, dropping the beast.
The second one had hit while he was occupied with the first, and he noted the poison starting to slow his system. He'd definitely picked the wrong place to rest. He Shock Bolted number two, only to find that he didn't have enough magic left. Stupid! He pulled out a wand, the Violet Cold Wand he kept for emergencies. He could be dead within two seconds, so he figured this qualified. He stepped left, giving him a split second with both remaining Dracoids lined up, and blasted the wand at an angle across them, freezing them both solid. He sighed with relief.
"It's only a game." He sure wished he hadn't stepped onto the bridge this morning. He had no idea how to get back across the Gorge. And it was disturbing not being able to talk to anyone -- that had never happened to him before.
He shook his head. This clearing wasn't safe. That was clear. But moving around was probably even more dangerous. Crap. He was in no condition to explore, but so far, every time he'd tried to rest, he'd ended up in even worse shape than when he started. He'd been running through valuable supplies saved up for ages for a special occasion, and so far he'd found nothing valuable at all. Just woods and deadly creatures. This journey was a fiasco. He had to get home.
His Jolt, opened but forgotten, went slowly flat.
Steve plopped a McDonald's bag on Bee's desk and handed her a Coke. "Find Del?"
"Nope. He's logged on, but still off in the weeds somewhere." She pulled out and unwrapped a burger. "I tried everything I could think of." She took a bite of her burger.
"He probably crashed and went to sleep." Steve took a swig of his own Coke. "He might even really be sick."
"Maybe. That `last known location' bit, though... it doesn't normally say that. It doesn't say that for anybody else -- I checked. I think he's someplace different."
"I could grab Glorak and we could look for him. We can probably track where he left the Troubled Road, anyway."
"Go for it. I've got some work to do, but I should be done about four. I'll mail you my Glasses of Tracking." She made a few quick mouse clicks. "I'll buzz you when I'm done, and you can pop me in."
"Cool." He started to go back to his cube, but turned back to Bee with a grin. "I sure hope this isn't a glitch -- it's kind of exciting."
Del had been in Clan Lord for 20 hours straight. He burned to put his hands around the neck of the programmer who thought it would be cool to have an area with no save points, no resting areas, and no way out. And chock full of deadly monsters with no treasure. "Bastard," he mumbled.
At least now he saw a sign. A small, wooden sign, with an arrow. "Gazebo," it said, and pointed north.
"Great." Would it be a resting point? An exit? He shook his head. More likely it would be an encounter site -- a place to fight a major monster.
He couldn't fight a major monster. He'd been running away from even minor monsters for the past two hours when he could, fighting -- and burning his precious last resources -- only when he had no other choice.
Ferdo had certainly never been in such dire straits. Del had been playing Clan Lord for six months now, rising rapidly through the ranks of society. He'd been killed before, sure, and set back lots of times. But nothing like what would happen to him if he didn't find his way out soon. If he got killed now he'd revert to the way he was yesterday -- but without all the equipment he had used up over the past 20 hours.
He glared at the sign. It pointed to death.
But it was the first sign of intelligence he'd seen since crossing the Gorge. He couldn't ignore it. Besides, wandering around wasn't getting him anywhere. Even running away, he'd be dead within an hour.
He really had no choice but to follow the sign. He sighed.
He took a few steps north, and saw the woods open into a path. He was on the right track -- even more signs of civilization. But could it be a trap? Maybe he should stick to the woods as he wandered toward the gazebo. It was slower, and might be more dangerous, but... the path worried him.
He shrugged. If the gazebo was dangerous, he was probably dead anyway. At least he could get some sleep.
"It's only a game." He walked up the path.
What is Clan Lord?
Clan Lord is a world of high fantasy.
As a character in Clan Lord, you are an exile banished to a dangerous island chain for "crimes" against the evil Ascendancy of the West. You are one of thousands struggling for survival in this strange land, threatened by monsters, sorcery, and political strife.
Each exile, cut off from everything friendly and familiar, will choose a new path and new goals.
Some will become Fighters, warriors who devote their strength and their sword to the defense of their comrades.
Some will become Healers, spiritual physicians who learn the arts of repairing those injured in the constant battles against the unknown.
Some will become Mystics, secretive mentalists that study mysterious and unknown magic.
All must work together, for the islands to which you've been exiled are far from friendly. Monsters roam freely, sometimes wreaking death and destruction upon the ramshackle settlement you now call home.
Bonehead Directions
Once upon a time, our manuals assumed that you knew how to run your Macintosh. Everyone here at Delta Tao is a longtime Mac snob, so we sneer at novices, at least behind their backs.
If you don't fall into the Novice category, skip ahead to the next chapter. You're special! Or continue reading to remind yourself what it was like when you first got your Mac.
So You're a Bonehead.
Big deal. We all were once. So what if the neighbor's toddler in diapers knows her way around computers better than you? She can't even say her name without drooling. Generation gap indeed!
A lot of computer-challenged people get Clan Lord. It, like Macintosh itself, is approachable. Once you've got it going, you can pretty much walk around, talk to people, and have a good time.
We'll try to address all your potential questions and problems here. But first, the single biggest trick to learning the Mac:
Try it.
That's it. No matter how dumb you are, you pretty much can't hurt your computer without overt physical action, like heaving a blender through the screen. Your Mac might confuse the heck out of you sometimes, sometimes so much you'll fondle that blender and imagine... but don't do it!
Anyway, click everywhere. Pull down the menus. Hit all the buttons. Generally speaking, if it's going to do something bad, the Mac is really nice about warning you. You can change your mind once you know the consequences.
How do I make it go?
Put the CD in your Mac and double-click an Install Clan Lord icon.
What's a CD?
It's that shiny thing that came with this manual. No, not that. That's the shrink-wrap. Get it out of your mouth! The round thing, inside the box.
I found it. It seems to be in a case.
Good. Take it out of the case (using excessive force if necessary), and put it in your Mac.
It doesn't fit.
Please, please tell me you have a CD drive. Press the button by the CD drive. A drawer will open, with a hole perfectly sized to receive your CD. Put it in (shiny side down), and close the drawer. An icon of the CD will appear on your computer desktop.
I see it! Now what?
Drag the "Clan Lord Folder" icon onto your hard drive icon.
It's copying a bunch of stuff.
Good. Now open that folder on your hard drive, and we'll download a newer version of Clan Lord.
Newer version? I just bought this!
Yes, but we improve Clan Lord almost weekly. Your CD was obsolete before it was even printed.
How do I fix it?
You'll need to download the most recent Clan Lord from our web server. The easiest way to do this is to double click the Install Clan Lord document and follow the directions on the page your web browser brings up.
Double click?
Click on it twice, quickly. You can also just click on it once and go to the " File " menu and choose " Open ."
Hey, it's going!
Hooray. The web pages will take care of you from here on.
The Clan Lord I downloaded gives me an error.
You need System 7 or later on your Mac, with the Appearance Manager installed.
I can't get into the world.
If it's your first time trying to connect, odds are that something is wrong with your system. Possibly you don't have Open Transport 1.1.1 or later, or your computer is behind a firewall and your modem won't talk directly to the Clan Lord server.
Installing Clan Lord
To install Clan Lord, first drag its folder from the CD to your hard drive.
Then open the appropriate Install Clan Lord document and follow the
directions. It will let you download the files you need to get started.
Potential Installation Problems
We're usually so brief that the above would be the whole explanation, but since we're trying to fluff out the manual we'll cover all the potential problems you may face in installing Clan Lord.
Why do I have to download stuff to play?
Clan Lord is constantly improving. Between the time we sent these CDs to be printed and the time they came back, we had already improved the world a lot. And every month we improve it even more. So your very first step is to get caught up with our latest improvements.
I don't have enough room on my hard drive.
Consider buying a newer, bigger hard drive. They're cool and cheap. As we write this, you can get a 4 gigabyte drive for under $200.
I don't have an internet account.
You must have an internet account to play Clan Lord. They usually cost about $20 a month, and will probably be the most useful thing you ever do with your computer.
I'm having trouble downloading the current Clan Lord.
Our updater files will probably get fairly large over time, so it might take quite a while to download all this stuff.
The web address for Clan Lord is http://www.deltatao.com/clanlord/, in case finding it gives you trouble.
I can't get the @#%$! CD box open!
Tricky, aren't they? The fat plastic part is the hinge, so open the other edge. Throwing the case at the wall sometimes works. At least we didn't shrink-wrap it.
I don't have the CD.
It must have been lost somewhere, unless you've been doing some stupid software piracy where you copy the documentation instead of the software. Look for it. Maybe we forgot to put a disk in the package. Maybe it fell out. Maybe your dog ate it. (If you don't have a dog, come and get ours.) If you can't find it, call us, and we'll gripe at you and send you a replacement for a few bucks.
I don't have a CD drive.
Sheesh, get one. Or you can pass Clan Lord across the network with File Sharing or the like. Or you can just put the CD near your computer and hope that the information oozes across by osmosis.
I don't have a PowerPC Macintosh.
You're starting to get tricky, now. Buy one. You'll like it.
I can't read.
You can too! Unless this is the audio-book version of the manual, as read by the author.
All About Role-Playing
Clan Lord is a "role-playing game."
This means that in the world of Clan Lord, you play a character in a story. This character will have a name, a personality, and a mission completely distinct from anything you -- the player -- might have.
Probably the first thing to think about is what gender you want your character to be. It doesn't matter whether you are male or female -- your character can be whichever you like. It isn't a bad idea to decide in advance, though, so you don't end up being a girl named "Stinky Harry" or a boy named "Karen Redlips."
Once you've picked your gender, select an appropriate name. Everyone you meet will judge you first by your name, and the more your name fits into the fantasy world of Clan Lord, the more you will fit in.
Names to avoid:
We aren't going to tell you what name to choose, but we will try to give you some idea of what kind of names to not choose:
Your own name
You could, of course, use your own name, but that's kind of dull, and "Janet Wilson" doesn't seem quite right as a name for a famous Sylvan warrior.
Off Genre
This means a name that doesn't fit in with Clan Lord's high fantasy setting. Johnny Laser, Cyberchick, or Nintendo Player are off-genre.
Obscene
Offensive, vulgar, or rude names won't do. At best, you could be forced to rename your character; at worst you might end up being deleted completely.
Variant capitalizations
Clan Lord won't put up with names like HeNrY, HENRY, --Henry--, or henry. In general, capitalize the first letter of each word, and no others: Henry.
Initials
Try making a name, not just a bunch of letters. Remember, lots of the people you meet are illiterate, so letters mean nothing to them. You've got letters; spell it out.
Stupid
It's embarrassing to walk around for months named something like Ccccccc just because you couldn't think of anything good when you first started. Give it some effort.
Personality
Before your character is seen in public, you might want to consider other things. What is your character like? Quiet, or boisterous? Friendly, or suspicious? Honest, or mischievous?
You'll get some assistance from Clan Lord as you create your character, but you'll have to put some effort in as you play to make your character's personality strong and consistent.
That's all you need to do to start a character. Many other decisions will come up as your character develops, but at first, you'll be just like all the other new exiles to this land: inexperienced and confused.
In Clan Lord, characters start out the same, and grow more unique over time. (In many games, characters start off different, but gradually grow more similar.)
Playing In Character
Since you're playing in a world with so many other people, it's important to do the best you can as keeping your character consistent with the world -- this is called playing "in character."
In Character
You are playing a fictional character who lacks your experiences. When you decide how your character reacts to a person or situation, put yourself in the position of your character.
For example, if your character gets killed by a tough monster, you wouldn't say "This game has tough monsters!" What game would your character be talking about? As far as the characters know, they are in the world they grew up in. They wouldn't talk about the world as a game. It might be more appropriate to say, "There are no beasts so fearsome in my homeland."
Out of Character
Any time your character exhibits knowledge that they wouldn't know, or talks about something that doesn't exist in the world of Clan Lord, they are "Out of Character." This might include talking about your web pages, your computer, or the latest football scores. Your character doesn't know anything about this stuff, and if you talk about it in the game, you're spoiling the fantasy experience for other people who hear you.
If you absolutely must talk about something Out of Character, it's usually best to whisper it, and precede it with the letters OOC, so people know that it's an editorial aside, and not words coming from your character. For example, you might say, "OOC: Sorry about leaving you in the woods -- my power went out!"
Translating OOC to IC
It's fun to try to translate "real-world" events so that your character can discuss them. For example, if the internet or the Clan Lord world server seem to be slow, you might say, "We're having terrible weather today." If your phone rings, and you can't play for a few seconds, you might say that your character is distracted by voices in her head. If you want to talk about the President's latest scandal, you might discuss that as if he was the leader of a far-off country.
Evil
In Clan Lord, a cooperative atmosphere is the rule. In general, you'll find life difficult -- but not impossible -- as an "evil" character.
For the most part, you can't attack other players. There are places, such as the Arenas or the Badlands, where characters can fight each other, but for the most part you can't injure other exiles.
So how can you play an evil character?
It's tough. You might rather go play Warcraft or Myth or whatever bloody killing game is popular now. You can kill all the people you want in those, and after you get it out of your system you can come back and play Clan Lord.
Or, if you're creative, you can role-play an evil character. If you think about it, you can come up with something. Some people love role-playing with an evil character. Try whispering to them beforehand and set up a "scene" to be played out. This scene could end with a duel or battle in the badlands. Not all evil characters have to kill people though, of course. You could play a Healer that likes to watch people die, and comment on their observed pain, or a person that claims to get powers from a dark deity.
Also, while you can't kill other characters, there's nothing that prevents you from lying to them -- and a little misinformation can do considerable evil, if that's your intent.
What to Do
In the beginning were the Sun, Moon and Earth.
The Sun, gave meaning to existence by granting the gift of Light. His golden
Light reached out to illuminate the Earth.
The Earth, mother of Making, basked in the Light of the Sun and grew strong. But the Sun didn't shine on all of Her -- half of the Earth shared the darkness with the Moon.
The Moon hung in the dead of night and talked to the Earth. It was the talk of Being, of wondering who they were and what they were doing.
The Sun also talked to the Earth, but it talked of Learning, and of all the things his Light revealed.
The Earth was a good listener and found the company welcome while she created. The Earth found no end to her urge to make things and would keep her hands constantly busy while listening to the Sun and the Moon. Nothing was too big or too small for the Earth to make.
Talking to the Earth, the Sun learned of the Moon and the Moon learned of the Sun. The Sun and Moon both wanted to talk with each other, but the Earth stood in the way, too heavy with Creation to move.
The Sun wanted to see the Moon so that He might gain the knowledge that lay in the dark. Darkness was the scourge of the Sun because it obscured Learning.
The Moon had a different reason -- She was jealous. Jealous that the Sun could see everything, while she saw things only in her dreams. Jealous that the Earth could feel the Sun's warming glow, while she lived in the cold and dark.
The Sun proposed a plan. The Moon and the Sun would each give up a piece of themselves to the Earth. In this way, they could meet each other. The Earth and the Moon thought this to be a fine idea.
These were the First Children. They were not as successful as the Earth,
Sun, and Moon had hoped.
The Earth's Children, animals and plants, wandered mindless and soulless
across creation.
The Sun's Children, the Mists, lost in their thoughts, did nothing. In time they were destroyed by the Earth's Children.
The Moon's Children, elementals, drifted ethereally, fruitlessly seeking the bodies and thoughts of the others.
Each of the First Children was Incomplete.
So the Earth, Sun, and Moon combined their efforts to make the Second Children.
The Sun and Earth each took a bit of what was left of their first Children and a bit of what was left in the Moon's first Children and created beings with substance, tempered by mind and driven by spirit. These Children included fantastic creatures, such as dragons, giants, and greymyr, and the Elder races, including the Dwarves and the Sylvan.
The Moon also made Second Children, but -- selfish as ever -- used much larger portions of herself than of Earth or Sun. Among these children were hideous demons and the people now referred to as the Ancients.
As time passed, the Moon's Second Children roamed the Earth, outpacing all
around them with their fervor and zest. They built cities and rose to tame
the other Children.
The Sun and Earth wondered what happened to the original plan of their
Children meeting and talking to share ideas and company. And when the Sun
and Earth looked in on the Children, they were surprised to learn that the
Moon's burning jealousy had been passed on to her Children -- and that their
power now rivaled that of their parents.
This worried the Sun and Earth, but they had waited too long. The Moon's Children had devised a way to give to their Mother what she had always desired: Light.
Reaching to the land of Shadow, which is Dark where here is Light, and Light where here is Dark, they stole part of the glowing moon and brought it to our own realm.
Terrible things came with this shadowy Light: creatures that mimicked the noble creations of the Sun and Earth in horrible ways.
This was too much for the Sun and Earth. They called for the Moon to take
back her Children.
The Moon, half Dark and half Light, loved her Children for what they had
done, but she understood that they couldn't continue walking the World.
The Moon cried for her Children, but did as she was asked and took them from the World. She blessed them by hanging them in the night sky with her, as stars to keep her company in the dark loneliness of night. But she kept 12 of her Children shielded from the Sun and Earth so that at least some of them might partake in the joy of living.
Still, the terrible destruction from land of Shadow wracked the World, destroying most of the Second Children, and tainting those that remained.
So after the catastrophe of the Second Children, the Sun and Earth worked without the Moon to create the Third Children, who include Humans, Thoom, and the People.
Creating a Character
When you enter the world of Clan Lord, you'll walk through a series of rooms that will let you choose what your character is like, from your gender to your hair color.
These things will affect how you look, but they won't affect how you progress or your future options. More difficult decisions, like what you want to do with your life, are put off until later.
NPCs
The characters who talk to you in these rooms are what we call "NPCs," for Non-Player Characters. They're basically robots. They just say the same things, over and over, day in, day out, forever. They look like people, but don't bother talking to them -- they're not listening.
As a rule, people you meet who have a light blue box around their names are NPCs. They do and say different things. For the most part, if you bump into them, they'll do their thing or tell you what they do.
The Next Steps
After your character is out in the world, talk to the people you meet. Most people are happy to help new exiles find their way around, and choose a race and profession.
The Races
There are many different peoples in the world of Clan Lord. While the races have different looks and characteristics, the difference between individuals is much greater than the difference between races. And while many races are inclined toward separatism from the others, the circumstances of exile have largely caused communities to form without regard to race.
Humans
Humans encompass a variety of shapes, sizes and colors that is almost as diverse as the races are from each other. Contrast the brutish Nordislanders of the north, the olive skinned folk of the inner lands, and the dark-skinned mountain folk of the Sword of the World mountains.
Humans are far and away the most numerous of the races, and there exist humans who excel in any given category of expertise.
Only the Thoom live as happily with other races as do the Humans, and none are so well-known for travel and trade.
Dwarves
Dwarves are short, squat, and powerfully built. They are well known for short patience, hard drinking, and fierce loyalty.
Though primarily thought of as an underground race, Dwarves have contributed much more than mining. The pragmatic wisdom of dwarven priests makes them popular with those looking for advice, and Dwarven engineers are even more in demand. All Dwarves belong to one of 11 Families.
There are rumors of Dwarves that escaped the armies of Emperor Mobius, now living deep under the Sword of the World mountains.
Ghorak Zo
Ghorak Zo are the largest and the most aggressive of the races. Their strong warrior tradition sneers at mysticism and defense, believing that the best way to deal with an enemy is to kill it before it kills you.
They first appeared on the Western Continent only 300 years ago. An entire army of them emerged from the Sword of the World mountains to wage war on the Ascendancy. Their success was cut short only by Emperor Mobius's indestructible army of Dark Sentinels.
Stories say that the Zo used magical gates, long thought to be destroyed, to come to this continent. Mobius tried to locate these gates so that he might use them for his own purposes, but the retreating Ghorak Zo destroyed them. The Emperor then charged the Zo remaining on the continent with the defense of the Ascendancy. Since then, they have acted as an addition to the Ascendancy forces. The human city of Mountain's Reach was given to the Ghorak Zo by the Emperor for them to make their home in -- the humans protested angrily, but were forced to bow to the will of the Ascendancy.
Zo average around seven feet tall, and have brown leathery skin and dark hair. Their great strength and agility makes them a match for any of the races in combat.
Sylvan
Most Sylvan (also commonly called "elves") that interact with other races are Grey Elves -- not so much a separate race, but a distinction for those that have adopted many human ways. More rare are the "Deep Elves," who avoid interracial contact altogether.
Grey Elves have coexisted with other races for centuries, but still prefer rural settings to cities. Sylvan look like short, thin humans.
Halflings
Halflings have an odd way of escaping notice, until, somehow, one of them rises up to change the history of the world by an innocent-seeming action. For example, Jumblie Short-toe's obsession with food kept him from delivering the Unification Decree to "the People," and may have prevented a third Unification War.
The People
Other races often call them Cats, but this proud race refer to themselves only as "The People." They range from five to six feet tall, have a long tail, and are covered with short, dense fur. The patterns of color on their hair is important, at least to the People back on the continent under the Ascendancy. The different markings denote the class and the social status that the person is most likely to take in life. The People's nation is in the northwestern valleys, and resisted the first two Human Unification Wars with relative ease. It was the might of Mobius' vast armies that eventually crushed the People's nation. Since then, the People have always struggled to find a way to remove themselves from his rule.
The contributions of the People have been great and varied. Though their society is rigid, feudal, and dynastic, they are famed for their art and dance.
Thoom
The sailors and philosophers of the world, the Thoom intermingle freely with the other races. The Thoom, named for the noise they make when they inflate their throat sacs, average about five feet in height and have large, widely-spaced eyes. Their skin is slack and wrinkled and is usually dark brown or green. Thoom have always participated quite a bit in the establishments of learning. In early history they were bloodlessly conquered during the first Human Unification. Many Thoom are scholars or sailors.
The Classes
Your character will begin Clan Lord life as an exile -- basically an ordinary person with no special training or abilities. Over time, however, you can earn your way into one of the Guilds, which can teach you tricks and techniques not available to the general public.
Fighters
If you're a Fighter, you're a member of the most important group of exiles. Fighters are the hands, the muscle, the strength of the community. A skilled warrior can defend himself against seemingly impossible odds, can explore areas others would not dare, and slay beasts of fearsome strength.Without Fighters, civilization would be overrun and destroyed.
While Fighters' strength is in their body, some of the techniques that come from advanced martial training seem to border on the magical.
Healers
If you're a Healer, you're a member of the most important group of exiles. Healers are the compassion, the heart, the soul of the community. A skilled Healer can revive the wounded, strengthen the living, and even raise the dead.Without Healers, civilization would decay and collapse.
While Healers' strength is in their spirit, they can eventually learn magical techniques that have little to do with health.
Mystics
If you're a Mystic, you're a member of the most important group of exiles. Mystics are the brains, the head, the mind of the community. A skilled Mystic can communicate over long distances, gather information magically, and cloud the minds of enemies.Without Mystics, civilization would lose its cohesion and disintegrate.
While Mystics' strength is in their mind, their abilities can extend and affect other realms of power.
Other guilds
Eventually, it may be possible for renowned members of one Guild to quit and join a more advanced and specialized Guild. You'll have to learn about these on your own.Hulapop's Journal
These are the words of Hulapop, a famed Thoom naturalist who was one of the first exiled to the Lok' Groton islands.
Hulapop never returned from his last expedition.
A rough bestiary of the Lok' Groton island chain
Exiled though I am, I continue to study the fauna and flora that surrounds me. The Mad One's servant may have removed me from my friends and family, but he can't take me from my home. As long as there is untamed land and uncharted water, I'll always have a home.
Upon coming to the islands early in the year 518, it was even more unsettled then than today. The Lok' Groton island chain is made up of 12 islands mostly forested with pines, oaks, and other Northern trees. The islands have relatively mild weather, generally being somewhat cool at all times.
The small city known today as Puddlesby Puddleby had but a few huts. An interesting name, Puddleby; apparently poor planning had set most of these huts in a local low point, causing large puddles to form.
At that time, only a small wooden wall had been constructed to keep out the wildlife. It was quite exciting! The wooden wall offered little protection from the hungry creatures that surrounded the small village. A constant influx of new arrivals was the only thing that kept this small refuge of civilization from being destroyed completely overrun.
My experience as a scout and scholar of the wild areas quickly made me the local expert concerning the wildlife. With the help of other brave souls who felt more at home in the wilds then than in the village, we set out to study the different creatures that roamed the islands.
The largest island of the chain has diverse terrain. In addition to the forest, it has a large wet marshy area, several rocky areas near the cliffs, and some dead volcanic peaks as well.
I will list and categorize the creatures found on these islands. I hope this will prove be an aid to future exiles.
Vermine
Ferocious weasel creatures, ranging from two feet long to some rumored to be as large as a Ghorak Zo. Their incredibly high rate of activity seems to make them constantly hungry. Alone, these creatures are dangerous, but their incredible breeding rate makes them a terrible menace. Furthermore, they are often difficult to spot until their jaws are almost latched around one's throat.
Rock lizards
These "rockodiles" have much in common with the crocodiles known back in the Ascendancy. They average about 8' long, have tough, leathery rock-hard skin, and powerful jaws filled with teeth. The rock lizard's skin acts to hide them in amongst the rocks, often only visible when they move to strike.
Rock lobsters
2' to 3' long, these crustaceans spend much of their time on land. Their hard shell makes it difficult to hurt them, and when their pincers clamp on it's nearly impossible to get free.
Water lizards
Another relation to the crocodiles, these great lizards are found in the Great Marsh, and are colored more like those surroundings. Their skin is not as tough as that of the Rockodile, but they may be even more ferocious. As with the rock lizards, these creatures generally are hidden from sight until they spring out of the water to attack.
Winged snakes
Generally, these creatures stay in the trees and are content to eat small rodents and fish. No one is sure what sets them off to attack larger targets, but it happens fairly often. Flying down from their nesting trees, the snakes swarm their target and devour it.
Leeches
Don't assume these leeches are similar to the ones back at your home. These marsh dwelling leeches are about 6" long and have a knack for finding their way through armor and other coverings to fasten on and draw blood into their bloated bodies. One of the most terrible things is that in killing them, you release the blood in the water... it doesn't take long for the other marsh denizens to be attracted by the blood.Meshra
One of the more intelligent creatures that make a home in the marsh, these cunning amphibians stand around five feet tall. They have claws, sharp teeth and wiry strength. They dine on anything that enters their domain and have been known to slip on to the docks and feast on unwary victims. Attempts have been made to communicate with them, but all have failed. Rumors abound that these, along with the Orga, might be some of the "tainted" creatures that the sylvan folk tell stories about. Meshra have been seen in green and brown varieties. The green are the more common, seeming to act as hunters. The brown ones are found near deep fresh water spots, and don't roam much, though they will attack anyone on sight. The fury of the brown Meshra seems to indicate a sort of protectiveness. Perhaps the brown protect their breeding places.Orga
A primitive tribal creature standing around 6' tall with a large single eye in their head. These creatures have a spoken language, and sometimes use weapons. Several tribes of them exist on the main island, but have been driven out of the vicinity of Puddleby. Some desperate people have tried to trade with the Orga, but most of them end up strung out on a rock, feeding winged snakes and gulls. So far, the defenders of Puddleby have been able to hold off any attacks that the Orga have made on the town, but the Orga seem to grow more aggressive as time goes by.Cougars
One of the more familiar creatures that live on the islands, the cougars that roam the forests of the islands are larger and more aggressive then than the usual. As all Like many of the creatures on the islands, they seem to be perpetually hunting for food and are not fussy about what it is they eat. The cougars often leap, bowl their prey to the ground, and then rend them with their back claws, shredding armor and flesh.Creatures of the Night
Of all the denizens of the islands, I understand these the least. The only thing that seems certain about these is the fact that they hunger for the spirit of others. The sylvan call these creatures the Undine, which translates roughly to "Ones who won't die."The Greater Undine seem to have the affect of causing lesser Undine to awaken around them. In corrupted areas, you'll often find the buried remains of people long dead clawing their way out of the earth.
Skeletals
A lower class of Undine, and far too common, skeletals possess no vital organs to pierce, no skin to slash, and do not bleed. In short, they are quite difficult to destroy, requiring that you completely crush all of their bones. Skeletals are created when a Greater Undine causes the aged bodies of the dead to arise rise from their graves.Walking Corpses
Lesser Undine, Corpses are created when a Greater Undine animates recently dead creatures. Stronger and tougher then than skeletals, they are very dangerous. Even more so if you mistake them for being alive.
Detached Spirits
Spirits with seemingly no mind or body, they are capable of causing great pain by their chilling touch. They are little affected by material attacks and often best dealt with by avoiding them. Unfortunately, these seem to be Greater Undine... and avoiding them only gives more time for their corrupting influence to spread.Hunting
Hunting is a popular pastime with exiles, for a wide variety of reasons.
Some hunt solely to improve their fighting skills. Practice makes perfect.
Some hunt to recover valuable essences or skins. Many monsters are valuable.
Some hunt to recover treasure. Some monsters carry valuable artifacts on them.
Some hunt creatures with a bounty. Sometimes other exiles will put a price on a creature's head in an effort to reduce its numbers or exterminate them altogether.
Some hunt simply to keep the population of creatures in check. Without constant battle, the population of Puddleby would soon be overrun.
Some hunt only incidentally, while pursuing another agenda, like exploration, acquisition, or rescue.
Hunting, like most other activities on these dangerous islands, is best done with a group -- wandering off alone is a good way to end up dead.
Exploring
In your old home in the Ascendancy, most things were thoroughly explored and mapped. In the Lok' Groton island chain that is far from true. Many areas are unexplored or close to it, and those with a working knowledge of how to get around in the world are in high-demand.
There are hidden paths, artifacts, and regions. If you search, it's not impossible you'll find something completely new.
Discoveries are not restricted to the most distant regions, either. Sometimes people will discover something that has been nearly underfoot for years. For example, the abandoned well in Puddleby lay unused for nearly a decade before someone ventured into it to discover the extensive caverns beneath.
Studying
It's possible to make considerable progress in your field without ever leaving town, if that is what you enjoy.
Some spellcasters spend time researching new spells, combining various herbs and magical essences looking for a new effect.
Some people go to the Puddleby schools to improve their Mind, Body, and Spirit before ever venturing out of town.
Some train with various Masters to improve their skills over time.
Most, however, use studying as a complement to other activities, not a replacement for them.
Rescues
You may hear news from time to time of someone falling in battle in a far-off place. Sometimes entire groups of people will fall. These people are likely to be appreciative to those who come to their aid.
Rescues usually require organized effort from several people. Single-handed rescues often end up just adding to the number of people in need of help. Gather forces sufficient to the task before undertaking a rescue.
Getting Rich
Though every newcomer is stripped of all possessions before arriving at the Lok' Groton islands, it is possible to garner great wealth as an exile.
The islands abound with various artifacts and treasures, and ships regularly bring cash to exchange with the locals for such items.
Some creatures may carry treasure, or magical essences can be extracted from their corpses, or they can be skinned for valuable furs.
Some areas may grow herbs that are valuable to magicians for creating items or spells.
Some areas may offer resources like wood or stone that are in demand for building, maintaining, or improving the town.
Some exiles may pay others to perform various tasks for them -- generally tasks too difficult, tedious, or dangerous for them to accomplish themselves.
Once you've acquired money, you might be the one buying items for your own (or your friends') use.
Quests
Any adventure with a goal can be called a Quest. Some are simple, like finding the weapon shop and buying a better weapon. Some are outlandishly complex, even impossible -- like overthrowing the Emperor.
Some quests -- like gathering materials for a new building in Puddleby -- can be done over and over. Others -- like earning the Orga Bane award -- can be done only once.
You'll find that completing a quest will often open up a chance for an adventure not previously available.
Quests are not generally assigned to you by some artificial taskmaster. There are many opportunities for adventure available in the world of Clan Lord, but you'll have to keep your eyes open for them.
Events
From time to time, there might be special, one time events in the world of Clan Lord. For example, a merchant might come to town selling a special item from a far-off land. Or a powerful warrior might organize a tournament to test the skills of the populace.
You'll hear about some events weeks or more in advance, but others will come as a complete surprise. They might be large or small, and they can happen at any time, day or night.
(In general, events will not happen during "peak hours," between 6 and 9 Pacific Time, because that could overload Clan Lord's busy servers.)
Some events might be for everybody, but others might be targeted at specific groups. If something happens that is only for Humans, and you're a Halfling, don't worry about it -- there will eventually be events in which you can participate.
The World
This is a summary written by Hulapop the Thoom before his disappearance.
My friends in exile have suggested that I write down my knowledge about the Darshak Theocracy.
The Theocracy got its start on the continent of Shan-Deral a century before the dawn of the Ascendancy. Almost entirely composed of humans, this cult promised its members the secrets to eternal life and great power. Many humans, jealous of the much longer-lived races, wanted to believe in the cult's teachings, and joined up.
Each follower of the Cult was subjected whereby to a magical process in which a portion of his spirit was drained from his bodies and used to enhance the power of the higher ranking members of the Cult. Members of the Cult subjected to this process became, depending on the level of spirit drain, enervated, homicidal, apathetic or so completely devoid of spirit that they walked around in a sort of living death.
The draining of this spirit was is said to be accomplished through the use of tainted Moonstones identified by their deep violet color. Whether they created these stones or discovered them somewhere was never learned is unknown.
The Cult's leaders used the various states of their followers to their advantage by using the homicidal members as assassins, the apathetic ones as slaves and the "walking corpses" as warriors unaffected by pain and fear.
The isolated nature of the races' nations became a boon for the Cult of Darshak -- by the time word of the teachings had reached the other races, the Darshak activities had already grown to have a vast following.
The Thoom, who had the most contact with the human nations, tried to warn the other races to meet the potential threat. The human nations up to this point had never managed to stay allied enough to pose a threat to the other races' nations, but as the Cult worked its way to power in several of the Human kingdoms the threat of a unified Humanity became more real.
The Dwarves were content in their mountain fortresses, and the People were much too distant to care. Only the Elves Sylvan and Halflings heeded the warnings of the Thoom. The elves, however, had few warriors, and the Halflings, while eager to help, were not eager to leave their homes.
A decade after the founding of the Cult of Darshak, several kingdoms under direction of the Cult attacked neighboring lands that had been resisting the Cult's infiltration. They were successful at every turn.
After several years, the Cult controlled seven of the eleven human kingdoms, and was turning its attentions to the last of the unaligned human kingdoms.
This is where the Emperor Mobius made his mark on history.
The true history of Mobius is not known. What is known is that a young human male, skilled in the arts of the Mind, led somehow acquired an army of large magical constructs -- the Sentinels. Backed by the armies of the 4 remaining unaligned kingdoms, against the Darshak Cult's army in the year now known as Year One of the Ascendancy. Mobius used his the human armies to distract the main body of the Cult's force while his constructs chewed through the army's rear elements. The casualties were incredibly high on both sides, but when the battle was over, Mobius' Dark Sentinels were untouched.
In the wake of the battle, Mobius had the leaders of the Cult rounded up and exiled to the desolate Islands of Gathner, stating that he was sickened of by all the killing he had witnessed in his life.
The destruction of caused by the war left gave Mobius the opportunities that led him to form the Ascendancy and declare himself Emperor.
Not much was heard from the islands of Gathner until five years ago, when raiding vessels started to appear off the shore of Shan-Deral. These vessels raids were odd in the fact that in their raids they seemed to value people more then than goods. Whole villages were found empty, except for the dead bodies corpses of the very young and old.
Unable to convince the Emperor of the any danger, the nations of the Ascendancy formed a small navy of merchant vessels and other small ships to patrol the waters of the Eastern Shore of Shan-Deral.
Scrying seemed to indicate that the vessels raiders were originating from the islands of Gathner, and scout vessels were sent there to investigate. None of the vessels returned, but Thoom mystics picked up detected Mind-Casts from the Otalla the Mystic, a survivor who had managed to make it ashore. She confirmed that the vessels were coming from the descendents of the people that Mobius had exiled there. Otalla avoided detection for several weeks, relaying information about the Darshaks until her transmissions abruptly ended.
The priesthood that controls has the real power in the Darshak Theocracy. The next caste down is the "citizen," which makes up the rest of the society, except slaves. All real work in the society is done by the slave caste, who are drained of their minds and spirits.
The most disturbing news was that the Theocracy had has learned to create and control the lesser forms of Undine. There was also some information that implies the original founders of the Theocracy might still be alive hundreds of years later as powerful Undine.
Since then, all attempts to get the Emperor to act on the threat of the Theocracy have been futile and the Theocracy continues to expand its influences.
There is evidence of a Darshak outpost here on the Lok' Groton island chain, which I hope to investigate more fully.
The History of the World
The known world consists of a single continent, usually referred to as Shan
Deral, the Western Continent, or the Ascendancy. The Lok' Groton islands,
where characters begin, are two weeks east of Shan Deral by ship. Historians
believe there to be another continent far to the east of the islands. A
great exodus was said to have happened where all the people of the Eastern
Continent fled away from it, perhaps landing on the Western Continent and
the island chain.
The nations of Shan Deral are all ruled by the Emperor (sometimes quietly
referred to as "the Mad Emperor") Mobius. Mobius rules what he calls "The
Ascendancy," which is a collection of rulers of the individual nations. Many
nations chafe under his rule but are loathe to see their armies destroyed by
the Emperor's indestructible Dark Sentinels.
Several hundred years ago, when the Emperor conquered Shan Deral, he established the Compact of the Ascendancy. The Emperor stated in this Compact that all nations will cease behavior that would jeopardize the Ascendancy's stability and well-being. To this end he created a group named "The Defenders of the Compact" who would enforce this Compact. The highest ranking members of the Defenders are the Inquisitors. Trained in both magical and scholarly arts, they travel the continent enacting the Emperor's will.
When the Ascendancy began, some nations benefited from the Emperor's
policies, and many thought the Utopia the Emperor promised was inevitable.
Over time, however, the Emperor became more and more withdrawn and
self-absorbed. His word and the Compact were law, and the Inquisitors
ruthlessly enforced the law to the letter.
One of the more interesting parts of the Compact made killing another member
of the Ascendancy the highest crime. This limited the Inquisitors' options
for dealing with those they saw as a threat to the Compact. The policy they
decided upon was to exile criminals.
As the centuries went by, the list of crimes worthy of exile grew. It became clear that the Emperor's vision of Utopia was a society of stagnation, where no new ideas are sought and where the status quo is mandatory. Many of the people that the Emperor exiled, in addition to thieves and scoundrels, were brilliant scholars and mystics.
The Story Development
The world has a past, present, and future that we've developed. Only the broadest of changes to the world will be felt by casual players, but if you want to get more involved you'll have the opportunity to affect the story of the world as it unravels.Much of the story is tied to our development of the technology that runs the Clan Lord world. As the technology grows, the world will grow. The island chain that people start out on will be tiny compared to what will be discovered later on.
The Emperor sounds very oppressive -- how can I free my character's nation from his reign?
Many nations have been trying to do that for centuries, with no success. Many think that the Emperor's current state of apathy will make him more vulnerable. (He stands aloof from most decision-making for the Ascendancy.) To overcome the Emperor, you must first deal with his Inquisitors and his army of Dark Sentinels. But who knows? In the far future of Clan Lord maybe someone will figure out a way to do this.
Huh? What's that supposed to mean?
In our outline for the future, it's possible that information may be
uncovered in a new area that might allow someone to set about the downfall
of the Emperor.
Experience
Most who arrive in exile find that the skills they learned in their previous life are not well suited to life in the Lok' Groton islands. Things just work differently, and at first, everything seems difficult. You won't know how to do anything, and accomplishing even simple tasks may prove daunting.
Over time, however, you will learn your way around, and your character will become better and better able to deal with the challenges the islands present. As you explore, fight, and study, you will be able to train to improve your skills at whatever you choose.
Furthermore, you can learn a considerable amount just from hearing stories from the other exiles. (This means they're sharing with you.) You can also gain experience by joining a productive Clan.
Gaining experience is one of the primary goals of most adventurers. The most experienced exiles tend to have the respect of their peers, and are able to accomplish things unimaginable by their less accomplished associates.
Skills
Each Guild teaches a variety of abilities available only to members, but there are also abilities that can be learned by any exiles, no matter what their main realm of study.
You'll have to find the teachers and learn these abilities on your own, but some of these skills might include pathfinding, swimming, lockpicking, skinning, self-healing, hiding, and so on.
Many of these skills take considerable effort to learn, so few choose to attempt to study all of them; most pick a specialty that seems to be in demand.
Mind, Body, and Spirit
In addition to learning specific skills and Guild training, you can also improve general abilities. When you study Mind, Body, or Spirit, you improve a wide variety of related skills. In general, Mind is the focus for mental abilities commonly used by Mystics, Body is the sum of the physical attributes commonly used by Fighters, and Spirit encompasses the spiritual channelling techniques used commonly by Healers and Spiritualists.
While each realm of study is primarily oriented toward a single Guild, there is no reason a member of another Guild can't improve and broaden the other areas, too. A Healer who studies to improve Body can eventually become a decent fighter (though not as good as a "real" fighter), or a Fighter who improves his mind might find himself better able to use Mystic-created items.
Clans
Exiles, out from under the oppressive thumb of the Ascendancy, often form cooperative social groups called "Clans." Clans are illegal (and punishable by exile) on Shan Deral, and technically are illegal on the Lok' Groton island chain as well -- but the local sheriff (also an exile) is more interested in keeping the peace than in enforcing laws from the West.
Karma
Karma is a numerical measure of the good and ill will you've accumulated from other players in the world of Clan Lord.
Other players give it to you. If you're nice to them, they'll probably give you good karma, and if you're rude, you'll probably receive bad karma.
Karma has almost no effect on the mechanics of the game. However, the reactions of others may be based largely on your karma. Some clans, areas, and merchants might be limited to people with good net karma. It might also affect what happens to you when you are killed and depart your body.
As your character's deeds are noticed by others, you'll receive Karma. In addition, Karma decays naturally over time, as your deeds are forgotten.
Reasons to give good karma
It's a good idea to give good karma whenever you want to say, "Thanks!" For example, if someone:
- answers your question
- rescues you
- rescues your friend
- makes you laugh
- role-plays especially well
- instructs a newbie
- is charitable
- makes you happy
Reasons to give bad karma
It's a good idea to give bad karma whenever you'd like to say, "Hey! Don't do that!" For example, if someone:
- asks you the same question repeatedly
- gives away secrets
- yells repeatedly
- harasses someone
- gets you killed
- is rude
- uses foul language
- won't leave you alone
- refuses to answer a question
- makes you swear
- makes you grumpy
- annoys you
You can't find out who gave you Karma. Karma is anonymous. Sometimes you can guess, but it's often a better idea to turn the other cheek than to make a big deal about it.
Why does my karma go down sometimes?
Karma decays gradually over time, as people forget tales of your previous deeds. The more you have, the faster it drops. Eventually, your Karma will mostly settle on a level that gives some idea of what other people think of you.
If karma doesn't affect anything, why should I care?
Some people might only help others with good karma. Some clans or guilds might require good karma to join. Or maybe you just want to feel good about yourself.
Sharing
Clan Lord is a community game, and your own well-being is inextricably tied to the well-being of your friends. One method we use to represent this is a concept called "sharing."
Here's how it works. You can pick five people with whom you "share." When you are sharing with someone, every time you learn something -- and gain experience -- they get a little portion of that learning.
Sharing is kind of like storytelling. Say you fight a giant lizard, and your character learns a special trick to cutting at it after its mouth closes. This experience helps you, but it also helps those to whom you tell it.
The best part about it is that sharing doesn't cost you anything. You don't lose experiences by telling someone else about them. In fact, you gain more experience by sharing.
Of course, the storytelling part is all assumed. It's all represented by imaginary "experience point" numbers that get passed back and forth.
In general, experience points are gained by accomplishing tasks or by fighting difficult monsters. When you gain experience points, you get them, the people you're sharing with get 10% of them, and then you get a 1% bonus for each person you're sharing with.
It's good to share!
You can share with up to five people. When you share with a sixth, the first you shared with is automatically "unshared." In general, it's good to share with people who might help you, like Healers or Mystics -- that's how they get the majority of their experience (since they tend not to kill many monsters).
I'm Dead!
In the world of Clan Lord, death comes in many different forms, and is far from the final end we're familiar with. If you get injured, eventually you will fall. At this point, you aren't dead -- you're what we call "fallen." You can still talk, and shout, but you can't fight or use magic. Though you can't do anything besides talk, you really aren't in such bad shape.
If you're Fallen:
A competent Healer can revive you relatively easily. Monsters will ignore you if they see a more dangerous target.Over time, your condition will worsen, and Healers will have more trouble reviving you. Or it's possible that monsters may continue to attack your defenseless body.
Eventually, your Fallen body might deteriorate into a worse state: Dead.
If you're Dead:
Your body can no longer sustain your mind and spirit, and you depart your body.What happens next is something of a mystery. Back in the Ascendancy, dead people tended to stay dead, but this island chain seems to have some special magical properties.
The recently departed disappears, along with all possessions. Some time later -- maybe minutes, hours, or even days -- they reappear, dazed and confused, near an ancient altar.
Reports of what happened between vary.
Some claim to have wandered a mystical land with no features, seeing occasional flashes of light and other beings.
Some report agony and torture.
Some report no apparent lapse: They were there, on the ground, and now they're back in town.
Whatever happens, the process tends to leave the deceased shaken, and incapable of learning or improving for a while.
It's also possible to bring a departed person back with the proper combinations of Mind and Spirit magic.
Women
Clan Lord attracts a substantial number of female players. We've worked hard to make it more than a kill-kill-kill bloodfest.
In particular, the healing, the communities, the quests, the secrets, and the societies seem to appeal more to women than mindless bopping of monster heads does.
We think that female players enhance Clan Lord dramatically, so we work to keep them happy.
So be nice to the girls you meet -- but be careful not to overdo it and annoy them.
Flirting is OK, to or from either gender, but once your advances have been sternly rebuffed or ignored, don't press the issue. If you start getting bad karma, that's an excellent sign that you've gone too far.
Secrets
One of the most fun things in Clan Lord is that there are always new things to learn and discover. As you explore, odds are good that you'll find things that few -- if any -- people know about.
Your first inclination might be to tell everybody in the world about your discovery. Before you do so, you might consider how much fun it would be for them to discover it themselves. Don't ruin it for them!
Instead, you might drop cryptic hints about what you've found. Give them something to search for. Or take one or two close friends to a private area and whisper your secret to them. Or, perhaps best of all, just keep your mouth shut.
And don't assume that just because you and your friends know all about something that everybody does. Even relatively obvious things in the middle of town are new and exciting to those who've just started playing. Let them feel special, too, like you did when you started.
The same thing goes for web pages and whatnot. Try not to ruin the thrill of discovery for anybody by publicly posting maps, passwords, or puzzle solutions.
There are people in the game who will watch for "blabbermouths," and make note of who they are. And if they have a secret to share, you can bet they won't share it with someone likely to leak it to the whole world.
Problems
First: We will never answer questions like "How do I kill the dragon?" or "How do I get out of the maze?" Our Tech Support is not a hint line. That said:
We think the single most important thing a software company provides (other than software) is Technical Support. We pride ourselves on being able to solve virtually any problem one might have with Clan Lord, and lots of other problems as well.
If you email help@deltatao.com, you'll get a relatively prompt response. Or, if you must, call us directly at (408) 730-9336 at reasonable California business hours and ask for tech support. It's also possible that you can get us at unreasonable hours, since we work hard and late, but we can't guarantee it. If you want alert, friendly service, don't call early in the morning.
760 Harvard Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Keep in mind that we're understaffed, overworked, and appreciate brevity. If you can answer questions like "What version of the System and Finder are you running?" without checking, we'll be ecstatic. If you call with questions like "What's a Macintosh?" we'll be peeved. Okay?
(408) 730-9336 help@deltatao.com
We love getting questions and comments via e-mail. Billing questions go to billing@deltatao.com, suggestions go to suggestions@deltatao.com and sales questions go to sales@deltatao.com. Or you can send directly to Joe (the president) at joe@deltatao.com.
Cure Tech Support Boredom
Good companies have technical support lines, where intelligent people (or, in our case, the company president and engineers) eagerly await the opportunity to solve problems from honest people trying to make the most of their software. While many support guys try to give the impression that they are overworked and underpaid, in fact they are often bored by their job.
In our years of answering these calls, we've learned a few important tricks which you can use to make life fun and interesting for those on the other end of the phone. We're now going to pass these on to you.
These techniques are guaranteed to fulfill and entertain whoever has the decency to answer the phone and do free technical support. (If it's 900 number technical support, you may see the support people using many of these methods, instead of the other way around. Beware.)
1. Refuse to describe your difficulty.
When asked, merely mention a general uneasiness with your computer, or repeat over and over, "It just doesn't work." (Important tip: don't say what "it" is.)
2. Don't have your computer handy.
If you do, the Technical Support guy (who, for the purposes of this article, will henceforth be referred to as "John") will probably just start making you use it. Explain that "It's at home," or in the other room, or in Australia. Ask John to hold while you drive to Kansas (where your computer is) to try his suggestions.
3. Don't try to solve your problem yourself.
Actually, this should probably be number one, since if you inadvertently solve your difficulty, you really don't have much of an excuse to call John. More importantly, it's neat to make as many trips as possible away from your phone to your computer in the closet (see 2 above) to try obvious suggestions, like "Try turning off all your INITs."
3a. Don't read the manual.
Altogether too often, there's a section on troubleshooting, and your problem is covered. Again, this would leave you with no excuse to call John. Remember, it's important to have him say "R.T.F.M." ("Read The Manual") into the phone a couple of times a day.
4. Talk slowly, and repeat yourself a lot.
This serves the dual purpose of taking up a lot of his time, and letting John know you think he has an IQ of 23. If you're really good, you can put off answering his questions until he's asked new ones.
4a. Speak a language other than English.
John speaks English, so if you speak a different language, you'll get to repeat yourself a lot. When you do, go louder and slower.
Of course, if you're actually trying to glean useful information, you can just do the opposite of these suggestions, and you'll probably be dealt with promptly and efficiently. If that's your kind of thing.
Sample Dialogue:
John: "Delta Tao Software, this is John."
You: "I'm having... trouble."
John: "What program are you using?"
You: "It... just isn't working right."
John: "What exactly is the problem?"
You: "I try, you know, to run it, and it just won't..." (Long pause)
John: "It won't...?"
You: (relieved) "Exactly."
John: (takes deep breath, closes eyes, rubs temples, counts silently backwards from ten. Sighs.) "What software are you using?"
You: "Macintosh software."
John: "No, I mean--"
You: "Oh, let me check." (loud tramping noises, door opening, going up stairs, grunting, distinctive distant "bong" of Macintosh being turned on. Long pause. More stair sounds, door opening, loud tramping) "Uh... how do I find out?"
John: (quits and goes home)
Common Problems
We don't get very many calls about Clan Lord -- it's easy and nearly flawless. But in case you do have questions, look here before you give us a call. You might save your nickel.
I crash all the time.
Don't look at us -- our software never crashes. It must be somebody else's fault. Seriously, if you turn off all your weird system extensions, you'll probably find that Clan Lord is bullet-proof. (You might also try throwing away your "Clan Lord Prefs" file.) On the other hand, if you do find a reproducible crasher, email us and tell us about it so we can fix it in later versions.
I can't get into the world.
If you normally get in fine, but today the server doesn't seem to be answering, it's possible that the Clan Lord server is down. Try again in an hour or two, or check our web page for information.
My music sounds bad.
If your machine is bogged down, sometimes the music will sound rough and scratchy. Try turning Virtual Memory off in the Memory control panel. Or upgrade to a newer version of QuickTime -- older versions sound cheesier.
My graphics got all wacky today.
Hmmmm. What's special about today? Could it be a holiday?
What are the secrets?
If we told you, they wouldn't be secrets, would they? So don't ask us. Figure them out for yourself, if you must.
Please?
No! They're secret!
Pretty please?
OK, maybe a couple. Play with Clan Lord on holidays. Send us a hundred bucks.
My boss is coming -- Help!
If you hold down the option key and click on the computer desktop, Clan Lord will be instantly "hidden." You can get it back by choosing it from the application menu in the upper left hand corner of your screen. Or just hit Command-Q -- Clan Lord quits fast.
Clan Lord Addiction
Clan Lord is a great game, but try not to let it take over your life. Spend a few hours outdoors from time to time. Meet some people in the flesh. Read a book.
You may be playing Clan Lord too much if:
- A car cuts you off in traffic and you want to "curse BMW."
- You expect your refrigerator to open when you bump into it.
- You cut yourself and yell "Healer!"
- You go up to strangers on the street and say, "Nice pants."
- If you don't get enough sleep, you complain about lag.
- In a crowded restaurant, you regroup in the safe area.
- When you wait for a long time, you're tempted to depart.
Cost FAQ
Clan Lord has a monthly fee in addition to the cost of purchasing the CD. You've already purchased the CD, so you get two months of play free. After that, it costs $10 per month.
How do I pay?
The serial number that came with this game will let you create an account and give you the two free months. During that time, you'll probably want to give us your credit card number, so you don't get booted from the game when your free time runs out.
It's also possible to mail us a check, to pay in advance. Details about other payment options can be found on our web pages.
How many characters do I get?
One. To get more than one character, you'll have to pay a small additional fee. Details are on the Clan Lord web server.
If you have multiple characters on the same account, only one can be in the world at a time.
If I want to have two characters in the world at the same time, do I have to buy two CDs?
Yes.
It's possible that you might be able to buy a serial number without the CD and manual (for your second copy) at a discount. Check the Clan Lord web pages for details.
Why are you charging a monthly fee, instead of a one-time cost?
There are hourly costs associated with running a network -- about twenty cents per hour per person. In addition, we're going to continue to spend lots of money upgrading the game and world for years.
If we only charged a one-time fee, it would be in our best interests to make a flashy game with little depth, hype it for months before releasing it, then sell as many as we could as fast as we could. Then when people reached the limits of the game, they'd quit and stop costing us network money. We could save even more money by having overloaded servers, so the game lagged and ran slowly.
We want to grow the game slowly and build a rich and varied world that's fun to play in for years.
You're crazy! Bungie.net and battle.net are free!
StarCraft and Myth are excellent games, but they aren't quite the same as Clan Lord.
For one thing, the individual games on battle.net and bungie.net aren't run on Blizzard's or Bungie's servers -- they pass the games off to the game host. This is smart -- it reduces their server load to almost nothing. Unfortunately, it's important that Clan Lord be one big world, not a lot of little ones, so we can't pass off server responsibilities like that.
In addition, over 95% of Myth's play is single-player, and doesn't cause any network costs at all. Clan Lord can't be played single-player.
Third, players are unlikely to play those games heavily for more than two or three months. We want people to play Clan Lord for years.
But I can't afford ten bucks a month!
We understand that some people won't be able to afford to play Clan Lord. We are considering price structures to help them, like giving a discount if they recruit new members, or hourly rates instead of monthly, or a discount for players who are restricted to non-peak hours.
Check our Clan Lord web pages for discounts currently available.
Why is Clan Lord on CD?
We don't want everybody to have to download hundreds of megs of graphics and sounds to play.
Now that Clan Lord is on CD, is it done?
No. We plan to continue growing the world of Clan Lord for years. We have enough major changes scheduled to keep us busy for at least eighteen months after we ship the first CD.
Can I run my own server?
No, even if you have your own fast unix box with a T3 (the minimum requirements for running Clan Lord). We want to continue growing and developing the world for years, and we want everybody to participate in the one great world, not in a bunch of tiny ones.
Is there a free trial?
The main world will be open only to paying customers, to keep them from being hounded by obnoxious newbies, but we may run a free downloadable world that only lets people keep a character for a day or so. That way people can get a feel for the game, anyway.
Will you give refunds if there are bugs in the game?
If? Heck, we can guarantee that there will be bugs in Clan Lord. There are bugs in every product. And no, we won't give refunds. We will do our best to fix bugs quickly, and to keep the game up, and running, and fun. If something really bad happened, like we had to shut down for a week, we would probably extend everybody's membership for the lost time -- that's only fair.
Will the game run all the time?
In theory, Clan Lord is 24/7. In practice, however, there are bound to be times when the game goes down because of a crash or other mishap, or network problems may drag the game to a halt from time to time. In addition, we'll bring the game down for several hours at a time to implement new features and improve the world, probably around twice a month. We'll try to do these updates during early morning hours, though.
Will the price always stay the same?
Unlikely. We hope to lower the price in time as we build a larger membership. We'd be very sad if we ever had to raise the price. We do our best to treat our customers right.
Clan Lord Principles
We have a set of principles we follow when deciding if and how to add new features to Clan Lord. We work hard to fulfill as many of these as we can, though it's a big job, and we're destined to not always succeed.
1. Clan Lord is fun, not frustrating.
Fun activities should be profitable; boring ones should not.
Actions that are fun for other characters should be rewarded.
A player should not be forced to do things he or she thinks aren't fun.
Characters never go dramatically backward.
Nothing bad happens to characters when they're off-line.
Rewards are large; penalties are small.
Rewards are common; penalties are rare.
"Too easy" is just as big a problem as "Too hard."
2. The world of Clan Lord is full of surprises.
The world is large and diverse enough that one can always explore.
Each day is potentially different.
There is always the possibility of an unusual event.
3. Each character should feel special.
Characters can grow more diverse over time.
Characters should always feel they can be useful.
Active characters gain in rank and stature compared to the general population over time.
Characters can do things alone if desired.
Characters can have both short-term and long-term effects on the world.
Characters get to decide, as opposed to having decisions made for them.
4. Clan Lord is about interactions between characters.
Groups are more effective than individuals.
There is no upper limit on the total population.
Characters can communicate with each other in a variety of ways.
Characters can form and join a wide variety of organizations.
Politics is a major factor.
Good characters vastly outnumber evil ones.
5. Clan Lord is approachable and easy to learn.
Initial play is simple, with more twists added as the character grows.
Characters are not forced to make permanent decisions before they know the consequences.
6. Clan Lord is fun.
This is the first and last principle.
Future Directions
Clan Lord will undergo massive changes over the next couple of years, but it will strive to continue to be simple and fun. We welcome suggestions -- many things suggested by early users are now in the game. We're more likely to do suggestions that make things simpler and more fun.
The best way to give us suggestions is in writing. When you talk to us on the phone, your comment has to get translated too many times before it gets to the programmer for him to know what the suggester had in mind.
Thanks!
Tons of people contributed to Clan Lord. They hammered it through over five years of development. They pointed out every little flaw, and selflessly crashed their machines dozens of times helping us make a cooler, better game.
These aren't all the people that helped. No doubt a few were inadvertently forgotten, or we couldn't figure out how to spell their names, plus there are a couple that we just plain intentionally snubbed.
Developers
A sampling of those who worked on the world of Clan Lord, in no particular order.
Josh de Cesare: Massive client improvements, monster AIs, and more.
Ian Hendry: Monster AIs, area design, and more.
Ted Oliverio: Monster AIs, area design, and more.
Divo Palinkas: Area design, monster design, and more.
Contributors
A smattering of people who contributed goodies that made the world a better place to explore, in no particular order.
Brent Brighton: Graphics and more.
Bryce Wolfson: Networking improvements and more.
Ben Watson: Sound effects and music.
William Wallace: Fonts, graphics, sounds, the Guide, and more.
Mike Apolis: Graphics, sounds, and more.
T. Kephart: Graphics and more.
Tony Ritchie: Graphics.
Tanja Rau: Graphics.
Kenzie Ferguson: Graphics.
Testers
A partial list of the thousands who helped out during our lengthy development period, in alphabetical order.
Peter Aalders, Nick Abato, Joshy Abes, Vishwanath Acharya, David Adams, Kelby Adams, Jeremiah Adams, Alex Adler, Mitchell Adler, Russell Ahrens, Andy Akabar, Rhen Alderman, David Alderson, Victor E. Aldridge III, William Alexander, Ben Allen, Erik Allen, Taylor Allen, Mike Alletto, Michael Alletto, Cornelia Alt, Michael Moran Alterio, Gabriel Alvaro, Ian Andersen, Eric Anderson, Kelly Anderson, Alex Andrews, Melissa Anholm, Eric Anholt, Parswa Ansari, Mike Apolis, Francois Arbour, Esteban Arguello, John Armstrong, Bryan Arnesen, John Arnson, Paul Avers, Peter Axt, Reuben Ayala, Brendan Baber, Adam Bailey, Allen Ballard, Mark Barnett, Tyler Barnett, Sean Barrett, Jeff Barrick, Jeremy Barrick, Joseph Bartlett, Michael Bartlett, Ryan Bartosch, Mike Basus, Michael Basus, Karl Bates, Nicholas Battist, Will Baum, Matt Baya, Matthew Baya, Ian Bayne, Lyndsay Beaver, George Becker, Gabriel Begue, Mike Belisle, John Bell, Rich Bennett, Tim Benning, Todd Ber, Diego Berber, Eric Berdahl, Mike Berg, Tom Berggren, Sven Bergvall, Scott Berkey, Dustin Bernard, Mark De Bernardi, Pete Best, Michael Bevilacqua-Linn, Ahmed Bhadelia, Max Bickley, Adam Bienvenu, Dave Biggs, Bradford De Biller, Nathan Birkholz, Jason Birnbaum, Laurent Birtz, Carl Bischof, Kyle Bishop, Paul Bisson, Li, Wing Biu, Kevin Black, Jordan Blackman, Michael Blakeley, Alex Blakesley, Jeffrey Charles Blaufuss, Matt Blevins, Alan Blue, Frank Boehm, Dave Bonar, Thomas Borreson, Brad Brack, Jamie Bradley, Gregory Brault, Dan Braun, Jeremy Braz, Kenneth Brdreskift, Rich Brenner, Aaron Brethorst, Dillon Brice, Jon Bricker, Ben Bridges, Claus Broch, Kenneth Brodreskift, Eric Brody, Dan Brooker, Robert C. Brown, Simon Brownlee, Jonathan Bryson, Phil Bubis, Philip Bubis, Sydney Bubis, Gel Buchannon, Terrance Buchannon, Jon Buck, Barry Buehne, Mary Frances Buffington, Hinne Burmeister, Gary Burnett, Dave Burns, David Burns, Michael Butler, Douglas Q. Buzzell, Joseph Cadotte, Adam Caldwell, Micah Caldwell, Mario Calleta, Donnie Cambre, Theodore S. Campbell, Robert Campbell, Casey Truman Carbonneau, Martin Carlberg, Nick Carlson, Brent Carmer, Tristan Carolan, Sheldon Carpenter, Sean Carriedo, Paul Carroll, Joe C. Carson, Todd Carson, Josh De Cesare, Devi Chalmers, Devin Chalmers, Robert Chang, Rusty Chapman, Maxime Charbonneau, Alexandre Charbonneau, Pierre-Etiennne Chartier, Andy Chesley, Crazy Chicken, Pablo Childe, Brent Childress, James Choi, Tan Heng Chon, Shu Chow, Elysabeth Christian, Christian Cimon, Andy Clark, Dean Clark, Nick Clark, Jord Cochovelou, Casey Coffman, T Collins, Carl Collins, Mark Collins, Toby Collins, John Colosaco, Brian Combs, Peter Commons, Stephen Conard, Richard Connamacher, John Conway, Liam Coonan, Thomas Cooper, Jonathan C. Coose, Gary Coover, Sam Copenhagen, Samuel Copenhagen, Neil Coplin, Scott Coplin, Dominique Cote, Alessandro De Credico, Ted Crocker, Dan Crookston, Dean Croshere, Alan Cutler, Neil Cutler, Andrew Cyvas, Massimo DOnofrio, Pedro Gomes Da Silva, Kristleifur Dadason, Douglas L. Davey, Thomas Waterbury Davis, Hank Davis, Norman Davis, Christopher Davis, Silas Dean, Rob Debank, West Decker, William Dejong, Jeremy Delaittre, Olivier B. Deland, David E. Deleule, Scott Deleury, Todd Demelle, Maynard Demmon, David St. Denis, Randall Dennis, Chris Desalvo, John P. Dice, George H. Dick, Chris Dizmang, Ruann Dizmang, Richard Dizmang, Christopher Dizmang, Andrew Ian Dodge, Christian Doenges, Shadow-Vortx Dolphin, Matthew Dong, Joshua Dorese, Eric Dorland, J.T. Dorr-Bremme, Geord Douglas, Susan Doyle, Bryan Drennen, Marc A. Drexler, Mark Dreyer, Jonathan Dreyer, Rommie L. Duckworth, Nicolas Dumelie, Joshua Dunham, Christ Duryee, Kirk Easton, Michael Edmondson, Martin Egelund, Bart Eggen, Lars Eggert, Pete Eide, Stephen Elliott, Ethan Elliott-Williams, Camden Elliott-Williams, Tom Ellis, Austin Emery, Sheldon England, Chris Eplett, Rajiv Eranki, Rene Erichsen, Peter Erickson, Jack Estate, Holger Eudenbach, Matthew B. Evans, Mark Evans, Victor Evans, Terri Everett, Richard Everett, Barry Eynon, Eric Falk, Ryan Fancher, Samuel Farinato, Avery Fay, Leonard Feehan, Jim Feete, Albert Feinbach, Maxime Ferdandes, Laura Ferrell, Steve Ferrell, Chris Fisher, Taylor Fisher, Tom Fitch, Jp Flaherty, Nick Flanagan, Nicholas Flanagan, Martin Florin, Grant Folkard, Arnaud Fontaine, Scott Forbes, Robb Force, Eric Ford, John Ford, Soms Forsayt, Guillaume Fortin, Matt Fosberg, Eugene Foss, John B. Foster, Rob Foster, John Foster, Mike Fouch, Lane E. Foulk, Lane Foulk, Dan Fowler, Jason Fowler, Daniel Fowler, Brandon Fowler, Allan Framcisco, Steven Fransen, Mike Frazier, Randall Fredrickson, Fred Fredson, Bill Freemont, Scott French, Jennifer French, Atli Freyr, Martin Fried-Lee, Jonathan Friedman, Carl Fristrom, Spencer Fry, Tong Pak Fu, Chris Fuchs, Bernard Fueglleson, Reed Fujii, Brian Gabriel, Scott Gaertner, Katie Gaffney, Peter Gaffney, Michael Gallagher, Sam Gamgee, Ari Garboos, Tim Gardner, John R. Gasaway, Bill Gates, Etienne Gauthier, Shana Geffeney, Ed George, Chris Gerhard, Nik Gervae, Sector Glitch, Corey Godfrey, Kevin Goetz, Teddie Goldenberg, David l Goldstein, Chris Goltz, Mike Goodbyte, Thomas Gooding, Christopher Goodspeed, Daniel S. Goodwin, Tom Goodwin, Robert Goodwin, Richard Goold, Jake Goulding, Eric Grab, Hans Grage, Chris Granado, David Granados, Nick Green, James Greenbaum, Ryan Greenberg, Nick Gregg, Ben Greve, Wojtek Grojec, Hansjoerg Gruendler, Kai Hackenbroich, Tom Hackett, Michael Hainsworth, Jim Hall, Cory Halverson, Jesse Hamilton, William Hammock, Rob Hammond, Bob Hancock, Charles Hanifin, Peter Hanley, Scott Hanny, Tim Hansen, Dave Hansen, Mark Hansen, Don Hanson, Erik Hanson, Tyler Harding, Curtis A. Harlow, Cliff Harlow, Peter Harper, Matt Harrington, Andre Harris, John Harris Jr., Kevin Harrison, Donner Hart, Mike Hasenstab, Josh Hattrup, John Hausmann, John H. Hausmann IV, Brad Hawthorne, Aaron Headly, Mette Hedin, Ty Hedrick, Jered Heeschen, Mike Vander Heiden, Denis Helpin, Drew Henderson, Ian Hendry, Jim Hill, Ken Hill, Nathan Hill, Scott A. Hills, Ben Hines, Tyler Hinkle, Lukas Hjalmar, Luke Holbrook, John Holley, Raymond D. Holmes, Ray Holmes, James Holmes, Tom Holtz, Carlton G. Hommel, Carl Hommel, Eileen Hommel, Angela Hong, Brian Horner, Yeap Shiaw How, Bob Howsjitz, James Hsieh, Irenio Huang, Rico Hughes, Russ Humphress, Christopher Hunding, Greg Hupka, Stephen Husted, Darin Ingalls, Bailee Ingalls, Gretchen Ingalls, Chris Invidiata, Manabu Ishibashi, Akinari Iwanaga, Shiro Iwase, Chris Jacobson, Will Jacocks, Cohen Jacques, Hans N. Janowitz, Christine Parrott Janowitz, Brian K. Janssen, Bart Janssen, Hank Janszen, Thomas Jennings, Peter Jernstedt, Mark Jiongco, Bill Johnson, Chase Johnson, Keith Johnson, Tom Johnston, Michael W. Jones, Tom Jones, Darwin Jones, Stefan Joos, Dave Jordan, Duane Jorgenson, William Joseph, Nathan k, Richard Kaapke, Kensuke Kageyama, Tony Kalk, Daniel Kalmus, Takumi Karino, Daniel Karlson, Kent Karlsson, Johan Karlsson, Daniel Karlsson, Kenny Kay, Debra Kaysen, Ed Keighron, Bryan Kelley, T Kephart, Janos Kerekes, Jason Kerekes, Jeffrey Kessler, Shawn Khan, Shahina Khan, Thomas Khuu, Michael Kivetz, Eric Knable, Jeff Knable, Steve Knoop, William Knott, Don Knowlton, Roger M. Kolaks, Ken Koldys, Zico Kolter, Tim Koneval, Jay Koutavas, Christopher Kraause, Prometheus Kranak, Toshiaki Kuagai, Todd Kuebler, Toshiaki Kumagai, Kris Kunze, Stanley Kuo, Josh Kupsch, John Kurilla, Cheah Boon Kwan, Peter Kyme, Jason Lachowsky, Tom Lacoste, Giorgio Lagna, Ben Landsteiner, Michael Lapierre, Scott Larison, Paul Lassman, Paul Lassman, Brandon Laurino, Troy Lawlor, Christopher M. Lee, John Lee, James Lee, Matthew Lee, Keagan Lejeune, Brian Levenhagen, Daniel Leventhal, Allen T. Lewis, Tiago Lier, Carl Limyao, Denis Lin, Adrian Lind, Eli Lindert, Melanie Lindert, Michael Lindholm, Todd Lipcon, Dina Lobel, Matt Lobel, William Locke, Pamina Loewald, Dana Lombardo, Liana S. Loos, Daniel Lopez, Jim Lord, Guillaume Lorrain-Belanger, Ralph W. Lott, Tip Lovingood, David Lublin, Stephen Luce, Craig L. Luis, Mike Lum, Jason Lund, Mike Lutz, Dave Mabius, David Mabius, Chris Mack, Hugues Magnan, Bill Maguire, Michael Mahon, Tim Malloroy, Wong Ching Man, Wart Man, Erica J. Marceau, Hannah Marchant, Geoffrey Marchant, Kevin Marinelli, John W. Mark, James Marlow, David Marsch, Will Marsh, Steve Marsh, Allen Martin, Juan Carlos Martinez, Todd Masco, Cody Matthews, Martin Matthius, Phil Maurer, Jake Mavity, Paul Max, Kyle Maxwell, Adam Mcc., Terence R. Mccain, Jamie Mccarthy, Brian P. Mccarty, Adam Mccaughan, Mark Mcclure, Ernie Mccracken, Michael Mcdougall, Dave Mcgee, Stew Mckinney, Kevin Mclaughlin, Stephen Mcmanus, James Mcnamara, Mr Medicare, Rob Melcher, Jeremy Melcher, Olivier Melet, Tom Merrill, Thomas Metcalf, Robin Meyers, Scott Meyers, Brad W. Michael, Peter Mierow, Umberto Migliore, Todd L. Milam, Eric Miller, Greg Miller, Edward Miller, Brad Miller Jr., Patrick Milvich, Shawn Moehring, James Monkey, Gervais De Montbrun, Edward Moon, Brad Moore, Gordon Moore, Allister Moorfoot, Victor Sanchez Morago, Tom Moran, Randy Moran, Roman Moy, Seth Moyers, Pawel Mrozinski, William Muir, Shannon Mullen, James Murphy, Sam Murray, Pz Myers, Alaric Myers, Andrew Nagengast, Morgan Nagengast, Real Q. Name, Paul Natsch, Kevin L. Nault, David Needleman, Andy Neely, Mark K. Nelson, Duc Nguyen, Ian Nguyen, Jeff Nichols, Mike Niemierko, Michal Niemierko, Malvina Niemierko, Jens Nilsson, Peter Nilsson, Fori Ninsa, Niklas Nisbeth, David Noble, Eddie Nolen, Morgan Noseworthy, John Nowakowski, Matt Nunogawa, Ken Nuun, Dave OBrien, Daniel OBrien, Kim Ohara, Max Ohlendorf, Alex Ohlendorf, Sean Ojakian, Sheehan Olber, Andrew Oliver, Ted Oliverio, Vicki Oliverio, Noah Ollikainen, Sheehan Olver, Benjamin Osborn, Jun Otsuka, Karl Owens, Matt Paffhouse, Gary Pallassino, Cedric Pansky, Melanie Panush, Brandon Parker, Josh Parry, Ken Parsons, Steve Pasika, Carl Pastor, Adam Patridge, Harold Payson, Alex Peake, Julia Pearse, Trevor Pearse, Ted Pearson, Carl Pearson, Mike Pearson, Joe Pease, Jeffrey Pease, Leonardo Pedemonte, Kyle Pederson, Dale Penndorf, Chris Pepper, Erik Perkins, Kristoffer Peterhansel, Filip Peterson, Kalle Peterson, Lars Petrus, Juels Pfifer, Kevin Pfohl, Mike Phillips, Hubert Phillips, Benjamin Phipps, Paul Pichardo, Matt Pierry, Andrew Pile, Jason Place, Per Plex, Ben Plunkett, Michel Pollet, Carlitos Ponce, Jeffrey Posnick, Jon Powel, Ben Power, Richard Premont, Tamara Pressman, John Prichard, Mark B. Priddy, Evan Priestley, Oscar Prill, Steve Przybylski, Benjamin Pung, Samer Rabadi, Darken Rahl, Stephen Rains, Michael Ramaley, Matt Rampias, Matthew Rampias, Tanja Rau, Ryan Rea, Martin Resch, Jorge Reyna, Scott Richardson, R. W. Richey, Ross Richey, Kyle Richter, Jay Riemer, Kevin Riley, Peter Ripley, Tony Ritchie, Stephen Ritchie, Nick Rizewiski, Kevin H. Roach, Nathan Roark, Mathieu Robichaud-Dion, Benoit Roche, Urs Roethlisberger, Erik Rohling, Mike Rohling, Alex Rojas, Emerson Rojas, Joe Roland, Robert Roosevelt, Keith Rose, Stephen Roy, Alan Rubin, Noah Ruffell, Michael Ruiz, Colin Rundel, Jachin Rupe, Sam Ryan, Juan Carlos Santiago, Samuel Santos, Rob Sanville, John Sarapata, Donna Sarapata, Elizabeth Sarapata, Ben Sargeant, Rob Saunders, Vincent Ko Schaefer, Felix Schindele, Magnus Schlegel, Shannon Schroeder, Anthony Sciola, Frank Scott, Patrick Seale, Alan Seegmiller, Bayard Selby, Andreas Sendrowski, James Senyk, Jason Senyk, Mike Serpa, Geoff Shaffer, Kevin Shaffer, Charles Sharp, Michael Shattuck, Gary Shaw, Darren Shaw, Erik Shea, Travis Sherer, John Sheridan, Patrick Sheridan, Blair Sherman, Phoebe Sherrard, Franklin Sherrard, Chris Shieh, Bernard Shiet, Masa Shiubsawa, Adam Siemen, Thomas Signey, Harvey Simmons, Fabio Simoni, Robert M. Simpson, Casey Simpson, Clayton Skancke, Erin Skold, Peter Skold, Nate Skone, Joe Smith, Brian Smith, Devon Smith, Scott Smith, Taavo Smith, Jordan Smith, Charlotte Smith, Christian Smith, Mark Smithfield, Jeff Solomon, Bryan Sorensen, Bernard J. Southam, Charles Speers, Jason Spencer, Curtis Spendlove, Jason Spohn, Tristan Spronken, Timothy Staal, Ben Stahl, Brett Stampley, Mike Standley, George Stanford, Tom Stark, Remi Stebenne, Mike Steder, Evan Stevenson, Matthew Stevenson, Brian Stewart, Ryan Stinnett, Rick Stolba, Jaren Lee Stovall, David Strang, Steven Strange, Park Street, Chris Streeter, Doug Stringham, Christian Stringham, Michael Sumbera, Asa Swain, Austin Swallow, Andy Swanson, Jon Swedberg, Jesse Swidler, Nathaniel Tagg, Sadayuki Tanaka, Bede Tannock, Tim Taplin, Darkseal Tarot, Kevin Tatroe, David Tellier, James Thomas, Martin Thomas Jr., Ben Thompson, Ken Thompson, Joel Thompson, Andrew Thomson, Nika Van Tilburg, Jim Tinklenberg, David Tipton, Patrick Tolen, Preston Tollinger, Chris Toppan, Sebastien Tourenne, Julien Tremblay, Doug Trevethan, Jeremy Tribby, Ben Trumbull, Mark Adam Tucker, Rick Tull, Scott Tumey, Tom Twohy, Ryoko Umemoto, Jason Unrau, Edward Upton, Paul C. Ustach, Hisanao Usui, Ian Vaillant, Alec Vance, Tom Vanstraelen, Duane Del Vecchio, Chad Vendette, Billy Vierra, Robert Viesca, Carlos Vives, Peter Vogel, Alex Volkov, Alexander Volkov, Klaus Volmer, Derek Vowles, Mart Wadrodowski, Chris Wahl, Will Wakefield, Ryan Waldron, Pat Walker, William Wallace, David Walser, John Walzer, Brad Ward, Jason Ward, Peter Ward, Shannon J. Wasielewski, Matt Wastrodowski, Eric Watjen, Marie Watkins, Richard A. Watson, Ben Watson, Rebecca Watson, Spencer Gen Weart, Kevin Weaver, Phil Webow, Mikael Wedemeyer, Will Weigle, Kitto Weikert, Aaron Wells, M. W. Welsh, Mike Welsh, Matt Wendling, Ben Wertz, Patrick West, Judy Whitby, Aaron Whitby, David Whitby, Robert White, Matt Whitlock, Jason Whittle, Aaron Wilber, Steve Wilhelm, Jeremy Wilker, Johnny Wilkins, Joe Williams, Mary Williams, Gwendo Williams, Jen Wilson, Bill Winder, Edwin C. Wirth, Doncha Wish, Duncan Wold, Daniel Wolfe, Bryce Wolfson, Mark Wonkovich, Brett Wood, Neil Woodall, Spencer Woodburn, Adam Woods, Ted Woodward, Sean Van Wormer, Jeff Wright, Paul Wuersig, Steven Yaka, Jeremy Yakavonis, Shotaro Yamada, Takashi Yamamoto, Gaby Yelloz, Takenoniku Yutaka, Ben Zarzycki, Richard Zawadzki, Mark Zedaker, Tamer Ziady, Andrew Zimmer, Andrew Zimmrt, Russell Zinke, Patrick Ziselberger, and Robert Zyronkel.
Delta Tao Stuff
If you have an e-mail address on the Internet, you can subscribe to the Delta Tao mailing list. Send "subscribe deltatao-announce" to majordomo@ten.net
That'll keep you up to date, with news of our new products, strategies, questions and answers, and various propaganda. We don't sell our mailing list to anybody, and we only send maybe one message a month.
Our Web page:
http://www.deltatao.com
Clan Lord Web page:
http://www.clanlord.com
The History of Delta Tao
Delta Tao was born in 1989, when Joe Williams and Tim Cotter ("The Amazing
Timmer") tired of complaining about the high price and low quality of
software and decided to do something about it. They wrote Color MacCheese,
the first affordable color paint program -- $49 when its closest competitor
was $599. When Color MacCheese sold lots of copies, we took the plunge and
dedicated ourselves to starting a little company to write Mac software.
Many people asked, "Why Delta Tao? Sounds like a fraternity." There is a reason. "Delta" is the symbol used by engineers around the world to signify change. One would say "Delta V" when he means "change in velocity." We admit this is engineerspeak, but forgive us for a minute. We're mostly engineers, so this makes sense, at least to us.
"Tao" (pronounced DOW) is a Chinese word that means "the Path," or "the Way." It is the big concept behind Taoism. We're mostly Taoist sympathizers around here, so this made sense too.
When you put these together, "Delta Tao" means "The Changing Path," or "The Change in the Path." We thought that this was almost a profound statement of direction, so we adopted it as a name.
We want to stifle all rumors right now that this name may have evolved in any way from the name of our college "fraternity," Delta Tau Sigma (at Caltech, if you must know). All such statements are unfounded, and any similarity in the names is coincidental. Any references to a Mr. Dan Schwartz are also hereby disavowed. Also, it has nothing to do with Animal House frat "Delta Delta Tau," or because we wrote Color MacCheese in Delta Junction, Alaska. These things are just coincidence. Really.
Delta Tao (now expanded to include Eric Snider, Peter Commons, Howard Vives, Christie Cooper, John Speck, Bob Van de walle, Paul Toth, and several others) is out to convince people that computers and technology are important, fun, and useful tools that can change the way the world works for the better. We believe that the Macintosh is the greatest computer on the planet, so we're focusing on writing cool Mac software. Like games.
We're tired of certain other computers having more, better games than the Macintosh. We hate seeing ports from other systems dominate the Mac game market. This takes away from the Mac's biggest advantage -- the user interface. Instead of just using our standard Mac stuff, we have to put up with the varied and difficult user interfaces those other computers have.
We love the Mac, and love computer games, so we bite the bullet and write great games for the Mac. Even if our games don't make us a huge profit (and they don't, trust us), they need to be done, just to spur the Mac into the homes, where it belongs. Besides, we want to play them.
Someday we hope to be famous.
Since we don't do much of anything in the way of marketing or advertising, we depend on word of mouth. That means we want you to do our advertising for us. Tell all your friends how great our products are. Call up local software and computer stores and ask them to carry our stuff.
Call us and tell us the names of your local software stores, so we can nag them from our end.
We also like encouragement. Surprisingly, none of us is making a huge fortune in the software business. Yet. We do it because it's fun, and because we like to believe we're making the world a happier, better place. Send us a letter telling us if you think we're cool. Chat with us via e-mail. Invite us to dinner. We love that stuff.
Yeah, we know we're the only software company in the world that thinks "customer support" works this way. But we deserve it.
Delta Tao Frequently Asked Questions
We're a bunch of engineer types who like to sit around writing games. This amazes everybody: Half ask, "How can they make a living doing that?" and the other half ask, "Why would anybody want to?"
How many of you are there?
Between five and twenty, depending on how you count us. Ten's a fair guess.
Do you work out of your house?
Yep. Each of the programmers has an office in his house, and the phone-answering, testing, and frenzied partying happens at TaoHouse.
Are you guys rich?
Spiritually. We make half the money as we would working for a real company, but we have twice as much fun, which more than makes up for it.
Are you guys a cult, or a fraternity, or what?
We prefer "fraternicult."
Nah, really we're just nerds with a mission.
Mission?
Proving computers are fun.
Is that a lawyer behind you?
Oh, I meant, "Proving Computers are Fun."
Why do you like Macs so much?
It's been proven statistically that Macs are more fun, as demonstrated by the SSR -- the Smiling/Swearing Ratio. Mac users have an SSR of 11.7, while Windoze users are more along the lines of 0.04. And this number is generally agreed upon in the industry, despite the fact that I just made it up.
Our Stand on Copy-Protection
We at Delta Tao think that copy-protection is an evil thing that could damage the growth of the software industry and the computer industry as a whole. We hope you'll boycott all copy-protected products. Here's why.
We believe people have a certain amount of money to spend on software. After they blow their software budget, they still want more software. If copy-protection is preeminent, they are out of luck. The software they buy is the only software they have. They find their Macintosh less useful, and don't encourage their friends to buy one. The hardware and software industries dwindle and die.
On the other hand, if things aren't copy-protected, people pirate software once they've blown their software budget. They learn which programs are good and useful first hand. The next year they will make informed decisions about what software to purchase. In the meantime, they find their computer more useful and friendly. They recommend it to their friends, who go on to become software purchasers.
There are two problems. Number one, in a world where some programs are copy-protected and others aren't, people may buy copy-protected software (since that's the only way they can get it) and pirate the unprotected software. This rewards the businesses who are damaging the industry, and punishes those who help it along.
Number two, publishers without copy-protection can't sell bad software with massive advertising. Since people tend to try software before they purchase it, companies only sell their products to people who find it useful. This means companies with inferior products, but big budgets, adore copy-protection.
We don't mind problem number two so much, but the first problem scares us. The solution: boycott copy protection. Make sure it isn't profitable to copy-protect software.
Before the Software Publisher's Association has us lynched (they claim that "billions of dollars of revenue are lost every year to piracy") we'll invent at least a little bit of evidence for our theory. Remember back when the cassette tape was invented? People could now copy records indiscriminately, and there was nothing the record company could do about it. "We're doomed!" they shouted. "Now we'll only sell one of each record!" What really happened? The music industry took off to previously unimaginable levels, generating more profits for more artists than ever before.
When VCRs were first available, people could copy movies indiscriminately, and there was little the movie companies could do about it. "We're doomed!" they cried. "Now we'll never sell another movie!" What happened? The movie industry took off to previously unimaginable levels, generating more profits for more people than ever before.
Pay for software based on its quality, not its advertising, packaging, and copy protection.
About the Packaging
Clan Lord doesn't come in a box with fancy styrofoam stuffing or glow in the dark stickers. We did this on purpose. We hate excessive cardboard and styrofoam for environmental reasons. We have done our best to avoid putting anything in the package that you'll just throw away. We like trees. Our package is just the right size and doesn't require any popcorn or fluffy cardboard filler to make the box feel full.
Here's an experiment. Buy 10 Macintosh products. Count how many have a lot of filler making the box look bigger. See how much smaller the box could be if the goal was not just to have a bigger box. Call those companies and tell them to make their boxes smaller. See what they say.
About This Manual
Joe Williams wrote this manual with FrameMaker from Frame Technologies. The fonts are Mistral (for the chapter titles) and ITC Garamond Condensed (for most everything else). We took the screen shots with Flash-It, and doctored them with Color MacCheese and Zeus. Everything was output on an HP LaserJet 4000TN.
In case you didn't figure it out, yes, we do everything on Macs.
Suggested Reading
These are a couple of books that don't have anything to do with Macintosh software, or solitaire, or cards, or anything, but we always enjoy reading them. On top of that, they embody the Delta Tao philosophy. In the years we've been recommending these books, we've never heard a complaint that one wasn't worthwhile.
The Tao of Pooh , by Benjamin Hoff. The best book on Taoism ever.
Calvin and Hobbes , by Bill Watterson.
The Macintosh Way , by Guy Kawasaki.
Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Feynman, by Richard Feynman.
Nobody's Business if You Do, by Peter McWilliams.
The Dilbert Principle, by Scott Adams.
Delta Tao's Paint Programs
In addition to making games, we also make paint programs -- that's how we made a living before we wrote games. And our paint programs sure come in handy for creating the art in the games.
Color MacCheese and Apprentice now come bundled together. We got tired of people asking which one to buy, so now you can't get one without getting the other.
Color MacCheese
An all-purpose beast for editing scanned photos, drawing diagrams, and making pretty pictures.
Apprentice
Includes tools like chalk, oils, and watercolors (not the circles, lines, and text of Color MacCheese). You can make paintings that don't look like they're made on a computer. And it's got a cool tutorial that will let anybody who ever wanted to paint get a jump-start in the art game.
Phototile
Creates mosaics from collections of your photographs. Available in the future.
Delta Tao's Other Games
If you like Clan Lord (and we know you do), we hope you'll try the other stuff we make -- it's cool, too.
Eric's Ultimate Solitaire CD
The premier collection of solitaire card games. Our bread and butter product. One of the greatest time-wasters ever.
Spaceward Ho! 4.0
Our "conquer the galaxy" game has earned critical raves and a fanatical following. If you're interested at all in fun, fast strategic games, we recommend the Ho!.
Strategic Conquest 4.0
Explore the world and fight a mysterious enemy with a variety of military machinery, including aircraft carriers, bombers, armies, and so on. Especially good on a network.
Dark Castle
This is one of our favorite games of all time. It's a great arcade/strategy game and now it's in color.
Eric's Cascade
An amazing waterfall simulator for PowerPC Macintoshes. Something like an interactive screensaver.
Return to Dark Castle
The sequel to Dark Castle. Available in 1999.