How to play

Controls

• Every menu line on the monitor starts with a key. Press it and the game moves on.
• Where a number or a name is asked for, type it into the field below the monitor and confirm with Enter.
• The mouse works too: a click on a menu line acts like the key.
• On a tablet a row of buttons appears below the monitor for tapping.
• Full screen: Alt+Enter, the small symbol at the bottom of the monitor or Full screen in the menu on the right. Esc or Alt+Enter again ends it.
• DRAKVOR is meant for PC and tablet. On a phone the hall, the rules, login and account still work.

What it is about

DRAKVOR is a role-playing game in the spirit of the old bulletin board door games. A few forest fights every day, earn gold, grow stronger, and one day climb the Ashen Horn where Skarvold lies on everything he took from Greyford.

Everyone plays in the same world: in the browser or through a WebCarrier BBS. The dragon's hoard grows with every fallen hero. Whoever slays him takes a share and a place in the Hall of Heroes.

A day in Greyford

• You get 15 forest fights every day. No more. Use them wisely.
• Gold in your pocket is loot. Gold in the bank earns interest and is safe.
• Whoever dies in the forest lies until the next day. Half their gold goes into the hoard.
• At midnight (UTC) a new day begins for everyone.
• At the inn you can rent a room for the night. Whoever sleeps there is safe from raids. Whoever saves the money sleeps in the field and is fair game.
• The bank pays interest on your savings every night, up to a cap. Gold in your pocket earns nothing and attracts thieves.
• The forest holds more than fights. Sometimes something lies by the path, sometimes someone wants something from you. Then you decide, and not every decision is wise.

The three classes

When you create your hero you pick one of three classes. It decides your skill, the special strike you can use a few times a day.

• Sellsword: Hits hard and takes a lot. Skill Crushing Blow: double damage, enemy armour only counts half.
• Runecaster: Casts with runes. Skill Ember Bolt: one and a half damage, cannot be blocked. Plus the healing rune in combat.
• Cutpurse: Lives in the shadows. Skill Ambush: triple damage, but every fourth attempt fails.

Every level gives you skill points that you learn at the master. At 5, 10, 15 and 20 points the skill grows stronger, and the more you have learned, the more often you may use it each day.

Masters and levels

• You gain experience in the forest. Once you have enough, the master of your level waits at the training ground.
• Beat the master and you rise one level. Lose and you only lose your pride: no gold, no experience, no death.
• There are twelve levels. From level 12 on nobody teaches you anything, only the mountain remains.
• Weapons and armour are sold in the shops of Greyford. The healer patches you up for gold.

Raids and protection

• A few times a day you may raid other heroes who sleep in the field and stand at most three levels above or below you.
• The winner takes all the gold in the victim's pocket. The victim lies until the next day and loses some experience.
• Experience from raids is capped per day. Lurking for others will not make you grow any faster.
• New heroes are protected for three days, and so are dragonslayers after their new start. A protected hero cannot be raided and cannot raid anyone either.

The dragon and the new start

• From level 12 a path leads up to the Ashen Horn. The climb costs one forest fight, and on the way you may still turn back.
• At the top the dragon sleeps on his hoard. When he takes a deep breath, caution beats courage.
• Whoever slays him gets half the hoard in the bank and an entry in the Hall of Heroes.
• Then the hero starts again at level 1, without gear or skill, but with a full bank account. The story of Greyford goes on, and so does the dragon.

Daily events

Each new day something may befall Greyford: ash rain, a market day, a blood moon, fog, a village fair or a dragon sleeping deeper than usual. What applies today is shown in the village, on the title screen and in the menu on the right. Often it is just a quiet day.

The mines

From level 8 a path leads from the forest into the mines below the Ashen Horn. The monsters there are tougher, the gold is richer, and there is no healer. Whoever finds an egg down there should think hard about whose it is.

Bounties

At the inn you can put a bounty of 1,000 gold or more on another hero. Whoever kills them in their sleep collects everything on their head, except their own gold. Bounties never expire.

Marriage

With enough charm you can ask for the hand of Mira or Kaspar, or propose to another hero from level 3. Married heroes get one forest fight more every day, spouses do not raid each other, and a spouse who is awake defends the one asleep. A divorce costs half of the bank balance.

Titles

Whoever achieves something special earns a title: for dragons, for thirty days without dying, for fifty raids, for bounties, for the mines, for the heart and for saving in all the wrong places. The latest title stands behind the name in the hall.

Playing through a BBS

DRAKVOR does not only run in the browser but also as a door game on a bulletin board system, like the BBS door games of the nineties. Both roads lead into the same world, more at webcarrier-bbs.de.

Which boards take part and how sysops install the door is on the page Bulletin boards.

Play fair

• One account, one hero. Second accounts that feed gold to your own hero will be deleted.
• Hero names and messages without insults. One dragon is trouble enough.
• The sysop may rename heroes, lock accounts and ban players when needed.

DRAKVOR is free and without ads. If you would like to support the smith of Greyford, you can buy him a mug of ale: ko-fi.com/drakvor