Legends FAQ (was: Legends Newbie Setup?)

From: dani@telerama.lm.com

Date: Wed, 07 Sep 1994 21:19:59 +0000

Included below is the old Legends FAQ.  I should note that it is
getting increasingly out of date, and I haven't been motivated to
update it.  Anyone feel like taking it over?  Among things, it was
compiled before "Dark Domain" came out, and before Midnight Games
decided to give up on creating a version-2 of Legends, and to instead
incrementally modify the original version.  (This means that players
are going to be living with known flaws for a long time.)  The turn
costs listed in the FAQ are also obsolete.  (They went up.)  Note that
there is also a compilation of advice titled "The Tome of Legends"
sold by Midnight Games.

In general, a hero position is a good way for a new player to start,
so as to get a feel for the game at a reasonable price.  (You can
always join another game later, if you want to try a different kind
of setup.)  Heroes have capabilities other players can't match, but
they don't have the economic base they need to take advantage of them,
so if you go in as a Hero, you must make it a priority to link up
with other players you encounter, having them provide you with money
and resources while you provide special skills.

Before I get to the FAQ, some notes on creating a Hero setup:

1. Don't try for a balanced character.  The benefit of having an 'E'
   class character is that you can achieve the highest starting levels
   in skills or attributes.  Take advantage of that.

2. Use your sidekick as a repository for skills you don't want to pay
   for out of your 80 points.  For example, you could have your sidekick
   start with the Ranger skill and teach it to your Hero on the first turn.

-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com  dani@telerama.lm.com

Watership Down:
  You've read the book.  You've seen the movie.  Now eat the stew!

======================================================================

Here's a new draft of the Legends FAQ.  The sections with major revisions
have been asterisked in the table of contents.  Advice, corrections,
revisions, rewrites, are all welcome.  If you feel that a certain section
is badly written, you're probably right:  A better version would be welcome.
If you think some important information or advice is missing, please jump in.
I'd particularly like someone to rewrite the 'covert', 'combat', 'setup', and
formulae sections.  Note that parts of this draft are taken from other
posters' writings, directly or indirectly.

-- Dani Zweig

==================================

INTRODUCTION TO LEGENDS

Table of Contents:
0. Preface
1. What is Legends?
2. How and where can I play?
*3. What are the best setup options?
4. Okay, I'm set up.  Now what?  General advice.
*5. How does combat work?
*6. What about covert operations?
*7. Tell me more about status trees?
8. What is the formula for...?
9. How can I find out more?

0. Preface

The primary purpose of this document is to bring newer Legends players up
to speed.  Playing the game effectively requires far more information than
the rule books provide, and many players spend their first year or so
muddling about, rediscovering the mistakes other players have already made.
This document won't prevent that -- there are just too many game quirks to
discover, too many things that have to be learned the hard way -- but it
might shorten the learning period considerably.  For completeness, the
first sections of this document are addressed to the total novice.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  This FAQ is based on the current version of Legends.
Legends II, which will probably start play in 1994 (Midnight Games says
fall of 1993, but past performance makes this unlikely) is significantly
different.  (Initial descriptions suggest that it is changed for the
better, but that will depend on how well the changes are implemented.)

1. What is Legends?

Legends is a commercial play-by-mail game.  Two hundred players start out
in a large, vaguely-D&D-like world and work to build up their power.  (The
comparison to D&D is a bit risky, because there is relatively little role
playing.  The emphasis is on accumulating military power, economic power,
magic, and/or personal abilities.)  The game is computer-moderated:  Every
two weeks or so, you fill out a turn sheet with codes for the actions you
wish your characters and forces to undertake, and mail it in, and a few
days later you receive an update giving the results of all your orders.
(There is no 'due date'.  Your turn will be run when it is received, with
the restriction that at least two weeks must pass between turns.)

Each game will be set in a world with its own history, geography, and
competing factions (political, military, religious, etc).  Victory in
Legends is generally a group victory for an entire faction:  Each player
will eventually select a faction to join, and work with other faction
members (there is usually a maximum of twenty-five members) to achieve
that faction's unique (secret) victory conditions.  Success in this game
requires a great deal of diplomacy with other players.

The game is relatively slow; it can be expected to last two or three years.
It also tends to be time-consuming.  A player can choose to play a minor
position, and devote less than an hour a turn to the game, but major
mature positions will typically take at least ten-twenty hours per turn in
planning, diplomacy, and order preparation.

2. How can I play?

In the US and Canada, Legends is run by

Midnight Games
130 E. Main, #305
Medford, OR, 97501
503-772-6301 (accounting)
503-772-7872 (games)
71241.455@compuserve.com

They'll send you the rules (3 books) for $15.  The setup and game-specific
information for "North Island Campaign" (the new setting for Legends) is
another $12.50.  Or you can join the longer-running "Realm of the Immortals"
setting for (I think) a $10 charge.  If you have questions about joining
(as opposed to questions about the rules, or about your turn in a specific
game), you can ask via their accounting line.  (They aren't very good
about answering their email.)

It's not cheap.  The cost of a turn depends on how many orders you choose
to give.  For the smallest positions (a major character adventuring
through the world) a 2-page turnsheet costing $4.50 is practical.  The most
expensive positions (an empire with up to thirty towns and armies and up
to forty characters) can eventually find themselves using the largest
turnsheet, which is 8 pages long and costs $24.  There are extra charges
for modifying economic activity and for issuing special orders (typically
orders which require human intervention, such as attempting diplomacy with
a major game character), but those charges tend to be small in comparision
with the base turn costs.

-----

In Austria:

SSV Klapf-Bachler OEG
Postfach 1205
8021 GRAZ
AUSTRIA

TEL.: A / 316 / 919327
FAX.: A / 316 / 910318

The accounts are runned with OES (Austrian Shillings) but SSV takes nearly
every kind of money and exchanges it for you at the current rate.
Service etc. is good (if you forget the high telephoning-costs).
Prices:
Hero-turn	50.- OES (around 7.- DM)
to
Kingdom-turn	150.- OES
Imperial-turn	230.- OES
			  + stamps (between 7 and 25.- OES)
because it is mailed as 'DRUCKSACHE'(printed??) for cheaper stamping costs
extras:
	Special action	20.- OES
	FAX in turns	5.- OES per page
	production sheet 20.- OES
	Gildenbrief (newsletter) 30.- OES per issue
				300.- OES for one year (12 issues)
If you would like to have your turnsheet back you could request it back
(extra letter 7.- to 15.- OES) or you could request your turn as a normal
letter (much more expensive 40.- OES to 80.- + OES) and your turn-sheet
is included automatically.

Modules are translated into german, as are rulebooks. However, it seems
that there's one game of NIC going to run in English here.

In The Netherlands:

The PBM-Express
PO-Box 885
NL-3300 AW  Dordrecht
The Netherlands.

Telephone: (NL) 78-316453
FAX      : (NL) 78-316474

Turns cost about 8,- Dfl  for a Hero Turn and other turns are
proportionally priced (compare with english or austrian prices.
ALso there is a page fee of 0.05 Dfl per printed page.

Special actions vary in price, from 2.50 Dfl for a simple standard
special action (like requesting victory conditions) to 5,- Dfl per
5 minutes processing time (done by the GM) this last option allows for
a lot of things, practically evrything that isn't covered by a standard
order. Also although interaction level is 2 (only talking to npc with id
between 1000 and 1200) you can do special actions with whoever you like,
from prisoners, to small npc's.

The newsletter costs 0.10 Dfl per page. This usually amounts to about
3,- Dfl.

Service is adequate, Special action results are *great* (the ones which
get their text from the GM)

Currently there is one game of New Crown of Avalon running here, which
accepts standby positions with a delay of about a month. Realm of the
Immortals starts end March '93 and NIC will probably start in SEPT/OKT.
All modules are in English.

-----

For the following sections, it is assumed that the reader has read all the
rulebooks.

3. What are the best setup options?

a. Position Type.

There is no best type.  The Hero is the cheapest and easiest to play.  The
Hero is also able to start with skill- and ability-levels which no other
character can equal, such as level-31 spell-caster, or level-20 tactician.
It's a good toe-in-the-water position type for trying out the game.  It's
also deadly in cooperation with a location-owner, who can provide the
resources to take advantage of the Hero's special abilities.  (This doesn't
mean that you must have an ally going in, but it does mean that once you've
started you should contact your neighbors and *find* allies as soon as
possible.)

The Overlord is at the other extreme.  The Overlord starts out with six
weak characters -- and a large population and resource base.  As remarked
above, an Overlord who can field over a hundred soldiers, and a Hero who
can train and lead them, can be a deadly combination.  The Overlord position
is a lot less character-oriented and a lot more logistics-and-economics
driven.

The Mercenary is a popular compromise between these options.  The
mercenary starts off with a smaller location than the Overlord, and only
four characters, but one of those characters is almost as good as a Hero.

Take away the Mercenary's location and give him two more minor characters,
and you've got the Adventurer position.  This position is optimized for
early combat against monsters and small villages.

b. Character Options
[Note:  This is a rewrite of another poster's comments.  I don't necessarily
agree with all his ideas.  Conversely, that poster probably wouldn't agree
with all the changes I've made to his article.  But it's a starting point.]

HERO.

There are four basic main character types - an influencer, an arcanist, a
covert, and a fighter.  Coverts (assassins or thieves) are a completely
different ball of wax, which people select if they have a particular
interest in such a position, and will be discussed at greater length in
their own section.

The setup rules allow you to put most of your points into two skills or
attributes, and you should generally do so, rather than try for a more
balanced character:  The ability to start at extraordinary levels is the
main benefit of the Hero position.  Other abilities, not at high levels,
can be learned and practiced later.  You should generally choose two of
the following to specialize in:

Influence:  A hero can start with a respectable influence and immediately
start recruiting low-level followers.  (Make sure to start in a part of
the map compatible with your race; you are at a disadvantage attempting to
influence other races.)  This option is particularly effective if your
other skill is an arcanist or priest with access to the Bless spell, which
you can use to *double* your influence.  An influencer has a difficult growth
curve without allies, however:  The better non-player characters (location
owners and guild owners) can only be recruited by characters with high
prestige, and you get prestige through ownership of locations and guilds.
It is hard to break this vicious circle without military allies.

Arcanist:  A hero can start as a 31st-level arcanist.  For a priest,
that means access to the entire spell list up to sixth level.  For
a magic-user, it means a respectable starting spell list, and the
ability to research most spells of up to fourth or fifth level (given
access to a good magic guild and a supply of crowns).  A character
at these levels also casts devastating combat spells, and can often
clear away the strongest part of the defender's force before the
fighting starts.  Again, an arcanist hero without an ally has a difficult
growth curve, this time primarily for lack of funds.

Combat:  If you mean to fight monsters, you need to emphasize personal
combat.  A 25-point combat rating -- especially if coupled with a high
arcane rating -- will make you competitive with the weaker monsters in the
game, especially if you take one of the stronger races.  Tactics are also
useful, for the combat bonuses.  Weapon- and combat-skills also give you
major bonuses.  An example of a lair-basher setup might be

Arcane-31, PC-25, Swordmaster, 8 points elsewhere, and
	have sidekick start with Knight or Ranger and teach it
	to you on the first turn.

If you want to be a military leader, working with a location owner,
tactics are everything.  A 20-point tactics rating lets you train
60 soldiers per action, and gives you a 100% bonus when leading them.
Take an good arcane rating with this.

Useful things to go with such a position (directly or learned from a
sidekick or ally) are personal combat (not necessarily high, at first, as
you won't have the crowns to train many high-level troops, and PC is
easy to increase through practice and combat), knight or ranger skills
and possibly weapon skills for training specialized troops.  (Some players
like the knight/assassin combination.  The assassin skill, even at low
levels, provides protection against covert actions and, with the knight
skill, allows the training of fey knights.)

Give your secondary support skills, such as priest, ranger or Druid (for
gathering resources), bard (for gathering resources or blessing characters),
and fighting skills.  I typically choose ranger, a weapon skill, and priest
or an arcane, so my secondary is decent at combat from day one.  A secondary
priest is nice when you choose a religion which has a holy symbol which
gives priest levels.  If your holy symbol gives you +3 levels, then you
can start with priest 6 and jump to level 15 in no time at all.

OVERLORD

None of your characters will have impressive skill levels, but you have a
lot of them.  None of your abilities start high, but by the same token,
most of them will be easy to practice.  You will need to allocate major
responsibilities to your characters -- decide who will concentrate on
combat, who will concentrate on magic, etc.  Give serious consideration to
training up an administrator/engineer:  A secondary character practiced up
to fifteenth level and administrating full time can double your location's
productivity.   Make sure you have some information-gathering capability,
such as Scry Force spells, or a spy.

Unlike a Hero position, an Overlord position *can* specialize in
everything.  It is still the case, however, that your main character can
only do two things relatively well.  Always give your main character an
arcane ability:  Even if you only take it at level-1, that still gives you
a good starting spell list.  Do *not* make your main character the
administrator:  He'll be too busy to sit and do public works.  Influence
is hard to practice, but you'll need it sooner or later.  Decide whether
you'll want to start influencing as soon as you acquire a bit of prestige
(in which case you should start with an influence of 6 and practice it
up to ten or twelve, at least), or whether you'll concentrate on military
efforts first, in which case you can start with no influence, and take
longer to practice it up.

MERCENARY

A mercenary position should be planned the way an overlord position is
planned -- allocating skills and responsibilities to your various
characters.  You might want to make one secondary an admin, one a fighter
type, and one a support character (priest/ranger is good).  Your main
character, however, is almost as good as a hero, and should be treated
the same way.  You may want to put all of your primary's points into an
arcane skill and the rest into tactics, for instance.  Or, if you choose a
mercenary position with a very powerful race, so that you have only a few
soldiers, you may want to stress personal combat, so that you can train
those soldiers to as high a level as possible.

ADVENTURER

Treat this setup as a hero with extra support characters or as a mercenary-
in-waiting, depending on whether or not you mean to become a location owner.

> Should I put points into personal statistics?

Personal statistics can't be increased through training.  On the other
hand, their benefits tend to be subtle.  As a general rule, put a few
points into personal statistics if you have specific objectives, and not
otherwise.  For example, you may want to increase your strength and
dexterity so that you can use a particular weapon.  You may want to put a
couple of points into beauty if you are an influencer.  You may want to
increase your dexterity if you are designing a thief.

> Useful arcane skills:

Seers.  Seers have the useful and underutilized "Scry Force" spell.  They
also have access to seers crystals, which give three free spell points.
Because a seer can equip two crystals, this allows six points off the cost
of any spell and nine points off the cost of any seer spell.

Summoners.  Summoners get spells which can be invaluable to a starting
position, including "Gather Special Resource", "Find Familiar", and
"Summon Winterblast".

Druids.  Druid spells are useful in support of a location-based position.

Many arcane skills have some very useful spells, but aren't good skill
choices.  Unless you are planning to play a very specialized position, you
probably don't want to be an illusionist, a necromancer, an enchanter, or
a warlock, for example.

4. Okay, I'm set up.  Now what?  General advice.

>- What should one do on the first few turns

If you're a merc or overlord, create a bunch of forces each with a single
soldier and send them out to scout your area.  Have them attack any
locations that look weak enough for you to conquer.  If you're a merc, then
all of your characters should practice PC until they're good enough to be in
a combat slot.  That way, your characters gain PC and tactics without spending
actions.  The exception is a secondary priest, who should practice priest
until level 10, at which point he can make holy symbols, which will
probably give him PC and maybe levels (which might move him to 15th, which
allows casting of Bestow Divine Blessings, which will probably also give
you PC, at which point he can enter a combat slot *and* cast decent priest
spells).

One specialized option is the Hero Influencer.  This strategy calls for
the Hero to start with maximum influence, in or near a large city, and
immediately start influencing non-player characters.  If the Hero also
has a Bless spell, it can be used to double the effective influence.  At
these levels, recruiting minor NPCs becomes very easy, though location
owners and major characters will be impossible to influence because of the
player's low starting prestige.  It's hard for a Hero to break the vicious
circle of low prestige alone.  A common tactic, however, is to team up
with one or more other players who can conquer villages, towns, and lairs,
and have them gift those acquisitions to the influencer, who can then use
the prestige to acquire larger locations and guilds for the alliance.

>- General dos and don'ts

A good way to take out tough lair monsters is with lots of soldiers.  You can
use a very few soldiers to eliminate the strength of both magical attacks and
special attacks, and it's easier to get a lot of AF from training more
soldiers than from improving characters.

While villages, towns, castles, and cities give you lots of population and
equipment with which to build armies, you get cool character items from lairs
and ruins, and it's worthwhile to occasionally deviate from your conquest and
take out a nearby lair monster for goodies.

>- Common mistakes

Don't send mounted soldiers against walls.  Don't rely on mount special attack
to kill lair monsters, because the soldiers dismount before entering the lair.
Don't use the conquer and enslave order unless you have to deprive an enemy
of population you can't defend.

Until you get the feel for monster strengths, don't attack anything but small
villages without scouting them first.  And small villages will probably give
you the unskilled to train up scouts.

If you didn't enter the game with a specific faction in mind, hold off
until you've communicated with your neighbors, and found out what faction
they have in mind.  Joining a faction that nobody on your side of the
map is interested in is a dead end.

5. How Does Combat Work?

This section still needs to be written.  A few tips:

* A slot's morale determines its probability of breaking and fleeing.
  For instance, if starting morale was 115% and the slot has taken
  30% casualties, then it has an effective morale of 85%, and has a 15%
  chance of failing a morale check.  Morale is checked after the charge
  round and after each succeeding melee round.

* A force's chance of breaking is determined the same way.  For instance,
  if starting force morale was 110% and it has taken 40% casualties,
  then it has an effective morale of 70%, and has a 30% chance of fleeing.
  The attacker's morale is always checked before the defender's, so if
  the attacker breaks, the battle is lost.

* Important details about force morale:
  1) It is only checked when a slot breaks.  If you've taken 90%
     casualties, but none of your slots have failed a morale check,
     your force won't break.

2) Casualties are based on total CF.  If you have a slot of 10
     first-level soldiers with a CF of 20 points each, and a slot
     of 5 20th-level soldiers with a CF of 120 each, and the ten-
     soldier slot breaks, you have lost 200 CF out of a total of
     800, for 25% casualties.  Note that the entire lost slot is
     considered a casualty, though you'll still have the survivors
     for your next battle.

3) Character CF isn't counted.  If you go into battle with one
     0-level soldier in slot 3 and one 1000-CF character in slot 7,
     and the soldier is killed, you've taken 100% casualties.

* The rear slots (6, 7, 8) are protected by slots in front of them,
  and are good places to put your vulnerable spell-casters (battle
  spells hit the front slot they're facing) and archers.  Your front
  slots may be routed, exposing the rear slots, but you have a
  guarantee of protection against the initial spells or volleys.
  (Note the 'flanking' tactic, though.)  Remember to give your
  rear slots reserve orders, or they'll just stand there.

6. How about Covert Operations?

This section also needs rewriting, but here's a start.

THIEVES

Thieves can make a great difference in the game.  Their main advantages
are the ability to steal and the ability to kidnap, but of which high-
level thieves can do with surprising ease.  Once a character is kidnapped,
it can be stripped of its belongings and/or executed or held for ransom.
The main defenses against covert action are covert skills and soldiers.  It
is much harder to steal from or kidnap a thief or assassin, and a character
who is assigned to a battle slot is considered to be protected by that battle
slot.  (Pay attention to guard ratings:  A soldier with 'knight' skill
is equivalent to 5 normal soldiers for this purpose, and a soldier
with 'guard' skill is equivalent to 25!)  By this token, a force with
many soldiers is generally much harder to steal from than a guild,
which is likely to only have a few soldiers.  I am told that there is
a -100% modifier to attempts to steal from lairs and a -200% modifier
attempts to steal from ruins.  There is also a huge penalty to attempts
to kidnap monsters.  (You can, however, steal a ruin-monster's personal
possessions, including weapons and armor, if it does not have a covert
skill.)

Thieves are helped by high dexterity, by good stealth ratings, and
by invisibility -- through potion or spell.  They or their sidekicks
should also have access to seer spells (scry force, scry guild,
read character) so they know what to steal.  Consider taking Illusionist
skill, at a low level, so as to start out with invisibility.

ASSASSINS

Assassins work the same way as thieves with regards to kidnapping.  They
cannot steal, but they can assassinate.  Assassination is a highly
specialized talent.  A successful attempt does not automatically result
in a corpse, it just gives you a free shot and lets you escape.  A bungled
assassination results in a duel.  In either case, good combat skills are
essential.

The value of poisoned weapons should not be underestimated.  An NPC
who takes even a flesh-wound from a poison-II weapon may die within
four months.

7. Tell me more about status trees?

Starting characters are fairly weak, and training will only take you so
far.  There are spells (and other mechanisms), however, which allow a
player to acquire a special "status".  The benefits of such a status can
include bonuses to personal statistics and abilities, special attacks, and
the ability to 'afflict' other characters or soldiers with special statuses.

Once a status has been acquired, the player is said to be on that status's
"status tree", and has the ability to 'morph', or advance to higher levels
of that status, gaining successively greater bonuses and abilities.  It is
possible to morph spontaneously, at month-end, but most advancement occurs
during combat.  (There may be other restrictions to morphing.  For
example, a Blessed status may require that you be of the right religion,
or an Undead status may require that you be of an evil religion, etc.)

Most status trees have four or five levels, with players
at the top-most levels being demi-godlike in power.  There are many status
trees, some of them secret.  The generally available statuses are: Blessed,
Enchanted, Netherworld, Vampyre, and Hero.  These vary from module to
module in terms of their bonuses, availability, and morphing paths.

Blessed status is most commonly achieved by having a priest of your
religion cast the third-level spell "Bestow Divine Blessings".  The status
tends to have weaker bonuses than other major statuses, but it tends to
offer special advantages for priests of the appropriate religion.  (The
advantages vary from religion to religion.)

Enchanted status is most commonly achieved by having a magic user learn
and cast the fourth-level spell "Enchant Character".  This is a generally
well-round status, which provides bonuses to combat and to influence.

Netherworld status can be achieved by having a magic user learn and cast
the fourth-level spell "Netherworld Possession".  It provides good
combat bonuses, and lets you train superior soldiers early in the game.
In "Realm of the Immortals", you can keep the basic Netherworld status --
which allows you to spread the status to other characters, and to train
soldiers with that status, too, but is incapable of morphing -- or afflict
yourself with Nethermorph, which can morph to a higher status, but loses
the ability (till the fifth rung of the tree) to afflict.  In "North Island
Campaign", the ability to train netherworld soldiers has been restricted.

The Vampyre status tree is the most powerful of the 'common' statuses.
The combat and statistics bonuses are excellent, and the second, third,
and fifth rungs of the tree can afflict characters and soldiers with
increasingly powerful statuses.  Influence is increased vis-a-vis other
undead, but the living don't trust vampyres as much, for some strange
reason.  There are also a lot of anti-undead spells in the game.  This
status is hard to get.  There is the 5th-level "Rite of the Vampyre"
spell, but it costs 35 spell points and requires that the subject be dead
first.  A priest can cast a "Commune" spell and ask (okay, bribe) a deity
into granting Vampyre, or even Greater Vampyre.  You can talk, bribe, or
charm a Greater Vampyre or a Vampyre Lord into afflicting you with the
status.  And, as with all statuses, there are various magical items which
have a chance of granting the status.

If you have no status, you may eventually acquire the status of Local Hero
spontaneously, in combat, if you are using a good power weapon.

Some statuses will be better for your position than others, but the
general advice for reaching a high status is to get onto a decent status
tree, do it as soon as you can, and then get into a lot of combats.

There are four classes of statuses: Undead, Lycanthrope, Religious, and
Other.  Each status is of one of these types, but has ratings in all
four classes.  For example, in Realm of the Immortals, a Netherworld
character has Un2, Ly2, Re-6, Oth3 and a Greater Vampyre has
Un14, Ly7, Re-21, Oth7.  Statuses are compared in the class of an
action's target.  That means that a Greater Vampyre could override
a Netherworld character's status and afflict him with vampirism
(Oth7 >= Oth3) but that a Netherworld character could not override the
status of a Greater Vampyre (Un2 < Un14).  Statuses are also compared for
purposes of diplomacy (which is why a vampyre, with that disastrous
religious rating, does so poorly when trying to influence a blessed
character).  They are also sometimes used for items.  (Eg, an item may
require that the user be undead of strength 10 or higher.)

8. What is the formula for...?

a. Practicing.

Skills or Personal Combat:  5% * (22 - level)
Tactics:  4% * (22 - level)
Influence:  3% * (22 - level)

In addition, if you practice in the appropriate guild, the guild's level
is added to your chance.  And the game orders rulebook gives guidelines
for spending money in a guild to further increase your chances.

There is always at least a 10% chance of success.

b. Spell Research.

There are a number of formulae floating around, but there is some
disagreement as to how they should be used, and there is reason to
suspect that they change from module to module.  Here are some rules
of thumb that won't lead you too far astray:

a) You should be 10th-level to research a 1st-level spell, 20th-level to
     research a 2nd-level spell, 30th-level for a 3rd-level spell, etc.

b) Add a spell level if you're inside a good magic guild and another
     spell level if you are willing to spend triple or quadruple the base
     research cost.

Example:  A 25th-level spell-caster in a 25th-level guild would have
  a reasonable shot at researching a 3rd-level spell, should spend 1600
  crowns -- rather than the usual 400 -- when trying to research a 4th-
  level spell, and shouldn't *think* of trying a 5th-level spell.

c. Influencing

The key factors affecting influence attempts are prestige, loyalty,
influence, race, and religion.  First, if the target has any prestige at
all, you maximum chance of succeeding can't exceed 30%.  Assuming your
prestige is higher.  It is almost impossible to influence a target whose
prestige is higher than yours.  Specifically, every point difference (in
that directions) lowers your effective influence by 10 points.  Expect
minor characters to have no prestige, minor location owners to have about
ten prestige point, important characters to have over twenty prestige
points, and major characters to have over thirty.  Characters designed
to be almost impossible to influence may be near a hundred.

There are also significant penalties if the target is of a different race.
It's race-specific.  A human should expect to suffer a modest penalty with
a half-elf, for example, a substantial penalty with a full elf, and a
crushing penalty with a gargoyle.  There are also substantial penalties
for being the wrong religion.

Other factors?  Every skill you and the target have in common is worth
three points of influence.  It helps to be the opposite sex, and a bit
more attractive than the target.  If you try to influence a faction
leader, it probably helps to belong to that faction.

To influence a minor nonplayer character of your race and religion, you'll
probably need an influence rating of over ten.  To influence major characters
(who typically have excellent loyalty ratings or better), you'll want a
modified influence in the twenties or thirties.  This typically means
walking around under the influence of a Bless spell.

d. Prestige.

You get 2 points for being a major character.  You get 1 point for every force
you acquire above your starting fifteen.  (Since you can only have thirty
forces, the drop-force order allows you to drop empty legions out of the game
without a loss in effective prestige.)  You also lose a point every time
you lose or give away a force.  Every guild owned by your main character is
worth one point.

There are other sources of prestige (for which I don't have reliable
formulae).  Higher-level guilds are worth extra prestige (less if they're
owned by secondary or influenced characters), there are points for
influencing characters (one point for every ten characters?), points
for owning population (I was told sqrt(totalpop/200) but I don't know
whether this is correct, and I don't know whether this is computed for the
total position, or whether it is computed for each location and summed),
points for acquiring titles, and points for acquiring Marks.

e. What does "so-so" mean?

The probability ranges given in the character action results appear to be:

Not a chance in seven hells -- 0%
Only a prayer - 1-14%
One slim chance - 15-24%
Poor - 25-34%
Below average - 35-44%
So-so - 45-54%
Above average - 55-64%
Good - 65-74%
Very good - 75-84%
Every advantage - 85-94%
No problem - 95%.

Note that you can never do better than 95% chance.

This translates to the following practice probabilities:

Current
Level   Skill & PC             Tactics              Influence
1        No problem 95%         Very good 84%        Above average 63%
2        No problem 95%         Very good 80%        Above average 60%
3        No problem 95%         Very Good 76%        Above average 57%
4        Every advantage 90%    Good 72%             So-so 54%
5        Every advantage 85%    Good 68%             So-so 51%
6        Very good 80%          Above average 64%    So-so 48%
7        Very good 75%          Above average 60%    So-so 45%
8        Good 70%               Above average 56%    Below average 42%
9        Good 65%               So-so 52%            Below average 39%
10       Above average 60%      So-so 48%            Below average 36%
11       Above average 55%      Below average 44%    Poor 33%
12       So-so 50%              Below average 40%    Poor 30%
13       So-so 45%              Below average 36%    Poor 27%
14       Below Average 40%      Poor 32%             One slim chance 24%
15       Below Average 35%      Poor 28%             One slim chance 21%
16       Poor 30%               One slim chance 24%  One slim chance 18%
17       Poor 25%               One slim chance 20%  One slim chance 15%
18       One slim chance 20%    One slim chance 16%  Only a prayer 12%
19       One slim chance 15%    Only a prayer 12%    Only a prayer 10%
20       Only a prayer 10%      Only a prayer 10%    Only a prayer 10%
>20      Only a prayer 10%      Only a prayer 10%    Only a prayer 10%

9. How can I find out more?

a. It doesn't sound reasonable for one player to learn all this.

It isn't:  Contact other players.  Trade information.  Many players build
up large stores of information, exploration results, etc., which they are
happy to offer their allies.  It's a two-way street, of course...

b. I've heard that there is a master-list of what items are in the game
   and what they do, of what monsters are in the game and what their
   combat statistics are, etc.

I don't know what you're talking about.  No, wait, now that I think about
it, I heard that someone posted such a list on Compuserve some time ago.
If you should get a copy, please share it with the rest of us.

References

Legends Newbie Setup?
actor@telerama.lm.com (Philip R. Spagnolli)
Wed, 07 Sep 1994 13:34:33 +0000