Author: professor6153

The Standing Stones was written by Peter Schmuckal and Dan Sommers and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for the Apple II in 1983 and the Commodore 64 in 1984. I played the Apple II version using an emulator and it took me roughly 19 hours to beat.

The Standing Stones is a first-person grid-based dungeon crawler using wireframe graphics much like those found in the Wizardry series. It is a very difficult game if played as it is. If you choose to use save states; you could probably subtract 5 to 6 hours from the total game time.

I realize that playing video games or ANY kind of game for that matter is a highly subjective experience. I also realize and appreciate that the authors of any game work extremely hard and that the finished product is very much an art form. Having said that, there was a lot that I just personally found wrong with The Standing Stones.

I should warn that I am not a fan of mixing comedy with my fantasy. I want a serious dungeon crawl not an irreverent walkabout. I knew that I might be in for some trouble when I started to read through the game’s documentation. The premise for your quest is as follows: Merlin apparently decided to throw the party of the century. All of the best food and drink were served and many hours later the guest and host alike were passed out drunk. All save the krafty Kormath. Kormath used this opportunity to steal not only the best cutlery, but the Holy Grail, Mithril chain mail, and Excalibur. He then beat a hasty retreat to his private abode which just happens to be a 15 level dungeon located beneath Stonehenge. Silly right? I read the material with my mouth slightly agape.

I wish that were the only thing I had a problem with but it was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Character creation was a very easy random roll of virility, intellect, holiness, agility, and initial hit points. Once your random rolls are complete you then choose a name for your character. Your character has the ability to cast both wizard spells AND cleric spells.

Once your character is complete you’re ready to tackle the dungeon. Let’s be clear – I love getting out the pencil and graph paper and mapping out the dungeon levels – old school style. So I was pretty excited to begin. This game, however, found a way to ruin even that for me.

There are 15 different dungeon levels and each level fits to a 16 x 16 grid pattern. There are pits and secret doors and secret one-way doors and chutes and other tricks and traps that you’d normally find in any good dungeon crawler. I did not have a problem with any of this. Here is what I did have a huge problem with: the stairways connecting each of the levels.

In your exploration of the 1st dungeon level, once you’ve found the stairs leading down to the 2nd level, and decide to descend the stairs, 7 out of 10 times you WILL be taken to the 2nd dungeon level like you’d expect. But sometimes you don’t. Sometimes, randomly, much like how a chute works, as you descend the stairs, you’ll suddenly read “WHAAAAAAAAA!!!” on your screen, and then inexplicably find yourself dumped onto a random lower level. This seemed to violate all fair play rules with me. It made mapping extremely difficult as well. A weak character might suddenly find themselves lost on level 3 or 4 with permadeath a very real threat. Once this happened to me more than a few times and I found myself beginning the game all over again I instituted a “fail-safe” with this particular game. I chose to use the save state ability on my emulator right before I took any stairs. I did not feel like this was cheating as I found the game mechanic that the developers threw in there to be just ridiculous. It was a very droll and unfair way to try to create a more difficult game with a longer playing time in my humble opinion. So on each level, just before taking the stairs, I’d save the game. I found that sometimes I would have to reload/restart three or four times in a row before a staircase worked correctly! Now that is just nuts! I was tired of scrutinizing my maps to discern where I was. There is a Divine Guidance spell available that might RANDOMLY tell you what level you are on but I found the spell to be largely useless. So there is no spell or game mechanic that shows you a compass or your current coordinates. This made exploration of 15 dungeon levels much more difficult.

Below is my hand drawn map of the 1st level and attached is a post-it-note of all of the creature types that I encountered on that 1st level:

Pictured below is the 2nd dungeon level as well as the denizens I encountered on that level

This goes on and on like so through the other 13 levels. There were no text descriptions or unique dungeon dressings or details like you see in the Wizardry games and so this made dungeon exploration largely unexciting. On levels 5 and 10 you can find an Oasis where you can heal and replenish your magic points.

There are no tactics involved with combat. When combat ensues you choose to (B)ribe, (F)ight, (G)reet, or (T)hrow a spell. Offensively you get to cast one fireball per excursion and then based on your spell points you have a number of lightning bolts you can hurl – however there is the chance they rebound and hit you as well. This caused my death a couple of times and so I found I rarely used them as I went deeper into the labyrinth because permadeath is a very real issue.

One of the more unique spells that I did use quite often was Etheralness though it depletes BOTH mage spell points and clerical spell points. Etheralness allows you to walk through walls and doors which are normally unpassable. While you are in this etheral state you cannot pick up any treasure or items and when you encounter most creatures they cannot touch you. I would use this spell generously to help me map the level and save hit points doing so.

There were also spells that allowed you to move up a level or down a level but these always randomly deposit you on the level and sometimes they don’t work correctly. So for example, if your party finds itself on Level 7 and exhausted and you need to get back to the dungeon entrance to heal, if you cast 6 jump spells, choosing UP each time, you would THINK you would move from dungeon level 7 to dungeon level 1 but oh NO! Perhaps one of the castings instead moved you DOWN rather than UP…or perhaps it didn’t work? Each Jump spell deposits you randomly, so with no compass and no way to detect what level you are on, you have to pull out all of your graphed dungeon levels and try to discern where you are. So these spells become as frustrating as using the stairs. And the game is NOT turn-based, it is in real-time, if you delay and there is an encounter, because perhaps you’re drawing or perusing your maps, your opponent keeps multiplying. So one angry china plate might become two angry china plates then three angry china plates – I’m sure you get the picture – until you make a keyboard choice for combat. All I can say is: ugggggh!!!!

The graphics in the Apple version of the game are very poor. In some cases you can’t even make out what it is that you are fighting. There were silly creatures that you encountered on each level too that just resonated poorly with me. By mocking the seriousness of the game it diminished my own perseverance and overall feel for the game. For example on the 2nd level you encounter a lot of brutal china plates that want to attack you. I probably sound like a whiny bitch but I just completely detested the humor and irreverence here.

Each of the levels have very silly dungeon denizens that you encountered. On one level I encountered savage cereal bowls.

On level 10 I began to encounter what were called Glitches:

On Level 13 I found Excalibur and on Level 14 I found the Mithril Armor and it was finally on Level 15 that I encountered the Holy Grail and this is where the game just became extremely weird.

When you enter the Chamber of the Grail you have to switch disks and the game suddenly reverts to an interactive fiction game.

The old man then proceeds to grill you with a number of questions that you have to answer correctly or the game abruptly ends!! Some of the questions are just plain ridiculous. For example: Who is the leader of the club that is made for you and me? Mickey Mouse was one of my choices and happened to be the right answer. In another question I had to solve a math problem. Other questions quizzed me about game details. For example: What dungeon have you been tramping around in for awhile? In which of the levels do you find an oasis? The last question was: Who Killed Arthur? The Merlin choice was the right choice. Another question asked me: What is first officer Spock’s father’s name? I really just couldn’t believe it. If I had been put off by the game’s premise or by the monsters I was battling; this trivia game to get into the Grail Chamber was the icing on the cake.

Once you have answered all of the questions correctly you are then allowed to move forward to face the dragon. I’d like to say; “I have no words”; but this is a blog after all and words are exactly what you are looking for.

The dragon sequence plays like an arcade game. You are dumped into blackness and see nothing but a white dot up ahead. The white dot happens to be the dragon. If you get too close to the dragon without finding the scattered items lying about the area the dragon will pulverize you. When you get close the dragon appears in all it’s magnificent glory.

Scattered about the ground you can find a missile launcher (seriously), a smoke grenade (really not kidding), and a potion of fire resistance. When you find and use all three of these items they will aid you in your battle with the dragon until you finally prove victorious. Once you beat the dragon you can then claim the grand prize:

They are rare – but I have finally come across another game in my journey that I would NOT recommend to others. There is just so much that bothers me with this one. The game plays a bit like a Mony Haul campaign with a dose of drunken humor thrown in.

As you make your way from level to level you gain experience and levels extremely fast. There are piles of gold that you randomly stumble across at almost every turn of the dungeon. And even though you’ve already traversed an area it doesn’t matter more gold will randomly spawn scattered throughout. You will also find treasure chests that have 10’s of thousands of gold pieces and these increase your experience points as well. I think I was level 200 when I encountered the dragon on Level 15. Here the caveat though and it was yet another thing that bothered me about the game: the game seems to have an algorhythm in play that causes more random encounters to occur as you acquire more gold. If you find yourself on Level 5 and have picked up a chest containing 100k gold pieces you are in big trouble. Every third step you take there is suddenly an encounter. Some of the objects you find are fixed and some are random. When you come across a chest for example, whether you open it or not, monsters are also attracted to that gold spot. So if you already have a lot of gold and randomly stumble across a chest, even if you choose not to open or take the newly found chest, you are suddenly besieged by encounter after encounter making it almost impossible to step away from the spot. Once you move away from the treasure square you then get some relief but I found it to be an extremely frustrating facet of the game.

You can also find books and potions scattered about the dungeon but the books harm your character and statistics as much as they do help. It was like playing Russian Roulette so I just started avoiding picking up any books and even potions. Finding scrolls was usually the most helpful because 75% of the time they restored some of your magic points back to you. When your deep within the dungeon these proved invaluable.

So the game’s mechanics had me hating stairways and mapping the game in general and the way the game handled experience and items and encounters it had me avoiding all treasure and items past the 10th dungeon level. The last three levels were exceedingly hard to map and because of my distrust and dislike of – well – everything – I almost missed Excalibur on Level 13.

I can honestly say I was greatly relieved to put this offering in my rearview mirror. It was clearly not for me.

Next up on the docket for me is Oubliette.

Until next time…

Super Quest is a massive dungeon crawler developed by Jeff Hurlburt and published in Softside Magazine for the Apple II in 1983. It is a spiritual successor to Quest I developed by Brian Reynolds.

Softside Magazine was a unique publication that ran from 1978 to 1984. It offered articles and line by line programs that users manually typed in. Subscriptions were offered that included the print magazine and a cassette tape, and later floppy disks to literally be loaded and played. The TRS-80 edition was first launched in 1978, an Apple II version in 1980, followed by more individual versions supporting the Atari 400/800 and IBM-PC. Super Quest is not the first game that I’ve covered from a Softside publication however it is the first game that was larger and rivaled many commercial releases of the time.

Super Quest is a gigantic dungeon crawler that consists of 1,024 rooms spanning four unique sections of dungeon.

The ultimate quest is to traverse the large dungeon to find and obtain the Mega Crown. There is a very long Mega-Crown Narrative at the beginning of the game that spans several screens. The Mega Crown is in the fourth section of the dungeon and it can be reached only after gaining a tremendous amount of experience and strength.

Super Quest sports an overhead view of the dungeon as depicted above and the graphics are reminiscent of the Temple of Apshai and other dunjonquest games. The speed of play and fluidity are actually much better than any of the dunjonquest games. The one grievance I have with this game (and it is a big one) AND all of the dunjonquest games is that I found them very frustrating to map.

I LOVE graphing these old dungeon crawlers by hand. I am sure there are many who feel the same way just as I am aware that there are many who despise mapping by hand and who fell to their knees in praise when automapping was invented. The reason that this game and the games in the dunjonquest line were so difficult to map is that they were difficult to scale properly.

When playing a Wizardry game for example (and most other early dungeon crawlers) each step taken represents 10′ feet of progress. This translates easily to graph paper. Super Quest sports extremely long hallways and large rooms and movement does not seem to equate to 10′ per step. I found myself constantly erasing and spatially redrawing the dungeon until it does work which is maddening. If Super Quest were turn based then I could easily take my time with these mapping chores but alas the game occurs in real time with no way to pause the game at all. You can only save the game by returning to a Bazaar so I found that I actually had to save the game via my emulator in order just to get up and use the restroom.

Luckily Kipley Fiebig’s incredibly accurate maps saved me hours of work. I was able to use these maps as reference points while I traversed the dungeon and battled foes in real time. I am not even going to pretend that I drew my own maps for this one. This is the first time I have opted to use a map other than my own. There are no secret doors, pits, teleporters, or spinners however and thus the nature of the dungeon did not have me feeling guilty at using another’s maps.

Character creation involves you getting to choose your character’s name and then race. The four races you have to choose from are human, elf, dwarf and hobbit. Each of the races provide strengths or weaknesses to melee combat and ranged combat. Once your character is created you then start in the Bazaar. The Bazaar is a shop that allows you to purchase equipment and you can save your game from here. When you save your game it resets all of the rooms and the fixed encounters reset as well. There is a strategy involved in this and I’ll expound more on this a bit later.

I began the game as a dwarf thinking it would be necessary for melee combat because there are no spells in the game. You can see my beginning character depicted above in the Bazaar. I soon discovered, however, that melee combat was largely a risky affair and one of diminishing returns. I found myself resorting to ranged combat with both iron quarrels and magic quarrels until I reached very high levels.

Your combat choices are somewhat limited. You can choose to press F and fight toe to toe with your enemy but this is a hazardous undertaking and you can suffer significant damage even from weaker opponents. It is recommended that you keep your distance and fire upon your opponents from afar. You’ll discover that some of the monsters in the dungeon can only be affected by magic quarrels and that others can only be affected by tossing tana powder at them. Below is the list of creatures and which attack strategies work on each of them:

The quest of the Mega Crown is so massive and the dungeon so large that it requires quite a bit of grinding in order to build your character up. To that end I wish there were more different types of creatures to encounter. You’ll note that there are only 13 different kinds of creatures that you encounter. This is a rather small number for such a large game. Mathematically speaking however there is a logic and strategy behind the limited number of denizens. You’ll note as you progress through different areas of the dungeon that the fixed encounters are placed there to whittle down your inventory and make things very difficult for you. Money does not come easy in this game and you’ll find that you will never have an abundance of it. You will use all that you find to replenish your inventory so that you can move forward. Economy in this game takes center stage more so than most.

The strategy that I used was to stay close to the Bazaar. Once my inventory was depleted or I was weak I would quickly make my way back and save the game. Once your game is saved it resets all of the fixed encounters. In this way you can once again venture out, slay your foes and collect treasure. I would learn where the best treasures were and I just kept going to those locations again and again and again. Once I started to get more powerful I would venture further and further out from the Bazaar.

Your toughest opponent is the Dragon. It breathes fire and is extremely difficult to beat even at higher levels. For each dragon that you vanquish you receive two dragon scales. Once you have collected 32 dragon scales you are then given Dragon Fire Armor. You can see it in my inventory in the screen above. The Dragon Fire Armor absorbs much damage from your opponents and protects you greatly from the dragon’s fire breath. In the third and fourth section of the dungeon you will encounter Rogue Dragons and these are greatly “beefed up” versions of a normal Dragon. They are extremely deadly and you are awarded 1000 experience points for each Rogue Dragon you defeat.

The Mega Crown is located a very great distance away from the starting Bazaar. There are two hospice areas located in the 2nd and 3rd dungeon sections where you can stop, purchase supplies, and also save your game. The cost of each inventory item at the hospice locations is double the cost of the price listed in the Bazaar. I found myself backtracking all the way back to the Bazaar to take advantage of the better prices. It was more time intensive but money in the game is very scarce.

Besides the Dragon Fire Armor, one other thing you’re going to want to be sure you do is increase your strength. My character started the game with a Strength score of 25. When I decided it was high enough to go after the Mega Crown it was 156. You can buy Strength Potions to increase your strength for 2000 gold pieces at the Bazaar. You can also haggle for a better price on all items you purchase including the Strength Potions. So there is the need for quite a bit of grinding in this game so that you can collect enough dragon scales to fashion your Dragon Fire Armor and so that you can increase your strength. When you increase your strength it does two things for you: you do not require as many hits to defeat an opponent and each blow you suffer doesn’t cause as much damage. This is important because in the beginning of the game it might take you 6 to 8 magic quarrels to slay a vampire and with a strength of 156 you slay a Vampire in one shot. When you find yourself very far from your home base in an effort to reach the Mega Crown you want to conserve as much of your inventory as you can.

My strategy of saving the game and restocking the rooms stopped working after a certain point. Once I had my Dragon Fire Armor and my Strength score up to 156 I decided it was time to begin the trek to the Mega Crown. The encounters and number of opponents becomes increasingly more difficult as you progress from the 2nd dungeon section to the 3rd and finally 4th section. This is purposeful to deplete your inventory. You thus go through a lot of inventory and find that you need to rest. So I would begin to backtrack all the way back to the Bazaar – restock supplies – and then head back out WITHOUT saving the game. I did not want all of the fixed encounters to reset. This allowed me to head deeper and deeper into the dungeon complex. You are still beset with random encounters constantly. I began to slowly make my way through the 3rd area of the dungeon and the 4th area using this strategy. It took me an entire afternoon of sitting at the computer once I made the decision to go for the crown. I finally found the Mega-Crown in the middle of the 4th dungeon area.

I still find it incredibly hard to believe that this was a shareware offering and a line by line type in from Softside magazine. In my humble opinion it is head and shoulders better than many of the commercial releases I’ve played. It IS incredibly difficult and does require a lot of patience as you grind your way towards the final goal but the real time element and the constant threat of permadeath hanging like a cloud over my head made the entire experience extremely tense. The economy is a vital part of the game and requires a specific strategy to manage yourself to victory. I am shocked that contemporary reviewers seemed to have overlooked this game. There are no room descriptions but the product that I played was extremely impressive. I doubt that many would persevere to grind themselves all the way to the Mega Crown.

It took me roughly 15 hours to win the game and that includes using the wonderful maps created by Kipley Fiebig. You’d have to add at least another 5 to 6 hours to my game play if I had to resort to drawing my own. If I am being honest, you spend so much time with the game that you quite literally have almost the entire complex memorized.

This was a big game and a difficult one and thus far it is the longest and largest shareware game that I’ve encountered so far up to 1983. I enjoyed my time with the game and I’m surprised that I’d never heard of it before.

Next up on the docket is The Standing Stones.

Until next time…

Swords & Serpents is the 2nd Intellivision offering that I’ve set out to play and review; the first being Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Cloudy Mountain. It was written by Brian Doughtery and published by IMAGIC.

I played Swords & Serpents using the Nostalgia Intellivision emulator and it took me roughly two to three hours to beat. The game requires quite a bit of dexterity or joystick action from the player.

This Intellivision version of Swords & Serpents is frequently mixed up with the more famous NES Swords & Serpents. They are two completely different games and the only thing they share in common is that they both have the same title.

Here is the backstory we’re dealing with:

The manual that comes with the game is fairly well done but the coolest thing within its pages is a map of the first level of the dungeon.

Let’s first address the elephant in the room. The one player version of Swords & Serpents is quite different from the two player version. In the one player version you have no choice but to take on the role of the Warrior Prince as you battle alone. You have no access to any of the magical spells in the game and thus you can’t make use of the scrolls that you find scattered throughout the dungeon. In the two player version the Warrior Prince and the Wizard Nilrem join forces against the Sinister Serpent. Player two, playing the role of the Wizard, starts with one magical spell and gains access to all of the other magical spells found scattered throughout the dungeon levels. The following spells can be acquired by the Wizard as he journeys through the Sinister Serpent’s Fortress:

• Freeze
• Fireball
• Heal
• Fast Feet
• Invincible
• Destroy’s Walls – needed to reach the end of the game
• To Chest
• Invinc-Wiz
• To Knight

In a single player game, it is a bit of a disappointment that you cannot choose whether you want to play the game as the Warrior Prince or as the Wizard Nilrem. You miss out on a large part of the game by not being able to acquire and experiment with the spells in the game. In addition, you can only make it to the very end of the game in 2 player mode. I was shocked to discover this and uncovered one of the more bizarre gaming stories to date revolving around this issue (more on this later).

Your ultimate goal is to make your way through the Serpent’s Sinister Fortress and make your way to the Sinister Serpent itself ( a big dragon ) that resides on the fourth dungeon level. On each dungeon level is a black key and you’ll need to find the key on that level to unlock the stairs leading to the next dungeon level.

The dungeon is shown in an overhead view and your Warrior Prince is represented by a white knight icon. When you’re hit your icon turns from white to gray. If you get hit again you die. You begin the game with 9 lives and should you lose all 9 lives then the game is over. There is a magic lamp on each dungeon level. When you touch the magic lamp your knight icon can be healed from gray to white.

Monsters spawn randomly and the deeper you move into the dungeon the more rapidly they spawn and attack. The two types of creatures that you encounter are the black knight and red sorcerer. The red sorcerer can fling fireballs at you from afar. The only way to deflect the fireball is turn towards the attack and deflect the fireball with your sword. A red sorcerer can rapidly spawn near you, fling a fireball at you, and fry you to a crisp faster than you can blink.

The picture below depicts your white knight battling a black knight and in the background there is the chest on the 1st dungeon level where you store your treasures and there is a scroll in the background as well. This is right near the beginning of the game.

Your goal is to find and collect treasures on each level and then return them to the chest near the beginning of the game. For every 300 points of treasure you return to the chest, you get an extra life. You can only carry 6 treasures at a time which forces you to go back and dump your stash before exploring further. Some of the treasures include a helm, a shield, a lyre, a cross, and other assorted objects.

Once you get to the third dungeon level and especially the fourth the game requires a lot of fast reflexes and a lot of button smashing to survive.

Once I made my way down to the fourth dungeon level I found the gigantic evil dragon surrounded by a ziggurat.

The enemies were coming at me fast and furious. I fought them off and made my way to the dragon but I could not move beyond it’s breath of fire. I then deduced that there must be another way in to face the dragon rather than this head on conflict. I laboriously made my way around this mighty ziggurat; facing dozens of enemies and death around every corner as I did so. I made my way around and there was no apparent way in. I then reflected that I must have missed something on one of the previous dungeon levels. That there must be some kind of magic item that I missed that allows me to walk through the dragon’s fire. I spent at least another hour backtracking through my maps to no avail.

I then began to fear that perhaps there was a bug in the game or that perhaps my emulator was not working or that I had set the emulation up incorrectly. I started to peruse the internet and what I discovered shocked me.

In a 1 player game I truly did reach the end. You can discover the dragon but there is no way to combat the dragon nor is there a true end game other than to collect as many treasures as you can without losing the game. So in this case you want the highest score you can acquire.

The only way to get into the ziggurat where the dragon resides is in 2 player mode. Player 2, the Wizard, must cast Destroy Walls at the base of the ziggurat. This allows both the Warrior Prince and Wizard Nilrem to move inside. Once inside the ziggurat there are two more treasures you can collect and then they can also view the author’s initials. You still do not get to battle the dragon! I mean you’re going through the Sinister Serpent’s Fortress for crying out loud. You get down there and discover you can only look at him? That’s incredibly underwhelming.

There is a great story on the message boards about two kids who stayed up all night playing the game. They reached the point that I had and were greatly confused. They found the author’s name in the game manual, Brian Dougherty, and found his telephone number in the directory. They woke him up in the middle of the night and asked him how you defeat the dragon. He told them there was no way to defeat the dragon. They had run out of room / memory on the cartridge and his initials were their only reward. The story goes that they unloaded on him and called him every name in the book and then hung up on him. The entire story can be read in greater detail HERE

I have to admit that this is a very bizarre story. I know of no game this early on that was basically unfinished or had its ending compromised in some way. I’m 57 years old and I’d like to wake up Brian Dougherty myself in the middle of the night after going through all of that.

Despite my complaints, I DID enjoy the game. It was a bit more of an arcade experience but the movement and controls were great. I enjoyed the arcade action in this game more than I did in Intellivision’s Cloudy Mountain game. The dragon graphics on the fourth level were pretty awesome for the time and the sound in the game was great as well. The clink of metal when your sword clashes with the sword of a black knight and the “whooshing” sound the fireballs made when the red sorcerers flung them at you all sounded very cool. I was not ok with the fact that the single player version didn’t allow you to play a Wizard and I was definitely not ok with the fact that I could progress farther into the game in 2 player mode than I could in 1 player mode. These things aside, I have now enjoyed both of the Intellivision games that I’ve played using an emulator. I can see why it was a fan favorite in the early 80’s and why every child wanted one (but many could only afford an Atari).

Next up on the docket is Super Quest.

Until next time…

The Warlock’s Treasure was written and published by CRL Group PLC. CRL was founded by Clem Chambers who decided to set up a business after he failed to get into university. He started out renting computer equipment (hence their full name) and then went on to produce games. CRL was one of the few companies producing games as early as 1982 who continued to do so in the 90s. They released around 90 Spectrum games and dozens for the C64 and briefly supported the Amiga and ST. The Warlock’s Treasure was their first and only role-playing game that they produced. Many of their games are rather cerebral with many simulation and strategy games under their belt. Many of their adventure games are horror-based and include Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jack the Ripper.

This game is a reminder of the joy of discovery. I was not expecting much from this older ZX Spectrum game and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised. I ended up enjoying myself very much and I had never even heard of the game.

The plot is rather simple and we’ve been here before. Explore three floors of a castle (includes the cellar) and see if you can find the four clues needed to find the Warlock’s Treasure.

You begin the game on the first floor of the castle starting with 100 strength. If your strength reaches zero you perish. Your strength decreases with each random encounter within the castle. There are hidden pressure plates scattered about the caste that, if stepped on, sound an alarm that alerts the castle’s denizens and thus increase your chance of a random encounter. One of the objects that you can find in the castle is a charm that wards against monsters. If you find this it will greatly decrease the number of encounters for a while giving you more time to explore your surroundings.

You move about the map depicted above using the 5,6,7 and 8 keys on your keyboard. The rooms on each level have a door that may or may not be locked. If the door is locked you’ll need to explore the castle to find a key. There is more than one key because often the keys break or become stuck in the lock. The problem though is that you can only carry one key at a time. If find a key but leave it behind you’ll have to remember or make a notation concerning where the key is at in case you have to come back to it.

You can always check your status by hitting I for Information. In each and every square of the castle you’re exploring you’ll want to hit the letter L on your keyboard for Look. Pressing O on the keyboard will open doors, cabinets, pianos, and bookcases. You will not be able to look into a darkened cabinet or piano until you have found a lamp. The lamp is also necessary to explore the cellar which is dark. The lamp only works for a limited number of turns so when it runs out you’ll have to find another lamp.

Each time you move about you are given a description of what surrounds you and then it is up to you to decide what to do.

It is important that you search EVERYTHING. I found out later in the game that you could open a piano and peer inside so I had to traverse the castle again and open all of the pianos that I found. When you open a piano the game’s sound affects reward you with the opening keys to a Beethoven piece. I thought it highly entertaining.

You can also search the bookcases to find shares in R. Searle Chairs Inc. The number of shares that you find in each bookcase seem random and different with each new game. The goal is to collect as many of these shares as you can. There are many bookcases scattered throughout the castle.

The ultimate goal here is to search the house for four clues which help to lead you to the treasure. Each clue is actually a number between 1 and 9. Somewhere in the house there is a hidden safe with a four digit combination. The combination equals the numbers you discovered; in the order in which you found them.

I thought that once I had explored the castle, survived the encounters, and found the clues, the safe, that would be it – but there was one more surprise waiting for me:

What then ensues is you’re suddenly thrust into a game or puzzle where you have to deduce from nothing a four digit code. You get, I think, 8 guesses to get it right and much like today’s popular Wordle, it lets you know when you have a correct digit AND whether or not the digit is in the right place. I am not sure how I was able to do it; but I did.

I really liked this game. It was fun exploring the first and second floor of the house and you also discover a hidden cellar. It was suspenseful trying to keep your strength score from going to zero and I must say by the end of the game I was precariously close to disaster. You CAN find objects throughout the house that help to build your strength. Three that I found were a potion, an axe, and a sword. The sword provided the greatest boon to my strength. Combat is a hidden mechanic but the more foes that you vanquish the greater your experience or combat ability becomes. The game also has great replay value because with each new game items found within the house and where you find those items is randomized. No two games should play the same way twice.

Setting out to play all of these old games in the order in which they were produced is much like a treasure hunt. You’re not exactly sure what you’re going to encounter. Every once in a while you are surprised by something you’ve never heard of before and that was certainly the case here. I feel blessed that I have the time to dedicate to this pursuit.

Next up on the docket is Swords & Serpents.

Until next time…

Warrior was published by ASCII Corporation in 1983 for the PC in Japan which was known as the MSX at the time. It is a dungeon crawling role-playing game which involves the player exploring a vast dungeon. The ultimate goal of the game is to increase your attributes while exploring the dungeon and find and slay the dragon located deep within the complex.

You do not get to name your starting character or purchase equipment but you do start with five attributes and a money category. The five attributes are strength, experience, armor class, hit points, and attack points. Each of these five attributes begin at 0 and over the course of the game you’re going to want to raise each of them to 99 or as close to 99 as you can get. You raise strength, armor class, hit points, and attack points by finding treasure boxes scattered throughout the dungeon. These are represented by a question mark.

When you move your character over the question mark (treasure box) it will cause one of the four attributes to increase or decrease. Therein lies the problem with these treasure boxes – not all of them are beneficial. The treasure boxes are not randomly generated; they are fixed items that always provide the same results with each new game. The responsibility thus falls upon the player to memorize or make notations upon a map whether treasure boxes in certain locations have beneficial or harmful affects. There are many treasure boxes scattered all over this vast dungeon – but not so many that you can just arbitrarily collect them all and hope that there are more beneficial treasure boxes than harmful ones. So it becomes necessary to make notations in order to avoid the harmful treasure box locations.

When you encounter a creature then combat ensues and it is automatically generated. Your statistics are matched against the creature’s and then a win or loss is automatically generated. In the beginning of the game, when your statistics are very low, the odds of you slaying a creature are very small. Sometimes your character does win the contest; but you’re simply running your opponent off of the screen for a victory. When you win in this fashion, you do not lose any strength points. If you lose the battle and your opponent defeats you; the result is that you lose a couple of strength points. Once you’ve raised your attributes a significant amount, greater than 50, then in the ensuing encounters you sometimes slay the creature outright. When this happens your experience points increase. You really want to try and avoid getting into too many of these encounters because they are ultimately a drain on your strength. I found myself fleeing many of the encounters because I wanted to keep my strength rating as high as I could before encountering the dragon.

When I say the dungeon complex is vast; I DO mean vast. The maze that you have to traverse is huge. It’s so huge and the corridors are so long and twisting that it makes mapping the complex almost impossible. It is the dungeon map itself that is your biggest adversary. Remember your ultimate goal is to find the dragon and defeat the dragon. Easier said than done because the path to the dragon is convoluted and difficult. The background of your surroundings changes in color and pattern which is the only clue that you are entering or leaving a new section of the dungeon.

The immensity of the dungeon took me by surprise. I played Warrior on an MSX emulator and the game took me roughly 6 hours to complete. It is a bit of a grind to increase your attributes and random encounters with dungeon denizens can happen quite often. There are no special text descriptions in the dungeon nor even any rooms within the complex. The dungeon is one giant maze.

You’ll know you’re getting closer to the dragon when the background in the dungeon switches to skulls. This part of the dungeon is very difficult to find but once you do you know you’re on the right track.

Once you enter the dragons lair the combat is automatic. You can see by my attributes depicted above that I did a lot of grinding to raise the scores all the way up from zero.

If your attributes are not high when you encounter this dreaded foe he will smite you. My attributes were high enough that by the time I found his lair I was able to defeat the dragon.

In one of the oddest things I’ve seen in some time; once you defeat the dragon you are rewarded with the following screen:

In today’s day and age there are a subgenre of Japanese RPGs which are known as Hentai games. These Japanese games of manga and anime are characterized by overtly sexualized characters and sexually explicit images. It is a bit of a business model – putting a little – or a lot – of skin out there to titillate the audience in order to make a buck. You’re seeing a foreshadowing of things to come here – an end screen – where your reward is a provocative pose from a shapely female thanking you for defeating the dragon. I admit to being a bit stunned when this flashed across my screen – so much so – that I almost missed the chance to do a screen capture of it for you.

I did enjoy Warrior. It is an obscure title that I really haven’t seen covered by anyone. If you’re not a fan of dungeon crawls or elaborate mazes though there is very little for you here. There is a lot of grinding that has to take place before you can face the dragon and the battles are automatic so it sports a number of issues that gaming fans find themselves divided on.

Next up on the docket is The Warlock’s Treasure.

Until next time…

Warrior of Ras, Volume Four: Ziggurat is the crown jewel and conclusion to Randall D. Masteller’s four game series. It was published by Screenplay in 1983 for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, and Commodore 64. I played the Commodore 64 version of Ziggurat on an emulator and it took me roughly six hours to finish.

Whereas The Wylde took place completely outdoors, Ziggurat concerns itself with the exploration of the famed Ziggurat of RAS, tomb of the wretched king whose reign of horror reduced prosperous lands to poverty. In this game you immediately enter the tomb in search of the Sapient Scepter of Sirocco. Masteller is obviously a great fan of alliteration. Unfortunately for you, the Zombie King’s soul is trapped within the pyramid and stands guard over the Scepter that you seek. He is said to devour the minds of would-be-looters, leaving their crazed bodies to roam the tunnels and hallways.

The game starts out much like its predecessor where you are allowed the opportunity to purchase equipment and supplies for your trek into the pyramid. You can purchase a standard pack or each of the supplies individually. A couple of notable differences in the equipment list: torches which you’ll need to light the way throughout the tomb and a pick. The pick is a unique addition to the game that allows you to break through walls in order to find hidden rooms and passages.

I really enjoyed this installment of the series. The graphics are crisp and the gameplay is extremely smooth. There are five dungeon levels which comprise the ziggurat and they are connected by tunnels that go up and down. Each of the different tunnels deposit you in different locations and different levels all of which can quickly become very disorienting.

The introduction of the pick as an inventory item is a nice feature. You choose the command PICK followed by a compass direction to excavate a particular wall.

You can see areas in the map above where I’ve excavated and taken out portions of the wall. The pick is a necessary item because the scepter you’re looking for is in a secret room that is only accessible through excavation. The scepter is also guarded by the dreaded Zombie King who is your fiercest adversary.

In order to beat the Zombie King you’re going to need to purchase the magic sword for 3000 gold pieces. This is much in the same vein as Warrior of Ras, Volume III: The Wylde which had five mummies representing the “big bad”. They could only be defeated with a magic weapon as well. The Zombie King is a tougher opponent but you do find quite a variety of magic items to help you in this endeavor.

There are quite a variety of foes which you face in the game. Lower-ranked opponents include dogs, ghouls, zombies, and skeletons. Higher-ranked foes include Wraiths, Vampires, Dalyazas (demons), Golems, and the meanest of them all, the Zombie King.

Combat is exactly the same as Masteller’s predecessor except that the tactical combat screens have been improved upon. They are smaller and terrain obstacles have been removed making for a more expedient combat experience.

Combat also takes place in turns which is pulled straight from table-top Dungeons & Dragons. Turns are emphasized even more so than in The Wylde and encumbrance and magic items such as Potions of Haste play large roles. On the subject of magic items there are quite a few to find which have different mechanical implications on the combat experience. I had in my possession a Wand of Withering, Wand of Lightning, and Wand of Paralyzation. A Ring of Shield III was a very cool magic item as it gave me six points of magical protection from foes.

Combat remains sophisticated in this game. You still have complicated attack and defense values and can choose to hit specific body part targets. I still prefer the strategy of going for the opponent’s neck. It is harder to hit but has fewer points of protection and it is an expedient way to overcome a more powerful opponent.

When you defeat the Zombie King and obtain the scepter you then have to make your way out of the complex and back to where you started. When you accomplish this task you get the following message depicted above. What would have really “sent me over the moon” is if there had been some key room descriptions or bits of text for flavor in the dungeon.

I found this quartet of games, all published quite quickly one after another between 1982 and 1983, to be extremely strong offerings. You could see the improvement from one game to the next as new features were added with each new entry in the series. There were several impressive features that were unique at the time. A sophisticated combat system that allowed you to pinpoint the body part which you’d like to strike was original and a first during this period. The third and fourth games in the series switched to a tactical combat screen only seen in two other offerings: Tunnels of Doom and Ultima III. There were a myriad of foes to face and a slew of magic items; each uniquely affecting combat mechanics. The games were “bug-free” and ran quickly and smoothly.

Alas Masteller never produced another role-playing game of any kind. He did some work for Microprose and ported other author’s games to other systems such as F-15 Strike Eagle and Silent Service. So we close the door on Randall D. Masteller and I certainly appreciated playing his particular version of the art form. My current feelings are that Warror of Ras, Volumes III and IV are under appreciated and I’m surprised they are not mentioned more fondly by those who grew up with these games or by historians who have gone back to play them.

I have a home like any other individual, except for the secret wall panel behind my bookcase. When I pull Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time the bookcase swings open to reveal a staircase leading down into darkness. I descend these stairs as I’ve done countless other times and step into a secret workroom. I move familiarly to an old desk and open the large tome resting upon its surface. Using my finger I scan down the list located on the yellowed page; ‘Ahhh – next up on my list of games to play is Warrior.’

Until next time…

Warrior of Ras, Volume Three: The Wylde is the third of a four game series that were all written by Randall D. Masteller and published by Screenplay. It was released in 1983 for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, and Commodore 64. I played the Commodore 64 version using an emulator and it took me about 6 hours to beat.

Masteller wrote and released all four games in the series in a relatively short time period between 1982 and 1983. The first two games in the series were Warrior of Ras, Volume I: Dunzhin and Warrior of Ras, Volume II: Kaiv and my reviews on both were very favorable. The Wylde builds upon the previous two games by adding more features as well as improving on the combat system.

Those who have played Kaiv, the second installment in the series, will recall the fate of Grimsweord the Warrior. He returned from his venture into the Kaiv ragged and lame and was taken to the castle of the mighty Wizard. Sadly the wizard’s magic proved powerless against the warrior’s terrible wounds. You have volunteered to venture deep into the Wylde and find the Truculent Tonic of Tabanid as the Wizard claims it is the only thing that can save him now. Lord Doserror (haha) gives you 2000 gold pieces for supplies and wishes you luck.

It is at this point that you use your 2000 gold pieces to supply yourself for your adventure. You can type in @ here to receive a standard pack for 1970 gold pieces which basically outfits you with everything but the magic sword or you can purchase all your supplies individually. The entire adventure takes place outdoors so there are no torches or light sources that you have to worry about.

There are two other trading posts located on the outdoor map where you can also purchase supplies. In the sessions that I played there was also a bounty on bears and thus if I did encounter any bears I could sell their pelts for additional gold at either trading post. I suspect that the bounties are random but with three different characters I kept getting bears as my bounty animal.

You begin play in the lower left hand corner of the outdoor map and ultimately you’re going to find that which you seek all the way up in the upper right corner of the map. You get to move 9 spaces each turn and the game keeps track of time and weather for you. There are random events which may occur on the map as well such as a rainstorm, snowstorm, intense heat (where you must remove your metal armor or take damage), rotting corpses, tracks of wolves, etc. You’re going to want to ultimately amass 3000 gold pieces so that you can purchase the magic sword. Five undead mummies guard the treasure you’re looking for and they can only be affected by magic weapons.

The game plays very much like a table-top dungeons & dragons wilderness adventure. You move about the map and deal with random encounters.

You gain experience and your level increases as you defeat more and more foes. You gain greater protection and defensive scores for each of your body parts as you gain experience and level up. Your attack values will also improve as you gain levels and experience.

The encounters become deadlier as you move from the southwest corner of the map towards the northeast corner. The closer you get to the treasure which you seek, on the opposite end of the map, the greater the rank of your foes you’ll face.

Dogs, Wolves, Bears, and Skeletons are examples of some of the low-ranked foes you’ll face. Wyverns, Trolls, Wraiths, Vampires, and Mummies are examples of the higher-ranked foes you’ll face. The powerful undead opponents can only be damaged by a magic weapon which is why you MUST save enough gold to purchase the magic sword.

Combat for such an early series is very sophisticated. You can choose several different target areas when attacking your foes:

• Left-leg
• Right-leg
• Right-arm
• Left-arm
• Left-foreleg
• Right-foreleg
• Left-hindleg
• Right-hindleg
• Head
• Chest
• Neck
• Body
• Abdomen

You can also choose an AIM command where you spend a round studying your opponent carefully and thus increasing your chances to hit OR you can choose a FORCE command that has you attacking with an almost berserker rage. If you’re attacking with FORCE you can inflict much greater damage but your chances of hitting are not as good. Once I began to gain experience and increase in levels my favorite technique was to use FORCE and always go for my opponent’s NECK as that area seemed to have less protection than other areas. I found I could quicky take out a powerful foe this way if my attack was successful. There is also a BRIBE and HIDE command and terrain comes into play as well during your tactical battles.

When combat ensues the game switches to a different tactical screen as shown above. We’ve seen this before in Tunnels of Doom and Ultima III. A different tactical screen as well as specific target locations you can choose to strike at; combined with a myriad number of magic items that affect mechanics, is all very impressive in 1983.

There are a number of different magic items that you can acquire from your encounters. There are many different types of rings, wands and potions. For example, as depicted in my inventory shown above, my character found a Ring of Fireballs, Ring of Invisibility, Ring of Teleportation, and a Ring of Healing. All of the magic items were fun to experiment with to see how they impact mechanics.

The treasure you seek is located up in the northeast corner of the outdoor map. It is guarded by five mummies whose touch can drain you of a level! You cannot defeat these enemies without the magic sword. Once you defeat the five mummies you can then obtain the magic item which you’re questing for.

Once you have the item in hand you then make your way all the way back to the starting point after which you’ll receive the following message shown above.

The third offering in the series does not disappoint. It builds on the previous two installments and is quite impressive for it’s time. The game ran smoothly and kept my attention the entire time. In my opinion it is a step above Robert Clardy’s Wilderness Campaign and subsequent adventures and probably THE best example of an outdoor fantasy campaign of it’s time; yet’s Clardy’s works garnered way more recognition.

If you fancy yourself a historian or fan of these earlier games and you’ve not yet played The Wylde I suggest you make the effort to play it.

Next up for me is going to be Warrior of Ras, Volume IV: Ziggurat where’ll I’ll be concluding the four-game series and, alas, my time with Masteller.

Until next time…

Ultima: Escape From Mt. Drash was written by Keith Zabalaoui and published by Sierra On-Line for the Commodore Vic-20 in 1983.

Keith Zabalaoui was a childhood friend of Richard Garriott. Keith was part of Garriott’s gaming group in high school and he also received credit on Akalabeth, Ultima I, and Ultima II. Perhaps Garriott was extending his friend an olive branch by allowing him to apply the Ultima name to this particular game. Why am I prefacing this article with this bit of background knowledge? Well…because I am not sure what I was expecting with this particular game before I sat down to play it…but I wasn’t expecting THIS !

It is obvious that either Sierra On-Line, Zabalaoui, or both were hoping to cash in on the Ultima franchise with this particular title.

I played Ultima: Escape From Mt. Drash on a Commodore Vic-20 emulator and it took me roughly two hours to complete. Mt. Drash was one of the dungeons found in the Ultima I game.

In Escape From Mt. Drash you are a prisoner of the evil, wretched Garrintrots (an interesting play on Garriott’s name) whose stronghold is high atop the treacherous Mt. Drash. The mountain is honeycombed with old mining tunnels that have long since been abandoned by humanoid life. The Garrintrots have stocked the caverns with all manner of creatures and now use the caverns as gaming arenas where you are the main attraction.

I am not sure how you’d classify this game. It’s certainly not a role-playing game. You have 15 levels of tunnels that you need to make your way through – represented by a 3D-maze. Some of the levels have gems that need to be collected before you are allowed to leave the level. You encounter different enemies on each of the levels along the way.

The first four levels are relatively easy.

In the upper left corner of the screen depicted above you can see an overhead view of the maze as you move about. You always begin in the lower right corner of the maze and your exit is in the upper left corner. Your enemies are represented by an X and as you move about the maze you can see them closing in on you.

Combat is a strange affair. When there is an encounter the screen switches to a side view of you and your opponent. Your enemy will then move towards you and the speed of this movement increases at higher levels. Your three fighting moves are a thrust, counterthrust, and a ready position. When your opponent gets close enough you have to try and time your thrust. If your timing is off you are instantly killed. The combat featured in this game is reminiscent of that found in the Crown of Arthain. You have three lives at the start of the game.

The different monsters that you encounter are a bit silly and range from a Gremlin to a Dancing Demon to Purple Slime to name a few.

Levels 5-12 introduce two gems on each level and you have to collect one of the gems before you can exit the level.

When you reach level 7 the overhead view of your map disappears to make things harder.

When you reach level 9 the monsters can no longer be seen.

When you reach level 11 your character icon disappears from the overhead map in an effort to disorient you since it is impossible to tell which direction you are traveling in. You’re only visual aid is your 3d view of the maze you’re traversing.

When you reach level 13 you now have to acquire BOTH gems before you can exit to the next level.

Level 15 is the last level and you are almost blind. You have no sense of direction, have to acquire both gems, and there are many monsters on this level. I found combat to be extremely frustrating and it was difficult to time your thrusts correctly.

There are special function keys you can use in the game. Pressing B on the keyboard will unleash a Blast Spell which can destroy a section of the wall in front of you and create a new passage.

Pressing S on the keyboard unleashes a Sleep Spell which will induce sleep upon your opponents who will then nap for a short period while you make your escape.

If you press T on the keyboard you can Teleport yourself to a different location on the same level. You can never be killed as a direct result of using this spell.

This was more of an arcade or adventure game that I was not very impressed with but at least I was able to experience this obscure piece of gaming history.

Keith Zabalaoui would later found Atomic Games and create the strategy games in the V For Victory and Close Combat series.

Next up on the docket is Warriors of Ras Volume III: Wylde

Until next time…

The Return of Heracles was written by Stuart Smith and published by Quality Software in 1983 for the Apple II and Atari 8-bit and in 1985 for the Commodore 64. You may remember Stuart Smith from his previous efforts: Fracas and Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves.

My prior playthroughs and reviews of Smith’s earlier games had been very positive and thus I was eager to play this latest effort and I was not disappointed. Like his earlier efforts gameplay is nonlinear and its scoring system gives it some replay value.

The game takes place in ancient Greece and allows you to control up to several different characters. Some of these you play at the same time if you form a group while others you’ll play if your current character dies. The latter is a strength of the game. You’re not likely to lose the game through loss of life as you can immediately leap into the body of another character from Greek mythology should you perish. This development decision thus places the game’s focus on exploration and interaction with the environment. The characters which you might play includes quite a list of classical heroes; each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses.

The game also doubles as an educational primer for Greek mythology. If not completely accurate it stimulates you to do some reading and research of your own. The main quest involves completing 12 labors for Zeus. Some of you may recall the twelve labors of Hercules and wonder if this game’s title was a way to avoid copyright problems. In actuality the true name of Hercules WAS Heracles and it was later changed to Hercules by Roman literature.

In the Greek Mythos Heracles is performing these twelve labors at the service of King Eurystheus but in the game Smith has his characters performing these labors at the behest of Zeus. You can visit the Oracle of Zeus who will assign you the task of completing a specific labor or you can explore the game world and complete them during your travels. You can visit the Oracle of Delphi for hints.

The twelve labors that you have to complete are:

1. Slay the 12-headed Hydra
2. Kill the Nemean Lion
3. Find and recover the Golden Fleece
4. Slay the Minotaur
5. Kill the Stymphalian birds and recover the Stymphalus Treasure
6. Solve the Riddle of the Sphinx
7. Rescue Penelope
8. Recover the Cattle of Geryon
9. Rescue Helen of Troy and lift the gates to the city
10. Rebuild Thebes
11. Slay the Mares of Diomedes
12. Find the Golden Apples of Hesperides

The game world is huge and your screens shift from an overland view to a city-wide view and even to single room. All of these places are connected by portals and when you enter a portal you’ll find you are then at a different location. The map is so large it did require that I visit the Oracle of Delphi a couple of times to receive clues. Sometimes clues might include a marker or location that is close to your task you’re to undertake to help you better get your bearings.

This is the game’s greatest strength. It’s huge nonlinear map with all of the locations and the non-player characters and wandering foes is just pure enjoyable chaos. This landscape is absolutely deadly and survival is extremely difficult. The game would be extremely hard if you were not able to jump from character to character. I still struggled mightily in the beginning of the game until I arrived in Colchis near the Golden Fleece. It was here that others wanted to join my party and I ended up with a party of four. This made all of the random encounters and fixed boss battles much more manageable.

The combat is mechanically handled. You can close with an opponent and switch to a dagger (you’re both then occupying the same square) or you can fight with your sword (at which point you’re adjacent to your opponent). Where the game becomes pure enjoyable chaos is that each of the wandering monsters, Greek heroes, and non-player characters all have a will of their own. Events continue to transpire on the screen outside of your party’s actions. Monsters may engage with and fight other monsters while non-player characters may be working with you or against you. The NPCs can even take treasure from the area that you may have had your eye on. It’s all quite a bit of fun and what you would expect from a Stuart Smith game. The documentation has over 250 different monsters and foes with their statistics listed. There are many NPCs, monsters, and mythological creatures that you’ll encounter during the course of this game.

Once you complete your final task you are given a congratulatory screen.

You also get a very cool depiction of Zeus:

The Return of Heracles is another reminder how much fun Stuart Smith’s games are. The game took me about 10 hours to complete and it was probably my favorite of the three different Stuart Smith games that I’ve played. I believe I’ll get to experience Stuart Smith one more time with his Adventure Construction Set that was released in 1984.

Next up on the docket is Ultima: Escape From Mt. Drash. Thanks to William Hern, my technical engineer and production designer, I was able to get Escape From Mt. Drash working.

Until next time…

Monsters & Magic was developed and published by Prickly Pear Software in 1983. It was released for the Commodore 64, TRS-80 Color Computer, and Dragon 32/64. I played the Commodore 64 version using an emulator and it took me roughly 2 hours to beat the game. It definitely sports some amazing fantasy cover art; some of the best I’ve seen in this young era.

In Monsters & Magic you have to enter a dungeon with the purpose of destroying the evil Dungeon Lord. In order to face the dreaded Dungeon Lord you have to face the other denizens of the dungeon first. An interesting twist is you get to specify how many monsters there are in the dungeon ranging from 1 to 50. Once the requisite number of monsters have been faced then you are immediately thrust into a showdown with the Dungeon Lord. Thus if it is a shorter game that you’re after then merely choose a low number of monsters to face. I felt guilty thinking about choosing only 1 to 3 monsters but I’m not a fan of self-immolation either so I decided to choose 10.

Character creation is a rather simple affair. You do not get to choose a class type and the game rolls between 6 and 18 for standard Dungeons & Dragons game attributes. You can choose to hit R on the keyboard to reroll the stats if you’re not happy with the results. Once satisfied you then choose a name for your character, random hit points are assigned between 1 and 16, random gold is bestowed, and then you can purchase armor and weapons. I had enough gold to purchase chainmail, a shield, a helmet, and a sword. Character creation now complete you can start on your quest to defeat the Dungeon Lord.

Once you enter the dungeon, everything is randomly generated and then inserted into your room description.

In the example above your location is randomly determined. Whether it be a chapel, a narrow passage, a high gate, or a monster lair; the room descriptor is randomly determined and then inserted.

Then there is a random description that is generated and inserted. In the above example the random descriptor is: the floor is cracked. There are many other descriptors such as: Sees a large jar, or There is hot food on the table.

The rooms that you traverse may or may not have a monster in them depending on how many monsters you selected to populate your dungeon. A Black Pudding, Ogre, Hill Giant, and Hobgoblin were some of the monsters that I faced. When combat ensues you and your adversary roll a 1d6 for initiative to see who goes first. Then each of you take turns rolling a 1d20 to see if you hit. If you do hit then you roll for damage based on the weapon type that you are using. Some of the more powerful monsters get multiple attacks on you. Combat was often a lengthy affair. When you defeat your opponent you are awarded with experience points and extra hit points. Experience points allow your character to level up or increase in levels. The higher the level of your character the greater your damage multiplier in combat.

In each room you enter you have the same 8 options to choose from. All of the options depicted above are self-explanatory. The SEARCH option generates random results which can be either good or bad. There seemed to be an equal chance for both; so later in my travels I avoided the search option completely. If the room’s descriptor contains something that can be opened; then you get a second random generation roll with the same probabilities of something good or bad. Sometimes you can find a magic sword or magic armor or even have one of your attributes raised. Or…you may set off a rust trap that destroys all of your weapons and armor, encounter an evil cleric that turns all of your weapons into clay, or see one of your attributes lose points.

Once you have defeated all of the monsters that populate the dungeon you are then thrust into a battle with the evil Dungeon Lord.

The Dungeon Lord is a tough encounter but once you defeat him then you’ve won the game.

Monsters & Magic represented a nice afternoon RPG diversion and will likely be one of the easier role-playing games I’ll play from 1983.

Prickly Pear Software would go on to develop and publish two more role-playing games: the Scepter of Ursea in 1984 and Darkmoor Hold in 1985. I will hopefully, with a good Luck roll and good Constitution roll, be reporting to you on those games in the far future.

Next up on the docket is the Return of Heracles and then hopefully I will have also solved my technical problems getting Escape From Mt. Drash to work for me.

Until next time…