Author: professor6153

“There was a certain kind of magic about my life during the early days that makes the first three Ultimas very special. I did those entirely on my own, and there was something magical about them being utterly my own creation, utterly my own vision. I really lived to work on those games.”

– Richard “Lord British” Garriott

Ultima III was the first game to be published by Garriott’s new company; Origin Systems. The previous Ultima had been released by Sierra On-Line. Richard Garriott moved back into his parent’s house and set up residence in the loft of the family’s three-car garage. He gathered about him a close-knit collection of friends who could help create and sell games and Origin Systems was born.

Ultima III: Exodus is the third game in the series and the last installment of what has become to be known as the “Age of Darkness” trilogy. It was released in 1983 for the Apple II, C64, Atari-8 bit, and IBM PC. Later ports with enhanced graphics would follow for the Amiga, Atari ST, and Macintosh.

The amazing Ultima III box art was painted by veteran Ultima artist Denis Loubet. However, the cover was originally to feature art by Helen Garriott, Richard’s mother, which is featured below.

The other “furnishings” inside of the game’s box were also of outstanding quality. Included with the game were: The Book of Play, The Ancient Liturgy of Truth, The Book of Amber Runes, a Player Reference Card, a cloth map of Sosaria, and an advertisement for the Secrets of Sosaria.

I think more than any other game I’ve played thus far, it was important to go through and carefully read and study all of the game materials found in the box. The Book of Play was 22 pages long and contained a foreword as well as instructions on how to play the game. Topics in this book included Moongates, Towns, and a Bestiary. The writing by Margaret Ellen Weigers and Roe R. Adams is top notch.

The Ancient Liturgy of Truth is an 18 page book, containing numerous illustrations, detailing the spells of the Cleric.

The Book of Amber Runes is an 18 page document that details the various spells of the mage.

The beautiful cloth map included in the box features artwork from Richard Garriott’s mother Helen.

Secrets of Sosaria, which was advertised in the box, was a 48 page long clue book written by “Lord Robert”, which is the alias of Robert Garriott, Richard Garriott’s brother. It originally retailed for $12.95.

An Ultima III 550 piece jigsaw puzzle was sold in Japan with the finished picture being the map of Sosaria which was also included in the box itself.

Pony Canyon also sold Exodus T-Shirts and a Wrist Watch as promotional items in 1988 for the MSX-2 port.

Ultima III was the first Ultima to feature a party of characters rather than a single character. I believe Garriott was influenced by the success of Sir-Tech’s Wizardry games in this decision. There are five different races to choose from and eleven professions. An oddity in Ultima III was the ability to choose a race known as a Fuzzy. This was the only Ultima that would feature this race as a playing choice. A Furry is furry bipedal race. They can sport a high dexterity or intelligence so would make good Thief or Wizard characters.

There are eleven professions to choose from in the game: fighter, barbarian, lark (synonym for bard), paladin, ranger, thief, illusionist, alchemist, wizard, druid, and cleric.

I decided to go with an old school fighter, thief, cleric, and wizard quartet. I have never played any of the Ultima games other than the previous installments and wasn’t sure what I was in for. You’ll notice from my choice of character names that I’ve just recently finished Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Times series (which I highly recommend).

I had enjoyed Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress but the game for me was akin to John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China. It had everything thrown in but the kitchen sink and seemed a “wild romp”. In comparison to Ultima II, this newest iteration seemed much more developed to me. It had a seriousness to it which resonated with me. A lot of the science fiction elements had been stripped out in favor of a more fantasy-oriented plot. I found this much more to my liking.

Ultima III: Exodus is hands down my favorite game in the series thus far. In my opinion the series turns a corner with this latest installment and there are two major changes which help it to accomplish this.

The biggest change to the game is that the dungeons are suddenly meaningful. There are seven different dungeons in the game and each of them have their own distinct personality.

There are very specific items that you need to obtain from the dungeons that are necessary to win the game. In previous installments the dungeons had merely been “window dressing” and a means to gain hit points and now exploration of these dungeons is a necessity.

Each of the dungeons contains eight levels and the foes you encounter become tougher as you move deeper into the dungeons. There are trapped spaces in the dungeon that cause each of your party members serious injury should you step on that space. It is thus absolutely necessary that you map out each of the dungeon levels so that you can avoid these traps. There are other areas where a wind will blow out your torch and you’ll have to light another. This is a serious issue because torches are not only expensive but can only be purchased at select locations on the map. Gremlins are also prominent in key locations that serve to strip you of your food. If there is any flaw with the game it is that the management of food is so crucial as to almost become a distraction. There are also magical fountains scattered throughout the dungeons that can either do you harm or heal all of your hit points. A few of the dungeons do overlap each other in that the items that you seek can be found in multiple dungeons. The Dungeon of Time is an absolute necessity to complete. You must encounter the Time Lord in the lowest level of the dungeon as he will have clues as to how to defeat Exodus.

The second significant change in the game and for the series is that it is important that you take your time to talk to every character in each of the towns. There is actually quite a bit of text throughout the game and if it comes to a point in the game where you are stuck or not sure what to do it is likely that you haven’t talked to enough people or the right person.

It is from Britain and Castle British that you learn general game details and hear the first rumors of marks and cards. In each of the towns you explore you’ll find that the rumor or text shines a spotlight on another nuance of the game or an important clue. So there is a lot of “sleuthing” and recording of information to be done. This lent a seriousness to the game and a cohesiveness that the prior games lacked.

There are other unique changes in this Ultima sequel. In many cases on the map you are limited to line of sight only and a fog of war comes into play. Once combat is initiated the screen changes to a tactical format which would have a great influence on the Final Fantasy franchise and many other future games. Each of the characters can be moved and choose to Attack or Cast Spells and some strategy becomes involved at higher levels.

One aspect of the game that caused me to become “stuck” more than once was the ( O )ther command. This command allows the player to enter a command not given in the normal list of keyboard commands. So when you hit O on the keyboard you’re asked which player and then it drops to a prompt. Now the Book of Play gives you examples to type in such as Jump or Kiss (which are never used in the game) I offer that you consider the commands Dig and Pray. It will save you a lot of time and heartache.

Food and gold are not easily obtained in this game. The encounters serve to deplete your hit points and your food depletes with every step you take. You are constantly struggling to obtain gold. Food, healing, better weapons and armor, and raising your attributes all compete for your hard earned coin. Thus you will find you are constantly grinding so that you can increase all of these things.

There is a lot of grinding that you’ll need to do in this game. You’ll want to have each of your characters at about 2500 hit points and your cleric and wizard with enough spell points to cast the highest level spells before you venture into Castle Exodus. You will want to have eight different magical or special items in your possession as well as both exotic armor and exotic weapons. There are also mystical shrines that you can find to boost the attributes of your characters – but you will have to tithe quite a bit of gold.

Castle Exodus and the encounters within are extremely difficult. Items that you found in the dungeons and elsewhere in your journeys must be brought into the castle with you. There are 10 different necessary items that you’ll have to have in your possession in order to be victorious. The final encounter with Exodus and the realization of just what Exodus is; is a pretty interesting reveal too.

There was one bug or flaw in the game that I encountered that became somewhat frustrating. Once I had completed the game I did some internet sleuthing and discovered that many others had experienced the same issue. I was almost ready to believe that there was something wrong with my copy of the game and that I was going to be unable to finish. Here is what happened: late in the game you’re going to realize that you must get your hands on a ship in order to complete the game. You cannot buy a ship or raft like in previous versions. The only way to obtain a ship is to randomly encounter pirates, defeat them, then take their vessel. Late in the game there was some issue with the aquatic “spawning” and there were just not any creatures or ships being spawned. To make matters worse the whirlpool moves about the game at a high rate of speed on these new machines; possibly destroying the ships that do get spawned. When you exit your ship and explore the countryside; much of the time these ships are destroyed by the whirlpool even though they are “parked”. So late in the game I must have wandered about at least 10,000 turns and spent quite a bit of gold on food just looking for a ship. Just as I was about to throw my hands up in the air, I finally encountered one and was able to move on. I probably spent at least two real hours of time wandering about waiting to encounter a ship. This does seem to be an issue with all versions so be aware of it.

This is definitely my favorite Ultima game thus far. It checked a lot of boxes for me. The dungeons were fun to explore and very relevant to the game this time. Rather than dealing with one character you’re dealing with a party of four and the new tactical combat screen would go on to influence the entire genre and industry. The great amount of text in the game and the great number of clues and sleuthing that was involved also resonated very strongly with me ( I spent hours going back over everything trying to figure out how to get by the serpent to Castle Exodus ). The game sold very well for Garriott’s fledgling company and allowed them the luxury and time to work on future installments of the series. This was the first game as well to direct winning players to mail the company to receive a completion certificate. Here is an example of someone’s completion certificate that I found on the internet.

I purchased the game from GOG and played the game on my PC. It took me well over 25 hours to beat and now stands as my favorite game in the series. I purposefully avoided providing any maps or spoilers or specific walkthrough for this entry because this is a game that is still easily accessible and I am hoping that many decide to take the time to finally play it. There are many other sites out there who have already created maps and walkthroughs and probably have already done a more exhaustive job than I could have. I think I’ve shined a spotlight on some of the more important aspects as well as firmly establishing my opinion of it. I did feel a sense of dismay that I never made the effort to play this one when I was much younger.

Next up on the docket I am going to continue to run with the Ultima theme and play Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash. Until next time…

It should be no secret by now that I’m a huge Gary Bedrosian fan. His prior offerings: Lords of Karma & Empire of the Over-Mind were both bestowed awards for Game of the Year for their category in 1978 and 1979 respectively.

It stands to reason then that I was eagerly anticipating playing this 1981 offering.

Documentation packaged with the game included a short story as well as a Galactic Federation Naval Officer’s Manual.

The short story is well written and serves as a prelude to the beginning of the game. Speaking of beginnings, G.F.S. Sorceress sports one of the more original starts to date. You begin the game in a space suit, stranded, and floating in space!

The Officer’s Naval Manual which also comes included in the documentation is very well done. The manual contains information on the stardrive as well as a planetary guide. The manual also contains eight supplemental writings that you are not supposed to read until you encounter them in the game. This takes a page from Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai and it would be something that you see in the SSI Gold Box games that come much later. The information contained within the documentation is an integral part of the player’s experience. Familiarizing yourself with the stardrive fundamentals will help you with one of the early puzzles in the game.

Soon you’ll find yourself on the G.F.S. Sorceress and not much later in command of it. What then ensues is a planet hopping quest in an attempt to uncover the conspiracy against you and absolve yourself of all criminal charges.

I was surprised, that unlike his previous two offerings, this game seemed a much more linear experience. The puzzles in Bedrosian’s newest offering were fairly straight forward as well and thus it took me less time to finish.

Once you engage the hyperdrive there are five different planets that you can visit. Because we’re talking interstellar travel, the distance between planets is great enough that you’re going to have to constantly place yourself in cryogenic sleep to slow your aging process. One of the larger puzzles in the game is learning the proper order with which you should visit the planets. It’s possible to create a softlock if you choose incorrectly. A softlock is an instance where the game remains in a playable state but progressing further becomes impossible.

Each planet presents a particular puzzle to work though. On Tau Ceti you have to deal with quicksand and a spider. Examining your surroundings carefully will help you with these particular puzzles.

On Epsilon Enidani V you have to deal with a large sand worm which channels imagery from Dune.

On Rigel X you have to explore frozen ruins found within a glacier and solve the mystery of the robot insurrection which seems to channel Asimov’s I, Robot.

Altair IV is the most difficult of the locations and will involve you having to discover not one but several hidden rooms to obtain your objective.

When you’re completely finished with your planetary adventures you should have enough evidence to attend your own proceedings and attempt to exonerate yourself.

I was surprised in that I did not find it necessary to map G.F.S. Sorceress by hand. The ship’s layout was very straightforward and each of the planet adventures had small and virtually linear areas to explore. The puzzles took longer than mastering your surroundings but all of them were pretty straight forward and very fair. If I had not recently just played Zork II and dealt with the red sphere puzzle I would have had a much harder time with Altair IV. It is all I’ll say on the matter.

Once again the author’s creativity stands out here. This stands out as the first true interplanetary space adventure and the introduction of hibernation or cryogenic sleep in the game was highly original. The writing and documentation that came with the game were of high quality and well done and is a precursor to many of the later Infocom games that would hit the store shelves.

The story may have been a bit more linear and the puzzles a little easier than Bedrosian’s previous two games but the creativity and originality are standouts here. If there is any kind of negative here at all, subjectively, I felt the relationship with Selena seemed a bit forced. It appears that the plan was that this would the first in a series of adventures but it must not have done well enough commercially because, alas, there were no sequels released. This would actually be the last big game product produced by Gary Bedrosian. I wish that Mr. Bedrosian would not have given up creating games but other work beckoned him. Gary Bedrosian has a Ph.D. from CalTech and does research in aerospace systems and electromagnetic pulses. I knew Gary was a very smart guy.

I enjoyed my experience with this one and have loved this author’s art and labor.

Next up on the docket is Ultima III: Exodus

Until next time…

I am about to seriously tackle the computer role-playing games that were published in 1983 and I’m likely going to start with Ultima III: Exodus. I wanted to return to the world of interactive fiction before embarking on that particular campaign and that takes us back to 1981. I perused my interactive fiction “to do” list from that year and I thought what better place is there to start than Zork II?

Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz was written by Dave Lebling and Marc Blank and published by Infocom in 1981. The game was ported and available on all major platforms and widely accessible. I played the DOS version using DOSBox and it took me roughly 10 to 12 hours of actual playing time to beat the game. I stress “actual playing time” because it is much harder to quantify the amount of time my mind spent working through the puzzles while I wasn’t in front of the game. I thought about the puzzles while cutting the grass, driving in the car, and doing other “real life” things. I would choregraph in my mind the different things I would try when I had time to sit down with the game again. I am sure, dear reader, that you have had a similar experience.

Zork, in it’s original form, was released in 1977 for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was split up and expanded into three titles which were then later released commercially for home computers. It was a massive success for Infocom and collectively the three episodes sold more than 680,000 copies through 1986.

The commercial version of Zork II plays like a true sequel. Zork I ended with you having reached the Barrow and this is your starting point in Zork II. You once again take up your trusty lantern and sword and you are on your way.

I want to relate my thoughts and experiences with you regarding Zork II but this is NOT going to be a walkthrough nor intentionally contain any spoilers. I know in many previous games I have provided spoilers and screenshots. My belief though is that there are probably a great many people who still want to experience Zork II for themselves, as I did, and I do not want to ruin that experience for anyone.

Zork II took me by surprise a bit because in all honesty I thought it was going to be more of the same. Meaning I thought there might be an obligatory maze followed by more treasure hunting and then storing them in a particular location for points. What I encountered instead was a game that had an actual story or plot that succeeded in pulling off a clever twist on the treasure hunting trope.

I do have a recollection of a “high-school” version of myself attempting to play Zork II and failing miserably. I remember thinking that it was extremely hard. Perhaps I’ve developed some “adventuring chops” during this epic endeavor because I fared much better the second time around.

The puzzles in Zork II are diverse and wide ranging. Two of the puzzles encountered in this game have been historically labeled with “two of the worst puzzles in adventure game history”. The irony, in my experience with this game, is that I didn’t have much of a problem with these two particular puzzles. It was a couple of the other puzzles found within that had me pulling my hair out. While I understand the “labels” placed on these two puzzles don’t let them deter you from trying this little gem out. These labels created such a negative stigma that I found myself having great trepidation even before starting the game. My own childhood experience the first time around did little to ease that trepidation.

What I want to warn future adventurers about is that there is a “time” component to the game. No matter how hard you try; certain solutions will not present themselves until you’ve solved the puzzles in a particular order.

The very interesting thing about Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz is that the first half of the game does deceptively seem to be nothing more than an extension of the first game. I greatly enjoyed the locations and descriptions found in this second installment; much more so than even those found in the first game. The locations and puzzles seemed to have a tighter cohesiveness and design to them than the previous game. As much as I was enjoying myself exploring the GUE (Great Underground Empire), I kept wondering “what is the point” or “where am I going to deposit these treasures”?

As I mentioned previously, you’re meant to tackle these puzzles in a particular sequence. One thing leads to another and suddenly you’re presented with a plot twist that completely changes things. The game turns the treasure hunt trope upside down on it’s head in a very clever way.

The player learns through descriptions of items and areas that the Great Underground Empire was ruled by the Flatheads. You also learn about the Wizard of Frobozz, once a respected enchanter, was exiled by Lord Dimwit Flathead when his powers began to fade. It is this very wizard that keeps appearing randomly before you throughout the game. However now he is senile and has forgotten all of his spells except those that begin with the letter F. When the wizard randomly appears he cast spells upon you that have a variety of effects. Most of them humorous. When the wizard appeared the first few times that I was playing, I found his appearance, because of the great descriptions and clever humor used by the authors, highly entertaining. Then as the game wore on the wizard really began to irritate the hell out of me and I found myself wanting to punch him in the nose.

I tried to catalog all of the different spells that the wizard threw my way. I am sure this is not a comprehensive list: fall, float, freeze, fence, fierce, fear, fumble, fantasize, fireproof, and fudge. I’ll leave it to you to discover what these different spells do. I realized, unfortunately, late in the game that the wizard’s presence and his spells really serve to diminish the battery life on your lantern and I had to start the game all over again.

I wanted to comment on the bank puzzle while avoiding spoilers. When I attempted to map it out the first time and solve it’s central puzzle, I decided to come back to it later in the game. When I later decided that I would dedicate all of my time and energy to solving the thing – I did so quite by accident. Only after solving it by accident did I deduce what might be going on. I brazenly went back to an earlier saved game and tested my theory and it worked. It was a good thing that I did test my hypothesis otherwise I may have later become trapped in the bank. So while many claim the bank puzzle as completely unfair, at least it is a puzzle you can solve quite by accident.

The puzzles that gave me the most problems were a magical well and also obtaining the red sphere beyond the well. I also had the location of where to use the brick completely wrong to the point of tunnel vision. I spent a considerable amount of time wrestling with these particular puzzles.

I greatly enjoyed my time with Zork II and beating the game checked a mighty big box for me as far as games in my journey I was eagerly anticipating playing. I suggest saving often and I also suggest, only after saving, that you try these various things in the game. The authors’ use of humor is quite clever.

Try giving the guardian lizard a crystal sphere

Read the newspaper from the gazebo.

Set the carousel spinner on high and then go back and enter it.

Attack the princess

Read the Wizard’s degree from GUE tech

Take the serpent out of the tank

Float all the way out of the top of the volcano

Drop your zorkmid in the well and say make a wish

Burn the zorkmid bills

Play around with the wand when you get it and try casting all of the various F spells

** once again, before doing any of this, SAVE lol **

I am now greatly looking forward to the sequel: Zork III: The Dungeon Master.

Next up on the docket is G.F.S. Sorceress by Gary Bedrosian. This is another game I’ve been looking forward to as I’m a huge Gary Bedrosian fan. I really enjoyed Lords of Karma and Empire of the Over-Mind and both of these games won Retrogamestrove.com awards.

Until next time…

Dungeon of Danger was published as code in Howard Berenbon’s second Book of Mostly BASIC. It was presented as 12 pages of code that an individual could type in and then play. Depending on which version of the source code you purchased; there was code available for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and TRS-80. I played the TRS-80 version on an emulator and spent roughly two hours with the game.

When the game begins you get to choose a difficulty level and then you are teleported into the Dungeon of Danger. The dungeon consists of two levels and there are 64 rooms on each level. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to collect as much treasure as possible and then get the hell out.

There is no character creation other than that you get to choose a name for your character. There is no inventory management nor any items that you find that you can use to your advantage.

The game is text-based and combat completely random. There are however 38 different creatures that you can encounter in the game which is a tremendous amount of variety for the time.

The above list are all of the different monsters that you can encounter with their hit points and maximum damage that they can cause.

The only graphic in the game is a special encounter with a good wizard. He gave me additional hit points and 105 gold pieces. Nice guy! There are also trap doors that drop you to the second level and pools of water that have magical effects.

The dungeon is presented in an 8 x 8 grid with enclosed edges. The M represents one of the thirty-eight monsters you might encounter. Once you vanquish the dungeon denizen then that square becomes empty. EW represents an east-west corridor. You can only exit or move to the east or west. NS represents a north-south corridor and the same movement rules apply. UP represents a stairway and C represents a Cavern. When you enter a cavern you may find a random potion, a pool, a dark wizard, or a friendly wizard. Each of these random encounters will either be beneficial or threatening. The ? may represent a thief or a trap door. The checkered square represents the character’s location.

You move about the map with the N, S, E, W keys on the keyboard. The U key represents UP and it is how you move from dungeon level one to two or from the first dungeon level to the exit outside.

The H key will display your current hit points.

The G key will display your current gold.

The M key will display the map for you.

Combat is done in the background and blows are exchanged randomly. You have no input other than to choose to (F)ight or (R)un. Once you choose to fight you and your opponent keep exchanging blows until one of you is defeated.

You can only move between dungeon levels by finding enchanted keys. A key is found in each level and will only be rewarded to you after you have defeated a random number of monsters on each level. The key will then suddenly become part of the spoils after you’ve vanquished one of the random creatures. You’ll need a key to escape dungeon level 2 back to dungeon level 1 and you’ll need an enchanted key to be able to use the exit out of the dungeon. When you climb from level two back up to level one you will also regenerate any lost hit points.

If you cannot find a copy of the game to play you can play the Commodore 64 version RIGHT HERE

I was able to survive both dungeon levels and escape with my life intact.

Next up on the docket is Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz.

Until next time…

Sword & Sorcery II was written by Barry L. Adams and published as a “type in” program in the August 1980 issue of 80 Microcomputing magazine. This is an odd game and plays more like a “pick your own adventure path” than a CRPG however your combat ability does increase when you defeat an opponent.

Most of the game is text based and it does sport some minor graphics. When combat with the dragon ensues the game switches from text to an arcade mode.

The premise is standard fantasy fare. An elf princess has been abducted by an evil necromancer and placed in a dungeon in the Old Forest. Your quest is to rescue the princess and along the way you’ll face multiple dangers.

When the game begins there is a random chance that you are presented with the option to have a dryad accompany you. I recommend you ALWAYS choose to have her join your quest because she helps you choose the most beneficial path to take. If you choose the wrong path then the following ensues:

There are no combat options. If you choose the wrong random path you are automatically eaten by a giant spider and the game then ends. I cannot tell you how many times I had to start the game over from the beginning. I died again and again and again. If it wasn’t from the arachnid then it was from the dragon which I’ll expound upon later. I also died multiple times from one-on-one combat with a troll warrior.

Once you’re given the possible option of a dryad companion you’ll then be asked if you’d like to consult the Oracle. You are told there are three paths through the forest however only one path is true. If you answer YES that you want to consult the Oracle; he will then shockingly ask you how many virgins you’d like to sacrifice. You have to walk a tightrope here – if your respond back with a number that is too small the Oracle will become offended and refuse to help you. If you respond with a number that is too high you’ll please the Oracle but offend the Dryad who will cast a curse upon you and then leave. I found that 2 to 3 virgins seemed to please both parties though I found the sacrifice of virgins lamentable.

Once the Oracle sets you on the right path; I believe it slightly increases your luck for the random results. The dryad will also help you when you come to multiple forks in the forest. You may ask her advice and most times she will give it. Sometimes she is also perplexed by what choice to make.

There are multiple random encounters or obstacles between you and your ultimate goal of rescuing the princess. You can find a Magic Sword which increases your combat skill, encounter a snake, a pack of rats, satyrs, and even a hot dog seller. You can also fall into a pit and if you are unable to climb out on your own you’ll have to call for help. Whether you successfully climb out of the pit or not is completely random. When you have to resort to calling for help; who helps you is completely random as well. Sometimes you luck out and are saved by a little old lady and other times you are enslaved by goblins and forced into combat against a troll warrior to escape.

The combat with the troll warrior is long and quite humorous. If you win, and again your success or failure is completely random, then you can move on and continue your quest. The writing and descriptions for all of these locations and encounters are very well done and quite funny.

The encounter with the dragon is what had me pulling my hair out in frustration.

If you encounter the dragon the game switches to an arcade mode and your character is then placed at a random distance away from the dragon. You use the . key and the ; key to move away from the dragon or towards the dragon while it constantly breathes fire at you. You have to avoid it’s dragon breath and get close enough to stab it. If you’re hit by the dragon breath you die instantly and have to start the game all over again. I learned to despise this loathsome beast and I awarded it with the evil moniker of MOTHER-IN-LAW.

When you do finally reach the dungeon you have to try and sneak past the sleeping guard and if you’re discovered you then have to hope that you randomly win the combat to get inside.

Once you do finally get past the guard and rescue the princess you are finally awarded with the screen depicted above. It took a lot of patience and perseverance to continue to restart this game in the hope of making it to the end. It just barely qualifies as a CRPG. Once you defeat the dragon in combat your combat skills go up significantly so that when you do encounter a troll in the Old Forest, which is often, you have a much greater chance of winning the combat.

This is one of the things I love the most about what I am doing here. Unearthing and encountering these very early and older CRPGs is a real treat. It is a lot of heartache getting some of them to work but you just never know what it is you’re going to get. While Sword & Sorcery II might not be for everybody, you have to remember that many early home computer purchasers were role-playing game enthusiasts. They were like desert nomads in search of water. So every very early fantasy offering that came out like a drop of water for a parched throat.

Next up on the docket is Dungeon of Danger.

Until next time…

Monster’s Lair was written by Allen G. Mehr and Jimmy D. Jones and published by Soft Sector Marketing. It was released for the TRS-80 in 1980. I played Monster’s Lair on a TRS-80 emulator.

Monster’s Lair features an overhead view and it plays very much like one of the Microquests from the Dunjonquest line. I’m specifically reminded of Morloc’s Tower.

What I found to be surprising was the speed of play and execution. The Microquests from the Dunjonquest line have not aged well where movement and speed are concerned. The games can be a bit slow and waiting for the graphical environment to refresh can become tiresome. However moving about the map in Monster’s Lair was a relatively simple affair and I was amazed at the speed of the game. You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move around to quicky explore the rooms.

The dungeon consists of 28 rooms and is a fixed map. The game is real-time and not turn based. The goal here is to explore the 28 rooms and the monsters that are located within each room. Once you’ve defeated the monster in it’s lair you are then awarded treasure which affects your overall score. Once you have explored the dungeon level you make your way back to the entrance and you are then awarded an overall score and asked if you want to play again.

The game begins by asking you whether you want to enter a character by hand or have it generated for you. This is also reminiscent of the Dunjonquest games which offer you the same option. If you choose automatic generation the character begins with an armor class of 5 and 10 hit points. The character’s attributes will be given random values between 10 and 18. If you choose to enter the character by hand then you can enter the attribute values yourself up to a maximum of 18. The six character attributes are strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, and charisma.

The armor class score can be a range from 0 -9. The lower the score the harder it is for monster’s to hit you. The game sports a magic armor bonus ranging from 0-5 as well based on magic items and armor which affect your armor class. Your character’s experience level can range from 1 to 5. The higher your experience point level the greater your proficiency in combat. Your health or stamina is measured in hit points which can range from 1 to 99. Each of these hit points are then converted into 4 vitality points. So if you have 50 hit points your vitality score would be 200. Each time a monster strikes you the damage is subtracted from your vitality. If your vitality score reaches 0 you die.

Your character icon is represented by a square on the overland map. As you move about the map and enter a room the graphical interface changes from the overhead dungeon view to depict the room that you are in. Each of the room locations are decorated with items scattered about the room. These items may consist of a table, chair, bed, chest, desk, or trash. Some of the rooms have closets as well. Each room you enter contains a monster that you’ll have to fight. The monster is also represented by a square item and when you enter the room the monster will begin to move towards you quickly in real-time. When the two icons converge then combat ensues.

The different monsters that I encountered included beetles, bugbears, stocky dwarfs, a strange cat-like creature, a large black jelly-like mass, a pointy eared elf, and a demon.

Combat is done for you and is automatic. You do not have much control over combat and in combat you and your opponent keep exchanging blows until one of you perishes. There are text descriptions which accompany each round of combat and some of the descriptions are rather humorous like the one above: “so close you felt the breeze” to describe an opponent barely missing you. Other description examples are: “you clobbered him” or “you gave him a glancing blow.”

One unique feature which involves combat is that your character begins the game with a wand. The wand contains three charges and is activated by hitting the Space key on the keyboard. If your character’s vitality is dangerously low and the battle is not going well, hitting the spacebar automatically kills the creature. One of the rooms contains a powerful demon that is head and shoulders tougher than the other dungeon denizens encountered so be sure to save a charge for the dastardly demon.

Once you’ve cleared out the 28 rooms on the dungeon level you make your way back to the starting room and then you’ll get the following message up above. Your experience points will be generated and you’ll be asked if you want to play again. Again I am reminded of the Dunjonquest series because the game does not keep track of your attributes and experience between sessions. You’ll want to write them down and then type them in by hand in order to see character progression.

It took me roughly two hours to clear out the entire dungeon level and make my way back to the starting room. I did choose to play again just to see if there were any significant divergences from my original play through and it merely seemed like I was repeating the initial dungeon exploration experience. There doesn’t seem to be much of a “replayability” factor here but you have to remember that there were not a lot of role-playing game offerings to choose from in 1980 either so I could see those that were hungry for this kind of stuff continuing with the game and building their characters.

Next up on the docket is Sword & Sorcery II.

Until next time…

The Mines of Mordor was written and developed by Scott Cunningham for the TRS-80 and published by Electronic Imaginations in 1979.

Mines of Mordor is a surprisingly addictive turn-based dungeon crawler. The game is completely text-based and uses ascii characters to depict the dungeon. There are no class or character choices other than coming up with a name for your character. Once you choose a name your character is automatically generated. You begin play with a health rating of 6 and this health rating increases as you slay opponents. You also begin the game with a knife, sword, and rope in your inventory.

Once your character is complete you are then deposited on the first level of the dungeon. The dungeons are randomly generated each game and consist of six levels. When you begin play the stairs exiting the dungeon are in the space that you start in.

The double asterisk depicted above is your character. Each dungeon level consists of 5×5 squares. A single I allows passage between columns going from left to right. You can move north and south in each of the five rows unless they are blocked by a wall which is depicted by several “I”‘s together ( IIIII ) . The + sign’s strewn all over the first level represent monsters or encounters. The game will inform you if there are stairs going up or down when you land upon the space.

There are a couple of features in Mines of Mordor that I found to be quite interesting and unique. The game constantly lets you know how much total treasure is in the dungeon as well as how much treasure you’ve acquired through weight.

In the picture shown above Fost had just survived an encounter. He found 2 gold pieces and 15 silvers pieces as well as a sword. Note how the game details that Fost now has .21 kilos of treasure. When you exit the dungeon periodically to purchase supplies the game will also tell you how many kilos of treasure are remaining in the dungeon. This is the first time, in all of the games I’ve played & covered, that we’ve seen a feature like this. While there is no overarching plot or goal other than to explore the dungeon and collect as much treasure as you can, I find that this feature creates a lot of replay value. Each new game you can constantly compete against your prior weight score by attempting to haul out even more treasure than last time.

Your health rating goes up with each opponent that you vanquish however you do not acquire this benefit or experience until you exit the dungeon. When you exit the first level your health rating is then adjusted to reflect your experience gain and then you also have the opportunity to purchase supplies and magic items. You must have a minimum of 50 silver to exit the dungeon and you must also have a minimum of 50 silver to re-enter the dungeon so keep careful track of your finances. I was astounded by the number and variety of items you could possibly purchase. I found this feature to be very unique in 1979 and the only game that was truly comparable in this regard was the Temple of Apshai. Notice at the top of the screen that the game informs you that there are 138.59 kilo’s remaining in the dungeon and that number changes as you continue to find more and more treasure.

Food supplies are very important and affect your health. Each time you are wounded you consume food in order to heal yourself. Your food supply dwindles quickly and thus you constantly have to exit the dungeon to purchase more. I found the variety of magic items available to purchase quite exciting. On one dungeon run I was able to purchase Gauntlets of Strength and they definitely made a difference or impact in combat. The Teleport Ring was very cool too. When you use the ring it teleports you to a random square in the dungeon however you did get to choose the target dungeon level which is helpful if you’re on one of the lower levels and find yourself in trouble.

Combat is automatically done for you. Your only choices are to either move or what type of weapon or magic you want to attack with. Once your choice is made each turn the game then determines the outcome of each round with hidden rolls.

During combat there are a number of unique states that you or your opponent can find themselves in. You can be standing upright, lying down against the wall, or weaponless due to a fumble and dropped weapon. Most of your enemies tend to be goblins and orcs on the first two levels. If you choose to fight you can choose each turn which object that you want to use. Choosing M for (M)ove is the equivalent of attempting to flee. When I reached the fourth level of the dungeon I began to encounter Wights which were extremely difficult to kill.

I found Mines of Mordor to be an addicting little game and I found myself constantly saying “just one more game” as I tried to beat the weight of my previous treasure haul. It was also fun to purchase the different magical items and experiment with them. I was surprised and impressed by this game given that it was released in 1979.

You can try out Mines of Mordor for yourself by playing it right here online. Click on AUTORUN to play

Mines of Mordor Online

Next up on the docket is more housekeeping from 1980 with an oldie entitled Monster’s Lair.

Until next time…

Demons was written and developed by Mike Schelhorn and published as code in 1979 in the book 80 Programs for the TRS-80 by Jim Perry.

The book was published in 1979 and given to subscribers of 80 Microcomputing magazine in 1980.

If you wanted to play Demons you had to diligently sit and type in the code line by line and pray that you didn’t make any mistakes doing so.

Demons begins by having you choose a character class. The amazing thing is that there are 14 different character classes to choose from. In seven of the classes the gender is male and in the other seven female. I personally played as an Enchantress, then a Woodcutter, and lastly as a Songstress (where I surprisingly did very well). I tried to select varied classes to experiment with.

The strength score acts much like hit points or hardiness. The higher your combat rating the more you’re likely going to come out on top of any physical combat.

Magic points apply towards the casting of spells and the use of the teleporters found on the overland map.

The higher the charisma the higher the liklihood of singing monsters to sleep with a lyre. The last character I ran I chose the Sonstress class and she had a high charisma. This might possibly be pointing out a bit of a game imbalance but I found this class/attribute combination more potent than any of the spellcasting classes. My Songstress would often sing the tougher opponents to sleep and I never suffered a single scratch.

Intelligence seems to affect random encounters and combat and seems more like a luck attribute. I would have thought it might have impacted magic and spells in the game. Speaking of which:

The spells with which you have to choose from during combat are many, varied, and extremely impressive. I greatly enjoyed playing an Enchantress in my first run at the game and experimenting with the different spells however I did not last very long against the tougher opponents.

Demons is turn based and the objective is to traverse an overland map and acquire as much treasure as possible within 150 days. The overland map is ascii based and you can see it depicted above. The H on the map represents your character’s house or home base and this is the spot on the map where you begin the game. The ? on the map represent castles. There are always three castles on the map in each game and it is the castle where the greatest repository of treasure can be found. You’ll often find a magic item to aid you and which also has great value or you’ll find a hoard of gold coins. You’ll want to be sure that you visit all three castles as the payout there is much better than in harrowing random encounters.

The + on the map represents teleporters. There are five of them scattered about the map. They require magical points to operate and you can choose which teleporter you want to transport to. In this way you can avoid some random encounters while trying to get to the castles and you avoid days of overland travel as well.

The [, #, and $ characters represent different types of terrain and where you may experience random encounters while traversing them. The lower your intelligence score the more random encounters you seem to have. Moving over these characters on the map can take a day or days.

There are some graphics in the game. Your wandering monsters that you encounter are depicted by graphics and you can see an example of this by the demon depicted above. The demon always made short work of my Enchantress characters but my Songstress character with high charisma was able to sing a demon to sleep with her lyre.

The three castles are also depicted with graphics as shown above.

Here you can see a glimpse of the battle my Enchantress had with a demon.

The game will declare you a winner if your gold piece totals from your travels land anywhere near 4000 or over 4000. If your gold piece totals are below 2000 the game will cheekily let you know.

You move about the overland map using the numerical keys on your keyboard.

0 – rest which will recover 2 points of strength or 3 points of magic. If you have a Magic Jar in your possession you can recover all of your points with rest. Resting may also cause a random encounter to occur so be wary. Resting will take a day or days depending on the extent of your injuries.

1 – move east

2 – move northeast

3 – move north

4 – move northwest

5 – move west

6 – move southwest

7 – move south

8 – move southeast

9 – status of your character

Sure – in order to play or experience this game you’d have to type the entire thing in line by line from a magazine. But this was the norm for quite a few years and we’ve played many that originated this way. The game and what it offers a home computer user in 1979 makes it even more impressive. It’s not an Akalabeth or Temple of Apshai or even Clardy’s Wilderness Campaign of that year, but in an age where you didn’t have a lot of fantasy offerings in your collection or library yet, I find it quite surprising. I could see a young 1979 me spending some time with this one.

Next up on the docket is another uncovered find from 1979 entitled Mines of Mordor.

Until next time…

The Dragon & the Princess has been touted as the first ever fantasy JRPG. I was aware of the game and had it on my 1982 “to do” list but I had reservations that I’d ever get to experience it. The big hurdle here is the language barrier; an english version was never released here in the West. A translation patch is now available but applying the patch incorrectly can cause the game to be unplayable. The game disk itself is also a “hard to find” item. The CRPG Addict graciously provided me with a copy of the game however application of the translation patch caused all combat to be non-existent. It was William Hern who was able to successfully apply the translation patch and who provided me with a good working copy of the game. So once again I want to publicly thank William for his help and support. I would have felt it a derelict of duty if I had not been able to experience this game.

The Dragon & the Princess was released in 1982 for the PC-88 and in 1983 for the FM-7. The PC-88 was an 8-bit home computer released by NEC in 1981 and it sold primarily in Japan. It sold extremely well and become one of the three major Japanese home computers of the 1980s along with the FM-7 and Sharp X1.

The game was developed and published by Koei, a Japanese video game company founded in 1978. The company is now best known for it’s Dynasty Warriors games as well as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series of games. In 2009 Koei merged with Tecmo to form Tecmo Koei Games. I stressed in my opening paragraph that The Dragon & the Princess was the first Western fantasy RPG as it was not the only RPG that Koei released in 1982. Seduction of the Condominium Wife was another early role-playing adventure game however it was an erotic title. It became a hit and helped Koei to become a major software company. Koei also released Underground Exploration in 1982, which may predate The Dragon & the Princess publication date, but it might be hard to qualify it as a true RPG. Mission Impossible was also released in 1982 but it was a spy-themed adventure RPG.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this game. While characteristics of JRPG’s have changed over the years I was wondering if I’d see any precursors of the distinctive traits that you see today. Many of today’s JRPGs are criticized for their linearity and cartoon-like imagery. Fans and supporters of JRPGs argue that non-linearity is the sacrifice for strong characterization that you fail to see in many Western CRPGs.

The Dragon & the Princess is particularly interesting because at its core it is a text-adventure game. When combat ensues however it transforms into a party-based, top down, tactical turn-based role-playing game.

There was no accompanying documentation nor any backstory that I could find. You begin the game by creating a part of five characters.

You can name the players as you see fit but you cannot customize them in any way. The statistics are fixed. The power statistic is affected by the type of weapon that you’re wieldling. In the above example, Bilbo is fighting with bare fists, Cadderly and Red Sonja are using shortswords, while both Fost and Bruenor are wielding longswords. Many different sites have claimed that Sp is an abbreviation for Spellcasting but I believe this to be incorrect. There are no spell casting options in this game and I believe that Sp represents speed. Whatever Sp does represent it has little tactical impact. The party always gets to go first in combat and they always go in the order that you have the party composed. Both hits and hit points will slowly increase with experience which slowly increases each time you hit in combat or are hit in combat. Experience points are NOT split evenly among your party. Party members only gain experience on a successful attack in combat or upon getting struck in combat.

When the game begins the newly formed party finds itself in the king’s throne room. The king’s treasure has been stolen by bandits and it is up to this band of heroes to recover it.

Outside of combat the party moves from location to location in the style of a text adventure.

There are about 70 different map locations ranging from forested areas and mountain locations to areas within the town of Ross-Blue. In each location you can choose to (S)earch, (L)ook, or (R)ead. Locations are unique in that some areas will not be revealed nor can you access them until you are made aware of them through clues or conversation. For example, there is a bandit hideout and monk’s hut in the mountains, both of them extremely important locations, that are not revealed to you unless you happen to (R)ead a stone slab in the Stone Road location on the map. The text on the stone slab will inform you how to get to the bandit’s hideout as well as the monk’s hut. Once you read that, the locations are then suddenly accessible on the map.

The tactical party-based combat here is historically of extreme interest. It predates Ultima III which sports this type of tactical combat and unless the programmers played Tunnels of Doom for the TI-99 then this is some of the first of it’s kind. Each character takes a turn moving and attacking and then each of the opponents get a turn.

The game itself is surprisingly short. It only took me about 3 – 4 hours to complete. There are three main tasks to perform:

1) the first is to uncover the bandit’s hideout in the mountains.

I suggest you have the party spread out here and (S)earch the huts and also the wells because those are where the bandits have stashed the treasure. If you do not do this; while combat ensues; the bandits begin to burn the huts and any treasure within will be lost. If you lose too much of the treasure it will “softlock” you from being able to win the game.

Once you’ve recovered the treasure and disposed of the bandits you’re going to want to find the monk in his hidden mountain hut. He will tell you that the bandits have a secret hideout in town.

The only town in this game is that of Ross-Blue. There are four important locations located within the town otherwise mapping the town is almost akin to mapping that of a maze. The first of the four locations is a weapons shop where you can purchase longswords and shortswords. The longswords are upgrades and quite expensive at 100k apiece. The second important location in town is a food store where you can purchase packets of food. Each packet is 10k apiece and 15 packets should take care of your food requirements for the entirety of the game. The third important location happens to be the Koei Pub which is named after the company that developed and published the game. When you walk into the pub the entire floor turns into a trap door and drops you into a pit. You can pay 300k to the owner who will then let you out. If you do not yet have 300k you had best not walk into this pub.

When you pay the 300k you spot a suspicious stranger leaving the bar. If you follow him out and then (A)ttack him he pleads for his life and then reveals the location of the bandit’s secret hideout in town. The hideout location will remain inaccessible until you’ve had the pub encounter with this stranger.

The bandits in their secret hideout are even easier to beat then the bandits that you encountered in the mountains. Once you’ve beaten the bandits you have to conduct a (S)earch in order to find the rest of the king’s missing treasure.

When you return to the king he is quite pleased and offers his daughter’s hand in marriage.

There is not time for a honeymoon however because it is not long after the wedding that a dragon suddenly kidnaps the princess.

Once this happens the other four membes of your party are dropped and you suddenly find yourself on a solo mission to save the princess. It is a good idea to head back to the monk and he will then give you a Magic Sword to help you in your pursuit. You can easily find the dragon on Mt. Lu-fey.

I found the battle with the dragon to be anti-climatic. I quickly vanquished him in three short rounds and took minimal damage. Once I defeated the dragon I lived happily ever after.

A dragon kidnapping the princess theme would appear again in Dragonquest and also be a strong motif in Japan’s Dragonslayer series.

I was relieved to be able to cross The Dragon & the Princess off of my bucket list. The game was not quite what I expected but I did enjoy my time with it. Researching early JRPGs is quite the “rabbithole” though an enjoyable one.

Next up on the docket is a little housekeeping as I travel back in time to a newly discovered CRPG oldie: Demons.

Until next time…

There were many nights while playing Dungeons of Daggorath that my fingers would cramp up from furiously typing the same keyboard combinations over and over again as quickly as I could. I felt like I was auditioning for a medical transcriptionist position.

A keyboard mistake, and there were many, always resulted in a grisly death causing me to shout colorful adjectives that echoed throughout the room. My wife would ask with mock concern if I was all right and remind me that it is just a game.

I found that if I played the game late at night that it would elevate my heartrate and that I would have trouble sleeping afterwards. It would sometimes be an hour before I calmed down as the adrenaline left my system. It was then that I finally avoided playing the game too late at night otherwise I’d wake bleary-eyed and tired the following morning.

The night that I finally beat the game I had a massive headache and my eyes burned terribly. I stood up and paced around in an effort to calm myself as I pumped a fist into the air as if my team had just scored a touchdown.

Does this sound like a computer role-playing game to you? You were probably thinking that my visceral reactions seemed more attuned to an arcade or platform game. This is because Dungeons of Daggorath was to 1982 what Dark Souls was to 2011.

The game was developed by Douglas J. Morgan and Keith S. Kiyohara with sounds by Phil Landmeier in 1982 for the Tandy (Radioshack) TRS-80 Color Computer. It featured wireframe graphics to portray a three-dimensional space in a real-time environment. The player moves around a dungeon, issuing commands by means of typing – for example, typing USE LEFT TORCH or PULL RIGH SWORD (or abbreviations such as U L T or P R SW), gathering strength and ever more powerful weapons as the game progresses.

There are a couple of unique features in the game that created a large fan base that still exists to this day and that catapulted the game into classic CRPG stardom. Many have fond memories of the game or at least remember their experience with it. It has been widely written about and was also featured in the book Ready Player One, where the protagonist has to solve the game, emulated within a simulated universe. This plot point does not appear in the film adaptation.

One of the unique features of the game is a heartbeat which rises as you move throughout the dungeon. Any actions you take also serve to increase your heartrate. The damage from various dungeon denizens causes the greatest increase to your heartrate and opponents often kill you with only one blow. If you move too quickly throughout the dungeon in an effort to evade your pursuers (yes – the creatures chase you throughout the dungeon) you can actually faint from overexertion. You are then defenseless and when you awaken an enemy is usually standing over you to deliver a death blow. This heartbeat is a direct precursor to a “health” indicator that would appear in later games such as Legend of Zelda and many others.

The second unique feature were the sounds created by Phil Landmeier. Each of the dungeon denizens have a unique sound associated with them. Whether it is the hissing of snakes or the clanking and clomping of fully armored knights these sounds become louder as your adversaries get closer to you. We’ve seen sounds used to great effect in previous games such as Sword of Fargoal and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Cloudy Mountain but Dungeons of Daggorath makes masterful use of them. It took several months of recording to achieve what were advanced sound effects for the time. The combination of these masterful sounds with the heartbeat monitor serves to immerse the player in a quagmire of tension and anxiety.

The heartbeat-like sound, instead of using numerical statistics such as hit points like previous games have done, was inspired by arcade games, specifically 1978’s Space Invaders. In Space Invaders a hearbeat-like sound gradually increases pace as enemies advance towards the player. In many ways Dungeons of Daggorath is the very first Action RPG – hybridizing arcade skills with a computer role-playing game. THIS is the root of my love/hate relationship with the game. While I love and appreciate arcade and platform games I am admittedly not very good at them. Dungeons of Daggorath requires speed and precision with the keyboard. You could almost say it was the predecessor to Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. It requires you to hit a combination of keys in a rapid staccato clip.

The game is exceedingly difficult. I had recently spent an exorbitant amount of time with a previous game: Ring of Darkness and it might shock you to learn I spent even MORE time with Dungeons of Daggorath. I even thought at one point that this blog might come to a grinding halt as I thought I might never finish this game. I am now 168 games into this journey and there were only two other times that I felt this way: with Moria and again with Rogue. Some rarified company indeed.

The premise of the game is fairly straightforward RPG canon. An evil wizard has taken up residence within the Dungeons of Daggorath and the shadows of those mountains cast a pall over the town of Rivenshire. Crops are wilting and cattle are dying and to make matters worse it is rumored that the wizard has obtained the magical Ring of Endings which greatly increases his power. Your job is to venture into the dungeons beneath Daggorath and find and defeat this wizard. The dungeons consist of 5 levels which are filled with dangerous denizens including a “fake wizard” on level 3 to deal with.

The creatures that you encounter include spiders, snakes, stone giants, blobs, two-eyed evil knights, one-eyed evil knights, scorpions, galdrogs, a fake wizard, and lastly the real wizard himself.

The game was very hard to get used to at first. Many of the early computer role-playing games we’ve encountered thus far have been turn based. Even when you had real-time combat as experienced in Ultima I and Ring of Darkness it was nowhere near as frenetic as what you encounter here. The keyboard commands and being able to use abbreviations of those commands took some getting used to as well. Most of the commands apply to the RIGHT and LEFT hands. When the game begins you have to remove your sword from your backpack and hold it in your right hand so you type PULL RIGHT WOODEN SWORD. You can abbreviate this to P R SW and get the same effect. To use the sword to attack a creature you have to type ATTACK RIGHT or you can use the abbreviation A R. You’ll find yourself beating the A – Space Bar – R keys in a rapid staccato fashion in a coordinated attempt to defeat the tougher monsters on the lower levels. One mistake in the execution of these keyboard combinations spells your doom.

A torch is necessary in order to illuminate your surroundings. In the beginning of the game you’ll type; PULL LEFT TORCH or P L T in order to retrieve a torch from your backpack with your left hand. In order to light or use the torch you then have to type USE LEFT or U L and then your surroundings are illuminated. The torches wear out and are thus a valuable commodity.

There are a couple of tactics which are absolutely necessary in order to win the game that I discovered by dying repeatedly and often. The first tactic is to hoard inventory items. You even want to keep your dead/used torches. You’ll want to find a spot in the dungeon level where there is a dead end or alcove. Then you want to drop all of your items except your sword and torch; littering the ground with all of them. The more you have the better. Why? When a monster appears adjacent to you it spends round after round picking up all of the gear off the floor. You can use this respite to attack repeatedly. It is the only method that allows you to slay very tough opponents that require 6 to 20 hits to vanquish.

The other method I used, particularly on the 4th dungeon level, was a hit and run tactic. I would attack one or two times and then flee; moving throughout the dungeon away from my opponents and scrambling to stop and make a new stand and then repeat the process all over again. I spent several nights and hours stuck on the 4th level and if I am being honest I was on the verge of throwing my hands up in the air and giving up but then I started to play a game of “tag” with a demon that was stalking me. I would hit it once and then run and once I was a safe distance away (and wasn’t killed by a different wandering monster) I would quickly save my game. I would then possibly have to load the game ten more times, dying each time unsuccessfully, until I was able to land another successful blow and save again. I spent probably three total evenings doing nothing but this until I finally killed the demon – which took about 20 hits to kill. The defeated demon dropped an Elvish Sword which made my life much easier. Now creatures that would take 6 to 12 hits to vanquish could be killed in 3 blows. But at a cost. When you attack with the Elvish sword it greatly increases your heartrate and so you have to use it in moderation. If your heartrate begins to get too fast you’ll have to withdraw and move about until it slows down again.

There are item upgrades that you find as you head deeper into the dungeon. These items are dropped after you defeat the monster holding it. The tougher the opponent usually the more powerful the item it is holding. Most of the items are non-descript and so you have to type REVEAL in order to have the item type revealed to you. There are 3 types of swords: you begin the game with a wooden sword but on Level 1 can find and upgrade to an iron sword. On the 4th level you obtain an elvish sword which is an extremely powerful upgrade.

There are two types of shields: a normal shield which you can find on Level 1 and then a Mithril shield which you can find on Level 4. It took me quite awhile to realize that these shields really do not block any damage from the monsters and they serve as poor weapons. By the time I was fighting for survival on Level 3 I wasn’t even carrying a shield any longer.

You can find two different kinds of scrolls: a Vision scroll which shows you the entire dungeon level and it’s exits, and then a Seer scroll which not only shows you the level and exits but you can also see the movement of all of your enemies and where they are located on the level.

There are three different kinds of flasks that you can find: an Abye flask which weakens you and causes your heartrate to climb. DO NOT use these. Then there are the Hale flasks which don’t affect your strength but they do bring your heart rate down. Lastly there is the Thews flask which lowers your heart rate and also makes you 1000 points stronger. You find many of these on Level 4 and you want to use them as often as you can.

This brings us to the rings. You cannot win the game without the rings. The rings were also different from the other items and introduce a new aspect to the game because you need to guess a code word in order to activate them. There is a Vulcan ring that you find on Level 1, a Rhime ring on Level 2, a Joule ring on Level 4, and lastly a Supreme ring on Level 5. In order to activate the rings you have to INCANT them with this mysterious command word. Once activated you then use them as weapons by typing in ATTACK RIGHT or ATTACK LEFT. To activate the Vulcan Ring the word is FIRE as Vulcan was a God of fire. So you would type INCANT FIRE and suddenly the description of the ring changes to Fire Ring. There are 3 charges in the ring. Using the ring causes a blast of fire. The word to activate the Rhime ring is ICE. This was the easiest ring for me to guess because ice is a synonym for Rhime. There are 3 charges in this ring as well. Using it creates a blast or ray of cold. You will need both the Fire ring and the Ice ring to defeat the “fake wizard” on Level 3 so do not waste your ring charges on other dungeon denizens.

The Joule ring is activated by the word ENERGY so INCANT ENERGY reveals an Energy Ring. You’ll need all 3 charges to help you defeat the wizard on the 5th level and even then you’ll also need to strike him a few times with the Elvish sword.

When you FINALLY defeat the wizard on Level 5 he drops a ring. Picking it up shows it to be called The Supreme Ring. The Supreme ring when you type REVEAL shows itself to be the Ring of Endings. Time freezes once you find this ring and you then need to decipher its code word in order to win the game. I had to Google synonyms for Supreme and then had to resort to a Thesaurus until I finally hit on the right word. I think it took me 30+ different tries until I hit the correct word. Once you guess correctly you get an end sequence which shows you as the new wizard of Daggorath. Your robes have stars upon them rather than a crescent moon.

Daggorath in the title of the game comes from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. Dagor Dagorath, also called The Final Battle, is an apocalyptic era detailed in the Silmarillion. Dagor Dagorath is a Sindarin term meaning “Battle of Battles. The authors of the game probably took the word but added a “g” because of copyright issues. They made a game entitled Dungeons of Daggorath, which means, if you use Tolkien’s interpretation, Dungeons of Battle, which is extremely fitting.

Dungeons of Daggorath became one of the most popular TRS-80 CoCo games ever; so Tandy produced a sequel in 1988 called Castle of Tharoggad. It was made without the participation of the Daggorath team and was very poorly received.

In 2001, Douglas J. Morgan noticed that the exclusive copyright had fallen back to him from Radioshack which had done nothing with it. He released the game to the public and also offered the source code for a small fee. It has since been ported to Microsoft Windows, Linux, RISC OS, and PSP. A free, open source version can also be found on the web.

I played the Microsoft Windows version which can be found HERE. You can configure the settings using the ESC key so that they mimic the TRS-80 CoCo. If you instead choose custom settings, you will be amazed at how fast the monsters move because of current processing speeds. I recommend using the CoCo settings which are the standard settings.

My journey thus far has taken me through 168 games; all of them published in years spanning 1975 – 1983. Dungeons of Daggorath is one of the more unique and memorable games. The sound effects and heartrate monitor combine to make it an extremely immersive and harrowing experience. It is the first game to give me a heightened state of anxiety, headaches, and burning eyes. The arcade like reflexes required for this particular CRPG caused a love/hate relationship to form. Even if they did possess the time and patience required, for some players they may find Dungeons of Daggorath physically impossible. It is one of the very few games so far that I considered not finished and merely moving on. It is experiences like this that continue to reward and fuel my endeavors. I never played this game as a young man and now I feel like I truly experienced a piece of gaming history. I strongly encourage you to give this insane game a try. Warning: if you’re a completionist or stubborn like I am; be prepared to invest hours and hours of your life into it.

Next up on the docket is a game that I’ve been eagerly awaiting to play: The Dragon & the Princess from 1982. Until next time…