Game #106: Eamon #3: Cave of the Mind (1980)

Main Title Screen for Eamon

We return once again to the wonderful world of Eamon and to the third entry in the series: Cave of the Mind. Remember that Eamon was created by Donald Brown and serves as an engine to house modules or story arcs that characters could play through; so basically a complete role-playing campaign system. You can read my full original experience with Eamon HERE.

You start play in the Adventurer’s Hall where you can create a character or retrieve your character from the previous two games. I chose to create a new character for this experience.

The Adventurer’s Hall

Once my character was complete I then chose to go on an adventure and at that point I inserted Eamon #3: Cave of the Mind. The Cave of the Mind was written by Jim Jacobson and Red Varnum. Jim Jacobson would go on to write many more Eamon adventures.

Cave of the Mind begins with you meeting a little man just outside of the Adventurer’s Hall. He is holding a grail filled with a bubbling green potion. He hints that you should experience the most challenging adventure that you can imagine and slyly winks at you. He then hands you the grail and urges you to drink it. Once you drink the potion you awaken in a cavern complex.

This adventure and story is definitely for beginner players. It is very much in the flavor of Donald Brown’s Beginner’s Cave. The map is relatively simple and there are a total of 26 different rooms.

Map for Cave of the Mind

There really are no puzzles and it is simply a defeat the monster and take the treasure kind of experience. I should warn you that the closet off of the east guest room has an inscription written upon the wall. If you read the inscription you will be stripped of your weapon and most of your possessions. They simply vanish. Yes that was irritating. The writing is pretty decent and again one gets the impression that they are sitting down to a one on one Dungeons & Dragons table-top experience. The different creatures that you’ll encounter range from vampire bats to giant snakes and venus flytraps and even a mad chef.

One of the rooms in Cave of the Mind

The toughest boss or encounter is the battle with the cyclops near the end of the game. The cyclops is also guarding another grail filled with bubbling potion which you’ll have to drink in order to return to the Adventurer’s Hall.

I finished the game and returned to the Adventurer’s Hall where I exchanged my loot for roughly 1600 gold pieces. I then used that money to get trained in a HEAL spell and also purchased some Plate Armor. I then sauntered up to the bar, ordered a tankard and began to flirt with the serving wench. I look forward to my next adventure with Fost Longstrider.