The Sword of Peace was published in the November 1979 issue of Practical Computing.
It would later be published in 1980 in the BASIC Programs Book I of the Nascom International Microcomputer Club under the title the Magic Labyrinth.
The Sword of Peace is a text-only computer role-playing game. I played the game on a ZX81 emulator, and it took me roughly 2 hours to beat. The goal of the game is to obtain the crown of the Kingdom of Oz as the rightful heir.
When the game begins, you’ll be asked if you want to read the instructions. If you choose yes, you will be able to see the list of spells that will be at your disposal. When the game begins you only have spells 0, 1, & 2 that are available. The other spells, which you will need in order to win the game, will come from friendly encounters among the first four dungeon levels.
Your character starts with 500 STRENGTH points which can be reduced during hostile encounters with the dungeons denizens. You’re playing as the Crown Prince of Oz and to prove yourself worthy of becoming the monarch, you are cast into the multi-level dungeon and must recover the Four Objects of State:
- the Great Ring
- the Kingly Orb
- the Robes of State
- and the Sword of Peace
One of each of the four objects can be found on the first four levels of the dungeon on a Magic Spot. The location of the Magic Spot is randomized in each dungeon level. Once you have all Four Objects of State you are allowed to descend to the fifth level where you have to find that level’s Magic Spot. Once you find that spot you prove yourself worthy and are awarded the crown.
Each level is a 100 x 100 grid. Movement is done by entering X and Y coordinate offsets with a limit of roughly 20 squares total per move, constrained by Pythagoras. There is no real continuous map or free exploration in the traditional sense – the grid mainly serves as a coordinate system for locating the treasure.
This was where the game became a bit maddening. One would think that moving throughout a 100 x 100 grid using a coordinate system would be fairly simple but that was hardly the case. I constantly found myself slightly missing the Magic Spot. I would either overshoot or miscalculate by a small amount in any compass direction. This becomes a problem because each move invites a possible random encounter.
You are going to meet monsters that are good, neutral, and friendly. The Evil monsters will attack you and drain your strength. You must pit your strength number against their strength number, and you also have to determine, through trial and error, which spells are most effective against which monsters.
The good monsters will help you. The first monster you encounter will bestow upon you a distance meter so that you can tell how far you are from the Magic Spot on that level. A later monster will bestow upon you a compass so that you can receive directional hints. Good monsters can also teach you new spells and they will also sometimes grant you additional STRENGTH points.
The combat is spell-based. You will learn that certain spells work better against specific monsters and that the Objects of State themselves can act as one-use special attacks against particular enemies. Each round of battle with an enemy further depletes your STRENGTH score. If you score reaches zero before you finish the game, you will perish. I came precariously close a couple of times just before I reached the end of the game.
The different monster types you encounter can include: dragons, witches, vampires, rock monsters, mummies, giants, and wizards.
The main challenge of the game is finding the Magic Spot on each of the dungeon levels while managing your strength against random monster encounters. If you mess up with your math too much, you’re a goner.
Admittedly, this is a very early minimalist computer role-playing game adventure hybrid, which is typical for your 1970s magazine type ins. It is, at this stage, more of a programming curiosity and short puzzle-like quest than it is a deep role-playing experience. My interest in it here is more as a historical artifact then as entertainment.
Now that I was able to get the game to run and I was able to study it and play through it, it allowed me to 100% complete my 1979 CRPG List and move on from it.
Thank you for joining me on my journey. Until next time…………