Lords of Karma is an interactive text adventure written by Gary Bedrosian who would later go on to create Empire of the Over-Mind.
The game boasts of an open world setting with virtually no rules.
This game was hands down my favorite interactive adventure from 1978. It was also my favorite overall game from that year. This was the first interactive text adventure that I played where I felt I was exploring a region that was open and made sense. It was the first time where I felt immersed into an environment that I wanted to explore. There is a town, an oak forest, a maple forest, an aspen forest, mountains and a swamp. The land is even bordered by ocean. There are sewer systems and tunnels under the mountains to explore.
The back of the box suggests that you ultimately make all of the decisions in the game and that your choices have consequences. You earn “karma points” or lose “karma points” based on the actions you take in the game. The ultimate end game is to earn enough “karma points” to be able to ascend to heaven. This is THE most original premise we’ve encountered so far from the games in 1978.
You begin the game randomly on one of two mountain tops and can begin to explore from there. There is a genuine feeling of awe and mystery as you have virtually no idea what you should be doing. There are characters AND monsters to interact with. Your first inclination might be to attack or to run but I encourage you to try talking to the different characters you encounter. Talking with each of the NPCs (non player characters) will help you to solve one of the game’s puzzles as well. You will also eventually find a book randomly placed at a location within the game that works very much like a hint or guide book. When you read the book you discover there are five major overall quests. The book doesn’t tell you exactly what to do but instead gives you a cryptic chapter title. This at least gives you a sense of direction and is very original.
The puzzles do require a bit of thought and working through them was very satisfying. The one minor complaint I had with the game is that the number of “karma points” you need to ascend to heaven changes. In one game I was able to ascend with only 220 points while in another game I had 358 “karma points” and was rebuffed. I found that I enjoyed the game environment and trying to work through the puzzles so much that I did NOT want to ascend to heaven. I wanted to stay in the game and explore and experiment. There were a couple of games that I played in 1978 where I found myself asking; ‘ what is the bare minimum I have to do in order to qualify as having won’ because I couldn’t wait to be finished with them. In Lords of Karma I did NOT want to leave but wanted to continue play. I felt that this was a strong testament to the strength of the game and what Gary Bedrosian was able to accomplish.
There ARE treasures scattered about in the game that you can find but you are not awarded “karma points” when you pick them up. However if you give them away or donate them to the church you ARE awarded “karma points”. You will find that certain weapons you use and choices you make can decrease your “karma points” as well. In a wonderful real world juxtaposition you will find that anything that makes your life or quest easier in the game might advance the narrative faster but will also cause you to lose “karma”.
I had gotten very far in the game and could not figure out what to do with the egg that was “cooling”. I had a thought to see if I could get the shimmering mage to throw a fireball at me while it was in my possession but then late one evening I accidentally prayed without thinking about the consequences and I had enough “karma” to ascend to heaven. I chose not to play again simply to solve that one puzzle (it would have required completing a long chain of particular events again) but I find myself wondering about what the solution might be there.
If you perish in the game, and you will perish, you are reincarnated and you find yourself back on a mountain top. You do not lose any of your “karma points” but you do lose all of your possessions and they are randomly scattered throughout the world whereby you have to find them again. So perseverance counts for much.
I was not able to get a winning screenshot for this game. I played Lords of Karma on a platform that emulated the TRS-80. When I prayed and ascended to heaven the screen went by extremely fast and suddenly dumped me to dos.
Lords of Karma was the last game I played from the 1978 selection and it was a breath of fresh air. I enjoyed it very much, it was my favorite game from 1978, and I recommend that you experience this hidden gem.