Author: professor6153

Quest For Power was developed and published by Crystalware. The game was written by Marc Benioff who was 15 and still in high school at the time. Epyx would later publish his games (more on this later) and by 16, Benioff was earning royalties of $1,500 a month, enough to pay for his college. Marc is also the second cousin of David Benioff who was the television showrunner and writer of Game of Thrones. Marc would later go on to become the founder, chairman and CEO of Salesforce and has an estimated net worth of 9.53 billion, making him the 266th wealthiest person in the world. Quest For Power; oh the irony…

In Quest For Power you play the role of Sir Galahad and you have been summoned to appear before King Arthur.

Quest For Power is more of an arcade game than it is a role-playing game. It has RPG elements but it barely qualifies as a role-playing game. There are nine key locations in the game: The Caves of Somerset, Hastings Mountain, Sunderland, Essex, The Castle of Skenfrith, The Black Forest, The Eagle Stone, Canterbury and lastly Camelot.

Camelot marks both the beginning and end of your quest to find the Scroll of Truth. There are other magical items to find within the game as well. Anselm’s Staff, Solomon’s Ring, and Moses’ Rod are three powerful instruments of magic sought out by all magicians. There is also the Key of Essex which will grant you entrance to, wait for it, the city of Essex. Lastly there is the fabled Ark of Power known to contain the most powerful magic known to man.

I have to admit, as I write this, this all sounds terribly enticing. I was preparing myself for the game by reading through the documentation and it definitely had captured my interest. It seemed to have all of the trappings for an entertaining experience.

This is probably the appropriate time to digress from a specific look at Quest For Power and talk about CrystalWare and it’s offerings. Below you’ll find a copy of the Crystalware catalog from 1982.

This period of computer gaming was given the moniker the “dark age” by Matt Barton and rightfully so. Crystalware was founded by John and Patty Bell and each of their offerings seemed highly original at the time. They would always advertise their game as a mystery that needed to be solved and they offered a cash prize to anyone who could solve the mystery. John Bell must have been quite a character because the literature printed with each game or the ad associated with each game exudes excitement. Each game may offer a unique setting and the documentation comes off as highly original but the games, in my experience, never live up to the hype. I have largely avoided the Crystalware titles to this point because of emulation problems but if we’re being honest I have always found their gameplay to be sorely lacking. I realize however that this blog is not meant to be arbitrary in it’s selection process and now that I have sufficiently gained a level of experience in emulation mastery I will be sure to backtrack and cover any titles I’ve missed.

Let’s return to our regularly scheduled programming…

I played Quest For Power on an Atari emulator and the game took me about 45 minutes to complete – and that’s being generous. To be fair however, this game was published in 1981 and many commercial games sold during that period had game lengths meant to be completed in one sitting – one to two hours. The commercial definition of game length would change as the years rolled on.

There is combat in the game which involves a set of random rolls flashing on your screen at the bottom. You press a key to get the rolling numbers to stop and each combatant deals 1-9 damage to each other. Every other round each combatant gets to add 10 to the amount of damage they inflict. It’s as simple as that. You’ll encounter the Black Wizard, Gogmagog (in the Black Forest) and you’ll have to fight the Devil in Skenfrith Castle as well as the Dragon on Hastings Mountain.

There are random gold chests scattered throughout the multiple screen locations and accruing gold will allow you to buy a few items that you’ll need to win the game. You’ll need to purchase the lamp to light your way through the caves and you’ll need to purchase a boat in order to cross a body of water.

Once you have the three artifacts in hand and have pummeled the Black Wizard, Devil, and Dragon you can then make your way past Oberion and into Cantebury where you will discover the Ark of Power. If you try to open the Ark without the three powerful artifacts in your possession it will melt your face off. If you have the three artifacts in your possession then you will discover that Merlin hid the Scroll of Truth inside the Ark of Power. Once you have the Scroll of Truth you can then return to Camelot.

The main mission here is to play all of the CRPGs ever made and that’s what I aim to do. I’m not sure that I’d recommend this game unless you’re on a similar quest as myself. I do appreciate the originality and writing that went into the documentation that came with the game. The locations, items, and adversaries come off as extremely interesting. One interesting fact is that Marc Benioff’s titles (Crystalware’s catalog would get bought up when it folded) that he programmed for Crystalware were later bought and repackaged by Epyx under their label. Quest For Power would be renamed King Arthur’s Heir and the game would stay exactly the same.

The Sword of Zedek was published by Krell Software for the Apple II, Commodore PET/CBM and TRS-80. It is another text adventure / RPG hybrid. There was no author attached to the title. The player’s goal is to gather armies and magical items so that you can defeat the forces of Ra, The Master of Evil (que an orchestral crescendo). Yes you heard that correctly; Ra, The Master of Evil! (once again que the orchestral crescendo). The “wrinkle” that the game throws in is that the player must accomplish this in 55 turns. Once 55 turns have elapsed the game automatically forces you into a confrontation with Ra and his army of demons.

The overworld takes place on a 10 x 9 grid and contains a variety of terrains including villages, valleys, rivers, bridges, oceans and more. You can access this map grid as often as you like by hitting the letter M on your keyboard but each time you access the map it costs you a turn. Your goal is to economize your 55 turns.

Each time you move on the map grid you then have a number of choices that you can make each turn.

You can choose to take any visible treasure that you see but most of the time you will have to search for treasure. Treasure consists of either gold, torches, or powerful magical items. The gold is extremely important because you use it to recruit banes and kings which improves your overall combat power. Torches light the way in darkened areas such as caves, halls, temples and dungeons. You are more likely to find gold and magic in these places than in any other. There are a variety of magical items available to you in the game each of them with their own unique boon or power.

The different creatures that you encounter in this game include: trolls, orcs, bats, centaurs, wolves, elves, tygers, and dwarves among others. Each of these different creatures has a “king” which represents them as well as a “bane”. The bane prevents the particular creature group from joining your party but it also neutralizes any that the opposing army has as well. You can also encounter a powerful dragon, Demonsbane, who will join your party but there is a percentage chance each combat that the dragon will betray you and take your gold. Each time you encounter a king or a bane they will offer to join your party but for a significant fee ranging from 600 to 3100 gold pieces or higher. You only begin the game with 5000 gold pieces so it is important that you uncover more gold as you play. If they offer to join your party and you refuse because of lack of funds, the rub here is that they will automatically join Ra’s forces then.

Combat is a bit unique and mysterious all at the same time. Like many of these text adventure / RPG hybrids you are not privy to the math that is involved to resolve combat. Once 55 turns have elapsed Ra and his forces will attack you. Ra has a demon army 500 strong as well as any kings or banes that you sent his way. When combat begins you get to see your overall combat score and Ra’s combat score. If you found the Rhyn Stone in the game you can face Ra one on one otherwise it is your army against his.

The game is meant to be played in one sitting and there is no save option. Each game is likely to take between one to two hours. When you are defeated your heir receives your magical items that you found and embarks on the quest to defeat Ra in your stead. In my experience with the game I allowed the dragon, Demonsbane, to join my party and I kept defeating Ra however Ra would flee and live to fight another day. Each time Ra successively attacked; he had replenished his demon army to full strength. I found my own army and combat power slowly whittled down in this fashion and then I was ultimately defeated. When I continued the game, albeit with my heir Fost the Second, I was lucky in that I found the Sword of Zedek and also recruited Demonsbane again. I also found quite a bit of gold which allowed me to do some heavy recruiting.

When I next encountered Ra I thoroughly pummeled him.

I find that I tend to enjoy these text adventure / RPG hybrids that can be played in one sitting. I think some of it has to do with the mystery involved in the game mechanics and in the exploration of the game’s world. You just don’t know what you’re going to get with some of these older games and they are short enough that you rarely feel like you’ve overstayed your welcome. Where else can you fight big bads with names such as Ra, The Master of Evil? (que the orchestral crescendo).

The Keys of Acheron is an expansion module for Hellfire Warrior which is itself a sequel to the Temple of Apshai. Hellfire Warrior added Levels 5-8 to Temple’s 1-4 and now The Keys of Acheron takes the player on an entirely new adventure. The Keys of Acheron contains only data files so the user must have the Hellfire Warrior program in order to run the adventure contained within.

The Keys of Acheron was designed by Paul Reiche III and was his first computer role-playing game. Fans of Dungeons & Dragons might recognize this name because Paul was responsible for developing some of the most popular adventures ever created. His design credits include: Isle of Dread, Slave Pits of the Undercity, Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords and The Ghost Tower of Inverness. These were some of my favorite modules growing up.

Paul, together with Jon Freeman, started the video game company Free Fall Associates. During this time, Reiche worked on Mail Order Monsters and Archon. After a successful tenure with Free Fall Associates Paul struck out on his own to form Toys for Bob based out of California which would also develop video games. The most recognizable games which he was co-creator of include: Star Control I, Star Control II, Pademonium! and Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam. In later years he would help create Skylanders and build a franchise which would garner 1 billion dollars in sales.

Automated Systems (later Epyx) was known for it’s packaging that came with their games. The room descriptions and art in the Temple of Apshai and Hellfire Warrior manuals helped to create a deeper level of immersion for players in these early CRPGs. The Keys of Acheron was no different and actually represents the best of the breed in my humble opinion. Paul Reiche’s fingerprints could be seen in the quality of the plot and in the room and treasure descriptions found in the manual. His experience with TSR shines through here as the plot sounds like something right out of one of the classic modules that he helped develop.

I used the Hellfire Warrior Innkeeper program to call forth my saved character, Fost Longstrider, as I murmured; “once more into the breach…”

Fost had his work cut out for him. Tasked by the wizard Absosandra with recovering four magical gems (the Keys of Acheron), he would have to explore four different dungeon levels:

• The Abode of the Dragon
• Temple in the Jungle
• Crystal Caves
• Shadowland of Kronus

Each of these dungeons holds one of the keys as well as new monsters, traps, and hazards.

Veterans of the Dunjonquest series of games will immediately recognize the top down look of the dungeon and the screen layout. Nothing has changed in that regard. The movement and combat keys are still the same as well. There is a handy reference card that comes with the game should you find it necessary to refresh your memory.

In the first dungeon level, the Abode of the Dragon, the first key is guarded by a great dragon. The dragon guards the ruby Key in a cave near a magician’s ivory tower. In order to face the dragon and it’s fiery breath directly you must first obtain an enchanted necklace of fire opals from a unicorn living in the midst of a mandrake grove. The mandrake grove is quite large and you will have to explore and map several screens in order to make your way to the unicorn. Once I had the necklace of fire opals in hand I made my way to the ivory tower and then descended into the caves below. You can also reach the caves via a beach. There are baby dragons in the caves amidst egg fragments but these are easily dispatched. Once I found and defeated the dragon I then had to find the dimensional portal located in the ivory tower that takes me home.

In order to find the second key I was sent to a primeval jungle. The jungle was filled with dinosaurs and my encounters were with Allsaurs, Brontosaurs, Sabretooths, Stegosaurs and the most feared of all dinosaurs the Tyrannosaur. The game really does a nice job at keeping the different location descriptions unique from one another. This is done by completely changing the type of creatures you encounter as well as the evocative room and treasure descriptions.

The first and third dungeon levels have room descriptions within the manual. The second and fourth dungeon levels have no room descriptions though the developer uses the treasures encountered in the fourth dungeon level as a type of narrative.

The jungle is vast and the dinosaur encounters numerous though you can choose to flee many of them. Eventually you will find the hidden temple populated by the Sserpa (a serpent-like humanoid). They worship a serpent deity known as Ssin and are covered in a glistening network of scales. My mind immediately flashed back to watching Land of the Lost on Saturday mornings as a kid. Once inside the temple you will eventually encounter the Sserpa shaman who is guarding the amethyst Key.

In the third scenario, The Crystal Caves, you find yourself in the heart of a dead volcano. The rooms are numbered once again in this scenario and have excellent descriptions found within the manual.

In this dungeon you encounter Fungus Men which look like walking toadstools. They disdain light and prefer warm and moist environments making the steamy tunnels the perfect environment for them. The location descriptions suggest that the volcano is not so dead after all.

I found the Crystal Caverns to be a bit maze-like and spent quite a bit of time in this scenario backtracking through areas I’d already been in looking for secret doors. In a very original concept for the series; you encounter secret underwater pools that are filled with piranhas. You have to survive them long enough to make your way to a hidden room and the third key. I have to say I found the different creature depictions in the game to be very well done.

The fourth dungeon level was the most difficult and it took the longest to complete. No room numbers are displayed in this dungeon level and navigation through the maze-like dungeon can be tricky and frustrating.

The monsters which you encounter in this scenario include Astral Skulls, Automatons, Horned Fiends, a Kraken, Shadowbats and Wraiths.

In this scenario there are no room descriptions but the treasures descriptions are used a bit differently and used to drive the narrative. Many of the treasures are taunts from Kronus or descriptions which give you hints as to which way to travel next.

In this scenario it can become very easy to miss a secret door as you almost have to be on top of it before the game allows you to recognize it. I had to backtrack through the dungeon several times until I finally found a way to proceed forward. The first secret door leads to a dock and a boat and you are going to have to cross a Black Sea! Hazards include Black Rain, Fog, Waves and Whirpools. Navigating the Black Sea was a nightmare and I had to just keep moving from screen to screen until I was eventually able to dock. I had to defeat a giant Kraken before I was allowed to dock the boat and disembark.

On land once again I had to traverse what the game calls an onyx path before finding the Citadel of Kronus. There are many Wraiths and Astral Skulls which attack you on this path as you make your way forward. Once inside the Citadel of Kronus you have to navigate the maze-like interior and find a couple of secret doors until you finally find the fourth key. It is at this point that Kronus materializes next to you. He does this often through all four scenarios and your only option is to flee because he seems impossible to beat. Once you flee past Kronus in his own Citadel there is a secret door in the north wall. Once you make your way through that you find another dimensional portal to take you home.

I enjoyed The Keys of Acheron more than any of the other Dunjonquest offerings up to this point. The backstory, room and treasure descriptions, diverse locations and creatures you encounter helped to make this THE most evocative and immersive experience of all of the scenarios. My only critique of the game was that there was no end sequence or congratulatory message at having found all four keys. You have to use your imagination and assume that Abosandrus used the four keys you found to heal the rift in your world. Furthermore, the game was not able to keep track of which of the four keys you had in your possession. Each scenario gets progressively harder than the last but you could have gone in any order. There was no need to have found any of the previous keys in order to reach the endgame. Once I was back with the Innkeeper I kept checking my character to see if there was some hint that I was carrying the Keys or had found them and there was none. It seemed to me that this should have been incorporated into the game but perhaps they were restricted by the Dunjonquest engine. Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable experience and it is my favorite so far in the series.

Sorcerer of Siva is a spin off of the best selling Temple of Apshai series and it was the last stand alone Dunjonquest adventure to be published.

Morloc’s Tower and Datestones of Ryn were the two other stand alone games published by Automated Simulations which would later become Epyx. Both of the games were initially released in ziploc bags as depicted and then later released in the boxed format. These would be the only two titles in what was referred to as the MicroQuest series. Both of the adventures were much shorter and simpler than Temple of Apshai so they sold for half the price.

Sorcerer of Siva is not an expansion of the Temple of Apshai nor is it a Microquest adventure. It falls somewhere in the middle of the two.

The premise of the game is that you’re being hunted and herded towards the Mines of Siva. No one has ever ventured inside and lived to tell the tale. You are being hunted by the Sorcerer of Siva and the mines are his abode. The idea is that once you are trapped within his mines he will ultimately wear you down, then find you and kill you.

The Mines of Siva consist of five levels. The object of the game is to slay the Sorcerer of Siva and then make your way to the fifth level of the mines; which is where your exit to daylight can be found. You are also on the clock and you have roughly four hours to defeat the sorcerer and escape from the mines.

Sorcerer of Siva seemed more of an arcade game than a role-playing game. Your encounters with denizens from the mine, which randomly appear, are frequent. If you’re going to try to do battle with each of these you’ll easily become fatigued and perish pretty easily. To make matters worse, the Sorcerer of Siva always seems to teleport into a room during combat. He will usually teleport behind your opponent and then bombard you with spells. It isn’t pretty.

There are 24 commands available to you for maneuvering your character through the mines. You have seven major spells available to you in the game:

• Teleportation – spell #7
• Bolt of Lightning – spell #6
• Jumping – spell #5
• Locating a Staircase – spell #4
• Fireball – spell #3
• Heal – spell #2
• Opening Sealed Doors – spell #1

The cost/power of each spell and the numbering of each spell is of significance. Each time you encounter the Sorcerer of Siva he casts a spell of Forgetfullness upon you causing you to lose one of your spells from memory. You lose the spells in order of their power ranking so you lose your Teleportation spell first since it is your most powerful spell. You simply cannot win the game without the Teleport spell (more on this later) and the only way you can retrieve lost spells is by finding what are called touchstones scattered throughout the mines. Whenever you find a touchstone you will recall one spell – the lowest numbered spell that you don’t know. The spell system and use of the touchstones is unique to the Dunjonquest series. A veteran player of Temple of Apshai will recognize the rest of the commands in the game as well as the dungeon and character display.

In the above picture you can see the Sorcerer has teleported in just behind the ogre you’ve encountered making for a very deadly situation.

I mentioned that the Mines of Siva contains five levels. However there are trapdoors scattered throughout each level of the complex designed as traps. If you fall through one of the trapdoors you will find yourself in what is called the Underworld which is an additional part of the mines. The Underworld is a magically shifting maze and very difficult to escape from. Once you do find your way out you will once again be on the first level. Remember that you have only four hours to find the exit so not only is the Underworld deadly and hard to escape from but your racing against the clock. If you fall through a trapdoor it is likely that you’re game will soon be over.

When I first started playing Sorcerer of Siva I found the game to be incredibly frustrating. The frequency with which monsters were randomly appearing was very high. The Sorcerer of Siva had already made his presence known by teleporting behind one of my encounters. I was able to escape by fleeing but not before he stole my Teleportation spell. It was then that I became incredibly lucky.

In my next encounter the Sorcerer of Siva teleported right on top of an ogre I was battling. I quickly cast a Bolt of Lightning killing both of them in the process. I had slain the Sorcerer of Siva just minutes after beginning the game! Now all I had to do was map out the five levels of the mines and survive long enough to find the exit; all within the four hour window. It was an incredible stroke of luck.

The five levels of the mines are actually massive containing more than three hundred chambers and passages. What I found to be extremely annoying is that much of the levels result in dead ends and you have to use your teleport spell to teleport to a different section of the level to proceed. I find myself to be a bit OCD when it comes to mapping out dungeon levels and the number of times you have to teleport to a new location was very frequent which made mapping difficult and disorienting.

I ended up devising a system to make my way safely out of the mines. I started to flee from every single encounter. I used the Jump spell to move quickly through the mines and I used the Locate Staircase spell quite often to orient myself and to insure I was moving in the right direction. When you cast the spell it lets you know how many steps away you are from the staircase. If you’re moving in the opposite direction of the staircase to the next level that number starts to become larger and you know you’re going the wrong way. Once I realized the direction of the stairs and I’d hit a dead end (which was often) I would teleport into the next section of the map towards the staircase.

I continued to economize my movements and do this until I found the exit on level 5 of the mines.

I liked the story or color that was provided for the game and I think the inclusion of seven different spells to strategically use was a great addition to the series. I did not enjoy this game however as much as I have the others in the Dunjonquest series. I think it was a combination of too much arcade style of play along with the maps and having to teleport all over the place. I am glad that I took the time however to delve into this piece of gaming history and I look forward to playing the Hellfire Warrior expansion which was also released this year.

Swordthrust is an interactive text adventure/RPG hybrid written by Donald Brown. There were many of these type of hybrid games in this early era of CRPGs and this series is the best of the breed. It was the commercial successor to Brown’s Eamon creation and while the reception and reviews of the first scenario were very good, as well as initial sales, the series never did take off and ended with The Hall of Alchemie. There were seven different adventure scenarios six of which were sold separately at what was then an expensive price of $29.95 apiece which might help explain why the series was not a huge commercial success. Each new scenario also needed the master diskette (sold separately) so each new scenario was never going to mathematically sell more than the original. The complete series is listed below:

1. The King’s Testing Ground by Donald Brown
2. The Vampyre Caves by Donald Brown
3. The Kidnappers Cove by Donald Brown
4. The Case of the Sultan’s Pearl by Donald Brown
5. The Green Plague by Donald Brown
6. The Eternal Curse by Donald Brown
7. The Hall of Alchemie by Peter Wityk

Players take on the role of a warrior/adventurer in the magical, feudal world of Diurla. Your play begins at the Main Hall of the Guild of Free Rogues, where you create a character, buy equipment and learn spells before venturing out to gain wealth and experience. Each scenario has a different goal, and typically a time limit.

The Main Hall of the Guild of Free Rogues will look very familiar to veterans of Eamon. From the Main Hall you can visit the Weapons Shop, get Training, go to Hokas (which is a Magic Shop) or head to the Bar for drinks.

While there are some similarities to Brown’s Eamon creation; where SwordThrust really differentiates itself is in the improved complex mechanics and character advancement found within.

There are several numbers or components involved which include Hardiness, Agility, Charisma, Fatigue, and Left Hand rating.

Hardiness represents the brute force of your character. A number is randomly generated between 3 and 24 when you’re generating your character. It has two major impacts:

1. Weight in the game is measured in gronds and you can carry 5 times your Hardiness in gronds and still remain lightly encumbered. If you are carrying more than 5 to 10 times your Hardiness then you are encumbered. Encumbrance affects your chance of getting hit with weapons as well as your movement and fatigue. Additionally you can only swim if you are lightly encumbered and also affects how long you can hold your breath underwater.
2. Hardiness also determines how much damage your body can absorb before getting killed.

Like your Hardiness, your Agility begins at some level between three and twenty-four, usually somewhere between twelve and fifteen. It describes your speed and dexterity, and has its most major effect on combat – several factors are added together to find your chance of hitting with a weapon , and one of these factors is twice your agility.

Charisma describes how attractive you are to others and has two impacts on the game.

1. It affects how monsters and non-player characters you encounter will react to you. It can sometimes turn an unfriendly encounter into a friendly one.
2. Market prices in the Main Hall will be lower if your Charisma score is higher.

The game also keeps track of what it calls a Fatigue Reservoir. Movement and attacking subtracts from this Reservoir and when it gets too low you become tired or fatigued and must rest. Casting spells subtracts substantially from this Fatigue Reservoir as well. If you enter combat “tired” it negatively affects your chances to hit.

By an odd stroke of fate, every character in Diurla is right-handed. Most characters have two hands. The most common ways to attack are using a two-handed weapon or having a weapon in the right hand and a shield in the left. However, a few characters from time to time will give up the extra power of a two-handed weapon and the protection of a shield to get a second attack, and fight with weapons in both hands. When this happens, the Left Hand Rating affects your chance to hit with the weapon in your left hand.

Your Left Hand Rating is a multiplier that begins from twenty-five to ninety-nine percent. The chance of hitting a target with a weapon in your left hand is the chance of hitting the target if that weapon was in your right hand, multiplied by your Left Hand Rating over 100.

Which takes us to what I think is one of the most interesting aspects of the game: the mechanics behind the combat.

There are a lot of moving parts that go into combat. The first factor is your agility. The chance of hitting begins at twice the agility number. The next six factors are affected by the weapon: a name, a weapon type, the number of hands needed to use it (one or two), a weapon complexity, and two numbers describing the damage. A good quality weapon has a higher weapon complexity and better chance to hit than a fair quality weapon. Next the player’s expertise in that weapon type is factored in. Every character has a separate weapon expertise for every class of weapon. They begin with 5% for axe, -10% for bow, 20% for club, 10% for spear, and 0% for sword. This number is added to the chance of hitting – therefore, notice that even though a beginning player’s sword expertise is zero, his/her chance of hitting with a sword is not necessarily zero! Finally, an adjustment is made for amor and shield. Although armor will absorb damage from attacks that land on you , it may have the unfortunate effect of lowering your chance of hitting. Every shield or armor has associated with it an odds adjustment. When you attack, the combined adjustments of the suit of armor you are wearing (if any) and the shield you have ready (if any) are taken and may be subtracted from your chance of hitting. However, you can train your character to ignore the constraining effects of armor – your character has an armou expertise, which begins at zero although it will increase. This expertise can cancel out theeffect of armor.

Let’s use my character, Fost Longstrider, as an example.

Fost’s agility is fifteen. He is wearing Leather Armour (which has an odds adjustment of -10%) and is carrying a small shield (which has an odds adjustment of -5%). In his right hand is a sword with a weapon complexity of 10%. He has been fighting a little while , and has raised his armour expertise up to 13% and has raised his sword expertise up to 5%.

He encounters a troll and swings at it. His chance to hit is thirty (twice his agility) plus ten (for his weapon) plus five (for his sword expertise) minus two (his armour and shield would lower his chance to hit by 15%, but his armour expertise cancels 13% of that), for a total chance of hitting of 43%.

There are more subtle complexities within the game but when you peek underneath the hood you can appreciate what is there.

The Weapons Shop found off of the Main hall is run by Heinrich. It is here that you can purchase axe, bow, mace, spear, sword, armor, and shield. Be sure to purchase weapons of Good quality. Do not choose Fair or Poor as they will detract from your weapon complexity and thus chances to hit. You get what you pay for.

Hokas Tokas was once a great rogue himself, and a specialist in magic. However, a great love of odd alcoholic beverages proved to be his downfall. He now hangs out at the bar of the Main Hall, rising from his drunken stupor only to teach others the ten spells. The spells you can eventually learn in this game are:

• Blast
• Heal
• Speed
• Power
• Charm
• Fear
• Deathspell
• Farsee
• Teleport
• Thickskin

You may purchase drinks at the bar of the Main Hall for one gold piece per drink. It is only useful to visit the bar immediately before you go adventuring. . .

For every drink you have at the bar, there 1s a chance that you will get a hint when you begin your next adventure (you heard something useful in conversation) . The chance of getting a hint is your Charisma divided by 30. Having many drinks will almost insure that you will get a hint (although you will never get more than one), but there are side effects to drinking.

The first scenario that comes with the Master Diskette is The King’s Testing Ground. The hint I received before leaving the hall to embark on this adventure was; “Someone gives you a vision of a two-handed sword and says to ‘Remember Royalty’

The initial scenario is much like the Beginner’s Cave in Eamon. Once you go back to the Main Hall you are not allowed back into the King’s Testing Ground. It is only for new characters to build up their experience and inventory. There are a series of caves to explore which are very reminiscent of the Beginner’s Cave experience in Eamon. You’ll encounter a Black Knight which is an extremely difficult battle. However if you can defeat the Black Knight you can take his black cloth armor, 1000 gold pieces, and his sword. There is a secret passage that will allow you to circumvent the knight as he is the hardest encounter on this particular level. A Mimic, a Carnivorous Plant, and a Wolf round out the rest of the encounters in the cavern complex. The Carnivorous Plant is guarding an extremely important item which you will need later. It is what the hint you heard at the tavern was alluding to. The Wolf is also guarding a very important item that you will need later if you want to complete 100% of the scenario. An underground lake leads to a water filled tunnel which eventually leads you to a temple complex. Here you will encounter four different colored rats, an evil priest and an evil worshipper. There are some amazing treasures to find once you are in the temple complex. The leering idol has two huge gems for eyes (this seems like homage to the 1st Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide for AD&D), the Sword of Excalibur is embedded in a rock within the temple just waiting for the right person to pull it out, and there is a large solid gold statue of a mermaid as well.

Trying to work through how to get the heavy gold statue out of the complex is probably the hardest puzzle in this introductory scenario. In the deepest depths of the lake there is an extremely long east/west tunnel that you will not make it through without the ability to breathe water. I’ll allow you the luxury of figuring this out on your own.

My character, Fost Longstrider, made his way out with all of the treasures, including the statue, and I used the money to learn a Heal spell from Hokas and to purchase some armor. I look forward to my next adventure with Fost in this SwordThrust series.

The premise of Dragon Fire is simple: Make your way through 10 dungeon levels to reach the lair of the dreaded dragon, defeat said dragon, and escape with it’s treasure hoard.

If this screenshot of the first dungeon level looks familiar; it should. Dragon Fire is an update or successor to Rodney Nelsen’s Super Dungeon from 1979. I enjoyed Rodney’s first attempt quite a bit and I liked his update even more.

When the game begins it asks you to choose between five different character types: warrior, huntress, wizard, elf, and dwarf. You are given a brief description and benefits of each character type.

I chose to be a warrior and then got to select between a variety of weapons and equipment at Winsome Willy’s Weapon Shop.

You’ll choose two weapons and them move on to Fliver’s & Sons where you’ll select your armor type.

You then will go on to purchase rations and water or wine for your foray into the dungeon. Combat mechanics are hidden in Dragon Fire and I am sure your choices that you make here somehow affects the calculations made in combat but at no time in the game do you get to access your inventory or character. It was exciting to create a character with such detail in 1981 but much of this seems to be window dressing.

One huge improvement over Nelson’s prior game are the rooms that you explore in Dragon Fire. The blue areas on the map above represent doors to rooms located within the maze. When you enter a door a room description is randomly generated as well as the guardian in the room.

I found the room descriptions to be extremely entertaining and fun to read and through ten dungeon levels they never got too repetitive.

You can elect to fight the creature in the room or flee. Once you choose combat the game switches to a combat screen.

You can elect to have the game take the combat through a rapid progression where the outcome is very quickly determined or you can go manually round by round. I elected the rapid progression as you will experience a large number of these combats.

When you reach the end of one level and begin another you are awarded a number of points based on the creatures you’ve slain on that level and the treasured you’ve accrued. You can then spend these points either on your constitution score or your life points. Your constitution score represents your hardiness or hit points. When you are in combat and struck by a creature your constitution score suffers. Your life points are like a timer. Each time you take a step or action on a dungeon level your life points tick down. So you are on the clock. You never get to exceed 150 life points for your character but your constitution score can become quite high. You can also “backtrack” from one level to another and grind for a higher constitution score or to replenish your life points.

There are magical keys that you can randomly find on each level. They are sometimes found randomly in a hall or can be found as the spoils from a particular encounter. You are supposed to collect as many of these magical keys as you can before encountering the dragon on the 10th dungeon level. More on these magical keys later.

There are special events which can trigger at any time within the game as well. You can experience an earthquake which can then block off certain sections of the dungeon level to you. Sometimes this can trap you on a level and “softlock” your game and you’ll have to start all over. You can also encounter a bat which hunts you down on the particular level you’re on. If it catches you it drains 50 of your life points! I fell into a pool which lowered my scores dramatically. Once I started to explore the 9th and 10th dungeon level a random blue fog would always appear and teleport me to the previous dungeon level again. This happened often to me on the final two levels and became a bit frustrating.

I spent a lot of my time on the 10th level. I discovered that the dragon’s lair is not a particular spot on the map but it is only accessible by finding the secret entrance off of one of the walls on that dungeon level. It made searching for the secret door both tedious and dangerous. Remember that you are on a timer (your life points) and so when they started to become low during my search I’d quickly have to backtrack to level 9 and build them up again to start my search once again. I did finally find the dragon’s lair.

I do not think I would have beaten Salmadon if it were not for all of the magical keys that I picked up exploring the ten dungeon levels. I am going to credit these keys for providing the “key” to the win. When I encountered the dragon it’s constitution score was much higher than mine. I thought that I was going to be chewed up and spit out like bad food but I somehow miraculously beat it quite easily despite being very overmatched. I believe it was the keys the game alluded to. In the introduction it said to collect as many of these keys as you can before you face the dragon so they must have had a huge affect on combat mechanics.

I also wanted to add that I liked that the treasures you find in the game also have creative descriptions. You’re not just awarded coins but much like the rooms you explore the treasures sport colorful descriptions ranging from statues to art to jewelry etc.

I think this would have been a favorite game of mine in 1981 and it would have kept me coming back for more. The randomness and the ability to try and achieve a higher score gives it great replay value. I won the game on the Novice setting and there are more difficult settings that add even more replay value. If you can find it; you have to play this one for the experience.

I could not find whether Rodney Nelson went on to develop any other games. Perhaps one of my readers has some information to share there but if these are his only two offerings I certainly appreciate both of his contributions to the RPG genre.

Dragon’s Eye is reminiscent of games we’ve played like Wilderness Campaign and Crown of Arthain although it does sport some original “wrinkles” of it’s own.

The 17 page manual which comes with the game is extremely well done. Epyx thus far has had high production values regarding support materials for their games ( Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai ) and the Dragon’s Eye manual is further evidence of this. The writing, art, and layout are all top notch.

I would not have been able to play Dragon’s Eye if it were not for the manual. It is a must-read as there are many different keyboard commands to become familiar with. The plot or mission is a bit convoluted so I’ll allow you to read for yourself:

I am going to be a bit anti-climatic here and admit that given the manual and how much I enjoyed Wilderness Campaign, I thought that I was really going to enjoy this one. While I did appreciate the original nuances introduced it still felt like a bit of a slog to me and I believe it was the combat that is the culprit. I’ll elaborate further a bit later.

There are seven provinces in Dragon’s Eye known as: Fel City, Ley Land, Deep Chasm, Lofty Mountains, East Plains, and West Plains. You’re awarded a score at the end of the game based on the number of monsters you slay, the special magic items that you find, and ultimately whether or not you succeeded in bringing the Dragon’s Eye back to Fel City (your starting point in the game) within 21 days. Your 21 day time limit is present due to the spell in place which freezes time in order to create a window of opportunity to find the Dragon’s Eye, the source of the necromancer’s power.

Below are the 10 different treasures that you can find for points:

The impressive feature of Dragon’s Eye is that there are 15 different spells which you can cast. These spells are randomly bestowed upon you when your character is generated. But are they really randomly generated?

When you begin play you choose your character’s name and then your character’s title. The manual suggests to treat each title as if it is a character class. I did not notice any differences in combat however I did notice that your spells granted to you seemed to be a specific set based on the title you have chosen. For example, my strategy for winning was to quickly cast the spell Locate Eye so I knew which province to concentrate my search in. You are not always awarded the Locate Eye spell unless you pick certain title numbers. I always went with #3 as it always guaranteed I’d get the Locate Eye spell (at least in the several playthroughs I experienced).

So by choosing a title of Fost the Greek I’d guarantee my chances of procuring the Locate Eye spell.

Each spell provides a special benefit and is evidence of the layers of strategy present in the game. Note that each spell stems from a particular school of magic. For example, the Locate Eye spell comes from the Divination School.

I want to go back to the main map screen for Dragon’s Eye and point out the information found in the upper right hand corner. Notice that in this particular screen capture the Power is locked on Conjuration. The manual describes these as “winds of change” or magical waves or ripples that move through the environment. They change constantly. If you attempt to cast a spell that is not in alignment with the current Power in play, you have a much greater likelihood of spell failure – your spell WILL likely fail. So if you want to cast your Locate Eye spell, you’re going to have to travel until the Power changes to Divination which is the school of magic Locate Eye is derived from. I loved this “wrinkle” in the game and it influences your strategy and when and where you can cast your spells.

There are a lot of things to like about Dragon’s Eye: the beautiful game manual, how the game is relatively short and a single campaign can be played in a little over an hour, choosing a title to accompany your character name and bestowing spells based on your choice is highly original and entertaining, the number of spells available and the different strategies they force into play, the overland map itself of the seven provinces, and lastly how time, schools of magic, and weather all affect how the game is played. What I didn’t like about Dragon’s Eye was the combat.

The combat reminds me of Crown of Arthain. When combat begins the screen changes and you’re suddenly facing your opponent and arcade style fighting suddenly ensues. You cannot cast spells of any kind so there is no strategy to speak of, you’re just exchanging blows. You can Smash, Duck, Parry, Thrust, Chop, Beserk ( a random combination of all of the above) but I found that none of them ( other than providing different animations) really seemed to have a different impact from one another. I would find myself “pushing up daisies” quite often.

I never could defeat the dragon. When you find the Dragon’s Eye the dragon always pops up and you’re forced to battle the dragon.

You have arrows and magic bolts which you can also fire but the dragon closes the distance quite rapidly and then proceeds to eats your face.

So how do you get around the problem of the dragon? I found that what worked best for me was to cast Locate Eye in the very beginning of the game so you know which province you have to travel to. The 21 day time limit sounds like a lot of time but it is actually quite challenging and a race against the clock to make your back to Fel City with the Dragon’s Eye. Once I knew which province the Eye was located in I would make my way there. I solved my combat problem by always choosing to hit E for escape. It would allow me to run away from combat 9 out of 10 times and not have to deal with the arcade sequences. Once I thought I knew where the Eye was located, I could then cast the Eradicate spell within my allotted window, which temporarily eradicates all of the monsters within any given province. The key word there is temporarily. Once I’ve bought myself some time I would try to find the Eye before the dragon made it’s way back.

You can always try to increase your score by finding more treasures and actually slaying some monsters (instead of running away) but I felt that I had my fill of the game. There are harder difficulty levels too which I did experiment with and they are indeed much more difficult so there is certainly some replay value here. I wouldn’t really classify this as a true CRPG but this game is typical of the quasi-RPG hybrid offerings of the time. There are a lot of original ideas here that were implemented that I liked a lot but it was the combat which would cause me to rate the game lower if I used a particular rubric. I encourage you to try it out and if nothing else make sure you take a look at the high quality manual which came with the game.

Thunder Road is another offering from Don Boner & Freda Boner. I was so intrigued with their Deadly Dungeon offering that I had investigate their second offering from 1980.

Thunder Road is a text adventure written for the TRS-80 however it plays more like a choose your path adventure.

The extremely interesting thing about Thunder Road from the onset is the setting and premise.

So you’re running white-lightning and trying to avoid the local sheriff as well as revenuer’s. I had to look up revenuer as I’d never heard the term used quite that way and it’s apparently an officer from the department of revenue. These government agents were responsible for halting unlawful bootlegging of alcohol.

There are quite a few locations in the game; it ended up being quite large to map out. There is not much in the way of puzzles that you have to deal with. I would qualify maybe three areas of the game where you need to find objects and then manipulate them later in the game in order move on.

The reason why I stated that this is more of a choose your path kind of adventure is that there are quite a few instant death scenarios within the game. Once you make a decision to go in a particular direction you may find yourself dying or getting into a situation where you have to begin all over again. I had no save game state with this one so it was actually a little time consuming to play. I probably spent a good 90 minutes to 2 hours with the game. What the game ultimately does is herd you in a very particular direction. You’ll learn the correct route you have to drive through trial and error. I had to restart the game several times. The game will throw three or four different obstacles at you that you will have to overcome in order to reach your final destination.

The game very much reminds me of a Dukes of Hazzard episode the way it is setup.

You even get to run a road-block. The deputies and sheriff have names like something out of an episode of the above show or a Smokey & the Bandit movie. The game does a very good job creating suspense as you move deeper and deeper into the game. At every turn you find the revenuers hot on your heels so the game does a good job at creating the idea of an exhausting pursuit. You always have the feeling that there is somebody behind you or closing in on you which is hard to pull off in a text adventure.

I’ll give the game points for originality as well. We’ve dealt with fantasy themes, a pirate theme, old west themes, and haunted house themes but we’ve yet taken on the role of a bootlegger. I feel that Deadly Dungeon was a stronger offering from this pair however I have to give it points for originality.

Deadly Dungeon was written by Don and Freda Boner. Don is also an award winning wine maker and the author of a beer making manual. He also has produced numerous independent films and won an award in 2004 for Loser’s Lounge at the Bare Bones Independent Film Festival. Loser’s Lounge was a murder-noir mystery. Before his film career, Don had become the director for Adman Software and besides Deadly Dungeon he also developed and published Thunder Road in 1980. Don and Freda would go on develop Revenge of Balrog and the Fortress at Times-End in 1981.

Deadly Dungeon is yet another attempt at a text/RPG hybrid. We played quite a few of these in 1980 as the genre was feeling it’s way around in the dark with home computer technology. I thought that Doom Cavern, also from 1980, wins top honors for getting the text/RPG hybrid just right.

Deadly Dungeon is loosely based on the Dungeons & Dragons game and it plays as if you’re sitting down with your friends creating random rooms to explore.

The game has a couple of unique features. The first is that it consists of three different dungeon levels to explore. You begin in a deadly temple and it is here you have to drop the treasures that you find. You are awarded points for what you find and a score is kept. The highest possible score you can achieve is 500. The second unique feature of Deadly Dungeon is that you can encounter random creatures and combat is handled much like the combat in the Eamon scenarios.

When you begin play the game randomly generates a character for you and you are assigned a combat rating of 1-6 with 6 being the best. You begin play with a sword and a randomly assigned number of arrows.

Once you exit the deadly temple you find yourself deposited somewhere on the 1st dungeon level. Each time you enter the 1st dungeon level you begin in a random room so your starting place is never the same. The treasures to be found on the first level included a diamond ring, a diamond, a deed to a castle, and a painting. Once you reached the Council Room you could then make your way back into the deadly temple and you could leave your treasures. My score at the end of the first level was 150/500.

Navigation and the locations made very little sense. You might move from a Victorian Sitting Room into a Graveyard and then from there you might find yourself in a Hall of Mirrors or in a Mine Shaft. There really are no puzzles on the 1st level other than exploring and manipulating your surroundings. There is an instant death scenario on this level depending on the choices you make.

Once you complete that first level and enter the deadly temple; the next time you leave the temple you will find yourself on the 2nd level of the dungeon. I had a random encounter on this level with a giant grasshopper. If you do not bring one of the treasures from the 1st level with you into this level you are not going to be able to advance into the castle. You’re going to find a rope on this level which is going to prove useful in the dungeon’s 3rd level.

I found the rope and a copper lamp on this short level. When I returned to the deadly temple my score was 250 out of 500.

On the 3rd level of the dungeon I encountered a vampire bat. This combat was especially treacherous but I was able to defeat the beast. I found a silver candlestick holder on this level as well as a king’s crown. There is a dark pit on this level that you’re going to inevitably find yourself in. If you do not have the rope with you, you will have “softlocked” yourself from finishing and will have to begin again. When I go to the end of level 3 and entered the deadly temple and deposited my treasures I found that I had achieved 500 out of 500 points.

Don and Freda Boner’s Deadly Dungeon was just interesting enough to keep me playing until the very end. I have to admit to being a sucker for these text/RPG hybrid attempts. This offering was done just well enough that I am going to play this duo’s second offering from 1980: Thunder Road next.

Curse of the Sasquatch is a text adventure for the TRS-80 written by Greg Hassett. Greg was very prolific in 1979 and published Sorcerer’s Castle Adventure, Enchanted Island, and lastly Voyage to Atlantis. I played through and reviewed all three here on the blog. The link that I provided will also have links to the other two game reviews as well.

The adventure starts off with a bang as it appears I’ve been taken to Alaska to find and trap the legendary bigfoot.

You begin the game by awakening in a small shack. Someone or something carried you there. My question was who and why?

I search the shack and soon find a secret door behind the fireplace. I go down a ramp and I am suddenly plunged into darkness without a light source. There is unfortunately no way to save the game so I have to begin again.

Curse of the Sasquatch – Take Two

I choose to pull the lever this time and I am dropped into a dark cavern. I find a growling tape recorder and a flute. The tape recorder throws me a bit. There seems to be no way to interact with it. Is growling a name brand or is there a cassette tape stuck that the recorder is eating? Or is it playing growling sounds? Perhaps this question will be answered at a later time.

I continue on and come to a dead end – or is it? One item in my inventory interacts with another in the environment and I’m able to climb up onto a ledge where there is a ladder. I climb the ladder up into an Adventure Workroom filled with cassette tapes, wadded up balls of paper, and broken pencils. I thought ‘oh! Cassette tapes! Maybe now that I have the recorder I am supposed to play one of them.‘ I take one of the cassette tapes and a wizard suddenly appears and exclaims that I am not allowed to take anything from this area and he kills me instantly.

Curse of the Sasquatch – Take Three

I begin again, search the shack, make my way to the secret room behind the fireplace, pull the lever, take the ladder, but don’t attempt to go into the Adventure Workroom again. I take a different direction in these underground caverns and come upon, wait for it, a twisty maze! Hooray! It’s late and I’ve had a rough day at work so I decide to shut things down and attempt the maze in the morning or the following day

Curse of the Sasquatch – Day Two – Take Four

I make my way through the maze and come out the side of the mountain onto a snowy ledge. I find the body of a dead monk here who just so happens to be carrying a Zippo lighter. No really. I now have the light source I needed and then realize that I forgot to grab the key after making my way through the fireplace. Aaargh!

Curse of the Sasquatch – Day Two – Take Five

I make sure to grab the key again this time, obtain the flute, recorder, ladder, make my way through the twisty maze and find the dead monk again on the snowy ledge. I take the poor soul’s Zippo lighter, find my way back to the shack, and I am able to uncover more of the map thanks to my newly found Zippo lighter. I venture back back through the fireplace, down the ramp, and now that I can see I am able to grab a life-size blow up doll of bigfoot (don’t ask). I deal with both a cobra and a man-eating tiger and obtain an axe for my troubles.

I then become “stuck” for some time wondering what to do next and then noticed when trying to use the ladder in a location the response I receive is; “not in this location” Hmmm I slowly and methodically begin to go to each of the map locations to see where I can use the ladder and finally found an area where I can do so and it opened up a significant portion of the map for me.

There is a bit of a plot twist here and the game turns a corner. I use the axe to chop a tree into firewood and then find a building. Inside the building are large, fake bigfoot feet for making footprints and a barrel of oil. There is also a puddle of oil on the ground and an oil can. I grab the oil can and fill it with oil from the puddle. The game is very unforgiving where inventory management is concerned and only allows you to carry just a few items. This entire time as I find an item I’ve had to decide which item to drop. I’ve dropped the axe now as an example in order to get the oil can. It now seems as if I’ve uncovered some kind of plot to scare folks away or keep them away. For what purpose? Is there some kind of oil scheme going on here?

I make my way out of the building and find a statue holding an axe that squeaks; “ill me”. Hmm I use the oil can to oil the statue which suddenly becomes animated and tells me; “the flute is to be used thrice” before running off. (Was that supposed to be the tin woodsman from the Wizard of Oz?) The flute is used three times… Drat! The flute had been one of my items I’d discarded due to inventory management. I leave the area and make my way back down the mountain and revisit my locations until I find the flute. I make my way back up the mountain and explore the building once again because I seem to have become “stuck” again. I had pushed a knob in the building and pulled a knob in the building and this time I turn the knob and the floor drops out from under me. I find myself in a damp basement and it was at this point that an entirely new section of locations opened up to me.

I find an elevator in the basement and an elaborate bedroom with a closet. In the closet is a fake bigfoot costume. I also find more barrels of oil in the basement. This is starting to seem like Joss Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods or an episode from Scooby Doo. All that is missing is the character of Red Herring. There is a shelf in the closet and when I climb up to the shelf I receive an odd message; “the shelf is big enough to hold you and it seems to shake when you whistle…” Now why would I be whistling? So that seems like a “nudge” or a clue to me and the tin woodsman told me I need to use the flute three times. A flute sound and whistle seem synonymous so I blow the flute.

The shelf suddenly dumps me into a master control room that seems to control or manipulate an oil well or system. No matter what I do I seem to be trapped in this room. I can return to the closet shelf and then back to the control room but I can go nowhere else. There are no controls to manipulate in the room nor any objects. I seem to have “softlocked” myself somehow. Arrrrgh! Did I mention there is no save game feature?

Curse of the Sasquatch – Day Two – Take Six

So I’ve obviously missed something. The only item I didn’t use was the tape recorder which I now know was placed there to emit growling sounds. Mystery solved. I have not yet used the firewood either and in the shack when I first began the game it did suggest I start a fire but I had forgotten about it. So I move about the game environment repeating everything I had before but this time I avoid turning the knob in the building.

I place the firewood in the fireplace and start a fire using the monk’s Zippo lighter. No really. The smoke from the fireplace reveals a secret panel in the ceiling of the shack. If only I had a ladder. Oh wait I do! I climb onto the roof of the shack and I find a note and a trap. The note reads to use this trap and some bait (not included) at the place the big foot frequents. The master control room had described black footprints on the floor and that the sasquatch must go there a lot. The bait must be the life-like bigfoot blowup doll? I take the trap and the doll and the flute and then suddenly find I can’t go through the fireplace because of the fire. I do get a game message the storm has subsided so I move all about outside to see if my location options have changed. I wait to see if the fire dies down. I try to put out the fire using several different adjectives none of which work and this is where I am now stumped.

Curse of the Sasquatch – Day Two – Take Six – much later

I spent roughly 45 minutes doing everything I could think of and this is where I had to resort to finding a walkthrough to get me past this spot. Aaargh! I am very glad I did this because it seems to be a stupid parser problem. Somehow I was supposed to know to type GO MOUNTAIN (these are the types of crazy things that can drive you crazy with these older text adventure games – do not get me started). So with no guilt at having to use a lifeline over something like that ( I would have NEVER discovered that no matter how much time spent with the game ) I continue on. I play the flute and get dumped into the control room. I drop the trap and drop the blow up doll and return to the closet. When I come back…

I would have liked to have read at the end “..and I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”

Curse of the Sasquatch was a bit of a departure for Greg Hassett There were no treasures to find or score to deal with but there was an actual plot here with a bit of a twist to it. The logic for parts of the game seem to be “off” to me ( a life sized bigfoot blowup doll is the bait? ) and who dumped me in the cabin at the beginning of the game but it still seems an improvement to me over his earlier entries. His puzzle solutions ( the man-eating tiger and cobra are two examples ) are reminiscent of his earlier works but this game entry seemed to start to follow the trail that Scott Adams had blazed already.

The no save quandary caused me some frustration as starting over and over took some patience and perseverance but that comes with the territory. I am now looking forward to Hassett’s other two games he published in 1980 as I’m wondering if he has now turned a corner with this offering.