Author: professor6153

Moira is a dungeon style role-playing game first developed for the Plato system around 1975. I spent about an hour reading over the introduction and getting used to the game mechanics. The first word that comes to mind from this initial experience with the game? Daunting. The scope and size of this game is immense. The game introduces you to many more choices for your character than any of the previous games reviewed on the Plato system.

Whereas the previous games were heavily influenced by Dungeons & Dragons that does not seem to be the case here. The character attributes are different as well as the magic system in play.

Character generation is based on four skills and here is where the game moves away from the D&D influence. The four skills are Cunning, Piety, Valor, and Wizardry. Cunning allows you to trick monsters, open boxes and chests, and evade monsters. It is the primary attribute of thieves. Piety determines the rate and success of praying you can do and affects the casting of peacetime spells. It is the main attribute for Priests. Valor determines the amount of damage you can do in fighting and also can decrease the damage done to a character by monsters. Valor also determines which weapons a character can use. It is the primary attribute for fighters. Wizardry gives you skill in casting spells and is the primary attribute for wizards.

When you are creating your character you get your choice of four different number roll sets which never change. Each roll chooses one of the four attributes to assign a 10 to. The other two receive a score of 7 and the last attribute receives a 5. In this way, upon character creation, you have to decide if you want to concentrate on being a fighter, thief, priest, or wizard.

There are a number of first experiences in the game of Moira. The first one is having to choose your class: fighter, thief, priest, or wizard. In the previous three games reviewed your character was a hybrid of all of these and the wizard and priest spells were not differentiated like they are here. The next “first” was apparent when you entered the game.

The previous games were in an overhead perspective but in Moria you are shown a perspective of the walls and doors that you seem to walk towards and go through. This would later become a popular staple of the Wizardry games and many other dungeon crawlers that followed. You can see in the 3D perspective that Aragorn is currently in a Room and that changes to read Corridor when you are in halls.

Another first is the constant need for food and water. You can see on the left of the display that your food and water is closely monitored. This is something that needs to be monitored closely. There is a tremendous amount of mapping that you are going to be doing in this game and as you move around these supplies become depleted. The only way that you can obtain food is in the city from the Supply Store and then you need to get your water from City Well which is located in a completely different area of the city. If you allow either your food or water to go to zero you will die.

Another first is that Moria is not turn based but real time. I learned this the hard way. I was building my character up and mapping out the surrounding wilderness when I ran into a wandering monster. An encounter! Suddenly there was a knock at my front door and I got up to answer it. When I returned I found that the monster had hit me several times; doing over 100 damage; and I was killed. So be aware that if you are standing in the city or wilderness, or in an encounter, you must act. Your supplies will continue to be used and worse yet if you are in an encounter and do nothing your antagonist will still attack you relentlessly. Personally I find this aspect of the game to be highly inconvenient due to the amount of mapping that needs to be done to be successful. This is not a game then that you can multi-task with but requires your full concentration unlike turn based games where you can deal with real life issues then return when convenient.

Now I want to address why I would use the word daunting to describe Moria. The sheer amount of navigation and mapping which needs to be done. The mazes in Moria are organized into levels which are parts of different terrains. Two of the terrains are the City which you start in and the Wilderness. The city is basically a resting place for your character and a place where you can go to buy food & water, weapons & armor, and sell magic items. The Wilderness is a hostile area filled with monsters. The Wilderness can be thought of as an overland map however it has the appearance of a dungeon. When you map out the wilderness you are mapping out corridors with doors and rooms. Scattered somewhere on the Wilderness map are your entrances to the Caves, Mountains, Forest, and Desert. Those four terrains are much like dungeons that need to be explored. Each of the four terrains has a total of 60 levels! And the maps are huge! The city alone was 48 x 42 squares ( I did not bother mapping out the city) and the Wilderness map is 30 x 36 squares. The four different dungeon terrains are just as big in size and also 60 levels deep!

There are several ways to honor a player character in the game. The first is making it into the Hall of Fame with a high score. You score points for fighting monsters. Another goal that is more difficult to achieve is to become master of your Guild. If you choose to do so, you can join one of four Guilds in the game. For example, I was planning to join the Union of Knights. In order to make my way up to Guildmaster my Valor score needs to be at least 50. When I started the game my Valor was at 10. The more that you use an attribute the higher the attribute’s score becomes. I have only just now started to map out the Wilderness and already my Valor is up to 13. This is another first from the previous games. The last and most dangerous goal is to find the Reaper’s Ring. The ring is randomly placed on level 1 and then moves down a level each time it is found. It may be found in any of the four terrains, so the search may be long and arduous. I just recently checked and found that the last person to find the ring did so on level 55. This means the Reaper’s Ring is on level 56 of one of the four different terrains. That is going to require a tremendous amount of mapping and searching.

I have only spent about 2-3 total hours with Moria but you can already see the breadth and scope compared to the previous three games. The game seems almost impossible with all of the mapping that needs to be done and the amount of time and hours that are going to be needed to finish this one boggles the imagination. I may find myself in Moria for a very, very, long time.

My exploration of the Plato system and what it had to offer gamers in 1975 leads me to Orthanc; an expansive dungeon crawl.

Orthanc improves upon Rutherford’s Dungeon on several fronts except one that possibly matters the most: a reason to play.

Perhaps I was spoiled by the Game of Dungeons because it actually had a plot. I don’t know about you but going on a quest to slay a dragon and obtain the orb it is guarding checks off quite a few fantasy tropes for me. So forgive me if the sole purpose of braving 10 dungeon levels is so that I can retire with honor near the seat of the king seems like a bit of a let down.

Let’s take a closer look at the game itself and concentrate on the improvements that it has to offer. There is a much greater variety of monster types that you have to deal with. This adds layers of complexity to the game because some of the different monster types have special abilities and you’ll have to think and experiment about how best to deal with each of the monster types.

These are just two of the eight pages of monsters that you encounter in the game. Many of them have special abilities, are only affected by certain spells, may have set locations on a particular level, or may appear as wandering monsters.

Your spell selection is much greater as a result. Instead of 2 levels of spells you now have 4 levels of spells to choose from.

A 1st level spell costs you 1 spell point to cast whereas a 4th level spell costs you 4 spell points. Your character gains additional spell points as he or she gains levels of experience.

You gain experience one of three ways: 1) by defeating monsters 2) by obtaining treasure and 3) by acquiring magical items.

The other vast improvement to the game is the graphical layout of your character and other pertinent information. Below is a screenshot:

I found this graphical interface to be extremely exciting when I first started play. Characteristics and Stats were very clear. You could easily see which area of effect spells were in play and there was a clear area for Magical Items. The layout was crisp, clean and clear and hinted at a larger character focus. I was excited to begin play. However this served to heighten the disappointment I had with the game.

Your character begins play with no name at all. You only get to assign a name to your character should you make it into the game’s Hall of Fame. So as the setting suggests your goal is to, pun intended, make a name for yourself. However I found this served to create a sort of detachment for me. The game mentions that a third way you can gain experience is by finding magical items albeit this way is rarer. A better descriptive might have been non-existent. In mapping out 3 of the 10 levels and spending hours with the game; I never encountered any magical items or equipment upgrades at all! Not one! Quite surprising for a rogue-like dungeon crawler. So while this graphical interface served to feed any character “buffing” fetishes I may have had; it was an ultimate disappointment in that I never found or accrued anything interesting or useful. I thought surely this will change when I get to the 2nd level of the dungeon. Nope. Nada. Then I thought when I map out the 3rd level I’ll find something – at LEAST a banana peel – but again nothing. You do acquire copper, silver, gold and if you’re lucky gems and jewelry. The jewelry can be quite a boost to your experience if your lucky enough to find a trinket.

There are 10 total dungeon levels in Orthanc and the levels are very large. Each of the levels are on a 24 x 20 grid. There are chutes and pits scattered about each level as well. If you’re on level two and you fall down a chute to level five you’re pretty much done for at lower levels. The dungeon levels are static; they do not change. There is an automapping feature in the game that you can access at anytime. However the map window is so small and each level is so large that it makes the automapping almost useless. I actually like that the dungeon levels are static and I like mapping them out. I don’t mind pulling out the graph paper and putting in the work. After all, that’s one of the challenges of these older dungeon crawler games. Here is my problem however: there is no driving reason to map out all ten of the levels other than to be a completist. There is no text or fixed areas yet in these older games and in this particular game any magic items or armor upgrades you may find are extremely rare. So, much like an arcade game, your only reason to continue to map out the levels is to keep increasing in experience and obtain a higher score. Below are the maps of the levels that I did complete in case you may find them to be of some help.

Now if in order to win the game you had to map out all 10 of the levels than I would have certainly given it my best shot. However all you need to do to WIN at Orthanc is to obtain a high enough score to get into their Hall of Fame. I was able to do so without having to map out the entire third level so in my mind I accomplished what I needed to do to win the game. Below you can see my character actually earning a name for himself, in this case I chose Fost, and making the Hall of Fame.

Orthanc features permadeath as well which means dead is dead. If you die in the dungeon then you must start all over at the beginning. This definitely causes increased anxiety as you move deeper and deeper into the dungeon. A new feature in this game that is not found in the others is that it is possible to encounter another player in the game. You can chat with them or supposedly fight them. Now I never encountered other players in the game. As a matter of fact, much of the time I was the only player on the server during my sessions. However, this would still make Orthanc the very first MMORPG – which is an online role-playing video game in which a large number of people participate simultaneously. This is a pretty amazing feature for 1975 if you think about it!

My overall experience here was a positive one. The technical improvements in Orthanc compared to Dungeon are huge. This is about as true as one could get to a table top Dungeons & Dragons experience in 1975. The monsters, spells, and exploration are obviously greatly influenced by the D&D game which was released the year before. It is not difficult to imagine players sitting at a Plato system in 1975 spending hours and hours on this game in an attempt to increase their scores. The Hall of Fame page, much like arcade machines, has a highly addictive draw for many. However even though I was impressed with the improvements and had a positive experience, I did not feel the need to try to map out all 10 of the dungeon levels. I was content to retire my character into the Hall of Fame, after finally making a name for himself. I am calling this a WIN and moving on to my next challenge.

Our next game we’re going to be taking a look at is Moria which is also found on the Plato network.

I finally found the dreaded Dragon on the 18th level of the Dungeon. I chose NOT to use the Dragon Spell which would have used all of my spell points and instead tried to take the beast out with a lightning bolt. Yeah that did not work. Luckily I was able to kill the dragon with my sword. I grabbed the Orb and then began to make my way back up and out of the dungeon. All the way to the top I was encountering 9000 level creatures but I was strong enough that my spells were taking them out. I did finally reach the entrance to the dungeon and I made my way outside.

Here you can see, pictured below, Ryshad’s place at the top of the Finders of the Orb list.

My strategy was to teleport to the lowest level I felt I could endure. I would then spend time mapping the level out and returning to that level repeatedly until it seemed easy. I would make my way back up to the surface, wash, rinse, and repeat. I did this because I wanted to be intimately familiar with each of the levels and train my eyes. I wanted to be sure that, in the end, as I made my way to the top with the Orb I had my eyes trained to recognize which was the quickest route to the exit on each of the levels. This did end up being a great advantage in the end as I found making my way back up through the levels was much like a reflex action.

And thus my Game of Dungeons experience comes to an end so here are my final thoughts on the game.

There are a number of things that I find positively significant about this game.

This is the very first game in which the idea of a “big boss” that you have to defeat is introduced. In our previous game, Dungeon, the goal was to reach a certain number of experience points which you earned by defeating randomly generated monsters. Game of Dungeons had an actual goal: slay the dragon and retrieve the Orb.

This is also the first game in which you could keep acquiring a variety of magic items to improve the strength and stats of your character. Several of these items became more powerful as you found them in the deeper levels and instead of a +1 bonus they could give you +2 or +3. The deeper your foray into the dungeon your hit points were increasing (from finding gold AND defeating monsters) and you were acquiring stronger magical items so you had a true sense of character progression. I understand that this is greatly improved upon and a much more dynamic experience with current rogue-like games but the fact still remains that this was introduced here for the first time.

There can be no doubt that in 1975 this game must have seemed like a technological marvel. The Plato System was considered a super computer at the time and the number of hours students must have spent in the computer lab, playing this game, must be mind boggling. I wonder how many saw their grades suffer as a result.

The time investment with this game was significant. I went through 21 characters like wood going through a wood chipper before I became wise to the game mechanics. I would say plan on a good 10-12 hours before you establish a good learning curve and can then methodically map out and explore the 20 levels. Then plan on another 10-12 hours building your character’s levels so that you CAN take on the dragon in the deepest parts of the dungeon. If there was a weakness here; it was in the final stretch of the game as you had to make multiple trips into the dungeon and build up experience. This became a tedious process and thus it is where the descriptive word “grind” comes into play that you always read about.

The permadeath feature created a high level of anxiety for me as I found myself near the end of the game. There is such a time investment in building up your character that the thought of defeat at the hands of the dragon was enough to make you almost nauseous. My final trip to the surface carrying the orb was filled with both anxiety and exhilaration delivering what seemed like a true payoff because of the time that you had to put in and this permadeath feature.

The game was moderately difficult. You MUST have a pencil and graph paper handy because you have to map these levels out in order to win the game. The permadeath feature and the amount of time needed to win the game (roughly 24 game hours) is not insignificant. There were no riddles or text in the game; all of your time was spent mapping and buffing your character.

I am thankful to the folks at cyber1 who have maintained this system and allowed me to take part in a piece of history that is the computer role-playing game realm. I would highly recommend the experience for anyone who has the time and inclination.

Next up: Game #3 We are still in 1975 and I continue my experience with the Plato system and will look at Orthanc next

I cinch up the straps to my backpack and drink the last of my water. I wipe the sweat from my palm and then rest it upon the pommel of my sword. The hardness of the metal is reassuring as I stare into the yawning mouth of the darkened corridor. It beckons to me like a familiar lover.

I can smell the dragon now. The heavy musk of it’s reptilian scent hangs over this entire level like a funeral shroud. Bones of its past victims litter the halls of this cursed place. Their hopes and dreams smashed like the bones strewn about the halls and rooms. The trek to this point has been long and arduous but I believe I am finally ready to face the beast here in it’s lair. Only the Gods know whether I will be victorious or not.

The metallic scrape of my sword being pulled from it’s scabbard echoes down the corridor. I let out a long, steady breath in an attempt to calm my nerves and then stride purposefully into the beckoning shadows.

Well this is it. I wanted to give you a possible last screenshot of Ryshad the 22nd as I don’t know whether he will make it out of this alive. I have finished my map of the 17th level of the dungeon and so far have not had a random encounter with the dragon. I feel I’m close enough to ATTEMPT to take on the dragon and wrest the orb from its control. Here is the thing; whether I am successful or not I am not going to start over. I have put about 7-10 hours worth of mapping in and probably another 8-10 hours building up Ryshad here in preparation for the coming battle. I hope that this is not the end for Ryshad as defeat would leave a bitter taste in my mouth. I just don’t have it in me to start over at this point and go through the entire thing again. Wish me luck. I will report back soon and let you know if I was victorious or not along with my final review of Game of Dungeons

Music is a wonderful art which I greatly appreciate in all its’ myriad forms. Music certainly has it’s place in all the different types of computer games across multiple platform formats. It is obvious from reading the reviews of any top selling game that music is an important piece of the overall experience for many players. It is not uncommon now to see game soundtracks sold separately and they do very well. Many of your epic fantasy games now have amazing soundtracks and a lot of time, money, and energy goes into the creation and development of that soundtrack. There are many of you that very likely have a favorite game soundtrack that holds a special place in your heart. Except when it doesn’t.

The personal quest that I have embarked on has taken me on a journey back to 1975. In 1975 the cost of a gallon of gas was only 44 cents. The average cost of a new car was $4000.00 “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tennille was #1 on the Billboard magazines top 100 hot songs in 1975. However in the games that I am currently playing, there is no music at all. As a matter of fact there are no sound effects either. Not even a single beep.

I am currently mapping Level 14 in Game of Dungeons. It is imperative that while you explore you collect gold and slay monsters to gain experience. You must build your character up in preparation for the encounter with the game’s big boss: a dreaded dragon!

When these older games become tedious and you have to spend time building your character up might I suggest listening to music. It can help to set the mood and also serve to fuel your imagination; something which is sorely needed in these older dungeon crawl games. So in much the same way that a GM may use music to help create atmosphere during a gaming session; you can do the same with a good set of headphones and a play list.

Now here everyone’s musical tastes may vary. One person might prefer to listen to current hits or his or her favorite artist. There are many who seem to prefer a heavy metal soundtrack playing in the background while they explore a dark dungeon. Iron Maiden’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son comes to mind. There are many wonderful movie soundtracks that would work very well to set the mood. The Conan the Barbarian original soundtrack by Basil Poledouris is excellent and the Dracula soundtrack is very good as well. There are a large number of game soundtracks as well that you might want to check out like the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim soundtrack.

Spotify is a free app that allows you to create an account and create your own playlists. I suggest you experiment with different movie and game soundtracks to create your own ultimate playlist. Here is a great Exploration playlist that is almost 6 hours long that you can listen to and save in your own library.

Exploration Playlist

and here is another 6 hour playlist filled with heroic ballads and powerful combat music

Heroic Music

Tabletop Audio is a cool free website that lets you play background music with different themes like: Dungeon, Tavern, Combat, Future, etc. Downside: You need active internet connection.

Nerdsourced also has an article with some good Youtube playlists if you want to use that. The specific play lists found there have themes you can choose from.

Reddit: DnD Playlist is a subreddit that always has new content for Dungeons & Dragons Playlists

Midnight Syndicate and Hawkwind are examples of artists who are fan favorites in creating music that heightens any role-playing experience.

I know that in just a little bit as I continue to map out Level 14 in Game of Dungeons I will do so with Thorin Oakenshield from the wonderful Misty Mountains album.

Where do you stand on music in games? Have you ever tried any of these suggestions to heighten overall atmosphere and mood when mapping out one of these older dungeoncrawlers?

Do you have a favorite playlist or soundtrack for just such an occasion that you’d like to share?

My breath comes in ragged gasps now as I wipe the sweat out of my eyes. The gold pieces I had found in these stale, forgotten rooms were beginning to feel very heavy. I held my magical lantern aloft; hoping desperately to find the secret door to take me back to the surface. The undead were coming for me now; hungry for my life force. The guardians of this dungeon were not about to let me take this gold without a fight and I worry that I’ve stayed down here too long. I wipe the sweat stinging my eyes and straighten my back as my muscles start to cramp. ‘Where was that damn door?’

If you have an active imagination then this is how your constant forays in Game of Dungeons are likely to turn out. Once again we have been told that there are 20 levels in this dungeon. The goal is to find the dragon lurking somewhere on levels 17-20, slay the beast, and take the orb that it is guarding. In order to take on this terrifying monstrosity you need to build up your strength and experience. You accomplish this by slaying dungeon denizens and more importantly acquiring gold pieces. This involves careful mapping of the complex, collecting as much gold as you can in the process, and getting back up to the surface so that the gold you found and monsters you have slain can convert to experience and hit points.

In my last Game of Dungeons update I had successfully mapped out levels 1 – 5 and provided you with the maps. I am now presenting to you the maps for levels 6 – 11.

Game of Dungeon Levels 6 – 11

When you reach the surface it is the only way to save your character. Once you venture forth into the dungeon again your character runs the risk of permadeath. This means that dead is dead. There is no save feature or safety net of any kind. If you are killed in your latest dungeon delve than your character is completely wiped from the system and you have to start all over again. Now that I am exploring the deeper levels I have to remain cognizant of how many spells I have left to combat the things which shamble out of the darkness. The more gold that I pick up the more powerful are the guardians that try to stop me from leaving. So the key to winning this game is to possess patience and not let the emotion of greed overwhelm you. This involves abstaining from any books you may find, and most of the chests you find unless you discover that they are harmless.

Now that I have come this far; I cannot afford to make a mistake and I must tread carefully. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must find that secret door…….

I always get a little irritated when I am driving in my car and a certain commercial comes on the radio. It goes a little something like this; “A scientific study was conducted, 100 people were blind-folded, given samples of Coke vs Pepsi, and asked which one they like better” …….

First of all; THAT is not a scientific study. You’re merely asking 100 random people which they like better; Coke or Pepsi. It is ACTUALLY an example of a subjective observation. A subjective observation is one with a bias or prejudice. There is no right or wrong answer; each of those individuals are entitled to their own opinion. We use subjective observations all of the time. A person that you might find really attractive, might not be as attractive to others. The expression that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ carries a lot of weight. We use subjective observations with the clothes we wear, the foods we eat, and the games that we play.

Why use rating systems or lists at all? Ratings and lists appeal to most people. Life is full of tons of data, and people are always looking for ways to narrow down that data. Lists and rankings help in that regard and help us to make decisions; and psychological studies have shown that the shorter the list the more people are likely to believe the list and/or rankings. They help in making comparisons; which can be especially helpful for consumers.

I woke up early this morning very excited to create a ranking system that I would use for each of the games that I play to share with you here on the blog. I spent an inordinate amount of time reviewing other rating systems that are out there in order to help me form my own. I started mapping out what I wanted to rate; and how my scores would add up; and then the voice in my head started to speak. If you’re asking yourself; ‘What voice?’ then YES! that’s exactly the voice I’m talking about. My internal voice started pointing out potential red flags and problem areas and the more that I thought about it the less excited I became about a ratings system.

There a couple of conflicts in play here:

The first conflict is that reviews are biased because those reviews are made with subjective observations. The same bias comes into play regarding the computer games you play just as it does when you’re making a choice between Coke & Pepsi. I began to realize I’m not exactly a game aficionado. I have the passion and enthusiasm but part of the reason for my journey is that it is simply one that I have never taken before. So, you dear reader, will be experiencing things for the first time through my eyes. You might appreciate my opinion but you don’t necessarily have to agree with it.

Understanding THAT led to my second conflict which is this: I wondered if a rating system is so subjective, could I instead use objective observations and use a point rubric then total it up? I could certainly do that. Where game mechanics are concerned, for example, I could get into character creation and development, how much choice you have, interactivity with the game, immersion and so on. I could get into comparisons of graphics & sound……..and then I completely put on the brakes. I put down my pen and I realized that this was suddenly looking like an awful amount of work. Would I find it to be entertaining still or would I burn out? Would the readers find it useful and entertaining? Which led to more conflicts.

My purpose here is to take a trip through time and go back and play computer role-playing games in chronological order. It is a quest I will likely never finish because the list of these games is exceedingly long. The greater the list becomes; the murkier the rankings become as the list grows and grows. It should become harder to make comparisons and for readers to interpret when the list becomes too long. The larger conflict is that my journey begins in 1975. Technology in 1975 was vastly different than it is now. The hardware and technology constraints defined the games that were played from 1975 to 1985. So we’re really not comparing apples to oranges here. A game that might have been a crowning achievement in 1975 pales in comparison to Elder Scrolls Online as an example. My journey has started with programs that were played on the Plato system. These games used ascii characters for graphics and there were no sounds at all; not even a single beep. So any ranking numbers we used would be skewed; so it didn’t seem coherent to me to compare a game from 1982 with one from 2020.

I believe if I am doing a good job communicating my experience with the game to you; sharing screen shots; talking about the story & setting, presentation, mechanics (game play & character creation), difficulty level, and the overall enjoyment I personally had with that game, that YOU are the best judge as to whether you want to spend time experiencing the game yourself. I want to share my passion and enthusiasm and love for games with you, not muddy the waters with a subjective rating system which may or may not make sense to you.

I will share with you whether or not my experience with the game was a positive one, the difficulty involved, and how much time I spent with the game, and how you can play the game as well. I think that is information which you may find useful. Perhaps someone will come along with a cognitive argument and change my opinion on the matter; but for now I’ll use my free time to play and experience these games and share that experience with you.

I’d love to hear your own thoughts on this matter.