Author: professor6153

The Return of Heracles was written by Stuart Smith and published by Quality Software in 1983 for the Apple II and Atari 8-bit and in 1985 for the Commodore 64. You may remember Stuart Smith from his previous efforts: Fracas and Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves.

My prior playthroughs and reviews of Smith’s earlier games had been very positive and thus I was eager to play this latest effort and I was not disappointed. Like his earlier efforts gameplay is nonlinear and its scoring system gives it some replay value.

The game takes place in ancient Greece and allows you to control up to several different characters. Some of these you play at the same time if you form a group while others you’ll play if your current character dies. The latter is a strength of the game. You’re not likely to lose the game through loss of life as you can immediately leap into the body of another character from Greek mythology should you perish. This development decision thus places the game’s focus on exploration and interaction with the environment. The characters which you might play includes quite a list of classical heroes; each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses.

The game also doubles as an educational primer for Greek mythology. If not completely accurate it stimulates you to do some reading and research of your own. The main quest involves completing 12 labors for Zeus. Some of you may recall the twelve labors of Hercules and wonder if this game’s title was a way to avoid copyright problems. In actuality the true name of Hercules WAS Heracles and it was later changed to Hercules by Roman literature.

In the Greek Mythos Heracles is performing these twelve labors at the service of King Eurystheus but in the game Smith has his characters performing these labors at the behest of Zeus. You can visit the Oracle of Zeus who will assign you the task of completing a specific labor or you can explore the game world and complete them during your travels. You can visit the Oracle of Delphi for hints.

The twelve labors that you have to complete are:

1. Slay the 12-headed Hydra
2. Kill the Nemean Lion
3. Find and recover the Golden Fleece
4. Slay the Minotaur
5. Kill the Stymphalian birds and recover the Stymphalus Treasure
6. Solve the Riddle of the Sphinx
7. Rescue Penelope
8. Recover the Cattle of Geryon
9. Rescue Helen of Troy and lift the gates to the city
10. Rebuild Thebes
11. Slay the Mares of Diomedes
12. Find the Golden Apples of Hesperides

The game world is huge and your screens shift from an overland view to a city-wide view and even to single room. All of these places are connected by portals and when you enter a portal you’ll find you are then at a different location. The map is so large it did require that I visit the Oracle of Delphi a couple of times to receive clues. Sometimes clues might include a marker or location that is close to your task you’re to undertake to help you better get your bearings.

This is the game’s greatest strength. It’s huge nonlinear map with all of the locations and the non-player characters and wandering foes is just pure enjoyable chaos. This landscape is absolutely deadly and survival is extremely difficult. The game would be extremely hard if you were not able to jump from character to character. I still struggled mightily in the beginning of the game until I arrived in Colchis near the Golden Fleece. It was here that others wanted to join my party and I ended up with a party of four. This made all of the random encounters and fixed boss battles much more manageable.

The combat is mechanically handled. You can close with an opponent and switch to a dagger (you’re both then occupying the same square) or you can fight with your sword (at which point you’re adjacent to your opponent). Where the game becomes pure enjoyable chaos is that each of the wandering monsters, Greek heroes, and non-player characters all have a will of their own. Events continue to transpire on the screen outside of your party’s actions. Monsters may engage with and fight other monsters while non-player characters may be working with you or against you. The NPCs can even take treasure from the area that you may have had your eye on. It’s all quite a bit of fun and what you would expect from a Stuart Smith game. The documentation has over 250 different monsters and foes with their statistics listed. There are many NPCs, monsters, and mythological creatures that you’ll encounter during the course of this game.

Once you complete your final task you are given a congratulatory screen.

You also get a very cool depiction of Zeus:

The Return of Heracles is another reminder how much fun Stuart Smith’s games are. The game took me about 10 hours to complete and it was probably my favorite of the three different Stuart Smith games that I’ve played. I believe I’ll get to experience Stuart Smith one more time with his Adventure Construction Set that was released in 1984.

Next up on the docket is Ultima: Escape From Mt. Drash. Thanks to William Hern, my technical engineer and production designer, I was able to get Escape From Mt. Drash working.

Until next time…

Monsters & Magic was developed and published by Prickly Pear Software in 1983. It was released for the Commodore 64, TRS-80 Color Computer, and Dragon 32/64. I played the Commodore 64 version using an emulator and it took me roughly 2 hours to beat the game. It definitely sports some amazing fantasy cover art; some of the best I’ve seen in this young era.

In Monsters & Magic you have to enter a dungeon with the purpose of destroying the evil Dungeon Lord. In order to face the dreaded Dungeon Lord you have to face the other denizens of the dungeon first. An interesting twist is you get to specify how many monsters there are in the dungeon ranging from 1 to 50. Once the requisite number of monsters have been faced then you are immediately thrust into a showdown with the Dungeon Lord. Thus if it is a shorter game that you’re after then merely choose a low number of monsters to face. I felt guilty thinking about choosing only 1 to 3 monsters but I’m not a fan of self-immolation either so I decided to choose 10.

Character creation is a rather simple affair. You do not get to choose a class type and the game rolls between 6 and 18 for standard Dungeons & Dragons game attributes. You can choose to hit R on the keyboard to reroll the stats if you’re not happy with the results. Once satisfied you then choose a name for your character, random hit points are assigned between 1 and 16, random gold is bestowed, and then you can purchase armor and weapons. I had enough gold to purchase chainmail, a shield, a helmet, and a sword. Character creation now complete you can start on your quest to defeat the Dungeon Lord.

Once you enter the dungeon, everything is randomly generated and then inserted into your room description.

In the example above your location is randomly determined. Whether it be a chapel, a narrow passage, a high gate, or a monster lair; the room descriptor is randomly determined and then inserted.

Then there is a random description that is generated and inserted. In the above example the random descriptor is: the floor is cracked. There are many other descriptors such as: Sees a large jar, or There is hot food on the table.

The rooms that you traverse may or may not have a monster in them depending on how many monsters you selected to populate your dungeon. A Black Pudding, Ogre, Hill Giant, and Hobgoblin were some of the monsters that I faced. When combat ensues you and your adversary roll a 1d6 for initiative to see who goes first. Then each of you take turns rolling a 1d20 to see if you hit. If you do hit then you roll for damage based on the weapon type that you are using. Some of the more powerful monsters get multiple attacks on you. Combat was often a lengthy affair. When you defeat your opponent you are awarded with experience points and extra hit points. Experience points allow your character to level up or increase in levels. The higher the level of your character the greater your damage multiplier in combat.

In each room you enter you have the same 8 options to choose from. All of the options depicted above are self-explanatory. The SEARCH option generates random results which can be either good or bad. There seemed to be an equal chance for both; so later in my travels I avoided the search option completely. If the room’s descriptor contains something that can be opened; then you get a second random generation roll with the same probabilities of something good or bad. Sometimes you can find a magic sword or magic armor or even have one of your attributes raised. Or…you may set off a rust trap that destroys all of your weapons and armor, encounter an evil cleric that turns all of your weapons into clay, or see one of your attributes lose points.

Once you have defeated all of the monsters that populate the dungeon you are then thrust into a battle with the evil Dungeon Lord.

The Dungeon Lord is a tough encounter but once you defeat him then you’ve won the game.

Monsters & Magic represented a nice afternoon RPG diversion and will likely be one of the easier role-playing games I’ll play from 1983.

Prickly Pear Software would go on to develop and publish two more role-playing games: the Scepter of Ursea in 1984 and Darkmoor Hold in 1985. I will hopefully, with a good Luck roll and good Constitution roll, be reporting to you on those games in the far future.

Next up on the docket is the Return of Heracles and then hopefully I will have also solved my technical problems getting Escape From Mt. Drash to work for me.

Until next time…

“There was a certain kind of magic about my life during the early days that makes the first three Ultimas very special. I did those entirely on my own, and there was something magical about them being utterly my own creation, utterly my own vision. I really lived to work on those games.”

– Richard “Lord British” Garriott

Ultima III was the first game to be published by Garriott’s new company; Origin Systems. The previous Ultima had been released by Sierra On-Line. Richard Garriott moved back into his parent’s house and set up residence in the loft of the family’s three-car garage. He gathered about him a close-knit collection of friends who could help create and sell games and Origin Systems was born.

Ultima III: Exodus is the third game in the series and the last installment of what has become to be known as the “Age of Darkness” trilogy. It was released in 1983 for the Apple II, C64, Atari-8 bit, and IBM PC. Later ports with enhanced graphics would follow for the Amiga, Atari ST, and Macintosh.

The amazing Ultima III box art was painted by veteran Ultima artist Denis Loubet. However, the cover was originally to feature art by Helen Garriott, Richard’s mother, which is featured below.

The other “furnishings” inside of the game’s box were also of outstanding quality. Included with the game were: The Book of Play, The Ancient Liturgy of Truth, The Book of Amber Runes, a Player Reference Card, a cloth map of Sosaria, and an advertisement for the Secrets of Sosaria.

I think more than any other game I’ve played thus far, it was important to go through and carefully read and study all of the game materials found in the box. The Book of Play was 22 pages long and contained a foreword as well as instructions on how to play the game. Topics in this book included Moongates, Towns, and a Bestiary. The writing by Margaret Ellen Weigers and Roe R. Adams is top notch.

The Ancient Liturgy of Truth is an 18 page book, containing numerous illustrations, detailing the spells of the Cleric.

The Book of Amber Runes is an 18 page document that details the various spells of the mage.

The beautiful cloth map included in the box features artwork from Richard Garriott’s mother Helen.

Secrets of Sosaria, which was advertised in the box, was a 48 page long clue book written by “Lord Robert”, which is the alias of Robert Garriott, Richard Garriott’s brother. It originally retailed for $12.95.

An Ultima III 550 piece jigsaw puzzle was sold in Japan with the finished picture being the map of Sosaria which was also included in the box itself.

Pony Canyon also sold Exodus T-Shirts and a Wrist Watch as promotional items in 1988 for the MSX-2 port.

Ultima III was the first Ultima to feature a party of characters rather than a single character. I believe Garriott was influenced by the success of Sir-Tech’s Wizardry games in this decision. There are five different races to choose from and eleven professions. An oddity in Ultima III was the ability to choose a race known as a Fuzzy. This was the only Ultima that would feature this race as a playing choice. A Furry is furry bipedal race. They can sport a high dexterity or intelligence so would make good Thief or Wizard characters.

There are eleven professions to choose from in the game: fighter, barbarian, lark (synonym for bard), paladin, ranger, thief, illusionist, alchemist, wizard, druid, and cleric.

I decided to go with an old school fighter, thief, cleric, and wizard quartet. I have never played any of the Ultima games other than the previous installments and wasn’t sure what I was in for. You’ll notice from my choice of character names that I’ve just recently finished Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Times series (which I highly recommend).

I had enjoyed Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress but the game for me was akin to John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China. It had everything thrown in but the kitchen sink and seemed a “wild romp”. In comparison to Ultima II, this newest iteration seemed much more developed to me. It had a seriousness to it which resonated with me. A lot of the science fiction elements had been stripped out in favor of a more fantasy-oriented plot. I found this much more to my liking.

Ultima III: Exodus is hands down my favorite game in the series thus far. In my opinion the series turns a corner with this latest installment and there are two major changes which help it to accomplish this.

The biggest change to the game is that the dungeons are suddenly meaningful. There are seven different dungeons in the game and each of them have their own distinct personality.

There are very specific items that you need to obtain from the dungeons that are necessary to win the game. In previous installments the dungeons had merely been “window dressing” and a means to gain hit points and now exploration of these dungeons is a necessity.

Each of the dungeons contains eight levels and the foes you encounter become tougher as you move deeper into the dungeons. There are trapped spaces in the dungeon that cause each of your party members serious injury should you step on that space. It is thus absolutely necessary that you map out each of the dungeon levels so that you can avoid these traps. There are other areas where a wind will blow out your torch and you’ll have to light another. This is a serious issue because torches are not only expensive but can only be purchased at select locations on the map. Gremlins are also prominent in key locations that serve to strip you of your food. If there is any flaw with the game it is that the management of food is so crucial as to almost become a distraction. There are also magical fountains scattered throughout the dungeons that can either do you harm or heal all of your hit points. A few of the dungeons do overlap each other in that the items that you seek can be found in multiple dungeons. The Dungeon of Time is an absolute necessity to complete. You must encounter the Time Lord in the lowest level of the dungeon as he will have clues as to how to defeat Exodus.

The second significant change in the game and for the series is that it is important that you take your time to talk to every character in each of the towns. There is actually quite a bit of text throughout the game and if it comes to a point in the game where you are stuck or not sure what to do it is likely that you haven’t talked to enough people or the right person.

It is from Britain and Castle British that you learn general game details and hear the first rumors of marks and cards. In each of the towns you explore you’ll find that the rumor or text shines a spotlight on another nuance of the game or an important clue. So there is a lot of “sleuthing” and recording of information to be done. This lent a seriousness to the game and a cohesiveness that the prior games lacked.

There are other unique changes in this Ultima sequel. In many cases on the map you are limited to line of sight only and a fog of war comes into play. Once combat is initiated the screen changes to a tactical format which would have a great influence on the Final Fantasy franchise and many other future games. Each of the characters can be moved and choose to Attack or Cast Spells and some strategy becomes involved at higher levels.

One aspect of the game that caused me to become “stuck” more than once was the ( O )ther command. This command allows the player to enter a command not given in the normal list of keyboard commands. So when you hit O on the keyboard you’re asked which player and then it drops to a prompt. Now the Book of Play gives you examples to type in such as Jump or Kiss (which are never used in the game) I offer that you consider the commands Dig and Pray. It will save you a lot of time and heartache.

Food and gold are not easily obtained in this game. The encounters serve to deplete your hit points and your food depletes with every step you take. You are constantly struggling to obtain gold. Food, healing, better weapons and armor, and raising your attributes all compete for your hard earned coin. Thus you will find you are constantly grinding so that you can increase all of these things.

There is a lot of grinding that you’ll need to do in this game. You’ll want to have each of your characters at about 2500 hit points and your cleric and wizard with enough spell points to cast the highest level spells before you venture into Castle Exodus. You will want to have eight different magical or special items in your possession as well as both exotic armor and exotic weapons. There are also mystical shrines that you can find to boost the attributes of your characters – but you will have to tithe quite a bit of gold.

Castle Exodus and the encounters within are extremely difficult. Items that you found in the dungeons and elsewhere in your journeys must be brought into the castle with you. There are 10 different necessary items that you’ll have to have in your possession in order to be victorious. The final encounter with Exodus and the realization of just what Exodus is; is a pretty interesting reveal too.

There was one bug or flaw in the game that I encountered that became somewhat frustrating. Once I had completed the game I did some internet sleuthing and discovered that many others had experienced the same issue. I was almost ready to believe that there was something wrong with my copy of the game and that I was going to be unable to finish. Here is what happened: late in the game you’re going to realize that you must get your hands on a ship in order to complete the game. You cannot buy a ship or raft like in previous versions. The only way to obtain a ship is to randomly encounter pirates, defeat them, then take their vessel. Late in the game there was some issue with the aquatic “spawning” and there were just not any creatures or ships being spawned. To make matters worse the whirlpool moves about the game at a high rate of speed on these new machines; possibly destroying the ships that do get spawned. When you exit your ship and explore the countryside; much of the time these ships are destroyed by the whirlpool even though they are “parked”. So late in the game I must have wandered about at least 10,000 turns and spent quite a bit of gold on food just looking for a ship. Just as I was about to throw my hands up in the air, I finally encountered one and was able to move on. I probably spent at least two real hours of time wandering about waiting to encounter a ship. This does seem to be an issue with all versions so be aware of it.

This is definitely my favorite Ultima game thus far. It checked a lot of boxes for me. The dungeons were fun to explore and very relevant to the game this time. Rather than dealing with one character you’re dealing with a party of four and the new tactical combat screen would go on to influence the entire genre and industry. The great amount of text in the game and the great number of clues and sleuthing that was involved also resonated very strongly with me ( I spent hours going back over everything trying to figure out how to get by the serpent to Castle Exodus ). The game sold very well for Garriott’s fledgling company and allowed them the luxury and time to work on future installments of the series. This was the first game as well to direct winning players to mail the company to receive a completion certificate. Here is an example of someone’s completion certificate that I found on the internet.

I purchased the game from GOG and played the game on my PC. It took me well over 25 hours to beat and now stands as my favorite game in the series. I purposefully avoided providing any maps or spoilers or specific walkthrough for this entry because this is a game that is still easily accessible and I am hoping that many decide to take the time to finally play it. There are many other sites out there who have already created maps and walkthroughs and probably have already done a more exhaustive job than I could have. I think I’ve shined a spotlight on some of the more important aspects as well as firmly establishing my opinion of it. I did feel a sense of dismay that I never made the effort to play this one when I was much younger.

Next up on the docket I am going to continue to run with the Ultima theme and play Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash. Until next time…

It should be no secret by now that I’m a huge Gary Bedrosian fan. His prior offerings: Lords of Karma & Empire of the Over-Mind were both bestowed awards for Game of the Year for their category in 1978 and 1979 respectively.

It stands to reason then that I was eagerly anticipating playing this 1981 offering.

Documentation packaged with the game included a short story as well as a Galactic Federation Naval Officer’s Manual.

The short story is well written and serves as a prelude to the beginning of the game. Speaking of beginnings, G.F.S. Sorceress sports one of the more original starts to date. You begin the game in a space suit, stranded, and floating in space!

The Officer’s Naval Manual which also comes included in the documentation is very well done. The manual contains information on the stardrive as well as a planetary guide. The manual also contains eight supplemental writings that you are not supposed to read until you encounter them in the game. This takes a page from Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai and it would be something that you see in the SSI Gold Box games that come much later. The information contained within the documentation is an integral part of the player’s experience. Familiarizing yourself with the stardrive fundamentals will help you with one of the early puzzles in the game.

Soon you’ll find yourself on the G.F.S. Sorceress and not much later in command of it. What then ensues is a planet hopping quest in an attempt to uncover the conspiracy against you and absolve yourself of all criminal charges.

I was surprised, that unlike his previous two offerings, this game seemed a much more linear experience. The puzzles in Bedrosian’s newest offering were fairly straight forward as well and thus it took me less time to finish.

Once you engage the hyperdrive there are five different planets that you can visit. Because we’re talking interstellar travel, the distance between planets is great enough that you’re going to have to constantly place yourself in cryogenic sleep to slow your aging process. One of the larger puzzles in the game is learning the proper order with which you should visit the planets. It’s possible to create a softlock if you choose incorrectly. A softlock is an instance where the game remains in a playable state but progressing further becomes impossible.

Each planet presents a particular puzzle to work though. On Tau Ceti you have to deal with quicksand and a spider. Examining your surroundings carefully will help you with these particular puzzles.

On Epsilon Enidani V you have to deal with a large sand worm which channels imagery from Dune.

On Rigel X you have to explore frozen ruins found within a glacier and solve the mystery of the robot insurrection which seems to channel Asimov’s I, Robot.

Altair IV is the most difficult of the locations and will involve you having to discover not one but several hidden rooms to obtain your objective.

When you’re completely finished with your planetary adventures you should have enough evidence to attend your own proceedings and attempt to exonerate yourself.

I was surprised in that I did not find it necessary to map G.F.S. Sorceress by hand. The ship’s layout was very straightforward and each of the planet adventures had small and virtually linear areas to explore. The puzzles took longer than mastering your surroundings but all of them were pretty straight forward and very fair. If I had not recently just played Zork II and dealt with the red sphere puzzle I would have had a much harder time with Altair IV. It is all I’ll say on the matter.

Once again the author’s creativity stands out here. This stands out as the first true interplanetary space adventure and the introduction of hibernation or cryogenic sleep in the game was highly original. The writing and documentation that came with the game were of high quality and well done and is a precursor to many of the later Infocom games that would hit the store shelves.

The story may have been a bit more linear and the puzzles a little easier than Bedrosian’s previous two games but the creativity and originality are standouts here. If there is any kind of negative here at all, subjectively, I felt the relationship with Selena seemed a bit forced. It appears that the plan was that this would the first in a series of adventures but it must not have done well enough commercially because, alas, there were no sequels released. This would actually be the last big game product produced by Gary Bedrosian. I wish that Mr. Bedrosian would not have given up creating games but other work beckoned him. Gary Bedrosian has a Ph.D. from CalTech and does research in aerospace systems and electromagnetic pulses. I knew Gary was a very smart guy.

I enjoyed my experience with this one and have loved this author’s art and labor.

Next up on the docket is Ultima III: Exodus

Until next time…

I am about to seriously tackle the computer role-playing games that were published in 1983 and I’m likely going to start with Ultima III: Exodus. I wanted to return to the world of interactive fiction before embarking on that particular campaign and that takes us back to 1981. I perused my interactive fiction “to do” list from that year and I thought what better place is there to start than Zork II?

Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz was written by Dave Lebling and Marc Blank and published by Infocom in 1981. The game was ported and available on all major platforms and widely accessible. I played the DOS version using DOSBox and it took me roughly 10 to 12 hours of actual playing time to beat the game. I stress “actual playing time” because it is much harder to quantify the amount of time my mind spent working through the puzzles while I wasn’t in front of the game. I thought about the puzzles while cutting the grass, driving in the car, and doing other “real life” things. I would choregraph in my mind the different things I would try when I had time to sit down with the game again. I am sure, dear reader, that you have had a similar experience.

Zork, in it’s original form, was released in 1977 for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. It was split up and expanded into three titles which were then later released commercially for home computers. It was a massive success for Infocom and collectively the three episodes sold more than 680,000 copies through 1986.

The commercial version of Zork II plays like a true sequel. Zork I ended with you having reached the Barrow and this is your starting point in Zork II. You once again take up your trusty lantern and sword and you are on your way.

I want to relate my thoughts and experiences with you regarding Zork II but this is NOT going to be a walkthrough nor intentionally contain any spoilers. I know in many previous games I have provided spoilers and screenshots. My belief though is that there are probably a great many people who still want to experience Zork II for themselves, as I did, and I do not want to ruin that experience for anyone.

Zork II took me by surprise a bit because in all honesty I thought it was going to be more of the same. Meaning I thought there might be an obligatory maze followed by more treasure hunting and then storing them in a particular location for points. What I encountered instead was a game that had an actual story or plot that succeeded in pulling off a clever twist on the treasure hunting trope.

I do have a recollection of a “high-school” version of myself attempting to play Zork II and failing miserably. I remember thinking that it was extremely hard. Perhaps I’ve developed some “adventuring chops” during this epic endeavor because I fared much better the second time around.

The puzzles in Zork II are diverse and wide ranging. Two of the puzzles encountered in this game have been historically labeled with “two of the worst puzzles in adventure game history”. The irony, in my experience with this game, is that I didn’t have much of a problem with these two particular puzzles. It was a couple of the other puzzles found within that had me pulling my hair out. While I understand the “labels” placed on these two puzzles don’t let them deter you from trying this little gem out. These labels created such a negative stigma that I found myself having great trepidation even before starting the game. My own childhood experience the first time around did little to ease that trepidation.

What I want to warn future adventurers about is that there is a “time” component to the game. No matter how hard you try; certain solutions will not present themselves until you’ve solved the puzzles in a particular order.

The very interesting thing about Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz is that the first half of the game does deceptively seem to be nothing more than an extension of the first game. I greatly enjoyed the locations and descriptions found in this second installment; much more so than even those found in the first game. The locations and puzzles seemed to have a tighter cohesiveness and design to them than the previous game. As much as I was enjoying myself exploring the GUE (Great Underground Empire), I kept wondering “what is the point” or “where am I going to deposit these treasures”?

As I mentioned previously, you’re meant to tackle these puzzles in a particular sequence. One thing leads to another and suddenly you’re presented with a plot twist that completely changes things. The game turns the treasure hunt trope upside down on it’s head in a very clever way.

The player learns through descriptions of items and areas that the Great Underground Empire was ruled by the Flatheads. You also learn about the Wizard of Frobozz, once a respected enchanter, was exiled by Lord Dimwit Flathead when his powers began to fade. It is this very wizard that keeps appearing randomly before you throughout the game. However now he is senile and has forgotten all of his spells except those that begin with the letter F. When the wizard randomly appears he cast spells upon you that have a variety of effects. Most of them humorous. When the wizard appeared the first few times that I was playing, I found his appearance, because of the great descriptions and clever humor used by the authors, highly entertaining. Then as the game wore on the wizard really began to irritate the hell out of me and I found myself wanting to punch him in the nose.

I tried to catalog all of the different spells that the wizard threw my way. I am sure this is not a comprehensive list: fall, float, freeze, fence, fierce, fear, fumble, fantasize, fireproof, and fudge. I’ll leave it to you to discover what these different spells do. I realized, unfortunately, late in the game that the wizard’s presence and his spells really serve to diminish the battery life on your lantern and I had to start the game all over again.

I wanted to comment on the bank puzzle while avoiding spoilers. When I attempted to map it out the first time and solve it’s central puzzle, I decided to come back to it later in the game. When I later decided that I would dedicate all of my time and energy to solving the thing – I did so quite by accident. Only after solving it by accident did I deduce what might be going on. I brazenly went back to an earlier saved game and tested my theory and it worked. It was a good thing that I did test my hypothesis otherwise I may have later become trapped in the bank. So while many claim the bank puzzle as completely unfair, at least it is a puzzle you can solve quite by accident.

The puzzles that gave me the most problems were a magical well and also obtaining the red sphere beyond the well. I also had the location of where to use the brick completely wrong to the point of tunnel vision. I spent a considerable amount of time wrestling with these particular puzzles.

I greatly enjoyed my time with Zork II and beating the game checked a mighty big box for me as far as games in my journey I was eagerly anticipating playing. I suggest saving often and I also suggest, only after saving, that you try these various things in the game. The authors’ use of humor is quite clever.

Try giving the guardian lizard a crystal sphere

Read the newspaper from the gazebo.

Set the carousel spinner on high and then go back and enter it.

Attack the princess

Read the Wizard’s degree from GUE tech

Take the serpent out of the tank

Float all the way out of the top of the volcano

Drop your zorkmid in the well and say make a wish

Burn the zorkmid bills

Play around with the wand when you get it and try casting all of the various F spells

** once again, before doing any of this, SAVE lol **

I am now greatly looking forward to the sequel: Zork III: The Dungeon Master.

Next up on the docket is G.F.S. Sorceress by Gary Bedrosian. This is another game I’ve been looking forward to as I’m a huge Gary Bedrosian fan. I really enjoyed Lords of Karma and Empire of the Over-Mind and both of these games won Retrogamestrove.com awards.

Until next time…

Dungeon of Danger was published as code in Howard Berenbon’s second Book of Mostly BASIC. It was presented as 12 pages of code that an individual could type in and then play. Depending on which version of the source code you purchased; there was code available for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and TRS-80. I played the TRS-80 version on an emulator and spent roughly two hours with the game.

When the game begins you get to choose a difficulty level and then you are teleported into the Dungeon of Danger. The dungeon consists of two levels and there are 64 rooms on each level. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to collect as much treasure as possible and then get the hell out.

There is no character creation other than that you get to choose a name for your character. There is no inventory management nor any items that you find that you can use to your advantage.

The game is text-based and combat completely random. There are however 38 different creatures that you can encounter in the game which is a tremendous amount of variety for the time.

The above list are all of the different monsters that you can encounter with their hit points and maximum damage that they can cause.

The only graphic in the game is a special encounter with a good wizard. He gave me additional hit points and 105 gold pieces. Nice guy! There are also trap doors that drop you to the second level and pools of water that have magical effects.

The dungeon is presented in an 8 x 8 grid with enclosed edges. The M represents one of the thirty-eight monsters you might encounter. Once you vanquish the dungeon denizen then that square becomes empty. EW represents an east-west corridor. You can only exit or move to the east or west. NS represents a north-south corridor and the same movement rules apply. UP represents a stairway and C represents a Cavern. When you enter a cavern you may find a random potion, a pool, a dark wizard, or a friendly wizard. Each of these random encounters will either be beneficial or threatening. The ? may represent a thief or a trap door. The checkered square represents the character’s location.

You move about the map with the N, S, E, W keys on the keyboard. The U key represents UP and it is how you move from dungeon level one to two or from the first dungeon level to the exit outside.

The H key will display your current hit points.

The G key will display your current gold.

The M key will display the map for you.

Combat is done in the background and blows are exchanged randomly. You have no input other than to choose to (F)ight or (R)un. Once you choose to fight you and your opponent keep exchanging blows until one of you is defeated.

You can only move between dungeon levels by finding enchanted keys. A key is found in each level and will only be rewarded to you after you have defeated a random number of monsters on each level. The key will then suddenly become part of the spoils after you’ve vanquished one of the random creatures. You’ll need a key to escape dungeon level 2 back to dungeon level 1 and you’ll need an enchanted key to be able to use the exit out of the dungeon. When you climb from level two back up to level one you will also regenerate any lost hit points.

If you cannot find a copy of the game to play you can play the Commodore 64 version RIGHT HERE

I was able to survive both dungeon levels and escape with my life intact.

Next up on the docket is Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz.

Until next time…

Sword & Sorcery II was written by Barry L. Adams and published as a “type in” program in the August 1980 issue of 80 Microcomputing magazine. This is an odd game and plays more like a “pick your own adventure path” than a CRPG however your combat ability does increase when you defeat an opponent.

Most of the game is text based and it does sport some minor graphics. When combat with the dragon ensues the game switches from text to an arcade mode.

The premise is standard fantasy fare. An elf princess has been abducted by an evil necromancer and placed in a dungeon in the Old Forest. Your quest is to rescue the princess and along the way you’ll face multiple dangers.

When the game begins there is a random chance that you are presented with the option to have a dryad accompany you. I recommend you ALWAYS choose to have her join your quest because she helps you choose the most beneficial path to take. If you choose the wrong path then the following ensues:

There are no combat options. If you choose the wrong random path you are automatically eaten by a giant spider and the game then ends. I cannot tell you how many times I had to start the game over from the beginning. I died again and again and again. If it wasn’t from the arachnid then it was from the dragon which I’ll expound upon later. I also died multiple times from one-on-one combat with a troll warrior.

Once you’re given the possible option of a dryad companion you’ll then be asked if you’d like to consult the Oracle. You are told there are three paths through the forest however only one path is true. If you answer YES that you want to consult the Oracle; he will then shockingly ask you how many virgins you’d like to sacrifice. You have to walk a tightrope here – if your respond back with a number that is too small the Oracle will become offended and refuse to help you. If you respond with a number that is too high you’ll please the Oracle but offend the Dryad who will cast a curse upon you and then leave. I found that 2 to 3 virgins seemed to please both parties though I found the sacrifice of virgins lamentable.

Once the Oracle sets you on the right path; I believe it slightly increases your luck for the random results. The dryad will also help you when you come to multiple forks in the forest. You may ask her advice and most times she will give it. Sometimes she is also perplexed by what choice to make.

There are multiple random encounters or obstacles between you and your ultimate goal of rescuing the princess. You can find a Magic Sword which increases your combat skill, encounter a snake, a pack of rats, satyrs, and even a hot dog seller. You can also fall into a pit and if you are unable to climb out on your own you’ll have to call for help. Whether you successfully climb out of the pit or not is completely random. When you have to resort to calling for help; who helps you is completely random as well. Sometimes you luck out and are saved by a little old lady and other times you are enslaved by goblins and forced into combat against a troll warrior to escape.

The combat with the troll warrior is long and quite humorous. If you win, and again your success or failure is completely random, then you can move on and continue your quest. The writing and descriptions for all of these locations and encounters are very well done and quite funny.

The encounter with the dragon is what had me pulling my hair out in frustration.

If you encounter the dragon the game switches to an arcade mode and your character is then placed at a random distance away from the dragon. You use the . key and the ; key to move away from the dragon or towards the dragon while it constantly breathes fire at you. You have to avoid it’s dragon breath and get close enough to stab it. If you’re hit by the dragon breath you die instantly and have to start the game all over again. I learned to despise this loathsome beast and I awarded it with the evil moniker of MOTHER-IN-LAW.

When you do finally reach the dungeon you have to try and sneak past the sleeping guard and if you’re discovered you then have to hope that you randomly win the combat to get inside.

Once you do finally get past the guard and rescue the princess you are finally awarded with the screen depicted above. It took a lot of patience and perseverance to continue to restart this game in the hope of making it to the end. It just barely qualifies as a CRPG. Once you defeat the dragon in combat your combat skills go up significantly so that when you do encounter a troll in the Old Forest, which is often, you have a much greater chance of winning the combat.

This is one of the things I love the most about what I am doing here. Unearthing and encountering these very early and older CRPGs is a real treat. It is a lot of heartache getting some of them to work but you just never know what it is you’re going to get. While Sword & Sorcery II might not be for everybody, you have to remember that many early home computer purchasers were role-playing game enthusiasts. They were like desert nomads in search of water. So every very early fantasy offering that came out like a drop of water for a parched throat.

Next up on the docket is Dungeon of Danger.

Until next time…

Monster’s Lair was written by Allen G. Mehr and Jimmy D. Jones and published by Soft Sector Marketing. It was released for the TRS-80 in 1980. I played Monster’s Lair on a TRS-80 emulator.

Monster’s Lair features an overhead view and it plays very much like one of the Microquests from the Dunjonquest line. I’m specifically reminded of Morloc’s Tower.

What I found to be surprising was the speed of play and execution. The Microquests from the Dunjonquest line have not aged well where movement and speed are concerned. The games can be a bit slow and waiting for the graphical environment to refresh can become tiresome. However moving about the map in Monster’s Lair was a relatively simple affair and I was amazed at the speed of the game. You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move around to quicky explore the rooms.

The dungeon consists of 28 rooms and is a fixed map. The game is real-time and not turn based. The goal here is to explore the 28 rooms and the monsters that are located within each room. Once you’ve defeated the monster in it’s lair you are then awarded treasure which affects your overall score. Once you have explored the dungeon level you make your way back to the entrance and you are then awarded an overall score and asked if you want to play again.

The game begins by asking you whether you want to enter a character by hand or have it generated for you. This is also reminiscent of the Dunjonquest games which offer you the same option. If you choose automatic generation the character begins with an armor class of 5 and 10 hit points. The character’s attributes will be given random values between 10 and 18. If you choose to enter the character by hand then you can enter the attribute values yourself up to a maximum of 18. The six character attributes are strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, and charisma.

The armor class score can be a range from 0 -9. The lower the score the harder it is for monster’s to hit you. The game sports a magic armor bonus ranging from 0-5 as well based on magic items and armor which affect your armor class. Your character’s experience level can range from 1 to 5. The higher your experience point level the greater your proficiency in combat. Your health or stamina is measured in hit points which can range from 1 to 99. Each of these hit points are then converted into 4 vitality points. So if you have 50 hit points your vitality score would be 200. Each time a monster strikes you the damage is subtracted from your vitality. If your vitality score reaches 0 you die.

Your character icon is represented by a square on the overland map. As you move about the map and enter a room the graphical interface changes from the overhead dungeon view to depict the room that you are in. Each of the room locations are decorated with items scattered about the room. These items may consist of a table, chair, bed, chest, desk, or trash. Some of the rooms have closets as well. Each room you enter contains a monster that you’ll have to fight. The monster is also represented by a square item and when you enter the room the monster will begin to move towards you quickly in real-time. When the two icons converge then combat ensues.

The different monsters that I encountered included beetles, bugbears, stocky dwarfs, a strange cat-like creature, a large black jelly-like mass, a pointy eared elf, and a demon.

Combat is done for you and is automatic. You do not have much control over combat and in combat you and your opponent keep exchanging blows until one of you perishes. There are text descriptions which accompany each round of combat and some of the descriptions are rather humorous like the one above: “so close you felt the breeze” to describe an opponent barely missing you. Other description examples are: “you clobbered him” or “you gave him a glancing blow.”

One unique feature which involves combat is that your character begins the game with a wand. The wand contains three charges and is activated by hitting the Space key on the keyboard. If your character’s vitality is dangerously low and the battle is not going well, hitting the spacebar automatically kills the creature. One of the rooms contains a powerful demon that is head and shoulders tougher than the other dungeon denizens encountered so be sure to save a charge for the dastardly demon.

Once you’ve cleared out the 28 rooms on the dungeon level you make your way back to the starting room and then you’ll get the following message up above. Your experience points will be generated and you’ll be asked if you want to play again. Again I am reminded of the Dunjonquest series because the game does not keep track of your attributes and experience between sessions. You’ll want to write them down and then type them in by hand in order to see character progression.

It took me roughly two hours to clear out the entire dungeon level and make my way back to the starting room. I did choose to play again just to see if there were any significant divergences from my original play through and it merely seemed like I was repeating the initial dungeon exploration experience. There doesn’t seem to be much of a “replayability” factor here but you have to remember that there were not a lot of role-playing game offerings to choose from in 1980 either so I could see those that were hungry for this kind of stuff continuing with the game and building their characters.

Next up on the docket is Sword & Sorcery II.

Until next time…

The Mines of Mordor was written and developed by Scott Cunningham for the TRS-80 and published by Electronic Imaginations in 1979.

Mines of Mordor is a surprisingly addictive turn-based dungeon crawler. The game is completely text-based and uses ascii characters to depict the dungeon. There are no class or character choices other than coming up with a name for your character. Once you choose a name your character is automatically generated. You begin play with a health rating of 6 and this health rating increases as you slay opponents. You also begin the game with a knife, sword, and rope in your inventory.

Once your character is complete you are then deposited on the first level of the dungeon. The dungeons are randomly generated each game and consist of six levels. When you begin play the stairs exiting the dungeon are in the space that you start in.

The double asterisk depicted above is your character. Each dungeon level consists of 5×5 squares. A single I allows passage between columns going from left to right. You can move north and south in each of the five rows unless they are blocked by a wall which is depicted by several “I”‘s together ( IIIII ) . The + sign’s strewn all over the first level represent monsters or encounters. The game will inform you if there are stairs going up or down when you land upon the space.

There are a couple of features in Mines of Mordor that I found to be quite interesting and unique. The game constantly lets you know how much total treasure is in the dungeon as well as how much treasure you’ve acquired through weight.

In the picture shown above Fost had just survived an encounter. He found 2 gold pieces and 15 silvers pieces as well as a sword. Note how the game details that Fost now has .21 kilos of treasure. When you exit the dungeon periodically to purchase supplies the game will also tell you how many kilos of treasure are remaining in the dungeon. This is the first time, in all of the games I’ve played & covered, that we’ve seen a feature like this. While there is no overarching plot or goal other than to explore the dungeon and collect as much treasure as you can, I find that this feature creates a lot of replay value. Each new game you can constantly compete against your prior weight score by attempting to haul out even more treasure than last time.

Your health rating goes up with each opponent that you vanquish however you do not acquire this benefit or experience until you exit the dungeon. When you exit the first level your health rating is then adjusted to reflect your experience gain and then you also have the opportunity to purchase supplies and magic items. You must have a minimum of 50 silver to exit the dungeon and you must also have a minimum of 50 silver to re-enter the dungeon so keep careful track of your finances. I was astounded by the number and variety of items you could possibly purchase. I found this feature to be very unique in 1979 and the only game that was truly comparable in this regard was the Temple of Apshai. Notice at the top of the screen that the game informs you that there are 138.59 kilo’s remaining in the dungeon and that number changes as you continue to find more and more treasure.

Food supplies are very important and affect your health. Each time you are wounded you consume food in order to heal yourself. Your food supply dwindles quickly and thus you constantly have to exit the dungeon to purchase more. I found the variety of magic items available to purchase quite exciting. On one dungeon run I was able to purchase Gauntlets of Strength and they definitely made a difference or impact in combat. The Teleport Ring was very cool too. When you use the ring it teleports you to a random square in the dungeon however you did get to choose the target dungeon level which is helpful if you’re on one of the lower levels and find yourself in trouble.

Combat is automatically done for you. Your only choices are to either move or what type of weapon or magic you want to attack with. Once your choice is made each turn the game then determines the outcome of each round with hidden rolls.

During combat there are a number of unique states that you or your opponent can find themselves in. You can be standing upright, lying down against the wall, or weaponless due to a fumble and dropped weapon. Most of your enemies tend to be goblins and orcs on the first two levels. If you choose to fight you can choose each turn which object that you want to use. Choosing M for (M)ove is the equivalent of attempting to flee. When I reached the fourth level of the dungeon I began to encounter Wights which were extremely difficult to kill.

I found Mines of Mordor to be an addicting little game and I found myself constantly saying “just one more game” as I tried to beat the weight of my previous treasure haul. It was also fun to purchase the different magical items and experiment with them. I was surprised and impressed by this game given that it was released in 1979.

You can try out Mines of Mordor for yourself by playing it right here online. Click on AUTORUN to play

Mines of Mordor Online

Next up on the docket is more housekeeping from 1980 with an oldie entitled Monster’s Lair.

Until next time…

Demons was written and developed by Mike Schelhorn and published as code in 1979 in the book 80 Programs for the TRS-80 by Jim Perry.

The book was published in 1979 and given to subscribers of 80 Microcomputing magazine in 1980.

If you wanted to play Demons you had to diligently sit and type in the code line by line and pray that you didn’t make any mistakes doing so.

Demons begins by having you choose a character class. The amazing thing is that there are 14 different character classes to choose from. In seven of the classes the gender is male and in the other seven female. I personally played as an Enchantress, then a Woodcutter, and lastly as a Songstress (where I surprisingly did very well). I tried to select varied classes to experiment with.

The strength score acts much like hit points or hardiness. The higher your combat rating the more you’re likely going to come out on top of any physical combat.

Magic points apply towards the casting of spells and the use of the teleporters found on the overland map.

The higher the charisma the higher the liklihood of singing monsters to sleep with a lyre. The last character I ran I chose the Sonstress class and she had a high charisma. This might possibly be pointing out a bit of a game imbalance but I found this class/attribute combination more potent than any of the spellcasting classes. My Songstress would often sing the tougher opponents to sleep and I never suffered a single scratch.

Intelligence seems to affect random encounters and combat and seems more like a luck attribute. I would have thought it might have impacted magic and spells in the game. Speaking of which:

The spells with which you have to choose from during combat are many, varied, and extremely impressive. I greatly enjoyed playing an Enchantress in my first run at the game and experimenting with the different spells however I did not last very long against the tougher opponents.

Demons is turn based and the objective is to traverse an overland map and acquire as much treasure as possible within 150 days. The overland map is ascii based and you can see it depicted above. The H on the map represents your character’s house or home base and this is the spot on the map where you begin the game. The ? on the map represent castles. There are always three castles on the map in each game and it is the castle where the greatest repository of treasure can be found. You’ll often find a magic item to aid you and which also has great value or you’ll find a hoard of gold coins. You’ll want to be sure that you visit all three castles as the payout there is much better than in harrowing random encounters.

The + on the map represents teleporters. There are five of them scattered about the map. They require magical points to operate and you can choose which teleporter you want to transport to. In this way you can avoid some random encounters while trying to get to the castles and you avoid days of overland travel as well.

The [, #, and $ characters represent different types of terrain and where you may experience random encounters while traversing them. The lower your intelligence score the more random encounters you seem to have. Moving over these characters on the map can take a day or days.

There are some graphics in the game. Your wandering monsters that you encounter are depicted by graphics and you can see an example of this by the demon depicted above. The demon always made short work of my Enchantress characters but my Songstress character with high charisma was able to sing a demon to sleep with her lyre.

The three castles are also depicted with graphics as shown above.

Here you can see a glimpse of the battle my Enchantress had with a demon.

The game will declare you a winner if your gold piece totals from your travels land anywhere near 4000 or over 4000. If your gold piece totals are below 2000 the game will cheekily let you know.

You move about the overland map using the numerical keys on your keyboard.

0 – rest which will recover 2 points of strength or 3 points of magic. If you have a Magic Jar in your possession you can recover all of your points with rest. Resting may also cause a random encounter to occur so be wary. Resting will take a day or days depending on the extent of your injuries.

1 – move east

2 – move northeast

3 – move north

4 – move northwest

5 – move west

6 – move southwest

7 – move south

8 – move southeast

9 – status of your character

Sure – in order to play or experience this game you’d have to type the entire thing in line by line from a magazine. But this was the norm for quite a few years and we’ve played many that originated this way. The game and what it offers a home computer user in 1979 makes it even more impressive. It’s not an Akalabeth or Temple of Apshai or even Clardy’s Wilderness Campaign of that year, but in an age where you didn’t have a lot of fantasy offerings in your collection or library yet, I find it quite surprising. I could see a young 1979 me spending some time with this one.

Next up on the docket is another uncovered find from 1979 entitled Mines of Mordor.

Until next time…