The Sword of Zedek was published by Krell Software for the Apple II, Commodore PET/CBM and TRS-80. It is another text adventure / RPG hybrid. There was no author attached to the title. The player’s goal is to gather armies and magical items so that you can defeat the forces of Ra, The Master of Evil (que an orchestral crescendo). Yes you heard that correctly; Ra, The Master of Evil! (once again que the orchestral crescendo). The “wrinkle” that the game throws in is that the player must accomplish this in 55 turns. Once 55 turns have elapsed the game automatically forces you into a confrontation with Ra and his army of demons.
The overworld takes place on a 10 x 9 grid and contains a variety of terrains including villages, valleys, rivers, bridges, oceans and more. You can access this map grid as often as you like by hitting the letter M on your keyboard but each time you access the map it costs you a turn. Your goal is to economize your 55 turns.
Each time you move on the map grid you then have a number of choices that you can make each turn.
You can choose to take any visible treasure that you see but most of the time you will have to search for treasure. Treasure consists of either gold, torches, or powerful magical items. The gold is extremely important because you use it to recruit banes and kings which improves your overall combat power. Torches light the way in darkened areas such as caves, halls, temples and dungeons. You are more likely to find gold and magic in these places than in any other. There are a variety of magical items available to you in the game each of them with their own unique boon or power.
The different creatures that you encounter in this game include: trolls, orcs, bats, centaurs, wolves, elves, tygers, and dwarves among others. Each of these different creatures has a “king” which represents them as well as a “bane”. The bane prevents the particular creature group from joining your party but it also neutralizes any that the opposing army has as well. You can also encounter a powerful dragon, Demonsbane, who will join your party but there is a percentage chance each combat that the dragon will betray you and take your gold. Each time you encounter a king or a bane they will offer to join your party but for a significant fee ranging from 600 to 3100 gold pieces or higher. You only begin the game with 5000 gold pieces so it is important that you uncover more gold as you play. If they offer to join your party and you refuse because of lack of funds, the rub here is that they will automatically join Ra’s forces then.
Combat is a bit unique and mysterious all at the same time. Like many of these text adventure / RPG hybrids you are not privy to the math that is involved to resolve combat. Once 55 turns have elapsed Ra and his forces will attack you. Ra has a demon army 500 strong as well as any kings or banes that you sent his way. When combat begins you get to see your overall combat score and Ra’s combat score. If you found the Rhyn Stone in the game you can face Ra one on one otherwise it is your army against his.
The game is meant to be played in one sitting and there is no save option. Each game is likely to take between one to two hours. When you are defeated your heir receives your magical items that you found and embarks on the quest to defeat Ra in your stead. In my experience with the game I allowed the dragon, Demonsbane, to join my party and I kept defeating Ra however Ra would flee and live to fight another day. Each time Ra successively attacked; he had replenished his demon army to full strength. I found my own army and combat power slowly whittled down in this fashion and then I was ultimately defeated. When I continued the game, albeit with my heir Fost the Second, I was lucky in that I found the Sword of Zedek and also recruited Demonsbane again. I also found quite a bit of gold which allowed me to do some heavy recruiting.
When I next encountered Ra I thoroughly pummeled him.
I find that I tend to enjoy these text adventure / RPG hybrids that can be played in one sitting. I think some of it has to do with the mystery involved in the game mechanics and in the exploration of the game’s world. You just don’t know what you’re going to get with some of these older games and they are short enough that you rarely feel like you’ve overstayed your welcome. Where else can you fight big bads with names such as Ra, The Master of Evil? (que the orchestral crescendo).