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The Eamon Adventurer's Guild
March 1995
Annual Financial Report
EAG Finances for 1994:
Starting Balance: $224.64
Income
Back Issues: 71.25
New Memberships: 56.00
Renewal Memberships: 469.00
Manuals/Samplers: 11.00
Updates: 90.00
Total Income: 697.25
Expenses
Copier: 236.26
Postage: 213.02
Supplies: 86.83
Total Expenses: 536.11
Ending Balance: $385.78
I promised last issue to explain in more detail how I manage the finances, and why I don't offer multi-year membership discounts.
When Joe Kohn started up his excellent "Shareware Solutions II" newsletter, I was witness to some online discussion about how a publication is properly set up. One thing that "real" publications do is put subscription money in escrow for future issues owed, withdrawing this money as each issue is published.
Well, as you all know, I never did anything like that, but simply tried to end each year with a small positive balance. I now realize that this was an unethical thing do be doing. Let's face it, the EAG is a one-man show, and if I should ever have had to cease publication of the newsletter because of adverse personal events, you all would have been left holding the sack.
So I began accumulating enough money in the club balance to cover future issues still owed to the members. This way, if I should ever be forced to cease publication, I will be able to refund each of you for the balance of your membership subscriptions. I compute the balance at the rate of $1.75 per member-issue. Right now, the membership obligation is a little over $300.
We presently have 80-odd members. The cost of extending everyone by one issue is thus one-quarter of the annual renewals, or about $140. This means that if I ever accumulate $450, you all will once again see your memberships extended by one issue. However, extra EAG revenue has traditionally come from back issue sales, which have been very slow recently.
Which brings us to multi-year discounts. Real magazines actually make their money from advertising, and the advertising revenues are largely driven by subscription numbers. It is in the magazine's interest to get you signed up for as many years as possible, to both enhance their advertising rates and to save themselves the expense of begging you to renew. The EAG has no advertising revenue, nor any renewal costs, and thus has nothing to gain financially by offering multi-year discounts.
There are other considerations. The keystone of my system of escrow is: one issue = $1.75; this keeps things nice and simple, so that everyone will know exactly where they stand, should the EAG close down.
Having said all of the above, let me hasten to assure you all that I have >>NO<< intention of shutting down the EAG in the foreseeable future. But if I should encounter personal developments that require it, I've got you all covered.
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Late-breaking news: this newsletter may be quite late because I was out of town on business for all of February, and my trusty IIe is down for a keyboard repair (darned cat knocked the monitor over and broke some keys).
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EAMON ADVENTURER'S GUILD
Thomas Zuchowski, Editor
Membership/subscription fee for 4 issues:
US-Canada: $7.00; foreign: $12.00; in U.S. funds
This newsletter is published 4 times per year, in March, June, September, and December
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We are always looking for new material! If you would like to publish your own letter or article in this newsletter, feel free to send one in. We make quarterly Eamon adventure giveaways to the best contributions.
If you would like to add your own Eamon adventure to the EAG list, send it on a disk to the above address. It will be assigned an Adventure number, and tested for bugs and other problems before release. An informal critique and disk with bug corrections will be returned. Once released, you will be given any Eamon Adventure of your choice in exchange, and may be awarded several Eamon Adventures if your Eamon is of superior quality.
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BACK ISSUES:
NEUC 'Adventurer's Log':
Mar'84, May'84, Aug'84, Oct'84, Jan'85, Mar'85
May'85, Aug'85, Oct'85, Jun'86, Jan'87, Oct'87
EAG back issues: 1988: - Jun, Sep, Dec
1989,90,91,92,93,94: Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec
Quantities of 1-5: $1.75 each
Quantities of 6 or more: $1.25 each
(Any mix of issues is OK)
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New Adventures
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229 Firestorm by Phil Schulz
230 Well of the Great Ones by Mike Ellis
231 Keep of Skull Gorge by Don Kellogg
With "Firestorm", Phil continues to hone and expand his Eamon authoring skills. Reviewed in this issue. (Phil is awarded 7 Eamons for submitting this Eamon.)
"Well of the Great Ones" is a foray into the world of the Cthulhu Mythos. Also reviewed in this issue.
"Keep of Skull Gorge" has a strange story. Don sent it to me in 1990 and asked my opinion. It had massive text and database problems, to the point of being unplayable. I told him where his problems were and offered to work with him on it. I never heard from him again, and he dropped out of the EAG a couple of years ago. I ran across the original disk while cleaning out a disk file last year. I tried contacting Don, and he has not responded. I decided that I've waited long enough and "Keep" is officially an orphan. So I took it upon myself to clean up the database problems so it could be released. This Eamon is a fairly simple "hack'n'slash" foray of about 60 rooms.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Phil Moore submitted some neat stuff that you may be interested in: a "blank map" maker that prints out a user-defined array of boxes for map making, and an Appleworks 3.0 ADB database of all the bug fixes listed in the EAG newsletters. This ADB doesn't list the actual fixes, but lists where they may be found in the newsletter. Right now these are available on GEnie, and are being sent to the public-domain vendors as well.
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Dungeon Designs
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(Editor's Note: the following is somewhat exotic and rather advanced and stretches the way that an Eamon is meant to work. If you are up to them, these are some interesting tips. - TomZ)
In the June '94 EAG, Phil Moore asked, "Can two monsters in the same adventure carry the same weapon?" The answer was no, they couldn't. Actually, they can. Well, sort of... Two monsters can't be "carrying� the same weapon, but they can be made to appear to fight with it if you simply add two lines of code to the
MAIN PGM (v7).
First, when you create your monster, leave the Weapon field at zero. Also leave the Room field of the weapon at zero. Now let's say that you want Monster 25 and Monster 29 to both use Artifact 60. Add this line:
7506 IF OF = 25 OR OF = 29 THEN W = 60
Also change the end of Line 7525 to:
...IF R < 41 OR W = 60 THEN PRINT "
FUMBLE RECOVERED.": GOTO 56
That's all it takes. Line 7506 assigns weapon Artifact 60 (for attacking purposes only) to Monster 25 or 29 whenever they attack somebody. The changed Line 7525 keeps the weapon from being dropped or broken in combat.
Another good question is, "Can a group monster have varied weapons?" This is also possible. Let's say for example that we want Monster 24 to use either Natural Weapons (claws), Artifact 59, or Artifact 60. The following line will do it:
7506 IF OF = 24 THEN RL = INT (RND (1) * 11):
W = (RL > 4) * 59 + (RL > 7)
Whenever Applesoft has a logical statement like "(RL > 4)", it will return either a 1 (meaning True) or a zero (False). The above Line 7506 first rolls a random number from 0 to 10. Then a check is made to see if the roll was greater than 4. If so, then the weapon artifact value becomes 59; if not, it stays at zero (natural weapons). Finally a check is made to see if the roll was greater than 7. If so, then the weapon becomes Artifact 60.
You'll also need to update Line 7525 as in the first example so that artifacts
59 and 60 can't be dropped or broken in a fumble.
Phil also asked about how Control-M can be added to REM statements and was told that you need an Applesoft editor. You can also do them with a disk sector editor if you know what you're doing. Let me know if you want instructions on the sector editor method.
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A Tour of the MAIN PGM 7.1 (Part III)
12000-12060 HEAL routine
12010 set S to HEAL; go execute spellcast;
if monster is named then search for match
to name
12040 check for screen pause; if object of HEAL
is injured then print HEALTH IMPROVES
message
12050 reduce hit damage by 3 to 12; if damage
is reduced below zero then set to zero
12060 use code in DO BATTLE routine to compute
and print hit damage; exit to PICK FOE
routine
13000-13080 POWER routine
13010 set S to POWER; go execute spellcast;
generate random number RL; if RL < 11
(10% chance) and player has hit damage
then restore to perfect health; exit
through screen pause check to PICK FOE
13050 if Rl < 91 (80% chance) then print SONIC
BOOM message; perform screen pause check;
exit to PICK FOE routine
13070 restore all monsters in room to perfect
health (10% chance)
13080 check monster status; exit to PICK FOE
14000-14040 SPEED routine
14010 set S to SPEED; execute spellcast
14020 if SPEED spell is already active then
print NOTHING HAPPENED message; exit
through screen pause check to PICK FOE
14040 double player Agility; set spell counter
to 10-32; print QUICKEN message; exit
through screen pause check to PICK FOE
15000-15100 SMILE routine
15005 if no light then abort to YOU SEE
15010 print blank line; check for monster in
room; if none then exit to PICK FOE
15030 increment line counter; print monster
name; if multiple-monster then add "S"
for plural
15040 print response appropriate for monster
alignment; if not multiple-monster then
add "S" to response
15050 print "AT YOU."
15100 check for more monsters in room; update
line count; exit to PICK FOE routine
16000-16900 SAY routine
16010 check for object S$
16900 if S$ present then "say" it.
17000-17100 READY routine
17010 check for object S$; check to see if named
object is being carried; if not carried
then exit through error message at 91
17030 if named object not weapon then print NOT
a WEAPON and exit through line count to
YOU SEE routine
17100 set player's Dice and Sides to that of
named weapon; set W2 to weapon type;
print READIED message
18000-18100 SAVE routine
18010 ask if player is sure they want to save
game
18020 get player response; if not "Y" or "N"
then try again for proper response
18030 print response; if "N" then exit to YOU
SEE routine
18040 close open files; clean up string space by
executing FRE command; BSAVE variable
pointers
18060 BSAVE nonstring variables
18070 BSAVE string variables
18080 print GAME SAVED message
18090 ask if player wishes to resume play; if
not "N" then exit to RESUME routine to
reopen files
18100 END program execution
19000-19050 LIGHT routine
19010 check for object S$; check to see if
player is carrying named object; if not
then exit through error message at 91
19040 set light flag LT to natural light of
room; if named object is not lightable
then print IT WON'T LIGHT
19050 set LT to "light"; set light source LS
to number of lighted object; print
LIGHTED message; exit to PICK FOE through
line count routine
20000-20340 OPEN routine
20010 check for object S$; check to see if
object is available; if not then exit to
DOOR check at 20060
20020 if object is hidden then make visible
20030 update line count; proceed to OPENABLE
routine if object is container,
drinkable, or readable
20050 proceed to DOOR routine if object is door
20060 if no true artifact is named but object is
DOOR or GATE then print TRY GOING message
20070 if we get here it is not openable; print
IT WON'T OPEN
20100-20130 OPENABLE routine
20110 if readable or drinkable and open flag is
set then print ALREADY OPEN message
20120 if container then mark unhidden (feature
not used); if a key exists but is not held
by player then print LOCKED message; exit
to YOU SEE through line counting routine
20130 mark as open; print OPENED; if drinkable
or readable then exit to PICK FOE through
line count
20200-20230 CONTAINER routine
20220 update line counter; check artifact array
for artifacts in container; if any found
then put found artifacts in room; set LK
flag to 1
20230 print FOUND NOTHING or SOMETHING INSIDE
depending on state of LK flag; exit to
PICK FOE through line counter routine
20300-20340 DOOR routine
20310 if a key exists but is not held by player
then print LOCKED message; exit to YOU
SEE through line counting routine
20330 unhide door; unlock door; put door in
room; print OPENED message; find room
connection of door
20340 exit to PICK FOE through line counter
21000-21150 PUT routine
21010 if object is named then run object through
PARSE routine to see if it parses into
full command (PUT XX IN YY)
21040 if not recognized as full command then ask
for name of object and container
21100 check for object; if not present then exit
to PICK FOE through line counting routine
21110 check for container; if not present or
same as object then exit to PICK FOE
through line counting routine
21120 if container is not a "container" object
then proceed to error message
21130 if container not open then exit to MUST
FIRST OPEN IT error message
21140 change object's location to inside
container; print OKAY; exit to PICK FOE
through line counting routine
21150 print YOU CAN'T DO THAT; exit to PICK FOE
through line counting routine
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Bugs'n'Fixes
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Dungeon Designer Diskette 7.1
Date Fixed: 1/31/95
Program: MAIN PGM (DOS 3.3)
MAIN.PGM (ProDOS)
Problem: player's armor may have trailing spaces in name (note: this is not a problem in standard MAIN.PGM but may cause potential trouble in modified Eamons)
Fix: In Line 31100, change:
A$(NA) = MID$ ("LEATHER CHAIN MAIL PLATE
ARMOR",B% * 11 - 10,11)
to:
A$(NA) = MID$ ("LEATHER CHAIN MAIL PLATE
ARMOR",B% * 11 - 10,7 + 3 * (B% > 1) + (B% >
2))
Programs:
DUNGEON LIST 7.1 and DUNGEON LIST (DOS 3.3)
EAMON.LIST.V7.1 and DUNGEON.LIST (ProDOS)
Problem: Messed-up description formatting when sent to printer
Fix (both programs):
In Line 5610, change 36 to 45
6050 IF NOT PS THEN 1000
8000 PRINT A$: LP = LP + INT (LEN(A$) / 80) + 1:
RETURN
(Delete Line 8010)
Program: DUNGEON EDIT (DOS 3.3)
DUNGEON.EDIT (ProDOS)
Problem: Undesirable default values
Fix:
35350 DATA ODDS,10,W.TYPE,3,DICE,1,SIDES,4,KEY#,
0,STRENGTH,100,(NOT USED),0,(NOT USED),0
35450 DATA 1ST EFF.,1,#EFFECTS,1,READABLE,1,
(NOT USED),0,ROOM BEYOND,1,KEY#,0,
STRENGTH,999,(NOT USED),0
Program: DUNGEON EDIT 7.1 (DOS 3.3)
EAMON.EDIT.V7.1 (ProDOS)
Problem: Undesirable default values
Fix:
35350 DATA ODDS,10,W.TYPE,3,DICE,1,SIDES,4,KEY#,
0,STRENGTH,100,OPEN?,0,USER #8,0
35400 DATA COUNTER,999,USER #6,0,USER #7,0,
USER #8,0,HEAL AMT,10,NBR USES,5,OPEN?,1,
USER #8,0
35450 DATA 1ST EFF.,1,#EFFECTS,1,OPEN?,1,
USER #8,0,ROOM BEYOND,1,KEY#,0,
STRENGTH,999,HIDDEN?,0
Dungeon Designer Diskette 7.1 (ProDOS ONLY)
Date Fixed: 1/31/95
Program: MAIN.PGM (ProDOS ONLY)
Problem: REM'd out line would cause error if enabled
Fix: In Line 31055, change: FRESH MEAT
to: FRESH.MEAT
There were also some other minor cleanups to the DDD that do not affect program operation.
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EAG Utilities Disk
Date Fixed: 1/30/95
Program: EAMON CHARACTERS FILE MAINT (DOS 3.3)
CHAR.FILE.MAINT (ProDOS)
Problems: crashes on long weapon names; name will be left blank if not specified
Fix:
4210 PRINT I;".";WN$(I,0);: HTAB 19: PRINT
WT%(I,0); SPC( 6 - LEN ( STR$
(WO%(I,0))));WO%(I,0);"%"
4290 UP = 1: INPUT "NEW NAME:";Z$: IF LEN (Z$) >
15 THEN PRINT CHR$(7)"MAX NAME LENGTH OF
15 CHARACTERS.": PRINT "HIT ANY KEY ";:
GET Z$: PRINT Z$: GOTO 4260
4292 IF Z$ = "" THEN Z$ = "NONE"
4295 WN$(W,0) = Z$: GOTO 4260
5270 PRINT WN$(I,C);: HTAB 19: PRINT
WT%(I,C); SPC( 6 - LEN ( STR$
(WO%(I,C))));WO%(I,C);"%"
Problem: Deleted weapons not sorted to end
Fix:
4280 PRINT: ON S GOTO 4290,4300,4340,4350,4360,
4370,4390
4370 W = W + 1: ON W GOTO 4260,4260,4260,4260,
4390
4390 Z = 0: FOR I = 1 TO 4: IF WN$(I,0) < >
"NONE" THEN NEXT: GOTO 4200
4392 IFI<4THENIFWN$(I+1,0)<>"NONE"THENWN$(I,0)=
WN$(I+1,0):WT%(I,0)=WT%(I+1,0):WO%(I,0)=WO%
(I+1,0):WS%(I,0)=WS%(I+1,0):WD%(I,0)=WD%(I+
1,0):WN$(I+1,0)="NONE":WT%(I+1,0)=0:WO%(I+1
,0)=0:WS%(I+1,0)=0:WD%(I+1,0)=0:Z=1
4394 NEXT: ON Z + 1 GOTO 4200,4390
Also, a modified version of the June'94 Dungeon Designs (the one that described the programs on this disk) has been added, along with a small program that can dump it to a printer.
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#148 Journey to Jotunheim
Date Fixed: 1/18/95
Problem: Program crashes if you try to GET BONE.
Fix: Change the weight of Artifacts 21 and 22 from 5 to 999.
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#225 Adventure in Interzone
Date Fixed: 10/2/94
Frank sent in an update with many enhancements.
A new version is recommended, but here are the significant bug fixes:
Problem: OUT OF MEMORY IN 7509
Fix:
16 IF A$ < = CP -1 THEN PRINT A$: FOR K = K TO
K: NEXT: GOSUB 29: GOTO 52
Problem: flashlight will go out if you drop anything
Fix: In Line 5500, change: IF LS THEN...
to: IF A = LS THEN...
Problem: Impossible to READY a weapon in the Land of the Dead
Fix:
13020 ON NA = NZ GOTO 13025: FOR A = 44 TO NA:
OW$(A - 43) = A$(A): NEXT: A$(44) = "wet
noodle": ON NA < 45 GOTO 13025: FOR A =
45 TO NA: A$(A) = A$(A - 1) + "#": NEXT
13025 M$(0) = "Joe Average": GO = GO + RND(1) *
32: R = 10: GOSUB 64: R = 89: GOSUB 64:
R2 = 13: GOTO 3500
Problem: Kim Carsons will shoot you if you give him less than 500GP
Fix: In Line 9730,
change: IF M = 4 AND K < 500 THEN...
to: IF M = 4 AND K < 500 AND M%(M,11)
< > 3 THEN...
Problem: Artifact search doesn't work right
Fix: In Line 4830, change: ...IF S$ = A$(A)...
to: ...IF LEN (A$(A)) = SL...
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Adventure Reviews
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The Tomb of Molinar By Donald Brown
Reviewed by Frank Kunze
MAIN PGM Version: 4
Extra Commands: HIT, OPEN, FREE
Deleted Commands: None
Special features: One sound effect
Playing Time: 15 minutes
Reviewer Rating: 1.0 Average Rating: 3.0/5
Description: "'Molinar was', the King told you, 'the last of the great Wizard-Kings. He ruled wisely for centuries, until he grew weary of this life. He prepared for himself a special chamber to sleep the endless rest in. However, he still loved the land he had ruled for so long, and built his tomb so that a worthy soul and valiant hero could call him forth again.
'The enemy has summoned forth a being of great power. If the being runs unchecked our kingdom is certainly doomed, possibly all on this globe as well. None of our people alive can stop this creature. Our only hope is to call upon our great past leader. You must find the tomb, enter it, and bring back our savior.'
So the King ordered you, and so you set out. After weeks of searching, you have found the tomb. The magical paper tells you that things are desperate. You can't go for help. You must enter the tomb alone. Good luck!"
Comment: The above is the complete introduction; I have no idea what "the magical paper" is. All the traits are here that are usually found in Donald Brown's adventures, including several death traps, a "Mimic", and cardboard cutout monsters with names like "SNAKE5", "BEAR3", etc.
Although you start out carrying a lamp, there are no dark rooms and it serves no function. The intro story makes it sound like the fate of everything rests upon your finding Molinar, yet you can simply leave at any time and still "Successfully ride off into the sunset." Finding Molinar is incredibly simple, just go straight south from the beginning. There is one secret passage and a super-enemy to get through. The super-enemy is impossibly difficult (to cut him down to size, break into the program by entering CTRL-C at the command prompt and type "RC=9 : POKE 51,0 GOTO 100").
About 85% of the map consists of boring N/S and E/W passages with nothing to see. There are two rooms with screwy connections and a dozen or so in which the descriptions are padded with spaces to look exactly like the names.
The thing that brought my rating down so low was one really annoying "feature". If you leave the tomb with a certain seemingly friendly monster, your entire CHARACTERS file is completely destroyed, under the pretense that the universe was destroyed by this monster's experiments.
Not enough combat for the hack'n'slasher and nothing of interest for the puzzler. I put the difficulty at (8) because of the death traps.
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#148 Journey to Jotunheim by Tom Zuchowski
Reviewed by Frank Kunze
MAIN PGM Version: 6 (Heavily modified)
Extra Commands: EAT, REQUEST, TELL, JMP,
VERBOSE, BRIEF
Deleted Commands: HEAL, SPEED, BLAST, SAVE
Special features: "Text" artifact recognition,
no SAVE, 40/80 column display.
Playing Time: 1 hour
Reviewer Rating: 9.0 Average Rating: 8.4/5
Description: Being interested in legends of the far northern lands, you traveled there to see what you could see. While there, you saw several wondrous things before being set upon by robbers and killed.
But this land is ruled by Odin, and one of his Valkyrior chose you for Valhalla. Soon you find yourself wandering the land of Asgard, tasked by to learn about the gods and their deeds.
Suddenly you are called to the Valhall. You are told that the TIME of Ragnarok nears, and the gods find themselves ill-prepared. Frey had given up his mighty sword in a fit of wrong-headedness, and now Thor's war hammer Mjollnir has been stolen! You have been chosen to accompany the gods on a journey of desperation in an attempt to find and recover the hammer.
This is truly a desperate move. The giants do not love men nor the gods, and the Valkyrior do not go there.
Comment: Let me start off by saying that fans of hack-'n'-slash won't care for this adventure, there are only about three to four foes and the program is entirely puzzle-based. I was amazed at the amount of special events and the way they interacted so perfectly with each other. Like all of Tom's adventures, it more closely resembles a version 7 Eamon rather than a 6.
The puzzles all basically revolve around three commands, TELL, POWER, and EXAMINE. Because of the size of the MAIN PGM, SAVE was deleted. In its place is the JMP command (named, I think, after the assembly language "JuMP" instruction) which allows you to skip ahead to the middle of the adventure.
The special feature being shown off here is the "text artifacts" routine. Each room has about four to six things mentioned in the description which can be examined. I wrote a short routine which printed out the names of all the "text" artifacts in each room, so I saw all of them. While I can't recall there actually being anything genuinely useful in the "text" artifact descriptions, it was a very impressive feature and was done in a very sensible and efficient fashion; I'm thinking about stealing it for one of my own adventures. There are also a few embedded artifacts in Asgard which are very important.
In one puzzle, your progress is blocked because of Thor's fear of any sort of bathing; just remember to "TELL" Thor about everything that is revealed to you by the POWER spell. The Giants of Jotunheim find great amusement in fooling the gods with illusions, you can see through those illusions via POWER also.
I was a bit disappointed by how quickly it was over, I was expecting to be sent after Frey's sword as well. All in all though, I would have to say that this is the best puzzle-based Eamon that I have ever played. I give it a (6) for difficulty.
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#229 Firestorm by Phil Schulz
Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski
MAIN PGM Version: 7.1
Extra Commands: GREET, CAST, DISASSEMBLE,
REASSEMBLE, TRAIN
Deleted Commands: POWER, BLAST, HEAL, SPEED,
SMILE, SAY
Special Features: magic spell points, "roving
guards", no DOS on disk
Playing Time: 2-3 hours
Reviewer Rating: 7.0
Description: "For the last eight months, the city has been occupied by an elite army from the other side of the world. This army is about to burn the city down. They have found a way to summon a supernatural being that will destroy the city in one fiery blast-- the Firestorm.
"You have one week to save the city. You must find Thorak, the army's leader, and defeat him before his power grows any more. But Thorak is not the easiest person to find. You figure that your confrontation will be in a far-off place, just the two of you, fighting to the death."
Comment: This Eamon has a lot of unusual and special stuff in it, as you can see from the above command and feature lists. Many of the people you meet will give you advice through the GREET command, and there are several mini-quests that you must fulfill to get needed aid from some of them.
This Eamon can be divided into two parts. The first half involves much exploring and most of the mini-quests, as you acquire the stuff and the magical skills needed to continue onward. The magic stuff was nicely done. We don't see enough original magic in Eamon.
The last half takes place in Thorak's fortress, and is very combat-oriented. You will find lots and lots of combat with the "roving guards", a set of four special monsters that are used over and over to save memory space. Phil went to some trouble to vary the names and descriptions of these guys so that they would seem less tedious as you fought them multiple times. There is also a disguise available at one point which cuts subsequent combat by about half.
All in all, a fine job. I give it a (7) for difficulty. One hint: don't do any teleporting until you have obtained the herbs; you will need them later on!
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#230 Well of the Great Ones by Mike Ellis
Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski
MAIN PGM Version: 6.2
Extra Commands: USE
Deleted Commands: FREE
Special Features: None
Playing Time: 1-2 hours
Reviewer Rating: 5.0
Description: "Evenhold is in great danger! Signs of impending doom are all about us. Among others, a woman reported seeing her son, who was three weeks dead, stalking the hills above the vast Arcosian Swamp.
"All of the trouble is emanating from the swamp. Therein lies a temple, an eldrich place of aeon-ridden Evil. A madman now seeks there to reopen that which should never be.
"You must proceed north into the swamp to the temple, and stop this madman. His hour of triumph is nearly come, for when the stars are right, the great Old Ones will rise again."
Comment: Pat Hurst sent this Eamon to the EAG nearly two years ago, in a severely flawed and unplayable form. It turned out that neither Mike nor Pat had an Apple II available, and that Mike had borrowed one to enter the adventure, and had never played it even once. We exchanged some correspondence, and I waited all this time for a fixed version to come in. It never did. Therefore, I took it upon myself to fix what needed fixing, and to add every unimplemented feature that I could figure out from the database. The result is likely well beneath Mike's vision, but I can only do so much without becoming a full co-author and reworking it to my own ideas and fashions.
This is a pretty fair example of a foray into Lovecraft's "Cthulhu" Mythos. It's very dark, and if you manage to call up one of the Old Ones, you will surely die. It does a good job of conveying the desired atmosphere, which is one of great unpleasantness and danger.
I had a lot of difficulty rating it, oscillating between a (4) and a (7). Some elements are masterful, while others are poorly done. I have no doubt that it would have attained a (7) if Mike had finished it.
I give it a (6) for difficulty, mainly because the legions of zombies and such soon wear down your HEAL spell. Though they are not necessary to the Quest, you may enjoy trying to decipher the incantations scattered about, and playing with them. Some of them will soon kill you in very horrible and entertaining ways. <grin>
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Eamon Adventure Listing
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SD#137 Redemption 9.5/1
124. Assault on Dolni Keep 9.2/6
114. Thror's Ring 9.0/6
78. The Prince's Tavern 9.0/3
194. Attack of the Kretons 9.0/2
120. Orb of My Life 9.0/1
204. Sanctuary 9.0/1
SD#152 Banana Republic 9.0/1
161. Operation Endgame 8.9/5
150. Walled City of Darkness 8.8/3
147. The Dark Brotherhood 8.7/3
129. Return to Moria 8.6/4
166. Storm Breaker 8.5/2
148. Journey to Jotunheim 8.4/5
145. Buccaneer! 8.3/3
108. The Mines of Moria 8.2/4
121. Wrenhold's Secret Vigil 8.2/2
169. The Black Phoenix 8.1/5
91. FutureQuest II 8.0/5
117. Dungeon of Doom 8.0/3
118. Pittfall 8.0/1
225. Adventure in Interzone 8.0/1
74. DharmaQuest 7.9/6
132. Rhadshur Warrior 7.9/5
47. FutureQuest 7.8/6
45. SwordQuest 7.8/4
149. Elemental Apocalypse 7.8/4
170. Ragnarok Revisited 7.8/3
183. The Boy and the Bard 7.8/3
107. The Last Dragon 7.7/3
100. Sorceror's Spire 7.5/5
19. Death Trap 7.5/4
69. The Black Castle of NaGog 7.5/2
76. The Search for Yourself 7.5/2
139. Peg's Place 7.5/2
206. Curse of the Hellsblade 7.5/1
226. Bookworm 3-D 7.5/1
16. The Caves of Mondamen 7.4/5
77. Temple of the Trolls 7.3/3
126. The Pyramid of Anharos 7.3/3
23. The Temple of Ngurct 7.2/4
38. City in the Clouds 7.2/3
24. Black Mountain 7.0/4
21. The Quest for Marron 7.0/3
73. The Deep Canyon 7.0/3
37. Quest for the Holy Grail 7.0/2
49. The Castle Kophinos 7.0/2
106. Camp Eamon 7.0/2
130. Haradwaith 7.0/2
160. Monty Python & Holy Grail 7.0/2
75. Temple of the Guild 7.0/1
92. The Fugitive 7.0/1
93. Flying Circus 7.0/1
154. A Trip to Fort Scott 7.0/1
158. The Lair of Mr. Ed 7.0/1
193. The Creature of Rhyl 7.0/1
213. Demongate 7.0/1
222. The Halls of the Adept 7.0/1
224. Prisoner of Darkness 7.0/1
229. Firestorm 7.0/1
35. The Lair of Mutants 6.9/4
51. The Caves of Eamon Bluff 6.8/3
127. The Hunt for the Ring 6.8/2
165. Animal Farm 6.8/2
33. The Orb of Polaris 6.7/3
81. The Rescue Mission 6.7/3
55. The Master's Dungeon 6.5/4
188. Encounter: The Bookworm 6.5/4
20. The Black Death 6.5/2
26. Assault on the Mole Man 6.5/2
34. Death's Gateway 6.5/2
113. The Life-Orb of Mevtrelek 6.5/2
119. Grunewalde 6.5/2
137. The Ruins of Ivory Castle 6.5/2
159. The Bridge of Catzad-Dum 6.5/2
198. Revenge of the Bookworm 6.5/1
205. Utterly Outrageous 6.5/1
214. Deathstalker's Castle 6.5/1
218. Return to Pendrama 6.5/1
87. Caves of Hollow Mountain 6.3/3
109. The Forest of Fear 6.3/3
12. The Quest for Trezore 6.2/4
28. The Tower of London 6.2/2
64. Modern Problems 6.2/2
48. Picnic in Paradise 6.0/5
36. The Citadel of Blood 6.0/4
25. Nuclear Nightmare 6.0/3
27. Revenge of the Mole Man 6.0/3
52. The Devil's Dungeon 6.0/3
83. The Twin Castles 6.0/3
142. The Beermeister's Brewery 6.0/3
70. The Tomb of Y'Golonac 6.0/2
112. Hills of History 6.0/2
143. The Alternate Zone 6.0/2
56. The Lost Adventure 6.0/1
58. The Land of Death 6.0/1
68. The Smith's Stronghold 6.0/1
86. Castle Mantru 6.0/1
90. The Doomsday Clock 6.0/1
97. The House of Secrets 6.0/1
128. Quest of Erebor 6.0/1
131. Nucleus of the Ruby 6.0/1
146. The House of Horrors 6.0/1
164. A Real Cliffhanger 6.0/1
208. Assault on Helstar 6.0/1
211. Lair of the Marauders 6.0/1
215. Treasure Island 6.0/1
4. The Zyphur Riverventure 5.7/7
79. The Castle of Count Fuey 5.7/5
41. Caverns of Lanst 5.7/3
43. Priests of Xim! 5.7/3
155. Tomb of the Vampire 5.7/3
163. The Sands of Mars 5.7/3
39. Museum of Unnatural Histor 5.5/4