Dungeon Master by William F. Estes Pacific Northwest PCUG About five years ago I really started getting into adventure games in a big way, and the biggest reason was a game that had come out for the Atari ST. I had played Zork, and many other text adventures, but was not really satisfied when I had completed them. I liked using my imagination to solve many of the puzzles or destroying a foe, but something was missing. Then came Dungeon Master, Dungeon Master is from FTL, a company in San Diego, California. They have turned out some of the finest game software for the Atari ST machines that I have ever played. The first time I saw this game I said to Dan at Xanth in Bellevue, Washington, "Sell me a copy," and home I went to figure out this new type of adventure game. Sierra had been improving their Quest type games, but this was special. You had some real options in Dungeon Master (hereafter referred to as `DM') that were not available before. You did not have to just accept the characters that were given you as your starting party, and there was real animation, so that when you destroyed an enemy, you could really enjoy defeating your foe. This is not a bloody type of hack and slash graphic adventure, but it was more interactive than any game of its type before. When you first open the package for DM, you will think that this is not much of a game. There are only two disks in the box along with the manual and quick start card. The new package also includes a digital sound adapter package so you can hook it up to your parallel port and to your stereo and hear the digitized sound that this game has. After following your loading instructions, and you have installed the game, you will see that the DM is less than three megs, fully installed. Don't worry, you will have hours of enjoyment if you play this game the way it was intended to be played, that you will wonder why so many other game manufacturers have to make their games so big and are not this good. The premise of DM is that the Grey Lord is working on a magical experiment of great power. You are Theron of Vigorg, his apprentice. You work for the Grey Lord, who works in his dungeon, under the sacred mountain, Mt. Anaias. It was rumored to be the resting place of the Power Gem, the orb that thawed the ice from which dwarf and halfling, elf, man and the High Lord alike had arisen. In trying to release the Power Gem from its resting place, the Grey Lord was torn asunder and was split into two halves. His good side remains in limbo, while his evil side wreaked havoc on the surrounding villages, also taking control of the dungeon. The Grey Lord, in his diminished form, protected you in limbo for several years while having other adventurers enter the dungeon and try to unite the Firestaff with the Power Gem. In trying to accomplish this heroic deed, all of these adventurers either fought amongst themselves or were destroyed by Chaos, the Grey Lord's other self. Chaos imprisoned the finest of these adventurers inside magic mirrors in the Hall of Champions, as a warning to others who would try to invade Chaos' realm. With the help of the Grey Lord, you will be able to either resurrect or reincarnate these captured heroes to challenge Chaos. The Grey Lord's power is diminished, so you will only be able to create a party of up to four members to go do battle with Chaos' minions. To resurrect a character is to bring that character back to life with the abilities that they had when they were captured by Chaos. The character will have many traits that you will need to choose from to decide which will fit your style of play. Most characters will be either male or female, some you may not be sure if they have a sex or not. They will have various skills that may or may not be attractive to your needs. Most characters will mainly fall into one of four categories for skill levels: Fighter, Ninja, Priest, or Mage. A fighter will have more skill with various swords and hitting weapons such as clubs and maces. A ninja will be better at hand to hand combat and using throwing weapons such as daggers and throwing stars. Priests will be better at healing skills and more peaceful defensive types of magic, and a mage will use more forceful destructive spells like fireballs and lightning. Some characters will have brute strength while other will be weak physically but have more magic using ability (referred to as mana). Some characters have no magic ability at all. This may be a problem to some people, but don't let this stop you from using a character that has no mana to start with. A helpful hint is if you come across a magic implement such as a wand or moonstone, that character will receive some mana. Once you acquire some mana, you can start learning to cast spells, and each time you achieve the next level in either Mage or Priest skills, you receive more mana to use. The more you practice each skill, the quicker you will advance in more areas and be a stronger character. If you decide to reincarnate your character, you will have to rename that character, and all previous memories and skills will be gone, but the character will have greater physical attributes. This is something you may want to try the second time that you play the game, if you complete DM. As either a priest or mage, you will be able to increase your abilities by constantly practicing your craft, the same as a fighter or ninja, but with some differences. Entering into the world of magic requires more skill and mental ability. The use of spellcasting is divided into four basic areas, Power, Elemental Influence, Form and Class/Alignment. The power of a spell can determine its strength and the other areas will determine what the spell will be used to do or create. Each time you choose an element of your spell, you will use up some of your mana to create that spell. Be careful to use mana correctly, as making a useless spell will waste mana. Time and rest will restore mana to the magic user and developing your magic skills will increase your level and ability to use more powerful and complicated spells in protecting your party and defeating the monsters that inhabit the dungeon. As you finally enter the dungeon, you will come upon the well lit Hall of Champions, which contains the twenty-four souls that Chaos has imprisoned. It is your job to choose a party of at least one to four members to rejoin Chaos and the Grey Lord and bring harmony and balance back to the world. After you choose your party, you are ready to enter the dungeon proper. There are fourteen levels to this dungeon and thirteen of them are unlit. On the first level is a niche that will allow you to bring one of your party's bones back and bring that member back to life. When you first start out, you will most likely be killed quite a bit, until you learn how to fight and protect yourself. Mapping is a must for the novice, but if you don't want to take the time to explore this great dungeon, FTL has included a hint book offer with maps included and a map of the second level to help you get started as well as to show you how to map a level. Your character will be able to interact with the dungeon. You will find objects such as food, weapons, scrolls, and treasures that may help you sustain life (food and water) and protect you from the various creatures that inhabit the dungeon. Depending on the characters that you choose, each will be able to carry only so much weight before being slowed down and having your character's strength drained. Take care to be sure your characters are well fed and have ample water to drink, because hunger and thirst can weaken or kill a character. After you travel the dungeon for a while, you will find that you must be a hard taskmaster and force the members of your party to constantly practice various skills, such as casting spells to keep advancing in skill levels, using your weapons on wooden doors to get more adept at using swords and clubbing weapons. Gather small objects and have one member of the party at a time continually throwing objects to develop your ninja skills. Each time a member reaches a new level, go to the next member of the party and force that member to practice throwing skills and so on. As your party grows in experience, it will gain more strength, wisdom, agility and mana. By using the different abilities, it will better be able to defend itself. You will find that each character can carry various objects in your pack, pouch or hand. Some items, such as clothing and armor that you find can be used to protect the party from the inhabitants of the dungeon. Some of the creatures that you will encounter will be mummies, skeletons with swords, goblins with clubs, shrieking ghosts, stinging wasps, worms with teeth, rock creatures that sting, beholders, demons and others, as well as a fire breathing dragon and Chaos himself, who is more powerful than the dragon and smarter, too. Saving the game often is helpful when you come across something new. There are keys to find that open doors and gates, and puzzles to solve in opening hidden doors and passages. Not everything is as it seems. Some walls are real and some are not. You will have to touch everything and figure out if it will help you or not. The graphics are good but not great by today's standards. This was a direct port from the original game and almost plays identical with a few exceptions. There is, for example, a new animated sequence at the end of the game that was not in the original. Also, it is harder for a member of your party to gain in mana points if they had none to begin with. The digitized sound is ok but could have been improved and more sounds added to improve the feel of the game. The graphics are in sixteen colors, not 256, but the game is so well done for its size that I don't' think many will mind the lack of more colors. The deeper you go into the dungeon, the nastier and harder to destroy are the monsters and creatures you will encounter. I haven't given you all the baddies that you will face or how to beat them, but when you watch a fireball hit a group of monsters, and the vanish in a puff of smoke, it feels great to be a hero. Dungeon Master is a well crafted game that will give the adventurer many hours of entertainment and enjoyment. Overall the game is excellent and will be a challenge to all. Even the most experienced adventurer will find this game a challenge by trying to complete it with only one character. I have done this, so I know it can be done. For an experienced player, a party of two is most challenging. A benefit of using fewer players is that they develop faster. If you want a challenge, choose characters that have no mana and enjoy the satisfaction of having this character become a Master of all four skills. There are many skill levels to pass through before you reach the level of "Master," but don't think that because you are a master, you are unbeatable. One or two blasts from a dragon will kill the strongest character, and no amount of skill can destroy Chaos. You must figure out how to defeat him, not destroy him. I encourage you to enter the dungeon and become a "Dungeon Master" yourself. Dungeon Master retails from about $45 and does include both a 1.44 MB and 1.2 MB disk. The games supports both VGA and EGA graphics and will run on a 12MHz 286 or higher machine using DOS 3.3 or later. It supports a mouse, joystick, SoundBlaster, Ad Lib, Tandy Sound, Sound Source and FTL sound adapter (included). Overall, a great buy and a great game. The manual is well written and contains enough help to get you started and on the road to adventure.