Source:Eamon Adventurer's Guild Newsletter, June 1988
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| Description |
The Eamon Adventurer's Guild Newsletter, June 1988 issue. |
|---|---|
| Source | |
| Date |
June 1988 |
| Author |
Eamon Adventurer's Guild; Tom Zuchowski (editor) |
| License |
Permission has kindly been granted by the copyright holder for this copyrighted item to appear in the not-for-profit Eamon Wiki website. Permission granted by Matthew Clark in email with Huw Williams on 22 November 2012. |
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The Eamon Adventurer's Guild
June 1988
Editorial
Greetings! Welcome to the premier issue of the newsletter of the Eamon Adventurer's Guild.
This newsletter has two main purposes. The first is to provide a source of information about existing Eamon adventures. This includes reviewing and rating them, and providing information on program bugs and their fixes. The second purpose is to provide a forum for Eamon fanciers to exchange ideas and to give and receive assistance in the writing of Eamon adventures. Speaking for myself, I own a nine-year-old Apple II Plus, and it is becoming more and more difficult to find entertainment software that will run in the 64K environment without the Aux memory of the IIe. The playing and writing of Eamon adventures is a huge source of ongoing fun for me, and I want to find and support others like myself who find Eamon worthwhile.
Several projects are in the works for the general updating of the club. The first, most visible one is the reworking of the old NEUC Eamon rating system. The difficulty rating has been dropped, as it wasn't very useful in determining why a given Eamon was difficult or easy, be it monster strength, puzzle complexity, mapping, or whatever. Besides, the difficulty of a given adventure is somewhat reflected in the first number; if it is too easy or too hard, the first number will suffer as a result. The ratings list has been converted into a poll now. Send in your own ratings for the Eamons that you have played, and they will be averaged into the published rating. In this way we will get more accurate ratings, as individual raters' preferences get averaged out.
The ratings list has another new feature: a "notes" column that gives a little information about the basic features of each adventure. This column will take some time to complete, and at this writing is only partly filled in. Eventually, all of the Eamons will have notes.
In future issues, the ratings list will also carry the date of the most recent update to each adventure. The plan is to go back and add the version 6.2 speed-up mods to the "YOU SEE" code, and to perform speed-up work on the melee code and the monster and artifact search routines as well. These mods bring a dramatic increase in execution speed to medium-to-large Eamons. You will be able to keep track of which ones in the club library have been modified as the update column is filled in.
An update service has been implemented. Club members can send in their copies of the adventures, and receive copies of the fully-updated club version in return. The charge for this service is $1.00 per disk with a $3.00 minimum. Note that this is an updating service only; you must send in a copy of the adventure that you want to have updated. We are working with a number of public-domain houses, many who have agreed to plug our club, and we have no wish to compete with them for your business.
***OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT***: John Nelson of the National Eamon User's Club has ceased publication of the Apple-oriented Adventurer's Log. However, he has not quit computer gaming. He is developing a much-enhanced Eamon-like gaming system for the IBM-PC, and is porting the better Eamons over to the IBM as well. Any of you out there with PCs who share this interest should get in touch with John, or stay tuned here for further details as they become available. John tells me that he is desperately in need of play testers for the Eamon PC conversions; let him know if you are interested in helping out or in receiving an IBM gaming newsletter.
John and I have reached an agreement by which he has officially shut down his Apple newsletter, and has given me the funds required to complete the present members' newsletter subscriptions.
Now that he is out from under the drudgery of running the club, John is experiencing a renewal of his Apple-Eamon enthusiasm, and hopes to be a regular contributor to the Adventurer's Guild. Let's hope so, for John's Eamon knowledge and skills have always been a valuable asset to the Eamon community.
The Eamon Adventurer's Guild is not in the business of selling Eamon software, as it is readily available from a number of public-domain outfits. I will offer certain limited specials for aspiring Eamon authors, and I intend to implement an upgrade program through which you will be able to trade in your old software for debugged, updated versions of the same software. One of the problems that John ran into was attempting to do too much with too little manpower. I hope not to fall into the same trap.
Another objective of the EAG is to keep in touch with all of the public-domain houses and to try to keep their Eamon libraries updated. This is obviously necessary now since this club isn't selling Eamon software directly. If you don't know where to turn for your Eamons, send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and I will send you a list of the public-domain houses that are working with us.
EAMON ADVENTURER'S GUILD c/o Thomas Zuchowski
Membership/subscription fee: $9.00 per year. The Eamon Adventurer's Guild is published four times per year in Mar., Jun., Sep., and Dec. Make your check payable to Thomas Zuchowski, and please put EAG on your check's "for" line.
We are always looking for new material! If you would like to publish your own letter or article in the Adventurer's Log, feel free to write one and send it in. If you would like to add your own Eamon adventure to the list, send it on a disk to the above address. It will be assigned the next adventure number, and tested for bugs and other problems before release. If requested, an informal critique will be returned to the author along with the bug corrections, from more than one reviewer if it seems necessary.
New Adventures
| 150 | Walled City of Darkness | by Tom Zuchowski |
| 151 | Eamon S.A.R.-1 | by David Crawford |
| 152 | The Computer Club of Fear | by Nathan Segerlind |
| 153 | Lost! | by Nathan Segerlind |
| 154 | A Trip to Fort Scott | by Dr. Wm. H. Trent |
| 155 | Tomb of the Vampire | by Matthew Grayson & Dr. Wm. H. Trent |
In Walled City of Darkness, the patron god of a city has been overthown by a god of evil. It is your task to find the trappings of the defeated god, and to use their power to throw down the evil god. Lots of complex, interlocking puzzles, and a minimum of combat. This will not be a one-evening adventure for most people.
Eamon S.A.R.-1 is subtitled The Deneb Raid, and is a science-fiction search-and-rescue (hence, S.A.R.) mission. This is basically a kill-and-loot scenario with a rescue quest.
The Computer Club of Fear is a quest in which you must enter a most unusual and dangerous computer club and capture its moderator. This adventure is an amusing farce and is full of ludicrous monsters and events.
In Lost!, you begin the adventure lost in a desert, and must find your way back to the Main Hall. This adventure is also done for laughs, and contains some absurd leaps in geography, though it lacks a true quest.
A Trip to Fort Scott takes you to Fort Scott, Kansas during the Civil War. I found it coherent and well-written, though it lacked a true quest.
In Tomb of the Vampire, you must enter the Vampire's lair and rid the village of Brasov of its terrible bane.
Dungeon Designs
by Tom Zuchowski
One important aspect of good dungeon design is sometimes overlooked by the author. This is the job of making the player's task of mapping the dungeon interesting and straightforward, rather than an irritating chore. The ease or difficulty of mapping will affect the player's enjoyment, and the rating that the dungeon receives will gain or suffer as a result.
I am not suggesting that the author shouldn't put mazes or confusing passages in the dungeon; that is an important part of adventuring. What I am talking about is the room description that gives lots of detail and color, but doesn't give the room's correct name nor list the available exits.
Let me give you a fictional example of just what I am talking about. Imagine that the player has just entered a room in a dungeon, and gets the following description:
YOU HAVE JUST ENTERED A LARGE, CATHEDRAL-LIKE ROOM. THE CEILING VAULTS HIGH OVERHEAD. A COUCH IS SET AT ONE END ON A HIGH DAIS, ALONGSIDE AN ALTAR-LIKE CABINET
OK, so the player draws this room on their map, and labels it "Cathedral Room". But then, when they reenter the room later on, they find the the room's name is "VIP Hall" or "Queen's Chamber" or something similar that has nothing whatever to do with the room's description! And then they have to make a mess of their map, scratching out, or erasing, or just trying to remember which room is which.
There is a second problem with the above description: it doesn't give a clue what the exits from the room are. This is a valid design strategem when the author is forcing a minor puzzle on the player, or is hiding something off in a corner of the room, and wants the player to have to search for it. But if it is a simple room, with ordinary doorways, then it is good form to list them somehow. In adventures that have a quest with a time limit imposed on the player, this kind of missing information can become quite irritating.
To correct the above problems, the room description can be rewritten to something like the following:
YOU HAVE JUST ENTERED THE QUEEN'S CHAMBER. A LARGE CATHEDRAL-LIKE ROOM, THE CEILING VAULTS HIGH OVERHEAD. A COUCH IS SET AT ONE END ON A HIGH DAIS, ALONGSIDE AN ALTAR-LIKE CABINET. THERE ARE DOORS NORTH AND WEST.
But this rewritten description has problems of its own. There is an absolute limit of approximately six lines for a given description. The above "corrected" description uses up 50-odd characters in making the necessary additions to ease mapping chores. As Eamon authors know, six lines is often not nearly enough to squeeze in all of a room description.
One solution is to put this information somewhere besides the room description. The Eamon version 6.2 MAIN PGM addresses this by adding some programming that prints the normal exits just before the "YOUR COMMAND?" prompt. The 6.2 code for this is as follows:
205 C = 0: PRINT "EXITS ARE ";: FOR
X = 1 TO ND: IF RD%(X) > 0 AND
RD%(X) < = NR THEN PRINT C
$(X);", ";:C = 1
207 NEXT : IF NOT C THEN PRINT
"NON-EXISTENT ";
Now, our example description will look like this:
YOU HAVE JUST ENTERED A LARGE, CATHEDRAL-LIKE ROOM. THE CEILING VAULTS HIGH OVERHEAD. A COUCH IS SET AT ONE END ON A HIGH DAIS, ALONGSIDE AN ALTAR-LIKE CABINET. EXITS ARE NORTH, WEST
Another solution is to put the second half of room descriptions in the effects, and then print both the room description and the corresponding effect, thus getting 12 lines of text instead of the normal six. A good example of this method can be found in #145 Buccaneer!. In this adventure, Pat Hurst has put the first six lines of each room description in the room location in the EAMON.DESC file, and also put six more lines in an effect of the same number. The applicable code from his program is as follows:
130 VZ = ( INT (V%(RO) / 2) = (V%
(RO) /2)): IF NOT VZ THEN
PRINT DK$;"READ EAMON.ROOM
NAMES, R;"RO: INPUT A$: PRINT
DK$: PRINT "YOU ARE ": PRINT
" ";A$: PRINT
140 IF VZ THEN PRINT DK$;"READ
EAMON.DESC,R";RO: INPUT A$: PRINT
DK$: PRINT A$: PRINT :V%(RO)
= V%(RO) + 1:EF = RO: GOSUB
60
60 PRINT DK$;"READ EAMON.DESC,R"
;EF + 200: INPUT A$: PRINT D
K$: PRINT A$: PRINT
63 RETURN
Examining the above code, you can see that line 140 prints the room description, then calls the small subroutine at 60 to print the corresponding effect. This is a very simple, elegant solution to the problem of printing long descriptions.
Yet another way to free up the entire six lines for describing the room is to print the Room Name every turn, even when the Room Description is to be printed. This can be done by deleting the code in line 130 that tests for the description flag, as follows:
130 PRINT DK$;"READ EAMON.ROOM NA
MES,R";RO: INPUT A$: PRINT D
K$: PRINT "YOU ARE ";A$
140 IF INT (V%(RO) / 2) = (V%(RO)
/ 2) THEN PRINT DK$;"READ
EAMON.DESC,R"RO: INPUT A$:
PRINT DK$: PRINT A$: PRINT:
V%(RO) = V%(RO) + 1
This code would give us the following example:
YOU ARE IN THE QUEEN'S CHAMBER YOU HAVE JUST ENTERED A LARGE, CATHEDRAL-LIKE ROOM. THE CEILING VAULTS HIGH OVERHEAD. A COUCH IS SET AT ONE END ON A HIGH DAIS, ALONGSIDE AN ALTAR-LIKE CABINET.
From here, it is a simple matter to tack the visible room exits onto the end of the room name, so that it reads like this:
YOU ARE IN THE QUEEN'S CHAMBER (N/W)
or:
YOU ARE IN THE QUEEN'S CHAMBER (NW)
I personally favor the last example, in which the room name is always printed on every turn, and the visible exits are printed without slashes on the end. This has the added bonus of allowing the author to hint that there is something special about the room by not printing the exits. Thus the alert player will think to look for hidden exits or unmarked corners.
But all of the above methods are good ones. The important thing is to take some of the drudgery out of dungeon exploration. Then the player has more fun, and your adventure gets better ratings!
Adventure Reviews
#137 – Ruins of Ivory Castle by Mike Greifenkamp
Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski
| MAIN PGM Version: | 5.0 |
| Extra commands: | UNLOCK, LOCK, THROW, DRINK, READ |
| Deleted commands: | none |
| Special features: | none |
| Playing time: | 1–2 hours |
| Reviewer's rating: | 6 |
Description: While reading an old history book, you read of a powerful wizard who lived in a castle of ivory situated in a dark forest. You learn that the castle contained many treasures in its underground labyrinth of rooms. You suddenly have a great urge to acquire those riches and set off to find the infamous Castle of Ivory...
Comment: This is a well-knit, well-written dungeon that was very enjoyable to explore. The one big drawback is that it is rather aimless, being strictly of the "kill everything & grab all the loot" variety. If there was some kind of quest built into the dungeon, it would easily have received a higher rating.
#139 – Peg's Place by Margaret & Anne Anderson
Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski
| Extra commands: | SCOLD, LECTURE, PET, TIME, PAY, FEED |
| Deleted commands: | ATTACK, BLAST, HEAL, POWER, SPEED, READY, PUT, FREE |
| Special features: | no violence; time limit; can stand alone without Master disk |
| Playing time: | 1.5–2 hours |
| Reviewer's rating: | 8 |
Description: In a remote world, once upon a time, a group of teachers all signed a document (legally binding) vowing chastity, poverty, and obedience. This document was entrusted to one of the teachers, who put it in a "safe place". Somewhat later, he left to take another teaching position, and the other teachers have been unable to contact him. A political group is searching the school for the document in order to use it to intimidate the teachers.
You have been summoned here by a spell that several teachers pooled their life savings to buy. You have two hours before the spell wears off and you are sent back where you came from. If you find the missing document and take it to the teachers' lounge, you will be rewarded.
Adventurers should realize that in this world violence is frowned upon. Therefore, your only weapon is an unabridged dictionary and all battles are verbal. You need to remember to "scold" or "lecture" your opponents.
Comment: This adventure marks a radical departure from anything that I have seen previously in the Eamon world. There is absolutely no violent confrontation at all. The player "scolds" his enemies, and is "lectured" in return. Each opponent scores hits on the other's ego, until one of them "dies with embarrassment". The verbal battles are very clever and fun to follow. The school is full of surprises and events. It is well written; there is a single no-warning "gotcha" death trap that was funny enough that I really didn't mind all that much having to start over.
I got the distinct impression that the school and its inhabitants were based on a real school & faculty somewhere. It all had the ring of truth, from the odd things that I found in the classrooms to the crocodiles beneath the kitchen. I loved it all.
There were two minor drawbacks that reduced the enjoyment a little. This adventure has a time limit, which served well to heighten the tension, but none of the room descriptions gave the available exits, forcing the player to waste turns finding them. And the other drawback was that the "dungeon" was actually a large elementary school, containing three long halls that were flanked by an endless procession of classrooms. The authors did a very good job scattering surprises and jokes throughout, but it wore a little thin just the same.
This adventure will not be for everyone. It is definitely not one for the "hack & slash" crowd, and may not be fully appreciated by younger adventurers. But it is an excellent shot at a non-violent Eamon adventure, and I had a great time.
#142 – The Beermeister's Brewery by Jeff Actor
Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski
| MAIN PGM Version: | 5.0 |
| Extra commands: | PUT, RETREAT, ESCAPE, OPEN, DRINK, FREE, WASH, USE |
| Deleted commands: | none |
| Special features: | Keypress beep |
| Playing time: | 1–3 hours |
| Reviewer's rating: | 7 |
Description: "You are about to face your most trying task. You must go rescue your friend Damian who has wandered into the Beermeister's Brewery while he was intoxicated. You will undertake many tasks, but this is probably the most difficult. Good luck to you."
Comments: The above contains the entire intro program text, which should give you some idea about the depth of this adventure. It has poorly written descriptions, massive spelling and grammar errors, an obnoxious keypress beep, and is vulgar and makes light of drinking problems. For these reasons, Pat Hurst hated it and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
However, if you can live with the above, it is absolutely stuffed with funny jokes and terrible puns. I have a sick sense of humor, and personally loved it. But in light of the above listed problems and Pat's opinions, be warned that you may not.
#147 – The Dark Brotherhood written by Pat Hurst
Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski
| MAIN PGM Version: | 6.2 |
| Extra commands: | WEAR, KNEEL, INDULGE |
| Deleted commands: | TAKE, EXAMINE, GIVE, WAVE, PUT |
| Special features: | two-disk adventure; notes & hints on disk |
| Playing time: | 3–6 hours |
| Reviewer's rating: | 9 |
Description: "Mighty Phrax, God of the Underworld, Shepherd of the flocks of the Dead, is angered. Some Evil of this Plane seeks to usurp his power. This Evil must be sought out and destroyed before the wrath of Phrax engulfs us all. He has loosed the Dead Legions to kill indiscriminately until he has regained what is his – the reservoir of his power and the bulwark of his strength – the legendary Shroud of Phrax!"
"This Adventure is quite dangerous as the adventurer will be dealing with the Undead (hard to kill and in some cases drain life energy), Spellcasters (easier to kill but have offensive spells that penetrate armor), and gods (impossible to kill and awesome in attack). Any life energy (hardiness, agility, or charisma) that is drained away is lost forever."
Comment: This adventure has a dazzling array of monsters and artifacts that are quite out of the ordinary, and a number of great puzzles to solve. The quest (returning the shroud) is punctuated by other minor "quests" that must be fulfilled along the way. Your companions reveal their weaknesses as you confront various evils, and your own ability to accomplish various tasks is modified by the purity of your actions. The bad guys, from the Undead all the way to the God of Evil, can be defeated if you put the clues together correctly. However, if you go at them without the proper preparation, you will be lunchmeat. It is tough to stay alive; an occasional save is a good idea.
If you should go astray, or are just curious, there is a HINTS.NOTES file on the disk. Using it, the adventurer can get sequential hints to help him past a stuck spot, or can read detailed notes that explain many of the adventure's subtleties.
This adventure is highly recommended, and is firmly entrenched on my personal "Top-Ten" list.
Eamon Lore
Eamon Weapons Lore
Loremaster: Pat Hurst
Although there are some Eamon adventures which downplay violence, usually combat is an integral component of Eamon adventures. As such, weapons are important to every adventurer who desires a long life (or at least to complete the current adventure). In Eamon there are five classes of weapons available – axe, bow, club, spear, and sword. These classes are interpreted liberally by Eamon authors (Eamonauts) so that a tree trunk may be considered a club or a flame thrower considered a bow. Weapons run the gamut from the prosaic sword to the sophisticated laser pistol and everything in between. Most of these weapons carry generic names, but Eamonauts seem driven to create a few special weapons with colorful and memorable names. A review of Eamon weapon names provides an insight into the strange worlds inhabited by Eamonauts.
By a large margin, swords are the choice for special weapons. Axes and clubs are about equal in a distant second place and are followed by spears in frequency. Bows are the rarest special weapons with just two found by my researches – SANDZER and ROCKILLER. When it comes to naming bows, most authors use the banal MAGIC BOW. Any future authors out there might consider improving the status of bows in the annals of weaponry.
Since the object of combat is to destroy one's opponent, it's not surprising that death is a common theme in weapon names. There are the DEATH AXE, DEATH BLADE, DEATH SCYTHE, WAND OF DEATH, DEATH DREAMER, DEATH STALKER, DEATHSWORD, and DEATHSEDGE. If these don't satisfy your bloodlust, how about BLOODFANG, BLOOD DRINKER, or BLOODTHIRST? If you are familiar with the Greek "nekros" (dead body), you might favor NECROPOLIS, NECROMANCER, or NECRONIS.
Some authors use color to create colorful names. Silver and white are popular choices, but black is the all-time favorite. On the "black list" are the BLACK CLEAVER, BLACK SWORD, BLACK DAGGER, BLACK SCIMITAR, and BLACK AXE. Black is often associated with the underworld, the abode of demons and devils who might be wielding DEMONSTAR, SOUL CATCHER, HELLFIRE, HELLSPAWN, DEMONFLAME, or BARROW- BLADE.
The elements lend their powers to many weapons. If things are getting a little hot for you, maybe it's because your opponent is waving TROLLSFIRE (a nostalgic favorite), STARFIRE, STARSTRIKER, FLAME TONGUE, FIREBLADE, or ELYSIA FLAMEWIND. To counteract all this "fire"-power, you could use ICE, ICESTAR, FROSTBAND, or FREEZIER. If those aren't enough, try WINDSTRIKER or STORMBRINGER.
Some names graphically describe a weapon's purpose. Included here might be BITE, MARAUDER, SEEKER, SLASHER, REQUITER, KILLER, THUDWACKER, VANQUISHER, GNASH THE SWORD, SKULLCLEAVER, HEWER, and HACKENSLASH. If the original weapon isn't quite right for the job, then an improved version may be required as in STING and STINGER, SLAYER and DRAGON SLAYER, or THE WRATH and WRATH OF NGURCT.
Defying classification is an assortment of weapons, some dredged from literature, some from legend, and some from the fevered imagination of a demented Eamonaut: ANDERHAUF, ANDURIL, ANGRIST, BEMSBANE, CELSIUS, COLUMBINE, DRUINVAL, EXCALIBUR, EXETER, FORTITER, GLAMDRING, GLORON, GROND, GRYMWYR, GUNGNIR, GUTHWINE, HACJAC, IMPERIUM, INVICTUS, JASAR, JASNAR, LEBENSTOD, MULCIBER, NOTHUNG, ORCRIST, SLISACK, Y'NATHELI, and YRCHOST. Some are truly odd; you might think twice before readying AXE-COME-LATELY, BRODY'S FOLLY, or OLD TRUSTY.
For those of you who aren't authors but wish to have a weapon of your own devising, two adventures (that I know of) allow you to acquire a weapon which you then name. In Wrenhold's Secret Vigil, #121, you are rewarded with a magic elven bow upon successful completion of your quest. With your first shot, you name the bow. This adventure is also one of the best adventures and is highly recommended on those grounds alone. In The Castle Kophinos, #49, the prize is a sword. These weapons are doubly special as symbols of accomplishment and as the bearers of your personal favorite names.
Since everyone reading this newsletter is an Eamon expert, then a small challenge is in order. For the following list of a dozen Eamon weapons, identify the weapon type of each one. (One hint: none of them are bows – really helpful, huh?)
The awarding of prizes will take place on Aug. 15, so your entry must reach me by that date.
| 1. | ANDERHAUF | 7. | GROND |
| 2. | BEMSBANE | 8. | NECROPOLIS |
| 3. | BRODY'S FOLLY | 9. | OLD TRUSTY |
| 4. | CELSIUS | 10. | SLISACK |
| 5. | DEATH DREAMER | 11. | THUDWACKER |
| 6. | FORTITER | 12. | Y'NATHELI |
Editor's note: It seems possible that very few, if any, of we "Eamon experts" are going to be able to identify all 12 weapons. So if you want to enter the contest but haven't gotten them all, by all means do so and send Pat your best effort. Who knows, your incomplete entry could well be the best one that he receives! – Tom
Bugs 'n Fixes
Adventure #86 – Castle Mantru
Date Fixed: 6/23/88
Problem: BAD SUBSCRIPT IN 21120
Fix: Change variable X to M in Lines 21110, 21120
Also, the speed-up mods were installed.
Adventure #91 – FutureQuest II
Date Fixed: 12/4/87
Fix: The programs were modified to fit on a single disk
Problem: You get blown up if you use your radio.
Fix: In 20633, change MD%(2,5) = 0 to MD%(2,5) = 1
Problem: The reinforcement routine doesn't work right.
Fix: In 20615, change XY < 19 to XY > 19
Problem: In the ship, Lt. Slade growls at you even though she is friendly.
Fix: 15020 ON MD%(M,14) + 1 GOTO 15040,15030,15040,15050
Problem: LOOK checks for an artifact match even when one wasn't named.
Fix: 6010 IF S$ = "" THEN 6060
Problem: If you use the TOW-4 to kill the Krell tank, NBTL is not reset.
Fix: In 7295, change GOTO 100 to GOTO 300
Problem: Room exit incorrectly listed. Fix: Change room 75 description from SW to SE
Also, the speed-up mods were installed, some commonly used loops were closed to alleviate OUT OF MEMORY crashes, and a number of spelling errors were corrected.
Adventure #97 – The House of Secrets
Date Fixed: 6/23/88
Problem: BAD SUBSCRIPT IN 2040.
Fix: Renumber (move) Line 1045 to 1023
Also, the speed-up mods were installed.
Adventure #110 – Fire Island
Date fixed: 12/8/87
Problem: the SMILE cmd crashes with UNDEFINED STATEMENT IN LINE 290. This was caused by a serious line numbering problem in the POWER routine.
Fix: the entire POWER cmd was deleted and rewritten.
Problem: Bad room connection Fix: In Room 37 data: change NW data to 41
Problem: SYNTAX ERROR IN 29040
Fix: Remove the erroneous extra quote from the DOS cmd.
Problem: When you try to FREE a prisoner, you get an ?EXTRA IGNORED message, and he isn't freed.
Fix:
24010 GOSUB 4900: SL = LEN (S$): FOR A = 1 TO
NA: IF S$ < > LEFT$ (AN$(A),SL) AND S$ < >
RIGHT$ (AN$(A),SL) THEN NEXT: PRINT : PRINT
"I DON'T UNDERSTAND.": GOTO 100
Problem: Room 66 exits listed incorrectly. Fix: Change Room 66 room name & description from East to West
Also, the speed-up mods were installed.
Adventure #124 – Assault on Dolni Keep
Date fixed: 4/14/88
Several companions' comments weren't given if the appropriate situation arose. There were also a couple of inappropriate descriptions of events, and some awkward text. None of these were fatal, although a couple were misleading. The mods are too extensive to list here. Anyone who wants the update can get it from Tom Zuchowski (it's his adventure!) at the club address by sending a disk and a buck for postage.
Adventure #138 – Starfire
Date fixed: 10/20/87
Problem: The intro text is cleared as soon as it is printed.
Fix: Delete 'HOME :' from line 5000 in the STARFIRE pgm.
Adventure #141 – The Infested Fortress
Date fixed: 10/20/87
Problem: It is impossible to exit the game if a certain artifact is picked up by typing GET ALL.
Fix: 4220 IF A = 76 OR A = 78 THEN 30000
Problem: At the very beginning, the exit back to the Main Hall isn't mentioned, allowing the player to stumble into it accidentally. Fix: Add this text to the Room 1 description: THE MAIN HALL IS WEST.
Adventure #148 – Journey to Jotunheim
Date Fixed: 6/6/88
The GET command doesn't work right in all situations. This is not a fatal problem. A new copy is required to get all of the mods. The same update offer is available from Tom Zuchowski as is offered for #124 above.
Eamon Adventure Listing
Anyone is welcome to send in their ratings of the adventures, and they will be averaged into the rating numbers. The more people who do this, the more accurate the ratings will become as individual preferences become averaged out.
Ratings are given on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 highest. Format is R/N, where R = the adventure's overall rating; N = the number of people who have rated it. Special notes follow some ratings; eventually all adventures will have them, as the list is reworked.
| Note key: | ||
|---|---|---|
| * or none: | not reviewed under new system | |
| a: | adventure is version 4 or older | |
| b: | adventure is version 5 | |
| c: | adventure is version 6.0 | |
| d: | adventure is version 6.2 | |
| e: | (not used) | |
| f: | contains a quest | |
| g: | science-fiction setting | |
| h: | contemporary setting or modern weapons | |
| i: | 40/80 column capability | |
| j: | 80-column only | |
| k: | 2-disk adventure | |
| l: | 3-disk adventure | |
| m: | 4-disk adventure | |
| n: | exists in both 40 & 80 col. versions | |
| Dungeon Designer Diskette | Version 6.2 |
| Eamon Utilities I | Player's Utilities |
| Eamon Utilities II | Designer's Utilities |
| Eamon Utilities III | Monster Battles |
| Eamon Utilities IV | Customizer Tools |
| Eamon Master 3 | Special Weapons Shoppe |
| Eamon Master 2.0 | Expanded Master |
| Eamon Master 5 | Graphics Main Hall |
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