The Trapster's Maze
| The Trapster's Maze | |
|---|---|
| ◄Eamon adventure #283 | |
 | |
| Author | Raymond Feist |
| Created | c. 1981 |
| Released | May 2026 |
| Native format | Apple DOS 3.3 |
| File | Eamon 283 - The Trapster's Maze.dsk |
The Trapster's Maze is an Eamon adventure written by Raymond Feist around 1981 and formally added to the Eamon catalog in 2026.
Background
After his graduation from the University of California, San Diego in 1977 but before the publication of his first novel in late 1982, Feist was working a variety of small writing jobs and entertaining himself by playing in a long-running RPG campaign with friends. The setting of the campaign, led by Stephen Abrams, was something that Feist and the other players helped develop into a rich and complex fantasy world which came to be known as Midkemia.
Looking back in 2026, Feist noted, "At that time I had zero expectations of being a game designer or writer." However, he had a keen interest in both, as well as in computers. (Abrams was the first person Feist knew who owned a home computer: an Apple II.) When he found Eamon, he liked the fact that he could write his own game script for it, so he "took a bash" and around 1981 created two adventures: The Jester's Court and The Trapster's Maze.
Feist shared the adventures with friends and they made their way into the software library of the Apple Corps of San Diego (ACSD), but the disks seemingly weren't distributed much further and the adventures fell into obscurity. A set of ACSD disks that included Feist's two adventures (along with a third by another club member) were auctioned on eBay in 2026 and were purchased by Huw Williams for $20. Williams imaged the disks and made the adventures available through the Eamon Wiki.
Informed of the the recovery of his adventures, Feist wrote, "It's good to know they're still floating around out there somewhere and a few folks may still get a giggle out of them."
Premise
From the introduction:
Hanging around Ye Bitten Dog one day, you and your lowlife buddies were informed by the Mercenaries Guild representatives that volunteers were needed for a dangerous mission. Insofar as you were all too drunk to get out of the room, you got elected.
So, after sobering up, you were given your orders.
Alfonso Vencinti, local magician about town, desires you recover the legendary "Chalice of Ubarzee". Despite your reluctance, you agree (especially since you're all at least two months behind in your dues).
As you are marched to your destination, you begin to sober up and take stock of your companions. With you are:
Harold Freebooter, well known ladies' man, swordsman, and maladroit;
Black Aldar, best swordsman in the kingdom and stout fellow (except for a tendency to run off after every phony treasure map ever found);
Mengle the mad mage (oh well);
And Obar the dwarf (help!), the reckless wonder.
Giving you no choice in the matter, the guild's representatives (the fifty guys who were sober when the call came) escort you to the entrance of the Trapster's maze. The spokesman informs you the "boys" would frown upon any attempt on your part to try to avoid this obligation. The fifty bowmen surrounding you emphasize the point.
You are standing outside the Trapster's maze (it's to the east). All around you stand smiling bowmen, weapons at the ready. Your friends are waiting for you at the entrance.
Walkthrough
Of the 80 rooms in the adventure, only a small handful are of any significance; the rest are just the long, winding, and mostly empty passages that connect them. As such, this walkthrough lists only the directional steps needed to get from one key destination or encounter to the next, rather than describing each individual room along the way.
Real chalice
Beginning at the entrance where you meet the other members of your party, take the following steps:
E N/D W N E E E E N N W W W N N N E S S E E E N E
You should have only two monster encounters along the way (a troll and a hell-hound). Following the steps puts you in an antechamber where you'll battle a salamander. Go east into a large vault and defeat Puff the Magic Dragster, then east once more into the small storage room. You'll see what looks like a bucket of oil, but closer examination will reveal it's actually the magically disguised Chalice of Ubarzee — the object of your quest! Collect it.
False chalice
Next you can recover the false chalice — not necessary for your mission, but worth collecting for its cash value. From the storage room, take the following steps:
W W W S W W W N N W S S S E E E S
This will retrace your path back to a T intersection with an exit leading east. From here, take the following steps:
E N E E S S S S E N N N
You're now in a large vault where you can battle a cleric and grab the golden chalice.
Exit
From the cleric's vault, return to the tunnel near the entrance:
S S S W N N N N W W S W S W W W W S E S/U
At this point you simply need to make it to the exit. There are two ways to go, both of which take you to the final room outside the maze where "the boys" from the Mercenaries Guild are waiting for you:
Long route: E E S E E S S S S E N N N N E S S S S S E N N N E
This takes you through a very long and winding tunnel with two treasures and five monsters along the way.
Quick route: E E S S S S
This takes you to a lever that drops you into an underground river which washes your party all the way to the exit.
So long as you have the true chalice in your possession, you can safely exit east with your mission accomplished.
Trivia
- A small plaque near the magical teleportation buttons reads, "Tricks and Traps, Inc., LaMut." The city of LaMut on the world of Midkemia would later be the setting for Murder in LaMut (2002), the second book in Feist's Legends of the Riftwart series.
- Obar is a character of Feist's that he describes as "Prince of the Dwarves".
- In comments on Facebook in 2026, Feist alludes to several characters he used to play with in TTRPGs, one of which he identifies by name as Harold Freebooter. He describes Harold as his "favorite character" and "the second best swordsman in Krondor".
External links