showing 1 - 50 of 125 gameschevron_right
| name arrow_downward | publisher(developer) | year | description | platform | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alternate Beginners Cave | EAG | ? | The Alternate Beginners Cave adventure was also available in the EDX#1 Beginner's Adventures package. [Zerothis] | MS-DOS | labelminimizesubject |
| Assault on Helstar | EAG | 1991 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #208 - Assault on Helstar - by Phil Schulz Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: 40-col. only Playing Time: 1 hr. Reviewer Rating: 6.0 Description: Throughout recorded history, there have always been Adventurers, and their enemies. For a long time, these brave Adventurers fought the enemy, and they usually won. But recently, there have been rumors of a large enemy city somewhere in the Eamon world. The city is supposed to be the legendary city of Helstar. You don't know if you believe this or not. The last recorded sighting of Helstar was over 1000 years ago near a small African village. But if it has arrived here in Eamon, the chance to destroy it forever is finally here. Legend has it that Helstar can only be destroyed by 'the two jewels'. After a long month of research, you learn that when these jewels are brought close together and a special phrase is said, there will be some sort of magical explosion and the entire city of Helstar will vaporize forever. Both of the jewels have been guarded by powerful people for millennia. One of them is in a cave somewhere, inside an indestructible magic field. The other was in a Wizard's chest but about a year ago it was stolen. If you do not get it back, Helstar will be destroyed anyway...except that you'll still be in the city when it happens. And then you'll vaporize too. Comment: Overall, I liked this adventure pretty well. There are several little specials that are interesting to play with; I especially liked the magic boots. Although it is described in fantasy-adventure terms in the intro, most of the adventure is quite contemporary in its map, rooms, and artifacts. There's even a wrecked car alongside a highway at one point. But it is a fantastical adventure in terms of magic and monsters. Though the overall adventure is of average difficulty, there are a couple of puzzles that aren't all that easy to work out. Therefore, I give it a (7) for difficulty. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Assault on the Clonemaster | EAG | 2000 | The [i]Assault on the Clonemaster[/i] adventure was also available in the EDX#2 [i]The Donald Brown Adventures[/i] package. [Zerothis] | MS-DOS | labelminimizesubject |
| B I Z A R R O | EAG | 1994 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #227 - B I Z A R R O - by Allan Porter Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 6.0 Extra Commands: HINT, RUN Deleted Commands: EXAMINE, BLAST, HEAL, POWER, SPEED, WAVE, SAY, LIGHT, OPEN, PUT, DRINK, FREE Special Features: None Playing Time: 30 min. Reviewer Rating: 2.0 Description: 'A neighborhood has been terrorized! 'The police chief of De Bunk, Iowa, has called you to stop 5 renegade hackers who have barricaded themselves inside a local software publishing house. These persons have lost their minds after feeding piles of confusing commands to innocent machines.' Comment: As noted above, the EAMON.NAME file shows this to be version 6. But it much more closely resembles a late-version 5 Eamon, as shown by the extensive list of missing commands. As near as I can make out, the five renegades are the staff of the National Eamon Users Club, and I suspect that the house is John Nelson's. This is a very simple adventure with 26 rooms, no puzzles, 7 bad guys, no secret doors, and no Quest. It's not badly done, but there's little of interest to do or see, hence the low rating. I put the difficulty at (6) for some pretty tough bad guys. Apart from the strong opponents, this is a low-difficulty no-brainer. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Beginner's Cave II | EAG | ? | The [i]Beginners Cave[/i] adventure was also available in the EDX#1 [i]Beginner's Adventures[/i] package. | MS-DOS | labelminimizesubject |
| Beginner's Cave II | EAG | 1989 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #186 - Beginner's Cave II - by John Nelson Reviewed by Starshine MAIN PGM Version: 6.2 Extra Commands: none Deleted Commands: none Special Features: none Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 1.0 Average Rating: 2.0/2 Description: This Beginner's Cave was set up by the Warlord as a service to all free adventurers giving them a chance to try their skills in a not-too- dangerous setting. However, it is really a get rich quick scheme. Comment: With John Nelson as author, I was expecting an improvement over the original Beginner's Cave but was disappointed. The warning sign read, "For Beginners Only," but I was able to enter with an armor expertise of 10%. The monsters in the cave consisted of the usual rat, troll, and snake, but the wild boar and bull were out of place in a cave. Treasure was misspelled. The Power spell caused an OUT OF DATA error. The action was dull with no exciting Trollsfire type weapons or hidden surprises. The treasures were give-aways with little hazard for the taking. The original Beginner's Cave remains the better of the two for me. (Editor's comment: the OUT OF DATA error is a bug resulting from an incomplete conversion from Eamon II to version 6.2. See 'Bugs 'n Fixes', this issue. Likewise, non-beginners can enter even though it says "Beginners only" because I did not add any code to the basic 6.2 MAIN PGM to check for it. In other words, These two items are my fault and not John's. Tom Z) | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Beginner's Forest | EAG | ? | The [i]Beginner's Forest[/i] was also available in the EDX#1 [i]Beginner's Adventures[/i] package. | MS-DOS | labelminimizesubject |
| Bookworm 3-D | EAG | 1994 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #226 - Bookworm 3-D - by Robert Parker Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: TROLLSFIRE, PASSWORD, SUICIDE Deleted Commands: None Special Features: Not finished (see below) Playing Time: 30 min. Reviewer Rating: 7.5 Description: 'Hokas sits in jail. An orc lies in a hospital bed. Luke loves Laura, but doesn't want to tell Beth, his wife, who secretly loves Daniel, Laura's son. ...wait... Scratch that last sentence. Where was I? Oh, yes. The Bookworm has once again disappeared!' Comment: Robert Parker no longer has an Apple II. Though he had been working on this Eamon for years, it was not finished before he lost his Apple. It can be cleanly divided into two parts: the first half was a collaboration with Nate Segerlind; it is a send-up of the "Beginners Cave" and is hilarious! The second half is set on a space station; it is much poorer in quality and is not finished in this release. The first half is so good that we simply couldn't let it go unreleased. Some special text and code has been added to permit the player to quit any time he wishes once the "Beginners Cave" segment is completed. NOTE that the above rating is for the "Beginners Cave" segment only! Players are welcome to explore the space station if they wish, but they will find it an unsatisfactory experience. I was so unimpressed with the space station segment that I didn't feel that it was worth any attempt at debugging and cleanup. I seriously considered deleting it completely from the database for this release. 'Nuff said. I give a difficulty rating of (3). This adventure is strictly for laughs, with absurd puzzles and super-lightweight foes. You'll see 38 rooms of great stuff. One caveat: this is not exactly a "G"-rated adventure. It touches on some, uh, mature themes and uses some language that give it something like a "PG-13" rating. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Castle of Doom | EAG | 2000 | The [i]Castle of Doom[/i] adventure was also available in the EDX#2 [i]The Donald Brown Adventures[/i] package. [Zerothis] | MS-DOS | labelminimizesubject |
| Catacombs of Terror | EAG | 1992 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #220 - Catacombs of Terror - by Phil Schulz Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: HIRE, DISMISS, THROW, JUMP Deleted Commands: POWER Special Features: Mercenary companions Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Description: "The time has come for you to go on yet another adventure in the land of Eamon. After all, you get rather bored sitting around in the Main Hall all day doing nothing but sipping ale and looking at the other poor adventurers who have barely made it back alive. "There is a cave not far from here which is rumored to be the entrance to some ancient catacombs. Your mission: just find all sorts of valuable treasure. But once you get there, you find that it is not so easy to leave...." Comment: Phil has come up with some pretty original ideas in this adventure. The potential companions are mercenaries for hire and some are jealous of one another. There's a gaming room of sorts where you can bet as much as your lives on the outcome, if you desire. Though there is no clear quest, once you have begun the adventure there is no turning back until you have solved five tests of your mettle. These tests are rather difficult puzzles to solve and require special paraphernalia in most cases. However, Phil has made it easy to temporarily escape from each test in order to scour the catacombs for the stuff you need. While the tests are tough, they are somewhat alleviated by numerous hints that are scattered all over the place. The companions will offer sage advice--listen to them! This adventure had plenty of sophisticated and interesting stuff. It would have received a higher rating but for a few inconsistencies of play that didn't sit just right with me, and the high difficulty of a couple of tests. I give it a (9) for difficulty, for the puzzles and some tough monsters. Here's a hint that should lower this number a bit for you: the diamonds are important. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Count Dracula's Castle | EAG | 1993 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #221 - Count Dracula's Castle - by Robert Parker Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30 min. Reviewer Rating: 2.0 Description: "One fine day, after having one too many root beer floats, you layed down to take a nap. It was an awful nap, and you had a bad dream. You dreamt of vampires! But the really scary part was when you dreamt that you woke up, and you were there..." Comment: This is a very simple adventure, with no puzzles or secret stuff. The bad guys are easy enough, though there are a lot of them. I give it a (4) for difficulty. The map is simply laid out. Just about the only monsters that you see are bats and vampires, which gets a bit old. The descriptions were quite simple, with numerous spelling errors. The adventure does have a "quest" to fulfill, though it's not spelled out: kill the Count. I suspect that this adventure may be a pretty good pick for young boys, with tons of combat and absolutely zero mental heavy lifting. It's actually not that bad of an adventure; it's just way too simple for my tastes. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Curse of the Hellsblade | EAG | 1991 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #206 - Curse of the Hellsblade by John Nelson and Tom Zuchowski Reviewed by Phil Schulz MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 1-2 hours Reviewer Rating: 7.5 Description: "It happened one day that you chanced upon a wondrous sword of black metal. This sword had a marvelous edge that did not dull, and it sang eerie melodies as you tested its edge against nearby saplings. But you cannot put it down! The most you can do is pass it to your left hand to free your right for other weapons. "Later you met with some friends. One of them recognized it as a weapon of Hell, and told you of a cave that is reputed to hold the key to lift its curse. You listened closely as he told you how to find it. "Still it is a marvelous sword, and you could do worse than to be saddled with such an obviously magical blade. The sword began its strange song as you prepared to demonstrate it for your friends. You felt a tremendous surge of strength as you severed a 6-inch limb with one blow! "And then, even before you knew what was happening, you swung about, and you watched in horror as the sword slew all of your friends! Its song grew deeper and stronger as it tasted the blood of each. You realized then that this blade is more than just cursed, but must be possessed by a demon. "It's plain that the sword is stronger than you, and if it drinks much more blood it will control you completely. Apart from that, it simply won't do to go about slaying everyone that you meet. Without a doubt, you must find that cave and rid yourself of the curse of this Hellsblade." Comment: I should start out by mentioning how this Eamon came to be. It was originally designed by John Nelson for his "KnightQuest" system, which was supposed to be a sort of "Super-Eamon", but because of memory limitations of the Apple II was never finished. The only reason this was important is that the version 7 Eamon does not support a couple of things that were in this adventure to begin with, which made conversion to Eamon a bit more difficult, so I kept this in mind when reviewing it. Anyway, I liked this one a lot. It has a clean, coherent map that wasn't too simple yet not so insanely dense that it was easy enough to map. There are a couple of unmarked secret passages that can only be found by going in that direction. When this was originally written, version 7 did not exist yet, and older adventures supported finding secret passages by LOOKing in the room. This is not a big deal, but this sort of unmarked passage really irritates me when I try to EXAMINE everything in the room, and when I don't find anything, I ignore it, only to be forced to come back later and finally figure out that there is a passage there. (Author's Response: I must say in my defense that every room with a hidden passage had a clue in the room description, and the room name had the unusual "feature" of not listing the exits in the usual way. Even so, EXAMINE should have revealed the passages, for consistency. TomZ) There is not a huge amount of combat here. There are a couple of tough monsters, but I didn't have much trouble getting by with a slightly "above average" character. I actually prefer this to having lots and lots of easy monsters that can be killed with one shot-- it makes play a lot less tedious. I'm not a huge "hack'n'slash" fan, but I do like a decent amount of combat. Not a lot of puzzling, either, but there were a couple I had to think about for a minute before I got by them. I put the difficulty at about (6). It is a fun play that does not wind up requiring lots of play-through before you finally complete it. I won on my third try. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Death Trap | EAG | 2000 | MS-DOS | labelminimizeminimize | |
| Deathstalker's Castle | EAG | 1992 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #214 - Deathstalker's Castle - by Phil Schulz Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: BLOCK Deleted Commands: None Special Features: 40-col. text only Playing Time: 1 hr. Reviewer Rating: 6.5 Description: The Deathstalker is again threatening the world. If something isn't done soon, doom will overtake all. His power has grown, and now he claims to be immortal. The only weapon that might be able to kill him is the Sword of the Gods, which is rumored to be hidden somewhere in his castle. Your mission is to enter the castle and kill the Deathstalker. His castle is huge, and his lair is protected by two enormous mazes. The task is formidable; can you do it? Comment: The above is not the actual intro but is a summary. The actual intro has a rambling style that eases you into the scenario from other activities that you are doing at the Main Hall. This adventure is certainly Phil's most ambitious undertaking to date, with 143 rooms and several interesting but not too difficult puzzles to solve. The two mazes are quite straightforward without insanely twisting room connections, but they are both very large. These mazes would definitely not be for amateurs, but Phil has thoughtfully provided maze maps for those who are clever enough to find them. This adventure has one new twist that is new to Eamon. Every hit that is deflected by your armor "weakens" it until it breaks apart. There is plenty of armor available in the dungeon to replace yours if you should need it. I was somewhat worn down by the sheer enormity of the place. It would have played a little better if there had either been fewer hallways or else more content in the hallway descriptions. Still, this is a pretty good dungeon with interesting special effects and a decent quest. The mazes are killers, but the maps bring the difficulty down to about (7). | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Demongate | EAG | 1991 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #213 - Demongate - by Hoyle Purvis Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 7.0 Description: While you were returning from a distant adventure, you decided to stop and visit your old friend Lorin. He is a cleric at the Abbey of Light. Days earlier, a wizard had left a golden ankh for safekeeping. The ankh is the key to a gateway from our world to a demonic realm. Recently the Darklord had used the gate to summon a powerful demon which wreaked havoc before he was finally defeated by the wizard and a small band of adventurers. Since the ankh had been housed with the Brothers, the Darklord has concentrated a large force of his minions against the Abbey. In the last three days, there have been several attacks which left many Brothers dead or wounded. You find the Abbey wrecked and most if not all of the Brothers dead. A strange, supernatural black wall of darkness now stretches out of sight and blocks travel to the north. Is it the doing of the Darklord? There is no one else. It is up to you to find the ankh and put things to right. Comment: This is Hoyle's best adventure to date. A good map, lots of nice special effects, and a clear quest add up to enjoyable adventuring. The puzzles are minor, mainly consisting of finding and opening hidden doors. A couple of additions were made to the USE command. The combat is plentiful but unusually well-balanced; though I am decidedly "not• a Hack'n' slasher, I enjoyed fighting my way through the many undead that were everywhere. This is by no means a deep or complex adventure. No mental heavy lifting is required to win through to the end. But its nice execution makes it a fun, relaxing hour of adventuring. I give it a difficulty rating of (4), making it an excellent Eamon adventure for young Eamonauts. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Dirtie Trix's Mad Maze | EAG | 1989 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #176 - Dirtie Trix's Mad Maze by Robert Parker Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 15-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 3.0 Description: "Greetings, you fools. I am the Games-Master, Dirtie Trix. So you thought my other games were easy? Well, it's safe to say you've never gone to my fun house ... "... up till now you've had it easy ..." Comment: This is a straight mapping exercise with no combat. It's not even much of a maze, by Eamon standards, with no diabolical twists that I saw, although the room names tend to be very, very similar. The drill here is to wander around until you find the exit. If there is anything else, I missed it, although I must admit that I only saw about half of the 96 rooms before stumbling onto the exit. Difficulty of (2) for the large map. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Dracula's Chateau | EAG | 2003 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #245 - Dracula's Chateau by Paul Braun Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 4 Extra Commands: READ, DIG, SHOOT, HOLD, OPEN, UNLOCK Deleted Commands: None, no SAVE Special Features: None Playing Time: 2 hours Reviewer Rating: 6.0 Description: after a rather silly introduction, you find yourself in the basement of Dracula's chateau, and you will be facing many classic movie monsters. Along the way you'll find several artifacts that will help you de-fend yourself. Comment: this is a very old Eamon that dates from the early days, but it has many excellent additions and specials. It is very large with 99 rooms, but the mapping is very straightforward except for two locked door puzzles. Because of the large size of the map and low con-tent in spots, it would be an ordinary and even some-what tedious "kill’n’loot" scenario except that there are enough specials and cool effects to keep you interested and having fun. If you can keep your map straight, the difficulty is no more than (5). Some of the puzzles and events here are obscure enough that it surely rates a few hints: Nearly all of the monsters have random friendliness, and you can’t tell friend or foe from the descriptions. Any time you encounter someone new, try going in the direction you just came from before you do anything else. If the stranger is an enemy, you will be prevented from leaving the room because there is unfriendliness about. Eventually you may run into a bad guy named Belg. You'll quickly find that he is far stronger than you in battle. Do not cheat your way to a win. He is supposed to defeat you. You won't really die, and a special effect will be triggered. The POWER spell has several additions that mainly have to do with enhancing your personal abilities, but it is not required at any point in the adventure. There is a bug somewhere in the program that "resurrects" Belg if the spell's resurrection routine is triggered. This is pretty much a disaster for you if it occurs in any room but the room you meet Belg in. Therefore, it might be best to leave the POWER spell alone. Dracula's flaming sword, Goldenwrath, is a very heavy weapon when it is not flaming, but it is weightless when it is aflame. You can relight Goldenwrath by saying FLAME ON. I'll save you a lot of time and trouble by telling you that there is only one place worth digging, and that is on the beach by the rocks. There is no shovel. When asked if you want to dig with your hands, answer YES. I didn't have too much trouble killing Dracula with Fresh Sam's Crystal Sword, but if you are finding him too much to deal with, there is an artifact that will make him flee from the room if you hold it up to him. The glass wall is passable with the right magical help. There is only one movie monster that can be killed by a silver bullet, and you only have one bullet, so don't waste it. That pretty well sums it up. Have fun! [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Dungeon of Traps | EAG | 1997 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #242 - The Dungeon of Traps by Boris Guenter (aka "MARVIN") Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 4 Extra Commands: OPEN, READ, DRINK, DESTROY, ASK, UNLOCK, KILL Deleted Commands: None, no SAVE Special Features: Hi-Res intro screen Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 7.0 Description: "Only a fearless Adventurer may survive my dungeon of traps!" says the mighty Lord Barrington to you. "The most warriors which have entered this Domain of Death have never been seen again, but if you really want to die, go in and try to bring me the Diamond of the Necromancer as an evidence of your stay in the dungeon. "With this mission you ride to the mountains of the Lord. After a short search you find a small wooden chute that seems to be the only visible entrance in the vicinity." Comment: The above is the intro in its entirety. I must point out that the text reads awkwardly in spots because Marvin is German, and English is not his native language. I thought he did an incredible job, working in a foreign language! This is an unusual Hack'n'Slash offering. It only has 24 rooms and 16 monsters, but it has at least 8 traps! Normally I hate traps, and there is no SAVE to boot, but for some reason I had a good time with these. Most of the traps offer a random chance of survival, and even when I died it was usually something original and entertaining. I had to restart six times, but when all is said and done it doesn't take long to race back through a dozen or so rooms to regain your previous spot. Although it was extensively modified and extended, this is based on a primitive version of Eamon, and the commands must be fully typed in. Marvin did what he could to make command typing easier without a full-scale rewrite of the parser. A couple of hints: ASK can get you out of at least one sure-death trap, and you might find it worthwhile to skip using the Main Hall and put FRESH SAM right on this disk for quick restarts. When done, you'll want to run the RESET LAST ADVENTURE program to clean up after yourself. I don't know if you will enjoy this simple, trap-laden Eamon as much as I did, but I do think you will find it an uncommonly enjoyable example of its genre. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelimageminimize |
| Eamon 7.0 Demo Adventure | EAG | 1988 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #162 - Eamon 7.0 Demo Adventure by Tom Zuchowski Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 10-15 min. Reviewer Rating: N/A Description: "You have been sent by the Irishman to investigate a modern Eamon that he has heard about. You are told that there will be many subtle changes, and you promise to try many things, and to be on the watch for new stuff. Among other things, you suspect that the old spells may be completely new, that the battles surely have been extensively reworked, and that the 'LOOK' command no longer will find hidden doors. You can INVENTORY your friends now, and HEAL them too. You set out, eager to see what can be seen! "This adventure is designed to show this version's features. There are 18 rooms, 141 artifacts, 2 effects, & 763 monsters. Most of the artifacts and monsters are 'dummies' that do not exist within the adventure, but were added in order to demonstrate the speed of the search routines. The vast majority of the monsters are in the form of 'group-monsters', including a 750-man army. Among the things that you will want to check out are examining, inventorying, and healing monsters. Your spell ability decreases with use, but will regenerate over time. A monster now knows which weapon is 'his' when he drops it. Some artifacts have new fields, and the monster fields have been redone. There is a new artifact type: 'wearable'. This includes clothing, shields, and armor. Note that the special fields for this type are in place for the sake of standardization, but are not presently implemented." Comment: When I wrote my first Eamon, I had a simply awful time figuring out how stuff worked. The method I used to learn it all was to analyze John Nelson's "Temple of the Trolls" and thus learn from example. When I wrote the v7.0 MAIN PGM, I wanted to save people the trouble that I had, so I wrote this demo, which as far as I know demonstrates everything you can do with a standard v7.0 Eamon MAIN PGM and database. Most of the artifact and monster descriptions give programming and database info, for easy reference. Note that this Demo uses the very earliest v7.0 MAIN PGM. You should not use this program with new data files, but should always use the latest MAIN PGM available on the v7.1 DDD. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Eamon Renegade Club | EAG | 1991 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #207 - Eamon Renegade Club by Phil Shulz Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: GROWL, PLAY Deleted Commands: None Special Features: No DOS on disk Playing Time: 1-2 hours Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Description: "For many years, the world of Eamon had no trouble with renegades. But recently there have been quite a few people who decided to go out on their own. After a month or so, these rebels founded what is now known as the Eamon Renegade Club. Many of the rebels stayed with the ERC, and now it poses a major problem for all of us who don't need it around. So you have been commissioned to get rid of the ERC. There is a big chance for you to better your character's fighting skills, so be sure to take advantage of it." Comment: Lots of combat, indeed. This is a pure Hack'n'Slash outing with heavy combat against multiple foes, and the companions you pick up aren't good for much more than absorbing some of the punishment for you. I was forced to cheat heavily to survive while using an "average" character, so you will want to bring your best weapons to even things up some. The difficulty of (8) stems entirely from the combat. The map, though large, is very simple in layout, and I saw no puzzles. This game's largest flaw is in its text, which tends towards bad line breaks and uses very awkward-sounding phrasing. Nearly every monster's description reads as if the first sentence is missing, and most of the names start with THE. You'll want to be careful about using ATTACK THE in combat, or you might accidentally do in some of your companions, as I did. The artifact descriptions are seldom complete sentences, but merely embellish the name a bit. The map felt rather contrived, and Phil was obviously straining to make a large map for his first Eamon. The last 15 or 20 rooms are bizarre and meaningless and not within the context of the theme of the play. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Eamon S.A.R.-1 | EAG | 1988 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #151 - Eamon S.A.R.-1 (Deneb Raid) - by David Crawford Reviewed by Pat Hurst MAIN PGM version: 6.0 Extra Commands: RESUSCITATE (not working) Deleted Commands: none Special Features: hi-res intro screen Playing Time: 30 minutes Reviewer's Rating: 3 Description: Trouble is brewing on Deneb III. You receive a message from the crown prince, a personal friend, which asks you to rescue his daughter who is being held by the Deneb Liberation Army, a terrorist group dedicated to overthrowing the ruling families of the Deneb system. The terrorists are hiding in an office-warehouse complex in the seedy section of town. The building is surrounded by royal marines who want to avenge the deaths of their comrades at the hands of the terrorists. Your strike team must first enter the complex and rescue the prince's daughter. There is a side door which is not equipped with an alarm, booby-trap, or guard. It is time to strike. Comments: This adventure is a simple walk through - visit all of the rooms until you rescue the princess. There are no puzzles to solve, no hidden objects to find, no embedded artifacts, nothing to be found by opening containers, and no significant modifications to the POWER command. The monsters are neither tough nor numerous. There are many typos and mistakes; apparently no serious effort was made to edit this adventure (the RESUSCITATE command wasn't even available, not being in the command list). Line counting is not properly implemented. The OPEN command didn't do anything. There was nothing to drink. There was no reason to put anything into something. There was one funny bit with the HEAL command. The premise and setting were interesting, but the implementation didn't live up to the early promise. This adventure is suitable only for younger and/or inexperienced players. (See this issue's Bug Fixes to learn how to install the RESUSCITATE command - Tom) | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Edgar's Adventures | Softdisk;EAG | 2001 | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize | |
| EDX Demo Adventure | EAG | ? | Demo having its own entry in UVL? What?***The [i]EDX Demo Adventure[/i] was also available in the EDX#1 [i]Beginner's Adventures[/i] package. This is an Eamon Deluxe original that was not ported from an Apple II adventure. It is only available for Eamon Deluxe. | MS-DOS | labelminimizesubject |
| Encounter: The Bookworm | EAG | 1990 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #188 - Encounter: The Bookworm by Robert Parker Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: HINT, XTINGUISH, SUICIDE, EAT Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 6.5 Average Rating: 6.5/4 Description: Hokas takes you to the Eamon Public Library. "Inside the library, you see books thrown about, as if vandals had broken in and ransacked the place. Picking up one of the books, you see a three-inch hole through the center of it. Opening it up, you discover that all of the pages are now completely blank. "'This is the fifth library to have this happen to it.' Hokas says. 'We have to stop this madman before all of the books are destroyed. Luckily, these books are easy to replace. However, if this had been a library of rare manuscripts...' "'Who did this?' you say. "'The Bookworm.' Hokas hisses through clenched teeth. 'I shall never be able to thank you enough if you defeat him. I have found out a bit about him for you. He plays an odd sort of savoir-faire. His hideout, I am told, has many "clues" or "hints" built into it. I do not know any more, so pay close attention to anything and everything.'" Comment: This is a very decent Eamon, arguably Rob's best work. It doesn't rate higher because it is a bit low on content, but the writing and mapping are excellent, and it has several novel room ideas. I came very close to revising my old rating upwards after replaying it for this review. One thing that knocks it down a bit is that it has a few minor glitches in presentation. One is a very long special with no screen pauses that occurs at one of the "entrances". The other is that it displays resumed saved games in 80-column mode regardless of the screen setting when it was saved. (If you want or need to use 40-column mode when resuming a saved game, delete line 29065 before beginning the game). Difficulty will run 3-7 depending on how much you use the HINTS command, which pretty much gives away all of the puzzles if you use it regularly. SUICIDE is a perfectly useless command that kills you and ends the game. I don't know why Rob thought that was better than simply using Control-C or reset. XTINGUISH is merely a way to snuff your torch without having to drop it (which is the standard Eamon method to put out torches). Here's a warning of sorts: the can will mess with your character's stats in an amusing way. If you feel strongly about that, don't fool with the can. But if you are using FRESH SAM or don't mind having to "repair" your character, you may get a chuckle out of it. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Enhanced Beginners Cave | EAG | ? | The [i]Enhanced Beginners Cave[/i] adventure was also available in the EDX#1 [i]Beginner's Adventures[/i] package. | MS-DOS | labelminimizesubject |
| Enhanced Beginners Cave | EAG | 1990 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #191 - Enhanced Beginners Cave - by Don Brown; enhanced by John Nelson Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 6.0 Extra Commands: none Deleted Commands: none Special Features: for beginner-level characters only Playing Time: 30 minutes Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Description: This is an expanded version of the original 'Beginners Cave' adventure on the master disk. This it the adventure that is offered on the Expanded Master by John Nelson & John Heng. Besides the contents of the original Beginners Cave, it has 11 more rooms, 11 more artifacts, and 10 more monsters. It uses the version 6.0 MAIN PGM which accepts some abbreviations and has a larger command set than the version 4 original. Comment: I thought long and hard before assigning this adventure its own number, but one-third of the database is new and it has a completely new MAIN PGM, and in the end it seemed that it would be easier to track bugs and revisions if it was listed separately. If you have seen the original, you haven't missed much if you haven't seen this one. It is after all an adventure for beginners and is very simple. The rating reflects this; if it was judged as a normal adventure it would not rate quite as well. I give it a (3) for difficulty. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Escape from Granite Hall | EAG | 1989 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #174 - Escape from Granite Hall by Robert Parker Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: DRINK, READ Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 5-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 4.0 Average Rating: 3.5/2 Description: "A man approaches you and says, 'I need a brave volunteer to escape from my place of dwelling; a sort of test of my security.' " 'And where do you dwell?' you ask. " 'I dwell at Granite Hall!' "You reach for your weapon but never get it out in time to strike. You never saw the blast spell that knocked you unconscious. All you think is, 'This is the feared mage Ajakstu, arch-mage to the demons of Hades...' If half of what you have heard of Ajakstu is true, you are in deep trouble..." Comment: Well maybe not all that much trouble. This is a mild Hack'n'Slash romp with a difficulty of (3). There are several keys and lamps and stuff, but I never saw any use for any of it. The exit was cleverly done and I predict that you will find it only by chance, but that you will not have difficulty stumbling onto it. But the overall content is low, diminishing the rating. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Expedition to the Darkwoods | EAG | 1989 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #167 - Expedition to the Darkwoods by Greg Gioia Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 6.2 Extra Commands: DIG, CAMP, WEAR, REMOVE, ASK Deleted Commands: None Special Features: 10-directions, camping, buried items, magical artifacts Playing Time: 3-8 hours Reviewer Rating: 7.0 Average Rating: 5.0/2 Description: "Several of the town's children, seven to be exact, were abducted by marauders from the Darkwoods last night. Those attacks were only the most recent in a series of many and different evil-doings that have been going on for about two months. All of our best Adventurers have been slaughtered within moments after they disappeared into the Darkwoods." And thus you join a company that includes a wizard, fighter, and thief. Your mission is to find the children and put a stop to the evil. Comment: This Eamon was written as an entry for the NEUC's "Life Orb" contest of many years ago. I don't think it was submitted in time, even though there are some comments towards the end that indicate that the author was cutting his vision short because he was up against a deadline. It is a real mixed bag, with lots of very well conceived specials that are for the most part poorly executed. The poor execution was an unfortunate result of Greg not getting the feedback that the EAG has given to new authors. Simple things like having to type exactly what the program is looking for go far in piling much frustration on an otherwise fine offering. There is a goodly amount of combat, and you will do well to bring your better weapons. But there is also quite a lot of puzzling, and the puzzles are the more difficult for being narrow in their interpretation of your actions while dropping few hints along the way. For this, it garners a difficulty rating of (9). When I originally played it many years ago, I was put off by the poor spelling, death traps (I HATE death traps!), and the tedium of trying LOOK, DIG, and SAY in virtually every room of a large dungeon. There are also a lot of companions and events, and this coupled with version 6.2's truly awful screen pausing, resulted in a personal rating of (4). Pat Hurst, who has a real thing about sloppy spelling and programming, rated it even lower. But this time around, I found myself getting into the Quest, and I made a real effort to work it through rather than dismissing it as a poor work. I think it was worth it, and I am upgrading my rating to (7). If ever there was an Eamon that rated a hint or two, this is one, so here they are: first, the dragon has something you need. You can't beat him, but you can reason with him; SAY TELL and SAY HELP are useful there. And here's a more cryptic hint: when looking for a conductor, think of Ben Franklin's famous experiment. Finally, to save you some aggravation, the ravine is a "Gotcha!" death trap. Hopefully these hints will lower your difficulty to something more like a (7). Having taken the time to really wring this Eamon out, I found several minor bugs that were missed before. The only one that perhaps rates a fix before play would be to add a PRINT statement after the GET in line 204, but even this one merely clips one effect record out of a special event, and I had no trouble getting the gist without it. In spite of the combat, this is definitely a puzzler's Eamon. Those who enjoy taking the time needed to sift through everything they can find in order to assemble the nuggets of puzzling will enjoy it the most. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Eye of Agamon | EAG | 1992 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #217 - Eye of Agamon by Hoyle Purvis Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: TALK, BUY, SELL, EAT Deleted Commands: SAY, PUT Special Features: None Playing Time: 1-2 hours Reviewer Rating: 7.0 Description: "You have been contacted by the king of Dorier to aid in the fight against the forces of the Darklord. Your journey to the capital city if perilous. The Undead have overrun much of the country and have laid siege to Dorier itself. Fighting your say through to the city, you are greatly praised for your skill and bravery. "The king needs you to complete a most vital mission. You are to travel to the city of Duron, enlist their help, and return with the Eye of Agamon. The Eye is an ancient magical charm that can be used once each one hundred years to defeat the Undead. "You are given the 'Seal of Dorier', a magnificent golden ring, to prove that you are the king's messenger. Do not lose it! You will be slain if you cannot prove who you are. "Hurry! We cannot hold out for long." Comment: Hoyle has crafted his most complex Eamon in this nice offering, using several ideas and features in ways that have been rarely used in the past. The TALK command was done well. There is a well-done seafaring segment. Plot development occurs, sometimes dramatically, as you progress on your Quest. You can even hire assistance at one point. A bit of advice: things aren't really as grim as they may seem. Don't make needless enemies, and be sure to use TALK and INVENTORY to find out who are and are not your real friends. I give it a solid (7) for difficulty. A couple of points require careful reading to determine how to proceed. This is a sophisticated play and well worth a look. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Farmer Brown's Woods | EAG | 1989 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #182 - Farmer Brown's Woods by Robert Parker Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 10-20 min. Reviewer Rating: 1.0 Description: "Oooo-boy!!! You shouldn't had drinkin so muchh. Yer hed sure duz hurt. But thatz not the problim. The problim iz, your in farmer Brown's woods. And wee all no how much he hates trespassserss..." Comment: Yep, that's the intro. You got drunk and woke up on private property. Now you mission is to wander around and kill everything you meet until you find a key to unlock the gate. Well, you don't kill everything. You randomly make friends and enemies of sundry deer and squirrels, and it's pretty stupid to be in a battle where you have one enemy deer and two friendly deer and you have to kill them all to get the bad one because they all have the same name. However, you do get to kill about a dozen hands and a big truckload of dogs, not to mention the good Mr. Brown himself. Wander around a huge compound where every room has a nearly identical description until you stumble on a key. Yawn. Difficulty of (1). | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Fiends of Eamon | EAG | 1996 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #237 - Fiends of Eamon by Frank Kunze Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7.1 (highly modified) Extra Commands: FILL, ASK, RESUME Deleted Commands: UP, DOWN Special Features: Optional 40/80 column display; optional upper/lower case text; PRODOS ONLY Playing Time: 1-2 hours Reviewer Rating: 8.0 Description: "The end of Eamon is near, and it's all your fault! Years ago, you barged into the Clone Master's lab, slew him and his guards, and destroyed his equipment, ending his reign. Or so you thought... "It seems that the Clone Master created a clone of himself and sent it out to meet you while he went into hiding. Now he is back, and he seeks revenge. Soon his Clonatorium will be perfected, and he will unleash his wrath upon us all!" Comment: This Eamon uses Frank's very heavily-modified Eamon 7.1 system. Frank calls it his version 8 Eamon with considerable justification; no one but Sam Ruby so completely guts the MAIN PGM and rewrites it to his own specification. It's extremely well-crafted. While there is little that you can point to that says, "this is special", it is all special in little ways that add much to the gaming experience. Frank had fun using bad guys from other Eamons, and you'll enjoy seeing the familiar faces. He also adds individual touches to many of them that keeps your interest up. It's very funny! This is primarily a Hack'n'Slasher's Eamon, with tons of combat, but there are so many variations and clever touches during combat that even a combat-hater like myself had a good time. There are a few secret passages to be discovered, and you must figure out how to enable the teleport machines, but these puzzles aren't bad. I give it an overall (6) for difficulty. At the time of this writing this Eamon is PRODOS ONLY. I looked into the possibility of doing a DOS 3.3 conversion, but Frank's mods are so complex that it would be very difficult to do. However, this ProDOS version works perfectly on my II+ in both 40-col. and 80-col. modes. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | minimizeminimizeminimize |
| Firestorm | EAG | 1994 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #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! [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Gamma 1 | EAG | 1989 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #180 - Gamma 1 by Robert Parker Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: RADIATION COUNTER, READ Deleted Commands: None Special Features: Sound effect when enemy dies Playing Time: 30-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 3.0 Average Rating: 3.5/2 Description: Dr. Hoosenfire hires you to test his time machine. It will send you into a parallel dimension. You will be paid 1000 GP if you survive. Comment: Apparently where you are sent is Earth after a nuclear war. You find lots of mutant zombies and a few refugees and friendly guards. The entire adventure takes place in some kind of underground bunker, so you have your standard indoors dungeon-type map to check out. I found a couple of keys laying in corridors, and if they did anything they did it transparently. Straight Hack'n'Slash fare, with no secret passages and no puzzles. Difficulty of (3). | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Gartin Manor | NEUC;EAG | 1987 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #144 - Gartin Manor by Greg Gioia Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 6.2 Extra Commands: DIG Deleted Commands: None Special Features: 10-directions Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Description: "A friend of yours, Larrabbold, has just purchased a large, expensive manor-sight unseen. He went there only to discover it was haunted. He is not an experienced fighter (he is not a fighter at all, in fact). So he is offering you 10000 gold pieces to "de-haunt" it for him. "Before you go he warns you that the previous owner installed many devious traps and secret doors are abundant." Comment: This Eamon is a real mixed bag. It is a pretty fair "haunted house" scenario that is marred by bad room connections and massive spelling errors. The 10-direction aspect mostly offers redundant room connections and only serves to confuse the map; indeed, it apparently confused Greg as well, as almost all of the bad room connections are diagonals. The DIG command as implemented doesn't work, but all it would do if it did work was allow you to dig up an unremarkable corpse. Last but certainly not least, there is no exit from this Eamon. You begin in the entrance foyer of the house, which curiously has no front door! Having said all that, it is pretty well conceived and written. It could easily have garnered a (6) or even a (7) rating, had it been properly debugged and cleaned up in the first place. Difficulty of about (4). Strictly combat, with no puzzling other than finding secret passages with LOOK. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Haunted Keep | EAG | 1991 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #212 - Haunted Keep by Hoyle Purvis Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Description: "In years past, the Haunted Keep belonged to the Ratus family. It has been abandoned for many years. As the legend goes, the Ratus family mysteriously disappeared. The keep is now rumored to be haunted. Passing townspeople often hear sounds and see strange lights coming from the keep. Most of the keep is in ruins. Only two towers remain. They are connected by a falling gatehouse. The upper levels of even these towers is in decay. "Recently a tribe of goblins, which live in the ruins of Haunted Keep, have been raiding the countryside. One of their last raids was on an Elfin village, and eight prisoners were taken. (Some were friends of yours,) your help is needed to help rescue them. "Unwilling to let your friends down, you pick up your weapons and depart for the keep." Comment: This is a well-written "Hack'n'Slash" foray. It does not get a higher rating from me because I am not a big fan of this type of Eamon, but I am sure that lovers of "Hack'n'Slash" will enjoy it a lot more than I did. Not much more to say. Kill all the bad guys and rescue your eight friends. There's one key and a couple of hidden passages. Two hints: search the Chapel, and remember that werecreatures are very hard to kill without the right weapon. Difficulty of (4). | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Heart of Gold | EAG | 1997 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #240 - The Heart of Gold by Frank Kunze Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7, HIGHLY modified Extra Commands: CLOSE, CONNECT, CONSULT, EAT, ORDER, TALK, PANIC, SMELL, WAIT, HELP, SHORT, RESUME Deleted Commands: BLAST, HEAL, POWER, SPEED, READY, LIGHT, FREE Special Features: PRODOS ONLY; 40/80 display works with all Apple II's; standalone design does not use Main Hall Playing Time: 2-3 hours and up Reviewer Rating: 6.5 Description: "Several years ago a stranger named Ford Prefect appeared at the Main Hall, and you became friends with him. He seemed like a good chap, if a bit odd. He was known to stare at the sky for long periods of time, claiming to be looking for "flying saucers". "Then one day a green shape appeared in the sky. A voice boomed out of it saying that planet Eamon was in the way of the new hyperspace bypass and was going to promptly be destroyed in two minutes. "Ford suddenly pulled you aside. 'Another ship has appeared!' he said. 'I'm trying to hitch a ride. Don't worry, I'm bringing you with me!' "'I've succeeded!' he suddenly yells with joy. 'Prepare to be transported...'" You feel a gut-wrenching sensation and black out. Somewhere off in the distance, you hear the world of Eamon being completely destroyed!" Comment: If you don't recognize the above, this Eamon is based on Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" books. Frank set out to purposely write a very difficult Eamon that is very much like an Infocom game. In other words, it has no combat and a series of small puzzles that must be done precisely in order and on a tight timeline. Because the puzzles must be done in order and on time, there are many, many ways to get killed out, and you will almost certainly start over at least a dozen times before winning through to the end. In fact, the only thing that makes it solvable with only a dozen or so restarts is the detailed hints available via the HELP command. Without this command, the adventure would be nearly unsolvable for the vast majority of players. Even when using HELP, the difficulty falls near (8). This Eamon only has about 15 rooms, making maps unnecessary, but takes a couple of hours to play even if you cheat and use the hints, which should give you a good idea of the number and difficulty of puzzles. This is a technical masterpiece, which is only what we have come to expect from Frank. It gets its lukewarm rating for two reasons: because I got tired of starting over, and because I felt somewhat deflated because I had to use the hints at every turn to lower the difficulty to something I could handle. One hint: don't SAVE too often. It's better to have to repeat a dozen or two actions than to discover that you have saved an unwinnable game. I should mention that this Eamon stands alone without the Main Hall. You can launch it from the Main Hall, but the FRESH.MEAT file is not used, and it does not return to the Main Hall at the end. This Eamon is PRODOS ONLY. Like Frank's previous work, it supports both 40 and 80-column display, works flawlessly on any Apple II in both modes, and has an all-caps option for II+ users. Highly recommended for serious puzzle junkies, who may wish to try to solve it without use of the hints. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Heroes Castle | EAG | 2000 | MS-DOS | labelminimizeminimize | |
| Idol of the Incas | EAG | 1997 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #239 - Idol of the Incas by Clyde Easterday Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7.1 Extra Commands: JUMP, HELP, THROW Deleted Commands: WEAR Special Features: "Arcade game" action at end of game Playing Time: 2-4 hours Reviewer Rating: 8.0 Description: "In the Incan writings of a time forgotten by all but a few, there exists a priceless and beautiful idol, known as the 'Idol of the Incas', which has never been found. Many explorers have tried to discover the legendary 'Path of Adventure', to where the idol was kept in the days of the Incas. "There is legend that all who have taken this 'Path of Adventure' have never returned. Some say the idol is cursed, and that all who have found the idol and tried to remove it have died. Many well-known explorers have gone before you and never returned. In times past you have traveled to the ends of the Earth with some of the most famous adventurers, but taking this 'Path of Adventure' may be the most dangerous and rewarding adventure you have ever taken. "You have climbed high in the Peruvian mountains to get to the once-lost Incan city of Machu Picchu, to find the 'Idol of the Incas'." Comment: This Eamon is very reminiscent of the "Indiana Jones" movies, with you of course in the role of Indy. It does a very good job of conveying the ambience of exploring a lost and dangerous ruin. This is a puzzler's Eamon. There is so little combat that you are very unlikely to need the HEAL spell at all! But there is something to take note of or solve in every second or third room of movement. Clyde makes very heavy use of embedded artifacts to conceal parts of the puzzles in plain view. If you've played my own "Thror's Ring", then you will have a good idea of the kind of puzzling in store for you here. At the same time, this is a very forgiving play. It's darned near impossible to get killed here; you just get stopped from further progress until you find your way past whatever is stopping you. Yet, while stopping your progress, the text of the play encourages a state of high anxiety and danger where the plot requires it. You'll have a great time if you buy into the story line. The HELP command gives players a boost by way of some heavy hinting about some crucial puzzle elements. If you're a hard-core gamer, you will have a lot more fun if you ignore that command altogether and work to solve the puzzles the old-fashioned way. And those who get bored by too much puzzling can use this command to keep things moving at a pace more to their liking. A hint: Never forget that artifact descriptions may themselves contain words that lead to other artifacts. And here's a go-faster: the Eamon 7.x PUT command does not require you to be holding the object; it can also be in the room. At the very end there is a little arcade-game action loosely based on the mine cart ride in "Temple of Doom". It makes clever use of the text screen and is an amusing novelty. A lot of effort went into making sure it would work right at any CPU speed. Difficulty of (8), I think. The actual difficulty will vary according to how good you are at Eamon puzzling and how much you make use of the HELP command. Good play. Great atmosphere. Highly recommended for puzzlers, but Hack'n'slasher fans will find it less well suited to their action appetite. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Jewel of Yara | EAG | 1995 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #232 - Jewel of Yara by Hoyle Purvis Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: TALK Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 6.0 Description: "While on a Quest to free the people of Arenjun from an evil priest named Yara, you were beset in your sleep by a band of thieves. Chained and beaten, you endured several days of misery when you saw your chance. "You smashed the first guard and grabbed your armor, which lay near. However, the alarm had been sounded. Wolf-dogs trained to track and kill had been unleashed. You have no choice but to run! "Alone and unarmed, the adventure begins." Comment: While this is a pretty large Eamon, it is laid out in four sections with connecting roads, and I had no trouble playing it without a map. Two of the sections really have nothing to do with the Quest, but they serve well to flesh out the map and story. Actually, there is quite a bit of stuff in the database that serves no purpose. This was Hoyle's last Eamon, and I suspect that he lost interest and wound it up quickly. This Eamon does some pretty neat stuff and is well-conceived and well-written. I really liked the first section for its tense pace. However, the adventure winds up quite abruptly, in stark and unwelcome contrast to the earlier portions of the foray. More evidence that Hoyle decided to wrap it up not fully finished. Here are a few hints: first, pay attention to what you learn in the descriptions. If it says, for one example, that there are too many guards, believe it. And if you aren't making progress in Arenjun, maybe passing some time in the tavern will bring forth an opportunity (but explore the city first.) Difficulty of (5) if you take the above advice. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Journey Across the Muerte Sea | EAG | 2004 | MS-DOS | labelminimizeminimize | |
| Keep of Skull Gorge | EAG | 1995 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #231 - Keep of Skull Gorge by Don Kellogg Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 4.0 Description: "You have been requested to find the famous Amulet of Bhaal. The amulet was made by the god's priests many years ago, making it the oldest remaining relic of the god and very valuable to them. The Priesthood of Bhaal will pay you very well to return it to them. "You leave to find the amulet. It's going to be very hard due to the fact that an evil wizard has moved into the place you're going. Rumor has it he's building an army!" Comment: The actual adventuring has very little to do with the intro. There is no Wizard and no army; I have no idea what that is doing there. This is your basic "hack'n'slash" Eamon, with exactly two locked doors and one secret passage. Just kill everyone who doesn't smile at you and read the descriptions, and you'll do fine. I give it a (5) for difficulty. I might have given it a higher playability rating, but there are FOUR no-warning death traps. By and large, you would be well-advised to ignore anything that isn't an honest stairway (hint). There are a couple of doors that don't go anywhere valid, so I simply locked them. So don't worry about getting past any doors that you can't find the keys for. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Lair of the Marauders | EAG | 1991 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #211 - Lair of the Marauders - by Hoyle Purvis Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-45 min. Reviewer Rating: 6.0 Description: The Marauders are back in business. They have set up shop in an old abandoned military complex. Several of the old Marauders are still alive and are presently trying to beef up their ranks. Adam of Wagramtown has gone to try and stop them before it is too late. He is strong, but lacks the power and experience to take them alone. You decide that you must go help him to take on the Marauders if you are going to save your rash friend. Hopefully you will get there before he is killed. Comment: Well, you do get there in time, of course. And the two of you proceed to lay waste to the Marauders' stronghold. This is a good adventure for young Eamonauts, with a good map, lots of simple combat, and simple puzzles. Even though it is on the simple side, I liked it for its clean, solid construction. I give it a (4) for difficulty. Let me give you one hint about all of Hoyle's Eamon adventures: it's usually worthwhile to INVENTORY your companions; you never know what kind of stuff they might be carrying... | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Lost! | EAG | 1988 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #153 - Lost! by Nathan Segerlind Reviewed by Phillip Moore MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: MUTILATE Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 1.5-2 hours. Reviewer Rating: 3.0 Average Rating: 4.0/2 Description: "You were playing a polite little game of poker with Hokas when you were dealt a ROYAL FLUSH, SPADES. Having the temper he has, he yelled, 'Why you little cheat!' and casts a spell at you. "You awoke in the Desert of Sands, a place as terrible as its name is stupid. "You wandered for months, and now..." Comment: The above is the complete introduction to the adventure. there is no quest or extra money at the end; just the standard treasure and weapon selling stuff. Some of the monsters are a little tough, but not super tough. I used a standard character straight from the Main Hall. I took no spells nor weapons but was able to find a weapon near the start. It's a Hack'n'Slasher's dream--if it ain't nailed down, go for it. There was one easy puzzle. I had some good laughs with the different monsters and descriptive locations. There are some death traps! Look for friends, as they will help in your struggle to kill monsters. My rating is low because there was no quest, the poor screen pausing allowed stuff to scroll off before I could read it, the death traps slowed me down, and the one puzzle was relatively simple. I observed no profanity, although there was some implied stuff. Those who are tired of GUARD1, GUARD2, etc. will be pleased to know that there are no GUARDs.` The ending, for me, wasn't cute or fancy. It was different, but nothing to write home about. I would recommend this one for the young Eamonaut. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Lotto's Masterpiece | EAG | 1990 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #203 - Lotto's Masterpiece - by Henry Haskell Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 7.0 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: Lower-case text option, 40-col. Only Playing Time: 1 hour Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Average Rating 5.5/2 Description: "Many years ago, the kings of ancient Eamon maintained a summer residence known as the Ervuol on a tiny isle in the stormy sea. Its location has been lost for ages, but an art fancier has discovered its location through careful research. You have been offered 5,000 GP to go there and recover a priceless art treasure: a bronze statuette of the goddess of love in ancient Eamon, Etihw Annav." Comment: This Henry's first Eamon, and he has worked hard and come up with a nicely done adventure. The descriptions are pretty good. The map is coherent enough, although there is some mapping weirdness that was apparently thrown in for fun (like a mine shaft on the second floor of the castle!) Good utilization was made of 7.0 features, and he went the extra distance and did it in lower-case with an upper-case option. The place had a somewhat random feel to it, but was pleasant to play. After wading through an assortment of generic goblins and thieves, things get really weird towards the end as you must win your way past a number of fantastic adversaries. This serves as a climax of sorts, as you escape from the castle once you get past the last of them. This is a basic 'kill & loot' scenario with no plot beyond a simple quest. It doesn't worry overmuch about being consistent but throws new things at you for laughs and variety. Lots of hidden doors and secret passages to discover, and that is the biggest part of the puzzling. I give it a 5 for difficulty. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Molinar's Tomb | EAG | 2000 | MS-DOS | minimizeminimizeminimize | |
| Monty Python & Holy Grail | EAG | 1988 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #160 - Monty Python & the Holy Grail by Nathan Segerlind Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: BUILD, USE, EAT Deleted Commands: None Special Features: See caution below about SAVE Playing Time: 1-2 hours Reviewer Rating: 7.0 Average Rating: 7.0/2 Description: MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL MONTE PYTHON UND DA HOLE GRAIL by Nathan Segerlind bie Nathun Segerlund Inspiration by Monty Python Inspurashun bie Monte Python Technical aid from the Bug Stomper How about da holidae in Sveden? Eamon game system by Don Brown See the loveli lakes V6.0 MAIN PGM by John Nelson See lots of furre animals Distribution by the Eamon Adventurer's Guild Inkluding da majestik moose Dumb comments by Ryan Brown A moose bit my sistur once Animation by John J.J. Schmidt Reallie! She was trieing to carve hur initials in da moose with a knife when Comment: And so on. If you've seen and love the movie, you will probably get a lot of enjoyment out of this adventure. It's one of Nate's earlier Eamons and doesn't work nearly as well as it might for many of the sophisticated things it tries for, but it does pull them off for the most part without too much awkwardness. If you are familiar with the movie, you will do best if you try not to deviate from the movie script any more than you have to. If you don't know the movie, you may miss some specials and may die a bit more often before you win through to the end. There are about three death traps, and odds are you will get nailed by a couple of them. But overall the puzzles and combat are not that bad; the difficulty rings in at about (6) if you've seen the movie and maybe a point or two higher if you haven't. When you get killed out by a trap, you will find that you can get back where you were pretty quickly, for usually there isn't much reason to repeat stuff you have already done, and most of the stuff is on side-paths. This being one of Nate's early Eamons, much of the text assumes that you have done everything in exactly the order that he visualized it. But that isn't very likely, so some text will read a little strangely, but it won't mess you up. There was one item that I couldn't solve. Saint Xavier has the Holy Hand Grenade and the Book of Armaments, and isn't inclined to use or share them. This leaves you with the choice of murdering one of your companions or slugging it out with the bunny. I slugged it out and did OK, but that meant I missed that special. (I went back and replayed the game to see that special, and it does work. But I find it distasteful to murder loyal followers.) HERE IS THE "SAVE" WARNING that I mentioned above: the disk is full, and there is not room to save a game. If you try to save a game, the program will crash with a DISK FULL error. However, the game isn't that complex and it will cost you very little extra aggravation just to start over if you get killed out. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Operation Endgame | EAG | 1988 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #161 - Operation Endgame - by Sam Ruby Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 6.2 (heavily modified) Extra Commands: USE, ARM, ENTER, RELOAD, CLEAR, WAIT Deleted Commands: TAKE, BLAST, HEAL, POWER, SPEED, SMILE, WAVE, SAY, LIGHT, OPEN, DRINK, FREE Special Features: 3-disk adventure, 183 rooms, lower-case intro available, automatic weapons Playing Time: 3-10 hours Reviewer's Rating: 9 Description: The war with the Breakers is bogged down on the Eastern Front, though they are advancing on the South Front. Word is received that the Breakers have deployed a long-range missile, equipped with a nuclear warhead, and have installed it in a mountain fortress that is impervious to air bombardment. They are waiting until their southern forces cross the river before using it. Fortunately, they only have enough weapons-grade plutonium for the one missile, but one will be enough to smash our industrial base. There is only one option: to send in a Special-Forces Team to blow it up. Priority 1...the mission must be accomplished at any cost. Operatives may take steps to assure their escape only if there is no interference with the mission. Once the mission is accomplished, operatives must find their own means to assure their survival. Comment: The above is only a small fraction of the wealth of background offered in the intro program, which is a little 5-act playlet in itself. The MAIN PGM continues this intense detail, having a great deal to see and do. The detail is even carried into parts of the Breaker installation that a successful mission will never see. These extra rooms give a added dimension of realism when you realize that you really are trying to sneak through an enemy base, and randomly opening doors to see what you can find will promote neither the mission nor your life expectancy. Sam has done some great things with modern weapons. The automatic weapon fire is well done, and the player must occasionally reload at most inconvenient moments. Knives are carried for the silent dispatching of sentries, and your team carries a variety of lethal hardware for use in any situation. There is an array of special equipment such as climbing gear, mine detectors, remote detonators, medi-kits, and more, that must be properly utilized to succeed AND survive. Your teammates will occasionally offer opinions and can take a small amount of independent action. (For example, they will use their medi-kits on themselves when badly wounded.) They also can do anything you can do if you GIVE them orders to do so. This is a very subtle and a very dangerous adventure. It is virtually certain that you will die a number of times before you finally work out the right moves. It may sometimes feel like Sam has blindsided you with a no-warning deathtrap, but when you regain that spot, a careful reading of the descriptions will always show that the clues WERE there, after all. And always easonable, once you think about it. For example, if you leave a dead sentry out in the open where he will be seen, it should come as no surprise when the base goes on alert and you are found and killed. Just the same, the SAVE command gets a workout here. SAVE has been modified so that you can perform a save and continue playing. This speeds things up a lot when you miss a clue and go down, for all you have to do is insert disk 1 and type RUN to resume from the saved location. This adventure is loaded with scores of special effects and other Good Stuff. One of them is that the Intro program is in lower-case text but is automatically converted to all-upper-case for old II's by a small machine-code program. (Note-this is one of two M-C programs available for LC-to-UC conversion on the 7.0DDD.) When I first played this adventure, I was appalled by how easily I was wiped out. But as I learned the capabilities of my Special-Forces Team, I got better, and I learned to watch for subtle clues and to choose the correct course BEFORE I got nailed. And when I finally pulled off a successful mission and escaped with most of my team, the satisfaction was tremendous! This is one of a very small number of Eamons that I have replayed once I had successfully completed the quest, and it seems to get better with each replay. This is a very advanced Eamon and is one of the most difficult. It is very sophisticated, and you will see clues that may not be needed for hours. There is a fairly high frustration factor at first, but the rewards when you get the pieces together are correspondingly high. Highly recommended to advanced Eamonauts. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Orb of My Life | EAG | 2000 | MS-DOS | labelminimizeminimize | |
| Pathetic Hideout of Mr. R. | EAG | 1988 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #157 - The Pathetic Hideout of Mr. R. by Nathan Segerlind Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski MAIN PGM Version: 6 Extra Commands: FIRE, USE Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 1-2 hours Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Description: "While having a real blast last Friday at the annual Adventurer Day bash, someone yanked you aside. It was a short skinny Dwarf with a black beard and a name tag which read "Sledgehammer". He said to you... "'The evil tyrant Mr. Roessler has built a small outpost in northern Eamon. It is believed to be nothing more than a small hideout, but who knows exactly the power he has in his grasp. Your goal is to stop Roessler by destroying his fortress.' "The Dwarf takes you on the North Road to the Really-Big-and-Scary Forest, where Roessler's outpost is suspected to be." Comment: This is another of Nate's early juvenile works. It has lots of general silliness, out-of-narrative descriptions, and in-jokes relating to his high school. In general, it is an example of the kind of lightweight Eamon typical of those written by young boys. Yet this is in many ways a sophisticated Eamon and there are flashes of the brilliance that Nate gradually developed and finally demonstrated in "Kretons". There are many specials of various kinds, and some of the humor is pretty good. While there are several items to work out, the flavor here is primarily Hack'n'Slash. I am bumping up the difficulty to (7) for several likely-death traps. Along those lines, here are some hints: if you enter the secret room off the tunnel with the stalactites, you will probably die. There is an antidote for the poison, but you may have to replay that segment several times before you find it in time. There is no way to honestly survive an encounter with a Balrog. You get exactly one turn to escape after using the detonator. That's a lot of hints, but there are a lot of ways to die here. You most likely won't find a way to open the steel door without cheating. If you do open the door, you will either be amused or annoyed, depending on your sense of humor. I thought it was a pretty good joke. | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
| Prisoner of Darkness | EAG | 1994 | [The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms] #224 - Prisoner of Darkness by Phil Schulz Reviewed by Adam Myrow MAIN PGM version: 7.0 Extra commands: REST, CLIMB Deleted commands: None Special features: None Playing time: 2 hours and up Reviewer Rating: 6 Average Rating: 6.5/2 Description: "Once again, you find yourself captured in a far away castle. So find your way out and kill your enemy. "You have come into possession of an ancient platinum coin. You know you must return it to the Free Adventurer's Guild as they will know what to do with it." Comment: Above is the entire introduction you get for this adventure. If it sounds like an easy quest, let me assure you that it is not! In fact, this is a surprisingly difficult Eamon. There is quite a variety of monsters in this one. If you're tired of games with monsters named GUARD1, GUARD2, and GUARD3, you'll appreciate the trouble Phil went to in order to come up with some unique monsters. There is a lint monster, coal elemental, and my favorite, the horned cave-dwelling thing. The game has a number of small puzzles, mostly consisting of finding embedded artifacts that are sometimes quite obscure. There is also a spot where you are seemingly stopped by a fire, a point where you must make a magic potion, and a series of small favors you must do for other monsters. You'll want to read each and every room description carefully and examine anything that is mentioned. With all the special effects and stuff, you may wonder why I don't give a higher rating. There are two reasons. First, the Eamon really has no plot. While the player knows that they are to escape and return a coin, there is no explanation as to why. The game is somewhat haphazard. Both the monsters and puzzles seem to have been thrown in randomly. Second, the game has some annoying bugs that make it a bit hard to play. The first reason was the main one that made me downrate this Eamon. It just left too many loose ends. For example, when you escape and return the coin, you are given a large reward, but no reason is given as to why the coin is so incredibly important. Also, you never find out who captured you nor why. I just would have liked to see a bit more plot development. Overall, I would call this Eamon a decent game. It's definitely not for the impatient nor inexperienced. The combat can be tough and some of the artifacts are extremely well-hidden. If you don't mind the lack of a plot, then this would be a good challenge. It gets a difficulty rating of 8 from me. Now for some hints and discussion. First, there is something you need in the torture room. Also, the ball of lint hidden in a bedroom is important. Next, make sure you have at least 2000 gold pieces in hand when you start, otherwise, you can't complete the game. You end up getting spit back to a previous room and told that you need more gold. However, there doesn't seem to be a way to get more. Lastly, you are not supposed to be able to survive the attack by the 8 mine monsters. The way the author wrote things, however, you are likely to kill them if you use a decent character. This causes the programming to get flaky, so be sure to let them kill you. This is a rather odd thing, as the author was quite forgiving of errors near the beginning of the game. It appears as if he lapsed off in the end. With this advice and some thought, you should be able to complete the game. [Zerothis] | Apple II E | labelminimizeminimize |
