The Adventurer's Newsletter Vol.IV,#1 January, 1987 Gunslinger Moonmist by Bob Guerra A Gothic ghost story, Moonmist is Gunslinger is a graphic adventure that one of Infocom's most ingenious and puts you in the role of an · ex-Texas unusual mysteries. It was written by Stu Ranger named Kip Starr. It seems your Galley and Jim Lawrence, who also best friend, James Badland, has gotten collaborated on Seastalker (The Witness himself into a. jam and needs you to was Galley's first mystery). The setting rescue him from a Mexican jail. He'll be is Tresllyian Castle in Cornwall, hanged in two days if you don't intervene. England. An American private eye, you Your trip south could be a rough one, have just arrived to attend a memorial however, because the six-shooting Dalton birthday dinner for Lionel Tresllyian, the Brothers have escaped from jail and are deceased father of Lord Jack, to whom gunning for you and your incarcerated your friend Tamara Lynd is engaged. The friend. Only by reaching Badland in time purpose of your visit is to solve the the medieval and the contemporary, from and freeing him will you be able to ta1ce mystery of a spirit that is haunting the an iron maiden to an aerosol device-and on the Dalton Gang and finally settle the house and trying to kill Tamara. Is it the the first brass lantern I've seen in a score. real thing, or someone dressed as a ghost? mystery. (Zorkers will feel right at In the process of identifying the ghost home.) A multi-level affair, the castle you may uncover evidence of a murder has numerous rooms and even a secret and discover a hidden treasure. It is this passageway to investigate, though you trio of goals that distinguishes Moonmist won't get much done until after dinner. from previous Infocom mysteries, for Things get off to a strange start when these are independent goals: you can find the butler announces that, according to the treasure without having identified the Lionel's will, all the servants are to leave ghost, or arrest the killer without finding the castle before his memorial dinner and the treasure. So if time runs out, you'll stay away until morning. Then, before still feel a sense of accomplishment-and you've hardly had a bite to eat, everyone will be encouraged to try again. is startled to hear Lionel's voice, which Character interaction is important, and you realize is coming from a tape As the adventure begins, you find Dr. Nicholas Wendish, the flirtatious Iris, recording he made before he died. yourself stranded in the desert with a dead Montague Hyde, Vivien Pentreath and Lionel tells of a "valuable artifact" that horse. Before you can even enter a three other dinner guests are glad to tell is hidden somewhere on the grounds, and command (beat horse, for example), a you their ghost stories as Tamara shows sets the group off on a treasure hunt by friendly stranger comes by and gives you you around the castle. Some say it a lift to Dawson. From here you're on reminds them of Deirdre, the woman who Continued on page 9 your own. was engaged to Jack years ago, and fear Gunslinger uses a simple parser that her ghost seeks revenge on Tamara. can't handle any sentence more than four They're not as helpful in furnishing >Inventory words long. Commands may be either information about each other. When News & Mail ...... 2 entered via the keyboard, or, if you don't asked about another person, the usual Titanic ...... 3 particularly like to type, selected with a reply is "I don't indulge much in idle Destiny ...... 3 joystick from a scrolling, on-screen word gossip." Throughout the game they Fairlight ...... 4 list. To make it easier to find words, the amble about the castle, so you're rarely High Stakes ...... 4 word list is divided into verbs, nouns and lonely in this adventure. As you would Walkthru: Moonmist .... 6 prepositions. expect from a Gothic tale, creaky doors, Walkthru: Ultima IV's To move in any of the four compass cobwebs, and eerie sounds heighten the Stygian Abyss ...... 7 directions, you can enter the appropriate atmosphere. Keys to Kingdorn ...... 10 The array of objects in the castle spans Continued on page 9 Swap Shop ...... 11 Letters to the Adventure Hotline Editor Q-Link in Peril! New Releases Dear QuestBusters: Infocom's Hollywood Hijinx, a comedy No, QuantumLink is not in trouble. Q Why don't you run lesser known games following up on the success of Leather Link in Peril is the name of their latest like Se-Kaa of Assiah, Monty Python, Goddesses, takes place at an estate you text adventure, which can be downloaded Gates of Dawn, Hydrax, Lords of have just inherited from your Uncle from the public domain files. Written by Midnight, Ripper and Standing Stones ? Buddy Burbank, a Hollywood mogul Frank McMahon, who manages Q-Link's famous for his "B" movies. But to claim game message boards and the software We have reviewed several of the titles you your inheritance you must fmd ten hidden libraries, it challenges you to enter Q mentioned. (Send SASE for a list of treasures. Link headquarters and find an ancient spell games reviewed in back issues.) Or did King's Quest III is out for the IBM book. The first goal is to get inside Q you mean walkthrus? We focus on (256K, double-sided drive required). Link, where you will interact with the recently released games and usually stick Another King, CinemaWare's King of staff and system operators. Then you with those that are available on several Chicago, looks impressive on the Mac, must rescue MiLady and fmd the spell computers so they apply to as many though we had to upgrade to the new book before XVector does, or Q-Link is reader as possible. double-sided drives to play it Good doomed. reports are also coming in on their Dear QuestBusters: Defender of the Crown, out for Amiga Ronan the Barbarian? You should inform readers of the memory and ST. SSI is working on a Wizard's In Ronan, Broderbund's next Electronic requrirements of certain adventures. I was Crown sequel. Ultima I, Destiny Knight Novel, you play a master samurai hired very disappointed to learn King's Quest and Bard's Tale 2 are fmally out. to reSc:ue the kidnapped daughter of a II requires 256K on the IBM, not to Recent conversions: IBM and Amiga feudal lord. Richard Sanford promises mention MS-DOS. versions of Alternate Reality, The City, this one will have a "different look" from Byron Byrd are set for February. King's Quest is the their previous all-text games. first adventure we've seen on the Apple We usually state memory requirements, IIG, but more will follow from other Universal News but apparently forgot it in this case. ~ompanies. - booking -for a newsletter a bit more - You1Lbe glad ..to laww~.uc..edito1:_justgot specific than QB? Vidcomm is the a memory upgrade (he snow got an BK Origin to Market "Resource Guide" for Omnitrend's brain!), so this isn't as likely to happen All-Text Adventures Universe 1 and 2. Lots of tips on all in the future. aspects of these games are featured. Michael and Muffy Berlyn are doing a Copies of the first issue are being sent to Dear QuestBusters: pair of games that Origin should have out registered owners by Modem Day Please enter my name in your monthly by mid-year. RAGER is a science Publishing, 10822 Copperfield Dr., contest fiction story, and Greenleaf is a fantasy. Pineville, NC 28124. Mangar the Dark They could turn into a series from the Berlyns' design house, Brainwave, Inc. EMail Your Keys Our random drawing for a new game is now limi.ted to people who have sent in If you've got a tip for Keys to the Infocom Scraps a clue to the Keys to the Kingdom Kingdom, you can now send it to us via Categories section in the past 30 days. Your clue EMail: Compuserve # 72267,601 or doesn't have to be published that month, QuantumLink: JB Chalmer. lnfocom plans to do at least six titles in but it must be one that has not already 1987, but they will no longer be appeared in the newsletter. categorized as Science Fiction, Fantasy, W alkthrus on the Way Etc. Instead, the author's name will go We11 soon be pu]?lishing solutions to the on the cover. And Infocom games will QuestBusters ™ following games: Tass Times, no longer state the difficulty level, unless Editor: Shay Addams Phantasie 1 and 2, Essex, Nine Princes in one happens to be as hard as Spellbreaker. Contributing Editors: Ron Wartow, Ken Amber and Shard of Spring. If you have The three games in the Enchanter series St Andre, Tim Snider, Stephen King, a walkthru for another recent adventure, have been packaged as a $69.95 set. Brian Smith, Bob Guerra let us know and you may get the game of Same deal for the 'Zork trilogy. your choice for it. This month William QuestBusters is published monthly by the Carte gets Ultima I for his solution to Addams Expedition, 202 Elgin Ct, Top Sword Moonmi.st. The people who sent the . Wayne, PA 19087. Annual subs, $15. lnt'l, $24 (US funds). Contents lntellicreations just announced the Abyss walkthru, since it didn't cover an winners of their "Awesome Alternative Copyright Shay Addams, 1987, All entire game but focused on the end game, Rights Reserved. Copying without Character Contest" Cletis, a Reality get three extra issues of the newsletter. permission is punishable by having John Level 15 character trained by Canadian . Also, be sure to write if you want us to Landis direct a motion picture in your Richard Carnduff, won first place. track down a specific walkthru. back yard-with lots of special effects. TITANIC: The Recovery Mission
"How many mazes must one man no, maybe, that question is unworthy of occasional music round out this unique map, before they call him a man?" you and so on. adventuring experience. Bob Dylan, from his latest album, After choosing the Diver icon, you see Conclusions: Offering something new Mapping in the Wind a picture of the Titanic and pick one of for maze-mappers and treasure hunters, the five entry points. The ship's diagram Titanic delivers a satisfying range of I've mapped many a maze, but this was is replaced by a center-screen window that activities. In addition to exploring the the first one that was underwater. The shows a trail of bubbles as you descend. ship and solving puzzles, you get to staterooms, engine room, kitchen and Next you see the entry room. · (lbe more interact with other characters while on the other locations on the Titanic pose an than 240 rooms in the game actually surface. And it's based on reality, not innovative maze filled with artifacts and existed on the Titanic and are situated in fantasy. For those seeking something treasures I had to bring to the surface after relatively the same positions.) The 3-D new, this is a good choice. It's also the picking them up with a robot arm. And display of each room is not as colorful or best British adventure Activision has that twist on the familiar "explore the detailed as in Bard's Tale, but works on imported to these shores. maze" concept is only half the game in the same principles. Activision's latest British import. The The T .S.1 can be swiveled around and System: C-64/128 other half takes place on the surface. moved forward or back with the stick or Skill Level: Intermediate As president of the Titanic Salvage keyboard, while a plethora of keyboard Price: $29.95 Company, you will wear a variety of hats commands are employed for the diverse Company: Activision while striving to raise the Titanic from activities required for a successful dive. the bottom of the Atlantic. On the You may drop sonar buoys, view the Calendar screen, which shows the current sonar screen (showing locations of up to date, five large icons enable you to six rooms where buoys have been Destiny choose from the key areas of activity: the dropped), take photos, or flash an SOS to Finance Room, the Press Conference and the mother ship if you're in trouble. In Destiny, your fate depends as much Diving. (Another facilitates saving and Gauges display time, oxygen and other on sound judgment in battle as it does on restoring games, a feature often missing vital factors. But the most important your puzzle-solving skills. The story in British adventures, and the Night icon thing you'll do is operate the robot arm. begins immediately after the death of the advances thecalendarforwardaday.) You It lowers into view and can be King, who left no Queen or heir to the can use keyboard or joystick control for manipulated to pick up an object. throne. He declared that the individual selecting icons, but while underwater will Simple white graphics illustrate each brave and strong enough to slay the Red rely mainly on the keyboard. item, and up to four may be stored on the Dragon should become the next king of By clicking on a drawer in the Finance T.S.1. (lbere are over 170 of them Adventura, and that is your goal. Room's desk, you may read brief reports scattered throughout the ship.) You can The dragon, however, has already on time and money needed to make send items up to the mother ship to be moved into the castle and defends it with repairs on the T.S.1, your deep-sea analyzed by the lab. They may be sold to an army of Orcan soldiers. You've got to diving craft, and how much money your raise more money for the company, or unravel logical puzzles and slay monsters sponsors have pledged to contribute this used to solve puzzles. The puzzles in this combination graphic week. The Wall Safe is another icon, and involve opening locked doors on the ship. adventure/role-playing game, whose well clicking on it displays your company's You may be able to do so by simply designed interface closely resembles that bank balance. To get more money, you touching an item with the robot arm. of the Interplay programs Mind.shadow have to "dial for dollars." Potential More complex problems require you to and Tass Times. Each graphic fills the backers are pictured in icons hanging on take an item from one location to another left two-thirds of the screen, and a list of the wall. Just click on the phone, punch room, then drop it next to another item. 22 verbs runs down the right side. a picture, and the person's face appears on If you've got the correct objects (two The major difference is that Destiny the TV set while a short message tells halves of a key, for example) in the right does not have a type-in parser: all actions how much, if any, he'll pitch in. The place, they will combine to form a new are determined by choosing a verb from actual amount depends on factors such as object that will open the door. the list, then moving the hand-shaped how much he has already given, the Ultimately, you must reach key locations cursor into the picture and clicking on an company's financial status and the value in order to place flotation bags that will object to complete the command. The of recently discovered artifacts. raise the Titanic. selected verb remains active; if "get" is One way to impress potential sponsors Other things can happen while you're chosen, you may try to get a rock, then is by getting favorable media coverage. underwater. If the lab has made a move over to get the log without This calls for deft responses to reporters' discovery, you may be called topside to returning to the verb list. If your action questions at a press conference, where attend a press conference. Or the robot elicits a response, text appears at bottom their faces are displayed in TV-shaped arm might break, forcing you to surface. screen where the type-in parser is usually icons. When a reporter is selected, he or There is no time limit or deadline for located. she asks a question; you reply by cycling raising the ship, as long as you don't run Puzzles are all object-oriented. In the through a series of fifteen answers: yes, out of money. Effective sound effects and Continued on page 5 designer, Bo Jangeborg, gave these critters Conclusions: This is not a game for something I had never seen before: the novice. The mortality rate is high FAIRLIGHT intelligence! They don't just wander up until you have mastered the demanding by Tim Snider to you so you can make hamburger out of interface. Also, the only way you can get them. Instead, they any answers is through repeated You thought you were being very will gang up on you, surround you, or experimentation. Unless you have the modem and brave when you entered stay out of range if it starts looking bad patience to try virtually anything to Golgi's woods all alone. Little did you for them. I've even walked into an empty further the game-or happen to be the suspect that you would get caught up in a room, only to be ambushed by a pair of kind of adventurer who enjoys precisely whirl of events far more bizarre than any ore guards. (I miss the games of old, that kind of a quest-you won't get far of the stories you heard as a child First when the creatures had the smarts of a with Fairlight. The instructions won't you were captured and nearly eaten by the small soapdish!) spoonfeed you any information, either. It witch Golgi. Then you were rescued by a The graphics are extraordinarily detailed. is up to you and you alone to discover the strange old wizard. And now here you are In the halls you see suits of armor on secret of Fairlight, if you dare. trapped in Castle Avars--which no one either sides of the doors, cracks in the has entered in more than 3,000 years! walls, and the creatures themselves-it all System: C 64/128 Suddenly you are catapulted from adds up to a visually exciting experience. Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced Unimportant Nobody to a hero out of a Unfortunately, with graphics this detailed, Price: $29.95 legend ... at least you hope you11 be a the designer had to sacrifice some of the Company: Mindscape hero. For if you cannot retrieve the Book colors. The pictures aren't as richly of Light and present it to the imprisoned painted as the Sunday comics. They're sorcerer, the Land of Fairlight will be more like Thursday's. But this is a small doomed to darkness for evermore. And so price to pay for a game of such high High Stakes begins your quest into a new and calibre. frightening realm in adventure gaming. Fairlight employs a rather complex The horsey set seems a strange setting This new game from Mindscape is interface for moving and manipulating for a text adventure, but here it is, an another one they've imported from your on-screen character. The joystick is adaptation of a 1975 Dick Francis novel. England to show us ''colonists" what our used to move him about (though the Francis is a former jockey from England friends overseas are programming. Well, keyboard may also be utilized for this who writes mysteries that take place at it seems that England is holding its own purpose), and the keyboard is used for the the track, the stables and the betting with quality works like this one. various actions he can perform: jump, parlour, as it is called over there. The fight, pick up, etc. I didn't like the way main characters are a millionaire toy An Amazingly Realistic Maze the joystick worked It seems that to designer, Stephen Scott, and Jody Leeds, This game is comparable to Spell of move him diagonally via the joystick, who trains race horses for Scott. In the Destruction, which was produced by the you must hold it diagonally. Anyone game, you play the role of Scott same company. But if these were who has ever played a game in this On a grey November day, High Stakes algebra problems, Fairlight would be disorienting fashion knows how difficult opens at the New Park Racecourse north equal to Spell of Destruction cubed! In it can be do it correctly. Keyboard of London, just after your horse Energise both, you move your character through a movement is also tricky. But Jangeborg has won a big race-and you have fired maze depicted in a three-quarter wisely devoted entire sections of the Jody. (With the game you get a page or perspective like the one seen in 7.axxon, keyboard to different commands. This is so from Francis' novel, which provides a which gives it a 3-D feel. But, where nice, because you can pick the bit of background on the characters and Destruction stops at a cartoon level of combination that worlcs best for you. setting.) Jody is suspected of fixing races play, Fairlight brings in a new Music plays throughout the adventure, by maldng sure some of your other dimension of realism. Even the objects taking full advantage of the Commodore's horses lost-races on which you lost a you must manipulate have their own SID chip. There's only one thing that fortune by betting heavily on your own value of mass, weight, and-when you annoyed me about it Though it gives an ponies. You can't prove Jody did hit or kick them-momentum. Objects extra layer of "you are there" realism anything wrong, but want to make sure it may be moved, lifted and stacked on top (kind of like a film's background music) doesn't happen again with Energise, the of each other. when you first start playing, I found beautiful black gelding that's become The castle's maze will have even the myself going tone-deaf after hearing the your favorite horse. When you fire Jody, most efficient dungeon-delver climbing same tune 50-60 times. Luckily, you can he practically admits his guilt by saying, the walls in no time. It's not that the toggle it off. "It was a pleasure to take you for every maze is especially difficult to map. It's The one thing that made me rip my penny I could." just that the place is so huge. I kept hair out by the roots was the animation. Then the game ends--or at least it did running out of room on my paper. And The more objects that are moving on for me the first ten times I played it. when I finally thought I had most of it screen, the slower they move. This is What happens is this: instead of leaving drawn, I walked through a door into a new really annoying when you're fighting two peacefully, Jody loads Energise into his section. (I hate surprises!) monsters at the same time. At least van and runs you down. You awake in Speaking of surprises, the monsters in when one dies, everything speeds up the hospital, wondering what went this scenario aren't the average pushovers again. [And this problem is fairly wrong, and the game is over. Once you find in other adventures. The game's common in computer games.] you've figured out how to avoid this fate, you find yourself facing an angry bull The prose isn't as engaging as in locks and Lamborghinis and a lump of that will definitely kill you. If not previous Angelsoft games such as the sugar far into the night. I have finally immediately, later when you attempt to James Bond titles or even Rambo. It's learned to cope with the Angelsoft parser, retrieve the tire iron you dropped in the not as well-honed, not as evocative, and I and if you can you'll enjoy the puzzles pasture. So this Angelsoft adventure suspect it wasn't written by the same and the story. proves as deadly and dangerous as its person. predecessors. Perhaps the idea was to write the game System: Apple (64), IBM (256), Mac Hopping into your Lamborghini, you text in the Dick Francis style, and that's (512) are free to drive out Racing Road and all the way he writes: very plainly. At least Skill Level: Intermediate about the English countryside on your the puzzles are cleverly and logically Price: $39.95 quest to retrieve Energise. Jody's elegant conceived, which is still the most Company: Mindscape new house isn't far away, but you won't important element of an adventure, even learn much by demanding an explanation if it is fashionable to refer to all text from him. And when you get back to adventures as interactive fiction these Destiny your home on Park Court, another days. Continued from page 3 surprise awaits: someone has thoroughly trashed your house and left a note calling Same Old Parser opening phase, you have access to only a you "SCUM." The game's parser is adequate but few locations. (Movement is conducted Jody seems the obvious culprit-but is vexing. It accepts full sentences with by clicking on the appropriate direction.) he? For a few other characters flesh out direct objects and understands the pronoun After buying a rope and spikes from the this story: Alexandra, your girlfriend, and "it" to mean the most recently used noun. Adventure Store, which is a joystick Bert, your best friend Alex, however, However, you can't type in multiple operated menu, I moved to the canyon and seems to prefer Bert's company to yours. commands, and the vocabulary seems chose "put" from the list. The verbs were Bert is into horses too, and while he skimpy. No way can you say "take," for replaced with a list of my inventory, and I hasn't done anything overtly suspicious, only "get" will get you anywhere. (At picked "spikes." ("Use" works the same I'm keeping an eye on him. (Maybe I'm least the documentation offers a list of way.) Then I put the rope on the spikes, just paranoid, but why take chances in a relevant verbs that typically are not chose "climb" from the verb list, and game as deadly as this?) associated with adventuring: pet, calm, clicked on the rope to reach the bottom of High Stakes blends the "mystic orb and other equestrian terms and jargon.) the canyon. There I found only two hunt" (your main goal is to get to You can't "enter car" but must "get in locations before running into another Energise, stashed away in a stable at car." But it's possible to "enter trailer." puzzle. Points are not awarded for Jody's house) with the mystery theme This struck me as inconsistent solving puzzles. (who trashed your house and . why?). Once Alex said I looked depressed, so I Combat may occur when you first enter While you can engage people in replied: "Alex, cheer me up." a location and is resolved with an even conversation to gather clues, this aspect Inscrutably, she told me "You can't go simpler interface. You have but three of the mystery isn't as strongly this way." And if the program doesn't options, displayed in place of the verb emphasized as in Deadline. If you don't recognize a word in your command, or if list: attack, offer gold or run away. rescue the horse in time, the game ends your syntax is incomprehensible, all you (Fleeing is not always successful). when you learn that Jody's "new" horse get is a reply like "the situation calls for Instead of points, you begin with a has just won a race-and that Palledin is calm, deliberate thought" or "take a deep damage factor of 0% and die if it reaches a black horse whose strides remind all breath and try again." Clever, but not as 100%. When confronted with a who saw him run of your horse, helpful as parsers that tell you which deathslayer or other fiend, you'll see his Energise. word is unrecognized, or if they're strung estimated damage factor. If it is 70%, together improperly. you know it won't be as hard to kill him Time Waits for No Adventurer These flaws don't seriously interfere as if it were 10%, but you also have to The story begins on Monday and ends with playing the game and have appeared keep an eye on your own damage while on Thursday. At the top of the screen in all the Mindscape adventures. And making up your mind. It's not real-time you'll see the current day and time posted; that's exactly my point: other designers action, so you can deliberate without the time changes with each move, based continually improve their parsers, doing panic. .on what you do or how far you travel on their best to make it even easier to Unless an attack misses, it may result that turn. Though there are characters to communicate with the program. in minor, moderate or severe damage. converse with, most of the puzzles are Often the enhancements are nearly The creature's damage factor is updated, object-oriented. Points are not awarded invisible to the reader/player, especially then he attacks or tries to flee. This for solving them, so you don't get ratings with Infocom's parser, but that would continues till someone manages to escape as you progress (like in the Infocom hardly be the case if Angelsoft were to at or one combatant dies. There are a few games). Inventory management is least implement multiple commands, a sound effects during the battle, but important, for you can only carry three relatively simple programming task of nothing exciting. There's no magic things, plus whatever you can jam into which all civilized parsers are capable. system, and the combat system's appeal your pockets. It's easy to map, and I Conclusions: It's not the most literate is its "lean back and attack" ease of play. suspect the layout is not extensive, which interactive fiction I've seen on my screen, If wounded, you can check into the has been the case with other text games but the author tells an interesting and Continued on page 9 produced by Angelsoft. unusual story that kept me fiddling with QuestBusters 5 Walkthroughs: Moonmist & Ultima IV's Stygian Abyss by William Carte Wash. South. Remove tweed outfit Examine ecpg. Engcp ecpg. \{ou find Wear dinner outfit Hang tweed in treasure.) Go to My Bedroom. Enter All four versions are based on the same wardrobe. Cflwuv side mirror. Ctlwuv secret passage. South. West Down. map, but the solution and placement of wall mirror. Ugctej wall mirror. Pull West. Pull lever. Enter bedroom. objects varies in each version. The main uykvej. Wait 20 minutes. Go to dining walkthru covers the Red version, which is room (repeat until you arrive). Jack's Room the most difficult By studying it you Search vcnndqa. Take pgemnceg. will see how to use the infonnation Dining Room Examine pgemnceg. Go to Ftcykpi provided on the other versions. Sit on chair. Look. Look. Get note Room. Search hnqqt (because of butler's Infonnation needed to solve the others is from Jack. Read note. Eat dinner. Eat previous remark). Yes. Take jewel. also included. The method of trapping dinner. Oqxg bust Listen to tape. Compare jewel to pgemnceg. Go to My the ghost varies in each version: Again. Again. Look under rwpejcqyn. Bedroom. sometimes you must spray it with the Read first clue. Take clue from Vivien. aerosol device, while in another you find Read second clue. South. South. My Bedroom the empty ghost costume (with a hair in Enter passage. South. West (At this it) in the secret passageway. Sitting Room stage you are so far ahead of anyone Search fgum. Take maid's note. Read playing without a walkthru that you must Key to decoding answers: Count back maid's note. Drop butler's note and wait until about 12:30.) Wait 60 two letters-- c =a, a = y, etc (=era) maid's note. North. West Down. East minutes. Wait 60 minutes. Wait 30 Take lantern. Tum lantern on. West minutes. Wait (repeat until ghost Driveway Up. Up. Up. South. (In Chapel) appears). Show cgtquqn fgwkeg to ghost Get out of car. Vqwej ornament Search ykpfqy (because of first clue). (Identified the ghost.) West West (Announce your name.) Yes. Red. Yes. Take third clue. Read third clue. North. Examine etguv. Move etguv. Play tape Get in car. S. Yes. Yes. Ask Tamara D. NE. (found evidence of crime). Knock on about ghost. Follow Tamara. Examine west door. West Show pgemnceg to Jack. Ask Jack about ghost Follow Library Jack. Show jewel to Jack. Arrest Jack. Tamara. Ask Vivien about ghost Ask Search dqqmecug. Take jkuvqta dqqm. Hyde about ghost Follow Tamara. Yes. (Notice the secret passage.) Go to foyer. Solutions to other versions: Yes. Ask Wendish about ghost Follow Drop first clue and dqqm. North. East Tamara. East Fki in itqwpf. Yes. Take fourth BLUE clue. West West South. Clues: under punchbowl, from Jack, in Your Bedroom uwkv qh ctoqt Wait. Open luggage. Get dinner outfit In Foyer Special Items: ngpu (hnqqt kp pgy itgcv Yes. Yes. Yes. Wait. Yes. North. Search wodtgnnc uvcpf. Take ecpg. jcnn), rncuvke inside yqqfgp dqz in
lever lever lever Ian's Entrance ILibrary I~ Down to Drawing peephole Room into Gallery Tamara's Entrance Landing sliding panel & lever lever U/D Vivien's m Secret Door, too Room ~ high to reach
Jack's Tower Sitting Landing Passage Passage The Secret Passageway Wkwkg's room Level Three Honor. You Answer: Purple. Descend Ghost Wkwkg Turn west Advance. Advance (into ladder. Treasure: Fossil skull in dgnn room). Exit south (into room). Exit Evidence: diary in Vivien's room south. Use: Stone. You Answer: Level Seven V alor. You Answer: Red. Descend Turn north. Advance. Turn west. GREEN ladder. Advance (into room). Exit north. Turn Clues: under punchbowl, from Jack, in west Advance (into room). Exit north. tjkpq jgcf, in fgcf gpf (in secret passage) Level Four Turn west Advance (into room). Exit Special Items: ngpu (hnqqt kp pgy itgcv Turn east Advance. Advance. Advance. north. [Open enclosed room by touching jcnn), lqwtpen in qhhkeg Advance. Advance. Advance. Turn the secret door in the south wall, then Ghost Ygpfkuj north. Advance. Advance. Turn east open the north wall by stepping in the Evidence: Oqqpokuv in kpnygnn in fgum Advance. Advance. Advance. Advance. bend of the backwards "L" .] Turn west Treasure: ncd dqqm in dqqmecug in Advance. Advance (into room). Exit Advance (into room). Exit north. [To library (against Wkwkg) north (into room). Exit north. Use: open the northern wall, step on all three Stone. You answer: Justice. You secret doors in the south wall, represented YELLOW Answer: Green. Descend ladder. by white dots; when the third one is Clues: under pilOchbowl, from Jack, in touched it will open the east and north dgnn, in eqhhkp (climb in ktqp ockfgp) walls.] Use: Stone. You Answer: Special Items: lgygn on hnqqt of Ftcykpi Spirituality. You Answer: White. Tqqo Descend ladder. Ghost V coctc Evidence: gcttkpi in lgygnta ecug in Level Eight Vcoctc's room, tgegjrv under her dgf, Turn south. Advance. Advance. Tum lqwtpcn under her dgf east Advance. Advance. Advance (into Treasure: dncem rgctn pgemnceg on room). Exit east (into room). Exit umgmgvqp in hole in dcugogpv wall north. [To open north wall you must a) (move nqqug dtkemu) step two spaces south and all the way east of north wall, which opens a portion of Level Five the southwestern wall. Then, b) step Turn south. Advance. Advance. Stygian Abyss where the southwestern wall used to be, Advance. Advance. Turn east Advance. which opens the north wall.] Advance. by Jon Champlin & Bob Bowen Advance. Advance. Advance. Advance Tum east Advance. Advance. Turn Outside Abyss (into room). Exit south (into room). south. Advance. Advance. Advance. (Latitude O' J', Longitude O' J") [Step where the Balrons were standing to Advance (into room). Exit south (into Use: Bell. Use: Book: Use: Candle. open the south wall.] Exit east (into room). Exit south (into room). [To Enter. room). [There is a secret panel two open south wall you must a) step on the spaces east and one space south of the secret wall represented by a white dot in Level One treasure treasure; this opens the east the southeastem wall. This creates Ignite torch. Turn east Advance. wall.] Exit south. Turn east Advance. another secret wall represented by a white Advance. Advance. Advance (into Advance. Advance. Advance. Use: dot in the southern wall of the Balron's room). Exit east (into room). Exit east Stone. You Answer: Sacrifice. You enclosed room. After killing the Balron, (into room). Exit south (into room). Answer: Orange. Descend ladder. step on the spot he formerly occupied. Exit south. Turn east Advance. The wall jutting out of the Balron's Advance. Turn south. Advance. Level Six enclosed room becomes a secret wall Advance (into room). Exit south (into Turn south. Advance. Advance. Turn represented by a white dot Step on this room). Exit south (into room). Exit east west Advance. Turn south. Advance. and the south wall opens.] Use: Stone. (into room). Exit east Advance. Turn east Advance (into room). Exit You Answer: Humility. You Answer: south (into room). Exit west (into Advance. Turn north. Advance. Black. Descend ladder. Advance. Use: Stone: You Answer: room). Exit south (into room). Exit east (into room). Exit north (into room). Honesty. You Answer: Blue. Descend Outside Codex Chamber Exit east (into room). Exit south (into ladder. You Say: Veramocor room). [The south wall is opened by stepping in the top right Balron cage after Level Two Inside Codex Chamber you kill him.] Exit east (into room). Turn east Advance (into room). Exit You Answer: Honesty. You Answer: [The secret bridge is activated by a) east (into room). Exit south (into Compassion. You Answer: Valor. You stepping all the way east behind the top room). Exit south (into room). Exit Answer: Justice. You Answer: magical field after killing monsters and b) east Advance. Turn north. Advance. Sacrifice. You Answer: Honor. You stepping in the southeast corner of the Advance. Advance. Advance. Turn east Answer: Spirituality. You Answer: room behind the bottom magical field, Advance. Advance. Advance. Advance. Humility. You Answer: Truth. You after killing the monsters.] Exit south Advance. Advance. Use: Stone. You Answer: Love. You Answer: Courage. (into room). Exit east Turn south. Answer: Compassion. You Answer: You Answer: Infinity. Yellow. Descend ladder. Advance. Use: Stone. You Answer: QuestBusters 7 ''The Bard is Back!'' The Best-Ever Dungeon Role-Playing Game Now available for the C-64.
FROM IMPOSSIBLE DUNGEONS and split-second • 50% bigger than Bard's Tale. snares, the Bard and his party emerge. The Sceptre, so • An all-new story line. long forgotten, gleams with power like an exploding • Six cities and a huge overland wilderness to explore. sun. Even Phenglei Kai, the ancient archmage, bows his • Dozens of new spells - 79 spells in all. head in awe. • There are over 100 monsters. Many animated. All dangerous. "I SMELL SERPENTS!" Slip finger squeals, stealing • New real-time dungeon puzzles. You have to get away like the thief he is. Two archdragons slither out of through them before the clock stops ticking. the ground, their eyes burning with the relentless fury of • Summon and name monsters to become a permanent treasure lost. part of your party. • More strategy in combat encounters - the weapons and PROTECTED BEHIND THE H.,AME LIZARDS, spells you choose depend on the enemy's distance. beyond the reach of normal weapons, a cackling wizard • 6 guilds for easier game saving. begins the eerie chants of a death spell. A spell that can • A starter-dungeon for building up your characters. finish the Bard and his party. • A bank and casino. • Optional use of Bard's Tale and Ultima III characters. THE TIME HAS COME to battle-test the magic of the Bard's Tale experience not required . Destiny Wand - and reveal the awesome powers of The • Cluebooks available for both Bard's Tale and Destiny Knight. Bard's Tale II.
ELECTRONIC ARTS™
How to get It: Visit your retailer, or call 800-245-4525 (in CA call 800-562-1112) for VISA or Mastercard orders. To buy by mail, send a check, money order, or VISA or Mastercard information to Electronic Arts, P.O. Box 7530, San Mateo, CA 94403. The price is $39.95 for the Commodore 64 version. Add $5 for shipping and handling ($7 Canadian). Allow 1-4 weeks for delivery. The Bard's Tale II and Electronic Arts are registered trademarks of Electronic Arts. Ultima is a registered trademark of Richard Garriott. Commodore is a trademark of Commodore Electronics Ltd. For a copy of our complete catalog, send 50~ and a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Electronic Arts Catalog, 1820 Gateway Drive, San Mateo, CA 94404. A couple of practical features have been good enough for a dedicated role-playing Moonmist carried over from Suspect and Deadline: game, but as an adjunct to a puzzle Continued from page 1 You can type "go to dining room" instead solving adventure it works. This aspect steering them toward the first clues. of a series of directions, and the wait also makes it a good game for younger These are bits of verse that lead you to command (which lets you quickly kill 1- family members who find the combat more clues and eventually to the treasure. 60 minutes) is useful for speeding up the systems of games like Ultima and Bard's While searching the castle you11 have game in some instances. Tale too intimidating. time to poke about for evidence Conclusions: The puzzles are logical, concerning the ghost and the crime. the story is engaging, and the prose System: Apple (64), C 64/128, Don't waste it, though, for the story, surpasses Suspect but can't match Macintosh which begins at 7:00 PM, ends twelve Deadline. With the most extensive replay Conversions: Maybe Atari 8-bit hours later when the police arrive to take value of any Infocom adventure, Skill Level: Intermediate over the investigation. There is no Duffy Moonmist should be on every mystery Price: $24.95, C; $34.95, Apple; or lab to which you may send evidence to fan's shopping list (If it's not already in $44.95, Mac be analyzed, so you're solely dependent on their inventory.) Company: Software Investments Plus, your own wits in puzzling out this POB 13, Appleton, MO 64724 mystery. At the end, you can read the System: All Home Computers 816-476-2580 "author's explanation" of the plot, which Skill Level: Novice to Intermediate tells exactly what happened. who did it, Price: Atari 8-bit, C64/128, $34.95; and why. I like this idea, since it wraps others, $39 .95 Gunslinger up any loose ends the player might be Company: Infocom Continued from page 1 wondering about letter from the keyboard or choose the Extra Replay Value Destiny desired letter from a second on-screen menu that appears only when you move And after solving Moonmist you can Continued from page 5 the arrow over the right side of the replay it, for there are four color-coded Adventure Inn and emerge wholly versions of the game: red, green, yellow graphics window. restored. You pay for this with gold, as Because of the game's limited and blue. At the outset, you type in your you do for the swords, armor, shields and vocabulary, it's usually not hard to figure name as Lord Jim Dudley, Miss Anna other items in the store. But some of the out what to do in a given situation by Stetic, or whatever, then the program merchandise, especially magical asks for your favorite color. Your reply simply glancing over the word lists. In paraphernalia, cannot be bought with determines which version you will play. the back room of the saloon in Dawson gold You must collect gems and other (Or you can pick purple, orange or some for instance, you encounter some of th~ valuables to trade for these things. Your other color and the program will pick the locals (including Jesse Dalton) in the current stats (gold, damage, gems and middle of a hot poker game. After version, so you won't know which one age, which begins at fifteen) are shown in finding the word "gamble" in the list of you're playing.) They vary in difficulty, a small box below the verb list and red is apparently the trickiest. In each verbs, it's not too hard to figure out how Sound judgment-knowing when to version, the objects are found in different to get in on the action. Because the word fight and when to flee-is the key to areas, and some that are valuable in one list tips off the correct response in most successful combat. And if you are killed, version are useless in the others. situations, the adventure's puzzles are the game is over. Sure, you can save a Another departure from the Infocom easy to solve, which makes Gunslinger a game in progress. But it is erased when formula crops up in the area of the good introduction to the genre. But you reload it, as in the Eamon system, scoring system-no points are awarded advanced gamers would probably be Gemstone Healer and AutoDuel. The for puzzle-solving. Instead, the program bored difference is that you can't back-up the borrows the method introduced in Another reason it rates as an saved game because it is saved on the Broderbund's Interactive Novels. When introductory level adventure is that you'll program disk. Though the graphics take you type "score" or quit, you'll read a find it difficult to do anything wrong. up both sides of the disk, their quality is brief list of your accomplishments: "So Try to shoot the barber, or rob the bank inconsistent Some, especially the far you've found the treasure, but haven't in Dawson, for example-instead of monsters, are crudely drawn, while others identified the ghost or found the having to deal with the consequences, you are about what you'd expect to see in a evidence." Another big difference is that simply read that "as an ex-Ranger your Penguin adventure (they were drawn with a room's contents won't always be moral fibre is too strong to break the law Penguin's Graphics Magician). mentioned in the game text. An without good reason." Fortunately, you Conclusions: Those who demand accompanying brochure provides a map of do get to blast Jessie Dalton when you quality art won't find it here. However, the castle, however, and describes such catch him cheating at cards. Otherwise the game's interface makes it suitable for items. This serves as a form of copy your stay in Dawson might really be adventurers who relish combat but don't protection, since you'll need the map in boring. The way I figure it, even ex want to master a complex command order to solve all the puzzles. In addition Rangers like to raise a little hell once in a system. Initially I thought the combat while. to the brochure, you get a collection of routine was too basic, but finally decided ghost stories about famous spirits of When you shoot Jessie, don't forget to I liked not having to make a lot of Cornwall, a "Moonmist" t-shirt iron-on, collect your winnings, all 80 cents. decisions for a change. This wouldn't be and the letter from Tamara You11 need this money to buy a stage Continued on page 11 QuestBusters 9 Waiting for Duffy Send SASE for free help in KEYS TO THE KINGDOM lm:k..l. Hitchhiker's Guide, Dujfy's at the SuperBowl so Black Cauldron, Witness, if you're stuck in an adventure King's Quest 1 & 2, send in a brief ad. Witness, Enchanter. Jennifer The Pawn Shulman, 12 Ardmore Rd., If you can't get the Guru to stop laughing, use the ujtv to Deja vu: Got to Auburn Rd, Scarsdale, NY 10583. cover the ytkuvdcpf. Don't bother fiddling with the stump found timetable. Now what? until you've give the Guru what he wants. You'll need to Roger Buttermore, 65 Princes Moebius: Can't get off Earth get past the boulder to do so, which involves using the ujtv St, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Plane. Am lOth level, all with the jrg and the tcmg. Australia, 7005. lives. Phil Raino, POB 750, Randoph AFB, TX 78148. Asylum: NEED HELP! Have Moebius mapped most of it, but can't Bar
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SWAP SHOP adventures. Send list & price to with Rama. Will trade for The Want adventures for 800 or Continued from previous page Jeff Mox.low, 8957 Burnside Quest, Ballyhoo, Starcross, 130XE. Write if you have any. Rd., Brown City, MI 48416. Amazon, Witness, Infidel & B. Smith, 3035 Montego, Want all Ultimas, Moebius, many more. Byron Byrd, 5160 Piano, TX 75023. Rings of Zilfin & AutoDuel. Games for sale or trade: write Verdun Ave., Los Angeles, CA Will trade or sell Cutthroats, for free list of new & old 90043. 213-294-9216. azon & Countdown to adventiifeS:' Kevin Kraus, 33 Passport to Shutdown. H. Stecker, 406 S. Fox '1lill1rd., Shrewsbury, MA ATARI Dellwood, Cambridge, MN 01545. For sale, $15 each: Realm of Adventure 55008. Impossibility, Archon 1 & 2, Sell or trade: 64 '~t [for Lode Runner. $20 each: Zork 2 Sale/trade: Suspended, C128], utilities disk. Want any & 3, entire Enchanter series, For a 10-20% discount on NEW Starcross, Deadline, all Zorks, lnfocom but Hitch or Zorks. Hitchhiker, 7 Cities of Gold, games, order from QB-& get 3 Quest for Holy Grail, See-kah Mike Bagnall, RD #1, Box 95, extra issues of the newsletter [1 Cutthroats, IBtima 1. $22: for books] for each one ordered. of Assiah, Gates of Dawn, Hero . New Freedom, PA 17349. Zork 1 w/map. $25: Deadline of Golden Talisman, Give My w/map & hintbook. $35: Regards to Broad St $15 each. IBM & Qu~st-alikes · IBtima 3. All with original Gunslinger, AP, AT, C ...... $25 Questron, Phantasie 1 & 2, Trade or sell: King's Quest I & docs and boxes. J. Weigley, Titanic ...... c. $25 $26.50 each. Many others, will 2, Black Cauldron, The Quest, 327 S. Smedley St, High Stakes.PC, AP, M. $35.95 trade on most Want Brimstone Oo-topos, Infidel. Marc Philadelphia, PA 19103. Fairlight ...... C ...... $25 & Mindwheel. Write lst: S. Manderino, 38 Maynard Ave., Moonmist C & AT St, $29.95 Bugaj, POB 1997, E. Waterbury, CT 06708. ST games wanted. Send list of others ...... $35.95 Hampton, NY 11937. 516-324- Bard's Tale 2 ...... C ... $37 .95 what you want to sell to David Earthly Delights ... AP, PC & 3329. [No collect calls.] Want to buy Wishbringer, Aultfather, 13209 Dessau Rd., compatibles, Mac...... $25 complete with docs & box. Austin, TX 78753. Amnesia: AP...... $37.95 Will trade my adventures, hints, Jennifer Shulman, 12 Ardmore Roadwar: AP, C ...... $37.95 solutions for yours. C. Rd., Scarsdale, NY. To sell for At 800: Cosmic Shard of Spring: AP, C .. $37.95 R.audonis, 45 Pelham Rd., Balance 1 & 2 [these also run Oo-topos: AP, C ...... $16.95 Hudson, NH 03051. Trade or sell ($25 each]: on Apple], Universe 1, all Book of Adventure 1 or 2 .... $19 Borrowed Time, Sherlock lnfocom titles, many more. C. Enclose $1.95 for shipping & Have Planetfall, Aztec, Treasure Holmes, King's Quest 1 & 2, Muller, 514 SW 34th St, Apt Island, originals w/docs. Will handling & make check payable Spellbreaker, Hitchhiker, 6, Gainesville, FL 32607. to QuestBusters™. Sorry, no trade these & more for other Planetfall, Suspect, Enchanter, Canadian or overseas orders. PA originals. Also will buy some all Zork:s, Sorcerer, Rendezvous residents add 6% sales tax.