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Quarterstaff _uestBusterSM ;j t The Adventurers' Journal Vol. VI,# 2 February, 1989 $2.50 Infocom' s first RPG: Quarterstaff r • 11111 • le,. leor DIA: On:ul•r lo°"' 14(101, ly vanished By Stephen Payne ground n. ... yet seen in a role-playing world and . inhabitants. game. Almost everything im­ """"""' More than a year ago, a mod­ defeat the QlLDm You begin aginable could be done with est brown envelope from Sim­ forces of GRAnlT"""' at the cave menus and mouse-clicks. On ulated Environment Systems evil" va- taotblun entrance the negative side, however, nlTE arrived on my doorstep. In­ riety, yet HKn with a char- .....,,,,~ the original program was slow side was Quarterstaff, ready with • acternamed and bug-infested. It seemed for review. Since the pro­ enough •aunro Titus and that every few weeks I would gram required at least lMB of surprises Van4. pick up ad- hit an unsalvageable glitch, memory, it sat forlornly on to keep ditional just about the time that a new my desk for another month, me companions, upgrade would arrive, suppos­ till Santa replaced my Mac interested. weapons and supplies along edly correcting earlier prob­ 512K with an SE. Once up In this case you are leading the way as you move slowly lems. Sad to say, none of the and running, however, Quar­ a party of adventurers into the from room to room. upgrades could use saved terstaff turned out to be a fan­ complex, three-level subterra­ games from previous ver­ tasy role-playing game of the nean ''Tree Druid colony" to Serendipitously Seeking sions, so I kept having to re­ usual "explore an under- discover the fate of its recent- Setmoth start from scratch. Since I In the course of the adven­ always try to complete a game ture you discover monsters before rendering any opinion, 10,OOO Hit Points & and magical items galore, the review never got done along with traps and secret (though I ended up with the Six Free Issues! doors. Gradually you learn beginnings of a nice collec­ To a publication, subscribers Airmail). This offer applies that the source of all this evil tion of master disks). are like hit points: you can even if the new subscriber and devastation is Setmoth, a On their behalf, I must say never have too many, but uses one of the cards found in bloodthirsty demi-god from that authors Scott Schmitz you're in trouble if the number games from Sir Tech, Infoc­ an alternate astral plane and Ken Updike at Simulated falls too low. Don't panic, be­ om, Sierra, New World, SSI, whom you must search out Environment Systems were cause there are currently 3,500 Magnetic Scrolls, First Row and destroy. He lies securely always most gracious and QuestBuster subscribers, so and the Sierra newsletter (but imprisoned in a special tomb cooperative when I phoned we'll be around for awhile-at not cards from Quest/or on the them with leas through Ultima 7. But Clues). You can give some­ lowest Type: Fantasy Role-playing · the latest when you consider the number one a gift sub to get your free level, Systems: Macintosh, Mac II bug reports. of people actually playing ad­ issues-but even though char­ hence ( 1 megabyte and one SOOK The game, venture games, 3,500 is still ity begins at home, yoli can't the new drive required for both; color for them, not a lot. So we've set a goal give a gift sub to yourself or a subtitle. graphics disk for Mac II costs was obvi­ for this year: 10,000 subscri­ household member. The $1 O; owners of original game ously no bers by December 31, 1989. plot will can upgrade for $20 with quick rip­ One way you can help ful­ Renewal Blues sound proof of purchase) off, but a fill this quest is by getting eve­ It's also a good idea to familiar Planned Conversions: GS , labor of check your mailing label for ryone you know to subscribe enough IBM love that - and you '11 get six free is­ the expiration date when you to sea­ they kept get each issue. The month sues for each person who men­ soned improving. Meanwhile, fa­ named on the label is the last tions your name when they gamers, but the original Quar­ vorable mini-reviews began subscribe (four if you're re­ issue you will receive. We terstaff featured perhaps the appearing in other journals send out cards a few weeks ceiving First Class or Canadi­ most extensive and innovative like MacUser (though I find it an delivery, two if overseas use of the Mac mterface I've Continued on page 15 Continued on page 12 / Letter3 ~ Adventure Hotline . to the ~ Editor What's an Adventure? information, write ACS Fanclub, 3421 E. Dear QuestBusters: Some software companies still don't Yale, Phoenix, AZ 85008.= The yellow brochure you send out lists know what they're selling: Electronic only game reviews and interviews, not a Arts, for example, just sent out a press re­ Coming Soon to a Computer in hint as to what's in the "Keys to the lease calling their Reel Fish 'n a "a bass Your Neighorhood Kingdoms" in each issue. How about publishing a list telling which issues have fishing adventure .... " Would somebody Look for Spinnaker's The Scoop, an Aga­ Keys to various games. Since most peo­ tha Christie tale, for the Apple and IBM please give us adventurers a personal-type ple only need a clue or two to get past a break? This is even more off the wall next month. The company has been con­ dead-end point, they could then buy a few than the reviewer who once called Type centrating on VCR games lately, releasing back issues instead of a $24.95 book with Attack an adventure game. EA's not titles such as RoboCop. Cinenaware's all the clues. alone, for Buena Vista Software, in a next title will be Lords of the Rising Sun. R. C. Stone blurb about their upcoming Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, describes it as an "adven­ AD & D IBM Update True, most people only need a few clues. ture that's more than an arcade game." The IBM version of Pool of Radiance re­ But they don't always need the same quires at least 384K, two disk drives or a ones, the reason we publish detailed solu­ New Quests for a New Year hard drive. It supports 16-color Tandy, tions. And the drawback to buying a bunch of back issues with Keys to a game Guardians ofInfinity, Paragon's all-text CGA and EGA graphics and is shipping is that you might buy five or six and still time travel story that sends you back to in different packages for 3.5" and 5.25" not find the clue you need. (Also, Keys, save JFK from the lone gunman (if you disks. unlike walkthrus, are not verified.) The still believe that one), is out for the IBM. brochure doesn't have space for all the So is Battletech, Infocom 's role-playing Awards from Game Developers' Keys, so it just names the walkthrus. But game based on the paper and pencil game Conference if enough people request it, we will pub­ from F ASA. 'Zork 'Zero finally arrived for Last month we mentioned that Origin was lish such a list in an upcoming issue. the Mac. Interstel has an IBM strategy­ voted Best Publisher by game designers oriented RPG called Scavengers, set in yet attending the September conference in Dear QuestBusters: another "post-holocaust future." And if Silicon Valley. Other awards included: How about a section that tells what will you like strategy/wargaming with a fanta­ Best Producer-Epyx' s Matt Householder be in the next issue? And how about making a cover or spicing up the title? sy setting, look for PSS's Sorcerer Lord, (Impossible Mission II, Art and Film Di­ Andrew Arno which seems reminiscent of Defender of rector, The Games series); Most Innova­ the Crown (IBM, Amiga and ST). tive Publisher-Cinemaware (Rocket Easier said than done, since we' re not al­ Ranger, Defender of the Crown); Best ways sure what will be in the next issue. Conversions Quality Control-MicroProse (Pirates, F- Review copies and reviews often arrive The AppleNeuromancer is out; Amiga 15, Gunship); and Best Technical Sup­ late, early or not at all (the Mars Saga re­ and IBM are scheduled for early this year. port-Electronic Arts. The next confer­ view in this issue was meant for last AC 64 Demon's Winter should have ar­ ence will be held in May. For info, write: month.for example, but nooooooo!). A rived by now. Pirates has set sail on the Computer Game Developers' Conference fancy cover would cut down on the Mac, and so has Where in the World is '89, POB 50282, Palo Alto, CA 94303. amount of text, but the World's Best Fan­ Carmen San Diego?. The Apple Pool of tasy Artist is doing a new logo. Radiance was set for February. Bard's Play-By-Mail Breakthrough Tale II showed up for the IBM (512K re­ Finally, a PBM company is using comput­ Editor: Shay Addams quired). Star Saga is out for the Apple 2. er graphics instead of just sending players News Editor: Nuyu a print-out of numbers telling them what Contributing Editors: Ken St Andre, Tim ACS: The Handbook happened on their last turn. The Next Em­ Snider, Stephen King, Brian Smith, Bob Guerra, William E.
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