Eamon Adventurers Guild
September 1995

September 1995

News and Stuff

Kansasfest Report:

It was great! You shoulda been there. Once again held at Avila College in Kansas City, MO, this year’s event was somewhat different from past years. Past Kfests have been dominated by young hot-dog hackers and professional programmers, and it was neat to meet and hobnob with the great Names of our hobby.

But this is the year after Apple got out of the Apple II business, and it was also a year where Mac prices finally became affordable for many users. Sales of new Apple II products plummeted, forcing some old familiar Apple II programmers to move on to the Mac in order to feed their families. And if that wasn’t enough, Kfest fell close enough to a big Mac show in Boston that many old friends of the Apple II were forced to skip our gathering in order to attend the other.

The upshot of this was that this year’s Kfest was much quieter than years past. It seemed to me that the average age of the Kfest attendee was higher, with a heavy percentage of people who have been using the Apple II for 10 years or more, and came because they simply like the computer and the people who use it.

Apart from PowerBooks, it seemed to me that there were fewer Macs in attendance than in the past couple of years. Kfest this year was one for the true Apple II enthusiast.

I had a great time! It was terrific to finally meet fellow Eamonauts Dan Cross, Dave Grenda, and Margaret Anderson, after many years of pleasant correspondence with them. They all turned out to be wonderful people in person, too. Indeed, if there’s one common thread among today’s remaining Apple II users, it’s that they are very nice people.There are still new products coming to market for the Apple IIgs. We saw previews of new desktop enhancements, a fax program, a morphing program, and the new graphical “front end” for GEnie.

Some other sessions included seminars on the Internet, networking, multimedia, controlling real world devices, soldering, and a very popular repair session titled “Things You Could Do For Your Computer If You Could Just See Someone Do Them Once”. Another popular session centered on Alltech’s Tony Diaz’ portable GS.

Finally, there were a few Mac presentations, but the only one I attended was an announcement by Apple of yet another new line of Macs.

The bottom line is this: Kfest is not for hot dogs or super programming weenies. It’s a chance for Apple II enthusiasts of all brands and stripes to get together and get to meet and know one another. You will never meet a finer bunch of people anywhere. There are no invisible lines drawn between professional and amateur, between expert and beginner. You might be eating lunch in the cafeteria and have somebody like Joe Kohn sit down next to you because it is the first empty seat he spotted.

I can promise this: if you come next year, you won’t be sorry. ____________

While playing an Eamon the other day I was treated to a most unusual random event. I was participating in a melee among several combatants on both sides. As one combat round began, I dropped my sword. “Rats!” I thought, “I hate it when that happens!” Then I watched in wonder as every combatant proceeded to drop his weapon!

I was struck by the scene, imagining all the fighters standing about in stunned, slack-jawed amazement as they blinked at one another….

New Adventures

SD156 The Curse of Talon by Sam Ruby 232 Jewel of Yara by Hoyle Purvis 233 The Domain of Zenoqq by Robert Claney 234 The Forbidden City by Robert Parker

“The Curse of Talon” is the third Softdisk Eamon adventure. Reviewed in this issue.

“Jewel of Yara” is another “orphan” Eamon adventure. Hoyle dropped out over a year ago with this Eamon 90% done. I suspect that his desire to outdo himself with each new Eamon did him in, as he wanted to program several “very• difficult features in his original vision of the plot and play. In this Eamon, you begin by escaping from imprisonment, and eventually wind up saving a city from an evil wizard.

In “The Domain of Zenoqq”, you are tasked to rescue a good wizard from the clutches of an evil one. It is PRODOS ONLY, and it REQUIRES 80-col. display. It uses a highly-modified v4 Eamon system that would take enormous effort to convert to DOS 3.3, so it is very likely that this Eamon will remain unavailable in DOS 3.3.

“The Forbidden City” is DOS 3.3, but REQUIRES an 80-column display. Reviewed in this issue.

Dungeon Designs

An Index of past EAG designer articles

• Jun’95 MAIN PGM Tour, Part IV An English-language description of every statement in the MAIN PGM.

• Mar’95 MAIN PGM Tour, Part III Also: Trick Programming for Monster Weapons: how to “share” one weapon artifact among multiple monsters; how to vary the weapons held by a group monster

• Dec’94 MAIN PGM Tour, Part II Also: A Correction to the 10-Direction Tutorial from Dec’90 EAG issue

• Sep’94 MAIN PGM Tour, Part I Also: On-the-fly Text Formatting: Frank Kunze’s clever Applesoft code that automatically figures and makes line breaks in DESC text without any special line padding required.

• Jun’94 A description of all of the programs included on the EAG Utilities Disk

• Mar’94 Tips on effective Artifact usage: Monster Weapons; the USER Fields; Synonyms; Special Checks; Closed Artifacts

• Dec’93 How to Cheat while Playing Eamon: a cookbook tutorial on how to get out of or around tough spots while playing an Eamon adventure

• Sep’93 Designing and Testing your Eamon Adventure: The Design; Data Entry; Playtesting; Suggestions

• Jun’93 The EAG Procedure for Submitting and Testing New Eamons for Release

• Mar’93 Adding a New Command: a step-by-step cookbook tutorial

• Dec’92 Bug Fixes You Can Do: what various error messages mean; how to recognize and perform easy fixes; how to do bug reports

• Sep’92 A Complete Listing and Description of All Variables Used in the MAIN PGM

• Jun’92 The Synonym Checker: A step-by-step cookbook tutorial

• Mar’92 Back to the Basics: Monsters A step-by-step cookbook tutorial

• Dec’91 Announcement and Program Listing of the UNIVERSAL CHECK FILES program

• Sep’91 An Index of past designer articles; includes NEUC issues back to Mar’84

• Jun’91 Back to the Basics: Containers How to program and use; step-by-step examples

• Mar’91 Back to the Basics: Rooms and Doors A step-by-step cookbook tutorial

• Dec’90 Using 10 Directions in Version 7.0 How to modify the MAIN PGM; pitfalls to watch for

• Sep’90 Eamon Style and Technique: the Storyteller’s Craft How to plot & write an Eamon adventure

• Jun’90 Converting Eamon Adventures to ProDOS A step-by-step discussion of the procedure

• Mar’90 Designing Descriptions for 40/80 Option How to write descriptions that look good in both 40-column and 80-column formats

• Dec’89 Basic Eamon Routines Modifying Commands; POWER and USE commands

• Sep’89 Using Effects for Eamon Games How to make & use your own special effects

• Jun’89 Traps and Obstructions Guidelines for proper design to ensure maximum player enjoyment

• Mar’89 The Parameters Option Making special Artifact types

• Dec’88 Increasing free memory space

• Sep’88 Efficient Applesoft programming

• Jun’88 How to Properly Show Room Exits

Bugs’n’Fixes

Note: several of the following bugs involve incorrect data in EAMON.\NAME. This will cause no problems when playing the game, but may cause problems when doing editing, and will generate a verification failure with the old version of the UNIVERSAL CHECK FILES program.

EAMON.\NAME is most easily fixed by reading in the current data, closing the file, re-opening the file, and rewriting it with fixed data.

The version 5 EAMON.\NAME contains the adventure name and the number of directions. Version 6’s contains the adventure name, the number of directions, and the dungeon version number.

For #41, open the file, read in the name, close the file, open the file, rewrite the name to disk, write “10”, then close.

For the others noted below, open the file, read in all three variables, close the file, make the change as noted, re-open the file, and write the three variables back to the file. ____________

#22 The Senator’s Chambers (DOS 3.3 ONLY) Date Fixed: 8/18/95

Problem: FLASH prints as garbage on some Apples. Fix: In Lines 3015,6080,6090,6100,18230,20100, change FLASH to INVERSE

Also, the Speed-up mods were added. ____________

#26 Assault on the Mole Man Date Fixed: 7/3/95 (ProDOS Rev. 7/8/95)

The Speed-up mods were added. ____________

#27 Revenge of the Mole Man Date Fixed: 7/3/95 (ProDOS Rev. 7/8/95)

Problem: LOOK does not reveal extra room info Fix: 6010 LK = 0

Also, the Speed-up mods were added. ____________

#41 Caverns of Lanst (DOS 3.3 ONLY) Date Fixed: 6/21/95

Problem: EAMON.NAME contains incorrect data Fix: change number of directions to 10 ____________

#131 Nucleus of the Ruby Date Fixed: 5/8/95

Problem: The bug fix dated 1/4/94 was bad. Fix: Add this line: 1200 PRINT DK$"PR#3" ____________

#155 Tomb of the Vampire (DOS 3.3 ONLY) Date Fixed: 6/21/95

Problem: EAMON.NAME contains incorrect data Fix: change dungeon version to 5 ____________

#154 A Trip to Fort Scott (DOS 3.3 ONLY) Date Fixed: 6/21/95

Problem: EAMON.NAME contains incorrect data Fix: change dungeon version to 5 ____________

#186 Beginner’s Cave II Date Fixed: 6/21/95

Problem: EAMON.NAME contains incorrect data Fix: change dungeon version to 6 ____________

#197 Star Wars-Tempest One Date Fixed: 6/21/95

Problem: OUT OF DATA error Fix: Use DUNGEON EDIT to delete the last Effect, then add a new Effect #3, and enter this text for the effect: APPLE //C ____________

#227 B I Z A R R O Date Fixed : 6/21/95

Problem: EAMON.NAME contains incorrect data Fix: change dungeon version to 5 ____________

EAG Utilities Disk (DOS 3.3 VERSION ONLY) Date Fixed: 6/23/95

I spent a month using the UNIVERSAL CHECK FILES program to check out every single DOS 3.3 Eamon. I discovered several problems with the UCF, and found some Eamons that had incorrect data in EAMON.NAME, which bombs UCF and can cause editing trouble, also.

I learned that I had made a wrong assumption about version 5 Eamons. I thought that room light had been added as an undocumented change and that some v5 Eamons had room light.

After much research, I determined that using the modern v6 DUNGEON EDIT on a v5 Eamon will add light to the room data if it is edited. This is harmless to play, but is responsible for my mistaken assumption and caused about a dozen Eamons to fail the UCF check. I redid UCF to assume that all v5 Eamons do not have light.

Another discovery was that the NEUC’s upgrade of Eamons 2-5 to version 4 was done in such a way that it fooled UCF into thinking that they were V5’s. This was also fixed.

I also discovered a couple of genuine bugs in UCF. And it has now been upgraded so it can check every DOS 3.3 Eamon in the list. As I said above, this all took a month of steady work, as I had to check about 400 Eamons before I was satisfied that all works as it should.

Here are the significant changes:

(1) Delete 30-35 and 38-50 and add these lines:

25  PRINT D$"OPEN EAMON\.NAME": PRINT D$"READ EAMON\.NAME": INPUT DU$
30  DV = 4:LT = 0:LT$ = "NO"
33  ONERR GOTO 47
35  INPUT ND
36  DV = 0
45  INPUT DV:DV$ = STR$ (DV): IF DV > 5 THEN LT = 1:LT$ = "YES": A8 = 1: GOTO 60
47  IF NOT ND AND NOT DV THEN DV = 5
50  IF ND AND NOT DV THEN DV = 5

(2) In Line 60, change: …D7 = (DV = > 7): IF… to: …D7 = (DV = > 7): DV$ = STR$ (DV): IF…

(3) Replace this line: 80 POKE 216,0: PRINT D$”CLOSE”: GOSUB 2000

(4) Delete Lines 82-90

(5) In Line 100, change DV to DV$

(6) In Line 325, change: …ARTIFACTS:”: FOR M = 1 TO NA… to: …ARTIFACTS:”:INPUT NA: FOR M = 1 TO NA…

(7) In Line 326, change: …OR D7 THEN… to: …OR D7 OR A8 THEN…

(8) In Line 340, change: …OR D7 THEN… to: …OR D7 OR A8 THEN…

(9) In Line 355, change: …MONSTERS:”: FOR M = 1 TO NM… to: …MONSTERS:”: INPUT NM: FOR M = 1 TO NM…

(10) In Line 2070, change NA = 64 to LA = 64

(11) Add these lines:

2080  IF DU$ = "CAVERNS OF LANST" THEN ND = 10: GOTO 2900
2100  IF DU$ = "A TRIP TO FORT SCOTT"  THEN DV = 5:LT = 0:LT$ = "NO"
2110  IF DU$ = "TOMB OF THE VAMPIRE"  THEN DV = 5:LT = 0:LT$ = "NO"
2120  IF DU$ = "BEGINNERS CAVE II"  THEN DV = 6:D7 = 0:SL = 256:RO = 0:  AO = 100:EO = 200: MO = 300:LR = 64:  LN = 64:LA = 128:LM = 128: GOTO 2900
2130  IF DU$ = "MEAN STREETS" THEN  LR = 32: GOTO 2900
2150  IF DU$ = "B I Z A R R O" THEN  DV = 5:LT = 0:LT$ = "NO"
2170  IF DU$ = "THE BEGINNERS CAVE"  THEN NE = 6: GOTO 2900

Besides the above modifications, there were extensive mods made to make it possible to check #145B, #161C, #166C, and #204. There were a few cosmetic changes, also. These mods are too extensive to list here; a new copy of the EAG Utilities disk is recommended. You can get this through the EAG update program for $1, can get it from your favorite public-domain vendor, or can download it from an online service. ___

Adventure Reviews

#15 Heroes Castle by John Nelson

Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski

MAIN PGM Version: 4 Extra Commands: Deleted Commands: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-90 min. Reviewer Rating: 4.0 Average Rating: 4.3/3

Description: “You come upon a beautiful maiden crying. Her lover has disappeared, supposedly abducted. After reassuring her that you would investigate his disappearance, you find the castle where he is being held.”

Comment: This is a very standard “kill’n’loot” scenario with very little to make it stand out. Most of the bad guys are named GUARD#. There are quite a few specials, but you don’t need any of them to complete the quest and will probably miss most of them.

The map contains 80 rooms, though the content is rather haphazard. John was obviously writing for fun. This Eamon has very much the same flavor of the original “Beginners Cave”. I give it a rating of (4) for difficulty. ____________

#22 The Senator’s Chambers by James Plamondon

Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski

MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: OPE Special Features: None Special Features: None Playing Time: 20-30 min. Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Average Rating: 4.9/6

Description: “The Senator has been in politics for along time, and has thereby amassed a small fortune. His chambers are quite well guarded, though he does not really believe anyone would ever invade his stronghold.

“Rumor has it that the senator has kidnapped a number of his political rivals (of which there were once many; now there are few). It is now thought that the person most likely to still be in the senator’s foul clutches is the good Sir Charles of Aknor, former counselor to the king.

“You stand before the senator’s house, a lonely edifice far from other buildings or people. It is almost midnight, and the house is still, though a few lights burn. It is time to begin.”

Comment: This is a short and simple foray. The map is that of a large house. There is very little in the way of special stuff to see or do. There are about 15 guards named GUARD #.

Still, I found it to be a solidly-crafted member of the “hack’n’slash” genre and a pleasant play. I give it a (3) for difficulty.

Note the FLASH bug-fix in this issue. Any time you see garbage MouseText while playing Eamon, this is usually the cause. ____________

#26 Assault on the Mole Man by John Nelson

Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski

MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: PUSH, DRINK Special Features: None Playing Time: 30-90 min. Reviewer Rating: 5.0 Average Rating: 6.0/3

Description: “You decided to investigate some strange rumblings in the Marewood Forest. You found some tracks and started following them, and soon found yourself lost. Just as you were about to give up hope, you felt a hand grab you around the ankle and pull you into a pit. You were caught by surprise and had no chance to fight back. You lost consciousness when you got below ground level.”

Comment: This is one of the many “just for fun” Eamons that John is rightly famous for. To give you an idea of the seriousness of this dungeon, the companions you acquire are none other than the Fantastic Four!

You’ll find no quest other than simple escape. There isn’t too much to figure out, apart from finding and pushing a bunch of buttons. The monsters are fairly mundane and usually not very interesting. There is one no-warning death trap in the form of a 1,000-man army.

Because of the army, and a couple of the button puzzles are a bit obscure, this otherwise easy romp gets a (7) for difficulty. One hint: a console is likely to have buttons on it.

#27 Revenge of the Mole Man by John Nelson

Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski

MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: READ, OPEN, DRINK Deleted Commands: N Extra Commands:-2 Hours Reviewer Rating: 6.0 Average Rating: 6.0/4

Description: “You learn about a mysterious disappearance. Not your typical everyday disappearance, but a disappearance on a grand scale. An entire village has disappeared! Where the village once stood there is a gaping hole in the ground. You suspect only the villainous Mole Man could have perpetrated such a thing, but you do not know how to reach the villain so you go about it the only way you can.

You set off for the Marewood Forest to find the same quicksand that you found once before (by accident, actually). Well, you’ve succeeded in locating the same spot as before and you were dragged into the bog.”

Comment: This sequel to Eamon #26 is perhaps a bit more serious, but not a lot, with companions who are named Eddie, Neddie, and Freddie!

This time there is a quest, sort of: to rescue the village, though this is not specifically outlined anywhere. With the exception of one device that you have to figure out how to use, this is pretty much a straight hack’n’slash outing. There is another dumb army to defeat, and this time you do have to do something with it, since the room is significant.

Between the army and the device, this otherwise simple foray gets bumped up to a difficulty rating of (7). Be sure to remember to use full names when checking stuff out!

#178 The Alien Intruder by Robert Parker

Reviewed by Phil Moore

MAIN PGM Version: 5 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: N Extra Commands:: 2.0 Average Rating: 3.0/2

Description: The adventure starts out with a distress call from MOON BASE to Mission Control. A Russian Top Secret experiment escaped and is headed towards MOON BASE.

Comments: If you are expecting some one-eyed, seven-legged creature that trashes the base, forget it. I found no such creature in the adventure. This is a short hack’n’slash grab-the-loot scenario. The mapping was rather unique and could cause problems if you are not paying attention. I got lost a couple of times, but was able to recover when I found myself back at the start. The author is actually trying to get you lost, so carefully read what is on the screen. The monsters are not very original, either. There are no sudden death traps, or much of anything else special.

I liked the way that the monsters just showed up at random; I played it several times, and the monsters moved around. There are a bunch of friendly monsters, which I didn’t like, because they caused the text to scroll off the screen before I could read it. You could probably take a weak character and not die because of all the friends. I used a regular character from the Main Hall with no spells and a Main Hall weapon.

I rated it low because there is no mission or plot, the monsters were boring and mundane with repetitive names (ALIEN, ALIEN, ALIEN). If you are a stickler for spelling, you’ll find some errors. On the other hand, I liked the way that the monsters showed up differently on each restart, the unique map, and absence of death traps. I probably would have rated it higher if the monsters were more interesting, there had been a bit of plot or quest, and even one simple locked door puzzle or special effect.

It is probably a good choice for a beginner or young Eamonaut to play right after the Beginners Cave.

</div>

#234 The Forbidden City by Robert Parker

Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski

MAIN PGM Version: 7 Extra Commands: None Deleted Commands: None Special Features: 80-col. only; Lo-res puzzle Playing Time: 2-3 h Extra Commands: Description: An assassination attempt has been made on the King! He was cut by a poisoned blade, and now lies near death.

The attempt was done by the King of Assassins, himself. You must find him and obtain the antidote to the poison, before the king dies.

Comment: This Eamon was written for Softdisk back when they were first soliciting an Eamon from us. It had 5 or 6 minor problems, and when Rob learned that Sam had submitted “Redemption”, he gave up in the face of such overwhelming competition. While I was waiting for Rob to resubmit this as a regular Eamon, he got himself a PC and is now permanently out of the Eamon business. After checking with Rob, I fixed the problems and released it.

It has a much better finish than most of Rob’s Eamons, with many little touches and specials that enhance the play. However, its 90-room map is largely empty. Mapping the seemingly endless tunnels got tiresome enough that I considered a lower rating, but in the end the Good Stuff won me over. If the map had been somewhat smaller, it would likely have gotten a (6) rating.

There are a couple of puzzles that don’t make any sense at all to me, but I was able to solve one by simply guessing from the 4 alternatives. To solve the other, make a point of searching out seemingly unimportant junk and toting it along with you, and it will solve itself.

The bad guys are heavy enough that you’ll want to bring along a magic weapon. A (7) is about right for difficulty, mostly for the puzzles.

Softdisk #156 The Curse of Talon by Sam Ruby

Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski

MAIN PGM Version: 7 (heavily modified) Extra Commands: CAST, RESTORE, QUIT, MODE Deleted Commands: HEAL, BLAST, SPEED, POWER Special Features: Requires 80-col. display; accepts lower-case input; standalone, does not use Eamon Master; too many others to list! Playing Time: 3-6 hours Reviewer Rating: 9.0 Extra Commands: shorten Sam’s usual long and convoluted intro, you and a small band of worthies are tasked to recover the long-lost Rod of Talon, needed to nullify a curse that is laying waste to the countryside.

Your companions will include a Cleric, versed in the healing arts and in spellcasting, a Scholar, steeped in knowledge and lore, a Fighter of no small strength, and a Squire to serve as helper.

Comments: This Eamon is good. I mean, really good. Virtually every aspect of Eamon gaming has been greatly enhanced, adding tremendously to the overall texture and experience.

Each of your companions has special abilities that you will need to fulfill the quest. The usual list of exits has been expanded to reflect the situation in combat. Sam used his wonderful “ACE” encumbrance system that involves holding things in one or both hands to use. Your companions’ capabilities are nearly as complete as your own. There are many dozens of specials so that every new area you explore is an entirely new experience, and you never know what a new artifact or monster might invoke.

By the halfway point, I had tentatively decided to give this Eamon a (10) rating, something which I thought I would never do, but the new and special stuff is that good. In the end, I dropped it to a (9) for two reasons: first, the squire is a young kid who tends to make silly, even stupid comments during combat; the comments quickly wore thin, and some are anachronistic.

Second and much more importantly, Sam loaded the end game with combat. Once I had acquired the Rod, it took me over an hour to win my way through about 30 previously-explored rooms back to the entrance. I found myself playing the same two or three battles over and over and over as I waited for the random results of combat to let me and my companions survive the battle intact. Frankly, I was quite bored long before I finally completed the game. Thus, my (10) fell to a (9), and I give it a difficulty of (9) as well.

But don’t let the above griping put you off. This is an incredible Eamon that should not be missed by anyone who appreciates the Best that Eamon has to offer!

It requires an 80-column display, and probably won’t work on a II+ without some modification. Softdisk assumes that you have 128K; though the adventure doesn’t itself require 128K, you may find that other Softdisk features won’t work on 64K machines.

This Eamon adventure is commercial software. You can not obtain it from the public domain but must buy it from Softdisk. Non-subscribers can purchase it for $12.95 + $1.50 S&H. Ask for Softdisk issue #156.

Credit card orders can call 1-800-584-7638

Mail orders should write:

Softdisk Publishing P.O. Box 30008 Shreveport, LA 71130-0008

Eamon Adventure Listing