Electron User (4.04) Adventures By Pendragon

Hitch Your Wagon
To A Blazing Star Visit The

Scan Section
Originally published in Electron User 4.04

Adventures By Pendragon THE festive season is now upon us and hopefully Santa has brought you the goodies you asked for.

This is also the period when software houses - like record companies - swamp the market with their most commercial (and sometimes their best) offering.

Robico's BLAZING STAR should be bulging from a few stockings. If you haven't yet got it I really must recommend it.

If you have seen either GHOST TOWN or PONY EXPRESS, BLAZING STAR is in that vein but ten times better.

Any of you who have played Magus' WHAT'S EEYORE'S or LOCKS OF LUCK - or better still seen VILLAGE OF LOST SOULS on a friend's BBC Micro - will realise what a marvellous adventure house it is.

However, news has it that they are thinking of pulling out of the Electron market because of a lack of demand.

It is a small company which can't afford large national adverts. I would therefore suggest that unless you want to see another super producer of adventures disappear from the Electron scene, you should write to them to prove where the market is.

The address is: Magus, 4 Toronto Close, Durrington, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 2TD.

Meanwhile at Melbourne House, Trevor Lever and Peter Jones have penned another spoof adventure called DODGY GEEZERS. To date it is only available for the Commodore 64 - let's hope an Electron conversion is forthcoming soon.

I have recently been sent a copy of Adventure Soft (UK) Scott Adams Hint Book. At Ł2.99, it is a bargain and a must for any adventure fan.

Adventure Soft (UK) - formerly Adventure International Ltd - has also informed me that all thirty of its adventures, including ten budget price titles, are now available for the Electron.

The most recent text adventure, REBEL PLANET is riveting. The new address is: Adventure Soft (UK), P.O. Box 786, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B75 7SL.

Christmas is a wonderful time, even for Saxon kings such as I. I always feel humble at this time of year. Mind you, the quality of letters I am continually receiving from readers makes me feel quite servile for most of the year!

But letters such as those sent in from Graham Thompson banish that humility and make me comprehensively noble again.

He has an admirable habit of beginning his letters, "My Lord Pendragon," and signing off, "Pleb to the Court of King Arthur". It's refreshing to know that some subjects still know their place.

I have yet to receive a full solution to PHILOSOPHER'S QUEST, as requested last month. Don't forget there's a copy of Robico's MYOREM waiting for the first solution I pull from my mailbag.

I've had to employ four more ravens this month to deal with all the outgoing mail.

As long as Galahad and Gawain don't ask for a Christmas bonus or something silly like a Holy Grial, I should clear the backlog soon.

Don't let that put you off writing in. I'm always pleased to read your letters, but if you have asked for a full solution to an adventure, please be patient.

I have already been inundated with names of adventures and their publishing companies. The database I am creating now contains more that 300 adventures available for the Electron.

Please keep sending in names of any obscure software house which publishes adventures for the Electron, but don't forget to include: Name of adventure and name and address of software house - Thanks!

Perhaps the most amusing letter I have read since I moved into the cave was sent by a Newcastle fireman, Austin Baird.

Apart from threatening to throw his Electron at the next passing cat, he makes a plea for help in this column to be specific rather than cryptic.

I will try to oblige, Austin. I will add that I don't think you are a "Sub-human cretin" - a tremendous number of people find adventures difficult to begin with.

J. Keighley has written in to say that he has completed SPHINX ADVENTURE in 299 moves. Well done, Mr. Keighley - can anyone better that?

I would like to thank Ben Hughes of Hereford College of Art & Design for the superb graphic letter-heading he sent me. Thanks, too, to Shelia Beattie and Matthew Pyecroft for their mass of ideas for this column. I will consider them all and may even use a few - watch this space.

A large number of readers have asked for help in mapping adventures. I have produced an adventure mapping grid which some readers may have already seen.

If you would like more details on how to obtain one of these grids, write to me, but don't forget to enclose an sae. Also watch my Beginners' Section for more specific help in future issues.

I will also try to continue Merlin's habit of producing a map of a small part of an adventure each month.

As you can see, this month I begin with HAMPSTEAD, and you'll also find the following hints helpful:

* You ought to wear something.
* A UB40 isn't a pop group in this instance but a means of getting money.
* Don't risk spoiling your tracksuit with bicycle oil!
* Don't fritter your money away.
* A rest on a bench will do you good!

HAMPSTEAD Map 1 - Click To Enlarge

Overture And Beginners
Last month I introduced this section by suggesting some things to look out for when buying your first adventure. This month I shall try to offer help now oyu have got that prized piece of software home.

It perhaps sounds obvious - but we all often miss the obvious - read the inley card or enclosed information carefully before loading your adventure.

They often give vital information or important help to get you started.

For instance, the small card enclosed with Adventure Soft's VOODOO CASTLE is priceless to the novice adventurer.

It tells you to set PAGE to &E00 before CHAINing the program.

This is especially important if you have a Plus 1 or DFS fitted and want to avoid the nuisance of waiting five minutes before discovering a Bad Mode or No Room message.

The card also informs you that the adventure only accepts one or two word input - usually in the form of verb-noun.

And it lists a sample of the vocabulary: GO, TAKE, DROP, CLIMB, ENTER, LEAVE, MOVE, QUIT, WEAR, READ, LIGHT, PULL, PUSH and LOOK.

WAVE, DIG, MIX and DRINK are other useful words which are worth trying.

My usual practice with any new adventure is to load it and then spend up to an hour just playing around, discovering opening locations and experimenting with vocabulary.

I do this purely to get the feel of the adventure and at this point make no attempts at mapping or making serious inroads into the game.

So with VOODOO CASTLE, it soon becomes apparent that there is a coffin and the body of Count Cristo at the starting location and that magic is workable in this adventure.

Thus when you discover a sapphire ring and later a stone door with a sapphire set into it there appears to be an obvious magical link.

After a bit of examination and experimentation, WAVE RING reveals an interesting variation on OPEN SESAME.

Such is a typical example of problem-solving in a simple adventure like VOODOO CASTLE.

Further exploration reveals all manner of magical apparatus - an iron pot of witch's brew, chem tubes, chemicals, a rabbit's foot, a four leaf clover and so on.

Most problems can be solved by careful experimentation with the objects and workable vocabulary.

If you are still desperate, most adventure software houses provide hint sheets in return for an sae. Or you can always try writing to me.

Next month I will look at beginning to map an adventure.

Problems Solved
Despite the reams of help given by Merlin for SPHINX ADVENTURE - including a Special and a full solution in Hall of Fame - I still receive many letters from readers who are experiencing problems.

So, for Debbie Dell, Daniel Gilbert, Martin Forrer, Frances Atkinson, W. A. Smith and hundreds of others, this short listing may help.

It was kindly sent in by Simon Doyle of Taunton and enables you to program the function keys. It should be entered and run before CHAINing SPHINX ADVENTURE. You can change the commands to suit your own needs:

While on the subject of SPHINX ADVENTURE, there are only four locations in the Catacombs Frances, so drop things to help you map them.

Since its re-release on a budget label, TWIN KINGDOM VALLEY appears to have shot up the popularity stakes again - if it ever left them.

Luke Adams, Stuart Kelly and Helen Knight have all asked where they can find the jug of gold. you should take the jug from the cabin and fill it at the River of Gold, which is beyond the rock fall in the sloping maze.

The treasure chest is in the south turret of the castle, Stuart.

Stuart Kelly and many others seem puzzled as to how to deal with the numerous creatures you meet in your journey through TWIN KINGDOM VALLEY.

Elves are always friendly, as is the giant who will carry things for you. Live and let live is a good maxim, but if they are carrying treasure you will have to bash them.

The most potent weapons are the mace, axe and sword, but save the wooden staff for dragons and witches.

Richard Milligan is having problems with the Forest King. Take him the big diamond - you can pinch in it back later - wear the amulet and rescue his daughter to be rewarded with a silver key.

Compared to Ken Brown's dilemma (do you play golf, Ken?) most other readers' problems seem quite trivial. Ken is threatening an odd form of suicide using his version of HAMPSTEAD unless I help him finish this adventure.

To win myself a life-saving certificate, here goes:

Satisfy Chubby Fish as I hinted in last month's column then: N, GET CAR, N, W, S, S, S, DROP CAR, W, DROP SUIT, GET TRACKSUIT, WEAR TRACKSUIT, E, GET CLIPS, WEAR CLIPS, GET BIKE, RIDE BIKE, N, N, E, E.

I hope that's not too cryptic for you, Austin! I also hope that I have helped Jonathan Ewing (any relation?) and many other readers who were stuck at the end of this adventure.

I would like to thank Mr. W. E. Trevelyan for his most informative and helpful letters, particularly his help with WOODBURY END and THE FERRYMAN AWAITS.

For those of you who have experienced problems with the save/load facility in WOODBURY END, he has sent me an excellent listing to overcome this hassle. I'll print it next month in this column. If you send me a list of your adventures, Mr. Trevelyan, I'll return a top piece of software to you.

It certainly seems to be the month for listings. Nigel Kershaw has sent this super little cheat for all Adventure Soft games: Load the adventure as normal, then quit and type NO when it asks if you want another game. Then type the following four-liner:

1 VDU 14
2 FOR X=&E00 TO &FFFF
3 IF ?X>31 AND ?X<127 THEN PRINT CHR$ ?X;
4 NEXT

Hey Presto! Use SHIFT to scroll and see for yourself.

Finally, if anyone requires a full solution to WOODBURY END or THE STOLEN LAMP, please send an sae.

Hitch Your Wagon To A Blazing Star	Visit The Scan Section
Originally published in Electron User 4.04

	*	You ought to wear something.
	*	A UB40 isn't a pop group in this instance but a means of getting money.
	*	Don't risk spoiling your tracksuit with bicycle oil!
	*	Don't fritter your money away.
	*	A rest on a bench will do you good!