GEMini Atari/GEMini_Atari_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_December_1993.iso/files/games/walkthru/dungeonm.txt

Text File | 1993-08-14 | 15.8 KB | 246 lines

                          D U N G E O N M A S T E R

As  a  multiple character role-playing fantasy simulation, DUNGEONMASTER is
unparalleled.  On  one  single  sided  disk  there  is  (according  to  the
newsletter  supplied  with  the game and I'm sure they're not kidding) more
than  a  full  megabyte  of  graphics  and  sound, plus the program itself.
Talking  about data compression, here it is. Dungeon Master is a game where
four  heroes  set  out  from the Hall of Champions and start their long way
through  the  (3-dimensional  scroll)  dungeon  where  they must locate the
Firestaff,  solve  its  secret  and  finally  defeat  Chaos.  DM is full of
animated  monsters  (real time; don't think too long or you've had it) that
actually   follow you or seek you out;  digitized  sounds, interesting  and
potentially  powerful  items  and  intriguing puzzles. What else can I say,
Dungeon Master is a world in itself. Thank you, FTL.

                         A GUIDE TO DUNGEONMASTER

Our  little  rescue  force  consisted  of  four.  First  there  was Axident
Brownmold,  race  undescript (we name them Horoou but they aren't up to the
point  where they have a name for themselves) but strong and tough and when
he  went  berzerk  all  you  saw was a brown haze next to you; dangerous as
death itself but I'm not complaining 'cause he never really hit me.
In  our  second  rank we had Snoutzy Foxtrot, a small cute female Bika with
much more mana than strength. She was our best priest and although everyone
agreed  with  me  that  we should all get as much experience as possible in
each  of  the  major  fields  (even  Axident realised the logic) she always
stayed  one step ahead of us with potions and the like. An invaluable asset
to the party, she was.
And  then we had Barbanq the Bald, a male Human - of all races - and he was
a  good  man,  strong,  a  perfect  aim  with  missile  weapons and soon an
outstanding  wizard.    Such  was  our  company.  As  you  see,  a  strange
combination  of  creatures;  a  Horoou,  a Bika and a Human. I was the only
decent Lizar in town.  And by the way, I'm Slither Smith.

Passing  through  the  Hall of Champions, gathered there for the purpose of
restoring  balance  in  the world, we held a long meeting. I was choosen as
chairman or something (meaning I was immediately put in the most vulnerable
position)  and decided on a policy. Seeing how we were bound to have a long
and  hard  trip,  we  should  train to a maximum - the Hall was filled with
those who had taken their plight to lightly.
From  the very first minute on, I ruled that mana should änever   reach its
maximum.  Completely  filled mana just sits there; I was our duty to use it
as much as possible. So every time someone could make a potion (Snoutzy had
a  flask)  or  do a spell such as Lo Ful, whether this particular spell was
needed  or  not,  it  would  be cast. The only way to gain experience is to
train, and we started training before we were out of the Hall.
Beyond  the Hall, we soon found a staircase, but passed it. There was more;
we read some scrolls with simple advice, and then we opened a door. At this
point,  I  thought  it necessary to give everyone's backpack a destination:
Snoutzy  wasn't  too  strong so she could keep all things magical - flasks,
wands  and  other  gear.  Barbanq would stow away all the food, and Axident
would take spare weapons and the like.  Me, I took the torches and scrolls.
And down we went.

The  first level was relatively easy; perhaps it was my earlier incarnation
playing  tricks  on me but there seemed  little difficulty fighting Mummies
and  Screamers  once we had some experience. As far as keys were concerned,
it  was  just a matter of locating them. There were two things that weren't
immediately  clear  to  us:  a door that said "none shall pass"; Axe solved
that  problem  with  his falchion. And then we found a lever that seemed to
have  no direct purpose, but after a thorough search we found an extra room
with a pleasant surprise.

Things  started  getting  interesting on level two. Apart from some gadgets
and  the  secret rooms that held a compass (in the beginning)  and  a sword
(near  the  end) there  were  six major "caves", all branching off the main
hall where it said "choose a door, choose your fate."
The  thing was, we cleared out the creature cavern (where Snoutzy surprised
us all with her first successful fireball) and found a gold key. Seeing how
at  least  four  doors obstructed progress between our present location and
level  three,  we  figured there would probably be a key in each of the six
caverns. And we figured right - finding hidden knobs, opening a door from a
distance with a Lo Zo spell, reflecting an Eye in the wall and retrieving a
gem  were some of the things that kept us busy for many hours. Also at this
point,  we  found  out  that lots of puzzles could be solved by throwing or
putting something in the right place.
Like  I  said, we only needed four keys to get to level three; the fifth we
used  for  a  little extra at the end of level two. And the last we used on
level three for a shortcut.

Monsters  were  getting  more ingenious - on level two they were nasty with
poison and clubs, but they could all be killed if you took the right tactic
(mostly  hit & run, we took a lot of steps backwards). On level three there
were some surprises; it was only the use of the proper spell (as found in a
scroll)  that killed a Wraith. The wasp was easy, but it seemed there would
never  come  an  end to the multitude of worms.   These worms were good for
one thing, though: we killed so many of them that their dried remains could
no  longer  be  carried.  So  I  figured  that we might as well excercise a
little, and by the time we came at the end of level three we had all gained
three ninja levels by throwing the stuff ahead of us all the time.   And by
the  way, throwing stuff in front of our faces revealed three hidden rooms,
unseen behind illusionary walls. And each room held an interesting surprise
in the form of potions or magical boxes and the like.
Onto  level four and here at last we found some worthy opponents, though my
scales  still  creep  when  I  think  of  Axident,  so  fascinated  by  the
magnificent twists of a flying Couatl that he just stood there and gawked -
while the rest of us swallowed fireballs and tried to save our skins.
Puzzles were getting harder to solve. Some of them needed Barbanq's logical
deductions,  others  required  Snoutzy's  hunches  or Axe's straightforward
disbelief. Many solutions were done in more than one step; it was the level
where  the  first  complex  combinations occured. And things could often be
brought  down  to  a process of trial, error and elimination. For instance,
getting  to  know  just what our location was in the Blue Hall was simply a
matter of leaving large items on several floor spaces. Not hard, just a lot
of work.
Level  four  yielded  its prizes reluctantly, but some things we found were
valuable indeed.

Beholders  and  skeletons  lived on level five, where the access was gained
through  "The  Riddle Room". Four items were needed, three to open the door
and  one  more  to  gain  the  first of five iron keys. The other keys were
gained by pushing buttons, giving gold to a long-dead King and putting (not
throwing)  an item in a blue screen (by the way, here's where we discovered
that  a  älot   of interesting things could be found by jumping or climbing
down trapholes).
The keys opened the most magnificent gold doors, and I remember vividly how
Axident  remarked, "Well, these doors look like the bad guy is right behind
them.  I  think we're almost there." It was not until level seven (where we
found stairs to level 12) that Axe swallowed that remark.
Behind  the doors, a junction. We took the right side, and had some trouble
guiding  a  couple  of  skeletons  to  the place where they would trigger a
secret  door.  And  when we found some torso plate, I knew that we had only
just begun our explorations.
We  also found two vorpal blades on this level, as well as some slayers and
a crossbow. Nice equipment for the right foes.

We got down the stairs to level six and found that this was the Tomb of the
Firestaff. Our use of the first Ra key opened a magic door and beyond it we
found  an  ominous  message  on  a  scroll. Finding no further entrance, we
descended  onto  level  seven and were attacked with swords, undead screams
(here  our vorpal blades proved very efficient), zig-zagging fireballs and,
finally,  thieving  Imps.  After we had lost our shields and arrows for the
second time (and retrieved them after chasing the little rascals all across
the enormous cavern) we made it a rule to have a fireball and a magical box
ready.  Just in case; it was no good running across a room where a dozen or
more  direction-change devices transported fireballs from one corner to the
other.
But  the fireball machinery could be stopped, and after we got some rest we
found  a Mace of Order, a Delta (that was a tricky corridor; we had to walk
slow    and turn back at the right point) and several less exclusive items,
such as a key carelessly left on the floor.

Onto level eight where we puzzled a long time solving "when is a rock not a
rock"  until  Axe  once more tried the easy way - disbelief - and got us to
the  next  piece  of  trouble. A direction changer almost had us fooled but
Snoutzy noticed something weird in the length of a hallway and soon we were
deep  into  the  corridors.  Giant  rats formed little trouble because they
hated  fireballs  -  we  built  up  a  good supply of drumsticks from these
animals,  which  we  could  use  well as we'd all but run out of food. Then
there were crazy creeps that looked too much like rust monsters to let them
get  anywhere  near us so we never really did find out what tricks they had
up their tails, and finally the Gnome magicians yielded a good many cheeses
and  corn  ears  which,  with  the help of our ever voracious Snoutzy, soon
turned into cobs.
The  only interesting puzzles on the level were a gate that needed either a
gem  or  a  jump  to  open, a fireball mechanism that could be tricked with
small  items  and  a  gate  that was opened by putting something on it that
weighed  nothing  - found elsewhere.   And then there was the skeleton key,
and we came back to our seven-level staircase.

Level  nine started with a warning "Beware my twisted humor - the Deceiver,
the  Snake" but the route that had to be followed was hidden in the warning
so  we  had  little trouble, except for the fact that a couple of skeletons
and spell-casting beholders needed a stern lesson in manners.
A  Key of B opened one of two doors, behind the door could be found another
Key  which  opened  the one not initially selected, and then (after killing
the   first   vicious,  poisonous,  far-too-quick  and  well-armored  giant
scorpion)  a  third  key  brought  us to "Zoooooom". It took us a long time
before  we  got  the  idea  to  make a right turn and then step forward. We
entered  a  room  filled  with all kinds of nasties and by the time we were
finished  Axe  and  I  had both gained some fighting experience. We found a
speedbow  and a helmet, and further down in the bowels of the twisted stone
passages  we  found  mail,  a  Shield    of  Lyte and a Hardcleave - not to
mention all the less spectacular items hidden in secret rooms.

Down  the  stairs  and  here  we got to a point where Axe, had an exit been
present,  would  have  given up and gone back. But then we all got a little
irritated,  it  didn't  matter  because with some logic and some testing we
soon  found  out how to "turn back" "clockwise", it all depended on how you
interpreted  the  words;  you  could do a lot of turning without moving. Of
course,  you did need to do it all on the right places, but then I honestly
admit  I  never  did  quite find out whether our solution was pure logic or
just plain luck.
Anyway,  old acquaintances had made some new friends on level ten and armed
with  a Fury and a Diamond Edge (don't ever move) we cleared out one of the
Cross Caverns. Never seen so much blue in my life. Later on we finally used
that  magnifier  and still later a second Cross Key; we cleared out another
cavern  and  were  once  more very grateful for the existence of our vorpal
blades; elementals are a nuisance.

Level  eleven  and  here's where we trained our leg muscles; we did a whole
lot  of  running  from  one  side  of the dungeon to the other just to push
buttons  and  find keys and open doors. Our efforts were rewarded with both
armored  opponents (Knights wearing cursed armor, as we soon found out) and
immaterial  whatchamacallums,  they  were either dispelled or disrupted but
anyway very noxious and fiery.
We  did  find  a  lot  of  goodies and while Axe wore Lyte's armor I donned
Darc's.  Heavy  protection any way you looked at it; after a lot of running
to  and  fro  and discovery of the third Ra key we came near the end of the
level where "cowards will be hunted down and killed"; remember Kesey: Never
Give an Inch.
The  approach  for the giant spiders was locked off by pushing a button and
without too much trouble (there was something tricky with a moving traphole
but  a  quick  step was all it needed) we opened the skeleton door onto the
staircase and then went to the Tomb of the Firestaff.

The  Firestaff  Tomb  held  guarding  stone golems only; beyond that it was
deserted.  Useful  and, indeed, essential items could be found in abundance
once  the  correct  door  was  opened  with the Ruby Key. After that it was
merely  checking  walls to see what secret passages (one entire multi-level
stairway  came  in handy) could be found and what lay behind them. We found
the  winged key and some very interesting scrolls; also the last Ra key and
then we went to the Firestaff itself.
Once we held the - incomplete - Firestaff, we studied how it should be used
and went to level twelve.

Level  twelve  seemed much like the elemental plane of fire; we killed some
devils  or  demons  or  whatever they were but soon we heard a sound like a
massive  electric  discharge  and  then  we  stood  eye  to  eye with Chaos
incarnated.  We  managed  to walk around him for a short while but this guy
was  äfast   ;  the  only  way  to survive   was jumping down a hole in the
ground - no time to use rope.
From  the frying pan into the fire: we plunged right into the dragon's lair
and  it  was chase and be chased, we drank lots of Vi potions and just when
we  were  all  healthy again I heard a great belch and we managed to escape
his breath weapon by inches.
The  thing  that  saved us in the start was a single pillar in the hall; it
was  relatively  easy  to  hide  behind.  Seeing  how  we didn't feel up to
fighting  a  monster  of such  gargantuan proportions, we took the easy way
out  - a staircase, and we once more found ourselves in the "Fire Hall". To
the  left  was the original entrance and we made it before fireballs hit us
again. For several hours, we didn't do anything but rest.
Finally  we  got  up, opened the last Skeleton passage, went downstairs and
used  our  winged  key.  This time we knew the danger we would face, and we
were prepared.
After  we  slayed  the  dragon  we found the Power Gem, firmly fixed in the
mountain's  flesh.  Barbanq  remembered  the right spell and Snoutzy set if
free;  when  she  held  the  Firestaff on the radiating Power Gem they both
seemed  to  melt. In the end, we held the real, complete, flaming Firestaff
in  our  hands. Although every way up was now blocked, we feared not: armed
with  the Firestaff and the knowledge how to use it, we did not hesitate to
confront Chaos and end its reign of terror.
And I say, we do look kinda pretty in the History Gallery.

That's it!!...... let's hear it for the Dungeon Master!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!