The Balrog arises from his hide-out pondering the answer to the oft asked question 'Who killed Laura Palmer?' as well as bringing all the usual adventure news and reviews.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
News
Recreation Re-creation's New Releases
Mentioned last month, Recreation Re-creation is the name of a new
company created by Mark Eltringham to market some of the many games that are
being released at the moment. Mark tells me that he got the name 'Recreation
Re-creation' from an some old song he heard playing on the radio - just think,
you might have been buying games from 'Under the Cherry Moon' (Prince) or the
'Dirty Diana' (Michael Jackson) if he'd been listening to another station.
Anyway, Mark has a further four games to add to his growing list, all of them
created using GAC.
Ichor: According to Mark, this game whisks you away to another world where you
have to do something with a donkey and some coffee (?!) Any more I'm not too
sure of! Price is £2 tape, £4 disc.
Key to Paradox: A Charles Sharpe adventure set in another dimension - the Land
of Paradox. £2 tape, £4 disc.
Detective & Crown Jewels: A double adventure pack, both games written by
Alex Gough. Detective has you searching for a traitor before the traitor can
destroy your country with a Doomsday Device. Crown Jewels has you looking for
the three gems missing from the new king's (you) crown. £3 tape, £5 disc.
Mark is planning on personalising each game for the buyer so he asks that when
you order a game from him could you please mention your first name and your
birthday so he can include them in the game - nice touch.
Adventure list
Mark Eltringham has now finished compiling his list of every adventure game
ever released on the Amstrad - if you are interested send an SAE and a blank
disc to Mark at 39 Gargle Hill, Thorpe St. Andrew, Norwich, Norfolk NRT OXX.
Congratulations Mark, it must have taken a lot of time and effort but it will
be very useful to many adventurers.
Beginners Guide re-released
Atlas Adventure Software has re- published 'A Beginners Guide to Adventures' (reviewed in AA65) following a few (minor) corrections and
additional new illustrations. Mandy Rodrigues HBalg has offered Balrog readers
50p off the £3 price - at only £2.50 the book is now even more of a bargain! If
you want a copy, send Mandy the coupon below with the money.
*************************************************
* *
* Please send me copy/ies of 'A Beginners *
* Guide to Adventures' at £2.50 per copy. *
* *
* Name: *
* *
* Address: *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* *
* Send the coupon to: *
* *
* Atlas Adventure Software, 67 Lloyd Street, *
* Llandudno, Gwynedd LL30 2YP. *
* *
* AA70 *
*************************************************
Warning!
It has been brought to my attention that some people are copying other people's adventures and then reselling them as Public Domain. Please, please, please make sure if you run a PD Library that the software you have in that library is all PD - otherwise you could get yourself in serious legal trouble!...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviews
Yarkon Blues
£2 cassette, £4 disc.
Joan Pancott, WoW Software, 78 Radipole Lane, Weymouth, Dorset DT4 9RS.
'...A long time ago (tea-time last Wednesday to be precise!) in a galaxy far,
far away...' Thus opens Yarkon Blues the latest game from Joan Pancott's HPilg WoW Software and the first for new author
Jason Davis. The Balg saw this game first many months ago when Jason sent
it in to be reviewed but it really wasn't up to standard - it hadn't been
playtested and it showed! Since then Jason has, with the help of Lorna Patterson,
polished this dull rock of a game into a little gem.
You play the part of Rik McQuick, hero and all round good guy, who was relaxing
on his cargo ship, Odour Eater II, sampling the ship's cargo (Altarian Old
McSpewans Spirit) when a stray empty can, thrown by Rik, hit the autopilot and
the ship veers towards a small blue-yellow planet (called Yarkon). Next thing
poor Rik knows, the planet's old missile defence system, which has been dormant
for years, launches against Odour Eater II and our fearless hero. Luckily Rik,
not being that fearless, jumps into an escape pod and lands on the planet, soon
to be followed by the smouldering wreckage of his ship crashing through the
sky. As courageous, intelligent and mega-handsome! Rik (and not very modest!),
you must somehow escape from the planet Yarkon - no problem for someone who is
such a hero...
Well, enough of the scenario, what's the game like? Good is the answer. 60
locations in size, it has strong (and sometimes quite difficult) puzzles.
Yarkon is ruthlessly filled with red herrings - one particularly threw the
Balg. During the game I came across a fish which was described as a red
herring, however, thinking I knew the game's quirky humour I spent ages trying
to find a use for the fish only later to find that it was in fact a red
herring!
Yarkon Blues is a GACed game with average graphics and oodles of humour.
Although not as outright rib-tickling as Grue-Knapped,
the game is enjoyable to play - the humour keeps the atmosphere going. The
strong atmosphere and puzzles make the game - the Balg hopes to see Rik McQuick
again and looks forward to seeing Smirking Horror and 2001: A Space Oddity -
Jason Davis' next two games. Well worth buying...
Atmosphere 66%
Interaction 64%
Challenge 60%
Overall 69%
Fantasy Power
£10 tape, £15 disc
8 clos des Saules, 1950 Kraainem, Belgium.
'...Welcome to a new age in computer science... introducing a new generation of
inter-active role-playing...' Ummm.. Really? A new age in computer science?!
Ummm... Fantasy Power is an adventure creator specifically written for creating
role-playing games. Written in BASIC by someone called GFP it has all the
statistics you associate with an RPG -status, strength, agility, intelligence,
battle skill, looks, armour, level and ZAP points.
The question is - can you write the next Bards Tale using this? Well... not
really! Fantasy Power comes in four sections - The Shop, Monster Compendium,
Designer and Fantasy Power itself taking up both sides of the disc. There are
pages of documentation but the Balrog still didn't feel that enough had been
included - a walk-through introduction would have helped a lot.
The version I received was pre-production and hence had quite a few spelling
and punctuation mistakes which will be removed from the final version. However,
the pre-production copy had more serious bugs than just slight spelling
mistakes - Fantasy Power is very easy to crash and when playing the demo's with
four characters there seemed to be a bug that meant that I had a fifth
invisible super-character on my side which made fights rather one sided.
Another annoying part of Fantasy Power is the amount of disc flipping -
although there is not much actual flipping over of the disc, when the utility
wants to access a file from the opposite side it just tries to load it - and
then gives the 'File not found' message.
One plus point for the utility is that the author has offered to code special
features onto Fantasy Power at no extra cost.
Fantasy Power is a prime example of a utility that just has not been tested
enough before sending for review - save your money for something else.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Balrog's Postbag
The Balrog's postbag was bulging this month but I'm still hungry for more!
If you have any comments concerning adventures, the Balrog column, how you
always know somebody who gets their copy of Amstrad Action before you (?!) or
any suggestions on how to improve the column, write them down and send them to
The Balrog at the usual address. Please do
not write to the Balrog asking if he knows where to get such_and_such a game -
I cannot print these requests and I won't be able to help.
Balrog Club?
Yowzer (hi),
Balrog I think you should start a membership club with things like a wallet,
key-ring, badges, stickers, membership card, a signed photo of yourself and a
newsletter.
Membership Card
The membership card should look something like this but a bit bigger:
|---------------------|
| Name: Ian Blackmore | And on the other side a signed
| Membership No: 5468 | picture of you.
| Date Joined: 4/5/91 |
| Signature: |
|---------------------|
Newsletter
The newsletter could come out every three months telling members about new
software, help pages, tips and pokes. It should cost in the region of £1-3 or
maybe more. Please, Please, Please think about it.
Yours Sincerely,
Ian Blackmore.
Ummm.. are you serious?! Especially for you though, Ian, here is a specially
made membership card:-
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
: :
: Rod, could you make out a :
: joke 'Balrog's Club' :
: membership card with the name :
: left blank so readers can :
: fill it in please? (Yes I :
: know it's a silly request!) :
: :
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Next people will be suggesting car stickers with 'Balrogs do it on bridges'
inscribed upon it!
The newsletter is a nice idea - but what do you think the Balrog column is
for?! Anybody who reads the Balrog column is an automatic member of the Balrog
club and can read about the 'new software, help pages, tips and pokes' every
month!
Searching for a Bard
Dear Mr Balrog,
When I first started reading AA I saw it said Bards Tale Club. Since then I
have seen that and wondered where to get it from. I have been to most computer
shops with games but I could not find it. Please tell me where I can purchase
it. Anthony
Completelyunrecognisablesurnamethatcouldbe'Auagnostopoulos'butI'mnotsure!
You should be able to get Bards Tale from the makers, Electronic Arts, at
Langley Business Centre, 11-49 Station Road, Langley, Near Slough, Berkshire
SL3 8YN. Tel: (0753) 49442 Fax: (0753) 46672. Failing that try 1st Choice
Software, Tel: (0706) 372728.
PAWs for thought...
Dear Balrog,
Recently I purchased PAW from Gilsoft and I am having a little teething trouble
with it. Being new to the adventure writing scene I am having trouble
deciphering the two manuals. I would welcome your advice on the subject. Do you
think I should persevere with PAW, and if so is there anyone out there who is
familiar with it who is willing to give m
e some help or should I swap/sell it and get ADLAN instead?
I bought PAW mainly because of its ability to recognise nine words in response.
How many does ADLAN recognise? Is ADLAN available on disc for the 464 or will I
need to get a ROM board.
Mr D.C. Powell
4 Balliol Road, Caversham Heights, Reading, Berkshire RG4 7DT.
PAW is a complicated beast but the manuals are a lot more friendly than
ADLAN's! I'd persevere - just follow the introduction manual carefully and look
at TICKET.SCE and there should (in theory!) be no problems! If you are still
having trouble, Ken Bond HBalg offers help with PAW -
call him on (0532) 672278 and I'm sure he'll be happy to help. Chris Hester's
magazine Adventure Coder also has a regular PAW column so you might try there
as well (3 West Lane, Baildon, Near Shipley, West Yorkshire BD17 5HD). Stick
with it and good luck!
As to your second point, Bob Adams, reviewer of ADLAN,
informs me it is as flexible as PAW in recognising input. Adlan is ROM only and
you do need a disc drive as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Clue Sniffing with the Balrog
Have you noticed the Cluepot is looking a bit bare again this issue? That's because the Balg is running out of clues! So crank up your clue factories and send your hints and tips to the usual address. Thanks this month go to Chris Daniel (Devon), Christian Aldridge (Essex), Simon "Aragorn" Netherwood (Rastrick), Stuart Whyte (Altrincham) and R Melody (Purley).
Heavy
on the Magick
To pass the fountain in the rook of Hydra west from the Grimoire type "Water, fall". It will lower itself and you can pass.
Ingrid's Back - Part 2
When in lower warren tell Flopsy to go up and then pull roots.
Pull brake and push lever when in mill. Tell Flopsy to wait 3 then pull lever.
Go down, out and then tie the hook to the troll who is following you.
Island
To get across chasm: Drop all except lamp, jump north, get rope, jump south.
To unlock chest: Tie rope to rung, Dx2, get key.
To get through desert: N, NE, NW, S, SE, NW, NE.
Lords
of Chaos
On scenario 3 burn the floor to fly out. Fly SW to room with a glowing
teleport at each corner. Redhawk (especially for Chris Morgan)
Wear the wellies on meeting Fusor.
Throw the magnet at Techno.
There are four train stations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Just for Laughs
Contributions desperately needed for 'Just for Laughs' - if you have found a humorous response in an adventure then please send them in to the usual address. This month's selection of rib-ticklers is thanks to Simon "Aragorn" Netherwood from Rastrick.
Arnold Blackwood Games
Try being foul-mouthed.
Boggit
Don't give the aliens the Barkenstone in part 3.
Lost Phirious - part 1
Swear twice.
Approach robot without wearing the fig leaf.
Lurking
Horror
Try showing the hand or the stone to the hacker.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Help!
Simon Avery is stuck in a whole load of games:-
Bored of the Rings Part 3 - how to open box/unlock door and how to cross the
fissure.
Never Ending Story - Where is the small knife?
Warlord - He is still waiting for the Roman to hit him.
Atalan - He can't find anything to tie bamboo to make a vault, near end (90%)
Chris Morgan is well and truly stumped in Redhawk (great envelope by the way
Chris - liked the art!):-
1. How do I find the bomb in the power station?
2. What do I do with the book when I have it?
3. How do I get out of the sewers?
4. How do I get the librarian to tell me something? I ask, he walks, comes back
and tells me nothing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Bards Tale Club - penultimate episode
Over the past year and a half the Balrog has been running a feature for one
of the biggest and best games on the Amstrad - The Bards Tale. Now, all the
knowledge gleaned from the many people who wrote in has been combined to
provide THE complete playing guide:-
Thanks to: Keir Ritchie, Will Shakespeare (?!), Adrian Forbes, Stuart Whyte,
Steve Fox, Andrew Wright, Adrian Lewis, Simon Avery and everyone else who I've
missed out!
Traps
Most traps just cause damage or poison you, but the more dangerous ones can
actually cause members of your party to go insane or become possessed. If you
character is possessed and you don't have a dispossess spell, kill them - they
will be much less trouble. You can then raise them at a later time. If your character
goes insane, they will randoml
y attack anything. Again try to heal them as soon as possible by using FLRE,
FLAN or REST. You should really cast Trap Zap at all chests (especially on
lower levels) just in case.
'Special' Effects in Dungeon
As long as you are aware of all the various 'special' effects that can
happen to you in a dungeon, you shouldn't (in theory!) get confused by darkness
or a teleporter.
Darkness - Extinguishes all lights
Teleporter - Detected by a flash and change of surroundings
Direction Confuser - Twirls you round to a random point on the compass.
Anti-magic - Dispels all spells (such as MACO etc.)
General tips
When you have a wand or some other magic device, continue to use it until
the Old Man appears - he is by far the best monster to fight on your side. You
can use the cursor keys to increase or decrease the speed of a fight - very
useful when you've just MIBLed 396 berserkers!
The dark ring has no purpose at all so ditch it for the 100 gp you get for
them.
A useful tip is to save the game as frequently as possible and enter dungeons
for hit and run attacks to raise experience quickly.
Cheat modes
There are two major methods of cheating in Bards Tale without using a poke -
although the second is disc only...
1. Create your character with a bard. Don't buy anything, just exit the guild
and pool your gold then give it all to character 1. Enter guild and save, then
load the merger as instructions. Now load your party into it seven times,
renaming characters in parties #2-#7 to #1-#36, then delete those who don't
have cash which leaves party 1 and numbers
#1, #7, #13 and so on. Create a party with these numbers and pool the gold
again. Keep doing this until you have loadsagold. Then just save your party and
you have six very rich people! Also try pooling the fire horn many times as it
is a VERY useful item.
2. Follow the tips below:-
a Back up your disc.
b Using the backup, rename all the dungeon files $$ !& etc to another
dungeon file and then save catalog. You will have to use a disc utility to do
this.
The filenames have now all been swopped around so that when you enter the
Castle you will enter the Tower instead or some other dungeon.
The conclusion to the Bards Tale Club and the full solution will be printed
next issue...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Lords & Ladies of Adventure
Adventure Quest, Angelique a Grief Encounter, Arnold Blackwood Trilogy, Big
Sleaze, Black Fountain, Bugsy, Case of the Mixed-Up Shymer, Castle Blackstar,
Castle of the Skull Lord, Crystal Theft, Cursed Be the City, Cutthroats,
Dracula, Dungeon Adventure, DAA, Enchanter, Escape from Koshima, Espionage
Island, Fantasia Diamond, Fish, Football Frenzy, Frankenstein, Gnome Ranger,
Gremlins, Guild of Thieves, Haunted House, Hermitage, Hitchhiker's Guide,
Hollow Graphic, Hollow Text, Hollywood Hijinx, Hunchback, Imagination, Inca
Curse, Infidel, Ingrid's Back, Jack the Ripper, Jinxter, Kingdom of Hamil,
Kobyashi Naru, Lancelot, Leather Goddesses, Lifeterm, Lords of Time, Lurking
Horror, Mansion, Mindshadow, Monsters of Murdac, Mordon's Quest, Mountains of
Ket, Mystery of Indus Valley, Myth, Necris Dome, Never Ending Story, Nova,
Nythyhel, Pawn, Planet of Death, Planetfall, Questprobe, Rebel Planet, Rigel's
Revenge, Robin of Sherwood, Robocide, Seabase Delta, Shard of Inovar, Sharpe's
Deeds, Ship of Doom, Smashed, Sorceror, Souls of Darkon, Spellbreaker, Spytrek,
Star Wreck, Subsunk, Theseus, Top Secret, Venom, Very Big Cave Adventure,
Winter Wonderland, Wishbringer, Wolfman and Zork I, II & III and all
Interceptor games!
Graham and Kay Wheeler, 2 Burford Close, Southdown, Bath, Avon BA2 1JF. Tel
between 10am and midnight (0225) 426919.
Colour of Magic, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Nightmare, Quest for the Golden
Egg-cup, Shadows of Mordor, Times of Lore, Werewolf Simulator & Wizard
Warz.
Douglas Thompson, 14 Cosgrove Close, Peterborough PE3 7JN.
Apache Gold, Boggit, Dodgy Geezers, Doomdark's Revenge, Heroes of Karn,
Knight Tyme, Kobyashi Naru, Message from Andromeda, Questprobe, Ship of Doom,
Spytrek, Terrormolinos, Never Ending Story, Warlord & Wizbiz.
Paul & Timothy Stitt, 7 Beaufort Avenue, Beechill Road, Newtownbreda,
Belfast BT8 4TY Northern Ireland.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Contacting the Balg
The Balg is desperate for new contributions to the Cluepot and Just for
Laughs sections - to get in contact with him, write to The Balrog, Amstrad
Action, Future Publishing Ltd, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, AVON
BA1 2AP or balrog@uk.ac.ed.cs.tardis if you have E-mail.
As to the answer to 'Who killed Laura Palmer?' - The Balrog ate her of course!