Editorial

Hello again!  Welcome to Issue 5 of SynTax - only one more  issue 
and SynTax will be getting ready for its first birthday.  I don't 
know about you,  but the time has really flown for me.  I'm  glad 
that  you're  enjoying  reading  the magazine as  much  as  I  am 
enjoying producing it.

Welcome  to new  readers,  most of  whom have  discovered  SynTax
through  the recent  write-ups/reviews in ST Format, New Computer
Express  and Spellbreaker! - thanks  to Mike Gerrard, Steve Carey
and John Brailsford for their support.

So,  what's in store for you this issue? Apart from the usual mix 
of reviews,  hints,  solutions,  pix and info,  there is a  great 
article by Angelina the Dangerously Sane about playing multi-user 
games (MUGs). I know quite a few of you have already tried one of 
the many MUGs about, if you haven't, you really ought to give one 
a try,  so long as your phone bill can stand the shock!  They are 
great  fun and you'll meet a lot of very  interesting  characters 
while you're playing.  But you can find you spend a lot more time 
on there than you originally intended!

There  are  a few more maps in this issue,  this time  of  Bard's 
Tale.  Like the Hacker 2 map from last issue,  they are done with 
Degas and then compacted using STOS.  If anyone wants a hard copy 
of any of these maps,  just send me an SAE and I'll post one back 
by return.

Incidentally,  Neil  Shipman  discovered (while trying  to  do  a 
screen  dump of the Hacker 2 map from within SynTax) that if  you 
press ALT/HELP,  the screenshots will pause for about 30 seconds. 
This  is handy to know for the early  issues but remember to turn
your printer off first! However, in  this issue you can choose to
look at the screenshots/maps singly or as a carousel as before.

Thanks to ARC for a review copy of Prince (and also one of Armada
which will be reviewed in the next issue) and to Jack Lockerby of
River Software for sending a review copy of his latest  adventure
twin-pack, The Challenge and The Thief. 
I'm very grateful to all the people who sent in contributions for 
SynTax.  It  would be almost impossible to produce  the  magazine 
without you - and it certainly wouldn't be such good reading!  If 
I  could make a plea for a few specific items for  future  issues 
and  my  files,  if  anyone can help with 3-in-1  hints  for  Zak 
McKracken, Space Quests 1 and 2, King's Quests 2 and 3 and 3-in-1
hints   and/or   solutions   to  Ooze,  Time,  Hound  of  Shadow,
Mindfighter, Mortville  Manor, Drakkhen  or any of the  other new
games, please  (please!)  send them in.  Any other  contributions
will, as always, be very welcome.

I am currently compiling a fifth ST solution disk, so if you send
in  any solutions  (or have sent  them in already) and don't want
them included on the disk, please  let me know. All contributions
to the disk will be credited, of course.

Well, that's it from me for another issue. Keep adventuring!

                                           Sue