Letters If you write to SynTax on an adventure-related issue and your letter isn't marked "not for publication", I'll assume it is ok for me to quote from it or print it here. ----------------------------------------------------------------- @~First of all, a letter following the query last issue about @~characters with zero mana in DM - and a bonus bit of info about @~Chaos! Dave Barker, London In reply to Stephen Royle's question in the May issue of SynTax with regard to the training in the magic arts of those Dungeon Master Characters that start with a zero mana level, some objects will increase a character's maximum mana level whilst they are held or worn. One such object is the Moonstone. When worn, it will add three points to a character's mana level, therefore Stamm will then have a mana level of three points. There are two Moonstones in the game, one is held by Chani (another character), the other is to be found on Level Ten. Initially, the best way to train a character like Stamm is by trying to cast the lowest level spell, the stamina spell. For this priest spell you must be holding an empty flask. There is one of these at the entrance to the dungeon. My Stamm character is currently a Level Five Master Priest/Wizard with a mana level of 294! This makes him only slightly weaker in the magic arts than my other characters that started out with a priest and/or wizard level. Readers might also be interested to know that the Chaos Strikes Back utility disk can be used to edit the character names and icons of a current Dungeon Master save game and then be saved back as a Dungeon Master save game and restored into Dungeon Master with new names and icons. @~Thanks for that help, Dave. I wonder why they didn't publicise @~the fact you can use the Chaos Editor with DM? I'm sure a lot of @~people would like to use it that way. Claire Dyard, Aubrives, France (extract) ....By the way, I think it would be a good idea if you let us know which games or PD or SD are NOT compatible with the STE (putting an asterisk after the title, for example). Another question: in case I send you my own contribution on disk, how many international reply coupons do I have to include to cover the postage of a PD disk? @~Right, I've amended the PD list to show which disks are not @~compatible with the STE as far as I know. Not having an STE, I @~can't check them myself. But if anyone orders a disk which turns @~out to be incompatible with their system, please return it and @~I'll refund your money. I've amended the software list too as @~far as I can (anyone know of any more non-compatible commercial @~programs?) No coupons are necessary for PDs replacing contribution @~disks, I'm so happy to get them, I'll pay it myself! P&P is @~included in the cost of all PD/Shareware disks purchased which is @~why they are dearer outside UK/Europe. Neil Shipman, Bristol Happy Birthday to SynTax! I remember being very impressed with my first issue and all I can say now is that over the last 12 months it's just got better and better. A big "Well Done" to you, Sue, and to everyone else who has contributed to make SynTax what it is today - a definite must for any self-respecting ST adventurer. I thought the implementation of the maps for The Mutant and Tark in the last issue was superb. It was a very clever way of doing it and I for one would like to see one or perhaps two maps per issue. Well done to Alan on his programming. I'm glad to see you're keeping the Screenshots section for the present too. When you've had enough of staring at the screen reading reviews, articles etc. it's nice to take a break and look at some great graphics. The screenshot shown for the competition is the loading screen from The Hound Of Shadow. I recognised that one! Since my opinion of Zak McKracken appeared in Issue 5 I've now played my second Lucasfilm adventure, Maniac Mansion, and I must say I enjoyed this one rather more. Still the same jerky movement of the characters and far too many red herrings, but the same slickness of presentation and zany humour - and no mazes! A word of warning though to anyone thinking of playing it with only a single-sided drive: the amount of disk swapping will very soon have you tearing your hair out. I put the game away until I'd got a second double-sided drive and then, by copying the files from Disk 1 to a DS disk, I was able to play without any disk swapping at all. I could even get 10 saved positions on the DS disk too. Although you have a choice of any 2 from 6 characters to accompany Dave on the mission to rescue Sandy I found it essential to select one particular individual. Does anybody know if this is right or should you be able to succeed with ANY combination? I managed to finish in two different ways depending on who my third recruit was and whether he had used a certain item. Are there any more? Also, for a slightly different ending from Dave and Sandy on the front porch try finishing after getting Dave killed (e.g. by drowning in the pool or being zapped by radioactive steam)! One final thought - how are the kids working the Hunk-O-Matic Machine? Just watch their hands!! Anyone in the Bristol area looking for someone to carry out servicing or repairs to their computer might be interested to know that R J Computers of Westbourne Rd, Downend, Bristol (Tel:566369) are authorised Atari dealers. They don't yet appear in the phone book but they're definitely there and I've had excellent service from them. @~Thanks for the birthday wishes! I can't believe how quickly the @~year has flown past. My thanks to all the contributors too - I @~couldn't have done it without you, folks!! @~For South London ST owners, Radio Service Company, Unit 19, @~Sumner Workshops, 80 Sumner Road, London SE15 6LA Tel:071 708 5755 @~has been highly recommended to me by another SynTax reader who had @~his sanity saved when they repaired his ST after another company @~bodged the job. I will certainly be using them myself if I have @~problems. Colin Edwards, Broxburn I was interested to read the letter in the latest edition of SynTax about the problems a subscriber had had dealing with Castle Software. A friend of mine had enormous problems dealing with the same company and I thought you might be interested to read a chronicle of the events he struggled through. Please feel free to publish it in any way you see fit so long as the essential message is conveyed - stay away from Castle Software. 28th July 1989 In response to a two-page advertisement in the August 1989 issue of ST Action, cheques sent to Castle Software for a total of œ34.92 to cover costs of six Infocom hint books and one copy of Championship Cricket and one copy of Lurking Horror. One cheque for œ11.96 made out by S. Clough, one cheque made out for œ22.96 by M. Reed. c. 5th Aug 1989 Six Infocom hint books arrive. c. 30th Aug 1989 Still no sign of software so first letter sent. c. 10th Sept 1989 No reply to first letter so second letter sent with photocopy of cashed cheques. c. 25th Sept 1989 No reply to second letter so third letter sent. c. 5th Oct 1989 No reply to third letter so telephone call made to Castle Software. I am told by sales person that according to their computer I only ordered the hint books but they would search out my original order and send on the software. I would definitely receive the software within the week. c. 12th Oct 1989 No sign of software so second telephone call made. No-one has any knowledge of my predicament and there is now no mention of me on the computer. However they will look out my original order and send on the software which I will definitely receive within the week. c. 19th Oct 1989 Without asking my name or taking any details other than the names of the games, I am told, instantly, that both games are out of stock but are due in any day. They will definitely arrive within the week. c. 23rd Oct 1989 I telephone to ask if the software has been sent to me and am told that they have no record of me but they will look out my original order and send me the software. Despairing of this, I ask for a refund as I am dissatisfied with their service. I am told I will have to speak to the manager who is busy. I am told to call back later. c. 23rd Oct 1989 Later the same day I call back and am put through to the person in charge of refunds. She assures me that a refund will be put in the post that afternoon. c. 6th Nov 1989 No sign of refund so I telephone once more. I am told that to get a refund I must speak to the manager but he is on the phone and will call me back as soon as he has finished. An hour later I have still received no call so I call back to find he has left the office but will phone me as soon as he gets back. By three o'clock I have still received no call so I phone back and get through to the manager who tells me I must speak to his sales staff to get a refund, a statement in direct contradiction to what I have been told over the last week. When he attempts to put me through to his sales staff, the line goes dead. I telephone back and am told that the manager has left the office and that all claims for refunds must be sent by mail and addressed to the Refunds Department. If I had been told this when I first asked for a refund, instead of being strung along, I would not have wasted a week. c. 13th Nov 1989 Two letters sent. One by recorded delivery to 'Refunds Dept., Castle Software' as requested and one to Mr S. Beech, Manager, Castle Software. Both letters include a copy of this document listing the calendar of events, a photocopy of my cashed cheque, a photocopy of S. Cough's bank statement proving the other cheque was cashed, and a letter requesting a reply within seven days. c. 1st Dec 1989 No reply from Castle Software, so approach Citizens' Advice Bureau who approach Castle Software and also contact ST Action. c. 1st Feb 1990 Over six months after my initial order I finally receive a cheque to cover the refund from Castle Software. Questions: (1) Why were none of my letters answered? (2) Why did staff on several occasions promise to do things and then not do it, such as sending a refund, getting the manager to phone back, look for my original order and send games? Moral: AVOID CASTLE SOFTWARE AT ALL COSTS. @~Phew, what a terrible time your friends had! I'm glad the money @~was finally refunded but, of course, the refund wouldn't take into @~account the cost in stamps, phone calls or compensate for all @~the aggravation suffered. I know how annoying and frustrating @~it can be trying to get satisfaction from a difficult company. Dave Spinks, Folkestone Firstly, a very Happy First Birthday to SynTax magazine, and congratulations on your first six issues - may there be many more! @~(Thanks, Dave - and there certainly will be!!) I am writing in response to your comments to Paul Brunyee's letter (SynTax, Issue 6, May 1990) about hardware and software requirements for multi-user games. "Why is ST comms software generally so poor?" you ask in your reply. I wonder how you've gained that impression, unless, of course, you've compared that available for the ST with that on offer for the far more numerous IBM PC users.... Whilst I'd grant that there are hardly dozens of fully-featured ST terminal programs produced commercially for our machine, one only has to look to the Public Domain or the Shareware market for the solution. Some of these programs are worthy of addition to the ST user's collection, and, in price terms, undercut their commercial cousins considerably (one is, after all, not paying for the advertising, packaging and glossy literature of the retailed product). A major benefit of choosing from the PD/Shareware range is that of being able to try out the program to see if it meets one's needs before (in the case of Shareware titles) paying the registration fee. As for the hardware requirements - these too can be tailored to meet your budget. Personally, I've enjoyed playing MUGs with a secondhand "dumb" modem, connected to the host computer at V23 (I paid œ40 for this). Nowadays, I own an Amstrad SM2400, with which I am very pleased, which would cost around œ200 new, capable of baud rates up to V22bis (2400/2400). I've recently written a feature article on ST PD and Shareware terminal programs for Comms Plus magazine, which will shortly be appearing in Issue 5 of this bi-monthly Comms/MUG/SF&F related publications. The magazine costs œ1.00 per issue and is obtainable from Comms Plus!, 3 Bridge Terrace, Bridge Street, Morley, Leeds LS27 0EW. I hope these few lines will dispel the myth that the ST may not be suited to MUG playing.... @~I agree that you can play MUGs with an ST, I played GODS myself @~for several years and also use the ST on BBs and for general use @~on Prestel. But I haven't found an ST comms package that will let me @~do all the things I can do with my Speccy comms software, such as @~uploading frames when editing on Prestel, so I have to go back to @~the Spectrum for that. @~I also agree with your views on the general high standard of ST @~PD/Shareware comms software. In fact, despite having purchased @~two well-known commercial ST comms packages, I use a Shareware @~one on Prestel! It's the old story - the enthusiasts KNOW what @~we want from comms software..... the big software houses only @~THINK they do..... I've also found the commercial packages bugged @~and prone to crash which you don't want when online!