The Secrets of Dungeon Mastery - Software Heaven/Mirrorsoft
      Authors Edvarg the Unfailing/Tracy Hickman RRP œ4.99

The Secrets of Dungeon Mastery is a 69-page, soft-cover book which
aims to give extra insight into the famous and popular game of
Dungeon Master and has, so we are told, been compiled by Tracy
Hickman from various documents and letters left by Edvarg the
Unfailing. Edvarg was an adventurer who was born in 791 and who
started his heroic career when he killed an invading prince to
save his mother's honour and ended up a hero of the court and
squire to the Lord of Sagnavos.

Sadly, after many quests, Edvarg lost his life in the quest for
the Firestaff, though if the stories are to be believed, he had
already lost his life several times before in other adventures and
been revived by his companions, so, who knows, we may not have
heard the last of him! For those of you who aren't familiar with
Tracy Hickman, he is one of the co-authors of the Dragonlance and
Darksword series of books and related games - if you haven't read
them, I can thoroughly recommend them!

But, back to the book in question which covers many aspects of
Dungeon Master, from character selection, strategy and
spell-casting to mapping. At the end is an extra section which
lists some of the items which may be found in the game, including
objects such as the Eye of Time and Speedboots and various
pieces of armour and special weapons. There are also three pages
of verses, said to have been prophecies given to Edvarg by an
unknown soothsayer before his fatal descent into the dungeon.

Dotted through the book are a few line-drawings to show maps of
part of the dungeon, tactics in fighting and a way to get extra
Mana. The book is also littered with footnotes which may either
clarify a point in the text or expand on the story being told.

For it IS a story. The style in which it is written is very
flowery and extra characters (Shrefly the Wizard, Streth the
Cloudwarrior) and places (The Well of Time, Strataria), together
with any extra details to bring life to the tale, are continually
being introduced. This can, at times, make it a bit of a struggle
to read. The main text is alright, but those footnotes ....
argh!....  Though it's tempting to miss out the footnotes, if you
do you will run the risk of missing out on some valuable bits of
information which are hidden amongst the legends.

The whole book is written very cryptically so don't expect a
step-by-step solution to problems that have you baffled. However,
even with my limited knowledge of the game, I found it a very
enjoyable read (despite several spelling mistakes) and I learnt
quite a few things which will definitely be to my advantage when I
find the time to get back to the game!

                                             Sue