DATELINE WARSAW:Adventuring in Poland by Piotr Tyminski I was going to write something about playing RPGs and adventures in Poland but, I'm afraid, this cannot be easily done without explaining a couple of things first. So you should know that Poland is a kind of heaven for software pirates, i.e. there's absolutely no law, nor anything of this kind which would effectively prevent software thieves from distributing pirated programs. There's been lots of talk about changing the legal system and introducing some decent law protecting copyright but, as usual, except from some mumbling about the necessity of changes nothing has ever appeared (this is quite understandable with the ridiculous parliament having its "top priorities" like anti-Abortion law which is now sending Poland back to the middle ages with one go). Programs, both games and utilities, are freely copied and distributed officially and most new releases are available for peanuts, comparing to original software. It is then quite difficult to talk about real adventure playing here since as you all know, most decent RPGs/adventures/strategy games are usually quite complex and a large part of them are just unplayable without the proper manual, etc . Therefore, even if you take the pirated software market, RPGs/adventures have a relatively small market share. To make it more clear to you let me explain how it works. Most games (pirated) come from the Netherlands, France and Germany and I do have a feeling that Poland is literally keeping all Western European pirates alive and busy. There are dozens of small "companies" (usually being one- or two-men enterprises) which have extensive "catalogues" offering up to 2,000 titles for major formats, all "cracked, packed and filed". There's obviously absolutely no after-sale support from these guys and anything you buy may crash or doesn't load. But who cares? 90% of titles come on poor quality disks with no manuals, although there's been some "efforts" to produce basic manuals to the more complicated games/utilities. They usually come in the form of poorly Xeroxed translations of the most vital parts of the original manuals to enable the buyer to enjoy the program to some extent. The only effort to introduce some original titles was the one of the IPS Computer Group which has a licence to distribute original software from MicroProse, Mindcraft, Sierra, Electronic Arts and a couple of other major software houses. These are licensed games, apparently duplicated in Poland, they all come with manuals (very good 100% translations), all the usual gadgets, they're boxed and are just genuine originals offered at a competitive price. (I've paid some FF25 0 for Railroad Tycoon in France, being the equivalent to some 80,000 Polish zloties, but now the licensed game is available through IPS for about 200,000.) Funnily enough, IPS distributors offer pirated software freely too, i.e. you may find original and pirated games all stacked on the same table. Every weekend a huge flea-market opens in Warsaw where you can find dozens and dozens of stands over-flooded with pirated software for PCs, Amigas and STs - 8-bit machines are also well catered for. It really makes me laugh when I see huge RPGs offered with no manuals, just pure copied disks. What's really strange is that people do buy them; a complete waste of money for me, since they'll never get any decent enjoyment from playing complex games without proper manuals, etc. The only original RPGs offered are Reline's "Legend of Faerghail" and "Fate/Gates of Dawn" as well as Mindcraft's "Magic Candle II"; honestly I haven't seen any more. There are people who try to fill the gap in the market although I am not sure if they do the right kind of job. There's a nicely-produced monthly mag called "Computer Studio" which is packed with reviews of all the latest releases of the strategy/simulation/RPG stuff, but what they practically do is that they provide readers with a cheap source of manuals for pirated games (i.e. regularly listing all the controls for flight simulators, etc.). Funnily enough, you will not end up in prison for establishing a network of shops distributing pirated software, but you may actually be axed for not paying taxes from them! I'm in a bit of a lucky position as I'm able to travel around and to buy original software abroad, but most people simply cannot afford that. General knowledge of foreign languages is also an obstacle, since most people would not be able to play games which have French or English manuals. I don't say people can't speak languages here, but when I buy a game in England, it comes with an English manual and when I buy a MicroProse title in France, it's always a French version. That's actually how it should be I guess, but I could die waiting for games coming with Polish manuals, since no reasonably-thinking software house would invest money in producing something which would be immediately (and legally) pirated. There are probably very few RPG/adventure fans scattered around the country who stick to original software; I do have a strange feeling of being a kind of lone wolf. It would be great to team up with somebody playing the same game at the same time, but these people are probably dug in deep in their hideouts and struggle against orcs and demons totally alone. I do not know a single person who would be able to play freely text-only adventures (TADS or AGT-types), this is probably because of language problems, and honestly I've never met a fan of this kind of adventure over here. What a pity, really. Luckily there are also some small things on the bright side, too. Lots of original Polish software is now being developed for the 8-bit machines (mostly Atari); these are not extremely sophisticated programs and are mostly aimed at children (you know, all these labyrinth, platform games, shoot-them-up stuff) but there are also efforts to produce more advanced software such as utilities or strategy games. Raszyn 1809 was recently released for the 8-bit Atari, this one being quite a nice strategy game. In case you wonder it was a battle when Polish troops gave a 'nice' kick to the Austrians. I would be more happy to see some Polish software developed for PCs or other 16-bits, but at least there are people who do a really good job for smaller formats. Some new monthly mags have also appeared and nicely enough they all have sections for RPGs; I'm watching them carefully and wondering if they manage to stay alive. I hope they will. One effort worth mentioning, is the launching of a new monthly magazine purely dedicated to RPGs, both table-top and PBM-type. According to the editor's note they also hope to cover computerised versions of most well-known series like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. This mag is called "Magia i Miecz" ("Magic and Sword" in English) and the first issue looks promising. Among other things they introduce a Polish role-playing system "Crystals of Time" which seems to be a good thing. On the table-top RPG games games there are some really excellent titles and those who like this kind of thing should not complain, since the titles which I've checked out were really excellent. That's all for now from Poland and I will get back to playing my games while still waiting for some real copyright law to be introduced here; I would be really happy to enjoy a "normal" software market in my country, at least there would be more people playing RPGs here, I hope.