RPGs - A General Tour/Talk/Look At Type Thing by James Judge In last issue of SynTax someone made a deadly mistake. They mentioned something about a buyers guide for RPGs. Being something of an RPG fan I thought 'hey - what better chance to waffle on about a subject in which I know SOMETHING'. So, here I go with a comprehensive (as possible) guide to a few of the RPGs that have graced my screen over the past few years, as well as a few that haven't (but I've heard a lot about). If you get bored with this article death threats can go to Simon Poxon... "How can you do a guide to RPGs?" cries the text adventure buff at the back. "There's only Dungeon Master and the Ultimas along with a few shoddy PD efforts". Well, little-Miss-text-adventure-buff (it seems that more females are adverse to a bit of sword swinging than males. Maybe it has to do with perspiring and sweating...) let me tell you how wrong. Working from just memory let's name all the RPGs that I know of (or can remember) on all three platforms, in no particular order: Dungeon Master, Chaos Strikes Back, Captive, Eye Of The Beholder 1, 2 and 3, Ultima 1, 2, 3, 4... 7 (parts one and two) and 8, Ultima Underworld 1 and 2, Uninvited. Shadowgate, Bloodwych, Legend, Wizardry 1, 2, 3... 6 and 7, Might and Magic 1, 2, and 3, Clouds Of Xeen, Darkside of Xeen, Betrayal At Krondor, Ishar 1, 2 and 3, Knightmare, the Bard's Tale series (1, 2 & 3), BAT 1 and 2, all the SSI and Gold Box games, Elvira 1 and 2, Ravenloft, Arena: Elder Scrolls, Hero Quest, Shadowlands, Legends Of Valour, Fate/Gates Of Dawn, Heimdall, Abandoned Places 1 and 2, Shadowcaster, Lands Of Lore, Orbitus, Yserbius, Twinion, Castle Of The Winds, Moria, Hack, Larn, Hero 2, Dungeon Lord, Mystic Well, Corporation, Crystals Of Arborea as well as 36 other PC PD disks, 10 ST ones and 13 Amiga disks in the SynTax library. Now, Little-Miss-text-adventure-buff, that's more than 127 games in the above list, and I know I've left some out. It's all well and good naming all these so-called RPGs, but just how do I (and RPGers in general) class the games, and just what IS an RPG? Aren't they games that include funny shaped dice which spotty little no-hope kids play during their lunch breaks and rocket scientists play on their days off? Well, that's what they were like in the beginning. After the Dungeons & Dragons boom that popularised the RPG, as well as the kids' TV show Knightmare in the 80s, not to mention a host of new books written by fresh authors who also created add-ons to the aforementioned D&D rules the RPG became popular. Well, the domain of people who liked to escape from reality once in a while. The only trouble with these games were the sheer complexity of them. Not really in playing (only the DM had to fully understand the rules) but the effort that had to go into learning the rules, creating a dungeon, getting some willing players, creating characters for them, making sure that they had a working knowledge of the rules (ie how to fight and cast spells) as well as actually getting the group together and filling in if George (the guy who ran the rock-hard magician, leader of the group) was ill was phenomenal. The DM would turn into a secretary, psychologist, walking encyclopaedia of RPGing terms and all-round unstable person overnight. Surely there must have been a better way in which to bring together an RPG that had all the fun of a pen and pencil game, but lacked, say, the DM and all but one player. Thankfully that did happen. Due to the boom in home computers someone saw fit to try and create a D&D on the computer. These were simple affairs that were no substitute for the real thing. What the player was faced with (after an age letting the cassette load the info into the 'microcomputer') was a screen full of ASCII characters (you know, letters of the alphabet, punctuation etc.) with a flashing '*' somewhere on the screen denoting them. They could then explore the dungeon by moving around a map that gradually unfolded as they wandered around. Sometimes they would enter traps and a message would flash up informing them that: "An arrow darts from the wall, hitting you on the shoulder. You lose 20 HPs" Then the excitement would come when an 'e' came trundling through a room they were currently exploring. The 'e' denoted an elf and if the player stood beside the 'e' and pressed or walked into the 'e' he would attack it. Then be attacked by it. Then attack it. Then be attacked by it... and so it went on until one died. This was well and good, but there was no way you could change your battle strategy to defeat the foes (you could, maybe, change your weapon). In a few of the more advanced games were spells and magical artifacts as well as hoards of weapons and armour. The aim of these games were simple - get down to level X (usually above the 50 mark) and kill the hideous monster Y (usually a dragon/troll/balrog). Your attempts would be rated on the amount of treasure you accrued on the way and what level you reach (usually a ridiculously high number like 75!). These games, while being enjoyable for the odd five minutes, were no real substitute for the Real Thing. There was no mass conversion from P&P (pen and paper) RPGs to the 'home microcomputer' and so, the RPG was still the area for people who had a lot of free time on their hands and a great deal of patience. The computers advanced, and as they did so did the dreams of the games designers. The Spectrum came and went and then the ST and Amiga two-some were conceived. Here was REAL!!! power. 16 colours (from a possible 512), 16 bit processors, 8 bit sound - what more could you want. Here the CRPG (Computer Role Playing Game ) was truly born and on these machines came THE game that still woes people today and has 'older' RPGers crying into their mugs of Horlicks as they remember killing the first mummy, or topping off the big baddie himself. Personally I think that the game is a load of old tosh and should be consigned to the geriatrics' home to allow the new lords of CRPGs to get on with their rightful job (instead of having to worry over a temperamental grandfather). The same goes for the people who like the darned game (oh-ho, trod on a few toes there, didn't I Brian B. and Alex Van K? (they both rate the game VERY highly...)). So, what is the game? Most of you will know what it is. Yep, the old, the crotchety, the useless, the easy, the pathetic Dungeon Master. The first game of its kind and the one that seems to be hanging around just like an old cold that's been bugging you for weeks. Still, it DID start a new era of CRPGs and for that we must be grateful, I s'pose (doesn't mean I have to like it!). What did it add that was new? Well, graphics for a start. Now, instead of looking down on a map of the dungeon you saw it as if you were IN the dungeon itself. Also instead of playing just one character you got to control a party of four (which allowed for a mixture of fighters and spell casters, instead of just one character dedicated to one adventuring profession). Along with that there were different attacking styles (slash or stab, thrust or hack, you know) loads of spells and an assortment of artifacts. PLUS you got to interact with the dungeon. So instead of just trudging through the level you got to put coins in fountains, open and close doors, solve 'riddles' and spatial problems as well as get lost. The idea of the game was still the same - get down to the last level and kill the evil one, but this time there were fewer levels, less character levels, more variation and more challenge. This game started a revolution overnight. The board RPGers who had computers got a copy straight away and started on the game. The text adventurers of old (but probably not Little-Miss-text- adventure-buff) got a copy too, just to see what this new development in adventuring was all about. People who liked the platforms saw that it involved some form of manual dexterity (instead of mind numbing figures which were absent from this game, or at least tucked away so you didn't REALLY have to bother with them) and so snatched up a copy too. In short it was a huge success. The magazines loved it, the public loved it and it seemed to work well. A flurry of copy-cats followed as well as Chaos Strikes Back (the 'follow up) and editors for the two games, so you could alter the dungeons to your own liking. A lot has changed since then and I'll look at the continuing epic of the computer RPG as well as a few of the more memorable games in the next instalment of this "thing that was intended for an article but now seems to be turning into a fully-fledged series". Just remember that games HAVE progressed from DM and CSB, but this year (about 10 years after the release of DM) will see the release of DM2. Undoubtedly I'll get the game as the previews have promised a new era of monster intelligence. Personally I feel that the programmers will have missed the mark by about 5 years (and going by the graphics, they have missed it by the full 10 years...). Happy RPGing... - o -