Dragon Resources Stories
          An Interactive Absurdity by Peter Berman
   Part of the Dragon IF Mini Comp and on this issue's disk

                      Reviewed by Sue

Last issue I included the set of Dragon IF mini comp games with
SynTax, apart from this game which I couldn't get running.  I
didn't want to delay the magazine while I messed about with it but
as it happened, I reckon I had it working before any of the disks
were delivered. The answer was that it needs HTML TADS to run. For
those of you who have this version, I've enclosed the final Dragon
game with THIS issue. For those who haven't got HTML TADS but have
net access, you can download HTML TADS from the IF archives eg
ftp.gmd.de and if you don't have net access, just send me four
first class stamps and I'll send it to you on a disk.

Anyway, back to the plot. Dragon Resources Stories (DRS) got its
inspiration for its style from the game Human Resources Stories
(HRS), hence the title. HRS isn't a game I've played but John
Ferris reviewed it in Issue 59. He played it out of morbid
curiosity as it had come last out of 27 in the current IF
competition and he wondered how bad a game had to be to come last.
The answer was ... very.

Both games use a series of multiple choice questions which an
interviewee is answering when applying for a job. In the case of
HRS, the job is as a computer programmer. In DRS you are a dragon
applying for a job as a town dragon for the village of Elmdaile.
By all accounts, as a job it isn't up to much - the sacrificial
virgins are bony and not even virgins, you've heard, the pay is
lousy and the lair is the size of a bread box.  But it's a job so
here you are, on a bare mountaintop being interviewed by someone
pretending to be a knight (you can tell from his dull armour and
the fake feather in his helmet that he isn't a genuine knight)

Because the questions in the interview are multiple choice and
some of the answers are hilarious, it's worth trying the game
several times even if you should win the first time. The ending is
interesting and moderately satisfying. If nothing else the idea
behind the game is original, it's bug and spelling mistake free
(as far as I can see) and well implemented.

















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