Game 572: The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994)

 

The title screen has "Chapter One" in the title and a "The" before "Arena," but the game box and manual do not. My policy is to go with any two of those sources that agree.

         

The Elder Scrolls: Arena

United States 

Bethesda Softworks (developer and publisher)

Released 1994 for DOS

Date Started: 9 March 2026

         

It is with a little trepidation that I begin Arena, the first entry in the RPG series that I would likely choose if some psychopath told me I could only play one RPG series for the rest of my life. And probably the only reason I'd hesitate is because of another (now) Bethesda series: Fallout. It's not so much that I think Bethesda makes superlative RPGs but rather that I think they make superlative games that happen to have RPG elements. I am addicted to RPGs, yes. I hope the "Game 572" part proves that without further elaboration. But in addition to RPGs, I'm addicted to open-world, sandbox games full of histories, mysteries, and lore. That's why when I'm not playing Morrowind or Skyrim or Fallout 4 on my console, there's a good chance I'm playing Red Dead Redemption or Far Cry or Assassin's Creed. Put them together, and I don't need the RPG part to be perfect. I just need another obscure tome speculating on the inhabitants of Akavir, a battered journal with notes on the disappearance of the dwarves, or an NPC waxing about the true nature of Sheogorath.

      

I have tempered my expectations and don't expect to find much of this in Arena. I know the game takes place across the entirety of Tamriel, but my guess is that it's pretty shallow. (Even still, I nearly squealed when I opened the game map and found that the geography and names of the provinces were all established here in 1994.) I'm guessing that much that I like about the series' mythology will be absent, underdeveloped, or contradictory. I will try to focus on it as its own game rather than the beginning of a series. But a part of me can't wait to see what bits of lore—like those province names—that were established right here at the beginning. 

     

A map of the world from the character creation screen. It is essentially unchanged 32 years later. 

        

The name most associated with the Elder Scrolls, Todd Howard, wasn't present for this first outing. He wasn't hired until several months after it hit the shelves, in time to spend some time playtesting the CD-ROM version released later that year, but not to contribute to any of its story and mechanics. Most of the credit goes to developers Ted Peterson, Vijay Lakshman, and Julian LeFay (what a great name for someone developing fantasy worlds), who started with the intention to create a game about traveling gladiators who would fight in—you guessed it—arenas. Somewhere along the line, an idea developed to let the gladiators engage in RPG-style side quests in between gladiatorial matches. Then the side quests took over the game (apparently too late to print new boxes and marketing materials). The developers were longtime fans of tabletop RPGs as well as Synthetic Dimensions' Legends of Valour (1992), so perhaps the change was somewhat inevitable. 

 

This quote comes after the title screen and seems more appropriate to the original vision for the game.

        

(Lakshman left the company after Arena, LeFay after Daggerfall, and Peterson after Oblivion, but the trio reunited in 2019 to form OnceLost Games and to announce The Wayward Realms, a "spiritual sequel" to Daggerfall. LeFay died of cancer in July 2025, but the game is still reported to be in development.)

         

It was Bethesda's first role-playing game. The company was eight years old by then, having been started by Christopher Weaver in his Bethesda, Maryland kitchen, funded by a cash infusion from the profits of his engineering and media consulting firm. In between contracts, Weaver and his employee, Ed Fletcher, began messing around with a football simulator that they later sold as Gridiron (1986). For the next eight years, they specialized primarily in sports games (Wayne Gretzky Hockey; NCAA: Road to the Final Four) and action movie tie-ins (Home Alone; The Terminator). In fact, their Terminator series featured smooth continuous-movement and a three-dimensional perspective during the same year that Wolfenstein 3D and Ultima Underworld were getting all of the accolades.

             

The start of the backstory. I didn't realize Tiber Septim was canon from the beginning.

      

It was a bit thrilling to experience the opening cinematic and read the opening paragraphs of the manual, full of names, places, and terms that would become as familiar in the mouth as household words: Gaiden Shinji, Tiber Septim, Uriel Septim, Tamriel, the Amulet of Kings, "Last Seed." The backstory awkwardly explains the title of the game: During the wars that unified the empire under Tiber Septim, the land became so violent, existence so much of a struggle, that the people forgot the world's original name, Tamriel, and began calling it "the Arena."

      

It is now 492 years later, and Emperor Uriel Septim VII (whose death will later kick off the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) is betrayed by his own Imperial Battlemage, Jagar Tharn. Tharn imprisons the emperor in another dimension, where time passes much more slowly than on Tamriel. (Why doesn't he just kill the emperor? Because the Amulet of Kings serves as some kind of alarm that would alert the High Council that the emperor was dead.) Tharn has also killed his own apprentice, Ria Silmane, to prevent her from warning the High Council. Adopting the emperor's guise, Tharn sits on the throne and begins his malevolent rule.

        

Me: "Who's this Talin doofus?"

      

I was surprised to see that the player character has a canonical name and backstory: He is Talin, leader of the imperial guards. Tharn has Talin thrown into the imperial prison after the opening events. He is awakened (here we shift from the opening cinematic to the manual) by the ghost of Ria Silmane, who tells Talin what has transpired, conjures a key to the cell door, and tells the bewildered guard to escape through a magical gate in the southwest corner, which will take him to another city. ("Teleportation between cities is common enough," Silmane says. I was about to object to this, but I then remembered the Mage Guild's teleportation chambers in Morrowind. They were gone by Skyrim, but then, so was the Mage's Guild.) Talin steels himself and opens the door. I suppose if you create something other than a male named "Talin," you can imagine that Talin immediately died, and Ria Silmane moved on to the next cell.

         

Right. "Captured."

      

The next pages of the manual explain that the main quest is to rescue the Emperor by recovering the eight pieces of the Staff of Chaos. But after introducing this fact, it spends a couple of pages encouraging the player to ignore the main quest if he or she wants to. These paragraphs are the father of the Bethesda "open world" approach:

   

If you wish to become a thief who robs innocent nobles, fine. If you wish to play a warrior who makes it his mission in life to kill these thieves, that's fine, too. All we did is give the computer all the parameters of the Land, from NPCs and their motivations, to monsters and their treasures, to nobles and their quests. The rest is up to you.

         

The Elder Scrolls games that I'm familiar with, Morrowind through Skyrim, make this kind of ignore-the-main-quest freedom a real possibility with meaningful side content and interesting mechanics and graphics. I'm curious if Arena does the same. 

       

Is this a daedroth?

       

Back in the game, we enter character creation. The game offers 18 character classes, a list that will remain mostly unchanged until Skyrim: acrobat, archer, assassin, barbarian, bard, battlemage, burglar, healer, knight, mage, monk, nightblade, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, spellsword, thief, and warrior. (Morrowind changes burglars to "agents" and rangers to "scouts" and adds "crusader," "pilgrim," and "witchhunter.") I enjoy the deft blend of classic RPG classes (e.g., warriors, thieves, mages) with some interesting archetypes we see rarely if ever, particularly the acrobat, burglar, nightblade, and spellsword.

     

You can choose the class through one of two ways: just picking it directly or going through an Ultima IV-style questionnaire. I thought I'd do the latter and see the result.

   

Your father delights in telling you stories of his travels in his youth. In one memorable tale, he tells you about a primitive island he visited where a young child was sacrificed once a year to appease Arius, the God of Fire. Whenever the natives neglected the sacrifice, the island volcano would erupt, killing hundreds of villagers. You immediately tell your father:

 

a) You do not believe in any such volcano God. Civilized men should intervene, find the nature cause behind the eruptions, and stop the sacrifices.

 

b) The God Arius must be evil to demand child sacrifice. The villagers should find some way to combat this god, instead of just giving in to his demands.

 

c) It is tragic, but the death of one small child is preferable to that of many villagers. If it works, they should keep the tradition. Gods are not to be toyed with.

   

My answer would be (A) in the real world, but in a fantasy world in which some kinds of supernatural powers exist, I have to go with (B). Deontology! 

     

One month after Tales and Tallows, you look at the horde of treats you have collected and find lots of brandied plums, a treat you particularly dislike. You know your younger sister likes them. Do you:

       

a) Give her all your brandied plums?

      

b) Trade the brandied plums for something she does not really like but you do? 

     

c) Pretend that they are excellent brandied plums and see if she will give up something really good in exchange? 

 

I like to be generous. I go with (A), but I'll accept a trade if she offers it. Honestly, though, I think I would really enjoy brandied plums.

     

You and your best friend buy your first daggers together, a matched pair. You loan him the amount since he doesn't have enough gold, and he agrees to pay you back later. After leaving the shop you and he sit down to marvel at your new weapons. To your dismay you notice that there is a small notch on the blade of the dagger you selected. Your friend asks you to please watch his weapon for him while he runs an errand. Do you:

 

a) Wait for your friend's return then point out the flaw in your dagger and return to the weapons shop to demand a refund.

      

b) Switch the daggers, rationalizing that since you paid for them you should get the first choice, and that if your friend ever notices the notch, you could always take him back to the weapon shop and get a refund?

      

c) Keep his dagger safe until his return, then switch the daggers with your best friend's knowledge, justifying it with the fact that you paid for them, and then offer to accompany him back to the weapons shop?

      

Which friend? Corey's the only one I know who would like a dagger, and he never pays me back for anything. Screw Corey. But I'm not going to be surreptitious about it: I'm going to switch the daggers while looking him right in the eyes. (C). 

           

I didn't take many screenshots of these questions. Here's one.

      

You are at weapons practice with Armsmaster Festil. He is very old now, but takes his teaching very seriously. In fact you have heard him comment that it is all he has left in life. Today he has ceaselessly taunted you at every mistake. Finally he asks you to attack him with the same technique you just did, in an effort to show you the proper execution. Do you:
     

a) Do the technique just fast enough so that he can block it, knowing that it is more important to allow the master to retain dignity, regardless of your personal feelings?

      

b) Attack him at full speed, knowing that you could probably score the hit and justify his unfair treatment of you by showing the class that you were actually doing it right?

      

c) Refuse and leave practice, unable to compromise your anger with his dignity, and realizing that whatever course you choose would cause you to lose respect for either him or for yourself?

     

This feels like a toxic relationship. Best just to walk away. (C). 

           

Your mother is terribly ill and you have been sent with a few gold pieces to buy some rare, medicinal herbs for her. As you reach the door to the apothecary's, you realize there is a hole in your purse and all the gold has fallen out. Do you:
      

a) Enter the store, tell the apothecary your dilemma, and promise on your honor to pay him back for the herbs your mother so desperately needs.

      

b) Attempt to steal the herbs from the apothecary's. You know the old man who works in the store will not be able to catch you, and your mother lies sick. 

      

c) Run back home and admit the loss, hoping that your father will have more gold. You know you'll be punished, but you will neither be in debt to the apothecary, nor will you be a thief. 

    

Jeez, Arena. Way to hit close to home. I'll trust the apothecary and I can come to some kind of arrangement and choose (A). There's no follow-up question to ask what I'd do if the apothecary said no. 

    

Your parents are having a party for several relatives. While helping around the house, you see your cousin slip into a darkened room. Curious, you follow and discover him slipping a silver candlestick into his jacket. He is an honorable boy, but you know his family has suffered some recent financial hardship. He has not seen you yet, do you:
      
a) Clear your throat and tell him to put the candlestick back, reassuring him that your parents can help him if his family is in trouble, but he should not resort to stealing.
     
b) Close the door behind you and say nothing. Your family can live without the candlestick, but your cousin's family obviously cannot.
       
c) Treat him like any other burglar. Lock him in the room and call for your father. If he chooses to be merciful because of your cousin's poverty, that is his decision. It is your father's candlestick, after all.

    

I can already hear my reaction: "Come on, man. If you need money, just say so. What you're doing is just pathetic." (A). 

     

The senior student in your weapons class has trounced you unmercifully for the past several years. Today is the Tournament of Students and you find with dismay that you are paired against him for your first match. As you prepare your friend approaches and offers to tell you of an injury the senior student suffered in yesterday's sparring class, which you missed. Do you:
      

a) Accept the offer, knowing that it would allow you to concentrate on the injured area and greatly increase your chances of beating him?

      

b) Refuse the offer, knowing that win or lose you would rather do it through your own skill and not some extra knowledge in what should be a fair and honorable fight?

      

c) Accept the offer, reasoning that it is better to have the knowledge in case you need it, and realizing that having the knowledge does not necessarily mean using it?

    

In order, I would rather a) win honorably; b) win; c) lose honorably. Thus, (C) seems like a good option. Plus, the other guy's probably collected lots of intelligence on me. 

       

Armsmaster Festil introduces a new student to the class: a small, awkward boy named Tys who does not seem to have any natural talent at all. The class is divided into two sides for a mock battle and, as one of the "generals," you are to assign your soldiers to positions. Tys is one of your men. You decide to:
      

a) Put Tys at the frontline with the other fighters, rationalizing that in any realistic battle, he would probably be a casualty anyway, and that there must be some sacrifices. 

       

b) Use Tys as a scout, rationalizing that because of his small size he would probably be good at sneaking in and gathering information on the enemy. 

      

c) Assign Tys to several posts during the course of the battle, staying near and helping him so he can gain valuable experience and improve.

        

The character begins the game alone in a dungeon cell.

      

It's funny that all these scenarios could fit within the life of a single person. I'm starting to get a picture of him: upper-middle class, parents probably involved in professional positions at court in some way, trained and tutored from a young age, generally privileged. There's a version of these questions that go: "You have a slice of bread and a dead rat; which, if either, do you feed to your little sister?" But I'll keep working in this paradigm. In this case, answer (B) comes to mind before I even read the answers, so that's what I go with.

        

Entering town you find that you are witness to a very well dressed man running from a crowd. He screams to you for help. The crowd behind him seems very angry. Do you:
      
a) Rush to the man's aid immediately, despite your lack of knowledge of the circumstances?
     

b) Rush to the town's aid immediately, despite your lack of knowledge of the circumstances?
      

c) Stand aside and allow the man and mob to pass, realizing that it is probably best not to get involved?  

         

I don't like any of these. I agree that acting without knowing the circumstances is a bad idea (C), but that doesn't mean I have to stand aside. I'd put myself between them, demand in a loud voice that everyone calm the hell down, point to someone, and ask him to explain what's happening. Lacking that option, I guess one guy needs defending more than a crowd. (A). 

       

You are told that a young man has been caught by the village guards and accused of murder. Apparently, his brother was killed by a group of four ruffians in a local tavern, and in his grief, the young man tracked each of them down and murdered them. Upon reflection, you believe that:
     
a) The young man acted honorably in avenging his brother's death. The village lord should let him go free. 

    

b) Even as you sympathize with the young man, vigilante law cannot be tolerated if there is to be peace.

      

c) The young man's only mistake was getting caught while exacting vengeance. For that, he now must accept whatever fate has in store for him.

    

Twenty-First Century developed world: You let the police handle it. "The Arena":  I'm impressed by the man's initiative. (A). Let me note here how thankful I am that Bethesda went with "you are" rather than "thou art" (or "thou durst," as the author of Ring of Elanor might have said).

     

Finally, the game tells me that I would do best as a battlemage, a balance between a mage and a warrior, with very little thieving ability. Consulting the manual, I see that battlemages can use any weapons, some shields, and only leather armor. They specialize in offensive spells. I worry about how I'll get doors open, but it otherwise sounds good to me. Incidentally, the materials are inconsistent as to whether it's "battle mage" or "battlemage." I prefer the latter, so that's how I'll render it.

          

It's also inconsistent as to whether the class should be capitalized.

        

There is an extent to which Arena is doing nothing more than the recently-completed Dark Designs: Passage to Oblivion by offering a long list of classes that are basically just combinations of the core classes. For instance, a nightblade is something of a mage-thief, while a spellsword is a warrior-mage. The answers to the questions above are aspected to the three "core" classes: warrior, mage. If you overwhelmingly favor one, the game assigns you to that pure class. Every other class is based on combinations. I became a battlemage by offering six "mage" responses and four "warrior" responses. If I had done the opposite, I would have been (oddly enough) a barbarian. Six mage responses and four thief responses would have made me a nightblade. An even spread would have made me a monk (3,3,4), spellsword (3,4,3), or acrobat (4,3,3). You can find all the combinations at the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.

      

These formulas do not quite mean, however, that each class is purely defined as a combination of mechanics from its constituent classes. Although there are no skills in the first outing (characters in Arena gain levels through traditional experience), each character class does have different starting attribute ranges, rates of experience gain, levels of health and mana, and types of weapons, armor, and shields they can use. I think some classes get bonuses on certain types of activities; for instance, thief-derived classes gain a bonus when using the "pilfer" action. 

       

The next options are name, sex, and race. Looking for a slightly more dignified name than my real one, I go with "Rochester." I make the character male. The race takes me a little while. The same races that all Elder Scrolls fans are familiar with are all here, except for orcs and imperials. (The Imperial Province exists, but you cannot click on it to choose your race.) Khajiit and Wood Elves are natural thieves; Nords and Redguards are natural warriors; Bretons and High Elves are natural mages. Argonians blend magic and stealth while Dark Elves blend magic and weapons. The manual details specific bonuses that the races receive; for instance, Nords take half-damage from cold attacks, and High Elves are immune to paralysis. As with later games, it's hard to beat the Breton's 50% immunity to all magic, with a further chance of shrugging it off entirely.

     

The game's description of Bretons.

     

It's worth noting that the beast races are very different here than in later Elder Scrolls games. Khajiit are not cats, but rather humans with cat ancestry who sometimes paint their faces to look like cats. Argonians have scaly skin but also hair, and they don't seem to have tails or tridactyl feet. 

       

An Argonian (left) and a Khajiit (right), the latter of which looks like a superhero named Cat Man.

      

The last bit involved in character creation is to distribute a bonus pool of points to the eight attributes: strength, intelligence, willpower, agility, speed, endurance, personality, and luck—a list that will remain unchanged until Skyrim jettisons attributes completely 17 years later. (Let us now stop to contemplate a time in which Bethesda released five Elder Scrolls games in a period of 17 years.) You can reroll stats as many times as you like. The attributes are on a scale of 0 to 100, with plenty of room to grow. I re-rolled about 20 times just to get a sense of the range, and I never got a score lower than 36 (strength) or higher than 68 (intelligence). My combined attribute total, including bonus points, ranged from 406 to 434. I guess the Breton drags strength down a bit, so I put most of the bonus pool into that attribute.

       

The game suddenly gives me a "thou wilt" when it comes to changing the appearance. I got 10 possible heads for my Breton battlemage, none of which I liked. I finally went with the guy with an eyepatch.

             

Come on, Bethesda. Don't go down that road.

         

The game transitions into a cinematic of Ria Silmane speaking to me, relating substantially the same material as written in the manual. The full-motion video is accompanied by voice dialogue; reportedly, Bethesda programmer Jennifer Pratt played the character. (I have the CD-ROM version of the game from later in 1994; I'm not sure whether the voiceover accompanied the original or not.) When the narration finishes, the character is alone in his cell, and I can start playing.

         

What is this land, some kind of arena?

       

Some readers will want me to mention the music, which is more atmospheric than melodic. The title screen theme is almost all percussion, suggesting a march towards a perilous duty. Once the game begins, the score is characterized by long minor-mode chords, isolated notes, and distant rattles—very moody and appropriate to a dungeon. It feels very similar to something I've heard before. I turned it off, of course, but I promise that I listened for a good two or three minutes first. I'm a bit annoyed to find that it won't actually turn off; even at a volume level of 0, you can still faintly hear it.

    

The graphics appear to owe a lot to Ultima Underworld, as does basic movement. You can move and turn with the arrow keys or numberpad, or by  clicking on the edges of the visible screen. The rest of the interface is original enough, with buttons for brandishing weapons, viewing the automap, stealing, checking the date/time/location, casting a spell, viewing the journal, using an item, or camping. Controls are kept to a minimum (no redundant GTFO cluster) so as to maximize the exploration window, which is significantly larger than either Ultima Underworld or Legends of Valour. 

          

I'm sure I've seen that wall moss and blocky stone furniture before.

       

Most mouse commands have redundant keyboard shortcuts, with the sole (and important) exception of attacking, which must be done with the right mouse button. 

    

The world isn't quite as interactive as Ultima Underworld. For instance, when you see an item, you can double-click on it to take it, but you cannot drag it from one place to another. I'm not sure the engine supports pulling on chains, flipping switches, or otherwise manipulating puzzle mechanics.

   

I unlock the cell with my key and start exploring the world. Combat, which I will naturally cover in more detail later, comes upon me almost immediately, in the form of two goblins in the hallway outside my cell. The character attacks by brandishing a weapon and swiping with the right  mouse button, different gestures doing different attacks. He casts by clicking the spell icon, choosing a spell, and clicking the screen. Easy enough. Skyrim isn't so different. 

     

Killing my first goblin.

         

The automap is based entirely on Underworld, complete with a quill pen and the ability to write your own notes. It lacks an eraser, alas. There's also a logbook, but it's empty for my character.

      

Even the fonts are the same.

         

Over the next few minutes, I kill a few goblins and a few rats, I find pieces of armor that my battlemage cannot use, plus some gold, several castings of the "Mark" spell, and an elven longsword.

       

I was excited about this pile of treasure outside my cell door, which seemed to have a bit of everything. But it turns out that all treasure looks like this, regardless of what the pile actually contains.

        

To equip items, you go to a separate character window, accessed by double-clicking the character portrait. It has a "paperdoll" figure, but instead of dragging items to the doll, you double-click on them in the inventory.

    

     

I hit Level 2 and get five points to invest in my attributes. My hit points get  low, and while I'm trying to rest to restore them, a goblin shows up and finishes me off. 

         

Ria appears again when you die.

         

That's good enough for the first session. I'll hear everyone's opinions about character classes and restart fresh next time. Good start. The reason for the name would not have convinced me even as a teenager, though.

   

Time so far: 1 hour 

 

Game 570: The Sword of Peace (1979) and Game 571: Cells and Serpents (1980)

 

How different would our world be if Dungeons & Dragons had taken its themes from L. Frank Baum instead of J.R.R. Tolkien?

       

The Sword of Peace

AKA Magic Labyrinth 

AKA Kingly Orb

United Kingdom 

Published as BASIC type-in code in the November 1979 Practical Computing 

Versions released for the Nascom computer in 1980 and the ZX-81 in 1981 

Date Started: 10 March 2026

Date Ended: 10 March 2026

Total Hours: 2 

Difficulty: Easy (2.0/5)
Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later) 

       

This is the first game I can remember for which its original appearance does not give it any name at all. It appears in the November 1979 Practical Computing as generic BASIC type-in code under the heading: "Data - the sword of peace is yours." The article goes on to say that the program is a "version of the Kingly Orb." It was later titled Magic Labyrinth when republished (with acknowledgements and modifications) in the International Nascom Microcomputer Club's Basic Programs in March 1980. Finally, London-based Arctic Software published the commercial version that you see here in 1981 for the ZX-81.

     

The original type-in code from the November 1979 Practical Computing.

           

I spent some time, as did El Explorador de RPG, trying to figure out what "Kingly Orb" is or was. I can't find any references in the Internet Archive or Google Books. We don't know whether it was a previous computer game or a board game. 

 

Either way, the game is not really an RPG (no character development), but it's also one of those games that takes as much time to BRIEF as to fully play and number, so you get the latter.  

       

Killed on my first outing.

      

The framing story is that you're the crown prince of Oz, and that to prove yourself worthy of the throne, you must find, in a four-level dungeon, the Great Ring, the Kingly Orb, the Robes of State, and the Sword of Peace. Each dungeon level is 100 x 100, and at the start of each game, each item is placed at a random pair of coordinates on its respective level. Once you find it, you're automatically moved down to the next level.

   

Good, neutral, and evil monsters roam the dungeon. Evil ones attack you and must be fought or fled. Good ones give you benefits. Neutral ones may go either way.

     

A dragon gives me "Rain of Holy Water." The magic treasure on this level is somewhere on a line between (2,99) and (9,92) 

      

Combat is purely through the use of 10 numbered spells. Technically, spell 0 is "Run Away," but that's just an action using a spell code. The player only starts with the first three spells: "Landslide," "Wind," and "Fireball" (the world's worst folk music trio), but good monsters give him more as he meets them. Each monster (dragons, witches, wizards, vampires, rock monsters, mummies, golden horses, sand men, giants, and water worms) responds to some spells and not others, so you have to take notes. Fortunately, when you get Spell #10 ("Thunderstorm"), you find it works on anyone. Spells don't cost the player anything to cast, so you can just cast the best one repeatedly.

      

The full list of spells.

        

Each of the royal treasures also has a special spell that blasts certain enemies once you find it, but I never had to use them. 

   

The character starts with 500 strength points and takes damage from battle, but good monsters occasionally provide healing. 

     

This witch is not good.

       

Each turn, the player sees his current coordinates (e.g., 34,19) and moves by entering first the number of squares along the X-axis and then the number of squares on the Y. Either number can be negative. (There's a maximum of |20| in any direction, so you can do |20,0| or  |0,20| or |13,13| or any other combination in which the hypotenuse is 20 or less.) Fortunately, you do not have to search 10,000 squares for each item. The first time you encounter a good monster, it gives you a distance meter that tells you how many squares you are from that level's treasure. On a subsequent encounter with a good monster, you get a compass, which tells you whether the object is in a negative or positive direction on the X and Y axis.

        

I'm 9 away from the treasure, which is to my southeast. I try moving 5 along the x-axis and -4 on the y-axis.

        

For instance, you may be at (35,62) and the distance meter says that you're 23 squares away. The compass says (-1,1). That means that the treasure could be anywhere from (-1,22) to (-22,1). It's a bit confusing because maximum movement is given in a straight line while the Distance Meter simply adds absolute rise and absolute run. 

    

The "grid" is otherwise an illusion. The character doesn't actually move, and the cells aren't seeded with specific encounters. You get the same encounters in the same order no matter which coordinates you choose to input. Thus, once you work out which monsters respond to which spells, the only variables affecting your success are a) the luck of the draw when it comes to what monsters you encounter, and b) minimizing the number of guesses to get from your current square to the treasure square. You can work out the latter mathematically. Without the compass, you need a maximum of three guesses to triangulate the treasure; with the compass, you can do it in two. It's actually a bit better than that, because if you're exactly on one of the axes, the game gives you an annotation of 0 for directionality, so sometimes you can get it in one. It might take you longer to get there, of course, if you start more than 20 (diagonal) squares away. 

       

Triangulating the location without a compass. At the original position 1 (O1), the player was told he was 12 squares away. At O2, he was 10 squares away. At O3, he's 6 squares away, which allows him to nail it.

              

As you might imagine, it was more fun working out the formula than playing the actual game. It's a good programming exercise, nothing more, and even in the "dark ages" of RPG history, I think it was rather shameless of Arctic Software to try to sell it.

    

One of these days, I'm going to have to create a page listing all of the titles and honorifics I've accumulated.

    

***** 

      

      

Cells and Serpents

United Kingdom 

Published as type-in code for the Nascom in the December 80 Computing Today 

Republished as type-in code for the BBC Micro in the May/June 1983 A&B Computing 

Commercial versions released by Argus Press in 1982 for the Commodore 64, 1983 for the Atari 800, Dragon 32/64, ZX Spectrum, and BBC Electron, 1984 for Commodore VIC-20 

Date Started: 10 March 2026

Date Ended: 11 March 2026

Total Hours: 2 

Difficulty: Hard to say with no fixed goal. Moderate? (3.0/5) 
Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later) 

    

Speaking of type-in games that later saw inexplicable commercial releases (although I guess I'd play a few quid to avoid having to type it myself and then spend six hours debugging it), we have another non-RPG that sees the character wandering through a random dungeon with no goal except to escape with the highest score possible. 

    

Without any framing story or character creation, the character is dumped into Level 1 of the dungeon with 100 hit points. You're told that you're in a room and can go left, right, or forward. The game tells you what you see in those directions, a list that includes corridors, rooms, stairs up, stairs down, doors, blank walls, and, theoretically, an exit. 

      

Contemplating three options.

       

Doors and rooms are basically the same thing, since doors just lead to rooms. They usually have monsters, treasures, or both. If there's a door, you get a chance to listen first to see if you hear a monster. Running into a blank wall causes damage.

 

Don't bother to map anything: the things you see in each direction are randomly generated when you arrive at each new location. You can't go down a stairway, turn around, and go back up. In this sense, each "level" is infinite because no real geography exists.

    

The monsters are drawn from typical fantasy RPGs: orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, demons, undead, dragons, and so forth. They have no special attacks or defenses. In combat, you have the option to fight (which is resolved automatically) and cast (generic) spells, which usually do more damage, but you have a limited number. Monsters are harder the lower the level. The character has no strength score, so the only thing that determines success in combat is whether your hit point total holds out against the monster difficulty. The only real strategy is to retreat from monsters in rooms that don't offer any treasure.

     

Defeating an intellect devourer with a spell.

      

The hardest enemies are three demons—Demogorgon, Jubilex, and Orcus—and ten devils: Asmodeus, Baalzebul, Dispater, Geryon, Barbed Devil, Bone Devil, Erinyes, Horned Devil, Ice Devil, and Pit Fiend. I was still able to kill them without much trouble as long as I had a few hundred hit points. Incidentally, if the title of the game didn't give away the author's primary influence, that list ought to do it.

         

It's close, but I think the version of this battle in Baldur's Gate: Throne of Bhaal is better.

       

As for that treasure, gold pieces add to your score. Other items—like weapons, armor, or wands—just add directly to your hit points or spell total. The only exception is a "luckstone" that increases the amount of gold found.

     

A nice haul after a battle with a green serpent. The scroll and armor will add points to my health; the wand will add spells.

     

That's about it. You just wander the rooms, taking care not to walk into walls, fighting or slinging spells at the occasional monsters, and frequently checking your status. The C64 version offers the ability to save and reload, obviously not present in the original. When you're ready to leave, you find an exit and you're given a message that "you got out alive," along with your score.

     

My top score, sans the exit.

        

            

I spent a couple of hours with the game, fielded about half a dozen characters, and got one of them down to dungeon Level 16. I built a score of 538, which seems like a lot, but according to the type-in code, the creator was able to get to over 11,000. In any event, I never saw an exit, at least in the C64 version. The manual's language admittedly makes it seem rare ("should you be lucky enough to discover an exit . . ."). I tried to interpret the original code to determine the circumstances under which an exit appears, but I wasn't familiar with that form of BASIC. If you want to give it a try, here's the issue of the magazine. 

        

And here's the image.

         

[Ed. It took me a while longer, but I got out! As per the comments, the exit only has a 1/700 chance in appearing in any of the room slots.] 

     

       

Numerous sites credit the game to a "G. Lovell," but if you go back to the issue, I think he or she is being credited with the full-page artwork (repeated on the front cover) of the topless female barbarian (shown from the rear) confronting a dragon with a spear. Like many type-in games (e.g., The Wizard's Castle, The Devil's Dungeon) it has spawned a number of modifications and variants over the years. (I am once again indebted to El Explorador de RPG for tracking down some that I would have missed.) Both Argus Press and Forward Software issued commercial releases for multiple platforms. It continued to appear on public domain and shovelware disks into the 1990s. A programmer named Simon Goodwin ported it to the PDP-11 and from there to the EACA Video Genie, renaming it Troll Crusher along the way. An Englishman named Jim Davies wrote a variant called Orcs n 'Oles for DOS in 1994, which features quite a few more items and variables. Generating ideas for variation is, I suppose, the entire purpose of a type-in program.

      

A screenshot from Troll Crusher (1994). The score keeps going into the negatives for me.

        

****

      

Someone will ask about the GIMLET. I rated Sword of Peace an 8 and Cells and Serpents a 5. It's not worth going through all the categories for such primitive titles. 

 

I'm sure you were hoping to read about The Elder Scrolls: Arena today instead of a couple of type-in games. Don't worry; I'm getting there. In the meantime, this quick entry allowed me to finish off 1979 and 1980. Again.

 

Star Trail: Siege Perilous

Won?

      

Well, I have to hand it to you: All of you knew what was coming, and you managed to keep the secret. All I can say is that there's a right way and a wrong way to do this kind of thing, and I'm not sure the game did it the right way.

     

When we last checked in with Star Trail, the party had found the Salamander Stone and was on its way to Lowangen to deliver it to either of the two parties who approached us at the beginning of the game and asked that we find it. One, Elusrion Starlight, wanted the artifact to unite the dwarves and elves against the orcs. The other, Sudran Alatzer, wanted it for . . . profit, I guess. Elusiron wanted us to deliver it to a dwarf named Ingramosch, Alatzer to a woman named Vindaria Leechbroon. Either way, the recipient was supposed to be in Lowangen.

       

Ambushed on the way.

       

The problem: Lowangen was surrounded by a besieging party of orcs. Approaching the siege camp produced a multi-stage encounter.

 

1. A description of the orc army. Here we learn that orcs are called "blackpelts" by the civilized races of Arkania. The options are to turn around or "walk on." Turning around sends us back along the last road segment we traveled.

 

2. The orcs don't seem to care about our presence. But suddenly, four orcs start walking towards us. Options are to keep walking, start running, or turn around. Turning around sends us back along the last road segment we traveled. Either of the other two options, to the best of my recollection, accomplishes the same thing.

       

Why are you besieging the city if you don't want to hurt anybody?

      

3. The four orcs come up to us and demand our "baggage and weapons." We have options to hand them over or say that we'll turn back. But at this point, it's too late. Even if we turn back, they take all our stuff. There's an option to fight, but it leads immediately to unavoidable death for every character.

     

While the orcs are stripping us of our stuff, a shaman approaches, says that our magic stuff is dangerous, and the orcs put them back. Thus, we arrive in Lowangen, with everything gone—weapons, armor, canteens, tools, sleeping bags, rations, lockpicks—missing. We keep our gold, base clothing, any magic items (including our Girdles of Might and Obsidian Daggers), and the Salamander Stone.

       

This is how the game explains the orcs taking our silverware but not our magic swords.

       

I tried everything to get around them. When I left off last time, the party was going up the west bank, but the trail pattern made us cross the river again before we reached the city. I tried coming from the south. I tried swinging east, then north, and coming from the north. I tried going far north past the city, to the menu city of New Lowangen (it had a temple and an inn; nothing special), across the river, and then south on the other side. That got the party mired in a swamp for about half an hour, and I ultimately reloaded.

        

I think we're here too soon.

       

A few things happened during my attempt to get around the orc siege. First, we fought a few random battles with orc patrols. These were enough to level everyone up to Level 4. Oddly, the characters didn't always gain levels immediately after a battle. Sometimes, they only leveled after a night's rest. Do I get experience for camping? I'll have to check next time.

   

Second, we ran into a friendly NPC named Antharon who was also traveling to Lowangen. We allowed him into the party, although his "rogue" class should have dissuaded us. I was convinced to keep him because he was Level 12 and thus a lot stronger than the characters.

       

Never trust a guy who doesn't shave.

     

Third, we kept getting messages saying, "the pursuers are getting closer." I don't believe there was any kind of encounter that explained who "the pursuers" were. When they finally caught up to us, we found ourselves in battle with a large party consisting of a dwarf, a couple of warriors, a druid, two hunters, and two magicians. It was a tough battle. We won through the usual tactics, including frequent "Lightning" and ganging up on enemies one by one. They mysteriously had no loot at the end of battle.

     

Are these guys just a plot device to force us to go to the right place?

        

Eventually, I had to admit there was no alternative without cheating. I did think of a way to cheat: I could create six new party members at the temple in North Lowangen and give them all the stuff. I didn't do it, first because I don't like to cheat unless it's necessary, second because it seemed like a pain, and third because I didn't know what way we'd be going when we left Lowangen.

   

I walked through the orc camp and handed over my stuff. The party arrived in Lowangen, and then got hit with the second "screw you" of the session: Antharon's brother Gavron came to meet him. The two brothers left the party after giving us all hugs—and stripping us of the Salamander Stone. I tried reloading and kicking Antharon out of the party before we reached the city, but it doesn't accomplish anything. Gavron still meets us and asks about his brother, then steals the stone and disappears into the crowd before we notice.

     

"And the Salamander Stone with him," the game concludes.

        

Fun.

        

Anyway, it's nothing we can change, so we start exploring the large city. We find, in rough order, the following. I should warn you ahead of time that this is a very long bulleted list. This is perhaps the longest bulleted list I have ever created. I didn't realize how big the city was until I was well into it.

    

• A lot of people who don't want us in their houses.

       

That seems unfair. We just got here.

       

• Taverns called Last Hour, Hammer and Anvil, and At the Canal. Ominously, they don't have any food available, just watered-down wine. In talking with the bartenders, I note that GAVRON is a keyword, but they don't know anything. One says that Ingramosch is trying to mobilize people against the orcs. We earn a couple of gold pieces with our "Acrobatics" skills.

• A house occupied by Raisha Rotenegger, who slams the door in our face.

• A house occupied by a guy named Pagon Droler. No matter what I ask him about, he says I'm babbling.

• Vindaria Leechbronn's house. She was the "evil" option for turning over the Salamander Stone. She slams the door in our faces. We force our way in and find ourselves in battle with a bunch of warriors and elves. It's a tough fight, as some of my characters are unarmed and all of them are unarmored. We loot a bunch of equipment and 50 gold pieces. Searching the building afterwards, we find a lot more equipment (including 40 rations, ropes, blankets, and water skins) and the Salamander Stone! That was a surprise. But as we leave, I realize that Toliman was killed, so I have to reload and do everything again.

      

Cramped quarters for this battle.

    

• Healers named Kysira and Pareinor Vormtann. 

• A smith named Roglima the Great. One of the nice things about having no equipment is you have nothing to repair.

• An inn called Trenchbog, run by a guy named Vitus Gullits. He says I can get the "best information" at the Orc Death in the Svelltwash neighborhood. He has no food and no lodging space available.

• Two merchants named Vistella Ebenborn and Ugo Plotz. They sell general goods. I don't buy anything right now, but I make a note of the places so we can stock up again before we leave town. They have no rations available.

• A couple of brothels. Even if we wanted to stay, the rate is insane. It would cost 96 gold ducats. We only have 64.

     

This is what people mean by hyperinflation during war time.

      

• A house occupied by a woman named Black Jandora. We ask for lodgings; she refuses.

• The Stronghold of the Grey Wands. I have no idea what they are. Again, we ask for lodging; again, we're refused. Same thing happens later at a place called Hall of Power, an academy run by Master Yendrion, and the Academy of Deformations.

• A healer named Jhaell Startrail. This game seems to enjoy doubling up its names. ("Salamander Stone" is also the name of an inn in town.) Everyone I ask about STAR TRAIL thinks I'm talking about her. She suggests we ask the dwarves in the Eydal neighborhood about Ingramosch.

      

Face-palm.

        

• An inn called The White House. When asked about INGRAMOSCH, she says that "Ailian Sevensprings set him up here a few weeks ago." Sevensprings supposedly lives in the area. She has a dormitory available, so we spend the night.

• Herb shops run by Farmion of the Kvill and Dimiona Adingor.

• A guy drops a bag in front of us. We pick it up and return it to him. Mysteriously, he denies being the owner before running away. 

• Parts of the city are connected by bridges. One has a guard who insists on 1 silver piece every time we cross. Another has a donation bowl. The amounts are trivial, but their existence keeps us from fast traveling across town. We have to stop at the bridges every time.

     

This town is full of thieves. Are we supposed to believe that they leave the donation bowl alone?

     

• A couple of houses where the game specifically says, "No one hears your knocking." That makes me think there's something important about them. 

• A note on a wall encouraging us to eat more cheese toast. 

      

You don't have to convince me.

        

• The town's fortress, to which we are barred entry by guardsmen.

• The north gate. If we try to leave, we have to fight like 20 orcs. At least it lets us try. On the way in, the game just assumed that any battle resulted in instant death. 

       

I should have listened to that gate guard.

        

• We're accosted by a party of beggars and thieves who demand our food. We refuse, but there are like 20 of them, and they kill us without much trouble. We reload, but there doesn't seem to be any way to avoid the battle. After multiple tries, we manage to kill them, but with many party members near-unconsciousness. In trying to recover from this battle, I discover that the game will let us just camp in the street.

      

In most RPGs, the choice would be obvious.

       

• The house of a man named Dragan Escht. He says he'll help me find Gavron if I can get "the Vinsalter" to visit his house to help him translate something. He lives in the Colorful Flight neighborhood. Since there's nothing in the game to tell us what neighborhood we're in, I don't know why the NPCs keep telling us the names of neighborhoods. "The southwest part of town" would have been so much more useful. I don't even know if it's worth pursuing Gavron at this point. I really just want to find Ingramosch.

• A female beggar asks for some money. We say yes, and she thanks us. The game doesn't offer an option for how much to give, or even tell us how much we gave. I think it was about 2 gold pieces. 

     

She is more to be pitied than censured.

     

• An old woman approaches and offers to sell a magic amulet for 10 ducats. I think we had the same encounter at the beginning of the game, and commenters said I should have bought it. I buy it, and it does increase the character's magic resistance by 5 points.

       

I think this exact scenario was in my corporate security training.

      

• An inn called Evdal House run by Elgor Onder has dormitory beds available but no food.  

• A shop called Thorescha has rations available, for 5 gold pieces each. Lockpicks are 24 gold pieces. That's price-gouging.

• Another battle with a party of beggars. Only six this time, so we do better. Still, this seems like it's going to be a recurring thing until we get out of here.

      

Doing our part to relieve the refugee crisis.

     

• At the temple of Ingramosch, Xobert Zornbrecht tells us that he thinks Ingramosch left town for the Blood Peaks "to take care of the orcs." 

• The Smithy of Ingerimm. The smith, Angroscha, doesn't want to let us in. She suggests we see Bromhead or Roglima for a weapon, but I know from experience that neither of them has any. They just repair. 

• At one point, I accidentally walk into the canal and discover that it's not a barrier. I guess those points I put into "Swim" were well-spent.

• At the Magistracy (town hall), we learn that not only is the town short on weapons for its defense, it's actually illegal to own more than one weapon. We offer our excess weapons to a councilwoman, and someone important (the game isn't clear on who he is) makes us honorary citizens of the city, which comes with a document and everything. The town took everything we didn't have in hand, including some magic Obsidian Daggers.

     

Thanks, random guy.

      

• More inns (The Inn, Svelltje Palace, The Little Prince, Bit and Ducat), taverns (Hammer and Anvil, Water and Wine, Klonballa's, Dark Eye, Orc Death, Salamander Stone, Little Fox Den), and temples (Tsa, Boron, Travia, Rahia, Hesinde) where they have no food, no lodging, and no information. 

• We find the house of The Vinsalter, but he doesn't want anything to do with Dragan. We plead and offer to pay him to no avail. One of the party members suggests we return tomorrow.

      

I actually have no idea. Could you tell me what a "Vinsalter" is? It sounds like a jackass who runs around ruining people's wines.

      

• The Exhibition of Art in Craftsmanship. It's closed. 

• We find Ailian Sevensprings's house. He gives us the unwelcome news that Ingramosch left town ages ago, headed for the Blood Peaks, through some kind of secret exit. He says Dragan knows where it is. I guess all roads lead to Dragan. He suggests that if Ingramosch has left the Blood Peaks already, it will probably be for the city of Tjolmar.

         

I really appreciated the ability to make map annotations during this session.

     

Finally, at this point, we've explored every building in the city—I think. Islands and clusters of buildings sometimes make it hard to explore systematically. We camp for the night and try the Vinsalter again. This time, in response to our "sorry story," he agrees to go see Dragan. He joins the party as an NPC and we take him across town, praying we don't get attacked by another beggar pack, as our hit points are almost gone.

        

Dragan is happy when we return. On the subject of TRAVEL, he suggests we talk with Black Jandora, who knows a secret exit. As for GAVRON, he wants us to do another favor before he'll tell us: Retrieve his brooch ("an heirloom that the town more or less stole from me") from the Exhibition building. 

     

Maybe I'll just call her "Jandora."

       

Jandora wants 300 gold pieces to get us out of town, or six times more than we have. We remind her of favors she owes to Dragan, and she lowers it to 100—still too much, but I have stuff to sell. I visit Vistella Ebenborn's shop and manage to get to 185 gold pieces with the extra Girdle of Might and the jewelry I looted from Vindaria Leechbronn's house. (I'm curious what would happen if I just spent it all on brothels. Would I be in a "walking dead" situation?) While I'm there, I load up on basic sundries again (no sleeping bags, alas), which cost 28 gold pieces.

       

This still annoys me.

      

We burglarize the Exhibition Hall in the middle of the night and steal the brooch. There were several opportunities to turn back during the escapade, and I don't know whether our ultimate success had anything to do with our statistics. I wish more games were transparent about when you make a skill check.

   

Back at Dragan's, he tells me that if I want to catch Gavron, I should ask around the Orc. Again, I don't know whether I want or need to catch Gavron—perhaps I should just head for Jandora and the secret exit. I have to wait nearly a full day for the Orc Death to open. I spend that time re-checking stores, but I can't find anyone who sells waterskins or sleeping bags, even at inflated prices. (On the subject of water skins, I note that my party members' thirst meters haven't budged while in the city, and the few water skins I have remain full. I think the game assumes we're drinking from the many wells in the city.)  I re-check the price of healing and deem it too expensive.

      

One-fifth of our money to heal one character.

      

When I finally get into Orc Death, no one can tell me anything about Gavron other than he occasionally comes into the place. But as I leave, I see Gavron poke his head in, then flee. The game gives me an opportunity to follow him, but of course since you can't see figures in the environment in this game, it's all done by menu.

  

When I catch up to him, I'm surprised that one of the dialogue options I have is, "Where is the Salamander Stone?" Didn't I find it? Is it fake? We interrogate him, and he tells us that he "delivered the [stone] to Vindaria." Where we already found it. So I guess this whole plot thread was in case we hadn't stumbled on Vindaria's house on our own. 

         

I feel like there should be more options here.

      

We return to Jandora and pay her the 100 ducats. She says to go to the castle of the knights' order at the north end of town, ask for Master Eolan, and tell him we want to "sweep the yard." I assume this is the place called the Castle of the Order of the Grey Staves on the map and the Stronghold of the Grey Wands when we knock on the door.

   

Master Eolan gives us unfortunate news: He'll only let us go if we find a missing member of his order first. The man is named Agdan Dragenfeld, and he got lost crossing the swamps to the west. Taking this mission will require us to leave two party members behind in the city. (I try refusing, but we end up in a cell and there's an instant "game over.") I leave Toliman and Lyra behind, and soon the other four members are outside the city.

       

I wonder if I should take the Salamander Stone or leave it with one of them.

          

I'm going to end here, but it occurs to me that I could reload from before visiting Master Eolan, drop off two party members at one of the temples, create two new party members, leave them with Master Eolan, and reunite with the original members at the temple in New Lowangen. I probably won't do this for role-playing reasons, but is there any reason this won't work? Or what if I just created two new members and headed directly for the Blood Peaks (assuming that's where I need to go next)?

          

Star Trail is hardly the first game to strip equipment or party members at scripted plot moments. I try to roll with the punches and not let it annoy me, particularly when it feels more or less organic. I generally hate these moments at the time, but when they're all over, I sometimes realize that I enjoyed the extra challenge. One of the later chapters of Fate: Gates of Dawn offered a notable example. Still, it annoys me somewhat that this game encourages the player to hyper-prepare with equipment and then steals it all.

      

I thought the developers did a reasonably good job depicting a city under siege, with a subsequent breakdown of order and lack of basic services. There are RPGs in which the party would literally solve all of this: find food, find water, restore order, and defeat the orcs all by themselves. I enjoy those types of heroics, but there's also something fun about the opposite sort of game, where six people can only accomplish what six people could reasonably accomplish. Will Star Trail hold true to this experience, or will we be confronting armies by its end? I guess time will tell.

      

Time so far: 29 hours