Tag: CRPG

The original lore of 1981’s Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord computer roleplaying game (CRPG):

The land of Llylgamyn is the basis of many legends. It is the center of commerce throughout the land, and home of the academy where some of the bravest warriors are trained. In its early days it was a monarchy ruled by the royal family, but as time passed the power shifted to aristocrats and theocrats, and eventually the royal family became more symbolic then anything else.

Under a more democratic system, the High Council of Sages appointed an Overlord to govern over the kingdom. With that, the power of the royal family diminished almost completely. The Overlord was a former warrior of the realm, and a local hero. His name was Trebor. At first everything seemed well, but as time went by Trebor’s thirst for power began to show. He began searching for ways to expand his rule. He learned of an ancient amulet held in a forgotten temple somewhere outside of the kingdom. Eventually, through unknown means he was able to find its hidden location. He gathered his best men and sent them on a mission to retrieve this legendary artifact. They returned successful. Trebor, however, was not the only person who wanted this artifact. Only hours behind him in reaching its original destination was the…wizard Werdna…. When Werdna discovered that someone had found the amulet before him he grew very angry. Using his magic he was able to discover its new location. That evening the Wizard made his assault on Overlord’s Castle. Making himself invisible he was able to sneak past Trebor’s guards. He found the overlord sitting in his throne room with a group of sages studying the amulet. Werdna cast a powerful spell that made Trebor and everyone in his immediate vicinity frozen with fear. With Trebor unable to move, Werdna plucked the amulet right from his hands and left the castle.

Werdna knew that once the Trebor regained his senses he would be prime suspect. He couldn’t return to his tower, he needed a new hiding place. That’s when he was struck with a brilliant idea. Werdna decided to use to amulet to make a new home right beneath the city of Llylgamyn! There was enough underground mining activity already, he should go unnoticed. Upon the thought of this very plan, the amulet began to glow. Suddenly there was tremendous earthquake, and in a flash Werdna found himself in a giant…labyrinth in the ground below the city. Summoning monsters to be his allies Werdna explored his way to the lowest depths and made a home where he would be able to study the powers of the amulet undisturbed.

After losing the amulet and discovering the existence of the mysterious maze beneath his city, Trebor became unhinged. His madness grew daily, all he could think of was getting his amulet back. He called for the greatest warriors in the realm to enter the maze and find Werdna, but the monsters grew greater in numbers and they began to spread to even the highest depths of the maze.

A year after the discovery of the maze, Trebor had managed to secure the first four floors. Most of the warriors who tried to journey deeper were never seen again, those that were returned with their minds warped, speaking of demons and dark magic. Trebor ordered the passages to the deeper layers of the maze to be magically sealed, thus preventing these creatures from making their way to the town. He also ordered that traps be set on the first three layers. Upon completion, Trebor declared the maze his own personal proving grounds. New cadets enrolled in the training academy would be offered the opportunity to brave the maze. Those that could find the secret he had hidden for them would be rewarded. Trebor decided he could use the maze as a test, those that would be able to able to make their way to the fourth floor would be deemed worthy and told the truth about Werdna and the amulet. They would be given the chance to go deeper into the maze. If they could return with the amulet, they would be inducted as members of Trebor’s Personal Guard.

It has been five years since the disappearance of the amulet, and this time it is your characters that have volunteered to challenge the maze.

At long last, I have achieved a milestone on this pet project.

The original maps of the Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord computer roleplaying game (CRPG) utilized a wrap-around technique to create the illusion of a larger area than just a 20-by-20 grid. Here is the original grid of Level 1:

My pet project is converting these into maps rendered in HTML from a library of reusable images. These images are (with two exceptions) built as 4-by-4 grids. This allows for actual walls between adjacent areas. I am also “unrolling” all wrap-arounds.

The first milestone was completing Level 1 to my satisfaction. I have flipped and rotated it to place the entry stairs in the upper-left corner:

The game manual for 1981’s "Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" Apple II computer game contained several humorous cartoons drawn by Will McLean. These are my favorites:

This is the second in a planned series of evocative names of magical items from any media. Names that spur one’s own imagination of what they could be outside of their source material.

The Diablo game series has hundreds of unique magical items. Below is a far-from-complete selection.

Diablo I:

• Arkaine’s Valor
• The Grandfather
• Veil of Steel

Diablo II:

• Azurewrath
• Corpsemourn
• The Eye of Etlich
• Gidbinn
• Stone of Jordan

Diablo III

• Bloodtide Blade
• Convention of Elements
• Reaper’s Wraps

I am intentionally omitting my imaginings for these items so you may do so for yourself.

The power of names.

Unlike Dungeons & Dragons, some early CRPGs (e.g. 1981’s "Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" and 1985’s "The Bard’s Tale: Tales of the Unknown") had a modular armor system. Helms and gauntlets provided a defensive bonus. Helms could also have a magical bonus. Items like shields and gauntlets had more than one type, each with a different defense value.

Here is a summary of the system from Wizardry I, which is closer to D&D regarding character classes:

Starting Armor Class is 10. The lowest (descending system) AC possible is -10.

Priests in Wizardry cannot wear helms thus enabling the combat primacy of the martial classes. This inspired the blogpost, Armor Class Penalty For Not Wearing a Helmet, and the taboo that a Demodarid sorcerer’s head must be bare to perform magic.

Long ago in the land of Caith, when magic still prevailed, the evil wizard Mangar the Dark threatened a small but harmonious town called Skara Brae. Overnight, all the town’s militiamen disappeared, and Mangar froze the surrounding countryside with a spell of Eternal Ice, totally isolating it from any possible help.

As evil creatures oozed into the sewers to join Mangar’s shadow crusade, the future of Skara Brae hung in the balance. And who was left? Only a handful of unproven young Warriors, some junior Magic-users, a couple of Bards barely old enough to drink, and a few out of work Rogues.

You are the leader of this ragtag group of freedom fighters. Luckily you have a Bard with you to sing your glories—if you survive—for this is the stuff of legends.

And thus the story begins….

— Introductory lore, The Bard’s Tale: Tales of the Unknown video game

This is the first in a planned series of evocative names of magical items from any media. Names that spur one’s own imagination of what they could be outside of their source material.

My first computer roleplaying game (CRPG) was 1981’s “Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord“. Still then being new to Dungeons & Dragons, Wizardry had a considerable influence—good and bad—on my early gaming.

Like early D&D, items found as treasure had to be identified. The game would initially say only “Xenograg found a sword.” Via either of the two provided methods, an item would be determined to be mundane or magical (including cursed). This step delayed the player’s gratification and heightened their anticipation.

The original game has three items with names that have stuck in my mind ever since:

• Blade Cuisinart’
• Lords Garb
• Murasama Blade

The game’s sequel, “Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds“, has only one name of similar evocation:

• Staff of Gnilda

I did not get far in the third game of the series, Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn, and thus never found any of its ‘big name’ magical items.

I am intentionally omitting my imaginings for these items so you may do so for yourself.

The power of names.