Let's Read Let's play Dungeon Master (1987+) - Dos version!

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

After my Might & Magic 2 Let's play, decided to play and record run of "oldie, but goldie" Dungeon Master CRPG originally made for Atari (1987). I will play Microsoft DOS version (1992~) with DOS Box emulator.

I played Dungeon Master some time ago, but never finished it, sadly and my knowledge of ~DM~ is somewhat *limited* now, so fist thing for me is reading manual, to refresh memories and to decide on how i will approach game this time.

Cannot say for sure how fast or slow i will play throught Dungeon Master - but i will try to explore and record most things (spell combinations, items, monsters, abilities) that i going to find interesting and / or amusing~

[Dungeon Master 1 is completed by now]

>>Part 1 - Floor I and Party Creation

>>Part 2 - Floor II and First Ropes

>>Part 3 - Floor III and Learning Process

>>Part 4 - Floor IV and WORMS

>>Part 5- Floor V and Floor VI

>>Part 6 - Floor VII (briefly) and Floor VIII

>>Part 7 - Floor IX and Floor X with end-game preparations

>>Part 8 - Almost here! (Floor XI and Floor XII)

>>Part 9 - Final part!

[Chaos Strikes Back is currently frozen]

* Part 1 - Party Creation and First Troubles

* Part 2 - Equipment and resources for a party!

* Part 3 - First Corbum in Fighter Path

* Part 4 - Ninja's Path

Introduction:

Dungeon Master is interesting experience, especially for people who played only turn-based games before and never heard of such things as combat and exploration in real time! And while it may not sound as something that big of a deal, but ~DM~ is revolutionary game, not evolutionary one - and things such as hunger and thirst (food and water) meters closely tied to real time process of the game, along with mouse support [so most actions in game can and will be done by interacting with world via mouse controller]. A lot of later pseudo-3D (and later real 3D) dungeon crawlers are directly tied to this game and ideas given life by Doug Bell.

Also, game comes with well-written backstory (can be accessed in manual), but i will present it in next part, along with my party.

Player will control 4 characters that can belong to 4 classes: fighter, ninja, priest and wizard. Still not sure about 4 lads i will choose for this run, but here a lot of potential combinations and possibilities.
But leaning towards characters with every "class" possible.
~Fighters have better raw physical power and ability to use heavy weapons at their disposal.
~Ninjas are "fighter / thief" hybrids of sorts with skills related to ranged weaponry and can develop unusual abilities.
~Wizards are usual "arcane" spellcasters.
~Priests are usual "divine" spellcasters.
--Both wizards and priests can create potions of *helpful* properies, if i remember correctly and everyon can learn how to cast spells, but with waried effects--

Player also given choice to Ressurect (skills and attributtes are intact along with memories) or Reincarnate (wipes memory along with skills, allows to select new name and grants greater attributes).

Most of game going to consist of long dungeon floors (wider and bigger, compared to 16x16 maps Might & Magic 1 for sure), solving puzzles and riddles, managing different items (from food and weapons - to containers and potions) and - of course - fighting monsters. All in real time, but i can pause game at any time i want (in DOS Box it is Alt + PB keys).

~What kind of Let's Play it is?

Hopefully informative LP with screenshots and information related to Dungeon Master, but beware - my experience with ~DM~ is somewhat limited, so i will be surprized a lot just as reader : >
While big part of Dungeon Master is mapping and taking "notes", still not sure about posting maps. I will write some notes in "notepad" or on piece of paper, anyway.

~Are readers allowed to provide hints and help you if they want this all along Let's Play?

Yes, of course! But if it is possible - subtle hints and suggestions are better. I still want weird and slightly *menacing* experience, heh.

In next part i will create my full party, provide more overview on in-game stats and complete First and Second Floors, hopefully.

P.S. [After reading manual and thinking about who i will select for delwing into dungeon complex, actually will select ready characters for resurrection]
Also, if anybody have personal preferences toward Champ's - i'm interested to hear who is preferred and why.


Cheers 0/

 

[Grauken]

If you want to map while you play, Dungeon Master (DOS) is supported in GridCartographer

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

If you want to map while you play, Dungeon Master (DOS) is supported in GridCartographer

Heyo, Grauken! Looking at this program right now; thanks a lot for suggestion, it may come handy during other runs.

It may sound weird, but i also consider to use "pen & paper" version with me writing by hand, hehe [easier to leave hints and write anything i want for future uses alongside map].

 

[Grauken]

If you want to map while you play, Dungeon Master (DOS) is supported in GridCartographer

Heyo, Grauken! Looking at this program right now; thanks a lot for suggestion, it may come handy during other runs.

It may sound weird, but i also consider to use "pen & paper" version with me writing by hand, hehe [easier to leave hints and write anything i want for future uses alongside map].

GridCartographer allows that as well, both note in squares (highlighted when you hover over them) or writing text directly on the map. That said, the price point is something of an issue for many (which I understand, but if you play many dungeon crawlers it's really useful)

GC is basically good if you want to have an Etrian Odyssey like experience, you see your avatar on an empty map field, draw the map, etc.

 

[octavius]

I must say I prefer to resurrect characters to reincarnating them.
So many original and memorable characters despite them not having any dialogue or background info.

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

I must say I prefer to resurrect characters to reincarnating them.
So many original and memorable characters despite them not having any dialogue or background info.

After reading manual and counting arguments "for reincarnation" and arguments "against reincarnation", probably will go for keeping characters memories intact.
+ It makes begginning of a Dungeon Master easier, and this is important for me to refresh memories.

 

[Azira]

I got no direct input, as I've never played this game, but I will follow the LP with great interest.

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~ Part 1: History of dungeon and ressurection of 4 champions

If summarise history of Dungeon Master very briefly: dungeon where player going to venture into is previously the abode of immensely powerful wizard, named as Grey Lord. His powers are vastly above both ordinary and non-ordinary humans, so *some* even worshipped Grey Lord. One faithful day, His Majesty discovered a Power Gem - source of creation of many sentinet beings in the world (humans, halfings, dwarves, evles, etc) - somehwere beneath mountain where he build own seat of power. Grey Lord wanted to use powers centered in this item for creating better world (at least from his own words) - but ritual required for bending powers into wizard went horribly wrong...
Essence of Grey Lord being separate into two halves: one of them is more or less good one, benevolent entity bent on creation - and other half is Lord Chaos, bent on destruction of the world.
Some time passed (probably many years since "separation") and hundreds heroes died - many of them probably been not overly significant, in terms of overall power, while others (around 20 champs) been placed into Hall of Champions located near entrance to dungeon.

Theron (previous apperentice of Grey Lord) is now affected by this event as well, with his spirit being casted into limbo, where Grey Lord [currently named as Librasius] contracted him with *small* task of controlling and guiding 4 champions throught a dungeon and recover the fabled Firestaff. This Firestaff will allow Grey Lord to become corporeal yet again and defeat Lord Chaos. Player can also notice how Theron confused and puzzled by potential memory wipeout and basically creation of new personality from old "life energies" of champion.

[So it is logical to assume that player IS a Theron, who will guide and help 4 champions in their quest and is free to select anybody he wishes in this task].
While story is well written on 18+ pages in manual, i had *slightly more* fun reading about gameplay related systems and thinking about party composition, so sorry for some possible errors in my interpretation of events in Dungeon Master.

~~With weird and unexpected feelings, Theron (and player representing him as well) begin to venture in dungeon, starting with first level~~

^^^ Entrance of the dungeon with player still controllling nobody. Time to venture at least slightly deeper!

~Before i will continue two more things:

At first (this is very small one), i will remap controls of Dungeon Master (mapper can be accessed with Ctrl + F1) and instead of 1,2,3,5 (left, down, right, forward) and 4,6 (moves party in either direction without changing pacing), i will use usual A, S, D, W and Q, E for movement. Reason for this? Well, easier control of situation with mouse, more comfortable gameplay and my usual pickiness in terms of controls for games with real-time gameplay.

At second, i will briefly provide some details on champions stats and skills [all related information is on Dungeon Master wiki and in manual, and i accessed only technical information not related to possible hints in wiki]:

Skills can be "dissected" into basic skills - related to ninja, fighter, wizard and priest class power levels and secondary / hidden skills - related to basic skills, such as swing, defend, thurst, heal, water magic, etc. Secondary skills mostly used to advance champions in basic skills and can give some attribues with enough levels, and basic levels are measure of power level in related class.

Health: usual health pool - the more the better! Champions automatically heal over time and Vitality attribute is directly tied to health.

Stamina: represents how well character can overcome fatigue. It decreases when champion will walk or fight - much more when champion also is hungry or thirsty. If stamina meter is 0... Well, any further activity will decrease health pool. Resting and eating will help with this.

Mana: usual spell points - and mana consumption is dependant on power of spell (spoken symbol) directly; wizard levels of champion increase mana drastically.

Load stat is actualy shown in the game - it represents amount of weight champion can carry and closely tied to stamina and strenght of champion.

~~As usual for most old games - this 4 stats visible stats at the start are not only thing that champions can posses. I will provide some information very briefly on them, mostly to satisfy potential interest of reader~~

Strenght determines loadout of items, how far items can be thrown and power of melee attacks. Dexterity helps with actually hitiing target with melee or ranged attacks - and relevant for avoiding or reducing damage. Wisdom relevant for Mana recovery and helps with magical learning. Vitality determines rate of healing and regaining stamina, as well as poison resistance with guaranteed damage resistance. Anti-Magic helps with resisting magical attacks. Anti-Fire helps with resisting fire-based attacks. [Vitality, Anti-Magic and Anrti-Fire are bugged in Atari version of the game].
Dungeon Master also has Luck attribute and this one increases each time with *unsuccessful* hit, and decreases with *successful* hit; some items can modify luck through course of the game.

^^^ First champion that Theron noticed is Zed, Duke of Banville. Balanced champion, that can suit many roles (including caster) with waried degree of success, but i will pass on him, because i want more specialized champs this run.
After looking at other "candidates" including some interesting persona's (samurai, sort of fantasy hippie are among them) my attention come to...

^^^ Probably my first character in party, and name of this lad is Daroou. Considering that he actually has some mana (6 still better compared to 0) - Daroou going to cast some support spells, but mostly will provide bashing power and will carry stuff. + I suprisingly consider his look to be interesting, heh.

^^^ Second character in party is Hissssa, Lizar of Makan. Better as fighter, compared to Daroou, but with less health and stamina. I will take him anyway, because i need second tough fighter. They both start without anything to wear or equip, but i will change this pretty soon.

^^^ Third character is Gothmog, shady wizard. Starts with pretty good health, stamina for a mage as well. And one more thing as well:

^^^ This piece of equipment gives boost to dexterity and i will probably give this item to Lizard Men.

^^^ Last character is Mophus, The Healer. Judging by his name alone he is specialized priest - and healing other members of party is always nice, considering my front-line as well.

~~After passing first gate in the game by simply stepping on the floor we "encountered" some items lying on the dusty plates (mostly consumable items and sack containing water), including:

^^^ This is pretty helpful, actually! [To cast any spell in the game i need to combine desired level of power - from puny LO to majestic MON - with other symbols (FUL in my case, representing element of fire)]

^^^ Place of interest in the end of entrance level...

^^^ Interesting and that may come handy later on - probably some items allowing party to "respawn" near Altar of Rebirth.

^^^ Door at the first level leading to more consumable items. Nothing more here, so time to move on...

^^^ Staircase to second floor, and my party will use it briefly. [Each floor after "introductionary" one will contain some set of monsters - and most monsters will respawn with time, which is both good and bad].

^^^ Very dark entrance indeed, heh... Time for somebody (probably Gothmog) to cast "Light" spell.

^^^ Part of interface used for creating different spell combinations. First, player must select level of power; second, player must select corresponding element; and at last - player must hit box with both symbols by mouse.

^^^ First enemy type in the game (and this one is on weaker side) is Mummy. Pretty well defended opponents, can deal around 20 damage in one hit and have night vision - but nothing beyond this.
...Been able to cheeze this fight by repedeately hitting gate button and this worked with mummy pretty well : >

^^^ This is simple clue for...

^^^... party to interact with this button...

^^^... and finally get this sword (falchion) as a reward. Lizard Men will use it with pleasure as his only weapon right now!
Gothmog also got small dagger as ranged option for early part of the game.

~~Probably will end my first part of Let's Play right here - and i must say that this is pretty interesting so far. Still "derusting" a bit with Dungeon Master, but i getting a hang out of it. One more interesting detail: if your party will stamble upon a wall - some characters will get a small damage (~2), and i rarely see this in games, for many reasons~~

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~ Part 2: Second floor completion with some more *arcane* details

At the beginning of this part, let me provide more details about magical system and possible combinations.
Spell must contain at least 2 symbols in formula - and can have up to 4 symbols in single formula, but 1 symbol always is power symbol, determining both strenght of spell and cost at the same time. Considering that characters get experience with more uses of relevant ""hidden"" skill (casting Light will advance caster in Fire magic skill, for example), everybody who have mana to begin with (or going to get it at some point) can become progressively better.

In total, Dungeon Master have 30+ spells formed by different combinations of symbols and have even more variety depending on power level. Most spells can be casted as long as caster is actually able to cast a spell - so with developed relevant skills, wizard can create destructive or helpful spells even on floor 2.

Actually let me quickly describe symbols from manual to show some possibilities:
Power symbols come in 6 variations (from LO, UM, ON - to UM, PA, ON) and 1 such symbol is mandatory.

Elemental symbols are varied, but ultimately represent some aspects of natural (primordial) influence. YA is Earth symbol, VI is Water symbol, OH is Air symbol, FUL is Fire symbol, DES is symbol of Sun / Desolation, ZO is Negative Material symbol. [Game also gives subtle hints in manual - such as "Earth is useful for protecion spells, Water is great for making potions, OH can alter solid objects and so on].

Form syllabilies represent potential function of the spell and govern how created spell will reflect an environment. VEN encompasses all things poisonous, EW represents ability of spell to take form of creatures, KATH is explosive force possibility, IR is flying / hovering potential of the spell, BRO represents friendship and bonds between different creatures via spell (hehe), GOR represents hostility and intimidation via spell. [Both BRO and GOR can make opposite kinds of potions].

Class / Alignment syllabilies represent allegiance and potential modifiers to spells [need to experiment myself to find out more what exactly]. KU is evoker of all things martial, ROS is evoker of all things related to thiefs or rogues, DAIN is evoker of all things arcane and related to wizards, NETA is clerical evoker symbol closely tied to chosen deity, RA is evokation of symbolic Light, while SAR is evokator of symbolic Darkness and Evil.

[Not sure about possible combinations, so i will experiment myself for potential effects and will write it up here. Or i will just find relevant scroll with scribed formula, lol]

~~Time for my champions to continue their adventure, after some magic related talking ~~

^^^ After entering new zone (key been on plates near room with mummy) found fountain to replenish my sack with water (and to allow other characters to drink as much as they want).

^^^ It weights 0.9 / 1 KG. at most and i probably can replenish this sack myself with water element related spell, but maybe i'm wrong here.

^^^ Small "puzzle" with plates (stepping on one plate opens door, while steping on other plate closes it). Right now way to door is blocked and requires a key that i do not possess.

^^^ Bottomless pit "guarding" leather boots and key [closed by lever in connected wall].

^^^ This piece of equipment goes for Daroou. He also got big wooden club earlier.

^^^ Torch makes adventuring pretty comfy right now - but as many things in this game - but torch source of light going to degrade with time as well.
In room that i opened with two keys been able to find: torch, elven doublet, another key, throwing dagger and single arrow.

^^^ Hmm... Hisssa posses cloack giving bonus to dexterity, so will give this to Daroou. He needs some protection, even wih his ton of HP.

^^^ Both projectile and tool for solving some puzzles in this game.

^^^ In next room, got Iron Key, Falchion (probably a better alternative to Club) and some clothes. So far mapping dungeon is not a necessary, at least for me, and game does not place my party against groups of angry dungeon inhabitants.

^^^ Here we go with new type of enemies, looking like giant green mushrooms that able to move. This one i been able to successfully hit with my backline (rock + dagger made all work).

^^^ Food item dropped from this enemies. Hmm, Screamer is name of new enemy i just slayed, interesting...

^^^ ...After searching dungeon for clues how to open door (you can see it above) for around 10 minutes, i noticed solid key item in one of the corridors dead ends [i just needed better light source for this]

Opened a door to find one more "puzzle" with plates. Afterwards...

^^^ Got 4 angry mushrooms staring at me...

^^^ ...And providing some (un)healthy food as result (swings + couple of daggers again is everything that i need).
[Actually just enough food to provide good calories for everybody in party]

^^^ 3 more screamers now are part of my team backpack. Lost some health - mostly for Daroou...

^^^ Simple "puzzle" to move big stone to door triggering plate. Time to move on...

^^^ Haha, sounds really funny for high probablity of "safe" room having a ton of screamers or mummies next to party, but why not?...
...To my surprise game teleported me into completely safe room with key inside it.

^^^ Hehe, pretty interesting way to say "nothing" : >

~Some keys are really well hidden in this game and it can be hard to distinguish them from the walls, especially with low amount of light~

^^^ For some reason while starting part of F2 (Floor - 2) had just one fountain - all later parts of dungeon have fountain each couple of rooms, which is... well, handy.

^^^ Next room that been filled with mushroom guardians contained ton of different food items (even cheeze!) and empty flasks with scrolls. This will come very handy pretty soon.

^^^ After next room, portal with some badly seen scribed text is free for us to take a trip.

^^^ Another dropped rock - and another free passage! Found key and one throwing star weapon (goes to hands of my wizard).

^^^ Firts real combat on this floor! For some reason after i killed on mummy with lucky swing coming from Hisssra, two other mummies decided to rereat.

^^^ Most interesting item that i been able to found afterwards is Copper Coin. Let's keep it with us.

^^^ Exactly for this kind of situation : >

~~After quite exhausting battles with mummies some champions got new equipment and also...

...Lizard Men got a level in fighter class! Pretty cool. Now Hissa can take more hits, hit harder and with high chance to do damage at all~

^^^ Pretty essential item early one. It is Chest for hoarding more crap in it, without need to make inventory cramped up.

^^^ Damn~, this is already pretty full! [To examine components of chest - and take something out of to place inside - you must place chest in action hand]

^^^ End of F-2, but i still think that i missed something here. So i will explore for a bit and read scrolls i got.

~~Actually been missing one more falchion (meh) and one more throwing star (groovey!)~~

^^^.... scroll containing healing wounds potion formula (VI)

^^^...scroll containing cure poison potion formula (VI + BRO)

^^^ ...even more interesting poison spell "formula" from scroll located inside chest (DES + VEN)

^^^ Magical Box from chest as well, but i do not remember that effects are "bind" into this box, so will learn about this particular item later on

~~I will end my second part of Let's Play right here and must say that... Game become more and more interesting for me (after learning some ropes), and i think puzzles along with enemies will become more difficult at lower levels, so i must take notes carefully and prepare spells / potions before combat. I also created one spell myself from LO - FUL - IR - and it is a weak fire-ball bitch slapping enemies : >
Will continue from this point into third floor darkness!~~

 

[octavius]

^^^ First enemy type in the game (and this one is on weaker side) is Mummy. Pretty well defended opponents, can deal around 20 damage in one hit and have night vision - but nothing beyond this.
...Been able to cheeze this fight by repedeately hitting gate button and this worked with mummy pretty well : >

There's a different way of killing it, which really impressed me when when I first played DM all those years ago, and which disgusted me in so many later games that did not cater for this tactic.

^^^ First champion that Theron noticed is Zed, Duke of Banville. Balanced champion, that can suit many roles (including caster) with waried degree of success, but i will pass on him, because i want more specialized champs this run.

Zed Duke of Banville our resident AD&D expert not specialized?

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~Part 3: Third floor completed and forth floor found!

~~During this part i will try to experiment more, learn more about training my champions and will generally write here about most new enemies i will found during this part~~
[Controls and game pacing is non-issue for me right now - and even started to make potions mid-combat, because game is suprisngly responsive]

But before i will start on F-3 (floor 3), actually near end of previous part i actually forget about one more chest with valueble items and only remembered about this part after couple of hours:

^^^ This one Chest is basically blocked by un-traversable force field on one side...

^^^ ...But player can make way on other side by breaking lousy door apart. [Some doors in this game are breakable, but player need to use "power" attacks such as chopping - stabbing and similar will not work]

^^^ Wow, pretty good! This are " magical shield" potions (YA Potions), judging by clue below.

^^^ Potions of this type can come in handy later on. Right now, i will mix healing potions preparing for F-3. Mophus The Healer is "designated" priest of our party and making potions technically related to Priest class skill, so...

^^^ First 3 potions of healing are ready - and my wounded fighters need to drink them! [To make any potion in this game champion must take empty bottle in active hand, and create required spell - be it poison potion or healing potion. After drinking potion empty bottle is added in inventory, which is cool : >]

~~After experimenting with potions a bit more, party of resurrected champions decided to go deeper into dungeon~~

^^^ Quite easy to notice part of wall opening one more item cache. Found more armor pieces for my party members, along with arror and cheeze.

^^^ Teleporting force field (party just need to move during right time) found compass, which can come handy in some situations (game can contain puzzles related to party facing), otherwise it is meh.

^^^ Probably a series of doors leading to next floor of dungeon. Now i need to go somewhere else...

^^^ Interesting... Judging by long hall adjacent to this scripture i need a lot of keys to open series of doors, which is pretty OK.

^^^ Next chest at the end of hall contained two more scrolls with pretty obvious clues: ZO spell can open some doors, while YA will create stamina potion.

^^^ Let's begin exploration with "easy" room filled with different sorts of critters.

^^^ New enemies are going to provide welcome us! Hard hitting (each hit ~25) and pretty fast, but without special abilities or high health.
...Yeah, Daroou almost died, but after killing one Troll and seriously injuring other - two other monsters been running away.

~Gothmog been able to prepare fireball (UM - FUL - IR) and it worked on troll pretty well. Second troll been running away and falled prey to thrown club (!)~

^^^ Second place of interest located near Creature Cavern. Probably more trolls and mummies await me.

...Yeah, exactly more trolls. Their real weakness is morale rating: running away after one of them is dead allow me to chase them and chop them away.
[Each weapon have different attack configurations - such as throw, stab, parry, chop, swing, etc - but in regards to falchion now i use *mostly* chop option]

^^^ New type of enemies here as well: some sort of polip-like creature living under pile of debris. Can poison characters, moderately strong and extremly healthy, BUT one of the slowest creature types in the game as well.

^^^ Face of *Slow* Horror... This particular monster died to thrown club and dropped single stone as "reward". [Actually best reward for this kind of actions is experience].

^^^ One more "puzzle" with teleporting switches and one more Chest to place additional crap into.

^^^ New item located inside a chest. As much as i can remember Mirror of Dawn is required item for some object interaction in game to open doors, much later.

^^^ Next part of F-3, seems like place where coins from chest are needed... And indeed 2 coins are enough to open door.

^^^ By slaying couple more trolls with arrows and daggers, Gothmog now can hit more often and throw with more finesse.

^^^ This means casting ZO spell + "casting" item by throwing it away at plate in opened doorway.

^^^ By aimlessly throwing 3 items, falchion throwed by Daroou succeded in landing exactly near plate.
Next room also requires 2 more coins to open, so i must wander somewhere else at first.

^^^ Hope to find something valuable in this series of rooms... Probably SOME coins and AT LEAST ONE key.
One more puzzle with pit that can be bypassed by throwing something heavy on plate (rock or club).

^^^ One more level for a big guy!

^^^ Time to replenish mana and heal up our champs, because one of them is close to being literally exhausted to death.

^^^ 4 more mummies and 2 more "debris-monsters" provided Mophus with some new capabilities.

^^^ At the end of corridor behind hidden wall found this blue gem. Probably a required item for opening door at the beginning of Room of The Gem.
~~At the end of real vault found more consumables, one berserk helm and one more key~~

^^^ Next stop on our way is this series of rooms. "Hit and Run" scribed on walls in this sequence means timed "puzzle" with temporarily opened wall.

^^^ Next couple of puzzles are reliant on player's reaction - and - on how much stamina points characters currently posses + how encumbered characters are.
[Got elven clothes, arrow and one more key for a cause. Two guarding trolls been both destroyed by single medium fireball]

^^^ Last encountered (explored) zone, probably containing so needed coins and one more key.

^^^ It is indeed matrix (compass can help navigate in this part of floor) and in one of dead ends i noticed nicely hidden switch that opened new cache.
Some fine robes, sabre and key are exactly what i need right now : >

^^^ ....In The Vault actually another (silver) coin that i need to open locked door.
~After many of troll kin and some "debris monsters" (actually made one such slow creature to retreat which is funny to me) rested one more time~

^^^ Here it is! 3 more coins and one more Magic Box.

^^^ Among some clothes, a lot of food and other key been able to find wand with unknown properties.
...I have only 5 keys, but here 6 room sets - i must miss something out!

^^^... Of course, Mirror of Dawn + weird looking "eye" in brick is a solution.

^^^ Pretty neat! Now Daroou can permanently cast Light without much problems and later can help with "buff" spells.
...Actually, need to come back at F-2 for water fountain, real quick : ]

^^^ Now 6 keys are in my possession. Only 3 keys are used to open my way to F-4, but keys are always are needed in Dungeon Master.

^^^ Another good clue about how to deal with non-material enemies later on (DES + EW spell formula) - right now i can remember only Ghosts, but i think game have at least one more such enemy type + RA Key.

~~After opening one more door with two "debris piles" inside party found mail armor and some less significant items~~

^^^ Finally! Stair-case into F-4 is upon us...

^^^ Daroou (left picture) and Hissra (right picture) current standings [Hissra have + 8 dexterity due to cloak].

^^^ Gothmog (left picture) and Mophus (right picture) current standing as well.

~~~Time to finish this part for now. So far Dungeon Master is pretty comfy and even comfortable old game to play despite my initial reaction at real-time game lenght. Making healing potions make my priest preoccupied with alchemical work almost all the time. Gothmog really needs one more level in wizard class, so he can cast medium fireballs more reliably~~~

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

There's a different way of killing it, which really impressed me when when I first played DM all those years ago, and which disgusted me in so many later games that did not cater for this tactic.





Zed Duke of Banville our resident AD&D expert not specialized?

Hehe, while i'm not sure about Dungeon Master champion named Zed Duke of Banville (but i seem to appreciate multiclassed champions more, so would take him in later runs), his namesake from RPG Codex probably a great dude : ]

And yeah - killing some enemis with death pits and gates is not bad idea in itself, but champions would gain so much experience by simply attacking enemies, so i will try to kill enemies with physical attacks or magic without "cheeze".

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~Part 4: Forth floor is completed + swarm of monsters delaying me!

~~Hope to gain couple more levels for everyone in party, exploring game for more new elements - such as monsters, spells, items, et cetera - and will provide general overview on situation with screenshots, as usual.
Let's rock!~~

--Also will talk for a bit about new level for my champions, because after this floor here is going to be a lot of possibilities for further specialization--

^^^ You can resurrect dead characters by placing bones (dropped by dead champions after unfortunate & lethal enemy attack) on this postament. [So far i located only 2 such postaments - on F-1 and here, on F-3].

^^^ Ho-ho, such a big words for a... level filled with some really deadly crap.

^^^ While shooting at debris-monster our healer gained ninja level. Pretty cool, later on he will wield bow or croosbow.

^^^... Just as Hisssa gained fighter level with rapier, while being injured in process of combat. [Depending on area of body being target by attack, champion can temporarily lose any of stats - with Wisdom being related to head area, Dexterity to arms, etc]

^^^ New weapon allowing some really powerful attacks in hands of Hisssra. And Mophus currently will use only ranged weapon avaliable to party (sling).

^^^ Yet another door on our way being unable to stop brave party!

^^^ Purple Worms are extremly nasty enemies: relatively tough, fast and hard hitting, but their turning time and attack speed are not great. + They can poison champions and poison lasts for long time, brrr.

^^^ Consumable that gained by slaying worms (each worm usually drops 2 such "food" items). While it is probably disgusting consumable, it is also not pretty tasty one (provides less calories for food meter compared to even screamer consumable, subjectively).

^^^ Neat! But at the same something else ambused us...

^^^ Spooky scary Ghost requiring DES + EW from caster to banish this monster away from dungeon. By running away from ghots (our wizard does not had enough mana for banishment) we also encountered Bee (glass cannon, high damage + poison, but almost no HP).

^^^ Finally! Gothmog is promoted at once, so more mana is avaliable for him.

^^^ YA + BRO is magical shield, while VEN creates sort of poison cloud - and let me guess - this spells deals damage over time to suspects.

^^^ By practicing light source spell Mophus become more knowledgeble in art of wizardry, but still gained no levels in priest class : /

^^^ Big guy also learns more about magical combinations and art of conjuration.

^^^ New day means new force field... Actually not a bad thing for single coin.

^^^ Probably a element of decoration for in-game textures.

^^^ Almost missed a gold key in some waste hole, ehh. [Player can interact with almost every interactbale object in the game by mouse].

^^^ I can use shorter path to goodies and next floor, but i will pass in favor of experience.

~~Two more worms poisoning two characters at once~~

^^^ Finally! Very nice gain for our only real option for priest (and potion maker in same face).

^^^ One more battle with worms got one of them panicked - and worm actually started to retreat.

^^^ Found rapier - and this is probably a pretty good choice for skilled fighter, but Axe still better (even if axe is slower choice as well).

^^^ Getting pretty close to next floor, and so far F-4 is pretty linear and providing a lot of opportunities for combat training.

^^^ Choice for some part of dungeon ... for Gothmog, he also hoards a lot of arrows.

^^^ We can potentially kill this mummy, so worms can enter his(?) place, but this is not mandatory.

~~Ohh almot forget about...~~

^^^ ...Room filled with respawning screamers for potentially extensive training of champions. Right now i need some treasury located in north part of room.

^^^ Actually, Hisssra had problems with stamina so been forced to slowly retreat out of danger... + Two freaking worms almost killing Hisssra with both direct damage and poison, barely survived here, actually.

~~Last part of floor been literally filled with both screamers and worms, so everyone have some time to become better fighter / ninja~~

~~Afterwards got BIG problems with Hisssa being almost close to dehydration and losng food meter very quickly after poison and F-4 had 0 fountains so far : [
Been rashing at the end of level in hopes of at least 1 founatin~~

^^^ By helping out with making healing potions for heavily crippled Hisssra, Gothmog got 1 priest level up.

^^^ Soo... I just retreated to F-2 fountain, otherwise it is dead Hisssra due to dehydration.

^^^ After extensive *drinking* i'm ready to cut my my way throught menacing horde of worms and some screamers on top of this.

^^^ 4 worms at once... They leave a lot of food (that i going to consume immidetealy - each slice weights 1KG+), so hunger is not an issue right now.

^^^ And 6 more worms slightly later on this level... This start to get really annoying.
Anyway, worms seems to be finite in numbers and they still provide great deal of experience.

^^^ Ohh, i will regret this, but here is no other way to progress in next zone... Time to use both Darouu and Gothmog fireballs right here : >

^^^ For my slaughter-fest got this Horn of Fear item, probably allowing someone in backline to demoralize enemies.

^^^ AT LAST! Killing around 10 poisonous worms at last bit of floor been a *bit* tedious, but now it is over for some time. And ehh - fountain with water been so close to me whole time : ]

~~I will provide quick overview on my character, because of how much progress been made during this part of Let's Play compared to previous ones~~

^^^ Daroou (on left) and Hisssra (on right) both now artisan fighters - Daroou also got fairly good at arcane arts with casting light and weak fireball spells, while Hisssra is more specialized towards "pure" fighter with some bonuses from ninja skill, but probably also will gain small proficiency in magic.

^^^ Most advanced champions (compared to them from previous parts of Let's Play) are Gothmog (on left) and Mophus (on right) - while Mophus is fire support in open combat with primary role to provide healing / poison curing potions for everyone in need, Gothmog is very reliant on his amount of mana and starts combat with medium fireball spell and from some point in run [helping Hisssra to survive] also is adept at making healing items.

~~~I will end this part right here and while start of medium part of this floor are very fun - later part of floor started to feel really tedious, but maybe it is due to me activating some monster "spawn" points, but completely not sure here. Anyway, hope it is fun to read!~~

 

[octavius]

Danger Thus Reveals Its Face

^^^ ...Room filled with respawning screamers for potentially extensive training of champions. Right now i need some treasury located in north part of room.

Good place to forage for food if needed.

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~Part 5: Fifth floor dark secrets and some parts of Sixth floor...

~~After some frustration with swarm of worms and screamers (blocking me from both sides many times) almost overhelming my party, actually now my champions able to fight with new powers and will train more while exploring underworld...
Let's continue adventure!~~

>>I will post champions statistics slightly later, in next part - but during this few floors everyone become a bit of "everyman": so now Hisssra can cast spell and Mophus can pull fire-balls away at enemies<<

^^^ By helping party with light, Mophus become more proficient with "arcane" arts in addition to his specialization. [Only skill that improves very slowly is priest class skill, for some reason]

^^^ Seems like using Horn of Fear improves "divine" knowledge of user. Cool, maybe it is related to Influence hidden skill...

^^^ Decided to return to respawning angry mushrooms room. Not whole lot from this fight, but hopefully trained my lads for some nice experience.

^^^ On actualy F-5 first ventured into treasure stores, because why not? Probably this series of rooms contained some later floors quest items, i hope.

^^^ New and pretty weird looking monster type... Let's name it as Swamp Slime. This ones are pretty fast and rely on thier poison "spells" - with some skill (and free space) it is possible to take no damage while fighting them, but usually it is not an option.

^^^ Another enemy type is Flying Snake of sorts. Very fast, flying, poisonous, but lack HP and resistance against venom bolts. This enemy also start to retreat after couple of attacks, as well : /

^^^ First series of rooms is related to hidden plates opening or closing dedly pits. Not as hard as it seems, actually. [If player will fall down the hole - player still can teleport party to beginning of the area]

^^^ BRO Potions becoming more and more handy in poison heavy environment (VI + BRO), so i gave single such potion to both Hisssra and Daroou.

^^^ Smaller room with large shield (already taken by Daroou) and swamp slime [also killed by team].

^^^ Both Daroou and Hisssra now are adept fighters, which is great.

^^^ Next room (in north-west) contained both new poisonous enemies and one more fountain for our convinience. + Ohh, here is my reward - DANE Potion + Blue Gem at the end of coridor!

^^^ One floor below (very small room with single skeleton) located is green potion. VEN Potion is alchemical "gas" grenade of sorts by game mechanics, hehe. Probably i will make couple of such potions myself. Also been able to locate green button, probably activating something needed for my party...

~Ohh this button, opened up shortcut for my party - so now i can return to beginning of level. Sweet!~

^^^ Next room (to east) is full of teleporters changing direction of party. Found corn, choker and staff of claws in this series of rooms so far...

^^^ Now we have 3-rd potion maker in our team.

^^^ Wasted 7 more minutes in searching for every possible secret passage and actually found this crap. Hope this one is worth time~

^^^ Ambushing 4 slimes can be dangerous, but BRO Potions are with me : >

^^^ Do not remember that kind of quest item is inside this door and what kind of "theme" is used here, but we'll see...

^^^ Not only Daroou gained a level in wzardry, but many other characters gained something new (Hissra gained level of priest class, for example).

^^^ Small problem with Dungeon Master lies in how hard sometimes can be to notice what exact item actually can do. Best way si to equip and watch out for stats...
Hmm, cannot say anything for sure - only can remember weird regenerative effect on Ekhard Cross out of anything, but i guess they boost some priest related skills.

^^^ Heh, "fun" room with teleporting force fields. I will explore this place anyway, so let's enter...

^^^ Got one more Mirror of Dawn and one Poison Dart, but this is not all!

~~Anyway, this is all i need for now, time to move into F-6 for further dangers~~

^^^ Mighty door hiding entrnace to deeper parts of underworld. Basically, if player wishes - he or she can enter F-6 as quick as possible without even going into any of 4 zones, but some really needed quest items (especially blue gem) are located in F-5, so this is a reason why i explore everything. + More experience, more levels and more stats : >

^^^ Good choice for second fighter, i think (first fighter will use really good axe).

^^^ Probably general name of F-6 as well. As far as i remember i have all items i need for said riddles...

^^^ Hmm, blue gem is pretty much "blue as sky". [Player need to place items in alcove nearby]

^^^ Our real ARCHery choice - bow - goes here (*sad* wizard will use poison dart).

^^^ Gold Coin will suffice, even if i do not know pictures and nominal on said coin.

^^^ Mirror of Dawn will suffice as being only an item reflecting images of other real objects on itself...

^^^... And at last vault door opened new way before party.

^^^ Central room with skeletons (new and pretty weak enemy type dropping flachions and shields) got this two scriptures.

^^^... Actually, placing gold coin(!) in small shaft near entrance opened secret room with one more iron key. And key's are very precious in Dungeon Master!

^^^ One more puzzle to grab one more key - now we need to place couple of switches in hidden spots...

^^^ Here we go with new enemy type - Evil Eye's. They can open doors with their innate spells, and moderately hard enemy attacking everybody in team.

^^^ Two medium fireballs of Gothmog saved health of other champs and allowed Gothmog to become even better mage.

^^^ It is also a last room in south part of F-6 with iron key and time to move on...

^^^ Some sort of vaut requiring one of the keys to enter this place.... And one more door with same requirments.

^^^ Nowhere to run for me, so i will continue my slow march thru dungeon...

^^^ First way leads into two evil eye's and it can hurt badly... And some more enemies. Here much more goodies, but last time it been a lot of work for not overly good gains, so i will pass on this room this time.

^^^ ...And Daroou is not a coward! Who else going to mix potion for Hisssra mid combat, anyway : >

^^^ Been able to find Yew Staff (potentially can Dispel couple of times) and Green Magical Box (after testing other type of magical box noticed that this item type is basically "freezes" enemy(ies) of my choice. Both items are pretty cool, but Green Box very well can be a weapon of victory later on...

^^^ Totally worth wandering for this weapon for 7 minutes in search of any possible hidden button, heh.

^^^ Hmm, probably i need to throw *something* heavy enough with my strongest character [It is a Hissra]... Probably 63 strenght is not enough for this "challenge", so i will come back later.

~~~I will destroy this skeletons and will end part of Let's Read right now, due to alredy big amount of conetnt and game lenght~~

~~--I must say game becoming better and better in my eyes - each floor usually feature a new enemy type (or many enemy types at once) and rooms with distinct theme. And while game have no real economy in classical CRPG sense, ability to spend items for solving puzzles still makes most tresure rooms more or less valuable--~~

 

[Azira]

It's funny to see a game where multiclassing is the norm.

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~Part 6: Multiclassing for everybody and even more dangers from Eight Floor...

~~Ended last post near middle of F-6 and decided to find stairs into deeper parts of dungeon, but instead of descending gain some levels for everybody in party. My both fighters lack Ninja skills, while both support champions lack Fighter skils, so will train on screamers once again + will repenish amounts of food~~

^^^ KU Potion (or Strenght Potion) is probably a thing i need for "Strenght Test" challenge.

^^^ Weird... Been able to do this "test" with axe being thrown, and probably 70 (!) strenght helped me by a bit here. [Some shortcuts and solved puzzles appear to be open even after party will move item that been needed for said puzle]

^^^ Extremly good ammunition for bows / crossbows, dealing much more damage to enemies.

^^^ Another day IS another force field teleporting me somehwere at the same floor. This particular teleporter been leading to one more vorpal blade lying on floor.

^^^ FUCK BEES. Well, actually they're not so bad, but without special attention bees going to trash one or two champions - only "good" thing in them for us is low health of bees.

^^^ Great addition for Gothmog - now slayer bolts will punch thru enemies for sure. And been able to possess... Water Flask, which probably works in similar fashion to water-skin.

^^^ Found both new altar of resurrection and stairs to new part of dungeon (all altars chosen element is VI - Water - which is quite "logical").

^^^ Here we go! But right now i will fight some screamers at F-4 - and grab food after their death.

^^^... This is pretty old shortcut from F-5, leading directly into previous floors.

~~Time to train for couple of needed levels for everybody in team!~~

(X 2 - Mophus gained two fighter levels at once, lol)

(X 2 - same crap, and Gothmog learned two new moves with axe already)

(after combat preparations with potions making*)

^^^ Stamina potion (YA - Earth symbol) is actually something that i missed a lot, lol.

^^^ Usually Hisssra and Daroou are in front-line, but formation of champions can be customized at will - or to be better say, with drag & drop option by mouse. This allow to train both Gothmog and Mophus in fighter skill-set.

^^^ Nice! Very appreciated bonuses to defense and dexterity for front-line dude.

^^^ For some reason using war cry option while being unarmed gives priest skill-set experience.

~~Actually poisonous worms respawn in this level, so my "training" of sorts become much more dangerous, but amount of new levels and training now is truly great!~~

^^^ After some time (worms are annoying creatures, for sure) my champions are TRULY multiclassed - here is Hisssa for example with increased non-fighter class main skills. [Almsot died during one moment after battle with screamers; almost prepared first potion for healing and just after this something hitted my cleric for 25 (!) damage - two more worms started fight with wounded team and i had no space for meanuevers, brrr].

^^^ F- 7 real function is to house so needed Firestaff, but here some problems...

^^^ Very *solid* magical force field blocking my way. And only multiple RA Key's can open this series of "doors"...

^^^ Fireball (this one i know and use for long) is FUL + IR, while Fire Shield is FUL + BRO + NETA. Both "fire" themed spells are useful; fire shield is probably going to help very soon.

^^^ Two opposites - Light (IR + RA) and Darkness (IR + SAR), and while i will discover their functions only later, very neat scroll anyway.

^^^ After opening first "door" i noticed this scroll in hidden alcove basically telling me to descend deeper.

^^^ Going to return to F-7 after couple more floors, as it seems right now.

^^^ Usual (well, i used this only once) DES + EW against non-corporeal menace.... Man, here is 6-7 of this ghosts in this Arena like floor.

^^^ F-8 is full of different traps and death pits, so i must be very cautious here.
~~One new type of enemies here (freaky looking creature with psychotic laugh) can steal party items and while this is trash tier enemies they can even steal party weapons and really are fast, lol
And ehh - fireballs fly all across the floor. And while this place does not seem too hard for me - it is very annoying floor to be~~

^^^ Door blocking my way to... hope one of the keys; i already need solid key for one door here.

^^^ Instead of key found two cool items: Delta (enhanced version of falchion as far as i know) and Jewel Symal (boost Anti-Magic stat considerably).

^^^ One more secret opened by pressing this *very* small button: magical FUL bomb and one more green box. Awesome finds and this help me considerably in future.

^^^ In one more cache (opened by hitting a hidden button) guarded by mummies, gained copper coin and this scroll.

^^^ One more bastard trying to steal my stuff, yet again... Probably this level have respawning point for them (brrrr).

^^^ ...After 10~ minutes of searching level and running after annoying gigglers, found solid key and also located door requiring said key.

^^^ In room after this door located one chest with scroll and potential skull key application. Time to move on...

^^^ This level have a ton of neat shit, lol. Mace of Order is pretty good weapon, and Staff of Manar... cannot remember that it do properly right now.

^^^ Good find in another chest located near north-west far point. Now i can proceed even deeper, and not sure if i want to search for more treasuries here, because i have everything i need with me, right now.

^^^ Anyway... Here are two staircases at once - one is avaliable from "start", other staircase is avaliable only after skeleton key use.

~~Before i will end this episode here are stats of my champs right here:

^^^ Daraoou (on left) and Hisssra (on right) stat tables along with...

^^^ Gothmog (on left) and Mophus (on right) stats tables here!~~

~~--Mostly nothing new about game: i love Dungeon Master, and even graphical style is well aged one (except for keys having almost same color with floor plates, brrr) - and game still throws enough crap at me to keep me interested in game process. Puzzles are varied by difficulty, and mostly they're fun ones. Amusingly, so far F-4 is my least liked place in whole game, heh--~~

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

It's funny to see a game where multiclassing is the norm.

Yeah, and while Dungeon Master does not require everyone to be expert in all 4 classes, everybody can benefit from stat bonuses and additional health / mana / stamina.
And gaining few levels in fighter class is EZ for even designated priest or wizard, so here is little reasons to not multiclass.

 

[octavius]

I hate those giggling nazis!

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~Part 7: Deeper into Ninth and Tenth floors in search for RA...

~~This part of Let's Play will focus on two more floors of already very wide dungeon, some more spell combinations (want to try Lightning Bolt, for sure) and usual hack & slash against more and more interesting enemies. By the way, gigglers are not the most annoying enemies in the game so far, subjectively, hehe~~

>>My main goal right now is to find two RA Keys to grab firestaff for merging both halves of Grey Lord<<

^^^ Before descending deeper in F-9 i will create this spell - and while game does not gave scroll with scribed lightning bolt spell, i created it in previous run by myself (got extremly lucky with combination).

^^^ Hmm, probably wall to either right or left to this one is illusory one, i guess... Well, one to the left is illusory wall indeed and here is whole new part of level!

^^^ New type of enemies that look like gnome mage of some sorts; it is indeed spell-casting enemy. Moderately healthy, but spells can be easily avoided - probably a real problem then gnomes can corner a party...
This particular enemy dropped food - which is pretty helpful, i guess.

^^^ Giant Rats are pretty nasty in terms of combat power. Moderately speedy with fast attack rate, while being hard hitting and healthy. Said rats also IS a source of quality food, and pretty good one on top of this (drumsticks).

^^^ Hehe, one more fountain in other half of corridor - i did not noticed "trap" of sorts, that changes facing of party to opposite, so i been moving in opposite direction for 2~ minutes, ehh

^^^ After one more rat guarding closed room and one more relatively hidden switch - got this stormring. As far as i remember, it is source of lightning~ attacks, so may come in handy... probably on same floor where i found this ring.

^^^ Some spells can be casted as fast as champion can technically create them from avaliable symbols and this spell is not an exception.

^^^ One more enemy that been randomly wandering a floor. Rusters (name that i heard on one forum) are weak critters compared to rats or evil eye's, and their other *nasty* abilities are limited.

^^^ Here is small "puzzle" of sorts: pulling switch triggers death pit - and chest will fall one level below, so i need to collect it on F-10.
~Two more gnomes trying to block my path - one of them started to run away after serious injuries, hehe~

^^^ Chest in *smallish* part of much bigger floor... Here is green gem and scroll with omnions words: "Put the gem back..."
~This means that gem basically needs to be in same place where chest been before - we need to take stairs up one floor~

^^^ Stairs up with one more secret room containing green box and pit for green gem...

^^^... HELL, YEAH! It worked and now my path is free of obstacles for some time : >

^^^ Do not remember this part of the floor properly, but i guess it related to some enemies or attack spell coming at party all the time... FUCK, THIS SPELLS ARE FIREBALLS!

^^^ Fire Shield is best friend in such situations, i guess.

^^^ Two quest item (as how i can guess right now) located in one part to firebalsl-spawning coridor.

^^^ Considering weight of corbamite - it is pretty obvious solution.

^^^ Do not remember much about magic vision spell - need to try this one at some point. Probably it is *infravision* effect of some sorts.

^^^ Skeleton key once again creating shortcut to both previous and next floors. Neat! + Found RA Key in other room - and finding this type of keys is my main goal in Dungeon Master at the moment.

~~For most part F-9 is exlpored right now, but here is one more level where i want to be in this part of Let's Play anyway...~~

^^^ Probably we need to move "like snakes" in next "puzzle" to grab some sort of reward... Near exit to later part of level here is well-hidden Key of B.

^^^ Interesting... I think choice does not matter in the end, because it is choice between type of enemies that i will face.

^^^... But i will select door on the left side. Ginat Scorpions is ultimate poisoning enemy type in this game, very respectable creature by all means.
--Two fire bombs made a short work of scorpion - and they're vulnerable to poison based spells--

^^^ Weird crap on the wall, and cannot even say that clue this can be, lol. Actually it is transporters related puzzle and not overly hard one.
~Two more beholders are dead - and here is weird room with creatures being bind by some sort of invisible wall~

^^^ Best way to clear this room out is to utilize attack spells. + Scorpions can poison party, while Gigglers can steal items.

^^^ Hehe, they can only watch me throwing rays of flame into their faces : >

^^^ Also found this ranged weapon (speedbow) - probably this crossnow variant is pretty... well , fast to recharge.

~~Next room contained 4(!) gigglers at once - but they really are harmless, outside of their stealing items crap~~

^^^...First switch in this area (after running for giggler who stolen my mace) revealed another switch (!) with this scroll with two new spell formulas.

^^^... Second switch contained boots of speed (very nice) and plate mail (cannot wear due to already big amount of crap both fighters carry), and one more invisible wall...

~~Next room after big hall with 4 door-ways in total contained 4(!) giant scorpions and i been forced to pick them away with fireballs and ranged weapons~~

^^^ One more stairs below, but i need to search for more items and more help for deep underworld horrors...

^^^ One of the best potion formulas for this part of game (high powered mana potion is pretty great thing to have) and very high protection shield of lyte are located directly to east of entrance to "scorpion infested" zone.

^^^ One of the best weapons in the game, hands down...

^^^ Some more evil eye's, but generally F-10 is also cleread for most part. Generally, this floor is harder compared to previous one, mostly due to giant scorpions.

^^^ This is realy needed item for later floors, but again - here my memories of Dungeon Master start to fade. Anyway, i will grab this and head towards beginning of F-11.

~~~--With one more pair of "skull staircases" being opened i will end this part of Let's Play for now. Not sure about how much more equipment i need for end-game, but hardcleaver and shield of lyre are great gains. Probably i also need better jewelry and more "slayer" ammunition for both crossbows. Other then this - must condier every option to increase "fighter" skills for both Daroou and Hisssra--~~~

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~Part 8: Eleventh and Twelfth Floors
getting me closer to main goal...

~~Here we go yet again! As usual in Dungeon Master so far: going to find new monsters (each floor always brings something new for champions to slay), new items and more puzzles, while i will try to not die. Here my memories of game are not as good as for other parts of game, but i think everything going to be alright with help of different potions
Time to delve into darkness...~~

>>Died one time due to armored enemy type in F-12, otherwise been more or less cautious<<

^^^ ...But game provided very obvious clue telling me to use other staircase. Fine, i will get to F-11 other way.

^^^ First puzzle requires party to move in specific directions. Morningstar is pretty good weapon, but my enhanced axe and also enhanced sword are probably better compared to this weapon, so i will pass.

^^^ Iron key (also part of said puzzle) lying on floor will allow party to open cage leading to important chest. [I better to dispose some of my chests, because i have plenty of inventory space, but have problems with encumbrance]
One more key in whole chest, and this triggers rest of the "puzzle sequence".

^^^ One more part of creating our way to rest of the floor; this keyhole will accept key i found in chest, i think.

^^^ Bees are frequent enemies here; at this stage they're pretty frail. And here actually a way to the rest of the floor!
~~Used two fireballs - one against bee, another against giggler. Preparation is key for comfortable game!~~

^^^ Poison potholes + door CLOSING AFTER POISON WILL HIT ME... At least i can chop door away here. This one is really needed item, even if half of party going to be intoxicated to hell and back afterwards.

^^^ Been forced to drop sword, so poison damage would not kill me and i can heal myself up afterwards... [Potholes will stop firing as soon as player will drop relic]

^^^ Insanely good sword! As far as i can remember, killing most high level targets is far easier with this weapon. + It looks COOL : >

^^^ Still gaining different levels even at this point in the game - but Grandmaster levels are not for me this time...

^^^ Fury have ability to spew fireballs at my enemies, but otherwise i would prefer hardcleaver over it.

^^^ After 6~ minutes of searching throught floor found *small* button opening my way to skeleton key. So far this floor presenting more annoyance then any real dangers to party.
Even after more time noticed grey cross key on very grey floor plates, ehh.

^^^ Here are 3 similar doors - and player must visit one of them in order to advance on this floor; as far as i remember they have different set of monsters guarding a way.
I will choose central door...

^^^ Similar to ghosts, but much more tougher (3 highly powered non-corporeal beings damage spells is not enough to kill them) enemies [i name them as Water Elementals] and i been forced to use both vorpal blades.

^^^ ...But probably unlike other two places here is only 2 water elementals (+ one giggler), so it is not as hard as it can be.
~One more elemental ambushed me and dealt heavy damage to Gothmog~

^^^ After *destroying* one more elemental, found 3 more armor pieces of Lyte (plate, greave and poleyn) - they been redestributed towards both "fighters".

^^^ By randomly stambling upon walls, found another pair of Boots of Speed; probably i missing a lot more in terms of loot, but well - probably found everything i really needed.

^^^ One more "puzzle", or to be better put it - interaction with environment. Magnifier will come in handy here.

^^^ Hurray! Done with new key here (solution to door later on, as how often it is in Dungeon Master), but as long as i remember correctly here one more thing to do in this level...

^^^ Looks like some ancient wisdom and not game hint to me, for some reason, lol. [I can already proceed for next floor - or to previous floor as well]

^^^ ...Fairly interesting place allowing to gain some useful items (from green box to food) by spending copper coins. Ehh, probably i will select followwing:

^^^ First time i opened for additional key (can come in handy very soon - and key's are very precious in Dungeon Master), second time got lucky with 2 more copper coins, third time decided to hit for chest full of food. And last time selected alcove with ful bomb, which is pretty fine by me. This is one of few game instances of any sort of in-game economy - or barter of sorts in case of Dungeon Master : >

^^^ And now we can descend into some really nasty place...

^^^ Yet another non-corporeal enemy (energizer is my name for it) - this time one casting nasty spells (such as fireball or poison cloud), but having far less health compared to water elemental.

^^^ After failing into death pit encountered another non-corporeal creature - this one is strong, but cannot move and probably is stationary. Lost a lot of health in battle with both this *flame* monsters and energizer.

^^^ Force field able to teleport me back in action! Hmm, probably i start to learn how to act in this dangerous floor...

^^^ One more door with interesting looking keyhole. I must pass right now (no relevant key), and will move forward.

^^^ Animated Armor is tough enemy type, moves fairly quick and one of few enemies who are *highly* resistant to magic, so here is work for my fighters and my *ninjas*. [After "death" they drop full suit of plate mail]

^^^ Now i can open room i located couple of minutes ago...
One more animated armor and one more key out of this enemy allowed me to unlock next room...

^^^ This is what i need in this floor! [F-12 is full of dangerous and iverse enemies, so i need to very careful not only with my movement, but also with choice of attacks and abilities]

~Been forced to search for another hidden button in different part of level yet again, but here some gains for it!~

^^^ Very heavy, but extremly good armor pieces (poleyn, greave and plate of darc) for "front-line" champions guarded by small detachment of energizers.

^^^ Yet another "defeated" living armor suit. This time monster been guarding place of interest.

^^^ Cache with skeleton key, some water bottles and food. With amount of bottles at our disposal now it is pretty OK idea to make 3-4 high-powered fire bombs... Feck, i cannot make bombs : [

^^^ Never seriously tried invisibility spell, but i think you become undetectable for enemy until single action being executed by somebody from party or when enough time passes.

^^^ Very dangerous encounter, but i have strenght potions at ready slot. Another cache full of good items right here!

^^^ Fast, numerous and healthy, but *far* less resistent to magic then any of enemies at respective power level - insectoid horrors better to be dealth with some of offesnive spells.

^^^ One more section with moving death pits - with well deserved reward in the end; cannot remember why i exactly need master key - but pretty sure it is end-gam item.

^^^ Well, well, the end of F-12 is here. And to actually thinking about one more thing... Probably i killed every animated armor suite on this floor : ]
Will unlock skeletal keyhole later...

~~Again, time to end part of Let's Play right here. F-11 is cool place with more of annoying search for keys and interesting puzzle at the start. F-12 is very combat heavy level with a lot of diverse monsters, usually requiring very different approach.
Ohh, also let me provide a quick stats of my champions in the end, forget to do this at the end of previous part!~~

^^^ Daroou (on left) and Hisssra (on right) along with...

^^^ Gothmog (on left) and Mophus (on right).

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Opened a door to find one more "puzzle" with plates. Afterwards...

^^^ Got 4 angry mushrooms staring at me...

Shriekers first appeared in the 3rd issue of TSR's short-lived magazine The Strategic Review (pre-dating The Dragon) and were then incorporated into both Advanced and non-Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Dungeon Master gave them a normal attack rather than having their shrieks attract other monsters.

^^^ New and pretty weird looking monster type... Let's name it as Swamp Slime. This ones are pretty fast and rely on thier poison "spells" - with some skill (and free space) it is possible to take no damage while fighting them, but usually it is not an option.

"Swamp Slimes" seem to be a cross between the Roper (first appearing in the 2nd issue of The Strategic Review) and the Otyugh (introduced in the AD&D Monster Manual).

^^^ Another enemy type is Flying Snake of sorts. Very fast, flying, poisonous, but lack HP and resistance against venom bolts. This enemy also start to retreat after couple of attacks, as well : /

Couatls originate in Central American mythology but would be an unlikely choice for a dungeon monster if not for being introduced to D&D in Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry.

^^^ Here we go with new enemy type - Evil Eye's. They can open doors with their innate spells, and moderately hard enemy attacking everybody in team.

Beholders first appeared in Supplement I: Greyhawk, becoming an iconic D&D monster.

^^^ One more enemy that been randomly wandering a floor. Rusters (name that i heard on one forum) are weak critters compared to rats or evil eye's, and their other *nasty* abilities are limited.

Rust Monsters also first appeared in Supplement I: Greyhawk, though the ones in Dungeon Master lack their feared rusting ability.

Roper and Neo-Otyugh

This last illustration of a Rust Monster is from the D&D "Red Box" Basic Set in 1983; the rest are from the AD&D Monster Manual in 1977.

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~Part 9: Order strikes back...

~~This is last part of Let's Read for Windows version of Dungeon Master 1 and this one going to be pretty *big* part with small review near the end. Decided that after some small training for more levels will try to finish Dungeon Master 1 away, because why not? Here still 3 floors to explore, but they going to contain "boss" fights (for most part) and some tough-as-nails end-game creatures.
Time to put end to Lord Chaos once and for all!~~

>>And small review with interesting (at least for me) parts of Dungeon Master<<

^^^ Almost forgot about simple, yet good rope. Basically this is best way in the game to rapidly train "ninja" skill for anybody in the party, if rope is equipped in active hand. Downsides? Each use costs considerable chank of stamina, so better to make stamina potions as well!

<< (x2 times overall for Hisssra)

<< (x2 times overall for Daroou)

~Also got some levels in priest skill tree for some champions (ones who actually made stamina potions)~

^^^ In my preparations for hardest battles also got 2 strenght potions of very high power [one bottle for each front-line fighter].
Here is time for me to proceed to F-13...

^^^ F-13 is fairly dangerous place to be for now - so i will use skeletal key for shortcut back at F-8 and will move to F-7 shortly.

^^^ F-7 is place to dump most of my keys in single go, but this is required to complete a Dungeon Master, so i will lover this "force field".

^^^ One more key required to open door with this turquoise keyhole; i do not have required key at the moment with me so i will pass right now.
...Ohh, here a lot of such doors on this floor - but one key will probably suffice anyway, as i can guess right now.

^^^ Right place for party with ruby key opening way to inner halls. Seems like i will get best equipmen in the game right here...

^^^ In this room (it is a vault of sorts) got different stuff, such as: scrolls (hints about power gem, firestaff and final battle), 3 empty bottles and some quest related items [will grab all of them, for potential of them will being relevant].

^^^ For some reason alcoves contain small items related to given element (fire = torch, earth = rock, air = empty bottle, and water = bottle with water), and so far here is "goodies" on our way without anybody guarding them.

^^^ First room is consists of two alcoves with single scroll and single torquoise key hidden by pile of ashes. One more hidden button opened even more interesting coridor...

^^^ A ton of scrolls + last RA Key. Every scroll is about personal feelings of Grey Lord, power gem and fire-staff - seems like fire-staff needs to be charged using something containing enough magical energy, but we'll see.

^^^ Almost immobile and slow to turn around, but very hardy creatures with AC on par with tank armor- stone golems also deal pretty high damage (~120 even to highly armored dude) and they leave stone clubs. Stone clubs are fine weapon to throw it at enemy... but it weights 11 kg, so i will pass on it.

^^^ First door opened by torquoise key contained two good items: charged blade creating lightning bolts and medium armor protecting against fire. Both items go for "second line" (sword will be used for it's special ability - and medium armor will help Gothmor) champions.
Here other 3(!) more rooms, but player can open only one room with this type of keyhole, so choices can be tough....

^^^ After defeating two stone golems got The Inquisitor blade as reward along with two bombs.

^^^ After running in very big circle, here is a door that directly leads into chamber with firestuff. Probably some traps are placed, but not sure...

^^^ Yes, at last! Firestaff is not charged right now, so one more task lies before me getting to final level.

~After traveling - or making attempt to travel - to F-14 i noticed one more keyhole, so had need to backtrack by a bit in F-7~

^^^ This one been hidden very well, and i wasted some time (around 8 minutes) to find this one key. Also, need to replenish water supplies...

^^^ Time to meet enemy worthy of using green boxes on : >

^^^ Dragon is second toughest enemy in the whole game, and can make *very reckless* party dead. Still, not as bad as it seems at this point - even with BFG size fireballs can literally burn thru armor.
+ Yeah, Dragon itself is slow to turn, but if player will come here with relatively low-health and low-protection party - good luck surviving even one attack.

^^^ ...On one hand, half of team broke some body parts after fire breathe. On other hand, we got DRAGON STEAKS.

^^^ Last door in dungeon (F-14 is deepest point) with key being burried under piles of ash.
~In this room i found some obvious hints on how to actually win in Dungeon Master~

^^^ Power Gem is located here for sure - but i need right spell casted in this room to actually possess it, then i will fuse both items to possess *upgraded* firestaff.

^^^ (After 6 more minutes of searching in my notes, found right spell to cast) Now i need to fuse POWER with RECEIVER...

~All energy been relocated into new source - and old "energy station" now in bad need of some skilled repairmen sorcerer~

^^^ Historical moment of sorts - firestaff with all powers i need to finish Chaos Lord is with me. Honor to complete final task goes in hands of Gothmor.

^^^ Stairs to F-13 right here - just behind place with dragon lair.

^^^ Last "ordinary" enemy type in the game - Demons - is toughest non-boss enemy in the game and their fire attacks are second only to dragon.
Still, nothing too special about them.

^^^ Final threat (he decided to show near coridor exit and rain poisonous cloud immideately, brr) is Lord Chaos and this is *special* kind of enemy.
Player need to "contain L.C. in fluxcage, afterwards champion wielding firestaff need fuse L.C. while he is in cage. It is only way to damage Lord Chaos!
Nothing too hard in this "battle" - a lot of running and maneuvering and drinking healing potions, otherwise pretty passable enemy.

^^^ Lord Order, i presume in flesh... Real counterpart of Lord Chaos

^^^ OHH, here our final task is fulfilled and Grey Lord takes his powerful item by... sort of heroic coercion : >

^^^ Do not want to spoil and tell *too* much for anybody willing to play, but i will provide some screenshots from end-game video - probably what sort of ending it is can be seen even from this 4 screenshots.
And...

~~~Suprisingly well made experience overall, but i will provide some small critique as wel in form of "points of interest", like game levels or in-game ecnomy. Overall, it is kind of game experience that i want MORE in future and agree on historical importance of this particular game, while some parts are forgettable for 1987 game (like rustlers with non-implemented ability or slightly repetetive floors overall) - nothing made me mad and i had no intent to quit game on any point~~~

Game World and Story are mostly sitting in background, and written in manual (18+ pages of backstory) - and some bits of story become more important only towards the end of Dungeon Master. In-game dungeons for most part are thing in itself - and monsters, puzzle themes are not as connected to story as it is in most other games of the age. On other hand, game world is interconnected and fun to explore with said game world having soul as far as it is possible for 20x20 maps : >

Character Development is pretty original for it's time and similar to Elder Scrolls series out of many other game lineages. Player is free develop characters as far as he or she likes, and even at higher levels characters still going to retain *some* differences (Daroou is Vitality beast, while Hisssra is Strenght and Dexterity prodigy). Only really harsh angle for me - lack of character definition and requiremnt to "multiclass" everybody into generalist with minor specializations.

NPC's and Enemies Interactions are mostly can renamed into "Enemies Interactions", because here is no friendly characters in dungeon. Combat and ability to interact with foes is pretty OK, and combat is strongly tied to sense of progression. Enemy variety is great! Each level or pair of levels always brings something new and at least part of monsters have fairly unique abilities and stats.

Magical System is fairly interesting, hard to grasp at first, intuitive at second and still hard to utilize almost any spell during combat for whole game. Some symbols are underutilized or used for 1-2 priest or wizard spell formula. Still, using magic is SATISFYING - and what more do i need?
Combat is satisfying as much as it needs to be, nothing more to say.

Equipment System is very good, one of the first games during it's age with different types of combat moves for weapons (and even shields), many items with unique effects or abilities. Encumbrance system is also something playing big part in game process until the very end. Only big problem - is lack of in-game information about equipment and missing item tables, even in game manual or player's cluebook (brrrrr).

In-Game Economy is mostly bad or lacking. BAD points: no wendors, no shops, no real economy (so most gems not used in sort of quest complition or plot progression are essentially useless). GOOD Point is interesting use of items in puzzles - sort of barter - and small room giving something neat for copper coins. Otherwise, Dungeon Master is stopped on barter : >

Graphical part is extremly good and well-aged (imo) for it's archaic years. Interface is one of the best for the age, hands down - and mouse support along with not huge amount of keys required to play the game make experience pretty comfy.

Cheers 0/

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

Zed Duke of Banville, thank you for information! I'm not very well aknowledged towards D&D lore and monster history, so here some "clues" in regards to origin of critters for me : >

Actually, considering how much i liked Dungeon Master - probably will continue to play series jumping to Chaos Strikes Back on Amiga port...

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

~Part 1*: Beginning of run in Chaos Strikes Back
with new champions...

~~After completing Dungeon Master 1 and searching for best way to actually play Chaos Strikes Back (expansion set at first, and standalone game at last - made for Amiga without official port to MS DOS) on my PC - i stambled upon some pretty good version of the game made for Windows, and considering my small experience with Amiga emulation for older games (80-s) i been very glad to try Windows version instead.
About champions: i have two options here. Either i can import my older party from first game (with every stat and skill being with my old champs) - or i can create NEW party from completely new set of characters, each of them is appropriate for higher difficulty level of the game.

While porting my save-state from DOS version is entirely possible with other program (made primarily for editing existing dungeon floors and changing in-game data) - i decided to enroll a completely new party and take a look at new champions at the same time.

About CSB as game: it is mostly similar game engine, closely comparable to DM 1, but with new items, mostly new monsters (more dangerous) and with higher difficulty spike. + MUCH more non-linear flow of game, which i going to explore by myself. Some puzzles as far as i know also much more brutal, and difficulty - just as content - will vary from one run to another. Basically, it is a same as DM 1, but for people who want more challenge and more content by same creators.

Goal of the CSB: player must locate 4 corbums in dungeon complex and destroy them by throwing in FULYA pit, and this is all i know right now. How well this items usually are guarded, what are locations of this items and similar questions are un-answered by me, so completing game very well can be a challenge for me. We'll see...

Let's begin with creating party from veteran adventurers and give my old party time for other *good* things in life...~~

^^^ Here is only one level in classical sense - and Prison (analogue of Hall of Champions) is already with some "secrets", allowing to aquire one super-champion with single skill at "master" level.

^^^ Plague and Skelar are first two champions that i will "recruit" for my party - Plague is just a very good caster (primary potion maker and offensive spell's caster), while Skelar is first "front-line" champion - almost mediocre caster, but this is not his primary role...

^^^ Necro is "back line" caster and ranged weapons user (due to respectable amount of mana and high dexterity). Here we *not* go... Time to venture slightly deeper into prison and find one more champion i need in my quest.

^^^ Some sort of small "sub-dungeon" with horde of mummies guarding one more champion i really need in my party... [CSB does not give much opportunities to abuse "experience farms" and amount of food and water are more limited compared to DM 1, so i must also consider this].
...Feck, here is "good" champion that is blocked for me, so i need to move into other basement area for "dark" ultimate champ, instead.

^^^ Here we go!! Kazai is master(!) in ninja skill and very valuable front-line champion, due to high strenght and prodigious dexterity combined with good mana pool as well.

~~Afterwards i rested one time, select "save and quit" option in menu and basically my team is set for the rest of the game~~

^^^ One more feature of CSB is this "customisation" screen with ability to change everything to suit player's DM~ related desires : >
Revert feature not working in this emulator so i will skip to "make new adventure" option.

^^^ Pretty insane start of the game - in the dark as hell room filled with armored, poisoning worms... Died one time before i figured my way thru this cursed place.

^^^ While this room have pretty good rewards for gold coins - some plates in this room also spawn worms...

^^^ Ehh, after one more death to other set of enemies later on next floor decided to take storm.

~~CSB does not allow me to recover supplies or equip myself properly even at the start and it feels, honestly + different control scheme of this emulator~~

^^^ Compass in other room - while iron key just *sorta* lies on the floor. Pacing and game lenght are very different compared to original Dungeon Master 1, indeed...

^^^ Full set of chain mail in one of *many* hidden doorways. It will goes to Skelar, due to his naturally lower defense / dexterity, compared to Kazai.

^^^ After placing torch in related place for it on wall (been wandering for 3~ minutes and did this at random, lol) opened one more secret way...

^^^ Another new monster - Flying Eye - is here, ready to ruin my day one more time, i presume... It casts high damage spells, but pretty doable otherwise.

~~On this small point of exploration i will end Chaos Strikes Back introductionary part of Let's Play. So far it is much more unforgiving experience, but at the same time here more cool features and more hidden doorways / invisible walls with more ways to solve problems (because usual "brute force" approach will not work with such amount of insane monsters)... Sure, a lot of players probably will hate this kind of experience, especially at the start of the game, but Chaos Strikes Back IS NOT experience for people who do not completed Dungeon Master 1 before!~~