Mysterious Adventures --------------------- Brian Howarth wrote his eleven "Mysterious Adventures" between 1981 and 1983, originally as text-only games for the TRS-80. Later versions (like the Commodore 64 ones presented here) had line-drawing graphics. To play the adventures contained in the two disk images you will need a Commodore 64 computer and some way to transfer the disk images to that computer, or a C-64 emulator. (Two widely used C-64 emulators for PCs are "PC64"/"PC64WIN" and "C64S"; you can find them with archie.) If you have neither a C-64 nor a C-64 emulator you must get the text-only versions of the adventures. You can find them in the Interactive Fiction Archive at ftp.gmd.de. Brian Howarth gave his permission to upload his games to that archive. Two peculiarities of the C-64 versions: - Room descriptions are only visible in Text Mode. To switch between Picture Mode and Text Mode, press RETURN. - You can only save/restore to/from a tape or a tape image. As far as I know there are no disk versions of these games. It should be possible to hack the games to make them use disks for save files. Have fun, and happy nostalgia! Contents -------- #1: The Golden Baton Your mission is to recover the Golden Baton, a priceless artefact that holds within it a kind of life force that maintains the equilibrium between good and evil. Stolen from the Palace of King Ferrenuil, the kingdom is already beginning to feel the effects of drought and pestilence. #2: The Time Machine Trapped in a thick fog on the moors whilst searching for the house of Dr Potter, you begin to wonder just what sort of a story will unfold for your newspaper about the strange goings on that have been witnessed at this home... that's if you ever find it. #3: Arrow of Death Part 1 Although restored to its rightful place in the throne room over 5 years ago the Golden Baton which usually shines brighter than normal gold has suddenly become tarnished, at the same time gloom and despair settles over the whole kingdom. Find the source of this evil influence before it is too late. #4: Arrow of Death Part 2 Having successfully completed Arrow of Death Part 1, you now have the components to make a magical arrow with which you will be able to destroy Xerdon, the evil accomplice of the Wizard Akyrz, the real mastermind behind the evil that has befallen the Golden Baton. #5: Escape from Pulsar 7 As last surviving crew member of this ill-fated space freighter you must somehow manage to make your escape in the frail shuttle craft without being eaten by the mutant monster now roaming free. #6: Circus What appears to be a circus in full swing from the distance suddenly becomes as silent as the grave as you open the gate into the field. Never the less you must find some petrol for your car, so here goes... #7: Feasibility Experiment A human guinea-pig for a race of super intelligent beings that have no bodily form. Plucked from your bed in order to satisfy their craving for life force that will sustain them. A warrior that can live up to the image of Alexander the Great. #8: The Wizard of Akyrz Twice defeated by a mere mortal it has taken the evil wizard some time to recover his powers. Now he forms a new plan to trap and utterly destroy the earthly being that dares to thwart him. #9: Perseus and Andromeda Take on the role of Perseus, son of Zeus and Danae. Bring back the head of Medusa the gorgon, whose very glance can turn a man to stone. Otherwise King Polydectes will have his wicked way. #10: Ten Little Indians A train journey begins your quest for the golden idol left by Major Johnston-Smythe when he died. Other treasure hunters have tried before you, most of them have never been seen again... #11: Waxworks A nightmare comes true, you must find your way out of the wax works factory in which all the exhibits mysteriously come alive. History ------- 27 Feb 1995 first release of this compilation [1.0] 4 Sept 1995 two fixes [1.1] - The BOOT program didn't work with the C64S emulator. - One picture (Mountains, north of grassy Plain) in "Feasibility Experiment" was broken. Thanks to Jacob Gunness for helping to fix it. 17 Jan 1996 one fix [1.2] - One picture (in a GIANT building) in "Arrow of Death Part 1" was broken in _all_ C-64 versions I had. It is likely that a correct C-64 version of this game doesn't exist. I fixed the graphics data according to the Sinclair Spectrum version (the graphics part of the Spectrum and C-64 versions is identical). Thanks to Werner Spahl for the (correct) Spectrum version. Copyrights ---------- All games (c) 1981,82,83 by Brian Howarth. Games #5-7 co-written by Wherner Barnes. Games #8 and #11 co-written by Cliff J. Ogden. All graphics by Jon Blacow. Disk images, README.TXT and all mistakes in creating them by Paul David Doherty