Title: News and Opinion:
Author: Thomas J. Zuchowski
Last saved by: Thomas James Zuchowski

^The   Eamon  Adventurer’s  Guild

January 2001

FINAL ISSUE!

Yes, I’m afraid it is true. This is the final issue of the EAG newsletter. It has been a struggle for several years to find the time to do the newsletter, and I have finally reached the point where I just can’t do it any more. But it has been a really great 13 years!

Annual Financial Report

EAG Finances for 2000:

Starting Balance		$55.67

	Income
	Eamon CD	185.00
	Gifts	23.00
	Renewals	238.00
	Total Income	446.00

	Expenses
		Copier	81.66
		Postage	144.09
		Supplies	214.11
		Total Expenses	439.86

Ending Balance		$61.81

A net gain of 6.14 for the year. A very good year! Especially when you consider the expenses tied to the Eamon CD project. CD-related expenses were $300.59, for a net loss of about $115 for the project. Some of that went for startup costs for getting the CD off the ground, such as the CD labeling kit.

I sent out “junk mail” flyers to the 60 most-recently expired EAG members, thinking that they might want the CD. The costs for doing that amounted to about $21. The response was good, and there was a gross income of $66 on that endeavor. That amounts to about a $15 loss on the effort, but I think it was worth it to get the CD in the hands of more people who want it.

I never did figure out exactly what it costs me to make and mail a CD, but I estimate that there was a net profit of maybe 30 cents on each $3.00 CD sale. Profits on the $7 international price probably averaged about $1.50. I should have priced international at $6, but I wasn’t sure what it would cost and so I priced it conservatively.

Closeout Expenses 

I had not planned to shut down the EAG with so many outstanding issues to fill, but you people just kept renewing! Bless you all. The refunds for unfilled EAG newsletter obligations amounts to $141.75. In addition, the final EAG member CD mail out will cost approximately $75. This puts the EAG’s final bottom line at approximately -$156 in the hole, money that will come out of my own pocket. As you can see, I am not walking away from the EAG for financial reasons!

Inside This Issue

We have a fresh review from Frank Kunze of “Operation Crab Key,” an Eamon that Frank has long felt deserved better than it has received from past reviewers.

Also, Frank put forward a NEW Eamon adventure that he sold to Softdisk but does not believe got published before Softdisk shut down publication.

EAMON ADVENTURER'S GUILD
Thomas Zuchowski, Editor
7625 Hawkhaven Dr.
Clemmons, NC 27012-9408
(336)766-7490
Email: tzuchow@attglobal.net

This document is released to the Public Domain. Any part of this newsletter may be reproduced without permission. Please honor the privacy of the members listed herein, and ask their permission before distributing their names or addresses.

If you would like to add your own Eamon adventure to the EAG list, send it on a disk to the above address.  It will be assigned an Adventure number, and tested for bugs and other problems.  An informal critique and disk with bug corrections will be returned for your final comment, action and approval before release. 

Our mail-order Eamon vendor:

		Kula Software
		2118 Kula St.
		Honolulu, HI 96817
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/kulasoft

Eamons are available online. I recommend these sites:

ftp://ftp.gmd/de/if-archive/games/appleII/eamon/guild/ 

http://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/eamon/
ftp://ground.ecn.uiowa.edu/eamon/

Here are some more:

http://www.ecnet.net/users/mumbv/pages/eamon/index.shtml (also has emulators)

ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/doc/misc/if-archive/games/ appleII/eamon/guild/

ftp://babylon.caltech.edu/Zocalo/pub/apple2/8bit/games/eamon/

http://www.lysator.liu.se/eamon/

Last but far from least, http://www.wbwip.com/a2web/ has links to just about every Apple II site that there is.

Product Announcement

From: "Cindy Adams" <adams@primenet.com>
Subject: A2Central Announcement
Date: Friday, October 27, 2000 7:44 PM

A2Central.com now shipping Apple II system and starter kit disks:

A2Central.com is pleased to announce that effective immediately, we're able to ship Apple II system software disks for US $2.00 per disk.  This includes Apple II GS System 6.0.1 and Apple II System Disk 3.2 (for all Apple II computers with 64K of memory.  Also available are HyperCard IIgs, the Apple II SCSI Utilities, the Apple II Video Overlay Card Utilities, and more.

We have also created Apple II Telecom Starter Kit disks.  These disks, with several versions available depending on which Apple II model you have, come preconfigured for a standard setup of the Apple II model you use.  Each bootable ProDOS disk includes Modem Mgr telecommunications software and an assortment of key utilities needed when downloading Apple II software from online services, including ShrinkIt.  These disks, too, are available for $2 each.

A2Central.com is providing these disks at cost to help newcomers to the Apple II community get their new computers up and running.

Please visit http://www.a2central.com/shop for details and an order form.

A2Central.com is an authorized Apple II user group.  All Apple software is distributed under license from Apple Computer Inc.

This announcement may be distributed or reprinted freely, as long as it is unaltered.

Eamon Walk-Through List

	    7 The Devil’s Tomb	Dec00
	  19 Death Trap	Mar98
	  62 The Caverns of Doom	Mar97
	  74 DharmaQuest	Mar00
	  77 Temple of the Trolls	Mar99
	107 The Last Dragon	Dec99
	114 Thror's Ring	Dec96
	116 The Iron Prison	Dec99
	120 Orb of my Life	Sep98
	126 Pyramid of Anharos	Jun98
	127 The Hunt for the Ring	Dec98
	129 Return to Moria	Jun99
	132 Rhadshur Warrior	Jun96
	145 Buccaneer!	Dec97
	147 The Dark Brotherhood	Sep96
	150 Walled City of Darkness	Mar96
	161 Operation Endgame	Jun97
	194 Attack of the Kretons	Jun00
	206 Curse of the Hellsblade	Dec00
	220 Catacombs of Terror	Sep00
	239 Idol of the Incas	Sep99
	SD137 Redemption	Jun00

Here is a list of Eamons that have been considered but not done in this column because they have solutions either in standalone programs, or “online” as you play. This is not a complete list!

165 Animal Farm
166 Storm Breaker
183 The Boy and the Bard
204 Sanctuary
	240 Heart of Gold

Always check your Eamons for bonus programs on the disk! Several of the better authors have been known to do this on occasion.

New Adventures

Edgar’s Adventures		by Frank Kunze

Frank sold this Eamon to Softdisk shortly before they shut down publication of their Apple II side. Frank did not have a subscription to Softdisk and does not know if this Eamon was ever published. In any event he never received anything from Softdisk to indicate that it was published.

Because of “Edgar’s” uncertain situation, it has been added to the list as a Softdisk title, but without a number.

Frank is undoubtedly one of the top three programmers to ever write an Eamon adventure. This Eamon is extremely well crafted, with a flawless, sophisticated user interface and quite an ongoing plot line. Edgar did indeed have some interesting adventures!

I played it through for validation purposes before adding it to the CD, and I did not need to bother with a map or even much in the way of notes. But it was a very interesting, mildly challenging play from start to end. I give it a (9) rating, and a (7) for difficulty.

“Edgar” is a real treat to play. Be sure to check it out!

Adventure Reviews

#71 Operation Crab Key		by Joe Vercellone

Reviewed by Frank Kunze

MAIN PGM Version: 4
Extra Commands:  None
Deleted Commands:  None
Special Features:  None
Playing Time:  15-45 minutes
Reviewer Rating:  5.0	Average Rating: 3.0/2

Description:  "While sailing the Great Lake Eamon you are caught in a dense fog.  After several hours of aimless wandering you land upon an island in a strange land."

Comment:  The above is a brief summary of the actual into text. The variation in playing time stems from the fact that I played it on the ApplePC emulator at a very fast speed.  This is an old Eamon with no speed-ups and would run slower on an actual Apple II. 
I felt that this adventure deserved a modern review after reading Bob Davis' harsh review and rating.  Don't get me wrong, this is by no means a masterpiece, but I found it to be amusing and pretty well written.  Other than some obvious typos, I found few spelling or grammar errors.

The map is large (100 rooms) but laid out so simple that mapping is unnecessary.  The descriptions are interesting and pretty funny at times.  The theme is based on the "James Bond" adventure series and it features several classic Bond villains as well as 007 himself.

Where it really falls down is its lack of special events.  The ONLY modification to the standard v4 MAIN PGM is a REM statement dedicating it to Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond).  My theory is that the author, while having some decent writing skills, knew little or nothing about Applesoft programming.  Still, the story moves along remarkably well through the use of some one-way passages and doesn't stray from the theme at all.

This is a version 4, so you have to type complete names and commands for everything.  There is one empty secret room that can only be found by moving in an unlisted direction and a deathtrap room that has been permanently sealed off (I'm assuming the author didn't know how to implement it).  One of the monster descriptions has been accidentally wiped out with a carriage return.  The text is still intact on the disk and I fixed my copy using the Copy II Plus sector editor. (Track $10, Sector $03 change:  A2 8D A2  to  A2 D9 CF)

One final warning.  Some of the descriptions use stormy language and/or adult suggestions.  This isn't inappropriate if you consider the theme it is based upon.  I didn't find anything obscene or profane in what I saw, just some stuff in the PG-13 area. 

Difficulty of 4.

And that’s all, folks!

Thank you ever so much for you support over the years! I have toyed with the idea of shutting down since at least 1996, but your warm letters and regular renewals have kept me going with a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart.

If you have email, be sure to keep me up to date with your email address. If I see anything of interest to the Eamon community, I will let you know about it.

Tom Zuchowski

March 2000

December 2000