From Avalon Hill's Heroes Magazine, May 1984, Volume 1, Number 1

Down In A Darkling Dungeon
(A Review Of Telengard)

The first thing I noticed about this game was the package. The green dragon in flight is particularly striking above sunset-lit mountains. A warrior with a glowing sword is firmly grasped in the lizard's brutal talons. And inside the boxed game is a poster of the same scene. The art was done by artist Greg Theakston, whose credits in the paperback industry are long and illustrious. A nice bonus, indeed.

The manual/user's guide is multi-paged and finely printed. The folks at Avalon Hill went to some lengths to ensure that the game buyer would have all that they needed to enjoy the game.

The game itself runs on all the popular micros. (Apple, Atari, Commodore 64, TRS-80 I/III). My version is the Apple II disk. Instructions for all machines are included, from Commodore 64 cassette to Atari disk.

But the game! Ah, the game. For the average gamer or computer owner, it provides a great deal of variety. The manual suggests several different ways to use the game for competition, both against the "computer," or against others. It's also a great solitaire game, as my wife will attest. I have spent many late nights trying to raise a character's level high enough to acquire more spells. She has learned to sleep through the little "beep" whenever a character sets a level boost.

The basic idea is a common one. The player starts by "rolling up" a character. Six characteristics are used, and values of from 3 to 18 are randomly assigned. The player can keep "rolling" until a satisfactory set of characteristics is achieved.

Once the character is accepted, the player can assign any name of seven or less characters. Larger names will be "truncated," which means that they set a literal nose job on the right end. A detail.

The game always starts by displaying a map of the region around a stairway right below the Starting Inn. If the player needs to regenerate "hit points", deposit treasure, or regain used spell units, the character is sent up the stairs. In the Inns, all lost hit points are returned, spell units are replenished, and treasure is deposited securely in a bank account. There are many Inns above the first dungeon level, but a player's account is always up-to-date regardless of the Inn selected for overnighting. As the manual points out, banking is done by computer.

The meat of the game is in exploration and combat. A character can encounter anyone of twenty different monsters, ranging from the lowly gnoll to the mighty dragon. The player has the option of fighting or attempting to evade combat. If a fight is selected, the player can choose to cast a combat spell, or to choose physical combat. Whenever a monster is chased off or slain, the character is awarded "experience points." Enough of these will allow the character to go "up a level" in power, gaining hit points, spell units, and improving combat capabilities.

Besides monsters, there are many types of features down below. There are fountains, pagan altars, ancient thrones, chests of treasures that may be booby-trapped, and combination safes. There are pits that may injure or kill, and even elevators that automatically move the character up one dungeon floor, or level. And there are coins, jewels, and various other goodies laying about here and there.

And there are magic items! If a character finds a Ring of Regeneration, it will enable the character to regain lost hit points on every player turn without ascending to heal in an Inn. A magic sword will be useful in combat, and an elven cloak will be useful in avoiding it.

But perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this game is the huge dungeon. It goes down fifty (50!) levels, and gets more dangerous the deeper you go. It also gets more lucrative. And each level contains over ten thousand rooms and hallways. You could literally explore for a lifetime.

I quickly found that mapping (as suggested by the manual) was a great aid in character survival, and in locating places where treasure is more plentiful. I even managed to locate a pair of teleporting "gray misty cubes" that linked level six with level one. This enabled me to walk my ninth-level warrior down and back several times, accumulating great treasure. Unfortunately, he got killed by a level 12 dragon that I attempted to slay. Oh well, roll up another character...

There are many strategies that aid in character survival. Some are described in the manual, and others I managed to pick up from experience and friends who also play the game.

Playability is enhanced by using a cluster of keys for all game commands. Centered around the "S" key on the Apple keyboard, even someone totally unfamiliar with typing can quickly learn to operate the program while watching the screen. Since reactions must be quick, this is very valuable. The command (S)tay leaves the character in the same spot until the next player-turn, whereas the keys above, below, right and left of the "S" move the character the same way. The keys clustered just to the left of this group are (F)ight, (C)ast, or (E)vade. I quickly learned to keep three fingers of my left hand on these keys. If you aren't quick enough in reacting, a monster can get in an attack before you can parry. Or you might lose a treasure!

Once I had played for a while, I found that the speed of the program was no longer a problem. But I sure got killed a few times before I became proficient.

The manual is extensive and detailed, but there is still much information that isn't given. This was done deliberately. The thrill of discovery is part of this game. I still haven't been able to use the spell "time stop", although I have an idea what it does. The spell "power word kill" had me chuckling the first time I used it. Of course, if you don't know where the power word came from, you won't think it's very funny. But I won't spoil the joke here.

The program is not going to be one of those you put on the shelf after a few hours of play. It has staying power. I always enjoy showing it to someone who hasn't seen it yet, unless I need to use my Apple for business.

Telengard is much more complex than an arcade game, yet it has that basic appeal, because all you can do is get better at it. There is no limit to how well you can do. I have heard of someone who got a character up to level 34. I myself have only achieved level 15. But no matter WHAT level your character gets to, there is always the risk of encountering a level 97 dragon. Whew!

The sale price is under thirty dollars. This was set lower than many games of comparable complexity to allow the younger folks to purchase it easier. And unlike many games, this one will look great on a black-and-white screen as well as color.

Whenever you return to an Inn, you have the option to save your character to disk (or tape). When you wish to play again, just run the program, reload your player file by name, and continue. When you recall a character from storage, the program does an "erase" on your player file UNLESS you use the letters "SV" as the first two in your character's name. "SVEN" is one that I have used. This enables you to go back to the last version of your stored character instead of starting over with a new one. Telengard is unlike other games because when your character dies, it stays dead. After all, if death has no sting, it isn't death, is it?

The author Don Lawrence spent well over three years in the development of Telengard. As his experience in fantasy roll-playing evolved so did his computer program. His efforts were praised in the "Diversions" column in the March issue of Playboy. “Telengard is one of the most powerful examples of the challenging diversions your computer can offer these days."

Mike O'Brien