A heartfelt thank you to this community

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Guillaume
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A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Guillaume »

Hi all,

I started playing Dungeon Master on my Atari ST during the summer of 1989. I had finished elementary school and was going to go to middle school.
What a summer it was, with a group of friends (that game was way too scary to be played alone!) we fought our way through the dungeon.

We were bad, very bad, even with a hint book complete with maps we kept dying and often really scared of what laid behind the next door.
The going was slow and we got to level 12 before school started again. My friends then did the unthinkable: they hex edited the save to get unkillable characters and finished the game without me. I doubted that and asked how it ended.
Spoiler
Oh yeah so there's a fireball and lord chaos blinks? http://imgur.com/FAZZ3KT
A likely story. I had no way to verify that claim so I scoffed and went on.

School started, kept me busy, then life happened but I never forgot about Dungeon Master. At one time I did find the PC version and gave it a shot on DOSBOX, played the first two levels solely on memory but again something went in the way and the dungeon laid dormant yet again.

Going through old harddrives I found that PC version again and this time I thought I'd finally beat this. It had been almost twenty years so it was high time to get this done. Twenty years I hear you say. Yes, I found that odd too, so I did the math again and it hit like a truck. I wondered if anybody still remembered that game and had the same nostalgia about it as I did?

This is where all of you came in, what all of you did during these years is glorious. A complete Dungeon Master encylopaedia with everything that has a link to the game? A complete port in CSBWin ? (That piece of software is a feat of strength). A website dedicated to it, with threads detailing strategies, hints, things nobody thought about before, links to interviews with the authors...

So I fired up the game and it was as exhilarating as it was as a kid, even if it was much less scary now. Level after level, puzzle after puzzle, I was getting closer to the goal. Chani, Mophus, Linflas and Leif, Firestaff in hand, dodging demons, where are you dark lord so that we can finally do you in?
And it happened. And I, a grown man, shed a tear.
Spoiler
So it turns out there's a fireball and lord chaos blinks? Gotcha!
I've lost touch with those friends for decades but ok guys, you did finish it even if you cheated.

Now I've started a playthrough with only two characters, then in a little while I'll tackle CSB. And if I need help (and I know I will) I know you'll be there to lend a hand.

The dungeon is alive again. But thanks to you guys it never was alone.
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Saumun
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Saumun »

Welcome Guillaume...

Always good to hear about someone's first experience of DM. It inevitably reminds you of your own. My first go at it was also with a friend (albeit just the one), and we eventually got through it as much by accident as by design. With no thought to level up, our party was so weak that we got wiped out many times and it was amazing we even finished it at all.

Anyway... let us know when you get into CSB.
“Grynix Ernum Quey Ki Skebow Rednim U Os Dey Wefna Enocarn Aquantana” - Anon
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terkio
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by terkio »

Welcome Guillaume,
Have à look at custom games.
"You can be on the right track and still get hit by a train!" Alfred E. Neuman
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Jan
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Jan »

Welcome and enjoy your stay here! And thanks for sharing your story! :D DM also always takes me back to my happy childhood...

And good luck with CSB, keep us informed on your progress! Hope you finish this one in less than several decades! :)
Finally playing and immensely enjoying the awesome Thimbleweed Park-a-reno!
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Ameena
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Ameena »

Hey, welcome to the forum - it's always cool to hear stories from people who're new to the game or rediscovering it after a couple of decades :D. Feel free to ask if you get stuck or anything like that, especially in CSB - DM is Easy Mode compared to that (and pretty much every custom dungeon, from what I've heard ;))!
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Guillaume
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Guillaume »

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I just got done with my 2 character playthrough with reincarnated Chani/Gothmog. As much as I explored everything last time I only did the strict minimum this time around and it went really fast and almost* without a hitch, got chaos on the 1st try too. It felt a lot easier, I guess the characters level faster due to not splitting xp or acting more often? I was lobbing mon fireballs quite early and that takes out most enemies straight away.

*
Spoiler
I also played with CSBWin instead of the PC version in DOSBOX. CSBWin is so much better. The dragon was a disappointment, I suppose I was fast enough to stick behind him the whole time.

I might do a solo run, or take on CSB. The excitement hasn't died yet :D
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Paul Stevens
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Paul Stevens »

I might ... take on CSB
You will find some non-disappointing dragons there. :Smirk:
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Ameena
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Ameena »

Cool, good job :D. My usual team consists of two champions too (reincarnated Hissssa and Wuuf, renamed to Ameena and Fippy :D) and I also play in CSBWin, since it's a port of the Atari version which is the one I played back when I was about six or so :D.
Good luck in CSB - you'll need it ;). And then there are plenty of custom dungeons if you want to try those too!
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Jan
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Jan »

Guillaume wrote:*
Spoiler
Poor old good Chani :wink: .

Go for the CSB now - note that you can take your DM characters there!
Finally playing and immensely enjoying the awesome Thimbleweed Park-a-reno!
Guillaume
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Guillaume »

Currently doing another run with 4 reincarnated characters (Nabi, Gothmog, Boris & Tiggy), I'm going to level them until I am satisfied, finish DM just because it fits lorewise then start the journey in CSB.
CSB is almost completely unspoiled for me so I'll try to do it with no maps/hints, etc..
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Paul Stevens
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Paul Stevens »

CSB is almost completely unspoiled for me so I'll try to do it with no maps/hints, etc..
Oh, wow! That is ambition. Well, at least you have the built-in
help system that I hope you will take advantage of. Otherwise?????
Guillaume
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Guillaume »

Yeah, so I finished DM and the characters are leveled about the same as the starting CSB champions. I don't have the patience to grind more so I started up CSB with that team.

It went about as well as one could hope.
Spoiler
I suppose starting naked in the dark surrounded by worms is normal, a bit of panic fighting and I got out of that room. Promptly fell into the first pit, lost Gothmog in the process. Went forward a bit, I guess that's where I get to choose the wing I want to explore, which is about all I know about CSB, fell yet again into another pit and landed next to a dragon. Panic used my last mana to shoot a fireball, which I promptly walked into. The end.
It won't be difficult to do better in the next run :D

I'll make a thread in the CSB forum. Just a question first: is it possible to "get stuck" as in do something that guarantees you can't finish and starve/die of thirst/etc..?
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Jan
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Jan »

Guillaume wrote:It won't be difficult to do better in the next run :D
We shall see :) .
Guillaume wrote:Just a question first: is it possible to "get stuck" as in do something that guarantees you can't finish and starve/die of thirst/etc..?
In general, food and water are a much bigger problem in CSB than in DM for and unexperienced player - if you don't know where to look for water and food, you'd better be careful, I think you may die of thirst or hunger quite easily. As for any "dead ends" or "getting stuck", I can't think of anything right now. No, I don't think there are any dead ends in CSB. Note that you will be travelling much more vertically in DM (as you have already learned :roll: ) so you will usually find a pit to jump into when you get lost or "stucked" that will take you to a completely different part of the dungeon.

Good luck there and keep us informed! :D
Finally playing and immensely enjoying the awesome Thimbleweed Park-a-reno!
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Ameena
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Ameena »

Lol, well, it sounds like your first experience of CSB has given you a good idea of what to expect for the rest of the game :D. Good luck! Feel free to ask any of us if you need help or advice, but in the meantime feel free to share your progress (or lack of ;)) with us...and I hope you weren't too put off/frustrated by your first experience of the dungeon because, um...well, it's basically going to be like that for a while until you get some clue of where the hell everything is and how it links together (and I promise you, it is possible to learn your way around eventually!) ;).
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oh_brother
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by oh_brother »

CSB is challenging, but brilliant. Persevere!
Paul Stevens wrote: Well, at least you have the built-in help system that I hope you will take advantage of.
Yes, this.
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Saumun
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Re: A heartfelt thank you to this community

Post by Saumun »

oh_brother wrote:CSB is challenging, but brilliant. Persevere!
I second that.... and i love hearing about people's first experiences of DM and CSB, so keep us posted on your exploits.
“Grynix Ernum Quey Ki Skebow Rednim U Os Dey Wefna Enocarn Aquantana” - Anon
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