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
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
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.