Dungeon Master Forum

Welcome to the DM forum P of E. Been reading through some of the comments. Work keeps me busy, but when free time is available, I guess Might and Magic 6 and 7 have been game that keep 'bringing me back' to computer games, along with both of our sons.

I was also in my early 30's when I first played DM, which was my first graphics-enhanced experience with this type of game. Still love it. I think the last 'find' I experienced in DM was the set of Speedboots hidden in the fake walls before going around the corner for the multiple 'coin slot' alcoves. That's be awhile, but it still makes me smile. Many great and sometimes stunning memories of this great game.

Thanks, MasterWuuf I've been stalking your posts about Conflux and they often made me smile, especially when you talk about your hoarding, as I like to do that, too - although I think you top me there. Been playing that one for a while too, but trailed off at some time, don't even remember why. The icon still sits on my desktop waiting to be activated again...

Might and Magic could indeed be a game to try. I'll keep that on my list, though I may have to transfer my metal list into a written one as I tend to forget all the things I wanted to do at some time.

Agree on the Might and Magic games being super good - I've played VI-VIII, of which the former is my favourite. They are all great fun games, I enjoy the gameplay, the music, the size of the world and its openness and stuff (well, VIII was actually pretty small). It's all good. VI has a small collection of highly exploitable glitches to achieve supreme wealth and power, should you wish such. VII and VIII have a mini-game called Arcomage which you can play in the various taverns around the world. Much fun!

To respond to some of your points in your previous post...on the matter of Caveblazers, you don't fully start from scratch each time. That is, there are certain items and buffs and stuff that you can unlock by completing various achievements, and you have a sort of "exp bar" that increases every time you game ends (which is almost always via dying ), and unlocks a new thing every time it hits the end - some of the stuff is just cosmetic things to modify your character's appearance, but there is usable stuff in there too. And of course you gain knowledge - each time a certain type of monster kills you, you then know how that particular type of monster will try to kill you, and hopefully try to avoid it in the future . The game does have a fixed number of levels and an ending, so there is actually something to aim for . On the occasions that I manage to complete the game, it usually takes me around an hour...though I did manage to complete the Daily Run th other day in a relatively ridiculous 33 minutes because I had to rush (one of the random settings for that particular run was "Time Limit", so I couldn't hang around or the advancing ceiling of death would get me, which is why I tend not to last long on Daily Runs with that particular modifier ).

Viscera Cleanup Detail is gory in as much as there are body bits and blood and stuff all over the place, but it's not super realistic, and nothing dies while you're playing - you're the cleaner, not the space marine (or whatever) . Actually, I think it might be possible for you to die in a few of the maps, and then respawn as a new cleaner and have to clear up your predecessor's dead body .

If you like Diablo II, that's cool - yes, I enjoy that game too and still go back and play it every now and then. Some mod-maker has even remade it (well, somewhat modified due to the engine) in Grim Dawn! The skill trees in Grim Dawn itself aren't super complicated, I would say. It's the same engine as Titan Quest so it basically works the exact same way, just with different class names (well, they are called "Masteries" in these games) and a horizontal rather than vertical layout of the skill window. You start out with no class at all, with character creation basically being "Chose your sex and give yourself a name". The first time you level up you get a stat point and three skill points (or two stat points and three skill points in TQ). You can then look through each of the Masteries (Grim Dawn, with all expansions, currently has eight - Titan Quest with its original expansion had nine) and mouse over the skills and stuff and see what takes your fancy. You aren't committed to a Mastery until you actually spend a skill point in the skill bar thing (which is a sidebar in TQ, or a...bottom bar, I suppose, in Grim Dawn). Doing so increases your stats a bit more, with physically-based masteries contributing more to things like Physique (Strength in TQ) and hp than the more spellcasting-focused ones, which you can probably guess lean more toward the more magical-oriented stat (Spirit in GD, Intelligence in TQ). Increasing this bar also gradually unlocks the actual skills, tier by tier, which you can also spend skill points in to actually do cool stuff. Skills with a square icon are "active" skills, which actually need to be cast in order to do anything (includes things like activated buffs or summoned pets), while those with a circular icon are "passive" skills, which either give you a constant effect or, if linked off an active skill, instead boost/modify that skill in some way. In GD when you hit level...ten, I think (eight in TQ), you have the option to commence work on putting points into a second Mastery alongside the first. You can do this at any time, though, so if you hit that level and would prefer to just keep focusing on your original mastery for now, you can absolutely do that. Any two Masteries can synergise together, though obviously some can work better together if they have a similar focus. Generally I go for "Decide which type of damage I want to focus on and pick a main skill that deals it, then any other skills that either boost that damage in some way or otherwise buff me and give me health regen and stuff, and also I want at least one pet" .

On the subject of Ark, yes it's a gorgeous game. It's fun, too. I agree it is very expensive at its base price (like fifty quid or whatever it is). When I got it, it was on sale at half price but I saw it as cheap as eight pounds a few months ago - grab it in a sale. There are currently four (with a fifth coming in a couple of weeks) maps playable with just the base game, so you can do plenty with just that. In terms of paid expansions there are three-and-a-half of those so far (as the latest one, Genesis, is being released in two parts - the first was at the end of February, the second is due later this year), but they are all basically just more maps to play so don't have any effect on the maps of the base game - each map is a self-contained thing and most of them have at least a couple of species unique to that map. It's one of those creative games where you can basically do what you want, like you would in, say, Minecraft. Spawn in, try not to die whilst harvesting resources and building a base, build up enough stuff to not worry so much about getting munched, and then do whatever other stuff you fancy . And in the specific case of Ark, tame and ride dinos and get them to do your work because some of them are way better at harvesting those resources than you are .

Of the games you've listed as playing, I've at least heard of some of them but haven't played most of them . Devil May Cry I've heard of but that's about it. Prince of Persia...I played the original, back on the Atari, but when they brought out the first "new" game (Sands of Time) I did play that one a bit but didn't get super far and haven't play any of the others that came later (but my sister did so I watched her play some of it). Star Wars Battlefront I've heard of (was that the one where the company got in major trouble for blocking all the desirable content behind a paywall? That was EA, wasn't it? Boooo) but again, not played. Haven't played any Tony Hawks games but I don't even know if they are on PC and anyway I can't say I have any interest in skateboarding (outside of those few side-levels in Spyro Year of the Dragon ). And I've seen bits and pieces of Resident Evil gameplay from a bunch of the games but horror isn't my thing, so I'll pass on ever playing any of them .

I have played so many RPGs over the years...recently was replaying Divinity II (Dragon Knight Saga version), and need to replay the earlier-mentioned Might and Magic games again some time soon. Dragon's Dogma is one that kept me very busy for about six months when I first played it a couple of years ago. Perhaps a little light on the "RP" side of an RPG, but still, I got to run around a a reasonably-sized world shooting arrows at stuff. Certain aspects of that game reminded me in part of Dragon Age Origins (three NPCs with you as a party), Dark Souls (no hand-holding, over-the-shoulder camera view), and the aforementioned Divinity II (over-the-shoulder camera, general running around freedom of the world).

I have played Monkey Island...the first two, at least. And the fourth one, actually - Curse of Monkey Island (the third one) passed us by, somehow. I do like those old point-and-click adventures, though. Others I have played include Simon the Sorcerer (both games), Discworld (both games), and Day of the Tentacle. Good fun stuff .

Oh wow, that's a lot to read and to process, but really helpful. I'll certainly come back to that section when it's time to think about new games. I'm setting up my Steam account now, so: yay.

Day of the Tentacle, yeah, I actually know that one. A friend of a friend had that one and we played with a whole bunch of 13-year-olds. I remember that point where we tried to a Coke to one tentacle blocking the way and it told us: "No thanks, that makes me burp." Exactly the right crowd for jokes like that. Never played it again myself but read a bit about it - and decided it's way too complex for me. And Discworld I heard about and forgot about it again, but that's one I'd like to try sometime because I really enjoyed the books, too.

Oh, and while we're at classics: One old friend of mine missed the "Larry" experience (Leisure Suite, you know...), so when I told him there's a bundle out with all the old versions and a new one, he had to get it. And then he told me: "We'll play that one together, I'll wait for you to visit me. And hide it from my wife that long. (Though I don't think she'd mind, but that's part of Larry after all)"

And I liked Boulder Dash, though it doesn't seem to work for me anymore. On the other hand, that may just be due to the poor clones...

I'm not familiar with Boulder Dash, but if it's an older game maybe you can find a suitable emulator for it or something. Personally I use DOSBox for DOS games and STEEM (no relation to anything Valve ) for Atari games. I also have a Playstation emulator for when I want to replay toe Spyro trilogy .

Also yeah, my previous post was rather long. Well, I had a lot to say - see, that's what happens when I get onto a subject I'm interested in, I just don't shut up about it . Anyway, I wouldn't call Day of the Tentacle "complex"...I mean, it's not more so than any of the other point-and-click adventures I mentioned. It's by LucasArts, who also put out Monkey Island, although I imagine there were some different people behind it. I mean, Monkey Island (at least the first couple, not sure after that) was by a guy called Ron Gilbert and I think someone else as well. They made another point-and-click game a few years ago, deliberately in the style of those old '80s adventures, called Thimbleweed Park. I backed the Kickstarter and everything but I've still not actually got around to playing it .

Feel free to add me on Steam or Discord if you want to chat further, btw - I'm Ameena on both (my Discord number is 5012), with my Steam avatar being a purple alien-looking thing and my Discord avatar a sort of black monster face thing with green eyes. I'm always online on both if I'm at my computer. Happy to share any screenshots/screenshares of any of the games I've mentioned, if you want to actually see them for yourself. Well, you can probably just find gameplay footage on YouTube or whatever, but if you wanted to make a kind of "custom request" of specific content or whatever, feel free to ask .

Don't worry about writing much, I'm an adept reader. Just take care that your keyboard won't run dry of letters.

Boulder Dash is indeed older and it's a classic that has often been copied with more or less success. You are a miner on the lookout for emerald (Emerald Mine is one of the earliest clones and closest to the original). You're basically in a tiled rectangle filled with earth, which you can mine through by walking over, boulders which fall on you if you're not careful, enemies to drop said boulders on and of course the emeralds. You need to find a certain amount before time runs out and then you stil have to reach the exit. It can get quite complex due to level layout and in later stages you have to create your gems by killing certain enemies or by other means.

I'll add you at Steam (you'll recognize the nick ), though my game list is still empty over there. I'll take a look at the sales (been doing that with my 2DS so that works fine for me) and right now, I'm still at Saumun's Trail anyway. Can't play too many games at once as I tend to drop outon all of them if I try... Aside from the already mentioned Steam games, Spore is on top of my to-buy list. Always was interested in that one and I have seen it being played: it's a funny little game and the evolving creatures just look hilarious.

Also I'll probably get back to you if I want to try my luck with emulators again. The last times I seemed to be missing something as I couldn't get them/the games to run. Shouldn't be too complicated, but sometimes the biggest computer problem is about one meter in front of the monitor.

OK, I hope I got the right one on Steam, there is also a Canadian astronaut which I guess isn't you. ^^

Grml, doesn't work anyway because I'm a loser that hasn't pumped enough money in there. So if you want to try, it Prince_of_Elves from Germany, no avatar yet. Else I'll come back for you when I bought myself into those VIP halls.

The description of Boulder Dash sounds pretty much identical to an Atari game I used to play called Skulldiggery, so from the sounds of it there was more than one clone of it (assuming Boulder Dash came first) .

Spore is cool - I was very much looking forward to it before it came out, because I've always enjoyed creating stuff and this game looked amazing for doing that (especially the creature creator). When the game did eventually come out there was a fair bit of backlash about it not being exactly how it was originally envisioned, but that was basically because EA . I still had fun with it, but haven't played it for some years now (don't even think I have it installed on this computer, which I got in like 2014 ). I like the simplicity of the creators, but prefer the creature creator above all else. Buildings and vehicles are just less interesting, somehow .

I just searched for you on Steam and have sent you an invite . I wasn't aware there was a limitation on needing to buy stuff on Steam before adding friends, but I suppose there's no reason why I would be since it's never come up for me .

Yay, I've got a friend. Currently thinking about Witcher III, which is in sale till June 1st. I'm not good with that relatively new "consequence" thingy and with W2 I couldn't even master the controls, but apart from that it should be a cool game. Well, I still have 5 days to muse about it. ^^

And I like creatures more than buildings, too.

I played the first Witcher, did the first couple of missions but then kind of got distracted and ended up playing something else and never went back to it. My dad got me the Witcher III (Game of the Year edition) a couple of years ago but I've still not got around to installing it . One day I will! I've heard many good things about it, such that it's an absolutely enormous game with looooads of stuff to do, but I think I keep putting it off because it's both third-person (over-the-shoulder camera) and because you can't create/choose your character, both of which are things I prefer. But then, I've played plenty of other third-person games with over-the-shoulder camera, such as Divinity II and Dragon's Dogma, and they were fine. Kingdoms of Amalur was fun too, and I played that for a bit but I got so fed up with how tedious the inventory/UI was that I eventually gave up .

Haha, that's about the same as it went with me and Witcher II. It does have a tutorial, but afterwards I could not even remember how to brew potions. And I never could get into a gaming flow. The "cutscenes" are great, but it feels watching a movie with cutscenes of gaming.

But somebody told me the first two versions are great at storytelling but have a terrible handling control-wise. The third title is said to have done better in that regard. So, I guess, it's a yes. And 15€ for that edition you mentioned instead of 45 is more than OK. So I guess that'll be my first step closer to the reason where I can get friends on my own. Not that I plan to do, but I guess that's now kind of a running gag, at least inside my head. ^^

If you're referring to Ark with the price thing, I just checked and the Explorer's Edition (base game plus first three expansions) looks like it's only 20 quid right now (even though the base game by itself is currently full price). So that might be worth grabbing if you're interested. Otherwise, it tends to go on offer every few months anyway so don't worry too much if you want to put it off for now but consider for a later date .

Nope, I'm talking about Witcher III which is almost bought by now. Just got my first Steam-moneycard or whatever they're called (know them from Nintendo, so I expect noc problems there). Now I only have to find the right steps to get that money on Steam and then further on to that Polish company.

Last time I checked, I haven't seen any sales concerning the Ark, but I haven't been on there since our chat so there might be something new by now.

Yeah, Steam money is just called a "gift card" or whatever, which deposits its total into your "Steam wallet". I tend to receive several of them for Christmas/birthday so December is a good time for me to get a top-up on my (usually rather depleted) Steam wallet each year .

Hello together.

First things first, so...

My name is Dieter, I am 59 and from Germany. Rhineland-Palatinate, to be a little more precise. I am a technician in communication electronics, working in field service, thus building and repairing phone- and Internet lines. Hobbies I've got quite to much. Math, Physics, Programming, writing short stories, playing piano and guitar, reading... just to name a few.

My computer experience started around 1979/80 with an Eurocom II, a computer with 48kB of RAM, plenty for this time. I then switched to the Commodore C64 and after this to the Atari ST. Here I had the first contact with DM and CSB.

Recently I began to build up a collection of some "ancient" games and installed Dos-Box, a C64- and an Atari ST-Emulator. (GTK3VICE and HOXS64, Hatari and Steem). So I came in touch with DM and CSB again and with DM II, which I never played before. After playing them for a while I began to wonder how to change them (I am a big fan of modding! ) and eventually stumbled upon CSBWin, RTC and this site. So, to make long words short: Here I am.

Oh, and I beg you pardon if my English is a little clumsy. It is not my native tongue.

Hey cool, welcome to the forum. Don't worry, your English is just fine and you are not the only German person here (I can think of at least two others who have been here over the years) . Feel free to share any anecdotes you may have about your time playing DM/CSB - it's always cool to hear people's silly stories about the time a Screamer made them jump or something .

I recognise your name - isn't that a dragon from somewhere? Forgotten Realms or something, perhaps?

Ameena wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:10 amI recognise your name - isn't that a dragon from somewhere? Forgotten Realms or something, perhaps?

Hello Ameena,

thank you for your welcome.

Ancalagon is the name of a black dragon in Tolkiens world. He was the greatest of all dragons, bred by Morgoth during the First Age, as told in "The Silmarillion". (Wikipedia)

Ahhh that's where I know the name from...just started re-reading Tolkein a couple of weeks ago. Have never read the Silmarillion but just re-read the Hobbit and am now working my way through Fellowship. Yes, I think Gandalf mentions the name to Frodo when talking about lots of big bad stuff relating to the Ring or something. Or maybe I just remember it from the TV Tropes page or something .

Hello! I'm Erik Twice. I write about games and fancied playing a CRPG. I chose to play Dungeon Mater because it looked fun and it was much shorter than other games in the genre. And I liked it a lot and decided to both write about it (which I have) and try to beat it. I have been reading the forum to get things into place and ended up asking for advice to play it a little better.

I'm a bit busy lately so I haven't been able to make progress but I do plan to beat it. Thank you!

Hi everyone,

My name is Jay, and I live with my wife in the Washington, DC area. I have owned the SNES version of Dungeon Master for around 20 years and have played it a few times, but I never actually completed the game (the furthest I remember getting is the floor with the scorpions). I started playing the game again about a week ago and just managed to complete the floor with the magenta worms. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to have to start over again from the beginning of the game since I have apparently fallen victim to some sort of bug that is adding 19.5 KG of extra weight to one of my characters. I think it's really cool that a forum like this exists for such an old game and am glad to be able to participate - please wish me luck and a bug-free experience on my next playthrough!


--Jay

Hey, welcome to the forum . There are plenty of downloadable versions of DM if your own becomes unplayable due to a bug - I know nothing about the SNES version other than that it exists so I can't help there. But I know that CSBWin is a direct port of the Atari version, and then there are other versions like RTC which was made from scratch, and DSB which I think was as well, but not sure (I've never tried it).

Thanks for the welcome, Ameena! Christophe just explained what triggers the bug in another thread, so hopefully I will be able to avoid it in my current playthrough...


--Jay

Ameena wrote: Tue May 26, 2020 11:37 am I played the first Witcher, did the first couple of missions but then kind of got distracted and ended up playing something else and never went back to it. My dad got me the Witcher III (Game of the Year edition) a couple of years ago but I've still not got around to installing it . One day I will! I've heard many good things about it, such that it's an absolutely enormous game with looooads of stuff to do, but I think I keep putting it off because it's both third-person (over-the-shoulder camera) and because you can't create/choose your character, both of which are things I prefer.

I am exactly the same (well not exactly - my Dad didn't buy me any games, for instance - but you get what I mean ).
I played the Witcher years ago and got to the first village, but never really feel in love with it and ultimately did not get back to it. And while I hear great things about the Witcher III, the fact that you have a pre-made character is probably the biggest barrier to me buying it. I never relate as well to pre-made characters as I do to characters that I make myself.

Although now that I type that I realise that DM has pre-made characters and it never bothered me! I guess because there are so many that you still feel a large element of choice when making your party.

Also, welcome Jay and Erik! Good luck both with completing the game.

Thanks for the welcome, oh_brother! I think the last time I played the game (roughly 10 years ago), I got burned out and quit during the middle of training my characters in the screamer room on Floor 3 of the dungeon. I'm back there training again, but hopefully I'll see it through and get to the bottom of the dungeon this time around.


--Jay

Another thing about the DM characters with regards to customisation is that you can at least rename them if you reincarnate them, which is the best option anyway in DM. So you get to feel a little more in control of who they are .

Jayrshaw - You don't really have to train, as such. Just make sure everyone gets some practice at everything as you go on through the dungeon and try to explore as much as you can in order to uncover more monster to fight and any cool items you might want. I whizz through the dungeon relatively quickly these days (I say "these days" but haven't actually played for several years now), and usually end up with far too much food to the point that I mostly leave it lying around after a while. Poor ol' dragon...a fun (if easy) fight and then I leave his remains all over the floor because I'm still lugging around five tons of screamer slices from Levels Two and Four . That said, I do only ever bother with taking two characters with me, so they get to share between them the exp that might otherwise be split between four people all doing various things. I end up around Expert-ish level in everything except Ninja by the end of the dungeon and it's fine. So don't feel like you have to stand there hacking and fireballing screamers for hours. DM is "tutorial mode" as these games go .

Ameena mentioned using two characters. This also allows you to 'turn' sideways. This can allow old dragonbreath's fire to fly right past you, if you turn the right way.

I actually don't mind doing the training (up to a certain extent anyway). It's actually kind of relaxing for me to train the characters while listening to my music collection...


--Jay

Prince of Elves wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 4:46 pm Thanks, MasterWuuf I've been stalking your posts about Conflux and they often made me smile, especially when you talk about your hoarding, as I like to do that, too - although I think you top me there. Been playing that one for a while too, but trailed off at some time, don't even remember why. The icon still sits on my desktop waiting to be activated again...

Might and Magic could indeed be a game to try. I'll keep that on my list, though I may have to transfer my metal list into a written one as I tend to forget all the things I wanted to do at some time.

Prince of Elves: Did you ever go back to Conflux? Or have you ever checked out Might and Magic???

MasterWuuf wrote: Sat Oct 17, 2020 12:18 am Prince of Elves: Did you ever go back to Conflux? Or have you ever checked out Might and Magic???

Sadly, no. There's so many games out there these days and they take up even more time than the good old ones... Blame Ameena for getting me into one of those. Playing ARK right now (Steam title, Ameena is better with doing the adver for that), and I found out that Steam has a conversion for the Turok titles from N64. Waiting for those to get on sale, but those will keep me busy quite a while too...

Also, in your quote I realized I made a funny typo: metal list, lol. Engraved in iron, probably. Well, recently I found a homeless "n", so that can go in there.