Dungeon Master Forum

For an interesting challenge, try starting the game with a party with NO MANA at all. eg. Stamm & Halk. In the past I've completed DM with just Stamm on his own. Quite a struggle until you find the means of learning spells.

Wow! I saw this and couldn't help commenting.
To conquer the place with one "non-manna" person?
Your daddy must be proud of you.

I've chosen the "nil manna" Halk before, but made sure I picked the "lady" with the moonstone.
A little patience and my "hulking" friend becomes a regular Wuuf.
(er, except that Wuuf is "by all means" the hairiest of the two. )

Stamm or Halk on their own are pretty fun, you don't need to get obsessed with mana at the stat of the game at all (though sleeping is boring)

You can avoid the ghost fight if you haven't trained up by four, and things like the vorpal blade let you have mana and a weapon

It's definitely do-able, except I think you've forgotten about casting Zo Kath Ra at the end! I think in PaulH's DM record run the only spell cast is Zo Kath Ra right at the end, but maybe some potions, can't remember. You can watch the movies if you want, they can be downloaded from the encyclopaedia. Can't remember if I cast any other spells in my own speed run...

I think you are right Antman, ZO KATH RA is the only spell Paul ever cast in that game. Mana really isn't that important after all.

I wasn't talking about a zero mana run, i was just saying obsessing and training your wizard wasn't necessary - sure, you can do it quicker in RTC with a teowand in your off hand, but otherwise you can really wait until the vorpal blade and later moonstone to get enough of a man boost to get a few priest levels and then wizard levels

Some things like wounds, poison and light are a pain that it's better to have some magical power earlier (and magic missle ability to take out gigglers)

beowuuf wrote:Some things like wounds, poison and light are a pain that it's better to have some magical power earlier (and magic missle ability to take out gigglers)

Magic Missile? Have you been playing a bit too much D&D lately Beo?

What do you do at "Cast Your Influence, Cast Your Might" if you have no mana?

You don't need to do that room, it's optional.

Whoops sorry, I should read more carefully. Although I think obsessing over magic is much better than obsessing over anything else in the long run, having loads of mana is far better than having loads of anything else. Especially in RTC I think, in Surgical Strike I started blasting all the regenerating monsters to death instead of hand to hand combat. Much faster to sleep and blast for a few seconds than to fight for a couple of minutes, especially with one character when you have plenty of food and water around. And the no matter how much mana you have, the bar seems to regenerate at the same rate, unlike the original, making a lot of mana very powerful.

Magic Missile? Reminds me of EOB.

EOB. Now THERE was a fine set of games. I started with #3, I believe.
I eventually found the first two, so I grabbed them. Sadly, I couldn't get far on the first one, so...(sign of the cross, as they were laid to rest )

It's actually been so long that I can't remember how far I went (as far as numbers).

EOB enthusiasts...(if I don't risk a ven bomb for bringing this up in the DM area)...
how many EYES in the Beholder series???

I remember EOB very well (in fact, I played through 1 and 2 not too long ago again). Though I was very skeptical of EOB1 (it ripped off my favourite game ever, for Christ's sake!), I eventually really liked it. Part 2 was even better, with great locations and monsters. Too bad that EOB3 was such a letdown. It's very obvious that Westwood didn't have their hand in it, as EOB3 lacked the nice level-design of the first two parts. EOB3 is also the only one I didn't finish, I remember being stuck at the underwater level, lacking a key.

3 i think?

And magic issile i meant anything you can log at the giggler - poison blob, fireball, poison cloud - take em out! boom!

Trantor wrote:I remember EOB very well (in fact, I played through 1 and 2 not too long ago again). Though I was very skeptical of EOB1 (it ripped off my favourite game ever, for Christ's sake!), I eventually really liked it. Part 2 was even better, with great locations and monsters. Too bad that EOB3 was such a letdown. It's very obvious that Westwood didn't have their hand in it, as EOB3 lacked the nice level-design of the first two parts. EOB3 is also the only one I didn't finish, I remember being stuck at the underwater level, lacking a key.

Same place I gave up that quest.

About like DOOM. You get to the end and get wasted.