IFReviewed by
Tom Zuchowski on 2006-05-06 08:47
MAIN PGM Version: 5
Extra Commands: WEAR, REMOVE, DRINK
Deleted Commands: None
Special Features: Special artifacts
Playing Time: 1-2 hours
Reviewer Rating: 7.0
Description: "The Castle Kophinos, once one of the most splendid houses in the land, has fallen upon hard times. Five years ago, it is said the wealthy and reclusive Nikos Kophinos (owner of the castle) made an unheard-of trip into town. Furthermore, he was on foot, and was in a state of utter hysteria about 'the devils' having taken over his castle. No one has visited the castle since-- least of all Nikos, who is still 'resting' at an insane asylum.
"Naturally, this has hurt the Kophinos family reputation. Distant relatives have offered a reward to anyone who can 'clean out' the castle completely. No one has collected.
"The reward is more valuable than gold. The Kophinos family has commissioned the forging of a magical sword, a sword of awesome power and breathtaking beauty.
"But the family is very insistent that the castle be completely cleared of malevolent beings. If even one remains, you forfeit the reward."
Comment: I found this adventure to be a pleasant play; not especially difficult, yet complex enough to keep my interest. Right at the beginning, it gets interesting as you encounter a wizard-merchant who wants to sell you such things as healing potions, invisibility rings and Holy Hand Grenades.
Even though it was kinda fun to play with this new magical hardware, I didn't find any genuine need for any of it. Buy the extras if you want to play with them, but don't worry overmuch about when or where to use them.
One of the more interesting features of this adventure is a couple of adventurer's journals that offer pointers and warnings about the castle. While it did add to the overall interest, the journals gave very little useful aid and were actually counterproductive in several places.
The usual, proper way to play this Eamon is to touch all the bases, trying LOOK, READ RED BOOK, READ BLUE BOOK, and all the directions in every single room. There are 80 rooms, and if you do this you will be playing for many hours. Here's a couple of tips to save some time. LOOK finds nothing extra. The books give about as much bad advice as good advice; they're fun to use but you can safely ignore them if you want to pick up the pace.
There is an unmarked secret passage that can only be found by trying to go in that direction. Unfortunately, you can't ignore it because one of the bad guys is back there. Look in the bed rooms for this passage.
There are a couple of death traps. Be sure to do a save every so often. I think I'll put the difficulty at about (7), for the unmarked secret passage and the death traps, though the bad guys aren't all that difficult and there are no puzzles to solve.
Used with Matthew Clark's kind permition.
Original review available at Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online website.
