THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE
THE RUNES OF ZENDOS
PUBLISHER
Dorcas Software
AUTHOR
Chris Dorell ?
YEAR OF RELEASE
1984
DESCRIPTION
The Runes of Zendos is an animated graphical adventure.
CHEATS
INLAY CARD TEXT
The tiny principality of DORCASIA was a pleasant fertile land
until the wizard ZENDOS used his evil powers to cast the country
into perpetual darkness until all citizens pledge obedience to
him.
It is known that through the SPELL OF DARKNESS Zendos has trapped
the spirit of each month into one of 12 GOLDEN TEMPUS RUNES or
RUNIC HOUR GLASSES hidden deep within the mysterious and magical
castle.
As the land dies in the grip of the black desolation a hero must
be found to locate and destroy the 12 hour glasses thus releasing
the months and returning Dorcasia to the natural forces of the
seasons.
Each glass has a RUNIC inscription around its base which you must
read and understand. Only saying these words will lift that part
of the spell. To protect the hour glasses Zendos has placed them
in 12 seperate rooms in his castle, each room linked to a
different exterior gateway by a devious route.
Depending on which entrance you select Zendos casts spells which
change the locations of rooms within his castle to confuse you.
The menacing creatures and challenging problems which confront
you at every turn mean that only the brave and the clever will
succeed.
INTRODUCTION
Runes of Zendos is a complex and fascinating adventure game which
incorporates 12 seperate adventures in the castle of the wicked
wizard Zendos. Many of the dangers and creatures will reappear
in each adventure as Zendos attempts to defeat you, so experience
from one adventure will help in the next. Nevertheless each
adventure has unique spells and problems plus a different route
to ensure a new challenge is provided. The game features full
animation, sentence input, sound effects, save game facilities
to tape or microdrive and much more.
OBJECTIVE
In each adventure your mission is to locate the hour glass and
release the captured month by reading the magic inscription
around the base. The inscription appears in a runic script
devised by Zendos to foil his enemies. With skill, courage and
intelligence you can achieve much in the castle but only by
deciphering the Runes of Zendos will you attain the ultimate
goal. Watch out for any clues to solving the runes as you
proceed in your adventure - there's even a clue on the cassette
label!
SCREEN FORMAT
The top half of the screen shows continuously your location and
the results of your action and of the creatures you meet. All
action is animated and appears immediately.
The lower part of the screen contains messages from the computer
including error comments.
The bottom 3 lines are reserved for your input. When typing your
commands you have all the standard SPECTRUM cursor
movement/delete functions available. The ENTER key should be
pressed when you are happy with your sentence. Input is accepted
in upper and/or lower case and is "echoed" in the text part of
the screen.
COMMUNICATION
You can enter simple sentences which must contain one verb. The
following are examples of acceptable sentences:-
Take the sword
Attack the guard with the mighty axe
Unlock the door with the golden key
Move left
Say magic spell
The program will accept any words it has displayed plus words
from this dictionary.
DICTIONARY
Movement : up (u), down (d), left (l), right (r)
Verbs : attack, drop, eat, examine, give, greet, move,
pick up, remove,
run, say, take, unlock, use, wear
Special verbs: status (?), adventure, save, load, stop
Adverbs : quickly (q)
Prepositions : at, into, from, with
ABBREVIATIONS
A single letter or symbol in brackets after a word above can be
used in place of that word. Adjectives can usually be omitted
unless this causes ambiguity e.g "drop the key" is acceptable
unless you have two keys in which case you should enter "drop the
golden key" or whatever.
If you wish to repeat a command simply press ENTER. This is
particularly useful during fights to repeat sentences like
"attack the creature with the weapon".
In general if the sentence you enter looks right it will be OK.
If it is not accepted then a self explanatory error message will
appear. Rules of common sense apply so that for example:-
You can't - wear what you're not carrying
- say a spell if you don't know it
- attack a creature in another room.
SPECIAL VERBS
Status (?) : By typing "status" or ? you can check which
adventure you are in, your strength, what you are carrying and
wearing and so on. Press any key to return to the normal display.
Adventure : When the game loads you are at the start of
adventure one. At any time you can switch to the start of a
different adventure by entering "adventure" followed by a number
from "one" to "twelve".
Save & Load: You can save or load an adventure at any point using
tape or microdrive. The program creates its own file name based
on the adventure number you are saving and the file number which
you specify. You can thus have each adventure saved at different
stages by specifying different file numbers.
These examples assume you are in adventure 4:-
Input Result
"save zenfile one, md one" adv4file1 output to microdrive 1
"save zenfile ten, md two" adv4file10 output to microdrive 2
"save zenfile three, tape" adv4file3 output to tape
"load zenfile one, md one" adv4file1 loaded from m/drive 1
"load zenfile three, tape" adv4file3 loaded from tape
NOTE Load and save must be typed in full. They both use the
current adventure number to create the file name so if you wish
to reload a different adventure use the "adventure" verb first
to change adventures then "load" as above.
Stop : Typing "stop" in full returns you to BASIC so that
you can delete microdrive files, display the catalogue etc. As
long as you don't corrupt the small driver program in memory RUN
will return you to your adventure.
GENERAL NOTES
Fighting : Whenever you meet a creature its
strength and yours are displayed in a pennant at the top of the
screen. If a creature is very strong you will need more than
your bare hands. You may have something the creature wants or
which will help you defeat it. Perhaps you can befreind it or use
a magic spell if you know one which is appropriate. Luck can play
its part and you can improve your luck by using certain charms
and lucky items.
Spells : You can "say" a spell which you have
found and which therefore appears in your knowledge list in the
current adventure. A spell must be "said" in English even though
it may appear in runic script.
Wearing : You can wear one item on your head and
one on your body. If you "remove" something you will still be
carrying it.
Eating : You begin each adventure with a supply
of provisions you can 'eat' in quantities from 'one to twelve'
to increase you strength by that amount. e.g. 'eat three'. You
will also find items of food which, when eaten, increase your
strength. If you eat to much it will cease to have any effect.
NOTE: Fighting and running sap your strength.
Performance : The status display contains a
performance figure to show how much of the current adventure you
have completed.
SPECTRUM error messages : If during saving or loading you get an
error message, eg. microdrive not present or full etc, simply
enter the keyword RUN to retrieve your position after taking
corrective action.
QUEST COMPLETION
To finally free Dorcasia and banish Zendos from the land you must
"say" the first letter of each of the 12 hour glass inscriptions.
You can do this at any time to prove that you have completed all
the adventures.
SCORES/REVIEWS
SNAPSHOT/URLS
FACTS ABOUT THE GAME
NOTES