You need gold to replace destroyed weapons, buy flares, and buy attribute upgrades. There are various pieces and special items, and keeping enough gold to buy a backup weapon or armor if a dragon destroys one is part of the tactics of the game. Rather than take on two monsters at once, for instance, you might want to hit a monster, then a chest, then use the accumulated gold to buy a strength upgrade, then take the second monster. But there is a sort of meta-tactical dynamic to the game as you plot your route through the various combats and encounters. There aren't many options in combat, and to me the disadvantages of spells outweigh the advantages. But the various books, orbs, chests, treasures, and such do provide "encounters," and while you can't role-play them, they are tactical in nature.
The enemies aren't anything special they're just distinguished by name. It's surprisingly rewarding to use a variety of tactics to get your attributes to the maximum.
Gold plays a strong role throughout the game because you occasionally encounter vendors who will sell you weapon and armor upgrades, flares, and potions that increase your attributes (18 is the maximum for any of them). If you find a crystal ball, gazing into it has a chance of showing you the correct location of the Orb, but it can also deplete your strength. Since warp rooms normally teleport you randomly throughout the dungeon, it's a bit annoying to have to test each one if it contains the Orb. You need the runestaff to teleport into the room containing the Orb of Zot, which is disguised on the map as a "warp" room. Killing monsters does not result in any experience or level increases, but you still have to do it because one of the creatures in the dungeon carries the "runestaff," an artifact that allows you to teleport. There are no "hit points" in the game instead, monsters directly damage your attributes (most often strength), and you die if any of them fall to 0. Spells deplete your attributes, though, and the "death" spell runs a high risk of killing the player. I don't suppose it was possible to find a game developer in the 1970s who just hated Lord of the Rings.Ĭombat is a very rote affair which only gives you options to attack, retreat, bribe, or (for characters with intelligence above 15) cast one of three spells: web, fireball, and death. The game supports a fairly limited selection of commands: Movement, drinking from pools, viewing the map, lightning a flare or lamp, opening chests or books, gazing into orbs, and teleporting with a runestaff. The levels wrap, so if you go east from the eighth column, you end up in the first column, and if you drop into a sinkhole on the eighth level, you end up on the first level. The dungeon has 8 levels with 64 rooms per level, most with some encounter or object.
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