More Crunchy LitRPG from 2004?

Paul Bellow · Sep 14, 2017

Found this little gem...

http://nethack.gridbug.de/ellora/TheElloraSaga-Book1.txt

I used to play D&D (and later on AD&D) when I was younger. I've
noticed that there are similarities in Nethack to this old favorite
game. This has probably helped me with some of the monsters, from what
I remember (I think the Oracle of Delphi has mentioned this to me
also.). I also put in countless hours, years ago, on a computer game
called Master of Magic. My favorite hero in that game was Ellora the
Elven Archer. After acquiring enough experience / enchantments /
equipement, she could kill big bad monsters with one shot from her
bow.

I think Elves are a slick race. They're intelligent, cunning, and sexy
(to me anyways). So most of my games in nethack have been with this
race. There are many times that passages, doors, AND traps are hidden.
The "Guidebook for Nethack" describes Elves as: "Elves are agile,
quick, and perceptive; very little of what goes on will escape an
Elf." I remember that Elves had a better chance of discovering secret
doors in D&D compared to other races, and I see that this has been
carried to Nethack.

I never liked playing characters that just bulldozed through
everything (fighters, barbarians, etc.), instead prefering the
thinking classes (magic users, theives, etc.), a Lawful/Evil female
Illusionist being my all time favorite AD&D character. In Nethack,
there are only three classes for Elves; Priest, Ranger, Wizard. Of the
three, Rangers is where I would get the farthest on average. Probably
due to being able to hit monsters with some stand-off weaponery (bow
and daggers). Wizzards come in second (mainly with the force-bolt
spell), and we'll not even discuss how quickly my poor Preistesses
died.

After getting used to how the game looked on screen and getting
familiar with the commands, I found that I coulden't stop playing this
game! I had become addicted... (groan). Often times I got killed due
to making a mistake on the keyboard (over and over again), as well as
not considering all my options (like running from, and avoiding
conflicts in order to live another day). Hence, not thinking and/or
considering things - which is what I pride myself on (!).

After playing through many characters (at least a 120 of them), I was
able to get to about level 16 - 20 of the dungeon and the bottom of
the caverns (to make sure your at the bottom, just keep going till you
can't dig through with a pick-axe). The puzzle/boulder levels (that go
up instead of down), I can now get through about 1/3 of the time (if
it is the easy ones to solve).

So with anger at my own impatience, and new found determination, I
swore that I would take my time and not rush things. Also to start
taking notes and paying more attention. If a situation came up, I
would just simply stop , have a cigarette + coffee, and for the love
(hatred) of Mars - THINK!

I fired up the game and entered the options (that I have seen far too
many times):

- Who are you?

"Ellora"

- What are you?

Ranger / Elf / Female / Chaotic (no choice on alignement, but that
suits me fine).

Hokay... I'm the instrument of Mars, chosen from birth to be the one
that gets him the amulet (just like the 60 other Elven Rangers before
me), go forth and blablabla... So I make a little pact with Mars:

"Fine Mars, I know your the 'Chaotic God of War' and all, but just
be nice a little bit this time, eh? Hopefully, by now I've learned all
the stuff that annoys you and will no longer do that. I know a few
things you like, and will endeavour to please you - WHENEVER IT IS AT
ALL HUMANELY (Elvenly) POSSIBLE!
I won't bother you too often, but there may well come a few times
when I "might" need a hand, put in some kind of effort to come through
(or else I may take my characters to another god in the future) if you
want the amulet so bad."

That done; I take a look at my stats (I always write them down and see
how I progressed at the end).

Str: 14 Dex: 9 Con: 14 Int: 14 Wis: 14 Cha: 10

Hrumph. Another fumble-fingers, ugly (though I've had uglier ones in
the past) Female Elf Ranger. I always remembered that Elves were good
looking and dextrous in D&D (and pictures).

< If anyone of you who programs this game ever reads this, I have a
suggestion: Give Elves a better DEX (especially for Rangers, cause
they're supposed to know how to shoot) and CHA (for whatever that
affects - maybe charming monsters). Give them a hit in CON if you want
to balance things out. Just my 2 cents. >

Next I take stock of what I have in my inventory (remembering to only
use my meager supply of +2 elven arrows in dire emergencies, as I have
never found any in this game).

Finally I chat with "Sirius" (my little dog), and set about on my
journey into the Mazes of Menace...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 1: Journey to the Oracle of Delphi
----------------------------------------

Situation First Room on Dungeoen Level 1:

- I find a Japanese sword called "Snikersnee", and a chest.

- I immediately turn autopick-up to "off", as to not pick up the sword
by accident (Once had a character die from picking up a sword called
"Giant Slayer".). As a Ranger, I'm crap with swords anyways. Maybe
Mars will accept it later on if I can find an altar to him. If not, it
will probably be worth a few zorkminds at a used weapons shop.

- I check for traps on the chest 10 times in a row. I don't find any.
Normally I check 5 times, before trying to open it, but I'm just
starting out and have very few hit points. Rangers have pathetic hit
points. Even my Wizzards start with more I've noticed. If there would
be an exploding trap on the chest, I would surely be killed.

- I try to loot the chest. It's locked. I'm kind of releived. Traps go
off at any time. I'll leave it for later when I have more hit points.
Hopefully a crude dagger (to force the lock) or a lockpick will turn
up some time. Trying to open locked chests with say, a battle-axe,
just makes a big mess of things, AND will set off the trap for sure.

- Step into the corridor. Yikes! Here come the grid bug horde!

- Run back into the room and bravely hide behind Sirius. Stop moving
Sirius, you have to start earning your keep! Sirius is faster than me
and can attack several times compared to what I can do. If things go
well, Sirius will grow into a large attack dog some day. I will get
better too (hopefully), but for now, Sirius can take most of these
guys out where I have a chance of dying. If only he would hold
still...

- Phew. Sirius dispatches the insectoids and I only lose a few hit
points. Didin't have to use any arrows, although my finger was
hovering over the "f" trigger.

- Sirius picks up "Snickersnee"! No no boy. Put that down. I need to
know where it is for the future.

- Sirius wonders off into the corridor. Sirius! Come back here. I run
after him.

- Sirius drops "Snickersnee". Now look at where it is. In a dark
corridor. Any lowly kobold or goblin can now find it. Chat with
Sirius. Sirius yips! (I roll my eyes)

- Kick "Snickersnee" towards the room. It stops at a corner. Can't
kick it from this angle. Sirius gets by me. "You hear noises in the
distance."

- Peek around the corner. Sirius eats a sewer rat corpse. Don't see
anymore rats about. Must have been only one. Good. Now back to the
problem of this sword in the corridor bend...

- You are hit by a potion! It breaks on your head. You can't see!

- An emergency situation has just been declared in my brain. Okay.
Take a breadth. Stop and think. Whatever you do; don't hit any keys!!

- Whatever monster this was, It has to have arms, else it coulden't
"throw" something. Since it has arms, it can pick up AND use weapons.
I can't leave this square (I'm standing on "Snickersnee".), unless I
want to face something weilding this sword while being blind. Also, if
I move about, I may hit Sirius by accident. I already know where he is
(Having a snack in the room while I'm in trouble in the corridor, if
he haden't picked it up in the first place, I woulden't be in this
predicament!). No choice. Have to use some of my sparse supply of
elven arrows. Man, is this game starting out hairy or what!?

- Quiver the +0 arrows (if I so much as feel something next to me -
out will come the killer +2's!). Make sure I'm weilding the bow. Point
it down the corridor. Start shooting. Shoot. I missed it. Shoot. I hit
it. Shoot. I missed it. Shoot. Shoot. I hit it. I missed it. Shoot. I
kill it!

- Shoot again. In case there's more of whatever behind it. I'm blind,
and I'll be damned if anything closes range and touches me (I hate
that). No sound except for the arrow landing in the distance.

- Wait 2 turns (hit the "s" key twice), and shoot again. Nothing...
Repeat.

- "You can see again." I walk over and see no corpse. Whatever it was,
I'll never know. There's just a few arrows strewn about, of which I
pick up. Take inventory. Lost three +0 elven arrows already (you
always lose arrows when shot). Damn. But heah! I'm alive and can still
carry on.

Having survived this initial baptism, Sirius (who has picked up
"Snickersnee" again) and I, carry on into the dungeon...

We explore each level systemetically, killing monsters, gathering
booty, discovering where certain features are, etc., until we reach
the chamber of our old freind "The Oracle of Delphi", who this game
was found on Dungeon Level 9.

Dungeon Level 1:

- locked chest
- a sword called "Snickersnee"
- sink
- altar (lawful)
- statue of a goblin
- statue of a sewer rat
Click to expand...

Paul Bellow · Sep 14, 2017

Dungeon Level 2:

- stairs to the Caverns
- potion shop (with 59 potions)
- statue of a newt

Here I found a shop with 59 potions + 1 small mimic. My eyes nearly
popped out of my head when I saw that! Fifty-nine friggin' potions all
in one spot! This was a situation just asking for a disaster. Like a
mob of hill orcs rampaging through here and picking up all this stuff.
Shopkeepers sure watch me, but monsters always have a free reign in
shops (sigh). No way was I going to let this happen. I dispatched the
mimic with about 16 thrusts of my trusty +1 elven dagger (Don't throw
weapons in shops - you have to buy them back!).

This is how I snuff shop mimics:

- Search ("s" key) one square at a time (there's nearly always a
mimic, especially in huge shops like this, sometimes 2 or 3 even).
Eventually you'll get...
- "Wait! That's not a potion (or whatever). It's a small mimic!"
- Take a step back (one square only). Make sure you have lots of
elbow room behind you.
- Count how many turns it takes for the mimic to step next to you
(usually it's 3).
- Thrust with dagger (#1).
- Thrust with dagger (#2).
- Thrust with dagger (#3).
- Take another step away.
- Mimic steps up next to you again.
- Thrust with dagger (#1).
- Thrust with dagger (#2).
- Thrust with dagger (#3).
- Take another step away.
Click to expand...

http://nethack.gridbug.de/ellora/TheElloraSaga-Book1.txt

Paul Bellow · Sep 14, 2017

That website's kinda crazy, but playing with the URL, I found a part two...

http://nethack.gridbug.de/ellora/TheElloraSaga-Book2.txt

Paul Bellow · Sep 14, 2017

Looks like it started on Google Groups...back in 2004... another litrpg precursor? hmmm

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!msg/rec.games.roguelike.nethack/BSQUsnnciJ8/qFxqQHM06TcJ

Paul Bellow · Sep 14, 2017

You know... this was written pre-KDP ... I bet if someone contacted him and he threw it up on Amazon (slightly edited?) it would sell...

We should reach out to him! Haha.

Okay, back to the writing cave...

Paul Bellow · Mar 28, 2018

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More Crunchy LitRPG from 2004?

Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

Paul Bellow Forum Game Master Staff Member LitRPG Author Shop Owner Citizen Aspiring Writer

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