Starting Out

We'll be using Lucky Number 7, so if you want to make use of any of the maps and such, in theory you should have the same ones if you explore the same places! This is going to be a fairly casual exploration of the game, complete with meandering thoughts as they come to me. I'm going to try to be very thorough all the same, discussing mechanics as they manifest, making notes and maps and sharing my opinions. I hope it makes for a pleasant read.

We begin in town, stuff our pockets with rations, grab an axe and a shield and hope for the best. The world isn't much to look at yet

The World of Akalabeth is a rather barren place - though not as much as the screenshot would suggest. The manual notes a few things to help me with figuring out what I'm looking at. The big X made of blocks represents the town, the little X is an entrance to the dungeon, the squares are trees and as yet unseen, we have the Castle and and Mountains that border the area.

Noting that the trees are landmarks is actually helpful, should I need to get my bearings when looking for the Castle. I'm relatively sure that though the dungeons are randomly generated according to the lucky number they will be static on a given play through with it. I'll have to compose a map as I go, whilst also mapping the dungeons. Speaking of which...

The dungeons are a very gloomy place. I do enjoy the limited wireframe aesthetic, it feels like its something you barely can glimpse in the dark. The music in the DOS version also adds to the unsettling quality of this place. You can gaze up and down the corridors, allowing for you to get shots off with ranged attacks but doors will block visibility until something comes through them. Dungeons are a grid and it feels like the doors take up a tile in themselves. I'll have to keep this in mind as I map. And just as I'm getting my bearings...

My first enemy! Its hard to tell if its holding two weapons but it is at least going for me with a cleaver. I only take 1 damage so my current assumption is monsters deal damage equal to level. No sooner is it defeated...

Bam, a Thief. I get all of 2 coins for that escapade and I risk losing what I've already got if I'm not careful. He does 2 damage a hit so it looks like my assumption was correct at least. Gold would appear to be dependent on the monster level + the level of the dungeon then. Gaining HP is a chore alas; defeating a handful of enemies nets a handful of hp - about enough to replace what I lost. Still, the additional gold might put me over the edge, ensuring I get money for some extra axes. Which, yeah, throwing them is a godsend but each one is used up after throwing them - more money I don't have! TnT

Update - I should be very clear that thieves are wildly annoying at the start because of the 50% chance of stealing an item. When you don't have many items, you have good odds of losing all your weapons! Later on, you'll have massive stacks of them and not worry.

Things don't get much better on level 2 - in fact, they get even more deadly! Looks like dungeon might play a factor in damage after all.

A Second Stranger

Ah, thats more like it. 12 HP might have been a bit low for starting out; this means I should have more luck diving into level 2 all being well. Doing so, I'll net a little extra money and hopefully HP. Then there's this guy.

I'll bet thats the Level 3 enemy, which means they'll have a lot more health, deal plenty more damage, be harder to hit and hit me more often but damned if that doesn't up my odds of getting some HP back on leaving this place. Also, I think the wedged shaped rat is adorable. No, they don't know who ate the cheese, obviously. They look like an early 70s Doctor Who monster. Good for 5 gold though, yum - and when I leave, between them and the thieves dealt with on the way, I get a whole ass 7 HP. Done with 1 HP runs at Level 1; its rat time now. At least, it will be once I try out my first Amulet and see if I can contract lizarditis.

THE AGE OF THE LIZARD BEGINS

Oh.

Oh shit, I didn't realise it would increase my HP too, woah. Oh my god, yeah, forget Level 1. Unfortunately that means my wisdom will have increased and I can expect a harder quest from Lord Liquorice. I should probably go find him now before my brain becomes too big and I turn into a Centrist. Before I do that, I should finish mapping the first floor of this dungeon and get some more food just in case I can't find the castle quickly. My attacks now frequently one-shot skeletons and even sometimes thieves. Lizard wizards go for the gizzards.

I was actually surprised this HAS secret doors, but here we are! The Up and Down one I'm not so sure on. I don't think I can go to the surface through it, just descend it, unless there's another input I'm not sure about. That said, whilst I explore, I discover something altogether new!

I get a free sword and 4 gold! So, it turns out I can get some kinds of resupply down here, even if magical weapons and the like aren't in the cards. The rapier is not a weapon I can use but it IS useful - Thieves will randomly steal and item, so there is at least a chance I lose the rapier instead of something important. Furthermore, once treasure spawns in a spot, its guaranteed to respawn there! Farming HO! Emptying out my wallet for a wheelbarrow full of crackers, I can now try to explore the surface world a little more. You only get a little on the screen at a time so I have to inch around, following the mountains as I try to find the location of the castle. I could probably plot the overworld map precisely, as per my attempts with the dungeons as it is also but... I don't know, its more fun to just draw a rough estimate. I feel like I'm getting into the spirit of it.

There we go! Looks like Lord British is holed up in the mountains overlooking the land and the realm most scarred by the works of Mordain is the north east - my starting location, no less. Fortunately, I only need to deal with one dungeon, so I'll be sticking with the first one I went in. Ultima I also had an issue, if I recall correctly, where it was to your advantage to stick with one dungeon and grind that. Its better to be acquainted with one dungeon, master it and get what you need. Before I move on though, I think I can do better than this, mapwise...

Admittedly a pretty sloppy go but I wanted to get a feel for it (and, admittedly, get it done so I can get back to playing!) Some artistic liberties taken and a light crack at Castle Brittania in the process. I hit the second level up, find some more loot lying around then hear an ungodly noise and... wh-what happened?

Suddenly I'm accosted by my first Orc - and a Giant Rat on the other side. Not a few more paces and it happens again! Surrounded! I plummet another level, soon to be accosted by vipers as well!

(Sadly the original screenshot of a viper broke, so I've had to dip back in to get a new one from Level 6)

It looks like I've encountered a lovely new feature of the dungeon. I guess it wouldn't be a dungeon without traps, would it! Only the shriek of the sound effects clued me into something having happened at first. Fortunately I have a couple of amulets to play around with and here we see truly why the Magi is the better choice. Were I a fighter, I'd have 25% chance of getting a ladder using it (and a beautiful 8.3% of become Toad in the Hole). My maximum damage is 5 less but oh the places I'll get out of. Moving up and down ladders reorients me and tells me the level I'm on, so if all else fails, I'll be able to use them to identify if I've been given the old spicy trapdoor.

Map: updated.

I'll definitely probe that spot again later, especially with the magic charms I've stuffed my pockets with. Girliepop is going to be bristling with magic on her return.

Lord British and So And So

Its funny, I know the later games present you with a naming screen as part of creating a character but here we reveal ourselves by identifying ourselves to Lord British.

I actually think this is really neat. I've heard from some players of OD&D they didn't name their character until they'd gained a level or two so as not to get too invested in a 1hp wonder that dies at a kobold's cough. Revealing your identity to Lord British both captures that for me since I didn't do it until I'd made a little more of a name for myself and once I'd gotten attached to my goober. Namewise, I'm going to call them Warner. When futzing around with Moria, it just happened to be the first name that came to mind. Considering that dude died super fast in both Moria and Angband as I figured out how to play, I think giving him new life in this would be nice.

Typically in this kind of game I'd probably want to just go with Zaza but...well, Ultima starts out allowing the protagonist to be either gender (and "Other" in Ultima 3, the GOAT of the original trilogy). It doesn't stay this way however, 8 pushes it towards male and 9 then adds a voice on top. From that point, the default buff blonde dude is who you play. As a part-time girl of the gravitational persuasion, that just ain't me. No problem with playing as guys just not something I can mix my personal identity into.

I'm asked if I want a grand adventure and hell yeah, I'll knock out all the rats and snakes and rattle them bones as much as I can get away with.

Unfortunately, my lucky lizard roll means my wisdom means my first (and only) task is to kill a Balrog. I can deal with it though; if the attribute increase is only a single point, I'd have better odds with going full lizard.

Okay, THIS time I actually caught the message. I wonder if I skipped through it by marching on last time. Last two times. I love holes, apparently. After a couple of backfires, I up my lizard game further and now my chance to hit your first floor skeleton is something along the lines of 600% for a minimum of 30 damage. I now feel like the dude on the cover of the manual and my expression is just as driven.

I have a better understanding of the features of the map now as well. Before, there were ladders I thought went up and down and, well, they do - just not on the same floor. If you see a ladder and a pit, that means when you descend, there will be a ladder on the tile you end up on. If you find just a pit, that's a one way trip to the next level, you'll have to find a ladder back up. As such, my notation is now a V for a pit and downward arrow for a pit with a ladder.

Three levels down and two lizards in me. This playthrough has gone a damnside better than the first rando to show up's did. Rest in peace, Unnamed Peasant. You were very OD&D.

Ahaha, I've discovered something now. So, occasionally, I've encountered enemies that stand stock still. Most of the time enemies will rush you as fast as they can, though enemies do seem to have a chance to flee if they're low on health. Admittedly, I might be imagining this - I've just had a number of thieves tear away from me and get lost in the maze, preventing me getting their shiny or finding out if they've been eating the axes they've stolen from me. This thing, however, where they stand at the end of a corridor and wait...

Aha! I knew it! Enemies can give away a couple of terrain features through their movement. They will cross secret doors but they will not cross traps. Interestingly, this means a section of Level 4 is cut off by a trap. No matter, nothing a ladder spell can't fix. Nothing terrible interesting however, just a hole in the ground that I could descend without taking damage. There are acouple of things that are interesting though. Firstly, I took 6 damage from the fall - I'm not sure what it corresponds to, perhaps Level +1 damage? Level x1.5? I'll have to experiment by falling for traps later. Secondly, the little pit I climbed down to leads to an area seemingly cut off from the rest of Level 5 completely. No secret doors are turning up. Oh well, thank heavens for my diabolical witchy powers.

Otherwise, here's Level 5 Fee-Fi-Foe; the Carrion Crawler!

I do love how gangly it is with all its grasping tendrils and all. Looks wonderful in the purple of this level. Its kind of funny this game has a Balrog from Middle Earth and Carrion Crawlers from D&D considering how both it and D&D had to file the serial numbers off of Balrogs. That and every OSR style D&D retroclone has to call Carrion Crawlers "Cadaver Consumers" these days alongside their friends "Brain Itchers" and "Eye Boogers". After scrambling around in the dark for a bit, I ended up falling down some MORE holes into Level 6. I'm not quite prepared to go into there without finishing my maps so here's 4 and 5. In the process, I noticed that you consume 1 food every 5 turns within dungeons.

Using on of the traps on Level 5 to get to Level 6, I take 7 damage. It looks like fall damage from traps is equal to the Level you fall to +1 as is. That said, I'm up against threats far, far worse than traps. Finally, its come to this - the nightmare of so many explorers of this labyrinthine dungeon. The dread spectre known only as...

The Gremlin! Yeah, so, 50% chance to steal half of your food every fucking round. Thank god I bought up and I have plenty of spare ladders. I will say, I absolutely adore the design they went with. I mean, they're practically a lawn ornament. That said, they are, thus far, unique amongst all the monsters. Every other creature so far has been monochrome - but the Gremlin? It has piercing, beady white eyes. I dare not meet them lest I lose my mind as well as my munchables.

They're also an opponent that doesn't immediately fall when I introduce them to my axe. Mercifully, a couple of chops does it but in the process I completely forgot where on the map I was... Level 6 was otherwise uneventful, except for falling into Level 7 and being accosted by the also dreaded... box!

Death awaits ye with nasty big pointy corners. I was thinking it might be a gelatinous cube (well, cuboid) but it is, in fact, the game's mimic. I might miss some secret doors from this point on as they sometimes slip an extra one in per level and most of the time I'm focused on the primary mapping. Here's Level 6.

And Level 7! I got absolutely SWARMED coming down the ladder but it turned out alright. I think I'm a bit too strong for the game to threaten me much. I may have missed some spots on the map, however or misaligned something, as the trap from Level 7 should drop the player somewhere around the secret zone.

The Final Act

With Level 6 and 7, I can't imagine the game has many more tricks for me. We've been seeing more traps and secret doors per level but outside of the Gremlin's ability to steal your grub, I don't think the game can spring any new effects on us. Just on the off chance I can break things further, I spin the wheel of Bad and see if I can get Lizard a third time regardless of how many HP I lose.

I AM THE LIZARD KING!

I'm not going to even touch that now, if I mess with it any further it'll be Hell Comes to Frog Town when I encounter the Balrog. I'm pretty sure that 76 damage per attack will get me through the rest of it. Theoretically, if the Balrog is a 10th Level Monster on the 10th Level of the Dungeon at the 10th Level of Difficulty (and I'm the 7th son of a 7th son judging by my power), that equals a whopping 120 HP. Two chops with the axe and it's all over, buckaroo. Say hi to Morgoth for me - in Hell. If only my dear, beloved Gandalf had thought to turn into a lizard man on the bridge of Khazad-dum... I suppose he would have returned as Gandalf the Green then. As my luck holds out, I'm starting to wonder if the Magic Amulets ever actually run out of charges. I haven't run into it yet - or, if I have, I haven't noticed it. I'm swimming in the darn things.

On level 8 we get a new enemy, the Daemon!

I find them still interestingly evocative, with their spiked hips, cloven hooves and broad tail rather than forked. Its funny seeing them with a pitchfork still, especially with how teeny tiny the tines on it are. I do dig their broad, flat head - I'm not sure if the lines intersecting it are eyes or fangs, but I think its interesting. It is possible that the demon is also represented on the cover of the original manual - they have some similar spikes and horns. Its possible the feet might not even be hooves but I do enjoy the insectile head.

Furthermore there's another manual (I believe this might be the second edition version) that has what I assume is the demon on it. This one has a more goblin-like face though has different feet again and a spiked, crocodillian tail. Admittedly, I think its really fun to not have a standardised look for the art, it makes it feel more open to interpretation - anyone can read the monster art and decide what it is to them.

Another thing I think is interesting is how we started with white lines for the art, then shifted into dark blue and purple and we've been slowly shifting towards red. It gives me a feeling of the first level as a ruin and being largely by natural light finding its way through cracks and crevasses. After that, the dungeon darkens rapidly but a new light has been growing, with a source of its own. It feels like these levels radiate a growing heat, to me, as we approach our quarry.

Looks like I spoke too soon on the "no more surprises". Unless I've missed a secret passage, my Level 8 currently looks like this.

Sneaky. It looks like if I'm to make progress, I'll have to backtrack to Level 7 and then... what? Normally I'd just fall down a trap but it looks like Level 7 doesn't have any. Man, I am really glad I didn't run with a Fighter now if it means I have to use the Amulet. Maybe once I dig down to the next level, I can find a secret passage but I feel I've been somewhat thorough so far. I imagine the Fighter's alternative would be to simply pick another dungeon and set their existing maps aside, hoping and praying that the next dungeon will be the jump home solveable one. In the process, I found a secret passage albeit one that leads to places I've already been. I wonder if there's been tells I've been missing. If you give this a spin and you find a secret passage or means to get down here I missed, please lemme know and I'll update it.

As I descend, I do battle with an orc and then, I get the long feared message...

Not even at level 10 and its already on! Here he is, in all his glory!

I really appreciate that they're the biggest damn monster in the game! The outstretched arms, the spread wings, they feel suitably imposing. Even if they're a few lines of pixels, I'm still thinking about the box art. After getting to this point, I also have to say that navigating to this level through not just finding a secret but having to use magic does make it kind of special here. Warner had to use their mastery of magic and obsessive mapping to tunnel into a secret, sealed chamber, perhaps even a rift in space and time to finally do battle with the ultimate evil dragged into this plane by a petty magical tyrant.

It doesn't matter that its over in like a hit or two. I felt challenged by getting here and using my own skill in mapping and navigation and the luck involved in getting three castings of Lizardman without Toading (even if I got a bunch of backfires). All that remains for me is to return to Lord British and petition him to recognise my deed. For the sake of anyone who follows this path, I'll map out this level too.

And a collection of the entire series of Lucky 7 Maps!

I could go deeper, but my quest is over and I've spent a long, comfortable afternoon at this. I'm quite happy to break away and return to my normal life again. I got bills to pay. Still, Warner's adventures are just beginning, it would seem.

Thoughts and Feelings

I had a good time with it! It was, uh, surprisingly easy to cheese through the use of the Amulet and I definitely got lucky there. Pushing my luck a bit too far could have easily gotten me toad off. I think the game has some rough edges being that the only way to gain meaningful improvements is to become more and more of a critter, though I guess that is very true to life.

It got me to actually start mapping on grid paper, something I've always been pretty reluctant to do in the past. I've been a little spoiled by automaps. I think automaps are great, especially in realtime games, but I don't know. This was the first time I got out the (digital) pen and paper for it to try to figure out how these places added up so I wouldn't immediately get lost and starve to death. I absolutely would not have survived if I'd just blundered around in the dark for an hour taking the left at every intersection. God, if I hadn't been mapping, I never would have accessed Level 9. It required me to be actively involved if I was going to beat it. Mapping might be a form of friction but goddamn if it isn't part of the gameplay because if I don't pay attention, if I don't familiarise myself with the turnings and landmarks, I'd make a shitty map and not even realise how off target I was getting. If I just have an automap, its easy to go into autopilot and then I wouldn't have felt it was half as satifying.

It has made me evaluate how I might handle maps in running tabletop games and not always hand an illustrated map to the players. The dungeon can be hostile in so many ways - tricks, traps, monsters and simply in its labyrinthine nature. I don't think its necessarily the most fun to lean too heavily into that since it can be difficult to track in a non-visual medium but it is something I can experiment with more.

All in all, I had a great time and I'm eager to revisit Ultima 1. I wonder whatever happened to that Mondain guy, it said, knowingly.

I gotta get some work done over the next few days but I hope to return with another post on Ultima soon! Thank you so much for reading. It took a bit, but I feel like I'm starting to find my voice in writing again and it makes me very happy!