Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin
Encyclopedia
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin is a video game for the Intellivision
video game console
and the Mattel Aquarius
computer system. The game was written by Tom Loughry in 1981
and was published by Mattel
in 1983
. In this licensed Dungeons & Dragons
adaptation, the player wanders through a multi-tiered dungeon, each level consisting of an 11x11 maze and its surrounding hallway. The objective is to slay the Minotaur
who guards the Treasure of Tarmin and take his treasure chest.
The game's catalog gives the following description of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin:
While the battles were turn-based, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin is different from most games of its era, as it involved a first-person view, giving it a three-dimensional feel. Treasure of Tarmin was the second AD&D game for the Intellivision
, being created after Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain
. The player begins the game with only the lowest level bow, a small supply of food, and arrows (amount dependent on the selected difficulty level), and minimal "Spiritual" and "War" health. Randomly placed throughout the maze are new weapons, armor, magical items, and treasure. The treasure in the maze (aside from the Treasure of Tarmin the Minotaur holds) can either boost the player's score (visible from the map screen), contain a potion (blue, pink, or purple in large and small varieties), or a bomb reducing the player's war/spiritual score. The bomb can cause a game over depending on the strength of the player at the time of the bomb trigger.
Note: As well, each enemy (aside from the Minotaur) comes in three colors of difficulty. http://www.zebeth.com/playplanet/enemies.html
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
and the Mattel Aquarius
Mattel Aquarius
Aquarius is a home computer designed by Radofin and released by Mattel in 1983. It features a Zilog Z80 microprocessor, a rubber chiclet keyboard, 4K of RAM, and a subset of Microsoft BASIC in ROM. It connects to a television set and uses a cassette tape recorder for secondary data storage...
computer system. The game was written by Tom Loughry in 1981
1981 in video gaming
-Events:* November -** The British video game magazine Computer and Video Games starts.** Game & Watch - released in Sweden.* Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel found Electronic Games, the first magazine on video games and generally recognized as the beginning of video game journalism.-Notable releases:*...
and was published by Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
in 1983
1983 in video gaming
-Events:* A major shakeout of the video game industry begins. By 1986, total video games sales will decrease from US$3.2 billion to US$0.1 billion.* MCA Universal files suit against Nintendo, claiming that the latter company's video arcade hit Donkey Kong violated Universal's copyright on King Kong...
. In this licensed Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
adaptation, the player wanders through a multi-tiered dungeon, each level consisting of an 11x11 maze and its surrounding hallway. The objective is to slay the Minotaur
Minotaur (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, minotaurs are a race of monstrous humanoids, resembling bull-human hybrids. Many minotaurs worship the demon lord Baphomet.-Dungeons & Dragons :...
who guards the Treasure of Tarmin and take his treasure chest.
The game's catalog gives the following description of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin:
- "You've found the secret map to the underground lair of the dreaded Minotaur. You can go in, but you'll never come out unless you slay the Minotaur and claim his Tarmin treasure. As you make your way through the hallways and chambers, monsters wield their conventional or spiritual weapons. You must gather the proper defenses along the way. But use them sparingly, the Minotaur looms closer!"
While the battles were turn-based, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin is different from most games of its era, as it involved a first-person view, giving it a three-dimensional feel. Treasure of Tarmin was the second AD&D game for the Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
, being created after Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was an Intellivision game, one of the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games to be officially licensed by TSR, Inc.. It was later retitled to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain to distinguish it from the sequel, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin...
. The player begins the game with only the lowest level bow, a small supply of food, and arrows (amount dependent on the selected difficulty level), and minimal "Spiritual" and "War" health. Randomly placed throughout the maze are new weapons, armor, magical items, and treasure. The treasure in the maze (aside from the Treasure of Tarmin the Minotaur holds) can either boost the player's score (visible from the map screen), contain a potion (blue, pink, or purple in large and small varieties), or a bomb reducing the player's war/spiritual score. The bomb can cause a game over depending on the strength of the player at the time of the bomb trigger.
Types of threats
- Skeletons: The easiest enemy to defeat in the game. They attack the player's War health and are very easy to defeat. Cloaked skeletons are more difficult to defeat. Both regular and cloaked skeletons may have shields, which as well increase their difficulty.
- Giants: The other primary enemy to attack only the player's War health. These can have shields as well and are significantly more difficult than any of the above listed Skeletons.
- Giant Ants: The easiest of the enemies who attack the player's Spiritual health.
- Dwarfs: Much like Giants in their difficulty as well as attack. These come either with or without shields, however these attack only the player's Spiritual health.
- Giant Scorpions: Another mid-range difficulty enemy who attacks the player's Spiritual health.
- Giant Snakes: More difficult than Giant Scorpions, Giant Snakes attack the player's Spiritual health and, as you can assume, have more health.
- Alligators: The next more difficult of the Spiritual-attacking enemies. How this fits in with an underground maze beneath a castle is uncertain; regardless, they do a great deal of damage.
- Dragons: The most difficult of the enemies that attack only the player's Spiritual health.
- Ghouls: These don't appear in the game until the player has gone several levels down into the game. They attack either the player's War health or Spiritual health and are capable of switching between either type of attack at any point during the battle. On the easiest two difficulties, its type of attack is determined randomly, but on the hardest two difficulties it attacks the weakest health. One peculiar aspect of this enemy is that it's listed as existing with a shield in the instruction manual but does not actually show up in the game.
- Wraiths: These are more difficult than Ghouls and can be either shielded or normal. As the player gets deeper into the game, these can and will become significantly harder to defeat than the Minotaur itself.
- Minotaur: This is the "end bossBoss (video games)A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
" of the game, is a different color than any other enemy (purple), and attacks both Spiritual and War health as well. Upon defeating him, he will drop the Treasure of Tarmin, which can be picked up to end the game. However, if the player leaves the treasure on the ground, they can continue playing. More Minotaurs will show up on lower levels and often even in the same level.
- "Door Monsters": These special creatures hide the three spell books and are usually found only on the lowest levels of the dungeon. They look like a door opening up on a blank, colored wall. Blue (the weakest) gives a book that teleports through walls. Pink gives a book that allows vision through walls. Purple ones contain a book that turns ordinary items to platinum (thus making any war weapon or treasure the highest value possible) and tend to strike with high-end Spirit weapons.
- Bombs: Some treasure chests and bags contain small or large bombs that sizzle and cause war damage.
Gameplay
- To increase health, the player must either attack or be attacked by enemies, followed by resting (consuming a food item), or with the aid of Spirit or War tomes found in treasure chests. The player's maximum health (with the aid of maximum-health limit increasing books and potions) is 199 War points and 99 Spiritual.
- In the outer hallways, gates between adjacent mazes on the same level may be encountered. Passing through a green gate reduces the player's spiritual health and boosts the player's health, and the opposite effect occurs passing through a blue gate. Use in conjunction with war or spiritual books can boost respective health significantly. Passing through a tan gate changes nothing.
- The player may keep going down levels (by accessing a ladder located inside each maze) until level 255, after which the game cycles the player back to level 1, with the player's character retaining their inventory and health, but attacking enemies at the first floor's easier difficulty.
- It is possible to be defeated but not lose the game. Upon dying, the player can be 'reincarnated' to another section of that maze, with all of their pack's inventory gone while retaining the contents of their weapon and shield slots as well as their supply of arrows and food.