The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library
THE KET TRILOGY
Professional, Originally Released On Cassette Only
Game Type : Text Adventures
Author : Graham Thorpe and R. A. McCormack
Standalone Release(s) : 1985: THE KET TRILOGY, Incentive, £9.95
Compilation Release(s) : None
Stated compatibility : Electron/BBC Dual Version
Actual compatibility : Electron, BBC B, B+ and Master 128
Supplier : INCENTIVE, 54 London Street, READING RG1 4SQ
Disc compatibility : Unknown
Instructions
"MOUNTAINS of KET, TEMPLE of VRAN, THE FINAL MISSION.
The Story so far...
The Lords of Ket rule a strife-torn land where magic and mayhem are commonplace. Raiders from the east sweep in and devastate the countryside, spurred by the villainous Priest-King, Vran Verusbel, archmage of the cult of mad monks and by the beautiful, though utterly evil, Priestess Delphia.
Unjustly condemned for a murder you did not commit, you have been offered the chance of escaping the hangman's noose by undertaking a perilous quest. Naturally you accept, but to ensure your loyalty to the cause, the Lords have placed a magic assassin bug on your neck, ordered to sink his poisonous fangs into you at the slightest sign of cowardice.
Poised at the brink of the unknown brink of the unknown village, you stand alone with the daunting mission before you... With just a handful of coins, your trusty sword and the will to succeed...
Your task is to travel beyond the mountains and then underground via Vran's Temple to the ultimate confrontation with Vran himself, penetrating his inner sanctum, beyond the Guardians of the Gates...
Each part of THE KET TRILOGY is a colossal adventure in itself which can be played independently of the other two."
THE KET TRILOGY
The lands of Ket have long been split into feuding groups and have never known peace. Recently though, particularly vicious attacks have come from beyond a range of mountains in the east - these are known as the Mountains of Ket. To put a stop to these attacks, the Lords of Ket have joined together and called for you. You are told that the force behind the raids comes from two people: Priest/King Vran Verusbel, leader of the cult of Mad Monks, and their High Priestess, Delphia; the most beautiful woman in existence. They base their attacks from an evil place, the Temple of Vran. It is thought by the Lords that the death of both Vran and Delphia would cause the raids to stop. This then is your ultimate task, but beware as both are cunning and devious.
About You
Just two weeks ago you were framed with a murder and sentenced to a grisly death. On the eve of your execution you were given a Do or Die choice and you chose to Do!
To ensure your continued loyalty when you are on the mission, a magic assassin bug named Edgar was placed on your neck. His orders are to sink his poisoned fangs into you at the slightest sign of you doing a bunk.
Edgar will provide a run down on all you meet and may be able to give you help in certain instances.
Part 1. Mountains of Ket
Your mission in this adventure is to reach the far side of the mountains alive! To do this you must first locate the secret entrance at the base of the Mountains of Ket. This, you are told, lies within a short horse ride east of the small village. Your task then is to successfully negotiate a route through the strange and mystic mountains. Beware - Many who have entered the Mountains in the past have never been seen again!
Part 2. Temple of Vran
Exhausted, you have just reached the far side of the Mountains of Ket. During your travels, you were able to secure four magical items, a scimitar, a ring, a suit of armour and a wand. To pass the final guardian, a huge Zombie, you have to have all of these items, you were then able to make your way down a flight of stairs. Just as you though you had made it, the Zombie grabbed back at the wand. As you ran down the stairs towards a glint of daylight the Zombie rolled a huge boulder into the tunnel behind you. You are now forced to go on...
Your mission in this part of the Trilogy is to reach the Temple and once there to put an end to all of its evil occupants. You are told that the Temple is somewhere to the east, although it may not be on a direct route. Many of the items you find on your travels will assist you in your task. Try not to waste any as you may need them.
It has been rumoured by the people of Ket that the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, also hates Delphia because Delphia is so beautiful. Aphrodite may be able to help you kill Delphia - if you can find her!
Part 3. The Final Mission
Exhausted, you made your way through the Mountains of Ket and finally located and entered the Temple of Vran. Once inside you cunningly brought about Delphia's demise. Using her magic sceptre you found the secret entrance and a flight of stairs leading to the lower Temple. As you descended the stairs you were enshrouded in gloom and the air thickened. You recall a blow to the head. Hours later you awaken...stunned...
This is the concluding part of THE KET TRILOGY and herein lies death or glory. You now face the evil Vran Verusbel himself in his inner sanctum which is located beyond the five enigmatic Gate Guardians.
Not only must you defeat him but you must also ensure your own route to freedom.
How To Use The Adventures
Word Entry
When entering commands please use a VERB NOUN combination. You will be told if your command is not understood or you try to do something impossible. Listed below are examples of a few possibilities...
GET SWORD EXAMINE LAMP BUY LAMP
GO NORTH DROP SWORD STAND ON CHAIR
COUNT COINS SAY HELLO THROW AXE
CLIMB DOWN
Special Commands...
INVENTORY List the objects that you may have with you
HELP May be useful (May not!)
LOOK Re-describes your present location
SAVE/LOAD See SAVING & LOADING section later on
QUIT Ends the game and lets you begin again
Most commands can be abbreviated. i.e. INVE is the same as INVENTORY. The most useful of these being the movement commands: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST, UP and DOWN abbreviated to N, S, E, W, U and D.
Your Statistics
These are a measure of your current condition. They are put into three categories: PROWESS, ENERGY and LUCK. These abilities are used in Combat.
COMBAT
To enter into combat you must have a weapon. If for some reason you get into a fight then a special combat screen will be displayed. This will show your abilities and (Thanks to Edgar) those of your foe. Combat is split into a number of rounds ending when one of you snuffs it or you chicken out! Each round your prowess and that of your opponent is compared. The higher of the two has a greater chance of hitting his opponent, but even if your Prowess is lower you may still be able to hit!
When you hit your opponent his energy will decrease, when he has none left he will die. The same applies to you! If you are hit then you get a chance to dodge - this is where your luck comes into play. The more you have the more chance you have of dodging.
COMBAT (Temple of Vran only)
If you engage in combat whilst playing the Temple of Vran you will need to prepare a weapon, e.g.:
PREPARE SWORD (<RETURN>)
N.B. This only applies to the Temple of Vran.
Saving And Loading
At some stage during play you may wish to SAVE your present position in the game for continuing at a later date. To do this, enter SAVE, try in a filename and start the tape recording. Press a key and the game will then be saved.
To LOAD a previously saved position, LOAD the main program: Type LOAD and press <RETURN>, then play your data tape. When loading is complete you can then continue from the saved position.
Helpful Hints
It will be very useful to draw a map of the area as you proceed.
Edgar says, "Don't just kill everything!"
Once inside the Mountain - Leave valuables in a safe place for a massive score?
Don't leave anything useful in a different time zone - you may not be able to return!
On your travels you will find many curious items. These may be worn, help you in combat, assist in solving a problem or be of no use whatsoever!
Beware of One Way Doors!
The Arrows are red: Z=1, A=26, etc.
100%
On completing 100% of each adventure, part of a message will be revealed!?!
Instructions' Source : THE KET TRILOGY (Incentive) Back Inlay & Instruction Leaflet
Review (Electron User) - "Boring Battling"
This package contains Mountains of Ket, Temple of Vran and The Final Mission - which form the classic and colossal KET TRILOGY. Often when a piece of software is given enough sales hype to sell sand to the Saudis you becomes a bit sceptical about the quality of the game.
The adventure is hardly colossal. The Mountains of Ket only has about 66 locations, and the complete trilogy has no more rooms than an average Epic or Robico release. But to its credit, it covers three tightly linked Sphinx/Ring of Time type adventures which contain some excellent chaining puzzles and devious passwords. Unfortunately things begin to break down in the dungeons and dragons style combats which seem to occur at every sixth location.
These combats are supposedly based on the prowess, energy and luck factors of you and your foes, yet are nothing more than a rather tedious series of random number generations.
Conflict can be avoided in some cases by trading wares or, in the case of the Ogre, by a spot of illicit gambling. However, your whole progress can be ruined by unaccounted probability.
The room descriptions are sparse and little atmosphere is created. When any does exist, it is destroyed by silly interjections such as when the password to a secret door in mint condition is Polo. That type of humour might be at home in TERRORMOLINOS but is out of place here.
The whole approach seems rather dated, with the parser and text compression being extremely limited.
It is a shame that the memory taken up by the combats and fancy screen display couldn't be better utilised by creating more locations.
I'm not too keen on this adventure, as there are better examples.
Presentation .................... 8
Atmosphere ...................... 3
Frustration Factor .............. 7
Value for money ................. 3
Overall ......................... 5
Pendragon, ELECTRON USER 4.11