Wandroid#1, OFMO, the Wizardry clone

    In 1982, I bought a copy of the first Wizardry scenario, Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, and was immediately addicted.  It was the first D&D-styled game of its kind, and it paved the way for the entire Ultima series, Might & Magic, and pretty much all party-based and multi-player RPG adventuring games made today.  It invented the genre known as the "Dungeon Crawl," and its name has become synonymous with it.  When people talk about Dungeon Crawls, they say that they are looking for a "Wizardry-like game."  It's like saying Shakespearean when you are talking about a character-driven plot that resembles MacBeth or Hamlet.  The genre was named after him.  Wizardry is that for RPG games.  While true D&D players can say that it's a farcical over-simplification of the game, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that no version of actual D&D in a computer game has had as much industry-wide influence as this game has had.

    It's only our memory of it, the fact that it has become a meme for these types of games that give it the legendary status that it has.  But, if you you were to download the MS-DOS version of the original game today, you will still find that it has the same challenge level that it did almost forty years ago.  But with graphics like this, who today would heap praises on the game?  Those graphics were all that computers could do in those days, four colors made into sixteen (using a process called dithering), but the graphics were only a small part of the game.  The interface was what is now called wireframe menus--the list of options were simply contained within a box on the screen bordered by white lines on a black background.  The game window was also wireframe, a 3D rendering of a POV exploration of the dungeon, complete with mapping, character development, building Spell Books, and managing party-based combat dynamics.  The controls were simple, the arrow keys or the "AWD" cluster on the left side of the keyboard, and your ENTER/RETURN key.  The manual provided the Spell books, but you had to raise up your characters so that they could learn the spells, and you had to raise up your fighters and thieves so that they would be able to fight stronger and have more Hit Points to take harder beatings in the dungeon.  You had to teach yourself the strategies of how to deal with multiple groups of monsters--even when you were outnumbered by them!

    But the participation with the game didn't end there.  In the original games, there were no Mapping spells.  The game-makers included  a pad of blank graphing paper in each box so that players could map out the dungeons themselves.  You were even allowed to name your characters yourself--anything!  There were no User Guidelines or Codes of Conduct to tell you to change your character's names or risk getting kicked off the game, names like Busllhit and Shtiehad were OK.  But those weren't the only names I gave my characters--it wasn't all snarky humor and comical contempt.  There was Extricate as a Thief's name, Dewface as a Fighter, Ornery as a Priest, Slobbery as a Bishop...okay, so those are still a little snarky.  But my hero was Bilconzar, the undying fighter who led every campaign into the dark recesses of the dungeon to defeat the evil Werdna and reclaim the Amulet for the ailing Trebor.  Wait, I'm not supposed to be talking about my own experiences here!

     I'm also not supposed to be talking about the past here.  I'm supposed to be talking about the app for Android phones which is fairly new.  The Free Version of Ordeal From the Mad Overlord at the Google Play store, Wandroid#1, is adorned with a little Japanese text and lots of really bad translations, but don't be alarmed by it.  You can still work around it.  The ads aren't all that intrusive, forming nothing more than a thin ribbon at the top of the screen--well, one of the traps on chests in the dungeon is called "Google AdMob," and spits out a full-screen advertisement if your Thief fails to disarm the trap.  The Paid Version is identical except for the lack of ads, and in fact there is a technique for transferring existing characters from the Free version to the Paid Version, which the author discussed in his Other Tips update.  For iPhone users, there is a version of this game for your phone called Wandrium, but I cannot review it as I do not have an iPhone. (Since I cannot find it at the iTunes store directly, yet I can google it, your best bet is to follow the second link on the Hall of Wanderers homepage.)

    In a world dominated by gaming apps that amount to not much more than colorful fidget spinners and charting opportunities for aggressive competitors, this is a highly thoughtful game, perhaps a bit overwhelming for those who are unfamiliar with D&D or RPGs for that matter.  But don't worry.  I'll walk you through it. For those who know D&D, my best advice is to skip my introduction and just roll up your sleeves and dive right in.   Your days of suffering through Match-3 games and cheesy animated combat simulators are over.  This game may not take long for a seasoned Dungeon Master to complete, but it won't leave you as disappointed as those Match 3 games.

    Okay, now that the serious D&D professionals are happily playing this game on their phones, they won't hover in hyper-critical judgment over my snarky descriptions of their favorite game, and we can get on with learning how to play this game.

    The first thing you are going to do is create characters (at the Training Grounds, second page of the main menu).  After you name your character, you will need to decide your character's Race and Class.  Click (or tap) here for the article which shows the author's list of characteristics for Races and Classes, along with the descriptions of the Classes.  To start out, just keep it simple:  Three Fighters (make 'em Dwarves), a Thief, a Priest, and a Wizard.  Another thing to do when starting out is to create a Sage early and get him leveled up to level 5 so that he can identify items found in the dungeon.  While Boltac's can identify items for your party, the cost is exactly the same as the selling price, so you break even without a Sage.  Once you get familiar with the gameplay, you will want to create additional characters so that you can do Change Class to get a Ninja, Samurai, or Lord in your set of characters.   One of my favorite tricks is to level up a Sage until he has learned all the spells of both schools and then change his Class to Ninja.  He'll retain all the spells (a minimum number of spell points for each level), be a Fighter, and be able to disarm traps--in other words, he's suddenly an all-in-one character.  But you'll want to wait until you are more familiar with the game before you do that.  Make sure to hit "Save" before exiting the app or your new characters will be forgotten!

    Before you go spelunking into the dungeon, you'll have to equip your party and get comfy with the world you are leaving.  Here is the main menu, with my newest party assembled below it.

    Before you do anything else, go to the Training Grounds, where you will create your characters, rename them, change classes (when that becomes an option), and delete characters ("Oh, pleeease!  I'm too young to die!").  At Gilgamesh's Tavern, you can select your characters to make a party, remove characters from your party, divide the sum of your gold equally among the members of your party, and inspect the characters to perform functions like equipping armor, weapons, reading your spell books, pooling your gold in one character's purse, dropping or trading items, and other such needs.  But once you have assembled your party, you will need to go to Boltac's Trading Post to buy armor and weapons (you can also sell the items that you recover from the dungeon, and those items will become available from Boltac's Shop when you need them later).  Here is a link to the list of Weapons and Armor from the player's website, and here's a link to list of Helms, Gloves and Shields, also from the player's website.  Note that these lists are complete--Boltac's Shop only sells a fraction of the items in these lists.  New characters start out with a limited amount of Gold, so plan your purchases carefully on your first visit.  After a campaign in the dungeon, you will want to visit the Adventurer's Inn to heal up, level up, and restore Spell Points.  But be aware, anything higher than the Stables will cost Gold.  (A favored technique is to use your Priest to heal up your party before exiting the dungeon and then restore his spell points for free.)  "The Temple of Cant: is where to go when a character gets killed in the dungeon (or paralyzed before your Priest has learned the Cure Paralysis Spell).  It gets more expensive for higher level characters, so be prepared to spend some hefty Gold to resurrect a favored character.  "Resume Adventure" is a new option in the app, as the original Wizardry insisted that your characters return from the dungeon when the game was exited, or they will remain lost until rescued by another party.  In Wandroid, you can close and exit the game thru your phone's Menu button, and then when you relaunch the app, you can use this option to play your party in the dungeon where you left them. (Remember to hit cancel to Camp, and Save before exiting the App, as Resume picks up at your last save point.)

    The second part of the opening menu (not shown in the above screenshot), has "Expedition" (which the game's author has described in his Tips as a feature which allows you to send a party out campaigning overnight while you sleep so that they can earn EXP points while you sleep), a Battle Record (which is a list of Monsters and Items which your gameplay has discovered), Config (which I never mess with), and Leave Game.

    While searching an unexplored dungeon might be fun for the adventurer's spirit in you, it can be fairly discouraging (I want to use the word "daunting" here for some reason) for the player starting out with Level One characters.  So, take a few seconds getting to know the Map of the first level.  Note that the first part of the dungeon that you will experience is the hall in the top part of the Zero column, and the rooms in the top right of the level (the hall wraps around at 0,6 to 19,6).  Here are links to the maps of the further levels. (I have put extra spaces between them so that it'll be easier to select them on a phone).

• Dungeon Level 2

• Dungeon Level 3

• Dungeon Level 4

• Dungeon Level 5

• Dungeon Level 6

• Dungeon Level 7

• Dungeon Level 8

• Dungeon Level 9

• Dungeon Level 10

   I will probably update this article later when I finish my first play-through of the game, but for now, here are a few hints that I have already realized (partly from my memory of playing Wizardry).

• There are no stairs to Level Four in Level Three.  There's another way to get to Level Four.
• Use the Direction and Levitation Spells when you get to Level Five.  The direction you are facing will be a Japanese character, but you will grow to recognize them anyway.
• Here's a link to the complete list of Monsters.  There are some misspellings, and the list may be incomplete.  For one thing, the main Boss Monster isn't listed in it.
• There are recurring Boss Monsters on Level 2 (the Creeping Medals), and Level 5 (the two Demons) which are worth visiting repeatedly.
• Have a Samurai in your party leveled up to survive Level 5, as there is a sword found there called Onimaru which can only be equipped by a Samurai, and it is a badass weapon!
• Also, look for Pandra's Staff for your Wizard or Sage, as it has oodles of Resistance. 
• The recurring Boss Monster on Level 7 (a Beast-666) teleports your party to a random location in Level 4 when he is defeated.
• The stairs down from Level 7 to Level 8 are located at 4,14, but finding them is a super-pain-in-the-ass, so unless you have the time to struggle with it, just make sure your characters are strong enough for Level 10, and just go to the Elevator to Level 9 and skip out on Level 8.  
• Here's the author's Tips and FAQ and Other Tips from the player's website.
• Don't equip items which have the word "Death" in their names--I shouldn't have to tell you that! (It's just like using your hand to stop a chainsaw--you should know better.)
• Wear the Ring of Insomnia in Level 6, and fight the Wisps--they are worth loads of EXP.
• Here's a link to the complete Spell Books.
• Remember, when you are fighting multiple groups of monsters, each action against the monsters must also select which group that action should be taken on. (Just keep in mind that the game is not always accurate in following those instructions when there are multiple groups of the same type of monster.)
• When I was playing the original Wizardry, I didn't allow myself to consider that I had won the game until I could defeat Werdna with a one-character party.  That's my plan for Wandroid!
• In Wandroid, You may need to equip and unequip a full set of armor on your ninja as he levels up to trick his AC into going down.
• Spoiler Alert:  The hint "CONTRA-DEXTRA-AVENUE" given on Level 10 is Latin and translates roughly to "Don't go right."  Whenever you have the option to go right or left, go left and take the long way around to the point where going right would have taken you.  I don't know what will happen in Wandroid yet, but in the original Wizardry, a wrong step would land you back at the castle.

    The Sage's "Inspect" window deserves some explanation.  (Your Sages will not be able to Identify or Inspect items until Level 5, so you will need to pay at Boltac's to identify items until then.  Once your Sage reaches Level 5, he or she can identify the items that your characters find in the dungeon so that you can decide whether or not to equip them or sell them.  The "inspect" window shown below is from a Level 28 character, which sees all the information available.  At Level 5, your sage will only be able to see the Uncertain name and proper name of the item, and who can equip it (the two columns on the left--read further to find out what the letters and circles mean.  At Level 10, your Sage will be able to see the Armor Class, Weapon Class, and Damage Roll (size and quantity of dice plus modifier) for the item as well.  At Level 15, your Sage will be able to see the Protection and Resistance of the item.  Finally, at Level 20, your Sage will be able to also see the Enchantment placed on the item.)

    At the top of the window is the known name of the item on the left, and the "Uncertain" name of the item is on the right.  Below the known name on the left are the two columns of who can equip the item.  An open circle shows that the trait is allowed, while an asterisk shows a disallowed trait.  The leftmost column has the alignments, Good, Neutral, and Evil, along with all the races which can equip the item, Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, and Hobbit.  Since this is a Dwarves Hammer, only Dwarves can equip this item, of any alignment.  The second column shows the Classes which can equip this item, Fighter, Wizard, Priest, Thief, Sage, Samurai, Lord, and Nina.  This hammer can be equipped by all Classes except for Wizards.  To the right of those two columns are the Protection, Resistance, and Enchantment listings.  This particular item has 100% Fear resistance, because if

you're armed with a hammer that's bigger than your head, nothing can scare you.  At the bottom of the window is the item's Armor Class (naked characters start with an Armor Class of 10, and each item with a negative Armor Class value lowers that rating, even below zero--an Armor Class of -10 or lower will probably be shown as "LO", at least that's what it was in Wizardry), Weapon Class (Not sure what this value does), and the Damage rating (as shown in the author's listing of Weapons)--imagine rolling an 8-sided dice two times and adding 3 to the sum of your rolls.