Monthly Archives: March 2026

Choose Your Own Grues

Posted on March 31, 2026 by Nathan

I recently wrote about the King’s Quest tie-in novels, and now I’m turning to the Zork gamebooks from the early 1990s. These are referred to as What-Do-I-Do-Now Books, obviously an attempt to capitalize on Choose Your Own Adventure. How you proceed … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Authors, Book Reviews, Greek Mythology, Humor, infocom, J.R.R. Tolkien, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Video Games, zork | Tagged belboz, bivotar, choose your own adventure, conquest of quendor, cyclopes, demons, doctor dolittle, dragons, ellron, elves, enchanter, exorcism, general thaddeus kaine, great underground empire, grues, hades, hugh lofting, jeearr, juranda, logrumethar, lord of the rings, magic carpet, riddles, sorcerer, steve meretzky, swords, syovar, temple of agrippa, the cavern of doom, the forces of krill, the malifestro quest, trolls, what-do-i-do-now books, zork i, zork ii, zork nemesis, zork zero | 1 Comment

Lludd Conquers All

Posted on March 29, 2026 by Nathan

When reading Philip Freeman’s Celtic Mythology, I was reminded of a rather bizarre story that I think was in the version of the Mabinogi that I read, although it’s not traditionally considered part of that work. It’s about Lludd Llaw … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Arthurian Legend, British, Celtic, England, Etymology, History, Language, Magic, Mythology, Names, Roman, Welsh | Tagged afallach, ambrosius aurelianus, arianrhod, beli mawr, bible, bran the blessed, bres, brutus of britain, cassivellaunus, celtic mythology, coranians, demons, dragons, emrys, fir bolg, geoffrey of monmouth, gospel of luke, gospels, gwyn ap nudd, heli, historia regum britanniae, julius caesar, king arthur, king vortigern, llevelys, lludd, london, mabinogion, mars, merlin, nennius, nodens, nuada, philip freeman, tuatha de danann | Leave a comment

It’s Britannia, Bitch

Posted on March 25, 2026 by Nathan

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar – I didn’t finish this one, but I did find quite a bit about it and the series in general to be interesting. Technically speaking, the first game in this series that I played … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertising, Animals, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Food, Humor, infocom, Magic, Maps, Monsters, Philosophy, Ultima, Video Games, zork | Tagged bards, britannia, dragon quest iii, grand inquisitor, great underground empire, grues, iolo fitzowen, lord british, magic portals, marc blank, michael berlyn, mir yannick, moongates, paladins, richard garriott, shamino salle dacil, sosaria, tantegel castle, tarot cards, teleportation, the undiscovered underground, ultima iii: exodus, ultima iv, ultima iv: quest of the avatar, zork grand inquisitor, zork the undiscovered underground | Leave a comment

Outlaws Against Empires

Posted on March 24, 2026 by Nathan

All of Us Villains, by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman – In the city of Ilvernath, there’s an annual tournament between members of the seven rival magician families. There’s sort of a Hunger Games feel to it, but with … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Book Reviews, Buddhism, Celtic, China, Christianity, Fairy Tales, Greek Mythology, History, Language, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Politics, Relationships, Religion, Roman, Video Games | Tagged all of us villains, amanda foody, celtic mythology, christine lynn herman, dragon on trial, dragons, eugenides, geese, helen of troy, j.h. jackson, julius caesar, kari sutherland, lu zhishen, mabinogion, medes, outlaws of the marsh, philip freeman, shi naian, shuihu zhuan, song jiang, st. brendan the navigator, st. brigid, st. patrick, suikoden, tain bo cuailnge, the menagerie, the queen of attolia, the queen's thief, the water margin, tigers, tui t. sutherland, wu song | 1 Comment

The Final Insult

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Nathan

Escape from Monkey Island – While I can’t speak to other ports of this game, the version that comes with Steam doesn’t have mouse support at all, so I used the keyboard for everything. Guybrush moves with what I’ve seen … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Humor, infocom, lucasarts, Magic, Maps, Religion, Video Games, Voodoo, zork | Tagged assault on egreth castle, conroy bumpus, day of the tentacle, dirinthrax, duncanthrax, egreth castle, escape from monkey island, frobwit the fair, governor elaine marley, gurthark the stout, guybrush threepwood, herman toothrot, infocomics, lechuck, lord dimwit flathead, maniac mansion, melee island, monkey island, monkey kombat, monkeys, ozzie mandrill, pirates, sam and max hit the road, sorcerer, spellbreaker, the crystal of doom, thorman the red-beard, time travel, triax, zorkquest, zorkquest i, zorkquest ii | 3 Comments

More Kings, More Quests

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Nathan

In the mid-nineties, Sierra officially licensed a series of King’s Quest novels based on the adventure games. From what I’ve seen, neither Roberta Williams nor anyone else who worked on the games had any involvement in these. And really, for … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Book Reviews, Fairy Tales, king's quest, Magic, Monsters, Names, Sierra, Video Games | Tagged craig mills, daventry, fairies, farquhar, frogs, giants, gnomes, ifrit, imps, keynon moore, king graham, king's quest ii, king's quest iii, kingdom of sorrow, kuzgu, laburnum, lizards, marella sands, mark sumner, prince alexander, princess rosella, see no weevil, slizard, spiders, telgrin, the floating castle, the pied piper of hamelin, three-toed sloks | 1 Comment

Live Fast, Die Very Old

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Nathan

With St. Patrick’s Day coming up and my having recently read a book on Celtic mythology, I thought I might want to write about a mythical personage who is said to have actually met the supposed serpent-scaring saint, Caoilte mac … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Celtic, Christianity, Holidays, Magic, Monsters, Music, Mythology, Names, Religion | Tagged acallam na senorach, cairbre lifechair, caoilte mac ronan, cath gabhra, cormac mac airt, diarmuid o'duibne, fairies, fianna, fionn mac cumhaill, grainne, lon mac liobhain, oisin, osgar, st. patrick, st. patrick's day, tir na n'og, tuatha de danann, werewolves | Leave a comment

I’ll Be a Platypus for You

Posted on March 12, 2026 by Nathan

Wishbringer – This game was designed to be a simpler text adventure for beginners, but how well it succeeds at that is questionable. It is fairly simple and generally child-friendly, but it’s still Infocom, and there are still things you … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Fairy Tales, Food, Humor, infocom, Magic, Maps, Monsters, Names, Ultima, Video Games, zork | Tagged beyond zork, cats, corky crisp, dogs, evil one, festeron, grues, hawkwind the seer, hellhounds, implementors, king antatinus, platypus, princess morning-star, queen alexis, trolls, ultima iv, ultima iv: quest of the avatar, violet voss, wishbringer, wishes, y'gael, zork grand inquisitor | 3 Comments

To Dust Ye Shall Return

Posted on March 11, 2026 by Nathan

Tea & Alchemy, by Sharon Lynn Fisher – I read this as part of a Kindle promotion, and didn’t really know anything about it other than that it was fantasy. It’s a supernatural romance set in Cornwall in 1854, specifically … Continue reading →

Posted in Alchemy, Art, Book Reviews, Characters, Christianity, Comics, Fairy Tales, Greek Mythology, Humor, L. Frank Baum, Language, Magic, Magic Items, Mythology, Names, Oz, Oz Authors, Religion, Video Games | Tagged aphania, before shadowgate, danielle paige, dorothy must die, ellen miles, f.x. nine, fairies, fenlings, fred barnard, griffins, his dark materials, jane eyre, lakmir the timeless, lurline, lyra belacqua, nexdorea, nome king, ozma, petsetilla's posy, philip pullman, shadowgate, shadowgate rising, shadowgate saga raven, sharon lynn fisher, tea and alchemy, the book of dust, the dictionary of imaginary places, the rose field, tom hood, vampires, worlds of power, yellow brick war | 3 Comments

Cubes Are for Squares

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Nathan

Spellbreaker – The last game in the Enchanted trilogy has a pretty good story, but there isn’t as much of a sense of exploration as in the previous two. The playable character, now head of the Circle of Enchanters, begins … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Arabian, Art, Authors, Education, Games, Greek Mythology, Humor, infocom, legend entertainment, Magic, Monsters, Mythology, Names, Sexuality, Sports, Ursula K. LeGuin, Video Games, zork | Tagged a wizard of earthsea, belboz, beyond zork, bob newhart, bulls, circle of enchanters, earthsea, ernie eaglebeak, flying carpets, fort naughtytail, ged, gzornenplatz, hillary tickingclock, joey rottenwood, merfolk, ogres, ouroboros, peloria, professor otto tickingclock, prokturingam bull, roc, sex, snakes, sorcerer, sorcerer university, spellbreaker, spellcasting, spellcasting 301, squid, steve meretzky, teleportation, zork grand inquisitor | 2 Comments

Monthly Archives: March 2026

Choose Your Own Grues

Lludd Conquers All

It’s Britannia, Bitch

Outlaws Against Empires

The Final Insult

More Kings, More Quests

Live Fast, Die Very Old

I’ll Be a Platypus for You

To Dust Ye Shall Return

Cubes Are for Squares

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