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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Oct 28

A 1982 ad for Crypt of the Undead, an adventure with light RPG elements for PC platforms by Marc Benioff

Trapped in a graveyard with no idea of how you ended up there, you'll need to avoid, or fight, "Vampires, Zombies, and Werewolves" in trying to escape! Fortunately, there are healing bagels.

The game's text describes your predicament when "SUDDENLY you awaken in a coffin surrounded by a vast graveyard. YOU MUST GET OUT BEFORE DAWN!" while in the background, a werewolf lurks nearby as you rise screaming from a coffin. A vampire in the backdrop appears to be running towards you as if the Werewolf was about to take the last donut.

A few bullet points also describe features from the game as it offers:

* Both Puzzle-solving & Role-Playing Intrigue!
* Superb Graphics, Sound & Color Animation
* Hours of Challenging Terror!

It had also come out for the Apple II, but this ad was for the Atari 400/800 version requiring "one disk drive" and "joystick controller". The EPYX30/FOREVER WARRANTY was also featured here, promising to replace your damaged disk for a small fee even after the 30 day warranty. How's that for service!

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Oct 19

Daughter of Serpents (1992) by Eldritch Games was an adventure game with light RPG elements for MS-DOS PCs. It's the 1920s in Alexandria, Egypt, where an ancient mystery awaits! As a pre-made character or one that you create, you're soon drawn into the shadows of a forgotten past. (a Mythos thread)

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 14h

Laplace no Ma (1987) | RPG | PC and consoles | Group SNE and Vic Tokai

The PC Engine CD version in 1993 embellished the presentation and stuck close to its original PC roots letting players roll up a party of professionals to explore Weathertop's horror as a first-person, grid-based dungeon.

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 15h

Drop something SKELETAL

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 16h

Sean Connery, best known for his 1991 role as Yakka Deepshaved in attic Entertainment's CRPG, Spirit of Adventure

A screenshot from Spirit of Adventure (1991), a CRPG by attic Entertainment. This is a typical NPC interaction screen with dialogue involving the unexpected cameo of Sean Connery's likeness as Yakka Deepshaved. Someone at attic was a fan of the film, Highlander!

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Oct 4

A 1993 ad for Bloodnet, an RPG for PC platforms by Microprose

The vampire lord, Abraham Van Helsing, and the megacorp he rules thirst to control New York City in the dystopian future of 2094 and take a bite out of you. But thanks to your implants, you are able to defy your new master!

"In The New York City of 2094, Giving Blood Isn't Voluntary." says the ad which goes on to describe your predicament below as you play Ransom Stark, an unlucky hacker who gets caught up in a conspiracy involving vampires, cyberspace VR, and your own battle to stay human. A little cut out in the lower right is for a catalog request to see what else Micrropose has to offer, not for blood bank donations.

Ransom Stark is a lucky guy thanks to his cyber implants which, unfortunately for Van Helsing, blunt the effects of being turned into a vampire. But only for a time. With what time you have left, you need to find a way to fight back and, somehow, cure yourself before it's too late!

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Oct 11

The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (1993) was an action RPG for the SNES by Red Company. Cute horror tosses its hat into the mix as Dracuman's son, Spike McFang, is suddenly called upon to save the islands of Vladamasco from the wicked Von Hesler who has overthrown their rulers! (a cozy thread)

The wicked Von Hesler has taken over the islands once ruled by Dracuman and his allies, sending his minions out to control them!

The player will encounter many monsters during their adventure including this spider. It's time to spin-attack your way to victory!

Spike will encounter a number of NPCs and helpful beasties along the way to help solve puzzles in his adventure to free the land from Von Hesler's forces.

Spike McFang leaned hard towards cute action and a much less frightful take on horror-inspired creatures.

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Oct 3

A 1982 ad for Haunted House, an adventure game for the Atari VCS by James Andreasen

A hairy tarantula, toothy flying bat, a creepy ghost, and a terrified pair of eyes representing the player are all waiting for would-be explorers. Although there was no cross in the game, you did have matches!

"If the ghosts don't get you, the tarantulas will. Haunted House. Only from Atari" says the ad. It also displays a tube TV in the lower left hand corner (with an artist's render of a screenshot from the game) with an Atari VCS and two joysticks.

The cross is a strange addition here as there was no cross in the game. The adventure revolved around finding three pieces of a magic urn and there was a scepter that protected you from danger. But you could only carry one item at a time challenging you to manage juggling your items deciding between safety or in making a run for urn pieces.

What the ad isn't able to convey is how well the environment utilizes sound to enhance the experience from the wind blowing to your stompy footsteps.

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 1d

The Haunted Palace (1982) | adventure RPG hybrid | Apple II and Atari 800 PCs | John Bell

After picking a character, this adventure/RPG horror hybrid tasked you to text your way through a cursed home, searching for clues and battling monsters. A $500 prize was even offered for solving the mystery!

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Mar 16

A 1985 ad for Chill, a horror-themed TTRPG from Pacesetter

Our hungry vampire in the illustration is from Vengeance of Dracula, an adventure for Chill featuring the return of the Count following his "death" at the hands of Van Helsing and his allies.

Artist: Bill Reinhold

In Chill, players are a part of S.A.V.E. (the Societas Albae Viae Eternitata, or the Eternal Society of the White Way), an organization founded in the 19th century to investigate the "Unknown" from which horrors have emerged to plague humanity.

Chill's terrifying adventures weren't the kind that eventually drove characters insane with forbidden knowledge. Instead, they cast players as intrepid investigators and adventurers investigating cape-wearing vampires, werewolves, ghosts, mummies, and whatever else may go bump in the night. But as some players have noted, in the hands of a good "CHILL master", sessions can still hold many terrifying surprises.

Chill, along with Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, was one of the few TTRPGs at the time to try and tackle horror from an RPG perspective. But for fans looking for a fun, and scary, time while imagining themselves in the shoes of a Van Helsing or Roddy McDowall's character from the film, Fright Night, Chill could be their ticket.

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Oct 9

The Haunted Palace (1982) was an adventure/RPG hybrid for Apple II and Atari 800 PCs by John Bell. After choosing a role, it's up to you and your wits to explore a huge haunted house and find a secret room while collecting clues, solving puzzles, and fending off monsters! (a haunted thread)

The entrance to the Haunted Palace. That rock to the left of the stairs might also hide something...

Various monsters will try to stop your exploration of the palace for its hidden room and the demon within.

Maggots on the floor block your way through. How you solve getting past them is one of several puzzles standing in your way.

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Oct 16

The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (1993) | action RPG | SNES | Red Company

Spike's heart, and his hat, are in the right place when destiny comes calling to save his home...though he hesitates at first, opting to practice his skills before doing heroics earning him something of a reputation.

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Oct 16

This ad from 2006 celebrates early flip phone supremacy with accolades for Doom RPG by Fountainhead Entertainment and id Software

John Carmack's cleansing exercise for his programmer's palate was a challenge for himself that limited him to a "stylish and fun" experience fitted for a 2" screen.

Doom RPG's demon slaying arrival on mobile phones was a critically acclaimed moment in the space with a string of accolades (shown here) such as winning the "2005 Mobile Game of the Year" from CNET and the Editor's Choice Award from IGN.

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus (1991) was an RPG for PC platforms by Horror Soft. Boasting "4000 locations" and over "120 Hours of Suspense", you must enter Black Widow Productions, explore the worlds within, and save the owner, Elvira, from a terrifying evil! (a three-headed thread)

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

Elvira II was the last RPG from Horror Soft to feature the Mistress of the Dark, though not their last dance with things going bump in the night. Later, the studio would trade in their bloody CV for a humorous point 'n click turn placing players into the shoes of Simon the Sorcerer in 1993!

A 1992 ad for Elvira II: Jaws of Cerberus featuring the art used on the box and a few eerie screens from the game.

A huge wall of text covers the creepy backdrop of this adventure involving the Mistress of the Dark and the haunted studio that has become her prison (unless you step in and save her, moose head!).

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

Elvira was generally well received though not without its flaws as CGW's Scorpia, writing in their March '92 issue, discovered when losing certain items created an unwinnable scenario towards the end. The Amiga version was criticized for heavy disk swapping though many still found it a decent game.

From CGW's March '92 issue.

On this page, Scorpia describes the sticky predicament that Elvira finds herself in and some of the basic mechanics - such as the different classes you can pick from - while including a few words of advice in her three page feature.

On this page, Scorpia covers a few other features of the game (including its code wheel based copy protection scheme), but a large section is focused on the game's issue of allowing the player to blindly use what could be key items hours later as ingredients for a spell (destroying said items permanently) in conjunction with a save game issue that would have forced her to "replay about 90% of the game" which she was not about to do.

Though Elvira II had generally positive reviews from a number of publications, Scorpia found the game to be "a grave disappointment to this columnist and likely to provide more frustration than fun to any bu the most dedicated player."

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

Exploration continued to be a big part of the experience (along with Elvira's occasional appearances!) along with a healthy amount of puzzle solving. And Elvira's haunted studio sets provided unique challenges and settings to terrify players with as well as bring tears to their inventory space.

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

The player also had to watch their health -- each body part was given its own points -- while fighting and exploring Black Window Productions for anything not nailed down like spell ingredients. The manual, with parts written "in-character", also outlined what happened if you lost a limb. Or two.

Just one of several horrors awaiting players in the game. I might have run into this monster a bit too early, leading me to a fast and early demise.

The manual was written as if Elvira herself were narrating the instructions complete with her sense of gory humor. On this page, the health status is described focusing on how parts of your body are given their own HP pools. For example "If you lose an arm, then your carrying capacity drops. It will remain this way until you do some serious healing."

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

Combat was a bit different. Players could choose a combat posture - Normal, Defense, Fierce, or Berserk - while clicking on enemy body parts and each mode had its pluses and minuses. Berserk, for example, was a very aggressive mode that made combat much faster for both you and the enemy!

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

And like the previous game, players could also combine certain items to create spells. At the same time, they also had to watch their inventory - you could only carry so many things - and there was no way to tell what might be incredibly important several hours later which created its own problems!

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

Elvira II's mechanics were much like the first game's, only this time, you get to choose a profession from the start. Each profession had a different set of stats -- a Programmer had a higher intel score than a Stuntman for example -- and experience was earned via exploration and killing beasties.

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

Elvira, created and played by Cassandra Peterson, emerged in the 80s as the sexy, gothic host of a weekly horror show. Her vampiric charm and "Valley girl" persona eventually made her into a popular icon in TV and film as the "Mistress of the Dark" making fans around the world over the years!

(source: https://www.youtube.com/user/ElviraVideos)

Elvira's classic pose!

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · 3d

Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus (1991) was an RPG for PC platforms by Horror Soft. Boasting "4000 locations" and over "120 Hours of Suspense", you must enter Black Widow Productions, explore the worlds within, and save the owner, Elvira, from a terrifying evil! (a three-headed thread)

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Dec 13

Friday the 13th (2023) | RPG | PC platforms | ZBR

A dev named ZBR combined "the aesthetics of the infamous 1989 NES game" (which was developed by Atlus!) with "characters from each of the first seven films" as you try to survive (and die a lot from) Jason's RNG rampage.

zbr-mf.itch.io/fri13rpg

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Dungeonbuster @dungeonbuster.bsky.social · Jun 28

A 1999 ad for Revenant, an action RPG by Cinematix Studios for Windows PCs

The player is pulled from the eternal Hell of Anserak and brought back to life as a Revenant! Tasked to rescue a missing princess, our hero can switch between a mouse to slay foes or keyboard controls for fine finishers.

This edgy ad proudly stated "Jesus rose from the grave to forgive sins. This guy rose to commit them." (meaning you as the main character)

This Diablo-like adventure let players enjoy resurrected life as a hybrid warrior/mage capable of goring enemies with melee attacks or handy spells with various degrees of control depending on whether they use a mouse, keyboard, or even a gamepad.

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