Monday 30 October 2017

Fantasy Board Gaming circa 1978: The Sorcerer's Caves

The 'state of the art' fantasy board game circa 1978. Handy if you have an expanding floor surface to play on (see below): 


In my case the living room carpet was used! (see below):


I eventually roped in my wife and two sons (12 and 7) in to play. My daughter escaped for most of the action by being out with a friend until later in the "dungeon delve". Despite my wife reaching level four of the dungeon and being laden with magical artefacts (something I never achieved in the whole of my D&D role playing career, getting down a flight of steps to level two was a thrill for me - two many combats and too little a sense of discretion), she was put off by being described as a "creature" in the rules [she had fallen into a viper pit and was fighting for her life]. My youngest son was the treasure magnet wandering from cavern to cavern picking up mercenaries and the treasure of Midas. Meanwhile my eldest wandered into The Sorcerer in the first cavern, beat a hasty retreat (I'll give his online gaming experience credit as he new when he was out-classed and made a sensible run for it) then had the misfortune to wander through passageways missing out on the exciting caverns filled with treasure and monsters!

All in all as DM "rule master" I thought it was a hoot.

3 comments:

Prufrock said...

Sounds like good fun! My kids would probably enjoy that one too.

David Crook said...

Hi Geordie,

That takes me back! I also used to play Mystic Wood which was by the same designer.

Some great memories for sure!

All the best,

DC

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

It played very well
The rules were simple yet they had been play tested very well

It was donated to me in a loft clearance along with Mystic Wood
I have in mind playing it with some old RPG'ers and maybe their kids too!

It certainly had the magical feel of the "old days" gaming where you were wondering what will happen next