What is Quarterstaff?

Well, well, well. A fine mess indeed. It was bad enough when the Wild Wizard stole the Blue Stone, forcing you to chase him up and down three levels of torturous dungeon. You needed the Blue Stone to get beyond the Throne Entrance, which had been sealed by “majic.” But now that you’ve gained entrance to the Throne Room, your troubles have just begun. The living Granite Statue with its Mace of Destruction was child’s play compared to this demon with the Dancing Sword. Duck!

In Quarterstaff, by Simulated Environment Systems, you must direct a group of three adventurers in a mission to penetrate the devastated underground colony of the Tree Druids, discover what has befallen the colony, and risk your lives to set things right again. You’ll also want to grab all the booty you can possibly carry. Who says altruism need go unrewarded?

As you explore, you’ll find that the colony isn’t exactly uninhabited. You needn’t kill every thing or person you encounter, however. Alliances are possible. Some strangers can be quite helpful, although a little bribery is usually in order. Some may even join your group.

Your actions are not limited to fighting, exploring, and accumulating treasure. There are real puzzles to solve, and hard battles must be fought to gain the barest of clues. You must explore everything to find the objects you’ll need on the way. In addition, your warriors must eat and rest. Suicide is always an option.

You control the characters in typical text-adventure fashion-stringing together verbs and nouns, hoping to achieve the desired result. Objects that may be acted upon are capitalized in room descriptions and also appear as menu items under the room’s name in the menu bar. In Quarterstaff objects have bulk and weight, and there is a limit to how much of each your individual characters can carry. An automatic mapping feature contributes enormously to the enjoyment of the game.

Waldorf, Otto. (February 1988). The Dungeon with a Difference. Macworld. (pg. 205).

Download Quarterstaff for Mac

Architecture

Motorola 68K

Compatibility notes

Minimum Requirements

• Macintosh Plus
• 1 MB RAM (2 MB for color)

Note: Supports black & white and 4-bit color displays

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Mini vMac