More Color from the Enchanted Islands

The Star Dance, Coral J. F. Mosbø © 2015; used with permission

The setting of Avalon Hill's 1982 game Wizards is especially robust; so much so that I would be remiss if I did not supplement my earlier 'inspiration' post.  Even with all of the information presented in the game, Thomas and Coral Mosbø claim in the designers' notes, “We have discovered much about their realm while working on this Game, much more than we have included here.”  In this quote, “their” refers to the Elflords and Wizards of the Enchanted Islands.  (Also, note the capitalization of 'game'.)

One of the three Magical Orders, the Sorcerers, originated with the Dragons:

These wise but evil creatures sought to lure men away from good magic by offering an alternative power.  Many Men who sought knowledge and power were drawn to the Dragons and became Sorcerers.  They thought that served none but themselves yet, in reality, they were caught in the cosmic struggle between Good and Evil.  In the end most of them found themselves consumed by their own desires and by the Dragons.

Fortunately for the cause of Good, the High Wizards were able to remediate three Master Sorcerers.  The most powerful, “Megmoran, the mysterious Sorcerer of Fire, possesses the Powers of the Inner Earth and the Enchantments of the Stars.”  Melekok is the Sorcerer of Water; “He is the Crafter and Master of all Jewels and Metals which reflect the fluid radiance of the Waters of the Universe.”  Finally, the Sorcerer of Air, Meligar “is Master of the winds and closely associated to the creatures of wing.”

Each of the eighteen territory tiles “have their own unique qualities and history.”  For instance, the first tile, Torwall is...

Home of the royal city of the rulers of Men.  Torwall was once held under a Spell of Darkness by the Evil Spirit, in an attempt to take over the realm.  This attempt failed, for the Men of Torwall built walls to lead them back to their city and thus overcame the curse.  Eventually, the Spell was broken, but the walls remain as a constant reminder of the strength of the royal city, even in the face of desperation.

Another tile, Green Grove, contains “the place of the origin of the Elves, the Star Crest, shrouded in the Mysteries of Time.”  The Star Crest is shown in the image above.  (Note the spaceship at five o'clock from Truvior's knee.)

By ending his or her movement on certain spaces, the player will have an encounter based on that space.  For other spaces there is the possibility of a random encounter.  In the event of an encounter, the player rolls two dice and the higher result is checked against the appropriate table to determine the encounter's effect.  If a table offers both beneficial and detrimental results, the worse results tend to be associated with lower numbers.  For example, on the 'Common Towns' table, a result of '1' means “Thieves steal any Magical Objects or Sacred Gems that the player possesses.”  A result of '5' means “The Common Folk speed the player on his way,” entitling the player to “Take an extra turn immediately.”  Since only the higher result is used, players are much more likely to obtain a beneficial result.  If my math is correct, there is only a 2.8% chance of getting a '1' result and a 75% chance of obtaining a result of '3' or greater.

Aside from encounters, players will occasionally draw 'event' cards; a few examples being:

The tune of the Canticle streams from the Source of the Wind and caresses your soul, giving you new understanding. Role ONE die and gain double the number of Knowledge points indicated.

Arra-La, Daughter of the Gardens of Belief, incites new hope and purpose in your being, increasing your Perception by the roll of ONE die doubled.

Hemex, Ancient Spirit of the Dead, bars your path with visions of Evil, causing you to flee aimlessly.

Boriel and Bellara, Maidens of the Timber Lane Elven Dwelling, bring you the Lamps of Love which enable you to retain all Magical Objects and Sacred Gems in the face of thieves, Demons, Dragons or the False Wizard.

Dignol, the Serpentheaded Sage, in jealousy of the favors shown you, casts you into a trap...

As is evident, a Wizards player needs to keep track of a great deal of information.  A 'Wizards Player Record Sheet Pad' is included in the game; below is an image of an individual sheet.  The rules refer only to players and not characters; however, (at least some of) the people who played my copy of the game (before I obtained it second-hand) adopted personas.  Among the 'character' names indicated on used sheets include:  Aaron, Balbaroy the Centaur (which seems to come from something called Shining Force), Rick, Morgan, Michael, two Tims (probably Monty Python inspired), and two Raistlins.

© 1982 The Avalon Hill Game Company

Inspiration: Wizards

Here is a game which draws its strength from the reality of the powers beyond, where ritual, art, and music have the ability to change the course of events, and where mystical enchantments become real, not only in the world of WIZARDS, but in our world as well.

– Avalon Hill advertisement

Wizards, Coral J. F. Mosbø © 2015; used with permission

Once upon a time, “our culture [became] more and more ego-centric and materialistic, epitomized by psychologists who encouraged us to become 'self-actualized,' with no responsibility toward the feelings of others.”  Additionally, “The genre of High Fantasy [fell] prey to the 'Gates of Delirium' syndrome” and “fighting and the violence [became] the most important thing, and Good [was] turned to Evil.”  Those dark times were “the Eighties.”  In response to this iniquitous age, “the initial concept for Wizards was born: a game which would once again portray the Good side of things: the Light, the Mystery, the Calling to the Heavenly Realm.”

The quotes above are from an exegesis of the game¹ by Thomas Mosbø, co-designer (along with Coral Mosbø) of Wizards, an Avalon Hill bookcase game published in 1982.  A portion of the above image was used for the box cover.  The full image features three of the titular Wizards; according to the indicia of their staves, they are (L to R):  Aevarex (“fairest of the High Wizards, Healer of Harms”), Ishkatar (“the greatest of all beings that inhabit the Enchanted Isles”), and Tolmitar (“possesses intense mental energies of Light”).  Incidentally, the Wizards “have existed from beyond time.”

Diverse elements combined to influence the creation Wizards; among these are:  Tolkien, cultural anthropology, prog rock (a Yes song is quoted on the second page of the rules), and Zoroastrianism.  Doubtless, the most important influence came from the Wizards and Elflords.  According to the designers' notes for the game:

In Gaming, as in Ritual and Art, players act out truths.  The world of the Game is a real world – the actions which transpire throughout its course are real events, and the personalities encountered have actual existence.  The players enter the world of the Game, experiencing and establishing the truths of that world.  But these truths are not locked only into the world of the Game, for by playing it the players make its truths realities in our world.

Therefore, “...we have hope that in actually playing Wizards, some good will come into our world, increasing the values expressed through the symbols our game.”¹

The game takes place in the Enchanted Islands.  At the beginning of each game, players distribute territory tiles (examples of which are displayed at the conclusion of this post) upon a game board representing water.  Thus, each playing of the game allows for a distinct configuration of areas.  The Enchanted Islands are afflicted by the Evil Spirit.  Only the High Druid Priest Rüktal can permanently defeat the Evil Spirit by casting “the Spell of Spells.”  In order to cast said spell, Rüktal needs a set of Sacred Gems which the High Wizards keep.  This is where the players come in.  Each player must join one of the Magical Orders (Wizard, Sorcerer, or Druid), develop abilities, eventually collect the Sacred Gems and then deliver them to Rüktal.

Sorcerer, Wizard, & Druid, Coral J. F. Mosbø © 2015; used with permission

For much of the game, players complete tasks drawn from a deck of task cards.  Examples of tasks include:

Recover the wandering Dreamer, Solina, from a random COMMON OR ELVEN space.  Return her to Belbidar, Warden of the Crescent Ridge A4 Common Town.

Escort Truvior and Corianna from the Glendale C3 Elven Dwelling to the Star Crest to perform the Star Dance for the Awakening of the Mysteries of Hope.

Release the soul of a Dolphin from its spellbound entrapment in a RANDOM space.  Return the soul to the Sea at least TWO Water spaces from land.

Successfully completing tasks improves one or more attributes (Knowledge, Perception, and Power).  By improving attributes, 'players' can advance to higher ranks of a Magical Order, thereby gaining new or improved spells.  Examples of spells include Boat Summoning, Swiftness, and Demon Dispelling.

Each turn represents a day of game time.  Every fortnight, “the Evil Spirit” attacks.  At first, the attacks are limited to placing demons and transporting the 'players' randomly.  Starting on the third fortnight, the Evil Spirit will “take over” a territory, effectively removing that territory from play.  The only way to prevent this for a given fortnight is for the players to successfully complete ten tasks.  Essentially, the action in Wizards is a 'pick-up and deliver' routine – made progressively more difficult as areas are removed from play.  As Mosbø states,  “Wizards is a race rather than a combat.”²  Since one of the Wizards is a traitor, there is also a mystery/deduction component.

The game is quasi-cooperative.  In his exegesis, Mosbø claims, “a game which must have a winner must be competitive, and so we limited considerably the options for cooperation.”¹  Why must the game have an individual winner?  The 'competition' is against the game mechanism of the Evil Spirit.  Even without 'limited cooperation', a single winner could be determined not by who completes the delivery of Sacred Gems first but instead by a player's total points or number of successfully performed tasks.  There can still be tension as player may, at certain times in the game, decide between 'going for points' or working toward the common good.  With the game's winning condition as it is, there is an effectively infinite supply of each type of Sacred Gem – each player collects his or her own set and (should any be lost or stolen) additional instances are available.  This profusion of Sacred Gems does not seem realistic (as opposed to spell-trapped dolphin souls).

The world of Wizards and its predicament could easily serve as the basis for a role-playing campaign, especially one not focused on violence.  The backstory of the Enchanted Islands is more extensive than what I covered here.  The tasks offer a variety of interesting adventure seeds.

Art by Coral J. F. Mosbø

Art by Coral J. F. Mosbø

¹  “Rivers of Thought.”  Heroes (Vol. 1, No. 5)
²  “Tactics and Strategy in Wizards.”  Heroes (Vol. 1, No. 5)