Follow TV Tropes

Following

Video Game / Eamon

Go To

"Far away, at the dead center of the Milky Way, is the planet of Eamon. It doesn't orbit any suns—all of the suns orbit it. The shifting pulls of all of these great bodies bring strange forces to bear upon this planet; twisting light, tides, even the laws of science itself! Strange things happen there, and the citizens of Eamon must always be adaptable, for things are rarely what they seem, and even more rarely what they were yesterday!"
Eamon manual

"There is no standard background in the Eamon world. One game may involve fighting dragons and orcs with swords and magic. Another may be a Science Fiction adventure with space ships and blazing laser guns."
Eamon manual

Eamon is a series (over 200 entries!) of RPG Interactive Fiction started in the 80s on the Apple ][; set in a very nebulously changing landscape that includes many references to The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and more. Many of the games contradicted themselves, and this was accepted as not only inevitable, but part of the fun.

What interconnected all of these was that you rolled up a character in the "Main Hall" diskette; with Character Customization, money, and a weapon or spell or two. Then you go out on an adventure via one of the other disks. If you die, you go back to the Main Hall with a loss of equipment and money — unless it's Permadeath. If you survive, you can carry up to four weapons plus money, spells, and (sometimes) stat increases to another of the adventures.

Check out the unofficial website here.

Since each disk is its own story, there's probably an example of every trope on the list.


Eamon provides examples of:

  • Breakable Weapons: Sometimes in a Critical Failure.
  • Critical Failure: And how! If the dice are bad enough, anyone can break their weapon — whether it's you losing that Infinity +1 Sword the Valar gave you for killing Morgoth or Darth Vader tripping and breaking his lightsaber.
  • Guide Dang It!: There are some walkthroughs still around. Good luck playing some adventures; you won't find anyone who can tell you how to get past certain obstacles.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: A few.
  • Mook Maker: In the scenario "Assault on the Clone Master", the player must find the Clonatorium and destroy it. Until he does, it will regularly create new clone guards who attack the player.
  • Noob Cave/One-Time Dungeon: the Beginner's Cave (on the game's Main Hall disk) is accessible only once. The game checks when the player tries to access it; only a true beginning character is allowed to enter, and a player who finishes the cave is no longer a beginner.
  • Old Save Bonus: One of the primary features of the series; you can take your same character from one adventure to the next.
  • Shout-Out: Too many to list. Let's start by saying that the chief of the Adventurer Guild who starts you have bids you farewell with "Live long and prosper."

Top