Bannochburn Legacy, The

Ballantine Books, Fontana Paperbacks 1983

Language:: English
Authors:: Tim Hartnell
Platforms:: Apple II, Atari 400/800, BBC/Electron , C64/128 , PC , TI-99/4A, TRS-80 , TRS-80 CoCo, TRS-80 Model 100, VIC20
Genres:: RPG, Type-in
Entered by:: iamaran, Strident
Added:: 04-08-2022
Edited:: 05-08-2022

Synopsis

Plot

In the famed War of the Clans, the Laird of Bannochburn engaged the services of Wee Sporran McMerlin, a sorcerer. When the bloodthirsty McKinna Clan joined forces with the equally intemperate McClaren hordes, and together attacked Bannochburn, the Laird implored McMerlin to envoke a spell to protect the castle forever.

Unfortunately, Wee Sporran's intelligence was not as good as his magic, and instead of conjuring up some spells to look after the inhabitants, he simply conjured up a storm to protect the castle. The Laird and his retainers were slaughtered, but the castle remained intact. It survived right to this day, and your task now is to explore it, and try and seek out its secrets and gold, and to slay the Guardian of the Black Lagoon so the current Bannochburn Clan (now living above a dry cleaner's in Glasgow) can regain their rightful inheritance. You feel -- possibly rightly -- that they'll be pretty grateful to you if you manage to slay the Guardian, and thus rid the castle of the spooky inhabitants Wee Sporran placed within the walls so many years ago to protect it.

Notes

Published in The Giant Book Of Games For Your BBC Micro and Tim Hartnell's Giant Book of Computer Games "for most popular home computers that use BASIC".

"Computers which can use
TIM HARTNELL’S GIANT BOOK OF COMPUTER GAMES
VIC 20
Apple II and IIe (and clones)
Commodore 64
Atari
IBM PC (and all clones)
TRS-80 Models 1, 2, and 3
TRS-80 Model 100
TRS-80 Color Computer
Texas Instruments TI99/4a (with extended BASIC)
Times Sinclair 2000 series (string handling needs modification)

Plus any computer furnished with Microsoft BASIC
(BASIC Conversion Chart included)"

Really an RPG, rather than a text adventure. Your inputs are limited to moving around, choosing options in combat, and simple yes/no responses to prompts.

There is a DOS version of the game on the Internet Archive which includes both an original "classic" version (the type-in from the book) and a "modern" version (adding lowercase and other QoL tweaks, such as corrected typos and spelling); see here.

Jim Gerrie has produced a TRS-80 MC-10 version of this game, available through his website.