Akkad lies ravaged by marauding Red Reavers, Demoniac servants of the tyrant Uxnator. Akkad's Seers send you on a desperate quest: to penetrate the Seven Guilds -- to untangle the intrigues of their secret Masters -- and to discover a way to save Akkad with the Might & Magic of the GRANDMASTER.
Author: TMC (United Kingdom), 25-01-2024 20:38 Like lots of fun - Grandmaster Really enjoyed playing this map: low key, low stress but still some puzzles to solve and fun to be had. A bit too easy though (although I did just finish fighting with "Fight with Destiny"...). If I play again I might ramp up the stats and armies of the opposing heroes.
Grandmaster walkthrough
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NOTES
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(1) You can choose any Town type, but opting for an Inferno may lead to disappointment since the Demoniac heroes are controlled by the Red Computer Player and the Heretics have been removed from the game. Conflux and Necropolis are quite playable, but introduce some minor anomalies into the storyline. Others are fine -- most playtesting was done with Rampart and Fortress. Have not tested with SOD but should be OK, I think.
(2) You will do well to remember that your mapmaker is a charter member of the "Society for Hiding Things Behind Other Things." Also, bear in mind that the automatic route finder (right click) does not show paths with intervening objects. Sometimes you have to go through one object to get to another. Look everywhere -- you never know what you'll find.
(3) Be sure to read the signs and messages -- there are literally hundreds of scripted encounters. There are also scheduled Events and some Town events, plus Tavern Rumors (which are handled a little differently than usual). Also, per contest guidelines, each of the 8 "prisoners" that you may enlist has a special bio entry that fills in part of the back story. You may well end up using some of these instead of the regular Erathia heroes. And since there are so many Erathians, it was not feasible to rewrite the bios for all of them, so just assume they are on assignment from the Erathian Heroes Guild. Because of the way heroes are managed, it is possible that an Erathian hero will turn up with the same portrait as a new character: a "Doppleganger". Also avoid rehiring any Demoniacs (Red Reavers) you defeat -- leave them for Uxnator.
(4) Version 1.1 contains the following enhancements: (a) Finished Cavern of Hints and Clues, (b) Reworked Dementia area to suit stubborn AI, (c) Added workshop for Master Artificer, (d) Reworked Chapel Perilous, (e) Expanded Gamorrah Underground, (f) Expanded Heroes HQ (g) Fixed a bunch of typos, bad references, and small bugs.
(5) Version 1.2 improves the Ending sequence, changes some heroes, and adds "Whack-a-Mage".
(6) Version 1.3 includes many small fixes and ties up some loose ends in the story.
(7) Despite all the testing, no doubt there are still some bugs. If you tell me about them, I'll fix them by and by. And if you happen to need a hint, you can always drop me a line! --Charley