It's an acid-spewing slug the size of a smallish elephant. Very rubbery, it takes a lot of punishment to defeat one. The RUIN SLUG is staring at you.

>JOURNEY IN

Thou art not stealthy enough to slip past a RUIN SLUG when the RUIN SLUG stareth upon thee with vast SLUG eyes and steely SLUG regard. You must ASSAIL the RUIN SLUG, or exist with it in peace.

>PARLEY WITH SLUG

RUIN SLUGS are not very talkative, but as you soon discover, they are excellent listeners.

>_

Fans of Encounter Critical rejoice! The long-lost classic of text-adventure gaming is restored at last to a glory it never knew! Thrill to the savagery of the Sky Piranha! Marvel at the pathos of a love-struck Frankenstein! Mutate from exposure to unmodulated phasic radiation! Wield a rune-carved peg-leg Dwarf in your hand, and crush a wicked kingdom beneath your sandaled tread.

Mere words cannot contain a game made entirely of text! To understand the savage beauty of Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom, click here to download the free Sample Edition. The sampler includes the game itself (limited to 100 out of 500 points), plus the complete PDF documentation and hint-set! ToaSK runs on virtually any modern computer (Windows, Macintosh, Linux, etc) using the z-machine program of your choice (see below), but please download the sample version first to make sure! If you decide to register for the full version of the game, the price is just $12.95, which includes access to bonus extra files and updates. Click here to order, and step into another chapter in the saga of Encounter Critical!

Groove to the Mighty Z-Machine!

ToaSK is a z-machine game. If you don't have a z-machine player installed, click here or here (Windows), or here (Macintosh) or here (Unix) or here (even more) for the free software you'll need to quest into the Slaver Kingdoms in a twisted (and sometimes very naughty) interactive EC adventure.

Fair warning: if you consider yourself an "IF enthusiast," you should just back away slowly, now, and forget this game exists. It isn't for you, and it responds dangerously to sudden movements. Never break eye contact until you're ready to run, then run, run like the wind, and don't look back! Really. But if you're the kind to ignore such warnings with a roguish grin, a swirl of your cloak, and a defiant bite into your slightly dry dinner roll, here's the basic rundown:

• ToaSK is a polite game on the usual IF "cruelty scale." While you can certainly get killed (oh, yes indeed), it's impossible to get into any kind of stuck-state. If your barbarian is still breathing and not currently being shredded/burned/electrocuted/stepped on by a foe or dissolved in acid or whatever, you're good to go. Crucial objects cannot be destroyed or irrevocably discarded, vital NPCs cannot be accidentally skewered, and you can't get trapped anywhere that doesn't kill you quickly. If your arm falls off, that's part of the story, I promise.
• ToaSK is a long-form game. This isn't one of those dealies that can be played in an hour or less. This is a lay-in-a-junk-food-supply and crank-up-some-tunes epic of Encounter Criticalness. Final turn-count for most games will range from 1,250 to 2,500 or so, with an average of 20-25% of the turn-count relating in some way to the combat system (either fighting turns, or waiting-to-heal turns), depending on options chosen and your play style. Even knowing where everything is, it usually takes me 2-4 hours to play through a game, depending on how often I just sit there typing OATH.
• The game contains from 60-90 puzzles, depending on how you slice the definition, plus the mega-puzzle of the "monster maze," which can be disabled with the WIMP command if you'd rather just kick ass with impunity. It includes a dozen or two substantial scenes (more than 70 "scenes" in coding argot, but some whiz by invisibly), a cast of odd characters, and (including rooms and people) about 200 "objects." There are 45 explorable locations, though "explorable" is a relative term ... The winning ending has several variables and variant versions (with the very-very-last bit coming in three different flavors of awesome).
• This is not a CRPG. This is a puzzle-based adventure game with a veneer of wargame elements (and all kinds of other veneer). If you're looking for a text-based CRPG, they're out there ... but they're not in here. Maybe some other time; I'm certainly not averse to the idea!
• This is an easy game and won't provide much challenge to hardcore lateral thinkers. The puzzles are heavily and redundantly clued (the more crucial the puzzle, the more frequent and solid the descending clue-stick). The documentation also includes a complete solution-set.
• This game would be rated "PG-13," most likely, for bawdy innuendo (double and even triple-entendres, plus some fade-to-black naughty scenes), lotsa fights, references to alcohol use, limb-trading, naughty-sounding hat-styles (bycockets!) and more.
• Finally, and it's important to stress this: this is Encounter Critical, which means it's designed to be a very good game while providing a thrill-ride simulation of a very, very bad one. If that sounds like a stupid idea, well, yes. Yes it is. And if that sounds great: welcome, friend, to the world of EC. See you 'round the mailing list ...