This is a humorous text adventure which forms a spoof of the original Pawn
adventure by Magnetic Scrolls. First released for the Sinclair QL home
computer by Talent computer systems of Glasgow, it was written by Mert
(Martin Hopkins) who was well known for producing witty well written
adventures. It has now been made available to Windows based PC users
thanks to QL2K, a Sinclair QL emulator by Jimmy Montesinos and Raphael Zhou
in France, based on the freeware QLAY emulator written by Jan Venema in the Netherlands.
You play the role of a Prawn who was scooped up in a trawler net and you
end up on a strange land, wearing a copper tail-band, which must have
been placed on you during your sleep because you cannot remember how it
got there. Apart from noticing that you can now move about on land
nearly as easily as you could in the Sea, you have an odd sensation
that you have been here before..
Many features of this game are similar to the Pawn, although not all of
the puzzles can be solved in the same manner. There is a philosopher,
an itinerant salesperson, a magician who arrives on a giant pop bottle
top, a castle with gardens to explore, a mountain with a cave, an Ice
Tower guarded by a shrimp and even a tree stump!!
This adventure comes in three parts (King's Keep, The Ancient City of
Laros and The Badlands. Much larger than the original Pawn, this
should keep you occupied for many a long evening.
Do not worry if you have never played the original game The Pawn, as
this spoof is self-contained and contains enough explanation for you
to perform all the tasks without reference to the original adventure.
If you are looking for the original PAWN (by Magnetic Scrolls),
unfortunately, these are hard to find in working condition.
However a Magnetic
Scrolls interpreter for various platforms can be downloaded from
here
and you can also download the files needed to play a version of Pawn
and many other Magnetic Scrolls adventures. You will however, need
the original adventures as the games remain copyright.
NOTE: You can download a demo version from this website - this is the full
adventure but is limited to 3 sessions of 20 minutes playing time.
We would also like to find the program Funfear by Martin Hopkins if anyone has a copy.
Reviews
"This game is going to give whoever buys it a lot of pleasure."
QL Adventurer's Forum Issue 3
"The Prawn is laced liberally with the kind of genuinely humorous puns which are guaranteed
to sustain interest in continuing to the end of the game.......
Hopkins' authorship displays a rare brilliance for attention to logical detail and providing a
subtle and sometimes not so subtle - humour which eliminates the artificial awesome purpose so
often seen in this type of game....
The Prawn is sure to delight adventure enthusiasts everywhere."
Sinclair QL World April 1989
Please use the guestbook below to ask for and provide hints and tips to playing this adventure.
You play the role of a Prawn who was scooped up in a trawler net and you
end up on a strange land, wearing a copper tail-band, which must have
been placed on you during your sleep because you cannot remember how it
got there. Apart from noticing that you can now move about on land
nearly as easily as you could in the Sea, you have an odd sensation
that you have been here before..
