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melissawalker01 · 4 years ago

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Utah Real Estate Code 57-1-12.5

Utah Real Estate Code 57-1-12.5 Form Of Special Warranty Deed — Effect.

(1) Conveyances of land may be substantially in the following form: SPECIAL WARRANTY DEED ____ (here insert name), grantor, of ____ (insert place of residence), hereby conveys and warrants against all who claim by, through, or under the grantor to ____ (insert name), grantee, of ____ (insert place of residence), for the sum of ____ dollars, the following described tract ____ of land in ____ County, Utah, to wit: (here describe the property). Utah Code Page 5 Witness the hand of said grantor this __________(month\day\year).

(2) A special warranty deed when executed as required by law shall have the effect of: (a) a conveyance in fee simple to the grantee, the grantee’s heirs, and assigns, of the property named in the special warranty deed, together with all the appurtenances, rights, and privileges belonging to the property; and (b) a covenant from the grantor, the grantor’s heirs, and personal representatives, that: (i) the granted property is free from all encumbrances made by that grantor; and (ii) the grantor, the grantor’s heirs, and personal representatives will forever warrant and defend the title of the property in the grantee, the grantee’s heirs, and assigns against any lawful claim and demand of the grantor and any person claiming or to claim by, through, or under the grantor.

(3) Any exceptions to a covenant described in Subsection (2)(b) may be briefly inserted in the deed following the description of the land.

Special Warranty Deed

A special warranty deed (also called a grant deed, covenant deed, or limited warranty deed) is a deed form that transfers property with a warranty of title limited to the period when the signing owner owned the property. A special warranty requires special language to ensure that the deed qualifies. This language is automatically included in all of our deeds.

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How a Special Warranty Deed Works

A special warranty deed transfers title from one owner (called a grantor) to another owner (called a grantee). The title is transferred with a limited warranty of title. By signing the deed, the grantor promises that—for as long as the grantor has owned the property—nothing has happened that would cause title issues for the grantee. This promise also extends to others that may acquire title through the grantee. The grantor makes no promises about what may have happened before the grantor owned the property. Special warranty deeds place some risk on the grantor and some risk on the grantee. The grantor is legally responsible for any title issues that arose while the grantor owned the property. The grantee assumes the risk of any title issues that arose before the grantor owned the property.

Other Names for Special Warranty Deeds

Of all of the types of deeds, special warranty deeds have the largest variety of names. Depending on the state, special warranty deeds may be called grant deeds, covenant deeds, statutory warranty deeds, or limited warranty deeds. Each name refers to essentially the same document: A deed that makes the grantor responsible for title issues but limits the grantor’s liability to the period when the grantor owned the property.

The designation of a deed as a special warranty deed identifies the warranty of title. The warranty provided by a special warranty deed is limited in the sense that it only covers the period when the grantor owned the property. By dividing risk between the grantor and grantee, the limited warranty of title provided by a special warranty deed provides a middle ground between quitclaim deeds and warranty deeds.

• A quitclaim deed (also known as a quit claim deed and sometimes erroneously called a quick claim deed) provides no warranty of title. Because a special warranty deed provides a limited warranty of title, it provides more protection than a quitclaim deed.

• A warranty deed (also called a general warranty deed) provides a full warranty of title that extends to all time, including the period before the grantor owned the property. A special warranty deed does not provide this much protection. It only covers the period when the grantor owned the property.

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In the sale context, the protection provided by the special warranty title has been supplemented and sometimes replaced by title insurance. Title insurance allows the grantor to avoid the risk of unknown title issues and provides the grantee with the protection of a solvent financial institution to look to if title issues arise. Special warranty deeds also differ from estate planning deeds, including life estate deeds, lady bird deeds, and transfer-on-death deeds. Each of these deeds is named after the estate planning and probate avoidance benefits it provides. Special warranty deeds, in contrast, are named after the warranty of title they provide.

Common Uses of Special Warranty Deeds

Special warranty deeds are often used in negotiated situations, where the grantor is uncomfortable with the liability associated with a warranty deed and the grantee wants more protection than a quitclaim deed. Common uses include: • Transferring real estate to a trust—like a living trust—that the transferor controls or benefits from; • Transferring real estate to a business—like a limited liability company—that the transferor owns; • Selling commercial or multi-family residential property; • Transferring property to a new owner that is purchasing title insurance on the property and is not concerned with the limited warranty of title; or • In other circumstances where the current owner does not want to be legally responsible for problems with title that arose before the current owner owned the property.

How to Create a Special Warranty Deed

The legal basis for the validity of a special warranty deed depends on state law. In some states, a specific statute authorizes the creation of a special warranty deed. In others, special warranty deeds (called covenant deeds in) are accepted under common law. Even in states that provide statutory language, the deed must take into account the other elements of a deed. These features include: • A valid legal description; • A statement of the consideration changing hands or statement that the deed is without consideration; • If there is more than one grantee, a statement of the manner in which the grantees will hold title; • Recording requirements, including the correct font size, page margins, and other page format requirements; and • Signature blocks and notary acknowledgments that comply with the statutory format. When creating special warranty deeds, it is important to understand the legal basis and create a deed that meets the requirements of that state. Using a generic form is dangerous. A special warranty deed that is valid in one state may be a crime in another state. For example, Utah law makes it a crime to use the word “warranty” in any deed that does not convey a full warranty of title. An uninformed property owner using a generic, fill-in-the-blank form for a special warranty deed could become criminally liable for including the wrong language. Each deed created by our deed preparation service was designed by attorneys to comply with the requirements of the state where the property is located.

What Must Be Included in a Special Warranty Deed

Any type of deed has to contain the following information to be legal: • Name and address of the person conveying the property, also known as the grantor • Name and address of the person receiving the property, also known as the grantee • Legal description of the property (which could be a description of property lines or a lot number), which you can find on the previous deed • Statement that the grantor intends to convey the property to the grantee

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To qualify as a special warranty deed, it must also say that: • The grantor is the legal owner of the property and has the legal right to transfer the property. • There are no outstanding claims against the property by any creditor or anyone else that were instituted during the grantor’s ownership period. • The grantor guarantees he or she has clear title only during his or her period of ownership and, if there is a problem with title during that period, the grantee is not entitled to compensation from the grantor. The guarantee does not cover the time period before the grantor owned the property. When a Special Warranty Deed Is Used A special warranty deed is common when a house has been foreclosed on by a bank because the previous owner did not pay their mortgage. The bank forecloses on the property and then sells it to a new buyer. The special warranty deed that the bank provides to the new buyer provides no protection for the period of time before the bank took ownership of the property.

Special Warranty Deed and Title Insurance

When a buyer purchases property under a special warranty deed, there is the possibility that a prior creditor or owner could make a claim against the property. The best way to protect yourself as a buyer is to buy title insurance when you purchase the property. The title insurance company will research the title to ensure it is clear and then provide insurance so that you have protection should there ever be an old claim that is brought against your title. A special warranty deed provides the buyer with some guarantees about title, but it does not offer complete protection. However, these types of deeds can be acceptable if other protections are put in place. You can find the right form to use by searching online for “special warranty deed” and your state’s name. If you want help in creating a special warranty deed or any other type of deed, you can use an online services provider to help ensure that everything is completed and filed properly. To own a property, you need specific real property documents to support your rights to the property. Real property includes any structures on the land, any person’s rights and interests related to the property, and natural parts of the land. As a property owner, it is important to understand what documents you need to verify your ownership.

Why Do I Need Proof of Ownership?

Proof of ownership is how you claim the rights to a certain property. In the late 1800s, proof of ownership expanded from a local matter to a national one, when the federal government created specific regulations for the process. By making it national, the process became simpler, and gave property owners an easy way to prove their rights.

A warranty deed is one type of proof of ownership; it shows the name of the owner and gives a brief description of the property. The previous owner or party granting you ownership signs the warranty deed, showing your rights to the property. A quitclaim deed is the other main type of property deed. Warranty deeds are the most common property deed for people to have but you can also have a quitclaim deed, which also proves ownership but can express that only the current owner has rights over certain parts of the property.

Bill of Sale

A bill of sale is another document that can serve as proof of ownership; it comes from the previous owner and shows the transfer of ownership. The bill of sale is essentially the receipt for the sale. It usually serves as the primary proof of ownership until the deed can be officially notarized.

Recorder’s Office

When you get ownership interest in land, you should record the documents and deed at the local recorder’s office so that the information is available to the public. Because it is a public record, you can purchase copies of the record at any time. The record can serve as proof of ownership.

Deed of Trust

Some states require lenders to create a deed of trust when someone receiving a loan buys property using a mortgage. The trustee holds the property deed until the property owner can pay off the mortgage debt. The land owner can get a copy of the deed of trust, even if they have not yet finished paying off the debt. Though the deed of trust shows that the borrower does not have full ownership, it is proof that they will have ownership when they complete payment of the mortgage. A copy of a deed of trust is also available at the recorder’s office.

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Some states have lenders create mortgage notes to secure a debt. The property owner gets the title to the property during closing and the person selling the property transfers ownership without needing to use a deed of trust. A mortgage note indicates that you own a property that has a mortgage lien. You can receive a satisfaction of mortgage letter when you finish paying off the mortgage debt. You can use it as proof that you own property.

Losing a Property Deed

If you lose your proof of ownership, you must get new documentation as soon as possible. While losing the property deed does not mean you lose the property, it can cause complications with your rights. You can get a new copy of the deed at your local county clerk’s office and have it notarized.

The process of establishing proof of ownership involves a series of steps. It also depends largely on the type of property and your relationship to the person claiming it. If you are the original owner and have been reported as the property owner, there are certain documents you must provide to prove it. Some of the documents include: • Copy of driver’s license or another photo ID • Copy of proof of Social Security number • Proof of association with the property’s address such as a utility bill or driver’s license with that address • Proof of business dealings between you and the reporting company

If you are claiming on behalf of a minor, are a guardian or trustee of the reported owner, or the heir of the deceased property owner, you must provide documents such as: • Driver’s license and proof of Social Security number • Proof of identity and ownership from the reported property owner If there is more than one owner, each person much provides their personal information. Someone claiming on behalf of a minor must show the minor’s birth certificate. A guardian must have a copy of the legal letters of ownership. Heirs must have a copy of the deceased person’s death certificate, will, letters of administration, current Letters Testamentary, or copy of the trust agreement.

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atomau · 8 years ago

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So I’ve been without a laptop for a month at the time of this writing. One of the things I’ve been doing to keep myself entertained is make my first DnD character ever and I wanted to share. Plus, I don’t actually have anyone to play with, so I’m using this post as some sort of public CV I guess?

Also I made a spreadsheet for them from scratch. It’s got some character-specific stuff, but it should be easy to get rid of it, so feel free to use it if you like

Name: Goes by Jiggy among other races. Closest approximation to their name would be Yigüirro (bc that’s our national bird and I am the actual worst at naming)

Race: Aarakocra (bird people, basically)

(I understand that having a character that can fly from the start could be a big issue, so I came up with a couple ways to nerf it. They’re under the cut)

Class: Alchemist (turns out this is not a thing that exists in first-party materials, so I had to look at a bunch of homebrews before settling on this one)

Alignment: Neutral leaning towards Chaotic Good

Background: The short version is, they had a very brief stint as a Cloistered Scholar-type, but have spent pretty much their entire adult life as, like, a Hermit with more of an Outlander’s lifestyle? Backstory below the cut

Age: 4ish (Aarakocra reach maturity by 3)

Weight: 40kg (~88lb)

Height: 1.44m (~4'9")

Wingspan: 3.32m (~10'11")

I’m no ornithologist, and just can’t wrap my head around this sort of thing in general, so if those measurements look off to you, I’d appreciate advice

Appearance: Pretty much looks like a Eurasian magpie. This isn’t lore-friendly but lbr here. I’d be playing a homebrew class with a character that can fly from level 1. Plumage should be the least of a DM’s concerns. Also Aarakocra seem to not have tails in the illustrations I found? Fuck that, too. Tails are pretty and really important for flying probably

Backstory:

Born on (in?) the Elemental Plane of Air and lived there until shortly before coming of age

Was accidentally brought into the Material Plane by some magic school students who were trying to summon a Djinni to get a wish

One of their wings got broken in the ensuing commotion

It seemed pretty fucked up to send them back injured and grounded, so the students decided to nurse them back to health

That said, the summoning was a violation of school rules, so they had to do this in secret

It went about as well as you might imagine

Aarakocra don’t like to stay cooped up (pun intended), so they’d constantly leave the room

Picture the Cheddar manhunt from B99, the dinner scene from The Iron Giant, that sort of thing

I’m sure it was hysterical

To help them stay entertained, the students brought them books from the library to read

This is how they initially learned/got interested in alchemy

They became fascinated with the Material Plane, so they decided to stay

After a heartfelt farewell, the students went back to their dorm and noticed Jiggy had robbed them blind

“The idea of ownership baffles most aarakocra. After all, who owns the sky?” (Sasquatch Game Studio and Wizards of The Coast. “Elemental Evil Player’s Companion.” 2015, p. 3)

Has been living a nomadic life since. Spends most of their time in the wilderness, occasionally staying near towns if they need certain supplies or if the people need someone with their particular skills. They’ve gotten a lot of practice in the healing side of the field thanks to that

They still don’t fully grasp the concept of ownership (but have gotten in trouble for shoplifting enough to learn not to get caught), but they do understand needs. They’ll only take something if they truly believe its “owner“ could live without it

So about those flight nerfs. The rules already say that Aarakocra can’t fly if wearing medium or heavy armor, but that limits your class selection more than the ability itself

Note that I haven’t had a chance to actually try any of this in a game, so they could be wildly unbalanced for all I know

Wing Health

Each wing has a health subpool. If either one is reduced to 0, they’re grounded until both wings have at least 1 hp

I haven’t decided how much they would be. I’ve been toying with either 1/4 or 1/5 of the total. 1/5 makes more sense because any less would leave the body with half the health at most, but I worry that would make it too easy to ground them

Flight Time

In battle, any flying they do would have to be hovering, which consumes a lot of energy. There’s a reason only the smallest birds can do it for prolonged periods and hummingbirds need to consume half their weight in sugar every day

So, flight time is limited to (level + constitution modifer) x 30 seconds. Assuming they start out with a +2 modifier, for example, this means they’d have 1:30 minutes available at level 1, up to a theoretical maximum of 15 minutes at level 20 with 30 constitution. Which would be ridiculous

I think you should be able to go over, at the cost of exhaustion levels. I haven’t fine-tuned the details on this part

Flight time replenishes after a short rest

Compared to hovering, soaring/gliding consume a tiny amount of energy, which translates to flight time being depleted at a rate of 1 minute per “second“ while doing those

Encumbrance

The rules include an encumbrance system, so I just used that as a guideline

If carrying over 5 times their strength score while flying, flight time depletes at double the normal rate

If carrying over 10 times their strength score, they can’t fly at all

This is to prevent the player from trying to solve every combat situation with “I grab the enemy, fly really high up, and drop it for massive fall damage,“ while allowing it in some cases

Sidebar, this is also why I decided to divide their inventory into three categories:

What is on their person at all times (armor, weapons, ammo, spell components, etc.)

A bag containing essentials and personal effects

A larger pack where they carry everything else

Assuming they carry the pack on their back, they’d need to drop it in order to fly, and they can also drop their bag at a moment’s notice if need be

#dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #dungeons & dragons #looking for group #is that still the thing people say?#so yeah I was hoping to hear some opinions #and maybe if you think you or anyone you know would be interested in having me I'd super appreciate hearing about it

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years ago

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Game 351: Morton’s Fork (1981)

The copyright date on the main screen would seem to refer to the Maces and Magic engine, not to this specific game, which all evidence agrees was released in 1981.

Morton’s Fork

United States Chameleon Software (developer and original publisher); Adventure International (later publisher)

Released 1981 for TRS-80 and Apple II

Date Started: 9 January 2020

Date Ended: 9 January 2020

Total Hours: 4

Difficulty: Easy-Moderate (2.5/5)

Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)

Morton’s Fork is the third game in the series generally called Maces & Magic, after Dungeon (1979; later called Balrog or Balrog Sampler) and Stone of Sisyphus (links to my coverage). It’s been difficulty to reconstruct the history of the company even though I spoke to one of its principals, Richard Bumgarner, back in 2013. Chameleon was the moonlighting gig of three Indianapolis-based medical professionals, including x-ray technician Bumgarner. From what I can figure, they conceived of the series in the late 1970s and may have produced and marketed all three games before they struck a publishing deal with Scott Adams’ Adventure International. The first game was originally called Dungeon but later acquired the (nonsensical) Balrog or Balrog Sampler names from AI. Adventure International also seems to be the source of the Maces & Magic series name, although it appears nowhere except on the game packaging. AI also gussied up the title screens a bit, removing the jokes that the creators had placed and (of course) adding the AI name and logo.

A later version of the main screen, from the Apple II edition.

I’ve spent years trying to find a working version of Morton’s Fork–all three games are notoriously unstable–and the one I was finally able to play lacks the AI logo on the title screen. It’s possible that all three games were produced and marketed as early as 1979 and that the 1981 date is from when they were re-distributed by AI, but so far I haven’t been able to find any magazine evidence of Chameleon selling the second two games directly.

A 1981 ad for the Adventure International releases of the three titles.

Even if Morton’s Fork had a 1981 release date, its technology is essentially the same as the first game in the series. All three games play exactly the same way, just with different scenarios and puzzles. All three are RPG/text adventure hybrids in which the goal is to collect a fixed number of treasures in a large environment and then find your way out of the game. A mutable hero and wandering monsters are blended with fixed landscapes and unchanging puzzles. The hero could theoretically be swapped between games as if they were “modules” in a traditional RPG experience. The games are thus somewhat like Eamon (1980) but without the central “hub” disk.

A leaflet in the game encourages the player to buy the other games.

All three start the same way. The player creates a character and the game rolls for strength, luck, dexterity, intelligence, constitution, and charisma. The character is assumed to be a warrior, or a warrior/thief, as there is no magic in the game. After creation, the player is given a chance to purchase weapons and armor from a very long list of obscure terms, apparently created by a doctor who had an encyclopedia or something. You are limited in what you buy by gold and encumbrance.

Dungeon and Stone of Sisyphus had the player explore dungeons with pan-cultural themes, including a hippodrome, an Egyptian room, and an Arabian desert. Fork moves the action to a large castle. The box says that it’s a “wizard’s castle,” but in-game there’s no hint of a wizard. The goal is simply to loot it of as much treasure as possible.

All of the Maces & Magic games feature absurdly detailed weapon and armor lists.

Morton’s Fork begins a bit differently from the other titles by including a “good luck” screen as the game begins. Although it seems full of cliches, it is in fact full of hints. For instance, the advice to “lift your spirits; you may pry some of the secrets loose” is a hint to drink with an NPC in the castle’s cellar. “Keys to hidden riches may take many forms” is a clue to use a hairpin as a lockpick. “You must know when to hide your light and when to let it spring forth” refers to a section of game where you have to light a torch to navigate a dark hallway, but then extinguish it to avoid getting attacked by bats. “Paint a rosy future for yourself and doors may open” is the clue needed for the endgame.

A pre-game text screen full of spoilers.

The game eases you into its journey with a long path leading to the castle. You find a token, and then on the next screen a pedestal with a slot. This lowers the drawbridge. You find an iron bar and then a rock with a bunch of scratches; prying the bar reveals a passcode that you must give to the butler when you first arrive. Once you reach the castle’s entry, the game opens up and you can flexibly explore and acquire treasures.

An early puzzle. The number is randomized for each new game.

The text quality is good, if not as verbose as Infocom games of the period. Inputs are also much more limited. On any given screen, the game gives you numeric inputs for what you can do and where you can go, so you never waste a lot of time typing verbs and nouns that have no effect. The only exception is that on any screen, you can use an item from your inventory, typing a simple (and usually obvious) keyword to specify what you want to do. Thus, you enter a dark room. In addition to following the game’s suggestions to (1) leave or (2) feel your way down the corridor, you can also hit “P” to open your pack, choose the torch, and type LIGHT or IGNITE or any of several synonyms. Most of the game’s puzzles are about using the right inventory item in the right place.

A typical text screen with numbered choices.

There are fixed combats with certain enemies as well as random combats with guards that roam the corridors. Combat is executed automatically, with your attributes and weapon strengths aggregated into a single combat score and then pitted against your enemy’s. Opponents lose hit points (constitution) each round until one of them dies.

Combat with some castle guards.

It’s relatively easy to roll a character too weak to win any of the game’s combats, or too poor to afford enough protection to do well. Some of the enemies are, I believe, out of the reach of any first-round character and would have to be fought by a player who escaped a first attempt with a bunch of treasure and used it to buy much better equipment.

The game follows its predecessors by offering a lot of choices but not being necessarily very logical or “fair” in the execution of those choices. For instance, in a den, you’re faced with a fireplace with three levers. One opens a hidden niche and reveals a valuable coin collection. The second causes the fire to roar into the room and kill you. The third releases a “smoke monster” that you have to battle. There really is no way of determining the good from the bad when making your choice.

This is funny, but I’m not sure it’s a logical outcome of taking a glass of punch at a party.

They aren’t really “role-playing” choices, either. If you find your way into the torture room, you have options to attack the torture troll and thus free his prisoner or help the torture troll crank the wheel that operates the rack. If you attack the troll, you face a near-impossible battle and if you manage to kill him, the prisoner just gruffly wanders away. If you help torture the prisoner, you get valuable intelligence about how to enter the throne room.

Finally, there are an awful lot of instant death situations that are hardly fair. Just wandering into the wrong room can kill you. I suspect these are in place to artificially bolster the game’s replay value. Otherwise, I can’t see how any player would take one month to finish it, which the box says is the average.

All I did was pull on a rope.

All I did was pull a lever.

All I did was walk into a room.

Overall, though, the castle is a fun place to explore. It’s a living place, with guards roaming the halls and shooting craps in their off-duty room, a butler guarding the entryway, and guests dancing the night away in a ballroom. The game isn’t obvious about it, but I suspect your success or failure as you navigate the halls is based partly on your attributes. For instance, if you visit the ballroom you can try to pickpocket the guests. Not only is success based (I suspect) on dexterity, but your ability to even enter and stay in the room has something to do with your charisma.

Your ultimate goal is to assemble a group of treasures. I didn’t find them all, but I found almost all of them:

A ruby necklace, pickpocketed from the guests in the ballroom.

A large gold figure. It’s found in its “small gold figure” form in a room with piles of objects and a large purple flame. By looking at the objects, you can figure out that throwing items into the flame makes them bigger, so tossing in the “small gold figure” gives you the large one. You also have the option to jump in the flames yourself for a permanent boost to strength and constitution, although you kill yourself if you try it a second time.

The one bit of “character development” in the game.

A coin collection, found in a hidden niche in the den’s fireplace.

A silver tea service, found by picking the lock of a cabinet with a hairpin.

An emerald orb, found in a dresser that opens when you strike a tuning fork in the room.

Gold cookies, looted after you kill a “cookie monster” in the pantry off the kitchen. That’s not right.

A diamond stickpin, simply found in one of the rooms.

A multi-jeweled crown, found in the throne room, which you reach after a long sequence of puzzles. You have to walk over a pit and pass a swarm of bats by strategically lighting and extinguishing a torch, pass a large dragon by pouring “shrinking powder” on him, and get by a guard monster by giving him a password that you got by steaming open an envelope.

One of the more memorable sequences in the game, though I never did find any use for the dragon dung.

The platinum chameleon, found at the top of a tower that requires a lot of inventory puzzles to successfully climb.

The most difficult puzzle of all is getting out of the castle. I wouldn’t have solved it if I hadn’t figured out that the welcome screen was full of hints. Eventually, you find a couple of rooms that link to a chute. If you climb in the chute, you end up tumbling into a non-descript room with no exits. It’s only from that opening screen that you get the hint to use a bucket of paint (found in a “many-colored room”) to PAINT DOOR on the wall. This causes your door to swing upon and reveal “the corporate headquarters of Chameleon Software,” where “astonished programmers” help you carry your treasures out of the dungeon.

Might and Magic would draw from this ending years later.

You’re then given your final experience score (from the monsters that you killed) and your final point total from the treasures that you acquired. After a few runs at the game, I was able to achieve 1,340 out of a possible 1,492 points.

I’m going to call this a “win.”

There were some rooms that I didn’t solve that might have held the additional treasures. There’s a closet off the top of a staircase with a “closet monster” who was always too powerful for me. If you’re unlucky enough to wander your way into the gym, you get picked on by three buff guards. Insulting them causes them to attack you, and I couldn’t defeat them. The other options all lead to negative outcomes. Also, I suspect there was something I was supposed to do with a crystal chandelier.

None of these options leads to anything good.

Theoretically, you’re supposed to be able to save the character and then re-enter the game, using the riches from your first adventure to purchase better equipment and try again. Unfortunately, for none of the three games have I managed to get a character to survive the transition from game disk to save disk and back again. It’s a miracle when the program runs right at all instead of crashing with vague errors, failing to load the weapon and armor tables, suddenly deciding my character has no inventory, or a host of other problems.

In a GIMLET, Morton’s Fork gets a 17 compared to Dungeon‘s 20. Fork has fewer opportunities for character development, fewer interesting encounters, and a smaller game world than the first game in the series.

My map of the game.

Before we go, we should discuss the name of the game. A “Morton’s fork” is described by The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms as “a situation in which there are two choices or alternatives whose consequences are equally unpleasant.” It is traced back to John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England under Henry VII. He is said to have argued that a man living ostentatiously could clearly afford higher taxes while a man living frugally must be saving his money–and could thus afford higher taxes. The “water test” for witches (if you float, you’re a witch and you’re executed; if you sink and drown, you’re innocent) is often given as an example of a Morton’s Fork.

An in-game Morton’s fork. You die in a fire no matter what option you choose.

It’s a curious title for a game, particularly since the only “fork” in the game is a tuning fork, and it’s hardly a centerpiece. But like Stone of Sisyphus, which references a process of doing the same thankless task repeatedly, I think the creators were making a commentary on adventure games and perhaps even “choose your own adventure”-style books, in which multiple options lead to the same outcome. There’s one notable moment in the game in which you’re given three ways to escape from a fire, and none of them work.

Were they critiquing themselves? Making fun of their own players, who paid $29.95 for the game only to presumably lose three consecutive characters to the same fire? We can’t say. All we know is that the creators chose a title that ostensibly pokes fun at the laziest of adventure game tropes–and then they stocked the game with actual examples.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-351-mortons-fork-1981/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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