Anyone remember a Mac RPG called "Boden"?

October 31, 2006 11:19 AM

Does anyone remember an older Macintosh single-player shareware role-playing-game, possibly called "Boden," "Boden," or some variation thereof?

Years ago, when I got my first Mac, I was given a disk of games from a friend. One of these was a basic single-player RPG. It had a very simple 3D graphics that showed your surroundings (if you were on a path in a forest, you saw a path in front of you with some trees on either side), plus the usual text display.

It was turn-based, and it had most of the usual RPG features; you began in a forest, and you could wander through a castle and buy items from an armorer, attempt to steal things, etc. There were dungeons and various interesting ways to die. As far as I can remember, the game didn't have any particular plot or goal that you were told at the beginning.

I think the name was "Bowden" or "Boden," or maybe "Boden's Castle," but I can't find any reference to this in my searches online. Nobody that I know of has heard of it, either.

I think it was shareware, and it was black and white. By the time I played it circa 1992-3 it was already pretty old. From what I remember of it, it looked like it had been designed for System 6 or earlier.

Does anyone have any idea what it was called, and if it's available anywhere? I seem to have lost or thrown away all my old floppies, and I'd like to at least know what my old favorites were.

posted by Kadin2048 to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Enchanted Scepters?
posted by smallerdemon at 11:42 AM on October 31, 2006

From your description, while I can't name the specific game, it sounds like it might be a game made with World Builder (First person, black and white, shareware, etc.). If it looked kind of like this, it probably was a WB game.
posted by Durhey at 11:45 AM on October 31, 2006

Enchanted Scepters (according to the Wikipedia link there) was built with World Builder.

I recall playing in on the SE I first used. :)
posted by smallerdemon at 11:50 AM on October 31, 2006

Not Bard's Tale, is it?

That reminds me, I need to go download:
- Leather Goddesses of Phobos
- GrailQuest
- The Colony

If you don't find what you're looking for, any of those three should keep you entertained in nostalgic glory until you remember.

Also, consider asking on the forums at the Underdogs. Actually, also view their full list in case you're totally mistaken on the name.
posted by symphonik at 1:32 PM on October 31, 2006

I believe it is called Theldrow! I spent way too many nights freshman year killing spiders in this game. I was so upset that they never came out with the sequel promised in the final screen...

There's an overview here:
http://mac.the-underdogs.info/index.php?show=game&id=538

I may even have it on an old floppy (but no floppy drive in a Mac that has an ethernet card...). Looks like there's a download link there, though.
posted by valkyrie at 5:47 PM on October 31, 2006

Just a follow-up (man, this is jogging my memory):

The original author, Glenn Andreas, wrote a "more modern" (not OSX, OS9?) game called Cythera, which was published by Ambrosia Software.

I think this was released in 1999, or so. His website is now here: http://www.gandreas.com/. Looks like his building fractal animation utils these days...
posted by valkyrie at 5:59 PM on October 31, 2006

I'm seconding valkyrie's suggestion of Theldrow! If you search for"Boden Theldrow", you'll get a couple of hits confirming this.
posted by hooray at 9:14 PM on October 31, 2006

Yep, "Theldrow" definitely rings a bell. Though the World Builder games were a good guess; it did look somewhat similar to that. Looks like the screenshot on the-underdogs.info isn't working, but when I get back to a Mac that has a Classic install on it, I'll have to download and fire it up.

Thanks, everyone!
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:33 PM on November 10, 2006