From: cal@fang.att.com (Charles A. Licata)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: DARK WORLD By Mattel
Date: 22 Jul 92 13:52:39 GMT
Organization: AT&T Tax Systems Development, Maitland FL

Hi,

  Last night I bought the Mattel game Dark World and since I never heard
it mentioned on the net, I figured I would give it a quick review.

  Mind you, I have not played the game yet.  This is based on reading the
rules and examining the game components.

  What I expected from the game was something similar to Milton Bradley's
HEROQUEST.  Something simple, that was flexible, and incorporated some
role-playing in a board game.

  Dark World, however, fell short.

  Dark World is the final combat against an evil overlord (can not remeber
the guys name).  Four heros (a barbarian, ranger, knight, and dwarf) enter
the evil castle and fight through numerous room to reach the overlord who
stands upon his throan.

  The object for the players is to kill the overlord.  While trying to do
this they also gain points for killing monsters and obtaining treasure.
The person with the highest points wins.  The overlord player wins if
the overlord himself kills all four heros while he remains on his thrown.
Monsters do not kill heros.  They only knock them out.  The hero then
disappears and returns to the starting position where he can fully heal
himself (regain his hitpoints) and then return to the board in the last
room entered by the heros via a handy teleport square at the castle entrance.

  Ever piece is allowed 3 actions in a turn.  There are 2 actions which can
be performed (move 1 square or perform a combat swing) and numerous free
actions (drink heal, open secrete door).

  Combat is simple.  The player announces his attention, rolls the combat
dice (dice have blank sides with a couple of sides having 1 or more swords
printed on them.  Damage is equal to the number of swords that appear on 2 
dice for a normal weapon or 3 for a magic weapon), announces if the hero 
will use any of the hit cards they have collected throughout the dungeon 
(this increases the number of hits the combat roll makes) and then checks 
the bottom of the creatures base to see if the amount of damage is greater 
than the creatures.  If so it is dead and out of the game for good, else it 
lives on, unharmed. 

  There are also miss card that can be played that reduces an opponent
strike against a piece.  Only heros have hit and miss cards.

  I will stop describing the rules hear.  I think at this pint you can
understand the game mechanics well enough.

  As for the components:

    Board:  Standard game board that has cut out half hieght walls to 
            denote rooms.  The wall have plastic hinged doors that you
            attach.  There is also a temple made of plastic which looks
            good.  The board, however, never changes.  From game to game
            the secrete doors are in the same place.  The only thing
            that changes are the number of monsters appearing in a room
            and the location of the four treasure chests which hold
            1 magic weapon each.

    Dice: 3 Combat dice and 1 10 sided die.

    Playing Pieces:  The playing pieces are 25mm (I think).  They are
            made of plastic and have a reasonable amount of detail.
            There are 25 in all (4 heros, 1 overlord, 1 Manticore,
            1 haunter, 2 mummies, a number of skeletons and orcs).
            The bases for the piece are hot big in area, but they are
            high.  This is due to having to attach a card hitpoint chit
            to the base of a monster.  With the hero, the base has a 
            turnable template to keep track of hits.

    The Overlords Mace:  I like this (I do not know why, but I do).
            This is a piece that sits atop the temple.  At the beginning
            of each turn the overlord player shakes it and places it
            back on the temple.  From the maces head four little balls
            will fall into the shaft.  Each ball has a color corresponding
            to the base of one of the heros.  The first ball color
            determines the first hero to move, and so on.

  Overall, I was not impressed.  At $35 (bought at Toys R Us, so I am
assuming this was a good price) it lacked a good set of rules.  I am
the type of person who can easily justify a games worth by putting a
value to the components alone, but it is tough to do for this one.

  If you see it and think, perhaps I will give it a try, I would suggest
that you wait on buying it until you have the oppurtunity to see and
play someone elses.

Thats it,

Chuck