Trapped - Destiny of Good...or Evil?
Set in the mythical world of Kerovnia, this amusing and complex tale is subtle enough to appeal to the beginner and hardened adventurer alike. A revolutionary text-handling system allows input of complicated sentences and complete interaction with characters (including some very intelligent animals!).
The Pawn represents all its characters and objects as if they existed in a real world, storing complex information about their attributes and properties linked to their particular position or context in the game.
Your objectives are manyfold: The simpliest is to escape from Kerovnia, but you will find others as you wander about the land and communicate with the characters you meet.
The Pawn combines a rich text adventure, with stunning colour graphics, and a language parser that will set the standards for years to come.
Facts
Released:
1985
Distributor:
Firebird / Rainbird
Story:
Rob Steggles
Graphics:
Geoff Quilley
Programming:
Ken Gordon, Hugh Steers, Anita Sinclair
Goodies:
A tale of Kerovnia: Georgina Sinclair
Platforms:
Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Apple2, Archimedes, Atari ST, Atari XL/XE, Commodore 128/ 64, IBM PC, Macintosh, Sinclair QL, Spectrum 128K, Spectrum +3
Game box contents:
Novella "A tale of Kerovnia" by G. Sinclair
The Pawn Guide
The Pawn Gameplay
Poster
Addendum
Bug sheet
Disk
The Pawn Guide
The Pawn Gameplay
Poster
Addendum
Bug sheet
Disk
Known release versions:
1.0 - Sinclair QL
2.0 - Atari ST
2.1 - Atari ST
2.2 - Amiga
2.3 - Amstrad CPC, Apple 2, Archimedes, Atari XL, C64, Macintosh, IBM PC, Spectrum 128k
2.4 - Spectrum +3
? - Amstrad PCW
Known packages:
Two different Rainbird/Firebird packages of identical size ( 15.2 cm x 21.4 cm - 6" x 8.5" )
Game box contents
- Media:
- A Tale of Kerovnia (Version I, including cypheric hint section)
- Kerovnia Map (Backside of Kerovnia novella)
- Addendum (taken from early Atari ST package)
- Bug report (taken from early Atari ST package)
Atari ST
Macintosh
Spectrum 128
Amstrad CPC
Archimedes
Apple 2
Atari XL
Amiga
Amiga
Amstrad PCW
IBM PC
C64
Spectrum +3
Background information
- After you got rid of the wristband you can go to the room south of the Small Cave. There you'll get a listing from programmers. With "debug the listing" you become immortal.
- You can also use the blue key to free the princess...
- Anita Sinclair used Kronos as her MUD alias.
- The first Magnetic Scrolls release ever was QL-Pawn for the Sinclair QL released in 1985.
- There exist two different versions of "A Tale of Kerovnia". The second version states "Version II" on the cover page, however it has only minor differences to the original version. Mostly these are spelling corrections, some extended hints and an additional Rainbird logo on the first page. The page wrapping is slightly different.
Walkthroughs, solutions and more...
Official Magnetic Scrolls Solution Book (original scans donated by John P. King, PDF by Christian Kruse)
Solution
Walkthrough
Map
Unprotect PC version
Password list
Ami Cheat's Page Solve
A Tale of Kerovnia - plain text
Alternative map (unknown author)
The original music score of The Pawn in DeliTracker custom format. To play use e.g. Deliplayer or UADE
Archived material:
(Version I, HTML)
(taken from A Tale of Kerovnia, HTML)
Articles and Reviews
| Title | Source | Authors, Credits | File | Language |
The
Pawn (Atari ST)  |
Happy
Computer 6/86 roughly translated by myself |
Heinrich Lenardt |  |
 |
| The
Pawn (Spectrum 128k) |
Your Sinclair No. 19, July 1987, page 80 | Mike Gerrard | |
|
| The
Pawn: England's Finest Hour (C-64) |
Commodore Magazine 7/87, webbified by Frank Skagemo | Shay Adams | |
|
| The
Pawn (Spectrum 128k) |
Crash magazine 41, pages 58-59 | ? | |
|
| The
Pawn (Amstrad CPC) |
Amstrad Action Issue 19, 1987 p.76-77 donated by Nicholas Campbell |
The Pilgrim | |
|
| Not only disc only but PCW only tool (Amstrad PCW) |
Amstrad Computer User 01/87 p.28-29 donated by Nicholas Campbell |
Bill Brock | |
|
| At last (Amstrad CPC) |
Amstrad Computer User 4/87 p.70+73 donated by Nicholas Campbell |
Bill Brock | |
|
| The
Pawn (Amstrad PCW) |
Amtix Issue 16, 1987 page 43 donated by Nicholas Campbell |
Rob Steel | |
|
| The
Pawn (Amstrad CPC) |
Amtix Issue 18, 1987 p. 48-49 donated by Nicholas Campbell |
Rob Steel | |
|
| Evocative Pawn (Amstrad CPC/PCW) |
Computing with the Amstrad Vol.3 Issue 4, p. 17, 1987 donated by Nicholas Campbell |
Gandalf | |
|
| The Pawn (Atari ST) |
Happy
Computer Sonderhaft 11 p. 48 |
Heinrich Lenardt ? |
|
|
| Pläne - The Pawn |
ASM Spezial 2 p.24-25 |
Wolfgang Frödel | |
|
| The
Pawn (Sinclair QL) |
Sinclair QL World July 1988, p.44-45 |
Ken McMahon | |
|
| The
Pawn (C 64) |
Zzap64 Iss. 20 December 1986, p.108-109 |
Sean Masterson | |
|
| The
Pawn (multiple) |
Page6 32, March 1988, page 64-65 | Garry Francis | |
|
| The
Pawn (Atari XL/XE) |
Page6 28, July 1987, page 70-71 | John Sweeney | |
|
| The
Pawn (Spectrum ZX) |
ZX Computing Monthly June 1987, age6 47 | Gordon Hamlott | |
|
| The
Pawn preview (multiple) |
Computer & Video Games 54, April 1986, page 78-79 | Keith Campell | |
|
| The
Pawn (Spectrum 128k) |
Sinclair User 58, January 1987, page 100 | Gordon Taylor | |
|
| Atari ST news - The Pawn |
Computer & Video Games 58, August 1986, page 90 | ? | |
|
| The
Pawn (C 64) |
Computer & Video Games 62, December 1986, page 71 | Keith Campell | |
|
| Atari ST User May 1986 magazine cover featuring The Pawn |
Atari ST User, May 1986, cover | |
|
|
| The stuff from which cults are made |
Atari ST User, May 1986, page 4-5 | Anthony Ginnl | |
|
| Computing with the Amstrad November 1987 magazine cover featuring The Pawn |
Computing with the Amstrad Vol.3 Issue 11, November 1987, cover | |
|
|
| The
Pawn (C 64) |
Commodore User 38, November 1986, pages 76-77 | Keith Campell | |
|
| Commodore User - Superstars |
Comodore User Supplemental, pages 11-12 | ? | |
|
| The
Pawn Preview (C 64) |
Commodore User 32, pages 76-77 | Keith Campell | |
|
| The Pawn (Atari ST) |
Compute! 77, Oct. 1986 p. 60 | Neil Randell | |
|
| The Pawn (C64) |
Commodore Magazine Vol.8 No. 8, Aug. 1987, p. 28,116 | Gary V. Fields | |
|
| Title | Source | Authors, Credits | File | Language |
| The Pawn Map part I + II |
Computing with the Amstrad Vol.3 Issue 11&12, November 1987, p. 33 | ? | |
|
| The Pawn Map |
Atari User 26, June 1986, page 32-33 | ? | |
|
Availability 
Amiga
Amstrad CPC
Amstrad PCW
Apple 2
Archimedes
Atari ST
Atari XL
C64
IBM PC
Macintosh
Spectrum +3
Spectrum ZX