Classic time: "Conquests of the Longbow" playthrough!

New game!

I've started playing Christie Marx's Conquests of the Longbow and I'm 1 hour into it! I've never played this classic before, so it's a maiden voyage for me. During my life, I've seen four different iterations of the Robin Hood story, and now this is the first one I'll experience in game form. I doubt the character needs much introduction from me.

Robin has pretty basic living arrangements...

From the start the look and feel of the game are very familiar. The graphic design, the music, the interface, it's all classic 90s Sierra adventure. But there are some extra elements that immediately come to the fore. At the top of the playing field, you'll see statistics for the current "Ransom" money you have gathered. You can keep track of the number of  your"Outlaws" that are still alive. Other than that, there are many arcade sequences and decisions you will have to make. If you fail those, you either die (it's a Sierra game, after all) or you'll get a bad ending; so save often, I'd say!

What a merry bunch... If two people can be called a bunch...

The game starts with an (optional) prologue where you see King Richard of England taken prisoner by Leopold of Austria when the former travels back from the crusades in Jerusalem. It's your job as Robin Hood to rob the rich and give to the poor, or in this case gather the necessary ransom of one hundred thousands mark.

Already killed a guy within the first hour...

After I did some target practice, I wandered Sherwood Forest a bit, unsure what I was supposed to be doing. Then I remembered Friar Tuck at the campsite telling me to go see Little John at the overlook point. But I had no idea where that was, so I had to search for it. Once there, I witnessed a peasant woman being chased by one of the Sheriff's men. So I quickly dispatched him and set the woman free.

Already killed two guys within the first hour...

That ended the day, apparently! A short scene at the campsite later, Robin fell asleep and dreamt about Marian dancing in the willow grove. The next morning, I got the message I needed to visit the cobbler in town, but Robin doesn't dare go there without a disguise of some sort. And also, he needs a woman's slipper to prove to the cobbler he's Robin Hood. Without much else to do, I explored the forest until I came upon Marian attacked by a monk. So I quickly dispatched him, and lo and behold! Marian rewarded me with a slipper!

Exploring Sherwood Forest is pretty slow going...

That ended another day, apparently! The next morning I figured I had to go look around for that disguise, so I'm currently exploring the forest again, hoping to come upon something useful, since none of the locations on my map seem to hold anything interesting.