Realmz

Realmz is a Role-playing video game where the player assumes the roles of a party of heroes in fictional adventures. The turn-based, tile-based game has rules for individual combat and the use of magic spells in fighting while focusing on the medieval-period high fantasy genre.

The user interface consists of a character status bar which includes the character's portrait, name, combat status, current stamina/maximum stamina, attacks/round or spell points/max spell points, and armor rating.

While Realmz is primarily an engine for playing a number of scenarios (roughly corresponding to the campaigns in a tabletop RPG) using the same characters and set of rules, the different scenarios tend to take place in a broadly similar high fantasy setting known as "The Realmz". In fact, Fantasoft was once contacted by TSR about similarities to the Forgotten Realms D&D module, forcing the alteration of a number of elements in Realmz and its scenarios.

Realmz received positive reviews from magazines and websites in the Macintosh community shortly after its initial release. Some of the more notable reviews are from MacUser, MacCentral and CNET. Many users were pleased with the game's good customer support, "intuitive user interface" and the continuous release of improved versions. Realmz was awarded the Golden Mouse for best shareware adventure game in the Swedish edition of MacWorld. [3]

Inside Mac Games rated Realmz four out of five, calling it "one of the finest shareware games" and "easily in the same class as commercial games". Inside Mac Games praised the quality of the game's documentation and the point-and-click interface, which presents all information and actions accessibly. Although not a fan of role-playing games, a Macworld reviewer recommended Realmz to fans of role-playing games: "those who like this sort of thing swear that Realmz is The Goods." The 1995 MacUser Shareware Awards named Realmz the best shareware product of the year in the Fun and Games category.