The Pawn is an interactive fiction game for the Sinclair QL written by Rob Steggles of Magnetic Scrolls and published by Sinclair Research in 1985. In 1986, graphics were added and the game was released for additional home computers by Rainbird.

Plot

The player's character is knocked unconscious and awakens in the fairyland of Kerovnia, a silver bracelet around their wrist that cannot be removed. A general election is about to be held to decide whether King Erik will be replaced by a dwarf whose campaign promise is to "rid dungeons of mazes of any sort." The character must interact with others and perform tasks for them, gathering objects that will be needed for later tasks in order to escape from Kerovnia and return to reality.

Development

The Pawn was written by Rob Steggles at Magnetic Scrolls in 1985, and a text-only version was first published for the Sinclair QL in 1985. After Magnetic Scrolls secured a publication deal with Rainbird, a graphical version of the game was then released for other platforms in 1986. The game is written in 68000 assembler. Later versions use a cut-down 68000 virtual machine even on less powerful machines like the Z80-based Sinclair Spectrum. The Amiga version uses digitized instrument samples in its title music early in that computer's lifecycle. The peaceful title music was composed by John Molloy and it features guitar and flute sounds.

Reception

By late 1987, The Pawn was Firebird's second best-selling Amiga game in the United States. Reviewers complimented it for its excellent graphics (on some versions) and the opening music available in some game versions. The game itself–story and parser–got mostly positive reviews. Two reviews of the game appeared in Dragon:

Awards

In 1988, readers of Crash voted The Pawn "Best Adventure Game of the Year". It was also "Best Adventure Game of the Year" at the 1987 Golden Joystick Awards.