BOSS: Beyond Moria

Moria goes to America · beat the Boss before he takes over the world

Date of birth1991 BOSS 2.0: 1 March 1992

CreatorsGulledge · Black University of Washington

LanguagePascal ~24,500 lines; VMS Pascal

PlatformVAX/VMS → PC Free Pascal port

Lineage

BOSS started from VMS Moria, the Pascal original by Robert Koeneke and Jimmey Wayne Todd, by way of a copy modified at SUNY by Bill Palter and Nick B. Triantos. Robert Gulledge and Jason Black at the University of Washington then replaced Tolkien with modern America: magic became science, orcs became gang members, Middle-earth became eight US cities. It is a sibling of Umoria, not a descendant; see the family tree.

Played here: BOSS 2.4b, Michal Bielinski’s PC port, compiled with Free Pascal to WebAssembly.

Credits

Robert Alan Koeneke	Moria
Jimmey Wayne Todd Jr.	Moria
Bill Palter, Nick B. Triantos	SUNY Moria modifications
Robert Gulledge (RLG)	BOSS
Jason Black (cloister bell)	BOSS, FAQ
Michal Bielinski	PC port

Screenshots

BOSS title screen — Title: “BOSS : Beyond Moria, Version 2.4b”, with the full credits.

The town of Seattle — First steps: Seattle, day 1, 08:00. A hefty wrestler in a jock strap, with 2,400 in cash.

Fighting a Vulture Gang Member — A fight in the street: “You thump the Vulture Gang Member.”

Inventory — Starting kit: baseballs, K-rations, Floppy Disks of Identify, a spandex jumpsuit, a football helmet and an aluminum bat.

Trivia

The authors wanted a Moria you can win “in a weekend, instead of in a few weeks”. (BOSS FAQ, 1992)
The evil aliens are called Daysians. The FAQ says the name is a joke and leaves it to you to find. (BOSS FAQ, 1992)
Monsters and items live in data files, so admins could rename the Green Daisyan Lieutenant after their system administrator without recompiling. (BOSS FAQ, 1992)
Danny Dollar runs the bank: “honest, but stingy as heck”, with interest paid weekly. (BOSS FAQ, 1992)
Some monsters give you a “social disease”. It stops certain potions from working; the medical clinic cures it, and every cure costs more. (BOSS FAQ, 1992)
The Vic-20 in the computer table is rated at 1%: “(Sounds right, doesn't it?)” (manual)

What's unique

Parody setting: science instead of magic, floppy disks instead of scrolls, pop-culture monsters.
Eight cities instead of one town: Seattle, Boise, Denver, Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New York City. To take the bus to the next one you must kill that city's mob boss (a P at 500 metres).
Time limit: 100 game days before the Boss takes over the world.
A bank with deposits and loans, potion mixing (M), a kill list (k), and a berserk rage for wrestlers (b).
Beating the Boss is not the end: another may take his place, and your score counts how many you beat.

Code dive

Original: VMS Pascal on the University of Washington VAXes, like its parent Moria. About 24,500 lines in boss.pas and its include files.
Monsters, items, classes and skill names are in text data files (dat/), unusual for its time.
PC port: Michal Bielinski, Turbo/Free Pascal for DOS and Linux.
This port: Free Pascal compiled to WebAssembly, a canvas terminal. Source: dungeons-of-moria/boss-beyond-moria.

Stats

Thing	Count	Notable ones
Qualities	8	Instead of races: Elite, Hefty, Mad, Wise, Lucky, Healthy, Sexy, Alien.
Classes	9	Wrestler, Scientist, Guru, Ninja, Soldier, Wanderer, Con-Artist, Thief, Journalist.
Monsters	385	Mutant Keebler Elf, Vogons, Drooling Trekkie, Milli & Vanilli, Mutant Lawyer, Zippy the Zapping Pinhead, Venerable Balrog, and the Boss.
Objects	379	Floppy disks (scrolls), computers (wands), guns, grenades, football helmets.
Cities	8	Seattle to New York City, by bus.
Time limit	100 days

Manual

The complete original help file: BOSS manual (text). Also the monthly BOSS FAQ from rec.games.moria, December 1992.

Getting started

Open the game, press a key, pick a quality, sex and class. Escape accepts the stats, then type a name.
Wear your gear: w and a letter.
Move with the arrow keys or digits. Walk into a letter (shop) to trade; the bank and clinic are in town too.
Take the > down into the tunnels. At 500 metres, find the mob boss P; kill him to unlock the bus.
? lists the commands; the in-game guide has them all.

Help

No walkthrough exists. The FAQ answers most questions. Tips:

Watch the clock: 100 days for all eight cities.
Deposit cash with Danny Dollar; the interest adds up over weeks.
Pay back loans before you leave town.
Mixing potions (M) is a gamble; high intelligence helps, failures can blow up.

Cheats

No reachable cheats. BOSS has a wizard mode, but only in debug builds; this port does not include it. Use Export save / Import save to keep a backup.