A strange little side quest
One reason puzzles keeps producing good game ideas around The Secret of the Necromancer is that its history is full of strange turns. Arthur Wynne published a diamond-shaped 'Word-Cross' in the New York World on December 21, 1913; the name later shifted to 'Cross-Word' and then 'crossword'. A second detail makes the picture even better: By 1987, fantasy role-playing had become a major computer-game direction, with Zelda, licensed Dungeons & Dragons games and other story-led adventures expanding the form. That history is one reason familiar mechanics can still feel new when they are recombined well.
