Writing your own adventures is a fascinating pastime. Gone are the days when you first had to learn all about programming the computer. With the game creator programs now available you can concentrate on writing a better adventure.

One of the first of these DIY programs was The Quill, from Gilsoft. For the Spectrum, this has recently been superseded by PAW - the Professional Adventure Writer. Specifications for this program look very good, and PAW will also include versatile graphics facilities. The bad news is that we will have to wait until nearly Christmas for a comparable Amstrad version.

The slightly better news is that there will be a version out very soon that runs under CP/M. This will run on any Amstrad with a disc drive and could be of great interest to PCW owners.

A minor snag is that CP/M does not support graphics, but if the interest is there, Gilsoft is prepared to introduce an add-on graphics package.

A couple more DIY items have appeared from Incentive Software. First is an exCellent little booklet of hints, tips and generally useful information that will help any user of Incentive's Graphics Adventure Creator, The GAC Adventure Writers Handbook has only 46 pages but is well worth the £1.25 it will cost you.

Second goody from Incentive is a giant 200 page double-sided A4 adventure designer pad. Ideal to help keep track of what is where in building up an adventure. With each page dedicated to one 'room' there are spaces for room number, description, local conditions and what the connections are to other locations. Cost of this mammoth offering is £9.20; seems expensive but it is worth it to keep all those rooms filed away and under strict control.

Both items are available by mail order from Incentive Software, 2 Minerva House, Caneva Park, Aldermaston, Berks RG7 4QW.