Bard's Tale 1 - Electronic Arts (Part 1) Sent in by MerC The Bard's Tale (aka Tales of the Unknown, Volume One) is the first of a series of role playing games in which a party of adventurers acts out its existence in and around the city of Skara Brae. At the time of writing only the first is available for the ST. In this one the task is to survive long enough to find and kill Mangar the Dark, who has, of course, tucked himself away in the most inaccessible part of the city. The experience points, spell-skills and so on which the party earns are not lost when the game is completed, since characters can be incorporated into subsequent adventures. Survival is the name of the game, and there are numerous sundry creatures specifically designed to render your party anonymous. In spite of them you must explore and map the city and the sixteen 'dungeons' above and below it. It is a long and arduous undertaking, and this solution is meant to get you through some of the tougher parts, should such assistance be required. Unfortunately, there is no Game Save feature, so you have to adopt a wrinkle or two to save having to start from scratch each time, or indeed, from having to thread your way back to the Adventurers' Guild before switching off. For this to work you need plenty of gold (to pay the priests for healing) and collecting it in the orthodox manner will extend the game-play from weeks to months. Similarly, some of the important items you have to find become exhausted or lost. If you want a shorter (but no less interesting) game, you might like to read the hints section in this issue of SynTax. It has to be said that other aspects of this game are mediaeval (in more than atmosphere) compared with later RPG releases. Objects "found" after combat may be carried and equipped, but if dropped may never be seen again. Characters are limited to eight pieces of equipment, and certain items can only be used by particular character classes. Exchange of items can occur, but as each character's picture has to appear on requesting an inventory, this can be tedious, no less so because pictures require disc access : there is no memory set aside as a picture cache. (Why can't the program be made to read chosen drives?) Nevertheless, the game gives a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction, and is well worth the money. Getting Started: You are supplied by the authors with a ready-assembled party, the most important feature of which is that one character has an item likely to be indispensable in combat. This is the FIRE HORN, which only THE BARD can use. Although this lasts for quite some time, and you may find others, you might like to adopt the strategy suggested in the hints section in this issue of SynTax. Naturally, you can create your own party members, but when you Enter the City ALWAYS LEAVE ONE OR TWO LIVE CHARACTERS ON THE DISC. As your party grows in experience, it will grow in ability to fight and to cast spells. Spell-casters are invaluable, but not invulnerable - three is a reasonable minimum. Since the Bard is also more-or-less needed, you have room for two fighters. The spell-casters can change Mage Class eventually : my suggestion is that you don't do this until they have completed a class by reaching level 7, since you cannot revert to an old class. They would therefore be permanently restricted. Decisions made at this stage can have very long-term consequences ! Before setting out, cast what spells you can. The Magic Compass is cheap and useful unless you are a genius at spatial orientation. Mystical Armour increases your defence, and a Light spell is needed in dungeons. Levitation is needed for negotiating portals and an ESP spell for spotting traps. A Summoning spell gets you an extra member to travel in front and take or make the first attacks. Certain found objects perform the same function as some of these spells, but do not consume valuable spell-points. You should also aim to equip your party in such a way as to achieve LO (-10) armour class. I never managed this for spell- casters (unless an Armour spell was used) but the following might be helpful : FIGHTER : Admt Helm, Shield and Gloves, Mthr Plate and Shield Ring. BARD : Similar, but Plate replacing Braces. (I assume these are the archery equipment, and not what hold my trousers up). MAGE : Mthr Scale & Gloves, Luckshield, Shield Ring, Elf Cloak and Sorcerer's Staff To finish quickly in a distant dungeon, and yet retain the experience etc. you must have plenty of money. Kill off your party, if necessary by Party Attack (a sort of internecine strife) and you will be taken back to the Adventurers' Guild, all dead of course. Remove one member and ADD ONE OF THE LIVE CHARACTERS YOU LEFT BEHIND. Enter the City again (which you can't do if you're all dead) and find the Thieves' Temple. Bring the other dead member later. Priests can completely restore health - at a price. Spell casters, though (even when powerful enough) can only resurrect characters and restore them - they can cure POISONING, NUTS and POSSESSION but not heal STONING or WITHERING. (In dungeons you learn to avoid combat with creatures that can STON or OLD your characters). Symbols Used: Con... = Conjurer spells Son... = Sorcerer spells Pu,d = Portals Up and Down : usually need a Levitation spell Su = Stairs Up Sd = Stairs Down TP = TelePort : you are moved from one location to another AG = Adventurers' Guild CITY 1524 (see section on Mapping for explanation of numbers) C1 = Mad God's Temple CITY 1518 RB = Review Board CITY 2023 RE = Roscoe's Emporium CITY 2112 WS = Weapon Shoppe CITY 1826 Cn... = Catacombs Hn... = Harkyn's Castle K = Kylearan's Amber Tower Sn... = Sewers Tn... = Mangar's Tower General Hints: 1. Use the T key to pause - this stops spells wearing out. 2. Use the RH mouse button and increase scroll speed to maximum, or combat becomes tedious. 3. Use TRZP (Co1) as soon as you are warned of a trap by a spell such as LOTR (So1). 4. Cast CAEY (So4) to dispel smoke in the eyes. 5. It costs nothing to bump into walls, so try walking into them - some are not what they seem. 6. Strong guardians often conceal important locations. Mapping: In the course of winkling out Mangar, you have to explore various areas of Skara Brae and be able to move to or through them; this involves mapping. Mapping is either an enjoyable part of the game, or is tedious beyond endurance. Fortunately, someone has already done the hard work. If you want ready-made maps, Journals are available for all three Bard's Tales from computer adventure specialists, but the second two are of little use to ST owners. The City is a 30 x 30 grid, and Dungeons a 22 x 22 one. Wrapping (the ability to exit in one direction and re-appear at the opposite point of the compass) may make some seem larger. Squares of the grids are identified by a four-figure number. The North direction is given first, and leading zeroes are always included. Numbering starts at 0. In Dungeons therefore the :- bottom left-hand square (extreme SW) is at 0000 top left-hand square (extreme NW) is at 2100 top right-hand square (extreme NE) is at 2121 bottom right-hand square (extreme SE) is at 0021 A City example : the Adventurers' Guild is at 1524. Doors are identified by a square, then the direction to which they lead eg 0913W. Columns and rows are referred to in the manner described, but with an additional comma. eg 09-14,20 is a column and 12,03-07 is a row. Dungeon Descriptions: There are sixteen dungeons to explore and map. In order of solving, these are: 1. Sewers (including the Wine Cellar) - 4 (S0 - S3) 2. Catacombs (including Mad God's Temple) - 3 (C1 - C3) 3. Harkyn's Castle - 3 (H1 - H3) 4. Kylearan's Amber Tower - 1 (K) 5. Mangar's Tower - 5 (T1 - T5) Visiting Every Dungeon: You will need : 1. To ORDER WINE at CITY 0528 2. The NAME of the MAD GOD 3. The EYE from the WITCH KING 4. The ONYX KEY 5. THREE SILVER SHAPES 6. You will also need to open various (hidden) doors or TP by a combination of some or all of : answering questions, performing correct actions, collecting items, visiting certain locations. @~In the next issue of SynTax, MerC's Playing Guide to Bard's Tale 1 @~- don't miss it!