Bard's Tale 1985 - Gameplay

The Bard's Tale (Tales of the Unknown: Volume I) is a computer fantasy role-playing game created by Interplay Productions in 1985 and distributed by Electronic Arts. It was designed and programmed by Michael Cranford. Based loosely on traditional Dungeons and Dragons gameplay and inspired by the Wizardry computer games, The Bard's Tale was noteworthy for its unp ...

Including:

• Bard's Tale 1985 - Story
• Bard's Tale 1985 - Gameplay
• Bard's Tale 1985 - Sequels
• Bard's Tale 1985 - Novels
• Bard's Tale 1985 - Legacy
• Bard's Tale 1985 - Trivia

Read more here: » Bard's Tale 1985: Encyclopedia - Bard's Tale 1985

The Bard's Tale is a straightforward "dungeon crawl". The objective is to gain experience and advance your characters' skills through random combat with enemies and monsters. This is done while exploring maze-like dungeons, solving occasional puzzles and riddles, and finding or buying better weapons and armour. When beginning the game you create up to six player characters, chosen from among the following classes: Bard, hunter, monk, paladin, rogue, warrior, magician, conjurer, sorcerer, or wizard. A typical well-balanced party ...

See also:

Bard's Tale 1985, Bard's Tale 1985 - Story, Bard's Tale 1985 - Gameplay, Bard's Tale 1985 - Sequels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Novels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Legacy, Bard's Tale 1985 - Trivia

Read more here: » Bard's Tale 1985: Encyclopedia II - Bard's Tale 1985 - Gameplay

The following text from the box cover summarizes the premise: Long ago, when magic still prevailed, the evil wizard Mangar the Dark threatened a small but harmonious country town called Skara Brae. Evil creatures oozed into Skara Brae and joined his shadow domain. Mangar froze the surrounding lands with a spell of Eternal Winter, totally isolating Skara Brae from any possible help. Then, one night the town militiamen all disappeared. The future of Skara Brae hung in the balance. And who was left to resist? Only a handful of unproven y ...

See also:

Bard's Tale 1985, Bard's Tale 1985 - Story, Bard's Tale 1985 - Gameplay, Bard's Tale 1985 - Sequels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Novels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Legacy, Bard's Tale 1985 - Trivia

Read more here: » Bard's Tale 1985: Encyclopedia II - Bard's Tale 1985 - Story

According to Bill Heineman (programmer of The Bard's Tale III) the name of the overall series was to be Tales of the Unknown, and the three games were to be entitled The Bard's Tale, The Archmage's Tale, and The Thief's Tale. However, the immense popularity of the first game prompted Electronic Arts to re-brand the series under the more well-known name, The Bard's Tale. Michael Cranford, the designer and programmer of the first two Bard's Tale games, was a devout Christian. He included ...

See also:

Bard's Tale 1985, Bard's Tale 1985 - Story, Bard's Tale 1985 - Gameplay, Bard's Tale 1985 - Sequels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Novels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Legacy, Bard's Tale 1985 - Trivia

Read more here: » Bard's Tale 1985: Encyclopedia II - Bard's Tale 1985 - Trivia

A series of novels based on The Bard's Tale were published by Baen Books during the 1990s. Although the books had little in common with the storyline of the games, their existence is a testament to how influential the Bard's Tale brand had become. They include: Castle of Deception, by Mercedes Lackey and Josepha Sherman (1992, ISBN 0671721259) Fortress of Frost and Fire, by Mercedes Lackey and Ru Emerson (1993, ISBN 0671721623) The Chaos Gate, by Josepha Sherman (1994, ISBN 06 ...

See also:

Bard's Tale 1985, Bard's Tale 1985 - Story, Bard's Tale 1985 - Gameplay, Bard's Tale 1985 - Sequels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Novels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Legacy, Bard's Tale 1985 - Trivia

Read more here: » Bard's Tale 1985: Encyclopedia II - Bard's Tale 1985 - Novels

The Bard's Tale was both a best-seller and a critical success, and produced three official sequels: The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate The Bard's Tale Construction Set (A later Interplay game, Dragon Wars, used an upgraded Bard's Tale software engine, and many fans thought of it as a fourth Bard ...

See also:

Bard's Tale 1985, Bard's Tale 1985 - Story, Bard's Tale 1985 - Gameplay, Bard's Tale 1985 - Sequels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Novels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Legacy, Bard's Tale 1985 - Trivia

Read more here: » Bard's Tale 1985: Encyclopedia II - Bard's Tale 1985 - Sequels

The Bard's Tale inspired countless imitations, and is featured on many "top ten RPG games of all time" lists. Despite its age, the original Bard's Tale games still have a large following on the Internet. There are several web rings dedicated to it, as well as several stand-alone fan web sites — and at least one independent group of fans created their own spiritual successor to the series wit ...

See also:

Bard's Tale 1985, Bard's Tale 1985 - Story, Bard's Tale 1985 - Gameplay, Bard's Tale 1985 - Sequels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Novels, Bard's Tale 1985 - Legacy, Bard's Tale 1985 - Trivia

Read more here: » Bard's Tale 1985: Encyclopedia II - Bard's Tale 1985 - Legacy