The Bard’s Tale
Tales of the Unknown
The original Bard’s Tale, officially titled Tales of the Unknown, Vol.I: The Bard’s Tale, was written by Michael Cranford of Interplay Productions. It was published by Electronic Arts in 1985 and was available on the MS-DOS, Apple ][, Apple IIGS, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, and Amiga platforms. Later, a scaled-down version of the game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Getting Started
Characters
I recommend a starting party comprised of a Paladin, a Monk, a Hunter, a Bard, a Conjurer and Magic-User. The fighters should be Dwarfs for Strength, the Bard should be a Human and the Magic Users should be Elves for magic bonuses. At higher levels, you can trade the Paladin in for another Magic-User.
Attributes
Strength (Fighters): Gives damage bonus on hit only with a 17 or 18. 17 = +1 damage, 18 = +2. Important for Fighters, followed by a high Constitution for durability.
Intelligence (Mages): Gives bonus spell points with mages. Base spell points per level is 1-4 plus +1 per intelligence over 14. So intelligence on mages of 18 give 5-8 spell points per level up. For Mages, intelligence then constitution are max priorities.
* Dexterity (Initiative): Gives bonus AC -1 point per stat over 14. 18 dexterity gives -4 AC bonus. Dexterity also decides who goes first in combat, which is etremely important!
Constitution (Health): A high Constitution give the character bonus “hit points” which makes them harder to defeat.
Luck (Rogues): Is important for a little resists and Rogues hide ability, but Rogues are pretty useless in BT1 so just make up a rogue Hobbit later with max luck and train him up if you want to transfer him over to BT2 and especially BT3.
Magic Users
Once a magic user becomes proficient in at least one art, he can then become a sorcerer. Sorcery deals with the magic of illusion and magical perception. If a magic user becomes proficient in at least two of the arts, he can then become a wizard. Wizardry deals with the summoning and control of supernatural creatures. The experience points required to advance a level as a wizard are much higher than the other magic classes. It is best to let your magic user advance all the way to level 7 in whichever art he is in before changing classes. But be sure to change class after he has attained level 7 of the art. In the dungeons there are many traps for the unwary; you never know who will be killed and what spells are required to save your party from extinction.
Starting Out
When you first leave the Adventurer’s Guild, explore the city. Visit Garth’s Armory, and find the Review Board (located next to the inn on Trumpet Street). Don’t wander too far until you get a feel for how you can survive. To restore hit points after fighting, visit a temple. There all ills — including death — can be cured for a price. After a fight, you will quite frequently find objects of some type. Keep them all. If you don’t need them, go to Garth’s and sell them for gold — you will need it.
Spell Points
Visit Roscoe’s Energy emporium located off the Gran Plaz on the corner of Grey Knife Street. There you will get an idea what it costs to restore spell points. Early on, when you are still short of gold, the best way to restore spell points is to go into the Adventurer’s Guild and just wait. This game is in real time, and spell points are restored as you just sit there. If you wait on the street or in a house, you will almost certainly be attacked.
Treasure
When you find an object after a fight or in a chest in the dungeons, experiment with it to find out what it is. There are no cursed items. Quite a few objects have magical properties that are not readily apparent. Here are a few of the objects that I found most useful, even though you won’t run into these until later in the game: Kael’s Axe seemed to be the best weapon, causing the most damage for my Paladins; a frost horn for your Bard, when used in combat, causes 40-70 hit points of damage to a group of monsters; a mage staff for your magic users allows them to regain spell points even in a dungeon (this is incredibly useful). I will leave it up to you to discover the usefulness of the other items found during the game.
Maps
Skara Brae
What People Are Saying
Elevate Your Classroom
Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Sed molestie, velit ut eleifend sollicitudin, neque orci tempor.
Free Courses
Duis egestas aliquet aliquet. Maecenas erat eros, fringilla et leo eget, viverra pretium nulla. Quisque sed augue tincidunt, posuere dui tempor.
Premium Courses
Duis egestas aliquet aliquet. Maecenas erat eros, fringilla et leo eget, viverra pretium nulla. Quisque sed augue tincidunt, posuere dui tempor.
Ready to get started?
Get in touch, or create an account