The Bard's Tale Explained

The Bard's Tale
Developer:Interplay Productions
inXile Entertainment
Publisher:Xbox Game Studios
Genre:Role-playing
First Release Version:The Bard's Tale
First Release Date:1985
Latest Release Version:The Bard's Tale: Warlocks of Largefearn
Latest Release Date:2022

The Bard's Tale is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985[1] –1992)[2] and inXile Entertainment (2004–present).[3] [4] The initial title of the series was Tales of the Unknown. dropped the Tales of the Unknown series title, as did all ports of the original game after 1988. From then on, the series was known as The Bard's Tale series. Both Cranford and Fargo have refuted the assertion that the original projected titles for the second and third installments were The Archmage's Tale and The Thief's Tale.[5] [6]

After the first three games, work on a fourth installment began but it became an unrelated game, Dragon Wars, at a very late point in development due to rights issues when Interplay parted ways with their publisher. The series was not continued for many years and is thus still often referred to as the "Bard's Tale trilogy". In 2018, Alex Santa Maria stated that The Bard's Tale was "One of the most classic franchises in PC gaming".

Games

Books

Cluebooks

Official Cluebooks were published by Electronic Arts for the first three Bard's Tale games. These untitled books expanded on the games' stories and added new characters:

The cluebook for the first game (1986,) was written by T.L. Thompson as an in-universe document, the journal of a lord who had very nearly succeeded in solving the quest before finding that his party had lost crucial items required to overcome the final hurdle. The party was implicitly wiped out just short of defeating Mangar but had seen to it that the journal would reach friendly hands.

The cluebook for the second game (1987) was written by T.L. Thompson and David K. Similarly as a short story, narrating how a party of adventurers asks a wizard to foretell their (possible) future by means of a divination spell, if they should attempt the game's quest to find the Destiny Wand and defeat Lagoth Zanta. The resulting trance vision of the possible future reflects poorly on the character of the group's leader, who is also shown to get assassinated at the end, and it is implied that this particular group will thus not embark on the quest after all even though they technically succeeded in the vision.

The cluebook for the third game (1988,) was written by David Luoto in the style of a novella. The protagonist, Arbo, is initially a lazy and useless squire who is "volunteered" by his master to a party of adventurers at Skara Brae. The group proceeds to bring order to the dimensions and best Tarjan, and in the process form Arbo into a resourceful and responsible adult.

Novels

A series of novels based on The Bard's Tale were published by Baen Books during the 1990s. They include:

  1. Castle of Deception, by Mercedes Lackey and Josepha Sherman (1992,)
  2. Fortress of Frost and Fire, by Mercedes Lackey and Ru Emerson (1993,)
  3. Prison of Souls, by Mercedes Lackey and Mark Shepherd (1994,)
  4. The Chaos Gate, by Josepha Sherman (1994,)
  5. Thunder of the Captains, by Holly Lisle and Aaron Allston (1996,)
  6. Wrath of the Princes, by Holly Lisle and Aaron Allston (1997,)
  7. Escape from Roksamur, by Mark Shepherd (1997,)
  8. Curse of the Black Heron, by Holly Lisle (1998,)

While they are listed here in the order they were published, some books in the series connect more than others, such as Castle of Deception and The Chaos Gate, Prison of Souls and Escape from Roksamur, and Thunder of the Captains and Wrath of the Princes.

As part of the crowdfunding campaign for The Bard's Tale IV, six novels set in the Bard's Tale universe were provided to backers in EPUB format in 2018. Three of them are novelized re-tellings of the first three games' storylines (different from the cluebooks, and with different characters) by Nathan Long, who wrote the storyline for part IV; these three novels reframe the original trilogy within the larger story and redefined setting from The Bard's Tale IV and the Remastered edition of the original trilogy.

  1. The Bard's Tale, by Nathan Long
  2. The Destiny Knight, by Nathan Long
  3. The Thief of Fate, by Nathan Long
  4. Paladin, by Elizabeth Watasin
  5. Promises made by Moonlight, by Mike Lee (describes the background of Sybale, a character within the game who can be recruited into the party)
  6. The Song Thief, by Jason Denzel (prominently features a spell book that once belonged to Soriac the Archmage, a character from the original cluebook for the first game)

Reception

By 2003, The Bard's Tale series had sold over a million copies.[8]

In 1996, Next Generation listed the series (referring to the first three parts of the original trilogy plus the construction set at the time) collectively as number 62 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", praising the all-in-one interface using multiple display windows and the unparalleled level of plot detail and development.[9] In 2018, Alex Santa Maria stated that it was "One of the most classic franchises in PC gaming".[10]

See also

Notes and References

  1. 1985 Index . . January 1986 . 4 . 10 . 6 .
  2. Web site: Matt . Barton . February 23, 2007 . The History of Computer Role-Playing Games . Part 2: The Golden Age (1985–1993) . . March 26, 2009.
  3. Web site: The Bard's Tale Compendium . 2004 . February 24, 2011 . Game review.
  4. Web site: Madan. Asher. Cult classic 'The Bard's Tale Trilogy' warps on Xbox One, supports Xbox Play Anywhere. Windows Central. September 6, 2019. August 13, 2019.
  5. Web site: Cranford. Michael. 1985. The Bard's Tale [Commodore 64 game manual].]. Museum of Computer Adventure Gaming History.
  6. Web site: Cranford. Michael. 1987. The Bard's Tale [Apple IIGS game manual].]. Museum of Computer Adventure Gaming History..
  7. Web site: The Bard's Tale – Warlocks of Largefearn - Polar Night Studio. 16 December 2021.
  8. News: McNamara . Tom . The New Bard's Tale . 4 July 2024 . . 1 October 2003.
  9. Top 100 Games of All Time . Next Generation. 21 . . September 1996. 48.
  10. Web site: Maria. Alex. The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight Joins Remastered Original. Game Revolution. September 6, 2019. October 23, 2018. Mar18.