The Bard's Tale (1985 Video Game) - Story

Story

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 young Warriors, junior Magic Users, a couple of Bards barely old enough to drink, and some out of work Rogues. You are there. You are the leader of this ragtag group of freedom fighters. Luckily you have a Bard with you to sing your glories, if you survive. For this is the stuff of legends. And so the story begins...

The introduction depicts a bard sitting in a tavern. Between occasional sips from his mug, he strums a lute and sings:

The song I sing

Will tell the tale

of a cold and wintery day;

Of castle walls

And torchlit halls

And a price men had to pay.

When evil fled

And brave men bled

The Dark one came to stay,

'Til men of old

For blood and gold

Had rescued Skara Brae.

In the actual game, the player forms a group ("party") of up to six characters in the Adventurer's Guild building which is the only "home zone" where the current game or more precisely, the characters and their current inventory, can be saved. Game progress is made through advancing the characters so that they are powerful enough to defeat the increasingly dangerous foes and mosters in the dungeons, obtaining certain items relevant to solving the overall quest, and obtaining information.

The fictional town of Skara Brae consists of 30x30 map tiles containing either buildings or streets (plus gates and magical guardian statues blocking certain streets). In the northeastern and southwestern area, a lone tower is blocked off by locked gates. The main gates which open to the west are blocked by snow, and remain impassable throughout the game. One street seems to lead south endlessly, teleporting the party back to its beginning upon reaching the portion where the city walls would be.

Certain buildings within the city are special, such as the Adventurer's Guild, Garth's Equipment Shoppe, the Review Board (which must be found first, and is the only place where characters can level up), various taverns and temples and the dungeons. The latter are mazes of various kinds (like cellars, sewers, catacombs or fortresses) full of monsters and riddles, ususally guarded by magical statues that turn to life to attack trespassing player parties. The more powerful the statues, the more dangerous is the dungeon they guard which also indicates the order in which the dungeons have to be solved:

1. The Wine Cellar (1 level) of one particular tavern, which lead to the Sewers of Skara Brae (3 levels) which in turn feature an exit that leads to an otherwise inaccessible southwestern corner of the city where Mangar's Tower, the final dungeon, is located. In the sewers, numerous hints are found including the name of the Mad God. Finding the first dungeon (The wine cellar) required you to order some wine at a certain tavern. There was a hint to this in the manual (Hint: The first dungeon is the wine cellar of the only tavern in town which serves wine. It's on Rakhir Street). However this hint was not present in the manual included with the C64 release of the game.
2. The undead-infested Catacombs (3 levels) beneath the temple of the Mad God, accessible only if his name is known (but not technically requiring the party to have found this password themselves). On the lowest level, a Lich must be defeated to obtain an eye.
3. If they possess the eye, a statue of the Mad God in Baron Harkyn's Castle (3 levels) will teleport the party to the (otherwise inaccessible) northeastern area where the next dungeon is located; however, it is not required to proceed to the next dungeon immediately. If weakened too much from the fighting in the castle, the party may elect to leave the area via one-way portals instead at this point to return to the city and the Adventurer's Guild.
4. Kylearan's Tower (1 level) is only accessible through the teleporter in Harkyn's Castle, requiring any party who wish to enter to fight through the castle's three levels first. Kylearan the Archmage awaits the party at the conclusion of the maze his tower and turns out to be friendly. He gives the party an access key to the final dungeon.
5. Reachable only via the Sewers' lowest level, Mangar's Tower (5 levels) is the final dungeon that has to be overcome to reach Mangar and slay him, provided the party has acquired the items which are required to best him.