Tales of the Unknown, Volume 1: The Bard’s Tale Design Document

Thanks to a new “memory lane” post by former Interplay CEO Brian Fargo, we now have access to the original design document that outlined their plans for Tales of the Unknown, Volume 1: The Bard’s Tale (or just The Bard’s Tale, as it was later known as). Originally, the game was going to be called “Shadow Snare” and it was set to build off the “problems and irritations” that the author felt were plaguing Sir Tech’s Wizardry and Richard Garriott’s Ultima series back in 1985.  Scans of the design document can be found in our image gallery, while a full transcription is below:

SHADOW SNARE is a role playing game set in a medieval fantasy world. If it could be called similar to any existing gane, that game would be Wizardry, by Sir Tech Software.  The object in the design of SHADOW SNARE has not been to copy Wizardry, but to come up with a role playing game of similar, though greatly increased, playability. The graphics, sound, and content would be ten tines that of Wizardry, which is still a top seller, along with its varied scenarios and Ultima III.

Unlike Wizardry, the town in SHADOW SNARE is depicted with a series of small (though highly detailed) graphic pictures, some of which are animated. The display is graphic, and the text output window scrolla messages up smoothly. All disk access vill be quick and hardly noticeable, even on tho Commodore 64 (which Wizardry is not even released on).

SHADOW SNARE has 9 character classes: Warrior, Conjurer, Wizard, Sorceror, Magician, Monk, Rogue, Bard, and Hunter. The four spell-casting classes each have 7 levels of spells, with about 5 spells per level. Six characters can be in a party. There are 255 items, both normal and magical, which characters can buy, trade, and find in the depths of the labyrinths.

You can reorder your characters, examine their personal statistics, trade items, drop items, equip items, cast spells, and so on, at any point you are moving about, and you do not have to be encamped. In fact, no disk action will occur for this part of the program at all. Thus, a major part of Wizardry’s problems and irritations will not even arise in SHADOW SNARE.

There are i character classes that can cast spells. A Conjurer’s magical ability deals with the physical manifestation of magical power, such as a fireball, a darkness spell, or a magic missile. A Magician’s spells center around magical results that arc not directly physical, such as healing, levitation, spells of protection, and of locating secret doors. These two classes can be adopted by any new spell caster.

The Sorceror and Wizard classes are not available to new mages. Conjurors or Magicians who have reached the fifth experience level (or higher) nay elect to stop advancement in their present category and become either a Sorceror or Wizard, beginning at the first level of experience again. In time, a spell caster could master all types of magic.

A Sorceror’s ability deals with the creation of illusion. His spells are powerful and varied. He might, for instance, make an illusionary giant appear and join the party. Or cause an illusionary dragon to breathe lire on his enemies. His enemies have a chance of disbelieving the illusion, though, and thus render it harmless.

A Wizard has command over a variety of supernatural entities which live on various planes of existence. He can call them into his world and cake then aid the party. Such creatures as elementals, undead, and even demons must obey him, unless they can break free from his control and attack the party.

The Bard character cannot cast spells, but he can play songs of a magical nature which can help the party in a variety of ways. Songs of battle will make the party core dexterous in combat… songs of healing will restore strength to the party… songs of stealth will keep the party from setting off traps. These songs will be in the fora of musical scores that run during the adventure and battle sequences.

The “dungeon) portion will have solidly colored walls, not wire-graphic outlines. In addition to walls, doors, and secret doors, there will also be portals through the floor and the ceiling. Any spells that operate over a period of real tine (such as Light or Protect) will not be listed in text, but instead will be represented by graphic shapes (such as a flickering torch) that animate during the game. The Bard character’s “spells” are tunes that play during travel time and combat. Different tunes designate differing effects on the party.

There will be at least 40 dungeon levels in a scenario, and each level is 22×22 units in area, which is Si units larger than a Wizardry level. SHADOW SNARE will have ever 100 different Monsters, with over 20 illustrated pictures, 3one of which will be animated.

In addition to your 6 characters, there is another slot open for an addition in the character list. This slot can be occupied by a monster or adventurer you meet in the dungeon, or a creature which, by magic, you summon or create. This creature could potentially turn on your party, and it is also possible for the members of your party to attack one another.

In combat, statistics of damage done to the party and the monsters cones up, as in Wizardry, but there will also be a dialogue feature. Your characters will scream out curses at monsters, the monsters will howl back, and it will cone out like a chapter from a good adventure book.

Example:

Conan swings and hits for 28 points of damage.

“Take that, you slime!”

The dragon attacks Conan and misses.

“Drat!” howls the dragon. “Now you will die, human!

Conan laughs.

If dialogue mode was turned off, only the lines specifying actual combat information would be printed. The above text would scroll smoothly up the text window, at a player-adjustable speed.

In addition to monsters, a dungeon will have poems, messages, special rooms, traps, guarded chests, teleportation spots, and pre-set encounters.  In the city, in addition to the Adventurers Guild, the Weapons Shop, and the Temple, you can also visit the inn and gamble at the medieval versions of blackjack and slots.

Overall, the depth of SHADOW SNARE far surpasses what has been done in role-playing software up to this point. Role players continue to buy Wizardry and Ultima software, and anxiously await new scenarios for each. What we will supply will be the finest product available in this genre. And further scenarios could be implemented in a short period of time.

Great stuff.