Article: 11968 of rec.games.misc From: Wyvern@cup.portal.com (Jeanne Wyvern Harlan-Marriott) --
DRAGON WARS by Interplay, IBM version 9/18/90
Dragon Wars from Interplay is a fun game! It is a large computer fantasy game of similar scale as Magic Candle <Mindcraft> and the Ultima series <Origin>. Nice graphics, ease of play, good documentation all play their parts in making this an enjoyable game. Of particular delight to me, given the games I have been playing of late, was the fact that Dragon Wars is bug free! Frankly I admire a game company that takes the time to give their market a quality product and Interplay has certainly done so with Dragon Wars! Installing the game is a simple process. I played on a PC 386 clone with VGA and harddisk. After making a directory for the game, I just copied the files and ran a quick install to set the game for my graphic capabilities. That done, you fire up the game. The game provides pre-built characters but also supports characters from Bard's Tale I, II, and III. Since I had saved characters from a Bard's Tale game, I decided to use them to play Dragon Wars. Word of advise on using Bard's Tale characters: first examine the pre-built characters that come with Dragon Wars and write down their stats and skills, create characters from your Bard's Tale game and do the same. Compare the two sets of characters closely paying particular attention to Magic skill/knowledge. There are five types of magic in Dragon Wars: Low, High, Sun, Druid and Misc. Ideally you will want your party to have knowledge of low, high, sun and druid magic types or as many as possible. Choose which ever character group has the best representation of knowledge in magic.
AUTOMAPPING: Dragon Wars includes an automapping feature which can be viewed by pressing "?". While this is intended to remove the need of the players to map the game areas on graph paper and is wonderfully useful, I still mapped the game out on paper. The deficiency of automaps is that you can take no notes on them, nor mark spots that have a particular importance. While it was time consuming for me to draw out the maps it was time well spent. I advise you to do the same. If nothing else, the automap feature will ensure that your drawn maps are accurate.
NOTES ON THIS FILE: Except for the beginning of the game, where you go and when is completely up to you. My notes are arranged after discussion of PURGATORY <start game area> and the MAGAN UNDERWORLD <great place> in alphabetical order and ending with SALVATION and DEPTHS OF NISIR which are the end game areas. The notes listed in alphabetical order are by NO means a recommendation of when you should do what. It is merely an effort on my part to make this file easier for you to use.
SAVING YOUR GAME: Dragon Wars has a simple and fast save feature. To protect yourself, though, you should exit the game from time to time and copy the file data1 to another <save1 or Lansk or whatever name reminds you of the point of save>. These files are HUGE being close to 300K in size but potentially worth their weight in gold!
PURGATORY - start game Upon starting the game, you find your characters in the city of Purgatory <catchy name, wonder how they thought of it> with absolutely no equipment, money or clothes. Fortunately this sad condition is easily remedied. In the middle of the north end of Purgatory there is an arena anxious for new victims for their gladiators. "Fight gladiators barefisted and barebottomed" you think.... not to worry, the arena will offer to equip your characters. They offer a range of low end equipment, leather armor, maces, swords and all of it free for the fighting. You're going to lose the fight, I might as well tell you that now, but in most cases you are not going to die so while you'll get thrown out of the arena a little worse for the wear, you will have equipment. <I recommend that you save your game before entering the arena just in case one of your characters should bite the dust>
Now that your characters have basic equipment, its time to explore your new prison, I mean home. There are such lovely things to do in Purgatory. You can sell yourself as a slave in the slave market, join the thieves guild, listen for rumors in the tavern and even ask for a volunteer! Seriously, do ask for a volunteer in the tavern which is in the north-east portion of the city. You'll pick up a volunteer named Ulrik who has skills in Cave Lore and Axes. He's not a great character, but he's nice to have along. Don't join the thieves' guild which is located in the south- west portion of the city. Here you should stoutly maintain your honor. Doing so will give you a mini-quest to defeat the Humbaba monster in the north-east corner of the city. When you do defeat the Humbaba, return to the guild and you will be given 1000 gold pieces for your efforts! The slave market is one way out of Purgatory but there are others and there is nothing of great importance to find there. There is a magic shop in the west side of Purgatory. For any characters who have Low Magic, this is a great place to pick up the spells for that magic and they are FREE. Along the north wall <west of the arena> is the Black Market, a good place to buy some better equipment with the 1000 gold you obtained from the thieves. Probably the best use of your money at this stage is in better armor. <Do not buy dragon stones at this point. They are expensive and within Purgatory, unnecessary. On the south side of the city there is a magic pool which will restore magic energy.> BLACK MARKET OF PURGATORY: Hand Axe 60g Bow 60g Small Pick 50g Long Bow 90g Pick 60g Crossbow 60g Battle Axe 70g Arrow <20> 50g Flail 40g Bolt<20> 60g Mace 40g Javelin 40g Dagger 30g Short Sword 50g Cloth 25g Broadsword 60g Leather 50g Greatsword 80g Brigadine 80g Scale 250g Dragon Stone 250g restores 20 magic
There is a secret passage in the northwest corner of the city that will gain you access to the outer wall. There are many encounters in this wall area with guards which can generate additional cash slowly. In the southeast corner of the outer wall there is a gap in the stones leading to the waters below. Try using SWIM if you decide to use this exit from Purgatory, but I recommend using the Magan Underworld instead. You can also exit Purgatory in the the southwest corner of the outer wall. Again, I suggest the Magan Underworld as the best choice.
SKILLS, POWER REGENERATION and INVENTORY in DRAGON WARS: Logic might dictate that this paragraph belongs before actually getting into the game itself. I choose to include it after basic notes about Purgatory because you need to have a rudimentary understanding of how the game works to appreciate/understand the advise I will give here. Dragon Wars is a skill based system which means that any time your characters advance a level you have to decide from three menu pages where you're going to put your "two cents worth". The documentation that comes with the game advises that you spread the knowledge/skills around among your characters. This is good advise. There are so many options, there is no way within this game that you can make one character completely skilled so DON'T TRY. Decide which character will specialize in what skills. You might want to make one concentrate on Lore <arcane, mountain, forest, etc> and another on the thiefly skills <pickpocket, lockpick, etc.>. Get all the skills covered one way or another, but spread the "workload" over all your characters. Perhaps my only great complaint with Dragon Wars concerns the skill based system. When a character advances a level you only get 2 points to apply to the skills/attributes. It is very difficult to know how to spend these 2 points wisely. Many skills and attributes cost 2 points to increase 1 point. Obtaining a new magic knowledge costs 10 points! To give you an example of the significant cost that reflects, my characters at end game were around 14th level and they did not begin the game at 1st level <because I transferred characters from Bard's Tale>. That represents a lot of level advancements in which I could make no improvements on characters I wished or needed to obtain a new magic knowledge. To cast spells you have to have magic power. Every time you cast a spell some magic power is drained. There are two ways to regenerate magic power. One is the use of Dragon Stones or Eyes and the other is to find a magic pool that restores energy. Dragon Stones restore 20 points of power and Dragon Eyes restore 30 points. Magic pools restore all magic points and have the added advantage of being free! Dragon Stones can be purchased in many locations throughout Dragon Wars for 250 gold. Dragon Eyes can only be found as treasure. Magic pools are far and few between, but fortunately there are a few in some excellent locations that you can take full advantage of during the game. There is a magic pool in PURGATORY in the south-east corner <there are actually two corners in Purgatory that you could call south-east, the magic pool is located in the southern most one of the two>. Make good use of this pool to restore your magician's power and allow you to heal your characters as you explore this city. Inventory is the other area where I experienced frustration with Dragon Wars. Your characters can only carry so much which in and of itself is acceptable. The problem arises when you run out of space. Dragon Wars does not provide any means of storing items in a location for use later. To further complicate matters some treasure chests that you find will disappear after you have opened them so if you were unable to take all the treasure, it will not be there when you return. This is not true of ALL treasure chests, but being true at all can cause problems. Some treasures are unique and needed to solve the game. It is not always clear which items are important and which are not. Some locations have numerous treasures available and your characters are soon out of space. I managed to avoid problem related to inventory in my own game, but it is worth noting so that you manage your own character's inventory with care. You will find lots of weapons in this game. Examination of an item tells you what strength or dexterity or skill is needed to use it. Examination does not tell you the kind of damage the weapon is capable of inflicting. To get a rough idea of the power of a weapon, look at its value on the SELL menu. The more valuable an item is the better it is. Some weapons/items have spells on them. Some of these are worth keeping in your inventory, but in general don't carry around a lot of items for which you have no real use. Sell them for the money. Now back to the game!
STILL IN PURGATORY: Paragraph notes to be found in Purgatory: 14, 5, 9, 10, 67, 3, 94, 77
MAGAN UNDERWORLD: There is on the west side of the city an entrance to the Magan Underworld. The Magan Underworld represents one of the largest single areas in the game excluding the above ground world. Its a wonderful place and accessable to many of the other locations in Dragon Wars. The Magan Underworld is a very important place within the game. There is so much to be found here that it is difficult to know where to begin telling you of its wonders. Since this area "wraps" upon itself, it is almost impossible to tell you where you will find what in this area. If we use your point of entrance from Purgatory into the Magan Underworld for reference, we can get a general sense of direction. <note: place this point in the center of your graph paper if you do decide to commit areas to hard copies> To the north of your point of entrance you will find two buildings. The smaller of the two contains stairs that will lead you to the Lansk Undercity <a tough place for beginning characters, but has an armory, healer and weapons shop not far from the stairs>. The larger building of the two, while located here, is only accessable from Necropolis and contains the only means of resurrecting your characters within the game. Also to the north is a small river and lake. On the southern side of the lake there is a magic pool that restores magic power. This particular pool provided me with endless use so its handy to know exactly where it is located. In the center of the lake there is a small island called the ISLE OF WOE. You will not be able to reach this island until later in the game, when you get the Golden Boots from Mud Toad's Priests, but it is a very important location. There is a doorway that leads by <on the north side> of the larger of the two buildings to the area where you can see the location of the ISLE OF WOE. This are is bounded by water and pits. IMPORTANT: The first pit area to the west of the water in this area is safe to walk upon. Doing so will result in 5 points that can be spent upon character skill/attribute development. Don't miss this!! You cannot fall into the pits in THIS area <not true everywhere else> so check around until you locate this square. 5 points is too much to pass by. To the west of point of entry there are stairs leading up to the MYSTIC WOODS. To avoid any confusion the means of returning to the Magan Underworld from the Mystic Woods is to use the ability CLIMB. I didn't realize this when I was first playing the game and it caused me to restore the game to an earlier point. You can avoid my difficulty. 3 squares south and 3 squares west of the entrance to the Mystic Woods is the first of two treasures that can be found in the Magan Underworld. TREASURE 1: Rusty Axe <str 18> a great axe! Speed Wand <casts Zak's Speed> Bomb <3 quantity> <casts Zak's Speed> Dragon Stones <10 quantity> To the east of point of entry are stairs leading to Tar's Ruins Underground. This is a relatively small area map that wraps upon itself. There are secret passages that reveal treasures which I will detail later. To re-enter the Magan Underworld, you must again use the ability CLIMB. To the south our point of entry to the Magan Underworld is an area with many fires. Each of these fires causes damage to your characters. There is in the north area of the fires the 2nd treasure to be found in the Magan Underworld. TREASURE 2: Slicer <sword> <str 17> a wonderful weapon! Dragon Stones <10 quantity> Also in the fire are is the entrance to the Dwarf Clan Hall. Early in the game you do not need to access this area. To the east of the fire area is a large pit and an path leading south. This path forms a cross shaped area with an entrance to SALVATION. Along the path you will encounter fairies that will ask if you are willing to sacrifice a life to continue. Replying "yes" will reduce you party to minimun life force. While there is reason to use this path near the end of the game, you need not explore it before hand. Paragraph notes to be found in Magan Underworld: , 137, 138, 127
OTHER AREAS LISTED ALPHABETICALLY:
BRIDGE between Isle of the Sun and Forlorn: You need Citizen papers to cross this bridge.
BRIDGE between Lansk and Isle of the Sun: Pikemen here will ask to search your packs and if allowed to do so will ask a percentage in gold of what you are carrying to cross the bridge. Refusal to pay results in an encounter with 3 pikemen. This is not a difficult encounter and better than paying the fee. Of note on this bridge is the building containing the Armory. Enter the building once and you just get thrown out. Enter twice and you can fight it out with the guards. If successful you can reach the armory <there is a pit in the room before it which will cause damage to your party> and reap the following: ARMORY: Axe of Kalah str 18 <excellent weapon> Holy Mace Exorcism spell Gem Helm Gauntlets Archers' Bow dex 18 Boomerang Dragon Stones<10>
BRIDGE between Lansk and Quag: See QUAG BRIDGE.
BYZAN DUNGEON: Accessable from Byzanople <see notes>. This small area will be filled with a number of encounters until you reach the northwest area of where you will encounter the Princess. She will ask you to surrender, do so. You will meet Prince Jordan and given freedom to roam the dungeon area until it is time to defeat the forces in the Siege Camp. Do not take the stairs leading up until you have explored the rest of this area. You will find in a room on the northeast a treasure: TREASURE 1: Magic Chain Magic Shield Big Chill <high magic> Dazzle <high magic> Long Bolt<20> Dragon Stone<7> On the west side there is a door leading into the ancient crypt. There are many encounters here with zombies. in the furthest southwest corner is a treasure: TREASURE 2: Magic Axe After exploring this area, take the stairs up. Jordan will tell you that it is now time to attack the Siege Camp and you will be moved to an area outside the Siege Camp walls. <see Siege Camp notes> Paragraph notes for Byzan Dungeon: 108, 110
BYZANOPLE: Located on King's Island, Byzanople is only accessable from the Siege Camp. As you enter this area for the first time, you will be on the outside of the walls and if you get too close will be hit by a lot of arrow fire. Directly north and 1 square to the east of where you enter are stairs leading down. Alternately, there is also an entrance in the southeastern area. Here you will need to move a rock <strength> to reveal an opening. Both lead you to the Byzan Dungeon. You will not obtain access to Byzanople proper until after you have completed Byzan Dungeon. In the city there is a healer, an Armorer: ARMORER: Scale 250g Chain 310 Plate 3100 Lr. Shield 1000 Dragon Stone 250 and a Weaponsmith: WEAPONS: War Flail 500g Bow 60g Bladed Flail 1000 Long Bow 90 Mace 50 Crossbow 60 Dagger 30 Bolt<20> 60 Short Sword 50 Arrow<20> 50 Broad Sword 60 Javelin 40 Polearm 90 Barbed Spear 4000 Long Mace 2000 Paragraph notes for Byzanople: 33, 34
DECAYING CITY: See SNAKE PIT
DILMUN: Dilmun refers to all the islands above ground, King's Island, Rustic, Isle of the Sun, Forlorn, and Quag, as well as some areas that are not shown on the map in the documentation. See appropriate notes for more information.
DRAGON VALLEY: Accessable only from Eastern Isles <Sunken Ruins> with the ship from Smuggler's Cove. This is a dangerous place and you need to have the Dragon Gem from the Lansk Dragon before you can complete this entire area. In the south you will find a Dragons Tooth <considered a sword>. On the southwest you will find a Dragons Nest: DRAGONS NEST: Dragon Tears Holy Lance Dragon Helm Dragon Shield Dragon Eye restores 30 points magic power In the northeast corner you will find a treasure: TREASURE 1: Sala's Swift <high magic> Vorn's Guard <high magic> Cowardice <high magic> In the northwest are of Dragon Valley there is an encounter with the Queen Dragon. Use the DRAGON GEM <from the Lansk Dragon> to escape death. Paragraph notes for Dragon Valley: 134, 120
DWARF CLAN HALL: The western most part of this area can be reached from the Magan Underworld. In the western portion if the dwarf forge which will be needed to create the Sword of Freedom once you have found Roba's Skull in the Sunken Ruins. After giving the skull to the master dwarf smith, you will be told that the sword will appear on the Isle of Woe which is located in the Magan Underworld. There is a crystal barrier blocking your path to the east. You can by pass this barrier with the use of Soften Stone. The eastern portion of this area is also accessable from King's Island if you have the Jade Eyes <to be found in the treasure chest on Smuggler's Cove only after the defeat of the pirates>. Exploring this area will reveal that the dwarves have been turned to stone. Use of Soften Stone will restore them to normal. There are 3 treasures to be found in the Dwarf Clan home. The treasures are guarded by Automans which are fairly difficult to defeat. TREASURE 1: Dragon Helm Bomb <8> Zak's Speed <Misc Magic> Spike Flail Mystic Might <high magic> TREASURE 2: Crush Mace Spell Staff Healing Potion TREASURE 3: Gold <1000> Dragon Horn Rage of Mithras <sun magic> Paragraphs notes for Dwarf Clan Hall: 118, 119, 38
DWARF RUINS: Located in the central area of King's Island there is little here except a statue and a small building. Use the JADE EYES <obtained from the encounter with the pirates in Smuggler's Cove> on the statue to open the small building. This will give you access to stairs leading down to the eastern side of the Dwarf Clan Hall. No paragraph notes for Dwarf Ruins.
EASTERN ISLES: This small area accessable with the ship from Smuggler's Cove contains the entrances to the Sunken Ruins and Dragon Valley. Paragraph note for Eastern Isle: 46
FORLORN: This are of Dilmun contains Purgatory, Slave Estate, Tars Ruins, the Slave Camp and a treasure. The treasure is located almost due south of the Slave Estate. The southern most section of this land mass has a magical pool which will restore heal and magic to maximum. TREASURE 1: Chain Armor Broad Sword<2> Hand Axe Brigadine<2> Bow Arrow<2 of 20quantity> Mage Fire <low magic> Charm <low magic> Luck <low magic> Lesser Heal <low magic> Mage Lite <low magic> Dragon Stone<4>
FREEPORT: Accessable only with the pirates ship from Smuggler's Cove. This city features numerous shops. RYAN'S ARMOR: Scale 250g Chain 310 Heavy Plate 4000 Lg. Shield 100 MAGIC INC: Dazzle 1000 <high magic> Mystic Might 1000 <high magic> Rev. Glamour 1000 <high magic> Sala's Swift 1000 <high magic> Vorn's Guard 1000 <high magic> Cowardice 1000 <high magic> Soften Stone 1000 <druid magic> FREEPORT ARMS: Bladed Flail 1000 Hammer 40 Long Mace 200 BEWITCHING POTIONS & ELIXERS: Dragon Stones 250g On the east side of the city you will find the Order of the Sword. An encounter here will allow you access to the following treasure: ORDER OF THE SWORD: Stone Hand Needed in Mud Toad Soften Stone <druid magic> Spell Staff Charger <sun magic, USEFUL!> At the Brew Brother's you will find the volunteer Halifax who is a better addition to your group than Louie <found in the Slave Camp>. In the southwest portion of the city is an island which you can reach using the Golden Boots obtained in Mud Toad. Upon the island is the "freedom sword". Don't you believe it. Cast REVEAL GLAMOUR to show that this is really a trap set by Namtar. Not doing so will kill one of your characters. Paragraph notes for Freeport: 51, 52, 56, 57, 27
GAME PRESERVE: Accessable from Rustic, the Game Preserve is located on the northwest section of Rustic. There are many snare traps set about here which are easily removed <should you get caught> with the use of any weapon. On the southwest near the river is the home of the Game Keeper. Use the Signet Ring and he will give you a MAGIC BOW. On the southeast is a treasure: TREASURE 1: Magic Arrow<20> Battle Power <sun magic> Fire Column <sun magic> Paragraph notes for the Games Preserve: 96, 91, 74
ISLE OF THE SUN: This area of Dilmun includes the city of Phoebus and an entrance to the Mystic Woods. Bridges connect this area with Forlorn and the portion of Dilmun that holds the city of Lansk.
KINGS ISLAND: This portion of Dilmun <see map in documentation> contains Kingshome, Byzanople, Siege Camp, Nexus to Mystic Forest, Old Dock, Old Bridge, Ruins and a Decaying City <see related notes>. Encounters on this island are too rough for beginning characters. There is also on this island an Ambush area on the northeast coast which will result in you being thrown into the dungeon under Kingshome <see related notes>.
KINGSHOME CASTLE: Accessable from the Kingshome Dungeon <once only> and from King's Island <if you have the Signet Ring, see Decaying City>. If you came up from the dungeon you will have a peaceful encounter with Namtar in the north central area of the castle. Exiting his room will cause the door to disappear forever. Doors in the north will lead you into the wall area. On the west side is a gallery and a closet full of Pilgrim's Garb <needed to take Pilgrim's ferry to Nisir>. On the east side is a treasure and a library of rare books. TREASURE 1: Polearm Royal Robe Rare Books Boomerang dex 12 Lucky Boots Magic Chain Rusty Axe <good weapon inspite of it's name> This treasure chest will disappear when you leave whether you took everything or not. The exit to King's Island is in the center of the south wall. Paragraph notes for Kingshome Castle: 131, 130
KINGSHOME DUNGEON: Accessable by being ambushed in the northeast of King's Island. Not for beginning characters, be prepared to do everything at one time. You will not be able to return here once you leave. You will find your group in a prison cell which is not locked. To the south are guards just waiting to beat you up. If you survive that, to the east is a door that leads to stairs going up. Don't take them until you have continued all the east and north to the last door in the hallway. There are some big encounters here, but this last room contains the King's armory: KINGS ARMORY: Black Helm Zak's Speed FireShield Grey Arrow<20> Gatlin Bow 10 dex <rather like a machine gun> Throw Mace Mage Ring low magic 3 needed to use Magic Axe Dragon Stones<20> After collecting this treasure, return to the stairs which will take you up to Kingshome Castle. Paragraph notes for Kingshome Dungeon: 53, 65
LANAC'TOOR'S LABORATORY: Accessable only after restoring Lanac's statue in Mud Toad. You will need the spell SOFTEN STONE to successfully complete this area. The map wraps upon itself both north to south and east to west. To the northeast of your point of entry, through several walls is a large room in which three treasures will be found: TREASURE 1: Healing Potion Battle Wand Battle Power spell Dragon Shield TREASURE 2: Fire Storm <sun magic> Zak's Speed <misc magic> Kill Ray <misc magic> Mage Fire <low magic> Dazzle <high magic> Sun Stroke <sun magic> TREASURE 3: Lanac's Spectacles <needed to gain access into Magic College> To the northwest of point of entry is an entrance to the Magan Underworld. It is a one way trip. Paragraph note for Lanac's Lab: 107
LANSK: Accessable from Dilmun <outdoors> or the Lansk Undercity <no way back to undercity though>, this is a bureaucratic nightmare. The officials here will have you running all over the city to get paper work done. This is easily avoided by making use of EZ Paperwork in the Lansk Undercity. There is one treasure to be found on the west side of the city. TREASURE 1: Druids Mace Cure All spell In the northeast area of the city, you will learn in the Quarter Masters Office the Mog the Slave Owner has left his estate, which is to be found on Forlorn, to you. The Quarter Master doesn't know why Mog did this and neither do I! ;) Encounters in this city are nasty for beginning characters if not impossible. They can and should be avoided until later in the game. Paragraph notes for Lansk: 64, 35
LANSK UNDERCITY: Accessable to the Magan Underworld, this place was very useful to me. Encounters here are rough for new and middle characters, but you can do a lot of exploring here if you are careful. There are four shops and a healer in this area that are all useful. The armorer, weapon and healer are all on the east side of this area. EZ paperwork and the Magic shop are on the west. The magic shop is located through a secret passage which is easily found.
Paperwork: The Governors Pass is needed to cross a bridge between Quag and Lansk. The Kings Ticket is needed to take the ferry. The Citizen Papers are needed to cross the bridge between the Isle of the Sun and Forlorn. On the north of this area is a ferry to Kings Island. Use the Kings Ticket for passage <not recommended for early characters>. In the center of this area is a dragon <he won't kill you>. To access the dragon's area, you must use a secret passage on the east side of the center building. Rumors you will hear elsewhere will hint that the Lansk Dragon conceals a gem. To get the gem you will need to use an anhk which can be purchase in Mud Toad. On the west side of this center building are stairs leading up to the city of Lansk. They go up, but they do NOT come back down. Go this way only if you have saved your game and are certain that you wish to. Paragraph notes for Lansk Undercity: 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126
