The Very Ancient Dragon's Realms of Arkania Compendium

 

 
 

REALMS OF ARKANIA (roa)


Realms of Arkania is a trilogy based on a German pen-and-paper role-playing game, Das Schwarze Auge ("The Black Eye"), and adapted for computer by Sirtech Software. Realms of Arkania is a DOS game, so, depending on how pumped your computer is you may have to pick up MOSLO or the like to slow the games down so you can play. These games have quite a sophisticated system of character development. You can play in Novice Mode, in which case the computer handles most aspects of character generation, and skills and points distribution at level gains, and during the game highlights the character most suited to perform a given task like searching for herbs (name highlighted in red). OR you can played in Advanced Mode which allows YOU to handle every aspect of character improvement yourself (I always do this one, it's more time consuming but also a lot more fun). VAD enjoyed these games. They're challenging and interesting.

You can also export your characters from game to game if you want, however, there is a small problem in exporting from Realms of Arkania I (Blade of Destiny) to Realms of Arkania II (Star Trail). When you bring your characters into Star Trail, their pictures are changed to "kid faces". All the male characters have the same little boy face and all the female characters have the same little girl face. AND.. the game won't let you change the faces...grrrr. There is a patch out there somewhere which fixes this, but I have been unable so far to find a current site which has it (see ROA2 Patch). What I did to get around this (if you can live with these stupid pictures) is to name your characters something that suggests their function to you, e.g. I named my Silvan Elf "Archer", my Thorwalian "Bruiser", my magician "Merlin", my rogue "Scrounge", etc... Do this in Blades of Destiny, so when you move your characters to Star Trail and ultimately to Shadows Over Riva you won't have as much trouble figuring out who is best suited to do what.

  • BOOKMARKS for Realms of Arkania

    • Realms of Arkania Pages. A link page to walkthroughs and hints, etc. for the three games.
    • : ) Yahoo! Groups: Realms of Arkania. Believe it or not this a Realms of Arkania discussion Group. This link is the "join" page. If you are interested in these games, join the group. They have stuff not available elsewhere on the net, the game maps for example.

 

Realms of Arkania 1: Blade of Destiny (roa1)

  • BOOKMARKS for Realms of Arkania 1

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  • FAQ's for Realms of Arkania 1
    • Drizzt Do'Urden, “Realms of Arkania I: Blade of Destiny Walkthrough”. Short FAQ which includes Party Creation and a concise walkthrough which gets you through the main quest of the game. For the map pieces there are annotated screenshots of the towns where the map piece owners are located (saves you banging on every door). Also has a screenshot of the map with all it's pieces in place (very useful) as well as an overland map of Thorwal and environs. Excellent. Get it here (in .pdf format): http://www.geocities.com/drizzt_dourden69666/roa.html?20058.
    • Nigel J. Clarke and Sean Abrams, “Blade of Destiny - FAQ” (rev. 2.2). Has information on putting together a party, general hints and tips, info on potions and herbs, a weapons and armor list, info on magical items, days and months, people and places, answers to riddles. Very useful. Get it here: http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~prelle/DSA/Computer/DSA1/ROA1.html.
    • Tjekanefir, “Realms of Arkania: Blade of Low-Spoiler Walkthrough”. This is the most detailed of the walkthroughs for Blade of Destiny. It goes region by region and tells you what's there (towns, dungeons, etc.), and what's worth doing and what's not. Excellent. Get it here: http://www.geocities.com/bigorrin/arkania2.htm.
    • : ) Barbara Hannich, “Blade of Destiny - FAQ”. Very short FAQ with list of dungeons and map pieces. What is really useful in this FAQ is that she has a key for where each person's map piece fits into the overall map. Get it here: http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~prelle/DSA/Computer/DSA1/Schicks.html.
    • : ) Lord Marcus Dracon, “Realms of Arkania I: Blade of Destiny Walkthrough”. A short collection of tips and tourist info about what you'll encounter while travelling the roads. Also has locations of map pieces and some strategy on how to get their owners to give them to you. Get it here: http://www.the-spoiler.com/RPG/Sir-Tech/Realms.of.arcania.html.

 

 

 

 

Realms of Arkania 2: Star Trail (roa2)

  • BOOKMARKS for Realms of Arkania 2
    • Absolute Games: Realms of Arkania - Star Trail. This is a Russian site with an FAQ, several Solutions, some useful hints, the UGE Module and a couple of editors for Star Trail (all in English marked with a British Flag). Very useful site.

 

  • FAQ's for Realms of Arkania 2
    • Tjekanefir, “Low Spoiler Star Trail Game Guide”. This is a nice collection of hints and tips for Star Trail. Covers game bugs, character classes, health care issues, equipment, magic items, money, skills and spells, alchemy, miracles, combat, npcs, conversations, visiting towns, etc. Very useful. Get it here: http://www.angelfire.com/hero/tjekanefir/star.htm.
    • Tjekanefir, “Realms of Arkania: Star Trail Low-Spoiler Walkthrough”. This is the most detailed of the walkthroughs for Star Trail. Excellent. Get it here: http://www.geocities.com/bigorrin/star2.htm.
    • : ) James D. Buskirk, “Star Trail Solution.”. Has a concise walkthrough of the major areas of the game as wells as info on the calendar of Arkania with Holidays and a list of cities and towns with the services offered. Get it here: http://www.ag.ru/cheats/realms_of_arkania_star_trail/5762.
    • : ) Lord Marcus Dracon, “Star Trail Walkthrough.”. Has a concise walkthrough of the major areas of the game with road directions. Get it here: http://www.the-spoiler.com/RPG/Sir-Tech/Realms.of.arcania.2.html.
    • : ) Tim, “Star Trail: Realms of Arkania II - An Unofficial FAQ” (vs.2). Short FAQ with general info on curing illness, food requirements, etc. as well as questions and answers concerning specific areas of the game. Also has lists of weapons, armor, creatures and hireable npcs. Get it here: http://dlh.net/chtdb/chtview.php?lang=ger&sys=pc&disp=e3926.

 

 

  • LEVEL MAPS for Realms of Arkania 2
    • .You can get screenshot maps of most towns and some regions (with detailed keys AND conversations) here: http://www.muenster.de/~kunar/dsa2/schweif.htmYes, the site is German and yes, the keys and conversations are in German. Some of the stuff you'll understand whether you read German or not. IMHO these are worth buying a German dictionary.

 

  • PATCH for Realms of Arkania 2
    • Star Trail "Kid Faces" *PATCH*. Getting kid faces when you import your characters from Blade of Destiny? I have found no current sites which have this patch, and I've not been able to get it to work, but here it is.

 

 

Realms of Arkania 3: Shadows Over Riva (roa3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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-- updatedJuly 31, 2008