Solmyr's Darklands AAR - running around medieval Germany

[Solmyr]

Decided to fire up this oldie and give it a spin. Never really played it back in the day, so for the most part it's all new to me.

First order of business is creating the party. There are four default characters when you start, who have semi-overpowered equipment (it's a bit better than what you get creating characters from scratch), so I feel justified in giving it all to my own guys before I start the game. It's not too strong, just some better armor and a few extra potions.

I'm not going to "cheat" any more than this. The only other addition I'm using is Darklands Quest Lister that lists your active quests and lets you sort your savegames (two features sorely missing in the game). Also, the screenshots below have the window border because I can't be arsed to crop every single one of them.



Wilhelm of Büren is a noble heir and a knight. He's somewhat older, already 30, so will start getting penalties once he ages further. However, his age brings plenty of skills. He's very durable and has high charisma, so he'll act as the party leader in towns and social situations. He can swing a mean blade and aim a bow, he can ride well, and he's got fairly high virtue in case he has to pray (though he has no knowledge of saints at the start). He's wielding a short sword and wearing plate and chain. He also carries a potion of Essence of Grace, which restores lost strength and endurance.



Heinrich Meisterlin comes from a rural commoner family. He was recruited into the army at an early age and has served as a soldier for several years. He's skilled with flails and crossbows, but can use almost any other weapon in a pinch. He's also acquired some skill at stealth and artifice. His high perception combined with skill in woodwise lets him detect secret doors, traps, and ambushes, so he's the preferred leader out in the wild. He's also wearing plate and chain and has a flail and a crossbow.



Bertram of Freising is a Franciscan friar, originally from a wealthy urban family. He is also quite durable and also fairly charismatic, making him the secondary speaker in the party. His fighting skills are not very good, with only blunt weapons being somewhat familiar, so they'll need to be developed. On the other hand, he's virtuous, educated in rhetorics and writing, and an expert in religion. He's also the best healer in the party. He wears chain and wields a club.



Bertram starts the game with the knowledge of St. Matthew; praying to him basically increases your scholarly qualities and gives a bit of rep with the local bankers. Thus making him a fairly situational saint.



Katrina Ebner is also from a city family. She is the only woman in the party and was for a time studying alchemy, finally becoming a full-fledged alchemist. She is also not too good with weapons, but her intelligence is unsurpassed and her knowledge of alchemy and language is commendable. Fitting with her urban background, she is also streetwise and can handle herself in a city. She carries a few potions including Thunderbolt (basically an explosive bomb) and Noxious Aroma (cloud that slows enemies).



Katrina starts the game knowing the formula of al-Tamimi's Thunderbolt, the weakest (quality 25) version of that potion. It requires some ingredients of which we currently have none.






The party gathers at the Ratsschenke, the inn in the northern German city of Lüneberg. On the left of the screen you can see the current vital stats. The three numbers are endurance (stamina points, if they run out the character collapses), strength (basically hit points, run out and you die), and divine favour (everyone has 99 when full, it is spent when praying to a saint). The guy who has those numbers in yellow is the current party leader, handling the talking and such.



From the inn we head to the Markt, the imaginatively named city marketplace.



At the Markt, we visit the Fugger pawnshop and sell some excess gear left over after equipping everyone. We also buy shields for everyone and some ranged weapons (bow and arrows for Wilhelm, some javelins for Bertram). Potions are too expensive right now and there are almost no ingredients for sale here. Lüneberg is a smallish town and there's not a lot of gear choice here.



Thus equipped, we are ready to take on the world, or at least Germany. It is currently morning on the 29th of August, 1400. We have a little bit of rep in this town (probably due to having a knight with us), but no fame in general, so we will be looking to make a name for ourselves soon.

[celedhring]

Woah, blast from the past. I think everything I know of German geography I learnt it playing this game and EU2 later on.

I will be reading. 

[Habbaku]

That font.

[Martim Silva]

Thus equipped, we are ready to take on the world, or at least Germany. It is currently morning on the 29th of August, 1400. We have a little bit of rep in this town (probably due to having a knight with us), but no fame in general, so we will be looking to make a name for ourselves soon.

I did play (and beat) this game when it came out. It is remarkably deep and engrossing for its time.

That said, some (non-spoiler) tips:

1. Get your priest to speak Latin. And fast.

2. Don't get out of town yet, you'll have money issues. Taking jobs to make money will take too long, so just spend some days in the alleys, hunting outlaws. Loot their bodies and sell what you get. Will help you a lot later on.

3. Plate Knights are tough enemies. Really. Don't mess with one lightly.

4. This is the XVth century that people at the time imagined it to be, not what it was, mythical creatures included. As a result, forests are really, really, dangerous places.

5. Resulting from 4: Priests are the messengers of God. So never, ever, disrespect/irritate one of them. No matter who they are. Ignore this at your own peril.

[jimmy olsen]

This game was fucking awesome back in the day. It's one I'd love to see remade.

[Syt]

Nice, Solmyr, thanks for doing this AAR.

[Solmyr]

That font.

[Solmyr]

We spend the day wandering around Lüneberg.




The Am Sande (main square) and St. Johaniskirche have nothing of interest, people there are too busy to talk to a bunch of nobodies.



However, at Kloster Lüne the monks are willing to let us study in the library in exchange for a generous donation of 1 groschen. We gladly pay and Bertram spends several hours poring over holy texts. Incidentally, the saint that he knows, St. Matthew, requires 26 virtue, while Bertram only has 24, so he has no chance of praying to him successfully. The Kloster library offers a choice of saints. St. Adrian and St. Willebald require way more virtue than we currently have, so there's no point studying them yet. St. Polycarp is doable, but only offers protection against flame, which seems rather useless at this stage.



So our choice is St. Patrick, who requires a modest 22 virtue and offers a boatload of bonuses: improving Strength, Charisma, most melee and academic skills, and offering protection against missiles. The Irish must truly be as gods among men. Bertram makes a pledge to raise a tankard of beer in St. Paddy's honour. We thank the monks and leave the Kloster. Since it's getting late, we naturally head to the side streets to find trouble.




The local thugs don't disappoint and soon begin sending waves of four men against our party. They are poorly equipped, with leather jerkins and cloth pants, wielding crappy falchions and clubs, so they prove no match for our armoured posse. We spend the next few days knocking thug heads and selling their stuff, acquiring a bit of a local reputation in the process. At some point we also purchase 4 pieces of choleric base at the pharmacists, for Katrina to make a potion with eventually.

We also visit the offices of the Fuggers, where the master banker (whose name apparently changes halfway into the conversation) offers us an interesting assignment...





We are to go after a raubritter whose castle is not far from Lüneberg. The reward is 10 florins, but we may not yet be ready for such a task. A raubritter and his retainers are a far cry from back alley thugs...



Anyway, the Medici and the Hansa offices have nothing to offer us, and Katrina got rather beat up in the fights the previous night, so we head to the inn and stay there for a few days while she recovers, doing some freelance smithing work to earn some pfennigs.



It's now the 11th of September and we are now respected in Lüneberg, although our fame does not extend much beyond the city. Everyone has also managed to train up their weapon skills in all the fighting we did. We now have a choice, keep bashing thugs here or venture out...

[The Brain]

Ouch. Katrina took quite a pounding.

Nice AAR.

[Solmyr]

Yeah, she decided it was a good idea to make a closer acquaintance with a thug's knobbly staff.

[Syt]

Minor nitpick: it's Lüneburg. :p Great AAR.

[Solmyr]

Minor nitpick: it's Lüneburg. :p Great AAR.

I know, but the game calls it Lüneberg.

[Martinus]

I so wish they remade this game. I tried playing it but the 1990s style is just too painful to bear.

[Habbaku]

I think I could play this if it weren't for that horrid, nigh-unreadable font.

[Solmyr]

Seeing as most locations mentioned in this game actually exist, I thought I'd post some pictures. Here's Kloster Lüne, where Bertram learned about St. Patrick:


And this is Am Sande with the St. Johanniskirche in the background:


The inn probably doesn't have a RL counterpart, but Ratsschänke means "Council Tavern" and seems to be a common inn name in Germany.