Today we would like to turn to the implementation of the TDE4 rule set in Drakensang. As you can imagine, this is a very extensive and difficult part of development - especially if you consider the sheer volume and complexity of it.

A short review: At the end of 2001 the [Ed.: German] 4th Edition of the Pen&Paper Roleplaying Game "The Dark Eye" was released. It came in the shape of 4 boxes each containing two more or less thick volumes and creating partly radical changes and very detailed rules compared to the previous sets. A three-tier system of basic, optional and expert rules enabled every TDE-player group to compile their own individual catalogue of rules.

Drakensang was this month's title story of the German magazine Gamestar. Here's a summary of some of the things from the article:

- The game takes place in an area 80 miles around Ferdok, in the Middenrealms county called the Kosh. Dragons are devastating the hinterlands of Ferdok. You start your career in the small village Avestreu (german name). You will also travel to a large dwarven city and a cyclops city

- Character creation: You can choose your character from 11 Archetypes, 8 of them having 3 sub-classes. That makes 27 different character types overall. Archetype in that case means an unchangeable combination of race, class and cultural background. You can choose the gender, but can't change the look of your character (figure, head, hair, skin color, etc.). For your character's talents you will have some customization options, but you are not allowed to generate your own character from scratch (ed: perhaps a good decision, because character generation in TDE 4 is quite a complicated thing that needs a hell lot of time, a lot more complicated than AD&D)

- Character feats (talents): The number of talents is not yet final and need some more balancing. The article mentions two talents that indicate some kind of craftmanship in Drakensang, forging and making bows. Alchemy / Brewing potions is integrated, the talent "survival" reveals placing herbson the map. To train your characters you need to visit a trainer and pay for their lessons with Gold and experience points. 40 spells of the official rule set have been integrated into Drakensang, e.g. Fireball, lightning, Summon Skeletons. Warriors have feats like Overthrow (Umreißen), blade dance (Klingensturm) and Precise shot.

- Party: besides your main character you can have up to 3 companions. You can change your party constellation at all times. Nonactive companions autolevel through the whole game. All companions have their own personality and their own individual quests. You have full control over your companions' character attributes, equipment and inventory.

- Combat: 5 different group formations; you can modify your attack rolls, for example to do more damage, but this also increases the chance to get a critical failure. For a successful attack the computer calculates the hidden part of the body. The armour of this part influences the damage a charactersuffers from the attack.

- Controls: There is one leading character, the rest of the party follows automatically (like NWN2). To direct your character(s) you can either use WASD or mouse. Camera follows automatically, is rotable and offers different zoom steps (see also the oncoming dev diary #12). Left click orders your char to execute an acion (context sensitive, for example open the door), right click opens a radiant menu you can choose alternative orders from (use lock pick, use magic, break door).

- Technical things: Not all dialogs are synchronized, only the most important ones. Like Dragon Age, Drakensang does not have a regular day / night circle. Instead it is using lights as a tool to create atmosphere, like the sky becoming suddenly dark when a dragon flies above the heads of your party.

- Quests: Most quests offer different solutions, for example battle, persuasion, choosing one faction over another. An example was given, a witch is asking the player to bring her altar wine from the camp of thepraiots (a inquisition like organzation, followers of the god of order, Praios). He can choose between helping the witch and bringing her the wine or killing her by order of the praiots. Both has consequences for following quests.

Additionally, we added three screenshots to our screenshot gallery

What are the stages of development a character has to go through, before
he finally makes his appearance in the game? That is the question we will be dealing
with in today´s entry.

First of all an idea of the character is needed. What does he look like? What does he wear? Which skills and attributes does he possess? Which faults? What is his current emotional condition? Some of these ideas have been delivered by the authors, other types of characters can already be found in Aventuria. But that´s not enough. Many more new ideas are required to enrich the story of Drakensang with interesting characters. Fabian Rudzinski, the Game Designer in charge, has assumed this task.