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DARKLANDS FAQ version 1.0 (October 1995) put together by

CMB: C. Michel Boucher (aa699@freenet.carleton.ca)
FF: Fred Farzanegan (fredf@bnr.ca)
DA: Dennis Ahr (dahr@fred.net)
AvL: Alexander von Luenen (luenen@athene.informatik.uni-bonn.de)
MEB: Marilyn E. Burford (ad636@ccn.cs.dal.ca)
GRL: Garrett R. Le-Page (lepag001@maroon.tc.umn.edu) copyright 1995 (except for quoted material, as indicated)

Specifically for version 483.07 of Darklands

The HTML version of this file is accessible at uni-bonn by using the following URL: http://ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de/~uzs3f8/darkland.html

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Table of contents

0. INTRODUCTION
1. BEFORE WE BEGIN
What do we know about Arnold Hendrick, the designer of DARKLANDS?
What did Microprose say about DARKLANDS?
Where do I find DARKLANDS now?
What is Jojo's list and why is it important?
What's that again about a sequel?
2. TECHNOBABBLE
What files are available for DARKLANDS from Microprose and elsewhere?
3. GAME CONSIDERATIONS - Early game (raubritters, thieving, demoniac villagers)
Travelling by land - dealing with travellers (bandits, good and bad alchemists, bishops,                        noblemen, pigs, wolves, etc.)
Armour and weapons
Stealing armour, buying armour
Where to find good armour, weapons
Improving skills by seeking out robbers in towns
Getting jobs
Getting help (extra people, prayers to saints)
Fighting tactics
Alchemy
Money
4. GAME CONSIDERATIONS - Taking on tougher things (knockers, witches and the Wild Hunt)
Getting money, alchemical stuff
Using your improving reputation to get jobs, instruction
Mines
Dragons
High Sabat
Great Monastery
Defeating Baphomet
Retiring characters, dead characters (quoted from the README.TXT with v7)
Continuing after you've completed the objectives of the game.
5. LISTS, TIPS & OTHER PARAPHERNALIA FOR THE DARKLANDS VOYAGER
Rare items and places in DARKLANDS (Holy relics, Devil's Bridge, etc.)
List of cities with Cathedrals, Universities and neither
Strange things in the game
Things with no apparent purpose in the game
Bits and pieces
Stupid things about DARKLANDS
List of the first 40 significant events in one game
Cities of Germany
Enemies
Saints
Summary of Darklands Hint Book
Additional Files

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A quick note before beginning.  This FAQ reflects the many considerations that could be brought to it by the four authors, as well as input from various sources.  As much as possible, authorship of a particular section is indicated.  Where there are comments, these are inserted with the preface
NOTE and the initials of the note's author in brackets.  Quotes are marked by > and, unless a different provenance is given, are to be understood as coming from
Microprose literature on DARKLANDS.

Also please note that the Introduction and sections 1 and 2 were largely written or put together by CMB as drafts of the FAQ project and have not changed much since.

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0. INTRODUCTION

Here is the long awaited DARKLANDS FAQ.  It is the product of the labour of the six people mentioned above.  It has the distinction of being perhaps the only FAQ ever produced for an out-of-print game.

Don't be fooled by cheap imitations.  This is the genuine article, a blatant attempt on the part of a few hardcore DARKLANDS players to manipulate Microprose into producing a sequel, as was originally promised. Admittedly, this is a last ditch attempt, as they have stated they will NOT produce a sequel, but as Babe Ruth was fond of saying: "It ain't over till the fat lady sings".

Although this FAQ covers a lot of ground, there remains much to be covered.  There are gaps here and there which individual players might be able to help us fill.  If you can, write to any of us with your comments and suggested additions.  Separate files are also welcome to be added to the list of files below.

The Management

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1. BEFORE WE BEGIN

There are two other mentions made of DARKLANDS on the net search tools.  The first is an album and a tour by The Jesus and Mary
Chain.  The second is a "gothic" recording label in Finland.  For those interested in pursuing either line of enquiry, I propose the following sites:

The Jesus and Mary Chain Darklands Album http://american.recording.com/American_Artists/Jesus_and_Mary_Chain/jamc_hom

The Jesus and Mary Chain Darklands Tour http://adam.com.au/~jonno/list11

Darklands (a gothic Finnish recording label) http://mimas.otol.fi/~matron/rldisco.html http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~latvis/levyyht/darkland.html

Please note that some of these links may be inactive at the time of release.  They were all listed at NetSeek during the summer of 1995.  Now that we've got these things out of the way, let's talk about the game DARKLANDS from MPS Labs.

Back to Table of Contents

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What do we know about Arnold Hendrick, the designer of DARKLANDS?

Before he designed games for Microprose, Arnold Hendrick designed a few role-playing games.  Of note: BARBARIAN PRINCE, a paragraph adventure boardgame from DWARFSTAR (1981) and another game for SPI, DRAGONQUEST
(2 editions, 1980, 1981) .

Arnold Hendrick has designed a number of games for Microprose.

Darklands won the 1992 PC Special Achievement Award from Game Players
Magazine.

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What did Microprose say about DARKLANDS?

Microprose issued the following press release:

>********** DARKLANDS **********
>
>HUNT VALLEY, MD _ MicroProse Software, Inc., famous worldwide for its >high-quality entertaining simulations of combat and adventure, will release
>DARKLANDS, its first true fantasy role-playing game, this fall.
>
>Set in 15th Century Medieval Germany, DARKLANDS will be as realistic and >challenging a simulation as previous MicroProse releases. "The common thread >of all of our titles, from GUNSHIP to RAILROAD TYCOON, is that they have an >intellectual core," said Arnold Hendrick, DARKLANDS' game designer.
>"DARKLANDS will be no different _ the problems and tasks the gamer will face >are straight from the events and attitudes of Medieval Germany."  15th
>Century Germany was a time of violence and corruption and was an era with >three Popes simultaneously in charge, powerless emperors, gangster nobles >and venal clergymen. DARKLANDS recreates this period and emphasizes the >beliefs of the time: witches worshipping the devil, people praying to saints >to produce real miracles, alchemists turning lead into gold and dragons >inhabiting caves.
>
>Players will explore a vast map of Germany with a party of four adventurers >created from the likes of nobles, swordsmen, mercenaries, thieves, alchemists, >monks and several more. Millions of different character types will be >possible by choosing from 26 attributes and skills. The ultimate goal of the >game will be to achieve fame and immortality on multiple quests, many of them >simultaneous. Quests will be created by an "adventure generator" for endless >replayability.
>
>DARKLANDS will be released for IBM-compatibles and will require 640K of RAM.
>The game will support AdLib, Roland, Tandy and IBM sounds, and EGA, MCGA/VGA >and Tandy 16-color graphics. A hard disk will be required and a mouse >recommended.

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Where do I find DARKLANDS now?

I received this note from Daniel Hall, when I asked him to give me the information on where he had been able to find DARKLANDS on a CD.  Please note this has been edited for the purposes of this FAQ.

>Date: Tue Aug  1 03:36:26 1995
>From: dhall41@portland.caps.maine.edu (Daniel Hall)
>Subject: Re: darklands
>To: aa699@freenet.carleton.ca
>
>Gold Medal 12 CD Pack
>Mediaquest >(found at Electronics Boutique at the price of $30 American)
>
>It includes: Darklands, Blue Force, Jet Fighter 2, Maelstrom, Microcosm,
>Shadow President, Dune II, CyberRace, Casino Master Gold Edition, The
>Selfish Giant, The Complete House, The Peter Norton Productivity Pak

*NOTE (CMB): I also found DARKLANDS available in a CD five-pack with *other games.  It was on sale at Electronics Boutique for $24.99 CDN, plus
*GST and PST (where applicable):
*Action 5 Pak
*GT Interactive Software
*
*It includes: War in the Gulf, Shadowlands, Spectre, Combat II & Darklands

Unfortunately for those of you who have bought CD versions of DARKLANDS, you have found out by now that the information that comes with the company's package is not included in the CD's documentation.  We have read complaints about this on the net, specifically that the look-up codes, simple as they are, are not included.  It is not within the scope of this document to provide you with these codes, as much as we would like to, as we would risk being in breach of copyright laws. -- The Management

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What is Jojo's list and why is it important?

This is a weekly voting list which produces the top 100 games.  Almost 1000 people vote on this list and it is checked by game companies to see how well their product is doing.  To check out Jojo's list, find it on comp.sys.ibm.games.announce.  Currently, DARKLANDS has been on almost since the beginning and has been climbing from the mid-eighties to the mid-sixties.  Any
DARKLANDS player is invited to add his vote to Jojo's list by mailing your entry to jojo@xs4all.nl as per the instructions in the report.  DARKLANDS's number in Jojo's list is 1008.

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What's that again about a sequel?

In the manual for DARKLANDS, it says that the designers were planning a number of sequels to expand the game throughout medieval Europe, including Russia and other locations.  This never materialized, but gamers are a persistent bunch and every now and then, the questions re-emerge.

This is what was said about a sequel (straight from the horse's mouth, as it were):

>From: polar@u.washington.edu (B. Power)
>Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg
>Subject: Darklands: Dead. *sigh*
>Date: 3 Sep 1995 17:26:41 GMT
>
>Several weeks ago, I sent Microprose mail about a possible sequel to
>Darklands. Here's what I received:
>
>From support@microprose.com Sun Sep  3 10:23:49 1995