Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale is an action video game developed by Bedlam Games and published by Atari. The game includes both single and cooperative multiplayer modes and is set largely within the mines of Tethyamar. Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale was the second Dungeons & Dragons video game to be announced in 2010 and was released in May 2011 on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Microsoft Windows.

Synopsis


A party of four Daggerdalesmen adventurers &mdash; consisting of a dwarf cleric, an elf rogue, a halfling wizard, and a human fighter &mdash; are summoned to the mines of Tethyamar by the Banite priestess Lorin-Aria. She explains to the party that a Zhent wizard named Rezlus has constructed a building in the mines that reaches all the way above the Desertsmouth Mountains, called the Tower of the Void, and is amassing an army to conquer Daggerdale and the greater Dalelands in the name of the Lord of Darkness. She instructs them to travel through the mines in search of the tower and put an end to Rezlus before departing, reasoning that her ties to the Zhentarim would only put them in further danger.

The adventurers aid the local dwarf miners of Granstone as they make their way through Tethyamar, fighting large Zhent-allied hordes of goblins, goblin ghosts, phaerlocks, and skeletons. Eventually they come to a skull lord, defending a portal that leads into the Tower of the Void. After managing to trick the skull lord into destroying a series of columns around him, thereby crushing the undead, the adventurers travel through the portal and find themselves within a cell.

The group is greeted by the human Daewen Bael, who explains to the adventurers that he and his brother in the next cell over were part of a group of brigands that were caught trespassing in the tower by tieflings, under the command of Kilkar Demoneye. He further explains that the tieflings were given leeway with Rezlus on how they dealt with trespassers, so set up a fighting pit that cost his brother Drathca Bael his eyesight, and that the tieflings maintain an antimagic field that will make it difficult for the spellcasters in the party to fight. Kilkar himself then approaches the cells, commanding that the adventurers be thrown into the arena.

After fighting waves of goblins and phaerlocks in the arena, the adventurers were brought back to their cell and confronted with Rezlus alongside his Zhent soldiers. The wizard prattles at the party, asking if they are part of the Cyricists that have been interfering with his plans, before striking Drathca down and commanding Kilkar to send his dragonborn into the arena next time. The next time the tieflings guarding their cells step-away, a mysterious woman climbs up a pit in the center of the room and uses magic to lift the cellbars before teleporting away. Wanting to avenge his brother, Daewen pledges the aid of his brigands and the party begin launching a mass jailbreak. The combined group make their way through the tower killing tiefling guards, followed by a group dragonborn, until finally putting an end to Kilkar.

With the prison block established as a new base for them, Daewen pledges the loyalty of his brigands to the adventurers before they go further up the tower and fight through hordes of ghouls and plaguechanged ghouls. When the party next meet with Daewen he identifies the woman who saved them as likely being a Zhent, but of the rival Cyricist faction that Rezlus had mentioned. Thinking she may be of help in their quest to slay Rezlus, he tells the party to speak with the nearby ghost of a slain Cyricist Zhent named Krollan for information on how to find her.

The spirit of Krollan praises the adventurer's for their jailbreak and feel nostalgic for his time alive, but expresses skepticism that the Cyricists will find them trustworthy. Krollan then tells the party to find and bring his bones to the woman who had saved them, saying she knows rituals that will put his spirit to rest and thus ingratiate themselves to her. He also identifies the woman Nezra, the leader of the Cyricist Zhents feuding with Rezlus and his Banite faction, and gives the location of their fort in the Desertsmouth Mountains.

Gameplay
Daggerdale features third-person hack and slash combat, with largely linear exploration and questing in a manner reminiscent of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and a pick-up-and-play feature. The campaign offers both single-player and co-operative gameplay, either two players locally or four through online play.

The game gives players the option of four pre-generated characters based upon four of the standard D&D playable races and character classes &mdash; dwarf cleric, human fighter, elf rogue, and halfling wizard. Limited customization of the characters is provided as a player earns experience in the game, and character progression advances based upon a streamlined version of the 4 edition Dungeons & Dragons rules for both class and race, with level advancement limited to level 10. Further customization is achieved through loot and equipment drops.

Development
Bedlam Games began development of Daggerdale in March 2010 and sixty developers were reportedly working on the game as of January 2011. On January 19th, 2011, Bedlam began operating as a subsidiary of bitHeads, Inc., and continued to operate as a brand-dependent division. bitHeads co-founder, Scott Simpson, alluded that the company planned to pursue a game model that would allow a gamer to play the same game on both an Xbox 360 and a portable device, such as an iPhone, in order to provide 24-hour access to the game. In some interviews the game's creative director claimed their team worked closely with Wizards of the Coast in adapting and streamlining the 4 edition ruleset for their game.

The game was originally planned to be the first in a trilogy of video games. The plan was for players to be able to transfer their save data from each previous game and advance their characters 10 levels higher than before, following 4 edition's character tier progression system of Heroic, Paragon, and Epic. However, Bedlam Games was largely shut down three months after Daggerdale's release.

Trivia
After the game ends and one watches the credits till the end, one will see the ruins of the Tower with a sign saying "Gamma Terra", Referencing the TSR-turned-Wizards' tabletop setting Gamma World.