Ancient Domains of Mystery

Lore & Background

Ancient Domains of Mystery takes place in the fictional world of Ancardia, in the mountainous Drakalor Chain. For 6,000 years, the world has known relative peace, but recently reports have spread of the appearance of dangerous dungeons and frightening monsters. Khelavaster, a wise sage, discovers an ancient prophecy regarding the Coming of Chaos and propagates it to the peoples of the world. It speaks of a champion who will defend the world from the forces of Chaos in the Drakalor Chain. Hearing of this prophecy, many would-be heroes set out. The player assumes control of one such adventurer. Ancient Domains of Mystery has multiple endings which consist of closing the Chaos gate, becoming a demigod, or committing a heroic sacrifice to stop the Chaos invasion.

Reader's Guide

Ancient Domains of Mystery presents an initial choice of one (male or female) player character from twelve races and twenty-two character classes, the combination of which strongly affects gameplay, in both subtle and obvious ways. Among other traits, character development includes experience levels, statistics, and skills. Version 1.1.0 introduced a talent system, allowing further customization of characters, based on a hierarchical system of prerequisites. During adventures, a player is likely to explore many areas and complete multiple quests. Which quests are available may depend on character experience level or alignment (lawful, neutral, or chaotic). Alignment also affects NPC and deity interaction with the character. How one solves a quest can also affect one's alignment, such that a chaotic character seeking redemption can eventually become lawful through his or her actions (or vice versa). Ancient Domains of Mystery offers multiple ways of winning, which vary in difficulty. The regular ending that appeared first during development consists of locating and closing the gate through which the forces of Chaos infiltrate Ancardia. The player also has the option to enter the gate, providing access to special endings, which are generally considered more difficult to accomplish. Ancient Domains of Mystery's quest-centric, plot-driven structure owes as much to adventure games like Zork as to the hack-and-slash of sibling games like Angband. The forces of Chaos that have infiltrated Ancardia corrupt both the surrounding landscape and occasionally the player's character, causing mutations. Players can improve their items through various methods, such as smithing or magical enhancement. A "Monster Memory" records the character's knowledge about creatures in the game. Death of player characters is meant to be permanent. The game exits after saving, effectively limiting savefiles to one per character, and the savefile is erased upon loading.

Did You Know?

• The growth of herbs in the game follows a slight modification of Conway's Game of Life.
• The source code of Ancient Domains of Mystery is unavailable; Biskup chose to reserve it for himself.
• The game's crowdfunding campaign reached its initial goal of $48,000 on 22 August 2012 and finished at $90,169.