The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight
Sequel to The Bard's Tale, won Origins Award in 1986.
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The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight, a fantasy role-playing game from Interplay Productions, hit shelves in 1986. It marked the first follow-up to the original The Bard's Tale and was the final installment in the series that Michael Cranford both designed and programmed. Despite receiving a mixed critical reception at launch, the game took home the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1986. Players guide a band of adventurers on a quest to locate seven fragments of the shattered Destiny Wand scattered across the Realm.
Plot
Hostile mercenaries block their path. Victory comes when the party finds all pieces, defeats the Archmage Lagoth Zanta, and re-forges the Wand. The character who successfully completes the reforging becomes the immortal Destiny Knight.
After an optional starter dungeon in Tangramayne—designed to help new characters grow—players hunt for the Wand segments. Dungeons include the Tombs, Fanskar's Fortress, Dargoth's Castle, the Maze of Dread, Oscon's Fortress, the Grey Crypt, and the Destiny Stone. Each dungeon contains a Snare holding a segment.
Once the seventh segment is obtained, the party can assemble the Wand and face the final battle with Lagoth Zanta. The game is set in the Realm, a land that enjoyed 700 years of peace thanks to the Destiny Wand, forged by the Archmage Turin—until it was stolen and broken. A large wilderness area and six cities—Colosse, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Tangramayne, and Thessalonica—make up the world. Each city offers similar amenities like taverns and banks, and also contains dungeon entrances.
Setting and characters
Players can form a party of up to seven active characters at any city's Adventurer's Guild. Characters may be imported from The Bard's Tale, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (on Apple II versions), or Ultima III: Exodus, or created from scratch. Races include human, elf, dwarf, hobbit, half-elf, half-orc, and gnome. Monsters can also be added to the party indefinitely—a feature that was only temporary in the first game.
Starting character classes are warrior, paladin, rogue, bard, hunter, monk, conjurer, and magician. Sorcerer, wizard, and archmage are not available at the start. Archmages are a new class; to create one, a character needs at least three levels in all four magic-user classes (conjurer, magician, sorcerer, and wizard).
Lore & Background
Gameplay involves exploring wilderness, cities, and 25 dungeon levels. New features include banks and casinos. Central to the game are seven Snares of Death, real-time puzzles with time limits that must be solved to obtain Destiny Wand segments; failure results in party death. Only an archmage can assemble the Destiny Wand.
Combat has depth with range up to 90 feet, and 79 spells are available. The game's interface is similar to the first Bard's Tale, with animated character images and enhanced sounds. The remastered edition includes an automap feature.
Reader's Guide
The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight is significant as a sequel that expanded on its predecessor with a larger world, new gameplay mechanics, and a more complex plot. It introduced features like banks, casinos, and the archmage class, and deepened combat with ranged effects. The game's Snares of Death added challenging real-time puzzles. Despite mixed critical reception—with some reviewers praising improvements but criticizing tedious snares and frustrating Sage interactions—it won the Origins Award, indicating recognition within the gaming community.
The game was part of the evolving 1980s fantasy role-playing scene, drawing from Dungeons & Dragons roots alongside Wizardry and Ultima series. Its commercial success followed quickly after release. A remastered edition was published in 2018 by Krome Studios as part of The Bard's Tale Remastered Trilogy, ensuring continued access for modern audiences.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight?
It is a 1986 fantasy RPG from Interplay Productions that serves as the direct continuation of the original The Bard's Tale. Michael Cranford handled both design and programming, and it stands as the last title in the series he personally crafted.
What systems was The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight released on?
The 1986 launch covered Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari ST, and Amiga.
Why does The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight hold a special place among fans?
It represents the final game that Michael Cranford both designed and coded for the Bard's Tale franchise. That makes it a personal milestone in the series' history, separate from the later entries developed by other teams.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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