Dragon Wars was developed by Interplay Entertainment. While originally conceived as another installment of The Bard's Tale Trilogy, the company's decision to part ways with Electronic Arts, leaving the rights to that series behind, meant that a new world needed to be created. However, they kept the ability to import characters from the Bard's Tale games.
The land of Dilmun is said to be a legendary paradise — one where the streets are paved with gold and nobody ever wants for anything. But such stories rarely measure up to the reality, and while you were docked at one of its harbors, you found yourself arrested, accused of spellcasting. King Drake of Phoebus has declared all magic to be illegal, forcing all practioners into exile — or worse. Stripped of all your possessions, you are tossed into the cesspool known as Purgatory...
This video game contains examples of:
- Ban on Magic: King Drake doesn't want any of those pesky spellcasters running around, and is running a Type B. Not that this necessarily stops you from finding scrolls and other sources of spells...
- Chainmail Bikini: The adventuress shown on the cover art (above), courtesy of Boris Vallejo.
- Copy Protection: Want to know the story? Large chunks of it are contained in the manual as numbered paragraphs; reaching the relevant moments in the game asks you to refer to the specific sections.
- Deal with the Devil:
- The dragons that reside in Dilmun's cities require regular sacrifices in order to keep them content. Humans are apparently quite tasty...
- In pursuit of refining his art, Mog acquired an apprentice in the form of a Gaze Demon and began passing off their work as his own.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- Each city-state has its own pet dragon for use in war, but it's explicit that they're so devastating and unstoppable that no city dares unleash their dragon for fear of Mutually Assured Destruction. In other words, the dragons are Fantastic Nukes.
- The Stosstrupen, the secret police who hunt down anyone suspected of spellcasting or resistance to Namtar's rule. Between their name (very similar to "Schutzstaffel") and their function, they're the fantasy Gestapo.
- Drowning My Sorrows: One of the few survivors of Tars can be found in Freeport, mourning the loss of his hometown and raging about how their deal with their dragon was All for Nothing.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: The Dragon Queen will happily slaughter you unless you have the Dragon Gem.
- Made a Slave: The fate of many a poor soul in Purgatory. It's also entirely possible for your party to sell themselves into slavery in hopes of escaping that way.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: In Freeport, choosing to break the illusion upon the Sword avoids triggering the trap, but still upsets the locals and leads to the shops closing. The best course of action is to simply leave it be.
- Off with His Head!: In Necropolis, Nergal inflicts this fate upon whomever volunteers to serve him, via head chomp. They get better.
- The Quisling: Mystalvision betrayed his fellow magicians, and has been lording over Phoebus ever since.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Aid in taking down Byzanople, and your commander goes back on his word, having you arrested and thrown into Kingshome's dungeon.
- Sadistic Choice: The Sword of Freedom is said to protect Freeport so long as it remains embedded within its anvil. Legends also claim that in a time of great strife, a champion will claim the blade... but in doing so will doom the city. Should you find a way to reach it, the citizens will watch with baited breath, awaiting your decision... However, things aren't quite what they seem.
- Skewed Priorities: A passage in a journal left behind by Lanac'toor features, among other things, the sorcerer noting that he should probably prepare some defenses against Namtar, but "I haven't done my laundry in weeks, and it's beginning to smell."
- Sole Survivor: Josephine believes himself to be the last of his kind, lamenting the fate of the other dwarves to any who will listen to his ravings.
- Space Cold War: One of the primary things that used to keep Dilmun peaceful was how the various cities each kept a dragon within their walls. Were any threat to prove dangerous enough to potentially overwhelm them, they'd release the dragon, well aware that this would likely destroy both sides. Unfortunately, Namtar has some way of circumventing that threat, enabling Kingshome's rapid conquest.
-
Spiritual Successor: To The Bard's Tale Trilogy, complete with the ability to transfer heroes from those games into this. - Taken for Granite:
- Lanac'toor was turned into a statue and shattered, his pieces hidden across the land.
- The fate of many of the residents of the Slave Estate. You can also inflict this upon the monster responsible with clever use of a mirror.
- This was also what happened to the dwarves. There's a lot of this going around.
- Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: You've got Namtar's betrayal and manipulation of King Drake, Mystalvision betraying his fellow mages, Irkalla being betrayed by her consort Nergal... the fact that you can work against Dilmun's best interests...
- Victory Is Boring: You eventually discover that Namtar has grown bored with his success, to the point that he spares your party when you first meet simply because he finds your efforts thus far to have been the best entertainment he's had in a long time.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Slaughtering the encampment of escaped slaves makes it impossible to obtain any of the treasures there.
- What the Hell, Player?: The game won't hesitate to call you out for making questionable decisions, such as attacking the slave camp or helping the villainous army successfully conquer Byzanople.
