Behind the Game:

Unforgettable Realms

By Danny Chihdo

The Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign setting has long been the game world of choice for discriminating paper Dungeons & Dragons  players looking for more diverse fields of magical study, even stranger creatures, a wider array of playable races, and a deep, well-developed world alive with history and more than a little arcane mystery. Faerûn (the main landmass in the Realms) has also provided the backdrop for some of computer roleplaying’s most memorable titles, such as Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, and the innovative franchise that marked Dungeons & Dragons’s triumphant return to PC gaming after a lengthy absence—Baldur’s Gate. That series has so far spawned numerous sequels and expansions for the PC and made a triumphant Xbox debut with Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, an unapologetic hack-and-slash that blended the combat intensity of games like Gauntlet and Hunter with a healthy dose of roleplaying and a wicked multiplayer mode.

Mass carnage.

If you managed to battle your way to the end of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, you were treated to an unpleasant surprise: the “Dark Alliance” you’d been fighting all along was merely a tool of something even more evil. With a sequel setup like that, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II was inevitable. This time around, game development has moved to Black Isle, the designers responsible for the original Baldur’s Gate game on the PC, and they haven’t bothered to fix anything that didn’t need fixing. Instead, story, character, party interaction, and roleplaying elements have been expanded, and the main plotline has been extended to almost 40 hours of gameplay (60 or more if you’re over 16).

With that much Faerûn to explore, a little background might help you find your way. Let’s face it, not everyone plays paper Dungeons & Dragons or even knows someone who does. And, even then, man, that’s a lot of reading—it sure would be nice if a guy like me could boil down the world of Baldur’s Gate into about 750 easy-to-digest words.

Hey, wait! I’m a guy like me!

“I’ve always hated spiders.”

Volo Knows
If you want to learn about the Realms, there’s one author you want to read—Volothamp Geddarm, more popularly known as “Volo.” His guides to the cities of Faerûn are considered definitive, especially his treatment on Baldur’s Gate, which most scholars believe contained the fewest factual errors of anything he ever wrote. So, incidentally, if anything you read here turns out to be wrong, it’s Volo’s fault. But, it’s sometimes more important to be readable than to be right, as Volo might say.

The continent of Faerûn is in the northern hemisphere of the planet Abeir-toril (or just plain “Toril”), one of many such worlds scattered across the planar multiverse. Baldur’s Gate lies on the western side of Faerûn, at the southern end of a shoreline area known as the Sword Coast. (Travelers are advised to take the name literally and always go armed; roadside attacks by bandits, bears, goblins, kobolds, or worse have been a fact of life in the area for centuries.) The bustling port city is a junction point for several roads and a heavily trafficked river Chionthar, which empties into the Sea of Swords in the west. Baldur’s Gate was founded by the legendary hero Balduran, who left his wealth to what was then a small, defenseless coastal town before setting out on a journey from which he never returned. But, his gold was put to good use by the people of Baldur’s Gate, and the small village soon became a thriving commerce center in the region.

Evil doesn’t stand a chance.

Gate Crashing
Adventurers visiting Baldur’s Gate will never lack for a quest. The town is filled with taverns, inns, and other public meeting places where one can find work as a sword for hire in the surrounding areas. After the events of the first Dark Alliance, new threats bring other dangers into the city as well.

Choose your character carefully; the races of Faerûn are a bit more diverse than your standard human, dwarf, elf, and halfling. Humans that dwell in the wild lands of the Realms are represented by the Barbarian, who is a fierce fighter and has a way with animals. A more educated (and female) type of human turns up in the Cleric class, a holy warrior who also makes a perfect medic for the party.

The fighter class is represented by one of Faerûn’s many different races of dwarf, hardy folk with a high Constitution and a love of stoneworking. Dark Alliance II gives gamers two flavors of elf: a moon elf wizard with an almost exclusive focus on the arcane arts and a Drow (dark elf) monk who’s a master of martial arts and blunt weapons (think David Carradine, except female with shocking white hair and shiny blue-black skin).

The true Dark Alliance has yet to reveal itself, but it’s only a matter of time—attacks on the road are on the rise, and other strange reports are the talk of the town (not the least of which is the fact that the Onyx Tower has completely disappeared, along with the heroes from the first game). Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II takes you on a journey that you won’t soon forget.