One step at a time
Walk the grid in first person, with an automap if you want one, and learn to distrust any corridor that looks like the last.
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In honour of The Bard’s Tale
The Frostbound Lay
A city sealed in winter. A sorcerer in his tower. Six adventurers, and a song.
Free browser playable · No account required · Press F for full screen · In active development
16
Levels beneath and above the city
79
Spells in four schools
10
Classes to master
74
Painted scenes and portraits
The first verse
A thank-you letter to a 1985 classic
The Bard’s Tale taught a generation to map dungeons on graph paper, to fear the streets at night, and to buy their bard a drink before the next fight. I studied it closely, from the manual to the rules to how it plays, then built a new game on the same bones.
Same party of six, where only the front three can reach the enemy. Same four schools of magic, with all 79 spells cast by typing their four-letter codes. The same bard who loses his voice until he’s had a drink. Everything else is new: the city of Hollowmere, its story, its riddles and every level, the best of them drawn by hand.
An independent, non-commercial tribute. It isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by the owners of The Bard’s Tale, and none of its maps, text or names appear here.
The second verse
Down beneath Hollowmere, then up
01The Minstrel’s Cellar
Order wine at the Crimson Minstrel, and the barkeep points at a trapdoor.
02The Drains
Three levels of sewer, a sunshaft that burns by day, and a wall that knows a god’s name.
03The Ossuary
Bones beneath a mad god’s temple, and a hollow king who still wears his crown.
04Veskhold Keep
A baron’s castle, a throne only a bard can sit on, and a legion hundreds strong.
05The Amber Spire
A colossus of glass that won’t stay broken, and a wizard everyone misjudged.
06The Obsidian Spire
Five floors of black glass, seven words to speak in order, and Morvane at the top.
How it plays
Orders, then consequences
Spells you type
Every spell has a four-letter code. The list is there if you want it, memory if you’d rather.
A bard who needs a drink
Six songs that turn a fight, one per level, until the tavern restores his voice.
A town that changes at night
Spell points return by daylight. The shops shut at dusk, and what walks the streets after dark is far worse.
A verse still being written
I’m adding to it
The whole quest is playable today, from the first cellar to the sorcerer’s crown. Next: the remaining levels redrawn by hand, optional cloud saves, more of the city, and fuller music for the bard’s six songs. For now your party saves in this browser.