Game Editor Modules For Realms Of Arkania: Blade Of Destiny
Created by David Melanson, using Hartman Utilities' UGE 1.0
Realms of Arkania has one of the most complex RPG systems I've
ever seen implemented in a PC game. Blade of Destiny is the first game in
the series, but I chose to do it second...go figure.
Anyway, anybody who's played the game knows it can be frustrating
as all hell, especially with weird poison/herb/spell names that don't
always make any sense (for example, "Lightning" is a blinding attack spell,
NOT a lightning bolt!) Worse yet, in Advanced Mode, you've got to take
chances on improving skills and spell abilities and...ARRGH! All this is
great for the die-hard paper RPG'er who wants to keep track of eight
zillion statistics, but for the average player, this can be quite
frustrating...especially since you can't really see if you're any good at
a skill before you try to use it if you play in Novice mode (which doesn't
require you to do the skill gain rolls). So...using Jack Hartman's
Universal Game Editor, I have hacked into the saved game files to give the
player the capability to mess with quite a few things in the game. Clever
readers will also note I copied almost the entire README.TXT file from the
R.O.A. II file for this instruction manual...
For those of you unfamiliar with my previous work on UGE, check out
my Website at http://www.ici.net/customers/overkill/overkill.htm, and click
on the "UGE Page" option to see the list of editors. As of this writing,
I have completed modules for many a game, and now (at least temporarily)
hold this distinctive honor of having created more UGE modules than the
UGE author himself, Mr. Jack Hartman. There is no registration fee for
any of my modules, but I do ask that you register UGE; it's a very nice
program, and Jack put a lot of work into it.
SPECIAL NOTE: These modules only affect the first 6 player character slots
in the save file. When you start the game, these are filled with the six
pre-generated characters. To edit "your own" characters, you must go to
a temple, DELETE all the originals, and make sure YOUR characters are in
the first six slots. Therefore, if you don't want to use the pre-generated
characters, you'd best be starting at the very beginning (a very good place
to start)...
How to use the modules: Fire up UGE and create new menu options for
the modules named BLADE.MDL and BLADE2.MDL. The first of these edits
each character's skills, stats, and inventory, and the second edits each
character's spell skills. The file you want to edit will have a ".GAM"
extension, and should be in your BLADE directory...for example, a game
you named "TEST 1" should show up as "test_1__.gam" in the BLADE directory.
Anyway, on to the editing features. Character name is pretty
obvious; since you can change your character's name at any point in the
game, this doesn't really matter all that much; I just put the field in
so you could identify which character is which more easily. The class,
sex, and deity fields can be set to whatever you want (yes, you can even
worship the Nameless God whenever you want!). Table 1 below lists all the
options for each of these fields. Why would you want to change deity?
Hey, it's a lot easier to get a miracle in the Temple of Praios if EVERY
member of your party happens to be a follower of Praios when they enter,
now isn't it?
You can enter your Height in centimeters and your weight in ounces
at any time (okay, folks, let's talk standardization on a system of
measurements, huh?) Why would you want to? Who knows? Maybe there's a
tunnel you can't fit through unless you're shorter than a certain height,
or maybe your weight triggers some sort of trap. It's there anyway.
Level and XP are pretty self-explanatory. Amazingly enough, they
don't make a bit of difference to how well your character performs any
particular feat, provided you use the other editing features to modify
skills. Then we come to the ability scores and "weaknesses." Each of
these has two values-a "normal" value and a "current" value. I know you
can set each ability score up to at least 18, but I'm not sure how well they
work over that. You can give it a try; just back up your saved game files.
I suggest you do not attempt to set weaknesses lower than 0. God knows
what that will do.
Life points and astral points are also self-explanatory and,
furthermore, also have both normal and current values. Then we move on to
skills. Skills have a range from -19 (no chance of success) to +18 (you're
about as good at it as they get). Attempting to set skill values higher
will undoubtedly cause the machine to be rather unhappy with you. Now,
you'll notice that I did NOT make these +/- 127 fields, but rather 0 to
255's (so that negative skill numbers wind up showing up as 237+). My
reasoning is this: What player, in his or her right mind, would want to
set a skill to a negative value? So anyway, any skill you see with a
237+ value is currently negative, and I suggest you set it to at least 0,
so you at least have some chance of success...maybe not much, but some.
Skills range from "Unarmed" all the way to "Perception."
Next up are the Inventory fields. I set up fields so you can give
yourself any item you want in a series of locations around the character's
body (head cover, etc, up to footwear). There are also fields
for the sixteen backpack slots each character has. You'll note that there
is a separate field for each Backpack Slot (i.e. Char 1 Slot 1 #) for the
NUMBER of a certain item in that slot. Certain inventory items can store
a number of their type in one inventory slot. The number that actually is
stored in each of these slots is in fact one plus the number shown in this
"number" field. For example, if you have three rations in slot 1, the
field "Slot 1 #" will be 2. All possible inventory items are shown in
Table 2, below. The ones that make use of the "number" field in backpack
inventory slots are marked with a (#) after the item name.
Encumbrance is not a fun thing. So I also found the "Encumb" field.
By modifying this, you can actually change how much weight your character
is apparently carrying, no matter how much he or she is ACTUALLY carrying.
In other words, you can lug around eighty billion gold ducats without
having an ounce of weight added! (Scary, isn't it?)
Unlike ROA II, each character can have their own supply of money
(there is no central "slush fund.") So I made a money field for each
character. The amount is shown strictly in Bronze pieces. Just remember:
10 Bronze pieces equals 1 Silver Piece, and 10 Silver Pieces equals one Gold
Ducat. So, if you set this field to, say, "23,482", your character's money
amounts will be shown as 234 Ducats, 8 Silver pieces, and 2 Bronze pieces.
The second module is spells. Any character with spellcasting
ability can cast ANY spell, provided: a.) they have enough AP, and b.) they
have a spell skill value greater than -5. Therefore, I simply made characters
able to modify their spell skill values on every single spell out there.
Unfortunately, character spellcasting ability is ENTIRELY dependent upon
the class of the character...if the class can't cast spells, the character
can't cast spells; there is no other field you can change for that. Spells
begin with "Domination" and end with "Calm Storm."
INFORMATION TABLES:
Table 1: SEX, CLASS, AND DEITY
SEX: 0=male, 1=female
CLASS: 1=Jester, 2=Hunter, 3=Warrior, 4=Rogue, 5=Thorwalian,
6=Dwarf, 7=Witch, 8=Druid, 9=Magician, 10=Green Elf,
11=Ice Elf, 12=Silvan Elf
DEITY: 1=Praios, 2=Rondra, 3=Efferd, 4=Travia, 5=Boron,
6=Hesinde, 7=Firun, 8=Tsa, 9=Phex, 10=Peraine,
11=Ingerimm, 12=Rahja, 13=Swafnir, 14=Ifirn,
15=The Nameless God
Table 2: INVENTORY ITEMS (NOTE: TWO OF THE MOST USEFUL ITEMS ARE
#'s 184 AND 185. THESE GIVE UNLIMITED FOOD & WATER SUPPLIES. USE 'EM!)
1.> Sword 2.> Cudgel 3.> Sabre 4.> Knife 5.> Spear
6.> Short Sword 7.> Shield 8.> Hatchet 9.> Short Bow
10.> Arrows (#) 11.> War Axe 12.> Crossbow 13.> Crossbow Bolts (#)
14.> Dagger 15.> Iron Shield 16.> Francesca (Throwing Axe)
17.> Throwing Star (#) 18.> 2-Handed Sword 19.> Long Bow
20.> Morning Star 21.> Obsidian Dagger 22.> Blank
23.> Beer 24.> Throwing Iron 25.> Lantern 26.> Crowbar
27.> Hammer 28.> Fishing Hook 29.> Scroll 30.> Water Skin
31.> Glass Flask 32.> Rope Ladder 33.> Throwing Axe
34.> Brass Mirror 35.> Lockpicks 36.> Quill
37.> Harp 38.> Drinking Horn 39.> Silver Jewelry
40.> Climbing Hook (#) 41.> Oil 42.> Bronze Flask 43.> Iron Helmet
44.> Pike 45.> Food Packages (#) 46.> Recorder
47.> Alchemy Set 48.> Shirt 49.> Pants 50.> Shoes
51.> Boots 52.> Snowshoes 53.> Leather Harness
54.> Scale Armor 55.> Shurin Bulb Poison 56.> Arax Poison
57.> Fear Poison 58.> Sleeping Poison 59.> Golden Glue
60.> 4-leaf Loneberry (#) 61.> Whirlweed (#)
62.> Slimy Toadstool (#) 63.> Gulmond Leaf (#)
64.> Tarnele (#) 65.> Torch 66.> Mace
67.> Epee 68.> Foil 69.> Quarterstaff 70.> Crystal Ball
71.> Whip 72.> Blanket 73.> Shovel 74.> Gold Jewelry
75.> Green Robe 76.> Red Robe 77.> Pot Helmet
78.> Leather Cap 79.> Quilt Armor 80.> Chainmail Shirt
81.> Toadskin 82.> Plate Armor 83.> Chainmail Armor
84.> Leather Armor 85.> Tinderbox 86.> Whetstone
87.> Cutlery 88.> Dish 89.> Licorice (#) 90.> Sweets(#)
91.> Wine Bottle 92.> Brandy Bottle 93.> Hoe
94.> Praios Amulet 95.> Lute 96.> Winter Coat 97.> Net
98.> Throwing Knife 99.> Sickle 100.> Scythe 101.> Warhammer
102.> Trident 103.> Halberd 104.> Grain Flail 105.> Double Fleurs
106.> Goupillon 107.> Basilisc's Tongue 108.> Catchogre 109.> Mengbilar
110.> Heavy Dagger 111.> Rondracomb 112.> Cutlass
113.> Bastard Sword 114.> Tuzukian 115.> Bec de Corbin
116.> Brabak Bully 117.> Rapier 118.> Kunchomer
119.> Double Kunchomer 120.> Sling 121.> Rope
122.> Shurin Bulb (#) 123.> Belmart Leaf (#) 124.> Donf Sprig (#)
125.> Menchal Catcus (#) 126.> Mandrake Root (#)
127.> Atmon Blossom (#) 128.> Ilmen Leaf (#)
129.> Finage Tree Sprig (#) 130.> Joruga Root (#)
131.> Thonnys Flower (#) 132.> Lotus Flower (#)
133.> Magic Wand 134.> Skraja 135.> Hatchet 136.> Orc Hook
137.> Cutting Tooth 138.> Seal Slayer 139.> Wolf Knife
140.> Witch's Broom 141.> Lotus Poison 142.> Kukris
143.> Bane Dust 144.> Toadstool Poison 145.> Healing Potion
146.> Strong Healing Potion 147.> Elixir of CR 148.> Elixir of WD
149.> Elixir of CH 150.> Elixir of DX 151.> Elixir of AG
152.> Elixir of IN 153.> Elixir of ST 154.> Magic Potion
155.> Strong Magic Potion 156.> Olgin Root (#)
157.> Kairan Sprig (#) 158.> Bastard Sword 159.> Orc Hook
160.> Short Sword 161.> Sickle 162.> Amulet
163.> Amulet 164.> Bone with Rune 165.> Ring
166.> Expurgic 167.> Recipe for Expurgic 168.> Vomic
169.> Recipe for Vomic 170.> Document
171.> Silver Coronet 172.> Sabre 173.> Amulet
174.> Amulet 175.> Amulet 176.> Debt Book
177.> Red Moon Disk 178.> 2-Handed Sword 179.> Orcish Document
180.> Antidote 181.> The Sword Grimring 182.>Death-Head Belt
183.> Girdle Of Might 184.> Magic Bread Bag 185.> Magic Waterskin
186.> Recipe for Healing Potions 187.> Letter from Jadra
188.> Amulet 189.> Praises 190.> Membership Scroll
191.> Document 192.> Sea Chart 193.> Kukris Dagger
194.> Key 195.> Golden Key 196.> Helmet
197.> Chainmail Shirt 198.> Chainmail Shirt 199.> Sword
200.> Kukris Mengbilar 201.> Platinum Key 202.> Recipe for Antidote
203.> Recipe for Hylailic Fire 204.> Recipe for Elixir Of ST
205.> Recipe for Elixir of CR 206.> Recipe for Magic Potion
207.> Ring 208.> Key
209.> Iron Key 210.> Iron Key 211.> Red Key
212.> Bronze Key 213.> Silver helmet 214.> Silver Mace
215.> Silver Jewelry 216.> Spear 217.> Coronet
218.> Throwing Dagger 219.> Golden Key 220.> Ring
221.> Bag 222.> Book 223.> Elixir of Health
224.> Book 225.> Crystal 226.> Elixir of CR
227.> Elixir of WD 228.> Elixir of CH 229.> Elixir of DX
230.> Elixir of AG 231.> Elixir of IN 232.> Elixir of ST
233.> Robe 234.> Gold Shield 235.> Letter of Introduction
236.> Miracle Cure 237.> Sleeping Potion 238.> Miasthmatic
239.> Hylailic Fire 240.> Recipe For Strong Healing Potion
241.> Recipe for Miracle Cure 242.> Recipe for Sleeping Potion
243.> Recipe for Strong Magic Potion 244.> Recipe for Miasthmathic
245.> Silver Coronet 246.> Book 247.> Letter of Introduction
248.> Black figurine 249.> Lantern
You may notice there are many repeats amongst the inventory items; various
"duplicate" names actually have different values (for example, different
chainmail shirts have different protection values). Experiment to figure
out which you'd like to keep.
Well, that's about it for how this module works. I hope you find
it helpful in your quest. Please send comments, questions, or observations
to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., but please, no requests. I don't
have every game out there, and a lot of games have encoded save-game files
that cannot be edited. Have fun!
-David Melanson
(This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
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uL Node : 1, NFo:NONE, D?Z:NONE
