Frequently Asked Questions

Contents


How do I get started?

Here's a list of the first few things you should know in order to get started with this game. It won't go into detail of any of the more intricate bits and pieces of the game, however it will give you enough information to get you up and running.

After creating an account, the first choice you're presented with is which character you'd like to play. Dragon Tavern has a wide selection of character choices, with 8 classes in each of the 3 seperate realms. As far as this goes, there's no wrong choice you can make, with each of the classes having their own strengths and weaknesses (known as TOAD, which will be explained further down). The other primary difference is what equipment layout you'll get, as well as the lists of equipment you'll use to improve your adventurer. Have a read of the different realms and classes, and just pick what sounds like your style. Remember you can have many characters so don't be afraid to try a large group of them.

With this complete, you'll find yourself starting in the Tavern.


What do I do now?

Your first job as a champion of your realm is to use the Travel option to get out into a location and start exploring. It's highly recommended that you start in Skyclaw Mountains or the Shattered Highlands as they're the most friendly for new adventurers. From there, you hit explore and watch as your character gets into battles with foes, defeats them and claims their treasure. Keep an eye on your wounds however! If you die you'll be sent back to the tavern with none of the items you've picked up since you last arrived.


What does all that stuff on the left mean?

The information on the left hand side of the screen is summed up as follows:

  • AP measures the Action Points you have remaining. Every time you explore an area looking for monsters and treasure, you spend one of your action points doing so. Additionally, each time you leave and return from a location, you spend one point. If you'd like to get more AP without waiting for your free allocation each day, you can buy them from the Advantages area in large blocks, allowing you to play as much or as little as you wish. They'll also save (up to 250) if you can't play for a while or are the type of person too busy to play every day, but more than happy to spend an hour or two on the weekend.
  • Experience measures how powerful you are. When enough experience points have been achieved, you'll increase in power measurably, attaining a new level. This level rating is used in a lot of the combat calculations, and the higher it is, the more powerful enemies you can vanquish. Additionally, if you've been defeated you'll aquire an xp debt. While you have a debt, any new experience earned will contribute 50% towards paying off the debt effectively making you increase at half the normal speed until it's paid off. In short, it pays to not die, but wont make it so you can get stuck in a black hole of debt and never ever level up while you're trying to pay if off.
  • Wounds measure how tough you are and how many times you can be hurt in a fight before you are defeated. As monsters hurt you, you'll see this number increase towards your maximum until you die, dropping everything you've picked up since you last visited the tavern, and aquiring an xp debt.
  • Gold measures how much treasure you're carrying. This is used to ugprade your gear, keeping you ahead of the game compared to monsters equipment and giving you the upper hand with superior weapons, spells and armor. Once you get gold back to town it's safe and cant be lost (except through gambling and spending it of course), however any you've picked up while exploring but have yet to take back to town is at risk should you be defeated in combat, so if you're getting nervous about dropping all your treasure, head back to town to safely store it at the bank.
  • Encumberance measures how much crap you're lugging around with the intent to sell once you get back to town. Items weigh different amounts based on their rarity, and vary wildly in value. In general the high priced exotic items will be the lightest, while the common stuff will weigh a lot. When you can no longer carry any more, head back to the Tavern and it will automatically sell all of your heard earned treasure to give you some spending money.


How do I heal my wounds?

Head back to the Dragon Tavern, and your wounds will automatically be cleared off as you kick back with a pint or ten of ale and recount your tales to other adventurers and the locals.


What was that TOAD thing mentioned earlier?

TOAD stands for Tactics, Organization, Attack Type and Defense Type. It measures the way your champion fights against other monsters in the game (who have their own TOAD). The simplest way to look at it is to imagine that it's 4 rock/paper/scissors type comparisons. Each time you have a favorable outcome, you get a bonus to your Success Chance, and vice verca.


What is a success chance?

When you explore in a location, you'll encounter monsters spoiling for a fight. A Success Chance is then worked out based on the following:

  • Base Success Chance is determined by comparing your level to the monster's level.
  • Equipment Comparison compares the Attack Rating (AR) and Defense Rating (DR) of your equipment to the monster's Attack Rating (AR) and Defense Rating (DR).
  • TOAD Comparison compares your Tactics, Organization, Attack Type and Defense Type.
  • Skills Used takes into account Skills that have helped you in the fight.

The Success Chance is the chance you have of wounding the monster. If you roll a number equal to your Success Chance or below, you wound the monster. If you don't, the monster wounds you. When one side is reduced to zero wounds, the other is declared the victor.

(One exception to the above: If you roll a very very high number you can sometimes receive an "Unlucky Wound" regardless of your Success Chance. In these cases, both you and the monster have taken a wound.)


How do I improve my character?

Besides leveling up, you can buy new equipment at the three stores. There are seperate stores for armaments, protections and support equipment, and the items you see are all based on your class. There's nothing much to explain here except that the more you pay, the better the gear is. Additionally, you can't go backwards, so don't be afraid to buy something new and shiny if it catches your eye!

Additionally, each time you level up you'll gain a skill point or an extra maximum wound point. Skill points can be spent in the Tavern at the skill trainer, and there's a fairly extensive list to pick from! In short, there's something there to compliment all play styles, from conservative defender, to greedy adventurers who want the most gold and loot possible.


Where can I explore?

From the Dragon Tavern, there's a dropdown menu which lists all the places adventurers can travel to in order to make their fortune a name for themselves. While you can explore anywhere from day 1, it's advisable to stick to areas withing your level range. For new characters this will be either Skyclaw Mountains or the Shattered Highlands.

When you arrive at a new location, it will take you to the equivalent level of that location to your character. This is deemed as the default place you'd want to go for a fairly safe level of risk vs reward. Players seeking to increase their reward at the expense of safety can increase the level of where they're adventuring at, however don't go too far as the greater the distance from your own level, the harder the fight will be. Anything 5 levels higher will be almost impossible to win, and anything 5 levels lower will be almost impossible to lose (however you'll get no xp there as that's no way to learn)

Sub-locations will occasionally pop up as discoveries. These are small sections of the main location you're in with a different bunch of monsters and loot to find. You'll get a limited number of AP to spend in the sub location, so prepare yourself well before you go in. These AP save up, and accumulate should you make another discovery for the same sub-location, so don't feel rushed to make use of them immediately.

There are two main differences between sub-locations and locations. Firstly, you'll find some of the nastier monsters known as bosses which drop a large amount of loot, and secondly you cant pick exactly what level you wish to adventure in, meaning it's riskier in terms of what degree of difficulty you can expect.


When exploring, what will I find?

A lot of the time you'll find a monster to fight, who's either guarding or carrying treasure. Occasionally you'll come across a trap of sorts. Some traps will hurt you, while others will steal your items or waste your AP. You can spend your skill points to resist traps a lot easier, but it's impossible to remove the threat completely. Each location and sub location has its own traps as well, so keep an eye out for areas which seem particularly deadly or annoying to your playstyle.

It's not all bad news though! Occasionally you'll get lucky and find some free treasure and this will typically have double the gold you'd normally get from a monster fought around that level. However every so often you'll also come up with absolutely zilch for your exploration efforts, and get neither loot, trap, nor monster. What can we say? Life is tough.


When do I get more Action Points?

Your characters receive an additional 25 action points each day (for normal characters - see below). As teh game is run by a bunch of Australians, we've set the reset time to 7pm in Sydney. When you're in the Tavern or out of Action Points, it will tell you how much time there is until the next Action Point update.


Are there other game types?

For advanced players who reach level 20 with a normal character, the option to play a Hardcore Character is opened up. This is more of a fun game type for friends to compete with each other. Hardcore characters die permanently if they are defeated, and gain AP at twice the normal rate. Why do this you may ask? Because sometimes earning bragging rights amongst your friends is more precious than all the gold in Ashpeak Mountains.

For those who reach even higher levels with a character, you can unlock the option to create what's known as a Limited Character. Limited characters start with more AP to begin with (either 500 or 2000), however they can NEVER earn more. The objective of these characters are to see how far you can get with limited time, and compete with your friends to see who really is the best. And don't despair, if you find yourself attached to the limited character by the time they're retired with no more AP left, you can use one of the purchasable advantages to convert them over to a regular character and bring them out of retirement.

Limited character types require account credits to make use of, however regular and hardcore characters are free to create.


What are credits?

Credits are game tokens that allow you to buy advantages for your character, which can range from consumable advantages like additional action points to permanent advantages like reduced death penalties. Credits come in two varieites:

  • Account credits can be bought via the "Buy more credits" page, and these credits can be used for any character.
  • Character credits can be received during the course of the game, and can only be used for advantages for a specific character. You should receive 20 character credits when your character first uses 50 action points.


When are rankings updated?

Rankings are now updated in real time.


Are there keyboard shortcuts?

Yes, there are! To use them you'll need to enable them in the Account Settings area. The shortcuts are:

  • E - Explore
  • T - Travel to Location / Return to Dragon Tavern
  • + - Increase Difficulty must be in location view -
  • - - Decrease Difficulty must be in location view -

  • C - Character Sheet
  • I - Inventory
  • A - Advantages
  • P - Public Page
  • L - Return to Location
  • R - Rankings
  • H - Recent Happenings
  • G - Competition Groups

  • B - Buy More Credits

Keyboard shortcuts are only available when that option is available as a clickable command on your current screen.


Who made this game?

Dragon Tavern was created by Rowdy Baron Games and launched on the 16th of May 2008. For all inquiries, please email dragontavern@rowdybarongames.com.


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