Drakensang

Sean Connery is about to chop your head off?


Drakensang is an RPG developed by Radon Labs and was released in 2008 in Germany and 2009 in the USA.

The game itself has an old school approach to RPGs. Gameplay is similar to the Neverwinter Nights series and Baldur's Gate.

The series is set in the universe of the German Tabletop RPG called The Dark Eye, or "Das Schwarze Auge" in the original German.

The first game takes place aroud the city of Ferdok, where you travel after your old friend/mentor Ardo of Boarstock sends you a letter asking for your help. However, after your arrival you are informed that Ardo was seemingly the latest victim of a serial killer. The following events in your search for the identity of the murderer leads you in being The Chosen One in the search for an ancient artifact.

In 2010 a sequel Drakensang 2 - The River of Time (or short: Dra Sa 2 - T Ro T) was released which takes place 23 years before the start of the the first game.

An addon Drakensang 2 - Phileasson's Secret is released and a future Drakensang 3 was semi-confirmed by one of the developers.

An MMO (which may or may not be Drakensang 3) called Drakensang Online was released and launched after several months of beta testing.

A Character page has been made, but it needs work badly.

Tropes used in Drakensang include:

Pungeon Master General Warning: The following examples contain some incredibly lame puns; troper discretion is advised.

  • Absolute Cleavage: Most of the fanservice seems to come from this. Notable examples are the Amazonian armors, Salina, the witches Alwine and Morla and Malgorra.
  • Action Girl: Quite a few, but Rhulana the amazon is the straightest example.
  • All There in the Manual: Gamers who also know the Tabletop RPG will get several references to events and characters in the setting. Both games are also part of larger tabletop-campaigns.
  • All Trolls Are Different: They are big hairy giants who really like sweet stuff.
  • Amazon Brigade: In the first game you have to kill some of them in a sidequest for Rhulana. In the prequel you must fight against an hostile one in the Bosparanian Ruins.
  • Ancient Conspiracy: The Dragonmen.
  • Apocalyptic Log: In the ancient dwarven halls you find the diary detailing how the tunneling dwarves accidentally stumbled onto an ancient foe, and how the halls were lost. Does This Remind You of Anything??
    • The notes you find in the Bosparanian Ruins in the sequel are similar.
  • The Artful Dodger: Gladys.
  • The Atoner: Forgrimm (sort of) and Brother Emmeran.
  • Attack of the Monster Appendage: The Newt Kraken is a type 2.
  • Ax Crazy: The Amazons, especially Rhulana (who's still a decent lass outside of the battlefield).
  • Badass: Ardo in the sequel is one. Need an example? Halfway through the game he's attacked by an assassin with a demonical dagger and poisoned. He still manage to kill the attacker (AND the two soldiers right behind him) in a single sword swing.
  • Shave of Sorrow: Forgrimm. Well, he is a dwarf after all.
  • BFS: Many two handed swords may fit this category, but the Marus' Sabre in The River Of Time takes the cake. However it's listed in game as a two-handed Axe type weapon.
  • Big Bad: Malgorra del Incendio in the first game, Coldstone in the sequel, and Tharkath in Phileasson's Secret.
  • Big Good: Umbracor.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Maybe if you know German?
    • Not quite: all the original names are in German and they're usually translated to english/italian/other language.
  • Bolt of Divine Retribution: Ulwine Neisbeck declares that she is even more powerful than the gods. Guess what happens next?
  • Bonus Boss: The Linnorm in Tallon.
    • The water dragon and the crab monster in T Ro T.
  • Boobs of Steel: in T Ro T Eiliff Thunderfist, who also doubles as Large and In Charge. An Amazon character may become this as well, if you choose the right body type.
  • Boss Rush: Near the end of T Ro T: You must face a wave of guards lead by Jasmine's apprentice (who make clones of herself), then a long, tiring battle againts Jasmine and her clones, then a battle against the clones of your party and finally Coldstone himself... coupled with a giant animated statue.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: King Arombolosch, thanks to a dragon gem which you helped to get.
  • But Thou Must!
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Salina and also Rakorium.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Archmage Rakorium.
  • Clown Car Grave: The necromancer in Moorbridge swamps did this to some crypts, allowing them to endlessly spawn zombies.
  • Constructed World: Aventuria.
  • Continuity Nod: In the sequel there are several references to the Realms of Arkania games which take place during the same timeframe.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Ulwine Neisbeck. Is extremely clear from your first job for her company that she has no standard and is quite ruthless.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Boron is the god of the dead, and his priests dress accordingly, but he is one of the good gods.
  • Dead Man Writing
  • Dirty Cop: There's one in the Ferdock city watch. No spoiler hint: It's the one using his badge to try and get free service from a prostitute.
    • The rookie Pagol in Nadoret. However, he's more bumbling and greedy than outright corrupted.
  • Dirty Coward: Captain Soorman, Girtash Goldtooth, Sir Prancelott...
  • Disc One Final Boss: Arguably the Purple Dragon Jafgur in the first game and the Zanth demoness in 2.
  • The Dragon: Noldrokon in 1 to Malgorra and Jasmine in 2 to Coldstone.
  • Eldritch Abomination: the Zant demoness in the Bosparanian Ruins
  • Expy: Probably a coincidence, but let's take a look at Gladys: an attractive, teasy redhead thief with a little magic? Isn't that familiar?
    • Furthermore, the dungeons under Murolosh are pretty much Moria, only with undead Grolms instead of orcs.
  • "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The ending in The River of Time.
  • Fake Ultimate Hero: Knight Prancelot of Scufflewick. He claims to have once defeated an angry viking Thorwalyan wielding two axes, in EACH HAND.
    • Not mentioning T Ro T, where he claims to have surrounded a gang of ogres all by himself in order to save a Unicorn.
  • Fan Film: A film for Eilif Thunderfist in TRoT.
  • Fantastic Racism: Goblins are subjected to this. Last but not least: dwarves hate dragons. To the point that they have seven different words in their language referring to the death of a dragon.
  • Fat Bastard: Baron Dajin of Nadoret and Stitus Bloomfold.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: In 2 (set several years before 1) Bravethorn is just a dishonest, bumbling pirate serving under Hooksong. In 1 he has become the chief of the "Dark Eyes" rogues. The same applies to Malgorra.
  • Gentleman Thief: Cano. Dranor claims to be one.
  • Giant Enemy Crab: They're blue, and they're crabby!
  • Giant Spider: Starting with dog-sized ones and ending with beasts larger than bears.
  • Glass Cannon: Wizards and spellcasters in general, but the most notably examples include Jost and Ancoron.
  • Golem: The first boss in T Ro T is a golem made from wooden scraps. This should give you an hint on how deal with it. In both titles you meet the dreaded Stone Golems.
  • Grand Theft Me: However, it's a good guy who does it to an evil guy
  • Gratuitous Spanish: For some reason the dialogue between Thalya and Ghost Farfara is partly in spanish, at least in the Italian Dub. It does, however make her hotter.
  • Guide Dang It: In T Ro T you have to warn two fellow agents from a trap, the first one who you'll warn becomes a party member, the second one is killed in a cutscene.
  • Handsome Lech: Dranor... the Handsome.
  • Harping on About Harpies: Featured as though, cruel winged monsters that lives on mountains and are quite dangerous. You can also meet an even more dangerous flock of them in Moorbridge.
  • Hero of Another Story: Phileasson. Archeon Megalion, while not on the "good" side of the alignment, is also a character of public domain in the tabletop game.
  • Hellish Horse: The leader of the demonic horde in Phileasson's Secret is a giant horse demon wielding a scythe.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: The italian dub features many notorious voice actors.
  • Hidden Elf Village: Or rather, Hidden Elf Capital, namely Tial'Shana in Phileasson's Secret.
  • Hot Amazon: Many Amazons fall in this category.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: it happens a lot during T Ro T in a very "karmic" way. the corrupt commander of the Thurstein Garrison, for example, gets eaten by his own pet Kraken after he tried to feed your party to him
  • Incurable Cough of Death: Thalya has a bad case of this. She gets better, though.
  • Improbable Weapon User: You can use scruffy fishes to escape from a cell in the sequel. Other weapons include a fishhook, a broomstick, a pick and the jaw of a stag beetle.
  • Infinity+1 Sword: You get to choose one out of a nice selection of these before heading off to the last level. You start getting the infinity plus one armor pieces much sooner though.
  • Irony: In both titles there's a corrupted officer named Tashmann, who will eventually end up dead. The Italian dub gains extra points just for giving them the same voice actor to boot!
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Ulwina Neisbeck in T Ro T is quite a hot lady.
  • Jumped At the Call: You and your companions.
  • Just Desserts: Commander Stitus Bloomfold get eaten by his own pet Kraken
  • Karma Houdini: Jasmine
  • Killer Rabbit: A Zombi Mule. Who's also horrifically rotten.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Sir Traldar.
  • Kraken and Leviathan: Kraken are mentioned as creatures inhabiting the Great River, as well as the fierce Water Dragons. You fight both a Newt Kraken and a Water Dragon (the latter as a Bonus Boss) in The River Of Time.
  • Legions of Hell: The horde sieging the elven capital in Phileasson's Secret.
  • MacGuffin: The Adamantine Heart in the first game, Raul's Crown in the sequel.
  • Mad Scientist: Archon Megalon the Druid, who appears in both titles. He may speaks softly, but he's clearly not quite right in the head. However, if you follow his contorted logic, he's willing to reward you or, in the first game, selling you some anti-dragon stuff.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Noldrokon with Kastan Gamblack in the first game. Dajin is behind the pirate raids and Coldstone is behind Dajin.
  • Miles Gloriosus: Prancelott.
  • Modest Royalty: Ardo is described as such. You can see this in the prequel.
  • Name's the Same: Tashmann (see under Irony).
  • Narm: Narrator in the intro: "Forged in the fiery DEPTHS! A blade of deadly STEEL! Our heroes to SERVE! And our foes to CRUSH!" Lethal overdose of Large Ham.
    • One of Forgrimm's battle animation is supposed to be a fierce battle cry. The Italian dub turned it into a ridicolous-sounding yawn.
  • Never Smile At a Crocodile: The Marus. Not only they're gigantic but they also carry weapons and armor.
  • Nice Guy: Captain Hooksong/Hakensang in the sequel. Despite being a pirate captain and first met while attacking the elves, he's a really nice person, open to the dialogue and is even grateful to the player if he makes a deal with the elves for him. When met later, he's willing to help the party in their mission.
    • Also Commander Nimralph.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Your attempt to get the Cosmic Keystone kinda lets the Big Bad get it.
    • A minor one happens in a sidequest in the sequel. Your party get rid of the carcass of a Linnworm (whose stench was troubling the elves) using amoeba spores. When you get back for your reward you're informed that the problem is far from solved... cue to giant amoebas slithering around the site of the Linnworm's corpse.
  • No Export for You: There are two browser games, one prequel-novel, two pen-and-paper adventures and one source book for the entire series. All in GERMAN.
    • Well they tried to export the Tabletop RPG several times, with no success. 4th edition is available in english, the current edition is 4.1 (like D&D 3.5 to D&D 3)
  • Old Retainer: Forgrimm the dwarf.
  • One-Winged Angel: Seen with Noldrokon (who reverts to his true form), Yandrick and Malgorra, who turns into a giant hydra.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Some of them are pretty much deities, and they have a "soul gem" or carbuncle embedded in their skulls.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Strangely (thankfully) averted. Among others, there are female dwarves and a triplet of dwarven tricksters. The most prominent dwarf in the game has no beard!
    • Greatly averted by Brother Emmeran in T Ro T, who's a kind gentle druid, and lives close to a river. He has even shells in his beard!
  • Our Elves Are Better: Yes, they are.
    • Or at least they believe they are.
    • In both games you meet Laurelin, an elf who lives near Nadoret and is the master for the "Ranger" Type classes in T Ro T, and he's quite likeable. Two of his possible pupils are even Dwarves! Hilarity Ensues...
    • Subverted in the expansion where the Big Bad is an elf.
  • Our Goblins Are Wickeder: Furry little bastard scavengers, hmm... mark it as a no.
  • Our Ogres Are Hungrier: The Tabletop RPG follows the trope, but the video game averts it by using ogres a generic big enemies.
  • Our Orcs Are Different: They're not.
    • To be specific: in the Tabletop RPG they are an amalgam of Tolkiens (black) and the ones of Warcraft (shamanistic culture, not really evil) and something different (furry, smaller than humans, possible dominant race in the future). The game casts them as generic enemies.
      • T Ro T features also two Orc NPC: Thurazz, one of the arena fighters and Soorman's second in command.
  • Overrated and Underleveled: See Shrug of God below.
  • Private Military Contractors: Other people join you for duty, to express gratitude, or just because they have nothing better to do. But Nasreddin just wants a big pile of cash.
  • Real Time with Pause: Yes. The Simultaneous Turn-Based With Pause-version.
  • Really Gets Around: Leti, the Inn maid in the sequel is apparently the "Village Bicicle" of the whole Hammerberg village. Her lovers include Captain Soorman, Captain Hooksong, Captain Rumpo and has even a tiny Ship Tease moment with Eilif Thunderfist.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Dragons and Linnorms. Also, Noldrokon's scaly face counts as a Red Right Hand. Archmage Rakorium hates reptiles of any kind and size. Considering that the main villains are dragon-people, his paranoia is justified.
  • Rookie Red Ranger: In T Ro T the more experienced adventurer group appoints you to be their leader. Justified, as you have just prove yourself worthy by taking (with strength or stealth) a fortress and killed a frigging Kraken.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Only a Noble: Ardo was killed will investigating the dispute of two trading houses. He also plays a big role in the sequel as one of your companions.
    • Traladar is also a noble who makes his hands dirty.
    • There is also prince Arom who you help to kill a dragon.
  • The Sadistic Choice: Traladar's son is captured by the Big Bad. You are given the choice of handing over the Plot Coupon you're after or the boy dies. Fortunately, Traladar seems to have taken some lessons from Batman.
  • The Scottish Trope: The nameless one, the god of evil.
  • Shout-Out: The "For a Handful of Ducats" quest.
  • Shrug of God: When asked why Forgrimm has such a low level in Drakensang while he is a companion in the prequel and known as an experienced mercenary the devs simply said that he got motherless drunk.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Definitely idealism. But for some reason, stealing without commiting violence isn't considered bad.
    • Well, the setting as a whole was pretty much always heavy on the idealism side and has only become in recent years a little bit grayer.
    • Seeing as the God of thievery and trickery is a good guy (tip: every true god besides The Nameless One is good, but not the demons that are sometimes worshipped)...
  • Something Completely Different: At first you try to uncover the murder of your friend, later you become The Chosen One and have to stop an evil dragon and his underlings. If it wouldn't be for you, both plot lines would be completely unrelated.
  • Spiritual Successor: To the Realms of Arkania series.
  • Stealth-Based Mission: In 1, it happens four times:
    • First in Bloody Mountains Castle: you have to sneak past the cultists and reach the dungeons. If you activate a trap you fail the mission and must fight your way out.
    • Second in Grimtooth castle where you must avoid the orcish patrols in the corridors.
    • A sidequest in Ferdok where you have to recover a precious hammer from the Dark Eyes guild.
    • Finally another optional sidequest which involves scouting a dangerous area filled with enemies.
    • In the second game, if you follow Cano in the Thursagan fortress you must lead one avoiding a huge ratcatcher and his dog, and later a cook and the sentinels on the walls.
  • Stripperific: a noblewoman in T Ro T (alias Malgorra) wears a purple dress that combines Impossibly Low Neckline, Absolute Cleavage and Sexy Backless Outfit. One of the NPC points out how tastless such a dress is.
  • Swamps Are Evil: Moorbridge is a sad, gloomy place with brown waters, hostile natives and truckloads of undeads, not counting the harpies and the gigantic crabs.
  • Talking the Monster to Death: You can do this to an undead necromancer in the catacombs of Tallon.
  • The Wiki Rule: One for the first game and one for the second. The series has also articles on the wiki for the Tabletop source material. Oh, they are all in German
  • Tragic Monster: Torlosh the demon/dwarf and the Crab Beast, who's possessed by the restless soul of Brother Emmeran's deceased brother.
  • Twenty Bear Asses: Sometimes certains NPC will give you money (or other items in case of elves) in exchange for monster's spare parts. Including a cook who will reward you for giving him old bread loaves, wolf rat's tails and crypt lice's eyes.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife /TheOddCouple: Captain "Latin Lover" Rumpo is a ass-ugly midget who needs a magic ring in order to speak fluently, but his partner is the beautiful, buxom innkeeper Jhadira.
    • On a lesser example we have the average-looking Dranor paired with the beautiful Salina.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Ulwina Neisbeck loses her cool, and Baron Dajin quickly go from a cold, calculating noble to a whimpering, insane fool.
  • Weapon of Choice: The game mechanics strongly favor those who specialize, so every one of your characters is likely to have a weapon. When you meet the Cyclop swordsmith he will forge you an Infinity+1 Sword depending on what kind of weapon you're using (e.g.: if you're specialized with the saber, you'll get a super-powerful saber and so on). Weapon types include:
  • When It All Began: The intro of T Ro T.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: If you go Blood Knight Axe Crazy in some places, you'll get called on it.
    • Particularly if you side with the witches, they will call you out if you use violence for fullfiling their quests.
    • Also in T Ro T: if you decide to kill all the pirates instead of using diplomacy, the elves will refuse to even speak with you.
  • You All Meet in An Inn: Guess where you will find your first and third party member?
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