Trivia
One of the more powerful shields in the game, the Ybarra shield, is in fact named after Joe Ybarra, a producer at Electronics Arts, who was directly involved with The Bard's Tale.
Bard's Tale was named #89 overall among the “150 Best Games of All Time” by Computer Gaming World Magazine (15th Anniversary Issue--November 1996).
Contributed by
PCGamer77 
(3025) on May 02, 2008.
While most of the buildings are empty and exist only to increase the size of the map, entering the building directly across from the guild shows the game credits.
Though any direct connection to the game series, setting and characters is slight at best, an officially-licensed "Bard's Tale" series of novels eight strong (!) were published by Baen Books over a six-year period in the '90s:
- Castle of Deception (1992), by Mercedes Lackey and Josepha Sherman;
- Fortress of Frost and Fire (1993), by Mercedes Lackey and Ru Emerson;
- The Chaos Gate (1994), by Josepha Sherman;
- Prison of Souls (1994), by Mercedes Lackey and Mark Shepherd;
- Thunder of the Captains (1996), by Holly Lisle and Aaron Allston;
- Wrath of the Princes (1997), by Holly Lisle and Aaron Allston;
- Escape from Roksamur (1997), by Mark Shepherd; and
- Curse of the Black Heron (1998), by Holly Lisle.
Michael Cranford, a devout Christian, put many Biblical references into the first two Bard's Tale games. Most notable are a reference to the crucifixion in the first game and the Holy Spirit in the second. In fact, Cranford ended his video game career with the second game in the series and now programs web sites for religious groups.
Contributed by
Vance (97) on Feb 03, 2002.
This game is a member of Computer Gaming World's Hall of Fame.
The original Skara Brae is a well-preserved Neolithic village located in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. The four thousand year old settlement was buried by encroaching sand dunes and uncovered a century ago when a storm exposed parts of the structures. Today it is a well known tourist site and undoubtedly inspired Michael Cranford (Bard's Tale) and Richard Garriot (Ultima Series).
It is interesting to note that "Skara Brae" is also one of the major cities in the Ultima series. Coincidence?
