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Darklands
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Darklands is set in a Welsh industrial town rife with nationalistic fervour due to the high unemployment levels and the general drabness of the area. This at least is an intelligent way of updating the Wicker Man ethos of a place turning to darker things to improve its lot, but as far as intelligence goes, that's about it for the film. Fairbrass is Frazer, the local newspaper reporter. And here the film makers encounter their first problem. Frazer is Welsh, it says so in the script. Fairbrass is definitely [N]ot Welsh, unless there's a part of East London where they wear flower pots on their heads, play rugby and indulge in close-harmony singing whilst crocheting quilts and setting fire to holiday cottages.
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Darklands is an epic Role Playing Game set in medieval Germany. You can begin by either selecting a pre-made party (quickstart) or by creating your own characters. Creating your characters is quite interesting, as you begin when they're 10 and choose a career path for them. The more time you choose at a certain career path, in 5 year periods, the better your character will become, and this is all before the adventure begins.
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The incredible attention to and level of detail in Darklands is obvious by looking at a few examples. You can raise your four characters from infancy (selecting gender, name, nickname, and childhood experience) and then guide them through 20 to 65 years of experience after choosing from any of six family backgrounds. They can choose from more than 35 possible occupations (with an option to gain a new one every five years) and increase seven basic attributes (endurance, strength, agility, perception, intelligence, charisma and divine favor) rated on a scale from 0 to 99 by earning experience points. In Darklands, there are more than 135 saints (you must discover them in their specific locales) scattered across the vast game world to pray to for aid and each one has specific and unique properties (for example, Christina the Astonishing can't be bothered unless your character has at least level 54 Virtue and praying to her on her specific day of recognition, July 24th, will reduce the "divine favor" cost; if successful, she grants increases in agility and charisma and sometimes allows translation (flying)). There are nearly 20 skills (with subsets in most) rated 0 to 99 and equipment (1-100) with varying degrees of quality. More than 30 weapons are individually rated by speed, weight, skill and strength required, damage caused and penetration factor.
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Designed by Arnold Hendrick, Darklands' unique geographic and historic groundings set it apart from role-playing games inspired by fantasy literature, such as the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. For example, there are no alternate species available in character creation — all players are human and are differentiated by occupation. Any party member is capable of performing what are known as class-based feats in many other role playing games, but skillful players usually improve the party member's skills only in the appropriate area. Thus, the equivalent of a cleric in this game would be someone who specialized in religious studies as well as healing skills. Because the character specialized in the above... does not preclude him or her from learning artifice skills (lock picking, etc) that are often forbidden in other RPGs.
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Accordingly, Darklands was characterized by unprecedented attention to detail. Character generation not only involved strength and intelligence, but economic background and occupation. Characters didn't cast spells, but mixed alchemical potions and prayed to specific saints researched from German Catholic annals - over 120 particular saints are listed in the manual. While you travelled the land ravaging foes, much of the game was spent in universities and alleys of particular German towns, dealing with the superstitions and hearsay of the day.
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Darklands [W]as filmed in Wales in 1997. Its director is the young Welsh filmmaker Julian Richards. This intriguing foray into the uncanny stars veteran actor Jon Finch (late of Frenzy and The Final Programme) as a sinister Welsh politician. "Jon gave a stamp of pedigree to the film," Richards says. "He is very menacing indeed."
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Darklands