History TabletopGame / TheDarkEye

** An interesting exception is the term for a GM or DM, who is called "master", which is reasonably close to the "original"... it's just that the ''german'' version of DnD uses the term "game director" for that role (the translators probably decided on that word because a faithful translation of "Dungeon Master" would sound too much like "gaoler").

* {{Expy}}: Pardona is a [[CompositeCharacter Composite Expy]] of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Pandora]] and [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Lolth]]. Her name is an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of Pandora, she was also artificially created, and brought woe to her people. Her [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative nature]], and the fact she is the engineer of the creation of Night Elves(Drow Expies), likens her to Lolth. Pandora might be also the same as Calyach'an Mochûla, ''The Mother of Demons'', ''The Black as Night Spider'', a spider-like entity feared by Gjalskerlanders. This shows further similarities between Lolth(The Demon Queen of Spiders) and Pardona.

** [[BigBad Pardona]], Voice of the Nameless One, is supposed to be this. [[InformedAbility Alas ...]]she's great at manipulating dragons, demigods, ancient high elven wizard-kings and so on. Unfortunately, mere mortals have never really registered as relevant in her world view, so she has absolutely no clue how to deal with them...
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[BigBad Borbarad]], stuck in an endless cycle of death and rebirth with his twin brother [[BigGood Rohal]], eventually manages to cheat and permanently kill his counterpart...which makes his own final defeat possible. Without his act of fratricide, the defeat he suffered at the end of his final grab for power would have been just another temporary setback.

* CelebrityResemblance: The various artists have done this over and over again. Helme Haffax is the spitting image of Malcolm [=McDowell=], the Mautaban (the chief executioner of the Caliphate) looks like Yul Brynner, Leomar of Almada was cast in the likeness of Peter O'Toole, Irmegunde of Ravensmouth looks like Sigourney Weaver, Tronde Torbenson looks like Robert Mitchum, and so on.

*** In one the rulers of two kingdoms are estranged brothers, even though it was later established that these kingdoms were perpetually at war with each other for almost two millenia
*** In another the players go on a snipe hunt for seven magic goblets which are hidden in a dungeon, with these goblets later being established as divine artifacts of immese powers.
*** It also wasn't fully established inhowfar the setting was clear-cut medieval fantasy or would also dip into science fiction. For example, in one module the players visit a humongous tree that's implied to be on another (technologically far more advanced) planet, in the infamous ''"Borbarad's Curse"'' the titular villains is established as an alien from another world who came to Aventuria with a starship, and in various adventures the heroes encounter various robots (though these are usually a case of ClockworkPunk).

*** Originally, the Tulamids (the second-largest ethnic group in the setting) didn't even exist - they were just said to be a mix of peopes from the Middenrealm, the desert and Southern Aventuria. Only a few years later were they established as a culture and ethnicity in their own right.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Happened several times over the course of Ulisses' history.
** The company behind the game, the now defunct ''Schmidt Spiele'', wanted a flashier name for the new system than the fairly pedestrian "Aventuria", which is why it was named ''The Dark Eye'' instead (and also the reason why the creators of the game had to come up with a magic item of thatname so it makes at least ''some'' sense).
** The Tharun-setting, which was released in 1988, introduced a completely new spellcasting system that was based on the use of magic runes. This again was because of pressure from the parent company that had a bunch of excess wooden tokens from another game and wanted to see them to be put to ''some'' use.

** Also a few people. Like the sinister black mage [[Wrestling/PaulBearer Pôlberra]] whose hulking bodyguard is presumably undead, the famous prophet "Nostria Thamos", the historian [[Creator/NiccoloMacchiavelli Maffia Vella]] and son.

** Aventuria was initially cast as an AdventureFriendlyWorld with roaming orcs, marauding bandits, corrupt nobels who don't do their job etc. Then the setting was GrowingTheBeard and Aventuria was retconned into an overall actually pretty peaceful place where civilization was still intact, but plenty of adventuring opportunities were to be had. And ''then'' shit hit the fan and civilization collapsed in wide parts of the world.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally, TDE didn't really have a distinct setting (it was basically just a generic pen&paper that was cobbled together within the span of a few weeks because the company behind it wanted to corner the German market for RolePlayingGames before ''Dungeons And Dragons'' beat them to the punch); but after a few month the first module that introduced the bare bones of the setting was introduced. Said module was focused exclusively on Aventuria, but mentioned the other continents of the world and made it clear that Aventuria was a rather modest backwater of the world at large (hinting at an expansion of the setting in the future). However, due to ExecutiveMeddling and even moreso due to bad planning, all attempts to expand the game beyond the borders of Aventuria weren't well received and more or less fell flat. While two of the alternative settings - the Gyldenland and Tharun - were outsourced to another company that poured a lot of creative energy into it, they didn't play any role of note on the Aventurian main theater.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: This is par for the course for a Medieval-style setting: most noble classes in the world aim to produce warriors. Honorable mention goes to the Amazons where the (hereditary) queens aren't just competent warriors, but tend to be top-notch.