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''King of Dragon Pass'' is a computer game published by the very-very small developer [[http://www.a-sharp.com/ A Sharp]] (A#). The game is set in the past of Glorantha, the fantasy setting for RuneQuest and ''Hero Quest''. The player leads a clan of bloodthirsty [[BarbarianTribe Orlanthi]] to dominance over the freshly colonised land of Dragon Pass by managing the clan's economy, conducting its raids against neighbours and making other wise decisions as the seven-member clan ring.
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''King of Dragon Pass'' is a computer game published by the very-very small developer [[http://www.a-sharp.com/ A Sharp]] (A#). The game is set in the past of Glorantha, the fantasy setting for RuneQuest TabletopGame/RuneQuest and ''Hero Quest''. The player leads a clan of bloodthirsty [[BarbarianTribe Orlanthi]] to dominance over the freshly colonised land of Dragon Pass by managing the clan's economy, conducting its raids against neighbours and making other wise decisions as the seven-member clan ring.
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Lots of RuneQuest tropes also apply here as a result of the same setting and sometimes even mechanics.
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Lots of RuneQuest TabletopGame/RuneQuest tropes also apply here as a result of the same setting and sometimes even mechanics.
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* FantasticCasteSystem: From lowest to highest, it more or less goes: Thralls (slaves), Cottars (freemen), Carls (landowners), Weaponthanes (soldiers), and Nobles. They are more like social classes than actual castes. The nobles represent the best and brightest of your clan, and their positions are not hereditary. If you manage to own cows, you automatically qualify as a carl. If you can afford (or in some cases, get donated) horse and weapons, you're applicable as a weaponthane, and anyone at all can end up as a thrall if they get taken as prisoners of war and their relatives aren't able to ransom them.
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* FantasticCasteSystem: From lowest to highest, it more or less goes: Thralls (slaves), Cottars (freemen), Carls (landowners), Weaponthanes (soldiers), and Nobles. They are more like social classes than actual castes. The nobles represent the best and brightest of your clan, and their positions are not hereditary. If you manage to own cows, you automatically qualify as a carl. If you can afford (or in some cases, get donated) horse and weapons, you're applicable as a weaponthane, and anyone at all can end up as a thrall if they get taken as prisoners of war and their relatives aren't able to ransom them. Even thralldom is not hereditary - the children of thralls are cottars.
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Per TRS, The Hunter has been renamed to Hunter Of Monsters. Misuse and zero context examples will be cut or moved to subtropes.
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* TheHunter: Followers of Urox the Storm Bull specialise in hunting Chaos, and followers of Humakt specialise in hunting the undead.
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* TheHunter: HunterOfMonsters: Followers of Urox the Storm Bull specialise in hunting Chaos, and followers of Humakt specialise in hunting the undead.
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* LostForever: And of course, you will never know.
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* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: In the tutorial of the iOS version, the game recommends that you never keep a trickster on your clan ring. However, there are plenty of events that you CAN'T solve in a reliable manner without a trickster on your ring.
* CurbstompBattle: If you push the dragonewts, dwarves, or beastmen too much, you'll get a "dire warning" event, where they tell your clan to knock it off. Provoke them after this event, and they launch an attack that will completely destroy your entire ring, most of your animals, and three-quarters of your population.
* CurbstompBattle: If you push the dragonewts, dwarves, or beastmen too much, you'll get a "dire warning" event, where they tell your clan to knock it off. Provoke them after this event, and they launch an attack that will completely destroy your entire ring, most of your animals, and three-quarters of your population.
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* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: In the tutorial of the iOS version, the game recommends that you never keep a trickster on your clan ring. However, there are plenty of events that you CAN'T solve in a reliable manner without a trickster on your ring.
ring. Also, having a Trickster in your ring makes heroquesting (something needed to win the game) easier.
* CurbstompBattle: If you push the dragonewts, trolls, dwarves, or beastmen too much, you'll get a "dire warning" event, where they tell your clan to knock it off. Provoke them after this event, and they launch an attack that will completely destroy your entire ring, most of your animals, and three-quarters of your population.
* CurbstompBattle: If you push the dragonewts, trolls, dwarves, or beastmen too much, you'll get a "dire warning" event, where they tell your clan to knock it off. Provoke them after this event, and they launch an attack that will completely destroy your entire ring, most of your animals, and three-quarters of your population.
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* TheComputerIsALyingBastard: In the tutorial of the iOS version, the game recommends that you never keep a trickster on your clan ring. However, there are plenty of events that you CAN'T solve in a reliable manner without a trickster on your ring.
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* ActualPacifist: Chalana Arroy, goddess of healing, who not only does not fight herself but sometimes intercedes to prevent the other gods from killing their enemies. Due to her example, her followers are forbidden from killing--although, being Orlanthi, they may fall closer to TechnicalPacifist themselves.
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* ArtifactOfDoom: The Pharaoh's sorcerers are armed with a few.
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* ArtifactOfDoom: The Pharaoh's sorcerers are armed with a few. You can keep them, if you don't mind the curse on your herds... or trade them away to your unsuspecting neighbors.
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* WarGod: The duties are shared among Orlanth (king of the gods, and probably the closest thing to a generic war god), Vinga (goddess of adventurers and female warriors), Urox (god of fighting Chaos), Humakt (god of death, with a side line in aggressive war) and Elmal (as "loyal thane", effectively the god of defensive war).
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* DisproportionateRetribution: A random event has your trickster putting an effigy of Eurmal in one of your temples, because Eurmal told to. You can then send someone to put that effigy in another clan's temple to sabotage it. If you send your trickster herself, and she's caught, the other clan gets ''extremely'' offended and well... [[RasputinianDeath it doesn't end well for the poor trickster]]. Seems too harsh a punishment, but then again, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality we're not Orlanthi]].
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* DisproportionateRetribution: A random event has your trickster putting an effigy of Eurmal in one of your temples, because Eurmal told her to. You can then send someone to put that effigy in another clan's temple to sabotage it. If you send your trickster herself, and she's caught, the other clan gets ''extremely'' offended and well... [[RasputinianDeath it doesn't end well for the poor trickster]]. Seems too harsh a punishment, but then again, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality we're not Orlanthi]].
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* DisproportionateRetribution: Played with. For example: a random event has your trickster putting an effigy of Eurmal in one of your temples, because Eurmal told him to. You can then send someone to put that effigy in another clan's temple to sabotage it. If you send your trickster herself, and she's caught, the other clan gets ''extremely'' offended and well... [[RasputinianDeath it doesn't end well for the poor trickster]]. Seems too harsh a punishment, but then again, we're not Orlanthi to judge.
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* DisproportionateRetribution: Played with. For example: a A random event has your trickster putting an effigy of Eurmal in one of your temples, because Eurmal told him to. You can then send someone to put that effigy in another clan's temple to sabotage it. If you send your trickster herself, and she's caught, the other clan gets ''extremely'' offended and well... [[RasputinianDeath it doesn't end well for the poor trickster]]. Seems too harsh a punishment, but then again, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality we're not Orlanthi to judge.Orlanthi]].
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* DisproportionateRetribution: Played with. For example: a random event has your trickster putting an effigy of Eurmal in one of your temples, because Eurmal told him to. You can then send someone to put that effigy in another clan's temple to sabotage it. If you send your trickster herself, and she's caught, the other clan gets ''extremely'' offended and well... [[RasputinianDeath it doesn't end well the poor trickster]]. Seems too harsh a punishment, but then again, we're not Orlanthi to judge.
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* DisproportionateRetribution: Played with. For example: a random event has your trickster putting an effigy of Eurmal in one of your temples, because Eurmal told him to. You can then send someone to put that effigy in another clan's temple to sabotage it. If you send your trickster herself, and she's caught, the other clan gets ''extremely'' offended and well... [[RasputinianDeath it doesn't end well for the poor trickster]]. Seems too harsh a punishment, but then again, we're not Orlanthi to judge.
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* DispropportionateRetribution: Played with. For example: a random event has your trickster putting an effigy of Eurmal in one of your temples, because Eurmal told him to. You can then send someone to put that effigy in another clan's temple to sabotage it. If you send your trickster herself, and she's caught, the other clan gets ''extremely'' offended and well... [[RasputinianDeath it doesn't end well the poor trickster]]. Harsh? Maybe to our non-Orlanthi minds...
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* DispropportionateRetribution: DisproportionateRetribution: Played with. For example: a random event has your trickster putting an effigy of Eurmal in one of your temples, because Eurmal told him to. You can then send someone to put that effigy in another clan's temple to sabotage it. If you send your trickster herself, and she's caught, the other clan gets ''extremely'' offended and well... [[RasputinianDeath it doesn't end well the poor trickster]]. Harsh? Maybe Seems too harsh a punishment, but then again, we're not Orlanthi to our non-Orlanthi minds...judge.
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* DispropportionateRetribution: Played with. For example: a random event has your trickster putting an effigy of Eurmal in one of your temples, because Eurmal told him to. You can then send someone to put that effigy in another clan's temple to sabotage it. If you send your trickster herself, and she's caught, the other clan gets ''extremely'' offended and well... [[RasputinianDeath it doesn't end well the poor trickster]]. Harsh? Maybe to our non-Orlanthi minds...
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* ElectiveMonarchy: Orlanthi tribes are ruled by elected kings or queens, don't have to chiefs or even ring members of their own clans. Once a monarch dies or steps down, it may be a while before another member of their clan becomes king or queen of the tribe--it's famously hard for a clan to produce two monarchs in a row. In order to win either the Short or the Long Game, you must first form a tribe and then get one of your nobles elected as the king or queen.
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* MeaningfulRename: Should you train the Earthshakers (triceratopses) as draft animals rather than war mounts, you are given the option to rename your clan Earthshaker, which increases your reputation and standing with your neighbors. [[spoiler: If you win the Long Game with a tribal queen, she can take a new name during the "mountain mating" event, being symbolically reborn as the daughter of Kero Fin.]]
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* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Though it never uses the r-word, one event has two young married men being abducted by two outlaw women on horseback. It's up to the player whether the trope is played straight, where the men are charged with ''adultery'', one of the worst crimes the Orlanthi have and practically guaranteeing they'll be outlawed, or averted, by declaring that they were forced and are therefore not guilty of anything.
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* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Though it never uses the r-word, one event has two young married men being abducted by two outlaw women on horseback. It's up to the player whether the trope is played straight, where the men are charged with ''adultery'', one of the worst crimes the Orlanthi have and practically guaranteeing they'll be outlawed, or averted, by declaring that they were forced and are therefore not guilty of anything. There is no option to punish the women though.
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Updated to new site
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Has an upcoming sequel, ''[[http://sixages.blogspot.co.uk/ Six Ages]]''.
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Has an upcoming sequel, ''[[http://sixages.blogspot.co.uk/ com/blog/ Six Ages]]''.
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** That said, the god of death has expectations. Even peace focused clans need to raid occasionally if they want to receive his blessings when they're needed.
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** Goods are the equivalent of cold hard cash, in a way. Cows give various benefits, even if you never sell them. They breed and give you milk, while still being roughly equal in value.
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** Goods are the equivalent of cold hard cash, in a way. Cows give various benefits, even if you never sell them. They breed and give you milk, while still being roughly equal in value. Essentially, goods are liquid assets, while cows are long-term investments. Although both can be traded freely in game.
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* AntiAdvice: Listening to everyone's opinion at every opportunity will demonstrate that tricksters and certain personality types give some hilariously poor advice. On numerous occasions, they say nothing useful or suggest something that isn't even in the list of options. Other situations can invoke TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong.
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* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Tricksters again, not for the "special" random events they trigger, but for the hilariously terrible or irrelevant advice they tend to give for even mundane situations. It's actually a decent litmus test: if the trickster disagrees with everyone else, the trickster is probably wrong; if anyone ''agrees'' with the trickster, then maybe TheCuckoolanderWasRight. Maybe.
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* EarlyGameHell: Stabilizing your clan in the first few years can be tough, especially on Hard mode. No one wants to trade with you, the gods don't want to share their secrets with you, the Horse Spawn like to come steal your horses and if your crops fail, you don't have any reserves to fall back on.
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* EarlyGameHell: Stabilizing your clan in the first few years can be tough, especially on Hard mode. No one wants to trade with you, the gods don't want to share their secrets with you, the Horse Spawn like to come steal your horses and if your crops fail, you don't have any reserves to fall back on.
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* EthnicGod: The tribe the player controls are humans who are part of a broader culture that worships Orlanth (who controls rain, lightning, and air) as their primary god, admiring and following him to the point where they call themselves Orlanthi.
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* AllMythsAreTrue: Particularly notable because if you alter a myth through a Hero Quest, you retroactively ''alter reality.'' Note that failing a Hero Quest and altering it aren't the same thing.
** Although it might just be a case of the person who underwent the quest telling their version of what happened, which is more believable than someone from outside of the clan telling the story of what happened.
** Indeed, this ends up being zigzagged a bit. The [[AllThereInTheManual game documentation]] mentions the reality-altering aspect, but there's occasionally some leeway. The "correct" choices may fail while substitutes succeed, or the quester may complete the quest but suffer injury (including a permanent decrease in stats). It's less retroactive myth alteration, and more "good enough is good enough."
** Or it's possible that the myth as told and retold over generations was wrong, and the "altered" version is the actual sequence of events. Oral traditions are not renowned for their consistency.
** Although it might just be a case of the person who underwent the quest telling their version of what happened, which is more believable than someone from outside of the clan telling the story of what happened.
** Indeed, this ends up being zigzagged a bit. The [[AllThereInTheManual game documentation]] mentions the reality-altering aspect, but there's occasionally some leeway. The "correct" choices may fail while substitutes succeed, or the quester may complete the quest but suffer injury (including a permanent decrease in stats). It's less retroactive myth alteration, and more "good enough is good enough."
** Or it's possible that the myth as told and retold over generations was wrong, and the "altered" version is the actual sequence of events. Oral traditions are not renowned for their consistency.
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* AllMythsAreTrue: Particularly notable because if you alter Heroquesting is a myth through a Hero Quest, you retroactively ''alter reality.'' Note ritual based on the idea that failing a Hero Quest and altering it aren't re-enacting the same thing.
** Although it might just be a casedeeds of the person who underwent gods can tangibly affect the quest telling their version of what happened, which is more believable than someone from outside of the clan telling the story of what happened.
** Indeed, this ends up being zigzagged a bit. The [[AllThereInTheManual game documentation]] mentions the reality-altering aspect, but there's occasionally some leeway. The "correct" choices may fail while substitutes succeed, or the quester may complete the quest but suffer injury (including a permanent decrease in stats). It's less retroactive myth alteration, and more "good enough is good enough."
** Or it's possible that the myth as told and retold over generations was wrong, and the "altered" version is the actual sequence of events. Oral traditions are not renowned for their consistency.temporal realm. And it does.
** Although it might just be a case
** Indeed, this ends up being zigzagged a bit. The [[AllThereInTheManual game documentation]] mentions the reality-altering aspect, but there's occasionally some leeway. The "correct" choices may fail while substitutes succeed, or the quester may complete the quest but suffer injury (including a permanent decrease in stats). It's less retroactive myth alteration, and more "good enough is good enough."
** Or it's possible that the myth as told and retold over generations was wrong, and the "altered" version is the actual sequence of events. Oral traditions are not renowned for their consistency.
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* FantasticCasteSystem: From lowest to highest, it more or less goes: Thralls (slaves), Cottars (freemen), Carls (landowners), Weaponthanes (soldiers), and Nobles. Not all clans take thralls, and carls compete against weaponthanes for influence.
** They are also more like social classes than actual castes. The nobles represent the best and brightest of your clan, and their positions are not hereditary. If you manage to own cows, you automatically qualify as a carl. If you can afford (or in some cases, get donated) horse and weapons, you're applicable as a weaponthane, and anyone at all can end up as a thrall if they get taken as prisoners of war and their relatives aren't able to ransom them.
** They are also more like social classes than actual castes. The nobles represent the best and brightest of your clan, and their positions are not hereditary. If you manage to own cows, you automatically qualify as a carl. If you can afford (or in some cases, get donated) horse and weapons, you're applicable as a weaponthane, and anyone at all can end up as a thrall if they get taken as prisoners of war and their relatives aren't able to ransom them.
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* FantasticCasteSystem: From lowest to highest, it more or less goes: Thralls (slaves), Cottars (freemen), Carls (landowners), Weaponthanes (soldiers), and Nobles. Not all clans take thralls, and carls compete against weaponthanes for influence.
**They are also more like social classes than actual castes. The nobles represent the best and brightest of your clan, and their positions are not hereditary. If you manage to own cows, you automatically qualify as a carl. If you can afford (or in some cases, get donated) horse and weapons, you're applicable as a weaponthane, and anyone at all can end up as a thrall if they get taken as prisoners of war and their relatives aren't able to ransom them.
**
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** [[HonorBeforeReason This doesn't always make sense]], especially with regards to [[spoiler: dragons]]. If your clan [[spoiler: trusted them]] in the past, your ancestors punish you when you treat [[spoiler: dragons]] badly despite the fact that they're [[CardCarryingVillain proudly a race of treacherous bastards]].
*** This is a bit of a case of [[AllThereInTheManual All There In The Supporting Material]]. Dragons turned against humans because they began to misuse dragon magic to their own ends, not ForTheEvulz. The clan ancestors presumably understand this in afterlife, so they consider the dragons' actions fair. It helps that both the dragons themselves and those who devote themselves to their ways tend to be pretty far in the scale of BlueAndOrangeMorality.
*** This is a bit of a case of [[AllThereInTheManual All There In The Supporting Material]]. Dragons turned against humans because they began to misuse dragon magic to their own ends, not ForTheEvulz. The clan ancestors presumably understand this in afterlife, so they consider the dragons' actions fair. It helps that both the dragons themselves and those who devote themselves to their ways tend to be pretty far in the scale of BlueAndOrangeMorality.
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* [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Nobles Who Actually Do Something]]: From joining in the clan's battles to leading trade expeditions, Orlanthi nobles certainly earn their keep. It helps that Orlanthi nobility isn't a birthright, but rather a segregation of the clan's best and brightest.
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* [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Nobles Who Actually Do Something]]: From joining in the clan's battles to leading trade expeditions, RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Expected as a matter of course. Orlanthi nobles certainly earn their keep. It helps that Orlanthi nobility have no patience for a king (or chief) who isn't a birthright, but rather a segregation actively involved with the day to day problems of the clan's best and brightest.people.
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* RefugeInAudacity: Tricksters ''live'' this. In particular, this is the player's hint that the trickster randomly giving away a massive heard of cows because they "looked funny" isn't just random madness, everything a worshiper of Eurmal does is for a reason.
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* GoddamnOrks: Your clan's traditional nemeses tend to show up a lot. To the Orlanthi in general, the Horse-Spawn fit this trope.
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* TheUsualAdversaries: Your clan's traditional nemeses tend to show up a lot. To the Orlanthi in general, the Horse-Spawn fit this trope.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kodp_cover_1189.png
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* MorallyAmbiguousDucktorate: The strange and puny duck neighbours, their more formidable cousins in the swamps and their extremely dangerous friends.
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* LeeroyJenkins: "Take insane risks to win the battle." Unsurprisingly, only nobles with very high Combat will even survive this combat event. There's also a special event if you have an undead-hater on the ring where he'll get reports of undead monsters and immediately grab a bunch of weaponthanes and go after them without waiting for backup.
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** You can raid rival clans, take them as slaves, and sacrifice them to your gods. You can even force them off their lands which will kick them all the way across the map. Then you can petition Eurmal to send curses at them.
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** You can raid rival clans, take them as slaves, and sacrifice them to your gods. You can even force them off their lands which will kick them all the way across the map. Then you can petition Eurmal to send curses at them. Or ask Maran Gor to ruin their harvest.
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* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The legendary Bad King Urgrain. If you screw up badly enough, people will compare you to him.
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* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The legendary Bad King Urgrain. If you screw up badly enough, people will compare you to him. One legendarily awful dead includes hearing two clans to settle a disagreement, taking gifts (per Orlanthi custom in legal disputes), then ruling in neither one's favor simply out of greed.
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** ChildByRape: After the above scene,] the bandit women return with babies as proof of "adultery".
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** ChildByRape: After the above scene,] scene, the bandit women return with babies as proof of "adultery".
* SaveScumming: Downplayed. While reloading an earlier save is perfectly doable, complete with a log of '''''everything''''' that happens so you know exactly when and what went wrong, the game wipes out everything that had happened after your loaded save point, which are fixed at the end of every in-game year. This makes it downplayed because instead of the freedom of jumping forward and backward at any time they choose, save scummers must weigh the benefits of righting a past wrong decision with the downside of forfeiting all the success that may have transpired since, with the added hindrance of being limited in the specific time period they go back to.
* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: Inverted, eventually. Initially averted, as while military matters are important, they are generally no more so in conventional gameplay than diplomacy, trade, religious rituals, or exploration, with most problems having a multitude of options. However, as one progresses through the game, they may find that the only way to win is through careful diplomacy and peaceful rule.
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* WomenAreWiser: While Lhankor Mhy is generally in charge of knowledge, he's also cantankerous and stubborn. Ernalda the earth goddess is supposed to be the guardian of hidden secrets. In Ernalda's honor, Orlanthi women are expected to be cool-headed and astute.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: To an extent. Most of the currency of the realm is in silver, but being an agrarian society, Orlanthi prefer to barter. Silver is thrown in with the rest of your clan's bric-a-brac as generic "goods". Cattle is much more important, and your clan may actually be wildly disappointed when presented with chests of silver coins instead of cows.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: To an extent. Most of the currency of the realm is in silver, but being an agrarian society, Orlanthi prefer to barter. Silver is thrown in with the rest of your clan's bric-a-brac as generic "goods". Cattle is much more important, and your clan may actually be wildly disappointed when presented with chests of silver coins instead of cows.
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* WomenAreWiser: While Lhankor Mhy is generally in charge of knowledge, he's also cantankerous and stubborn. Ernalda the earth goddess is supposed to be the guardian of hidden secrets. In Ernalda's honor, Orlanthi women are expected to be cool-headed and astute.
astute. It is mentioned in the game manual that men are considered feisty and passionate, while women are calm and calculating.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: To an extent. Most of the currency of the realm is in silver, but being an agrarian society, Orlanthi prefer to barter. Silver is thrown in with the rest of your clan's bric-a-brac as generic "goods". Cattle is much more important, and your clan may actually be wildly disappointed when presented with chests of silver coins instead of cows.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: To an extent. Most of the currency of the realm is in silver, but being an agrarian society, Orlanthi prefer to barter. Silver is thrown in with the rest of your clan's bric-a-brac as generic "goods". Cattle is much more important, and your clan may actually be wildly disappointed when presented with chests of silver coins instead of cows.
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* FantasticCasteSystem: From lowest to highest, it more or less goes: Thralls (slaves), Cottars (freemen), Carls (landowners), Weaponthanes (soldiers), and Nobles. Not all clans take thralls, and carls compete against weaponthanes for influence.
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* FantasticCasteSystem: From lowest to highest, it more or less goes: Thralls (slaves), Cottars (freemen), Carls (landowners), Weaponthanes (soldiers), and Nobles. Not all clans take thralls, and carls compete against weaponthanes for influence.
** They are also more like social classes than actual castes. The nobles represent the best and brightest of your clan, and their positions are not hereditary. If you manage to own cows, you automatically qualify as a carl. If you can afford (or in some cases, get donated) horse and weapons, you're applicable as a weaponthane, and anyone at all can end up as a thrall if they get taken as prisoners of war and their relatives aren't able to ransom them.
** They are also more like social classes than actual castes. The nobles represent the best and brightest of your clan, and their positions are not hereditary. If you manage to own cows, you automatically qualify as a carl. If you can afford (or in some cases, get donated) horse and weapons, you're applicable as a weaponthane, and anyone at all can end up as a thrall if they get taken as prisoners of war and their relatives aren't able to ransom them.
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!!Tropes featured:
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''King of Dragon Pass'' is a computer game published by the very-very small developer [[http://www.a-sharp.com/ A Sharp]] (A#). The game is set in the past of Glorantha, the fantasy setting for RuneQuest and ''Hero Quest''. The player leads a clan of bloodthirsty [[BarbarianTribe Orlanthi]] to dominance over the freshly colonised land of Dragon Pass by managing the clan's economy, conducting its raids against neighbours and making other wise decisions as the seven-member clan ring.
The gameplay itself is a strange mix of strategy games, [[RolePlayingGames RPGs]] and {{Visual Novel}}s as the usual macromanagement of the clan is spiced by individual decisions of the nobility and story advancing choices made over nice pictures. Should Voskandora the war-leader engage her opposite directly using her axe and battle magic or try to keep herself safe behind her thanes? Should the clan pay the extra five cows worth of goods to try to find a wife for one of the ugly carls? These are all in the player's hand and might have seemingly unrelated long term consequences.
Even though it was published in 1999 the game has aged very well: there is absolutely no animation, only text and really good looking images. The latter are even emphasized by the ability of switching the text off revealing otherwise hidden parts. Its popularity received a surge due to the release of its [[{{iOSGames}} iOS port]] in September of 2011, which featured new scenes and tweaked gameplay. It was [[http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/king_of_dragon_pass re-released through GOG.com]] in August of 2012; this version has been patched to play nice with newer operating systems, but does not feature any of the changes from the iOS port.
Lots of RuneQuest tropes also apply here as a result of the same setting and sometimes even mechanics.
Has an upcoming sequel, ''[[http://sixages.blogspot.co.uk/ Six Ages]]''.
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!!Tropes featured:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The legendary Bad King Urgrain. If you screw up badly enough, people will compare you to him.
* ActionGirl: Worshipers of Vinga, the Orlanthi goddess of {{Action Girl}}s. [[spoiler: Kallyr]] is a particularly notable example with her own dedicated event chain. There's also a clan known for being led by Vingans.
** Female Humakti and Odaylans aren't too shabby, either.
** Vinga's ''Fyrdwomen'' blessing turns your [[NeutralFemale famously gutsy but otherwise passive housewives]] into [[ActionGirl Action Girls]] when you're being raided, allowing them to defend the tula.
* TheAlliance: What your tribe starts out as.
* AllMythsAreTrue: Particularly notable because if you alter a myth through a Hero Quest, you retroactively ''alter reality.'' Note that failing a Hero Quest and altering it aren't the same thing.
** Although it might just be a case of the person who underwent the quest telling their version of what happened, which is more believable than someone from outside of the clan telling the story of what happened.
** Indeed, this ends up being zigzagged a bit. The [[AllThereInTheManual game documentation]] mentions the reality-altering aspect, but there's occasionally some leeway. The "correct" choices may fail while substitutes succeed, or the quester may complete the quest but suffer injury (including a permanent decrease in stats). It's less retroactive myth alteration, and more "good enough is good enough."
** Or it's possible that the myth as told and retold over generations was wrong, and the "altered" version is the actual sequence of events. Oral traditions are not renowned for their consistency.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The rest of your clan to [[spoiler:Thadart, who has been captured and transformed by the Tusk Riders.]] As the clan leaders, however, you do have a chance to make sure that he's not just accepted, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming but respected and beloved by the rest of the clan]].
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Here they are only one of the usual dangers a clan can face in winter. Until some nobles try to explore the far north...
* AlternativeCalendar: Made up of five seasons lasting eight weeks, and the two week "Sacred Time". Sea season is roughly equivalent to mid-spring, Fire Season is summer, Earth season is autumn, Dark season is winter, Storm season is late winter to early spring, which then gives way to Sacred Time. There are alternative weekdays, too.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The forces of Chaos.
* {{Ambadassador}}: Any noble with high combat and bargaining stats is this, and is a good choice for long trade expeditions.
* AnimalJingoism: Orlanthi are cat people, thanks to a Bad Dog (yes, that's his name) in mythology. They ''hate'' dogs, and you may be approached by worshipers of Yinkin who have heard that another tribe has dogs and would like your help in killing them off; helping nets approval from your ancestors.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Pharaoh's sorcerers are armed with a few.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Given in a barbaric tribal society.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Do everything right in the long game, and your leader becomes [[TitleDrop King or Queen of Dragon Pass.]]
* BadassBeard: All worshipers of Lhankor Mhy have beards. ''All of them.'' If genetics have seen fit to deny them the opportunity to grow beards--for instance, because they're women--that only means they have to make them.
* BadassGrandpa / NeverMessWithGranny: Because of the way the stat system works, it's entirely possible that your most fearsome War Leader will be a sexagenarian.
* BadassNormal: Your farmers are able to hold their own in a fight pretty well. Although they get overshadowed by the incredible badassery of the weaponthanes, who can each take down 10 footman.
* BadassPacifist: The goddess Chalana Arroy canonically manages to overcome [[TheDeterminator Elmal]], [[KingOfGods Orlanth]], [[PlagueMaster Malia]], [[TheBerserker Urox]], and [[TheGrimReaper Humakt]]-- all through the power of healing.
* BadMoonRising: The red moon in the northern sky is so Chaotic that good Orlanthi try not to even look at it.
* BarbarianHero: While they wear more clothing than is normal to the trope, pretty much ''any'' Orlanthi weaponthane counts.
* BarbarianTribe: The Orlanthi and their various tribes and clans, of course.
* BerserkButton: Dragonewts have been known to calmly watch Orlanthi looting their temples while only appearing mildly agitated, only to flip out and kill everyone out of nowhere for doing something as innocuous as stepping on a mushroom or humming.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted; your warriors all end up looking scarred and grizzled, no matter how pretty they might look at the start.
* BlackMagic: Chaos worshippers can do some ''weird'' things. One notable sorcerer has a hand for a head-- and [[HumanResources collects other people's hands]] for evil purposes.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Orlanthi have some odd preferences and customs, and you're advised to not bind yourself to a modern moral system. You have to think like an Orlanthi, and even more so think like an Orlanthi who follows his or her clan's history. Dragons also have a very strange moral system as well; for dragons, particularly dragonewts, they very strongly desire to recover their bodies after death, but won't be bothered if you sold that body to another clan or made a suit of armor out of it. They also have utterly bizarre {{Berserk Button}}s (i.e. clearing one's throat, slapping a mosquito, or humming).
* BodyHorror: A few examples, from Chaos infestation, to an elven curse that causes vines to grow uncontrollably through the human body, to [[OurMonstersAreWeird land-dwelling crayfish that apparently lobotomize their victims]].
* BoisterousBruiser: Largely expected of Orlanthi men, to the point where the stereotype is that women have to do the thinking because men are simple-minded. This goes double for Storm Bulls.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Your ring members might be hyper-competent stat-wise but still exhibit certain eccentricities, such as an obsession with cows or an inexplicable hatred of elves.
** Tricksters may also qualify. They're incomprehensible troublemakers most of the time, but Trickster Magic can be invaluable to the clan.
* CargoShip: Eurmal apparently once married a post, then committed adultery with a broom. As god of {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s everywhere, this is probably one of the more "normal" things he's done. [[invoked]]
* CassandraDidIt: The Ducks spend quite a lot of time trying to get the humans of Dragon Pass to help them fight the undead. This doesn't stop certain clans from believing that the Ducks themselves are minions of a necromancer-- specifically, the necromancer the Ducks are ''trying to defeat''.
* ChaoticStupid: Tricksters are willful idiots with little grasp of dignity or proportion. Their schemes also tend to be CrazyEnoughToWork, and they work magic that sane people can't. Placing one on your clan ring puts those talents to work - and makes the clan chief personally responsible for the fool's antics. Is it worth it? Who knows!
** An example of ChaoticStupid at its finest: Tricksters might give away a score of cattle to another clan because the cows ''"looked funny"''.
*** [[SubvertedTrope And then those cows turn out to have been incubated with chaos spawn]]. Who's laughing now? The Trickster, as always.
** There are, however, big advantages to having a Trickster on the ring. Only worshipers of Eurmal can provide a bonus to Heroquests, for example, and simply having them on the ring provides more clan magic. Also, if the Trickster DOES screw up, it's expected, and you can simply eject them from the ring immediately to placate the offended party[[note]]If you then add the Trickster back on the ring immediately, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything you'll offend the party you were placating to begin with]][[/note]].
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Tricksters again, not for the "special" random events they trigger, but for the hilariously terrible or irrelevant advice they tend to give for even mundane situations. It's actually a decent litmus test: if the trickster disagrees with everyone else, the trickster is probably wrong; if anyone ''agrees'' with the trickster, then maybe TheCuckoolanderWasRight. Maybe.
* CurbstompBattle: If you push the dragonewts, dwarves, or beastmen too much, you'll get a "dire warning" event, where they tell your clan to knock it off. Provoke them after this event, and they launch an attack that will completely destroy your entire ring, most of your animals, and three-quarters of your population.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: You can send nobles on Hero Quests, wherein they step into the shoes of a god and beat the hell out of Chaos.
** Or step into the shoes of a god and go toe to toe with a god. Many gods get to be badass, but two go above and beyond: Humakt, who fights Orlanth himself to a standstill over several days, and Elmal, who gets [[PullingThemselvesTogether dismembered repeatedly while doing his duty]].
*** And if you screw up, your hero gets dismembered as Elmal and comes back from the Spirit World as gibs. This is disconcerting to everyone involved.
* DontFearTheReaper: Humakt isn't the cheeriest god in the pantheon, but he's decidedly one of the good guys.
* DealWithTheDevil: You can sometimes choose to propitiate Chaos gods, rather than sacrificing to the Orlanthi patron deities. It's cheaper, but there's usually a long-term downside, the most obvious of which is the fact that you just ''pissed off your deities''.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The Orlanthi have a very tribal value system. Peace between clans typically means only ''occasionally'' raiding each other for cattle and goods, foreigners are never to be trusted (at least, not above your own people), and while secret murders are prosecutable crimes, killing openly only allows the wronged party to seek vengeance. The manual even says that to succeed, you must put aside your modern morality and think like an Orlanthi.
* DinosaursAreDragons: The relationship between Earthshakers (triceratops) and dragonkin is hinted at, speculated upon, and occasionally stated outright. Some of the Dragonnewts even look like anthropomorphic dinosaurs, such as the hadrosaur mage who asks you which of your values is the most valuable.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Though it never uses the r-word, one event has two young married men being abducted by two outlaw women on horseback. It's up to the player whether the trope is played straight, where the men are charged with ''adultery'', one of the worst crimes the Orlanthi have and practically guaranteeing they'll be outlawed, or averted, by declaring that they were forced and are therefore not guilty of anything.
** ChildByRape: After the above scene,] the bandit women return with babies as proof of "adultery".
* EldritchAbomination: Chaos has lots of these.
* TheEmpire: the Lunar Empire with whom the Tarshites go to war.
* EarlyGameHell: Stabilizing your clan in the first few years can be tough, especially on Hard mode. No one wants to trade with you, the gods don't want to share their secrets with you, the Horse Spawn like to come steal your horses and if your crops fail, you don't have any reserves to fall back on.
* {{Egopolis}}: Eventually, your tribe will build a town with two others, and your clan ring often wants to name it after themselves.
* ElvesVersusDwarves: Both species are connected to the earth, but dwarves represent inorganic stasis, while elves represent life and growth.
* EverythingsBetterWithCows: This being an early medieval society, cattle is used as currency. The more you have, the richer your clan. But if your herd dips below 500, watch out.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Earthshakers, dinos of the shambling, plant-devouring variety. It pays to be nice to them.
* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: Orlanth is the Storm God, so rainbows are sacred to Orlanthi. Seeing one increases your magic and provides opportunities for raiding or making friends.
* FakeUltimateHero
* FantasticCasteSystem: From lowest to highest, it more or less goes: Thralls (slaves), Cottars (freemen), Carls (landowners), Weaponthanes (soldiers), and Nobles. Not all clans take thralls, and carls compete against weaponthanes for influence.
* FantasticRacism: ''No-one'' likes the Beastmen, at least not at first. Your avian neighbors can nevertheless prove themselves worthy allies against the undead.
** Some nobles will also have peculiar grudges against particular races, such as the elves, blaming them for everything bad that happens to the clan.
** The Ducks prove themselves time and again as noble warriors who can best your even your elite combat leaders, but even when they earnestly seek alliance, lampooning their efforts is a perfectly valid option.
** Your clan ''has'' to have a grudge against ''someone'' as part of the clan creation. These can be trolls, beastmen, the Praxians, elves, ice demons, or ''the ocean.''
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Orlanthi culture has Celtic/Germanic overtones.
** CultureChopSuey: They also practice Eastern-style kite-fighting, and are on the run from a guy calling himself Pharaoh.
* FertileBlood: Shrines to Maran Gor increase your crop yields when people are killed on your territory.
* FieryRedhead: All [[ActionGirl Vingans]] seem to have red hair, even into old age. It's possible that they dye their hair for religious reasons, making this an InvokedTrope.
* FinalDeath: Your nobles can die in battles or random events, or of old age. There are circumstances where they can be resurrected, unless they're devoted to Humakt, the god of death.
* FreudianTrio: Your Chieftan is the Ego, your Lawspeaker is the Superego, and your War Leader is the Id.
** Although it's certainly possible to have a Chieftan who is both your best Lawspeaker and Warleader (the chief usually is the warleader, especially with tribes that follow Orlanth or Elmal, who both are strong warrior gods, and so have strong warrior leaders)
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the event where the ducks ask to join your tribe, hiding the text reveals a random guy imitating a duckbill with his hands.
* GenghisGambit: There are a few different circumstances when you can try this.
* GenreRoulette / MixAndMatch: a blend of a resource-management SimulationGame and a VisualNovel, with some RPG elements.
* GiantEnemyCrab: One memorable Chaos monster faced in a Hero Quest looks like a [[BuffySpeak great big vaguely crustacean... thing]].
* GoddamnOrks: Your clan's traditional nemeses tend to show up a lot. To the Orlanthi in general, the Horse-Spawn fit this trope.
* GoodOldWays: Your clan's ancestors grant extra magic when you act in accordance with tradition. Tradition is ultimately one of the most important things to consider for the Orlanthi. If you hated dragons centuries ago, then you are expected to hate dragons now and forever. If you ''break'' from tradition, you'd better have a good reason to do so, and even if you do, you ''will'' be punished for it somehow.
** [[HonorBeforeReason This doesn't always make sense]], especially with regards to [[spoiler: dragons]]. If your clan [[spoiler: trusted them]] in the past, your ancestors punish you when you treat [[spoiler: dragons]] badly despite the fact that they're [[CardCarryingVillain proudly a race of treacherous bastards]].
*** This is a bit of a case of [[AllThereInTheManual All There In The Supporting Material]]. Dragons turned against humans because they began to misuse dragon magic to their own ends, not ForTheEvulz. The clan ancestors presumably understand this in afterlife, so they consider the dragons' actions fair. It helps that both the dragons themselves and those who devote themselves to their ways tend to be pretty far in the scale of BlueAndOrangeMorality.
** It's noticable that when the Orlanthi are presented with an entirely new situation (like the civilized duck people), they have no idea how to react, and it's one of the few situations where every option is perfectly valid.
* GuideDangIt: It'll take a lot of experimenting to figure out how to play the first few times unless you have help.
* GuileHero: The Talking God Issaries and his followers. Also, Tricksters. [[WildCard Sometimes]].
* HonorBeforeReason: Many Orlanthi live and die by this axiom. Luckily, you have often have a chance to [[TakingAThirdOption take a reasonable and honorable third option]] when they bring their problems before the Ring.
** To the extent that it's perfectly legal to storm into someone's clan hall, brazenly say you will murder the entire clan in their sleep, and then do so. It would actually be considered worse to murder the clan without telling them first.
* KubrickStare: One of the trickster portraits does this.
* TheHunter: Followers of Urox the Storm Bull specialise in hunting Chaos, and followers of Humakt specialise in hunting the undead.
* IceCreamKoan: Your ring loves to spout them, some more apropos than others. Your [[spoiler: dead ancestors]] might actually get sick of this and come up to complain.
* InsufferableGenius: Lhankor Mhy, called the Knowing God by his worshippers and the Know-It-All God by his detractors.
* LightIsNotGood: Orlanth's archenemy was a sun god known as Yelm the Bright Emperor. The Orlanthi's own sun god used to serve Yelm until Chalana Arroy convinced him to defect along with her.
* LoopholeAbuse: The Orlanthi are a highly legalistic people, but often have few qualms about exploiting technicalities in their favor. Like the angry divorcee who wants her dowry of ten cows back. She demands the ''exact same'' ten cows.
* LostForever: And of course, you will never know.
* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Given the narrative format of all events, any less-than-optimal conclusion for your clan is spelled out in a downright depressing level of detail. Messing up the Long Game at the last moment causes a BittersweetEnding where your clan might pitifully try to assert that having a lot of cows or good relations with neighbors is nearly as good as becoming [[TitleDrop King of Dragon Pass]].
* MadeOfIron: During battles and most events, your nobles are ''very'' hard to kill. They can be thrown through walls, cut dozens of times, stabbed in the chest, and trampled under a stampede of horses, yet recover fully after a few seasons. If the game doesn't say they're dead, then it's only a flesh wound.
* MorallyAmbiguousDucktorate: The strange and puny duck neighbours, their more formidable cousins in the swamps and their extremely dangerous friends.
* MoralMyopia: Freedom is what Orlanth treasures most, and all Orlanthi are willing to die rather than be enslaved by the Pharaoh. The clans that take thralls don't seem to see anything hypocritical about what they're doing to their fellow Orlanthi. This all falls squarely under DeliberateValuesDissonance.
** Some of the dialogue choices (especially ones that come up when someone is airing a grievance against the clan ring) make it apparent that there's not much in the way of actual law enforcement. Obedience is expected socially and the traditional laws are everywhere... but the only true rule is, "''No one can make you do anything.''"
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Elmal, appointed guardian of Orlanth's stead, fights The Eater of Skin, the Author of Sores, and the Maker of Bad Growth. The Teller of Lies doesn't sound that bad until you learn one of its other names is the ''Breaker of Souls''.
* [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Nobles Who Actually Do Something]]: From joining in the clan's battles to leading trade expeditions, Orlanthi nobles certainly earn their keep. It helps that Orlanthi nobility isn't a birthright, but rather a segregation of the clan's best and brightest.
* NonstandardGameOver: You have a clan. It can muster raiding parties. Your neighbors have realms. They can muster armies. It's difficult to get warnings, but if they start, pay attention.
* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: Your clan ring tends to end up as one of these. Your tribal council pretty much inevitably does.
* TheOathbreaker: Oathbreaking is a huge offense among the Orlanthi. And the god of oaths is also the GrimReaper...
* OrderVersusChaos: The main cosmological conflict. Your people clearly favor Order, seeing as how their bitterest enemies are creatures of Chaos.
* OrphansPlotTrinket: Both major heroes.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Intelligent, sly and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality ultimately unfathomable]]. Not to mention ''very'' dangerous. There's a good reason no one's settled in Dragon Pass for hundreds of years. There's also their strange, humanlike relatives/larval forms, the dragonewts.
* PlagueMaster: Malia, chaos goddess of sickness.
* PlotlineDeath: Destinies sometimes end with defeat.
* PsychopathicManchild: Eurmal shows shades of this, giggling maniacally when he discovers he can kill people permanently with the sword Death.
* PunchClockHero: Of a mild sort, Tricksters. They're actually religiously obligated to cause trouble for the clan.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The goddess of rape is part of the [[BigBadDuumvirate Unholy Trio,]] right up there with the goddess of disease and the god of evil himself.
* RelationshipValues: With the farmers, with the thanes, with other clans, cults and of course with the [[OurMonstersAreDifferent Elder Races]].
* ReligionIsMagic: Just about all magical power is granted by the gods, though there are some exceptions; A clan's ancestors will also give magic if they are pleased by the behavior of the clan, and shamans gain their power from spirits unaligned with any pantheon.
* ReligiousBruiser: All your warriors are this, but the Humakti best fit the trope with their particularly rigid vows.
* ResurrectionSickness: Through Chalana Arroy's Resurrection blessing, a hefty sacrifice and good luck, sometimes people can be brought back to life, but they're not quite the same as they once were.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Happens quite a bit, since the Orlanthi are so protective of their honor.
* SacredHospitality: Hospitality is a prime Orlanthi virtue, but there are a few loopholes in the customs that allow you to treat your guests like dirt without technically being inhospitable.
* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: Some of the gods are portrayed on various levels of it.
** IntellectualAnimal: Uralda, goddess of cows, is a cow who can speak like a human. She's also daughter of Ernalda, a completely human goddess; no one comments on precisely how that's possible.
** PettingZooPeople: Yinkin, a minor god of cats, resembles a grey-furred human with a lynx's head, tail, and digitigrade legs with paws (though he has furry human-esque hands). He's also a brother of Orlanth, who appears completely human.
* SpiritWorld: By physically reenacting a myth, your nobles can enter the spirit world and receive various blessings.
* TheStarscream: Nobles with high leadership may try to get the current chief deposed.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Dwarfs positive their modes of speech, thank much. Keeps smooth functioning on schedule.
* TheStrengthOfTenMen: Weaponthanes under Humakt's "truesword" blessing. Otherwise they've only got the strength of five.
* [[TokenEvilTeamMate Token Jackass Clan Leader]]: Tricksters can get away with crimes that would get other Orlanthi outlawed. Unless, of course, you expel them yourself.
** Eurmal himself is essentially a Token Chaotic Team Mate in the Orlanthi pantheon. He's tolerated because the results of his mischief are generally better for Orlanth than his enemies.
** In gameplay, this works the same way. Sure, a trickster won't always give stellar advice, and will sometimes bring bad things upon your clan. They can also do fantastically against certain common event chains. Of course, most people take one for the fun factor.
* TricksterArchetype: Eurmal and his followers.
* {{Unwinnable}}: Even the manual advises to save a lot after the appearance of the Feathered Horse Queen. One wrong move, one failed test and you might not even realise that you are out of competition.
* VideoGameCaringPotential: Towards nobles. And [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Earthshakers]]. And your people will become immensely happy if you protect them, hold feasts, and win battles.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
** You can raid rival clans, take them as slaves, and sacrifice them to your gods. You can even force them off their lands which will kick them all the way across the map. Then you can petition Eurmal to send curses at them.
** Humakt's sword actually gives you a massive boost in battle when you choose to "kill as many enemies as possible."
* WarriorPoet: A few pop up. Some of your nobles might even qualify.
* WomenAreWiser: While Lhankor Mhy is generally in charge of knowledge, he's also cantankerous and stubborn. Ernalda the earth goddess is supposed to be the guardian of hidden secrets. In Ernalda's honor, Orlanthi women are expected to be cool-headed and astute.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: To an extent. Most of the currency of the realm is in silver, but being an agrarian society, Orlanthi prefer to barter. Silver is thrown in with the rest of your clan's bric-a-brac as generic "goods". Cattle is much more important, and your clan may actually be wildly disappointed when presented with chests of silver coins instead of cows.
** As far as the Orlanthi are concerned, the ''Horse-Spawn'' suffer from this trope; the Horse-Spawn see cattle-raising to be the profession of slaves, and will be insulted when offered cows.
** Goods are the equivalent of cold hard cash, in a way. Cows give various benefits, even if you never sell them. They breed and give you milk, while still being roughly equal in value.
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The gameplay itself is a strange mix of strategy games, [[RolePlayingGames RPGs]] and {{Visual Novel}}s as the usual macromanagement of the clan is spiced by individual decisions of the nobility and story advancing choices made over nice pictures. Should Voskandora the war-leader engage her opposite directly using her axe and battle magic or try to keep herself safe behind her thanes? Should the clan pay the extra five cows worth of goods to try to find a wife for one of the ugly carls? These are all in the player's hand and might have seemingly unrelated long term consequences.
Even though it was published in 1999 the game has aged very well: there is absolutely no animation, only text and really good looking images. The latter are even emphasized by the ability of switching the text off revealing otherwise hidden parts. Its popularity received a surge due to the release of its [[{{iOSGames}} iOS port]] in September of 2011, which featured new scenes and tweaked gameplay. It was [[http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/king_of_dragon_pass re-released through GOG.com]] in August of 2012; this version has been patched to play nice with newer operating systems, but does not feature any of the changes from the iOS port.
Lots of RuneQuest tropes also apply here as a result of the same setting and sometimes even mechanics.
Has an upcoming sequel, ''[[http://sixages.blogspot.co.uk/ Six Ages]]''.
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!!Tropes featured:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The legendary Bad King Urgrain. If you screw up badly enough, people will compare you to him.
* ActionGirl: Worshipers of Vinga, the Orlanthi goddess of {{Action Girl}}s. [[spoiler: Kallyr]] is a particularly notable example with her own dedicated event chain. There's also a clan known for being led by Vingans.
** Female Humakti and Odaylans aren't too shabby, either.
** Vinga's ''Fyrdwomen'' blessing turns your [[NeutralFemale famously gutsy but otherwise passive housewives]] into [[ActionGirl Action Girls]] when you're being raided, allowing them to defend the tula.
* TheAlliance: What your tribe starts out as.
* AllMythsAreTrue: Particularly notable because if you alter a myth through a Hero Quest, you retroactively ''alter reality.'' Note that failing a Hero Quest and altering it aren't the same thing.
** Although it might just be a case of the person who underwent the quest telling their version of what happened, which is more believable than someone from outside of the clan telling the story of what happened.
** Indeed, this ends up being zigzagged a bit. The [[AllThereInTheManual game documentation]] mentions the reality-altering aspect, but there's occasionally some leeway. The "correct" choices may fail while substitutes succeed, or the quester may complete the quest but suffer injury (including a permanent decrease in stats). It's less retroactive myth alteration, and more "good enough is good enough."
** Or it's possible that the myth as told and retold over generations was wrong, and the "altered" version is the actual sequence of events. Oral traditions are not renowned for their consistency.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: The rest of your clan to [[spoiler:Thadart, who has been captured and transformed by the Tusk Riders.]] As the clan leaders, however, you do have a chance to make sure that he's not just accepted, [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming but respected and beloved by the rest of the clan]].
* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Here they are only one of the usual dangers a clan can face in winter. Until some nobles try to explore the far north...
* AlternativeCalendar: Made up of five seasons lasting eight weeks, and the two week "Sacred Time". Sea season is roughly equivalent to mid-spring, Fire Season is summer, Earth season is autumn, Dark season is winter, Storm season is late winter to early spring, which then gives way to Sacred Time. There are alternative weekdays, too.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The forces of Chaos.
* {{Ambadassador}}: Any noble with high combat and bargaining stats is this, and is a good choice for long trade expeditions.
* AnimalJingoism: Orlanthi are cat people, thanks to a Bad Dog (yes, that's his name) in mythology. They ''hate'' dogs, and you may be approached by worshipers of Yinkin who have heard that another tribe has dogs and would like your help in killing them off; helping nets approval from your ancestors.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Pharaoh's sorcerers are armed with a few.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Given in a barbaric tribal society.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Do everything right in the long game, and your leader becomes [[TitleDrop King or Queen of Dragon Pass.]]
* BadassBeard: All worshipers of Lhankor Mhy have beards. ''All of them.'' If genetics have seen fit to deny them the opportunity to grow beards--for instance, because they're women--that only means they have to make them.
* BadassGrandpa / NeverMessWithGranny: Because of the way the stat system works, it's entirely possible that your most fearsome War Leader will be a sexagenarian.
* BadassNormal: Your farmers are able to hold their own in a fight pretty well. Although they get overshadowed by the incredible badassery of the weaponthanes, who can each take down 10 footman.
* BadassPacifist: The goddess Chalana Arroy canonically manages to overcome [[TheDeterminator Elmal]], [[KingOfGods Orlanth]], [[PlagueMaster Malia]], [[TheBerserker Urox]], and [[TheGrimReaper Humakt]]-- all through the power of healing.
* BadMoonRising: The red moon in the northern sky is so Chaotic that good Orlanthi try not to even look at it.
* BarbarianHero: While they wear more clothing than is normal to the trope, pretty much ''any'' Orlanthi weaponthane counts.
* BarbarianTribe: The Orlanthi and their various tribes and clans, of course.
* BerserkButton: Dragonewts have been known to calmly watch Orlanthi looting their temples while only appearing mildly agitated, only to flip out and kill everyone out of nowhere for doing something as innocuous as stepping on a mushroom or humming.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted; your warriors all end up looking scarred and grizzled, no matter how pretty they might look at the start.
* BlackMagic: Chaos worshippers can do some ''weird'' things. One notable sorcerer has a hand for a head-- and [[HumanResources collects other people's hands]] for evil purposes.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Orlanthi have some odd preferences and customs, and you're advised to not bind yourself to a modern moral system. You have to think like an Orlanthi, and even more so think like an Orlanthi who follows his or her clan's history. Dragons also have a very strange moral system as well; for dragons, particularly dragonewts, they very strongly desire to recover their bodies after death, but won't be bothered if you sold that body to another clan or made a suit of armor out of it. They also have utterly bizarre {{Berserk Button}}s (i.e. clearing one's throat, slapping a mosquito, or humming).
* BodyHorror: A few examples, from Chaos infestation, to an elven curse that causes vines to grow uncontrollably through the human body, to [[OurMonstersAreWeird land-dwelling crayfish that apparently lobotomize their victims]].
* BoisterousBruiser: Largely expected of Orlanthi men, to the point where the stereotype is that women have to do the thinking because men are simple-minded. This goes double for Storm Bulls.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Your ring members might be hyper-competent stat-wise but still exhibit certain eccentricities, such as an obsession with cows or an inexplicable hatred of elves.
** Tricksters may also qualify. They're incomprehensible troublemakers most of the time, but Trickster Magic can be invaluable to the clan.
* CargoShip: Eurmal apparently once married a post, then committed adultery with a broom. As god of {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s everywhere, this is probably one of the more "normal" things he's done. [[invoked]]
* CassandraDidIt: The Ducks spend quite a lot of time trying to get the humans of Dragon Pass to help them fight the undead. This doesn't stop certain clans from believing that the Ducks themselves are minions of a necromancer-- specifically, the necromancer the Ducks are ''trying to defeat''.
* ChaoticStupid: Tricksters are willful idiots with little grasp of dignity or proportion. Their schemes also tend to be CrazyEnoughToWork, and they work magic that sane people can't. Placing one on your clan ring puts those talents to work - and makes the clan chief personally responsible for the fool's antics. Is it worth it? Who knows!
** An example of ChaoticStupid at its finest: Tricksters might give away a score of cattle to another clan because the cows ''"looked funny"''.
*** [[SubvertedTrope And then those cows turn out to have been incubated with chaos spawn]]. Who's laughing now? The Trickster, as always.
** There are, however, big advantages to having a Trickster on the ring. Only worshipers of Eurmal can provide a bonus to Heroquests, for example, and simply having them on the ring provides more clan magic. Also, if the Trickster DOES screw up, it's expected, and you can simply eject them from the ring immediately to placate the offended party[[note]]If you then add the Trickster back on the ring immediately, [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything you'll offend the party you were placating to begin with]][[/note]].
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Tricksters again, not for the "special" random events they trigger, but for the hilariously terrible or irrelevant advice they tend to give for even mundane situations. It's actually a decent litmus test: if the trickster disagrees with everyone else, the trickster is probably wrong; if anyone ''agrees'' with the trickster, then maybe TheCuckoolanderWasRight. Maybe.
* CurbstompBattle: If you push the dragonewts, dwarves, or beastmen too much, you'll get a "dire warning" event, where they tell your clan to knock it off. Provoke them after this event, and they launch an attack that will completely destroy your entire ring, most of your animals, and three-quarters of your population.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: You can send nobles on Hero Quests, wherein they step into the shoes of a god and beat the hell out of Chaos.
** Or step into the shoes of a god and go toe to toe with a god. Many gods get to be badass, but two go above and beyond: Humakt, who fights Orlanth himself to a standstill over several days, and Elmal, who gets [[PullingThemselvesTogether dismembered repeatedly while doing his duty]].
*** And if you screw up, your hero gets dismembered as Elmal and comes back from the Spirit World as gibs. This is disconcerting to everyone involved.
* DontFearTheReaper: Humakt isn't the cheeriest god in the pantheon, but he's decidedly one of the good guys.
* DealWithTheDevil: You can sometimes choose to propitiate Chaos gods, rather than sacrificing to the Orlanthi patron deities. It's cheaper, but there's usually a long-term downside, the most obvious of which is the fact that you just ''pissed off your deities''.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The Orlanthi have a very tribal value system. Peace between clans typically means only ''occasionally'' raiding each other for cattle and goods, foreigners are never to be trusted (at least, not above your own people), and while secret murders are prosecutable crimes, killing openly only allows the wronged party to seek vengeance. The manual even says that to succeed, you must put aside your modern morality and think like an Orlanthi.
* DinosaursAreDragons: The relationship between Earthshakers (triceratops) and dragonkin is hinted at, speculated upon, and occasionally stated outright. Some of the Dragonnewts even look like anthropomorphic dinosaurs, such as the hadrosaur mage who asks you which of your values is the most valuable.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Though it never uses the r-word, one event has two young married men being abducted by two outlaw women on horseback. It's up to the player whether the trope is played straight, where the men are charged with ''adultery'', one of the worst crimes the Orlanthi have and practically guaranteeing they'll be outlawed, or averted, by declaring that they were forced and are therefore not guilty of anything.
** ChildByRape: After the above scene,] the bandit women return with babies as proof of "adultery".
* EldritchAbomination: Chaos has lots of these.
* TheEmpire: the Lunar Empire with whom the Tarshites go to war.
* EarlyGameHell: Stabilizing your clan in the first few years can be tough, especially on Hard mode. No one wants to trade with you, the gods don't want to share their secrets with you, the Horse Spawn like to come steal your horses and if your crops fail, you don't have any reserves to fall back on.
* {{Egopolis}}: Eventually, your tribe will build a town with two others, and your clan ring often wants to name it after themselves.
* ElvesVersusDwarves: Both species are connected to the earth, but dwarves represent inorganic stasis, while elves represent life and growth.
* EverythingsBetterWithCows: This being an early medieval society, cattle is used as currency. The more you have, the richer your clan. But if your herd dips below 500, watch out.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Earthshakers, dinos of the shambling, plant-devouring variety. It pays to be nice to them.
* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: Orlanth is the Storm God, so rainbows are sacred to Orlanthi. Seeing one increases your magic and provides opportunities for raiding or making friends.
* FakeUltimateHero
* FantasticCasteSystem: From lowest to highest, it more or less goes: Thralls (slaves), Cottars (freemen), Carls (landowners), Weaponthanes (soldiers), and Nobles. Not all clans take thralls, and carls compete against weaponthanes for influence.
* FantasticRacism: ''No-one'' likes the Beastmen, at least not at first. Your avian neighbors can nevertheless prove themselves worthy allies against the undead.
** Some nobles will also have peculiar grudges against particular races, such as the elves, blaming them for everything bad that happens to the clan.
** The Ducks prove themselves time and again as noble warriors who can best your even your elite combat leaders, but even when they earnestly seek alliance, lampooning their efforts is a perfectly valid option.
** Your clan ''has'' to have a grudge against ''someone'' as part of the clan creation. These can be trolls, beastmen, the Praxians, elves, ice demons, or ''the ocean.''
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Orlanthi culture has Celtic/Germanic overtones.
** CultureChopSuey: They also practice Eastern-style kite-fighting, and are on the run from a guy calling himself Pharaoh.
* FertileBlood: Shrines to Maran Gor increase your crop yields when people are killed on your territory.
* FieryRedhead: All [[ActionGirl Vingans]] seem to have red hair, even into old age. It's possible that they dye their hair for religious reasons, making this an InvokedTrope.
* FinalDeath: Your nobles can die in battles or random events, or of old age. There are circumstances where they can be resurrected, unless they're devoted to Humakt, the god of death.
* FreudianTrio: Your Chieftan is the Ego, your Lawspeaker is the Superego, and your War Leader is the Id.
** Although it's certainly possible to have a Chieftan who is both your best Lawspeaker and Warleader (the chief usually is the warleader, especially with tribes that follow Orlanth or Elmal, who both are strong warrior gods, and so have strong warrior leaders)
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the event where the ducks ask to join your tribe, hiding the text reveals a random guy imitating a duckbill with his hands.
* GenghisGambit: There are a few different circumstances when you can try this.
* GenreRoulette / MixAndMatch: a blend of a resource-management SimulationGame and a VisualNovel, with some RPG elements.
* GiantEnemyCrab: One memorable Chaos monster faced in a Hero Quest looks like a [[BuffySpeak great big vaguely crustacean... thing]].
* GoddamnOrks: Your clan's traditional nemeses tend to show up a lot. To the Orlanthi in general, the Horse-Spawn fit this trope.
* GoodOldWays: Your clan's ancestors grant extra magic when you act in accordance with tradition. Tradition is ultimately one of the most important things to consider for the Orlanthi. If you hated dragons centuries ago, then you are expected to hate dragons now and forever. If you ''break'' from tradition, you'd better have a good reason to do so, and even if you do, you ''will'' be punished for it somehow.
** [[HonorBeforeReason This doesn't always make sense]], especially with regards to [[spoiler: dragons]]. If your clan [[spoiler: trusted them]] in the past, your ancestors punish you when you treat [[spoiler: dragons]] badly despite the fact that they're [[CardCarryingVillain proudly a race of treacherous bastards]].
*** This is a bit of a case of [[AllThereInTheManual All There In The Supporting Material]]. Dragons turned against humans because they began to misuse dragon magic to their own ends, not ForTheEvulz. The clan ancestors presumably understand this in afterlife, so they consider the dragons' actions fair. It helps that both the dragons themselves and those who devote themselves to their ways tend to be pretty far in the scale of BlueAndOrangeMorality.
** It's noticable that when the Orlanthi are presented with an entirely new situation (like the civilized duck people), they have no idea how to react, and it's one of the few situations where every option is perfectly valid.
* GuideDangIt: It'll take a lot of experimenting to figure out how to play the first few times unless you have help.
* GuileHero: The Talking God Issaries and his followers. Also, Tricksters. [[WildCard Sometimes]].
* HonorBeforeReason: Many Orlanthi live and die by this axiom. Luckily, you have often have a chance to [[TakingAThirdOption take a reasonable and honorable third option]] when they bring their problems before the Ring.
** To the extent that it's perfectly legal to storm into someone's clan hall, brazenly say you will murder the entire clan in their sleep, and then do so. It would actually be considered worse to murder the clan without telling them first.
* KubrickStare: One of the trickster portraits does this.
* TheHunter: Followers of Urox the Storm Bull specialise in hunting Chaos, and followers of Humakt specialise in hunting the undead.
* IceCreamKoan: Your ring loves to spout them, some more apropos than others. Your [[spoiler: dead ancestors]] might actually get sick of this and come up to complain.
* InsufferableGenius: Lhankor Mhy, called the Knowing God by his worshippers and the Know-It-All God by his detractors.
* LightIsNotGood: Orlanth's archenemy was a sun god known as Yelm the Bright Emperor. The Orlanthi's own sun god used to serve Yelm until Chalana Arroy convinced him to defect along with her.
* LoopholeAbuse: The Orlanthi are a highly legalistic people, but often have few qualms about exploiting technicalities in their favor. Like the angry divorcee who wants her dowry of ten cows back. She demands the ''exact same'' ten cows.
* LostForever: And of course, you will never know.
* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Given the narrative format of all events, any less-than-optimal conclusion for your clan is spelled out in a downright depressing level of detail. Messing up the Long Game at the last moment causes a BittersweetEnding where your clan might pitifully try to assert that having a lot of cows or good relations with neighbors is nearly as good as becoming [[TitleDrop King of Dragon Pass]].
* MadeOfIron: During battles and most events, your nobles are ''very'' hard to kill. They can be thrown through walls, cut dozens of times, stabbed in the chest, and trampled under a stampede of horses, yet recover fully after a few seasons. If the game doesn't say they're dead, then it's only a flesh wound.
* MorallyAmbiguousDucktorate: The strange and puny duck neighbours, their more formidable cousins in the swamps and their extremely dangerous friends.
* MoralMyopia: Freedom is what Orlanth treasures most, and all Orlanthi are willing to die rather than be enslaved by the Pharaoh. The clans that take thralls don't seem to see anything hypocritical about what they're doing to their fellow Orlanthi. This all falls squarely under DeliberateValuesDissonance.
** Some of the dialogue choices (especially ones that come up when someone is airing a grievance against the clan ring) make it apparent that there's not much in the way of actual law enforcement. Obedience is expected socially and the traditional laws are everywhere... but the only true rule is, "''No one can make you do anything.''"
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Elmal, appointed guardian of Orlanth's stead, fights The Eater of Skin, the Author of Sores, and the Maker of Bad Growth. The Teller of Lies doesn't sound that bad until you learn one of its other names is the ''Breaker of Souls''.
* [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Nobles Who Actually Do Something]]: From joining in the clan's battles to leading trade expeditions, Orlanthi nobles certainly earn their keep. It helps that Orlanthi nobility isn't a birthright, but rather a segregation of the clan's best and brightest.
* NonstandardGameOver: You have a clan. It can muster raiding parties. Your neighbors have realms. They can muster armies. It's difficult to get warnings, but if they start, pay attention.
* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: Your clan ring tends to end up as one of these. Your tribal council pretty much inevitably does.
* TheOathbreaker: Oathbreaking is a huge offense among the Orlanthi. And the god of oaths is also the GrimReaper...
* OrderVersusChaos: The main cosmological conflict. Your people clearly favor Order, seeing as how their bitterest enemies are creatures of Chaos.
* OrphansPlotTrinket: Both major heroes.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Intelligent, sly and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality ultimately unfathomable]]. Not to mention ''very'' dangerous. There's a good reason no one's settled in Dragon Pass for hundreds of years. There's also their strange, humanlike relatives/larval forms, the dragonewts.
* PlagueMaster: Malia, chaos goddess of sickness.
* PlotlineDeath: Destinies sometimes end with defeat.
* PsychopathicManchild: Eurmal shows shades of this, giggling maniacally when he discovers he can kill people permanently with the sword Death.
* PunchClockHero: Of a mild sort, Tricksters. They're actually religiously obligated to cause trouble for the clan.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The goddess of rape is part of the [[BigBadDuumvirate Unholy Trio,]] right up there with the goddess of disease and the god of evil himself.
* RelationshipValues: With the farmers, with the thanes, with other clans, cults and of course with the [[OurMonstersAreDifferent Elder Races]].
* ReligionIsMagic: Just about all magical power is granted by the gods, though there are some exceptions; A clan's ancestors will also give magic if they are pleased by the behavior of the clan, and shamans gain their power from spirits unaligned with any pantheon.
* ReligiousBruiser: All your warriors are this, but the Humakti best fit the trope with their particularly rigid vows.
* ResurrectionSickness: Through Chalana Arroy's Resurrection blessing, a hefty sacrifice and good luck, sometimes people can be brought back to life, but they're not quite the same as they once were.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Happens quite a bit, since the Orlanthi are so protective of their honor.
* SacredHospitality: Hospitality is a prime Orlanthi virtue, but there are a few loopholes in the customs that allow you to treat your guests like dirt without technically being inhospitable.
* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: Some of the gods are portrayed on various levels of it.
** IntellectualAnimal: Uralda, goddess of cows, is a cow who can speak like a human. She's also daughter of Ernalda, a completely human goddess; no one comments on precisely how that's possible.
** PettingZooPeople: Yinkin, a minor god of cats, resembles a grey-furred human with a lynx's head, tail, and digitigrade legs with paws (though he has furry human-esque hands). He's also a brother of Orlanth, who appears completely human.
* SpiritWorld: By physically reenacting a myth, your nobles can enter the spirit world and receive various blessings.
* TheStarscream: Nobles with high leadership may try to get the current chief deposed.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Dwarfs positive their modes of speech, thank much. Keeps smooth functioning on schedule.
* TheStrengthOfTenMen: Weaponthanes under Humakt's "truesword" blessing. Otherwise they've only got the strength of five.
* [[TokenEvilTeamMate Token Jackass Clan Leader]]: Tricksters can get away with crimes that would get other Orlanthi outlawed. Unless, of course, you expel them yourself.
** Eurmal himself is essentially a Token Chaotic Team Mate in the Orlanthi pantheon. He's tolerated because the results of his mischief are generally better for Orlanth than his enemies.
** In gameplay, this works the same way. Sure, a trickster won't always give stellar advice, and will sometimes bring bad things upon your clan. They can also do fantastically against certain common event chains. Of course, most people take one for the fun factor.
* TricksterArchetype: Eurmal and his followers.
* {{Unwinnable}}: Even the manual advises to save a lot after the appearance of the Feathered Horse Queen. One wrong move, one failed test and you might not even realise that you are out of competition.
* VideoGameCaringPotential: Towards nobles. And [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs Earthshakers]]. And your people will become immensely happy if you protect them, hold feasts, and win battles.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
** You can raid rival clans, take them as slaves, and sacrifice them to your gods. You can even force them off their lands which will kick them all the way across the map. Then you can petition Eurmal to send curses at them.
** Humakt's sword actually gives you a massive boost in battle when you choose to "kill as many enemies as possible."
* WarriorPoet: A few pop up. Some of your nobles might even qualify.
* WomenAreWiser: While Lhankor Mhy is generally in charge of knowledge, he's also cantankerous and stubborn. Ernalda the earth goddess is supposed to be the guardian of hidden secrets. In Ernalda's honor, Orlanthi women are expected to be cool-headed and astute.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: To an extent. Most of the currency of the realm is in silver, but being an agrarian society, Orlanthi prefer to barter. Silver is thrown in with the rest of your clan's bric-a-brac as generic "goods". Cattle is much more important, and your clan may actually be wildly disappointed when presented with chests of silver coins instead of cows.
** As far as the Orlanthi are concerned, the ''Horse-Spawn'' suffer from this trope; the Horse-Spawn see cattle-raising to be the profession of slaves, and will be insulted when offered cows.
** Goods are the equivalent of cold hard cash, in a way. Cows give various benefits, even if you never sell them. They breed and give you milk, while still being roughly equal in value.
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