User Summary
Everything was fine in the prosperous lands of Mandragore, until one fateful night, a rain of shooting stars fell on the country, one of the killing king Joriand. A lord named Yarod-Nor appeared and assumed power, imposing his reign of tyranny upon the land and its inhabitants. Your party of adventurers must find a way to defeat Yarod-Nor and return peace to the realm. In order to succeed, you must first explore the nine castles and find out what happened there. Then, armed with your new-found knowledge and experience, you'll be able to enter Yarod-Nor's castle and confront him.
Mandragore is one of the first French computer RPGs. It is party-based (four adventurers). The player can use a pre-generated party or create characters. The game rules are heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons: possible character races are elf, hal-orc, dwarf, human and hobbit, character classes include warrior, ranger, thief, wizard, bard and sage. Characters are defined by 6 abilities, and grow stronger as they gain levels.
The game features a map of the realm of Mandragore where the player moves the party. Once the party enters a town or dungeon, the view changes to a pseudo-3d display of the surroundings. Interaction with monsters, NPC and items and combat is done by typing orders, using a shorthand system to minimise the number of keystrokes. The game also includes a savegame feature.