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Interplay, 1991
MS-DOS 和 Amiga
Interplay, 1991
MS-DOS and Amiga
80 年代中期，《冰城传奇（The Bard's Tale）》凭借其彩色图像以及《巫术（Wizarady）》式的欢乐氛围成为了当时游戏界浓墨重彩的一笔，但是很可惜只是昙花一现，1988 年 EA 和 Interplay 之间的法律纠纷为这个系列画上了句号[1] 。
而在此期间，这一类型的游戏同僚们也在稳步向前，杰作层出不穷：《龙之战[2] （Dragon Wars）》、《魔法门 3（Might and Magic III）》、《巫术 6（Wizadary VI）》、金盒子（Golden Box）系列等等。但是，1991 年 Interplay 带着他们的《冰城传奇》再次回归，并且这次加上了编辑器系统！
The Bard's Tale series was a hit back in the mid80s, adding colourful graphics and a lighthearted atmosphere to the classic Wizardry formula. But was a short-lived one, as the series ended in 1988 due to a legal dispute between interplay and EA.
Meanwhile, the genre kept moving forward, with titles like Dragon Wars, Might and Magic III, Wizardry VI, the Gold Box series, etc. Yet, in 1991 Interplay returned to Bard's Tale – this time with an editor!
冰城传奇构建器（Bt Builder）[3] 是《冰城传奇建筑模组》的开源版本，其开发版本可于 identicalsoftware.com/ btbuilder 体验
bt Builder is an open-source implementation of the Bard's Tale Construction Set. A build under development is available at identicalsoftware.com/ btbuilder
地图编辑器乃是本作的一大特色，它包含四套地图组件，一个强大的事件创造模块，并且加入了快速测试迷宫的选项。
The map editor is the game's best feature, with four tilesets, a powerful tool for creating events and the option to quickly test it while you build. the maze.
你可以编辑物品、魔法以及怪物的数据，但是无法改变规则或者加入新的规则，这样使得你的选择非常有限。
You can edit the stats of items, monsters and spells to create new ones, but you can't edit the rules behind them or add new ones, limiting your options.
不幸的是，这次回归非常失败。本来这作想要达到的效果是让玩家可以制作属于自己的 RPG——甚至允许玩家导出成一款独立的游戏——但这个编辑器的能力被限制得死死的。种族、职业、还有属性值都是无法改动的——也就是说你无法超出《冰城传奇》的规则进行创作。而当你想要创造一些特定的物品、法术、或是怪物的时候，变量依然非常有限，甚至都做不出原版的《冰城传奇 1》。至于画面，虽然看起来不错但是仍然太过于单一，让人提不起兴趣。综上所述，这玩意儿的灵活度只能做出来一个阉割版的《冰城传奇》，除此之外什么也做不出来。
实际上，这个《建筑模组（The Bard's Tale: Construction Set）》自己就有一套样版，《星光节》（Star Light Festival）——一个《冰城传奇》的二次创作游戏，冗长且无聊，没有原版的人员参与制作而且缺乏《冰城传奇》独有的魅力，跟同时代的那些角色扮演游戏大作放在一起显得非常格格不入。
压倒骆驼的最后一根稻草是 1993 年 SSI 推出的《被遗忘的国度：无限冒险（Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventure）》，一个更强大的金盒子系列游戏编辑器。从此，那些想要创造自己的 RPG 的玩家无论如何也不会去用《冰城传奇：建筑模组》了。从那少得可怜的饭制模组就能看得出来。
在网上，仅存的几个编辑器制作的游戏就剩下 90 年代末由 John.H.Wigforss 制作的《冰城传奇》（The Bard's Lore）1 代和 2 代，以及 1994 年由视软（Visionsoft）制作的《冰城传奇：未知的迷宫（The Bard's Quest: Dungeons of the Unknown）》。前者都是充满玩笑和流行文化的小游戏，后者也只是《星光节（Star Light Festival）》单改了个名字的换皮游戏——拿出来单独售卖未免有点厚颜无耻了。
既然现在也有了像是《无限冒险（Unlimited Adventures）》这类的玩家社区，在之前的游戏像是《埃蒙（Eamon）》也有这类功能，而《冰城传奇：建筑模组》也并不出类拔萃，所以现在也只能沉眠在遗忘的长河中了。
Unfortunately, it's a rather sad return. The goal was to allow players to make their own RPGs – they can even export them as stand-alone games – but the editor suffers from severe limitations. Races, classes and stats can't be changed at all – you're stuck with the Bard's Tale rules. And while you can create custom items, spells and monsters, the variables are so limited that even recreating the original Bard's Tale I would be impossible. The graphics, while good-looking, lack variety, allowing for few interesting encounters. Overall, there just isn't enough flexibility to create anything other than a lesser Bard's Tale clone.
In fact, the Construction Set came with its own sample scenario, Star Light Festival, which was just that – an inferior Bard's Tale game. Slow, grinding and with none of the series' original creators or charm, it felt out of place next to the great RPGs of the era.
The killing blow came with the arrival of SSI's Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures (1993), a much more powerful editor for the popular Gold Box series. From that point on, anyone still interested in creating their own RPG had no reason whatsoever to choose The Bard's Tale Construction Set. This is particularly noticeable in how rare fan-made modules are.
Searching online, the only surviving modules are The Bard's Lore 1 and 2, created by John H. Wigforss in the late 90s, and The Bard's Quest: Dungeons of the Unknown (1994), by Visionsoft. The former are simple games full of jokes and pop culture references, while the latter is nothing more than Interplay's Star Light Festival module repacked with a new name – possibly to be shamelessly resold as a stand-alone game.
As such, while there are still communities for Unlimited Adventures and even for older games like Eamon, the Bard's Tale Construction Set never took off, and now lies completely forgotten.
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1 译者注：2018 年，《冰城传奇 4：深度挖掘（The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep）》于 PC/PS4/XBOX 上推出，并且 inxile 把前三部《冰城传奇》进行了重制。
2 《龙之战》一直被认为是《冰城传奇》的精神续作。
3 译者注：其作用是使得玩家可以执行并构建《冰城传奇》三部曲，包括一些额外拓展，例如《龙之战（Dragon Wars）》和《废土（Wasteland）》
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