The game is divided into ten chapters. The early chapters all take place in the city of Krondor, later chapters in areas around the city. Annoyingly you don't control moving from chapter to chapter in most cases. This was especially annoying at once juncture when you are loaded down with junk to pawn and all of a sudden one of your character is sent into the wilderness where he will eventually lose everything he is carrying and never be able to sell it. Ahem, how annoying.
Characters gain experience by completing quests and defeating enemies.
Each chapter has a specific task to complete to advance the game to the next chapter, but in some cases there are also a few side quests you can perform. On the whole however the game is very linear in plot development. You have to talk to certain people or do certain things to trigger events that will allow the game to move along. This was a bit disappointing, especially since the game was very short. The control interface is also a bit of a pain.