Majesty: Heroes of Ardania

***Majesty: Heroes of Ardania***, also known simply as ***Heroes of Ardania*** (***HoA***), is a fan-made browser-based role-playing game located at www.heroesofardania.net. *Heroes of Ardania* is an entirely-free online service, with no paid subscriptions or monetary transactions. The game is based on the universe depicted in the award-winning game *Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim* and its expansion pack, *Majesty: The Northern Expansion*. Unlike the gameplay of *Majesty*, which places the player in the role of a sovereign managing a kingdom, in *Heroes of Ardania*, the player takes on the role of individual heroes as they visit and explore a variety of different locations in the *Majesty* world.

## Setting

*Main article: Ardania*
*Heroes of Ardania* is set in Ardania, a medieval-fantasy-style continent first introduced in *Majesty*. Chronologically, *Heroes of Ardania* is set sometime after the events of *Majesty* and *The Northern Expansion.* Many characters and story elements that occurred in *Majesty* and its expansion are referenced in *Heroes of Ardania.*

## Gameplay

*Heroes of Ardania* is a text-based role-playing game. Players may choose from 16 hero classes, based on the hero classes in *Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim.* The player then takes the role of the hero as the hero explores various game environments. The general goal is to build up the hero by defeating monsters and obtaining items. Combat is implemented in the form of a round-by-round simulation based on the hero's attributes, abilities, spells, and items, as well as the stats of the hero's foes.

## Development history

*Heroes of Ardania* originated in the early 2000s as a fan-based spin-off from the award-winning computer game *Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim*. TaleSpinner, creator of *Heroes of Ardania*, obtained permission from Cyberlore, *Majesty*'s original publisher, to use the series' logos, images, and other media. TaleSpinner began creating the game as an informal hobby. On June 1, 2002,Talespinner first posted a link to *Heroes of Ardania* in Cyberlore's forums. Over time, *Heroes of Ardania* gained popularity with *Majesty* fans and others players. The in-game forums grew to be very active, and TaleSpinner delegated most forum mod duties to some of the frequent forum-users.

When TaleSpinner no longer had time to add new content, and his server was not able to handle the game's load, he stepped back and turned the game over to the players and forum mods who had demonstrated interest and devotion to the game. At this point, in-game locations consisted of only Valmorgen, its sewers (including the Lower Sewers and Ratman Kingdom), the Central Plains, the Graveyard, the Catacombs, and the Buried Cathedral. There were no quests other than the basic royal Ratcatcher quests.

### 2005-2010

In January, 2005, TaleSpinner's ceased hosting *Heroes of Ardania*. On August 1, 2005, he released the game's source code to the game's devotees, who then created a separate developer forum on August 3, 2005. TaleSpinner's first successor was Oni, who then passed it on to Karmic after a couple of years. Karmic also took over the hosting burden starting on November 6, 2005, when the game was reset with a blank slate (i.e., previous heroes were not carried over when the game was reset). The reset implemented a new XP system.

On November 12, 2005, the new incarnation of *Heroes of Ardania* reached its first 100 registered heroes, many of which belonged to the developers themselves. By July 26, 2017, the game reached more than 36,000 registered heroes, from more than 6,600 distinct user accounts.

TaleSpinner's original design closely followed the hero stats and combat system of the original *Majesty* game. However, as more content was added by the new development team, including many new areas, new foes, new items, and new quests, some of TaleSpinner's original design decisions no longer functioned well from the standpoint of gameplay. For example, heroes leveled up too quickly and could raise their stats too high. Other issues included the lack of enough gold-sinks and any weight limits. Thus, characters would carry everything they owned, including immense amounts of gold. This meant the players needed to do little planning or preparation for new areas with new foes. Thus, the game was reset once again.

### 2010 to present

In the 2010 reset, the development team reset the entire game with new criteria for leveling up, along with weight restrictions and other changes to enhance gameplay. The existing heroes were reset, but their character names were kept. Following the 2010 reset, the game received many small additions over time.

When Paradox Interactive bought Cyberlore's rights to the *Majesty* franchise, Frederik Brown at Paradox agreed that the *Heroes of Ardania* development team could continue using the *Majesty* logos, images, and other intellectual property. The development team obtained an email from Brown to that effect, which functions as a license.

## Gallery

*Heroes of Ardania* front pageA new hero begins her adventureA high-level hero successfully raids a lair
## External links

* Heroes of Ardania (www.heroesofardania.net)
* Heroes of Ardania developer forums