Novus Opiate
At night a lone adventurer crouches beside a glowing blue lifestone as hooded hunters with drawn weapons close in from the pine forest.

Chapter I · The rules of the red world

How Darktide worked

Permanent PK, real losses, and ground worth bleeding for.

World
One of six
PK status
Permanent
Golden era
1999 – 2004

Every character on Darktide was a player killer, and stayed one. Nothing protected you but your wits, your allies and your deals.

Red, forever

Original-era evidence

Elsewhere PK was a choice. On Darktide every character was PK from creation, for good. Character guidance warned it was hard, and lightly policed.

Sources · ReferencePlayer Versus Player; Player KillerCharacter CreationAsheron’s Call

What a death cost

Original-era evidence

Half your pyreals and a level-scaled share of your items, wielded gear included, for the killer to loot. Then vitae, a temporary penalty.

So players carried death items: valuable junk to drop in place of real gear. Blood’s own history says its war chest was death items and cash.

Sources · Blood-side, Outsider, ReferenceDeath PenaltyCommon Derethian AbbreviationsPlay 2 Crush: History of PvP in MMO PC, Part 5: Asheron’s CallHistory

The allegiance tree

Original-era evidence

A vassal’s experience fed the patrons above, so long chains, often left running unattended, made monarchs strong. There was no formal war system: the developers said in November 2000 they could not track membership live.

Sources · Official, Outsider, ReferenceTurbine Games Q&A: AllegiancesAllegiance Experience; The Madness of Men; Mirror, Mirror; Apology TokenAsheron’s Call: PVP SRS BSNS – Part 1Asheron’s Call Part 2: Carebears

Ground that paid

Original-era evidence

Towns paid differently, and Kara paid well. Lifestones decided where the dead came back, so they were camped. Dens, nests and island golems were prizes.

Sources · Official, Blood-side, Black Rose-sideHistoryDeveloper Chat, 16 August 2000Darktide’s Past

Mules, ties and roads

Original-era evidence

No banks: storage characters sold at town vendors, and got caught there. Portal and recall ties decided who could reach a place at all.

Sources · Blood-side, OutsiderAsheron’s Call: PVP SRS BSNS – Part 1HistoryPlay 2 Crush: History of PvP in MMO PC, Part 5: Asheron’s Call

Skill on the field

Original-era evidence

Spells and arrows were objects in flight. You could dodge them. Slide-casting was argued over for years; in 2000 the developers kept it. By 2004 they listed movement tricks and inconsistent rulings among Darktide’s problems.

Sources · Official, OutsiderDeveloper Chat, 16 August 2000Turbine Games Q&A: BalanceThe Future of PvPAsheron’s Call Darktide: Amazing

The buff window

Player recollection

Buffs took around ten minutes and lasted about half an hour, so fights came in windows.

Sources · Official, OutsiderAsheron’s Call Part 2: CarebearsThe Future of PvP

Law without lawmen

Player recollection

Towns not held by PKs kept their own codes. Break one and a crowd came for you. An official handbook tells it small: run at an armed group, get killed, then get an apology and a gift.

Sources · Official, OutsiderCommunity Driven “laws”Asheron’s Call Handbook: Trying Out the Player-Killer Lifestyle