Ragnarok is a freeware Roguelike video game for MS-DOS, developed by Norsehelm Productions (Thomas F. Boyd and Rob Vawter) from 1992 to 1995, and released in Europe as Valhalla. Ragnarok has multiple features uncommon amongst rogue-likes, such as a graphical interface, and a historical or mythological setting. set quests, the ability to change classes, and the ability to permanently change one's race by polymorphing.

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Ragnarok
Developer(s)	Thomas Boyd and Rob Vawter (Norsehelm Productions)
Platform(s)	MS-DOS
Release	1992
Genre(s)	Roguelike

Plot

Ragnarok is based on Norse mythology, with many of the gods, realms, items, and quests drawing directly from it, such as:

• Thor, god of thunder
• Jormundgand, god, the world serpent
• Loki, god, mischievous troublemaker
• Balder, fair god murdered by Loki
• Hela, god, queen of Niflheim
• Mjolnir, Thor's hammer
• Gungnir, Odin's spear
• Mimming, Freyr's sword
• Gall, Heimdall's Horn
• Skidbladnir, a boat belonging to the gods
• Ravens, benevolent monsters, messengers of Odin
• Nidhogg, monster, a dragon-like being who chews on the roots of Yggdrasil
• Dwarves, monsters, mythological smiths
• Giants, monsters, Ymir's kin
• Midgard, location, realm of men
• Niflheim, location, realm of the dead

Gameplay

Character development

Character development is one of the main focuses of Ragnarok. Throughout the game, the player may change forms, to obtain the powers and abilities of almost any monster in the game, with the exception of god and demigod-level creatures. The player can also modify their own body, changing the number of fingers and eyes, and the gender of the character. The player also has the option of changing their class every ten levels, which allows you to gain power, skills, abilities, and permanent status effects.

Forms of character development in-game include:

• Scroll of Knowledge – grants the player one active ability.
• Eating a dead body – there are many different creatures in the game that when killed and eaten give you a variety of different passive abilities, and in a few rare cases cause transformation.
• Wand of Polymorph – casts a random transformation, meaning the player can become any creature in the game, including weak monsters such as rats, who cannot carry a proper inventory or wield weaponry.
• Potion of Transformation – similar to the Wand of Polymorph, but made with the use of the Alchemy skill.
• Lycanthropy, passed on by werewolf attacks

Class system

At the beginning of the game, the player must choose from one of six character classes, all of which have varying intrinsic statistics. At level ten, the player "masters" a class, and gains all the skills that the class can use. The player can then choose a new class, or continue as the old class for another ten levels. Classes include:

• Viking - a physically strong character who gains the weapon master ability. Weapon mastery allows the player to do maximum damage with all weapons, and gives the player a free second turn from time to time.
• Blacksmith - a physically powerful character who gains the ability to work metals into weapons and armor. The blacksmith is able to forge The Runesword, a powerful, one-of-a-kind weapon.
• Woodsman - a moderately powerful character, who learns to make arrows from trees, tame lesser (beast) monsters, to swim, and to terraform the terrain.
• Conjurer - a physically weak character who learns to cast spells. In addition to using spells like the touch of death, the conjurer is able to teleport, and funnel charges from one wand to another.
• Alchemist - a physically weak character who learns to mix potions. A master alchemist is able to make the Potion of Second Life, which as the name suggests, brings the player back to life as soon as he is killed.
• Sage - a physically weak character who learns to write scrolls. A master sage can write a powerful, one-of-a-kind Switch Bodies scroll.

After the player has mastered every class, their class matters much less.

Ghosts

One element of Ragnarok gameplay is that slain player characters leave behind 'ghost data' for the next adventurer to encounter. This data includes the slain adventurer's inventory (minus a few rare items) and the map state as it was at the time of death, including all opponents. From time to time such ghosts present a play challenge, such as might be the case in 'choke point' maps where a player cannot advance due to the large number of ghosts in the area.

Quests

The game consists of six quests based on Norse mythology. They are:

1. Free Balder's soul.
2. Locate and return Mjolnir to Thor.
3. Locate and return Gjallarhorn to Heimdall.
4. Locate and return Mimming to Freyr.
5. Locate and return Gungnir to Odin.
6. Find a manner for Tyr to fight with one hand.

External links

• Ragnarok (Valhalla) article by Theodor Lauppert