Like most non-TSR D&D things, it depends on who gets interested. I'd wager around $40, to start. Maybe less, maybe more.

Oh Gods of the internet hear my call....

.. or from their web site www.darkusthel.com (which looks to be very recently inactive...)

There have been 3 editions of the book:  The 1st black covered bound edition, then the 2nd/3rd edition were published as 3-hole punched paper


Last post seems to be Oct 28, 2008 which also says that.."On the brighter side of the news, watch for a SUPPLEMENT of new ideas for Thel to appear in early 2009!"

or even...

Darkus Thel is a high adventure role playing game that has been enjoyed by gamers in and around Indiana for almost two decades.
The game requires only limited materials to play; a rule book, six-sided dice, a pencil, and paper. The basic rules are also surprisingly simple. On a deeper level, Darkus Thel invites the players to develop and enjoy teamwork, problem solving skills and to use their imaginations.

The original Chronicles of Darkus Thel (Book One) was published by the Sorcerer's Guild in 1986. That book was well received, but had only limited distribution. Book Two is the revised version of Darkus Thel, based on many years of play-testing and refinement. It includes corrections and changes in the original rules, as well as many new additions to the game. There are new professions, new creatures, new treasures and new weapons for the game. Players are urged to obtain a copy of the original Chronicles, as Book One contains numerous illustrations and figures that will help them come to envision the world of Darkus Thel. Included with Book Two is a list that identifies and explains all of the illustrations in Book One.

Darkus Thel is an "audience participation novel" that invites the players and the gamemaster to create stories of high adventure and heroics. It is a world of sword and sorcery, of romance and danger, and of trials and triumph. The game can be played on many levels, ranging from room-by-room challenges to complex story lines, from simple slash-and-hack, to complex questions of philosophy and morality.

Future supplements to the game of Darkus Thel will include an illustrated volume on the denizens, and a volume detailing the world and its peoples.


Brette:)

mbassoc2003 wrote:Anyone else know of this? Have any of the three editions?
The copy I have has a plain black cober with white writing. Black back cover with no writing.

That sounds vaguely familiar.  I think that I have seen it in the past year at one of the DFW Half-Price Books, but maybe Aneoth, King, or BadMike can confirm my delusion.

Darkus Thel is really more of a Tunnels & Trolls clone, rather than D&D. The system is very similar. Imagine Talislanta as a T&T-clone setting, rather than a D&D-clone setting.

I played it a couple of times while I lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is a popular local game at Pentacon, the (now second-biggest) game convention in Indiana.

I've only ever found it for sale at conventions, usually where the author is in attendance, though sometimes it can be found in boxes of retailers from the Midwest who sell at shows. I picked up an early copy of the Third Edition set (not a booklet, nor even drilled) at Pentacon some years back.

I should also note that James Mohow and the Sorcerer's Guild have a Judges Guild connection... Mohow and crew did some art for Judges Guild back in the day, including the cover of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy 1st book and the later colorized version. I'm sure they did other work, but I can't recall it off the top of my head.

beasterbrook wrote:and look who posted the question;).. LOL...

Yep, go figure.  I got a more detailed response back but will have to do a bit more digging to find it.

I have a copy of the black edition and remember you outbid me on the signed one a while back.  Titan Games also had one up on Ebay around the time I posted to the Darkus Thel forum but I didn't buy it because of the high shipping (and I'm done with buying from them).

I seem to recall that it is basically a system that the authors have been running since the early 1980s at their local con (and I think they still run it).  Most copies were sold through that venue and I think they print up more copies every so often.  I emailed them last summer and they said to get back to them in the fall (closer to the con) when they print them up - but I'm not sure if I got back to them or if they didn't get back to me.

But, yes, it is definitely small press and the black covered version is out of print but obtaining the more recent version seems possible.

Darkus Thel is actually NOT a D&D or Tunnels &Trolls knock-off. Darkus Thel was developed between 1979 and 1986 by Donald C. Moehlenkamp, Kurt Moehlenkamp and James August Mohow, along with their coauthors, Robert Bausser, and Brian Coyle. I was actually a play tester back in the early 1980s, and am friends with Don Moehlenkamp.

The world setting is self contained and original, as are the many species (except Humans, of course), although there are some resemblances between the Kumesh and Dwarves, and, to a lesser extent, between the Yidda'ihn and Elves. Also, the Notoc are basically giants of a sort.

The game had a very limited run, and some marginal regional success, but that may change, with the announcement in December 2009 that Bluewater Miniatures will become the distributors of the Third Edition.

http://www.bluewaterminiatures.com/

I am wondering if the second edition exists or not.
I would be very interested to see a pics as you.

Brette or Mars? Strato?

That's the first time I've seen the third edition too.