From 1999 until March 2000, this address hosted The Hall of Adventurers, a fan site with guides to Arena, Daggerfall, Battlespire and Redguard. It closed when its teenage webmaster left to work on TESGurus. That project is gone, but the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages it recommended are still online at uesp.net.
Most of the old guides covered The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall: summoning dates, vampirism, lycanthropy, covens, the Spellmaker and the Item Maker. This page covers the same ground for today. It explains where to get the four pre-Morrowind games legally, which engine to run them on, the Daggerfall data people still look for, and the mods worth installing.
Key takeaways
- Arena and Daggerfall are free on Steam. Battlespire and Redguard cost $5.99 each when they came to Steam in April 2022.
- For Daggerfall, Daggerfall Unity is the best way to play. It runs on the original game files and fixes years of bugs.
- Each of the 16 Daedra in Daggerfall can only be summoned on one fixed day of the year. A temple or the Mages Guild does the summoning.
- Daggerfall has nine vampire bloodlines and two kinds of lycanthropy. Both curses can be cured through quests.
- OpenTESArena is a fan-made engine for Arena that is still being built. Version 0.18.0 added combat AI, thieving and levelling.
What The Hall of Adventurers covered, and where that material lives now
The old site was a guide hub for every Elder Scrolls game Bethesda had released by 1999. The UESP wiki now covers all of the same topics in more detail. The site’s menu had a section for each game: extra quests, an artifact list, good stores and riddles for Arena; a long strategy and data section for Daggerfall; character creation and a creature guide for Battlespire; and riddles for Redguard. A “Coming TES” section followed Morrowind and later Oblivion while they were still in development.
The site posted its last update on 18 March 2000. The webmaster said he had moved on to run TESGurus, a new Elder Scrolls site. Morrowind came out in 2002. The fan sites from that period mostly disappeared, but UESP has been running since 1995 and its wiki has a page for almost every topic on the old menu.
| Old Hall of Adventurers section | Where to find it today | Notes for modern play |
|---|---|---|
| Arena: artifacts, stores, riddles | UESP Arena namespace | Use with OpenTESArena or DOSBox |
| Daggerfall: summoning dates | UESP “Daggerfall:Daedra Summoning” | Table below |
| Daggerfall: vampirism, lycanthropy | UESP Vampirism, Vampire Clans, Lycanthropy | Summary below |
| Daggerfall: coven locations | UESP “Daggerfall:Witch Covens” | Covens summon a random Daedra |
| Daggerfall: calendar, holidays | UESP “Daggerfall:Calendar”, “Daggerfall:Holidays” | The holidays page is partly outdated |
| Battlespire: character generation, creatures | UESP Battlespire namespace | The Steam version has no multiplayer |
| Redguard: riddles | UESP Redguard namespace | The Steam version has no Glide renderer |
How to get Arena, Daggerfall, Battlespire and Redguard legally today
All four games are sold or given away on official storefronts. You never need an abandonware download.
Arena and Daggerfall are free on Steam. Bethesda added all four games to Steam in April 2022, ahead of shutting down its own launcher in May 2022. At launch, Battlespire and Redguard cost $5.99 each. On GOG, the games arrived in August 2015. Redguard and Battlespire were first-time digital releases there, and GOG gave out Arena and Daggerfall with the purchase of another Bethesda game. They have never been standalone free downloads on GOG.
| Game | Original release | Steam | GOG | Best way to play now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Elder Scrolls: Arena | 1994 | Free, CD version | Bundled with Bethesda purchases | DOSBox build, or OpenTESArena for testing |
| The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall | 1996 | Free, final patch | Bundled with Bethesda purchases | Daggerfall Unity |
| An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire | 1997 | Paid ($5.99 at 2022 launch) | Paid | Bundled DOSBox build |
| The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard | 1998 | Paid ($5.99 at 2022 launch) | Paid | Bundled DOSBox build |
The Steam versions have a few known limits, and UESP lists them. Battlespire has no multiplayer mode. Redguard has no HD Glide rendering. Arena was later switched to the CD version. Daggerfall runs on the last official patch but leaves out the CompUSA Special Edition patch.
Did you know?
According to UESP’s news archive, GOG’s August 2015 launch of Redguard and Battlespire was the first time either game had been sold digitally anywhere.
Daggerfall Unity: the way to play Daggerfall now
Daggerfall Unity (DFU) is a free, open-source rebuild of the Daggerfall engine. It was started by Gavin Clayton, known in the community as Interkarma. It reads your original Daggerfall game files and plays the same game with modern controls, higher resolutions, a long list of bug fixes and support for mods. It reached version 1.0 in 2023. The current stable release is 1.1.1, which was reissued in 2025 as a security update with no gameplay changes.
DFU matters because the 1996 release was known for bugs, and much of the content the old fan guides described could fail in the original executable. Under DFU, the summoning quests, covens, bloodlines and guild systems work the way the documentation says they should.
Install steps
- Install The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall from Steam or GOG.
- Download Daggerfall Unity from its official releases page on GitHub or from dfworkshop.net.
- Extract DFU to its own folder, not inside the original game folder.
- Start DFU and point the setup screen to the folder that contains the game’s “arena2” data.
- Choose your resolution and settings, then start a new game.
An unofficial Android port of DFU also exists, with its own version numbers (1.1.1.9 at the latest check). It is a separate project from Interkarma’s main release.
Before you install
Saves from the original DOS game do not carry over to Daggerfall Unity, so start a new character. Back up your DFU save folder before you add or remove large gameplay mods.
Daedra summoning in Daggerfall: dates and rewards
In Daggerfall, each Daedra Prince can only be summoned on one day of the year. If the summoning works, the Prince gives you a quest, and finishing it earns you that Prince’s artifact. You need to be rank 6 or higher in the Mages Guild, or (for most temples) rank 7 in a temple. Temples refuse to summon Daedra who are enemies of their god. Witch covens will also summon for you, but they call up a random Daedra no matter what day it is.
The in-game book Invocation of Azura hints at the dates. The table follows the UESP summoning page. A few older fan guides disagree with it on single entries, mainly Nocturnal’s date, and UESP explains which one the game actually uses.
| Daedra | Summoning day | Artifact reward |
|---|---|---|
| Clavicus Vile | 1 Morning Star | Masque of Clavicus Vile |
| Meridia | 13 Morning Star | Ring of Khajiit |
| Sheogorath | 2 Sun’s Dawn | Wabbajack |
| Sanguine | 16 Sun’s Dawn | Sanguine Rose |
| Hermaeus Mora | 5 First Seed | Oghma Infinium |
| Azura | 21 First Seed | Azura’s Star |
| Peryite | 9 Rain’s Hand | Spell Breaker |
| Namira | 9 Second Seed | Ring of Namira |
| Hircine | 5 Mid Year | Hircine’s Ring |
| Vaernima | 10 Sun’s Height | Skull of Corruption |
| Nocturnal | 3 Hearthfire | Skeleton Key |
| Malacath | 8 Frostfall | Volendrung |
| Mephala | 13 Frostfall | Ebony Blade |
| Boethiah | 2 Sun’s Dusk | Ebony Mail |
| Mehrunes Dagon | 20 Sun’s Dusk | Mehrunes Razor |
| Molag Bal | 20 Evening Star | Mace of Molag Bal |
How a summoning plays out
Here is an example. Mehrunes Dagon is summoned on 20 Sun’s Dusk, the Warriors Festival. His quest, “Slaughterer of Frostflesh”, sends you to kill a Frost Daedra. You then meet his worshipper in a tavern in the region before the time limit runs out and receive Mehrunes Razor. When the Razor hits, the target must pass a magic save or die instantly.
Plan around three rules:
- One quest per Prince. Each Daedra gives you a quest only once. If you summon the same Prince again, a monster is sent to punish you.
- The day is fixed. If you miss the date, you wait a full in-game year, or you use a coven and hope for the right random result.
- The artifact decides the order. Players who want Azura’s Star for soul trapping, or Spell Breaker for defence, usually plan their guild ranks so they qualify before First Seed or Rain’s Hand comes around.
Modder's note
In Daggerfall Unity, waiting at an inn or resting in the wilderness moves the calendar forward quickly. You can reach a summoning day without travelling across the map, but your guild rank still has to qualify on that day.
Vampirism and lycanthropy in Daggerfall
Daggerfall has two curses you can catch. Vampirism comes in nine bloodlines. Lycanthropy comes in two forms, werewolf and wereboar. Both curses give strong bonuses with real drawbacks, and both can be cured through quests. These two topics took up two full pages of the old site.
The nine vampire bloodlines
Every bloodline has its own territory around the Iliac Bay and its own bonus, but all nine share the same quest line. The bonuses last only as long as you stay a vampire. Curing the condition removes them.
| Bloodline | Notes |
|---|---|
| Anthotis | One of the nine Iliac Bay clans |
| Garlythi | Shares the common vampire quest line |
| Haarvenu | Clan-specific benefits |
| Khulari | Clan-specific benefits |
| Lyrezi | Clan-specific benefits |
| Montalion | Clan-specific benefits |
| Selenu | Clan-specific benefits |
| Thrafey | Clan-specific benefits |
| Vraseth | Clan-specific benefits |
The UESP Vampire Clans page lists the exact bonus and region for each clan. Your clan is set by the territory where you contract the disease, so where you get bitten matters if you are hoping for a particular clan.
Curing the curses
There are two quest routes out of vampirism. One is “Cure for Vampirism”, which starts when a vampire hunter sends you a random letter. The other is “A Special Mixture”, a random quest from witch covens. Temple healers can treat both vampirism and lycanthropy if you catch them early, before the disease takes hold.
For lycanthropy, the cure involves the Glenmoril Coven’s witches. Once cured, you can be infected again. You also lose the immunity to vampirism that lycanthropy gave you, so a cured werewolf can catch vampirism.
Modder's note
If you want the curse only for its bonuses, keep a save from before the infection. The cure quests start from random events, and you cannot choose when they arrive.
Spellmaker, Item Maker and soul trapping
These three systems are why fan guides gave Daggerfall’s magic so much space. The Mages Guild’s Spellmaker lets you build your own spells from effect components. The Item Maker turns soul-filled gems into enchantments. Soul trapping is how you fill the gems.
The Item Maker is the strongest system in the game and the easiest to abuse. That is why many players set their own limits on it. The order goes like this: join the Mages Guild, buy or make a Soul Trap spell, trap a strong creature in an empty soul gem, then enchant gear at the Item Maker. Azura’s Star from the summoning table works as a reusable soul gem, which is why so many players go after it first.
Daggerfall Unity keeps all three systems. Some balance mods change enchantment costs, so check a mod’s description if crafting suddenly feels cheaper or more expensive than the guides say.
Mods that help with these topics
Daggerfall Unity has a large mod scene on Nexus Mods. DFU mods are “.dfmod” files. You put them in the “StreamingAssets/Mods” folder inside the DFU install and turn them on and set their load order in the launcher’s mod list. Vortex and Mod Organizer 2 are not used.
| Mod | What it does | Requires | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roleplay & Realism | Adds many small gameplay changes that make the game harder | Daggerfall Unity | Hazelnut |
| Roleplay & Realism: Items | Adds new clothing, armour and item handling as a separate pack | Daggerfall Unity | Hazelnut |
| Travel Options | Lets you choose between fast travel and sped-up real travel | Daggerfall Unity | Hazelnut |
| Distant Terrain | Extends view distance with low-detail far terrain | Daggerfall Unity | Nystul |
Roleplay & Realism
This is the most common “first mod” for DFU. It makes many systems a little harder without rewriting the game. Reviewers often suggest turning off its horse-riding changes in the settings if they feel awkward. Some players install only the Items companion and skip the main mod.
Travel Options
Travel Options matters for the summoning calendar. Real-time travel uses up in-game days, so a long trip can take you past a Daedra’s date. The mod lets you speed up real travel or keep fast travel. Tedious Travel is an alternative that handles ship travel and costs differently. Use one or the other, not both.
Distant Terrain
Distant Terrain changes the open world the most. It conflicts with some terrain mods. Its own settings tell you to turn off its Improved Terrain option when it runs next to other terrain mods, and some large terrain overhauls on Nexus are fully incompatible with it.
Arena, Battlespire and Redguard today
The other three games get less community work than Daggerfall, but you can still play all of them.
Arena. Arena’s main quest sends you after the eight pieces of the Staff of Chaos, and the old site’s riddle and store lists are still useful for it. The Steam and GOG copies run in DOSBox. OpenTESArena, an open-source engine by Aaron Fritz, uses your own Arena files (floppy or CD version) and reached version 0.18.0 in 2026. That release added combat AI, thieving and levelling. It is getting close to the original game but is still unfinished. Use it to try things out, and keep the DOSBox version for a full playthrough.
Battlespire. Battlespire is a dungeon crawl with a fixed story, set in the Imperial training grounds after a Daedric invasion. The Steam version has no multiplayer. The old site’s character-creation notes still apply, because its attributes and skills follow the same system Daggerfall uses.
Redguard. Redguard is an action-adventure game set on Stros M’Kai, starring Cyrus. The Steam version uses software rendering, not the original Glide mode, so it looks rougher than the 3dfx version that players in 1998 remember.
What came next: Morrowind and beyond
The old site’s “Coming TES” pages followed Morrowind long before its 2002 release. Players who move on from the classic games today usually run Morrowind through OpenMW, the open-source engine rebuild, or use the original engine with the Morrowind Code Patch. Tamriel Rebuilt is the long-running project that adds the Morrowind mainland, and it is the usual next step after the base game.
Common problems and fixes
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Daggerfall Unity cannot find the game | Setup is pointed at the wrong folder | Pick the folder that contains “arena2” |
| A Daedra won’t appear | Wrong day, or your guild rank is too low | Check the summoning table and your rank |
| The same Daedra attacks you | You already did that Prince’s quest | Each Prince gives only one quest |
| Terrain glitches after adding mods | Distant Terrain conflicting with another terrain mod | Turn off Improved Terrain or remove the conflicting mod |
| Battlespire has no online play | Steam version limit | No official fix |
| Redguard looks blocky | No Glide rendering in the Steam version | No official fix |
Where to start if you came from an old link
Start with Daggerfall. Get it free on Steam, play it through Daggerfall Unity, and keep the UESP summoning and vampirism pages open alongside it. Add Roleplay & Realism and Travel Options once you know the basics. Then plan a character who reaches Mages Guild rank 6 in time for Azura on 21 First Seed. That one goal teaches you the guild system, the calendar and soul trapping, which were the systems the old site’s guides were written for.
FAQ
Is The Hall of Adventurers still online anywhere?
No. The site closed in March 2000, and its webmaster’s next project, TESGurus, is no longer running either. The UESP wiki at uesp.net covers everything the old site did, in more detail.
Are Arena and Daggerfall really free?
Yes, on Steam. Both are permanently free there. On GOG, they have been bundled with other Bethesda purchases since 2015 and are not free on their own.
Do I need the original Daggerfall to use Daggerfall Unity?
Yes. DFU is an engine only, with no game content. It reads the data from your free Steam or GOG copy of Daggerfall.
Which Daedra should I summon first?
Many players choose Azura on 21 First Seed. Azura’s Star is a reusable soul gem, so it makes the Item Maker much cheaper to use for the rest of the game.
Can I summon Daedra on any day through a witch coven?
Yes, but you cannot choose which one. A coven summons a random Daedra regardless of the date.
Can I be a vampire and a werewolf at the same time?
Not normally. Lycanthropy protects you from vampirism. Curing lycanthropy removes that protection, so you can catch vampirism afterwards.
Does OpenTESArena replace DOSBox for Arena?
Not yet. Version 0.18.0 added combat AI, thieving and levelling, but the project is still in development. The DOSBox version is the safer choice for a full playthrough.
Are there mods for Battlespire or Redguard?
There are very few compared with Daggerfall. Most community work on the pre-Morrowind games goes into Daggerfall Unity and OpenTESArena.
What changed
- Nov 13, 2026 First published.
About the article
- Fact-checked by Hollis Tremaine before publication.
- Published
