ScenarioReview

JEWELS I remember it was short and cute and I had fun with it. Average

ALEC KYRAS Good

ORGGG Average

ROSYCAT What he said. ^ Average

DRIZZT Short, but has an interesting style and a decent story. I liked it. Average

ALCRITAS “Back when I was a uniform cop, in the sixties, the city was being torn apart, you had to choose what side you were on. Two cops had been killed, and we had brought in a suspect. I was in the squad room, and I could hear his screams, everyone could. I remember him yelling out, ‘Where’s the justice? Where’s the justice?’ My Sergeant just laughed and said, ‘Justice? Boy, there’s no justice. There’s just us.’” — Lieutenant Giardello (From the T.V. Show “Homicide”) I have to say, this scenario didn’t go over well with me. Now, up front, I will concede one factor which made my experience less pleasant than for the typical player. I played the scenario in it’s first post-beta release. On two occasions, bugs within the scenario required me to restart entirely. Obviously, these bugs significantly diminished my playing experience, and, if as reported they have been fixed, would not effect subsequent players. To the scenario proper — I believe Andrew Barton coined the term “Plot Coupons”, and the expression never fits better than for Justice. I believe that either plot or free will should dictate where the party goes. Put more simply, the various dungeons and hurdles the party must overcome should be the outgrowth of the plot — hurdles and challenges should serve the plot, not the other way around. No more egregious violation of this principal can be found than in Justice. The premise of Justice is fine — you are part of an Empire expedition sent to exterminate a local Slith tribe. It’s very heavy handed, but all fault for that falls not on the scenario designer, but rather on Jeff Vogel. Taking place within the established Exile world, even when the established part is poorly written, is no fault of the scenario designer. After this premise, however, things go swiftly downhill. Follow, if you will: 1. The main Slith settlement is in the middle of a lake — No problem. 2. You need a boat (a skiff, I hasten to add) to get to the settlement — Makes sense. 3. The Sliths have no boats, they swim instead — Alright. 4. The Empire division you are attached to has no boats. — Okay. 5. The Empire division can’t get any either. — Hmmm.... 6. There’s lots of wood around, unfortunately all of it is Special Plot Device Wood™, that can’t be used to make boats. 7. The resident Empire archmage of course can’t do anything about this either. 8. In fact, the Empire Division does not have and cannot get sufficient wood to make a skiff. 9. What’s worse, the Empire Division couldn’t even make a skiff, EVEN IF they had the wood. 10. So you’re going to have to trick the Sliths into making boats for you. 11. But first, there’s the problem of getting some wood. Luckily for you, there’s a Faerie Grove where regular wood grows. 12. Unfortunately, the Faeries won’t talk to you unless you first have the Faerie Horn. 13. The Faerie Horn is hidden in an ancient, and haunted, grave. 14. But the long dead Slith who holds it won’t give you the Faerie Horn unless you get the Serpent Jewel first! 15. The Serpent Jewel can only be found by traversing the local Hyrda’s lair, and killing the beast. (The Jewel’s inside!) 16. Once you’ve got the Horn, the Faeries are still reluctant to chop up their forest for you. 17. Luckily, they’ll comply once you figure out a riddle. All of that is the first leg of the scenario, and it’s all mandatory. And it’s ALL TO GET A BOAT! My gosh, now we know the true reason the Empire lost the Exile War — they’re totally and completely incompetent! This is a trend that doesn’t evaporate as the scenario progresses. Way too many portions simply make no sense. When I reviewed Destiny of the Spheres, I commented that one of my problems was that way too many of the mandatory legs of the scenario felt a little too convenient. It’s the exact same problem here, except that wherein Destiny the convinces were all borderline — Yellow Flags — in Justice, they’re WAY over the border. To call them Red Flags would still be too kind. Beyond this Overwhelming problem, however, the scenario is fair enough. Gameplay is never above par, but the scenario is short enough so the player doesn’t become tired by the repetitiveness. The plot is.... Heavy-Handed. Justice could sorely benefit from a more subtle approach to its topic. This approach really isn’t the author’s fault, as it takes place within the established Exile context, but the author doesn’t do a whole lot to improve it either. (To say the author does nothing would be inaccurate, but what little is done isn’t particularly effective.) Starting from the premise that the party is made up of Empire soldiers, the Slith’s appeal makes no sense. Starting from the premise that the typical player is a product of modern liberal democracy, the Empire’s appeal makes no sense. Tension over what to do within a scenario is great when accomplished (see A Small Rebellion), but here the tension is entirely artificial — it only results because the typical player is forced to assume an ideology he or she will most likely categorically reject. Someone who completely accepted the premises of the scenario would have no conflict, and the same would be true of someone who completely ignored the premise. The only conflict occurs when a player half-heatedly assumes the premises, and frankly this mechanism doesn’t particularly impress me. Perhaps it is the long layoff of reviewing that has made me sound more critical than usual. If so, such was not my intention. Justice was intended, if memory serves, as a warm up, or trial run, for the short scenario contest. Judged from that criteria, it’s very good, and perhaps served it’s purpose, and Akhronath’s next effort, Earthward Road, is quite solid. The scenario, as one would expect given its premise, is quite short, and is certainly not a waste of time to play. Within the criteria of a ‘short scenario’, one programmed over the period of but two weeks, this is quite a decent effort. Judged against an open field, however, this scenario is far from a standout. My score - Average

MAGOICOCHEA The boat quest was really stupid,but the sceario is nice in other areas, I give it Average

TERROR'S MARTYR Too heavy handed, too short, and not really all that great of a decision to make, either. I just couldn't attach myself with anything of everything that was going on. Still, it wasn't bad. Average

ALCRITAS It would be impossible to start a review of Prelude to an Island Song, Janet Cone’s second scenario, without referencing the first thing that jumps out at you — the complete graphical overhaul. Much like the scenario that is a rough preqeul to — The Gathering Storm — Janet has completely reworked the Blades graphics here, changing or creating what seems like roughly 50–55% of the entire selection. (The proportion of the more “important” graphics — e.g. monsters, is even higher.) To be blunt, it works. This, like The Gathering Storm, is a beautiful scenario. It would be impossible not to be impressed with it on an aesthetic level. The plot of the scenario works essentially as a partial snapshot of larger events. The party is largely ignorant of what’s occurring, and the player is only slightly better off, that is, if she or he has played The Gathering Storm previously. I see a lot of one of my own scenarios, Lamentations, here, which is perhaps a mixed blessing at best. Given that this is part of a larger series, it seems probable that Janet’s motivations in creating Prelude were similar to mine in creating Lamentations, namely that the scenario was created for the series first, and for itself second. Here, it doesn’t completely work, nor does it completely fail. The plot is abrupt — although that is to be expected given that this was both (A) a Short Contest Entry and ( a small piece of a much larger puzzle. Still, even given these qualifications, things come off as a bit too rushed. If these topics are revisited in a later scenario, these objections are likely to diminish, if not vanish altogether. Even without later treatment, Prelude is likely to age well. Still, the first playthrough can seem a bit abrupt, and the player can seem a bit cheated. Playability is not a significant problem. There were a couple of bugs — even in the updated version — that diminished the scenario a bit, but nothing overly serious. (The same can not be said, however, of the first version. Playing the most recently updated version is a necessity.) There are no illogical or frustrating puzzles, but there are no real extraordinary sequences either. There is one sequence a fair bit above par — the fight outside the avian tower — but it’s just frustrating enough to dampen the experience down from excellent. My score - Good

BRUCE MITCHELL Solid, simple, shortish adventure. Nice rock wall graphics. Little buggy, the worst I encountered being that Erika appears in the same town at the same time twice when what should happen is that one disappears for the other to appear - despite this both the finishing and winning paths can be completed. Average

DRAKEFYRE Average

TERROR'S MARTYR Average

ARACHNID "Cute" accurately describes this scenario. Not very big, nothing outstanding, but it has its own little charm. Average

JEWELS This is a fun little scenario with nice puzzles that are sometimes too hard. It has a few bugs that take away from it's charm but it's an overall nice break from the realworld. Unfortunatly it's a little bit forgettable though It hasn't been that long since I played. Of course, that may just be me. Average

KHOTH I enjoyed it. The puzzles were reasonably interesting, but not too frustrating. Average

JAYNE This was a cute little scenario with a few interesting plot twists. Good for a few hours fun. I give it Average

TERROR'S MARTYR I figured to myself, “Alright, now that I got through Creator’s scenario for 1/10, time to play Ryan’s.” I downloaded the thing in ten seconds flat (thank goodness for cable!). First impression is the graphics file. The graphics used here are mediocre, at best. There is what seems to be a torch (it’s flaming, but it’s supposed to be gold), and there was floor with some golden specks. Not that great. The other gold looked more like human excretion than anything else. The parrot also looked a bit awkward, but it was okay. I made the .meg file, and started playing. I was first treated to a sequence where the main character is in an emotional sequence with her dying father. That reminds me, there is a prefab party who is a girl named April. Like the rest of Ryan’s scenarios (saving Changing Faces), the party is totally bereft of weapons skills. Of course, there was no combat anyway (well, very little), so it didn’t matter. Ryan also included a few spots where April’s gender came into play, but I only noticed a few of these on the second time through. I’m not complaining because of this, but it could have really shined here. (I had much worse encounters with gender assumption in BoE, involving the terms “1PC” and “crossdresser” in A Gathering Storm :-P) The opening sequence, the farm, was done decently. Nothing was particularly spectacular, and the farm could have been enriched by being smaller. The premise is that Timril Plains are filled with gold, and everyone has taken all of the gold, and it’s rumored that the valley is cursed (of course it is, this is a BoE scenario!). Your first “mission” is that you’re supposed to take a letter to your brother, Marcus, in the newly-made town of Rush. Marcus says you’re full of bull, and says that your father is full of it. You yourself read the letter, and find out that the valley is indeed cursed. This is where the action — quite sadly — reached its peak. It left a good deal of mystery, and gave the scenario a sense of imminence. This went on a plateau for a while, as you meander into a secret cavern with a laboratory. This first dungeon is rather annoying, seeing as terrains that try to suck you under the mud are everywhere. You make your way to the south end, and find a good bit about the threat (well, just about all of it) in a book which slides away, revealing a secret passage. You then find a sword, which will pick up all the gold you encounter. At this point, I’d like you to place yourself in the shoes of Wile E. Coyote. You are chasing after a Road Runner, which for all intents and purposes, will taste like an extremely delicious scenario. You are chasing the Road Runner across the surprisingly perfectly paved roads of New Mexico, when you hit a sheer cliff. The Road Runner runs 10 feet off of the edge of the cliff, and hovers on a little cloud. You try to follow the Road Runner, and as you Looney Toons purists will know, the rest of the cartoon can be characterized by falling down a huge gorge the size of 2 Empire State Buildings stacked together vertically, hitting various pointy implements on the way down. This is, to a much lesser extent, how I felt while playing Dirty Gold. The scenario had a really promising beginning, and kept that for a while. It wasn’t looking that great, but it had a start. It then decided to promptly suck, which is a horrible shame. At this point, the party goes back into Rush, to absorb all of the “evil gold” into a sword that was found in the laboratory. The first few times, this is fairly easy. It basically involves walking into somebody’s home, and taking the stuff. Then, the town accuses you of witchcraft. I honestly thought that I would stop crashing into the large branches jutting out of the cliff at this point, but this could best be characterized as the point where Mr. Coyote suspends himself in air to put on his puppy face, and hold up a sign saying, “Ouch!”, “Goodbye!”, or something of the like. I will say that there was a fairly unique aspect, in that guards would kick you out of the city if you got too close. This was effectively thrashed, due to the fact that one could wander around in combat mode quite easily and receive no such reprimandment. Three of the “puzzles” could be characterized by buying a specific item at the local “buy every puzzle coupon” store, about 5 spaces outside of the city. There was a rather obnoxious puzzle about buried gold, which talked about the lake pointing to some rubble with made a click. I didn’t get this one for quite some time. When I did, I thought it was even a tad more silly. The scenario reaches its “climax” when the party collects all necessary gold, and is chased into a field. Then, the sword we filled with all of the evil gold decided to glow red, and summon up the final boss — a weakened Haakai. Mr. Coyote has now hit the bottom, and made the required 30-feet deep crater with his imprint. The fight could have been much more creative, or at least a bit more challenging with the party fighting it alone, but there are so many townspeople to take the hits for you that the fight is rather bland and pathetic, especially for what started out with so much promise. I guess that just about concludes it. My recommendation for you? If you’re bored, play this. It’s not that bad, but there are just so many better scenarios out there. Better yet, go play one of Ryan’s better scenarios, like Chains or Zankozzie. This one can be passed fairly well. It’s okay and all, but achieves that much good, and never reaches great. This scenario is for low-level parties, and is rated R. Substandard

You know, I couldn’t wait to sit down with this one. I was really angry that AOL was so messed up that I couldn’t download it, but in the end I got it. I sat down with a cup of coffee and a bagel and worked myself up for an Alcritas Experience. In situations like these, I love to say that by the time I was done, the coffee was stone cold and the half-eaten, stale bagel was left forgotten as I sat immersed in the scenario. However, as I finished the scenario in just under fifteen minutes, that was somewhat hard to accomplish. Don’t let it sound like I penalize the scenario for this — I don’t; I was just making an observation. As scenarios go I really can’t complain too much about this one. Alcritas delivers just about par for the course, but I can’t help thinking that maybe the workers changed the sign in front of the tee. A bad analogy, but you get the drift. This scenario delivers all that it was promised to be. It was not hyped or glorified. In fact, Alcritas himself expressed the opinion that it was not as good as his previous works, and it’s not. However, on a comparative scale, this scenario was relatively decent. I liked several of the elements in the scenario, one being the plot, which, although fair at best, does exactly what it promises to do: advance the storyline. The other thing that I liked were some of the concepts involved. The bridge, the murder of Renalda, the Shades of Anger, and especially the custom spell were all pretty good, but when an exceptional designer like Alcritas does a scenario, you expect more...fire, more fleshing out. In fact, once I finished this scenario, I was left with a big empty feeling, which I hope will be alleviated by the final scenario in the series. Many things could have been done to improve the quality of this scenario. Every time I walked across the bridge I expected some sort of attack. Every time I walked through the forest, I expected a fierce battle with Jayhawks. But there were none. Normally, the good designers either get a lot of breathing room in average scenarios, or they get beaten and hounded mercilessly for their less-than-par scenarios. In this case, I’ll have to take the latter option, because I found myself desperately searching for some strong redeeming quality in this scenario. But it remained empty. After I was done, I finished my coffee and wondered if I had done everything possible in the scenario. Now, as I sit and write this review, I realize that there has to be something more to do, I indeed must be missing something. In fact, I’m going to go replay Lamentations right now. Perhaps if I find something else, this scenario won’t be deserving of my score — Average. One point for every minute that wasn’t wasted on this scenario. No offense, Al. Already waiting anxiously for the conclusion.

S.M. ADVENTURER Good

ALEC KYRAS Average

THE CREATOR Average

BRUCE MITCHELL Short, enjoyable, suspense & surprises. Good

DRAKEFYRE It was good enough in general. Going outdoors to find and fight the camps was not. Definitely a disappointment from Alcritas (but I loved walking through walls!). Average

WILD KARRDE SMUGGLER Short, sweet and to the point. Nice use of graphics errors on the level of the banner. Made for an interesting effect. The marble guardians were a good fight as well. Good

BOB THE IMPALER Average Not very exciting, but nothing massively wrong with the scenario.