Campaigns: #2
The Video-Game Game
One of John's 3rd ed. D&D games. It was sillier fare, which you would expect of campaign based on video-game tropes. Still, there was town-building, a closed plot and interesting characters. I recall barbarian skydivers (who needs parachutes, we have hit points!), the church of shape-changing (get your jiggy on), whip-wielding defense force (courtesy of the resident Belmont) all for the town of Tent. Our group was called the Flying Circus so it made some sense. We had frictionless ice puzzles, elemental themed enemies with corresponding temples and plot driven experience tables. We eventually got our own follow system, where we could pick one NPC who wouldn't fight but would give us some benefit. Cloud made us immune to mind control, it would always target him.
Despite the foolish nature of the game, there were deeper character stories. Nick became king of the dragons. I learn of my former role as one of the elemental-themed quirky mini-boss squad. Specifically, I played a human priest who lost his memory so he decided memories must not matter. I was also a lush. Both had consequences. There were epic battles to stem the tide of fiends storming our gates. There were betrayals and secret labs experimenting on characters. Will all of video-games to draw on, the characters were pretty distinct and well defined.
The campaign set lofty goals and accomplished them. The building elements were what truely made this game stand above the others. The dungeons were classic puzzles, but that means they were constrained to video-game physics. The silliness also drew me down at times. But there were no major inherent problems, and the experience was complete. Unlike some games mentioned previously, this was game that put its scope high and hit its target. Worthy of number 2, this is what gaming should be.
One of John's 3rd ed. D&D games. It was sillier fare, which you would expect of campaign based on video-game tropes. Still, there was town-building, a closed plot and interesting characters. I recall barbarian skydivers (who needs parachutes, we have hit points!), the church of shape-changing (get your jiggy on), whip-wielding defense force (courtesy of the resident Belmont) all for the town of Tent. Our group was called the Flying Circus so it made some sense. We had frictionless ice puzzles, elemental themed enemies with corresponding temples and plot driven experience tables. We eventually got our own follow system, where we could pick one NPC who wouldn't fight but would give us some benefit. Cloud made us immune to mind control, it would always target him.
Despite the foolish nature of the game, there were deeper character stories. Nick became king of the dragons. I learn of my former role as one of the elemental-themed quirky mini-boss squad. Specifically, I played a human priest who lost his memory so he decided memories must not matter. I was also a lush. Both had consequences. There were epic battles to stem the tide of fiends storming our gates. There were betrayals and secret labs experimenting on characters. Will all of video-games to draw on, the characters were pretty distinct and well defined.
The campaign set lofty goals and accomplished them. The building elements were what truely made this game stand above the others. The dungeons were classic puzzles, but that means they were constrained to video-game physics. The silliness also drew me down at times. But there were no major inherent problems, and the experience was complete. Unlike some games mentioned previously, this was game that put its scope high and hit its target. Worthy of number 2, this is what gaming should be.