| The Brotherhood of the Hand | |
| by Drizzt | |
| Alcritas’ Review | |
You see, Donald Trump got hit by a falling anchor, and while his brain was intact, his body was shattered. The only way to save him — put his brain into the body of a cat, Bill D. Cat to be specific. Eventually Trump bought up the rest of Bloom County, forcing all the residents to move elsewhere. Steve Dallas got a stint in “Cathy”. Oliver was shipped off to “Family Circus” (Forced busing). Milo went off to “The Farside” to be periodically eaten by snakes. Portney and Hodgepodge? Cleanup duty on “Marmaduke”. And Opus and Ronald-Ann crossed the tracks to live in “Outland”.
About a year and a half later, Trump went broke, and I wrote Berkley Breathed to see if Trump would maybe have to sell Bloom County back. I never got a response.
* * *
In The Brotherhood of the Hand, Drizzt’s (author of Forsaken) second scenario, your party travels to the Outland of Exile, returning to the secret society the scenario gets its name from. Of course, being a Blades of Exile scenario, trouble awaits. You’ll quickly discover that the leader of the Hand is in trouble, and for some reason, needs the help of your party in particular.
After a somewhat peculiar detour to a local Exile fort, and a battle with some disgruntled Sliths, you’ll find yourself back at the fortress of the Hand, where the scenario offers your party a choice — proceed directly to the finish, or take a detour in an attempt to win.
The more direct route is perhaps a bit too direct. The intervening dungeon is very clever, but ends far too quickly. Playing through to finish the first time, I was rather shocked when I got the “Congratulations, You’ve finished the scenario” message in what seemed like twenty minutes after I started. The “Finish” route leaves the player feeling rather empty, as if he or she has just shown up, hacked up some baddies, and then left. You’re aware that something’s going on around you, but you have SO little information it doesn’t achieve the mystery atmosphere the scenario seeks to achieve. You end up feeling a little too much like the occasional “random extra cop” on The X-Files, just sitting there going “Huh?” as the scenario ends.
Fortunately, the scenario picks up dramatically if you decide to try and win it. The initial puzzle in the Vahanati Temple is extraordinarily clever — one of the best three or four BOE puzzles ever — , and the levels revealed by completion of this puzzle are very well done. The information provided and atmosphere created by these levels easily allows the scenario to realize the mystery atmosphere it seeks, and makes it quite a pleasure to play. The winning ending is perhaps still a bit too abrupt, a presents a bit of potential plot flaw, but it does nicely set up a potential sequel, assuming Drizzt ever comes back from Germany.
All said, The Brotherhood of the Hand is quite an enjoyable and engaging scenario, just make sure you don’t stop short at finishing it. The Brotherhood of the Hand is for High Level Parties, and is rated R. My score — 9.0
— Alcritas