| Bandit Busywork | |
| by Jeff Vogel | |
| Akhronath’s Review | |
From a literary perspective, none of the original Exile trilogy storylines were particularly well-done. They were salvaged by their epic proportions. If the proportions are scaled down to a couple of towns and a few outdoor sections, as they are in Bandit Busywork, the inherent problems in the traditional Exile design scream out to be noticed.
Firstly, the scenario is devoid of imagination. It adds nothing to the standard module of hidden bandits terrorizing towns and merchants — but no, actually, the townspeople aren’t terrorized at all. They simply go on doing their own nonsensical businesses. For a predator to be effectively fleshed out, there must be at least some representation of the prey, and in Bandit Busywork there is no such background. Morever, none of the plot elements stand out as anything special or surprising. The rural atmosphere of the town is barely captured, but the provincial areas are outright empty. Neither start nor finish are capable of taking the player’s attention. It might be said that the end leaves unanswered questions, but truthfully the player isn’t invited to ask any questions due to the overall blandness of the scenario.
Secondly, the scenario lacks memorable characters. Each NPC is sketched out in only the briefest of details, and none manages to come through as an important personality. Instead, they appear to have been taken from stock stereotypes. Each character has already been met many times by the player in other scenarios. There are no peculiarities, there is no depth, it is impossible to feel any sympathy, and it never occurs to the player to have any fear. After all, none of the townspeople really care about the matter of the bandits, raising it as a conversational point only. The bandits themselves fail to show any significance, nor any character of their own, and are the typical mindless slaves of chaos that the player has dispatched with so many times through the gratuitous humdrum hack-and-slash in a futile attempt to keep the player nervous.
Thirdly, the combat and special encounters are merely ordinary. The opponents are only run-of-the-mill brigands and archers other fireball-fodder, after all, which again have been encountered by the player for countless times. No situation calls for special tactics, and no special barriers are ever erected. The encounters are anything but special, taking the standard approach used in the Exile trilogy. Problem-solving is never a difficulty, and the ease of it all does not drive the player to continue. Minute clevernesses cannot fashion the foundation for a strong scenario — although they do manage to serve as the basis for a very weak one.
Score: 4.0 out of 10.
— Akhronath