| The Election | |
| by Nick Jones | |
| A Review of The Election by Drizzt | |
Sometimes one find little gems just lying around, a long time unnoticed, and their discovery is that much more pleasing because they were previously unseen. Blades Of Exile scenarios often contain such jewels, an Easter Egg here, a hidden quest there, but I had not yet found an entire scenario in this way. High quality scenarios are still sadly in short supply, and because of this, the good ones are noticed right away. This had held true for me, or at least until I played The Election.
This scenario, by Nick Jones, did place fourth in the second scenario contest. A rather high honor, to be sure, but it doesn’t seem to me that many people have much to say about it. The others that placed highly, a quality pair from Alcritas and Farmhands Save The Day!! are well known and regarded, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw someone mention anything about this scenario. I also missed this scenario the first time around, even though the author (rather generously) gives me credit for testing. I might have played it a few minutes and offered one or two suggestions, but that would be the extent of my contribution. Sadly, I missed out.
At any rate, this is a scenario that deserves to be well known and should be played by every aspiring scenario designer. It is unique, innovative, well-written and overall one of the best Blades scenarios that I have played.
The Election breaks the mold that into which nearly every other scenario falls. There is no bad guy at the end to defeat, no series of quests and dungeons to fight through. You must simply influence the outcome of an election in the town in which you live. The story is well written and you are given ample motivation for participating. The characters are very nicely developed, with a good deal of dialogue, and they change appropriately according to your actions. What you have to do to alter the vote of different townspeople is varied and forms the core puzzles of the scenario. Some are simple, one townsperson needs to be simply asked, but others require a bit more work. The player has the option to do many things to change votes, some of them ethical, some not quite so, but a choice is always offered.
The scenario itself takes place entirely in the town, which is contained within two Blades towns. This might seem small, but the author adds an additional, and also unique, wrinkle. There is a cycle of day and night, and the election occurs in four days from the beginning of the scenario. Because of this, there is an immediacy about what the player is doing, as some vote-influencing requires things to be done during both the day and night. I found myself racing between the two towns, hoping I had a few moves of daylight or night left, and also wishing that the towns were smaller. Very nicely done.
There a few complaints to be made, although (from my perspective) nothing major. As mentioned in Brett Bixler’s review, some of the text is truncated on a Mac. The author was aware of this, and as I use a PC, I can’t say if this was fixed or not. There were a few grammar and spelling mistakes, but nothing glaringly obvious or painfully wrong. The transition from day to night and back again was a bit awkward, but this is due to Blades engine limitations, and the author comes up with a reasonably plausible explanation. There is a smoother way to implement this, but what the author did was fairly innovative for his time, as this was also his first scenario.
I really wish more people, including myself, would design scenarios like The Election. Perhaps more Blades players like the Quest-For-Whatever-And-Kill-The-Bad-Guy-Who-Threatens-The-Empire style scenario, but not me. This one was fun. And well written. There’s really nothing more I could ask for in a scenario such as this.
I give the scenario a rating of 9, and it would deserve higher if the Mac text bug were fixed. As the author has stated he no longer plays Blades, this is unlikely and unfortunate. At least he has left us this gem of a scenario to enjoy, and (hopefully) by which to be inspired.