| Enormously Inconvenient | |
| by James Taylor | |
| Review of Enormously Inconvenient by Stareye: | |
I must say that I was impressed by this first effort of James Taylor. I was definitely expecting a lot less.
If you are looking for an immersive plot, I suggest you look elsewhere. That’s not to say that the plot is awful or anything, but it could use improvement. However, when one looks at the first efforts of many other designers, this one definitely beats many of the lesser ones out. To sum up the plot without giving it away: The party is a group of adventurers who just happens to be traveling through this forest. Right at the beginning, the party notices some strange things about the forest. Namely, the animals there have grown to a huge size. Looking for adventure, the party decides to explore why this is so. Not the epic plots of An Apology or Tatterdemalion for sure, but adequate for a first effort scenario.
If there is anything that really stands out about this scenario, it is the use of special nodes. The designer definitely has a pretty good comprehension of the scenario editor. Right at the beginning, the party has to fight some Giant Ants. As soon as the party kills the largest ant, the others flee, and you are treated with a nice sound effect and text description. This first series of specials, although not overly impressive, really makes the scenario look professional from the start.
Speaking of professionalism, I should bring up the custom graphics. Although they are nothing historic, the designer uses the borrowed graphics quite well and adequately gives credit in the read me. The designer has even taken the liberty to include a help file (at my insistence), so you should have little problem if you get stuck.
Dungeon design is average, but definitely notable for a first time designer. One area, the Giant Ant Hill looks a little strange with the cave walls not quite lining up. However, then I ask myself about this dungeon. It’s an Ant Hill! The cave walls can look shoddy and still work with the dungeon’s theme. Also, the designer employs a nice logic teleporter puzzle (very similar to the one in Soljare’s Castle in Redemption) along with several creative riddles. The outdoors was well done. My one real complaint is that I wish there were more special encounters and such. However, the actual painting of the terrain keeps it from being too boring.
My only complaints are that the scenario is kind of a Monty Haul. For instance, there are Magic Crossbows, Magic Plate, Gold Rings of Regeneration, Strong Healing Potions, etc. everywhere and this is only a Medium level scenario. There are a few spelling and grammatical errors, but they are forgivable. Also the plot seems to “skip” in a few places, but that is all right for a first effort at scenario design.
I will conclude by saying that James Taylor definitely has talent and I hope he continues to design more scenarios as he as indicated in my communications with him. Normally, I would probably give such a scenario a 5.0. Considering it is a first effort, I will raise my rating to a 7.0. You should probably give this scenario a look, but it probably won’t go in the permanent folder.
7.0
— Stareye