| Justice | |
| By Akhronath | |
| Ben Frank’s Review | |
On hearing about Justice, by Akhronath, I very much looked forward to the opportunity to play a short, solid, scenario. While there seem to be many attempts at epics out in the Blades world, there are few good small stories that can be played to the end in a few hours. With only a little time at this point in life to take an interest in Blades, this seemed an ideal opportunity.
The scenario itself is solid, but very, very linear. You play a small party dispatched to a part of the Exile cave system inhabited by Sliths. Your mission, to wipe them out (or not) and free up Empire resources to deal with the Exiles. (The scenario occurs concurrently with the original Exile series.) Game play consists largely of running up and back between different areas in a small cave system, collecting items and delivering messages.
It is in this manner that the linearity becomes frustrating; I found I had to visit many places multiple times. The first time was inevitably “out of order” so nothing happened, while on a subsequent visit (after killing the beasts again, getting the right dialog phrase from the right person, or whatever) the required event occurred. Additionally, if you can’t find or overcome the current obstacle, you can’t advance the scenario.
The battles are quite challenging given the limited resources at your disposal. Given that the scenario is designed for a starting party (and I start with three characters) you often find yourself strapped for resources, spells, or even weapons. There is little treasure, but then there is nothing much to do with any you find anyway. The dialog is strong and coherent and the plot is well fleshed out. The only plot drawback is that the decision point comes very late, missing an opportunity for a Of Good And Evil type ethical struggle.
Overall the scenario is well crafted and interesting. While not great, it does not aspire to be. Ranking — 7.5.