| Pyramids | |
| By Juliet Rowley (juerow@dial.pipex.com). | |
| Alcritas’ Review | |
Pyramids, by Juliet Rowley, starts off superbly, and sinks steadily everafter.
As an entry to the (elongated) short contest, Pyramids is quite laudable. There were no noticeable bugs, the storyline is fair, and progresses adequately, and the scenario does not come across as forced or rushed.
The scenario receives very high mark for aesthetics. The pyramid itself is very well done, and provides a nice background atmosphere to the entire scenario. The various reliefs on the walls all contribute effectively, both in their creation, and execution. Along with the ‘tour-guides’ commentary, they provide an extremely effective atmosphere early in the scenario.
Unfortunately, this atmosphere does not last. Once the baddies start to attack, they never really let up, and their assaults never vary much. The scenario, which starts off as a nice, murky, tense exploration of an mysterious crypt quickly degenerates into a hack ‘en slash fest, where the only point in progressing to the next room is to clean up the next batch of monsters hanging out there. To be fair, the scenario avoids the illogic problem many scenarios encounters when placing these obstacles — it makes (some) sense that they’d just be hanging out in the next room, waiting for you to arrive.
The repetitiveness of the monster barriers is, unfortunately, also encountered overcoming the traps of the pyramid. This was, IMO, the place were the scenario really had a chance to shine, by making the party overcome all of the deadly and varied traps guarding the final resting place your party is seeking out. Unfortunately, they really aren’t varied at all. A dozen or so darts coming from the walls, and a quickfire explosion, are the only real non-monster barriers encountered. Neither is particularly unique — they both can (and are) found in dozens of other scenarios — and neither is particularly difficult to overcome.
But to me, the biggest failing of the scenario is its heavy handedness. The moral dilemma imbedded in the scenario involves far too much telling, and far too little showing. The scenario perpetually informs you what you now know, what certain symbols mean, and how you feel about them. This presentation is entirely ineffective. The scenario should make the player feel certain things, it should not tell the player they feel certain things.
What’s worse, this presentation actually undermines what otherwise might be a fairly effective demonstration. To be sure, the ‘obviously the religion is true’ part of the plot is exceedingly silly, but the presentations in the dream sequence might have been effective enough to convey the meaning without the narration telling you exactly what they meant, and how you felt about them.
As a whole, the scenario itself never
offends. As noted, no bugs frustrate the player, there are no real “guess what
the scenario author” was thinking moments, and the combat is never truly
difficult. In the end, however, the narration and the devolution into a hack
‘en slash prevent the scenario from greatness.
My score — 7.6