| The Za-Khazi Run | |
| by Jeff Vogel | |
| Lew Titterton’s Review | |
This could and should have been the crowning achievement following the decent Valley of Dying Things and the superb A Small Rebellion. But lots of little things hold it back. I give it an 7.8.
To shed light on that rating, let’s start with the plot...er, plots. There are a lot of them! The main one, of course, is the Sliths, which have been done to death nearly as much as the Vahnatai. There is absolutely no new take on them here...disappointing. No new motives (or any motives besides “Some Sliths just don’t like humans”) are presented. This isn’t really a plot hole, but it certainly makes for unoriginal, bland narrative. Other plots work to varying degrees; the lich adventure was quite well-done, if brief, and the giant vs unicorn part of the scenario was also very good. The alternate story to the unicorns, involving a maze of caves, was more frustrating than fun.
But the least successful element of Za-Khazi is the Vahnatai one. As I mentioned above, we don’t need more of this. Exile III beat everyone over the head with Vahnatai, and though they are a creative, well-crafted race, there is only so much that can be done in the world of Crystal Souls, waveblades, and the like. The light puzzle in the first Vahnatai tower is an utter pain, and the insane Crystal Soul is not much better.
Competing with the Vahnatai for the coveted “Suckiest Aspect of the Scenario” award is the ending. I assumed that if you won, you’d deliver the wands and assist in the battle against the Sliths, and if you lost, you’d find the place overrun. Well, I was right about losing...unfortunately, Za-Khazi is so easy that I had to deliberately waste time in order to lose, just to see what happens. In the two times I played the scenario (each different), I was able to win with at least two days to spare, and I hadn’t even been rushing. As for winning itself, it is a profound disappointment. Jeff is totally guilty of telling instead of showing — a crime in storytelling and especially in RPGs. The simplistic “You deliver the wands and the battle is won” message is a load of crap. If someone were somehow to make Ian Klinkhamer’s Heirs to Theseus the ending of Za-Khazi, you’d have quite a finish. As it stands, Theseus suffers for being only combat against the Sliths, while Za-Khazi falls short for lacking that combat.
Za-Khazi ain’t bad...but a Spiderweb scenario should be a helluva lot more than “not bad.”
— Lew