{"id":21114,"date":"2012-04-30T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roleplayerschronicle.com\/?p=21114"},"modified":"2012-04-27T22:44:37","modified_gmt":"2012-04-28T03:44:37","slug":"review-open-design-alosar-emanli-and-the-creatures-from-the-fallen-star-party-of-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/roleplayerschronicle.com\/?p=21114","title":{"rendered":"Review: Open Design – Alosar Emanli and the Creatures from the Fallen Star (Party of One)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Party of One: Alosar Emanli and the Creatures from the Fallen Star<\/strong>
\nAlosar Emanli and the Creatures from the Fallen Star is an epic fantasy solo adventure for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game written by Matthew J. Hanson and published by Open Design.
\nBy Billiam Babble<\/em>
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Find more Party of One products here<\/a>
\nDownload Alosar Emanli and the Creatures from the Fallen Star here<\/a><\/p>\n

Alosar’<\/em> ticks many boxes for what should make a really good solo adventure, but I found myself very reluctant to replay the adventure to see where else the situations led.\u00a0 Technically it has a high replayability factor, in practice I found it a bit of a drag.\u00a0 The solo games I grew up with were the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, Sorcery! GrailQuest and Lone Wolf, which all used RPG-styled systems.\u00a0 Most of the CYOA books which I saw at the time didn’t have dice systems, and had objectives like “Find all 25 different endings” which seemed less of a victory somehow.<\/p>\n

Alosar<\/em> is third in a series of separately published texts which (I believe) started as an article-mini-game in Kobold Quarterly<\/em>.\u00a0 That article partly inferred or revisited the solo adventure from 1983 “Red Box” D&D. The solo game in the red box may have seemed very innovative to CYOA players, but to Fighting Fantasy readers it was lacking in description, story and the epic-ness found in a proper “quest”.\u00a0 It was a dungeon with a few rooms, a few monsters, a handful of acquisitions.\u00a0 As an introduction to the D&D XP slow-climb of low level play it was perfect.\u00a0 D&D and Pathfinder are balanced towards group play, so perhaps introductory solos are in fact rigged so that group-play will always appear to be more exciting.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I mention all this because when I buy or am lent a solitaire adventure I like to know its exact context in relation to other products. In typing this I have yet to fully explore the Pathfinder Beginner Box and perhaps there’s a solo game in there too, much like in the D&D Basic game of my youth.\u00a0 In some ways solo texts are a brave move for publishers whose meat and potatoes is often scenarios, new monsters, power lists and new classes.<\/p>\n

Although not implicitly stated, Alosar<\/em> is almost certainly a game for new players who wish to learn the core rules.\u00a0 The inclusion of the character sheets is for group campaign play, and not as a record sheet for the text itself (which I at first assumed it was).\u00a0 Alosar<\/em>, as with the two titles prior to this is absolutely perfect for a Dungeon Master to give to a new player before a game, as a taster and familiariser with both a character and basic rules.\u00a0 In fact, I’m pretty sure that their aren’t many Pathfinder Druid solos out there. I feel I have to say this in case you’re a Pathfinder player wanting a new challenge on a rainy afternoon when friends are away – unless of course you enjoy the nostalgia of being led through the rules with someone else’s character (which many of us do).\u00a0 I don’t mind introductory solos, it’s just that I feel that the solo medium needs championing for experienced play.\u00a0 Just for a moment I thought Open Design were going to challenge this concept.\u00a0 No, it’s definitely a low level introductory solo.\u00a0 But hey, at least we know that the Party of One products can be played by anyone from newbie players to the jaded long-beards.<\/p>\n

The reason why I mention gamebooks, is that for myself, the more exciting games were the ones where the reader was able to relate to the character as a detailed persona, like in Lone Wolf.\u00a0 By contrast, in Fighting Fantasy and Tunnels & Trolls solos, the protagonist is an invisible persona where the reader fills in the gaps and stats.\u00a0 In the latter, descriptions of the hero’s weapons are absent because the character might be of any class and armed accordingly.\u00a0 Naturally with games where different types of characters have a different skillset, it’s very important to tailor the limited number of choices to that character.<\/p>\n

Party of One BB3 totally succeeds in placing the reader firmly in the shoes of forest-alert trainee-druid Alosar, whose sickle and select spells smack down the foes which have entered into his locale.\u00a0 Alosar is not yet a wandering adventurer, stumbling into random unknown caves (no doubt that will be his future). He is defending his territory, the living woods, from (literal) alien invaders.\u00a0 Therefore, the writing style flows very well – the reader is both “you” and “Alonsar”, and is kept immersed in the situation in hand.\u00a0 I like this a lot.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the notion that (before getting involved in real danger) Alonsar the Druid has to perform a set of tasks or trials for his teacher feels a little hackneyed.\u00a0 In a larger text this would be appropriate, but we only have a handful of sections (65) with which to complete the game.\u00a0 Which brings me to a minor problem I have with the ending\u00a0 …<\/p>\n

“You have completed this adventure. If you would like to try for a different outcome, return to 1 and begin again.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is a reason for this, because although the adventure is fairly linear, there are a couple of “minor reveals” which mean that as a reader you are rewarded with a somehow richer experience of the adventure.\u00a0 I’m just a fan of survival really, and that statement smacks of the CYOA books where the meta-game of beating the book by seeking out all of the routes is actually a goal.\u00a0 If this text is an introductory text to campaign play then a “one-time through” experience is all that should be allowed unless the character is a time travelling quantum physics specialist.\u00a0 This might be up to\u00a0 the DM of the campaign to decide.\u00a0 Again, I have to stress that I believe this product is ideal for a DM to give to a learning player before a game, and that it is not ideal as a one-off game for a player without a group.<\/p>\n

I would like to see more of the Party of One texts produced and then bundled together as a reduced pack for group players to collectively build a party with a back story prior to their noble alliance as a party of adventurers (starting at 2nd or 3rd level \u2013 which is perfect!).<\/p>\n

I printed the text out.\u00a0 When mentioning this to the editor of RC, the response was “Why the heck are you printing that?”\u00a0 I guess his foresight was better than mine…<\/p>\n

Open Design produce some lush, easy-on-the-eye products – Kobold Quarterly<\/em> excels in this way.\u00a0 The Party of One products wouldn’t look out of place in a glossy full-colour rulebook or a coffee table magazine for that matter.\u00a0 There’s a marbled background image and the choices of fonts are aesthetically balanced, the text is well ordered, in easy to read double columns.\u00a0 Easy to read, that is – if it was a magazine…<\/p>\n

Experience has taught me that paper copies are the best way to play solos with dice and a pencil, either at a table or in bed.\u00a0 If I want a solo-fantasy RPG experience on a PC I’d probably play an actual PC game.\u00a0 There are practical reasons for printing some PDFs out.\u00a0 One is that when combat occurs in a solo, a separate sheet of paper is useful for scribbling HPs on, equipment found, etc – if you don’t have a character sheet.\u00a0 I mistook the two sheets at the back of the text as being working character sheets, but they are not up to the task and are intended for the character’s life beyond the game text.\u00a0 So I printed the PDF and my partner’s inkjet really struggled. The marbled background does the document no favours when in comes to low-budget printing – it certainly gets worse when any of the colours are running low.\u00a0 An alternative printer-friendly copy of the text, or information about how to turn off the background would have been very handy in this case.<\/p>\n

Viewing the PDF on a tablet is a fair compromise and my old school ways are slowly accepting that iPads are less invasive at the gaming table than a laptop or tower.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Playing the text on an iPad had it’s own problems as the two column text made navigating through the different numbered sections even more chaotic – zoom in, out – flip forward and back a few pages – scan up, down … what was the passage number again?<\/p>\n

A message to all publishers:\u00a0 If you’re selling a solo game PDF or ebook with numbered sections – please include hotlinks.<\/p>\n

It’s bad enough that some publishers don’t connect a Table of Contents to the actual contents in purchasable documents.\u00a0 We are living in what could be a glorious new age for interactive texts. Hyperlinking is what the web and simplest of PDFs do best.<\/p>\n

OVERALL<\/strong><\/p>\n

In summary, the PDF is beautiful to look at – but unprintable and unreadable on paper, but it is also lacking in the basics in terms of on-screen navigation. On the positive side, if you’re collecting the Party of One publications then this product is a genuine must have.\u00a0 If you’re DM teaching players, or a player wishing to learn some basics, this will be a nice investment.\u00a0 If you play a lot of solo games you may find Alosar’ disappointing.<\/p>\n

It’s refreshing to play a druid and some of the encounters are quite original, but overall I see this text as a pre-game tool and not standing up well on it’s own as a gaming experience in it’s own right.<\/p>\n

RATINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publication Quality:<\/em> 6 out of 10
\nWell-written. Looks: 10 out of 10, but fails in actual play on printed paper and screen.<\/p>\n

Mechanics:<\/em> 8 out of 10
\nRobust as a tutorial, very limited in terms of it’s chosen system.<\/p>\n

Desire to Play:<\/em> 8 out of 10
\nThe pick-up-and-playability is a high 5\/5 but it doesn’t thrill.<\/p>\n

Overall: 7 out of 10
\nThe series itself is a great concept, but Alonsar’ feels slightly “hollow”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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