Tabletop RPG - Dungeons & Dragons Basic (1981)

 

Overview

As someone who started with Tunnels & Trolls then moved onto Advanced Dungeons & Dragons the original versions of D&D have always been something of a mystery to me.  I was aware that there must have been some form of non-advanced version of the game but we had no idea what it was.  We just presumed it was a board game or something.

Now with sites like DriveThruRPG and YouTube these gems of old school gaming have become available and when I saw it on sale I decided to check it out.  I must admit I've been pleasantly surprised.

Game Setting

Dungeons & Dragons takes place in a (non-specific) fantasy world, although there are settings implied in products that tie into the game.  The early versions of the game used adventure modules designed to be dropped into whatever fantasy world you chose to play in.

The rules themselves however give you  a general feeling of what the intended setting should be like.  A setting dominated by humans but shared with elves, dwarves and halflings.  A world of medieval warfare, crumbling ruins and mythical beasts.  The selection of items and spells give you an idea of what life may be like for a each character type.  For example you can imagine the life of a Magic-User, plying their trade in a low magic setting where spells are researched and learned through study rather than innate powers.

Characters

As with later editions of Dungeons & Dragons, each player has six main attributes representing their personal ability.  Higher attributes give bonuses and lower ones cause penalties.  Unlike most familiar versions of the fantasy RPG you play nonhuman races as their own class.  This may irk some players who prefer a diverse outlook on each race.  But there have been some good arguments for races having general demeanors.  Would an elf spend 80 years maturing to then become a level one thief?  Magic is supposed to be woven into the very fabric of the elves so the warrior-wizard hybrid the game uses makes sense in context of the fantasy world.  These races live longer and see the world differently to us.  Versatility and diversity is supposed to be what makes humans so special and adaptable.  So with all that said here are the types of characters available.

Fighters: This is the most basic and robust class.  Great for beginners.  They can wear any armour and use any weapon.  They can take the most damage and have no extra rules to worry about.  The book cites Hercules as an example of a great fighter.

Magic-Users: Magic-users are humans who have learned how to cast magic through study and practice.  They can wear no armour and are only armed with the most simple weapons.  Also they can take very little damage, although their spells are useful.  Merlin is cited as an example of a famous magic-user.

Clerics: Clerics are a fairly robust character class and are always useful to a party.  They can wear any armour and use any blunt weapon.  They can also cast beneficial spells, normally centered around healing or aiding their allies.  Their ability to drive away undead creatures is also very handy.  It's worth noting that unlike AD&D or later editions Clerics do not start with any spells at first level.  It appears they must earn their deity's respect before they are rewarded.

Thieves: This is a more subtle and stealthy class than the "Rogue" of later editions.  Unlike some versions of D&D the thief should not be used as an offhand melee fighter.  They are about as fragile as Magic-Users, albeit with the ability to wear light armour.  Thieves should hide where they can and strike from shadows with their backstab ability.  Among their main uses to a party are their lockpicking and trap disarming skills.

Dwarves: Dwarves are a second warrior-tank class, somewhat like the Fighter but with some handy bonuses to their saving throws to represent their sturdy nature.  Dwarves also have bonuses to perception involving stonework or mining as well as infravision.

Elves: Elves are interesting class, combining the benefits of both a Fighter and a Magic-User with bonuses to spot secret doors and a handy immunity to paralysing attacks.  They pay for this with a hefty advance scheme which makes levelling up a slow affair.  

Halflings: Halflings seemed to be modelled more after Samwise Gamgee than Bilbo Baggins.  They get none of the Thief abilities which I originally presumed they would gain, aside from one very powerful hiding ability.  Their benefits seem to be more combatant with bonuses to missile weapons, defense against large enemies and very favourable saving throws.

Gameplay

The game runs very much like most versions of the D&D game but with a few key differences.  Firstly the numbers are lower.  Both players and enemies have less hit points which makes combat deadlier for both sides.  Even a dragon can be taken out in a couple of turns if a smart and well armed party takes one by surprise.  This is a big contrast to the hit point sponges of modern RPG monsters.  It's a matter of taste but I feel I prefer the high stakes faster combat of these earlier editions.  Secondly there are no feats, special moves or innate abilities apart from the handful of race-class features.  Again this is a matter of taste.  I never enjoyed the concept of "builds" used in 3e onwards, nor have I ever liked classes having abnormal abilities.  The appeal of D&D to me was always that you played grounded regular people that ascended to greatness.

Players of third through to fifth edition (or beyond) may find the reversal of attack and armour bonuses jarring.  I'm not going to go too deep into this as it has been debated for years with little in the way of agreement.  I will say on a personal level that although I see the benefit of ascending AC over the THAC0 system I don't find the old system all that bad when playing.  I also like to put an attack table on my character sheets so I always know what I'm shooting for.

It's a little hard to make criticisms when compared to later games as this is the system that got the ball rolling.  But I personally enjoy the rules light feel of the game, especially for solo gaming.

Magic seems slightly more powerful in this game which I must admit is refreshing.  Sure you only get one spell when you first create a Magic-User or Elf.  But the spells you do get pack more of a punch than their AD&D counterparts.  A single Magic Missile is more or less guaranteed to kill a bandit, goblin or kobold.  Light or Sleep can nerf a room full of enemies if timed well.

I also enjoy the use of a Morale mechanic.  Especially as a solo player but even when I run this as a Dungeon Master it can be fun to randomly have groups of enemies flee after seeing one of their number zapped into ashes.

Presentation

Firstly I love the cover art.  It's simple and stylised which lets you know exactly what to expect in this game.  Some may find it dated but personally I don't think style ever really ages.  The art within the book is a mixed bag depending on taste.  I enjoy it because I like simpler illustrations and the feeling that the game was put together by a group of friends rather than a corporation.  But this is entirely subjective.

The book itself is laid out in a slightly odd manner.  Instead of chapters for combat, movement and so forth we have "The Adventure" and "The Encounter" but when you get used to the book it falls into place and you can normally find what you're after fairly quickly during play.

Conclusion

I believe this is a great game to try at least once if you are a long term enthusiast of Dungeons & Dragons.  Although not the original version I feel the Basic Set was the first to be sold as a genuine standalone game rather than an expansion for Chainmail (the wargame that D&D originally derided from).  So for that reason I hold it high regard and it appears many fans do too.

However if you come from the newer school of games you may be happier with one of the many retroclones out there which tidy up the concept and sometimes introduce newer mechanics.  Among the best of these is Basic Fantasy which uses ascending Armour Class like the newer editions of D&D.  Basic Fantasy is also free online and physical copies are very cheap.

As someone who seldom has a group to play with I mainly enjoy this game due to how easy it is to solo.  You can make an entire party of characters fairly quickly and play is fast paced enough that you can run multiple combats without too much trouble.

There are a few things I've left out of the review.  It's an old game so there are enough opinions of it out there for better or worse.  For my money I'm happy to be playing and I'm giving Basic D&D a solid 8/10.

Video Game - Morrowind (2002)

Overview

For those that enjoyed my nostalgia filled love-letter to Daggerfall last year here is the lowdown on the sequel.  The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

The third installment in The Elder Scrolls saga takes place far to the east in the hostile land of the Dunmer (or dark elves as we ignorant outlanders call them).  Having been left unsatisfied with the largely random worlds presented in Arena and Daggerfall the developers at Bethesda decided to focus their efforts a much smaller landscape where everything was planned from settlements to wandering bandits.

Plot Summary

The third era of Tamriel is drawing to a close.  After the events of Daggerfall the Emperor Uriel Septim focuses his attention on the dunmer and once again sends a lone champion to act out his will.  This time however his chosen hero is but a lowly prisoner whom is taken by sea to the east.  To Morrowind.

In this land of political and religious strife, ancient grudges and racial prejudice our hero must rise above the odds to end a menace that began centuries ago.  The hero will encounter conspiracies, traitors, zealots, daedric lords and even living gods during their quest to save Morrowind and ultimately the whole of Tamriel.


Gameplay

Morrowind was the first game in the Elder Scroll series to use a full 3D graphics engine (the gamebyro engine).  The game is played very much like it's predecessor except that the skills have been both cut down and organised (into the combat/magic/stealth categories we know in Oblivion and Skyrim).

Morrowind is the first game in the Elder Scrolls series to use the WASD type controls and also introduced new windowed menus and a new magic system.  It was also the first (and so far the only) main Elder Scrolls title to remove the fast travel option from the game, leaving the player to either hike across the land or pay for transportation.

As with Daggerfall your skills and attacks are checked using a die roll type system unlike Oblivion or Skyrim where you automatically succeed at everything and your skill just makes you succeed "better" than you would without it.

Morrowind often comes under fire for it's combat system.  I can understand why players of the later titles may find it frustrating but as a long term RPG fan (tabletop and computer) this is perfectly natural to me.  Due to limitations in game animations a "miss" is not executed ideally.  In reality that would represent your opponent dodging, rolling with the blow or deflecting your weapon using armour.

What I will say is this.  In later titles a low weapon skill equals low damage.  You can hack at an enemy 50 times with a blade, spray blood everywhere and they are not even phased.  I find this just as unrealistic as the idea that you may have misjudged a blow or simply got unlucky and scored nothing but a flesh wound.

Built into the random roll when you swing your weapon are many factors that you don't see.  What is your opponents agility and what defensive skills to they possess?  How good is their armour and do they have any defensive buffs?  All this is done while you press and hold your attack button.  To be abrupt I'd say this level of RPG mechanic doesn't interest the casual gamer.  Morrowind is a genuine role-playing game from a time when RPG in the description actually meant something.

Combat aside, one of Morrowind's greatest replay assets it the comprehensive and potentially game breaking magic available to the player.  As with anything in this game you have to work at it.  There are magic items in the game that can give you a massive edge.  Even better you can quest out and make your own.  This becomes an adventure that you the player have set upon yourself.  That is the mark of a truly non-linear RPG.


Graphics and SFX

An aspect that seems to come up now is how dated and old Morrowind is.  Being a fan of Daggerfall this is no problem for me.  I can understand how the angular and low res imagery may be a little off putting but I'd hardly call it a deterrent.  A few gamers out there need to toughen up!

 The town of Balmora in the vanilla game

If you really can't dig 2002 3D graphics then another strength of Morrowind comes into play which is the vast cult following that it continues to hold.  These are all very clued up gamers and modders that have worked on this game for years.  There are HD texture replacers, graphics overhauls, updated sounds and all sorts out there to make the game look a little less dated.

The town of Balmora with overhauled graphics

Conclusion

I won't say Morrowind is perfect.  There are many flaws in the game that you will discover as you play.  There are also many strengths.  A truly fleshed out world of strife and hypocrisy was given to us in Morrowind.  An alien and hostile land of swamps, ash wastes, mushroom towers and bizarre creatures awaits you in this game.  For all it's HD prowess I've always found Skyrim to look rather dull and bleak in comparison.

Anyway borrow your friend's nostalgia goggles or install some texture mods and give Morrowind a go.  Don't be discouraged if you fail at first.  This was the last Bethesda game that actually made you work for your victory.

I give Morrowind a solid 8/10 for the story immersion and creativity if nothing else.

Video Game - Legend Of Grimrock (2012)

Overview

Legend Of Grimrock is a classic style dungeon-crawler by Finnish developers Almost Human.  The template is almost identical to great grandfather Dungeon Master (1987) but with modern graphics and smoother gameplay.  It's platform is the PC & Mac (as with most RPGs of this type) but in May 2015 was adapted for the iPad.

The game is a couple of years old now and there is also a sequel which I will be trying and reviewing at some point. With a recent re-release for iOS and the fact that time does not exist in the dungeon (for those of you who read my first ever post) I thought it was time to take another look at this game.

Plot Summary

One fateful day four prisoners are taken to dreaded Mount Grimrock to be cast into the dark depths where they will either die or emerge as free people.  They awake in a prison cell with nothing to aid them except their own will to survive.

As the prisoners delve deeper into the mountain they fight monsters, scavenge for whatever food they can find and uncover clues left to them by those that tried and failed before them.  But something else is alive in Grimrock... something that comes to them in their dreams and is trying to guide them.

Gameplay

Like Dungeon Master this game uses a grid-based movement with real-time combat.  The same feelings of isolation and impending dread have been put into this game.  Grimrock improves over the games that inspired it by using WASD to move your party around and a slightly better inventory system.  Your character sheet & inventory pop up at the side, meaning you can access items more easily during a battle.

Also present in Grimrock is the inclusion of skills and some flexibility in your character development.  You can choose to specialise in different weapons and armour depending on your class.  Dungeon Master did use a behind the scenes skill system but Grimrock really makes it part of your gameplay.  The choices you make determine what items you can equip and which spells you can cast with your wizard.

Grimrock gives you an auto-map that develops as you explore, which is very handy and helps you not to get yourself lost.  However for the die-hard dungeon delver there is Old-School mode which removes the feature, leaving you to get out the graph paper and put the work in yourself like we had to in the 1980s.

Graphics & SFX

Obviously comparing a 2012 game to those that came out in the late 80s is going to be unfair so from an impartial point of view I'd say all round good textures and dynamic lighting effects.  The creature animations are very slick and give genuine menace as spiders scuttle about you and ogres charge you.

The creature sounds are simple but work extremely well.  One big difference Grimrock has brought to this old genre is the inclusion of ambiance, giving the game genuine menace and atmosphere. The opening theme of the game is also brilliant and dramatic.

Yes there are better games out there if you want pure graphics but I have never come across a game so professionally put together from an indie developer before.

Conclusion

An awesome game with a fresh look at the classic RPG genre.  All those hours of battling monsters, fumbling through runes and navigating grid-based traps nearly 30 years ago have been distilled, refined and unleashed once more into the dark dungeons of Grimrock.

Upon release I'm giving this game 9/10.

Buy it online through the developers or you can get it via Steam and GOG services.

Tabletop RPG - Tunnels & Trolls (1975)

Overview

Tunnels & Trolls is one of the oldest fantasy roleplay games out there, second only to Dungeons & Dragons as far as I am aware.  In 1975 a group of gamers lead by Ken St. Andre came up with an easier and more accessible alternative to the D&D rule system.  Instead of needing three core rulebooks T&T would use just one.  It was sold without dice to cut out extra tax and purposely avoided the use of specialist dice.  You could easily obtain six-sided dice cheaply or even take them from boardgames you already owned.

The game is still going strong today and with the accessibility of the Internet, more and more groups of players have merged their efforts.  Ken St. Andre still runs numerous events for adventurers and the game has found a new surge of support via Kickstarter to release a deluxe edition.

Game Editions:  Although 1975 was the release date of the original game I shall be reviewing Tunnels & Trolls based on the 5th edition from 1979 plus maybe a few mentions of the Anniversary edition known as 7.5 from 2005.

Game Setting

Tunnels & Trolls  takes place in a (non-specific) fantasy world, described in the book as a simpler cosmos, where numerous tunnel complexes exist.  Determined men and women arm and provision themselves to venture deep into these ancient dungeons in search of great treasures.

There are some brief descriptions of the "Trollworld" the developers used for their game but all in all you are encouraged to make your own fantasy realm.  Later editions would include more details of the developers Trollworld and included a colourful map as well as historical time lines.

In a 1986 interview Ken St. Andre said the T&T setting was what Lord Of The Rings would have been like if done by Marvel Comics.  Based on many of the published adventures for the game this is evident in the amount of freaks, mutants and super-heroic characters you encounter.  The players themselves may also expect to find themselves fused with giant cave bears, having their arm turned to magic crystal or finding their personal attributes raised to godlike levels.


Characters

As with Dungeons & Dragons, each player has six main attributes representing their personal ability.  Higher attributes give bonuses to combat, lower ones cause penalties.  The game uses only three character types: Warriors, Wizards and Rogues.  There is also one cross-class type of Warrior Wizard but these are rare indeed.  Flexibility is possible in Tunnels & Trolls but restrictions do apply.

Warriors:  Described in the game as based on characters such as Robert E. Howard's Conan, they understand force over all else.  Warriors can use any weapon in the game and have a massive advantage when wearing armour (knowing how to use it rather than just wear it).  They may never learn how to cast spells but can and will use any magical device they can find.

Wizards:  As can be expected, Wizards can cast spells.  As with most games they get more powerful with experience.  Unlike most games they actually start with some serious firepower and may also wear any armour they can afford.  Their weaponry is restricted but a well thought out wizard could easily be mistaken for a ranger or warrior until they start slinging their magic around!

Rogues:  This can be a misunderstood class.  Rogues are not thieves in T&T although they can be if the player chooses.  A rogue is someone who had the potential to become a wizard but either lacked the fortune or incentive to learn at the right age.  They can learn spells but never as well as a true wizard.  They may use any weapons effectively but will never benefit from the defence training warriors have.  Rogues get by mainly on their wits and sheer luck.

Warrior Wizards:  These are a slightly elitist lot and are often better served as challenging villains than player characters.  They can cast spells and fight like a warrior.  They are not quite as good as a true Wizard in the field of magic however.

There are rules for playing dwarves, elves, hobbits and even leprechauns or fairies!  The effect of kindred advantages are not balanced however.  The game often seems to teach you that things are not always fair.  As combat activities are mainly team based it is not a big issue however.

Aside from that you have no specific skills.  The players are encouraged to come up with their own ingenious solutions to their problems and are not held back by shackles of skill deficiency.  You don't have to roll to cook a meal or set up camp in T&T.  That's not the part we're interested in.  You're heroes and so we save the die rolls for the fun parts!

Gameplay

Combat is a chaotic and furious affair.  Each player rolls an amount of dice specific to their weaponry and adds the bonuses from their attributes.  Monsters usually have a simple Monster Rating which gives them dice and bonuses of their own.  Melee combat is contested and also team based, adding together everyones' rolls against the combined monster attack.  For this reason you may have dozens of dice on each side and it can get a bit out of control (which is part of the fun in the game).  Combat can sometimes be a long and drawn out affair and so players are often encouraged to find ways to gain advantage using their own ingenuity.

Other daring feats are done by Saving Throws.  This simple mechanism has made Tunnels & Trolls one of the most flexible games out there.  Pick an attribute, pick a difficulty level, roll two dice.  Simple as that!  Doubles of the same number are added and re-rolled meaning that any player stands at least some chance of succeeding.

The simple systems of T&T have made it ideal for solo-play too.  Many adventures have been published over the years for solitaire adventures and you can find many more across the internet.

Obviously the game is not without flaws and combat can get particularly cumbersome at times.  This has encouraged players to think outside the box and even create their own house rules.  The flaws almost become part of the charm.


Presentation

The edition I originally played with was a simple stapled book, black and white inside with a yellow cover.  However a 5.5 edition came out in 2005 with a full colour cover, although the pictures are all still in black & white.

The book is extremely readable but laid out in a slightly odd way.  You are given enough information to run a game first, followed by more rules are expansions.  Throughout the book are wonderfully inked illustrations by artist Liz Danforth who really gave to game a unique feel.  Although simple in comparison to what you may expect from Wizards Of The Coast these days you must remember that at the time TSR's Dungeons & Dragons were mainly ink illustrated too and not as beautifully as Danforth's work.

Conclusion

I worry that I may wear my nostalgia goggles too much but I really miss these sort of games where you had your own input and the gameplay was more important than selling a product.  More elitist RPG fans may look down at T&T with it's simple single rulebook and pen & ink illustrations.  I say they are losing out and they have certainly forgotten their roots.

Games like T&T are often created in reaction to the expensive or overly complex games that are marketed at us.  Remember that we all make these games special, not just the people listed on the credits.  Ken St. Andre and his gang of merry delvers gave us a chance to remember that back in 1975 and we should remember it now.

Nostalgia goggles or not the game gets 9/10 from me.

Video Game - Warhammer Quest (2013)

Overview

In 2012 it was announced that Rodeo Games would be developing an iOS version of the popular Games Workshop dungeon crawler.  Some previews appeared on YouTube and the excitement started to build, quickly followed by some sadness as PC and Android users realised they would be left out.  In 2014 the game was finally released to Steam but very overpriced and suddenly riddled with annoying flaws which I will go into later.

In case you didn't know, Warhammer Quest is more-or-less considered the king of tabletop dungeon crawling.  It has already warranted plenty of mentions on this site and I haven't even reviewed it yet!  This review is specifically for the video game version but comparisons will be made here and there.

Plot Summary

In the gloomy setting of the Warhammer world, adventurers wander the wilds in search of fame and fortune.  Hiring themselves as mercenaries or simply by exploring these warriors delve into dark dungeons to slay monsters and retrieve treasures.


Gameplay

Keeping faithful to the original game the iOS version takes place in turns, with each hero moving and attacking, followed by the monsters.  Also taken directly from the boardgame is the Winds Of Magic roll at the start of each turn, which determines how much power the wizard can focus and if anything happens to interrupt that process (such as monsters or a chance encounter).

Your party of four adventurers will delve into many dungeons across the land and due to the rather nifty random quest generator you can theoretically delve for infinity gaining treasure and experience as you go.

Playing this is very much like playing a boardgame, the warriors and creatures are even like scale fantasy miniatures.  So far so good.  Sadly that's where the flattery ends.

Warhammer Quest like any game of this age is riddled with in-app purchases to be made.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not as mad about this as many other gamers are.  The original tabletop game came with only four heroes and one set of monsters.  You had to fork out some cash if you wanted specialist characters or creature & quest expansions.  That is fair enough. 

What is not fair is the inclusion of content obviously meant for the purchased characters littering the vanilla game.  By this I mean horribly overpowered undead roaming the halls of what was supposed to be a goblin dungeon and treasure rewards that are unusable by the standard characters.  Talking of treasure, the quest rewards seem to have got a little lighter since Rodeo slapped you with in-app gold purchasing too.

While we are having a pop at the game I would also like to mention that to the disappointment of many gamers there was absolutely no effort to tailor the Steam version of the game to a PC interface.  As the game is much more expensive on PC you really would have expected that.

Graphics and SFX

The visuals of the game are perfectly acceptable for a tablet game.  On a large PC screen they are a bit basic.  What I said about the gameplay applied to the graphics too - no effort has been made to make bring the resolution or detail up for the PC version.  Again this seems very lazy of the developers considering the difference in price.

One thing I do enjoy with this game is the beautiful pop-up book video clip when you enter a town.  Little snippets of effort like this show that the original intention of the developers surely was to make a great game.

The sounds aren't really much to get exited about.  They do their job but that's about it.  The music however is quite impressive and dramatic.  The game's opening theme is distinctly epic.  The town and wilderness music is mysterious and atmospheric.  The dungeon music picks up when monsters appear and so forth.  I can't complain about that.


Conclusion

This game certainly had the potential to be fantastic.  If they had stuck to the original line-up of monsters and offered a few in-app expansions simply to enhance an already exiting game that would have just fine.  But sadly I am disgusted with just how greedy they became with this game.  Buying gold?  What kind RPG makes you buy your own gold?  A broken one!

It may be a semi-faithful recreation of a classic but due to the incredible cheek of the pricing and micro-transactions I'm giving this game a mere 4/10.  It could have been so much more...

Video Game - Daggerfall (1996)

Overview

With all the excitement attached to both Skyrim and the Elder Scrolls Online I thought I would post a review of the game that introduced me to the world of Tamriel.

Daggerfall was released in 1996 by Bethesda as a follow-up to their 1994 game Arena.  Instead of attempting to continue in the entire continent, the game takes place in the Iliac Bay, the coastal regions of High Rock and Hammerfell.  This makes the game slightly more focused than Arena with more emphasis on the politics and powers controlling the region.

Plot Summary

The City Of Daggerfall is under a curse, haunted by the spirit of the late King Lysandus and his army of ghosts.  No one can walk the city by night for fear of the curse.  The kingdoms are warring and betraying each other in their bids for power while the savage orcs and sinister necromancers prepare forces of their own.

Eager to keep his hold on the Iliac Bay, Emperor Uriel Septim VII secretly sends a champion on a course for Daggerfall to investigate why King Lysandus' haunts his former kingdom.  However, as the ship nears Daggerfall a supernatural storm leaves the hero shipwrecked and stranded in a coastal cave.  With only basic equipment and beginner's luck you must escape and fulfill your role as the Emperor's champion...

Gameplay

Daggerfall is an early first-person RPG which uses a rather basic 3D engine similar to Doom or Duke Nukem.  The controls more-or-less default to the type used in Arena which are awkward and clumsy.  However unlike Arena you can customise almost every function.  Players of the later Elder Scrolls games will find they are able to achieve a layout similar to Morrowind or Oblivion.

So with your newly configured controls you can escape the first dungeon and set out in the world.  As with later Elder Scrolls titles, this is open ended.  You can pick up quests in towns or guildhalls, which often result in you delving into a dungeon and completing an objective inside.  When you first start, there will be no dungeons on the map apart from crypts.  You find dungeons by taking quests, looting maps during your adventures or sometimes you get a location as a quest reward.

There are literally thousands of locations in the game, from tiny hamlets and way shrines to huge walled cities.  Sadly there is a lot of repetition and random content.  The guild quests are totally random and generic.  On the other hand you can take work forever, unlike later games where rising in the ranks basically means you stop getting quests.

An important part of the game is of course the dungeons.  In Daggerfall they are big.  Really big.  Many players complain about this as you frequently cannot find the quest location and you may never find your way back to the surface again.  It can be frustrating but it also makes the dungeon a truly daunting environment.  Unlike the later games when a dungeon meant two or three caves linked together, Daggerfall has dungeons akin to your old D&D maps.  There are still websites that offer help with Daggerfall and they give a few hints on dungeon crawling for this very reason.

The combat system is very much like a tabletop RPG would be.  Your stats and skills give you a semi-random chance to hit something.  The enemy has an automatic dodge roll.  The same system was later used in Morrowind and is often disliked by people who play Oblivion or Skyrim.  Personally I prefer this system for the RPG experience.  I will go more into this when I review Morrowind.

One thing to note is the game is sadly very glitchy.  Depending on which version you have it can be very hard to complete the main storyline due to crashes and corrupted saves.  There are plenty of bug fixes on the internet though.

Graphics and SFX

Sadly this is probably the reason why many people will never play Daggerfall.  The basic 3D engine uses fairly repetitive textures and flat bitmap sprites for enemies, NPCs and scenery.  Even back in 1996 the graphics were fairly low resolution.  The game has always been sold on depth and vastness rather than it's graphics.

The in game sounds are okay if not a little generic.  Many of them will be familiar as they seem to be from a public domain source and are used in many games.  Some of the creatures sound rather creepy though, such as the snarling vampire and screaming skeleton (which gets annoying quickly).

One rather interesting fact is that Daggerfall actually contained nudity (okay so it was blurry 16-bit nudity) and was originally going to have some adult content.  None of the other Elder Scrolls games have attempted this so blatantly.


Conclusion

Old and clunky but still very playable.  Daggerfall has an air of hidden politics and a genuine sense of vastness to it.  The game can be genuinely challenging and you are not lead by the hand at all.

With the bugs, glitches and low res graphics (even for it's day) I'll give it a 8/10.

Boardgame - Castle Raveloft (2010)

Overview

Castle Ravenloft is a boardgame released under the popular Dungeons & Dragons franchise by Wizards Of The Coast.  The game was designed by Bill Slavicsek and Mike Mearls and originally released in 2010.  I purchased this game mainly for the fact that you can play either alone or in small groups as I don't have a dedicated D&D party or GM at the moment.

Play time: 1 hour
Players: 1-5
Type: Solo or Co-Op

Also of note is that this game is inevitably compared to Warhammer Quest so yes I will be making many comparisons throughout and shortening it to WHQ also.


Scenario

The game has a basic scenario that a powerful vampire has set up home in a large haunted castle and heroic adventurers have dedicated themselves to stopping him (or at least looting his home).  As there are several quests included in the game the scenario changes slightly each time you play.

Gameplay

Like many dungeon crawlers this game is all about map building.  As the heroes explore they place tiles, making each experience a little different.  Many would compare this game to WHQ.  The map-building mechanic and basic concepts are very similar.  The challenges are where this similarity ends however.

Unlike most delving games, Castle Ravenloft often gives the monsters the initiative.  It is their home, they are defending it and they are ready for you!  This makes the game more challenging and your heroes often take a few scrapes before they get to fight back.  Luckily you normally place only one monster at a time.  This makes the game interesting because any creature is a significant threat which requires strategy and maneuvering.  But on the other hand I did miss the satisfaction of the mob-massacres you got in WHQ.

The random encounter deck lessens the "safety in numbers" vibe with a series of nasty events designed to wound and frustrate your heroes.  Sometimes more monsters will appear.  Sometimes traps will be sprung.  Sometimes weird and spooky things occur...

If you reach the objective tile of the dungeon you have to fight a boss monster, perform a specific task or sometimes simply escape the dungeon.

One slight disappointment is the level-up up system.  You only have a second level to aim for.  On the plus side this means you don't outgrow the monsters in the game.  But it is a bit of a let down considering the ability to level-up is such a big part of RPG excitement.

Components

I've read mixed reviews about the components and artwork included in the game.  I'm not sure how jaded some gamers are or what their expectations have become.  Personally I think they are of a good standard and on par with other Dungeons & Dragons products

The dungeon tile pieces seem to be higher quality than those in WHQ.  The artwork is crisper too, although the rooms and halls feel a little generic.  You get so many however that each dungeon is almost guaranteed to be different and the map soon becomes a sprawling maze.

The miniatures are much more dynamic than the flat-posed pieces included in WQH too.  Although I do rather miss the masses of spiders and goblinoids.  Castle Raveloft has far less creatures.  But they are exiting pieces and I felt that I was getting good value for money.  Two undead dragons in one game can't be bad, right?  Well maybe for the heroes.

The rulebook is fairly light reading.  That's because the game decks do most of the work.  The game decks are high quality and robust but a tad plain.  A bit of artwork on the encounter and treasure decks would have been an improvement.  I would have personally liked a larger adventure book with more solo-play quests.  But maybe that's what I get for being antisocial...


Conclusion

If you like Dungeons & Dragons or fantasy games in general I'd recommend buying this, especially if you don't want to commit to the actual RPG version.

The gameplay is straightforward but the in-game events are still challenging enough.  Due to the varying combiations of characters and quests I'd say there is plenty of replay value.

I'm giving Castle Ravenloft 7/10.