Review: A Strange Week For King Melchion The Despicable

In preparation for the next Windhammer competition, I decided to (re)play some of the older entries. The first one is called "A Strange Week For King Melchion the Despicable". It's about the kingdom of Generica, and it's not particularly fair King Melchion the Despicable.

Design:
The book has a nice, clean look. It uses the same font as the other Windhammer, which really lacks ambience, but I guess it couldn't be helped. Unfortunately, A Strange Week For King Melchion The Despicable (That title is way too long!) only has one picture. A mere passing.
(12/25)

Gameplay:
The book uses a simple item system, and that's it. Nothing unnecessary was added. The story is the real eyecatcher in this book.
(5/25)

Difficulty:
The book is difficult, but mostly in an amusing way: If you lose, it's always because you made some kind of funny mistake. It is, however, quite random. If you make a mistake in the very first choice, you automatically lose. And there is absolutely no way to know the right choice.
(15/25)

Story:
The story is the best part of the game. You play a wizard (who, apparently, spend most of their time as glorified rat-exterminators). Playing a wizard usually involves using magic to kill some kind of bad guy, but not this time. King Melchion has been cursed and is slowly turning into a woman. It's your job to cure him. Sounds like fun right?
(20/25)

Total score:
The book is a really fun book to read; Just don't expect a very good gamebook.
(52/100)

I'm sorry for the long wait guys

Just a quick post to let you know I'm not done with this blog just yet; I've just been extremely busy lately, but I'll try to write a new post later today.

3 good, free solo games to start with

Here it is, this sundays article. This time I'll be discusing 3 free solo games that are easy to pick up but really show you the potential of Solo Gaming.

Number 1: Lone Wolf
The Lone Wolf books are gamebooks, works of interactive fiction where you decide the outcome of the game by making important choices for the character. For more general information, you can look at the excellent page about gamebooks on the website of Stuard Lloyd: Click! Lone Wolf also has a skill system, battles and an inventory. If you finished the first book, you can go on in the second book, the third book etcetera, with the same character as in the first. If you think about it, this game is actually a gigantic solo roleplaying campaign!

Number 2: Island of D
Island of D is a neat little adventure card game. You have to choose one of many character cards, after which you dive into the game. The aim of the game is to defeat the evil black knight. To do that, you need to perform 3 quests in order to impress the village elder. The game design is really good, so be sure to give this one a try!

Number 3: Pocket Civ.
I haven't played Pocket Civ. in a while, but I remember it as a nice solo strategy game. Your goal is to create an empire that can survive until the end of time, which is closer then you might think. The game is playable on a piece of paper or as a fancy printed version. I prefer the version on paper, but that's only because I'm Scrooge.



So, have any of you played one of these games? If you did, what did you think about it?

Review: Thornguard, a Tunnels and Trolls solo

Thornguard is a solo adventure for the Tunnels and Trolls RPG system. According to the description, there is no overarching quest; the adventure is what you make of it. You could become a city guard and hunt down criminals, or perhaps you would prefer a life of crime yourself and join the Thieves Guild. You may take up a career as a merchant, an adventurer or even a holy initiate, devoting your life to the Red Sun. Illegal actions may land you in prison, or even worse...on the business end of a noose. You can choose to buy property, from a small peasant house to a grand castle. Thornguard is your oyster. It sounds very promising, doesn't it?


Design: 
The design of Thornguard is fine, but nothing too special. The font is nice and I really like it, because it is so nice to look at whilst it is also readable and clear. The pictures are atmospheric, but a little bit random. I wish the author had taken a little bit more time to make the pictures match the text.
(17/25)

Gameplay:
Thornguard most certainly has something special to offer. In contrast to other adventures for T&T, you're not forced to take a certain path trough the game. You could walk around the streets to buy some stuff for your next "real" adventure, or you could help the citizens hunt down some vampires. Thornguard still has another gimmick for you tough, in the form of Job boards. When you join certain factions in Thornguard, you get acces to their Job board. These boards are basically a large gambling minigame, which you can use to earn some money in exchange for CON. A nifty little piece of game design, but not something you will be doing for hours. The last gimmick is the order of the red sun, which I liked the best of the book. It gives you a very nice choice: Will you join the order, which gives you free goodies but limited inventory space, or will you decline and live on without these cool stuff?
(21/25)

Difficulty:
This is an easy one: Thornguard is not very hard. It does, however, give you replay value: I can easily see myself come back to Thornguard every now and then to buy some stuff and do some random quests.
(18/25)

Story:
The story is obviously the worst part of Thornguard. Since it doesn't have a linear experience, there isn't much of an story either. The text is is reasonably detailed, but it is nothing special. The beginning is probably the best: It gives you some nice choices and the option to roleplay. As soon as you enter the streets of Thornguard you shouldn't be expecting anything special tough.
(11/25)

Total score:
(70/100)

My Review System

To review solitaire games, you need a review system. Mine is very, very simple. When I review a solitaire game, I pay attention to 4 things:
Design:
How does it look? Is it attractive to read/ look at/ play? How much pictures are there? Is everything clear?
Gameplay:
Is the gameplay original? Is it completely new, or is it an old system? Does it have any special twists or gimmicks? Is everything balanced? And, most importantly: Is it fun to play?
Difficulty:
Is it possible to complete the game? Does it take multiple tries or not? How much replay value does it have?
Story:
Is the story a obligatory thing, or is it an extension to the gameplay? Is it well writen or is it something you just want to skip?

Every game can receive 1-25 points at eacht point of attention. Together they form a number between 4 and 100, with 4 being hell and 100 being heaven.

The start of something new

Good day to you all! Welcome to my blog about solo gaming. And with gaming, I don't mean computer games.  I mean classic games, like Monopoly, Risk or Dungeons and Dragons. But I only talk about solo games, because most of my friends are busy playing Call of Duty and Diablo III and don't have time to play any of those classic, less violent games with me. That is why I started this blog with these 4 goals in mind:

 1: Reviewing solitaire games, so you know what to play and, more importantly, what not to play.

 2: Talking about the latest news on solitaire games and gamebooks.

 3: Talking about how I develop my own solitaire games.

 4: Improving my english, because I'm from the Netherlands.

I want to make at least 1 post every week, at Sunday. See you then!