FS: Legacy of Dragonholt, $38 shipped

I’ll be wrapping this one tonight (and reviewing soon). It’s really good, especially if you like the gamebook thing or stuff like Consulting Detective. Some of it is stone brilliant. $38 shipped- complete and like new. One reproducible character sheet has been used.

Is that Terrinoth?

I believe it is in Terrinoth.

As Michael said, it is really well done. If you like this style of game, then I would recommend it. We have been having a good time with it -- making decisions that we think are true to our characters and mostly what we consider to be "good" or "right". But somewhere along the way, we did something wrong and had a bad outcome (and I am sure that there is a good outcome that was possible). The cool thing is, it is hard to pinpoint what went wrong -- so you couldn't just go back for a "do-over". It really captures the decision making process in such a way that you feel like the consequences of any small decision aren't that big of a deal but their cumulative effect can be devastating -- which is similar to how life works.

It is Terrinoth, but it’s really pretty generic. Some place names, the whole rune thing...but it’s not really all that specific.

I just finished it. As far as gamebooks and paragraph games go, I think this is actually quite groundbreaking. There are some things in it that I think are just completely, shockingly brilliant- and in a format that is functionally obsolete by my gamers’ standards. It is not far off from Fighting Fantasy, but the way it manages progression, emergent narrative and conflict is highly innovative I think. It does encourage you to think like your character and play to their skills and advantages, so there is more of a role playing angle than you can get out of most gamebooks. Some of the design isn’t that far off from Tales of the Arabian Nights (if you have skill X, go here, if not, go there) but it is far more complex in that it tells a specific story not with a single variable outcome, but multiple variable outcomes that are actually interlinked.

Combat is incredible. There is no dice rolling, there is no tactical element. It’s a structured series of narrative events that direct the progress of the fight and provide outcomes. If you progress enough, you get a resolution. If not, it continues.

There are places where the game uses loops to move time and give you a sense of self-directed exploration. It’s amazing how it can actually feel like an open-world video game. It has a hub and then a few branches including two dungeon crawls, all of which take you into completely separate books. But the outcomes there impact the main storyline.

I just finished it, and the last chapter was really quite artfully done and it had a great windup to the end. I got the best ending, and I did not cheat a single time. For real, I actually didn’t. That is the one big weakness, I never really felt like I could lose or was in serious jeopardy. One fight got a little hairy, but I had so many healing potions it didn’t matter.

Some have gotten pissy about the “SJW agenda”...fuck those people. This is definitely the most socially progressive, most inclusive hobby game I have ever played. Yes, there is a gay wedding but it is completely not a big deal and handled exactly how a straight marriage would be. There are People of Color everywhere. Women are absolutely the equal of men in it but they are still allowed to be women.

I think it is an amazing game, and it is probably the most significant thing FFG has done in a long, long time. But it is never going to have a big impact because it is, despite all of the efforts to convince you otherwise, a solitaire gamebook with very little replayability and no components other than booklets and a deck of completely superfluous item cards (I never even used them except to check what a couple of effects were).

I almost wish that they had just done it as an IOS app, I think that it could have reached a much wider audience and it would require absolutely no change to any aspect of the game- and it would cost $10 instead of $60.

Michael - did you play it solo or with a group?

Solo- I could not see any viable reason why you should play this with a group over a regular RPG.

The only thing I love more than old-school gamebooks is new-school gamebooks. I'll take it if it's still available.

Michael Barnes wrote: I’ll be wrapping this one tonight (and reviewing soon). It’s really good, especially if you like the gamebook thing or stuff like Consulting Detective. Some of it is stone brilliant. $38 shipped- complete and like new. One reproducible character sheet has been used.

Did you end up writing a review of the game? I tried searching for one but came up empty.

Either way, what you've written in this thread sounds good already.

My favorite game is Ambush and that's a hybrid between a gamebook and a tactical wargame, so I should probably enjoy Legacy of Dragonholt.

I've just always thought FFG's Terrinoth theme was lame as fuck, so hopefully that won't be a problem.

Holy fucking shit! Schweig! Get back in here, brother!

I didn’t actually review it- I interviewed Nikki Valens, the lead designer, instead. It is totally a five star game- very innovative and progressive not just in terms of design but also in terms of inclusion, representation, and social issues. It really is, fundamentally, the most jumped-up gamebook you could imagine but that sort of belies the incredible coordination of its design and narrative elements. It’s brilliant work, and a far, far better game than I expect from FFG these days.

Michael Barnes wrote: Holy fucking shit! Schweig! Get back in here, brother!

I didn’t actually review it- I interviewed Nikki Valens, the lead designer, instead. It is totally a five star game- very innovative and progressive not just in terms of design but also in terms of inclusion, representation, and social issues. It really is, fundamentally, the most jumped-up gamebook you could imagine but that sort of belies the incredible coordination of its design and narrative elements. It’s brilliant work, and a far, far better game than I expect from FFG these days.

Ah, thanks for the pointer; I've looked up the interview and am currently reading it.

Legacy of Dragonholt sounds very interesting and I'm about 90% close to buying it, but it's not cheap.

Funnily enough, I've only heard about the game because of the complaints over the supposed "SJW" content.

ubarose wrote: Holy crap Simon, is that you! I've missed you so much. How are you doing. What's up in your life (well, as much as you want to share). Are you still drawing? Last we heard from you, you were moving to Lübeck.

Thanks for the kind words. I've just moved back from Lübeck earlier this month to temporarily live with my parents because I've finished my master's degree and am currently searching for a job. Well, I still need to write my thesis but in Germany many companies offer students to write one in-house -- with the idea that they'll simply continue to work in the same department after completion, which would also be my goal. I'm not doing too well health-wise, so I'm hoping that won't become a problem wherever I'll end up. The job market at least looks promising.

I haven't done a lot of board gaming in recent years even though I've kind of rekindled my love for it. I figured it might also be a good way to meet new people at whatever location I'll move to next.

My big passion since 2014 has been American football, and as a fan of the Eagles last season was pretty special. I originally became a fan because of Randall Cunningham playing Tecmo Super Bowl on an SNES emulator.

By the way, I love the site redesign.

It loves you! It’s just maybe missing some kind of water-colour comic series or something...

Missed u

ubarose wrote: Congratulations on completing your Masters. What did you get it in? I remember that you were kind of going through a tough time with school and your health. Graduate school can be super stressful. Personally, I quit for two years and then went back and finished. So glad to hear you made it through and out the other side. So sorry you are still having health issues. Maybe without the stress from school it will start improving.

Good luck with job hunt. Let's us know how that goes.

The degree is in "Medical Informatics", basically computer science with a focus on medical applications. The University of Lübeck is one of the higher-regarded medical schools in Germany, so that's why they were one of the first to offer a degree like that. I placed my focus on medical robotics and machine learning. I'm hoping to find work involving either neural networks or augmented reality. The latter would also have some proximity to visual arts.