This week’s foundries! There’s one I did myself… and one we nearly didn’t do at all, since the foundry was bugged… but with perseverance and pluck, we managed to make it through.
Whispers of an Ancient Evil — Extended Edition by @Ian_Darksword
The fifth highest scored entry in the Cult of the Dragon Foundry contest has been given a revamp by Ian Darksword to smooth some of the rough edges and bring it directly in line with the Rise of Tiamat module, for which this is more or less a direct prequel.
Again, had fun talking to and about legendary heroes of the Forgotten Realms. I have to admit that I know nothing about the Forgotten Realms. Never read the books. Didn’t see the movies. Didn’t read the comics. All I know about FR is when I see someone with an obviously ripped off name and it’s not from Lord of the Rings, it’s probably something to do with FR, ESPECIALLY in Neverwinter. I suppose I could read all these books, but why bother? Reading the Dragonlance books nearly did me in as it was.
All to say that I can’t speak to the depth of lore in this quest (except to point to it and say, “lore there!”), but it was a fun romp the first time, with a duo of well-geared players, and a terror this time as a solo level 32 scourge warlock. My only death was writing the review after I looted the chest 🙂 Some Severin cultists snuck up and killed me. Five stars from me.
Pros – Lore, lampshading the legion of Drizzt’s
Cons – Uninspired random encounters
Arkentree – Starreaders by @Sovyor
The Arkentree in the title is a tree that, as the quest opens, has been poisoned by some dark force and is dying. With its death will go the Starreaders, a commune of fortune tellers who have the ability to see all futures, including their own doom. But, luckily, they knew someone would carry on after them, a hero that would become the last Starreader. You, the player. Would save them from the weak goblins that assail them.
Maybe if they’d spent a little more time learning how to kill goblins and less time staring into birdbaths… well, too late for regrets now.
Single map foundries are rare, and when you do find one, it tends to be trivial. Arkentree – Starreaders is a single map foundry that hits way above its weight in complexity, depth and side quests. It uses a journey around a lagoon as a literal and figurative device to drive growth and the passage of time, eventually coming full circle.
A wonderful blending of plot and metaphor.
Kasul and I really liked it, and we both gave it four stars. There wasn’t really any sort of drama that would pull us through. But it was definitely well worth playing. This quest is the first chapter of the larger Arkentree story.
Pros — great map design, plenty of side quests
Cons — you’d think a race of fortune tellers would be able to avoid trivial annihilation from goblins who go down in a single hit.
House of 1000 Corpses by @waryur
An older quest by the third place finisher in the Cult of the Dragon foundry contest!
We haven’t played the prior quest, Hidden Valley Ranch, although we thought the title seemed familiar. This quest apparently takes place right after, as we followed the clues to the disappearance of Guard Frinko’s son, Peyton, to the doors of a haunted house filled with some corpses.
Unfortunately, among the corpses is that of Peyton. Instead of rushing back to bring news to Guard Frinko, we stayed to try and discover how the boy came to such an end.
After a lot — a LOT — of talking with some chatty ghosts, we eventually went to a lower level where we fought off waves of easy monsters and then the quest ended. Honestly, Kasul works late and I was really tired, but it just didn’t seem to have much of a plot.
I gave it three stars, and Kasul gave it four, the rare case where he rated a quest higher than I.
Pros — nice map design, really liked the cellar portal map.
Cons — expected hundreds more corpses. Title is misleading.
Missing Children by @Gruffydd
I’d played this quest a long time ago, but didn’t remember that this quest was THAT quest until Kasul and I landed on its shores. Missing Children is one of those quests that reveals its story slowly (or, you could just read the quest description).
A shipwreck leaves a bunch of people stranded on a distant island. They decide to stay and found a small village, and build a decent, if struggling, existence there. When two children go missing, nobody at the village dares leave the safety of their homes to save them. It is up to us to find and return them to their grieving father.
Well, drunk father. He figured he could either go after them and probably die himself, or just get really, really drunk. So he’s not feeling much grief, or anything else.
Luckily, we show up and discover the mysterious cult that lives beneath the ground, and the final fate of the children — which is up to you, the player. Which direction will you choose?
This is a fairly easy quest, with only one or two fights that would give anyone any trouble. It’s more a showcase for map making and storytelling — which is does fairly well.
Rolf’s despair when he finds out that he is not the kind of father who would risk his life to save his children is heart-rending — not the sort of depth you normally find in a foundry. I gave it four stars. Kasul gave it three — he’d have liked to have seen a more dynamic ending.
Pros — good characters, some actual emotion, great map making
Cons — lots of running around, fairly lackluster combat, quest doesn’t really build to a climax
Return to the Clock Makers’ Tomb by @DoctorBadger
Another quest that we realized we’d played in the past the moment we stepped in the door. We really need to take better notes… but I didn’t start chronicling our adventures until months after we’d started meeting weekly to play foundries.
Our mission: dive into the Tomb of the Water Clock Makers in Neverdeath and retrieve an ancient artifact. It’s a fairly short, straightforward quest. You’re in a tomb. Very little mystery what sort of mobs you’re going to face.
What sets this quest apart is the incredible map work. The outside of the tomb looks very little like Neverdeath — which is awesome, because Neverdeath only dreams of looking this lush. After some minor adventures in this map, fate and fortune lead us into the tomb itself, which was full of little clock-related touches and dynamic map changes.
We were a little set back toward the end, where a sliding floor puzzle had apparently become bugged since the last time we played, sending us plunging if we were on it when it was moving. Since we were a duo, one person could hold a platform (which were innovatively used volume gates) while the other one jumped to and held the next. It took quite a long time to figure that out, and I doubt it could be done solo.
Still, we were able to finish it (with difficulty) and we both gave it four stars. Even though the Doomguide yelled at us at the end for desecrating a tomb.
Like, this guy doesn’t even know what game he’s in. Desecrating tombs is pretty much what people do.
Pros — great maps and characters
Cons — buggy
That’s it for this week. Next week? I dunno. It’s harder and harder to find good quests that we haven’t already played.
