The Untold Adventures of Alzar, Book 1: Journey to Kythore - Comments and Questions

[Abe Sargent]

This is the place to discuss the game, give me ideas, and ask questions.



Game is up!

[Abe Sargent]

Info on the game, post reserved

[Abe Sargent]

FAQ of questions, does NOT include spoilers on sections.









EVERY POST BELOW THIS ONE MAY/WILL HAVE SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Abe Sargent]

FAQ of questions which do include spoilers

[Abe Sargent]

One final thread reserved, just in case I need it later

[DavidCorperial]

This is a really cool idea and I really have to play this at some point, though it means I have to reread through his entire journey (woe for such a painstaking task) but I get the feeling I'll enjoy this when I do play it.

[Abe Sargent]

Awesome, but you don;t really have to reread the dynasty, you an play it without that.

[DavidCorperial]

I know, but it reminds me that I really want to again.

[JAG]

This week is terrible for me, but when I get a chance, I'll see how far I can get before dying. Should I post character build here before I start or is that not kosher?

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by JAG

This week is terrible for me, but when I get a chance, I'll see how far I can get before dying. Should I post character build here before I start or is that not kosher?

Nah, just go ahead and play through it, and when.... I mean if you die then you can start talking about it.

[JAG]

Had a break at work and rolled up Alzar the first. He died on the first fight. Part of that was a poor starting set of rolls (0 to max hps, 1 to combat skill, even had 1 to gp for good measure), part of that was a poor tactical decision on my part. Alzar the second will hopefully fare better.

[JAG]

Alzar the Second has been much more successful (better starting roll, fairly good choice of spells), but I have a fight to roll up that he will need some serious luck to win. I hemmed and hawed about a decision and basically chose incorrectly (I think).

I don't want to spoil stuff at this point since it doesn't appear anyone else has played, but I've had a fun time thus far. I'll see if this is the end for the Second and maybe try another run sometime this weekend before throwing out ideas.

[Abe Sargent]

Good stuff - thanks for keeping us in teh loop!

[JAG]

Just got back to this. I managed to survive the fight in question, however I was severely depleted in hps afterward and wasn't able to survive my next misstep. Onto attempt #3.

[JAG]

Success! Alzar the Third was victorious. He had miserable HPs but a top combat skill roll which helped, as did building on my previous experiences in picking spells and such.

Thoughts and such...

1. I thought there was a good mix of red herrings and useful items.
2. I liked that there was a use for a number of spells / items. There were no useless choices though in the end some were certainly more helpful / useful than others, especially amongst the second level spells. I think that could be something to improve upon, though I don't think they need to be completely balanced and I admittedly may have missed some sections where having some of the level two spells would've been useful.
3. The layout of combat encounters was pretty good and I think it worked pretty well. Combat was quite heavy on dice rolling for certain fights.
4. A minor criticism, I think it would be helpful to have links back to the previous pages in all cases where you're instructed to go back (I can find the instance if you want, though for the most part I do think you warned players to keep track of the previous page). I think my first play through I didn't realize I was going to have to do that and had closed the previous tab.
5. I think a couple of the allies might be a bit overpowering (those with high CS). My last play through I had a decent idea of what I needed to do though which might be tainting my view of that as I was able to skip a couple of the tough fights that wore me down in play through #2.

Whew. All in all, I found it to be very enjoyable. Thanks for taking the time to put it together and hope some other folks will give it a shot.

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks. Great comments in all, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Yeah, the crit is warranted too. if I have a chance, I'll update it sometime soon.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by JAG

Success! Alzar the Third was victorious. He had miserable HPs but a top combat skill roll which helped, as did building on my previous experiences in picking spells and such.

Thoughts and such...

1. I thought there was a good mix of red herrings and useful items.
2. I liked that there was a use for a number of spells / items. There were no useless choices though in the end some were certainly more helpful / useful than others, especially amongst the second level spells. I think that could be something to improve upon, though I don't think they need to be completely balanced and I admittedly may have missed some sections where having some of the level two spells would've been useful.
3. The layout of combat encounters was pretty good and I think it worked pretty well. Combat was quite heavy on dice rolling for certain fights.
4. A minor criticism, I think it would be helpful to have links back to the previous pages in all cases where you're instructed to go back (I can find the instance if you want, though for the most part I do think you warned players to keep track of the previous page). I think my first play through I didn't realize I was going to have to do that and had closed the previous tab.
5. I think a couple of the allies might be a bit overpowering (those with high CS). My last play through I had a decent idea of what I needed to do though which might be tainting my view of that as I was able to skip a couple of the tough fights that wore me down in play through #2.

Whew. All in all, I found it to be very enjoyable. Thanks for taking the time to put it together and hope some other folks will give it a shot.

I think the key strategy to winning is not as much your dice rolls but clever spell choice, and in particular, how you plan your

Spoiler

town moves