Ice Realm Scenario

[William Keenan]

Currently up for review on the SLeague site is a fantasy scenario named Ice Realm by Wilson Theodoro.

To the best of my knowledge this is the first scenario to correctly use random barbarians, is this true?

Secondly, I would like to know, Blackclove, why you gave it such a high rating (24). It is invoative in many ways and the author shows much apptitude for scenario writing but it also contained several design flaws as well. So my question is how could you have given a junior scenario the same rating that Cam gave to Mick Uhl's Time Threat Paradox?

[Paul Hanson]

Random barbarians? Please explain.

For the record, I played it and frankly I thought it was a little tedious. There just wasn`t enough happening in it, and the terrain, although appropriate, is just dull. Endless glaciers. This is a scenario that with a little thought and work could be so much better than it is at the moment. Perhaps some imaginative use of terrain, or more events would spice it up a bit.

[William Keenan]

By random barbarians I mean having the Barbarian Activity Level for the scenario set for Raging Hordes (as Ice Realm was), Roving Bands, etc.

Although the barbarians had a very short longevity (presumable because of the terrain setup) they did appear, none-the-less, and this impressed me.

To some degree I share your assessment of the scenario Paul, the end game was tedious and repeditive. In design however I thought it had many ingenious elements and the author included several difficult facets of scenario design (random barbarians, radical map design, terraforming) that are not normaly attempted by more senior designers.

As you said Paul, the scenario needs work, exspecially on the balance and endgame. Condsidering the author is a junior designer I have to say it is a brilliant start.

[Cam]

Not really so much on Ice Realm, but seeing it was raised, my scoring on Time Threat Paradox was a tough one, and I did try to explain why it got the score it did ( sleague.apolyton.net/Reviews/ch_time.shtml#notes ). I think if it was put together by someone outside the professional gaming industry (i.e. one of us) it would have scored close to full marks.

For me, scoring on the S. League has always been a 'curly' matter, and I'm sure each judge has his or her own system. In a nutshell, I've broken my scoring down to four rough grades, although take into account the relative merits of the scenario in the three categories;

Less than 15 - requires work, serious problems somewhere.
15 to 19.5 - fine but lacking. Needs more thought/development and probably some technical matters to address.
20 to 24.5 - very good but still some matters that need addressing. Usually strong in one area (e.g. great artwork, great balance, engaging plot) but let down elsewhere. A scenario I'd come back to from time-to-time.
25 and above - excellent. One of my personal favourites. A game I am pleased to play over several times.

To date, Blackclove's Toussaint at sleague.apolyton.net/Reviews/ch_tous.shtml has been my highest score at 27.

Sorry about the diversion.... back to chatting about Ice Realm....!

Honestly I thought this scenario was better than Time Threat Paradox (how's that for a wild claim?). TTP was clever but it was very, very slow, and had a number of flaws, including the "industrial age" being super-boring. Like this scenario, the endgame was poorly executed.

Ice Realms shows potential. I gave it a high score because it does a lot of things well - I was especially impressed with the tricks he uses for controlling access to other portions of the scenario. You're right that the scenario needs a new version to upgrade it to a great scenario, but I felt it deserved high marks on originality.

I think the key here is that while we can all think of ways to improve it, as it stands it is a very fun scenario to play. Slow? Yes. Challenging? Yes. But does it make you want to keep moving forward? It did for me. Most of the details are taken care of and the author does a splendid job of making us understand the world. It didn't really *need* much of a readme, honestly. Most of the scenario is about discovering the surprise way to make the world green again.

Of course dissenting opinions are welcome

(Oh yeah, and the highest score I've ever given was a 29 for Cam Hills' Gangster scenario. I also gave high marks to Temba's Underdark scenario and Jesus Balsinde's El Dorado scenario.)