[RPG]: Reign of Exarchs, reviewed by C.W.Richeson (2/2)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12582.phtml

Christopher W. Richeson's Summary:

<i>Reign of the Exarchs</i> presents a complete Mage Chronicle that may be run on its own or incorporated into an existing Chronicle.

Go to the full review for more information.

[The Last Conformist]

Call me a sad wretch of a man, but I have to know - does the cover pic have any obvious relation to the inside contents?

[C.W.Richeson]

Originally Posted by The Last Conformist

Call me a sad wretch of a man, but I have to know - does the cover pic have any obvious relation to the inside contents?

Yep! The cover is very nice and, most likely, depicts a person or spirit Ascending with the help of the Throne and other artifacts.

[The Last Conformist]

Originally Posted by C.W.Richeson

Yep! The cover is very nice and, most likely, depicts a person or spirit Ascending with the help of the Throne and other artifacts.

Thanks. I'm positively surprised.

[Wood]

This is about my bit, because I'm vain like that:

Originally Posted by the review

The ill-fated NPC drives all of the events of the tale, and to a moderate extent the characters are just along for the ride. While the scenario hints that important choices are there to be made, there are few ways to really change the story. The Body Orchard encounter receives moderate detail, but seems extremely difficult and has a deus ex machina (some outside force resolves the problem) solution in order to allow the PCs to escape should they start to lose.

Now, I'm glad you liked it.

However, just two things:

1. The characters' actions do directly affect the outcome. In fact, whether or not the character survives, dies or worse is directly up to the PCs. I'd have thought that was an important way to change the story.

2. The Body Orchard encounter does indeed have a built-in deus ex machina in case the players really screw it up. I don't see why it's a bad thing. In playtesting, the PCs (of which there were only two) got out easily, without the need for said deus ex.

As for Robin Laws' bit, the "Sceptre" section, well. I really do disagree with your assessment of it. I think that it's the single finest adventure scenario I have ever seen in a WW book, bar none. I expect to use it myself sometime.

[C.W.Richeson]

Great! I hope a lot of folk have fun with it! I stand by my objections to those scenarios, however.