They locked you up! You've been sent to the deepest, darkest, most unpleasant prison in all of the Empire. Unhappy with the prospect of spending the rest of eternity in the company of a demented wizard, a cowardly jailman, and a dwarfly disaster-waiting-to-happen, you've decided to break out!
This module was written in compliance with the requirements of the January 2006 BioWare Writing Contest.
Can some of the people who have rated down the module because of it's writing (as opposed to the ones that hippocritically scored the scripting down while saying it shouldn't influence votes) come forward and tell me what specifically caused them to rate that way? Saying "the writing was bad" doesn't help me at all, you need to point out what made it bad and how it can be improved. I took great pride in polishing the lines and trying to provide some context for some of the lines and I really do not know what it is that's wrong about them. Please tell me.
Posted by Brougham at on02/21/06
Writing was not too great compared to competition. Had some lovely touches like how to get a dwarf's attention and the crazy wizard. Ending was unsatisfying.
Posted by SnakeGunner at on02/21/06
I thought we were supposed to be judging writing talent, not scripting. The storyline seems rather boring, linear, and predictable. There was NO way you would fail at breaking at out jail and this scenario would help out characters would otherwise do good deeds.
Posted by Arik at on02/21/06
I thought the characterisation and scenario were superb. Dialogue focuses on action rather than exposition, with the PC trying to find a way out of the cell. The humour is the icing on the cake. It may be something of a linear ride, but what a ride. Excellent writing.
Posted by thegeorge at on02/19/06
*echoes emperorzog*
Posted by Quillmaster at on02/18/06
I enjoyed this. It was fun to play and the dialogue was of a length that didn't make the reading of it painful. The quality of the dialogue was very good, although it has to be said I have seen better and marked them accordingly (although I guess that comes down to personal taste at the end of the day). I was a little surprised with how easily the guard fell unconcious, and felt that maybe having him leave the area for some reason would have been more convincing, but overall this was very good. _________________________ View my blog regarding the Relbonian Chronicles project --> Link
Posted by Tarqu1n at on02/15/06
Wow! What a great module. I am quite envious of your scripting prowess and must commend you on the characterisation, plot, dialogue...well, everything really. You really did stick exactly to the contest rules, the prison scene was atmospheric, the wizard, dwarf and guard were animated and funny. My only nit-pick is that there were times in the choices with the wizard where there were too few options but that is really so minor a point. An exceptional entry on all counts.
Posted by herrjeff at on02/14/06
Good scenario, with consistent NPCs' background and personalities, but the PC shouldn't know their names and have so much information available by right-clicking on them... Although the objective was quite obvious, the key to evasion through the dialog options was entertaining, especially when speaking with Alnar! In fact, I would prefer if there was any option to evade offered through those conversations, without relying on Kern's abilities.
Posted by MikeLM9215 at on02/13/06
Using a scale of 5 being your average module maker, 7 being your average I want a job with Bioware writer, and 8 being I wet myself and didn't notice. I've only given above 8 for Lexicon and Builders Project Toolset Manual. Certainly different. Good scripting adds no points. Liked the 4 endings though no 'I survive for sure' ending. Is, of course, linear. No 'I got killed attempting the escape' previous to ending. Not the best but certainly solid. _________________________ The road to Ravenloft is paved with good intentions.
Posted by Mister_Leebo at 2006-02-1218:19:27
I think a lot of the low ratings against this module have been missing things that I didn't originally think needed to be stated but it's becoming more and more apperent that they do to clarify some of the complaints that keep cropping up. The following contains spoilers so the uninitiated should turn their eyes: The most important point and, interestingly enough, one that has not been brough up by any reviewer, is that this module is a Satire. It is not to be taken seriously. Indeed several people brought up how "stereotypical" or "cliched" the characters are but few realize that that is the entire point. Alnar is the stereotypical power-hungry wizard and Kern is your standard dwarven barbarian menace. They were meant to be that way. Henry isn't so much a satire of anything, merely an anchor by which to perceive the madness of the other two. I don't know about anybody else, but for me a power-hungry wizard and a deranged dwarf practically spells out Dungeons and Dragons to me, they're two of the most common characters. The comedy, in my opinion, in this module is that you're stuck in a cell in between two characters that exemplify these basic DnD structures. I suppose I shouldn't have made it so subtle... Secondly, the issue of choice. I'm annoyed that everyone tells me to have more choices in the module but no one likes to suggest what those choices should have been. You're in a jail cell, what do you do? In my opinion, the only options one would have while they're encarcerated is talking to their neighbors or doing nothing at all and I feel that both choices are offered in leaps and bounds by this module. I just don't see where I'd have room for a deep political intrigue in the middle of all this sitting around being locked up business. I would respect and encourage it that you all ignore the scripting when grading the module as I never meant to make it seem like I was replacing the writing with scripts, but it doesn't feel right to me that I should lose points because the scripts are there. The rules don't state that a module can't have scripting so I'd appreciate it if they weren't being used against me by being there. As I've stated once before, the main character's crime is not defined in the module, only hinted at by the player's dialog choices. I did not want to make this a rogue only module or to restrict any classes or alignments by writing up a crime that didn't fit the bill for all players so I left it up to the player's interpretation of their own character to decide their crime. In hindsight this decision doesn't seem to have been very popular with people, but I don't want it to be said that I didn't consider the alternatives. The endings sort of tell the full tale if you read all of them, as each individual ending only gives you some of the details about the next scene. Since I took to heart that this was a "Sidequest" style module, I did not want the endings to be drastically different, so I wrote them how I would have done it in a full module. No matter how you choose to escape, you always end up in a dungeon beneath the prison with the monster hunting you. Having some endings result in success and others in failure would have made it a main-plot tier quest. Your ending choice would only determine which character becomes your henchmen for the dungeon sequence that follows (unless you go Solo). I hope that clarified some of the common complaints people have had about this module. Thank you for all of the reviews!
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