roleplaying

Eternal Blood
$9.98
I do not recommend buying this at full price. Look for it used. It's ok but you are being ripped off if you pay full price. It's not that good.

The Fantasy Role-Playing Game: A New Performing Art
$35.00
Daniel Mackay, The Fantasy Role-Playing Game: A New Performing Art (MacFarland and Company, 2001)

The RPG has long been the redheaded stepchild of the gaming world when it comes to serious critical studies. Those few studies that have emerged, while valuable, haven't really looked at the RPG as an art form. Mackay makes an attempt to start a poetics of the role-playing game (it would be hubris, pure and simple, to think a single book could provide a complete poetics of the RPG, and Mackay does not suffer from hubris), a book that other critical observers will be able to build on in the future. In my opinion, for the most part, he succeeds.

The one thing of which most books of critical theory cannot be accused is readability. Mackay does a fantastic job, in most of this book, of keeping it readable; after all, his target audience is not just critical theorists, but role-players as well. He gets into the jargon late in the book, but hopefully by the time the role-players will already be engrossed enough to keep going. And there's another fortunate side effect of the book-- getting more people reading critical theory for fun. Not nearly enough people do that these days; Mackay actually addresses this fact late in the fifth chapter when he talks about the self-referentiality of modern literature, poetry, art, and critical theory.

It's the fifth chapter where Mackay seems to fall off the plant somewhat, though. It becomes obvious that Mackay is of the socialist school of critical theory, though even this comes into question at one point, when he seems to lump socialism in with capitalism as one of the reasons society's going to hell in a handbasket. I spent most of the rest of the book wondering where Mackay's coming from, but I'm guessing that most of the readers of the book won't be conversant enough with schools of critical theory to wonder about what is, essentially, a niggle.

How important a book this ends up being obviously remains to be seen. In the interim, however, it's good reading about a neglected subject. If you're a role-player, it's worth your time. ***

The Dark Eye: Drakensang
$29.95
I have to say, I did not expect this game to be as great as it was. It's beautifully designed, right down to the journal, inventory, talent screens, etc. The game even does a graceful fade-to-black when you exit to the desktop, rather than the abrupt shutdown seen in many other games. Oh yes, and the water in this game looks gorgeous! So as far as graphics go, they are very nice...something of a combination of Oblivion and NWN2.

As for gameplay, you can move with either the keyboard or click with the mouse. You will form a party of 4 characters (including your hero) and complete a nice-length main quest, along with several side quests as well. However, it's not a free-roaming game like Oblivion. It is more in-line with Jade Empire, if you're familiar with that game. You move from one area to the next and have no need to return to most previous areas. In fact, many areas in Drakensang become "locked" once you leave them, meaning you can never return. This is no big deal, though, since you'll have no reason to return once you've done all the current quests there. There are a few "hub" type areas that remain open -- these are the main cities and villages that you can return to for quests, supplies, etc.

Now, a word about the rules set is in order: it is complicated! I read the manual twice and still didn't fully understand it, but it helped to actually get into the game and see what all the talent options were. Once you start playing the game, the complexity of the behind-the-scenes calculations vanishes and you really don't need to know about it. I'm the kind of person who likes to know what's going on, however, but I have to admit that I never did fully grasp what attributes were being used for any given calculation -- but it doesn't matter.

Aside from the underlying math, the talent system is actually very fun. You gain experience as you complete quests, kill monsters (the usual), but you don't always have to wait until you gain a level before you can start increasing your talents. In fact, you can increase them at any time, as long as you have enough points. (However, the maximum value of talents are based on your level, so after a certain point you will have to wait to level up.) This gives the game a nice, dynamic feel, as if you are constantly getting smarter and stronger without having to wait for a new level.

Finally, the story itself is extremely interesting and fun. It kept me into the game all the way through. Probably one of the strongest aspects of the game (again, similar to Jade Empire) is that you are constantly moved through the game with a developing story. You are not left to languish over what to do next but instead feel like you are really caught up in the intrigue of the opening story, which then becomes something much more complicated and involving. (On a related note, the dialogue is also well-written and there was almost always a dialogue option for exactly what I was hoping to ask in that particular situation!)

Some people may prefer the more "do anything you want at any time" game, but really, we can't expect all games to be that way. In fact, most *aren't* that way! So sit back and enjoy the story of this one, it's a real gem!