Roadwarden review
I admit, when I started the game I felt a little contemptuous of him.
A monk awaits a package of fine quills.
A couple of foragers need help lassoing and subduing a massive, flightless bird.
A carpenter wants you to shore up a ford.
How hard can it be, I thought.
Like Asterion, I left behind a trail of fleeting victories and lingering disappointment.
But I also felt the meaningfulness of what Ididachieve all the more.
Choices matter, here, simply because you’ve got the option to only make so many.
While universally hard-up, the people you meet cover a wide range.
Others will tell staggering lies that only reveal themselves once the damage is done.
Its also a relatively tolerant setting, for all its troll-eats-troll politicking.
Is it worth buying a shield I dont really know how to wield?
When gambling with the village youth, do I flirt or focus on the dice?
Should I sit next to or across from somebody Ive just met?
Who do I trust to faithfully translate a wax tablet?
Can I work out where a fellow traveller calls home from their accent?
Youll also do plenty of wheeling and dealing.
One of Roadwardens best qualities among heroic fantasy RPGs is that it never forgets that youre an invader.
But it does leave opportunities to gradually set yourself on a different path.
How has the metropolis fared following that recent, devastating war?
Is that infamously unsafe backstreet still a den of villainy, or has it been gentrified?
Its one of many questions I hope to answer in my second run.
This time, of course, I wont just be following in Asterions footsteps.
Ill be treading in my own.
