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| Khazan City Chaos bit.ly/khazancitychaos |
Khazan City Chaos may appear to be a
small solo, but you will find that if you're playing this thoroughly
enough that you will pass through a good many of it's 56 sections. A
lot of the scenes provide the reader with the opportunity to test
different abilities with Saving Rolls. This gives this solo a high
"replay" factor, so believe me when I say that you are
getting more than your value for money.
That's what this solo
is all about: -money. Lucky fortune -and a fight- at the beginning
will provide your low level character with more cash than they will
see in a entirety of adventures. It's a pity there's no option to
walk away at that point (not to mention that if you're a freshly
generated character the introduction will provide you with a sack of
cash). Now, I've played too many shoot-em-ups to know that free
health and weapons usually means something big is around the
corner... So let us a assume that a fool and their money is about to
be easily parted. But you, the player, are no fool because this solo
will probably cost you less than a dollar.
The author explains in
the preface that he his developing his own standardised solo rules
for Tunnels & Trolls – in this case the 7.5 edition. It's
perfectly possible to play a warrior without spells talents and maybe
even a character from 5/5.5 or earlier editions, but you'd be missing
a treat, because Khazan City Chaos is extremely comprehensive in the
instructions as to how to employ Talents and Spells from the 7.5
lists. T&T 7.5 in many ways encourages improvisation and special
moves in combat -but this requires a creative and judicial GM to be
on hand, which is not possible in solo texts. Less confident players
also like to be led by the text in the section as to what they are
able to do (despite some T&T solos claiming that the broadest
interpretation of the text should allows player to do whatever their
characters feel like). Mr Lloyd's genius here, in addition to all of
the spell guidelines, is the implementation of “stunts” in combat
– these are special saving rolls based on attributes or talents,
which allow for dramatic and memorable moves. Many of the stunts are
totally optional, which may come as a relief for fast-play players –
just give 'em the MR and let 'em get on with it! ;)
The extra options
reminded me a little of gamebooks, like Lone Wolf, where the
character has options to use skills to effect the outcome of an
encounter – they was always something strangely satisfying in this
(when compared, to say, standard Fighting Fantasy). The stunts add a
lot of flavour to combat. These along the many tests in the
adventure result in a sense of ingenuity and achievement of behalf
of your character – even when some of the trials in the urban world
may seem without the thrill and zap of combat (although combat is
only ever a section away).
Stuart Lloyd's
narrative style is impeccably balanced between the do-or-die thrill
of the quest, peppered with light hearted commentary about the
characters and their environs, which fits perfectly with the
traditional style of T&T solos. He appears to be planning a
whole series. So be warned! By purchasing this you may find yourself
collecting all of his titles as soon they hit the press!
This solo will
entertain new players and be refreshing for the veterans too. GMs of
all editions of T&T may like to take a look at this solo since
talent guidelines, the stunt descriptions and many options to use
attribute (or talent) SRs makes for inspirational game-planning.
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