François Lévy of Malcontent Games (http://www.malcontentgames.com) must have liked my review of Rêve de Dragon (the French original translated into English as Rêve: The Dream Ouroboros – my review is at http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9243.phtml). That’s the explanation to why he suggested that I could review The Chrysobelle. I was more than happy to do it so here it is. To cut it short, I received a complementary copy of this scenario from Malcontent Games and here is the review. Notice that it’s in a zip file with 3.5 MB and that it is on sale at RPG Now (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2367).
Needless to say, there may be some spoilers after the first couple of paragraphs in Substance I.
STYLE
The Chrysobelle comes in a pdf, 8 pages file in black and white. The text is in two columns in a Times-like font. The only drawings are three maps and the plan of a building, nicely done. The stats for NPCs or creatures are inserted in shaded boxes. Other than this the only other design enhancement is the usage of an artistic font for the section titles.
The text is easy to read while the scenario is well structured. Basically it follows the cronological order of the events.
Summing it up, The Chrysobelle is well done, even if not outstanding on what concerns its presentation. It deserves a 4 for Style.
SUBSTANCE
The Chrysobelle is a small nice pre-modern fantasy scenario to be played in an evening by a group of four or five unexperienced characters. It fits perfectly within Rêve’s tone but can be used with most any fantasy game (provided the GM is able to convert the stats, of course).
If played with Rêve it deserves mention that the author suggests that there should be one High Dreamer at least.
The Chrysobelle is basically a rescue scenario. By this I mean that the main task for the characters will be to save a NPC from an impending menace. The twist is in the way the PCs get involved in the affair. Let me just say that it involves “dimensional travel” meaning that the players find themselves in a different place from where they were originaly and that to go back they have to finish the rescuing task. It’s interesting the way events happening in both dimensions impact each other. (In Rêve’s terms what’s at stake is the interplay between “reality” and “dream”.)
The scenario provides for several different types of events including the paradoxes of shifting among different realities, social interaction, combat or exploration. There is no pre-ordained outcome, instead there are several alternatives that signal different levels of “success”.
Given its size the scenario only presents the basics. It’s perfectly playable as such but I could figure plenty of alternatives and developments of my own. Some of these would be mandatory if the characters followed a course of action that is open to them but only superficialy touched in the document. I consider this a strengh of The Chrysobelle, tough, given the effortless way in which it can be expanded. On the other hand, it starts at sea so if you don’t provide for sea travel in your game either you should not consider it or be prepared to provide a different rationale for the game section.
The bottom line is that:
If I game mastered Rêve I would certainly look forward to do it with The Chrysobelle. If I game mastered another fantasy rpg I would probably find a way to use The Chrysobelle, depending on how compatible it would be with the setting of my game. In both cases it would be specially entertaining for me to expand the scenario into a multiple session game by introducing or developping the NPCs and encouters.
As a player I am sure I would find The Chrysobelle challenging and interesting.
My conclusion? The Chrysobelle deserves a solid 4 for Substance. It is not ground breaking but it is a well done and consistent vehicle for role playing.
