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The problem with most commercial CRPG offerings, is that they do nothing to feed my inner GM (who for the sake of the review, we'll call Harvey). Harvey fancies himself a creator of worlds, the bane of heroes, and equal parts author, actor, and artist. Even when I find myself enjoying someone else's adventure, Harvey likes to nag me with such comments as, "You could write something as good as this. Why are you wasting our time by PLAYING it?" Enter Runesword II: a complete CRPG construction kit and gaming environment. What it lacks in flash and pizazz, it more than makes up for in retro styling, flexibility, and its ability to keep Harvey entertained.

The game engine itself is nothing new if you've played any CRPGs from the late eighties or early nineties: players move their characters around on 256-color isometric maps, which give way to separate tactical combat screens when they piss off the locals. Animation is nearly non-existant, and map encounters tend to stay in the same place. The wheel was in no way reinvented here.

Stylistically, however, Runesword II gains its inspiration not from retro computer games, but from the pen-and-paper RPGs which gave birth to them. When your characters attempt any action, dice are rolled on the screen, accompanied by a familiar clatter. Stories are narrated by an "on-screen" GM, who will even occasionally roll dice for no other reason than to make the player paranoid. Even the creature images which come with the game were taken from actual Ral Partha miniatures. You can almost hear the Led Zeppelin, taste the Mountain Dew, and smell the mustiness of your parents' basement.

The sample games which come with Runesword II are interesting enough to play through at least once (though not particularly awe-inspiring) and show off quite a few features of the engine. After playing some of the adventures, Harvey was bouncing around like Richard Simmons on a sugar binge, ready to start flexing his own creativity. Fortunately, he wasn't disappointed.

The cornerstone of this software package, the Runesword II Creator, is what allows you to design your own adventures with the Runesword II engine. While the sample adventures that ship with the software are all fantasy-oriented, your imagination is the only limiting factor in what you can create with it; you can design any number of maps, define special events and encounters whenever and wherever you please, and practically any image, sound effect, or piece of music in the game can be replaced with your own.

The flexibility of the design tool is all thanks to RuneScript, the BASIC-like language which controls everything in the game from creature combat routines to spell effects. Programmers will be at home here (once they learn Runesword's object model), and even non-programmers should be able to pick up RuneScript with a little bit of effort.

On the off-chance that programming isn't your bag (or even if it is, and you're just lazy like me and Harvey) Runesword provides a second option for creating adventures with its adventure generator. Simply plug in some criteria (size of desired adventure, difficulty, and number of characters in the party) and Runesword II will generate a brand new adventure for you to play.

In the end, Runesword II is an utterly amazing game design tool, shackled to a game engine that does its job adequately (albeit with style points to spare). Retro game fans and pen-and-paper players will find a lot here to love, and anyone with a jones to design their own games will not be disappointed. My only problem at this point is keeping Harvey from monopolizing all my time.

Developer's Web Site: http://www.runesword.com

Publisher's Web Site: http://www.shrapnelgames.com

System Requirements: P166MHz w/ 32 MB RAM running Win95 / 98 / 2000, Mouse, 30 MB HDD space, CD-ROM drive, 800x600 Hi Color, Windows Compatible Sound.