Puffin Books, £2.25, ISBN 0-14-032548-4
Fantasy, 1988

Slaves of the Abyss is best played after The Riddling Reaver, because this campaign is set after that one. Coincidentally, heh, these two campaigns are by the same people, although this one is far more insanely difficult than the previous related campaign. Then again, we are talking about Paul Mason and Steve Williams here.

Kallamehr is now ruled by Lady Carolina, but the poor dear isn’t having a good time of it, as the town-state was besieged by its enemies like there is a giant sign over the tallest building that says “Attack me! It’ll be fun!” The latest of the soon-to-be gatecrashers are from Bei-Han from the north.

You are one of the heroes summoned to aid the city-state in preparing for the defense. You can do scouting, delivering a message to half the army that is out there doing who knows what to come back to defend the city-state, or take part in the defenses yourself. You have with you a sword that immediately kills your opponent with the roll of two sixes, so how hard can this be?

Slaves from the Abyss is not as straightforward as it seems on paper, naturally. In fact, it comes closest to a pseudo-cosmic horror campaign, as you will go from a “mundane”, comparatively, hack and slash and collect all the crap you come across affair to discovering that there is a greater force at play than your silly warrior antics. Kallamehr? Pffft! Who cares, when you will have the opportunity to transcend your weak mortal shell… or be crushed by forces of powers beyond your puny imagination?

Just like Black Vein Prophecy and other campaigns by these authors, this one can be unnecessarily complex at times, but it makes for an interesting story. There are betrayals, treachery, interesting encounters and scenarios, and more, and things can be on the unpredictable and even zany side as you turn the pages.

The key word here is “story”, because playing this thing can be a pain in the rear end. It’s fiendishly linear in the sense that many of the options give the illusion of choice, but most of them can lead to instant deaths a few sections later or you are railroaded back to the option that is supposed to be the one you are intended to take.

This is something Mr Mason and Mr Williams are also guilty of in their other campaigns, but this time around, the railroading and forced instant bad endings are so abrupt, like pianos crashing onto your head, that the whole thing feels contrived and even lazy. Couple this to many, many decisions you have to make blindly without having any clue as to what may happen if you do this or that, and you may end up feeling like this thing is just having fun at yanking your chain and jerking you around.

Black Vein Prophecy works because the storytelling compensates very well for the often tortuous effort to find the one optimal path to the best ending of that campaign, while the sequel doesn’t fare as well because the weaker story only underscores how everything is stacked against you from the start. This one is somewhere in between, as the story almost balances out the shenanigans designed to raise your blood pressure. Almost, that is.