First Play: Exiles of the Wicked Maze

While we have all more or less been socially distanced, I got an email from Nordic Weasel Games, from whom I purchased a game recently. It announced that a couple of their titles were included in the latest offering from the folks over at Bundle of Holding. These fellows partner with RPG Drive Thru and Wargame Vault, the game suppliers, to put together bundles of independently developed games. They set a price at which you may purchase some of the titles on offer, dubbed the "beginner bundle". You have the option of paying more as some portion of the proceeds are donated to a charity. A second bundle, dubbed "bonus bundle", is also available for those who choose to pay more than a certain threshold price. This second price is somehow calculated based on the donations made, so I assume it fluctuates, though I haven't noticed it change. All told, it seems to be a good way to try out some games and support a good cause.

The games are delivered as PDFs as they are RPGs or tabletop miniature wargame rules that usually only require some print-offs, dice, and pencil.

I've been directed their way a couple of times, probably through Board Game Geek, but wasn't all that keenly interested in the titles on offer at those times. However, this time was different. Perhaps it was my budgeted spending money burning a hole in my pocket. I have been filling and emptying the carts on Amazon, Ebay, and Aliexpress, but I just couldn't commit. I waited a couple days on the Bundle as well, but finally pulled the trigger, getting the small bundle with three solo-playable RPGs and two solo skirmish wargames (the Nordic Weasel offerings).

I played the first one today: Exiles of the Wicked Maze. It's a very simple game. It is also quite random as 90% of the game is rolling a d20 to find out what wants to fight you, whether a trap hits you, how much gold was in that pouch you found, what that glowing mushroom you chose to eat does to you, etc. 

There are two countdown mechanics in the form of hit points and sick points. You start with 100 hp, which goes down as you set off traps and take hits from foes. Some foes and traps give you sick points, of which you must stay below 30. You may acquire potions to restore health. You might also gamble on the mushrooms, just as likely to make things better as they are to make things worse.

The fact that randomness plays such a big part made me think that my character, who I named Shambol, would probably die. I'm accustomed to losing these kinds of games that rely so heavily on the dice gods' favour.

So, as the fluff goes, Shambol finds himself thrust into the entrance of the maze, the common punishment for the convicted felons of the kingdom. A die roll reveals that Shambol was caught producing forged official documents. However, there is a small chance that he could redeem himself and gain pardon. You see, the maze used to be where the kings kept their treasures and, as it slowly turned from safe to prison, many of those treasures were forgotten and left inside. So, if a prisoner can survive the maze, find the exit, and retrieve enough treasure to pay 5000 gold pieces at the exit, he or she is allowed to go free!

Right off the bat, the choices are to confront a foe, eat a mushroom, or try to avoid a hazard. This could be tough. I'd read some of the reviews, most of them touted the maze as a difficult game to win. Thus, I got lucky.

I think the thing that really helped a lot is that the first item Shambol found allowed me to roll twice for foes and choose the one I want. Next best was that I rolled some average armour and weapon, giving me a +3 on attacks and defense. I also got a magic bag that let me gamble the gems, throw in two and roll for a new one and got really lucky twice (unlucky at least twice as well). I chose to face a minotaur and beat it after taking three rounds of damage. I lucked out on mushrooms and alchemical finds to keep my health up then used a transporter that randomly (and really luckily) placed me really close to the exit. By this time, I already had over half the gold Shambol needed to buy his freedom. So he first cleared the path to the exit, then wandered around hoping to be able to collect the rest without having to transport again. He already had some sick points by now, but only 4. With low health, I took a chance on some mushrooms, first was a -10hp, next was a +25hp, final was a +20 sick points! I got lucky again with another alcemical find that boosted Shambol to over 80hp, then a really good artifact find put me over the top and Shambol high-tailed it to the exit with treasure worth 5465 gold pieces, 80hp, and 28sp.

The end of Shambol's adventure.

I think I was really lucky. Looking at the map, I might have gone through maybe 10% of the maze. Had I rolled some other portal exit, I think my character would have had a harder time staying alive. I'd like to try it again to see how things turn out.

Exiles of the Wicked Maze is a fun little diversion if you're looking for a narrative. It reminds me of B-17: Queen of the Skies and the print and play version of Aether Captains for the amount of dice rolling you do and for how much it's really the dice directing the story. That's not a bad thing, it just might not be for everybody. I certainly enjoy just going along for the ride from time to time.

***
It's a couple of days later and I got my almost-8-year-old son to play. I rolled for all the foes and hazards and he rolled for all the fighting and finds (Made things move a lot quicker, which is a good thing for keeping his attention). He loved it. He was quite lucky in his rolls, until he met the Minotaur (missed it three times, so he took 30 damage or more). Then, one foe encounter away from a clear shot to the maze exit, his character died, with about 100 gold above the target! Nooo! I let him give up one of his relics to stay alive, but that meant finding more treasures before he could leave, he found a King's chest, but couldn't open it. That's when the lucky streak came back. Being able to bribe the last foe he would meet with a spare weapon,  he found a relic that put him about 500 gold over what he needed. Without any hesitation, Nic Danger fled the maze with 39hp, 28sp, and roughly 540gp above the 5000.

My son covered a lot more ground, dying on that foe just before the snakey, zig zaggy bit in the bottom right. He'd found a mage bow and I so wanted him to be able to use it, but when he rolled for gems it was always one of the same three, never the ones needed for the bow.

As of my posting this there are 11 days until the end of the Solo Games bundle offering. So if you're interested in trying a solo adventure and you have 8 U.S. dollars you can spend, why not give it a go? Part of the proceeds of this bundle go to providing medical equipment to health care workers dealing directly with Covid-19.