Kingmaker

By Matt Staggs

Kingmaker, Ludibrium Games, Fantasy Role-Playing Adventure, $2.95. www.LudibriumGames.com.

Kingmaker is a short adventure for use with OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, or any of the other popular “retro-clone” role-playing systems emulating the older editions of Dungeons & Dragons, and is written for a group of first-level characters.

As Kingmaker opens, the adventurers have been hired to escort a caravan of valuable trade goods that also includes the son of a powerful local merchant. It is assumed that this will be a routine mission, but during the course of the game the adventurers discover that there’s more to their employers’ story than they’ve been told. Each new stretch of road brings both danger and temptation, and how the adventurers respond could decide the fates of thousands.

Kingmaker is a fun adventure, but will require a little extra effort from the gamemaster, to achieve the game’s full potential. This isn’t a dungeon crawl: there aren’t any maps or numbered encounter areas. Instead, the adventure unfolds over a series of encounters, the consequences of which will drive the course of the story.

Kingmaker is an engaging respite from the familiar dungeon quest that players are sure to enjoy.

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