Short Review: Erfworld

[jeriendhal]

I've been archive diving through Erfworld the past couple of days at work. The concept is simple: Like Order of the Stick it's a fantasy story set in a world using rules mechanics that the characters are aware of (a computer turned based fantasy war game in this case, not a tabletop RPG.) Unlike OOTS it plays the concept mostly straight.

"I won't be a game piece. You hear me? I'm a player! FUCK YOU!"

Anyway, Parson Gotti (an anagram of "Protagonist") is overweight, twenty-something gaming obsessed geek out of college and stuck with a car that's half dead and a lousy job at Kinkos. Until he gets pulled into Erfworld and is made "Lord Hamster", after being summoned by Overlord Stanley's minions who were seeking the Perfect Warlord to defend their city. It would seem they're really short on troops and hope, since the Royal Crown Coalition, led by Prince Ansom, is on the verge of taking their last city.

Mild problem: They also happen to be the bad guys.

Review: This is a story that digs its claws into you. It's easy to sympathize with Gotti. He might be (bluntly) overweight and unattractive, but he's smart, and he does his research as he tries to figure out the world's rules, compelled by the loyalty spell that Stanley slapped on him as part of the summoning ritual. And it's a real war being fought, with real casualties, and real horrors. Which are made all the worse by the damned cutesy names and creatures (you don't die, you "croak", dragons are "dwagons", Ansom's main flying steeds are dried out Peeps, and his second in command is a cross between a vampire and The Fonz) It isn't long before Lord Hamster starts to figure out that maybe gaming the system isn't going to be as fun as he wants it to be.

It also didn't help that I heard about Micheal Jackson dying yesterday, just before I got to this page

Comments

[sraun]

I still haven't decided who the good guys and the bad guys are in Erfworld. In some ways, it's not a concept that's applicable to the world.

Are you current yet? There's some stuff in the recent past that has ... interesting implications. I don't want to do spoilers.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

It's a great strip. I have to go back and re-read from the beginning occasionally, because there's subtle stuff I miss when months have gone by between incidents.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I've made my way through the archives and the summer text posts. Yes, there's a lot there to think about. Personally I'm betting that eventually Parson is going to figure out that Charlie is going to have to be taken down.

[sraun]

I don't think Charlie's in charge any more - I think Wanda and he have switched places. What that says about what Parson is going to decide ... doesn't make much difference.

If I identify a character as the Abbess, do you know who I mean? I suspect she may be right - in the long run, Parson is likely to break the game completely, and allow peace - a rarely known, and only for brief periods of time, peace - to come to the land. I haven't the faintest idea how he's going to do it! His reflections in the most recent text post really lead me to think he's going to decide that a few more deaths in the short run are worth it to break the system completely in the long run.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing he'll have to find a way to make it a different game, one based on trade as opposed to physical conflict. Think of the differences between Civilization and it's more obscure cousin Colonization.

[sraun]

Caveat - I'm talking about the board game Civ, the computer game never did anything for me.

I've never heard of Colonization - is it a combat-driven game? We always found that the combat in Civ was ... pretty localized? There is conflict - but it tends to be border & population driven, not central. Advanced Civ tried to make combat look more attractive - it didn't succeed enough.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Colonization was mostly a trade and resource game. You could attack rival colonies (especially if they were rivals to your founding kingdom) but it was better to avoid it. The only really necessary combat came in the endgame, when you rebelled to establish your new nation.

[siderea]

Oh, neat! Thanks for the pointer. Now give me back my lost sleep.