Temple of Spades

My first thought when reading through the first page is that it felt like a DnD adventure with some friends in the basement during a storm. And then a few pages later I read about how suspicious it is that there are various dungeons scattered about the world, all coincidentally with similar hidden treasures and "rules" about how traps and so-on are lain—a subtle friendly jab at your neighborhood ponytailed, basement dwelling, Cheeto-eating DnD Dungeon Master. Rhall....

There was a humorous—and persistent—gentle brushing against the fourth wall throughout, from the somewhat anachronistic language in the monologues and dialogue, to aforementioned exposition about Rhall, who strangely made the entire world look like a tabletop RPG.

But if you cut through the self-aware humor, what you find is a light puzzle game with a few little odes to tabletop RPGs everywhere. The puzzles themselves were fairly predictable, but all were entertaining. I did have one grievance: the riddle about the six-limbed creature had some confusing choices. The links kind of suggested the correct answer was A, when in reality that was merely an elaboration on the protagonist's thoughts. But otherwise, they were fun.

Regarding these puzzles, however, there was one thing I was wondering about: how in the world did the dead adventurer found in the potion room mess up the potion? He had a note that gave away the answer! But fear not! This is no plot-hole. Nope. In my head cannon, what we have here is a COLORBLIND adventurer. THAT is why he died—he couldn't tell the difference between blue and green so he made an olive potion instead of a green one and drank his own demise. Or some other color mistake. It's quite a tragedy, if you think about it. He prepared so hard, had gotten so far, but in the moment of truth, he was so afraid someone else would steal the artifact that he took the risk instead of leaving and finding a way to distinguish colors and returning. And he paid the ultimate price. (Or perhaps he never even realized he was colorblind? That happens sometimes, and if so, it is doubly tragic).

Of course, that wasn't indicated, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not like the protagonist and his dwarf pal are going to be worried to much about why the other guy failed when they're sure they know the answer (recklessness is a requirement for any dungeon trawling adventurer—just ask the dead guy on the floor in that room).

The end of the story is a nice call back to the second paragraph of the story: our hero finally gets his magical sword. A fitting way to wrap up the mini adventure. However, I think Rhall has bigger and better plans for this small party of adventurers. What lies ahead for these two? Perhaps they will fight a dragon? Or dethrone a god? Only time—and a continuation of this story—will tell.


Overall, this isn't some heart wrenching grimdark tale that's going to haunt your nights for a week. It's a light DnD-style adventure and puzzle game—which is fine. It won't change your life, but it's a nice little diversion.

I'll give it a Cheeto-dust-covered thumbs up.

My former Genshin self is struggling with the companion character being Dvalinn… Disclaimer! To the author, I’m not exactly the best reviewer, so don’t take anything I say too hard.

The Good:
Although the world building in most RPG type games tend to deeply follow D&D or mythology, I felt this story did a decent job of establishing its own lore without deriving from other things too much. The writing was decent and the characters were consistent.

The Meh:
Pet peeve of mine, but I strongly dislike it when a story starts with a false choice. The riddles aren’t particularly difficult or even remotely challenging.

The Bad:
…It’s practically just D&D. There isn’t much of a difference between this and say, Baldur’s Gate with less graphics. Even the tile measurements are the same. Though the story was sort of different, I suppose, the actual mechanics were seemingly the same as some of BerkaZerka’s games. Oh, and of course, you instantly know how to work the magic sword.

Personal Notes:
The story started off fairly promising, but it deteriorated as it went along. The highest I can give it is a 4/8, because as a first storygame it was decent and fun to read.

I spent half an hour with this and don't regret my life choices. The setting is an of-the-shelf DnD-style fantasy--the type of world where things stop making sense the moment you think about them, glossed over with pratchetesque humor. The result is acceptable, I am not a fan, but some will like it.

There is really no plot or story to speak off, as it is just a series of riddles without meaningful choice. So, let's talk about the positive things. The actual writing is very good with a nicely flowing dialog, good descriptions, and likable characters. I would have loved to see that writing skill put to use in a real story.

Also the riddles (and even the dwarf jokes) are creative and well designed.

So in summary, this is really a series of six in a fantasy setting. If you expect a deep story you will be disappointed, but if you want puzzles and a quick entertaining read you will be delighted.

Fun little game. The riddles are just difficult enough and can be deduced with reason and logic, even in regards to magical effects. Certainly worth a read.

Well I haven't touched D&D for ever so long so this was a trip down memory lane, in a way.
The puzzles & riddles were good, and I didn't spot any typos. The ending was a little unsatisfying somehow, but I like the twist that finally the cautious dwarf takes a risk.

It was pretty cool. Some ofthe puzzles felt a little random but other that that everything was good. Didn't see any grammatical mistakes while playing.

This is very good for a first storygame. The writing was entertaining, and the characters, as well as the interactions between them, were amusing to read. The puzzles weren't particularly difficult, but they were still fresh, well-written, and fun to solve. Overall, I liked it!

This story felt like a cross between Tower of Riddles and The Riddles of the Guardian, two other stories on this site, with the dwarven sidekick and shorter length of The Riddles of the Guardian and the better and more numerous puzzles/riddles of Tower of Riddles.

Good:

1. The writing was enjoyable, in particular in its descriptiveness. There was enough flavor and description for me to picture each individual chamber and appreciate the camaraderie between the protagonists. I also wasn't distracted from the plot by any technical errors.

2. The puzzles and riddles were original and satisfying. The solutions made logical sense for the most part. The difficulty levels were also appropriate, being potentially challenging but not impossible.

3. I really liked how well the clues for each puzzle/riddle were embedded in the story. They walked the fine line between being noticeable enough for people to remember but not so obvious that they come off as awkward. The skillfully embedded clues enabled the outcome of this story to be based on reader deductive reasoning skill rather than luck, making the story that much more rewarding.

Bad:

1. For the old man riddle, I had been expecting the old man to be the Shadow Demon as soon as the scene unfolded, and expected one of the choices at the bottom to be the option to cut off the old man's neck (after all, that's what the books had hinted at earlier, especially since it was also hinted at that I should take the initiative in killing the Shadow Demon before it had the chance to attack me, and this was the perfect moment). So when I saw the two given choices, I was expecting the Stab him option to then give me a choice of where to stab him (in the head, in the neck, in the stomach, in the leg, etc.) and the earlier hinted-at target to be the correct choice for this puzzle. Obviously, I was disappointed that that choice ended in immediate death and that telling him a joke somehow was the logical resolution of that puzzle (I don't see how telling a Shadow Demon a joke makes sense based on earlier hints).

Ugly:

1. Some story elements didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story. The room maps, while detailed, didn't seem to provide any information that wasn't already mentioned in the text, while their graphic style broke the immersion of the story for me a little bit. Finally, for someone so deliberate and rational, as he would be if he could make it to the end of the game without dying, Faldor sure seems needlessly reckless, in actions such as drinking strange vials of liquid without knowing what they were (at least one of which surely led to another adventurer's recent death, while the parchment just said to brew a potion green, not even drink any of the liquids).

Overall, a good puzzle/riddle story that made me want to read more writing from this author.

I really liked the puzzles, and that's saying something because I'm really not good at puzzles. I also liked the descriptions of the characters and what they had to offer. I really liked the whole environment because I felt like I was really their, and the joke with the old man reminded me of other story games where the characters had to sacrifice something to get something; I think the way this was done on a smaller scale in which even though offending your friend might not seem like a big problem, it can be was well done.

This is game is rather interesting, well-executed, but most of all, rather fun. What's here is a story-game that I would want to play again to see all that is has to offer.


Not a bad job at all, JessieJump.