Friday, May 7, 2010

Expansion Review - D&D Scape


I used to play a whole lot of roleplaying games. I played everything from small-press rags to big-dollar productions, and I played Dungeons & Dragons more than anything else. It wasn't my favorite, really, it was just that it had more modules and stuff, and everyone knew the rules. Sure, I would have rather played Deadlands or Blue Planet, but when everyone around you plays D&D, you either play D&D or you play online solitaire. And I did love to play D&D, so that worked out.

That was a long time ago, though, and I don't play many roleplaying games any more. I discovered at some point that the greatest danger in D&D was not that you might end up worshiping Satan, it was that it made it harder to get laid. I might break out D&D with the kids if they're bored on the weekend, but for the most part, those days are past. I still get a little nostalgic about it now and then, though, and so when I heard that Wizards was going to do D&D Scape, I was pretty excited.

Turns out, not everyone was with me. I was amazed at the angered masses who were furious because Dungeons & Dragons was going to wind up hip-deep in HeroScape (or the other way around, depending on who you're asking). To me, this was more HeroScape, and best of all, it finally addressed my greatest concern with the game. For years I've been getting less interested in HeroScape because of the bizarre, rather silly theme - I can only pit elves against robots and superheroes so many times before I start to see it as an exercise in tactical positioning. The story element disappears along with my suspension of disbelief, and then it's just too dry to eat up all my spare time.

But now, the story is back, and it's better than ever. I know a bunch of you may be in the 'D&D ruined Scape' camp, and I can understand that, but for me, this is like a Red Bull to the brain stem. I'm suddenly excited to play HeroScape again.

To understand what makes D&D Scape so great, I'll start with what doesn't. For starters, the new figures are cool, but that's not the hook. If I really want the figures that badly, I can always just go buy the D&D Minis. That's all these are, unfortunately. They just ran down some of the D&D prepaints and popped them onto a HeroScape base. That really feels a little cheap.

It's not the new price, either. Sure, the D&D master set is cheaper than the original, but it's not hard to see where they saved the money. You get eight dice instead of twelve. You get less than half the terrain, and only a third of the figures. It's 25% cheaper for half as much stuff, and in case numbers confuse you, that sucks. I can sure see why long-term players would feel a little rooked.

And it's not the new terrain types, either. The only new terrain pieces are dungeon, shadow and stalactites - and those are exactly the same sculpts as grass, water and icebergs, but now in shades of gray. You could create every piece of terrain yourself from the buckets of stuff you already own, using just a couple cans of spray paint and an ink roller.

With all these shortcuts and cost-reductions, it's not hard to see why the die-hard fans might feel a little misused. No more metal-winged angels fighting zombies and minutemen, no Vydar in this box or even the next wave, and the value you used to enjoy when you opened a master set dropping right down the toilet - these are good reasons to be pissed. You can't build big armies, because you don't have enough figures, and you can't build big maps, because you're short on tiles. Plus there's a common squad in the box... but just the one. So you have to buy a bunch more. Up to this point, you may feel a little like Wizards just showed you a giant dildo and said, 'here, hold this in your ass.'

But when Erevan blasts the advancing troll with flaming death, and the drow elves quit laughing and gape in horror as their greatest ally goes up in smoke, you won't be telling your friends about the exciting story of how you rolled double skulls three times in a row and left your opponent with all his order markers on the dead guy. You'll be shouting about how that one elf sorcerer ran pell-mell to escape the bloodshed as his compatriots fell like wheat, and then turned on his attacker to blast that evil troll into ashes with a last-minute attack of desperation. You're suddenly not seeing skulls, shields and wound markers. Now you're seeing dark caves and magic spells and ferocious dragons. Now the game turns into a story.

And that's where D&D Scape redeems itself. Classic HeroScape is a fantastic game, but it rarely felt like a story to me unless I built theme armies like werewolves versus vampires. It was tough to really drop into the game, or experience the immersion I used to get from a night of Dungeons & Dragons. Now, when your last surviving hero leaps atop the rocky outcropping and succeeds in beating back a host of dark elves, you'll celebrate his victory, not his die-rolling. You need smart play to win, but now you have a tale of heroics unfolding as you play.

It's not just the consistent theme that makes this work, either. The new master set includes a campaign feature that lets you keep surviving heroes from one battle to the next, and instead of building huge outdoor maps, each fight is a room in a dungeon. Sure, you can still just draft a 500 point army and battle across some uneven ground, but I could do that before. Now my fights have a purpose outside placing third in the local tournament. Now I'm fighting to stop the spread of evil!

For the old-school fans out there, D&D Scape will work just fine with the classic version you know and love. Points are balanced, figures have cool powers, and there are lots of great ways to make your people work together. Strip out the story and the license, and this is still HeroScape. It's just that now you don't get as much for your money.

I'm certainly not going to try to talk you down if you hate D&D HeroScape. I can think of lots of reasons that the execution of this set was a disappointment. I'm not going to attempt to convince you that you're wrong - but I'm still incredibly happy this happened. Because for the first time in a year or two, I'm really excited to play HeroScape again.

Summary

Pros:
Story! Theme! Consistency!
New terrain types and treasure glyphs add a lot to the game
Connected games make you feel like you're telling a continuing saga

Cons:
So many shortcuts to save money might make you feel a little abused.

I'm going to have to take a cattle prod to Dogstar Games to get them to list the new D&D Scape stuff. It's like passing on free money.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm still not interested in it until I can add dungeon-looking walls to the maps. Get those made and then I'll buy a set.

Anonymous said...

The game I have waited my whole life for! I like teh D&D scape , the figures and mosters are more for dungeon crawling and bonding your units so you won´t get many guys worthy of tournament play, but it is a whole lot of fun. I think for kids who have a whole lot more time then me, this thing rocks, I can see making super cool dungeons for my friends to run through, I also like the new shadow spaces. We are just spoile dwith how much Plasti-crack was in the original MS, now we also want more!

Hendal

Parduz said...

I did'nt understood that the figures was D&D Minis and not HS minis... but the D&D miniatures i own are smaller than the HS ones.... yes, mine are old, "3.5" minis...
did they change the scale?

Death and Taxis said...

I am a D&D 'Scape Hater.
But I enjoyed your review and you addressed the pros and cons honestly and fairly.
But I still hate it.

Wind Lane said...

I'm one of those guys that has yet to get bored with classic scape, and I love this addition to it. If I bought a refurbished TV, but it still played all my favorite shows and even brought me some new ones I would not hate the TV and stop watching it.

That's exactly what we got here. New would always be preferred, but the only non-new thing were the stalagmite and figure sculpts. All these new cards, powers, and terrain advantages/styles - it's great!

I'm looking forward to D2.

RĂ¿chean said...

Passing on free money indeed. Bottom line is that Heroscape sells no matter what is done to it. Lengthy time between releases? No Problem. Kick it down to a sub company? No biggie. Rehash old terrain and sculpts into something “new”? SOLD! It really doesn’t matter what they do to it; it sells.

I think WotC deserves some credit for trying something that would have had huge backlash from both core groups. They took a chance, and like it or not classic ‘scape guys, it is paying off for WotC and for us, too. After all we have new Heroscape units, new glyphs, new terrain type and a new style of play.

Yoricks bones said...

Maybe this will reconcile my little free time, D&D nostalgia and desire for a simpler ruleset and some tactical monster-slaying.

I have a question, though: How well does this package do when not combined with anything? Is it a good standalone game?

PS. Roguescape seems to be defunct, so I'm guessing you won't be doing any more digging there...