Price: $17.95 I've said it before, as an adventure games magazine publisher, one of the things I love the most is getting a gander of the best, newest product coming out. But even amid all of the great games and source books we see, there does come a point when JC Carter and I scream in unison, "Not another core rules book!" So, when I received a copy of the Knucklecluster Interactive Wesern Adventure "The Devil's Addition" I immediately did a doubletake. You see, one of the usual problems associated with reviewing a game product is determining whether it's worth the time of gathering the group together and teaching everyone how to play the game for the purposes of playtesting it for review. Let me back up a bit... In mid-February I received a package in the mail from one Forrest Harris. It contained a game book, cover letter and press release materials. The tag line, Interactive Western Adventure, automatically appealed to the weird west gamer in me. Don't get me wrong. This is not a Pinnacle Entertainment product, as I soon found out. According to Knucklecluster Publications, an Interactive Western Adventure is a game you can play all by yourself. The detail in this game is very well done as are the art and design layout. After cracking open the dynamic full-color cover in which I found myself peering down the business end of Wild Bill's shootin' iron, I found myself quickly immersed in very straight-forward and well written game instructions. As it turned out, I was to play a character named Red Lewis, a fictional character in among several factual accounts of the era. The book then went into a brief account of the setting in Abilene, Kansas, complete with characters and events that are at times explained in greater details as sidebars, which I found really added a "reality" to the game setting. From this point on, I was on my own. While I hope that I don't distract from the quality and content of this game and the work that Mr. Harris put into "The Devil's Addition," the actual playability of the game has the feel of a Choose Your Own Adventure for grownups. You begin at detail #1, reading through the story description. At the end of each section you decide how best for your character to proceed. But it's not as simple as that. You have to keep track of your cash, and lack thereof has a direct effect on interactive game play. There are also scores to be kept, because the game is designed to be played more than once and the only competition you have is yourself. (Although as I played the game, I found myself wanting to record my score and then have my wife play and see who came out on top.) Now, all of this may sound a bit drab for you, but don't be fooled. The adding of dice into the game design throws a random element into the story which unfolds. There are, in fact, several points when your are completely at the mercy of the "bones." Don't worry, if you die horribly, as I did, you can always go back to point one and start again. As there are 400 choices to be made, influenced of course by cash and the luck of the dice, so each story unfolds with an air of mystery, as well as the comfort of having been in certain situations before. Overall, I've been very impressed with "The Devil's Addition." All it takes to play is me and set of dice. Since I was never really very good a Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid, I feel like I've been given a chance to redeem myself. If I could suggest any changes, I would make two: bring the price down bit so that it's more in the realm of affordability for a game that you play by yourself--or make the game longer than 400 decisions; and the second would be for Knuckleduster Publications to expand on their product line. With all of the different genres to explore, I could easily see this type of Interactive Adventure to adapt well to sci-fi, fantasy or horror. I'd be extremely interested in seeing how those universes play out. For those of you frustrated with the challenges of gathering a group together to game, or you just want something to do at your leisure, I'd recommend picking up a copy of "The Devil's Addition" by Knuckleduster Publications. Back to Masters of Role Playing #7 Table of Contents Back to Masters of Role Playing List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Chalice Publications. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com