Knights of the Chalice -- classic D&D with a killer DM

[Noumenon]

This indie computer RPG seems like it should have a natural audience here at Enworld -- or a few of them. Classic dungeon crawling with a fighter, magic-user and cleric where the wizard ambushes you with a lightning bolt down the hallway? That's very old school. A game that knows every corner of the 3.5 rules? There are lots of rules experts here. A game with meaningful choices, nonlinear dungeons, and a "rat bastard" DM? It sounds like a lot of peope here would appreciate that.

The demo is here. One review is here. The demo is practically a standalone game in itself. I loved how I could just pick it up and play it because it uses 3.5 rules, so I was automatically an expert. There are quite a few modifications, too, but the learning curve is part of the fun.

It's hard for me to describe why I found the game so fun, since the DM is so unfair when he ambushes you and he does things like hiding the campfire underground in the demo (so you wander around aboveground till you run out of spells and you can't rest without the campfire). You just have to accept that the game is meant to be played with save and reload. In fact if you wanna beat the evil lich you're probably going to have to start over from scratch.

The demo is long enough and fun enough to be a game in itself. I highly recommend trying it.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Thanks, I'll have to check it out sometime.

 

[Noumenon]

One person described it as "D&D as a chess game." By being so hard, it definitely gets you strategizing in ways you don't have to bother in the easier pen-and-paper version.

I think the Orc Stockade dungeon was designed to be the opposite of the "15-minute adventuring day." You'll sure be glad you brought some fighters when you're trapped in that dungeon for what seems like twenty encounters in a row and can't rest.