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A review by ruzgofdi
Game Night by Jonny Nexus
2.0
"God does not play dice with the universe;..." Terry Pratchet, Good Omens.
"These gods should not play dice games. Period." Me, reviewing this book.
In a fantasy world of magic and dragons and elves ("they're not elves") a band of adventurers sets off on possibly the most important quest in existence: to become absurdly wealthy and ridiculously famous. And maybe prevent the end of the world, as a side effect of the wealth and fame thing.
But their fate is not of their own making. For each one of the mortals in this party was created by one of the gods of this world. Why? So the gods can fill a sliver of time that is eternity by playing a role playing game. The All Father has created the world and the disaster about to befall it. His players include The Warrior playing an Evil Paladin murder hobo, The Jester playing a loot the everything thief ("I thought you were a Scout"), The Sleeper "playing" a fighter in that he's occasionally woken up by the other gods and told to roll to see if the fighter does something, The Dealer playing a Northern tribesman that listens to the voices of the ancestors whenever he needs to know something the gods only know, and The Lady playing the long suffering female wizard that's more ore less the straight man to the other jokers at the table (including the indecisive, "railroady", and unhelpful game master that is The All Father).
I wonder what someone that has never played such a game would think about this book. I suspect that some would read through this and decide that they were glad they never had the chance to play. As someone that has, this feels like post-game therapy for having joined a bad group. Most if not all the classic problems are here and played for humor value. The person that wants to kill anything that looks at them funny, speaks to them, or has the audacity to breathe in their presence. Arguing over the morality of looting the corpse of an ally. Explaining what just happened to someone that isn't paying attention, why what just happened is a bad thing, and what they should do about it. While there is some humor in the interactions of the gods themselves, it is enhanced on several occasions by cutting to the mortal world as "reality" tries to keep up with the changes. From the extremes of Schroedinger's character where a guardian in the mortal world keeps bouncing between being alive and dead while the gods discuss whether he needs to be kept alive past a certain point, to arguments between the gods over needing to describe every action a mortal takes usually ending by cutting back to the mortal world where one of the adventurers is suddenly overcome with a need to use the rest room.
Didn't quite maintain its quality all the way to the end. Wasn't a huge fan of the twist, and tend to agree with the negative reaction one of the characters has to it.
"These gods should not play dice games. Period." Me, reviewing this book.
In a fantasy world of magic and dragons and elves ("they're not elves") a band of adventurers sets off on possibly the most important quest in existence: to become absurdly wealthy and ridiculously famous. And maybe prevent the end of the world, as a side effect of the wealth and fame thing.
But their fate is not of their own making. For each one of the mortals in this party was created by one of the gods of this world. Why? So the gods can fill a sliver of time that is eternity by playing a role playing game. The All Father has created the world and the disaster about to befall it. His players include The Warrior playing an Evil Paladin murder hobo, The Jester playing a loot the everything thief ("I thought you were a Scout"), The Sleeper "playing" a fighter in that he's occasionally woken up by the other gods and told to roll to see if the fighter does something, The Dealer playing a Northern tribesman that listens to the voices of the ancestors whenever he needs to know something the gods only know, and The Lady playing the long suffering female wizard that's more ore less the straight man to the other jokers at the table (including the indecisive, "railroady", and unhelpful game master that is The All Father).
I wonder what someone that has never played such a game would think about this book. I suspect that some would read through this and decide that they were glad they never had the chance to play. As someone that has, this feels like post-game therapy for having joined a bad group. Most if not all the classic problems are here and played for humor value. The person that wants to kill anything that looks at them funny, speaks to them, or has the audacity to breathe in their presence. Arguing over the morality of looting the corpse of an ally. Explaining what just happened to someone that isn't paying attention, why what just happened is a bad thing, and what they should do about it. While there is some humor in the interactions of the gods themselves, it is enhanced on several occasions by cutting to the mortal world as "reality" tries to keep up with the changes. From the extremes of Schroedinger's character where a guardian in the mortal world keeps bouncing between being alive and dead while the gods discuss whether he needs to be kept alive past a certain point, to arguments between the gods over needing to describe every action a mortal takes usually ending by cutting back to the mortal world where one of the adventurers is suddenly overcome with a need to use the rest room.
Didn't quite maintain its quality all the way to the end. Wasn't a huge fan of the twist, and tend to agree with the negative reaction one of the characters has to it.