The Perilous Plot

Originally written on the intfiction forums. Minor edits were made.

You’re a dastardly villain in a suitably moody mansion, whose antics are limited to threatening the heroes by making quips, attempted blackmail, or, perhaps the most effective, glaring menacingly at them until they faint. You are given a choice between two random rooms to go into (which eventually repeat after eight or so turns), and in each room, decide whether to confront the heroes using your gaze or hopefully cutting words, use or scavenge for items or silently observe your opponents. Your chances of success are up to random chance, though the effectiveness of your gaze, the location, and the weather can help or hinder you.

There are two ways to win, either by making the heroes faint enough or getting enough plot points. I thought it was pretty easy racking up the required number of faints, but I never found a consistent way of getting enough plot points. The first few times I chose to look for items, I didn’t get any so I stopped picking that option altogether. If you attempt to use an item you already have, the game will automatically pick one appropriate for the current situation or tell you it’s no use and waste a turn. Getting a considerable amount of failed gaze checks lowers their effectiveness, but some smart use of picking locations with appropriate weather should override that - if the RNG favors you. Eventually, I ended up finding the game structure and descriptions to be repetitive when I had two more faints left to go, and continuously spammed Gaze while only skimming the results text.

Frustrations aside, having a stare so powerful that people faint from it is the energy I wish I could have. With some more text variety and clarity on the stat checks, I would feel more comfortable recommending The Perilous Plot to a wider audience, beyond those who are intimately familiar with authors like Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Gregory Lewis.