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Sword Coast Legends DM Mode Impression - E3
06.18.2015

ALEX FULLER
NEWS DIRECTOR
CHRIS PRIVITERE
RPG CAST PRODUCER


Sword Coast Legends

As well as offering more traditional single player and multiplayer campaigns, Sword Coast Legends also lets one player take on the role of DM and adjust the experience accordingly. RPGamer's Chris Privitere gleefully accepted the task of making the party's dungeon dive somewhat more interesting.

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Sword Coast Legends promises to be a lot of fun for a group of friends who want to have the fun of a crazy made-up pen-and-paper campaign, but don't want to get out the grid map and erasable markers. The game can be played in a traditional co-op sense with up to four players taking on the main story. However, there is also an extensive DM mode where one player gets to be the DM and slaughter... er... guide up to four players through some made-up insanity... er... a riveting story.

I was able to play the DM role. After being handed a dungeon that the developers designed before my eyes in about five minutes, I was able to sit down and watch as the party worked their way through it. All the while a little meter in the upper right corner grew. This gave me access to DM threat. This resource let me put down more monsters and traps into rooms that the party had yet to reach, in order to better ensure victory for my minions... er... shake up the campaign based on how it was going.

OK, I won't lie. I wanted to wipe the party. And I was willing to do anything I could to do so. I placed obvious traps down, and then put traps with near impossible check rolls right behind them. I peppered rooms full of low-cost spider eggs to keep the party occupied while I put down stealth traps underneath treasure chests in another room. I eagerly waited until my meter filled up and I was able to place down a giant demon capable of summoning other demons right on top of the party while they were dealing with four other monsters.

Then I found the cosmetic items. Since the party was running around dealing with four spiders and a bunch of poison status effects, I looked through what I could place to adequately set the mood of this bloodbath. The only animal in the menu was a horse. So I placed a dead horse in the middle of the next room (with a spike trap under it, of course). Then I found some torture racks and stuck a couple of them next to the horse. Finally, I placed a live horse in the torture rack and was able to set its hover text to say "help meeee". Very satisfying.

After the party commented "what the hell is going on with all the horses," I knew I was on to something good. So as they entered the next room. I made a line of horse corpses (all while commenting about "beating a dead horse" much to the room's delight), smeared them with blood stains, and set the whole line on fire. Then I threw down some more spiders and another demon-summoning demon. After running around poisoned and on fire for a while, one of the other journalists politely excused themselves and noted that they had to go to another appointment. Before leaving, he came over to me and let me know that I was the worst DM ever.

Mission accomplished.

(Apologies to @cheapyd and @shipwreck from cheapassgamer.com, who had to endure my self-indulgent power trip.)



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