“This personal motivation becomes more than roleplay flavour”
ROADWARDEN’S time constraints have me committing to character
he mayor of Howler’s Dell thinks I’m naive. It’s a large settlement with an expanding economy outpacing the rest of the region, and in theory I’m meant to be setting up trade routes between here and the city. When she asks what I really want, though, I tell her the truth: I just want to help people.
TAs a roadwarden, your task is to clear roads, act as a messenger, and establish trade, but at the start of the game you get to decide what your journey means to you. Do you want renown, wealth, or a place to hang your hat at the end of the day? I choose to help—but I only have 40 days before I return to the city.
The time limit is an optional difficulty setting, but one that adds direction. As I watch the days tick past, and the days become shorter, this personal motivation becomes more than roleplay flavor. I simply don’t have the time not to prioritize.
The RPG staple of trekking from place to place wrapping up your sidequests before crossing the point of no return is an indulgence I can’t afford. Instead, as I approach the end of my time in the region, I have to choose which threads to pursue and which ones to cut.
ON THE ROAD
One of those earliest threads is that of the previous roadwarden, Asterion. He’s gone missing, hence my arrival in the area. But the region is troubled by plague, necromancy, wild beasts, and village politicking. As far as everyone else can be concerned, he went off into the wilderness and never came back.
Both action and inaction matter in Roadwarden. It’s not so cynical as a zero sum game, as helping one person doesn’t automatically tip the scales and hurt another somewhere else, but it’s more complicated than simply having good intentions.
A healing potion I give to one person can’t be sold to another, and it can’t be used to spare a day of resting from my limited time. It matters that people trust me enough to ask for help—and when there are conflicting voices on the best way forward, that I’m informed enough to put my resources to one path over another.
When I’m closing up on my 40 days, I think about the choices I have available to me, and what might happen in the absence of my action. In the pursuit of truth and decency, I can choose to follow a man who may already be long dead. Meanwhile, there are people I know I can help who I’d otherwise be leaving to their fates.
So I overthrow the mayor.
THE REGION IS TROUBLED BY PLAGUE, NECROMANCY, AND VILLAGE POLITICKING