They have a long and rich history that dates back to before the Cataclysm, but they keep it secret from other races. They are also curious and adventurous, always seeking new knowledge and experiences. They are masters of magic and technology, combining arcane and mechanical devices to create wonders and wonders. The gnomes of Solasta are a mysterious and elusive race that dwell in the hidden corners of the world. They can use it royalty free, its a gift. Dragonborn Gnomes are still rare and fairly secretive, but with most having completely forgotten about the Soraks, they are only recently starting to leave gnometown and venture back into more civilized lands. And given some of the physical similarities the Sorr-Akkath goblins, the appearance of Dragonborn gnomes would often draw suspicion from those unfamiliar with the race. The newly freed slaves did not look too kindly upon their former elven master, nor their collaborators, such as Dragonborn gnomes. Although, they were well accepted in the Manacalon Empire, they became very reclusive following the Cataclysm. That said, the character voice work is uniformly excellent and the largely-orchestral musical score is particularly strong for a relatively small-budget game.The Dragonborn gnomes are descendants of unions between polymorphed dragons halflings and humans goblins. The game play mechanics are strong enough to carry the experience for the most part but the dated-looking character models definitely distract at times. Although the game’s environments and level design are very good, there is no disguising the budget nature of textures, faces and enemies which really suffer in comparison to higher profile RPGs from bigger studios. Less up-to-date are the game’s graphics, in particular its character models. The UI looks contemporary and a little corporate, with nary a Ye Olde Font to be seen but it is a model for clarity and organization. Thanks to a remarkably elegant interface, the typically dense body of stats and information that is integral to the CRPG experience is presented cleanly and logically. Although the story itself isn’t groundbreaking, Solasta’s moment-to-moment game play kept me hooked enough to keep going. Combat is particularly engaging, making use of lighting, vertical placement and positioning in smart and true-to-D&D ways, while still giving the player options on how to run the game. Solasta’s story is substantial enough, sprawling over three large chapters, many distinct locales and including dozens of main and side quests that will challenge the full range of your party’s abilities as it develops. Following the tutorial missions, your party is sworn in as official deputies of the state, tasked to locate a missing official and the campaign proper begins. Although it’s possible to use a quartet of pre-rolled characters, Solasta’s character creation tools are thorough, easy to use and they get the tabletop experience exactly right. Solasta: Crown of the Magister begins, as so many great adventures do, in a tavern, with members of your party trading tall tales that then become short tutorial missions for each character. An orc smells just as bad in Solasta as in the Forgotten Realms. Thanks to Solasta’s elegant and thorough character creation system, however, it’s entirely possible to come very close to all the classes and subclasses of 5E, and while race selection is absent of many familiar favorites, and experienced Dungeons and Dragons players will probably miss some of the licensed content, for casual fantasy game players Solasta’s versions of the standard elements will be more than adequate. What using SRD 5.1 doesn’t include is the full range of iconic licensed characters, spells, classes, races and monsters from the Fifth Edition game itself. Solasta: Crown of the Magister was funded on Kickstarter in 2019 and uses the Dungeons and Dragons Systems Reference Document 5.1, which translates into game play that hews closely to the letter of the D&D law. Nowadays it’s harder to find and gather a crew of willing, vaccinated, grown-ass adult role-players so I get my fix from listening to The Adventure Zone and playing CRPGs. I go way back with D&D, to the days of buying game modules in ziplock bags out of the back of Gary Gygax’s VW Beetle and carving my own 20-sided dice out of chunks of pure Nerdite.
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