The Hero of Kendrickstone
The circumstances you were born into were ordinary, even boring, but you’ve always dreamed of greater things. You’ve been honing your skills, picking up a little work here and there, but finally the time has come for you to set out into the world as an adventurer. Whether you envision yourself as a great warrior or a great wizard, whether you’d rather charm audiences as a bard or conceal yourself in shadows like a thief, you know the big city is where you’ll need to be to begin your new career, so you turn your feet in the direction of Kendrickstone. Fame and fortune await … but first, you need to find a good meal and a place to stay.
The Hero of Kendrickstone, the first of two games in the Fledgling Realms series, may not have the most original premise, but it’s by Paul Wang, which should tell you all you need to know about whether it’s worth playing. Wang is one of the most prolific ChoiceScript authors, currently working on his fifth title for CoG, and especially loved by HG players for his ongoing passion project, the Dragoon Saga. The Hero of Kendrickstone was his third game, released ten years ago, and of course he’s grown immensely as a writer, a storyteller, and a game developer in that time - but even as a college student in his early 20s, Wang was a master of worldbuilding and a writer of lucid, engaging prose, and this rather simple early game is great fun to read.
I was having a great time just living my character’s life - getting into (and out of) occasional scrapes, deciding whether to save or splurge on food and lodging, taking odd jobs by day and lovers by night - but before long, incidents cohere into a plot: just as you’re starting to make a name for yourself, the city of Kendrickstone finds itself under siege by a team of bandits under the leadership of an evil wizard. As resources dwindle, the cost of living skyrockets - and as the city begins to starve, you find yourself uniquely placed to become the hero it needs.
I enjoyed The Hero of Kendrickstone, and I suspect it won’t be long before I play again and try out a very different sort of character - a frugal warrior-mage, perhaps? Maybe this time I’ll even make it to the end without getting myself killed.