Throne of the Bandit Lord: A Journey in the Lone Wilderlands
Travel across the wilderness on an intriguing quest with the first Lone Wilderlands game novel, Throne of the Bandit Lord.
A fairly underplayed part of my collection isn’t even in the board game realm… So many gamebooks have found their way onto my shelves, and I certainly need to play them some more! Throne of the Bandit Lord arrived recently and I was eager to set out into the forests to see what might be out there for the main character, Miri Oliva. Onward!
Disclaimer
I received this copy for free from the publisher and designer in exchange for an honest review. Always appreciated! All of the opinions presented here are my own. I should also note I received PDF versions of the other adventures in this series to check out, and after playing through this physical copy, I expect to continue playing the rest digitally!
Game Overview
Game Name: Throne of the Bandit Lord
Publication Year: 2021
Designer: Derick William Dalton
Artist: Many (5 Credited)
Publisher: DWDalton Adventures
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
This initial adventure is a paragraph-based journey with skills to test against. Enemies provide obstacles, yet there is an overarching story to experience through the chapter format. The action starts from the first sentence, and this world can be expanded with the Lone Wilderlands RPG!
First Play
September 2, 2023
Complexity
1
Latest Play
September 2, 2023
Expansions
0
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
2
Play Time
1 Hour & 30 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
16" x 14"
Low Score
N/A
Mysteries to Unfold
The cover artwork sets the stage for this adventure in many ways. I was immediately intrigued and interested to find out what was going to happen with Miri Oliva!
Skill checks form the basis of many paragraphs, with success or failure being very common. However, a result that exactly equals a skill’s level is a mastery outcome.
Gamebooks are more about following a story with some decisions rather than a completely open-ended journey.
Still, this is why I enjoy a lot of them! It’s not difficult to play, and many stories offer unexpected twists and turns.
Lots of Different Skills
A pre-filled character sheet for Miri Oliva is included. I assumed I would need to make a lot of changes, so I printed out a blank sheet to copy over the information.
You really just need a blank piece of paper for notes and some gear changes, though. I had a decent amount of trouble fitting in all of the skills in the small space.
The good news is that copying over the information is entirely unneeded, which makes diving in even easier!
I liked the array of traits and skills, particularly since it seemed like combat wasn’t going to be too prevalent.
Top-Level Realm Traits
Of the most interest to me were these civilization traits that could change over the course of play. These could help out in some situations and reflected the landscape.
It was interesting to see how decisions and outcomes affected these elements! Let’s just say that monstrous benevolence did not turn out well for me… Ha ha!
Not everything came into play with the paths I chose, yet it was nice to understand the interconnected aspects.
This is a feature I haven’t seen that often, and definitely made this gamebook stand out a little bit more.
Plenty of Note-taking
No major spoilers here! In the end, I had a pretty lengthy list of allies and enemies. Some of them returned in multiple scenes, and others were there for but a moment.
I reached the ending that continues in the next book in the series, although getting there was a little luck-based in terms of making a couple of final skill checks.
After reverting back due to a loss, I managed to roll mastery outcomes on a few dice rolls in a row. Awesome!
The story kept me interested from start to end, and there’s even an epilogue that calls for the next adventure to begin!
Game Novels, Gamebooks, and What to Expect
I’ve dabbled in the realm of gamebooks over the years, often lamenting how much I missed during my childhood! They would have been perfect, and I was certain that there was only one series back then… Give Yourself Goosebumps. Oh, the exciting times I had! I still remember all of the fun to this day, and the many, many deaths along the way. Ha!
But now that I’ve explored all sorts of games, gamebooks, game novels, and RPGs, it’s important to know what each one is trying to do. Most of them aren’t designed to be endlessly playable with a sandbox sort of feel, mostly owing to the focus on crafting an excellent story. The idea of wanting more is often fixed by switching to the RPG realm.
Once upon a time, I might have faulted a gamebook for feeling too linear and not giving me tons of choices. Yet even looking back at my childhood memories, those were horror stories on the rails where early death was based on my lack of knowledge or downright poor decisions. Ha! It’s good to have a diverse range of products, and stories that stand out.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Designed for Solo (Included in the Base Game)
Outcome: 1 Win & 1 Loss
A few pieces of excellent artwork were sprinkled throughout the gamebook, adding to the atmosphere and presenting the characters in full color. I had a fun time! There weren’t a lot of decisions for me to make, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading the story unfold. Things weren’t always as they seemed, and a few chapters were very different from what I expected. I’m looking forward to checking out some more adventures in this series!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
9
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
6
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
5
+ Pros (Positives)
- Action takes place right from the start, and the story features interesting language that brings the world to life.
- Many of the main characters are strong female leads with motivations that unfurl throughout the chapters.
- Traits of the different regions or civilization elements add far-reaching consequences to some decisions.
- Skills encompass many other things beyond basic combat and are used in various encounters in the story.
- Although there aren’t that many different choices to explore, there is an interesting story worth experiencing.
- Not everything is as it seems as the story unfolds, and playing a second time helps highlight some foreshadowing.
– Cons (Negatives)
- There are a lot of skills on the character sheet in a small space, which has some very small text that’s hard to see.
- Some of the final dice rolls rely on a good deal of luck to make it through the finale, which are entirely random.
- Not too many different paths are available to explore, although this is standard in a lot of gamebook series.
- Certain parts of the rules, especially for combat, may take a few passes to fully understand the steps involved.
Victory Conditions
Complete the Adventure
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game in Throne of the Bandit Lord.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played through the Throne of the Bandit Lord or any other solo gamebooks lately? Are there any stories or rules that stand out the most to you? This was a fun experience to check out an engaging story! I have a few other game novels that continue the story, along with the solo sandbox RPG I hope to explore. Lots of great stuff to discover!
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