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Dark Gatekeeper: Endings and Beginnings
Gatekeeper Lecata: Rising Tide
Gatekeeper Trimas: Breaking Away
All three stories are published by "Dark Gatekeeper Gaming"
I don't know if any of you out there have ever played a tabletop roleplaying game, but I have. I've spent many years in both tabletop roleplay like Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons and of course the Werewolf series back in the day. These games are a lot of fun. In my house is we let my husband play the Game Master or Dungeon Master, and it's he who comes up with the overall narrative that we all follow. Everyone else builds a character up, the way they look, the money they have and their attributes as well as personality. After that, we all get dice for the chance roles, and we have a lot of fun playing a game that generally goes sideways. It usually ends if one of the kiddos gets lucky with the dice and kills every monster we face, my daughter is exceptionally good at that.
Sometimes we do what is called 'one and done' campaigns where it's just one encounter and fight. Other times we make it a weekly thing. Gaming in my house is a big deal, so when Dark Gatekeeper Gaming contacted me for a review, I will admit I was intrigued.
I was presented with three different short stories, and I felt that all three were designed to show off the tabletop or gaming system no doubt that accompanies them. I contacted the writer and
When I talk about Short Stories, I often talk about the kind you buy on Amazon or in a bookstore for just a taste of a break of reality. Short stories should be in that vein, a complete story but one with fewer words than their novella or novel counterparts. Short stories are if anything, significantly more challenging to write in that sense.
But that is not what this particular group of short stories are, as they are primarily written demonstrations on a vast array of world-building opportunities for tabletop gaming. The first story is written in 3 tenses, to demonstrate that the dungeon master can work with a series of pallets when crafting in the worlds provided. In the gaming sense, this sets the tone and will allow the users of the game to really understand where the development came from and the overall direction.
But, if you are looking for 3 good stories to think about gaming or set your brain on ideas to make gaming work, then I'd recommend all three. Also, if you look at the back of the books, there is a barcode, and if you have a barcode scanner, it will take you places that further the gaming experience.
From the Author:
"They can be read in any order, but the suggested order is:
Dark Gatekeeper: Endings and Beginnings (14 Pages)
Gatekeeper Lecata: Rising Tide (39 Pages)
Gatekeeper Trimas: Breaking Away (27 Pages)"
If you read it in this order, it does give the overall layout of the gaming experience to the reader, and I enjoyed that.
Overall, I enjoyed these three stories, and if I were giving star ratings without the standard book reviewing rules I use, I'd say it's a 4 out of 5 stars. It's a nice collection. I am very interested when the actual tabletop system goes into place, and I want to play them. This basically is my first review for Short Stories related to a gaming system. I'm going to leave the score for now because I need to ponder a more robust scoring system for a review like this, RPG gaming books do not at all read like standard books or short stories, and they have their own rules. I also will take one star off only because I'd like to have whatever the main guide is for this system in my hands to make a final judgment of the overall product.
Here are your links!
First, here is where you purchase these stories at! It's not Amazon, it's a cool site called "Drivethru Fiction."
Find more information on Dark Gatekeeper Gaming on Goodreads
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