Alternate Reality
“Come into my parlor,” said the spider to the fly …
Ponder this question for a moment. We all know why the spider wants the
fly to come in, but what of the fly? The fly sees a shiny, silvery world
unlike his own. If he enters, will untold riches be his for the taking?
Will he meet incredible creatures big and small who need his help and
who in turn will befriend him? While standing on the threshold of the
spider’s web, a whole universe of possibilities presents itself to the
fly’s mind. We all know in our reality the fly enters the spider’s web,
and basically he’s dinner’s main course, but in an alternate reality the
what ifs are endless.
All my life I have been fascinated with the question of “what if?”
Always wondering if and how one’s life could change by things that at
the time seem unimportant. A fascination with things like this led me
to my greatest passion in life, writing. It also led me to one of my greatest
hobbies, CRPGs. In both of these areas I can explore “what ifs”
to my heart’s content, first trying one thing to see the outcome and then
going in a completely opposite direction just to satisfy my curiosity.
And being able to do all this in the safety of my own alternate universe.
Okay, now that I probably have you all thinking that some asylum let
me out on a day pass and I held a gun to Randy’s head and said print this
or else, let me explain the purpose of this column. My name is Katie Scarlett
and I am the new RPG editor here at Just Adventure +. What I hope to accomplish
with this column is twofold: first, to keep you up on all the latest happenings
in the CRPG world, and second, I hope to give you, the readers, an opportunity
to voice your opinions about the direction that the industry is headed.
I hope to explore all aspects of CRPGs as the RPG editor and bring to
you the most insightful reviews and previews I possibly can. I also hope
that you will all share your ideas with me and let me know what direction
you would like to see this column go. If there is a CRPG that you absolutely
love, old or new, let me know about it. If we haven’t done a review of
it and it’s a good game, recommending that we do a review of the game
would be a great way of letting your fellow gamers know about an exciting
new universe for them to explore.
So I hope to hear from all you role-players out there with your suggestions,
comments, opinions, or anything you feel like telling me (as long as it
is tasteful). My first review, of Baldur’s Gate, will be posted
within the week, and I hope to update this column biweekly.
Until then, happy gaming to all,
Katie Scarlett
