Splintered Peace is about saving a city from itself.
This was an attempt to do something a bit different. There are hordes of attacking orcs, and dealing with their leader is an important part of the adventure. However, the main problem is the growth of racial tensions within the city, and that cannot be resolved by just killing people. Indeed, killing the ringleaders only makes things worse, as people start to treat them as martyrs.
I’m still very pleased with this book. I think it manages to treat a serious subject in a farily serious way, although it’s still sheer wish fulfilment, as acknowledged in the introduction. After all, the basic premise is that a group of four adventurers can stop the growth of racism in a city and return things to the peaceful past. That’s simply not plausible. Of course, it’s no less plausible than the standard assumptions of fantasy literature, and this is a work of fantasy.
I did try to avoid preaching too much, but I don’t know whether I succeeded. “Racism is bad” is fairly deeply embedded in the whole concept of the product, after all.
The only problem with the book is that the (very pretty) map is completely wrong. I sent in a sketch, but the various districts of the city got put in the wrong places. It doesn’t matter too much, but there are some details of the adventure that don’t make much sense with the map as it is printed. Oh well…
Splintered Peace was nominated for an ENny Award for Best Adventure in 2003.