Exterminator – Review by ReviewAnon

By: ReviewAnon (name given by the readers)
Originally posted: 13.02.2016
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PREMISE

You are an out of shape, middle aged, balding man who somehow managed to run a pyramid scheme so successfully you... Got sold into what is effectively indentured slavery to a dystopian post-WW3 exterminating company. You work primarily in the Hong Kong branch, and you exterminate things like bugs and fungus and sometimes rats or something. However, you have a bomb implanted in your neck that will blow you up if you try to run away or betray your exterminating company.

If you think this is one of the most bland premises you've ever read, then the devil is in the details. The first thread gives you a crash course in why being an exterminator in Post-WW3 Hong Kong is terrifying, as your first job involves you taking out roach infestation that's coupled with some kind of fungus which is straight up brain-jacking people and turning them into violent madmen. The majority of what you end up exterminating in this quest can only technically be considered bugs and fungus, and nearly always seem to have more in common with creatures straight out of Parasite Eve, or horror movies.

The QM mentioned that the quest had spiralled far further than they expected it to, and it shows. Along the way through this quest you go from "just" handling god awful creepy pests and terrors to working for what may very well be a chinese syndicate, fighting off russian attack choppers, engaging in no-holds-barred illegal street racing, and finding out that your extermination company is in a political/business competition with one that seems to be mercenaries hired for everything from keeping the peace to kidnapping, and another that's basically doctors suitably appropriate for the setting.

Through out all of this, you are snorting cocaine merrily and gaining high powered arms and kill-toys while arguably working as an exterminator so they don't blow you up.

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REVIEW pt1

Mechanics.
The quest uses a little unusual set up for dice. Your primary component is 3d6, rolled three times. Two of those rolls need to meet or pass the DC in order to have a success - If all three pass, it's a "great" success, and if only one (or less) pass, it's a failure. It's not terribly ice breaking, but a bit of a departure from most quests. You do have, typically, a small pool of resources in the form of nerves (mental state, reactions) or strength (physical work) that you can use to boost your roll results, but you need to ration these as certain actions and occurrences will deplete them automatically. There is also a trait system worked in on the back-end which takes into account what you do often, and gives you little bonuses to your efficiency in doing that. Overall, it's a neat system that doesn't require too much mindbending to understand and enjoy.

Plot.
The quest doesn't seem to really have any overarching plot to it. It functions primarily on an (in game) week to week basis with short mini-arcs that typically aren't too connected to each other narrative wise. For example, you find a child's skull when clearing out bats at one point - Later, you find out who put that skull there, while you're dick deep in trying to get yourself out alive and decide how to handle both turning them in and an infestation. Things are connected mostly like that, rather than as part of an ongoing over-arching story. There does seem to be some world stuff going on in the background regarding russians trying to restart WW3, but the quest does a pretty good job of leaving it vague and unaddressed until the MC stumbles head first into something bad, and adding yet another mess they've become entangled in.

Players keep their heads primarily in the present, dealing with creatively (and often thrillingly!) navigating whatever new hellhole they get thrown into as an exterminator and flushing out the terrifying creepy crawlies.

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REVIEW p2

Writing.
The QM is not an author, by any means. Their updates are typically very small, and no real effort is put into exploring most of the cast's thoughts or personality. As a result, nearly all of the characters are generally predictable and... two-dimensional? Flat? It's very clear that they're "characters" rather than "people". An example of this is a certain chinese-british ship 'captain' who is very clearly interested in us. Aaand... That's about it. We know pretty much nothing else about her besides she's a potential romance interest that we can sleep with and then ignore. The world is very sparsely explained in the thread, leaving a very bare-bones feeling to the world. Arguably there ARE a lot of pastebin entries... But I haven't read any of them, so I don't know if they really help or not. I'll address that and some other things in my personal thoughts later.

The action is very well written and engaging, and you can clearly see that this is where the QM primarily shines. It's of little surprise that their quest began to gravitate towards so many different adrenaline-pumping activities when they're evidently rather adept at writing those types of things. The QM is pretty flexible, as whether they're clearing racing down a mountain at blazing speeds and hairpin turns, or escaping hordes of monstrous centipedes, it's all really well executed and enjoyable to read and participate in.

Now despite the quest not putting a lot of focus on the characters and their relations, this isn't to say the dialogue is bad. It's actually rather nice, and often very flavorful - In the same way that you'll typically remember quotes and lines from an action movie. One that stood out to me was "Quiet is relative; All is silent when the old hag speaks.", and to this day I'm still smiling a little over that. Impact may vary, but little lines like that made me genuinely smile as I was reading through the quest.

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PERSONAL THOUGHTS pt1

In the end, I'd call it a quest made in the image of an action movie. It's something anyone can enjoy without a whole lot of effort, but it's not something you'd gravitate towards if more intellectual pursuits are what you're looking for. You can jump in pretty much anywhere in the quest and, not having read a single previous thread, get right to deciding what toys to bring and how to negotiate keeping your life in the face of whatever exciting event you find yourself in at the moment.

I personally really like character relations, so that aspect of the quest disappoints me. You practically adopt a kid that's endearingly been referred to as our sonfu, but... What about them? We gave them some liquor, bought them a nintendo, and that's about it. When they're brought up, it's basically "oh they're playing nintendo". The british captain as well kinda bugs me, because we basically slept with her and then... What? Walked off? Crashed at her place when we needed it, then... walked off? There's obviously interest there, but the players/MC immediately went and manslutted their way into a milf's cunt THE SAME DAY and never once seemed to even think about this. There's a scientist girl and her entire role is just to smuggle you things for ill-explained reasons that amount to "That's illegal, but I can get it done. also fuck off, I don't like you."

The most explored character is actually your boss Devlinson, who has turned out to be a real bro, in the same sense that you're both terrible people with drug addictions and easily gravitate towards being adrenaline junky daredevils.

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PERSONAL THOUGHTS pt2

I noticed there were a lot of pastebin entries, but as I mentioned, I haven't read any of them. I won't say "most players won't", but I personally think that lore and setting information should be contained in the threads to be read as you go along, rather than info-dumped as supplemental elsewhere. Admittedly, for the type of quest this is, those details don't seem terribly important and would probably get in the way of the main focus - the action - but it's a personal peeve of mine. Regardless of that, I do think the QM made the right decision in keeping them external, since their presence would just be superfluous in the face of what most of the players are there for.

CLOSING

I'll read it when it's up and I have free time, and maybe participate, but it's not something I'll follow closely or pay dedicated attention to. I'll reiterate that the quest is a lot like an action movie in this way - If it's on, you'll settle down and enjoy it, why not? Sometimes you might get a wild hair and just wanna go dig it up and watch/binge it again! But it isn't something you take with you out of the movie theater, or after it ends. It's not something you curl up with and really immerse yourself in or talk about/discuss later.

And I don't think that's a bad thing at all. Keep up the good work, Simmons!