Feast Of Legends: Rise From The Deep Freeze, by Wendy’s
I am by no means unfamiliar with reviewing culture that springs from the desire to support a corporate brand, and Wendy’s is no stranger to this game in particular [1]. In general, I am in favor of companies leveraging their own brand recognition in order to produce something that is worth reading, and in this case the company does even better by seeking to gain the support of players of tabletop role playing games in providing a compelling Wendy’s based role playing game that uses corporate gamesmanship as a way of encouraging gaming among people who eat at the restaurant. There are even buffs available in game to those who are eating Wendy’s food, which makes for quite fascinating gameplay experiences when one’s character can greatly benefit from one’s own eating Wendy’s products in conjunction with the rules of the game. And it should be noted that the people who made this book have really done their homework when it comes to creating compelling campaigns, as there are clearly some legitimate gamers among the effort, people who know the rules of party balance as well as having experience with D&D and other similar games.
For those familiar with D&D campaign books as I am, this book follows a pretty consistent design, being divided into two parts. The first part of the book, which is about 100 pages long, is a player’s guide focused on helping players ready themselves for gameplay. Included in this part of the book is the core rulebook that gives readers advice on how to create a character as well as a discussion of gameplay, adventuring, and buffs and debuffs that result from eating Wendy’s food (or other restaurant’s food) while playing the game. After that the book discusses the various orders and the benefits each provides, with the encouragement of a balanced party that includes tanks (order of the beef), healers (orders of the chicken), and various dps options (order of the sides). After this comes a quick start guide with character sheets and an example of a character. The rest of the book, which is gorgeously illustrated, it should be noted, is made up of a game master’s guide that includes a multi-part campaign of considerable danger that allow the characters to aid the Kingdom of Wendy’s and protect it from some very dangerous and frozen foes. I will not spoil the campaign, but it is a deeply satisfying read and allows for considerable exploration as well as player advancement in five levels.
So, what kind of gaming experience does this book provide? It allows the reader to imagine oneself as a hero (or heroine) in a war between Wendy’s own small kingdom and its neighbors, especially the big baddie in McDonalds whose frozen lands are a cause for great problems. Leveraging its reputation of never cutting corners and doing the work of thinking of compelling classes based on Wendy’s own menu items (including three separate broad classes based on beef, chicken, and side dishes) was a good move, and this particular set of games has a lot of inside jokes relating to competing companies. I am not sure if any other companies will follow the lead of Wendy’s in seeking to use their own corporate identity as a fuel for creating compelling role playing games, but rather than attacking nerds as is so common in the contemporary world Wendy’s does a great job by appealing to nerds on their own home territory in terms of a robust set of rules for creating characters and a compelling adventure that allows for exploration and considerable replay value. I look forward not only to playing this campaign with some friends, but also in seeing what sequels come with further adventures.
[1] See, for example:
Edge Induced Cohesion 