Avadon The Black fortress is an old school turn based rpg, that outs you in the shoes of the "Hand" of avadon. The "hand" is a special enforcer with almost limitless freedom who redbeard, the master of the keep of Avadon, sends to deal with different kind of problems in the alliance of the kingdoms the Avadon oversees.
Now what you do in these events is up to you, you can opress or save as much as you want, it will have consequences, you are insert in the political warefare of avadon to keep the realms at "peace".
The Combat is turn based, and the story is well developed, and you have 4 companions of which 2 can go with you.
It is a long game, separated by "chapters" or big problems you have to solve, plus some side quests that range form interesting to mundane. Its a more political game that others spidersweb games, and a little more linear, but that means it has more structure, so i think its fine (Avernum being open world)

Pros:
- Long interesting plot.
-Several classes to chose from.
-Many companion and companion quests.
-Intrincate characters you spends a lot of time with.
-Hard combat (also has many difficulty leves)

Cons:
-You revisit places many times.
-The graphics are old school and dated.
-Some instances where is not clear if you must fight or flee.
-Some quest might be too hard when you recieve them.

In the end, i think its a great game if you want a more narrative driven game, even if it suffers in the end by being to heavy on the combat side.