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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:28:44 GMT
From TUFFF... In my opinion, the best:
1 - City of Thieves
2 - Creature of Havoc (Wizard books)
3 - Crypt of the Sorcerer The worst:
1 - Citadel of Chaos
2 - Star Strider Razaak's apprentice
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:30:18 GMT
From TUFFF... Demons of the Deep is one of my favourite covers. I'm not a fan of the one for The Rings of Kether. I'm less keen on many of the Wizard covers, though The Seven Serpents is quite nice. Least favourite would be Temple of Terror or House of Hell. Which Citadel of Chaos cover is the one you hate? The conga line of monsters? Whirlwind Woman? The Hydra?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:32:11 GMT
From TUFFF... Off the top of my head, some of my favourites: The Forest of Doom (puffin)
Deathtrap Dungeon (puffin)
Island of the Lizard King (puffin)
House of Hell (puffin)
The Shamutanti Hills (puffin)
Kharé - Cityport of Traps (puffin)
Legend of the Shadow Warriors
Spellbreaker (wizard)
Knights of Doom
Bloodbones Pretty sure I'm forgetting one or two here...
Some I don't care much about: Conga line Citadel of Chaos
Scorpion Swamp
Freeway Fighter (puffin)
Star Strider
Master of Chaos
Black Vein Prophecy
Deathmoor I don't think I really hate one of them, all of them kind of got a soft spot in my heart, no matter how awful... Speak in extremes, it will save you time.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:33:22 GMT
From TUFFF... Best? Citadel Of Chaos (Ian Miller)
The Forest Of Doom (Iain McCaig)
Deathtrap Dungeon (both)
House Of Hell (Ian Miller)
Temple Of Terror (Chris Achilleos)
Demons Of The Deep
Creature Of Havoc (Ian Miller)
Daggers Of Darkness Worst? Black Vein Prophecy
Keep Of The Lich Lord
Anything in Wizard's Series 2.
And most of their Series 1, too.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:35:25 GMT
From TUFFF... Best: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (2nd Puffin and Wizard)
Forest of Doom (Puffin)
Deathtrap Dungeon (Wizard - yeah call me mad, but I like it better than the bloodbeast)
Caverns of the Snow Witch (Wizard)
House of Hell (Puffin)
Talisman of Death (Wizard)
Sword of the Samurai (Wizard)
Robot Commando
Midnight Rogue
Battleblade Warrior (My personal favourite)
Legend of the Shadow Warriors
Return to Firetop Mountain (Puffin)
Night Dragon
Spellbreaker (Puffin) Worst:
Citadel of Chaos (Conga)
Temple of Terror (Wizard)
Demons of the Deep (No idea why this is such a fan favourite - it looks really silly to me)
Phantoms of Fear
Black Vein Prophecy (when I was child I loved the cover and hated the book. This has now inverted)
Eye of the Dragon
The Crown of Kings (Wizard)
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:36:04 GMT
From TUFFF... Ahh why didn't you like Phantoms of Fear? I'd think writing a gamebook like that would be difficult. Much respect to it. The more beautiful and pure FF is – the more satisfying it is to corrupt it.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:36:46 GMT
From TUFFF... I do like the book a lot. Just not the cover. Though the inside illustrations are amazing.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:37:13 GMT
From TUFFF... This is not a thread about books we like/dislike, just cover art. Speak in extremes, it will save you time.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:38:55 GMT
From TUFFF... Covers I like: Dead of Night
Phantoms of Fear
Crypt of The Sorcerer
Sword of the Samurai
Island of the Lizard King
Deathtrap Dungeon
Forest of Doom Covers I like not so much: Skylord
Slaves of the Abyss
Rings of Kether
Freeway Fighter
Starship Traveller
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:41:31 GMT
From TUFFF... Best 5: 1. City of Thieves
2. House of Hell
3. Appointment with F.E.A.R.
4. Citadel of Chaos (Green whispy ghost version, not the smiling werewolf thingy)
5. Legend of the Shadow Warriors Worst 5: 1. Island of the Lizard King
2. Starship Traveller
3. Rebel Planet
4. Rings of Kether
5. Tower of Destruction All your bases are belong to us!
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:42:47 GMT
From TUFFF... My favourite covers are...
Daggers of Darkness
Forest of Doom
House of Hell
Paint it Black (oh, wait...) Least favourite are...
Masks of Mayhem
Rebel Planet
Almost any commissioned by Wizard, with the exception of Bloodbones and Talisman of Death. ~ Vae Victis! ~
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:43:55 GMT
From TUFFF... Answer to Masterchief: didn't you like the wizard's cover for Creature of Havoc? It's one of my favourites af all! Razaak's apprentice
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:46:51 GMT
From TUFFF... It's alright. Not bad per se, but the Puffin image of Marr is infinitely better and so the Devourer pictured on the Wizard version, no matter how good, will always be a disappointment. ~ Vae Victis! ~
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:47:28 GMT
From TUFFF... I don't like the Wizard cover that much, inferior to the above. All your bases are belong to us!
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:48:25 GMT
From TUFFF... There's far more thought, interest, and atmosphere in the above piece. The Wizard version sucks. Two Words
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:49:24 GMT
From TUFFF... City of Thieves has a fantastic cover! Who here could disagree with that? I would risk to say no one. I would even bet that half of the members of this forum would say that is the best one of all.
And I'm one of those, followed by very close by Crypt of the Sorcerer. Razaak's apprentice
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:50:57 GMT
From TUFFF... Ahh why didn't you like Phantoms of Fear? I'd think writing a gamebook like that would be difficult. Much respect to it. I like very much Robin Waterfield's books (exception: Deathmoor). Phantoms of Fear was great about creativity, originality. In my opinion, with this book he tried seriously to make a Fighting Fantasy masterpiece, but failed. (my note: 6 (1 - 10)). Razaak's apprentice
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:51:32 GMT
From TUFFF... Not sure if anyone else has this same book, but mine has a title with invisible letters on it. I don't know if it's an error on the publishing part or if they tried to create a title which once had colours but now robbed by the thieves in the book? The more beautiful and pure FF is – the more satisfying it is to corrupt it.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:53:18 GMT
From TUFFF... [image]It's alright. Not bad per se, but the Puffin image of Marr is infinitely better and so the Devourer pictured on the Wizard version, no matter how good, will always be a disappointment. I still prefer without doubts the cover of the wizard books than the puffin's for this unique book (Creature of Havoc). In my opinion, it's simply genius the wizard book's cover for this book. But about the puffin's cover... I thought Zharradan Marr was human! Isn't he? Razaak's apprentice
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2013 16:54:13 GMT
From TUFFF... Evidently Marr's dabbling with arcane powers had some effect on his body. Okay, the truth behind his unusual appearance is that the picture was originally intended to be Darramouss. But, IIRC, Steve Jackson thought it so great that he decided that that was what his main villain would look like, so it became Marr.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 1, 2013 23:57:47 GMT
I know the Wizard recreations tend to be unpopular, but looking back on the early Puffin covers they weren't great. None of the versions of TWoFM are really bad although the original 'geography teacher with a neck cramp' version was not the ideal way to get the series going. CoC's werewolf conga was just embarrassing though, and ST's American Footballers thing is bizarre. FoD's cover is OK, but a little difficult to take seriously; (OTOH the Wizard version takes itself too seriously and the lizard-thing seems to be having a heart attack) CoT, DD and IotLK were good, but Swamp is amateurish and Caverns is puzzling if you haven't read it already. The fact that something is open to parody doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, but there's a reason why this (which you'll all have seen): …is so effective. Likewise Wizard did Sorcery better imo (which is sort of appropriate). Bad:Citadel (Werewolf Conga) Starship Traveller (American Football) Caverns of the Snow Witch (Barbarian Idol) Kharé (Puffin - sorry I think this is atrocious) Deathmoor (two pretty unconvincing heads and… what's that?? Is that what I think it is?? OH MY GOD …oh no it's just a leg. It's just a leg. ) Good:Demons of the Deep Crypt of the Sorcerer (Puffin) Vault of the Vampire Caverns of the Snow Witch (Wizard) Creature of Havoc (both) Bloodbones Moonrunner
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Dec 4, 2013 0:02:28 GMT
both versions of City of thieves are good. so are the ones for Talisman of Death.
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Post by yvoire on Jan 12, 2014 1:10:09 GMT
Three favorite ones from the Puffin series including Sorcery!:
The Shamutanti Hills (that manticore by John Blanche is simply smashing) Citadel of Chaos (the Ian Miller one) House of Hell (again, the Ian Miller one)
(Forest of Doom, Appointment with F.E.A.R., Freeway Fighter and Magehunter are pretty good too)
Worst ones: Spellbreaker Scorpion Swamp Deathmoor (but Demons of the Deep, Sky Lord, Crimson Tide, Star Strider and Robot Commando are pretty horrible too)
The Wizard edition ones are pretty standard modern Photoshop/Painter artwork, but I think that Bloodbones deserves a special mention. It's quite smexy. On the other hand the one of House of Hell is just too inferior to Ian Miller's.
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Post by elnombre on Oct 9, 2015 15:46:34 GMT
It might seem like a trivial topic, but as a youngster I would only pick out books that I liked the look of, and in most cases not bother with ones that looked boring. The titles played a part aswell, but to an extent the cover graphics dictated which books I read. In no particular order,
Best: City of Thieves The Forest of Doom Armies of Death Legend of the Shadow Warriors Fangs of Fury Talisman of Death
Worst: All futuristic books other than Robot Commando and F.E.A.R. Magehunter Deathmoor Spellbreaker Spectral Stalkers Master of Chaos Portal of Evil Slaves of the Abyss
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Post by stevendoig on Nov 10, 2015 19:41:59 GMT
Struggling to think of a favourite right now - but I reckon the worst are Slaves Of The Abyss and Black Vein Prophecy.
Yeuch!!!
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revenant
Squire
Posts: 21
Favourite Gamebook Series: Zork (just kidding)
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Post by revenant on Nov 12, 2015 15:55:02 GMT
I kind of have a soft spot for Deathmoor, I'm not sure why. I think I like the green tones of the cover and the title.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2015 3:52:29 GMT
Just for the hell of it, I've totted up all the pro and anti votes so far for all the books. This is slightly absurd since it includes votes from people who have never been on this forum and also involved a degree of interpretation (eg 'not my favourite but pretty good' is probably a pro vote, 'not as bad the others' probably isn't) so someone else could get different results. If someone hasn't specified I've assumed they meant the Puffin version rather than Wizard.
So far, it seems that the original Forest of Doom is the most popular (I wouldn't have guessed that), with the Puffin House of Hell, City of Thieves and Legend of the Shadow Warriors covers also impressing.
Bloodbones is the most favoured Wizard cover (does it help that there wasn't a Puffin version?).
Conversely, the Citadel of Conga is widely despised and Black Vein Prophecy's cover doesn't fair much better. Sci-Fi generally does badly.
FF
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (Puffin) + The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (Wizard) +
Citadel of Chaos (Conga) – – – – – Citadel Of Chaos (Green Ghost) + +
The Forest of Doom (Puffin) + + + + + + +
Starship Traveller (Puffin) – – –
City of Thieves (Puffin) + + + + City of Thieves (Wizard) +
Deathtrap Dungeon (Puffin) + + + Deathtrap Dungeon (Wizard) + +
Island of the Lizard King (Puffin) + + –
Scorpion Swamp – –
Caverns of the Snow Witch (Puffin) – Caverns of the Snow Witch (Wizard) + +
House of Hell (Puffin) + + + + + House of Hell (Wizard) – –
Talisman of Death (Puffin) + + Talisman of Death (Wizard) + +
Freeway Fighter (Puffin) – – +
Temple Of Terror (Puffin) + Temple of Terror (Wizard) – –
Rings of Kether – – –
Appointment with F.E.A.R. (Puffin) + +
Rebel Planet – –
Demons of the Deep + + – + –
Sword of the Samurai (Puffin) + Sword of the Samurai (Wizard) +
Robot Commando + –
Masks of Mayhem –
Creature of Havoc (Puffin) + + Creature of Havoc (Wizard) + – +
Crypt of the Sorcerer (Puffin) + + +
Star Strider – – –
Phantoms of Fear – +
Midnight Rogue +
Battleblade Warrior +
Slaves of the Abyss – – –
Skylord – –
Daggers Of Darkness + +
Armies of Death +
Portal of Evil –
Vault of the Vampire +
Fangs of Fury +
Dead of Night +
Master of Chaos – –
Black Vein Prophecy – – – –
Keep Of The Lich Lord –
Legend of the Shadow Warriors + + + +
Spectral Stalkers –
Tower of Destruction –
Crimson Tide –
Moonrunner +
Return to Firetop Mountain (Puffin) +
Night Dragon +
Spellbreaker (Puffin) + – – Spellbreaker (Wizard) +
Deathmoor – – – – +
Knights of Doom +
Magehunter + –
Eye of the Dragon –
Bloodbones + + +
Sorcery
The Shamutanti Hills (Puffin) + +
Kharé - Cityport of Traps (Puffin) + –
The Seven Serpents (Wizard) +
The Crown of Kings (Wizard) –
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Post by deadshadowrunner on Nov 13, 2015 11:16:11 GMT
Interesting results there almightymudworm,wouldn't have predicted FoD's victory.Here are some ratings just to confuse you.
Legend of the Shadow Warriors: Creepy rating:8/10
The Seven Serpents(Wizard): Element rating:7/10
Phantoms of Fear: Disgusting rating:8/10
Citadel of Chaos(Conga): Happy rating:9/10
Robot Commando: Awesome rating:11/10
The Shamitanti Hills(Puffin): Sad rating:10/10
The Crimson Tide: Cover-not-for-the-book rating:9/10
That should keep your hands full for the moment.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 13, 2015 13:56:14 GMT
Add one for Blood of the Zombies also: I'll rate this one the most zombieriffic of them all!
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Post by a moderator on Nov 13, 2015 20:56:43 GMT
A couple more unhelpful ratings for you:
The Puffin cover to Crypt has more skulls than the Wizard one, but not as many insects.
Phantoms is greener than Chasms.
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