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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Aug 14, 2022 2:25:44 GMT
FORUM UPDATES!
*Have added a dice rolling plugin to the forum. You click on the dice button once for each roll you want to make. The numbers rolled will appear when the post is... posted. *Set a minimum of 5 posts before a new user can PM another user. *Linked videos should now be auto-embeded rather than remaining links. *Added a thread necromancy warning for thread with no posts over 365 days gone.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Aug 14, 2022 1:54:45 GMT
So, if I'm reading these solutions correctly, in the Super Strength one the President ends up dead, but this event is avoided in the other solutions simply through not going to the parade? Can you still beat the book with the other 3 powers and have the President die?
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Aug 11, 2022 7:37:37 GMT
Welcome Steven, thanks for joining us.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Aug 10, 2022 5:45:00 GMT
As of August 10th, 2022, the highest asking prices on eBay...
eBay Australia
*1st "Fighting Fantasy Gamebox" (A$299.95) *Allansia (A$255) *Wizard #2,3,5-10 (A$159.95) *Robot Commando (A$120) *Trial of Champions (A$120)
eBay UK
*Books #1-52 + other assorted titles (£1299.99) <-- This one is located in Ireland *77 books (£899.99) *Books #1-56 (£800) *Books #1-50 (£749.99) *Books #1-22+ FFRPG (£545) *Magehunter (£499.99) *Moonrunner (£410) *1st "Fighting Fantasy Gamebox" + signed books (£399.99) *26 books (£399.99) *Revenge of the Vampire (£349.99) *Revenge of the Vampire (£329.99)
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Aug 10, 2022 5:30:12 GMT
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Aug 1, 2022 7:39:46 GMT
- 23rd in the Fighting Fantazine Survey Probably should run another of these after the 40th anniversary. It has been over ten years since the last one!
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Aug 1, 2022 7:37:13 GMT
Reprinting books isn't inherently a problem IMO - the problem is that the same ten or so books are getting reprinted over and over again. It would be great to have a reprint of, say, Revenge of the Vampire with the errors corrected. This is especially true when it comes to books like Revenge and Magehunter, which are stupidly expensive to obtain second hand. I assume it's a rights issue and not a coincidence that the only books being reprinted are from the same three authors. Likely they are being asked to sign over their copyright in perpetuity for a lump sum and simply refuse to do so. Note that the new art remains the copyright of Scholastic and not the artist.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Jul 11, 2022 3:26:20 GMT
Almost done! Finger crossed it'll be out before the FFFest!
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Jul 11, 2022 3:23:06 GMT
"City of Thieves", which I chose as a birthday present in 1987. For me to have known what I wanted - I marched into the bookshop and sought out those green spines! - I must have been exposed to FF prior to that but I have no memory of how I came into contact with the series.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Jul 11, 2022 3:18:17 GMT
Jonathan Green kindly recommended me after I did the playtesting for a couple of his ACE gamebooks. But how did you get that gig? Likely from being a Kickstarter backer of Jon's books. IIRC there is a certain backer level at which you get access to the story before publication for play testing purposes.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Jul 8, 2022 10:21:08 GMT
I’ve finished Series 3 (2007). Break for the school holidays before going into Tennant’s final season & specials.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Jul 8, 2022 10:18:34 GMT
I hope you understood these articles and I hope you found them helpful.There are still some parts I have not explained (like if the speed is 500) which I will explain in the future.Please give feedback so I can make these articles clearer if they are unclear or hard to understand. Would you like to write stuff like this for the magazine?
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Jul 8, 2022 10:12:16 GMT
I don’t think they are particularly well written. Just reading the first chapter of the first book and I can see why it was rejected by so many publishers.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Jul 3, 2022 9:24:55 GMT
Series 15 was, um, not great. Quite possibly the weakest series so far. This is likely the result of a number of factors. 1) Upon the broadcast of Part 3 of "The Deadly Assassin" in the December of 1976, Mary Whitehouse (a prominent UK 'right morals' campaigner) complained to the BBC about the cliffhanger to that episode (a freeze frame on the Doctor's head being held underwater), a complaint that was somehow taken seriously (her previous complaints about Doctor Who had been ignored). As a result, Producer Philip Hinchcliffe was removed from the TV show (and moved over to a new police drama "Target"), replaced by Graham Williams (the Producer who had been developing "Target"). Williams was immediately told to reduce the horror content of the show. 2) With Hinchcliffe unceremoniously shuffled off, Script Editor Robert Holmes decided to move on, being replace by Anthony Read after the first 3 stories of Season 15. 3) Knowing he was now leaving, Hinchcliffe was happy to over-spend on the last two stories of Season 14 ("The Robots of Death" & "The Talons of Weng-Chiang"). Season 15 would be 'punished' for this overspend with less money. 4) 1977 is the year inflation went mad in the UK, meaning that by the end of Season 15 the £ had less buying power than it had at the start. The season starts off being able to afford night shoots ("Image of the Fendahl") etc. but the money is all gone by "The Invasion of Time". 5) Tom Baker had lost the supporting actor he respected (Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah) and with a change of Producer stretched his star power, becoming much more pushy. His relationship with Louise Jameson was not smooth and Williams was apparently averse to conflict and so tended to let Tom get his way. Paddy Russell (who directed Tom in Season 13's "Pyramids of Mars") found him a lot harder to work with hen directing "Horror of Fang Rock". 6) They had planned to open the season with a Vampire story by Terrance Dicks, but at a late stage the BBC bosses said you can't make that as it might be seen as a send up of the "Dracula" adaptation we're currently making. So they had to replace it with a new script ("Horror of Fang Rock") at the last minute and as a result "The Invisible Enemy" was the first story shot of the season. 7) The K9 prop cost a lot more than expected, so money was saved by making him a regular. As you can tell, "Image of the Fendahl" wasn't written with K9 being around in mind. 8) The original season finale was "Killers of the Dark", but when the scripts came in at a late hour they were found to be too expensive and unworkable. "The Invasion of Time" was written by Graham Williams & Anthony Read at the last minute as a replacement. In addition the recording of this story was affected by union strikes at the BBC. They were able to avoid losing recording dates by shooting on location (hence the inside of the TARDIS becomes an abandoned hospital!) - these union issues would affect the end of the next 2 seasons.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 23, 2022 10:10:07 GMT
With a Skill of 7 (reduced to 4 for lacking a weapon) in Resurrection, I knew my chances were poor. So when I encountered a trio of Possessed Goats, two of which outclassed me Skill-wise, I decided to take advantage of the Escape option for once. And it took me straight into an inescapable fight against a Skill 10 Xoroa Warrior. Not sure whether that's bad design or authorial malice, but it's certainly not making me a fan of the adventure. I’m gonna have to play it myself for the first time in over 10 years. I think to win you really need to obtain a weapon before venturing onto the heath.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 23, 2022 10:07:55 GMT
I apparently made mostly bad decisions in my attempt at Resurrection of the Dead, as I kept getting punished with luck point losses. Alex once explained that the Luck point losses were to make the reader appreciate the Luck bonuses that are apparently provided later on. Presumably, if he ever employs anybody, he makes sure to bankrupt them before paying their wages to ensure that they are suitably thankful. As I always point out, I wrote (& illustrated!) the blasted adventure in a weekend so we’d have something for the first issue. And my 2nd adventure is also all my fault.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 19, 2022 21:28:30 GMT
I recall, can’t tell you where or when, that mention was made that there was thought of the idea of customer resistance from new potential readers that at coming into a book series at book 38 (for example) was off-putting and that if they weren’t numbered then new readers would happily buy the latest book.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 19, 2022 20:25:22 GMT
If so, would that not mean your copy of POE should have no number on the spine? If you read the database link you’ll see Puffin used to print the year a tile was reprinted, eg: ‘reprinted 1984’ At the end of the 80s they switched, so while you know what print run your copy is (eg: ‘5’) you can’t know when that print run happened. The older a book (eg ‘Warlock’) the more print runs it was likely to have had, although popularity would have an effect too. ie. a less popular title would sell less copies and thus gaps between print runs would be longer. So my numberless Starship Traveller is from that books 17th print run, but my Phantoms of Fear numberless is from its 2nd print run. Interestingly this suggests Phantoms didn’t sell as well as books on either side of it. My numberless Star Strider is from the 6th print run and my numberless Chasms is from its 3rd print run. (Remembering that the numberless period was less than a year - Dead of Night at the end of 1989 brought back the numbers.) *Note: we’ve made the assumption that all books got a new print run when changes were made (cover formats, foil, numbers etc.) but we don’t have any concrete evidence of this as yet. (The database is an attempt to collate info from many fans collections to try and corroborate this and other ideas.) Some books might have had significant stock lying around and thus not got a print run in a minor format change like being numberless.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 19, 2022 1:09:42 GMT
One of those links seems to suggest Battleblade Warrior has a numbered edition, yet we've got more than two witnesses who've seen BW in editions with no number, therefore BW must have had different editions. Frankly I think it's borderline ironic BW should be in the rarer group of FF with no number, given Gascoigne's FF has such a generic feel (imho aside from the rules on provisions and fighting multiple opponents at the same time, the descriptions, gameplay and world-building are definitely nothing to write home about). Even though the gamebook content has nothing to do with the decision to publish it that way. The links I posted pointed out that there were multiple editions - nobody is denying that at all. All titles up to 39 had a numberless edition (I have 13 out of the 39 in my collection). Just how many copies were in the print run remains unknown. I have 2 copies of BW. 1 with number on cover & spine and 1 with the number just on the spine with the gold foil on the cover. Don’t have the completely numberless edition or the one with the black lettering on the cover & number on the spine. My collection is here: fightingfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/User:Gallicus
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 18, 2022 19:30:16 GMT
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 15, 2022 0:00:11 GMT
If Vlado Krizan puts a bit of effort in, he might be OK. If he's in Sorcery 1 or Appointment with FEAR mode… I think part of his problem is he’s usually tasked with doing a stupid number of pics in a short space of time for peanuts and no copyright.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 13, 2022 19:47:25 GMT
How would you rate the McCoy era? I know there's a few fans on the board. Season 24 (McCoy’s first) is okay after a bumpy start. Season 25 does feel like a revamped show. The stories feel much faster in pace and his last story “Survival” doesn’t feel a million miles away from the new stuff.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 8, 2022 9:49:04 GMT
I’ve completed the McCoy era. Will watch the 1996 TV movie over the weekend and take a break till the next school term whereupon I’ll start the 2005 series..
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Apr 1, 2022 19:02:34 GMT
Is this the first ban this forum has had? (Outside of getting rid of spamming accounts I can't remember anyone getting a ban before, even a temporary one). I believe so, yes. It’s not like we want to do such things but abusing other individuals is not on.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Mar 31, 2022 18:34:49 GMT
Up to this point, the show has given me an impression of the Time Lords that they are wise, far-minded, almost god-like beings who if they have a fault it's that they are too aloof, leading them to view those who take more of an interest in mundane affairs like the Doctor and the Master as foolish mavericks. Well, I can forget about all that now because this story has them as a bunch of small-minded, petty bureaucrats with no understanding of their impressive technology and no concept of higher ideals. If I can forgive it that, this is an OK story. There was a famous negative review by a fan back in 1977 that I'll reproduce here:
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Mar 31, 2022 18:29:59 GMT
You're right Talons Of Weng Chiang is considered racist, I think it's one of those shows which aren't on certain social media (Britbox for sure, I think you can still get it on DVD) along with Fawlty Towers because of The Germans episode and Little Britain because they have a guy who blacks up. Kinda shows how far Who has changed now when they have an episode about Rosa Parks. The story came out as part of the Season 14 blu-ray set a year or so ago. Fandom has almost weekly debates about the racism of this story on internet forums. Nobody argues it isn't racist. The argues are about just how racist it is, could the production team have made more attempts to get real Chinese actor to play Li, was the writer aware of how racist he was being etc.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Mar 8, 2022 8:07:15 GMT
The numbers you are looking for are all on the individual pages for each book on the wikia (fightingfantasy.fandom.com). I know, I counted them all myself!
Paul is right, by the end of the Puffin run is was pretty much a consistent 30 full page pics per book.
But the number bounces from 27 (Starship Traveller) to 34 (Warlock of Firetop Mountain).
Wizard kept roughly the same number of pics. Even Howl of the Werewolf only has 30.
The new Scholastic editions have only about 21 full page pics each.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Dec 1, 2021 7:42:10 GMT
Since the start of the Pertwee era, new series of Doctor Who had started in January. The BBC decided to change to an autumn start with the following series, and since that left the production team with less preparation time, what had been intended as the final story of this series was kept in reserve for the start of the next one.. And as a result Terror of the Zygons was trimmed from 6 episodes down to 4.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Dec 1, 2021 7:39:01 GMT
Been a while since we've had a two part story - I think the last one was Series 2's The Rescue (though perhaps there were others amongst the lost episodes). You are correct, The Rescue was the last two-parter. There won't be another till 1982 (Season 19). This is a result of Script Editor Robert Holmes experimenting with trying to avoid multiple 6-parters in a season. This story and The Ark in Space were shot as one block (same director etc.) with the usual allocation of location and studio work. The difference here was the production team split all the location allocation into one story and all the studio time into the other. This split wouldn't be repeated till 1987 when the two 3-parters of the McCoy era were treated as one block, 1 story all on location and 1 story all in studio. The Ark in Space and Revenge of the Cybermen both being set on the same station was another attempt at saving money (the two stories were shot back-to-back).
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Nov 17, 2021 3:04:00 GMT
Now we're on the 4th Doctor, have other Whovians seen the one-off K-9 And Company episode? The credits and tone were very eighties and rather dated, but it was original and imo would have been better than Sarah Jane Adventures (RIP Elizabeth Sladen). Slightly interestingly the pilot show was commercially successful but the series was turned down because the BBC disliked it. When JNT took over as Producer he wangled more money out of the BBC (via BBC Enterprises I think). As a result Season 18 was 2 episodes longer at 28 episodes. This expanded budget carried over the next few seasons. "K9" was recorded at the start of the 19th production block (ie. right before Davison's first story in production "Four to Doomsday") and thus counts as 2 of the 28 episodes for that block (Season 19 appears as a regular 26 episodes as a result). For Seasons 20 through 22, this extra money was spent on overseas location shoots (Amsterdam, Lanzarote, Spain respectively) instead of extra episodes.
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