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Post by thealmightymudworm on Feb 4, 2023 3:46:49 GMT
Hesitating to post in this thread as it appears to have become a Dune-zone, and my knowledge of that/those book(s)/franchise is limited to remembering half the lyrics to Weapon of Choice... I don't read as much, especially fiction, as I should. The most recent fiction books were A Taste for Death – the third PD James book I've read, and I think the last as it really tested my patience and settled my opinion of her work – and John Le Carré's final book Silverview. I can recommend the latter. Having asked for some easygoing detective fiction at Christmas, I'm just starting Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club. I must read something more heavyweight after that!
The most recent non-fiction I've read is Nothing but the Truth by The Secret Barrister, which is sort of her (I think) autobiographical take on that role in terms of bafflement, exasperation, some belly laughs and her own changing political views. It's extremely readable, in spite of the structure being a bit one-damn-thing-after-another. A quality index wouldn't have gone amiss. Next I will be reading The Cuckoo's Calling by J K Rowling. Any good? That one or any of the other Strike novels? I've enjoyed the BBC adaptations so far, although the more recent ones felt like they were struggling to capture the whole narrative somehow.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 28, 2023 4:52:55 GMT
Q8. Name a gamebook in which for ALL paths of successful playthrough, you must fight a battle when nearing the end of the adventure (i.e. in a dice roll combat fashion with the opponent's Skill & Stamina shown), but will be guaranteed a/the good-ending immediately after winning it. - (r216) Master of Chaos [Naas]
3 - Trialmaster, Vastariner, Thealmightymudworm - (r103/380) Temple of Terror [Malbordus]
2 - Evilwizard, Greenspine - (r109) House of Hell [Hell Demon]
2 - Hallucination, Peter - (r46) Stealer of Souls [Mordraneth]
1 - Gabe Fandango - (r187) Sky Lord [Last Prefecta]
1 - Petch - (r40) Masks of Mayhem [Efor Tynin]
1 - Sylas - (r49) Eye of the Dragon [Sharcle]
1 - Peter's wife Excluding some gamebooks such as Citadel of Chaos, in which you can use an item or spell or action to skip the fight entirely, there still are many gamebooks that feature a "final battle" without embellishments before the good-ending(s). So it's quite unfortunate that there were clashes on this one. Other potential answers include Appointment with FEAR, Sword of the Samurai, Trial of Champions, Vault/Revenge of the Vampire, Return to Firetop Mountain, Bloodbones, etc. It's just head-desk stuff that of the three answers I considered I dodged two unique answers and picked the double-clash...
One answer I considered and rejected though was Talisman of Death, and I'm interested to know whether it would have been rejected if I'd submitted it.
Naturally the player has to kill the Red Dragon but, if you seem to be winning that fight, it disguises itself in human form to trick you and you essentially stab it in cold blood. You have a choice not to, which will get you killed. Would that have been enough to exclude it from the criteria?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 28, 2023 4:39:55 GMT
Belated thanks to adrius for running the round and congrats to Petch and Evilwizard.
I did find it tough, though that was largely due to some big holes in my FF knowledge so that seems fair enough! Q4. Identify a doomed chain that is 4 references long and ends on an ultimate bad-ending (i.e. A -> B -> C -> D where A/B/C are doomed, and D is the ending). Specify the entire chain in your answer; entries that repeat the ending reference in the same gamebook will be considered duplicating. - r118-327-148-254 / r118-126-29-254, House of Hell [Apprehended in the kitchen]
2 - Trialmaster, Thealmightymudworm This was the only one I knew about and couldn't think of a reasonable way to research others. My only hope was that it's so well known that most people would avoid it. This was probably the best result it was reasonable to hope for. I had no ideas for this one and had to resort to poring over the 'Other Attributes' section of the Game System page on Titannica to get a clue.
It's interesting that whilst you can definitely hit bad endings in a number of books by taking too long, it never happens (at least not instantly) as the result of rolling under a TIME-type stat.
One natural way that you might have made this question just a fraction easier would have been to make it 'will inevitably' rather than 'immediately' lead to a bad ending. However this might have led to controversy, as alongside BVP's infamous LUCK roll, someone would have been certain to plump for the Ferocity roll in TCT. I've been arguing on the solution thread against the received wisdom that the latter dooms the player. Totally uninteresting I'm sure, but I have to note that this is, I think, the first time in a good few rounds for which changing my mind about something actually saved me a point rather than lumbering me with more. I belatedly decided that the sea-ogre was too memorable.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 28, 2023 0:52:37 GMT
Just FAO anyone with a sense of nostalgia for the ITV classic, Knightmare Live will be part of the UK Games Expo in Birmingham in June. I've never been to it (and probably won't be able to this time), but I think stevendoig mentioned having been to this at some point...? For those unaware, there were a handful of Knightmare gamebooks written by Dave Morris. (That thread is currently languishing right at the bottom of the minor series lists, having barely been posted in since the opening posts were salvaged from TUFFF nearly a decade ago.)
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 27, 2023 17:40:57 GMT
This is interesting, I'd never associated Baobhan Sith with banshees.
Thinking about it, I think my image of them was just female vampires that support Celtic.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 23, 2023 23:33:47 GMT
One of the very few titles rejected by the publishers of Choose Your Own Adventure.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 21, 2023 21:51:56 GMT
Random question: Have you considered using Linflas's tool thing to create a version of this with clickable links? I keep meaning to try it out on one of my own minis, but it would involve downloading and installing (I think) at least two different things, and my laptop is held together by sticky tape and willpower.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 21, 2023 15:54:03 GMT
I'm intending to put in a set for this round – probably 30 seconds before the deadline.
I'd also like to 'take a number' and be the next person in the queue after King Gillibran to run a round if there are no objections to that...?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 16, 2023 23:07:25 GMT
I'll start:-
A sequel to House of Hell, set 40 years later, with the same protaganist.
Will you... Rap the door with the knocker (turn to 357), pull the cord (turn to 275), creep round the house (turn to 289) or use your mobile phone (turn to 400)?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 7, 2023 21:55:22 GMT
Took a shot at Daggers of Darkness, which I've never owned or played before.
SKILL 7 STAMINA 22
LUCK 7
In my last playthrough, I was spiked by a random sharp thing in a cave and noted how many of such possibilities there are in Luke Sharp's Chasms of Malice.
In this playthrough, I was spiked by a random sharp thing in a cave in Luke Sharp's Daggers of Darkness. In this case it was a metal thing defying gravity.
There were several tests but few fights on my round. At least I got to stroke a cat.
2 x Hell Hounds, Marsh Goblin
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 7, 2023 21:32:09 GMT
JAN – renders you unable to do something that you can normally do, such as drink alcohol or eat bacon. If the spell is fully effective, which it usually isn't, the effects will last for four and a half weeks. STAMINA cost: casting this spell will actually increase your STAMINA (but it still isn't worth it).
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 7, 2023 2:30:10 GMT
The original Robert Ball cover for The Port of Peril is a purple-y, cartoony-looking orc or ogre or something, with a vague red suggestion of a city and a ship behind it. It's big and angry and has a chunky axe but it's not exactly filled with character and doesn't give the reader much of an idea of what the book is actually about. It is in fact probably one of the most generic-looking covers in the entire series - at least a truly awful cover would have been more memorable. The title, Port of Peril (and the fact that it was written by Ian Livingstone) however does suggest that Port Blacksand will play a part, and ties it thematically to the other book that is primarily about Port Blacksand: City of Thieves. However, later releases instead featured a gold foil cover and a 'window' with only a small amount of the image showing (the growly orc's head), which is worse, as the foil is poor quality and flakes off easily, making be book uglier and your own hands a bit more golden. I believe the spine in both editions comes with this same gold foil, and it sucks. I think it's pretty dreadful, so much so that I almost wish that I had the porthole version (and it's hard to think of anything more damning to say than that). It just looks ugly, unconvincing and irrelevant. Trying to start with the positives: it's attention-grabbing due to the hulking figure taking up much of the cover, the direct stare at the reader and the aggressive colour palette. The axe looks (at a glance) to be sharp enough to seem vaguely threatening. But as a whole, the ogre or whatever it is just doesn't look credible. For some reason it puts me in mind of 1980-to-90s-style computer game graphics, like it's something that might lurch up in front of you in a Doom clone that needs to have an impact but doesn't need to withstand close scrutiny. I mean it's quite sophisticated by those standards, but totally misconceived both for those of us who remember the original art and for today's kids, who not only have higher expectations but probably fancy their chances of knocking up something at least as good on their own laptops/tablets. I particularly hate the veins on the arms which look especially amateurish. Also I spent time wondering how on my copy of PoP the humanoid's left shoulder had got as scuffed as the spine is getting, before realising all copies look like that! Whatever effect the artist was going for did not succeed imo. What's all the more remarkable is that this is the same artist that did Assassins' cover, which I actually think is rather good. (Even though the paperback only ever had a porthole version, I think...?) The blue silk, the sword, the hands, the glaring eyes and even the scorpion and gem on the headpiece all hold up well under scrutiny. So it's not that Robert Ball lacks artistic talent. Was he given bad instructions or just told to knock something up over a weekend for £50?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 6, 2023 3:17:24 GMT
I find it interesting that people who don't like Black Vein Prophecy always blame it on the unfair Luck Test. Which begs the question, if the Luck Test problem was rectified, would people automatically love it instead? Sounds that way since there aren't many complaints about other aspects of the book. The interesting part is that the super important Skill bonus with the Kris Knife in House of Hell is a very similar problem. Going by the rules as written, the book is almost impossible to beat. And yet no one moans about that or deems it enough of a problem to hold it back.Note that I do love both these books as well. True, but the Kris Knife bonus is almost certainly a botched Attack Strength thing and not a problem if you go by authorial intent, whilst Sleepy Scholar's white hot malevolence towards us is all too real.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 5, 2023 22:35:19 GMT
Belated congratulations to Peter's wife (and seemingly petch and trialmaster too) and thanks again to Sylas for running the round.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 3, 2023 2:57:18 GMT
A very late festive reference for all of you Egyptologist George Michael fans.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 1, 2023 18:19:29 GMT
Unique Answers Game - Round 16 results 1. Name a Fighting Fantasy gamebook that has the word ‘NIGHT’ somewhere in its title.
Knights of Doom – 5 (Adrius, Petch, hallucination, Gabe fandango, philsadler) Midnight Rogue – 5 (King Gillibran, Peter, trialmaster, greenspine, Thealmightymudworm) Night Dragon – 3 (Peter’s wife, vastariner, Kieran) Beneath Nightmare Castle – 1 (Evilwizard) With 14 contestants this round there would inevitably be a few clashes. It seems everyone who tried to give a clever answer came out the worst off with 2 big pile ups in Knights of Doom and Midnight Rogue. Evilwizard takes an early lead with the only 1 point answer given. Amazingly, no one went for Dead of Night or Night of the Necromancer! Too obvious maybe, but it doesn’t explain the clashes with Night Dragon. Oh well, all to play for yet. Results after Question 1.
1 point – Evilwizard 3 points – Peter’s wife, vastariner, Kieran 5 points – Adrius, Petch, hallucination, Gabe fandango, philsadler, King Gillibran, Peter, trialmaster, greenspine, Thealmightymudworm I thought I'd avoided going for the clever-clever answer by avoiding Knights of Doom. At least I was right to do that, even if it would only have been 1 more point. Surely Beneath Nightmare Castle is just as 'clever' as Midnight Rogue! This was silly of me. I just couldn't shake the feeling that people would want to look for an answer outside the obvious examples in Sorcery!, and that it's just too tempting to think of the one spell in SS which refers to STAMINA and think 'Aha! That could count and it's not obvious'. But I don't know some of the other books which use magic spells as well as others; probably most people thinking of FF with spells wouldn't think of Scorpion Swamp immediately after Sorcery! . I did consider LAW as well, so it could have been worse.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 1, 2023 1:43:42 GMT
Champagne of the Giants Assassins of Alan's New Year Shadow of the January
Two thousand and twenty three-way Fighter
Happy New Year everyone.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 31, 2022 18:15:10 GMT
I ran into one of those endings, too. Just out of interest, how exactly did you die? While crawling up a hole I got my face clawed off by an unidentified furry creature that defeated Tabasha in combat. Probably something like this: In my case I was in a cave in which huge icicles were dropping and one of them hit me. Not to be confused with an earlier cave in which sharp pieces of stone were dropping and I dodged them, or a later cave in which blades have been strung up and then start dropping.
The gamebook could really use a 'concrete umbrella' cheat code.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 31, 2022 15:16:43 GMT
Took a shot at Chasms – early by my standards given the date.
SKILL 11 STAMINA 20 LUCK 8
It's a long time since I played CoM. I've usually been inclined to accentuate the positive about it. It has some nice ideas to it in spite of the OSCs, and if tasked with fixing a book it doesn't seem like a bad one to have a go at.
However, the bit of the book which did for me was "You are in a place. Nothing fancy, just a place. You can go North-West or North-East or backwards" *repeat* *repeat* *repeat* Test LUCK, fail, dead. That is feeble. It is also a bit galling to be told glibly that there are "patterns which have no meaning" to me, when I've just been told loads about funny patterns. How many patterns can there be?
Fights won: Scavenger Orc, Drunken Troll, Khuddam Geshrak, Fang Spider, Shadrac
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 30, 2022 5:39:01 GMT
Master of Chaos: sorry, I still can't remember a blind thing about it You don't remember Jesper the mongoose or Naas the evil but honourable dark elf?
Admittedly Shanzikuul himself is not very memorable – an illustration would have helped.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 24, 2022 21:52:12 GMT
Masks of Myrrhem
Island of the Lizard King's Speech
Merry Christmas everyone!
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 24, 2022 21:06:38 GMT
The Crown of Kings – I don't own or know this book, far less have I successfully played through all the previous Sorcery! books
SKILL 7 STAMINA 17 LUCK 9
Details pending – might be a while.
So I was smart enough not to swing on a rope without checking with HOW first (though why not SUS?) but the note purporting to be from Colletus gave me false confidence in the groaning bridge – enough to think that as a landmark it wouldn't vanish, at least. Zero fights won, naturally – I think that's the first time that I haven't even begun a single fight.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 24, 2022 4:34:06 GMT
I've finally got round to giving this a go, winning on my fourth playthrough (and needing my LUCK of 12 to see me over the line with just a handful of STAMINA remaining).
I'm too short of time due to Christmas stuff to comment at any length, but I'd have to agree with others that it's very good. The writing does a good job of bringing the scene to life (if that's the right expression) – it's a good sign that I can remember the locations and characters easily. The choices generally felt meaningful and 'hidden number' mechanics were handled nicely too.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 23, 2022 14:44:47 GMT
I'm going to give this thread a seasonal bump despite the necromancy warnings, not least as I notice that over half of the members on this forum have joined since it was last posted in(!) so hopefully this is new to some. Something for bored kids to do before or after the main fun, maybe? Other festive-themed adventures on this board include daredevil123's Wight Christmas (which I'm taking a look at atm – the current warning about necromancy at the top of the thread is sort of appropriate), Kieran's Midwinter Carol and Tammy's Grim Holiday 2.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 23, 2022 2:42:25 GMT
Secret Santas of Salamonis
Appointment with H.A.N.U.K.K.A.H.
Island of the Lizard Stocking Fillers
The Plum Puddings of Kether
The Adventures of Goldhawk, Frankincensehawk and Myrrhhawk
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 17, 2022 23:53:17 GMT
Scorpion Swamp
SKILL 11 STAMINA 18 LUCK 7
Perhaps remarkably I lost, hacked down by the second incarnation of the Sword Trees whilst on my way back to Selator with the Antherica berry.
Fights won: Sword trees, thief
Ramble: It's been a while since I played Scorpion Swamp. I didn't want to use a solution, but had a couple of toy playthroughs before the one for this, and did what I've sometimes done and glanced at the starting suggestions on the solution, i.e. what spells to pick. This proved to be a mistake, as I spent the last half of the adventure cursing myself* for not picking a STAMINA spell. No doubt it isn't necessary if you follow the solution but it would have made all the difference for me.
Whilst in general this is a relatively easy book, it has to be said that the book's attitude to restoring STAMINA, especially in the latter half, is harsh and bizarre. Following encounters with sword trees, the thief and worst of all failing a LUCK test and rolling '6' on 1d6 against the eponymous arachnids of the swamp, I am on 2 STAMINA, but this will be rectifiable, right? Well...
- After defeating the Thief, I munch the cheese he was eating. No STAMINA change. - I encounter the ranger who is delighted to help in my mission. He offers healing herbs which restore 1 point of ...SKILL. No STAMINA change. - The giant swears lifelong friendship to me, but fails to, say, offer me a hearty pie or whatever. No STAMINA change. - I find the Ribenaberry Antherica bush, and know that its berries do give a modest STAMINA boost. But of course I need to keep one, and one is all there is. No STAMINA change. - Perhaps most galling is the encounter with the Master of Gardens:
Me: *crawls bleeding into clearing* "Are you the Master of Gardens?" MoG: "That's me – wizard devoted to growing plants in the cause of good." Me: "Such as healing herbs?" MoG: [baffled silence]"...wuh?" Me: "OK, where's the Antherica plant" MoG: "Anticlockwise through the clearings from here – would you like a spell to help you on your way?" Me: "Oh that'd be great. Got a STAMINA one?" MoG: "Ugh, no, that's a disgusting Neutral spell. I only have Good spells." Me: "Oh. So Friendship, Growth or ...Bless?" MoG: "Those are the ones." Me: "Bless spells having a healing effect, but which folk can't cast on themselves, right?" MoG: "Yes, you've handled them before?" Me: "Yes, just earlier today a unicorn with serious injuries crossed my path and I figured it needed help so I cast the Bless spell on it." MoG: "OK great." Me: [...] MoG: [...] MoG: "So do you want one or not?"
*Not with actual curse spells of course, those are not available on this path.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 17, 2022 17:12:07 GMT
"Whenever you succeed in hitting it, roll a die: if you roll a 5 or a 6, you have managed to strike near a vital electronic circuit, and the Grappler's SKILL is reduced by 3 points" I think that bit of text is aimed at the player rather than their character as its explaining the mechanics of the combat. So although the character shouldn't know what an electronic circuit is,the player would. Just as the character probably doesn't think of the Grappler's combat prowess in terms of Skill points. Well it may be, but if so it's a mistake in my view. In FF books you are the hero – the one and only you! – and the author should be trying to keep the reader immersed in that idea. The book has to inform you of stat changes etc because that's how the game works and gamebooks trade in a bit of immersion for other things like agency. But having "...you managed to strike near a vital electronic circuit..." where the description is supposed to be helping you visualise 'you' damaging the robot even though that 'you' doesn't know how a robot works is unhelpful.
Why not "...if you roll a 5 or a 6, there is a shower of sparks and one of the Grappler's tentacles goes limp – reduce its SKILL by 3 points" leaving the real world you to make inferences about the electronics if you are so inclined?
Anyway this has got quite a lot more involved than I expected/intended. It was probably a mistake to add the 'inconsistent' line to my post.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 17, 2022 1:40:37 GMT
Hi, I'm recently playing CoT with my 5 yr old daughter, she absolutely loved it, we're on our 3rd play session (1st one we lost, 2nd and 3rd for the 2nd try). I have a question that I wanna know how you FF veterans handles it--skill, we started lucky with a respectable initial skill of 11 and no skill penalties yet, we got the Magical Elven Boots +1 skill and also Chainmail Coat +2 skill, so would that have any effect on her character's skill? That'd be 14 skill! But we dropped our shield (-1) while being pursued and also had to take off our chainmail coat (-2) which brings us back to our starting skill after we left Port Blacksand. Did we play it right? It doesn't make sense that we would have 8 skill left if we can't go over our Initial Skill. We're at the Tower now and we just got our Unicorn shield, another skill bonus, we took a break there and will continue at the next session. Happy to hear your suggestions on how to handle each of the above mentioned items and hope we're playing it right. Thanks If I'm reading this correctly, you should have been at SKILL 11 all the way through imo. SKILL bonus items can't make you exceed your initial SKILL except when stated, but so long as you have them they're 'trying' to raise it. That seems like the least nonsensical interpretation of the rules.
I rambled on about that at greater length on the Scorpion Swamp thread: The Magic SwordsThe magic sword you are given by Grimslade for defeating the Goblin Statue without losing any stamina has the following rule: Add 1 to your Skill whenever you use it.So though it cannot take you above your Initial Skill, it will negate your skill loss from the Swamp Orcs, should you choose to pass them without the Magnet Pendant. So for example: Your Initial Skill is 10.You fight the Crab Grass with the Magic Sword but your Skill is still only 10 for this fight. The Swamp Orcs wound you, your Skill is now 9. You fight the Swamp Orcs with the Magic Sword and your Skill is back to 10 for this fight. Your leave the clearing with a Skill of 9. Oddly the +2 Skill The magic Sword you get for killing Grimslade before or after the swamp just states: Adds 2 to the skill of its user.Which I would usually take to mean it would be a permanent boost for skill tests and the like. I would also be conflicted on the legitimacy of adding this skill bonus retrospectively after losing skill points in the swamp. Does anyone have any thoughts on the rules for such equipment skill bonuses in general and how to apply them? I always play it as the skill bonus is totally wasted since at the time you pick up the sword, you're still at maximum skill. That said, I don't think there's anything in the rules that would prohibit you from declining to switch swords until a more advantageous time. Me too, at least in other gamebooks or with say the Ranger’s +1 Skill Helmet deep in the swamp. However the red text in my post above clearly states that this specific Magic Sword works like an Attack Strength bonus that only works when you are below your initial skill. (At least that is what I have convinced myself of, hopefully not to ease a guilty conscience. 😬) FWIW, not only do I think that a magic sword can compensate for later SKILL loss, I don't see the logic of thinking otherwise. Naturally we start with the problem that the rules on this stuff don't really make sense. With the adventurer starting with identical initial and current SKILL scores, all the rings, amulets and weaponry infused with supernatural powers are reduced to the status of hearing aids or reading glasses. They are useless to anyone in perfect health. This confuses things, but there's still surely a difference between events and items which are used up on the one hand, and persisting objects on the other. Let's say that you have lost a SKILL point before either getting hold of a SKILL potion or an 'increases your SKILL in combat' sword. If you drink the potion, your SKILL is restored (from 9 to 10 let's say) permanently. If you use the sword, it is restored to 10, at least during combat. But what if you then lose the sword, or trade it in for one which does extra damage or something? Then your SKILL in combat will surely drop again, because you are no longer benefiting from its magic. As the instructions used to say "A Magic Weapon may increase your SKILL, but remember that only one weapon may be used at a time!" So if when it works the magic sword is continuously raising your SKILL in battle for as long as you use it, what sense can be made of it permanently and uselessly discharging if it isn't effective immediately? The least weird way of interpreting the initial SKILL limit is that the sword is continuously trying to increase your SKILL, like a man pushing against a wall. If the man is moved back from the wall, he is free to step towards it again. I can't recall CoT in detail but presumably the bonuses aren't specified as taking you over your initial score...? So: Gain Magical Elven Boots +1 skill and also Chainmail Coat +2 skill [no change to current SKILL] Lose shield [no change as -1 SKILL immediately compensated by the +1 SKILL boots] Lose armour [no change as you didn't benefit from the potential points you 'lose']
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 15, 2022 22:30:52 GMT
One of my favourite trivia facts is the first reference to robots in Western literature is in the first work of Western literature. The Iliad refers to self-propelling tables made by the smith-god Hephaistos as a sort of mobile Black & Decker workmate. They are described, literally, as "automata" (self-moving). Given the existence of golems and sentinels, which are functionally robotic, I could see that a Khulian would at least be accepting of robots, even if they had never seen anything like. even if it feels a bit inconsistent that your character seems to have a rudimentary idea of what a robot is yet has never heard of a fire extinguisher. For the most part the book takes care to avoid giving your character anachronistic knowledge. The robot is referred to as ‘a nightmarish monster’, and while the description makes it clear to the reader that this is a robot, it does so with Titan-appropriate comparisons such as ‘like a giant’s suit of armour’. After the description is complete, the robot audibly reports in to its controllers, identifying itself as “Grappler”, thereby providing a name for the character to use when referring to the robot from then on. Admittedly, the word ‘robot’ does appear in a couple of sections covering what happens if you didn’t arm yourself with Extinguisher. I don’t know if that was a lapse on Darvill-Evans’ part or a clueless editorial imposition, but a mistake like that seems perfectly plausible from the people that would go on to unleash Skill 12 Mudworms onto an unsuspecting world two books later. That's interesting about automata in the Iliad. For me though the problem wasn't really the idea of animated metal or mechanical entities, or even the word 'robot' (after all the first 'robots' were living things) but more the reference to electronics. I had misremembered it as being on the extinguisher path, that is that the foam is explicitly seeping into circuits, but it's if you take a sword to it: "Whenever you succeed in hitting it, roll a die: if you roll a 5 or a 6, you have managed to strike near a vital electronic circuit, and the Grappler's SKILL is reduced by 3 points"
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 15, 2022 5:22:15 GMT
FEAR is full of it because it's really an alt-Earth, hence Michael Blackson's Willer and Georgie Boy and the Vulture Club. Spectral Stalkers has quite a bit in the opening parts. E.g. the Umbrella being described as an exotic object. If I remember rightly, there's a bit in Spectral Stalkers where you are attacked by a robot and given the option of searching for a weapon. If you do so, your character is delighted to find what is clearly a lethal tool marked ...'extinguisher'. On using it, the character is disappointed and alarmed to discover that it shoots neither fire nor bullets, but merely a jet of foam – only to feel vindicated when the foam seeps into the robot's workings causing it to short out.
I find that quite funny, even if it feels a bit inconsistent that your character seems to have a rudimentary idea of what a robot is yet has never heard of a fire extinguisher.
(There's a question about whether it's ever a good idea to have your character's knowledge overtly differ from yours – but that's a topic for another thread.)
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