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Post by a moderator on Jan 3, 2024 2:02:25 GMT
$978 CAD. That's almost 600 quid. Getting ridiculous now... Unless you bought the book, this belongs in the 'Price Madness Thread' rather than the 'What's the most you've paid?' thread.
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Post by a moderator on Jan 2, 2024 21:44:38 GMT
I'm going to assume the adventure hasn't been altered from its original state (although a cursory comparison reveals that one case of adjacent linkage has been fixed, and the D&D rules have been omitted). Another change is that the potion found on Galthazzeth's corpse in section 114 has been changed. In Warlock 10 it was a Potion of Skill, but in the Yearbook it's become a Potion of Stamina. Cynical types might wonder why the grievously wounded Galthazzeth wouldn't take the opportunity to drink the Potion of Stamina and restore some of his lost health when the hero was distracted fighting the Clone Slime, while the more pedantic readers would perhaps focus on the fact that the Stamina-restoring potion mentioned in the rules is called a Potion of Strength, leaving the precise effect of Galthazzeth's potion in some doubt.
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Post by a moderator on Jan 2, 2024 17:56:12 GMT
Mrs. Giggles reckons War With The Evil Power Master is a really good gamebook Someone has managed to come up with a phrase that makes less sense than Stephen Fry's "Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers."
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Post by a moderator on Jan 2, 2024 16:51:46 GMT
I've now had another go at the Be A Detective gamebook I mentioned here, and it's sunk even lower in my estimation - sufficiently that I think verbally shredding it is better suited to this thread than one on an unrelated CYOA. As I had suspected/dreaded, it's what I call a Schroedinger's gamebook - the details of what's going on vary on different routes through the book. More specifically, because I made different decisions the second time round, the nature of the crime being committed and the identity of the perpetrator(s) are not the same as they were before. Yesterday the bookkeeper was a smuggler, but now the office staff are all in cahoots with a bunch of hijackers. Well, thieves, but the book calls them hijackers because the vans transporting the goods they steal end up going somewhere other than their intended destination. So far there's not much of a link between the title of the book ( The Feathered Serpent) and what was going on in either of the 'mysteries'. I mean, I know the title is a term used for assorted Mesoamerican gods, and both crimes have a connection with Mexico, but it's about as appropriate as calling a book The Round Table because it involves someone robbing the Bank of England and, you know, King Arthur was in England, right? Also, since I chose the 'worst case scenario' option almost every time and still got a happy ending, it wouldn't surprise me if the book turns out to have no routes ending in failure. Not my least favourite gamebook by a long way (so far), but I'm almost impressed at how many different ways it manages to go wrong while still not being as rubbish as the real turkeys.
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Post by a moderator on Jan 1, 2024 18:48:20 GMT
It's probably too short as well as too juvenile and arguably not up there with either actual mysteries or even other mystery gamebooks While visiting family over the Christmas period, I chanced upon one of the Be A Detective Mystery Stories gamebooks in a charity shop, and decided to give it a punt. Only played it the once so far, but first impressions suggest that Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey is a lot better than this 'other mystery gamebook'. For starters, I'm not sure that the 'reader choices determine what happens rather than what the protagonist does' model is a good choice for the genre. And even if someone could use it to create a decent mystery gamebook, that’s not the case here. Too much happens without reader input: the last decision I got to make determined the location of Nancy Drew’s malfunctioning plane, leaving me a spectator for the subsequent ditching of the plane, rescue of Nancy, car chase, interrogation of an antagonist, and revelation of who was guilty of what. Moving in the vague direction of on-topic, I think CYOA’s Mystery of Ura Senke is one of the better examples of the mystery gamebook subgenre – especially the way the solution remains consistent regardless of the choices made, but following different routes reveals different aspects of that solution, so it’s worth replaying the book even after getting a ‘win’ ending in order to get the full story.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 31, 2023 0:00:10 GMT
Around 24 hours to get in results for week 52.
Week 51 scoring 1st: hallucination - 16 (stats bonus 1 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 2nd: evilwizard – 14 (stats bonus 4 + victory bonus 10) 3rd: terrysalt – 12 (stats bonus 2 + victory bonus 10) 4th: trialmaster – 11 (stats bonus 1 + closest to victory bonus 5 + most fights won bonus 5)
Running totals 1st: evilwizard - 716 2nd: terrysalt - 700 3rd: hallucination - 634 4th: King Gillibran - 287 5th: kieran - 213 6th: trialmaster - 95 7th: kalieum - 78 8th: peasantscribbler - 76 9th: juniorhornet - 45 10th: nathanh – 33
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Post by a moderator on Dec 30, 2023 21:47:14 GMT
This first book is good and has atmosphere, but yes, it truly is easy. It's the only Golden Dragon book for which I haven't written a solution, since peasantscribbler already did earlier in this thread, apparently with a 100% success rate. Here are the success rates for an optimal character I got for the next books (original editions only): Temple of the Flame: a very measly 13.5% (bumped up to 45.3% for the revised edition, thanks to a correction) Lord of Shadow Keep: 51.3% Eye of the Dragon: 100%, and that's also true if you roll the worst possible character, but don't let that fool you, since figuring out the 100% successful path is difficult Curse of the Pharaoh: 79.1% Castle of Lost Souls: 97.7%, also considering the real challenge here is figuring out the best path like in EotD Eye Of The Dragon is definitely not 100% success rate, more so if you roll up a below-average starting character. From the "How Important is gameplay difficulty thread" six months or so ago, this exchange between myself, Greenspine and you: Failing either Agility roll is risky, because you either don't reach Lord Mantiss or have to fight him. Basically I'm explaining in terms what Greenspine says just above, there is a "low-risk" route rather than a "very-low-risk\no risk" route.
You can use a spell to substitute for the first Agility roll, and failing the second one doesn't force you to fight, just causes you to take a wound. Thus, unless you managed to roll -17 or lower on two dice when determining your VIGOUR (and if you did, stop using weird dice), there's no way you can die on the 'true path'. The challenge lies in discovering that path.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 30, 2023 14:29:34 GMT
Temple is definitely not easy (though it has become a little less brutal in the more recent edition thanks to the correction of an error).
There is a low-risk route through Eye, but it's a very narrow path, and there are plenty of not-automatically-doomed-but-definitely-challenging paths on which you can end up instead of the 'safe' way.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 21, 2023 0:01:52 GMT
As I don't know when I'm next going to be able to access the board, here are the details of the last two titles for this year's challenge. Week 52 City of Thieves (4 dice) Rebel Planet (4 dice) Unnecessary risk bonus Both books include an optional encounter in which you can gain something which may be of use to you, but which can kill you if a die roll doesn’t go your way. You can get an extra 5 points by taking the chance and getting away with it. City of Thieves: Win 20 gold pieces by swallowing a non-poisonous pill. Rebel Planet: Steal a baryon grenade and escape from your pursuers. Yes, one of these challenges is significantly more risky than the other, but if you picked the book with that one in, you already chose the trickier adventure, so it seems clear that you like to live dangerously anyway. Please state if you use a guide, if you allocate dice at character creation rather than taking them as they fall, or if you make more than one attempt at a book. Only combats which you win should be included in the list of enemies defeated. Week 50 scoring1st: evilwizard – 17 (stats bonus 2 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 2nd: terrysalt – 16 (stats bonus 1 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 3rd: kieran – 15 (stats bonus 5 + closest to victory bonus 5 + most fights won bonus 5) 4th: hallucination - 14 (stats bonus 4 + victory bonus 10) 5th: trialmaster – 4 (stats bonus 4) Bith terrysalt and evilwizard fought the exact same list of enemies in Stealer of Souls, so they each get the bonus. Running totals1st: evilwizard - 702 2nd: terrysalt - 688 3rd: hallucination - 618 4th: King Gillibran - 287 5th: kieran - 213 6th: trialmaster - 84 7th: kalieum - 78 8th: peasantscribbler - 76 9th: juniorhornet - 45 10th: nathanh – 33
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Post by a moderator on Dec 19, 2023 12:40:56 GMT
I was planning on listing the final titles (yes, just 52 weeks this year) tomorrow night anyway, as my internet access will be patchy or non-existent over the Christmas period.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 17, 2023 0:11:58 GMT
A little under 24 hours to get in results for week 50.
Week 51 Shadow of the Giants (4 dice) Clash of the Princes - The Warrior's Way (4 dice)
Please state if you use a guide, if you allocate dice at character creation rather than taking them as they fall, or if you make more than one attempt at a book. Only combats which you win should be included in the list of enemies defeated.
Week 49 scoring 1st= hallucination - 17 (stats bonus 2 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 1st= trialmaster – 17 (stats bonus 2 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 3rd: terrysalt – 15 (stats bonus 5 + victory bonus 10) 4th: evilwizard – 14 (stats bonus 4 + victory bonus 10) 5th: kalieum - 4 (stats bonus 4)
Running totals 1st: evilwizard - 685 2nd: terrysalt - 672 3rd: hallucination - 604 4th: King Gillibran - 287 5th: kieran - 198 6th: trialmaster - 80 7th: kalieum - 78 8th: peasantscribbler - 76 9th: juniorhornet - 45 10th: nathanh – 33
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Post by a moderator on Dec 14, 2023 23:25:21 GMT
Making animations is expensive and takes time.
The soundtracks of all missing episodes have been preserved (and released on CD with narration to cover the visuals), so in theory every incomplete story could get an animation, but ultimately it will come down to resources and profitability. There's little likelihood that animations of low-ranking stories such as The Smugglers and The Space Pirates would sell enough to cover the cost of creating them.
When it comes to The Daleks' Master Plan, even if they only animated the missing episodes (and since they started on stories with more than half of the episodes gone, they've been animating the surviving episodes as well), cursory research suggests that it'd take over a year and a half, which is probably a risky venture in the current economic climate.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 11, 2023 22:45:42 GMT
Issues I pointed out during playtesting, only to be ignored, included The issue of whether you're meant to be a human or a dwarf, each possibility being problematic in places. [...] And several occasions on which it makes your character look and act like a bit of a dope, especially, and this really must be brought up again, in the case of the assisted sacrifice. I may have seen worse in gamebooks, but nonetheless it's the sort of thing that could make people throw your adventure at the virtual wall: not asking if you want to hand over the dagger, not asking if maybe you'd like to put a stop to things at some point before dagger is plunged into heart, and then slamming the player/character morally and mechanically for the whole deal. One way or another that's not great design. If the text provided to the playtesters had included the rules, I'd also have brought up the issue with when Provisions could be consumed, but they weren't provided, so I didn't know about that problem until the 'zine came out.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 10, 2023 0:00:17 GMT
Around 24 hours to get in results for week 49.
Week 50 Curse of the Mummy (4 dice) Stealer of Souls (4 dice)
Please state if you use a guide, if you allocate dice at character creation rather than taking them as they fall, or if you make more than one attempt at a book. Only combats which you win should be included in the list of enemies defeated. If you play Curse of the Mummy, please state whether you are using the Puffin edition or the Wizard reissue.
Week 48 scoring 1st: evilwizard – 20 (stats bonus 5 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 2nd: terrysalt – 19 (stats bonus 4 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 3rd: hallucination - 17 (stats bonus 2 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 4th: trialmaster – 4 (stats bonus 4) 5th: kieran – 2 (stats bonus 2)
Running totals 1st: evilwizard - 671 2nd: terrysalt - 657 3rd: hallucination - 587 4th: King Gillibran - 287 5th: kieran - 198 6th: peasantscribbler - 76 7th: kalieum - 74 8th: trialmaster - 63 9th: juniorhornet - 45 10th: nathanh – 33
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Post by a moderator on Dec 9, 2023 14:21:47 GMT
I’m officially the oldest voter so far. 👴🏻 Allow me to relieve you of that burden.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 8, 2023 21:33:12 GMT
I would suggest to follow my solution. I know that The Tailless Rat is Madam Crowfoots animal disguise and 've looked at your solution, several times in fact, but I can't find where the book tells you which of the animals is Madam Crowfoots animal disguise and I merely want to know where the book tells you which of the animals is Madam Crowfoots animal disguise Since my earlier answer appears to have been ignored, I guess I need to be a bit less subtle. THE BOOK DOESN'T TELL YOU. YOU HAVE TO FIGURE IT OUT BY YOURSELF.The lack of tail may be a clue, but there seems little point in looking for anything approaching fairness in one of the most unwinnable books of the pre-Blood of the Zombies range.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 8, 2023 16:38:28 GMT
I'm not aware of any earlier clues regarding her disguise. Maybe the lack of tail is supposed to be a hint that there's something a bit suspicious about that creature.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 7, 2023 11:43:59 GMT
I just added the poll because everyone seems to be adding polls to threads these days. I'm more interested in the conversation generally. Polls can get in the way of conversation. At least one person who's voted in the poll has not posted in the thread.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 5, 2023 13:34:47 GMT
Many of the problems with The Ultimate Foe are due to behind-the-scenes issues, including the death of one scriptwriter and a major falling-out between producer and script editor (one consequence of which was that the people rushed in to provide a replacement episode 14 were not allowed to know anything about how it had originally been intended to go). Doesn't excuse the inconsistencies, but goes some way towards explaining them. It's a bit odd that she goes off with the Doctor at the end, considering she's already lived through the events of Terror of the Vervoids while he hasn't and I have zero confidence in the writers addressing this issue in future. The writers did resolve it, but only in the novelisation of Foe - the Doctor returns Mel to the coordinates from which she was brought to the courtroom, and she rejoins his future self. Your lack of comment on something suggests that you might not be aware of it. The public were made aware of it at the time, so it scarcely constitutes a spoiler, but I'll hide it just in case: This was the end of the Colin Baker era. BBC bosses insisted that he be replaced, and while he was given the option of one final story to lead up to a regeneration, he declined (partly because committing himself to it would be an obstacle to moving on to new roles, and partly because of the pretty disgraceful way he was being treated by the programme controllers).
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Post by a moderator on Dec 4, 2023 15:02:08 GMT
I don't think any educated person would say CYOA were masterpieces but they can be amazing entertainment. The more metafictional aspects of Packard's Hyperspace might qualify it for such a ranking.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 4, 2023 13:39:58 GMT
J.H. Brennan's Sagas of the Demonspawn series had one of the most complex gamebook systems published (or, given that rules were added or changed as the series went on, maybe that should be 'some' of the most complex). While there are some readers who appreciate the storyline, I don't think anybody has anything good to say about the system.
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Post by a moderator on Dec 3, 2023 0:00:38 GMT
Land of Changes [...] I am always surprised at how short these ones are. I easily passed both luck tests and the only fight I encountered couldn't have possibly killed me. An astonishingly easy win. This one's easy if you use a guide. It's not so simple if you don't have someone pointing out which arbitrary-at-best decision is the only one that won't end in death and/or humiliation at almost every choice. Around 24 hours to get in results for week 48. Week 49Queen of Shades ( Fighting Fantazine 7) (5 dice – usual stats plus gold) Moonrunner (6 dice – usual stats plus gold) Please state if you use a guide, if you allocate dice at character creation rather than taking them as they fall, or if you make more than one attempt at a book. Only combats which you win should be included in the list of enemies defeated. Week 47 scoring1st: evilwizard – 19 (stats bonus 4 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 2nd: terrysalt – 16 (stats bonus 1 + victory bonus 10 + most fights won bonus 5) 3rd: hallucination - 12 (stats bonus 2 + victory bonus 10) 4th: trialmaster – 4 (stats bonus 4) 5th: kieran – 2 (stats bonus 2) Running totals1st: evilwizard - 651 2nd: terrysalt - 638 3rd: hallucination - 570 4th: King Gillibran - 287 5th: kieran - 196 6th: peasantscribbler - 76 7th: kalieum - 74 8th: trialmaster - 59 9th: juniorhornet - 45 10th: nathanh – 33
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Post by a moderator on Nov 30, 2023 18:18:09 GMT
If you like making choices, this is not the adventure you're looking for.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 28, 2023 15:17:40 GMT
Ultimately I decided it was a bit too iffy, especially as the randomised effect of the warrior-summoning ring gave me a 1 in 6 chance of not clashing with any other participant who thought to go with that fight. For this question, the primary answer is the name of the gamebook. Naming of the ally is meant as supporting evidence, so the 1/6 chance of different chosen ally actually does not give you a better chance of not clashing with other players here. So it is. Good to know that the time I spent deciding which of the six possible warriors to name was well-spent.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 27, 2023 15:24:34 GMT
A teacher auctioned off a copy of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain to raise a bit of money for charity. Initially many of the class were interested, but as the bidding went up, most of them dropped out, leaving just me and one of the other boys in the block of desks where I sat. We were both pretty determined, and bid and counter-bid went on until my 'adversary' miscalculated, exceeding the increment by which we'd been raising our bids, and naming a price above the original cost of the book. Realising I could get a brand new copy from the shops for less, I let him 'win'. And then I borrowed the book from him. Cut-throat capitalist, when you could have bought The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain but went ahead with borrowing it (I don't know I would have trusted someone who bid second place on a book I wanted to return it at all, let alone in good condition).
I got my own copy in the fulness of time. And I treated his TWoFM well enough that he had no hesitation about later lending me his copies of The Citadel of Chaos and The Forest of Doom. For the record, the first FF I owned was a second-hand copy of City of Thieves, bought from the Book Exchange across the road from the Post Office.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 27, 2023 14:54:34 GMT
Q5: I almost chose the more cunning answer or Sandar in Revenge of the Vampire. When he fights as your ally, you simply add 2 to your attack strength. But before then, he fights you in the normal way. So he helps you in a battle, and a skill is provided to roll for his attack strength, just not at the same time. I went with the GOB spell in the end, on the assumption that someone else would be equally cunning and also choose Sandar. Didn't matter in the end. For a while I considered similar deviousness with Max from Armies of Death. If you fight her to determine whether the cost of hiring her and her 'Marauders' is lowered or increased, her stats are provided for the purpose of determining attack strength, and she aids you (even to the extent of taking a bullet crossbow bolt in your stead) in the battle against Agglax's army. Ultimately I decided it was a bit too iffy, especially as the randomised effect of the warrior-summoning ring gave me a 1 in 6 chance of not clashing with any other participant who thought to go with that fight.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 27, 2023 14:44:04 GMT
A teacher auctioned off a copy of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain to raise a bit of money for charity. Initially many of the class were interested, but as the bidding went up, most of them dropped out, leaving just me and one of the other boys in the block of desks where I sat. We were both pretty determined, and bid and counter-bid went on until my 'adversary' miscalculated, exceeding the increment by which we'd been raising our bids, and naming a price above the original cost of the book. Realising I could get a brand new copy from the shops for less, I let him 'win'.
And then I borrowed the book from him.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 27, 2023 14:31:28 GMT
The replay penalty makes no difference for two reasons: 1) It only affects the victory/closest to victory bonus, which you didn't get because evilwizard won the book. 2) Choosing to replay automatically brings the penalty into play (if you get a victory-related bonus) even if you end up going with your first attempt. This doesn't seem to line up with what you said when I asked about multiple attempts at Crypt of the Sorcerer, where I got docked 4 points for replays despite none of the three characters getting farther than the Rad-Hulks IIRC, and definitely not getting any closest to victory bonus. With rules that only come into play occasionally, it's easy to lose track of the specifics. On this occasion I went back through the thread to check exactly what had been said before, and found these statements: I'm going with a 2-point reduction of the victory bonus per repeat attempt (but will never give a negative bonus - if you try three times and fail each time, you won't end up punished for your persistence). If you make multiple unsuccessful attempts, you can report whichever you prefer, so long as you indicate how many times you tried. Only the 'closest to victory' bonus will be reduced, so if you try 3 times but someone else still does better than your best attempt, you won't lose points from your stats bonus. I should have checked properly when you asked regarding Crypt, but I went with what turned out to be faulty memories. Sorry about that. Recalculating your score for week 35 in light of the precedent set in earlier weeks, I have added the points that were docked in error, so your running total goes up to 74. Apologies for the error.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 26, 2023 21:45:19 GMT
The Luck test ends the Redcap fight one way or another - if you are Lucky, you compel him to flee (which constitutes a win), and if Unlucky, you get skewered.
Rather awkwardly, the adventure makes no provision for the possibility of killing Redcap before the 6 rounds are up, even though it's clearly possible even without using Luck to increase the effectiveness of wounds.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 26, 2023 1:40:53 GMT
you may not exceed Initial scores unless the text explicitly says you can. As for Provisions, the rules say you have 10 meals' worth, even though the Background suggests otherwise. If this book had playtesters, they don't appear to have done a very good job. Or somebody ignored a lot of their recommendations.
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