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Post by hynreck on Jul 23, 2015 14:44:36 GMT
More magic... I'm not going to be able to keep up people. You'll have to chip in too.
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Post by hynreck on Jul 23, 2015 14:40:28 GMT
Wait - are you saying you're Razaak? So that's what you've been cooking up these last few years... We're in for one hell of a ride.
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Post by hynreck on Jul 23, 2015 14:35:46 GMT
I believed you posted this in the right section already, no need to spam or feel your android. Please keep such activities in private, for the love of Cthulhu.
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Post by hynreck on Jul 23, 2015 14:25:00 GMT
So much magic already... Are you planning a trip soon? Where were you the last few years? Purgatory?
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Post by hynreck on Jul 23, 2015 14:22:01 GMT
Yes, a little. Androids and magic are rarely mixed together, after all. There's the force in Star Wars, some questionable elements in the Riddick universe, so I guess mysticism isn't out of the question. Maybe it will be enough.
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Post by hynreck on Jul 23, 2015 14:17:46 GMT
This is really happening??
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Post by hynreck on Jul 22, 2015 12:09:44 GMT
Thanks for the tip!
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Post by hynreck on Jul 22, 2015 12:08:28 GMT
It doesn't matter who I look like, as long as you end up stuck in this particular Black Lodge.
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Post by hynreck on Jul 21, 2015 14:11:04 GMT
This is one of the reasons I lurk on this board: the hope to find a fresh new victim. Let me have a taste of that soul of yours. Delicious!
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Post by hynreck on Jul 16, 2015 15:49:42 GMT
Yes. Should be a good ride. Jon's got a good track record.
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Post by hynreck on Jul 15, 2015 13:53:06 GMT
Well I've gone and backed it. I would encourage anyone seeing this to do the same. If you love gamebooks (and being here you should) you know that you are in the right hands with Jon Green. Feels like another no-brainer, hopefully it will get funded.
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Post by hynreck on Jul 14, 2015 14:33:20 GMT
This looks interesting, might back it up.
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Post by hynreck on Jul 13, 2015 14:39:03 GMT
Supported, of course. Go for it folks, a no-brainer.
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Post by hynreck on Jun 10, 2015 13:48:45 GMT
Review:
I’ll say two things upfront about that review: first it’s been a while since I’ve read this book and I’m writing solely from memory (no notes, sorry) so I will likely not delve into too much details and, second, I will strive to make it short because frankly, I debated long and hard with myself whether to review this book or let it go (partly because I’ve got a backlog of reviews of more interesting titles) so that should tell you something about how I feel about this particular title. However, it does not mean I haven’t anything positive to say, but yeah, it might get painful at times. So I’ll try to be concise, but as ever I’m not up to a good start.
A little background story first. I’m a big (Joe Dever’s) Lone Wolf fan. Always have been. And by always I mean that at around the same time as I was becoming the lucky owner of some legendary Fighting Fantasy titles such as The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and Deathtrap Dungeon, I was also getting my mitts on a spookily illustrated (by Peter Andrew Jones, if memory serves right) copy of Flight from the Dark. So you’ll take my word for it when I say that I’ve been following Lone Wolf’s story for quite some time now. Indeed, while I did eventually drop-out of Fighting Fantasy (for a while, before being reborn!); the same fate never was quite in store for Lone Wolf. Oh, sure, I went soft for awhile, but always came back, long enough at least to complete my collection. So, as of now, I own all the Lone Wolf books in French, and painfully (as in painfully slow) collect the new Mongoose/Mantikore editions as they come out.
As you can see, my interest in the subject matter has always run high; me looking into buying any related materials, from Grey Star gamebooks to Legends of Lone Wolf novels and RPG supplements; so it’s only natural that I’d be interested in the first book of a new trilogy (plus the first book of another new trilogy, Greed & Glory, review coming some time after this one). I thought, even if the story doesn’t hold up, or amount to much, it might be fun to revisit the world of Magnamund anyway, with a fresh perspective from a fresh author, perhaps. So, how did it fare?
More or less well, frankly. There are good points, very good indeed. It’s very well written, for one thing. Feels modern, avoid trying to appeal to children (this is obviously written for the adult crowd, as all the once young fans are now grown-ups anyway) and properly grabs your attention, rarely letting go. Descriptions are appropriate and serves the story right. Presentation is clean and overall pleasing.
Where it falters is in the cast of characters and, perhaps, character development (this one is a bit harder to tell since it’s the first part of a trilogy and so it could potentially improve if it is ever completed, but that’s not looking likely at the moment). In this story, we don’t follow Lone Wolf (he’s in there somewhere, the events are taking place some time around the New Order of the Kai, can’t remember the date but it’s in the book, don’t worry), we follow brand new characters, some Kai initiates and their master, mercenaries, knights, Lencian royalty, some evil Drakkarim, etc. And actually, I was very happy to follow these different characters, for a change. The world of Magnamund is rich and vast and deserves to be told from different perspectives, not just through the eyes of living god Lone Wolf, aka the Darklord killer.
The story revolves around the age-old conflict in Magnamund of bickering neighbours Lencia and Nyras, because you see, Nyras is full of Drakkarim, and there is nothing a Drakkar loves more than his carnage. That causes a problem when you are not a Drakkar and all you want to do is live. War is brewing and heroes from all over Magnamund will have to rise to the forthcoming challenge. There is also a background threat of rising Agarashi in Telchoi and its surrounding countries but that’s mostly to set up the other trilogy by August Hahn, as far as I know. I’m keeping everything here pretty vague because, contrary to some 30 years old Lone Wolf stories, this one is still quite new, and I don’t want to be the one spoiling elements for those of you interested in tracking this book down.
So, I’ve already established that author Richard Ford has a good writing style, sets up appropriate mood and story elements, gives good descriptions, manages pace mostly well, but what’s so wrong with his characters, exactly? Well, for one thing, they’re mostly all idiots. There is no kinder way to put it I’m afraid. And while an author might purposefully write a few idiot characters, having some type of goal in sight or just showing us the sad state of the world we live in (as a would-be reflection of real life in the case of fantasy) to have all of them being idiots… you start asking yourself questions, wondering, doubting the intentions of the author or his capacity to advance plot points without having to resort to human idiocy all the time.
The truth is, it’s hard to relate to a bunch of idiots. Some of them you want to root for, usually the good guys - trying hard to relate to them - but you’re eventually discourage to do so. Because all you can think after a while is how much they deserve their fate, their suffering, their death. The bad guys on the other hand are incredibly effective, smart, basically: non-idiots. A bit more balance would have been nice here, as everything felt one-sided. Plus, usually, you don’t want to root for the evil guys. Richard Ford made them especially despicable and you hate them in spades for that. But when you are stuck with disgustingly evil guys on one hand and a bunch of morons on the other, it’s hard to immerse yourself into the world, to actually care, however good it is brought up.
But why are they idiots? You probably want some examples, and I shall deliver, so spoilers beware, you might want to skip this chapter. It’s hard to tell if some of the characters are innate idiots or if we just happened to catch them at a downtime in their brain activity, but their actions - boy - sometimes you just want to slap them and say: fool! You will get yourself killed for that! The King of Lencia here takes the cake: his decisions overall not only lead to the sacking (more akin to death or enslavement) of Helmstorm and the rest of Lencia (what was left to conquer anyway), but in one of his dumbest move (read: no strategy involved whatsoever) he decides to Leeroy Jenkins his way toward the enemy leader, not only getting himself killed in an obvious trap but getting a bunch of champion bad ass knights from Ilion killed as well, who so far had done nothing but curbstomp Drakkarim left and right. Rolling up your eyes won’t be enough here, you’ll epic facepalm into whatever object is nearest, guaranteed.
End of spoilers, I guess. I think I’ve just reached my personal limit here for this review. There’s not much more to say, anyway. But let me stress this again: there’s nothing really wrong with this book, other than stupid characters which might just frustrate you enough to make you stop caring and quit before reading any of the sequels that might one day materialize (for the record, I probably would read such a sequel, just to see what pans out of this mess. Curiosity, you know). That’s a big point against the book! But if you are somewhat tolerant of such stupid characters and/or enjoy heroes dying and/or villains winning (rather easily) this book has a lot to offer. In any case you’ll find yourself plunging deep into Magnamund in a well written story, good action sequences and respect for Dever’s world, and all in all, that’s not so bad. This book is now, I assume, rather hard to find, but give it a try if you’re a fan of Lone Wolf and aren’t afraid of cringing from time to time.
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Post by hynreck on May 21, 2015 14:17:34 GMT
What's going on? Scorpion Swamp fans coming out of the woodwork? What's next? A Sword Trees zombie series on Netflix? What am I even writing about? I'm outa here. There's some guy in thights outside that needs punching.
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Post by hynreck on May 5, 2015 15:58:42 GMT
This gives a whole new meaning to: "I'll get myself a piece of ass!"
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Post by hynreck on May 1, 2015 13:34:31 GMT
Yep there's that. I'm not too bothered by bugs, but as a rule of thumb it's: out of my house. Well, I do hate the flying ones... Okay, I hate bugs.
Still, if they're outside and I'm inside, where's the harm...
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Post by hynreck on Apr 30, 2015 12:19:13 GMT
Earwigs creep me out. One was hiding in my nail clipper. Another in my razor blades. You start shaving and suddenly there's pieces of Earwig on you... *shivers*
True story, too.
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Post by hynreck on Apr 21, 2015 13:41:26 GMT
if Return to Firetop Mountain were not to fail miserably as FFs final outing, Blood of the Zombies would sure have a good shot of that. admittedly, i really liked this adventure when i first read it. it felt very Deathtrap Dungeon in Zagor's lair, though back then i also thought Crypt was great too. Right you are, about Blood of the Zombies. Both books had neat ideas, and even better artworks, but still failed to deliver. Though I would give a slight advantage to Blood, because while the gameplay makes it unwinnable, at least as a gamebook (cause I don't know about the App) which is a pretty huge flaw, the story at least delivers quite a bit more than RtFM. It's a storm of clichés, but we must strive to remember that Tropes are not bad. It's a cheesy tribute that works most of the time.
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Post by hynreck on Apr 21, 2015 13:27:57 GMT
Regarding the huge changes in Firetop Mountain's layout, I blame those magic tools from the first book. You know what? That's brilliant. From now on, I too will blame those tools. After all, nobody was there to stop them. I can even picture one of them, let's say, Shovel, saying to the others: Guys, I think the old man died. It's been forever since our last instructions. It's never been this long! Let's stop work! Pick: What else are we supposed to do? Shovel: I don't know, but I'm not digging any longer. I'm sick of it. Pick: But we have to work! Or else we have no purpose! Shovel: I know what! Let's fill those tunnels back the way they were! Those idiots surrounding us will be pushed back outside! It will be fun! Pick: (sigh) I don't mind. Just as long as I keep working, I'm happy.
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Post by hynreck on Apr 21, 2015 12:50:50 GMT
Thanks for the pic. I see your book 2 and 3 are the same as me, while my book 1 is the same size as your third one. Seems like they printed two editions but they sure don't inform you of that detail when buying online. I wouldn't mind if it was the same size, of course. And if you don't mind me saying, my condition is even worst then yours, my #2 is sandwiched between the two huge ones! At least, in your case, you could fool some people into thinking the big one isn't from the same series...
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Post by hynreck on Apr 15, 2015 12:23:44 GMT
I find you annoying too, don't worry.
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Post by hynreck on Apr 14, 2015 19:47:16 GMT
Another minor shame, the book format. Is it just me with some random bad luck or do book 1 and 3 come in gigantic size while number 2 comes in a smaller (still a brick though), more compact size? Fits unevenly on my shelf and is a bit of a sore eyes thingy... The book format for DQ drives me nuts, even more so after reading your post. MY copies of books 1 and 2 are fairly small (although larger than a normal pocket-sized paperback) but book 3 is MASSIVE for no reason and looks crazy when placed next to the other two on the shelf. I suppose I'd rather have that than what you got though, at least my first two books match up properly. Late into reading your post, but alright, now that just plain weird. There doesn't seem to be consistency and people got random sizes? Probably something to do with different edition, different publisher, but what a bummer, very weird indeed. If only I had the opposite of you, we could exchange.
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Post by hynreck on Apr 14, 2015 19:42:32 GMT
There's a pile of dirty undies on the floor. To sift through it, turn to 346. To ignore and go on with your life, turn to don't you dare. 346 Getting dirty, you sift through the pile looking for clues, when you finally stumble and unfold a great white giant underwear of what you supposed must have been a very obese man. You find the number 150 etched in the shit stains... which you quickly memorise, as there is no way you are taking this revolting piece of filth with you. No way. There are limits you are not willing to cross. Or is there? If you want to stick the dirty piece of cloth inside your pocket anyway, turn to a death paragraph. If you want to leave it where it is and forget about it, turn to you wish you could, stupid, too late, now you are forever scarred. I'd definitely take them. If I don't I'll inevitably run into their naked owner and I dread to think what will happen if I can't 'turn to 150' and help him. (Yes I am aware this is the second time I've introduced nudity onto this thread. Sorry about that.) Now that I think about it, running into the naked owner of the dirty underwear should be the death paragraph I was referring to. Perfect.
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Post by hynreck on Apr 14, 2015 18:56:10 GMT
Watch this space for Hynreck review! Yikes, thank you Almighty for whipping back some shape into my body. This is a copy of my review from the old old world site, with the usual commentaries, modifications and substractions. I'm trying to make it much worst, okay?
So many things to say about this one, so little time. Basically, I don't want to be caught ranting on and on about this book, though I will (you know I will, I'm already doing it). The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is such a dear classic to my heart that obviously, the fate of its sequel was bound to touch me in a personal way. Mostly in all the wrong places (get yo' mind of the gutter. Wait, the gutter might be the right place, hold onto that thought). But in the hope of staying as concise as possible (ah!), let me refrain from jumping ahead and instead focus on a step by step approach.
First and for a change, this is not a new book. I picked up a french copy somewhere in the last 15 years or so, can't remember when exactly (just like I can't remember when I've written this review, should make a habit of writing the date). All I can remember is that when I finally did pick it up, it had already been a while since the last time I played/read/bought a gamebook. So this was not out of habit, it was – and it is the only other thing I remember – because of the name, of course, just the way the author intended. Clever but not unusual. Just another trick of marketing. I told myself, like probably a lot of you, "how cool, a sequel to Firetop!! I need it!" So I bought it. Now, I still own that copy with the original cover by Les Edwards and with, unknown to me at the time, lots of illos missing. But I'll come back to those with more details at the end of my review, don't worry.
So now, I've read the english version, the Wizard reprint with the new cover by McKenna and the shiny gold embossed font. It's an okay cover, no more no less. I'm not that fond of the original cover by Edwards (why does every major villain must sport that awful Dracula haircut?), but this new cover, while making the book seems a little bit more serious, doesn't top the original one either. I don't know, but I guess it's cheesy, hard to explain (I'm struggling right?). Maybe Zagor looks a bit too nice on it?
Inside illos are the real highlight of this book, here. McKenna is in great shape, giving some of his best. They look for the most part too Deathtrap Dungeon-y (like Zagor's big bad main door recalling the last door of Sukumvit's dungeon or Zoot Zimmer's cell posture recalling Livingstone's same from the same book) but hommage to the original are welcomed, even though I'm not sure if they were all meant to be. Obvious ones are like the one with the ferryman while less obvious comprises the composition of the Orc eating a rat head first while his dwarf companion looks on; recalling a bit the two drunken orcs as drawn by Russ Nicholson. The Wizard edition's illos are slightly too dark, which is a shame (maybe they didn't have access to the originals; Dave Morris has had to cut off old copies of his own books so that he could scan the pictures for the new editions, could be the same process at work here), but fortunately we are not missing much details all the same. For example, I was still able to make out the FF insignia on the Puzzle Master's belt buckle. So most of the info can still be found, just with less subtlety.
Now to the meat of the story…ugh. What story? It's okay, really, the sequel to Warlock should be light on story, right? Like the original? But could Livingstone have tried any less? The book is a giant (ok, medium size) amalgam of clichés, but worse, those clichés do not even pay respect to the original. First, where is the maze? And I'm not even talking about the infamous maze of Zagor – it's not in there – but it sure would have been appropriate, despite being unpopular. No, I'm wondering where's this labyrinth I'm supposed to go through to reach the big baddie? Nothing? I mean, I know it's been ten unkind years for Firetop Mountain, and hey!, tunnels dug through rock will collapse, perhaps, if not attended to by a slave or two, and poor Zagor might have had a hard time rebuilding the place to its former glory… again, perhaps. But a straight line to the bad guy? Really? I mean, yeah, there's a diverging corridor or two (an important one, anyway) but those are not enough to call your place a labyrinth (to be fair, the book is called Return to Firetop Mountain, not Return to the Labyrinth... perhaps Zagor could have just shack-up somewhere up the slope? Less trouble really). Still, there's no way you can get lost... Kill, most likely, yes, but you won't die of starvation from running around in circle here!
Running through traps and gauntlets of enemies ain't that much fun after a while. The solution? Allow the book to go beyond 400 sections. It is the 50th anniversary, after all. 500 or even 600 sections could have done the trick, allowing to keep the first part (outside Firetop) intact, while greatly expanding the inside dungeon, actually turning it into a genuine labyrinth! It would have also help in improving the nostalgia factor. Don't get me wrong, what's in there is nice; seeing the old portcullis with its fake wax lever; the torture room; passing through the empty portrait room; the ferryman; but there could have been so much more, both playful things and meaningful things. What if, for instance, instead of having someone neatly locking the first three doors (who did that anyway? Firetop's real estate agent? An Allansian Health Inspector?) you could have had the possibility of forcing them open, maybe finding nothing on the other side, maybe finding something useful, why, maybe even be challenged by something far greater than a few drunken orcs. Let's us have fun with the setting! Or what if you could have stumble on a boat on the river, all manned by a real skeleton crew? After all we saw those dudes building up that boat last time we checked in, it would have been fun to witness some evolution (and I believe they would have finished, by now?). It bear repeating: this was Fighting Fantasy's big 50th. Supposedly the last book of the line. Why wasn't there something more special done with the book? A real one time event à la Crown of Kings? You'll answer budget, the usual suspect, but let's acknowledge in return the missed opportunity.
Another missed opportunity? The use of numbered items. You know what they are. Keys and such (tooth!). Not only is this book filled with the usual Livingstonism like hiding some vital item in the most obscure and illogical of places – really, something expected from Livingstone and not necessarily unwelcomed – but no tricks were even tried to hide those numbers. See a numbered key? You can just turn to that number right now and have a peak of things to come. No mystery. No add or substract. No need to assemble a few numbers together. Not bothering at all is what it is, really. And so, while Zagor might not have had time to rebuild his labyrinth, he sure did have time to add some style and luxury around his personal quarters. See, the new, not quite improved Zagor loves bling bling. He bought himself a huge door with a big Z on it so that everyone could know it's his… which also nicely points the way toward his not so secret lair anymore. Nice job fixing it, villain.
(There's a bit that's missing here in the original review, I can't remember what I wrote, but it had something to do with how the story in RtFM retcon the original in its intro, changing the dubious past into something more fittingly heroic, and here's what I've written about it, for better or worst:)
So what started as a poor schmo on the lunatic side (back in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) going on a quest for some mythical treasure – a fool's quest, really – is now seen as the stuff of legend, a hero who stood up against pure evil and defeated the Warlock in a mighty clash of sword versus magic, no doubt. No mention of going after the treasure? No mention of the possibility of becoming the next Zagor? Oh well. 10 years on, we need to beef up the story. But let's move on to the next subject.
My french edition is missing so much cool illustrations it's not funny anymore. In this particular version there are no cool mutant guarding Zagor's bling bling door, there are no harpy in the sky looking strangely like a John Blanche's harpy as last seen in Kharé, no disgusting illo of a dog being sucked dry by giant worms, no master of puzzles, no trackers, no orcs in a boat or cool dragon-like boat at all, no deathlords, no torture pornroom, no ferryman, shit, come on, seems like everything's missing. I sure am glad to own the complete version now, at last. Not that I knew back then what I was missing.
(Seems like another bit missing here where I'm referring to oddities found in the french version, sorry) There are some oddities to be found like calling the diamond sentinel Zagor. See, in french, they kept captions under the illos like in the first three books. Baffling, to say the least (the misnaming, not the captions. Though in this case, true, the captions are misleading and thus baffling. Just not the fact that they kept using captions over the original version. Argh, ok I'll quit).
I'm sure I'm forgetting some other stuff, but this review went on for far too long already. In any case, I realise this review might sound very harsh indeed. Return to Firetop isn't such a bad book. It's not the worst of the FF, or the worst by Livingstone. It's good entertainement. Had it been called anything else but a sequel to Firetop this review would have been much shorter and kinder. But because it was, and because it was supposed to be the last book, finishing on some kind of high note, on this matter it fails miserably. It fails to shine in light of the genius books that came before and in light of what the original was and meant to the fans out there. All I can say is that I'm glad the FF series didn't end at that point. It might not have been catastrophic, but it sure would be have been quite the let down.
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Post by hynreck on Apr 14, 2015 15:45:13 GMT
And you had me too. Pretty good but aren't you afraid of calling the devil? Of tempting fate? Of course, with his presence the post count here would probably quadruple. If for nothing else because I'd feel the need to reply to everyone of his post. I'd say give the guy a year, if he still doesn't show up, that can only mean that he either 1: achieved his goal of becoming a powerful warlock and now lives like a hermit on some random mountain, ruling his undead squirrels; or 2: died roaming the tunnels of his hometown dungeon (what we would call a sewer system) keeping the local rats well fed.
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Post by hynreck on Apr 14, 2015 15:34:57 GMT
Uh-oh. Talk of the devil tammy. What did you do?? Stop praying to the wrong gods!!!
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Post by hynreck on Feb 27, 2015 19:47:33 GMT
Went further but failed again. I think I was wrong to go straight to the bad guy. Well, in my defence, I wasn't sure he would be there... Will try again next week, I wanna do better! I'll provide more thorough thoughts when I either succeed or play it enough to get a good idea, cheers!
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Post by hynreck on Feb 27, 2015 16:45:50 GMT
Well I just died snuffed out by a spirit, perhaps I should have seen it coming... Didn't get far but from what I read it is well written and interesting enough that I will give it another try. It will probably also help me to criticise it more properly. Is there supposed to be stats or something? I could have sworn you gave me a link to virtual dices. Well, perhaps I've not yet fallen on a section asking for a random roll.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 14, 2014 14:20:34 GMT
I'll be quick but I just want to say welcome to all the new boys and girls around here that I've missed, well, to all the grown-up boys in any case.
Have fun!
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