sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Apr 18, 2024 19:33:51 GMT
How long had Deathtrap Dungeon been going on for before it was beaten?
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Mar 23, 2024 0:53:11 GMT
Maybe someone who knows Ian (HINT!) could suggest to him what the loyal FF fanbase would really like to see! What DOES the fanbase like to see? I'm talking realistically. We could name a hundred and one things that we want but which of those are likely achievable, raise interest, marketable, etc, without coming across as asking too much or being rude? Pretty sure everyone's going to have very different opinions on what they personally want versus what they feel the fanbase wants. If you could make 3 suggestions to Ian, what would they be?
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Mar 12, 2024 22:28:00 GMT
I'd love to see side-scrolling games based on the FF world. You only need one overarching story with a little plot progression.
Or for open world video games, something like Daggers of Darkness could work well as would Night of the Necromancer and Seas of Blood.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Mar 3, 2024 12:56:59 GMT
Yeah the Night Horror is one of the toughest random encounters around along with the likes of Banshees and Death Spiders.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Mar 2, 2024 22:05:33 GMT
Temple Of Terror is one of the better Livingstone FFs. For me his Night Horror is more unfair than his Giant Sandworm, which at least is near the start of the adventure as you remark (most other gamebooks writers would\could have restored your Skill after the fight, but with Sir Ian hahahahaha). I'd compare Temple Of Terror with Indiana Jones, and favourably. As you say Temple Of Terror is colourful in all sorts of ways. You might compare it with Curse Of The Mummy, which has a worse difficulty curve problem (because this was before Sir Ian 'hit the drink' on difficulty level), many more tests and fights and less of an atmosphere. The Night Horror would be a terror in a straight fight compared to the Sandworm. But if you have a certain item, you can avoid fighting him.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Mar 2, 2024 15:27:41 GMT
But here in my country, local reviewers talks also about the sadistic difficulty but they rate the book very high. Crypt of the Sorcerer is a decent adventure in terms of story and characters. But from a gameplay perspective, the book is not presented in a way that a hero can survive. Basically, if you are rolling dice and playing by the rules, you will not win. Ever. To win, you must apply many house rules or 'restart at point of death' system to get anywhere. Saying that, I do enjoy the book myself.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Feb 28, 2024 16:57:50 GMT
I also have a question (besides the Skeleton Men / Sandworm tooth thing): When you find Leesha (in her inner temple, apparently), she orders her blind slave to attack you. Just by a snap of her fingers, he knows what he is supposed to do, where you are and "lumbers down the steps to attack you" (with what, we have no idea, the fan he was using to refresh her mistress?). Also, Sk. 8 for a blind servant isn't it a bit high-ish? Not if you're good at what you do. Noy, the monk Trialmaster, also had a Skill of 8.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Feb 27, 2024 17:28:07 GMT
Too many different examples. Just about every other book has a version.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Feb 25, 2024 19:10:58 GMT
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Feb 25, 2024 19:09:28 GMT
Not sure where to post this but I put it on Facebook earlier. Thought I'd share it here too. Here is my attempt at making a solo play 9-card (18 front and back) Warlock of Firetop Mountain game. I'm not great at explaining the rules so I hope it's all there. If anyone wants to playtest this, just PnP the files. Please let me know what you think (ease of play, difficulty level, rules clarity, did you enjoy it? etc.) so I can make any possible changes. You will need white card or at least decent paper to print on (the 2 encounter sheets can be printed on both sides of the same sheet or, if using separate sheets, you can sleeve two encounters together so that the level 1 Troll flips over to the level 2 Dragon, the Snake flips to the Rats, etc.) The last image is an example of the final setup. (I borrowed tokens from the actual Warlock boardgame to use as stand ins for the treasure tokens.) You will also need 8 dice of one colour, 3 dice of a different colour, 9 cube/pawn markers for Stamina and Luck, and 10 other cubes/pawns for Provisions. All the files you need are in the top 3 posts (3 posts due to attachment limit)
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Feb 18, 2024 21:53:56 GMT
One of the more important things I've learned over the many years as a FF fan is how to instantly distinguish between a green spine FF book and a green Xbox game cover.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Feb 11, 2024 20:59:35 GMT
First time I played, I played as a Warrior. Afterwards, I only play as Wizard as it is way more fun.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Feb 6, 2024 21:47:02 GMT
scouserobFor Shadow of the Giants, I had a hand in extending the final confrontation which was originally just the sequence of 3 Skill Tests with your sword against the weakened Giants. My suggestion was that the last Giant isn't completely destroyed. But as Goose has fallen unconscious, you have to step into the Giant's path to defend your friend using the magic ring to bind the Giant so that you can strike its mechanical heart.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 31, 2024 22:54:52 GMT
Last thing I heard is he wanted to use Leesha as well but couldn't afford the licensing cost Ian was asking. I never knew about this one. What was the context? Was it going to be another cameo for Secrets of Salamonis or something else?
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 31, 2024 22:40:35 GMT
I have an idea for a sequel for "Citadel of Chaos": the Lady Lucretia hunting down the murderer of her husband. (it would probably make more sense than "Assassins of Allansia"...) Wasn't there a post some time ago with something similar when the next Steve Jackson book was teased? I remember a mysterious post of a Balthus Dire pic (I think a skull was involved somewhere as well) which had people speculating his lady was going to resurrect her husband so that he could exact his revenge. Memory's a bit fuzzy on it but it would've been pretty awesome if it became real. The next book turned out to be Secrets of Salamonis and nothing more was mentioned about that mysterious post so people either speculated too much or it was an idea that got scrapped.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 12, 2024 17:00:08 GMT
A few things I'm not sure of in Champskees' solution so here's an alternative. Forgive the messiness, I have a different format. Another KNIGHTS OF DOOM solutionThis adventure can be completed with Attributes of: SK 10, ST 17, LK 11 I appreciate and am grateful for Sylas 's solution, but may as well point out Champskees table would seem to suggest a Skill 10 Luck 11 Stamina 17 Hero has chances of success somewhere below 1.2%. A 'maxed out' Skill 10 hero would have chances of success of just 3.9%. I'd suggest at least Skill 11 hero rather than a Skill 10 one, even then your odds of success are merely 10.5% with the Luck and Stamina Sylas suggests (which seem right).
There does exist a secret 'cheat' mode for an even greater chance of success that is perfectly legal but is incredibly tedious and vexatious if utilized. Which is why it is not utilized or mentioned in these solutions.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 12, 2024 16:52:00 GMT
A few things I'm not sure of in Champskees' solution so here's an alternative. Forgive the messiness, I have a different format. Another KNIGHTS OF DOOM solutionThis adventure can be completed with Attributes of: SK 10, ST 17, LK 11 I appreciate and am grateful for Sylas 's solution, but may as well point out Champskees table would seem to suggest a Skill 10 Luck 11 Stamina 17 Hero has chances of success somewhere below 1.2%. A 'maxed out' Skill 10 hero would have chances of success of just 3.9%. I'd suggest at least Skill 11 hero rather than a Skill 10 one, even then your odds of success are merely 10.5% with the Luck and Stamina Sylas suggests (which seem right).
Well, I never said it was ideal. It can be completed with those attributes and I have done so before but it was tough and you need to be lucky with some of your rolls rather than running equations through a machine for a predicted outcome. But if we're gonna nitpick 11s over 10s from a post nearly ten years old, the best solution would simply be to max out your stats for the greatest chance of success.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 9, 2024 23:28:58 GMT
fertobardiYou are 2 Stamina short on your characters. A 12 Stamina hero will usually not be enough to survive a Stamina Test (roll 4d6 vs current Stamina score) and he will have a hard time against enemies that drain 1 Stamina per attack round no matter the outcome.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 8, 2024 18:10:34 GMT
I have to remind myself that the majority of these books are indeed winnable without a Skill of 12 When you say 'winnable' though, do you mean by that with a chance of victory as high as 20%?* No. Although that might sound like a joke.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 8, 2024 17:20:56 GMT
I have to remind myself that the majority of these books are indeed winnable without a Skill of 12
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 6, 2024 22:26:34 GMT
I can only assume that Baron Sukumvit has some ruling in what contestants are allowed to take. As challenging as the trial is, there needs to be some degree of 'fairness' involved, otherwise the event would not go forward at all.
Contestants cannot be so powerful that they can just waltz through the challenge on a whim; they cannot bring friends or helpers with them; and they cannot go in with more than the bare minimum of equipment. The Baron must at all times honour the spirit of the challenge: he cannot decide who wins or loses in the trial; the trial must actually be winnable; and the prize (every penny) must be given if the dungeon is beaten. It would make the most sense if all parties involved were aware of these terms (and likely a few others) prior to entering the contest. Another point would be that the trial must have some sort of deadline to prevent contestants from deliberately taking too long. Either have scrying tools or have minions sent in to drive them forwards.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 2, 2024 20:35:07 GMT
For some reason the link keeps breaking but it is still available on Facebook.
If you message me your email I'll send you a PDF copy.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jan 2, 2024 17:53:43 GMT
I'd love to see Crypt of the Sorcerer re-released and revised/playtested to make it much fairer whilst still being a decent challenge. I do agree with Vags that it is a good book - it's just let down by it's insanely impossible gameplay. This already exists, though an unofficially revised version.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Dec 30, 2023 21:53:29 GMT
As incredibly unlikely as it is to happen, I'd like them to start to reissue more books per year and include the Keith Martin books, and those of other authors, but with all the bugs properly fixed, and if the original art can't be included, get decent artists involved. They could do 2-3 sets of releases per year of 3-4 books per set from a mix of authors. Don't know if I'm making this up but didn't Ian mention a while ago that if Legend of Zagor gets reissued, he'd have Keith Martin's name on it as a tribute to his passing? Granted if that were the case, this would be the only book of his to likely get reissued.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Dec 29, 2023 21:53:06 GMT
I hope Jon Green's Puffin FF books get re-released (revised if possible). Jon should also write a new FF adventure and it should have his name on the cover.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Dec 23, 2023 15:05:40 GMT
I always found the books by JH Brennan were incredibly disappointing - 'Grail Quest' and 'Sagas of The Demonspawn'. I thought that both series' had great concepts and some excellent prose and storytelling in places, and 'Grail Quest', actually did have some quite funny moments, but neither series worked from a gameplay perspective, with muddy and vague rules, being over-complicated (especially the horrendous 'system' in Demonspawn, which proved that there had been no playtesting!) and suffering from pointless gimmicks ('Grail Quest', in later books). I understand that Demospawn had a digital release by Tin Man (I think?) a few years ago, where the rules and all the broken stuff had been completely overhauled and simplified, but that seems to have vanished now, so I assume that it never took off? However, both series had such great potential, and I really wish that they could be re-released with all the messy stuff fixed up and properly playtested.... Mind you, Mr Brennan himself is certainly quite an interesting character, so who knows what might emerge if he ever decides to revisit these titles himself? I also wasn't impressed by Grailquest after seeing so many great reviews on it. I didn't even like the prose and thought the hub-like presentation was very lazy and most of them don't connect well with your actions if you didn't do them in a certain order. Demonspawn had better prose but yeah the game system doesn't work. CYOA is another that doesn't engage me in the slightest. They read like something I would find for free online but made into a physical series. The 'choices' you get are really uninteresting and I remain surprised that it still has a fanbase.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Nov 26, 2023 19:28:30 GMT
House of Hell was the first book I encountered when I was about 8 years old not knowing FF was an entire series. It belonged to my older sister who no longer had any interest in reading it. I got a few sections in, got too scared, and put the book back. Didn't touch FF for a few years after that.
Forest of Doom was the first book I borrowed from the school library. I liked the cover and some of my friends recommended it highly.
Portal of Evil was the first FF I bought from WHSmiths in 22nd October 1994, when I loved everything to do with dinosaurs. Never looked back.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Nov 20, 2023 0:37:19 GMT
Moonrunner is possibly the only book that did it best as Stephen Hand realized that a good balanced system should rely less on attributes and more on CHOICES. Similarly, this is why the Virtual Reality/Critical IF books (except Green Blood) work so well.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Nov 19, 2023 21:29:37 GMT
FF is a system that involves dice for attributes so the range you're gonna get is already set from the get go. There are very few FF books that got the balance exactly right, possibly not one due to this. The book will be either too easy or too hard for the most part. Point-buy system is likely the most balanced way forward but I doubt more FF books will apply the Secrets of Salamonis system and even then, that can also be disadvantage. After all, who ISN'T going to put all their points into Skill? Those who do will think the adventure too easy; those who don't will find it near impossible. See what I mean? If anything, this is one of the reasons I give higher praise to Demons of the Deep and Stealer of Souls because those at least try to reward a weaker hero with more benefits in combat so the right mindset was there.
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