18) Rebel Planet

[thealmightymudworm]

masterchief:

---

Do you love this book so much you tuck it under the covers at night? Did you hate it so badly you used it as loo-roll? Let the world know!

~MC~


~ Vae Victis! ~

[thealmightymudworm]

hynreck:

---

Another Scify FF, another gamebook I had no interest in when I was young. Now, of course, matters are different and I was more than willing to give it a try. It was thus another fresh experience for me, through a story less fresh now than what must have been in 1985, though I suspect even back then clichés were already popping out of the workframe like crazed prairie dogs.

I'll say it right away: I could have done without "Light Sword". Aside from being really cheap and weak imitation of Lightsabers, it's clear they were meant (and the backstory explaining why phasers and such are banned) to primarily justify keeping the same fighting rules as most classic FF, even though the setting is space-operaesque. In any case, everybody knows a Lightsaber is a powerful weapon; one swipe at an opponent is sufficient to cleave him in half. Nearly as good as a blaster. So why not ban those too? Because there's no such thing with the Light Sword. It's just like an ordinary metal sword, except for being retractable and easier to hide. It only serve this purpose. In a sci-fi setting, surely the author could have come up with something a bit more original and reach the same result?
Anyway, the hand-to-hand fight rule with the possibility of a death strike is pretty cool, but made me wonder again why bother bringing a sword at all. That sword only endanger your mission; surely such a good brawler as yourself could get around to fighting without it; either avoiding battle with armed foes or finding ways to disarm them or get around their swinging tactics.

Overall, while the story is a bit cliché, it was well done, and exciting enough, with enough plot twist, to make me come back for more. It was ruthless though. Waterfield shows little mercy: Most mistakes leads to either quick death or failure. No straying off the beaten path for long; you'll find soon enough that you F-up. The main puzzle is also on the harsh side of things; there are no easy answers given; answers are hidden and you'll have to look hard for them. The Deus Ex Machina Alien was especially nasty. Fighting looked a bit fairer though, at the very least. Maybe to compensate for the many times you'll have to try again.

Inside illos are typical Gary Mayes sci-fi stuff. Both the subject matter and the artist are not my favourites, but they are well done overall. The cover seems like a cheesy throwback to 50's Sci-Fi movies. It works, but it's hardly my favourite either.

At first I had a hard time getting into the story, despite the nice elaborate background. But after a while it grew on me and I ended up thinking it was a good, well done book.


Speak in extremes, it will save you time.

[thealmightymudworm]

blythspartan:

---

I think this story has one of the better intros. It really sets the scene and gives you a reason to be on the adventure in the first place, not simply "because you are"!

I get the feeling that this may have made a better novel or TV show than FF book, as once the adventure starts it's hard to maintain the level of detail and atmos' from the intro.

My 2penneth...

[thealmightymudworm]

oakdweller:

---

***SPOILERS WITHIN***
 
Such a pity. This one nearly became the first sci-fi FF book to excel. The story is intriguing enough, detailing a fascinating enslavement of the human race by the ruthless Arcadians. There is more than enough background given in both the introduction and throughout the game itself to heft the full weight of the 150 year-long suffering, oppression and desperation felt by humanity onto the reader. There is a strong sense of paranoia, which is rare in the sci-fi books, as you hesitantly decide who to seek information from. The way in which the Arcadians are split into separate races is a welcome step up from the all-inclusive planetary cultures which plague sci-fi. Perhaps there are only three races, but this is enough in a standard 400 reference adventure to make everything more believable.
 
The storyline may be nicely coloured-in, but there are problems with the gaming aspect of the book. I don't mean that it's full of errors, but rather that it pales in its entertainment value after its first play-through. The first two planets visited, Tropos and Radix, are well described, populated with interesting characters and all that, but there are limited paths that can be taken. I happened to make several fatal mistakes and lose one fight in my recent play-throughs, meaning that I had to re-start five times before I got as far as Arcadion. Re-starting is fine by me, but having to plod over the same ground, with little variation, became tedious far too soon. Tropos is particularly guilty of lacking re-play value as there doesn't appear to be anyway of failing to meet the contact Bellatrix unless you die in combat. Adding in at least a couple of false routes would've made that planet far more entertaining. The first two planets are also limited in their exploration options, most of the time guiding you towards the contact with little chance of deviation.
 
The barren planet of Halmuris allows a bit more freedom, especially once you manage to escape from the main city and explore the harsh wilderness. There are some excellent snippets of information given of the Halmurian wildlife too, explaining how the likes of the Rockbuzzard and the Throttlebush have adapted to the freezing nights. There is an absurd moment though, when an apparent hallucination attacks you - it takes on the appearance of the Hindu deity Kali. It is so out of keeping with the rest of the book's tone. There is an opportunity to find a mind probe on this planet too, but I'll leave it to the Doctor Who fans on this forum to intone the rightful response to finding this item.
 
Despite the limited number of areas within the final computer building and lack of a big boss to have a showdown with, there is still a powerful sense of a building climax. I was OK with the code to the main door being in binary - it's all ones and zeros, which is simple enough. I rubbed my temples in concern when the text started rambling on about converting binary to decimal. Mathematics has always been a weak point with me and I have no idea how to do that. Once I'd calmed down and noticed that there was a table which did the converting for you, I cheered up again. Adding up I can do! (I realise that the 'decimals' are doubles in reverse, but I still don't see how ones and zeros become these figures. It's not necessary to understand how it works to move on through the door, but it all falls a little flat unless you're mathematically-minded). It's great that the number of items that can be taken from the armoury towards the end are limited, which affects both your escape from the room and your options when destroying the master computer. There is a cute description on reference 86 of the aftermath of a grenade explosion.
 
Gary Mayes is not a particular favourite of mine, but his artwork has a lot more life and soul than Nik Spender's Rings of Kether stuff did. There are some interesting Mos Eisley-style bar scenes, including what appears to be a bee-keeper in the background of reference 93. The rat-bite (14) and the whipping scene (136) are suitably evocative, but there are some sloppy pieces too, such as the vampiric leech (391) and riot (225).
 
Finally, I noticed something about my copy of this book which I hadn't realised before, despite having owned it for 26 years. It has been signed by both Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. What a pleasant surprise to discover the signatures of two authors who didn't write the book.

[thealmightymudworm]

kieran:

---

oakdweller said:

 I was OK with the code to the main door being in binary - it's all ones and zeros, which is simple enough. I rubbed my temples in concern when the text started rambling on about converting binary to decimal. Mathematics has always been a weak point with me and I have no idea how to do that. Once I'd calmed down and noticed that there was a table which did the converting for you, I cheered up again. Adding up I can do! (I realise that the 'decimals' are doubles in reverse, but I still don't see how ones and zeros become these figures. It's not necessary to understand how it works to move on through the door, but it all falls a little flat unless you're mathematically-minded).

Yeah the explanation of binary is pretty lacking in Rebel Planet and I can imagine it would have left a lot of younger readers scratching their heads as to what the heck to do even with the helpful table. Robin seemed to like expecting a lot of his readers mathematically. The algebra required to beat Deathmoor is about A Level standard.

[thealmightymudworm]

hynreck:

---

kieran said:

The algebra required to beat Deathmoor is about A Level standard.

Oh shit, algebra? There goes my chance of success.
*wears the doom hat 


Speak in extremes, it will save you time.

[thealmightymudworm]

oakdweller:

---

The algebra required to beat Deathmoor is about A Level standard.

Hmm, I used to get by reasonably well with algebra, but it's ages since I needed to use any beyond primary level. I have never managed to progress far enough through Deathmoor to complete it, although I got quite close last time I played, so I have no idea what this scary A-Level task involves yet. I might play it again in a week or two and if I get another maths-incuded headache I might ask you nicely to give me some hints. I'm sure that Hynreck will be grateful too when his time comes.

[thealmightymudworm]

khaxzan:

---

He's wearing a doom hat. He can't help you.


The more beautiful and pure FF is – the more satisfying it is to corrupt it.

[thealmightymudworm]

kieran:

---

oakdweller said:

Hmm, I used to get by reasonably well with algebra, but it's ages since I needed to use any beyond primary level. I have never managed to progress far enough through Deathmoor to complete it, although I got quite close last time I played, so I have no idea what this scary A-Level task involves yet. I might play it again in a week or two and if I get another maths-incuded headache I might ask you nicely to give me some hints. I'm sure that Hynreck will be grateful too when his time comes.

It's basically a more complex version of the age-guessing puzzle in Return to Firetop Mountain. Complicated by an element of the puzzle being open to interpretation.

[thealmightymudworm]

paltogue:

---

kieran said:

It's basically a more complex version of the age-guessing puzzle in Return to Firetop Mountain. Complicated by an element of the puzzle being open to interpretation.

Algebraic calculations should, by definition, never be open to interpretation! Sounds like it's got the same problem as the people who set school exams here in Britain...

[thealmightymudworm]

kieran:

---

^ ha ha, very true.
It's not too big a problem because if you assume the wrong thing, the answer you get will not be a whole number so it's obvious that you should have assumed the other way. Still, could have done without it!

[thealmightymudworm]

wilf:

---

It always bugged me that the binary code in Rebel Planet has two possible solutions.

It's obvious which set of digits has to go in the middle, but there's no way of telling which way round the other two go.  You have to guess.

[thealmightymudworm]

kieran:

---

^ Yeah, that's very annoying. I've thought that maybe I was just being stupid and there was a way to work it out, but now I think that you do just have to guess it. Whether that was Robin's intention or not though I'm not sure.

[thealmightymudworm]

vastariner:

---

I suppose the argument is the first one has to be one, otherwise the option wouldn't be there.  And that gives you the answer.

More puzzling is that the Arcadians have a binary code where there are only 512 possibilities.  512 billion would have been better.  Perhaps the thing was in a square, and it just so happened that every row had the same combination.

[thealmightymudworm]

doigy:

---

First try of this book this evening.

Got the first clue but died while looking for the second.

Struggling a bit with it because ( and I dont think anyone else has mentioned this), it strikes me that the human race is really no better than the arcadions.

It's mentioned that the humans had an all-out war with the indigenous inhabitants of the second planet, wiping them out before they colonised, so I'm presuming they would have done the same to the Arcadions if they'd been able to.

Wee things like that get me thinking and make me less inclined to complete the book!!

Jings, I'm a sad wee man the night.

[thealmightymudworm]

kieran:

---

It's also pretty dubious that the way of defeating the Arcadians amounts to genocide. I think Robin intended for it to be a bit more morally grey than most books in the series though.

[thealmightymudworm]

sunil060902:

---

One of the first three FF books I bought in 1985 through Puffin Book Club at school. For that reason, will always have a soft spot for it. (the others were Freeway and Rings, and also got Citadel as a birthday present later that year).


"Your progress has been watched, foul creature of destruction!"

[thealmightymudworm]

hynreck:

---

You obviously have a soft spot for sci-fi FF sunil, you are a rare breed of FF fan indeed!


Speak in extremes, it will save you time.

[thealmightymudworm]

vagsancho:

---

Rebel Planet was very good. I really loved this book! But it's not my favourite kind of FF book. My kind is Trial of Champions, City of Thieves and Crypt of the Sorcerer (exception: House of Hell)!


Razaak's apprentice

[thealmightymudworm]

vagsancho:

---

My tribute to Rebel Planet:

This is a fantastic Fighting Fantasy book. It's different. It's one of the most "epics", no doubt. The background is one of the most rich of all. The different planets, Tropos, Radix and Halmurius are very well distinguished one from another. The task is tremendously "vital", all the pressure of the mankind is on our shoulders, I must confess I feel a little stress inside me when I play this book.

The story is a real possibility in the future, all mankind becoming slave to another alien race, the result of our own ambition of conquering the universe.. and I like also the fact that the archadians are "psycologicaly" not very different from us. Thinking about all the "FF books in the space" I've read (this one, Starship Traveller, Space Assassin, Rings of Kether, Star Strider and Sky Lord) this one is certainly the best and the most complete of all. 
It is in my opinion a very complex book, not perfect, but certainly, it's a very good one, and it is, undoubtedly one of Robin Waterfield's masterpieces.


Razaak's apprentice

[thealmightymudworm]

kieran:

---

My main problem with Rebel Planet is the latter stages just aren't as good as the earlier ones. The freedom disappears, the writing grows more terse and the amount of instant death becomes plain unfair. A pity because the first half is brilliant.

[a moderator]

Salvaged from the 'Books in Order' thread:

I believe that 1985 was the last year in which I got a Christmas stocking. Presents continued to be given, but the actual stocking, crammed with sweets, nuts, fruit and the like, and topped off with a book, seems to have been phased out from '86 onwards. It is the book element of the stocking that makes this paragraph relevant to the ongoing challenge, rather than evidence of premature senility, as the book in that final stocking was Rebel Planet. Having dropped heavy hints about what I'd like that book to be, I had not bought myself a copy, but I hadn't been able to resist the temptation to flick through one in the bookshop a few times during the gap between publication and Christmas Day. Not that those quick peeks provided much help when I finally got to play the book properly, as I didn't get anywhere near the end on my first attempt.

So much for my personal background with this book. The background to the adventure itself is a mix of plausible extrapolation and ideas that may not have seemed absurd at the time, but are now fairly obviously wacky (manned bases on Venus?), and the rules add a bizarre wrinkle to combat that makes it advantageous to lose my not-really-a-light-sabre at the earliest opportunity and fight bare-handed thereafter.

Sk 9
St 20
L 11

I set off on my quest, and unlike my 13 year-old self, don't try to shake my escort, so I have no trouble getting to Tropos. Heading directly to the punfully-named club where I may find my contact is unlikely to work, so I hit the human hostel for a bit. Wonder what's so remarkable about Tropian fleas. After finding the receptionist dead, I inadvertently alert the guards by tripping over a robo-mop (a silly futuristic gizmo if ever there was one), and get sent to the Dungeon o- no, I just have to fight them. Ironically, in their determination to punish me for a crime I didn't commit, they force me to do exactly what they wrongfully accused me of having done.

A human applauds (thanks for the moral support, but I'd have preferred something more practical, like smacking the second guard over the head with the robo-mop) and encourages me to depart with him. I do so, and before long I find myself stuck outside a locked door, with eight Arcadian thugs approaching. The only possibly survivable option is to try another door, so I do, and fortuitously pick the one belonging to a man who keeps a landmine under his floorboards in case of just such a situation as this. Exit seven Arcadians. My new friend also advises me to abscond with him, and as he already looks a lot more trustworthy that the other guy, and attempting to silence the survivor is liable to be a bit futile after that explosion, I tag along once more. I am blindfolded, led around until I have no idea where on Tropos I could be, and then knocked out for good measure. Great.

Upon regaining consciousness, I am interrogated by someone claiming to be part of the local resistance group. Tropian hospitality just gets better and better. Choosing to be as paranoid as they are, I ask for proof that they're the people I'm supposed to be meeting before I'll confirm that I'm the person who's supposed to be meeting them. Bellatrix rambles on about their code of honour, which (strictly speaking) ought to make her oppose my mission, as success will lobotomise 'innocent' Arcadians as well as the Imperial goons. Glossing over that issue, I confirm my identity, and am instructed to return to the club I never visited and kill the barman for shortchanging patrons, having a lousy selection of bar snacks, or being a pro-Arcadian traitor. Whichever it is, this is obviously a test, so I demand proof first, and get rewarded with a chunk of the all-important binary code. I'm not sure why the average Arcadian grunt has a mnemonic rhyme to help him remember part of the number that would give him physical access to the supercomputer that's connected to his brain (and if you want to be really picky, the likelihood that an acrostic in Arcadian would translate into English so the words spelled out by the initials mean the same as in the original language is pretty minimal), but there you go.

Next day I get ready to depart, and find that I really oughtn't to have let that wounded Arcadian escape, as something not entirely dissimilar to my face is on 'Wanted' posters all over the port. Luckily for me, it's not that similar, either, the wounded Arcadian presumably having been too busy getting blown up to make an accurate sketch.

It's becoming increasingly unclear what benefits the Arcadians derive from being mentally hooked up to the Arcadian Empire-Wide Web. It doesn't feed them information, or they wouldn't have to make up songs to remind themselves of part of the password. It doesn't retrieve information from their minds, or they'd have a decent rendition of my image. So what does it do? Allow them to play Minesweeper without needing a terminal? Provide extra-immersive access to aeww.hotsoutharcadians.com? I'm not seeing any obvious Empire-sustaining benefits, so far.

Anyway, I proceed to the luxurious and decadent planet of Radix, which may be an obscure multilingual pun, as 'radix' is the first word of the Latin for 'the love of money is the root of evil'. But I'm rambling. I get to choose from two hotels this time, the swish and pricey Zodiac, or the cheaper but dodgy-sounding Porky's Palace. I've never seen the film Porky's, but know enough of its reputation that the name has some seriously sleazy connotations. But can I afford to blow over a third of my funds on less dubious accommodation? And what if the Zodiac is a themed place, with the toilets 'cutely' labelled Sagittarius, Virgo, Cancer and Scorpio (the latter two for Arcadians, as I doubt that they'd be willing to share urinals with humans)? I'll take the cheaper option.

Chatting with the proprietor, I learn about the Street Fighter, which is neither a computer game nor a movie based on one, and get a possible lead on the resistance, which takes me to the local university. Could the Socialist Workers be agitating even here? Getting sidetracked into a look around the local museum, I find hints that the long-dead original inhabitants of this world may have been responsible for numerous UFO sightings on Earth. One of the last times I played this, I wound up failing as a consequence of snooping around the off-limits section of the museum, and while there may be a way to go there and still win, I don't want to risk it this time, so I proceed to the Uni. Based on real-life experience, I reckon I'm more likely to find revolutionaries among the Arts students, so I check out their department.

After a bit of thumb-twiddling, I spot a student activist being beaten up by a couple of thugs, and demonstrate to them the violence inherent in the system. Their victim treats me to a drink and lets me know a bit more about the set-up, but provides no leads to the resistance. Oh well, try the Science department. Sticking my nose into an argument is unlikely to end well, so I lurk until someone approaches me. Recklessly blowing my cover, I get directions to the head of the local Anti-Arcadian Union, back on the floor I just left, but there's no 'if you have not already been there' restriction on returning to it, so I try again. I reach the Professor's office just as he's about to leave for a lecture (though, obviously, if I'd avoided the museum, gone to the Science faculty straight off and not wasted time brawling and drinking, I'd have arrived much earlier and still found him on the verge of departure for the same lecture, because that's the way this gamebook works), and arrange to meet him afterwards. It's not an appointment I'll get to keep, as that would mean an opportunity for the Prof to tell me what he knows, and giving a straight answer appears to be against Robin Waterfield's religion.

On the way back to Porky's, I get the impression that I'm being followed. On the off-chance that taking evasive action might look incredibly suspicious to anyone who is keeping an eye on me, I do nothing about it. Alas, my cunning strategy is to no avail, as the authorities find my not behaving in a manner liable to arouse suspicion exceedingly fishy. No sooner have I disembarked from the monorail than a squad of Arcadians guns me down without so much as an opportunity to call the big one 'Bitey'.

[paltogue]

Nov 24, 2013 17:16:06 GMT a moderator said:

Salvaged from the 'Books in Order' thread:

Excellent to see these again. I enjoy reading your blog, but as my main interest is in FF (and some of the stuff you cover on your blog is a tad obscure!), it's nice to have a collection of your cutting observations on the FF books and how they play.

[a moderator]

I've posted all the ones I could salvage (except for a few magazine-based adventures - not sure where to put them yet). A shame to have lost the others, but it's my fault for not keeping back-ups.

As for the obscure stuff on the blog, I'd hope that you don't have to be familiar with the books covered to be able to appreciate the write-ups. And without them, there probably wouldn't be a blog. There are so many other FF playthrough blogs out there, I would have had serious doubts about the value of adding another one. But something on a load of the gamebooks that people aren't covering (plus FF because it does get attention) was different enough that I could justify it to myself.

[paltogue]

Nov 24, 2013 22:25:30 GMT a moderator said:

As for the obscure stuff on the blog, I'd hope that you don't have to be familiar with the books covered to be able to appreciate the write-ups. And without them, there probably wouldn't be a blog. There are so many other FF playthrough blogs out there, I would have had serious doubts about the value of adding another one. But something on a load of the gamebooks that people aren't covering (plus FF because it does get attention) was different enough that I could justify it to myself.

No, no, it's an essential feature of the blog and one of the things that makes it interesting and worthwhile. It's just I'm not familiar with many of the adventures, which means that reading the playthroughs is quite different than reading the playthroughs for the FF books. Keep 'em coming!

[deadshadowrunner]

I agree with paltogue,and I own a few of the obscure ones too,like the FEAR Adventures and the Marvel Gamebooks.Do you by any chance have the iHorror gamebooks?I would love to read your take on them.

[paltogue]

Nov 25, 2013 7:56:56 GMT paltogue said:

No, no, it's an essential feature of the blog and one of the things that makes it interesting and worthwhile. It's just I'm not familiar with many of the adventures, which means that reading the playthroughs is quite different than reading the playthroughs for the FF books. Keep 'em coming!

One other thing I wonder is how popular are you finding your posts on different series? Blogger gives stats for each post as you know, and as you've been blogging for quite some time, you must have a good feel for that by now. Just interested to know which are the popular ones and to get an insight into the interests of the online gamebook fanbase.

[vagsancho]

By a long distance, the best Scifi FF book. A very complete book. Only don't know if mankind is better than the Arcadians.
But again, a very complete book.

[bloodbeasthandler]

The names of the planets in this book seem to have been chosen carefully or at least been influenced by Robin Waterfield's classical education. Tropos in Greek and Latin has connotations of a 'song' or 'way of singing' (and the Arcadians on Tropos sing part of the code), Radix might be something to do with a 'base of a system of numeration' like binary, and Halmuris is very close in terms of spelling to Halmyris - an archaeological site of a city near where the Danube flows into the Black Sea.

[vastariner]

"Tropos" is the Greek for "turning point". Radix is Latin for plant root, presumably its fertile soil. And Halmuris is basically a more accurate transcription of the Greek word halmyris - and is an epithet for the salt-sea. Again, fitting for an ocean planet.