Playing the Fighting Fantazine mini adventures in order

[kieran]

I feel the mini adventures have been a bit neglected by playthrough blogs (bar Greenspine's of course) and I certainly haven't given them as much time as they deserve myself. So thought I'd right two wrongs and post my playthroughs here. So without further ado:

Resurrection of the Dead by Alexander Ballingall

I played this one once before. As far as I recall, pretty much everything went wrong and I blundered about trying to find a sword for ages before finally getting killed. Hopefully it goes more smoothly this time.

Pretty solid starting stats of Skill 11, Stamina 18 and Luck 12 should hopefully help a little on that score. Like House of Hell, you start with no weapon and a hefty penalty to your Skill score until you find one. Which was my major issue last time. And unfortunately the sum total of my memory of this adventure.

So the tale starts with me returning to my home town hoping to splurge some cash I’d made trading only to find all my friends are gone and no-one is in a party mood. A local tells me people have disappeared and my best buddy Karl has gone mad by what he saw when he investigated the heath.

The next morning I decide not to bother trying to get a weapon, thinking that’s probably where I went wrong last time. Investigating the heath sounds a bit risky and I doubt the barman can tell me much so I decide to visit Krazy Karl.

Stopping to talk to beggars is nearly always a good thing to do in gamebooks so I do just that. Judging by the illustration, one of them is a 1930s detective who has fallen on hard times (hard times that involved losing a hand). I feel intrigued enough to talk to this one over his more conventional beggar pals and ask him about local goings on, receiving some juicy gossip about the local thieves guild (including its location which hopefully will come in handy). Pestering him about the abbey where Krazy Karl is sequestered is less fruitful however, and the local constabulary chase him away before I can ask anything further.

Arriving at the abbey, I have no reason to be suspicious of the monks so ask to see Karl. The monk tells me Karl has been worrying goats in his madness and somewhat randomly gives me an address of a local herbalist should I ever need her services. Karl himself is less helpful, so I decide to speak to the abbot. He gives me an amulet of protection and an encouraging word then shows me the door. I don’t know why I would want to go to the graveyard and I still don’t fancy the heath so I decide to hit the pub.

The barman greets me with a gruff hello and a wry smile. Can you be wry and gruff at the same time? I just experimented and I certainly can’t even with some strange facial contortions. Anyway, I ask him for the news (not the weather). Apparently the local UKIP members had been blaming the recent odd incidents on gypsies, but even they have admitted they’re not to blame and there’s something more at work. And there’s also been some vandalism of graves of war heroes and thieves breaking in places without taking anything. Attempting to talk to the other patrons prompts them to fight and I get slightly roughed in the fracas. Attempts to talk to the barman about Karl leaves me 2 GP lighter but no heavier with information.

Leaving the unhelpful tavern, I pop over to a nearby stall. Turns out it’s a potentially crooked gambling opportunity. It’s impossible to resist such things in gamebooks. Unfortunately, it’s a rather uninteresting 50-50 chance game. I win 3 GP and decide to move on. I guess since I kinda got a tip off about grave vandalism I could try the cemetery now.

Turns out my parents are buried there and I pay my respects - nice touch that, gives more of a feeling that my character isn’t just some blow-in but really cares about this place. Though based on the adventure’s title, I hope I won’t have to fight zombie parents.

Dang, I didn’t note down the name of the hero whose grave was vandalised. I’ll try the Stable family crypt. Lucky guess it turns out. I investigate the crypt and a wight lurches at me. My amulet protects me, but with no silver weapon to hurt it, all I can do is leave. Since I’m here, I may as well dander amongst the headstones. Nope, nowt there. How about the Tanner family mausoleum? Nope. Potters’ Field? It has an undead beastie who robs me of 4 Stamina and 2 Luck points but otherwise nothing either. And that’s the cemetery - guess I really should have brought a silver weapon if I wanted to find anything here. Oh well.

I’m now down to two options: visit the blacksmith to try and get a weapon or risk the heath. Since I remember the visit to the blacksmith as a fruitless endeavour (though I don’t remember if I remember accurately or not), I’ll try the heath.

I decide to take the road less travelled and bump into a xoroa warrior. These are ant-men things though the text doesn’t really explain that for those who don’t know their obscure FF monsters. Anyway, my fists and my Luck score do me no favours and he kills me for straying too near his colony.

A pity, because I was quite enjoying this one even though I feel I discovered very little. I feel there could be a good little gamebook in here if I could just have scratched off a bit more of the surface.Ah well.

Victories so far: 0/1

[greyarea13]

May 11, 2018 21:40:35 GMT kieran said:

I feel the mini adventures have been a bit neglected by playthrough blogs (bar Greenspine's of course) and I certainly haven't given them as much time as they deserve myself. So thought I'd right two wrongs and post my playthroughs here. So without further ado:

Cool topic! Do we know where Greenspine's playthroughs of the fantazine adventures are now?

[kieran]

May 12, 2018 7:51:00 GMT greyarea13 said:

May 11, 2018 21:40:35 GMT kieran said:

I feel the mini adventures have been a bit neglected by playthrough blogs (bar Greenspine's of course) and I certainly haven't given them as much time as they deserve myself. So thought I'd right two wrongs and post my playthroughs here. So without further ado:

Cool topic! Do we know where Greenspine's playthroughs of the fantazine adventures are now?

He played them through (as many were published at the time) on the old forum. Not sure if the playthroughs survived the death of that forum though.

[kieran]

Shrine of the Salamander by Andrew Wright

I played this one a few times back when it was released. I remember being very impressed by it, but I don’t think I managed to beat it. Let’s see how I get on this time.

Starting stats of Skill 7, Stamina 16 and Luck 9 don’t exactly bode well though Skill isn’t as bad as it seems as it’s generated by 1d6+4 - probably to account for you being a priest in this adventure rather than a warrior. I like the reference in the rules that gold pieces are “the universal currency of all the known lands” - puts the Eurozone to shame.

The adventure uses the Sorcery spell system (albeit with a more limited spellbook). While this is pretty cool, not sure it jives all that well with you being a priest - I have a feeling priests would use different types of magic from wizards. But maybe that’s just nitpicking.

So it turns out a sacred idol has been taken from my community of priest-miners. Chief suspects are the frog-worshipping horntoads who live in the nearby croaking caves who have become increasingly bold since a salamander started leading them. The text helpfully points out that this salamander is some sort of fire demon - not a little amphibian. Not sure why it doesn’t just call itself a fire demon but hey ho. Apparently the salamanders might actually be the rightful owners of the idol and one of the reasons I need to get it back is to stop our slaves in the mines revolting against us so I guess I’m maybe a bit of an evil priest? At any rate, none of my fellow evil priests want to help me in this endeavour of utmost importance.

Anyway, I’m dumped at the entrance to the caves by a ship’s captain who tells me the horntoads are not the only peoples who lives in the caves. Some of these like the Priests of Throff may be helpful. Others, like the Dark Goblins and the inhabitants of the Tunnels of Ooze, I’m probably better avoiding. Before she leaves, the captain tells me to “watch out for the grem-” before her voice is lost to the wind. Gremlins perhaps? Should be ok as long as I don’t feed them after midnight. Anyway I decide to pay a visit to the Priests of Throff.

Wanting to appear friendly, I knock on their front door. The priest who answers won’t let me in so I try bribing him. He wants 5 gold pieces which is all I have - this better be worth it. I head to Throff’s Library. The grumpy old librarian charges 2gp a consultation though so I’m out of luck. I try the Holy Pool instead. Here I can buy potions. Or I could if I had money. Something tell me I shouldn’t have visited the priests first.

I decide to take a risk next and visit the Tunnels of Ooze which I was told to avoid like the plague. I have a choice of three caves to explore. One that sounds like a deathtrap, one that undoubtedly has a a monster living in it and one that sounds so innocuous it’s clearly going to be the most dangerous of the three. I try monster cave.

Turns out its inhabited by the rancor from Return of the Jedi! I try a ROK spell and turn it to stone. Unfortunately its lair only contains 3 GP and a giant’s tooth. I’m surprised it has gold - is it a currency so universal even man-eating monsters living in coastal caves use it? Moving on, I follow a tunnel westward.

Eventually the walls starts to shake and a giant beetle bursts out of the ground and spits acid at me. It misses and a tough fight ensues. I hit it in the first round to which it retaliates by first spitting on my weapon arm (sword arm would sound better except I’m using a war-hammer being an evil priest who frowns on shedding blood apparently) thereby crippling my fighting skills. I take a severe beating then manage to win another round to which it retaliates by spitting in my face, doing just enough damage to finish me off. I guess the captain was right to tell me to avoid the Tunnels of Ooze. If only she could have warned me about the money-grubbing of the Priests of Throff too I might have done a bit better.

A bit of a disappointing performance but hopefully I’ll replay the books I failed at and do a bit better next time. And since I have yet to mention it in this playthrough, for the record Brett Schofield’s art for this adventure is totes amazeballs.

Victories so far: 0/2

[a moderator]

Good thread.

Regrettably, my Fantazine mini-adventure playthroughs were lost when the old forum got deleted. There will be new ones when I can get going on my blog again - FF-wise I'm part of the way through Stormslayer, so Resurrection should follow soon after.

I do remember that my old playthrough of Shrine included a running joke concerning what that word beginning with 'grem-' could have been, with speculation that I could be facing peril from a novice surfer, a cloth used by a bishop, or even some disembodied anger. And I remember commenting on the oddly specific number of pebbles that could be picked up on every visit to the beach, wondering who kept putting fresh ones out in my absence, and why they were doing it.

[kieran]

May 12, 2018 15:13:58 GMT a moderator said:

And I remember commenting on the oddly specific number of pebbles that could be picked up on every visit to the beach, wondering who kept putting fresh ones out in my absence, and why they were doing it.

Lol, yes I did wonder if there was some sort of carrying limit which meant you can only take three but there's nothing to say you can't take another three each visit.

I'll pass over Prey of the Hunter since I wrote it. And while that's no guarantee I could actually beat the thing, I don't think anyone needs to read a playthrough of me cringing at my own turns of phrase. So onto:

In Search of the Mungies' Gold by Warren McGuire
Don’t recall ever trying this one before, not that my previous attempts at the last two adventures helped me much. I start by rolling some abysmal starting stats: Skill 7 Stamina 17 Luck 7. Perhaps this is one of those gamebooks where any player can persevere no matter how low their initial dice rolls? We’ll see.

An additional mechanic here is that making too much of a spectacle, noise or pong can alert random creatures to attack you. Oddly the owl is almost as powerful an opponent as a rabid ape. I also get to choose three special skills. I opt for Climb, Observation and Run - with those stats I’m probably going to have to run away from a lot.

So as the title suggests this is a treasure hunt. With the villainous merchant guild stifling the mutton fish trade with a blockade of starships around the planet of Naboo, it’s up to me to find another way of making money and apparently some kleptomaniac Kakhabad apes (called mungies) have been hiding their gold in the jungles northwest of Khare. Before my buddy Jilani rows me there however, I have an opportunity to go shopping in the infamous cityport of traps which I can’t resist.

Garlic is on sale which must mean there is a vampire somewhere in here so I buy that. I decide against the ivory mungie statue in case it might offend the apes. I also buy a rope and grapple, a bow with 6 arrows, a Potion of Health and three portion of provisions. That’s all my money, but that’s ok as I’ll be rich by the end of this adventure!

Turns out the rope and grapple merely gives me the Climb skill I already have so that was a waste of money. I then fail my first Luck roll of the adventure which would be great if I were playing Black Vein Prophecy but here it merely causes a pet mungie to pinch one of my items - so long rope and grapple, guess you served a purpose after all!

Having apparently seen all I’m going to of Khare, I’m soon being rowed upriver by my friend. The journey goes fine until we reaches the western end of Lake Lumle and we are assaulted by flying fish. Despite kicking my ass (metaphorically speaking, fish having no legs to kick with) they eventually give up though one of them gets trapped on our boat and I’m asked if I want to imitate Neil from The Inbetweeners. I can’t imagine the fish will become my pal if I release him so I squash him and Jilani and I tuck into some fried fish. Which gives us food poisoning. Already down to less than half of my starting Stamina, I scoff some regular provisions instead to help make up the difference.

Having arrived at our destination, I climb out of the boat and immediately start to sink. Maybe my character isn’t really cut out for this adventuring lark? I lose my boots escaping the mire and have to deduct 2 Skill points until I find replacements - wonderful! Back on the boat, Jilani finds a dry spot to drop me off instead. Why he couldn’t have done that first time is beyond me. And why can’t he lend me his boots? Maybe he’s a different shoe size I guess.

No sooner have I said goodbye to the unhelpful Jilani that I am ambushed by a screaming madman. After weakening him sufficiently, I decide to spare his life. He screams about apes then runs off to drown himself. Maybe I should have killed him and nicked his boots?

Moving on, I take an uphill trail as valleys seem like prime spots for ambush. I spot wood smoke and hear voices. Hoping maybe I’ve found a jungle shoe shop I decide to investigate. Turns out it’s some black elves. If this was a Steve Jackson book, I’d probably end up offending them with a racist joke but it’s not so everything goes amicably. Having spent all my money in Khare, I’m forced to trade my Potion of Health for boots. Hopefully that’s a good deal. I also can get a portion of provisions with the change. The elves start to go a bit freaky after this so I try to move on. Another failed Luck test later and the elves decide they want to rob me - not sure why they bothered trading with me first in that case. With my crap Skill score, I likely stand no chance in a fight so I give them my sword and they let me leave with a few jeers.

Continuing on, I follow an arrow carved on a rock to find a cave with an eye and skull carved upon it. I’m in no state to tangle with any dangerous beasties so I decide to go back the way I came and take the other trail.

The trail takes me into a valley and I have to roll to see if any random animals ambush me (I told you - valleys!). Turns out I haven’t created quite enough disturbance to invite the ire of the local fauna just yet so I continue on.

I spot some wrens heading left and since Jilani mentioned small birds can help people lost in the forest, I follow them. They lead me to a hut, inhabited by an old crone which I just assume is a WITCH because my character is ageist (if not racist). She’s friendly enough but I have nothing she wants in exchange for a bed for the night and I doubt attacking her is wise so I leave.

Night falls and I decide carrying on through the darkness is likely suicide. The text uses the phrase “denizens of the forest” twice in one sentence which is pretty impressive really. As I’m preparing a makeshift bed, a monitor lizard bites me, weakening me further. My sleep is then disturbed by a shuffling and snuffling sound. Knowing I’d be no match for whatever it is, I lie still and hope it shuffles and snuffles somewhere else. Luckily it does and I sleep the rest of the night through.

I awake the next morning to find a brown furball sleeping on my belly. Attempts to place it peacefully on the ground are fumbled and the jib-jib shrieks the place down, adding to my Disturbance score.

As I move onward, elvins pelt me with acorns. Personally I feel this whole gamebook has been pelting me with acorns since the start but I try my best to ignore the elvins’ japes. They say I will need to be a lot bigger and braver if I want the mungies’ gold. I suspect they’re probably right.

Noise of a clash of weapons prompts me to investigate, mainly so I can filch one of the aforementioned weapons from the corpse of whomever loses. I find a dying shield maiden. Resisting the urge to murder her for her sword, I try to comfort her. I even give her my last portion of provisions. Unfortunately, this helps her recover sufficiently that nicking her sword is no longer an option and she doesn’t speak my language though does mention a name that may prove useful I guess. I leave her and carry on.

I espy a magnificent bird whose tail feathers are apparently worth a fortune but I’m sure any attempts to retrieve them would result in me getting my eyes pecked out so I leave it be. I next reach a stream where the text tells me I can have a bath if I wish. Um, thanks. Somewhat cleaner,I head upstream and bump into a talking green ape. Unfortunately he’s not as friendly as he first seems and attacks me. He has Skill 10 Stamina 10. I’m down to Skill 6 (with a -3 Attack Strength penalty for having no sword), Stamina 12 and Luck 1. Yet, somehow I won…

… just kidding - he tore me to shreds.

Well pretty much everything went wrong there and mostly down to bad dice rolls it seems. Very well written adventure though - the forest feels alive with colour and brooding with atmosphere.

Victories so far - 0/3

[kieran]

Bones of the Banished by Brett Schofield

I remember playing this one before, but bar the basic premise I can’t remember much about it. But if Brett Schofield’s writing is half as good as his art I’m in for a treat.

Slightly sub-par stats but not too bad: Skill 9 Stamina 17 Luck 10 so hopefully I’ll see a bit of this adventure. Apparently there is a limit to how much your rucksack can carry - 10 items with each portion of provisions counting as one item. It’s not abundantly clear whether the flint-tipped dagger I start with should count towards this limit, but as I doubt I’d carry it in my rucksack I’m going to say no. The adventure sheet design would seem to confirm this - it also suggests I can only carry one weapon which I guess makes sense. I am also told I will need to keep track of codewords and any delays in the second half of the adventure (providing I get that far of course!). The “Hints on play” section outright tells me this adventure should take me several attempts to beat. Not sure if this is standard text I’ve never noticed before or this is the author confessing this adventure is hard as nails. Either way, I’m not expecting my victory tally to increase by the end of this entry.

Onto the background then and it seems I am part of a hunter-gatherer tribe who live in Allansia’s Plain of Bones and spend most of their time fending off dinosaurs. It turns out the tribe’s chieftain was bucked off his up-to-that-point faithful mount and fell to his death. Since the chieftain left no heir, the spirits tell our shaman Valgrek that he must invoke the ancient Rite of Banishment. All eligible adults must go into the wilderness and whomever comes back with the coolest hunting trophy gets to be chieftain. Oddly, there’s nothing in the text to indicate I would actually want to be chieftain. With 9 Skill, maybe I’d be better helping one of the more likely candidates out. Or maybe I should sit under a palm tree and let the rest of them duke it out. Oh well, I stick on the Jurassic Park soundtrack and head for Section 1.

Before I leave, I can choose to take a rope or a torch with me, but (by authorial decree) not both. The torch will probably be useful in more places than the rope (after all, how much climbing can be done in a “Plain of Bones”?) so I go with that. Apparently all the women and children tearfully watch their sons, fathers and husbands depart so I guess this is something of a patriarchal tribe. Maybe when I become chieftain I can change that. And introduce elections rather than dinosaur hunting as the methods for electing chieftains. I have the option of chatting to a few people and decide to speak to Wanushu, the tribe’s greatest hunter (if he’s already considered the greatest hunter, why isn’t he automatically chieftain?) He unhelpfully gives me a second torch and tells me he plans to trophy hunt in a supposed ghost-ridden cursed place called The Cauldron, far to the south. He leaves and all the other hunters have gone too. I next speak to the shaman’s apprentice, Ogmil. He tells me he foresees my death then goes to make cosy with the women folk while the warriors are away. Lastly, I speak to my friend Kuwi, the daughter of Wanushu. She tells me of a flying beast that lies to the mountains of the north and that she’s worried about all the tribe's warriors leaving. With Ogmil on the prowl I can’t say I blame her.

Setting off, I am apparently too scared to follow Wanushu south, so that leaves a choice of west (the territory of a rival tribe), east (barren hills and a holy site), or north (forest and grassy plains filled with large herbivores). Well, that last option sounds the best for trophy hunting, so north it is.

The way north is pretty overgrown but I struggle through with no more than the odd thorn scratch. The next morning I emerge into the grasslands and find antelope, buffalo and triceratops gathered around a watering hole (as an interesting aside, all dinosaurs in this adventure are called by descriptive names like “three-horns” and “shingle-backs” which is a nice touch). I pause for a drink (I guess triceratops are too meh to be worthy of hunting) and a crocodile bursts out of the water. I kill it but it does enough damage for me to gobble my first lot of provisions afterwards. I also get my first trophy - crocodile teeth. Something tells me this will not be enough to make me chieftain.

Night is now approaching which is odd since it was the morning when I reached the watering hole. Sleeping out in the open when herds of dinosaurs are running about the savannah sounds a bad call so I climb a tree which would be a fine resting place if not for the black lion already sleeping there. A black lion with a 1 in 6 chance of instantly killing me each round. Which it does in the seventh round. And the Boneridge Tribe will have one fewer warrior to keep its womenfolk safe from Ogmil's busy hands...

Victories so far - 0/4

[philsadler]

May 20, 2018 10:17:57 GMT kieran said:

Bones of the Banished by Brett Schofield

Slightly sub-par stats but not too bad: Skill 9 Stamina 17 Luck 10

Well the direct average when rolling for your stats in these books is 9/18/9. So, in actual fact you are slightly above par because of course 1 more Luck is more important than 1 more Stamina.

[daredevil123]

May 20, 2018 15:54:22 GMT philsadler said:

May 20, 2018 10:17:57 GMT kieran said:

Bones of the Banished by Brett Schofield

Slightly sub-par stats but not too bad: Skill 9 Stamina 17 Luck 10

Well the direct average when rolling for your stats in these books is 9/18/9. So, in actual fact you are slightly above par because of course 1 more Luck is more important than 1 more Stamina.

Isn't it 9/19/9? You are more likely to roll a 7 than a 6 for your Stamina.

[kieran]

May 20, 2018 15:54:22 GMT philsadler said:

May 20, 2018 10:17:57 GMT kieran said:

Bones of the Banished by Brett Schofield

Slightly sub-par stats but not too bad: Skill 9 Stamina 17 Luck 10

Well the direct average when rolling for your stats in these books is 9/18/9. So, in actual fact you are slightly above par because of course 1 more Luck is more important than 1 more Stamina.

The average total of 4 dice is 14 (9.5/19/9.5). My dice rolls add up to 12, so slightly less than average but yeah I take your point that the higher Luck is worth a poorer Stamina.

[kieran]

Escape from the Sorcerer by Sunil Prasannan

Never tried this one before so no idea what to expect. Mediocre stats again: Skill 9 Stamina 21 Luck 9. I start with no equipment and the only special rule is a Skill penalty for having no weapon. Well that keeps things simple then!

The setting for this adventure is two rival kingdoms - Agra (boo!) and Alkemis (yay!). The region is also inhabited by Asuras (boo!) and Lion-Men (yay! - especially if you’re a Mumford & Sons fan). Like the tribe of the last adventure, the Agrans select their ruler by pitting him against the other candidates, and the most recent ruler Grundar Kreshnel won this contest with dark magic granted him by the Asuras. Kreshnel is now a full blown sorcerer (who I guess I may have to escape from at some point) who is constantly threatening Alkemis and persecuting the Lion-Men. Anyway, I am an Alkemisian military officer captured in a joint lizard-man/Agran incursion into Alkemis. With Alkemis refusing to negotiate, my fellow prisoners have been put to death one by one until only I remain. The adventure opens with two guards coming to my cell to lead me to my execution.

So escape is at the forefront of my mind, but I figure trying to escape while still in my cell is likely futile. Biding my time, I wait until they have frogmarched me down the corridor and rather ineptly try to club them with my manacled hands. A fight ensues (and I am told for the third time to subtract 2 points from y Initial Skill for not possessing a weapon). It’s a tough fight and though I bring one of them down, the second kills me.

Victories so far 0/5

Right that’s a bit crap so I’ll try again. This time I roll Skill 11 Stamina 14 Luck 9. Wondering if it will improve my chances any, I try to escape inside the cell. I manage to knock out one guard (there’s no explanation as to why this works in the cell but not in the corridor, leaving me with the weaker of the two. I am told to keep track of how long it takes me to defeat him so I use Luck to make sure I do it within four rounds. I pick up a sword but am confronted by a lizard man and two trolls who I must fight all together. And due to the constraint of my manacles, my Skill still isn’t quite what it was, even with a sword. There’s also a time limit on this fight but it doesn’t really matter. I bring down one of the trolls, but the lizard man kills me in the eighth round.

Victories so far 0/6

Yikes, this is starting to remind me of another Fighting Fantasy with “Sorcerer” in the the title. Last try: Skill 12 Stamina 18 Luck 12. Think I might need that. In the hopes that the tougher fight with the guards if I try to break free in the corridor means I can avoid the lizard man and trolls, I try that. I don’t get through the fight completely unscathed but I do win this time. I pick up the sword and… here comes the lizard man and trolls. Gah! I beat them in sixteen rounds (thankfully within the time limit), 1 Stamina point remaining and having to spend 2 Luck points. Luckily one troll has the key to unlock my manacles (yay!) and they have 4 units of provisions amongst them (yay!) which only restore 2 Stamina points rather than the usual 4 (are you kidding me?!). I scoff 3 of these down immediately.

The text tells me I am in a dire situation and I was lucky to overpower my guards (I’ll say!). I find an Agran political dissident in another cell by the name of Malook. He’s in too bad a shape to escape with me but he gives me directions to escape and mentions where a weapons factory can be found. He also warns me of traps and invisible Asuras and that nothing is as it seems (including himself maybe? Could Kreshnel be playing an Archmage on me?). He also says if I take out Kreshnel that should end the war between Agra and Alkemis despite the fact the background says the war has been on and off for centuries before Kreshnel came along.

Leaving him, I reach a junction. Malook told me to head northeast to escape but since my options are north and east that isn’t very helpful. He did say the weapons factory was eastward though so maybe there’s something I could steal from there to help me out (I think I might need whatever help I can get in this book). So east it is.

I enter a cavern and investigate a metal cylinder propped against a stalagmite. It is a flashpowder cylinder - a sort of bomb that can wipe out all opponents on a successful test of Luck. On the downside, it may explode if gets too knocked about. Hmm, probably worth the risk so I pocket it. Seeing no point in going back the way I came, I continue east.

I reach a cavern with a giant scorpion whose armour means I only do half damage. It meanwhile has a sting that lets it do double damage roughly half the time it wins an attack round. Not too sure how this affects testing your luck in battle, but I take it to mean being Lucky means you can do the usual 2 damage and manage to beat it with 1 Stamina point remaining. Gobbling the last of my provisions, I take one of its severed claws and continue. I now have a choice of heading north (closer to the exit and a probable showdown with Kreshnel) or heading east (closer to the weapons factory). I opt for east.

The passageway ahead soon gets pitch black and not wanting to stumble into any traps, I return to the previous cavern and head north. The passageway north has a door in the left-hand wall which I can somehow tell is not locked. Going inside I find a Ring of Distraction which should help me out a good deal in combat. Nice.

Continuing northward, a bat flies in my face and drops me down to my last Stamina point. Pressing forward, I enter a guards’ dormitory with three guards. Luckily, the Ring of Distraction saves me from what otherwise would have been a deathblow and I beat them all. Searching the room I find a healing potion with two doses (glug, glug, gone!). I also find some sort of laser weapon and am told for some reason to note the number 170 in case it proves useful (?). Feeling like I might now have a ghost of chance, I leave the dormitory through the eastward door.

I soon find an underground river and follow it south for a while until the text tells me I cross a stone bridge on a hunch and continue east. Treading over some spikes which my boots protect me from, I find another obviously unlocked door. Opening this, I find myself beset by an intermittently invisible Asura. Luckily he manages to hit me only once before I beat him. I find a magical dictionary that helps me understand the Asuran language and two units of rations. Happy with this haul, I leave the room and follow the passageway.

I reach another junction. Eastward has more spikes while the north passage seems safer. Well my boots seem to be spike-proof so far so why not continue east? Turns out my boots aren’t all that impervious and the spikes shred my feet then disappear. Eventually I reach another junction and head north-east. The passageway ends in a door with a sign telling me to “watch my head”. Sounds a bit dangerous so I go back the way I came and head north. An archway leads on north while a door heads west. Well no-one’s advised heading west so north it is.

I emerge into a hexagonal room where a disembodied voice demands to know who is brave enough to face it. Staying put, a Lion-Man named Narasingh appears before me and tells me here will appear again at my side when I face Kreshnel. Um, why can’t you stay by my side now? Nope, he’s gone again. Oh well. I leave via another arch.

The passage beyond is home to three excitable Chattermidgets, overcome with glee at the thought of chewing my warm flesh. They have a pretty vicious bite but luckily none of them manage to inflict it before I squash them all. I reach a t-junction but as a falling portcullis stops me from causing continuity errors by going south, I’m forced to turn north.

I bump into a motley crew of species escorting a hobbit prisoner. Another tough group battle ensues, but I emerge with 1 Stamina point intact. The hobbit prisoner asks me for some food and I am asked if I wish to help her or not. Well, this is a difficult one because I do wish to help her, but I have no food. So does that mean I have to select the option that I don’t wish to help her? I guess so. I continue on and I trigger a trap where a bunch of rocks fall upon me, burying me alive.

Well, that was annoying. Out of curiosity, did I need food to help the hobbit? OK apparently if you help her, you find food upon her dead guards’ bodies and give her that. Since that is just plain misleading to present the options in that way, I’m going to pretend I selected that option without considering that cheating. After feeding the hobbit and myself, I ask her about how she ended up captured. Apparently she was one of Kreshnel’s assistants who was punished for marrying an Alkemisian pixie (Kreshnel not approving of cross-border cross-species romance it seems). I ask her more about Kreshnel and she tells me he is weak only to magic maces and the crystal zyborium (which my handy laser weapon is made from, luckily enough). After I ask a somewhat personal question about body hair, she tells me how to avoid the trap that killed my other incarnation then goes to rescue Malook from way back at the start of the adventure.

Pressing on northward, I reach some stairs which take me to a less worn down section of the complex. Chancing upon a door, I open this to find a chest which I can’t open so I continue along the passage, eventually coming to a t-junction. There is a sign telling me the weapons factory is down the eastern passage. Though maybe since I have the zyborium laser, I don’t need another weapon? Heck, I’ll go east anyway.

The corridor is suddenly plunged into darkness so I grope for a door I noticed just before the lights went out. I find some provisions in the room beyond, then continue north. The passage swings east before ending at a dead end, but apparently standing around like a lemon activates a secret passage and a new passageway running north to south is revealed. For no reason other than the text tells me to, I turn north, emerging into a room lined with statues of evil warriors and skeletons. Not too sure if these are statues of skeletons or actual skeletons. Halfway across the room, two skeletons and two statues (so I guess they weren’t skeletons statues) spring to life and attack. My sword only does half damage to these hardy foes. Really tough fight this, and I probably should have used my flashpowder but I managed to scrape through with 1 Stamina point and 6 Luck remaining. One of the intact skeletons has a ruby amulet which allows me to see Asuras when they are invisible which should come in handy I’m sure.

Heading ever northwards, I reach a junction but a rockfall in the western tunnel forces me to head continue north (I wonder if I had come from the west would the rockfall have been in the southern tunnel?). Again I see a sign pointing eastward to the weapons factory and the text tells me I think back to Malook’s words. Since his words were “there’s a weapons factory in the east” I’m not sure what extra enlightenment they give me here, but anyway, I head east.

Reaching the weapons factory at last and finding it filled with guards I am given the option of posing as a worker which I take, thinking my Asuran language skills may come in handy. Turns out though I don’t fit in well with the other workers on account of me being alive while they’re all zombies. The overseers catch on to this fact pretty fast and I’m soon captured. Turns out the zombies were my fellow prisoners and the lizard man boss of the factory soon makes sure I join their ranks…

Not a bad little dungeon adventure that, but I don’t think it was properly play-tested. Even with Skill 12 I was struggling in every battle and that opening certainly takes no prisoners.

Victories so far - 0/7

[kieran]

Queen of Shades by Paul Struth

Another new one for me - clearly I’ve played even fewer of these than I recalled. Anyway, here I take the role of one of the Sightmasters from the Sorcery! books which is pretty cool. In my case I’m a Sightmaster with Skill 8 Stamina 22 and Luck 11. No provisions in this adventure though I’m told there will be plenty of opportunities to eat. I can also call on Libra, though why the Goddess of Justice is looking out for a renegade Analander who has been slumming it with a morally dubious sorcerer and his cronies isn’t all too clear.

Anyway, said sorcerer (Fox) had discovered the tomb of Queen Iltikar (which seems to be not far from the spot where those mungies kept their gold) and we had liberated her fancy mirror from her corpse. However, on the return journey to our base in Khare one of our team members disappeared, presumed fallen overboard. Upon reaching Khare, another (who doesn’t seem to have a name) is killed in a tavern brawl. Could this be a curse?

I awaken in my room at the inn to find a mist forming into two armed warrior women, dressed as if from a bygone era advancing on me. Talking to them is of no help and I can’t get to my weapon. With my low Skill I’m not sure I could best them unarmed so I leap out the window, hurting myself badly in the process. Unfortunately, it does me little good as the mist appears in front of me and the warrior women emerge again. I pray to Libra and the goddess herself appears, scolding me for being involved in stealing the mirror but letting me off as I did not know the wrong I did (not sure about that - I probably knew tomb robbing wasn’t exactly an honest thing to be doing). She saves me from the shield maidens but tells me they will come again until the mirror of their beloved queen is restored to her tomb. And Libra will not heed my prayers again until this is done.

The next morning I explain this all to Fox and our one surviving companion Jardakka the Red Eye in a local tavern. I buy some stew from the ogress tavern-keeper and recover some strength. Unfortunately Fox has already sold the mirror to a minimite acting on behalf of a local merchant who has connections to the mutton fish trade mentioned at length in the background of In Search of the Mungies’ Gold. Except Fox claims he hasn’t been paid yet, a tale Jardakka doesn’t believe, getting ready to blast him with her eyes. I calm her down and the conversation turns to what we should do. We could ask the merchant to give the mirror back, but Jardakka thinks we are better getting some magical means to protect us from the curse while Fox plans to get advice from Vik (a nice shout out to Sorcery!) To be honest, I reckon I should listen to a goddess over Vik or a Red Eye so I suggest Jardakka and I speak to the merchant while Fox sees Vik.

The merchant has a large mansion guarded by ant-men. Upon our approach, the minimite Fox sold the mirror to demands to know our business. After some cajoling, he will admit us into the house, provided we leave our weapons at the door. Consenting, I’m shown into an opulent audience chamber where the merchant displays many of his treasures but sadly not the mirror. A snake woman emerges and asks us what we want of her master. Might as well be honest and tell her the mirror is cursed. Jardakka is outraged and the minimite thinks I’m up to no good, but the snake-woman seems more pensive. She brings her master out who surprisingly turns out to be a cyclops. And quite a crude and unfriendly cyclops at that. He doesn’t believe in the curse and says Fox lied - he had already been paid for the mirror and we’ll have to pay over the odds to get the mirror back. He offers to pay us 20gp each to go away. Not a bad offer I guess but not much good to us if we’re dead so I refuse. He almost starts to believe us about the curse then tells us he can’t help us and stomps off. As we are leaving, we catch a girl cyclops eavesdropping and in her hand she holds the mirror. Snatching it off her seems a bit too easy and liable to bring the merchant’s security down on us. I guess I’ll opt to leave peacefully in the hopes we can get it off her more discreetly. She leaves out the back door as we go out the front.

Once outside, I decide to scout the area a bit, in the hopes of either seeing the cyclops girl again or finding some way I could break into the mansion later tonight.No sign of the girl but three possible entrances into the house - climbing the garden wall, breaking down a little-used door or via a portcullis used for loading and unloading cargo to river boats.

Feeling peckish, I opt to get some food in the Longshoremens’ Guild Hall. Not quite ready to attempt a robbery just yet, I suggest we find Fox. En-route to his home, we see some of the soldiers of the vampiric Third Noble of Khare interrogating a well-known informer, aptly named Snitch. Stopping to investigate is a mistake however as it is us he was snitching upon. The soldiers reveal themselves to be skeleton warriors and demand we hand over the Sword of Glantanka. Which unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), we don’t have. With nothing to hide, I let them search my belongings. They find nothing then arrest Snitch for providing false information - well that all worked out better than expected. We continue to Fox’s house.

Unfortunately we find Fox has been slightly murdered. There’s signs of a struggle but no other clues. I’m next asked if I want to try robbing the merchant’s house if I haven’t already done so. This suggests that a) doing so isn’t necessarily suicide; and b) it’s likely to be unsuccessful. But hey, I’ll give it a go anyway.

I keep near the garden wall but as I’m scoping the place out I spot a priest of Slangg (perhaps the Jesus-lookalike from Sorcery! 2) watching me. He disappears into the darkness before I can question him though. Unsettled, I hide and wait to see if anything happens (the text isn’t abundantly clear whether Jardakka is still with me which is a bit confusing). While I (we?) wait, the back door opens and a hunched cowled figure emerges. Could this be the cyclops girl? I chase after her and indeed it is. She seems very frightened of me so I try to calm her down. Unfortunately she screams and this brings the priest of Slangg back with a mantis man guard. Jardakka (guess she was with me after all) moves to fight but I pull her away and we run down the street.

Down the street I see a cargo ship unloading goods to the house, overseen by the minimite manservant (minimiteservant?). I doubt the black elf captain will be swayed to help me with a bribe of my remaining 3 gold pieces and pretending to be a labourer was my downfall in the last adventure so I let Jardakka cause a diversion. She sets the ship alight with her laser eyes (seriously, why aren’t the Red-Eyes ruling Kakhabad?) and this sends all assembled to rush to put out the fire. All that is apart from two soldier mants guarding the open portcullis. I pretend I need in to rouse the household to start a bucket chain and a successful Test of Luck means my bluff pays off and I rush in. Jardakka (I guess she followed me in - if there’s one criticism I can make of this adventure it’s that it’s often hard to tell if your companions are with you or not - it took me ages to realise Fox wasn't there when I first me the merchant) cuts the rope suspending the portcullis, stopping the guards outside from chasing after us once our ruse is rumbled. We enter the house and find a corridor with 4 sets of doors. A rattling noise comes from one of these so I assume the snake-woman from before lies beyond it. I try the door furthest from that one. Just a buttery, so I try another door. Stairs lead down to an underground storeroom. Several of the mants guards we left trapped outside can see us from a window above but they can’t get to us so we return to the corridor. This time, I try the ornate double doors.

Emerging into a darkened great hall, I think it’s safe to assume the mirror probably isn’t here. Light emanates from under the double doors ahead so I neglect them in favour of a small door to my left. Stairs lead up to the upper floor though it seems like it’s well lit up there. Heck, I’ll risk it. Three doors lead from the landing. The light is coming from one of the rooms beyond so I try one of the other doors. It opens into a bedchamber where someone is sleeping soundly. Better not risk waking them, I doubt the mirror would be in a bedroom anyway. I try the other door with no light and reach another bedchamber. This one is unoccupied so I might as well search it. Unfortunately, all I find are some old clothes before the door is flung open. The cyclops and the snake woman enter, he brandishing a poker. Jardakka goes for the cyclops while I fight the serpentine. Unfortunately, during the fight she bites me and having never drunk a potion of life, I succumb to her venom.

Very impressed with this one - well written with colourful characters and seems to rely on tactics over dice rolls - even if I did die in my one and only fight. Although not sure what the point of me being a Sightmaster was - I don't recall excellent vision ever being useful or remarked upon at all for that matter.

Victories so far - 0/8

[kieran]

Vengeance at Midnight by Alexander Ballingall

Another new one on me, and apparently a sequel to Appointment with FEAR (a top 10 FF book in my eyes) and Deadline to Destruction (the Warlock magazine sequel I’ve never played and about which I have heard little good).

Well, it seems my old pal Gerry the Grass wasn’t killed off in the sequel as he is still there alerting me of evil doings in Titan City via my Crimewatch. My stats are solid if unexceptional (Sk 10 St 19 Lu 9) so I don’t feel obliged to pick Super Strength as my power. As with the original, I get penalised Hero Points if I ever decide to fight an opponent to the death - a mechanic that perhaps could have used more thought, but if it means shorter and easier battles I shan’t object. Apparently I begin with 3 Hero Points - which seems only reasonable after saving the world twice. Ominously, I am told to turn to section 99 should my Hero score ever hit 0 - the same section where you commit ritual suicide in Sword of the Samurai should your Honour score hit rock bottom.

I’ll opt for psi-powers because who wouldn’t want to be Jean Grey for a day? I also get two clues: a person known as The Crooked Man apparently is even better informed than Gerry the Grass; and an illusion producer known as Hal Lou C. Nation (grooooooooooooan) is running amok in the tri-state area.

So onto the story. Crime has been relatively low, I’m doing well at work and I have a girlfriend (poor thing, doesn’t she know all the crap Gwen Stacy had to go through?). However rumours are developing of something big going down soon so when Gerry lets me know to check out the docks I don’t hesitate. I see several dubious types loading crates from a ship onto a truck. I use my psi-powers to find out their destination, focusing on a tall scar-faced man.Turns out he’s having some disturbing thoughts about children which thankfully the text doesn’t elaborate on. But he is also thinking of a particular depot which I head for once the criminals leave.

Upon climbing on to the depot's roof, I decide dropping down from the skylight sounds a bit risky and search for a door or a window I could sneak through instead. Success, I climb through a toilet window and creep downstairs to see the criminals stacking boxes in the middle of a large room. I have no way of listening into their conversation from this distance and I don’t much fancy tackling six criminals single-handed so I call the police. Once they’re nearby, I confront the criminals.

Bloody hell, this will be a short entry it seems. I have to last 25 rounds against six enemies, one of which has a skill of 10 and most with double-digit Stamina. Well let’s see how I do: First attack round, I roll double 1 for my attack strength and since this uses Steve Jackson rules for multiple opponents, I lose 12 Stamina in a single round. Eek. The other rounds don’t go that badly, but nor do they go all that well; in round number six, the “buxom woman” finishes me off. I guess I should have waited for the police. But to be fair the text said they were right outside, sirens blazing so I expected at least some of the criminals to run and the police not to take a whole 25 rounds to rescue me (assuming that’s what happened when I hit 25 rounds that is). Ah well.

Victories so far: 0/9

[a moderator]

The fights in VAM are brutal. Taking Super Strength is pretty much the only way to have any chance of surviving even just the initial encounter.

[kieran]

May 31, 2018 1:46:29 GMT a moderator said:

The fights in VAM are brutal. Taking Super Strength is pretty much the only way to have any chance of surviving even just the initial encounter.

That's disappointing. Guess I'll go with Super Strength in my replay.

[a moderator]

VAM has a lot of problems. A pity, because there's definitely something with potential in there, but IIRC it was a bit of a rush job, and things like combat against multiple opponents just didn't get thought through properly. The thread on the adventure goes into more detail about some of the more egregious flaws, but does contain a few spoilers, so you're probably better off avoiding it until you've at least progressed beyond the opening shambles encounter. Wouldn't want to deny you the opportunity to experience a certain harsh and unfair Instant Death for yourself...

[kieran]

Return to the Icefinger Mountains by Ed Jolley

Not only have I actually played this one before, I actually wrote up my playthrough on the old FF forum that is sadly now lost to the abyss. As far as I recall, I rolled terrible stats, I took a rule too literally which meant I missed out on a possibly vital clue, and I got killed by a somersaulting giant. So really this attempt couldn’t go much worse. Well, certainly my stats are better this time out: Sk 9 St 21 Lu 10.

So as you may have guessed, this is a sequel to Caverns of the Snow Witch. I am not the hero of that adventure though (after all I never would have beaten that book with those stats), but a former child slave of the snow witch, liberated by said hero. But now thirty years after her death, my nightmares about her are returning. I confide in Reniso, another former slave who took me in after the witch was killed, and worryingly he has dreamt of her too. He is convinced she is back and when I volunteer to explore the Crystal Caves to find the source of her power, Reniso shakes his head at the impatience of ‘young people’ (Hang on, how young am I exactly? Wouldn’t I be around 40? I guess it’s all relative for Reniso). Anyway, a scholar from Salamonis should be arriving shortly to explain more about her powers and then the three of us shall set forth to stop her if we can.

After going to bed and doing my last day of work for my foster family, I return to Reniso’s home to find his corpse pinned to the wooden pillar of the hut and a message written in his drying blood saying ‘She will return.’ Lovely. There is something stuck in his mouth so I pull it out to find. It’s a balled up piece of paper, and rather grisly to remove. I can’t read it immediately however as I am startled by a knocking, but can look at it when I am next given the opportunity to eat (note, this is where I went wrong in my last attempt as I was never given any opportunities to eat and so never got to read the paper - Ed clarified that I could read it at any quiet moment so maybe this attempt I’ll finally find out what it says). Opening the door so the knocker can’t see Reniso’s corpse, I find an old man before me. It turns out he is Denati, the scholar we were expecting. Denati is taken aback by Reniso’s untimely demise but he takes some comfort from the fact the message in the blood implies the Snow Witch isn’t back quite yet. He decides to come with me and we equip ourselves for some mountain travel at the market. I decide not to bother reporting Reniso’s death to the wardens - they may accuse us of the crime and maybe some are in league with the Snow Witch.

As we are leaving the village however, one of the wardens decides he’d like to pick on us but he eventually gets bored of questioning us and lets us leave. I get a chance to eat and decide to look at the message - turns out its part of a history describing Kurentz, a god of contests who has an ‘everyone’s a winner’ feeling about gladiatorial combat - maybe he should be the god of school sports days instead? I have more Snow Witch themed nightmares and then we continue on the next day.

Eventually we reach the edge of a valley and looking down we can see a procession of sasquatch-like Toa-Suo and wolves striding purposefully. I don’t think we’re in any huge hurry so I wait for them to go before moving onward. A crevasse forces us to take a wide detour and once across we find ourselves following a rocky defile. A rocky defile that soon starts to vibrate ominously. The source seems to be a frost giant hurtling towards us (the same giant who killed me last time I think - told you I didn’t get far!) Discretion may be the better part of valour here so I get out of his way by leaping for a cave entrance above us. Less keen to try such acrobatics, Denati drops flat and the giant jumps over him. I fall back into the defile but am unhurt though what worries me more is the vibrations are growing stronger despite the giant having gone. Realising more giants must be on their way, I boost Denati into the cave and leap after him, following a passage away from the giants.

Well, I think I remembered my last playthrough poorly because I think now I am comforted with what actually killed me. A blind barbarian shaman has brained Denati with his club and now he turns on me. He gives me quite a bashing but this time I prevail. I take his bone club and Denati finds a gambling token from the lost city of Cyranti, the culture we suspect gave the Snow Witch her powers. There’s a crack at the back of the cave and Denati ponders whether it might lead directly to the city. Hmm maybe, but I think I’ll stick with our intended path rather than exploring strange cracks.

So we climb back into the defile and emerge once more into the open. Denati advises we do not head in the direction of the giants’ village and the text has me agree because why on earth would any sane reader want to do that? Unless it was an Ian Livingstone book in which case the giants would have a key with 43 stamped on it which would open a chest in a jungle temple 8,000 miles away.

We stop for a sleep where the only trouble is the usual nightmares then press on. The next morning, I make a random die roll. I am hauling Denati up a rock face when a fur-clad barbarian comes at me from behind. He seems enraged at the sight of the bone club I filched from the shaman and a fight ensues. I take quite a few knocks but I prevail in the end, though oddly he survives my final blow and charges at me in a kamikaze death rush. Not a particularly effective one as I step aside and he goes hurtling off the cliff.

The air starts to get thin and Denati in particular is finding the hike hard going. Still we press on and reach a hole in the ground. I want to ignore it but Denati insists we climb inside just in case it’s an entrance to the Crystal Caves (or more likely to get out of the wind). We climb down my rope to find a mysterious plinth and a few corpses. The fact it’s presented as optional makes me think that trying to retrieve my rope could be dangerous… still it does seem the sensible option so rather than try to second guess the author, I’ll rely on common sense. Well, a failed Luck test means I can’t retrieve it but no other ill befalls me. Since Denati is looking at the plinth, I’ll check out the corpses, focusing on the lone one nearest the plinth. And of course it’s a zombie orc though not too tough as zombie orcs go. Once dispatched I chop its head off and rip off its slave collar gaining a Luck point for this lack of respect to the twice-dead. I also find a bone die. Next I investigate the other two bodies. They appear to be a dwarf and elf so I guess I’m in the room where the Snow Witch fell to the deadly game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The dwarf has an ice-encrusted bracelet which just screams 'Skill penalty' so I leave it be and go over to the plinth. It’s covered in Cyrantian script which Denati has trouble translating but eventually decodes it as ‘The one who seeks the paths of power must wait for the sun to rise, and it will show the way.’ Denati seems to think it’s a clue to finding the source of the Snow Witch’s power though personally I reckon it will help us unlock Reptile in Mortal Kombat. Anyway he suggests we stay here and wait for the sun to rise.

While we wait, I ask Denati about the bone die. Turns out it’s a Cyrantian die sacred to their god of games. Not much else can be said about it however and I manage to get a bit of sleep before morning comes. The dawn light illuminates a secret catch that opens a door in the rock wall. The tunnel beyond eventually splits in two so I take the right, downward branch, figuring a lost city is more likely to be deep underground. The tunnel becomes increasingly steep and I have to stop myself from sliding into the abyss before me. I manage to stop myself but Denati is not so lucky and crashes into the back of my legs. A weird transition happens next - I’m told Denati knocks me over the edge, but the next section describes me stopping myself from going over. Ah well either way, I do not plummet to my doom. A shaken Denati gives me some harsh drink that heals me slightly. I don’t much fancy trying to climb back up the slope of slipperiness so I continue round the rock wall along the narrow ledge, hoping a Luke Sharp monster won’t challenge me to One Strike Combat.

And I find myself face to face with the Ice Demon the Snow Witch worshipped. Not the statue from Caverns of the Snow Witch but the actual demon itself. Luckily it seems fast asleep so we will attempt to sneak past. We can cross a walkway that goes right past the front of the demon or a narrower walkway that would require us to just about scrape past its back. Eek. I’ll try going past its front. Luckily the only harm that comes to me is inhaling some of the demon’s noxious breath and we are able to escape through a tunnel at the far end of the walkway.

Not much further on, we reach an alcove containing an intricately carved shrine. Investigating, we find it is a pillar with a bronze dish atop it. The carvings on the pillar suggest we should throw the bone die in the dish which should generate a challenge from the god of games. I do so and the bowl starts to segment and spin rapidly, the dice coming to rest in one of the segments. A failed Luck test later and the dice disappears into a hole in the bowl which then reforms whole again - my only blessing is that I can choose the result of one future die roll - whoopee. Oh well, nothing further to do here, so we continue down the passageway.

We emerge into a chamber with a frozen fountain and two stairways leading on. I inspect the fountain, and I am asked if I want to try breaking off an icicle and licking it. Hmm well, my Skill and Stamina are at maximum so what are the chances doing so would restore my much depleted Luck score? Probably not worth the risk. So I leave the chamber by the more worn staircase where I gain a Luck point for not being a klutz and slipping off. Hey, I’m not going to object.

The chamber beyond has a large pillar with Cyrantian carvings that Denati tells me is a signpost. The text then tells me if I want to eat this will probably be my last chance before the final confrontation, which seems a lot to assume based on finding a signpost which I can’t read - it may say ‘toilets this way’ for instance. Anyway, since I’m at full health, I’ll save my last 2 provisions and continue on. The way forward takes us to a chasm spanned by a slippery ice bridge with no handrails. Since I have no equipment that might help me cross it, I make a crude rope out of my blankets. Tying this to a stone bench and the other end round myself, I carefully cross the bridge… and just about make it. Denati too makes it across with mishap. Leaving the blankets behind, we continue on.

We reach a small chamber where lying in a glass coffin is the Snow Witch herself. The inscription on her coffin says we can stop her rising by piercing her heart with an icicle (maybe I should have taken one from the fountain rather than pondering giving it a lick!). Oddly though I’m not asked for an icicle but for the remains of a kite - well, I don’t have that either. So I try to pull an icicle from the ceiling. I make a bit of a balls of it, but eventually succeed. Denati hauls the coffin open and I plunge the icicle into the sleeping Snow Witch’s heart… A wave of cold blasts me from the coffin and while I’m strong enough to survive, I’m now confronted by a very much awake Snow Witch. I guess Denati’s translating skills aren’t up to much - either that or he’s not who he claims to be. I guess I won’t find out in this playthrough as my weapon is useless against her and she sinks her teeth into me turning me into an ice ghoul.

Victories so far - 0/10

Pretty good this one, it feels like it has more of a sense of realism than most FF books and even though I failed, it felt quite fair throughout. If I would make one criticism, there seemed a few too many sections that just directed me to a new section with no choice. But all in all, looking forward to trying it again.

[lordomnibok]

Interesting. You took quite a different route to me on Ed's book. I recall that the ending was pretty tricky but I won't give away any spoilers.

[a moderator]

May 31, 2018 20:32:34 GMT kieran said:

The tunnel becomes increasingly steep and I have to stop myself from sliding into the abyss before me. I manage to stop myself but Denati is not so lucky and crashes into the back of my legs. A weird transition happens next - I’m told Denati knocks me over the edge, but the next section describes me stopping myself from going over. Ah well either way, I do not plummet to my doom. 

Evidently I didn't describe this as well as I should have. There is no abyss here - the edge just marks the point at which the slope becomes even steeper. Something like a 15% gradient abruptly shelving to 35%. Denati knocked you onto the really steep part, but your successful roll meant that you were able to remain standing, descending to the bottom of the slope like a skier (only without skis). If you'd failed the roll, you'd have fallen, and taken a bit of a battering on the way to the bottom.

The chamber beyond has a large pillar with Cyrantian carvings that Denati tells me is a signpost. The text then tells me if I want to eat this will probably be my last chance before the final confrontation, which seems a lot to assume based on finding a signpost which I can’t read - it may say ‘toilets this way’ for instance.

Denati does also tell you that the signpost indicates you to be close to your goal, so it's not that wild an assumption.

Oddly though I’m not asked for an icicle but for the remains of a kite

At times I employed the Paul Mason trick of using certain items to indicate that you'd had a specific encounter. Anyone who has the kite fragments would have learned something of potential significance, and asking about the kite is less of a giveaway to readers who missed that encounter than going "If you know about [redacted trick for acquiring icicles]..."

If I would make one criticism, there seemed a few too many sections that just directed me to a new section with no choice. 

Fair point.

[kieran]

May 31, 2018 22:52:06 GMT a moderator said:

Evidently I didn't describe this as well as I should have. There is no abyss here - the edge just marks the point at which the slope becomes even steeper. Something like a 15% gradient abruptly shelving to 35%. Denati knocked you onto the really steep part, but your successful roll meant that you were able to remain standing, descending to the bottom of the slope like a skier (only without skis). If you'd failed the roll, you'd have fallen, and taken a bit of a battering on the way to the bottom.

Ah ok, possibly bad comprehension on my part to be fair.

Denati does also tell you that the signpost indicates you to be close to your goal, so it's not that wild an assumption.

True, but I mean what could it actually say to make him think that - "Snow Witch just through here"?

At times I employed the Paul Mason trick of using certain items to indicate that you'd had a specific encounter. Anyone who has the kite fragments would have learned something of potential significance, and asking about the kite is less of a giveaway to readers who missed that encounter than going "If you know about [redacted trick for acquiring icicles]..."

Yes, I figured it would be something like that, it wasn't meant as a criticism. Though my mind was trying to come up with scenarios where a kite might be useful here!

[a moderator]

Jun 1, 2018 8:45:14 GMT kieran said:

May 31, 2018 22:52:06 GMT a moderator said:

Evidently I didn't describe this as well as I should have. There is no abyss here - the edge just marks the point at which the slope becomes even steeper. Something like a 15% gradient abruptly shelving to 35%. Denati knocked you onto the really steep part, but your successful roll meant that you were able to remain standing, descending to the bottom of the slope like a skier (only without skis). If you'd failed the roll, you'd have fallen, and taken a bit of a battering on the way to the bottom.

Ah ok, possibly bad comprehension on my part to be fair.

It is a good deal clearer in the section describing what happens if you fail your Skill roll, so I'm at least partially to blame.

Denati does also tell you that the signpost indicates you to be close to your goal, so it's not that wild an assumption.

True, but I mean what could it actually say to make him think that - "Snow Witch just through here"?

SPOILER: Click to show

Remember what the piece of paper you retrieved from Reniso's mouth said about the losers of to-the-death contests getting to be reborn? A sign saying something along the lines of 'Chamber of Rebirth' would be a massive clue to someone who'd figured out that that meant resurrection rather than reincarnation.

[kieran]

So skipping over Hand of Fate brings us to:

Ascent of Darkness by Stuart Lloyd

I’ve played this one before but all I really remember is that it’s set in Titan’s equivalent of Ancient Greece. And so like any Ancient Greek hero I have both a heroic power and a heroic flaw. The heroic powers essentially boost your base stats (which are rolled for in a different way that usual to ensure you have a fairly mediocre base) though each has a colourful write up. I select Speed of Pangara - the text tells me I can outrun horses and race across the sea itself. Though all it seems to do at this stage is give me a Skill of 10 rather than the 9 I rolled. My other stats are 17 Stamina and 10 Luck. The heroic flaws have a less obvious affect on gameplay - I choose Hubris as being a bit arrogant sounds better than having uncontrollable rage or a weakspot that some enemies can find to kill you instantly. Another new rule is that you can perform heroic stunts in battle - your likelihood of pulling these stunts off depends on your heroic power. Speed of Pangara makes me more adept at Flurry of Blows than the other two stunts. I also start with a shield that reduces the Attack Strength of all enemies by 1. All in all, I feel like a pretty mighty warrior and I haven't even got to the background yet!

The adventure begins at the outskirts of the Desert of Skulls, after my army has just won something of a Pyrrhic victory against the Caarth (snake-men). We fall back to the nearby town of Karnak Tor and before bed I see signs the Caarth will attack again in the morning. I go to sleep and have troubling dreams where my father floats before me and I get shot in the arm by an arrow.

Awaking two hours before dawn, I order the men to assemble and we march to where the Caarth are sleeping. Being cold-blooded, they don’t much like fighting at night so I have two choices. Attack them now when they’re sluggish or use the extra time to manoeuvre into a more advantageous position. The latter sounds more sensible. Unfortunately, since I lack the Cunning of Logaan, I don’t perhaps organise them as well as a more cunning hero might. The first two lines of Caarth go down easily but the third reaches me and I find myself in battle with a Caarth warrior. Providing I’ve understood the rules for heroic stunts correctly (ie you don’t need to win the attack round to use a stunt and you can use a stunt once per round) then I win fairly easily. My opponent (hopefully legitimately) bested, I spy a robed Caarth with a glowing staff and a group of Caarth raining down blows upon my men. Figuring the one with the staff is probably a greater threat, I leave my men to it and go for him. Luckily my Speed of Pangara stops anyone getting in my way before I fell the sorcerer with a thrust of my spear. The Caarth flee, all that is apart from one three metre tall champion who challenges me to single combat. Hmm, well ordinarily I’d tell my men to rush such an idiot but I’m guessing this being pseudo Ancient Greece, I should behave with a modicum of honour. I accept the challenge. Unfortunately, as I get close he kicks out at me (Caarth have feet?!). He kicks me to the ground but luckily it doesn’t hurt too badly. Less luckily, he has 11 Skill and can do stunts of his own (the text explaining his stunts would seem to confirm I understood the rules correctly). It’s a close battle but he kills me in the end.

Damn, I was really getting into the atmosphere of this one. Maybe a bit too much, buying into that honour crap. I’ll know better next time.

Victories so far: 0/11

[kieran]

Starhunt: Void Slavers by Ian Brocklehurst

Not only do I remember playing this one before, I remember exactly where I went wrong! So I won’t be falling for the same trap this time, no way! Providing I get that far of course…

Anyway as you can probably tell by the title we're in sci-fi territory here. I’m a pilot (one with Sk 9 St 17 Lu 8 and Blaster Skill 9) who together with my robotic co-pilot Kraven-8 has command of the freighter Starhunt (Manoeuvrability 8 Weapons System 7 Deflector Shields 16 Hull Integrity 18 - God, I hope I don’t have to type the word Manoeuvrability too much!).

Like most sci-fi FF books, this starts with a wider background of the galaxy the adventure takes place in. It is the 37th Century, mankind has expanded across the Milky Way and formed the Terran Central Authority (TCA). There are also a number of independent planets sitting outside the TCA such as an Abrahamic theocratic planet and one populated entirely by Australian Aborigines. Beyond these independents is the Void, home to warlords known as the Kazoku and various slavers and pirates.

Our story begins with me trying to fix the waste unit of the Starhunt when Kraven-8 informs me my estranged father is calling. While I’m not thrilled to hear from him I’m even less thrilled to hear my sister and her dance troupe have been kidnapped from the planet Aquatine by slavers. Determined to rescue her, we set a course for the planet.

Aquatine is a water planet with 4 major cities. We head for one of these, Aqua Polis, and dock at Bay 94 (heh). Kraven-8 will research the slavers in the area while I leave the ship to explore. The robot security insists I deposit my blaster with them as only police can carry such things in the city though I am allowed my flick knife (flick knives are still a thing in the 37th Century?). I now have a choice of whether to call in with the police or catch the monorail to where an old friend of mine lives. Well, trusting the police is where I went wrong last time so monorail it is.

While waiting on the next train (trains are free in Aquatine - maybe this planet isn’t so bad), Kraven-8 contacts me through my earpiece to tell me what he’s discovered. He gives me the names of three known slavers in the area: Lixor Tarak, Bo Collo and Rhea Mosa - apparently I’ve heard of Collo from his gun-running activities in the past.

I get off the train at Zulu Farm, apparently the city’s party central. While I head to the building where I hope to find my contact (a building which was apparently green last time I was here but is now orange - much like South Belfast - and I may have just lost everyone with that joke), I become aware of someone sneaking up behind me. Turns out it’s a crazed ME-bot. No, I don’t know either but it is at least fairly easily dispatched.

I enter the building which turns out to be a zero-gravity pole dancing club. A goth waitress serves me a free shot (not only flick knives, but goths are still going?) and I ask her to bring her boss over to me. Her boss is my friend Arthur and he’s of the opinion the slavers came through the under-city and were aided by corrupt cops (I told ya!). I run the names Kraven-8 gave me past him. He knows them all but reckons Rhea Mosa is the most likely sister-abductor. He tells me more about Under-Aqua which is full of monstrous creatures and he reckons the slavers came up through Gate 79. I ask him more about the movements of slavers. Apparently they store slaves on asteroid belts and the like until the Sovereigness calls a slave mart. I ask more about this Sovereigness but all Arthur knows are vague rumours. I leave the club with Arthur promising to do some further investigating of his own.

Upon leaving I contact Kraven-8 and ask for information on Gate 79. The robot agrees that it might be a good spot to launch a raid from and tells me how to get there by train so I head back to the station and after changing trains a few times I arrive in a run-down part of the city near Gate 79. Walking down an alleyway, I am confronted by two junkies. Not sure what drugs they’re on but they’ve given them some pretty hefty stats - and it’s Steve Jackson rules for fighting multiple opponents so I may be in serious trouble here. I survive with 1 Stamina point remaining. After a spot of healing I search their unconscious bodies and find a badge from my sister’s dance troupe on the female junkie.

Reaching Gate 79, I open the manhole cover and since my communicator won’t work in the Under-Aqua, I tell Kraven-8 to alert the authorities if he doesn’t hear from me after one hour. I climb down to a corridor which ends in a sturdy door that requires a handprint to open. For some reason mine works fine though and the door opens. I enter a security room where I’m able to work out that the slavers most likely used a nearby hangar to enter the Under-Aqua. I can get there in two ways - through the sewer system or along the freshwater pipes. Figuring the sewer is less likely to be used frequently by slavers, I try that way, taking a fishhook and a re-breather from the wall before descending down an manhole. This leads to a small room with a “DANGER: NOXIOUS FUMES” warning. Well presumably this is where my re-breather will come in handy so I press on. I follow a stream of effluence before descending towards a vat that smells so bad I start to gag but the rebreather saves me from any ill effects. I pass on to another room.

As I pass another vat in this room, a be-tentacled sump monster pulls itself out of the filth to attack me. It’s another tough fight and this time I do not prevail.

Hmm, not sure about this one. The writing is excellent with lots of nice details and smart characterization and the illustrations are top notch, perhaps my favourite of all the Fantazine gamebooks so far. But gameplay-wise I’m not too impressed. Despite the length of this entry I only made four or five actual decisions and at least two of those were fairly obvious (eg will I question Arthur further or just go?). Most sections seemed to just move you on to a new section with no decisions. The combats were also too tough; one of the junkies and the sump monster both had 10 Skill. I hope these fights are not compulsory though there seems to be little deviation available. Hopefully the adventure becomes less linear as you progress.

Victories so far - 0/12

[a moderator]

Judging by Champskees' comments in his solution thread, this adventure remains linear to the end.

[kieran]

Jun 7, 2018 16:34:40 GMT a moderator said:

Judging by Champskees' comments in his solution thread, this adventure remains linear to the end.

Yeah just read his summary myself. Pity.

[The Editor (Alex B)]

Only just got around to this thread. Nice to see some honest appraisal of the adventures. Don’t always get things right!

And yes, VaM was written (& illustrated) in a hurry to fill a gap!

[kieran]

Six-Gun Friday by Gaetano Abbondanza

Yee-haw! We’re in western territory for this one, li’l pardners! Bent Reed is the usual kind of setting for these things, a settlement in the middle of nowhere that is gradually transforming into a prosperous town but said prosperity is drawing some unsavoury elements. I take the role of Mathew Slade, the newly appointed town marshall - a tough as nails town marshall with Sk 11 and St 24. For some reason there’s no Luck score in this adventure - I guess in the old west, you make your own luck. I can choose 2 of 5 possible skills and choose Fast Draw (because this is a bloody western for God’s sake) and Detection. I can also choose between a Colt .45 Peacemaker and a Smith & Wesson Schofield .45. The Colt is more accurate while the Smith & Wesson does more damage so I opt for the Colt - if I can’t hit someone, it doesn’t matter how much damage I could do.

The adventure begins with me losing at chess to the Native American I’d taught the game to. While we are about to celebrate his new found skills with some whiskey, a local farmer appears at the door. Apparently the Owen Boys stole his chickens and tipped his cow (which is physically impossible to do so I’m guessing those Owen Boys might not be quite so dastardly as he insists). Anyway, I convince him to look for his own chickens before he starts letting fly with accusations and after some casual racism he agrees.

No time to relax though because now the hardware store is on fire! While one of the boys who alerted me reckons its the doings of an arsonist supposedly staying at a nearby hotel, I decide the top priority is to help put the fire out. When I reach the store, the fire is raging too strongly to think of putting it out, but the owner is trapped inside after going in the front of the building to rescue equipment. I go in the front of the building after him since I might not be able to get to him any other way.

It’s a raging inferno inside and there are signs of a struggle which perhaps fits with the arson theory. I surmise the owner must have been knocked unconscious and taken upstairs to burn to death so his death will look accidental. I race upstairs and find Franklin the owner and wake him up. As we escape, he says the man who attacked him was Clement Friday, a wanted criminal and one of the notorious Friday Boys who apparently play cards at a place called Black Dinah’s. Anyway, we get out to the cheer of the assembled crowd. No rest for the wicked though - apparently when the whole town’s been distracted by the fire, the Friday Boys have been robbing the local bank. I quickly assemble a militia then head for the bank.

By the time we get there, the boys are long gone and the banker has been bound and gagged. After a quick town meeting, I decide to pursue them alone to their most likely hiding place - Cheyenne - and ask the mayor to wire the local sheriff to meet me therewith some federal soldiers. I gather my equipment then catch a night’s sleep, having been convinced to start my pursuit next morning.

I reach Cheyenne without incident and after marvelling at its grandeur and decadence. I leave my horse at the livery stable and the old man there mentions two places I could get a drink - the blind Pig or Black Dahlia’s. Hmm, that last one sounds familiar. I ask the old man to tell me where it is exactly, then take my horse back, eager to find the Boys.

Black Dahlia’s turns out to be a huge saloon that never closes, full of gambling and men hooting at can-can dancers. While I’m paying for a shot of whiskey, one of the other patrons spies my badge in my jacket and asks why I’m here. Ignoring him could be dangerous so I tell him I came from Bent Reed. He seems to know all about the robbery and reaches into his jacket. I wait to see what he produces - luckily it’s a badge not a gun. He’s a Pinkerton detective called Frank Chambers who with several other has been pursuing the Friday Boys and he doesn’t want amateurs like me messing things up (can’t really blame him - I’ve been here five minutes and already given away my identity to the first stranger I met). Still he’s prone to flattery so after buttering him up a bit he shows me a poster of the likenesses of a ll the Friday clan. They consist of two brothers (Jermiah and Abel) from a Confederate guerilla band, a tuberculosis-ridden doctor (Zeke), an ex-lawman gone bad (Logan), a train robber (Clement) and a sweet-faced teenage killer named William. Chambers believes the boys have contacts in the Wyoming Stock Growers Association who may be hiding them.
Chambers leaves and as I sit at the bar, a clumsy oaf trips over me, spilling his drink. He tries to pick a fight and ignoring him causes him to punch me in the back of the head then kick me when I’m down. He saunters off and I go over to the faro tables. A dispute is underway between one gambler and a young player who everyone is terrified of. The young man shoots the gambler with a gun hidden in his sleeve. Certain that this is William, I have a choice - confront him now or wait. Confronting him now would alert the other Fridays to my presence so I decide not to do anything rash. Or at least that was the idea, but after William starts to threaten the dealer, the text has me pull a gun and point it at William’s head and revealing who I am to him.

William doesn’t seem worried at all. He buys me a whiskey and asks if I’d like to play cards for a while and casually mentions he won’t be killing me - his brother Abel standing behind me will take care of that. I sense he’s bluffing though and demand he put his hands up. He refuses to be taken alive though, kicking over the table. It spoils my aim slightly and I only clip him with my shot. I take cover from his return fire and he manages to escape through the line of can-can dancers. I run out back but see no sign of William in the dark alley behind the saloon. Not wishing to stumble into a potential trap, I don’t pursue him and decide to find a hotel for the night.

Checking in at a busy hotel, I reveal my status as a marshall and my mission to the clerk - for some reason my character seems to have no discretion. Then again I was shooting someone in a local saloon so I guess the time for that has passed. Anyway he makes a comment that suggests I probably won’t survive very long though whether this is a threat or a friendly warning is unclear. I decide to visit the hotel restaurant. While there a man threatens a woman and a small child before suggesting the woman make “arrangements” to end the debt her husband owes to this man. Gallantry and authorial dictat cause me to interfere. I decide it’s probably best not to show yet another randomer my badge so agree to “step outside” with the bully. He’s a tough customer who has no scruples about finishing me off with a knife if he can. Luckily he never gets the chance. After he agrees to leave the woman alone and release her husband from debt, the grateful woman bandages my wounds to leave me somewhat weaker than I was before the fight. A good deed done I guess, even if it doesn’t seem to have helped me much with my mission.

Next morning, I leave the hotel and head for the Wyoming Stock Growers Association that Frank Chambers told me were harbouring the Fridays. I tell the clerk I’m looking to invest and he writes a letter of introduction and told me the president and other high-ups usually do business at the Cheyenne club. I head there.

The Cheyenne is a well-to-do establishment frequented by senators and judges. I’m shown into a drawing room. Turning down the opportunity for a poop (very few FF books deal with that side of things - imagine if you were in Deathtrap Dungeon and one of your rivals killed you when s/he found you squatting in the corner), I go over to stand with the men there playing billiards. It soon becomes clear that the losing player is on good terms with the Fridays and sure enough the six of them suddenly barge in to the room. Abel Friday spots me and asks the other occupants to leave the room. Alone with the Fridays, I’m asked to check what codewords I’ve gathered. Hmm, I have one of the 5 mentioned. Willie recognises me of course but he wants to face me alone in a game of quick draw. Hmm wonder if his five companions would let me go if I emerge victorious? Probably a fat chance but I imagine if I try to run I’ll almost certainly be shot in the back. And heck I need to have at least one quick draw in a western! Turns out I’m the faster - I shoot the gun from Willie’s hand then shoot at the feet of the gang and run in the confusion. I take cover behind a divan then race out the exit.

Sprinting all the way to the constable’s office I find my friend Rodrigo the Native American and several soldiers waiting there to aid me against the Fridays. I mount a horse provided to me and we all gallop back to the Cheyenne.By the time we get there, it seems the gang have fled however. I’m able to deduce they didn’t flee towards the bank and decide they probably made for the train station in order to get out of Dodge (or Cheyenne in this case I guess). The next train is leaving soon and when we get there it’s pulling away from the station. Not wanting the Fridays to get away, I ride my horse up to the moving train and try to leap on to an open carriage at the back. I make it and yell back to Rodrigo to send a wire to Phoenix to intercept the train at the other end. The door to the next carriage is locked. Luckily an inebriated man eventually opens it and warns me the Fridays are sitting in first class.
I reach the first class carriage and spy the Fridays. Luckily they are focused more on the armed security guard than me. Using my first aid kits to get back to full strength (because the text warms me I should do so), I wait to see what will happen. Well, it seems the security guard was in cahoots with the Fridays as he leaves the carriage at a nod from Abel and William proceeds to rob the other passengers. Time to make my move I guess. I take out Zeke Friday with no hassle. The remaining five all take cover and I do likewise. The security guard comes running back in and I down him too. The screaming passengers flee the carriage, leaving me alone with the Fridays. Abel yells for his comrades to take me out. One of them breaks cover and I shoot him down as he does so - 2 down, 4 to go. Unfortunately, this was a diversion for two of the others to move into position to get a shot at me. Luckily, they can’t compete with my fast draw and I down both of them before they can get their shots off. Only 2 left now. I decide I’m maybe a bit exposed and try to get better cover. Two shots miss me as I hole up at the end of the carriage.Taking a peek, I find myself staring at Jeremiah Friday barely inches away from me. No point rugby-tackling him and risking a knife in my side and he can’t compete with my fast draw as I blow a hole in his chest. One left…

Wouldn’t you know, it’s Abel and it seems he’s fled to another carriage. In hot pursuit, I race past terrified passengers in the adjoining carriage. The train comes to a juddering slow down. Reaching the engineer’s car, I find Abel, gun pointed at the conductor as the latter applies the brakes. Knowing I’m there, Abel calls me out and offers a deal - I let him go and he won’t kill me and I can get the bounty for the five Fridays I’ve killed. No dice Abel! (Not that it’s an option anyway). Time to reach for my six shooter. Luckily my chosen skills and excellent stats make this fight a formality and Abel Friday is soon lying in a pool of his own blood. Being perhaps not such a bad old sport, he reveals where the Fridays had hidden their loot before expiring. It’s a pity I never tangled with Abel much before this, I feel the author is going for something quite deep here but the only Friday I had much interaction with before the final showdown is William and I don’t even know when I killed him - maybe he was the guy who tried to distract me. Anyway I am now a celebrity and could become the sheriff of all of Wyoming if I like, but like a ll good western heroes, I am a simple man and shun such extravagances - Bent Reed needs a marshall after all.

Victories so far - 1/13

Woohoo, I won one! To be honest it seemed a bit easy, the Fridays seemed pretty inept really. It’s always good to give players a chance of course but it seemed a bit ridiculous that I was able to get out of the Cheyenne club completely unscathed for instance. Though to be fair, I had great starting stats and picked the two best skills. Actually without Fast Draw, I would have taken more damage against the Fridays in the first class carriage fight and then likely been finished off by Abel.

The writing is very solid, good atmosphere and a keen eye for detail and with unusually good characterisation for a gamebook. There were perhaps a few too many times where I didn’t feel I had enough control of my characters actions but I certainly had a lot more that I did in the previous adventure. Logical decisions were usually rewarded and few seemed arbitrary - which I guess adds to the easiness a bit but I think it can be forgiven that.

[kieran]

Dreams of Darkness by SP Osborne

So a Lone Wolf adventure for a change and one that casts me as a loyal guard of the Baroness Coryene of Gadorvo, whose family took me in when they found me gabbling and delirious 27 years ago. I have no memory of before that night, but my skill at combat suggests I must have been some sort of warrior (or perhaps I’m Rei from Star Wars).

Apparently, Baroness Coryene is a minor character from Book 18 of the Lone Wolf series but I wouldn’t know as I’ve never managed to get past past Book 17. Hopefully it’s not too important. Anyway, I am currently being haunted by nightmares of a red-eyed helmeted fiend (dreams of darkness you might say) and the Goddess Ishir is providing naff all help in the matter. Apparently, the reason the goddess isn’t my number one fan is that I am Dorst, but I am not Dorst. Ah, well that clears that up then. Maybe Dorst is the Magnamund equivalent of Richard Dawkins.

Anyway before I learn the true meaning of being Schroedinger’s Dorst, time to roll up Maybe Dorst’s stats: CS 18, End 26 - not too shabby. I can also choose 2 of 5 Special Skills. Eschewing Battle Tactics as my natural CS is pretty good already, I decide on Dark Languages and Infiltration.

The adventure begins with Lone Wolf pissing off after he had camped with the Baroness and me. Apparently my character didn’t like the cut of his jib. Sure he saved the whole world seven years ago but what has he done for us lately, eh? Anyway, our journey is to the distant Vaderish Monastery (Vaderish? Like Darth Vader-ish? Maybe I’m Kylo Ren rather than Rei). Apparently the countryside is rife with bandit and there’s an evil sorcerer living nearby so wanting to avoid either obstacle, I have two routes I could take. One option is harder going and leads through bandit-infested hills, the other is easy going and leads through jolly farmer-infested plains. Um, reckon I’ll go for the latter.

The road is bumpy but otherwise safe. I spy some red flowers but lacking any wilderness knowledge, I ride on, Coryene’s carriage bumping along behind me. Eventually we emerge into grassland. As the rest of the guards make a camp, I spay out the land and am shocked to see a military camp not far away, probably the soldiers of that dratted Prince Lutha of Eldenora, curse him! I suggest turning back but the Baroness decides she’s rather ride past the camp and hope they don’t notice. Ditching the carriage, we prepare to do just that. As we pass the camp, I make use of my infiltration skill to try and sneak in. Entering a tent, I find an unusually scholarly Drakkar copying some battle plans onto vellum scrolls. He assumes I’m one of his men so I dutifully salute then nick a scroll. I then race on to catch up with the Baroness’ escort.

Once I’ve rejoined them, we make camp and I take a look at the scroll. It contains plans to attack the Vaderish monastery in three days time and some strange script I don’t understand. After losing some Endurance for having no food to eat (no-one in the camp has food they can spare?!), I go to sleep. Next morning, after riding for some time, we come across a spooky solitary black tent. I can’t resist a peek inside. It contains a rather tasteless tiger-skin rug and a Black Altar of Evil. Praying at this or disturbing it seem like terrible ideas so I leave well alone. I contemplate burning the tent but since I have no way to start a fire (again, why can’t anyone else provide me with these things?), I leave the tent be, a seeming mocking laughter following me.

I push the group hard for the next day but let the Baroness sleep in the next morning because I’m a softy really. All seems well until I start seeing signs of people hiding along the road. Still we reach the monastery without mishap and the abbot gives us a warm welcome. I’m soon reflecting on all that has befallen us since Lone Wolf left although to be honest nothing of note has befallen us so that must have been a brief reflection. Anyway, the abbot believes the monastery safe enough until I show him the vellum scroll and his tune rapidly changes. He tells me the Giak script speaks of a traitor in Famdor and he urges me to ferret this traitor out while the monks fight off any attackers. The Baroness will remain at the monastery.

That night I dream of armoured fiends showing me respect, and an officer appears and removes his helm to reveal a scarred visage. He tells me in Giak that I am one of the bravest hunters he’s ever seen and that he has a great mission for me that will please the Darklords. He then brings in a captive old man. The officer slits the old man’s throat then wipes his blood on me, a symbol that I have been blooded after my first hunt.

I awake in a cold sweat then hurriedly get dressed. After breakfast I am soon on my horse and on my way. I reach Famdor without mishap and note it seems a lot wealthier than it was two years ago - the profits of treachery perhaps? I shun the main thoroughfare for a quieter route Hmm, it looks like the section numbers here are the wrong way round. Anyway, the road less travelled is more reminiscent of how the town used to be, filled with beggars and rubble. Passing a dilapidated stately home, I espy a man swinging his sword at a boy. Seems the man is trying to arrest the boy for begging and is quite happy to take him dead or alive. Over my dead body, I cry as I race forward. I dispatch the guardsman easily and the boy helps me hide his body. The boy beckons for me to follow him into the ruins. Doing so, he leads me to an underground area filled with orphaned children. The boy explains his father was the apothecary of the town, who was ruined when he refused to play ball with the recently arrived Guild. I return to my horse determined to help these children.

I arrive at a well-to-do establishment called the Guildsman’s Respite which seems to wear its class discrimination on its sleeve. Still, I am wealthy enough to be treated well by the staff. In the bar, I get speaking to an old farmer and the barman and it seems many of the wagons that come to the town leave again with half the load they brought in - rejected goods or something more sinister? I ponder this as I tuck into an expensive dinner. My night’s sleep however is interrupted by an assassination attempt by a man-bat-badger (half man, half bat-badger!) Thankfully it’s as weak as a kitten and one good blow deals with it. No sooner is it dead though that someone tries to charge my room door down - could it be a friend come to help or someone to finish me off? Thinking it might be the friendly farmer from last night I stay put but it turns out to be a raving maniac instead (sigh). He’s a tougher opponent then my last but again I fell him with a single stroke. Sadly there’s plenty of his buddies behind him and I am soon overwhelmed. Their leader cries that “the changeling must not be allowed to live”. So am I a changeling or is this a case of mistaken identity? I won’t find out in this adventure anyway as he stabs me in the heart.

Victories so far: 1/14

Bit of a slow burner this one, not sure all the stuff with the baroness at the start added greatly to the proceedings but it was definitely picking up once I got to Famdor, even if it was a short visit.

[unknown]

Jun 5, 2018 19:49:49 GMT kieran said:

So skipping over Hand of Fate brings us to:

Why'd you skip that?

[slloyd14]

That's right - you don't need to win a combat round to use a stunt, which means you have a chance of inflicting damage even if your opponent's skill is higher. i gave the Speed of Pangara hero the weakest stunt because of the skill increase. Good luck on your next attempt!

Jun 5, 2018 19:49:49 GMT kieran said:

So skipping over Hand of Fate brings us to:

Ascent of Darkness by Stuart Lloyd

I’ve played this one before but all I really remember is that it’s set in Titan’s equivalent of Ancient Greece. And so like any Ancient Greek hero I have both a heroic power and a heroic flaw. The heroic powers essentially boost your base stats (which are rolled for in a different way that usual to ensure you have a fairly mediocre base) though each has a colourful write up. I select Speed of Pangara - the text tells me I can outrun horses and race across the sea itself. Though all it seems to do at this stage is give me a Skill of 10 rather than the 9 I rolled. My other stats are 17 Stamina and 10 Luck. The heroic flaws have a less obvious affect on gameplay - I choose Hubris as being a bit arrogant sounds better than having uncontrollable rage or a weakspot that some enemies can find to kill you instantly. Another new rule is that you can perform heroic stunts in battle - your likelihood of pulling these stunts off depends on your heroic power. Speed of Pangara makes me more adept at Flurry of Blows than the other two stunts. I also start with a shield that reduces the Attack Strength of all enemies by 1. All in all, I feel like a pretty mighty warrior and I haven't even got to the background yet!

The adventure begins at the outskirts of the Desert of Skulls, after my army has just won something of a Pyrrhic victory against the Caarth (snake-men). We fall back to the nearby town of Karnak Tor and before bed I see signs the Caarth will attack again in the morning. I go to sleep and have troubling dreams where my father floats before me and I get shot in the arm by an arrow.

Awaking two hours before dawn, I order the men to assemble and we march to where the Caarth are sleeping. Being cold-blooded, they don’t much like fighting at night so I have two choices. Attack them now when they’re sluggish or use the extra time to manoeuvre into a more advantageous position. The latter sounds more sensible. Unfortunately, since I lack the Cunning of Logaan, I don’t perhaps organise them as well as a more cunning hero might. The first two lines of Caarth go down easily but the third reaches me and I find myself in battle with a Caarth warrior. Providing I’ve understood the rules for heroic stunts correctly (ie you don’t need to win the attack round to use a stunt and you can use a stunt once per round) then I win fairly easily. My opponent (hopefully legitimately) bested, I spy a robed Caarth with a glowing staff and a group of Caarth raining down blows upon my men. Figuring the one with the staff is probably a greater threat, I leave my men to it and go for him. Luckily my Speed of Pangara stops anyone getting in my way before I fell the sorcerer with a thrust of my spear. The Caarth flee, all that is apart from one three metre tall champion who challenges me to single combat. Hmm, well ordinarily I’d tell my men to rush such an idiot but I’m guessing this being pseudo Ancient Greece, I should behave with a modicum of honour. I accept the challenge. Unfortunately, as I get close he kicks out at me (Caarth have feet?!). He kicks me to the ground but luckily it doesn’t hurt too badly. Less luckily, he has 11 Skill and can do stunts of his own (the text explaining his stunts would seem to confirm I understood the rules correctly). It’s a close battle but he kills me in the end.

Damn, I was really getting into the atmosphere of this one. Maybe a bit too much, buying into that honour crap. I’ll know better next time.

Victories so far: 0/11