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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:34:53 GMT
From TUFFF... Last week it was my Birthday. I turned 22. Of course, for my birthday I asked for some old-school fighting fantasy books which were around before my time. I asked for Slaves of the Abyss, Spectral Stalkers, Howl of Werewolf, Moonrunner, Legend of the Shadow Warriors, Night Dragon and Dead of Night, and most of them have now arrived in the mail. Now I have just completed the first of these, Dead of Night. Dead of Night is excellent. I was immediately impressed by the full colour map on the inside cover. The introduction section was very intruiging, because it describes the badass sounding "Talents" which you can choose to begin your adventure with. The EVIL stat at first had me a little aprehensive, as I didn't want to be forced to gain EVIL points to complete the adventure. (I like to be a very noble hero ) I also liked the brilliant little "Words of Warning" section where the authors emphasise the the evil and deceptive nature of demons. All of this had me very excited for the adventure to follow. In general the encounters are full of flavour and imagination. My favourite would have to be the infilltration of an organic demonic structure which is poisoning the land (I liked how when you kill off one of the demonic servants, the others just stand there shocked, because they must await telepathic orders from their master). Another awesome encounter involves defending a group of villagers from a horde of winged demons while trapped inside a house. This thrilling sequence is accompanied by a brilliant piece of artwork by Martin Mckenna which would probably rate as my favourite piece of ff interior artwork I've seen thus far. There are some pretty violent and horrific events that can happen during your adventure. One particular encounter, involving giant tentacles attacking a barge on a river, left me stunned. One of the best things about Dead of Night is that you can just sit back, relax and enjoy the adventure without having to worry about mapping out every single room of a dungeon, like you do with almost every other book I own. This is due to its simple village-to-village structure, which complents the inside cover map perfectly. You'll remember what happened in each town, so there is no need to constantly be taking notes for future adventures. In addition to this, the book is very fair in terms of dice rolling and battles. This is incredibly refreshing, and I can honestly say that the adventure is well worth attempting even with absolute minimum stats. And, to my delight, one of the safest paths involves gaining no EVIL points whatsoever. However, the book is certainly not perfect. One of your most important possessions is a silver cross, which turns out to be very useful because it has the power to repel demons. We know that in the real world the cross is the symbol of Christianity, one of the most well recognised symbols in the world. It is derived directly from the cross that Jesus hung on when he died for humanity. Why, then, when you come across a giant silver cross in the book, are you only given the option to give thanks to "gods" and not "God"? You can argue that this is completely different universe to ours, one in which only multiple "gods" exist. But then why use the cross in the first place? That is something related specifically to Christianity. As a Catholic, I found it at best offputting and at worst a little disrespectful. Other flaws relate to the book's structure. I found myself having to extend some of the options in my head by adding "You may only go to this village if you haven't been there before". It's also possible to encounter a group of people who should be dead from a previous encounter with them. Also sadly, the SKILL vs Attack Strength issue is as confused as ever in this book. I think its safe to assume that Potion of Heroism, the bonus for defending a narrow doorway, and a special weapon obtained near the end of the adventure involve bonuses to attack strength rather than SKILL. Overall however, as a gamebook, Dead of Night succeeds where it counts. It's well balanced, fun to play, and full of imagination and great ideas.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:35:26 GMT
From TUFFF... I'm glad you found it exciting, it's certainly a favourite of mine to read. I'll be interested to see your views on my all time fave FF... Night Dragon! ~ Vae Victis! ~
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:37:24 GMT
From TUFFF... One of your most important possessions is a silver cross, which turns out to be very useful because it has the power to repel demons. We know that in the real world the cross is the symbol of Christianity, one of the most well recognised symbols in the world. It is derived directly from the cross that Jesus hung on when he died for humanity. Why, then, when you come across a giant silver cross in the book, are you only given the option to give thanks to "gods" and not "God"?
You can argue that this is completely different universe to ours, one in which only multiple "gods" exist. But then why use the cross in the first place? That is something related specifically to Christianity. As a Catholic, I found it at best offputting and at worst a little disrespectful. The cross was a religious symbol long before it was adopted by Christianity. It makes sense to me that a simple shape like a cross would be used as a symbol on Titan and on Earth:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross#Pre-Christian_cross-like_symbolsI can never get into Dead of Night - there's something about it that I just don't like but I can never really put my finger on what it is exactly.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:38:29 GMT
From TUFFF... The cross was a religious symbol long before it was adopted by Christianity. It makes sense to me that a simple shape like a cross would be used as a symbol on Titan and on Earth: Well thanks for enlightening me.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:38:53 GMT
From TUFFF... It would be easier to make than an up-pointing rune.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:40:44 GMT
From TUFFF... Upon checking the rules and that first grisly illustration by Maestro McKenna, I was filled with the feeling that DoN would be good, perhaps even excellent, or something special. Did it turn out to be so? Read on... So, first thing first: another new book. Cover illo is not my favourite, though certainly not bad by any means. It's somewhat eye-catching, but not as impressive as the inside illos... of which there are plenty that are superb, powerful pieces of art that catches the right atmosphere dead-on. McKenna here continues his good work from Vault of the Vampire and seems clearly inspired (even though he went and put Darkness in there, it's still appropriate). As for the main book, gameplay and storywise, did I like it? For the main part, yes. Of course, it helps a lot if a gamebook is set in my favourite genre: horror. Here, it's not full-on traditional horror à la House of Hell or even Vault. Classical horror would have you play the victim struggling to survive against many horrors (it's debatable how much of a victim you are in Vault or Beneath Nightmare Castle...), but in DoN it is clearly not so: you are a Demon-Stalker, with years of success in the business and special talents that normal humans wouldn't have. You are not inferior to the demons that blight the lands - au contraire - you are quite their equal in many respect. But nonetheless, DoN is still clearly an adventure/horror hybrid, with a population completely terrorized by demons of all kind and other putrid things that go bump in the night. The atmosphere is chilling, the town looks dangerous and the landscape is threatening, and rightfully so, and I had a blast going through it. Was it perfect? Certainly not, there's no such thing. For one, I thought the ending was a bit anti-climactic. Meeting Myurr, while fun in design, was not as grand as I thought it would be. There was no real surprise, just kind of a videogame ending where you meet the boss at the end of the dungeon. But I guess that, perhaps, by that point Stephan Hand and Jim Bambra had already spent most of their imaginations on the other interesting encounters in the story. All in all, DoN was quite a pleasant book to go through. (I could go into more nitpicking on how my character could have easily, being placed stategically, protected a door and a window in the Skeletons Attacked My Farm scenario, but that would be just that, nitpicking) Speak in extremes, it will save you time.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:42:15 GMT
From TUFFF... I posted this at the official forum and thought I should post it here as well. I'm having a problem. If you own this book can you check something for me? I was playing this book last night and came to an error. When I was told to turn to 25 I found that I couldn't, for references 24 to 27 are missing. A page with an illustration seperates 23 from 28, so it's NOT a missing page. It's not a missing page, I double-checked this. 23 sits on the back of the page with the illustration. I'm just curious if any one else owns this book if they could look in their book and confirm this error? Thank you. The more beautiful and pure FF is – the more satisfying it is to corrupt it.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:42:41 GMT
From TUFFF... If I can remember, I'll check tonight once I'm back at home. Speak in extremes, it will save you time.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:43:25 GMT
From TUFFF... I have two versions of DoN and both of them have references 24-27 with 24 and 25 being on the back of the page with references 22 & 23, and references 26 & 27 being on the front of the page with the illustration of the necromancer, so you must have been unfortunate and gotten a book with a severe misprint.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:44:02 GMT
From TUFFF... Damn it! The more beautiful and pure FF is – the more satisfying it is to corrupt it.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:45:09 GMT
From TUFFF... Mine is intact as well. Yours seems to be a freak dud or something. Hey, maybe it's worth something in the collector's circle? I doubt it, though. Speak in extremes, it will save you time.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:45:36 GMT
From TUFFF... Ah well, I only paid 2 dollars for it at a used bookstore. I can live without it I guess. lol The more beautiful and pure FF is – the more satisfying it is to corrupt it.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:46:04 GMT
From TUFFF... Thanks. The more beautiful and pure FF is – the more satisfying it is to corrupt it.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:48:38 GMT
From TUFFF... I scored this at a second hand bookstore for next to nothing. I was never a fan of the front cover either, I did not feel it was up to the coolness of a title like: Dead of Night. This book is oozing (sometimes literally) with atmosphere though. This is really what I call dark fantasy. Interior illustrations are...good...some are better than others but the ones that are good really shine. Tenebrae Studios, always looking for new clients
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:49:19 GMT
From TUFFF... Just finished this book today, as said by everyone else, great atmosphere! It really draws you in, although I think I missed quite a bit on this read through, still enjoyed it and would definitely read it again to explore a bit more. I think I must have fluked the one true path because I seem to have missed some cool battles! I think that the later books have a lot going for them, certainly not 'going through the motions'.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:50:56 GMT
From TUFFF... Well I had to bring this thread up, since DoN is my all time favorite FF (and gamebook altogether), the atmosphere is unique as it has already been mentioned, so dark and damp it almost chills your spine, although the last part where the orcs appear is a tad average compared to the rest of the book, but still it's a great read. Kudos to Stephen Hand for creating such a marvel that brims such gloomy atmosphere, a must-read by all means.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:52:04 GMT
From TUFFF... Just picked up a copy today and read it through. I am not a big fan of horror-fantasy, however this was very well written and the gameplay was very fairly balanced. I thought the writers made good use of the special skills as well. It took me 3 goes to complete. On the first go I was defeated by the Demonic Factory in Axbridge. On my second go I was killed by the Great Demon in the forest (the guy shown on the cover). So it was third time lucky. Rather than play safe and follow the same road I picked a different route each time, so in the end I managed to visit every single village at least once. My FF reviews: z3.invisionfree.com/Orc__Goblin_Warpath/index.php?showtopic=29374
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:53:12 GMT
From TUFFF... I've just read this book for the first time. My thoughts: Cover - meh
Illustrations - good but not great. I'm not someone who thinks illustrations are hugely important anyway.
Plot - Good and fairly original variation on the save the world/avenge the family motif
Difficulty - a bit easy, not disastrously so though
Writing - probably the book's strongest point - good and atmospheric I liked that there was no real dungeon crawl, except a small maze towards the end. A lot of the book follows the map at the front quite closely - many of the other books could have adopted that approach with advantage. Overall, I enjoyed it, and will be playing it again. I've seen several reviews that put it as the author's favourite FF - I didn't think it was that good. I'm interested to see whether other routes can be used to solve it, or whether I just happened to hit the correct one after a couple of goes. It could have done with a couple of puzzles to increase the difficulty level, but it was still a fun read.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:55:11 GMT
From TUFFF... I'm interested to see whether other routes can be used to solve it, or whether I just happened to hit the correct one after a couple of goes. It could have done with a couple of puzzles to increase the difficulty level, but it was still a fun read. Yes this book has a lot of 'replay value' thanks to several alternative routes, I've read it many times after completing it for this reason. There aren't many occasions where you have to worry about missing essential quest-winning items because you turned left instead of right. If you haven't already, try the Colton-on-the-Marsh route: it features an absorbing side-quest. There's a geometry puzzle in the Netherworld Sorcerer's prison, though admittedly not a difficult or interesting one!
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 13, 2013 19:55:56 GMT
From TUFFF... Agreed. Plenty of replay value. Challenge - don't pick Holy Circle as a Talent. Two Words
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Post by Modern Moriarty on Jan 9, 2014 4:11:30 GMT
Hello hello.
I'm a big fan of Stephen Hand's books, and I loved all 3 of them. (I'm going to mention Hand a lot in this post, but of course he co-wrote Dead of Night with Jim Bambra. Seeing as how information on who wrote what is non-existant, and Bambra wrote nothing further, I will concentrate on Hand, but assume that any time I credit Hand with something specific to Dead of Night, I am tacitly lncluding Bambra in that - writers should have their contributions ignored).
Anyway, back to business.
One of the nice things about Hand's 3 books is the way they are set in The Old World, which was one of the lesser used locations of Fighting Fantasy. Allansia is the locations most people think of when they think Fighting Fantasy, and it was well fleshed out as the sort of 'Wild West' of Titan, and the most obvious place for a sellsword to ply their trade. We know that any gamebook is going to be rife with roaming bands of troublemakers, but it was nice to see a land which was actually more used to humans fighting other humans, than always being beset by monsters. It is also suggested in Titan: The Fighting Fantasy Handbook that The Old World has relatively low numbers of spellcasters, and such things are extremely exotic and rare. The demonic invasion in this book is written in such a way as to convey that the people are completely unprepared and overwhelmed by such events - its very much not the norm in this neck of the Fighting Fantasy woods, for communities to come under such monstrous attack.
Its the tone and the excellently written and sustained atmosphere that really draws me to Hand's books. Hand commented that he wrote books that showed the kind of world he would like to live in - darkly magical, often terrifying but really cool at the same time. Clearly a massive fan of Hammer Horror and H P Lovecraft, I would argue also that whilst these books are amongst the darkest of the series, they are also mindful that to lovers of horror and the darkly fantastic, this kind of stuff is fun and exciting. So it makes sense that his books often focus on the dilemma facing the hero - that he has to dive in and immerse himself in the insanity, but should be careful about how deep he goes.
Hand's heroes are not always resolutely good people, but they strive to be. There is some darkness within them, because of the perilous lives they lead, exposing themselves to powerful emotions of hatred, vengeance, loneliness and insanity. its implied that you can't spend time around this kind of stuff without risking a loss of perspective. You can become convinced that you are exempt from society's rules, that your quest trumps what others say etc, or you can start to see yourself as a great hero who can solve every problem etc etc. The EVIL score is the means by which this is explored in Dead of Night. By this score, you can see how your various concessions to less noble acts are affecting your overall morality.
It is however a bit awkward, because its a system that really brings home that you are playing a character with a set morality - i.e you are not playing yourself. Unlike other gamebooks where your character is often purposefully vague in personality and beliefs (you're a merc looking for fame and fortune etc), this books fleshes 'you' out quite a bit more. You are not someone who is just in it for the money - you are a religious man, a good man who is dedicated to fighting evil on principle. There are things your character does and does not find to be acceptable behaviour. And this can chafe a little, because whilst there are certain actions that everyone would agree are evil, there are some which are more open to personal interpretation IMO, but which the book punishes you for with EVIL points. I confess that I am not as merciful in outlook as Hand's hero is. For example, using dark magics and artifacts etc gains you EVIL points, and I have no issue with that, because these things are corrupting influences, however useful they may be. He strikes a good balance here between such things being powerful but dangerous. But acts like killing the treacherous landlord of the Inn are more of a grey area, and it can feel frustrating to be punished for doing something that you feel was morally acceptable (basically, if you are of a mind that an Eye for an Eye is acceptable and that sometimes justice demands such acts).
Its a delicate balance - do you go with what you yourself believe to be right, or do you try always to roleplay the character, and think about what he would consider to be acceptable practice? A not uninteresting idea, but for those who want to be themselves in these books, it can lead to frustration when the values of another are enforced on you (presumably those of Hand himself, making the point that just because he loves horror, doesn't mean he approves of wicked behavior - his other books also display that at times).
But anyway, the atmosphere is excellent. The land is literally roiling and writhing with the impact of the demonic invasion. The southerly areas are mostly intact, but are starting to feel the influence of the encroaching horror. A demon here, a vampire there, cloying mists, hallucinations and haunting etc. Even when the demons attack outright as In Weddonbridge, it is still mostly a standard, physical attack as opposed to anything particularly outlandish or bizarre. But as you travel north, things get more and more out there and alien. Eventually, you're seeing organic factories, towers with living eyes, pocket dimensions, teleportation, giant demons heaving themselves out of the earth to swat you etc etc. But throughout it all, you are meeting NPCs who need your help, and witnessing small acts of bravery and heroism from common folk, to remind you that there are regular folks trying to survive through all this mayhem.
Unfortunately, the book is let down at times however. Most obviously is the brevity of the closing stages. Its debateable exactly when this starts to kick in (arguably from when you arrive in Dunningham, but certainly after you tip the scales, the whole things starts to hurtle at warp speed towards the sadly rushed and anti-climatic ending). The earlier sections are so wonderfully fleshed out and detailed, from the settlements with their own stories and mini quests to the 'on the road' sections, filled with great little encounters (Sammatz or the ghoul in the carriage etc) that are so much more interesting than 'You're attacked by some Goblins' standards. But it does mean that by the end, Hand is running out of references to finish the journey to the Big Bad's tower, create a final dungeon, tie up the loose strands of your story and have the big showdown. So predictably, the ending really suffers, with a very dull final dungeon, some very hurried resolution of outstanding plot threads and a pretty dire final encounter with his higb snakeiness.
It can be argued that the book has loads of great ideas, which it maintains a reasonably solid batting average at executing. Most of the encounters leading up to Dunningham are some degree of Good to Great. Maybe more could have been made of Magrand the Nectomancer for example, or maybe the siege at Weddonbridge could have been extended and fleshed out a bit like they do with the battle at Tom Hickson's farmstead (which itself could be have been fleshed out more), but its nit picking really. There's only so many references in a FF book, and Hand is trying to cram a lot of great images and ideas in. Even the ones that I'm not quite so sold on (the organic factory seems a little too much, just a bit too far fetched and heavy handedly 'industrialism and modern life is soulless and shit!') have some great moments (as the aforementioned factory ends with the 'Seven Words of Akkharra Excorcism' which is a really cool bit of the book). Basically, not all of the books works, but most of it does and lots of it *really* does.
The mechanics and the difficulty of the book are a curiosity. Its generally quite an easy book (I played it recently, and succeeded despite only rolling skill 7, and forgetting most of the book so I was still flying pretty blind). But its nice to not always be getting punished like in a Ian Livingston or Johnathan Green book ('Didn't roll Skill 12 eh? THEN DIE!!!!) Neither do you have to go one specific way to get all the magical bits and bobs you *must* have. I do feel that you are not always adequately compensated for your troubles though (many encounters are really fun and cool, but net you very little - in any - reward, and don't even reduce your EVIL or anything. You just gain EVIL if you refuse...) Coupled with the relative lack of stamina restoring options (provisions are in short supply, and because the land is so ravaged, rest and food is hard to come by), you can find yourself slowly whittled down by encounters.
The special skills options are nice, although I feel you are given too many (3 choices from a list of only about 8 or so). Also, several skills practically scream 'I am one of the useful skills - pick me!!!' Holy Circle, Heal and Speak Demon just have this aura about them that suggests you'd be a fool to pass them up. Meanwhile Sense Demon really doesn't seem that useful from its description (nor is it), and Dark Veil isn't worth the risk IMO, given that EVIL tests (though rare) often results in auto death if you fail them.
In closing, Dead of Night is a very strong Fighting Fantasy book. a different sort of hero, a different sort of atmosphere that defies expectations twice (by being a more civilized, non magical and settled land than we are used to - but which is then under supernatural assault and is if anything even wilder than we are used to seeing), and a superbly dark, mature but enjoyable adventure that mixes 'Horror is supposed to be scary' with 'Horror is really cool and fun to experience compared to the banality of real life'. Its hard for me to say how much I like this compared to Hand's 2 solo books. Hand himself said in an interview you can find on the Wiki, that in his solo books, he felt free to be wilder, more joyously insane, camp and macabre (I'm paraphrasing but that is the gist of what he says). Dead of Night is more serious, more overtly menacing and has less of the camp theatrics that are so enjoyable in his other books. That's not to say his other books aren't dark - far from it. But they are perhaps more relaxed, with slightly more laid back and less rigid heroes, and a more user friendly atmosphere - more variety than just horror, awe inspiring uplifting moment, horror, tragedy, sad but life affirming moment, more horror etc etc all the time like this book is.
I don't want it to seem like I prefer one or the other approach really. I really like the serious, menacing style of this book, but I also love the horror antics of the later books. So I'll just finish by saying to all the people who haven't played them, you should do yourself a favor and play all 3 of Hand's books, because they're all really great!
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Post by deadshadowrunner on Jan 9, 2014 6:07:53 GMT
Welcome,Modern Moriarty.Why don't you sign up as a member?
Also,I love Stephen Hand's books too.Why do you think my username is deadshadowrunner?
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Post by moderndaymoriarty on Jan 9, 2014 13:54:43 GMT
Well, I took the plunge and I am indeed signed and approved! I feel so alive and happy to be here! A new forum member, a man bursting with possibility and promise. A man with Skill... 7?!
Gah! Someone hand me that Analand spellbook - I think I'm going to need it...
But yeah, nice to see some love for Stephen Hand. I remember him being quite divisive back in the day. I always loved his books, but some didn't think it was proper 'Questing and Looting' fare, not *Real* Fighting Fantasy... Nonsense, I say - all 3 books are classics, and its a crying shame he never wrote that 4th one. Hand is definitely one of my favorite FF writers - right up there with Steve Jackson (UK) at his best IMO.
He just seemed to strike that sweet spot more often than most of the other writers. He seemed like he really was having fun writing the books, and that bleeds over to the reader IMO. Its really not hard at all to imagine him writing the books whilst dressed up as a Shadow Warrior, racing about his house, acting out the fights and chases!
Its great stuff. Its fun, its tragic, its scary and its exciting. More more can you ask?
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Post by a moderator on May 24, 2014 12:41:09 GMT
My TUFFF playthrough:
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Post by oakdweller on Mar 22, 2015 16:38:10 GMT
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
I’m afraid that I don’t really take to Stephen Hand’s first adventure quite as well as other readers seem to. It’s enjoyable enough, but nowhere near as accomplished as his other two books are. The concept for the player character’s background, as a demon-hunting Templar knight, has a fresh feeling to it. Another plus point in this area is the way that your family situation forms an important part of the narrative, with the death of your brother being given as your motivation for becoming a Demon-Stalker and the quest itself being that of rescuing your parents. I can’t recall the player’s family even being mentioned in earlier books (perhaps Appointment with F.E.A.R.?), so this adds some much-needed depth.
The book gives you plenty of freedom to explore the villages of Gallantaria, with all roads leading to victory. Whilst I prefer this to the restrictive ‘one true path’ approach, it seems to make little difference to the outcome where you choose to venture forth. (The only real bonus that could be found was a magical sword that could be useful against Myurr, but as there is more efficient way of killing him there is little point in seeking it out anyway).
The villages are all tainted by Myurr’s minions. This means that most of your tasks on your visits involve rescuing the locals from their evil visitors. Some, like the attack on Weddonbridge’s hall, are quite common-place horror set pieces. The siege of the farmhouse at Stanford is nothing special in storytelling terms, but the task that the book gives you of posting people at different entry points was really fun. My favourite village by far though was Axmoor – the writers seemed to have spent more time and effort in creating their sinister fleshy tower than they have for any of the other encounters. I was really engaged by the nauseatingly bizarre descriptions that were presented: oozing sinew, quivering roots, vein-like growths and bone-bracketed tubes all help to make this organic nightmare memorable. Martin McKenna’s illustrations for this have a suitably H.R. Giger feel to them, which adds to the atmosphere superbly.
A really serious error in the navigation of the villages really affected the book’s quality. There is a (presumably unintentional) perpetual loop that can send you to and from Stanford and Axmoor. This is so unbelievably clumsy that in my play-through I was convinced that I must have turned to a wrong reference at some point. I spent some time back-tracking before checking the book’s entry on Titannica to discover the ‘bug’.
Upon entering the watchtower at Dunningham for the final leg of the adventure the storytelling starts to thin out. You’re transported to a dream-like dimension which is sketched in with a few detailed references here and there, such as the encounter with the feasting Netherworld Sorcerer, but most of it is written in a very rushed manner. Passing through the geometric doors is a reasonably entertaining puzzle, but nothing interesting happens, just notifications that correct choices have been made. Even reaching the final door is something of an anti-climax. There’s also a small network of rooms that form a sort of maze, which are all apparently bare and only distinguishable by being painted in different colours. By this stage I was actually starting to get a little bored by the book’s descent into overly-economic and flat prose.
As others have pointed out, the final confrontation with Myurr is all too brief and perfunctory. It doesn’t help that the illustration of the conflict (398) is so cramped – in McKenna's effort to shoe-horn Myurr, the Netherworld Sorcerers and your parents into the same frame, it gave me the impression that the showdown was taking place in a boxroom. So, overall Dead of Night is an average adventure that could’ve been so much better if only more love and attention was given to the writing of the later stages.
Aside from the boxroom that I mentioned, Martin McKenna has drawn up some more terrific pictures for us here. My favourites include the grim gibbet with Crowford in the background (1), the fleshy tower (130) and the Moon Demon attack (212), which seems so alive with movement.
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vagsancho
Knight
Posts: 809
Favourite Gamebook Series: CRYPT OF THE SORCERER
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Post by vagsancho on Jul 23, 2015 15:06:31 GMT
Fantastic FF book. Great Atmosphere. Strong Atmosphere. I feel it.
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Post by Charles X. on Jul 16, 2021 19:51:20 GMT
I like gamebooks with a strong atmosphere and this gamebook really has that - it recreates a world from the 1700s. The writing, gameplay and artwork are all brilliant.
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Post by vastariner on Sept 15, 2022 18:26:19 GMT
OK, having done this one in the frenzy, it reminded me of how good a book it was; got through to the end and I definitely want to go back to it because I know I missed a load out, basically the entire right of the map. It suffers slightly from the episodic nature of most gamebooks, because there are not enough different episodes; two sieges? And a very obvious Tolkien Baleful Eye.
But loads to enjoy. Checking back around some of the Roads Not Taken, some of them were indeed traps, some obvious, others not so much. Also there was one of the skills which seems to have been overpowered because I used it a load, whereas the only other one that seemed to crop up a lot - Dark Veil - was presumably something that knocked the EVIL score up (I was never in danger from that stat).
The annoying thing was the colour maze towards the end. Seemed only to be there to eat up references. There was only one pitfall so once you avoided that it was just a dreary wander. It didn't even add to the tension of being at the sharp end of the book because there was no sense of needing to rush to the finish.
But a terrific Easter egg was...well, pay attention to the intro...
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IoannesKantakouzenos
Traveller
Being slowly eaten alive by a Ghoul
Posts: 105
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy (Aventuras Fantásticas)
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Post by IoannesKantakouzenos on Apr 5, 2023 16:28:42 GMT
So, after Portal of Evil, this one was the next to arrive. Time once again to cough up my gang of would-be heroes and see which one has the best Dean Winchester routine...
Alexios Vatatzes (10-19-8): decides to Meditate at the wrongest possible time: during a Moon Demons siege. Much facepalm here.
Belisarius Comnenus (9-20-11): kills Magrand, then gets killed by Magrand-Abomination.
Constantius Palaiologos (7-17-8): deceased at the "hands" of a flying skull. Think I need to change dice.
Diocletianos Laskaris (11-18-9): reads some red letters, then pulls out a Julian Glover in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Euthymius Angelos (11-21-11): falls prey of the Armour trap and is dispatched by a cleverly concealed Rain of Knives spell (where have I heard that one before?).
Georgios Kantakouzenos (8-24-10): again, killed by Magrand-Abomination. Sigh.
Himerius Doukas (10-22-9): up do this day, poor ol' Himerius is still trying to find an exit out of the Prison of the Netherworld Sorcerer.
Isaac Botaneiates (12-19-10): finally, a skilful Demon-Stalker! Passes by the flying skull, kills Magrand-Abomination even before he is awakened, goes by the Baleful Eye, gets in the tower, faces Myurr, decides to start destroying items at random, manages to find the right one and banishes the Demon Prince!
This is a fun book. Fine, I enjoy those horror-themed books, with vampires and graves and coffins, and we get a lot of that here (also, courtesy of Martin McKenna's excellent illustrations). Love how there is not a "true path" through the villages, so you get to explore a lot. I think it may be one of those books you can succeed at the first try (if you don't go and meditate during a battle, that is...). I chose "Speak Demon", "Sense Demon" and "Banish Undead" as my Talents and mostly kept them thorough my playthroughs, choosing "Meditation" whenever I destroyed the flying skull. The highest my Evil score ever got was 1 (and that because I Spoke Demon to prevent Magrand from being turned into an Abomination), despite that I think it's a neat idea (and what made me not choose "Dark Veil", I admit). The final battle with Myurr was a little confusing, I must admit. The book almost makes you try to destroy him by object destruction (and if you didn't find a clue earlier on, it's all on sheer luck), since fighting a Sk14 opponent with two attacks per round is a challenge, even with the Sword of Demon-Slaying adding 4 Skill points regardless of Initial score. The ending feels a bit... meh, with the "temporary victory" thing, along the lines of Phantoms of Fear's "it will take Ishtra some time, in mortal years, to lick his wounds". But, truth be told, the baddies in Titan never really stay dead for long, do they? All in all, despite what I mentioned, I liked the book and seems to have a lot of replayability possibilities.
Still about the illustrations: am I the only one who looks at the illustration in (240) and finds the base of the stone cross a lot like the pedestal where the Eye of Basilisk rests in Midnight Rogue?
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Post by CharlesX on Apr 5, 2023 16:47:23 GMT
Dead of Night is a fun, relatively forgiving book (aside from that ridiculous death you mention above where you can unknowingly read Demon letters and die with absolutely no warning), you might enjoy more the first few playthroughs, exploring, unlike some of the more linear gamebooks of Livingstone, Green (sorry Jonathan, I didn't like your Spellbreaker), and Waterfield. I wish there were more FF like Dead of Night, Stealer of Souls, Space Assassin, Portal Of Evil, Night Dragon and Master Of Chaos (except for that weird torch thing).
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