|
|
Post by bloodbeasthandler on Feb 11, 2021 21:00:41 GMT
Agree, disagree, amplify, discuss.. as you see fit,, (and in no particular order)...
1. Inclusion of other stats beyond SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK, but especially TIME [whether poison, or time measured by OXYGEN or falling walls]
2. Fond of mazes
3. Illustrations integrated into the playing of the book itself - black and white cubes, stickmen, map of the underground, and others.
4. Inclusion of riddles, games, secrets codes and secret languages.
5. Names and settings influenced by Near and Middle East culture, especially Turkic. [Fighting Fantazine does an excellent job of pointing out the origins of many the names]
6. Many instant deaths, a lot of them as a result of random chance or a simple failed LUCK roll.
7. Non linear, to the point that the books are ... unmappable? As a result his books gave a high replay value
.
8. Compression of what would be numerous paragraphs in other gamebooks into one or two, for example from FF35 para 14 ... and in 189 and 204 the story moves along very quickly.
9. Use of methods other than simple rolls against single stats like SKILL or LUCK to determine success. Eg roll a dice for yourself and a dice to see where the stalactite falls, if they are the same, you are hit... or using dice to determine how much STAMINA is needed to make a jump etc. One strike combat.
10. Cameos by the author either as, for example, Alkis Fearslicer, or his name as an anagram.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Count on Feb 11, 2021 23:25:27 GMT
11. Highly underrated by all except that mysterious member who rated Chasms of Malice 10/10
|
|
kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,453
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
|
Post by kieran on Feb 11, 2021 23:46:26 GMT
12. Astragal the wizard making an appearance (except in Star Strider for obvious reasons)
13. Modest heroes - assistant rabbit skinners and footsloggers
14. Introducing new monsters with no explanation as to what they look like
|
|
|
|
Post by Wilf on Feb 12, 2021 10:41:34 GMT
His books are all very intricately mapped out - there's enormous variety of movement in each book, meaning it's unlikely you'll ever get exactly the same story twice. It also means it's harder to find essential items/clues/locations even if you've already discovered them because there are so many twists and turns in the structure that it's difficult to map them and near-impossible to remember them. And, against all odds, I've yet to find a continuity error in a Luke Sharp book. Whatever their faults, their structure is astonishingly good.
(This is also true of Andrew Chapman's books, too - Rings Of Kether is particularly intricately constructed.)
However, this is balanced by some very brief encounters, which mean none of his characters ever really get a chance to stick in the memory. He may be excellent at constructing the logical flow of the books, but he's not a top-flight writer. Astragal is a poor man's Yaztromo, displaying no individuality or personality - his most recognisable feature is that he always seems to have an owl on his shoulder, and we know that from the illustrations, not the text.
There's also a lot of randomness in the decision making. There's never a sense that you're in control of your destiny in his books - arbitrary decisions lead to events that subvert them and sometimes deposit you far from where you intended to go. Daggers Of Darkness is particularly notable in this regard. You're not so much an adventurer in his books, as a helpless pawn of a reckless god.
|
|
kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,453
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
|
Post by kieran on Feb 12, 2021 13:22:59 GMT
helpless pawn of a reckless god. Good name for a metal album. |
|
|
|
Post by The Count on Feb 21, 2021 3:05:11 GMT
7. Non linear, to the point that the books are ... unmappable? As a result his books gave a high replay value As they are all in environments where you aren't forced down corridors set at right angles, this is a great feature of his fantasy books. Obviously Star Strider has the tube section which has a corresponding real life "map" which itself would actually be unmappable if it wasn't represented by an abstract diagram. Even the google maps representation is incorrect in places as the curve of the track makes no sense without knowing why it is so. |
|
|
|
Post by tyrion on Feb 26, 2021 20:14:06 GMT
11. Highly underrated by all except that mysterious member who rated Chasms of Malice 10/10 No. Underrated means that the general consensus is that they aren't every good, whereas actually they are. Like Tunnel of love by Bruce Springsteen. But Luke Sharp's books are just poor. I've tried, I really have, but even when cheating (so as to avoid the roll two dice, if you get the same number you die scenarios) I didn't enjoy them. Even the best artists in the ff world can't rescue his books from the non-sensical and turgid prose. I So I read city of thieves instead. I'd forgotten how much fun it was. |
|
|
|
Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Mar 1, 2021 2:44:01 GMT
As a kid, “Daggers of Darkness” was one of my go-to titles.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Count on Mar 11, 2021 2:04:22 GMT
I've read in several places that English is not his first language which is why some parts of his books lack in the fully detailed descriptions you might expect. Though the fully fleshed out stories didn't become a standard until the late 30s / early 40s so he may have just been keeping them in the same style as the majority of the series
|
|
|
|
Post by a moderator on Mar 11, 2021 9:39:02 GMT
If the scant description wasn't a deliberate stylistic choice, it's a pity he didn't get some editorial assistance to help work things out in more detail. I get that while Chasms was under development, Gascoigne was busy working on the railroad, but for Daggers and Fangs he could have fleshed out the details. Then again, he might just have turned all opponents' Skill scores to 12 to add to the challenge, so perhaps we're better off with what we got. |
|
|
|
Post by bloodbeasthandler on Mar 11, 2021 20:18:24 GMT
If the scant description wasn't a deliberate stylistic choice, it's a pity he didn't get some editorial assistance to help work things out in more detail. I get that while Chasms was under development, Gascoigne was busy working on the railroad, but for Daggers and Fangs he could have fleshed out the details. I wouldn't know, but it must be an awkward conversation to have - broaching the subject of a writer's style. But indeed Marc would [or should] have been the one to do it. With FF35 and FF39 we can only assume that they were content with the style of writing or hadn't really checked. It is a pity because casting an eye over the traits mentioned already here, I ought to like the books a lot more than I do. Then again, he might just have turned all opponents' Skill scores to 12 to add to the challenge, so perhaps we're better off with what we got. Gascoigne is NEVER going to live that one down is he? Ha! |
|
|
|
Post by sleepyscholar on Mar 12, 2021 7:03:48 GMT
Gascoigne is NEVER going to live that one down is he? Ha! I strongly suspect he doesn't give a toss! |
|
|
|
Post by Charles X. on Jul 26, 2021 22:03:22 GMT
His works read much more like a game than a book, in contrast to other FF writers such as Robin Waterfield who write with not only atmosphere but a little humour and subtext. I thought Fangs Of Fury and Daggers Of Darkness were OK (nothing special), but Star Strider was below-average and Chasms Of Malice really bad. His thing is old-school FF of the kind Ian Livingstone specialises in.
|
|
