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Post by nathanh on Apr 4, 2022 19:54:01 GMT
I won Master of Chaos for the first time. Sk 9 St 21 Lu 9
Kills: TENTACLE (won), SHAGROT, FOOTPAD, NECROMANCER, GLADIATOR, PIRATE CAPTAIN, 2 SKELETONS, MUTANT SCORPION, CHAOS MUTANT, ZOALINTH, SHANZIKUUL, DARK ELF
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Post by a moderator on Apr 7, 2022 19:11:22 GMT
I also won at Master of Chaos.Fights won Tentacle Gladiator Footpad Necromancer (fled at 1 Stamina) Pirate Captain 2 Skeletons Necromancer Mutant Scorpion Evil Priest Chaos Mutant Snake Swarm Zoalinth Shanzikuul Dark Elf
Lucky for nathanh that I'm no longer in the game: even disregarding the first fight against the Necromancer, I just overtook him as regards fights won.
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Post by vastariner on Apr 8, 2022 11:31:34 GMT
Starship Traveller. Which I have not played for maybe 35 years (oog).
Ship: WS 9, Shields 18
Chap/chapess | Sk | St | Kirk | 9 | 19 | Spock | 8 | 18 | McCoy | 12 | 16 | Chekov | 8 | 21 | Scotty | 11 | 18 | Redshirt 1
| 9 | 19 | Redshirt 2
| 8 | 18 |
(luck 12)
Evidently recruitment was getting tough towards the end.
Okely-dokely, let's black hole dive...
Ports of call: Asteroid belt Planet with psychedelic water Culematter Cliba Grey poison gas planet Jolsen-3 "Vulcan" Spaceport for repair Public Enemy magnetic planet Terryal-6
Space loot: Dilibrium Culematter helmet Malinite
Fights: "Alien ship" (8/7) Manslayer robot
Crew losses: Six randoms to gas
Info: Culematter helmets are fairly crucial to them Transmitter can jam Culemattrians Sector 159 for returning black hole Try Planet Malini Sector 083 for black hole (gah) Stardate 21
Result: Make it through to the black hole, decide to trust the kids rather than those who pushed us into gladiatorial combat, and...wiiiiiiin!!!
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Post by a moderator on Apr 8, 2022 13:19:57 GMT
Starship Traveller. Which I have not played for maybe 35 years (oog).
Ship: WS 9, Shields 18 Chap/chapess | Sk | St | Kirk | 9 | 19 | Spock | 8 | 18 | McCoy | 12 | 16 | Chekov | 8 | 21 | Scotty | 11 | 18 | Redshirt 1
| 9 | 19 | Redshirt 2
| 8 | 18 |
Which crew were involved in the fight against the Manslayer Robot? Which crew members made Skill rolls? Planet-based victory points: Asteroid belt - not a planet Planet with psychedelic water - 2 Culematter - 2 Cliba - 2 Grey poison gas planet - you didn't set foot on it, only sent out the recon plane Jolsen-3 - not eligible (provided part of solution) "Vulcan" - Malini? 2 Spaceport for repair - not a planet Public Enemy magnetic planet - 2 Terryal-6 - not eligible (provided part of solution)
Total: 10
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Post by vastariner on Apr 8, 2022 13:26:21 GMT
Which crew were involved in the fight against the Manslayer Robot? Which crew members made Skill rolls? Thought I had typed in Malini as I was going. Vulcan was the black volcanic planet. Went to both of those.
Manslayer robot crew were the redshirts.
Skill rolls: all the medic (3), other than one for the science officer.
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Post by a moderator on Apr 8, 2022 14:12:20 GMT
Which crew were involved in the fight against the Manslayer Robot? Which crew members made Skill rolls? Thought I had typed in Malini as I was going. Vulcan was the black volcanic planet. Went to both of those. Right. I thought maybe you were calling Malini "Vulcan" because that was where you fought the robot, and the Star Trek episode that introduced the well-known 'fight' music was set on Vulcan. Add a planet, but as you'd already scored the maximum possible on that front, no extra points. So, for scoring: Ship WS 9 Shields 18 (2 rolls, total 9) Kirk Sk 9 St 19 (3 rolls, total 10) Spock Sk 8 (rolled 2) McCoy Sk 12 (rolled 6) Redshirt 1 Sk 9 St 19 (3 rolls, total 10)
Redshirt 2 Sk 8 St 18 (3 rolls, total 8)
13 rolls for a total of 45 - average rounds down to 3, so that's 4 points.
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Post by vastariner on Apr 8, 2022 14:17:08 GMT
Is that right? Am not au fait with Star Trek. I was using the name for the hypothesized planet twixe Mercury and the Sun given it was bloody hot...
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Post by a moderator on Apr 8, 2022 15:11:55 GMT
The name makes sense now I know the planet you meant, but since the Malinite indicated that you must have been to Malini, and the planet wasn't on the list, I drew the wrong inference.
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Post by a moderator on Apr 8, 2022 23:02:25 GMT
24-hour warning for kieran, peasantscribbler and thealmightymudworm.
Week 15
This century - Queen of Shades (Fighting Fantazine 7) Last century - Tower of Destruction
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,467
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Apr 8, 2022 23:40:06 GMT
Had a go at Master of Chaos Sk9 St15 Lu7 - Animal Wisdom, Blindsight, Tracking Things were going OK and I was all set for the trip to Kabesh but decided just before I set off that I would go rescue Naas from being kidnapped so as to gather some more gold for the trip. Unfortunately, I forgot you needed the Climb Skill if you end up killing the kidnapper and was arrested by the city militia.
Kills Footpad Kidnapper
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Post by terrysalt on Apr 9, 2022 4:46:22 GMT
I figured the odds were against me in the Tower so I gave the Queen of Sunglasses a try.
skill 7 stamina 23 luck 12 Gold 8
This was a bad idea. I got in one fight with a Serpentine who Razaak'd me immediately.
Inventory: small knife, quarterstaff, 7 koorda fruit, mirror of Ilitka, 34 gold Info: Add 99 to approach snake girl Guide: Champskees
In fairness, those stats would have gotten me killed almost immediately in Tower and here I at least made it to the final boss. But a pretty dismal showing all the same.
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Post by peasantscribbler on Apr 9, 2022 15:12:56 GMT
I liked the potential bonuses offered for planet exploration in Starship Traveller, so I decided to give it a shot. I came away with a victory, but I still barely touched the dice. I probably wouldn't have won without using the guide to get through the maze on Jolsen-3. I engaged shields to get through a meteor storm, and my science officer passed a skill test on Cliba.
Initial Stats: * Shields 15 * Science Officer Skill 9
Planets Explored: * 86: dull blue planet * 258: large red planet (Prax) * 136: green planet * 34: blue-green planet (Cliba) * 2: blue planet (Jolsen-3)--black hole in Sector 159 * 89: yellow planet * 118: greeny-grey planet (Teryall-6)--Stardate 21
Fights Won: (0)
Guide used only for maze on Jolsen-3.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Apr 9, 2022 18:36:12 GMT
Attempted The Shamutanti Hills – confession: the first time I have ever played a Sorcery book.
Did you enjoy it? Sorry, slow to reply... yes I liked it a lot. The concept is brilliant. I gave the spell book a modest browse – enough for me to feel I'd remember more spells than not – and then found myself straining to remember what spells did, whether an object was needed for them or whether they existed at all. It did give me a sense of being a wizard trying to recall his spells in a way that other magic use in FF and other gamebooks has not. I will certainly be trying again.
I have to acknowledge the flaw in the system though, which I'm sure has been done to death: the only way the book can prevent the spellcaster being wildly overpowered is simply to refuse to offer the spells at times when they would be useful. For example, I noticed the spell SIX and thought it would come in handy. But of course it didn't because in my whole playthrough the only time I was offered it as an option was in the presence of Jann the Minimite.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,467
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Apr 9, 2022 20:27:06 GMT
I have to acknowledge the flaw in the system though, which I'm sure has been done to death: the only way the book can prevent the spellcaster being wildly overpowered is simply to refuse to offer the spells at times when they would be useful Yes, SIX and BIG seem crazy powerful from the descriptions yet I can't remember either being all that useful.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Apr 9, 2022 22:32:46 GMT
Tried Master of Chaos SKILL 7 STAMINA 21 LUCK 12 You can probably guess the result given those stats. I might have done better if I could assign rolls. Picked skills: Acute Hearing, Animal Wisdom, Move Silently Not much to this... eerily similar to the last time I gave this a playthrough for a monthly challenge: Started with SKILL 7 so doomed, played the good slave on board ship until I could steal a boat, couldn't remember where you find Jesper so instead I got into a reckless battle with the SKILL 9 Gladiator. This was a success though whether it was worth the LUCK points I burnt is less clear. At least this time I managed to buy sword and armour before trying to take on the footpad as I had a vague memory of being comical stabbing practice last time, but the outcome was the same. I have fond memories of Master of Chaos from when I first played as a child in the 90s, but I'm pretty sure I never played with anything less than SKILL 10 at the time. Being aware of how heavily dependent this book is on that first single die roll detracts from it a bit.
Kills: tentacle, gladiator
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Post by a moderator on Apr 10, 2022 15:46:28 GMT
Week 14 scoring 1st: nathanh - 17 (stats bonus 2 + most fights won bonus 5 + victory bonus 10) 2nd= vastariner - 14 (stats bonus 4 + victory bonus 10) 2nd= peasantscribbler – 14 (stats bonus 4 + victory bonus 10) 4th: kieran – 5 (stats bonus 5) 5th: terrysalt – 4 (stats bonus 4) 6th: thealmightymudworm - 2 (stats bonus 2)
Running totals 1st: terrysalt - 125 2nd: vastariner – 99 3rd: nathanh – 96 4th: The Count - 85 5th: peasantscribbler - 68 6th: kieran - 66 7th: thealmightymudworm - 59 8th: schlendrian - 52
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Post by nathanh on Apr 11, 2022 18:13:29 GMT
Played Tower of Destruction, reached Elokinan with just 4 HONOUR and was surprised that this was bad. Then I realised I start with 6 HONOUR not 0! So, I managed to win (although the GREAT GOLEM managed to knock me to 3 STAMINA!). Not sure whether I should count smashing the Ice Mite as a "combat" won. I have counted Zeverin even though I killed him via crossbow + wand. This is an exhausting quest but much more fun that I remembered. I think having notes for 90% of the Ice Palace made it more interesting than my previous attempts where I was just mapping the place out. Sk 12 St 15 Lu 12.
Opponents defeated: SMOKE DEMON, 2 ICE GHOSTS, FIRE DEMON, SMOKE WRAITH, BARBARIAN ZOMBIE, ICE GHOST, MAN-ORC, POLAR BEAR, 2 DARK ELVES, DARK ELF, ICE MITE (hit it), STONE JAGUAR, DARK ELF LEADER (he surrendered), DARK ELF SPELLCASTER, ICE GOLEM, SPECTRE, CLOAK HAUNT, ELF GHOST, ELF GHOST, DEMONIC SERVANT, 4 NIGHTGAUNTS, GREAT GOLEM, ZEVERIN (by crossbow and wand), RELEM
I also kept a log of how many times the word "ice" appeared (not derivatives such as icy, icicle). Any guesses at the number?
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,467
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Apr 12, 2022 7:32:25 GMT
I also kept a log of how many times the word "ice" appeared (not derivatives such as icy, icicle). Any guesses at the number? I'm gonna guess around 100 but wouldn't be surprised if it was much more!
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Post by vastariner on Apr 13, 2022 15:52:20 GMT
Queen of Shades; intriguing, well-written opening, and a slight expansion of history as to long-lost civilizations around Lumlé.
Sk: 10
St: 18
Lu: 9
Gold: 7
And literally on the first choice I am faced with a close-to-unwinnable fight, so rely on Libra right away.
Carnage: First Dog Man Second Dog Man
Bric a brac: Bracelet of bone 2 beeswax candles Coil of rope
Info freako: Deduct 101 to get a beeswax candle for The Ritual Add 99 if I want to approach the cyclopette with the mirror Deduct 99 to smash the mirror
All to no avail - pretty soon the Shield Maidens come during the night and there's nothing I can do to wound them.
Shame, I was quite into it, it read like a novel.
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Post by a moderator on Apr 13, 2022 23:49:49 GMT
Now that we know there are two new FF books due out in September, how do people feel about extending this challenge by a week and adding Shadow of the Giants and Secrets of Salamonis to the list once they're available and a quorate number of participants have obtained copies?
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Post by terrysalt on Apr 14, 2022 3:16:45 GMT
I'm fine with the idea. Would you need to find 2 additional last century books to match them up with?
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Post by a moderator on Apr 14, 2022 14:59:41 GMT
All I need do is put The Keep of the Lich-Lord back on the 'last century' list. While the Fabled Lands reissue did technically qualify it for 'this century', including a gamebook with a different system and no random element for character creation was always going to be a bit of a headache.
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Post by peasantscribbler on Apr 14, 2022 18:46:31 GMT
I made my first ever attempt at Queen of Shades. Rather enjoyable, but, alas, no victory. I was killed by Shield Maidens in my second encounter with them (instant death). I imagine that this is how most first attempts at this adventure end. I assume that calling on Libra to defeat the Shield Maidens in my first encounter doesn't count as a fight won.
Initial Stats: Skill=10, Stamina=22, Luck=8, Gold=6
Fights Won (4) First Dog Man Second Dog Man Soldier Mant Solider Mant (a different one)
Items Acquired 6 gold pieces Bracelet of finger bones Koorda fruit Beeswax candle Leather water bottle
Information learned: The business about the beeswax candle to ward off the Shield Maidens. Looks like I acquired half of what I needed.
Didn't use a guide.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Apr 14, 2022 19:04:00 GMT
Yes, SIX and BIG seem crazy powerful from the descriptions yet I can't remember either being all that useful. I have a vague memory of BIG doubling [that's right - doubling] your SKILL score at some point for a fight. I forget where though. Probably against a goblin or something.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,467
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Apr 14, 2022 21:00:02 GMT
Yes, SIX and BIG seem crazy powerful from the descriptions yet I can't remember either being all that useful. I have a vague memory of BIG doubling [that's right - doubling] your SKILL score at some point for a fight. I forget where though. Probably against a goblin or something. You can use it against the monsters that can attack you if you sleep rough in Book 1. Mildly useful if you have a low Skill. But a spell that powerful should really be useful against some tougher enemies.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,467
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Apr 14, 2022 23:09:18 GMT
I had a go at Tower of Destruction. The atmosphere and world-building are great in this one - just a pity it becomes such a slog! Sk10 St16 Lu12
I was down to 1 Stamina a couple of times but a mixture of luck and LUCK saw me enter the titular tower. There my luck ran out unfortunately and I was killed by a pair of Nightgaunts. I think I was doomed anyway, having missed the Ice Keys and my Skill plummeting down to 8 due to the unwanted attentions of the undead.
Kills: Smoke Demon Ice Ghost x2 Smoke Wraith Barbarian Zombie Ice Ghost Man-Orc Polar Bear Dark Elf x2 Dark Elf Spellcaster Dark Elf Elf-Ghost Spectre Ice Mite Ice Golem Stone Jaguar Dark Elf Leader Demonic Servant
I didn't use a guide BUT I did remember the answer to the clock puzzle. Which must have been from a previous cheating because I can't work that thing out for the life of me.
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Post by nathanh on Apr 15, 2022 21:29:35 GMT
I guess I should add a caveat to my playthrough that, although I worked out the reference number for the clock puzzle, I have no idea what the actual arrangement of hands should be (if it even is solvable).
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Post by a moderator on Apr 15, 2022 23:18:30 GMT
24-hour reminder for schlendrian, thealmightymudworm and (if he comes back now the temporary ban has expired) The Count.
Despite a Skill of 10 I didn't make it past the fight against the Man-Orc in Tower.
Week 16 This century - The Resurrection of the Dead (Fantazine 1) Last century - Darkmoon's Curse (Adventures of Goldhawk 1) As there's no randomised character generation in the Goldhawk books, players of Curse can have a bonus point (to a maximum of 5) for every item they acquire but never need to use. If you get the pouch that can be gained at one point, it and its contents constitute a single item.
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Post by terrysalt on Apr 16, 2022 4:31:22 GMT
Close but no cigar. I got Dar'noth down to 4 (not bad since I entered the fight with 3 stamina) but my luck couldn't last and he killed me. Though given the name of the adventure, I should come back from the grave, right? skill: 11 stamina: 22 luck: 10 items: 15 gold, scrap of paper, rune-covered sword, amulet of protection, chalk, rope, note (well), blood-red gem, small notebook, note (Vannix), warhammer, holy water info: Ask Lefty for directions, Vannix at 6 Gutfish Lane, Thieves' Guild 138, +30 at Narron's grave, +50 to Vannix's note, +60 to follow tracks, Vannix's note 119 kills: thug, ghoul, zombie, living corpse, 3 possessed goats, decayer, 2 flesh golems guide: Champskees
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Post by a moderator on Apr 16, 2022 22:46:10 GMT
Like peasantscribbler, I failed to survive the second encounter with the spectral Shieldmaidens. I had the candle, but not the know-how.
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