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Post by a moderator on May 26, 2022 17:39:42 GMT
Another thing to take into consideration is that I posted regular updates on who'd submitted answers, so potential participants had frequent reminders about the game.
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Post by petch on May 27, 2022 22:23:15 GMT
Round 6 results
Time to see if those earlier predictions of a high scoring round prove correct!
Despite my earlier reservations, there were 11 participants who submitted entries in the end, who are:
philsadler greenspine bloodbeasthandler Gabe Fandango sylas kieran Peter vastariner adrius Wilf tyrion
Question 1: Name a Fighting Fantasy gamebook in which the opening preamble prior to reference 1 is not entitled 'Background'.
Correct answers:
Space Assassin ('Mission Briefing'): 2 (sylas, Wilf) Siege of Sardath ('A Curious Messenger'): 2 (kieran, vastariner) The Rings of Kether ('Mission Briefing'): 1 (adrius) Seas of Blood ('The Wager'): 1 (greenspine) Star Strider ('The Mission'): 1 (Gabe Fandango) Sky Lord ('Mission Background'): 1 (philsadler) Black Vein Prophecy (it doesn't have one): 1 (bloodbeasthandler) The Shamutanti Hills ('The Legend of the Crown of Kings'): 1 (tyrion) Khare - Cityport of Traps ('The Legend of the Crown of Kings'): 1 (Peter)
Incorrect answers:
None
Black Vein Prophecy is the slightly contentious answer here. I twisted myself in knots trying to work out whether it was an acceptable answer based on the way I worded the question and in the end came down on the side of leniency with the reasoning that, since it doesn't have a preamble, it therefore can't be called 'Background'. Elsewhere, as in many other questions in previous rounds, the sci-fi books and the Sorcery! series prove handy exceptions to certain series conventions. There were several other books that could have been given as answers here, including The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in which the preamble was entitled 'Rumours' - the convention of calling it 'Background' was started by The Citadel of Chaos. All in all, a reasonably low scoring start to the round!
Leaderboard after Q1:
1. philsadler, greenspine, bloodbeasthandler, Gabe Fandango, Peter, adrius, tyrion - 1 8. sylas, kieran, vastariner, Wilf - 2
Question 2: Name or otherwise identify a fellow contestant who enters Sukumvit's dungeon with you in either Deathtrap Dungeon or Trial of Champions.
Correct answers:
Throm: 4 (philsadler, greenspine, bloodbeasthandler, Gabe Fandango) Knight: 3 (sylas, vastariner, Wilf) Elven prince: 2 (adrius, tyrion) Other barbarian: 1 (Peter) Eastern warlord: 1 (kieran)
Incorrect answers:
None
Let me see that Throm. That Throm, Throm, Throm, Throm, Throm. More often than not in this competition, going for the very obvious answer in the hope that others will avoid it proves a pretty sound tactic (witness, for example, the amount of players who admitted that they toyed with and then rejected going for Howl of the Werewolf for Q1 in the previous round). Unfortunately, that did not prove to be the case here - indeed, the first four answers I received were all for Throm. The knight from Deathtrap Dungeon who gets turned to stone was also a popular answer. Of the 11 total answers here, 8 were for characters from Deathtrap Dungeon, while only 3 players opted for one of the fellow competitors from Trial of Champions.
Leaderboard after Q2:
1. Peter - 2 2. kieran, adrius, tyrion - 3 5. philsadler, greenspine, bloodbeasthandler, Gabe Fandango, sylas, vastariner, Wilf - 5
Question 3: Name a Fighting Fantasy gamebook in which you can fly.
Correct answers:
Appointment with F.E.A.R (Super Strength power): 3 (bloodbeasthandler, vastariner, adrius) Siege of Sardath (pegasus wings): 3 (greenspine, Gabe Fandango, Wilf) Legend of Zagor (Potion of Flying): 3 (philsadler, sylas, kieran) Night of the Necromancer (ghostly ability): 2 (Peter, tyrion)
Incorrect answers:
None
Hands up - I messed up a bit with this question. My intention was to try to encourage some creative answers, but I was so severe with the limitations I imposed (no levitation, no mounts, no vehicles) that I probably made that impossible - it ruled out things like the Winged Boots from Night Dragon (they only allow you to glide) or being carried by the winds in Stormslayer. I can only think of a couple of other examples beside the answers already given - Crystal of Storms is the obvious one, and there is another Potion of Flying in Tower of Destruction. Perhaps more dubiously, there's a passage in Talisman of Death ('Your spirit floats gently towards the Valley of Death') that's similar in nature to the ghostly flying ability you have in Night of the Necromancer. So, no unique answers at all here then, which means that no player is able to come away from a high scoring question with a significant advantage.
Leaderboard after Q3:
1. Peter - 4 2. tyrion - 5 3. kieran, adrius - 6 5. philsadler, greenspine, bloodbeasthandler, Gabe Fandango, sylas, vastariner, Wilf - 8
Question 4: Name an illustrator of a Fighting Fantasy gamebook published by Puffin who provided both cover art and internal illustrations for the same book.
Correct answers:
John Blanche: 2 (greenspine, Peter) Peter Andrew Jones: 2 (bloodbeasthandler, tyrion) Alan Langford: 2 (philsadler, kieran) John Sibbick: 1 (Gabe Fandango) David Gallagher: 1 (sylas) Terry Oakes: 1 (adrius) Martin McKenna: 1 (Wilf)
Incorrect answers:
Midnight Rogue: 1 (vastariner)
An unfortunate misreading of the question there from vastariner. Presumably he meant John Sibbick, who created both the cover and internal artwork for Midnight Rogue, but sadly the answer as provided was incorrect. That works in the favour of Gabe Fandango, who did answer John Sibbick, and therefore means that his answer remains a unique one. There are more possible answers to this one than you might think: 12 total artists did all of the artwork for at least one Fighting Fantasy book, while Iain McCaig, David Gallagher, Tony Hough and Martin McKenna each did it twice (albeit with McKenna's cover art for Legend of Zagor being a collaborative effort with Jim Burns), and John Blanche six times (all four Sorcery!, both Clash of the Princes).
Leaderboard after Q4:
1. Peter - 6 2. adrius, tyrion - 7 4. kieran - 8 5. Gabe Fandango, sylas, Wilf - 9 8. philsadler, greenspine, bloodbeasthandler - 10 11. vastariner - 20
Question 5: Name an opponent you can face in combat in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook that has a Skill score of 3 or lower.
Correct answers:
First Murderous Urchin (Beneath Nightmare Castle): 4 (bloodbeasthandler, Gabe Fandango, kieran, tyrion) Carnivorous Plant (Space Assassin): 1 (greenspine) Toroid (Space Assassin): 1 (Wilf) Vlodblad (Beneath Nightmare Castle): 1 (philsadler) Bat (Spellbreaker): 1 (adrius) Right Arm (Khare - Cityport of Traps): 1 (sylas) Left Leg (Khare - Cityport of Traps): 1 (Peter) First Horseman (The Seven Serpents): 1 (vastariner)
Incorrect answers:
None
This question was intended as something of a counterpoint to the question I set all the way back in round 2 where I asked for superpowered opponents with Skill scores of 13 or greater. There are significantly less opponents available as answers to this question, but everyone did a good job of finding a variety of weedy foes from across the series. Two players recalled the fight with the Living Corpse in Khare which was mentioned earlier in this thread, which provides six potential answers in one encounter. I have to admit, like four players my first thought on setting this question was the fight with the murderous urchins in Beneath Nightmare Castle, perhaps because the idea of impoverished child slaughter is so memorably grim!
Leaderboard after Q5:
1. Peter - 7 2. adrius - 8 3. sylas, Wilf - 10 5. philsadler, greenspine, tyrion - 11 8. kieran - 12 9. Gabe Fandango - 13 10. bloodbeasthandler - 14 11. vastariner - 21
Right, I'm having a half time break now but hope to get the remaining results posted later this evening. Can Peter hold on to the top spot where he has been sitting since the very first question? Or can one of the chasing pack catch up? Hopefully the answer will be revealed shortly!
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Post by petch on May 28, 2022 0:38:44 GMT
Question 6: Name a Fighting Fantasy gamebook that has a 'Notes' box in its Adventure Sheet.
Correct answers:
Master of Chaos: 2 (vastariner, adrius) Magehunter: 2 (sylas, Wilf) Curse of the Mummy: 2 (kieran, tyrion) Sword of the Samurai: 1 (greenspine) Masks of Mayhem: 1 (Peter) Phantoms of Fear: 1 (Gabe Fandango) Vault of the Vampire: 1 (bloodbeasthandler) Siege of Sardath: 1 (philsadler)
Incorrect answers:
None
Not much I can say in terms of commentary for this one - it was just a matter of scanning through the Adventure Sheets and finding one that fits the bill! Although another unique answer from Peter, and a non-unique one from his closest competitor adrius, means that Peter is able to further extend his lead here.
Leaderboard after Q6:
1. Peter - 8 2. adrius - 10 3. philsadler, greenspine, sylas, Wilf - 12 7. tyrion - 13 8. Gabe Fandango, kieran - 14 10. bloodbeasthandler - 15 11. vastariner - 23
Question 7: Identify a crew member, other than yourself, that you roll up stats for at the beginning of Starship Traveller.
Correct answers:
Security Officer: 7 (philsadler, greenspine, Gabe Fandango, sylas, Peter, vastariner, Wilf) Engineering Officer: 2 (kieran, tyrion) Science Officer: 1 (bloodbeasthandler) Medical Officer: 1 (adrius)
Incorrect answers:
None
Ouch. Well that's shaken things up! I can only imagine everyone who plumped for the Security Officer was hoping that answers for one of the three security staff would be split between the officer and the two guards...nope, no one went for either of the guards at all!
Leaderboard after Q7:
1. adrius - 11 2. Peter, tyrion - 15 4. bloodbeasthandler, kieran - 16 6. philsadler, greenspine, sylas, Wilf - 19 10. Gabe Fandango - 21 11. vastariner - 30
Question 8: Name a Fighting Fantasy gamebook in which you can ride a horse.
Correct answers:
Talisman of Death: 2 (sylas, vastariner) Daggers of Darkness: 2 (greenspine, Gabe Fandango) Revenge of the Vampire: 2 (philsadler, tyrion) Clash of the Princes - The Warrior's Way: 2 (kieran, Wilf) Fangs of Fury: 1 (adrius) Knights of Doom: 1 (bloodbeasthandler) Khare - Cityport of Traps: 1 (Peter)
Incorrect answers:
None
I'll admit I wasn't sure when I set this question how many possible answers there would be for this one...turns out there were a fair few more than I realised! The only other one besides the answers already given that I can think of off the top of my head is Battleblade Warrior.
Leaderboard after Q8:
1. adrius - 12 2. Peter - 16 3. bloodbeasthandler, tyrion - 17 5. kieran - 18 6. philsadler, greenspine, sylas, Wilf - 21 10. Gabe Fandango - 23 11. vastariner - 32
Question 9: Name an item you can take with you in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook that you can use to restore Stamina that is not ingested.
Correct answers:
Stamina spell gem (Scorpion Swamp): 2 (bloodbeasthandler, kieran) Bless spell gem (Scorpion Swamp): 1 (Wilf) Med-kit (Freeway Fighter): 1 (tyrion) Jandor's Ring (Vault of the Vampire): 1 (vastariner) The Angevin Shroud (Moonrunner): 1 (greenspine) Healing salve (Knights of Doom): 1 (sylas) Magical chainmail armour (Revenge of the Vampire): 1 (Gabe Fandango) Tiger Palm (Bloodbones): 1 (philsadler) Usai tribe's pearl (Bloodbones): 1 (adrius)
Incorrect answers:
Pass for Crystal Waterfall (The Shamutanti Hills): 1 (Peter)
Sorry Peter, but I was unable to accept the pass for the Crystal Waterfall as an answer - although it can be used to grant you access to an area to restore your Stamina, the item itself cannot restore it. Elsewhere, a number of really clever answers here - my favourites were Jandor's Ring from vastariner, who pointed out that it has the potential to grant you the Trueheal spell on a roll of 6, and the Bless spell gem from Wilf, who correctly identified that the question didn't specify that it was *your* Stamina that needed to be restored. Heading in to the last question, adrius has opened up a commanding lead...however the final question, like Q7, is a nasty one with a very narrow scope. Will we once again see a major shakeup of the leaderboard?
Leaderboard after Q9:
1. adrius - 13 2. tyrion - 18 3. bloodbeasthandler - 19 4. kieran - 20 5. philsadler, greenspine, sylas, Wilf - 22 9. Gabe Fandango - 24 10. Peter - 28 11. vastariner - 33
Question 10: Name a Fighting Fantasy gamebook that is set in whole or in part in Port Blacksand.
Correct answers:
Night Dragon: 4 (sylas, kieran, vastariner, tyrion) Deathtrap Dungeon: 2 (bloodbeasthandler, Peter) Midnight Rogue: 2 (greenspine, adrius) City of Thieves: 1 (Gabe Fandango) The Gates of Death: 1 (philsadler) Assassins of Allansia: 1 (Wilf)
Incorrect answers:
None
Best answers here were Deathtrap Dungeon from bloodbeasthandler and Peter, and Assassins of Allansia from Wilf, who recalled blink-and-you'll-miss-it references to your character passing through Blacksand in the Background sections of those books (exceptionally unlucky doubling up on Deathtrap Dungeon there!). As far as I'm aware, the only other possible answers that nobody gave for this question are Temple of Terror and The Port of Peril. In a very narrow set of potential answers, three players still managed to provide unique answers here. Adrius wasn't one of them but his lead was such that it didn't matter and he hangs on to claim the victory! Plaudits too have to go to bloodbeasthandler, who fought back from being second bottom at the halfway stage to claim the silver medal in the final reckoning.
Final scores:
1. adrius - 15 2. bloodbeasthandler - 21 3. tyrion - 22 4. philsadler, Wilf - 23 6. greenspine, kieran - 24 8. Gabe Fandango - 25 9. sylas - 26 10. Peter - 30 11. vastariner - 37
I think it's pretty clear question 7 proved to be the clincher here! Overall though, it wasn't quite the very high scoring competition predicted - the highest winning score to date remains Wilf's victory with 23 points back in round 1 (although in fairness that round had 4 more players which would have been a big contributing factor to the higher scores). Adrius' victory here though is the biggest winning margin of any round so far.
So then, congrats to adrius, thanks everyone for taking part and hope you enjoyed!
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Post by Wilf on May 28, 2022 1:49:11 GMT
Thank you for running this round.
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Post by Gabe Fandango on May 28, 2022 2:34:22 GMT
For Question 7, I PMed petch to ask if the assistant/replacement officers might qualify as valid answers because we do have to roll for their STAMINA. Alas, it was not, because one is only supposed to roll them up after you lose the originals, so it doesn't happen at the start of the book, which the question specified.
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Post by adrius on May 28, 2022 4:09:19 GMT
Final scores:1. adrius - 15 2. bloodbeasthandler - 21 3. tyrion - 22 4. philsadler, Wilf - 23 6. greenspine, kieran - 24 8. Gabe Fandango - 25 9. sylas - 26 10. Peter - 30 11. vastariner - 37 I think it's pretty clear question 7 proved to be the clincher here! Overall though, it wasn't quite the very high scoring competition predicted - the highest winning score to date remains Wilf's victory with 23 points back in round 1 (although in fairness that round had 4 more players which would have been a big contributing factor to the higher scores). Adrius' victory here though is the biggest winning margin of any round so far. So then, congrats to adrius, thanks everyone for taking part and hope you enjoyed! Wow I'm floored, didn't expect to do so well this time though it does seem that Q7 was the sneaky one (which I told Petch that it did seem like a choice of randomness) that I simply got lucky in. Assuming a more even spread where everyone got 2 points on that, most of our scores would be closer and clustered at around 16-18. Alas! Interesting that no one picked the Ninja in Q2. For Q8 my first consideration was actually Crypt of the Sorcerer, but skipped that one thinking that it could be a popular option. Similar to how I skipped Temple of Terror for Q10 (and it does seem someone did a reverse psychology and picked City of Thieves, heh!)
Thanks to everyone for the experience, and especially to Petch for hosting this round.
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Post by Peter on May 28, 2022 8:44:42 GMT
Good questions Petch. Very varied, giving no one a special advantage. I am amazed that I got so many unique answers. My policies of choosing "the other one from the same book" (Q2) and "more Sorcery answers" (most of them) nearly paid off.
I challenge question 7 though. The pass for the Crystal Waterfall is an item that has one single use: to grant you access to the restorative powers of the waterfall. The question didn't say that the item itself had to restore stamina, only that you can use it to restore stamina. That is what I use it for.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,679
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on May 28, 2022 9:47:42 GMT
Thanks for doing this round. Have to admit I found it much harder to try and be 'creative' this time than the previous rounds and had to research more instead of just going by memory.
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Post by petch on May 28, 2022 10:26:35 GMT
I challenge question 7 though. The pass for the Crystal Waterfall is an item that has one single use: to grant you access to the restorative powers of the waterfall. The question didn't say that the item itself had to restore stamina, only that you can use it to restore stamina. That is what I use it for. I get what you mean. My reasoning for being a bit mean and rejecting it was that it's a 'gate' item rather than an item which restores your Stamina itself and if you took that argument to its extreme conclusion you could argue something like 'if you don't take the wooden stake to kill the Snow Witch in Caverns you won't be able to have access to the Potion of Health later on in the book, therefore the wooden stake allows you to restore Stamina'. But you are right in that the pass's one specific purpose was to allow you access to an area with restorative powers, so maybe that's just me being overly pedantic. Had I been kinder you would have finished in second place with 19 points.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,462
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on May 28, 2022 11:33:12 GMT
Thanks Petch and well done Adrius.
I must admit there was zero tactical thought going on for my answers for Q5 and Q9 - they were the only answers I could find!
For Q3, I did consider Black Vein Prophecy where you can fly through the air after being launched via catapult. I wasn't sure if that would count as a vehicle so played it safe and went for Legend of Zagor's Potion of Flying over Tower of Destruction's - which turned out to be the wrong choice.
And for Q10 I changed my mind from Temple of Terror to Night Dragon which it turned out was also a mistake.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on May 28, 2022 13:30:24 GMT
thanks, as always, for taking the time to think up questions and run the quiz. I must admit I laughed a bit when I saw how many people had put Throm and Murderous Urchin for those answers, and I thought I was done for. But not as much as I laughed when I saw how many people put Security Officer for Q7. So hard to predict what others will put!
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Post by Gabe Fandango on May 28, 2022 13:55:09 GMT
For the questions with narrow scopes, I pretty much went with what I considered to be obvious answers for all of them. Only 1 of them actually paid off (Question 10).
For the horse question, I almost went with Dead of Night, where the PC actually starts with a horse, and I'm surprised no one picked that (and even petch didn't seem to remember this book when he did his summing up!).
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Post by a moderator on May 28, 2022 14:06:58 GMT
If passing through Blacksand in the Background to Deathtrap Dungeon counts for Q10, riding your horse homewards until ambushed and murdered in Night of the Necromancer's intro should count for Q8.
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Post by nathanh on May 28, 2022 14:10:03 GMT
Don't you also potentially get to ride a ghostly horse in NotN, or am I making that up?
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Post by Gabe Fandango on May 28, 2022 14:16:29 GMT
Don't you also potentially get to ride a ghostly horse in NotN, or am I making that up? Yes, you remember right. The horse question certainly wasn't one of the limited scope questions. Although you may have to scour the texts more carefully for some of the answers.
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Post by a moderator on May 28, 2022 14:17:54 GMT
That reminds me that in Spellbreaker you can make the mistake of accepting a lift on the Wraith Rider's undead horse.
Depending on how narrowly petch is defining 'horse', being taken to the peak of Firetop Mountain by the Pegasus in Caverns of the Snow Witch may also qualify.
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Post by CharlesX on May 28, 2022 15:29:27 GMT
Q8 IIRC you're riding a horse for much of Crypt Of The Sorceror.
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Post by a moderator on May 28, 2022 16:14:27 GMT
Q8 IIRC you're riding a horse for much of Crypt Of The Sorceror. Adrius already mentioned that one.
Does being transported on the back of a mercenary's horse in The Crimson Tide count as riding?
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Post by CharlesX on May 28, 2022 16:40:22 GMT
Q8 IIRC you're riding a horse for much of Crypt Of The Sorceror. Adrius already mentioned that one.
Does being transported on the back of a mercenary's horse in The Crimson Tide count as riding? Moving on * cough * the question only asks for an FF in which you can ride a horse, it doesn't specify how many references and it certainly doesn't specify you have to be the one controlling the horse, so on that basis I'd have thought it fine.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,462
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on May 28, 2022 16:48:49 GMT
That reminds me that in Spellbreaker you can make the mistake of accepting a lift on the Wraith Rider's undead horse. Depending on how narrowly petch is defining 'horse', being taken to the peak of Firetop Mountain by the Pegasus in Caverns of the Snow Witch may also qualify. I actually considered that one but thought I wouldn't risk it.
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Post by tyrion on May 28, 2022 17:42:26 GMT
Thanks for another interesting and exciting round. I did briefly consider setting some questions, but I don't think my depth of ff knowledge is up to it!
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Post by petch on May 28, 2022 17:44:32 GMT
Some interesting ideas being raised here which would have led to some further tough adjudications I would have had to make - am glad I didn't have to!
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Post by Peter on May 29, 2022 8:48:03 GMT
And the seahorse you ride in Demons of the Deep. I almost picked that one.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,679
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on May 29, 2022 9:37:27 GMT
And the seahorse you ride in Demons of the Deep. I almost picked that one. I thought about that one too but didn't think a seahorse would be acceptable.
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Post by vastariner on May 29, 2022 20:27:30 GMT
And the seahorse you ride in Demons of the Deep. I almost picked that one. I thought about that one too but didn't think a seahorse would be acceptable. Probably not, as it's a fish.
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Post by philsadler on May 29, 2022 22:18:44 GMT
Did you know that a seahorse is the slowest of all fish? So riding one, even a horse-sized one, would be slower than a sloth with a limp.
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Post by CharlesX on May 29, 2022 23:14:17 GMT
I bet there's some really obscure FF where you can spend a single paragraph on a rocking-horse. Or just one of those with a picture of one, maybe from a circus like Legend Of The Shadow Warriors, meaning in theory you could, doubling up on the ridiculousness. Technically, a horse is a horse, even if it's a fish or an inanimate piece of wood at the same time, in the same way a queen bee is a queen. We can't accept those arguments, though, because this isn't Pinocchio.
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Post by tyrion on May 30, 2022 9:27:06 GMT
Technically, a horse is a horse, even if it's a fish or an inanimate piece of wood at the same time, in the same way a queen bee is a queen. That's not how taxonomy works.
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Post by Wilf on Jun 4, 2022 21:58:44 GMT
Anyone mind if I take up the reins for the next round? I think it's only fair I find out first hand what it's like to be on the other side of the game for once!
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Post by a moderator on Jun 4, 2022 22:15:44 GMT
Not at all. I was wondering if I should post another set of questions, but if you want to, feel free.
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