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Post by terrysalt on Apr 28, 2022 6:23:45 GMT
People can change their answers right up to the deadline. So now your comment might influence someone else's answers!
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Post by Peter on Apr 28, 2022 7:42:12 GMT
Most books don't meet the requirement for Q10. There are a few obvious ones, and you will need to provide a convincing argument if you pick a controversial one. I don't want to get too specific here, but if the reference has the phrase "you have failed", it is not a success. There has to be some positive aspect to the ending. Message me if you have a specific query.
Remember, you only need to give the title of the book, so you don't need to categorise every ending into good or bad, just provide two good ones.
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Post by petch on Apr 28, 2022 13:50:54 GMT
Some of these comments are influencing my answers. Just sayin'. I got my answers in early. At the time I felt fairly happy I had given at least a handful of relatively obscure, semi-clever ones. After reading the subsequent comments, I am significantly less confident. I still can't be arsed to change my answers, though. Partly because I am obstinate, and partly because I can't be done with second guessing myself all the way up until the deadline.
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sylas
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Post by sylas on Apr 28, 2022 19:12:01 GMT
Q10 could end up with some questionable answers. If Vagsancho were playing, he'd probably consider becoming a mindless servant of Razaak a successful ending.
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Post by philsadler on Apr 28, 2022 19:21:24 GMT
I must be honest when I say that I miss Vagsancho. I wonder what on earth happened to him?
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CharlesX
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Post by CharlesX on Apr 28, 2022 19:23:29 GMT
Q10 could end up with some questionable answers. If Vagsancho were playing, he'd probably consider becoming a mindless servant of Razaak a successful ending. But.. It was my lifelong dream to be a mining slave..
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CharlesX
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Post by CharlesX on Apr 28, 2022 19:30:08 GMT
I must be honest when I say that I miss Vagsancho. I wonder what on earth happened to him? Well, maybe he got tired of constantly being ripped on for liking Livingstone? Or maybe he found other interests. Or maybe he migrated to FF Facebook page or something. There are a LOT of worse books, gamebooks or otherwise, than Crypt of the Sorceror.
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Post by philsadler on Apr 28, 2022 21:03:09 GMT
Does he know how many genders there are?
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Post by Gabe Fandango on Apr 29, 2022 0:38:36 GMT
Most books don't meet the requirement for Q10. There are a few obvious ones, and you will need to provide a convincing argument if you pick a controversial one. I don't want to get too specific here, but if the reference has the phrase "you have failed", it is not a success. There has to be some positive aspect to the ending. Message me if you have a specific query. Remember, you only need to give the title of the book, so you don't need to categorise every ending into good or bad, just provide two good ones. When this round is over, would it be possible for you to cover which books you'd have found acceptable for this question? Personally, I think there are a lot of books where one can claim partial victory, especially given the few examples that you'd found acceptable in our PM exchange.
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Post by Peter on Apr 30, 2022 9:41:32 GMT
I seem to have been tangling myself up trying to explain Q10. Go back to the words in bold - if you are answering this you are correct. In most books there is only one successful ending. In some there are several successful ones, though some maybe better than others. In other books, there is one "best" ending (achieving what is in the blurb) and other "alternative" successes, where you have some sort of win.
Remember, you are free to change your answers any time before the deadline.
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Post by Gabe Fandango on Apr 30, 2022 16:10:00 GMT
The reason there was so much discussion over that is precisely because the bolded question is way too open-ended to me.
I've accepted that you probably have a different definition than me. Not asking you to change it. I genuinely want to know what would have qualified as right answer under your rules, out of curiosity. If you don't want to provide the list after the game, that's fine too, but it can't hurt to ask.
As far as the game go, I'll just be going what I know is a safe choice.
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CharlesX
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Post by CharlesX on Apr 30, 2022 17:06:22 GMT
I personally have to agree with Peter, an ending where you turn into a slave or demon, with the words "your adventure is over", seems to me to be an unsuccessful one, as does one where you die, don't stop the bad guys and so on. There are some totally amazing endings where you are zapped across the universe or become an unstoppable chaos servant or win the day but fail your countrymen - they are definitely bad endings.
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Post by Gabe Fandango on May 1, 2022 1:36:00 GMT
I personally have to agree with Peter, an ending where you turn into a slave or demon, with the words "your adventure is over", seems to me to be an unsuccessful one, as does one where you die, don't stop the bad guys and so on. That was originally my view too...and if we really abide by that strictly, like I said before, there can be no more than 3-4 valid answers our of the 70+ books, which makes it almost impossible to have unique answers out of more than 10 players. And what I learnt from Peter in PMs showed that he does not completely agree with you on that. Personally, I think this is a subject worth its own discussion thread. Which is maybe what I should do after this round of game instead further derailing this game thread. So I'll stop for now. I do still want to hear from Peter (and certainly other players too) what are the books they would have found acceptable for this question.
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Post by Peter on May 1, 2022 3:38:59 GMT
10 entries so far. Deadline is the end of Tuesday (people in the western Aleutian Islands are at an advantage).
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Post by Wilf on May 1, 2022 10:45:12 GMT
I think the fun of these contests sometimes is justifying your risky answers and making a case for them *as part of your response* as you may well have an argument which could change the question-setter's mind. Discussing the finer points on the thread in advance of the deadline, however, removes all debate and influences everyone else's answers. If everyone suddenly changes their risky answers to safer ones as a result of a clarification, there's a greater chance they'll pick the same safer answers as you!
I have no problem with a question that only has a small number of correct answers, either. The game is to pick the rarest of them, not necessarily a unique one!
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kieran
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Post by kieran on May 1, 2022 12:21:30 GMT
The game is to pick the rarest of them, not necessarily a unique one! My bad for not remembering these games are meant to be called Rare Entries.
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Post by Gabe Fandango on May 1, 2022 15:05:24 GMT
Discussing the finer points on the thread in advance of the deadline, however, removes all debate and influences everyone else's answers. Understood, which is why I specifically requested for more elaboration after the round is over, not before. It's not even about who's correct or wrong and who scores the points for me at this point. I got the information I wanted through the PMs. I just think this really is an interesting topic worth discussion and review how different people are interpreting this.
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Post by nathanh on May 2, 2022 9:29:39 GMT
Sounds like this round could spawn some interesting polls on whether certain endings are successful or not!
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Post by thealmightymudworm on May 2, 2022 13:56:14 GMT
I should have spent more time basking in the glory of last round's win as considering my answers I really don't think it's going to recur this time... I seem to have been tangling myself up trying to explain Q10. Go back to the words in bold - if you are answering this you are correct. In most books there is only one successful ending. In some there are several successful ones, though some maybe better than others. In other books, there is one "best" ending (achieving what is in the blurb) and other "alternative" successes, where you have some sort of win. Remember, you are free to change your answers any time before the deadline. I'm looking forward to seeing your response when Paul Mason messages you to claim that ending up as a mining slave is pretty awesome.
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sylas
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Post by sylas on May 2, 2022 15:19:43 GMT
I should have spent more time basking in the glory of last round's win as considering my answers I really don't think it's going to recur this time... I seem to have been tangling myself up trying to explain Q10. Go back to the words in bold - if you are answering this you are correct. In most books there is only one successful ending. In some there are several successful ones, though some maybe better than others. In other books, there is one "best" ending (achieving what is in the blurb) and other "alternative" successes, where you have some sort of win. Remember, you are free to change your answers any time before the deadline. I'm looking forward to seeing your response when Paul Mason messages you to claim that ending up as a mining slave is pretty awesome. If I've learnt anything from the results of Round 3 is that even the cleverest, most obscure answers have a chance of clashing with someone else who though the same, while the obvious answers may just get away with it.
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Post by petch on May 2, 2022 17:12:34 GMT
I should have spent more time basking in the glory of last round's win as considering my answers I really don't think it's going to recur this time... I'm looking forward to seeing your response when Paul Mason messages you to claim that ending up as a mining slave is pretty awesome. If I've learnt anything from the results of Round 3 is that even the cleverest, most obscure answers have a chance of clashing with someone else who though the same, while the obvious answers may just get away with it. I purposefully went for all of the most obvious answers I could think of for round 1 and finished second top. I spent ages trying to find clever answers for round 3 and finished second bottom. There's probably a very Homer Simpson-esque moral to that story somewhere.
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Post by Peter on May 4, 2022 9:10:23 GMT
May 3 has been and gone, May the 4th be with you now. There were no entries from anyone in the western Aleutian Islands, so I have already started adding up the scores.
Results soon.
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Post by Peter on May 4, 2022 11:15:13 GMT
Answers to Quiz 4
This was hard. I felt the pressure to be fair, both to those who gave innovative answers and those who played it safe. I felt pressure also to keep up with the bookkeeping, there was quite a bit of work.
I did not differentiate answers depending on degree of detail. The questions all asked for the name of a book. This wasn't the original intention, but when I noticed that most of them asked for a book, I made them all follow the trend.
There were 13 entries: Philsadler, Petch, Terrysalt, Greenspine, Charles X, Bloodbeasthandler, Gabe Fandango, Vastariner, Kieran, Sylas, Wilf, Tyrion, Thealmightymudworm. Let's get started.
Question 1. Most of the titles in the series see YOU starting the adventure with some equipment to help you handle the many dangers you may encounter. The details of this equipment list vary from book to book, often including weapons, potions, and maybe some sort of energy replenishment component. Name one book in which you do not start the adventure with a sword. (For clarity, this means a book in which a sword is not listed in the rules as part of your starting equipment.)
Initially I was not going to accept the Sorcery books, where you carry over equipment from the previous book, which may not include a sword. But then I realised that it would be within the definition of the question to include them, and it would be a very clever answer. No one chose these.
The sci-fi ones are the obvious ones (except Rebel Planet has a laser sword).
Crypt of the Sorcerer makes no mention of a sword in the rules, but in the Background you "whirl around, reaching for your sword". No one tried this though, so I didn't have to adjudicate on it.
Correct answers
Star Strider: 3 – Petch, Greenspine, Vastariner
Appointment with F.E.A.R.: 2 – Terrysalt, Bloodbeasthandler
Blood of the Zombies: 2 – Philsadler, Sylas
Starship Traveller: 1 – Charles X
The Rings of Kether: 1 – Wilf
Creature of Havoc: 1 – Tyrion
Master of Chaos: 1 – Thealmightymudworm
Island of the Undead: 1 – Gabe Fandango
Legend of Zagor: 1 – Kieran
Kieran correctly pointed out that only Braxus starts with a sword. If you play as Anvar or Stubble you have an axe instead, and if you choose Sallazar you get a stick to hit things with. Master of Chaos ("you have … no weapon") and Island of the Undead ("you do not possess … a sword") spell out their suitability for this question, but only one person chose each of these – perhaps they were too obvious, perhaps they were actually quite obscure rules.
Leaderboard after Q1
1. Charles X, Gabe Fandango, Kieran, Wilf, Tyrion, Thealmightymudworm – 1 point
7. Terrysalt, Bloodbeasthandler, Philsadler, Sylas – 2 points
11. Petch, Greenspine, Vastariner – 3 points
Question 2. Some authors have only been called upon once to write in the Fighting Fantasy series, while others have contributed multiple titles. Considering the repeat writers, name the second Fighting Fantasy book by an author (by chronological publication date).
Thankfully, nobody got this one wrong. People are getting more thorough with their research.
Correct answers
The Rings of Kether (Andrew Chapman, after Space Assassin): 3 – Terrysalt, Kieran, Wilf
The Forest of Doom (Ian Livingstone, after The Warlock of Firetop Mountain): 2 – Bloodbeasthandler, Gabe Fandango
Masks of Mayhem (Robin Waterfield, after Rebel Planet): 2 – Greenspine, Tyrion
The Citadel of Chaos (Steve Jackson, after The Warlock of Firetop Mountain): 1 – Petch
Sword of the Samurai (Mark Smith, after Talisman of Death (both with Jamie Thompson)): 1 – Thealmightymudworm
Legend of the Shadow Warriors (Stephen Hand's first solo book, after Dead of Night with Jim Bambra): 1 – Charles X
Portal of Evil (Peter Darvill-Evans, after Beneath Nightmare Castle): 1 – Sylas
Vault of the Vampire (Keith Martin, after Stealer of Souls): 1 – Vastariner
Knights of Doom (Jonathan Green, after Spellbreaker): 1 – Philsadler
Quite a spread for this one. Steve Jackson USA, Luke Sharp, Paul Mason and Steve Williams were the authors not selected by anyone.
Incidentally, Sword of the Samurai would have counted as the same answer regardless of the author given, as the question asked for a book title.
Leaderboard after Q2
1. Charles X, Thealmightymudworm – 2 points
3. Philsadler, Gabe Fandango, Sylas, Tyrion – 3 points
7. Petch, Bloodbeasthandler, Vastariner, Kieran, Wilf – 4 points
12. Terrysalt, Greenspine – 5 points
Question 3. A catchy title is a good way to grab people's attention and boost sales. Some common tactics include rhyming, repeating letters, and using superlatives. Fighting Fantasy has often used one particular approach, so there are plenty of options for this question, which is to name a book with an alliterative title. (To define alliteration, I will accept titles such as "Land of Legends", "Wild Witch's Water" or "The Prince of the Prairie", but not titles like "The Book of Best Breakfast Foods" or "Mythmakers").
I felt that I had to specfiy that I would not accept the Stormslayer type of alliteration. It was pointed out to me that Phantoms of Fear is, according to the dictionary definition, an alliteration, so I could have allowed it as a clever answer if I hadn't specifically disallowed it.
Correct answers
Sword of the Samurai: 2 – Charles X, Wilf
Spectral Stalkers: 2 – Greenspine, Kieran
Siege of Sardath: 2 – Philsadler, Sylas
Vault of the Vampire: 2 – Bloodbeasthandler, Vastariner
Deathtrap Dungeon: 1 – Gabe Fandango
Freeway Fighter: 1 – Terrysalt
Masks of Mayhem: 1 – Petch
Star Strider: 1 – Thealmightymudworm
Stealer of Souls: 1 - Tyrion
So the later titles were more popular (no Citadel of Chaos, Scorpion Swamp or House of Hell). Hmm.
I notice that nobody asked the obvious question (perhaps because it was too obvious): Was "The Book of Best Breakfast Foods" released in serial format?
Leaderboard after Q3
1. Thealmightymudworm – 3 points
2. Charles X, Gabe Fandango, Tyrion – 4 points
5. Philsadler, Petch, Sylas – 5 points
8. Terrysalt, Greenspine, Bloodbeasthandler, Vastariner, Kieran, Wilf – 6 points
The whole field separated by 3 points. Tense!
Question 4. The procedure for rolling your character stats is well-known to Fighting Fantasy readers. But through the series there have been variations to the basic standard. Some books have extra stats to roll, some have even changed the way stats are determined. Name one book in which one or more of the three main attributes are not determined in the usual way. (To dispel arguments, "the usual way" means SKILL 1d6+6, STAMINA 2d6+12, LUCK 1d6+6.)
Note, this is not about books that have additional stats to roll for.
Correct answers
Legend of Zagor (various, depending on character chosen): 4 – Philsadler, Terrysalt, Gabe Fandango, Kieran
Night Dragon (add 4 points to stats after rolling): 2 – Greenspine, Thealmightymudworm
Freeway Fighter (STAMINA 2d6+24): 1 – Wilf
Appointment with F.E.A.R. (SKILL 13 if choosing SuperStrength): 1 – Vastariner
Black Vein Prophecy (SKILL 1d6+4): 1 – Sylas
Howl of the Werewolf (STAMINA 2d6+10, SKILL … some complex formula): 1 – Tyrion
Sorcery 1: The Shamutanti Hills (SKILL 1d6+4 if playing as wizard): 1 – Charles X
Sorcery 3: The Seven Serpents (SKILL 1d6+4 if playing as wizard): 1 – Petch
Sorcery 4: The Crown of Kings (SKILL 1d6+4 if playing as wizard): 1 – Bloodbeasthandler
Well. That changes things. Maybe Legend of Zagor was so obvious that people second-guessed and chose it. The Sorcery series was a deep mine – 3 chose it but all were unique.
Blood of the Zombies was an option not chosen by anyone – the book with the most unusual way of determining your main attributes (you don't even have all of them!).
Leaderboard after Q4
1. Charles X, Tyrion, Thealmightymudworm – 5 points
4. Petch, Sylas – 6 points
6. Bloodbeasthandler, Vastariner, Wilf – 7 points
9. Gabe Fandango – 8 points
10. Philsadler, Greenspine – 9 points
12. Terrysalt, Kieran – 10 points
Question 5. Knowing where YOU are going in an adventure is important. Some books take you on long journeys covering hundreds of miles, others are confined to a small geographical area. To assist in navigation, many books have included maps of various sorts, some detailing a specific area, town, or even a single building you may investigate, while others cover the entire region within which the adventure takes place. Some are displayed on the inside cover, as part of the introduction to the story, while others are revealed to you during the adventure. Name one book that includes a map of all or part of the area you can explore during the adventure.
There were many possible answers here. The map doesn't have to be vital to success, it doesn't even have to be any good. So The Forest of Doom counts ("Here is a map of the Forest of Doom. From this map, you can determine that … it is a forest").
Correct answers
Island of the Lizard King (map drawn by a hungry old man in ref 149): 2 – Bloodbeasthandler, Vastariner
Master of Chaos (inside front cover): 2 – Kieran, Thealmightymudworm
Island of the Undead (scrawled on the wall on ref 313): 2 – Gabe Fandango, Wilf
The Forest of Doom (Bigleg's incredibly useless map in the Background): 1 – Terrysalt
Seas of Blood (The Inland Sea): 1 – Charles X
Midnight Rogue (inside front cover): 1 – Greenspine
Dead of Night (inside front cover): 1 – Philsadler
Revenge of the Vampire (opposite ref 1): 1 – Tyrion
Gates of Death (on ref 173): 1 – Sylas
Sorcery 3: The Seven Serpents (map of Khakabad): 1 – Petch
Seas of Blood was perhaps the most obvious choice for this question, and, again, the Sorcery series provided 4 opportunities. Some people took the overview map at the front of the book, others delved deep and tried to find an obscure illustration. Neither strategy was clearly superior.
A clever answer would have been Space Assassin – a diagram (or map) of the arena for the tank battle game is provided.
Leaderboard after Q5
1. Charles X, Tyrion – 6 points
3. Petch, Sylas, Thealmightymudworm – 7 points
6. Bloodbeasthandler, Vastariner, Wilf – 9 points
9. Philsadler, Greenspine, Gabe Fandango – 10 points
12. Terrysalt – 11 points
13. Kieran – 12 points
That will have to do for now, as I need a break. Can Charles X and Tyrion hang on the their slender lead? Or will one of the chasers overtake them? The exciting conclusion is coming up!
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Post by petch on May 4, 2022 12:19:32 GMT
Looking back at the previous rounds, this is the tightest it has been at the halfway stage. It's still anyone's game!
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kieran
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Post by kieran on May 4, 2022 12:23:03 GMT
Can't believe I'm on course to come last again! Annoyingly, my original answer for the second book question was Chasms of Malice then I changed my mind.
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sylas
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Post by sylas on May 4, 2022 13:52:16 GMT
I mentioned in PM that I had a feeling Greenspine would go with Spectral Stalkers for the alliterative title so I deliberately avoided that one. Lol.
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Post by Wilf on May 4, 2022 13:55:23 GMT
Enjoying this as always (and thank you for hosting it), and looking forward to seeing how it all pans out. But I have a couple of points for discussion on this occasion:
I would suggest the ruling on Question 1 is controversial, as it states "you do not start with a sword" not "you might not start with a sword".
I would further suggest that if you have Super Strength in Appointment With FEAR, you may fight with Skill 13 "in combat situations", but for any other Skill test, you would still use a Skill score rolled in the usual way.
(I would also suggest that The Citadel Of Chaos is not alliterative.)
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sylas
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Post by sylas on May 4, 2022 15:07:07 GMT
Wilf - dude the explanation to the 'alliterative title' question literally states that such titles would be accepted.
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Post by a moderator on May 4, 2022 15:44:29 GMT
I had a look at a dictionary myself, and it defined 'alliteration' as 'the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words', so Citadel qualifies on the 'same letter' front.
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Post by Wilf on May 4, 2022 16:41:09 GMT
Wilf - dude the explanation to the 'alliterative title' question literally states that such titles would be accepted. I'm missing it if it does. Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sound. The explanation has narrowed this down to requiring the same letter, but the sounds made by the C in "Citadel" and "Chaos" are different, and therefore not alliterative.
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